Author's note: I don't own D Gray Man.

Damn it, he cursed to himself. Damn it to hell. He was running away again. But that wasn't the problem.

The problem was the bloody bundle he was carrying in his arms. She was injured heavily; he could tell from the way his own coat soaked in her blood. And the way he couldn't stop his own tears falling.

It was just like that other time. He'd screwed up against the akuma. He was too confident in his abilities, too accustomed to 'saving' these poor souls. And the same poor souls nearly killed him, had Linali not intervened. But she intervened at the expense of ignoring her own battle, and took a severe blow from a high levelled akuma. The entire debacle seemed like a blur, only in slow motion; the way blood erupted from the freshly opened wound.

Without thinking, Allen grabbed Linali's now limp body with his Crowned Clown and transferred most of her weight onto his softer, right arm. It hardly registered as he ripped through the Akuma who blocked his way as he dashed away from the monsters. Yes, he was referring to them as monsters now.

He ran for what seemed like an eternity from them. At first, many akuma gave chase to him, but none were able to catch up to his inhuman speed. Eventually, the pursuit decreased until only a few hardy akuma remained. And Allen's legs were tiring. As much as he was hesitant, he knew he'd have to face them. He looked at Linali's lifeless form, wincing. But she was still breathing.

"Aww, is the poor exorcist worried about his girlfriend?" One of them taunted him in a high pitched voice.

"Fuck you." Allen shocked himself even a little with the harshness of his response. In other circumstances, he would've blushed. But now, the redness in his face was brought about by another emotion: rage.

"Look at the big exorcist get all mad," The same akuma pointed mockingly at him as it turned to its companions. It was its last mistake. Allen used this distraction as a window of opportunity to attack. Thrusting his arm forward with the weight of his body and innocence, the left arm pierced the akuma in two places in the chest and once in the neck. It didn't even register an expression of shock as it dematerialized.

Clutching Linali with his right arm, he turned to the nearest akuma who was visibly shaken. Allen went to slash and the akuma went to block; but the hesitance of the latter allowed Allen to swipe through the arm and torso of the akuma, slaying it. Allen turned his head to see a round object coming towards him. He moved in time to take the impact on his innocence activated arm, shielding himself, but more importantly, Linali from the ensuing explosion.

A shadow appeared on the side of Linali and swung at her. Allen turned in time to take the impact on his back, jumping in the direction of the blow to reduce the effectiveness of the blow. He gritted his teeth so that wouldn't scream out in pain; after all, this was nothing compared to what Linali had taken for him.

His body was smacked through the air and he crashed into the ground, once again onto his now injured back. But there was no open wound from the attack. Allen looked down his body. Thankfully, Linali was still cradled safely in his arms. And it looked like the bleeding had stopped and she was still breathing. He breathed a sigh of relief. This was enough encouragement.

He struggled to his feet and scanned the surrounding area. The akuma had disappeared; but if he wasn't around him…and then the ground trembled. Allen's instincts kicked in as he jumped into the air, followed by an explosion from underneath. Having pre-empted the attack, Allen's left eye saw the akuma before it even saw him. Within moments, Allen struck down his final foe as it dissipated.

He landed on crouched on his feet. And then he gently laid her down on the floor. The wound looked deep as the blood was dark. But Linali was strong. She was strong enough to survive this. Yet he was not. He could feel his eyes well up again and tears start dripping down his cheeks.

The wonders of his jacket held a first aid kit ready for this sort of treatment. His time with Cross had taught him how to apply first aid for serious wounds and for once, he truly felt in debt to his master.

He cleaned the wound which had clotted by itself and applied a clean dressing to it with his filthy hands. He only hoped that she would not get infected. He really felt so hopelessly foolish and guilty. He'd been trained by a General for three years! He had parasitism type innocence and one of the strongest ones at that! And yet, he was foolhardy enough to drop his guard and cause Linali to get hurt once again for his sake.

They couldn't stay there though. As much as he knew it was against medical advice, he'd have to move Linali, lest he want the akuma to catch them first. He slipped his arms underneath her and carried her like a bloody bride under the sky.

As he trotted through what seemed like desolation for hours, he felt her stir in his arms. Looking down, she pulls herself closer to Allen's soft clothing. She's still not quite conscious yet, he muses.

Not a quarter of an hour later, she opens her eyes and calls his name. Allen beams.

"Are you ok?" She asks. Ever the one to look out for her comrades despite her own wounds, he grins for the first time in what seemed an eternity.

"…Yeah, I am."

Author's Note: I just wanted to write a D Gray Man fic. So here it is.