Everybody loves picking flowers for themselves

But not everybody knows that you can't keep flowers

Or they'll die

Lavi was inside his common chambers when the incident happened. He was enjoying the peace and quiet these past few days, the only thing he would call a disturbance was the occasional wayward demons that had dared to trespass into his territory. The inferior angel was locked up tightly deep inside the dungeon without trouble. All he had to do now was to wait it out and-

"Baka Usagi! Pay attention!" Bookman knocked his Demon Lord over the head with an iron fist.

Lavi only yawned loudly to taunt the old demon, chuckling to himself when the elder threw another book but missed its mark. That was when Lenalee came bursting in with a panic look on her precious face that nobody liked to see. Stomping over and slamming an old library book onto his desk, she explained with a tired voice, "Lavi! You have to release Allen from the dungeon! Angels die without sunlight!"

Lavi shrugged his shoulders as if this so-called terrible news was cheap blood to him, "I know that. Did you actually think that this is my first time dealing with these creatures? I've fought against them before; trust me, Lenalee, it's better this way,"

Lenalee was shock to the core. She knew that her Demon Lord was merciless when it came to the topic of angels, but Lavi was not ruthless without reason! She shook her head and tried to make Lavi see reason, "Allen only went out to heal the injured patrol, nothing else! Please, Lavi, Allen did nothing wrong!"

"Eb tnelis, nomed," Lavi growled in reply, already tired of this conversation. He only received an angered look from the demon mage but she wisely kept her mouth shut. Lavi didn't care when Lenalee stomp away from him looking all too hurt, and he also didn't give a shit when she slammed shut his door when she left his chambers with irritation obvious in her steps.

Needless to say, dinner the following nights was as quiet as a graveyard itself. Everyone kept to their own business, each not wanting to speak out lest they were thrown out by their Demon Lord. Komui, who was second in command after Lavi himself, placed his utensils down with a soft tinkle before clearing his throat, "You mind telling me what's wrong? I've never seen you this quiet before, Lavi, and it's unnerving,"

Lavi skimmed through his dining table, judging each of his faithful clan members. He pointedly ignored Lenalee's glare as he spoke out in a careless tone, "the angel has casted a spell on everyone; I'm just trying to get rid of it,"

"Allen is not an it!" Lenalee shouted out, slamming her fist onto the table as her wings flared out in agitation.

Komui also ignored her as he continued his conversation with his irritated Demon Lord, "then why not just kill him and end it straightaway?"

Lenalee snapped her attention from the ignorant Lavi to her traitorous brother, "I can't believe you, brother! Allen healed you, and you want to take Lavi's side? I know the angels think that demons are low, but you guys don't have to prove them right!" Outraged, she pushed her chair back and exited the dining hall with a fuming cloud behind her.

Stupid Lavi! Ungrateful Komui! Is everyone here blind?! If Allen had casted a spell over us, then wouldn't I, as the clan's most powerful mage, have sensed it?! Lenalee grumbled as she paced the many corridors of the castle.

"What're you going to do, Lenalee?" A voice suddenly spooked her out of her misery. Kanda was rolling his eyes behind her, his own sleek wings tucked behind him in a solid manner. When Lenalee only gave a confused look, Kanda clicked his tongue as he folded his arms together, "That short thin-" Lenalee gave a piercing look that made Kanda rethink his words carefully, "angel saved me from certain death, if I can recall. I'll help you, but only this time,"

Lenalee cheered up instantly as she found a fellow demon who shared her thoughts, "Great! Come on, I think Bookman has the key to the dungeon!" the demon mage grabbed Kanda's hand as she pulled him towards the library where the old demon usually resided during mealtimes.

"Bookman! We need the key to the dungeon!" Lenalee begged Bookman, who sat in a strange position on the carpeted floor. As Bookman only stayed silent because he needed more information on the unexpected plea. Lenalee released Kanda's hand –when did I took hold of it?!- And whispered in distress, "if I can release Allen, then Allen can fly away from here! It's my fault that he's here in the first place; he doesn't deserve to be locked up and die in a slow manner like this!"

After a few still silent moments and unblinking stares from Bookman, the older demon got up and patted the female demon on the arm with a pitiful look on his face, "that's a brave plan you got there, Lenalee; ready to face Lavi's punishment as soon as he finds out that you let the angel go. But!-" Bookman lifted his pointer finger in the air, "-In his immature fit of rage, Lavi threw the key down into Rayless Chasm… I'm sorry, Lenalee, but the key's useless now,"

Lenalee took a step back as she felt her energy washed away from her. Rayless Chasm was a black hole that swallowed everything that fell into it; there was no ending to the chasm and all anyone could see if they took a glimpse was pure bleakness. If Lavi had thrown the key down there, it was already as good as gone. Without the key, they couldn't open the dungeon, for the dungeon door was enhanced to withstand even the strongest of attacks so that no intruders would pass through its barriers. Therefore, Lavi throwing away that very key to unlock the dungeon door was direct confirmation of Lavi's hatred towards Allen himself.

Lenalee clenched her fists as she flatly thanked Bookman and left the library with a burdened spirit. No, it's not over! Lenalee bit her lower lip and she resolutely marched her way towards the back of the castle grounds. Outside, her sharp senses caught the occasional song of singing birds and rustling leaves from the forests that surrounded the castle. She could feel the soft night wind licking through her open but hardened wings. Yet, Lenalee continued her journey until she reached the edge of Rayless Chasm.

It looked simple from faraway; a gaping black hole with nothing inside it. But from Lenalee's point of view, it was considered the unknown to all demons. No demon knew who made the Rayless Chasm, or even how it came to be. But they knew what Rayless Chasm was. To fall inside Rayless Chasm was just as suicidal as a demon going to church to be baptised. There was no knowing what was going to happen if a demon would fall inside, since there was no ending to this dark magical occurrence. Rayless Chasm: where nothing went down completely and nothing came out alive. Rayless Chasm was, simply put, a waiting death trap for all who were foolish enough to fall inside its demise.

Kanda knew what Lenalee was about to do and he quickly pulled the female demon back, away from the edge. He unsheathed his sword as he flared open his twilight wings, "No, let me go… Allen… He saved me… I'll be the one who's going to repay him," and with that, he took his first step forward into oblivion with nothing but the sword in his hand and the hurtful cry from his loved one.

"Lavi, how do you say this? I can't read it at all…" Allen pointed at one of the sections from another boring book.

Lavi looked above him, since Allen had opted to read on the bed and Lavi stayed put on the floor directly below the angel. He glanced through the sentence, "'erif ehtaerb, snomed nac'. It basically says that we demons can breathe fire,"

Allen's eyes twinkled brightly, making his appearance look more dazzling as the innocent angel leaned forward without caring about personal space. The angel had brightness in his childish voice, wise curiosity edged around the corners of the musical tone, "Wow! Really?! You can do that? How much fire power do you have? Where do you keep the fire? Do you need a spell to maintain the fire? What kind of fire- WOAH!" Allen leaned forward too much in his excitement and fell onto the floor below, sending his white wings a-tumbling behind him.

For the first time in his life, the hardened Demon Lord found himself struggling to contain his laughter. The angel was apologising profusely now, his wings in total disarray after the slight tumble and his silvery hair was in a mess. Yet, there was something mesmerising about the creature that Lavi failed to put his finger on. He still couldn't believe it; that this clumsy, little thing as responsible for bringing life into his clan…

"So here you are, Lavi," Komui spoke out in amusement, watching patiently as Lavi snapped out of his dreamy walk. Apparently, the Demon Lord was instinctually walking towards Allen's bedroom without acknowledging it. It was as if his feet knew the way that his mind didn't want to accept. Lavi looked around his surroundings with a frown on his handsome face; scattered and open books covered the floor as if they were the second carpet, the unmade bed still reeked of angel and the air inside the bedroom now had the lingering scent of fresh peppermint tea. Something yellowy caught Lavi's keen eye and he took the little sticky notes that stuck at the edges of the books, the single ray of moonlight was the only source of light that Lavi had. There was beautiful angelic writing and pointy arrows signifying the highlighted text written all over the sticky notes; every one of them concerning Allen's lessons with him and Miranda.

How to say this? Better ask Miranda

Does this actually work? How do they do it?

Healing spell? Can I do this?

Is this real? Reever should know…

I think I understand a bit of Lavi now-

Lavi's attention was stuck on the last note. There, in the middle of the paragraph, displayed a hierarchy of how demon clans work. But Allen had gone and added multiple names of the Black Order clan members into the drawn diagram, making it look more like a merry family tree instead of a hellish pyramid of dominance and power. Allen had underlined a sentence that made Lavi re-read it several times in case he had misread a word, not trusting his perfect photographic memory.

'Demon Lords are highly protective of their clan and would kill without thinking if he detects a single danger from the outside. Approach with caution'

Komui dared to enter the deserted bedroom, his steps noiseless as he saw the younger demon's shoulders stiffened and his large, black wings slowly open up into sharpness, "Lavi?..."

"Komui-" Lavi closed the book and burnt it to ashes with a swift blue flame, his wings eerily calm and unmoving, "-I think I did something wrong…"

Lenalee stride forward to stop Kanda, but she knew it was too late to stop the demon swordsman. Kanda was already leaning forward into the endless abyss when there was a commanding voice that pierced the night sky, "STOP! LAVI!"

Kanda felt a flurry of massive wings pushing him back onto solid ground. He only had time to catch a giant, running shadow that streamed past him and dived straight into the Rayless Chasm without hesitation whatsoever. Behind him, Komui was catching up to them, panting as he held his weight upon his knees.

"What's going on, Komui? Who was that?" Lenalee turned her head in confusion. Within a blink of an eye, Kanda was lying flat on the ground and an unknown figure took his sacrificial place instead.

Komui caught his breath and peeked over the edge of Rayless Chasm. His voice cracking in exasperation and tiredness, "Lavi… That was Lavi who went down,"

Shock wasn't even enough to describe the expressions on Lenalee and Kanda's faces. Their very own Demon Lord jumped into Rayless Chasm without a word?! "W-Why?! Is he crazy? Why would he do that?!"

Komui only shook his head in guilt with a serious look on his face, "I don't know… But I think it has something to do with Allen,"

The Black Order clan reluctantly accepted that excuse as they went about their daily activities. Since Lavi rarely participate in the clan's businesses (Bookman was still trying to rope Lavi into actually doing his responsibilities as Demon Lord) anyways, nothing major had changed in the first few days.

But after nights after days had gone to pass, the entire clan felt demotivated. Sucked dry of their energy and leaderless to take command, the demons felt themselves wasting away. There was a heavy aura circling around the castle, the very air became murky and hard to breathe in. The absence of a Demon Lord was like severing the head from its body; the lower members moved about aimlessly and thoughtless until its time to die came. The famed Black Order clan was without its Demon Lord, and that gaping wound was beginning to fester and rot.

"Lavi…" Komui sighed with fatigue in his voice. He had tried to take command since Lavi had –recklessly- thrown himself down into Rayless Chasm a few weeks back, but there was only so much that a second-in-command can do. The clan needed a Demon Lord, and there was nobody but Lavi himself that fit the bill. He paced around the suicidal hole on a cold night with nothing but his armour and sheathed sword. Come on, Lavi! This is crazy! You're crazy! And I'm going-

"Shit…." A loud thump came from behind Komui, the voice sending crawling shivers down Komui's spine.

The hand that reached out to grab onto the edge of the chasm was scarred and covered with shadows. As Lavi pulled himself out of the hole, Komui's eyes widened in awe and stunned astonishment, "And I'm going crazy…"

Demon Lord Lavi was wearing his black and red armour that covered him from head to toe, yet there were scratches and lacerations that Komui knew weren't there before. Lavi's dark wings turned even more blacker in colour; the giant appendages looked as if they had stolen the colour from the very starless sky itself. Lavi's vibrantly red hair was all over the place and his demonic halo was hovering over his head, his signature headband was nowhere to be seen as the returned Demon Lord limped his way through the castle grounds. Komui didn't ignore the fact that Lavi was practically exuding his demonic powers without care. Every step that Lavi took on solid ground made the grass underneath his protected feet wilt and die. Lesser demons would have been strangled by Lavi's uncontrollable powers and would most probably meet the same fate as the unfortunate plants. Komui had to steer Lavi away from the others!

"Lavi, wait!" Komui called out, but the possessed Demon Lord either didn't hear or care about minor obstacles. Following his base instincts, Lavi dragged his heavy body towards the underground dungeon where his destination lied. Komui stopped beside Lavi, his eyes in open question as to what would Lavi do; would he use his remaining powers to destroy the door? Or would he cast a demolition spell that had the potential of destroying the entire castle?

But Lavi did neither or that; instead, he opened his closed fist to reveal the key to the dungeon! But- "the key's broken…" Komui said regretfully.

That didn't deter Lavi whatsoever. He clamped his fist tightly and murmured a demonic spell with a deep voice that made Komui want to crawl over and die. Purple wisps came slithering from the grip and Lavi finally opened his hand once again to show a completely new key. Without wasting time, Lavi unlocked the dungeon door after weeks of desolation and sickening solitude.

Komui rushed inside, his eyes showing great worry at the sole survivor of the torturous dungeon. The angel was lying on the dirtied floor with his back facing them, but it didn't take a genius to see that Allen was in jeopardy; his once pristine, pure wings were now thinned and morphed into a disgustingly withered, ugly form while his silvery hair had turned into ashen brown. Allen was also visibly thinner most likely due to the deprivation of food and water. The angel was the very picture of a beautiful flower trapped in demonic gloom. Komui knew, from the exact moment, that they were too late to rescue the trapped angel.

"ALLEN!"

Oh dear, poor Allen! What're the lost demons gonna do?~ Thank you very much for being patient with me and my slow updates, so as a gift of apology, I'm updating this story on a weekend. Hope you enjoy this update (although, I may have killed Allen in the process haha) and I hope to hear from you soon. Send me your opinions, comments or constructive criticism or even pm me, I'll treasure them all and it'll greatly motivate me ^^ Have a nice day!