Chapter Notes: This is one of those fics where someone from our world finds their way into DGM. If you don't like that type of storyline, I suggest you leave now. If you do like that type of story, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray - Man. This applies to all further chapters.
Chapter One: Black Hole
"When I first met you, there was a garden,
Growing from a black hole in my mind."
It is said that light cannot exist without darkness, and darkness cannot exist without light. They are two complementary forces, like Yin and Yang.
There was no light in this darkness.
It consumed her, surrounded her, until it wiped any other thoughts from her mind. The darkness was the only thing left.
She was alone, and scared. Wasn't it silly, to be afraid of the dark? She shouldn't be scared.
Fear. Heart pounding. Breath racing. Hands shaking.
She tried to calm herself; calm her heartbeat, her breathing-
She wasn't breathing.
That spouted another bout of panic within her. Why wasn't she breathing? She was supposed to be breathing, she wouldn't be alive otherwise.
Was she dead?
Her lungs burned as she finally sucked in a breath, only for her to choke a second later as liquid flooded into her mouth. She coughed, trying to expel the fluid, gasping for air whenever she could.
If she wasn't dead already, she would be soon.
Am I underwater? The thoughts drifted to the front of her consciousness slowly. Where am I?
She tried opening her eyes - a novel idea, why hadn't she thought of that before? - squinting against the stinging pressure. Suddenly, something disrupted the space around her, creating ripples and bubbles and it came closer.
A hand. Someone was reaching out to her.
As quick as she could, she grasped the outstretched appendage. As her fingers closed around those of the other person, she was hauled upwards with surprising strength. Finally, she could breathe again.
Alma Karma lived a rather lonely life, if he was being perfectly honest.
Sure, there were the numerous scientists that looked after him, but they were all significantly older than he was and never wanted to spend that much time with him. They did their necessary tests then moved on, disappearing into their offices and the other labs to consult with their results.
There were so many other kids here too, but they were all sleeping. None of them had woken up yet, like Alma did. Alma liked to think that if they were to wake up, he'd have lots of friends to play with then.
He hoped they woke up soon.
In an effort to be friendly (even if the other kids couldn't hear him - or maybe they could?), he sat down everyday with the sleeping kids and talked to them. He would talk about what he'd done that day, what he'd had for lunch, what the scientists were up to; anything to break the heavy silence in the Sixth Laboratory. He'd address them all by name, too, hoping that they'd hear and know to wake up.
When he'd first asked the scientists what the names of the other kids were they wouldn't tell him, but he wore them down eventually with his persistent questioning. He was much happier, now that he was able to give a name to each child he saw within the pits. It felt wrong, a child not having a name.
On this particular evening, Alma limped his way into Laboratory Six after another one of his "daily synchronization tests". There were several deep gashes on his arms and torso, and his left ankle was bruising and swollen, but there was a smile on his face regardless. He had a lot to share tonight.
Almost immediately upon entering the birthing chamber, Alma's eyes were drawn to a pit along the wall to his left, the third one back. Small bubbles rose disrupted the usually smooth surface.
Alma's smile grew wider, eyes lighting up in his excitement. Someone else was waking up - he wouldn't be alone anymore.
She collapsed almost immediately after she was released, slumping heavily against the cool floor and gagging, trying to clear her airway. Something warm touched her back, gently patting. Distantly, she was aware that someone was talking, but her hearing was distorted through all the water clogging her ears. She shook her head, wet strands of hair sticking to her face and neck in the process, trying to get the water out.
"-so happy you're awake! It's been awhile since I woke up, and it's been pretty lonely here… Not that this isn't a great place! I just didn't have anyone to play with before now! You'll play with me right? Once we get you dry of course, and I'm sure the scientists will want to give you a check up-"
She tried to speak, but all that came out was a small croak. Her throat ached, probably caused by a combination of the water and disuse - what was this person talking about? How long had she been "asleep"? She looked up at the other person, the one who had pulled her out of that hellish place, and blinked in confusion.
A little boy..?
Thankfully, said boy stopped talking when her noticed her looking up at him. He beamed down at her, rocking lightly on his heels in his squatted position. "I guess I should introduce myself, huh? I'm Alma! It's nice to meet you, Nika!"
Alright, now she was very confused. Nika? Was that her name? That didn't sound right.
"N-Ni..ka?" She felt as though she could barely manage the words, but they were out there nonetheless.
"Mhm!" The boy, Alma, nodded enthusiastically. "That's what the scientists told me your name was. They gave me my name too, when I first woke up."
"Wh-Where are we?" It was slowly becoming easier to speak.
Alma looked contemplative, and plopped down to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Well, this room here is called the Sixth Laboratory. I don't really know where we are for sure, but a lot of the scientists here talk about something called The Black Order. Maybe that's here?" He shrugged, easygoing. "Who knows."
She nodded slowly, though his answers weren't all that helpful. "Why are there s-scientists?"
Abruptly, Alma bolted to his feet. "Oh man, that's right! The scientists! C'mon, we'll go tell them you're awake!" He grabbed her by the elbow and hauled her to her feet. "C'mon, c'mon! They'll give you some dry clothes and everything!" He gestured towards her, and she suddenly realized she was very much naked, though her hair was practically long enough to cover everything.
Struggling to keep up, she stumbled over her own feet as she was pulled along. It was obvious to her now that she hadn't used her legs in quite some time, but despite that she was still able to walk - albeit slowly. Alma, on the other hand, didn't seem to realize this as he practically sprinted from Laboratory Six. She tried telling him to slow down, but he either didn't hear her over his excited chattering, or was not willing to wait.
Before long Alma skidded to a stop outside another room, and knocked on the large doors. "Doctor Edgar! Doctor Edgar! Come quick!"
Suddenly nervous as to who could be on the other side of the door, she took a small step back and ducked behind Alma. He was about the same height as her - maybe an inch shorter - so she peered over his shoulder, lightly clasping the back of his shirt.
Alma appeared confused by this, turning his head to look at her with concerned eyes. "Nika? What's wrong? Doctor Edgar is really nice, I promise!"
Before she could even say anything in reply, the doors opened and a blonde middle-aged man stepped out into the hallways. Their eyes locked over Alma's shoulder and he stopped short, mouth falling open slightly.
"Hi Doctor Edgar, this is Nika!"
"Oh- um- come in, come in! Quickly, we'll get you into some dry clothes," The man stepped aside, holding open the door and waving them into the room. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nika. My name is Edgar Chang Martin."
After that, Nika was swarmed by scientists and lab technicians. People bustled around, and it seemed there was no end to all the people that want to have a look at her. Some tests they performed right then and there, but she was informed that there'd be many more to come. Alma told her that he had daily tests, and that she'd have to do them too, once she was a little more adjusted. Apparently, the scientists wanted them to "synchronize" - with what, Nika didn't know, but she guessed she'd find out eventually.
Doctor Edgar gave her some clothes before he allowed anyone to see her; a pair of black pants that came down to her calves and a soft yellow shirt with long sleeves. She was grateful for the change, because she'd been getting quite chilly after sitting without clothes for a long time. The rooms were cold too, with stone walls and floors that were practically ice against her skin when she touched them.
Eventually, her eyes started to droop. Even though, according to Alma, she'd just woken up from a very long nap, the constant hustle and bustle was beginning to wear her out. When Doctor Edgar noticed this, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder and told her they'd continue tomorrow and to get some sleep. Alma agreed, tugging her hand gently - he hadn't let go of it since the tests began - and helping her down from the tall metal table she was sat on. Doctor Edgar bid them farewell and saw them to the door before going back to his desk.
Alma lead her by the hand, skipping down the hallway back the way they had come only a few hours before.
"So, what'd you think, Nika? They're not so bad, right?" He asked her, smile lighting up his face.
"Mhm..." Nika nodded, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. "I guess they're okay." Her throat didn't hurt anymore, and one of the lab technicians had been nice enough to give her something hot to drink earlier.
"See! Everything's gonna be okay, and you've got me, so don't worry!" Alma smiled even wider, which Nika hadn't thought was possible. "Hey, Nika?"
"Yeah, Alma?"
His eyes darted around the hallway for a moment, avoiding her curious gaze. He suddenly looked shy. "We're... We're friends, right?"
"Of course," Nika gave her own small smile, before faltering slightly. "Um, I mean, if you want to be."
"Definitely!" Alma was practically bouncing with excitement. "Yahoo! My first friend!"
Nika couldn't help letting out a little giggle at her new friend's excitement. She gave his hand a squeeze. "I think we'll be friends for a long time, Alma."
In the following days, Nika found out life wasn't always so sunny.
She'd been taken for further testing the day after she woke up. Alma hadn't been permitted to come with her, since he had his own testing, and Nika felt uneasy in his absence. Doctor Edgar had been the one to lead to into the different lab, but he didn't stay. Some other scientists were going to be conducting her tests, people she didn't yet know the names of.
The first day was nothing too horrible. They took blood samples, monitored her vitals, weighed her and measured how tall she was.
It was on the second day of testing that Nika started to have doubts.
Almost immediately after entering the lab, the scientists had her sit down on the table - that wasn't unusual. Then they strapped down her arms and legs and brought out some sharp metal tools.
Nika tried to struggle, but with her limbs restrained there wasn't much she could do. The scientists were telling her things, but the words were meaningless to her.
"We just have to make sure her abilities are working properly."
"Don't worry, Nika, you should heal nicely. We just need to make sure you don't move too much or you'll cause more damage."
The first cut was made to her left arm, just above her elbow. It was deep, and it hurt, and Nika could feel tears leaking onto her face as she quietly heaved. She didn't want to look at it, but when the scientists made noises of approval her curiosity won over.
The cut was already healing.
Was that normal? Nika didn't know. It suddenly occurred to her that she couldn't remember another time before this when she had been hurt. Did the scientists heal like this?
More cuts followed the first, in a wide variety of places across her body. They all healed within seconds, just like the first had. Even when the scientist brought out different tools, nothing was able to leave a permanent mark. They made deeper and deeper cuts, going so deep she could have sworn she felt the metal against her very bones. Each wound healed.
The left side of her chest vaguely tingled, though it was nothing compared to the feeling of one of the scientists holding a match to her palm. That mark took slightly longer to heal, but in the end all that was left was slightly pinker skin before that too faded back to her normal pale colouring.
They kept at it for what felt to be a long time - how long she actually laid there, Nika wasn't sure. Her tears eventually dried up, only resurfacing when there was a particularly painful injury. She was still scared, but even the fear was leaving her, the longer this continued.
Could she even die?
Alma was waiting for Nika when the scientists finally let her go, and he instantly knew what had happened. He'd known what they were going to do to her, of course, but he wasn't expecting the vacant expression on her face. He lead her by the hand back to their sleeping quarters, a large room lined with beds.
It was a big room for two small children.
They sat, cross-legged, across from each other on one of the beds. Alma held both her hands in is, drawing small circles onto the skin of her palms with his thumbs.
"Nika…?" He spoke quietly, almost as if he was scared of startling her. "Are you okay? How did things go with the scientists?"
He knew they likely hadn't gone well, certainly not, based on her reaction. But the testing was a part of life here, and he knew that she'd have to get used to it.
Nika locked eyes with him, fingers tightening around his own minutely. "Alma? Did they do that to you too?"
Alma felt vaguely guilty. "Yeah, they did," he shook his head, long bangs flying. "They still do. It's not so bad, I promise. The marks go away."
"Then..." Nika's gaze shifted, searching any pieces of exposed skin for marks. "You heal like that too?"
"Yeah, I do. I think the other kids do too, but we won't know for sure until they wake up."
"What... What's wrong with us?"
Alma cocked his head, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Does everyone heal like that? So fast? I didn't think that was normal..." She looked away again, sheepish.
"Hmm, I dunno... Maybe? I don't see the scientists get hurt very often,"
Nika frowned. "Maybe it's something everyone does then..." But she wasn't so sure.
Alma suddenly scooted closer, wrapping his arms around her thin shoulders. "Even if it's not, who cares? Isn't it a good thing that no one can hurt us?"
She relaxed into the hug, grabbing onto his shirt. "Mm, you're right, I guess."
For the next two months, Alma and Nika continually went for their daily testing, which now included synchronization tests for Nika as well. Even though they were routinely injured during these "tests", she was almost used to it now. It wasn't the best situation, not at all, but she was still alive at the end of every day and that was what mattered, right?
She and Alma grew very close very fast, and always made time for each other despite their busy days. Nika began to accompany Alma during his visits with the other sleeping kids, and he did his best to teach her all of their names; it was a lot of names to take in, though, so she hadn't quite memorized them all yet. At the end of the day, they stayed up late talking about anything that came to mind, until they eventually fell asleep in beds next to each other.
After the first few weeks of standardized testing to ensure the capabilities of her healing, the scientists introduced something new to her appointments - Innocence. They hooked her up to a strange looking machine, and she was brought into contact with Innocence for the first time. She was told a fantastical tale about demons, "Akuma", and a man named The Millennium Earl who created them. She, apparently, was to be a soldier in the war against this man, and Innocence was her weapon.
But first, she had to achieve synchronization.
Nika didn't want to find out what would happen if she failed to do so.
The synchronization tests were the most painful thing she had ever experienced. The testing would leave wounds all over her body, and sometimes her heart even gave out, or she would bleed out from the severity of her wounds. They never stopped though, only pausing in their experiments long enough for her to regenerate before they tried again. She found that Alma went through the same testing and they would lie together afterwards until they were fully healed, at which point they would go visit the children in Laboratory Six.
She had yet to synchronize with the Innocence, but Alma hadn't yet managed it either, which made her feel a little bit better. After all, he had been awake before she was, so maybe it took a long time to synchronize.
"Hey Alma," the thought suddenly occurred to her. "How... How long have you been awake? Were you alone for a long time?"
Alma turned his head to look at her from where he was sprawled out on the floor. Today had been a particularly hard day, with the scientists pushing their bodies to the brink in a desperate attempt to force the synchronization. Nika guessed they were probably losing this war, if they needed children ready to fight so quickly.
"Hmm," Alma thought about it, sticking his tongue out in concentration. "About six months, I think? It was four months before you woke up - maybe five? I wasn't really counting."
"Oh," she couldn't imagine what that would've been like. Being alone for that long, enduring these tests all by himself... "Were you lonely?"
He nodded. "Oh, definitely. But, it's okay, because then you woke up and I wasn't alone anymore!"
Nika smiled at that. "Ah, that's true," she stretched her still sore arm out and gently took ahold of his hand. "Well, I'm glad we don't have to be alone."
His fingers grabbed hold of hers. "Mhm! Me too!"
It wasn't even a week later when the next one woke up.
They had been talking to the sleeping children as they usually did, when Nika suddenly heard Alma speak up from across the room.
"Hey, are you awake?"
Instantly, Nika looked over to see who he was talking to. Alma was standing next to one of the pits, leaning forward to peer into the waters. She couldn't remember the name of the person who was in that one.
"Are you awake? Hey!"
Scrambling to her feet, Nika rushed to his side. She squinted at the water, but couldn't really see what the person inside looked like - just the long hair that all of the children had before awakening. Her own hair, once just as long, had been cut by Doctor Edgar's wife - Director Twi - a few days after she woke up. Now her ash brown hair was shoulder length, with shorter bangs pinned to the right side of her face.
Alma, though, could apparently see more than she did, because he kept talking.
"Raise your hand if you're awake."
Much to Nika's surprise, a small pale hand rose out of the water. They could hear him? She thought back to her own awakening, and wondering why it hadn't seemed as smooth as this. Alma was ecstatic, throwing himself bodily to the floor to be closer to the person.
"Yay! I'm so glad, now we'll have another friend!"
"A-Alma, be careful you don't fall in," Nika piped up from a few steps behind him.
"I'll be okay, don't worry!" Alma sent her a grin over his shoulder, before gesturing her forward. "C'mon, come say hi!"
She cautiously came closer, sitting down beside Alma. "Um, hi, I guess. Glad you're awake."
Alma nodded happily, turning back to the body in the water. "You know what? They call you Yuu!"
Yuu, that was their name. The name did ring a bell. This was the pit of another young boy, if she was remembering correctly.
The hand slowly shifted, moving so that it was pointing one finger in their direction.
"Eh? Me?" Alma laughed a little nervously, scratching at the back of his neck. "Well, they call me Alma - and this is Nika!" He pulled Nika closer with an arm around her shoulders, smiling widely.
"Happy birthday, Yuu!"
End Chapter Notes: By no means will this be 100% accurate in regards to canon. I'll try my best, but ultimately may need to manipulate events to include Nika. I'm also not completely sure of the timeline during this time in Kanda and Alma's life, so I'm essentially winging it. I'm hoping events from here on will be pretty much in line with canon though, at least until Alma's "death". It'll also become more apparent that Nika isn't from this world later, but you'll have to wait for an explanation.
Chapter inspiration (lyrics at the beginning of the chapter) from Halsey's "Garden". This is also where the title comes from.
Published: 10/16/2016