Time Flies When You Are Having Fun...(D.Gray-man x Reader)

Chapter 13 - Appearances and Bonding

WARNING! HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA, DO NOT READ IF YOU IF YOU HAVEN'T READ UP TO CHAPTER 230+ IN THE MANGA.

Authors Note: I've been bouncing some idea's with a friend of mine and I have decided to change the story slightly from what I had originally had in the ending. If you are caught up with the manga currently, I am going to have the story get to the point of the manga and then I will have the endings with the characters. Because of this, we have a lot of the story to go through before this will end so I hope I have some people stick with me till the end! Another thing I want to note, I have changed a lot of things in previous chapters, If you need to, you might want to reread the first 12 chapters to make sure you are on the same page(literally) with me. Enjoy~

I stand up and offer my hand to Chaoji. He grabs it and I pull him to his feet. I look over to Kanda to try to gauge what he is thinking but he looks emotionless as ever. I shake my head in exasperation. "Alright, since we are on the same page now, let's go through the three trials and get you and your innocence out of here." I receive looks of confusion from the group. "What?" I look around as no one responds. Allen quickly pipes up.

"Why do you want us to keep our innocence? Aren't you still with the Noah on taking it away from us?" I stare at the ground as I try to come up with something that would make sense.

"I know for some of you, your innocence is an identity and is really important to you. Also, I want a check and balance for the Noah. I trust them, but what if something happens to me and they lose control again, I want to have someone able to stop them if that happens until..." ...Chronea is reincarnated. I can't finish that sentence. Not after all that work to get them to trust me; if they find out I am a Noah, they will go back to hating me, especially Chaoji. I mean if they find out later, won't they feel more betrayed that you lied to them? Possibly...I just don't want this to all be in vain. "I want to be honest with you guys, but are you willing to accept the truth and continue down this path?" I drag my gaze over the group. Most of them seemed curious, some were skeptical, and Kanda looked like he could care less. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. It's now or never. Break a leg. Thanks. "No beating around the bush, I am a Noah. I am the human soul and I have a Noah soul named Chronea residing within my body. We are separate entities at the moment." Allen stares down, deep in thought while mostly everyone else had pale or shocked expressions. Kanda and Lavi had a somewhat knowing look on their faces. Something seemingly sparked in Allen's eyes. "Unlike the other Noah, her Noah soul did not take over my human soul because she is the only Noah that doesn't wish to see the fall of humanity." Allen glances up briefly in surprise. Chaoji quickly stutters.

"A Noah that doesn't wish for humanity's destruction? That's impossible!"

"Well, Chronea is a bit different as she is the Noah of Time. She was the second Noah until she disappeared. She never fought in the first war thousands of years ago. She was an observer who had the ability to travel through different timelines and go forward and backward in time." I look over to Chaoji and his brows start to furrow.

"If that's the case why can't you go back and stop this war and save my friends!?" I let my eyes fall down to my shoes as a pit forms in my stomach.

" I don't know actually, I never thought to ask, but since she didn't suggest it I had assumed we couldn't. I will let her explain." With my last statement, I relinquish my body to Chronea and fully transform into my Noah form.

"I am very weak after being dormant in ____'s timeline for thousands of years. I used most of the power I had left to get both me and ____ to this timeline and to travel back in time. For now, I cannot go back in the past as it would drain my energy and kill me. I'm sorry Chaoji." I can tell Chronea's words have calmed Chaoji slightly. Lenalee stands behind him and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Not only that but for ____ sake, I cannot go farther than I had or her soul would not survive. Straying further and further from her time period is bad enough, crossing the timelines was a huge risk and could have possibly killed her. I might be able to once my powers fully return and I can preserve her soul. All I can do with her right now is travel in the present where she exists within this timeline now. I can speed and slow time in my space separate from timelines but that is it." Chronea retreats and I feel myself slowly coming back into full consciousness. Is not telling me things like a hobby for you? Not really, it's more I forget that I didn't tell you earlier. I shake my head and then slowly peer up to see what the group felt about this. Allen, Lavi, Lenalee seem to fully understand everything. Chaoji looks mournful but seems to also understand the problem of going back. Kanda has a curious expression but quickly hides it when I spot it. Krory smiles and walks over to me. I quickly speak up before he gets too close.

"I will understand if you don't want anything to do with me now. I am a Noah, technically your enemy. If I were in the same position I wouldn't trust me either." I back away slowly but continue to talk and keep my gaze low, " Please do not tell the Order of me, Chronea, or our powers. They will hunt me and Chronea down and use our powers to try to end this war. But if they did so they would only be fueling the hatred the Noah have for humanity. The Noah's continued hatred for humanity was because they had thought they had lost Chronea those thousands of years ago. She was killed by an exorcist even though she refused to fight and could not reincarnate until now. I will not let that happen to her again." I continue to put distance between me and the group until I backed into something. I gaze up and find Kanda of all people behind me. He is looking off to the side as he speaks.

"Look in front of you, no one wants you gone here. It's pretty obvious, brat." I start to fume but reluctantly turn back around and look at the group. Many held looks of sympathy or concern. Lavi held a thoughtful smile. The only expression I couldn't read was Allen's. In fact, it didn't look like Allen at all. Wait... Chronea we didn't... trigger Nea right? If he is a part of the Millennial Earl like he said in the book, hearing my name might have triggered memories. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"You know what you are right Kanda, I'll stick around. I need to quickly talk to Allen for a second about something." I rush over and grab Allen's arm and pull him over behind a building about 20 ft away from the group. "Allen are you ok?" I look over his facial features to try to pinpoint who has control. I don't get a response but I witness grey eyes turning to gold. "Nea?" At the call of his name, he peeks up with a smile with tears welling in his eyes.

"My darling daughter is alive! I thought you would never return to us!" Nea pulls me into a hug and I relinquish my body to Chronea once again to hug her family. She pulls back from the hug to look at him.

"It's good to see you too! Since you've been going by Nea would you prefer that to Adam?" Nea nods his head.

"For now while I am in this body separate from my other half I will go as Nea or father." I take back control to ask a question that has been burning inside me since coming to this world.

"Nea, my name is ____. I am the host of Chronea at the moment. I need to ask you something extremely important. Why did you as the Earl separate into two parts and how do we put you back together." Nea surprisingly was calm even with me knowing something I shouldn't yet.

"It's a long story that is for another time, I'm going to give back control to the Allen-boy so you can get out of here." Nea retreats as Allen's soul emerges. Confusion emanates out of Allen as he becomes aware of his new surroundings.

"_____? How did I get here?" I fumble to explain.

"I dragged you over to tell you that... you are the person I trust the most in this group and I wanted you to know that." I give him a big smile hoping he would believe me. I wasn't lying, just not telling him the real reason. He slightly blushed.

"Oh, thank you ____. I'm glad you feel that way. I hope you can continue to rely on me." He gives me a toothy grin and I can't help but beam. I'm so lucky to have been able to be friends with these guys. They are really good people. "If that is all let's get back to the group! I'm sure after hearing everything they are still shaken a little." He turns and waves me to follow him back. I jog to catch up to him and walk back with a small smile on my face. I notice Kanda has a weird look on his face so I knew he must have felt something when Nea emerged. I'll have to explain it to him later.

"Let's get going guys, we don't have time to waste. Time is ticking and the Ark is falling apart. Use Road's key to get us to our first challenge." Kanda pulls the key out of a pocket and walks over to a door with a lock. He inserts it and an audible click is heard. He puts a hand on the door and begins to open it. I wonder what challenges will await us that won't kill the exorcists?