Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-man.
Chapter 26
Marie yawned and did his best to stay still when he awoke from dozing off for a few moments. Miranda had fallen asleep for a few moments beside him; he didn't want to wake her from those few minutes of much needed sleep. They both hadn't slept more than a few moments of dozing off all day. A few seconds later when Miranda woke again it proved that perhaps it would continue to be that way.
Miranda yawned, too. "I think I'm going to go get up and walk around for a moment. I don't think I'll be able to sleep," she murmured softly after a few minutes. Her voice was distraught. "I might go to the cafeteria. Would you like me to bring you anything?"
"No, but I might like to accompany you, if that wouldn't bother you," Marie would respect it if she needed a bit more time alone. He wanted the company, but at times like that the need to be away from company could be more demanding than the need to be with someone.
Miranda thought for a long few moments. She lightly took his hands before quietly saying, "That would be nice... I would really appreciate some company."
"Then I'll come with you," he stood up when she did and walked to the door when she did. He didn't have his headphones on, so his hearing was a bit dulled, but it didn't seem to get in the way of his usual navigation skills. He even opened the door for her and motioned for her to go through. When she had he followed.
"Thank you," she murmured softly when she went through the door. She still held his hand while they walked down the hall. She didn't hug his arm to walk as close to him without tripping him as she normally did. She was silent the whole walk to the cafeteria, too.
A finder or two were there, but it was an empty room for the most part. Even Jerry seemed upset again without Allen having the probably chance to ever come back. His cooking was just as good as normal, though. His greeting was just dulled.
Miranda didn't get much food. She ate even less of it once she and Marie were sitting down. Eventually she just rested her head against Marie's shoulder and gave a quiet sigh. "It's so quiet here..." The peace in the room was so unbearable it made her feel as if she were going to be sick to her stomach if she thought too deeply about it.
"It is," he wanted to say something more. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't have the words for it. He thought long and hard but no matter how much he thought on it he couldn't think of anything to say that would make her feel better. It had never been like that. Even before Lavi and Kanda and Allen there had always been an exorcist or two to cause commotion in the cafeteria. Now their numbers had dwindled and their hopes had fallen.
"How do you handle it, when things get like this?" Miranda asked in a broken voice.
Marie thought. It had gotten almost that bad, before, but never that terrible. He couldn't think of anything he had ever done during those times, though, except for deal with it. "I just try not to think about it. It's not been this bad, before. I wish I could tell you how to make things like this less difficult, but short of shutting down completely, I'm afraid I can't think of any. Just try to handle it until things get better. Find someone to talk to. Occupy yourself with something else." Marie suggested. After a pause he added, "If you ever need someone to talk to, you know I'll always listen."
"Yes... I know. I just feel so bad, always going to you. You're having a hard time, too, and all I do is complain and break down," she mumbled quietly. "I need to stop bothering you with myself. I-I need to learn how to suck it up and stay quiet like all of you do."
Marie hugged her close to his side, "Miranda, don't try to do that to yourself. Don't try to act stoic. If it's bothering you, you will break yourself by trying to ignore it. You're never bothering me by talking about what everything is making you feel. I like hearing about when you're happy, and even if I don't like knowing you're sad, I'm just glad that you trust me enough to talk to me about it. I want to do what I can to help you, and I can't do that, if you try to push me away."
She was quiet for a long while before softly whispering, "Thank you, Marie... You're one of the best things to have ever happened to me." She still sounded upset, but there wasn't the chocking note of tears on her voice.
He hugged her just a bit tighter as he whispered back, "And you to me."
They sat in silence for a long while. Soon the finders that had been there finished their food and left. They were the only two in the room, then.
"Would you like to go anywhere?" he asked her softly after awhile. "To take your mind off of things?"
"Not really... I don't think I would be able to get much sewing down, right now, and I don't want to go to my room and be alone," she murmured against his shoulder.
He continued to hold her close, "If you decide you would like to do anything, tell me. Perhaps, if you feel like it, we could find somewhere where we won't be bothering anyone if I play music."
"That would be nice. I like it when you play music," she said softly. She still showed no sign of moving, though.
"Just let me know when you would like me to play something for you. Perhaps we could go back to the library, then," he offered gently.
She nodded against his shoulder. She went still after that. It was a long while before she sat up and ate a few more bites of her food. After that she softly asked, "Can we go to the library, now?"
"Of course," Marie nodded. He stood and offered her a hand.
Miranda took the offered hand with a soft thank you and stood. She put the dishes away and then walked with him to the library. Once they were there, she went to one of the couches where they normally sat. She waited for Marie to get comfortable before sitting beside him.
Marie anchored the strings of Noel Organon to the ground. This song was as upbeat as he could make it. He felt that would do Miranda more good than something solemn and sad.
Miranda listened to the music quietly. It did more to cheer her up than she had expected; the nature of the music was bright and bouncy and happy. She listened intently, and soon she was humming along when the notes got repetitive.
After a little while, Marie paused. "Miranda, do you remember that old piano, here?"
"You mean the one you took to get tuned after we met?" Miranda asked softly. She remembered that outing to town, certainly, and she definitely remembered the piano. She had been unaware it survived the level four attack and the move.
"Yes, that one. It's in a storage room not far from here. How would you feel about learning to play? Music can be quite a therapeutic thing," Marie suggested lightly.
"That would be nice, actually," she said softly.
"Then shall we go see if it's where it was last time I was around it?" he offered. When he got a hum of agreement he stood and offered her his hand again. They walked together to the storage room. Sure enough, the piano was still there.
"Now, do you know anything about music?" Marie asked as he motioned for her to sit on the piano bench. He took a seat beside her on the very edge of the bench.
"I know that notes go from A to G," Miranda said, "And I can read music. But I don't know much else."
"Then we'll begin with the basics. Where the notes are," Marie said after a moment of thought. He was familiar enough with the layout of a piano to be able to find the notes. Setting his hands down as if to play, he said, "The note that my thumbs are on is C. Most beginners will learn to play with both thumbs on the middle C of the piano, and then learn to move out from there. The notes are in a repetitive cycle, in alphabetical order. Which means that this note will be D." He tapped his right index finger on the note under it.
Miranda had found a similar set of keys where she was sitting. She lightly tapped what she thought would be the D key; the note played softly but it was still audible.
"Yes, that is the right note," Marie nodded his head. "Can you tell me what you think this note would be?" He played the next note.
"That would be E, wouldn't it?" Miranda played the corresponding note where her hands were.
"Correct," Marie nodded, "That would be E."
They continued on like this for a good few hours. Miranda slowly figured out which notes were which. When she had them down well enough, Marie declared that that would be enough for the day. If she tried to learn too much at once then she would likely forget most of it by the next time they had a chance to do something like that again.
"Maybe we could do this again soon," Miranda offered him a faint smile. He couldn't see it, but he could hear it in her voice. His plan had worked; he had found a way to distract her from everything and get her cheered up.
"I'm sure we'll both be able to find times to do something like this again, soon," Marie nodded, "For now, you sound tired. Would you like me to walk you back to your room?"
Miranda paused in thought for a few minutes. When she answered it was with, "Yes, that would probably be best. I think I might be able to try and sleep now."
Marie nodded. Again, he stood up first and offered her a hand.
Miranda took the offered hand to stand up. She walked closer to him than before as they walked. "Thank you for all of this... It means a lot that you took all of this time to try and cheer me up."
"I'm happy I could help," he replied in a soft tone. "I'm glad that I could help. Even if it was just a little."
She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. When they got to her room she hugged him for a long while. Her face was buried against his shoulder and her arms were wrapped loosely around his trunk. "I love you," she whispered after a pause of silence. "You're wonderful."
He lightly rubbed her back, "I love you, too. " He pressed his lips to her hair, "You're amazing. Sleep well, Miranda. I promise, things will get better soon. We just have to keep our chins up until they do."
"I know," she said softly. Neither could know for sure if his words held any truth, but they could both hope they did. "You should try to sleep, too... If you do, sleep well."
"I will," he said softly. When Miranda released him from the delicate hug he wished her one last good night and went to his own room.
Miranda settled down for the night. After an hour or two of tossing and turning she finally managed to settle her thoughts enough to sleep.
A/N:Thank you so much for reading this far! I fear that I am quickly approaching the end of this story! Again, I was too lazy to proof this, so please excuse any mistakes!
