I did say that updates were going to be super late.

Though I still would like to apologize for the 3 year hiatus. Will not make any promises of updating regularly though, since college life is very hectic.

Despite being a child, Lavi knew that reality didn't meet up with one's expectations all the time. Still, whenever he heard of the name General Marian Cross before, he always imagined that prim and proper figure of authority, always graceful and calm when interacting with others. That's what the books always said about Generals of the Grand Council, divine and holy were always the keywords they'd keep repeating. So the young heir of the West Temple was quite shocked when this brash yet undeniably cool man suddenly came to their rescue, brandishing a weapon at the top of that.

General Marian Cross had this annoyed expression on his face as he looked at the kids, an eyebrow raised at Lavi particular, "What? You know any other handsome and perfect being on this earth?" Lavi was too caught up in his surprise to answer though, the six year old trying to close his mouth, "Hmph, thought so." The red haired man smirks as he places his gun back into his holster.

"Uncle Cwoss!"

Lavi was even more surprised when Allen had suddenly exclaimed and ran up to the General. The little boy proceeded to hug General Cross's leg. The golden golem that was on Allen's head earlier followed the young boy's lead and found itself a nice spot to rest on the General's shoulder. Lavi felt the blood drain from his face, you didn't just touch a General of the Grand Council so nonchalantly, let alone hug their legs in public! They were important figures of power that demanded respect at every single second of their—

"Nice to see you too, brat." General Cross merely says before he pats Allen's head twice and pulls the little boy away from him by pulling on the collar of his robe gently. Allen had complied quietly with a smile on his face, as if he was used to it. Which was odd to Lavi, to say the least.

Well, at least his earlier suspicions were right, Allen definitely did have General Cross's Golem with him the entire time. He hoped the General couldn't smell the Cat saliva off the communication device. He didn't want that large gun aimed at him at any point in the future.

"General Marian Cross? Who's that supposed to be?" Lavi turned his head to look at the long haired boy, who looked like he was a lot closer to his age compared to the others. He still had a guarded stance in front of the small girl from earlier, though his form did seem less tense compared to earlier.

"What? You don't know who General Marian Cross is, seriously?" Lavi asked the other with a baffled tone in his voice. To which Rapunzel boy just simply shook his head like it was normal to not know that. Even the frail girl behind him shook her head when Lavi shot her a questioning glance. At that moment, Lavi had just wanted to smash his head against the ground. Was he really the only one who knew how important the man in front of them was?

"Awen knows Uncle Cwoss!" Allen chirps, waving his hands in the air excitedly, as if trying to impress the redhead.

"Why do you even—" Lavi was interrupted when the General in front of them let out a frustrated groan and scratched the back of his head lazily. Lavi tried to pull together what little respectable impression he had of the man.

"Okay, this is already getting tiring for me. Where are those damn Finders anyway?" Cross grumbles as he leans against the wall, "You brats should've stuck with them, save me from the trouble of saving your little as—butts." He says, glancing at Allen for a second before he lets his gaze rest on the group of kids in front of him.

As if they were summoned, two Finders suddenly come barreling into the white hallway, their faces streaked with worry and lots of sweat. Lavi could see that the guy with the bandaged face probably needed to change them soon, what with how soaked they were at the moment. The two of them breathed a deep sigh of relief at the sight of the little children.

"Oh, Master Kanda! You're safe, thank goodness!" The Finder with the blond hair runs up to the boy with the long hair, Kanda, immediately, patting the boy down to check for any injuries. Lavi swore he could hear him growling beneath his breath for every second that passed. Even the little girl behind Kanda backed away a bit.

Allen perks up at the sight of the bandaged Finder, raising his tiny little hands to wave at him, "Toma! Toma! Look, Awen made fwends!" He says, pointing to Lavi and the rest of the kids. If running away from a very violent man throughout a large Train Station filled with strangers was Allen's idea of making friends, Lavi didn't comment on it.

The bandaged Finder, Toma as Lavi heard Allen say, speaks this time as he makes his way to the white haired boy, "Allen, please don't run off like that again. I—"He stops when he glances to the side and sees the man who was leaning against the wall, his face paling quickly just like the bad man Cross had literally kicked down earlier.

"G-General Marian Cross! G-Good afternoon sir! No one had informed us that you were picking up the children as well!" At the mention of the man's name, the blond Finder who was fussing over Kanda earlier immediately stood up, all stiff and straight.

Cross clicked his tongue, sending a not very gentle glare at the two Finders, "These brats would have ended up as mincemeat if Yeager didn't force me to come here." He says, pushing himself off the wall and gestured to the two Finders, "I won't even waste my time asking where the hell you two have been while these children were scampering around the Station. Prepare the carriages already, before I make the two of you crawl your way back to the Central Temple."

The two Finders stiffened at the General's threat before they made a quick salute, "Y-Yes sir, we'll be bringing the carriage up front, sir!" Gozu says before the two Finders scramble off to do what they were told.

Lavi's eyebrows furrowed down a bit as pressed his hand against his chin, propped on his other arm. If Allen and Kanda, what a weird name that was, had Finders to pick them up earlier, then where were his and the little girl's? Were there only supposed to be two Finders picking up the four of them or did something happen along the way? Lavi bit down on his lower lip, he hated it when he didn't know the answer to something.

He was dragged out of his thoughts when he something tugs at his robes. Lavi raises his head, not even realizing that he had lowered his head in the first place and glances to the left to see the little girl next to him, apparently feeling safe enough to come out of Kanda's defensive circle.

Lavi was about to ask her what was wrong before she turns to look past him and points at something. He glances to where she was pointing and sees that the General was already walking away, with Allen following after him like a puppy.

"A-Ah, wait up!" He calls out, he hated how overthinking often lead him to be so unresponsive to the things happening around him. The General doesn't even slow down, the jerk. He turns to Kanda and the girl, "Well, guess we should go after them." He says, making awkward hand gestures. Thankfully, the little girl understands and nods with a small smile. Kanda, on the other hand, answers him with a huff and rolls his eyes at him before he walks ahead of them.

The quiet girl next to Lavi shifted uneasily on her feet, fiddling with her hands. Lavi pats her shoulder with a crooked smile on his face, "Hey, uh, let's get going?" He says, gesturing in the direction of the General as the girl stares at him for a few moments or so before simply nodding.

Lavi breathed an internal sigh.

Well then, this was one way of getting a first impression on a new place.

They later end up sitting all together on a horse carriage on the way to the Central Temple. Lavi had chosen to sit next to Allen who unfortunately decided to plop himself next to General Marian Cross, who in turn had his arm on the windowsill and a palm pressed against the side of his face. He couldn't blame him, even he was bored by the unnerving silence in the carriage.

Lavi shifted on his seat a bit before he coughs into his fist, hoping to get the General's attention, "So, uh, are we all—"He gestures to himself and to the rest of the kids in the small space, "like, you know?" He would like to punch himself at the moment for sounding so inarticulate. But really, how does one speak to a General of the Grand Council?

The General snorted, "Huh, is this what the Western Temple has to offer? So much for being a group of pompous know-it-alls." He says, which earns him a bit of ire from Lavi, "Yeah, all of you brats are Temple heirs. Coming from the different four great Temples or some crap like that." He says dismissively, before turning away from the kids again, like they were wasting his time or something.

"Why the hell were we brought all the way over here?" It was Kanda who spoke up this time, Lavi had figured that it was impossible for this guy to be in any mood that wasn't related to being angry.

The General doesn't answer him, just keeping his gaze on whatever was outside the window. Curse a child's short height, Lavi wanted to see what was locking the General's attention at the moment.

"Hey!" Kanda calls out, this time with a bite more bite in his voice, "I'm talking to you, you stupid old man!"

That got the General's attention this time, an angry glare set on his face, "What did you just call me, you—"

"No! Stowph that! Don't be mean to Uncle Cwoss!" Allen pipes up, joining the conversation as he pouted at Kanda, whose demeanor seemed ruffled a bit when Allen suddenly spoke against him.

"You stay out of this, idiot!" Kanda snaps back, eyebrows furrowing down.

That only riled up Allen even more, "Awen not stupid, you are!"

Lavi sits up a bit straighter, hoping to settle things down before it got out of hand. Kanda looked a bit older than him though, so maybe he knew better than to fall for Allen's—

"What did you say to me, you dumb beansprout?" Kanda growled beneath his breath.

Lavi sighed.

"Hey guys, maybe we should calm down for a moment. We—"

"No!" The two exclaimed at him at the same time, Lavi ending up in the direction of a heated glare and a very upset but cute looking pouty face.

"Er. . ." Lavi helplessly glances between the two of them before he looks over to General Cross, wondering if he could managed to plead for help at the moment but the pearly gates of salvation were closed once more when he saw that Cross had detached himself from the argument and reverted back to that bored expression on his face again.

Thankfully the two boys had reverted back to making snarky comments at each other instead at Lavi. He heaves an exasperated sigh before his eye catches unto the very uncomfortable posture of the little girl next to Kanda and it was only then did Lavi remember that he didn't even know her name.

Her little hands pressed against her lap and her shoulders were all hunched up together, making her look even smaller. She was biting down on her lower lip and had her head lowered as her gaze was stuck on the floor. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Lavi immediately turns to Kanda and Allen and pats their knees before quietly pointing at the girl. The two boys were about to retort, their faces still scrunched up in irritation, before they quieted down, Lavi was quite thankful at that.

Kanda huffed before leaning against the cushions of his seat while Allen had this very sad and regretful look on his face, muttering a quiet 'sowy' in a hushed voice. Lavi almost felt bad for pointing it out to him, he patted his arm instead to at least let the boy know it was okay.

Lavi turns back to the little girl, who still seemed tense. He reaches out to pat the hands that were on her lap. The little girl jolted a bit in surprise before Lavi pulls his hands away and raises them in surrender. She raised her head to look at the other, the bothered expression on her face replaced with a confused one.

Lavi shook his head and leaned forward a bit, "Oh, um, hey. Are you all right?"

She stares at him for a while, her eyebrows scrunched up together in confusion.

Lavi waits a few more seconds to hear her answer and is left awkwardly hanging when the girl didn't reply to his question. He fiddles with his hands a bit, "Err, did you not hear me—"

Lavi was interrupted, again, when he hears someone let out an amused snort. He glances to his side and sees General Cross with a half smirk on his face, "Language barrier, brat. She has blood from an ancient oriental race in the East." He pauses, as if he was trying to remember, "Mandarin, have you heard of that before?" He says before shaking his head and looking out the window again. Lavi swore he was this close to jumping out of the window to see what was the General staring at.

The General at least cleared things up a bit, and it made things somewhat easier for him. Lavi glances back at the little girl, who still looked terribly confused.

Lavi coughs into his fist, hoping that in the next few seconds he wouldn't make a fool of himself again, "Ah, wǒ jiào Lavi. Nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?"

Ah, My name is Lavi. What's your name?

The girl perks up and smiles the brightest and biggest smile Lavi has seen from her since they had met. Even Kanda and Allen were a bit surprised. She sat up straight this time, and the image of her frailty was whisked away.

"Lenalee! wǒ jiào Lenalee!" She says in a cheery tone as she clapped her hands together, probably happy that she could finally understand someone.

Lenalee! My name is Lenalee!

"What did 'Avi say? What did s'e say?" Allen asks at his side, tugging on his robes a bit. There was an adorably confused look on his face that made Lavi pat his head gently.

"I asked her for her name, she said it was Lenalee." He simply says before turning to the girl, Lenalee, and gestures to Kanda and Allen, "Zhè shì Kanda Hé Allen."

This is Kanda and Allen.

Lenalee nods with a smile on her face before waves at the two boys. Allen waved back enthusiastically while Kanda just tipped his head a bit in acknowledgement before glancing away in disinterest.

"Impressive, brat. Least all of Bookman's teachings weren't just for show." General Cross says at Lavi's side. Lavi knew it was supposed to be a praise but with the General's tone, it sounded more like he was taunting him even more. He was tempted to stick his tongue out at him but he didn't really want that gun pointed at him any sooner.

Allen suddenly pounced Lavi, a very excited expression on his face, "'Avi can s'eak weiwd! I wanna talk wif Lenawee too!" He says, bouncing up and down on his seat.

Lavi couldn't help but laugh as he tried to settle the boy onto his seat again, he didn't want to deal with a crying child if Allen suddenly fell out of his seat, "Okay okay, I'll teach you some words." Lavi pauses to think of something, "Allen, can you say this to Lenalee?" He says with a smile on his face before he whispers the words into Allen's ear.

It takes them a few seconds to work along with the words before Allen turns confidently to Lenalee, who in turn had this very amused expression on her face. Lavi was relieved that she didn't feel so uncomfortable any more.

Allen puffs his small chest in pride before he opens his mouth, "Lenawee! jiàn daw nee hen gaw shìng!" he says with a toothy grin.

It's nice to meet you!

Lenalee pursed her lips for a few moments or so after hearing Allen's butchered Mandarin before she simply smiles and nods, "Nǐ yěshì."

Allen frowns a bit before he turns to Lavi, who smiles and translates her words for him, "She says it's nice to meet you too."

Allen smiled a big grin at that before turning to stick a tongue out at Kanda, "Awen can say Mandawin stuff now so Kanda is the dumb-dumb and not him!" Lavi winced a bit at that, was there really a need to start up another argument?

Kanda's frowned with his eyebrows all furrowed down, "What the- I wasn't even talking to you even more, you brat." He crossed his arms over his chest, "And being able to speak a single sentence isn't worth anything."

"But Kanda can't speak Mandawin! So Awen is smawter than 'im now!" Allen says in a victorious sounding voice.

"No it doesn't!" Kanda snaps back. Lavi assumed that there was some sort of superiority complex going on between the two here.

"Guys, please—Can we not—" Lavi stops himself when he ends up on the receiving end of two very hateful looks once more. Just what was with this pattern? Lenalee was trying to stifle a giggle in front of him, well at least someone was finding the situation amusing.

Lavi was this close to burying himself into the seat cushions when the Horse Carriage suddenly comes to a stop. All noise in the carriage ceased as General Cross sat up properly and stretched his arms a bit, "Good, looks like we're here. Couldn't stand sitting in the same room with you brats any longer." He says before he unlocks the carriage door and steps outside. It was then that Lavi noticed that the General's gun was in his hand. He quietly thanked the heavens for making them arrive early.

When the General left, the four of them made brief eye contact with one another before they all scrambled to get out of the Horse Carriage.

What greeted them was the sight of a large white temple, definitely bigger than the Temples back in their homeland. It stood quite tall with its intricately detailed Corinthian columns and high raised ceilings. Their carriage had dropped them off right in front of the elevated Temple where the marble white steps glistened in the light of the afternoon sun. At the top of the steps was a colonnade and if Lavi was correct, just past those pillars was the entrance to the Temple.

At the top of the Temple was a large white Pediment, inscribed into the white stone was the Rose Cross, the symbol of the Grand Council and the Central Temple. Lavi had remembered seeing the Rose Cross in the Western Temple's pediment too. That was probably the only thing that was similar between the two Temples.

Lavi wasn't really captured in awe at the sight of the building though. Sure, he was impressed seeing as it was his first time seeing it in person, but after you see the same pictures over and over again in the same old books that you hope Bookman would just let it accumulate dust instead of making it a necessity to memorize every single page of it for the past 6 years of his life, you'd get pretty tired of it.

Lavi glanced around to check his surroundings. The Finders had already begun unloading their baggage from the horse carriage, putting it into a nice pile next to it. Just behind the horse carriage, Lavi could see that the Central Temple was closed off by a rather large gate and fence, guards situated all over the place. The Central Temple is a big deal after all. One couldn't easily get in unless you were a member of the Grand Council, a Temple head or a respected individual with royalty in their blood. But it seemed a bit odd to see this many guards all over the place. It was like they were preparing for something.

"Hey, General Cross, why—" Lavi turns his head to ask the Grand Council General regarding the security when the sight of the man's retreating back makes him stop, "Hey! Where are you going?"

The man doesn't even stop or turn around to answer Lavi, he just continued walking as he raised his hand to them in a farewell, "Don't want to hang around with you brats any longer. 'Sides, he'll be here any minute and I'm not in the mood." He says before the General Cross climbs up the steps and disappears into the colonnade.

"What? Is he serious?" Lavi says before he runs up the steps himself and checks in between the tall columns to see that the man was totally gone from their sights. He sighs before he turns to Allen and the rest. Allen currently had Timcampy in his arms, considering how clingy Allen was to the General, General Cross may have handed Timcampy to him to appease the small child as he went away. Smart move.

Allen was currently in the process of introducing Timcampy to Lenalee, holding up the golden golem in his hands and showing it to Lenalee. Someone should tell the poor boy that repeating 'Nice to meet you' over and over again wasn't going to make any valid conversation between the two of them. Lenalee was still smiling though, probably happy that the young boy was trying.

It was really only him and Kanda who was concerned with their situation at the moment. Kanda clicked his tongue as he buried his hand into his pockets, a very unimpressed expression on his face, "Now what? I'm not going to go in there looking like some stupid ignorant tourist."

Lavi had just shrugged in return.

"Now, none of you children will be acting like, as you say, ignorant tourists in this Temple." A voice says behind Lavi and the young boy with the eye patch turns to see that a new person has come to greet them.

Said new person was an old man with a moustache and long white hair that was held in place by a circlet. He wore the same black and golden robe that General Cross was wearing earlier. He had a calm smile on his face as he regarded the children with a kind expression on his face

Lavi had immediately recognized the man, he was General Kevin Yeagar, the oldest General of the Grand Council. At least this General had the same respectable air that the books gave him. Lavi had turned around and backed away from the older man a bit and tipped his head to show his respect, "General Yeager, sir!" He exclaims in surprise, unable to think of anything else to say.

General Yeager smiled softly at Lavi as he patted his head, "Ah, you are Bookman's boy, aren't you? I've heard so much about you."

Lavi preened at the subtle praise, unable to help the smile that crossed his features. It wasn't often that people praised him after all. General Cross' snarky comment earlier didn't count.

General Yeager then turned to the Finders, giving them a nod of acknowledgement which was returned with bows of respect before he lets his gaze land on the rest of the children present, "Now then, the Finders will be moving your things to your quarters. In the meanwhile, how about I give you children a short tour of the Central Temple?"

The Central Temple was definitely larger than Allen's home. The walls were a whole lot taller and there were too many hallways and corridors. The nice old man, Uncle Yeager, gave them a tour around the temple, showing them the large and spacious prayer rooms and the lovely garden at the back of the Temple. There were lots of familiar flowers there, they looked like the flowers back at Allen's Temple, as he delightfully pointed it to the Uncle Yeager who patted his head and gave him a warm smile.

They had just finished touring around the library, now walking through a long white hallway. (They had to force Lavi to let go of the bookshelves to actually move on. Allen has never seen a person's eyes sparkle like that before. ) Allen was walking with Lenalee beside her, the two swinging their joined hands together as Timcampy rested on Allen's head for a nap. Kanda was walking right behind them while Lavi was in the front, currently attacking General Yeager with an endless barrage of questions.

"So, with advanced research on the property of innocence, you were able to redirect its energy to be able to store it in charms and trinkets?" Lavi asked, a skip in his step as he got to do a mini 'interview' with the one of the world's wisest and most powerful man.

General Yeager didn't show any objection when the young boy had asked his twenty fourth question since they had met and merely smiled at him, "Quite, but most of the credit goes to the researchers rather than me alone."

"But still! You were the one who guided them along, if it weren't for you they wouldn't have known what to do in the first place." Lavi chirped enthusiastically, his little hands clenched into fists.

General Yeager chuckles at the child's praise, "It is not polite to steal the credit of others, Lavi. Just as I had done my work, they did as well."

Allen didn't really get what they were talking about after that. Something about polly-tics or something like that. He didn't bother with them, adult stuff was boring after all. He turned to look up at Lenalee, who was a few inches taller than him and in return, she gave him a friendly smile. Allen smiled in return, he was happy that the girl was no longer scared or jittery like earlier. It was hard to make new friends if they were nervous all the time. Allen liked Lenalee too cause Timcampy didn't show any resistance when Lenalee had tried to pet him earlier.

Kanda, on the other hand, was a bit too difficult to interact with. The guy was grumpy all the time and didn't really like Allen either. Maybe he had a bit of a fault in it too but Kanda wasn't any better, the big meanie! But he did protect Lenalee earlier from the bad man, so maybe he wasn't a complete jerk.

General Yeager was about to continue his very 'interesting' conversation with Lavi when he suddenly stops in front of a door in the hallway, taking one step back for extra measure, "Ah, pardon me, children. Allow me to check something." He says before he pushes the door a bit and peeks into the room. A smile lit his features before he turns to them, hand still on the door, "What great timing, there's someone I'd like to introduce you to, children."

He pushes the door open and gestures for them to enter first. Lavi had turned to look at them before he nods and grabs Allen's hand to pull him and Lenalee excitedly into the room. Kanda rolled his eyes but followed after them nevertheless.

The room they went into was in a circular shape, like they were inside a clock tower instead of a Temple. The ceiling was very high, almost to the top of the Temple itself. There was a giant Chandelier at the top, candles on its wooden branches to serve as light. Thankfully there were torches all around the room, since it wouldn't have been enough to light up the entire room.

In the middle of the circular room was a sand pit, a short staircase leading down to it. In the middle of the sand pit was a very beautiful woman with a lean, fit figure and long blonde hair. Allen noted the large scar marks on her face, the white discolouration forming a large X shape on her face. On her arms were these bulky golden gauntlets, almost reaching her shoulders. The nameless lady was also wearing a form fitting tank top and black pants, paired with a pair of brown boots.

She seemed distracted by something else till the Allen and the rest came into the room, the woman immediately glancing to the side to look at them, raising an eyebrow in confusion. A bit of clarity donned her mind when she sees General Yeager right behind them, "Ah, Yeager, these are the children from the Temple, then?" She says in a smooth and grace filled voice.

General Yeager nods his head, "They are indeed, Klaud." He turns to the children and gestures to the woman, "Children, this woman is General Klaud Nine, a member of the Grand Council like me."

Allen and the rest stiffly show their respects to the General, though it was Lavi who spoke out, to the relief of the other kids, "It's pleasure to meet you, Miss Klaud." He says politely, fiddling with his robes a bit. Oh, maybe Lavi doesn't know Aunty Klaud as much as he does with Uncle Yeager, Allen thinks to himself, since the other didn't seem too enthusiastic as when he had meet the Uncle Yeager earlier.

Klaud looks at them for a few seconds, humming in acknowledgement to Lavi's greeting, before she slowly approaches them, crouching in front of Allen, glancing at the golden golem that was perched on top of his head.

"This is Cross' boy, isn't it?" She simply asks. Allen practically beams when the woman mentions the General's name.

"Aunty Kwaud knows Uncle Cwoss?" He asks, looking up at the woman in front of him.

Klaud visibly flinches at the word 'Aunty', "Ah, no need to call me that. Miss Klaud or Klaud is just fine." She says, straightening her posture a bit. "And yes, I've been working with your Uncle Cross for a while now." She replies, but it looks like she had wanted to say more before she stopped herself.

"So Uncle Cwoss is Aunty Kwaud's friend?" Allen says, not dropping the 'Aunty' still. It was rude to address adults by their name only after all, Reever said so!

Klaud presses her lips into a line before she sighs, giving into the child, ". . . You could say that." She mutters, not wanting to paint a bad picture for the kid's idol.

She turns to look at the other children, "Kanda Yuu, from the East Temple and Bak's charge. Lenalee Lee, South Temple and Komui's little girl. Lavi Bookman, Bookman's lad from the West Temple. And lastly, Allen Walker from the North Temple, Reever's boy." She says, pointing at each child as she dictates their origins. They already knew who they were though, so perhaps she was just saying it out loud to make a note for herself?

"A bit strange to see all you kids gathered up in one area. Guess there's a first time for everything. " She says before she gets up from crouching position and stands up. Allen could see Lavi's questioning glances at the woman, did she say something wrong?

She turns to General Yeager and gave him a questioning glance, "Now then, why did you bring these kids here?"

General Yeager merely smiled at her, "I thought it would be nice if the children were introduced to you and Lau Jimin. You are the only general in this Temple at the moment after all." He says simply before he glances around, "Speaking of which, where is Lau Jimin?"

Allen and Lenalee tilted their heads together at the mention of the weird name. Allen had glanced to her, hoping she could make sense of the weird words but she just shrugged at him. Allen turned to Kanda, who just sent him a nasty glare and he in turn stuck his tongue at him before he looks to Lavi and sees the boy's eyes widening in realization. Oh, at least he had an idea to what a Lau Jimin was.

General Klaud merely pauses for a moment before she turns her back to them and presses her fingers to her mouth, whistling loudly enough for the sound to echo throughout the room. It only took a few seconds before something jumps off the chandelier and uses the empty torch holders on the walls to scale down and finally find its spot on the General's shoulder.

Looking at it closely, Allen realized that it was a small white monkey, probably the same size as Timcanpy that was perched on her shoulder.

"This is Lau Jimin, kids. Now be nice." She says before she gently picks up the monkey and places it into the palm of her hands, crouching down to their level as the small monkey yipped in her hands.

Allen and the rest of them gathered around the small monkey, even Kanda who tried to look as disinterested as possible but still leaned in a bit to look at the tiny animal. The four children and Lau Jimin made awkward eye contact with each other for a few seconds before one of them finally moved to attempt to touch the animal.

It was Lenalee who raised her hand and made the hesitant movement of trying to pat Lau Jimin. Klaud sighs bit before she moves her hands forward so that the palm of Lenalee's hand brushed against Lau Jimin's head. Lenalee yelped a bit in surprise, but she didn't retract her hand and carefully patted Lau Jimin's soft white fur.

Lau Jimin practically cooed at the girl's gentle touch before it suddenly squeaks and jumps out of Klaud's hand, climbing up Lenalee's arm till it found a nice spot on top of her head. Lavi and Allen laughed at the sight before they mustered up their courage to pat the small monkey too. Lenalee didn't dare move an inch though, afraid that the monkey would fall off of her head if she accidentally tilted her head in the wrong direction.

Lenalee glances at Kanda, who was merely watching them play around with the monkey. She pouts a bit before she reaches to tug on Kanda's robes, not moving from her spot as the other two boys continued to pester the little thing on her head.

Kanda had raised his eyebrow in return to which Lenalee responded by pointing at him then at Lau Jimin. They were quiet for a while as the eye contact didn't break off before Kanda sighs and moves closer to pat Lau Jimin. Lavi and Allen snickered a bit at how easily Lenalee convinced Kanda, which earned them a glare from the long haired boy. They feigned innocence though, trying to pretend that they hadn't just done so, which irked Kanda a bit more but at least the glare fell off his features.

Lavi had then proceeded to tell the rest of them all about Lau Jimin and how the little monkey was General Klaud Nine's partner in battle. Lenalee and Allen had protested at first, since when did such an adorable little monkey become a weapon for battle? But they were swept up by Lavi when he started telling them of stories about General Klaud and Lau Jimin's compatibility in battle and how every opponent cowered at the sight of her. Even Kanda was quietly listening as he patted the small monkey that moved to sit on Lenalee's hands instead.

As the kids were playing with Lau Jimin, General Klaud quietly approached General Yeager, her boots clacking against the marble floor, and stood by his side, an unreadable expression on her face as she looked at the little children, ". . . Are you sure that we can do this, Yeager?" She asks in a hushed voice, not removing her gaze from the four children playing oh so innocently with her partner.

General Yeager was quiet for a few moments before he shakes his head, "If we won't do it, who will?"

I still question how people still find this story in 2015. That's some dedication right there. Kudos.

Published on: 7/5/2015