Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-Man in any way, shape, or form.

So here's the start of the story! Enjoy!


A harsh wind blew over a tall, dark tower. This tower was mounted on an unnatural-looking lump of land that jutted into the air from the group bellow. In any sane person's eyes, this menacing sight would be something to avoid. Against all better judgment, there was some questionably sane person standing at the base of this huge mass.

Every never in her body was screaming to get out of that place, to be anywhere but there. Naturally, this girl refused to listen to common sense and go with what she knew she had to do. No matter how hard the wind blew, and no matter how bone-chilling the cold was, she had to get to the top of that thing. She just had to. If she backed down now, so close to breaking down the starting gate, there would have been no point to have traveled all the way there from her home.

No matter. She couldn't dwell on where she had come from. Her mission at the moment was to figure out how to get to the tower.

The lanky girl rolled her shoulders and neck, loosening them up for the hard climb that she anticipated. She was wearing lightweight clothes that would be easy to move around in while climbing, but the winter's cold cut through them easily, leaving her shivering every time a gust of wind surged over her. These thin clothes were actually dark in color. Leather boots clad her feet, while a short and simple black coat went over a small dark blue dress. The only part of her that was ensured not to freeze were her feet and hands, which leather gloves and boots had sheep wool lining.

She seized up the giant obstacle and got to work, grabbing a firm handhold and hauling herself up slowly, as if climbing on a rock wall. The grim difference was that here, is she lost her grip or footing and fell, that would be the end. But as lady luck smiled upon the young climber, her muscled held out, and after an amount of time that she could not seem to keep track of, she was hauling her body over the edge that was adjacent to the large, dark gate.

Once she was fully standing on solid ground, there was a moment of triumphant thoughts before she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. She stayed like that for a while, recuperating from the small adventure that she just had. Once she had caught her breath, the girl stood and surveyed the giant stone thing in front of her. It looked like a crudely carved face that had been added to the gate. It confused her as of why someone would add such a sculpture as decoration, so she stared it down, half expecting it to jump to life at any second. Her expectations were abruptly met, as the solid eyes burst open and glared rudely at her before extending from the gate and getting in her face.

"Scanning!!" It proclaimed in a deep, booming voice, Bright lights exploded from its eyes and slowly slid up and down her surprised form. Her eye twitched as the strange process was occurring, but she held still.

"She is not an Akuma!!" It nearly sang, right in her ear too. The violently resounding sound was nearly too much for her, so she quickly pressed her hands over her ears until it had finished,

The giant face soon retracted to it's original position and was deathly silent, no longer blaring overly-loud words in her face.

"Geeze," She muttered as she recovered form the slight shock and fixed her short hair that had been messed up from the blast of sounds, It was cut in spikes that were just inches above her shoulders. The bangs that lay on her forehead fell almost to her dully eyes that seemed purple. The underside of the back of her hair was dyed dark purple and it peeked out from underneath the spikes. After quickly running her fingers through her hair, she turned back to the now-passive gate.

After hesitating a bit, she walked up to the huge thing that had just claimed her to be "not and Akuma." With a curious look on her face, she poked the stone face. No response. She poked it again. Nothing. She scowled and poked it again, this time rewarded by being knocked in the head by a small, black flying object. Gravity proceeded to take hold and cause her to topple over.

"What kind of place is this…?" She moaned and stood back up, brushing the dirt that had just acuminated on her bottom. After grumbling for a minute, she found the thing that had caused her to land promptly on the dirt. It was a black golem, flapping its wings and pointing its small head at her.

She swatted at the thing and frowned. "What do you want?" She had encountered them before. The general that had found her to be a host of an ani-Akuma weapon often had one around, although she found them particularly annoying.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The voice that came from it was sounding fake-ly harsh, but couldn't be really all that serious. After all, if they had thought they were in any real danger, she would have been dead already. She remembered the general mentioning a name of someone who usually dealt with suspicious people at the gate. Kanda, was it? He probably would have been down there already.

"Ehmm…" She decided to cooperate with the hovering golem. "General Tiedoll said that he sent a recommendation note. Eh," She shifted her gaze around the area as she thought for a moment about what he had mentioned before sending her off to the headquarters for the Dark Order.

"He said that it would have my name…. Santiel Neal. I'm from France, and he sent me here." She waited impatiently for a response. She really needed this. If they didn't let her in, where would she go? She had no home to go back to, and Tiedoll had expected her to become a full-fledged exorcist there.

There were muffled noises and papers crinkling. After a few seconds, a noticeable THWACK could be heard and a new speaker came to the microphone. The voice was young, male, and very sweet with the hint of a British accent.

"Sorry about this, Komui will be down right away. It's 'cause Lenalee's not here that he's so out of it." With that, the words were cut off, and the golem flapped away quietly, leaving Santiel standing, confused.

"Wait… what!?" She asked the silent air. Of course, there was no answer to her suddenly rhetorical question. Totally unsure of what had happened, she sighed and allowed her shoulders to slump forward. Had they gotten the letter? Was this 'Komui' person going to make her leave, or let her in?

Before she had the chance to ask herself or the dark tower any more questions, the gate opened slowly. She turned abruptly to face the creaking mechanism and saw a greatly visible form through the bars. He was wearing a stark white coat and matching hat. His hair was black with hits of purple in it, and his face bore something of a goofy expression. Once setting eyes upon her it was obvious that he didn't expect someone like her to be standing helplessly before the huge building. After staring each other down for a few moments, he ushered her inside, which she gratefully complied with.

With a clang, the gate slammed shut and she followed the man silently into a hall that arched far above her head. Stray finders sneaked peeks at the new arrival before hurrying off about their business. (She knew what they were from meeting some while with the General) After stopping to take it all in, she turned her head ever-so-slightly to address the man that had let her in.

"You're Komui… right?"