Okay guys, the reason why I'm re-re-uploading this is because the pen-drive that originally had the story on it caught a virus that won't allow me to save anything to, or delete anything from, it. So I've had to re-type this entire story. I've also added chapter ten and fixed some spelling and grammar errors as well as made some changes to it. Please let me know what you think. Disclaimer: I own nothing but the characters that haven't appeared in the anime or manga, i.e. Annabelle, her mother, her adopted father, some stray Finders, and various characters that will appear later on in the story. The lovely Katsura Hoshino owns everything else.
Chapter One
12 years before the events of -man…
The sun was rising over the city of Poitiers, but the sky was far from clear. White, fluffy-looking clouds that plagued the sky were turned a slight purple by the coming dawn. Up and down the streets, the city was beginning to come to life. People emerged from buildings and, in what seemed like mere minutes, the hustle and bustle of the streets began.
From her room on the fourth story of her mother's extravagant mansion, seven-year-old Annabelle Hale could see it all. She wasn't usually up this early, but her nursemaid, Clara, had told her that, if she woke up early enough, she could see the sun rise. For a good five minutes, she sat there, watching in complete amazement as the golden disk of light transformed the sky from a deep orange to a pale pink. As she sat there, she thought about what the sunrise would look like in America, the place where everyone said the most beautiful landscapes were. She wondered if it would be different, and, if so, how would it be different?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a slight knock on her bedroom door.
"Ms. Hale, it's time to get you ready for the day," a kind, female voice said.
"You can come in Clara," Annabelle said, "And please, next time, call me Annabelle."
The door opened and a stout, middle-aged woman with greying blonde hair and wizened hazel eyes stepped in. Clara stood at about five feet, two inches tall and looked as if she were the world's strictest nanny. However, this was not so. It was quite the opposite in fact. She was Annabelle's favorite person in the whole world, next to her parents, of course.
As Annabelle approached Clara, the nanny smiled. Oh how much she's grown in the past few days, she thought.
Clara had already picked out a dress for her, a pale blue one with a gold bow in the back. As she pulled the expensive dress over her charge's head, she noted how long and wavy the girl's scarlet hair was getting. She'll be the prize of some rich young lad when she's older. Clara sighed as she thought this, for she didn't want Annabelle to leave. She loved the girl as if she were her own child and was thankful to Master Hale for allowing her to stay on with his staff when he married and moved to France.
"Clara," Annabelle began, addressing the nurse, "Do you think I could ever become a soldier?"
"Why ever would you want to be a soldier?" Clara asked, shocked. "It would dirty your beautiful face and put callouses on your dainty hands. Besides, you wouldn't get to wear your lovely dresses."
"I don't care about that Clara! I want to travel, to see the world, to get my face and hands dirty. Stuff like that. I want to see what it'd be like to fight in a war. You know, be one of the boys for a while."
The stout nursemaid smiled at her young charge's naivety. Ah, to be young, she thought, reminiscing about a time when she, too, was a naïve little girl in her mother's cottage, dreaming of becoming a singer.
She looked at her young mistress, her hazel eyes gazing into Annabelle's jade green ones, and said, "My dear Ms. Hale, I don't believe your father would agree with your dream."
"It's okay Clara, I'm sure I can get him to see it my way," Annabelle said, smiling.
Clara brushed Annabelle's wavy, scarlet hair and fashioned it into two high pigtails, much to the young girl's displeasure.
"Perfect!" Clara exclaimed, "Now you may go and play."
"But I don't want to play today. I want to read my storybooks," Annabelle protested, sticking out her lower lip in a pout.
"Now, now Ms. Hale, you spent all day yesterday reading your fables and whatnot. Your mother has requested that you go out and get some exercise." Clara said, ignoring Annabelle's pouting face.
"Okay, fine," Annabelle consented, picking up a little toy bow that was propped against her bedpost.
It was a gift from her mother for her sixth birthday and, although it was only a toy, she treated it as if it were the real thing. She slung it over her shoulder and meandered out into the hallway.
Upon reaching her mother's bedchamber door, she stopped, pressed her ear to the door, and listened. She heard voices coming from inside the room. Now, any good girl would know that it's wrong to eavesdrop on one's mother while she's conversing with someone in private, but Annabelle, being curious by nature, decided to listen in for a while. She knew that Clara was busy straightening up her bed and would then go on to other pressing matters, so she would be safe for a little while.
"How is he Claudia?" A deep, masculine voice said.
I didn't know that mama had gentlemen friends, Annabelle thought. Then she thought, does papa know about this?
"Oh Cross," Annabelle's mother sobbed, "He's getting worse with every passing minute! I don't know what to do!"
What's wrong with mama? Annabelle asked herself, worried. And who are they talking about? Papa?
"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for Jakob, I am sorry I can't be of any help to you." The strange, male voice said.
Annabelle's mother let out a loud cry. Annabelle, fearing for her mother and not caring if she was caught, quickly opened the door to the master bedroom.
"Mama," she shouted, "What's wrong?"
Annabelle opened her jade green eyes wide with surprise for; right in front of her was a tall man with long crimson hair wearing the strangest clothes she'd ever seen. It was a long, black coat with gold buttons and detailing and a golden, cross-like emblem with strange writing on it. He wore heavy, black, leather boots, half of a white mask on the right side of his face, and glasses. Annabelle noticed that his eyes were as crimson as his hair, with the same glint in them as she had seen in her own eyes.
Who is this man? she thought, and why does he look so familiar?
Her mother, Claudia Hale, sat in a small wooden chair by the bed. She was a short, French woman with curly blonde hair, fair skin, pale green eyes, and a slender build. Today, she wore a dress that was the exact same color of her eyes with silver ribbons and lace. Her face, previously in her hands, lifted itself up to look at her daughter. She had tears in her eyes and looked as if she were trying to swallow her sobs.
She smiled at Annabelle and spoke, "Nothing's wrong ma cheri. I'm just visiting with one of my old friends."
Annabelle wasn't convinced. "But mama, you were crying! I heard you," she said, concerned.
"I…" Claudia began, but at a glance from the strangely-clothed man, she reconsidered what she was going to say. "I'll tell you later, ma cheri. But first," she said, directing her attention toward the red-headed man, "Cross, this is my daughter, Annabelle. Annabelle, this is General Cross Marian. He and I have known each other for a long time now."
"It's a pleasure to meet you child." The strange man said, "It's been fun, Claudia, but I have business to attend to. I'll see you around." With that being said, he left Annabelle and her mother alone.
"Where's papa?" Annabelle asked her mother.
"He's sleeping in the bed right now," Claudia said, "Come, child, we have something to talk about."
Claudia led Annabelle down the large staircase to the parlor on the first floor. It was simple in design compared with most of the house, which was more elaborately furnished, but it did have its fair share of antique decorations. Claudia sat down on the sofa and set her daughter on her lap.
"What do you want to tell me mama?" Annabelle asked.
"Annabelle, sweetheart, papa is," she paused, considering how to phrase what she was going to say to her daughter, "He's very sick, in fact, he may-"
"You mean papa's going to die soon?" Annabelle asked, tears forming in her eyes.
"N-yes, Annabelle. Papa may die soon. Before he does, he wanted me to tell you-"
"Why can't he tell me himself?" Annabelle shouted, but as soon as she did so, she regretted it.
With tears in her eyes, Claudia said, "Papa's very weak and cannot bear to speak because of the pain it brings him. Besides, it's not his duty to tell you what I'm about to tell you."
Annabelle looked at her mother, noticing for the first time how beautiful and vulnerable she was. She always thought of her mother as someone strong, brave and enduring. Yet, now, Annabelle realized that Claudia Hale was only strong for her sake. What could she tell me that papa can't, she wondered to herself.
"Annabelle," Claudia began, "The man lying in my bedroom upstairs isn't your father."
Annabelle's green eyes widened in shock and confusion. In her mind, thousands of different, unorganized thoughts floated around. Thoughts like: What is mama talking about? and is the man in mama's bed an imposter?
Finally, coming out of the confusion in her head, she asked, "What do you mean mama?"
"The man I married, Jakob Hale, is not your real father. I met your real father before I married Jakob. Your real father has just left this very manor. Your real father is General Cross Marian."
When Claudia was finished explaining, Annabelle's mind was a swirling mass of emotions. Sorrow, anger, shock, and confusion spun around inside of her. She didn't know what to say to this. She was angry that her mother hadn't told her this before, sad that the man who raised her was dying, and confused about why all of this was happening to her young self.
Finally, her emotions volunteered anger as the opening speaker and, choking back her sobs, she yelled, "Why didn't you stop that man? Why didn't you tell me this before? Why now? Why? Why? WHY?"
Her mother cried out in sorrow and the tears spilled forth from her eyes. She knew she couldn't give her daughter a good enough answer to her many questions and she felt sorry. Sorry for herself, sorry for her daughter, and sorry for her dying husband. She just couldn't take it anymore! If it wasn't for the fact that Annabelle was still young, she'd probably have killed herself by now.
Annabelle looked at her mother and felt the sorrows she was experiencing, but she was just so angry with her mother that she couldn't console the grief her mother was feeling. She decided to go let off some steam outside and shoot a few of the targets her father made her with her little toy bow.
Inside the manor, Annabelle's mother still sat on the sofa, sobbing her eyes out.
"Claudia…" a voice said. It seemed to ring inside her mind, compelling her to move from the sofa and into her bedroom.
She didn't know how she knew it wanted her to go to the bedroom; she just had this feeling that it did. She opened the door to her bedchamber, slowly walked toward the bed where her husband lay, dying and, placing her fingers on Jakob's neck, checked his pulse. She felt nothing, just dead skin that was still warm from recent life. Claudia sank to her knees on the floor and, head in her hands, she wept, softly, so as not to alert her young daughter.
In the middle of her grieving, she thought she heard someone enter the room. She lifted her face from her hands and her eyes fell upon the figure of an obese, grey-skinned man. Well, at least what she thought was a man. He wore a light, yellow-green suit, circular spectacles, and a very tall top hat that was decorated with various knickknacks. He also carried the strangest looking umbrella she'd ever seen. It was green and purple with a spiked tip and a pumpkin skewered by it.
"Oh," the strange-looking fat man began, "Don't look so sad my pretty. It'll all be better soon, you'll see." The strange man would've grinned at her if it wasn't for the fact that he was always grinning in the first place.
"How can it ever get better?" Claudia shouted, "My husband is dead!" She began to wail loudly.
"Now, now," the fat man said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and handing it to the distraught woman, who blew her nose and set it on the bedside table, "That's where the trick is. How would you like to see your husband smile again? You could kiss him again and bring up your child to be a lovely, innocent woman with him."
Claudia looked at him, bewildered by what he had told her, and said, "But how can you do that? It's impossible!"
"All you have to do is call out his name and he will come back in this," a mechanical skeleton with a star on its forehead appeared next to the fat man, "Body."
The man's eyes glowed menacingly.
"Okay," Claudia said, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Sounds easy enough," she lifted up her head and cried out, "Jakob, come back to me!"
There was a bright light from above that withdrew into the mechanical skeleton. Jakob's name engraved itself into the forehead above the pentacle and the body began to twitch and convulse.
Then, it spoke, "Claudia…how could you?" It was Jakob's voice, crying out in agony. "I thought you loved me! How could you have turned me into an Akuma?"
The fat man laughed. It was an evil cackle that sent chills down Claudia's spine and lingered in the air even when he'd finished.
"Now my brand new Akuma, kill this woman and wear her body as your own!" The fat man cackled again and flew away out the window with his umbrella.
The mechanized body flung itself at Claudia. She screamed as it cut through her flesh. It waited for her to bleed out before disemboweling her body and pulled the skin over itself. It then stumbled down the stairs, not quite used to the small, feminine body it now inhabited, and took its place on the sofa, patiently waiting for its chance to strike.
After a few hours, Annabelle grew tired of playing with her toy bow and decided that she was fit to go comfort her dear mother. She entered the house through the front door and made her way to the parlor. There, she found her mother in the same position she'd left her in, the only difference being the fact that she was no longer crying.
Annabelle thought this quite strange and, being the curious child she was, questioned this.
"Mama?" she asked, worried about her mother's emotional state of being.
Her mother said nothing. Instead, she turned her head slowly and looked at her daughter.
"Mama?" Annabelle asked again.
Still nothing. Her mother stood up and advanced toward her.
Annabelle's emotions changed from suspicious and concerned to panicked and frightened.
"Mama, what's going on?"
Again, her mother said nothing, but, as Annabelle watched her mother's approach, she noticed that her skull was slowly splitting apart. Now Annabelle was horrified. She stood there, frozen to the spot as she watched what was once her mother become a hideous, sphere-shaped monster. It was covered in cannons and looked a living meteor. The one thing, in Annabelle's opinion, that was really disgusting about it was the fact that there was a human-looking face upon it whose expression was twisted into one of utter agony.
So, Annabelle thought, this is what it's like to truly be afraid.
Across the street from the large mansion stood a man of average height with greying-brown hair, tied back in a low ponytail, and dark, compassionate, brown eyes that sat behind a large pair of square-framed glasses. As he gazed at the manor, he thought it to be so beautiful that he pulled out a pencil and a sketch pad and began to draw it.
He was so immersed in his sketch that he barely noticed the tall, muscular Finder approaching.
"General Tiedoll," the Finder said, "We have to get going, we have a mission to stick to."
"I'll be just a minute Limae," the man called Tiedoll said.
Just then, a high-pitched scream emanated from the manor across the way. It seemed to continue on even though the source had stopped.
"An Akuma!" Both men shouted, and they dashed toward the extravagant house.
Inside the house, Annabelle was panicking. Her mother had turned into a monster that had probably killed the man she called "father" and now it was out to kill her too. She ran through the house toward the second floor where the servants' quarters were, hoping that Clara would be there to protect her.
She called out Clara's name as she hit the landing, the monster close behind her. She reached the servants' quarters and found her loyal nursemaid standing in the doorway waiting for her to enter.
Annabelle burst through the doorway and into the arms of the other servants. They shielded her with their bodies while Clara barricaded the door. The blockade didn't last long, for the monster shot the door down with its cannons. The bullet that broke the door hit Clara on the thigh, causing her to fall.
"Clara!" Annabelle screamed as her nursemaid's body turned to dust. She tried to break free of the huddle, but her mother's loyal servants held her back, willing her to stay put.
The monstrosity that was once their mistress killed them off, one by one, right before Annabelle's very eyes. She began to weep. She was cornered, with nowhere to go. When she was pretending, it all seemed so easy; she could just stop playing and go inside whenever her adventures went out of hand. Now, however, she was faced with real danger. She was seven-years-old for God's sake! She knew she was going to die, so what was the use in fighting it? She sank to her knees and sobbed loudly. The monster readied its cannons to fire at her.
At that moment, the window behind her shattered and a man wearing roughly the same thing as the red-headed stranger she now knew as her real father appeared. The only difference between the two great-coats was the fact that this man rolled his sleeves up and the coat was frayed at the edges from much traveling and fighting.
He pulled out what looked like a sculpting kit, and, at that moment, Annabelle remembered the toy bow in her hand. However, when she looked at it now, it didn't look like her bow. Looking at it now, she could see that it was glowing a greenish silver color, and the string now looked like pure silver.
Annabelle didn't know what to think at first. She thought that maybe it'd been hit by one of the monster's bullets and was about to disintegrate, but she remembered how Clara looked before she died.
She wasn't glowing, Annabelle thought, I know that much. I think she had black stars all over her.
The man in the tattered, black great-coat didn't seem to notice as he was busy with the monster. Annabelle felt as though she knew what she had to do, as if she'd done this before. She reached down deep inside herself and her bow told her its name.
Genesis Bow, it whispered in her mind. It was a sweet, but powerful voice. In fact, it sounded a bit like her own, only older.
She called out its name, "Genesis Bow!" and after that, the rest seemed second nature to her. "Cleanse this soul of its demons and restore the inner balance of its heart!"
Annabelle pulled back the bow's glistening silver string and a greenish arrow of light appeared. She took aim at the monster, knew, somehow, that her aim would be true, and let the arrow fly. It pierced the monster's face, right through the pentacle, and shot out through the other side. Upon being penetrated, the monster exploded.
As Annabelle looked around the room, she realized that the man who'd come through the window had stopped fighting the monster to watch her. He had a glint in his brown eyes, as if he'd found some lost, buried treasure, and Annabelle found herself wondering how much stranger this day could get.
"General, are you alright?" a gruff, male voice called from the hallway.
Just then, a tall, tan-skinned man in a white, hooded long coat appeared. He carried what looked like a portable communications device on his back and had a concerned expression in his violet eyes.
"Don't worry about me Limae," the general said, "The Akuma was only a Level One."
"You were able to easily defeat it then?"
"It wasn't me who destroyed it," he said, gesturing toward Annabelle. "It was this young girl. Limae, I believe we have a new Accommodator."
The man called Limae's eyes widened as he gazed at Annabelle in her, now dirty, blue dress with her silvery bow in her hands.
"But General Tiedoll," Limae began, "She's only a little girl. We cannot bring her into this war!"
"I know," Tiedoll said with sorrow in his eyes, "But now that we know she's an Accommodator, the Earl will know as well. She'll be much safer at Headquarters than anywhere else on Earth."
That was when Annabelle, exhausted from the fight with the monster and the fact that she had absolutely no idea what was going on, fainted. Tiedoll caught her and carried her over to Limae.
He placed her in the Finder's strong arms and said, "Take her straight to Headquarters, go as fast as you can, and most importantly, keep her safe. No matter what the cost, you must get her to Komui alive."
Limae nodded an affirmative, "Yes sir!" and took off, leaving Tiedoll alone in the ruined mansion.
After Limae left, Tiedoll made his way toward the nearest inn. He had to contact Komui and get him to send an Exorcist to meet Limae and escort Annabelle to Headquarters. After that, he could continue his mission.