AN: You thought I died, didn't you. : D It took longer than usually.. Well, I have a busy year. Better this than nothing, yeah? Now then.

Well, this story is slowly heading towards the end (I've planned it to take up 11 chapters in total). I was planning to do an ambiguous ending at first, but then the need of actual romance kicked in. So yeah, now I'm going to ask you, dear readers, what do YOU want? An ending that can be interpreted as either friendship or romance, or do you want a clear implying of gayness at the epilogue? There won't be anything hardcore anyway, so I'm really fine with either way, I just can't make up my damn mind lol. So, please let me know your opinion while you're reviewing. :3 (Yes, I want reviews!)

Also, you got a longass chapter the previous time, so now this is shorter. : D

Warnings: Some actually crack approach and lack of plot that has to do with anyone else than Lavi and Kanda. : O

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Chapter VIII : Behind The Looking-Glass

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Did he just wake up from a dream or fall into one?

Kanda couldn't answer that question as he found himself walking through the emerald-green forest. It didn't take too much time for the Rabbit to reappear from wherever it had gone to, and the castle was now rather clear in the distance.

"So how do you like the world?" Rabbit asked, his eyes glinting almost mischievously. Kanda flinched lightly, having gotten a reassurance that the place he could feel and comprehend much better was after all just a hallucination. "You seem to be spending more time there lately."

"It's alright." He didn't really want to elaborate further; it was alright but there the constantly growing feeling of guilt was even worse than here. He'd almost prefer this safe cage of his mind, however relying on that could have ended in him losing himself completely and he didn't want that. And not only because, to his own displeasement, he found himself growing somewhat fond of the world and what he had left in it. No. He didn't deserve to just disappear, to just lose his mind, not even to die, after letting her to. That was the very reason for him, despite of having all symptoms of depression, to never raise hand against himself - he didn't deserve an easy way out after all his family went through - while slow, painful starving to death could have done but it went out of question now. He might have been able to bear with what had happened and move on, but he was certain that his beloved baby sister could never forgive him, and that was exactly what was holding him back.

Rabbit looked at him more intently, but didn't say anything for the moment.

The green forest suddenly turned into a darker shade, and a creepy, cold shriek could be heard from further ahead. Kanda instinctively gripped the hilt of his blade tighter, and his expectations were right - in a few more seconds, a demonic shape floated from between the trees, shabby wings spread towards the Japanese and a long, sharp tail almost brushing the ground. It was a Grief alright, and its red-flame eyes soon set on Kanda as the phantom moved towards him. The world grew darker.

The Rabbit smiled softly, in a way that was disturbingly familiar from another world, and suddenly disappeared; Kanda saw a rag doll laying in the place where the friendly creature had just been. Well of course, as soon as there was danger he'd get ditched.

::

He didn't like the feeling when one of those things would appear. It was freezing and it was also very uneasy on his mind, however this time he didn't feel as bad as he had the last time. He unsheathed the sword and waited as the phantom floated closer.

Will to live.

That was what the Rabbit said was the ultimate force in this world. Did he have it?

He didn't know himself.

It was cold, and voices told him things that he wanted to forget, and he saw what he hoped he would never have to, and it had to be one of those rare, rare moments when he was actually scared, and he knew he needed to have some will, any of it, but he didn't know if he did..

But he wanted to see the world again and kick both of the stupid Rabbits really hard. Yes, he really wanted that. And for that, he had to-

I'm going to live.

The decision was right there in his mind, said as a statement, not a wish, and it seemed completely clear at the moment. The sword vibrated lightly and the blade suddenly gleamed a blank blue light. Kanda didn't take his time to get surprised.

"Go to the hell you came from!"

And this time, as the blade descended on the Grief, the blue flare caught it, and it burned, almost in an instant, letting out a shriek that turned into silence and there suddenly was nothing, the light on the sword flickering lightly and fading out.

::

And, oh surprise - as soon as the ghoul disappeared, Rabbit jumped up, once again in his normal shape, looking even more contented than before. Kanda glared at him, but he didn't seem to mind.

"There'll be more of them the closer we get to the castle," Rabbit explained. "They don't like that you went to the other side, and you getting closer to the tower means you're closer to escaping, and they don't want a potential snack to escape. You'd better be up to it."

"I am," Kanda snorted, "unless you weren't watching, in which case I'll reassure you that thing didn't just run off."

"And what helped you?" Rabbit asked playfully, the next moment whining loudly as Kanda grabbed him by ears and lifted him up to his eye level, glaring at him. "Oww! Don't be so snappy!"

Kanda continued glaring at him for a few moments, then just grumbled a "Che" and put the poor thing down, eyeing the tower with a thoughtful frown as they continued walking in silence. After about fifteen minutes, the Japanese spoke again, rather silently, his gaze still locked on the tower, "What awaits there?"

Rabbit suddenly seemed strangely proud of Kanda, and smiled mysteriously. "Good question," he said. "You might have not realized it yet, but your mind is bound to this world. By simply coming here, you already striked a deal with this universe. If you try to break it, to leave without completing the journey, it will slowly suck in your very soul, drop by drop, day by day, and you'll end up in the Chamber of Demons, trapped in the nightmares of yourself and materializing the fear and pain of others."

"That's quite difficult," the samurai sneered. "I'm a goner if I lose, I'm a goner if I leave. Is there even a win situation?" He looked just as pissed off as he usually was, though actually he was slightly troubled now. From what he'd seen of the Demons' Chamber, it was even worse than joining the Griefs' ranks, and he didn't fancy either of those options. Not to mention that now when the supposedly real word was attracting him, he apparently was balancing on the very dangerous line.

Rabbit nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, there is. Completing the journey, reaching the goal - the castle. If you can get through all of the guardians, you will find someone you need to meet the most and yet only once. In the castle, behind those stone walls, for you there waits -"

::

Kanda wasn't sure what was happening, but his worlds seemed to be mixing together almost painfully, and he didn't like that sensation one bit. He was just making his way towards this huge building that was supposed to mark the final destination of his journey, but the views suddenly started halting as if it was some kind of synthetic illusion, then all sounds turned into buzzing, and the landscape slowly faded out.

It was a dream; this time he felt certain that this was a dream.

"- your sister." The mixed chorus of the voices that belonged to the crazy Rabbit of the Wonderland and the crazy Rabbit of the Hospital, and for a moment he saw both of them. Then the hospital Rabbit slowly started becoming more clear - so clear that the red was almost blinding.

Behind the shapes of the Wonderland environment, he could clearly see white ceiling, and when he turned - a barred window, what clearly implied he was back at the hospital. Whether it was real or not, he was there now, so he had to make the best of it - oh damn it, apparently he couldn't move well here for whatever reasons, that was just annoying.

"Yu, please, I'm not asking of you to stop loving them, but please gather yourself up and live, for them," the hospital Rabbit pleaded, and Kanda looked towards him, wondering why on Earth did the latter suddenly became so desperate. His eyes hurt when he turned them.

"What the?.." he muttered, attempting to scowl, but it wasn't as successful as he would have wished. He realized that he was hurting all over, and briefly wondered what could have been the reason for it.

Lavi's face lit up with relief when Kanda spoke. "Ah, Yu," he sighed and for a moment looked like he was about to hug the latter, but stopped himself the last moment. "I was afraid you wouldn't take the lessening of the dosage.. You were talking in your sleep." He probably felt the slight fear in Kanda's look, and quickly added, "You just mentioned this name.. I thought you were having a nightmare about her again." He avoided using the word 'sister', not wanting the Japanese's face to gain that blank look that would appear every time the fire was mentioned.

Kanda looked at him for a few moments, and Lavi felt nearly scared, but the black-haired man just sighed and moved his look to glare holes in the ceiling again instead. "I'm hurting," he just stated.

Lavi blinked, then waved his hand in the air. "Ah, yes, morphine does that. See, we've come to conclusion you don't need it anymore so we're trying to get you off it.. this might not be pleasant at first but it'll get better, I promise." He smiled a genuine, stupid Rabbit smile, and Kanda would have grabbed him by imaginary ears if he had managed to lift his arm.

But he didn't, so instead he just let out a huff that was supposed to mean something between 'I see' and 'Whatever', and remained still.

He felt strangely real.

::

April 1, 1884

It's early morning and I'm scared.

Today is the day when everything is decided. The Director is coming in a couple of hours, and then...then we'll see what happens. I tried talking to Yu, but it's not much use - he's very stubborn, and he's suffering from withdrawals, and even though I'm quite sure he hears everything I ask, he doesn't bother to reply, not even if he agrees or not. Lenalee still hasn't quit - if it comes to worst and Yu can't leave, she'll be looking after him here. And me...I could always become a teacher, I guess.

No, I shouldn't think of that. It has to work. Yu's consciousness is clear like never before, and I'm sure he won't mess anything up.

I almost forgot - it's April 1st today, that is, April Fool's Day, and yet we work like it's the most common day of the year. I know, wouldn't it be ironic if we celebrated a day for fools over here, in a mental institution? Most definitely. Maybe that's why we don't. Some things just are different here.

Now that I think of it, I almost want to leave this place.

But not without Yu.

::

Lavi was sitting next to Kanda's bed, gripping his hand, his expression almost desperate as he repeated the same words over and over again, while the Japanese simply stared up at him with a mix of the 'you're a retard' and the 'I eat babies' faces. "And please Yu, remember, don't mention anything about the Wonderland. I believe you, but you can't mention it to the man who's going to come here. He won't believe you, he'll think you're making things up, and that would be bad. Please Yu, don't-"

He silenced as he heard heavy, slow footsteps in the hallway, and waited.

This had to be him.

Kanda scoffed and turned his head towards the door - he could already do small motions without overstraining himself - and simply looked at it.

The door opened.

"Good morning, dears," Director Earl greeted sweetly and stuffed his massive body through the door with unexpected swiftness. Lavi caught a glimpse of Tyki Mikk in the hallway, the Director must have dragged him here to be a witness or something, he for sure didn't look enthusiastic and took out a cigarette. "Now now Tyki-poo, we don't smoke inside the hospital. Come here now please, you'll be free in a little bit."

'Tyki-poo' grimaced and stepped into the ward, stopping by the door. His whole presence said he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Morning, Director," Lavi answered, trying to match the sweetness but failing rather miserably, and glanced over at Kanda.

Who was staring at the Director with a light but still visible expression of shock, his eyes slightly widened as if he was seeing the most hideous creature in the world somewhere behind the man. However his frown remained present as well, and the surprise was slowly fading away from his face.

Lavi swore under his breath. Way to blow it. And just why would Kanda decide to hallucinate now of all times? He didn't know if the situation could be saved anymore, as his patient looked like he was seeing something...Wonderland'ish again. But as a doctor, he couldn't pretend nothing was happening, so he took a deep breath and spoke silently, trying to ignore the fact that the Director's grin widened twice as he finished his sentence. "What do you see, Yu?"

There was a pause, during which Kanda scoffed, while still facing forwards, and then looked at Lavi, rolling his eyes.

"I see a ridiculously ugly fat man," came a blunt reply, ended with a sneering "Che. Don't you?"

Earl's grin suddenly died, while Tyki snorted amusingly and muttered something that sounded like 'The kid's right though, uncle'; in the meantime Lavi nearly fell off his chair. False alarm...then again, this wasn't much better at all when it came to making good impressions.

"Yu, you don't just say something like this," he cried, waving his hands frantically. He didn't even notice that Kanda addressed him as simply 'you' and not 'doc' like he usually did. "That's very rude!"

"Whatever," Kanda said in a tone that clearly stated he wasn't interested in the lecture the slightest.

"..." Lavi couldn't help but feel somewhat dumbfounded about it. Could it be that Kanda was still so...expressing on his opinion because he had something childish left in him? After all, he went into coma when he was only sixteen, it's no big surprise he's not yet acting like an average adult even though he's turning twenty in a couple of months. But that could have still been treated as something out of the norm, and that was bad. He had to somehow display this was only the Japanese's personality, or they were both screwed. Then again, for some reason, he felt almost intimidated talking to Kanda despite of being older; something about his tone and posture just made the redhead want to submit to his will and fuck off according to his patient's will until receiving further commands.

Well, that was just stupid, he decided and tried talking again.

"How do you feel today?"

Kanda snorted silently. "Don't address me with that motherly tone like I'm sick or something," he grumbled. Everyone in the room simply stared at him with dumbfounded expressions. "I'm fine and in pain." Lavi cursed mentally again, nobody was supposed to know Kanda was already off medication.

The Director narrowed his eyes and looked at the Japanese intently. The boy indeed looked a bit pale, and sweaty, not to mention it looked like his muscles were contracting barely noticeably due to pain. "Care to elaborate, doctor?"

"It's nothing, I'm taking care of it," Lavi reassured, plastering on a grin. "As you can see Director, he's perfectly sane just like you and I, he just has a.. uh.."

"Flu," Kanda grunted and rolled his eyes again. He didn't really get the stupid game but he might as well join in. The stupid rabbit widened his eyes and glanced at him, and the next moment his grin beamed even wider. Seems his patient was way more conscious than he gave him credit for.

"Yes, exactly. As I said, it doesn't pertain to the matter at hand, and he can perfectly well continue curing the cold at home."

"I see, I see," the Director cooed, then stepped closer, still looking at Kanda intently. "Why don't you tell me why did you attack the sanitars, young man?"

"They asked for it," Kanda replied before Lavi managed to open his mouth. The redhead huffed.

"He was practically in coma then, Director," he explained, "You can't expect him to remember that. Said sanitars were misbehaving to their conduct, I mentioned that in my report."

"Of course," Director's tone and expression never changed. He looked like he was going to eat the Japanese any moment now. "I forgot, silly me. How do you like our hospital, Mr. Kanda?"

Lavi narrowed his eyes. It seemed that Director was trying to provoke the patient into blowing his cover. All he could do now was hope for Kanda not to give into the play and remain calm. Or else it would go bad.

"It sucks," Kanda stated bluntly. "I want to get out of here."

Earl didn't look very happy, but he also couldn't accuse that sentence of being indication of progressing mental illness. He could hide his anger really well though, so you couldn't notice as he continued. "And what do you think about your doctor, Mr. Bookman?"

Kanda raised an eyebrow lightly. "He's tolerable," he grumbled, and Lavi breathed a sigh of relief. "And he's like a rabbit." Lavi paled, horrified. Kanda probably noticed his expression and his lips making a soundless 'NO, YU' as he sneered lightly and continued, "His nose twitches when he's writing, and he thinks about sex all the time." Lavi's face fell, and he suddenly turned redder than his hair. Kanda looked contented.

"That's...merciless...Yu," Lavi mumbled, staring at the floor sadly.

Director looked rather surprised and suddenly sneezed. "Care to explain yourself, Mr. Bookman?" he boomed in a loving tone.

The redhead scratched his head. "I swear I don't talk about such things in work," he mumbled. "But..I guess...sometimes...I mean, I'm 21 and I'm a man." He chuckled awkwardly.

"Then how is it visible?" Director specified.

"... I was joking," Kanda sighed with a blank expression and leaned back into the pillow. Lavi was left speechless again. His inner self was torn between shaking the Japanese by his collar, and shouting 'SCORE'. Mentally ill people didn't joke; and how good the sense of humor actually was, was another story.

"I...see," Earl repeated, inspecting Kanda once again, but apparently he didn't have any more questions and stepped back. "Well, young man, you definitely do have an attitude, as for an actual illness...What can you say, doctor's assistant Tyki Mikk?" He was probably expecting this to be his trump card, but apparently Tyki thought otherwise.

"I think he's just honest," Tyki drawled lazily. "Sure, would be funny to keep him around and have him talk to you more often, but he doesn't strike me as someone who needs it at the moment."

Director sneezed again, and this time it sounded almost angry. "Tyki-poo, didn't Mr. Kanda attack you too?"

Tyki shrugged. "Wouldn't call it attacking, just a punch. I guess I touched him in an appropriate way, you know how timid Japanese people are," he said and lit a cigarette.

"No smoking inside the hospital, Tyki-poo!" Earl cried, snatching the cigarette from his hand and rushing towards the door. "Fine Mr. Bookman, send that man home if you wish, and I want you gone until next morning, as far as I remember, you no longer work here!" He squeezed himself through the door with surprising haste and scurried down the hallway, leaving everyone confused.

::

"I need to find a new job," Tyki stated, taking out another cigarette and finally lighting it. "Uncle's more nuts than the loonies down here."

Lavi blinked, everything what had just happened still sinking into his brain. A member of the Noah family...helped him? That was unheard of. But...seems it happened. He scurried towards Tyki and grabbed his hand, shaking it rapidly. "Thank you, Mr. Mikk!"

Tyki smirked a bit, then shook his head lightly. "Look, your little friend likes making mess and then I have to fix it. I only did this to prevent more work for myself." He grimaced, he really would have preferred doing random jobs and eating out of trash but his family insisted he needed a 'proper' job. "Until I leave, that is." He looked very amused by the thought.

Lavi seemed even more surprised. "Huh, you serious?" he asked.

"Of course. Well, the old fatty won't be happy. But I want to take my niece away from him, she's getting strangely violent lately." He inhaled some smoke and blew it at Lavi's face. "So doc, don't feel grateful, what I did I did for my own sake. Nice working with ya."

The redhead just nodded absently, letting go of the Noah's hand, a smile still on his face, and watched him leave the ward before turning back to Kanda.

"We did it, Yu," he said, sounding truly happy. He was about to hug the patient, but stopped himself from it, and then took a good look at the latter. "..."

Kanda was asleep, with the most peaceful expression imaginable, as if what just happened didn't have any meaning at all.

::

April 5, 1884

I can't believe it. We're free. It actually worked. I just can't comprehend it. No more fear, no more pressure.. well, except the fact that the old man insists I get a job in the central hospital this very moment, but I told him I need a week or a few off. Not that it worked, I know I'll have to apply there sooner or later but I'm actually rather busy as it is.

We all live in the town now. Everything you need is nearby, that's a nice change compared to the Asylum far behind the city walls. The pace is quicker here however, but I think I'm getting used to it. The Lees and the old man are already working, Allen was signed out of the hospital, Yu's Godfather rented a small house for them. I gave him Yu's sword and plush rabbit, for some reason I think he wouldn't want to lose it, even if he hadn't expressed interest in it lately.

And Yu is safe, finally.

I visit him every day, sometimes even staying the night at their place. The last few days were really hard on him, but the withdrawal finally seems to be easening up. The day after we got out of the asylum, it was so bad that he, being as self-controlled as he is, barely kept himself from shouting in pain, not to mention that he only ate this morning for the first time since we left. It's hard on me too; I could give him medicine but that would only prolong the process. I know he's strong - rather, he forced me to believe it - and now everything seems to be going alright; he hadn't spoken of Wonderland ever since and didn't do anything out of the ordinary...except that sometimes his attitude seems nothing like the ordinary. I'll still watch over him for a while though. Because Mr. Tiedoll asked me, of course. As soon as he's cured, I will have no further concern about it.

...For some reason, it feels like I actually want to keep having a concern about him.

::

"Feelin' better?" Lavi asked with a small but genuine smile as he changed the wet cloth on Kanda's forehead. He had started drawling his words around the latter a while ago, something he never did while on the job, and it was rather surprising. Well, maybe not anymore. He simply looked at the Japanese, his hand absently wandering to entwine fingers with the latter's. He wasn't sure why he did it, but he told himself it was comfort, and the other didn't seem to mind.

The black-haired beauty nodded absently, letting out a silent sigh. The worst seemed to be over, the fever was dropping and the pain was no longer unbearable. However the fact that he haven't gotten any message from the.. other side ever since they left was making him slightly restless. Wasn't he supposed to meet his sister there, or did he misunderstand something? If there was a way to see her again, he wanted to take it. Yet...there was no more chance for it. Sure, he liked the red-haired man's company - he actually bothered as much as to memorize his name already, and he didn't mind him touching him that much -, but he still found his quest to be more important at the moment. The Rabbit said he can't leave permanently, yet this far it seemed this was just what happened. Didn't that mean this was dangerous?..

"You've got visitors, Yu-kun," Tiedoll announced from the doorway, and Kanda's dark eyes flied open, stopping on Lavi before moving towards the door. He spotted black pigtails behind his Godfather and his expression eased up a bit, seems this was Lenalee, he didn't mind her turning up whenever she wanted.

However, she wasn't alone.

He saw a patch of white and frowned, mechanically squeezing Lavi's hand. During these last few days his essence was no longer affected by drugs, his dislike for people in general had become more and more obvious. The red-haired doctor had to feel lucky that he was between the special few who had the right to be in the same room as Kanda and breathe his air, not to mention be allowed to touch the Japanese.

Lenalee walked up to Kanda and patted him on the head lightly, smiling, but her look turning slightly concerned as she noticed he was glaring at whom she'd come with. She straightened up and looked back. "He doesn't remember you, Allen," she said softly.

"Who is that beansprout with an old geezer's hair?" Kanda asked matter-of-factly in a slightly annoyed tone and pointed at Walker.

Allen twitched lightly. A simple hello would have been nice, but no, he was getting insulted the moment he stepped into the room. "My name is Allen Walker," he said, smiling a bit too sweetly for it to look believable, "I used to work at the asylum, I'm a friend of Lavi's."

"Another idiot then, why didn't you say so in the first place," Kanda grumbled and closed his eyes again. Allen's fake smile widened about twice, now looking more as a grimace. Lenalee quickly walked up to him and stepped on his foot.

"Actually, we came here because we wanted to thank you," she stated hopefully, looking at her cousin's half-asleep form.

"We did?" Allen whispered, the nice intentions were gone the moment he started talking to the guy.

Lenalee beamed and placed her hand on Kanda's free one. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have found Allen in time," she explained. "You saw him fall and brought our attention to it." She send a short glare at Allen, who immediately looked slightly intimidated and bowed his head.

"Thank you for aiding in saving my life, Kanda," he muttered, adding under his breath "even if it happened accidentally."

"Che" was all of the reply he got.

"I suppose that's good enough," Lenalee sighed. Guys could be so childish sometimes. "Who wants pancakes?"

In less than an hour, she had cooked some, and even if Kanda preferred nothing but noodles he'd always try out her cooking out of mere respect, not to mention that she was actually good at it. People were eating in another room, he could see them through the open door but he was comfortable with it. Lenalee spent some time with him what he was grateful for and then she was off, and that once again left him and Lavi, who stayed until the late evening.

::

A few more days passed, and Kanda was getting better. He could already perfectly sit up and eat by himself, however he still wasn't strong enough to walk around on his own. Lavi watched his progress both with joy and concern - that soon he would become unnecessary, and most likely would have to say goodbye. He didn't want to.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary that morning when he once again turned up to Tiedoll's house and went to Kanda's room to check on him. Kanda was sitting in his bed, his back rested against the pillow, and doodling something in a sketchpad that Tiedoll had bought him once they got out of the asylum. Lavi tried to look at it but was slightly disappointed to see it was just various lines and ornaments rather than something pretty. Then again, no weird drawings equaled no Wonderland, and that was good because it meant Yu was getting well.

"Good morning," Lavi greeted with a smile and looked around for his usual chair, however it wasn't there for some reason. From the sounds of it, Tiedoll was using it to reach jars of jam stored in a very high shelf. "Can I sit down?"

Kanda raised his eyes from the paper and nodded. "One moment," he mumbled, leaning forth and brushing his hand over the blanket as if shoving something off the bed, and then leaned back again. "Here you go."

Lavi frowned a little but sad down in the place 'prepared' for him. "What did you just do, Yu?" he asked a bit curiously.

The Japanese looked up at him as if he was completely stupid. "What do you mean?" he grunted and motioned somewhere at the floor. "You don't want to sit on it, do you?"

"Sit on what?" Lavi specified carefully. He suddenly felt worried, whatever was happening couldn't have been good.

Kanda glared at him for a while. "So it's not just Tiedoll," he whispered finally, scoffing, and turned a page in his sketchbook, quickly drawing something. Once he was done, he turned the picture towards Lavi, who looked at it with interest before suddenly frowning. The picture portrayed the very room they were in, a bit sketchy but there was no doubt about it. Two stick figures with haircuts had to be them. But the part that surprised Lavi was the fact that in the drawing, there were several lotus flowers scattered around; one on the bed, on the other side than he was sitting on, three on the floor near his feet, and another one in the far corner of the room. "You don't see it?" Kanda's silent question snapped him out of his thoughts.

Lavi slowly shook his head and looked at the black-hair. "Do you?" he asked, and he didn't need to look to know that Kanda nodded, looking just as surprised as he was.

"Then it's me." Kanda's tone was accepting but somehow angry at the same time, and he threw the sketchbook away. It hit the floor with a soft thud. Lavi looked at him and reached out, trying to push him down onto the pillow. "I'm going crazy."

Lavi frowned, this was definitely not the best healing attitude. "Come on, you're not crazy, you said so yourself," he said and fluffed Kanda's pillow before forcing him back down. "Maybe you're just tired."

Kanda shook his head. "He said it," he stated. "That if I don't get back, that place will eat out my soul."

The redhead stared at Kanda and put a hand on his forehead to check the temperature, however it was normal. "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Yu?"

"You don't believe me." Anger glinted in the Japanese's eyes. "I'm telling you, I'm not making anything up! It's them, they want me to go insane, I know it."

"Of course I believe you," Lavi retorted. Well, maybe he didn't, but he knew better than to deny any possibility, he was a doctor after all. "But how do you know it's.. uh, them? It?"

"Do you know what my sister's favorite flower was?" Kanda asked in a surprisingly calm tone, looking at the rabbit doctor blankly, ignoring the strange look the latter gave him due to saying something, in his opinion, completely random. "Lotus. And there's more of them today than yesterday. And nobody else can see it. What would you think if you were in my place?"

"I would think I was going crazy," Lavi said slowly, frowning and staring in front of himself. This was just too out of it. Did this mean Kanda actually was mentally ill? Or could it be that he was telling the truth and some other side really existed? He didn't know, but either way this wasn't good.

"Exactly," Kanda said silently.

::

The next day, when the Japanese showed him a picture with eight lotuses in it, Lavi realized that he couldn't let him slip into the madness, or whatever it was, any further. He couldn't wait until it was too late, not after all they've been through, not with the...feeling he had, whatever it was. He had to do something, even if he had no idea what.

And quick.

::

::

End Chapter

::

Cliffhangers FTW...again. Yay, the Imaginary Lotus Field made it into the fic! What if the theory is righter than it seems? Oh and yes, I totally had to give Tyki a chance to redeem himself. Almost all fiction portray him like a bad guy (not in the hot bad sense, but in the disgusting bad sense), particularly as a rapist. But he really isn't that bad. In my eyes, he's probably the least 'evil' out of all the Noah - I might be wrong, but this is my fic so you'll be dealing with my opinions. : D

Hope you enjoyed reading, now review and after two months I will happily start writing more! : D (sorry!)