Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-man.
Chapter 11
"Are you really sure you're alright to go on this mission?" Miranda fretted.
"I'm fine, Miranda," Marie assured, "I've suffered from far worse injuries before and gone on missions before they fully recovered."
"Are you really sure?" Miranda hadn't stopped questioning him about his health since they had learned of their most recent mission. Since the Order was short handed they were even sending out injured exorcists. To Marie, his injuries weren't very bad, but Miranda didn't seem to agree.
"Besides, you just got back from your last mission. I'm sure that they could send someone else," Miranda insisted.
"It's fine," Marie was trying very hard to be patient with her, but it was getting rather difficult. He had returned from his most recent mission to France just a week before. He had seen that week as quiet awhile to be allowed rest between missions, "Besides, Miranda, there's not really anyone else they could send right now. Everyone else has already been sent out on a mission. This mission probably won't take very long, and you'll be there in case I get injured. Everything will be fine, so please just calm down."
Miranda reluctantly dropped the subject. They had just enough time to finish their lunch before the mission, as they had been called to the briefing while they were eating. Miranda returned to her food, eating rather quickly in fear that she might cause them to be late to the Ark gate.
"We should probably leave, soon. If we're late then we would have to wait quite awhile to get permission to use the Ark again," Marie said after a few minutes.
Miranda nodded and hummed in agreement. They took their dishes to the dirty dishes table and hurried to the Ark room.
"You got here just in time, we were afraid you would be late," the finders who was going to accompany them spoke in a humorous tone.
"I'm glad we got here in time," Marie responded back with a light chuckle, "It would have been inconvenient to have to wait for permission to use the Ark again."
"That would have definitely been a problem," one of the finders agreed. After a pause he added, "It looks like the gate should be opening in a few seconds. I wish you all good luck on your mission."
"Thank you," Miranda smiled and thanked the finder for the wish of luck.
After the gate opened and they walked through, finding the door that led to where the needed to go, everyone in the group was given their code to get back through the Ark to return to the Order after the mission was over.
"The reports about the innocence mostly came from this area of town," the finder explained as he led Miranda and Marie through the town, "We think it has something to do with an old abandoned building, since many people are claiming that it's haunted."
"What makes them say that it's haunted?" Marie asked.
"People see silhouettes of people in the windows, even though it's empty. They hear voices from inside when they walk by, and some people have claimed that they've heard loud, childish laughter from inside the building at times. Until we know a bit more about the building, though, it would preferable to avoid it all together. The reports about the laughter from the building, especially those that claim it's a very disturbed, child-like laugh suggest that this might involve a level four akuma. If we think there's a chance that it's a level four, we will be evacuating the town and bringing in as many generals as we can spare. It was decided that you two's abilities would be the most useful in learning more about this situation," the finder explained.
"How would Time Record be useful in figuring anything out?" Miranda asked.
"Well, actually the thought in having you as a part of this mission is that, if worst comes to worst, you can use Time Record to stop the akuma for long enough that everyone can evacuate," the finder answered.
"Shall we go ask around the city about the building, then?" Marie asked.
"Yes, I'll go make sure that all of the information about where we will be staying is correct. How about we meet up here in an hour," the finder nodded.
"That sounds like a reasonable plan," Marie agreed.
Miranda only nodded in agreement.
"Where should we start asking around?" Miranda asked.
"Probably in the places closest to the building, then probably in some of the more crowded areas of the city," Marie answered. With this decided the two set ff to figure out what was going on.
"Time Record, activate!" no one knew for certain if Miranda's innocence would be able to stop or slow down akuma, but there was no time to test that in their current situation.
"Good, it worked," the finder accompanying Miranda and Marie had sighed in relief when their plan had worked out, "Miss Lotto, how long do you think you'll be able to keep Time Record activated?"
"A few days, probably," Miranda answered uncertainly.
"We'll start getting everyone evacuated from the town. Miranda, please stay here and be careful," Marie said.
"I will," Miranda nodded. She sat down on a nearby bench as she watched Marie and the finder go. Their plan had originally been to evacuate the citizens as soon as Marie had confirmed that the house was indeed full of akuma, but the akuma had all attacked when they had been passing the building. Miranda, not even sure if Time Record was capable of stopping akuma, had activated Time Record. Thankfully, it had worked, and showing the true resilience of members of the Black Order the small group had immediately resumed their original plans.
Miranda, out of sheer boredom, decided to count how many akuma there were in the swarm that had been hidden within the abandoned building. The building had been rather large, and it wasn't much of a surprise to Miranda when she counted close to fifty akuma, all ranging from level ones to a singular level four.
"I guess this mission will be a bit more difficult that it was supposed to be," Miranda sighed quietly as she lightly turned Time Record's disk around in her hands. If she could keep Time Record activated until everyone was evacuated and until the generals that had been contacted arrived then there was a chance the mission would be possible to complete.
It was a few hours before Marie returned from helping the finder evacuate the city, "How are you doing, Miranda?"
"I'm fine. Has everyone managed to leave the city?" Miranda asked.
"No, but everyone has been told to leave. Most of the people are just packing things they'll need for the few days they'll have to be gone," Marie responded. He sat down beside Miranda.
"That's good to know. How long do you think it will be until the generals get here to handle the situation?" Miranda questioned. She wanted to know just how long she would have to stay awake.
"It will probably be a few days. I'm really sorry that we have to ask you to keep Time Record activated for that long," Marie spoke with an apologetic tone.
"Don't worry, a few days isn't too bad," Miranda assured, "I'm just glad I can help somehow, even if it's not much."
"We certainly wouldn't have been able to complete this mission without you," Marie pointed out, "You're helping us a lot more than I think you realize."
Miranda really never knew how to respond whenever people said things like that to her. She wanted to deny she helped at all, but she knew many people found things like that annoying, so she simply didn't respond aside from a light sigh.
"How large is Time Record's range right now?" Marie asked. He needed to know how far away from the akuma Miranda could get before Time Record lost control over them.
"Not very, I'm afraid. To conserve enough power to freeze that many akuma I had to shrink the range down a lot. I would say not past the corner of the building and that lamp post," Miranda said, pointing to the spots she had meant. It left just enough area around the building that she could walk to the edge of the street or the back of the old building. Realizing that Marie couldn't see where she had been motioned to, Miranda immediately began to stutter an apology, "I am so sorry! I didn't mean to be so careless! I'm sorry!"
"It's alright, Miranda," Marie assured, trying to calm her down, "Don't worry, it was just an honest mistake. Just try to tell me how far from here you can go?"
"You know the street you crossed on your way here? The edge on this side of that street," Miranda answered, still rather flustered over her mistake, "And to the back wall of the building the akuma were in. I can't go past the closest sides of the buildings on either side of this one."
"That really isn't very far," Marie had a basic sense of the area around the building, and he knew that this left very little area for Miranda to go around.
"Oh well," Miranda said with a small smile, "At least this way I won't have to worry about getting in anyone's way."
"You shouldn't talk about yourself like you're a nuisance," Marie said, his tone was extremely serious, "You don't normally get in anyone's way, Miranda. Yes, you trip up occasionally, but tell me someone who doesn't mess up sometimes?"
"Well, everyone messes up sometimes, but I mess up a lot more than most people," Miranda said bitterly, "I really am a nuisance to people, though."
Marie sighed, "Miranda, no you're not. If that many akuma had been left to wander free, then a lot of people would be dying right now. You've given the Order a very, very great advantage, and you've saved a lot of people. And if you want to look at yourself as an individual, without thinking of the Order, you've not only tried your best to help your friends whenever you could, but you've shown them kindness when no one else would. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Miranda."
"I really am thankful that you think so well of me, but I just can't agree with you," Miranda shook her head, "But your opinion really does mean a lot to me. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Marie responded with a sigh. He really didn't feel like she should be thanking him for simply speaking his opinion, but he had learned that trying to argue with her about things like this would get them no where.
The two sat in silence for quite awhile before Miranda said, "Maybe you should go check on the finder. He's been gone for a long time."
"I probably should. I'll be right back," Marie assured as he stood and walked in the direction he had come from before.
Miranda glanced up at the swarm of akuma, all of them completely still in the air. It was a truly grotesque sight, all of the various akuma. Some of the level twos were twisted and misshapen, like something from a nightmare, while others simply looked like deformed animals. The one akuma that really chilled Miranda's blood was the level four. She couldn't remember much about the level four's attack on their previous Head Quarters because of her own level of consciousness at the time, but seeing the akuma stuck midair in front of her left her glad she hadn't.
Miranda hadn't noticed the sound of footsteps behind her, but her body stiffened as she felt cold metal pressed against her throat.
"That uniform is awful familiar. In fact, someone wearing a uniform like that came through here a few years ago," a young woman's voice spoke, "And when he was passing through our town, creatures like those killed my family. Well, I can assure you I'm not letting you or any of your uniformed friends cause that again."
Miranda's thoughts were far too scrambled to put together a response, or even comprehend what was going on. All she could do was sit still and hope that the knife didn't move.
"What, you don't even feel remorse for what you've caused the people of this town," the young woman asked in a harsh voice as she pushed the blade down just the slightest bit. A small trail of blood dripped lightly down Miranda's throat from the small cut left by the knife.
Miranda finally managed to put together a single coherent thought. If she were to die, then the swarm of akuma would be free to do what they wanted, "W-We're just trying to help you all."
"Help us? Oh, that's a good one! Help us! Really? Then tell me, why is it that you are wearing the same uniform of the man who came through here and brought those creatures here in the first place?" the woman's laugh was nearly psychotic and her expression was terrifying, "I'm almost tempted to let you keep talking, you're just so funny! Too bad I'm just too close to avenging my baby girl."
Miranda could feel the knife shaking in the woman's hand, but she didn't doubt how serious the young lady was.
"Please, don't kill me. I don't want anyone here to die, but right now I'm the one keeping those monsters from killing everyone," Miranda reasoned shakily.
"You're so arrogant, saying that you've got that kind of power," the woman cackled. Her grip tightened on the handle of the knife and she began to press down on Miranda's neck, getting ready to move the knife and slit her throat.
"Ma'am, please let her go," a calm voice reasoned. It was the finder from before.
"We mean this town and it's people no harm, we're just here to destroy these monsters and leave," Marie's tone was just as calm as the finder's. He and the finder had just returned to the area.
"I'm sure that's what the last person wearing that uniform thought when they came here, but they let so many people be killed!" the woman did move the knife away from Miranda's neck, but only to brandish it threateningly towards the other two.
"Please put the knife down," the finder said, "We'll try to talk about this later, but I need you to step away from her, and put the knife down."
"What is there to talk about? You all are connected to the people responsible for my family's death, and I plan to get my revenge," the woman's voice was now disturbingly calm.
"Ma'am, please don't hurt her. She just wants to protect this town," Marie could tell by the woman's heartbeat that she was either about to kill Miranda or attack them. The way her pulse raced was proof enough of this.
"You all are sick liars!" the woman accused, just as she plunged the knife into Miranda's abdomen.
Miranda gasped in pain and surprise. The shock of the sudden injury caused Time Record to deactivate. Miranda quickly reactivated Time Record, with a stuttered, stangled, "T-Time Record, activate."
"Miranda!" Marie exclaimed.
"I'll get revenge, I'll kill all three of you!" the woman pulled the knife from Miranda's abdomen and charged at the finder.
The finder moved out of the way and caught the woman's wrist. He took the knife from her.
"Give that back! I'll kill you!" the woman shrieked and lunged to get the knife back.
Marie caught the woman's arms and gently pinned them to her sides, "Please calm down ma'am." He had to keep the tone of anger out of his voice, knowing it wouldn't help the situation. He just couldn't help being angry at this young woman who had hurt someone as passive as Miranda.
"How can I calm down when it's your fault everything I'd ever dreamed of died?!" the woman struggled to break his grip on her arms. Her voice was hysterical.
"Ma'am, I can assure you that our intention is not to harm anyone, and it never has been the intent of any of our comrades," the finder spoke soothingly, but his attention was focused on Miranda.
Thankfully the wound wasn't bleeding very much, and it didn't appear that the knife had gone very deep.
"Give me that knife back!" the woman howled in fury as she struggled even harder to free herself. Somehow she slipped free.
Marie went to catch the woman again before she could reach the finder and retrieve the knife, but unfortunately he wasn't quick enough.
The woman snatched the knife from the finder's hand and then turned, slashing the knife at Marie. Seemingly out of pure luck she managed to land a hit, and left a deep cut on Marie's left shoulder.
Marie cursed quietly at the sudden pain, but wasted no time in getting the knife away from the young woman. By the time he had stepped back enough to keep the knife out of the woman's reach, he could tell that his shoulder had been healed by Time Record.
A/N: Heheh, I'm just gonna leave this here. Also, so sorry for the long wait on this. I had major writer's block, and I changed my writing schedule, so I had to try and fit this past the change.