Thank you so much to everyone that had reviewed and subscribed to this fic. It means a lot to me as this is my first fic afterall.

I earnestly hope that you would enjoy this chapter even though i have to say that i didn't exactly find it a good job done. That goes especially to the latter parts of this chapter as i took a break in between, and due to the fact that i made a mistake and tuned onto several songs while thinking of how i should continue. xD.

It might help if you listened to 'Doushite Kimi Wo Suki Ni Natte Shimattan Darou' and 'Love In the Ice', both by DBSK/TVSK as well as 'It's You' by Super Junior 'coz i had those songs playing while writing this =x

A thousand apologies to you if it wasn't satisfactory.

Waking Reverie

Zero: 00

9 May 2005

The door closed with soft click that signaled that the lock had clicked into place. But apparently to whoever that built that room seemed to think that a single lock was not enough to keep its occupant at bay. The churning of other gears at work could be heard before twelve other clicks resonated through the room, and the small bulb positioned at where a door knob should be flashed an eerie red.

The soft thud, thud of footsteps echoed within the white walls as a certain raven-haired boy walked towards the figure slumped at the corner of the room, hugging her knees and hiding her head under her arms.

'Oi, Moyashi. What are you sulking for?' the dark-eyed boy questioned.

'Am not a bean sprout,' came a weak reply.

If Kanda was surprised as to how she knew what he said, he didn't show it, but instead raised his eyebrows at the sudden change in Ellen. She seemed so full of energy the day before, but now seemed the complete opposite.

'What the hell? What's wrong with you?'

'…Hurts.'

The boy's fingers twitched in annoyance at the unsatisfactory answer, but he did not question any further and simply sat down with a puff next to Ellen.

'… Aren't you going to ask me what happened?'

'Why should I? It's not like I care anyway. Besides, you aren't going to tell me anyway, aren't you?'

'Oh, really?'

'…'

'…'

'… so what happened?'

'… that kind of goes against what you said about not caring you know.'

'Whatever. So are you going to tell me or what?'

'…'

'… Che.'

'I'll tell you one day… but not now.'

Ellen heard the raven-haired boy heave a sigh, then some shuffling here and there, and then a slight tugging at her hair.

'There. Now we're even,' Kanda frowned before adding, 'your hair is kind of short though. It barely reaches your shoulder.'

Kanda continued staring at his work of tying her hair the same way she did to his before shrugging his shoulders, muttering, 'Ah well, it'll grow.'

Silence issued between the two as the older of the two meditated in silence as he kept his post beside her.

'…Yuu-chan?'

The said boy simply twitched his eyebrows in irritation.

'Thanks.'

'…Che'.

'…you're blushing, aren't you?'

'What the hell? Did you grow eyes at the side of your head now or something?'

'… so you are indeed blushing.'

'…'

'…'

'...whatever.'

For the next two weeks, the dark-haired male would always find the other gone the moment he woke up, and find her in the same position every day when he was finally allowed back to his room after dinner. He would simply sit down beside her, not saying a word. Kanda never questioned her, and she couldn't express how thankful she was for that.

25 May 2005

''Yuu-chan.. what do you think this is?'

'How would I know?'

'What do you think we should do with it then?'

'I say we kill it.'

'But it's moving though, and it's staring at me.'

'Che. That's just your imagination. That thing doesn't have eyes.'

'Oooh… okay then.' Ellen said, stepping aside from the 'unknown thing' to let Kanda do the job, ignoring the very obvious and pleading eyes that seemed to scream 'save me'.

Kanda smirked as he unsheathed his sword, advancing onto his newfound 'prey'.

'Yuu-chan,' Ellen frowned as she stared at the sword that Kanda was holding over the alienated and unknown thing, 'I've been thinking for a while now, but shouldn't you give your sword a name?'

'Whatever, it's not it has a mind or something.'

'But the fact is that it does have a mind, Yuu.'

'It's just a sword for god's sake. Swords are made of metal, and metals doesn't have minds, Moyashi.'

Ellen pouted as she seemed to give it a thought.

'I still say that you should name your sword though.'

'Whatever,' Kanda rolled his eyes. 'Killing this thing comes first.'

'W-Wait! Don't kill me!' a third voice spoke up.

'Ah. It talked,' Ellen said, seemingly surprised that whatever it was, was capable of speaking.

Kanda simply 'che'-d as he sheathed his sword, seemingly annoyed at the fact that the thing was indeed alive. Thus, killing it would be ill-advised, especially since that there would be dire consequences to pay if he did.

'Cool,' Ellen poked at the trembling figure, disregarding the fact that the figure was trembling and flinching at her touch, 'Can you see me?'

Hesitantly, the thing gave a nod.

Feigning shock, Ellen exclaimed, 'Really?! You can see? Hey, Kanda! Look, this thing does have eyes after all!'

With a huff of annoyance, Kanda went to sit cross-legged on his bed and started to meditate, ignoring Ellen at his wake.

But Ellen didn't seem to care as she continued to bombard the poor boy with questions like, 'Can you bark, or quack, even?', 'What are you?', 'What are you doing here?', 'How old are you?', 'Why is your hair brown?, 'Can I poke you?'.

'I-I,' the boy stuttered, confused and scared by the questions Ellen bombarded him with.

'Che, Moyashi. Just give him a break, will you?'

'Eeehh… But its fun,' hazel brown eyes immediately averted silvery ones in fright as he caught the curious gaze in them.

'Aw, alright,' an unsatisfied Ellen said as she plopped herself unceremoniously onto the ground beside the new arrival. There was a moment of silence as Ellen stared into the hazel-brown eyes with a face void of emotion.

'Anyways,' the smile plastered back on her face, 'What's your name?'

'I - I'm L-Lucas. Lucas Reid.'

'I'm Ellen and that's Kanda over there. It was nice meeting you, Lucas,' Ellen offered her hand, which Lucas eagerly accepted. 'You'd probably like to have a change of your shirt though. We only have some plain white overalls here just like the one I'm wearing, if you don't mind. It's actually quite comfortable once you get used to it.'

Ellen rummaged through the closet for a moment before appearing with a white button-up overall.

'Oh yeah, you're most probably going to have to go through a medical examination of sorts later, so it'd help if you changed into this too.'

Lucas mumbled a 'thanks' as he gladly took the piece of clothing Ellen held out for him, fumbling around with it a little while Ellen politely turned her back on him so that he could change.

'Just as a warning, it's going to hurt a little, almost like a slight burning sensation inside you. It won't last long, so you don't have to worry much about it, and it's completely normal to fall unconscious after that, so don't panic either.'

Just as Lucas finished buttoning up the last of his clothes, there was a click that came from the door, followed by the mechanic whine of the gears, and the bulb flashed neon green. A man that was dressed in what seemed like a uniform outfit stepped in. The outfit consisted of the ever-present white mask, a pair of flawless white pants and the white laboratory coat that everybody has. This was paired with a safety goggle and a pair of polished shoes. A flat white cap and a set of rubber gloves completed the look, although they existed to hide and protect the hair and hands from the chemicals more than anything else did. The goggle was of similar purpose, as its rubbery coating at the sides was perfect for preventing gaseous reactions from reaching the eye.

The man turned towards the direction of Ellen and spoke in a monotone voice, 'No. 7281, please come with me.'

'I guess it's good luck to you then.' Ellen gave a smile that doesn't seem to reach her eyes, but the boy didn't seem to notice as she led him out to the where the white-coated man stood waiting, all the while soothing him that everything's going to be okay.

She managed a wave before the door snapped shut in front of her with a click. As always, the churning of gears from inside the heavy metal door could be heard echoing through the white walls of the room.

Cobalt eyes stared at the white-haired form that was still positioned at the door, back faced to him, and her right hand still raised in a wave.

'Moyashi,' Kanda's voice drew Ellen from her thoughts. 'What the hell was that?'

'Eh? I was just sending Lucas off.'

'What did you mean when u said it was nice meeting that kid?'

'Ah, you noticed,' Ellen laughed nervously. 'It was kind of obvious from how his pupils were constricted that he was having negative side-effects from the Innocence. In other words, he was incompatible.'

'…Oh.'

An awkward silence filled the room after that as Ellen stared at her hand which had previously held onto Lucas's, whom she knew would be dead by the end of the day. It was really ironic that the boy synchronized with the Innocence just to be killed by it later on.

'Yuu-chan? That guy said he was 7281, right?' Ellen spoke while she turned to face Kanda. 'But wouldn't that mean that at least seven thousand children that were before him… had died?'

Kanda opened his mouth for a moment, deciding that he had nothing to say, closed it again just to open it moments later.

'Baka. You couldn't have done anything to stop it either.'

'But what if I said I was the source that they were taking from? What if I said that it was because of me and because that they experimented on me that they were able to come out with… with what they have now? It was because of me that all those innocent souls have to go through all the pain and suffering and then die all for nothing.

Silver-blue eyes that were filled with so much guilt and agony gazed at cobalt ones as salty tears flowed in streams.

'It was because of me that you have to suffer too, Yuu. Don't you hate me? Despise me?'

Despite knowing what the other might do, she still visibly flinched as she heard the springs of the bed groan as Kanda got off the bed he was previously on, making his way towards her.

She knew this was coming, she knew that this would happen; she knew that she never should have existed. She knew that she was never meant to hope. But why does it scare her so? That the one she grew to know for the past few weeks would come to hate her.

She knew, but she couldn't stop help but wish, wishing against hope that for once, it would come true. Please don't hate me, Yuu.

'Baka.'

Eyes that were a cloudy grey widened with surprise as she felt the pair of warm hands snake their way around her, 'Why?'

Why do you embrace me so? Why, even though I know you hate me?

'I can't bring myself to hate you even if I do.'

'N-No, don't say that. Just say that you hate me. Please.' Ellen begged.

'I don't hate you. So don't hate yourself either, Ellen.'

You are the first friend I have, and you are the light that shone so brightly you lighted up the way for me, you lighted up the darkness in me that's been there for far too long. That's why, please don't hate yourself.

Ellen choked out a feeble 'why?' as she slid further into Kanda's arms, snuggling into his warmth and crying her eyes out, 'you idiot. You're supposed to hate me, Yuu. You idiot.'

The said male did not reply, but simply tightened his arms around her as he kept whispering soothing words while Ellen cried, crying for the ones that died, crying for Lucas's death; Crying for all the souls that are trapped in the laboratory, and most of all, crying because she finally found warmth - warmth that she had sought for so long.

Thank you, Yuu. Please don't leave me.

On 9 May, 2004, Lucas Reid suffered from various organ failures due to the incompatibility of the Innocence, and finally passed away at approximately twelve midnight when an unknown chemical was injected into his bloodstream.

In a world that repeats itself all over again, would you remember me if I, too, ceased to exist?

RAWR. I'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry! T-T

Please do give me your views on whether if i should edit/rewrite this crappy chapter of mine.

Yet again, sorry for making you readers go through an agonizing time, and thank you for taking your time (even though you might regret it) to read through this.

I hope it might not be too much to ask, but please please, pretty please, click on the Review button below and give me your views?