{A/N: Revised version(yes, again. I'm inconsistent). I felt like this was needed. Not only because the pacing was wack but because I thought I could do better for the AU I love and for such a wonderful and accepting community. The -Man community is such a wonderful group that has made this AU what it is. Thank you! I will be taking the time to focus solely on Wonderful Days so to refresh myself and get back to a better place.}
Neah speaks in-Bold
Crown Clown is- Bold and Italic
thoughts are-Italic
Red stares at the grave.
Mana, the crazy old clown of Garvey circus, had a dog named Allen. The nameless girl liked the dog. It was the first time she felt the warmth of another living being. At least, as far as she was aware, her memory got spotty at a certain point.
Red looks at the clown, then back at the pile of dirt with a little ball on it. Mana is standing in front of the dog-sized grave. As she stepped closer to the clown, she saw he hadn't shed a singular tear. She felt... Angry. Or maybe just frustrated. It started with a simple question and escalated from there.
It ended up with her being dragged into a performance with Mana and coming to a close with them watching the sunset. He had called Red 'Little Pierrot'.
The girl had very blurred memories of what came after. But soon after, she was taken in by Mana and given the name of Allen. Just like the dog. She didn't mind it. She treasured the name.
Three years. That had been all the time she had with Mana. It had been an accident with a carriage.
It was supposed to be her. It was supposed to be Allen laying in Mana's place. But Mana had shoved her out of the way before it collided with her. So he took the hit in her place.
Allen kept trying to keep him from closing his eyes. She shook him and called to him. Yet nothing worked.
Allen never leaves Mana's grave. Purely out of misery, partly due to being too shocked.
That's when Allen met him-when this strange man with a goofy grin promised to bring Mana back to her.
So how could Allen refuse? She needed Mana. She couldn't keep going without him. She couldn't keep walking like Mana had told her to do. She's lost without the one figure in her life who mattered. That made her feel warm and desired.
"I can bring him back to you~." The stranger states.
"Lier. You can't. Not in the way that my sweet little niece needs." A voice sneers softly.
"I may need to step in without permission..." Another utters in a whisper.
"For once, I agree with you, damned innocence." The first states, the tone playful, not even close to selling the annoyance he was trying to portray.
Both of them seem only audible to Allen. But yet, she ignores them in favor of listening to the stranger. Although she was more than eager to have Mana back, She also wanted to know the stranger making the offer.
"W-who are you? And can you really bring him back?" Allen asks softly.
There was a moment of silence as the stranger stared at the child. It was as if he was trying to figure something out or formulate a proper response.
When he finally replies, it's careful and calculated, leaving out his name, "Of course, I can. All I need from you is to call his name."
"Please, don't listen. That bastard can't-"
"Is that... really possible...?" Allen asks, her voice small and trembling.
The Earl watches the child with curious golden eyes. He had a feeling this child was important but hadn't the slightest idea as to why. It was simply perplexing. But dwelling on it and scouring his mind for a reason would only waste precious time.
"But of course, I can!" He spoke with confidence and finality.
He skipped and twirled, holding his hands out to show off the metal skeleton. Allen watches with a deadpan look. Seeing a scowling child with tears still pouring from dull silver eyes was comical in an ironic way.
To Allen, it was so familiar with something from her past, back in the circus. A crazy clown, a dead dog, and a crying child. It was funny. In an ironic, She brushes the memory away.
"Then... Why ask me for help? What can I do?" Allen asks accusatorily.
"I can't call them back. I only provide the body and tools to secure it." The grinning man responds, not minding the question.
Allen remains silent as she thinks. And she's immediately assaulted by a voice.
"My sweet little niece, I know you want-no, need Mana, but this isn't how to do it."
"Then how else can I get him back!? I'm lost without Mana... I don't know if I can..." Allen counters. "But you're just a dumb voice. So just shut up."
"..."
"There seems to be no convincing our dear one to change her mind..."
"Damn it! I don't want this for Allen! I care about her more than my own life and existence."
"I understand, but that will not change her mind."
Allen finally decides on her response, looking up at the large, grinning man before approaching the skeleton slowly. Allen holds her mitted left hand as she peers up at the metallic structure before her.
It takes her several seconds to steady herself, "Mana!"
In an instance, the child is blinded by a flash of light.
Allen looks as she hears Mana's voice and smiles brightly, her grey eyes becoming glittering silver from the joy she felt.
"A-Allen...?" The freshly revived Mana asks.
"Mana! You're back! We can go back to-" She was interupted by the Akuma.
"You turned me into an Akuma!" It was an accusation full of mixed disbelief and sadness. He was commanded by the large man to kill Allen, to wear her skin as his own.
Allen stares up at the skeletal figure as her stomach and heart drop. It approaches Allen slowly, its handless arms sharp and glinting in the faint moonlight.
"Mana?" Allen utters softly, silver eyes hardening into steel from fear.
"You should have just kept walking... You should have kept on living." Instead of pure anger like the child expected, Mana's voice was full of sadness.
"I couldn't-I didn't know if I could-" Allen trips over her words, backing up as her tiny body trembles.
With a shouted curse, one of the bladed arms raised high, "I curse you! I curse you, Allen!"
The bladed arm comes down, leaving a cut across the child's left eye. She cries out in pain as she tumbles back, landing on the ground. She stares up as he curses her, his arms raised to strike a final blow. Allen watches with fear as it all happens.
Before Allen could fully register it, her left arm, which she thought was only deformed, came to life. It moved on its own, its very form changing into that of a large clawed hand, silver as a knife.
It knocked the skeleton away. Allen could barely sit up and cry out to Mana before her arm began dragging her petite body to the downed skeleton.
The whole while, the grinning stranger watches with interest. He doesn't leave, however, as something told him to stay. He gave it thought, trying to figure out what he should do.
Allen stares at the spot where her father, Mana, had uttered his last words to the child he had nurtured for three years. She felt tears fall from her eyes alongside the blood that poured from her wound. She didn't wail or scream, just silently staring at the ground.
Allen looks up towards the sky, the tears on her left side mixing with blood and further coloring her pale skin and tinting her new white hair red. The large man wanders closer to the child, noting the tilt of the tiny body. He places two gentle hands on her back and head, keeping her from toppling over.
"Poor little one..." The grinning man sighs in a hushed tone.
"I made Mana sad... Didn't I?" The man could barely hear her.
He looks at the girl and sighs, unable to fabricate a decent response, "I cannot say for certain, little one, but I can give you a new home."
The girl looks at him with big, silver pools. It was as if Allen was asking if it was true. Finally, the man picks her up from the ground. The child rests in the man's arms, him cradling her gently and protecting her from physical and mental harm.
"Let us leave this sad place and return home." The grinning man states. He steps into a glass-like door that allows him to disappear without any hint that he'd been there besides the blood that colored the snowy ground before a lone grave.
"...You never told me your name," Allen asks softly after the man exits to the other side through a door.
It takes seconds for her attention to be turned to the enormous white city. The stranger looks down at the wounded child.
"You can call me Millenium Earl. Or anything else you choose." The Earl states cheerily.
Allen looks around with awe and curiosity. She was only a touch worried. She always is as a direct result of growing up as she had. The Earl walks about while he hums softly. The child sits up and looks around, her chin resting on the Earl's shoulder.
The grinning man adjusts Allen so she can be more comfortable. It felt so familiar, like she was back in Mana's arms after getting too tired to keep walking. The Earl pets the child's hair, marveling at its length. He instantly knew Road would enjoy playing with the child's long white locks. But first, he'd have to clean her up.
He takes her to a room near his own and sets her on the chair. He commands a few of the Akuma maids to fetch any necessities before cleaning up the child's face and hair the best he can. Allen didn't fight as reality began to settle in. She had gone still as stone under the Earl's hands.
That man grows concerned by the child's sudden stillness and looks at her with worry. Then, finally, he raises her head, and the sight that greets him breaks his heart. It wasn't something he could understand. But her eye had grown dull and vacant. The Earl could only chalk it up to shock. He takes care of her eye before she suddenly screams in pain.
The Earl, startled by the sudden sound, stood there confused and hurt. Allen's hands fly to her face, but the Earl stops her, holding her hands gently. The screaming had attracted the attention of several of the current family. Road comes to the Earl's side and is shocked to see a human child with brilliant white hair struggling and screaming, obviously in pain.
"What's going on?" Road asks softly.
"The poor thing... I couldn't help but keep her. I felt I needed to. So least those nasty exorcists get a hold of her." The Earl says softly.
It's then that Road notices the red left hand and a dormant piece of innocence that is firmly attached to the girl. She now understood his reasoning. So Road offers to help in any way she can.