Day: 038 as a comrade

In my dream I was standing in front of Aaron. He had asked me to meet him at the park where he always took me when I was younger. My heart raced with excitement as I approached him because we hadn't seen each other in a very long time. I felt so excited that I could dance all around, but with one word my excitement was all washed away. "Goodbye." "What?" I asked trying to sound like I had no idea what he had meant even though I had knew that this would someday happen ever since I found out that he was the 14th Noah. "I'm saying goodbye to you Solara." My heart stood still and my breath caught in my throat. "My older brother Mana volunteered to take care of you so you won't be completely alone when you leave." I shook my head wildly and tears began to spill out of my eyes. "T-that doesn't matter! If you leave I'll be alone! I don't want that!" Before I knew it Aaron was gone. I looked around not knowing what to do, then without realizing it my feet took off. I didn't know where he was, or even where I was going. Soon I found myself completely lost, and alone. I hadn't ever felt so alone before. Not when I lived on the streets by myself for a year or two. Not when my parents died. Not even when my twin sister, Reina who was my best friend forgot that I ever existed. Never. I curled up in to a ball and sobbed. It must've been the Millennium Earl that Aaron worked for. The way Aaron described him was as a terrible, terrible person. I had even met him once, he didn't seem that horrible to me, he was like any other normal kid, but Aaron said he was bad and if that was what Aaron thought then that was also what I thought. I got to my feet and began to run again, I had to find him. I had to find Aaron no matter what. Next thing that I knew I had crashed headfirst in to somebody's chest and was lying in snow. Ah, so it had started snowing? I hadn't realized. "I'm so sorry!" I cried hurriedly getting up from the snow and looked up at the tall man. Then my body turned to ice, not because the snow was freezing cold, but because I knew this tall man, at least I thought I knew him. He was a lot older than when I had first met him but I was almost sure that this was the, "Millennium Duke." I gasped aloud. "Yes Solara? May I help you?"

I shot up from my bed dripping in sweat. I looked around for a second until I realized that it was all a dream. The Earl wasn't there, thank God. My body curled up in to a round ball, blankets still covering my legs. It was bad memories like those that made me afraid of sleeping. It was a new memory though, which was a good thing. Solara always made me watch the memories that she thought were the best over and over again until I knew them by heart. Those dreams were the ones that got me no where close to the truth about what happened to Aaron. I doubted that I would ever be seeing the dream that I just had ever again though, since it wasn't exactly a good memory. I thought back over the dream and the name Mana ran circles around my mind. Where had I heard that name before? I knew that I had heard it before but I couldn't recall who said it. I was deep in thought when I heard someone knocking on my door. "Miss Sephiria! Head chief Komui is looking for you!" I heard the messenger say. His voice seemed a lot like Johnny's.

I began to head over to Komui's office after I got dressed. I had to train with Zokalo soon. During our mission Zokalo had told me that he wanted to increase my combat skills. I'd recently become really busy and almost didn't realize how independent I had become. Truth be told I was a little proud.

Komui's office was as messy as usual and it really bugged me. Whenever I set foot in his office I always had a huge urge to clean everything. "Hey Komui what do you want me here for!" I asked grumpily. I heard snoring from behind huge stack of papers on his desk. "Wake up!" I snarled knocking all of stacks to the ground where they would've ended up sooner or later anyways. He immediately shot out of his chair. "You called me in here to watch you sleep!" I cried. "Is that all because if it is then I'm leaving!" "Sorry, Sorry, sorry," he laughed sounding rather scared. "Well then what do you want?" I said ticked off that he was sleeping when he had a very important job to do. "You really shouldn't be doing this or else-" "You'll be fired by the Levvrier family," Allen finished. He had just walked in on me scolding Komui in my unwomanly manner. "Who are the Levvriers?" I asked Allen. "They are the founding family of the Black Order. Amongst them is the pope, he runs the family," Link came through the door after Allen and explained.

"Oh Allen so you're finally here!" Komui smiled. "Well you called," Allen replied. Whenever I saw Allen's face after a dream about Aaron I'd always see a mix of Allen and Aaron's faces which made their resemblance quite obvious. "Good morning Sephiria," he smiled. "Good morning," I replied. "So why're we here Komui?" Allen asked. "Well I want the two of you to go on a mission together of course!" Komui answered brightly while my jaw dropped about two feet. "Okay, then when are we going?" Allen replied like it was no big deal. "W-wait! Why are you two so cool about this!" I blushed. "Is there something wrong? Do you not want to go on a mission with Allen?" Komui asked a little confused. "No! it's not that I don't want to go with Allen, but you know… Allen's a boy," my face was still flustered. "You go on missions with General Zokalo all the time," Link told me. "W-well that's different! Zokalo is my general, not to mention he's a lot older than me, and Allen. Well, he's my friend."

"I see, so you're embarrassed to go on a mission with Allen because you'll be alone with him." Komui smirked knowing that he had hit the jackpot.

"A-am not!" I protested.

"What are you talking about Komui!" Allen cried.

"Don't worry Sephiria I won't let that creepy Allen do anything to you."

"Wait huh?" I said.

"Wow Komui! Way to make this conversation totally awkward!" Allen punched Komui with his left hand and Komui was instantly knocked out.

"Man, what was he thinking, huh?" Allen turned to me. "Y-yeah," I agreed. "But Allen, we never found out the date of the mission." Allen paused for a moment, then ran over to Komui's limp body shaking him over and over. "Hey dammit! Wake up!" After a long while Allen let out a deep sigh, "it's no use, he's out cold." I giggled then began to laugh. Allen smirked and began to laugh with me. It was a surprise at first because I had never seen Allen laugh so hard ever in my entire life, but soon I forgot all about that.

We walked out of Komui's office, stomachs aching from laughing so hard. "Guess, we'll have to find out the date of the mission another time," Allen told me.

"Yeah, guess so," I shrugged.

"Oh and hey, it'll be fine if you go on a mission with me. It's not like I'll do anything to you or something," Allen scratched the back of his head and a slight blush formed on his face.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like something you would do anyways," I replied.

"Where are you going now?" Allen asked me curiously.

"To the training grounds to see General Zokalo," I smiled.

Allen had a disappointed look on his face, "oh, maybe we could hang out together another time then. Having General Zokalo as your master must be tough huh?"

I shrugged, "yeah sometimes, but overall I rather enjoy it." I gave him an amused glance. "Not like you and Cross at all."

Allen shivered, "please, let's not speak of that."

I laughed again and waved goodbye before I ran off to my general.

"What took you so long?" Zokalo asked as I reached the training grounds. "Komui asked me to go to his office. I've gotten my first mission without your supervision." "With who?" He asked. "Allen, but the date is unknown. Allen knocked him out before he could tell us." Zokalo didn't even wonder why Komui was knocked out by Allen, much less did he care. "Cross's pupil am I right? Be cautious around that boy, he might be a Noah," Zokalo warned. "That's possible, but I'd doubt that he would hurt me, or should I say he shouldn't be able to hurt me." "What, is there something going on between the two of you?" Zokalo asked. "Wh-what do you mean," I asked with caution. "I mean as in romantic feelings. I've noticed that you two are often found together," he shrugged and my cheeks instantly became pink. "Of course not!" I cried. My number one rule as an exorcist Don't fall in love.

"Okay, tell me what we're going o be doing today," I said with my hands on my hips. "I want you to invoke the innocence rings on your ankles and fight me with them." I paused, I'd never been able to invoke the rings on my ankles or neck. The last time I had tried and realized that I couldn't do it was in the middle of a huge battle. I had a gaping hole in my side from getting hit by a demon's bullet, which resulted in some debates if I was going to be able to live or not, nasty scarring, and daily check-ups from the nurse who would scold me non-stop. Looks like I'm going to be scolded by the nurse big time today.

t

"If you don't invoke soon I'm going to end up accidentally killing you!" Zokalo sounded irritated. "I seriously don't know how!" I screamed back at him barely dodging the line of electricity that "Madness" had created. That was all I had been doing for four hours. Dodging this way and that, duck, jump, swerve. I knew in my mind what I wanted "Bloody Joker" to transform in to, but no matter what I just couldn't do it. Invoke, I ordered once again. They flashed a bright red and I could see them transforming. "Yes," I whispered. All of a sudden the glow stopped and they were reduced back to their bothersome useless form. I gritted my teeth, I didn't know why it didn't work! It was almost like there was a wall between me and my innocence that I just couldn't tear down. It was the same with the rings on my wrists. They always felt like I was controlling it by only a whim. Like a thin piece of string that was strung through the wall allowing me to only barely control it. I could be better than I was now, I knew it. I could be much stronger. I wanted to be like Zokalo, minus the sadistic craziness about him. I wanted to swing my innocence with a hundred percent of it's power, I wanted to be strong and kill demons without even having to think like he did with "Madness." Even better, I wanted to someday become a general. That was my goal.

I continued to dodge Zokalo and "Madness" and it made me feel extremely powerless. I tried to invoke again and failed just like the last time. I was caught in a daze of confusion, I just couldn't figure it out! "What the hell are you doing!" Zokalo cried as he plunged his innocence down towards my head. It was coming down on me much to fast and I was completely and utterly afraid, as much as I hated to admit it. C'mon Bloody Joker! I'm about to die here! I mentally screamed. This time when my innocence glowed it felt different. The ring around my neck began to disintegrate, my General's eyes grew wide. White wings spread across my back, and flew me away from Zokalo's blade. Once I got far enough away I collapsed to my knees in sweat.

"You invoked the wrong piece of innocence!" Zokalo snarled. I flinched as the ground beneath me separated when his blade was slammed in to the ground. "I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking! I just told myself to invoke, but I didn't think of where!" I blurted. He walked over to me and raised his hand. I shut my eyes and braced myself for pain, but instead I felt a rough hand patting my head. "You still invoked something though, so it's okay." I stared wide eyed and him. It was rare to see him nice like this, he almost seemed normal. At least for an exorcist. "I would like you to invoke it before your mission with Allen Walker though." "O-okay," I stammered. "Training is over for today, go get yourself something to eat," he ordered me. "Yes sir," I replied sharply. He turned his back to me and walked away, and when he did I let out a smile. Having Zokalo as my master isn't my bad thing at all. People just don't understand.

Young Solara chasing after Aaron in the snow.

Please rate!