Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-man or the canon characters used in this fic. I do, however, own Adelphe McNeal. Quote comes from BrainyQuote
"Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind"
John F. Kennedy
The girl grunted as she set down the crate, wiping the dirt on her hands onto her pants after doing so. A cloud of dust floated around the fabric and her feet.
The boy on the other end of the crate wiped his hand across his face, smearing the dirt across his sweaty brow rather than clear it off, as his younger sister assumed he tried to do.
He smiled at her and sighed before taking a deep breath, getting ready to speak. The girl hoped he was going to suggest a break, since they'd been working for hours and she was getting sore. An unusual sound towards the warehouse drew their attention before he could say anything. A strange round silhouette appeared from the smoke and screams filled the docks-
Adelphe McNeal thwacked her head against something behind her, waking her from the memory. She looked around, not remembering having fallen asleep.
A wagon . . . horse manure . . . green countryside . . . ahhh yes, she was headed to the Black Or-ow!
The wagon hit another pothole on the road, resulting in another collision between the girl's head and the side of the wagon. The way this trip was going, she would get to the Order with a mark of the back of her head to match the one over her right eye. Dammit, was the driver blind or just asleep?
Adelphe turned to answer her inquiry, black-gloved hand over the sore spot on the back of her head. She was met with gray hair, a straight posture, and a deliberate grip on the horses' reins. Blind it was.
With an annoyed sigh she looked to her suitcase, silently wondering how far until she got off this road and made it to the Exorcist Headquarters. After a moment of deliberation she opened it up and pulled out a small black object. In the morning sunlight its details were easier to see; the circular body, the bat-like wings, the white circle on its front.
"Baladith."
The golem came to life at the girl's voice and took to the air a foot in front her face on said bat wings. The white front lit up, acknowledging its master.
Adelphe's gaze quickly shifted to the driver but found he hadn't reacted. Seemed fortunately he was both blind and deaf. The last thing she needed was for him to get distracted listening to her and just crash the cart outright.
She looked back to her golem. "See if you can find another golem in the area and request rendezvous coordinates. I have no idea where-"
"Exorciiiiist."
Adelphe's blue eyes widened as a shiver went down her spine. She knew that lifeless tone, the downright sickening condition that accompanied it. An akuma.
The girl looked around, trying to find the source or the chill-inducing voice before it could fire off a shot first. She turned, peering over the edge of the wagon before finding her query. It transformed into an all-too familiar round, levitating, cannon-clad monster, meriting a groan from the blue-eyed Scot.
"Joy." She quickly snapped out of her sarcastic mindset, though, as her heart started racing. She quickly grabbed her suitcase before diving off the back of her ride.
She dove behind the other side of the wagon, the only alternative to a measly bush. At least wood could take cannon-fire better than foliage.
The akuma shot at the ground directly behind the transport, about the spot it last saw the girl. How did these things ever manage to successfully hunt humans if they couldn't anticipate?
In any case, it seemed the steeds had a better sense of their surroundings than their master, as they took off to the sound of the dark matter striking the ground behind them. Leaving Adelphe completely exposed.
If she'd had the time, the girl would have grumbled another sarcastic comment on her less-than-ideal situation. As it was, she wouldn't be able to make it to cover before the monster got off another few shots.
So be it, she thought.
Adelphe unscrewed the cap to the canteen strapped to her belt, dropping her suitcase as she did so.
"Tonn an Dochais, activate!" The Scot extended her left arm away from her side in half a T-formation as silver blades enveloped her arms, replacing the black gloves from a moment before. Water rushed out of the open canteen and flowed around her arms in mid-air.
"Innoceeeeencccce," a creepy voice hissed, probably recognizing the glowing green hue of the water. Or the black and white uniform bearing the Rose Cross. Or maybe it was the fact that water didn't naturally levitate.
"You want it?" Adelphe crossed her left arm across her body and twisted her torso to the right in preparation to attack. The water hovering around the limb started building up speed, building up power as it awaited command. "Here you go!"
She twisted her body to the left, channeling all the power from her hips up into her left arm in a violent slicing motion. The water left her arm, shooting towards the akuma mid-air in the form of a water-blade.
A moment later she sheer speed and power of it allowed the water to slice through the mask of the monster easily. The two halves of the akuma fell away from each other before exploding in the air.
Battle over easier than most, Adelphe sighed. I have to walk because of one akuma? Well that's frustrating.
Movement to her left caught the exorcist's eye and she barely dove out of the way before a barrage of bullets started heading her way.
I should've known, she scolded herself. Level Ones don't talk in akuma form, I should have known there was another! Come on Adelphe, you haven't been out of the game that long.
She took cover behind the largest tree she could dash to, hoping to buy herself enough time to call back the water she already had active. She could certainly just draw more from her canteens, but the more she activated, the more her accuracy would suffer.
She felt the comforting tingle as the Innocence-bonded water touched her skin. She balled her hands into fists and turned her head to the right, ready to get back in the fight.
Suddenly the tree exploded, wood chunks and sharp splinters flying around Adelphe like grapeshot. She was peppered with small chunks, but one hefty piece collided with the back of her neck. The force and surprise propelled her forward with a surprised grunt.
As she hit the ground she noted that her face and leg were feeling oddly warm, but she had other concerns at the moment. Adelphe rolled onto her back to assess the akuma's posi-crap, it was right in front of her with clear line of sight.
The exorcist clambered to her feet as fast as she could, but that whack to her head-well, the whack from the tree-wasn't doing her any favors. Honestly if it weren't for the fuzzy edges of the akuma and the fact the whole world was spinning, she wouldn't have known if she was fighting one enemy or two.
She was having trouble standing upright and seeing straight, but her arms still worked. She made another slicing motion with her left arm, though it wasn't as strong as the first. The water approached the akuma, but its accommodator's blurry vision wasn't working in its favor. The water-blade sliced the akuma, but was embarrassingly shy of the mask. Rather, it sliced through the body a fair portion to the left of where she was aiming. The wound was smoking and deep, but close wasn't good enough.
Adelphe sliced to the right with her left forearm before making a fist, ordering the water to circle behind the akuma and hit it from the side. As an Equip type, she had to order her Innocence to obey commands. For most exorcists it meant verbal commands, but that option wasn't practical for the Scot when her water-blades would go a fair distance. Instead, she'd trained her Innocence based on physical motions, relying on verbal only when using new techniques.
The Innocence did as it was told, disappearing from Adelphe's view for but a moment as it loomed behind the akuma. With surprising speed it came around the right side and shot straight for the akuma's weak spot. This time it sliced the face with much more ease, to Adelphe's relief. The akuma didn't seem too pleased, but it was a moot point as it blew up just as spectacularly as its buddy a couple seconds later.
Despite her now thundering headache and near-nauseating vision Adelphe didn't relax just yet. She looked around and kept quiet, making sure there weren't any other unwelcome guests in the area. After several seconds her head demanded she sit down, so she called the water back to her. With some difficulty she coaxed the Innocence back into its canteen and screwed on the lid before deactivating the blades on her arms.
She started walking towards her suitcase, though her stride reflected her fatigue. She'd have to work to get back into shape, as three months without any confrontation was taking its toll on her fitness and stamina.
Her foot kicked something as she continued, forcing her to stop and look down. Her gaze was met with Baladith, which was lying on the ground motionless. She picked it up and found it had a hefty splinter sticking out of it. She held onto the golem tightly with one hand and pulled on the splinter with the other, expecting serious resistance. It came out relatively easy. Surprised, Adelphe held the golem in her open palm.
"Bal, you okay?"
It immediately lit up and took to the air. That dent looked nasty and it sparked, but seemed otherwise fine.
Adelphe smiled and nodded. "Good to hear. Let's get going, eh?" Bal lit up at though to comply, but didn't move on without the Scot.
Before she moved, however, a wet sensation on her right leg drew her attention. The exorcist looked down and moaned as she saw she too had taken a hit from the tree. A large chunk of said tree was making itself cozy on the front inside of her right thigh. And now that she was starting to come off the adrenaline high she could feel it. Oohhh yeah she could feel it. Her face hurt too, come to think of it.
She brought her right hand to her face, gingerly feeling her right cheek for-oh yep, there it was. Another good-sized piece of wood. The girl grimaced as she gripped the exposed end with her fingertips and lightly pulled. When it offered resistance she grumbled before trying again, this time yanking it free with a harder tug.
She carefully felt the edges and knew it was bad. It would be hard to beat the scar she'd acquired when she was eleven, but she was always one for a challenge.
She turned her thoughts back to her leg. Stupidly and without thinking, she gripped the stake sticking out and pulled. Sure, the piece in her face took two tries, but this stupid thing came out in one go. As soon as it was free the bleeding got a lot worse, turning a small trickle into a pretty decent stream coursing down her leg into her boot. Some of the crimson fluid soaked through her dark pants and trickled down the outside of her boot.
Adelphe groaned as she tilted her head back, face pointed to the sky as if to ask God why He so loved picking on her. After a moment she sighed, looking to Baladith before limping towards her briefcase.
By the time she reached it she was seriously dragging her feet and was beginning to wonder how much longer she could make it before she had to take a break, or just blacked out altogether.
"B . . Bal." She had to close her eyes as she bent down to grab her luggage. Her vision was spinning enough without her bending towards the earth. It's getting worse, I might not make it to town . . . "S-see if there are any finders in the area."
Baladith flashed in compliance, but suddenly dropped. Adelphe reached her hand out, barely catching it in time. At first she thought that maybe that piece of wood finally took its toll, but the front was still flashing. What's this all about? Is he still trying to contact someone?
She walked for a little while, Bal in hand. She was starting to think that maybe Bal was done and was just fighting to stay functional, but eventually she heard something.
"Kkkk-of the Bla-kkkkkkkkk-o is this?"
Adelphe sighed in relief. It wasn't a good signal, but it was something. "Thank God. This is Adelphe McNeal, I'm an exorcist." She gasped as she stumbled, almost going down. Once she steadied herself she took a deep breath and continued limping on, though her right leg was getting harder to use. "I need help."
"Kkkk-s your posit-kkkkk"
"I'm eehhhh," the scarred girl sighed, begging everything to just stop hurting long enough for her to make it closer to the town ahead. Neither her head nor her leg complied. "I think I'm h . . half a day's cart ride from Liverpool. I d-don't know . . . I'm approaching a town in a v . . valley."
She turned, slowly walking backwards as she studied the surroundings behind her. She had no idea where she was, maybe the finder would know if she could give a detail description.
"Y-yeah, I'm traveling west, I can't see th-" She was cut off as she tripped and a grunt dominated her voice.
Her clumsy and tired ankles tripped over each other and she couldn't recover in time, sending her falling backwards. As she landed on her back, a large rock was inconveniently placed in just the position to steal her breath with the impact, and she again hit her head against a hard surface.
"Kkk-ou there? Kkkkkkk"
Losing blood, and now having hit her head for the fourth time in about ten minutes, Adelphe didn't have the strength to speak, let alone stand. Even as she tenaciously fought it, the dark encroached on the exorcist, first taking her heavy eyes before rendering her body limp and unconscious on the side of the trail.
"Adelphe, get back!" The little girl turned wide-eyed to her mentor at the sound of her name. The elder exorcist activated her innocence and took off after a monster that looked disturbingly like the dolls Adelphe's siblings liked.
The young Scot was now alone on the ground, nervously staring after her teacher. She hadn't been this scared since the day she acquired her Innocence.
An explosion came from her right, sending pieces of what used to be a building flying everywhere. An all-too familiar bulbous figure appeared from the smoke. More out of instinct than training she raised her arms to block her face as purple light shot towards her-
Adelphe's eyes shot open.
Immediately her headache assaulted her, making the white around her feel like a light being shone directly into her eyes-which made the headache worse. She groaned and covered her eyes with one hand, wishing she could get back to sleep.
"Ah, you're awake." The girl opened her eyes and turned her head toward the voice. She found a young woman at the bed next to her looking her way, a warm smile on her face. "How are you feeling?"
Adelphe groaned, bringing a hand to the back of her sore head. "Like I've been run over by a horse. And had a tree explode with me next to it." Through her thick hair, she didn't notice until she had finished speaking that she had a bandage on her head. A bandage, really? She only bumped it a few times, no big deal.
"Aahhh it was a tree," the woman, who Adelphe assumed was a nurse by her plain clothes and interest in the exorcist, muttered under her breath as her gaze wandered away from the girl.
Adelphe furrowed her brow. "Excuse me?"
The nurse directed her focus back to the Scot. "Oh I'm sorry. When we were cleaning your wounds we found wood splinters but we didn't know how they got there."
"Oh yeah," Adelphe shrugged. "I pulled the wood out 'at the scene,' so to speak."
"That was a stupid thing to do." Adelphe turned her head as a new voice entered the conversation. This time it was an older woman, one who had a sense of authority about her. "Had those finders not brought you here when they did, you would have found yourself in an unmarked grave."
Adelphe averted her gaze. She didn't like being lectured, but right now her head hurt too much for her to want to fight about it. Thankfully it seemed the woman thought she got the message, as she quickly went back to work with someone at another bed, though Adelphe's head hurt too much for her to make out a face on the patient.
Several minutes later someone entered, drawing the exorcist's attention. Two someones, actually.
"Ma'am?" The first person who entered was another young woman. She seemed to be addressing the elder lady, who turned to the newcomers. "Excuse me ma'am, but the Chief had asked to speak to her once she woke up." 'Her' has a name, you know.
The elder woman indicated to Adelphe and the second visitor approached her while the young woman joined the nurses at one of the beds. As the person got closer she could make out that it was a tall man, and his white coat would have blended in with the sea of white if not for the silver Rose Cross on his chest. White coat but wearing an emblem . . . the chief?
Adelphe pushed herself up so she was sitting up once he reached her.
He took a strong, straight stance once he reached her bedside. "Adelphe McNeal?" Yup, definitely chief.
She nodded, a confused expression on her face. "How do-?"
"I found your file after I requested your transfer." He held out a hand in greeting. "I'm glad you finally made it. We were expecting you two months ago; I feared the worst."
Adelphe hesitantly took the man's hand, not used to such . . . friendly behavior from her boss. "There were a few . . . problems, but it was taken care of." She furrowed her eyebrows. "You have a file on me?"
The man smiled as he released her hand. "You may have been stationed in America but as Exorcist Headquarters, we keep tabs on all active exorcists."
Adelphe nodded, and opened her mouth to say something else when the man raised a hand, cutting her off.
"As for your next question, I am Komui Lee, Chief of the European Branch. Hence my authority in your transfer."
"Aahhh," Adelphe tilted her head back slightly, burning curiosity now sated.
"I know this probably isn't how you wanted to make this introduction," Chief Lee paused as Adelphe nodded and rolled her eyes in agreement. This really wasn't how she wanted to meet her new chief. In fact, it was probably the complete opposite of how she wanted the encounter to go.
He continued with a small smile, "But allow me to welcome you to Exorcist Headquarters."
Author note: Okay, before I start my blabbering I want to say thank you sooooo much to anyone reading this, whether you're new to my works or have followed me here for a while or one of the lovely dA people who have been patiently waiting as I've been saying for about a year that I need to write this
I probably won't stick to just quotes at the beginning or just theme songs; I'm not sure my library is extensive enough to come up with a theme for every single chapter without breaking into my Two Steps From Hell stores (I love them, but it would be too easy to use them for every chap and I wanna change things up). Sooo if I find a quote that I like, I'll use it. If I find a song that's perfect for a chapter, I'll use that. I dunno, what are your thoughts on it? Quotes? Music? Both in some chapters?
A few notes:
-Her full situation is soon to be explained, but as of now she hasn't received a red and black uniform, hence why it says black and white at one point. Believe me, I wanted to change it every time I proof-read this because I kinda don't like the first uniforms but it had to stay
-Grapeshot is kinda like shotguns for cannons. We all know of cannons that shoot the huge balls Pirates of the Caribbean style? Well actually back in the day they often used grapeshot, which was actually scary effective (thank you Mythbusters for teaching me things I can only ever use in fanfics and Knowledge Bowl)
-On the finder. We don't know a lot about golems, aside from their being personalized voice-activated communication companions. We've seen that they can connect to a finder's phone-pack-thingy to contact HQ, as they can do with regular phones, but golem-to-golem doesn't require the phone connection. Seeing as how both golems and the finders' mobile phones are Order technology, I'm kinda hoping that the two can connect to each other without trouble (if you have evidence to the contrary please let me know, but I've put a bit of research into this and haven't found anything). Also the fact that golems are voice activated would tip off the guy at the other end that he's talking with someone important enough to the Order to have their own golem
Please tell me what you think~ of my character, of the style, of anything. Just be warned that this is the first thing I've written on my own in 3 years (aside from a couple one-shots on dA) so please no flames or nastiness
Reviews would be greatly appreciated :3