Over the course of the next two weeks, I felt constantly like I was standing at the edge of a cliff, at once both exhilarated at the sight and frightened of what would happen when I inevitably fell. The exhilaration came from my nightly flights with Azami, enjoying the power I felt over the people who gave up their dreams to me. as well reveling in the simple freedom of flight. Though it had in the past become repetitive, I'd always liked this job. I never really felt guilty about it, and that was the only thing that could have possibly made it truly bad.

The frightening part of those weeks, however, was the constant, Darkness-like worry that lingered in my heart, and the ever-increasing feeling of becoming entrapped by the scales. They never faded after that first chara-nari. Moreover, Easter soon became unsatisfied by the pace of my X-egg harvesting, and they soon insisted that I receive more X-energy to boost my numbers. Despite the fact that I was, for some reason, very afraid of the scales, Easter made it clear that I should agree to take more X-energy… or else. I decided that, so long as Azami and I still weren't close to being overcome, then it would be best to go along with Easter's wishes, for a time.

But after receiving that next amount of X-energy (a rather larger amount than Easter had represented it to be, much to my resentment), I found that my reluctance to accept the X-energy in the first place had not been unfounded. When I next character transformed, the scales grew until most of my legs and all of my arms had been covered. Even more worrying, they had grown up onto my shoulders as well and partly onto my neck, making me constantly feel like the X-energy would wrap around my neck at any moment and choke the life from me.

So long as I was character-transformed, the scales didn't bother me; they felt natural, like an extension of my dragon persona. But at all other times, they were like a slow torture that I couldn't not think about, no matter how much Azami tried to distract me.

At least I don't have to go out in public like this… I thought to myself soon after the expansion of the scales. At least the Guardians won't see.

The second part of that thought wasn't entirely true. Though it was impossible for them to predict where I would hunt at night, they nonetheless always tried to find me so that they could purify the X-eggs I was collecting. They did manage to find me a couple times, but I always flew in another direction as soon as Azami sensed them. Amu would always try to chase me down to the ground where all of them would be able to deal with me; but thanks to the large amount of X-eggs more than willing to help in my escape, she normally couldn't manage to do much to pin me down. I sometimes lost a few eggs to Amu's frantic cleansing, but it was never enough to put any noticeable dent in my collection for the night.

And thanks to the dark that I hunted in, Amu never caught sight of how far my scales had progressed. And for that, I was unbelievably relieved. For some reason, the X-energy that made me feel trapped by the scales also made me unbearably ashamed of them, which was a feeling I was having trouble getting used to.

The only good news during those two weeks was that I saw neither hide nor hair of my sister. Which, admittedly, was enough good news to keep a part of me optimistic, even as another part of me withered under the influence of the X-energy.

But what good feeling I had left dissipated when those two weeks were over and Easter demanded yet another transfusion of X-energy.

"No!" I insisted to Kazuomi as soon as he brought it up. "Not again – I won't take any more of the X-energy. Remember the deal? I'd only take some X-energy. Do you even see what it's already doing to me?" I reached up a brushed a scaled finger against the scales that were encroaching on my neck.

"And we expected you to be willing to take more X-energy than this as part of the deal," Kazuomi replied coldly. "You're not even to a fourth of the amount of X-energy you possessed by the time of that unfortunate moment of Azami becoming an X-egg. Yet you're already at over half the power. And you haven't had any moments where the X-energy has overcome your will, yet, have you?"

I scowled. This was true; the Darkness, though present, seemed more under my control than it ever had been while I'd been receiving X-energy through Azami. "Maybe I have. Do you think I'd tell you if I was?"

"You're being closely monitored, you know. As of yet, you've shown no signs of it," Kazuomi said, his gaze absolutely icy. "I won't tolerate being lied to. It seems as if the scales are nothing more than an irritation, and though I'll honor our deal, Easter will not tolerate you avoiding the possibility of greater productivity due to a minor annoyance."

"Minor annoyance?" Azami said, speaking up. "She's covered in scales, idiot. That's more than a minor annoyance."

Kazuomi's eyes narrowed. "If this boost proves to be too much for you to handle, Easter will personally drive you to your precious Guardians and have you purified. I highly doubt that Hinamori girl would refuse to do it."

"Yeah right," I said. "Just like you fixed things all up when you purposefully turned Azami into an X-chara, right? Yeah, that was real kind of you. Remind me to write you a thank-you card sometime."

"We want to speed up this operation, and you will cooperate," Kazuomi said. "If all goes well, we have reason to believe that we will no longer have need of your services. If the operation is a success, I promise you that I will personally hand you the crystal that keeps you indentured to Easter, and you'll be able to leave with both your freedom and your power. And the sooner we finish this operation, the sooner that can happen."

I perked up at this idea. To be honest, having my freedom and keeping my power seemed too good of a deal to refuse. Plus, I didn't think that Kazuomi was lying. Tricky and manipulative though he was, it seemed like he normally stuck to his word. And besides, a quick look to Azami told me that she believed him, and she was good at picking out lies from truth.

"All right, fine. I'll deal with more X-energy," I relented. "But if you're lying about this and I get stuck covered in scales for nothing, then you'd better watch out."

A satisfied grin sprouted on Kazuomi's face. "I'll keep that in mind, though I promise that your threat is an unnecessary one."

So I took the X-energy without complaint, though I'll admit that I was extremely annoyed as soon as the transfer was over. Judging by the amount of X-energy that had just flooded into me, Easter had known that I'd be more than reluctant to accept any more X-energy, and they'd packed as much as they could into this single energy boost.

Regardless of the amount, the Darkness somehow still felt under control, though my now obsessive irritation with my scales now reached almost insanity-inducing proportions. It was almost like that feeling you get when you walk through a spider web and you just know that there's a spider on you somewhere, crawling on you, and you can't stop patting yourself down and obsessively brushing yourself off because you're terrified of the spider being somewhere on you.

I'd never really had trouble with spiders, but this – this was a billion times worse than I imagined any spider webs could ever be. Because it was more like a hundred spiders were there on my body, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get them off. And they never went away – I couldn't just take a shower or something and wash away the feeling, like you could with spider webs.

I didn't dare even think about what would happen when I transformed that night. Not until I was already on the roof of Easter, just about ready to character-nari

"Well, I guess there's no helping it," I eventually said as I stood at the edge of the roof, breaking the silence between Azami and I. "But I'm going to look and feel like a monster… I just know it. Let's just get it over with."

My guess wasn't far off. Though the hatred and fear of my scales disappeared once I was transformed, I finally saw just how bad things would be. I could feel scales essentially covering my back, stomach, and chest now; my neck became completely enclosed, and the scales stretched up from it to even cover some of my face. My forehead and my jawline were encased, and a smattering of scales covered my cheeks. Even in my scalp, I felt scales growing among the hair, though at least these scattered scales were mostly covered up by my hair.

I sighed. "My life's going to be hell as soon as we end the character transformation. Let's make it a long night."

"Sounds good to me," Azami said. "Besides, I think I've got an idea. Who says you have to stay not character-transformed when you're not working? I bet we can convince Kazuomi to let us have free reign during the short part of the daytime when we're not asleep. So long as we fly too high for regular people to see, then he can hardly object to us trying to keep ourselves sane."

This idea gave me some hope. I didn't exactly think that convincing Kazuomi would be as easy as Azami made it sound, but nor was it far from impossible. And when we did essentially force him to talk meet us the next day to talk about it, he eventually agreed, with one condition – I kept an earpiece communicator/tracking device with me at all times, and I always answered immediately when they used the communicator to make sure I really was where the device was. If I didn't abide by those rules and tried to run off somehow, then Kazuomi assured me that punishment would be soon to follow. Up until now kept Kazuomi from getting angry enough at me to use the crystal for punishment, I wanted to keep things that way.

And so the next couple weeks of my life passed, me somehow avoiding the brunt of the unpleasantness of the scales by retreating into long periods of chara-nari, which I was capable of maintaining for so long thanks to the direct control I had over my X-energy. It was a double-edged sword in many respects, having both its advantages (those long flights, for example) and its disadvantages (namely, the scales when I wasn't transformed). But somehow, I managed to live with it.

Sometimes, when it got to be too much, I called Mai just so that I would have someone other than Azami to talk to. I didn't dare tell her what was happening to me; I stuck to the story that Easter was just having me collect more and more X-eggs, and that nothing was out of the ordinary besides that. Even over the phone, I don't think she bought my lie. But regardless of whether she believed me or not, my brief conversations with her kept me somewhat sane… At the very least, as sane as someone like me could be. Which wasn't saying much.

Then, finally, after another couple of weeks had passed, Easter was ready to begin the plan that, if Kazuomi's hopes were right, was going to be the last thing that they needed me around for.

"So, are you going to tell me what the heck I'm going to have to do?" I said as I arrived at Kazuomi's office that evening, having already been told that tonight was the night. As per my orders, I had my communicator on my ear, probably so that Easter could command my every move when whatever was about to happen actually started.

Kazuomi smiled, though there was an anxious anticipation in his demeanor that contradicted his usual calm and serious attitude. "Gladly, Yamada-san. Tonight, you will be helping us lure out the Embryo. And if everything goes according to plan, then neither of us will have to see each other again after tonight."

My expectations for this evening dropped, filling me with disappointment. The Embryo? Really? Do we even have proof that it exists? "I don't mean to burst your bubble, but how can you know that it'll come? Nikaido and Yukari both thought that they were going to get it in the past, and in both cases it never came."

"That's where you're wrong," Kazuomi said, his grin widening considerably. "Nikaido might have failed, but Yukari didn't."

"Wait, what?" I said. "Well, don't get me wrong, I don't remember any of it, since I wasn't exactly myself at the time. But the Guardians convinced Yukari to stop the machine before anything actually happened, didn't they?"

"They did indeed. In that sense, Yukari failed us. However, after I had already ordered The scientists and Ikuto to leave the scene and after Azami had been purified, the rest of the X-eggs were cleansed. If you'll recall – or, I suppose, you actually won't recall – anyway, the number of X-eggs was massive. Similar to the amount that we now have stored up after your work this past month or so. And somehow, when they were purified, the sudden cleansing of so many X-eggs drew out the Embryo. Even though none of our scientists were there at the time, many of their instruments were still at the fairgrounds; and later, we managed to catch a glimpse of it on the fairground's cameras. It flew off quickly enough that the Guardians didn't see it, due to how focused they were on your coma-like state."

"Wait, wait just a minute. Do you mean to say that I've gone to all the trouble of collecting these X-eggs, and now you're going to have them purified?" I asked, feeling perhaps a bit more annoyed than I really had a right to. After all, if the cleansing of the X-eggs got the Embryo to come out and Easter got what they wanted by getting the Embryo, then I'd be home free.

"Do you have a problem with that, Yamada-san?"

I shook my head and grumbled, "No, I guess not."

"Good," Kazuomi replied. "In that case, here are your orders. The X-eggs are waiting in crates up on the roof. You are to take them over to Seiyo and wait for the Guardians – primarily Amu – to get there. Then, say or do whatever you must to get them to purify the eggs. If you think that they'll think it's a trap, then put up a fight to throw off their suspicions; if you think that they'll trust you enough, simply ask them to purify the eggs. Under no circumstances are you to tell them the true purpose of the cleansing.

"Once the eggs are cleansed and the Embryo appears, you are to do everything in your power to hold off the Guardians while Ikuto grabs the egg. Understood?"

"Ikuto? Is he still around?" I asked. I hadn't seen him around since I'd rejoined Easter; I'd assumed that maybe he'd been let go from his duties or something. Maybe the X-energy had been too much for him to handle, after all.

"Yes, he is," Kazuomi said tersely, not bothering to explain any more than that. "Also, please keep in mind what your job is. If you are somehow the one that happens to catch the Embryo, we fear that the X-energy in your own body might react badly with it, in much the same way that your X-energy and Amu's power don't mix well. Since we don't know the true nature of the Embryo, it's hard to say exactly what will happen, though we have no doubt that it will be worse than the temporary return of your chara to her egg following your first cleansing."

"You know, I'm right here! Don't talk about me like an object!" Azami said, though she for the most part kept out of the conversations between me and Kazuomi. "Anyway, I bet you're just saying all that so Miyuki and I can't take the Embryo for ourselves."

Kazuomi scowled. "No, I'm not. Regardless, if you make any attempt to do anything against my orders, you will be punished there and then, before you cause too much trouble. I don't imagine you'd want that, would you?"

"Fine, fine, I get it," I said. "I wasn't planning on going after your stupid Embryo anyway. So, is that all? Can I go now?"

"Yes, you may go," Kazuomi said, apparently satisfied. "The X-eggs are on the roof. Contact the Guardians however you see fit. But just remember – we'll be listening to you and giving orders through that communicator. Don't try anything that we wouldn't like."

I rolled my eyes as I opened the door to leave. "Yeah, yeah. Got it."

Despite my outward nonchalance, I was inwardly quite excited. This might be it. The last thing that I'd have to do for Easter. Ever. And I wouldn't have to even do too much – just hold off Amu and the others. It wouldn't necessarily be an easy task, but I could manage, I was sure.

Of course, this encounter would mean that they'd have to see me as I had become… That thought sent waves of self-loathing through me. With the scales no longer confined to just my hands and my feet, I probably looked less like a dragon and more like a monster. I hated the thought of showing myself to them, but I knew there was no choice.

"But what will we do after all this is over?" I asked Azami as we character-transformed and took off, the massive hoard of X-eggs flying after us in the dark, cloudy night. "Have Amu purify us, so that I don't constantly feel like I'm being choked by these scales? But then we lose our power, which was the reason we came back to Easter. Even with my ankle practically healed-" which it was, thanks to the power of the X-energy, "-I can't fight off my sister without some sort of advantage."

"We'll do whatever we have to do," Azami said. "We could have Amu purify us, then ask Easter to give us one small boost of X-energy, as a favor. That way, we could have the advantage of chara-nari without the downside of excess X-energy. And if Easter refuses, then we'll figure out a way to put X-energy into the crystal ourselves, and then we'll access it once we have Amu purify us. I bet Nikaido would tell us how to do it."

"Maybe…" I said doubtfully. Now that he was fully good, Nikaido didn't seem like the kind of person who would just tolerate me using X-eggs to my own ends. "But I guess you're right. We'll figure it out afterwards."

"So you're not going to call the Guardians ahead of time?" Azami asked as we continued to fly towards the school.

I shook my head, which was a rather useless action considering that I was currently flying through the air and Azami was inside me. "No. I'm hoping that Amu will show up before many – or, better yet, any – of the others show up. Then I only have to deal with her once she cleanses the eggs."

"You don't really believe that they won't all show up at about the same time, do you?"

I smiled as Seiyo came into my line of sight. I sped up, aiming to land on the roof. "No, not really. But a girl can hope, can't she?"

The X-energy inside me seemed to cringe at the word and Azami, sensing it, said, "Not if the X-energy has anything to say about it, apparently."

"After tonight, it won't have anything to say about it. Hopefully," I said as I finally landed, the X-eggs I had with me coming to a stop just above me and hovering like my own personal thundercloud of doom and destruction. "Anyway, I guess all we've got to do now is wait."

I didn't have to wait long. Soon, all of the Guardians had gathered. And they came prepared: by the time they were all bursting through the gates that locked Seiyo up for the night, they were already character transformed and, apparently, sufficiently mentally prepared enough not to gape at the intimidating cloud of X-eggs above my head.

"Miyuki! What's going on?" Amu shouted up to me. "What is Easter planning to do with all those X-eggs?"

I didn't bother flying down to talk to them on eye-level. Even with my current level of power, I would need the advantage of height to hold all six of them off. Not to mention, it didn't seem like they'd be able to see my scales in the dark of the night from this distance, which was an added bonus. "Actually, nothing," I replied to Amu. "Easter finished its experiments on them. And since the experiments were finished, I asked if I could take them back here to be purified by you."

"Don't do it, Amu," Tadase said, glowering up at me. "It's got to be a trap. She's lying."

"So, what? You're just going to leave all the X-eggs as they are? That's pretty cruel," I said. "What's going to make you believe me? They're normal X-eggs, you can see that. There isn't even an X-chara among them. Hey, I know – I'll fly away and leave them to you. You hear that, X-eggs? You'd better stay here and behave, or I'll crush every single one of you. Got it?"

The cloud shrunk as the X-eggs huddled together, cowering in fear of the threat that they sensed I would willingly carry out.

I opened my wings, preparing to take off and fly just out of sight; I doubted that the Guardians' charas would be able to sense whether or not Azami and I had really left, what with this giant heap of X-eggs taking up their attention. However, just before I leapt, a chillingly cheery voice suddenly echoed through my right ear, coming from the communicator:

"Hey, Miyuki-chan! Guess who it is?"

I paled, and my wings drooped a bit, though I was so stunned by the sound of my sister's voice that I couldn't think well enough to fold my wings back up or, alternately, fly away as fast as I could. I think the Guardians probably shouted up at me, asking what was going on; but I ignored them as my sister continued –

"Yep! It's me! I'm glad that you're so happy to hear your older sister's voice after nearly a month of not talking to me!" She giggled a bit. "Anyway, guess what? I got that silly little crystal that Easter's had for so long! They were so caught up with tonight's operation that their security was lax. Isn't this exciting? You don't have to do what they say anymore!"

I shook my head, not wanting it to be true, but knowing that somehow, it probably was. If she really was going to give it back to me as she had teased before, then this would be good news; however, I doubted this would be the case.

"I can see you don't believe me, Miyuki-chan… Well, let me prove it to you, then!"

Before I could prepare myself, the Darkness rushed through me, ripping me out of my character transformation and causing me to collapse to the roof. But it was much, much different than it ever had been before. The mental despair, though still present, was much diminished; whereas the physical effects were more pronounced than I had thought possible. Every single scale on my body was like a prick of red-hot pain that was closing in on me, as if trying to crush me. I yelled as I frantically tried to claw away the scales on my face, which were the most painful; but though I managed to scrape a scale or two off, all I really managed to do was create several bloody furrows on my face.

After a few seconds, the pain abruptly faded, and I once again became conscious enough of my surroundings to see Amu flying up towards me. Instinctually, I willed the X-eggs to block her, which the huge cloud easily managed – but not before Amu got close enough to get a good look at me.

"Miyuki, what's happened to you?" Amu asked. "You don't even look human anymore! Is that from the X-energy?"

Now that they knew that something was up, the other Guardians were able to discern what Amu had seen. Mai suddenly shouted out, "Miyuki, let her purify you! Amu can help!"

"Yes, indeed she can!" said my sister's voice in my ear. "But not yet. Miyuki, I'll give you back your little crystal, but first I want you to get the Embryo! Of course, you're doing all the work, so go ahead and use it for yourself. I just want to see what happens! So I'd suggest you transform again, right away… We wouldn't want my finger slipping and sending another current of energy through your crystal now, would we? You might completely ruin your beautiful face next time."

I turned to Azami, who was having just as much trouble as me recovering from the first time. "We've got to transform again. She wants us to get the egg and use it for ourselves."

Azami didn't question the order until the strength of our transformation filled me, and she was once again inside me. "But why would she want that?"

The words of Kazuomi echoed through my head. I had thought that they were lies then, but maybe… "Kazuomi said the X-energy and the Embryo would mix badly. Maybe they really will."

"But if it's really something that grants wishes, then maybe it can purify us and still give us power," Azami said.

"Either way, do we have much of a choice?" I said, terribly conscious of the painful gashes on my face and the blood that dripped down over my dark scales. "I might just rip my face off next time, and I wouldn't be able to help it at all."

"Miyuki! Answer us!" Mai shouted, once again drawing my attention to the continued confusion of the Guardians.

I sighed. "Well, might as well get this over with. X-eggs, you all stay up here," then, without warning, I jumped down for the roof, using my wings to catch the air and slow my fall, then flapping them hard just before I hit the ground.

All the Guardians except for Mai jumped back warily, putting some distance between themselves and where I hit the ground. However, I had no intention of fighting – not yet, at least.

"Listen, just purify the X-eggs," I said to Amu, my voice seemingly tired. I wanted to be done with all this. I was fed up with everyone around me manipulating me; perhaps, after tonight, I'd figure out some way to be completely free of it all. But for now, I had no choice but to follow my sister's orders. "I promise that they're just normal X-eggs. Nothing bad is going to happen just because you purify them. But please, just let me fly to a safe distance first. I don't really want to think about how painful the reaction between the light and my scales would be."

Without waiting for a response, I flapped back into the air, circling higher and higher until I was far above the cloud of X-eggs. Soon, the eggs were entirely engulfed in light; and what little light that still ended up coming towards me caused an unpleasant tingling sensation to run down my scales.

I ignored the feeling and scanned the air below me frantically, searching for something that I now realized was completely unknown to me – Easter hadn't even bothered to tell me what it had looked like back at the carnival. At first, I could distinguish little in the haze of golden glow that emanated from the newly-purified eggs.

Then, finally, something caught my eye – a bright, sparkling egg much more active than the rest, seemingly darting among the center of the cloud of egg, only some of which were beginning to disperse.

At the same moment I saw it, I also heard Tadase's voice cry out, "Is that… the Embryo!" And as I began to dive towards the shining egg in the next moment, I saw a black shadow of a person racing from tree branch to tree branch towards the school. It was Ikuto, I knew. He was probably planning to jump from the school top to the egg. And in that very same moment, I also saw a blur of pink darting straight towards the glowing egg. Amu, too, was racing towards the elusive dream that both the Guardians and Easter had been aiming at for months.

We might have converged on the egg at the same time, if all of us played fair. I, however, intended to get the egg for myself, regardless of my wariness of my sister's sugar-coated orders. If it really could grant wishes, then it had to be able to help me, somehow. I already had the advantage of momentum, since I was diving towards our goal; it barely slowed me down to throw my black fire towards my competition. Some of the balls of flame hit eggs still hovering nearby, destroying them on contact; Ikuto, who had reached the roof of the school by this time, managed to avoid them by blocking them with a scythe, costing him precious time; and Amu was so intent on the egg that she didn't see the incoming threat. They hit her head-on, and she began to fall back towards the ground. I didn't think about how hurt she might be now.

Instead, I focused all my thoughts on my dream as my fingers closed around the glowing egg.

For a moment, time seemed to freeze. For that moment, the egg didn't feel like an X-egg, or an egg of the heart. It was just an egg, sitting there, waiting expectantly as if it, too, wanted to see just exactly what dream would hatch from it.

I want to be a dragon. A true dragon, I thought instinctually, as if in answer to an unasked question. I want to be able to tear apart the people who bind me to them. I want to be my own person. I want to be powerful. I want to be free. I want to spread my wings, and I want fire to flow freely, should I call upon it. More than anything else, this is what I desire.

Then the moment ended.

I was hanging in the air, floating, my wings limp; my hands were clasped around nothing. Power like nothing I had ever experienced before shot through me, making every nerve in my body feel supercharged. Guardians, Easter, my sister – nothing could stand against me. Nothing.

But something was struggling with the power, at first fighting it, then corrupting it. The power filling me suddenly became laced with X-energy. The power no longer felt wonderful; instead, it was a curse, poisoning me more as every precious second passed by. My soul felt suffocated by the power now, rather than enlivened. And, as the power grew and pulsed within me, it took on a life of its own, shaping my body to its corrupted whims.

My bones cracked as they reshaped and realigned themselves; flesh and scale seemed to bubble up as I grew larger. My neck lengthened into that of some despicable snake; my eyes, already reptile-like, became ever more predatory and demonic; every free bit of skin sprouted scales even thicker and heavier than those that had grown previously. My mouth lengthened into a fanged snout perfect for tearing through skin and bone. My sharp nails turned into true claws, hard as diamond though not anywhere near as beautiful.

And soon, before the physical changes were quite finished, my mind as I knew it was entirely engulfed by the swirling push and pull of the power of X-energy and dreams combined.

The only thing that remained of me – the true me – was the necklace that, though tiny in comparison to the beast that was at the shoulders nearly twice the size of a horse, still hung around my neck nonetheless.

The dragon that roared in the night as she flapped her wings was no longer me. My human self, even as bolstered as it was by Azami's willpower, had been unable to handle the change; a mix of draconic instinct tainted with X-energy was all that was left.

"Miyuki!" Mai shouted up. She was the first one to recover from the shock of the transformation. "Miyuki! Please, please answer me!"

I didn't hear her. Or if I did, I ignored her. I was a creature of instinct now, yet it was an informed instinct. I could still think, and I could still reason logically. Yet any thoughts and reason that I had were focused towards one goal: the cessation of the hunger that had come over me. I sniffed the air and smelled something delicious; I barely even looked as I snapped out my head, swallowing five nearby eggs in one gulp. As I felt the crushed dreams slide down my long throat, I growled with satisfaction.

I had found the one thing that could ease my hunger.

The other eggs were fleeing now, returning to wherever their respective humans were; I flapped my massive wings hard as I flew to catch up with them, neck outstretched to gather them up as soon as possible. My scales seemed to glisten, despite how the blackness of the night should have swallowed them from view. But I had no mind for noticing the majesty of my new appearance.

I had swallowed maybe a dozen more eggs when I became frustrated with how many were escaping. I let out a roar as I flew, and with the noise came massive, billowing clouds of heavy, pitch-black smoked. My breath quickly covered all of the area beneath me, and hundreds of X-eggs floated upwards, drifting slowly towards me.

I snapped a few up. They were good, but not as delicious as the pureness of the purified eggs. I snapped a few more up regardless. They satisfied the hunger. That was all that mattered.

Pain suddenly shot through me as a bright beam of Amu's purifying light hit me in the back, causing all the X-energy tainted power within me to roil in agony. I snapped my head up and would have incinerated her right then and there, if not for the ropes that all of a sudden ensnared my neck and pulled it in a different direction, causing the intense blast of fire that came from my maw to pass off harmlessly towards the dark clouds above.

I flapped all the harder and thrashed my neck, easily snapping the ropes that held me. Enraged, I dove towards Rima, the reason why I had been unable to retaliate against Amu. I would have ripped her to shreds with no qualms whatsoever, but at the last moment, Tadase jumped in the way, his usual scepter replaced with a cold metal of a bared blade. Rather than fall upon the point and kill both myself and the two humans, I changed direction and landed hard just in front of Tadase.

"Miyuki, snap out of it!" I heard Mai say from somewhere at my side. I momentarily shifted my head slightly, to look at her while keeping my eyes on Tadase, who still had his sword at the ready; but when I looked over at her, neither she nor Yaya next to her seemed like much of a threat. I turned my head fully back to Tadase and let out a breath of dark flame. Yet the flame seemed to get deflected around the point of the sword, which was acting much like the normal shields that Tadase was able to produce.

My inferno was cut short, however, as another blast of purifying energy hit me, this time in the back of the head. I snapped my head back upward but to face Amu once again, in another moment, the sharp steel of a blade pierced my shoulder. I roared in pain and instinctually let a huge quantity of smoke billow from my mouth as I pranced backwards. The sword was pulled out of me by Tadase's firm grip, but he could do nothing in the darkness of the smoke to attempt another similar blow.

"Miyuki! Don't let the X-energy control you! This isn't who you really are, I know it!" Amu shouted at me from above, foolishly drawing my attention back to her. Shifting most of my weight to my hind legs, I leapt into the air and breathed out a jet of fire towards the flying pest; she just barely managed to escape the searing attack.

"Amu, her mind is gone! It's not Miyuki anymore!" Rima shouted up at Amu, who was now desperately attempting to avoid me as I flew after her, periodically lunging my head out whenever she seemed close enough to catch. Each time, she darted just out of my reach before I could clench my jaws around her body.

"Mashiro-san is right!" Tadase enjoined as Rima sent her ropes once again flying toward me, to stop me before I could hurt Amu. "We can't mess around anymore! She'll kill us! She's not even human anymore!"

The ropes slowed me, but I once again snapped them easily. And, as I did so, I lost interest in my persecutors. A great number of X-eggs floated in the sky around me, causing me to salivate. How could I focus on a few human annoyances when such a buffet waited to satiate my hunger?

I once again began to eat up the X-eggs, all of which were naturally drawn to the X-energy within me despite the fear they had that I would destroy their existences.

"How can you say that, Hotori-san? How can you say that's not Miyuki?" Mai asked, tears in her eyes; my sharp ears heard her words, but paid them no mind as I ate up some more X-eggs. "It's still Miyuki! I know it! And I'll prove it to you, too!"

Using the quill that she carried with her chara-nari, she wrote the characters for my name and shot them through the air, so that they hit me right in the center of my exposed stomach.

For the briefest of moments, my mind cleared, and I was once again Miyuki. Moreover, I was the Miyuki who had existed before all the Darkness and manipulation, the human both was confident in who she was and who desired to be something more. I turned my head to look at Mai, the only person here who was good enough of a friend to have jerked me back into true consciousness. She met my eyes, and I knew that she saw that for just a second the human me was back in control.

Then the clarity faded, and my instinct once again took over. I found myself looking at the young, simple girl in an elegant light blue dress, with hair that was decorated with little feathers. It occurred to me that she and all the other Guardians smelled just as delicious as the purified eggs of the heart. Perhaps they were even more delectable. There was only one way to find out.

I shot like an arrow towards her, my hungry mouth agape. She stood on the ground, paralyzed in the face of the monstrosity that flew towards her. But yet again, my intentions were thwarted, this time by a swarm of yellow rubber ducks that filled my mouth and flew towards my eyes, temporarily blinding me and forcing me into a crash landing. I must have gone just to the side of Mai, because as I hit the ground I felt my tail slam into her relatively frail body, sending her flying off in one direction.

"There's got to be a way to purify her!" Amu said as her Heart Rod hit my head with a solid thunk, knocking my head to the ground for just long enough for Rima to bind my neck against the concrete street I had landed on. I tried to get up, but with two of my legs pinned against my body, I was in an awkward, not very advantageous position. For the moment, at least, I was trapped.

"But how can we purify her?" Tadase countered; I eyed him warily as he approached, his sword extended. "You can only purify charas and eggs. At this rate, it doesn't seem like Azami will reappear."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very bruised and battered Mai struggling to her feet. "Her necklace!" she managed to gasp out before Tadase, who looked positively murderous, could get any closer. "I saw it when she lunged at me – it's still there, around her neck. It contains a huge part of her soul, and it's what her sister was threatening her with. Purify that, and maybe it'll save Miyuki!"

"Oh, um, right!" Amu said, running forward towards where my necklace lay against my scales.

Then, out of nowhere, another voice spoke up. A voice that, though it no longer chilled me to the bone, still belonged to someone who held a great deal of power over me. "That's quite enough of all that. Miyuki-chan, up you get!"

The X-energy roiled inside me, and I thrashed in pain, finally managing to snap the ropes the held me. I snarled and stood up defensively, scanning my surroundings for the source of my pain. I had enough memory of my life as a human to know that the voice was my sister's, and that the pain I'd just experience was due to the soul crystal that was still in her possession.

"You want to kill me again, don't you, Miyuki-chan? That's so exciting!" Sara said. I finally picked out her form, sitting among the branches of one of the many large trees that grew alongside the road. "But really, don't you think these silly Guardians would make a much better snack than me? At least take care of them first. That's the sort of entertainment I came here to see!"

She was forced to jump over to another tree as my blast of fire incinerated the one she had been sitting on until a second ago. Still, she had a point; my hunger was mounting with each passing second that I didn't have something traveling down my serpentine throat. I turned towards the Guardians, all of whom quickly regrouped to ward off the attack they could see I was planning.

All of whom, that is, except for Mai, who remained standing apart from them.

I looked at her for a few moments, fearing a trap. My doubts, however, were lessened when Tadase shouted out, "Tamiya-san, what are you doing? Get over here!"

They started to run over to her, but she shouted at them. "Stop! I know what I'm doing! Just don't let the opportunity go to waste!" And then, turning back to me, she said in a voice so quiet that I barely heard her, "Are you really so hungry as to eat your best friend, Miyuki?"

I stalked forward slowly, eyes trained on her while my ears listened for any sign of a trap.

The girl in front of me smiled in the face of the beast that lumbered towards her. "I take that as a yes. In that case, I just hope that you enjoy your meal. I'm here for the taking."

I needed no further encouragement. I suddenly sped up, lunging towards her, prepared to sink my fangs into her body. Yet my focus wasn't so single-minded that I didn't see Amu preparing to blast me with another huge wave of cleansing energy, this time aimed at my one vulnerable spot: my necklace. Seeing what was about to happen, I spread my wings and flew upwards at the last moment, abandoning my prey.

Amu swung her beam of light to try to compensate for my new course, but in the process ended up hitting Mai with it instead. This had never been done before; in the past, Amu had only ever hit X-eggs and X-charas with her 'open heart' technique. Beneath me, I heard Mai gasp, as if in shock; and as I continued to fly upward, I turned my head to look down. I saw Mai on her knees, trembling uncontrollably. The rest of the Guardians rushed around her to see what had happened, and to try to help.

I returned my attention to the skies, and went back to dining on X-eggs. They were much less troublesome a snack than the humans below me, and besides, my hunger had already grown too great to withstand more battle between myself and them. I blanketed the ground beneath me with more smoke as I soared away from the humans a ways, looking for even greater amounts of X-energy to feed my hunger.

Just as I was about to close my jaws around a particularly large group of delicious-looking X-eggs, I heard a small, feathery flapping noise, and I turned my head just in time to see a baby-blue blur zoom past my head. I followed it with my eyes, catching up to it as it slowed and finally came to a stop, hovering maybe twenty feet away from me.

The blue blur had been Mai, who now – miraculously enough – had wings sprouting from her shoulder blades, made up entirely of dainty blue feathers that matched those braided into her hair.

"I'll give you one more chance to get a good meal – something better than those X-eggs, at least. It's the least I can do for you, Miyuki," she said, a bright, hopeful smile on her face. Any fear or sorrow from before was gone. "First one to fly as high as possible wins. So ready, set, go!"

She darted upwards, her wings flapping faster than those of the tiny sparrows for which Suzume was named. Once again tempted by the thought of eating a real human, transformed as she was with a real dream, I instinctually followed her. She was fast, though. Faster than me, at least. Space grew between us. I flapped harder, but even as we soared higher than even the tallest skyscraper, Mai stayed ahead of me.

Then, something changed. I heard Mai's breathing grow shorter as the air got ever thinner. And, just as her breathing nearly stopped, she disappeared into the low-hanging clouds of the night. I sped up, knowing now was my chance. Any moment now, Mai would pass out from the height, and my prey would be-

"Amu, now!"

Mai's shout warned me of the incoming danger; I had been too focused on her, and had not noticed Amu rising through the sky parallel to my own flight, just far enough away that I hadn't seen her. But the warning came too late. I could do nothing as Amu formed a heart with her hands and the bright white light flowed directly from her into my chest, right around my necklace.

I let out one final, pained roar as I felt my soul torn into tiny pieces, and then felt it put badly back together again, this time without either the X-energy that had made it so powerful or the Emrbyo's energy that had multiplied that power by such an enormous amount. Scales fell to the ground like rain; my body shrunk; the flames that burst from my maw accompanying my roar now died down to nothing. Wings, tail, horn – all disappeared, leaving me as nothing more than a weak human child, unable to keep my place in the air.

I plummeted towards the ground, only half awake enough to know that I was about to die.

"Miyuki!" Amu and Mai both shouted simultaneously as they flew for me, trying to catch up. But they were far above me by the time they truly comprehended that I was falling to my death. They wouldn't make it in time.

Perhaps in response to that realization, Amu's Humpty Lock began to glow, its light now a comforting and invigorating warmth as opposed to the terrible pain of before. It woke me up enough to feel Azami clinging to my short hair. And I felt a new power flowing through me, the same power that had for so long given Amu and the others their ability of transformation without the terrible drawbacks of the X-energy.

"What do you say we do it right this time, Azami?" I asked as we fell, barely able to hear myself over the air whipping past me as I fell.

Even without being able to see her, I knew that she was grinning. "I'd like nothing better."

The change started instinctually and naturally, using the energy of the Humpty Lock's light only as a catalyst. The power that really fueled the change this time came from myself, and Azami, and the strength that the both of us had gained after months of hardships and doubts. Now, even as I dropped ever closer to the ground, I was confident and unafraid.

I needed to be powerful now, or I would die.

And though I'd always relied on X-energy before, I now realized that I had exactly the amount of power I needed. It hadn't always been there. But it had grown and grown over time, so that now, all I'd needed was a desperate situation and the light of the Humpty Lock to unleash it.

Wings, horns, and a tail sprouted, each very much similar to my Dark Dragon transformation. Yet each was slimmer and more elegant, and of the same beautiful violet hue of Azami's hair. My clothing changed into a simpler, more natural outfit than the black dress I had become used to; instead of that dress, I now wore a tank top with a splatter pain design of purple, white, and black, as well as a pair of capris with a similar color scheme. My eyes and necklace both turned violet to match, finally expressing my soul as it was meant to be, rather than how it was under the influence of only the negative power of the X-energy.

Just before hitting the ground, the transformation finished and I spread my true wings for the first time. I caught the air easily and swooped into a high-speed flight parallel to the ground just feet below me. Then I flapped upwards, using my speed to continue flying straight, going farther and farther away from Amu and Mai, whom I heard trying to catch up to me. Some instinct drove me onwards and upwards, away from what I knew and towards a future that was fresh and exciting, as well as mysterious and frightening.

I laughed, and for once it was a joyous sound, rather than a bitter one. I felt lighter and faster than ever, as if the X-energy had been a physical, weighted burden that had been slowing down my flight, constantly dragging me down without my knowing it. I was free. Finally, free.

I was still flying away at top speed when my breath caught in my throat as a terrible shock ran through my soul. In my ecstasy, I'd nearly forgotten that my sister still held a part of my soul, in the form of Easter's crystal. Yet even this wasn't enough to end my new character transformation, and it only ended my happiness for a moment or two.

"Miyuki! Wait! Come back!" I heard one last shout from Mai far behind me, her wing beats slowing as she tired.

I let a tear or two trickle from my eyes, but I didn't slow or turn around.

"What are you crying about now?" Azami asked from inside me.

I shook my head, a sad smile on my face as I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I don't want to leave them. And I don't want to move on and run away, so long as my sister still has even a small bit of control over me."

"Then why don't we stay?" Azami asked, though I sensed that she already knew the answer. "The Guardians will help you get the last piece of your soul back. You could regain the friendships you once had – not that I approve of that, or course. But if you can reclaim your soul and friendships, why fly away now?"

I rose ever higher into the night. Though in my heart I longed to return, to finish things now and be friends with Mai and Amu and return to Seiyo like nothing had ever happened, some greater desire was pulling on my heart, calling me to fly ever higher and ever farther into the dark of the night.

"Why fly?" I said, repeating Azami's question with a chuckle. "That's a silly question, especially coming from you. It's what I do best. I am a dragon, after all."

And that was all there was to it. Over and over during the past months, countless possibilities had been opened up to me. I had chosen a possibility of evil, and rejected my chance at good. Now that the choice was finally fully my own again, I rejected both and flew on, letting the neutral, welcoming darkness of the night swallow me entirely.


And... That's it! And, unresolved though it may seem, this is actually how I had planned on ending it for a long time, well before I lost my first surge of interest in the story. I really hope you all enjoyed it! And I'm sorry that I didn't stick with it consistently... I hope you'll forgive me for that, as well as for my rushing of these last few chapters, since I just wanted to finish. I'd love to hear what you all thought of the story over all (so long as you take into account the fact that I wasn't very into it during all the chapters after my long hiatus), so please review, if you'd be so kind!

Combining both this and Book 1, the story over all ended up being just over 300,000 words. Looking back on it, there's a lot of things I would change, and a lot of parts that I just feel stupid for ever writing. But this was the first story of any great length that I'd ever attempted writing, and I think that Miyuki and Azami shall forever and always have a special place in my heart because of that, and because I love the both of them quite a lot. ^_^ It meant a lot to me back during my sophomore year of high school, when I first started the story, and all of the support I got during those first few months of insane amounts of writing is something I'll never forget. So I thank you all for that, and I thank everyone who has read up to this point! It means a lot to me!

So... yeah. I feel like there's much more that needs to be said ('cuz seriously, even though I lost interest in it, this story irrevocably altered the course of my life by getting me interested in both writing fanfiction and writing in general), but at the same time, I think that's it. As if I haven't said it enough already, thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it!