Disclaimer: I don't own DGM or any of its characters~
Un/chained Melodies
Chapter 1 - When it All Starts
Madrielle roused with a jerk, her face sticky with perspiration. It took her a minute to register that she was actually fine, that the unwarranted fear she felt before awaking was probably a piece of her own overactive imagination. It was pitch black around here – the only light around her belonging to those of the stars in the skies, and even those were not strong enough to illuminate the town below it. Madrielle grumbled softly under her breath.
This was not the first time Madrielle awoke abruptly. In fact, she could hardly remember herself having a decent nights rest, ever since that stranger visited her months ago at the orphanage, where she both worked in and grew up in.
'Is Madrielle Walker in?" a red haired stranger called out in a gruff voice, a cigarette in his mouth as he tried to be heard over the ruckus made by the little ones frolicking around the modest sand pit and playground that lay beyond.
"Yes!" Madrielle answered, opening the door with one hand, the other jiggling a wailing Tommy lightly. He had just started teething and thus cried and fussed, refusing to sleep. "May I help you?"
Her gaze strayed to the cigarette. "And..I'm sorry, but can you please put that away? At least away from the infants. It's bad for them."
She kept her voice polite, but firm. The man looked at her strangely and slowly stomped out the cigarette under his boots. "Anyway, I'm here go give you this," he said, fastening a crystal bracelet made of bright yellow and, darker orange stones around her wrist with a stern warning. "Never take it off."
"Why?" was Madrielle's immediate reply. Madrielle had never been one who got her sense of curiosity stifled as she grew older.
"It's…like a talisman. A lucky charm to protect you from monsters," was the enigmatic reply.
Monsters…do they even exist?
Nevertheless, she had heeded his command. Until today, the bracelet was still there, warm against her skin, glinting softly in the darkness.
And till today, something that the man said kept nagging at her, long after his departure. "You are just like him – that idiot apprentice. Both of you simply too kind for your own good. Your hair is also just like his, before his turned white."
It was a passing comment, but somehow Madrielle felt a hint of importance in it.
"White hair? Did the person become old or something? But the man said…the white haired guy was his 'idiot apprentice'! So White Hair should be younger than that man. So it can't be it! Hmm…I remember reading somewhere that stress causes hair to turn white. But it can't be so serious…" Madrielle murmured, lost in her thoughts.
Until she caught sight of the luminous dials of her clock. Fifteen minutes to three in the morning.
Madrielle sighed and gave up. No use pondering about such things at such an ungodly hour. Determined to get more rest, Madrielle closed her eyes. She had just 3 more hours of rest before the daily hustle and bustle in the mornings start. Can't have myself tottering about in sleep-filled haze later…the matron will have my head…
She started to sing softly to herself, a lullaby that she had somehow known.
"Soshite bouya wa nemuri ni tsuite
Ikizuku hai no naka no honoo
Hitotsu, futatsu to
"Ukabu fukurami itoshii yokogao
Daichi ni taruru ikusen no
Yume, yu-"
A voice called out through the darkness, cutting off Madrielle's voice. "I didn't know you knew that song – the song of the Musician. In fact, I didn't even know what to expect when the Earl came up to me with a sickly sweet voice, 'Tyki-pyon, I need you to collect Madrielle Walker, the sister of Allen Walker.' "
A lithe figure melted from the shadows as Tyki stepped into the dim light. Appearing laid-back and relaxed, he ran a hand through the wavy dark hair of his and sat onto the chair at her desk. "So, are you Madrielle Walker, younger sister of Allen Walker?"
The question seemed innocent enough. But Madrielle did not miss the underlying dark threat in that pair of golden eyes that seemed to almost glow in the dark. However, try as she might, no words made their way unscathed through her throat.
The man, Tyki, was clearly losing patience. "I ask again, are you Madrielle Walker?"
"I…yes! I'm Madrielle Walker. But I don't have a brother!" Madrielle said, summoning whatever dregs of bravado left. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room at this time? Please, I must ask you to leave at once!"
Blatantly disregarding her command, Tyki took another step closer. "Don't touch me!" Madrielle warned, hating herself for the squeak in her voice.
To her surprise, however, the man stopped and murmured a soft, "All right." as if in compliance. Madrielle's fear clouded senses did not realize something amiss, and because of that, she let herself relax.
That was obviously the wrong choice; and Tyki seemed to be determined to show her just that.
In a fluid motion, Tyki plunged a hand into her chest.
A choked gasp escaped her lips. However, the pain she anticipated did not come.
"Technically, I'm not touching you. But with my hand within you, who are you to command me on what I should or should not do?" Tyki said lazily, relishing in the raw panic reflected in the girl's clear grey eyes. "I can rip out your heart before you say 'Please, don't' and beg for mercy."
A sudden crack and Tyki leapt away from the bed, knocking down a chair in the process. He hissed at the jolt of pain that streaked up his hand. "What the –"
Electricity crackled around Madrielle's wrist erratically. Confused, Madrielle gaped, her gaze alternating between the man and her wrist. Where did the electricity come from? Madrielle vaguely remembered a childhood incident where her friend almost died from electrocution when he was playing with an electrical socket. So, why didn't it hurt her?
"So, you also have the Innocence. Like Cheating Boy A and his friends back in the order. Playtime's over them."
Madrielle did not see him coming. She was not even aware, until a hard smack on her head sent her spiraling down into the darkness.
~ A/N Please read and review! Thank you so much! [EDITED]