{ { SONG OF THE FOURTEENTH } }

NOTE : This is a rewrite of my original SOTF fanfiction, which I have removed from this website. Bla, bla, blah.

DISCLAIMER : I do not own DGM or any characters, plot-lines, sayings, etc, that are in DGM. Thing not mentioned in DGM, however, are copyright to me, unless posted otherwise. Chapter quotes that are completely uncredited are my own.

FEATURE : Thank you to Yuki Tyche Fia, I've got Rhythm in my Soul, XxAvengingAngelxX, rainbowdragongirl101, Lacie Caluanthes, espeonlover, and BooDude for adding this FanFiction to their alerts and/or favourites!


(|Recap|)

- they were gone!

Sky blue eyes searched frantically around the dining room, and Kira spun around twice, cloak whirling, before her eyes landed on her grandfather. A triumphant grin stretched across his old face as he bit into a muffin.

Kira stared, trying to piece together the events that had just transpired. Finally, after giving up on explaining how her grandfather had moved so impossibly fast, her second defeat sank in, and the young girl trudged over to plop in the chair nearest Grampy.

"You had better share those," she muttered.

"Maybe, if you say the magic word."


[ Chapter 4 ]

Whispers of a Lullaby

"Surely, music is the language of the soul."


It had been three days since the strangers had inelegantly collapsed on Grampy's doorstep, therein barging into the small Malcolm household's lives. At first, it had been rather hard for Kira to get used to so much company. For one, the young girl wasn't familiar with guests, let alone interacting with them. For another, she had to constantly wear her cloak, too nervous about what might happen if her skin disease was revealed. The teenager wanted to be known by who she was, not what she looked like or her ailments. Thankfully, the oldest of the guests, Link, had not commented on it; and neither had Lavi after regaining consciousness.

Almost immediately, if their first conversation revealed anything, Kira had been able to define the re-awakened Lavi; an eighteen year old, red-headed jokester . . . with an eye patch. Speaking of that eyepatch, Kira still didn't quite know the rhyme or reason for it (or how it came to be, more specifically; clearly he'd injured and, or lost his right eye)[1]. This was because during the red-head's bandaging on that first night, Link had verbally decided it was best to keep the piece of covering on; his reasoning being that Lavi had never shown anyone his right eye, and therefore they shouldn't invade his privacy. Kira, naturally being overly curious and a tad hypocritical to her own secrecies, had taken a while to get over the fact that she wouldn't get to see the hidden part of the jokester's face.

Lavi himself, however, had not even bothered trying to hide his curiosity towards her hidden self. He was constantly trying to get a look at Kira from beneath the sanctuary of her black cloak, joking and teasing all the while. This wasn't too bad a development though, as Kira's little cat was at her rescue. Chikita had been keeping a close watch on the flirtatious (teasingly so, mind you) red-head; and so far, Kira's appearance remained a mystery to their guests. Consequently, Chikita's protection also resulted in a kind of . . . "friendly" rivalry between feline and man. In fact, Lavi had started calling cute, little Chikita a "little devil." The cat herself, meanwhile, was only too happy to pounce on him or give him a nip on the ankle (she usually took pleasure in stealing his recently recovered headband).

Speaking of Chikita's endeavors, the little cat's habit of theft revealed quite a few odd items from their guests. Just recently, the feline had been chewing on something akin to a toy - a small, black mechanical object. It had thin, bat-like wings and appeared to have an eye of sorts, which consisted of a white circle in the middle of it's rain-drop shaped body and thin black circles that surrounded a solid black circle in the center. It also made odd noises when pestered, almost as if it were alive.

Kira had never seen such a thing before and immediately confiscated it from her kitty's furry clutches, much to Chikita's disapproval. In contrast, Lavi had been quite happy to find it in Kira's possession, since apparently it was his. Upon her inquiries, the red-head revealed a fairly vague answer; the mechanical creature was called a "golem" and acted as a communication device. Before Kira could question as to whom exactly they were "communicating" with, Lavi had diverted her attention with a particularly funny quirk about Link; the blonde man was sensitive about his height[2].

At that point, Kira had huffed and insisted that the man was in no way vertically challenged. Lavi countered that she was defending her own height, to which she promptly responded to by sic-ing Chikita on him.

Needless to say, Link and Lavi were settling fast into her daily life.

But Allen, the third of their party, was a different story. Unlike Lavi, the cursed boy still hadn't woken up; and he was starting to look scarily thin, the bandages around his torso not even able to hide the poke of ribs appearing beneath his muscle and skin. It was odd, as Kira had never seen anyone deteriorate so quickly from lack of food (she managed to get him some soup every once in a while, but it was in small portions, since she feared drowning or choking him). If he didn't wake up soon, the cloaked girl feared he may starve to death. Therefore, she had made it her duty (as his caretaker) to stick by him as often as she could, even going so far as to finish her chores quickly so she could check on him.

And at this particular time, she was doing just that. Kira sat next to her unconscious patient, gently combing the knots from his snowy hair. Her actions weren't necessarily for his health, but more that she felt the need to do so (who likes to wake up with knotted hair?). She'd done just the same for Lavi in the short time he'd been unconscious, though she would never tell the eighteen year old she had.

She still had a sense of pride, after all. Plus, the cloaked girl knew she'd never hear the end of it if Lavi found out.

In fact, Kira could already imagine the jokes and teasing she would go through.

"Stupid Lavi," she muttered with a pout, moving to take on the task of cleaning up her room, Grampy's attic.


"A-ACHOO!"

Grampy Malcolm looked up idly from his newspaper. A certain red-headed guest of his was recovering his chair's balance, holding his nose in response to his rather loud sneeze.

"Gud välsigne dig[3]," offered the elder, more out of habit.

"Tack![4]" responded Lavi cheerfully. "Though my position on gods, or your God, could be akin to an agnostic[5]," he added thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair again.

Grampy snorted. "Regardless of your position on religion, I will respond accordingly in the care my own Faith preaches. Whether you accept, refuse, or be offended is entirely up to you."

Lavi laughed heartily. "How could I refuse an offer of blessing? It's nice of ya, either way. Shows you care about little ole me! Hey, you know why people say 'bless you' in response to someone sneezing?"

Grampy finished sipping his tea before replying, "When you sneeze, your heart stops beating, no?"

The red-head grinned. It appeared, from what Grampy had determined so far, that the young man enjoyed conversing in such ways, especially with a person with his knowledge. The boy, Lavi, was bright himself. Brighter than average, if not brighter than above average, what with his extensive knowledge of history, small facts, and language. It reminded the old man of a friend of the past, almost like de ja vu. If his suspicions were correct, he knew he'd have to keep his steps light and his tongue quick around this child. It was bad enough that those he accompanied were none other than their people.

"That's true!" chirped Lavi in response to Grampy's assertion. "Though, people didn't know that when they first adopted the response to bless those who sneezed. In fact-"

The elder man's attention was diverted temporarily as a small, black shadow caught the corner of his eye. As Lavi continued talking, the patriarch turned his gaze half-mindedly to his farmhouse's front door. Sure enough, he found the cat flap was slowing down from a sudden entrance. Instinctively, Grampy Malcolm edged his plate of biscuits closer to himself, knowing full well that Chikita was always hungry after returning from her rounds. The fact that the small creature hadn't announced her presence was enough of a signal that she was plotting something - whether it be to nab a snack or annoy his chattery, red-headed guest. While the latter was more likely, the elder knew not to place a bet on it.

He liked Howard's cooking too much. And he knew Chikita did as well.

"Did you know that a popular wive's tale has gone around, insinuating that when you sneeze, it's because someone is talking about you?" offered Lavi, beginning to fiddle with his eating utensils.

Eyeing the spinning, pointy fork in the boy's hand, Grampy arched a white brow, attention returned. "Are you suggesting someone was doing just that?" he asked, referring to Lavi's earlier sneeze.

"Mah~ Well, I'm an interesting person, Gramps," clucked the red-head, grinning as cockily as ever. "It's no wonder people like to talk about me!"

Grampy observed the boy for a moment. He was quite amusing, and therein, Grampy felt it was only appropriate that he join in on this useless, but entertaining, banter. As his red-headed guest began to take a sip from his tea cup, Grampy put forth a comment of his own.

"I'm sure your eye-patch, glaringly red and obnoxiously styled hair, and eccentric behavior are heavy contributors to your conclusion."

Lavi choked on his tea.

And, predictably enough, Chikita chose that moment to make her move.


Kira exhaled, wiping imaginary sweat from her brow. She had finally finished repacking and "reorganizing" the storage boxes in the attic, pushing them back into the corner as neatly as possible (which was a challenge in itself). If they hadn't fallen out during the storm or been rummaged through for extra supplies for their guests, she would've never found out that her grandfather seemed to have collected a ridiculous amount of bedding supplies, clothes, and miscellaneous items. It was almost as if he'd planned to open up a huge store, or something. She'd have to inquire about it later.

The young teenager stretched idly, free of her cloak for now (the door was locked so no one could barge in), before turning back to the sleeping boy on her floor. He looked so peaceful . . .

Link once again crossed Kira's thoughts. While she appreciated that he kept to himself in regards to her business, he seemed to do the opposite with the unconscious boy. Every time the blonde man entered the attic, his red, calculating gaze locked right on Allen, without fail. It wasn't a look of worry, either. It was piercing, as if trying to deduce whether something dangerous was about to leap forth from his companion.

It unnerved Kira to no end. Was he not a friend of Allen's? Weren't friends supposed to trust each other? Link didn't appear to trust Allen, that's for sure.

Maybe it was the curse mark that unnerved him?

Kira sighed. All of these thoughts were nothing more than assumptions. She had no knowledge of her guests' situations, and therefore couldn't make a solid conclusion no matter how hard she tried. It didn't help that Link was tight-lipped and Lavi was always vague . . .

Maybe she was worrying too much about it. It wasn't like they would be here long - in fact, they'd probably leave once Allen was well.

For some reason, that thought hurt. Kira frowned, holding a hand to her chest. She didn't recognize this feeling. Had she gotten so attached to these strangers in such a short amount of time? Was it because she'd nursed them back to health? Or was it because these strangers, who had been so kind to her, made her think of them as family? Lavi could certainly be a teasing big brother; Link, that sort of uncle; maybe Allen could be a sibling too, or a cousin . . .

Kira snorted, half amused, half saddened. What silly thoughts. She had no idea what brothers or uncles were like.

She didn't even remember what it was like having a father.

The young girl sighed, sending a glance back to her sleeping patient.

His hair was out of place again.

With a little huff, Kira returned to his side with a brush in hand. Who knew white hair could be so rebellious? But then, it was cut in a rather uncommon fashion. Longer at the top to frame his face and shorter in the very back. The bangs constantly seemed to get in his eyes, and Kira didn't want him to wake up with hair in his eyes.

As she pushed the unruly locks back, the teenager suddenly remembered her mother doing just the same with her hair.

Kira stared at Allen's sleeping face for a moment.

Huh, so that's what being a mother felt like. Having to fret over her children and tame their stupidly unruly hair.

Just as that comparison crossed her mind, Kira face-palmed.

You're fourteen, Kira, get a hold of yourself! the young girl thought sternly, shaking her head. Not only are you too young to have these thoughts, but they're older than you! If anything, you're the kid in this situation!

Lavi's shriek made her jump.

"KYAAAAA! YOU DEMON CAT!"

Kira couldn't stop herself from snickering. It sounded as if Chikita was having a little fun with Lavi again. A couple more shouts and crashes were heard before the noise inevitably died down, following by the grumpy noise of her grandfather. The young girl didn't have to hear any more to know Grampy was whacking Lavi over the head with his cane and telling him to "shut the hell up!"

Smiling now, Kira turned back to her sleeping charge. There wasn't much left for her to do, really. His hair was tamed again, he'd been cleaned up that morning, and his bedding had been changed. The young girl hummed softly to herself as she pondered over what she might do next.

It was then that her sky blue eyes drifted to Allen's scar. It was hard to miss, and often distracted her when she became bored. Perhaps it was because she didn't entirely understand how exactly he had been cursed, or how it worked as a curse. Was it just a mar on his looks? Or could it have a supernatural ability like in those books on witchcraft she'd happened across once? Maybe it sealed a demon inside of him like on those horror stories?

In the midst of her thinking, Kira once again reached out to examine the ragged marking. However, her touch, just like before, inspired nothing from the curious scar. A little disappointed, Kira sighed.

Well, it was getting rather dark outside. Maybe she'd just go to sleep now . . .

Then the boy . . . fell deep asleep . . .

Kira nearly yelped in surprise, visibly startled as she jumped up and looked around the attic frantically.

No one was in her room except Allen and her, so who was singing just now? That voice, she had heard it but for just a moment . . . Perhaps she had imagined it? That seemed the most logical conclusion, anyway.

Heart fluttering, Kira slowly calmed herself. After a moment, she sat back down and looked back to Allen.

. . . was it just her, or was his curse mark more distinct? Actually, the scarred tissue looked rather agitated now. Hesitantly, Kira once again touched the red marking, feeling to see to what extent the skin was bothered -

. . . one or two ambers in the fading ashes of the fire . . .

. . . flared up in the shape of a beloved face . . .

Kira's eyes widened and she froze. That song - it wasn't coming from somewhere in her room. It was in her head! The softest whisper of a lullaby - a female voice -

. . . dreaming many thousands of dreams

spreading across the land.

Your silver gray eyes shine their light . . .

Her body was beginning to relax as the quiet notes of the lullaby soothed her. Something about this tune . . .

. . . like stars falling down from the night sky.

Hundreds of millions of months and years . . .

No matter how many prayers are returned to the Earth . . .

I shall continue to -

WHAM!

Kira yelped as something slammed into her, the beautiful lullaby abruptly silencing. The brunette landed flat on her back, hard enough to yank the air from her lungs. Gasping, the teenager quickly scrambled up, only to find her lovable, little Chikita looking - well - not so lovable. The small feline's black fur was bristling, her amber eyes wide and glaring as she growled warningly at Allen's still form. It was almost as if she expected the unconscious boy to attack at any moment - Kira feared the little cat might lunge out - claws were unsheathed -

Chikita stopped.

Kira watched dumbly as the little cat's ears swiveled around searchingly, her long black tail twitching as if confused. Finally, Chikita turned and looked up at Kira, blinking once.

Well, that was weird, concluded the dark-skinned teen blandly. But then again, hearing voices singing in your head isn't normal either.

The young girl was much too tired to think any further on the phenomenon. As it was, the time was way past her usual bed time, and her eyes were getting heavy. For all she knew, this could all be one of her silly dreams.

Decision made, Kira checked that the door to the attic was indeed locked, determining some privacy for herself. Lavi had taken Link's place sleeping on the couch down in the living room (something about Link losing a bet), hence why Kira was able to safely have cloak-free time in her room. She stripped of her clothes and changed into her pink and gray cotton pajamas before settling herself comfortably under the quilt of her bed. The brunette gave one last tired look at Allen, half-heartedly wondering if there was a way to feed him more effectively whilst he was unconscious, before sleep's heavy grasp finally claimed her.


She slept fitfully that night - more fitfully than usual. Swaths of shadows moved at the edge of her vision, but whenever Kira looked, they'd disappear, darting farther back or dissipating like fog. Screams echoed in her ears, and blood filled her vision, only to change back to thick darkness before replaying again and again. It was confusing and disorienting; it caused her heart to flutter wildly and her blood to rush in her veins. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and released her repressed terror with a scream.

Something muffled her cry, and Kira jerked forward as whatever it was smothered her face. Immediately, the weight was removed, and the panting girl looked around herself wildly, clutching at her blanket with an iron grip. Sweat beaded her forehead, and she was gasping as if she'd run miles without stopping. It wasn't a nice feeling, to put it simply.

Finally, however, she found what had woken her.

Chikita was scrambling back into balance in her lap, having unceremoniously fallen from her perch on Kira's chest when the girl had bolted up. The cat gave an upset mewl when her human picked her up, but calmed when she was re-situated in the young girl's arms. Big amber eyes glanced up into dazed blue, and Kira sighed softly, her heart finally beginning to calm.

And then she was spitting out fur.

Kira scowled, putting her hand over her mouth as she removed the annoying and clingy black hairs.

"Couldn't you have done something other than smothering me?" she brunette complained to her cat, pouting now.

Chikita simply meowed, a glint of mirth in her amber eyes.

As the fogged panic in her mind finally dissipated and she began to process things again, Kira realized that the sun was up. Streams of light peaked through the old curtains covering her windows, bathing her room in warm tones and revealing floating dust drifting lazily through the air. The calming sound of birdsong also tickled her ears.

Kira yawned widely, stretching as she blinked the sleep from her eyes. Chikita gave a little mewl of protest at the movement, but jumped off Kira and her bed nonetheless. As the young girl followed her cat to the floor, she watched sleepily as the small, black feline trotted over to Allen, who was sleeping soundly a little off from her bed. Humming softly as she noted that her patient still hadn't woken up, Kira moved to her dresser and pulled out some clothes. Ignoring the untouched dresses in her bottom drawer, she picked out some overalls and a dress shirt - much more efficient for moving around in and less likely to get caught on something . . .

The young teen shook her head, determined to squash the rising memory from the back of her mind. This morning was promising to be bright and enjoyable (ignoring her nightmares, anyway), and she didn't want it ruined by her less-than-pleasant memories!

Good thoughts, Kira! she chanted in her head as she buttoned up her shirt. Your day is as positive as you make it!

Kira moved out from behind her dressing area and looked at herself in the mirror for a moment, giving a half-hearted turn. The black splotches on her face and hands glared at her, and the small girl frowned. Thoughts of attempting make-up prodded at her mind, but she pushed them away with a sigh. Not only would make-up be expensive and superfluous, but the townspeople would recognize her as the diseased child either way due to her noticeable features - dark skin, dark hair, and bright blue eyes.

Mumbling unhappily, Kira reached out for her long black cloak, only to pause before her fingers met it.

"OH MY GOD, IT'S THE GRIM REAPER!"

She hung her head with an exasperated sigh.

Never again would Kira look at this cloak the same way ever again. The Grim Reaper? Did she really look like that? How... how... she didn't even know how to feel about it.

"Stupid Lavi," she muttered, half depressed, half amused, once again reaching out for her haven from prying eyes. However, the moment her hand touched the black cloth, a yell of surprise blared into her ears.

Kira jumped, startled, and whirled around to see a darting black shape jet under her bed - Chikita? The uncloaked teenage girl looked down from whenst Chikita had fled, only to feel her heart skip a beat.

Allen had finally woken up.


[ SOTF BLOOPER 4 ]

In the midst of her thinking, Kira once again reached out to examine the curse marking.

I'm gonna pop some tags

Only got twenty dollars in my pocket

I - I - I'm -

Kira yelped, jumping back. A song in her head? What? She stared at the motionless form of Allen, aghast. She had touched his scar - and - and -

Recovering herself, Kira reached out warily to confirm her ridiculous suspicions, once again making contact with the boy's marred forehead.

I'ma take your grandpa's style, I'ma take your grandpa's style,

No for real - ask your grandpa - can I have his hand-me-downs? (Thank you)

Her face took on a "WTF" expression as the odd-ass song continued.

"The hell?"

Meanwhile, somewhere deep, deep, deeeep in the very back recesses of Allen's mind, a certain Noah was having a little too much fun.

( I can't get Thrift Shop by Macklemore out of my heeead D: ).


[1] Lavi's eyepatch is, believe it or not, a topic of controversy. When Gray Ark (DGM fanbook) came out, its first translations stated that Lavi lost his eye from a stray bullet at age seven. However, the most recent translations merely state that he was hit be a bullet and nearly died - no mention of his eye. Furthermore, in the Reverse Novel: The 49th Name, Lavi states that he doesn't wear the eyepatch because of any injury. As if to torture us even more, in the manga during the Ark Arc where Lavi is finding the key Jasdevi hid, he mentions how searching for the key will be slower since he's not using his right eye. Hoshino, you troll.

[2] When Link was first introduced, he was stunned that the exorcists were relatively disrespectful towards him, most notably Lavi, who nicknamed him "Two-Spots." In trying to understand why they acted as such towards him, he concluded that it must be his height! xD (DGM Manga: Chapter 138, Page 5).

[3] "Gud välsigne dig" is Swedish for "Bless you." (Specifically, "God bless you").

[4] "Tack" is Swedish for "Thank you."

[5] This isn't canonical fact! It's supposition on my part. We've seen Lavi give the proper "blessings" towards the dead before (when he was in the graveyard of Krory's castle - DGM Manga: Chapter 34, Page 6), but other than that, well, Hoshino hasn't revealed much. If she has, feel free to correct me with the reference to what manga page or fanbook it's in! Otherwise, with his prayer at the graveyard in mind, I went with the safer route - "agnostic." Considering he's a Bookman, I figured he wouldn't really be too concerned with religion anyway, aside from recording it.

*side note: A linguistically reliable friend of mine, Rana, translated the Fourteenth's song directly from the Japanese and to English. I personally find that it makes more sense than the other translations, and therefore I used her translation (with a tweak or two of the older versions, specifically adjective-wise). You can find her version on deviantART - her username is Rananieida! Interesting how it mentions "one or two ambers," no? Makes me think of the Noah's golden eyes . . .


A/N : Yola! I've gotten positive feedback on the omakes and bloopers (wewt!), and I was also wondering, are ya'll finding the reference information useful? The bracket numbers? It does take a big chunk of the story sometimes, but I figured it'd provide some fun facts and/or stem off some questions. Thoughts, please?

A special thank you to those who have been reviewing! And those of you who plan to - I look forward to it!

Yuki Tyche Fia - S-someone recommended my fanfiction? ;A; Amg that just totally makes my day lmao! I'm flattered! -rollsaroundhappily- SOTF will hook into the main plotline for the manga, but it'll be a while before it does. For instance, in the first version of SOTF, I was at chapter 60, and still hadn't quite hooked it in yet (of course, there's a shiz ton of references and jokes to earlier happenings, but still). Since DGM is a monthly manga and currently undergoing a lot of plot twists (as well as hiatuses), it's going to be quite a challenge, haha. Until then, I'm going to be feeding off of areas of the manga that could've been expanded (for instance, I was working on a large omake where the exorcists and Kira go on a mission to the old Black Order building to recover some documents left there, and of course, Komui's experiments have, uh, been left there as well. Oops) as well as shooting in a little plotline myself. But yeah, I'm curious as to how I'm going to pull it off as well :'D (rambling Chi is rambling a;sldkjf) Thanks, and I'll look forward to your reading it! Thanks for the review~!

Tezzifrea - LOL, no worries on typos; it's my fault for updating at midnight 8'D I'm pleased that you're loving SOTF so far! Admittedly, I'm not a fan of the, uh, (how do I put this so as not to offend anyone amg) . . . Chi doesn't like reading about what dudes do in bed either -shot- But then, I'm not really a romance reader in the first place, so xD I'll refrain from going into a rant about poorly written fanfictions, but I totally relate! Unfinished fanfictions always hurt, especially if they've got an excellent plotline developing. It seems as if the fan character fanfictions get hit the hardest with this, which is unfortunate. If you're looking for any well-written fan character fanfictions though, I highly suggest Kuraun Kuraun's Living Animation fanfiction! It's another Allen x OC one, and it's absolutely fantastic, not to mention amusing! Aha, I remember the days when I updated thrice a week! Pfff, I'm happy my sense of humor isn't too corny xD (oh God, that's kinda punny -dyingfromcheesiness- ). It was embarrassing, I tell ya! xD I was in AP Euro class, looking up during the agricultural bit, and was like "Ah, shit D:" Anyway, thanks for the review(s)~! :D

Kaite1211 - I'm happy the descriptions are a kick! :D Thank you very much, and, as you can see, my update schedule will be quite frequent xD I guess I get more inspired to update early after I see ya'll's reviews! Anyway, thanks for the review~!

1storywriter - It's really gonna basically be the same as the original SOTF, just with more details and information; maybe another plot twist or more scenes too :) Haha, that's my favorite part! I could never leave the underground scene with those two out xD I'm actually really looking forward to uploading that bit! I definitely feel improved :D Everyone's kind comments and pointers on what I'm doing well definitely add to the uplifting feeling! Thanks, 1storywriter - and thanks for the review~!