Darkness won't go away, no matter how many lights you put on.

For with each light that turns on, it creates a shadow; it, a source of light, creates more darkness.

However, the same can be said true of light; no matter how much darkness there is, so long as even a trace of light remains, it will never be truly gone.

In a world where we don't know whether to light a candle or not, for fear that it will be snuffed out, perhaps giving our candle to someone who will keep it burning for us until we can sustain the flame ourselves, is the only way our light will ever remain.


He glanced at Nathan's car, but only glanced; if he looked at it much longer Reeve was concerned that he might start to lose the resolve that he had gained. Nathan was, after all, the only tie to his old life that he had actually valued.

Luckily, his friend had pulled the car up along the side of Reeve's own, so it was entirely possible to still drive away without having to move the vehicle by hand.

"Though who knows? That might be really easy now." He thought, opening his car door as Diva walked around the side to get in the passenger seat.

"Why do I have to sit in the back?" He heard come from the back seat. Without looking, he responded "because Diva's prettier".

"Uh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

The imaginary exchange brought a small smile onto his face that threatened his cold disposition in the name of both happiness and sadness. Fortunately, as Diva got in the car as well, not seeming to have heard what he'd said or simply not mentioning it, he shook off any of the emotional baggage that remained and turned the car on.

"So, where are we going?" Diva asked him, looking at the teenage chiropteran.

"Anywhere we want; there's a lot more to the world than just humans and their laws."

Out of instinct he buckled his seatbelt, which seemed to make Diva want to laugh for a moment before she mimicked him, if only to do the same thing her love had.

"We're completely free then?"

He glanced over at her and then looked straight ahead.

"Not us, but you are."

Her smile cracked into a frown.

"Why not you too?"

His hands went up onto the steering wheel and tightened until he could almost hear the material bending.

"I have a responsibility to carry out first. Perhaps two."

"Like what?"

"That man that shot Nathan and I, he's still alive, isn't he?"

Diva looked away from him, already knowing what he was getting at.

"Until he isn't, I won't allow myself to be happy."

"But why not? We're together-"

"Because I made a promise to Nathan, after I buried him; I would kill the man that killed him… and myself."

"I brought you back though."

He closed his eyes for a few moments.

"Yes. And I thank you for that."

"But this life of mine was born out of desperation; mine for being too weak to survive, and yours for not being willing to let me die. All of that built on the foundation of Nathan dying."

Neither of them did anything for almost a minute, and then one of her hands came up to touch his right one.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize; it's not like you. Besides, you didn't kill him; the people chasing after you did."

"But they came there for me-"

"Your sister is the one that's supposed to have the 'poor me' complex, not you. Please…"

He leaned forward, putting his forehead against the top of the steering wheel so as not to use the horn.

A moment later Diva's hand moved to his back and rubbed it; it was something she had most likely learned since her time with him, but those few days of happiness they'd shared which just passed them by seemed almost like a long-lost dream replaced by something else.

"Replaced by a nightmare." He thought.

"What about the other thing you wanted to do?" She asked, trying to get him to go to a less-painful subject; it worked.

Reeve opened his eyes and pushed himself up, his red and violet eyes glowing their own individual colors; they were neither like Saya's nor Diva's.

"This world of… people," He began, almost spitting the last word.

"I've gotten tired of it; all of these fools going through the endless processes, mindlessly following the will of the whole… it makes me sick. And I've run out of patience looking for others like me to make it more bearable."

Diva didn't know whether to feel happy that she was the only person he cared about, or worry that she might not even count to him anymore.

"I'll burn it all down; only a few hundred humans are necessary to keep the chiropteran species going. They're a food source and a 'talent pool' to choose for new chevaliers. After humans, or perhaps in the process of it, we'll get rid of that idiot that's so obsessed with acting like a human and all of her friends. Then, after that… maybe I'll be willing to give happiness a try again."

"You can still give a try now though; we can make Saya go away and then just all on our own, somewhere no one else will be."

"And hide? Hide amongst a world of filth that tries to erode whatever diamonds seem to form just because they don't like that the diamonds shine and that they do not? No… natural selection is the only rule no one will ever overcome, both on the individual level and the species level. And chiropterans are superior to humans; there's absolutely no reason to hide from them. We have all of eternity to be happy."

Diva pulled her hand from his back and looked down.

"Reeve, I'm going to be going to sleep eventually."

"You mean those thirty-year sleeps?"

"Yes. Not soon, but eventually."

"That's fine."

Her expression, which must have shown more emotion today than it had in the past few put together, showed a look of hurt.

"When you wake up, it will be like awakening from a nightmare, or a dream; everything and everyone that wanted to hurt you, or held you back from being happy… they'll all be gone. I'll be there to greet you when you wake up, and we can start living the way we began to together."

She looked down, away from him.

"But in the meantime you'll most likely get hurt, and I'll spend thirty years having nightmares about you being killed or captured."

His tone, which had grown optimistic, sank down to a monotone as he spoke.

"I'm sorry if it will cause you pain. I really am. But my life has changed; and I'm not going to deny my instincts; my instincts. Human or chiropteran, my name is still Reeve Roswell. And I won't hold back what I intend to do out of fear anymore. This arm is proof of the change."

He held up his left arm; it was the one which had gone through some sort of mutation as he became a chevalier. It's core looked black, like black bones. The skin meanwhile was almost opaque, but the vague glow of red and violet colors emanated from beneath the surface. They didn't shine, but they glinted, like a barely-lit candle fighting against the darkness.

The arm's skin was harder than before, and the bone structure was more pronounced. However, though it appeared more feral, it still resembled a human arm, and it helped give him a physical reminder of who he was, and what he wanted to do.

"I imagine that this sort of… thing, has never happened to a chevalier before." He thought out loud, drawing Diva's gaze to him once more.

She shook her head.

"No, it hasn't."

Reeve tightened his hand, the knuckles cracking on their own as he did so.

"I'm not superstitious; I never have been. But what if this mutation, or evolution, is a sign that things are going to change? I don't know if this arm is good for anything but an embryo's pyrotechnics show, but I do know that I can change things so that they're easier on the both of us."

A vague smile tried to make its way onto her face, though it looked like someone had draped a blanket over it, so that only the faintest of a trace of its actual form could be seen.

"So, when that man is dead, and all the people you hate are dead, then do you promise that we'll live together, just to be happy?"

"I swear it; on the life of mine that you saved and on Nathan's grave.'

The melodramatics fazed neither of them, as they were the source of it; their emotions were brought to the surface.

"Then drive us to Cinq Fleches' headquarters. There are people in the company that will help us."

He nodded, putting the car in reverse, though he still held a foot down on the brake pedal.

"Alright. One condition though." He spoke, looking over at Diva. When she matched his gaze, she saw him smiling and his face looked the same as it had when he'd told her once that they would be fine, and that nothing would hurt her; it was the Reeve she wanted him to remember he could be.

"Smile."

Her expression was one of shock for a moment, before she felt her face change on its own to meet his request, and her mind calmed.

"You're able to smile, even when enduring hardship; that is a strength few, if any other people have."

Reeve didn't bother to say "and I'm not one of them", since he knew it would dull her spirits.

"Please, just smile."

He looked over his shoulder as his foot came off the brake pedal and pressed lightly on the gas, his face changing back to its monotone expression.

"One of us should."

The statement lowered her optimism, but she didn't let her smile falter; it, like Reeve's transformed hand, was a promise and reminder of the life they would live.

Diva would hold what happiness of his that she could, and protect it until he was ready to be happy again. For all of her inexperience protecting others and their emotions, she could do that for him.

The fire that sprouted from the house gave their eyes an extra glow; it showed the determination in both their eyes to endeavor until this happy life that they talked about was ready to be a reality.