Disclaimer: I do not own D. Gray-man.
Chapter 28
Marie awoke slowly when he heard footsteps approaching the door to his cell. It caught him off guard; they were familiar, timidly placed footsteps that he would have recognized anywhere. He sat up and turned his attention to where he was half certain that the door was. The drafty, large room left him a little disoriented on where everything was. The concrete echoed noises and air currents so he could hardly hear where he was. This didn't stop him from having an idea of who was coming, though.
"You'll have ten minutes, then I'll come to escort you back upstairs," the guard stated outside of his door. With a noisy creak the door was pushed open.
Miranda walked in. She greeted softly, though her words were cut off by the door slamming closed.
"Miranda, I'm glad you made it back in time," he offered the words in a gentle tone. He motioned for her to sit down beside him on the small bed. He didn't feel much like walking thanks to the distortions of sound in the room. He kept running into things when he tried.
"I am too," she sat down beside him. Her voice never raised above a small little whisper. Even that sounded strained by a lump of tears in her throat.
Marie gently wrapped an arm around her. Clumsily, he felt around for her hand. He gently squeezed her fingers. "Miranda, I'm sorry you had to come home to this. I didn't really think this would really happen."
She pressed her face against his shoulder as she shifted closer to snuggle close, "You couldn't have predicted this... I'll find away to get you two out of this, though. I will not let you two die..." Her thoughts were on the fact that she wouldn't let herself lose them. Sometimes she could hardly believe how selfish she had become. "I can't lose you two."
Marie gave her hand another little squeeze, "Sometimes things can't be avoided, Miranda. If things do turn sour and Lenalee and I are executed, I need you to promise that you won't do anything drastic. It will be hard, but I want you to try and move past this." It wouldn't be the last time, if the war kept on for much longer, that she would lose someone close. He couldn't stand thinking about how she would respond, though.
"I know. I'll do my best," she responded quietly. She stayed quiet for a time longer, "Marie, I don't want to get your hopes up, since I haven't had a chance to really try, but..." She paused there as she thought of how to best word her next thought. It would be the last time, perhaps, that she would be able to see him. "I might, possibly, be able to use Time Record to heal your eyes for a little while."
There was a moment of shocked silence that accompanied that statement. "I would love to be able to see your face," Marie's voice was far quieter than normal. "If you can, that would be beyond words. I don't think I would ever be able to thank you enough."
"You already have," she promised softly. With a deep breath, she said, "I'm going to try now, okay?" Her hands were shaking and she could practically hear her own heart in her ears.
Marie gave a slight nod. He sat quietly and listened to the sound of Time Record's disk rattling as Miranda held it to activate it. He felt the familiar, odd, tugging feeling that came with time being turned back around an injury. Normally it only ever lasted a few seconds, but this went on for nearly half a minute before the feeling stopped.
"Okay... T-Try opening your eyes, now," she stammered and swallowed nervously. She hoped she hadn't gotten his hopes up for nothing. His eyes certainly looked different as they opened, but he almost immediately closed them.
He tried to open them again, but couldn't keep them open for more than a few second. "It worked..." His words were like a breath of awe. The room, which was actually quite dim, seemed to be as bright as looking straight at the sun for his eyes. It took a few more blinks to adjust before he opened his eyes to look at her. He reached out slowly to rest a hand on her cheek. Tears formed in his eyes, "You're... I could have never imagined this was how you looked... You're so beautiful." His thumb gently traced the arch of her cheek.
Miranda slowly reached her hand up to rest it over his, "Your eyes are such a wonderful color." She couldn't help tears forming in her own eyes as she leaned her face against his hand, "I'm so glad it worked."
He just looked over her face in silence for a few moments longer before he pulled her closer into a gentle hug. He only held her there for a few seconds, though, before moving her back to arm's length so he could look at her again. His expression was so warm. "Thank you, Miranda. I just wish I could see some of the others."
"Oh! I-I have pictures of them," Miranda fumbled with her golem before it projected a picture of Lenalee carrying a tray of coffee mugs. "This is Lenalee."
"I saw her once when she was small, just before the mission where my eyes were damaged. She had just gotten here, then. She's grown up so well," Marie's expression was like that of a proud older brother. In a way, he was like Lenalee's older brother. He had helped to comfort her at times, when she was younger.
Miranda put up a picture of Kanda, Lavi, and Allen in the cafeteria arguing. She had lots of random little snapshots saved onto the little device. "This one is Kanda. That's Lavi, and that one is Allen. Allen's hair was longer than that last time I saw him, though."
"So that's what Kanda looks like? I had always wondered. I think I had a bit better idea of what he looked like than you, from Master's descriptions of him," Marie whispered fondly as he looked at the picture. "Allen's hair... It's more transparent than I had imagined. I had always thought it would just be white."
"That had always caught me off guard, too," Miranda agreed softly. "When I first met him, I wasn't quite sure what to think."
"Do you have any more current pictures of General Tiedoll?" he asked her softly. His memories of the general's appearance were vague, as he hadn't really been put under his teachings until after his escape from the Second Exorcist Project.
"I think I might," Miranda nodded. She took the golem again and flipped through various images on it. She had quite a collection of little snapshots on it. Most of them looked like those caught in them were unsuspecting, but it was just normal moment in the Order. Finally, she found one, "Yes, here it is." It was a bit hard to see him in the picture, but he was there.
They spent most of the ten minutes looking at various pictures. Soon, Miranda was being given a one minute warning. She put the golem back into the pocket it had been stashed in.
"Marie, if I don't get a chance to come back, and if things do turn out bad... Just know that I love you. I love you a lot," they had each said it before, but the desperation in her voice and the look in her eyes made it seem all the more real.
"I love you too," he murmured warmly and hugged her again. "You have done so much for everyone around here. You've done so much for me. Not just with this. With everything. We all owe you so much."
Miranda buried her face against his shoulders in hopes of hiding her tears, "And I owe you and Lenalee and the others so much... I don't think I would have lasted much longer on my own before I joined the Order. And I don't think I have lasted long here without meeting people like you and the others. I just hope that we can continue to fight in this war together."
He could hear the break in her voice and feel his shirt grow wet under her eyes. He rubbed her back in hopes of comforting her, "Perhaps we will. It's not certain that Lenalee and I will be executed."
Miranda just gave a wordless nod against his shoulder. When she straightened up she dried her eyes and whispered, "I promise that I'll talk to you again. Maybe you can see the others in person, then. I wouldn't mind doing this again for you."
"Then we'll just have to do this again," he nodded. He hugged her again. "Miranda, may I kiss you?" He asked softly when the guard's footsteps approached the door.
"Yes," she gave her consent. It was a quick little press of the lips before she had to leave. "I'll talk to you later, right?"
"I promise we'll talk again," he nodded as Time Record was deactivated and his eyes returned to their scarred over state.
Miranda barely made it out of the hallway of cells before she broke down. She sank to rest on her knees on the floor as she covered her face and sobbed so hard her body shook. She eventually moved her hands from her face so she could hug herself as she sobbed. She knew that Komui would be doing everything he could to get the charges dropped but the chances that he would succeed would be very low.
The guard that had escorted Miranda made no move to comfort her. He only stood there and waited for her to stop sobbing so he could escort her back up to Komui's office to do her mission report.
Finally Miranda managed to drag herself to her feet. She still had tears dripping down her face and she still shook as she tried not to begin sobbing again. She went back through the labyrinth of hallways to Komui's office.
Her feet felt heavy by the time she reached the office and she barely had the energy to shuffle over the papers to Komui's desk for the papers to fill out for her mission report. Komui looked as hopeless as she felt. None of his usual antics or shenanigans were around and he was silently doing his work. There were dark circles under his eyes and the callouses on his writing hand were far more pronounced than normal. He had been there for a long while. Miranda felt as if she had to take a deep breath just to get words out, "Excuse me, Chief Komui, may I have my mission papers?"
He barely glanced up from the work before he grabbed a small folder of papers from the corner of his desk and handed them to her.
"I'm sorry, about Lenalee..." Miranda whispered softly as she accepted the papers. She walked to the couch in his office to fill them out. She didn't feel like walking much further.
"Don't give up hope on them yet," Komui said quietly. "General Teidoll contacted me. Kanda is coming back to try and help. He should be back tonight."
"Will that really do much to prove their innocence?" Miranda asked softly. She looked at the papers in her mission folder. There weren't as many as there normally would have been. She didn't question the fact as she began filling them out.
"He's a general now. His word will be taken with higher value. If he stays, there will be nothing to charge Lenalee and Marie with," Komui explained. His own eyes stayed on the work in front of him but the pen he used traced idly across the paper.
Miranda actually filled out the papers in front of her. She didn't even react to the news that Kanda was a general. "So he just has to stay and they'll be safe?"
"Yes. I only hope that we can get his help with the situation," Komui sighed softly. He set down his pen to grab his mug from the edge of his desk. When he went to take a sip he realized it was empty.
Miranda glanced up and noticed. Despite her lack of energy she at least wanted to try and help someone. She set her papers on his desk and softly offered, "I could go get you some coffee from the cafeteria, if you would like."
"That would be lovely. Thank you," he nodded with another long sigh. He handed the mug over.
Miranda took the mug carefully. She turned to walk out. Her steps were still slow and shuffled and her shoulders still drooped unhappily. It took her far longer to reach the cafeteria than it normally would have. The room, again, seemed empty despite the finders there. She went to the ordering window and asked Jerry to put on water to make the coffee.
Miranda sat silently at a table near the ordering window. Once the water was heated she mixed some of the coffee mix with it. She slowly walked back to Komui's office with the cup in hand. When she got back she opened the door and saw Kanda standing in front of Komui's desk talking to him.
"Don't expect me to take on any students. I'm doing this for them, and only them," Kanda gruffly demanded.
"I understand. You will be given freedom to move about so long as your location and actions are known by the Order. Thank you, Kanda. I know what you're giving up to do this," Komui's voice was truly grateful.
"Tch, I'm doing it to help Lenalee and Marie. That's the only reason. Now, let's get this whole general thing over with so I can go back to what I was doing," Kanda seemed as impatient as ever as Komui filled out a few papers and handed them to Kanda.
"Just take these Inspector Rouvelier. You'll be free to do as you please, then," Komui nodded. Once Kanda had left he relaxed and laid his head down on his desk. "My baby sister will be okay..."
Miranda silently set the coffee down. She felt like crying all over again, but this time it was out of relief. She sat back down on the couch with her mission file and gave a long sigh. She looked up at the ceiling and murmured a soft thanks to whatever deity had allowed things to work out so well.
By that evening Marie and Lenalee had been freed from their confinement and the charges had been dropped. Marie stood before Miranda's door with a hand raised to knock when the door opened.
"Marie? You're really out?" Miranda's tone held a hint of disbelief. All thoughts of going to take a shower slipped form her mind and the towel she held slipped from her hands as she took two quick steps forward to hug him tightly. "You're alive!"
He smiled warmly at her and hugged her. "Yes, I promised I would keep fighting alongside you all in this war, did I not?"
"You did. You did! I'm sorry I didn't believe you," she whispered against his shoulder. "Thank you for keeping your promise, Marie..."
"I'll always keep my promises, Miranda," he promised softly. He pressed a light kiss to the top of her head. "Always."
A/N: This is the last chapter before the epilogue! Oh my goodness I have so many feels about ending this story!
