“My mother’s dying and may not live through the week. So, yes, I’d rather die trying to save her than live with the guilt of wondering if I could have. If you can’t understand caring that much for someone you love then you’re one coldhearted bastard. (Abbie)”

“I’ve spent my entire life listening to people tell me why I can’t be loved and how I’m nothing but a worthless piece of shit. I always told myself that I didn’t care, that I didn’t need anyone else. It was a lie, you know. I do care and I want Kiara. If it costs me my life to be with her, it doesn’t matter. I’ve already lived past my prime, anyway. I get up every morning with more pain in my joints than the day before. If I have to die, I’d rather die knowing someone cared about me, just once. Is that really too much to ask? (Nykyrian)For us? Yes. It is. We are the gutter and the gutter is all we’ll ever be. Don’t reach out for the stars. They’ll burn you until there’s nothing left. (Syn)Then let me burn. (Nykyrian)”

“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)”

“I have to try. I can’t leave him there. You don’t understand, Vik. I love him, and I can’t let him pay for something I did. I don’t care what it takes, we have to save him. (Alix)Those words, little girl, just saved your life. (Shahara)”

“So eager to die are you? (Zakar)Not particularly, but I’d rather go down clubbing Kessar than from boredom. (Kat)”

“Go and rot, you worthless bastard. (Artemis)I may be a worthless bastard, but better that than a frigid whore who sacrificed the only man to ever love her because she was too self-absorbed to save him. (Acheron)”

“… Damned is the soul that dies while the evil it committed lives on. And the most damned of allare those who see the evil coming for others and refuse to confront it. For it is not out of fear thatheroes are born, but rather out of their selfless love that will not allow them safety bought fromthe torture, death, and degradation of others. It is better to die in defense of another than to livewith the knowledge that you could have saved them but chose to do nothing.And to those who think that one person cannot make a difference, I say this … the deadliest tidalwave begins as an unseen ripple in a vast ocean. Live your life so that your integrity will motivateothers to strive for excellence long after you’ve passed on, and know that no good deed orsacrifice, or offer of sincere friendship or love, is ever forgotten by the one who receives it.”