A/N: Hey, there! It's been a while since I've published anything on this site, so I'm really excited about this story!

I did this based on the daemon concept of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, but there are a lot of different things as well. I thought that the D. Gray-Man universe would be an awesome place to apply this concept on, and I had a lot of fun writing this story.

This is a multi-chaptered fic, I already have six chapters written!

Please, let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is well-accepted, but flames will be used to roast marshmallows. ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-Man, otherwise a lot of things would be different.

Enjoy!

Everybody's Got Their Daemons

by: GakuenAlicefan27

Chapter 1: Merissa

What Allen likes the most about Merissa is her size:

She isn't small enough to be defenseless in a fight, but she isn't big enough to be troublesome in case they have to hide. He likes to hold her in his free time, though she isn't exactly light; and to lie sprawled on the bed with her upper body resting on his chest, so they can keep chatting for hours on end.

She, unlike the majority of the daemons, settled when he was very young - that gruesome day when he met the Earl five years ago didn't change him just physically; it also impacted his soul.

The sadness of having lost Mana, the hope of having him back, the terror of seeing him as an Akuma, the shock of his Innocence activating, all the things that happened that day contributed to shape his soul, and, some hours after it was over, he realized that Merissa still hadn't changed from the form she had assumed to protect him during the fight, while she normally changed forms every hour or so.

He remembers the awe he felt while looking at her after she confirmed that, indeed, that was it; she had settled.

His Meri was a strong yet slender feline, with long legs, a small head, and tall oval ears. Her fur was boldly spotted with black on tawny, and though Allen couldn't tell what type of cat she was, he thought that Merissa was so beautiful that it was hard to believe that she was his soul. However, contradicting his thoughts, the more Allen observed her, the more he felt that this was completely right, and this was exactly how Meri should look.

How many times had he wondered what Meri would settle as? A thousand animals must have crossed his mind, but none of them had made him feel like this. Now, he wondered how he could ever have thought about those other forms. This was how Meri was meant to be; no other animal would suit her.

Even now it was still quite shocking to him that Merissa had settled as a big feline. She almost never changed to felines when he was young, preferring discreet animals that would not call attention towards her: rats, small birds, different types of insects, sometimes a tiny cat, but rarely ever something that couldn't go in Allen's pockets. She liked to go unnoticed, perhaps because she was Allen's soul and Allen already attracted too much attention with his red arm alone; it was her way of making things a little better.

Later on, Cross adopted him and told him that Meri was a serval; an African wild cat. It made sense that Allen had never seen this type of cat, since he had never been to Africa. He had never seen any other serval daemon as well, so it only added to his amazement.

Meri got really embarrassed with how much Allen was staring at her and calling her perfect, which was every ten minutes. They could feel Cross looking at them from time to time; the expression on his face gave away that he was surprised and perhaps even worried that a ten year old boy already had a settled daemon. It wasn't normal, but Allen reasoned that he was never normal to begin with, so it didn't bother him.

There isn't a pattern of daemons in the Black Order; there are some that contrast so greatly that people get shocked to learn that they belong to members who work on the same section. Allen always loves to watch their interactions, no matter how small; daemons are fascinating and he'll never tire to observe them.

A small movement takes him out of his thoughts and he looks at Meri, whose head has been resting on his belly. He smiles, raising a hand to caress her soft fur.

"What is it?" He asks as she tilts her head towards his hand, liking the feeling of being petted.

"Your stomach is growling." She says, and Allen suddenly realizes that she's right, he's starving. "Are you going to the dinner hall?" The boy thought about it. He had just returned from a long mission and was tired as hell. In the moment, he only wanted to relax even if just for a few minutes.

"I'll go in a bit, but I'm too tired to get up now." He can see that Meri gets worried when he says that; Allen Walker passing up the opportunity to get some food isn't something that you see every day. Her ears perk up and she raises her head.

"I can go get you something, if you're that tired. I'm sure that Jeryy would put some food in a plastic bag if I asked."

The offer is tempting, but Merissa wouldn't be able to carry everything that he needs to eat to satisfy his stomach and his parasite type Innocence in just one trip, and Allen knows that she's tired as well. Besides…

"You can't just show up at the dinner hall without me, Meri. People would freak out." He reminds her, then watches her ears drop.

"Right…sorry, I forgot."

"I know. Sometimes I forget it as well."

In reality, a person and their daemon are somewhat physically dependent as well. Normally, the longest distance the two can stay away from each other is of about ten meters; some even less than that, depends on the person. When that distance is surpassed, side effects occur: both the person and daemon start feeling immediately ill the more the distance grows, and the only cure is for them to be near again. In case that doesn't happen, they die in a matter of minutes.

Allen and Merissa were never like that.

Even before Meri had settled, even before Allen had met Mana, ever since he could remember, Meri and he had never felt the need to be physically close to each other. They were connected to each other, as much as any other person was connected to their own daemon, but Allen wouldn't even stir when Meri decided to take a look around the place they were staying at and disappear for a few hours. He knew she was fine (he would feel if she wasn't), and he knew she was a curious daemon, so why not? That was another reason as to why people called him a freak, besides his arm.

Mana never had any problem with that. Cross was deeply surprised when he found out, but never held it against him. True, he advised Allen not to let other people know about it, but for his own good, and that was something that Allen could understand. His daemon had already settled way too early, and adding this to the fact that Meri could come and go as she pleased…Only God knows how people would react.

It was still difficult, though. Meri valued freedom, and so did Allen, so it was very easy to forget that they weren't supposed to stay very apart from each other whenever they were in the heat of battle, or even when they were just with their minds occupied with other things. They had managed, so far, but there had been too many close calls in the past.

It was better if people didn't know. Perhaps he was being too pessimistic; maybe his friends would understand, but he was better safe than sorry, and they were safer this way as well. He couldn't explain why, but he had a strong feeling that letting the truth out would be too dangerous.

Allen doesn't like putting the people he loves in danger, and he does it far too frequently for his liking. Ever since he was a kid the people who stayed away from him were the ones who ended up better. It was so bad that there was a time in which he thought that Merissa would settle as a raven, a symbol of ill omen. Well, looks like you don't need to have a raven daemon to be ill omened after all.

Yeah, having people find out isn't an option.

Meri moves again, this time getting up from the bed. Her expression is gloomy, and he just knows that her thoughts are trailing the same path as his. He shakes his head, trying to will the depressing thoughts away; then he gets up as well, smiles at Meri, who smiles back, and they go to the dining hall. There's no use thinking about it now.

A/N: That was it! The first chapter!

Next one is: Lenalee and her daemon!