"Icky." Diva said again as they continued to try and make their way through the sewers.

Unfortunately, there were several rats running around and small little puddles of waste here and there for them to avoid as well.

And oh yeah, the smell made her want to throw up.

Kai had tried to kill her, and there were a bunch of people she didn't know trying to do the same thing.

She had to keep her gaze firmly on the people ahead of her, otherwise they would stray away and peer into the constant shadows that threatened to overtake the dimly-lit "path" that they were using to make their way to wherever they were going.

All of this paled in comparison to one thing though; her dresses all had to be left behind!

After all that time waiting to get them, she was now stuck in a single dress again for who knew how long?

If Saya hadn't asked her to try and be as quiet as possible Diva would have stood in place and stamped around until her big sister took her to get more dresses.

"Oops." She remarked quietly, almost tripping off the ground and falling into the disgusting, murky water below.

The sewers had all the waste and garbage and smelly stuff in the middle, like a river, and the places where you could walk were on the sides.

But the stone walkways were slimy and slippery, and she could barely walk on them.

Not to mention she had no shoes on. And her feet were already cold from walking on that concrete floor of the basement.

The grossest feeling of all though was the gelatinous feel of the stone under her bare feet. It was like walking on the cold carcass of a massive dead jellyfish.

If they had bones anyway.

Of the light-bulbs that hung above them or were set into the wall that still worked, most appeared to be decades old.

Had Diva known, or cared, about light bulbs' general life spans, she probably would have noticed how strange it was for even some of them to still be working.

"Saya, are we almost there?" She asked, tired of the sweaty stone, the smell, and just the plain traveling that they were going through by walking in these sewers.

"Shh. Diva, you have to be quiet." Her elder sister said just above a whisper.

"But why? There's no one following us. That big guy made the elevator stop moving so they can't get here. And with those super-doors-"

"It's not that, Diva. Many of the people that are helping us are still struggling over how they feel towards you. We don't want to upset them right now."

She gave a silent pout.

Why should she be quiet because they were having problems? That wasn't fair.

"But I don't want to be quiet-"

Diva was unable to continue as a result of her voice getting stuck in her throat when all of the lights that lit their path suddenly snapped off.

She virtually leapt into Saya and almost sent the both of them down into the filthy stream of waste.

"That's strange." David remarked as they temporarily came to a complete stop.

"Do you think perhaps there was some sort of blackout?" Lewis offered.

Saya was holding onto her, but she still didn't feel any safer.

"I'm not sure. But it seems too convenient for us to simply ignore it." He said, pulling out and turning on a flashlight.

She wanted to leap in front of the beam of light, but Saya held her back as they once again continued down the path, though this time at a significantly quicker pace.

Diva wasn't sure about why the lights had suddenly turned off, and she didn't care either.

Why hadn't it shown up though? She didn't want it to, but the fact that she had to wonder when its eerie voice would speak up was making her all the more scared.

"You don't think those people have made it into the sewers?" Saya asked, worried.

Once again he said that he wasn't sure.

"But even if they have made it down into the second basement, it will still take them some time to get into the sewers. And it will be just as hard for them to run around in the dark as it is for us. Even more so if they're in a big group."

"And what if they already have people up ahead of us?" Kai asked, his first major attempt at speech since they were in the elevator.

No one really said anything for a few seconds.

"Well, we can handle a few of them. But it would be best if we could avoid any confrontation. We really aren't equipped for any significant battles right now. Not to mention these are educated, thinking people. Before the only intelligent enemies we would ever face were chevaliers. And if they have guns Haji is the only real factor we can rely on due to his resistance to damage."

"But I'm Saya's chevalier too, right?" Riku asked David.

She'd actually forgotten he was with them, since it was dark now and she couldn't really see anyone but Saya and David due to Saya being closer to her and David being the person closest to the light.

"You can't take that chance right now, Riku. You are not yet qualified to take an active role in protecting Saya." David responded rather bluntly.

She could hear his disappointment and would gone over and nuzzled him against her if she had the nerve to.

"But…" He began, unable to form a full sentence.

"Do not worry, Riku. In time you will become stronger. However, right now I think it is best that you allow me to do the fighting." Haji offered him, trying to make the boy feel better.

But, like with Diva being left alone, it didn't seem to make him feel any better.

It was weird, she could almost feel what he felt.

Of course, the fact that they were discussing how to protect Saya, and not her, made herself upset.

But Saya would still keep her safe, she knew that.

"Saya cares about me, even if the others don't." Diva thought to herself.

Still, she wished that she could still make chevaliers. It would make her feel better knowing there was someone who had to wish for her safety.

"I wonder how Solomon and everyone else are doing." She continued to wonder.

Now that she was human, would they still care about her? Would they try to kill Saya for turning her into a human?

She didn't know, but hoped that no one would hurt Saya. Just because her big sister would survive anything that harmed here didn't mean it wouldn't still hurt.

"Diva? Are you okay?" Saya asked her.

Though her sister probably couldn't see it, she nodded.

"Mhm."

"Have you had any…problems?"

She didn't understand what Saya meant at first, but soon put it together.

"No. Not yet."

But that was what really bothered her.

Why hadn't it shown up?

Was it gone now? Or was it just waiting until she was alone?

Saya knew something was bothering Diva, but she didn't know what.

Of course, there were plenty of reasons for her to be afraid; having dozens or possibly hundreds of people who wanted her dead, depending on people who quite possibly wanted the same thing, and a mysterious voice or creature that terrorized her every time she was in the darkness ranked up there.

But if she wasn't afraid of the people, and the monster or whatever it was hadn't shown up or began speaking to her, then why was she so upset?

Saya would have liked to simply sit or lie down with her little sister and her what was wrong, but this wasn't the time and certainly not the place to do that.

"David, do you know if we are close to the pier?" She asked, trying to keep her voice somewhat quiet so that it at the very least wouldn't echo.

He was the only one with a flashlight, so it was possible to make out his form running ahead of them.

"I can't tell yet. But I'm sure we are heading in the right direction. At the rate we're going, we should be there in a few minutes. The pier is not very far from the hotel, since it's near the waterfront."

That was a relief of sorts.

The quicker they could get out of these dark, dank sewers, the sooner they, but most especially Diva, would be able to calm down.

Riku's commitment towards trying to become a better chevalier was also a problem, as she knew that no matter how physically strong his new body would make him, he really didn't have it in him to fight like she and Haji did.

And was Kai really over trying to kill Diva? Or was he just holding back for now? She trusted him to stay away from her while they were both in the same room, but what if they were separated and Kai was alone with Diva?

There were quite a few things for her to think about as they ran through the sewers. And soon she wasn't even paying attention to the subterranean trip as her body carried both her and Diva along the walkways.

A whirlwind of thoughts were fighting against each other to be at the eye of the storm; of her attention.

Before she knew it, the sewers themselves has disappeared and in front of them stood a large grate.

The waste from either the sewer or the pier came in or out of it, and the thing looked solidly affixed to the walls.

It would be difficult, even for a chevalier, to get it open.

Of course… they were fortunate enough for there to be a service entrance that they could use, so that wouldn't be necessary.

However, there was a lock in the door which David had to stop to "work" on, but she hadn't heard any footsteps other than theirs and still didn't hear any now, so there was no rush.

The fact that they hadn't come across any working lights after the initial "mega blackout" suggested that whoever had come after Diva knew where they escaped to.

That lights from the streets above could be seen shining through the sewer-grates also seemed to say that the sudden failure of the sewers' light were not simply a coincidence, as they had all expected it wasn't.

A loud click was heard as David succeeded in picking the lock on the service door, and he pushed it open while drawing out his revolver.

The seemingly-bright lights of Red Shield headquarters' light seemed to contrast the blackness of the sewers more than the sun contrasted the dark side of the moon as Lewis, David and Joel exited the sewers.

She began walking through the doorway herself when Diva suddenly stopped walking, causing Saya to look over at her.

Though it was now hard to see since her eyes had been exposed to light once again, she could tell that her little sister was trying to ignore something.

But she didn't get the chance to ask what the problem was before they were both pushed out through the doorway, loosing their footing and falling face-first on the cement outside.

She heard Riku call out her name as he ran over to them and tried to help her up.

"Are you two okay?' He asked.

"I'm fine." Saya told him, looking back down at Diva, who had returned to normal somewhat.

She at least didn't seem to be hearing anything anymore, and nodded as she was helped up.

"What happened?" Saya asked him, looking back into the doorway as both Kai and Haji came out.

Riku shook his head before saying he didn't know.

"What happened to the back of your shirt?" He asked.

Now that he mentioned it, her back did feel a bit chilly.

"What do you mean?" She asked him, obviously not in a position to examine it herself.

"It's torn. Like someone grabbed it."

She blinked, trying not to show how surprised she was.

Diva had heard that monster or whatever it was from time to time for quite a while now.

But Saya herself had never seen any physical evidence that there was in fact an actual monster.

"Oh, don't worry. It must have just gotten torn when we fell. It's no big deal." She responded, trying to sound cheerful.

"It's no big deal." She repeated to herself.