So, I'm studying abroad for a few months. I'll make a conscious effort to keep on track (attempting one update per story a month. Does that sound fair to everyone?) but Imma mainly be spending my time in classes or, ya know, exploring Europe. Not that you guys aren't used to my lazy updating by now though...(Oh gosh, this was totally a mistake)
Heads up to Giggles for the idea for this chapter's progression, especially cause I got stuck on what Judgement's scene(s) should be.
Also, heads up to (December 23rd 2015) Guest, hachinonana, piggyninja, nyarth teh SHINY, 2lazyforaccount, ahtoodeetoosoo, q, and giggles for the suggestion. Ya'll dragged me down with you and now we got two snarky, sadistic, and way-too-all-knowing mentors teaming up against Allen. It's wonderful.
I don't own D. Gray Man or Katekyo Hitman Reborn
"Ciao, Marian Cross," Reborn greeted his new accomplice, giving the younger man a once-over under the cover of the lip of his hat. The man – barely, Reborn noticed. Older than Tsuna and Dino, but still younger than Reborn. He estimated twenty-two – raised an eyebrow, rather unimpressed for a mere scientist who previously knew only the surface level abilities of Innocence. His long red hair was pulled up in a professional, if messy, ponytail to keep the stray strands out of his way as he handled Reborn's shard. Decked in the typical white lab coat, his Accommodator did not give off an air of intimidation – more so of boredom.
It was perfect. Reborn preferred to start fresh, rather than have to break old habits.
Satisfied, he stepped forward, conjuring up a card to pass over. Marian raised a single eyebrow, his other covered by a half-mask. Reborn recognized the pull of scar tissue on his check and could guess what was hidden from sight.
"Judgement." Marian sighed, shrugging his shoulders as if the sudden change in his status at the Order was a coat he could discard. "That's how you want to play this game?"
Reborn smirked, slow and dark in a way that made his fellows question his presence at their side. "It's a little too black and white for me," he remarked, the shard in Marian's hand pulsing as the green energy tickled his fingers. "You have a grey heart that is hard to find in this so-called Holy War. They're all white as hemlock or dark as oil."
"Should I worry about Falling later down the road?" Marian pulled out a cigarette, the tension he tried so hard to hide from Reborn's observant eyes bleeding out of his body at the first puff of nicotine.
Reborn chuckled. "No, it'll be more interesting this way. Knocking myself from the entertainment for something as ridiculous as an unspecified verbal contract is unprofessional." And boring. He was dead, he had to get his laughs somehow without his students around flailing like – like Skull.
Marian narrowed his eyes, cruel intelligence burning under his placid smile. Oh, Reborn was going to like this kid. "I wasn't aware you have a choice in the matter."
"That rock," Reborn explained, pointing at the shard that called him into manifestation and tied him to the world, however temporarily. "Is a power source. We are the brain. Of course, just because we can control it, doesn't mean all of us know how to."
"And you do?" Marian couldn't hide his disbelief from Reborn. The hitman – or was it ex-hitman, now, he wondered – whacked the impertinent brat over the head.
"The difference, Marian," Reborn said, looking up so the brat caught his dead serious stare. "Is that I'm an adult. They are children."
"Is Voice of Magdalene…"
"No, she's an adult. One of the few I have seen – that doesn't mean she knows what she doing, Marian. I have seen the children react better than her."
"This isn't a war for children."
"Don't project your own past onto others – it's unbecoming of my Accommodator."
"Egomaniac."
"Idealistic brat. You better than anyone should know there is no difference between good and bad, not in a war."
Marian chanted the forbidden words, raising the decorated coffin with ill-hidden uneasy. The Accommodator and Innocence pair had gone over the spell with a fine-tuned comb, meticulously picking it apart until it was as close to faultless as the duo of perfectionists could humanly get.
Still, it might not be enough.
Reborn reclined in the high-back throne chair. By his calculations, the worst that could happen was nothing. Maria would simply be a corpse in a coffin and Marian would mourn.
At best, she would be awake and alive, waiting to return to her fellow Exorcist's side.
Reborn was not, however, an optimist. He left that to idiots, like Iemistu and Skull.
The coffin towered over his Accommodator and Marian hesitated. Reborn narrowed his eyes. Marian wasn't hesitant. Cautious, with due cause, but never hesitant. That was for those with weak wills, those that faltered in the face of death instead of rising up and shooting it down. There was no place for weak wills in this war – no place for weak wills at Reborn's side. Tsuna learned that quickly. Marian even quicker.
"Something is wrong," Marian said. He stared at the lid of the coffin as if held the answers to the universe.
"We knew the risks, Marian," Reborn reasoned. "If we fail, there is nothing we can do for her."
"It's not that, Judgement." Marian rested a hand on the lid, his thumb caressing the obsidian. Reborn waited for his Accommodator to explain, elaborate. The brat shook his head, stepping back. "Wake, Maria."
The coffin split in a cross.
Marian blocked Reborn's view, but they both heard the shuttered breath of the corpse. Reborn rose, jamming his hands into his pockets – what he wouldn't do to have the familiar weight of his gun or the easy companionship of Leon – and casually leaned against a far wall, prepared to intervene.
A hand, pale as snow and tinted an unhealthy blue, wrapped around the lip of the coffin and pulled the corpse out, into the light.
Marian stumbled forward, a fierce grin breaking through his strange uneasy. "Maria…"
The corpse's head was covered in a dark butterfly and dressed in a stunning black ball gown. The head swiveled lost and bewildered, an edge of hysteria bleeding through her movements.
Reborn frowned. Don't tell him – they revived the wrong girl, pulled someone into a rotting corpse and away from whatever Heaven this biased God offered his denizens?
"Marian, step back," Reborn ordered, stalking forward.
"Judgement," Marian snapped, twisting around to glare at his constant companion. "We did it. We revived Maria, why are you…"
The corpse whispered, too soft to make out words.
"Speak up," Reborn requested. He inched between cruel interrogation – who was this, if not Maria – and his soothing baritone– she was lost and confused and it was their fault. They needed to take responsibility.
"Judgement," the corpse said, the words croaked out of her abused throat. Still too soft, more a breath on the wind but Reborn recognized it. Recognized her. "Marian. What…have you done to me…"
"Voice of Magdalene," Reborn greeted.
They broke a taboo for love. For a second chance. Reborn worried if the hope – as it bled from Marian's face – was worth it.
Worth Voice of Magdalene as she screamed and sang and whispered her tears to world, chained for the second time.
"If I touch a candle, I feel no pain," Voice of Magdalene sang, running ruined fingers through the comatose child's white hair. She spent most of her time after Marian called her at the child's bedside, as if the presence of another being – dead or alive – would comfort the unaware boy. "If you cut me with a knife, it's still the same. And I know her heart is beating, and I know that I am dead."
"Yet the pain here that I feel, try and tell me it's not real," Reborn chorused with his fellow Innocence.
"For it seems I still have a tear to shed," Voice of Magdalene finished. She hesitated, tracing the boy's vibrant red scar.
His Innocence, a teenager with a wide smile and gleaming eyes, laughed, clapping his feet together. "Again, again!"
"That's the fifth time, brat," Reborn scoffed, whacking Crown Clown – what a ridiculous name, Reborn was tempted to ask the child's real name, the one he used while living. Voice of Magdalene refused to tell him hers, but this boy didn't appear to care either way. "We're not here to entertain you."
"But Allen likes to hear Maggy's singing!" Crown Clown whined, dropping his feet. He hunched over his butterfly-ed legs with a pout. Reborn narrowed his eyes.
"Voice of Magdalene," Reborn stressed. "Was called to watch over Allen as Marian attended to matters. Not to cater to the whims of a brat."
"It's no trouble, Judgement," Voice of Magdalene assured him, dropping a perpetually chilled hand on his arm. "I enjoy singing, especially for such an avid audience."
Lie; Reborn had enough decorum not to call her out on it.
Instead, with a sigh, Reborn bent into a bow, transitioning her hand from his arm up to his lips. "If that is what you wish, then I will not argue."
Voice of Magdalene smiled and, not for the first time, Reborn wanted to tear off the butterfly mask hiding her face from his scrutiny. He knew that her expressions were in her eyes, in the flutter of her lashes and the crease of her brows.
Her mouth showed her emotions well, too, but Reborn trained and mastered reading someone's every thought through their eyes.
It served him well in life.
"If I touch a burning candle, I feel no pain. In the ice or in the sun, it's all the same. Yet I feel my heart is aching though it does not beat, it's breaking. And the pain here that I feel, try and tell me it's not real. I know that I am dead, yet it seems that I still have tears to shed."
Now, he couldn't know if she truly was shedding tears – for her ever damned fate, for this boy with future just a cruel, or for the past she kept as hidden as her face.
"Marian," Reborn warned.
"Yeah, I noticed it too," Marian said. He swirled his tumbler of brandy, watching the reflection ripple. "I'm not incompetent."
"Arguable."
Marian sighed. He pulled out Judgement with his off-hand, eyeing the weapon as if seeing it for the first time. Reborn leaned against the side of high-back chair, staring down at his artificial form from the corner of his eye.
It figured, after being a hitman for the majority of his life, he was a gun. It defined him better than his costumes or his Flames ever could. He was a killer, with little remorse for those left in the aftermath.
"He has the Clown," Reborn said.
Marian huffed out a single laugh. "Am I that obvious?"
Reborn hummed, his eyes on the window but his attention a lifetime away. "All teachers worry about their problematic students."
"Why did Neah choose him, with all the scumbags in the world?" Marian slumped forward lightly, massaging the crease between his brow.
"We're missing some pieces," Reborn acknowledged. "But that's why you're continuing onward. Keep moving forward, isn't it?"
Marian scoffed, knocking back the rest of his brandy. "I think it pisses more off more, hearing it from you."
There was a knock at the door.
Reborn flexed his stiff fingers contemplatively. His entire false body felt as if it was fossilizing. Was this how Xanxus felt, facing Tsuna and Nono's Zero Point Breakthrough?
"Hey," Marian said, as if testing out the words. "Are you going to worry about me, old man?"
Reborn, his fingers frozen in a slight curl, whacked the brat. "No."
Marian chuckled, placed the tumbler carefully on the side table, and stood. Languidly, he strolled towards the door. "Are you that confident in my skills?"
"No," Reborn repeated, following only with his eyes. His feet were rooted to the ground and he could feel the tension sweeping up his body until every blink felt like a colossal effort. "I have faith in Voice of Magdalene's abilities. She's managed to pick up our slack all these years."
"She's going to have her work cut out for her without your interference," Marian agreed. He paused before the door as there was another knock. Reborn watched all tension bleed out of his form, a casual – careless – smile pasted on his face.
He wondered if Marian learned that from Allen, that effortless reversal. Before those two entered the scene, Marian was a straight-forward man.
What better way to hide a secret than to be completely honest about his emotions? No mystery, no need to look any deeper.
Settled and prepared, Marian opened the door.
"Marian." Poisonous red eyes, undeterred by simple glasses or the harmless façade, greeted. The smile was distant, polite – empty in a way Reborn recognized. This beast cared for none of them. Poison red eyes caught on his stilled form, a glint of amusement bleeding through. "Judgement."
"Was wondering when you were going to pop up, fucker."
Reborn didn't look away.
How do you Reborn. Send help. I have really no idea how to feel about this chapter, dammit.
(When its Reborn/Judgement's chapter and Crown Clown + Voice of Magdalene bust down the door with a bag of candy and no fucks.)
As Emily is possessing a body, humans can see and hear her and she can still communicate with other Innocence.
When you keep trying to make a timeline for Cross and his age is simply unknown. Boy, are you 30? 40? 50?
Spent twenty minutes looking for something other than wacky-waving-inflatable-tube men and Pokemon that Reborn could compare his flailing students to. Failed and just threw Skull under the bus.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time or capability to double check with the manga, but I recall Cross's monologue once questioning Neah's decision to choose Allen to revive in, as if he didn't know about Past!Allen – could be wrong, but I'm running with it for now.
Guest Reviews:
q - Haha, thank you! I gotta admit, it like Emily better too. It was really fun to write Aizen, but I feel like Maria deserves Emily's companionship instead of his manipulative bullshit. I'm glad he was in character for you though!
annoyingguest (1) - Haha, thank you! I'm glad I characterized him well and that you enjoyed it! Thank you the information too. It made some of the scenes in the chapter a little bit easier to work with - I always have trouble depicting characters like Cross. Like, how much do you know? How much do you not know? Does anything surprise you, ever? Unfortunately, these are short chapters focused more on the Innocence and the Accomodator, so I didn't include much of Cross and Allen's time together. I will be touching on those scenes during Extras however.
(2) Dammit, you're making me blush. - *flips table* Why did Juuzou never cross my mind. Oh my gosh, Juuzou. Touka. Both work so well. I'd just need to figure out when in Juuzou's timeline would be best - cause he really mellows out. So - maybe have him die during the Anteiku raid...hm.
piggyninja - I mean, someone might have said it in the past, but I always love to hear it~ Hun. Hun. I about cried when I saw you suggested Yubel. Cause they're one of my favorite characters and I am so happy to have a way to include them in this story - how did I not think of Alma and Yubel? Then again, Yubel would probably really pissy cause Judai's not there...*squints off to the side* Let's see, who would fit for Judai. Crown Clown or Iron Hammer would work... - Lelouch does work well for Timothy though! I can see them getting along relatively well. I mean, we all know Lelouch is pretty good with kids, but Timothy is definitely brattier compared to Nunnally. He would go along with the penance thing though. I've been fiddling with a Hellsing character for Bloody Krory for a while now. It's between Alucard, Abridged!Alucard, and Seras right now and I'm a bit stuck.
Giggles – Eh, my updating is highly inconsistent. Confirmed fact. (Oh, I like responding! No matter how long or how it creates a 'false length', I just addressed it at the beginning cause I've had people complain in my other stories.) Holy high-flying flip-flopping fuck. Hun, I would read the shit out of that if you wrote it (Do it, do it, do it). (I mean, I would still really love to write it to, but damn, it would be amazing to see where you went with it to, cause this idea looks really good – have I said that already, cause this is really an awesome idea.) Grimmjow for Alma's unnamed Innocence? He would work really well for the massacre and the instability (there is the question of the fact Alma's precious incarnation's Innocence was a winged bow, presumably still a parasite type, and Grimmjow is more of an in your face fighter than distance…unless they don't find Alma's first innocence (and try to match him with a new, unconnected Innocence) or…better, the 'wings' are like blunt sides, maybe like a weighted staff or something – MAYBE REALLY SHARP SIDE KNIVES YESSS - close and distance fighting. OR, ya know, we ignore what Hallows has shown us and have a kick-ass Grimmjow-previous!Alma duo) To be completely honest, having a badass HAHAHA LETS FIGHT THIS ASSHOLE WITH MY BOW-STAFF previous!Alma (who would then officially be the most badass/amusing woman - would previous!Alma identify as a woman or would they be agender? Does reborn!Alma identify as a boy, girl, or neither? Or both? EITHER WAY, most badass/amusing charater in DGM – sorry, I don't make the rules) would make my damn day. Like, she's off picking fights with everyone and their cats while previous!Yu tries to persuade her to leave them alone -haha, role reversal - 'com'on Alma, let's go have a picnic by the lake,etc'. (or hell, just a Ruby-esque Alma with an obsession with weapons would be awesome)….anyway. Grimmjow would be amazing as (Idunno, fuckin, Samson's Pride? Grace of Durga? Panther/Panthera? Whatever you decide really, I'm sure it'll be as amazing as this idea). Right, Zenpachi and Yachiro are the perfect Madness pair...not that I'm saying its gonna be Zenpachi and Yachiro. Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I couldn't resist Judgement!Reborn. It called to me. Ah, does summoning her to babysit Allen count? I can definitely see Reborn treating her like a high class lady! Unfortunately, I had to cut this chapter at some point. (*squints to the side* maybe I'll revisit that idea of having a separate story for Crown Clown!Luffy raising Allen - with appearances from other mains like Reborn and Emily. Hm.) Haku is such a tragic character - I can definitely agree with Bookman not being a favorite. His dynamic is interesting, but as a person? Eh. I hope the chapter came out well? For all the work I've done with Reborn in Keep Walking, it was hard to write him?
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I'm leaning towards Charity Bell more than anyone else for the next chapter, but it's still kinda up in the air for the most part.
Dark Boots - Maximum Ride (Maximum Ride)
Time Record - Rapunzel (Tangled)
Crown Clown - Luffy (One Piece)
Heaven's Compass - Haku (Naruto)
Grave of Maria - Emily (Corpse Bride), Aizen (Bleach)
Judgement - Reborn (Katekyo Hitman Reborn!)