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


Chapter 23

As usual when one of them was away on a mission, Miranda and Marie did their best to keep in contact with their golems. Unfortunately, there were also days on the surprisingly drawn out mission when they just couldn't find time to contact one another. Days like that seemed to drag on and gnaw at Miranda's nerves until she felt ready to panic about every little thing. It didn't help that Lenalee had been sent on the mission, too. She was worried about Lenalee, as well; almost more so than Marie, perhaps. She found General Tiedoll could be good company, when she wasn't being pushed to train Time Record by General Sokalo.

Many of the days she was roped into training ended with her in a bedraggled, exhausted state. There was hardly any physical work, but she had to keep Time Record activated to almost painful extents to see if she could find any new abilities. It was after one of these days that a long week without a single sign of contact from Lenalee or Marie finally ended.

Having just returned to her room, Miranda collapsed onto her bed in an exhausted heap. She carefully set Time Record aside and picked up her golem to see if there had been any messages. Just as she picked it up, it got an incoming call.

"Miranda? Are you there?" Marie's voice came through.

"Oh, Marie! How have you and Lenalee been?" Miranda could hardly contain her excitement at hearing his voice. His tone was almost... happy. It was bizarre to hear his voice sound like that after the exhausted monotone she had found most days that she contacted him. It was far from unwelcome, however, when she could practically see his smile in her mind just from the sound of his voice.

"We've been, well, great. I'm sorry I was unable to get into contact with you all week. On Monday, we found Kanda. Actually, he found us, but he's coming home with us! We were traveling up until today, we'll be stopping in a town, and the next town we get to will have an Ark Gate," Marie explained. His own voice was practically bubbling with joy. Kanda was safe. Kanda was alive. Even if he was angry at Kanda for coming home, even if his first response to him returning despite what he had been put through before was tears, he couldn't help this selfish joy that Kanda, the boy that had saved his life and become like a brother to him, was back.

"Oh, Marie, that's great! I'm so glad that he's okay!" Miranda didn't realize his conflict with the whole situation. She was just happy that his voice sounded so much more alive than it had before. The small hints of emotions that had previously been present began to reappear. "When will you all be getting back?" She couldn't help being lonely. His mission had lasted well over two months, and Miranda had been all but inactive during that time when she wasn't trying to raise her synchronization rate.

"We should get back by next week. Lenalee and I might have to go back out to finish our mission, though. We got a bit held up when we found Kanda. How have you been this week?" Marie asked.

"I've been well. Exhausted, though. I never realized how difficult it was to use new abilities with Time Record," she sighed, "It's nice, though, because the progress is really showing! The last time my rate was tested I was almost to eighty percent!" She smiled at the thought. With all of that hard work paying off she couldn't help the cheery tone to her voice.

"It can be challenging to find new abilities. Give yourself time to rest between training sessions or you'll burn yourself out," he warned. He should have heeded that advice from Tiedoll when he had first joined the Order so long ago. It was hard to believe he had been there since just a few months before he turned eighteen.

"I know, don't worry. I've been making sure to take care of myself," she laughed softly at his concern. She smiled; hearing him sound truly concerned wasn't something she had ever thought she would be happy about. The last few weeks had proven that it was something to be happy about, though. Marie's apathy to most things had become worrisome after just a few days. "Oh, I can't wait until you get back! It's been lonely here without you or Lenalee around."

"I'm excited to be back, too. This mission has just been one false lead after another," he admitted. Those missions always had exorcists restless and homesick. It was clear, through the tone of his voice, that he was beginning to feel that way, too.

"Komui admitted that he wasn't entirely sure that the original lead was trustworthy, to begin with," Miranda explained, "Of course, he also said that at this point he doubts any leads have much truth to them. I'm afraid that I'm starting to agree, seeing how missions are starting to go."

"That's not a good attitude to have about all of this, Miranda," Marie reminded her gently. "The more pessimistic you are about things the more likely they are to go awry."

"I know, I know. It's just that so few things have been getting done recently. You've noticed it too, right? The way we're just scrambling to get things done? I even heard Komui talking to Reever about the fact that they might start trusting fragments of innocence to normal exorcists in hopes that more exorcists will be found."

"Komui wouldn't allow that, Miranda. You know that he wouldn't," Marie said, "But I do agree with the lack of things getting done. This will happen occasionally. For about two years before Allen, Krory, and you joined we hadn't gotten a single new exorcist. Things will pick back up, soon. Enjoy these times, they're like a chance for us all to rest."

"I suppose you're right. Maybe I'm just getting a little tired of being cooped up in the Order. After my first few missions, I thought I would never get tired of being back here," she chuckled softly.

The other end suddenly erupted in static. When it had calmed down, Marie said, "I'm leaving the area where the golem was working. I'm afraid I should probably go soon. I'll be back soon, Miranda. Take care of yourself."

Miranda had given a small jolt of surprise at the sudden burst of static, but it was something that wasn't too much of a concern unless it was heard during a fight. Calls often broke up like that, all of a sudden. "All right. It was really nice to hear your voice again, Marie. I'll be waiting for you when you get back!" With that, the call dropped. Miranda gave a small sigh as her golem fluttered onto the small desk in her room and powered off. Her shoulders slumped. She glanced at the golem and wondered if maybe Marie would call back, soon. Everyone else was needed out on missions, or they were missing, but she had been kept there to raise her synchronization rate. That had been the first conversation she had had with someone that she enjoyed spending time with since Marie had stopped calling the week before.

A knock on her door jarred her out of her thoughts. "Yes?" She called and walked over to open the door.

It was Johnny. He had been kind enough to keep her company and help her with sewing when she had the time. "Hi, Miranda. I had some free time and was going to work on some uniforms. I was wondering if you wanted to come help me."

"Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea!" her eyes brightened and a small smile came to her face. Finally, she had something to do that wouldn't be completely exhausting.

"That last pair of gloves you made turned out really well. I was wondering if you would like to work on making gloves for everyone while I worked on a few new uniform designs."

"I would like that," Miranda nodded. Seeing as she herself was never found without a pair of gloves on she had taken a liking to making gloves. "Oh, by the way, how did you like those gloves? Do you get a chance to wear them very often?"

"They're wonderful! The science department is always really cold, so I've been wearing the a lot recently. Unfortunately, I spilled a bunch of ink on them the other day when I was writing. The stain looks like it won't come out all the way, but they're still wonderful! You chose a really good fabric for them, too. They probably wouldn't be very good in a fight, but for writing and office work they're fantastic!"

"I'm glad you like them," Miranda's smile brightened, "I'll have to make some for all of the scientists if I get the time." Her voice held a hint of a hum to the tone of it.

"I'm sure everyone will appreciate them," Johnny agreed with an enthusiastic nod of his head. "Come on, we should probably go before all of my free time runs out."

"Oh, you're right! Sorry for wasting time by talking she nodded in agreement and followed him quickly.

"No need to apologize, Miranda. You didn't do anything wrong," Johnny quickly assured as they went to the little sewing room he had set up in an unused storage room. It was a cozy little room with mismatched pieces of furniture and plenty of bright lighting so it was easier to watch what someone was doing. "I got some new fabric, if you want to try it all out. Or I have the fabric that you used last time, too. Which do you want to do?"

"I think I'll use the fabric from before. I'm going to make gloves for everyone in the science department," she knew it would take awhile, but she could stay in the sewing room for hours at a time on her own working on various things like that. She had before, when she was trying to get a good plan for gloves down.

"We'll definitely appreciate it," he smiled. He sat down at his sewing table and began working on things.

Miranda carefully began looking at the various recorded measurements for everyone's hands and cutting fabric accordingly. It took her awhile to get things set up for the first pair of gloves, but once she had fallen into a set rhythm with her sewing it didn't seem like such a long time. She was glad for her own gloves, too, because then it was harder to prick herself while she worked. She decided that if she had the time once she finished the gloves for everyone in the science department she would make a pair for Marie. She was already thinking about which fabric to use. She decided, since having fabric over his fingers usually interfered with his use of Noel Organon that she would make the gloves fingerless.

Her thoughts were scattered between over various subject as she worked. Everything from what she would get for dinner from the cafeteria to what things would be like again when Marie got back. These thoughts didn't lessen he quality of her work and she left them to simply have free reign in her mind.

"Miranda, I've been thinking that maybe it's time I make you a new uniform design. What do you think?" Johnny's question pulled her thoughts from their odd musings.

"Oh? You don't have to bother yourself with that much new work! Really!" Miranda quickly reassured, "The uniform that I have now is perfect!"

"All right, I just wanted to see what you though," Johnny smiled.

"You should focus more on everyone else," Miranda quickly said before she returned her attention back to her sewing.

"Also, Miranda, do you want a new golem? I know you and Marie are always calling each other when you're off on missions, and I know yours can be a little bit finicky sometimes. I have a new golem that no one needs, right now."

"That would be wonderful!" Miranda couldn't hide her excitement. It would be nice to not have so many dropped conversations because her golem had trouble picking up signals. "At least, if it's not too much trouble!"

"It's no trouble at all! I think the two of you use your golems the most out of anyone! And this one can also record holograms, sort of like Timcanpy can. I'm sure you can get a lot more use out of it than anyone will with it just sitting on the corner of my desk as a paperweight.

"I'm excited to try it out," she smiled brightly at him. As she got back to work on the gloves she began humming.

Johnny seemed happy to have gotten her so cheerful, "I have to go back to work, but when I get a bit of free time I'll go take it to your room. Remember to turn out the lights in here when you leave. And close the window if you decide to open it."

"I will! Oh, and I can just come by and get it. I wouldn't want you to have to go anymore out of your way for me," she still smiled brightly.

"Okay, I'll see you when you come pick it up," he nodded now that they had decided on a plan. He set aside his current project and stood up to go back to work.

Miranda stayed in there and worked for three more hours. All the while she hummed and sang to herself. Most of the tunes she hummed were ones that she had heard Marie play. By the time she went to pick up the golem from Johnny's desk her fingers hurt from sewing and her hands were cramping from the repetitive motion but she still seemed just as happy. Marie would be back. He wouldn't be so upset. It was looking like it would be a fantastic next few days.


A/N: Okay, so I finished writing all of the chapters of this! From here on out, there are only five chapters and an epilogue left! Thank you so much for reading! I will try to post the chapters quickly!