Honestly, I have nothing against slash, but jeez! I wish there were more D.Gray-Man fics out there that didn't have guy on guy pairings, it's kind of ridiculus...(I don't go for AllenxKanda so the following is my opinion only) I mean, Allen hates Kanda! And Kanda hates him! Why can't they just be plain rivals?!
Moving on...I've been browsing dgm fanfics a lot recently and wrote this because I'm now filled to the brim with it. I don't consider this a pairing fic because Lenalee can act the same as his friend so...yep. (LenaxLavi, yep yep yep)
I edited it : ) Hope I got everything...
-Oceans
Allen stared out the window of the moving carriage. The town looked familiar…much too familiar. Lenalee was chattering next to him, but he was too absorbed in his morbid musings to pay her any mind.
"-and then-" She stopped suddenly and moved her body to watch him more closely. She smiled keenly and cocked her head, one of her ponytails sliding off her shoulder.
"Huh? Oh-! What were you saying?" Allen finally noticed the absence of her voice. He blushed under her endearing smile. "…Sorry,"
She shook her head gently, chuckling. "It's alright, Allen. What was so interesting?"
Allen's fingers tightened reflexively. He grinned. "It's nothing."
The coach ground to a halt. "Oy, we're there."
"Brilliant!" Allen said hurriedly. He threw open the door of the coach and hoisted himself high to speak to the driver. "Wellington St., as promised?"
"Yessir. That'dda be…"
Lenalee stepped down onto the cobblestone road and studied the street. The houses were humble, made of wood and paneling with decent roofs and glass windows. The occasional parted curtain cast warm firelight in squares on the stones on Wellington Street. Snow was pushed to either side and piled against the houses, somehow still innocently white and clean.
Allen jumped down from the coach and, with a deft flick of his wrist and the crop in hand, the driver ushered the old grey gelding on. He smiled at Lenalee and headed off to the crossroads, glancing up at the dark street signs.
Lenalee came up behind him, pulling her uniform's coat tighter against the chill. She glanced around the empty square and the other exorcist. Fog from her parted mouth swirled in the air.
Allen opened his mouth to speak-
"Oh me, is that who I think it is?" They both spun to face a shivering, middle aged woman clutching a shopping basket to her side. The woman's wispy brown hair escaped it's tie and grayed around her ears. Her face sagged with wrinkles and laugh lines, testimony to a well lived life.
"Ma'am-?"
"Allen Walker! Little Mana's boy!" She cried in triumph, stepping closer. "Why it's been a time since I've laid me eyes on you my boy! Yes it has! Where 'ave you been these part years, eh? I tell you, you left me with a lot'ah youngins and no one to entertain 'em whilst I got my shopping done."
Allen only vaguely remembered the woman, or her children, but smiled and shook her hand.
The woman took on a pitying, motherly look and cupped his one hand between both of hers. "I heard about good Mister Mana, I did. I'm awfully sorry, I am, I am. He was a good man." She smiled tenderly and released his hand.
Allen's look softened. He smiled genuinely. "Thank you, ma'am, he was."
She smiled brightly again. "Well, you find some time to busy my little demons again, son, I've got more than I can handle. Good to see you, but I'd best be getting home, I'd best. Cold out, son, you get this pretty girl in a good warm house a'fore long, ya hear?"
He nodded enthusiastically.
Lenalee smiled after the woman and turned back to Allen. "What did happen to your father Allen? If you don't mind…" She asked shyly.
"Huh? Oh, I don't mind. He was killed in an accident. Crushed beneath a toppled coach one Christmas." I thought this town looked familiar. Allen tugged on the ends of his hair. His grave is here.
"Lenalee?" He said suddenly.
"Yes?" She blinked.
"Can we make one more stop before we get back to the inn?"
"Of…of course Allen. Where?"
He started down one of the streets. "A graveyard."
It took Lenalee a second to fully digest that.
Allen seemed to know the town well, but from the woman's speech he must have been there before. He led her eventually to an old, drafty church with dirty stain glass windows and a patented eerie look about it.
Thankfully, Allen completely ignored the church and ducked around the bulky building to an overflowing, equally eerie cemetery. Lenalee reached out for a fistful of his uniform, and walked closer behind him.
The headstones thrust up at odd angles, some flat squares in the patchy grass, others thick, catholic crosses with names scrawled on in scratchy lettering. He stopped before a headstone bare for the single word 'Mana' cut into it, towards a back corner of the great cemetery. A leafless, knotted tree crawled ominously at the sky's dark belly.
Lenalee stepped even closer, more spooked standing still. She looked over Allen's shoulder.
"…Allen?"
"Mm?"
She paused to take a shuddering gulp of cold air. It chilled her insides. "Brother…Brother said your eye was cursed by your father but…is that? Is that true?"
He continued to watch the stone, and said in a quiet, grave voice that suited their surroundings more than she liked. "Mana was my foster father. My parents deserted me because of my Innocence. My disfigurement." He spat with surprising bitterness. "Mana…I was with him for years. Then…in this town…the horse spooked. It tipped the carriage, trying to escape from…something. It…was loaded. Really heavy." Allen swallowed. "He was mashed…couldn't…couldn't get out…"
He was plagued with acidic memories as he spoke. Backed against a house's side, crying, staring at Mana's spread hand, thrown out of the way of the falling couch, as if warding him off.
'No, Allen. You don't want to see this. You would have nightmares, and would keep me up all night.'
Women screamed, as men argued frantically about what could be done, trying to work together to free the only, amazingly, mildly injured driver from the wreckage as blood seeped from beneath the carriage and stained the snow dusted cobblestones…
Lenalee watched Allen's face sadly, listening to the denied grief in his voice.
"I had no one else…so it was hard. No one wanted me, no one knew me or had any love for me, so I just…wandered. The priest of this church was a good man though. He buried Mana, and even held a service for him…It was just the three of us." He smiled hopelessly. "I…I had a hard time finding food- you know how much I eat. An innkeeper caught me stealing from his stores, and he chased me for a long time…and I came here after he finally gave up. And I…I saw the Earl."
Lenalee's eyes widened. She was completely taken in by her friend's story.
"And he did what he does." Allen looked up and blinked water from his eyes. "He offered to bring him back, and I accepted. Mana…Mana cursed me…he slashed my eye. Before he could attack me again, take my…skin, my Innocence activated and destroyed him."
Despite his attempts to banish the tears, one managed to drop down his cheek. He frowned and swiped at it.
"Oh Allen…" Lenalee hugged him sideways, face pressed against his biceps.
He laughed forcedly. "I don't know why you feel sorry for me," There was no trace of sarcasm in the statement.
She smiled dejectedly, and pulled away. "Come on, let's head back to the inn now." Lenalee hooked her arm throw his and escorted him throw the gloomy cemetery, past the old, depressing church and back onto the streets.