Work Text:
Six o’clock sharp, the bell rings, and the day begins.
“RISE AND SHINE EVERYONE!” you exclaim as the others start to awake, “IT’S TIME FOR BREAKFAST!”
You’ve been living in the Grace Field House for ten years, now. In those years you’ve watched many of your brothers and sisters get adopted and leave, and before you know it, you were the oldest kid around.
“Morning!” Chimed the younger ones as they rush past you.
The other kids know you as the kind, enthusiastic, and athletic big sister.
“Good morning, Lavi!” you exclaimed as you ran past your favorite one eyed redhead.
“Morning Lenalady!” he exclaimed back.
Everyone was laughing and having fun, just like any other day.
You enter the cafeteria and see two of your best friends arguing like they always do.
“Shut up, beanspro-” Yuu started shouting.
“GOOD MORNING,YUU, ALLEN!!”
“Oh, morning Lenalee.” Allen, oh sweet polite Allen greeted back
You rush to help the others set up breakfast.
-
You sit down beside Allen after you’re done helping out.
“Right on time.” Mother said as she rang a bell.
You and the others pray together and then dig into breakfast.
You watch as Allen quickly devours his food, he’s always had a large appetite.
“Good?” you asked as you cut into your food.
“Yup! Always!” he answers, smiling.
“I’ll never know how you do that, Allen…” Lavi cuts in.
“Do what?”
“Eat that fast.” Lavi answered as he poked Allen’s plate.
“I guess I’m just hungry-”
“You always are, stupid glutton beansprout.” Yuu interrupted with that angry frown he seemingly always wears.
“I’m not a GLUTTON!” Allen exclaimed, starting to fume.
You sigh, the constant arguing gets annoying sometimes.
“Hey, Allen, where’s Link?” you asked.
You were never great friends with Link, and he never really interacts with anyone other than Allen and Mother. You always thought he was weird, so stoic and formal, never seeming to smile or laugh. Allen, though, can somewhat bring him out of his formal shell, able to make him talk a little less formally occasionally by making him angry.
“He said he was going to talk to mother.” Allen explained, talking calmly again.
Another weird thing about Link other than his formalness, is his relationship with mother. They always whisper to each other, mother asks to talk to him almost everyday, and sometimes it seems like he’s trying to avoid mother.
“Wonder what they’re talking about…” Lavi stated, rubbing his chin, eyes narrowing.
“I wonder about that too…”
You quietly ate your breakfast for a while before Link sat in front of Allen.
“Hmm, Oh, Hey Link, what were you and mother talking about?” Allen asked when he noticed Link.
“Nothing of importance.” Link answered.
“You always say that, two dots.” Yuu stated, narrowing his eyes at Link.
“Sorry, I’m not allowed to tell anyone.” Link explained, staring guiltilly at his food.
“Huh, really…” Lavi almost muttered, now two people were staring suspiciously at him.
“Umm, guys, I think you guys are making him uncomfortable.” You said as you noticed Link started to shift uncomfortably.
“Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do to make you tell us, like I always say, ‘when you can’t, you can’t’” Lavi said nonchalantly, putting his hands behind his head.
“I’ve never heard you say that.” Allen stated, looking at Lavi.
Lavi has always been good at getting things out of people, he never really lets things go, even if you try to dismiss him. All curious and wanting to learn.
-
Link thanked you in the hallway after breakfast.
-
It’s time for the daily exam.
Everyone around you is focused on their exams, eyes wide, staring intently. The atmosphere is almost creepy.
You do your exam, quickly answering the questions. You've never been the smartest, Lavi and Link were. You were known more for your athleticism and agility.
You sigh, that was stressful.
“I’ll be announcing your scores now,” mother exclaimed, with that lovely smile of hers, “Lavi, Link, excellent job you two, perfect scores again!”
Lavi grins playfully as mother pets him, while Link just watches with a blank stare.
-
You’re left to your own devices after the exams
The sky was bright and clear, warm rays of sunlight hit your skin. You hear the laughter of the other children while you stretch. You spot Allen adamantly talking to Link, and Lavi teasing Kanda about his long hair, you also see Miranda sitting by herself under the tree, you decide to approach her.
“Hey, Miranda!” you greeted as you walk up and sit next to her.
“Ahhh, Lenalee, what are you doing here?!” Miranda quietly said, wide eyes staring up at you.
Miranda was a brunette that seemed to always be nervous. She only ever really hangs out with you, Allen and Marie, when asked why, she answered that the others push her around and make her uncomfortable.
“Lenalee, you're it!” you heard Timothy shout
“What?!” you shouted back, you weren’t even playing.
“We’re playing hide and seek, you’re seeking!”
You stand up and sigh, “Fine…”
You see Allen running up to you and Miranda from the corner of your eyes, Link in tow.
“Miranda! C’mon , I found a really good hiding spot yesterday!” Allen exclaimed.
“Huh-Ah! Alright!” Miranda nervously answered, quickly getting up.
“I’m gonna start counting!” you shouted.
“One.”
You hear quick steps running towards the woods.
“Two.”
Just your normal game of hide and seek.
“Three.”
On a completely normal day.
“Four.”
In a totally normal orphanage.
“Five.”
Yup.
“Six.”
Totaly.
“Seven.”
Normal.
“Eight.”
Nothing is wrong.
“Nine.”
Absolutely nothing.
“Ten.”
Everything is just normal.
‘So they all decided to hide in the woods…’ you thought, as you finished counting.
You find all of them rather quickly, all except three people.
“Where do you think they’re hiding, Lenalady?” Lavi asked you, hands behind his head and head up high.
“Somewhere in the trees, Allen always hides in there.” You answered, looking up, eyes intent.
You kept walking and walking, until you reached the fence. You’ve never gone past the fence, you weren’t allowed to, you never questioned why, but staring at it now, you’re tempted.
The fence was made out of metal, and only reached your stomach, you would easily be able to jump over it.
Maybe you should.
You’ve looked everywhere and you still haven't found those three. Maybe they’re hiding past the fence.
Just as you were about to though, you heard three sets of footsteps quickly approaching you.
You turn your head and see exactly who you were looking for.
“Where were you guys hiding?” You asked, as you walked towards them.
“In the bush over there.” Allen answered, pointing to a large bush.
“What! I thought you were hiding in the trees like you always do.” you grumbled.
“We were going to, but Miranda was too nervous to climb up.” Link said suddenly.
“Ahhhhh, I’m so sorryyyyyy!” Miranda cried, hands covering her face, “You two were nice enough to put up with me, and I ruined your plan. I’m so sorryyyyyyyy!!!” she fell on her knees.
“Ah, it’s okay Miranda, I mean, it all worked out in the end, it’s alright.” Allen tried to assure her, but she just kept repeating ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again.
You stare and think you should probably help comfort her too.
-
Oh, yeah, it was one of your siblings' final day here today, Daisya.
Everyone leaves one day, it’s always sad to see someone you considered a sibling go, but there’s nothing you can really do, is there.
“Bye, Daisya!” Timothy shouted as you and the others watched Daisya leave, eyes crying a river.
“Make sure to send some letters, alright!” Marie exclaimed, also crying, just more gracefully.
-
When you see Yuu in the cafeteria, you decide to say hello.
“Yuu..” you trail off as you notice he was staring at something. It was Daisya’s ball, rolling on the floor, crap.
You both stare at it for a moment longer before you ran and grabbed the ball. You stare at it in teror for another moment.
“Wha- what should we do?” you stuttered out.
And then Lavi walked in
“Hey, have you guys seen- IS THAT DAISYA’S BALL?!!” he screamed in terror when he finnaly saw what you were holding in your hands.
“Y-yup.” you gulped.
“W-well we have to bring it back to him, right?” Lavi said, slowly walking towards you.
“He already left,” Yuu said, “Just keep it or something.”
“Bu-but Yuu, you know how much he loves his ball, he’s gonna cry when he realises he forgot it!” you exclaim.
“And? That’s not my problem.” Yuu grunted, cocking his head up to seem more intimidating.
“We’ll probably be able to catch them before they set off if we run fast enough.” Lavi stated, eyes serious.
“Yeah, C’mon!” you and Lavi started running, and when you passed Yuu, you grabbed his wrist.
“Arg! Get your hand off me!” Yuu exclaimed, as you dragged him out.
“Stop complaining, Yuu, we’re on a mission!” Lavi stated, as he started pushing Yuu to go faster.
“A stupid mission! Now let me go!” Yuu shouted back.
Lavi put his hand on Yuu’s mouth when they reached the gate.
-
The gate had brick walls and a mechanical looking roof. There was a carriage in front of them. They looked around for a minute, looking for Daisya, Lenalee was still dragging Yuu by the wrist.
Lenalee looked into the back of the carriage.
It felt like her heart stopped.
There.
Inside the carriage.
A scene so horrible.
So, horrifying.
She let go of Yuu’s wrist.
And the ball.
It rolled and hit Lavi’s leg.
She took a step back.
Two steps.
“What the…” Yuu said, horrified.
“What’s wrong guys?” Lavi asked, unknown to the horror that was inside the carriage.
He walked towards Lenalee and Yuu, his footsteps echoed through the gate.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step-
The three of them looked at the sight before them in horor, not a word was exchanged, just silent horror.
“Is someone there?”
They were snapped out of their stupor, they quickly hid under the carriage in panic.
“Did you hear something just now?”
“You must be imagining things.”
“Tch, if it were a stray cat, we could’ve caught it and eaten it!”
“You would even eat a cat!?”
Lenalee peaked out to see who was talking.
Dum.
Dum.
Dum.
She heard her heartbeat in her ears.
She saw those monsters pick Daisya up, look at him.
“It looks so tasty.” It licked it’s lips, or what would be it’s lips.
It looked like a disgusting deformed animal bone, with muscle and veins.
It took Daisya and put him in a tube with blue liquid.
“Human flesh is the best, after all!”
Thoughts ran through their heads. They could clearly see Daisya’s face, so pale, eyes white.
And then mother walked in.
‘Demons…’ Lavi thought.
“Can’t I just eat the tip of his finger?”
“Idiot, that kid’s valuable merchandise, nothing you should ever dare to eat. The human meat from this far is all top-of-the-line stuff, meant for the rich.”
-
Everything is a lie, and we’re just living to be eaten by demons.