Story: A Touch of Colour in the Gray

Book 1: Shading the Black.

Date: December 25, 2020, corrected August 2023

Beta: Nouilleverte(2020) and Nobody (2023)

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, taking the name Eve, becomes Tricia Kamelott's lady-in-waiting. Eve quickly becomes aware of the social and gender differences of the time and begins to fear for her future, especially when Road, the twins, Tyki and even Allen arrive. But the exorcist leaves for India and the twins are sent to boarding school. She meets Baroness Lucie Belle, the twins' older sister and her feline counterpart. Unfortunately, after a walk in town, Eve get tuberculosis and become sicker and sicker until…

Chapter trigger: talks of Eve's almost death because of a sickness

It's with a lot of emotions I have to announce that the French version is officially finished ! And I haven't written a single word since, when I used to write every night. Oops. Good habits disappear far too quickly… (Edit 2023 : indeed, didn't write for two years after that)

Also, this chapter absolutely does not cover what you surely want it to cover : D Because Eve is as lost as you are. If you want the sequel to Shade It All (the Noahs POV of the story) and therefore have some answers before Shading the White which will ends in approximately five years, (Edit2023: AS IF) you know what to do: 3

Also, another big thanks to Elogane for the cute drawing of the family! You can find it on tumblr (ennnael) with the other fanart or directly in the fic in AO3.

Enjoy your reading !

Shading the Black Chapter 39: Christmas à la Eve

Saturday 11th December 1886

With my hand on the handle, I pushed open the door. The room was neither small nor large, it was perfect, and it was with boundless relief that I rushed inside. Stumbling on the carpet, I sprawled out on the creaky bed with a sigh of contentment.

"You barely got out of bed, and you are already going back?" came an amused voice from behind me. It was with great effort that I glanced over my shoulder. Unsurprisingly, it was Tyki, leaning against the door frame leading to the corridor.

"Shhh, let me enjoy this. I'm home at last! I'm never going back to that damn living room. Or dead room, really." I mumbled as I buried my head in the pillow. It smelled of lavender, my favourite scent. They must have just changed the sheets. It was really nice of them, but I guess it was more Tricia I had to thank for that. Although perhaps it was Louise's or Clarisse's initiative...

"You're far too dramatic, the room didn't do anything to you." He smiled as he closed the door behind him. At first surprised at his discretion, I quickly understood why when he approached the large oak wardrobe.

"Now?" I asked curiously, turning my head towards him to follow his movements. "It's not even three o'clock, it's not very discreet..."

"I had no excuse to come in here for over a month, and believe me, I needed it..." He muttered as he opened the flaps and crouched down to rummage through the boxes of shoes half-hidden by the long robes. "Can I get you a drink?" He asked as I lazily turned on my side to get a better look at him.

"If there's any left." I teased him with a smile. "You haven't refuelled in a while, and there wasn't much left last time."

A small laugh escaped his throat, but he didn't answer anything, too busy opening another box containing little pink pumps I'd never seen before in my life. I swear, three quarters of this cupboard wasn't mine, everyone was using it as a hiding place, it was getting ridiculous. Last time, I'd even found leather trousers in my city hat and a red wig in the hood of my coat. And every time I put on my coat, I first had to check that Road hadn't taken advantage of its large pockets to hide her stock of sweets. So with the extra booze I was hiding in there for Tyki, I didn't even want to think about Tricia's reaction if she ever felt like opening my wardrobe...

"Did you put it somewhere else, Ivy? I can't find it." Tyki suddenly asked in a worried tone.

"What? No, why would I touch it? Are you sure you didn't put it in the wrong box last time?" I asked nervously.

"I've checked everything." He said as he turned to me, and he looked too panicked to play a joke on me. Now definitely worried, I hurriedly got up to kneel beside him and have a look in the cupboard.

"If it wasn't you or me, then who could have taken it? Oh I hope it's Road playing a bad joke on us." I replied a little pale, not wanting to think about the other possibilities. But Tyki seemed hesitant, and I raised an eyebrow in response. "What?"

"It might not be that, Road would be more likely, but I, um, saw Adam coming out of your room last week." He said hastily, and I stared at him in disbelief.

"What the hell was he doing there?! There is no way the Duke just… go through my stuff, right ? Oh, no… Why didn't you tell me earlier!" I whispered, and his face smoothed, not letting any emotion pass.

"And when could I have told you?" He muttered and I winced. He wasn't wrong, when indeed? It was the first time I'd set foot in my room again after more than a month, and it wasn't for nothing: sick as a dog, it would have been in bad taste to stress me out even more. Especially as I hadn't been far...

Not far at all from dying.

I really thought I was done for, that third week, when I couldn't even make out where I was. I had only the vaguest memories of those moments. A lot of coughing, extreme heat, the smell of blood and sometimes a hand holding mine. Given the pain involved, I wasn't complaining. But one day, miraculously, as Tricia would later swear, I woke up with no more pain. Sitting up in bed for the first time in days, I had looked around me with clear eyes and an understanding I couldn't even remember having before. Then, terribly confused about the whole ordeal, I pulled my feet out of bed and stood up on shaky legs... only to fall straight back to the floor, taking the bedside table and the picture frame still above it with me. With a loud crash, it shattered on the floor, scattering tiny bits of sharp glass all around it. Helping myself to the bed behind me, I'd barely managed to sit myself again when the door burst open, revealing Sheryl. Not exactly the person I'd most wanted to see when I woke up, but it was worth it, if only for his wide eyes. I never thought I'd see such surprise on my boss's face one day.

"Miss Campbell...?" Had he whispered, his eyes flashing between my face and the glass on the floor. OK, it was funny to see him so surprised, but not that funny! Clearly, he wasn't waiting for me to return to the world of the living, and that was a thought I had absolutely no desire to consider at the moment. Fortunately I didn't have to deal with it for the moment, because as soon as he'd let the words slip, his face went back to its usual serious look and he barked a "Don't move." It was a precipitous gesture that made me want to laugh at him (because moving, really? In my condition?) while he disappeared into the corridor. Five minutes later, leaving me barely enough time to pick up the frame from the floor and manage to cut my fingers off in the process, Road skidded in front of my door and rushed in, before stopping right away when she saw my bloody hands and the glass on the floor. Then she rolled her eyes with a mumbled 'Only you' that would have made me want to take offence if I'd had any energy to spare.

I didn't have a second's peace after that. Road had rushed to get me back into bed and by the time she'd finished tucking me in so tightly that I was practically suffocating under the tight sheets, it was the Earl who had entered the room, a portly man behind him and Tyki stumbling a few steps behind them. The unknown man was a doctor who, according to Road, had been looking after me for the last two weeks.

"You don't remember anything? At all?" Road asked with piercing eyes, and I shook my head mechanically before wincing when the doctor felt my arm a little too hard.

"I think the last thing was... one of your visits? I'm not sure..." I replied and it wasn't even a lie, I had no idea where each memory fit in the chronology and worse, I could only remember a few days in that room, surely not two whole weeks. Road exchanged an indiscernible glance with the Earl, but I pretended not to notice. Anyway, I was too busy trying not to panic at this dip in my memory. Of course, I was used to it, never having remembered how I came to be in this world, but it was never pleasant... The doctor quickly finished his examination and turned to the Earl, who beckoned him into the corridor. They left without a word, Road hot on their heels, and I was outraged not to be able to hear my own health results.

I was about to complain to Tyki when I saw him still leaning against a sofa further away with a sombre look I didn't know him for. "Well then, what's the matter with you?" I asked, curious to see him so... contemplative?

"You really don't remember anything?" he asked again, and I assured him once more that I didn't. Hearing my negative answer, he seemed to relax and finally approached my bed, casually crushing the bits of glass still on the floor with his shiny shoes. Still feeling a bit uncomfortable and not really wanting to face the fact that Tyki was relieved that I didn't remember the last two weeks, I immediately slumped onto the headboard and made an exaggerated pout to lighten the mood.

"And why was the Duke there? You, Road and the doctor, I can understand, but the Duke..."

"It's his personal doctor who's been looking after you and... well, he's been teaching you piano for a few months now... it's only natural that he's worried about your health." Tyki replied with an uneasy shrug, to which I only gave a doubtful look.

Because hey, let's say the Earl felt emotionally attached after all this time, it was still totally inappropriate for a grown man with no ties to wander into a sick woman's room. And as someone who liked to stick to the traditions of high society, it was rather strange, especially as he could simply have sent his doctor without showing up himself.

The following week had been terribly quiet, filled with forced bed rest that bored me to tears. I'd already spent over a month in bed! Admittedly, in the past I'd grumbled several times about not being able to being lazy in bed, but this was excessive. Even though I was still a bit weak, I felt incredibly good, and staring at the ceiling while trying to force my excited body to sleep more was a real torture. Fortunately, my favourite Noahs didn't leave me in my despair. I lost count of the number of times Road sneaked in with her dolls or Tyki climbed through the window to drop off books for me to read before narrowly escaping Sheryl's brother radar. Clarisse came to visit me too! I was a bit worried that I'd still be contagious at first, but she told me she wasn't at risk... I suppose she'd already had it? I didn't see John or Louise, though... but Clarisse was kind enough to play carrier pigeon between us, bringing letters and presents. Because yes, if there was one good thing to come out of this fatal illness, it was that Berthe no longer seemed to have any qualms about making me all my favourite cakes. She and Louise sent a portion almost every day, much to my delight.

And then there were the letters to write. Well, only two, but Tyki had been extremely alarmist in his last letter, judging by Allen's reply, and Road had happily told me that she had warned Arthur about my state of health too. So I took great care in writing these replies. To this was added a little panic when I realised that there were barely two weeks to go before Allen's birthday (and the twins' and Tyki's too...) but even if I sent him as soon as I wake up, it would still have just barely got to him in time for his birthday. Luckily for me, Tyki had been incredibly efficient this year and had taken care to send a sturdy Swiss Army knife from both of us. That was nice of him and a bit less so because it was one of the ideas I'd scribbled down in the margin of one of my transcripts, and it meant he'd been looking through my stuff again without permission.

But at the same time, I was practically dead sooo...

Kof.

In fact, it was only this very morning that I was allowed out of the small living room and saw Tricia for the first time since my diagnosis. I'm not going to lie, it looked like the most clichéd reunion scene in the world, Tricia running down the stairs to give me a hug. So hard I thought I was going to lose a lung, but I wouldn't have changed that for the world. I'd missed Tricia far too much, and I held her as tightly as she did. If I'd been her anchor for the last (almost!) two years, she'd been mine too.

After a hug so long that Sheryl started coughing to remind his wife of propriety (who couldn't have cared less: unbelievable!), breakfast followed in simple joy, filled with the thousands of bits of gossip I'd missed the last month. The discussion continued over a walk in the gardens (fresh air!) and even during lunch. Sheryl hadn't dared to grumble about my presence at the table when Tricia gave him a serious look. By the end of the meal, however, it was clear that Tricia was obsessively looking for things to talk about, to prolong the moment.

"I'll be here when you wake up." I promised softly when she didn't let go of my arm, even outside her bedroom door.

"I know, but... I was so scared, Eve, you're going to have to give me some time to calm down." She said with a calm smile and a hand on my cheek. Watching her disappear into her room, I felt a strange mixture of love and guilt and had to force myself to turn on my heels.

I've already told you the rest. I went back to my room, Tyki joined me, he wanted some alcohol, and we realised it'd disappeared.

So it was in a half panic that we went into Road's room while she was at School, searching it from top to bottom, only to come out empty-handed... (well, not so empty, I was still having horrors ' visions of that bag of dolls' heads we'd found under her bed, but in any case: no bottle) So, exchanging a desperate look with Tyki, I went to the master bedroom while Tricia was asleep. At the same time Tyki had gone through the twins' room with a fine-tooth comb but... still no bottle. By the time we'd realised it wasn't going to be that easy, Tricia had woken up, and we'd had to call off our search.

The rest of the day passed quietly. Tyki went back to work with Sheryl (with one last shared look of panic) and I had tea with Tricia, Road joining us as soon as she got home from school. It had still been a bit surreal getting back into our routine... it was as if the last month had never happened.

That impression soon faded, however, because that evening, for the first time in two years, I ate dinner with the whole family, including Sheryl and the Earl. It hadn't even been a big deal, Tricia had just taken me to her room, and I'd helped her get ready like every night (well... like every night before the tuberculosis anyway...) but when we'd finished, Tricia had looked at my waistline, bitten her lip and taken me to her dressing room before opening it wide and placing dress after dress in front of me as if to assess whether I could fit in.

"You're a lot thinner than me, Tricia, it won't suit me." I reminded her shyly as two piles quickly formed on the bed.

"I wouldn't be so sure, you've lost a lot of weight." She said with pursed lips and I tugged at my dress to realise that, yes, it was a bit loose. Who knew tuberculosis was such an effective diet? Not that I was advising it, mind you, it hadn't been any fun. In any case, as I had no desire to deprive myself of Berthe's good cooking, I had no doubt that I would quickly regain my weight.

Still, for the moment, Tricia was right and she had a field day. Maybe I'd also lost my immunity by staying away from her for so long, but she was able to make me try on dresses, put make-up on me, do my hair and even attach a simple little necklace to my neck without too many complaints from me. Quite a feat. She then took me to dinner and naturally placed me on her left, causing the servants to add another place setting in a hurry. As usual, the Earl had accepted the new situation without even batting an eyelash and Sheryl had barely twitched an eyebrow before turning to Road and pretending he hadn't seen anything. Or at least he did until he noticed the glass of wine in front of Tyki's plate. He immediately ordered it to be removed, reigniting the debate and breaking the awkward silence in one fell swoop.

"It's only a glass of wine, Sheryl." scolded Tyki, annoyed, his hand on it to stop a nervous butler from taking it. I wonder how the servants had managed to make the mistake, though, Sheryl's tantrums over this were well known. Oh dear, I hope it wasn't John who made the mistake! "You drink some, Adam drinks some, Tricia drinks some and even Eve, who's not of age, unlike me, if I may add, have a glass of wine." He added, pointing to the glass in front of me, that I hadn't even noticed. Giving him an annoyed look, I grabbed my glass of water to hide behind. There was no way I was going to get pulled into their business with Sheryl. Especially as he'd seemed much less disapproving of my existence since I'd woken up, and I would love for it to stay that way.

"There, there,, Sheryl, it's only a glass of wine, it won't hurt him." Calmed the Earl as Tricia watched the exchange with a worried expression. "What's more, I have no doubt that our two teenagers tried harder... it's the nature of youth to make their own mistakes, after all." He added softly, turning to us and giving us a disappointed look! Hiccuping in my drink, I had to grab my towel to shove it in my face and stop myself from spitting water everywhere. Tyki, who would normally have at least patted me on the back, was no help and a glance at him told me that he had gone incredibly pale and frozen. I wasn't dreaming, was I?

The Millennium Earl had just reprimanded us for our drinking.

Finally, exchanging a panicked look with Tyki, he slowly removed his hand from his wine glass and the waiter jumped on it immediately to disappear with it. "I... don't like wine that much anyway." He said in a voice a little too tight to be natural. The Earl raised an eyebrow in his direction. Tyki clenched his fingers under the table. "I just wish you'd stop treating me like a child." He finally admitted to Sheryl with such honesty that I looked at him with round eyes.

Sheryl puckered his lips, but his eyes softened immediately, and I distinctly heard a small, emotional sniff from Tricia's side. "I... will try, Tyki." He replied before his eyes hardened. "But perhaps, then, you could try to behave less like one, too." And Tyki nodded furiously under the Earl's satisfied look and Road's annoyed one. For my part, I immediately went back to eating silently, not quite believing that the Earl had taken the bottle and even more surprised by this unexpected heart-to-heart between the two brothers.

But what I really wasn't expecting was the evening. A little tired from this first day after so much time without efforts, I admit that I wasn't in the best of shape after all the emotions of the day. Sitting next to Tyki, half-heartedly leafing through a novel, I let Road play with my hair. Tricia was embroidering by the fire, Sheryl was leafing through papers with a stern frown and the Earl was knitting in a rocking chair I'd never seen before. The atmosphere was terribly peaceful and just as I was seriously wondering whether I was going to give them the affront of sleeping here or of taking my leave so early, everything got out of hand with an innocent question.

"What are you embroidering, Mother?" Road asked quietly as she added a ribbon to the French braid she'd just made for me. She had improved drastically in two years, it was almost perfect now compared to the pile of knots from the beginning.

"It's a surprise, sweetheart." Tricia smiled, pulling the embroidery back to her chest as Road jumped up from the sofa to go and observe. "No, no, little lady, you'll have to wait to see it!"

"Not until the New Year, I hope!" Pouted Road and Tricia laughed as she stroked her daughter's head.

"Why New Year?" I asked curiously and Road turned to me at full speed, leaning on my lap.

"For the presents!" She said with such conviction that it took me all of two seconds to realise that it didn't make any sense at all.

"You give presents on New Year's Eve?" I asked, confused, and Road looked horrified.

"Of course! You don't remember... ho, but you weren't here last year!" She exclaimed. "Didn't you do that with your family?" She added curiously.

"Miss Eve comes from France, if I'm not mistaken, the end-of-year traditions must be different there." remarked the Earl with a patient smile. Miss Eve? When did he stop calling me Miss Campbell? I asked myself absent-mindedly before jumping when the rest of the phrase popped into my head.

But at the same time, I'd already contradicted myself so much over the last two years that there was absolutely no way they'd still believe what I was saying. But then, I suppose it was an implicit agreement? I didn't say anything about their misuse of their powers and they didn't point out the huge holes in my life story. So... "We used to give presents at Christmas when the family would get together. New Year's Eve was mostly a party with friends." I answered honestly.

"Really?" Tricia exclaimed curiously as she put down her embroidery. "What were you doing at Christmas, if I can ask?"

"Euuuh..." I mumbled, surprised. I hadn't expected to be asked so much and with my tired brain, I was finding it hard to choose my words carefully. Squinting my eyes, I tried to blend my various Christmas celebrations (grandparents, Maman, Papa, friends...) into a whole that was possible at the time. "On Christmas Eve, we'd prepare, um, prepare little dishes all together, quick and simple things that we'd eat while playing... games." Mime, for example, and imagining Sheryl trying to mime a goat brought an involuntary smile to my lips. "Then we'd..." watch a clichéd Christmas film. "...er, went to bed. Then the next day, we'd wait for the signal..." The same music, from the same Christmas record for years. "...and we'd go and open the presents in the stockings under the palm-... tree. Then we'd eat a nice meal all together, usually a turkey with chestnuts, and we'd go and do an activity in the afternoon." I recounted with a nostalgic smile.

"Wait, what?" Road cut me off with furrowed brows. "Presents in... socks? Under the Palm tree? That doesn't make any sense."

"No, well yes, well..." I replied, biting my lip. "They were huge woollen socks, not socks we actually put on? I have no idea why we were doing that." I replied with a shrug. "Normally you have to tie them to the chimney and it's either the tree or the socks, but as we didn't have a chimney..." I say before realising it was the worst thing in the world to say. Everyone had fireplaces in those days, it was the best way to keep warm, after all. Grimacing, I hurried on to try and make them forget this mistake. "And usually you need a fir tree, but we didn't have one in our..." Balcony. "Garden. We did, however, have a potted Palm tree so every Christmas, we decorated it just like a fir tree."

"I've heard of the tradition of putting little presents on the tree! It comes from Germany, I think?" Tricia exclaimed happily. She seemed incredibly excited about the whole thing.

"I have no idea." I answered honestly. It was a common thing in my day, something you saw in every clichéd Christmas film. "But maybe? My father's family are from Alsace, so they probably took the tradition from there." I replied, proud to be able to link my lies.

"Campbell is not a very German name. The Earl remarked as he put his glasses back on.

"...distantly from Germany." I replied with the most serious air in the world as I died inside. Clearly, I could never be a secret agent.

"Oh, but now that I think about it, Mother, didn't we say last year we'd celebrate the winter holidays like Eve usually do?" Road said quite innocently as I looked at her with round eyes, Sheryl finally looking up from his papers to do the same.

"I'm not sure that..." he began, while at the same time I hastily blurted out, "Really, I don't think it's necessary..."

But of course Road knew exactly where to press to trigger Chaos and Tricia, already excited earlier, jumped on board straight away. "That's a wonderful idea, sweetheart!" And just like that, it was decided. The only people who could have stopped this disaster gave up before even trying. Sheryl just seemed resigned and the Earl intrigued.

I had a tiny little hope that Tricia's enthusiasm wouldn't survive the night, but that was far too much to ask.

The next morning, the first night back in my room, it was Tricia who came to wake me up at 8am instead of the other way round. Already all dressed up, she even had a breakfast tray which she placed on my little round table (for once uncluttered by a pile of random drawings... someone had tidied up, but fortunately the writings of Victor Hugo were still untouched in their place, I had checked the day before). I'd apologised, of course, but Tricia hadn't paid any attention, saying I needed a rest and immediately contradicting herself by tiring me out with a proper interrogation.

The next two weeks or so were filled with lavish preparations that left me totally exasperated. Did we really need a six-foot tree? Or a specialist cook for the occasion? I had the impression that it was the preparations for the Bals all over again. The only good news was that I wasn't the only one suffering from Tricia's tyrannical tendencies, as Tyki had been forcibly requisitioned. Even Road, who had launched the idea at her own peril, was beginning to get fed up. Luckily for us, she was soon replaced by the twins when they returned for the holidays. Well, fortunately... in other words, instead of possible planetary catastrophes, all that remained was a headache and some material damages.

"What I don't understand, Ivy, is why you were doing that." Tyki asked, frowning as he hung the little cardboard decorations we'd all made together this afternoon on the tree. "Christmas is the birth of Jesus, isn't it?" He said as if he hadn't been dragged to enough Masses to know that. "And your family weren't Christians, were they?" He remarked and I glowered at him. Tricia was... ticklish when it came to religion and regularly tried to convert me when she seemed to remember that, in fact, I wasn't Christian. Fortunately, she seemed too busy hanging garlands with Road and wasn't really paying attention to our conversation.

"Yes, basically Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ, but in our house it was just a way of getting together as a family?" I answered, fumbling with my words. "In fact, when I was little, my parents even made my brother and sister and me believe that there was a man, Santa Claus, who would come down the chimney in the night to give presents to the children to reward them if they had been good during the year."

"So..." Tyki said with a frown. "You thought an old man you didn't know was coming down the chimney when you didn't have one, breaking and entering if I may add, to leave a present before leaving like a thief...?"

I blushed and slapped his arm shamefully. "I was six! We believe everything our parents tell us when we're six and it's tradition... I'm sure you have some stupid traditions too, that don't make any sense." I mumbled, crossing my arms.

Tyki immediately winced, his eyes taking on a vague look. "All right, I admit it." He grinned, and I was suddenly terribly curious as to what he was thinking. I tried to find out more, but no matter how hard I tried, he wouldn't open his mouth. I'm sure I would have succeeded with a bit more time, but that was the moment Jasdero chose to ask me to teach him how to tie a rabbit's knot. So, deftly avoiding Tricia showing Devit how to wrap a present, I glanced at the Earl folding origami, saw Sheryl carrying Road so that she could put the star on the tree and laughed at Lulu the cat when she jumped on a ribbon that Tyki was waving.

All in all, a perfect day to mark my second year with the Noahs.

If you're wondering why this chapter is over 5K and still doesn't mention Christmas Day, blame Elo, who was desperate for Eve's reaction to the illness (Elo: Hey! I said you didn't have to! XD). It's not like it tells you much :p It just reinforces the feeling that the Noahs are hiding something and that Eve is COMPLETELY lost.

I'm going to have to tidy it up a bit to fit it into the schedule, so the next chapter will be pure Fluff then Angst X') or at least, we'll give it a go...

Think about letting a review on your way out, and see you on the 25th of next month!