How to Save a Life

by saxon-jesus

At age 21, Lavi finally convinces Bookman to let him study at Harvard. Though weighed down with a heavy courseload, he is secure in his resolve to be a Bookman, but his new roommate, an obviously traumatized Kanda Yuu, begins to change that. Kanda/Lavi

25. Point of No Return

Chapter 25 — Point of No Return

"I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil."

― J.R.R. Tolkein

March 19th

Someone was talking loudly nearby. In fact, there was a lot of noise in general. Beeps and mechanical whirs, squeaky wheels, whirring wheels over tile, footsteps running back and forth. Somewhere, a television blared out a carpet cleaning commercial. He didn't move or open his eyes, just wanting to take in the sounds, a little afraid to do anything else. He didn't think he was ready to face whatever was out there.

"What do you mean, you don't know why? There must be some reason neither of them have woken up! I thought you were a doctor! It's been two days! Tell me something."

"Tiedoll, please, calm down." Lenalee. He could imagine her lifting her hands in a placating gesture. She sounded a little nasal, like she'd blown her nose too many times.

"Calm down? I just want to know what's wrong with them!" Tiedoll's voice broke often as he spoke, the volume crescendoing into something high and shrill.

They couldn't be too far from him—maybe just outside whatever room he was in. But who was "both of them"? Who else was sleeping? Lizzie? She'd been concussed. No. Probably Yuu. The steady beeping—his heart monitor, he realized—spiked into a panicked fury.

He opened his eyes. Damn, why is it so bright? Blurry whiteness flooded into his brain from both eyes. He tried to bring a hand up to investigate this strange event and felt the pull of an IV. A hospital for sure. But he had no memory of arriving. In fact, he had trouble dredging any of his memories up. His hand felt over his face. The eye patch was nowhere to be found and his fingers met nothing but the confusing texture of smooth unscarred skin. How had this happened?

Blinking, his vision began to clear. He looked around the room hoping for some answers and immediately his head began to spin aggravatingly. Having two eyes again was definitely not what he had bargained for. It was typical hospital room, but though a curtain hung on a rail to separate him from another bed, he did not seem to have a roommate. To his left, once the dizziness cleared from turning his head, he saw that Lizzie sat on a hard-looking couch. She was dozing over a book, head bobbing into the pages.

His pulse had already settled from the jump, which he was surprised nobody had noticed. No. That was wrong. Tiedoll and Lenalee both stood, just outside the door, gaping in bug-eyed, soundless amazement, like two overlarge fish.

Slowly, he sat up—shit, he was dizzy—and pressed his tube-filled hand to his stomach where there was no pain at all. No twinge followed the pressure of his hand, so he dug it in. Still nothing.

He remembered, now, the panicked fight, the slash of the knife into his stomach, the confusion. Even with the dizziness, his mind was working far too well for someone who had passed out multiple times from concussion and blood loss.

Lenalee let out a strangled cry and ran in. Lizzie, waking to the noise, gasped.

"Oh my god, Lavi, you're awake!" Lizzie yelled.

A moment later, Lenalee collided with him, her arms half-strangling him as they came tightly around his neck. Then they were both knocked completely flat as Tiedoll, laughing, joined them. A doctor and two nurses came running, their sneakers loud against the tiled floor.

"Get off him—what are you doing!?" Said one of them, shooing off Lavi's guests while the second nurse adjusted his IV stand—it had fallen—and the doctor took out a penlight and shone it into his good eyes.

Lavi winced back—his left eye was twice as sensitive as the right—and tried to turn his head, but the doctor it firmly from the back. Her fingers were very cold, like room-temperature metal touching his skin after a warm bath. With her thumb and forefinger, she pried Lavi's right eyelid back open and continued to flash the light. She followed suit a moment later with the other one.

"Good pupil reactions," she said, and released him. "Are you in any pain?"

"No," croaked Lavi, bemused. But he should be. His stomach should be ripped wide open, his head should be throbbing with each successive beat of his heart. He should be heavily sedated, in agony. But he wasn't. Had it all been a hallucination, or…? His mind came up blank. What in the hells of every religion on earth had happened?

He answered a few more cursory questions, not really concentrating on the blithe responses he gave between coughs. His throat was scratchy and dry with disuse. One of the nurses, the fit man with dark skin and shiny teeth, brought him a glass of water. He lifted it to his mouth and jolted as it clinked against his teeth. Some of it slopped down his chin. He sipped it slowly, though he really wanted to chug it down like shitty beer.

The doctor pulled Tiedoll from the room while the nurses poked and prodded at him, taking his vitals. They followed the doctor out of the room for a hushed conference. Lenalee said something about getting coffee and left as well.

Lizzie edged over to his bed. Up close, Lavi took in her bloodshot eyes, her red face and pallid skin. Though her hair hung in a braid, many frizzy strands were pulling loose. The only sign of injury were the gauze bandages at her temple and on her cheek. Abruptly, a smile bloomed on her face.

"You're awake," she said, and the relief in her voice made him reach out to catch her hand in his. She began tearing up.

"What happened?" Lavi asked.

"I don't know," she said. "You were bleeding everywhere. There was so much blood. You stopped breathing, I think"

Lavi grimaced. It had happened as he remembered, then.

"And then Yuu walked up and started talking to you. You passed out again, and he… he… it was like he came to some decision there." She took a deep breath, gripping the rail of Lavi's bed in one hand and squeezing the Lavi's with the other. He felt bone shift, but he squeezed back.

"He looked at me and asked me—" she broke off with a dry sob, "—he asked me to tell you he loved you and he just—" she sobbed again, holding Lavi's hand so tightly it started to go numb at the fingertips. "He put his hand over your mouth, kissed you, and just sort of s-slumped over."

She was sobbing in earnest now, the words coming in fits as she tried to breathe.

"He p-p-passed out, too. Neither of you—would wake—up. I th-thought—Jason—" her voice broke on his name, "—had done something—to him too."

Lavi used their connected hands to pull her closer so she was leaning over the rail and into him. Tears trickled onto his cotton hospital gown, but he ignored them.

"I'm so sorry, Lizzie," he said, carefully patting her shoulder with his IV hand. He avoided the head because he was still fairly sure she had a concussion. Not as bad as his had been, though.

She wailed between gasps for air. "Oh, Lavi, I didn't know what to do! The police—arrived just—j-just a minute later. And th-they had EMTs… only there was no—no wound. No trace of wh-what he did to you. But there w-was so much—blood!"

So he had healed as Yuu usually did. That was odd, but he tamped down that train of thought. Now wasn't the time for figuring out how it was possible. He just had to accept that it was. He could worry about it later.

"That's really odd," he said, continuing to pat her shoulder.

"And my damn head h-h-hurts so much!"

"I'm sorry," Lavi said. "I forgot to ask you—are you? Are you alright?"

She nodded, hiccupping. "Concussion," she mumbled. "And some abrasions."

Lavi pulled her closer, essentially lifting her onto the bed. Lizzie stifled her sobs until she was only sniffling.

"I just don't understand why Jason—" Lizzie cut herself off with a half-sob.

"Don't think about it now, Lizzie."

They stayed that way for a few minutes, just resting in each other's arms, trying not to cry.

"Lizzie?" He asked once her sniffles had ceased. "Where's Yuu?"

"They took him for testing. They can't figure out why he's passed out—or why you had lost so much blood without a visible wound."

"Well, they're not the only ones," Lavi said, rolling his eyes and fighting the bout of dizziness that , having depth perception again was really a pain in the ass.

"Everyone—the doctors, the police—kept asking me what happened and why I was the only one hurt. I had no idea."

"I'd been hurt, too," said Lavi. "Who knows? What about Jason? Is he here too?"

Lizzie shook her head, tears in her eyes again. "I told them we'd been attacked, but they said there was only blood in the clearing. J-Jas—he wasn't there."

Lavi nodded at that. Even if the police had found his body, the Bookmen would clean up their own mess. Regardless of whether Jason lived or not, his body would never be found.

A commotion at the door announced Lenalee's return. She was scowling, holding a tiny styrofoam cup, muttering under her breath about shitty hospital sludge coffee.

—

Apparently, it was against hospital policy as a patient to remove your own IV and walk around the hospital to look for your boyfriend. He pouted at the nurse who caught him. He felt fine. It wasn't even like the there had been medicine in the IV. In fact, he hadn't even been attached to a bag. Well, he had been, but it had been empty for over 30 minutes and no one had been by to cap his line off again. Plus, he had only fallen over three times when he had first gotten up, and he thought that was pretty good for not having depth perception for almost a decade.

He tried to be reasonable, but he couldn't help but feel anxious the longer he went without news. Tiedoll hadn't returned to his room, and Lizzie had fallen asleep a little while after Lenalee had stopped in (and then promptly left again) to complain about the subpar coffee. He'd made his great escape then.

It wasn't like the nurse was being mean, he tried to convince himself. She just didn't want to lose her job, so he followed her obediently.

He strolled down the hall, lagging just a bit behind the nurse because, yes, he was a little salty about being caught. The nurse turned a corner ahead of him, but as he looked into the door of the last room before the turn, he caught sight of Lenalee. He didn't think twice about slipping inside to investigate.

"Lavi, what are you doing here?" Lenalee asked, shocked nearly out of her chair. "Does anyone know you're up?"

"Yes, actually," he replied, pasting a bright smile on his face. "One of the nurses just caught me and was frog-marching me back to my room."

"I don't see her," said Lenalee, looking beyond him, but Lavi's attention had fallen on the occupant of the room's single bed.

Yuu.

He barely felt his feet as he came up to Yuu's side. His hand moved without his permission to Yuu's hand. It was cool but not cold. Definitely still alive.

"Lavi?" Lenalee was standing now. Lavi saw it in his peripheral vision.

"I escaped again, obviously," he said faintly.

"What did you do, knock her out?"

Not hearing her, Lavi squeezed Yuu's hand, but there was no response. The muscles remained relaxed and still. He looked at the monitor beside the bed and frowned. Bookman had taught him basic human biology-he didn't have to be a doctor or anything to recognize low heart rate and low blood pressure. Not reassuring.

"It's just like with you, you know?" Said Lenalee, coming up beside him. She spoke without much inflection. Just telling him so he knew. "No injuries, no drugs—yeah, I know, but the doctor had to check because they were so confused—no previous medical condition that anyone knew of. Just… sleep."

"Lizzie said they noticed the blood loss in me," said Lavi, trying to keep his brain from working.

"Yeah, that confused the hell out of them. Just blood on the snow and all over you. They're running the DNA through their databases, but that'll take weeks. They didn't believe anything Lizzie told them—chocked it all up to a hallucination caused by the concussion."

Lavi let out a hollow guffaw. "Won't they be surprised when they get the blood back and it's all mine."

"Yeah," said Lenalee. She wasn't looking at him, but down at Yuu's prone form.

"Not that anyone would believe the miraculous healing thing anyway," Lavi remarked, tracing the black ink of Yuu's tattoo, which now extended past his shoulder and all the way down his arm. So much bigger than it had been a few weeks ago.

Lenalee chuckled, but it was as mirthless as Lavi's guffaw had been. "Definitely not."

She sighed and put her head down on the side of the bed. Lavi laid his free hand on her back.

If his suspicions were right, he needed to get Yuu some help. Which meant he needed to be discharged. Fast.

—

March 20th

He was free. The paperwork was signed and he was discharged. Tiedoll was there. He'd apparently run back to the cabin to pick up a change of clothes for everyone when he'd disappeared yesterday.

It was a sober trip back to the cabin to pack their things, no one speaking. Lenalee's lips pressed together in a thin line as she drove. At last, they arrived, the car crunching the snow beneath them as they pulled up the drive. It had snowed heavily while Lavi had been out, and all signs of their snowball fight and their late-night visitor had been utterly erased.

There were a few grunts as they hung up their coats and tucked away their boots in ground-level cubbies. Most came from Allen, who wore a compression boot around his ankle. It wasn't broken, Lavi had learned with relief when he finally saw the boy that morning, but he had strained his peroneal tendons and torn some ligaments—only one of which was severe. He'd been "discouraged" from walking on it and had been presented with a hands-free crutch that looked like a cross between those weird knee scooters and a pegleg.

Together, they emptied the cabin of their belongings. Lenalee sighed longingly at the hot tub and sauna in a tiled area of the furnished basement.

"We didn't get to use it even once," she said as she gathered the things she'd left there and handed them to Lavi. He was the resident pack mule, it turned out.

Lavi himself had trouble turning away from the gently steaming water. How he would have liked to splash around in there with Yuu…

He winced at the thought and moved on.

After they'd gotten everything into the car, Lizzie made a run to the main lodge to return Lavi's rented skis. He was the only one that didn't own a pair. Allen had gone with her—not out of choice, but because Lenalee had (in her words) packed him away after he'd fallen over a fourth time, still unused to the crutch.

"Lenalee…" Lavi said as the two of them loafed on the couch. The TV was on, but though they both were looking directly at it, neither were paying it any attention.

"Yeah?" She didn't move her glassy-eyed stare from the TV and spoke almost absently.

"I want to come back after we drop Lizzie off back on campus."

"Me too," she said. A pause. "I don't think Tiedoll would stop us. Komui might throw a fit, but he can suck my dick."

"...You don't have a dick."

"Of course I do, Lavi. Every girl has a dick."

He blinked, and Lenalee sighed.

"It's a metaphorical dick, Lavi."

"Right." A beat. "Lenalee, can I borrow your phone? I want to check my email."

"Sure thing," she said, handing it to him. She turned her face back to the TV screen and went glassy-eyed again.

He launched her browser app and loaded up his email. Focusing on the small screen was a new trial altogether for his newly restored vision. Junk, junk, junk, Nigerian prince, junk, junk, dick enlargement, junk… wait. From the office of Dr…

His chest giving a little thrill, he clicked on it.

Thank you for your interest in the renowned doctor's work. Unfortunately, Dr. Karma will be out of the office until April 1st. If you would like to place an order for more herbal remedies, please call the number below or order online.

He stopped breathing. No. This couldn't wait until April. Yuu was in a coma now. His hands shook as he logged out and closed the browser.

"Thanks," he said, proud that not a tremor made it into his voice. Lenalee didn't even look at him as he handed her phone back.

He didn't speak at all until they got back to campus that evening. Lizzie reached over and squeezed his hand a couple times in the car. Lavi just numbly sat, trying to keep from shaking. He couldn't panic yet. Perhaps his fears were unfounded.

Lenalee dropped him and Lizzie off at their dorm room. They separated when they reached his door. Lavi raised a hand in a motionless wave as she continued to her room. She'd tried to say something to him, but when he hadn't responded, she'd just patted his arm, grimacing in sympathy, and turned to go.

It took him four attempts to get the key into the lock. It kept rattling against the doorknob. Finally, he slammed the door open and got the luggage in. He was hardly breathing as he shut and locked the door. His hands couldn't get a proper purchase on the drawer.

Yuu had locked the desk before they'd gone. Lavi let out a string of curses. He didn't have the key. Taking out his lockpicking gear (one of the few good things he'd gotten out of being a Bookman), he tried that, but he was shaking so hard he kept dropping his picks.

Eyes stinging with tears, near to hyperventilating, he kicked at the drawer. When that didn't work, he searched under Yuu's blanket-there was a disturbing amount of shit stored underneath. There was even a small, flat set of drawers in which he kept various artists' tools, including a tiny tin of loose graphite. Lavi couldn't comprehend how Yuu could stand it.

"Fuck it," he said finally, taking up the toolkit Yuu kept in his closet. He took out a screwdriver, but he couldn't find any screws. Quickly discarding it, he pulled out the hammer. It would do.

He felt no remorse whatsoever as he slid beneath the desk and took the hammer to the flimsy underside of the drawer. Made of a thin, hardly substantial length of pine, it broke easily. Some of Yuu's possessions fell to the floor, and Lavi pushed them away with a growl. He reached in, feeling the base of what had formerly been the bell jar, and pulled it out. And dropped it.

The dead petals skittered across the floor. One landed on Lavi's chest. But he paid that no mind, as his eyes were drawn to the flower itself. Or what was left of it.

One petal.

Only one solitary petal remained.

One. Petal.

It quivered on the stem, already discolored and beginning to shrivel up. Almost ready to drop. Even the stem looked sickly, more like a dried up stick used for kindling than a living plant. Tears trickled freely from both of his eyes. . Nothing had ever been wrong with the tear duct of his mangled one. But it was still a strange experience to have blurriness in both of dripped past his ear and to the floor. He couldn't see; his breaths came too shallowly.

Yuu had once mentioned how he worried the death of the lotus would herald his own. Lavi had been skeptical, but with Yuu still in a coma, it seemed inevitable.

He moved slowly, carefully, from under the desk, pulling the sick lotus with him. The last little petal shook so hard Lavi was sure it would drop. For nearly a minute, he froze, breathless, waiting for it to happen. But it slowed, then stopped. Only for it to go at it full force again when he moved it again.

Finally, he was out from under the desk and had placed the lotus on its unmarred surface. Once he was certain the petal wouldn't fall if he turned his back, he lunged for his phone. He flipped it open, nearly ripping the top off by accident, and dialed.

And redialed because his traitorous fingers kept missing the right buttons.

Panic was not going to help him now—it never did—but he could no longer find that place within him where he deposited his emotions. The phone began to ring. Now was not the time for fear.

The woman who answered was all business.

"You've reached Cloud Nine."

Even in his panic, Lavi rolled his eyes. She was still answering like that?

"I need to call in a favor," said Lavi. His voice didn't shake, at least.

"I don't do favors, darling. Everyone who deals with me knows that."

"For me, you do. Or don't you remember the Bookman who kept you from going to prison five years ago?" He hated having to do this, but she did promise and he had a very good memory.

The woman paused, and he heard a pen tapping.

"I… didn't think you would actually call me. Hadn't heard from the Bookmen since. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Didn't think they usually went this route for information." She shuffled something on her end.

"They don't," said Lavi. "I'm no longer working for them." The other side of the line went silent. "Look, I really need this information, so I'm calling in the favor you owe me."

"Wait—Deak, are you telling me you got away from the old man and lived?" Her leather chair squeaked as she moved. Probably sitting up straight. She was always itching for more information. Considering she was an information broker, though, he couldn't blame her. Anything she could glean could mean a large paycheck. And the fact that he still lived after leaving the Bookmen would yield an enormous one. It was the risk of working outside of the Bookmen, one he had decided to take.

He didn't think she'd sell that information, though. The Bookmen already knew he still lived, and anyway, she owed him. It had been much more than the life imprisonment and possible death sentence that he'd saved her from. He wondered what might have happened if he'd taken her up on her offer to get him away back then.

"Yeah, though that name's dead now. Will you help me or not?"

"Sure, kid. Anything for another lost soul. What do you need?" Her voice was much softer now, gentler. A lot more like the woman he'd met.

"A phone number. The personal line for a Dr. Alma Karma, though he isn't technically a doctor anymore. Based out of Beijing. I've got the website, but I need to talk to this guy as soon as possible. It's really urgent. Someone's life is on the line, and he has critical knowledge I need—knowledge even you couldn't get me."

"Okay… Alma Karma. Former doctor. Beijing. Website?"

He read it out to her in the NATO phonetic alphabet so she'd get it right the first time.

"He's been convicted of aiding and abetting in Japan," he added, giving her the details and spelling out a link to the article he'd found about it. "Do you have an online dropbox of some sort? I have prison records I can send too."

He booted up his computer, and she told him where to go. He sent her all the information he'd gathered.

"Okay, gotcha," Cloud said. "Let me scroll through these…" She hummed absentmindedly as she clicked through the documents. After a few minutes, she spoke again. "Should be able to find the guy pretty easy. No guarantees on when, but I'll work on it right away for you. Let you know when I find something."

"Thanks, Cloud."

They said their good-byes and hung up. His shaking had diminished, though the tension still knotted his stomach. All he could do now was wait.

—

March 21st — The day before class comes back into session

On their return journey to the hospital in Maine, Lavi remembered why they never let Lenalee drive. Now that a congressman's daughter and an injured Allen had been removed from the equation, she flew down the highway at an illegal speed. Lavi didn't even know SUVs could break one hundred.

As they raced back, Lavi told Lenalee about the state of the lotus. She'd known about it—along with his strange healing ability, the whole family knew Yuu had it, but Lenalee was the only one he'd confided in about the connection between the two.

"Shit," she said tightly. That was all she said, but Lavi noticed the speedometer edging a little higher.

The car began to whine on the last leg of their journey. Lenalee ignored it. Lavi just clenched his teeth, adjusting his hold on the door handle even tighter.

Even with three stops to refill the tank, they made it back to the hospital in two-and-a-half hours. Each step through the parking lot felt a bit like putting his weight on a field of Jell-O. He tried not to think about why the car was spewing white steam from under the hood. Lenalee ignored that, too, and strode into the hospital so fast that Lavi actually had to jog a little to catch up.

When they got to the room, Tiedoll was pacing outside, wringing his hands. From inside, there was a good deal of beeping monitors.

"What's going on?" Lavi tried to ask, but his throat was so dry that it wouldn't make a sound. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"His heart's stopped."

Tiedoll abruptly got a lot taller.

"Lavi!" Called Lenalee. She bent over. She was awfully tall herself.

Oh, Lavi realized, his brain catching up with him. I've fallen down.

Tiedoll tried to help him up, but he was very firmly rooted. His legs wouldn't take his weight, and he only slumped right back down onto his knees. There were no chairs in the hallway, so Tiedoll shrugged and went back to pacing.

His knees began to throb, a light, reassuring feeling. The pain began to sharpen, overwhelm everything, but Lavi had found that Bookman-trained reservoir within him, and he stored it there. He could ignore it.

What followed were the worst minutes of his life. Lenalee wrapped her arms around him. She was crying. His shirt was wet at the shoulder with her tears. The beeping inside the room continued, followed by the high whine of the defibrillator charging, then the thunk of it shocking Yuu.

He didn't know how long he sat there. It only passed in Tiedoll's steps. Lavi counted them. He was up to 241 when the sounds in Yuu's room lulled.

They must have called it.

A doctor emerged. Tiedoll was next to him in a heartbeat.

A literal heartbeat. The monitor inside was beeping at a regular pace.

"We were able to resuscitate him," he said. Tiedoll took both of his hands in his own and sobbed his thanks.

Two nurses Lavi didn't recognize wheeled a prone Yuu out of the room on a gurney.

"Where are you taking him?" Asked Lenalee.

"We are bringing him to the ICU for monitoring," said another doctor, coming up to the doorway. It was the woman who had treated Lavi before his discharge.

—

An hour later, they sat in the visitor's lounge just outside the ICU. Lavi clutched the backpack with the lotus to his chest. His knees still ached. Already, large purple bruises had begun to stain them.

They hadn't been allowed to stay with Yuu at all since he'd been brought to the ICU, so Lenalee had grabbed both him and Tiedoll by the arm and taken them to get coffee from the cafe across the street. Lavi had gotten hot chocolate, but each time he took a sip, nausea roiled at his stomach and he had to set the paper cup down. The drink had long since cooled, but he couldn't bring himself to toss it.

His phone began to ring, shrill against the silence in the room. Lavi almost upset his cup from the arm of his plush chair as he reached for it. He flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Deak, it's Cloud."

The second he heard the voice, he stood, grabbing his cold hot chocolate to finally toss, and walked out of earshot.

"I go by Lavi now," he said.

"Lavi, then. I've got the number for you."

"Just a sec—let me get a pen and paper." He fumbled in his back pocket.

"You're a Bookman; you don't need one."

"I suffered a head injury lately. Indulge me." Actually, he just really didn't want to fuck this up. He hadn't noticed any effects from the concussion yet, but it was Yuu's life on the balance. No mistake could be made.

"Oh no—are you alright?"

"I'm fine. You said you had the number?"

She gave it to him. He repeated it back twice.

"Thank you, Cloud," he said.

"No problem, kid. Just hope this is worth it. Most people would kill to have a favor from me, and you just used it to get a cell number?"

"It could save a life."

"Alright, kid. Stay safe. I know how Bookmen are. I hope you know how you're going to get away from them." She must have heard he'd only left recently. Given her network, he wasn't surprised.

"I'm working on it."

Cloud laughed. Lavi looked over to Tiedoll and Lenalee, but nothing had changed.

"You can call me anytime. Let me know if you do manage to save yourself. It'll… be good to know."

She hung up then, and Lavi looked at his phone. She had survived so much. It was funny, he thought, that the people who suffered the most in the world usually seemed the most decent. Even if they did their best not to appear that way.

As soon as the calling screen dropped, he dialed, consulting the number he'd written only after he'd hit the Call button and it began to ring. He'd entered it perfectly, of course. He cringed a little, though, thinking about the price of the international call. The phone had been a gift from Tiedoll for Christmas. It had been in his stocking because Tiedoll considered it "no big deal" to get him a "cheap flip-phone" that was attached to his plan. Like it hadn't been one of the kindest gifts he'd received. Hopefully, Tiedoll would forgive him for the outrageous bill. He'd work it off if he had to.

The phone rang and rang and rang. After nearly a minute, it went to voicemail. He called twice more, but no one answered. On his fourth attempt, someone picked up after a few rings.

"Hello?" A very tired voice answered in Chinese.

"Dr. Karma?" Lavi said in Chinese, his heart flipping.

"This is Karma. Who is this and why are you calling so early?"

Lavi nearly cursed out loud. He hadn't given any thought to the time difference. Sloppy.

"My name is Lavi. I'm sorry for calling so early, but I need your help. It's urgent."

"How did you get this number?" He sounded more than a little annoyed.

"Please, I need your help. It's about my friend, Yuu." He proceeded with a quick summary: Yuu, the lotus, the last petal wilting, the coma, the brush with death only an hour ago.

There was a long pause. Lavi would have thought Dr. Karma had hung up on him, only he heard the man's breathing.

"Please, he's dying, and I don't know what to do," Lavi said. There was a good deal of rustling on the other end.

"How did you get this number?" The man asked again, though this time, he sounded more bewildered than angry.

"I have connections. Please, you saved him once before." His voice broke as he spoke, his throat too tight to make the right sounds.

"If you know about me, then you know it got my license revoked and I had to leave Japan in order to be able to find a job."

"So you're going to let him die?" His voice rose to a shout. Lenalee and Tiedoll's heads snapped up, and they stared at him. Other people in the room scowled.

More shuffling on the other end. "Look, I can't go back to Japan."

Yeah, thought Lavi. Maybe if you hadn't been helping out a sex trafficking ring, you wouldn't be in this situation.

Alma continued, "It would… not be a good idea. So you'll just—"

"We're not in Japan," said Lavi. "Listen, I'll reimburse the ticket. I just need to know if you're willing to help."

There was a long, drawn out sigh, more shuffling, the creaking of bedsprings, and then another sigh.

"Fine. Tell me where you are and I'll be there."

Lavi felt like his chest was going to explode with relief. He gave the man the name of the hospital and the nearest airport. After it was all sorted, he hung up and returned to sit with Lenalee and Tiedoll.

"I didn't know you spoke Chinese," Tiedoll said.

"Yeah," said Lavi.

Lenalee's eyes, however, were very round. She'd understood every word he'd shouted. He nodded very slightly at her, and she nodded back, taking his hand.

They sat in silence, tense and waiting. But there was hope. Lavi just hoped it wouldn't arrive too late.

—

The hours began to blur together. Even after they'd gotten Yuu fully stabilized and allowed visitors in, the endless stream of doctors and nurses checking and rechecking the unchanging set an irregular schedule. The sky darkened. They were kicked out of the room. The ICU had set visiting hours, one of the nurses told them apologetically. The morning dawned, and they returned. The sun rose to the steady symphony of heart monitors, of the whir of machinery, the footsteps of doctors and nurses doing their rounds, the miscellaneous sounds of the ward at work.

Around noon, Lenalee went for a walk. Lavi didn't blame her. The feel of the ICU was much more desperate, more tense. They didn't talk much, except when the doctors said there was no update. Each time they came in, his heart would leap, though, hoping for them to announce they'd made a discovery about Yuu's condition. Each time they came back with no news, his heart would sink.

Lavi held Yuu's hand and tried not to cry. The doctors had not noticed the slow growth of Yuu's tattoo. Lavi, who had stared at it on and off all morning, had seen the slow progress. It had only gone a quarter of an inch, but each time he'd noticed a change, he clenched his jaw against the abrupt stab of fear through his whole torso. All he could do was wait, like he was tied to his chair balanced precariously on the edge of some fathomless chasm, like at any moment he would fall over the edge.

The worst part of it was the uselessness. He couldn't do a damn thing to help. He'd tried talking to Yuu, but that didn't help anything and only made him feel exposed and stupid and so goddamn useless. The doctors told him it might help, but there was no response, even on the scans that the doctors took. So he held Yuu's hand like it was an anchor.

He didn't even notice when someone new came into the room. The doctors and nurses and various specialists had become so ubiquitous at this point that he'd stopped trying to keep track of them.

"Do I have the right room?" The newcomer said, and Lavi snapped up from his slouch over Yuu's bed.

He was a lot younger than Lavi expected. He'd assumed that the doctor would have been well past middle aged, considering he'd been in his late fifties when he'd been arrested. Probably gray-haired and balding, wrinkles well set into his face. But that was pretty much the opposite of what he got. In fact, if Lavi hadn't read the prison files and known his actual age, he would have thought the man was still in his thirties. His short, black hair didn't have a speck of gray, and his skin was completely unwrinkled. Even the air about him, from the straightness of his spine to his limber movements, was entirely youthful.

"Doctor Karma?" Lavi asked, a broad grin splitting his face.

"Call me Alma," he said, bowing. Lavi bowed in kind and watched as the doctor approached Yuu, who lay eerily still in his hospital bed.

"This is the boy, then?" He asked.

"Yes, that's Yuu."

Alma frowned as he took the charts from the base of the bed. He hummed lowly, his frown deepening. Then he strode over to Yuu's left side and pulled aside the thin cotton gown. Slowly, he lifted Yuu's arm, turning it so the light hit it at different angles. When he'd finished, he laid Yuu's arm down again and bent over his chest, following the pattern all the way down to his hipbone, where it tapered off.

"Can we turn him onto his side? I need to see his back."

Lavi did so with Alma's aid—Yuu was incredibly heavy and full of cords and tubes, so it took some effort. At last, he tucked Yuu back into place while Alma stared at the monitors and charts again.

Then it was quiet. Lavi wanted to say something, to ask questions, but Alma stood contemplatively at the foot of Yuu's bed, occasionally checking the charts as he verified some information. For ten minutes, they remained in silence. Each second, Lavi's skin prickled, his stomach long since a roiling mess.

Finally, Alma spoke. "I never expected it to progress this fast. Do you have the flower with you?"

Lavi nodded and reached into his backpack, retrieving the remnants of the bell jar and the ziplock bag in which he'd stored the dead petals. Some of the dead petals had crumbled into confetti at the bottom. It took immense effort not to inhale sharply.

Alma clicked his tongue as he took both and set them at the foot of the bed. While Lavi watched, he set his briefcase upon the couch. From it, he took a mason jar, which he carried over to the bed as well. It contained a thin layer of mud coating the bottom and was more than halfway filled with a clear liquid Lavi assumed was water. Then, slowly, Alma opened the baggie, carefully pouring the dead petals and the sad crumbly bits into his hand. On top of that, he added the last delicate piece of the lotus, which he plucked from the base of the bell jar with steady hands.

One by one, he placed the petals into the jar, pausing to examine which to use next between each one. They floated on top of the water, but as more were added, a few began to sink. After the petals came a trickle of petal crumbs and then the stem with its final dying petal quivering. He swirled the bottle three times clockwise, then in the opposite direction, giving a grunt of approval as he set it down on the low end table abutting Yuu's bed.

It was then that Dr. Karma focused his attention back on Lavi.

"I'm going to have to draw it from him. It is very possible, what with how reliant he has been on it, that he could react poorly."

"He'll die without it, though, won't he?" Lavi said. His throat was so dry.

Dr. Karma gave a sharp nod.

Lavi thought for a second of calling a doctor or nurse, but they would probably interfere. The consequences would be bad for him and worse yet for Dr. Karma and Yuu. So he nodded.

"Better the chance for a future than none at all," he said, but it came out as a half-audible croak.

Thankfully, Alma seemed to get the message. He turned back to Yuu and pulled back the hospital gown to expose the entirety of Yuu's torso, which was covered with various tubes and electrodes. Lavi braced himself against the bed, taking Yuu's hand in his. It was cold to the touch.

He watched as Alma walked over to the sink and washed his hands. He scrubbed for at least a minute before drying them and covering his right with a glove. Returning to Yuu's side, he took out a knife, sanitized it with an alcohol wipe he produced from nowhere. Not exactly foolproof or compliant to the hospital's regulations, but it would have to do. Lavi wondered where Alma would make the incision, but the doctor surprised him by bringing the small blade up to his hand instead. He drew it across his own palm. The blood began to well slowly, but once it finally started to, it began in earnest. Alma held his hand palm up, accumulating blood, then brought it down, flipping it at the last second, onto the center of Yuu's tattoo.

At first, nothing happened. The monitors continued to beep as before. Only the bloody handprint seemed to move, looking like it was melting as the droplets began to stray downward. Alma muttered something under his breath, a language Lavi could not comprehend. His eyebrows knitted together, he grunted, and—

Yuu jolted, his muscles spasming like he'd just been shocked with a defibrillator again.

In an instant, the monitors were blaring alarms.

"Barricade the door, Lavi," Alma said, sounding almost thoughtful. Lavi instantly complied. As he ran to shove a chair under the door handle—why didn't the room lock—he heard Alma speak again.

"Come on!" He growled. "Don't you dare fight me on this!"

Yuu gasped awake. Lavi turned back to see him struggling against Alma's hand on his chest, groaning.

"Hold him in place!" Alma snapped.

Lavi ran back to his side and grabbed Yuu by the biceps, pushing down, down, down against his thrashing.

"Yuu, it's me! Calm down!" He shouted over and over, but the boy seemed mad. Yuu's hand, the one closest to Lavi, clutched at the bed, and he kept clenching and unclenching his muscles. Dimly, Lavi heard pounding at the door. Doctors and nurses and even two security guards were just outside, looking in through the glass. Lavi looked away.

As abruptly as he had begun to move, Yuu went limp. His eyes rolled back into his head, revealing only an eerie white strip of sclera between his eyelids. Lavi shook his head and continued to hold Yuu down, just in case.

The rapid blips beneath the blaring of the alarm ran together until they were one solitary monotone. Lavi glanced at the monitor's screen. He didn't need to know how to read the image (which he did know, incidentally) to understand that Yuu had flatlined. He began to shake. This couldn't be it. His stomach was ice, his chest feeling as still as Yuu's.

Dr. Karma moved in a flash, almost too fast to track, the jar suddenly in his hand. Without any hesitation, he slammed it down, overturned, directly over the center of the tattoo. Lavi flinched, expecting water and mud and lotus detritus to go everywhere. But they didn't. To his amazement, a black, inky substance began to spurt into the jar in a steady stream. On Yuu's skin, the tattoo began to slither its tendrils back toward the ohm, like watching raindrops chart a course down a car window but in reverse.

The door slammed open, admitting five security guards, followed by a veritable stream of doctors and nurses.

Alma lifted the jar from Yuu's chest. The black substance within filled it to the brim, but it seemed completely solid, as even upside down, it stayed within the jar. He righted it and screwed on a lid, then placed it on the end table.

The security guards hauled them both into the hallway as the doctors assessed Yuu's condition, already beginning CPR as a nurse charged up the defibrillator on the room's crash cart.

But there was no need for it. Just as a doctor ordered the others to clear the body, the heart monitor returned to a rhythm. They stared at it. Even the security guards stopped and turned to gawk. What began as a slow, tentative beat accelerated into a strong pace only a bit elevated from normal.

The doctor replaced the paddles in the crash cart, slack-jawed.

"Blood pressure rising, blood oxygen normal…" one of the nurses said faintly. A beat, then, "Blood pressure normal and holding."

"What did you do in here?" Asked the doctor, turning to look at them through the window. The security guards escorted them back into the room.

The gray-haired doctor who had been handling Yuu's case looked between the two of them.

"Old herbal remedy," said Alma in the thickest, most outrageously racist Chinese accent Lavi had ever heard. "Good for blood."

The doctor looked a little bit like he wanted to punch Alma, but he bit back whatever he'd wanted to say and just nodded curtly. He ordered a multitude of tests, then sighed to himself.

"Strangest thing I've seen in a long time," he said as he walked out of the room, shaking his head. "Comatose patient goes into cardiac arrest and revives on his own with normal vitals."

The security guards left with him, apparently forgetting the whole blocking-door-with-chair thing, which was awfully convenient of them.

With the room now quiet and empty, Lavi turned to Alma. "Old herbal remedy?" He asked, incredulous.

"He was white."

Lavi nodded, still bemused. It had somehow kept them out of trouble, so there was no use complaining.

Alma stared down at his hand, a vague frown twisting his lips downward. Lavi blinked. The hand, which had had a long gouge down it, was now pristine, completely unblemished, save for the blood that still coated it. He flexed it a few times and then went over the sink to wash it.

Lavi collapsed onto the couch by the window. He felt so tired, like all his energy been drained from him as efficiently as the tattoo had been from Yuu. With a sigh, he plopped his head back onto the cushion and shut his eyes.

There was silence between them for a long time until Alma sighed. "It's the same as back then."

Lavi opened his eyes and looked over at the doctor, who gazed solemnly at Yuu's sleeping body.

"What do you mean?"

"Willing to risk his death to ease my own conscience. I knew what might happen if I gave him the lotus."

"Then why the hell were you helping underage sex traffickers?" Lavi asked, surprised by how scathing his tone came out.

"You mean, did I benefit from it?" Said Alma. He sighed, and it was the sigh of an old man recounting his regrets in his last days. "In a way, I did, though not in the disgusting manner you're thinking. I've never touched a child."

"Just helped those who did."

"And I have since paid for that crime. But I did it because they were blackmailing me. I'd made some… unethical choices in my research, and it would have meant my license, amongst other things. Still, I was far from the only doctor who treated the children."

Lavi scoffed in a very Yuu-like manner. It had that right mix of disbelief and disdain.

"When I found a child dying of injuries no one should ever suffer, I knew what he would be facing if he returned. There are deaths worse than that of the flesh—deaths of the soul, of the spirit. I knew I couldn't prevent the latter, but I did what I did to protect the flesh, to keep at least one of them alive, whether or not he wanted to be."

"You did that," said Lavi. "He's told me about some of the ways he's tried to kill himself over the years."

"Did you know," said Alma wearily, "that almost every single child that was rescued is dead? Nearly all of them committed suicide. This one is the only one not institutionalized or turned to crime. Some are in prison now for perpetrating the same crimes inflicted against them."

"Yuu isn't like that, but not because of your help." He thought of Tiedoll, of Marie and Daisya, Lenalee, Komui, Allen…. He thought of himself.

"But he is alive."

"Yes."

"It seems incredibly selfish now, not giving him that choice," said Alma, looking again to Yuu's prone form.

It took Lavi a few minutes to mull that over before he said anything.

"I think if you had talked to him a few months ago, he'd probably say it was. Selfish, I mean. But now? I don't know. I know I don't think so. His life's been hard for sure, but he's done so much for me that I like to think that he's happy to still be alive. He's saved my life more times than I could easily count since I met him. If you stick around, maybe when he wakes up, you can ask him."

Alma hummed a little at that, "Yeah, maybe I will."

—

The woman sang to him, a lullaby about animals in the forest. She ran soft fingers through his hair, gently working at the tangles. He wanted to tell her to stop—his hair was bloody—but it soothed him into a gentle trance.

"Oh, sweet one," she said when she'd finished the song. "You are so terribly filthy."

He shrugged. That was what happened when you fought with people. Mist came up around him, enveloping his form, separating him momentarily from the woman. He couldn't feel her.

Running both bruised, bloodied hands over his body, he tried to take stock of his injuries.

There was the split skin at his clavicle, the bruising still tender around his neck. Those had been from early in the fight. His tongue played idly with his loose teeth before he schooled himself. They'd fall out if he messed with them.

Jason had been at the edge of the clearing. He'd reached into his pocket and brought a knife. Not weighted for throwing but still deadly. He'd gone directly for Lavi the second Yuu's flashlight had illuminated him. Heart in his throat, Yuu had screamed—a warning, a threat, an expression of unfathomable fear.

He hadn't been able to stop it, hadn't been able to—

"Hush now, sweet one," said the woman, and her presence surrounded him once more, like warm bath water. His shaking calmed, ceased. The woman caressed his face. He winced, knowing he was bruised from a blow to his cheekbone, from the punch to the mouth, from when Jason had boxed his ears—but there was no pain, only warmth.

"Who are you?" He asked, but his voice made no sound.

She smiled and shook her head slowly, an indulgent mother to her precocious child.

"You have strained even my ability this time, sweet one. I am afraid I can't hold two at once."

She looked at a spot right next to him. Yuu followed her gaze. There was Lavi, close enough to touch. His eyes were closed, a petal resting on top of each. He was wrapped in the same fog that held Yuu, a light pink swirling energy that Yuu's eyes could not quite focus on.

"Was it not your intent for him to be healed?" The woman asked.

"Yes," said Yuu. "Please, heal him. Let him live."

At his words, still silent to him, the pink mist eddied, releasing a wide tendril that slowly arced over Lavi until he was buried deep within it.

He yelled. He tried to reach for him, but his limbs would not move at his command.

"Relax, sweet one. He will heal. I am nearly done. Once it is complete, I will deposit him back into his own place. You formed a connection of blood, and I can follow that back to where he is."

"You promise?" He asked, hating how pathetic, how helpless, he sounded. Like a small child.

She chuckled. Her fingers came back to brush through his hair. He drifted.

His mind instantly went back to the fight. That sickening moment when he realized, halfway there, that he'd be too late. How he'd pushed his legs harder than ever before in his life. And then that sickening crunch as Lavi hit the tree, the oomph! Jason let out and the tiny gasp that had come from Lavi not even a second later. His Lavi.

He had changed the angle of his approach so he could get at Jason from the sid. Reaching up, he'd hooked an arm around Jason and did his best to clothes-line him. Jason had switched his attention over to Yuu, and Yuu had aimed himself into a backward retreat as the boy began to engage him, moving the fight far from the target. Jason had fallen for it, aiming kick and punch and even random flailing of limb at him. That was when he'd gotten the bruise on his upper arm (from blocking).

When he'd judged himself to be at least halfway across the clearing, Yuu had begun to fight back. He went in immediately with a roundhouse kick he'd perfected during his angry teenage years. Jason had dodged and slid past Yuu's guard. Lizzie shrieked, and a moment later, Yuu roared as his clavicle erupted in the sharp pain that had surely been meant for his heart.

Jason retreated a step back, but Yuu caught him with a swipe of his foot. Jason fell to the ground, and Yuu, idiot he was, had hesitated. For a moment, he saw Jason, the college kid, his sometimes-sparring partner during fencing. They'd been friends. They'd laughed together, made fun of the douchebag team members together, sat together on bus rides.

Jason took advantage of his momentary weakness and slammed into his legs. He fell, and Jason had been on top of him immediately, hands reaching to the collar of his coat, under the scarf. His cold fingers had tightened at last around his throat.

For a brief second, Yuu had panicked, thrashing and scrabbling ineffectively at Jason's forearms. Then, with a mental slap, he calmed himself, going limp before crossing his arms in between Jason's. He smacked forearm against forearm, and Jason grunted as his grip failed. Yuu dragged in a breath, his throat raw and aching with the sharp air. It felt a bit like he imagined a sword to the gullet would.

As abruptly as he had drifted away, he returned to himself. Jason's face morphed—a little disturbingly—into the woman's. Her expression was serene, and she hummed to him once more.

"The ordeal is over, sweet one. Do not dwell upon it."

How could he not, though?

"Lavi—" he began. As before, his speech was silent.

"Your beloved is fine. I have returned to him his able body, though that bad eye was a tough nut to crack, let me tell you."

"You… you healed his eye?"

"Of course, sweet one. You were the one who wanted him healed, weren't you?"

"I didn't think… such an old injury…"

She only laughed, shaking her head again. The mist hid her beautiful yet indescribable face from his. He seeped into it, almost like Lavi had before him, but he still felt her arms cradling him as if he were the size of an infant.

"You should worry about yourself now, sweet one. I am diminished."

"I know," said Yuu. He'd known it for weeks now.

"But I am not done yet."

Her song twisted around him, permeating his mind until he was the music. It was a sad song. It sagged his muscles, made every bone seem limp. He felt a pressure in his hand. It was warmer even than the woman's, but he knew it wasn't hers.

Beneath the music, he heard voices. Tiedoll and Lenalee. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but their voices rose and fell with the woman's song, with the drum beating at the rate of his sluggish heart.

It wasn't like it had raced while he'd fought Jason. The boy had lunged at him again once he'd broken free from those freezing, choking hands. The knife flared against the flashlight, and amazingly, as Yuu blocked, yelling, the knife cut right into it, sending it spinning into the air and away. He cursed loudly in Japanese, blinking in the sudden darkness. Only Jason's movement, the sounds of his passage, gave Yuu an idea of where he'd been. And they'd fought. With hands and feet and teeth, they fought.

He needed to end the fight soon, he had realized as he staggered to his feet. Stomach wounds like Lavi's were never something to mess around with—he needed immediate medical attention. Jason had come at him again, but Yuu dodged, punching him as Jason staggered to a halt. He got him right below his floating rib and heard a satisfying crunch as, even with the padding of Jason's winter coat, it broke. Jason howled in pain, swiveling to catch Yuu, but Yuu was already retreating, searching for the knife. He scrabbled at the ground, dusting away the snow on all fours. Everything was all churned up with their activity. He almost collided with Lizzie, who screamed as he approached. Lavi was there, he realized, seeing another form next to her. He was still alive.

Yuu changed course. Over at this side of the clearing, an unbroken layer of ice still shielded the snow from disruption. Not for long, though.

He toppled into the ground as something struck him in the back. He hadn't gotten Jason as badly as he'd thought.

In the darkness before him, the woman's face appeared. No, he couldn't hallucinate now. Not when Lavi's life depended on him. He shook his head and cried out as he got his feet beneath him. It must have been the adrenaline coursing through him like white-hot currents of electricity, but he heaved himself to his feet, bucking Jason off his back in the process. The boy gasped ineffectively, probably winded.

Yuu hadn't given him a second thought as he resumed his search. Why was everything always so hard to find in the snow? Once, a winter or two after he'd come to live with Tiedoll, he'd thrown one of his razors into the snow in the backyard. In the end, he'd been unable to find it and had worried it would lodge in someone's boot until the spring melt had finally revealed a shiny blade caked over with mud and grass about an inch deep into the ground. It was the same case here. Only it was dark and three lives depended on him finding him.

But Jason was still down, panting on his back. A bright light began to shine a bit to the left of where he'd mentally placed and Lavi. He turned his head at once, blinking rapidly, so it wouldn't ruin his tenuous night vision.

Miracle of all miracles, that little light illuminated just enough that the ground was no longer so dark. Bless snow and ice for being such excellent reflectors. He caught sight of a dark patch in the ground and hurried to it. It was the flashlight—now dead—and the knife. He grabbed the handle with clumsy, numb fingers. Was it the cold or the adrenaline that made them shake so badly? Putting his boot over the end of the small flashlight, he yanked the knife from the plastic. He didn't want to think about what coated it, just stabbed it in and out of the fresh snow at his side to remove whatever had been there. Then he turned, a hand raised to block the light, and stalked up to Jason.

Jason was not cowering. He'd regained his breath while Yuu had been working, and though one of his hands pressed against his side, he stood mostly upright, ready for combat.

He'd never been a match for Yuu. Not really. Not when Yuu had let himself train without restraint. With two quick steps, he closed on Jason, cutting through the coat. Jason punched him in the gut, but he grunted. The punch had been cushioned too much by Yuu's own coat. Not that it didn't force Yuu into a stumble. Still, he felt no pain as he cut by Jason's defenses. Literally—the knife reverberated up the handle and into his palm as Jason's block allowed the knife to slice all the way up his arm. He raised his other hand from his rib, almost in the way he would have brought his sword in to parry, but Yuu knocked it aside. With a further thrust, the blade broke skin and plunged deep into Jason's gut. He twisted the blade, yanking it hard up and out. Jason screamed, the high-pitched wail of an animal knowing its death had come. The stench of blood-soaked shit permeated the area. He began to gurgle. Blood flecked out from his mouth as a cough ravaged his body.

Carrying the dripping blade with him, Yuu turned his back on Jason and returned to Lavi.

Lizzie huddled over him, speaking in a low voice as he whimpered. Yuu caught the last of it: "...police will be here soon. I promise."

And then Lavi smiled, tired, relieved, a hint of triumph in his eye—and it was so bright that Yuu felt his bloodied face crack into its own smile.

"Lavi," he breathed, and fell to his knees next to him.

The boy's eye went in and out of focus, but given the amount of blood that he'd lost, Yuu wasn't surprised. His breath hitched as he caught sight of the stomach wound. It was bad, and blood leaked over Lizzie's hands and into the snow as if she weren't there at all.

"What… Jason?" Asked Lavi, locking on to Yuu's face.

"He's gone," he said. Lavi's gaze lost focus. Soon, he was blinking, lids heavier each time they lifted.

Yuu brought a hand to Lavi's cheek, brushed his thumb along the bone. He was so cold to the touch. Yuu tried not to think about that. Already, sirens screeched in the distance. They'd reach the forest soon.

Lavi's eye stopped opening. Yuu adjusted his eyepatch, which had come askew.

"Come on, Lavi, you can do it. Just a little longer," he said. His eyes burned. Slowly, trying not to disturb the shallow breaths that mercifully continued, he brought his hand from Lavi's face to his hair, stroking lightly. Lavi's eye fluttered open. The hint of a smile graced his blood-smeared face as he passed out.

Panic bit into Yuu's stomach.

"Lavi, just hang on. Stay awake. You have to stay awake." His voice was hoarse, desperate. He shook him, carefully, but Lavi's eye did not move again. His breathing faded a whisper of air. Far, far away, dogs bayed, cops yelled.

No. Lavi had to live. His life meant nothing if he could not protect the one person he had come to love more than all others, the one person who had finally pushed him into accepting his own conflicting emotions. Lavi had reminded him of his own humanity, and he'd be damned if he let him go without a fight.

The mysterious woman appeared, a ghostly form above Lavi's, combing her fingers lightly through his hair. She smiled at him, beckoned. To his shock, Lavi stirred, just a touch, a brief smile-turned-grimace flickering across his face. Yuu looked at her, wanting to say something, but his voice stuck in his throat. She pressed a finger to her lips, shook her head, smiling. After a moment, she let her hand drift back to her lap. In a voice that seemed to echo throughout the clearing, she said, "You know what to do, but you must do it now." Her eyes lowered to the bleeding boy beneath her, and for once, Yuu understood what she meant. He still held the knife, though it was in his off hand by Lavi's shoulder.

Fumbling with unresponsive fingers, he ran the blade over his coat, not caring that it sliced right through the outer nylon layer and into the quilted inner padding. It was clean enough. Besides, any blood disease Jason might carry would be eradicated within moments of entering his body. He glanced at Lizzie. She was looking down at his stomach, still pressing with all her might. Now was the moment.

The woman faded from his sight, the shadow of a possibility. He closed his eyes. Please, he begged the heavens. Please, just let it work.

Not even thinking about it, he ran the knife over the center of his palm. It burned with pain, but in an idle, back-of-the-mind way. Immediately, the blood began flowing. He lowered it, hoping Lizzie wouldn't notice in the dim light.

"Lizzie," he said then. She looked up at him, straightening abruptly as if startled out of a daze. "Tell Lavi I love him."

With that, he leaned over Lavi's prone form and clamped his bleeding hand over his mouth. Blood trickled into Lavi's mouth. Yuu saw his throat work as he swallowed. Heal him, he willed the lotus. He pressed his other hand to his chest, just over the tattoo. Heal him, he told it. The blood stopped flowing from his palm, so he leaned down and kissed Lavi. His lips felt frigid enough to capture Yuu's in place, like a tongue on an icy pole. But his breath and Lavi's minimal exhalations warmed the spot between him. He felt the other boy jerk—more a twitch than anything—and his world spun. He sat up, hoping that would help, but it only turned his surroundings to vague, rounded shapes.

He blinked, but Lavi's chest rose to meet his face. He could barely breathe. His chest was on fire, burning along the lines of his tattoo. If he had had the energy, he would have screamed.

And then the woman filled his vision, her enigmatic, inexplicable face drawing him in. He smelled lotuses. They filled his lungs until the sweetness turned cloying. Lotus petals blossomed around him. The perfume ate at his thoughts until his panic faded.

Her presence still folded around him, even now, when his thoughts had retraced the fight yet again. This was what, the eighth time? The ninth?

She pulled him from his thoughts again.

"Sweet one, I cannot hold you much longer."

"Will I die?" He asked her. Her arms tightened around him, an ethereal bear hug.

"I cannot hold you," she responded.

He crashed down, falling through layer after layer of pink cloud, until he was within himself. His heart thudded, crashing against his ribcage as he took labored breaths—and then it couldn't move anymore, and he fell into somewhere deep inside him. Deeper than an ocean trench.

Something raged through his chest. Something beat upon him, then that awful current again. Air jolted into his lungs, leaving again. It repeated over and over until he screamed, still soundlessly, begging for it to end. He thought he'd known pain before, but his heart was heavy and still in his chest, and each time that awful punching hit his chest, he thought he could no longer bear it.

But bear it he did. His heart lurched the way he imagined a horse at the gate might when the gunshot went, and then it galloped onward. His throat was liquid fire as air once again filled his lungs properly.

Abruptly, the mist swirled around him again.

"It seems the rest has given me some strength," said the woman, and she cradled him in her unfathomably huge arms. He curled into her, weeping.

"I know, sweet one," she said, and she let him drift.

This time, he thought only of Lavi, of that smiling face as he ached to see it once more. He swirled in the ocean of lotus haze, swam in a pool of emerald green the exact shade of Lavi's eye. For a while, he thought he could hear the boy, but each time the voice permeated the fog, it cut off, cursing.

"Lavi!" He shouted. "Lavi! Lavi! I'm here!"

He screamed it until he was hoarse, until he had no other words but his boyfriend's name. It became a prayer, a mantra, a goal.

"He has come back for me," the woman said.

"Who has?" He asked. This time, his voice made the tiniest of sounds, discordant against the peace of this place, this nowhere. The mist parted around him, revealing a green meadow. The faint smell of lotuses faded away into the sharp scent of fresh grass.

The world shook around him, and his chest began to ache fiercely. Again, liquid fire ran through him, but this time it seared down the length of his left arm, down his torso to his left hip. He screamed, but again, the noise was a great, gaping absence in this place.

His knees hit the ground and sunk deeply into mud he hadn't noticed until that moment.

"Goodbye, Yuu. Tell him I said hello." She waved at him as he struggled against the mud. Each time he moved, the mud pulled him deeper and deeper. The fire of his upper left side engulfed him. He felt his head go under the mud and lost the blue sky above to absolute darkness.

For a moment, voices surrounded him. There was a loud crash as the mud pulled him down, down, down where he couldn't breathe, where his heart felt leaden. The pain in his torso and arm intensified until they burned like hot wires implanted in his skin. The worst of it was centered at the ohm just over his heart.

The mud weighed on him, heavy. But it wasn't mud, he realized. It was his body. Sounds, like static, clawed at his ears, and he couldn't make anything out of the jumble. Footsteps, yelling, the high-pitched tone of some awful machine.

And then his heart moved, and the heaviness left him with each beat. His lungs filled. They ached, as if he'd overused them, or maybe not used them in a long while. The taste of industrial-strength cleaners seared his throat. He wanted to open his eyes and see who was talking—there were multiple voices; he could tell them apart now—but it took effort just to think. Still, he tried.

With Herculean effort, he managed to crack open his lids.

He flinched at the light coming in through the windows and, groaning, lifted his left hand to cover his face. His eyes slammed shut, the lids red.

The voices stopped. He could practically hear heads turning his way. Then the room exploded with noise. Something scratched, and the red of his lids faded away. At the same time, someone rushed from the room and out of earshot, but someone else approached him and laid a cool hand on his right arm.

This time when he opened his eyes, he made out a blurry Tiedoll. He was far too close, but he didn't have the energy to push him away. Gradually, his eyes stopped tearing up and began to focus.

A doctor walked into the room and circled the bed to approach him on his Tiedoll-free left side. He was past middle age but not quite to retirement, if Yuu was any judge. His hair, though it contained some steel, had mostly faded to a light gray-white. He shone a light in Yuu's eyes, and his whole body seemed to protest, shying away from it. The doctor chuckled, taking his face gently in his hands. He flashed the light over both eyes until Yuu was gritting his teeth against the notion of punching the guy out.

The doctor then pulled out his stethoscope and listened to him breath. After that, he hammered at Yuu's joints. He handed a nurse some paperwork detailing his orders and nodded approvingly.

Taking a step back, he said, "We'll run a few more tests, but your reflexes are strong. You're not out of the woods yet, but we see your awakening as a promising sign."

He left the room, the nurse already out the door ahead of him.

Immediately, his family crowded in around him. Lenalee smiled, teary-eyed, clasping his hand and nearly dislodging the blood oxygen monitor from his pointer finger. Tiedoll ruffled his hair—briefly, once Yuu shot him a glare—and then clasped his shoulder. It had to be the aching left one, of course. He tried not to wince, but Tiedoll's hand disappeared.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

He tried to make a sound, but only a dry rasp emerged. Clearing his throat, he managed to croak out, "Sore. A little tired."

"All of which are normal, thankfully." The voice was unfamiliar, but he felt a jolt of recognition deep in his bones as the man came forward.

"Yuu, this man—Lavi called him…" Tiedoll paused, frowning. "He has yet to introduce himself." Tiedoll flashed the man an unamused look. Where was Lavi? A quick, wobbly glance of the room proved him to be missing.

He looked back at the man. Dark hair, maybe mid-thirties. Early forties at the latest. Straight posture. Confident. Looking at him as if he'd seen a ghost. Lavi had contacted him?

"Forgive me, my name is Alma Karma," said the man. Something about that name pierced him right in the chest. He knew it, but he could not place from where. "I met Yuu in Japan many years ago and gave him something of mine. When Lavi contacted me, I had given up hope of ever seeing it again. But that is all resolved now." It seemed to satisfy Tiedoll slightly, enough that when the doctor returned and asked to speak with him, he left the room with very little fuss. It also helped Yuu identify the man.

"You're that doctor," he said, and it came out a little accusatory.

The man laughed, however, unoffended. "Yes, I'm that doctor."

"She said to tell you 'hello,'" he blurted before he'd even thought of what to say next.

The man recoiled as if stricken. Probably because what Yuu had said made no sense, just another one of his strange hallucinations. Why in the hell had he said it?

The man made a thoughtful noise. "Did she now?" He said, wiping a finger beneath his eyes. For a while, he was silent, but then he smiled. "It's… good to know she's still in there somewhere."

"Who is she?" Yuu asked.

Alma's eyes drifted over to the couch where a briefcase sat and shook his head. "An old herbal remedy," he said, "so to speak. Anyway, I'd better get going. I promised I'd stay until you woke, but my flight home is in a few hours."

He walked over and picked up the briefcase. He sighed as he picked it up, adjusted his shoulders, and took a step toward the door.

"W-wait!" Yuu said. His mind was blank and full at once, shocked and filled with questions. Old herbal remedy his fucking ass.

The man paused, turning to look at him. "I've left my email with Lavi. I imagine he will explain a good deal of it. Now is not the time for explanations, though. We will have, I think, a considerable amount of time in which to have those discussions at a later date." With that, he departed.

Lenalee, who sat on the couch, caught his attention. "Man," she said with a sigh, "that was weird." Yuu just gaped at her. As if he could explain it.

—

Minutes passed like hours in a steady stream of useless tests, from simple hand-eye coordination exercises to a brief eye exam. Each time Yuu performed a task perfectly, the lead doctor on his case would press his lips together. By the eighth such test, his lips were no longer discernible from the rest of his face, only a line of flesh hinting at a mouth.

Lavi breezed into the room just as the doctor left with bull-like snort that flared his nostrils rather comically.

"You would not believe the line! Some idiot in front of me was ordering for his whole damned department! You'd think he would have ordered catering for the damn meeting, but—"

He cut off, his mouth slack, as he glanced in Yuu's direction. The carrier fell from his hands. He fumbled with it, almost righting it, but it crashed into the ground anyway, sending coffee spatter everywhere as the contents leaked across the floor.

To his surprise, Lavi let out an enraged howl. "This damn—useless—stupid fucking EYEBALL!" He shouted, gesticulating wildly before slapping a coffee-coated hand over the left side of his face.

"The coffee!" Lenalee squeaked, and surged forward, righting the cups.

"Now, Lavi, it's not that bad," said Tiedoll, going to help Lenalee. "A miracle, really."

Lavi spat—actually spat—on the tiled floor, right into the expanding pool of coffee. "No, it's not. It's infuriating and dizzying and absolutely counterproductive."

"What are you talking about?" Yuu asked, and Lavi did a double-take. Even dripping coffee, his face when it broke into a smile… breathtaking.

In a rush, he was at Yuu's side, a little off-balance, arms sliding around his neck.

"You're awake, you're awake," he whispered into Yuu's neck, and Yuu felt a few hot tears splash onto his skin. Or maybe it was the coffee dripping from Lavi's hair. Lavi sniffed and nuzzled tightly into him. Tears, then. Yuu wrapped his arm as tightly as he could around Lavi, who had to stand on his tiptoes to reach him over the bed's thick plastic rail.

"Yes," Yuu whispered into Lavi's ear, "I'm awake."

Then, blinking, he pushed the redhead away to hold him at arm's length. "You've got two eyes," he said.

"Yeah," said Lavi, scowling and looking away. "Your damn—flower—" he spat the word like a curse, "—fixed it somehow. It's been no end of trouble. Do you know how annoying depth perception is?"

Yuu chuckled, a dry sound that edged toward a cough. "I'm sure you'll tell me all about it. At length."

Lavi's scowl soured further. But in the next second, it morphed again into joy, and he thrust his head forward to kiss him. What resulted was a clash of teeth and two muffled yelps.

"See?" Lavi said, pulling away, both his eyes watering. He looked so strange without the eyepatch.

Yuu just laughed again and yanked Lavi down to a proper kiss.

When they parted, he looked up to find both Lenalee and Tiedoll absent from the room. Giving them privacy, he hoped, but probably just to get paper towels in bulk. It didn't matter. For the moment, they were alone. He asked Lavi to grab him his water, which the redhead did, almost tripping over the end of the bed as he moved toward the pitcher. He slopped water over the floor, too, originally missing the lip of the glass.

He returned to Yuu with his left eye screwed shut. Yuu laughed.

"You look ridiculous like that, Rabbit."

The dark look Lavi shot him shut him up, though.

"Did you talk with Alma?" Lavi asked. "Where is he, anyway?"

"He left a few minutes ago," said Yuu.

Lavi made a disgruntled noise. "Of course, he did."

"He said I should email him."

Lavi deflated. "Please tell me you discussed things. I've been so curious about the lotus for ages."

"No," said Yuu, then paused to drink as Lavi slumped further. "He said we'd have time in the future. Are you alright?"

"Fine," said Lavi dispiritedly.

"Are you sure?"

The image of blood leaking, dark and hot, past Lizzie's hands flashed before his eyes.

"Fine. Perfect bill of health. Two eyes now, even." He scowled at that last. "You, though," he added, jabbing Yuu in the chest with his finger—a little too hard, as he hissed in a breath and began to shake out his hand.

"You scared the crap out of everyone with that stunt. And don't go denying that you didn't do anything." He scowled at Yuu again. Yuu, who had opened his mouth, shut it with a click of teeth. He decided to take another sip of his water.

"Alma and I talked after he took that tattoo away about why your lotus failed so badly. He said it wasn't meant to be shared—especially with such extensive healing needed for us both. Something about it 'unbalancing its healing energy and creating a deficit,' whatever he meant by that. He wasn't exactly forthcoming with details."

"I'd noticed," said Yuu dryly.

Lavi chuckled at that, then went back to glaring at him. "Did you know, the lotus wasn't meant to heal extensive injury in the first place. I mean, sure, a death blow here or there, but many serious wounds at once, split between two? He's surprised it didn't kill you immediately." He folded his arms (which still dripped coffee, Yuu noticed with amusement) and narrowed his eyes accusatorily at Yuu.

But Lavi's expression broke a few seconds later, and he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Yuu's chest as tightly as he could, sprawling out completely into the free space on the bed. He reeked of coffee. His wet clothing began to sop into the blankets. Yuu didn't care. Lavi was there, and he was alive. And so was he. Yuu wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and just hugged him.

"Don't ever do that again," Lavi mumbled into the blanket over Yuu's chest.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't think that will be an issue in the future."

"Good," said Lavi. "It had better not."

"What happened to Jason, though?" He asked, resting his chin against Lavi's head. "I stabbed him pretty bad in the stomach, but it's not like I watched him die. I was too worried about you. Is he in treatment here too?"

Lavi shifted so he was looking up at Yuu's face. It really was bizarre to see him without the eyepatch. "I was going to ask you about him. They only found the blood in the clearing, and the evidence of a pretty extensive struggle, but no sign of him. They thought Lizzie was lying about the attack to cover for one of us, but…"

"He wasn't going to survive that knife wound," said Yuu. "I definitely got his bowels. I didn't really notice it at the time, but I definitely smelled shit. Probably hit his stomach, too. Even if he somehow managed to not bleed to death, the infection or the stomach acid would have gotten him."

"Maybe," said Lavi, but he didn't look convinced.

"Listen, he was curled up dying when I went back to check on you. Even if the police didn't find anything, I'm sure he's dead. Or nearly—how long has it been?"

"Days," said Lavi. "Today is the fifth since the attack."

Yuu smiled at him. "Then he's definitely gone by now, one way or another."

"If you're sure…"

"I am," he said, holding Lavi's eyes. And he was. That didn't mean he wasn't worried, though. Regardless of whether Jason had made it away or not, whether he'd survived or not, the Bookmen were still a threat. But he hid that thought from Lavi, ruffling his red hair and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," he said.

Lavi's shoulders relaxed, and he maneuvered so he lay curled comfortably into Yuu's side. A janitor shuffled in a few minutes later, followed by a nurse, Lenalee, and Tiedoll. As the nurse checked his IV, tutting at them both in the bed, Yuu let himself relax. There was no use worrying about the Bookmen right now. He and Lavi had long ago passed the point of no return with them. What would come would come. To his surprise, his eyes drooped again, and he fell into a light doze.

—

March 27th

His head doctor, Yuu had concluded, seemed determined to find something wrong with him. He'd refused to release him until all of the results from every single inane test had come back. Each time another negative came back, the doctor seemed to take it as a personal insult, insisting on yet another batch of useless tests. So far, he'd had four MRIs, two CAT scans, and blood panels too numerous to count. Then there had been a stress test, and an inversion test after that.

Tiedoll might be rich, but even his temporal vein pulsed visibly as the doctor ordered a spinal tap.

"That's enough," he said finally. "You have been testing him for days. Everything has come back negative. At this point, you are wasting your resources and mine. Unless you want to foot the bill on your own, you will discharge him and we'll follow up in a month."

What followed was an argument-turned-shouting-match that elicited the attention of multiple hospital administrators, eventually leading to a tense but civil conversation between Tiedoll and the Chief of Medicine. Tiedoll returned from the conversation humming, stating that the discharge process had been initiated and they'd be out before the end of the day. Maybe.

Though Lenalee had returned to school once Yuu had awoken on Monday, Lavi had refused to leave his side. It was nice, he thought, to have Lavi with him always. He brought a certain cheer to the room, and Yuu could keep an eye on his safety. He hadn't forgotten about the Bookmen. Of course, it had the added bonus of creating an amusing new game between Lavi and the nurses, who kept chasing him out of Yuu's bed. He still hadn't quite gotten used to having his second eye back—a fact that he cursed at every opportunity—and had been classified as a "major disturbance" who, through various misjudgments of distance, continually kept "putting the equipment at risk." Yuu, who rolled his eyes each time they cat-and-moused about the room, secretly thought that the chasing was what led to most of the damage.

The sun was already starting to set when a familiar brunette rushed into the room.

"Lizzie?" Lavi said, sitting up abruptly and jarring the IV stand, causing it to tip over and almost rip the needle from Yuu's arm. Luckily, Lizzie was on the ball, sprinting over to catch it. Okay, Yuu admitted to himself, sometimes Lavi was an outright danger to hospital property.

A little breathless, Lizzie fwumped down into the chair at Yuu's bedside. It had been empty since Lavi had vacated it after the nurse had last checked in.

"I was afraid I'd miss visiting hours," she said, smiling at the two of them. "Class got out later than expected."

"We didn't know to expect you," said Yuu, bemused.

Lizzie chuckled. "Yeah, I was in a bit of a hurry and completely forgot to call ahead." As she spoke, she removed a manila envelope from her boat-sized purse.

"My father was not pleased with what happened," she continued. "Don't worry, Yuu, he doesn't blame you or your family."

Yuu settled back into the bed, pressing Lavi's head back onto his chest.

"Actually, my father commends you for your bravery—those are his words. I told him about how you and Lavi came and saved me. He's offered to pay both of your hospital bills in full and has called the hospital to arrange that.

"I bet that's why they were doing so many tests," Lavi said darkly.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Lizzie said, waving a hand. "He's talked with the administrators about that and they're dropping a bunch of those fees."

Yuu's jaw went a little slack. Lizzie giggled, probably at his face.

"It helps that he's on his way to becoming the Senate Minority Leader. And, you know, that he's head of one of the Senate's health committees."

Yuu had not known that, actually, but Lavi nodded as if this was far from news to him. Of course it wasn't.

"Anyway, he had me tell him everything about Jason and the attack. He did some digging—you know, a couple inquiries, more than a few formal complaints, that sort of stuff. Turns out he was a Bookman—one of his contacts confirmed it and then, later in the conversation, mentioned she knew you, Lavi."

They both shot her puzzled expressions.

"A woman named Cloud does a lot of information gathering for the CIA."

Lavi let off a soft "Ah" and nodded, understanding. Cloud, though? What a weird name. Perhaps he'd misheard.

"My father had a good working relationship with her from when he worked with the CIA after he left the military. She asked him if he perhaps knew anything about you, which of course he didn't, but when he asked me, I obviously answered yes. So to make a long story short, she made a lot more inquiries, and she and my father both called in a lot of favors and well, here—" She thrust forward the manila envelope.

Lavi grabbed it out of reflex, eyes wide. He opened it while Yuu watched. He retrieved a packet of papers and unfolded them. Yuu read over Lavi's shoulder

Dear Former Bookman, Current Designation "Lavi Davidson",

It has come to the attention of our agency that the organization known as the Bookmen (henceforth referred to as the Organization) has committed a breach of the Committee for the Oversight of Organizations: Extra-Governmental's (COOX) treaty for the Ethical Treatment of Non-Defined Citizens and Sensitive Membership Categories (ETNDC-SMC). As this issue is far from the first from this Organization in this year alone, they have received a formal reprimand and will be subject to stricter oversight. You will shortly receive notification from the Organization recognizing your complete withdrawal from all associated activities, as well as the complete documentation for your reintroduction into society. Acceptance of these documents signals your agreement to keep all knowledge and information pertaining to your involvement completely confidential and the Organization's forfeiture of all rights to your person and future.

Questions or concerns can be addressed by contacting any of the agencies listed on the following pages. It is with great pleasure that we welcome you into the United States as a naturalized citizen and productive member of society.

Yours in Service,

Cloud Nine

Office for the Committee for the Oversight of Organizations: Extra-Governmental (COOX)

So her name was Cloud, Yuu thought idly. Lavi flipped through the rest of the papers, scanning them with quick efficiency, one eye closed.

Yuu looked up from the paper. "Is this for real?" He asked Lizzie. "I've never heard of this committee before."

Lizzie opened her mouth to answer, but Lavi sprang up from the bed—again, sending his IV stand askew (Yuu caught it, though)—and snatched something up from his backpack. As the paper fell through the bed, Lavi fiddled with the device and held it to his ear. Ah, it was his phone.

"Cloud? It's Lavi. Oh, don't be ridiculous, you know exactly who it is… Yes, she did give me the letter."

Yuu turned his attention back to Lizzie, who smiled serenely.

"It's real," she said, and Yuu found himself grinning wide enough to split his face.

"What about Jason? Did they find anything out about him?" He asked, but she shook her head sadly.

"Dad refused to say anything, but from what I overheard, his contacts refused disclose anything else once they heard the word Bookman."

"Are they that feared?" Yuu asked.

"They're known for their extremism in the intelligence gathering community. It also wouldn't be the first time they've… uh… pressured other organizations to keep quiet."

"Considering their work culture, I'm not surprised."

Lizzie laughed, then sobered abruptly. "I'm… honestly, I'm just shocked that all of this stuff was happening right under my nose and I never realized. Why didn't you guys tell me what was going on?"

"We didn't want to scare you," Yuu replied. "You had a lot on your plate, and we weren't one hundred percent sure about Jason. And even if we had been, I don't think Lavi wanted it to be common knowledge."

She gave him a look. "Listen, I don't just mean about him. Lavi is my friend as well. I'd have liked to help sooner. Maybe it would have stopped this from even happening. It's really nice to have connections, you know?" She laughed then. "After all, apparently my Dad still knows a lot of important high ups. No wonder he was sure there was a Bookman detailing his affairs."

"So, he seems pretty confident that they'll leave everyone involved alone?"

"Yeah. He was assured repeatedly by the Bookmen themselves that this wouldn't happen again. He was really angry… something about it reminding him of child soldiers or something. He might even make it a talking point on his campaign." She grimaced, but they both broke out into quiet laughter.

Lavi hung up the phone and plopped back down onto the bed. "She said it was the real deal," he said. His voice had a dazed quality about it. "She's apparently been waiting for an opportunity to tighten restrictions. She promised that once I get that paperwork from them, I won't hear anything else from them. I might actually be free of them." He let out a small laugh. Yuu wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him back so he was resting against his chest.

But as the three of them laughed together, everything seemed abruptly much brighter, like the world was preparing to give them back control over their lives. As a nurse finally came in to unhook him from the IV, he looked down at his other, tattoo-free arm, the last great reminder of pain and torment finally gone from his life.

Lavi was not the only one who had been handed back his future that day.

—

A/N: The reason that the security guards forgot about the chair they put in front of the door is completely, unapologetically because we didn't want to derail the story. And also because we were running up on the deadline of getting this out yesterday (which lol, didn't happen—so sorry!). However, the doctors and nurses would have arrived too quickly otherwise. This chapter turned out to be 39 pages. It's a new record! 15807 words. Holy shit.

Short epilogue to follow. Thanks for bearing with us all these years, friends! :)