And the arms of the ocean so sweet and so cold
And all this devotion I never knew at all
And the crashes are heaven for a sinner released
And the arms of the ocean delivered me
Never let me go
- Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine
Song playlist: No Tears by James Blunt
Chapter 1
Abandonment
/əˈband(ə)nmənt/
1. ceasing to support or look after (someone); deserting
2. condemning someone or something to (a specified fate) by ceasing to take an interest in them
"He's the child of the devil! I can't live with him any longer, having to look at that creature and being reminded every day."
"It's your fault, you're the one who caused this! If only you hadn't been such a whore before we met, God wouldn't have punished you with that diseased child. How many people did you used to spread your legs for, huh?"
"What do you mean my fault? You're the one who's been swindling all your clients in that fraud company of yours. You're the one who's being punished-"
"Don't you bring my work into this you little bitch. I pay the bills in this relationship and here you are being ungrateful, you stupid woman-"
The argument rapidly erupted into a mess of yelling too jumbled to make out the exact words. It didn't really make a difference since neither of them was listening to each other by this point, a primal competition over who could scream the loudest.
Upstairs the sound of soft sobs and hiccups went unheard, too quiet and too unimportant to the married couple. The bedroom was small, bare, only filled with the basic essentials. Underneath the wooden bed eight year old Yuu had managed to squeeze himself away from the world. His tiny hands were clenched over his ears tight enough to make them smart red but he still couldn't block out the shouting.
"It's not my fault, I didn't do anything, it's not my fault," Yuu whispered to himself. He wished he was brave enough to go downstairs say those words to his parents. Maybe they would understand then.
SMASH!
The sound of something shattering rang out from below.
Yuu flinched violently like he'd been hit. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut and began babbling hysterically, "It's all my fault, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…"
If he said sorry enough, would God make his parents love him?
Why didn't his parents love him?
The hot tears stung his cheeks and his throat constricted like he couldn't breathe.
Burying his face in his hands, Yuu took in shuddering deep breaths. He tried to focus on the shaky rhythm of in, out, in, out. As his breathing began to even, a confident tap-tap of knuckles against hard wood cut through the noise. A sharp silence fell upon the house like a heavy stage curtain.
A moment of thick silence, then the tell tale click-clack of his mother's high heels walking up to answer the door.
An unknown deep male voice cut in before his mother could greet the person.
"Mrs Amane?"
"Yes, what do you-"
"I'm a representative of the Hyakuya Orphanage to talk to you about reports of you abusing your child."
"…"
"May I come in?" The sound of the man's voice coming clearer, entering before he had even finished speaking. "Thank you. Let's sit down and have a discussion with your husband, shall we?"
The last words Yuu heard before the living room door was shut and the voices became muffled in secrecy were, "You don't need to inconvenience yourself by serving tea."
His mother hadn't spoken a word.
A very short five minutes later, the door to Yuu's bedroom creaked open. Yuu burrowed deeper beneath his bed with a racing heart. He had to hide, he didn't want his parents to find him and hit him again. He stilled himself, as quiet as a rabbit.
All he could see was a silhouette standing straight and tall in his doorway. His parents would turn around at this point, seeing the darkness of the room with the curtains arranged shut and the cold lightbulb switched off. They would glance at the empty bed and presume Yuu was outside somewhere. With who, where, why- those were unnecessary concerns to them.
But this person wasn't put off by the darkness. They embraced it, completely at ease as they strode inside without hesitation. The curtains were methodically pulled apart, letting light into Yuu's room.
"I know you're under the bed. Come out."
Defeated and more than a little curious, Yuu had a faint blush as he poked his head out to peer warily at the stranger.
Dressed in a black suit and tie, the man was tall and well built like a bodyguard or security enforcer. His face was unassuming and generic, hard to pin down in a crowd. Yet he looked powerful with the blinding white daylight illuminating his body as he stood with his back to the window.
"Yuichiro Hyakuya. I'm here to escort you to your new home."
And then he smiled.
Yuu felt like his life had been flipped upside down as he packed his few belongings into a shopping bag. A few pairs of clothes, his toothbrush and his favourite blue crayon. The man stood at his back, waiting for Yuu to finish like a guard dog.
In the span of a few minutes Yuu was standing outside his house with his bag in hand and the door slammed shut after him.
Unable to hold his tongue any longer, Yuu spun around and burst, "What's going on? Where am I going? What's going to happen to me?"
"Let's start walking, shall we?"
"Hey, answer my questions!"
The man had began to walk off and Yuu jogged forward to catch up with him.
"Hey!"
"Yuchiro Hyakuya. Eight years old. Underweight. Comes to school with bruises. Living on the school's free meal plan, anti social and reported by numerous teachers and neighbours to be a suspected abuse victim."
"T-that's none of your business!"
"And so word has reached the Hyakuya Orphanage of your nature. You're being adopted by the Orphanage- you'll find a new family there."
"Family? I don't believe in that crap."
"Did you know," the man continued, undeterred by Yuu's words like a boulder. "That it took less than a minute for your parents too agree to abandon you? All it took were the words of the compensatory payment to leave my mouth, but it's highly probable they would have leapt in agreement even without it. The other four minutes were signing the paperwork for the exchange and the money transfer details."
"Why…" Yuu felt stone cold. His heart felt like it was clenched in a vice. "Why are you telling me this?"
The man looked down at Yuu's wavering scowl. His eyes were neutral, just like his tone from the moment he had stepped through the door. His expression didn't change an inch as he knelt down and wiped a stray tear from Yuu's eyes.
"Because they abandoned you. Because you need love, no you crave love. You must find love Yuuchiro Hyakuya and you'll find it in your new home. The other children are all like you- hurt strays looking for someone to hold on to. They're your new family who'll never leave you."
Those words coming from a man with a blank face and blank name dug deep into Yuu's heart. They stayed there buried so deep he couldn't remove them even if he tried.
And so Yuu lowered his head and followed the man without further protest, being led like a lamb into the warm building of the Hyakuya Orphange and to the one with the blindingly sunny smile who would become the most important person in his life.
"Hi! I'm Michaela! You're said you're eight, right? Same as me! Eight year old kids are the eldest here at the orphanage, so let's be friends!"
Author's notes: I had an idea for a 07 Ghost and D Gray Man crossover which I've held in my mind for years. I had that crossover planned in lots of detail and grew really attached to it, but it never got written because I didn't have the writing skill back then. Now I find that story too cliche and it's been too long since I was into those series for me to write a decent fic for it.
So that's why I wanted to use that story to take elements from it and turn it into a fic for a series I know enough about to write about- Owari no Seraph. I have the whole basic plot outlined and it looks like it'll be a lot of chapters, but I hope it turns out well! The aim is to focus on the bond between Yuu and Mika and to explore their emotions, but it'll also be very plot heavy and full of drama.
Also I want to make it clear that this fic is inspired by 07 Ghost but YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW 07 GHOST TO ENJOY THIS STORY. It only takes a certain part of that series and uses a lot of creative license with it, so it's going to be end up different to 07 Ghost anyway.
What's going to be taken from 07 Ghost? When is Yuu going to have dreams of Mika? It will all be revealed in future chapters! Please make my heart happy and leave a review!