Disclaimer: I don't own D. Gray-man.
Chapter 12
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but it seems you won't listen to reason," the finder apologized as he pressed down on the small gap in the woman's collarbone, cutting off the circulation to her brain until she passed out. Once he was certain the woman would be unconscious for awhile, he took the knife from Marie. "Madame exorcist, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Miranda answered. However, her voice gave away that she was in a great deal of pain.
"I was talking with a supporter of the Order earlier when I was evacuating people. He was a doctor, and I don't think he's left yet. I'm going to go find him to see if he can come take care of your injuries," the finder announced before leaving to find help.
"Is the wound bleeding very badly?" Marie asked as he took a seat on the bench beside Miranda.
"No, it's not. It is bleeding a bit, but I think it'll be fine," Miranda responded in a strained voice.
"I shouldn't have left you alone. I'm sorry," Marie apologized. If he hadn't left then there was a very likely chance that he would have heard the young woman approaching and would have been able to prevent any of that from happening.
Miranda frowned slightly, "It wasn't your fault that any of that happened. I shouldn't have been daydreaming and not paying attention to what was around me."
"I would have heard her a long time before you saw her, Miranda. I would have been able to warn you," Marie argued.
"It's fine, really. Ow..." Miranda whimpered as she accidentally shifted the way she was sitting and brought a small burst of pain to her stomach.
Worry tinged Marie's voice, "Are you okay?"
"Fine, I just moved a little too much," Miranda winced, "It will probably stop hurting in a few minutes."
"Try to sit still, if you can. I know it might be a bit difficult, but injuries like that tend to get worse whenever they're aggravated," Marie advised.
Miranda nodded, then, remembering Marie couldn't see the motion, said, "I'll try not to move."
They sat in silence, mostly for Miranda's sake, until the finder returned.
A slightly older man followed the finder, and he carried a doctor's bag. When he and the finder reached the bench where Miranda and Marie were sitting he greeted the two. He gave a quick introduction, before asking which of them had more severe injuries.
"Her injuries are the most severe," Marie answered.
"That does look like a rather nasty wound. Was this inflicted by a knife?" the doctor asked, only briefly glancing at the wound before he asked this.
"It was," the finder nodded.
"Let me see the knife," the doctor said. The finder handed him the knife, and after a quick inspection of the kitchen knife the doctor handed it back to the finder, "The good news is that the knife isn't rusted, so there's not much of a risk for lockjaw. I'm going to need to get a slightly closer look at the injury, so I'm going to have to roll the bottom of your shirt up, pardon me."
Miranda moved her arms slightly so that it was a bit easier for the doctor to manipulate the fabric of her jacket. After her jacket and undershirt were rolled up past the wound the doctor stooped to get a closer look at the clean cut.
"I'd say, since the wound isn't bleeding too much and it doesn't look very deep you probably won't need any stitches. I'll just clean the wound and then bandage it," he explained.
"That's good to hear," Miranda hadn't really been very concerned about that, though had the cut hurt less she probably would have been much more concerned.
"Cleaning the wound may sting just a bit," the doctor warned. He avoided directly touching the cut, and cleaned the areas around it, but it still hurt. After the wound had been cleaned as much as was necessary the doctor carefully taped a thick pad of gauze over it, "It would be best if you tried not to move around too much, it might make the injury worse."
"I'll try not to," Miranda didn't really plan on doing much aside from sitting on the bench at this point. The injury was already stinging too badly to stand up; she feared her knees would buckle if she tried to stand.
"Are either of you gentlemen injured?" the doctor asked.
"Miranda, it would probably best if I got my arm treated sooner. That way you won't have to waste so much energy with Time Record," Marie said. His tone was gentle and coaxing.
Knowing that Marie was right, Miranda let the time around his shoulder return to normal. She could never stand watching her comrade's injuries return; it was especially hard to have to let Marie's injuries return.
"This was inflicted with the same knife?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, it was," Marie nodded.
"Alright, which means we probably don't have to worry about lockjaw, then. Your arm is bleeding pretty bad, I think you're probably going to need stitches," the doctor observed. He took a pad of gauze and pressed it over Marie's shoulder before addressing the blind exorcist, "Here, hold this here, and we'll see if a few minutes of pressure will reduce the bleeding at all. If it doesn't you'll definitely need stitches."
"Poor thing, she finally lost her mind," the doctor's gaze had drifted to the unconscious woman on the sidewalk, "I was afraid she would do something like this, one day. I really should have kept a closer eye on her, especially since there were going to be exorcists in town. I'm sorry for being too careless."
"From what she said, she must have lost a lot," Miranda said quietly. She winced slightly at the bit of pain that speaking had caused.
The doctor nodded, "About three years ago she had a baby. Her and her husband loved their daughter so much, and they also loved each other more than I can really tell. Around the time her daughter turned six months old, an exorcist came through here, there had been swarms of akuma gathering all around this town. They didn't find anything, but quite a few of the akuma escaped them and attacked a lot of the people out and about. Her husband and daughter had been among those killed by the akuma. After that, she wasn't really the same. My wife had helped deliver her child, so I had seen her a lot, and I also did check ups for her daughter. I had tried prescribing some sedatives for her, one of the house keepers she had hired began living with her full time after all of that happened, so whenever she became too violent I had instructed the house keeper to give her a small dose. I really should have checked up on her more often."
"You couldn't have predicted something like this would happen," Marie pointed out, "Though, it might not be smart to leave her on her own anymore."
"It definitely won't. I'd hate to turn her in for attempted murder, but I'm not really sure what else could be done," the doctor had walked over and checked the woman's pulse, just to make sure she was okay.
"There really isn't much else you can do, much as I hate to say that," the finder replied. He felt bad for the rather unfortunate woman, but he couldn't forgive people who tried to kill other people unless it was in defense.
After the doctor was certain that the young woman was uninjured, aside from being unconscious, he walked back over to Marie, "It looks like that stopped most of the bleeding. Lucky for you, that means you won't be needing stitches."
"That's good to hear," Marie had never been particularly fond of stitches, or staples, or any type of suture, really. It wasn't that he was afraid of needles, he just preferred leaving a wound to heal on its own unless stitches were absolutely necessary.
"I'm just going to rinse the injury out now, then bandage it," the doctor said.
Once Marie's shoulder was taken care of, the doctor left, taking the unconscious woman with him. It had been decided she would be turned in to the police for attempted murder.
"I've informed the generals of what has happened, and General Teidoll has agreed to leave his current mission to the rest of his team to get here faster. I haven't gotten hold of the other generals yet, though," the finder reported, "I'm hoping it shouldn't be more than two days before they can all get here. How long do you think you can keep Time Record activated, Miss Lotto?"
"I'm not sure, honestly," Miranda said quietly, "Probably about three days. Maybe a little longer."
As the finder continued to try and contact the other generals, the small group fell silent. By that point in time, many of the people of the city had probably left and the silence that lingered in the air seemed to show it. The only sound in the small area was the finder talking to various members of the Order, trying to track down the generals.
"The sky is getting cloudy. I wonder if it will start raining soon," Miranda mused quietly, almost as if she were just talking to herself.
"I'm not sure. In case it does, though, it might be a good idea to see if that old building is stable enough for you to stay in," Marie said. He didn't want her being stuck out in the rain, but they both knew the building was extremely old and out of use so it might not be stable enough for someone to stay inside.
Casting another look at the steadily cloudier sky Miranda said, "That does sound like a good idea." She really didn't want to have to stand up and walk; the injury was still aching and she knew walking would only make it worse.
"Do you think you can stand?" Marie asked.
"Yes," Miranda nodded. Even if it would hurt to stand, she knew she could. When Marie offered her a hand up from the bench she gladly accepted it. They walked over to the old building.
Marie could already hear that the structure probably wasn't stable. The building seemed to creak and shift with just the slightest breeze, and a lot of the wood and flooring from the second floor sounded as if it were about to cave in, "I don't think it's safe, Miranda. The building sounds like it's about to collapse."
"It looks that way, too," Miranda agreed. Even just looking through the hole in the wall that the akuma created she could see so many planks of wood about to fall from the upper floors. Miranda wished that Time Record's range could have been just a bit larger, but she just didn't have the energy to maintain Time Record over any larger of an area than necessary. Her concerns about the weather were proven correctly when it started to rain. "It's a good thing our uniforms are designed to be water resistant, isn't it?" Miranda just seemed to be looking for a bright side in this situation.
"Yes, that is a very good thing," Marie agreed, hoping to at least cheer her up a bit. The rain began to get heavier.
"Why don't you two go back to the inn?" Miranda suggested. She hated to see the both of them staying out in the rain.
"We'll be fine out here, Miss Lotto," the finder assured.
"But what if you two get sick from the weather?" Miranda asked. She was truly concerned for their well being, "You two really should go back. Just because I can't go that far doesn't mean you should have to suffer out here."
"I don't want to leave you alone out here again, though. I'm worried something else might happen," Marie politely refused to leave.
"I promise I'll be fine. I feel bad about you two feeling like you have to stay out here with me," Miranda paused in speaking for a moment to give the stab wound across her abdomen time to stop burning from standing and speaking, "Just go back to the inn for awhile. Just until it stops raining?"
Marie remained silent for a moment, weighing the options. He knew Miranda wouldn't stop bothering him about it until he got out of the rain, but if he left there was also the chance that something else would happen to her. He didn't want her getting injured, and so when he responded, he said, "I'm staying here, Miranda. I don't want you getting hurt anymore. With this many akuma around there's a very good chance that a Noah might show up."
"I guess, if you're sure you don't mind the rain, I won't argue anymore," Miranda finally said. She was truly grateful for the company, but she still felt ridiculously guilty that they wanted to stay out in the rain with her.
The finder, who had just finished up with the last few calls, walked over to report the news. "The rest of the generals should be here in about two days as well. Hopefully the weather will improve a bit, before then."
"Yes, I do hope it stops raining soon," Miranda agreed. Even with the hood of her coat pulled up water still managed to get in through the opening of her hood and the shoulders of her shirt were soaked a cold from the icy rain. With that said, she returned to the small bench where she had previously been sitting. At least the wall against the back of the bench offered some protection from the wind. It wasn't long before Marie and the finder joined her.
As the wind picked up in the opposite direction so that it wasn't blocked by the short, courtyard wall, Miranda began to shiver. The rain was cold, and even though her clothes were water resistant the cold still seemed to seep through.
It seemed Marie had heard the quiet chattering of her teeth, as he asked, "Are you cold?"
"J-Just a bit, b-but it's fine," Miranda assured. It was rather difficult to speak steadily with her teeth chattering so much.
Without any comment Marie inched over a bit to sit closer to Miranda a wrap an arm around her shoulders.
Even though the warmth was muted a bit by the chilly fabric between the two, Miranda was still grateful for any warmth. She could help but inch a bit closer to him so that her side and arm were lightly pressed against his side. She thanked him quietly. Having finally found a warm, comfortable way to sit she stayed still. Her injury still hurt a lot, and it felt nice to sit still. She knew she couldn't let herself get too comfortable, though, because then she would risk falling asleep and accidentally deactivating Time Record.
The rain didn't show any promise of letting up, and soon it started thundering. Lightning forked across the sky and the wind picked up. Soon the rain was coming down in diagonal sheets that made seeing even a foot in front of oneself difficult. With the foul weather, Miranda genuinely questioned how, not only the finder, but Marie as well had fallen asleep. She didn't bother trying to question it much, though. She was just glad they could sleep through the weather.
To try and keep herself awake Miranda began counting the claps of thunder. By the time the weather calmed down and the rain had settled to a light drizzle she had lost count of the thunder. Without someone to light the streetlamps, it was pitch black under the clouded sky. Miranda leaned her head against the side of Marie's chest. With her ear pressed lightly to his chest she could hear him breathing quietly, though the sound was a bit muffled by her hood. After only ten minutes of sitting like that Miranda had to move her head, the steady sound was making her very drowsy.
By the time the sky began to lighten Miranda was running out of ways to keep herself from falling asleep. She only hoped one of the others woke up soon so she would have someone to talk to. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem to her, but with all that had happened the previous day she was rather exhausted. Speaking of the previous day's excitement, the injury ached even more than it had the day before. She could hardly move because of it. She stared at the sky, hoping that thinking about all of the details of the changing sky might help her stay awake for some time. It was nice to see all of the clouds were clearing and the sun was coming up. It was less than ten minutes before Marie finally woke up.
It didn't take more than a minute or two for Marie to wake up completely, and when he realized he had fallen asleep, he immediately apologized for making Miranda stay up alone all night.
"Don't worry about it, Marie," Miranda assured, "I would have hated it if you had stayed up all night because of me. You needed sleep."
"Next time that happens, wake me up. It's not fair that you have to stay up all alone," Marie said. His tone left no room for argument.
"I'll try to remember to. I just don't want you to be too exhausted to fight. Just try not to worry about it, alright?" Miranda didn't want to turn it into an argument, but she didn't want him or anyone else who ever went on a mission with her to feel like they had to stay awake with her. If they were too tired to fight, then what would be the purpose of her keeping Time Record activated.
Marie could tell she wanted that to be the end of the conversation, and he respected that.
"How is your shoulder feeling?" Miranda asked. She just needed to talk to keep herself from dozing off.
"It's better. How is your stomach?" Marie asked.
"A lot better," Miranda hoped she sounded convincing. In truth even the thought of standing or moving around more than just turning her head or moving her arms sounded unbearably painful.
"Miranda, I can still tell you're lying," Marie said, "You shouldn't lie about things like that. One day you could seriously cause yourself harm by pretending that you're fine."
"I really am fine, don't worry," Miranda assured. Her injuries weren't life threatening, that much she knew, so she would continue to try convincing him that she was fine.
"Just try not to hide injuries," Marie finally seemed to accept her response. He could never really seem to voice how irritating he found it when people tried to hide injuries or hide how severe injuries were for the sake of not worrying someone. Honestly, he usually worried far more about them after they did that only once than he would have about their initial injuries.
"Don't worry, I won't," Miranda said, silently praying that he wasn't too worried about her, "I mean that, Marie. I promise I won't hide injuries, ever. So please, don't worry about it."
Marie couldn't help but chuckle at how serious she had suddenly become, "I'm not too worried. I know you're not too prideful to get help for injuries. Try to remember that you're not bothering anyone if you get injured, though."
The two continued talking about just about anything they could think of for the rest of that day, if only to help Miranda stay awake. When the finder woke up, he seemed to leave them to their conversations.
A/N: Hope you all liked this chapter! :D I promise, there will be more cute and hopefully less injury next chapter (no promises, though) so that's always nice! :D From now on I'll be updating this every other weekend.
