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.


"Miss Lorelei!"

"Miss Lorelei!"

Gracia stared at the young woman, stunned, as she glanced off to the side with a scowl.

"Crap, they found me?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Gracia saw several people running up, but she was still in shock, a sharp pressure in her chest and a lightness in her head keeping her from moving.

In fact, if Lorelei weren't holding her, she probably would have fallen back down.

All she could do… was stare at the girl sitting on her legs… in complete… and total… shock…

…Sister…?

She… had a… sister?

"Miss Lorelei, you can't keep—" A loud gasp.

"L-Lady Gr—"

"Miss Lorelei, you—! ! When did you two—? !"

"C'mon, Gracia, before they separate us again!"

A soft cry left Gracia's mouth as she was jerked to her feet and hauled up the side of the fence, Lorelei jumping onto the back of the gray Andalusian that was still waiting before reaching back and pulling Gracia onto the horse, as well.

English saddles, however, don't leave room for double riding, so she was stuck sitting on the bare part of the horse's back, just shy of its flanks.

And with the slippery material her dress was made of sliding right over the animal's coat as it started to trot forward, she had to lean forward quickly and wrap her arms around Lorelei's waist, riding astride in a dress limiting her ability to grip with her thighs greatly.

"Hold on!" Lorelei called back to her brightly over the shouts and bellows of the servants chasing them, turning her horse to face the other side of the corral and leaning forward to grip the reigns tightly, "Alright, Halcyon, go! Hyaa!"

Gracia cried out again, louder this time, and leaned forward to press herself down against the girl's (her sister's) back as the Andalusian surged forward powerfully, every muscle in its body seeming to be tightening under her thighs as he bolted.

She looked up, her eyes widening when she saw they were charging straight for the fence.

"MISS LORELEI, NO! !"

The horse, Halcyon, lowered slightly, and then they were airborne and Gracia felt a surge of motion sickness. She buried her face between Lorelei's shoulders and started imagining that she was anywhere else, that she was feeling anything other than what she was feeling, but…

…She had her… sister's… waist in her arms, as if she were hugging her…

…For the first time…

…Questioning the validity of it… never really crossed her mind…

Something about the girl just seemed… so…

Gracia's train of thought was shattered as Halcyon's hooves met the ground again powerfully, and she shuddered and held onto Lorelei tighter as they shot off into the trees in front of them.

She wasn't sure how long they rode; the only things she could be sure of were the muscles of the horse as they rippled against her legs and the feel of Lorelei's body as she leaned from side to side, guiding the horse with sure hand and knee.

When they finally stopped, she simply let go and tumbled right off of the horse's back, hitting the ground with a jarring but soft thud and curling up in a ball, hugging her pained stomach.

"Eep! Gracia!"

There was another thud next to her and gloved hands grabbed her shoulders gently, easing her onto her back and lying her head on a lap.

"Are you alright? ! I didn't hurt you, did I? !"

"Motion… sick…" Gracia groaned softly, peeling her eyes open and looking up at the young woman above her.

Lorelei sighed and smiled down at her, then reached up and undid the strap of her riding helmet, taking it off. A thick ponytail of long, wavy blonde hair fell down her back, a few pieces that had been loosened under the helmet framing her face but the top completely flattened. Helmet head…

"…Sister…" Gracia mumbled softly.

Lorelei bit her lip and wrung her hands slightly, smiling and nodded excitedly, "Yeah… conceived not long before Daddy—" She stopped herself, flinching slightly.

Gracia blinked, then frowned, "We… have the same father? How old a—"

"Nineteen." Lorelei nodded.

"…Mother managed to hide you from me for nineteen years?" Gracia's brow twitched slightly.

"Well, to be fair, you did run away for the past four… going on five years…" Lorelei paused, then shrugged, "And from what I've managed to gather on you, you're haven't always… been there…"

Gracia thought about it for a moment, then sighed and nodded, "Yeah… hiding things from me probably isn't very hard."

Lorelei giggled, then leaned forward slightly and smiled down at Gracia excitedly, "As for me, I've known about you for a while! Once Renault mentioned you in passing, it was really hard for the rest of the staff to keep the details hidden."

"…Why would she want to keep us hidden from one another, anyway?" Gracia mumbled, starting to relax as the pain in her stomach faded.

"Who, Mum?" Lorelei rolled her eyes, an annoyed look crossing her face as she scowled, "She's a bitch. She's afraid that being around you too much will make me weak and screw the family over when I succeed her."

Gracia blinked, the white haze in her mind slowly thickening as she got more and more confused, "Eh…?"

Lorelei blinked down at her, "She didn't tell you that, either…? You're not the one who will take over the Solidor family when she passes on… I am."


When her first child had been born, Mathilda Solidor had passed the child's care onto a wet nurse and gone straight back to guiding the affairs of the Solidor house through her husband, Silas.

When the child was six and she saw how sickly and weak willed it was, Mathilda realized her mistake.

Thus, when Gracia was ten, Lorelei was conceived, and the moment the second daughter was born Mathilda went through great lengths to hide her from her weaker, older sister, and even the world, starting her special instruction in private.

Silas died not long after, and Mathilda started giving Gracia the training she should have started much sooner in her life.

It was all a rouse, though; Gracia was a sickly child with far too many medical complications. A weak heart, persistent anemia, a disposition to respiratory distress issues…

And with her temperament, there was absolutely no way Gracia would ever become strong enough to lead the Solidor family to Mathilda's satisfaction, even if she had a stronger husband as a front.

No, a stronger husband would want to lock away his precious, weak wife and do things his way… Which would see the end of the Solidor way.

And that was not acceptable.

Thus, when Gracia was seventeen, a handful of years after her father passed on, Mathilda married her off and brought Lorelei to the main house.

Lorelei was the better daughter; healthy, vivacious, sharp, strong-willed…

Mathilda simply kept the outside world and her oldest daughter thinking that Gracia would succeed her to assure the safety of the Solidor name. Really, she had a powerful trump card hidden up her sleeve…

…If only she could control said card.

Whether or not Renault had mentioned Gracia on purpose was unclear (though Gracia, if asked, would smile and say he probably had done it consciously), once Lorelei found out she had an older sister… nothing else seemed to matter to her.

She brushed off her studies, questioning her tutors, instead, about her older sister. She would frequently cancel social dates to question the staff at the various Solidor houses, finding out who had worked at which house the longest and then hammering that person endlessly with inquiry. She would sneak back to the house during spring-cleaning and go through the paintings, looking for any pictures of her…

Lorelei even dared to ask her mother.

Of course, it got her nowhere, but… Where before Lorelei had been mildly rebellious, if only because she hated being ordered around, now her strong will was becoming an issue.

Because now her strong will was keeping her focused stubbornly on the need to meet her older sister.

And now she had… and she wasn't about to let her go.


Gracia blinked at the end of Lorelei's explanation, lying limply as her younger sister hugged her tightly, happily, and rocked back and forth with her, nuzzling the side of her head.

When she'd managed to… somewhat… comprehend it all… she sighed softly and smiled, hugging Lorelei back.

So, she was just a distraction? Her entire life was a lie? She wasn't even a necessary piece on her mother's chessboard…?

…Eh, fine.

Frankly, Gracia couldn't really bring herself to care; she'd never wanted to be the Solidor matriarch. And as long as Lorelei was fine with it, what did it matter if she was nothing more than a red herring…?

Her mother had been using her for years, as all nobles did to their children; there was no way something like this would be any different.

And she accepted it. Because she had been raised in an environment where such things were not expected to surprise her.

"…Sister, where have you been all of these years?" Lorelei asked as she shifted to lean back against a nearby tree, stroking Gracia's hair as the older woman continued to rest on her lap.

"…Mother married me off to Vincent Carter when I was seventeen…" Gracia mumbled, more out of route memorization than actual memory; the visual memories were still very, very blurry to her, "When I was twenty-four, he was murdered and I became a widow… Something about that… upset me so much that I ran away… I wandered Europe and parts of Russia for four years before I was found by the Black Order."

"The Black Order?" Lorelei perked.

"Yeah…" Gracia nodded, "Sometime… after I ran away… not long after, really… I came across a ring that turned out to be a piece of Innocence known as Sleep. It synchronized with me… And I was found by the Order and made an Exorcist."

Gracia jumped and squeaked softly when Lorelei suddenly sat up and grabbed her face, the younger woman making her older sister look her in her determined eyes, "Tell me everything."

Gracia blinked, then sighed softly and closed her eyes as they rolled back into her head, thinking.

Where to begin…


"So… you came back… to this living hell… to protect a guy?"

After a pause, Gracia sighed and nodded. Well, Komui Lee could really be considered more of a child than a guy, but…

"And the first time you… summoned the Judge-Sal thing… it was because of him?"

Again, a pause and then a nod.

"And when that Cross guy kissed you, you wished he had done it, instead?"

Gracia blinked slowly, nodding yet again. Was she getting somewhere with this…?

"And this guy is the only one who can make you feel those strange sensations in your chest?"

"I'm not going to nod again." Gracia sighed slightly, "It's starting to give me a headache."

"Oh, Gracia!" Lorelei squealed, pulling her sister to her feet and spinning her around before hugging her, "I'm so happy for you!"

Gracia groaned as the twirling upset her stomach, clinging to Lorelei and leaning against her heavily as her legs buckled.

How were she and this girl siblings again…? Even before Sleep, Gracia had never been this energetic, so why was this girl…?

…Wait, what was she happy about again…?

"Eh?" Gracia blinked, confused.

"You really are pretty dense, aren't you?" Lorelei giggled as she supported her sister, smiling down at her widely, "Come on, think about it! He stirs strong feelings of affection from you that aren't the same as the ones you feel for the other members of the Black Order that you've gotten close to, he makes your heart race, he makes you blush, you like having reasons to be around him, you like the things about him that annoy you, you'll do anything to protect him, even if it means giving up psychological crutches…"

Gracia glanced off to the side, thinking, then nodded slightly, "Yeah, that's more or less what I told you, isn't it…? …So?"

"Gracia, you idiot!" Lorelei laughed, smiling, "You're in love with him!"

"Eh?" Gracia quirked a brow.

"L-o-v-e." Lorelei spelled, pulling away from her sister and spinning around as she hugged herself, "And not the love of the familial variety! That special kind of love that two people who want to spend the rest of their lives together foster and grow as they get to know one another! The kind that can unite people from different cultural and social backgrounds so they can start their own family together, starting with just two people!"

In other words, a fairytale.

Gracia knew what kind of "love" Lorelei was talking about; she had read enough of books when she was younger to be able to recognize it by that flowery description.

She also knew it wasn't real.

Not, at least, for nobles…

Hell, familial love was hardly real for nobles; there was no way romantic love would be. After all, if romantic love was real, she would have been given the opportunity to date and fall in love when she was younger.

Love was an option for people who didn't have bloodline obligations; it had long since been bred out of noble families.

Of course, it was obvious the younger generations still fancied the idea…

Honestly, Lorelei had listened to just ten minutes of explanation and had come to the conclusion that Gracia… loved Komui?

But… she was… right… on certain parts…

Komui… was the only one who made her heart race and her face flush… He made her feel things even Cross, who was supposed to be the more handsome of the two, hadn't when the redhead had kissed her.

He was the driving force behind her Judge-Sal… She knew that had spoken volumes back then, but now that she was associating it with love

…No…

Lorelei… couldn't be right… could she…?

There was no way that Gracia was in… with Komui…

When Lorelei turned to face her and giggled, Gracia pressed a hand to her forehead.

Great… Her face was heating up again because of him, and Komui wasn't even around this time.