Title: Fish Tales
Pairing: ZeroXYuuki; minor KanameXYuuki
Warnings: Violence and death. Yay!
Summary: Zero is a merman, who has harbored a secret crush on Princess Yuuki Cross for years. When he finds out that she has been engaged to Prince Kaname Kuran, he seeks help from Shizuka, the sea witch. He has to win Yuuki's heart in a week or he'll lose both her and himself. Zero's a purty mermaid. ;o You know you wanna read it. Zeki.
Disclaimer: -Insert witty comment about how I don't own Vampire Knight here-
A/N: Yay! :3 Zero's a pretty mermaid! Anywho... This idea has been rolling around in my head for weeks, so I was finally like: "Fine! I'll write a multi-chapter fic about it! D:" Yeah... First multi-chapter fanfiction with Vampire Knight. -Waves flag- And before you ask about my oh-so "original" idea, no, I didn't steal it from the extras in the manga. D: I got this idea before I got caught up with the manga.
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Prologue
A young Zero Kiryuu's eyes opened to darkness. His moonstone hair, pale skin, and silvery fish tail contrasted deeply with the dark, rolling waters around him.
"Where am I?" he questioned weakly, looking up to scan his surroundings. As soon as he moved his head, pain shot through it. He groaned, his hands immediately rushing up to grasp it as if that would dull the aching. He floated in that position for a while, just hoping for the pain to pass. Soon it began to dissipate and with a clear mind, the merboy's memories came flooding back. Ichiru. A shark. Defending his brother. Getting slammed into a rock. Falling. Plummeting into the darkest depths of the undersea crevice.
Zero's eyes widened. What the hell was he doing just sitting here? He had to help Ichiru. Without his aid, his sickly brother would surely be eaten by that monster. The merboy kicked his flippers and sprang upward with new resolve, determination flaring in his eyes. Although, what chance did Zero, a mere child of 12 years old, have against a great white shark? However, Zero was not using logic or thinking in general. All he knew was that he had to save his younger brother. Perhaps if he distracted the shark long enough, Ichiru would at least survive.
Gaining speed as more light enveloped him, the edge of the undersea canyon was now in sight. Once he made it out of the valley, only a flat expanse of sand and the occasional boulder greeted him. No shark. No Ichiru.
A mixture of emotions surged through Zero's heart - fear, panic, anger, sadness, and guilt. Of course. What had he expected? He had probably been unconscious for hours, and Ichiru was most likely dead. Invisible tears fell from lavender orbs, mingling with the already salty water. His brother was dead, and it was all because he hadn't been strong enough to defend him. How would he ever be able to tell his parents?
Zero's eyes traced the flawless sea bottom, searching for some clue to prove him wrong. Ichiru had to be alive. He could feel it. Unfortunately, the only thing Zero found was a spear he had used to try to fight off the shark. Picking it up, he began his journey home, swimming quickly in order to burn off some mental anguish. As he neared the underwater abode, a piercing shriek met his ears followed by a familiar male voice's cry for help. His eyes widened, one word forming in his mind, Ichiru. He willed his fins to kick faster, racing to get within sight of the Kiryuu's residence.
Zero swam over an underwater hill and surveyed the chaos playing out in the family's front yard. On a normal day, he would have been greeted by clear water and a beautiful structure made entirely of white coral. It had grown into a huge clumped dome long ago with only one hole large enough for merpeople to squeeze through and a few smaller holes that the Kiryuus had used as windows. The edifice was impenetrable when it came to most predators, but it stood no chance against the strength of a great white.
The once transparent liquid that normally surrounded the coral home was cloudy with blood, and the Kiryuu's shelter was now filled with numerous large holes and cracks. In front of the home, he saw his father trying to fight off the shark with a spear similar to the one that Zero held, except it was larger and the head was made up of a strong, jagged rock instead of an easily breakable seashell. His mother was trying to force Ichiru back into the safety of the coral, although the building was losing its integrity.
"I want to help! And Zero's still out there!" cried out the younger twin, struggling against his mother.
"You can't! You're too sick, and you can barely pass those defense classes at merschool! Let us take care of this," argued the mother.
"But Zero-" protested Ichiru.
"Will be fine! Go inside," instructed his mom with a glare.
Zero's heart soared with joy, knowing that his brother was alive. He was so excited that he forgot about the shark, and stupidly shouted. "Mom! Ichiru!"
They looked up, and unfortunately, so did the shark. It abandoned its battle with the father of the Kiryuu family and sped towards Zero. Huge jaws with rows and rows of sharp, deadly, white teeth stared him in the face. His stomach did back-flips at the sight. The elder twin floated there, motionless, too scared to move. His brain was screaming to swim, but his flippers refused to obey. Unable to watch his own death play out in such a gruesome fashion, he shut his eyes and braced himself for the pain of death, but it never came.
Hearing a sickening crunch, lavender orbs automatically shot open. The water was stained completely blood red. The putrid water clogged his gills, and that horrible taste of rusty salt filled his mouth. He stared at his father for a moment, who simply smiled sadly at him. "Go," he uttered, as the man's abdomen totally split apart from his hips. As the shark gnawed on the tail fin portion of what had once been his father, Zero snapped back to reality.
He repressed the urge to gag and swam passed the shark, who was still making a meal out of the the head of the Kiryuu family. Ichiru had stopped fighting against their mother due to a mixture of shock and fright, and allowed himself to be shoved inside with Zero racing in behind him.
The mother stood in the alcove, looking at her children for the last time. She knew what she had to do to save them. "Listen... Once that shark is done..." Her face grew pale and gulped before going on, realizing that it was chewing on her husband. "Feeding. He won't leave until we come out, so I'm going to try to lure him away."
"You can't!" the twins shouted in unison, an identical pair of purple-hued eyes staring up at her. At this, she burst into invisible tears, hugging them both and smothering their silvery heads with kisses.
"I have to..." she replied bravely. She turned her back to her sons so they would not see the look of pure terror that was on her face. "As soon as I lead him away, I want you two to swim as far away as you can. And Zero?" she added, her voice cracking with emotion. "Take care of your brother."
With that, she swam out the door and threw a rock at the shark. She shouted things at the over-sized fish that the twins couldn't hear as they stared out the window, waiting for a chance to escape. Zero tried to concentrate on the task at hand, trying not to remember the crimson waters and his father's entrails that pepper it, trying not to think that his father's death was all his fault, trying not to know that his mother was about to sacrifice herself.
The twins watched as the undersea carnivore rounded on their mother, mouth hanging open, and dropping what remained of their father. The mermaid tried to plaster a smirk onto her face, but it only looked like a more twisted version of fear. She yelled some more unheard words, racing in the opposite direction of the coral home.
"Let's go," Zero muttered, grabbing Ichiru's hand and leading him out the door. The younger twin whimpered, allowing Zero to drag him through the scarlet waters. Once they had left the safety of the building, they swam as fast as their flippers would allow. Zero looked back once, and only once, seeing a fresh cloud of blood in the water. Their mother was dead. He closed his eyes, trying not to cry for the second time that day, and attempted to swim faster than he was already going.
"Zero, what are--" Ichiru started, beginning to turn his head.
"Don't look," the elder twin ordered with such severity and uncharacteristic frigidness that the younger Kiryuu automatically faced forward again. Suddenly, the twins felt a tug in opposite directions.
"An undersea current!" shouted Ichiru, grabbing hold of Zero's hand tighter. "Don't let go!"
The two Kiryuus struggled against the ocean flow, trying their hardest to stay together. Despite their endeavors, their under-developed fins were too weak to fight against the raging waters for long. An adult merperson might have been able to get out of the current, but its strength was no match for two merchildren. Slowly, their hands slipped apart until the two brothers were completely disengaged.
"ZERO!" Ichiru yelled, trying to grasp at his hand, but felt nothing but water.
"ICHIRU!" cried Zero, almost at the same time, his hand still reaching towards his brother. The two continued to shout as the current drove them farther and farther away from each other. Zero kept screaming even when his twin was out of sight. He opened his mouth to call out Ichiru's name one last time when a rock that had been caught in the stream, hit him on the head. Once again, Zero Kiryuu fell into unconsciousness.
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A/N: Yay! 3 Now Zero has an excuse to be his jerkish, angsty, emo self that we all know and love. :3 Since I couldn't turn him into a vampire... Yet. So yeaaahhhhh... Well, I plan to update at least once a week until summer ends, but I won't be able to update next week because I'm gonna be on vacation. Don't worry, though. You'll get two chapters the next time I update (I hope). Review, please? As usual, constructive criticism is loved and praise gives me warm fuzzies! ;D Till then...
Next chapter's potential title: Am I dead, angel? Because I must be in heaven!