Disclaimer - I do not own D Gray Man

A/N - I'm so thrilled with all the reviews that I have gotten for this story and would once again like to extend a special thank you the ones who reviewed last chapter: PeanutAngel, BlackCross1808, rmiller92, 14th Noah, mysticwolf1896, Icetiger 13, Fanfic-AddictYuki, Vincent Noir, Allen's Lover, Edge End, firepelt00, addenza, LyssiBug, Tango Dancer, xdevil-childx, Destinee, Arceus the Creator, MoonlitMelody, fan girl 666, and crazy DGM fan. You guys are all awesome!

Chapter Ten - The Lullaby

After delivering the news that had changed his nephew's life forever Mana simply sat on the edge of Allen's bed and held the crying child. He was hurting as well but his pain seemed to dull in comparison to what this innocent child was going through and Mana wanted to offer him what comfort he could.

Even though deep down he fully realized that he was powerless in this situation. Grief would win out over everything, at least for a little while.

Rocking back and forth slowly, tears flowing from his own eyes, Mana rubbed soothing circles on the child's back. This was all the comfort that he could offer his nephew and he knew that it wasn't nearly enough. Nothing could take away the pain of losing a parent and Mana fully realized this fact. But it was the best that he could do. After awhile the sounds of the child crying grew fainter and then the little boy's breathing evened out.

Allen had cried himself to sleep.

"I'm sorry for what you've lost Allen," Mana whispered to the child, continuing to rock back and forth in a slow and gentle manner. "But I promise you that I'm going to do everything in my power to make up for what you were denied."

Mana held his nephew for a little while longer, comforting the child and using the child's presence to comfort himself, before gently tucking Allen into bed. He brushed back the hair that had fallen in front of the little boy's face and then, after hesitating briefly, leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Allen's forehead.

"I hope you have sweet dreams little one," he whispered as he got to his feet and turned to leave.

It was still fairly early but despite this fact Mana decided that he would go to bed as well. He felt completely drained due to the day's trauma and was hoping that a good night's rest would help him deal with what the next day inevitably had in store for him.

Instinctively he knew that it would be rough.

Leaving Allen's room Mana walked the short distance down the hall to his own room, which was bathed in darkness. Using his memory of the furniture's placement Mana made his way over to the table where the oil lamp was sitting and quickly lit it. Then, once the room had been bathed in a subdued light, Mana changed out of his clothes and into his pajamas.

The young man's heart was still aching, both due to the loss of his brother and the effect that loss seemed to have had on his nephew, but he found that he had no more tears to cry. He seemed to have exhausted them while he had been seeking to comfort Allen.

Shaking his head Mana crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over his head, wanting desperately to escape reality. All he wanted to do was to fall into a dreamless sleep, a sleep where he could find peace in nothingness.

Mana's wish seemed to be granted and for awhile he slept without dreaming. But then, after a few hours, he stirred slightly as the sound of someone playing the piano reached his ears. Rolling over in his bed, Mana half opened his eyes and there, standing in the middle of the room, was his brother.

"Nicholas…"

"It's all going to be okay Mana. I'm safe now so there's no reason for you to worry about me any longer. Just concentrate on taking care of Allen… and tell him that I'm sorry."

Mana opened his mouth to say something but it was as though the image of Nicholas had vanished. One minute he was standing there, as clear as day, but in the next instant Mana was alone once more.

And the music continued to play.

Wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand Mana wondered if he had dreamed the whole thing. Had the image of Nicholas merely been something conjured up by his grieving mind? But if that was the case then how could he explain away the music that still seemed to fill the house? It was soft and barely perceptible but Mana could swear that someone was playing the piano.

"Maybe I'm losing it," he thought to himself.

With a sigh Mana got to his feet, deciding to check on Allen before he went back to sleep. Grabbing his robe, which was hanging on the bed post, he shrugged it on before leaving his room. The young man made his way down the hall but when he gazed into Allen's room he could tell, by the moonlight that was illuminating the room, that Allen wasn't in his bed.

"Allen," Mana called out softly as he entered the room.

A quick search served to prove that Allen wasn't in his room and Mana felt his heart begin to beat faster. Where could the child have wandered off to at this time of night? Turning around quickly Mana dashed from the room and made his way downstairs.

The sound of piano music was louder down here and Mana stopped to listen. It was a haunting little tune that sounded oddly like a lullaby.

"It's coming from the parlor," Mana said, now convinced that he wasn't hallucinating. Making his way down the hallway Mana grasped the parlor door and pulled it open.

There, standing on the piano stool so that he could reach the keys, was little Allen. And it was the child who was playing the haunting little tune that had awakened Mana.

"I didn't know that he could play the piano," Mana muttered to himself as he stood in the doorway and listened to the boy play. Allen was singing softly but his voice was so soft that Mana had to strain his ears in order to hear the words.

It was a lullaby.

As he stood and listened to the song that his nephew was playing Mana felt an odd sense of peace envelope him. Nothing had changed really but for some reason hearing this song made Mana feel better.

It seemed to bring him a measure of peace.

When the last notes of the song had faded away Allen seemed to realize that he wasn't alone and he turned around and stared at Mana through wide gray eyes.

"Mana…" the little boy whispered.

"That was beautiful Allen," Mana said in a quiet voice as he walked over to the spot where Allen was still standing on the piano stool. "Who taught you that song?"

Allen seemed confused by the question and didn't appear to have an answer for it. The little boy merely shrugged and reached out to his uncle.

As he leaned forward and lifted the child into his arms Mana couldn't deny the fact that he was surprised. How could the little boy have learned such a song and yet not remember who it was that had taught it to him? It hadn't been a simple song after all and Mana found himself wondering if perhaps Allen was one of those rare prodigies who could recreate songs that they had heard other people play.

For his part Allen seemed completely unconcerned by the fact that he'd just been playing a complicated piece of music. As soon as he was settled in Mana's arms the little boy placed his head on his uncle's shoulder and, within minutes, was sound asleep.

"Oh well," Mana thought to himself as he turned away from the piano and began walking toward the door. In the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter where Allen had learned the song that he had been playing. All that mattered was that it seemed to have brought a measure of peace to both of them at a time when they desperately needed it.

Mana carried his exhausted little nephew back upstairs to his room and once again tucked him in.

As he straightened back up Mana stood for a moment simply gazing down at the sleeping form of his nephew. The little boy seemed to be at peace, at least while sleeping, and Mana was grateful for this fact. Seeing the little boy so upset earlier had made him feel incredibly guilty and he was glad that Allen seemed to have found a measure of peace.

Was it possible that the strange song he had been playing had something to do with this new found sense of peace?

Allen awoke early the next morning and the child slowly made his way over to the dresser that held his clothing. Mana had yet to make an appearance and Allen decided that he was old enough to get his own clothing.

He didn't need Mana's help.

Unfortunately he wasn't tall enough to reach the top drawer where Mana kept most of his clothes. The child paused for a moment, debating what to do next, and then an idea came to him. Grasping the handle of the bottom drawer Allen pulled with all of his might.

Then, once the bottom had been pulled out, the child used it to climb on so that he could open the next drawer. Continuing on in this manner Allen created steps with the dresser drawers and managed to climb up high enough to reach the drawer that actually contained his clothes.

The little boy reached into the drawer and pulled out some clothes and then slowly climbed back down. Pulling off his pajamas Allen quickly dressed in the clothes that he had pulled from the dresser; a pair of black pants, a white shirt and a gray vest.

Little fingers fought with the buttons of both the shirt and the vest but he eventually managed to get button both.

Allen still had some trouble putting his shoes on by himself so the child decided that he would just not wear them. A smile spread across the little boy's face as he left his bedroom and went in search of Mana.

The door of Mana's bedroom had been left slightly ajar and Allen pushed it open and stepped inside.

Judging by the sounds of the snores that were coming from the bed Mana was still sound asleep and Allen made his way over to the bed. Reaching up the little boy used the blankets to pull himself up and onto the bed. Then he simply knelt there for a few minutes, staring at his uncle's form.

"Mana sleeping," Allen muttered to himself.

He was hungry and really wanted breakfast but wasn't entirely sure how to awaken his uncle.

"Mana…"

The sleeping form on the bed didn't so much as twitch and Allen decided that he needed to try again.

"Mana… hungry…"

Still nothing.

Sighing the child gave up. It didn't seem as though he were going to be able to awaken his uncle but he was still hungry… and bored.

Getting to his feet Allen decided to amuse himself by jumping on the bed. Bending his knees the little boy leapt into the air as high as he could.

"Umph," Mana exclaimed as he felt the mattress suddenly sink from beneath him. Gasping due to the feeling that he was falling the man sat up and came face to face with a little brown haired boy.

"Morning Mana!" Allen called out, a smile spreading across his face. He seemed somewhat proud of himself for having successfully awakened his uncle.

"Good morning Allen," Mana said, wiping the sleep from his eyes and then running a hand through his hair. The little boy seemed to have recovered from the trauma of the night before.

It was almost as though none of it had happened.

"Get up," Allen prompted, reaching out to pull on Mana's arm.

"And why would I do that?" Mana asked as he offered the little boy a smile. His gaze swept over the child and he noticed that Allen was already dressed for the day. Which made Mana wonder exactly how the child had managed to reach his clothes.

"Breakfast!" Allen sang as he once again began to jump on the bed.

"Of course that's it," Mana said, shaking his head. The little boy was bouncing around on the mattress and Mana quickly reached out and grabbed the little boy by the ankle. With a little pull Allen was lying on his back on the bed, giggling madly.

Mana still felt drained and, with a sigh, he collapsed back on his pillow.

Which of course did not go over well with Allen. The little boy crawled up to the head of the bed and gazed down at Mana, a surprisingly stern expression on his young face. "Get up!"

"Alright, alright," Mana said, groaning as he sat up and then got to his feet. "You're definitely persistent, I'll give you that."

Allen didn't know what persistent meant but he didn't really care so long as Mana got out of bed and made breakfast.

At that moment the pair on the bed heard the sounds of yipping. Their gazes simultaneously went to the door and both watched as Star bounded into the room, barking madly.

"Not you too," Mana groaned as the dog came to stand beside the bed and gazed up at him with plaintive eyes. "I promise I'll make breakfast if the two of you will leave me alone long enough to get dressed."

Allen nodded and jumped from the bed. "C'mon Star!"

The boy bounded from the room, followed closely behind by the little dog. Mana sighed once again as his two young charges left the room.

He was a little overwhelmed by the wake up call that he had just received but perhaps it had been what he needed to get his mind off of his grief.

Recalling the scene from the night before, little Allen standing at the piano, Mana found that the odd sense of peace that the song had given him was still there. While he was still sad over the loss of his brother the grief was no longer crushing as it had been in the beginning.

Perhaps he had Allen to thank for this peace of mind. Or perhaps it had more to do with the apparition that had appeared to him in his dream.

Or maybe it was a combination of the two.

Whatever it was Mana was grateful for it but he quickly remembered that he didn't have time to dwell on it. He had a hungry child and his equally hungry dog downstairs and the two of them would be destroying his house if he didn't feed them soon.

"Time to face another day," he said to himself as he dressed. "Just keep moving forward."

A/N - and there's the end of another chapter. Depressing seems to be the ongoing theme at the moment but I promise that things will get happier. Eventually. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought. I so enjoy reading your comments about this story.