Tyki and Lenalee's trip back was quiet, Lenalee not even trying to reply to Tyki's inquisitions and attempts at conversation. Once they had returned, however, things seemed to look up. As soon as the Lee household was in her sights, Lenalee ran towards the building at full speed with Tyki following faithfully behind her.

The frail form of Komui was seen flinging the door open upon hearing his younger sister yelling for him. The two of them wasted no time in closing the space between them and clinging to each other as if they would disappear any second. The two siblings went into the house without loosening their grips in the slightest.

Left behind in the quiet night was Tyki. After thinking on if he should leave the two to get reaquainted alone, Tyki went in as well and closed the door behind him. He had no desire to intrude, but they had some things to discuss.

The surrounding area of the Lee household rang with the lamentations of young Lenalee. Her moaning and sobbing stretched out to the town and shrouded the residents in gloom. The townspeople had never been overly fond of the Lee siblings and not many people knew Lenalee well, but there was a certain pervasive sadness that came with the now unhappy girl.

The town had grown used to Lenalee walking about the town, a pleasant smile on her face and a restrained but kind aura emanating from her person. Now, though, the girl was a shadow of her former self. She barely moved from her spot beside her bedroom window where she spent all of every day crying her heart out and even when she did move from her window, she never left her home.

She no longer walked through the town in comfortable silence as she went about buying the groceries her brother would require. Her shy but polite greetings of "good day" or "how are you this evening" were no longer heard, not from her nor anyone else. A heavy silence enveloped the people. No one knew what was wrong and that seemed to darken the overall mood even more.

As bad as the townspeople were, Komui and Tyki were even worse. After the first night she came back and was so happy to see her brother, Lenalee just stayed by her window all of the time. She would get lost in thought for hours on end looking towards the direction of the forest to Allen's castle. She barely ate even when Komui brought her food. If Komui begged, then he'd be able to get his sister to relent enough for a few bites.

Tyki visited often and even though Komui was unsure why he was going through the trouble when there wasn't really anything for him to gain from it, he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tyki himself didn't know why he was doing it since he wasn't trying to earn points with Lenalee or reminding Komui of the deal they made in exchange for Lenalee's return. The least he could figure out was that he felt bad and although the thought that he was there to console the siblings was a strange one for him, Tyki had never claimed to be immune to such emotions.

Although the two had always been rather wary of each other, Tyki and Komui drew closer in this amount of time almost subconsciously. The kind of sadness and empty guilt that the two men felt over the situation with Lenalee has the ability to bring people together. In a way, they finally had a way to understand each other.

Things went like this for around two weeks. Tyki would visit daily each time spending more time out of the visit with Komui than with Lenalee since both men could tell that their presence did not make her feel any better. The two would either talk about what was ailing Komui's silent sister or just eat while in each other's company. Sometimes they would take turns trying to coerce her into conversation or eating and later that evening, Tyki would leave to return the next day.

After those two weeks had passed, however, Lenalee surprised both of the men by coming downstairs. "I can't take it anymore." She breathed her first words in a while. "There is something that I need to say. Can I talk to you guys?" The three of them spent the night talking about everything that had happened.

"He's not as bad as her seems." Lenalee started after a moment. "In fact, he's really very nice." At her words, Komui and Tyki wore identical looks of disbelief. Though, perhaps wisely, neither questioned or interrupted her. With no verbal prompting, she took a breath and continued.

"After he took you away, Brother, I thought that I would be locked in your cell and left in the dark, I really did. He was nice to me since the beginning and brought me to a room for me to stay in." She paused with a look of clear amusement as both men looked appropriately shocked. "It was so amazing too. The room was large and decorated in an expensive looking victorian style."

Lenalee told about how Allen had invited her to dinner and how she met his two faithful servants Lavi and Kanda. She told the now very interested Komui and Tyki about the days the two had spent talking together and eating together and decorating together with Allen's precious roses which he selflessly let her pick. And when she finally got to the part where Allen voluntarily let her go, she began to break into sobs.

For the first time since she fell into silence, Tyki and Komui knew why she was so grieved. Komui looked to Tyki and they shared a knowing look. The night they came back Tyki had come forward with the fact that he was captured and then let go with Lenalee. It hadn't seemed like anything more than strange behavior at the time but now they knew there was more to it.

Suddenly, Lenalee looked up, her eyes overflowing with tears. "So what should I do?"

"You shouldn't have just let her go." Kanda stated in a monotone voice.

It had been several weeks since Lenalee left with Tyki. Ever since that day, Allen had been engulfed in sadness. The white haired boy was spiraling into depression and he got worse every day. Lavi and even Kanda could not stand to see their master and dear friend in this state. Allen had been broken when he was cursed and for years before that he had been cruelly unhappy nonetheless, but now, after being left behind by this girl named Lenalee, he was destroyed. Nothing else he had ever been through had hurt him so deeply.

Kanda had no idea what the young master was thinking, Lavi suspected he knew though he had no idea of how deep Allen's feelings on the matter went, and Allen, only Allen knew exactly the reason why all this misery had befallen them again. This cursed and beastly boy had fallen in love with the sweet girl whom he had taken prisoner. Over the months they had spent together, the two had formed a bond and Allen had fallen for her. Each day turned week that past with the two together, the love he felt had only grown.

"You don't understand, I had to." Allen said without looking at the dark haired man. The boy was sitting on the edge of a podium belonging to one of his garden statues. He stared downward while he messed with his feet and the ground. "She would have been miserable here."

"She was already miserable here." Kanda huffed, undeterred in his opinion of the situation. He didn't need to elaborate, Lavi and Allen both knew he was talking about when she was taken prisoner in place of her brother.

"Yuu is kind of right." Lavi said in an offhanded manner. "You cannot be serious that you actually thought she would be happy here when this all started."

Allen let out a small, sad sigh at that. "I didn't...then."

"Then? But not now? What changed?" Lavi asked, but immediately stopped as he seemed to come upon the answer and a look of enlightenment lit up his face. "Love. Love changed everything, didn't it?"

At this, head shot up from it's position looking at nothing. Even Kanda's face looked properly shocked. Anyone who had known Allen as long as both Kanda and Lavi had, wouldn't have reasonably believed that the boy could feel that way. Love and even trust were foreign to him, how could he feel like that?

While Kanda was silent in both shock and understanding, Lavi continued with his inquiry. Lavi's voice took on a concerned tone. "Are you going to be alright?"

It was only one sentence, but it asked so many things. Would he be alright without Lenalee? Do you want to be alright? Could Allen continue as he has been? What are you feeling? Allen didn't know how to answer any of them.

The cursed boy just looked up to his friend with horribly sad eyes, eyes that made Lavi long for the days when Allen would look at him with blankness or even anger on his countenance. Anything that didn't show the sheer amount of pain he was feeling.

Kanda grunted in annoyance, but his eyes revealed caring, a rare emotion for the man.

Allen wasn't sure who said it, Kanda or Lavi, but he heard the words. "You know we'll still be here for you, Bean Sprout? We'll always be here for you."

And Allen could barely remember replying "I don't think that's enough, anymore".