Heaven's Voice

Settled In (Pt. 3)

It was rather awkward to stand there while a man named Reeves took her measurements. He seemed rather friendly, but Ashla could feel herself getting more and more timid by the second.

"Alright. That should do it. If you could step over here, we have a picture for you to point at where you would like the lengths and what pieces you want." He said as he led her over to a desk. There were words on the paper, along with a picture of a female body. But instead of pointing...she motioned for something to write with. A few of the people helping gave puzzled looks, until someone finally understood, handing her a pencil.

After a few good minutes, she showed them the result. There was a baggy hood, accompanied by a long collar with a button to cover or uncover her neck. She showed sleeves that were tight until the elbows, flaring out with buttons so they could be rolled back. The bottom showed a skirt that went to her knees, loose as well. Impressed with the sketch, the design team nodded and approved of the idea. "Sure thing! We'll have it done as soon as possible!" One of them said to her, causing her to smile brightly to them. She was so excited!

All of them could've sworn they felt butterflies in their stomach when seeing such a cute smile.

It wasn't too long after that that the three exorcists entered the large room. "Ah, there she is!" Lenalee said cheerfully as the two boys followed. She was so relieved to see Ashla getting along well with everyone so far. "Hey! We got your room ready if you'd like to see?" She said cheerfully, earning an eager nod.

Lavi began to sign to her, catching Ashla off guard. She was going to have to get used to someone actually understanding. She signed back as she happily nodded to him. The others gave them a confused look, but Lavi only smiled as he finished their conversation. He then turned to the others and said "She wants to thank everyone for all of their kind hospitality. She feels very welcomed and can't thank you enough."

Everyone smiled as Lenalee gave her a big hug. "I'm so happy to hear that! You're family now." Lenalee said with a smile as she then took Ashla's hand. "Come on! Let's see your room." She said, desperately wanting to see Ashla's face when she sees her new room. Ashla gave an eager nod as the two girls went on, Allen and Lavi following suit.

While walking through multiple hallways, Lavi glanced over at Allen. He seemed...out of it. "Oi, Allen, did you get enough sleep? You look out of it."

Allen flinched when hearing Lavi, snapping out of his thoughts. "A-Ah, I'm alright! I got enough sleep." He said reassuringly.

The red haired male eyed his friend in suspicion. "Then what's going on to make you doze off even more than usual?"

The boy's cheeks turned a tint of pink when hearing that question, quickly looking everywhere except at Lavi as he spoke. "I-It's nothing! I just have a lot of my mind, you know?" He said as he rubbed his neck, starting to sweat nervously.

"Hmm..I'm not so sure about that. But I'll let it slide." He said with a smile as he put an arm around Allen's neck. He laughed as Allen was pulled over, yelling for Lavi to knock it off.

Of course Lavi knew what was happening. He's seen budding romance way too many times to not know that Allen thought Ashla was cute too. Of course Lavi wouldn't interfere with that. Besides, he couldn't even try to ask Ashla out if he wanted to. So as the Bookman-in-training that he was...he decided to stay out of it.

Ashla and Lenalee turned around as they heard the two boys, Lenalee quickly chiming in. "Knock it off you two! We're almost there!" Her voice turned from motherly to excited within seconds as they continued to walk. Once reaching the open floors of rooms, it didn't take long for them to reach a certain door. Lenalee stood aside, ushering for Ashla to open the door. "Go ahead. This is your room!"

Ashla nodded, carefully taking hold of the doorknob, before slowly turning it open. What she saw surprised her beyond belief.

The room has a small bed with freshly set towels and everything possibly needed...But above the bed's headrest was a painting of London. Where did they get such a beautiful painting...?

'Where did you get the painting?' Ashla signaled to Lavi, who explained to Lenalee.

"Huh? Oh, one of the exorcists that's no longer at this branch had left that here. It was found in his room, and once hearing of your arrival, big brother and I agreed that it would be best used to make you feel at home."

Ashla stared at the painting in awe. She had seen that very street before, the street in the painting. She smiled before turning around. 'I love it.'

Lenalee was so happy to hear Lavi's translation, yet noticing Ashla starting to tear up. This caused everyone to slightly panic, as Lenalee rushed over to hug her. "You're okay now, Ashla. You're safe here with us." Lenalee rubbed the girl's back, Allen and Lavi watching in wonder. Why was she crying about her room? They didn't understand, but they knew Lenalee did. Lenalee had pulled back after a moment and smiled to the girl. "You must be hungry after our long journey, right? Let's get you something to eat."

Ashla pulled back as she nodded, taking a deep breath as to not let any tears fall that threatened to fall. The boys smiled when noticing her feeling better, Lavi chiming in to help lighten the mood. "Yeah, I'm starving!"

"I could honestly go for a bite to eat as well..." Allen said sheepishly.

"You're always hungry, Allen!" Lavi teased as Allen crossed his arms and slightly pouted.

"Hey, it's not easy with a parasitic innocence..." he mumbled, before realizing something. "Ah, right!" He turned to Ashla and smiled warmly to her. "You're a parasitic too, right?"

Ashla gave a puzzled look as she nodded. 'What do you mean by 'too'?' She asked curiously as Lavi spoke for her.

Allen then realized his glove was covering his hand. "Oh, erm, I'm a parasitic too! Here." He said as he took off his glove, showing a red arm with a green cross in the back of it. Her eyes widened as she gazed at it, slowly lifting her hands before pulling back. Allen noticed this and smiled. "Y-You can examine it, if you want!" He said reassuringly, causing her to blush a little as she nodded and carefully took his hand. The redness near the cross was a bit uneven rough, similar to her own cross. She pulled it closer, examining the outlines of the innocence itself. She then turned his hand over, surprised to find out that his palm was rather soft. Besides the appearance...his innocence was rather similar to hers.

By this point though, both of them blushed as she pulled back, apologizing repeatedly. Allen knew what this sign meant, waving his hands flusteredly. "No, no! No need to be sorry! I've just, never had another person or exorcist examine my innocence like that, before..."

'I'm sorry, I've never met someone with innocence before Lenalee...So you're the first person I've met to have innocence like mine.'

Allen nodded in understanding, smiling a little by the thought. "Then hopefully this makes you feel more at ease." He said with a smile, causing her to smile in return.

"Alright alright, let's gooooo!! I'm hungryyyyy." Lavi whined, Lenalee laughing a little.

"The two of you can chat more in the cafeteria!" Lenalee said to the two parasitics as they exited the bedroom. Allen and Ashla exchanged glances, both smiling at each other as they knew they were both excited to learn more about each other's innocence.

With the help of these three exorcists, Ashla had been officially settled in. And honestly...she felt right at home.