Becoming Human

It was still raining several hours later as Duo navigated his way through New Orleans. Duo finally found Orleans street, and turned, looking for the Inn. Duo drove slowly, as not to miss it. Near the end of the block, he found it, but then realized that he needed to find a place to park. Seeing that no one was behind him, he stopped to consider his options. It was then that a man with long, pale blond hair came out the door of the in, and approached his window.
Duo rolled it down as the man neared. \"Are you Duo Maxwell?\" The man asked as he reached the truck. Duo nodded. \"Dou you know where I can park my truck?\" he asked, rdlyrdly marveling at the bright blue of the man\'s eyes.
The man nodded. \"That\'s why my wife sent me out here,\" he said. \"There\'s an entrance right over there,\" Duo followed where the man was pointing, and saw what looked like a small, gated alley. \"I\'ll go unlock the gate, and you can come right in. My name\'s Zechs Marquise, by the way.\" He brought his hand up to window level. Duo reached out to clasp it, the gesture starting to get familiar.
\"Nice to meet you, Zechs.\"
\"Same here,\" the man replied. \"Now let me get that gate for you.\" He turned and made his way over as Duo pulled the truck up.
It was with a weary relief that Mom and the family poured out of the truck. Zechs opened up the back door for them, and in they came, each with one bag over their shoulder, which amounted to everything the family had ever owned.
Inside the door was room where they were greeted by a towel bearing maid, who was accompanied by a woman with short, dark hair, who introduced herself as they rubbed themselves dry.
\"I\'m Lulu LeBeau,\" she said. \"Welcome to my inn. As soon as you\'re ready, I can take you upstairs and let you choose your rooming arrangement.\"
Mom handed her towel back to the maid. \"I am Heren, mother of six and one. I thank you for your welcome and hospitality. I think we are ready now.\" The rest of the family followed Mom\'s example, handing the towels back to the maid and picking up their respective bags.
Their hostess led them through a room crowded with small round tables and chairs, with a stage and piano at one end, and a bar at the other. \"This is the LaFitte Room,\" Lulu said. \"Two nights a week we\'ve got live music that a lot of the locals come t\' hear. There\'s nothin\' t\'night, but me and my husband are on for tomorrow, along with a couple kids from the College of Music uptown.\"
Duo\'s interest was piqued. \"You\'re a musician?\" he asked.
\"Sho\' nuff,\" she said. \"I\'m a singer, and my husband Zechs plays piano.\" They exited the room at the opposite end of where they\'d entered, now coming into the main lobby, which was dominated by a wide staircase, which Lulu led them up. Taking a right into the hallway at the top, they saw that there was a door on the right, and little hallway to the left with two doors.
\"On the right is the South Facing Room, it\'s the biggest one on the floor. To the left is the South Facing suite-it\'s two rooms, with a connecting door between. Cost is about the same for either, and you can select the style of bedding you want-two mattresses per room, or one pile of cushions and pillows. Again, price is comparable. And, since Hilde\'s the one who sent ya to us, there\'s a discount, which we\'ll figure when we add up the tab at the end of your stay.\"
Mom thought for a moment. \"We\'ll take the suite,\" she decided. \"But, could we have perhaps one mattress and perhaps a smaller pile of cushions in one room? The youngest four and Duo will stay in one room, and Duo needs to start getting used to human things like mattresses.\"
Lulu nodded. \"No problem.\" She reached a hand into a pocket, withdrawing two sets of keys. \"Here are the room keys. Right now both rooms have cushions, so we\'ll bring in a bed for whatever room Duo and the children choose.\"
Mom, Dad and Duo looked at each other. Duo shrugged. \"Me, Ylan, Ian, Karick and Roanna can take the room at the end, y\'all can have the room here in front of us.\"
Mom nodded. \"Sounds good to me,\" she said.
Lulu smiled, handing over the keys to Mom and Duo. \"Your bed will be here in just a few minutes.\" She said. \"And dinner will be in about forty-five minutes.
Duo walked into the room, and immediately walked over to the window, bag still pulling on his shoulder. Across the street he saw a garden surrounded by a wrought iron fence. The far end was bounded by a rather old looking church. Lifting his eyes to the steeple he saw an old clock beneath a bell. The garden below was shaded with large trees, their gnarled branches reaching out to form a canopy over the entire area.
\"Admirin\' de view?\" a voice asked behind him. Turning, he saw two maids wheeling in a contraption of metal, fabric and padding.
\"Yeah,\" he said. \"What is that place?\"
The maid who had spoken gave him a curios look. \"Why, dat be St. Antiny\'s Gard\'n\" she said, undoing some catches on her side of the contraption. \"And de buildin\' behin\' is St. Louis Cathedral.\" Duo watched as they unfolded a bed right before his eyes, needing only to tuck in sheets and place the pillow on top.
He turned to look back out again. \"What are those trees called?\" he asked, for he\'d never seen anything grow quite like that.
\"Dose \'re oak trees,\" she replied. \"Where you from you never seen \'em befo\'?\"
Duo grinned. \"The middle of nowhere,\" he said. \"The Sonoran Desert. In some areas, they get the occasional centuries old sequoia, but there were no trees near where I grew up. Well, unless you count cacti as trees, which would be weird.\" The maid joined him at the window, while the other arranged the pillows to his siblings\' liking.
\"Well, then\" she said to him. \"Dose plants dere are ginger-dey bloom up real pretty and white at de right time o\' de year. And dere along de fence is some holly bushes-de cats like to hide in dere and watch de ol\' Pirate\'s ghost at nighttime-dey do seem to like him.\"
Duo lifted an eyebrow, glancing at her sidelong. \"The old Pirate\'s ghost?\"
\"Oh yeah,\" she breathed. \"Ol\' Jean Lafitte. I guess I shouldn\'ta called \'im a pirate, cuz \'e wouldn\'ta liked dat. He liked t\'be called a privateer, or corsair. \'peared outta no where he did an\' help fight off de British durin\' the War o\' Independence. See dat alley over to de right o\' de Garden?\" she pointed and Duo nodded. \"Well, dat\'s called Pirate\'s Alley, cuz dat\'s where his men use t\'sell dere booty. An\' if dey needed to duel, why, dat\'s what de Garden waz dere fo\'. But den, years after de War, he dis\'peared again, never again seen. \'Cept his ghost, which use t\'be seen wandrin\' down de Alley, guardin\' his treasure. But people haven\'t been seein\' him as much recently. Not since Starbucks bought out de café dat use t\'be dere. Den dey put up dat horrible lightin\', sayin\' it was de policy o\' all Romefeller subsid\'ries t\'have a buncha lights at night. I kin see why, but dey did too much, an I don\'t tink ol\' Jean likes dat. I don\' tink dat he likes Romefellar neither. But mebbee I tink dat cuz I sho don\'t!\"
Duo frowned. The name \"Romefeller\" was tugging on his new memories. Somehow, that was important. \"Who are Romefeller?\" He asked the maid.
Her eyes popped open. \"Boy, you did grow up in de middle o\' nowhere!\" she laughed lightly. \"Romefeller is one o\' de biggest companies on de planet. Dey an\' Disney an\' Winner own \'bout seventy percen\' o\' everyt\'ing dere is, untimately. Winner\'s de only decent comp\'ny in de lot of \'em. But mos\' say dat really, Romefeller even owns Disney, as well as Starbucks, MacDonalds, Coca-Cola, Wal-mart and Paramount, \'s well as a whole lot o\' other dat I can\'t tink o\' right now. Anyway, I don\' like em cuz dey jes\' walk all over anybody dat dey don\' like. Like dey own de whole darn planet. Forcin\' people outta bizness, takin\' over an\' firin\' everybody who worked dere befo\'. T\'aint right!\"
Duo walked over and sat on the edge of his bed, while Ian and Karick argued who was gonna have the bathroom next. \"Sounds like you have personal experience,\" he said.
The she gave him a wry look. \"Yeah,\" she said. \"I use t\'work in dat lil\' café in de Alley,\" she sounded somewhat wistful. \"I don\' know what we woulda done if Miss Lulu hadn\'ta come along when she did. She\'da heard dat we was gonna loose our jobs, so she jes\' walked over one day, said to us, \'Well, you know I\'m opening an Inn \'cross de way, don\'t tink me an my husband kin do it all alone, so if ya want, ya kin come work for me when your jobs en\' here.\' An\' she was true t\'her word. Over we came de nex\' week, an\' filled out de papers, an\' here we are. \'Cuz o\' her, my lil\' girl and me still gotta home, an\' I can even get her stuff for Chris\'muss.\"
Duo smiled. \"Your daughter sounds like a real lucky girl to have a mother like you.\" He saw her blush beneath her dark skin. \"Of course,\" he added, \"since I remember my mother\'s death quite clearly, I appreciate any woman who cares for children, even if they\'re not her own.\"
\"Dat how ya came t\'be wit\' de saurs?\"
\"Yeah,\" he sighed, digging into his bag. \"Mom found me after it happened, wrapped in this blanket and with my little friend here.\" Duo pulled out a bundle. Unwrapping it, the maid saw that it was a worn, well-loved plush bat and an old, embroidered blanket. He grinned. \"Mom\'s taken good care of me ever since that day, and screw what a buncha other humans think.\"
The maid smiled. \"Dat\'s right boy,\" she walked over to the door, for she still had other work to do. \"Blood ain\'t de only ting that makes ya what y\'are, though it do have some effect. But I kin see dat both yo\' momma\'s cared for you, which must be how ya turned out so nice. But look, I still got some work to do befo\' dinner, so I\'ll leave ya for now.\"
She started to walk out. \"Hey Ma\'am,\" Duo called. \"I didn\'t get your name. Mine\'s Duo.\"
She smiled. \"Well, honey, you kin jes call me Maggie.\" Then she closed the door.
Duo stared at the blanket and bat in his hands, then gasped.
\"Oh, Foo-foo, you\'ve got a hole in your shoulder!\" he exclaimed. \"Hm. I\'ll ask Mom at dinner if she\'s got a needle and thread in her bags. In the meantime, we\'ll just have to be careful.\" He gently laid the bad on the nightstand near the bed, then looked at the blanket. It was old and faded, but he could tell that the threads had once been bright, joyful colors. It was a dark grey, bordered with bat shapes in rainbow colors. In the center were the only words he remembered from his mother, though he couldn\'t bring the sound of her voice to his mind.
Hey, Little Bat, it\'s time to hang upside down
Mommy Bat and Daddy Bat will cuddle up near
It\'s three bats to a square inch!
And in the morning, when you turn right-side up
And echolocate for me, we\'ll all go catch bugs together.
But, someday, Mommy Bat and Daddy Bat may not come back
Never Fear, Little Bat!
There are other Bats out in the world, go find them!
The lizards will care for you until you do, so don\'t worry,
Though watch out for wild cats, for they may hunt you
Don\'t forget that you can fly, for love grants invisible wings
Upon which all bats take wing!
When Duo had first learned to read, none of this had made sense to him. It was Solo who found some old books that talked about bats, and reading them, Duo had begun to understand what his mother had sewn in. Though honestly, much of it still puzzled him. Like, what were the \"other bats\", and what were the \"wild cats?\" He supposed he\'d figure it out someday. In the meantime, what he did understand is what mattered. His mother and father had indeed cared for him deeply. And one other thing. He knew that most humans, unlike Cliff-hoppers, were named at birth. Duo had no idea what his mother and father had named him, but he knew what they called him in his dreams. There they called him Little Bat.


Duo curled up, snuggling deeper into the pillow and Foo-foo, trying to escape the inevitable.
\"Duo, wake up,\" came the voice of Ian.
\"No,\" Duo replied in a polite, if very sleepy tone. \"Upside down.\"
\"C\'mon Duo,\" Ian insisted. \"You gotta eat breakfast, and then Mr. Marquise is gonna take you to some local dealers so you can sell some of that stuff you got from Shinigami so we can actually have some money. He said that the people at the market are all \'disreputable lying cheats that wouldn\'t know good quality if it bit them in the nose.\' But he said he knows some people who\'ll treat you with respect and won\'t try to mess with you, especially with him there. So you gotta get up, because he had to make appointments, and you don\'t wanna be late if you wanna make a good deal!\"
Duo whimpered. Dammit, why does he have to make so much sense so early in the morning?
Ian finally lost his patience, so reached under the covers and pulled Foo-foo out of Duo\'s grasp, which was more than enough to get him going.
An hour later Zechs and Duo walked out onto the street, Duo with his bag slung over his shoulder. He\'d emptied all the unnecessary things out of it-now it only held what he was off to sell.
As they walked along, Zechs turned to him. \"So, what\'s with the priest clothes?\" he asked.
Duo shrugged. \"The only human guy I knew growing up was Father Maxwell, and he only wore clericals. Mom was pretty clueless when it came to human clothes, to Father Maxwell would get me a set for every set he got. It worked out real well.\"
Zechs frowned. \"Wasn\'t all that black hot in the desert?\"
Duo shook his head. \"I didn\'t wear the black over-shirt during the day, only when sunset approached and things started to get chilly. During the day it was just the white shirt and black pants. And since I grew up there, and spent as much time as I could in the shade, it really didn\'t matter. But since this is a somewhat formal occasion, I thought I should wear the black shirt as well, so I don\'t look quite so much like John the Baptist coming in from the desert to proclaim the year of the Lord.\"
Zechs gave a crooked grin. \"And here I told them you\'d be easy to soften uptheythey got you a plate of chocolate-covered locusts.\" Duo laughed, and they walked in friendly silence for a few steps.
\"So,\" Duo broke in. \"You and Lulu don\'t sound like you\'re from around here. Are you from where Hilde\'s from?\"
Zechs nodded. \"Actually, yes, we are. We\'re old friend of Hilde\'s parents.\" He glanced sidelong at Duo. \"You interested in her? She\'ll eventually be going back east, I could set you up.\" His voice was only half serious, which was good, because Duo shook his head.
\"Ah, no thanks,\" he said. \"She\'s real nice and all, but I don\'t think she\'s my type.\"
\"Oh? And what is your type?\" Zechs was curious.
Duo laughed. \"Well, I don\'t know. I mean, I\'ve not met many other humans, so I wouldn\'t have any clue until I get to know a few more.\"
Zechs nodded, and with a conviction that even he felt was odd, said, \"Don\'t worry Duo, you\'ll find an angel who suits you perfectly. Though, it\'ll probably be a little rough at first.\" His eyes widened. That felt like-a very rare occurrence. But, he thought, it just makes me even more sure that he is the missing one. It\'s never come like that.
Further chance for thought or comment was precluded by their arrival at their destination. Zechs let himself and Duo in, sitting in the waiting room after giving their names to the woman at the front desk. So they sat, gazing at impressionist works of the Mississippi and Le Vieux Carre, until a man came out from the doors behind the desk.
\"Ah, Mr. Zechs,\" he sighed, rubbing his hands together. \"It is good to see you again. And this must be your associate, Mr. Duo. I\'m Jean LaFleur.\" They shook hands in greeting, and Jean led them into the back room, to a table around which were seated another man and two saurs. Introductions were given all the way around, and then they settled down to business.
\"So,\" began the Vegetian named Pouri. \"I understand that you, Mr. Duo, have something rather unusual that you thought we might be interested in. Please, do show.\"
Duo opened his bag, and remembered Zechs\' advice from earlier. \"Lay out the small, less valuable stuff first.\" He had said. \"So long as they don\'t know you have better, you can make a killing here and still keep a lot in savings for later.\"
So Duo pulled out a few of the lower quality pieces of leather, and the three smallest teeth. \"They\'re rock crusher.\" He said.
Mr. Pouri snorted. \"Zechs, is this what you have brought us? Dyed leather and and cat fangs?!\"
One of the humans, a Mr. Laure Savoie, interrupted. \"Pouri, take a closer look.\" Taking out a knife, he drew the blade along the surface of the leather, where not a single mark was left. \"This blade is razor sharp, and it\'s not leaving a mark. The only thing this can be is rock crusher. And it\'s not dyed, because the Rock Crusher leather is formed in such a way that dyes take to the surface, but never sink. This, if you look at the edges, is evenly colored all the way through, even when I slice a bit off. So, it\'s naturally occuring. Naturally black rock crusher leather. Very rare indeed.\"
Mr. Pouri had calmed down. \"How rare?\" He asked.
The other saur, an African tree salamander named Mr. Tunde, spoke up. \"It\'s pretty much unheard of. Rock crusher skin is a greyish shade in life, which usually turns silver when tanned. For it to turn black would mean severe malnutrition over a long span of time, say, fifteen to twenty years. There\'s no place in Africa where a rock crusher could live that long with that sort of problem. And besides, rock crushers aren\'t killed in Africa. The only way anyone gets leather is if its donated by the family, and then, it\'s all registered.\"
The one human who hadn\'t spoken yet, a Mr. Sean Mulligan, spoke up now. \"Which means that it\'s not from Africa, but there\'s only one rock crusher who fits that description. This must be part of the hide of that insane rock crusher, the one called Shinigami.\"
Duo\'s eyes narrowed in annoyance. \"He wasn\'t insane, only partly psychotic.\"
There was a moment of silence. The vegetian looked at Duo again. \"Surely you are not the one who finally killed him. You\'re much too small.\"
\"Yeah, yeah,\" Duo said. \"And humans can\'t take egetegetians. But I still beat the crap outta one in Lake Charles yesterday.\"
There was another moment of silence, before Mr. Sean spoke up again. \"Well, I\'m interested even if Mr. Pouri isn\'t . Two hundred credits for each of the teeth, and five hundred for the leather.\" Duo calculated quickly, keeping his expression schooled-eleven hundred credits! He\'d never seen that much money before!
But Zechs interrupted his thought. \"Mr. Sean Mulligan, where is your
vaunted southern hospitality that you would insult my associate so?! Sure, he may be a wild boy from the middle of the desert, but he knows the cost at which these goods were obtained. Do not think he will soon forget it.\"
Duo narrowed his eyes, catching Zechs\' drift. \"Indeed,\" he said. \"Such a paltry amount is a disgrace to the memory of my best friend, who died at the hands of Shinigami, as did others I knew-may God rest their souls.\"croscrossed himself piously before continuing. \"Do not insult them to my face.\"
With these words, the rest of those gathered suddenly hit upon what an investment lay in the table before them. Sales schemes lit up in their heads all at once, and the bidding began.

An hour later, Zechs and Duo left, the latter poorer by a scrap of leather and three ivory teeth, but richer by a number that his mind was having trouble processing.
\"You did well in there, Duo.\" Zechs said as they walked back to the inn. \"That should be enough to get your family settled in Chesapeake when you get there. Keep the rest until you need it-and remember what you sold that stuff today for. What you\'ve got in that bag is one of a kind, and smart dealers will know that and do anything they can to get a piece.\" He sighed. \"I\'m glad Laure got the leather-he\'s a good man, and he deserves to get a good break like that. And Mr. Tunde will make sure those teeth are well cared for.\"
\"But, why wasn\'t Mr. Jean bidding?\" Duo asked. \"He just sat there silently the whole time.\"
Zechs smiled. \"Mr. Jean is not a dealer, he is just a facilitator. Those dealers paid him to use that room. The prestige of being involved in that deal will get him many more customers. See, dealers are quite superstitious, so they\'ll connect their own acquisition of rare items with the place. They tell friends, the friends hear and want some of the luckl to rub off. Mr. Jean comes out well.\"
\"Then,\" Duo asked. \"You\'ll come out well, too. Because you were the one who brought the goods around. So they\'ll remember you. But, will they remember me?\"
\"You\'re catching on,\" Zechs said. \"It\'s possible that they\'ll remember you, but to them, you\'re just a hunter, kind of a lower class. They might remember you if they had to, but more likely they\'ll remember me as the contact for you. It\'s a formality that\'s worked for hundreds of years.\"
Duo thought for a moment. \"I think I like it that way,\" he said. \"I\'m not sure that I want people I don\'t know talking about me. I mean, who knows who will hear what.\"
A pale eyebrow lifted. \"It\'s good that you can see it that way,\" was all he said. After another moment, he added, \"Tell ya what, in celebration of this momentous deal, after you drop your bag off, I\'ll take you and whoever\'s around to get beignets. Sound good?\"
Duo grinned. \"Yeah, sounds good.\"


Noin looked up as Zechs entered her office, his usually immaculate appearance spoiled by a dusting of powdered sugar.
\"You took him out for beignets, didn\'t you?\" she asked.
He managed to look somewhat guilty. \"Yeah, but love, you should have been there! He\'s now one of the richest teenagers I know of, and everything he does, and says, it all fits. I know I shouldn\'t hope too much until we get some solid confirmation but-\" he was cut off by her finger on his .
\.
\"I wasn\'t idle while you boys were out,\" she said, and handed him to sheets of paper. \"These are the photos of Number Two\'s parents. I got Howard to send them over, provided we burn them before a day has passed. I\'ve already erased the file.\"
Zechs could do nothing but stare. One was a woman, her long, chestnut hair lit with copper, the other a man with violet eyes. \"He has his mother\'s face,\" he whispered, falling roughly into the chair that Noin had strategically placed.
\"And his father\'s eyes, I know.\" She replied. \"I can\'t think of anything more solid short of a DNA reading, and that will have to wait until Sally gets to see him.\" She leaned over to wrap her arms about his neck from behind. \"But I think it\'s safe to say we found him.\" She pecked him on the check and he sighed.
\"Have you contacted Une and Treize yet?\" he asked.
Noin shook her head. \"No, we\'re supposed to keep that sort of thing to a minimum. I figure we\'ll call her as soon as he leaves, two days should be enough warning for her.\" She smiled. \"In the meantime, we have a performance tonight, and now we know just how special our audience will be. I suggest we start getting ready.\"

So this is jazz, Duo thought as he sat in the dimness of the LaFitte room, lilstening to the music coming from Zechs\' piano. He\'d heard about it in the desert, but he never actually heard any of it. He could understand why people liked it so much. The combination of those brushes on the drums, the walking bass, the piano and muted trumpet made for a mellow, relaxing sound.
He sighed. He and his family had come down about ten minutes before to find that a table near the stage had been reserved for them. It was a good thing, because it seemed that Zechs and Noin were a very popular couple, and the room was near exceeding capacity. Mom had seen the bar and decided that it was time for Roanna to learn to isolate alcohol. It was probably one of the best kept secrets in the world that female cliff-hoppers could consciously regulate the chemical makeup of their bodily fluids, such as blood, saliva, and sweat. They did this using varied methods, but the effecs ths the same-female cliff-hoppers were immune to most any poison, and could kill, or heal, with a bite. It was how Litza had thrown Shingami off his trail the day Solo died, and even how Mom had kept Duo alive during his early life. They had a million reasons to give as to why cliff-hopper females never got drunk, or were never affected by poison. If discovered, a female would claim that she had no idea how it happened. And since cliff-hoppers were so rare, it was illegal to conduct any sort of research on them unless they themselves asked for it. Which was almost never.
Duo\'s musings were interrupted by the end of the piece the musicians had been playing, which was greeted by muted applause. Zechs pulled a microphone over to his mouth, thanking the crowd, and introduced his fellows-Jamal on the trumpet, Dave on percussion, and Derek (a roman land-finch) on bass. He sat back as the crowd applauded more, then leaned forward again.
\"Now there\'s one more person who I know y\'all\'ve been waiting for. She\'s gonna start out tonight with a special song she doesn\'t sing much, so this is a special treat for us. Ladies and gentlemen, my wife, Lulu LeBeau.\" The house lights went out to the sound of the audience abandoning its former reserve. A spotlight hit the curtain on stage, which parted briefly, to the accompaniment of appreciative whistles, allowing Lulu to step forward to the mike stand.
Duo was amazed. He\'s never seen a female human \"dressed up\" before, and the effect was amazing. She was wearing a long, clingy black silk dress, slit up the side to mid-thigh. It was sleeveless, the top narrowing to a collar about the neck, beneath which a diamond-shaped hole was cut out at mid-chest, revealing nothing but a silver cross dangling on her chest, which was complimented by the silver dangly earrings that dripped from the sides of her face.
She waited patiently while the applause died down to an expectant hush. Zechs played a few measures, stopped. And into the silence, she began the introduction.

You were my soldier ~~
With an ever ready grin ~~
A liking for kittens,
For chocolate
And gin . . .

The drums and bass came in at this point, the piano playing soft chords underneath, and the song started in earnest.

I kissed you goodbye
As you dried my eyes
When you left for the War of Ninety-two
I told you to remember me
Eat well, and finally
\"Don\'t let Death get to you.\"

Come year ninety-five
I see with my eyes
Just what all that darkness can do
I see that you remember me
Eaten well, and yet I see
You let Death get to you.

Over and over
They scream in you head
Still lookin\' for the sleep you loose
When you go to bed.
The fear inside won\'t let you live
The pain won\'t let you die
And over and over
Your bath becomes blood
As you wail and ask \'em
\"Why?\"
I…

I still sing my song
As the war rages on
Hopin\' for somethin\' I can do
I kiss your grave, I walk away
Take your gun, I hear you say
\"Don\'t let Death
Don\'t let Darkness
Don\'t let the Pain ~~~~

Just don\'t let Death
Get to
You ~~~

Noin held out the final note until it tapered into nothingness. There was a moment of stunned silence before the house broke out in mass approval.