Coco: Hello, everyone, I'm Coco! If you're already familiar to my work, welcome back! If not, happy to meet you (well, you know...in a sense XD). This is my first time at a D-Gray Man story, so I hope you'll take it easy on me XD All reviews welcome. Just please no flames. Anyway, I hope you like the first chapter.
"Well, things certainly aren't going well, are they?" A feminine voice said.
The owner of the voice was a girl with boyishly short, pale blonde hair and grayish blue eyes. The girl seemed to be in her mid to late teens—though it was hard to gage her actual age due to her short stature—and had a toned form. She wore a white corset and tight black pants that was help up by a white belt. On her feet were black, knee-high boots with a white cross design on the front. She then wore a long black coat, which she left open. It had large white buttons that went down a line of white trim and had other white accents. On the left breast of the coat was the emblem of the Black Order.
Her coat even came with two straps in the back that held a halberd to her back. The halberd was long with the top of it going above her head. The pole it came on was black with a beautiful stain finish and had craved rose details going down it. Around the middle of the pole was black leather grip with a white rose on the side. The axe blade was long and sharp with the spearhead a perfect point. All in all, it was a beautiful weapon with a talent for killing Akuma.
"Lady Isolde, it isn't safe here!" The Finder—Marcus—said worriedly as he clutched what they had come for to his chest. "We should run. We cannot afford to lose the Innocence."
Marcus held tightly to the pair of gloves as a few Akuma floated in front of them looking ready to fire. Isolde chuckled while reaching back for her Innocence. Her had grabbed it then brought it off her back.
"You worry too much, Marcus." Isolde said. "We will not lose the Innocence. Have faith. Now, Rosette, activate."
Isolde slashed her halberd to the side with the rose carvings on the long pole starting to glow. Isolde ran forward towards the Akuma. She launched herself up in the air with the Akuma aiming their guns up at them. Just when they were about to fire, Isolde cut down the first Akuma. She jumped off the remains of the first Akum to launch herself at the next one. It fired at her, but she deflected the bullets away from her. Marcus let out a squeal of fright when one bullet landed too close for comfort.
"Sorry, Marcus!" Isolde called out as she started falling towards the ground.
Isolde landed on the ground though didn't pause for long as she dodge the attack of the Akuma. She flipped through the air having the Akuma follow her away from Marcus. She didn't want to put the Finder in danger. Not to mention that if he was killed, that put the Innocence in danger as well. Once far enough away, Isolde went on the offense again. She used the spear end of her Innocence this time to pierce multiple holes through three more Akuma. They exploded around her, but were soon replaced with more.
"This seems like a bit much for just one shard of Innocence." Isolde commented as she rested Rosette on her shoulder.
She was about to go in to attack again when someone else beat her to the punch. What looked like a silver sphere shot out while going through the remaining Akuma. After punching holes through their bodies, a wave of sound that sounded like church bells rang. The sound waves destroyed to Akuma that crumbled away. Isolde turned towards the one who defeated them as the sphere returned to its master.
"Daisya, there you are." Isolde commented as she placed Rosette back on her back. "Were you off playing?"
She asked this with a smile to show she wasn't angered. Daisya grinned in return.
"Just taking care of a few Akuma that had stayed in the town even after you ran to act as bait, Izzy." Daisya replied. "It was fun."
Isolde chuckled before turning to look at Marcus who was still sitting on the ground.
"Are you alright, Marcus?" Isolde questioned.
"U-uh, y-yes, Lady Isolde." Marcus said.
"I'd glad," Isolde said smiling.
Marcus blushed at the smile directed towards him as Daisya snorted. He then took the unclaimed Innocence off of Marcus's hands to place inside his uniform pocket. Isolde then looked up as two golems flew down to join them. One was Daisya's golem, which had a more pointed shape to the typical golem. The other spherical just like most golems and it had the typical bat-like wings. It was black too, but instead of an eye in the center on it there was a Fleur-de-lis in its place. The second golem flew over to Isolde who pat it affectionately.
"There you are, Trist." Isolde said. "Glad to see you're okay."
"We should report to Komui then head home." Daisya said as he looked to his own golem. "I can't wait to get some sleep in my own bed."
"Yes, I miss my bed." Isolde agreed. "And Jeryy's cooking! I could eat a whole plate of his homemade crêpes."
Daisya laughed in amusement as Isolde daydreamed about Jeryy's home cooking. For such a tiny thing, Isolde has always had an appetite.
"I wonder if Marie and Kanda have made it back from their missions." Daisya commented as the group started back from their missions. "Knowing that Kanda, he's probably completed more missions while we were away doing one."
"He works too hard." Isolde said frowning. "One of these days he's going to push himself too far."
Of course, when she voiced her concern to the older exorcist one time, he just blew her off. Isolde pouted at the memory wondering why he had to be so mean sometimes. She only cares about his well-being. They've known each other for a little over seven years after all.
"Well, you know him." Daisya said. "He's too stubborn to let a little hard work get the best of him."
"Doesn't make me worry any less." Isolde said. "Master sure brought me a bunch of troublemakers to look out for."
Daisya laughed again as he threw his arm over Isolde's shoulders. Out of Tiedoll's four apprentices, Isolde was the one who has been with him the longest even though she is the youngest out of all of them. Marie had been part of the Order before all of them, but didn't become an apprentice of Tiedoll until after he and Kanda came to the European Branch of the Black Order.
"Sorry, lil' sister." Daisya said. "But you're stuck with us."
Isolde threw him a frown, but she couldn't hold it long as she looked into his grinning face. She soon found herself smiling as well.
"Yeah, but I guess I'm okay with that." Isolde said. "Now, enough of the mushy talk! I want to get home! Sweet, sweet bed here I come!"
Isolde and Daisya stood down in Hevlaska's chamber as the woman was taking the Innocence they had collected. It had been taken from the gloves for the time being until an Accommodator could be found.
"I will be sure to keep it safe until one of the Generals return." Hevlaska assured. "Thank-you both for your hard work."
"It was nothing." Isolde said. "It's just good to be home, Hevlaska. Have Yu and Marie been by to see you?"
Isolde hasn't really had time to check around for them since taking the Innocence to Hevlaska was more important.
"Yes," Hevlaska replied. "Both Noise Marie and Yu Kanda have returned from their assignments."
Isolde was happy to hear that. Maybe she could get the both of them to join her and Daisya for dinner.
"I see," Isolde said. "Well, thanks, Hevlaska. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon."
Hevlaska said her goodbyes to the young exorcists as they went to the lift to be taken up. Their golems followed them. When they reached the top, Daisya turned towards Isolde.
"Iz, while you're looking for Marie and Kanda, I'm going to hit the showers." Daisya said. "I'll probably be done by the time you're done rounding them up. Meet you in the dining hall, kay?"
Isolde nodded her head as Daisya went off to grab some clean clothes from his room before hitting the showers. Isolde wondered if she should stop by her room as well. She felt a bit dirty too, so some fresh clothes would be nice. But it might take her a while to look for Marie and Kanda, so she supposed she'd wait. When she turned the hall, she spotted Komui and Reever.
"Komui, Reever, hey." She greeted.
"Izzy, good to see you back." Reever said. "Now all we have is Lavi out on assignment with Bookman. And of course, the Generals."
So, Lavi and Bookman were sent away, huh? They had been here when Isolde and Daisya were sent away. Lavi even saw them off.
"Where did their mission take them?" Isolde asked curiously.
"Liechtenstein." Komui said then smiled. "It's good to have you home, Isolde. I hope the mission wasn't too hard."
"It wasn't." Isolde said. "Though there seemed to be more Akuma there than normal. They were all level one though from what I could tell."
Komui hummed curiously as he tilted his head to the side curiously. Isolde knew he'd probably be mulling over that little pinch of information for a bit.
"I can't wait to hear more about it once you issue your mission report." Komui said.
"I already sent it in." Isolde said. "I did it on the train ride back. I left it with Johnny. He promised not to leave it on your desk. We all know what happens when things are left on your desk."
Komui pouted at the light jab to his messy work station as Reever lightly chuckled. Komui then cleared his throat.
"Well, we were actually about to return to the Science Division." Komui said. "I will be sure to read your report after assigning a few new missions."
Isolde paled hoping she wasn't amongst those being sent out. She just got home. She just wanted to rest and stuff her face and spend some time with her troublemakers. Well, Marie wasn't a troublemaker. He was the only one keeping her sane between dealing with Daisya's recklessness and Kanda's temper.
"We already sent Marie out for a new mission." Komui said. "We sent him along with Suman and Chalker."
Isolde sighed supposing the four of them wouldn't be having dinner together. It was very rare for all of them to be at Headquarters at once. They were lucky to catch glimpses of each other sometimes. It all depended on how busy they were. And like always, there wasn't enough exorcists around to help pick up the slack.
"We'll be sending Daisya to the Middle East once we find him too." Komui said as he looked at a few of the files he had. "He'll be partnered with Gwen."
Which leaves just Isolde and Kanda. Well, she could have dinner with him. Unless, Komui had even more work to give either of them.
"You and Kanda don't have a new assignment as of yet." Komui said.
Isolde sighed in relief. Thank God. She just wants to relax even if only for a day.
"Well, I won't hold you two up." Isolde said. "Do you know where I might be able to find Yu by any chance?"
"Probably his room or the training grounds." Reever said. "I think he said something about blowing off steam."
Well, that couldn't be good. His mission must have gone bad, which means he's irritated.
"So, you might want to leave him alone for a bit, Iz." Reever suggested.
"It's okay." Isolde said. "If I'm not used to his attitude by now, I'll never be. Besides, maybe he and I can spar."
Though last time they did that Isolde nearly had her arm chopped off since she pushed Kanda's buttons too many times.
"Besides, Yu isn't a bad guy." Isolde said smiling.
"You're such a kind-hearted girl." Komui said looking as if he was tearing up. "Just like my precious Lenalee."
Reever almost rolled his eyes at Komui's behavior as their Chief dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief. Isolde gave her goodbyes to the two before deciding to go to Kanda's room first. He might be there getting ready to head for the training grounds. She went up to the first floor, and went over to Kanda's room. She knocked on the door.
"Yu, it's Isolde." She called through the door. "May I come in?"
She received a familiar "che" in reply before the door was opened to reveal an annoyed looking Yu Kanda. He had his hair down and it seemed a little damp. He must have just gotten back from the bathhouses. He was also missing the top half of his uniform with only bandages covering his upper torso.
"I told you not to call me that, Rosebush." Kanda reminded her gruffly.
"And I've asked you not to call me "Rosebush", Yu, but you haven't stopped either." Isolde pointed out as she teasingly poked his chest.
Kanda bat her hand away then crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the entry into his room.
"What do you want?" Kanda questioned her.
"So frosty," Isolde commented pouting.
Kanda didn't reply as he waited for the shorter exorcist to answer his question. Isolde sighed.
"I wanted to spend time with you, is that so wrong?" Isolde said. "It's been a while since we spent time together, hasn't it?"
Kanda just clicked his tongue in reply before he stepped back into his room. He left the door open though, so Isolde let herself in. After setting Rosette against the wall, she plopped down on Kanda's bed as Tristan—her golem—flew over to Kanda's. The little black ball of hate, who reflected its own master's personality perfectly, glared at Tristan with its lone eye. Tristan didn't seem to mind since the golem settled itself next to Kanda's golem. Isolde chuckled at the interaction as she gently kicked her legs back and forth.
"If you want to "spend time together", you'll have to do it at the training grounds." Kanda said as he was putting his hair up.
"I figured as much." Isolde said. "Reever mentioned you saying something about training to blow off steam. Want to talk about it?"
She got a glare in return for her question, so she took that as a silent no from Kanda. She didn't push the matter. She didn't want to start a fight with Kanda after all.
"So, meditation or sparring?" She decided to ask instead.
Before Kanda could answer, the alarms went off rather loudly throughout headquarters. Isolde frowned in confusion wondering what was going on. She was pretty sure that was the security alarm since she was certain she heard the Gatekeeper's sobbing coming through the speakers.
"What is going on?" She asked allowed.
She then gasped when Kanda, who threw on his jacket, ran out the door while grabbing Mugen on the way out.
"Yu, wait!" She called out as she jumped to her feet. "Are you really heading for the main gate?"
She didn't get a reply, but it wasn't as if she expected to. She sighed then grabbed Rosette as she followed after Kanda. The two golems followed after both exorcists as well. She wasn't sure who was outside, but she felt a bit bad for them since Kanda was heading their way and he wasn't in a good mood.
Allen stared up at the crying Gatekeeper as it kept wailing that he had to be some king of spy for the Earl. He couldn't believe his master sent him to a place with such a crazy Gatekeeper.
Allen then looked up when two people landed on top of the gate. The first was a lanky male in his late teens by the look of him. He had long bluish tinted dark hair tied into a ponytail. He wore mostly black with an opened coat and no shirt. However, there were bandages over his chest with his torso exposed. He had a katana in hand, which he held firmly as he glared down at Allen with dark eyes.
The other was a petite female with short blonde hair and pale eyes. She wore an outfit similar to the male and she had what looked like a halberd on her back. And unlike her companion, she wasn't glaring at Allen. She just blinked curiously as she tilted her head at him.
"You're either fearless or stupid coming here alone," The male said as he started to unsheathe his sword.
Allen felt his heart freeze up as he felt the killing intent coming off the older male.
"Hold on!" Allen said as he flailed around his arms. "There's been a misunderstanding."
The man didn't seem to want to listen since he completely unsheathed his weapon, which glowed a bright golden color. The man jumped down towards Allen to attack. As Allen activated Cross, his attacker sliced forward sending Allen skidding backwards. Then before his very eyes his weapon was damaged with a large gash appearing in it.
"Wait, Yu!" The girl from above shouted down. "We don't even know if he's a friendly yet!"
The man ignored his companion as he placed his sword in hand while studying Allen.
"You alright?" The man asked. "Because your arm is about to explode."
"It's my anti-Akuma weapon." Allen said. "After all, I am an exorcist."
The man seemed surprised at first, but then he turned towards the stone face with a look that could kill.
"Gatekeeper?!" The man demanded.
"But he has a pentacle on his face!" The Gatekeeper insisted. "Just because he says he's human doesn't meant he is! I'd rather be safe than sorry!"
As the girl sighed from above, Allen ran towards the Gatekeeper while hitting him unhappily.
"But I am a human, you idiot! I admit that I'm cursed, but I'm an exorcist!" Allen said. "I swear it's true!"
The Gatekeeper shouted at Allen to get away from him as Allen continued to hit the stone face. The girl just continued to watch from above while looking as if she didn't understand what was going on. Allen would admit, he'd be stumped too if he was her.
"That's enough." Allen's attacker said as he touched the blade of his katana, which glowed again. "The only way to know for sure is to cut you open. Prepare to be slaughtered by the mighty Mugen!"
The attacker charged towards Allen who screamed. However, before he could reach Allen, the girl from above jumped down to put herself between Allen and the man. Allen's eyes widened at her move while thinking she might be skewered by the man. However, the man came to a stop just in time with his sword an inch away from the girl's face.
"Get out of the way, Isolde." The man ordered.
The girl—Isolde—just pushed the tip of the man's sword out of her face before placing her hands on her hips.
"You just need to calm down, Yu." Isolde said. "You can't just go around attacking everyone without a reason. The kid says he's human. Maybe the Gatekeeper made a mistake."
Allen nodded quickly along with the girl. Anything to get out of being stabbed by the angered male in front of them.
"Yes, yes," Allen said. "This is all a misunderstanding! There should have been a referral letter sent here by Master Cross himself!"
This had the man's eyes widening for a moment before he narrowed them once again.
"A letter…from the General?" He questioned.
"That's right!" Allen said nodding. "It was addressed to some guy named Komui."
Isolde sweat-dropped while quite sure that someone made the mistake of setting that letter on Komui's desk. Poor kid. This all happened just because of a misunderstanding...and Komui's mess.
Inside the Black Order, the group watching the fight turned towards Komui who was wiping his face. The group all sighed having a feeling they just attacked that poor kid for no reason. Komui whirled around while pointing at a random scientist.
"You there!" He said.
"Yes, sir?" The man asked.
"Find the letter!" Komui ordered. "It's on my desk!"
The man sweat-dropped not sure if he could do such a thing, and everyone else was thinking the same.
"It may take a while." The man said looking towards said desk.
It was covered in junk and cobwebs meaning a while could be days to months to years.
"That's a tall order, Chief." Reever pointed out.
"Are you serious, Komui?" Lenalee asked.
She couldn't believe her brother sometimes. Kanda could have seriously hurt that boy out there. It was a good thing that Isolde was out there to stop him.
"I'll give you a hand~" Komui said as he fled towards his desk to get away from everyone's stares.
The group sighed though were actually quite used to this kind of stuff by now. As the scientist dug down around the mess on the floor, Komui sat on top his desk looking through a few papers.
"That's not it, neither is that," Komui said. "And it's not that one."
Looks like they might never find the letter at this rate. The scientist on the ground gasped before holding up a rather damaged letter that had Cross's name on it.
"Here, I found it!" The scientist said. "It's addressed from General Cross!"
"Read it, man!" Komui ordered as he threw the papers behind him.
The man opened the letter as everyone waited for confirmation that what the boy said was true.
"'Dear Komui, I'll be sending a kid named Allen Walker to you. Take good care of him.'" The scientist read. "Oh, crap."
"Great," Komui said as he stood up. "Sounds good to me. Hey there, Reever, you should stop Kanda. I gotta go refill my coffee."
Reever glared after Komui wondering why they had to go through this kind of crap every day.
"Maybe you can clean up your office on the way there!" He snapped then spoke into the headset. "Kanda, I need you to stand down! Stop the attack! He's friendly. I repeat he's friendly!"
"See?" Isolde said. "Now there's no reason to continue fighting."
The Gatekeeper then reluctantly opened the gates behind them as Kanda just continued to glare at Allen who was stiff as a board.
"Allen Walker, your access has been granted." A voice came from Kanda's golem.
Kanda glanced towards his golem as it and Tristan flew around the group at a safe distance in case anything happened.
"Komui, mind filling me in?" Kanda more like demanded than asked.
"Sorry about that," Komui replied. "The kid checks out. He's General Cross's apprentice. Plus having Timcanpy with him is proof enough, wouldn't you say?"
Isolde finally took note of the golden golem as it flew around Allen while seeming to have a stare down with Kanda's golem. Isolde then sighed.
"I hope to hear an apology to our new friend, Komui." Isolde said with Tristan connecting her to the watch room. "This was a mistake on our part."
"Yes, yes, of course," Komui agreed. "Okay, Section Leader, let's apologize."
"But I didn't do anything wrong!" Reever retorted.
Isolde sighed shaking her head. She would get Komui to apologize to Allen properly later. For now, they needed to get their new comrade inside. She turned towards Allen.
"I'm sorry about all this." Isolde said.
Allen just remained stiff as he watched Kanda carefully. Isolde turned towards the older exorcist to see he was still glaring at Allen as if he were the enemy.
"Yu, knock it off." Isolde said pinching his cheek roughly. "You heard, Komui. He's been cleared."
Kanda glared at Isolde as he forced her to let go of his cheek, which was turning red. He then sheathed Mugen to place on his back.
"I heard him, stupid." Kanda said as he pinched both her cheeks in return.
He even pulled them a bit, which had her whining. Isolde tried to get away from him, but Kanda only pinched harder making her cry rather comically. Allen watched them not sure if he should help Isolde out.
"Stupid Rosebush." Kanda growled as he continued to pinch her cheeks.
"Let go, Yu!" Isolde demanded though it was a bit hard to understand her.
"I told you not to call me that." Kanda said pinching her cheeks even harder. "Maybe if I remove your cheeks you'll understand."
Allen paled wondering if Kanda would actually do that to his comrade. Isolde didn't seem to worried as she managed to stick her tongue out at Kanda while going "bleh!" at him. Kanda's brow twitched in annoyance and he looked as if he was about to actually remove her cheeks when he was hit over the head by Lenalee's clipboard.
"Both of you stop it," Lenalee said as she removed her clipboard from his head. "Kanda, let go of Isolde and get inside."
Kanda glared at Lenalee though did let go of the pesky squirt in front of him. Isolde stuck her tongue out at him again then stepped through the gate.
"I said get in." Lenalee said to the boys.
Kanda clicked his tongue in annoyance, but went inside after Isolde. Allen and Lenalee followed suit though Allen followed very, very cautiously. Lenalee took lead of the group. She took them inside Headquarters as Allen looked around curiously.
"Nice to meet you," Lenalee said to their guest. "I'm Lenalee the Chief's Assistant."
Kanda just turned to walk away—obviously done with everything. Isolde sighed though turned to follow after him.
"Uh, Kanda," Allen called out.
Kanda stopped then turned to glare over his shoulder at Allen as Isolde stood beside the dark-haired exorcist. Allen stiffened thinking he called Kanda by the wrong name. He did hear Isolde calling the older male something else after all.
"Uh, please tell me I got your name right." Allen said then set down his bag to hold out his hand to Kanda. "No hard feelings?"
"What fool would actually shake your hand knowing your cursed?" Kanda questioned.
He then walked away as Allen hung his head looking upset at Kanda's blunt question. Isolde shook her head at Kanda then stepped towards Allen to grasp his hand. Allen looked up at her in shock, but Isolde just smiled at him.
"Don't mind Yu." Isolde said. "He had a rough mission, so he's a bit cranky…well, crankier than usual. I'm Isolde Roux. Welcome to the Black Order, Allen."