A/N:

Wow, it's been so long since I last came to either of these stories (N:O:oU & ReCon) or just the DGM fandom in general. I've been reading through my old stuff and, among others, found my old DGM fics. It got me back into the fandom and let's just say that it ignited my passion for it. It's been 4 years since I last touched any of my older stories; some aren't finished, some are but now that I've reread them wish that I could polish them. And well, funny thing about fics is that I can! What I'm trying to say here is that I've grown as both a writer and person since I posted these two stories and that now I want to revisit them with fresh eyes and also a fresh, more cohesive plot.

I'll say it clearly:

I want to retcon Not :One: of Us and Reconnect. And more than a want, I think it'll be my plan for 2020. AND THIS TIME I MEAN! Had to say that since I realize I've already promised this before. But this time I do mean it.

I've still got some things currently that I'm working on that I have to see through to the end as well. But after a couple (hopefully 3 if I can find that PH outline), what I want to do is come back and publish both stories as completely new ones! Don't worry, Celia will still be the main and some of the other OCs like Alice and Janus will come back as well. Names might change, while others might not make the cut through into the new version, but I'm hoping that by doing this I'll make a better story that I'll enjoy writing and that ya'll hopefully will enjoy reading as well. The reason I'm calling it a retcon is 'cause I seriously am going to (try) spending what's left of 2019 looking at everything from the two stories, dismantling it and only taking the building blocks necessary. I added lots of unnecessary plot back then, something I intend to rectify when I get to writing this new version. No worries, tho, 'cause the original ones will remain up here. I won't be taking anything down.

Seeing as this will be a whole new doublet, I think a new title for both will be in order. I settled with Not :One: of Us before, so I'll be happy to change that one into something more fitting. Reconnect I was happy with but out with the old and in with the new as they say.

Anyway, that's the small announcement that I wanted to make. Idk who still follows this story or who will even read this out of those old readers that I recall from back when it was still publishing. But I hope that to all the old and new readers that come once it starts up again, it'll be just as an enjoyable experience as it was back then.

And well I'm not one to say anything without proof, so here you go. A little snippet of what I intend what will be N:O:oU's retcon to be like once I start. May style may change from here to when I publish it but I hope that this keeps ya'll interested enough to come back when it does come out :)

|Four year prior to Allen Walker becoming an Exorcist.

Northwest England; Somewhere in Liverpool.|

Large, doe-like eyes shone a bright amethyst as they blinked at the rickety, old church that stood beyond a short stone fence a few feet away. It didn't appear to be anything special. Certainly if anybody asked her where a redheaded gambler, self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, and renowned womanizer were most likely to be found, a church like this one would be last on her list of possibilities. Then again the man that found, raised, and trained her for little over a year was one of many surprised. Nonetheless, she blinked incredulously. Eventually, the young brunette of eleven shrugged it off though and instead pushed the small, wooden door that led up to a dirt path up to the church to enter.

The young brunette walked up to the front of the church and knocked forcefully upon the old, wooden door. Waiting for a second, her head tilted sideways at the ruckus she overheard from beyond it, but before long the lock clicked and she straightened to meet whomever opened the door. Ready as she was to speak up at whomever answered her, the girl blinked at finding no one and lowered her gaze until she found that the one who had opened the door for her had been an old woman a few inches taller than her.

"Yes?"

"Hello, my name is Celia Valentine, ma'am." Celia took a short pause to bow before the old woman and flashed her a charming smile. "I'm sorry for bothering you like this, but I'm searching for someone at the moment and I believe he is here in this church."

The old woman took one step outside and leaned on the threshold of the door to better inspect the young child. "And would you be coming on behalf of the Black Order?"

Celia recoiled a bit but didn't lose her brilliant smile. Unconsciously, her hand rose from her side to cover the silver cross rose emblem etched on her coat. Though it did surprise her that the old lady knew of the Order, Celia didn't let it throw her off the conversation.

"I am a part of them, ma'am, but I'm actually here on a more personal issue."

"Which would be the man you're searching for?"

"Yes."

"Well," the old lady huffed as she readied to turn and close the door with her hand on the doorknob. "Sad to break it to you but there's no one here that the Order would be interested—"

"DAMN BRAT!"

Celia and the old lady buckled a bit at the cacophonous yell that reverberated throughout the stone walls of the church. Clearing her throat and keeping that same smile, Celia stepped forward to hold the door open against the old lady that tried closing it on her.

"Like I said, I'm not here for the Order. I'm actually here 'cause I'm looking for General Cross."

Finally unable to dissuade her, the woman clicked her tongue before gesturing inside with a nod of her head. "Come on in."

Smiling brightly, Celia did as she was told, muttering a curt 'pardon the intrusion' as she closed the door behind her and followed after the old lady. It surprised her that despite the grand appearance the outside gave, the church they were in wasn't that big in actuality. And it made it that much faster for her to find the one person she'd been looking for as he sat huffing mad at an old, wood dinner table while biting down on a lit cigarette.

"Cro-ah!" Before Celia even took one step forward, a huge, golden ball darted straight at her, tackling her down hard onto the ground. Though she tried talking over the weight of it pressing on her stomach, only laughter escaped her as the golem licked at her face incessantly, its wings and tail flapping and wagging enthused. "T-Timcanpy! Don't—get off me, Tim!"

Just as she was about to give him one big push, something pulled Tim aloft and off of her, letting her finally catch her breath. Above her, staring daggers with wine red eyes, stood Cross Marian as he held Timcanpy by his tail over her.

"What are you doing here, Valentine?"

Celia chuckled nervously, eyes darting every which way to avoid his glare. "I-um-came looking for you 'cause, well, I kinda felt like it?"

Cross didn't believe her for a second. Dropping Tim and letting him fly about, he instead hauled Celia up by the scruff of her coat to drop her dead center on the closest chair and took the one nearest to him while he rubbed her pained bottom.

"Don't lie to me," he deadpanned.

"B-But I'm not," she stuttered. Cross slamming his open hand against the wooden table startled the truth out of her faster than words ever would've though. "I really just came looking for you because I'm bored. Really!"

"What do you mean bored?"

"M-Missions are boring. I do them but just because I have to, and sometimes I don't want to go back to the Order so soon."

When he didn't sniff the hint of a lie, he leaned back against his chair, sighing defeatedly at the fact that now he had two different children to look after.

"Listen here, twerp, you need to leave. Now. I don't want the Order finding me."

"Oh, they won't." As she perkily said this, Tim flew over to her and nestled himself on her lap as she pushed her arms up and over him to talk at Cross from there. "I get rid of my golems after every mission so they won't find me and I can return whenever I feel like it! Like how you used to do with the ones the supervisor would give you."

Brat picked up on subtle things, Cross would give her that. He had never done that in front of her when he was still in charge of her. Which begged the question of what else she had noticed that she wasn't supposed to.

"Regardless of your reason, you're not staying. I'm not in the mood to look after two runts—"

"Father!" Another man blared across the church, his voice coming from another room entirely. "The porridge is burning!"

Cross cursed under his breath but nonetheless hurried to the kitchen where Baba, who'd been tending to other matters while cleaning, noticed the food he'd been preparing for Allen was indeed overcooking. Though a bit did burn, the twerp would have to make due since it was already too late to start another batch. It was when he returned to the dining room thinking he'd find Celia there that he found it completely empty.

"Where'd she go?"

Mother only pointed to the single room at the end of the hallway: Allen's room. Sprinting to it, he burst the door open ready to yell at her to get out but stopped short at the scene before him. Celia sat at the edge of the bed closer to Allen as she peeked from below to try and get a glimpse of his face. Despite her nearness, Allen refused to move an inch and didn't reply to her as she went on talking to him.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked and leaned a little closer. Getting no answer, she moved back to give him some space and smiled at him. "My name's Celia, what's yours?" No answer. Not even brief eye contact. Allen was as stoic as Cross had seen him for the past month. But this didn't deter Celia from continuing her mindless chatter. "That's okay. I have a friend who doesn't like talking a lot either, so I'll just talk if that's okay. Anyway, I think I heard your tummy grumble just a little bit ago. Are you hungry? Have you not eaten yet?"

"Celia." At hearing her name, she turned towards Cross who still stood by the doorway with an expectant expression. He didn't waste a second in motion out the door at her. "C'mon, leave Allen alone."

"Allen?" Her smile brightened yet again as she turned back to him. "So your name's Allen? That's a great name! Can I call you Al?"

"Celia…"

She ignored him.

"Y'know, I think Cross was making some porridge just now. It's a little burnt from what I could smell, but it should still be edible. He's not that great of a cook but considering how late it is, a little burnt porridge will do you some good, don't you think?"

"Ce—" This time she didn't even let him start.

"C'mon! Let's go get some food together and talk some more, yeah?" But the moment she reached her hand out to take his, Allen reacted on instinct and reeled his left hand out at her, hitting her straight in the face.

"Goddamn it." Cross strode into the room in a few steps getting to her as she held onto her already swelling cheek. But even as she spit out saliva stained in a little bit of blood, no tears sprouted from her eyes nor any resentment slipped past her lips. If anything, she appeared most baffled than anything that Allen had backhanded her like he had.

Celia put little important to Cross' questions of whether she'd lost any teeth or if she was bleeding more than that and instead approached Allen again. Though Cross tried to pull her back, she slapped his hands away and simply sat inches away in front of Allen, taking the same posture that he was in by tucking her legs close and wrapping her arms around herself. Leaning her chin against her knees, Celia smiled despite the bit of blood marring her lips and the angry red swelling on her cheek.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, Allen," she said in a much quieter tone. Gentler even. Interest piqued at the sudden way that Allen's eyes slowly lifted to meet hers, Cross let her continue. "You pack a bit of a punch in that arm, huh? Felt like I'd fallen face first into concrete. But 's okay. I'm not that hurt."

"...you aren't...angry…?"

Wine red eyes narrowed at hearing Allen's voice. He had just started speaking a few days ago and even then it had only been a few words that one time. Though it was still blatantly obvious how formal and uncharacteristic of him his manner of speaking was, it didn't take away from the fact that he had decided to freely speak to someone else.

"Of course not!" she said. "I kinda guessed you weren't all that well and I wanted to cheer you up. And well...I'm scolded sometimes by others 'cause of that too. They say I meddle too much and that one day that's gonna do me more bad than good. Guess today was one of those bad times. But y'know what?" She let out a small chuckle as she let go of her legs and instead stretching out to the side as she leaned closer with her hands on the bed. "I don't mind. I was in a really bad place too some years ago, and I'd probably be bitter and sulky too if some friends of mine hadn't tried their best to get through to me."

This time when she smiled, it was a genuine gesture that made Allen's eyes widen slightly. This time when she reached out her hands towards him, she did so with the utmost care, watching carefully for any sign that could be warning of him not being okay with it. But unlike before, Allen only mildly flinch when her hands touched both of his.

"And well, you kinda remind me of myself back then. So I know what's it like...to be so hurt and so done with everything that you would rather the world forget about you and leave you to pass away as you are." When he didn't show any sign of pulling back, Celia braved forward to take either of hands in her own—the soft, human one that was his right and the hardrock, Innocence that was his left. To her, though, they were both warm all the same as she held them tightly in her grasp. "But there's so much more to the world than just hurt and pain. Lots of people have shown me that. And though it does maybe get a little overwhelming sometimes, it's something I really appreciate now. Say, Allen, would it be okay if I stay with you?"

His brow furrowed as much as it could beneath the few bandages that still covered his face.

"...why…?"

"'Cause I think that you need a friend, Al. Just like I did. So, 's that okay?"

Cross didn't think he would answer her. If anything he would just let his silence speak for itself just like it always had. But the tears that sprung silently from his eyes and the fact that he weakly held her hands back were the last thing that Cross expected to see. Celia smiled at having her answer and nodded at him.

"Then how about we get you some food then?"

With that, I will hopefully be seeing you with a brand new D. Gray-Man story!