Sympathy for the Diva Chapter 7: Sympathy for the Diva, a blood+ fanfic

Sympathy for the Diva

Disclaimer: Don't own so don't sue

Part 7: Sympathy for the Diva

Back in her and Riku's room Diva twirled in front of a full-length mirror, proudly inspecting the dark gown with small bat-like wings she would wear to the big performance. She knew she would be wearing something else more formal when she first arrived at the opera house and would change into this for her actual stage time but she couldn't resist a early peak at how she would look that night.

It was finally time and she needed to be ready. She knew big things would happen tonight, one way or another and the potential prospects excited her. Her song would change the world but it was not the creation of so many chiropterans or the fall of mankind that interested her, she couldn't care less about Amshel's grand designs. Rather she was looking forward to the promises Amshel had made about what this new world would be like.

For in the world to come she would be able to move about freely. No more disguising what she was, no more hiding from Saya and Red Shield, no more running from one part of the world to another. Saya would face her tonight she had no doubt, and when she won Diva would be free to a future of unlimited possibilities. All she had to do was sing and at last strike that fatal blow on Saya.

But to do that she needed to focus. She didn't need to worry about her babies, she trusted Nathan would look after them if only for the sake of the show going as planned. However, there was one other matter to attend to, one that she could currently feel staring at her with great intensity. She looked at him over her shoulder and flashed a bright smile but he didn't react. She could already tell she wouldn't be able to easily get his mind off this issue this time.

"So you're really going?" Riku asked in a sad but serious tone, already knowing the answer.

"Of course," she replied matter-of-factly and turned to face him. "What do you think, do I look good?" she asked as she presented herself in the dress.

Riku sighed in exasperation. "You always look good… anyway, that's not the point. Diva do you really understand what you told me about what you're going to do? It will be like when you sang at the military base but worse! Please, I'm begging you, don't go through with this!"

She turned away to face the mirror again. "Riku, do you really care so much about people you'll never know or see?"

"But I do know you!" he cried out and hugged her tightly from the back, eliciting a shocked gasp from Diva. "I know you… I know you better than anyone else, you said so yourself! Somewhere inside you know this isn't right. I don't want to see you suffering more Diva and you will if you do this! Diva, if you just listen to me I know I can help you!"

For a time Diva was silent as he held her, her face shadowed. "That is such a sweet thing to say… it really is… it makes me want to believe you… but I can't believe you."

Riku gasped at how suddenly her tone had darkened and felt her muscles tighten under his embrace. He could no longer hold on, Diva breaking free of his grip and turning about to snatch him by the neck and hold him off the ground.

She proceeded to slam him into the wall with noticeable force, her eyes glowing malevolently. "That's because I know it's for them, for her! You still love Saya, love her more than me! She's the reason you're saying those things to me, you just want to protect her!"

Diva was beginning to cry despite her anger, and the sight of it was causing Riku more pain than her grip on his throat. "Diva-"

"Why?!" she cried, her eyes brimming with tears. "Why do you still care about her?! You should love me! Only me! Don't you see Riku?! Saya had her chance! She's already lived happy and content without a care in the world, twice now in fact. First with Joel, then with you! It's my turn to have that life! I deserve it! I deserve it as much as she ever did, more than she ever did!"

Panting a bit from her outburst Diva hung her head, her sorrow and anger seething together, her eyes shadowed. "But as long as Saya lives, as long as the humans rule this world, I will be hunted and I will never have the life I want," she stated with barely-contained rage. "I don't care a bit about filling the world with Amshel's stupid chiropterans, but doing that and killing Saya will give me the future I've wanted for as long as I can remember. I will be free, my babies will be free. No one will ever lock us away in the dark again, never alone and starving again! Why can't you understand that?!"

She fully broke down into tears, releasing his neck only to cling to his body desperately. Riku hugged her back, caressing her, soothing her until her cries softened. His head against her shoulder, he sighed, trying again to reason with her, more gently this time. "I do understand," he whispered, "I've seen and felt your memories so many times so how could I not understand? I know how angry, confused and sad you are inside, I just wish… I just wish you would trust me when I say that killing Saya and going along with Amshel's plan won't make things better. They'll only get worse and there will be no going back."

"How do you know?!" she cried back, pushing him away and stomping over to a window. "How could you know that things will be worse? You thought you would never want to be with me but you were wrong about that so why not this too?" She turned back to him, a bit of fear and uncertainty in her features. "You… you do want to be with me, don't you Riku?"

Riku hoped his own confusion over that issue didn't show too much. "I… I want to help you Diva, I don't want you to be alone anymore and I care about you. But if you really do go through with this, if you kill Saya and make chiropterans ruin the world, there's just no way… no way I could stay with you." He steeled his will. "If you're really going to go through with this then you should just kill me now."

Diva was shocked still but only for a moment as her lips lifted in a smile and she giggled. Eerie laughter followed only to suddenly stop as her form blurred, her burst of speed putting her right in front of Riku, who after seeing this so many time was only mildly surprised. She wrapped her arms around him and stared into his eyes. "Oh Riku… my sweet, silly, little Riku… remember back when I held you on the ship? You were so afraid, but I got rid of your fear, I made you see you wanted me just as bad as I wanted you. I still want you, I guess I always will… I'm addicted to you Riku… so there's no way I could ever kill you now."

"Things have changed so much since then…" she remarked, reminiscing as she idly ran her fingers through his hair and caressed his face, "I've changed… now when I hold you like this, I feel so many good things I never used to feel. Somehow you've changed me Riku. You make me feel like I don't want to kill or hurt anyone… I guess that is what it means to feel at peace. And when I feel that, I want to just run away from everything in this life, with you and my babies, and just start over again."

"Then why can't we?" he pleaded. Whatever few misgivings he had about his feelings for Diva he knew he could be satisfied with a future like that if it saved everyone. "We'd be together, I'd protect our babies, you'd never need to feel alone again. We can just walk away, so why not?"

"Because Saya won't let that happen," Diva replied with no emotion. "She'll never stop hunting me, neither will Red Shield or any of the others that want me dead. This is my chance to end it Riku, to end this stupid war and win."

Riku now refused to meet her eyes, only glaring downward as he struggled to think of something, anything he could say to dissuade Diva. He even considered fighting her, but knew he had no chance of winning.

"Everything will be different after tonight, better too. You'll see Riku, you'll see that I'm right," she continued, forcing a smile even as her words hesitated. Why was Riku making this so hard for her? "When Saya is dead… when she's finally dead she won't be able to distract you anymore. You'll see that you're meant to love me more than you ever could her. You'll see that I can make you happier than she ever did. With her gone Kai may even come to his senses and join us. Wouldn't that be wonderful? It would be just like what you had with Saya but better! You would have a brother, a lover, and two daughters."

Diva frowned as Riku still refused to look at her, but then the predatory gleam in her eyes returned and she proceeded to trace a hand over his chest. Stalking behind him she rubbed his shoulders a bit, then began to whisper into his ear as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. "And if you really are so worried about me Riku… then I'll gladly take some of your strength for tonight."

Riku's eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do. "Diva don't-"

It was too late. His words were lost as she bit into his neck and began to suck on him with a passion. Despite his efforts not to Riku couldn't help but moan in pleasure. Why did it have to feel so damn good!? He tried to argue with her, to form words of protest and reasoning, only to be interrupted again and again by the spasms of pleasure-induced sounds from his own mouth as she drained him. He struggled under her stronger grip, his legs thrashing in the air ineffectually as the struggles only seemed to arouse them both more, but increasingly his thoughts became clouded and the sleepiness he knew to associate with lack of blood started upon him. At last Diva withdrew her fangs and carried his limp body across the room.

She laid him out on the bed gently, Riku too weak to get up. "For luck…" she whispered in his ear then kissed him full on the mouth for a good while, leaving the taste of his own blood in his mouth.

They separated and Diva's eyes narrowed at his sad expression. "Don't look at me like that. You'll see the truth Riku, I know you will. Everything will be wonderful and fun soon." She laid a glass of blood closer to the bed for him to reach once he recovered a bit.

"Diva…" he whispered, trying to stave off unconsciousness. "You say you believe you'll make a good world for our babies… a world where they'll be safe… but what if I'm right? What if the world does end up being more terrible and lonely than it was before?"

"Then I'll just change it again," Diva replied, now midway across the room, pausing before she left. "And I'll keep changing it, until a world where I can live with my babies does come."

Riku closed his eyes even as they welled with tears. Diva was gone from the room, along with his chance of stopping her. The hope he had hung onto all this time seemed to have finally escaped him. He had never felt so useless, so powerless. And so he cried. He cried for his sister, for his brother, for Lewis, for David, the Schiff and for Julia…

Most of all, he cried for Diva.

Traffic ensured that the ride to the opera house would take a bit of time and so Amshel had expected Diva to pass the boredom with her typical nonsensical banter. Instead all was silent as he watched her from his seat across from her in the limousine and observed the subtle changes in her expression and the way her eyes betrayed her thoughts as being elsewhere.

"My queen," he spoke at last, "Are you feeling well? You appear… distracted."

Diva spared him little more than a glance as she stared out the window at the passing multitudes of people on the streets, her hand on her chin. So many people… in the past she had rarely taken any real notice of them, now though she was paying attention to their faces, the way they smiled and laughed and spoke. The more she watched, the more the sick feeling inside her she had come to know as guilt grew. But no, it was silly to feel that way. Those people didn't matter, at least not compared to her. That was the truth wasn't it? It had always been the truth. But why was it the truth? She wasn't sure she had ever really wondered that before, after all the self-centered worldview Amshel offered her was too appealing to question for a girl who had been treated most of her life as if she did not matter.

"Tell me Amshel," she began, "why is my life more important than everyone else's?

Amshel paused, having not suspected such a question, but only for a moment before replying smoothly, "because, your race is stronger, and you are the strongest of that race. The processes of evolution invariably create new dominate species to replace old ones, and humanity has become just that. An old species that has reached the pinnacle of its potential and now must slip away to be dominated and replaced by the chiropteran."

"But I was not always strong…" she stated, dismissing the rest of what he said as Amshel's typical boring babble.

"Nonetheless, your potential was infinitely greater," Amshel replied. "That you were denied expressing that potential for so long does not change that. For you are greater than the sum of humanity, greater than even your sister Saya."

Now Diva looked at him as Saya's name struck a chord in her heart. "You say that I am better, that only I could change the world like this. Still, if Saya had been born in my place, lived as I did, I am quite sure she could have become just like me."

Amshel was becoming irritated at this conversation. Why now of all times did she start questioning the way of thinking that he had instilled in her? Was it that boy Riku's doing?

"That's one reason I can't forgive her for wanting to kill me. Why does Saya want to kill me? Does she think she's better than me? Why is she still trying after so many years?"

The new question was one Amshel was quick to steer in a way that he hoped would remove any second thoughts Diva might be having. "Saya is motivated by her hatred for you and her own foolish sense of guilt. Like all of us she ultimately seeks her own self-interest before others. What Saya wants is to be rid of her guilt over freeing you and believes killing you can do that and bring her peace. In Saya's mind, it would have been better for you to remain locked away or to simply not live at all."

"So she is being selfish just like everyone else, thinking only about herself just like everyone else…" Diva smirked as she spoke, liking Amshel's reasoning. "Well I won't give her the satisfaction of getting her way. I deserve to be free. Stupid humans… would have killed themselves off before too long anyway," she finished as though convincing herself.

"Indeed," Amshel agreed. "We are only advancing the hands of evolution a small degree, to prepare a new age with a new, superior race. A race that you will mother, a race that will inherit all the riches of this world."

Diva leaned back and shut her eyes, slipping into a daydream of the bright future Amshel spoke of.

Unseen by her Amshel allowed the slightest of a smirk to show on his face, satisfied that Diva was again fully under his influence.

It was finally time, it was the night he'd been anticipating and dreading for some time now. Okamura had much to consider as he took his seat near Joel and looked down upon the gathering audience below. More than likely this night he would experience perhaps the most news-worthy event of his life, albeit it seemed likely that it would be a log time, if ever, before he'd be able to release the story to the general public and have it believed. Still, he could dream.

It certainly helped stem the worrying. At least Mao had stayed behind, relatively safe. He was surprised at how fond and protective he had grown to feel for the strong-willed yakuza princess. He also felt fairly confident that he could handle her criminal family members easily after dealing with chiropterans for so long. It was strange how new perspectives can change a guy.

Then again, he decided he had best not think too far ahead. Better to focus on his survival tonight, survival that was not guaranteed even with his chiropteran and Red Shield allies around. What he knew of the plan seemed simple enough. He and Joel would observe things, report on events, and try to not get directly involved, while the Schiff and Red Shield would focus on handling any unexpected opposition. Haji and Saya would then be free to confront Diva.

Speaking of whom, there was the seemingly young lady in question. Diva had appeared on stage. It was hard for him to believe this boyish, frail-looking girl was the cause of so much trouble, but even from a distance there was something about her eyes and haunting voice that made him feel uneasy.

All right guys… think it's about time you jammed that satellite…

However, plans rarely go smoothly. Unknown to Okamura, even as Diva began to sing and Lewis responded by disabling the satellite connection, military satellite vans took their place and continued transmission. Meanwhile the blood bath began as audience members transformed into artificial chiropterans and attacked others in the audience as they began to flee. General chaos erupted even as our heroic team quickly adjusted their plan, Red Shield and the Schiff separating into two groups. One would go to destroy the vans while the other would fight the artificial chiropterans and get as much of the audience out of the building at they could. As for Saya and Haji, they had been sidetracked by Amshel, disguised as Diva. Once his ruse was revealed Haji took over the fight, taking on his true form while Amshel transformed himself into his monstrous true body.

And all the while, oblivious to it all, Diva continued to sing, her mind lost in the fantasies of the world to come, the life she craved and dreamed of. A world for herself, her babies, and Riku.

Back at the mansion, after emptying the large glass of blood she had left him Riku had fully recovered from Diva's blood drain, but he was in no better spirits. He clenched his fists in frustration as he looked at himself in a mirror. "Agh! I can't just sit here and cry while everybody dies!"

He glared about the room. He had failed in his attempt to pick the lock on the room's door and bars Diva had installed on the windows (per Amshell's persuasive request) kept him from escaping that way as well. He may have been stronger than a normal boy his size and frame but getting out of the room still seemed beyond his ability.

He looked around for what seemed the thousandth time, thinking hard. There has got to be something I can do... I'm still alive, I promised myself I'd stay alive for a reason. I promised myself I'd keep trying to save Diva and everyone else until the very end!

He lowered his head and sighed, flopping back onto the bed. "But maybe this is the end… Through all this… I've never been strong enough… I've never been able to do anything… I just tagged along, got in the way or got used. All this time and I still can't do anything!"

"Damn it!" he uncharacteristically swore, "I don't want to be the victim anymore, I want to do something to help! If I don't… then going through all this would have been pointless!" He sat up, clenched his fists and slammed them on the floor as he fell to his knees, his eyes shut tightly, tears brimming at their edges. Here he released over a year of pent-up frustration, anger and sadness as he vented his feelings to the empty room.

"Please! Just once! I need to be strong!"

He felt his blood begin racing like never before, something inside him waking up, changing in response to his emotions.

"I need to be strong!"

He repeated the mantra, his voice growing stronger, fiercer.

"I need to be strong!"

His emotions overflowed, and with them came thoughts of those important to him.

"I have to protect them!"

There was still so much that could be saved. If he only had the strength.

"I have to protect them all!"

Kai, Saya, Haji… and Diva… somehow Diva most of all.

"I need to be strong!"

Sharp pains exploded from his back and hands. He could hear and feel the back of his shirt ripping. Somehow he ignored it all and heightened his lament.

"I NEED TO BE STRONG!!!"

His final cry resounded so forcefully that much of the glass in the room cracked or shattered. He was left panting, feeling utterly overwhelmed and defeated. Until that is he looked up and spotted his reflection in shard of glass nearby. He crept closer and stared at the image in awe.

He had changed. His hair was a bit longer and wilder where it had been so neatly combed. His eyes were now red, his pupils shaped like a cat's. His hands had altered, looking now rather like Haji's chiropteran hand, albeit bigger in proportion to his body. Haji had been his role model as a chevalier and he wondered if this was why he had such hands. He tried to stand and immediately swayed about as he lost his balance, the reason being the two large, leathery wings that had sprouted from his back. The second try was more successful and he carefully walked to a cracked but intact mirror nearby. By the time he was in front of it his balance issues had ended.

"My… my body?" he gasped at the sound of his own voice, now somewhat deeper and stronger.

He looked at his hands, his mind racing to comprehend it all. He imagined his hand returning to normal and within seconds it had. Deciding to go with the flow he imagined the clawed hand again and it transformed back. This time there was no pain, only the odd sensation of his bones, muscles and ligaments reshaping themselves. It seems the transformation only hurt the first time.

He could feel his wings now like any other part of his body and within a few tries could control their movements as easily as his feet when walking. It was as though he had always had them. Like his hands he could turn the transformation off, the wings merging back into his flesh, then sprout them again seconds later.

He stretched his wings to their full span, marveling at the sheer feeling of power that flowed through his body. He felt perfectly in tune with his environment, aware of everything and stronger than he had ever imagined. He walked over to a barred window and with only a bit of effort ripped the bars clear off.

Yes… this was the strength he had longed for, the strength his powerful heart had at last brought out. Perhaps that meant that, in a way, he always had been strong deep inside. His resolve set anew, he searched his senses for the slightest hint of Diva's presence and oriented his body toward it. These wings of his weren't for decoration and it was time he took a leap of faith, hoping that his instincts would continue to tell him what he needed to know to use this body.

"I'm coming Diva, everyone… please be alive."

The background chaos had quieted when Saya emerged onto the stage, the audience members either having transformed into chiropterans, been killed, or escaped to other parts of the opera house or outside. She took little notice of the blond chevalier in the audience and the two odd bundles he held. Everything seemed surreal, her surroundings clearly inspired by the tower Diva had been imprisoned in so many years ago. Even as she considered this, Diva made her appearance.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it? Nathan made this stage," she said, indicating to the smiling chevalier watching them from his seat. "He had some silly idea about things ending where they began or something like that."

Saya's gaze hardened, she wasn't here for idle talk. "Diva…"

The girl in question seemed unperturbed by Saya's seriousness. "You're here to kill me, aren't you, my sister?" she stated more than asked.

"It's all I can do, and it's what I must do." She tightened the grip on her sword. "You've spread far too much suffering."

For a moment Diva simply stared at her, then her calm, coy expression faltered, saddening. "Suffering? You're not being fair Saya… you don't understand me or why I am this way, not really anyway. I mean how could you understand? After all, back then you were the one, the only one ever treated like a human, the only one who was loved… but then maybe that is why I can't understand you either."

Saya's glare intensified. She wasn't here to debate their pasts. The time for that had ended long ago and there was no going back. Yes Diva had suffered greatly, but that hardly absolved her, or Saya herself for that matter, of her crimes. "Talking like this is pointless. I only want you to tell me one thing."

Diva smiled brightly at this. "It's about my little Riku right?" Saya's expression now grew very angry, her eyes shining to match her blood-coated blade.

"Well then," Diva's calm face changed to an angry, taunting smirk. She drew her rapier.

"If you want me to tell you…"

She made a small cut and coated the sword with her own blood before pointing it at Saya, eyes glowing a malevolent blue. Her boyish 'Riku' guise fell away in an instant to reveal her alluring true form.

"Make me."

The two queens proceeded to become blurs of motion, their speed too quick for the human eye to follow, sparks from their clashing blades flying about the stage and ripping through whatever was in their path.

Kai took a few breaths as he tried to calm himself, breathing slowly and deeply as Irene had taught him. The events of the evening had had increasingly strong effects on him. Diva's singing had stirred the beast within his chiropteran blood and it was hard at first not to give in to the bloodlust as he fought and simply attack everything in sight. Furthermore, the singing had heightened his awareness of Diva and his connection to her. He could sense where she was, and felt compelled to go to her.

Yet he'd steadfastly ignored both impulses, fearful that if he actually confronted Diva in this state she might take control of him. He doubted it was possible but he didn't want to risk it, and so he and Irene had kept a distance from the main room of the opera house. They, along with Moses had spread out around the building and focused on fighting the artificial chiropterans, giving survivors from the audience a better chance to escape. Karman and Lulu had headed off to cover David and Lewis as they disabled the military satellite connection broadcasting Diva's song.

Suddenly he felt a new surge of bloodlust and stopped in his tracks, overcome by the feelings of aggression he was receiving. There was only one explanation for it. Diva and Saya must have begun their fight.

He stood, dazed and lost in his thoughts, unaware as one of the remaining chiropterans got back on its feet and lunged at his head, only to lose its own head to a powerful slash from Irene's sword.

"I know its hard but you can't let yourself get distracted," she admonished him in a tone that was more concerned than judgmental.

Kai just gaped, now distracted, and somewhat disgusted, by how alluring his body was finding Irene to be at the sight of her covered in the blood sprayed from the chiropteran's neck. However, the bloodlust then rose again and he shut his eyes, cringing at the intensity of it. Slowly adjusting, he managed to open his eyes and looked to Irene, her hand on his shoulder in concern.

"You can feel it too?" she asked.

Kai nodded grimly. Of course Irene would have sensed all this too. Her sensory abilities were exceptional even among chevalier. "It's getting really intense in there. I wish I could help her."

Irene nodded, her expression soft and compassionate. It was now Kai who was the more aware and his eyes widened at the sight of two chiropterans racing toward them, one on each side. "Get down!" he cried out, holding Irene close to him and ducking down to avoid a swipe from one of the creature's massive hands.

A moment later the sounds of ripping fabric were followed by two large, armor-encased wings shaped somewhat like huge-webbed hands sprouting from his back. One wing caught the second oncoming chiropteran's slash with a thud and the sound of claws scraping against armor, while the other wing pressed itself against the first chiropteran. Using the clawed ends of the wings to grip, he proceeded to push the two chiropteran away and off balance while at the same time pushing himself and Irene out of attack range. He had learned to bring out his wings only a short while before this night and while they were not much good for flying, for he was slower and more vulnerable in the air than other chevalier, they did make for excellent defense, being able to shield larger areas than his hand armor could.

Irene gave him a quick thanks before sprinting at the closest chiropteran to behead it in short order. Kai braced himself as the other chiropteran charged into him. One fist blocking any damage, he slid to the side of the blow and pushed enough to send the monster off balance so that it stumbled and crashed onto the floor. No sooner had this been done than he had clamped down on the creature's neck to keep it down and grasped its head with his other massive hand. He forced back the sick feeling in his stomach as he spotted the bits of torn clothing that still clung to the creature and identified it as having once been a human woman.

"Damn it!" he yelled, beheading the beast with a powerful twist and pull resulting in another shower of blood, "Why did it come to this?"

---

As for Saya and Diva, their fight as yet had been quite even, with only various tears to their garments from near-misses as damage. Which was just as well considering that the smallest cut from either blood-coated blade would likely be all that it took to end one of the sister's lives. Diva lacked Saya's experience, grace and poise with a sword but her greater experience with her chiropteran reflexes nullified the advantage Saya's sword skills may have given her in other circumstances.

Their swords clashed again and Saya bared her fangs as she pressed against Diva with all her strength, the blades groaning under the pressure, threatening to snap. "What have you done with Riku?!"

"Don't you mean 'what haven't I done with him?'" Diva answered back with a wry smirk as she licked her lips. "I will say I'm pretty sure I've done things with him you never would have."

This enraged Saya all the more and with an angry yell she pushed her sister back. Diva regained her footing and leaped aside as Saya charged her with another slash that seemed to cut through the very air.

Diva landed, panting heavily. She was not used to exerting so much effort for so long. As they faced each other rain began falling from the hole in the roof Haji and Amshel had left when their fight took to the sky. "Do you hate me for taking your chevalier away from you?" she taunted again once she had got her breath back. "Is that why you got even by taking Solomon from me?"

Saya paused in surprise for a moment. "What are you talking about? Solomon left you on his own!"

Diva's playful expression again changed, now to an angry glare to match her sister's. "He left because he wanted to be with you, even though he belonged to me. And I know you must have enjoyed it, having him follow you around like a little puppy begging for your acceptance and fighting against the one who he was supposed to protect. It must have made you feel like you were so much better than me to turn him against me so easily!"

"Don't confuse me with you!" Saya shot back. "I value Solomon as a friend, can you say that about Riku?"

"You have no idea how much I value Riku!" Diva said in a tone so sharp that it gave Saya pause. "He's given me so much of what I've wanted for so long… But who are you to talk about caring?!" Diva was finding it harder to keep her cool, now seeming to be as angry as Saya was. "Do you even know where Solomon is?"

"Why, are you telling me you know?!" Saya asked, exasperated by all the talking.

"Of course I know," Diva scoffed at her. "Even disowned he was still my chevalier so I know. I know that he's dead. He died the same night James did. And it was by your sword."

Below in the audience seats watching the fight alongside Nathan, Haji bowed his head in shame, now wishing he had told Saya about Solomon's cut earlier. He had kept it from her because it had seemed to be Solomon's wish and he had wanted to spare her some pain, but her finding out like this was worse.

Saya was in disbelief. "No… he must have cut himself somehow…" she mumbled as she recalled the way her sword had fallen in front of him. "I didn't… he seemed okay when he left so I never thought…"

"Not that it really mattered to me by then," Diva continued. "Solomon was good as dead to me the moment he decided he'd rather care about you than me."

"He cared about you too Diva," Saya asserted, barely holding back her tears at the death of another friend. "He cared about you more than you could understand. Remember what he tried to do back at The Zoo? If he had things his way we'd all live together in peace."

"Yeah…" Diva agreed, her eyes lost in thought. "He was kind of like Riku in that way… as if I could forgive and forget all that has happened between us. We both know it's impossible for either of us."

Saya's voice trembled with barely restrained emotion. "Yes… but not because of how much I hate you, but because I've known for a long time," she began breathing hard, "the chiropteran race… it has no future!"

"And what is that supposed to mean!? You're the one with no future!" Diva readied to charge her only to notice Saya's change in stance and the way she was panting. She studied her for a moment more then smirked with glee.

"What's wrong Saya?" she asked in a pitying tone as she circled her sister, looking for an opening to strikes as Saya struggled to keep her guard up. "You're looking tired. You don't have a lot of time left before you fall asleep again do you? But I woke up long after you did so I'm still wide-awake. You really think you can win like this?"

Saya's eyes flared with resolve once more. "I have to. Diva… my sister. From the day I let you out I've wanted to die, but not before I did something to atone and so I've lived to kill you, to end both our miserable lives, to end chiropterans forever. Don't you understand that? This is about making things right. We shouldn't have ever been born in the first place."

"So that's it? You think we shouldn't exist?" Diva questioned. "Then what about my babies," she indicated to the bundles with Nathan, "my and Riku's babies? Are you going to kill them too?"

Saya's expression wavered at this, her eyes pained and unsure. Finally she said in a quiet voice, "If it keeps this from happening again then yes… yes I will."

"I see… so that's how it is," Diva stated, her eyes flaring blue. "But I won't let you take them or my Riku."

Both of them proceeded to rip off the portions of their dresses that had been torn during the fight, so that they could move as freely as possible. As they faced each other for a final joust each sister charged headlong, holding nothing back and no longer even trying to guard themselves. There was a silent understanding between them that this attack would be the one to end it.

Then, suddenly, a figure landed between them. Neither could stop her thrusts in time but instead of being skewered the figure caught the hilts of the blades in each hand and held fast, the blades crossing each other in front of him with a metallic ping. Diva stared in confusion at the figure who had interrupted the duel while Saya simply gasped in shock at the sight of him.

"Riku!?"

---

"What the hell is going on down there?!" Okamura exclaimed from the balcony seating that he and Joel had been observing the fight from. "Why'd they stop fighting, and isn't that guy with wings the kid Diva took?"

Joel was silent at first, apparently in deep though, before finally looking at the reporter. "Mr. Okamura, do you think you could help me get down there? I believe I may be able to help."

Okamura stared at him in disbelief. "What? Help how?"

He was already moving to exit the balcony, checking briefly to see if any of the artificial chiropterans were wandering nearby. He looked back from the wheelchair. "In many ways this nightmare began with the first Joel. It is only fitting that a Joel be one to help end it. I believe Riku might give me the chance to do just that."

Okamura sighed and rolled his eyes as he got up to follow. "Yeah… that explains everything…"

---

With Haji beside him and the infant's cocoons still bundled in his arms, Nathan watched what he considered his ultimate drama with a new interest. "So now a new player has arrived to twist the plot in a new direction… what a most unexpected bonus. Isn't it exciting Haji?"

Haji ignored him, staring intently at his brother chevalier's new appearance. He was pleased to see the boy apparently unharmed, but disturbed at his interference. This was the final battle between Saya and Diva and he, like Nathan, had decided to let them decide it on their own. He considered taking him from the scene but thought better of it. The boy had to have a reason for his actions.

Even with his enhanced strength Riku had been left shaking from the strain of stopping Saya and Diva's stabs by holding fast to the dull edges of the blades. He looked to his sister, their red eyes meeting briefly before he turned his back to the eyes she knew. He gave her an apologetic look, wishing their reunion had been under different circumstances, before his expression turned serious. "Saya, this has to stop!" his voice had returned to his regular tone but seemed more confident and intimidating.

"Riku… what… what are you doing here?" Saya's own eyes dulled back to their normal color, her mind too unsettled to maintain her battle spirit. Her first instinct was to take him into her arms, hug him and never let go. Yet the situation hardly allowed for that. She slowly took in her brother's changed appearance. He looked slightly taller and more muscular, due largely to the presence of two large wings on his back and chiropteran hands whose enhanced structures extended partially up his arms. His hair was a bit longer and wilder, dripping wet from the rain outside, his shirt torn along the back. All in all he looked older despite not aging. More than that, his eyes showed a confidence and maturity far beyond what he had possessed when she last saw him. Her main thoughts though centered on her confusion as to why he was defending Diva.

Diva had been similarly shocked but now looked at Riku with apparent displeasure. "Riku dear," she said in a voice so sweet it was clearly faked, "I told you to stay back at the house." She then briefly eyed him up and down, her anger fading, "though I must say, you look so manly now, I want to feel your wings…" Her tone and the look of her wry smirk were enough to make Saya feel distinctly uncomfortable.

"Not now Diva," Riku said sternly despite the slight blush on his face as Diva reached for one of his wings with her free hand. He pushed said hand aside, giving Diva the most authoritative glare he could muster. "I mean it!"

Neither Diva or Saya let go of their weapons but eyed each other warily before looking at Riku again in confusion. Diva pouted and wrenched her blade from Riku's grip before stepping back and lowering the sword. Seeing the fight had stopped for the moment, Riku let go and Saya lowered her sword as well.

Diva appeared a touch annoyed again and sighed. "I've told you before Riku, what you want can't happen."

"Who says it can't?!" he yelled back with a fury that shocked both her and Saya. "This is all so stupid! You don't have to do this! You don't have to kill each other!"

Diva seemed bemused as she studied her reflection in her sword. "Saya doesn't seem to think so. According to her chiroptera don't have any right to exist in this world and so she wants us all dead. She despises chiropterans, even though she is one herself. Isn't that what's stupid?" She looked at Saya who was again glaring at her. "So sister, how will you kill Riku after you have killed me? Will you kill him and his brother together or separately?"

Riku could swear he heard Saya growl in response as her shoulders tensed and she strained to keep in her rage. "Diva… we are the reason they became what they are. They are not to blame, we are."

"So then it's just the queens you want to kill? How will you kill my babies then, my and Riku's babies?" she asked, emphasizing his name. "Will you stab them through their cocoons or will you wait until they emerge?"

Riku looked at Saya imploringly, but her expression at Diva's words proved that at least most of what Diva had just said was true. Steeling his will he spoke again, "none of that matters now. If you both try then we can find a way to end this war between you two."

Saya couldn't contain her questions any longer. "Riku, why are you doing this?! Do you have any idea how many people she's killed, how many lives she's ruined? Have you forgotten she nearly killed you?!"

"I know, I know she's done terrible things!" Riku cried back, not moving from his place between her and Diva. "But there's more to it than that, more to her than that!! Have you ever thought about if it had been you locked up in that tower, if you could have turned out just like Diva?"

"More times than I can count, and yes, I could have. In fact, despite it all I once did become like that…" painful memories of Vietnam flashed through her mind. She sighed then continued in a resolute tone. "It's for that reason that I can't allow her to live. If I can struggle and fight those urges my whole life and still fall to them then there is no limit to what someone like Diva could do."

"I have the same urges Saya! We all do! But it doesn't mean we are monsters! It doesn't have to be this way! Both of you have been suffering for so long… I don't want to see that anymore!"

"Riku…" Saya seemed unsure of her words, frustration, sadness and confusion all mixing in her tone. "I don't know what exactly Diva has been doing to you all this time but I know enough to see that I can't trust your judgment on this. Now stand aside!"

"No! Not until you hear me out, not until you understand each other!" Riku pled with her.

"There is nothing to understand!" Saya shouted back. "It doesn't matter what she says or what I say, if I don't do this Diva will continue to be used to kill innocent people! I have to end the chiropterans, and that means destroying Diva! I've come too far to stop now, I owe it to everyone who's had to suffer through this, everyone who died trying to protect me or help me. I owe it to Dad, or has Diva made you forget what happened to him?!" She asked, pointing to a seemingly impassive Diva.

Now Saya was getting angry again, and Riku knew he stood no chance of holding both sister's back if they chose to renew their attacks on each other. Still he couldn't back down. "I could never forget that Saya! But did you forget Diva had nothing to do with it? It was Amshel who started up all those experiments, Diva wasn't even awake yet!"

"Don't you see?" he asked as he continued. "You two aren't the ones who caused all this. If anyone is to blame it's the original Joel and Amshel. You can decide for yourselves now what's most important to you. I know for a fact that what both of you care about most doesn't have anything to do with fighting each other!"

This statement seemed to catch both Saya and Diva's interests and Riku was quick to take advantage of it. Staring into his sister's eyes he continued to plead with her. "Saya if there was a way to stop the suffering the chiropterans were causing and let Diva live would you take it?"

"Do you really expect me to trust her Riku?!" Saya exclaimed.

"That's not what I'm asking!" Riku practically roared to silence her. "I'm asking if there were a way would you take it?"

Saya stared at him for several seconds before nodding her head slightly. "Of course, if it were possible…"

Riku whirled around to face Diva imploringly. "And Diva! You told me that a family was the thing you wanted most in the world, even more than you wanted to kill Saya. What if I could give that to you? Remember what I asked you back at the house? What if we found a place for ourselves, a place where we could be together and raise our babies in peace? If I promised to stay with you forever, would you leave Saya be and stop hurting people?"

Diva cocked her head as though confused by his question. "Why should I answer about something that will never happen? I hate and love Saya, but she only hates me."

"Don't you hear her Riku?" Saya asked in response. "Her mind is like a child's. She acts on her whims, and that includes killing people over the smallest things. Someone with that little self control will always be a danger to everyone around them."

"But she's getting better!" Riku said adamantly. "Amshel never let her grow up but with me she really is changing. Almost a year ago she even promised me that she wouldn't kill people for their blood. And she's kept that promise, because I can smell what blood is in her whenever she's around me."

Saya looked between him and Diva in disbelief over what she had heard. "Is that… is that really true?"

"Of course it is, why would I want to eat some icky human when Riku is so delicious?" Diva giggled a bit and hugged her arms to her body as she thought about it.

Riku felt encouraged now that he seemed to have gotten at least Saya to consider what he was saying and so he renewed his efforts with a fervor. "Think about it! This isn't how things were supposed to be for the two of you! Both of you came from the same mother, you should never have become enemies. I know horrible things happened between you and I don't expect you to forgive each other, but I'm begging you, both of you, let's end this without any more death!"

Saya stared back at him, looking even sadder than before. "Riku… even if she has changed… none of it matters… I have to do this… I promised… I promised…" her eyes were becoming moist. "So please, stop making this so much harder than it already was…"

"Is this about you wanting to kill yourself and end chiropterans completely?" Riku asked. "Saya… you're wrong. That's not how things have to be, not anymore."

"Babble, babble, babble," Diva mocked just as Saya was about to reply back. "I'm bored with all this talking Riku. Don't you see it's a waste of time? Saya talks a lot but she always says the same thing and nothing comes of it. However, all the arguing and fighting can stop when she dies. Saya just confuses you and keeps you from giving all your love to me. That's the reality. Just trust me Riku. I'll make everything better and you'll see it's true when I'm done changing the world."

"That's not the truth Diva. It's all a bunch of pretty lies Amshel has told you. If you keep following his words, if you keep trying to kill Saya, it will only make you suffer more in the end!" Riku cried out to her.

Diva wasn't even looking at Riku now as she eyed Saya, her eyes starting to glow yet again. "No Riku… I am quite certain. Doing this will make me happy in the end." Before Riku could react she had moved and flung him aside with a burst of strength. Now she faced a stunned-still Saya and raised her sword.

The next few moments passed for Diva as if in slow motion. She charged with all her strength and speed, her sword poised to stab through Saya's abdomen. But before she could bridge the distance another body somehow managed to get in front of her. In virtually the same moment she recognized who the body belonged to. Her eyes widened in shock but she could not stop and her sword plunged into him.

"RIKU!"

Saya cried out in horror and fell to her knees, while Diva withdrew her sword but then simply stared, unblinking, uncomprehending, and soon dropped her weapon with a clatter. She remembered the visit with Julia where she had learned about the changes in Riku's blood. His words echoed in her mind.

'Dealing with your blood turns off my healing, so if I got hurt in some vital organ and had your blood put in me at the same time, I would probably die of the injury.'

His heart. It was vital, and her sword, bathed in her blood, had plunged right through it. Why? she thought to herself. Why would you…

She took his collapsing body in her arms, enraged at the sweet smile he gave her. "Why?!" she roared at him, her eyes tearing. "You were the one I wanted to live! Do you really love Saya so much more than me?!"

Saya raised her eyes in shock at his reply. "I do love Saya… I always will… but I did this for you…"

"'For me?'" she repeated. "What- what are you saying?"

"Because it was the only way to wake you up... Because I want you to live, live the life you should have had. I want you to see what I see in you… there's good in you… hope… I know you can love, because in spite of everything you've done… I…" his voice weakened to barely a whisper and he struggled to bring his lips to her ear, "I… love you Diva…" the shine in his eyes faded and he fell limp in her arms and slid to the floor, ending up face down.

Diva stepped back, her expression fearful and confused, like a child faced with something too big and terrible for her to understand.

"Riku. Riku? Riku?…"

It all seemed to hit her at once, her mind racing as she took it in.

He said he loves me… he said it…He's loves me…

He's dead.

Riku said he loves me…

Riku's dead.

Riku's dead… he's dead… I killed him…

"I… I- killed him… I killed him!"

Riku'sdeadRiku'sdeadIkilledhimhe'sdeadhe'sdeadhe'sdeaddeaddeadeadDEADDEAD!!!

Memories past before her. The nights they had shared, the way he had held her, the feelings he had awoken inside her, the comfort he had given her. Now it was gone. All gone.

It was strange. Nothing seemed to really matter now, or she just didn't care anymore. Killing Saya, making a new world, her feelings of hatred and self-pity… none of it seemed important now… there was just pain, so much cold and raw pain welling up inside her.

Diva's eyes were dilating, her body shaking, overwhelmed with fear and panic as she dropped to her knees and laid her hands on him, shaking his body desperately. "Riku! Riku! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Come back! Please come back, I'll be good I promise! I won't hurt anyone just come back! Please wake up! Wake up! PLEASE!"

"Pleaseplease…" her cries grew quieter, her sobs intensifying as she lowered her head and hugged her legs to her chest. "Please… it hurts so much… make it stop hurting! My babies… they aren't enough… not any more… how can we be a family without a daddy? It hurts… I don't want this… I don't want this!"

Saya continued to watch. Her sister queen was growing so hysterical that she apparently didn't notice that Riku was not crystallizing. Perhaps since his heart was the vulnerable point only it had crystallized? That may have been what Diva was thinking but Saya quickly dismissed the idea. If Riku were dead then the crystallization process should have continued as his body would now be unable to produce the substances that doctor Julia had earlier told her negated Diva's blood. Relief flooded her but she didn't speak, too transfixed by the sight of her sister's mourning. It was childish in manner, but she seemed so genuine…

Then Diva suddenly grew angry, "why didn't I kill you back at the start?!" she yelled at Riku's prone form. "If I had it wouldn't hurt like this! If this is what loving someone else feels like then I don't want it!" She held her head in pain. "I don't want it… Take it away… take it away, please make it go away! Make it stop… Why won't it go away… why won't it go away?! Riku!"

"I… these feelings… I- don't know how- to- I-I can't-" she sputtered and sobbed. She was lost, utterly overwhelmed by pain she had never felt before. Her body shook, her breath came in ragged gasps, until finally she unleashed a scream of rage and sorrow that defied true description. It was as though her song had been reduced to a single long note, its tone and pitch altered to that of a primal cry of pain.

Kai suddenly fell to his knees, a strangled and agonized cry escaping his lips as he held his head at the sensations filling him. He somehow knew Diva was the cause and that the link he was feeling was deeper than just what he could hear, he was somehow feeling her pain. What did this mean? Was Diva dying? No… it was not physical pain… if he could compare it to anything he would have compared it to how he had felt when his father George had died, or when he had thought Riku would die from the blood he lost to Diva. Yet this was more intense and confused, and utterly frightening.

After a time he became aware he had gone back to his human form and was being held in Irene's arms, being gently caressed and soothed as he unconsciously sobbed. Taking a few deep breaths he managed to get back to his feet, the pain in his mind from Diva's suffering manageable now that he could think clearly again.

Irene kept a hand on his shoulder as she observed him with worry. "Kai, that sound and you collapsing, just what-"

"We have to go, now," Kai interrupted, resolution set in his eyes.

Though it was far outside of their hearing range, Julia and Mao were finding that the artificial chiropterans and Corpse Corps were all being effected somehow by Diva's breakdown as well. Their ravenous hunger seemed to end and they simply stood there, still and quiet except on occasion when one would raise its head and let out a mournful cry.

Saya had stepped back in shock upon hearing Diva's cry. She brought a hand to her eyes, surprised to find that simply hearing Diva had been enough to stir tears in her, tears that now freely streamed down her cheeks.

"Make it go away… make these feelings go away…" Diva whimpered again and again.

"Do you really mean that?" Saya asked in a tone far softer than she had used with Diva for over a hundred and fifty years.

Diva looked up, her maddened, distraught face stained with tears. "Of course I do!"

"So you'd give it all up. Riku, your babies? What you're feeling might be worse than feeling nothing but emptiness, but what about the happiness you felt with them? Would you give that up?

The pain in her head ebbed as Diva listened, the fog in her twisted mind clearing ever so slightly, fragments of sanity taking root where they had long been gone. Riku and her babies had given her the greatest happiness she had ever known. To lose that… she would fight to the death to keep it from happening… yet she wanted to die now from this pain… it was so confusing!

"I don't understand! I don't know if this is love or if I even can love someone! But I need you with me Riku! I need you!" she broke down beside his body. Her sobs were now quiet, her mind flooded with the emotional revelations she had experienced in the last few minutes. "I… I don't want to go back to the way I was… I don't want to be empty anymore!"

It was then that she suddenly fell silent, her eyes widening as she held her breath and looked beside her to what she had just heard.

A heartbeat.

To what she had just felt.

The grasp of a hand upon her own.

Riku had his eyes open, looking up into her own fondly, his chest rising and falling as his body completed the repairs to his heart. His voice was still weak, but she and her sister's sharp ears picked it up with ease. "You're not empty… if you were… you couldn't cry."

"You're alive…" she breathed, her expression still in disbelief. Riku gave her the best smile he could manage and squeezed her hand. Her body shook, new tears streaming down her face as she finally collapsed over him in a frantic embrace, her sobbing now so much like that of a small child. Saya watched quietly and felt herself smile, for a moment so absorbed in the heartwarming scene that she forgot everything else.

"But how?" Diva managed to get out between her sobs. "I stabbed you in the heart. The doctor said-"

"Perhaps I can answer that."

Everyone looked aside to see Nathan coming up on the stage, Haji following close behind. Nathan knelt and placed Diva's cocoons on the stage floor before addressing them.

"You see Diva, due to your pregnancy your blood's poisonous nature was annulled to protect your developing babies, as one of your daughters's genes is close enough to Saya's for your blood to harm her. Since you just recently gave birth your blood hasn't yet returned to its former potency."

Diva's eyes widened in shock and disbelief at this revelation. "You knew this… all along?" she stated slowly, her tone turning angry, "and you never said anything?!" Had this been any other circumstance she probably would have attacked him at this point.

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened," Nathan explained enigmatically while ignoring Diva's anger. "I do adore you Diva, but you knew from the start I was with you for my own reasons. As I told you before, I am above all else an observer. I have waited a very long time to see if history would repeat itself and had promised myself to not interfere in your final battle."

He turned his attention to Riku. "At first I thought your role would be as no more than a catalyst to move the plot along, but instead you seem to have taken the reins of the story from my two lead actresses. With you in the equation the plots I had foreseen have flown out the window. I hesitate to even guess what may happen next. Quite impressive, little chevalier."

Riku stared back in confusion. "Nathan… just what are you?"

"The past, it would seem, just as you are the future," Nathan replied casually, then turned his attention to the red-eyed queen. "Perhaps you're wondering Saya, just why I went to serve Diva instead of you?" He grinned at her stunned expression and continued on. "The truth is by the time I located my deceased queen's daughters you had already grown up and gone your tragic separate ways. I may not hate humans Saya, but neither do I share your desire to protect them. Nor did I want in the slightest to live my life following you and Haji about in your little quest. So instead I located Diva, pledged my loyalty to her, and waited to see just what would come of it all."

It was then the various chiropterans became aware of a new presence in the theater and looked as one to see Kai standing breathless on the other end of the stage.

"Riku…" he breathed, afraid the image he saw before him would vanish if he blinked. "Riku!" Without another thought he dashed to his brother and enveloped him a tight hug, not caring about Riku's altered appearance.

Riku hugged back, transforming his claws back into normal hands so as not to cut him accidentally, but looked a bit uncomfortable all the same. "Kai, I missed you too but now isn't really the time."

Kai's eyes followed Riku's gaze to Diva, who had knelt on the floor to cradle her cocoons, her body still trembling from emotional exhaustion. As pathetic a sight as she made, Kai's gaze still hardened with hate. "You."

"Kai wait!" Riku cried and held his brother back. "I know you're angry and you have a right to be, but please listen to me! Diva, she-"

"I don't care! I'm going to rip her head off! It's because of her that neither of us will ever be able to live normal lives! It's because of her that you… she's the one who-" he didn't seem willing to finish his thought.

"I know…" Riku replied soothingly, "and if I were you I'd be just as angry. But if you had seen Diva's life through her eyes like I have, you might find it in yourself to try to forgive her."

"Forgive her?!" Kai scoffed but paused in confusion and shock when he realized how serious Riku was. He gritted his teeth and tried to calm down. "Riku, that's crazy. I'll admit she had a rough life, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a monster. She could never make up for the things she's done, and I could never trust her."

"Is that really true?"

A quiet voice interrupted the argument, bringing everyone to silence. Kai turned to her in confusion. "Irene?"

The blonde-locked schiff stepped up beside him and looked at Diva with sympathy. "Kai, you told me once, 'just about anyone can become our friend, if we try hard enough to understand each other.'"

Riku smiled, "that sounds like something Dad would say."

Kai scowled. "This is different. What is there to understand about Diva? She was locked up for all her childhood, went crazy and never learned right from wrong. Since then she's been used to cause more death and suffering than I can imagine. Do you really think we can just go on like none of this ever happened. She kidnapped you Riku, she… she raped you!" he finally said aloud.

"No… she didn't… at least not entirely," Riku replied, his head bowed meekly.

Now Kai seemed frightened. "What?"

"We all have monsters inside us, monsters that the queens control. Diva chose me and so when the time came, I truly wanted her. But now… now it's not because of blood. This is my mind, my will. I'm choosing this. I know it doesn't make sense to you, but I want to stay with Diva, to help her and love her the way she should have been."

Kai stepped back, not knowing what to think now. "Riku… how can you say that?"

"Enough!"

Everyone's attention turned back to Saya, who seemed to have reached her emotional breaking point. "Enough…" she wept. "I've spent most of my life for this moment Riku. I gave up on everything else in order to kill Diva, to put an end to the chiropteran race forever. Now you're asking me to give that up? It doesn't matter if Diva has changed. Full-blooded Chiropterans shouldn't exist in this world!"

"Does that include you Saya?!" Riku shouted back.

"Yes!"

All fell silent. While a number of them knew or suspected what Saya intended for herself, it was still a shock to hear her say it out loud like that. Haji hung his head slightly, wishing he could do something, but to speak against Saya's final wish for her own death… such a thing was not right of a servant such as himself was it? He was to serve Saya's wishes without exception and be bound by his promise to her forever. So why did the thought of it being carried out disgust him so much?

"… die…" Saya muttered mechanically. "We're… we're supposed to die… that was the promise I made!"

"That can't be true!" Kai said as he stared at his sister, dreading her answer. "Why would you think you deserve to die with Diva? There's no way its true!"

"But it is," Riku stated, giving Kai a look so serious it left him speechless. "Saya is not a hypocrite. She knows that she could have been just like Diva if the situation was reversed and she blames herself for the way things became. That's why she planned all this time to die with Diva. Isn't that right, Haji? You knew about it, didn't you?" he asked, the chevalier refusing to meet the boy's eyes.

"You hate being a chiropteran that much?" Diva asked, quite struck at the lengths Saya was willing to go. So it's not just vengeance or punishment? She's pursued me all this time because she really thinks we shouldn't even exist? But what does that even mean? I thought it was just an excuse she used…

Saya struggled to silent her sobs and not look Riku or Kai in the eye, her shoulders shaking in stress and sorrow. "I… a long time ago I… I made Haji promise me that after I killed Diva he would kill me himself. I knew that if Diva was used as a weapon then I could be too. I knew that if we continued to live then eventually someone would use one of us to hurt people again. Monsters like us… twin sisters who can only further their own existence by transforming people into chevaliers and impregnating themselves with their sister's chevalier… creatures that live off the blood of others… when it comes down to it we're nothing more than monsters and parasites. We have no right to live in this world and even if we did there is no place in it for us."

"Says who?!" Kai roared at her and earned a gasp from Saya. His concern over Riku and Diva seemed to have been put aside for the moment with what Saya had just revealed.

"Kai…"

"You heard me, Saya. Why would you have less right to live than the rest of us? It's not like chiropterans are the only monsters in the world. There have been a lot of people just as terrible, just as there have been a lot of chiropteran that weren't really bad at all! We can't live ordinary lives, but that doesn't mean there's no place for you. You've got Haji, you've got me and Riku, the Schiff, even David, Lewis and Dr. Julia! We're all on your side, we can be the place you belong!"

Saya laughed bitterly, "you think that solves things?"

Kai shook his head, "no, but we have to start somewhere don't we?"

A silence pervaded the room until Kai spoke again. "Are you saying you'll kill them too?" he asked, glancing at the cocoons Diva and Riku were staring at and fawning over, wide-eyed as their babies started emerging from them as if in response to the activity around them. "They're innocent in this."

"I… I have to!"

"But you don't!" Kai turned to Haji. "What about you Haji? Don't you have anything to say about this? I know your feelings for Saya, you can't possibly think its right for her to die because she's a chiropteran?"

Haji stared back silently, his expression betraying little emotion. It was unclear if he would answer Kai or not.

"Excuse me," a new voice interrupted, revealing Joel slowly approaching the stage with Okamura pushing his wheelchair. He had waited until he thought a good opportunity had come to speak, but couldn't wait anymore. He looked to the vampire queens, his eyes staying on Diva who gave him a curious look. "It is an honor to meet you like this Miss Diva."

"Who- who are you?" she asked him in confusion. Riku took this as an opportunity to take her hand, concerned that she might lash out at his answer.

"I am the descendant of the man who imprisoned you at the Zoo all those years ago. It is thus my ever-present burden to carry the name Joel Goldschmidt."

Diva's eyes flashed blue. "Joel." Her voice quivered, from long-suppressed fear or rage even she was not sure. What she did though was tighten her grip on Riku's hand and clenched her other hand in a fist until it bled.

Joel continued. "It has always been my fondest fantasy to find a way to end this war peacefully, but until now it did not seem possible. Believe it or not Diva, I bear no hatred toward you. Rather, I bear the guilt of my ancestor and the legacy he left behind. I have devoted my life to rectifying the shame of my family's past, as a Joel has done ever since that terrible day of the first Joel's demise. In that vein, it is my duty to ensure that both you and Saya are cared for, if you are willing."

"You're… you're joking," Diva replied as she knelt to hold one of her daughter's.

As for Okamura, he remained silent and hoped it wasn't too obvious just how uncomfortable he was with this whole situation.

"I can vouch for Diva that her true desires are only to have a family and happiness," Nathan remarked, raising his hand as he spoke. He looked at her fondly. "Beneath all her pain and rage, all the psychosis and manipulation, that has always remained the same."

His eyes hardened briefly as did his voice as he continued, "That man, Amshel, never understood that. Because of this miss Diva never was truly allowed to escape her test tube. Without even realizing it she remained as much an experiment to Amshel as she were back in that tower." He now spoke to Diva directly. "You possessed more freedom, but were never given the knowledge or experience necessary to use it. Your mind was forever stunted, he maintained your life so as to keep you a petulant child, indulging your every spoiled whim while keeping the true qualities of life hidden from you."

He then turned his eyes to Riku. "You changed all that, Riku. With your influence Diva has matured more in the past year than she has in the past century. More than that, through you she has begun to understand what it means to be truly happy. If she will take it then she has a future now, more of one than she could ever have with me. I am too old… too set in my ways to be what Diva needs. More than that, I lack your soft nature. I won't deny that I wanted Diva for myself, but unlike Amshel I am willing to bow out when it becomes clear I've lost."

"Even so," he mused, "in the end it is the queens who must decide. So just what do you have to say now my dears?"

Diva closed her eyes as if in deep thought. "Riku?" she asked in a flat tone. "Will you stay with me forever? Will we be a family, our babies and us?"

Riku looked in her eyes, his thoughts and emotions conveying themselves directly to Diva's mind as he spoke from his heart. "Yes, and we'll be happy, you'll see."

Diva smiled at him warmly, but her expression became neutral as she turned to her sister. "I know, you don't believe me. You'd be stupid if you did so easily. But Saya… if this could happen, would you stop seeking my life?"

Saya stared at her long and hard, arguing the revelations of the last few minutes against the goal she had devoted her long life to. Yet there was no avoiding the truth. She was tired of fighting, of death. Even her hated sister's death would bring her no happiness, especially now. Still, her eyes steeled in resolve, "I would, but only if you swear to stop all of these experiments, stop causing all this suffering."

"That's easy," she replied, "I was never the one doing those experiments anyway and I never cared about them. For me, it was mostly about you. It is no lie Saya. I have always hated you. Because for as long as I can remember you have always had something I lacked. Even after I destroyed your home, Joel and all that you had known, even then I knew you still had it. The fact remained you were the only one of us who was truly loved. No matter what I did, no matter what I took or who I killed, I never got closer to having it."

Her gaze turned angry, "but why did you get it? That's what I wanted to know, until it turned out that there was no reason. Joel could have just as easily chosen me to raise as his daughter, while he locked you away in the dark with no name. So I decided that I would make whatever I was missing if I couldn't take it from you."

"I thought that, because a real family was the only thing unavailable to me, that it must have been the key to what was missing. It turns out that a family was only a piece of it. I could never take what you had, because it was something that could only be given," she looked fondly at Riku, who found himself feeling even younger than he was, as he blushed in return. "I just never understood it until now."

She gently placed the infants back on the floor. "But there was another reason I hated you. That was because no matter how much I tried, no matter how much I despised you… I was never able to hate you completely, and that made me so angry. All along… some part of me was desperate for my sister… some part of me… loved my sister."

Saya was shaking with repressed emotion as she accepted what she had known all along. "So did I… Diva… my sister. Until the end, I never let myself think about that. I needed my rage to do what I knew had to be done... but now," she broke into tears, "now I just want my sister! I just want to go home with you and live the way we were supposed to!"

Saya stumbled forward, unable to fully express the tumult within her, and grasped Diva in a desperate embrace. "I wanted to die with you… to end it all together… but now I want to live! With everyone! I want to truly live for the first time. I want to enjoy life, and I want you to know that joy too. Diva… my other self."

Diva looked utterly shocked at her sister's display, her body stiff at the contact. "Saya…" her expression did not change, but she felt new tears streaming down her face as her body trembled with unfamiliar emotions. "Sister…" she began to sob into Saya's shoulder just as Saya did to hers.

Suddenly Saya sprang back up, her expression utterly lost. "No…" she shook her head, "no… this can't happen… its not supposed to be this way… we can't be happy, if we try it will only make things worse! There isn't a future for us. I… can't live on like this. Why should I? How can I bear the guilt? I let Diva out, I'm the one most responsible… and I killed so many people in Vietnam… I even killed father! I can't live like this!"

"Saya?" Riku voiced in concern but it was as if she did not hear him.

The pain was too much for her to bear. It had all been so much easier when it was all about killing Diva and ending everything. Now everything had changed. Saya's resolve to atone for her sins with her own death had been one of the few things that had kept her sane and kept her living in all the years of desperation and loneliness she had experienced, all the years of bloodshed and pain. Now she realized she didn't want it any more, she wanted to live, and that realization made her feel lower than ever before. Would she not even keep this promise to herself, would see not at least be accountable for her own sins? Growing hysterical she held out her sword as though about to run it through her own skull, everyone watching in disbelief.

Nothing came of it though as Saya found herself embraced from behind, a gentle hand coaxing her to lower her sword. Haji turned her to him and held her head to his chest, shielding Saya from the world that had finally become too much for her as all pretense of strength and confidence fell away and she returned to the innocent girl who had been forever changed on Joel's birthday so long ago. Haji stroked her with amazing gentleness, trying to soothe her as she wept loudly and openly.

Kai sighed in relief, glad that Haji had finally acted on his feelings. Irene smiled at the sight and Joel and Okamura continued to look on spellbound at the broken Saya.

"Ha-ji," she whimpered between sobs, "I… I don't know what to do… I'm so confused… I don't know what to do anymore! I can't be happy… I don't deserve to be, so what am I supposed to do?!"

"Saya, it is not wrong to want these things" he assured her. "To live, to be happy, this is not a sin." He lifted her chin to meet his eyes and she stared back in confusion at his words, but listened intently all the same, tears still sliding down her face.

"I wanted to see you smile. Once more, like when we first met. Back then I was glad to serve you, even if I had to give everything up. When I first awakened as a chevalier, the first thing you showed me were your tears. And driven by rage, you chose to fight against Diva."

"However…" he now wiped gently at her tears with his fingers before continuing. "When I found you in Okinawa, you were wrapped in happiness. There was the smile that I could not give you in the life we had led, no matter what I did." He looked at Kai, "it was you and your family Kai, who gave her that smile, who gave her the desire to live."

His gaze now fell on Diva, who still felt vulnerable enough to shrink back from him. "You have caused Saya more pain than any other, for she has had to live with the guilt of your sins and her own mistakes burdened upon her for most of her life. Even so, I know that Saya never wanted to war with you, that in her heart of hearts she always wished you and she could have lived together in peace."

"It was a dream so guarded that she never once spoke of it, but I could see it. I could see it in her eyes whenever she thought back to her time with Joel, to that day she came to know you. I could see how she longed for another chance, how often she wondered about what might have happened if she had done something differently. She accepted the responsibility of bringing the threat you posed to an end, but it was a task that brought her no end in grief and not a bit of satisfaction."

"Then why?" Diva shot back, more confidant now. "Why did she chase me all over the world for so long if it wasn't for vengeance or satisfaction?!

"Because if she abandoned you to freely enact the whims of your madness upon the world she could never have lived with herself, either as a chiropteran or as your sister. Because of who and what she was, because of who and what you are, Saya took the responsibility of ending the struggle by ending your life and hers. For the sake of the world and your tortured soul she offered up her life and yours as penance for all of the mistakes that were made. And yet… I can no longer help her achieve that goal. I can no longer believe in it. Not when another way has revealed itself."

He turned back to Saya, her eyes trembling with emotion as they met his. "Saya, as your chevalier I have been living according to your wishes. But now I must go against your wishes, just this once. Live. Live on for tomorrow. You do not need to fight anymore."

"Haji… Haji I-" Saya sputtered, Haji soon speaking further.

"And if that is not enough, know that I will not allow you to leave this life alone. If you die, I will die as well. If you need reason to live, then please live for my sake and the sakes of the many others who care for you. You are my life Saya, and you are more than worthy of it. That is my choice, no matter how you punish yourself for the past I believe you deserve a future."

His next words floored his queen even further. "I love you, Saya. As your chevalier, and as a man. To see your smile and to have you know this are the only wishes I have for myself."

He then lowered his head, and with a gentle hand on her cheek guided her to his lips in a short but mind-spinning kiss.

Saya continued to tremble as she stared into his eyes, a slight blush reddening her face. "Haji… Haji!" she grasped him desperately close again.

"I love you!" she cried into his chest. "You've always been there, I've always dreamed of a world where we could be… but I never let myself believe it was possible… I want you to know how much I love you, I want the chance to show you, to tell you all the things I never let myself say before."

She stepped back, wiping her eyes a bit as her face brightened until it was beaming a smile not quite like any she had expressed before. "I'm sure now, for that alone and so much more, I want to live! I want to live for you, for the chance to make the lives we should have had, and for the sake of all those lives who were destroyed because my sister and I were born into this world. If I could do that… if I could find a way to honor them… I believe I could truly start to live."

He had finally given her the smile he had longed for, and what's more she was smiling for him. It was enough to almost bring tears to his eyes before he embraced her again. "Then we shall live, and search for the answers together. To be yours Saya is more than I could ever ask. Thank you."

His hands on Diva's shoulders as she continued to coo at their babies (she had quickly gotten bored listening to Saya and Haji's confession), Riku smiled at the heartwarming scene of his sister and Haji and looked to Kai, trying to discern just what he was feeling. The teen had a serious, contemplative face, and still looked a bit angry. "Kai-" he started only to be surprised as Kai interrupted him and looked Diva in the eye.

"It was you wasn't it? It was your pain I felt a little while ago. You must have thought Riku was dead." The blood-soaked hole in Riku's clothes right where his heart would be and the bloody, discarded sword near him had been enough for Kai to guess what had happened.

Diva nodded, the pain of the experience still fresh in her eyes. "Your blood harmonized with my pain, you are my chevalier after all, and I guess… I was wrong to say you didn't love Riku."

If Kai was touched by her admission he didn't show it. "I hate you… you're still responsible, that hasn't changed… but I hate what was done to make you this way even more. And after feeling that from you, and thinking about everything I just saw in the last few minutes, I know you'll never want to do anything to hurt Riku again. And maybe… maybe you might be able to help some of the people you've made suffer." He looked at Joel, "I guess I owe it to you and Red Shield to at least try to trust you guys on handling this."

Joel smiled, "thank you Kai. I know that this is all quite sudden and confusing, but there will be plenty of time to discuss everything later."

Okamura felt confident enough now to chime in himself, "yeah, later would probably be a good idea. I'm surprised this place isn't already swarming with cops, and I for one don't think there will be any good answers we can give to the questions they are going to ask."

"The artificial chiropterans made by the broadcast of Diva's song have likely kept the police busy, even if we did mitigate the damage by shutting down the satellite vans," Joel replied. "Still, I agree it would be wise if we left."

"We need to leave NOW!"

Everyone turned to the source of the new voice to see David running toward them in an obvious panic. Yet the sight of Diva amongst his friends and colleagues was still enough to give him pause. "What- what is this?!"

Joel gave an uncomfortable smile. He knew David would not warm up to his idea easily. And indeed, his quick summary of events had David livid. He raised his hands in a placating motion. "David please let's at least give this a chance. Diva could be of great help to us."

"Shut up!" David snapped, uncharacteristically losing conrol of his temper. "I can't begin to see how this is justified but we haven't the time to argue and no matter how much I disagree with it I certainly can't stop you. The point is the American military wishes to cover up the physical evidence of their involvement with the chiropterans. We only have a few minutes before this entire building is incinerated! The rest of the schiff and Lewis are already out."

"Then lets get going," Riku said. He looked to the woman that in spite of everything that had happened, he knew he now loved, and stretched out his hand. "Will you follow me Diva? For as long as it takes? It won't be easy, but will you try to begin again, for me?"

Diva stared back at him, her expression soft as she slowly reached up to take his offered hand. "For you… I will."

"THAT I cannot allow."

The deep voice seemed to come from everywhere as it echoed and everyone looked about in confusion before a large explosion rocked the room. However, this was not a bomb, for from the dust and debris emerged the hulking figure of Amshel. He seemed to be caught between transformations, retaining the size and other features of his chiropteran form yet also showing aspects of his human form such as his face. Strange glowing smoke seemed to waft from his mouth, the tell-tale sign that he could unleash another energy blast at any moment.

"Amshel," Nathan remarked dryly. "I must say… you've looked better. I guess you heard though, Diva's dumped us both for the kid and Saya. Oh, and the Americans you tricked are pretty sore about this whole fiasco."

Amshel ignored him as his eyes focused on the babies. "Diva, and the infants are coming with me. The knowledge they can give me will make this night's failure insignificant."

"Amshel, have you gone deaf?" Nathan exclaimed. "I just told you, it's over. Diva doesn't want this life any more, which means you can't keep her in it any more!"

Amshel spoke in a frenzied tone, his eyes twitching madly. "No… those are not Diva's words! Have you forgotten? I was here with Diva from the very beginning! I, more than even her know what is best for her! Not that it matters now. Even if I must end all your lives, as long as I possess her children my ambitions can still continue!" He glared at Riku. "And You! You will be the first to die. You are the one who poisoned Diva's mind against me!"

To everyone's shock Riku responded with a low growl as his body shook with anger. His hands transformed and his eyes flashed red, his voice filled with menace and his body shaking in rage. "I 'poisoned' her mind?" he repeated Amshel's accusation mockingly, his voice altering further as he spoke. "The only one here who poisoned her mind is YOU!!!"

In a flash he had crossed the distance between them and delivered a stabbing hit to Amshel's chest, the force of stunning him and sending him sliding back a good ten feet. Before he could recover Riku was upon him with a glancing upper cut and a barrage of slashes. Without pause in his attacks he ranted his rage.

"You could have helped her! You could have been there for her! You could have shown her there was more to life than what she learned in that cell!"

Amshel fell to one knee, bleeding profusely and unable to counter as Riku seemed to come from every side with lightning speed, striking him with a slash with each pass and keeping him off-guard.

"But no, you never even tried to show her an ordinary life! All you did was indulge her and cater to her every whim while you went and did as you pleased with your own crazy plan!"

Riku now stood before the fallen chevalier, heaving with fatigue, his eyes blazing. "Admit it Amshel! You don't care about Diva, you care about the chiropterans and seeing what they can become! In the end Diva is just as much an experiment to you as she was to the first Joel!"

"Diva is chiroptera! To fill the world with her kind is her highest destiny, not living some meaningless existence in something as insignificant as a human family!" Amshel bellowed back as he rose back to his feet, Riku dodging his strikes and energy blasts left and right.

Riku struck again, slashing him the face before spinning away, his wings now adding even more to his speed. "No, she's Diva! She's a person and she deserves to be treated like one, not doted on like some goddess and convinced that other people don't matter!"

He moved to strike him again but looked on in shock to find his arm caught by Amshel's in a sudden burst of speed of his own. "How dare you… you are nothing but a pleasure toy she spared on a whim!"

The eldest and most powerful of Diva's chevalier roared and struck Riku with enough force to hammer his body into the floor, forming a crater. Riku lay there dazed, many of his bones broken. He was unused to taking such heavy injuries and could not hope to get up in time to avoid another attack. Blood still pouring from the wounds Riku inflicted on him, Amshel raised his fist, wanting nothing more than to crush the boy into pieces. He then brought it down with explosive force, sending dust and debris everywhere.

"Riku!" both Diva and Saya cried out in unison.

However, as the dust from the impact of this smash cleared, it did not reveal a slain Riku. Instead, Kai was revealed between Amshel's fist and Riku, the young man kneeling over his younger brother, his armored wings held protectively over the two of them.

Amshell was speechless. The design of that armor… it let him absorb the impact with hardly any damage?

A snarl escaped the youth's lips. "Don't you dare lay another hand on my brother you ape-faced bastard!"Kai yelled, his eyes red and his voice monstrous.

He leaped forward, using his wings for additional thrust and striking Amshel square in the jaw with his armored fist with enough force to send the chevalier flying back a good thirty feet and crashing into the ground. Saya's jaw dropped, Nathan gave a few light claps of applause and Irene blushed in admiration.

Riku looked up in a daze to see Diva sitting beside him, fear on her face. "Oh Riku… are you okay?" He tried to nod but found it hard to move as she clung to him like a frightened child, still distraught from her earlier breakdown. With a flick of her hand she cut one of her wrists and held it to his mouth, pleading for him to drink and heal.

Meanwhile Amshel had stood back up, more enraged than ever as his injuries rapidly healed. "Diva! Listen to me! Come with me! You are meant for greater things than this, greater things than THEM!!!"

He paused as he noticed Diva at last looking up from where she was holding Riku. Silence pervaded the room as she slowly composed herself. Her face was again eerily blank, her eyes as cold as ever, her voice somewhat detached. "Oh, Amshel," she remarked as though she had just taken notice of him, "did you say something just now? I wasn't really listening."

Amshel gaped, for once struck speechless. Under Diva's tone was more than her usual apathy. There was a deep bitterness there, hiding beneath her coyness. "Diva…"

She again looked down at Riku and stroked his face, smiling warmly at him. "I was just thinking about how in all our time together you never once gave me a hug after one of my nightmares. You'd just throw a stuffed animal at me and move on. You never watched the stars with me, or showed me funny shapes in clouds. You never told me about your first day at school, about family vacations, or about friends and bonds that had nothing to do with blood. You gave me a place to live, you guided me, protected me and kept me fed… you're the reason I'm still alive. But you know what? You never gave me a reason to live, not one I wanted anyway…"

She closed her eyes and sighed, then helped Riku to his feet. "I'm tired… so tired of living for myself. I want to feel it more, I want to feel what Saya feels. I want to live for someone else, I want to live for my babies… for Riku… what you give me Amshel, it's just not enough, not if I have to give up Riku or make him sad. I can't be your little actor anymore, I think I finally understand love, and I can't go back to how I was before. And its all because of the love Riku showed me."

"You never gave me real love, the only Diva you loved was the one you tried to make me become, your precious 'queen of a superior race.' Riku is different… plus he's much more fun to be around than you ever were. I want to keep feeling more and more of these things, and to do that Riku needs to be happy, and to be happy he needs Saya and Kai around."

She looked toward her daughters before looking back at Amshel, a genuine smile on her face. "I have the family I always wanted now Amshel, and you clearly don't want to be a part of it."

"Just what are you saying?" Amshel bellowed.

"What I'm saying is I have no use for you anymore Amshel, just as you have no more use for me. So you can leave, or you can just die. I don't really care which. Either way, you'll never touch my babies. In short, I disown you as my chevalier Amshel, now and forever. Good bye." With that she turned away from him and led Riku over to her babies, behaving as if Amshel no longer existed.

For a time everyone was reduced to silence and gaping mouths at Diva's total rejection of Amshel, something the chevalier could no longer say was due to Diva not understanding what she was doing. At first his expression was lost, utterly lost, but it soon began to be replaced by one of pure rage. His whole body shook with anger and he gritted his teeth, energy seeming to crackle all around him.

"You… you ungrateful WHORE!!!"

Everyone scattered as Amshel launched an energy blast, the resulting debris making it hard for him to tell who had gone in which direction or where the babies were. What was apparent was that Saya and Haji now stood before him ready to attack.

Saya pushed back her fatigue, willing herself to get into a fighting stance again, only to find Haji looking at her strangely. He moved to grab her sword but Saya stepped in front of him. "Haji? What are you-"

"As I said before," he interrupted, "you do not need to fight anymore. I will shoulder this final burden for you."

Saya opened her mouth to object but was silenced as her chevalier pulled her forward with one hand and pressed his lips against hers for their first true kiss. Stunned and enchanted, her grip on her sword loosened and Haji nimbly slid it from her grasp.

He bent to her ear.

She heard his voice.

"Nankurunaisa."

And he was gone.

Whirling around she cried out to him as he raced across the room to meet Amshel head-on, dodging aside as yet another energy blast rocketed through the chamber. Yet as he neared him Amshel had nearly charged another blast. There was no time to dodge it.

Haji braced himself, intending to plow right through the blast and make his stab find its target, when suddenly, Amshel's blast was diverted aside as a large figure leaped between the two. The figure grabbed Amshel by the shoulders so forcefully he pushed him back, causing Amshel to briefly look up and thus throwing off his energy blast's trajectory enough to completely miss Haji and go through a hole that was earlier blasted in a wall. Haji stopped in his tracks, shocked at the new turn of events.

"Don't look so surprised," Nathan remarked casually, his elongated, transformed arms straining to hold Amshel in place. "Selfless acts are hardly my forte and this isn't one." He looked back at Diva. "Diva finally has realized her own wish and its neither what I or Amshel planned on. I thought we might travel the world together, just me and her. It is a pity, but unlike Amshel I know how to bow out gracefully. Now run us through Haji, and end this era so a new and better one may begin."

"Damn you Nathan!" Amshel raged, trying to break free. "You are condemning yourself to death as well!"

Nathan smirked at him in his usual coy yet sly manner. "Maybe so, but even chevalier have to die eventually. I'm choosing to close the curtain on this chapter in chiropteran history with my own hands." He looked back at Haji with a mocking grin. "Come now chevalier of Saya. I don't know how long I can hold him like this and if you take this grand ending away from me I just might kill you and Saya myself."

It didn't matter if the threat was genuine or not, it was enough to give Haji the resolve he needed to attack. He ran forward and plunged the sword through Nathan and into Amshel. After what he had heard earlier Haji was not that surprised to see that while Amshel's body began to crystallize Nathan's remained unchanged.

"Well done… Haji," Nathan groaned a bit and smirked at him. "Do me a favor and spare an eye for Diva's welfare now and again, you're the eldest chevalier now."

But suddenly Amshel's solidifying arms grasped Haji in an iron hold. Haji strained but couldn't break free and Nathan, pinned as he was to Amshel's body, was in no position to assist.

"I will take both of you accursed chevalier with me!" the dying Amshel swore.

"You're a sore loser Amshel," Nathan, now angry, remarked, his voice altering to a deep and fierce tone.

Haji glared in the eyes of his misshapen captor as the source of so much of Saya's sorrow at last solidified completely. Amshel was dead, but his body was cracking apart too slowly for Haji to free himself in time. Even now he could hear a large section of the ceiling above them, weakened by Amshel's attacks on the walls, collapsing, the mass of rubble falling toward them. It was hopeless, but at least he had protected Saya, he thought as his eyes trailed to hers across the room.

"Haji!" Saya screamed out, but found her legs failing her and her knees buckling, the fatigue of her approaching sleep raising its head after all the physical and emotional trauma she had experienced that night.

But still she watched, she watched as everything again seemed to slow down. David's urging for them to hurry as he led Joel and Okamura out, Kai grabbing her arm to pull her away, Irene and Riku taking one baby each into their arms.

She watched the rubble fall, inexorably, toward the man who had been with her from the beginning of this nightmare, the man who had stood by and supported her through it all, who had faithfully and repeatedly waited for her for decades on end just so he could go and risk his life for her yet again.

Was she to lose him now, now when they could finally have a real life together, when she could finally show how much she loved him for all he had done? Could the whims of fate really be that cruel?

This day at least fate had something else in mind, for with a blur of movement there was an immense rush of air and a sound of something between a crunching and a tearing accompanying the crashing noise of the ceiling. In that instant the falling debris seemed to part momentarily, exploding outward as a form tore out of the impact zone with inhuman speed and force.

Pieces of Amshel's torn stone arms flew in every direction and after stopping for a only a moment to catch her breath, the figure, Diva, appeared in front of Saya. Haji was unceremoniously slung over her shoulder and looked worse for wear after being ripped out of Amshel's death grip, but he was clearly alive.

"I know it won't make up for everything, but consider this an apology," Diva remarked, seemingly unfazed. The stunned Saya felt herself give her a brief nod before they all continued to flee for the exit.

Notes:

To help you visualize Kai's wings try imagining the wings Sasuke of the Naruto series has when in his second Cursed Seal form but with black plated armor over everything except the webbing between the wing fingers.

Sorry for the semi-cliffhanger ending. It's just that everything else is basically a final scene plus an epilogue which I'll be doing as the final chapter. Thanks a ton for all the reviews everyone and I can assure you I will have the final part out sooner than it took to release this monster of a chapter.