Cross Marian

Cross Marian is fictional exorcist general and master to Allen Walker in the ongoing manga and anime series D. Gray Man.

Appearance
Cross's most distinguishing features are his long, vibrant red hair and a Phantom of the Opera-esque mask on the right side of his face. In the manga, when Allen is rescued by him, he is seen to be wearing a skull, after which the skull shrinks back to a cross over his right eye, possibly due to a curse. He wears explorer type clothing and wears a hat though he has been seen in a kimono. He always carries his weapon on a holster on his leg.

Personality
Cross Marian is a womanizer who loves to gamble and drink. When he gambles, he makes extravagant bets and, if he loses, he never pays, leaving Allen or someone else to do so. When he was training Allen, he forced his apprentice into battle with no time to prepare and taunted Allen as he fought to "help" him. He only loves very few things: women, wine and money. When in battle himself, he acts very cold and uncaring.

He is shown to be a gruff, demanding individual who is hard to please. In fact, he usually refers to Allen as "Idiot apprentice". Most of the Black Order considers Cross a great man, to which he is, however, he is normally always rude and tough on Allen. This could be because Allen is his apprentice and thus he has to be hard on him. Allen fears him which is hinted from the fact most of his flashbacks that include Cross end with some kind of traumatizing (usually humorous) experience. Despite all this, Cross has shown a softness underneath his rough exterior for certain people such as Allen and Anita.

Synopsis
Cross was not seen in the early manga chapters as it focused on Allen. The manga only makes mentions of him and what he has done. He picked up Allen after the death of Mana and trained him, traumatizing the boy with rough training and other things. After Allen's training was done and Cross left him in India, he went to Baron Arystar Krory III's castle and gave him a strange plant. The plant bit Krory and gave him the power of his Parasitic Innocence. He went to China hunting the Millennium Earl and met a major ally of the Order, Anita. He stayed with Anita for a full year while tracking the Earl and eradicating the Akuma in the area.

Edo Arc
Cross left China for Japan and lands in Edo (Tokyo in modern times). Cross goes into hiding to avoid being spotted by the Earl and Akuma. Cross does what he can to reduce the sheer amount of Akuma while in hiding. In the meantime he watches the Earl's movements and knows the Ark is nearly ready to be used.

Noah's Ark arc
When his apprentice and his team with Tiedoll's team faces off against the Noahs, Cross watches from afar. When the Earl and the Noahs enter the Ark, Cross enters unseen with them. He eventually enters Tyki Mikk's and Road Kamelot's room later. When Allen falls down a bottomless hole Cross saves him. Cross battles the monstrous Tyki by unleashing The Grave of Maria. Tyki is completely immobilized and Cross fires his entire ammunition clip into Tyki with lightning speed. Tyki puts up a fight but eventually falls from the injuries he has recieved. But before Cross can finish the fight the Earl stops them. Cross and the Earl exchange a few words before the Earl disappears with Tyki and Cross and the others are left to deal with the crumbling of the Ark. He then brings Allen and Lenalee to the place where Akuma's plant (more exactly the Akuma Egg) is held, and tells Timcampy to bring Allen to another room while using magic to hold up the download of the Egg to the Noah's new Ark. Cross tells Allen to control the Ark as only he can do it. After lots of tension, everything is restored, and Allen tries to ask him about the music but the question gets interrupted.

Invasion of HQ arc
Cross, Tiedoll, and their teams return to order HQ to take a break. The inspector Malcolm C. Levrier holds a meeting with the heads of the Order's Branches, the Supervisor Komui Lee and the Generals. It becomes known that Cross is one of the people who have the will of the 14th Noah, and Levrier proceeds to question Cross about Allen's role in restoring the Ark, accusing Cross of knowing what Allen was and picking him up purely for that reason. Shortly after, the Order is attacked. Lulu Bell has killed the Oceania Branch Head Andrew Hansen and disguised herself as him, and delivers the first attack in the room where the Akuma Egg from the Ark is now located and being inspected by the Scientists, Johnny Gill being the victim. After that, the room is cut off from the rest of the Order with a gate of the Noah's new Ark and a hoarde of Akuma comes through. Lulu's purpose is to return the Egg to Earl, its rightful owner. Allen and Bookman uses the Ark to enter the room and holds up fairly well against the Akuma.

Cross with the Generals and the other Exorcists availiable are ordered to go to the Third Ark Gate and enter the scene. Together with Miranda Lotto and Noise Marie the Generals enter the room through the Ark, where Allen is struggling to stop Lulu from returning the Egg to the Earl. They appear on top of the Egg, and the Generals join the fight against the Akuma as Miranda stops the Egg from being drawn into the Noah's Ark with her Innocence ability. Tiedoll protects the fallen Scientists with his Innocence as the Generals take out the Akuma with incredible speed, showing off their strength and leaving Miranda and Marie in awe. Lulu is nowhere to be seen. The Generals are then ordered, despite Levrier's reluctance, to destroy the Akuma Egg no matter the cost or what takes. Just when they're about to start Lulu returns in the shape of some sort of liquid and captures Miranda. Lulu latches onto the Egg to protect it from harm. As the Generals tries to destroy the Egg, one of the destroyed Combined Akuma's eye cracks and something comes out, causing more damage to Johnny. The Generals decides to go all out on the Egg despite that Lulu uses Miranda as a hostage. But Lulu manages to get the Egg into the gate. Allen destroys the egg and rescues Miranda.

However, a level 4 Akuma appears and drills a hole straight through the floor, sending the Generals and Scientists several levels below and nearly killing them. Only Allen remains to still battle the level 4.

Allen and Lenalee fight the level 4 alone. He drives the sword into the level 4 and she helps to kick it down and through the Akuma's tough armour. After recovering from the level 4's first attack that managed to incapacitate all the Generals momentarily, Cross returns to help Allen and Lenalee, stopping the level 4 from throwing off Allen and Lenalee by using Carte Garde. Once the level 4 recovers and gets the sword away, Cross attacks with Judgment. The bullets cause the level 4's body to swell and it tries to fly out of the opening at the top of the tower. Allen slows down its movements and the generals seize their chance, preventing the level 4 from escaping. In the end only the Akuma's head is left, and is finally destroyed by Cross. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

Cross accompanies Levrier to Central to tell Levrier what he knows in exchange of getting to talk to Allen, like he was forbidden to do before. The next scene Cross appeared is the meeting they arranged for Allen and Cross with guards inside the room. Lavi is also in the room, while Bookman, Komui and Levrier listen from another room. Cross revealed to Allen that Mana Walker is the 14th's older brother. When 14th died, Cross promised to watch over Mana until the 14th returned. He told Allen that Allen had the 14th's memories implanted to him and he is the host for the 14th's revival. The implanted memories will eventually erode the host and change Allen to the 14th. He also revealed that Allen needs to kill someone he loves when he turns into the 14th.

Cross goes back to his room after the meeting. While commenting on how Allen has grown since joining the order, there is a knock on the door. He seems to sense danger as he picks up his weapon; the next panel there is the sound of a gun being loaded...

The morning after the two guards, who were outside and either asleep or knocked out, wake up and one decides to check up on Cross, only to find a seemingly dead Cross by the window, with a huge amount of blood on the floor and window. Whether the shot was fired from Cross or his attacker is unknown, though seeing on how Cross was the one injured it can be speculated it was his attacker. But even though he seems dead, after the guard closes the door and orderes the other guard to contact the supervisor and that guard rushes off, the one left hears a noise. When he enters the room again, gun drawn, he discovers Cross' body is missing, leaving only the mask, Judgement, and a broken window behind. Whether he is still alive and fled or his body was removed is still unknown. Komui's investigation of this event, has drawn these three conclusions: Cross is no longer the accommodator of Judgement; the blood at the scene was Cross' (also it was a lethal amount of blood loss, according to General Tiedoll); and the mask was pierced by a bullet on the right hand side (a wound of that nature could be fatal). According to Leverrier this was a work of Central, which was also hinted by General Tiedoll, but even with this it still isn't confirmed that General Cross is dead, though Bookman states that he doubts even if Cross is alive, that he will return to the Order. The Bookman and Lavi seem to know something, most likely who (who as in someone specifically since it has already been determined Central was behind the attack) or why Cross was attacked or killed. Lavi notes that Bookman realized something when Cross said there is more to this war than it seems, yet again what that is, is still currently unknown.

The manga says it was the last time anyone saw Cross.

The Order takes his weapon and straight to Helvaska and they find out that the Innocence is close to not recognizing Cross as its master any more. They come to the conclusion that Cross realized that he was very close to becoming a fallen one and might have run. If he's still alive.

All that remains of General Cross as of now is his broken mask and the message he left for Allen with Timcampy, which reads as follows:

"Hey, Allen...Come to think of it, I never asked you this before, but...do you like Tim? I asked you to keep hold of him for me but...To be honest, I was always planning on giving him to you. I've told Tim he can do as he likes from now on. You may not want to listen to me, knowing that I'm carrying on the 14's will..But in case you're thinking you're being made to walk a path me and the 14th chose for you...I just wanted to tell you you're wrong. A path is something you create as you walk it. The ground you've trodden hardens, and that's what forms your path. You're the only one that can create your own path. So stop wearing that mask of "Mana". Walk on your own. If you haven't given up yet, that is."

After listening to the message with Howard Link, Allen claims that he is angry by Cross's words, saying that, "No matter how many times I listen, it sounds like a last request or something...It ticks me off." He states that this kind of behavior is not like the master he knew.

Anti-Akuma Weapon


Judgment (断罪者): This equipment-type Innocence takes the form of a large caliber revolver with an undermounted barrel, similar to Vash the Stampede's revolver from Trigun. Cross is able to fire several bullets in rapid succession, often emptying his rounds in a split-second. These bullets will not cease until they hit their target. A symbol in form of a cross can be seen wherever these bullets hit (even on barriers). Cross has also shown an attack ability called 'Arrow Of Original Sin' (原罪の矢), which forms the shape of a demon-like bow around Judgment as a cross symbol appears in front of it. This ability was used by Cross to attack the Akuma Egg during Lulu Bell's attempt to overthrow Headquarters. Recently, Cross has shown the ability to use Judgment at a "purging level," which allows him to launch a large, devastating attack with a cross symbol on it similar to the crosses made by his regular bullets. This attack swelled and bloated the Level 4 Akuma and rendered it unable to defend itself.

Grave of Maria (聖母ノ柩): This parasitic-type Innocence doesn't belong to General Cross himself, but to Maria, an Exorcist with a parasite type innocence. It has been remarked by Allen that Cross is able to use magic to control Maria's corpse during a fight therefore allowing him to also use her Innocence. It takes the form of a large, flattened coffin wrapped with a long chain. When the chain is removed, the coffin opens to reveal a beautiful woman in a fancy dress with a large bow tied over her eyes, which makes it slightly reminiscent of a butterfly. This 'woman' is in fact the corpse of Maria. With the defensive ability 'Magdala Curtain' (聖母ノ加護), Maria uses her song to create illusions that can conceal the presence of others. She also has another ability called "Carte Garde" (脳傀儡) which allows her (or Cross) to control the person's movements by affecting the brain. Lavi has pointed out that Cross Marian's use of the "Grave of Maria" anti-Akuma weapon is unorthodox and forbidden.

Akuma Modification It is revealed by Bookman that Cross has the unique ability to convert Akuma, making them work under his orders. The method of conversion is unknown, though it is most likely the power of the "Grave of Maria", which has been shown to control other characters in the series.

Trivia

 * Cross's favorite wine Romanee Conti is priced at about $1540 per bottle. It is considered to be the most expensive wine in the world.
 * It is arguable that he is probably the most powerful Exorcist in the series, due to the ease with which he beat Tyki Mikk in his "awakened" Noah state, and was the main reason for the first seen Level 4 Akuma's destruction.
 * Most of the women fall for Cross, except for Klaud Nine. Many women think of him as a phantom. But in the series, it seems like Anita is the only one who he is serious with (as hinted in his eyes when Lenalee mentioned Anita).