I've just discovered another fic, really awesome named 'I Dreamn In Blood' and I couldn't help but realize how alike Aryane and the other main character were. I seriously apologize for that, I didn't copy or anything -I found it two days ago- and I don't want anyone misunderstanding the situation, seeing as that amazing author post her story before I posted mine.
Just saying.
Answer: Well, depends on who reads, really. And who leaves reviews. And who actually cares about this story. There aren't a lot, apparently.
But Hell. Enjoy!
"I can't believe I hadn't thought of that before" I shook my head.
"You know who we're going too?" asked Lenalee, curious.
"It's Allen who presented us, actually" I smiled a little. "You remember that time around two years ago? When I kept going on mission without a break?"
"It was the first time you lost so much of your team" she remembered, frowning a little. "You didn't talk, simply taking mission after mission. You had us really worried"
"Yeah, that" I darkened a little at the memory. "I crossed paths with Allen again around that time, and was injured. Him and Cross brought me to Mother so that she could treat me and she's the one who knocked some sense into me"
"Literally" Allen piped in. "There's still a dent in the wall, if I remember correctly"
Lenalee paled a little at that, making me laugh.
"She's an amazing woman, though. Gives really good advices" I assured, massaging my jaw at the memory. "And right hooks too"
As we walked down the hill, a black carriage made it's way through the cemetery.
"Akumas!" exclaimed Allen, his eye activated.
The woman changed at that time and, suddenly, a lot more surrounded us.
"Innocence: Activate!" we yelled in one voice. "Destroy them. I'll protect the civilians!"
"Roger that!"
We split, and I went as fast as I could before grabbing a man and dropping him a few meters away, behind the trees.
"Go back to the village" I ordered at the frightened guy.
"T-thank you!"
"Just doing my job" I waved it off, running back in the field.
As the Akumas kept shooting, Allen and Lenalee trying to get it to back away from the villagers, I made sure they could escape through the forest. There was a sudden explosion, signaling the end of the madness, and I deactivated Angel before joining the others.
"That was weird" I remarked.
"Yeah" nodded Allen. "We'll have to ask Mother about that. I hope they weren't after her!"
"Why would they be?" frowned Jumper.
"Mother is a friend of the Order" he answered.
"Let's get going, then. I'm sure she's fine, and all this fighting got me hungry" I beamed at them.
"You didn't fight" Lenalee deadpanned.
"Details. Now, let's go!"
They rolled their eyes, but followed anyway.
"Allen-kun! Ary-chan!"
"Barba!" exclaimed Allen.
I jumped in the man's arms and hugged as hard as I could, making him laugh and swing me around.
"It's been a while!" I grinned.
"Yes, yes, it is! You came to see Mother? Come on, she'll be so glad to see you two! Oh, and a friend?"
"That's Lenalee" presented Allen. "It's good to see you too, Barba"
"Let's go inside!"
So we did. We entered the little church and came into the kitchen, where Mother was sitting at the table. Unable to stop myself, I stepped in first.
"Oi, still haven't kicked the bucket, hold hag?" I exclaimed.
"YOU WANNA DIE, BRAT?"
"BRING IT ON, HAG!"
We wrestled a little, and I wondered once again how a bag of bones like her could be so strong. After a minute, I hugged her, laughing and a little out of breath.
"It's good to see you"
"Missed you too" she patted my head. "Oh? Is that Allen-kun?"
"Hello, Mother" he greeted more formally. "And this is Lenalee, by the way"
"Pleasure to meet you. Please, take a seat"
Barba went back to his garden, leaving us with Mother, and she took a smoke.
"I see you're wearing a coat of the Order now" remarked Mother to Allen.
"I joined half a year ago" he answered.
That made my eyebrow rise.
"Uh? Six months already?" I asked at Lenalee.
"You never did kept up with the time" she smiled a little.
"I see, so my bean sprout is finally growing up, and the brat hasn't changed…" Mother smiled too.
"Eh? Bean sprout?" blinked Allen.
"Stop calling me a brat, hag" I called.
"Stop calling me a hag, brat" she retorted, taking another smoke.
"It's not just Kanda though" laughed Lenalee. "Everyone is calling you bean sprout, Allen"
"Because he is" I smirked.
"I'm still taller!"
"TAKE THAT BACK!"
"Allen-kun, Ary-chan! I made lots of stew for you and your friend!" called Barba, entering the room.
"Bless your soul" I inhaled the cauldron he placed on the table.
My blissful sigh made them laugh once again as I quickly served everyone.
"General Yeegar?"
"Yes, and in order to protect the remaining Marshalls, we were divided into different groups to fetch them and bring them back to Headquarters" answered Lenalee.
"We're after Master right now, but we don't really know where he went" added Allen.
"We thought you might had an idea about his current location" I concluded, finishing my seventh bowl of stew.
"And why would I know that?" Mother retorted, lifting an eyebrow.
"Eh? Well, you were Master's sponsor so…" trailed off the whitehead.
"I don't give a crap about a man who leaves naught but debt in his wake" Mother sneered, lifting her chin.
"I think I lost my appetite" winced Allen.
"Me too" I pushed away the now empty bowl.
"That's okay, you ate plenty!" smiled Barba.
"Ma'am, on our way here, we encountered a bunch of Akumas" suddenly said Lenalee. "We thought that they came for you but…"
"There was no demon around" Mother shook her head.
"Then why are there so many in town?" I frowned.
"Have you heard anything about Innocence or an unusual phenomena?"
"Not at all" Mother took a smoke. "What I do know, though, is that the number of Akumas around increased over the last six months"
I exchanged a worried look with the others at that.
"Something is going on" pursued Mother. "Somewhere in this town, there's…"
She paused, looking outside, then turned to us.
"Would you mind moving to the other room for a moment?" she asked.
At the same time, someone knocked at the door.
"A guest?" asked Lenalee.
"At this hour?" added Allen.
I sighed. Things were just getting more and more weird around here.
I thought about what happened sooner, playing with my necklace. Sooner that day, we had seen the hospital, which was a new thing. And then, we hear about it again when the woman came in crying about the love of her life dying there.
Lenalee had remarked that such grief would interest the Earl, which made my mind swirl. The hospital was the easiest place to gain souls, the number of Akumas in the area increasing in the past six months, said hospital appearing around the same time… and seriously, what doctor would push his nurse into an impossible love knowing the man would die anyway?
Something weird was going on there. Really weird. And, what better way to find out what than investigating from the inside?
It was decided: tomorrow, I'd get a one way trip to the suspicious hospital and hope not to die once there.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Lenalee as we walked down the street.
"One hundred sure" I assured. "Plus, I'll heal quickly anyway, so no real danger"
"But even then…" she trailed off.
"Jumper, something's off about this hospital. Plus, you saw it sooner, didn't you? The nurse turned into an Akuma, just after her husband died! It can't be mere coincidence"
The second day was slowly ending, and the morning had been… eventful. The cobbler who had greeted us on the first day had an accident and died in the hospital, where his wife later turned into a demon.
"Don't injure yourself too much" sighed Allen, giving up.
"Hey, I'm not a masochist either, Kiddo" I frowned.
"Kind of hard to believe…" muttered Lenalee.
I swatted her arm, before grinning at them, walking away.
"Don't sorry too much, or you'll get wrinkles before a-"
My voice caught in my throat as pain flared in my back as I was sent rolling on the pavement. Screams echoed all around and I smiled one last time at my friends.
Nope. Absolutely not a masochist.
When I woke up, I was in an hospital bed. The doctor next me beamed at me.
"You had luck, young lady! Being run over by a cart like that and walk away without even a broken bone… you truly have amazing recovering abilities!"
"Ah ah, yeah, I've always healed fast…" I chuckled, rubbing the back of my head as I sat up. "Where am I?"
"The hospital" he hummed. "Your friends brought you here before leaving"
"How long was I out for?" I frowned a little.
"Merely an hour, which is simply astounding, by the way, and…"
As he chatted aimlessly, I looked down at my body. The scratches were already healed, and my back was simply sore from the hit. Another hour at most and I'd be fit as a fiddle again.
"Anyway, take this. It'll help numbing the pain" the doctor handed me a glass.
Without really thinking, I drank it all, and coughed at the bitter taste.
"The nastier the better they say, uh?" he kept on smiling.
"If it's true, then I'm probably immortal by now" I choked, giving back the glass.
"Rest well for today, and I'll send some more painkillers later" he answered, before walking out.
"Thank you!"
He closed the door behind him, and I stretched.
Suddenly, my heart started beating faster and bile rose in my throat. Next thing I knew, I was throwing up all the contents of my stomach in the bucket next to my bed. It took me a few minutes before finally managing to stop and breath again.
"What… the hell…" I coughed.
I threw up a few more times, before finally being sure that I was definitely cleared.
"That was weird" I scrunched my nose at the nasty smell. "The last time I reacted like that was when I ingested wolf's bane… by… accident…"
My eyes narrowed slightly, and despite my disgust, I sniffed the contents of the bucket.
Again, I felt sick, but not for the same reason.
Why the hell was there poison in the bucket?
I passed the next hour finishing healing my wounds while thinking about it. Because of Angel, I always healed faster, but it also meant that I was unaffected by poisons, seeing as my body kept rejecting it before it could take effect.
That meant that there was poison in the 'painkillers' the doctor gave me, and he knew it. It was then easy to understand that I most certainly wasn't the first to be subjected to this infamy, and the only explanation I could find for this behavior was that he was a Braker.
I had to warn the others, and fast. As I put on my clothes, the door swung open, revealing Lenalee in a nurse uniform.
"Ary…"
"The doctor is a Braker" I cut, zipping my uniform. "He gives poison to the patients. It kills them slowly and gives enough time for a nurse to get attached, which love would then turn to grief, and therefore easy souls for the Earl"
She paled at that.
"He poisoned you?"
"Angel protected me" I assured. "I'm fine, don't worry, but we have to find him now"
"Get back here, impostor!" exclaimed a voice in the hall.
"Any chance he isn't after you?" I asked as we ran in the hallway.
"Kind of a long story" she cringed. "Do you know where he went?"
"I guess he'd be with Riza right now, but I don't know where" I shook my head.
We took a turn, nearly running into Allen.
"Kiddo, where's Riza?" I asked urgently.
"W-with the doctor, w-"
"The doctor's a Broker, lead the way!" ordered Lenalee.
Snapping back from his surprise, he ran ahead, leading us to an empty hallway and before a locked door. The voices of the young woman and the Broker could be heard on the other side.
"Riza-san!" called Allen, knocking. "Riza-san!"
Suddenly, Akumas appeared at each end of the hallway. Activating my Innocence, I used my blades to destroy two of them. Using Dark Boots, Lenalee destroyed three of them before sending the last one through the wall. Piercing through it with his arm, Allen destroyed it, revealing a cowering doctor on the floor, and unconscious Riza not a meter away.
"W-who are you?" he asked.
"We are Exorcists. We destroy Akumas to save their souls, and are enemies of the Earl" announced Allen.
"We destroyed all the Akumas in the vicinity" added Lenalee.
"Your business ends here, Broker" I sneered, clenching my fist.
Before we could do anything else, though, he pulled a gun at us, making us froze.
"Why did you do it?" asked however Allen. "You're human too, aren't you? So why?"
"Why? Making an hospital that big isn't cheap, kid!"
He opened a safe, pulling out money.
"I made this town a better place-"
"Shut up!"
"Holy shit!"
I jumped away a bit when Mother appeared by my side.
"Mother?"
Ignoring us, she walked straight to the Braker… and punched him.
Hard.
I wince, but didn't feel any sympathy for the guy. He deserved it.
"We were worried about you" said Barba, arriving behind us. "So I had Mother come on out. She's so strong! I knew she could deal with whatever came up"
"She's stronger than she was three years ago" sweatdropped Allen.
"No kidding" I gulped.
"She got him with a single blow" said Lenalee, slightly in awe.
"It's still not enough" replied Mother. "He has to pay for all his sins. We have to show him what a huge mistake he made"
She then turned to us, rather serious.
"You three would do well to remember that the Earl does not only create Akumas, but also preys on men's greed and weakness to turn them to his side"
"Right" we said in one voice.
Barba lifted a still knocked out Riza.
"It is a tough fight, but you also have to remember those like Riza, who stay strong through even the greatest pain" she added.
"Quite deep words for an old hag" I smirked slightly.
For only answer, she hit me roughly on the head with her cane.
"Brat"
I sipped on my hot chocolate as Mother finished cooking her stew.
"You didn't went to the cemetery" she remarked casually. "I would have thought you'd go with the others"
"I don't like cemeteries" I shrugged, fingering my necklace. "Too much people are so easily forgotten… not all of them get a grave"
She smiled a little, sitting in front of me.
"You really haven't changed" she said, shaking her head.
"What do you mean?"
"You still play with your necklace whenever you feel sad, annoyed or anxious" she simply answered.
I blinked, and realized that she was right.
"It comforts me" I finally admitted. "That way, I still have a part of my father with me, you know?"
"The silver button above the heart, isn't it?" she pursued.
I hummed, my thumb mindlessly retracing the letters forming his name on the back.
"He was a great man" I said quietly.
"I don't doubt it" she assured. "What about the…"
The door then opened, letting enter Allen, Barba and Lenalee.
"Riza-san seems fine, now" the white haired boy said, sitting down. "She's stronger than she looks"
"Barba said you had a letter for me, right?" asked Lenalee, sitting next to me.
"Oh, right. Give me a moment"
Mother went into the next room, before coming back and handing her said letter. Lenalee quickly read over it's contents.
"It's from nii-san" she said. "He… wants me to go back to Headquarters. Seems suspicious" she drawled.
"Did he say anything about us?" I asked, curious.
"Do you think we should head back together?" asked my friends.
"But we still need to find Master" Allen pointed out.
"These are for you, by the way" Mother piped in and placed a pile of letters in his hands.
"All these… for me?" he blinked.
He read a few, frowning more each time.
"They're all from Master!"
"If you follow his paper trail, you should be able to find him, right?" smiled Mother.
"It's better than run around like headless chickens" I shrugged, stretching a little. "Seeing as Komui didn't mention us, Allen and I will keep up the search for the womanizer. You go back and see what he wants, okay?"
"It's better be important" she sighed.
"Do you mind if we pass the night?" asked Allen to Mother.
"Of course not. You better be gone when the sun rises, though. I ain't keeping you for dinner!"
"Cheap old hag" I grumbled.
She hit me with her cane again, making the others laugh.
So, Aryane is kind of like a little spitfire, and I try to make her different relationnships with all the characters as close to her personality as I can. Hope I'm doing a good job.
Question: I don't have any for now. Toddles!