In a Name
A No. 6 Fanfiction
by Tomoyo-chan
Disclaimer: I do not own, though I really wish I did. Haven't read the books, so anything here is just my own imagination as to how Nezumi sees himself. Characterization may be a little off.
He named himself Nezumi, when the rats were kinder to him then the humans around him. It was then he decided he'd rather be a rat then a despicable human. Humans only hurt him. The rats gave him bits of warmth, a soft touch. They led him to food. Rats were what gave him a new life. And he became a Rat, became one of them and became a plague upon mankind.
Eve was because he needed a name for the stage, and who better then the woman who led to mankind's downfall? Like her, he would pull man down from his high perch and pull him from his perfect garden. Number 6 even looked like a garden, full of bright flowers and neat paths. And like a real garden it survived by feeding on the dirt and scum of the world; secretly underneath all the beauty was a world of darkness fed by the sacrifice of others. The garden of Eden was supposed to be pure, a utopia where man once lived before falling from grace. The city had fallen, but still lived in its perfect garden. Eve would do more then end the garden, she would tempt the men down into the dirt of the world, cause them to willingly flail in the mud all on their own. They would be their own downfall. They created Eve and she would destroy him. She was the mask that covered the rage and hate, and she was the temptress. She was the beautiful woman behind which hid the Rat. They came too close and they were bitten.
Nezumi loved her theatricality, and as Eve, she loved his fire. She borrowed it, stole it, turned it into passion for the theater. She was the person he could have been, she was anyone and everyone, every player on the stage. That was why everyone loved her. She could be anyone, from heartbroken Ophelia to sharp-tongued Beatrice. She was no one. She was never real, and at the same time, more real then anyone else out there in the pit of a city he performed to. She was just as real as Nezumi himself was. She was not real at all.
Before he was Eve, before Nezumi, he was someone else, someone who lived and loved and had a family. He told Shion he would one day tell him his real name. But how could he if he didn't remember who that was? The memories buried so deep he could not find them, hidden under pain and blood and burning hands. Under his voice screaming until it gave out. Under running and running and always running, from men and guns and memories.
This boy without a name circled in Nezumi's nightmares, in his most peaceful dreams. He watched and lived and fell and slept. The tiny child had once known nothing but peace and happiness with his family. Now, he existed only in the corner of the dark haired boy's mind.