Yeah, this was another weird school assignment. I quite like it though. We were given a few requirements on what it had to include, and well ... this is how mine came out. I hope you enjoy.
Happiness
Down a cold, foggy street of old London rested a house, a large Victorian style structure. It was a grand sight; almost double the size of any of the other houses on that street. But unlike the other houses, this house had a shadow around it. It loomed with darkness and a feeling of unease. The owner of the house was a young, cold-hearted alchemist by the name of Tsuki. She had no last name. At the age of 14, she lived alone in the giant house. Her schedules were routine: go to work to provide money for food, come home in very late hours and then go to bed. She had expected nothing and wanted nothing to change, but change was inevitable for it was part of her destiny.
That destiny was awakened one warm day in August when she came home and went to bed. Just as she was about to doze off, a voice spoke softly in her mind. It said: "Tsuki, your time has come. Fate has determined your path, and now you must follow! It's destiny!" Pushing it aside as a dream, Tsuki cleared her mind and fell asleep, oblivious to what was occurring as she slept.
The light of dawn shone through the window of the great Victorian mansion. The soft and gentle rays descended upon the sleeping figure of the young alchemist. A very light sleeper by nature, this slight variation in the surrounding woke her instantly. Stretching and stifling a yawn, she quickly left the warmth of her bed to be greeted instantly by the chilling coolness of the air around her.
'That's strange,' she thought, 'I clearly remember thinking it was quite warm yesterday. Why the sudden drop in temperature?'
Quickly dressing in her daily attire – a thick robe of black with silver fastenings, which she had transmuted herself, and black pants both comfortable and suitable for her field of work – she made her way downstairs. Pulling on a pair of black leather boots, she grasped the handle of the door and was greeted by a surprise. Instead of facing the streets of her hometown, a vast forest covered in snow replaced the dark, musty city streets of old England. This change seemed to bring very little surprise to the young girl, for all she did was slightly raise an eyebrow questioningly. Then again, even if she were greatly shocked, she would not show it. Orphaned at birth, she had grown accustomed to living alone and expecting the unexpected. Friends she lacked and happiness she had none. She cut off her heart from the rest of the world, shrouding herself in loneliness. A mask hid her true expressions everyday, a solid, stoic mask that was yet to be broken. Her only interactions with others of the human species were in her line of work. She was an alchemist; one who researched the transmutations of various objects; one who made little useless pebbles into pieces of precious gold or other valuable metals; one who was on the hunt for the Philosopher's Stone and the elixir of life. She did not enjoy these meetings, but she felt pride in her duty and completed these transactions of information without a complaint.
The wind blew its cold breath upon her, wafting the fresh intoxicating scent of pine trees. Blinking in mild shock at the scenery around her, she looked around to observe the scene. The barely risen sun cast a comforting orange glow on the soft, untainted snow; everything was silent, except for the occasional cry of a bird that rang out from beyond the trees. The vision was the epitome of calm, and that was exactly what the alchemist felt. The normal calamity that brewed within her was reduced and she felt herself smiling inwardly at the sight before her. Stepping out of her home, she made the first imprints in the freshly fallen snow as she set out to explore the land.
Walking around and around, a sight made her stop and take a second glance. Perched atop a snowy cliff was a goblet. Making her way up to it, she approached the glass and just stared in awe. The chalice was carved from a glass-like material and it radiated an unearthly glow. From it a liquid purer that the cleanest water spewed out, spilling over the rim. Upon closer inspection, Tsuki discovered that nothing fed into the cup that would allow it to keep generating water at the rate it did. This immediately fascinated her, for it broke the law of conservation of mass. How could you get something out of nothing? Coming closer to it, she tentatively reached out a hand to touch the object, but as she neared it, sparks shot out and formed a protective barrier around it, preventing her from getting through.
'Hmm, this is interesting,' Tsuki mused, 'very interesting. How could a goblet be out here?' As she thought, her mind had already started to process and review all knowledge she had on goblets. Her brain raced through the archives she had neatly stored. 'Let's see, goblet, goblet, goblet…!' Her eyes snapped open wide as a particular piece of text she had read recently popped into her mind. 'No, it couldn't be…' Recalling the book on the Philosopher's Stone, she remembered that it could enhance alchemic transmutations. In other words, if you had the Philosopher's stone, you could create something from nothing. Also, in all the ancient texts, the elixir of life had always been a liquid, and liquids were contained in cups so… Could the chalice she had found possibly contain the Philosopher's Stone?
Tsuki's face showed the rarest hints of the emotion excitement as she reviewed her thoughts and findings. Once again she approached the cup, this time leaving a fair distance between them so that she could peer inside it but not be in the range of the barrier. Resting at the bottom of the goblet was a magnificent blue diamond, a stone. Suspended inside the gem was a pendent in the shape of a star. The star was pitch black and layered over the star was an elaborate cross forged of dazzling silver. Enhanced by the contrast of the dark star, the cross emitted a blinding light so bright that Tsuki had to shield her eyes to be able to look at it.
'This must be it! The legendary stone! I found it!' Tsuki thought, a smirk of satisfaction grew on her face. 'With this I can exceed the law of conservation of mass and do the impossible, perhaps I can even be able to do what no alchemist has been able to do before, human transmutation. With this, I might finally be able to have a family!' The last thought left her with a nostalgic feeling. She had never thought about being around other people, yet she had just wished for a family. 'Could it be that all I ever really wanted was someone to care for me? Heh, yeah right. I don't need anyone else. Who cares about a family.' With these words, Tsuki once again donned her stoic mask and was in control of all her emotions once more. 'I don't need love or happiness, those are for the weak.'
As she ended her train of thought, her attention was brought back to the goblet with what was suspected to be the Philosopher's Stone lying inside it. 'Darn it, I can't reach it,' Tsuki muttered to herself. 'Perhaps if I try using alchemy, it'll work'
Taking a step back from the goblet, she hunted for a stick and started to draw in the snow. A giant circle around the cup, then lines criss-crossing to form a many sided star and between the margins of the circle and the lines, ancient runes were written to create a giant alchemic circle. Placing her hands down next to the circle, she tried to perform the transmutation, but nothing happened. A spark of light shot from her hands, but that was all. With a sigh, Tsuki got up from her kneeling position on the ground and brushed the snow off her pants.
'Well I guess that didn't work,' she thought angrily. The Stone was within her grasp, yet she was unable to reach that final distance and claim it.
Suddenly, a loud shout could be heard in the distance. Snapping her head up, Tsuki looked at the direction in which the sound came from. Her eyes landed on a small beaten path between two ancient pine trees.
'What was that? There are others in this forest? Maybe they will know how to break the barrier!' With that, Tsuki dashed in the direction of the shout into the forest.
Making her way down the path, something red caught her eye. A key. It lay in the snow under a young sapling. From a distance, it looked like the key was stained with blood.
'Is this from the person who yelled? Were they attacked?' Tsuki immediately scanned her surroundings for danger as she approached the key. As she got closer, she realized that the blood was not in the key, it was inside of it. Like the goblet, the frame was crafted from the same glass-like material, and the crimson blood flowed inside it. About the size of her palm, the rushing red liquid entranced Tsuki and she stepped closer and closer until it was right in front of her. Tentatively, she reached for the key, fearing that there would also be a protective barrier around it, but to her surprise there was none. She was able to pick it up and as the cool glass touched her warm skin, a jolt ran through her body, leaving her with a tingling sensation. Looking down at the key, she pocketed it and continued her way in the direction of which the scream came.
After walking much further, a clearing in the trees could be spotted. A vast expanse of blue could be seen rising from the ground. Something inside of her seemed to have awoken and it was urging her to go forwards to the clearing. Her pace quickened and quickened until she was at a full out run. Breaking into the clearing, she took a quick intake as she took in the scene before her. A giant lake was in the middle of the forest, with waters so deep and steep that even as you stand on the shores and look down into the water below, you cam barely see the bottom. A miniature mountain stood on a lone island in the lake. Perched atop the flat, plateau-like summit was a castle. Many stories high, its highest tower almost reached the clouds, high above in the sky. The atmosphere around it was filled with the sense of mystery, and the dark mist surrounding that just added more to that feeling.
Cautiously stepping up to edge of the lake, Tsuki searched for a way to get across the river and up to the castle. As she made her way around the winding shoreline, little black objects that resembled bats fluttered all around her, making little chattering noises. Sweeping them aside, she finally spotted an entrance into the castle. Now all she needed was a way to get across the water and up the slopes of the landmass. Suddenly, she felt a burning sensation inside of her pocket. Reaching inside she pulled out the key that she had just found. The blood inside it was boiling furiously, rushing from one end to the other. A sharp pain shot through her palm and the key started entering her hand. The cool icy glass felt like a thousand stinging needles and the crimson blood from the key entered her own bloodstream, causing her whole body to become feverish. Falling to the ground, an immense amount of pain was felt on her back. Skin broke and blood splattered as a pair of magnificent, black wings shot out from behind her back. With a sharp cry of pain, Tsuki gritted her teeth. Her eyes began burning and it felt as if they would fall out of their sockets. Her transformation drew the little black bat like objects even closer to her and they whizzed frantically. With a final cry, Tsuki was unable to withstand the pain any longer and succumbed to the unconsciousness that had threatened to claim her.
"Hey, how is she?"
"She's unconscious you dolt, now shut up before you wake her."
'Uggh, what are those noises?' Tsuki thought groggily, her eyes still closed.
"Hey! It looks like she's coming around!"
Realizing that the voices she was hearing were not familiar, she shot out of her vulnerable lying position to prepare to defend in case the owners of the voices were enemies.
"Whoa, chill girl. We won't hurt you. You are one of us after all," an orange haired person said to her with a cheeky grin. "Why would we want to kill another exorcist? We're already low on them anyways."
"Hey, stop that Rabi, you'll scare her," a quiet looking guy piped up from behind.
"Where am I?" Tsuki questioned the two before her.
"You're at the headquarters of the Black Order. All of us here are exorcists, and from the looks of it you just became one too," another guy in the back with long, raven black hair answered.
"Exorcists? What the heck…"
"Che, new recruits are annoying as usual. Hey bean sprout, you explain to the greenhorn, I'm going back to my room." With that, the black haired guy, who we now know is an exorcist, left the room.
"Don't mind him, that's just Yuu's way of saying hi. He's always like that," the orange haired exorcist now identified as Rabi explained. "So anyways, welcome to the Black Order. What's your name anyways?"
"Like I should tell you, I don't even know you," Tsuki shot back.
"Jeez, you remind me of Yuu, you're no fun. I'm leaving Allen, you do the talking." After Rabi said that, he left.
"Um, sorry about those two. Kanda is just cranky and Rabi is just fooling around. They really don't mean what they say," the remaining guy said with a friendly smile. "My name is Allen Walker; it's very nice to meet you."
"Wait, didn't that other gut, Rabi was it, call the black haired person 'Yuu'?"
"Oh, only Rabi calls him that, everyone else is too afraid of him to address him by his given name. We all refer to him by his last name 'Kanda'." Allen explained, a smile playing on his lips.
"Didn't Yuu, or Kanda or whatever just called you 'bean sprout'? What was that about?"
"Oh that…" Tsuki noticed that Allen's expression had changed from a smile to a frown. "That is because he considers me short and enjoys annoying me. Kanda enjoys angering everyone here so it's something that you have to get used to."
"Okay, so explain to me this 'exorcist' business, what is it? Why am I here? How am I an exorcist? I am an alchemist."
"Well now you are an alchemist/exorcist. The Black Order is an organization of exorcists that hunt down demons. These demons, which are called akuma, are created by a man called the Millennium Earl who is set to carry out his scenario and destroy the world."
"Wait, some man is going to destroy the world using demons? Why haven't I seen any of these 'supposed' demons before if they are going to destroy us?"
"These demons can take on the shape of humans. I know at the moment this doesn't sound very believable, but trust me this is all true. You are an exorcist, a person able to kill these demons, well actually the demons are more like machines but that's getting off subject. You became an exorcist when that key that you found entered your body. That key was laced with a power called Innocence. The Innocence is the only thing able to kill off the Earl's akum-"
"Do you have any proof of all this?"
After Tsuki's interruption, Allen just went to a drawer and pulled out an object. It was a mirror.
"See for yourself," he replied and held the mirror up for her to see her own reflection.
"What the…" Tsuki stared at her image. The image stared back, with its blood red eyes. "What happened to my eyes?!" A sharp pain emitted from her back and the wings that once burst through appeared again. "These wings! What happened to me? Tell me!" Tsuki demanded.
Allen merely nodded and continued his explanation. "These show that you are compatible with the Innocence. They are your weapons to fight with. They are your destiny."
Destiny… why did that word sound so familiar to Tsuki? Realization suddenly struck her. That voice, the one she heard the night before she found herself in the forest. It had said that her destiny was coming. 'I thought that was only a dream, but was it really real?' she thought. 'Does that mean that this person, Allen what's his name, is telling the truth? Am I really no longer just an alchemist but also an exorcist?"
Tsuki lowered her head in defeat. Even though on the outside she was tough, beneath the hard outer shell was still the mind of a 14 year old child. All this information was too much for her young mind to comprehend. So much had occurred and in such a short period of time. Her life was changing drastically in ways she wasn't sure she wanted for it to change. First she had to experience that terrifying pain and now she was told that she had to kill things to save the world? Her mind went on overload and for the first time in many years, Tsuki finally let her guard completely down and started to cry. All the emotions she had kept bottled up pushed their way out of her in the form of tears. Her mask cracked and revealed the frightened, innocent child she really was.
"Ah, don't cry!" Allen panicked. He hadn't expected the girl to start crying. Trying to think of what to do, Allen cautiously approached the crying child and attempted to comfort her. "Hey, it's not as bad as you think, living life as an exorcist. The akuma that you kill aren't really living beings, they're more like machines. Also, most of the people here, besides Kanda, are all really nice."
When Tsuki's crying didn't stop, Allen really got worried. "The food here is also really good too! I mean, Jerry is an excellent cook and he can make anything you want to eat! All the food here is free too! Well actually, that's only because we work for the people who run this place and we are risking our live to save the world so providing us food is the least they can do, so yeah, but food is food and we get to eat it for free! Did I mention that the food here was great?" Allen babbled.
Hearing Allen ramble on aimlessly about random stuff, Tsuki couldn't help but give a slight chuckle through her tears. Upon seeing the girl laugh, Allen calmed down. "Basically, we're all one big family here," he added.
At the word family, Tsuki choked. "If I join this place, will I have a family too?" she asked Allen in a quivering voice.
Realization struck Allen. 'All this girl really wanted was to be loved and cared for. Poor child, probably orphaned from birth like me, but I was lucky and found someone to care for me. She was probably all alone her whole life.' Pulling Tsuki into a hug, he answered, "Of course you'll have a family. And if others don't want to be your family then I'll be your family. I'll be you older brother, that is if you really are younger that me. How old are you?"
"I-I-I'm f-fourteen," Tsuki stuttered, she was still sobbing slightly. The unexpected hug from Allen surprised her. No one had ever hugged her, mainly because she never gave them the chance. It actually felt quite nice, she realized, to be in the arms of someone who cared about you. With this simple gesture, one little corner of the ice wall that had surrounded her heart began to melt.
"Well I'm fifteen so that makes me older so then I can be your older brother. Rabi and Kanda are both eighteen so they can be you older brothers too, well at least I know Rabi will, but I'm not so sure Kanda will agree because he basically hates everyone. There are also many other people who I'm sure will love to have you as part of their family. Let's see, there's Komui, Rivers, Toma, Miranda…"
As Allen continued his list of everyone at the Black Order, Tsuki couldn't help but smile a little. 'Maybe life as an exorcist won't that bad if I can finally have a family.' Feeling her eyelids getting heavy, she said, "Hey Allen…"
Stopping his list of "family members", Allen answered, "Yes?"
"About my name, it's Tsuki. Thank you…Allen" Muttering a few other nonsensical words, Tsuki once again felt herself dozing off, but this time the sleep came with a content feeling.
Glancing down and the girl in his arms, Allen's smile widened. "Well Tsuki, welcome to the family. Now you should get some more rest, sweet dreams… little sister."
'Little sister, eh? That sounds nice…' Tsuki's thoughts trailed to the events that led to her new family. She remembered the forest, the goblet, the key… wait! The goblet! The Philosopher's Stone! Under any normal circumstance, Tsuki would have tried to fight off the sleep, but now she just let that thought slide. 'I don't need the Philosopher's Stone anymore. I already got my wish fulfilled. Perhaps that's what the stone really is, a way of fulfilling dreams. Well whatever it is, I'm thankful for it brought me here to my new family.' With a genuine smile on her face, she fell into a blissful sleep with dreams of her new family and a life full of happiness.