Chronoa

D. Gray-Man

Chapter Three

Revised

Christine was scared. She was very, very scared. Her mother had come home earlier than was expected, and she didn't even have dinner started. This was bad. This was horrible.

"I'm home! Is dinner ready?" her mother questioned as she threw her things on an armchair and strutted into the kitchen, where Christine was trembling as she chopped up vegetables. "Well?"

"N-no, it's not ready," Christine stuttered. "I'm s-sorry! I was cleaning, and it's taken longer than I expected to g-get dinner ready. It should be done in 20 minutes," she hurried to explain. Her mother glared ferociously at her.

"You mean to tell me that after working all day, I'm to come home to an ungrateful brat that can't even cook dinner?" she asked quietly. Christine nodded once, looking at the ground fearfully. "Well now, that simply won't do, will it?" Her mother walked closer, taking both of Christine's shoulders in her manicured hands. "What did I say needed to be done every day before I got home?"

"The h-house needs to be spotless and dinner cooked," Christine mumbled quietly. Her mother was furious. That much she knew for sure. What she didn't know, though, was what punishment she would get.

"Exactly. Now, is all of that done?"

"No."

"And why not?" Her mother's voice was dangerous.

"B-because…I was busy cleaning, a-and I lost track of time and it took longer than I expected to get dinner started," she stuttered.

"Well then, you'll just have to work faster won't you, you ungrateful little brat!" her mother shouted, shaking her roughly. Christine whimpered. "Shut up, you pathetic child!" her mother screamed, slapping her across the face and making her fall to the ground in shock.

"I want you out of my house," her muttered uttered in a low voice. "Get out. I can't deal with this right now." When Christine didn't move, still in too much shock to do much of anything, her mother growled low in her throat and kicked at her stomach. "I said get out!" she roared.

The frightened girl whimpered and quickly stood, giving one last look at her enraged mother before sprinting out of the house. She went to the first place she could think of, the small children's park that was about a ten minute walk from her house. Night was falling, and she was getting scared. Her mother had kicked her out a few times before, but she had never been as angry as Christine had seen her that night. It made her think.

Would she be allowed back inside this time? Or would she be forced to live at the park forever? Sighing sadly, she sat down on one of the swings, kicking her bare feet back and forth. She hadn't even had the time to get shoes on. Thinking on what she would do, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and looked at it thoughtfully. She had friends in Allen, Lavi, and even Kanda – somewhat. But she couldn't call one of them. They didn't need to know what went on in her dysfunctional life. They had plenty of problems on their own, she figured.

Sighing once again, she got off of the swing and walked over to the tunnel that the park had. It wasn't that big, but Christine fit in it well enough. The tunnel was something of a refuge for her; every time her mother kicked her out, or if she just needed a place to get away, she would come to the tunnel. Figuring that it would be her bed once more, she slipped off her hoodie and, ignoring the goose bumps that littered her arms, fashioned it into a crude pillow.

'I hope it doesn't rain tonight,´ she thought hopefully. 'I would hate to get wet…And I don't have any clothes to change into.' With that thought, she drifted off into a fretful sleep.

0-0-0

Lavi Bookman Jr. was worried. He had seen how his new friend, Christine, had flinched away whenever someone made a sudden movement. He had seen how reluctant she was to talk about her home life. He had even seen the faint bruise she had on her arm when she stretched. He just hoped that his theory, which explained all of it, was wrong.

But then he sighed. It was highly unlikely that his theory was wrong. Lavi had never been wrong in all of his 18 years of life. It just didn't happen to him. Frustrated at himself, he went off in search of Allen. The 16 year old seemed to have formed a fairly strong bond with the girl, and quickly too. Lavi would ask him about it, see what his opinions were.

After checking various rooms in the vast house, Lavi finally found Allen in the large back-yard, hanging upside down from a tree.

"What are you doing?" Lavi questioned, raising an eyebrow at the sight. Allen grunted and pulled himself up in a sit-up like fashion.

"Training," he muttered, flicking his snow-white hair out of his eyes. He was thankful that he didn't have to wear a hoodie around his house. It got pretty annoying.

"Well stop for a second, will ya? I need to talk to you," Lavi said. Allen gracefully flipped off of the branch, landing lightly on his feet.

"Yeah? What about?" he asked. It concerned him that Lavi was being serious for once. He wasn't ever serious unless he thought something was seriously wrong.

"I want to talk to you about Christine," the red-head said quietly. Allen froze.

"What about her?" he asked warily.

"I have suspicions that she may live in an abusive household," his friend said quickly. Allen gaped at him.

"Really? I was thinking about that too," he muttered.

"Really?" Lavi seemed surprised that Allen was being observant enough to notice how Christine acted. "Good. So then you think it's a possibility, too?" Allen nodded. "Then we have to decide what we're going to do. We can't leave her there if she is getting abused."

"That much is obvious. But I think that first, we need to talk to her and try to get her to tell us if she really is being abused," the white-haired teen said thoughtfully. Lavi nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. It's only what, eight o'clock? Why don't you call her now and see if she can like, come over or something, while I go talk to Yū," he said as the duo made their way back to the house. "And don't forget to wash up and cover your hair and eye again." Allen nodded and ran up to his room on the third floor.

After getting dressed quickly in a pair of sweats, he reached for his phone and dialed Christine's number quickly.

0-0-0

Christine was in the middle of a terrifying nightmare when her phone jerked her harshly back to reality. She groped in her pockets for a minute before she was able to answer, wiping tears from her face as she did so.

"Hello?" she asked hoarsely.

"Christy? Hey, it's Allen." She was shocked, to say the least. Why had he called her?

"Allen? Why did you call me?" she asked.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over? Lavi and I want to ask you something."

"Well, I'm not exactly at home right now…" she muttered, looking around at the tunnel she was sitting in.

"Where are you? I'll come get you. It's important."

"I'm uh…at the park."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes, okay?" He told her before hanging up.

She stared at the phone in her hand for a second before shoving it back into her pocket and scrambling out of the tunnel. She held her hoodie in her arms tightly while she waited anxiously for Allen to arrive.

She looked up when the familiar black Endeavor pulled alongside her.

"Hey, hop in," Allen said, rolling down the window. For once, his face was not morphed into a smile. On the contrary, his handsome features had concern written all over them. Christine shakily stood up and walked over to the passenger side door, slowly climbing in. "Are you okay?" he asked her softly.

"Yeah," her voice cracked. "Yeah, I'm fine." He shook his head.

"You don't look fine," he muttered to himself as they pulled into his driveway. "C'mon, let's get you inside" he remarked said with a gentle smile, quickly hopping out and opening her door. She took the hand he offered and got out of the vehicle, clutching her hoodie to her body. Allen frowned when he saw the hand-shaped bruises marring her arms.

"Lavi!" he shouted as the two entered the house. "We're back!" The red-haired boy came bouncing down the stairs, Kanda following him at a slower pace, his usual scowl in place.

"Great! C'mon, let's sit down in the living room," he said while disappearing into an adjoining room. Once everyone had taken a seat – Allen and Christine sat next to each other on the sofa, Kanda sat in an armchair off to the side, and Lavi sat across from Christine, on the floor – they spoke.

"Why…Why did you guys want me here?" she asked nervously. Lavi shifted uncomfortably.

"Well…We're worried about you," he admitted. Her eyebrows raised in shock.

"W-what?"

"Are you being abused?" asked Kanda abruptly. Her head shot to him and her eyes misted over.

"We've noticed…" Allen began. "They way you don't like anyone to come near you. We've noticed the bruises on your arms," he said, gently touching one of the said bruises. She flinched back. "We can help you, Christine; but only if you let us."

"I…" Christine managed to get out before she started sobbing. Allen was startled for just a moment before his eyes softened and he drew her into a hug. She froze for just a second, then clung to him as if he were her lifeline. "Please…" she whimpered. "Please help me. I don't want to go back there."

The trio of boys was shocked. Looking at one another, they all came to a simultaneous decision.

"Don't worry, Christy," her lifeline told her lightly. "We'll fix everything. But you need to calm down and tell us exactly what goes on, okay?" She sniffed and nodded, not lifting her head from its place where it was buried in Allen's shoulder.

"Okay, let's calm you down," Lavi said, mostly to himself as he exited the room. He quickly returned with a cup of tea in one hand and a blanket in the other. "Here, drink this. It's just tea with lavender and chamomile in it," he informed her. She raised her head and took the tea as Allen helped Lavi put the blanket around her shoulders. Kanda had left when she had started crying, and he now returned with his arms full of equipment.

"I figured we should record this," he muttered, setting the high-tech recording equipment on the coffee table. Lavi nodded.

"Okay Christine, do you think you're ready to tell us?" he asked, smiling gently at her as she sipped her tea.

"I…think." She nodded.

"Just take your time. We won't push you," Allen told her softly.

"Alright…" she took a deep breath. 'May the gods help me.' She thought desperately before beginning her tale. "I guess it all started when my father left. It's kind of clichéd, now that I think about it, but it's true." She chuckled dryly. "I was…10, I think. Yeah, 10 or 11." She thought for a second, sipping her tea again. "My dad thought that my mom was cheating on him – she was, by the way – so he filed for a divorce. After that, they fought to get custody over me. My mother won." She took another breath.

"She seemed to believe that it was all my fault that my father saw through her sluttish ways. She started to make me do things that I had never done before. I had to clean the entire house, every day, to her expectations. I had to do all household chores, and have dinner made by seven every night." She sighed and closed her eyes. Allen gave her an encouraging look and motioned for her to continue.

"What happened next?"

"Well, as you can imagine, it just got worse from there. I couldn't live up to my mother's expectations." She stood up slowly, lifting the back of her shirt up to show them a long scar, about half an inch thick, running from her shoulder blades to the small of her back. The three males blushed at her nakedness – Allen more so than the others – and she resumed her previous position. "I got that the first time I didn't have dinner cooked in time. She threw me into our China cabinet," she told them quietly.

"From then on, I've never really been able to live up to her extremely high expectations. She isn't as bad as she was then; but then again that may just be because she's already broken everything that could be used against me. Mostly now, she yells and slaps me…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

"How often does she hit you?" Lavi asked.

"Umm." She thought for a moment, sniffling. "Almost every day," she told them meekly, looking down at her hands. Allen's visible eye hardened in a dangerous manner. Lavi looked at him in worry.

"Allen, calm down," Kanda snapped. Allen glared up at him but visibly relaxed.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. Christine was confused; what did he have to be sorry about?

"Che. I think we're done for today," Kanda said, standing up and shutting off the recording equipment quickly. Lavi and Allen nodded.

"C'mon, Christy." Allen stood, holding a hand out to her. "You can sleep in one of our guest rooms tonight," He told her with a gentle smile.

"Mmkay…I got kicked out anyway," she muttered, hesitantly grabbing onto his hand and allowing him to lead her up to the top floor. Allen raised his eyebrow.

"You got kicked out?"

"Yup. Dinner wasn't ready."

"Oh…Here, this is right beside my room. Just knock on my door if you need anything." He opened the door to a room that had a nice, queen-sized bed, dark dresser and matching desk.

"Umm," she blushed slightly. "Could I maybe borrow something to sleep in?" she asked. He blushed in return.

"Of course. Just one sec," he said, running into his room and quickly returning with a pair of black sleep pants and a plain black t-shirt. "They'll be too big on you, so sorry," he said sheepishly as he handed them to her. She smiled slightly.

"It's alright. Thank you, Allen," she said. "And not just for the sleepwear."

"It's no problem," he told her with a genuine grin. She giggled softly, hugging him quickly before disappearing into the guest room, leaving him standing there in shock.

"Hehe, Allen's got himself a crush~" Lavi sang as he ran past.

"W-what? Lavi!" Allen shouted, running after him.

Christine giggled at their antics as she changed and slipped in between the sheets.

'I'm glad that I met them' She thought before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.