Disclaimer - I still do not own D Gray Man

Chapter Three - Different

Over the next couple of days the pain in his forehead diminished and, with the diminished pain and healing, the strange little wounds seemed to be fading away. Nicholas was grateful for this fact, since they were somewhat of an eyesore, but there were other things that were disturbing to the young man that did not seem to be going away. Music seemed to be constantly playing in his mind, strange songs that he had never before heard and yet at the same time seemed familiar with.

And then there was the voice. The voice that whispered to him to accept his place and embrace the memories of Noah. That was the part that Nicholas was trying his hardest to suppress. It was also the part that he was having the most difficulty with. Everything else he could deal with but the young man drew the line at listening to voices.

"I really must be crazy," the boy muttered to himself. There was simply no other way to explain it.

Irritated with the current situation and needing a distraction Nicholas made his way into the sitting room and once again found himself seated at the old piano. This had became a regular habit during the last couple of days, since the music never failed to take his mind away from his current situation, and the boy once again poised his fingers over the keys. This time he didn't even have a song in mind, having decided to let his subconscious decide what he was to play.

After all, his fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as of late anyway. The first few times that he had played the piano Nicholas had a song in mind and yet, when he began to play, he found that something entirely different flowed forth from the instrument.

And all of the songs that his subconscious chose to play were new and seemed to cause a strange energy to circulate around him as he played. There was something definitely different about these new songs but the young man couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

He was, however, determined to find out.

When the young man touched the keys of the piano he found that the strange lullaby from before was the song that he produced. This particular song was haunting and yet, at the same time, strangely soothing. It had a strange calming effect on the young man which was a welcome distraction from the stress that he had been dealing with. Closing his eyes Nicholas allowed his mind to wander, carried away by the notes of the song.

As he continued to play the boy thought back to the strange visitor who had appeared to him and told him that he was ascending to his powers. "Powers," Nicholas thought to himself as the music continued to stream forth. He had noticed that strange things seemed to be happening around him now and that most of them were tied in with his music.

Perhaps that was the powers that the strange man who called himself the Millennium Earl had been referring to. Deciding to test the theory for himself Nicholas thought back to what he had been doing when each of the strange occurrences had taken place. The first had been when he had changed his appearance the first time and the boy recalled that he had been humming. This held true for when he had transformed so that he could show Mana what had happened.

"I wonder..."

As the notes continued to flow from his finger tips Nicholas found himself softly singing. He had no idea where the lyrics were coming from and yet they seemed to fit the melody perfectly. "I wish that Mana were here so that he could hear this..."

"Nicholas..."

The young man stopped mid song and gazed at his brother, who had just entered the sitting room. Mana had said that he was going to do some research and that he would be gone for most of the day and yet here he was. Did it have anything to do with his thoughts?

"That's just crazy," the young man thought to himself, shaking his head as though that would rid him of the insanity that seemed to have taken over his mind. "Hey Mana, I thought you were going to be gone all day?"

Mana held up a book. "It took less time than I thought to track this down."

"What is it?" Nicholas asked, gazing at the large leather bound book that his brother was holding in one hand. It looked extremely old and seemed to be well worn, the binding frayed in several places. "And if you say a book I swear I'll..."

"Magic," Mana replied, walking over to a small sofa that was positioned at the other end of the room from the piano. The older of the two brothers sat down and began to thumb through the book, a look of extreme concentration on his face.

"Careful," Nicholas said with a chuckle. "Don't hurt yourself."

"Funny," Mana said as he turned the pages of the book. His eyes were darting back and forth across the pages, as though he were searching for something specific. This fact piqued the interest of his younger brother, who left the piano and joined his brother on the sofa. "So what was that you were playing Nicholas? I don't think that I've heard that song before."

"It's a new one," Nicholas replied, not really sure of how else to explain it. "So what exactly are you looking for?"

"For some clue as to what exactly was done to you," Mana replied.

"Hmm," Nicholas said, a thoughtful expression in his smoky gray eyes.

"Give in to the memories... The Noah of Praise will be reborn..."

The young man's eyes widened as he heard this strange voice echoing through his mind. It wasn't the first time that he had heard this particular voice but this was the loudest that it had ever been. It was also the first time that he had heard the voice mention anything about the Noah. The strange man who had called himself the Millennium Earl had mentioned the Clan of Noah and suddenly he didn't seem quite as crazy as he had before. "Noah of Praise," he whispered, wondering exactly what that meant.

"What was that Nicholas?" Mana asked as he glanced up from his book and gazed at his younger brother.

"Nothing," Nicholas said quickly, not willing to tell his older brother that he was hearing voices. That might just push him over the edge of insanity in his brother's eyes. Hell, he was beginning to think that he was crazy himself. Why else would he be hearing voices and making wishes while playing the piano? The stress of the last couple of days was just too much, this was the excuse that he would choose to use should anyone comment on his mental stability.

"I'm different," Nicholas thought to himself, getting to his feet and walking back over to the piano. "There's nothing that I can do about it but isn't it okay to be different? Maybe this will prove to be useful in some way. Maybe I was chosen for something..."

"Lord Millennium!" Road called out as she bounded across the room toward the spot where the Millennium Earl was seated, surrounded by telephones and floating jack o lanterns. The large man turned his head and watched as the young girl bounded toward him.

"What is it Road?" he asked, offering her an indulgent smile. Road was the First Child and he showed her a measure of favoritism. After all she was the only one other than he himself who had the power to operate Noah's Ark, which made her more special than the rest of her siblings.

"I want my new brother," Road whined as she launched herself into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. There was a pleading look in her golden eyes as she gazed at the Earl, begging him to go and collect the sibling that he had promised. She didn't care if he was confused or not, she wanted someone to play with.

"I told you that I would return for him in a week," the Earl said patiently.

"But..."

"You're just going to have to be patient Road," the Millennium Earl said, smiling indulgently at the young girl. "We're going to have to take things slow with this one. He's confused and needs to come to terms with the memories of Noah that he possesses."

"So which memories does he have?" Road asked, still disappointed that she wouldn't get her new sibling for a few more days but curious about this extra member of their family. After all there were only supposed to be thirteen members of the Clan of Noah and yet this new boy was the fourteenth born.

"This boy holds the memory of Praise," the Millennium Earl told her, a strange expression in the eyes that were hiding behind the glasses. "There hasn't been a Noah born with this memory since the first generation. This gift is exceedingly rare."

"Wow," Road said, her golden eyes wide. She had known all along that this new sibling had to be special and the words of the Millennium Earl only confirmed it. Then the young girl abruptly abandoned those thoughts to focus on something else. "But I'm still bored."

"Why don't you go and find Lero?" the Millennium Earl suggested, referring to his enchanted umbrella. Road really enjoyed playing with it and the Earl thought that it would serve the purpose of getting the girl to forget about her new sibling for awhile.

"Great idea!"

And with this shout Road leapt from the Earl's lap and dashed from the room to search for the umbrella.

The Earl watched the young girl's departure before his thoughts returned to the mahogany haired youth that he had met mere days before. There was something different about this child and the Earl had high hopes for the Noah of Praise. "This boy could prove incredibly useful..."

"So did you find anything Mana?" Nicholas asked when his brother finally placed his book down on the table. He was still sitting at the piano although he hadn't been playing anything. The young man hadn't wanted to disturb Mana's reading and so he had only been humming some random tunes that were running through his mind.

The music was always there now; all he had to do was search his mind for the right song to play.

Mana shook his head, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers as though he were developing a headache. "Nothing even remotely helpful," he said in a quiet voice, his brown eyes downcast as though he didn't want to look at his brother.

Nicholas was instantly concerned.

"Are you alright Mana?"

Chuckling softly to himself Mana gazed over at the spot where the kid was sitting. "Just getting a bit of a headache," he replied, kicking off his shoes and stretching out on the sofa. "Why don't you play that song that you were playing earlier? I'd like to hear it."

"Okay," Nicholas said, turning to face the piano. Placing his fingers above the keys the young man took a deep breath and then began to play. The notes of the lullaby flowed fluidly from his fingers and, after a few bars, Nicholas began to sing softly.

And as he sang he thought about his brother who was lying on the sofa across the room. Mana had said that it was just a little headache but Nicholas could tell by the expression on his face that his brother was in pain. And he desperately wished that he could do something about it.

"I really wish that I could help... that I could make his headache go away."

A little gasp issued from the young man across the room and Nicholas abruptly stopped playing and turned to look at his brother. Concern radiated from his gray eyes. "What is it Mana? Are you okay?"

"It's the damnedest thing," Mana said as he sat up and gazed over at his brother, shock plainly visible in his wide eyes. "My headache's completely gone."

"Gone?" Nicholas repeated in a quiet voice, thinking back to his thoughts as he had played the lullaby. This was the second time that he'd made a request while playing that song and both times he had gotten what he wanted. This couldn't be normal... could it?

"Amazing..." Mana said, a smile spreading across his face.

"Yea," Nicholas said, resuming his song and losing himself to the tune. "Amazing."

"I really do like that song," Mana said, getting up from the sofa and walking across the sitting room so that he could stand behind his little brother. He placed a gentle hand on the kid's shoulder and Nicholas turned his head and offered him a smile over his shoulder.

"I do too," Nicholas said, nodding his head in agreement as the final notes of the song faded into oblivion. For more reasons than he could explain to Mana but that was another story entirely.

"Give in to the memories..."

Nicholas was once again forced to think about these memories that the strange voice in his head kept mentioning. He didn't understand what he was suppose to do and yet he couldn't get the voice to leave him alone. He had the sneaking suspicion that the only way to do that would be to give in but he didn't even know what he was giving in to.

"Memories of what?" he thought to himself, running a hand through his already unruly mahogany hair. He desperately wanted the answer to this question but was woefully confused as to how to acquire the information. And this frustrated him.

A/N - Is anyone reading this? Is it even worth continuing? Please someone tell me, self doubt is beginning to creep up on me.