HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAVI ! See, I even managed an update for this occasion. : D ...a long one and a weird one...yeah.

AN: Yes, I am a lazy, lazy ass and I can't update on time. Deal with it.

Also, the ultimate secret of Kanda's illness is uncovered this chapter! : D Lavi feels forgotten, while Allen actually was forgotten until I have written like half of the chapter. ..And I was so stressed about having forgotten Allen that I forgot Bookman who was left hanging since like four chapters ago, lol. I suck. And no, I really don't have that much acid knowledge aside from the fact it burns and a couple of formulas. Also, lots of timeskips and stuff because I just couldn't cover everything I wanted to happen in detail. Also, my 'sliver' style of writing is extremely present here, basically it's just separate scenes that fall together. Anyway. Hope you enjoy reading. : D

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Chapter VII : Majestic Maze

::

Lavi blinked, several times, trying to realize what just happened. He stared at Kanda owlishly for a few moments before managing a weak "Huh?"

"I asked who you were," Kanda said impatiently, "And no tricks this time."

It was quite funny how a guy in a hospital bed who was tied up not so long ago and spent nearly three years in an almost coma-like state was awake and already bossing him around, Lavi thought. "I'm a doctor," he said carefully.

Talking already, and seemingly with no trouble? Really, even if it wasn't a real coma, he was surprised how Kanda could get up and walk around every now and then - to try to kill the sanitars taking care of him, for example - after spending this much time as an almost inanimate object. Sure, the nurses were applying physical therapy on him, but that alone couldn't have preserved his muscles - and from the look of it, it didn't. Sure, it wasn't completely gone, but there definitely wasn't enough of it for him to move on his own just yet. But if that was true, and it had to be..

How could any human being be able to move on sheer willpower alone?

Kanda looked like he was about to burst out laughing for a moment, but then just sneered. "You, a doctor? You're just an idiot Rabbit. Who the hell would give you that kind of a job?"

The redhead felt mildly offended. Alright, screw 'mildly', he was offended. His most cared-about patient - whom he had thought about day and night and spend most of his time with - had just woken up from a nearly three-year nap, and the first thing he said was an insult. "I'm taking care of you, Yu," he said, looking down at the Japanese pridefully, standing in a sickeningly solemn posture with his shoulders turned back and his torso forth.

Kanda grunted and poked Lavi's stomach, causing the redhead to tumble into a more modest pose clutching his belly, and apparently deflating his ego. Then the Japanese looked up, a bit questioningly but still irritated. His voice had gotten a bit more quiet, apparently tiredness of moving his arm like this after being barely conscious until now was taking its toll. "How do you know my name?"

"I told you, I'm taking care of you," Lavi wheezed out and managed to sit on his usual chair. "This is a hospital. You-"

"I don't like it when people call me that."

"Look, I spend two damn years at your bedside, will you give me ANY credit and just listen?"

Kanda scowled, his eyes widening slightly. Years? He was there for years? What happened to his life? He faintly remembered something from before, but he didn't really want to. He looked at the redhead for a few moments in silence before grumbling, "Continue." It was strange. He had never really talked to the man, yet he felt somewhat comfortable while talking to him. Like they had known each other for years. And Kanda never particularly liked socializing. The flamehair must have been somehow special.

"You have been here for two years," Lavi said, now more silently. "Three years at whole you were practically unconscious, not exactly a coma because- I'll just call it 'unresponsive'. You mumble excerpts of 'Alice in Wonderland' in your sleep. You've woken up several times for brief moments; one time you drew this," he took out the picture of messily drawn half-colored bleeding rose grown out of a sword's handle, "several times you were just screaming as if something was killing you, twice you nearly killed a pair of sanitars that tried to feed you - though I can't say anyone blames you for that - and also at some times you mentioned something about...this other place, which I guess this plant comes from." He shook the painting in front of Kanda's eyes and looked at him seriously. "If you can tell me anything more, it would be great. You're already one step closer to leaving this-"

"What kind of a hospital is this?" Kanda asked rather silently, it didn't look like he was listening at all.

Lavi looked at him for a few moments and sighed. "A mental one," he admitted. "Yu, you seemed to be in a coma yet your body wasn't hurt. All burns from the fire had already healed when you got here, and.." he paused as he saw Kanda's expression suddenly go blank at the mention of fire. "Look, I'm really sorry for you. That tragedy was truly horrible. But you need to get past it and live on. I'm sure that's what your family would want too and-"

"I'm never going to know what they would have wanted!" the Japanese practically screamed, making Lavi silence, taken aback, and sat up. "I'm not fucking crazy!"

Lavi briefly understood that the patient was holding him by his collar and shaking him, yelling at him. He had no idea how the hell could the man do that given the state he had been in (then again, the twins probably didn't either), and he had no idea how he didn't manage to react on time, but at least he was still alive, right? "Calm down, Yu," he said evenly, and the shaking stopped. "You're not going to prove that if you behave like this." Kanda glared at him but let go and slumped back onto the pillow. "That's right. Don't worry, I'll do what I can to get you out of here."

The dark eyes kept glaring at him. It looked like Kanda had used up the last of the energy he had at the moment, but was just too stubborn to fall into sleep.

"Look," Lavi sighed, "You may think I talk about things I don't know. So just you know, my parents died a long time ago. The only person who cares about me is my grandfather, and he's not exactly a caring person."

The dark eyes widened a little, not turning the gaze away from Lavi, glare having faded out though there was still a frown on the Japanese's face.

"While you still have a lot of people that give a shit about you," the redhead continued more silently. "You're selfish if you think otherwise. Your Godfather is here. So are your two cousins - Lenalee is worried sick about you. She always believed you would wake up eventually. And I care-"

The name seemed to light some kind of memories fire in Kanda's empty eyes, and his lips parted just a little. "Lenalee.." he forced out, staring in front of himself. He thought she was dead. Was she not? Well, things were definitely turning out funny today. He really felt tired by now, but he just had to make sure this wasn't another dream. "Can I.. see her?"

There was a small sad smile on Lavi's face. It was probably a good thing he didn't manage to finish that sentence. It was so unprofessional, after all. "Of course."

::

When Lavi finally found Lenalee, she looked concerned.

"Have you seen Allen-kun?" she asked, but the redhead shook his head. "He didn't look too well last time I saw him.."

"Maybe he went to rest or something," Lavi suggested. Really, at the moment his head was too full of Kanda's unbelievable awakening to think about random lost doctors or even less - sanitars, even if they were supposed to be his best friends. What could have happened anyway? "Lenalee, I have some good news."

The young woman looked up at him, slightly confused but hopeful at the same time.

"Yu woke up."

::

Allen slowly opened his eyes. He felt dizzy, but the feeling from earlier was gone; the gas had probably worn out or he simply slept it through. The ward was empty and smelled of medicine and some other strange odors; the ceiling was bright and clean and he looked at it for quite a while without moving. Once the view of the room became clear, he realized just what woke him up.

Excruciating pain in his left hand. It felt like all the skin has been peeled off from it, starting from below shoulder and going all the way to the fingertips. The young man gritted his teeth and looked around. He faintly remembered Road, but she wasn't there at the moment, and he slowly sat up, finally glancing at his arm. It looked similarly to how it felt, despite the fact that it was clumsily bandaged with rags that were already bloody. Allen grimaced and tried to get off the bed. Just what had happened? He sat there for a while, until faintly, a creepily sweet voice found its way back to his memory.

"Oh, Allen-kun, now we're going to play and have so much fun!"

Something restricted him from moving, it had to be the usual equipment of this kind of a hospital. There were sounds of drawers being opened and bottles clanking, but he was too drowsy to register any of it.

"Now we're going to wake you up.." there was liquid being poured on his arm - wait, it hurt, did he injure it when he was falling? - and then slowly, very slowly, it started to hurt more, and more, and more...

"AAAH!" he screamed, pulled out of his slumber by the unimaginable pain and would have jolted up if it wasn't for the belts and ropes holding him. Trying to force his eyes from tearing up, he turned his head.

There was Road, smiling sweetly, holding a bottle in her hands. He couldn't see the label, but the distinct smell in the air was oddly familiar.. "What's the matter?" the psychotic girl's chirping voice rang through his pounding head. "Is the medicine too strong?"

Acid.

"Or maybe you need more?"

"No, Road, wait!" Allen forced out, gritting his teeth. He wasn't going to entertain the little sadist by showing the pain. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

The girl put her index finger to the man's lips, smiling. "Shh," she said as if it was the most wonderful kind of a game, "You're in no shape to tell me what to do, Mr. Walker."

Another shower of acid, this time covering his whole arm. He couldn't help but shout again, though he shut up as soon as he could. "Road..." It wasn't going to work with her. To her this was a game, and if he wanted to have any chance, he had to treat it as a game as well. He managed to reach this decision despite the fact that his brain was pulsating painfully and he really was surprised he was still able to think at all. "That's...not interesting. It's just..one kind of medicine." He could feel the acid eating through his skin and start burning his muscles. "What other bottles do you have?"

Road blinked, then smiled widely. "A white one and a blue one," she chirped. "This was the green one, feeling better?"

Normal medicine were usually stored in simple bottles, so the potion that could cancel the acid's effects had to be in the last one. It just had to, because otherwise he was facing a very ungrateful end. "A..lot," Allen forced out, it felt like his arm was on fire. "But I'm curious about.. what does the blue one do?"

"Ah! So am I!" Road cried happily, taking the lid off the blue one. "We're really so alike, no Allen-kun?" She spilled the bottle's contains all over the white-haired man's arm and smiled widely.

'Shit', Allen though as the pain only got worse. That was it. He was going to croak it in three, maybe five minutes. All that time locked inside a ward with a nutcase girl who will most likely rape his corpse afterwards. This was so unfair.. And he met Lenalee such a little time ago. At least he managed to apologise to her, but she will never know that-

Was the pain subsiding?

Allen sighed with relief as the burning slowly cooled off. Apparently the mixture just needed time to work. He didn't really feel like looking at his arm at the moment though, he knew damage was already done. Well, if he survives this, he will make sure to tell Lenalee how he feels...

"..better?" Road's voice interrupted his thoughts, she was still smiling sweetly but sounded a little irritated.

"Yes, I'm great," Allen forced a smile. "I've never felt better, really, so there's no need for you to waste your medical skills any further-"

"Time to celebrate!" the girl chirped, grabbing a random piece of fabric used to clean the floor and wrapping it around Allen's abused arm. The young man grimaced as the touch hurt almost as bad as the acid, but managed to keep silent this time. "Who wants tea?"

Before Allen could say anything, there was a tea tray placed on his stomach, while Road started clanging cups and the teapot, and the surprise was all the worse when a cat jumped into the ward through the window from the top of a nearby tree, squeezing itself through the bars of the ward.

A stray striped cat, and it was looking at them. It was horribly scrawny and its eyes were burning unhealthy green light.

"Guests!" Road cried happily and ran to the cat. She grabbed it and dragged it back to the bed, putting it on the opposite side of the tea-tray than Allen's face was. "Mr. Chesire Cat, meet Allen-kun and me, the Queen of Wonderland!" She laughed, her voice sounding like a crystal bell.

Allen felt a chill run down his spine. While Road just laughed. She laughed and laughed, and the cat sat still, not moving and staring at her. Allen was seriously starting to doubt his chance of surviving right now, and this all was just so creepy... Wait. Didn't he hear Lavi say something about Wonderland the other day? Could it be related?

"Come on, Allen-kun, join us," Road's voice had turned demanding as she filled a cup and pressed it to Allen's mouth. The whitey kept his mouth shut; he couldn't even swallow his own saliva due to the pain, even less drink tea. He watched as the psycho girl forced a cup of tea into the cat's throat, what resulted in the poor animal jumping out the same way it came there, unfortunately missing the tree by a good couple of inches. "Come back, kitty!"

"Hurts.." Allen whispered breathlessly, squeezing his eyes shut. This was all madness. Complete madness. He needed to get out..

"So, you won't drink, huh?" Road pouted as she walked back to the young man and took out the white bottle, "There's still one left.."

Allen didn't have to know what it was, a syringe stabbed him and the room went fuzzy. It had to be morphine, he thought as sleepyness overtook him and everything slowly faded and he fell unconscious.

He didn't even hear Road's disappointed "Awww" as she watched him fall asleep.

The girl sighed and headed for the door. "I'll be back soon," she sang and dance-walked out the door. The lock clicked, and there was nothing else.

Allen grimaced as he finally got off the bed and walked to the window, trying not to move his arm. It wasn't too high, but it was the third floor nonetheless, plus the window was barred, like everywhere in the hospital. He forced himself to walk to the shelves and look through it, and soon he found what he was looking for, a sickly yellow bottle in the far corner of the cabinet with the same color disgustingly smelling liquid within. All that time Allen had no idea how he was still conscious, since his head was pounding and he was seeing green from the pain.

One of the bars was soon smoking and hissing after the liquid was poured on its lower part which was quickly losing its shape. Allen grabbed the bar's top with his good hand and pulled as hard as he could, gritting his teeth. Whether pain didn't have impact on his strength, or the acid was stronger than he thought, but the bar quite easily gave in. The same fate met another one, and that left the window with a quite wide hole through which the young man was sure he could squeeze himself through. Thank god she didn't spill THAT on me, Allen thought as he looked around for something to soften the impact, knowing that if he didn't hurry up, his consciousness might falter out.

::

Kanda wasn't sure whether he should be happy or angry. Lenalee was there, she was alive, alright, grown into a nice young lady, she was talking to him and looking at him with eyes similar to that of his mother's, containing both concern and happyness. For some reason at first she looked like she was about to cry, but apparently managed to hold it back, and a smile was shining on her face. Yet at the same time, he was laying there powerless, having been seen by her like this for years, not even having enough strength to reply to her properly as he was still tired from his earlier outburst. Yes, that was a very mixed feeling.

The red-haired doctor was there too, and his look was somewhat similar as well, though Kanda didn't have a very good idea why someone he just met would be so concerned about him ('We met two years ago,' Lavi reminded bitterly when he inquired that). The man seemed to be strangely.. warm, and surprisingly his presence didn't annoy the Japanese at all, what was quite unexpected. Maybe they were acquintances for a longer time, maybe he knew it subconsciously but just didn't remember? Anyway, Kanda felt like he could trust the man, even if feeling such things made him angry at himself.

How could they both be so happy with him after what he did...what he let happen? To him it mattered, it mattered a lot, but they didn't want to talk about it, nor about his sister, they didn't want to 'give him stress' though that was exactly what he wanted, to talk about it. Maybe next time, he didn't really feel like talking much at the moment anyway.

So it was actually a surprise when his thoughts were drawn away from his past, Lenalee and the doctor as he saw something move behind the window.

"What the hell?" Kanda suddenly blurted, apparently forgetting he could barely talk as he watched something huge and white fly downwards past the window. "What was that?"

Lenalee and Lavi looked at him surprised, then looked at each other, and then both turned towards the window, while of course there was nothing there anymore.

"What was it?" Lavi asked with a light frown.

Lenalee didn't seem too convinced either, "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" she muttered and squeezed Kanda's hand lightly. "Maybe you need to rest, I've been long enough here as it is.."

Kanda managed a silent "Che" and pulled his hand away. "I'm not crazy," he said very silently. Lavi tilted his head a bit, apparently expecting an answer, which the black-haired man managed to muster after a small pause and some deep breaths. "It was some ugly white thing or person falling down, your director sure has a weird idea of decorating the place."

Lavi blinked. It was a bit too detailed and simple to be delirium. He shook his head lightly, hiding the doubt in his look and headed for the window to make sure just what had happened. Lenalee's eyes followed him with a deepening frown of concern, while Kanda just stared blankly after him, apparently not interested at all what or who it was.

When Lavi stepped away from the window, he was pale. "Lenalee, call the town hospital. Have them send a vehicle and a couple of doctors. Yu, you stay put and try to sleep, you're already tired." Kanda just grunted and rolled his eyes, it's not like he was going to go anywhere.

"What happened?" Lenalee gasped, standing up rapidly and clearly planning to go see for herself, but Lavi blocked her way and motioned towards the door.

"Quickly!"

The girl stared at him for a moment then nodded and ran out. 'Please let everything be alright,' she thought as she reached the end of the hallway and picked up the phone.

::

March 15, 1884

Unbelievable. Yu woke up yesterday, fully conscious. He was even able to move - not much, but that's still incredible. He must have outstanding willpower or there is something I overlooked again. He seems to be...is 'happy' really a right word when talking about him? He doesn't really show it, but his expression becomes a little softer when Lenalee visits him or brings him flowers - it looks like he likes it but doesn't want to admit it as he always has this huge obviously fake frown when Lenalee stuffs the bouquet into the vase next to his bed - or when...I think, when I talk to him. Maybe it just seems so. I shouldn't think such things. Anyway, it's great news and great progress. I'm sure he'll be out of here in no time.

But something bad happened as well. Allen Walker. I'm not sure what happened to him but I'm sure the Noah clan had something to do with it. Actually, it's just the luck that we found him in time. If it wasn't for Yu, who knows what might have happened. Anyway, there was a sheets-made rope hanging through the window in the third floor; Allen apparently used that to get outside of the room but lost consciousness midway and fell. The fall didn't seem to hurt him too badly but his left arm was bleeding and looked horrible, as if all the skin got burned off from it.

Lenalee was shocked. She left with the doctors that took him to see him to the hospital in the town center, however she got back here in the evening as she claimed no one else would take care of Kanda as well as she does. The poor girl seems to be torn. She's determined to travel between the hospitals every day, not to mention that her brother insists they quit this job and move to work in another place. Nobody is talking about what happened, nobody is brave enough to call the police or try addressing higher authorities. It had to be the work of that devilish family, and now everyone must be thinking the same: who is next?

I can't say I'm that eager of staying here myself after what happened, but I promised to cure Yu and patients can't be signed into different institutions without a ton of reasons and paperwork. He'd better get well soon or...or I don't even know, the atmosphere was always tense here but this is the first time something actually happened to the personnel. No matter what risk it puts my unbiasness into, I'm giving my other patients to different doctors and taking full care of Yu now, so Lenalee doesn't have to travel ten kilometers every few hours.

Grandpa doesn't say anything yet but this morning I walked past his office while the door was opened, and saw most of his things packed. I don't want to think what this means. I can't leave. Not now. I can't leave Yu.

::

When Lavi finally set everything up so he could leave the hospital for a day - that meant getting Lenalee and Tiedoll to Kanda's ward - he went to the town to visit Allen. They were sort of friends after all, even back in the study days, and he felt bad for not visiting the latter sooner but there was simply no way.

Meanwhile Tiedoll was so happy when Lavi told him the news about Kanda a couple of days after the awakening, that he started crying from happiness and fainted. As soon as he regained consciousness he went straight to the asylum. Kanda didn't seem too happy about his visit, but if you knew him as much as Lavi thought he did and Lenalee and Tiedoll did, you could see that it actually made him feel more at ease. Maybe that was the only form of happiness that he exploited. Who knows.

Kanda didn't stay awake all the time; sometimes he would say something that no one could understand, and sometimes he'd spend the whole day slumbering, but he was occasionally waking up with full consciousness and that was huge progress.

After few more days, Lavi decided to go and visit Allen Walker, and maybe learn a bit more of what happened.

::

When he reached the town hospital, it was already midday, though he left practically at daybreak. With some help from his collegues, he found the ward rather quickly and walked in after knocking.

The ward was white and clean, and there was a vase with small bouquet of flowers on the table next to the bed - obviously a sign of Lenalee's care. Allen was laying on the bed, his left arm bandaged from shoulder to fingertips, and there was a pile of empty dishes on the other side of the bed - apparently he had already gotten his appetite back.

"Hey," they both greeted at the same time. Lavi grimaced a little and sat down. Allen gave him an encouraging smile, though you could see he was still in pain.

They talked a bit, about how Allen was feeling and about how everyone seemed to be wanting to leave the asylum that was more crazy than its patients. Eventually though, the white-haired man frowned a bit and looked at Lavi intently.

"Lavi..didn't you have someone in your care, who mentioned anything about Wonderland?"

Lavi nearly fell off the chair. Were rumors spreading already or something? Sure, he spent a lot of time in Kanda's ward, but this was funny. "Yes?" he replied, as he thought, as business-like as possible what apparently didn't work as Allen sent him a weird look, but it ended with that.

"Road.." he grimaced a bit as he said that name, for obvious reasons, "She.. seems to like that story a lot. She also called herself the 'Queen of Wonderland', and from what I saw she has access to the medicine supplies."

Lavi frowned, that certainly was too weird to be a coincidence yet he didn't see any way to connect this. "Queen of Wonderland?" he repeated and scratched his temple.

"Yes."

::

When Lavi got back to the asylum, it was already late evening, yet he immediately headed for Kanda's ward. In the hallway, he met the nurse who was giving out the medicine doses for the night, walking from ward to ward, and stopped her.

"Yes, sir?" she asked, stepping away from the cart with a load of small glasses with cards.

"When I asked you to lessen the dosage, did you do it?" There was no reason to specify, she was heading

"Of course."

"Can you show me where you take the medicine from?"

'I have no idea what I'm doing,' Lavi thought as he followed the nurse towards the locked shelf where the medicine was kept. He barely realized what he was doing when he started checking the bottles. The one thing he realized though, was that the lithium containers smelled like morphine and morphine smelled like lithium, and if none of the nurses realized - or simply didn't care enough - all the patients were getting the wrong mixtures of the medication. Of course, for the stronger ones it might have not mattered, but for some...

No wonder there were deaths lately. How could God let anyone play with human lives so recklessly? Sure, none of them were Lavi's patients so the guilt didn't fall on him, but he respected every human life. After all, he was a doctor. It didn't matter if he didn't know those people, it mattered that for someone they meant less than a broken toy. It was horrible.

And who knows how long this was happening? Days, maybe weeks? The consequences could have been horrible.

"What do we do?" the nurse asked, clearly horrified though Lavi was sure she was more concerned about losing her job than all the people she helped to the afterlife.

"Fix all the labels," Lavi practically snarled and turned around. "Order new medicine, NOW. And I'm telling my grandfather." He stormed off, quickly checking on Kanda on his way, making sure he was just asleep.

::

Bookman didn't look very happy when Lavi told him what happened, however he didn't say much, just that the Noahs couldn't always have it how they wanted and that some things would change. Lavi didn't know what it was nor wanted to, but all he could do at the moment was wait.

And he did just that, hoping that fixing everyone's medication would help things - they had to do it bit by bit of course - however Kanda's condition didn't seem to change. Even after a couple of weeks, when his dosage was already the exact one Lavi had assigned to him before - since the incident he made sure to check it every time - he would suddenly start talking out of the blue when he felt like it, or he'd just stay unresponsive and pretend to be asleep. The expectations of rapid improvement were not met.

Nothing changed.

::

Once again, what now was already usual, Lavi walked in and put the journal on the table before plopping down on his usual chair. It was afternoon, and this wasn't the first time he came here today, but he always felt the need to go here as often as possible, especially now that half of the meals was his responsibility as well - needless to say though, Kanda could already eat himself what he did, not always successfully.

The first time Lavi suggested feeding him, Kanda sent him a glare that clearly said he would kill the latter if he could for even a thought like that. Yet Lavi did it. The following day too. Kanda was mad about it, but didn't really have any choice. On the third day he insisted he would eat himself, but had a lot of trouble with cutlery, and Lavi spent over an hour teaching him to hold it properly. Their hands met quite a lot of times during that lesson, and Lavi couldn't help but feel some kind of...softness which he couldn't explain. It's like all this was completely natural. He didn't know what Kanda was thinking, but as he wasn't hit nor stabbed with a fork, he figured the other man found it just as comfortable.

But now Kanda was good enough at it himself, and all Lavi was allowed to do was sit next to him and watch him eating. What, Tiedoll stated, was already a lot.

"Hey, Yu," he greeted, seeing that the other man was awake, "How was your day?"

"The Mad Hatter tried to drown me today," Kanda replied nonchalantly and stared at the ceiling. "So I tried to do the same and then he ran away."

"It wasn't the Mad Hatter, Yu," Lavi muttered with a slight funny-looking grimace, "It was one of our nurses, that were helping you to take a bath today, Tyki Mikk. You spilled the whole bucket of water on him, and he had to go change." Tyki was probably the only one from the family who wasn't that interested in their devilish deeds and only worked to get money to eat, and this probably meant that even Kanda's daily routines were going to fall on Lavi's shoulders if he continued to piss off the rest of the personnel like this. It was getting dangerous, they might have done something despite of the patient's family, and this had to be sorted out.

Kanda scoffed and didn't say anything. Lavi smiled a little bit and kept silent for a while as well. Then he slowly put his hand on the Japanese's, frowning a little as he had to fulfill the formal part of the visit, even if it stopped feeling like just work to him long ago, back when Kanda wouldn't answer and just look somewhere through him, seeing something that he could not.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Great, doctor. I'm not afraid of anything and we're almost there."

Lavi blinked, eyeing the patient slightly confused. "Almost where?"

Kanda opened his mouth as if to say something, but just sighed and closed his eyes, apparently tired and going to sleep. Lavi kept looking at him, minutes passing, wondering just what was happening in the other man's head.

::

"I'm sorry, but we can't let him be cured at home just yet," Lavi sighed as he and Tiedoll stopped outside Kanda's ward to talk after the long visit. "You've seen how he is. One moment he's completely normal, and the other he talks who-knows-what."

The old man looked at him with reproach. "I know that," he said calmly, "I'd take the full responsibility. I just don't like this place. At first it seemed alright, but now.." He didn't know the full story, but he did know that someone had hurt a sanitar here and he didn't like it.

"I'm doing everything I can." Lavi's tone was steady, but his gaze was directed somewhere above Tiedoll's shoulder. "I'll let you know as soon as you can take him home."

::

The next visit to the Bookman's office definitely wasn't pleasant. Everything was already packed, and the old man was talking on the phone. Lavi frowned and waited until he would pay any attention to him.

"Good, you're here," Bookman said dryly as he hung up and turned to Lavi, hiding his hands in the sleeves of his long doctor coat. "We're leaving."

Lavi gaped and stepped back, nearly sitting down on the floor. "Huh?" he managed. His legs suddenly felt as if it was made from wood.

"I've had it with this incompetent, twisted and inhuman hole," the old man snapped. "We're leaving and opening a small department at the town's main hospital."

"I can't leave!" Lavi snapped back. "I have responsibilities-"

"Responsibilities that made you forget your purpose as a doctor and focus all of your energy on a single person," Bookman retorted calmly. "It's unprofessional, Lavi. And in a place like this, it's even dangerous."

Lavi sighed frustratedly. "Of course it's dangerous! That's why I can't leave him here! I made a promise and when I become a doctor I swore I would do everything in my power to help those who need it the most!"

Bookman sent him a strange look, and for a few moments Lavi thought the ceiling was going to fall on him. "I'm sorry about that, kid," the old man said unexpectedly softly. "I've already submitted blanks of quitting the job for both of us. It will reach the director in three days." Lavi just kept looking at him, utterly horrified. "I hope that's enough for you. Do what you think you must."

With that, he walked out of the office, leaving his red-haired grandson completely crushed under the news.

::

Tiedoll slowly sat up and grabbed around for his glasses. It was completely dark outside, it had to be around midnight. Who could have been knocking on his hotel room's door at this hour? "Coming! Wait a moment!" He quickly put a bathrobe on his pajamas, found his slippers and hurried towards the door, losing one slipper on his way.

When he opened the door, there was a young red-haired man in a dark coat. Even though the clothing was different, he immediately recognized it was the doctor assigned to Yu-kun. What was this supposed to mean?

"Did something happen?" he asked worriedly, holding one hand over his heart. Talk about surprises. He never particularly liked it.

Lavi shook his head, catching his breath. "Don't worry," he managed, "Yu's alright, nothing happened yet, we need to talk."

Tiedoll nodded, a frown suddenly decorating his usually gentle face, and stepped to the side, inviting the early guest in. It had to be important if someone like him was in such a rush. Lavi quickly stepped in, and the door closed.

::

"..And that's why we have to do this," Lavi finished. "It might cost me my profession, but I don't really care at the moment." He really meant that. He wasn't sure why - or rather, he had an idea and was scared of it - but he had to save Yu, even if that was the last thing he does as a doctor, he had to do it.

Tiedoll nodded. He couldn't believe half of what the young man had said about the hospital, but he wasn't taking any chances where Yu-kun was involved. "If anything, I'll hire you to take care of him," he said, trying to force his nerves down because getting freaked out wasn't helping anyone. "He likes you a lot, Yu-kun does."

Lavi just nodded tiredly. "Please come to the hospital as soon as the visiting hours start, fill in the relatives blank for signing out the patients. I will do the rest," he muttered, glad that the man didn't ask too many unnecessary questions.

A few minutes later, they shook hands and Lavi left just as quickly as he arrived.

He still couldn't believe he was doing this, but he didn't see any other way. He was going to fake Kanda's file. He was going to write down that he was healed enough to be taken in by his relatives - or in this case, Godfather who agreed to immediately take action for this - and that he no longer needed strict hospitalization. What was a big fat lie, but as long as he was around he could fix things, and he could manage it like this, and he could not if Yu was still in the hospital where he didn't work anymore. It had to work.

He spend the rest of the dying nightfall making false records and false dates in the journal. The light in his office didn't went out until the sun rose.

::

"So, your little patient's Godfather wants to sign him out of the hospital," the Director said sweetly, looking at Lavi over his glasses. Like always, he had a wide grin plastered on, but his look seemed almost angry. He didn't want to let a person who had wronged his family out of his grasp, yet this was law and he had to obey to it...as long as all the requirements were met. "However, from what I've heard, he's not doing much progress, is he?"

Lavi managed to return the look without cowering under it. Hell, he was out of this job in a few days, that sure added a bit to his confidence. "On the contrary," he said happily, "In the last few weeks he made outstanding progress. Actually enough to take him off constant medication. Here." He pushed the journal and several papers to the Director over his table. "All the details and measurements are here."

The Director's smile turned more stiff as he slowly looked over all the data, then pushed it back and put his chin on his joined fingers. "Yes, apparently so," he forced out in the sweetest tone he could manage. "If these records speak true, that is."

Lavi felt his heart skip a beat, but managed to keep a straight face. He couldn't possibly know. "Of course they do," he said firmly. "I wouldn't shame my profession by lying."

"Of course not." Director's smile turned slightly carnivorish, and Lavi barely kept from shivering. "It's not a problem if I see the patient for myself, then? Just to...make sure there are no...complications." Lavi really hoped he didn't turn pale. "How about during April 1st's check-up?"

Lavi swallowed. This has turned bad. He didn't think anyone else would actually check on Kanda before letting him go. If they did and talked to him, and he started going about Wonderland again...well, they both would be SO fucking SCREWED. "Yes," he managed slightly breathlessly and mentally cursed.

"It's not a problem, is it?"

"Of course not, sir," Lavi answered firmly with a smile, though his brain was rapidly working out how the hell he could make this work or at least get Kanda to shut up about what it was needed. "No problem at all."

::

March 29,1884

There is nothing I can do to clear his mind. He keeps talking about the Wonderland, and he has become so stubborn that any words I say won't reach him unless he wants them to. He talks when he wants and what he wants, and even his relatives aren't an exception. I feel like I had spend years by a dried river, waiting for the water to spill out, and when it finally did, I'm unable to stop it, nor find the cause of its poison.

The day after tomorrow is my last day here. I don't know how can I manage to pull this off. I'll have to try. All or nothing. If it succeeds, if Yu understands why I want him to behave how I told him to, we'll be out of here. If not...I don't know what will happen.

::

The next morning Kanda gave Lavi another surprise - though lesser than the one where he woke up. He was sitting up with a rather contented expression and drawing in Lavi's doctor journal with one of the pencils that Tiedoll had brought him.

Sure, Lavi knew about the 'drawing therapy' and how helpful it could be sometimes, but the fact that Kanda solely insisted practicing that in the book with all of Lavi's serious work made him be more skeptical about it. Not to mention that it definitely looked like the Japanese was doing that on purpose, however what he gained from teasing the redhead, was unknown. It was almost as if he wanted to be hated to an extent, and yet kept it at such a childish level that Lavi just couldn't do it.

So when the doctor managed to get his journal back and look at the drawing, Kanda simply laid back down and fell asleep without saying a word.

In the picture, there was a castle. Rather, it should have been a castle; it looked way too creepy to be one. It seemed to be floating over an abyss denying all the laws of physics, and there was some kind of sphere covering its roof. There was a narrow bridge leading to it, and on it there was a small stick figure with a sword and a ponytail, and a rabbit on its shoulder.

Lavi stared at the drawing, his brain working desperately and trying to realize what he had overlooked.

And then it hit him. It wasn't because of illness that Kanda refused to eat and speak for years after his sister's death. All those years of not doing any vital routines unless they were forced onto him, Kanda was feeling horribly guilty about surviving; while the vivid hallucinations and the amazing tales of Wonderland were in fact caused by morphine and nothing else.

Kanda wasn't mentally ill.

He was just stubborn like that.

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End Chapter

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