Disclaimer: I do not own D Grayman.

I. Help me to protect.

She has been protected quite often. At first, it was her brother, and then in the Order, it was her comrades- Lavi, Kanda, Allen, the Finders, and more. They protected her because she was a girl, because they instinctively wanted keep her sweet smiles and happy self safe.

But she's not weak. People often forget, but there was a time in between where her brother couldn't do a thing, and her friends hadn't become her friends yet. She had been put on the front lines.

She learned strength then. She learned how to stand her ground. She learned to fight. And she gained resolve. She wasn't helpless anymore, she could protect.

And she decided that she would protect her brother, who sacrificed his future for her, and she would protect innocent people, who didn't deserve to die, and she would protect her friends, who fought for her. She would protect everyone.

But now, her Innocence won't synch and she doesn't know what's wrong and she's so helpless and has to be protected again, and she hates it, hates it, hates it.

And the Level 4 akuma attacks and Allen's fighting but he's too injured to battle now and Lavi and Kanda don't have their weapons, and it's killing people and that's her job to fight it, to save people. And it could kill her, but she has to synch with her Innocence, or else her brother and everyone who supported her will die. She must do this, for the sake of everyone.

The Innocence senses her determination, and melts.

"Innocence…"

It hurts, it hurts so much, her feet and legs and ankles are bleeding, and so much pain, they're on fire- they're burning-

"My resolve... have you accepted it?"

She will always protect her friends and what little is left of her family. That is her life, her purpose, her reason to exist, and the Innocence knows it.

Scarlet blood swirls up and crystallizes into Dark Boots.

AN: Yay! First part done, next chap will probably be Chaoji ['Help me to be strong'].

I really wanted to write epic- Lenalee after reading chapter 154, because she goes from happy-smiley girl to you-dared-to-hurt-my-friends warrior and starts owning like a boss. Yeah.