Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tales of the Abyss.

A/N: So, even though I promised to more chapters of Hopeless Dreamer, this one-shot refused to leave me alone after I watched the anime episode. And thus, this was born. The chapter is still coming within a week or so, but I hope everyone enjoys this as well.

Spoilers! Everything up to Sheridan's attack.

Helping You

"Lower the ramp, now!"

Noelle jumped when she heard the order barked from the colonel who so rarely even raised his voice. Whipping around, she saw the small party sprinting down the dock, and she assumed they were running from a group of the same soldiers that had tried to commandeer the Tartarus. They were getting closer by the minute, so she sprung into action, hitting the button that would allow them to board.

Looking past them, she saw two figures lying prone on the ground, a fearsome figure standing above them. She prayed they were more of the oracle soldiers, but they looked so frail. Her heart dropped as she realized the bodies were most likely those of the Belkend craftsmen.

"Noelle!"

Luke had reached the deck first, and snapped the pilot back to the more pressing matter at hand. She readied her hand over the same button, waiting for the rest to escape up the ramp. In the few seconds it took, she only heard Luke say two other words:

"I'm sorry."

If her heart had felt heavy before, it felt like someone positively stabbed it when she heard Luke utter the apology. All of her strength went into pressing the button that would mostly ensure their safety on the landship, and then her knees collapsed.

She knew what he meant, of course. Logic told her that if Cathy and Hencken had tried to subdue the soldiers that had attempted to board the Tartarus, than a similar group must have tried to capture Luke's party, where her grandfather and Tamara were. They likely met the same fate, and glancing at the group's saddened faces, she knew it was true.

She couldn't help it. Even though she was supposed to be strong for them, she dissolved into tears.

Around her, she could hear various snatches of conversation, particularly one from Tear about how this wasn't the correct time to grieve since they still had a job to do. Noelle knew that it was a sound argument and that crying would only waste the very little valuable time they had in order to fulfill their mission, but drying her tears was harder when she didn't even know what had happened. She quietly asked the question.

"We were surrounded by Legretta's unit upon leaving Iemon's house," Jade began. He was the one that appeared the least emotionally shaken. "Tamara and Iemon fought back in order to allow us to escape, and invoked Legretta's anger. She didn't care that they were civilians."

"S-so, they s-sacrificed themselves f-for you?" she asked through shaky breaths. "B-but they were so w-weak compared to her…!" A fresh round of sobs racked her body, making speech impossible, but Guy didn't give her the chance to say anything even after she had recovered.

Kneeling down somewhat close to her, he tried his hardest to offer some form of support for her. "Noelle, what your grandfather and Tamara did for us…they gave up their lives in order to help us succeed in this. I know it's hard to believe, but what they did is the most important thing for the entire world right now. And you know what?"

For as much as Guy was trying to comfort her, it wasn't quite reaching the distraught pilot, but she found herself asking, "What?" anyway.

"They knew exactly what they were doing when they saved us. That was their strength. I could see the pride in their eyes as they stepped in front of those soldiers, because they knew that the work they had done was going to save Auldrant, and they weren't going to let anybody get in the way of that. They were proud of us, too. Of you, for carrying out this mission to save our homes…"

Sniffing, Noelle used a gloved hand to wipe her eyes dry. Though they were still watery, she was at least composed enough to see Guy clearly, and although he appeared sad, he still seemed comforted by the fact that she was no longer crying. The edges of her lips almost twitched into a small, shaky smile, but even though it failed, the swordsman appreciated the effort anyway. She could tell by the way his eyes softened at her attempt. "…Thank you, Guy…"

"You're welcome, Noelle. If you ever want to talk, you can always ask me. I'm more than willing to listen."

"I'd like that…" she replied, and she finally stood again, ready to do her part to finish what her grandfather had started.

Guy wasn't expecting her to take him up on his offer so quickly, but he wasn't about to complain when it did. Just a day after they had sunk the Tartarus, he had awoken early to find the Albiore landed with Noelle crying silently over a cup of coffee in the passengers' room. She glanced tearfully up at him before turning a bright red from embarrassment at being caught.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this…" she murmured awkwardly around the mug she was attempting to hide her face behind.

Guy simply offered up a sad, small smile. "To be honest, I'd be more worried if I didn't see you 'like this,'" he admitted. "You don't have to be embarrassed about grieving. It's something natural that everyone goes through."

Noelle abruptly jerked as though remembering something. "I didn't even think…I'm so sorry!" she cried out, suddenly sobbing much harder and placing the mug unsteadily onto a table to the side of her.

The swordsman was terribly confused. His attempts to comfort her had obviously failed, but for what reason? "Noelle? What's wrong? What did you just think about?"

"I'm so selfish! I'm crying to you about losing Grandfather when you…you've been through so much worse than I have…! And Tear was betrayed by her b-brother, Luke f-found out about Asch, Ion met one of his replicas who then k-k-killed himself, and Natalia wasn't even born from th-the royal family…" she wailed, overwhelming emotion causing her to lose her speech again.

Guy had to admit, he was in over his head when it came to situations like this. Not only was Noelle already saddened because of Iemon's death, but now she was feeling guilty for being sad and grieving over everyone else's life, too. He had to stop her. "Look at me," he said softly, being met with only a headshake. "Noelle, I mean it. Please, look at me."

With a little soft pleading and dedication, he finally succeeded in the pilot to raise her head again. "What? I know I'm being so horrible right now…but I can't help it…!" she sobbed.

"Noelle, listen to me. Don't do this to yourself. What's happened in my past is going to stay there," he began, purposefully excluding any mention of his residual phobia, even though he was cursing it for not allowing him to comfort her properly. "Nothing you can do or think about is going to change how I feel about it. For the most part, I've moved on."

"While Luke, Tear, and Natalia all have their own problems in life, right now, your grief is stronger and fresher than anything they're feeling right now. Natalia and Luke have even come to grips about what's happening. Tear is doing what she can to stop Van, too. And Ion already knew that there were other replicas, and while he's sad, he would feel horrible having you shoulder sadness for his sake."

"Right now, just worry about yourself. There will be time for you to be strong for everyone else later, but for now, you need to focus on yourself. Can you promise me that?"

Noelle shook her head softly. "But how? How can I do that knowing that I'm not the only one with problems like this? I have to accept that I'm not the most important one here. I'm simply flying you around on your mission to save Auldrant, but you're doing so much more. Your needs come before mine." She squeezed her eyes tightly shut against another flood of tears.

Guy was beginning to feel helpless in the face of Noelle's stubborn refusal to focus on herself for only a little bit. She was obviously overwhelmed, and she needed something to snap her out of it, but what? Words weren't helping, and physical contact was out of the question…or was it?

The swordsman contemplated the situation for a moment. She was in desperate need of help, almost like she was drowning in despair. Drowning…that was it! He could use that line of thinking to his advantage. Sure, instead of water, it was emotionally, but the concept of the situation was the same. She was a person in trouble who needed his support, and while he was certain that there would be some lingering fear, what was the worst that could come from trying?

Blocking anything out except for her need for his help, he approached her and stiffly pulled her into his arms.

Noelle jumped in surprise, feeling herself being drawn into a warm embrace, her chin resting on his shoulder. Her eyes flew open, only to be met by strands of blonde hair dancing in and out of her line of vision. She couldn't believe it. "Guy?"

Her voice caused him to shudder lightly. "Y-yeah…just…let me d-do this for you, okay?" So, his plan wasn't entirely foolproof, and his nervousness was showing through in the shaky tremor of his own voice, but he was actually holding her. "It'll be alright, maybe not right away, but I'll h-help you."

Unsure of how to react, the pilot simply wrapped her own arms around him, feeling him twitch at the sudden, added contact. "Alright. I'll try," she mumbled, releasing her hold on him as his trembling grew almost violent. He stumbled backwards just moments later, fear finally overcoming his determination. He collapsed into one of the empty chairs and breathed deeply in and out to calm himself.

"Noelle," he began, still slightly breathless but wanting to return to their previous conversation. "Please promise me you'll think about yourself this time. I'm worried about you," he admitted, heat flooding his cheeks.

Noelle smiled shakily, but it was a smile none-the-less. "I promise." Guy lit up at that, grinning in the boyish way he had, and nodded in reassurance. "And…thank you," she added, moving towards him to show her gratitude in the form of another hug. Guy's limit had been reached, however, and he was halfway across the room before she could even blink.

"Um…you're welcome," he replied, rubbing his neck nervously as he flushed in embarrassment, but he still had the wide smile gracing his lips from before she startled him. "Will you be okay?"

"Yes. It's painful, but I know everything will be better eventually. I'll be of much more help if everyone doesn't have to worry so much about me. And we can get things settled with Luke, Tear, and Natalia while we're at it."

"There you go," he said softly, taking his seat again. "If you ever feel sad, I'll always be here to listen. Just remember that."

Noelle found herself slightly embarrassed at how her heart leapt at his words. "I will, and the same goes for you. You can come to me for anything you want to talk about." She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip of the now-cold drink before setting it back down and moving towards the cockpit. "I think we should probably get moving again. That way we're closer to our destination, and no one will even know we stopped."

Guy nodded. "That's not a bad idea."

"Do you…would you like to sit in the copilot's seat? I know you've been wanting to, but usually someone takes it before you can get to it. It would also be nice to be sitting next to you in case…well, you know…" Noelle finished lamely, wondering why she had added that at the end.

The swordsman seemed to understand, though. If she broke down again, he could be there to keep her concentrating on the task at hand. Besides, who was he to complain when he finally had the chance to sit in the copilot's seat? "That sounds great!" Excitedly, he rushed past her, but she didn't mind his exuberance even in the face of all that had happened. It gave her back the sense of normalcy that had been missing since they had left Sheridan. She followed him to the cockpit, taking her own seat and guiding the Albiore into flight.

"Luke! I can't believe you're spying on them again! This is not fitting behavior of one from House Fabre!"

The redhead cringed as he realized he had been caught once again by Natalia, the only difference being that Anise wasn't spying along with him. He mostly pulled the door shut that he was peeking out of before saying anything. At least her timing was better this time…

"Guy wasn't here when I woke up, so I got worried. Jeez, it's not like I was doing anything terrible. I just didn't want to barge in while they were talking," he defended. Natalia's face softened a bit at that, but only a little.

"That doesn't make it any better that you were eavesdropping. What if they said something they didn't want you to hear?"

As the princess waited expectantly for an answer, all Luke could manage to say was, "Well, they did hug."

"WHAT?"

A chorus of voices sounded from behind the two as it appeared the entire party was now awake to both find him in his compromising spying position and overhear him say that Guy and Noelle had hugged. Without expecting it, Luke lost his balance and toppled into the door, which conveniently opened outwards. He tumbled into the room, startling its inhabitants.

"Luke! What are you-?" was what Guy started to say, but when he caught sight of the small group of people behind him, he knew exactly what had happened. Combine that with the fact that he was now sitting directly beside the pilot and he could just tell this was going to be an interesting morning.

"Did you actually touch Noelle, Guy?" Anise demanded, running over to him and causing him to cower back in his seat. "Luke said you hugged!"

"That certainly means you've made some progress," Tear added, joining the younger girl.

Guy was visibly shaking. "Y-yes?" he answered Anise. The pair was instantly swamped by the remainder of the party, Natalia saying something about "wonderful news" and Jade mentioning about their previous hypothesis on curing Guy working. The more questions that were asked, the closer the girls got, and the more agitated the young man became until finally…

"Did Guy just…pass out?" Luke asked in disbelief, seeing his friend slump back in his chair and slide down a few inches.

"Oops…" Anise said without sounding very sorry at all. "Oh, well. Sooo, Noelle~," she said, rounding on the now defenseless pilot.

Glancing over at Guy's limp body and the "innocently" smiling girl beside her, Noelle let out an audible gulp, just barely resisting the urge to bang her head on the control screen.

After all, hitting her head against the closest equivalent to a wall she had available couldn't be any worse than the torture about to be inflicted upon her by the little devil beside her.

A/N: Please don't hesitate to critique anything you see wrong, and I hope you liked this. Reviews are always appreciated, but thank you just for reading, anyway!