The fire.
Should I be thankful? Or saddened?
In some ways, there was no way that I could possibly have made the difference in the world that I did without it.
But in other ways, it depressed me. Without it, my family would probably still be alive.
The fire had raged through my family's pitiful excuse for a house, (it would be an overstatement too even call it a shack) easily killing both of my parents. By some random twist of fate, my two younger brothers and I had been away at the time.
It was a tragedy of all tragedies. We had barely any money, far from enough to have a comfortable life, and now the only support we had had was dead.
We didn't have enough to pay for a full service to them. We had assumed that they wouldn't want us to spend our valuable money on them anyway, especially if they weren't even alive to appreciate it. We simply made coffins out of old wood and buried them in the prettiest spot we could find in our pitiful yard. (When you lived in an old town with next to no funding, a yard bigger than a bathroom stall was a luxury.)
After the makeshift funeral we held for them, he appeared.
He seemed happy. After all, he seemed to have an eternal smile. His long, pointy ears stuck out from under his top hat. He was a huge man, who somehow seemed inhuman. He spoke to us about his sorrow over our parents' deaths, and told us about how we could bring them back. My brothers, who were hit harder than I was over their deaths, accepted his deal without question. He smile grew bigger, (if that was even possible) and suddenly, the lifeless dolls he'd shown us earlier animated. They screamed something I couldn't understand, something about "How dare you turn us into…" I couldn't make out the rest. It seemed like a nonsense word at the time. The man who had brought them back laughed and told them to kill my brothers. I watched, helpless, in horror as they slipped into their bodies as if they were nothing more than a new dress. I couldn't stand what I was seeing. I heaved, and suddenly my last four meals were on the ground in front of me.
That seemed to get the man's attention. He looked at me for a few seconds, then said, "Oh, Kohl. Little Kohl. I'm so sorry. An eleven-year-old girl shouldn't see such horrors. I can make them all go away."
"Yeah. Says the guy who just killed my brothers." I tried, and failed, to make my voice strong.
"Ha ha ha. I guess you're a little too old to fall for that. I'm sorry." His voice suddenly grew serious, yet gleeful at the same time. "I guess I should just cut to the chase. My Akuma, kill this girl!"
I screamed for the help I never thought would come. I cowered as the two creatures that were once my parents dove for me.
Suddenly, everything went black. I thought for a moment I'd died, but then realized that I was staring at black fabric. I was still alive; all that had happened was that someone had jumped in front of me.
Wait. Someone had what? I scrambled up, trying to help the person who'd helped me, but suddenly realized that he needed no help.
His silky silver hair covered part of his face, but the part that was exposed held a mad red eye. His entire left arm was not an arm, but a cannon of some kind, firing at the monsters. I figured he knew what he was doing, despite his young age, and decided to stay back and let him work.
Soon, he had destroyed the two creatures. The large man who had caused all of this was nowhere to be found. The boy, my savior, looked around for a couple seconds before his cannon of an arm turned into a more normal arm, completely red with a cross etched on it, but regularly shaped and proportioned. His eye turned to normal as well, with a scar surrounding it going down his face, but again, the eye itself was normal. He turned to me, and his battle-serious face turned quickly into an awkward smile. "Hi. I'm Allen Walker. What's your name?"
I couldn't speak. How could I? I had just seen the biggest phenomenon to ever happen in the history of the world (or so I thought) and he expected me to be okay enough to tell him my name?
"Oh, I get it. You can't talk. You shouldn't. Don't worry; I'll…take you to where I live. We can make you fell better there. Don't you worry, we'll protect you." He embraced me, and allowed me to cry into his shoulder. For some unknown reason, I trusted this strange, but friendly, boy.
He held me for a few minutes until suddenly I heard footsteps next to us. "Hurry up. We've got to get back to headquarters." The voice paused. "Who the HELL is she?"
Allen looked up from where he was resting his head on my shoulder and said, "Her brothers made the deal with the Earl. Her parents became Akuma, and I just saved her from being killed by them." I had no idea what he meant, but that was okay. "She now has nowhere to go to. That right?" He asked me. I nodded through my sobs. "So I think we should take her back to headquarters until she can at least understand what happened to her."
The other voice groaned. "We can't just take in any child we find crying in the street. We don't have that kind of time."
"This is the first time," Allen replied calmly, "And I swear we won't make a habit of it. I just have this…feeling about her. Please, Kanda? I'm sure Komui will have no problem with it." He paused. "She looks just like a little Lenalee."
The other voice, Kanda, I guessed, sighed. "Fine. As long as this is the only time, and we both agree I have nothing to do with this decision."
"Of course."
"Then we've got to hurry. I want to be back before sunrise."
"Thank you, Kanda."
"Don't do that. Just come on, both of you."
Allen helped me up, brushing my long, black hair out of my pale, tearstained face. He whispered, "I promise we'll help you. Come on."
At this point, I was able to get a good look at Kanda. His expression was cold and ruthless. His long, flowing black hair was tied up along the back of his head. He was muscular, but not bulging. He was somewhat skinny, in a way. He wore the same type of cloak that Allen was wearing, with the same symbol and everything.
I began following them, trying, but failing, to keep up with the brisk run they were hitting. Allen slowed down, showing mercy, but Kanda powered ahead.
"Don't mind him. He's just like that." Allen smiled. I liked him. I really did. I was beginning to see him as my savior more and more.
"Kohl." I choked out.
"Huh?" He asked, confused, but kind.
"My name is Kohl." The words still seemed to sting my tongue, as I hadn't (and never have) gotten over what had happened that night.
He smiled. "Well, Kohl, we're going to take care of you from now on, okay? Or, at least until we find a good place for you." I nodded.
We ran all night, barely resting at all, as Kanda kept on pushing us forward, insisting we get back to "headquarters" ASAP. Finally, we reached the giant building. Allen grinned at me and said that this was the Headquarters for the Black Order, where he and Kanda worked.
"You work?" I asked, amazed.
He laughed. "I've been working my whole life. You've gotta do that when you have to pay for a lot of…err…debt." He flinched at the sound of the word from his own mouth. I didn't pry into why. He didn't seem to enjoy talking about it.
At this time, we'd reached the huge building. A girl with long, green-tinted hair met us there. She looked oddly similar to me, the only difference being my hair was pure black.
"Hiya, Allen!" She cried, "And hi, Kanda. Glad to see you both back in one piece."
"Yeah," Allen admitted, laughing, "We got this Innocence a couple of days ago." He pulled a bottle with some glowing thing inside of it and handed it to her. "It wasn't that hard, really. There were three Akuma trying to get it as well, but only one of them was above level one. And even that one was easy to take down."
"Well, I'm glad." She seemed to notice me for the first time. "Oh! And…umm…who's this?"
"Saved her from her parents, who had become Akuma at her brothers' requests. She has absolutely nowhere to go, and for some reason, I just feel something about her that makes me want to take her here, at least to explain to her what happened, and give her some quality food." They both laughed at this. Why, I didn't know.
"Well, we'll have to get Komui's permission first, but I'm sure he'll have no problem with letting her stay for at least a few days. Why don't you wait inside while I go get him?" She glanced at the threatening clouds covering what would be a beautiful sky.
"I'm not going to stay here and wait for your brother to get all tearful over one lousy girl. I'm going to my room. You can reach me there." Kanda said coldly.
"Suit yourself," said the girl, then smiled at me. "Wait here." She ran off.
Allen turned to me. "Her name's Lenalee. Just so you know. She's going to get her big brother, who runs this branch of the Order. His name's Komui."
"Okay," I said, smiling. Anything Allen said was fine with me.
We waited for a few minutes, completely silent except for the occasional "You okay?" from Allen. Every time he asked, I nodded. Finally, Lenalee returned, with a smart-looking man with longish black hair and glasses, (he must have been Komui,) following her. He walked over to me, and looked me over, firing what felt like tens of thousands of questions at me. "Where did you live?" "Had you ever seen a creature like what attacked you before?" "How about the man who made the deal with your brothers? You see him before?" I answered every one of them honestly. Eventually, after pulling Allen and Lenalee aside and privately speaking with them, he deemed me allowed to stay for as long as needed, provided I did not interfere with anyone's work. I agreed. He smiled at me, with what looked like tears in his eyes, and welcomed me to the Order. Then, he told us he had a lot of work to do and Lenalee had a mission to attend to soon, and to follow him for briefing, so they turned on their heels and left.
I asked Allen why Komui had been about to cry. He laughed, a little sadly, and told me that I must remind him of his sister as a child. He told me their story, and it just tore my heart out. It was sadder than my own personal story.
"Anyway, on a brighter note, why don't you go explore the Order a little bit? If people aren't busy, you can talk to them, but if they are, leave them be. I'll come find you for dinner." He smiled at me again.
"Okay. What are you going to do?" I asked, curious.
"I'll just be catching up with some things around here. That guy that made the deal with your brothers…I'll explain later. Komui and I will tell you everything, but how about after dinner, okay?" I accepted, and he left me there, all alone, but feeling the most loved I've felt in a long time.
I figured that the way I'd explore was to just wander around until I found something, or someone, interesting. I was just ten minutes into my exploration when I found Hevlaska. She frightened me at first, but after she explained what she was, I relaxed a little. I asked her questions and she answered them.
Suddenly, something amazing happened. One of the glowing orbs inside of her, which she had called "Innocence," suddenly floated out of her. I felt some kind of pull to it, more than just interest. I walked to it as it floated to me, and we met each other halfway. As I reached out and grabbed it, it transformed into a bright balloon, rather regular, but somehow I still felt something special about it. Hevlaska just stared for a few seconds, speechless, which was kinda annoying, because I wanted her to tell me what was going on. Finally, she just said, "Go get Komui! Tell him that you're the accommodator and show him the balloon. He'll explain. Go! Hurry!" The urgency in her booming voice made me run faster then I'd ever ran before.
As I was one hundred yards away from Hevlaska, and still sprinting, something occurred to me. I had no clue where Komui was.
I was about to run into the nearest room, screaming like a madman, when I saw Lenalee a few feet down the hall. I ran to her, explaining my situation in gibberish. When I realized I was speaking nonsense, I slowed down and gasped, "Where…is…your brother's…office?" I was very out of breath.
Lenalee, still confused, led me down the opposite direction I had been running in, finally to a door marked "Chief". She pointed, and asked if she could join us. "I'd like to know what the big deal is." She said, smiling. I told her of course she could.
We both burst into the office. I was screaming my story before the door was even opened all the way. Komui told me gently to slow down and have a seat. I did, and carefully explained my situation. His eyes grew wide, and he, like Hevlaska, was speechless for a few seconds. Finally, he said, "I…I don't believe it. You, Kohl, are an exorcist. That balloon is your Innocence. I can't believe it…" I looked to Lenalee, whose expression of shock perfectly reflected her older brother's. "We were going to tell you later…but I guess we've got to tell you now." He then wove for me the tale of the Millennium Earl, exorcists, and Akuma. He explained Innocence, and what it meant that I held that balloon in my hand. My eyes grew as wide as his had.
"Do you understand?" He asked when he was finished. I nodded, still in shock. "We've got to get someone with you to find out what that balloon can do. Lenalee, go get…let's see…Kanda." Lenalee nodded and left the room.
I couldn't help but whine, "Can it be Allen? I don't want to train with Kanda!" Komui laughed and told me that Kanda was an okay guy as long as you stayed on his good side. I knew that, for some reason, he had automatically put me on his bad side from the beginning. I had no hope of being on his "good side." I wasn't sure he even had one. I explained this to Komui, who just laughed again and told me that I'd just have to deal with it for this one time, and he promised me that I could be partnered with Allen next time. At least Komui understood that I liked Allen the best of everybody. I agreed to this new deal.
Kanda came to get me, and we went to a training area, to which Kanda slammed the door behind us. He was clearly as happy about this as I was.
"Do you know anything about what you can do with that?" He asked me. I shook my head. I had no clue. "Well, I guess the first thing we should find out is…" He pulled out his sword, Mugen, and drove it towards my balloon. It struck the shell, but the balloon didn't pop. "Okay, so it's impenetrable. Now, Kohl," He spat my name as if it was a cuss word, "Just try to do something with it. Anything." He went to a closet and pulled out a wooden dummy. "Attack that. Fly. Just do something."
Fly? He thought I could fly? Why, the only way I could do that was if my balloon was filled with the lightest gas on Earth.
Suddenly, while I felt no weight change, I felt the balloon change what filled it. I began floating.
No way! I was flying! Just by thinking of what needed to fill it, it filled itself with that. I yelled that down to Kanda, who replied, "We can't be sure of that yet. Don't jump to conclusions. I could just be a coincidence. Try again, but this time, fill it with something else, something heavy, that would be good to hit someone with. Like lead, or another metal."
I closed my eyes and concentrated. Lead, I thought, this balloon should be filled with lead.
Suddenly, I was falling, but my balloon's weight didn't seem to change. I had an idea. I guided the balloon to the dummy Kanda had set out, and brought it down onto it. It smashed into at least a hundred thousand pieces. I landed easily, despite the speed at which I had been falling.
"Interesting..." Muttered Kanda.
We did many more tests like that before he was satisfied. Then he turned to me. "Tell Komui that you can fill it with any substance you want. He'll tell you what to do from there." He turned and left, eager to get me out of his sight.
I went back to Komui's office, and told him what Kanda had told me. That seemed to please him, and he told me to go train some more right after dinner. I then hurried to the dining hall.
I ate happily, sitting next to Allen. He took an interest to my incredibly eventful day. I explained it all in detail, and he listened to it all, laughing at the right times, saying "Whoa!" appropriately, and at the end of it all, suddenly hugging me. "I knew I was right to take you here." He as a great listener.
I did as Komui had told me, training every spare moment I had, sometimes with Allen or Lenalee, and occasionally with Kanda, but rarely alone.
Other than Kanda, I hit it off with everybody, and was easily accepted into the Black Order. I went on mission after mission, taking down Akuma in the memory of my family.
I don't know what would have happened without the fire. I probably would have lived in poverty, or died of starvation. My life wouldn't have been nearly as great without it. Of course I loved and miss my family, but I also love and would miss the Order and everyone in it. I think adding that love to the difference I made in the world by "saving" Akuma (as Allen put it) makes it clear that I am more thankful for the fire that sad.
Whatever God gave me that spectacular tragic fire, I thank him. They saved my life.