A/N: Alan and Eric, the pairing from the 2ndmusical of Kuroshitsuji. Usually, couples from musicals aren't memorable, but the emotion that these two conveyed made us feel more for the characters only made to appear in the musical, and they made an unforgettable effect on us. Today on the 4th of July, 2015, I start my 100 themes fic dedicated to this pairing. I'm not good at the whole 'dedication business', but I've got lots of ideas!

Timeline: Second Musical, after Eric dies

Chapter One: Heaven

Eric Slingby doesn't believe in Heaven.

After all, legend in the human world says that 'God will bring you to Heaven if you do good or to Hell if you do bad' or some crap like that.

As a Death God, someone who collects the souls of the dead; Eric doesn't believe in where the souls end up in theory, nor does he care.

In any case, if he was chosen by "God" about whether he was to be sent to Heaven or Hell, Eric thought it was almost impossible not to be sent to Hell. After all, he has sinned, and should be punished.

And Heaven is such an illogical thing. When a human dies, why would they be 'sent off' to a place where they live in the 'afterlife'? A human lives their life, they're not supposed to have another one.

Then again, Eric wouldn't understand anyway, he doesn't remember experiencing death, nor the full extent of living.

The last thing he remembered… he couldn't really make out. Trauma perhaps? He had been crying, considering the tear tracks down his face.

When he dies, he considered, being a Death God, his soul would just vanish. He wouldn't have to reviewed, and his soul wouldn't be sent because he isn't a human and is technically dead already. So, if anything, he shouldn't be seeing what he's seeing right now.

Everything around Eric is white, like what those humans described. There seems to be nobody else surrounding him other than a single slim figure in front of him, sitting with his knees brought up to his face, silent as his face rested on his thighs.

For a moment, Eric couldn't recognise him. This had to be a dream, no matter how uncertain it all seemed. He had a faint pain in his back, must be of old age, he thought.

Nothing made sense, and for someone who usually figured things out quickly, this was strange for Eric. He stared at the figure with caution but with an underlying sense of familiarity and concern. Who was this person? In fact, he couldn't remember anything except his general knowledge.

But then something decided to click. This person must be important to him, otherwise he wouldn't appear in his dream. As he was contemplating this, he realised something else.

"Alan?"

The figure in front of him went stiff, as if he could go any stiffer. He sniffed and slowly looked up. His brown hair seemed ruffed up than usual, if Eric could remember that, and a fringe parting showed his yellow-green eyes, which slowly widened as he looked Eric up and down.

Eric couldn't recognise him even when he saw his face. He was slim, and his cheeks were hollowed out slightly, as if he used to suffer from an illness. He wore a business suit just like Eric, but his attire was much more orderly, and with only one button done up at the top. He looked like he'd been crying, but there was no wetness on his face, just a slight tinge of red.

"E-Eric?"

Eric flinched. Something seemed peculiar. He took a single step back cautiously as the other man removed his knees from his chest and stood up.

"What are you doing here?"

Something inside Eric twinged, like a delicate harp string being plucked, as 'Alan' spoke. He froze, memories rekindling somehow to create a faint image. He knew this man. Maybe from before. Back when he used… to live.

Suddenly everything came crashing back down. The Thorns of Death.

Alan…

He decided to kill. For this man's sake.

But why…?

Eric has killed so many in so little time. Why was he forced to do that?

Alan?

Alan took a step forward, arm reached out slightly. "What's wrong?" He then moved his hand back.

That was familiar. Alan always seemed to have this reluctance to him. He was scared, as if Eric didn't reciprocate his feelings.

Feelings of what exactly?

Eric remembered always having hidden feelings towards Alan. Eric was a very forward person. If he wanted people to know something, he would say it, and this usually applied to Alan too.

Eric was Alan's mentor, Alan learned pretty quickly, so not for long. And they became friends, very close friends in fact.

But then Eric learned that Alan had contracted the Thorns of Death, and he was eventually going to die. Eric remembered being grief stricken, and ready to do anything to save him, even if it meant following a fairy tale...

In six months, he had killed around 200 people or more, women or children. And all was going smoothly, until Alan found out about it.

Everything then went to hell, it was painful being with Alan, as the guilt would just overtake him, but he knew that he would keep going, just for his sake, even if he died.

But then… Alan…

Eric wasn't a very affectionate person. He wasn't one for holding hands, or excessive touching with anyone he didn't have a close relationship with. It wasn't necessarily embarrassing, it just made him uncomfortable. But right now, after feeling so horrible after losing the only person he loved, he felt like he could just do anything.

So when Alan reached out his hand again, Eric grabbed it and pulled him forward, wrapping his arms around him in a warm embrace.

"Eric?" Alan questioned softly, somehow unwilling to give in to the embrace. "You…"

Eric just held him tighter, willing himself not to cry, but that was all he could do as he quietly sobbed into Alan's mop of hair.

Upon hearing Eric, Alan lost all tenseness in his body and gave in. He smiled lovingly and hugged him back.

"It's okay, Eric. Welcome back."

A/N: Okay, I didn't really know how to end this one. This was really just a practise fic for everything else that's going to come up. So just stay with me here, and welcome to the ride!