Four- Sophie's First Mission
A week passed, then two. A lot of strange things happened at The Black Order. People fought like savages one minute and then were sitting together and laughing the next. Sophronia couldn't wrap her mind around the things that went on.
The Cursed Boy and Ponytail went on a mission to the Land Forsaken by God- that is, Mater, and recovered an innocence there.
Later Sophie would lie awake at night, hearing the soft singing of a doll that had first been adored by and then repulsed humans. She wished she had met Lala before the doll broke. After all, Sophronia often found solace in her singing as well, mostly hymns from her father's religion.
Her days had just begun to move into one long, monotonous blur, when...
"Wilton, Walker!" Reever said, walking in to the room, "You're wanted in the command center."
Sophie stood hurriedly and headed out the door, gumbo in one hand, cornbread in her mouth, a glass of lemonade tucked in her elbow, and the now battered-looking Little Women.
She walked to the command center, chewing on her cornbread and wondering why any of them would want her.
When she stepped inside Allen was there, some sort of sauce on his chin. Beside him was the exorcist of the black boots, Lenalee Lee.
"Hey, Sophronia." She was greeted. She smiled almost sheepishly around her last corner of the cornbread and swallowed it down hurriedly.
"Hi." She said quietly, sitting beside the female exorcist.
After their debriefing, Sophie felt a mixture of apprehension and excitement. To be going to investigate a report of a possible innocence there? This was big for her. All she had done before now was to help clean Komui's horribly filthy desk and the area surrounding it.
The town they were headed to was a town where the day had stayed the same for the past month. While it was November Eighth to Sophie, it was October Ninth to the people within the town. The phenomenon could have been caused by an innocence, so Allen and Sophie were being sent to investigate. Lenalee Lee was to be their guide. All would be routine, easy-peasy.
Then why did Sophronia feel so uneasy?
It wasn't as though she hadn't been in combat before. She fought akuma all the time without getting hurt- often.
But she felt as though something would happen on this trip.
Something life-changing and earth-shattering.
Little did Sophronia know she was right- her world would never be the same again.
And neither would poor Allen Walker's.
Sophie pushed down the feelings in her heart, looking forward to the sky. She knew something would happen.
She would later wish that she had never gone on that mission, but it would also be her most treasured memory.
It was the trip on which she would meet her soulmate.
(Time skip brought to you by the authors inner Llama)
"I know you have it, girl! Tell us all about the innocence!" A voice hissed.
"I don't know what you're talking about! Please don't hurt me!" A woman sobbed in reply.
Sophie and Allen, lurking in the shadows, gave each other a nod.
Sophie dove out feet first, her skate-blades slicing neatly through the akuma's skin before Allen attacked with his left hand.
The terrified woman came to her senses then broke and ran away.
"I did it! I finally escaped "today"!"
Sophie froze, looking back at Allen as he dispatched the akuma and freed its trapped soul.
"Did you hear that? That woman knows about whats going on! We have to find her!"
"We need to report back to Lenalee first." He said with a sigh.
Sophie relaxed slightly, smiling sheepishly. "Right."
They got back to the inn they were staying at and told Lenalee the news.
"Well, its too late now." Lenalee had told them."But we'll start looking for her tomorrow. If she knows something about the town where time stays the same its time we see what she knows- before the akuma do."
The next day came quickly, and they were unsurprised to see it was still October Ninth. Sophie set out to look for the woman immediately, showing fliers around. "Would you please tell me who this woman is? She's a long-lost relative of mine and I would like to see her again."
Finally one of the children told her.
"Oh, thats Bad Luck-Miranda!"
Sophie blinked, looking down at the child.
"What a perfectly awful name to call a lady!"
The child bristled, staring at her.
"Well, its true! Miranda has the worst luck in town. She gets fired anywhere she tries for a job, guys won't look at her, she's a loser and a clutz- and she'll pass her bad luck onto you if you get too close."
Then he pulled a face and ran away.
Sophronia repeated this new information back to Allen.
Hopefully their luck would be good and they would find this woman before the akuma did.
At dinnertime the three exorcists were chattering together calmly, their heads bowed as they ate in the diner.
Allen's fork clattered to the ground on accident before a gloomy, dismal voice spoke up.
"You dropped your fork, Allen."
The woman picked it up and gave it to him and there she was- bad luck Miranda!