Chapter 2

Disclaimer: D. Gray Man= Not Mine

Liberio Mikk= Luna's

A/N: WARNING: FAMILY SAPPINESS THAT WILL MAKE YOURE TEETH ROT WITH ITS SWEETNESS AHEAD. Also just for the record, I make Tyki and Lavi freaking rich in this story. Why? Because I say so damnit!

Chapter 2: More to the story

Libby knew if she wanted to find a way to make Mommy happy, she had to know more first. Who exactly were the people in the story? Why had they been so important to Mommy? What were they like?

She also knew there was no way she could ask Mommy for the answers. She didn't want to bring up any memories that her mommy thought better left forgotten. So what does a little girl do when she wants something but cant ask her Mom? Duh: Ask Daddy.

Which was what brought her here to the library, where her parents seemed to spend all their free time. She had had a hard time giving her tutors the slip, but dang-it she already knew how to read and write and frankly didn't need to know anything else at 5 years old, and this was an urgent personal matter. Definitely more important than math!

Liberio walked down aisle after aisle of the towering bookshelves, looking for her father and hoping to avoid her mother. This place was like a maze, there wasn't really any way to tell where you had been and where you hadn't. But she was pretty sure the place where Daddy liked to sit and read books while drinking tea was in this general direction.

Ah! There he was. Her Daddy was sitting in a plush armchair, a book in hand and a tea-cup at his side, and Mommy didn't seem to be nearby. Perfect.

"Daddy!" she called, running up to him as he lifted his head to her smiling instantly and setting his book down before opening his arms so he could scoop his daughter up as she ran into his embrace.

Tyki smiled down at his daughter as he placed her on his lap, "You're sure energetic today," he said, "So what's up dear, you usually don't come get me or your mother in the library unless its important."

"It is important! I have a really serious question to ask." Libby said looking as serious as an adorable 5 year old girl could. Tyki immediately sweat dropped, fearing his daughter was going to ask where babies came from. What came was far less expectable.

"Daddy, you know the story I always asked Mommy to tell me at bedtime?" Libby asked, her father nodded solemnly, eyes questioning. So the just took a deep breath and said it, "Is the story…true? Are the 2 lovers that died really Mommy's friends?" Tyki stared, eyes wide how had she?

"I know I shouldn't have, but I peeked in your and Mommy's bedroom and… I heard him say stuff…" the young girl trailed off, awaiting an answer.

Tyki was unsure of how to answer, his daughter had overheard a conversation that hinted at his beloved's past, something they both hoped to keep from her till they deemed her old enough to understand. But now she knew that the story she loved so much was far more than fiction, what was he to say to her? How was he supposed to explain Lavi's immensely complicated past? Oh dear God what if she asked how he and Lavi met?! Tyki had never felt more flustered in his life than he did now.

Meanwhile Liberio just kept patiently waiting for an answer too her question, emerald eyes sparkling curiously. And soon enough, she would get it.

"So you did hear that conversation." a voice not to far from them caused them both to jump and they both looked up to see Lavi leaning on an armchair across from them, grin plastered on his face and eye gentle.

"Mommy… I…" Libby stuttered to find words to speak to her mother, but what could she say? She had found out a secret that Mommy and Daddy probably didn't want to tell her, but they knew that she knew. She thought for sure she was going to be punished now. But instead Lavi just walked up to her and picked her up from her father's arms, cradling her gently.

"Don't look so scared, you didn't do anything wrong." Lavi said gently to her, "To be honest I've been wanting to tell you about it for a while now Libby. To tell you the back-story to your favorite bedtime tale."

Libby was taken aback, "But doesn't it hurt to remember it all?" she asked innocently as her Mommy carried her to his and Daddy's room. Daddy followed them. Mommy set her down on the edge of the bed, then went to a shelf in the corner and took a couple things from the very top: some kind of book and a small box, he then took a couple other books from the higher shelves and sat down next to her, smiling.

"Libby, just cause there's one bad memory doesn't mean there's not at least 1,000 good ones to go along with it," Lavi said, then he showed her the book he'd gotten from the top of the shelf. It was a photo album bound in leather with the word MEMORIES across it In bold print. However Lavi didn't open it first, instead he picked up one of the other books and flipped through the pages till he found the spot he was looking for. Then he smiled at her again, pulled her into his lap, and began to speak.

"You see Liberio, not to long before you were born there existed a group of people called the Black Order." Lavi said pointing to a picture of a slightly odd looking cross on one page.

"Black Order?" she asked curiously.

"Yes," Daddy said as he sat down next to Mommy, "They were people chosen by God to defend the world against an evil being called the Millennium Earl." Tyki turned the page of the book, the illustration on it was of a very scary looking man. He was fat and wore weird looking clothes, he was smiling but it was the kind of smile that made your skin crawl just by seeing it, Libby unconsciously shivered and clung to her Mommy's shirt, whoever the Earl guy was, she didn't like him.

"The Earl wanted to destroy all of humanity, he attempted this mainly by creating weapons called Akuma." Lavi continued, Liberio looked at him curiously, he just smiled again and continued, turning the page again. "An Akuma was not a normal weapon, Akuma were alive, created from human souls."

Libby shivered again, the very idea not exactly pleasant, "Human…Souls…? How…?" she couldn't even find words to express what she was feeling. She pictures in the book weren't helping either, there were four pictures in a row. The first one looked kind of like a balloon, a very evil scary looking balloon with a face in the middle and cannons poking out of it like porcupine quills. The second illustration was actually a couple different creatures, but they all looked really frightening, yet at the same time they kind of looked like defective stuffed animals. The third one looked some kind of mechanical monster wearing a war helmet, and the final one actually looked sort of like an angel, but the picture gave off a very sinister presence, like that the angel like thing was the embodiment of pure evil. Her father spoke now, continuing the story.

"The Earl would find people who had recently lost someone close to them, someone deep in the throes of despair, and offer to bring their loved ones soul back from the grave, that soul would become an Akuma, and be forced to kill the person that brought them back and wear that persons body to blend in to society, and begin to pick off innocent lives one after another in order to evolve." seeing how scared his daughter looked, Tyki decided it was best to move on. "The Black Order were God's chosen warriors, Exorcists, those who could wield the power of innocence." Lavi turned the page again, the illustration there was of a small cube surrounded by what looked like a pair of conjoined gears, glowing green.

"Innocence…" Libby trailed off. This illustration enchanted Libby, it calmed her just by looking at it, she didn't know why, but it made her feel safe. Lavi smiled as his daughter relaxed a bit, he continued the story.

"Innocence was also occasionally called threw God Crystal, pieces of it were scattered over the world during the time of Noah's Flood in the Old Testament. Exorcists were people who could use Innocence to destroy Akuma, and lay the tortured souls within them to rest in peace. Exorcists were accommodators to the Innocence, the only ones who could turn them into Anti Akuma weapons, normal weapons were useless against Akuma you see." Liberio nodded, signaling that she understood and was eager to continue. Lavi couldn't help but giggle at his daughters behavior. "The Millennium Earl was not alone in his evil quest either though, the sinister Noah clan, a group of humans that had odd powers and supposedly shared the genes of Noah himself. The war between the 2 sides over the scattered pieces of Innocence, one seeking the Earth's salvation through them, the other the ultimate destruction of all we know, waged for 100 years. Many lives were lost. The war ended just about a year or so before you were born Libby…" Lavi trailed off.

'Mommy…" Libby said looking up at her mother, "If you don't mind me asking… How do you know all this, and what does it all have to do with the bedtime story?" the little girl asked as if she was almost afraid to find out the answer.

Lavi's smile got a little bigger, they were getting to the fun part now.

"Well you see Sweetheart," Lavi began, closing the book and reaching for the photo album, skipping the first few pages, stopping at a page that had a picture of himself on it, clothed in a black coat with silver trimmings and buttons all over it, including the same odd looking cross Libby had seen in the other book, the symbol of the Black Order… Libby's eyes widened.

"I was once an Exorcist, and one of the best I might add," Lavi said with a grin.

Liberio's green eyes lit up like emeralds in the morning sun, "Really!?" she squealed happily.

"Yep, you bet I was, and…" he turned the page, there was another picture there the Libby's eyes immediately gravitated towards, her mother was in it again, young and smiling like an idiot, but there were 2 other people in there, both wearing coats in the same style as Lavi, one was a younger looking boy with short hair white as snow and silvery-white eyes that shined like stars, bright and innocent looking, he was smiling brightly yet some how sadly. The other was a person who looked about the same age as her Mother, he had exceedingly long black hair and hard black eyes with a dangerous look to them, and he seemed annoyed just to be in the presence of the other 2, hand poised at a sword on his belt.

"The main characters in the that story, the 2 lovers, were Exorcists too."

Libby was speechless, staring wide eyed at the picture. To overcome with so many emotions to say a single thing as her mother went on.

"Their names were Allen Walker, the white haired kid there, and mister tall, dark and Short tempered there is Yuu Kanda. They were the best friends I ever had, we had a lot of great times together, whether Yuu acknowledged it or not." Lavi ended with a small laugh.

Liberio ran her fingers over the picture, observing every minute detail there was to see. The gentle expression of Allen, the annoyed face of Kanda, the odd color of Allen's left hand, the scar over his eye. It all called out to her, she immediately knew: these were the Lovers in the story, they had to be, they were complete opposites, she could tell just by looking. Black and White, Light and Dark, Night and Day. Opposites yet perfectly balanced. She was completely enchanted. Yet she was still able to ask one question that she really wanted to know.

" What were they like…?"

Lavi smiled sort of sadly, but there was mostly happiness in his face. "Allen was a real cool kid, special too, he was a parasitic type Exorcist, meaning his anti Akuma weapon was part of his body. He was always kind, always thinking of others before himself, yet he never backed down from a challenge and would keep fighting even when the battle seemed hopeless. He was the most selfless person I ever met in my life, and Yuu really had to fight hard to keep him once he stopped denying the fact he loved the little 'Bean Sprout'." Lavi had to restrain laughter at the mention of Allen's old nickname.

"Bean Sprout?" Libby asked tilting her head.

Tyki chuckled too, "It was a nickname that Kanda gave Allen when they met, though he usually said "Moyashi" which means the same thing in Japanese, his native language."

"Eventually it evolved into a pet-name." Lavi added, "Yuu never liked anyone bugging him, he was always quiet and deadly, though he let his pride run his actions and it got him into a lot of trouble, always going off on his own, definitely the anti social type. No one couldn't get within 30 feet of him on a bad day without running the risk of getting stabbed, well Allen could, but he go away with a lot of stuff when it came to Yuu. He really loved the kid no matter how many times he tried to deny it."

Libby just smiled and snuggled into Mommy's shirt slightly, enjoying the story.

"I swear Yuu just kept getting more and more protective of him after they were together, thanks to a few friendly shoves in the right direction by yours truly I might add. Eventually they were inseparable, and Yuu was constantly worried about Allen while fighting. Even when the time for… the final battle came."

Libby looked up at her mother's face it wasn't sad exactly but, solemn yet content was the best way to put it.

"It was a successful, yet terrible day, we ended up winning but.. Allen went off on his own to face the Earl, the rest of us had to deal with the Noah, which as you can probably guess was no easy task. Especially considering that Yuu ran off in the middle of the fight to go help Allen. I'm not sure how long that fight lasted, it felt like days. But then, completely unexpectedly, all of the Noah lost their powers, and shocked by fact they were suddenly no match for us, retreated. We knew that could only mean one thing. That the Millennium Earl was dead, Allen and Kanda had won." he paused, remembering something else that had happened that day, something that his daughter really didn't need to know at the moment. " We waited for them to come back from their victory, but hours past, we were beginning to think that maybe the battle had been a stalemate. A few people started to cry. But then, as we all sat in silence, someone walked out of the darkness, it was Yuu, he was battered and bruised up, his ponytail had come undone, but he was alive. And in his arms was Allen's unconscious form, Yuu had carried the little hero from the Battle field. We were all so relived when he woke up the nest day, then we through a huge party, to celebrate the fact that is was all over, and we could finally relax. The war was over, and we had won." Lavi finished, Libby already knew the story from there. How Allen and Kanda had attempted to live a normal life, and Kanda's family had stepped in to ruin their happiness, how they had run, how they had stayed together, and how they had died together.

They spent a few more minutes flipping through the photo album. There were several people that Liberio recognized: Auntie Lenalee, Uncle Komui, Auntie Miranda, Uncle Krory, the list went on. They were all her Mommy's close friends that he viewed as family. They came by to visit often and were always really fun. After they got to the last page Lavi closed the album and picked up the small box.

"After the war was over some people just wanted to forget what happened. But not us, we wanted to remember, so we all took a button from our exorcist coats, each one had our names inscribed on them, and turned them into necklaces," Lavi stated fingering his own necklace, "Because despite all the hardships, all the pain, those were truly some of the best times we had. And we never wanted to forget." Lavi unlatched the box. "After Yuu and Allen jumped off the cliff, the rest of us searched the shores for hours, refusing to believe that they could actually die, but in the end, all we found were these, washed up on the beach." he opened the box, inside were 2 silver pendants identical to the one around Lavi's neck, both on long silver chains. Libby reached for them attentively, looking up at her Mother and Father for permission, they nodded, and she gently, as if they were made of glass instead of silver, picked them up and looked them over.

They were completely identical to her Mommy's pendant an the ones she'd seen Mommy's friends wearing, except of course, for the names carved into the back. She ran her eyes over the names for hours. ALLEN WALKER. YUU KANDA. She looked at them until the names were burned into her brain, she never wanted to forget them, and when she was sure she never would, she asked her parents one more question.

"Mommy…can I…keep these?" she asked, turning her eyes up to her Mother, who just stared wide eyed and unsure how to respond. "I promise I'll take real good care of them, I promise never to lose them. Please, please, please let me keep them!" Libby desperately pleaded, her face reminiscent of a begging puppy. Lavi and Tyki felt their will power crumble. And could only ruffle their daughter's dark hair and say okay. She squealed and wrapped the necklaces around her wrists several times before deeming them tightly wound, hopping off her mothers lap and giggling before running out to play in the garden, her parents following with gentle smiles on their faces.

Things changed for the family after that. Libby never took the pendants off her wrists. And from then on when bedtime came, she would always ask her Mother to recount a tale from his days as an Exorcist, the adventures enchanted her to no end, some were sad, some were amazing, and some were just plain hilarious. Eventually of course, the fact that her father and mother had been on opposite sides of the war came up, but Liberio didn't care, they loved each other and they loved her. That was all that mattered. Things continued with that normalcy for 5 years, but soon after young Liberio Mikk, child of Exorcist Lavi and Noah of Pleasure Tyki Mikk, turned 10 years old. One decade since the war between the Earl of the Millennium and Black order ended.

Well that's when things got interesting again...

And so, the story continues.