Title: As He Plays

Synopsis: There was a sadness in Eliot's eyes that Vanessa wished was gone. If he would ever need her, she would be there waiting for him if he would just reach out. Dedicated to my sister Smeep.

Rating: T

A/N: Chapter 52 broke my heart and made me really happy to have my sister. That's why it's so sad that she leaves for college this weekend. Despite being so full of angst, this is the best I can do, so Smeepalicious, this is dedicated to you. (That rhymed! I'm so freaking hardcore!) I love you and have a great time at school. (The funny thing is that she probably won't even read this…) Except it's sort of weird that I'm writing about an older sibling writing about a younger sibling because I'm the spoiled little Eliot in our family. .

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Pandora Hearts' or it's characters or anything like that.

…

It meant the world to her. To see her brother so happily sitting at the piano like that. For that melancholy boy to seem so happy was more heartening to her than anything else. Since her brothers died she had been worried sick that Eliot would be so messed-up, so unhappy. And there were many times that he did seem to be that way. Still, his face while he played the piano told her all that she needed to know; Eliot was okay and always would be.

Still, the foreboding sense of melancholy that overtook her when she watched her little brother never ceased to stop nagging her would come about as well.

Every song he played was tragic; written for a lost love that he never had and for sad days that he had too young. As beautiful as they were, the notes that he played brought tears to Vanessa's eyes. Sometimes it was too much to think about, this sorrow that that child felt.

Maybe it was because he was an artist that this sense of loss seemed to be so acutely potent in every fiber of his being. Of course Vanessa felt for her dead siblings and family members, it never came across in her eyes as it did in Eliot's. Even when he smiled it was intensified by the fact that he had once been in despair; what would happen if that were to happen to him once again?

"Vanessa?" She had hoped that he wouldn't notice her eavesdropping. It was rude and improper. "Are you over there?"

She walks into the room, putting her hand up to shield her eyes from the light spilling through the blinds. The hallway had been dark; her eyes were not used to the change in brightness. "Sorry, I was just passing by, and-"

"Come hear me play, Vanessa," he says, beaming. She begins to shake her head but he pops up from his piano bench and runs over to her, grabbing her arm and giving her that look that younger siblings are so apt to give their older ones to have them submit to their every demand.

When they were all younger and her older brothers would submit to that look in an instant and spoil Eliot with whatever his whimsy had declared important, Vanessa had promised herself that she would never do the same thing. Now that they were gone, however, she found it much more difficult to be prideful towards her younger brother. If there was something –anything- that she was able to do for him, she would do it in an instant. There would be no hesitation.

She relents.

He leads her to a seat and makes sure that she's stopped moving before returning to the bench. "I'm having trouble thinking of a song to write for mother's birthday this year, so I was going through some old songs to try to find some inspiration somewhere," he grins and that tinge of sadness in his eyes that only the old and the tragic have shines. "Is there something that you'd like me to play for you?"

All of Eliot's music is beautiful, but there is one song that she wants to hear more than the others. "Statique," she tells him.

With a nod he begins to play a song that he had written a while ago, but never ceased to bring tears to Vanessa's eyes. When the song was written things seemed stable, unchanging, just as the song's title suggested. Now they were all amuck and…

The playing stopped.

"Vanessa?" His head pops out from above the top of the piano. "Are you-?"

"Please, Eliot, just keep playing," she tells him, wiping away the tears that were on her cheeks with the sleeve of her blouse.

And because there are no words to say to comfort her and the happiness that once sparkled in her eyes was dim, Eliot did as she asked and continued to play for her, hoping that this one song could be the one way that he helped her stay strong during these times of sorrow.

Fin

Smeep, I love you and good luck at school. If you ever need me, I'm just a phone call away.