Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own Vocaloid. Each character used belongs to the respective company that produced him/her; I merely borrowed them for non-profit entertainment purposes. The Hatsune Miku song Streaming Heart, of which this fanfic is based, belongs to DECO*27. Please give credit to him and check out the original song. It's amazing. Regardless, I do claim ownership to the cover art and words below. Please enjoy.

Do you know who the scariest people are?

People like me.

I will rip you apart as I wear a big smile on my face. Your cries of pain will be like music to my ears. There's nothing you could ever hope to offer me that would make me consider sparing you.

Just know I'm not amongst the scariest people because I'm a psycho, although that is a good reason to fear me.

I'm amongst the scariest because people like me have nothing left to lose.

He loved me. All this time, he loved me. The proof was right there in front of me. Why couldn't I see it? Wasn't it what I wanted to see? Did I not see it because I refused to?

I hugged my knees closer to my chest, the warm night air my only embrace. It had been three weeks, yet my heart still ached the way it did when Nero pushed me into that portal, sacrificing himself for me. Is he still alive? Do I want the answer to that question?

When we fled the attack, Rui and Zeito took us to a friend of theirs who lives in one of the European pockets of the Love World. There they, Miku, Mikuo, Len, and me hid from the worlds. Rui, upon finding shelter, looked at the wound I had received shortly before Nero threw me into the portal, and it didn't surprise me to learn that I truly did lose my eye. Yet eyepatch or no, I wasn't allowed to go out often. None of us were, but I was able to sneak off once or twice to figure out how life got along without us.

People were noticing that Len and I were gone. Of course nobody wanted to overreact, but some were beginning to worry. Len and I eavesdropped on the conversation of Love Makers we both know, and we learned everything about our status with our friends from there.

Those who know Miku and Mikuo took more action. Each ones' respective adopted family filed a missing person report ages ago. The mysterious disappearance of the two were widely covered in the news. Many continued to hope, but others now feared the worst. Some had given up entirely.

As for Nero, he was the most missed. Nero had a lot of friends in more than one Love World. He was kind, social, and just all around very likable. Many people organized hunting parties for their missing friend. Some had even written articles in the Love World newspapers about how empty their lives were without him. Reading them made my heart ache. I should have stopped after the first article, yet I kept collecting and reading them as if they kept the secrets of the universes in their pages.

Truth be told, I don't know why I couldn't stand Nero for so many years. Maybe it was because he was everything I didn't want to be, everything I couldn't be if no one was to suspect a thing. After he gave up everything to help me find Len and we spent that time getting to know each other better, I realized that I tolerated him more and more as the days passed. Until finally . . . I'm not sure. He grew on me, I can say that much.

Although I can never say for sure, I think going through what we did together was what changed my overall feelings for Nero. He was the only rock I could stand on, and yet he never made me feel less than for it. If not for him, I don't think I ever could have gone through any of it.

That's why I was so confused. Do I really care for Nero in return? Do I . . . love him, even in not that way? Or do I really just feel an immense feeling of gratitude and feel as if it's only right that I return Nero's feelings for what he's done?

You see, I didn't want to put the wrong label on what I felt. If I told myself that I was . . . in love with Nero, I would try to convince myself that it was true. With that would come doing everything I could to please him when we were reunited, assuming that he was still alive, and living my life for him. Then one day, possibly months or even years later, I would come to realize that I wasn't so sure of my feelings than I thought. What would result from there wouldn't be pleasant for either of us.

This isn't a rare thing to happen, either. Sometimes a person doesn't understand what he's feeling and believes that he's in love with someone he doesn't even like. I've broken up enough couples like that to know how true my words are. I didn't want to be one of those people. If I planned to, I don't know, start a relationship with Nero, it should be because I want to and not because I feel as if I owe him that. I didn't doubt that if I asked him, he would have felt the same way.

Hehehe, sorry. This is very awkward for me to talk about, but you can see that I put a lot of thought into it. Why did you want to know my emotions when it came to Nero?

Oh, you're not going to answer me?

Fine, I'll move on, but don't think I won't be forgetting this any time soon.

During one of those times, Len met me on the rooftops of the hideout. He casually made his way to my side and sat down next to me without sparing a single glance. Funny how he and I always spend time on the roof together, huh?

"You're not concerned about pushing me off, Brother?" I asked.

Len and Miku still had their violent outbursts, but they were rare and resulted in little to no damage. After both Love Wreckers had a couple breakdowns each, Rui noticed that Mikuo and I were better able to calm Miku and Len down, respectively. Something about their siblings talking softly to them got through whatever vicious thing was going through their mind and eating away at their soul. I could get through to Len better than anyone, and Mikuo, who had not met Miku until three weeks ago, had a better time calling her down than Len, the person who knew Miku best of us all.

"It's okay if you fall all the way down because you'll walk away unharmed," Len answered, not even blinking an eye. "How about you? Are you concerned that I'll push you off?"

I snort. "Nah. You know if I go down I'm taking you with me. There's no way you would risk that."

Chuckling, Len lightly punched me in the shoulder. Then the playfulness faded. His face somber, Len said, "We'll get him back. I don't know how or when, but we will find Nero. After everything he's done for us, we won't abandon him."

"Except we already did." I didn't say the words in accusation. If someone was to blame for Nero's getting left behind, it was me. I should have dragged him with me, or stayed so that he wouldn't be captured alone. "Besides," I reluctantly added, "how are we supposed to know if Nero is still alive? Your talk of getting him back could be nothing but empty words."

"I know that." Len sighed in defeat. "I fear the worst, too, but it doesn't help to accept defeat when we don't know if we already lost."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"Hope that for one reason or another, those horrible people spared Nero." Shrugging, Len told me what he feared. What I feared. What we feared more than being found. "They might need him for information. Whether it's information from him or about him or-"

I did Len a favor by cutting him off. "How does that help? I think we both can agree that if such is Nero's alternative, then we would rather he have died in that attack."

"What I was trying to say was," Len said, getting back on track, "if Nero's still alive, then there's still a chance to save him. If that chance exists, then we have a motive to figure out what's going on and what to do about it. Instead of sitting around and waiting for something to happen, we will make something happen. Isn't that what you'd rather be doing, Sister? Getting something, anything done instead of doing nothing?"

Of course, what Len said was encouraging, but I'm not necessarily an optimist. "Yet we don't know if any of it will be for naught. We might help Nero, but we might also somehow, one way or another, make everything worse for him."

That was when Len looked me hard and long in the eye. My new eyepatch upset him more than it upset me, so I knew he was serious when he was able to look at me without flinching away. If anyone, he was going to convince me the bright side exists. "This is where we have to believe in the best possible outcome. Without faith, everything we do is pointless. Even if our hope is in nothing, it's always better than running around aimlessly."

As much as I didn't want to admit it, Len had a point. Anything was better than moping around like an angsty teen, but there were still some issues to be concerned with. "How do we begin to take action?" I challenged. "Where do we start? What information do we have to set up a game plan?"

Len tried to not look defeated at my painfully true questions, but he wasn't about to give up just like that either. "We are still waiting to hear from everyone else what exactly happened that day. Heck, we still don't know if we were found out or if one of the spies turned on us. However, when we make contact, we will find out everything we can. Even if we have to demand the information from whomever we make communication with."

It took a lot of self-control to not snort. "Listen to you. Brother, you sound like a proper Love Wrecker."

Cheeks turning pink, Len averted his eyes and chose instead to stare at his knuckles. "I still can't believe how much they changed in that time. Who would I be now if I didn't get out sooner?"

Instincts kicking in, I reached out and took my Len's hand. "Don't be stupid. You're my brother, and nothing could ever, ever change that."

He gave my fingers a squeeze. "No matter how much you try to convince me otherwise, I still feel as if this is my fault in some way. I can't stop believing that I failed you when you needed me most."

"Here's a place to meet halfway," I tried. "Let's agree that we both suck." This gets a genuine smile from Len. "We can sit here all night blaming ourselves for things out of our control, but where would that take us? All it would do is make us feel worse about ourselves when we shouldn't even feel this way in the first place. If we're going to start moving forward, I think we have to begin by letting the guilt go and living each day the best we can."

Len considered this, then shrugged. "I don't see why you can't be right. If you're willing to give it a shot, then so am I."

Nothing could stop the smile from spreading on my face. "I love you, Len. No matter what has happened or will happen, I still love you more than anyone."

"I love you, too." Len leaned closer and kissed my forehead. "Now let's get inside. There will be plenty of time to move forward tomorrow. Right now, I want to go to bed."

Don't be scared. I won't hurt you.

There's no reason to be afraid. Not unless you threaten those I love and hurt the people I care about. If you so much as think about acting against my friends and family, you should be afraid.

Still scared? Then maybe you need to run before I realize what you did to my loved ones. Trust me, it won't be pretty once I get my hands on you.

Our hostess was a very . . . interesting woman named Ona. Now don't get me wrong, she was by no means a bad person. However, she seemed off.

"Are you sure we're safe here?" Len asked the same day Ona took us under her wing.

"Of course we're safe here," Rui, who was bandaging my head where my eye was, said. "Ona has helped Zeito and I plenty of times in the past. There's no one I trust more."

"And she's a fantastic gunslinger, too," Zeito cut in. "Ona can shoot an apple off your head from across the lawn. If you're looking for someplace safe, this is it."

Len, Miku, and I had our doubts, but we didn't question the two. The thing about Ona is she doesn't talk. She can, or so Rui and Zeito claimed, but none of the three of us ever heard her speak. Her movements were stiff and robotic somehow, but she seemed to be all flesh. If something happened in her past to make her like that, it had to be have been pretty freaking traumatic.

During the three weeks there, Miku and Mikuo got to know each other. Whenever they interacted, it was obvious how awkward and forced their words were. It saddened me, really. I don't know who I would be without Len. Everything I am is because of my brother. If anything ever happened to him, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Yet here these two were, sister and brother, and they had no relationship. Well, they did try, but there was no foundation on which to build a relationship on. Although siblings of our kind aren't known for getting along, I had never seen a pair fail to get along like that before.

As for the others, Miku got along well enough with Rui and Zeito, she and Len almost never spoke together, and she and I got along all right. Now Miku and I didn't exactly become friends. Truth is, she still didn't trust me, but I was the person she liked most of the group; and if I'm being honest, I liked her too. I would never have called her my friend, but I didn't doubt then and I don't doubt now that in another life, we would have been best friends.

"How are you holding up?" she asked the morning after Len's and my night on the roof. We were at the table, the first ones awake in the home. Both of us gripped our mugs of coffee like if we held on hard enough, our problems would go away. I wish that was how it works.

Ona wiped the counters, her motions slow and calculated. Her eyes focused only one what was ahead. If she took notice of Miku's and my presence, she didn't show it.

"Worried," I answered, ignoring the strange woman. "I try not to dwell on it too much, but the truth is I can't stop thinking about what they did to Nero. What they're doing to Nero if he's still alive. I'm afraid, and fear is a monster that isn't defeated easily."

Staring intently into her mug at the black coffee, Miku chewed her lower lip. "I can't even sleep at night." I was surprised that she would confess this to me, and more surprised that she kept talking. "Every time I close my eyes, I see them. I keep seeing them! I was nothing more than an experiment, and I can't imagine what I'll be forced to go through if they find me again. The fear is so strong that I can't sleep at night because I believe that if I let my guard down, they will take me again. They will take me, and this time, I won't be getting out." Now that she mentioned it, I noticed how dark the rings under her eyes were. Did Len's look the same?

I didn't have an answer to that, so I didn't say anything. We sipped our coffee, and all was silence. Then, out of nowhere, Mikuo burst through the door. Miku and I both looked at each other before looking at him. Even Ona had her eyes more open and her eyebrows more raised than normal. None of us knew that Mikuo was gone.

"Why are you so panic-stricken?" I asked. Mikuo's eyes were wide, his hair a wild, unkempt mess, and his skin shone from a thin layer of sweat.

"They're after you," Mikuo said, his words not exactly an answer I wanted to hear. "Somebody tipped off our location, that's how they found us the first time. Now it's happened again. The Streamers are coming, and they're not leaving without Miku and Len."

Chalk white, Miku dropped her mug. The crash screamed louder than it normally would have. The ceramic pieces flied across the floor, and the hot liquid seeped into my socks. For some reason, I could feel everything except fear for what Mikuo had said. He couldn't be right, could he?

"Then what are we doing standing around here for?" I jumped to my feet and began running down the hall. "We have to wake the others! Nobody is getting taken, not if I can help it."

Mikuo called after me, but I didn't listen. I barged into Len and Zeito's room and yelled at the two. The first to wake was Len, and he reacted by throwing his arms out to defend himself against an imaginary attacker. I supposed Miku wasn't the only one who was too scared to sleep. Zeito, on the other hand, mumbled a lazy, "Five more minutes."

"Five more minutes, and the Streamers will be here," I announced. That got both of them to look directly at me. "Get dressed. I'm going to wake Rui."

Before I could do just that, I was grabbed from behind. Screaming through the hand that covered my mouth, I jabbed my elbow into the ribs of the person behind me. I think I landed a pretty good hit.

"Rin, stop. Stop! Rin, it's me. Mikuo."

Stopping right then, I looked back at the guys to see them dressing in whatever they can find. When Mikuo let me go, I spun around and glared at him. "What were you grabbing me like that for? You can't just announce that we're in danger and then snatch me from behind like an attacker. Don't think I would have killed you if I thought I really needed to defend myself."

"Good to know you're on red alert," Mikuo began, "but we can't just get up and go. We don't even have a pocket portal. How are we supposed to escape?"

"Trying." I shake him off. "I'd rather be caught in an escape attempt that be caught because I didn't even try."

It was as I said this that Len and Zeito burst out of their room. "What are we going to do, Rin?" Len asked.

"And where's Rui and Ona?" Zeito added.

"We still need to gather everyone," I answered, "but I think . . ." I trailed off. It was a stupid idea, but it was better than no idea.

I thought of Nero as I brushed my bangs over my eyepatch. No headband for me today, or perhaps ever again. My eye was the sacrifice I made to save everyone, and Nero possibly sacrificed his life to save mine. That was already more sacrifice than I was willing to live through back-to-back, but there was still more to be done.

"My idea is pretty stupid," I tried again, "but I think it might just work."