This is the Pilot chapter to a fic I'm considering posting. The next two chapters are written, but under construction due to my lack of ability to create a clean plot. Please enjoy, and review. A lot of the things in here, like the main character's nickname given to her by "Clarence" will be explained in later chapters.
I don't own D. Gray- Man, obviously. Or else, why would I be posting things here? Silly people.
Also, I like suggestions, especially because the style in here is confusing for me to write. How to help? Read through and see me at the bottom!!
Swimming through the valley, Maria Mandolin Sharyn Belmont-Gayle, thought lethargically about how very long her name was. There were those, even, who though it was downright outrageous that she couldn't say her beautiful, lovely, very annoying name in under a second. It usually took her two and a half, give or take considering how tongue-tied she was willing to get at that particular hour.
The clouds of hovering umbrellas overhead reminded Maria-Mandy that she had other things to consider. For instance, the moment that the river of whiteness dropped off, she could well fall into the abyss and be lost for all time. Of course, Maria-Mandy wasn't the sort to wonder why in the world she'd even bothered to put such a danger in her own unreality. No, she was more busy watching the sky above, crawling with millions of tiny, golden pocket-watches. Much to her distress, none of them could agree on a time. Some told her it was half-past noon. Others said it was midnight dead on. A few of them even seemed to favor three-twenty-four. Either way, the girl hadn't any way of knowing what time she'd need to leave to return for dinner.
"Oh, Clarence," she sighed. "You wouldn't happen to have a clue what time it really is, would you?"
The little black top hat that was sitting happily on her dome leaned to one side curiously. "Not a clue, Miss Demi. Sorry." The bat-like wings protruding from its back dropped sadly.
"No matter, no matter," she said with a wave of her gloved hands. She stood up in the open wardrobe they were using to float down the river of milk. "Haha!!" She laughed triumphantly, pointing at the little palm-tree island to the right. "A way out! Glorious!" She cleared her throat and looked up at the rim of her hat. "Clarence, would you mind flying me over there? I don't want to fall in and be cursed to forever live a lactose-intolerant lifestyle."
"Oh, absolutely, Miss Demi!!" The bat wings flapped rapidly up and down, seemingly with little difficulty. Maria-Mandy and her hat companion fluttered over to the island and away from the sea of milk. He grabbed tightly onto Clarence's brim and her legs swung out lazily beneath her. Her two feet stuck plainly on the ground upon landing. She shook her lava-red hair, straightened out her dress, and cracked her back the moment that both feet reached the sand. The sand, interestingly enough, was not really sand. It was sugar. The girl clapped her hands and the world popped like an oversized balloon.
The milk, the clocks, the umbrellas; everything was gone. In their place was no more than a stinky, dirty basement that was in a dreadful state of disrepair.
Maria-Mandy just smiled. She straightened Clarence out and hop-scotched her way up a creaky set of stairs. Her light blue dress, not a drop of white on it, clung happily around her.
The rotting wood of the door showed as the redhead pushed it away. The wet slime from years and years of weathering oozed onto her hands. There was no roof above where she stood, only a sky that had the appearance of paper with ink-spilled on it. The door came loose of its hinges.
The entrance fell with a bang. Maria jumped back and grabbed onto an aging beam. Her heart pounded. "Oh no!!" She shouted. "Clarence, this is awful! Now the rabbits will eat us for sure!!"
"… Fear not Miss Demi. I do not believe they can reach us here."
"Oh no! Oh no! I don't want to be boiled in a carrot stew!! Waahhhhh!!!"
"MISS DEMI!! Please calm down!!"
She continued to wail, flapping her arms at the broken door.
Clarence let out an audible sight. "Miss Demi, if we put a new door up, the rabbits won't eat you! That, and the cucumbers will start dancing again! Just like last year, remember?"
She put a gloved finger to her chin. "Yes! I suppose that's true." She tip-toed around the broken door. Once safely around it, she took her hat off and reached deep down inside. Most of her arm had disappeared inside, eaten up to the shoulder, when at last she released a relieved "ah-hah!". Out of the hat she pulled a gigantic 3-by-6 foot door. Clarence stretched around the edges to release the new entrance. Without attaching hinges, she pushed it into place and rubbed her gloves free of grime. "Ha! The wrath of the cucumber triumphs again!!"
"Indeed it does," the hat said as he flew back up on her head. "Now, we really ought to continue on our way! If we don't find it first, there's no telling what the exorcists might do!"
"Oh dear! The exorcists are the least of my problem! What if the Noah got hold of the poor dear! That would be awful!!" She turned away and scampered through the house.
She didn't bother climbing up the stairs. Too many pieces of the second flight were missing to get through. Instead, ever-fateful Clarence flew her up. The only stable room, as it was, contained an empty picture frame, a hole in the ground where a bed once sat, a partly-filled dresser, and a little black pendant.
Maria-Mandy poked it happily. Tap, tap, tap. "Oh, goodness! It's shiny!! Whoever would want to kill a poor thing like this?" She shrugged and tucked the jewelry safely away inside of Clarence. The hat made a pleased swallowing sound, the pendant disappearing into blackness.
Maria-Mandy rummaged through the drawers of the dresser. The clothes were not in perfect condition, but she smiled at them anyway. They were expensive-looking, and in their nearly-acceptable condition might sell for hundreds in a local pawn shop. She stuffed them into her hat as well.
"Miss Demi," Clarence piped up. "I think we need to leave now! An exorcist is already in the area!" He flapped around, trying to pull her away from her excavation.
"Hey! Quit that! I'm not finished!"
"But, they'll find us! They'll find us! Oh, we need to leave now! Please Miss Demi! Please!!"
"Oh, keep your brim on, good-buddy," she said with a flourish of her hand. "How bad could it possibly be? It's not a Noah, after all. I can handle an exorcist right now, no problem!!" "But, I hear two now! One sounds so very, VERY angry!! Please, let's just get us out of here!! Where there's an exorcist, an Akuma is sure to show up!"
"An Akuma too?! Oh goodie! I love messing with the Akuma! They are such simple, creatures, you know." She grinned and nodded to herself. "I wouldn't mind killing Akuma. Exorcists must have a lot of time to do that, you know. I'd never find the mindset to do it forever, myself though."
Clarence fussed around uneasily. "Miss Demi! Stay on topic! We must leave now!" He made a loud gulp. "Oh no! Too late!!"
A little golden bird zipped past the frantic cap. It sailed around for a moment, not catching any impression from the girl. "Is this supposed to be an exorcist? It's a puny little thing, isn't it?" It zoomed around for another moment before perching on the top of some crumbling railing and staring straight at the odd duo. Maria-Mandy leaned in closer to get a look at it. It was, in fact, not a bird at all. It was a little, impish-looking golem that was all shiny and polished.
She poked it.
It bit her.
It bit her very hard.
"Eep!! Stupid exorcist!! Release me!" She waved her hand around, the little golden ball getting flung to the other side of the decrepit room.
"Timcanpy!!" A worried screech from around the corner made the redhead's ear twitch curiously. She spun about to find a boy, quite a bit smaller and a few years younger, staring at the agitated golem in worry. "Oh no! Tim, are you alright?!" The little yellow creature flew back up and landed on the boy's shoulder. He heaved a sigh.
Maria-Mandy shook her head and thought. "Oh! So that is an exorcist! Goodness! That could have been quite the mistake, right Clarence?"
The hat remained silent.
The white-haired boy stared in confusion around the room. "That's weird. I thought Komui said that this was its exact location. But, I can't sense any Innocence here…" He scratched his head. A finger gripped a tag-shaped earring attached to him. "Komui," he whined. "There's no Innocence here!… What do you mean by that? Innocence doesn't just drop off of the face of the Earth!… Alright, I'll look around, but I don't think anything is here."
"Demi… He can't see us? Or hear us?"
"Of course, you silly hat! You know perfectly well that humans can't look into unreality while they're awake!! He doesn't even know we're here!" To demonstrate, she waved her hands dangerously close to his face. She stuck her tongue out at him. She made obnoxious gurgling noises. She jumped up and down spastically.
She fell right through the floor.
With a scream, the girl landed right into a pile of decaying furniture. She fell right past the dead cushion and onto the hard, rusty springs.
"Ouch," she whimpered. Her head flopped back onto the couch's arm.
"Oh no!! Miss Demi! Miss Demi! Are you alright?!"
A surprised face looked down through the hole in the floor. The exorcist wondered how it had appeared. He was going to just blame it on the aging, but spotted a figure laying below, in a very painful position. His eyes widened in shock. It was a girl. Had she been hit by the falling wood, he thought fearfully. "Are you alright?!"
There was no response, he jumped down through the hole and next to the person. The odd top hat she had been wearing flopped right off of her head and onto the floor. It was shaking, probably from the wind.
Ever so carefully, the concerned exorcist lifted the girl from her uncomfortable position. "Hey Miss! Miss, are you alright?!"
"Huh… What…?" Her eyes, still closed, fluttered. With a few quick blinks, Maria-Mandy woke up from her stupor.
She shot up, out of his grip and against the wall. In a single, swift movement, she grabbed her hat and pressed against the oddly new door. "Ah! Exorcist!! Be gone!!" She shooed him, as if he would actually just disappear.
"Woah, hey! Settle down! It's alright! I'm not here to hurt you!!"
"Lies!!" She hissed and pointed with accusation. "It's all lies!!"
"I swear!!" He shot his hands up in defense.
"Who sent you?! Was it the rabbits?! I bet it was! ASSASSIN!! ASSASSIN!!"
"… Did you hit your head?"
"No I did not 'hit my head'!" She squawked. "What kind of nonsense is that?!" She brushed off her hat, took a deep breath, and fluffed her hair a bit. "What business do you have here, Exorcist?"
"Huh?" He looked around blankly. "I'm here doing my job. And, since you know I'm an exorcist, you know what that means, don't you?"
She thought on this. "That would make some sense… And the rabbits?"
"I don't know any rabbits."
"… Very well then." She bowed and tipped her top hat in a frighteningly gentlemanly way. "I'm Miss Maria Mandolin Sharyn Belmont-Gayle. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance mister…?"
"Oh! I'm Allen Walker. It's a pleasure to meet you too Miss… Er… sorry, I can't really remember it all. I mean! I didn't intend to forget! I just--"
"Most just call me Maria-Mandy. Alright then, Mister Walker, I must be off now. I've important things to attend to!"
Allen frowned. "Wait! What are you doing here?"
"I was doing one of those many important things here. That's what! Silly boy! I'd think that would be obvious. Come now, Clarence," she beckoned to the hat. It flapped its wings and sat back on top of her head. Allen Walker jumped back at seeing it. "Any other day, Mister Walker, I might have taken you on in a place as secluded as this. But, it seems that I'm going to be late for supper. And when I'm late for supper, Abigail gets very cross with me!" She sighed and put a hand under her chin. "Not to mention that David and Samuel make a mess of things."
She opened the door and winked. "Next time, sir Allen Walker, the two of us will have to tango." She held up the pendant in a mocking way, and slipped through the door.
Allen realized it was the Innocence. He was too slow to grab it. He pulled the door open. It fell back and landed on top of him. He scrambled up and looked around the entrance, only to find that Maria-Mandy and her hat had both disappeared from the empty basement.
Ready to help? Send in ideas for the Unreality world. A crazy dream you had? Something you came up with after being locked in a room with open markers? Everything is good in surrealism!!
And do you see that button down there? You should press that.