A/N: Eheheheheh. Well. I'm back. I swear it was not my intention to abandon this story for so long, but, well… life. I am currently still of a non-college school age, so I've been busy with finals and testing and all that joy. But as of now, I'm FREE! Which means I intend to attempt to update every single one of my ongoing stories once a month (at least). Yes, this does include When People Get Bored, though I don't know what happened to my co-author. I estimate anywhere from 5-20 more chapters for Unexpected Alliances, maybe four more for His Butler, Heroic, an epilogue for On the Second Go-Around, and some updates on the Dating Woes and Worries of Tsunade Senju. (Shameless self-plug: go read them. And review?)

(Korra announcer voice) IIiiiiiiif anybody happens to be interested in Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or Star Trek: Voyager, I was planning on writing one, maybe two stories about either one of these shows. Feel free to check those out once they've actually been written. I also promise to write the stories promised on my profile, and Apostatize is in the works. Slowly.

Right. Story.

Previously, on Unexpected Alliances: Our brave hero Allen Walker and his friends and allies have defeated the dark Lord Voldemort after the wizard's act of allying himself with the Millenium Earl! However, an unexpected warning comes from the future itself, in the form of our own protagonist! What will happen next on Unexpected Alliances?

The dull roar of AKUMA fire and various terrified screams and angered shouts could be heard rather clearly, even through the half-shut Ark door.

Abruptly, the sound stopped. Someone was talking – someone with a smooth, rich baritone that conveyed emotions very precisely, sometimes lilting, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes passionate.

The voice trailed off, as well, getting softer so as to speak almost privately.

Then it disappeared.

The person sitting at the piano bench stood up in a rustle of cloth and hair, brushing bangs out of his eyes.

The door swung open and Allen Walker with eyes too old for his face stepped out into the sunlight and smoke.

Time travel is a rather tricky thing in the first place, and when you have a Noah stuck in your head in a manner that pretty much guarantees near-immortality, it should not be a surprise when you run into some difficulties.

Which is why Allen Walker felt like he should probably shut his mouth, as gaping like a fish was wholly unattractive and probably making a bad impression on his future self. Furthermore, he felt like he should have been really expecting this or at least something similar, though there was a small part of him that was still denying the fact that he was even a Noah, much less in another time.

The other Allen shuffled his feet rather awkwardly. "Is this a bad time? I don't really remember. It's been a while." He scratched the back of his neck in a way that was rather freaky only because Allen knew for a matter of fact he did the exact same thing and was in fact doing the exact same thing at that moment.

He lowered his hand.

"No, it's fine." The Exorcist was rather impressed with himself; his voice only shook a little. He gulped. "What exactly is going on, anyway?"

The other Allen eye-smiled and said, "That's a rather long story."

They ended up in the Ark, because honestly that was the safest area anyway, and Allen really wanted somewhere he could relax or at least not feel tense while he had to listen to a story that he was pretty sure would only add to his disbelief.

"Why are you here?" Best to get the important stuff out of the way first.

The older Allen (when had Allen started calling him that mentally? He didn't look physically older – just a bit more tired, and a bit more wise to the world.) smiled again, and said, "Straight to the point, aren't you? I mean, we are."

He laughed a little, but it was an uncomfortable laugh.

"Anyway, I'm here because there's a battle that's going to be fought that you need to win." He shrugged. "I've already won it, but you need to win it, if that makes sense."

Unfortunately, as the explanation went along, it did make more and more sense in a rather unpleasant way. The Earl had not been defeated in the time between the return from the future and where Allen was now. Instead, all would come to a head around the time of the Third Task, as that was when the Earl deemed the defenses of the castle most easily breached.

At that point, Allen had to defeat the Earl at any cost.

The older Allen shrugged. "I don't know what happens from there. The Doctor wiped our memories. Too many issues with the continuum." He smiled slightly. "Actually, I'm basing this conversation on my memories of being on the other end." A pause. "Time travel is odd."

To be perfectly honest, Allen couldn't agree more.

"Anyway, you won't be seeing me for a while after this. When the time comes, though," his eyes grew serious, "you'll know."

By the tone of the senior, Allen was sure he would know – but he wasn't sure if he really wanted to.

The rest of the conversation was inane, just odd small-talk, something Allen had always excelled in but was made exceedingly awkward by the company. Just as Allen was getting up to leave, and explain the whole extremely confusing situation to his friends, the older of the two stalled him with a quiet clearing of his throat. (It was so odd hearing his characteristics exactly in someone else, like talking to a sentient mirror – but the little differences were much more unnerving and did not bear thinking about at this time.)

"Just so you know," the older Allen said, his voice a little sad but all-too-knowing, "you really should value your friends. They'll be all that keeps you together someday." He shook his head softly, like he was clearing it. "I don't mean to scare you, but please, value you your friends and treat them well, because it will never be enough."

And with those more-than-slightly ominous words, the time traveler stood up with a nearly expressionless face and, humming the deceivingly simple lullaby under his breath, left the piano room with a brush of fabric and a sense of weariness.

Allen shook his head and, creating the door the same way, pushed his way out into the sunlight and towards the waiting questions of his friends.

"Being patient," the white-haired man breathed, sitting with his elbows resting on his knees and cradling his head in his hands, "is harder than it looks."

The white rooms of the Ark offered no reply.

The aftermath of the battlefield, Lenalee reflected, was horrible. Clods of dirt and plant matter were everywhere, tossed up by spells and AKUMA bullets. The spectator stands were all but destroyed, a tattered Ravenclaw flag flapping half-heartedly in the gentle breeze.

Lenalee couldn't care less, though, about the property damage. What made her slightly sick were the bodies. Some had their heads entirely missing, no doubt blown apart by Wisely. Others had gaping wounds in their torsos. Some, the cause of death wasn't very clear at all, having being eaten inside out by Fiidora's parasites. Despite the fact that these corpses had belonged to the enemy, it was a sobering and disgusting reminder of what the Exorcists' tentative allies could do. All in all, it painted a gruesome picture and set the young Exorcist on edge.

The worst part, though, were the four Hogwarts students lying unmoving on the far shore of the lake. Five more empty robes tossed listlessly without their owners, now pentacled piles of dust being blown away bit by bit in the wind.

For Lenalee, those nine dead students were nine more failures – nine more times were her boots hadn't been good enough, fast enough, agile enough to save an innocent. That, she knew, was what kept her Synchronization rate so high: a desire to protect that manifested itself to some degree in all Innocence Accommodators.

The girl was jolted out of her increasingly more depressing thoughts by the appearance of the Ark gate shimmering into existence. Scrambling to her feet, she was joined on her left by Kanda and her right by Lavi. Behind her, the rest of the Exorcists and the Noah stood, all waiting for the creator of that door to appear and explain things.

A boot poked its way out of the oddly shaped crystals, followed by a leg and finally, Allen. Their Allen, too. (Lenalee could tell by the lack of frown lines around his eyes.)

He paused awkwardly at the assembly of waiting faces and took a breath that hushed everybody immediately. What he said next was not really what anyone wanted to hear.

"Well, guys, looks like we're going to be staying a bit longer than planned."

-End Part 1 of Arc 2-

A/N: Eheheheheheh (insert catchy review jingle here). Um. Still gonna self-plug and ask you guys to read my other stories…