Sorry for the two week delay. But I have to admit that it was a nice break for me. I got time to actually think about the plot and stuff.

Okay, well I don't have much to say today. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Meaning, I do not claim. C:

When everything around you is a mess, how can one see what is real and what is not?

Toko leaned back, away from him, ripples of shock coursing through her.

"B-but you're… But Jasdero and Debitto…" she said slowly, knowing that she wasn't really making any sense with her words. Jasdebi waited patiently for her to collect herself.

The word he was waiting for, the one that indicated her understanding, finally slipped out of her mouth.

"C-combine…"

"Yeah. That's right."

"But how-"

Jasdebi laughed dryly. "We're kinda special, remember?"

She stared back at him for a moment before tears welled up in her eyes. Slightly surprised, he reached out, touching her cheek. The fabric of his gloves absorbed the wet tears, leaving behind only thin, salty stains on her cheeks.

A sob broke through her. "I'm so, so terrible…" she whimpered, reaching out to wrap her arms around Jasdebi. He started, looking concerned. Since when had she been like this?

"What are you talking about? You're not terrible." he assured her, giving her his own embrace.

"No! I'm horrible! I said… I told them bo- told you both… that I loved someone else…" she yelled, her voice rising with hysteria.

Jasdebi swallowed. "What… What are you getting at?" he asked.

He felt her grip on him tighten, and her voice was layered with horror. "I told you that I loved someone else… when it was you I loved the whole time… I-I hurt you… I hurt both of you…"

A few seconds passed before he understood.

"Wait, me? You were talking about me?"

Toko slowly nodded. How was this possible? She'd never seen him before! Well, except for a few quick glances, but still…

"I… don't really understand." Jasdebi said. "How could you… I mean… When did you see me? I tried to be so careful about revealing myself to you." he said slowly.

Toko pulled away a bit. "I… thought I was dreaming. But after it happened more than once… And what with everything else going on… I started to believe that everything I thought I was dreaming, was real." She looked up at him. "And I was right, right?"

Before Toko realized what he was doing, he had pulled her close to him, sighing with relief.

"So you do love me… both of us…" he said slowly, his eye closed. "Somehow, I'm really… happy. I wish I had found out somewhere not as depressing as this place."

She nodded. "Ah…" she stopped, biting her lip.

Jasdebi opened his eye, understanding. "Jasdebi. I'm called Jasdebi."

"Jasdebi…"

His name spoken from her lips, without fear but with love. He would have kissed her then and there, but unfortunately, there were more important things at hand.

He stood up, taking her with him. She wobbled a bit on her feet, clinging to his arm, and as he watched her, horror flooded over her face as she remembered why she was here in the first place. He could only distract her for so long.

"Ca-"

"Yeah, I know. Let's go save Cassie."

How can we advance to the future if we are stuck dwelling on the past?

The scene laid out before them, like some sick and twisted play preformed by a possessed Shakespeare. Akuma flew, ran, floated past, ignoring the Noah and the human.

The door to Cassie's house hung on its hinges, barely clinging to the door frame. The inside was no better. This place didn't even resemble a home anymore. This place was a grave.

It was Toko who entered first, covering her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her shirt. Jasdebi second, one hand resting on the shoulder of the distraught girl.

There was no sign of the girl's friend.

Of course, that didn't mean she was… dead. He would have voiced this, but his voice seemed to be missing. He would only stare at Toko sadly as her eyes scanned the wreckage.

"Cassie…"

"I'm sorry, Toko."

He let go of her as she ventured further inside, searching now. A table was kicked aside, doors opened, any hiding places searched.

Had this all been in vain?

She returned to him, defeated. He held her as she cried, silently, those tears shed for the death of humans, for one human in particular.

Would she cry like this if he were to die?

"Hey, Jasdebi, what are you doing here?"

The voice startled the pair. Jasdebi whirled around, golden eye burning, only to meet another pair like his own.

"Tyki?"

Toko's eyes widened. "T-Tyki! You shouldn't be-" she cut off, seeing and realizing. He was the same as Jasdebi. Maybe this was making a little more sense. Or maybe not. Nothing really made sense anymore.

Tyki, always the gentleman, tipped his hat slightly, then turned around and moved to the side, letting another figure into the line of sight of Jasdebi and Toko.

Toko screamed.

"Cassie!" she cried, running to embrace her battered and bruised, yet alive and intact, friend. "Oh God, you're okay!"

Cassie's arms slowly reached around to hug Toko. Her face reflected horror, fear, but also a bit of relief.

"Toko, you're okay…" she whispered, her voice hoarse. "How…"

"Jasdebi." Toko said, turning around to look at the Noah, who only stared back, feeling a bit awkward. Tyki was eyeing him strangely too.

"What?" he asked, annoyed, when his Noah superior continued to stare.

Tyki shrugged. "Just wondering what you're doing like that." he said, indicating to his combined form. Jasdebi flinched inwardly. He had some explaining to do.

But not now.

"Toko, my father, is he here? Is he okay?" Jasdebi heard Cassie whispering franticly. He looked to Tyki for understanding.

"She wanted to come back for her father." Tyki said with another shrug. "I thought I'd be nice and save her, since she's your girlfriend's best friend. But she insisted on coming back."

With a small glance back at him, Toko left with Cassie to search all of the rooms again. Jasdebi stared after her, worry painted all over his face.

"It's fine, I've told the akuma to stay away from here." Tyki said. "More importantly, I think there's something you should have noticed by now.

Jasdebi groaned. "Oh, cut it with being so mysterious. What is it?"

Tyki took his time responding as he reached his pockets for a cigarette. He cursed as he found none. "The Innocence, morons. It's here. You should have felt it by now."

The younger Noah opened his mouth to respond to the insult, but stopped. Tyki was right. He could feel it.

His thought were interrupted by a scream from upstairs.

"Toko!" Jasdebi yelled without thinking, sprinting to the stairs as Tyki finally found and lit his cancer stick.

"… Idiots. I told you not to get too attached to anything."

"Father!" Cassie yelled, as Jasdebi ran into the room, searching for Toko. Not realizing that neither was really in any danger, he wrapped his arms around Toko, shielding her from danger that wasn't really there.

She gave him a confused look. "Jasdebi, wh-what are you doing?"

He blinked, finally taking time to look around.

As he did, his blood turned to ice in his veins.

It was him. That man from back in the memory of the twins. The one who had condemned them, chased them, tried to kill them.

And the cube of Innocence hung around his neck.

Cassie was knelt over him. Something clicked in Jasdebi's head. He was Cassie's father. This monster. And he had what he had been looking for all along.

He was easy prey. His limbs were broken and bleeding. Feeble breath made its way in and out of his lungs. Everything about him screamed 'weak', 'helpless', 'pathetic'.

"Cassie…" the monster choked out, reaching for the girl. The blond let out a sob, taking his bloody hands in hers.

"It's okay, father… We'll get you out of here. Everything is going to be okay." she assured him. Assured herself.

Everything was not going to be okay.

The Noah took a step forward, letting go of Toko. Fury was blinding him, moving him like a puppet on strings. This man had to die. This monster, who had wrongly accused him of being so, had to die.

"You." he hissed out through clenched teeth. All eyes turned to him, every pair as shocked as the next.

Toko was the first to understand. "Wait, Jasdebi! Don't!" she grabbed his arm, but he easily shook her off, rounding on her with the fury meant for his would-be murderer.

"You know what he tried to do to me! You of all people should understand! I'm going to kill this sick bastard! And I don't want you trying to stop me!"

Toko backed away, shock clear on her face. She had been stupid to think he wouldn't still lash out at her. She should understand. She should hate him just as much as he did. He turned away, ignoring her for the moment. He would deal with her and her tears later.

He easily tossed Cassie aside, though he didn't do it too hard as to hurt her. He had enough sense left in him to hold back a bit. Now it was just him, and her father, who seemed to have guessed by now who and what he was.

"I thought we… I… we got rid of you…" he whispered, then hung his head as he was struck by a fit of coughing. He was dying already. Blood exited his mouth as he coughed, splattering in a lovely red pattern on the already bloody floor.

Jasdebi sneered, his truly insane side starting to show. "You'll have to do a lot more than that to get rid of me. Now look what you've done? Because you couldn't kill me back then, I get the pleasure of killing you now."

Cassie screamed, running towards him. With barely a flicker of movement, she was restrained by powerful locks of hair, struggling but failing to be free.

Jasdebi sighed. "But you know, this is no fun. You're gonna die anyway. Maybe I should just take that nice little trinket around your neck and leave you here."

Any color remaining drained from the man's face. "N-no, this is-"

"Oh, I have a better idea! I'll take the Innocence, destroy it, and then destroy you." he interrupted him, his voice cheerful. Another lock of hair darted out, grabbing the Innocence and ripping it from the thread that hung it around the dying man's neck.

And finally, he had the damn thing in his hands. After all this searching, he'd done it. A little too much work for one little cube, but maybe it was worth it.

He grinned down at his enemy God's treasured weapon. "Bye-bye."

The Innocence flashed green in his hands as he begun the destruction, and Toko cried out again, this time locking her arms around his waist. He didn't stop her; the image of the Innocence crumbling in his hands made him nearly oblivious to everything else. This feeling, this happiness that spread through him whenever he destroyed one of these things… could easily be compared to the feelings of a junkie after going a month without a fix, and finally getting his hands on a whole load of drugs. This high had him grinning like a madman.

Until the light faded, and his real senses returned to him, replacing his insane grin with a look of horror.

Toko was sobbing into the back of his shirt, terrified to let go and yet terrified to be near him. His Noah instinct had nearly driven him mad. Insane enough to yell at her, hurt her even.

He took a shaky breath, the Innocence dust slipping from his hands as he moved them to rest over hers, which were clinging to his front.

"Toko, I'm so sorry… I don't know-" he stopped. He did know. "I… I didn't mean to do that. I couldn't stop it."

How could he make her understand? That being a Noah, these things were unavoidable. When confronted with Innocence, he had to destroy it. When meeting an exorcist, he had to kill them. There was no avoiding these things. His Noah genes and memories forced him to, and anything that got in his way would be pushed aside.

He must have let go of Cassie without realizing it, because she had thrown herself between him and her father. Brave girl, he thought. He no longer cared for the man. He had to stop dwelling on the past and move on.

"Come on, Toko, we have to get out of here…" he murmured. "You're still in danger."

This seemed to surprise both Toko and Cassie.

"You're not going to-" Cassie started, but Jasdebi shook his head.

"Try and get yourselves away from here. If you can make it out of the village, you'll be safe." Jasdebi said as Toko slipped her arms away from him, taking a few steps back. Cassie's father eyed him with shock and suspicion.

"Why are you helping us?" he asked in a wheezy voice, his throat slightly clotted with blood. Jasdebi just shrugged.

"I guess I don't hate humans as much anymore. After all," he turned around to face Toko, who still looked worried and afraid. He tilted her head up towards him, gently brushing his lips over hers.

He pulled back, smiling. "After all, I'm in love with one."

Crazy Jasdebi is crazy. -yawns-

Sleep time.