Last chapter. Again, thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed this and thanks to jy24 and karina001 for the reviews. It was really fun to write and your feedback is what kept me going when I was feeling the siren call of other stories. So thanks again and here you go.

Epilogue

In the end, Kanda never did get to kill Allen. He'd get over it eventually, but for a while at least, it was a sore point with him. And unless someone else found another time portal lying around anywhere, he wouldn't get a second chance.

Curious civilians and police and Homra came to gawk at the crater that was once Scepter 4 and to say to their companions in hushed voices how it was just like that incident fourteen years ago and how it was lucky that no civilians had gotten hurt but it was quite sad about Scepter 4 losing their leader and all that. They would never stay long, especially when they noticed the dark figure with the sword at his back and then they figured they'd seen enough.

There was a funeral overseen by Acting-Captain Awashima. There were more caskets than she would have liked. One for each clansman who had died and a table piled high with flowers that nearly obscured the framed photographs of those whose bodies couldn't be recovered, those who had died in the past.

Fushimi was well enough to attend and stood at Awashima's side during this very subdued affair. After this, there would be meetings with the local law enforcement and the prime minister and their ranks would be sorted out, though who the Slates would choose to be the new Blue King, Awashima hadn't the slightest idea.

As she gazed at the caskets and the photographs and the flowers and felt her throat tighten just a little, she could only think, Was this truly the only way?

Roughly a hundred years ago, Komui, Bak, and a sizable science team captured the Rosen Gate and studied it and deemed it too dangerous to fall back into Noah hands. Shortly after its capture, it shut down for good and nothing anyone did could get it started again. Realizing the reason for the Rosen Gate's hundred year inactivity, they decided to return it to where they knew it needed to be. Under Komui's supervision and in the wake of the akuma attacks on the European and Middle Eastern Branches, the Rosen Gate was buried where Komui knew it wouldn't be disturbed for quite some time.

That operation was one of the final victories the Black Order would have.

When Allen Walker returned to the past, still fighting the presence of Nea inside him, still uncertain, he found that several months had gone by. Headquarters had moved to a new location. Kanda, not yet returned to the future, was still as ornery as ever but not nearly so murderous as he would become after the final battle which Allen knew was coming yet knew he couldn't discuss. After all, what could they change? Their duty first and foremost was to defeat the Millennium Earl. Allen held the weapon to do so in his mind, a weapon which would itself be destroyed a hundred years after its use. Things were looking grim for the Black Order, but the Noah's days were numbered as well.

It would not be an easy path. Central was already experimenting, creating weapons to defeat the Earl by any means necessary, not all of them pleasant. The Noah were going after the generals. Cross was missing.

Allen thought about his anti-akuma weapon and about Nea's and he knew he had to feel that power again. Steeling himself, he returned to his home and to his friends and though they made a point of welcoming him and those who knew what he would become said nothing, he knew he would not be able to stay for much longer.

For the first time in his life, he was truly awake.

Lenalee stood by the road and gazed regretfully at the ruins of the Scepter 4 building. Krory stood on one side, a bandage wrapped around his head, and Kanda, silent, stood on the other. Miranda was there, cradling the stump of her right arm in her good hand. She had traded in her exorcist's uniform for a light sweater and jeans. She felt it unfair to continue wearing the rose cross, not now after the blow that had taken her hand and her Innocence with it.

An air of uncertainty settled on the group.

"We could help rebuild, I suppose," Krory said.

"Hmm," Lenalee said.

"They never found Road's body," Kanda added.

"Hmm."

"I'm going to see the Bookman," Kanda said. "He's our only connection to the Black Order."

"I want to go with you," Lenalee said.

"No. You need to stay here in case Road shows up again."

"I don't think she will. At least not for a long time. She's lost everything."

"As long as a Noah lives, there needs to be an exorcist here to stop them."

Lenalee studied Kanda's face and nodded. "Alright. Scepter 4 could use some help, anyway."

"I'll go," Miranda said. She wanted so much to be useful.

Kanda looked at her and eventually assented. "Fine."

"How will you get there?" Lenalee's heart ached for all the friends they had left behind in the past and she didn't much like the idea of losing any of the friends who had made that sacrifice with her.

"Something called an airplane," Kanda replied and at Lenalee's perplexed expression, added, "Technology's come a long way in the last hundred years. It won't take nearly as long as a ship."

Lenalee had to accept the fact and breathed out a slight sigh of relief. "When do you leave?"

"I don't know. Soon."

They grew silent and Lenalee couldn't help but think of Allen and the journey he had ahead of him and her heart ached for him. "Whether or not Road decides to make another move, we should try and tell people about us. About the Black Order."

"There is no Black Order."

"Maybe not. But there could be again."

"You mean…resurrect the Black Order?" Krory said.

"Why not? You've seen the Colorless King. There are other dangers in this world besides the Noah. We could help."

"They already have that covered," Kanda said and everyone knew that by they, he meant the clans.

"The Millennium Earl was killed once before," Miranda said. "And he came back. What's to say he won't do it again? Maybe not during our lifetimes, maybe not for hundreds or thousands of years, but one day. I think Lenalee's right. The world needs to be ready for that. We should resurrect the Black Order."

"Resurrect it with three exorcists, an ex-exorcist, and two finders?" Kanda said.

"We'll have to start searching for more Innocence right away," Krory said.

"Where would we start?"

"How did the Black Order detect Innocence to send us after it, anyway?"

Their questions slipped into silence as the four looked at each other, Lenalee with rising excitement, Krory with optimism, Miranda with the feeling that she might not be so useless after all, and Kanda with skepticism.

"We'll figure it out," Lenalee said eventually and cemented the idea.

They were trapped here in this alien time and place, having seen more than their share of death and war, even now gazing upon the aftermath of the most recent. It was a daunting task ahead of them, a fool's errand, perhaps. But maybe, just maybe, this was what they were meant to do all along.

END