The traumatic childhood memory concerning his adoption was erased from Doppio's mind, protecting him from the hard truth, keeping him safe. After experiencing something like this, shattering his perception of reality, a split personality was formed, a second person entirely, to bear the trauma and fears, to keep him safe. Although Diavolo was very strong willed, and able to carry the heavy burden of memories, the flashbacks and voices in his head would drive him crazy. His irrational anxiety towards people finding out his identity, he always thought about the day his real mother was released from prison, and seemingly without even trying, she was able to track him down, able to find him and nearly take him. Never again, he thought, it would never happen again. Nobody could ever know who he was that easily, he told himself.

It was happening more and more frequently that Doppio would be working or busy with something, when approached by Donatella. She was very polite and would greet him and start smalltalk, the usual meandering nonsense, but it always seemed to lead to the same question.

"...Yes, the weather has been nice recently, that reminds me, I've not seen Diavolo in a long time, it's weird, I used never run into him the same way I do everyone else in this town, before we met. Have you seen him? I used to see him by the market, or in the parking lot or something, but we never talked for more than a few minutes. It's been some time since I've seen him though. I hope he didn't just leave, I wouldn't put it past him, seems like the kind of thing he would do," she said, concerned, finally making it to her burning question,

"Really? I just saw him yesterday afternoon, and we talked on the phone this morning, he's out and about, he used to work for a fisherman untangling the nets when he was younger, but he was bored with that and found another job, I'm not sure what his job is now, maybe he is just busy working" Doppio told her, not at all bothered at being interrupted,

"Oh, okay. I hope I get to see him again, he's really... charming, I'm just daydreaming, sorry." she said, trying to not sound like she had a crush,

"Just wondering, since you are always hanging out with Diavolo, did he say anything about me?" she asked,

"Umm, well I asked if it was true that you had met him, and he said yes, when I asked him why he just said that you caught his eye and he wanted to meet you," he tried to give away the least information about what Diavolo said, being a loyal friend, but he realized that Donatella seemed to like him, and he didn't want to lie and hurt her feelings after all. If only she really knew what he'd said, he did like her, no matter how he tried to cover it up with whatever 'love is fake' nonsense, he didn't want Donatella to get her feelings hurt and think he was completely uninterested. He was so difficult sometimes, she was the only person he'd ever caught feelings for, she obviously liked him, but he had to go ignore her and be weird about it.

That afternoon, Diavolo had switched with Doppio to attend to some personal matters, work, or so he thought of it. He had worked for a fisherman until he was fourteen or fifteen, after that he decided he needed a more lucrative job. At the parking lot, sometimes people would sell weed, and stuff like that. The idea was to buy it in small amounts, then put some dried up plants in to make it seem like much more, and then sell it to other people for more money. This worked great, and made money quick. The hardest part was hiding this whole business from Doppio, who would be extremely confused at finding any of this.

Deals of this sort took place in a parking lot, it was a few kilometers walk home since he couldn't drive a car. This gave him time to think about what Donatella had said to Doppio, he didn't even have to try to win her over, it seemed she was already head over heels and looking for him around town. It had been three weeks since they had met for the first time, since then she had run into him randomly (as far as she knew) quite often, to the point they were friends. After not seeing him for a few days she got worried, that did make him happy.

Based on what she had told Doppio that morning, Diavolo had an idea of where she would be, he decided to take a longer route home and by chance he would see Donatella there. Why not? It was a nice afternoon, he justified.

The more scenic path, a dirt road that winded through a little orchard of apple trees, and along the side of the cliff by the ocean, waves hitting the side of it, almost making the ground shake. The path led him to a small bridge, over a man-made river where tourists would throw coins for good luck. He wasn't particularly amazed by the scenery, having lived there for so many years made taking a walk like that boring.

About a half a kilometer to the houses, Diavolo spotted the young lady sitting in a folding chair just off the path where the sand started. She didn't notice him since she was reading a book, so he walked over to her, stepping awkwardly as the sand poured into his leather shoes. Donatella was wearing a straw sun hat and frilly two piece bathing suit. She noticed someone approaching and quickly turned her head to see who it was, a little smile and a gasp when she saw it was him,

"Oh! it's good to see you, I mean, it's been a few days since we've talked," she laughed,

"Yes, I have been rather busy these past few days, but I think I will be free for a while until summer is over," he smiled at her,

"That's good, I'll be leaving at the end of summer, and it would be a shame to not see you before I go," she said,

"That would be a shame," he put his hand on the back of her chair, and gently brushed against her hot, sunburnt, neck, making her shiver slightly,

"I think we might come back next summer which is good, I wish I could just live here, it's like paradise," she said, looking out at the boats on the horizon,

"How old were you when you moved here?" she asked,

"I was eleven," he told her, even though he disliked talking about his past, it didn't hurt to tell her something of such little importance. He watched as Donatella fixed her bathing suit, her top had been sliding down exposing more and more cleavage, she blushed and laughed nervously,

"You're so lucky to live here, it really is beautiful," she continued the conversation,

"Yes, it's a nice place," Diavolo said. He wanted to take the sand out of his shoes but knew that would ruin the mood,

"Wanna sit by the ocean?" She stood from the chair and walked farther towards the water. The idea didn't sound very appealing, but he followed and sat beside Donatella. The waves reached out to them and then were pulled back out, dragging sand and small crabs with them. She sat down and crossed her legs just past where the waves reached, the sand was barely dry and the sun was setting, creating orange and yellow on the horizon. Despite not wearing the right clothes for this, and thoroughly disliking the feeling of sitting on sand, Diavolo tolerated this,

"I don't ever think I'll get sick of looking at sunsets," Donatella filled the empty conversation,

"You know, where I live back on the mainland, I can't see the sunset from my house, it's blocked by a big building," she continued,

"School back there is so stressful, how's the school here? Nobody ever talks about it," she asked,

"I don't really attend school, there's a highschool in the town over, but I don't go,"

"That's pretty cool, my parents always make me go to school. Do your parents not mind that?"

He didn't know quite what to say to that. Of course, he had no parents,

"No, they don't care," that wasn't really a lie, he thought, since he had no parents to care in the first place.

A seagull flew by them, cawing to the rest of the flock, which was farther out in the sky,

"The beach is quiet today, there are no people swimming, and no kids running around either," Donatella said,

"I like kids, but they are particularly loud," she sighed,

"What do you think, do you want to have kids when you're older and get married?" she asked,

"I suppose so," he said, lying to please her, he had no interest in getting married or having children for that matter, but didn't feel like telling her that, since it seemed like the kind of thing she would be interested in,

"Me too, I'd like to settle down in a place like this, with my husband, have two or three kids, it sounds nice," she daydreamed. Diavolo knew that Doppio was the closest thing to a child he would ever have or want, even then he was more like a younger brother or close friend than a child, but Donatella had different plans in life, she wanted the conventional family and husband,

"My parents aren't home tonight, they're going out in the next town over, so I can really do whatever I want tonight, the house will be empty" Donatella noticed that the sun was disappearing and it would soon be time they parted ways,

"It's starting to get dark, and soon it'll be hard to see the road. Would you like to come to my house?" she asked nervously,

"Sure, that sounds like a nice idea," Diavolo said, happy with the way things had turned out. He stood up and brushed the sand off his clothes, slightly uncomfortable from the sand in his shoes and pants.

The walk back to her house was short, but they walked slowly, towards the end of the walk they stopped by the rail at the edge of the cliff, Donatella stopped to look over at the black ocean and starry night,

"I almost never see the ocean like this," she said, mesmerized. He stood behind her, his arms gently around her as she shivered slightly in the evening air, wearing only a swimsuit,

"It's getting dark, come on," he whispered in her ear, they walked briskly back to Donatella's house, trying to beat the night, and arrive before it was completely dark out.

Her house was right beside the church, her family was religious so it made sense, that was probably why she had initially started becoming friends with Doppio. He walked beside her through the tacky little house, glancing at the seashells and paintings of lighthouses that decorated it. Donatella hesitated before opening the door to her room, she finally turned the knob and they entered the charming bedroom. The sliding door was open to a balcony overlooking the ocean, and the curtains blew gently in the breeze. He wondered if the two of them were really going to do the 'devil's tango' that night, in that room. He looked at Donatella, who seemed concerned, he hoped whatever it was she was worried about wouldn't ruin the night. She looked at the floor, things on her mind preventing her from continuing with the night. she took a deep breath and reluctantly spoke,

"Hey, I really like hanging out with you, and I don't want anything to change between us, but before we go any further like this, I just want to ask you about something, I've gotta talk to you about something" she said, almost in a whisper. The mood had changed quickly, which was strange, she needed to get something off her chest before fooling around any more. This made him nervous, he wasn't quite sure what it could possibly be, but he liked the way the evening had been unfolding before this twist of fate,

"Anything. What is it?" Diavolo said. Donatella paused, she had already admitted to herself that she liked him, she felt her cheeks go red, his voice was so masculine and sensual, she was so close to him, the remaining sunlight shone through the window onto his slightly confused face, illuminating his green eyes and pink hair, she took a breath and spoke, it felt like leaping off a cliff to her,

"You see... It has to do with Doppio. I knew from the start that something was off about him, and I had the same feeling about you. It's just, weird that before I met you, I never ran into you around town, and Doppio never introduced me to you. I've never hung out with the two of you at the same time, us three are all good friends, so it's weird. I'm not stupid, I was able to put two and two together in this confusing, backwards story, I didn't want to be nosey or anything, I just wanted to figure it out. But it's true, you and Doppio are the same person, aren't you. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I've read about people who've had a traumatic event in their childhood, and develop a second personality. Of course, he doesn't know about it, he just thinks you're his friend, but that explains why the two of you are never together when their are other people around, and it must be why you always ask Doppio to call you in a room without any other people, because he really isn't talking to anyone, talking to himself, his imaginary friend or something,"

She finished, her expression was embarrassed but also a little scared, not knowing how he would react to this. Diavolo stared blankly at her, his worst fear of someone finding him out had come true, even if it was Donatella, secrets like this couldn't be known by anyone, it only takes one person to ruin everything by finding something out that they have no business knowing. He stepped towards her, eyes wide, shocked,

"Well, well, well, you are a smart girl. Aren't you clever for finding that all out by yourself." he clenched his teeth together, not sure how to deal with the problem that had just arisen. The only emotion he felt at that moment was remorse, he never should have shown himself to Donatella, even if he liked the way she looked or anything, he never should have told her anything about him let alone drag Doppio into this, that was the real mistake, that led to her finding out. She knew everything, she wasn't the ignorant fool he perceived her to be. It was so stupid to even show his face to her in the first place, or tell her his name or anything else about him. She could tell everyone in this town, he had made a huge mistake,

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, I wouldn't do that," Donatella assured him, a little scared, being alone with him after all, not sure how he would react

"You don't realize, this is extremely important, you are getting yourself mixed up in things you shouldn't." he said in a panicked voice,

"I won't tell a soul, there's nobody for me to tell! Nobody would believe me because nobody knows you!" she exclaimed, and took a step back,

"The magnitude of what you discovered is far greater than you think, you do understand that, right?" he put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her from backing up any more,

"Y-yes, I do. Believe me, I understand, and there's no one in this world I could tell, you know that! Nobody knows you, and nobody would care to believe me," she was a little scared of him, worried he might do something to her.

Diavolo knew that this was true, no one in town knew him, other than she and Doppio, and that was the way he wanted to keep it, she had no reason to tell anyone, but he still feared the truth would get out somehow, he'd have to play his cards right to stay safe,

"I don't even know how it's possible! Not a single person in the world would understand if I told them!" she assured him,

"Trust me, I care about you! I would never tell anyone," Donatella stared into his eyes, hoping he would understand.

He softened his grip on her shoulders, and closed his eyes,

"I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you were worried about. I... trust you." he gently stroked the side of her face, and sighed.

She stepped closer to him, their bodies touching, and put her arms around him, gazing into his tired eyes. She was wearing only a bathing suit, he could feel every curve of her body pressed against him. She smiled, happy to have finally told him that she knew. The light ocean breeze caressed her bare skin, and the moonlight shone on her hazel eyes.