Egad! Abarat Fox is writing something that's not Naruto based? HOLYFUCKINGSHITWHATISGOINGON?

To tell the truth, I have no idea. :P I like to write about Naruto because I'm not really a fan of that show (Why would they just kill everyone I actually like?) but I LOVE D. Gray Man so I hope this turns out well. Anyway, this is my first D. Gray Man fic AND my first one-shot. This is canon and it's a part I always wondered about. What happened the first time Allen's eye activated? Did Cross know what the curse was or was he just as surprised as Allen would have been? This I must know! So I wrote about it. :D

Allen sat in front of the dusty mirror and traced the red line over his left eye. He had been hiding out in the bathroom all night with Mr. Cross's golden…thing. He had fallen asleep using it as a pillow and he had woken up believing that everything had been a dream, that he had never attempted to resurrect his father and he had simply fallen asleep in the graveyard.

So when he had opened his eyes he panicked and crawled behind the sink until the golden thing pulled him out with its tail. Allen had held a one sided conversation with it until he worked up the courage to look in the mirror. As he had feared, Allen's appearance had been changed. While he still retained the same basic features, his hair had turned stark white and there was a strange red symbol over his left eye. Allen also noticed that the change in hair color made his skin seem darker and brought out a more gray tone to his eyes.

The golden thing made a weird gurgling sound and it landed on the counter next to the child. Allen blinked at it as it settled down in the bowl of the sink then waved one of its wings at him. "Do you want something?" He asked cautiously and he registered that his voice still sounded a little shrill and jittery after the previous night's trauma.

The gold thing just sat still and Allen got the impression that it was observing him despite its lack of eyes. Then it turned and faced the bathroom door a second before there was a loud bang against it. Allen was so surprised by the noise that he fell to the floor with a clatter the same time Cross said, "Hurry up, brat, we're leaving."

"Uh, I-!" Was all Allen managed to say before Cross stormed off. The golden thing fluttered out of the sink and nuzzled against Allen until he stood up and cautiously opened the door. The entire brothel was full of sickly smells of perfume and sweat and something pungent Allen didn't recognize. It was a strange place with deep red furnishings and women draped across almost every surface and Allen was a little afraid of it.

Mana had never taken him to a place like this! It must have been haunted too because Allen had heard grunting and banging all night long. The gold thing hovered over his shoulder but Allen could tell that it was eager to follow Mr. Cross out. Allen took a deep breath before he ran through the heavy brothel air with the gold thing leading the way. Allen followed it down stairs and through halls until they got to where Cross was, at the front door.

The gold thing flew to its master and sat down on top of his head but cross ignored to. All his attention was devoted to the women he had draped off either shoulder. "You'll come back soon?" One of them cooed and Cross smirked.

"Don't I always?" He said and both women broke down in giggles.

"Is that a kid?" One of the women asked as she noticed Allen. She detached herself from Cross and kneeled in front of Allen. "S'matter kid? You lost?" She asked and smiled.

"No, I'm with-"

"He's with me." Cross interrupted.

"You had a son? You scamp!" The lady on Cross scolded but her eyes gleamed hungry.

"No," Cross said. "That's just my apprentice. Now I really must be going." The women protested half-heartedly but Cross just waved them off. Then, without even a word or glance to Allen, he left. Allen stared after him before he pursued the man out of the red building and onto the snowy street.

Allen was hungry and his body ached from the awkward position he had slept in the previous night but he didn't protest. He still wasn't sure about Cross and he was too confused from what had just happened to do any talking. But with that came a problem, if he didn't talk how would he keep himself from thinking about Mana? Allen found condolence in just staring up at the huge golden thing that had accompanied him during the night and trying to keep up with Cross.

The trio left the town that Mana had died in and Allen watched it vanish against the white clouds of the winter sky and he continued to look back at it as they walked deeper into the pine forest. Allen didn't realize that he had started to lag behind that was until he heard the golden thing's gurgle far ahead.

"What's the matter, Timcampy?" Cross asked before the golem flew off his head and sailed back to where Allen was.

"Hi Tim." Allen said as the creature landed in front of him and made a couple of strange noises. Timcampy's contrast to the snowy ground was almost painful to look at but regardless, Allen got to his knees and pat the top of its head as if it was a dog. He looked nervously up at Cross and almost flinched at the man's harsh stare. "Sorry…" He trailed off.

"Keep up, brat. We need to move quickly so the Earl won't find us." Cross snapped. Timcampy fluttered back to Cross's head and Allen reluctantly followed. He kept his eyes on his feet and Cross snorted before turning around and walking deeper into the forest. This time Allen kept his eyes trained on the back of Cross's heels and making sure to never be any more or less than three steps away at all times.

In this way, Cross, Allen, and Timcampy made it to the next town shortly after the early winter sunset.

Cross entered a brightly lit building with many people inside. Allen recognized it as a pub and he ducked under the door-guard's line of vision when he entered. Something told him that Cross wouldn't care if Allen had to spend the night outside.

He followed Cross to a table and sat in silence with his head down while Cross ordered some expensive sounding alcohol and food. The waitress moved off and Timcampy settled down in the middle of the table and entertained Allen by doing some kind of strange jig. Eventually he looked up at Cross and gathered himself enough to finally ask a question.

"Who are you?"

"General Marian Cross of the Black Order." Cross said with a smirk.

"The Black Order? What's that? And who is the Earl anyway? What happened to my arm? And my eye? What happened to Mana?" Allen asked so quickly that his words slurred together but Cross seemed to understand him.

"The Millennium Earl is the Creator of Akuma-"

"Demons?"

"Shut up. Not Akuma in the way you're thinking. An Akuma is a human soul bound to a machine inside human flesh. That's what happened to Mana, only you destroyed him before the Earl could make him kill you and were your skin." Allen looked terrified but Cross didn't stop to consol or mock him. "The Black Order is an Order of Exorcists equipped with Akuma-killing tools such as your arm. Mine is this." Cross held up the ornate gun as discreetly as the flamboyant general could a.k.a. he waved it around and freaked out a couple of the other customers.

Allen grabbed his left arm at the seam and squeezed it. His arm was a weapon? He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. "Uh, but what about my eye?" He asked but the food and drink had already arrived so Cross just ignored him.

There was a ridiculous amount of food, even by Allen's standards. His stomach growled angrily and Allen rested his chin on the table while he wondered when the last time he had eaten was. He hadn't even felt hungry since Mana's death.

Suddenly a plate slid in front of him and Allen looked up to see Timcampy watching (?) him in an almost worried way. Allen was surprised by Tim's action but he dug in anyway. He probably would not have been such an eager eater had he known that Cross was planning to make him pay for all of it.

XXX

Allen slammed the door to the brothel open and both Cross and the woman leaning against him looked up but continued sipping wine. Allen was a right mess, his clothes were filthy and torn, his hair was covered in grit, and he looked like he wanted to raise hell.

"Oh, so you're back." Cross said and Allen shot him a death glare.

"There. I paid off ALL the debt you owed to the pub. NOW can we leave?" Allen growled. Timcampy fluttered around his head but that did nothing to help the situation.

"No, I'm busy now." Cross pulled the woman closer and grinned.

"We've been here for three weeks; I thought we were on the run!" Allen shouted but Cross just shrugged him off. Allen turned around and stalked off with Timcampy in pursuit, muttering about his 'Stupid Master' the whole way out.

Even the cold night air did nothing to calm Allen down and he stormed down the street. People were startled by the white-haired child radiating a 'kill' aura and stepped out of his way so Allen met no confrontation.

Timcampy creeled a warning as Allen diverged from the main street and down a back alley but it was ignored. "Aurgh!" Allen yelled in frustration and he punched a wall. He immediately regretted it when pain lanced up through his knuckles and he yelped with as much dignity as he had left to him.

There was shifting in the darkness deeper down into the alley and Allen assumed that it must have been some homeless person but when he looked he saw a pretty blonde woman in a red dress and with a basket of flowers.

Allen was about to call out a greeting when he felt a strange twinge in his left eye and he heard a sound similar to a shrieking hawk. "Wha-?" He started and he put a hand up to his eye.

"Are you okay?" The woman asked and Allen smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said. He felt nothing wrong with his eye so he dropped his hand but the second his eye was exposed the world changed. He could see the normal world just fine but overlaying it was some kind of entirely black and white world. He could easily make out every detail of the woman even though she was a ways away. And over her shoulder was…a little girl with a chain on her breast and shrunken eyes.

Allen fell backwards and barely suppressed the urge to vomit. What was that? "What are you?" He called out to her in a shaky voice but the woman just tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" She asked and she took a step forward. The tormented child floating above her and this time Allen really did vomit. When he recovered he looked back at the woman but he kept his eye tightly shut. She took another tentative step forward and Allen was almost disgusted by the hurt look on her face.

"What's wrong, little boy?" She asked again and Allen turned on his heel and ran back down the alley toward Main Street. "WAIT!" the woman yelled but he didn't even look over his shoulder.

Allen darted into the middle of the street and spooked a buggy-horse. "Watch it!" The driver yelled but Allen was too frightened to care. Suddenly something smashed into the driver and sent him careening into a nearby building. People screamed and ran like headless chickens but Allen turned around to look for the source.

At some point while he had been running, Allen had opened his eye again and he regretted it the second he laid it on the level one Akuma and it reactivated. The child's soul had tears streaming down her cheeks and she was whispering something Allen could not hear. At the moment, he was more preoccupied that the flying Akuma had its canons all pointed at him.

He couldn't dodge one bullet, let alone the amount that this one creature could produce. Instead he screwed up his eyes and waited for the inevitable but it never came. There was a single loud bang and Allen opened his eyes to see Cross standing in front of him with Judgment by his ear and Timcampy buzzing around his head. The golem must have flown to the general the second Allen was attacked.

"Master?" Allen said but Cross ignored him. Instead the general lowered his innocents and fired one last shot into the Akuma. Allen watched in fascination as the chained soul was freed and dissolved with a flash of light the same instant that the demon exploded.

"Master?" Allen said again but Cross still ignored him. What had just happened? Allen's mind was overflowing with questions but that one was the most prominent.

What was that chained child? It had looked so deranged! Allen felt tears stream down his cheeks and he fell to his hands and knees in relief.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself idiot apprentice. That's what were up against, get used to it." Cross said.

"How?" Allen sniffled. He looked up at Cross without caring that his cursed eye was still activated. Cross's cigarette fell out of his mouth but that aside he did not react to Allen's black and red eye. "HOW CAN I EVER GET USED TO SEEING THAT….THING!" Allen shouted and tears dripped from his cheeks to the snow.

Cross looked slightly taken about. Allen glared at him until he lowered his head and looked to the left because of some unknown impulse. There were three more 'humans' with chained souls hovering over their shoulders running towards them.

"Hey! What's going on?" The leader shouted.

"Nothing. Everything's fine." Cross said. Allen got to his shaky feet and backed up until Cross was between him and the Akuma.

"More…" Allen muttered and Cross shot him a surprised look. The Akuma quickly closed the distance and transformed. This time Allen's innocents activated before Cross realized what had happened but the general destroyed all of them before Allen could move.

Allen was still crying but he was smiling at the same time. "Rest in peace…" He muttered as the souls vanished.

"Kid," Cross said and Allen looked up at him. "What exactly did you see?"

Allen looked up at the sky and watched some flakes flurry down. "It's soul." He muttered. A second later Allen's vision went black and he collapsed. Timcampy landed next to him and attempted to nudge him awake but he would not stir. Cross took out another cigarette, lit it, and inhaled before he picked Allen up by his collar and hauled him down the empty streets.

So Allen Walker could see the souls of Akuma. Whether or not that would turn out to be a blessing or a curse was all up to him.