A/N: Crystal Heart is the special in the bound copies of the Demon Diary manga series. It's at the end of the first book. And I actually can't find the narrator's name. Go figure. And I know she doesn't necessarily kill the narrator, but it's more fun to think of it like that. :)

Written for the Quintessential Quoting Challenge, quote: "It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself." – Eleanor Roosevelt. Also for the 5,10,20,50,70,100 fandoms challenge, fandom 45.

Heartsnatchers

Lilith was the woman I loved, with all my heart. She was worth everything to me, or so I thought.

In truth, she was only worth everything I had, and I paid more than that for her. And that was before I even knew who she was.

Life is cruel that way. People shouldn't belong to other people. Companionship shouldn't have to be brought. Food shouldn't have to be brought for.

That's how I met him, you know. Met Mano. A "dirty orphan from the street", he called himself. Having to scrimmage through trash cans and bow to the whims of perverts to be able to eat. I found him, on the ground with somebody else whispering disgusting bribes in his ear – and I snapped. I kicked him, punched him, pounded him and then chased him away. Then I turned back to the pitiful form and took him in.

We lived together after that: me, the guy who always causes trouble, and Mano, the shy sweet kid who never belonged on the streets. We grew up together, came to love each other –

If only I had never met Lilith. Or had realised what Mano felt for me was more than familial love. If only I hadn't thought the crystal heart was just a gem – a gem that could be mined from the ground, stolen from a jewellers…

But it wasn't. And it wasn't until Mano had ripped it out of his chest that I learnt the truth. That the crystal heart was a thing of their clan, that which they gave to the one they loved in the hopes of providing them with a lifetime of happiness. He died thinking I would be happiest with the woman who required this price to be free, died in my arms with his first and only kiss from a boy he didn't think could loved him back.

I probably could have, if Lilith hadn't poisoned my heart first. I buried Mano, then took the heart to the man who held her captive, as we had both wished. But he was dead, and so were all the other guards that had been there. It was just Lilith, standing in the middle of the room and covered in blood. Lilith, with sword's hilt in her hand and blade in my chest, the free hand taking the crystal heart I clung to from me.

"I thank you," she said to me as she dropped it, dropped it into a case with more hearts just like it. "But you can't keep your crystal heart."

And then she was gone as well, her laughter echoing far longer than her departing steps.