"I wasn't. For ten years." he says quietly "I was a Nobody - a Mind and a Soul that had neither Body nor Heart. I do mean that in a quite literal way - even now I only have the barest amount of biology meant to run a heart and am mostly made up of magic. I'm real now, Xigbar is real now."

He laughs and it's not exactly innocent or free - but it's real and of good humour. "And trust me, not having biology? Drives me crazy. I was a biologist when I was Dilan."