Spiral

Rated M: For my piece of mind.

Overall Warning: I don't plan on making this like either of my previous dark stories. However, due to the subject of the story there will be adult themes and also some darkness, but I will try to keep it balanced. If anything too dark happens I will give an appropriate warning at the start of the affected chapter.

Chapter Warning: A bit of fear/terror at the end, nothing graphic.

Disclaimer: I don't have a hope in hell of ever owning -Man.

Sorry I have no beta on this, so please forgive (or point out) the errors.

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A/N: First let me apologize to anybody who was waiting for me to write more stories. I did have some stories written and some others started, however my computer was mean to me and ate them. So now I am trying to recreate them but am a slow writer and what's worse I have a poor memory, so it will take a while. Please have patience and thank you for your understanding.

Yes, I'm doing another Kanda and Allen fic. (I simply love them). This story will be an A/U set to our world and time (kind of), but I'm going to be vague as to city names (or I will make some up). The reason for this is simple, I don't know about many other places and I plan to have them travel around a bit. As this is A/U many characters will seem OOC as I will change their personalities to fit my world, I apologize now if you don't like that.

I'm going to try for a multiple chapter story, though I'm not sure how many I'll write in the end. I'm also unsure how often I will be able to update. I will try to keep it to around every two weeks but I make no promises as I would like reviewer input so it might take me longer.

For this first chapter I won't identify the main characters by name but everybody should be able to tell who they are.

Before we start let me give a big thank you to Shizuhana for all of the great advice and encouragement, without which none of this would have been possible. Seriously go check out Shizuhana's stories.

And now let's begin.

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"-do you want to stop and get some ice cream after we're finished?" A woman's melodic voice spoke to the little one at her side.

"Ya!" The excited cry came from a young child, a wide grin forming on his happy, carefree face.

In response to the enthusiastic youth the woman's gentle laugh is joined by rich, deep laughter as the man on the child's other side joins in the elation of the moment.

The child's dark eyes almost glow in joy, his smile growing as he listens to their laughter, thinking that it sounds better then the most wonderful music in the world.

With the bright sunlight in the clear blue sky gaily shining on the cheerful group, they made quite a joyous sight as they arrive at their car.

oOoOo

A dark hair young man comes out of sleep suddenly his dream quickly forgotten as he strains all his senses to discover what has awoken him. Years of living in constant wariness have left him on edge and as a learned necessity his body barely stiffens, his eyes barely cracking open to give no outward indication of his awareness.

He tries to steady his beating heart as he strains his hearing to its fullest, ascertaining whether he was alone or not. Verifying that nothing posed any danger to him, he completely opens his eyes and in the filtered morning light fully scans the empty warehouse that has provided shelter for the last week.

Luckily it was fairly secured and sturdy, with a strong concrete wall on the West side, two small doors on the North, one door large enough for a delivery truck was in the South but it was thankfully sealed tight, and the East side had a half-wall of concrete on the bottom and windows on the top.

The windows were the biggest issue of security and comfort. Most of them were intact, but the few broken ones could let in more than the cold. That was where another person could enter and where the trash and leaves did come in, the winds carrying them to accumulating in the corners and opposite wall.

Stretching lean arms above his head, a frown mars his face as he looks about him again trying to understand what had awaken him. Slowly getting to his feet it finally dawns on him that he is totally alone.

"!"

Somewhat frantically he whips his head completely around, eyes roving into the few dark corners of the room as if the one he was looking for would suddenly appear. He sees only the few small bags that contain their possessions still piled in the corner.

He yells out but it changes nothing as only the echoes of his own voice and a slight breeze greet him. Racing to the North he notices that one of the doors isn't closed completely and pulls it open hoping to find the one he's looking for just outside.

Pale clouds cover the early morning sun but enough light encompasses the area to confirm that there is no one near the entrance so he quickly heads to the right to circle the building in hopes that the one he seeks is nearby.

His search proves futile as he reaches his starting point with no sign of his companion. Knowing that his panic is making him illogical he makes himself stand still and breathe deeply in an effort to ease his troubled mind.

'Think it through, I couldn't have slept for that long since he left so he couldn't have gone far,' he reassures himself.

Finally thinking clearly he starts searching the ground for a clue as to his friend's direction of travel and discovers light footprints in the soft dirt. They head off to the other abandon buildings, the ones they had passed over as too unsafe or unsecure.

'I should have known,' he grimly thinks.

Heading off in the same direction he tries to keep his heart steady and his mind focused, mentally willing away any thoughts of the possible dangers.

oOoOo

A young man walks in between the other empty buildings that surrounding the place he's called home for the last week. To look at him first you might mistake him for a child much younger than he was as he was rather short and slightly built. He also moved in the same carefree manner as a child. He would be hard to notice by most as he's sticking mostly to the shadows and his footsteps are light as a cat.

However his rare hair color easily gives him away when he enters the beams of the soft morning light. It is a soft, pale white and when the light hits it, it all but shines. That shoulder length hair almost obscures and frames an equally pale almost feminine face that could almost be called beautiful. His eyes however, are a feature that his hair cannot hide; they are a light blue color that is so pale they resemble liquid silver.

His face looks so young, open and innocent, his cheeks still managing to hold a child-like roundness despite the lack of fat on his body that years of malnutrition had produced.

There was one flaw that his body held one that made him self-conscious but he couldn't manage to totally hate it, because that flaw had given him his constant companion.

He knew that when he had left that he should have told his friend that he was leaving but hefelt bad about disturbing his sleep. So he'd crept as softly as possible to explore his new home.

'And besides,' he thinks, 'it's not like I plan on going far.'

He felt comfortable being there as this was merely another part of his life so far, always on the move and trying to avoid the predators of the streets.

That thought haunted him briefly as he went because he knew that there were others' out there who preyed on anybody they could catch. He'd seen some of the ones that had been caught and he knew what had happened to them.

Ever so briefly his steps faltered and he half considered going back as he could almost hear his friend's voice berating him about his lack of common sense, but dark thoughts simply weren't natural to him and he quickly dismissed them and continued on his way.

He stopped on his journey of exploration when he discovered a small spot of color against the normally pale gray wall of one of the buildings and headed out of the relative safety of the shadows to investigate it. Upon arriving he discovered that it was in fact a small orange flower with a yellow center.

Delight colored his face and he bent down to examine it closer. He found a genuine joy in the little flower that had managed to live and grow in such a harsh place and he stretched out a long thin finger to gently trace one of the soft petals in wonder. This strong but little flower made him think of himself, he also looked too fragile to survive the harsh world but he had survived for about fifteen years, at least eight of those on the streets.

Truthfully he didn't know his real age few children like himself knew or kept track of such things. The only time that he thought was worth keeping track of was his time with his friends, most of who were now gone, and his one remaining friend and travelling companion, the one who had been with him from the beginning of his life on the street.

Despite his harsh situation in life, his mind and heart had somehow always remained innocent and loving. Pessimism never suited him and he tried to never let such darkness linger in him. As such he always seemed to find pleasure and joy in the little things that were often over looked by others. Whether it was the warm sun, the cool breeze or even a little flower that defied the odds.

'So soft,' he thought with glee, a small giggle escaping him as he continued to stroke it.

He was so entranced by the flower that he didn't notice that he was no longer alone. Three others had been warming themselves in a strip of early morning sunlight and had seen him as he left the shadows and approached the flower.

Exchanging knowing glances they grinned to each other and decided that a little fun was in order. Leaving their spot they quickly but quietly stalked towards him in a synchronized formation. Having arrived at their destination they now spread out and once they surrounded him they chuckled darkly.

Hearing that sound he looked up and became tense at their sudden appearance. He stood up quickly trying to look calm while he took in the situation. They were tall, towering over him by the span of at least a head and a half. And they were all built sturdier then him with even the smallest of them being easily twice his size.

He backed up slowly but knew once he hit the wall that he was well and truly trapped and his mind began churning furiously for a way out. As he was thinking they closed in a little tighter and the apparent ringleader spoke in a cold greasy tone while looking down on him.

"So what's a cute little thing like you doing here?"

His apparent second-in-command grinned wider and in a strangely squeaky voice said, "It's dangerous to be alone ya know."

"Ya, you should join us, we can protect you," the third man spoke in a nasal tone.

"Plus we can all have a little fun as well," as the leader spoke again he reached out his hand to stroke the pale cheek.

He had to use all of his restraint not to smack it away, instinctively knowing that it would only make them angry. He could tell they were predators and angry predators were even more dangerous. But he couldn't fully contain a slight shiver of disgust and fear.

However small his reaction was it was seen by them and it seemed to excite them as their grins got darker and wider, the air now hanging heavy with their anticipation.

"Ya, we can have a lot of fun," the leader said while his finger traced down to his chin and on to his neck.

Fear now gripped his heart because he knew what these predators were looking for and he couldn't help but panic and pulling away he tried to dodge to the side, praying his speed was enough to get him out of their presence.

Unfortunately they had anticipated his action and immediately the second-in-command made a quick and brutal grab for his arm. Pulling him back and roughly pushing him into the wall as the third man grabbed and restrained his other arm.

The leader grinned cruelly and nodded to the other two as he desperately fought to break their hold. The men nodded back and held his arms with one of theirs while their other hand reached up to pull on his already tattered shirt, ripping it open and exposing his slender built chest to them.

This action also revealed his flaw to his captors, his left arm. They seemed taken aback briefly as they viewed the scarred and damaged limb. He now felt even more ashamed that they had seen what he has always tried to conceal but he held a slight hope that they would be disgusted enough by it that they would let him go. Yet his momentary hope was soon dashed, predators didn't care.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it? And here we were being so nice to you," as the leader said this he pressed his hand completely to the now exposed pale chest.

The young man was completely trapped now and beyond fear. Terror made his eyes glaze and dilate and his already young face seemed even younger than before as tears started to gather in his eyes.

This look also seemed to spur the men even more and the leader licked his lips as he leaned in close to his face and spoke in a husky whisper, "You really look quite tasty, I think we could over look that little stunt. And we can always get rid of this later." At that point the leader roughly grabbed his scarred arm.

The young man wanted to throw up from of the touch and the fact that the leaders breath stank of rotted meat. He cursed himself for leaving on his own and for dropping his guard and letting them get close to him. As the leader leaned closer he closed his eyes and vaguely wondered if he would be left alive or if his body would ever be found and if his friend would miss him.

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A/N: Yes, a cliffhanger. Sorry, the next chapter is coming soon.

I have a general idea of the next few chapters of this story; however, if anyone has any ideas that they think I need to add or a specific way they think I should incorporate them then please leave a review or a PM and I will try to add it in.

And now a very special thank you to: Shizuhana, Crazymonkey12345, PureVampirePriestess, and Lovelessxx191 for placing me on their favorite authors list. Your support is what inspires me to keep writing.

A special thank you to: Crazymonkey12345, HeliosHime, Skye Leiko, PureVampirePriestess, Shizuhana, shinohime-chan, and Lovelessxx191 for adding my stories to their favorites list. I'm honored that you thought so highly of my stories, I'll strive to keep the quality up.

Also a quick thank you to all of the wonderful people who reviewed my previous stories: Crazymonkey12345, HeliosHime, Samslover, Kichou, LunaticV, PureVampirePriestess, mearr, Neko Nya54, shinohime-chan, Lovelessxx191, Shizuhana, and Xeoh. Your reviews brought me more joy than I can truly express.