I felt really bad when I noticed all the reviews I have ended in the same thing: Update soon! I realized I hadn't updated in a week.

So, driven by the resolve to make people happy, I made this!

Also... 5 review milestone! I'll update more often, I promise.

In response to Shaybo27: It probably wont be like Kariya from Bleach... as I was writing the last chapter I was trying to go more for like a God's purifying lightning bolt. But as you saw, her Innocence wont let her get away with using that much power ;). As I was writing this chapter, however, I started thinking more about like electrical signals to the brain, considering the ear translates the sounds into electrical signals that are recognized by the brain. So technically it works with the electrical approach. Kinda like messing with your brain :P


Victim of Fate Chapter 3 – Strained Relationships & the Black Order

Headlines of newspapers flash through Stefania's mind's eye.

Vampire Count Krory Strikes Again! Two Murdered in Plain Sight!

Vampire Count Krory Kills Our Doctors! Three Patients Also Murdered!

Vampire Count Krory Kills Two Well-Known Teachers, Daughter Missing; Presumed Dead!

Stefania is huddled in a tight ball, eyes wide and hands over her ears, trying to block out the terrifying noises. Why did Mummy and Daddy act so strangely?

She had hidden in her closet when they had looked at her with hungry eyes. They, however, didn't follow to comfort her like they normally would.

A few minutes later, she had heard the terrifying noises that had started somewhere in the house. The sounds of vases breaking, pots clanking, and the dull thud of people being thrown against a wall bombarded her ears.

She was looking through the small hole in her closet that gave her a view of the living room, perfect for spying on Mummy and Daddy when they brought friends over.

Mummy and Daddy appeared in the living room, or should she say, were thrown in the living room. They hit the wall to the right of her, so the view of them is blocked. A large looming figure appears in the doorway.

Stefania struggles to stay quiet, trying not to shriek at both occurrences. The figure comes closer and closer to the hole in the wall, approaching her Mummy and Daddy.

The man, who had large fangs and a white stripe in his hair, was absolutely terrifying. He had a crazed look on his face, and was heading directly to her hiding spot.

She immediately knew what it was. The man in front of her was a real life vampire.

The man jumps to her parents, making a loud boom to her right. Stefania immediately struggles not to cry when she begins to hear the sounds of sucking. A few minutes later, the sucking sound ends.

The bodies of her Mummy and Daddy are thrown to the opposite wall, Daddy slumped over Mummy. Both were completely still.

Stefania finally utters a little scream, muffled by her hand over her mouth. The vampire immediately looks towards the wall her hole was on, coming close.

He looks directly into the small hole. His eye is wide and bloodshot as he gazes at the small girl.

Stefania shrieks loudly and runs to the other end of closet, huddling into the corner, shaking. The vampire simply punches the wall, creating a large hole for him to walk into.

He steps into the small closet and walks towards her. His arms are outstretched.

She screams loudly as the arms grip her.

Stefania wakes up suddenly, eyes wide. Allen is looming over her, looking worried.

"We're here, Stefania." He says, "You alright?"

She just sits up, making sure to use her left arm.

"I'm fine, no worries." She says, smiling.

Allen obviously doesn't buy it, but lets it go. Stefania stands up and follows Allen off the train.

Krory, Lavi, and Bookman are already standing outside.

"Nice to see you're awake, sleeping beauty!" Lavi says, smiling.

"Eh, drop the act. It's bothering me." Stefania says, not amused.

"What act? What if I really think you're sleeping beauty?" Lavi challengers, his grin growing wider.

"The act you seem to have all the time. Just be yourself, unless you can't remember." She says, ignoring the question.

Lavi's grin falters slightly. Bookman looks at Stefania suspiciously. Sensing the foul mood coming quickly, Allen cuts in.

"Let's get going, there are lots of things we need to do at the Black Order." Allen says, beginning to walk down a street.

"That's the wrong way, Allen! Besides, you shouldn't be the one leading us, remember your sense of direction?" Lavi calls down the street, his grin returning to his face.

Allen stops and looks at them sheepishly. "Right, lead the way." he says, arm outstretched.

Lavi walks in the opposite direction Allen did, and we all follow him. Stefania is next to Allen and Lavi, while Krory is on the other side of Bookman.

She does this on purpose, still rattled by the recent nightmare. She listens absently to Allen talking about what they'll be doing once they got back to the Black Order.

The pain on her right arm had gone down since the other night, but it still ached painfully. As they continue to walk through town, a nagging thought kept returning, annoying her to no end.

Why exactly was Allen acting all nice and happy? For some reason, she knew that something painful had happened in his past. Something terribly painful; and yet he continued to smile and be polite to every person he met.

She ponders this to thrust the thought of her nightmare away. Lavi also acted like a total idiot, when she knew that he was probably a lot smarter than herself, Allen, and Krory combined.

She realized that she hadn't told them about Tyki Mikk, and that they must be in the dark, but she came to the conclusion that she didn't have to tell them.

"Hey Stefania, we're here!" Allen said, poking her shoulder. Stefania snapped out of her deep thinking and looked up. There stood the tallest and probably most ominous looking building she'd ever seen.

"Well I guess that's why it's called the Black Order…" Stefania mumbles. The building looked like a large castle, an old large castle. They walk up to the gatekeeper, who immediately wakes up.

"Time for a full-body inspection!" it yells. Stefania and Krory are struck by a bright light. Stefania yelps and attempts to jump out of the light, but it followed her around.

After being forced to stand still by Allen and Lavi, Stefania finally stays put for the light. She doesn't like it at all, feeling as though it's an invasion of her privacy.

The Gatekeeper gapes at her for a moment before screaming and yelling out, "GAH! A NOAH! QUICKLY, ALLEN, KILL HER! PUT ON THE ALARMS!"

Stefania nearly jumps ten feet in the air when the gatekeeper screams in her face.

"You baka, I'm not a Noah, whatever that is!" Stefania yells at it, annoyed.

The alarms begin to sound loudly.

"INTRUDER!" the Gatekeeper continues to yell. Something that looks like an eye with bat wings approaches the group.

"Allen, who exactly did you bring with you?" A male voice crackles from it. Stefania, again, nearly jumps several feet in the air when she hears it.

"The hell is with all this insane technology here? It's scaring me to no end!" Stefania complains, glaring at the bat-eye.

Krory looks at her with a scolding look on his normally kind face.

"Yeah yeah, I'm sorry. No swearing." Stefania says arms outstretched in defeat.

"These two people here are the new exorcists we found. The girl isn't a Noah, no worries." Allen explains to the bat-eye.

"Alright then, grant them access Gatekeeper, and don't forget to turn off the alarm, it's getting annoying." The male voice sounds again, the bat-eye flying away.

The Gatekeeper just continues to look at her cautiously but finally turns off the alarm and lets them in.

"Welcome to the Black Order…" it mumbles, obviously distrustful. They all follow Allen into the large castle.


"Get away from me!" Stefania screamed, thrashing around. The second she had walked into the castle a man named Komui had his robot rush her into a room that looked like a hospital. The robot had strapped her down to a table in the middle of the room. Then, Komui had walked into the room and picked up what looked like a large saw. He was also looking like a crazed mad-scientist and laughing evilly.

"I said: get the hell away from me!" She screams again.

"Now, don't make me put the sedative on you. All I'm going to do is look at your Innocence." Komui says, smiling creepily. He begins to approach Stefania when Allen, Lavi, and Krory appear in the doorway.

"Ary-kun! Stop him! A pervert's trying to kill me!" Stefania shrieks, forgetting all bad feelings towards Krory.

"He's just trying to look at your Innocence; he's not going to hurt you. Just don't fight him." Allen says, "It was kind of unnerving when he did it to me too, but he means well."

"If he wasn't going to hurt me, then why did he strap me down on a table? I don't think he needs a big freaking saw either!" She protests but settles down, flinching when Komui comes close to her, inspecting the whistle. The pain from her right arm was returning after the adrenaline from her system began to drain out.

"Could you please activate your Innocence for us, Stefania?" Komui asks, pushing his glasses up. He had set down the saw and was now too close for comfort.

I can't activate it without touching it… dumbass. She thought to herself, but tries to activate it anyway. Taking a deep breath, she says, "Innocence, Activate." The whistle glows a soft red from the lightning bolt, but doesn't turn into a flute. Angry that it wouldn't activate it, she repeats the command louder. "Innocence, Activate!"

The red light glows softly once more, but this time grows brighter and brighter. A few seconds after the red light appears, the large BOOM of a lightning strike comes once more. The room is quickly enveloped in smoke and the sound of electricity crackling fills the air. Once the smoke dies down, everyone is coughing. Suddenly, Lavi bursts into laughter after looking at her.

"What's so funny?" Stefania asks angrily.

"Your hair…" he manages to get out before falling on the floor, laughing. Tears begin to run down his eyes.

"What about my hair!" Stefania says angrily, trying to aim her eyes upwards to see it. Komui picks up a mirror and lifts it to her head. Stefania's scream is heard throughout the entire castle.

"MY HAIR!" she screams. The lovely, straight, locks of brown hair were now almost unrecognizable. They were charred black, and stuck out in all random directions. Electricity passed through the hair that was sticking up, frizzled.

The whistle on her necklace was still in its whistle form, the red lightning bolt glowing slightly. Scowling down at it, she says angrily, "It's all your fault, stupid Innocence."

The pain in her right arm returns with full force, causing her to gasp out. Involuntary tears begin to gather at her eyes from the pain. Lavi immediately stops laughing and everyone looks at her in concern.

"I don't think your Innocence likes to be insulted…" Allen says, looking at her worriedly.

The pain eases slightly, but persists.

"Get these restraints off me and send me to a real sick bay. This is the room of a mad scientist." Stefania growls out, glaring at Komui. Komui presses a button on the wall, releasing the restraints. Krory immediately comes to Stefania's side, helping her stand up with a gentle hand.

"Are you sure you can walk there? I could carry you." Krory says, worried.

"I'm fine, Krory." She hisses, walking past him while cradling her arm. Krory stands in shock, not turning to watch her leave.

They all stand there for a minute, bewildered that she would call him by his real name.

"What's up with her?" Lavi muttered, looking at the doorway, after a few minutes of silence.

"We'd better get to her, if she gets as easily lost as Allen does, then we're in some big trouble!" Komui says, looking at Allen. Allen's eye twitches, but he runs out the door to follow her.


Meanwhile, with Stefania…


Trying to pick up the remaining pieces of her pride, Stefania tries reading a map placed on the wall. She had no clue of how to read it. She cursed under her breath in frustration.

"Everything looks the same here, how the hell am I supposed to follow these directions?" she mutters, a finger on the map. She was hopelessly lost and had no clue where she was going. This was made easy by the countless doors and hallways that looked exactly the same.

"How do people do this crap?" she mutters again. Finally, she gives up trying to read the map and decides to just wander the halls. Cradling her injured arm, she walks into a random direction. After walking a few minutes, she finds some stairs. She decides to go up, deciding the darker things in life are normally at the bottom floors, including that experimentation room.

After going up what seemed like millions of steps, she makes it to what appeared to be a cafeteria. Maybe someone there can show me the way… she thinks, walking in. Looking over the people eating there, which was made up of people wearing tan coats, she finds someone who had the same uniform as Lavi and Allen and approached him. The man was eating what appeared to be noodles alone. He had long blue hair placed into a high ponytail.

"Can you show me to the medical wing?" she asks.

"No." he says, not looking up from his noodles.

"Can you tell me why not?" she asks, a bit annoyed.

"No." he says again. Stefania's temper control had gone from little to absolutely nothing since she'd been introduced to exorcists, and this little prick was annoying the crap outta her without lifting a finger.

"What's your damn problem? I've had enough of you! Tell me where the medical wing is!" Stefania says angrily, pulling his ponytail, "Unless you're too stupid, baka!"

The man snaps. His hand grabs her left arm, pulling it over his shoulder, effectively flipping her over the table like a ragdoll.

"You little…" she growls, jumping up. The man continued to eat his noodles, which he had made sure she didn't hit. He continued to ignore her. Her face in a scowl, she dashes past him, grabbing the hair tie keeping his hair together. She begins to run the hell out of the cafeteria. This was as good as going to the medical wing, the adrenaline made the pain in her right arm nonexistent.

Stefania knew she was probably faster than the man. She also got a head start on him. But that didn't stop the fact that she had no clue where she was going, and he could easily block her off. She could hear the man behind her yelling angrily, but she didn't care, she was having too much fun. As she ran past the big circular hole in the ground, she glances behind her to see the man turning the corner. He was impressive; he could keep up with her. But she could always get away if she wanted too. She was just playing with him now.

She's suddenly slammed into a large, or what it feels like, wall that happened to appear in the middle of her path. Bouncing back, her feet trip over the edge of the hole and she falls down. Her right arm finds the edge and hangs on for dear life, shaken. Intense pain comes from the arm, making it so only sheer will is keeping her arm there. She stays like that for several seconds, gripping the edge tightly.

"Stefania!" she hears a voice yell. A large white arm grips her from behind and she's lifted into the air. She see's Allen, Lavi, Krory, Komui, the man she'd taken the hair tie from, and a new girl that seemed around her age.

"Hey guys…" she says weakly, smiling. She can hear her heart pump wildly as she's placed on the ground once more. The pain in her arm stands strong.

"Stefania, what exactly did you think you were doing? You could've gotten yourself killed!" Krory says angrily, placing a hand on her left shoulder and looking her hard in the face.

"I would've been perfectly fine if you weren't here. You were the reason I got knocked into the hole, remember?" she snaps back angrily, shaking the hand off. She glares at him in the eyes harshly.

"If you didn't run off like a maniac than this never would've happened!" he retorts angrily, returning the glare. Stefania is taken slightly aback, but doesn't show it. Krory was normally timid, letting Stefania do as she pleased. She never got in trouble and he certainly never yelled at her.

"It's not my fault!" she yells angrily, "It's your fault!"

"How the hell is it my fault? You're the one making these decisions, you could've killed yourself!" he snapped, actually swearing.

"Oh, like you don't know? You shouldn't be concerned about me considering you-," Stefania yells before being cut off by Allen.

"Stop it!" he yells. Everyone turns to him, surprised. Allen never yelled.

"Can't you see what you're doing? You're actually fighting! Shouldn't you two be ashamed? You're like brother and sister, and very close at that!" he yells, pointing a finger at Stefania and Krory.

Stefania and Krory look at each other before looking down at their feet, ashamed.

"Sorry Allen." Stefania mumbles.

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me," he says gently, "apologize to Krory."

Lifting her head, she looks at Krory and whispers, "I'm sorry, Ary-kun."

Krory smiles reassuringly, placing a hand on her shoulder, "It's alright." She gives him a soft smile.

"Alright, now that you too are back to normal, I'd like to introduce you to Lenalee and Kanda." Allen says.

"Hi, I'm Lenalee. Nice to meet you." The girl with the green pigtails says cheerfully, giving them a small wave with her hand.

"Che," the man with the long blue hair mumbles angrily, walking away. Opening Stefania's palm, she aims at the back of Kanda's head and shoots the hair tie. Kanda catches the hair tie without looking backwards and continues to walk away, much to Stefania's annoyance.

"I don't like that man…" Stefania says, "He pushes my buttons and ticks me off. At least I have a new nickname for him." She begins to grin evilly.

"Now, where's the medical ward?" she asks, "I've had enough excitement for today."

Lenalee smiles and says, "I'll show you the way, follow me."

Lenalee off into a hallway and Stefania move to follow her. Krory stops her for a moment and says, "If there's anything you need to talk about…"

"I'm fine, Ary-kun." She says, smiling reassuringly. Krory smiles softly in return and lets her go.

"I'll see you all later!" she calls, waving her left hand behind her as she turns the corner.


Lenalee and Stefania arrive at the medical wing, which wasn't too far away. Stefania is immediately placed in the attention of the Head Nurse and is placed on an examination table. She fidgets in discomfort.

"Hello, Stefania. You will address me as the Head Nurse." Says a woman with a stern face and a tight bun that had just walked into the room, "As long as you do not disobey my order we will get alone splendidly. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am..," Stefania says, unnerved. The Head Nurse smiles slightly, "Don't worry. I'm not as mean as I look." Stefania smiles back.

"Now, let me inspect that arm of yours. You were given this injury by your Innocence, correct?" The Head Nurse says, gentle pulling up Stefania's sleeve.

"Yes ma'am." She confirms. After inspecting the arm for a few minutes the Head Nurse says, "Please take off your shirt,"

Without hesitating, Stefania takes off her shirt. The eyes of the Head Nurse widen slightly.

"That's a nasty burn you've got there." She says, making a few notes on a clipboard. The burns on Stefania's chest begin to throb painfully, making her flinch.

The Head Nurse notices this and begins to take out supplies from a drawer nearby and placing them on a table next to the examination table. She takes out and ointment and begins to place it on the burns around Stefania's body. The pain almost immediately begins to fade away, causing Stefania to smile and sigh in relief.

An hour later, Stefania's wounds have been treated by the Head Nurse and she's sleeping peacefully in her bed. Komui walks into the room.

"Is she alright?" he asks, eyeing the girl in the bed.

"She's most definitely not alright. The burns she's been given are of the 3rd degree, possibly the 4th. I'm honestly surprised she's been able to walk and talk through the pain. I'm also surprised that the burn hasn't been infected yet, as well as that I won't have to amputate. The ointment meant for 1st and 2nd degree burns, however, lessened the pain. She's going to lose a lot of the movement in her right arm after it heals, I suspect. It'll also take months until she'll be ready to go out, if she's capable to go on missions at all!" the Head Nurse goes on, "Whatever happened, she should've been brought to me first thing. The girl either has massive amounts of self-control and will power or the burns she's been given aren't as serious as I suspected."

"Her Innocence did this to her, so I wouldn't be surprised if it lessened the pain for her as well. Although I find it interesting that an equip-type Innocence caused damage to the body." Komui says, hand on his chin in thought. "From Allen, Lavi, and Krory, I believe her Innocence is an air type. But that doesn't explain why when she tried to activate it malfunctioned and let out electricity. It also has a lightning bolt on it, so perhaps it has more than one element? What also interests me is that the Gatekeeper thought she was a Noah."

"One thing's for sure," the Head Nurse says, "she's not your average girl."

Komui nodded and continued to look at the sleeping figure.

"Definitely." he agrees.


I made things more interesting by adding that dream at the beginning. I feel like I made Krory a bit too OOC, but I tried to make amends when I put in the part where he's timid. Cause he is.

Anyways, hope you liked the chapter, because it was fun to write. Especially when Krory and Stefania were fighting, that was a lot more fun than it should be xD.

Anyway, see you all next time. Remember to rate & review and all that fun stuff.