“Everyone has a choice. (Kiara)No, princess, they don’t. Choices aren’t always up to us. Life and circumstances can shred even the stoutest soul. No matter how pure and untainted you think you are, I promise you that you, too, can be shoved into the darkness, just like we were. (Syn)”

“I just don’t see how anyone can be so cold. (Kiara)And you should be grateful, little girl, to whatever god you worship, that you can say that. In the world we come from, I don’t understand how anyone can be anything but cold. (Syn)”

“I never lied to you. (Kiara)Of course you did –you said you could see the real us– that we weren’t as bad as we claimed. But you didn’t and, just like everyone else, so long as we risk our lives to protect and save you, we’re okay. But the moment we have to make a choice not ours, the moment you see what our pasts have made us, you’re horrified by the truth and hate us for it like we had some kind of choice in what we are. (Syn)”

“I can tell you love him. (Syn)Yeah, like a boil in my nether regions. (Kiara)”

“I’m not a child. Don’t talk to me like I am. (Kiara)No, you’re worse. You’re an adult who still thinks the world is a beautiful place, filled with people who will help you just for the sake of being nice. Wake up and smell the bloodbath and humility the rest of us have to cope with. (Syn)”

“You can’t protect yourself. No matter how safe you think you are. No matter how much precaution you take, the rodents always find a way in.’ (Kiara)”

“Don’t you dare mock me. I’ve seen more pain than you can even imagine. (Kiara)Yeah, your mother was shot dead in front of you. Boo-hoo. So what? You think you’re the only one who ever lived through that? My father was publicly executed for the entire Ichidian Universe to watch. The saddest part of that is I just wish I’d been the one who’d gassed the bastard. (Syn)”