"I can't believe she'd give up her chance to go to a better place for our sake..." Laito remarked with a respectful tip of his hat, the first to break the silence that descended upon the group.

Despite going around the house claiming that it would be a lot nicer to be dead than live among a gang of thirsty vampires, Yuuki always rejected the idea of committing suicide whenever anyone suggested that she should just end her own misery. Life, according to the petite blonde, was a gift from God. Why would she jeopardize her right to the eternal reward of paradise for a"permanent solution" to her temporary struggle in this life?

No, this act did not suit a girl with so much spiritual vitality and strength. Even when she was hindered by her weak physical condition, even when she was lonely and depressed, Yuuki always tried her best to live. To keep rolling regardless of what the universe threw at her.

"She's certainly a handful." Shu agreed solemnly. This was the one outcome he had hoped to avoid.

Kanato hugged his teddy bear, evidently upset by the scene before him. "Will she disappear? To be honest, I had grown quite fond of her."

The question introduced a second tense quiet. Their collective perspective towards Yuuki had changed because of her act of self sacrifice. Some of the boys tried to shake off the feeling, but the guilt was inescapable.

"Subaru." Ayato mumbled, his bangs covering his eyes from view. He hated how his brothers were acting like Yuuki was a goner. "Can I pull this thing out now?"

"Wait," the youngest vampire urged. "I'll do it myself."

While everyone was distracted with the fallen human, their uncle took the opportunity to escape to the underground waterway. Lord Richter was bleeding heavily from the deep wound Ayato delivered at the last second.

Ayato's sword had been laced with anti-vampire elements. It wasn't nearly as potent as the silver knife, but the damage it inflicted was enough to pack a punch on his immortality.

"I cannot perish yet." Richter gasped as he stumbled towards a spiraling staircase.

The scene was strongly reminiscent of the time Cordelia stumbled through the halls in search of help... the night that she had first died.

"Her face is getting whiter." Kanato observed with a sense of muted hysteria.

They had laid Yuuki down on a sofa and each minute that ticked by added to their dread.

"Isn't there a way to drive the bitch out of her?" Ayato asked Shu. "We can't let that demonic snake win in the end."

The eldest didn't reply, his expression grave and distant. Nobody could blame him for spacing out.

"Snake?" Kanato asked. "A Lion, A Snake, A Mare, A Swan... Wait, Yuuki couldn't possibly be the Sacrificial Bride, right?"

Laito glanced at his younger twin. "From the prophecy?"

"Yes, exactly. The pride - that's us, the nation of the vampires. And the Lion must be father since he's the king."

"The Snake is our mother?" Laito added, realization growing in his face.

Kanato nodded. "Lady Beatrix is the Mare because she was noble and strong. And the Swan-"

"Christa." Subaru finished. "Because of her delicate grace and beauty."

"Then, if we go in order, I guess Shu is the bear, Reiji is the tiger, Laito is the fox, and I'm the bird - oh! songbird - and Ayato is the dragon and Subaru is the lone wolf. So, the sheep must be all the humans that we've killed so far!" There was something so excitingly profound about discovering the answer to a centuries-old enigma. Kanato's expression suddenly darkened as he reminded himself of the tragic reality. "And Yuuki... She's the real bride."

"How ironic." Reiji stated as he left the room. "That the Sacrificial Bride would use her power to end herself and try to protect the lives of everyone else."

Ayato crouched down to hold one of her pale hands in apprehension.

"You can't just kill yourself off, pancake. I won't let you." The vampire thought, far more annoyed at himself than the present situation.

He looked at her gentle face and wondered how anyone could harm such a creature. It was a level of heartlessness that even he didn't possess. He felt like he betrayed her trust somehow by letting her get to this state.

Six words chimed incessantly in his head like a bell - "Promise that you won't hurt me."

It was the first thing she had seriously asked of him. Yet here he was, the one who had vowed to protect her, totally helpless.

"Hey... Did anyone see where Lord Richter went?" Subaru inquired.

The remaining boys looked at each other blankly. After losing someone so irreplaceable, it hardly mattered what trash like Richter attempted to do.

Laito waved away their concern. "Don't worry. I'm on it."

Reiji flipped through a thick reference book, translating ancient supernatural texts at an incredible speed.

"I just need this to work," he muttered to himself, removing his glasses to squint with ease. He took off one of the gloves and pinched the bridge of his nose with his bare fingers, sighing under the pressure of their current situation.

Reiji only allowed himself to display such weakness for a few, brief seconds before straightening up and returning to his weighty task. After all, he was the only one who could find the solution to their dilemma - the only one who could bring Yuuki back to life. A single mistake could be fatal. Such was his responsibility.

Books and papers were strewn all over the laboratory, starkly unlike his usually neat personality...

Reiji would never admit the discrepancy to any living - or nonliving - being.

Unable to bear the tension that made indoors absolutely suffocating, Subaru allowed himself to flee elsewhere. His older brothers didn't try to stop him. They must have known that he was useless now.

The vampire stood in the spot where he had almost completely opened up to Yuuki when she had been plagued by the visions of the past.

God. Why didn't he realize it back then?

Even out in the crisp night air, he had trouble breathing calmly. A sense of guilt choked him and refused loosen its hold. Yuuki tried to kill herself and it was all his fault. He didn't know how to protect anything. He only knew how to destroy whatever came within his reach.

The vampire looked down at the bloodied knife in his hands. He seemed shocked that he was still carrying the wretched weapon on his person.

"Damn it!" Subaru cursed loudly, taking his frustration out on the rose in front of him.

The pure, white flower fell apart as he sliced it in half in one, angry movement. He became increasingly upset when he noticed that the petals scattered innocently as they drifted to the cold, hard ground.

Another unnecessary death.

And yet, the night continued to wear on under a set of uncaring stars.

Eventually, his uncle made it to the hidden room behind the bookshelves. His blood had completely soaked through his clothes and dripped down his now-trembling legs. Richter descended onto his knees in front of Cordelia's equally ruined dress.

He smiled grimly. Although he had made a few taxing blunders, victory would still be his. So what if the Daughter of the Demon Lord failed to become a vampire to join him in everlasting triumph? He would not let all his work go to waste.

"I just need this." Lord Richter groaned, reaching out for the stained rose with considerable effort.

"So this is where you've been hiding her dress," Laito mused aloud. Richter's hand paused in the air.

The nephew held up a lantern with a brilliant green flame.

"I had no idea whatsoever."

"We should clean this." Ayato grumbled as he carefully tore the top part of Yuuki's black dress away from the fatal wound itself. "Actually, go fetch me a new set of clothes and a tub of water and a washcloth. She's still dirty from the lake."

"Are you planning to bathe her?"

"Don't give me that look - I'm not trying to be nasty here." The youngest triplet replied bitterly as he removed the red flower accessory from her blonde locks. "She could catch a cold or her wound could get infected if we don't disinfect it. Don't forget that she's human."

Shu and Kanato didn't bother to correct him. They fetched a maid, who promptly attended to the corpse-like girl. Ayato kicked the pair out and refused to allow anyone else in the room until Yuuki was dignified and spent the long, uneasy moments trying to help out as best as he could.

Kanato returned to the sitting room and offered one of his wedding dresses as a substitute for the ruined, black one. It was a simple piece with a sweetheart neckline and a slender white silhouette.

Shu raised one of his eyebrows when he saw it.

"It's fitting." Kanato explained quietly. "Regardless of the outcome."

Again, they waited outside the door until Ayato himself emerged. After a couple minutes, the maid excused herself and the three entered the room to find Yuuki in the same position that they had first left her but looking clean, pure, and... dead.

Ayato immediately fluttered to her side. If the situation wasn't so dire, his unusually soft behavior was almost cutely amusing.

Yuuki gasped when he tenderly poked her injury.

"That looks really painful." Kanato noted.

"Oi, pancake, wake up."

"What's going on with her?" Subaru asked from the other end of the room, inching toward the circle. In the end, his anxiety pulled him back inside.

"The Awakening has probably already started." Shu replied. "The question now is whether or not she'll survive."

"There is no precedent for an ordinary mortal to awaken with the power of a vampire, right?" Kanato's wide eyes surveyed the others.

"Yeah," Shu responded, "because no human could withstand the process."

Although he didn't show it outwardly, Shu's stomach was churning up with concern. This would be the second human that would die under his watch.

Shu never noticed that he had begun to care for the girl. It had simply happened without his knowledge... No, that wasn't quite right. He had craved her friendship ever since she had come to live with them - a desire that had ultimately stirred his sympathy for this utterly breakable creature.

"Human's are weak," he thought dejectedly. "And I am weaker." Their fragility was at fault - not the forces against them.

"But it's different this time..." Ayato grimaced, "Yuuki has that woman's heart in her."

The three brothers regarded the boy with pity and decided to suppress any form of skepticism they harbored. Ayato might have said it simply because he needed something positive to hope for.

If Yuuki didn't return, he'd be forced to kill the adulteress with his own hands, this time in Yuuki's skin.

"Now I get why you keep showing up at our house. You must of been the one to break the seal, right?" Laito continued back in the hidden room. "You should really move away while you still can. I understand that dress is an extremely dangerous object."

Richter made no response. Instead, his frown deepened.

"You look like you're wondering why I know that." The nephew chuckled. "Well, you bothered to retrieve it in the first place, and considering the fact that it's drenched with the blood of the Sacrificial Bride-"

"So you've figured out that little puzzle, have you? Congratulations. My faith in your limited intelligence has been temporarily restored."

"Hah. You clearly underestimate us. And you must've been so pleased with yourself, Uncle. I must commend you on how thoroughly you manipulated that woman..." Laito chatted with an easy manner as if they were simply gossiping over brunch.

"What are you getting at, boy? Don't waste my time with such trivial matters."

"Trivial? Hardly. You betrayed my first love." He readjusted his fedora. "Tell me - were you planning to revolt against the Vampire King once you got your hands on the power of the true sacrificial bride? What did you hope to achieve as the new head of the family?"

"It's not as simple as you think."

"Why don't you enlighten me, then?"

"Do you seriously believe I'd give up the truth to a brat like you?" Richter spat back.

Laito's smile never faltered. It was the same expression he wore when he had supposedly saved his mother.

"Isn't there anything else we can do?" Ayato demanded for the umpteenth time.

"There is, but the remedy still incomplete." Reiji answered, entering the room with a small bottle in his hand.

"It's unusual for you to come forward with an unfinished product," one of the brothers commented.

"What would complete it?" Ayato hastily asked.

"I believe it needs a piece of the woman." Reiji stated.

"But there is nothing left of her to use." Subaru voiced, arms crossed against his chest. Despair penetrated the air.

"Actually," Kanato spoke up, "I have something." The purple-haired vampire tore off Teddy's head and removed a vial from the stuffing that fluffed out. "I don't need it anymore."

"Could this be-?" Reiji didn't finish the question.

He shook the dark, powdered contents of the vial around. It wasn't really surprising when he thought about it. Rather, if anyone had bothered to gather the left overs at all, it could have even been expected of Kanato.

Reiji accepted the ashes gratefully. The liquid in his bottle changed from a muddy purple to a clear blue once he added the final ingredient. The vampire's countenance briefly relaxed into a rare smile.

Ayato mirrored the expression, "Did it do the trick?"

"We'll have to see about that."

"What do you mean?" Subaru asked with a low growl.

"This should kill Lady Cordelia once and for all. However, I have no idea if Miss Komori will come out alive - either in her original state or as a vampire. It depends on the stage of the Awakening, you see?" Reiji clutched the bottle and gazed down at their Sleeping Beauty.

"My question is whether or not you are willing to take a gamble..."

The tables were turning to their advantage. On both fronts.

"Let me set the record straight, Lord Richter." Laito declared. "I will never let you or our mother run over our lives again. This will be your permanent end."

He tossed his lantern at his uncle, who was stationed protectively in front of the ruined gown. The glass shattered on the hardwood floor and an inferno quickly engulfed the room. These enchanted flames could burn a vampire alive.

Richter, unable to move because of his wounds, recognized that his doom had finally come. The elder vampire licked his lips but made no comment as the smoke around him thickened. He stole one last glance at the weapon, the dress, he had fought so hard to secure.

The bloodied rose burned up into a crisp before his stinging eyes, and fell off the mannequin. Never again would it be of any use.

Laito bid his farewell as he turned to leave. "Next time, I'll see you in hell."

Ayato administered the remedy through a kiss - a continuation of the one that was interrupted beside the lake. A tiny stream of it fell out of the corner of Yuuki's still mouth.

The rosy color quickly returned to her pale complexion.

"Yuuki," the vampire beside her called out softly.

Pink eyes blinked open slowly. "Ayato?"

He was exceedingly pleased that his name was the first thing that she uttered upon her return. "Yo."

"I'm alive?" Yuuki looked at her hand in surprise before pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead. "What am I doing here?"

Ayato leaned back with a happy grunt.

"You don't need to know that," he said in a half-teasing manner. Yuuki rolled her head to the side.

"You're all here," she observed.

All six brothers were indeed surrounding her. They breathed a collective sigh of relief. The remedy had worked. Hoorah!

The hole in her chest healed miraculously along with any other scars or marks or bruises on her body. Despite that fact, Ayato helped her sit up, his arm underneath her with his hand resting on her opposite shoulder. The warmth hadn't returned yet, the male vampire noted, but he was sure it was only a matter of time before everything returned to normal.

"How do you feel?" Ayato asked once she was upright. Yuuki seemed dazed as she studied his face.

"... I'm thirsty."

La Fin.

A/N: Wait, what? That was the end?

Yes, that's where I'm leaving off. Their monologues after this point had effectively destroyed any character development.

So Yuuki is a vampire now. Cool. Sorry for such a choppy chapter. Erm. Yea...

Thank you for reading this fanfic. I had to re-watch the series in order to write this, and y'all probably know how I felt about that ^,^' Although my grammar has been less-than-pristine at times and the story lacked the atmosphere that the music and animation created, I think my minor edits were pretty seamless most of the time to a point where it's fairly hard to see them unless you had JUST watched the anime. Which is totally fine with me since this was intended for those already familiar with the original material... I do hope you enjoyed the more significant changes I made to the plot or the characters' behavior, like the fact that Ayato is much more playful and gentle than his sadistic canon counterpart.

If you happen to have any suggestions about something I might have done differently, please let me know. I'll be happy to go back and fix things that I missed the first few times and I love answering your questions.

EDIT: If you think this isn't a proper finale for the Diabolik Lovers storyline, feel free to head on over to my sequel called "Rebirth". Be warned: I cannot guarantee that any of that content is good ('=_=)