"Can vampires feel emotion? Due to the relative lack of true research on the topic (as well as the virtual nonexistence of testimonials from actual vampires), there is insufficient evidence to properly support either answer to the question. Perhaps our distant cousins are truly as callous as they appear on their exterior, or perhaps they simply possess a fundamentally different interpretation of the concept of 'emotion.'

One may also consider the origins of emotion, particularly those of love, hatred, happiness and sadness, most or all of which have some root in survival instinct. It is well known that vampires dislike increasing their numbers, which seems to stand in contradiction to the general principle of most reproducing species, although they do not reproduce in the traditional sense. In this way it could be argued that they lack the capacity for emotion, as there was no evolutionary pressure to necessitate it; however, vampires are obviously also able to prioritize, and protect those resources or individuals they deem important to their survival. Therefore it is presumable that value has meaning to them, though it is impossible to determine whether this value is purely pragmatic or deals in some degree of personal bias.

Ultimately, until extensive psychological analysis can be performed upon the subject (an unlikely possibility in the near future, considering the current war), there is no conclusive method available to determine this. However, the one thing we do know is that while humans and vampires do share some distant relation, whether that connection be evolutionary or intentional, we are also fundamentally different from each other. Even if it may be proven that vampires feel as well and as deeply as we do, it is more than likely that they feel very differently than us."

-Shinoa Hiiragi, excerpt from an in-class essay assignment

"Fear…fear is an emotion crafted for humans. It is a sensation befitting of cattle and livestock. Not something very easily prescribed to vampires, but as I lay there, watching my soul blacken and turn into a demon…I will admit that I felt very human."

-Asura Tepes

Chapter 4: Fear

Krul wished she had some literature at hand.

When studying the cultural nuances of a population or race, researchers generally attempted to pore over the literature that was produced by said race, as it was a glimpse into the thoughts and minds of the culture. Krul knew this well; she had read her fair share of human literature in her time, mostly whenever she grew bored of common vampiric texts, though she did not claim to understand what she read. The values she found within those novels weren't the ones her race shared.

If anything, it helped to deepened the line between them.

Still, there was one thing Krul would always remember from her varied readings, and it was their races' varying interpretations of light and darkness. Human stories always seemed to revel in the existence of light; it meant the sun, it meant brightness, sight, awareness, warmth and summer. It made sense, as humans were woefully hapless in the dark.

Vampires, on the other hand, preferred the darkness. They had begun as night hunters, after all, thousands of years ago, before there were nobles or progenitors or even underground cities, when their kind used to live in the depths of dark forests and hunted anything that walked. The darkness was their cloak. It gave Krul comfort. Few things could do that for her, after living for so many centuries.

One eye rolled back in her head, and she shook it to refocus her sight. Her thoughts were wandering again. She was going to become senile, sitting here alone in this dungeon. She wasn't particularly old, but she wasn't very young anymore either. Lest held that distinction.

Thinking about the third progenitor made the hairs rise on the back of her neck, and she regained a little more composure.

Outside, just past, the wall of bulletproof glass that separated her from the rest of the world, someone had set up an intense set of lights, angled so that they poured into the cell and bathed every available corner. The bulb itself was massive, large enough to stand above Krul's own petite form, and it was unbearably strong; the light seemed to burn her skin, like they had saddled the sun and brought it all the way down here for the sole purpose of torturing her even further.

In order to escape the miniature sun, she had taken to pulling up the bedsheets and curling up in the corner with it wrapped around her small body, trying to shield her sensitive skin from the harmful rays. It helped some, and though the guards shouted at her to stop it at first she simply ignored them, and after some time they had given up.

It was a petty victory, but she would take what she could get.

Krul had the blanket wrapped around her head like a hood, and she turned her nose against the wall, staring at its blank surface sightlessly. She slept a lot more now, since her diet had been slashed so severely; almost all the time she slept, and when she was awake she felt languid, like a puddle of flesh. It was all part of breaking her, she knew, but sometimes it was hard to remember that.

The progenitor pressed her forehead against the wall, closing her eyes, hoping to dream this time about blond hair and blue eyes.

Never mind. The sound of the door opening, and then a young voice ordering the guards to step outside. Krul knew that voice. She knew it very well.

Turning her head and peeking through the edge of her hood, she spied Lest Karr walking in to stand on the other side of the glass.

"Hello, Krul," he said airily, leaning on his cane.

The area directly behind the giant light was swathed in darkness, and the vampire's eyes were the only thing she could see clearly, gleaming through the glass.

They stared at each other for a moment, then Krul let her head fall back against the wall, fully intending to go back to sleep.

Lest just clucked his tongue, walking over to a chair and sitting down in it. He crossed his legs and laid his cane across his lap, shaking his head in exasperation. "Really, Krul. Your successor comes to visit and you can't even manage a simple hello?"

Krul almost didn't reply to that either, but she opened her dry, sticky mouth a moment later. "You aren't my successor. You're my usurper."

The vampire chuckled softly, a soft sound that arose from the darkness. The darkness she missed so much. "Yes, I suppose. I don't expect you to be happy to see me. But for what it counts, I'm happy to see you. In this state, that is."

Krul clenched her fists beneath the blanket, resisting the urge to rise up and scream bloody murder at him. That was what he wanted. Lest would get nothing from her.

"Is that why you're here? To watch me suffer?"

Lest's teeth flashed through the glass. She imagined her own meeting his neck. "Partly, I admit. But not entirely, no. I came to ask for a second opinion."

A strand of dirty pink hair fell across Krul's face, as she waited for an elaboration.

"Five months ago, the day the humans succeeded on creating the Seraph of the End," Lest began, bemusement in his voice, "A certain group of humans seceded from the Demon Army. And also joining them, though I'd imagine with some reluctance, was a certain vampire who was under your care."

Krul felt her heart clench painfully in her chest, and for the first time in over eight hundred years she felt…was it fear? Fear for whom? Herself? A noble did not fear death. She would die with dignity. No…it was fear for Mika, fear for another, and it felt so foreign.

Lest hummed at her silence. "You know, I never met Mikaela, but I've heard about his eccentricity. It was even more severe than yours, I've been told. And from my experience, eccentricity is dangerous. It leads to change. And vampires live best without change."

The pink haired vampire snorted from behind her blanket. "Then why haven't you killed Ferid yet?"

A smile. "Ferid is dangerous, I admit. A seventh progenitor who can dethrone you is a force to be reckoned with. But Ferid has never had dealing with humans like you or Mikaela. And I know how to keep him in check."

Neither of those statements are true, Krul thought, closing her eyes again. They were throbbing.

Lest sighed, folding his hands on his lap. "Unfortunately, war tends to bring change. Still, I cannot allow too many eccentricities to exist. They tend to be unpredictable. Which is why I'm considering terminating Mikaela."

Krul's eyes flew open, and before she could stop herself she had turned to stare at Lest, the terror evident on her face.

He just laughed blissfully, throwing his head back so far he almost lost his hat. "At last, a reaction out of you! I was beginning to think you had passed out."

"You won't touch a single hair on Mika's head," Krul snarled, not caring about showing emotion anymore. She had already tipped her hand.

Lest smirked at her. "Crowley Eusford has had two of his attendants tracking Mikaela's group for weeks now. We could strike whenever I so please. But don't worry; I won't kill him immediately. He still has his part to play."

The progenitor left his chair and began pacing behind the light, leaving his cane balanced on the seat. It betrayed the fact that he didn't actually need it. It revealed that oftentimes, his apparent weaknesses were merely traps meant to lure one in.

"In two weeks, the southern coalition will march on Sanguinem," he said, stopping just behind the light. There he was nearly invisible. "It is the only vampiric city held by the humans. I intend to reverse that."

Krul merely glowered. "You can't win. The Seraph will destroy you all."

Lest sighed, his shoulders drooping. "Give me more credit, Krul. I don't intend to face the humans while they have access to the Seraph."

Krul stared at him, watched his body language, and couldn't read any of it. "Why are you telling me this?"

Lest grinned, facing her and putting a finger against one of his fangs. "Who knows? Leave the answer to that question to fate…and to your superiors. Goodbye, Krul. I'll be sure to give Mika your farewells."

The glass wall shuddered when Krul leapt forward and crashed against it, her claws scratching the impenetrable surface. "Don't you dare hurt him!" she screamed, struggling to get through to him, but it was too thick and she was too weak.

Lest's hysterical laughter echoed off the walls of the cell as he disappeared into the hall, the door falling shut behind him.

"Careful, Krul. You're beginning to look more human by the minute."

Krul stood in front of the glass for several minutes, now alone, chest heaving with exertion. She was going to be exhausted now; she had been trying to conserve her energy, but had ended up blowing it all on one pointless outburst. But she didn't care anymore. She didn't know.

She couldn't think straight.

Turning away from the glass, she picked up her blanket and curled up in the corner again, trying desperately to hide from the light. She lay their, bathed in the whiteness, separated by a wall from the black.

If someone saw her now, would they see good or evil?

Well, it would depend on who it was.

Even when Mika had still been aligned with the Kansai vampires, he had never been particularly fond of Chess Belle.

There was just something about her easy aloofness, the sureness with which she viewed the world, that irritated him. She was so convinced that the way she saw the world was the correct way. Never once did she consider humans as nothing more than livestock. Never once did she imagine that it was possible for her lord, Crowley, to fall. Never once did she consider that emotion played a part in the hearts of men.

And perhaps his own heart, as well.

Though to be fair, most vampires were like that. As Mika leapt onto the fifth floor with his sword in hand, he knew this was very true. But Chess was worse somehow. There was a reservedness to the arrogance of most vampires. Chess was defined by her playfulness. She enjoyed being the hunter.

Having spend much of his life being hunted, Mika couldn't help hating Chess.

It appeared that the partially submerged skyscraper had once been a large office building; rows and rows of abandoned cubicles lined the room he found himself in. Long fluorescent lights were dangling from the ceiling, and there was a water cooler tucked against the wall to his right, still half full, as if waiting for someone to come and relieve their thirst, unaware that the world had ended.

A crash up in front of him, but by the time he looked there was only a wildly swinging door that Chess and Horn had run straight through, obviously intent on escaping. A smart move on their part; both progenitors could have fallen to Yoichi's arrows, if not for Chess's quick thinking.

Gripping his sword, Mika bared his teeth and sprinted after them, blowing down the center row of cubicles and crashing through the door.

A gleaming white blade swept up towards his chin the moment he broke through, and Mika just barely raised his own sword to parry the blow, leaning back and sliding to safety.

Horn cursed when her attack failed, moving aside to block the door he had just run through. Her sword arm appeared to be injured; the vampire had clutching her right shoulder with her free hand, fingers gripping gingerly at the hilt. Chess had been able to save her, but only just.

Mika settled into a defensive stance, only to hear the rasping of another sword behind him, and Chess Belle was stalking slowly behind him, so that he was now flanked on both sides.

"Really, Mikaela," Chess clucked, shaking her head in exasperation. "When are you ever going to learn?'

The blond snarled quietly, knowing it had been stupid of him to fall for the same trick twice. But he could barely control himself even now; the desire to know, to force these creatures to tell him where Krul was, had built up so greatly that he wasn't thinking straight.

They were in what appeared to be an old meeting room, with chairs and tables scattered against the scar scored walls. One of the walls was made entirely out of glass, like a massive window, and beyond he could see down to the lake far below.

"Well, not that I really blame you," Chess mused, twirling her sword. "Change doesn't come easy, does it?'

With that they both attacked him, and Mika entered one of the most stacked confrontations of his life.

If both progenitors had been at peak condition, he probably would have died within ten seconds. But luckily Horn was severely injured, and he could tell that Chess had expended a lot of energy to get them both out of trouble. His blade sang a deadly song around his body, as Mika put into practice everything Krul had taught him over the years just barely holding back both of his opponents.

Finally he saw an opening and managed to land a heavy kick to Horn's midsection, sending the blonde staggering back. He whirled around and met Chess's follow up just in time, their blades humming in unison when they crossed each other.

"Not bad, I'll admit," Chess smirked, as they pushed against each other. She was using both hands now. "Krul taught you well. Is that why you care so much for her?"

Mika's pupils dilated and he broke the hold, hacking at the girl's legs, but Chess leapt nimbly out of the way, chuckling hysterically to herself. "She's a vampire, you know! She feels nothing for you. She couldn't even if she wanted to!"

He heard a rustling sound behind him, and knew that Horn was picking herself off the ground. He didn't care what Chess said. He didn't care what other vampires would think. Neither would Krul.

Raising his sword, he prepared himself for the next bloodletting.

Shinoa could already tell that the pill she had taken earlier was wearing off.

Her legs burned as she and Yuu stormed up the steps of the skyscraper, their footsteps groaning ominously off the concrete walls. They had both sheathed their weapons so they could run faster, but they could still feel the weight of their blades on their bodies, reminding them that death could still be imminent.

In an ideal situation, Shinoa would not have chosen to split her squad up. It was the number one rule anyone learned while fighting for the JIDA; a group of any less than five was likely to die fighting a single noble. But judging from the look on Mika's face, she understood that allowing the two progenitors to escape was not an option this time. She and Yuu would come in from the left, while the rest of them would cover the right. Yoichi would watch from above.

As they approached the fifth floor, Shinoa prayed they would be able to settle this before her pill lost its effect. Otherwise she might have to take a second one to settle the score, and she hadn't exactly done that before. It had never been necessary. She didn't know if her body would be able to handle it. Not everyone got to come back from the dead, not like a certain reckless swordsman.

Yuu had pulled ahead of her on the stairwell, and he reached the door to the fifth floor before she did. He kicked it open and let them in, and for a moment Shinoa saw something indescribable written across his face. It was the same look he wore whenever someone he loved was in danger. The look that said no price was too much. The look that said no life was worth less than his own.

It was the pure, unadulterated willingness to die for a cause, and it made fear sprout in Shinoa's belly.

They ran through a wide room filled with cubicles, weaving their way through the narrow lanes as quickly as they could. The sounds of battle could be heard from up ahead; swords crashing against swords, high pitched, maniacal laughter.

Ragged breathing.

"Mika!" Yuu said, charging in through the door and into the meeting room. Through the opening Shinoa could see the blond being surrounded by both vampires at once, barely fending them off.

Knowing it was too late to convince Yuu to wait, she grabbed a heavy stapler from a nearby desk and chucked it at the back of Horn's head as hard as she could.

Of course, the progenitor sensed it coming and slashed the stapler out of the air, just moments before it would have collided with her head. Shinoa hadn't actually expected the throw to connect; she wasn't that stupid.

But it did give Yuu the opening he needed. The boy rolled past Horn and came up between her and Mika, then he was on the offensive immediately, driving the vampire away from his brother.

"Yuu!" Mika shouted over his shoulder, as he began to focus on holding off Chess, whose attacks had become noticeably stronger after their arrival. "Be careful!"

You're the last person I want to hear that from, Yuu thought, increasing the tempo of his strokes, trying to keep up with Horn. The vampire may be injured, but she was still a noble, and his pill wasn't going to last forever. Curse marks continued to creep steadily across his skin, and Horn bared her teeth in response, sword tip flashing through the air despite her injured shoulder.

Shinoa ran across the room towards Horn, intending to attack her from behind, but before she could Yuu made a mistake.

It was just a tiny error; in his haste to push Horn away from Mika, Yuu lunged forward and overstepped his range, sending his just slightly off balance. A human swordsman might not have even noticed, but vampires were different. Perfection was key when fighting a noble.

Horn's uninjured arm lashed out at the speed of light, and before Shinoa could react she grabbed Yuu and hurled him through the wall, sending him crashing into the room filled with cubicles.

"Yuu!" Shinoa screamed, turning to look through the hole that had been punched through the wall by the door. She heard the sound of crashing plastic, as Yuu's body plowed through the flimsy cubicle walls.

Then it was silent, so terrifyingly silent, and she wanted nothing more than to run to his side and help him, but Horn had other ideas.

Shinoa stopped the vampire's blade without looking, the long blade of her scythe coming up to hug the the blonde's weapon. Horn growled and tried to press, but Shinoa simply disengaged and began swinging wildly, coming at her opponents from every conceivable angle. She didn't know what she was doing; their was no form to her attacks, no pattern, just pure rage and fear. Horn's eyes widened and she stepped back, caught off guard by the pure ferocity of the girl's attacks, but Shinoa didn't register this in her mind. All she knew was that Horn Skuld had to pay. She had to pay for hurting Shinoa's teammate.

She had to pay for hurting Yuu.

Damn. Horn felt her heart rate increasing as she continued to fall beneath Shinoa's relentless onslaught, her injured sword arm weakening with every parry. She didn't know if she would be able to keep up for much longer.

The look on the little girl's face was something to see, though. Horn wasn't very articulate in the wide range of human emotions, but she figured that particular expression was…perhaps fear? Or even hatred? Most likely a mixture of both. The girl's amber colored eyes were drawn wide, the pupils shrunk so far that they were like twin pinpricks in a sea of white, and her teeth were bared so wide she could have passed for a vampire herself.

It was a ferocious expression, one Horn had only seen on human faces, when they were at their most desperate.

It seemed emotion had some utility after all.

Kneeling down, Shinoa swept her scythe at Horn's legs, the blade rushing downward at incredible speed.

The progenitor leapt upward to dodge the attack, but realized too late that this had been part of the girl's plan.

"Go, Shi-chan!" Shinoa snarled, whirling her scythe and holding a hand out before her.

A great, black mass emerged from behind the girl's body and caught Horn in midair, seizing her in its claws and plowing her through the same wall she had just thrown Yuu through. It threw her against the wall and blasted against her until its body ran out, leaving the blonde to slump limply to the ground, dazed by the suddenness of the attack.

Ignoring Mika and Chess for now, Shinoa leapt through the hole in the wall and approached Horn slowly, her scythe at the ready.

Horn raised her head through half closed eyes, squinting as a thin trail of blood began trickling down her face. Shinoa closed in steadily from the far side of the room, her scythe spinning slowly behind her, dusting black flames in her wake that seemed to rise up like death crows on the darkest of nights. She looked like some rogue grim reaper, come to take Horn's soul and punish it for eternity, should she manage to kill her.

The look in the girl's eyes. They were murderous.

The thought gave Horn was motivation, and she tried to get up.

Shinoa saw this and showed her teeth, reaching into her pocket. She had no choice. She would have to take a second pill. Even if it was slightly risky, in theory she should be able to handle it. Few people had actually died from taking their second pill.

Not that she had the best of luck, but she tried not to think about that.

As Shinoa's fingers reached into her breast pocket, something rustled off to the side, punctuated by a painful groan.

There, buried beneath a small mountain of cubicle walls and rubble, Yuu was slowly pulling himself to freedom, grunting loudly all the way. His leg was still trapped beneath the debris, and he was struggling to pull it free, using his sword to hack at the makeshift chains.

Both Shinoa and Horn saw this at the same moment, and they both had the same, terrible thought.

Their eyes met, from opposite sides of the room, from dark to light.

And Horn grinned at her.

There was a great shockwave of energy as Horn put everything she had into one last spurt, springing to her feet and flying across the room at breakneck speed, straight to the spot where Yuu was still trapped. If she was destined to lose this battle, she would at least take the Seraph gene to the grave with her.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. It was a trite phrase, but almost immediately afterwards Shinoa had dry swallowed her second pill, and it seemed like her brain exploded with processing power, taking in so much information at once that it slowed her perception of time. Her bloodshot eyes tracked Horn's movement across the room, and then her own body was moving, but slowly, so slowly, that she didn't know if she was going to make it in time, if anyone was ever going to make it in time.

Ah. This fear. This deep, ugly sort of fear that she just wanted to repress. Where had she felt this sort of fear before? It was a familiar feeling, like an old enemy, an old scar that still ached during the winter. When had her heart beat in this way in the past?

Yes. She remembered. That fateful night so many years ago, when her own dearly beloved sister had turned into a demon, and Guren had been forced to kill her.

She had been present, within arm's reach even, when Guren's blade entered Mahiru's abdomen and ripped upward, tearing the human turned monster in two. Even if she knew it was wrong, Shinoa had always thought that she could have stopped Guren if she wanted to. And part of her had really wanted to stop Guren in that moment, but her body simply refused to move, and before she knew it she had lost one of the few people she had actually cared about in this world, a world where monsters ate men and became monsters themselves.

She had lived her entire life up until this point believing that there was no point in sacrificing herself for someone else. She had been unable to do it for Mahiru, after all. And she was never going to love someone more than she had loved Mahiru.

It was easier just to protect herself.

But now, as her shoes blazed a trail across the room, as her deep ashen hair billowed behind her like an ancient flame, as her scythe burned with unholy fire, Shinoa had only one though on her mind. And that was to protect Yuu at any cost, for without him there was no life worth living.

Everything happened in a millisecond, like the taut string of time had been snapped at long last. Horn blasted across the room, Shinoa flew after her, and Yuu watched in horror as both females charted a collision course right in front of him, with no way to tell who would reach him first.

Horn smiled softly again, and angled her sword towards Yuu's chest.

Then Shinoa came roaring in from the side, and, releasing a guttural scream from deep within her chest, cleaved Horn completely in two.

Her scythe came down like the hammer of god, with so much force that it actually ripped through Horn's entire body in a single stroke, entering through the vampire's forehead and crashing down the length of her spine, then past the pelvis, and then her blade was buried throat deep into the ground, and two halves of Horn Skuld were floating in the air before them.

Horn's separated eyes seemed to meet Shinoa's for the smallest of moments, and the lavender haired girl saw something in those eyes she had never seen in a vampire before.

She saw fear.

Then a gentle gust swept through the skyscraper, and Horn Skuld was now ashes, dissipating eternally into the wind.

Shinoa stood there in silence, breathing heavily, the shaft of her scythe slick with sweat. Her heart was beating abnormally fast. She was seeing strange colors.

"…Woah," Yuu breathed, frozen in place, not even trying to free his leg anymore. "You saved me."

"Of course I did," Shinoa murmured, swaying on her feet, Curse marks were now reaching all the way across her entire face. "I'm your beloved…reliable sergeant…"

Eyes rolled back in her head, and then the ground was rushing up to meet her, and the last thing she heard was Yuu's voice calling her name.

She was trapped within her inner self, and her body was her prison.

The earth and the sky were the same color, a pale baby blue, but where the two extremes met there was only darkness, a black line that separated one from the other. Only more proof that though light illuminated, it was darkness that divided.

Shikama-Doji was standing a ways ahead of her, still in that same shapeless form she always appeared in. Had she been a more powerful demon, perhaps she would have been able to assume a humanoid form like Asuramaru. Or perhaps Shinoa's own mind was too weak to imagine anything else.

The sergeant remained where she was, standing on the colorless blue, watching her demon quietly. She knew from years of experience that it was usually better to let Shikama take things at her own pace. Besides, things like time didn't exist within this realm.

At last the demon turned to face her, and in her hand she was gripping what appeared to be a glass orb, just about the size of a baseball. Her black claws were wrapped around its surface, but Shinoa could see another darkness inside of it, swirling about and growing stronger by the moment.

They regarded each other, until Shinoa asked the most obvious question at hand.

"Am I dead?"

Shikama shook her head, little trails of black fire floating off her body. [No. You survived. But just barely.]

It appeared that the demon was more articulate when they were communicating directly like this. Shinoa pursed her lips at the revelation, crossing her arms behind her back. "When will I wake up?"

Shikama turned away and went back to watching the horizon, the black line that broke the light. [Soon. Your brain overheated, that was all. Not used to taking two pills.]

Shinoa eyed her partner's back carefully. One always had to be careful when trying to read demons. Their set of values was completely different from a human's. "Aren't you going to try and take over my body?" It was what a demon would have done. But Shikama wasn't an ordinary demon. And they had known each other for a long time.

Fingers tightened around the glass orb, drawing Shinoa's amber eyes to it for a second time. She wondered why the demon had it. [Do you want me to?]

The sergeant sighed. "Shouldn't my answer be obvious?"

Shikama said nothing, just turned the orb over in her hands, as if lost in thought. Assuming demons were capable of that.

Finally Shinoa exhaled impatiently through her nose, failing to comprehend the lengthy silence. "What's wrong, Shi-chan? Why are you being like this?"

The black flames cloaking Shikama's body flared out briefly. [I am not sure myself. But I sense that your values are changing.]

"…What?"

The demon shook herself, as if agitated. [You forget that the two of us are linked, Shinoa. I feel what you feel. I felt the fear you just felt. The fear of loss. The fear for another.]

Shinoa frowned, raising an eyebrow. She crossed her arms over her chest this time. "So what? I've used your powers to protect my friends before. This is no different."

[I know.] Shikama looked down at the orb in her hand, and far in the distance the black line seemed to grow thicker. [But I always knew you would put yourself first. Now I'm not so sure.]

Shinoa watched confusedly as the demon began pacing back and forth, palming the glass orb.

[Do you remember the day we contracted, Shinoa? The reason why I chose to lend my powers to you.] Shikama paused. [I chose you because you also seemed to understand that we are all alone in this world. Your greatest concern was for yourself, as it should be.]

Shinoa narrowed her eyes. "I'm a Hiiragi. We tend to be rather selfish."

But Shikama just shook her head again. [Your sister was not like that. I spent some time in her body, if you don't remember. In the end, she died for someone other than herself. I am only glad she didn't take me with her.]

"What are you trying to say?" Shinoa asked bitterly, gritting her teeth.

[I'm saying that this might be your last time to turn back,] Shikama said abruptly, and at last she turned to face Shinoa fully. [If things continue this way, you will no longer be the girl you were when we contracted. The carefully drawn lines we have played around ourselves will deteriorate. I am offering you a chance to avoid that.]

The demon held out the glass orb between them. Inside, the black and white were swirling perpetually about each other, eternally balanced. But only for now.

[This is your soul,] Shikama explained. [If you so wish it, I could enter it completely and take over your body. You would lose your humanity, but you would need have to feel the pain of losing someone again. You would never have to fear watching Yuu die.]

Shinoa peered into the glass orb that encapsulated her essence, and thought that it was actually ridiculously small, just the right size to fit into Shikama's palm. Could something so insubstantial really protect everything she cared about? Would she have the strength to never lose someone again? Maybe Shikama was right. She couldn't lose something she didn't have.

As the demon waited, Shinoa closed her eyes for a long moment, but when she opened them she was smiling wanly.

"I'm sorry, Shi-chan," she said. "But I can't accept your offer. I can't leave any of them behind. I can't leave Yuu behind."

Shikama's eyes bored into her. [This is only for your own benefit, Shinoa. I remember the pain you felt when you lost your sister. It was deep enough that I was nearly able to consume you from the inside. Are you prepared to risk feeling that again?]

Shinoa's smile deepened, and this time she was the one turning away from the demon, pacing languidly towards the horizon. "I don't know. Probably not. But at the same time…I feel like I need to watch out for him. I haven't changed, Shi-chan. I still believe it's best just to watch out for myself. But he's special. I feel like I need to stay by his side, for just a little longer."

Shikama sighed and hid the orb away in her body. [Very well. I hope you don't come to regret your decision.]

"You'll follow me regardless, won't you?" Shinoa pointed out.

[Yes. I am not your usual demon, after all,] Shikama murmured, before burning out into ashes. The horizon began to recede.

[I'm only worried because humans have a bad habit of dying.]

"I'm sure she'll wake up soon, Yuu. Shinoa's a strong girl."

"She overexerted herself enough to take down a progenitor in one hit, Yoichi. I don't know if she's going to be okay…"

"She was able to do that because she's strong. Have more faith in her."

Shinoa let her head fall limply to the side. She was in the meeting room again, the one with the glass wall, laid out over a large table in the center of the room. It was less than comfortable, and the hard surface of the table dug into her tired muscles, but at least that meant she was alive.

"I hope so." Yuu was sitting on the floor beside Yoichi, facing away from Shinoa and towards the glass wall. He was wringing his hands. "I don't want to lose her. I don't want to lose anyone."

"Yuu," Shinoa croaked, her throat dry and raw, voice just barely slipping through.

The swordsman whirled around and saw her, and then he was scrambling to his feet and running over to the table, abandoning his sword on the floor in his haste.

"Shinoa," he breathed, stopping in front of the table. "Are you okay?"

The sergeant put an arm over her eyes, letting out a pent up breath. "Do I look okay?"

Yuu sighed in relief at the sarcastic response. "I guess you're fine, then."

"I-I'll go tell the others you're awake," Yoichi volunteered, before scurrying out of the room.

Once he left Shinoa tried to sit up on the table, but hot lights exploded behind her eyes and she fell to her back again, groaning in discomfort.

"Shinoa…" Yuu murmured, reaching out and putting a hand on the girl's wrist, feeling for her pulse. It was skyrocketing.

For some reason Shinoa found herself grasping at the boy's hand, lacing her fingers through his. She didn't know why she did it, but Yuu didn't object, and it gave her strength. His hands were warm, calloused.

Eventually the hot throbbing in her head receded somewhat, and she managed to sit up on her own power, rubbing gingerly at her temples afterwards.

"Are you hurt anywhere inside?" Yuu asked, holding her by the shoulders and casting his gaze around her entire body, like he could see internal bleeding that way. Shinoa rolled her eyes at the misguided attempt to care.

"I'm fine. None of my organs ruptured," she assured him, pushing his hands away gently. "My body just wasn't used to handling two pills at once."

"I can't believe you just charged in like that," he murmured, taking a step back. Shinoa hopped off the table and landed on her feet, wobbling slightly before regaining her balance. "I thought I was going to die for sure back there."

"Well, I wasn't about to let her kill my favorite private," Shinoa smiled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes felt dry and they burned when she blinked. Her entire body hurt, but she tried not to show it.

Yuu just smiled weakly back. "So I'm your favorite private now?"

"Sure you are. Feel honored," Shinoa replied airily, walking stiffly past Yuu and standing in front of the wall of glass. She looked down at the street below. "Where are the others?"

"In the other room, interrogating Chess," Yuu said, walking up behind her.

Shinoa blinked in surprise. "They managed to subdue her without killing her?"

"I wanted to just kill her outright, but Mika asked us to wait." Yuu pursed his lips. "He wants to ask her where they're keeping someone. I can't remember who it was."

So that was what this was all about. She had been right; Mika wanted to discover Krul's location. She wasn't so sure what good that information would do. Even if they managed to extract it from Chess, she doubted they would be able to save Krul, wherever she was.

"We should go help them," she said, turning towards the door.

Yuu's hand stopped her, and she glowered up at him. "Rest first," he chided, steering her back to the wall of glass. "Mika said they have things under control. You're in no condition to fight, anyway."

So the boy had seen through her front. He knew just how weak she was at the moment. Perhaps she shouldn't be surprised; Yuu had nearly died from overdosing on pills before as well. "And you aren't?"

The boy smirked. "My job is to keep an eye on you."

That made Shinoa roll her eyes again. She was the one usually keeping an eye on Yuu, not the other way around. She sat down a few feet from the wall of glass, crossing her legs. Yuu joined her a few moments later, and together they watched the morning lights dance through the window.

"Was anyone else hurt in the fight?" Shinoa asked. Her voice came out more softly than she had intended, hushed, like she was afraid to ask.

"Mika took a lot of cuts fighting Chess," Yuu said. "But I let him feed from me, and most of his wounds have closed up. He'll be fine."

So they had managed not to lose anyone this time, either. First the Horseman and the convoy, now the two vampire nobles. Shinoa didn't know how long they could continue this before they weren't so lucky anymore. Eventually one of them was going to die. It was a question of when, not if.

Biting her lip, the sergeant closed her eyes and lowered her head. There she went again, thinking negative thoughts. It was in her nature, she knew; but wasn't that the simple reality?

She knew Yuu didn't think that way. Yuu had the courage to defy reality. He had the audacity to believe he could defeat chance, that he could beat probability. He could think that way because he was willing to give up his life for the people he loved.

Shinoa was not.

"Promise you won't do something reckless like that again," Yuu said, breaking into her thoughts.

Far ahead of them, the sun had broken through the heavy blanket of clouds above the shallow lake. Its light skipped across the water and poked at her eyes, and for a moment she thought she saw the black horizon of her dreams.

"You would have died if I didn't do something," Shinoa countered, looking down at her hands.

Yuu sidled a little closer to her, until their shoulders were brushing. "I know. I'm saying that's okay. I don't want you to get hurt because of me. I don't want any of you guys to get hurt."

But what if I feel the same as you do? Shinoa thought. It would have been an appropriate response, but the problem was that she didn't believe it. If anything, Yuu's words should make her happy. He was allowing her to lead the same selfish lifestyle she had always led. He was allowing her to protect only herself. She should have been satisfied with that. This way, she wouldn't have to change.

But inside, she only felt cold.

Why was that? It didn't make any sense. Logically, she knew that Shikama was right. They were all alone, in this cruel world of theres. They all died the same. In that way, no life was different from another. If she was going to save one person, it might as well be herself.

Her eyes were burning, prickling. Shinoa shut them and pressed the backs of her palms against the lids. She didn't know. She didn't want to think about it right now.

Thinking back, she remembered that fear that had consumed her, in the brief instant before she killed Horn. She could still feel it, the exhilarating rush, the mixture of fear and hatred and love, as she cleaved the vampire clean in half.

She remembered that, and held fast to it. It was the only concrete thing she had to go on right now.

She was so tired.

Yuu blinked when something small and soft landed against his shoulder, and when he looked to the side Shinoa was leaning heavily against him, eyes closed as she propped her head against the boy's chest.

"Shinoa?" he breathed, feeling his heart jump.

"Shut up," she muttered, turning to bury her nose in Yuu's shirt. "I've earned this much. Indulge me."

With that said, she grabbed Yuu's hand and placed in on her head, before promptly falling asleep against him.

Yuu stared at the mystery of a girl for a long moment, then sighed and obliged her, stroking her hair in smooth, gentle movements. Shinoa purred as the sensation sent tingles down her spine, and she pressed even closer to him, allowing herself to indulge in the security of the moment, the joy in knowing she had save this boy, that for a time, his life had been hers.

It awoke a strange sensation within her, one she hadn't felt in years, not since she had had the luxury of spending time with her sister. It was the feeling of putting her safety in someone else's hands. She knew she shouldn't be allowing this. But the loving, reverent scratch of Yuu's fingers as they ran through her hair, the warmth of his body, and the steady rise and fall of his breathing…

It reminded her of a better time.

"Do you promise to be more careful?" Yuu whispered to her, his breath tickling her ear.

Shinoa just breathed slowly against him, feeling her muscles relax, pretending that she hadn't heard the boy's question.

Krul was jolted awake when the door opened once again.

This time it was one of the guards, bringing in her schedule allowance of blood. He came in wheeling that huge cart of blood, but she knew she was only going to get one of the dozens of packs laid out on the cart. It was a torturous sight on its own.

The guard opened a little hatch in the glass wall and tossed a pack of blood in. Krul dragged herself to her feet and walked over to it, bending down and picking it up in her hand.

When she looked up, she sensed an opportunity.

The guard had left the cart unattended to adjust something about the light, which they had thankfully dimmed a little during the past few hours. His back was to the wall of glass, and he couldn't see Krul from his position.

There were dozens of empty blood packs already scattered around her cell. Another one would be easily disguised among them.

Moving quickly, she reached through the glass hatch and grabbed two more packs, tossing them into a pile of empty ones nearby.

A moment later the guard finished and returned to the cart. He gave Krul a mean look before disappearing into the hall.

She waited until his footsteps were no longer audible before running back to the pile of trash, digging through it until she found the filled packs disguised underneath.

This was it. This was the beginning of a new hope. A path out of this accursed cell, and a new life beyond the reach of Lest Karr. Hastily, she screwed the cap off the first pack.

Tilting her head back, she began to drink.

A/N

This was supposed to go up tomorrow but I was done so hey why not.

Yuunoa moments are scattered kind of sparsely so far, and I can only promise that they will increase in density, probably started at around chapter 10 (I think?) and I mean they're gonna increase a LOT. Just not yet.

Tell me what you guys think about this chapter! Reviewer responses below.

Thanks for reading!

~Banshee

Reviewer Responses

Justinsj5: I know, me too. But patience is a virtue.

Classifiedanime: I actually haven't read semper memento yet, but I'm familiar with the title. I found out that story got discontinued so now I'm kind of reluctant to start reading it, haha.

Blankprofe: Leave me alone omg