Vampire Knight AU

What if Yuki had chosen Zero and sacrificed herself to save him and return him to his human form. One Shot. Major Character Death.

Yuki stood before Zero on the roof overlooking Cross Academy. Yuki could smell the difference in Zero's blood and no doubt he could sense the same change in her. Zero could still taste on his lips the blood of his brother as the power of a hunter filled his body. Zero hated that things had changes and he was alone. Memories of his brother and Yuki swirled in his mind filling him with despair and conviction. His own words haunted him. If I could live my life so Yuki could have hers I would have no regrets. It was because of that promise he was willing to take his brothers blood, willing to be Kuran's pawn and the weapon of the hunters association. For her, despite what he had become, despite what she had become, he was willing to fight to save her. And he had.

"It is so bright." Yuki said.

"Yes." Zero said as she turned to look at him but his gaze was on the courtyard as he spoke. "I used to watch you from here. I watched you as you watched Kanemae Kuran."

"Zero…"
"You always had a smile on your face even when I did something unforgiveable that smile was there. I was willing to sacrifice my whole life for you. But you are going to leave now aren't you?"

"Yes." Yuki said, eyes heavy with emotion.

"I thought so." Zero said looking at her.

It was Yuki's turn, "You once asked me to kill you if you became a vampire."

"I did."

"What if I became a vampire?" Yuki asked. It had been a hurtful thing she had once said to him before she truly understood the hell he was going through during his battle for control of his blood lust.

"I am still not sure you really are a vampire there is no proof." Zero, knew his words were a lie, that he was going to hurt her, as she had hurt him.

"Zero…"

"If you really are a vampire drink my blood." He walked over to hold her. Even with what he sensed in her, a part of him, wished, that this was not true. He stood there daring her to move. When she did not he knelt before her.

"If you truly are a vampire I should hate you. Come on."

Yuki wept but pulled him close and pressed her fangs to his neck. I'm sorry, Kaname, she thought to herself. She fed on his blood. I can taste him. It was like what he said to me, that taste of blood speaks to me. Zeros feelings are flowing into me. I have to save him. Yuki, called to the memory deep within her blood, the memory and knowledge of her mother. She pulled Zero close, offering her neck as he spoke to her in almost a hushed whisper in her ear.

"You are right. You are a vampire. We can no longer live in the same world. Some day in the future I will come after you in the future to kill you."

"Zero," Yuki said, as she dragged her finger nail across her skin near his face, blood spurted out as she hit an artery, painting his lips red. By instinct he lapped up the drops of blood. "You won't have to worry about that."

Zero pulled back as if she had struck him. Yuki looked up at Zero, slowly blood began to pour out of her eyes like tears.

"Yuki, what's happening?" Zero said grabbing hold of her.

Yuki smiled, "Its all right Zero, everything will be all right."

"Tell me what is happening!" Zero yelled.

Blood began to drip from her nose, ears, and pelvic region down her arms and legs, staining what little while in her uniform, deep red. Still Yuki smiled up at him and he pulled her close.

"Yuki, what did you do?" Zero said tears welling up.

"I am going to save you Zero," Yuki said. "You will never have to worry about becoming a level E or even a vampire ever again."

"What?"

"My mother showed me," Yuki said. "We vampires have taken so much from you. Your mother… your father… your brother… your humanity. It is time I give you something back, just like my mother did for me."

"How?"

Yuki smiled and touched his face. "You were always there to protect me Zero, its my turn to save you for a change. You can be the hunter you always wanted to be."

"You're dying Yuki, stop this," Zero said.

"It is done…."

"No I won' t let you!" Zero shouted.

"Don't worry you master and our father will help watch over you, and Kuran will leave you alone."

"I don't care! Yuki! This is not what I wanted! I don't want to lose you!"

"You won't have to worry about it, you won't remember me, it will be as if I never existed. You can live as a normal human. You can find love Zero…"

"I love you yuki!"

Yuki had fresh tears well up making the blood pouring from her eyes stream faster out of her body.

"I love you too, I chose you Zero, I always have…"

"Tell me how to stop this! I don't want to forget!"

"I love you Zero… farewell…" Yuki whispered. The final blood gushed out of her as her body turned into a white trail of dust. Zero's purple eyes, shone with a new light as the vampire blood was locked deep within him. Even as his memories slipped away tears fell from his face. The pain was overwhelming and be blacked out.

Zero lay on the ground clutching the solid uniform of Yuki, covered in her blood. Kuran and Cross stepped out of the shadows. Kuran walked over and pulled Yuki's clothing from the unconscious Zero. Yuki had left him a note, he had arrived just in time to see Zero pleading with Yuki to stop the spell. But he already knew it was too late. He had seen the same tragedy with his mother. Part of him hated Zero. It would have been so easy to end him, while he lay helpless on the ground, but it was Yuki's dying wish that Kuran let Zero live.

"Take care of him," Kuran said. "I will remove all trace of Yuki and retreat in to the shadows."

"I understand," Cross said. His own heart was heavy. Both his children has lost so much and his dream for the school had ended in blood shed. Still holding Zero, there was a hope in his heart that things might one day be for the better.

Twenty Years Later

Zero had risen up in the ranks of the hunter association. His wife had provided him not one son but two and a lovely daughter. Thankfully no twins. Despite what had happened a Cross Academy, his past was shrouded in shadows. He knew that his family had been killed by a pure blood vampire and that somehow because of his brother's sacrifice that he had obtained the powered of a true hunter which had allowed Zero to defeat not only one but two pure blood vampires, a thing unheard of in the world. Zero had gone on to complete his training and take on only the most dangerous hunts assigned to him. In the course, he had met his wife, and done his duty to pass on the line of hunters his power, and yet, deep down inside something was missing, something that had to do with his blocked memories. The president of the Hunter Association and his adoptive father Cross continued to counsel him not to press too hard to remember his past, that the battle had taken its toll and the lost memories were worth the price to save all the students. In total he had help save over a hundred human beings, help kill over a hundred level E vampires and take out the two purebloods. Now the Association was at its peak. Purebloods had been killing each other off for the last two decades. The hunters had made quick work of the remaining level E vampires, whether or not they had succumbed to their beast like ways. The Senate was in firm control, and the aristocrats had been picked off one by one. Rumors now were shared of only the last pureblood prince who had gathered the final five aristocrats to him as body guards. Zero knew that it was the purebloods would could turn humans into vampires, they were the true threat to mankind. The other vampires, such as those who ran the senate were controllable, and more like humans than most would like to admit. They lacked the almost magical power of the purebloods and the aristocrats and could be managed effectively. When the orders came down from the president, Zero was ready to hunt down Kamane Kuran the last pureblood.

"Here are your orders, Zero." The president said. "I trust you are up to the task?"

"Of course. I only wonder why it took so long for the council to decide on this course of action."

"It was because of your father," the president said from behind her fan.

"My father?" Zero asked.

"Cross, despite his long history as one of the most powerful hunters in the association, has always had a soft spot for vampires, as the failed experiment at Cross Academy, has shown."

Zero shook his head. "I know I was there but I still have no memory of what happened."

"Good." The president said, and Zero's eyes narrowed on her. "There will be nothing to interfere with the mission."

"Yes, sir." Zero said and turned and left the room. The president smiled as she watched him go, the seeds that Cross had asked her to plant were doing their job. She wondered what end would come for Zero and Kuran, and was delighted to live long enough to see events play out.

Zero made his way home and completed his farewell ritual with his family. Despite loving his children and his wife, his ties to them did not tug at his heart, he was too much of a warrior for that. His wife would take care of things whether or not he survived, though chances were good that this might be his last mission. The stories told of the vampires who followed Kuran had come from the Cross Academy which meant despite the loss of memory, they might know Zero and remember him. He had the dossier on each of them and their powers, but none were more mysterious than Kuran himself. For the first time, Zero felt the desire to try to recall those memories from his past. Everyone told him he had defeated not one but two pureblood vampires, and their were hints that he had been a key player in the downfall of a third pureblood but he could not remember how he had done it. The president's words about his adoptive father preventing the mission from going forward weighted heavily in Zero's mind. He bid farewell to his family and headed to the hospital where Cross resided.

The years had not been kind to headmaster Cross. He had taken it upon himself to help train Zero and together they had been an unstoppable team until an incident where Cross, to save Zero, had been injured and broke his back losing the use of his legs. Once he had lost that mobility something in the old man had broken and he was dying in the hospital. Zero, made his way up, unsure what to expect since they had not spoken since the incident. Cross was reported to be in constant pain, and that nothing the doctors could do solved that save for drugs that were slowly killing him.

Zero opened the door, and silently made his way into the room.

"Zero," Cross said. "It is time then."

Zero looked at his father, who now was no more than a husk. "I am going after Kaname Kuran, the last pureblood."

"I see," Cross said, pulling out an envelope from the bedside table. "You finally have eradicated all the level E?"

"Yes, now we must make sure that no more can be created."

"I see." Cross stared down at the envelope. "I had hoped that this day would not come, that you could give up this quest, but you can't can you?"

"You know that the purebloods were responsible for all the death of my family, that it is because of them that Level E exist and were plaguing humanity. It is time to end it."

"Not all vampires are evil…"

"Perhaps, but purebloods are," Zero said starting down Cross. But the old man was not looking at him. Instead there was such a sorrow written on Cross face as he gazed at the envelope. Zero sighed. "I did not come to fight. I don't know how much time you have left or if I will come back alive. I wanted to make amends."

"As do I," Cross said. He then held up the envelope. "Here, this is everything I have on Kuran, I know that you will find him and he will be expecting you."

"What?"

"You were… well not friends, but allies once."

"What are you talking about?" Zero said taking the envelope.

"Zero, once upon a time both of you had someone to protect, and both of you worked to keep that person safe."

Zero opened the envelope. Inside was a flash drive and a single picture. It was of Zero, and behind him was a girl with big brown eyes and soft brown hair. In the photo he was not smiling but there was something in his eyes as she hung off him almost like a little sister of sorts.

"Who is she?"

"Her name was Yuki," Cross said softly. "My daughter."

"What happened to her?" Zero asked.

"She died."

For some reason those words shook Zero to the core. His head began to hurt as if something was clawing its way out. The girl seems so familiar, and she wore a cross academy uniform just as he did. He must have known her when the pureblood incident happened. There had been some deaths, was her death part of all this?

"Tell me," Zero started to say but Cross had fallen asleep. Zero could tell that he had activated his morphine drip and there was no way to wake him. Whatever secrets Cross had he did not want to relive them with Zero, the hope was that the information on the flash drive might hold some answers.

Zero returned to his office space and booted up the computer. Inside were all the files from Cross Academy, everything that had been redacted from the record. Cross had kept it safe. Zero learned that there had been two classes at the Academy, one made up of humans, the day class, and one made up of vampires, the night class. The night class had been led by no other than Kuran himself. All the deaths on campus and attacks had come from outside vampires, and not the night class itself. Zero learned that the small band surrounding Kuran today was those same students from the night class. Based on the records Zero began to piece together parts of his past. He had been a student there, and part of the disciplinary committee with the girl Yuki. Together they had been protecting the day class from the night class but from the records it appeared to be the other way around. More often than not Yuki and Zero had played body guards and bouncers to the night class to keep the day class from mobbing them. What a pain. Zero thought. The more he went through the files the more he realized was missing. Even these redacted files had huge pieces missing. When Zero finally got to the end he was no closure to finding Kuran than when he started.

A message came via email. It was a secure private message from the hospital. Cross had passed away. Zero sat there in shock. He was not sure how to feel but he knew the final pieces that he needed no doubt had died with the old man. Zero ground his teeth, but almost instantly another message from a private server outside the Association pinged on his screen.

It was from Cross and said:

"If you want to find Kuran, might I suggest you contact him, here."

Zero clicked the link. An invitation filled the screen. He had a location and firm instructions. He was to go alone, bring whatever weapons he like and show the phone that Cross had given him as proof to pass into the home of Kuran.

Then his screen went blank. The entire computer shorted out and would no longer be of use. Zero sat looking at the blank screen. Zero smiled. He was ready. It was clearly implied that if any one followed Zero they would be killed. Something had triggered at the old man's death. Either Kuran was reaching out or Cross had this last gift to impart to Zero. Either way, Zero packed up his weapons and the picture safely in his pocket and headed out to meet the last pureblood prince.

Thank you for reading. I will post the last half of the story later. I have been rewatching the anime and really loved the story. Please read and review. Thanks!