I made a itsy bitsy mistake last chapter with the days of the first person. I'm no good with math -w-. So give it a quick glance when you can :)


Prima Materia

Two. Twists of Fate


|Twelve months later. Edinstown, England|

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Celia skidded a corner, dangerously close to tumbling to the floor had her hands not bounced her right back up giving her a second wind. Heavy footfalls echoed in the streets as the large man chasing after her kept up with her surprisingly well.

"YOU'RE PAYING ME THAT DAMN TAB, YOU BRAT!"

"...damn it, you mangy priest..."

But there wasn't a use berating Cross. It was just a damn waste of air at this point.

A growl high above got her to look up and spot Timcanpy flying over the rooftops of the city. The hint of a smile curled her lips but it was gone when a shoe got thrown at her from behind. Ducking out of its way, Celia chased after Tim who somehow zigzagged her through alleyways to lose the innkeeper long enough to hide behind a pile of crates. Celia crouched and clasped her hands over her mouth to quiet her hasty breaths in time to watch the heavyset man jog right past her with heavy pants.

Celia counted to ten, then breathed a large sigh of relief.

Another growl caught her attention as from above, Timcanpy hovered down by her side and smacked his tail against her leg, wanting her to carry him. A scream lodged in her throat from the frustration. Swallowing it, she saved it instead, knowing that once she found Cross, she'd have exactly the target to yell at. Celia took a moment to peek out of the corner of her hiding spot before hauling Tim by his tail and dragging him along as she casually walked into the crowd.

"Now… where would I find a church..."

Her eyes wandered through the morning crowd she encountered, head snapping every which way in search of an edifice with even the faintest resemblance to said place of worship. But this was a far larger town than she was used to which left her at quite a loss. Glancing over her shoulder, she tugged at Tim's tail.

"Which way?" He garbled something, she nodded and responded "East it is," before heading said way.

Cross had the gall before to leave her alone wherever they stayed. Private clergyman matters, he claimed. Celia knew better than to believe him. They'd gotten a room at an inn near the Red Light District, after all. A year taught her plenty of his womanizing ways. But that aside, he seldom left her there without a coin to pay lodgings with. Times like those she either lied her way through another night or ran. And since the big fat man didn't believe her, Celia resorted to running.

Now, it was a matter of finding Cross. And the single-sentence note of 'At the church' only gave her so much to work with. Stopping briefly, Celia let go of Timcanpy's tail and grumbled under her breath, adjusting the child-sized cloak covering her from England's biting winter cold. A puff of white formed at her exasperated exhales as she rubbed her gloved hands against one another for warmth.

The thought of asking around came to mind but the dread of speaking to others quickly snuffed that idea out. How hard could it be to find a church anyway?

"Ah..."

A sudden rush of electricity spun her around. Her eyes darted everywhere, getting a feel of the charge that coursed through her and stopping when she noted where it felt the most uncomfortable. Hauling Tim in her arms, Celia darted after that uncomfortable sensation, knowing exactly what it was. In the past year, it was common to feel the electricity coursing through her every other day. It'd been strange at first, but eventually, its meaning became clear.

White puffs of air exited her mouth through short pants as she stood before a tall edifice with large, wooden doors and beautiful stained-glass windowpanes. A cross was depicted high in the glass surrounded by angelic figures.

"A church..."

A rather lonesome one at that. There wasn't another soul in sight despite her having left the crowded city center just minutes ago. All those thoughts, however, ran out of her head the instant a gunshot exploded within the walls and rattling the windows.

Afraid, Celia stood in place, her hand instantly shooting upwards to the hairpin decorating the bun on her head. The echoes of the gunshot rang for a little bit longer before she had the courage to grasp the hairpin in her hand and walk towards the door with Timcanpy hovering close by. Trembling fingers grasped the cold metal handles and after a second to brace herself, pushed the door open.

The old wood creaked at being forced and Celia took a moment to peek inside, Timcanpy landing atop her head and peeking in himself. Dust flew away in the gust of wind her opening the door created. A mess of webs hung furthest away from the entrance and stuck at the center were a set of clothes. Priest's garments. Celia had seen them too many times not to recognize them. And walking away from it was Cross.

Relief washed over her, pulling an unknown smile to her lips as she shoved the door open enough to run inside. "C-" His name died in her throat the moment she noticed his hand on Judgement, his index finger still on the trigger. Her gait slowed and stopped before reaching the first row of pews where Cross met her.

The redhead man took a long swig of his cigarette and blew it away before looking down at her. "You manage to get yourself a free night?"

Amethyst eyes didn't even spare him a glance, instead fixated on the clothes remaining. "Was that...a person…?"

His crimson gaze fell on her for a moment before he holstered his Innocence and breathed out smoke without taking away the cigarette from his mouth. "An Akuma was harboring itself here."

Her chest felt heavy at the insinuation of what happened to the priest those clothes belonged to. Carefully, she took Timcanpy off her head and placed him on the banister closer to Cross before walking towards the webs. Cross didn't bother to chide her or try convincing her otherwise.

Akuma weren't new to her. But ever since her first encounter, she couldn't help the melancholy that came over her at the thought of them. Who had they been? Someone's mother? Father? Child? Friend?

It pained her to think of the kind of soul forced to act upon someone else's behalf. Nothing but a weapon for some senseless slaughter. Closing her eyes, Celia pressed her palms together and sent a quiet prayer for the priest who'd just passed and for the Akuma's soul Cross had just released. Doing that, however, forced her to look at the metal hairpin now stuck between her hands.

Am I really gonna have to do what he does?

Celia examined the metal hairpin in her hands for a moment. A gift from Cross—the only gift, really—it was something that helped her better handle her Innocence. But for as useful as it was and for as excellent a teacher as Cross was, none of it took away the fear and hesitance holding her back still. Oftentimes she boasted to him that she could fight, if only he let her, but Cross saw right through her lies.

"You're too much of a bleeding heart. It'll get you killed before you even draw the glaive."

Her footsteps echoed in the empty church as they hit the finely tiled floor on her way back to Cross. Timcanpy clasped its mouth shut when she got close enough, Cross glancing over his shoulder as she stopped behind them.

"What is it?" he asked with an irate tone to his voice.

"Do you feel anything when you shoot them?"

He took a deep inhale, his cigarette burning scarlet before he exhaled the large cloud of smoke that Timcanpy bit at by hovering a few inches off the banister each time.

"Feelings are going to get you killed. Carve them out now that you can. You'll be better off in the long run."

"But...they were people, too. Just like Red and Rosalia." Her mind was a mess trying to figure out just how to feel about what her role in all of this was. The thought made her hold on her hairpin tighten until her knuckles whitened. "Do you think they're in pain when we kill them?"

Cross, finally having enough of their conversation, exhaled the last puff of smoke before crushing the bud of his cigarette against the banister. With ease and unbelievable speed, his hand shot down to his holster. Celia reacted purely by instinct when she saw that.

A gunshot rang through the stone walls, a pillar crumbling at the new hole made by a lodged bullet. Smoke rose from Judgement's barrel. All Celia could do was pant, panicked, and hold onto her double-sided glaive tight, the blade ringing from having blocked the bullet and deviated its trajectory.

"W-What the heck!?" she cried out, rubbing her hands together around the black pole of her glaive to ease the itching left behind by the recoil.

"What did I tell you about asking stupid questions?"

"But I wanna know!"

"Do you want me to shoot at you again?"

Celia shut her mouth then, pursing her lips as she held her glaive closer to her chest. The large blades made balancing it hard but she let the bottom one fall on the floor to ease the carrying of the top one.

Sheepishly, her gaze averted away from his menacing gaze and ended up on the blades of her weapon. Unlike the rougher versions made of whatever random object she could find lying around, this one was easier to summon, though why it took the form it did was beyond her.

Training and using the metal hairpin as a conduit made it easier to use, though. According to Cross, her Innocence could turn anything she touched into a weapon without a need for what he called a conduit. But creating such rough weapons without something to focus on constantly wasted too much stamina, not to mention were much easier to break. The hairpin— something Cross claimed was crafted of a special kind of metal and some of her blood—didn't turn to dust like random pipes or sticks did and it lessened the burden on her body.

So despite being a bit too big of a weapon for her now, Cross assured her in the past that with lots of strenuous training, she'd eventually be able to wield it with ease.

He never mentioned whether time and training would also make it easier to kill machines that used to be human and had human souls in them though. Celia supposed that knowing they were liberating them from unwanted earthly chains was a relief, though it didn't erase from her mind the pained look on Red's Akuma when she stabbed it with her blade.

Shaking her head to chase away those dark thoughts, Celia undid her activation and made the hairpin return with relative ease. Wiping at her nose, she sniffled, Tim coming to tackle her gently to force her to hold him before she looked up at him.

"Now what?"

"Nothing to do but keep moving forward," he said under his breath, letting his coat be blown by the wind as he opened the door leading out of the church.


"Cross." Celia patiently waited a full second after tugging at his coat. When he didn't even glance at her and simply kept gazing ahead, she pouted. "Cross!" Nothing again. Her cheeks puffed angrily. What the heck was he even staring at? Taking a deep breath, Celia readied to do what she rarely did: throw a tantrum.

"Cross. Cross. Cross. Cross. Cross. Cross. Cross. Cross. Cross. Cross. Mangy pri—"

"WHAT?!"

Celia released his coat and rubbed her belly under her cloak. "I'm hungry."

Instantly she hid behind him, grasping at his coattails to keep him from shooting at her with Judgement. But to her amazement, his fingers only twitched annoyed next to his gun. Instead, he sighed and reached into his pockets procuring a few bills and passing them along to her. Celia took them in her hands while owlishly blinking at the cash in them.

"Better make that last," he chided as he held a newly lit cigarette between his fingers. "It's all I'm giving you for the month."

Her shoulders instantly fell. The mound of money didn't look all that big all of a sudden. Resigning herself to his stinginess, Celia had one foot on the staircase leading away when Cross stopped her.

"Celia?"

"Mm?"

"Stay away from the clown." Amethyst eyes blinked back at him quizzically, but he ignored then and simply shooed her off with a wave of his hand, the streak of smoke following his movement. "Go."

Albeit confused, Celia listened, calling out she'd be back and that he better not leave her behind before climbing down the stairs and into the crowd before them. Walking through the crowd, she counted the bills he gave her, smiling a bit at the amount as she mumbled to herself.

"Guess he doesn't like clowns."

Going off on a sprint, she got stopped in her tracks when she suddenly bumped into someone. Luckily, she managed to save herself the fall but apologized deeply to the older girl that stood before her now.

"It's alright," she said with a kind smile. "No harm done."

Beautiful was the thought that crossed Celia's mind as the girl easily walked past her after that. She'd never seen eyes like hers before. Like pools of gold.

Her stomach suddenly growling snatched her thoughts away once again as she hurried to find any nearby food carts. Luckily for her, one selling some neat smelling turkey legs was close. She bought one and dug in immediately, sitting down for a moment to wolf it down like it'd be her last meal. Quickly done and buying another, she thought of returning to Cross now that her stomach was more appeased. But his odd comment added with her curiosity of the gathered crowd brought her closer to them instead. From where she stood and amongst so many adults, she could only spot balls flying in the air every so often.

Biting away at her turkey leg, Celia looked for another opening and walked over to the first she found, making her way to the front to catch a glimpse of what the crowd was going crazy about. Her gaze widened instantly when she saw the clown before her performing. Never did she think a street clown's performance would ever be something she'd describe as beautiful or elegant or mesmerizing.

This clown was all that and even more words she couldn't think of. The way he danced around juggling and how he magically made flowers and stars appear from thin air was enthralling. And the cute dog he had beside him decked in his own little outfit and juggling a ball on his nose was just delightful to boot. Without thinking, Celia found herself giggling alongside the gathered crowd. As flyers suddenly sprung forth, he cordially invited them all to the circus.

Circus?

That wasn't a word she knew. Not from books nor that weird part of her brain that just knew things sometimes. Such a mystery truly got her thinking about what it could be. Would more clowns like this one be there? Just as pretty and fun to watch?

Excited about something for once, Celia bent down meaning to pick one of the flyers from the floor when, while raising her head, something wet touched her nose. Taken by surprise, she let out a yelp, the flyer and the leg she had barely taken a bite almost falling from her grasp. The flyer, though, swayed to the floor as the dog that had spooked her sat before her panting.

Suddenly, the dog's nose twitched as he smelled the air, catching a whiff of her turkey leg on the floor. As if asking for permission, his cute beady eyes looked up at her pleadingly making her chuckle.

"You can have it, little guy. I can always buy another." Carefully, she lowered the leg onto the sidewalk for him to take.

Barking once, he went on to eat away at the leg for a good minute. While he did that, Celia crouched down before it, cheeks blushing thinking at just how soft his shiny fur would be. Her hand slowly reached out to his head as he ate away at the leg but stopped when he suddenly looked up from it. Both froze and looked at each other. To her surprise, he carelessly licked the palm of her hand and rubbed his head against it before going back to eat. More at ease about it, Celia petted him a couple of times before fully scratching his ears. A chuckle escaped her at how his hind leg thumped the ground every time she scratched the nape of his neck.

"You're a cute pup."

It was amazing how fast he ate that leg which brought an end to their petting session quick enough. Celia stood understanding this and expected him to go back to his owner, but before he did, he waddled over to a flyer, picked it up in his mouth, and brought it back to her. Carefully, she took it and smiled at the dog. "Thanks, buddy."

He barked once and leaped away gleefully. Going back into the crowd intending to head back to Cross, she read the flyer the pup had given her. Garvey's Circus, it promoted. Apparently their circus would be in town until Christmas. A few days then, she surmised if she remembered her calendar correctly. Luckily they were staying a few days too.

Wait, lucky?

No, her brain chided, you heard what Cross told you. No clowns. But as she held the flyer in her hands, some slobber still clinging to it, a dangerous thought came to mind.

"One day won't hurt."

Plus, what was wrong with having fun for one night?


Cross left early that afternoon.

He was doing that more often nowadays. Saying he needed to be somewhere and that he'd be back when he was done. This time she made sure not let him bail on the inn bill, hassling him to leave that before he left.

Stunningly, Cross listened to her. The rather absent look on his face worried her, though. It was easy to notice these changes. Celia liked looking at his face when he wasn't paying attention. He was kind of handsome for a mangy old man. Looking at those crimson eyes especially tended to spring within her a sense of melancholy she couldn't understand. But he never let it show for more than a split second. This time wasn't any different. Scowling down at her, he ordered her to go sleep early and not get in trouble.

"I never do!" she chirped. Certainly, none he was ever aware of anyway.

Today would be one different.

Warm oranges and reds painted the evening sky as the sun began setting after a long day when she ventured out into the streets. Colder now than during the morning, Celia wandered the streets with the flyer in hand, following the crowds that got thicker and thicker along with the cheerful music that grew louder and the artificial lights that became brighter.

A large, colorful tent took a big space in the middle of an open area surrounded by many smaller ones. People shouted and chatted gleefully amongst themselves here. Children skipped ahead, excitement shining in their chubby faces. Stands full of foods she'd never seen lined the way towards the main tent's entrance. Her mouth watered and eyes gleamed at the sight of such delicious looking snacks. Taken by it all, Celia stopped by each stand using the cash Cross gave her to get one of everything. Just as she was finishing wolfing down cotton candy that just melted in her mouth like a sweet, scrumptious cloud, a voice boomed over the crowd as the last performance of the day was soon to start.

Celia trotted after the crowd, doing as they did to buy a ticket, and made her way inside the tent to find an empty seat. But as soon as she sat down, she shrunk into her cloak. It felt weird to be amongst the crowd. Not just because of the fear the knowledge of Akuma instilled in her but because it was honestly embarrassing to be here alone.

Families were gathered to watch a performance and spend time together, and here she was, a kid all by her lonesome. Her shoulders slumped at the somber thought. It was funny how her amnesia was never forefront in her mind except when it hurt the most. She supposed that living in a world with killing machines and a weapon to kill them in her hand took precedence. Still, she wondered from time to time when watching others during their travels what it would be like to have a normal life.

To be a child with parents, siblings, and a dog to play with. To go to school and learn. To be able to laugh without the notion of danger and death hovering over her head constantly. It was always a matter of 'what ifs' that were always shortly followed by 'hows'. How come she didn't have them? How had she ended up in those streets in China? And the loudest one of all: how was she even alive?

Her fingers reached up to the crown of her head where the bumpy scarred skin protruded underneath her hair. All those wounds, all the scars, they had to have come from somewhere. And whatever it'd been, it'd been bad if they were anything to judge things by. So how come...how was she the one here unable to remember a single thing?

The cloud of depression that hung over her vanished as the lights dimmed in the tent. The crowd quieted instantly, only leaving the echo of murmurs behind before everything exploded with energy. So many lights and colors burst into the open, dazzling Celia and leaving her beyond speechless. The clowns from the town square were now joined by many other people as they danced and trapezed in their flamboyant entrance.

"Honored guests! I bid you welcome tonight! The Garvey Circus is open until Christmas!"

To say that it was the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen would be an understatement.

Her cheeks hurt from how much she'd been laughing and smiling the whole way through. Sadly, it eventually ended and as they were thanked for joining them for the performance, the people started filing out to return home. Knowing Cross wouldn't be home anytime soon yet, Celia stayed behind outside buying some more sweets to take home while waiting for the crowds to subside. With how they were just sweeping by, it'd be no joke if she got swept away by them herself. So with a bag of taffy in one hand, she popped a cherry-flavored one in her mouth and stopped by a bare tree.

Hidden by the shadow the tents cast, Celia leaned back on the cold bark and chewed away. Families passed by her unknowingly, none questioning what a child was doing by herself so late at night. But they were far too fixated on their own little worlds to notice her. That same melancholy from before the show struck her, her gaze falling as her mind wondered what it'd be like.

Madame Red and the girls and children from the brothel came to mind briefly. Family took care of each other, right? Perhaps that's what it was like to have one. Though she didn't think the bullying she suffered counted. Cross was...well, Cross. Celia doubted he counted. He was more her teacher than a father, really. At least she hoped she didn't have a father like that.

Thinking so much made her heave a long sigh as she crouched down in place and leaned her forehead against her knees. Tears pricked in her eyes threatening to fall and wiping them did nothing but make them come faster. Anger rose in her chest at how fickle her emotions were, and in it, Celia couldn't help it when she threw the bag of candy with all her might towards the darkness behind the tents. Crouching back down, she took a deep breath.

I'm an idiot.

Getting angry with herself for feeling sad was dumb. But throwing stuff did make her feel better. It wasn't an excuse though.

"I should head back…"

Just as she was about to rise from her spot, a rough wet tongue licked her face the instant she lifted her head. Hair sticking every which way with saliva, amethyst eyes blinked puzzled at the dog panting before her.

It's...you.

"You're that dog."

He barked before tackling her down easily from her crouching and lashing away at her face with his tongue. Laughter erupted from her as she struggled to push the pup away. Despite how slimy his tongue felt, there wasn't any denying that his presence made her anger and sadness slowly disappear. After a good minute, the dog backed off, sitting just a short foot in front of her as she sat up from the cold ground.

With a chuckle, she watched as the dog suddenly up and trotted away into the shadows before coming back with her bag of candy in his mouth. As if nothing, he dropped it before her.

"Thank you."

Again he barked, then out of nowhere sprinted off elsewhere. Smiling after him, Celia got up and brushed the snow from herself, feeling in a much better mood to finally go back to the inn. As she turned, however, the barking came back. Turning around only got her a ball smacked right dead center in her face.

Celia groaned as she held onto her face. It hadn't hurt all that much but the surprise attack had been enough to hurt her pride. Her glare didn't last long when the dog swiftly grabbed the purple ball with yellow stars in his mouth and started bouncing it on his snout. A chuckle bubbled from her, belying her irritation. Hearing this, the dog stopped, balancing the ball on his snout as he stood on his hind legs. Celia clapped at its performance, giggling as the dog finally grabbed it in his mouth again and came to stand normally on all fours.

"You're a very random dog, but you're very funny and cute, too."

The pup barked again, the sound muffled by the ball, before strutting up to her and jumping on her, its front legs leaning on her chest. Without warning, it woofed again and pressed the ball and his cold, wet nose against hers.

"What—" Getting off, the dog circled around in front of her before dropping the ball before her and barking. "Do you...want to play fetch?" He barked again, this time pushing the ball forward to her with his nose. Cautiously, she took the slimy ball in her hands. It wasn't anything special. Just a normal rubber ball with a pretty design. Celia lifted her hand to throw it but when the dog only snorted and barked without moving, another idea clicked in her mind.

"Are you...are you giving it to me?"

Finally, he barked a couple of times before coming forward again and rubbing his head against the back of her hand. Giggling, she scratched behind his ear as he licked the inside of her wrist where the scar of her Innocence was inlaid.

A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she knelt down to scratch him further and when he came close enough, wrap her arms around him. The pup calmly set his head upon her shoulder without a second thought and sat there complacently.

"You're so warm," she said with a chuckle. Burying her face in his fur, she took a deep breath before letting him go and stepping back up. Toying with the ball in her hands, she waved it in front of him to show with a smile. "I can't possibly keep it. So how about I take it for tonight and give it back to you tomorrow! I kinda wanna come back to see you perform again anyway." That he suddenly started running around her in circles got her laughing again. "Okay, okay, I'll definitely come back and see you. You and your master are quite fun to watch."

He barked one last time before heading out into the back of the tents. Chuckling to herself, Celia took her bag of candies and ball and walked through the now empty streets back to the inn. The ball bounced easily off the asphalt as she played around with it on the way back. But just as she turned a corner, the ball bounced at an angle and took off in a random direction. Chasing after it quickly, Celia caught up to it as it stopped at the feet of some random stranger who picked it up.

Slowing down at seeing them, Celia cautiously approached them, her hand stuck between wanting to reach out for it and wanting to grasp onto her cloak for comfort.

"I-I'm really sorry."

"No need to apologize." The man chuckled under his breath, turning the ball in his hand as he inspected it curiously. "Say, what's a young, little lady like yourself doing out here all alone?"

"I—um...ah!"

Electricity. It ran like a shot straight from the base of her neck to the soles of her feet in less than it took her to blink. It was quick but it'd happened. And what it insinuated made her blood run cold.

He's…

"You're...an Akuma."

The friendly smile on the man's face suddenly widened to inhuman proportions until it became too much for his skin to take. Like a cheap mask, the manic grin broke through his flesh as the monstrous machine within morphed to life.

Celia's hands shot upward to her hair, snatching her hairpin and summoning her glaive that felt strangely heavy in her hands now. Though having had so much hellish training at Cross' hands, it was obvious that it still didn't prepare her for what it'd be actually like to fight an Akuma.

Dodging the sudden slashes from its overgrown scythe-like hands, Celia ducked into an alley to better control her environment. Stuck having to squeeze through the narrow alleyway, it was much easier to cut away at it anytime its blades slipped in to try and snatch her. It wasn't until after cutting off one of its bladed appendages that the Akuma yowled before destroying the walls in his way. Amethyst eyes went wide at the sight and she scurried away underneath it as it struggled to loosen itself from the narrowness still.

Now in the open, Celia skidded to a stop and faced the humanoid machine, her grip tight yet shaky on her weapon as it crawled out of the alleyway.

"What a little sweet morsel you'll be!"

It prowled towards her slowly. Its huge feet crushing the asphalt beneath it. Her shaking legs begged her to run. To seek out Cross at the Red Light District where he'd surely be and have him kill this thing. But the more she thought about it, the more she knew how null that option even was. The district was too far. No matter how fast she ran, there was no way she'd get there unharmed. Realistically, she'd die before getting there.

But as her grasp began to tremble with the mere haunting thought of death, the star-patterned ball rolled just at the corner of her vision. Her breath stopped suddenly, eyes widening at the sight.

"I'll definitely come back and see you."

Suddenly the electricity rushed through her and out of her hands faster than she could think. The blades on her glaive responded and crackled with green energy as the edges sharpened with an emerald gleam.

This...wasn't the time to be afraid. She needed to be brave now more than ever. Especially if she wanted to keep her promise to that nice, ole pup.

Without warning, the Akuma lunged for her. Taking each thing in stride, Celia did her best to think of everything that Cross had taught her up to that point. Dodging out of its attacks, she spun around, trying to use her height and speed to take a few jabs at it. And they landed—one then another and another. Though superficial, they were growing more and more in number and it only kept getting slower and slower by the minute.

Seeing an opening, Celia sprinted forward at the same time it sluggishly did. Deviating its bladed hand with one of hers, her arms switched positions quickly enough to bring him down before her with her other blade ready to strike. But just as she intended to give the finishing strike, it unhinged its jaw and caught her blade with its razor-sharp teeth. Astonishment and anxiousness mixed in her wide eyes as those teeth dug into her blade.

"You'll have to try harder than that, sweet."

Celia's blood ran cold as he lifted his other bladed hand. Frozen as she was, however, she couldn't even force her weapon free. Not on time.

No…

The blades reached their peak and fell down upon her, but at the moment she closed her eyes to bear the brunt of the slashing, a gunshot rang loudly in the air. Her eyes shot wide open as the mark of Judgement's bullet hitting true shone in its head. It bloated, losing its shape quickly as it began to die. With the hold on her glaive loosened enough, Celia yanked it out of its mouth and ran seconds before the Akuma exploded into dark chunks of the body that quickly dissipated into smoke.

Falling back, her Innocence deactivated as it clattered noisily on the street with her. Cross' imposing figure emerged from the vanishing smoke then. Judgment was held aloft close to his shoulder, lowering only after reassuring himself that the one Akuma had been the only one there. He approached her as she stood, his footfalls sounding tremendously loud to her ears.

Or perhaps that was her thundering heartbeat.

Reaching for her hairpin as it laid haphazardly on the ground, her eyes caught sight of the ball not far away and rushed to pick it up. Before she could, though, Cross bent over and snatched it away. Celia's face paled as he gave it a mere glance and sneered down at her.

"I told you to stay away from it."

The deep timbre of his voice suddenly sounded threatening. It wasn't unlike the one he used when he trained her, but it also was way more menacing than that.

"I...I'm sorry." Her voice trembled as did her hands as she grasped the hairpin in them. "I-It won't happen again. I promise..."

"No." He dropped the star-patterned in her hands carelessly forcing her to catch it and look up as he said, "It won't."


Celia awoke the next morning to a room cleaned out of Cross's belongings and a single letter addressed to her waiting on the coffee table.

'I'm sending you to Headquarters. Finders will be here by the time you wake up to take you there. And you better listen this time, brat.'

It was strange but for the second time since Celia had use of conscious memory, tears sprouted from her eyes. But seriously, what did she expect crying to accomplish? It hadn't brought back Red, so what made her think that it would bring the mangy old priest back? Hope, maybe. Yeah, that sounded right. It was hope that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't leave her like Red and the others had after the fire. But that hope was dashed now.

Shattered just as easily as it had been built.

"Miss Celia Valentine. We're here to take you to Headquarters."

As they boarded her into a train, amethyst eyes stared long outside her window at the town she was leaving. The one where Cross left her behind. The one where she fought for the first time with her Innocence. And where she met her first friend.

Celia held the star-patterned ball in her lap as the train began to come to life, ready to depart Edinstown. Tenderly in her grasp, she held it close to her chest trying to remember the warmth of that pup.

I don't think I'll be able to return this to you. Sorry.

"I hope you have a happy life, buddy."


|Under the canals of Paris, France.|

Dark and damp, these strange underground waterways appeared to run miles upon miles long. Or at least that's what it felt like for Celia in the twenty minutes they'd been rowing after hoisting her onto a longboat. What a shame that she wouldn't get to see Paris yet. It looked like a nice city.

If I'd come here with Cross, I could've snuck out while he went out drinking.

The dreary reminder of that old man dampened her already weary disposition. It still hurt that after two whole years of knowing each other and the one of traveling together that he would just toss her over like that for disobeying him. It's not like she hadn't done it before either. The fact that Celia couldn't count the times she'd gone behind his back to do something during the last year said something too. Which begged her to ask just what the heck had been so bad about what she did this time?

There wasn't time to wallow in her self pity for much longer. Soon enough, the seemingly long boat ride ended. At the end of the underground canal, Celia spotted what looked like a small docking area near an opening. Two torches stood on either side of the dock where a couple of silhouettes stood waiting. Slowly, the boat docked and Celia jumped out to meet these people.

They were oddly dressed. Red cloaks covered them from head to toe and strange symbols were embroidered on their attire. The two stood rigidly on either side of the opening that she now discerned as a staircase leading up to somewhere.

"The Inspector has been awaiting your arrival, exorcist. Follow us."

That was all they said before turning their backs on her and going ahead. Rude. Celia gave a short glance back at the white-cloaked Finders that had taken her there to give a curt 'thank you' before following behind the red-robed men.

To say the place was eerie would be an understatement. Celia rubbed at her arms as the goosebumps rose on her skin after surfacing past the underground staircase into an open foyer. Whenever Cross spoke of Headquarters, she had imagined a dingy old place with even older priests than him. She certainly hadn't expected this kind of luxurious and enormous infrastructure. But even its opulent and lavish interior didn't wash away the nasty foreboding that it had crawling under her skin.

Though it wasn't the same kind of rush of electricity that happened anytime an Akuma was nearby, it did feel similar. It made her think that maybe another sort of evil slumbered here. And not the demon kind. Celia didn't have time to survey the ominous feeling that coursed through her veins like sludge. Not when the two red-robbed guards led her into a hallway with numerous doors lining the left wall and a banister keeping them fenced off from the hole on the right. Opening one of the doors in particular, one of the robed guards waited patiently for her to step into the room.

Dreary didn't even begin to describe it. There was a bed hugging the wall right underneath a window across from her, a small desk on the wall to her right, and a wardrobe sitting next to another door on her left. Aside from the furniture, however, there was no sign of it being inhabited. Had they just moved all this stuff inside?

"Tomorrow you will be taken to be examined by Hevlaska and you will begin your training."

Before she could even ask what any of what he just said meant, the door slammed closed. It's lock clicked loudly in the silence. Celia tried the doorknob for good measure. Closed. They'd locked her in the bleak room.

All this mystery and ill-treatment was really rubbing her the wrong way. Cross never mentioned anything about Headquarters being this horrible. Maybe the fact that he never returned here in the year she knew him should've given her a hint of how much he hated the place. Knowing not what else to do, Celia sauntered over to the bed, examining it carefully. All of it was clean. Too clean. As if the sheets and pillow had just been sanitized and placed here. They didn't smell nice, either. They reeked of alcohol and medicine.

How she hated that smell.

Ripping the sheets off of the bed and tossing them and the pillow into a corner, Celia took off her coat and shoes and tested the mattress by lightly jumping on it a couple of times. Firm. This thing was brand new. Her eyes roamed the room and noticed that everything else in it was just like the mattress and the sheets. New. Running into the adjacent room, the only other door that was now the only one also open, wasn't any different either. A simple bathroom with sink and toilet was on the other side; all scrubbed clean to gleam in the faint light that she turned on.

The room felt uncomfortable to be in. Celia couldn't quite explain what about all this made it feel so to her, either. Maybe it was how the environment was way too pristine. Or maybe the fact that she was at such an unknown place all by herself. A combination of both? She really couldn't quite place her finger on the why. It just felt….foreign.

The perfect, unlived environment.

It feels like I'm someone's lab rat.

Sprinting back to the room, she picked out some of her clothes from out of her bag and laid them on the mattress before lying down on them herself. There wasn't enough for a blanket but the coat she was wearing was warm enough for the night, she supposed. Curling into herself for good measure, Celia took a deep breath and inhaled the poignant smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol. Such a familiar smell clung to her clothes and each breath she took slowly calmed her wracking nerves until, at last, she passed out from her long journey.


The most melodious of hummings woke her.

Echoes of it bounced in her head, quiet at first until they were loud enough to rouse her from her slumber. With how dark the room was, Celia assumed it to be night still which made her wonder just who was out there humming.

The sound was soft and soothing and beckoned her to the door. Groggy as she was, Celia obliged, walking up to the locked door while rubbing her eyes before giving the doorknob a turn. Locked like she'd left it god knows how long ago. Yawning loudly, she shrugged her shoulders and gave the door her back ready to jump into the mess of clothes she'd made for a bed when suddenly the humming became something else.

A voice.

Celia stopped in her tracks to listen to the voice that now sung to the same melody it'd been humming.

'When fields lie calm and wind stands still

Run home, run home'

It was sort of haunting now with words. The way they inflected and swayed from high to low had given her the sense of a lullaby, but now it sounded different.

Somber. Ghostly. Unnatural.

And it was calling her.

More awake now, Celia hastily put her shoes on and rushed to the door as she plucked from her hair a pin and her hairpin. She stuck both into the keyhole and jiggled the lock in an attempt to break it. Soon, the lock clicked and Celia cheered under her breath. Picking herself out of a room wasn't hard after Cross taught her how. In the most unconventional of ways—as in locking her out of their room 'by accident' and expecting her to still find her way inside—but still a teaching moment, she supposed. It came in useful in the end so it counted for something.

Carefully peeking out of the room, she stepped out when no sign of another human being was present anywhere nearby. Celia left the door just barely open and quietly chased after the voice that continued to sing.

'As the crows make night of the fading sun

Hide now, hide now'

It brought her to a precipice of sorts. One where some sort of upside-down, pyramidal platform waited for her at the edge. Celia cautiously stepped onto it and went up to the only thing there: a podium. Standing on her tiptoes, she looked over the edge of it and saw nothing. No buttons, no levers. Nothing at all. Scowling at herself, she slammed the palm of her hand over it and stumbled back when lights came out of the flat surface. Numbers and figures lighted up on the panel and before she knew what they were or what happened, the platform began moving down into the dark hole.

Celia leaned against the podium to keep her footing, too late to jump off now and having to wait for the thing to lower itself fully. Once it did, she waited for a moment, expecting something else to happen.

Except it didn't.

Down below in the chasm she'd seen there was no light except for that of the podium she leaned against. But even that faded away after a second of idleness and left her completely in the dark...had it not been for the dim glow from underneath her long sleeve. Hastily, she pulled it back to reveal the green cross on her inner wrist pulsing dimly with a fading green glow.

"What's going on…?"

Suddenly a light of the same color engulfed her from behind and startled her enough to jump away from the podium she'd been anchoring herself on. Hitting the railings of the platform, Celia held tight onto the metal as something surfaced from the darkness. A massive being bigger than any Akuma she'd ever seen rose from the abyss and arched its long neck towards her. It was inhuman yet it still had the semblance of one mostly on the lower half of its face.

As if sensing her fear, the cross of her Innocence activated, eating away at the metal bars of the railings with its feathers. The womanly lips on its face gasped before carefully backing away from her.

"Forgive me, child. I didn't mean to startle you."

It...speaks.

And it sounded like a very kind woman. Kind of like Red. Despite feeling them slipping, Celia held onto her defenses and instead of the railings, held her hairpin and activated the Innocence. The moment she did, however, the most blood-curdling scream she'd ever heard in her life blared in her ears. It echoed and repeated until Celia couldn't hold onto the double-sided glaive anymore. It clattered against the metal ground without losing its shape as Celia grabbed at her head in a weak attempt to silence the screams.

But it wasn't helping. Not even a little bit. It was in that ruckus that she noticed the noise wasn't coming from outside her ears. It came from her head. And it hurt. It hurt so much.

Something cool and soothing suddenly took her in its arms. Almost like a warm embrace. Loving and caring, it took her in and attempted to calm her down. But even that did nothing to help silence the dying voices that screeched inside her head. Beyond the screams though, she could still hear it. The voice still hummed and sung the lines it had before. Wanting to focus on anything else to drown out the screams, Celia muttered under her breath, focusing on the words as the voice in her head sang them.

'When the trees do bow, as if they weep

Stay down, stay down'

A cool touch fell on her forehead, the warmth and brightness of a light blinding her as she continued to sing the haunting song under her breath. Before long, however, it wasn't just her voice that she heard over the incessant shrieking.

'Though its light beckons forth, a melody calls out

Too late, too late'

Finally, they ended.

Their echoes remained for a brief instant before sweet silence came over her ears. The warmth of the blinding light made her open her eyes as it vanished. Suddenly inches in front of her face was the large being she'd panicked about, but instead of seeming menacing up close, it now appeared rather comforting in a way.

"W-What…happened…?"

"It was your Innocence." Its voice was mesmerizing as it reverberated in the darkness. Despite being many feet over it and a few over the only source of solid footing there was, Celia wasn't at all disturbed. The way it held her tenderly in its formless appendages felt strangely safe. Strange, but not harmful. And that was good. "Hand of God has imparted a glimpse of its past to you."

"Past...?" A lot of what she said went over her head but that hadn't. "W-What did it say…?"

The being nodded methodically before slowly lowering Celia onto the platform once more. Those appendages of hers remained by her side to support her in her staggering stance as Celia took a moment to regain her balance after what happened.

"It is the hymn you heard," the womanly being described to her. "It warns of a fearsome and malicious entity."

"An Akuma?"

The being shook its head. "Not of the Earl's making. It is of mankind's."

"But...how can a human...be bad?"

It was then that she pressed one of her appendages against her wrist, the light from her Innocence shining dimly in response. It burned at her touch and Celia felt electricity rushing through her as the echoes of the screams and the haunting hymn swam in her mind.

"Darkness harbors itself in all beings, child. It is simply more noticeable in an Akuma's outer appearance than a human's."

The light ebbed as did the noise in her head as the ghostly being released her wrist. Pulling her sleeve down, Celia stared upward at it. "What are you?"

"I am Hevlaska. An Exorcist like yourself."

"...Exorcist?"

"It is the moniker given to us beings who are compatible with Innocence. Just like you are to Hand of God, so am I compatible with a cube."

Hand...of God…

"There! The elevator's lowered!"

Her eyes shot upward from where frantic shouts could be heard. Just as she was about to ask Hevlaska what they were, Celia felt the platform below her begin to move again, slowly hovering upward to where she'd taken the lift. Hevlaska didn't once look away from her as she got lifted away, her voice resonating in her ears.

"Inform Lveille I have done my examination. It appears you and Hand of God are still at odds with each other. Forty-four percent...it is not as dangerous a synchronization as others, but you should be careful, Celia Valentine."

Dropping to her knees as the elevator gained height, Celia shouted down at her to be heard. "How—How did you know my name?"

"Hand of God knows more about you than it seems you yourself do. Bear in mind, if what you seek is your past, you must first come to terms with your Innocence. It will guide you towards the right path."

Her glow disappeared along with her words as the elevator finally reached its peak once more. There in the hallway waiting for her were plenty of those red-robed guards that piled onto the lift as soon as it landed. Roughly, they grabbed at her arms and hauled her out of it, placing her on the hallway before pushing her down on her knees and head down onto the asphalt.

Grinding her teeth did nothing to alleviate the pain that ran across her jaw the moment it hit the floor. Trying to shake them off didn't work either. They were too large. Her struggling lasted a few moments though until the sound of footsteps took her attention. A man emerged from behind two guards and stuck out like an ugly sore thumb. He didn't appear like them at all. Prim and proper with a crisp uniform, the stern-looking man had slicked-back dark hair and a funny looking toothbrush mustache. All humor that could be garnered about his appearance though, left Celia the moment she saw his sharp slanted eyes. Despite his attempts at a smile, all it did was put her more on edge.

Hevlaska's words about the innate darkness in someone being less noticeable in humans came to mind. Though she would have to disagree with this one. Those sharp glaring eyes didn't evoke any kind of trust or security in her. Unlike Cross whose eyes were warm despite always in an apparent glare, this man had the eyes of a cold-blooded snake.

I hate snakes.

"You must be Celia Valentine, Cross Marian's pupil."

Celia jerked in a vain attempt to catch the guards off guard before blowing some of her hair away from her face and scowling at the man. "Let me go!"

"Now, now, no need to be so hostile." Celia was hating that sugar-coated tone by the second. "You were sneaking around like a bad child. And bad children shouldn't be allowed to go without reprimand."

"Your order, Inspector Lveille?"

"Take her to a solitary room. The first lesson she'll learn is simple: she does not have the same impunity as her master."

The name rattled Celia's brain at remembering Hevlaska having said it. Her mouth shot open before she knew it as the guards hauled her up by her arms.

"Hevlaska said she completed my examination!"

Everybody stopped moving at once. The guards halted in taking her away, turning to the inspector to await his response. Lvellie, having had given his back to them, looked over his shoulder briefly.

"Did she now?"

Celia nodded. "She told me to let you know...that she'd done it. And that I'm 44% synchronized." Whatever that means. Going with the flow of her words and noticing how he paid them some semblance of attention, Celia played along with it. "She called me here. I didn't leave that room just because."

For a moment she thought he'd be reasonable. That he'd believe her. But those sharp eyes narrowed before waving dismissively away at the guards. "Place her in solitary."

Grinding her teeth, Celia fought back to not be taken away to wherever that place was. With her hands bound by their grasp, all she could muster were weak kicks that got her nowhere except more restrained. When she could move no more, her mind and heart became erratic as the former screamed at her.

Run, it warned. Run as far as you can.

"LET GO OF ME!"

The green light that burst from her wrist blinded them as she yanked at the robes of one of the guards. Like they had many times before, the feathers erupted and engulfed the fabric faster than any of them could react. In a panic, they released her. Celia plopped onto the floor with a heavy thud in a hail of feathers and wasted no time sprinting away from them as fast as her legs could take her.

The screech of blades against concrete made her scream instinctively and just looking over her shoulder told her exactly what it'd been. Those guards were no laughing matter. They were fast, armed and headed right after her. Her fingers clutched her hairpin and just as daggers flew at her back, Celia dispelled them with a swing of her glaive. Long slashes cut through the walls that met her blades, dropping debris in their way that luckily was enough to briefly lose them.

Running past multiple empty halls, her eyes widened when their footfalls began to echo again through them. Celia scanned her surroundings trying every door she could and jumping into the first open room before rapidly closing the door behind her. Her breathing turned shallow from the sprint, Celia allowed herself some rest as she slid down the door and kept her ear next to the door to listen for her pursuers.

Before she could hear anything from outside, a tiny gasp caught her attention.

Her head spun straight behind her from where she heard it and was surprised to find a small child in the room. A girl maybe a year or two younger than her by the looks of it stared at her with wide dark purple eyes. And though Celia stared back, it was for a whole other reason than the girl's. The kid was covered from head to toe with bandages and gauzes that not even her black dress could hide. Messy long hair fell around her cherub face hiding some of the shock and confusion from her expression.

And when she spoke, she did so with the meekest and quietest of voices. Almost like she was afraid of even speaking.

"...w-who…who are...you…?"

"Are you okay?" She didn't know what possessed her to ask this, but it had and, frankly, she wasn't too in disagreement with it. The girl looked beat up beyond words. And it turned her stomach to see anybody like that.

"Never raise a hand against your siblings, Celia. As their older sister, your job is to protect and look after them. Harming them is the greatest sin and I will not allow it."

I was taught better than to be that heartless.

Reaching her hand towards her wasn't a good start to things, apparently. The instant she tried, the dark-haired girl flinched back, holding her hands together against her chest as she stumbled back towards her bed. Faster than she could stop her, the girl climbed onto the bare bed hugging the far corner, wrapping the blanket over herself as if to hide.

Sorrow turned her stomach and tightened her chest more than she thought possible at the sight of that trembling bundle of sheets. Empathy, however, drove her to take the few steps to reach the foot of her bed from where she could see the girl's dark purple eyes peeking through petrified.

"It's okay," she whispered. Kindness wasn't something she knew a lot of. Cross never showed her any that she could discern as so, anyway. But at least she had Red's memory to help with that. Keeping her distance, Celia crouched to be at eye level with the girl and smiled tenderly at her. "I'm sorry I scared you. I was just surprised and worried when I saw you were hurt."

The blanket trembled a little bit less at her words which got Celia to continue talking.

"My name is Celia. I was running away from some guys in red robes chasing me and—"

"The CROW?"

Celia's brow furrowed at the word. "Crow?"

"That's...what they're called," she explained timidly. "They make sure we...don't escape."

"We?"

Her lip trembled as she tried mustering the courage to speak again. But just as she was about to, the door to the room burst open. The girl let out a terrified scream that rang in Celia's ears as she dodged away from the CROWs' blades and ran out the door. Hardly unscathed though. Despite avoiding them, their blades were a much harder thing to avoid in close spaces. The cuts stung as the air blew against her skin while sprinting.

Celia turned as many corners to lose them again and in the process getting lost beyond belief herself. Unable to make heads or tails of the place anymore but knowing she had to get as far away from those guards as possible, she looked back seconds before she turned a corner and bumped into someone. The collision—a hard one since the other person also appeared to have been running at full speed—pushed her a good couple of feet back and down onto her backside.

Amethyst eyes shot wide open to meet the prettiest dark cobalt eyes she'd ever seen. Wide as hers, another kid that was probably a few years older than her stared dumbfounded with mouth slightly agape. Though she meant to apologize, the hurried footsteps behind her sent her into a panic yet again.

How the heck am I supposed to lose them!?

Out of the blue, a warm hand wrapped around her wrist and hauled her to her feet before darting off. Celia couldn't wrap her mind around why this girl was helping her but at least she seemed to know where she was going. Regrettably, because of how much she'd already been running away, her lungs and legs were burning beyond belief and begging her to rest. And though she knew stopping wouldn't do her any good, Celia couldn't help herself getting slower and slower until the girl was practically dragging her along.

"I-I c-can't!" Celia could barely let out the airy gasps before dropping to her knees and bringing the girl down with her.

"Get up!" Their voice wasn't as high-pitched like she imagined it to be. It was a tiny bit different. Is she...a boy? Grabbing her arm, the black-haired boy pulled up her in an attempt to get her back on her feet. All in vain. He clicked his tongue, peeved. "They'll catch up!"

"I can't...any—"

A rush of air swept them off their feet and had them skidding on the floor before a sudden heaviness brought her down completely against the ground, her face hitting the granite painfully as the boy before her fell down like her. Peeking over her hair she could see yellow pieces of paper circling his body and energy crackling through them. Whatever these papers were, they were pulling both of them towards the floor. They were making them heavier.

Footsteps slowed to a stop behind him as the CROWs came into view from around a corner, slow pants coming from the guards that'd been chasing after her.

"Tell the Inspector we caught her."

"You take him back to his room. I'll take her to solitary—"

Just as he said that, however, an intense burning erupted from her wrist only second before vines exploded from behind her, encroaching over the two of them almost protectively while pushing the guards away just as they had reached out their hands to capture them. Another set of vines shot past them, this time cutting through the ring of conjoined papers. The instant they fell, the heaviness pulling her down vanished along with them.

The blue-eyed boy got up with an irked expression on his face as he looked behind her. Celia slowly sat up before looking over her shoulder at the man that had saved them from the guards.

He was old. Or at least appeared it with that bushy gray hair and bushy mustache and beard. A chisel in his hand glowed a soft green hue which reminded her of her own Innocence somehow. The air to him, though, was gentle as he smiled down at her, his eyes kind behind those spectacles of his.

"General Tiedoll. The Inspector gave his order to reprimand the exorcist. Allow us to take her with us."

"I'm sorry, but the young lady doesn't seem to want to go with you," he said in a calm and collected tone as he faced the guards with an aloof expression. As he said that, his gaze turned down to her. "Do you, miss?"

Celia shook her head frantically.

He then turned to the men again as those vines that had been protecting them retracted back to the chisel in his hand as it lost its glow. "There you have it. Surely the Inspector has the mind to pardon the misstep of a young child."

"G-General, we can't—"

"Do let him know."

It took a moment but they left rather begrudgingly afterward. Something quite astounding for her. But as Tiedoll bent over while offering a hand, Celia snapped back to attention, backing off as she struggled to stand. "It's alright, child. I will not harm you. Would you like to have something to eat? Your journey here must've been a long one, and I'm sure you're longing for a meal."

Celia seriously thought about it. This man didn't seem hostile nor ill-intentioned like those others or that man they called the inspector. He looked like he was actually looking after her well-being. That little thought gave her enough confidence to step closer to him before nodding.

"I...I am hungry."

"Good," he chuckled as he stood back up straight. "Let's go wat then." His gaze turned down to the boy standing beside him and Celia followed his line of sight to the boy that, strangely enough, was staring at her.

His brow appearing to be permanently furrowed, those dark cobalt eyes glared down at her with an intensity that she couldn't fathom a reason for. Hadn't he helped her minutes ago? Those same eyes suddenly widened as Tiedoll's large hand perched on the crown of his head to ruffle the small ponytail his hair was tied up in.

"Now, Yuu-kun, don't be mean to our new friend."

Hating the gesture, the boy hissed back at the old man to not call him that while failing in his attempt to pry his hand off his head. Tiedoll let out a hearty chuckle as he took back his hand.

"You were heading to fetch little Lenalee, correct? Go ahead then. We'll see you both in the cafeteria."

He clicked his tongue, heading out without a word, and only pausing briefly as he passed her to once more glare at her. The sight of those dark cobalt eyes sent a shiver down her spine and had static briefly flashing before her as he passed.

What the…

The moment it took Celia to rub her eyes was the same moment it took for the blue-eyed boy to leave her alone with the man, Tiedoll. He smiled down at her as he gestured towards the hallway.

"Shall we?"

Celia felt a bit more at ease with this person that she had with Lvellie or those guards, which was saying a lot. But she still kept her guard up just in case. Following after him led her to a set of double doors that opened to a grand dining room stacked to the brim with long tables and benches. Far across the entrance people lined up with trays apparently to have it served to them.

It was a strange sight because of how eerily quiet it was aside from the clanking utensils. Tiedoll took her to stand in line where they were each served a bowl of soup, bread, salad and a plain glass of water. Once seated, Celia looked at the food before her queasily. It didn't look appetizing in the least.

"I know it's not much but it is food."

Tiedoll's remark and her stomach's rumbling reminding her of how tired and hungry she was seemed to be enough of a reason for her to dig in. It tasted plain and not that good, but he was right. It was food. Just as she was stuffing the loaf of bread into her mouth, two trays fell noisily beside Tiedoll.

The boy and girl from before sat to his right. The black-haired girl huddled closer to the dark cobalt-eyed boy with the permanent scowl on his face as the two eyed her.

"How about some introductions, dear. I'm sure these two are as excited to meet you as you are."

I wouldn't exactly call it excitement. But he wasn't wrong. She was curious about them. And the only way to find out more was to take that first step. Wolfing down the loaf of bread and drinking down the glass of water, Celia set it down on the table before smiling.

"My name's Celia. It's, um, nice to meet you."

The girl grabbed onto the boy's arm and hid her face for a moment against his shoulder before peeking out. "L-Lena...lee. That's my name."

"Lenalee?" Lenalee nodded at her repeating her name. "I like your name. It's very cute."

"T-Thanks…"

Expectantly, amethyst eyes turned towards dark cobalt only for him to burst out irritated a split second later.

"What?!"

"Isn't this supposed to be where you introduce yourself?" Celia chided, her cheeks puffing out annoyed.

Letting out a humph, the boy turned away with that same scowl on his face. He wasn't budging either. Silent as a stone.

"Don't be shy, Yuu-kun."

"Don't call me that!"

Yuu?

Static echoed in the back of her mind for the briefest of moments. Then suddenly, a great sadness overwhelmed her to the point that a prickling came over her eyes. Celia rubbed away at them with the heel of her palm to find wet spots on them.

"Are you alright, child?"

Celia chuckled at Tiedoll's question, her hands frantically wiping away at the tears that suddenly sprung from her eyes. "Y-Yeah! I'm completely fine! I don't know why this is happening… I really don't."

But the sadness was becoming too large to bear. Wanting to quiet her senseless crying, she leaned over the table and snatched Yuu's bread. He complained at her with a loud 'hey' but she ignored him, stuffing her face instead and letting that take the place of the sobs she sensed approaching.

"It isn't nice to make girls cry, Kanda. You should apologize."

The deep voice of the man that suddenly took a seat beside her startled her enough to choke her. Patting her chest to let it through, she turned with tearing eyes to the large man. Dark-skinned and with only a bit of hair tied at the top of his hair, what stuck out most about him was the blank look in his eye. White irises looked straight ahead, only ever 'eyeing' things after a brief pause.

Blind, her mind told her. He's blind.

The man turned down to her with a small smile pulling at his lips. "I'm Noise Marie. I apologize about Kanda's behavior. He's not a very social kid."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here, damnit!"

"Yuu-kun, language."

"Augh!"

Celia chuckled at the exchange. And that Lenalee's lip formed the ghost of a line was as much as they'd get apparently. Introducing herself to Marie, Celia left the table briefly to get another serving, returning to the somewhat normal little bit of peace she had with those people.

Somehow the banality of the food didn't taste as bad with them.

Once done with dinner, Tiedoll asked Kanda and Lenalee if they could walk Celia back to the dormitories. Apparently it was late. Celia didn't recall having slept for so long, but most of the day must've come and gone while she slept. Waving goodbye at Tiedoll and Marie, she followed after Kanda who led them while Lenalee kept close to him as if still uncomfortable with her.

As they walked up several flights of stairs, Celia watched the myriad of places that were harbored in this place. Many seemed to be sectioned off. Some were guarded by CROWs. But as they stepped into a floor with the dormitories, a rush of electricity came over her. It wasn't alarming like when Akuma were near. No, it was more like a nudge. A rather incessant one that continued to send tingling electricity down her spine until she turned towards the direction it wanted her to.

A dark hallway met her. When it did, she turned from the dark hall towards the brightly lit one they'd been following. There was still a bit of way to go to get to the dormitories if she remembered correctly. And Kanda and Lenalee were leading a bit far ahead, Lenalee's quiet whispers barely heard over Kanda's grumbling.

I'll be back before they know I'm gone.

Taking her chance, Celia stepped out of line towards the hallway and followed further in. To say that it was dim would be a joke. Unlike many of the other places that were lit with lightbulbs and electricity, the way into this one was lighted with candles that hung from the walls. Reaching over to a table nearby littered with more candles, she took one in hand to better light her way in the darkness.

The cobblestone hall seemed to run endlessly. Until it didn't and left her with numerous closed doors before her. Right at that very moment, the electricity suddenly began running rampant in her body. So much so that even as she held the candle holder in her hand, tiny sparks of green danced around her fingers and the metal holder.

Eyeing each one briefly, her eyes stopped at one of the doors that appeared slightly open. Coming closer to it, Celia reached out her hand to the doorknob, sparks running wild and excited around her hand only for them to die out the moment another hand stopped hers in its tracks.

Gasping in terror, Celia stopped herself from punching Kanda when she realized it'd been him who'd stopped her from opening the door. The dim light coming from the candle framed his scowl in a much more serious light. Lenalee was barely visible as she cowered behind him, but the hands around his arm trembled so furiously that even she could see them now.

"Let's go." Succinct as could be, the words didn't satisfy the innate curiosity that had brought Celia there. So she did what had worked with Cross most times before: she whined.

"But I want to see what's in there."

"Don't be an idiot," he hissed back.

"A peek won't hurt."

"Stop being so annoying."

"Forget you, I'll just—"

"Don't!"

The sparks of green ran amok, lighting the hallway a good bit the moment Lenalee's hand touched hers. Though it scared both of them, Lenalee didn't let go. And the fearsome way she latched onto her stopped Celia in her tracks more than anything. Despite how timid she'd been this whole time, now was when she decided to act. All while still trembling like a frightened rabbit.

"I-I...always hear...s-screams from this place. W-We shouldn't b-be here."

Guilty for driving her to such a point, Celia chuckled as she turned away from the door. "I'm sorry. I won't go in there."

Lenalee didn't let go, however. Instead, she kept herself attached to Celia's arm all the way out of the dark hallway and back to the dormitories. Once before her room, Celia closed the door after a wave goodbye and waited for their footsteps to recede. With how many rooms there were, surely they'd be far enough to not notice her leaving.

Just as she peeked out of her room, though, an angry glare shot her way as Kanda passed in front of it.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Um...bathroom?"

Getting the door slammed in her face so hard caused Celia to yelp as he shouted from the other side of the door. "And stay in there!"

Celia rubbed at her nose to ease some of the pain, tears springing to her eyes as she did so. What a jerk! Sniffling all the way to her bed, Celia laid in the mound of clothes she'd laid there before and tried to sleep. No matter how much she tried, however, all she kept doing was aimlessly tossing and turning thinking about that hallway. And it wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Celia sprung up in her bed unable to take it anymore.

"I'm not gonna have this gnaw at my head."

Taking off her shoes to make the least amount of noise possible, Celia carefully pried open her door and only left enough space for her to exit while not closing it entirely. Like that, she wouldn't have to make so much noise on the way back. Tiptoeing her way through even darker halls than before, it was amazing just how different this place was from one hour to the next. Disregarding that for now, Celia came to the same hallway from before, easily finding it now that she could more or less map the few places she'd been at in her head.

With a candle in hand like she'd had before, Celia traversed through the halls quickly until she found herself at the same doors from before. This time she only lightly pushed one of the already open doors to look inside. Just enough to have a look inside.

The first thing she saw was a person chained to a chair unable to move. Their paleness and sickly demeanor sent a chill down her spine. Were they still alive? They weren't moving a lot. It didn't even look like they were breathing still. Utterly rattled, electricity jumped in small sparks around her fingers as she hid the light of the candle to avoid being seen from inside. But the person didn't seem to notice the light. Or anything for that matter. Not even as other people approached the chair did they flinch or respond.

Celia held her breath from her place at the door. From there, she couldn't hear a lot. Not with how annoying the electricity dancing in her hands was. But she caught some parts of it.

Synchronization rate. More tests. Blood-relative of an exorcist. The words meant very little to her but before she had any time to wonder about them, the light of her sparks was overwhelmed by Hevlaska's sudden appearance at being summoned. Suddenly, she was forcing something into the person. A cube—Innocence.

It ended quickly. And with horrible consequences. Celia held her breath unable to believe what she'd just seen and the aftermath of what it left behind. On the chair, instead of the person chained, all that sat there now was a misshapen humanoid. It was all white with no eyes and its mouth painfully stuck in its dying scream.

"I have said this before...and I will continue to repeat it. This...is a vain attempt. None but those compatible...may synchronize."

"What a mockery they have made out of years of hard-earned research."

Celia didn't know what propelled her to run away then. The fear, the disgust, or the sadness of what she'd just witnessed. What she heard in her head, that mocking voice she'd never before heard, scared her beyond words though. More than what she'd seen, more than what those people had done—the way that voice so condescendingly and apathetically spoke caused her to flee.

Because wherever it was coming from—whatever had brought it to the surface—was something she wanted nothing with.

Out of breath by the time she reached the hallway to the rooms, Celia stopped feet away from her door where, shockingly enough, she found Kanda leaning against. At spotting her he stood up from his place, slightly scowling at her as she made his way to the door next to her room and opened it.

"We warned you."

Just as he was closing the door, Celia grabbed onto the doorknob and held it taut in her hand, not letting go and keeping him from going back into his room. Tears were threatening to spill now, every emotion that was racked in her mind spilling over with them.

"I-I thought this place wouldn't be...that it wouldn't be so horrible after all. But those people...what they were doing—"

"It's what they do," Kanda spat back. "All for the sake of their stupid holy war."

Holy war?

Letting that sink in, Celia released his door slowly. She stood there unable to rightly process what she'd seen and what he'd said.

"Get used to it." Kanda's voice had lost some of its venom now. "This is how this place really is. How the world really is. They don't care about us. To them...we're just weapons."

Wiping the tears away from her face, Celia couldn't help but stare at her feet as he closed the door. There didn't seem to be an end to her tears. No matter the times she wiped at them or the times she chided herself to stop, they wouldn't stop.

This place...it was truly horrible. And the people in it were, too.

As she stood there unable to grasp any of the emotions surging through her, the sudden opening of the door startled her as Kanda's door shot open without warning. With an even angrier scowl, he yanked her by her wrist and took her into her room. Rather brusquely, Kanda shoved her onto her bed before she could ask or complain about what he was doing. The suddenness of it all simply left her trying to keep up as she messily laid on the mound of clothes she'd piled on her mattress.

Amethyst eyes blinked owlishly unable to understand what just happened. Kanda didn't bother to explain, either. Instead, he headed out to leave. Seeing his receding back though, sent her into a panic that she couldn't quite comprehend. Almost instinctively, Celia jumped to a seat and pulled him by the hem of his shirt, causing him to stumble backward rather painfully onto the railing of her bed.

"What the hell?!"

Her mouth fell open but no words came out just yet. Instead, she let silence overwhelm them for a moment as she thought of how to make the jumble that was her mind work again.

"Can...can you stay?"

"What?" he spat back.

Defensive out of the blue, Celia puffed her cheeks but lost her annoyance quickly enough with how exhausted she was after the day she'd had. "Just until I fall asleep...please."

Celia didn't know what in heaven's name made her ask him. Maybe it was just him being opportunely close by. Maybe the fact that he was being so frank with her, as well. Regardless of what it was, all Celia knew was that having someone physically there with her would be good.

It'd be calming. Reassuring even.

Just like when Cross sometimes stayed behind until she fell asleep. Just like Red had done the night she found her.

Kanda heaved a long sigh before yanking his shirt away. Celia was about to ask him again but stopped herself when instead he simply gave his back to her and leaned on the bed as he sat on the floor.

He didn't say much more. He didn't need to. Smiling to herself, Celia snuggled in the clothes that made up her bed and laid her head closest to the side where Kanda sat, giving her a view of the back of his head. As her eyes fluttered closed, she took a deep breath only to smell something that wasn't smoke or alcohol.

Instead of that, its scent was pleasant and slightly sweet.

It smells like flowers.

"...thanks, Yuu."

"Don't...call me that." He didn't sound angry like he had when Tiedoll had said it. Instead of annoyance, all she barely heard in his voice was a bit of melancholy. "Go to sleep already."

A smile played on her lips as her mind began to drift with the mild scent of flowers overbearing the rest and lulling her to sleep.


A/N:

Wow. Lots can be done by writing for an hour everyday it looks like. I may need to cut it out tho with my recent test scores, haha xD

Anyway, sad things aside, this chapter got me thinking seriously how i want to structure this story. In NOoU, I recall having used a rather linear flow of storytelling without much flashbacks. I intend to do mostly the same here. All linear until flashbacks are needed. And they will be. Differently kind of storytelling that what I've been doing in my other WIPs which is always good.

This chapter we've got lots of lore drops. And her Innocence finally has a name! :D Hoorah! Old readers will notice that change aside from the large general old lore from the old story. No more Xiao, though I liked it very much, and no more kwan dao, tho i've kept the general idea of it. But I swear the double-sided glaive has a point. Like a real good one. Also, I'll give a smart cookie to whomever can tell me what song I used the lyrics of for this chapter. Hint: it's a spooky scarecrow's theme ;3

I won't bore ya'll so much with this much longer. I'm tired af after proofreading this and I needs some slep -w-)b

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you stay tuned to the next one! Have yourselves a lovely day/night~

- Evie