Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man or the poem "January Brings the Snow." I also don't own Disney World…sadness.
Rating: Teen for language. Cover the children's ears!
"March brings breezes sharp and shrill /shakes the dancing daffodil,"
~Sara Coleridge
Madam Nyne would be proud. Z danced around Allen's presence with all the grace and agility that had been taught to her. It was almost as though she could sense when he was coming, a warmth spreading over her back and into her knees, telling her to flee. And no matter what she was doing -eating, talking, reading- she would turn and retreat, escaping as she heard his voice enter occupy the area she had once been.
Le garçon avec les cheveux blancs (the boy with the white hair) had become the pet of the Order without Z even noticing, easily sliding into place like he had any business being there. His earnest ways were inspirational and insistent; he grew to be loved and appreciated for his kind ways and comedic naiveté.
Only a select few remained hostile.
Kanda.
"Moyashi."
And Z.
"Imbécile (fool)."
His optimistic personality and welcoming smile won hearts and minds, stirring the fires within the Order that had long since been reduced to smoldering embers. For the first time in years, the popular belief was that they could win. They could win the war against the earl and his demons. Allen spread his belief and dreams all over the Order, a disease that infected the open minds and hearts of the members. Right arm for good, left for evil.
He loved the demons.
And yet he killed them.
Hmph.
Imbécile.
Z had no interest in such beliefs.
It was Komui who unintentionally cornered Z. The girl glared holes into his forehead despite his ignorance of her evading game. "Apparently it's unnatural for it to be so warm this early in the year." Z raised an eyebrow as Komui took a sip of his coffee. "I know. Strange weather does not mean Innocence. But Z, with a temperature pushing one hundred in march you have to admit something strange is happening." Z sighed, standing. "Leaving?" Komui held out a folder detailing all that had been found in the boiling village, including snapshots of wilting plants and the sun burned citizens. There was nothing about where the Innocence was suspected to be, meaning that it was unsure if it was there in the first place. "Your partner will meet you at the boat. Good luck." Z nodded, lifting her suitcase. She usually came to briefings ready to leave immediately.
She could only think of her distinct hatred of the Chinese man as she sat on the train, watching her partner look over the folder. Massive, burning, hatred that twisted and pulled at her. "So they don't know where it is?" Grey eyes flickered to Z. She blinked in response and Allen sighed. "I guess we're on a scavenger hunt then?" Z blinked again, noting how his thick British accent had faded over the years. It was now only a slight inflection on certain words. She wondered if her accent had done the same. She let the cabin fade into uncomfortable silence as she pondered and thought.
"Why did you leave?" Z's eyes opened without her having realized she shut them. Allen was gazing at her in what could be considered defiance, as though daring her not to answer. She sighed.
"I don't know what you're talking about," her words were spoken with a chilled precision that made lesser men back away. Allen merely furrowed his brow in irritation. "Don't be childish, Zahara. I'm afraid it's too late to hide who you are. You have a unique appearance." The gypsy scoffed. "Unique? Is that the polite way to say I look strange? If so then don't bother sparing my feelings." She watched the British boy bristle. "I did not say you were strange nor was that what I was implying. I just find it hard to believe there are two people in this world with Innocence like that." Ah, Z understood that. It was the same way she knew him by looking at his face. Something about his stood out in a way she couldn't name.
And it wasn't his Innocence. She hadn't even known about his left arm.
"Zahara," she pulled from her reverie, noting that his irritation had only grown in her silence. "I want to know why you left."
Z snorted. "Pourquoi (why)? Why did I go? Don't be stupid, Walker. Why would I have stayed? What could a traveling performer and his young urchin have possibly offered me?" Allen set his jaw. "A life, Zahara. We didn't have much, but you could have-"
"Joined you? I heard that misery loves company, but the very idea of sharing anything with anybody sickens me. You had your world, I had mine. You were nothing but a free meal to me." Allen's bristling kindled into a flame. "You didn't even take a chance to make your life better. With our performing and your voice, we could have attracted twice the usual crowds. You never would have been on the streets again."
"I prefer lonely streets to crowded inns; I hate people, and anyone who loves them as much as you and," she twisted her face "Mana. There are no redeeming qualities of this world."
"That's not-"
"Deny it! I dare you! You were once like me right? Orphaned? Abandoned by the world for something you couldn't help?" She noticed him unconsciously clench his left hand. "And for what? Because everyone hated you? Hated what they couldn't comprehend? Don't tell me a few precious years with your precious Mana has blinded you! This is a dirty, nasty world, full of dirty, selfish people and I hate every single one of them." Z grit her teeth and sat back. "Being with you two would have just reminded me of that fac-"
"Enough!" Allen finally snapped. She had seen him fighting with himself, struggling to stifle his temper, and it pleased her to drag it out of him. "How can you say that? After the kindness Mana showed you? How can you claim to hate everyone and everything and still be a part of the Order? Still fight for the humans who wish to have no part of?" Z snarled, leaning forward. "Because I have chosen a side. And I'll be damned if I lose. Even if I have to protect selfish, ignorant meat bags." Allen looked deep into her eyes, and she knew he was searching for something. Lament? Shame? He would not find it.
How easily he forgot the gypsy hunts that ran unhampered a decade previous. Burning boats. Burning carriages. Burning people. Gypsies were not liked. They were barely even tolerated. They were thought to be devil worshiping thieves, and nothing they did to prove themselves to be otherwise ended well. And when one had seen what the young Zahara had, felt what she had felt, only then could they even be privy to the depth of her resentment. A depth Allen only briefly glimpsed looking into her eyes.
"You are an awful person," he muttered in near disbelief. She smirked as his words glanced off her. "I know." They were silent the rest of the trip.
Off the train and into Hell. That's what it felt like. Within minutes Allen had shed his coat and the Finder looked ready to faint. Z did her best to resist the urge to shed her own garments, the thought of being exposed too terrifying for words. The cloak felt so secure, so hidden away. She hated having to look people in the eyes, especially when they could see hers. No one was outside, attempting to hide their burning faces from the sun, but still…
The Finder was very willing to take their cases to their room as they questioned the populace. Knocking on doors, breathless and lethargic people appeared, hardly sparing the energy for pleasantries. The lake, they said. This insufferable heat began just before monsters invaded the forest around the lake. Thanking them, Allen used his tie to pull back his hair, and Z dotted her forehead. A lake sounded heavenly. Z would fight her way through an army of akuma for the water just beyond them.
They had hardly walked out of the village when Allen's eye throbbed. Z jumped a bit in shock, watching black and red conquer the original white and grey of his eye. She knew he was cursed, Kanda had already told her that, but she had never seen it in action. A scope-like device activated itself, the eye moving independently of the boy's will. "Akuma," he said softly.
Z activated her Innocence, relishing in the cooling sensation the bracelets brought as they sank deeper into her flesh. The lines of Innocence raced down her arms, ending at her shoulders and finger tips in intricate, glowing lines.
A few of the akuma had yet to shed their human appearance, faces and arms contorted into guns and other weapons. The level twos taunted and teased the exorcists, attacking in measured strikes. Z watched Allen fight as she defended herself, watching his face grimace as he parried and stuck in measured attacks. Dangerous. Serious. A twinge of respect ached at the back of her mind, but she pushed it aside as a level two grabbed her punch lifting her into the air.
"OH~HO! I got one! HA HA!" One of its six tentacles pinned her arms to her body, another stabbed through her hood, trying to break her skull. It caught empty air as she thrust her head to the side, the tentacle cutting her face shallowly. All at once the akuma froze, its face crumpling in disbelief and anger. Circles of Innocence appeared all over its body, her poison destroying it from the inside out. "WAHHHH! NO! I JUST BECAME A LEVEL TWO!" It dropped Z as it burst into dust. It had been floating several stories in the air, and she prepared herself for the pain of impact. It never came.
Freeing himself for an instant, Allen caught her in his fleshed arm, his cannon blasting away another akuma. "Get off!" Z snarled her response before he could ask his question, leaping out of his arms and onto another akuma.
Corpses littered the ground, the houses bordering the village in ruins. It didn't matter. From what Z's suddenly fuzzy mind could deduce, these akuma had been the only residents of the buildings. "I guess that means that we're closer than we thought." Allen's shirt was ripped in several places, blood bubbling up from a narrow gash in his side. He stood tall, using his eye to sweep for more akuma before turning to Z. He didn't smile. He didn't offer Z his fake smiles and she didn't want them.
She barely registered the ground rushing up to meet her.
Clumsy, nervous fingers stumbled over the clasp to her cloak, finally pulling it open. The person halted, their heart picking a new, faster beat, the harsh breathing by her ear stopping before she was lowered onto a mattress. A mattress? She jumped and opened her eyes when something cold touched her head.
Grey?
Allen.
Her eyebrows lowered, automatically moving into a scowl. Allen frowned back, but concern ruined the effect. "You could've told me you weren't feeling well Zahara." his eyes narrowed. "Heat sickness isn't weak. It is a bit careless though." She scoffed, snatching the wet cloth from his hands. It felt nice, even if she resented being owing him a favor. They glared at each other a moment, interrupted when their Finder spoke. "Master Walker."
"Allen, Leo. My name is Allen."
"…Allen. Please allow me to treat your injuries now that Mademoiselle Zahara has woken up." Z's eyes widened a fraction, recognizing the scratches and dried blood on Allen's face and hands. He hadn't even changed his shirt. "Imbécile. You get an infection and you'll slow us down." Allen curled his lip. "I'll slow us down? And I suppose your need to nap in the middle of the mission was wholly beneficial?"
"Pardon? Are you not the same boy who proclaimed that heat sickness isn't weak. Chose a side, fool. I would have preferred you left me in the sun in any case."
"Look you-"
"Master Walker," the Finder interrupted their fight again "your injuries." Allen grit his teeth and shot Z another glare before turning away. She smirked at his back.
They were back in their room, the Finder's eyes flashing between her and Allen curiously. She snarled at him and he scurried to get the first aid kit. He had to move Z's cloak to get to it, and, with a poorly stifled gasp, her hands flew up to her uncovered face. Allen looked at her as her scowl deepened, a light smile twisting on his lips at her discomfort. "You almost burned to death in that thing. You should be thanking me." Z scowled so hard it hurt.
"We need to hurry up and go after the Innocence." Her voice cracked from thirst. dust caking her lungs. "It's not safe. You." Z cut her eyes at the Finder, who jumped a bit. "Hurry your ass up." Allen frowned at her rudeness, but didn't disagree.
The last remaining akuma, surrounding the Innocence, were all level twos. They were huge, brandishing shields and swords and claws. They snickered and heckled the exorcists that had appeared to challenge them.
Z was relieved they hadn't found the Innocence yet, easily catching a massive hand that sought to tear her apart. She wore only her off the shoulder white blouse, long black pants, and sandals. Her black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and several more earrings and bracelets gracing her ears and arms. Lavender eyes were narrow and almost almond shaped, giving her a cat-like appearance, and her once cracked and pale lips had filled out with the rest of her body. Despite her lack of exposure, she looked to be growing into a very respectable young gypsy.
While Allen's style of fighting akuma was based upon blocking, Z's was dodging. She danced around falling bullets and swords, skimming past dangers with all the grace that was in her blood. Guitars and drums could almost be heard in time with her movements, an invisible scarf upon her shoulders, her "uncultured" dancing turned dangerous.
They won. As Z knew they would. A large, glowing rock caught her eye as she tossed the final akuma. And they found the Innocence. As Z hoped they would. Sweat stung her eyes and scrapes, bruises made themselves known as she bent to retrieve the gently glowing substance. She tasted her blood from biting her tongue and there was a considerable amount of mud in her hair and she had jammed her finger and twisted her ankle.
The moment Allen's golem (what sort of name was Timcampy?) swallowed the Innocence, a chilling breeze blew through the air, shaking the budding trees. Z shivered, pouting. Stupid weather.
The village dropped at least thirty degrees overnight, continuing into the next day. The people were considerably more friendly, smiling and waving as Z and the Finder made their way back to the train station. "This is…interesting," the Finder muttered, a random stranger trying to sell him a hat. "I suppose everyone's livelier since the weather's back to normal. I feel much better as well.". Z made what may have been a noise of agreement. The train gave a long whistle, signifying its depart. "Where's Master Walker? He's going to miss the train." Z didn't say anything. That fool had wandered off somewhere in the bustling village, and she had no intention of spending another day just trying to track him down. She turned to the train's steps, ready to board, as something golden shot into her path.
She almost crushed it with Beastly Beauty.
Tim fluttered in front of her face, almost grinning (if it had lips) before flying into her hood and settling into the warmth of her hair. She scoffed at it and turned to see Allen standing behind her. He was breathing heavily, the bandage on his face peeling from his flushed and sweaty face. Where he had gone, where he had run from, she wasn't sure and didn't care to ask. "What is that?" But she didn't ask just what the Hell he had will him.
A bouquet of yellow flowers on green stalks, smelling fresh and sweet. They were withered somewhat, which Z thought to attribute to the heat of previous days, but they almost glowed in their brightness; golden yellow. Z frowned, but only because she didn't know what else to do. "These?" Obviously. "A woman stopped me. She insisted on giving us something as thanks and," he stood the bouquet. Z smirked. "A man who has been given flowers? All you need is a pretty dress, Walker." The boy blushed indignantly, glaring. "It's no like I asked for them. And I think it was rather kind of her."
