A/N: Started as a drabble, then was fed too much. When "Marie" is referred to, I mean Noise Marie. Please read and Review! For we loves reviews…yesss, gives us the precious reviews! Please?
Disclaimer: I do not own -man. This honor goes to the great and powerful Katsura Hoshino.
Miranda Lotto had never been a particularly strong individual. For as long as she could remember, she'd always failed where others had succeeded, even in what she thought to be the most mundane of tasks.
As a child, she was never the top of her class, nor the bottom rung for that matter. Average, they'd called her. Constantly overlooked, she'd pass through her schooling, always managing to keep afloat.
As a young woman, Miranda had struggled. Constantly loosing her job, only having her precious clock to turn to. One-Hundred jobs. This was something Miranda was not proud of, and could still bring her to tears when mentioned.
That had all ended when she became an Exorcist. Even though she still tripped over flat-surfaces, and still believed that she was screwing up constantly, she was never asked to leave. Nobody ever came and told her she was fired. The Black Order had become her home, as it had for so many other Exorcists. The people in it were her comrades and friends. She couldn't loose being an Exorcist.
As an Exorcist, she was willing to lay down her life for her fellows. It was her duty, her job. And this was the one job she was not going to fail at.
So when the time came, she was perfectly fine dying for the friends she'd made. Through the fierce battle, she held it together, even as the wounds her comrades received grew too severe for her to handle. She didn't let up. Even as they told her to stop, to save herself, she refused to stop her protection of her dear friends.
As the battle came to a close when the Generals came to their aid, Miranda still wouldn't…no, couldn't revoke her Innocence. Help couldn't come quickly enough to heal her fellow Exorcists if she released time. Nobody could say Miranda Lotto was not deserving of the title Exorcist.
She felt herself being lifted up. It was warm. A gentle voice told her to release her Innocence. Marie….she really liked Marie. He'd been so nice to her. She curled up closer to him, trying to hold onto that warmth.
A small pair of hands grabbed her own, which dangled limply by her side. Miranda blearily looked over to Lenalee. She was saying something. Probably telling her to stop hurting herself. But what would happen to them? She could imagine them, falling over to the ground as the blood came back. She couldn't handle blood.
This was the only way to protect them all. A thought tugged at the back of her drowsy mind: Is this really going to protect them? Miranda thought for a moment. Of course this would protect them. How could it not?
You can't keep them safe if you're dead. The thought came unbidden, shocking her out of her daze. What would happen after she died? No one else had the ability to do what she did. And Exorcists were in such demand already… but what if they died when she released? Could she really put her life over theirs?
She heard footsteps approaching, and worried voices floated around in her head. She supposed those were the medics…at least she hoped so.
As she released her Innocence, gasping as the weight she hadn't noticed disappeared from her chest. She winced at the hiss of pain Lenalee had, and the way Marie flinched but still refused to put her down. She could hear the scrambling of the medics caring for wounds.
Miranda Lotto, life-long screw-up, clumsy and average, an Exorcist of the highest caliber, took a deep breath and settled into Marie's arms to go to sleep. This nap, she thought, was well deserved.
A/N: (Part 2) Okay….slight Marie/Miranda I suppose, but I just love 'em together. Many thanks to Kuraun Kuraun for looking over this for me and helping me sort out the plot. Anyway, please review, or I may be forced to use the Ninja Bunnies.