History: A Touch of Colour in the Gray

Book 1: Shading the black.

Date: 25 July 2018, corrected Mars 2022

Beta: AxZi (2018) RostosGirl (2022)

Fandom: D Gray Man

Disclaimer: No, I don't own D Gray Man and I'm not making any money on this story.

Summary: After landing in the 19th century, Estelle soon realises that she has been hired by the Kamelott family, basically the villains of DGM. Taking the name Eve, she then becomes Tricia Kamelott's lady-in-waiting and helps her with her daily tasks. Now that her life is a little less chaotic, Eve reflects on her arrival in this world and decides to make up her own mind about the people in this new world despite her knowledge of manga. However, she soon becomes aware of the social difference between women at this time and begins to fear for her future, especially when Road, the twins and Allen arrive...

Chapter trigger: Road being creepy (for a change) and knives (but just to throw them at a target, no description using them on someone or anything.)

And... I passed my baccalaureate!

...

um, anyway

Good reading :)

Chapter 10: The poker player

Tuesday 10, March 1885

"Eve? What are you doing?"

Grimacing, I stopped in my tracks. My shoes in one hand, my bag in the other, I had tried to go down the stairs without making the slightest noise because...

"Shhh, Road! Tricia is resting," I whispered quickly. Road squinted in my direction, crossing her arms before following me down the hall as I sweated profusely.

In truth, it wasn't really for Tricia that I'd done all this, I thought as I put my shoes back on to save time. Oh sure, during her afternoon naps, I was careful to limit the often noisy ardour of the twins so as not to wake her up, but from there to walking barefoot... the walls were insulating enough as it was, no need to make layers of it, either.

No, this time it was all the inhabitants of the manor that I had wanted to avoid. And in particular, the suspicious girl currently in front of me.

"Um, did you want to tell me something, Road?" I asked, barely able to keep from playing nervously with my hands.

This seemed to trigger something in her and a spark of I don't know what suddenly appeared in her eyes. Suddenly, she unfolded her hands and a big happy smile stretched her lips as she jumped towards me. "I wanted you to play hopscotch with me! And then afterwards we could have a tea party with Mother! We could even invite Daddy when he comes home, that would be wonderful!" She chirped as she clung to my arm with a mischievous look. Trying to push the slightly disturbing mental image of Sheryl drinking honeyed milk between Mr. Fluffy and Mrs. Bearry out of my mind, I plastered a smile on my face, wondering just how I was going to get out of this mess.

"That sounds wonderful Road, unfortunately I've already made commitments elsewhere and I can't-" I choked, my eyes welling up with tears. Her far too sharp nails had dug into my forearm at my words.

"Excuse me, Eve, I don't seem to have heard correctly, what did you say?" she asked cheerfully, her nails digging bloody furrows in my skin despite my dress. As much as I wished I could respect her wish, which would save me physical and mental pain in the process and leave a happy Noah, which was always a big plus in my humble opinion, I unfortunately couldn't.

"I said...'' I began praying to every ancient Egyptian god whose name I could remember (having already prayed to the Viking gods the day before...) to help me. "...that I couldn't play with youuuuaaaah!" I hissed in pain, tears ready to fall. "...this afternoon, this afternoon! I promise, I'm all yours tonight! We'll play any game you want, even à Chat-… I mean… 'It' if you want!"

At my words, she seemed to calm down and gently removed her hands from my arm. Bloody marks were streaking my skin and I could already see a huge bruise in the shape of a hand.

"Promise?" she asked in a threatening voice.

I swore with relief, praying that she would choose a normal game like the ones we usually played and not, oh, I don't know, hunting humans or something?

"But still, what are you going to do every afternoon?" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Since you went to get your clothes on Friday, you've been disappearing after lunch for who knows where! You didn't even go to Mass with us last Sunday, even though you came to London with us." She said with a sulky pout.

"I'm just seeing a friend" I replied evasively before quickly moving on to something else to distract her. "Anyway, shouldn't you be at school, young lady?"

"School is boring and the other kids are idiots! Anyway, father isn't here, and what he doesn't know can't hurt him. And anyway, if the twins don't go, I don't see why I should go either!" She grunted, a pout on her face.

Letting out a laugh, I was about to reply when footsteps were heard behind us. "Eve, are you ready to-... Oh, hello Young Mistress Road." John stammered suddenly from the doorway behind me. It's true that as a handyman he didn't tend to see much of the housemasters, let alone talk to them.

"Ah, yes, thank you very much for letting me know. See you later, Road!" I say with a smile before heading for the exit, grabbing John as I went.

Straightening my cap so that it caught all my hair, I walked quickly down the now familiar alleys. The day I had met Allen, the boy had taken me to where he lived, to the home of a charming woman. In her forties, she had greeted us with concern at our dishevelled appearance and had hurriedly pulled us up the stairs to the upper floor. I had barely had time to look around the living room curiously before she pushed us into soft armchairs and went to make us a nice cup of tea. The interior of her house was surprisingly spacious and well-furnished, contrary to what one might have thought from the outside. When I looked curious, Allen told me that Miss Taringan had the oldest job in the world, but that she also earned her living as a newsagent. Hearing laughter and hurried footsteps below us, Allen told me that she also housed young girls on the ground floor. Miss Taringan would find them work as shop assistants in the business district to get them off the streets and in return the girls would feed her information network. According to Allen, they could stay there with his master because he was a regular customer... of both of the woman's jobs. Not needing any more details to imagine Cross here, I was still pretty damn impressed with what she had built. Sure, she wasn't helping these poor girls for nothing, but at least she was doing something, and given the happy bustle below and the great respect that lit up Allen's eyes, it didn't look like a bad alternative to the streets. Win, win we might say. I treated Miss Taringan with the utmost courtesy when she came to bring us tea. Even if it turned out that she wasn't as incredible as she seemed, it was still better not to make an enemy of her.

We stayed for a good hour chatting with Allen and at one point Timcampy even slipped out of Allen's room. The boy panicked a little at first, trying to push the beach ball back in, but when he saw that I looked more fascinated than terrified, he let the golem wander around us. He was quick to tell me that his master travelled a lot and that it was an exotic bird he had brought back from India and I had to force myself not to look at him in disbelief. Was that really an excuse that usually worked? Whatever... people didn't have the internet or even many photographs and books here. The only thing that allowed the common people to see a bit of the world outside of England was the zoos and, sure enough, for people who didn't have much to compare it to, there were already things out there as weird as Timcampy. A little disturbed by the thought, I asked Allen more questions about his master and his travels while stroking Timcampy's metallic wings in fascination. But despite our lively discussions, I had to join John at some point, and I stood up, undecided. I didn't want to leave and never see the boy again. Luckily Allen immediately asked me if I would be in London the next day and without even thinking about how to do that, I said yes. He suggested that we meet at a bar in the middle class areas that belonged to Miss Taringan's older sister and so we did. The next day... and the day after that... and the day after that... Finally, I thought as I pushed open the door of the bar, I had been coming here every day for a week. Letting my gaze wander, I put it on a table a little further. With a smile, I approached the players and put my hand on the boy's shoulder. "Hey Allen," I said, raising my voice.

The white-haired boy threw me a smile over his shoulder before turning to his deck. He hesitated for a few seconds but finally threw his cards into the middle of the table.

"Looks like I lost..." he said quietly, pocketing the rest of his winnings as he stood up to follow me, only taking the time to wave at a dark-haired boy in his twenties. I nodded in his direction as well and he gave me a quick smile in response before returning to his own game. This wasn't the first time I had run into him. I had seen him on Friday when I first walked into the bar and I had seen him every day since then playing poker. I wondered what he did for a living... in the afternoons you often saw the guys playing before they went on the night shift, and in the evenings it was the men coming off a day job who frequented the place. Yet, no matter what the schedule, the young man with the black hair was always there playing. Even on Sunday morning he was there as usual.

Letting go of these trivial thoughts, I turned to Allen. "You could have stayed and played, I didn't mind watching," I assured him with a smile as we made our way down the street.

"No, it's fine. I had already won a lot anyway, so it was better that I lose so I could play with them again later." He says to me with a cheerful smile before looking more mischievous and pulling out a few notes with a victorious look on his face. "I won a bit more than I expected... Do you want ice cream?" With a smile, I nodded and led him towards the upper aisles.

And that's basically how my last four afternoons had gone. Every day since Friday, I took advantage of John's visit to the manor to accompany him to and from the house. From 2pm to 6pm, I had free time to explore London with Allen from top to bottom. We had already found our favourite bar, that of Mrs. Carley, Miss Taringan's older sister. The landlady didn't mind our age, so Allen was able to play poker without any trouble. Mrs. Carley had told me, when I expressed surprise at the number of teenagers hanging around the shop, that she welcomed the children to keep them out of trouble. Better still, when some of the drunken adults got too rough, the owner's eldest son would kick them out without warning. We had also found our favourite ice-cream parlour, which always added bits of walnut to our ice-creams, and our dream square, on the border between the shopping district and the slums.

It had almost become a tradition to start with an ice cream in the square before exploring a new part of London. And how fun it was to compare the old London with the one I remembered! One of the first things I did when Allen suggested that we travel around London was to ask him to go to Baker Street. Of course, unlike in our time, there was no fake policeman in uniform in front of 221B offering to visit the Sherlock Holmes museum, nor a statue of the great detective, but seeing it made me smile all the same, especially when Allen sceptically asked me what could be interesting about this utterly bland bar of buildings.

Today, after visiting all the great monuments already built that London is famous for, Allen offered to teach me some useful tricks. Already the day before, he had timidly shown me how to hide important things on my person, even helping me to cut the heel of my shoe so that I could slip in some emergency notes. Then, in the time we had left, he had shown me where to knock in order to incapacitate someone or what was the most effective way to get out of the grip of someone stronger than you.

However, today's programme was a little less innocent: I was going to learn to throw knives.

Standing in an alleyway not far from our bar, he pulled out a pair of strong blades and showed me how to throw them with precision. "I used to work in a circus and often watched the performers as I cleaned the trailers," Allen explained as I adjusted my grip on the knife. "If you go to a circus, you'll notice that the thrower can take his knife by the tip and spin it while throwing. It's good for impressing the crowd, but for better speed, it's better to throw them straight like that," he said as he grabbed the second knife and threw it with a fluid motion of his wrist towards the poster we were targeting. At a speed almost too fast for me to follow with my eyes, the knife went deep into the poster clown's head.

"Impressive, Allen," I exclaimed, barely holding back my joyful applause. The boy blushed and lowered his head with a shy little smile, "Thanks, but I've had a lot of practice behind me. Anyway, these knives are not very good, the guard prevents it from splitting the air at full speed. It may be nicer like that, but it's better to buy you several smaller knives without a guard." He assured me as he went to detach the blade from the wall to hand it to me. "Your turn," he said, smiling.

Swallowing hard, I raised the first knife and threw it with concentration. To my surprise, it went into the wall not far from the poster. With Allen's advice and encouragement, I made rapid progress, although I was far from matching him in strength, speed and accuracy. A little later, we abandoned our makeshift shooting range and moved to one of the shady tables in the hostel. A poker game was in progress at a few tables away from us, and was still welcoming the black-haired man who waved to us as we passed. Settled in our corner, I took a book out of my bag and placed it between us. The day after our meeting, Allen had admitted to me that even though he had some knowledge of reading, he still had difficulty with certain words and he didn't read very fast. I offered to help him and we had been reading "Around the world in 80 days" by Jules Verne for three days.

An hour later we were watching the perilous adventures of Phileas Fogg in Hong Kong when a fight broke out between the poker players a little way off. All at once the table which held our cups of tea was violently overturned by a young man crashing into it. With my cup on my lips and the book in Allen's hands, I watched with round eyes as the dark-haired young man struggled to get up from the debris of the table, his left arm bleeding.

"Cheater!" shouted a portly old man, quickly backed up by a balding man and a thin man.

"I assure you gentlemen, I did nothing of the sort... you're just bad," said the man in front of us, amusement clear in his voice. With his hands in the pockets of his baggy trousers, an old grey jacket that had surely seen better days on his shoulders and a cigarette between his teeth, the young man was the picture of nonchalance and was clearly an East Ender.

"You little twerp, you'll see what we do to thieves like you!" Growled the taller one as he dangerously approached the young man to strike him, quickly followed by his two companions.

With a quick movement, the boy took the cup from my hands with a wink and threw it into the eyes of the Bean, who screamed in pain. He laughed before deftly avoiding the bald man's punch. I couldn't continue to watch the fight though as a hand grabbed my jacket and threw me to the ground. Grunting in pain, I looked up to see Allen struggling against the big man who was holding him by his shirt, a knife much too close to his neck for my comfort.

"Allen!" I shouted as I quickly stood up. Where the hell was the boss's son when we needed him? He would have stopped the fight a long time ago if he had been there!

"Don't move! Or I'll cut the kid," the man growled as he pressed his knife a little harder on Allen's neck, causing his blood to spill. Frozen in my movements, I watched the scene with wide eyes, not knowing what to do to help him. I still had the knife I had used to practice earlier, but... would I be able to use it? Swallowing, I slowly moved my hand towards my coat pocket, scratching the blade.

"Hey there, boy! Don't involve random guys, I don't want any trouble." Said the young man in a worried voice as he raised his hands in front of his chest, the other two of the kidnapper's companions just starting to stir.

"What are you talking about? I thought you knew them." The fat man asked confusedly, loosening his grip on Allen slightly. The little boy did not wait and sank his teeth into the hand that carried the knife, making the fat man scream and drop it in surprise.

"Come on!" The curly-haired man shouted, catching Allen as he fell and running with him to the door. Grabbing my bag on instinct, I slid it over my head as I ran and joined them without being asked. Following them in their mad dash towards the more upscale parts of the English capital, I had a strange feeling of déjà vu. Skidding around the corner, I hit an unexpected obstacle and would have fallen if strong hands had not steadied me.

"Shhhh!" the young man hissed as he led me into a nearby alley before dropping Allen off in front of a safety ladder half-hidden behind some smelly bins.

"Climb up, we're almost there," the boy assured him at Allen's confused look. Glancing at me, I shrugged, a clear sign that I had no idea what was going on. Resolved by some miracle, Allen climbed the ladder, quickly followed by the boy, then me. Despite the sunny weather, the rooftops were covered in London's smog and I followed the boys in a veritable mash of pitch, praying for my life. At last the young man stopped us. In front of us, between two roofs, wooden planks and debris formed a makeshift dwelling that looked sturdy enough to withstand most London weather.

"Welcome to my home!" Said the boy as he pushed open the boards that closed the entrance. "I'm not really used to showing complete strangers my place, but I wasn't going to leave you with the idiots, and it's not like I'll be here much longer, so..." he said confidentially, his cigarette swaying as he spoke.

"So, what are your names?" he asked as he leaned against the makeshift wall, a playful smile never leaving his lips.

Quickly exchanging glances with Allen, who was looking uncomfortably around the place, I refocused on the man. "It's Allen," I said, speaking no louder than a whisper to mask my voice. I had already shouted it earlier, no point in lying now... "And I'm..." I began before realizing that no, definitely, I couldn't use the name Eve. And my real name, Estelle, was even worse. So what, the name of a friend? My father's, an uncle's, a cousin's? Decide, decide...

"Robin," Allen cut me off, his eyes locked in the man's. I'm not sure what to say.

"Hooo, Allen and Robin, eh?" the boy said with an interested look as he took the cigarette from his lips, his eyes scanning us in turn. "Say, boys, how about a little game of poker?" he said suddenly, pulling a pack of cards from his pocket and shuffling them expertly. "But it's no fun if there's no stakes, is it? How about the winner asks the other two a question of their choice?"

"I don't mind," Allen said, crossing his arms and looking unimpressed. "But the least you can do is give us a name," he remarked, accepting his cards.

"You just have to win a game and ask me the question," said the boy mischievously.

"Challenge accepted." said Allen with a matching smile. I knew how proud he was of his poker skills, after all.

"I don't know how to play poker," I warned them as I watched him deal me cards. In reality, I had some basic knowledge, but I certainly didn't want to play with Allen or the other guy. I'd watched them play together enough over the past four days to realize that it was mental suicide to come between their games.

"No problem, I'll explain! It's mostly a game of chance, and then it's not like we are betting money." He said as he put the deck in the middle and placed three cards on the floor. I glanced desperately at Allen, but he was already deep in his deck and seemed to be studying the cards carefully.

Sighing, I took my two cards, which unfortunately offered only a miserable 2 and a jack. The boy then began to explain the rules to me and turned over the three cards that were on the floor.

That didn't help me either.

Glancing desperately at my pack, I lay down with a sigh, leaving it to Allen to win the game so we could finally know his name.

"Three of a kind," Allen finally said with a satisfied smile as he laid his cards on the floor.

"Um, good game, but... not enough." Said the boy lazily as he laid his cards on the floor and took a drag from his cigarette.

Allen frowned but agreed willingly and listened to his question. "Um... Robin quit so the question is only for you... Are you really brothers? I mean, you lads have the same eyes and pale skin but I don't know…"

"No," Allen simply replied before elaborating under the man's watchful eye. "But we can pretend to be if the situation calls for it."

A few rounds later, I had completely given up my slim hope of ever winning. And Allen was almost at the same point. His eyebrows furrowed, he was mechanically shuffling his cards as the man looked at him with an amused smile.

Allen had not won a single game.

I, who had been convinced of his poker supremacy, had fallen off the wagon. But one always had to remember that it was a few years before the canon events and that Allen might not yet have learned his future cheating techniques that would make him proud. Or maybe the black-haired boy was just very strong? Arf, and me, a fervent supporter of the Friend! Poker Pair, who dreamed that Allen could only be defeated by...

...

Noooo.

You can't be serious!

What would be the chances?

No, unnlikely.

Definitely not possible.

Still scrutinizing the dark-haired boy, I ended up calling myself an idiot and mechanically lay back down, looking at my pitiful pair, the only combination I could hope to make with my game.

Beside me, Allen was looking at his game with a dark look, he must not have had much better than me... I wondered what time it was. John would be likely to wait for me for five minutes if I was late but I wasn't even sure...

"Do you have the time?" I asked the two boys, a little embarrassed to break the almost electric atmosphere between them. Rolling up his sleeve, the boy glanced at his watch. I didn't know much about watches, either then or in my old life, but it still looked pretty fancy for a boy from the slums who couldn't even afford a real roof over his head. Had he stolen it?

"A little after 5:30," he said, before giving me a teasing smile. "What Robin, a date with a damsel?"

"No, I just have to meet someone at 6pm. I'll have to go soon,, by the way... Do you think I can leave without your bar mates chasing me?" I sighed and the young man shrugged, saying he didn't think they would have been around for an hour. Allen glanced at my words before looking at his cards with a hint of hesitation. He seemed to make a decision though, as he soon threw his cards on the floor between us.

"Square" he said with a much too wide smile.

The boy opened his mouth as if to say something but nothing came out. With round eyes, high eyebrows and his cigarette dangling dangerously from his lower lip, he was the picture of surprise. Finally, after a time that seemed much longer than it really should have been, his cigarette fell to the floor, his cards following shortly after. "Full house," he said with a sigh before his eyes took on a strange gleam and a far too wide smile stretched his lips. "Well done kid! I thought the layout of the cards was strange... You've been sorting them for three games now and I had't noticed a thing!" He said with a laugh, rubbing Allen's hair before leaning back, the cards completely scattered throughout the floor.

"As promised," he said, catching both our gazes with deep black eyes. "You can call me Tyki."

...

Well...

Fate had quite a sense of humor...

So there you go, Tyki joins the battle :)

So I have some news! In the last chapter of UAPV, we passed the 100 review mark! That being said, I'm going to do a bonus chapter as promised :) However, while brainstorming on it, I went a bit far and it seems to be turning into a full-fledged fic... So, as I can't put a third fic in a monthly update, it will work by review update! Every 100 reviews on UAPV, you'll get a new chapter, that should give me time to write them X')

I like the idea so I'll probably do the same thing for NLN! How about the Noahs' point of view on Eve's story? :3

That's it! Good day to you :D I'm off to celebrate my almost good mention (erf, I was missing onmy two points in physics)!

Think of the reviews and see you on the fifth of next month!