A rare thing to come home to was laughter. Well, sometimes there would be one or two of his family members chuckling at some private joke or some morbid tidbit of humor. Never had Tyki ever come home to all of his family members laughing so hard they were falling over. All except Road, who looked stoic and sad, not her usual peppy, excitable self.

Something was wrong, he just knew it.

Before he could reach his family, Road ran toward him and pulled him away from them. Tears were forming in her eyes. Not sadness, but pity was there. She guided him through several hallways until they reached her room. It was full of cutesy stuffed animals and frilly edges. Road sat him down on the bed, wiped away her tears, and sniffled.

"Tyki, something really bad happened..."

"What's wrong?" Tyki asked, fear edging into his voice.

"Well, a bunch of the other Noah went on a mission together while you were out in Norway searching for Innocence. They, um, they saw Lavi and Allen and that Crow that's been hanging around Allen. Somehow, they found out about you and Lavi, and they started to taunt him about it. They said that you didn't love him, and it was only for sex and information. Lavi got really confused, and so did Allen and the Crow. So...so they took advantage of Lavi's confusion...and killed him."

Silence was all there was as Tyki's head drooped. Road thought at first that Tyki had died from shock and heartbreak, but that wasn't at all what had happened. No, he would have been happy to die, but he was alive. Alive and alone in the world. Tears streaked down his face as he began sobbing.

Lavi was his life, his only reason for any of his smiles, even the fake ones.

"I'm so so sorry, Tyki," Road said, barely over a whisper. She had never hated Lavi, or Allen, or most of the other exorcists. She cared for her family, and respected who they were in love with. Road truly wished that Lavi hadn't died, for Tyki's sake at least. "I wasn't there. I swear, if I was, I would have stopped them. They told me when they got back."

Tyki nodded slowly, then shuddered. "Where is he?"

"I, um, I think that since Lavi was labeled a traitor, he'll be put in a coffin and set in the woods somewhere far from anyone, without a burial. After all, he was a Bookman and an exorcist, no one he knew would turn him into an akuma...including you. He won't be given the dignity of being cremated and released." Road grew quieter and quieter with each phrase.

"And how do you know what I'd do?" Tyki snapped.

"Because, Tyki! Akuma don't keep their souls, or their bodies, or anything! You'd just be keeping Lavi from resting in peace, and you wouldn't do that to him if you really loved him!"

He just looked so lonely and hurt, "But I need him...What am I even here for, if he's not here? Why didn't I die too? I don't want to be here without him."

His dear little niece sat next to him and leaned on him gently. She wrapped her arms around him as his body shivered with silent tears. "Shhh...you know that Lavi loved you. You know that he'd want you to live. You know he'd want you to be happy. Live for him, Tyki."

Her uncle fell into silence again as the grief surrounded him. All off his senses dulled as he thought of his lost love, his dear little Red. After what seemed like a long time, Tyki spoke again. "Where's the coffin?"

"In a huge forest in Romania, why?"

"Can you make me a door? I want to say goodbye."

Road nodded quietly and stood. A sort-of heart-shaped door snapped open on the far empty wall. She took her uncle's hand and led him through it, into a forest clearing. Letting go of his hand, she stepped back through the door. "Just knock, and I'll bring you back, okay? Take as long as you need." Then she left and shut the door after her.

Tyki was still, his eyes taking in the scene. The trees looked at least a hundred feet tall, and extremely old. The grass was still dewwy, and there were a few small wild flowers growing on the edge of the clearing. Then there was the coffin. It wasn't fancy at all, a simple black coffin with a silvery cross emblazoned on the front.

Shaking slightly in the cold, he kneeled next to the coffin and opened it slowly. The inside was lined with a white silk, and a soft pillow to cushion his head. The dead man's fiery hair lay across his forehead, covering his black eye patch and headband. Lavi was laid to rest in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie. The outfit looked strange on him, but only because he was dead. A rose, a gold pocket watch, an envelope, and a note lay tucked under his clasped hands.

The watch was Tyki's. He had forgotten it on Lavi's nightstand after one of his more sultry secret visits to the Order. It had ended up being gifted to his lover, so the younger man had always carried it.

The rose was a reminder of what Lavi must've always been seen with. A rose meant love, and so Tyki would leave one with him every time they met. It was their ritual, and Lavi loved it. A thornless red rose would be pressed into his fingers along with a mind-numbing kiss on his lips.

Tyki gently took the note and folded it open to find that it was written in an unfamiliar handwriting.

Dear Tyki Mikk,

To tell the truth, I knew about you and Lavi for a very long time. It was obvious to me, although not to anyone else. I couldn't miss the extra hop in Lavi's step, or the blushing and smiling at nothing, or any other lovesick attributes that he displayed after or during a battle with you, where you two never got hurt. Lavi was one of my friends though, so I kept it a secret from my brother and the rest of the Order.

When I heard about his death, I was devastated, and I knew you would be too. So I started looking through his things (with special permission from my brother), so that I could leave you some things that I'm sure he would have wanted you to have to remember him by. While searching, I found that gold watch, and the envelope, and I knew that he was almost always seen with a rose after going off alone.

The envelope had your name on it, so I didn't open it.

I'm going to slip this note and all of those things into the coffin near the end of the funeral, so that maybe these will reach you. I'm betting on you coming to visit him. He loved you, I know he did, and I'm sure that you loved him too.

Best Wishes, Lenalee Lee

Dropping the note, he tore into the envelope and salvaged the letter. The paper had tear stains on it and

Dearest Tyki,

I'm scared. The Order seems a bit suspicious, but that may just be my nerves. The other Noah seem to be more active, but that's probably just my fear. I'm scared of being found out, I'm scared of dying, I'm scared of being away from you, my love.

You are the one person that loves me for me, with no lies intervening with your opinion. I hope that someday, this war will end and we can be together. But that's just wishful thinking, right? Even so, it's what I want most in the world. To be able to be together without our duties getting in the way.

I'm writing this to tell you something important though. Or, rather, ask. Would you like to run away from it all with me? We can't possibly ever be free from this otherwise. I know you probably will say no, but I want to so badly. And maybe we can go somewhere that is so isolated that no one would care who we are or what we looked like. Somewhere that no one would care that we were together.

I love you, forever and always, through life and death and anything else.

Your Lovely, Red

"I would have gone..." Tyki whispered to the man who could no longer hear him. "I would have dropped any and all responsibilities. I would have run away from it all with you. I would have gone through anything if we could finally truly be together."

Laying a soft kiss on his dead lover's cold lips, he clutched Lavi's stiff hands and cried without restraint. For his lost love, and life.


((Anyway, so that was chapter 3! I hope you enjoyed it, even if there was some character death. So R&R and all of that stuff.

Now, onto a completely different subject.

I'd like to dedicate this fic to several people. My friend Jasmine lost her little brother to brain cancer a few days ago, so I'd like to send my heart out to her and her family for their loss. Ace was only three.))