Amber Memories, Forgotten

-It Made Life Worthwhile-

Violence only adds deeper darkness to a night sky already devoid of stars.

It is unable to drive out darkness as only light possesses the ability to do so.

And darkness is hatred, while light is love.

But what happens when the world is both already consumed by darkness?

Would our love be sufficient, Aki, when both of us tried to change the world?

"Yo Brother," cheered the minister as he attempted a joyous kiss on the latter. "Lovely party you have here."

Lord Tyki Mikk glared at his older brother- one only connected to him be the Noah blood and curse, before feigning a smile. Sipping from his bubbly champagne, he chortled, "But of course. Look at the amount of people present and the publicity we are receiving. I'm sure you are upmost satisfied with this."

Sheryl Camelot laughed hoarsely as he too surveyed the area. It was grand and glamorous, nonetheless, with the top brass band hired and state-of-the arts facilities and decorations draped across the hall. Teasing, he then diverted his attention back to the younger man. "And you must be satisfied to finally get the lady's hand, I suppose?"

"Perhaps," said Tyki flatly, acting nonchalant. It was a different feeling, this engagement, something more than just feeling victorious- words could only fail to describe his emotions now.

"It's a good pair," smiled the minister as he placed an assuring hand on his brother's shoulder. The latter was often dwelling in his human emotions too much, he thought silently. Just then, someone caught his eyes. The lady drifted into the room with much flamboyant confidence, striding across the floor accompanied by her handsome partner. Before he knew it, the couple had already made their way towards the lady of the night- Lady Kaeda Amber. "That must be her sister, Countess Amber," admired Sheryl as he adjusted his monocles.

"Then I shall make my way to greet her," said Tyki, happy to get some personal space away from his brother, as he began to make his way through the crowd, smiling and waving at people he happened to pass by but not necessarily know. Such was the hypocrites of this gentry, such was the mask everyone had to put on since the day they entered society.

Countess Amber masked a smirk across her painted lips as her brother-in-law approached, noticing how the latter had instinctively placed his arms over her sister's shoulders. Blushing, Kaeda only smiled a little in response. The older Amber tried to suppress her amusement and teased. "Look who our dear flower has attracted, my dear."

"It's our honor to have your presence here, our dearest count and countess," greeted Tyki as flashed his signature grin on the two.

Catching on the laughter, the Count nodded his head in agreement. "The butterfly of this event, of course," he said before caressing his wife's cheeks lovingly with his thumb. Then, diverting his attention back to the engaged couple, he said in a joyous tone, "We're extremely glad for your invitation too, Lord Mikk. This is definitely an extremely grand engagement party you have here. I was afraid that my wife here would be envious of her little sister."

"I'm proud for her," protested the countess as she feigned a pout on her lips. "Even so, it's the honor of you men to have us as your spouse."

The group began to laugh in response, bubbling like the champagne in their flask.

"You should wait before you make your final judgment, Lord Mikk," teased the count as he flashed a cheeky grin at his wife. "Like fire, the Amber ladies are not to be trifled with."

Tyki chuckled gracefully in response, tightening his arms around his fiancée as he did so. "Then I guess we must be water, your lordship."

"Indeed," cheered the latter exuberantly, ignoring the protest from his wife. Then smiling back at his pretty spouse, the count gave an innocence pout. "Aren't we, honey?"

Count Amber stared at her husband in mocked disgust, clicking her tongue as she did so. Then she turned to face her sister and beamed joyously at her, a way of telling the latter that she was both proud and happy for her. Kaeda, amused despite herself, gave a tight smile in response and cast her glance down, nudging her elbow at her fiancé's waist.

"We've to attend to the other guests too, pardon us please. It had been wonderful time talking to you, but please do excuse us for the moment," said Tyki gracefully as he waved over at the waiters to serve the couple, hiding Kaeda's intention under his smile. "Do enjoy the party, nonetheless."

Countess Amber smiled graciously as she nodded her head in understanding, waving them off. "Sure, have fun," she sang while she accepted her husband's hand to head off.

"Why the hurry," asked Tyki as he looked down at Kaeda with brief confusion when the two walked away, smiling and waving at times at the other guests. "I do believe that you two sisters have a strong relationship?"

"Indeed we have," muttered Kaeda as she diverted her gaze away from the latter, not wishing it to burn on him; or her sister, for that matter.

I just don't want her to see the sorrow from my eyes.

Tyki frowned as his eyebrows furrowed a little, unhappy with her reply but decided to make no comment on it. Yet the pressing feeling he got in his heart could never go away.

"There's Baroness Louche, my Lord. Pardon me while I welcome my friend," said Aki out of a sudden, and before Tyki could say a thing, the young lady had made her way discreetly through the crowd and away from him. It was at the moment, when he realized that perhaps things were not as simply as he would have assumed it to be.

There is just some stuff in the world that you cannot force to have your way; be it the stars in the world or lives that were meant to leave this earth.

"It's okay, I can manage from now on," answered Kaeda graciously to the knock on the door as she lifted the covers on her bed before deciding that she did not wanted to climb in just yet. Instead, the young lady sighed softly and headed to the wooden desk placed discreetly near the balcony, where the user would then be able to observe the scenery out there while preparing oneself for the day.

However, it was night time now, when the moon would cast its pale sickly rays over couples who were too intrigued by each other to even bother about the lack of light. From here, as she had once observed from Tyki's room, one was able to observe the beautiful diamonds dotted in the black background, shining despite the darkness. She was in one of the guestrooms this time round, since the engagement party ended too late and Minister Camelot would not hear of her traveling home late at night -such concern coming from a Noah.

Laughing sarcastically, Kaeda propped herself against one of the armchair available and rubbed her temples a little even though it was too minimal to ease her discomfort. Her head was still spinning from the alcohol, the pretentious joy and the aching feeling of her heart every time her gaze ended up on her fiancé. He could have detected it, by the latter showed no obvious reaction about it. He was after all, a Noah in the gentry, one who was brilliant and masking his identity and feelings. Yet why did he take to such a great extent to win her back?

Her eyes closed at the thought of that, wanting so much to know the reason yet fearing to do so. The young lady was well aware that, deep in the midst of her heart, her feelings were still intact and attached to him. Yet which 'him' was it supposed to be?

"…Lady," said a voice suddenly, snapping Kaeda's thoughts like fire that crackles when it burnt against wood. The voice sounded muffled and low, so much so that she was unable to differentiate who it belonged to.

Just then, a solid thud landed heavily against the other side of the door; the side which she would never be able to see unless she opened herself to it.

Astonished, Kaeda quickly made her way towards the door, worried if something had happened to the servants. They were humans, after all, no matter whom they served, thought the young lady as she wrapped her fingers around the cool door knob, turning it hurriedly.

"Are you okay-" asked Kaeda, her voice filled with formal concern but her words dangled halfway through when she felt herself pushed backwards, landing on the floor, flabbergasted. The body, whoever it is, positioned itself over her which forced her head to the side, unable to see who the intruder was. The door soon closed behind them, a soft click sealing the darkness within.

Before Kaeda could respond to the attack, she could feel herself being pulled up from the floor clumsily by a strong strength, and tossed onto the bed like a doll. Struggling to pick herself, her attempts failed when she felt herself pinned against the soft silken bed, the smell of alcohol overwhelming her. By now, she knew who it was. There could be no one else but him.

"Lord Tyki Mikk, what do you think you are doing? Get off-"

Her words stopped abruptly as a heavy pressure sealed her mouth up coarsely, suffocating her with its strong alcohol smell. It shocked her nonetheless, when she realized that the man was insanely intoxicated. The young lady could feel his strong hands pushing down her shoulders, his hair carelessly all over her. His rough chin rubbed against her smooth one, and it occurred to her that it had been this way too when he forgot to shave at times when he was a miner. Was he really still the same Tyki? The coarse texture soon travelled down and around her neck, grazing her as it did so, pushing her chin upwards and towards the night sky. The stars were still shining innocently at them, as if bearing innocent witnesses to this abuse.

Kaeda could kill him right now and be done with the mission.

It would be most reasonable: A man came into her room and tried to rape her. Not knowing it was her drunken fiancé, the young lady shot at the man in fear. It was only when the lights came on that she realized that to her horror that she had killed the one whom she loved so deeply. Her gun was tied by her calf- she always slept with it, so all she need to do now was to find a way to reach and kill this man. It was Innocence after all, something that would kill monsters like this one. The blood would then spread across the white sheet, robbing the latter of its purity.

It was just that simple.

"Stop, my Lord," ordered Kaeda, her thoughts finally recollecting. The rough caressing persisted; aching her heart and scratching her skin as it did so. Something made her refrain from reaching her calf. The young lady tried to push the Noah back, exerting strength against the impossible weight. He was too physically powerful for her, darn. Out of frustration, her leg stuck upwards and hit the stomach of the man.

Tyki Mikk cringed in response, surprising Kaeda that such a kick would be sufficient to cause pain to a Noah like him. The young man fall by his side, caving into the bed beside her, his features engraved in pain. Stunned, Kaeda remained motionless as she observed him curling into a fetus position in his drunken state, innocent and pure in comparison to the attack he had attempted previously.

"My Lord," muttered Kaeda once again, uncertain how to react. The man did not react but instead only snuggled even closer beside her, as if he was no more but a young boy in need of a big mug of warm milk and love. The lines on his face were smoothening out slowly, as the latter drifted in to slumber.

Kaeda stared in disbelief but was soon too overpowered by the serene atmosphere of the night. Her fingers moved over her hair and attire, adjusting her ruffled composure as she tried to straighten everything again. As she did so, the young lady could hear a soft mumble bubbling from the man's thin lips. Curious, Kaeda bend over his face and her heart could only skip a beat when she heard his barely audible words: Aki.

Kaeda instinctively moved her head away from his, her heart thumping painfully against her chest. How much love do you think would be sufficient to really break through the boundary of reality and the change the world? The man beside her shifted a little from his sleep, casting his chin even lower. Unconsciously, Kaeda brought up her fingers beside his cheeks, before gently pushing away some of his curls from his face. It was that same geography of his face, she noted. Even though he was a Noah, there were crosses missing. Were these signs that…? As she stroked her fingers gently on his stubble that was beginning to grow out again, Kaeda found herself moving closer and closer to the man's warmth. Unable to break the strong pull from his, her lips trembled as it hovered over his before allowing minimal contact with his.

"Aki."

The soft kiss soon melted into a deeper one, one caused by the awakened man who reciprocated the tender contact, drawing her closer as he slowly roused from his sleep to kiss the young lady over. His hands, cupping her cheeks and the round of her shoulder, slowly maneuvered the latter as she lied on the bed this time round.

Protesting a little, Kaeda pulled the man towards her before rolling over him. As the young lady gazed down at Tyki, she willed herself to take in every detail of the man, remembering the man as the one she loved and not the one she had to murder one day. Tyki, confused but amused by her pause, stretched out his hands to brush her cheeks ever so lovingly, before placing his large hand at the back of her head to lower her face to his. He gazed deeply into her eyes, both loving and hating the confused fire still held within.

Kaeda casted her gaze downwards, embarrassed that he could see through her like that. Instead, she placed her lips slowly over his as her hands roved over on his chest, twisting each button open as if that was all she needed to see the core of him.

That was when she saw the deep scar that spread itself across him, forming a cross that was centralized to his right size, perhaps missing his heart by just a little. It was still recovering; damage obviously caused by Innocence. Aching with love, her lips placed itself over the scar, moving along the cursed line. The tip of her tongue touched him when she did so, wishing that that was it would need to heal. Yet Tyki could only twitch at such a gentle touch, embarrassed even, that it hurt him so much.

"Who…?" asked Kaeda softly, her words lingering over his skin when she articulated her words.

Sighing, Tyki only looked away as he brushed his hand through her long head, silence consuming the darkness.

"Allen Walker," he finally confessed with his voice barely audible. It made him wondered, at such a time, why he was willing to admit such a foolish mistake.

Kaeda frowned as she looked back up into his amber eyes, finding the name familiar. It was the circus boy she saw with Mariam Cross, a voice in her head alerted her, making the young lady paused a little too long.

Tyki, worried that he had made the latter worried, stroked the top of her head, brushing her long black hair. His Noah was acting up when she fawned over his scar, he noticed. Abruptly, Tyki lifted the young lady up and positioned himself over her instead. Looking at her, he was affected by how sad her features were, mirroring his image. Frustrated, Tyki buried his head in the curl of her shoulders, before kissing her neck roughly. Despite the discomfort, Kaeda only bit her lips as she allowed the Noah to abuse her anyway he wanted, allowed the debonair to unwrap her, allowed her fiancé to pull himself in. His kisses lingered over every inch of her skin, leaving trails of love all over her. Kaeda could feel him biting her skin every now and then, abusing her a little at times. They were both hungry, drunk in their passion and unwilling to let go.

Hands moving wildly around her every curve, it was as if Tyki had been so afraid of losing her. His fingers travelled down the arc of her spine, feeling her tingling under his every touch. As he moved down, Tyki crawled slowly and caressed her inner thigh, feeling her skin rippling under his. Kaeda shuddered as his large hand stroked across her outer thigh, and across the burnt mark that had been caused by her incident. Yet the latter only bend down to kiss it as she had done his, allowing his thumb to stroke the textured skin. Soon, he allowed a finger or two to slide within her, causing a moan to escape from her lips.

Then he was inside her; his rhythm fast. It did not matter at this moment who was who anymore. What matter the most was how their fingers remained intertwined with each other when the two of them finally melted.

Please do not leave me again.

When I was just a child, I used to rouse from sleep in the middle of the night to recall bits and pieces of my craziest dreams from kicking autumn leaf piles, to eating lots melted of ice-cream with my siblings without even feeling nausea, to even just fly in the sky without anything form of assistance. I would wake up with the smell of sweet sweat in my hair or have clumps of clouds stuck to my clothes like candy floss till the realization hit upon me that I was somewhere from far that. And not matter how hard I would try, I could not force myself back to the dream that I had been in.

Yet on this special night that he and I spent together, I woke up with him in my arms to find him still asleep. I traced the landscape of his face, from the sharp hill of his nose to the distributaries in his ear. And for the first time in my life after I closed my eyes, I was able to drop back into the same cloud that I had left in my dream. Or would it be?

"Aki!" yelled the young man as he suddenly woke up in bed to find the place beside him in bed empty. Combing his hair back, he looked around in search for the very one he had been dreaming of. Sweat of confusion formed on the flat of his temple as his eyes darted around, and he tried to climb out of bed. Light was already streaming in from the balcony.

"Quiet down," hushed the familiar voice as it appeared from the changing corner, with Kaeda looking back at him. "If the others hear us…"

Tyki Mikk stayed motionless momentarily, uncertain what to do. Suddenly, he crackled into soft laughter before getting out of the bed and crossing over to her. He had been afraid, too afraid for his own liking that she would leave him once again, thought the young lord. Then the debonair chuckled when he noticed that Kaeda was looking away at the sight of his full frontal.

"This happened when you stayed over with us for the first night too, eh," teased the young man as he stood upon the young lady before deciding to grab a towel to wrap the bottom half of him up. Heaving a sigh when he realized that Kaeda would not be replying him other than giving him a slight nod, he crossed the distance set between them and pulled her close into his embrace, inhaling the scent of her hair. "Thank you for staying with me," he said into her hair, something grateful yet sounding like an order too.

"It's my honor," muttered Kaeda as she lifted her chin up to hold his gaze, before tipping her toes up to plant a kiss over his dry lips. She parted the kiss before Tyki was about to deepen it, and chose to look in the direction of the door. "You should go soon, lest the servants find you here, my Lord."

Tyki gazed down at his fiancée, his legs refusing to move until the latter nudged at him to go. Grabbing his clothes, the young man dressed hastily before heading for the door.

"Good morning," whispered Kaeda as she went over to open the door for him, giving the latter a tight smile that exhausted her lips. She smiled once again when Tyki took her by her hand and pecked her fingers, pressing his lips to the cold ring that bound her fourth finger.

"You are very close to your family, aren't you," asked the young man out of the blue as she stared in shock at him. Smiling, Tyki pulled out a chain from pocket, revealing a pendant. When he clicked it open, the pendant opened into half, revealing a young picture of a complete family. "You left this in my pocket. That is something you can't forget, ain't it?"

It was to remind me of the sin I never should have committed, thought Kaeda as she took the chain back, her trembling fingers barely able to hold it tight.

"Be sure to add me in there too," teased Tyki as he finally made his way out, his soft laughter dancing across the corridor.

"I was just thinking too much," thought Tyki to himself as he walked out into the corridor, a pleased grin plastered over his lips. The wooden door separated the two at this very moment, both unable to see each other anymore.

Perhaps it would be better. It would be better for him not to see her crumbling to the floor like fallen ashes, smacking her head against the hard wooden surface as her hands curled into a fist around the pendant. Stains formed on the carpeted floor, barely evaporating when another pair fell, as if one could never bear the presence of the other.

How could I forget about my mission to kill you in order to wash away my sin?

A/N: Sorry for the two-weeks delay, hope this chapter is long enough to repay back. I'll be on hiatus like Hoshino as I have no more backup chapters to post D: sorry, holidays are coming back soon, so i will be able complete the remaining 3 chapters! (: