D . Gray-man is owned by Katsura Hoshino, meaning it does not belong to me. I am in no way, shape, and/or form claiming to be the owner/creator of these concepts, though I do claim any characters not apart of the original D . Gray-man storyline (such as Gracia) mine. As such, I would appreciate fellow authors and readers to give credit where credit is due and not steal any of my characters and/or concepts. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.
A now happily, sleepily refreshed Gracia shuffled along the road, dragging her feet slightly as her hands sat heavily in her pockets and her shoulders slumped forward slightly, her usual slightly blank smile on her face.
Beside her, Kanda was back to being moody and slapping her upside the head when she got too slow or threatened to veer off of the path because of her sleepy, short attention span.
Behind both of them, Tiedoll watched amusedly, Marie chuckling every time Kanda slapped the older woman.
"Kanda, Sleep is starting to act up…" Gracia started slowly, a slight lilt in her voice indicating she might have been passively teasing.
Kanda, though, took it seriously and quickly stormed ahead of her.
Gracia giggled, then sighed as her eyelids slipped down heavily and started humming softly, listening to Sleep's chain tinkle in sleeve.
"La-la la lalala… La-la LA lalaLa…"
Suddenly, more of the tune came back to her, and she continued humming it, her eyes slowly opening again. She didn't remember the words, but…
…It was strange. She'd been humming this song for years as she traveled, but she was just now remembering how more of it went…
"Shut up." Kanda growled, breaking Gracia's train of thought and making her forget her newly recalled section of the song.
Gracia blinked as the memory slipped through her fingers, then sighed softly, pouting. That had been something she actually wanted to remember…
Suddenly, it crossed her mind that the scenery had changed…
…Actually, now that she thought about it, the scenery had long since changed; she just hadn't registered it. It probably had something to do with that train ride they'd taken the day after she'd learned Alucinari so they could travel and rest at the same time; they'd gone from the lightly forested Northeastern European lands to the chilly airs of Russia…
The area of Russia they were in still had the broadleaf forests that Poland and Belarus had, but being even slightly more northward had seen a drop in the temperature.
But when the broadleaf trees began to give way to pines…
Gracia stopped, frowning.
Tiedoll stopped beside her, blinking, "Gracia?"
"…We're getting into the taiga." Gracia mumbled, "We're too far north."
Tiedoll blinked again, then looked around with a small frown as, ahead of them, Marie and Kanda stopped to look back, "Are you sure?"
"Nnn." Gracia nodded, sighing softly, slowly, "I've been up in Russia a few times, and it was… harsh enough for me to remember… that traveling through the taiga at this late in the year… is a bad… bad idea…" She then glanced up at Tiedoll, murmuring, "We need to swing southeast, and fast. If we're just stepping out of the temperate lands and into this… we'll have a dangerous amount of taiga that'll need to be crossed before we get back into warmer forests or the grasslands…"
Tiedoll stared at her for a moment, looking mildly shocked, then glanced ahead and nodded to Marie and Kanda, "We're changing our course."
Gracia shuddered slightly and kept close to Tiedoll's side as they continued down their path a bit longer to look for a different road, crossing her arms over her stomach and looking back and forth in long, searching sweeps as they went.
It hadn't really hit her until that moment that they would be traveling through parts of Russia… She couldn't remember the specifics of how her lasts visits to the chilly northern regions had gone, but she knew they hadn't been pleasant.
And it was more than just the fact that she didn't speak Russian… She might have been hazy on the details of how many languages she spoke, but she knew she didn't speak Russian.
It was the fact that traveling through Russia alone was dangerous. Very, very dangerous.
The countryside, forests and everything else was gorgeous, but settlements were few and far between, and if you went the wrong way you could end up going for days without running into anything manmade…
And the wildlife… bears and wolves were the greatest threats, and they weren't an uncommon occurrence.
No, Gracia didn't remember the specifics of her few trips to Russia, but she had learned the hard way that Russia was no place for someone as mentally slow as her to be.
The other members of the Tiedoll unit noticed how ill at ease Gracia had become once she realized where they were… and it wasn't exactly encouraging. They were all well aware of the fact that Gracia had spent at least several years before joining the Black Order wandering Europe and its borderlands, and they hadn't passed through any countries yet that had incited this much negative emotion from her (save Germany, where she had briefly had a panic attack at being in her childhood village).
Then again, they had been seeing more emotion from her lately…
Especially when it concerned the mysterious figure that was stalking them.
They were just starting to observe more broadleaf trees than pines when Gracia suddenly froze up again, her eyes widening and the hazy look fleeing them briefly.
Marie immediately turned back towards her, frowning, "Gracia, your heart rate…"
"My lungs…" She rasped, pressing a hand to her chest, "My lungs… they hurt again…" She glanced back slowly towards the pines they had just emerged from, her eyes widening slightly.
The mysterious figure was back again, standing between two tall pines behind them with his hulking form, his shoulders slouched and his long coat opened to bare his naked, umber and very muscled upper body, from his chest down to his stomach. He was standing in just the right amount of light to show a maniacal grin…
Quickly, Gracia's world was spinning and something hard was digging into her stomach painfully, and she was staring down at the ground in dazed, breathless confusion as the backs of someone's heels moved quickly as they ran, their cloak flaring out.
"We need to get onto another transport!" Marie called next to her ear, making her numbly realize she was being carried, "He catches up too quickly when we're on foot!"
"Then we'll… have to forego looking for more Apostles!" Tiedoll's call answered, sounding a bit reluctant.
The rest of the conversation was lost to her as she got lightheaded from hanging upside down, and Gracia had to close her eyes as her ears started ringing and her vision flashed gray.
Gracia drifted in and out of consciousness, and even when they reached town Marie had to carry her onto the train, her stomach in too much pain from having Marie's muscular shoulder digging into it for heavens know how long for her to walk properly.
Opening her eyes with a soft groan as she slumped back in the seat, her stomach a sheet of pain, Gracia looked between the three male members of the Tiedoll unit, disoriented.
"This train won't take us far…" Tiedoll sighed softly, "At least, not in the direction we need to head."
"Why don't we just fight the bastard?" Kanda growled.
"Our priority is reaching Asian Branch; we don't have time to get caught up in a fight with the Noah and the Akuma. Besides, the Noah were able to kill General Yeegar… Testing their power after being on the move for so long isn't wise."
The train jolted suddenly and pain bloomed like a flower in Gracia's stomach, making her grind her teeth and close her eyes with a long hiss.
"Gracia…" She felt Marie's heavy, warm hand drop on her shoulder carefully, "I'm sorry, but we needed to get out of there quickly."
"'s fine…" Gracia mumbled, "Couldn't breathe around him anyway… Air's too electric."
"Hmm, yes, I noticed what you were talking about…" Tiedoll agreed slowly, a frown in his voice, "And Sleep would have done something by now if he was an Akuma… so he really must have been a Noah."
"What the fuck is a Noah?" Kanda demanded, "Komui only told me they're some organized family that's in league with the Akuma…"
Tiedoll sighed, "Apparently we're just now finding out more information about them… Komui explained it to me the last time we spoke; the Noah Family is more than just 'in league' with the Noah. The Noah Family controls the Akuma; they seem to be direct human relatives of the Millennium Earl, and, like him, they have incredible power, including the ability to command Akuma."
"…And where in the hell are we getting this information from?" Kanda growled, sounding like he already had an idea.
"The Bookmen; Bookman and your friend, Lavi."
"…I'll kill that fucking rabbit for not telling me this."
"Now, Yu," Tiedoll chuckled, "You know the Bookmen follow their own covenant that is as sacred to them as serving the Black Order is to us. The Bookmen are under no obligation to divulge their knowledge unless they choose to."
"Besides," Gracia opened her eyes, frowning slightly, "You don't want to know everything the Bookmen do… It's not always pretty."
Kanda glanced at Gracia sharply with a questioning scowl, only to have his scowl deepen when he saw she already had her eyes closed again.
"…That's enough talking for now." Tiedoll said gently, "This train won't get us all the way to our destination, but it will turn what would be several weeks of travel on foot to only a few days. Let's take advantage of this and rest…"
The only one who hadn't heard him was Gracia; she was already one step ahead of him and well into her first REM cycle.
"We can't ignore him this time, General…" Gracia rasped as she struggled to breathe, the air around of the hulking, Noah stalker in front of them actually sparkling with… electricity or glitter, she couldn't tell which.
Beside her, Kanda seemed to agree with her conclusion, Mugen drawn as he ran his fingers down the blade to make the Anti-Akuma Weapon activate.
They had gotten off of the train a safe, uneventful seventy-two hours later, only to step out of whatever town they were in (Gracia had long given up on trying to read Russian) to find their Noah stalker waiting for him.
And today, it seemed he had finally chosen to show his hand; he was flanked by several dozen Akuma, and he now had a… glowing yellow aura.
Gracia clutched Sleep to her chest, activating it and flinching slightly as the metal went from ice cold to boiling hot before it either… settled or she just didn't notice the temperature anymore, it was hard to tell which.
"We don't have time for this…" Tiedoll sighed, reaching for the pieces of the Maker of Eden, "We have to get to Asian Branch before Cross' unit reaches Japan and gets themselves killed…"
Gracia felt a numbing shock run through her body at that.
Lenalee was part of the Cross unit.
And Lenalee was… the kind of person to… She would…
…Oh god, the girl would get herself killed doing something stupidly gallant.
Gracia felt a spike of worry she was slowly becoming accustomed to stab her in the chest, and she bit her lip hard as she absently watched Marie's Noel Organon string up Akuma like puppets.
Though the Noah loomed behind the Akuma silently, watching them get killed as his electric aura sparked around him, his presence was more threatening than those of any of the Akuma who were actually fighting.
…This would be a long battle, especially if the Noah decided to intervene. And how quickly would they be able to travel even if they won, with their bodies bruised and tattered?
Tiedoll was right… they couldn't afford this setback… not right now…
"WOMAN!"
Gracia snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes wide, then threw her arm forward and sent out a strong pulse of Confusio, biting her lip before she dashed up to Kanda's side.
"Kanda!"
The young Japanese Exorcist stopped slaying the confounded Akuma and turned on Gracia angrily, snapping, "What? !"
"Get the General out of here!"
Kanda twitched and actually stopped at that, pinning her with a critical look and asking in a quieter but no less angry voice, "What?"
"Y-You and Marie… get Tiedoll out of here…" She mumbled, slowly glancing over at the Noah, "I'll… stay behind… and slow them down…"
Kanda set his jaw and continued eyeing her, though now it was just his usual, blank angry glare.
"It's what I'm good at, right…?" She smiled at him weakly, "You said it yourself… I'm just support. The ones who'll actually be need in Japan to help Cross' unit and save Lenalee… are you, Marie and the General. It's just my job to make sure you get there as whole as possible right? So you can do the actual fighting. Well… if I let you fight here… you won't he able to do much by the time you get there. That guy…" She shuddered, glancing at the Noah again quickly, "He's not a fight… you bounce back from after you've won."
"…Fine."
Absently, Gracia knew this was why she'd gone directly to Kanda for this. Because he was the only one in their group who wouldn't try to talk her out of it.
"But if you don't slow them down," Kanda was glaring at her again, "I'll gut you."
"Right." Gracia nodded, smiling at him, "You take care of yourself, too, Yu."
Kanda twitched, glaring at her harshly and grinding his teeth, then turned and ran off towards Marie.
Gracia turned to face the confounded Akuma, who were slowly recovering, and raised her hand and snapped her fingers, Sleep's chain making a soft noise as she did.
"Drow Poison : Alucinari."
She didn't have time to think about whether or not the decision she made was stupid; thinking over the pros and cons of the situation was something that could easily take her five minutes, and that was if she didn't have any distractions.
It was the downside of still being as mentally slow as she was.
What she did know was Lenalee was in danger, and that… terrified her.
And doing this was… the first thing that came to mind; slowing people down was all she was good at. She slowed down herself, friends, allies… and this time around, she would be able to slow down the enemy.
And she was going to use Sleep like she never had before.
Gracia vaguely thought she heard Tiedoll call her name, but she was too busy focusing on Akuma, using Confusio for the ones that were too large for her to use Alucinari on and saving Sopor for when she started to get surrounded.
When the Akuma were either attacking one another out of nightmares, stumbling around in confusion or unconscious and slowly turning silver, Gracia turned and started running towards the hulking Noah.
He commanded the Akuma, right? So if she could slow him down, then—
"Drow Poison…!"