Hello again!

Sorry it took me so long to get this one posted. For some reason, two-thirds of what I had written wound up getting deleted, which was really upsetting. So I procrastinated on fixing it because I struggled to write it the first time, so I didn't feel like writing it the second time. Yep. Sorry.

As always, D. Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino.

The song, "The Bell," belongs to First Aid Kit.

I highly recommend listening to First Aid Kit, by the way. Try their songs "Wolf "or "Silver Lining."

The Bell
"Been out here for so long
The road it just stretches on
Till I stop pretending
Till I stop pretending

But the world is an empty frame
And now you are just a name
I'll keep it that way
It's staying that way"
-First Aid Kit

A fresh blanket of snow had fallen over the dense forest, muffling all noise.

Except, it seemed, the shrill sound of a gyrfalcon at play.

"Pax!" Charlotte protested when said bird knocked a clump of snow from a branch and directly onto her head. She shook her head to rid herself of the snow. Suddenly she was grateful for the hood that she'd drawn up over her head.

Taryn snickered at her sister.

Elan looked back at them. "There's a river coming up, and the Finders reported that the bridge is out," he said. "Probably the akuma."

"Couldn't we just walk across?" Charlotte asked. "It's got to be frozen."

Elan laughed, "If you want to go swimming," he said. "But you'll be better off if you just let me carry you."

"Carry us?" Taryn chirped.

"Yup," Elan answered. "It's too early in the year for the ice to support our weight. You'll fall through."

"So how's carrying us gonna help?" Charlotte said.

"Because I can swim it," he told her cheerfully.

"Swim it?" Charlotte made a face. "But it's freezing!"

"Yes, it is," the Irish exorcist agreed. "Your sister and you could never handle it, but it won't bother me much."

Pax leaped onto another branch, knocking more snow loose and directly onto Elan's head.

Elan huffed before he shook his head like a dog, ridding himself of the snow. Then he looked up at Pax. "Oi, oi," he said. "What was that for?"

The bird peered down at him, giving a short, delighted screech.

"Sorry," Taryn squeaked. "He loves snow. He doesn't get to see it very often."

Elan glanced at her, flashing his teeth in a broad grin. "It's no problem," he laughed. "He just surprised me!"

A moment later, another clump of snow landed on the Irish teen's head.

Pax screeched victoriously.

"Aw, now that's just rude," Elan declared as he shook snow from his head. He looked up at Pax again. "You're a rude little bird, huh?"

Pax bobbed his head and leaped onto another branch, knocking more snow down.

Elan suddenly stopped walking and raised his head slightly, blinking owlishly.

The twins took a few more steps before they stopped and turned to look back at him.

"We're almost there," Elan said. "I can hear water."

Pax stilled for a moment before he flew down to land beside Taryn, flapping his wings wildly. 'Mother!' he called.

Taryn looked up at the bird. "Yeah, Pax?" she asked, drawing the other two's full attention.

Elan and Charlotte both peered at the white gyr, watching closely as he shook snow from his wings.

'I can fly ahead,' Pax proposed as he stared up at Taryn. 'I'll find out how much the river has frozen.'

"That's actually a really good idea," Taryn said. She looked back at her sister and her new comrade. "He says he can go look at the river."

Elan cocked his head slightly. "Isn't there a… range to your bond or something?" he asked. "The river might be too far ahead just yet."

"It's… about two miles," Taryn said.

Charlotte nudged her sister with her elbow before Elan could respond. "Kilometers," she urged. "Remember, Master said use kilometers." Then she looked up at Elan. "His range is a little over three kilometers."

Elan glanced at Pax again. "Not bad," he said. "I guess it might be a good idea, then, if he won't be too far away."

Taryn grinned and turned, nodding at Pax eagerly. "Okay!" she told him.

Pax took off with a rush of wings. A moment later, he was disappearing amid the trees.

"No reason to stop moving, though," Elan huffed, his breath misting in front of him before he set off again. He cast a quick look back at the twins as they hurried to keep up with his pace. He hesitated for a moment, faltering, and then started to laugh, startling the sisters.

"What?" Charlotte demanded.

"You're so slow," Elan snickered. He crouched slightly. "C'mon, I'll carry you. We'll move a lot faster."

"Carry us?" Taryn said. "How?"

Elan grinned. "My Innocence," he said.

The twins exchanged a bewildered look before looking back at him, just in time to see his body contort in an alarming way.

Suddenly it made sense why his exorcist uniform was too big. It wasn't a fluke; it was designed to accommodate for his Innocence.

The Irish teen was essentially a werewolf. When he invoked his Innocence, his body grew, filling out the uniform quite well. His legs contorted, knees bending forward like the haunches of a wolf and his face elongated, stretching into a snout as dark, red-brown fur covered his face. He even wound up with a bushy tail.

What might've frightened most people actually looked more ridiculous to the twins. His fur—was it fur or hair?—stuck out at all angles, giving him an unruly appearance, his tongue lolling out to one side, and his pointed ears pricked forward.

Elan put his hands down in the snow and then stretched, shaking himself out like a dog. His elongated, furred face turned toward them. "You're not scared?" he questioned.

Taryn grinned broadly. "That's so neat!" she exclaimed.

His ears flicked back. "That's not how most people react," he said.

"It's Innocence," Charlotte pointed out. "Innocence does strange things. A werewolf isn't that weird, right?"

Elan's new tail waved, smacking the small pine next to him and shaking snow loose. With a faint rustle, he was suddenly covered in snow, drawing a startled yelp from the exorcist, who bolted forward and lost his footing. Moments later, Elan scrabbled for a grip on the cold earth, but he slid right off the other side of the path and into a snowbank.

The twins watched, wide-eyed, before they both erupted with laughter.

Elan's wolven head popped up from the snow, his red-brown fur standing out against the white. "You think that's funny, do you?" he barked.

For a moment the twins were silent. Then their laughter doubled.

'Mother!' Pax's voice suddenly flowed through Taryn's mind.

Taryn fell silent and lifted her head, alert.

Charlotte quieted, too. She watched her sister curiously as Elan pulled himself from the snowbank.

Elan shook himself like a dog, scattering frigid clumps of snow. Then he rose up onto his feet, hunching forward with his arms hanging limp as he turned to watch the young falconer curiously.

Pax hesitated before he went on quickly, 'The river isn't frozen yet, but there's a narrow part Elan might be able to jump.'

Taryn frowned slightly. "Pax says the river's not frozen yet," she said. Then she looked at Elan. "But you might be able to jump at one part."

Elan's ears twitched. "Maybe," he said. "We'll have to see. Is Pax coming back? He can lead us that point. Then I'll figure out if I can jump it or not."

Taryn tilted her head. "Maybe," she answered as she tried to reach across her link with her Innocence. Like so many times before, she tried forming a coherent sentence for the bird, but it didn't work.

Pax seemed to get the message, though. 'I'll be right there, Mother,' he agreed.

Taryn grinned. "He's on his way," she told Elan.

Elan nodded, sinking onto all fours again. "Well, hop on," he instructed the twins.

They just stared at him. "Huh?"

"We'll move faster," the Irish exorcist snorted. "C'mon, get on."

"Is that safe?" Charlotte chirped.

Elan shot a withering look at the sisters. He stretched his neck out, caught the sleeve of Taryn's jacket, and yanked her towards himself, knocking her off her feet and slinging her across his back. Before Charlotte or Taryn could react, he'd done the same to Charlotte. Before they recovered, he bolted, howling with laughter while the twins shouted in alarm.

"This is crazy!" Taryn wailed, clinging to the fabric of his coat.

"Maybe, but it's fun, right?" Elan whooped. "How many people get to say they've ridden a werewolf?"

After a moment, Taryn finally started to laugh along with the older exorcist.

"You're both insane!" Charlotte shrieked.

"Aw, c'mon!" Elan answered. "Live a little!"

The archer just squeezed her eyes shut.

A loud screech cut through the air as Pax suddenly ducked beneath the branches and flew towards them. Almost as soon as he reached them, he turned in the opposite direction.

"Pax!" Taryn called.

'This way!' Pax responded.

"Follow him!" Taryn told Elan

Elan's ears flicked forward as he raised his amber eyes to follow the white bird, laughing as he kicked up snow in his wake, leaving strange prints in the snow.

'There was a Finder waiting on the other side, too,' Pax suddenly told Taryn.

Taryn blinked in surprise before relaying the message to her sister and new comrade.

"Guess they're eager to get this over with," Elan mused. "Don't blame them. It's cold here. Winter's coming early this year."

"It is?" Charlotte asked as she struggled to get more comfortable while the wolfman ran.

Elan snorted. "Yeah," he said. "Not my first mission this far north. Even this late in autumn, it's still early for snow. We'll have lots of missions around in the north for the next few months, I guess."

"Will we?"

"Pretty damn sure. Winter brings death. Death means akuma. Akuma means more death. That's the cycle." His ears flattened. "And that means more work for us."

Taryn furrowed her brow. "But there's a lot of death already," she said.

"Some of it's because of the Earl," Elan told her. "He likes death. So he likes war, and sickness, and homelessness. Because they all mean more death and more akuma."

"But we can't stop all of those things!" Taryn exclaimed, wide-eyed as she suddenly realized how hopeless their situation was.

Elan's ears pricked again before swiveling back. "We're supposed to stop the Earl."

"But if we're supposed to stop the akuma, shouldn't we stop those things?"

"We're supposed to stop the Earl. That's our priority." Elan glanced back before his gaze returned to Pax.

The trees began to thin, and then abruptly ended.

Elan slowed to a halt, kicking up more snow, and then casted quick glances in either direction, following the bend of the river, which was, as Pax had promised, only partially frozen and flowed very quickly. His ears swiveled constantly. Then he looked straight ahead, at the remains of the bridge.

The bridge had been made of stone, but the center had been completely destroyed. Here and there, through the fresh snow, scorch marks could be seen along the jagged cracks of what remained. There were a few meters still jutting out over the river on either side, but a wide gap between them.

On the opposite bank, a Finder stood alone, dressed warmly. He raised a gloved hand, waving to catch their attention.

Taryn looked at Pax, who was now perching on the railing. "Pax, where's—"

Elan didn't wait, suddenly plowing forward as the twins both screamed out in fright.

Surely he didn't intend to jump the remains of the bridge.

Just their luck.

That was exactly what he meant to do.

Elan howled with glee as he pushed himself off, his powerful legs propelling him forward while the girls' shrieking doubled. For only a moment they were airborne. Then all three were sent tumbling roughly across what remained of the bridge on the opposite bank, each of them rolling across the frigid, icy stone.

Elan looked exhilarated as he scrambled to his feet, which slid on the ice so much that he was forced to sink onto all fours again, his clawed fingers searching for a place to grip the stone.

The twins weren't so lucky and had to mind their steps the entire way down to more stable ground.

The Finder greeted them as soon as they reached him, introducing himself as Stefano in an Italian accent.

"Out of your element, huh?" Elan teased the Finder as he finally deactivated his Innocence.

Stefano didn't really respond but to give Elan a dry, disinterested look.

As Pax joined them, landing on Taryn's gauntlet, the Finder frowned. "We managed to learn some information about the Innocence earlier," he announced.

"Man, you're all business," Elan mused as he brushed snow from his hair. He peered at the Finder, who, to his own credit, actually didn't flinch under the werewolf-esque teen's intense scrutiny.

Stefano went on, "The bones probably belonged to a man named Lars, who went missing back in the summer."

Elan cast a glance at the girls before refocusing on Stefano. "The bones are making music, right?"

"They are."

Elan looked at the twins again. "What do you think?"

"Us?" Taryn answered, wide-eyed.

"You're going to be leading missions one day, too," Elan said. "Gotta learn to think for yourselves sometime."

Charlotte furrowed her brow. "Maybe that Lars person liked music?" she suggested.

Elan nodded. "Good possibility," he said.

"Unlikely," Stefano interrupted.

The exorcists looked at him.

"From what we know of the man, music was not one of his interests. In fact, he never showed any interest in it."

Taryn made a face. "What bones did you find?"

"What does that matter?" Stefano questioned.

Taryn shrugged. "Well, if his bones are making music, maybe his skull will sing?" she offered. "And he'll tell us what he wants us to know?"

Stefano and Elan both stopped to stare at the girl in surprise.

"What?" Taryn said.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Elan told her, showing his fangs in a broad grin.

Charlotte nudged her sister with a grin.

Stefano frowned. "We'll begin a search for the skull at once. In the meantime, there's are akuma in town. One of them is responsible for the destruction of the bridge. You'll want to take care of a few of them, I'm sure."

"Why destroy the bridge?" Charlotte snorted.

"Because it isolated the town, right?" Elan offered.

Stefano gave a curt nod. "The town may be fairly large, but one of the only ways to reach it is by crossing the river. If anyone wants to cross the river, they'll have to go out of their way to do so." He frowned. "And in winter, going out of your way to do anything is risky. No one will want to take that chance unless they absolutely must."

"Mmh. Exactly. Waste of energy." Elan clicked his tongue. "Any idea who the akuma might be?"

Stefano eyed Elan blankly. "The entire town," he said. "There was an outbreak of sickness in May. While it's subsided, everyone in town lost someone."

"Great. So we're walking into a wasp nest." Elan's mouth pulled down into a frown. "And beating it with a stick, too. I'd bet Heilig even knew that when he decided to send you two." He glanced at the twins with barely-masked concern.

Stefano didn't try to refute him. He just glanced at the twins blankly before looking ahead. "Lars has a brother," he said. "He doesn't like others going near the bones."

"Any particular reason?"

"Nothing too apparent, but he barely even let one of us near them. You, on the other hand, may have better luck."

-X-

They did not.

In fact, they had worse luck.

They'd managed, at least, to get inside the building where the bones were being kept, to hear the strange melody that floated through the air around them.

They had even managed to get pretty close to the bones.

But then a huge man—Taryn was convinced he was a bear with a man's face—had entered, as well.

Said man, Erik, had taken one look at the exorcists before promptly beginning to curse their names and chase them away with threats of violence.

As they trudged through the snow with Erik's angry shouts following them, the twins exchanged bewildered looks, but Elan just wore a thoughtful expression as he lead them to the small inn where they were to stay during this mission.

When he was certain they were out of earshot of the infuriated Norwegian, Elan turned his wolven eyes on the sisters. "Did you see the marks on the bones?" he asked.

"Marks on the bones?" Charlotte responded. "We didn't get that close."

Elan's frown deepened. "If that really is Lars, I think he was murdered," he said.

Taryn regarded the Irish werewolf with shock. "Murdered?"

Elan narrowed his eyes minutely. "You're both hunters, right?" he said.

Charlotte shrugged. "Sure. Papa taught us a lot before we even went out hunting. Said he wanted us to know all about it before we even started."

"So you should both know what kind of marks a knife will leave on a bone," Elan pointed out.

As Taryn raised her arm to Pax, who was gliding overhead, her brow furrowed. "Yeah. They leave little nicks and scratches on the bone," she offered as her gyrfalcon came in for a landing. "Why?"

Elan nodded. He looked back at the building they had just fled. "There were nicks from a knife on some of the ribs," he said. "Those marks shouldn't be on any human bone. There's no natural reason for it. That man was murdered."

Eeeh, what a terrible chapter, yuck. But if I'm honest, I like the second version more than I liked the first one, so at least you're getting better quality for all my efforts.

On another note: these A/Ns are getting kind of long, so I'm going to make a genuine effort to make them shorter.

No new Innocence to introduce, but you finally got to see what Elan's Devilsbane is.

I wanted an intimidating character who was actually pretty much a puppy. Then I thought to myself, "What if he's a literal puppy?" So Elan wound up a werewolf.

Taryn and Charlotte think he looks more goofy than anything, but A) they're children (children are too innocent to see danger where they should), B) they've been taught that Innocence can do strange things, so if it's Innocence, no matter how scary it is, it's still an ally, and C) they've never seen Elan in a combat situation. Everyone else is terrified of him; even Charlotte is a little off-put by his looks.

Bri: Haha, right. That's for sure! ...Bri, how do you think Neah and Mana are going to react to the big, fuzzy, terrifying goofball that is Elan? And I do not care! I will invade your lawn! Anything is better than my home right now, eeeeh.

kalmaegi: It does indeed! Aaah, I'm so glad! that's actually how I try to name my characters, so you can get a loose sense of their personalities; when I was naming Heilig, I looked up old-fashioned Austrian names and Bri said that Wilmot Heilig sounded a bit like a jerkface name. Otherwise he would've been Otto. But Elan sounded like a friendly name to me, so it suits him. As for Cross, yep, he's called Judgment. Wait till you see his dynamic with Charlotte. So much sass. Just. So much.
I'll keep that one in mind. so far, it's either going to wind up Kaiser or Kreuzritter (Crusader), since both work pretty well for Conrad's personality.