EPILOGUE- THREE AND A HALF YEARS LATER

Tim is huge. Too huge to be rolled off of him Allen thinks after the fifth try. The yellow golem squirms about in his lap, giving him a wicked grin as it settles into a more comfortable position between Allen's legs.

It also doesn't help that he had chosen to sit against the wall, so he can't even back up. The only thing he can be thankful for is that Timcampy makes a comfortable armrest.

That's the only bright side, he thinks, wincing as Tim's wings flapped up and jostled his elbow hard. He was growing to be a little monster. Then again, he had always been a little monster. Maybe it was a side effect of being made by Cross.

At any rate, comfy armrest.

As soon as Tim settles down he starts reading his book again, the wide text spread across Tim's back.

It's a very absorbing read, and kind of difficult, detailing Dante Alighieri's walk through the three realms of hell. It's also the most difficult thing Allen has tackled so far, and he's been working two years on improving his reading skills. It also helps that Lenalee and Lavi were absolute slave drivers once they had volunteered to teach him- combine that with the fact that they were a couple (only known to Allen and Komui), and you had one scary, mind-sharing team.

The text is so absorbing and difficult, in fact, that he doesn't notice Lavi's golem until it literally dive bombs his head. The golem also has the finesse of his owner- Allen rubs his head where he is sure a bump will appear tomorrow.

"What?" He grumps at it, glaring straight into the eye. He's sure Lavi can see his anger because the laugh that comes through the line is bright.

"Come down Allen! We got a surprise for you, eh?"

Allen glares into the eye again, putting on the sternest face possible for the redhead's benefit. "We're not having another birthday dinner for me, are we? We've already had two and my birthday was two weeks ago."

He can practically hear the smile in Lavi's voice, the utter happiness, which Allen does find a little odd because birthday dinners were wonderful and all, yes, but Jerry had learned over the course of Allen's stay at the Order that he could cook any kind of food and Allen would devour it all.

"No no no, baby!" Lavi practically screams, having to be heard over the din that had suddenly rose behind him. "Come on down and see! Quick now!"

"Alright, alright." Allen grumbles, and the golem flies off without another attempt at injuring him.

He takes another minute to rest, fingers prodding at the juncture where Tim's wings met his back; the golem finally grumbles in a fairly silent way and rolls off, stretching it's wings wide as Allen gets up and dusts off his pants.

He makes the walk slow and leisurely, aware that Lavi was overexcited about something. Something stupid maybe, like a new, hot exorcist or a mountain of old books. Not that he could do anything with the former, as Lenalee wouldn't talk to him for weeks, or the latter, because his room was practically a library in and out of itself, but. Something Lavi liked.

The walk is long, anyway, from where he had been reading up in the tower. It was nice and calm up there; cool. It also had a nice memory in it, though Allen didn't really like dwelling on it for too long.

He's about to just head to his room, drop the book off just so it wouldn't be a burden, when Lenalee's golem finds him- it buzzes about excitedly, so fast that he can hardly hear what Lenalee is saying.

"Allen Walker, if you don't get down to the entrance right at this moment I am going too- oh my God, just hurry up!!!" She screams into the microphone before her golem zips off, leaving him in its dust.

Allen's brow furrows as he stares after it. Alright. Maybe it was something both Lavi and Lenalee were crazy about?

Tim nudged him into action, making him walk forward quicker than he had been planning too- a light slap to the head didn't deter the golem at all, and instead got him a rough head butt in between the shoulder blades.

"Alright, alright," He mumbled, glaring at Tim and picking up his space. "You want me to hurry too, so I'll hurry!"

His steps were quick, but still slower than Timcampy's as it glanced back it him every two seconds in an expression that told him to get his ass in gear. He complied, turning his stride into a jog, but not without sticking his tongue out first.

When he got down to the entrance, a whole large crowd was milling about the doors, talking excitedly. Allen had the horrible, dreadful feeling that it was Cross, back after years of going AWOL around the world. That would be why Lenalee was excited- she always had a crush on the man. Lavi too, though he said it was strictly admiration.

He was about to turn heel, walk away before his master could see him, when his eyes caught a flash of black hair.

It made his breath hitch, made his heart ache with the memory- which was ridiculous because there was a lot of people at the Black Order with black hair and it hadn't ever made him take a trip down memory lane before. He was just being ridiculous and-

"Allen!"

Lenalee's screech brought him to a halt from where he had stood, dazed, and he tried to pick her out of the crowd, tried to see above the hundreds of people milling about.

He didn't have to wait long as the crowd parted, and before him-

He felt his heart ache, hard, and he swore he couldn't breath. There was no way this was real, that-

But it was- it had to be, because Lenalee was smiling widely, gripping one arm, while Lavi's grin was covering half his face. And, in the middle of them-

"Kanda." He breathed, eyes wide in disbelief.

Kanda, whose hair was a little shorter than he remembered; Kanda, whose tattoo had grown so large and black that a couple of tendrils curled up his neck, ending at the curve of his cheek; Kanda, who looked almost the exact same after three and a half years but with a self satisfied look on his face, as if all was right with his world.

Kanda, whose smirk curved into something more like a smile and who said, in the deep voice he thought he'd only hear in his dreams for years to come:

"I'm home, bean sprout."