Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-man


Chapter 6

Marie and Miranda were left untended until the seriously injured people were being treated. The entire time, Marie worried continuously about Miranda. What if she had pushed herself too hard? What if she had been injured by Lulubell? There were too many 'what ifs' for him to keep track of. It had been nearly six hours since the people who had been trapped in the remains of lab five had been rescued, and Marie and Miranda were among the last people waiting in the small, makeshift waiting room just outside of the main wing of the infirmary.

Marie had finally dozed off when he was awoken by the door to the infirmary opening.

"If any of you have injuries, please come let us treat you. After we have a bit more room, we'll check up on those of you who aren't definitely injured," the nurse requested.

Marie's injuries, he knew, weren't bad; and as he wasn't sure if Miranda was injured he simply let himself fall asleep again. The following time he was woken up was by Miranda, who had been placed against his side until she herself woke, and tried to carefully change the way she was sitting to allow blood to flow to her leg, which had been under her.

"Miranda?" Marie hadn't expected her to wake up any time soon.

"Sorry, I woke you up," Miranda apologized quietly.

"How long have you been awake?" Marie questioned.

"Not very long," Miranda answered.

"Are you feeling alright?" Marie asked.

"Yes, I'm feeling fine. I'm still very tired, but I don't think I'm injured," Miranda assured with a tired smile, "What about you? Are you injured?"

"Nothing serious," Marie assured, "I was mostly worried about you."

"Marie, what happened after I passed out?" Miranda asked. Her memories of the entire event, from just before her capture to the brief moments of consciousness she had had, were blurry and unclear.

"Allen got you away from Lulubell and we destroyed the akuma egg. After that, an akuma evolved to a level four and destroyed most of Headquarters. The fifth laboratory was destroyed, and I don't remember much after that myself. You used Time Record to help protect the other survivors from the fires in the lab," Marie explained.

"I'm sorry I let myself get captured, Marie," Miranda apologized as she leaned against his side, "I must have caused everyone so much trouble. I must have worried you so much."

"It's fine, Miranda. Sometimes things like that happen, and the only thing that matters is that you are okay," Marie assured with a smile.

Miranda fell silent, "How many casualties were there?"

"Quiet a few, I'm afraid. It was mostly members of the science division, but we lost many finders as well," Marie answered. He could hear the slight shift in Miranda's breathing, and the quiet sniffling as she began cry. He remembered how hard it had been to be empathetic to those close to people who had died in a way related to the Order. Whether the person were to become an akuma or be killed by an akuma, whether they were an accommodator, an exorcist, a finder, or a normal person who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or just an unfortunate supporter of the Order. Being at the Order for so long had destroyed the feeling of empathy, which left him to grieve only for those he knew closely when they were lost.

It wasn't long before Miranda had fallen asleep again with her head resting against Marie's side. It was no surprise how quickly she had fallen asleep; she was probably still exhausted from the fight.


It had been nearly a week since the attack. Miranda walked slowly down one of the painfully empty hallways of the Order. She wasn't really supposed to be putting much weight on her ankle, which had been sprained badly at some point during the battle, but had gone unnoticed until she had stood up for the first time after the battle, about an hour after the second time she woke up. Miranda wasn't going anywhere in particular, she just couldn't stand being in the infirmary anymore. She couldn't stand the sight of many of the finders and science division members who had initially survived the attacked being wheeled from the infirmary, to the incinerator. So many of the initial survivors were dying and Miranda couldn't stand being around it all anymore.

Two or three exorcists had been allowed to return to their rooms, if their rooms were still in one piece, and Marie was among them. He had gone and visited Miranda regularly, but that when he was on his way to the infirmary to see how she was doing he heard her familiar heartbeat just around the corner.

"Hello, Marie," Miranda greeted as she saw him. She sounded tired, and her voice was strained slightly as if she were in pain.

"You shouldn't be walking around, Miranda. It will make your ankle worse," Marie advised.

"I know, I just couldn't stand to be in the infirmary anymore. I promise I was looking for somewhere to sit down," Miranda shifted her weight slightly so that most of her weight was leaned against her good ankle. Her injured ankle was beginning to ache terribly, "I just haven't been able to find anywhere that's still intact."

"Do you want me to carry you to the cafeteria? It's still mostly in one piece," Marie offered.

"No, I'm fine. I think I can make it there on my own," Miranda assured, though she doubted she would be able to walk half that far.

Marie frowned slightly at her, "I can tell you're lying, your heart rate changed. I wouldn't offer to help you if I didn't mind helping you, Miranda."

"I don't want to be troublesome," Miranda assured.

Marie gave up trying to help her at that point. He should be used to this, every time in the past he had offered her some variety of help, whether it be offering a hand when she fell down the stairs, or offering to carry things for her, she always responded that way. Now he decided to just walk beside her down the hall. He could hear how she would quietly hiss in pain with every few steps.

Miranda leaned against the wall so she could take some weight off of her foot for a moment, and she assumed that Marie had heard her stopping because he stopped walking too.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Marie asked.

"Would it be too much trouble if I leaned against you while I walked?" Miranda asked.

"Of course not," Marie assured.

Miranda limped over and leaned against him so she could walk without putting her full weight on her foot. After nearly twenty minutes of walking like this they reached the cafeteria. Miranda gladly sat down and propped her injured foot up in the chair across the table from her. The cafeteria was very quiet, and one wall of it had been blown away during the battle, leaving a few tables buried in ruble.

"Do you want me to order you anything?" Marie asked.

"No, I'm not hungry," Miranda said.

Marie went to order his own food. When he returned he noticed Miranda was unusually quiet, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Miranda assured, faking a smile in case any of the other people in the cafeteria happened to look over at them talking. She just couldn't stand to let anyone know how upset she was.

"You've been quiet, you're not eating, and you were wandering the halls even though your ankle is hurt. What's wrong?" Marie demanded.

"It's just..." Miranda trailed off, unsure of how to put her problem into words without sounding weak or pathetic, "I couldn't be around the infirmary. Marie, I don't want to watch anyone else die."

Marie didn't know how to respond. He himself could remember the feeling of helplessness when he had first joined the Order and seen so many finders die. He remembered how hard it had been to get over it and accept the fact that things would continue to be like that until well after he himself was dead, but he knew there were no words or actions that could comfort someone from that feeling, "Don't force yourself to stay in there, Miranda. Sometimes, it's just best to ignore times like these and pretend nothing bad is happening."

"My room was destroyed, I'd have to sleep in here or in the library, otherwise, and that would cause so much trouble for other people. The library is already overcrowded and if I slept in here I would probably be in people's way."

"There's an empty room, beside my room. You're welcome to stay there; no one has lived there for a few years," Marie offered.

"Thank you," Miranda smiled slightly. Her smile was still fake a strained, but a little less so than before.


A/N: Sorry for the short chapter! Thanks a bunch for reading, please review~ And I would also like to thank my amazing beta reader endlessnotebooks. If you watch Blue Exorcist definitely go read her story Against Gehenna.