After Dinner and that movie Zero and Dio had left. I never knew Zero was the sneaky kind, but he didn't tell me anything about what he wanted to explain. So my only way to answers now was asking Lass directly. He was still cleaning up the kitchen.

"If you promise to stay calm, and don't start to hate me I will tell you what happened…" Lass muttered as he put a plate into a box made of metal.

I frowned at what he was doing, then I nodded. What could have happened that would make me hate him?

"Alright… There was no war… it's actually a made up story… I just… had to tell you something. It was my fault that almost everyone died."

My heart felt like it skipped a beat. What?! I took a step away, hands on my guns. What was he going to tell me? He looked at me, looked at the guns, then resumed in putting plates and everything into the box. He seemed to have expected that reaction.

"I lost control of the flame… I was practicing… and accidentally set a tree on fire… the castle was… the roof caught fire and… there was no way to get rid of it… I tried to save them…" He lowered his head. His tall body seemed so frail…

Dio ran through the smoke covered corridors, yelling names, he was coughing, trying to block out the heat and the difficulty in breathing. Sieghart was outside, using all his strength to prevent Lass from rushing into the castle again.

Dio heard someone yelling but he was too late. A wooden pillar had crashed down onto the red headed Rama. Dio turned away from the sight and rushed downstairs. Sieghart and Lass were outside, Rufus not there, and Zero was alarming the town, trying to get people to get water. No more rooms on the third floor to look into.

The girls had all been sleeping. He rushed into every room, but an explosion in Armes room smashed him into the opposite wall and forced him onto his knees. There was no way to help Mari and Arme now. He crawled to Amy's door and opened it. The girl was lying on the floor not moving. Blood was running from a gash on the back of her head. She was dead as well. Scrambling to his feet he looked into Limes room. The window was smashed but when he looked outside the Knight was obviously dead as well. Dio was shaking his head again. The fire had reached the staircase to the roof by now and was spreading faster. The wooden floor was more than enough food for the flames. The way towards the stairs to the first floor was almost blocked. Dio ran towards the stairs. Noticed Elesis and Rin and the ground. Dead as well. The Elven girl too. Ley was the last person there. Dio didn't care about how much he hated that demon as he burst into the room. Ley was sitting on the ground, covering her mouth and nose with a shirt. Her green eyes glowed in relief when she saw Dio.

Dio was coughing violently now. He weakly stumbled into the room and picked Ley up, rushing downstairs with her in tow. The fire hadn't reach this floor yet, but the smoke was already visible.

"Can you walk?", Dio wanted to know.

"…no…" Her voice was weak and only then Dio noticed that His hands were covered in her blood.

"Aw shit!" he cursed, stumbled out of the castle and put Ley down next to Sieghart and the struggling Lass. When he wanted to run back into the castle Sieghart held him back.

"It's no use. Is Ley the only one you found alive?"

"There… are still-" a cough prevented him from finishing his sentence. "Still others in there… the fire has not reached the..."

"Let me go in!" Sieghart hissed. "I'm immortal you idiot!"

"But you're human! You'll pass out and then no one will be saved!" Dio's voice was hoarse.

Sieghart nodded, and Dio rushed inside again.

The stairs were on fire now, Ryans door burning down. Dio hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the hot door handle and ripped the door open. Another explosion sent him flying into the burning staircase. He was lying there for a moment, barely holding on to consciousness. He saw Sieghart dashing inside. The immortal was looking around for a second, then rushed towards Dio and pulled him back to his feet, half carrying him.

Dio flinched, then forced himself to walk on his own. There were still three people to be saved. Ryan was obviously dead by now. "You take the psycho… I get the crybaby…" Dio almost yelled. His ears were ringing,and he was more stumbling then walking. Sieghart complied and ran towards the door on the right while Dio opened the left. Ronan seemed alive as well.

"Can you walk? I seriously have no strength left…" Dio muttered.

The knight looked up, suddenly lunged forward And attacked him with his sword. Dio was caught off guard, too tired and not expecting Ronan to lose his temper like that.

A earsplitting scream of the demon made Sieghart turn away from the unpleasant sight in front of him. As he dashed towards the room on the opposite side Ronan was stumbling towards him. He wanted to catch the knight as he fell, but the sight of Dio prevented him. The demon was lying his side, face in pain. A crash could be heard from nearby.

"Dio get the hell up! The whole castle is going to collapse!" Sieghart yelled, but Dio didn't seem to have heard the immortal.

Sieghart eventually picked the demon up, only then noticed that the right arm of the demon had been cut off. He then realized that this had been the cause for the yell. He broke the window and jumped out, dragging Dio back to Lass and Ley. The female demon was dead. That was obvious at how Lass looked.

I shook my head. Never knew Lass could tell things so lively. So he started a fire… killed the whole chase, with a few exceptions… It was obvious he couldn't control the blue flame… but something like this?

"If you hate me now… I'm okay with it… Sieghart didn't talk to me since then."

"It's not your fault you can't control it… and why the hell did the castle just burn down like that?!"

"It had been a hot summer… there was no rain for months… and it was night… everyone was asleep…"

I closed my eyes for a moment. It wasn't his fault. He actually went through the effort to try and control his flame. But if it had been dry like that… of course there was a big fire. That at least explained why that castle there looked more like a ruin than anything else.

"And why are you hurting yourself?" I wanted to know.

Lass turned pale and took a step away. I knew exactly what he was thinking now. How I found it out. I knew how to read signs. We both did. But I thought he had gotten better at it, not worse.

"You know, it's pretty obvious that you try to avoid food." I told him.

He stared at me with his big blue eyes, then bit his lip and looked down. "I'm terrified that something like this happens again… I burned the circus down… then the castle…"

"But you know that centuries have passed…"

"That doesn't mean anything! When I'm weak it can't burst out!"

I sighed deeply. He obviously had no idea about this power. Not that I knew that much either, I was also only a rookie. The only person able to teach me about it had left me ages ago.

"It can and it will. And the weaker you are the less control you will have." I told him, my voice firm and I took a step towards him.

"It is difficult to control it, I can't completely control it either. There is only one person who could teach us how to, but I know I will kill this man the moment he enters my sight."

Lass blinked, suddenly seeming surprised.

"…our father." He whispered, as if that bastard would jump out of a corner if he said it too loud.

Not really wanting to acknowledge that I just nodded. I spent most of my life without that guy, I could take a lot more years without him.

"We'll never find him…" Lass muttered. I got the feeling that he actually considered my idea. What the hell did I just do?!

"We won't so it's no use searching for him. Let's get back to the topic."

"What if we do? Sieghart knows a lot… maybe he'll talk to you!"

Oh what a child he still was even after all those years.

"I doubt that guy ever knew our father. Despite that, I don't know any other demon of the Underworld around here. Not even other bounty hunters."

Lass sighed deeply. "But..."

"No buts. Dio and Zero were enough company for a while."

"They visited me, not you. And they only do that because they think I'd break down again-"

I looked at him, frowning. What did he mean with that? Lass backed away as if I found out something he wanted to keep a secret. Well. If he tried to hide it I would have found out anyway.

"… A few months ago… I…" Lass bit his lips, then took a step closer to me. He slowly rolled up his sleeves.

My eyes widened when I saw the scars on his wrists. "You tried to kill yourself you idiot?!"

I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him. His body was even thinner than I wanted to admit. What the hell was he thinking?!

"The memories got too much… Dio and Zero decided to visit me once a week now…"

"So that's why they pretend to be your friends…."

"They're not pretending! Dio actually grabbed my Arm when he stepped into the portal to Elyos. Hell he lost so much blood… But he never said that he regretted taking me to Elyos… and Zero tried so hard to keep me sane… I feel like I betrayed them when I tried to kill myself…"

I stared into his blue eyes. "You did." Was all I could say. What kind of person did he become?! Those two actually saved someone they never cared about and Lass was thanking them like that. But this was getting to deep now. I felt my emotions inside, ready to burst out. And when they'd do, I wouldn't calm down that fast.

"So… must have been a funny sight… Dio getting used to only one arm." Oh how I hated jokes about that. I knew how hard it was. They actually replaced the missing arm quite fast, but the time to realize that it was actually gone took ages.

"How can you of all people make fun about that…" Lass wanted to know.

"Because I know how hard it is."

Lass seemed to think, then chuckled lightly. "I never knew Dio had a kind heart, you know. He always made us believe he was a hateful and selfish person.. Well.. he was selfish but… He let me stay in his castle!"

I nodded. Dio doing that was a bit disturbing. But who knew what that guy was capable off. Maybe it was a plot to get Lass' trust when he needed it one day.

"It was funny to see him like this.. hell, he made jokes about himself all the time. …But… He was powerless. And after a while they wanted Dio to retire as the clan-leader… and he got kicked out. That was about…twenty years ago… then we ended up here, I got a job… Moved to somewhere else, got another job… fighting off memories… and well. Now I am here."

I sighed deeply. All of that happening… It would have never happened if I had never left. I could have taught him what little I knew about the flame. The fire would have never happened… Lime would still… I bit my lip, suddenly realizing my son still believed his mother was alive. I had no picture of her… only memories…

"Rufus?" Lass whispered, now taking my shoulders.

I blinked the tears away. This was not the right time. "I just… Lime. I can't believe she's… gone…"

"Arme is gone as well… Zero said that Sieghart believes that Elesis, Lire, Arme and Rin will be reborn because of an old legend… But he wasn't sure… He gave Zero a book and Zero gave it to me. I… can get it. Wait a second!"

I frowned and moved over to the couch as Lass stormed into the bedroom. When he came back he had an old brown book in his hands. The paper was yellow and wrinkled, some pages seemed to be loose. There were a lot of notes sticking out. When he opened it a sketch of a girl fell out. Lass slowly picked it up and put it on the table.

"Arme." He muttered. I looked at the sketch, impressed at the art. Whoever did that must have been with them to capture the girl that well.

"Zero said it's the best he could do, but it's good enough to remind me."

I actually gaped. Zero? Drawing? What?!

"You should see his pictures… It's like he's drawing dreams."

"I can't imagine this guy doing anything than slashing around with a sword…."

"The next time he's coming over you should ask him to draw something… he's drawn a lot of scenes for that book… " Lass pointed at the leather cover of the book.

I shook my head in disbelief. "I won't believe that until I see it with my own two eyes, dio acted so weird too, cooking and all the crap."

Lass smiled. "Well… Dio's a chef."

"Wait. What?!" Hell! surprises everywhere. How was Dio even able to do that with an arm missing? And what the hell was Lass doing then?! And Sieghart! What… I couldn't find words.

"What are you then?"

"Nothing special… not doing assassin stuff anymore, if you mean that…"

"Sieghart?"

"… He's… running a bookstore."

At least something normal around here. But… ah right. The lazy bastard. He could sleep all day.

Gaah I'm getting a headache…" I muttered, shaking my head. "This is too much for me…"

Lass sighed and put the book on the table, then flipped through the pages. White paper with sketches where everywhere in there. Landscapes, People, buildings. The castle. Lime…

"Hold on!" I slammed my hands between the pages, keeping Lass from flipping more pages. As if knowing what I had seen he turned a few pages over and took the picture of Lime out. Carefully I took it, biting my lip.

"I really… can't believe Zero can do that."

"I didn't as well… it's just so… weird."

"Exactly…"