"Akuma?" Cross questioned, raising his eyebrows. He had noticed no disturbance and was surprised at the mention of them.

"Yeah. Several." She dusted the sand off her white nightgown and continued. "I'm gonna follow their scent. Stay here."

"But—"

Before Cross could say another word, Mary dashed off into the city. He let out a frustrated groan.

'How is she so fast?!' he thought.

Gathering his bearings, Cross went after her. The redhead didn't have to go very far though, as he spotted the girl confronting a Level 2 Akuma. Noticing the boy, Mary yelled,

"I thought I told you to stay there!"

"Well—"

Again Cross was cut off. This time, by the Akuma. The duo narrowly dodged the attack. Mary grit her teeth.

"Tch! Therion, activate!" she yelled.

Immediately, a bright light engulfed her. As the light faded, a black beast appeared. One that was much bigger than the young girl. So much bigger that, if you were to put them side by side, Mary would barely reach half of the beast! Though Cross doesn't like to admit it, Mary was far from being short, having grown considerably (and surprisingly) during the time he had been traveling with her.

Cross looked at Mary, now transformed, with wide eyes. It wasn't as if he hadn't suspected what her Innocence's activated form looked like. The redhead knew she was a parasitic type, and her physical features only made it more obvious that her Innocence involved something wolf-like. However, he was still surprised she had completely transformed. Mary never talked much about her Innocence. Everything he knew about it came from his own deductions.

Mary lunged at the Akuma, using her sharp fangs to pierce through its tough skin. She gnawed and clawed at the mechanical being. The way she dealt with them was brutal and far from elegant, but it got the job done. She destroyed most of the Akuma in no time. This could've been because there were mostly only Level 1s, or that she was seriously skilled with her Innocence. Cross believed it to be a mix of both.

The boy could finally understand why she never spoke of her Innocence.

Catching a glance of Cross from the corner of her eye, the beast—no, Mary—turned her head to him and barked, as if to tell him, "Stop staring and go!". Unfortunately, by doing this, she left herself in a vulnerable position.

Her now golden eyes widened. A Level 2 Akuma swiped at her, but its attack never connected. No, the attack was stopped in its tracks by what looked like a barrier. A magic barrier. A magic barrier that Cross had created.

She stared at him with a face that said, "You can do that!?"

"It's a long story," he said, firing another spell that launched the Akuma away from the two.

It wasn't long until there was only one Akuma left. It was cornering someone. Because of the darkness, Mary couldn't discern who it was, but she didn't really care about that. In her opinion, what mattered most was stopping the Akuma from attacking the figure.

With one great leap, she tackled the Akuma, sinking her claws into it and ripping straight through the demon. It instantly turned into dust and blew away in the wind.

A cloud of black smoke enveloped Mary, and she deactivated her Innocence. The young girl looked back to check on the figure.

"Hey, are you all ri—"

The figure was gone. There was no trace left.

Except for one, that is.

The person's scent.

Mary froze.

Although the smell was mixed with the disgusting stench of the Akuma, it still stood out to her.

It was familiar.

Too familiar.

She had been so focused on getting rid of all the Akuma that she didn't even notice the scent! She didn't notice until it was too late, and the figure was gone.

"There's no way..." she muttered to herself in disbelief.

Noticing the girl was still, Cross called out to her.

"Oi, Mary!" he shouted.

"But there's still a chance," Mary whispered and immediately began following the faint scent.

"Oi!"

Cross eyebrow twitched.

'Not again!' He thought, running after her.

-

Mary ran and ran and ran. But soon, she lost the scent. Mary bit her lip. She had lost it. She felt conflicted. On one hand, the scent couldn't be a simple fluke. On another...

"Mary!" Cross rasped out. He breathed heavily.

"The sweet smell of birch..." she mumbled.

"What?"

She sighed and promptly straightened her back.

"It's nothing. Sorry 'bout that." Mary said, stretching her muscles. "We should go back before Georges or Maria notices."

The young girl turned to walk away, but before she could go far, Cross's hand grabbed her wrist. She was cold to the touch. On seeing her face, his eyes widened.

"Your eyes...!" he exclaimed.

Though she had de-transformed, her eyes were still a bright golden color. Faint veins Cross could see colored black under her eyes.

For a moment, it seemed like she was in a trance— somewhere deep in her mind, but then her brows shot up in realization.

"Oh! This is just a remnant of my transformation. My appearance will return to normal... eventually." Mary explained, avoiding Cross's stare.

"Oh." he stood there dumbfounded. Shaking his head, Cross looked at her with concern. "Either way, you sure you're ok? You sped off right after destroying that Akuma."

"I wanted to make sure the person the Akuma tried to attack was ok," she said. "That's all."

Cross narrowed his eyes at her. He opened his mouth to speak, then decided against it.

"We really should go now–aCHOO!" Mary laughed awkwardly. "Looks like the cold's getting to me..."

The redhead next to her frowned. Undoing the buttons on his coat, Cross gave it to Mary.

It smelled of smoke.

"Wear it. This is what you get for not wearing a jacket."

"Won't ya get cold then?" she inquired.

"I'll be fine. I'm still warm from running after you."

"Oh, that's right..." she scratched the back of her neck. "Sorry about that."

Cross groaned, shaking his head. "Stop saying sorry."

"But—"

"No 'buts'!"

Mary frowned, but then laughed. "Y'know, you sound like Maria..."

Cross flinched. "I do not!"

She smirked. "I guess all that time with her did rub off on you."

"Like I would let that woman rub off on me!" he exclaimed indignantly.

"Sure–aCHOO!" she sneezed again and clutched the jacket closer to her body.

Cross rolled his eyes.

-

A/N: Greetings...I almost forgot to update this chapter on AO3 😂

*OLD* A/N: 22.5 coming up next! 😁