Hello again everyone! I thank you for your continuing support towards my story from the bottom of my heart! **gives everyone virtual hugs & kisses** I love you all!

Ok, here we are at Ch4! Like always, there a few 'explanation' notes at the bottom :) Thank you for reading, Dancing with Lotus Petals!

Text Key:::

"normal speech"

'thinking'

"SHOUTING ETC."

((author notes))

Disclaimer: I do not own D Gray -man!

Warnings: None, except for some character OOCness... maybe... a few of the characters were really hard to keep in character...

EDIT 30/08/14: major section change near the middle in regards to Allen's past – a few slight changes to the characters assignments – added author notes

Chapter 4 - The New Production & N.P.A.

•••••++•••••

Allen was happily (and hurriedly) working his way through his usual heaped trolley of food when the announcement for all company members to assemble in the dining hall rung throughout the halls of the Black Order. Lavi and Lenalee seemed quite excited when the announcement was over, causing Allen to be quite curious as to what this assembly was all about. When he voiced his curiousness to Lavi, Lavi just smiled and waved him off with a, "don't worry, you'll see!"

Now even more curious then before, Allen waited impatiently until the whole of the Black Order was present in the dining room. Despite the large number of company members, this actually did not take as long as you might think, since it was breakfast most of the members were already there. A hush fell over the hall as director Komui stood up on a table at one end of the room.

"Hello everyone!" He began, "as some of you already know, it has been two weeks since the last production was held. Since then, everyone involved in the production has had a chance to recuperate and we have also been joined by a few new faces! So, I think it's time we held our next production!"

At that, the entire hall erupted into cheers and whoops and it took quite a few minutes for Komui to get them all to calm down.

"Now, now everyone! I know you're all excited but if you don't listen you'll miss the theme for the next production as well as the casting!"

All of a sudden it was so quiet Allen could have sworn he heard the dust mites brushing the floor.

"See, that's better! Now, like we do every year the people who just joined the Black Order will not be able to adopt a leading or sub-leading role; however, they are able to be a part of the back-up and chorus group in order to gain experience on the stage. Those of you who are eligible to take a leading part in this upcoming production (you know who you are) have already been assessed and placed into your respective roles. So, without further ado I am happy to announce that the next production will be a twisted tale, loosely based on the story of 'Thumbelina'!"

Allen gasped as the hall erupted into cheers and whoops once more. 'Thumbelina' was a childhood favourite of his and the twisted tales were always the best. While most little boys were interested in cars and mock fighting and video games, when Allen was young he had been deeply immersed in the arts. From the moment he had woken up in the stark white hospital room with no memory other than his name and age, fairy tales were one of his only sources of entertainment. Of course, when Mana had taken him in, he was introduced to theatre, the circus and gymnastics but his knowledge of fairy tales didn't die out. Mana himself had known quite a few, he told Allen many, many different stories; from the traditional and well-known tales like 'Snow White', to the not-so-well-known tales like 'Rumpelstiltskin'.

Each tale was told in a different way, some of them were the watered down versions for young kids, and others were the twisted (and often gruesome and/or tragic) versions more commonly told between older teens and adults. But no matter what context it was in, Allen loved them all. They told the stories of the helpless, the weak, the poor, the discouraged and the bullied as one by one they were saved, given hope and encouraged. Allen had always felt a connection with the characters of these stories, their selflessness and bravery had given him the courage and hope he needed to keep on living his life the best he could.

"Ok everyone! I'm now going to read out the casting list, if your name is called please step forward to receive the times for your individual rehearsals! I'll begin with the sub-leads... Playing the role of Thumbelina's mother will be-"

And so, the casting list began. Lenalee scored the role of Thumbelina's kind but strong elder sister; Lavi was cast in the roll of the elder sister's persistent suitor who was constantly asking her to marry him (which she, in turn, constantly refuses). A short, bossy looking, but still beautiful, girl was given the role of Thumbelina. And Kanda, of course, was cast as the brave, handsome, sword-wielding (and rude) prince who Thumbelina falls madly in love with.

The 'extras' would be the remaining company members (including the newbies). Allen, along with the other newbies, would be one of the Evil Frog Queen's minions. Each minion would have a different ability and, as such, the newbies would be able to choose which piece of equipment they would use (unlike the rest of the cast who would have their equipment and routines set and chosen for them).

Unlike the other few times, Director Komui let the excited chatter die down on its own before regaining the attention of the bubbly company members.

"As I am sure anyone who is familiar with the story of Thumbelina (even though this one is greatly twisted it still holds the basic structure of the original) is aware, many of the main roles have not been filled. This is because I, along with the assistant director, have decided to do a combined production with 'Noah Private Academy'."

Shocked murmurs swept through the crowd and Allen managed to catch snippets of conversation that included words and phrases like: "enemy", "but they're the competition", "no way", "why?!" and "what is Director Komui thinking?!". Before Komui could calm the shocked group, the door opened with a BANG and an overly large man wearing a top hat and tails and carrying a purple umbrella, walked into the room. An assortment of olive skinned boys and girls hurried (or in a couple of guy's cases strolled) along after the round-bellied man.

The man walked up to Komui (who had gotten down off the desk) and greeted him with an, "ah! Director Komui, I hope we weren't too late!"

"Not at all Millennium Earl. I was just announcing Noah Private Academy's conjunction with our own for the next big production." Komui's tone was welcoming, but Allen could see the tension in the way he smiled. It seemed forced, not genuine, much like the smile Allen himself often wore.

"Seems like we made it just in time then! Well, I may as well announce who's going to be in what role. Your company members will have to work with them after all for quite a few weeks."

"O-oh! Of course." Komui turned to face the crowd, "everyone, the director of Noah Private Academy, the Millennium Earl, will now announce which of his company members will be in which role. If a student from Noah happens to be in your class, please treat them how you would any student from the Black Order. You will be working with them for many weeks, so please try to get along."

Then the Millennium Earl stepped forward, "filling the role of the frog Queen will be Lulubell." A tall girl with blonde hair tied back in a long pony tail stepped forward and joined the group of Black Order members. "The Queen's son will be played by Skin Bolic, the blind young man will be played by Tyki Mikk ((blind mole in original story)), the role of the candle maiden will be filled by Rhode Camelot ((field mouse in original story)) and the misleading trees will be played by Jasdero and Devit ((the trees weren't really a character but Thumbelina feels small and weak beneath them so for my purposes they are now characters!)). The remaining members of N.P.A. shall be part of the 'extras' and the 'under studies'."

Silence followed the Earl's short dialogue as the N.P.A. students joined the crowd of B.O.G.D.C. students. Then, after timetables had been handed to the N.P.A. members and room allocations had been taken care of, everyone was just sort of dismissed. One by one, the members of both companies left the dining hall to go to their next rehearsal. And after a few minutes, Allen also followed after them.

•••••++•••••

The next few weeks were a fast-paced blur for Allen. They were an endless stream of rehearsals, classes, full dress rehearsals, stage practices and costume fittings. Before long, the date of the big production was less than two months away, six weeks to be precise. Of course it was then, that things started to go wrong.

•••••++•••••

The girl who was cast in the role of Thumbelina injured her ankle coming off one if the 'spiderweb-like' tight rope structures and getting tangled in mess of wires below her. Naturally, there was a panic. With a little less than six weeks remaining before show time, Director Komui had to find a replacement who had, at least, the same level of skill as the previous girl, she also had to be small in size and a good aero-gymnast. But who on earth would be able to meet all those requirements and still be able to master the complicated routines that take at least two weeks to properly learn let alone perfect!?

The answer didn't come to Komui until the next day, when he was sitting in his office, going through the profiles of his higher level company members.

As he let yet another yellow manila folder thump onto his ever-growing stack of 'looked through' papers, another slightly smaller folder broke free from its pile and drifted softly (or not so softly, it is a folder after all) to the floor. Komui bent to pick it up and stared at the name on the top right hand corner: Allen Walker. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of it before? Allen was small and delicate in size, smart, a quick learner and had quite a high skill level! There was only one problem with assigning Allen the role of Thumbelina (that's not quite true, their are a few actually but Komui chose not to dwell on them)... How would he go with working with Kanda?

Yes, they are doing a (very) twisted version of Thumbelina! And it looks like Allen will have to step up and fill one of the main roles ^.^ of course that includes working with Kanda... oh R.I.P. Allen my friend... you will be remembered...

Ok *cough cough* now we've got that out of the way...

The N.P.A. are joining forces with the B.O.G.D.C. (man that's long, even for an abbreviation!) for the next big production :) how do you think they are going to cope? Oh, and I'm sure you noticed I made Lulubell a frog. Why did I make her a frog? Because I can!

I apologise for any OOCness on the Earl's or Komui's part, it was actually quite difficult to come up with their lines... I had to get my point across while at the same time keeping them in character... man it was hard...

I also apologize for any spelling mistakes (especially writing 'he' instead of 'the'), I've found that I can write better on my iPod than on my computer, but auto spell-check is really annoying. So if you see anything that you think is wrong or just generally bugs you, don't hesitate to tell me and I'll be more than happy to fix them for you! (unless of course it has something to do with the whole story line, 'cos if that's the case than I probably can't help you I'm sorry...)

Thank you once again! I'm on a seven week holiday now, so updates should come quicker :) Please review!