Michael looked around at the clearing fog. "Something's not right... Allen get over here. I have a feeling that this isn't over." he ran his fingers through his black hair. He whipped his head around to see a flock of black bird-like creatures.

"What are those?" Allen asked, getting to his feet.

Michael peered at the incoming birds. "I'm not sure, a flock of crows, maybe ravens?" he guessed.

Allen shook his head. "I don't think so. They remind me of golems almost. Except they're more animalistic."

Michael shrugged. "We'll ignore them usless they attack us, I'm sure we'll be fine." he wasn't quite sure of that. "Come on we got to get out of here though." he stretched his massive black wings and grabbed Allen by his arm. Michael shot up with such force it almost wrenched Allen's arm out of his shoulder.

"Ouch, that hurt." Allen complained as they began to accend.

Michael grinned. "Stop being such a wimp." they were about 15 in the air when a bunch bird-like creature divebombed at them. Michael lost his balance and started to fall from the sky. He looked down to see Allen below him. Michael swooped and caught Allen by his leg only eight feet off the ground.

"Thanks..." Allen said as Michael set him down on the ground.

Michael nodded. "Well we're not flying out of here."

"Thank God, no offence Michael, but it hurts my arm when I have to fly with you." Allen rubbed the arm that was sore from when Michael took off.

"Are you saying I'm a bad flyer!" Michael gave Allen a stern glare.

Allen raised his arms in defence. "No, no you're an excellent flyer." he said, but his mind Allen was thought of all the times that Michael had almost killed him while flying.

"Well what now do we run for it?" Michael asked.

Allen wrinkled his nose, condisering an answer. "No other way, besides we don't want to run into those bird-things again." they agreed and began to run towards the town south were Terry, Michael's finder, was waiting. But they wouldn't make it very far.

"Shit!" Elzam swore silently under his breath as he saw the other Exorcists shove Lenalee's Innocence into his coat. He had made the fog clear up, which provided him visibility over the current situation, but also, the 2 Exorcists who were down below also had an equal standing. He cursed at himself yet again, for clearing up the fog. It would take forever to bring it back, with the wind he had summoned to blow it all away.

He glanced back at the 2 troublemakers. "Kirin!" He called loudly. At once, a little black bird perched upon his shoulder, a small red eye imprinted on the creature's chest. "Go, get them. I'll be right down in a moment." Elzam commanded the creature. At that moment, the creature let out a blood-curdling cry, its high-pitched scream echoed in the forest, wailing for companionship.

When the cry finally died down, the little bird took off into the sky, behind it, a flock of simillar birds, probably only nine in total. But Elzam was satisfied with the numbers. It certainly wasn't much, but it would buy him enough time to get down there to meet the two Exorcists. He turned slowly to Shod, "If you're coming, then you'd better hurry." He then turned back and began heading down the hill, in the direction of the two boys.

Allen and Michael stood back to back. Their breaths were shaky and hastey. There were only two more akuma left. Both of them were badly wounded and at the brink of death.

"One last time." Allen said.

Michael nodded. "I've got your back." he smiled and gave a thumbs up. The fog was beginning to clear slightly. It was easier to see their opponents. Michael and Allen charged towards the akuma. With one fowl swoop Michael brought his sword down on top of the akuma slicing it in half. The beast then burst into a furry of chaotic flames and debris. Allen had already destroyed his akuma and now they stood breathless facing eathother.

Allen dropped to his knees and began to weep. "What's wrong, Allen?!" Michael asked rushing to his aid.

"L-Lenalee... is dead..." Allen murmured between sobs.

"What?!" Michael's eyes widened. He grabbed Allen by his collar and shook him violently. "Where is she?!" he shouted. Allen pointed over to Lenalee's body, or what was left of her body. It was all decreased to ash. Her innocence lay upon the ash. "... No..." he wispered. He sprinted over to the ash and picked up the innocence. "We will avenge you Lenalee!" he growled. "Your death will not be in vain!" he wiped away tears, tucking her innocence into the pockets inside of his exorcist coat.

"Trouble IS what you will get if you ever kill Allen," Shod frowned slightly, as he started zoning out a little. If he was that bored, surely Elzam could entertain Road? Shod had enough pockmarks on him to prove how much he 'entertained' the girl. Scary thoughts - he should keep away from them.

A flash of light behind Elzam brought the amber-eyed Noah out of his trance.

"What exactly did you do again? You had better not get TOO close to the boy, even if you ARE curious.." Shod chastised, absent mindedly stoking the back of his gargoyle. The wind howled.

"What am I doing? I'm trying not to get into trouble, that's what I'm doing..." Elzam smiled at Shod. "I take it that you got my little birdie?" He then turned around, looking Shod in the eyes. There wasn't something he was actually doing, but h tried to sound as professional as he could, trying to sound a little 'cooler' than when he first became a Noah.

It was difficult to see through the thick fog, and Elzam had to assume that someone wasn't so lucky so as to find Allen in the middle of nowhere. He somewhat regretted summoning that annoying fog, knowing that if someone did find Allen, it was THE END of killing Allen{OOC: Which I won't, of course.} and also getting his hands on precious Lenalee's Innocence. He turned away from Shod's gaze, looking back down at the 'masterpiece' he had just created. Of all the gifts he was given as a Noah, it was this sad and pathetic power. He was thankful that the Earl had, at the very least, given him the little birdies to control.

He then laughed a little, his back still facing Shod, before asking him, "What say I clear up that fog and we head over to see that Allen boy? Earl-sama seems to hve taken a liking to him; I'd like to see him for myself." He a blood-thirsty grin appeared on his face. Whatever Elzam could have been thinking of, it certainly wasn't all cakes and cookies.

Oh, just great. Elzam just HAD to summon a fog to make everything so much more difficult. Noahs certainly did not have X-ray vision. Shod sighed. What in the Earl's name was he supposed to be doing again?

Just then, a tiny flying creature zipped pass the Noah, and by instinct he reached out to crush it, before noticing that it was Elzam's. "Ah," he blinked, looking at the eye incribed on the bird-like thing. Perhaps he should start by causing more distraction, then looking for the perpetrator of the fog.

Summoning a few Level one and two akumas to search and destroy any pests, Shod then called for a level three akuma, quickly grabbing its head when it appeared through an Ark gate. Using the akuma's dark matter, he transformed it into one of his own gargoyle creations, whispering for it to aim for and kill Allen. The dark, grotesque creature breathed out an icy mist as reply, then beat its own black wings into the fog to complete its mission.

Looking back down into the mist, Shod ordered the gargoyle he was riding on to look for his 'brother'.

"Elzam, what are you doing..?"

"Michael, something's wrong. We can't get a signal from the finder that was accompanying Lenalee and Allen." the finder, Terry, that was with Michael sounded panicked. This was the newbie finder's first mission and he wasn't all too brave.

"Where are they, Terry?" Michael's voice was calm, but he knew just as well as Terry that Lenalee and Allen were probably in grave danger. It wasn't like them to go looking for trouble, but he knew that Allen had a knack at attracting dangerous situations without meaning to.

"The last I heard they where north of us heading east towards us." Terry was now in full panic mode. "W-what if something's happened to them!"

Michael sighed and extended his huge wings. "I'm sure they're fine I'm going to check it out though, stay here until I get back." he instructed. "Don't leave this spot unless it's a serious emergency." At that he started to beat his powerful wings, slowly lifting him off the ground. Gusts of wind unsettled the dust and bits of gravel on the ground and they filled the air, causing Terry to choke on the debris around him. Michael had now left Terry far behind him and was soaring into the sky. The chill of the frigid atmosphere sent a shiver down his spine. I better make this quick. he thought. Michael's wings weren't meant to withstand a lot of snow, they would soon become heavy and weigh him down. He looked down in the heart of the storm. There he saw multiple akuma along with Allen fighting, but where was Lenalee and their finder. Michael summoned his diamond sword, then dived full speed down straight threw an akuma. He landed beside Allen, who was breathless from holding off so many akuma at one time. "Are you alright?" Allen nodded. "Where's Lenalee and your finder." Allen opened his mouth to speak but suddenly a bullet from an akuma barrelled towards them. Michael and Allen dived out of way. Michael growled, lifting himself into the air, snow swirling around him. "That's it!" he shouted. "Heaven's light, activate!" Suddenly the sky became brighter in random spots, and brighter and brighter until several blazing comets blasted through the stormy clouds and pummelled down onto the unprepared akuma, crashing all of them into the frosty earth. All of the level one akuma were dead, but the level two were just badly injured. "Come on Allen let's go!"

"Yeah, Innocence activate, Crown Clown!" Allen's innocence was summoned and embodied around him like a protective cloak. "Sword of Exorcism." A large sword was replacing Allen's left arm as he pulled the handle to complete its transformation.

"Let's do this." Michael smiled at Allen. Allen didn't smile back, for his sorrow was overwhelming, but there was still hope in his eyes. And hope is what would keep them alive.

Elzam waited patiently for someone to turn up, possibly here to help him, not poor Allen. He wasn't exactly sure he was actually going to get help, given the fact that he hadn't actually sent for help in the first place. But he told himself to hope for something. But in the meantime, he had called forth a shrouding fog, one that would temporarily blind the lonely white-haired boy.

Visibility was now terribly low, and Allen was forced to camp somewhere he couldn't even see. However, Elzam had lost him in the fog as well. Slapping himelf in the face for being so careless, he decided to let someone else do the dirty work. A small bird with the symbol of a small eye on its chest landed on his shoulder. The eye was his own insignia; a symbol of his relationship to the Noah Clan. He then sent the little bird off into the fog, telling it to report anything it could find. He then turned up toward the sky, where 4 more Akuma had just appeared and asked the 4 to get help.

He looked out into the white blanket that covered the face of the forest, as it hovered heavily over everything underneath, as though threatening to crush anything below it. He then sat down again, wondering what he would do if help did arrive, or if he did find the boy. What would he do then? Whatever his answer was, it would have to wait, Lenalee's Innocence was the one thing he should really be after.

Celes furrowed her brow as she tapped the inhibitor cross melded into her skin as she idly began walking with her sister to a town somewhere in Russia. Celes could stand the walking because over the years she built up muscles in her legs from all those races she had with boys in her elementary school years, although they were being taught by their adoptive sister and elf, Raine-oneechan. She grunted. It would've been a little more convient if they brought along one of those finders guys. A fresh face was always welcomed. Regretfully, Celes looked at her older sister with tired amethyst eyes. She was tired of talking to her, but it was too awkward so she started with small talk once more. "So our first solo mission, eh Pris?"

There were alot of interesting things on that ruddied rock road. Oh! There was once a small snail she played with before her little sister shook her head and told her to leave it alone. Apparently it had other important things to do. Then they stopped to have small lunch break because the trip to the town was taking longer than expected. Priscilla was the only one allowed to cook because her sister burned everything. This made the girl feel a little bit more special than her. When Celes popped that question about their first solo mission, Priscilla held her stomach and nodded with an curvy, uneasy smile. "Hm? Oh, right.." she replied, looking off to the side.

[I'm not good with opening posts.]