WARNING: There's a reason I'm placing this under angst...Includes character death.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters within this story, not even Nozomi who is the muse of a friend of mine. The rest, except the elven woman perhaps, belong to Namco Bandai. NOT ME. ^_^ Thank you.

Too Late

Unlike he usually warned, his pain had been going on for far too long. The redhead finished writing a letter to the few people he cared enough to let know what he was planning on doing: Emil, Nozomi, Kate, and Rilena. After delivering the final one to the young blond in Luin with instructions not to read it until the redhead was out of sight each time he gave one of them a letter. Seeing as no one but Aqua knew where he'd buried Aster, none of them could follow and stop him once he disappeared from their line of vision.

The redhead fell to his knees at the base of his husband's grave, the dates marking him to have been a mere sixty-five when he died. Although he thought it to be far too soon, even for a human, Richter wouldn't try to bring the blond back like he had years ago… It had been a natural death after all. Even so, it still broke his heart as though Ratatosk had killed Aster all over again. Once more, he was alone without that one man who'd stood by him even when the rest of his race said he was crazy.

A hand reached for Mani, Sol still resting across his lower back. Both hands gripped the hilt, pointing the blade in the exact place he had once drove it through whom he had thought at the time to be Marta Lualdi. Eyes closing, he mimicked the exact motion only in reverse. Instead of away from him, the half-elven male brought it towards him instead. Sun-kissed eyelids sprung open with a gasp of pain moments before they dulled as Richter fell forward to land beside the edge of Aster's grave. As his body hit the earth, his last breath expelled from his lips with a whispered apology to his late husband.

…

When his eyes opened once more seemingly moments later, Richter found himself standing in a field. Looking around he didn't see anything he would have expected after hearing the stories about Nefilheim from his fellow half-elves in Sybak. Where were the demons? Why did it look so…peaceful? This was certainly not where he'd been expecting to arrive at all. Where was the ice? It didn't make any sense at all.

"Richter!" A surprised shout met the half-elf's ears, causing him to turn as a young Aster dashed his way. Both pairs of eyes widened upon meeting as the blond stopped a few feet from Richter.

"What are you doing here?" They questioned, voices mixing together. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" The pair of males paused a moment, the oddity of them reacting with the exact same thing shocking them both silent until Richter tried to touch the younger's face only to be stopped by some sort of barrier between them.

Richter frowned, thoughts of how he should have known it was too good to be true filling his head. "I'm sorry, Aster. I couldn't take it any more. So I-" He froze, a pair of hands raising to pull each of his cheeks in the opposite direction. "Wha?"

"Don't you dare tell me you killed yourself, Richter Abend. That-" Aster paused, realizing what he'd just said as tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes, mouth falling open in surprise. "Y-you…" A shiver ran down his spine as the words continued to repeat themselves. "How…" He shook his head determinedly. "I-" The blond cut himself off, hands releasing Richter's cheeks to then cover his own mouth from spilling out words.

As silence grew between them, Richter felt a cold breeze flutter past him and slightly move the tips of his hair and clothing. His body shook, looking around as the hand that rested against the barrier soon was held above frozen earth. A thin coat of ice slowly appeared, the barrier growing and shoving the redhead back a few feet. A light chuckle could be heard behind him, causing emerald and lime eyes alike to turn towards the source of the sound.

"How does it feel, Richter Abend?" A shadowed figure with glowing green eyes asked, the form steadily gaining more definition than a simple ghostly shape. "How does it feel you came so close to being with the one you love for all eternity, just to be kept away from him by mere inches?" As it spoke, the shadow's form had taken a familiar shape to only Richter. She was clearly smirking at the redhead, her long hair taking on a similar shade to his own.

Aster could only stare in shock. The resemblance was uncanny. That hair, this woman's eyes…even the way her lips curled when she smirked felt all too familiar. Was that…Richter's mother? No, she was an elf. She couldn't possibly be dead yet.

The younger of the redheads began to shake. Whether from anger or sadness no one could tell. "Oh, if only he'd kept his grip on you for a few moments longer…" She remarked, gaze shifting to look at Aster. "So you're the human brat who'd seduced my son. It's bad enough I had such an abomination within me but for him to be tricked by a human?" She scoffed, crossing her arms. "Now that's just-"

"Seems I take after you more than father then doesn't it?" Richter snapped, glaring at the elven woman before him. "In looks and choice of race for a partner."

All of a sudden she was before him, slapping the half-elven male's glasses from his face with a resounding smack. "Don't you ever talk back to me, you understand? Humans are all alike. They seduce you and then leave you. Just like him." She gestured towards Aster. "He was the first to die, was he not? Twice considering I remember seeing him once before around here." The woman chuckled darkly. "Though you know, monster, you're stuck here with me for the rest of eternity. Away from your little boyfriend over there. Isn't that wonderful? It'll be just like you were young again. You can see him, speak with him, but he's completely untouchable. Puts a damper on-"

"SHUT UP!" The youngest's voice shocked them all, including himself. Fists shook, light green eyes glaring angrily at the elven woman. Both of them turned to stare speechless as Aster focused in on his mother-in-law. "Don't you start on Richter! You're the one who left him, leaving trust in his father to take care of him instead of bringing him with you to wherever it was you left to go." Although it was assumedly the elven village of Heimdall, the blond wasn't going to say so in case he was wrong. "You don't know a thing about him, so don't you dare start calling him your son now after everything he's been through without you! You have no right to consider him family, got that? You abandoned Richter without a second thought! Even the humans you say you hate took better care of him by showing him they knew he existed. He's my family, not your's. And I'm not his boyfriend." Those words brought a wider smirk to her face as she glanced over at Richter, only for him to stare defiantly as Aster continued. "He's my husband. And I love him more than anything in the world. I don't care what he's done or what blood he has, even if part of his DNA is shared with someone like you. I love Richter and I will as long as my soul exists."

She turned from the half-elven male to look at Aster with contempt. "Nevertheless, he's here with me. Forever to be separated from you. And do you know why?" The intentional pause filled the males with anticipation and each of them could guess what she was going to say. "You, boy. If he hadn't done everything he had in hopes of bringing you back from the dead the first time you died, your precious Richter would be there with you right now. Killing countless people, lying and betraying many others…all those things for your sake. If he hadn't been so determined to bring you back any way possible, his slate would be much cleaner." With only a simple gesture, a shadow slowly overcame and enveloped Richter and eventually caused his form to disappear from either of their sight.

"What did you do to him?!"

"I merely let him begin to get accustomed to the frozen waste land…I'm sure the demons he made pacts with will be ecstatic to see him." With a wave, the elven woman also returned to Nefilheim, leaving Aster alone in the field.

The young blond fell to his knees, years rapidly passing by as he returned to the age he was when he'd died. It just…wasn't fair. Richter had done those things because he loved the human male and didn't want to be alone. Surely that meant something, right? He didn't want Richter to have to live down and away from him for the rest of time…especially if that horrid woman was there as well. His head jolted up, eyes widening. What about the demons Richter had made pacts with? Seeing as the worlds wasn't being run by them when he returned it must have meant Richter wasn't able to see through his pact or that he'd betrayed them.

Lime eyes closed, tears forming and soon falling to the fresh green grass. "I'm sorry, Richter." Foot steps made their way closer and closer towards where Aster knelt, growing louder with each step until a pair of dark boots was all that the blond could see other than the grass around him. Looking up with tear-stained cheeks, he froze as he was unable to understand what it was he was seeing. "… "

Arms wrapped around him, bringing Aster up into a tight hug. "Thank you. For everything."