I only had time to reread over this once, so I hope everything makes sense :P Thank you for everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I love all one of you XD No, but seriously, thank you for reviewing, Meltedwings! Reviews help motivate me to continue writing! Also thank you to everyone who followed and reviewed. I hope you enjoy.

Also, I included an OC exorcist in this chapter for plot development (it will make sense as you read). I decided to just make one up because I didn't want to kill any of the main characters, so, yeah, sorry.

Warnings: OC, death, violence and Tyki being the sadist he is. c:

Chapter 3:

Lavi liked to think of himself as a calm kind of guy. Sure he liked to tease and joke and lost his temper from time to time, but he still figured that most of the time he was pretty easy going and cool headed.

Which is why he couldn't help but briefly wonder why it was that he could feel his visible eye twitching as he gazed down at the heap of homework Road had placed in front of him, complaining about how she had too much to do it only by herself.

"But you're a Bookman, aren't you, Lavi?" Road inquired, her voice a low whine as she leaned over the table so that she was only inches from him, "That means that you know a lot about history and I need help!"

Yes, she did, Lavi had to agree on that much, considering the fact that Tyki and Jasdevi both were also attempting to do her homework, however Road didn't seem to be aware that by doing her homework they were really just writing down a series of random numbers.

"Yeah, I know all of this…" The red head admitted cautiously, knowing better than to try and fool the Noah of Dreams, "But if I do it all for ya, how will you learn it?"

The Noah of Memories couldn't help but think that he sounded an awful lot like the old man at the moment and he immediately felt like wincing at the idea.

"But Uncle Tyki and JasDevi are helping." She complained, elongating the 'ing' into yet another shrill whine, "I'll look over it!"
"Uh…"

The red head paused for a moment, silently debating his options before begrudedly doing as he was asked and took the booklet presented to him, not at all surprised by the loud 'Thank you, Lavi!' that was swiftly accompanied by a pair of arms wrapping around his shoulders and hugging him close.

The girl grinned happily to himself as she watched the four men begin to scribble down words in her booklets, a feeling of accomplishment overwhelming her at the thought that she had managed to convince her family to do all her work for it. At this rate she would be done with her studied by the end of dinner and then she would have time to play with Lero and her dolls!

Unfortunately the sense of excitement died nearly as swiftly as it came when Road finally decided to look over the Noah of bond's work, her jaw dropping at what she found. On the page was not the biology facts she was looking for, but a series of the same number written over and over again!

"JasDevi!" She squealed, immediately snatching the work books away from the one giggling and one smirking males, her dark eyes wide as she helplessly flipped through the pages to find the same incorrect answer, "What are you doing?! This is biology!"
"Is that what that was?" The dark haired one of the two snickered, "So close."
Lavi couldn't help but think that that was an overstatement, considering the fact that he was fairly certain that the act in which plants released oxygen was not 5.

Sighing, the Bookman Jr glanced away from his own history assignment to the fancily dressed male beside him, both amused and bemused to find that he had filled in 12 for every single answer on the page, and the assignment wasn't even math.

"Uh… Tyki, what are you doing?"
"Hm?" Golden eyes glanced away from the ruined book to the red head before flickering back to his work, a slight smirk marring his features at the ginger's obvious confusion, "It would look as though I was doing geography, Red."

"Well yeah," Lavi agreed, "But why are ya just puttin' some random number?" He leaned over closer to the Pleasure to get a better look at the page, "Ya know, I'm not sayin' I know everything or anything, but I'm pretty sure that Africa isn't in between the twelfth and the twelfth oceans…"

Tyki hummed softly in silent agreement, tuning out the feuding Road and JasDevi in front of him,

"You're probably right about that, Red."

"But you're not gonna help her?"

"I can't help her if I don't know the answers."

Lavi blinked at that simple statement, surprised. He admitted that even he wasn't aware of every little geographic thing, but he was still pretty sure that that answer was pretty simple, especially for a twenty something year old male like Tyki.

The male in question, seeming to understand the Red head's sudden silence, continued filling in the same number,

"I never received a formal education." He explained shortly, "In fact, I know very little book wise."

This once again startled Lavi, who had originally perceived the formal male to be quite intelligent seeing as he enjoyed reading, knew the anatomy of all living beings and was an Earl. Weren't royalty supposed to always be well educated?

The Noah of Memories was about to voice his questions when suddenly he was cut off by Road's voice, this time it seemed as though it was closer.

"You two are no help!" She complained, moving over to wrap her arms around Tyki as she stuck her tongue out at the laughing twins, "At least Uncle Tyki is taking this seriously and helping me! He-…. Uncle Tyki!"

This time even Lavi had to stifle a chuckle at the bewildered look on the seemingly young girl's face upon finding that her Uncle's workbook, just like the twins, was filled in with nothing but the same numerous dotted down continuously,

"I thought you said you would help me!"

"Yes, and I did. I am fairly certain that the answer is twelve." The Pleasure replied leisurely, bringing a cigarette up to his mouth in a half attempt to hide the smirk forming on his face, "Was I wrong?"

"None of you are any help!"

In obvious exasperation the girl quickly collected the books the others were supposedly helping her with and stacked them back by her desk, even going so far as to take away the assignment that Lavi had been given.

"Uh, didn't ya want help on that, Road?" The red head asked, the grin on his face showing just how amused he was by this whole conversation.

"Hmph, I did, but no one is helping!" She gave the boy a glare and irritably wrenched open her history book, "I bet you just did the same thing they did! Now I have to erase all these numbers too and -… wait… THESE ARE ALL ACTUAL ANSWERS?!"

The Dream's voice practically caused the whole place to shake as a large smile erupted onto her face as she flipped through the pages she had given to Lavi. They weren't just numbers! They were actual answers that Road recognized as being right! Lavi actually was trying to help her!

"Thank you, Lavi!" She squealed, lunging at the red head and tackling him in a hug before handing him back the history book, "You didn't just write down random numbers!"

He chuckled somewhat awkwardly. Was he supposed to…?

"Well, no… I kinda thought you wanted the right answers…?"

"I do! But they never actually do it for me! I'm going to start asking you for help more often!"

Beside him, Lavi could hear Tyki laugh softly at the idea and the ginger couldn't help but wonder if he really should have just bullshitted the answers like the others…

DGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGM

"You could have warned me!" Lavi complained, narrowing his single green eye at the laugh he received from the male walking besides him down the hall, "Now she is never going to leave me alone!"

"I suppose it just slipped my mind." The pleasure mused, sending the red head a sly grin that only proved further that the male hadn't forgotten anything.

"You ass, no you didn't!"

"Ah, maybe you're right."

Lavi groaned,

"She's never going to stop asking me to do her homework now…"

The dinner had just ended and the two Noahs were now getting ready for their new mission, which completely erased the slim chance they had to rejoin their human friends. Lavi himself didn't mind so much, but he had a feeling that Tyki was pretty bummed out by it, seeing as their few days long vacation was shortened to only hours thanks to the impromptu dinner the Earl called.

At said dinner the Earl had assigned new jobs for each Noah, claiming that the exorcists had been killing too many of his 'precious babies' and that it was time for them to start progressively fighting back. It was also at that dinner that, much to Lavi's dismay, Road had declared that Lavi was now her 'Homework doll' which was pretty much her way of saying that she was going to start bugging Lavi whenever she had homework. Apparently Tyki found that absolutely freaking hysterical.

"You're right, she's not." Tyki leisurely agreed, adjusting his top hat as he gave the red head a mischievous smirk, "That's why no one ever answers her homework correctly."

"But you said that you didn't answer your questions right because you didn't know them."

"Yes, that's true, but that was because it was geography, red. Even if she had given me anatomy I still would have put the same numbers as I did previously. Once you help that girl with her work you won't hear the end of it."
"That would have been nice to know about an hour ago…" Lavi grumbled, crossing his arms as he groaned again, "Now I gotta put up with her as well as with the Earl and the god damn Panda… This sucks…"

The Pleasure chuckled again at the boy's obvious dismay,

"Perhaps, but for now we have another mission to conduct."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's what, another search and destroy for innocence?"
"No, not this time, Red. It seems as though the Earl is beginning to put more faith in you because this time…" A malicious scowl spread across the taller of the two's face as he handed the card he had received over to the red head, "Our mission is to exterminate an exorcist from the European Branch. Some Ace Wind (1)."

Somewhat startled by the new mission, Junior could do nothing more than stare dumbly at the card he now held in his hands, his single green eye wide,

"An extermination?"

Tyki nodded,

"Looks like the Order has been recruiting some more exorcists and the Earl isn't fond of that." He stated nonchalantly as he idly messed with a cigarette, "If they keep growing like this they might begin to pose as a threat to his plans, so he wants his family to get rid of a few of 'em."

"I see… Tyki, can I ask ya something?"

"Hm? Go ahead."

"How many exorcists have you killed?"

The Pleasure chuckled softly at the question, his golden eyes flickering over to the red head,

"I'm afraid I lost track long ago, Red, though I have taken a button from most of them and given it to Eeze, so I suppose if you really wanted to know you could ask how many buttons he has."

Lavi stared at the older male beside him in question, about to ask him why it was that he would do something so… grotesque – After all, giving a kid a button a murderer took from his victim as a souvenir was rather disgusting, or at the very least that was what Lavi figured-, however he bit his tongue and decided that that was a question that was probably best saved for later. He didn't want to accidentally pry into a subject that the male wished to keep private and settled with just settling the question with all the others that he had grown to wonder about the strange Noah who seemed so fixated on also living a human life.

Instead he brought his attention back to the playing card in his hand with the name of the unfortunate man,

"So, about this mission…"

DGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGM

It was a day later that the two Noah finally made it to Italy, where the Exorcist on their list was stationed to uncover a piece of innocence that was supposedly located there. Apparently the locals in a small town would tell of stories in which, at the dead of night, there would be ghostly apparitions of what seemed to be women dancing along the water of a spring in the middle of the village. It was said that anyone who drank from the body of water would go delusional and eventually disappear into the water; lured to their death by the spirits. It certainly did sound like the work of some sort of innocence.

After checking out the details with the locals the two males found out that the exorcist in question had just arrived that morning, making it so they were just in time to beat him to the Innocence and take his life as well as the object of his attention.

That was why Lavi and Tyki were currently perched in one of the trees that surrounded the water's edge, both waiting viligently for the familiar coat of the Apostle of god to make its way into their sight. It was several hours past sundown, making it so their target was due to make his appearance very soon.

"Hey, Red…"

Glancing in the direction of the voice, Lavi looked over at Tyki, who was sitting one branch above and beside his own, an unlit cigarette in his slim fingers.

"What is it, Birthmark?"

"I left my lighter in my white outfit."
"Yeah…?"

"Can I get a light?"

Lavi couldn't help but sigh at the question and rolled his eyes,

"Again? I'm not a human lighter for ya damn cigarettes, mole. Ya know, you shouldn't even be smoking those things, they aren't good for you."

The Noah laughed softly,

"I didn't know you cared, Red, I'm touched."
"I don't…"

The cigarette was extended closer to the red head and Lavi begrudedly complied with the silent request, lifting up his eyepatch before concentrating on the stick, watching in satisfaction as within a moment a small fire dragon formed before lighting the cigarette and disappearing again.

"Much obliged, rabbit." The Pleasure grinned and brought the cancer stick to his mouth, inhaling the nicotine with a small sigh of contentment, purposely ignoring the exasperated look he received from his comrade at the nickname.

"Don't you start calling me that too… I don't even look like a stupid rabbit…"

"I don't know, Red, I think it fits you well."

"What do you-…"

His question was cut off as the soft sound of a stick cracking a few yards from their position gained their attention, causing the feuding pair to immediately quiet. The Exorcist had finally arrived.

DGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGMDGM

"Damn it…" The exorcist cursed under his breath, his brown eyes flickering around his surroundings irritably, "Don't tell me I'm lost again… Geez, Blake'll never let me hear the end of this…"

So far this seemingly simple mission had proved to be anything but. Ace had arrived late that morning, just as Komui had said he would, however that was really the only thing that worked out as planned.

The townsfolk had been incompetent at best, none of them able –or rather willing- to point him in the right direction. Instead they all seemed to favor sending him on various types of wild goose chases. An old lady informed him that the river he was seeking could be found several miles to the East, and when he went as was directed and found the instructions to be false he returned to the town and asked a male for assistance. That male led him a mile or so West, which once again resulted in nothing more than a dead end and a worsened headache.

Finally, at his wits end, Ace had succumbed to buying a map and attempted to find his own way through the seemingly endless flora that blanketed the small town. So far he had been aimlessly trekking through the woods for several hours and he still had not seen even the slightest sign of the water that supposedly housed the innocence he was after.

In fact, he decided that if he did not come across the lake soon he would call it a night and return to his hotel before trying again the following night.

Perhaps if he had turned then and walked away he would have been able to live another day, but it was for not for he continued his journey regardless of the sense of unease that nearly suffocated him with every step. Had he turned around then he would not have alerted his presence to the bickering Noah pair several yards ahead of him by stepping on a twig some several steps later, however he did, and he would soon learn to regret his stubbornness for not giving up.

"I hope I'm not lost again."

"Ah, I'm afraid being lost is the least of your worries right now, Exorcist."

Ace froze immediately at the voice, his hand instantly going to the holster on his waist where his dagger like innocence was kept, ready to draw it at any moment.

"Who's there?"

"Ah, yes, my apologies. Where are my manners?" With a dark chuckle a form now only feet from the exorcist jumped out, his golden eyes glinting maliciously in the beams of moonlight that managed to pierce through the expanse of tree limbs, "My name is Tyki Mikk, at your service."

Immediately the black haired exorcists' eyes widened at the eye color and he wiped out his weapon defensively. There was only ever one type of individual that processed eyes so golden and a smile so very wicked.

He had the misfortune of meeting the highest level of akuma known to Exorcists.

"A Noah…"

"Right you are." He mused, nonchalantly inhaling another breath of his cigarette before slowly releasing the smoke, his relaxed demeanor never wavering in the slightest, "If you came to acquire the innocence I'm afraid you are already too late. I retrieved it hours ago."

With another charmingly evil grin the Pleasure flicked the stick to the side before digging into his pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular object that seemed to almost grow in the dimly lit patch of forest.

Ace's eyes widened and a frown pulled at his lips as he studied the object being held so carefully by the grinning male, his anger and unease only surging. He was too late. The Noah had already managed to find and take the Innocence!

"Damn it…"

"I take it I was right, then?" The Portuguese man smirked, "This is what you came for, isn't it? A shame. In fact I-…"

"Are you done yet, or do ya just love hearing yerself talk?"

Jumping down from the tree he remained in during the conversation between his fellow Noah and the exorcist, Lavi jeered softly to the Pleasure, beginning to bore of the dark haired male's teasing,

The Portuguese man, on the other hand, could feel his eye begin to twitch at his comrade's interruption, his gold eyes moving to meet a similar golden one as well as a wide grin from the red haired Noah, ignoring the surprised and scared curse from their victim at finding that there were not one but two Noahs around,

"Red, I-…"
"And why the hell do you always talk so formally and act all high and mighty? We're just here to destroy the innocence and kill this exorcist, not invite him to tea with the Queen."

Lavi had to suppress a chuckle at the growing irritation forming on Tyki's face at his questions, more than aware of the fact that he was getting on his friend's nerves, yet that did nothing to deter him from his teasing.

"Must you ruin all my lines?" The Pleasure sighed, knowing that his attempt at acting cool and suave was all but shattered thanks to the red headed nitwit beside him, "Now I forget where I was… No matter…"

"Two Noahs… Enough with this, damn it! Give me that Innocence, Noah!" The dark haired exorcist growled, his dagger pointed towards the formally dressed Pleasure, "Give it to me now or I'll make you!"

"Oh? Will you now?" The grin on Tyki's face returned at the halfhearted threat and even Lavi couldn't help but be amused by the other's words, knowing them to be hallow. The Exorcist had no chance against one Noah let alone the two standing before him and even he had to be aware of that.

The idiot is just being foolishly brave to mask his fear. Lavi mused idly to himself, settling with just watching the fight from the sidelines as was expected of him as a Bookman, Only the strong survive… It seems even humans aren't evolved enough to prove that theory wrong…

Because that was all that exorcists were; humans with the weapons of a god. They had no chance against demons like the Noahs, not even with their so called deity's holly weapons. It was too bad that they had to find that out the hard way.

He forced a look of disinterest to form on his face as he watched the exorcist attack the Noah out of both fear and anger, his dagger emitting what seemed to be static electricity before he lunged at the Pleasure and attempted to stab him with it.

Naturally Tyki dodged the swipe effortlessly and merely grinned wider at the stunned Ace, his white teeth taking on a sharp edge as his Noah side began to show,

"What a nifty toy you have there, sparky, but I'm afraid it won't do you any good. I'll be destroying that Innocence as well as yours before the end of the night."

"Damn it, no you won't, you bastard! I won't lose to you!"

Lunging in what could only be a furious haze, the electricity surging through the dagger shot forward in a bolt towards the Noah, missing by only inches before it ended up slamming into a nearby tree with a loud crackle.

This fight was futile and they all knew it, yet it continued on for several more minutes in which the Exorcist continuously attacked the Pleasure to no avail. Every attack he sent at the top hatted male either missed completely or struck the nearby vegetation. As it was he was doing nothing but tiring himself out and was soon was forced to the defensive side when Tyki grew bored of the game and decided to strike back.

"You've began to bore me." The pleasure mused, having managed to pin Ace against a nearby tree, one hand already inserted inside the terrified exorcist's chest, "I think I'll destroy your innocence first before killing you. Maybe you have the heart, shall we test it out?"

The look on Tyki's face was nothing Lavi had ever seen before as he played with the poor human. It was a smirk that showed no emotion but bitter amusement at the prospect of death and the Bookman Apprentice couldn't help but feel unnerved by it, regardless of the fact that he was not the one in danger. He knew that humans could be heartless, but he had never seen one so cruel…

The red head couldn't help but bring a hand up to his chest, covering the area in which he knew his heart was as he watched Tyki tighten his grip on the exorcists heart slightly, the boy – who couldn't have been more than two years older than Lavi- screamed at the action, his eyes widening even further as he watched his now helpless Innocence be demolished by the Noah's hands. It was almost immediately after he watched his weapon be destroyed that the male known as Ace's shoulders slumped forward, any will to fight long gone with his weapon.

The other Innocence in the area –the one that he and Tyki had found- remained unharmed in the Noah's hands, proving that this boy did not have the Heart, not that either of them really expected him to.

"Ah, a pity, it looks as though you didn't have the Heart after all… Well, no matter, this was just a hunt and destroy mission, nothing else." Carelessly, Tyki tossed the remaining Innocence to Lavi, who promptly caught it, "Now, have you any last words, Sparky?"

The defeated exorcist remained silent for a minute, his dark eyes dully staring at the ground for several moments before they moved up to meet the single golden eye of the red head, a silent plea for help glinting in the brown pupil before it flickered back over to the Noah who literally held his life in his hand.

"F-Fuck you…"

With the last rebellious feeling he had Ace spit in the face of Tyki, startling him.

"How vulgar…" He complained, otherwise unfazed by the action as he carefully wiped the saliva on the shoulder of his coat, "You exorcists truly are unsatisfactory creatures."
It was with that that the black haired boy smirked slightly as the Pleasure removed his still beating heart from his body.

Lavi looked away.

That was one part of history that did not require being seen.

As a soft chuckle filtered through the forest from the thoroughly amused Tyki, the red head turned away from the no doubt gruesome scene before him. Noah or not, he still could not find the joy of the kill like his brothers and sisters could and he really had no desire to develop that ability.

Yes, he was an unfeeling Bookman, but that didn't mean that he wanted to see death and despair, it was just part of the job. He wasn't a Noah…. He wasn't like Tyki or Road… He didn't want to kill innocent humans, he just had to watch it for history… Yet there was still a part of him that he struggled to suppress that enjoyed the aspect of murder; that adored the sight of the bloodied and dead exorcist being strapped to a tree upside down by the now humming pleasure. The Noah of Memories within him rejoiced at the thought of yet another Exorcist being defeated and the Bookman in Lavi didn't care. It was the human side, however small, that felt sick at the smell of blood now pungent in the air. Another exorcist was dead.

His gaze flickered down to the faintly glowing rock still in his hand and he clenched it in his grip lightly. He knew Tyki expected him to destroy it, just as he had every other piece of Innocence he had found in past missions, however, just like every time before, the Bookman apprentice found himself hesitating. It almost felt as though a piece of the Innocence was calling to him, attempting to persuade him to keep it; to merge with it, and quite frankly, it scared him.

So he summoned his dark matter and broke it, watching emotionlessly as it turned to nothing more than dust swept away by the wind. He was just imagining it, the Innocence was not calling to him nor was it attempting to convince him to become one with it. He was a Noah and the Innocence was his enemy, there was nothing more to it.

With that thought in mind Lavi walked back over to Tyki, purposely ignoring the hanging corpse before him as the Pleasure removed a button from the dead man's coat before walking with the red head out of the forest and out of the town, the grin on his face never wavering in the slightest.

This was the cruelty of the Noah; the desire for blood lust that Tyki adored and Lavi was expected to as well, yet he didn't. He couldn't.

Yet deep inside he did and before he knew it he was also subconsciously grinning and humming in tune with the male beside him.