A/N: DAMN TUMBLR AND ALL THE IDEAS IT GIVES ME. ...Hi, by the way.

Title: Blackberry Bushes

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Adventure

Warnings: AU

Summary: In another universe, Tiedoll is the one to find Allen Walker in the graveyard. With Tiedoll as his master, Allen is a slightly different boy - but only slightly.

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man.

Tiedoll had been known to wander into some strange places, but he had to admit, a graveyard in the dead of night was rather unusual, even for him.

He hadn't done it on purpose, of course, but it was quite hard to see this late at night, and he'd been caught up in a particularly beautiful scene that he just had to paint. No wonder it kept changing on him! It had taken hours. And now he was having some difficulty finding lodging for the night. Shame.

Perhaps it was for the best, though, because if he'd come here in the morning, or indeed not come here at all, he might not have found that little boy.

He almost didn't, anyway. The poor child was tucked right up against a gravestone, and if the moon had been any dimmer he would have been invisible. As it was, Tiedoll fingered his weapon cautiously as he approached, eyes concerned.

"Child? Is something the matter?"

The child stared straight ahead with big, empty eyes. Tiedoll checked to see if he was breathing. He was.

"Child?" He came a little closer and paused.

Something shiny and wet coated the left side of the boy's face, and his arms hung limp at his sides. One of them had a glowing green cross embedded in the back, and Tiedoll's eyes turned solemn. Ah. So that was how it was.

He hated how many child exorcists there were lately.

Tiedoll knelt in front of the boy, all paranoia gone in favor of increasing concern. "Child?" He reached forward and tilted the boy's head up so their eyes met. The boy didn't even twitch. "Oh, dear. What's happened here, hm?"

He hadn't intended to enter the graveyard that night, but he was glad he had anyway.

Now bearing the unconscious child, he knocked on the first door he came to with a light still in the window. While he hated to disturb anyone, this had gone from 'idle' to 'rather important'; he needed to treat this child as soon as he could, so no delays were to be tolerated.

Sure enough, the man who answered was grumpy at being interrupted. "What the hell-" And then his gaze fell on the child in Tiedoll's arms. "Oh, it's him. You know 'im?"

"I'm afraid not," Tiedoll admitted cheerily, or as cheerily as he could with a catatonic child cradled in his arms. "Could you tell me?"

The man stared at him like he was crazy. Tiedoll was used to that, however.

"I don't know him myself, don't even know his name," the man said at last, still eying him warily. "But he's been in the graveyard for the past three days. His father or something died in a carriage accident and no one could get him up, and no one tried too hard besides." He shrugged. "Don't know what happened to his face, though."

"Thank you," Tiedoll said politely. He could put the rest together well enough himself; while it was rare for an exorcist to make an akuma, it wasn't unheard of. "Can you give me directions to the nearest inn, please?"

The man gave him directions, and Tiedoll thanked him again before leaving him to his work, humming quietly to the child in his arms.

It had been a while since he'd taken on a new apprentice. And he'd never taken on a parasite user before. He wondered what the child was like.

Most of Tiedoll's apprentices had arrived in some state of shock or other. Little Yuu, for example, had refused to speak for the first three months. Daisya had cried at the drop of a hat. Noise, some years older than the other two, had merely been stone-faced and tense, and prone to spacing out at odd moments.

This child, admittedly, was worse than any of them.

"Oh, bother," Tiedoll murmured, dabbing the last of the blood away from the fresh wound on the boy's face.

It was a wicked, unnatural gash, crooked and clean. At the top was a clear pentagram, standing out starkly against the pale skin. A curse scar.

"You're in for a difficult time, I'm afraid," Tiedoll told the unresponsive child, expression solemn and gentle. He set the bloody cloth aside and picked up some gauze and bandages. "Now, this may hurt, but it's quite necessary. I promise I'll be gentle."

Tiedoll had taken on many apprentices in his time as a general of the Order. He remembered each and every one of them - could draw their faces from memory even now. And though he knew it would hurt, he kept all of them close.

Exorcists were often vulnerable. Not in a physical sense, but emotionally, mentally, so many of them were battered and scarred, and the children worst of all. If anyone needed someone to care for them, it was the little exorcists. Unfortunately, in most cases, he was all but too late.

This one, he could tell already, would be no different. But it was not in Tiedoll's nature to give up on anyone, and silently, he promised him that he would be a rock for him, the same way he had been for so many others in their early days. He would care for the child until he could care for himself, protect him until he could protect himself, and then watch over him the best he could as he sent yet another child off to their doom.

He passed the cloth over the boy's face again and again, slowly covering up the left eye and, indeed, the entire left half of his face. As he did, he talked.

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you. You look quite young. Perhaps eight? Nine?" He sighed. "I always seem to find the children." He smiled humorously. "Well, better me than any of the others. I hate to imagine how Marian would handle a child. That man is hardly fit to be around adults." He shook his head. "Never mind that. I may not know you, child, but I am certain that you can pull through this. You need only be strong."

Well. 'Only.' Tiedoll understood that that was quite a tall order, but he had faith. Any child that had made it this far could almost certainly make the final stretch, and when he crossed the finish line, Tiedoll would be waiting.

He patted the boy's hand. The boy shivered, but the boy had been shivering more or less constantly, with that same hollow, haunted look on his face, stricken and empty at once. It was unnerving, but then, he was used to Yuu's vicious scowls. Tiedoll smiled.

"I have quite a lot to explain to you, child, but first steps first, of course. I can be patient." The boy stared straight ahead, and Tiedoll's smile faded into a more sad look, and he repeated, "I can be patient."

And patient Tiedoll was. Over the next month and a half, Tiedoll learned more about caring for a catatonic patient than he had ever especially cared to, but he bore it nonetheless. He fed the child, washed him, changed his clothes, and woke him from his nightmares. Each day, he grew more worried. Perhaps he had been wrong.

Finally, though, the child woke up, and Tiedoll smiled, relieved and happy and weary at once.

"Who are you?" the boy whispered, head turning to him with that same haunted look, the first words he'd spoken in over a month.

"My name is Froi Tiedoll, child," Tiedoll said gently, placing a hand on the boy's head. The boy swallowed and looked at him, pensive and weary and confused. "And we have much to discuss, but first, will you please tell me your name?"

"...Allen. My name is... Allen."

Hey! So I've decided that I'm going to rotate this in on Fridays, even if it's a little late THIS Friday. I haven't decided how long it'll be or how far it'll go, though. For now, it's a oneshot series, but it may become more coherent later on. Thanks for reading, and please review!