YAY MY FIRST CHRISTMAS SPECIAL EVER! AND IT'S DGM!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE FABULOUS WONDERFUL MANGA/ANIME THAT IS DGM! If I was, I would ship Yullen so hard… the manga/anime would probably be sold in the porn section… JUST KIDDING! I won't go that far! XDDDD
Oh and before I forget, this is slightly AU, Allen's first Christmas with his friends… with a twist.
UPDATE (12/1/17): Is in the process of proofreading and editing all chapters while working on knew ones and will be up and posted soon this month! :D
t's the month of December which meant Christmas was just around the corner for the people of the Black Order. From left and right, everyone was busy with preparations with huge smiles on their faces, because for them, Christmas was the one time of year where all can live happily and full of joy. Through the halls, Finders and scientists were hanging decorations while the chefs shopped for what they need to prepare for the traditional feast. They all sang and hummed to their favorite holiday tunes in their very merry festive mood.
Well… almost all of them.
"Will you hurry up you stupid rabbit?! The faster we get out of this cold, the better!"
And speak of the devil, we have one of our exorcists, Kanda Yuu, who would care less if a massive natural disaster reigned in on the 25th of December and the Earl was somehow responsible. The holidays mean nothing to him. Matter of fact, he doesn't care for any holiday actually. Lavi Bookman however, is as chipper as the rest of The Order combined. And that's a scary thought if you think about it... Needless to say, Christmas is his most favorite holiday next to Valentines.
Anyway, the two have just returned from the deep snowy woods while dragging a giant tree behind them, which would be used as the year's holiday tree. To Kanda, he found the whole decorating a tree thing meaningless, but learned to keep his mouth shut after so many years if he didn't want to get a scolding earful from Lenalee. Lavi on the other hand, was in a way too giddy mood to hear what his grumpy friend had said over his very loud and very bad singing.
Another minute passed of the red head singing 'Oh Starry Night' (that honestly sounds like combination of a tone deaf walrus and a screaming banshee) until Kanda refuses to put up with it any longer.
"Shut the hell up!"
Lavi laughs. "Oh come on Yu-chan. Have some holiday spirit!"
Kanda gives his 'friend' a glare. "Say another word and I'll shove this tree up your ass."
Lavi winced at the thought and, for his own safety, decides to keep quiet for the rest of the trip. Because when it came to holidays like these, the samurai is never at his best of moods.
It took some time to haul the tree through the underground passageway and up the stairs, to the lounge, and finally to where the tree is supposed to be placed. Kanda had to scowl and yell at those who were blocking the way to move. It did the trick since no one wanted to face the raven's wrath. Once the tree was set up in its rightful place, Kanda was ready to bolt, have a nice hot bath, and get back to his usual daily routine without any disturbances and unwanted Christmas glee.
"Lavi! Kanda!"
Only to have it all ruined by exorcist, Lenalee Lee.
"What's up Lenalee-chan?" Lavi asked as he sees the girl run to them, almost out of breath.
"Have you seen Allen anywhere? I can't seem to find him."
"Did you check the dining hall?"
"Yes."
"His room?"
"Yes."
"Training room?"
"Yes."
"…Bathroom?"
"I don't think Allen would be in there for five hours. Plus, I'm a girl. "
Lavi chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "True."
Lenalee sighed and turned to Kanda. "Have you seen Allen Kanda?"
"Che. No I haven't seen that stupid Moyashi. Why should it matter anyway?"
"What if something happened to him?"
"Then my prayers have been answered. If the Usagi disappears next, it would be a Christmas miracle."
"That hurts Yu-chan…" Lavi sniffed, shedding fake tears.
"I'm serious you guys!" Lenalee yells, stomping her foot. "This is our first Christmas with him and we can't have it if he's not here!"
"Maybe he's on a mission," Lavi suggested, hoping that would calm her down. It doesn't as the girl gives a bewildered look.
"No one would go out on a mission on such an important holiday!"
"I would," Kanda mutters and Lenalee shoots him a glare.
"Why don't you go ask Komui then? Maybe he knows." Lavi makes another suggestion and this time, Lenalee considers it.
"You know what, I think I will," she finally says and heads off to her brother's office. Once out of out of sight and out of hearing range, both boys release a heavy sigh.
"Ne, Yu…"
"What?"
"It is strange that Allen isn't around… what do you think he's doing?"
"Che. Like I care."
XXXX HoHoHo XXXX
Somewhere far, far away from the Black Order headquarters was a moving train driving further and further away from it. Inside that train were folks young and old, big and small, with reasons of either visiting their long distance families for the season or are on a holiday vacation. However, one individual was on the move for neither of those reasons. That individual was a young boy sitting in the first class car, gazing out at the falling snow through the window with a very somber expression.
As he stares at the wondrous blanket of white outside, flashes of how he got in this position come to mind. He sighs as the memory starts to roll in his head like a video tape recorder.
[Flashback]
"Komui-san, may I please go on a mission?"
Allen sees the District Head nearly spit out his coffee given to him earlier by his sister, Lenalee (though Allen made sure to avoid her before coming into Komui's office). Now, Komui has received mission requests before, especially from Allen Walker himself. That's not what surprised him.
No, what surprised him was the fact that of all times, the boy chooses a time when Christmas would soon arrive and that's when even the exorcists should take a break to enjoy the holiday. After clearing his windpipe of any more coffee, Komui says,
"May I ask why? Christmas is getting close and I doubt you'll be able to come back in time before it sta-"
"That's just it."
Komui paused, confused at Allen words. The young exorcist wasn't even looking at him the entire time he sat in his office, just staring impassively at the floor. Komui knew he had gone through a lot, but what would make usually cheerful boy this… gloomy?
"Are you saying you don't… want to celebrate Christmas Allen?"
If it was Kanda he would understand, but Allen?
Allen tensed. He shot his head up at Komui, finally facing him for the first time. "I-It's not like that!"
"Then what is it?"
Allen was visibly shivering, silent for a moment, as if he was forced to explain to the police about a crime he didn't commit. Komui had never seen him like this and was beginning to worry.
"Allen… if there is anything bothering you, you know you can talk to me, and I'm highly positive that even your friends would as well."
The boy slowly shook his head.
"Allen-"
"That is also why I must go."
Allen gave him a small sincere smile that for some reason, Komui thought, wasn't truthful.
"The last thing I would want is for any of you to worry about my problems. I want you all to have fun and enjoy yourselves," Allen's gaze were brought back to the floor, smile gone. "It's not that I don't want to spend the holidays with you guys, It's just that it brings too much bad memories and I don't want anyone's mood to be soured because of it."
"They'll be worried either way, especially Lenalee."
Allen bit his bottom lip and appeared to be in deep thought, then faced Komui for the second time.
"Then… can you say it was an order from Central. I know it's a pretty steep lie, but with that I'm sure they will understand. Lenalee would probably still be mad, but Lavi will be there to calm her down. As for Kanda…"
Allen smiles bitterly.
"He probably won't give a damn."
The scientist heaves a huge sigh and rubs his temples. He knew little about the white haired boy's childhood from Lenalee and through his documents from Cross and he knew they weren't pleasant for a child his age.
"Are you sure about this?" Komui asked after minutes of thinking this through. He couldn't believe he's actually considering this.
"Yes," the boy responded without any hesitation.
"How soon do you want to leave?"
"As soon as possible."
"…Alright." Komui dug through stacks of files from various places until he found what he's looking for. He hands it to Allen. "Some unusual activity has been going on in a small town for quite some time. The Finders I sent couldn't really identify exactly what it is but it has drawn a lot of attention to the townsfolk, mostly children."
Allen read through half of the document and raised a brow at what it said.
"Toys coming to life… talking snowmen… giant candy canes?"
Komui nodded "As you can see, all of these occurrences aren't threats, just unusual, and we believe it might be the cause of Innocence."
"I see. I'll check it out," Allen says and runs to the door, but makes his final words to the scientist with an almost wholehearted smile, "Thanks so much Komui-san!" and disappears through the halls.
[End]
Allen never realized he fell asleep until he felt a small sting of pain tugging at his ear. He groaned and reluctantly opened his eyes and swatted away whatever was interrupting his sleep. It turned out to be his golem, Timcanpy, flying around his head and trying to catch his attention.
"What is it Tim?" he asked with a yawn and groggily rubbed his eyes. How long did he sleep?
"Excuse me sir."
The voice came from a woman that serves the passengers on the train. She stood at the cart's doorway.
"I am sorry to interrupt, but the train had stopped to our destination fifteen minutes ago."
Allen's eyes widened and without a moments delay, prepared to leave with his luggage while constantly repeating apologies that only Miranda would do. He quickly left the train, blushing in embarrassment, with Timcanpy on his heels.
Mindlessly speedwalking out of the station, he suddenly stops. Timcanpy rams into his head from the sudden halt, but the young exorcist hardly felt the impact, already captivated by the scene before him.
Never before did he ever see a town like this. Every building was decorated with lights and ornaments of various shapes and colors and the falling snow blankets everything it lands on like frosting. The boy slowly walks wondrously through the large crowds of people walking at upmost energetic speeds, not seeing a single one without a smile on his or her face carrying packages of wrapped gifts, food, and other items. Allen also sees a choir bundled together, looking grand and poised while each held a thin red book of holiday songs as they walked past. And not a single person he passed walked on without saying a "Merry Christmas" or a "Happy Holidays" as if he were a dear old friend.
To Allen, everything seemed normal, but he just couldn't help but feel that something was not. Everyone was so happy; the air was warm and inviting despite the cold night and smelled of gingerbread and chocolate. And the lights were so bright, making the snowflakes fall like shiny crystals from the heavenly sky.
No crying.
No yelling.
No crimes even.
Not a single thing seemed out of place.
And not a single look of disgust was thrown at him.
"Merry Christmas lil' newcomer!"
Allen turned to the source of the voice greeting him and almost screamed had he not held it in right away. What could've scared the boy more than Akuma or Cross or Komui's asinine inventions? Well, right beside him, at the edge of a candy shop, stood a snowman. But not just any snowman. It was a moving, talking snowman.
"What?" the snowman said. "Never seen a snowman before?"
Allen stuttered the entire time he saw the talking balls of snow, never managing to make a decent sentence. The snowman just laughs.
"Ah you'll get used to me. Everyone reacts that way when they first enter this town. The one thing you need to know here is that the possibilities are endless! Why I wouldn't be talking to you right now if it isn't. Name's Frosty by the way. Well, Merry Christmas!"
Even when Frosty left, poor Allen still couldn't get over the shock. It took minutes just standing at the same spot with his mouth gaped open before he was finally able to recollect himself and continue walking.
'Okay, so apparently the Finders were not hallucinating…' he thought. 'What else did they say in that report? First was the taking snowmen, next was-'
The albino boy unble to finish his thoughts when he suddenly slipped on something and fall hard onto the snowy ground. His eyes squinted shut in pain.
"You okay young man?"
Allen was silently pleading, hoping that it wasn't another one of those talking snowmen and was greatly relieved when he opens his eyes to see an ordinary middle-aged man dressed as a salesman. Said salesman held his hand out for him and Allen gladly took it. The man helped him up and dusted the extra snow off the boy's coat.
"Thanks a lot mister," Allen said sheepishly. "I should really watch where I am going."
"Indeed you should, especially near my shop," the man said. "It's quite common for people to trip over the toys without lookin'."
"H-huh?"
Before Allen could ask the man what he meant, something zoomed passed his head at lightning speed. It sounded like a plane, only it sounded not as strong as an actual one. At closer inspection, he sees toy airplanes flying around buy themselves, passing townspeople and over rooftops. Just like Frosty, the salesman laughs at the boy's stunned face. He places a hand on Allen's shoulder to grab his attention. Allen looks up at him with silver eyes full of shock, curiosity, and a demand for answers. The man just smiles.
"Young man," he says and motions his arm to the building behind them. "Welcome to my toyshop!"
Allen eyes the store and was marveled. Toys of all sorts were literally moving in and out of the store, moving about as if they had lives to begin with. He also saw children laughing and playing around with them. The girls were having tea parties with floating tea pots pouring tea into the tea cups, and the boys were racing with cars and planes. Music sounded out of a neatly rowed group of tiny wooden marching band dolls lead by a larger wooden nutcracker doll. The shop was so full of life it was like living in a dream, a dream Allen Walker never thought was possible. The only words the boy managed to force out was…
"How…?"
The salesman looked down at him, smile still present.
"It's a mystery to us all, but the children say it's magic. We adults just think it's a miracle."
Allen chose not to speak his opinion, mostly because he didn't believe in the words 'magic' and 'miracles'. No, for Allen Walker, those were nonexistent in his life as his life was filled with nothing but curses and bad luck. As if he would say any of that to these happy people. He would rather keep his sorrows to himself than spread it to others. It was why he was on a mission in the first place and not spending the holidays with his friends.
"Everything alright young man?"
Allen jumped, not realizing he had been staring into space for some time. He smiles up at the concerned salesman.
"I'm fine. I just really need to get going. I have something important to do."
"Oh. Okay then. Be careful young man and Merry Christmas!"
"Thanks. And Merry Christmas to you too."
And so our little exorcist continued on exploring the rather strange town. It didn't take long for him to reach the edge of the town and come face to face with a huge blanket of snow, trees, and something else… something that made Allen rub his eyes and blink harshly just to be sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him.
Out in the open were, as the Finders said, giant candy canes the size of houses. Some were hanging red lanterns, and others were handing green lanterns. The light from the lanterns made the scene glow in its unusual light.
"Tim… please tell me you're seeing this too."
Tim flapped around Allen's head and landed on his snowy white hair, a way of telling him that it too was seeing it. The boy breathed a heavy sigh, his white puffs of breath made visible due to the chilly air.
"Something tells me this is gonna take some time. Why are all these strange phenomena Christmas related? And if it's Innocence, where is it coming from?"
Just as he attempts to wrap his head around the situation, he yelps as he's suddenly tackled to the ground.
"Owwww…" 'Haven't I received enough surprises for one day?' Allen groans, opening his eyes.
His eyes met a little girl, probably between the ages of four or five, sitting (bouncing) on his stomach, making her tiny brown pigtails bounce with her. Huge brown eyes stare down at the exorcist, a huge smile on her baby face.
"I found you! I found you!"
Sorry Allen Walker, but surprises are far from over.