Fanfic #163 A Tale of Two Endlings by Discarab(MHAXDGrayMan)

This fanfic is a crossover between My Hero Academia and D. Gray Man following Allen Walker in the world of My Hero Academia. I really like this fic because it has a lot of world building and story development based on unique story elements.

Synopsis: After a malfunction on the ark, Allen Walker finds himself thrown hundreds of years into the future. Stuck in an unknown age, and forced to make a new life for himself, he soon discovers that he lacks many things besides knowledge in this strange new time. In this age of heroes, how will a child, who has been trained since youth to be a soldier for the Holy War, live?

Rated: T

words: 117k

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13502313/1/A-Tale-of-Two-Endlings

Here's the first chapter:

Allen cringed as sharp blades of wind rushed by him. The second he exited the ark gate, he was immediately met with the gracious open arms of a city skyline. As he plummeted down towards the surface, he raised his left arm up to his head, hoping to shield his eyes from the roaring wind. "What the hell?!" He screeched as his mind raced to process what had just happened. "This isn't London!" The gate that was supposed to take him to a remote hiding spot in England's underbelly had instead dropped him off at some completely unknown location. "Crap, I need to hurry up and summon another gate!" Allen thought as he hastily tried to place another doorway. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried, a gate never surfaced. "What? That's not normal..." he could feel the melody begin to play through his head, however, unlike the countless times before, no gate was summoned. "Well... this isn't good." At this rate, he was going to be spread across the pavement before he had the chance to figure out what had happened to him. He frantically started to search for something, anything, that he could grab with his clown belt. However, just after he started to look, he heard an unbelievably-loud noise coming from his right.

For a couple of seconds, he could feel his entire body shaking. Almost as if he were being beaten around by the air itself. That was when he saw it. "What the hell is that?! Is it a bird?!" Even in the cover of night, he could just make out the faint outline of, what looked like, a giant metal machine. It had two equally-large gliders attached to the machine's central-cylindrical body. The engines, or, at least, that's what he assumed those devices were, appeared to be the source of the rumbling. "Is that one of the Noah Family's devices?! Or maybe an akuma?!" He had never seen anything like it before in his life. However, no matter how long, and hard, he stared at the machine's metal exterior, his left eye never activated. In fact, he felt little to no animosity coming from the machine at all. Which, quite frankly, was bizarre. Thanks to his coat flapping in the wind, he was slightly gliding alongside the giant machine. However, after a couple of seconds, once the wind stopped, he'd definitely continue to plummet back towards the ground. "Speaking of which..." he thought as he stared through a parting in the clouds, "Where in the world am I?" Yet again, his question was left unanswered. However, after a few moments of squinting, he did notice something quite interesting. "Breathtaking..." Even though he was rocketing towards his death. For a split-second, he forgot his rapidly-approaching demise to appreciate the sight he was seeing. For, as far as the eye could see, Allen saw nothing but a limitless expanse of, what looked like, twinkling stars.

"Wait, but that's not possible." He thought as his eyebrows narrowed, there was simply no way, after all, for that to be the case. He was staring at the ground, after all, not the night sky. It was then that he realized the small error he had made, however, when he did, a whole new wave of shock shot through his body. "Wait, but if those aren't stars... then they're lights?!" In the course of his life, he had seen many vibrant cityscapes at night. Paris, England, and Rome, for example, shown like diamonds when the sun went down. But this was something else entirely. For, even though those cities were illuminated at night, that was mostly via gas lamps and candles. This city, if that's what he was looking at, appeared to be on an entirely-different level. The only lights that could pierce through the darkness with that much clarity, after all, were electrical lights. But those were exceedingly rare, and incredibly expensive. "Where... in God's name did the ark drop me off?"

Sadly, before he could answer that question, Allen first had to deal with his more... mortal... problem. "Shit, well here goes nothing!" If he wanted to survive the fall, then he only had one option. Swiftly, he activated Crown Clown, and within moments wrapped one of his white belts around the mysterious flying object. It took quite a bit of effort, but eventually, he managed to claw his way onto the top of the device. The force of the wind against his face and body was neigh-unbearable. However, before he got blown off the side of the metal bird, he dug one of his hands into the nearest crack he could find, and held on for dear life. Eventually, he was able to get into a relatively-comfortable position, and was finally able to catch his breath. "Whew, that was close." He mumbled as he stared off of the side of the device, the lights of the town below him twinkling like fine-jewelry. "This thing will have to land eventually, and when it does, I'll jump off." With his plan set in motion, Allen finally took a chance to turn his attention to the full moon above, and sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

Two hours later...

Allen gasped yet again as he dived into an alleyway. After landing in some equally-massive concrete complex, using the cover of darkness, he slipped away into the back of a large hangar. Every once in a while, he'd recognize a word or two of English splattered on the walls. However, for the most part, the only language he saw printed on signs around the building appeared to be Japanese. "Is this some sort of transportation center?" He thought when he came across a car packed to the brim with luggage. He still had no idea what was going on. However, after observing his surroundings, he somewhat managed to guess what sort of place he had landed himself into. There were people of all shapes and sizes rushing about, so he knew that this wasn't some sort of secret base. His cursed left eye had yet to activate as well, which, in a crowded area like this one, told him that he was in a relatively-peaceful part of town. "I guess that means that I won't have to worry about any akuma ambushing me." The entire reason that he was hiding like this was to avoid any unwanted attention. With his current predicament, it was better, and not to mention safer, that he'd stay away from crowds. "Still... even if this place is some sort of transportation center, it looks so strange." Simply put, he had never seen such a humongous building before. If this was supposed to be some sort of storage hangar, then it must've been for holding those unbelievably-large metal aircrafts. "What technology did they even use to build these massive structures?" No matter how hard he thought, the answer eluded him. After a few more seconds of thought, Allen grit his teeth and shook his head. Now wasn't the time for curious wondering, at the moment, he had to focus on getting away from this place. The Order, and the Earl, had eyes everywhere, after all.

Due to the vast size of the complex, it took him quite a while to make it into, what he assumed, was the central stretch of the city. Thankfully, by keeping to the alleyways and various back paths, he was able to avoid most of the public eye. "Damn, what sort of city is this?!" He mumbled as he watched a group of pedestrians pass him by. A couple of them were dressed in several outrageous outfits, some of them even had full-body suits! "And... does that guy have a cactus for a head?" Allen thought as he felt his jaw hit the ground. This entire area was strange. Not only was the technology far too advanced, but the people were also unbelievable! "Crap, I need to get out of here and find someplace quiet to think." With that out of the way, Allen slipped back into a nearby alleyway, and slowly snuck his way to the underbelly of the city. "No matter how advanced a city is, it'll always have slums." He thought as he followed the road to a more-rundown part of the city. Even though he was sure to run into some... unsavory... people here. It was better for that to happen than to be caught by some Order lackey. "God, it sure would be nice if I could read some of these signs." Allen whispered under his breath as he walked down a deserted, trash-ridden, street. By the looks of things, the buildings surrounding it should've been completely abandoned. And that's what he thought, until he heard the screams.

"Ahhhh!" One of them, a young boy, yelled as he came bolting out of one of the downtrodden buildings. Soon after, a girl, who appeared to be the boy's sister, followed him out into the streets. They were screaming, yelling in a language that he didn't understand. However, one thing was certain: those two needed help.

"Hey! You kids! What's going on?!" The odds of them understanding him were close to zero, and yet Allen couldn't resist calling out to them. As soon as he opened his big mouth, a group of five men quickly jumped out of a neighboring building, they all had weapons, and were covered in tattoos. "Are they thieves? Maybe gangsters?" God knows that he had enough experience to last a lifetime when it came to lowlifes like that. "Well... I can't say I know exactly what's going on, but those kids need my help!" In a dingy part of town like this, he could tell that official help wouldn't be coming. No, if his time in London's slums taught him anything, it was that, in these situations, he'd have to act first. And so he did, in a flash, he used the shadows to sneak up on the group of men. A few strong chops later, they were all lying unconscious on the wet sidewalk. "Well that didn't take long." Allen mumbled as he dusted off his hands. Those thugs definitely looked strong, but with the element of surprise, he was easily able to knock them all out. After that, he turned to the two children, who were now staring at him with an inquisitive gaze, and sighed. "Hmm... what should I do?" Since he didn't know how to speak Japanese, he couldn't ask these kids where to go or where their parents were. Thankfully, luck seemed to be on his side that night. For, as soon as he knocked the perpetrators out, a large man, who he assumed to be the children's father, rushed down the street. He was screaming something in Japanese, and looked very distraught.

"Umm... Sir?" Allen started as he hesitantly raised up his hand. Yet again, there was no guarantee that the man would be able to understand him, but it was at least worth a shot. As expected, the children's father just stared at him with a confused gaze. However, after a few seconds, the man did something strange. He stood straight up and started to scan him over, almost as if he were a police officer inspecting some random crook. It was around then that Allen noticed the gilded badge hanging off of the man's left breast-pocket. After he noticed the badge, the man took a step back and stared up into the sky, it appeared that he was thinking something over. After a few seconds of this, the man shrugged, turned back to him, and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Allen felt a massive wave of pain shoot through his forehead. The migraine was as intense as an avalanche, but quickly subsided after a few seconds. He didn't know what had just happened, but judging by the man's expression, he seemed to have been the cause of this mysterious headache.

"There, you should be able to understand us now. Sorry about the pain, but you must understand, I didn't really have any other options. Especially since you don't seem to be able to speak Japanese." As the man talked, Allen had to struggle to keep his eyes from rolling out of his head.

"What... what is this?!" He yelped as he frantically took another look-over of his surroundings. Suddenly, all of the Japanese text and symbols had been translated into perfect English. Not only that, but he could now understand what the man and the children were saying!

"Are you okay, Mister?" One of the kids asked him as they tugged on his jacket. "If you feel sick, don't worry about it. It's just a side-effect of daddy's quirk." Allen knew the boy meant well, but all that explanation did was make him even more confused.

"What? Quirks? What is this kid talking about?" Suddenly these three were throwing around vocabulary that was completely unknown to him. The children's father, who noticed his confusion, only laughed and lightly patted him on the back.

"Do you call superpowers by a different name? Come on, stop pulling my leg..." the man continued as he grabbed hold of Allen's left shoulder. When he tried to move away, his grip only grew tighter. "Now, now, let's not be hasty. You are an illegal immigrant, aren't you?" When he heard that, Allen just turned around, his eyes wide, and just stared at the man in shock. What in the world had he gotten himself into? "Ah, are you confused? Well don't worry, after all..." the father said as he fished a card out of his wallet and handed it to him. "You saved the right person's kids today. The name's Eiichi, and it just so happens that I'm a member of Japan's Bureau of Immigration and International Affairs, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Wait... do you mean to tell me that you're a government agent?" Allen asked Eiichi as his voice started to quiver. Throughout his journey, as he was on the run from the Order, people like Eiichi, especially those related to immigration, were the ones that he wanted to avoid the most. After all, since he didn't carry any passports on him, if he was caught, there was a very good chance that he'd be forcefully deported. If what Eiichi said was true, then he was now walking a very fine line. "Damn, I guess I'd better play along." Allen could tell just by looking at Eiichi's expression that the man had labeled him as an immigrant. Lying wouldn't do him any good now. So, instead, he just put on the best poker face he could manage, and gave the agent a lighthearted chuckle. "Oh darn, what gave me away?"

"Hmph… well, being completely lost this far into the city was your first red light, the second one was your clothes." Eiichi said as he pointed nonchalantly at Allen's wardrobe. "I'm not sure where you got those, but they definitely aren't from here. I know a confused immigrant when I see one, and you're giving me all the right signs." With every word the man spoke, Allen's mood only got worse and worse. Not only did he not know where he was, but now he was going to get arrested!

"Should I run?" Allen thought before clenching his right hand into a fist. "No... that would only make things worse. Especially since I don't know my way around." Plus, since he was in a city, there was a chance that he'd attract some unwanted attention from akuma. And that would put innocent lives at risk. At the moment, his only option was to submit. "I guess this means that you're going to deport me, huh?" He asked the man as he held up his arms, waiting for Eiichi to bind them in cuffs. However, the man did nothing of the sort, and instead just laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

"You definitely aren't from around here, are you boy?" Eiichi barked out as he turned to stare at the decrepit city streets. "These are the slums, they're nothing like downtown or the areas near the main roads. Heroes barely stop by here at all, so we have to rely on each other to survive. Normally, your intuition would be correct, and I'd throw you in prison. But..." he started as he hugged his children close. "You helped two members of my family, so I can't in good-conscience drag you to the station. Instead," Eiichi mumbled as he raised one of his palms into the air, as if he were about to close a major business deal. "How about I give you a helping hand? If you need a place to stay for the night, I wouldn't mind housing you. After all," he said as he playfully tugged at Allen's filthy clothes. "You're long overdue for a bath, and a trip to the laundromat."

"Heh, I think… you might be right." It was true, after that fall a few hours ago, his entire body was covered with the muck and grime of the city. And with no money to speak of, having a place to stay, even if it was just for tonight, would be a blessing. "I'm still not entirely sure if I trust this man, for all I know he could be trying to lure me into a trap, but..." before he could even finish his thought, a wave of fatigue washed over him. What he needed right now was rest. "I'll take you up on that offer, Mr. Eiichi." Allen mumbled as he rubbed his tired eyes. As he did so, Eiichi just laughed, and pointed off towards one of the alleyways.

"I thought so. Now then, follow me, my car is this way." He said as he, and his children, sauntered off towards the man's vehicle. Without a care in the world, Allen simply nodded, and hurried off after them. With every step, he felt his stomach start to rumble. It seemed that there was one other thing he needed: and that was food.

"When I get a chance, I should ask Eiichi where the nearest shops are." Allen thought as he looked up towards the dark sky. He wasn't sure why, but as he stared up into the city's cloudy airspace, he felt a strange sense of nostalgia rush through him. "Heh, this almost feels the same as when I first arrived at the Order." Allen thought as he stared down at his left hand, "This place... it's just another stop in my path, isn't it, Mana?"

Two hours later...

Allen let out a satisfied sigh as he slid down into the warm water. After an unbelievably-long ride, thanks to horrible traffic, he had finally arrived at Eiichi's home. As per the man's instructions, he immediately was sent to the family's restroom to clean himself off. In the brief period that he spent walking through their home towards the bathroom; Allen got a good chance to see exactly what kind of position Eiichi and his family were in. "He wasn't lying when he said that they lived in the slums..." the apartment itself was quite cramped to house a family of four. Honestly, he had no idea how they managed to do it.

"Boy, you can go ahead and toss your dirty clothes in the hamper, I don't mind washing them." Ichika, Eiichi's wife, said from the other side of the bathroom's entrance.

"Got it, and thanks again!" He said as he stared somberly down into the rapidly-filling tub. "Hey, Mrs. Eiichi, I'm not troubling your family, am I?" Truth be told, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. While he was on the run, many kind families offered him lodging. And while they told him that he wasn't a bother, he was constantly worried about dragging them down. However, instead of an answer, all Allen got for his worries was a hearty chuckle.

"Pfft. Don't worry, Mr. Walker. My silly husband has done this more times than I can count. I swear, he says that he's a hardcore immigration officer, but, in reality, he's just a big softy. Since we live in the slums, if someone helps us, even if they're here illegally, he'll always do his best to try and return the favor. Trust me, that's just the way this part of town is. I'm not sure where you came from, but you saved my children. The least you deserve for such a kind act is a warm place to stay for the night. Though we can't offer you much more than that."

"I really can't thank you guys enough." Allen said as a small smile graced his lips. He couldn't remember the last time he had a bath. With that, he threw his clothes into the bathroom's hamper, and stepped slowly into the tub. The hot water stung for a moment or two, but it was soon replaced with a pleasant warmth that enveloped his filthy body. As the muck and grime slowly dissolved away, Allen took a chance to lean back and relax. "Good, now I finally have a chance to collect my thoughts." He still had no idea what happened to him, or why he couldn't summon the ark, but he had a few guesses. "During the ride over here, I saw and asked Mr. Eiichi so many questions, I hope I didn't annoy him too much..." Using the excuse that he was an illegal immigrant, he had managed to gather quite a few tidbits of useful information. The first, and probably the most important, being that he was currently in the future. "No matter how I look at it, this place is definitely Japan. Granted, it's Japan hundreds of years in the future, but it's still the same land." He wasn't sure how the Order managed to uproot the Earl's operation here, but, just by going off of appearances, it seemed that they had succeeded. Since he fell out of the ark, he hadn't come across a single akuma or finder. Which, for a city as large as this, would be quite abnormal back in his time. "I wonder..." he thought as he raised his left arm up into the air, droplets of warm water streaming down its dark and scaly skin, "Is the Order even still around?" If what Mr. Eiichi said was true, then hundreds of years must've passed.

"I haven't seen anything in the news about the Black Order or exorcists. Could it be that they actually somehow managed to win the war?" If so, then how? Unless this was some alternate dimension, which he doubted, then that was the only logical explanation. And, if his situation wasn't strange enough already, there was the matter of these 'quirks' that Mr. Eiichi and the newscasters kept bringing up. On the ride over to Mr. Eiichi's apartment, he learned quite a bit about this world. Of course, to avoid arousing suspicion, he only asked the most-basic of questions. Such as how this country was run, who was its leader, and, perhaps most-importantly, what these so-called 'professional heroes' were. From the paltry answers he received, he concluded that heroes were individuals who were given permission to use their quirks, or powers, to aid and protect the general public. "Quirks... special powers wielded by over eighty-percent of the world's population. Ranging anywhere from super-strength to gravity-defying abilities. I've heard of innocence causing strange phenomena, but this is something else."

Innocence, after all, only granted powers to those it deemed worthy. And even then, the powers granted were quite different to the abilities that the modern-day populace enjoyed. Granted, there were a few strange ones, Mr. Eiichi said that he knew of a boy that housed a dark beast inside of his body, and a villain that could disintegrate anything with just a light touch. However, all of those abilities had at least some scientific grounding. It wasn't like his, Lenalee's, or even Lavi's, abilities, which completely disregarded human logic. "I probably shouldn't let anyone see this..." he knew that there were people whose quirks caused physical deformations. However, the odds that his arm would be seen in a similar light was slim to none. For one, his arm wasn't made out of any typical material, it was formed from innocence. And his left arm wasn't a typical deformation. The way it was attached to his body, and the mysterious look of it, would definitely draw in unwanted eyes. "The last thing I need is to be interrogated because of my left arm."

"Either way, judging by what I've seen, it seems like the general populace doesn't know about the Holy War." Hell, he doubted even the modern-day Catholic church remembered it. Lavi always did say that, after the war ended, it would probably fade away into a forgotten history. The Order's tight-lipped policy on any information or records pertaining to it and its history was rather infamous, after all. "I guess I should probably do some research on this..." Allen thought as he grabbed a bar of soap and slid it across his right arm. "Mr. Eiichi did tell me I could use his computer..." apparently, in this era, computers could connect to this thing called the 'internet' and access an entire trove of information. "Man... getting Mr. Eiichi to tell me that was so stressful. For a second I thought he was going to call my bluff." He managed to lie and convince the man that he was from a poor country, that had no modern internet, but it was still hard for the immigration officer to believe. "Ahh, if what he told me was accurate, I should be able to answer most of my questions soon." He doubted that he'd be able to find any information about the Order and the holy war, but at least he'd be able to properly inform himself about this strange, foreign, land.

"Damn, the more I think about this, the more confusing it gets." Allen mumbled as he turned on the shower and started to wash his hair. As he scrubbed, a light mist from the warm water wafted up into the room. As he inhaled the warm, humid, air, Allen sighed and turned to face the bathroom's main body. It was a small room bordered with light-pink tiles and covered in cheap, yet soft, carpeting. It was a family's home, and he could tell that it was lovingly cared after. "This is a good family..." he whispered as he grinned and stepped out of the tub. "Ahh~ It's been so long since I've felt this clean." All he had to do now was brush his hair and he'd be done. With that, he made his way to the bathroom's sink, and grabbed a small brush that was sitting on the countertop. However, when he lifted it up, and looked into the mirror, he noticed something strange. "Wait..." he whispered, suddenly dropping the brush down to the tiled floor, "Where did Nea go?" The reflection of the Fourteenth Noah, the one that followed him everywhere he went, had vanished. For the first time in ages, he was staring at his, and just his, reflection. "What... is this?"