“Oh those were the good days,” Rylan said. “I didn’t remember much after you threw us in there but I felt safe. Even when I felt two shadows grabbing us.”

“Ahh… Even though I love you now, I’m still annoyed everything I think of that morning.”

“Well I wouldn’t say I fell in love at first sight but while you did give off a dangerous vibe, it felt safe around you.”

“Oh? And you attacked first because?”

“YOU PROVOKED ME!”

“Ahh. Young Rylan. So hot-headed. So easy. So – HAahahAHahaHAHAHAahaAH. STOP! TICKLING! ME!”

“NEVER! Haha… But seriously, you were…”

“Broken? Empty? Robotic? Insane? I’ve heard them all. Pretty much true though.”

“You’re not –”

“I am. WE are. We’re broken people Rylan. Don’t tell me that just because you love me that I’ve filled up your whole heart. Because even you know it’s true. It’s true for you. It’s true for me. It’s true for all of Shadow. We are all broken people. And that’s ok. Accept it. You can’t be who you are today if your past didn’t happen. Broken? We all are. Empty? We may not be empty but you know our hearts will never be full. We’re always half empty. Robotic? We find comfort in routine. There’s nothing wrong with it. If that’s how you cope, fine. Insane? Well, we’re all insane. We literally enjoy killing people. We enjoy finding ways to make them suffer. Sure, while we don’t just go after anyone and the people we do go after aren’t innocent, you can’t deny we like the chase. We live for the night. We crave it. We need it… You know, you’ve always been here to support me. Mentally, emotionally, and… physically~. But sometimes, just sometimes, I feel like you’re more unstable than me. I was always by myself. But you… You had to look out for Ingline. The position of an older sibling is not something I can claim to fully understand.”

“Heh… You… You understand. You’ve taken care of the members as your siblings. And don’t tell me otherwise. Even to the older ones, you’ve given them guidance. Sure sometimes they might be superficial words but the advice always hits home. I may have pressures of trying to hold up the sky for Ingline but you need to hold up the moon for shadow. As an older sibling I get your worries and troubles. But at the same time I can’t complain to you about any of it. Why? Because your troubles are worse than mine. I have one sister. You have this whole family to worry about. So you’re right. I’m more unstable. I’m just mentally weaker than you. So I lean on you when I can’t deal. But you, even when you want to lean on me, I’m always afraid I won’t be able to hold up your weight. You want to know why I love you complimenting me on my muscles? It’s so that I know at least there will be something I can help you with. It may sound stupid but I love helping you open jars and getting things away above your head. I love cooking for you, doing the dishes for you, doing laundry for you. I love pampering you even though I know I only get to do these things because you’re just so damn lazy to do them yourself. I love doing it because it makes me feel useful. Like I’m needed. I know you love me. You may not say it as much as I want to hear it but I know. I feel it too. But… ”

“… feelings do not equal thoughts.”

“Yeah… How I feel sometimes just doesn’t stop the voices that say everything is a lie and I’m just downright delusional and insane.”

“And this is why I said we are broken people. But we’re lucky enough to be broken together as much as it kills me to say that.”

“… Well… enough about that for now. Fein. Sleeper. Talk. Now.”

“Ha….. I loved Fein…”

“But not as a man.”

“Yeah. Not as a man. I wanted to love him. I played out a love story with him. I wanted him to be this perfect knight in shining armor guy who would be able to let me escape from all this darkness. Because you know as well as I do that just because we love the night, it doesn’t mean we want to live in it.”