A/N: from your friendly neighborhood writer
Good Evening! It has been awhile since I tried posting a story online. I figured it was finally time to try posting again. Really because I want to motivate myself to keep working on this story, cause out of all the ones I tried writing this fanfic seems the most likely to be complete-able. You know how that goes- sometimes the idea is better than the chapters you actually write. And if a story doesn't end, it makes it hard to decide just what to put in it; there has to be an end to every story line after all for it to be enjoyable.
But anyway, I would love to hear from you all- if you clicked in to this story, I hope you stick around for the next chapters. Idk how often I will update, but if I gather readers fast enough I may update faster *hint hint*.
This is a Modern AU, a 'Black Order High' story, but I haven't found one too similar to this so I figured it was time to share it with everyone.
I do not own D-Gray Man, of course, and I really would rather leave the writing of the original to the wonderful Katsura Hoshino
On to the story!
THE FUTURE WAS A BIT BLEAK
Prologue:
Oddly, though night shadowed the farther reaches of the cemetery, not all the skeletons were left to their eternal rest. Even the dead couldn't sleep through the racket inside the old curator's house. If the long-term residents could comment, they would probably tell you that this wasn't far from the ordinary for a Friday night.
As interesting as a secluded party could be, that wasn't the most interesting thing in the cemetery that night.
From the bright circle of grass illuminated by the house lights, a small crew made their way to one of the shadowed paths behind the derelict building.
If someone were to look out of the back windows of the run down building, it would be the only patch of shadows within distance of that house. Which is why this particular crew had wandered down there; it was their party, but it's not like they really needed to be in attendance.
Besides, it would make their job easier if someone were to stumble off into the shadows in search of them.
Of the three wandering, only one was really paying attention to their surroundings as the other two argued, again, and so she was the one to spot the oddity of the night.
"There's already someone out here." The speaker was a teenage girl, short, her white shorts and shirt seeming to glow in the shadows stretching between the graves. The contrast of dark shoes and tights made it seem as if she could have just materialized from the darkness itself, giving form to the mist. Which would be more believable if it wasn't for the colorful candy patterned suspenders she was wearing that were just too childish for any creature of shadows. An assumption she used to her advantage quite often.
"Really who?" The question from the blonde haired teenage boy was followed by giggling. A red ribbon woven through his shoulder length hair fluttered as he bounced back and forth over the path, crossing too close to one of his companions.
A curse announced the third companion to be another teenage boy "Really Jas, would you stop that."
Jas stopped momentarily to stick his tongue out at the other boy, flipping him off with a bandaged hand. The darker haired boy responded in turn.
"Is it that idiot from the finder class, Rhode?" the dark haired boy asked as he rubbed dirt off his stomped on boot, leaning against one of the tilting graves. "I don't even know how he heard about this party." He grumbled.
"No, it's a girl." The first speaker strode confidently forward, a bit of pep to her step now that something interesting had come up. "She's lying under the tree, see." She pointed down the hill from where they were weaving through the graves.
The blonde finally stopped prancing around to gaze eagerly into the shadows. When his dark haired companion stepped up beside him, they exchanged an uncannily similar look, faces identical but for the diamond tattoo the calmer boy sported over his right eye.
Moving forward together, the two boys have to catch up to their shorter friend, moving halfway down the hill before they can get a glimpse. When they do, they can't keep from commenting.
"It's some old lady, her hair is white." The blonde announced, excitedly bouncing on the balls of his sneakered feet.
"Only parts of it stupid, it's also red." the second boy pointed out, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
"She's not old, she looks our age." The girl said, slowing down as they got closer, and dropping her voice a few octaves, "I think she's sleeping."
"Really, who in the world falls asleep in a graveyard, that's so creepy." The darker haired boy muttered this as he abandoned interest, hopping up on one of the graves on the edge of the clearing. Unlike his brother, Jas doesn't seem to care if his jeans get dirt on them, settling down in the grass with a huff and fiddling with the edges of his long sleeved tee.
"And it's not creepy being the one sitting and watching them sleep, is it Devit." the girl answered sarcastically as she settled against one of the graves herself, sitting cross-legged as she pulled strands of grass from the ground and began to twine them together.
"Shut up Rhode, you're staring too." and the taller boy was right. Even as a wreath began to form in her hands, her eyes didn't leave the intriguing sight before her.
There was no acknowledgment or retort from Rhode, and the silence dragged on long enough that the three can hear the wind shake the branches, the creaking limbs of the few trees in the cemetery adding to the ambiance of the moment.
Those creaking branches were currently providing shelter to the body laid out at the foot of a tree, shading parts of the ground from the full moon that beamed down. The red hair spread out on the grass did indeed sport streaks as pale as the moonlight that shone upon it, but the youthful face defied the assumption of age white hair usually personified.
Though the three had voiced the most obvious curiosity of a teenage girl sleeping in a cemetery, it didn't take long for them to point out another.
It was the girl who spoke up next, apparently voicing the end of a trail of thoughts, something that drew the attention of the fourth, even if they didn't know it yet.
"There is a difference between sleeping and being caught in between reality and fiction Jasdevi." Rhode said, her voice soft and carrying lightly on the wind.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" the dark haired boy asked, obviously exasperated as he kicked his feet against the grave rhythmically.
"It means, pay attention dumby."
"Try saying that again!" The blonde exclaimed, jumping up and glaring at the shorter girl. She looked beyond him, meeting the eyes of her calmer male friend. He glared back at her, but kept his mouth shut, turning his head and glaring across the shadows at the strange girl still lying at the foot of the tree.
Devit was tempted to jump down from his perch and take a closer look at the girl, but the blue haired shortie would only give him a smug look. He couldn't see anything that would have caught the girls interest though, and Devit groaned in annoyance as he finally gave up and strutted his way over to the tree, hands tucked into the pockets of his black jeans.
Jas followed him over muttering, but the blondes constant comments on their cousin couldn't get the dark haired boys eyes off of the teenager lying in the grass. She was shaking, maybe from the cold, though that seemed to be lessening even as he glanced over her. But that wasn't the main thing that drew his eye.
"Shut up Jas." Devit finally snapped at the blonde, and with that attention he jerked his head towards the girl on the ground. "Just look." He said, and the other quickly did, knowing he wouldn't have snapped if there wasn't something important. It took Jas only a second more to catch the same thing Devit saw, his eyes following the blur of shadows retreating to a place just beyond the strangers head where it lies on the grass. Shadows that were lit up by the moonlight, defying the laws of nature as they were illuminated rather than dispersed.
"Since when did you notice that Rhode?" The blonde haired guy excitedly asked the girl behind him.
"You can feel it, can't you?" Rhode asked, and Jas didn't respond, staring at the young woman on the ground as if waiting for her to supply the answer. Rhode sighed; obviously he had no idea what she was talking about.
Unwrapping a lollipop Rhode cheerily gave it a couple of licks as she watched her cousins try to figure out this new oddity.
"Rhode, if that's what I think it is, shouldn't we invite her along to the after-party?" Devit asked, taking a few steps beyond the stranger to get a closer look at the deep shadows that seem to shift and move as if stirred by his approach, never moving far from the young woman.
"I have a feeling that would turn out rather badly." Rhode commented, her eyes straying to a point farther down the girls own body, "She does have that glowing annoyance after-all."
The twins followed her gaze, exchanging a glance before looking back at the girl with the unnaturally colored hair.
"So we aren't inviting her, even though she is exactly the sucker we're looking for?" the blonde asked, getting annoyed again.
"We need someone who doesn't have that, stupid." The dark haired boy commented, motioning to the light that had caught all their eyes. The contrast of her dark blue jeans and black shirt made it easier to distinguish the faint green glow at her left hand; enough for those who were familiar with the phenomena to recognize what it was.
"But didn't you say it would be more fun if it was an exorcist?" the blonde teenager asked, thoroughly confused now.
"I was kidding, duh. Obviously it would be harder to stick a demon on someone if they have innocence forcing it out again."
Ignoring their words, the shortest glanced back to the stranger, an excited glint entering her eyes suddenly.
Seeing what caught her attention, Devit scowled while Jas giggled, watching as Rhode jumped from her seat and happily skipped over to the now stirring young woman.
Fingers, elbows, shoulders, toes, knees, each limb was carefully shifted and flexed as if the girl was becoming familiar with the feel of her limbs again. The only thing she didn't move was her left arm, or her head.
A mischievous smile crossed Rhodes face as she noted how the girl's eyes stirred beneath the lids.
"She's so cute." The odd girl cooed, bending over the prone figure, her words rewarded by the lightest blue eyes she had ever seen blinking up at her tiredly. They could have been silver, they had so little color in them.
As the girls brows furrowed in obvious confusion, staring unabashedly at the oddity who is smiling down at her, Rhode held out a hand, the stick of an unopened lollipop balanced loosely between her fingers.
"Hello." She said, still smiling, "want a lollipop?"
The young woman's lips parted to answer but as Rhode leaned in closer and loose blue locks tumbled into view, her attention was diverted. Tilting her head to the side the young woman stared up at Rhode, and the younger girl had to hold back a laugh at the puzzlement in her eyes.
The desire to laugh was lost just as quick as it came once she got a good look at the girl. But for the moonlight and the way her hair fell back from her face, Rhode would have missed the scar that lined the left side of the girls face, and how it ended in an inverted star above her left eye.
"Well, do you want it?" Rhode prompted, having a sudden desire to break the silence before she let her curiousity get the best of her.
"Um, no thank you?" Those startlingly clear eyes disappeared for a moment as the young woman carefully pushed herself up on her elbows, unintentionally bringing herself closer to the smaller girl.
The instinct to flinch back from the close proximity is just barely checked, as Rhode can see from the slight twitch of her head, and the clenching of her jaw.
"Don't you trust me?" the words slipped out of Rhodes lips so easily, as if the two hadn't just met, and she was teasing a long-time friend.
"Trust?" The girl echoed, the word barely discernible, even as close as the two girls were.
The strangers eyes looked beyond her, darkening until the light was overcome by shadows, and Rhode realized this wasn't the first time she had seen that lonely gaze. It made her in-explicitly sad to see it here, in a teenager who should have been having fun with friends, not alone in a graveyard.
After that look, Rhode couldn't act like she hadn't met her. And she couldn't let that look linger any longer.
"Yah trust, as in being best, best friends!" She exclaimed, glad to see a slight twitch to the girls lips.
"Friends..." A soft smile settled on her lips as she mused, "That would be nice."
"Aw!" Rhode squealed, "I wanna keep her!" at these words she flung herself at the older girl, throwing her shorter arms around her neck and holding tight.
For anyone else, this would have been considered rude, and they would have pushed away.
On this girl's part, she barely flinches, just blinking and bracing herself on her elbows so she wouldn't fall back, an astonished look on her face.
Though the blonde erupted in a fit of giggles at the girls surprise, the dark haired boy caught himself as his young friends face goes from excited to dangerous in a second.
His companion shot him a heavily lidded look, and he followed her eyes back to a spot behind the stranger.
The shadows were shifting closer again.
The two cousins eyes met again and, leaving his twin rolling at something that is apparently far more amusing to him than anyone else (as usual), the dark haired boy smoothly stepped behind the two girls, carefully tugging down the bandage wrapped around his neck.
Catching his movements the stranger turned her head, but Rhode captured her attention again by leaning back on her heels, "I'm Rhode, what's your name?" She asked excitedly, keeping her arms locked around the girls' neck so she was forced to sit up with her.
Barely a second passed before Rhodes excitement waned; if she hadn't been sitting so close, she would have missed how much paler the girl suddenly became at the quick movement. And how before her eyes closed so tightly, they had rolled up, as if-
"Hey, are you gonna pass out?" Even Rhode jumped at the sudden question, glaring at Jasdero as he leaned over the pair of them, feeling the girls muscles tighten under her hands.
The sudden fright seemed to make the girl worse, if her suddenly strained breathing was anything to go by.
"Sorry, I'm fine." She whispered in a breath, head falling against Rhode's shoulder.
At that pained voice Rhode found herself shaking her head, feeling guilty; but why should she feel guilty for someone she just met?
"Just," Rhode paused, not sure what she could say; just breathe, don't worry, we can help… why did she feel the need to protect this girl?
"Should I call someone?" Jasdero asked, a surprisingly smart and calm question from one who usually didn't even care enough to ask.
Immediately the girl lifted her head, her right hand on Rhode's shoulders to put some distance between them. Rhode allowed her the distance, but didn't take her eyes off of the obviously unwell girl as she denied the need for any help, getting much more frantic as Jasdero pointed out that she needed some help, adding callously at her objection "it's not like we have to help you-"
Rhode was glad Devit cut his brother off, cause if not she was gonna slap him.
"Of course we do." Devit spoke over his brother as he came up behind the three of them. Rhode raised an eyebrow at Devit in question, and he nodded, readjusting his fur lined collar to block site of his bandages. At this assurance Rhode immediately turned her attention back to the girl, who seemed to be getting her breathing under control again at least, though her grip on Rhodes shoulders was weak.
"What, we don't even know her." Jasdero complained.
"No need to know a person to feel the need to help them." Rhode said, trying to keep her voice soft and reassuring, meeting the girls light eyes, "right?" she added, gently removing the girls hand from her shoulder and holding it tight in her lap.
Unbidden the girl nodded, before glancing around them suddenly as a thought seemed to occur to her.
"Why is it dark?" She asked, confusion beginning to turn into panic.
"Cause its night, duh," Jasdero pointed out, earning a slap to the back of his head from his brother.
Paying very close attention to the girl in front of her, Rhode was prepared when she began to stand and snatched her left hand, linking their fingers.
"Whatever your curfew is, I'm sure your parents would understand if you were sick." She said quickly, and Rhode was surprised by the dark smirk that curled the girls lips at those words. Giving a sharp tug of her left hand, the red head moved it out of sight, meeting Rhodes curious gaze straight on as she spoke
"He is not quite that understanding."
Rhode was surprised to find herself annoyed that there was someone who didn't listen to this girl.
"Well boo to him, he can deal with it." Rhode said in a lofty manner.
One of the boys must shift behind her, because the young woman's eyes strayed to over her shoulder, and she seemed to be glancing back and forth between them as if trying to solve some puzzle.
Though they were dressed differently, their similarities would be pretty apparent. They had the same height and stature, same hair though different colors, and of course their faces were almost mirror images of each other. Where they differed was in their fashion sense; the blond was casual in ripped jeans, white shirt and hooded vest, and his brother had a tough guy look with his straight legged jeans tucked into boots, topped with his worn black shirt and leather jacket.
Squeezing the girls hand once before dropping it, Rhode motioned behind herself at the two twins, who were probably standing right behind her and being unintentionally intimidating. Idiots.
"I'm Rhode, these are my cousins, we call them Jasdevi since their twins, the dark haired ones Devit, his brother Jasdero, who are you?" For a second the young woman seemed a bit lost, maybe trying to associate the names with the faces, but then she realized Rhode asked a question.
"Oh I'm Allen- I mean Ellen." she quickly corrected herself, but Rhode was not about to let that one go.
And apparently neither was the blonde idiot behind her.
"Allen, ha ha thats a boys name." Jaz laughed, and his brother shoved him out of the way, taking a step closer to the two girls and blocking the site of his hysterically laughing brother
"Why do you have a boy's name?" the darker haired brother asked, and Rhode seconds that question.
"If your name is Ellen why did you say Allen?" she asked, practically bouncing in excitement; this girl was so interesting!
"Usually its easier if people think I'm a guy, and I'd rather not correct them." The young woman muttered, fidgeting, tugging at her gloves, uncomfortable with the attention that statement brought.
"Why is it easier if you are a guy?"
"Don't ask that Devit, its rude."
"But really, how could she be mistaken for a guy?"
Devit did have a point; it was difficult to see how such a feminine face could be mistaken for a guy. The thick eyelashes, slender nose, high cheekbones, the soft edges of her jaw.
Nope, no way did Rhode see how anyone would believe that. Not that she was a drop dead gorgeous, but definitely noticeable.
"People see what they want to see." the teenager stated, looking away as she smoothed out her worn jeans. Her jeans seemed rather big on her, rough and ripped at the knees, but her long sleeved dark shirt was tight, and rather thin material for early fall.
That gesture drew Rhode's eyes down to finally notice that she was wearing a pair of thick dark gloves, not unlike bikers gloves, but with all the fingers covered.
Why wear gloves if she wasn't even going to wear a jacket?
"Why don't you have a jacket?" Rhode knew her stern tone had come out, and the young woman looked sheepishly at the ground.
"It wasn't this cold when I left this afternoon." Ellen muttered, still picking at the fabric of her jeans.
"Have you been here for that long?" Rhode asked, curious. Why would this girl be out in the graveyard for so long? She didn't have family here, did she?
"How late is it, exactly?" she asked slowly, looking like she was dreading the answer.
"Almost midnight." Devit answered.
Immediately the girl swore and hurried to her feet. Rhode shot her cousin a quick glare, but paid more attention to the young woman, weary about her moving so fast when she was so tired moments ago. Surprisingly she seemed okay, but she was definitely cold. As Rhode watched, Ellen unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself, looking around as if trying to get her bearings.
"Come up to the party with us. We can get you some water and get you warm and then we can bring you home." Rhode realized she said all this with barely a breath when the younger woman seemed a bit lost with the conversation.
"Um, well okay." she said once her thoughts seemed to catch up with her hearing.
"Okay, just like that?" Devit asked, voicing Rhodes own curiosity, though he was more surprised.
"Well, I kinda have no clue how to get back from here in the dark." Ellen muttered, fiddling with her gloves rather than look at the three of them, a slight blush staining her cheeks.
"So cute!" Rhode exclaimed, jumping to her feet and throwing her arms around the young woman's neck, practically hanging off of Ellen though she is only slightly taller.
"Come on, let's go back to the party and get you warmed up." Rhode said, eagerly snatching the girls hand and dragging her along.
With an amused smile Ellen indulged the others wish, sweetly answering the random questions to twins posed to her as the small group walked back through the graveyard towards the only source of light.
A/N: Please let me know what you think! A quick review does wonders to motivate the author!