Hi! My first story so please be gentle with me. Updates will be pretty slow until my exams end so please be patient. Not much description because I don't have time to add those. Hope you'll enjoy the story and happy reading! Please review too! Only the first chapter is adapted from chapters 165-167.
Disclamer: D.Gray-Man belongs to Hoshino Katsura. It does not belong to me. This story is just a work of fiction inspired by my wild imagination. All ideas are original and cannot be copied.
Chapter 1: 1st Night-Unveiling Truth
"Well done, Inspector Howard."
That voice sounds familiar…
"You did well on your mission as well, Allen Walker-kun."
I recognized that sinister voice that sent chills down my back. I gulped and whipped round to see… Inspector Rouvelier.
"I have arrived… I look forward to having you under my command."
Something about his voice told me something bad was going to happen. Before I could even say a word, two hooded men in black cloaks with masks covering their faces stepped forward and grabbed me. They restrained my arm will a spell and led me through the corridor behind Inspector Rouvelier and Inspector Howard. I knew Johnny would be worried so I turned my head and gave Johnny a reassuring smile.
"Your body will be a bit heavy, but it won't harm you. It's just a technique meant to restrain your left arm."
I growled. A little heavy? Scratch that. VERY HEAVY. Damn that Rouvelier. It had taken all my strength to change and I was out of breath now.
"If you wanted me to change clothes, you could have put this on me afterwards…" I grumbled.
I frowned. We're allies and yet they're going this far… No, that's no it. They question whether I'm an ally or not. But to have come this far, as expected… Thought this mission was to officially set up the gates… It seems this is their true objective…to question me… What should I do?
"Inspector, there will be no threat to his life correct?" Komui asked.
Komui was worried about Allen's safety and what Rouvelier was thinking. The presence of the CROW made him anxious and he was having trouble maintaining his calm.
"Of course not, Chief. As long as he's a good child, nothing will happen."
Rouvelier took a sip of his tea and turned to Komui and a sinister smile lurked on his face. Komui saw his look and felt a mixture of anger and terror. Allen's situation was looking quite bleak.
I was led through a few corridors before I stopped at a room with double doors.
"General Cross Marian is beyond this door."
Master? What was he doing here? Was he here to-
"Enter."
The double doors swung open and I entered the room hesitantly with slow steps. I looked up and saw Master looking out a window, smoking. Timcanpy flew towards Master and landed on his shoulder. The four guards stood around the corners of the room and formed a barrier around us. Why were they keeping a watch on us? I felt uneasy and a growing sense of dread.
I knew this had something thing to do with me, Mana and the Fourteenth…
"Mana… He had something to do with the Fourteenth didn't he?" I asked.
"Yeah. The Fourteenth had a blood relative. A older brother. The one and only person who was by his side up till he betrayed the Noahs, until the very moment he was killed by the Millennium Earl."
Master paused for a while, before continuing.
"That brother was… Mana Walker."
"Brothers? Mana and the Fourteenth.?"
I thought about how little I knew about Mana. His life was seemed like a mystery now. I pondered about how I first met Mana.
It was cold winter day. However, I was dressed in thin, scruffy clothes. I was working at a circus and doing little chores there. I saw a clown, peering at a dog in a grave. I walked towards him and eyed the dog. It was covered with bruises. It was probably dead by now.
"Is it dead?" I asked.
"Yes, he died."
"There's bruises all over him."
I thought what might have caused the bruises. Then I remembered that Bastard Cosmo looking at the new clown jealously during the previous performance.
"I'll bet it was that Bastard Cosmo, for freaking sure. It's just because the audience liked you better. Whenever someone with more talent than him comes around, he always bullies them. His performance is shit but he's great at stuff like this."I continued.
"He was a very old dog. He probably wouldn't have lived much longer anyway. It's all right."
"Hmph. You're saying you don't wanna get back at him at all?"
This clown was stupid. Was he even angry? Or upset?
"If I did something like that, the boss would run me off and I would have to work for free," he anwered.
"Tch."
What a stupid reason. So it all boiled down to money, huh? I guess money really makes the world go round… This guy pissed me off.
"I'm just an outsider, after all. Once Christmas is over tomorrow, I'll be heading off somewhere else," the clown continued.
"So what?"
This guy wasn't even making sense to me.
"Hmm… By the way, young man… Who were you again?"
"I do odd jobs around here. I brought you food too, didn't I?"
"I'm not good at remembering faces…"
"Hmm? If I look closely, it seems you are covered in bruises too!"
The clown leaned forward and licked my face.
"THAT'S NASTY! Don't get your spit on me, DAMMIT!" I yelled.
This clown was weird.
"I'm cleaning you up. Did cosmo hit you?" the clown asked.
"Shut up."
"Do you have any friends?" the clown continued.
"SHUT UP!"
I couldn't take this wacko anymore. His last sentence sparked off anger within me. I felt my face burning up. Damn. Did he have to bring that up?
"Who cares about this place anyway… Once I'm grown up and strong, I'll get out of here, so I don't need any damn friends."
I clenched my teeth in anger and gripped my knees tightly. Suddenly, the clown's face was in front of me. The clown pulled his face up with his hands and his lips puckered.
"The hell are you doing…"
"Was it funny?" the clown asked.
"Sorry, but I don't like clowns and stuff like that. Actually, I pretty much hate them."
I had too much hate for the world to laugh and smile.
"Really? Well, I don't like an audience or kids who won't smile either."
"Hmph. Hey… Why aren't you crying? You lived everyday with this dog, didn't you? Are you not even sad?
"I'm so sad I could die," the clown answered. I turned around to see the clown hanging, a rope around his head.
"STOP THAT!!"
What was with this guy? Only one word could sum him up. Freaky.
"Actually I can't cry. Maybe my tears have all dried up… They just won't come, no matter what."
The clown undid the ropes while he talked. I stared at the clown. He was really stupid.
"The hell? That's stupid."
"This guy… What's his name? I pet him yesterday and he licked me. His tongue was warm. So I thought, today, I'd…"
Tears streamed down my face and my nose got runny. Why was I crying over this dog? I hardly even knew it.
"Why?... That's all it was, so why am I crying…?" I wailed.
"Oh… I see…" "You were allen's friend weren't you…" thought the clown.
"Master, you knew the whole time didn't you?" I asked.
"I knew all along. When the Fourteenth died, I promised him I'd watch over Mana. If I did that, some day you'd return to Mana's side. That… was what you promised me Allen."
What was Master trying to say? His word didn't make sense. It wasn't long before he delivered the heart-rending blow.
"Or should I say, FOURTEENTH?"
My eyes widened in shock and horror. Me, the Fourteenth? How could that be? Was this all some kind of big joke?
"It's probably not really awake yet, but surely you've started to feel the fourteenth's presence, haven't you allen?"
"What!? What are you…"
"Don't bother playing dumb. You knew the song of the player. That's his memory."
"You're the human implanted with the Fourteenth's memories… The host for his revival into the mortal world."
Master turned around and faced me. His words stunned me.
"It's all the memory of the Fourteenth. You knew the player's song and you played it, even though you had never played a piano before. Those things aren't "you". It was all the memory of the Fourteenth. When you were in the room, you saw something didn't you?"
I could even utter a word. The revelation of the truth rendered me speechless. Was my life until now just a big lie? I didn't even know what was real or fake now.
"Hey."
Apparently Master had probably lost his patience and he slapped my face. Ow… Master never had much patience… My left cheek throbbed and I cursed inwardly.
"Ow…"
"Don't just stand around that, we still got talking to do!"
Master's intense stare burned a hole into my back. His anger subsided quickly but now I felt… upset.
"When you… I…implanted… When did he…"
"Huh? Ah Sorry, no clue about that."
"WHAT!?"
"Wait! I can probably guess! Probablyyyyy… sometime before the guy died."
"You don't know at all? Do you!?"
"The hell do you want!? I said I was sorry. Just forget that part!"
I grumbled. Master really is an idiot.
"Anyway… I didn't know where to begin either. Until you showed up, that is. It was a hellish state of affairs for him, after he tried to kill the Earl. Him and Mana, living like fugitives, constantly in danger from the Noah clan."
Master paused and took a puff of his cigarette before he continued.
"I don't think the Fourteenth had the luxury of worrying about 'when' or 'who'. When there was a chance, he took it, and just picked a host from the people who happened to be around. Thinking of nothing but using you to kill the Earl."
The Fourteenth was using me… That thought just angered me.
"So he actually picked me?"
"Some bad luck for you isn't it."
Master looked at me and gave me a smile. Master actually smiled at me! But his smile looked a bit sad… Master's face turned serious though.
"The implanted memory will erode the host away at the host little by little… And eventually turn you into the Fourteenth."
I would lose my memories and turn into a noah? That fact scared me. What would I do when I became a noah? I won't even be able to control myself…
"You've already seen the signs, haven't you?"
The signs. So that's what the shadows were… I could feel the shadow behind me, grining evily.
"So, that's… that's why… That's not fair…"
Why did it have to be me? Was my life gonna be full of curses? My innocence, my eye, the Destroyer of Time, and now a noah? Life was so unfair. Fate was probably laughing at me and making fun of me right now…
Then it struck me. Mana, who did he treat me as? Did he only love me for who I was or because I was his brother?
"When Mana said "I love you…" was he telling… me or… Which was it…?"
I could see Master was shocked at what I had said.
"The day that the Fourteenth had died, Mana kind of lost his mind. I don't know whether he remembered his past or not. But the way it looked to me, from the outside… Kinda ironic, isn't it."
Master pulled me to his chest and hugged me. I was feeling upset now and was thankful to Master for hugging just this once. I had wanted to be hugged by someone. The feeling when someone hugs you… I had never really gotten that feeling. Being abandoned by my parents whom I don't know… No one had hugged me in a motherly or fatherly way. I had never gotten the care my parents should have given me. I desperately wanted to have a family. One where I would belong. One which genuinely cared for me. Mana did hug me when I was young but I wasn't even sure if his hugs were for me or for…
"I'd never expected it to be a kid like this…" Cross thought.
"Should've picked some poor bastard nobody would have missed for his host… Not too kind of him was it." Cross spoke outloud.
"In the end, I guess it's the same story, huh? To protect one thing, something else had to sacrificed." Cross thought.
Master knew how much I hated him smoking and just this once he actually didn't smoke. He gave Timcanpy his cigarette and Timcanpy ate it. It felt nice to have someone hugging me. The touch that that I had longed for, for as long as I could remember. The touch I never got.
"Can't laugh at Tiedoll anymore…Geez…"
Master actually cared for me? He had never shown any care blatantly all this years…
"If I told you that when you turn into the Fourteenth, you'll have to kill the people who are important to you… Then… what would you do…?"
I would kill people important to me? My friends would die… at my hands?
It was still raining heavily and I saw Lenalee and Johnny sleeping on a sofa. They had probably tried to wait for me to return. The weather was cold and they were sleeping out here… They would get a cold at this rate… I took a blanket and used it to cover them. This would keep them warm…
"Allen!?"
Lenalee had woken up and was surprised to see me.
"Ah!" Lenalee was going to wake up Johnny at this rate.
"Oh geez, we fell asleep!" Lenalee thought.
"Where's my brother and everyone?" Lenalee asked.
"They're still talking about something inside… Lenalee, if you keep moving around like that, you'll wake up Johnny."
Lenalee calmed down and stopped moving.
"Your face is kind of swollen…"
"Ah… Master hit me."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
Lenalee didn't have to know what was going to happen. I would keep everything a secret… I wouldn't worry anyone… No one had to know anything…
"Huh? Something's… different…" Lenalee thought.
"It was nothing really." I said.
Hope you enjoyed my story! There'll be more action in the coming chapters. This is just the ending of the beginning! Updates will be pretty slow until around October. Thank you for reading!
