Chapter One:
"Look, Nii-chan! A kitty!" Ariel spun around and snatched the fat tabby cat out of her sister's arms, almost throwing it across the dusty room.
"Clara!" She scolded, holding the cat out of said girl's reach, "What did Mom and Dad tell you about petting strange animals?"
The little girl scoffed and sent Ariel an 'are you dumb' look. "Silly, nii-chan. It's just a cat!"
Ariel shook her head and pointed to one of the covered pieces of furniture. "Why don't you go gather some blankets, Clara, before we freeze?" Clara bounced off and Ariel turned to set the furry creature down.
A soft fluttering sound brushed against her ear and she froze, her brown eyed gaze slowly moving to the dark wood rafters in search of the sound's origin. The sound erupted into a mass amount of squeals and screams. Ariel screamed as she was shoved back. Her back slammed against something hard, knocking the breath out of her, and she let out a startled gasp. The sound of a door slamming scared the frightened squeals and screams away, the bats flapping out the broken glass window. Ariel visibly shook; her brown eyed gaze moving up from the large gleaming silver claw like thing that held her against what she figured was a chair.
A small gasp sounded, the pressure against her chest disappeared. Ariel watched agape as a white haired teenage boy stepped back, holding his hands up in surrender, and smiling slightly in apology. Moon light shimmered off the broken pieces of glass, illuminating his soft gentle features.
"Oops?" He chuckled uneasily.
Her mouth wouldn't close. She stared at the white haired male in disbelief.
"I'm really sorry," He rushed, realizing that she wasn't going to speak, "That cat ate something of mine and I really needed to get it back. I'm sorry if I hurt you any."
She held up an index finger, motioning for him to hush, and tried to sort through her racing thoughts. Ariel looked him over several times, her eyes slowly moving from the tips of his nice looking black shoes to the very top of his green hat that hid most of his bright white hair. 'I can't believe it.' She thought to herself, 'He looks just like Allen Walker.'
He watched her patiently, slowly shifting into a more comfortable stance as the seconds passed by. His platinum gray gaze grew wary.
"Please," She started, her voice barely above a whisper, "Tell me your name is not Allen Walker." She closed her eyes as she spoke, grimacing when he didn't answer right away and reopening them, now worried.
"Then…I'd be lying." He was frowning slightly, his expression guarded. "How do you know my name?"
She stood uneasily, wavering slightly. Allen grabbed her by the elbow and lowered her back down to the chair, holding her to the chair. "Whoa, sit down. You don't need to faint on me now." He murmured, squatting down to her level. He held her gaze worriedly and watched her struggle for words.
"No…no, Len-kun, you don't understand." She frowned, the mental puzzle in her head finally starting to piece together. "You're in an anime…we're in D. Gray-Man. This is the first episode…Oh god!" She gasped in realization, brushing past Allen's defenses and standing. "We're in the first episode. There's an akuma. My sister!"
Ariel started towards the door, voices floating up from the main entry way. Allen followed her, concern sparkling in his features, and almost ran into the tiny red haired girl when she came to an abrupt stop in front of the door. "Moa…Charles…" She croaked out in a whisper. "The akuma isn't too far behind."
"Hold on." Allen grabbed her elbow again and spun her around. "How do you know about akumas and my name? I'm certain we've never met before."
"O-oh," She sputtered, looking back towards the door. "We haven't. There's no time to explain. People are about to die!"
He let her go at that one. They ran to the upstairs balcony that peered over the main room, leaving clouds of smoky gray dust in their wake. Moa was already heading up the stairs, her brown eyes flickering back warily to Charles, who hovered over Clara carefully. His eyes strayed all over the place, searching for anything out of the ordinary, his facial expression one of terror. The stairs creaked from Moa's weight; Ariel pulled Allen behind one of the pillars and gave him a worried look.
"What do we do?" She hissed silently, watching Moa slowly make her way up the steps.
"A distraction?" Allen pursed his lips, watching the female cop as well.
A loud scream interrupted their hushed conversation. Ariel bolted out from the shadows and raced to the balcony.
"CLARA!" Allen wrapped his arm around her tiny waist and pulled her back. Moa unhooked her loaded gun that was clipped to her belt and began to fire towards the loud purple smoke that floated up from the first floor. There was a loud crash and a blinding light made them all fall to the ground, Allen rolling over so he was hovering protectively over Ariel. Ariel screamed and tried to fight her way out of his protective grip but to no avail.
The light dispersed.
Allen sat back, still holding Ariel to the ground, and poked his head around the pillar. He gasped and let the redhead jump to her feat, rising himself to help.
Clara's body was tied, along with Charles', to the centermost pillar. Her head ducked down, bright blonde curls spilling over to hide most of her face. Star shaped holes began to form on her hands, like someone pressing a cookie cutter into her skin. Charles' black beady eyes watched them, pain and anguish swirling in his features. His mouth hung open, moving slightly as he tried to hiss out words. His own skin began to turn into stars. Clara's head moved up a fraction of an inch, in a jerking movement, and she screamed out.
"Make it stop, Ariel!"
The words couldn't have been hers. The voice was cracked, forced through, and overflowing with torment. Ariel began to slowly sink to her knees, Allen held her up, watching horrified as the doomed victims began to thrash around. A faint purple glow began to shimmer in the star shaped holes. Allen jumped behind the pillar again, holding Ariel to his chest, and his ears burst from the loud explosion.
Ariel sagged against him, breaking down. They sank to the floor and he held her remorsefully as she sobbed.
Moa staggered over to them, her own face tear stained, and chocked in poisonous air. Allen looked up as she approached and gasped, realizing the purple stained mist had reached their floor. He stood quickly, pulling Ariel up with him and reached out with his akuma arm to grab Moa as she passed out.
"Ariel, we need to get out of here. I need you to walk. Come on." He kicked through the old rotted side of the building, looking back to make sure Ariel had moved, and then jumped out. He landed on the ground with a soft thud, laying Moa's motionless body to the cool stone ground. He stood then and turned, his eyes searching for the hole he had made.
Ariel had shuffled over to the edge, tears blubbering down her face, and stood there. Her head was turned, towards the main room no doubt, and her chest heaved. Allen held his arms out and coxed her down. She fell into his arms and wailed into his chest, he clutched her tightly and buried his face in her licorice red hair.
He sniffled and realized that he had been crying too. He wiped his eyes, ashamed. He didn't know the little girl who'd fell victim to the akuma and yet his heart still felt as if it had sunk into his stomach. Ariel had slowly begun to calm down, her body still shaking violently with each gasp in, and had fallen asleep in his arms. Moa was still conked out on the floor beside them.
Allen stared up at the hole he'd made wordlessly, stroking Ariel's hair.
'I don't know them.' He thought sadly, his gray-eyed gaze shifting down to the sleeping girl in his arms. 'And yet I like this.' He rested his cheek against her soft hair.
"Not her crying, of course." He amended softly, watching Moa's blacked out body warily.
He sighed quietly, knowing that'd he'd have to carry them both to the police station and get the whole mess straightened out. But he didn't want to move, not yet.
He was enjoying the moment.
