Disclaimer: I do not own dgrayman or any of its wonderful characters. I'm just a hormonal teenager who likes to write things that are besides the point of the story.
It's been a few minutes now. Reever has been sitting outside the infirmary all by himself. Komui was in there, screaming his head off and crying. Reever could hear Lenalee screaming too, in pain. She had to get stitches and she had to be awake, the nurses feared if she was out cold she'd die from blood loss. So the woke her, and began to stitch her. She was screaming but Reever could tell she was trying to be strong. At one point Reever hears a 'thud' and one of the nurses call, "The supervisor fainted, someone get him a bed!"
Reever would have chuckled at that if he wasn't so worried. Lenalee was severely injured and there was a chance she'd lost too much blood. If it was killing her, would her innocence be able to save her? He wondered. But for now all he could do is waiting. He began getting flashbacks. Way back to when she was 12.
*flashback*
"Reeber! Reeber!" Reever hears someone call. He only knew one person who says his name like that. He turns to see twelve year old Lenalee running up to him.
"Still having trouble saying my name right?" He says smiling as he kneels down to her height.
"I'm still trying" Lenalee smiles. She used to only speak Chinese, saying a name like "Reever" was probably something she'd have to adjust too.
"What are you doing over here? Does your brother know you're running around?" He asks.
"No, but I heard something from on of the Science people. Come with me." She holds her hand out to Reever. He raises a brow then shrugs and takes it. Lenalee walks him over to the cafeteria and into the kitchen. She'd spent a lot of time with Jerry lately; he was one of her best friends.
Reever walked in the kitchen and suddenly catches glimpse of what appeared to be a sloppy and badly done cake. It had one candle on the top. Lenalee stands beside it, "Tada!" She giggles.
Reever approaches it and sees the icing saying "Happy birthday." He blinks and looks over at Lenalee. "How'd you know it was my birthday today?"
"I told you," She smiles, "I heard people talking about it. Now blow out the candle and make a wish!"
He smiled and obeyed. He leans forward and blows out the candle. He thinks for a moment then the wish comes to mind. I wish Lenalee will grow up to have a good life.
*end of flashback*
"…I can't believe I remembered that." He says to himself. He wonders when Lenalee grew out of that "Reeber" phase. He notices that the screaming has stopped. Komui walks out with an icepack on his head.
"You fainted?" Reever asks.
"Shut up!" Komui whines. He takes a seat next to Reever. "There was so much blood…"
"… How'd that happen? Wasn't she on a mission with that Timothy kid?" Reever asks.
Komui nods, "She had to protect Timothy's body at one point and General Klaud was helping Timothy fight the akuma. She held onto the boy's body and took a hit from the akuma."
Reever looked away. He remembers Lenalee once told him she didn't like self sacrifice. Then what the hell was that? She sacrificed her body to protect her comrade. She went against her words… and she does it a lot. It made Reever grit his teeth. Doesn't she know how lost everyone would be without her? How hurt they would be… how hurt Reever would be.
"Reever."
Said man turns to look at Komui, "huh?"
"I never asked you before, because I always took advantage of it… but… Why have you been so lost in thought lately?"
Reever blinks. "I have? Hn. Haven't noticed." He lies.
Komui smiles, "is there a special girl?"
Yeah. Like hell I'd tell you I'm falling for your sister. "Don't be ridiculous." Reever stands. "Tell me how she is later. I got to go take care of things." He starts to walk off.
"Reever, you're a workaholic!" Komui pouts.
Duh. If you're not doing your job I might as well do mine. He sighs and keeps walking. He could really use a cup of coffee right now.
That night Komui came in, he looked exhausted. Reever wanted to stand and ask Komui how Lenalee was, but instead he stayed seated. "Chief, how's your sister?"
"She's good. They finished stitching her and now she's resting. I didn't get to stay with her because she was getting annoyed by me." Komui puffs his lips in a pout. Reever sighed in relief. Lenalee was ok. Good. Reever decided he was going to sneak a visit later on that night.
The task wasn't difficult to do. Komui had been completely knocked out, dead asleep on his desk. Everyone else was busy and Reever didn't feel it necessary for him to stick around. He stood and made his way to the infirmary. On his way there he began to wonder exactly what he'd do when he got there… what if she was sleeping? He wasn't some creep who watched girls sleep. And if she was awake what would he say to her? Wouldn't it be odd that he was visiting? He didn't stop though because most of him really wanted to see her. He was worried a great deal.
When he arrived he made sure to ask the nurse if it was okay for Lenalee to have a visitor. She allowed him but stated she may be asleep. Reever took a big breath before entering her room. She was lying down and huddled under the covers, her head was turned to the side glaring out the window. She wasn't sleeping and she didn't look tired. Immediately she turned to see Reever, a smile spread across her face.
"Reever?"
He smiles and approaches. He looks around for a chair, finds one, and slides it beside her and takes a seat. "Hey there. How're you doing kiddo?" He smiles warmly at her. She returns the smiling. "I'm surviving." She lets out a sigh.
"I heard you screaming when they were stitching you up… I hope you're alright."
"Ah… How embarrassing… I-I'm fine... really." She smiles bashfully.
Reever shakes his head, "not embarrassing. I can tell you, if I were in your position I'd be crying like a child."
She lets out a giggle but immediately stops and hisses in pain. "Augh, I'm sorry," Reever frowns, "I won't make you laugh anymore. Wouldn't want your wound to open."
Lenalee smiles wearily, "but I like it when you make me laugh."
Reever smiles, "and I like it when your heart is still beating." She stares at him with a soft smile on her face. He quickly glances away feeling nervous in her stare. "Speaking of that… I heard what happened…" A frown recaptures his face as he stares down at his lap. "Why would you do that? Let yourself get hurt like that."
"…Timothy would have been killed. I had to protect my comrades…" a small frown captures her face as well.
"… But… you could have at least tried to get out of the way in time."
"There was no time. I knew it would be too late to grab him and go, so I grabbed him and shielded him."
"You knew you would get hurt… And you did it anyway?" Reever felt his blood rise.
"Of course. I do anything for my friends." Lenalee looks away. Something told Reever she was getting upset, but he didn't stop.
"Lenalee, you told me you'd be careful… Why do you always go against your words?" No turning back now. He already threw it out there.
"Excuse me?" She glares at him, "what other time have I gone against my words?"
Reever's frown deepens. "You say you hate self sacrifice… Yet you do it to yourself all the time for your friends… That's…. That's being a hypocrite."
Lenalee was now scowling at Reever. Something Reever could have ever imagined happening. "I'm an exorcist. It's my duty to god to sacrifice myself." She says bluntly. Reever blinks at her with wide eyes. He didn't know how to counter that. That's the way exorcists were raised to believe. It pained him to hear her say that.
"… Lenalee you're more than just an exorcist. You're a person too. And we'd be hurt if you died. If you don't like the idea of your friends dying then how do you think we feel about you dying?"
Lenalee paused. She stared at Reever long and hard. Her gaze went from angry, to shocked, to sad. Tears began to spill out of her eyes. Reever felt a sting in his heart. She pulled her hands up to her face and wept into her palms, Reever watches with a sad stare. "Lenalee….I….. I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"Y-You're right… I'm sorry, Reever san I won't be stupid anymore…" She sobs, "I have to live to protect my friends… I can't forget my priorities."
Reever's gaze was softened; he reached over and gently grabs her wrist lifting it away from her face. He held onto her hand softly and gave it a light squeeze. He had empathy because he knew what it was like to loose sight of his priorities… Look at him now. Breaking his promise that he wasn't going to get too close to Lenalee.
She stared at him with watery eyes, "will you stay here with me…? Until I sleep?" She asks, her voice shaking slightly. Reever gave her a smile, "anything for you." He says softly, he wipes the tears from her eyes with his finger. She smiles back and nods. That night Reever stayed up with her until she finally fell asleep. He thanked god she had fallen asleep soon enough for him to rush out. It'd be an issue if Komui walked in to see him holding hands with Lenalee. A drill up the ass kind of issue.
He got merely 3 hours of sleep (on his desk) before he was awakened by the rising sun. That morning, Reever would bare witness to more gossip. He was slipping files on Komui's desk (his empty desk) when he heard people down the hall.
"Before Lenalee passed out from blood loss she said she had feelings for someone… Who could it be?"
"You mean you don't know! It's only obvious."
"What? Who who!"
Reever listened hard.
"The white haired exorcist guy… Allen."
Allen.
Reever found himself doing things out of the ordinary. He would arrive at the cafeteria just to watch Lenalee and Allen. The more he saw those two together the more he thought Allen was the one she was talking about. It was probably around the fifth day of him watching them he decided to stop. There was no doubt in his mind, Lenalee had to have liked Allen that way. He turned and headed down the hall with a sinking heart and a lump in his throat.
It's how it should be… They're about the same age… What the hell was I thinking… Reever put his hand over his forehead, I'm an adult…
But just because he acknowledged that didn't mean his feelings went away. He still loved her and he didn't know what to do about it. All he could do was be her friend... no… Be her brother's coworker… Yeah.
And for a while Reever did his best to be just her brother's coworker. He'd chat whenever she brought coffee but never saw her at any other time… It wasn't until a certain incident that things would change.
The Noah attack was pretty bad on everyone. Not only had Reever been hurt, but Allen is being held prisoner, Kanda is presumed "dead", and Lavi and Bookman have gone missing. Reever couldn't even begin to shake the amount of gloom that shrouded the order. And now, more than ever, did Reever want to be by Lenalee's side. He wanted to comfort her in her pain, tell her 'it will be alright'.
But was it really his place? Was it really any of his business? She had other friends she could confide in didn't she? Reever scowled to himself, Lenalee never told Reever anything unless he approached her. It hurt but wasn't it how it was suppose to be?
In bandages and bruises Lenalee arrives with coffee. Reever didn't ask for any. "No coffee?" Lenalee asks Reever whose back is turned to her. "Nope." He says.
"…Okay….." She looks down at her already prepared coffee. "Are you okay?"
"Why does it matter? You should be asking Allen that."
Everyone turned to look at Reever. Lenalee was in shock. "… I-If I could I would!" She bit her bottom lip.
"Whatever. I don't want coffee okay? Go worry about your boyfriend somewhere else."
"…Y-You brought him up! And he's not my boyfriend he's my friend!" She grips the coffee mug tightly.
"What, too scared to tell him how you feel?"
"I don't feel that way! What's gotten into you, Reever-san!" She throws the cup at him, it spills on him. After crying out from the burn he looks up to see Lenalee ran off leaving the tray behind. Her cries were heard as she dashed out of the room and everyone stares at him. Reever was a bit shocked at himself.
He'd never been the type to go off on anyone… He never even spoke to Komui that way. He swallowed hard and turned back to his work.
What have I done…
~Woot. Still more to come folks! X''D I had to shorten this one because my vicious 12 year old sister is nagging at me wanting to go on~