"Eternity was in our lips and eyes,

Bliss in our brows' bent; none our parts so poor

But was a race of heaven."

-Cleopatra ('Antony and Cleopatra'; Act I; Scene III)

When the Black Order Acknowledges Theater

Disclaimer: For the thirtieth time, I don't own DGM.

CHAPTER THIRTY: Antony and Cleopatra (part six) (La Fine)

"I think that if you want to see everything Shakespeare is capable of doing in a single play, 'Antony and Cleopatra' is the one to read. It's his ultimate triumph over Christopher Marlowe" Lenalee said gleefully

Lavi tilted his head to one side "Weren't there rumors of them being one and the same though? Shakespeare and Marlowe I mean..."

"They're only rumors, I STRONGLY believe that Shakespeare is his own person" Lenalee furrowed her eyebrows, half-glaring at the bookman apprentice for his allegation

"Putting that aside, I DO agree that the play was a great triumph on Shakespeare's part..." Allen says, his voice stagnant "If you think about it, much thanks should be given to Marc Antony, he was such a glorious character that even Octavius admitted the world ended when he died"

"It was ridiculous, how could those people look up to him so much?" Kanda says eyes narrowed

"During Antony's time, which was Julius Ceasar's time coincidentally, a flamboyant presence was effective, even essential, to lead Rome or similar states..." Komui said

"When Marc Antony died, the era of the great Second Triumvirate was done..." Lavi mused "I imagine that was a happy era for Rome... Not that Octavius was that bad of an Emperor, but Julius is more known, that says SOMETHING"

"Shakespeare didn' give Rome much mercy did he?" Lenalee laughed

Miranda fidgeted "Well... Uhm... He didn't give Egypt any of it as well..."

"I believe that Shakespeare was trying to show that he took no sides" said Crowely "with respects to the clash of East and West at least"

Allen sighed "And yet it is an ever recurring theme..."

"But Love versus Lust came as the grandest theme didn't it?" at Akagi's statement, Allen flinched, and everyone stiffened

Lenalee opted to talk as to avoid any sort of silence whatsoever "Uhm, well you can say that Akagi but—"

"Wrong" Kanda said, suddenly, much to the surprise of all "Wrong" he repeated, and he looked squarely at Akagi, but the boy was unabashed, or at least, he looked like unabashed "Love and lust? The play toyed with Man versus Woman more than anything. Antony and Cleopatra constitute that."

Silence follows, Akagi smirks.

"Well that's one opinion Uncle" says the boy, shrugging

"Tsch..." although Kanda is beginning to look irked, he smirks "...which can only mean neither of us is right..." he says "...Stop talking about things which aren't for a boy like you to say"

Only Allen understood the double meaning of that statement. Though it certainly did not stop everyone else from feeling the existence of one, it was plainly obvious really. Lenalee turns to Lavi, out of habit (she does like turning to him for the Kanda and Allen relationship matters), and he smiles mouths 'I'll look into it', and then shrugs as to tell her to focus on the meeting. That she understood, she shook her head.

"Stop this ok guys?" Lenalee says, firmly, but a pleading tone rings on the edges "Let's move on to another topic..."

..................................

"Akagi? Could you do me a favour?" Allen says one morning, as he scrubs Akagi's back while the boy bathes

"What is it?" Akagi asks, as he indifferently plays with the bubbles in the water

"Could you stop irking Kanda? I know you're doing this intentionally, whatever your reasons just stop it..." Allen sighs "...Whatever Kanda did, or is doing, I don't really care anymore..."

"You don't really mean that..." the boy says matter-of-factly "...Why else would you be exponentially less hyperactive...You also don't tease uncle anymore, it's unlike you"

"I guess is... But..." Allen rinses the boy's back and begins shampooing his hair "...but well... I was just a bit uneasy, give me a few more days and I'll be back to normal"

"That you need a few more days in itself means you aren't ok, and that you do care..." Akagi says firmly

"Akagi...Just stop it anyway.... please..." Allen breathes deeply

"I'll try..." Akagi says "... no promises though..." he adds for good measure

The snow-haired exorcist sighs "You and Kanda are SO alike"

.....................................

"What's happening I wonder..." Lenalee says, trying to smile "...It's getting me a tad bit worried..."

"They'll be fine..." Lavi pats her shoulder "Akagi's working on it, you could tell right?"

"But it seems to be working the wrong way..." Lenalee huffs

"Which is why I'm planning to look into it as well... Although I highly doubt that Akagi doesn't know what he's doing..." says the bookman apprentice "...These methods are so like him..." and although they both haven't figured out the boy entirely, Lavi and Lenalee both think that to be true

"I just don't get what's going on though..." Lenalee mumbles "...It feels Akagi's trying to haunt Kanda with the past... Does not explain why Allen in more affected though"

Lavi's eyes widen slightly at that statement, realizing something "Just a hunch, but I think Allen started this... Not sure, but it does seem likely..." Lavi says this while recalling his mission with Allen to Hampshire

"Why would you say that?"and she looks genuinely curious of course

The bookman apprentice coughs nervously "Err... I can't say, it's kinda... a private matter...I know only cause I'm a bookman..." he laughs awkwardly "...and trust me, Kanda doesn't like that fact"

Lenalee finds herself laughing and she pats Lavi on the back a few times "You have my pity" she says

Lavi just tries his best to grin, but a smile is all he can muster.

"They're troublesome aren't they?"Lenalee says laughingly "They were so hard to get to get together and now they're having relationship problems... Why can't they both just be more honest? It's not like either of them would know for sure without being told straight" she is surprised when Lavi flinches

"Well..." he says "...I understand them there, it's hard to be honest" Lavi laughs uneasily

"Are you calling yourself a liar?" Lenalee asks teasingly

"Not exactly..." he scratches the back of his head "...You know it's not that people tend to lie, they just tend to keep the whole truth from others, it's a defence mechanism I guess..." he sighs "... pathetic I guess, but such is mankind"

"You're getting me interested..." she replies "Are you hiding something?"

Lavi laughs, this time it's a hearty one "Maybe!" he says, and he sounds like he genuinely doesn't know either

......................................

"What's wrong with you brat? Think being my nephew gives you the licence to tick me off?" Kanda hisses

Akagi shrugs "Not really, and it's your own choice to get ticked off"

Kanda clenches his teeth then glares at his nephew who is now grinning, he takes that moment to exclaim in his utter irritation, "Whatever happened to me, whatever I did, or even whatever is happening to me now, it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Stay out of it."

"It's not my fault that your business turns out to be Allen's business as well, and he LET'S me meddle..." Akagi doesn't even think 'meddle' is an improper word, though that might be exactly what he's doing

"Liar, he told me he told you to quit it!" shouts Kanda

"Which is why I'm saying that it's you who's choosing to be irked..." the boy beams at his uncle "...and that's all he told me to do anyway"

Kanda rolls his eyes "Whatever, just mind your own business" he strode forward, only to bump into someone, the sound of something falling can be heard

"K-Kanda..." it's Allen's voice, shocked, breathless "I'm sorry, I was kinda in a hurry..." he picks up the books he was carrying "...sorry" Allen finally manages to get a look of the swordsman, only to discover Kanda staring at him, awkwardly "What's wrong?"

"...Nothing..." Kanda looks away

Allen tilts his head to one side "... You sure?"

"Yeah..." Kanda still didn't look at Allen, Akagi sniggers

"Oh yeah..." says Akagi "...He's FINE"

Allen turns to look at Akagi mouths 'What?', he reaches to grasp Kanda's shoulders "Are you ok Kanda?" he says, shaking him slightly

Kanda looks at him, eyes uncharacteristically wide "Yes..."

Allen finds himself frowning "...You're not fine"

"Yes..." the swordsman said, standing up "...I am..." and then he walks away, Allen staring at his wake

"What did you say Akagi?" Allen asked, though not looking at the boy

"Since when is it automatically my fault that he's acting weird?" Akagi sounded theatrically appalled "Why don't you go talk to him, and ask him yourself?" and then he grins

Allen sighs, and stands up "Let' go..." he reaches out his free hand, and the boy takes it. They walk off.

..............................

"I wanna talk to you" and despite what we expect it's Lavi who says these words, and the words pertain to the boy, Akagi

Allen was reading 'Crime and Punishment' (by Fyodor Dostoevsky) to the boy, a fact that Lavi found amusing, he suppressed the urge to comment.

"Sure" Akagi says nonchalantly, apparently he was expecting this. Also apparently, Allen was not, he was giving Lavi a weird look. The bookman apprentice just shrugged.

Together with the boy, Lavi strode out of the room, and entered the empty hallway. Lavi sighed and turned to look at Akagi. "What'd you want to talk about?" the boy asks.

Lavi looked to one side, shrugged, and scratched the back of his head "What are you planning?" he asked, but he didn't sound at all accusing, it sounded more like inquiry than anything

"Planning? About what?" whether or not Akagi was just trying to look innocent was indiscernible

"Well... you know..." Lavi shifts his weight to his right foot with unease, he looks at Akagi "...about Kanda and Allen, something's wrong with them obviously"

The boy shrugs "Something's always wrong with them" he grins "Don't worry, I'm not doing anything out of safe bounds, they'll be ok, I know it, soon even"

Lavi puts on a crooked smile "Lenalee's fussing over it" he says, and he laughs lightly

"That's the way she is, she's a great person" the boy beams, looking a tad bit sheepish

"Yeah" the bookman apprentice's smile was full now "She is"

Akagi tilts his head to one side, his expression looking sly "Maybe you should start being honest too... Do it your way though, improvise is always good"

Lavi raised an eyebrow at that comment, and it didn't take long for him to begin to laugh thereafter "I can't believe you're actually giving me that advice..." he breathes

"That, or you can't believe you're actually getting this advice in general"

"Yeah" Lavi laughs "Maybe"

Akagi eyes him suspiciously "So you'll do it?"

The bookman-to-be grins "Do what?"

"You'll actually start fessing up I mean"

With another laugh he replies, "We'll see"

.............................

When Akagi and Allen ventured back from the library to the snow-haired exorcist's room, a dark haired sword wielding exorcist could be seen leaning near the said bedrooms door. No one else could fit such an expression, and so naturally, we can assume this person to be Kanda Yuu. He does not talk, nor does he even move, when the two stop in front of the room. Allen furrows his eyebrows in obvious confusion, while Akagi finds himself grinning. "I think I'll go find Lavi!" Akagi shouts, and then he lets go of Allen's arm, runs away.

"Akagi wait!" Allen tries to run after the boy, a firm grip takes a hold of his wrist. His abrupt stop caused him to turn, and now he was looking at Kanda, who in turn was looking at him. The swordsman gestured for his bedroom door. Allen took this as a signal to go inside.

When Allen entered his own bedroom he took a stride for his bed, he heard the door click in the silence, Kanda had locked it. 'Oh so he's here to do that?' Allen thought. Half-expecting this anyway, this was probably the only way Kanda knew to show affection.

"Look..." Allen's is completely surprised, when Kanda begins to talk "... I can't make any promises, I DON'T know how long I'll live nor do I know EXACTLY how I would call my..." he breaths "... FEELINGS for you... But you know what?" he looks at Allen squarely in the eye "I honestly don't give a damn about any of that"

Allen found himself just standing there looking surprised, speechless.

"...And about Sarah... It wasn't really that special, our relationship was nothing like that..." he continued "...It was nothing like... well... THIS" despite what he was saying he looked utterly irked, though perhaps it would have been more right to say that he looked as such BECUASE of what he was saying

Allen tries to hide his amusement, the swordsman before him had been thinking obviously, and now he was frustrated "And what IS this exactly?" he said, trying to hide the amusement in his tone

Kanda grunts "I DON'T KNOW" he narrows his eyes "Maybe you can tell me"

Allen scratches the back of his head "Well, you see I don't know either" he beams "...But like you said who gives a damn, right? At the very least we know it's something important, for both of us"

The swordsman merely shrugs in reply. Allen can't hold back his amusement anymore, he's grinning like a madman, Kanda actually THOUGHT about it.

"One more thing..." It's Kanda who says this, voice almost audible only to them both "...if it ever happened that you would betray the Order, willingly or not, know that I'll be the first to raise my sword"

And though Allen is surprised, he says this with a smile "Then be the one to cut my throat"

"Tsch" is all that comes out of the swordsman's mouth, Allen raises an eyebrow, Kanda rolls his eyes, Allen laughs, Kanda grabs his face for a kiss.

......................................

"Oh they'll be fine..." Akagi says "...They just went to 'talk it out' actually, there's only one other thing they can do when they're alone anyway, and uncle's not the type to go there just to do THAT"

Lenalee turns to Lavi, the bookman apprentice shrugs "I THINK we can trust him"

The boy pouts "What's with that? You just THINK?"

Lavi grins "Well I can never be too sure with you can I?"

"Well at least they're talking it out" Lenalee sighs

"Yep" Akagi beams "Communication is essential for a relationship, honesty is the best policy!" and he nudges Lavi with his elbow

The bookman-to-be stumbles a bit "Uh..." he says "...right..."

"I think I'll get back to them now, they're probably done... It's been half-an-hour" how Akagi knows that exactly we cannot assume how "...but if they're not, I'm going to go look for you two again" and that sounded like a warning strangely

"Right, run along then" Lavi waves a hand, and Akagi runs along

"He's become so familiar with this place hasn't he? A shame we're moving" Lenalee sighs

"Can't be helped" Lavi says "That's the way it is"

"Somehow I'm envious of them"

The bookman apprentice's eyes widen "Yuu and Allen?"

"Yeah..." she looks at Lavi and smiles

"Ah well..." he breathes "...yeah..."

"You're envious too?" and Lenalee's sporting a cheeky grin "How unlike you Lavi..."

He laughs "Well you know you can't help these things..." he slowly shifts his weight onto one leg and places his hands in his pockets

She senses his unease "Hmm? What's wrong?"

"I'd say nothing but..." he pauses, considers "... I think that I have something to ask you..."

"You THINK?" she asks

"Ah well, I WANT to ask you something... I guess..." The last two words were barely audible

"...What is it?" suddenly she looks concerned, because Lavi looks uneasy and serious

The bookman-to-be sighs, pulls his hands out of his pockets and takes one of Lenalee's hands, places it between both of his. "I'd like to hold this hand" Lenalee's eyes widen in astonishment "If... you know, it's ok with you..."

There's a moment of silence, and Lavi almost pulls away, she stops him "No..." she says "...It's fine..." then she beams "Really" he just beams right back.

.....................................

On an uneventful day, during an uneventful lunch break, Lenalee was debating on what the Black Order's Shakespearean Play Club would discuss next.

"I think I'd like to read 'Othello', but whatever you chose is fine Lenalee" Allen says reassuringly

Lavi pats Lenalee's shoulder "My vote's on 'King Lear', but you know I'm fine with whatever you chose"

Somehow Lenalee Lee feels a tad bit more pressured.

"I don't care what you want to read, just chose quick. The bean and I need to leave soon." Kanda's priorities, will always be priorities (?), missions before club meetings of course.

Lenalee looks back and forth between Lavi and Allen, then, she sighs. "King Lear" she says firmly, trying to ignore how Allen's face slightly fell "Have fun on your mission!" not the most appropriate thing to say but...

"Great" Kanda said "Let's go" he grabs Allen by the wrist, runs off

"Glad they're happy" Lavi says with a grin

Lenalee laughs "Yeah... me too"

"You know what I actually want to read 'Othello' too" the bookman-to-be says teasingly

"Oh?" she asks amused "Why'd you say 'King Lear' then?"

Lavi shrugs "Who knows" Lenalee laughs

Meanwhile, Kanda was running, dragging Allen along, muttering something about being late for their mission. "Slow down Kanda!" Allen exclaimed "We're not late!"

"Better early than whatever!" and he continues to run pulling poor Allen with him, the snow-haired exorcist can't help but chuckle

They pass Miranda and she shouts 'Good luck!', they pass Crowley and he says 'Have a safe trip!' and Akagi, who was with him, shouts 'The first class compartment is always a good place!'. Kanda shouts 'Shut up!' to his nephew, while Allen shouts 'Akagi!' as if he was scolding the boy. But they didn't stop; they just kept on running off. Allen muses on how big the Order actually is. Kanda grumbles for almost the entire run. They arrive at where their finder was, panting.

"Supervisor told me to give you these" in the finder's hands were two copies of 'King Lear'

Kanda looked irritated "What the hell! How did these get here before—"

"Thank you" Allen interrupts and he takes the copies from the finder, Kanda looks at him with narrow eyes 'Don't bother' Allen mouths

"A note came with it as well" said the finder, and he handed Allen a piece of paper

He read the note out loud "If you don't read this, there will be punishment, it's signed by Komui"

"Tsch" it almost seemed like Kanda was hiding his amusement

"We must leave now" said the finder "Follow me"

Kanda and Allen walked behind the finder, in silence for a change.

"About what Akagi said..." and Allen is surprised that Kanda brings this up "...he's right"

He raises an eyebrow "Right? About what exactly?"

The swordsman smirks "The first class compartment is a good place?"

"For what?" Allen asks, he wrinkles his nose, furrows his eyebrows

Kanda gives him a you're-actually-asking-that-question face.

"Oh..." Allen realizes, knowing EXACTLY what the other meant now "But the finder will be there"

And Kanda, with a smirk on his face, said exactly what Allen would expect him to say.

"I know"

+*~THE END~*+

.................................

(a/n: Oh My Freak, I actually finished it. It's actually done. I can't believe it's over. This is my longest fan fiction to date, so it will always be unforgettable. Since it's the first one to last so long. First of all sorry if this final chapter was in anyway unsatisfactory, and also, this is also unedited, so enjoy the typos (lol) anyway. I wanna thank everyone who read this, reviewed, put it in their favourites and alerts list, whether you just lurked or whatever, thank you. I was going through the reviews, re-reading them all again. I read the reviews for the latest chapter and noticed two people who have been reviewing since this fic's early days, so I'd just like to directly thank Digimagic and Lochesh. =)

Again though, thank you all, It's been a pleasure. I'll be posting the edited version of the chapters in a few days, not all at once, little by little (finally, they get edited, special thanks to Ame Mika'zuki for editing more than half of the chapters xP). Reviews are appreciated xD and I'll definitely reply, ask anything, this is the last chapter, I'm in an awfully good mood.)