The tantalizing array of colors danced in an unsynchronized pattern across the small dashboard. A girl's eyes followed the numbers and charts that came into her computer's database all at once. There was a small device, not heavier or larger than a standard size textbook, which was hooked up to her computer's USB port. The girl's mind was absorbed into her computer's screen as she read the numbers to herself silently. A green downloading bar suddenly popped up on the screen. In five minutes and twenty seconds, the result of her efforts would finally materialize. A great feeling of relief overwhelmed her and she sighed graciously. She knew that the downloading wasn't complete and that she had no idea if this would work or not. For the past three years she had been constantly studying and preparing for this day. In just a few minutes, she could prove her worth to her father. The chair she was sitting in spun around on the wood flooring under her desk after she kicked the ground, and she jumped out of the chair before it came to a complete stop again. The morning rays of sun were beginning to pour into her room, and she realized that it was dawn, which meant she had stayed up all night without realizing it again.

One glance inside her room and you could tell what kind of lifestyle this girl had been living her entire life. From the embroidered silk bedspread that hung over her bamboo sheets to the ornate rug that was colored a majestic gold, everything in her bedroom seemed to be somewhere in the middle of cute and expensive. Though the girl didn't choose what her bedroom looked like, she did enjoy it very much. The clothing style that she preferred just happened to match the atmosphere of the feminine bedroom that her mother designed, which made her mother very happy. The girl, who was now sitting on the edge of her bed, glanced over to the computer; there was only thirty seconds left. A brief feeling of unnerving joy was replaced with the sudden realization that she had left out a very important factor in this experiment.

Even though she had made the invention finally work, she hadn't picked anybody to bring forth.

She hadn't yet chosen anyone to evade their flowers wilt.

Taking a breath in, she went over the circumstances through her head. She couldn't bring anybody of central importance to this place, and at the same time she needed someone who existed within a fairly close time so that they would speak English.

In that case, I'll have to choose the late nineteenth century. This place was still in the suburbs back then, so nobody fairly important should come waltzing in. Alright! Let's make this happen! She thought, not considering what would happen if she just randomly chose someone.

She was about to bring somebody from the past into the future. The girl didn't want to take any chances though, so she would stick to bringing whoever would be exactly three feet east of the invention and within the years of 188O-1899. Really, she just didn't want it to be a rapist or a small child.

The sound of a quick ding echoed throughout the room for a brief second. The download was finally complete.

Now I can finally show father that I can be useful to him, even if I am a girl!

Gracefully, she stood up and patted the loose threads and dust off of her dress. Elegant floral patterns that were colored red and gold decorated the fabric of the dress, which was uplifted by a petticoat that the girl wore underneath her dress. Almost instantaneously she arrived at the desk, took a deep breath in, and pressed the purple icon that had appeared on her desktop after the download was complete.

Her teeth clenched and she dropped to the ground in both pain and shock, and she clutched her ears with her hands. A horrible and deafening screeching sound filled the room.

The girl struggled to stand up without losing her balance, and had to use the end of the bed as a support.

G-Gah! Why is such horrible sound coming out of that thing?

The screech sounded like a discordant ensemble of a thousand violins.

The girl stumbled to the ground after attempting to make her way back over to the desk, but saw something on her way to the floor. There were birds perched in the oak tree outside.

The birds were unaffected by the sounds.

Can nobody hear it but me! She thought, annoyed.

She was now slumped against the wall, as she had given up all hope of ever managing to make her way over to the device. She was gasping for breath now, as it was almost like the room was a near void, excluding the harsh sound.

From the girl's current eyes there was nothing in this room but the sound.

A light burst out from the carpet that was located in the middle of the room and the girl, barley escaping unconsciousness, abruptly stood up. The ensemble had ceased to play at last, and she regained her senses once again.

I'm glad that the noise stopped… B-But is that light- Can it- Is this what travelling through time looks like?

A scream filled the room, but this wasn't the old scream. It was human, and it was in pain.

The light spit somebody out and then the light quickly flashed away. In simply five seconds, a gap that connected two timeframes appeared in her bedroom and left.

Amazing… The crack that appeared in thin air was the connection between two completely different times.

Transfixed on the spot where the light had been just a few seconds ago, she didn't even notice the boy that was spit out of the light.

E-Eh…

This can- This can't be real! Impossible!

I didn't think it would really work!

The girl stared at the person on the ground for about half a second. A boy who looked to be slightly older than her was lying on the ground, his pupils shaking. The white hair that the boy had confused her, but she decided not to make a comment on his hair the first thing that she said to the boy. At a loss for words, she simply walked over to him face and poked his cheek.

"O-Oi… You want some hot chocolate?"

The girl laughed nervously at her comment. She wanted to start punching herself for what she had just said.

What was that, you dumbass? You don't ask a mysterious boy if he wants hot chocolate as soon as he comes out of that! It's not even winter!

She hung her head and apologized nervously. There was an awkward silence for a second until the girl screamed and quickly brought her hands to her mouth.

"Y-You're bleeding! Wait here just one second!" She gasped. She couldn't believe that she didn't notice before. His body was full of scratches and his clothes were ripped up, but she was so absorbed in the results of the experiment that she hadn't noticed the blood that was seeping through his coat on the left side of his body.

"Wait a second, Miss!" The white-haired boy called out, stretching out his hand in an effort to grab her wrist before she went out the door. He sighed and looked around.

"W-Where is this place? I was just with Le-LENALEE!" Immediately he tried to stand up, but quickly fell to his knees and clutched his wounded side.

He began to mutter to himself in a quiet voice. "I was just with Lenalee and the others… I was just fighting a Noah a second ago… DAMMIT!" He pounded one of his hands to the ground and slowly brought it together to form a fist.

What if Lenalee and the other's aren't safe! Kanda and Lavi may be there to protect her… But still! He sighed to himself and stared at the floor with a solemn look in both of his eyes.

The door burst open and without a moment of hesitation the white-haired boy stood up, still clutching his side, and walked toward the girl who had just returned with a basket of bandages.

"Excuse me miss, but can you please tell me how to get back?" He said with a small smile on his face.

"E-Eh? Back?" The girl stuttered.

"Yes… You see, I was doing something very important…" He sighed. "And those that are precious to me may be in danger."

Before the girl could respond, the white-haired boy suddenly looked up to her and began yelling in desperation.

"Please miss! Please let me go back to them!"

His eyes… They are so strong at a time when he is so desperate.

The girl bit her lip and frowned.

"I'm sorry… B-But I'm afraid that I haven't finished the modification. It'll take a minimum of a week to finish it…" She turned her head, afraid of being hit by the boy.

Instead of hitting the girl, the boy slumped back against the wall and stared at the ceiling for a second.

The girl walked over to the boy and began to unravel the bandages she had brought in. She removed his dirty coat and began to put that bandages on his wounds.

The boy with white hair turned his head towards her. "Miss… My name is Allen Walker; it is a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry that I was so angry at you a second ago," he said with a smile. "If it is because of these wounds that you won't let me go, then please ignore them and let me be on my way. I am an exorcist, you see. It is my job to fight. Oh, and m-may I ask where this is?"

An exorcist? She paid that comment no mind and addressed his question. "I'm Alice Clarke. It's nice to meet you, Allen!" the girl flashed him a bright smile. "As to where you are… You are exactly where you were, but the difference is the time."

She took a breath before continuing. "This is the year 2O18. I'm afraid that right now… Right now you're… you're not in the late nineteenth century."

Alice finished wrapping the bandages around his side wound and put the leftover bandages back into the basket that she used to carry them in. Allen's arms dropped to his sides.

"N-No way," He muttered to himself. "Impossible…"

Alice fell to the floor on both knees, clenching her hands together tightly to stop her from crying.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know- I thought that a dog or something would come instead of a person." She chocked back the tears. "And you're wounded too! T-That didn't come from the time travel d-did it? If not then… Why are you injured like this?"

The white haired boy lifted his head to show a face that had gone pale from fear. "Lenalee and the others… We were battling a Noah. I- What if they die?" He said, nearly inaudible, lowering his head yet again as he talked.

Alice froze. What had she done?

"I'll be able to send you back to the past…"

"Y-You can! Please do it right now, I need to get back the-"

Allen's head shot up and his eyes full were so of hope that Alice could barely manage to cut him off and continue.

"I can't do it right now. I've only programmed half of the machine."

Allen slumped back and was looking at the ceiling. A small hint of a smile was visible from the side, but when he brought his head forward again, it was obvious that it was a fake smile.

The two were now sitting in Alice's sitting room, which was connected to her bedroom. A maid in the corner of the room was fidgeting nervously, wondering why her mistress had brought a man from her bedroom. Allen and Alice were sitting across from each other on separate tan couches, with a cute white coffee table separating the two.

Alice sighed and stood up from her seat.

"Shall we begin?" She said with a light-hearted smile.

Alice poured Allen and herself two cups of tea and dismissed the maid from the room after whispering something in the maid's ear.

Allen smiled. "I hate to be so pushy, but may you tell me how I got here?" He said, laughing nervously.

"…Yes, I guess it's only fair." Alice took a sip of her tea before continuing.

"I have created the world's first successful time traveling device… To my knowledge, that is," She let out a small laugh. "I won't go into details about the project or the reasons behind it, but I can tell you this: you can't stay here for long." Alice blushed before she said the next sentence and began to stare at her own lap instead of directly at Allen. "I-I don't actually know why you ended up coming here… I didn't think that a human would be coming through the portal. I expected a cat or something similar to that."

She abruptly stood up and bowed to him. "I'M SO SORRY THAT YOU WERE BROUGHT HERE!" Her eyes were closed, and her face was stiff. She was terrified of what the boy would say.

After several seconds of waiting in silence, she felt a soft pat on her head. The hand stayed there as she tilted her head up enough to see. Allen was gently smiling at her, with his right hand on her head.

"It's okay, it isn't your fault," He said gently.

She could see the remorse in Allen's eyes.

I caused that pain that he tries so hard to hide… I caused him to bear that heavy burden of worry. Alice thought, still beating herself up over doing this to Allen.

"It is…" She said silently.

"I'm sorry, what did you say Miss?"

"O-Oh it's nothing…" She cleared her throat and Allen took his hand away. He laughed nervously.

"So, miss, how long will it take until I can go back home?"

"Well, the initial software development is what took so long… It should be done by next week if I-"

She stopped talking when she saw Allen's facial expression, which was a combination of terror and defeat.

"I'm sorry… I may be able to get it done sooner if I pull a few all-nighters…"

She shifted her position uncomfortably.

"I-I understand, miss! Yes… I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait until you're done."

It was obvious that Allen didn't want to wait that long. Alice couldn't even imagine what he was going through right now. She had no idea what his life is like and what it must be like to abandon your frien-

W-Wait a second, did he say he was an Exorcist? Those don't actually exist, do they?

"Oh so-so you said that you were an "Exorcist?"

He nodded with a small smile.

"What's that?"

"I guess I'll take this opportunity to explain. Have you ever heard of Akuma?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Well I hunt down these Akuma. Ah- Akuma are weapons that the Earl creates to harm humans."

She let out a sigh. Just what was this boy?

An exorcist?

2O minutes of detailed explanation went by.

Alice could only think of one last question.

"...So what is your Anti-Akuma weapon? You have one, right?"

He showed a small smile and held up his left hand.

It was black.

Alice's eyes widened, but before she had the chance to react, the bedroom door swung open and a middle-aged woman came in.

The woman wore a wide smile and immediately ran over to Alice and gave her a hug, moving her body back and forth. Allen immediately put his hand down and stood up.

The woman put Alice down and began talking rapidly.

"Alice, the maid just told me that you brought a boy home with you! Who is he? What's his name? Is he cute? What about his pa-"

The woman finally noticed Allen's presence. Instead of reacting with concern, she squealed and began jumping up and down, holding Alice's hands. Alice stood there expressionless.

"Aren't you a cutie!"

The woman ran over to Allen and gave him a hug. She then stepped back and put her hands on both of his shoulders.

"Now if you're going to get into a relationship with my daughter, you're going to have to make sure that you use the proper precautions! I can't have you two reproducing quite yet aft-"

"MOM!"

The flustered girl ran over to her mother and put her hand over her mothers' mouth and brought her to the corner of the room.

The two occasionally looked back to Allen, with the woman giggling happily every now and then. Dumbstruck, he stood there, wondering what would happen.

The older woman walked over to Allen confidently and slapped him on the back. She gave out a hearty laugh.

"Well, my daughter just informed me that you two weren't doing naughty things in her room like I had hoped. Even so, I suppose I can let you stay! I'll call the school up. You can sleep in the room next to this one, and remember that you can always come into Alice's room if you want to have a little midnight action!" She winked and skipped out the door.

Allen stood there, unsure of what to say.

"Was that your mothe-"

"Unfortunately she is," Alice said with a sigh. "Please ignore everything that she just said abou- about reproducing."

Flushed red, she looked away from Allen with her arms crossed.

"Y-You're going to have to attend school here for the time being, by the way."

"A-Ah thank you so much for offering, but I really do have to be going ba-"

"I told you that you can't go back!" Alice yelled, still facing the other way. "At least not until it's finished…"

She turned back around to face him and saw his blank face. It was pale from both shock and exhaustion.

"N-Now go to your room and get some sleep! Tomorrow's Monday, so we have to go to school…"

Just as he was about to speak up she walked over to him and pushed him out the door.

"G-Go!"

She slammed the door shut when she had pushed him out.

Sinking to the floor, she put her arms around her legs.

"I'm so sorry Allen…" She whispered to herself, now on the verge of tears.

On the other side of the door, Allen had put his right hand against the door.

"Thank you for trying to help!" He said loudly.

Allen fell to his knees.

"I just hope that it will be enough…" He whispered to himself.