A/N: Greetings, all. Welcome to the first chapter of Belief. This story, like most of my stories, is OC-centric, but the main character isn't a Mary Sure of any kind, I promise. She does have unique traits, but nothing that's out of place in the D. Grayman universe. :D I apologize for any OOC-ness the main characters may show; this is my first D. Grayman fic and I'm not as well-versed in their behaviors as the I am in the behaviors of characters from my other fandoms. Anyway, review when you're done please! I appreciate any and all feedback. :)
Chapter 1: As Unapproachable As Fire
"Who is she?" Lenalee asked, looking at Lavi from across the table. "This new Exorcist who's being brought in?"
The redhead shrugged, poking at his bowl of oatmeal distractedly. "No idea. Word has it that she's coming in from Italy. Beyond that, who knows?"
Kanda glanced at Lavi, looking only half-interested. "You're a Bookman. Aren't you supposed to know these things?"
Lavi grinned. "Come on, Yuu. You can't expect me to know everything."
Kanda glared at him, but said nothing else.
Lenalee glanced between the two of them nervously, relieved that Kanda had settled for an angry glare; more often than not when someone called him by his first name the person in question was hard-pressed to avoid Kanda's wrath, typically in the form of his sword Mugen.
"Where's Allen?" Lavi asked suddenly, craning his neck around to scan the dining hall.
Lenalee blinked. "Huh?" She looked around. "I don't know." She frowned. "Kanda?"
He snorted. "Where that stupid beansprout is isn't any of my business."
"It's breakfast, though," Lenalee felt compelled to point out. "So isn't it odd for him not to be here?"
Kanda just shrugged.
Far from the hubbub of the morning meal, a young woman of eighteen walked down a deserted hall, carrying only a knapsack that was slung over her shoulder.
Komui Lee, she thought to herself, recalling the slip of paper she'd been handed after she'd arrived.
Go see Chief Officer Lee, she'd been told. He'll finalize your transfer.
Never mind that I didn't want to transfer here in the first place. She scowled. Staying in Italy would be so much easier. But no. The Order had insisted she relocate to the main European Branch in England.
She sighed, and turned the corner without looking. She promptly crashed into someone going the other way. They both crashed to the ground.
"Ow..." the other person groaned. "You're in a hurry, I guess, huh?"
She rubbed her forehead and made a face. "Looks like you are, too."
To her surprise, the other person laughed. "Yeah, I am. I'm late for breakfast."
She actually looked at the other person for the first time. A boy around her age, with pale skin and gray-silver eyes and white hair.
Is that a tattoo? she wondered, noticing the red marking on the side of his face. Her Innocence took the form of various tattoos when it wasn't active, hence her long sleeves, but despite her familiarity with them, she couldn't determine if the mark on this boy's face was a tattoo or something else.
"I'm Allen Walker," the boy said, standing up and offering her a hand.
She frowned, looking up at him.
"Come on," he insisted, still holding out his hand. "Let me help you up."
"I don't need help," she answered, standing up on her own and brushing herself off.
He shrugged, still smiling. "I guess you don't." He looked at her curiously. "Are you a new clerk or something? I haven't seen you around here before."
She scowled. "I'm an Exorcist," she responded, straightening the strap of her bag on her shoulder.
He blinked, surprised. "Ehh? Really? You aren't dressed like one."
She made a face. She couldn't exactly argue that. Instead of the standard Exorcist uniform that Allen was wearing, she was dressed in a dark gray long-sleeved turtleneck sweater and black jeans. She just shrugged.
To her surprise, Allen laughed. "You aren't very talkative, are you?"
The corners of her mouth twitched upwards despite herself. "Not really."
He smiled. "What's your name?"
"Aminta," she responded.
"No last name?" he asked curiously.
She shook her head. "Not anymore."
"Ah." He nodded. "I understand."
Oddly, she believed that he really did understand. He actually looked sincere, unlike everyone else who had said that same exact thing to her; they had clearly just been trying to act sympathetic. This Allen, though...he seemed to get it.
"So," he continued, not seeming bothered by her lack of conversation. "Is there someplace you're on your way to? I can walk you."
She stared at him. Nice timing. "Actually, I am. Can you help me find Komui Lee?"
"Lenalee's big brother? Sure." He pointed over his shoulder. "His office is back this way."
Well, at least I was heading in the right direction. "Thank you." She stepped past him.
"You're welcome." He felt into step beside her, seemingly serious about escorting her. "What do you need to see Komui for?"
"I was told to talk to him to finalize my transfer."
"You're transferring here?" Allen asked, surprised.
She nodded.
"Huh...That's nice." He smiled.
Not for me. "I suppose."
They lapsed into mutual silence, which Aminta was actually grateful for. She'd spent so long with just her teacher for company, she wasn't used to talking to other people. As they walked, though, she wondered why Allen hadn't asked about her eyes. She was fairly certain her bangs weren't quite long enough to completely obscure the mismatched colors. And he had seemed so curious about everything else. Maybe he simply didn't find her eyes interesting?
Or maybe he's just trying to be polite, she reasoned. After all, he has that weird mark. He probably doesn't like being asked about it, and figures I'm the same about my eyes.
Which was, if she were being completely honest, absolutely true. The last person to comment on her eyes had been some unsuspecting fruit vendor she'd bought an apple from last week on her trip here. He'd said something along the lines of 'Young Missy, didja know that your eyes are different colors?'. Her response had been to punch him in the face. Her verbal response would have been a decidedly snarky 'No, I seem to have not noticed that in the last eighteen years of my life'. But that didn't have quite the impact of a punch and wasn't nearly as satisfying for her temper, which seemed to spark off at the slightest mention of her eyes.
"I thought you were late for breakfast," she said after the silence had dragged on for too long.
He seemed startled by her speaking first, but smiled. "Yeah, I am. But I figured it's better to walk a pretty girl to her important meeting than just leave her on her own."
She stared at him, completely baffled. "What?"
"You heard me."
She flushed, though whether from irritation or embarrassment she couldn't say. "Don't say things like that!"
He laughed. "You're easy to tease, Aminta."
She glared at him, not dignifying his comment with a response.
"Here's Komui's office," Allen said cheerfully a short time later, gesturing to the door in question.
"...Thank you."
He smiled. "It was no trouble. Good luck with finalizing your transfer," he added as she moved to open the door. "Maybe we can work together sometime."
"Maybe," she agreed, and then stepped into the office.
"Hello?" she called uncertainly. She couldn't spot anyone in the office.
"Back here!" a cheerful voice called.
She blinked, and peered at the stacks of paperwork piled on the desk across the room.
Squinting, she could just make out a thin man sitting behind the desk, scrawling his signature at the bottom of a pamphlet.
"That's a lot of paperwork," she blurted, staring at the stacks. Those have to be at least three feet high!
"Yes, yes. It is, isn't it?" The man pushed one of the stacks to the side so they could see each other more easily. "I was away on business until just recently, and it seems like things have stacked up in my absence." He chuckled. "Quite literally stacked, as you can see."
"You're...Komui Lee?" she asked hesitantly. The man behind the desk looked, to put it bluntly, like a bookworm. On the thin side, he had shoulder length black hair and glasses. And are those bunny slippers?
"My sister says my feet smell when I wear shoes," Komui explained easily, noticing her stare. "So I've taken to wearing slippers instead. Normally they aren't quote like this," he wiggled a pink-slippered foot, "but I seem to have misplaced my usual pair."
"Maybe they're under the paperwork," she managed, still feeling oddly overwhelmed. What the hell is this? The Chief Officer wears slippers? What kind of place is this?
Komui laughed. "Maybe they are. Now, you're...Aminta, correct?"
She nodded.
He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for your loss."
She bit her lip, thought of a hundred different things to say, and instead simply nodded again.
Komui didn't seem to find that odd, and didn't comment on it. He reached into one of his desk drawers and pulled out several sheets of paper.
"This is the last of your transfer paperwork. Once you sign, it means you'll be under the direct jurisdiction of this branch. You'll be sent out on specific missions with other Exorcists. Not just getting vague orders like when you were in Italy. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Here you are, then." He held out the papers. "I'll have someone arrange something later so you can meet some of the other Exorcists who are around your age."
She rummaged in her pocket for a pen and quickly scrawled her name at the bottom of the pages. "That's not necessary," she said.
Komui shook his head. "No, no, I insist. You'll need to meet them eventually. You'll be working with them, after all. You might as well get to know each other now." He smiled brightly. "My sister is about your age. I hope you two become good friends."
"Mm...sure." She managed a thin smile. Making friends wasn't something she was remotely skilled at.
She handed the papers back, stuffing the pen back into her pocket. "Is that it?" she asked.
He nodded briskly, straightening out the papers. "It is. We weren't sure when you were arriving, so we don't have a room ready for you yet."
"That's alright; I can wait."
He beamed. "You're such a good girl, Miss Aminta." He tucked her paperwork away. "Why don't you go join everyone else in the dining hall? There should still be some food for breakfast if you're hungry."
"No, thank you." She shook her head. "Is there a library or a study somewhere?"
"Do you like books?" Komui asked curiously.
She lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. "I like knowing things. Books help with that."
"Hmm. I see." Komui scribbled something in the margin of a sheet of paper. "There's a small study four doors from here. Why don't you wait there? I'll send someone to get you when your room is ready."
"Okay. Thank you."
She wandered down the hall, counting doors. Opening the fourth, she saw that it was indeed a study. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and there was a large wooden desk in the far corner. Aside from that, there were two dark green sofas and one burgundy armchair. They couldn't be bothered to find a matching chair? She sighed. I suppose the Order has better things to do than worry about interior decorating.
She strolled along the shelves, trailing her fingers along the book spines. She paused at a book of poems. She recognized the poet's name; Yolanda had been extremely fond of quoting his work.
Yolanda...
Stop that, she ordered herself sternly. Moping won't bring her back. Move forward. That's what she would want.
She grabbed a romance novel instead of the book of poems, despite her preference for more action-oriented stories. She dropped her bag on the floor and flopped down onto one of the couches, crossing her legs and putting her feet up on the armrest.
She was on page eighty-nine when someone else came into the study. The main character, Sarah something-or-other, had just been locked away in a dungeon while her love interest was on the run from an evil queen who wanted to use his blood for some sort of spell.
"That a good book?"
I was just getting to the good part, she thought irritated. She looked over to see who was bothering her.
Leaning in the door was a tall young man with bright red hair and an eye patch over his right eye. His visible eye was bright green.
"Who're you?" she demanded, realizing that she was being rude but not caring overmuch.
The redhead arched an eyebrow. "I'm Lavi. I was sent to get you."
"Get me?" she repeated, frowning. "Oh, my room's ready?"
"Your royal chambers await, my lady," Lavi said with a grin, sweeping her a bow.
She gave him a half-smile and stood. Then she frowned, looking back at the book.
"Something wrong?" Lavi asked, looking at her curiously.
She sighed, and tossed the book down onto the couch. The ending's probably lousy anyway, she reasoned, ignoring the disappointed twinge in her chest. It had been a long time since she'd had a chance to relax and read a book, and now she'd never have a chance to finish the story. "Nothing." She stretched her arms above her head, snatched up her bag, and went to stand in front of the redhead. "So you're Lavi, huh?"
"Yep." He nodded. "You're Aminta, right? The transfer from Italy."
"You know who I am?" she asked as she followed him out of the room and down the hall.
"Not a clue," he answered cheerfully. "Which is actually pretty rare. Congratulations on your anonymity."
"Thanks?" she offered, not sure what to say. I really need to work more on human interaction. This is getting ridiculous. Half the time she spent talking to people was her being confused about how to answer something they said.
"Here's your room," Lavi said as they stopped in front of another featureless wooden door.
"Are all the doors here the same?" she asked without thinking, and winced. That was an incredibly stupid question.
To her surprise, Lavi laughed. "Pretty much, yeah. Don't worry, though, you'll get used to it."
"Mm," she said noncommittally, frowning at her door.
"Komui also said to tell you that there's a meeting in an hour."
She looked at him, confused. "A meeting?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "He wants you to meet some of the other Exorcists."
Ah. Right." She made a face.
"Not a people person, I take it?" He leaned against the wall and regarded her with interest.
She gave her standard response: a shrug. "I haven't really had many chances to socialize."
"Huh. Well, I'm sure you'll get along well with everyone. And with everyone I just mean Lenalee and Allen. Kanda's probably gonna try to kill you right off; you seem too similar to get along well. As for Krory and Miranda...well, I guess we'll find out, won't we?"
She stared at him. "The only names I recognized out of all that were Allen and Lenalee."
"Do you know them?" Lavi asked, looking surprised.
She shook her head. "Komui mentioned Lenalee; she's his sister, right? As for Allen...well, I met him on my way to meet Komui."
"Really?" Lavi didn't seem to believe her.
"Unless there's another Allen around," she said crossly. "The one I met was around our age, white hair, silver eyes? Any of this sounding familiar?"
Lavi grinned. "Yeah, that's the beansprout, definitely."
She frowned, confused. "Beansprout?"
"'Cause he's short," Lavi explained.
"He's taller than I am!" she protested.
"By about an inch." Lavi looked her over, and nodded. "Yeah, by about an inch."
"It's still a perfectly normal height," she argued.
Lavi just shrugged. "Don't blame me; take it up with Kanda. He's the one who calls Allen that."
"Isn't Kanda the one who might try to kill me?" she asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.
He flashed a smile. "Did I say that?"
She smirked. "You did."
"I'm surprised you were paying that close of attention."
"I pay attention to everything," she answered.
He titled his head. "Is that so."
"It is." She opened her door, pausing only to turn around for a moment. "This meeting...will you be there?"
He gave her another smile, though this one had an emotion she couldn't quite pinpoint. "Of course. I'm an Exorcist, aren't I?" He gestured to his uniform.
"Do all of you wear those?" she asked, eying the uniform like another person might look at a pit full of slime.
Lavi seemed amused by her distaste. "Got something against the uniform?"
"See you at the meeting, Lavi," she said, ignoring his question. She closed the door.
"It was nice meeting you," the Bookman called through the door.
He heard what might have been a sigh, but aside from that the new girl gave no answer.
She was, he decided, definitely interesting. On the surface, her attitude seemed to be similar to Kanda's, but he got a feeling there was more to her than that; the little details he'd noticed about her seemed to indicate that her real personality was buried somewhere underneath her stand-offish attitude. And her appearance was interesting as well. Komui had told him that this girl, Aminta, was an Exorcist, but she didn't wear the uniform; instead she was dressed in a loose sweater and jeans, and didn't seem eager to wear a uniform anytime soon. And her eyes...
Her right eye was bright blue, like a sapphire, while her left eye was purple. He wondered whether she was deliberately trying to grow the bangs of her dark brown hair out to hide them for view or if that was just how she liked her hair. He could certainly understand how she might want to obscure her eyes; the mismatched colors was the sort of thing some people made a fuss over.
Well, he thought, I suppose I could always ask her about her eyes, and find out that way. But then she shook his head. Is she really was similar to Kanda, that course of action would likely to end badly. Oh well. I'm sure it'll come up in conversation sooner or later.
An hour later, a knock came on her door. She looked up from the clothes she'd been folding; she'd stalled in unpacking the belongings in her bag, instead choosing to look at sunset from her window.
"Come in," she called.
The door opened and Allen entered.
"Hello again," he said, smiling.
"Allen," she said, surprised. "Hi."
"I came to get you. The 'Welcome Aminta' meeting is about to start."
She rolled her eyes. "Wonderful."
He laughed, and then pointed to the garment she was holding. "So you do have a uniform, after all."
She wrinkled her nose. "Yes, I do." She finished folding it and proceeded to stuff it into a dresser drawer.
"Eventually someone's going to tell you to wear it," Allen remarked.
"I don't doubt it." She gave up on folding the rest of her clothes and just dumped them into another drawer.
"You'd make a terrible housewife," Allen teased.
She laughed before she could stop herself. "Absolutely."
Allen looked surprised at her laughter and his surprise wasn't unwarranted; hell, she was surprised), but happy. "Shall we go?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
Allen led her to a spacious room that had some other people waiting inside. One of them was girl around her height, with dark hair and eyes; she resembled Komui Lee, and Aminta realized that this must be his sister, Lenalee.
Lenalee was talking to another young woman, this one with brown hair that was a shadow darker than her own, which Aminta was surprised by. Her hair was darker than average; she'd never seen someone with hair darker than hers without being black.
And speaking of black hair...that must be the notorious Kanda. Looking at him, she could see how the 'bean sprout' comment had come about; Kanda was by far the tallest teenager in the room; she'd guess he was somewhere around 5'9". Which is four inches taller than me. Ugh. She was also a little jealous over his hair; long and black it went all the way down his back even tied back.
And there was Lavi, of course, with his bright hair and eye patch. Standing next to him was someone she didn't recognize (though that was hardly surprising). This person had dark hair with a white streak, and pointy ears.
A gothic elf? she mused. Or maybe just a vampire. Hm. Interesting either way, I suppose.
He was also clearly older than the rest of them. She'd guess somewhere in his twenties; he was over six feet tall.
"We're here, everyone," Allen announced, getting their attention.
"She's the new Exorcist?" Kanda asked in disbelief, looking her over.
"It's very nice to meet you," Lenalee said, holding out her hand. "I'm Lenalee, and this is Miranda." She nodded to the young woman next to her.
Aminta hesitated, then shook Lenalee's hand, remembering Komui's 'become good friends' wish earlier.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Miranda blurted.
Aminta felt Allen stiffen next to her, at same time noticing Lavi's sharp gaze, as if he were interested in her answer. Of course, she only dimly noticed these things; the larger part of her mind was locked in a punch-vs.-don't-punch loop.
I just met her; punching her in the face is not conducive to starting a friendship.
Ah, who needs friends? Might as well punch her.
...But how would everyone else react? Might be starting a fight I can't win.
Punch her anyway. Deal with the consequences later.
No, she told herself sternly, trying to quash her violent impulse.
"What's wrong with my eyes?" she asked coolly. She knew her voice was frosty, but she couldn't help it. It was either be cold or be violent; she didn't have much middle ground when it came to her temper.
Miranda seemed to realize that she'd asked an unwelcome question. "I'm sorry!" she said anxiously. "I didn't mean to upset you or anything it's just...Your eyes are very pretty." She smiled nervously.
Aminta blinked, fury ebbing. She could count on one hand how many times she'd been complimented on her eyes. Not counting Miranda, it totaled at four people. The three merchants she'd traveled with until the Order had recruited her, and...Yolanda.
Not sure how to respond, she just gave a jerky sort of nod and turned away.
"This is Krory," Lenalee said, continuing her introductions as if nothing had happened. She pointed to the gothic elf/vampire, who nodded at her. "And this is Kanda." She gestured to the black-haired teen, who just looked at Aminta. She couldn't decide if the look in his eyes was a challenge or just arrogance.
"Something wrong?" she drawled, giving him an insolent look. She could be as irritating as hell if she wanted to be. Yolanda had often said that she could provoke violence from a butterfly if she tried. It's two parts acting and one part you, Yolanda had said. Aminta had to agree. The arrogance and insolence was acting, while the snarkiness and sarcasm was something she had naturally in abundance.
He glared at her. "Are you really the new Exorcist?" he demanded, his tone indicating that he didn't believe it.
Her smirk widened. "Does it bother you?"
"Tch."
"I'll take that as a yes." She cocked her head to one side, like a curious dog. "Why?"
"I'm sure Kanda doesn't mean anything by it," Lenalee said hastily, clearly trying to diffuse the situation. "You just don't look like we thought you would, is all. You're not wearing a uniform," she added.
"I told you she wouldn't be," Lavi pointed out.
"So did I," Allen chimed in.
Lenalee heaved a sigh. "All I'm saying is that...well, you're not quite what we were expecting."
"Huh. How flattering. I always love being a disappointment, thank you." She gave a little bow.
Lenalee flushed. "That's not what I meant at all!"
She shrugged. "If you say so."
"I really didn't mean-"
"What's your Innocence?" Kanda interrupted.
She flickered a look at him. "Does it matter?"
"You're an Exorcist who's going to be assigned to work with us. It matters, so tell us." His eyes narrowed. "Unless you don't have one."
She put her hands on her hips. "I just don't see what business it is of yours. If we do get assigned on missions together, you'll see it. If not, then you won't." She shrugged. "I'm not a liability, if that's what you're worried about. I can more than handle myself in battle."
"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow challengingly.
She smiled thinly. "I'd offer to play with you a bit, but I think I might get in trouble if I accidentally broke you."
"What was that?" he demanded, lunging at her, while Lavi jumped forward to grab a hold of his arm.
"You heard me." She smirked.
Lavi, still latched onto Kanda, flashed her a grin. "I guess I was right, huh?"
"To be fair, I did provoke him," she reasoned.
"You seem to be good at that. Provoking people, I mean."
She shrugged. "It's gift."
"Are you done trying to kill the new girl now?" Lavi asked, looking at Kanda.
"Tch." Kanda just glared at them both.
But Lavi seemed to read more out of Kanda's demeanor than she did, because he let him go.
"You're a brat," Kanda said, looking at her.
"My teacher would agree," she said, before wincing a bit. Yolanda...
"Your teacher?" Miranda looked at her curiously. "Who's your teacher?"
But Aminta shook her head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter."
"What're you talking about, of course it matters!"
"No," Aminta said curtly. "It doesn't. She's dead."
An oppressive silence fell over the room. And then...
"I'm so sorry..." Miranda whispered.
She shrugged. "Whatever."
Miranda frowned. "Don't you care?"
"Will caring bring her back?" Aminta asked flatly, her voice devoid of any emotion.
No one seemed to have anything to say to that.
Without another word, she spun on her heel and left the room.
That meeting couldn't have gone worse if I'd started attacking people, she thought blackly.
A/N: Well, that's Chapter 1. Not some of my best writing, but it's not entirely horrible, at least. XD Review and let me know what you think, please. :D
