Based off of the anime series, Canaan, and inspired by the opening theme—"Mind as Judgment" by Faylan.

(I tried very hard to make the story plots similar but not to the point I was copying. Some DGM terms will be coined by me).

To the readers who watch Canaan, the basis of the characters is:

Canaan equals Allen

Alphard equals Kanda

--

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone". As it is written:

"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Romans 9:30 (NIV Version)

ZION scenario ONE

'Cherish a life. One at a time.'

What are you doing lying on the ground in that state? Stand up and come over here!

I've got something to show you…

He cried out in pain as a prickly sensation prodded into his pale crimson-stained crown. His hand quickly grabbed for his white head in a nerve reaction but was shocked to feel numbness flowing through his fingers.

He then tried to get up, but his spinal cord was glued to the chilled ground. His silver eye stung like many jabbing needles as a river of a thick iron-smelling substance trickled over the left side of his face. A cold and hard object nudged his forehead and the boy glanced up.

There was no moon that night. Ominous dark clouds hovered overhead, surrounded by an even darker sky. But even in that dim atmosphere, he could see the shiny gold resting on his head. The one side of his mouth curled up.

"Tim… you bit me," he said. The ball of gold grinned with his sharp pearly whites and the boy sighed in response. "Thanks."

He breathed in a set of deep breaths and used the support of a nearby pole to pull himself up. As he slowly stood, a flash of memories flushed back to his brain reservoir.

He was pursuing his target.

The boy looked up at the pole, noticing a thin perpendicular intersection attached to it. An intersection that should have held up a building sign. The boy groaned as he felt a pulsation throbbing through his brain.

"He's a lousy shot, isn't he Tim? Tried to shoot me but hits the pole instead." He rubbed his head, trying to ease the pain. "But unluckily for me, I was knocked out by that sign." He looked down to the ground; the metal bound logo crackling with static—red and blue wiring looking as if it had been ripped off.

He grinned.

"But he's a careless one. He didn't even check to make sure I was dead. If it were up to that man, he would call him useless and kill him on the spot. But speaking of that man…" He furrowed his brow and covered the left side of his face with his hand. "Damn. My tracking device is fried."

He pried the golem's mouth open. "Can you detect the target's Iota on your sonar?" he asked. Timcanpy beeped in response.

"Good," he praised. "Lead me to him."

The golem flew off his shoulder and flew west. The boy bent down and grabbed his firearm lying on the ground, and followed, until his nose picked up the stench of motor oil and fish guts. He hid behind one of the many crates stacked in the dock and loaded a cartridge into his pistol. "It's that boat, isn't it?" He peered at the small vessel and his target conversing with a person who he assumed was the operator of the ship. The man was carrying a bound suitcase in his hand.

He cocked his pistol.

Two shots shattered the silent night.

--

A gentle and soothing tone flowed through his ears and he found himself closing his silver eyes, humming along with the nostalgic melody as he walked down the dim streets of the sleepy city.

D- E- F- A- G- F- E- D- E- F- E- D- C- D…

A-A-A-A- F- G- A- G- A- C- B- A- A...

F- A- G—F- A- G-E—D- E- F- A- G- F- E- D- E- F- E- D- C- D…

He opened his eyes. It had taken him a while, but the boy realized that the tune was his ringtone.

He reached out of his coat pocket and dug through it. Ignoring the cold weapon resting deep in the dark abyss, he reached for his phone and slid the upper portion of his cell. He positioned it against his ear.

"Hello?"

"Zion!" the voice said.

It didn't sound so happy.

"Eh, Link? Is something the matter," he asked.

"What's the point of supplying you with a cellular phone when you don't even answer my calls!"

Zion had to smile at this. It amused him when the man was angry. It never sounded threatening and always managed to make him grin. Most of the time.

"I was knocked out cold for a while." The boy paused. "And I put it on silent mode."

Link was silent. Probably in fury.

"Sorry?" Zion then managed to say.

"We'll talk about it later, Zion. But for now… Did you obtain the Iota?"

The boy glanced at his shoulder, where his golem was sitting—his golden cheeks puffed up. "The Iota was in the target's suitcase. Tim is scanning it right now."

"How is it so far?" Zion could hear scribbling noises on the other line.

"It seems to be good. I think it's a real one this time. But you know… it was strange."

"What was strange?"

The boy put a dry bloodied hand on his chin. "There was only one tiny vial of Iota in a big case. You'd expect there to be more."

"Hm…" The scribbling noise stopped. "There's a possibility that the target was a decoy, a Scapegoat."

"What?" Zion glanced at Tim and the golem crunched glass in response, a yellowish liquid trailing through his teeth. The boy sighed.

"You're right Link," he said. "It's a fake Iota." He ruffled his white hair in frustration. "This is the eleventh time for God's sake!"

The scribbling noise resumed. "A Scapegoat: One who is prepared to throw his life away to maintain a terrorist group's objective. There are too many of them, scrambling out in the world like ants."

"They are a pain," Zion admitted. But he had no idea where Link was going with this. All this information was old news, ever since Scapegoats had entered the scenario in Mexico a year ago.

"The target was a man who was prepared to die," Link stated again.

The other answered modestly. "Of course. All agents should be."

"But you didn't kill him, did you Zion?"

He shifted his eyes to the left. "What are you talking about?"

"The cleanup crew was dispatched immediately to the scene," said the man. The boy's mouth suddenly felt dry.

"What! Already?!"

"Of course. It is my job as an Inspector to ensure a mission's swift and safe completion. But you, did exactly the opposite."

Zion could see the ending of this conversion.

"No body was found. You didn't finish off the target," the Inspector continued. "You let him escape, along with another that was involved—the captain of the getaway ship."

"He was just an innocent citizen who owned a ship!" Zion retorted. "I couldn't kill him!"

"And how do you know that?" Link said surprisingly calm. "He could have been a Gamma member."

"Well it's too late now. You can't do anything about it."

"Zion! Do not act like a child! Listen to me—"

"Sorry, my batteries run out," the boy abruptly said. "Bye." He disconnected his battery case and dropped both pieces into his pocket, a dull clanging noise following after. He opened up another pocket and took out a clean white handkerchief. He began to wipe his face of any dirt and blood. The pure white being soiled dirty.

"Since the target was a decoy," Zion said to Timcanpy, "We're going to have to find the real targets, won't we Tim?" The golem swirled his tail in wholehearted agreement.

"A pity I couldn't use my tracking device earlier since the blood seeped into its wiring system. It's still not working now either. I should probably have Komui take a look at my eye later." Then he shivered, thinking of the drill that the scientist was partial to in his revamping operations. "Hopefully, it's not broken," he wondered in vain. "Although… he can't completely fix it," Allen said as he looked up into the dark sky. "Only that man can make it as new, but he ran away, didn't he?" The golem's wings drooped in sadness.

"That drunken bastard. Ditching us like we were garbage." He pursed his lips together. "Unforgivable."

A chopping noise in the air interrupted their thoughts as a friendly voice called out to them.

"Hey, Z! We came to pick you up!"

Zion winced his as his ivory bangs flapped against his eyes and his mouth tasted the dust that flew around him in a tornado. A rope ladder was thrown to him as the man from the copter above the boy shouted out, "Quick! Grab on!"

Without thinking, he grabbed on as the helicopter hovered above the lightless city. Zion climbed up and a gloved hand grabbed and pulled him up on deck.

"Good work, Zion," the red head said with a big grin. The boy had to smile at that welcoming greeting.

"Lavi, I know you're busy. You didn't have to come pick me up."

"Naw, it's fine," the other insisted. "We were on our way to Tijuana, and Ensenada was right on our air route. No problem really." The pilot of the copter, a man with unmanageable hair and thick glasses waved to the boy from his seat. Zion waved back.

The door was still open, and the speed that the craft was going at threatened to throw the white haired gunman out into the air. He quickly grabbed onto a handle for support.

"Hey… aren't we going a bit too fast?"

Lavi yawned. "Huh? He stretched his arms straight into the air. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. The Gamma is chasing us on a hot pursuit."

"What?!" Zion couldn't believe the eye patched man didn't tell him this urgent fact sooner. "Why?!" The helicopter swerved as ammunition was fired at them from behind.

"Because I swiped some info about Iota-C off of them," he said proudly. The boy didn't think this was exactly the right time to boast about feats.

"I can't make her go any faster," Johnny said. Lavi clicked his tongue. "Damn. Well at least we got gunmen on board. Right, Zion?" The man dug something out of a case in the back and handed it to the boy. "Here's the machine gun. Go bring that other helicopter down!"

Zion just sat there. "Sorry, I won't."

Lavi was flabbergasted. "Huh? Are you on drugs!"

"I won't shoot unless I have my rifle."

The red head slapped a hand on his forehead and groaned. "Not the one with sleeping darts…"

"Yup."

"Well here's news flash for you," Lavi said. "It's not here!" Johnny started to panic.

"Please Zion! I don't think we can out maneuver them much longer!"

Zion gazed at the weapon in his hands. The weapon of destruction. A weapon that took lives.

It was enough that he was forced to carry a working pistol around. His palms would start sweating whenever he held it in his hands. He felt disgusted, for it reminded him of that scene from his childhood.

Please don't kill me!

He didn't kill his target from before. He had only shot him in the arm, purposely, to let the man live. He had spotted a wedding ring on the captain's finger and also let him go.

But not out of pity.

Death was something that should not be taken lightly. So was life. A life should be cherished and protected with all your mind and strength. No matter how ugly it is, life is when you grow and experience with other lives until the day you naturally die. No one should take that away from you, no matter who you are.

That was what his father had taught him.

He was/is the father who had passed away naturally. Or so he was told.

"You're pathetic."

Fired ammunition, explosions, and some distant screams followed. Zion widened his eyes as he noticed that there was emptiness in his grasp.

The machine gun was thrown back into his hands.

The boy clenched his teeth and abruptly stood up, the weapon ignored as it dropped to the floor. He yelled out in fury. "Why the hell did you do that?!"

When he had entered the helicopter, he spotted the long haired man in the co-pilot's seat. But he ignored him. And he ignored him back. They weren't on such good terms to the point that they didn't greet each other. Not like to Lavi or Johnny. Even Link was more tolerable than he was. He tried to avoid the man whenever he could.

It was ironic. They were "comrades", but did not get along well…

For he and himself both, had different objectives.

"Why?!" Zion repeated. "Why did you kill them!" He was replied with a solid punch in the jaw. Lavi tried to calm the two down.

"H-Hey, Yu, stop it."

The irate man stared down at Zion with dark void like eyes.

"If you don't want to do your job, then leave. The Atlas doesn't need a coward like you."

--

The two walked through the hallways, the curly dark-haired man looking quite impressed.

"Ah, so this is Atlas—the corporation dedicated to human rights and livelihood. Very impressive indeed."

"You think?" the other said. "Why thank you for saying so. We are very flattered." He looked as if he were thinking very hard. "Why don't I show you to your desk?"

He led the man towards a room, revealing white washed walls with many locked cabinets and a variety of scientific equipment. The man smiled once more.

"Why, you say 'desk', but I get a laboratory instead."

"Only the very best," the other said. "It even has a special identification lock for privacy. Instead of a fingerprint, all you need is blood."

The curly haired man's eye twitched. His interest had peaked. "Oh? Blood you say?"

The man waved his hand. "Oh, no no. You don't have to cut your finger in the process. All you need to do is inject a drop of your blood into the security system beforehand for only one time and whenever you wish to enter your lab, the system will scan your body and match up DNA. Impressive, no?"

"Indeed," he agreed with a grin. "The topic of blood always gets me excited."

The man laughed. "Really now? As expected of our new Scientific Department head, Tyki Mikk. You live up to your name."

"So you have heard of me, Chief (Andrew) Nansen?"

"Of course! You are one of the youngest to ever achieve this kind of position! And the most handsome one, I must say. You are twenty six, are you not?"

"Yes, I am." The dark skinned man was silent for a while. "Not to be nosy but…"

"Yes?"

"Who was the person before me?"

"Two."

"Eh?" The man was even more curious than ever.

"Two men were the heads of the Scientific Department. But one disappeared and the other stepped down. He is now currently our Technician."

"I see… pity he had to lower his rank."

"Hm… yes, a pity indeed. The higher ups were anxious when the seat was empty. But now that we found you, we are very content."

"I will do my best."

He looked around his laboratory and tinkered with some tools.

"Would you mind? I would like to look around my lab some more."

The man flustered. "Why of course, of course. I will send my secretary to you if you need anything."

"Thank you," he replied in courtesy.

The man closed the door and the dark haired man flopped down into one of the seats and ruffled his neatly combed hair. He took out a cigarette and lit it with his lighter.

He blew out some smoke.

"God, I can't stand this anymore. Putting up a 'rich man' act like this. It's disgusting. And so was that man. He's hideous. I bet Road would get a load of him," he ranted to himself.

"But who cares. The Atlas are complete idiots. Letting in an unknown man and granting him authority over an entire department. Complete fools. I'm not even a scientist like I said I was. I don't understand a shit of it." He grinned fiendishly.

"But don't worry, Earl. I'll do this stupid mission and mess up their scenario. It'll be a win for us Gamma." He took out a card out of his suit pocket.

"And my targets. I couldn't have had better ones. Haha. That Skin bastard's going to be jealous."

"Hm… the group, Alpha, and their leader, Yu Kanda. What kind of a stupid name is that? Heh, they're going to be easy targets, since they're not under the influence of the Atlas conglomerate."

"... And Zion. Hm… the boy underling of that annoying red head bastard."

His pupils dilated in a wicked manner.

"I'll enjoy ripping out his heart."

A two rapid knocks echoed through the door. Tyki didn't bother to look up. He was just in that kind of moment.

"Come in. It's not locked," he said lazily.

A dark haired woman wearing a business suit with a rather short skirt entered.

"Chief Mikk, I am Chief Nansen's secretary. Do you need anything, sir?"

The man laughed. And laughed. The woman remained silent.

"Don't be like that now," he chuckled. "After all… we are siblings, right? Lulubell…"

"Please do not act like this, Chief Mikk," she said, indifferent. "Although you have just arrived, we have much work to do."

Tyki continued to laugh.

--

I turned 17 yesterday. Sigh. I am growing older, but still looking like I'm in middle school. I still retain my baby cheeks.

But anyways, I just adore Canaan. It is an awesome series. I recommend you watch it. Alphard looks like Kanda, a lot.

So how was the chapter? I think it was a bit rushed but what did you guys think? It would be awesome to have some feedback.

And also a favor. Can anyone help me find a pistol model for Allen? (Yes, Zion is Allen) Something that matches him? And Kanda too. Since I don't know that much about guns. (looks to the side)