*Sigh* Sorry, it's a little late. I got sidetracked, and this was surprisingly hard to write. So, here's the Allen, Neah, Mana, and Katerina thing!
Special thanks to Darke13, CloudCarnivore, jy24, ShyMaryButterfly, AmatsuKitsune for reviewing!
Title: Forever Walking
Author: thebizarrehairtrio
Summary: Immortality wasn't what he expected. The aging and de-aging randomly wasn't either, but he managed. It was how the world bloomed into being, descended from those wretched Noah, that surprised him. Humans really were foolish creatures. (An insight on who Past!Allen may have been.) (Some canon divergence.)
Rating: T
Category: Dark/Adventure
Pairings: None
Warnings: Scheming!Past!Allen, Feigning-Ignorance!Current!Allen, Immortal!Allen, Semi-AU.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, D. Gray-Man belongs to Hoshino Katsura. (But I am working on it.)
Why did the house have to be so damn far from the town?
He – Allen – had almost forgotten how isolated Katerina's mansion was. (And what was with all this wheat? She still hadn't come around to cutting it?)
He trudged up the hill, checking himself over again to make sure he was immersed in his role. Rags for clothes, check. Dirt and grime, check. Tangles and gnarls galore, check.
He liked being twelve. If he wasn't appearing as some street rat and had respectable clothes, women would be all over him, squealing about his cuteness and "innocent looks." (He could've laughed at that one. Innocent looks. Yeah, right.)
He reached the tree. Cornelia.
(His subconscious goes back – to Katerina and him as Andrew, chasing each other around, and then there's a curly haired stranger with a top hat and a cane –)
He ran his fingers over the bark, a smile tugging at his lips, filled with nostalgia. (Andrew was one of his favorite roles, so carefree and easy.)
"Hello, Cornelia," he whispered to the trunk. "I'm back. Do you recognize me?"
He laughed to himself, and continued on his way to the French double doors, catching glimpses of running figures through the many windows. He tugged on the chain of the bell, and waited.
The doors are opened by an old maid, with wrinkles and white hair but a kindly smile on her face. (He remembered this maid – Veronica. It's a miracle that she's still alive.) Two small faces with dark hair and dark eyes peeked out from behind her, only to disappear in a racket of scurrying feet once his gaze landed on them.
So those were the 'twins.'
"What business do you have at the Campbell mansion?" Veronica croaked out, squinting at him with cloudy blue eyes.
He slipped on the mask of 'Allen,' fidgeting under the scrutiny and working up the courage to reply. "My uncle sent me – his name is Andrew – and told me to ask for Katerina Eve Campbell."
The old maid raised a thin eyebrow, and looked him up and down, then smiled. "Andrew, you say? Caramel hair and too much energy?"
Allen nodded hesitantly. "Yes… He was like that, before."
She looked at him curiously, but shook her head and beckoned him forward with a bony hand. "Come in, come in. I believe the mistress would be very happy to meet you."
He shifted uncomfortably, clearly reluctant, but he relented, entering softly and slowly as if trying not to disturb or sully anything. Veronica led him to what was probably a sitting room, where a lady with dark brown hair sat in an armchair, a book in her lap and a kind expression on her face that, surprisingly, wasn't fake. The role of Andrew that still lingered in him nearly chuckled – it was strange to see Katerina older when it seemed like only yesterday she was just sixteen. (That was the downside of immortality – years for normal people feel like mere seconds to him.)
Katerina looked up, her expression turning a bit surprised when her light eyes landed on Allen. "Veronica, who is this?"
"Begging your pardon, missus, but," the old maid ushered him forward slightly to give her a better look at him, "this is Allen, and he says Andrew sent him."
"Andrew... sent him...?" Katerina's delicate eyebrows furrowed in confusion, only to raise i surprise as she figured it out. "Oh! So he's – oh!"
Allen squirmed, decidedly twitchy under Katerina's stare. He looked up from his shoes in surprise when she held out a hand to him, which he took after a few moments of subtly veiled suspicion.
"So your name is Allen?" she asked, seemingly a bit breathless and excited. "You're related to Andrew?"
He nodded. "M'uncle." He paused, then tacked on, "Ma'am."
She smiled warmly, so nice and bright that he averted his eyes, focusing his attention on her eyebrows instead of her blinding smile and nearly missing Veronica silently dismissing herself.
"How is Andrew doing? Was he unable to make the trip?" Her voice was tinged with a bit of concern.
Allen shoved his hands in his pockets to keep himself from twitching, staring down at the ground and not talking for several moments. "... He's okay now. He's got his own spot in the cemetery now."
Katerina blinked, then when his words registered, her eyes widened and became almost shiny as she covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh dear, not Andrew... You poor boy, I'm so sorry."
He shrugged, pointedly not looking at her or anything else except for the ground between his feet. "S'okay. It was a few months ago, and I didn't even know him long. But thanks anyways." He chanced a quick glance up at her, watching as she arranged her expression into a smile, most likely stowing away her grief for when she was alone.
She was a bit more subdued, her excitement bubbling down, but she kept up her warm smile which was dim enough to look right at without going blind. "What did he tell you, dear?"
He shuffled, trying to ignore the depressing atmosphere that draped itself over the room. (He could almost taste it – like soggy, bitter bread.) "Said all I needed to do was come to this place and ask for you. Said that you'd give me a job 'cause of a favor."
Her smile turned a bit sentimental, her eyes seeing something that was probably years ago. "Yes. He asked me to keep a servant position open for a relative of his that might come stumbling along." She turned her attention back to him. "Would you like to become one of the servants here?"
He regarded her with suspicious eyes, checking to see if she really was telling the truth. "Yes, please... Ma'am."
"That's good. In fact, I have two twin boys around your age and I'd really prefer if they had more interactions with those in their age group. Would you be alright with being their personal attendant?"
He let out a small hum of assent, a bit curious about her kids and hoping they weren't spoiled brats. She smiled, then called out, "Mana! Neah! There's someone I'd like you to meet!"
Pounding footsteps began above his head then became louder, and closer, until two blurs shot through the doorway, one throwing itself in Katerina's lap and the other hanging off the armrest of her chair.
"Mother!" the boy in her lap complained, with dark brown chin length hair in waves and similarly colored eyes. "Neah won't teach me piano, even though he promised!"
"I did no such thing!" protested the other, most likely Neah, with shorter dark brown unruly hair in spikes and matching eyes. "Mana's a liar!"
The wavy haired boy, probably Mana, turned to glare at him. "Am not! You said you'd teach me!"
"I didn't, liar!"
"I'm not a liar!"
"You are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Boys." Katerina reprimanded, and the two boys halted in their arguments with identical huffs, a final glare at one another, then a petulant folding of their arms. Allen looked at them, amused.
Katerina sighed a long suffering sigh, one she probably did quite a few times, and touched her forehead briefly. "I'd like you to meet Allen," she said, turning both her boys' attention to the auburn haired boy. "He's agreed to be your personal attendant."
Neah spoke first, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "But Mother, he's so dirty!" Allen bristled slightly.
"Plus," chimed in Mana, "we don't want him! He probably doesn't know anything!"
"Boys!" Katerina frowned. "That's rude! Not everyone lives in houses like we do. Allen, dear, I'm sorry if they've offended you, they don't know how to hold their tongues."
Allen fixed the twins, particularly Neah, with a cold look. "You've obviously been pampered and spoiled," he stated blandly. "You wouldn't last one second in the real world."
"Oh yeah?" Neah snapped, ignoring his mother's disapproving stare. "You're just some street rat, what do you know?"
"A hell of a lot more than you!" shot back Allen, ignoring Mana and Neah's gasps. "It's 'cause I'm a street rat that I know more than you! Tell me, have you ever seen a corpse before? A corpse with his head smashed in and his brains spilling out? 'Cause I have! The stuff I've seen would give you nightmares 'til you're fifty!"
Neah and Mana both stared at him, stunned and faces pale, and he leaned back, triumphant. There was silence, until Katerina broke it.
"Boys, apologize to Allen."
They complied mechanically, muttering their apologies, still in a bit of a shock. Once they were done, Katerina gave them a look, and they scurried out of the rooms in a flash.
She turned her attention back to him. "Allen, I'd like you to know that I'd really rather not have any cursing in this house," she scolded lightly.
He nodded. "Yes, ma'am, I won't do it again."
She smiled, satified. "Now then! Are you hungry? Do you need anything? I'll have Veronica show you to your quarters right away if you want some time alone."
"M'alright. Not hungry. Can I just..." he hesitated, fidgeting again.
"Yes?"
He fiddled with his fingers. "Can I... Can I have a bath?"
She smiled at him. "Of course, dear. The boys have some clothes that might fit you, so you can wear those until we can get you a proper uniform, alright?"
He bobbed his head. "Yes, ma'am! Thank you so much."
"Oh, don't thank me, dear. Thank you."
"Why's Mother so fixed on you?" A sour voice asked, and Allen looked up from his place on the bed in his new quarters, fingers halting in their fiddling with his shirt buttons. He saw Neah and Mana, both leaning on opposite sides of the doorframe with equal intent looks.
He raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Do you really want to know?"
"Obviously!" cried Mana. "It's just so weird, I can't figure it out!"
He sighed. "Well, apparently, my uncle was very good friends with her, and asked her a favor before he left. He requested a position at her house as a servant for his relative, which is me. Plus, my uncle died, so that must have something to do with it." He shrugged again. "But hey, I don't exactly know why, either. Maybe it's something else."
The twins were quiet for a moment. Then, Mana spoke up, voice a bit hesitant.
"Where did you live before this?"
"Why do you want to know?" He countered.
"Because we haven't gotten to go out at all!" replied Neah, frustrated. "Katerina says we're not old enough!"
He stifled a snort. "Well, I kind of lived on the streets, actually. Until five months ago, when my uncle found me. But even then, we just kept hopping from town to town, staying in ratty inns. So I don't think anything I tell you would be interesting."
"Y-You... You lived on the streets?" whispered Mana, fidgeting.
"Yeah." His lips twisted into a bitter smirk. "It's not that big of a deal."
"You didn't have a bed or anything?"
He laughed mirthlessly. "Of course not! I slept outside, on the ground, most of the times in dinky alleyways. Out in the open wasn't safe. I'd be lucky if I found something to cover myself."
"But why didn't anyone help you?"
His smile dropped, and he narrowed his eyes at the twins. "Don't you know?" he asked coldly. "The world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. People don't give a damn about other people, 'specially if they're some dirty street rat."
They gasped again. "You swore!" yelped Neah.
"So?" He snapped.
"Swearing's bad!" chirped Mana. "Mother says not to!"
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her, you wankers. Jesus, you're so sheltered, it makes me sick."
"What's a wanker?"
"A dumbass."
"You swore again! Imma tell Mother!"
"Don't you dare!"
(Maybe... I'll like it here.)
Alright, I know, you're going to be mad with Mana and Neah's characterization and the twins and 'Allen's' first meeting. But hey, I have a reason for this.
Basically, Katerina is being so nice to Allen that it makes Mana and Neah jealous. (They seem like the territorial types.) And they're rich, alright? They're taught to keep clean and take baths, and if they don't, they get punished. And here walks in Allen, in his raggedy, grimy glory, and Katerina does nothing. I mean, come on. Allen's enroaching on their territory. This is their house, and they don't want another kid here, especially if Katerina likes him. (I don't know, I swear, this made a lot more sense in my head.)
But don't worry! Mana and Allen will warm up to each other and become the best of friends. Neah and Allen will fight a lot and scream at each, but they're still friends, too. (I personally cannot wait until the Noah Awakening, because that's when shit kicks off.)