Author's Note:

This story was written for an Amnesia:Memories Halloween art/fiction exchange.

The person who made the request asked for an Amnesia/Tokyo Ghoul crossover featuring Ukyo from Amnesia as a ghoul in the Tokyo Ghoul universe, and his relationship with the accepting and understanding Heroine. As I had never watched Tokyo Ghoul, this was something of a challenge. However, rather than go on to the second or third item on the wishlist, I thought I'd watch the anime and give it shot.

This story is dedicated to circustalia on tumblr.

~Impracticaldemon

The Girl With Glasses

[I] - Ukyo

It had been one of the bad nights. On the bad nights, his dreams were haunted by a girl with beautiful green eyes and pink roses in her hair. She would always start out smiling, and he would be filled with love and the need to capture a perfect picture of her sweet face. Then, bit by bit, she would grow fearful and distant, until eventually she would cringe from his touch, green eyes wide and frightened. The dreams always ended in one of three ways: he would see her die horribly, burned in the fires of a terrible accident; or he would see her die violently, and the face of her murderer was his own; or he would watch her leave with another man and wish with all his heart for that man to die. On the good nights, she merely left him, and he was able to retain his sanity long enough to wish her well.

On the bad nights, he would wake up with tears running down his cheeks and his face and body contorted by a strange, inexplicable grief. And yet, he had no idea who she was—in fact, he had no idea who he was, which was a bigger problem. He remembered nothing before August first, almost three months ago now. All he knew was what he was: a ghoul; a flesh-eater; a predator; a killer. He was amazed that he was still alive after three months of throwing up every time he tried to eat real food-human food-and wanting to throw up every time he ate the human flesh his body required. He probably would have died, of starvation if nothing else, if he hadn't met the girl with glasses.

[II] - Heroine?

The girl with glasses had found him sitting under a tree in a pretty little neighborhood park. He had been thin in the way that made you think hungry, and his clothes had looked as though they'd been worn for too many days and probably slept in. And yet… they were good quality clothes, although slightly odd. The black coat was cut to fit and looked like it would fall to his ankles; the trousers were as slim as the long legs of the man who wore them. Of course, that was all by the way. The strange thing—the very strange thing—was that he had long, light green hair past his waist, left to flow freely over his shoulders and down his back, with the exception of a single braid that hung down over his right shoulder. He was very good-looking, in a gaunt kind of way.

Unconsciously, she had gotten closer to him, maybe to see if the hair was a wig, or dyed. It didn't seem to be, but that was just an impression. She had seen that there was a black hat—almost like a police officer's hat—on the grass beside him, and it had made her wonder if he were a run-away model, because who else would wear such odd but expensive-looking clothes? Maybe the starvation and the constant competition had gotten to him? She had read in the papers that it was a cut-throat industry.

Finally, she had seen the camera cradled gently in his lap, held in slim, elegant hands that matched the rest of him. She had been surprised that it hadn't been stolen.

After a few minutes, he had startled her by speaking:

"Excuse me? Do I know you? You look very familiar…"

His voice had been soft, but insistent, and for some reason she had gotten even closer.

"I don't think so," the girl had admitted. "I think that I would remember you."

A slow and rather charming smile had crossed his face. His eyes were green too, she had realized, and just as beautiful as his hair.

"Yes," he had agreed, and for a moment, there had seemed to be a spark of life in his eyes. "It's the camera, isn't it? Its sets me apart. People will always talk to a man with a camera, for some reason."

The girl had laughed a little—he had to be making a joke, with hair and eyes and clothes like his. But he had just stared at her curiously, as if wondering what amused her.

"Even if you don't know me," he had said after a moment, "maybe you could help me out?"

That part hadn't surprised her and she remembered tightening her hands on the strap of her purse and hoping that her favourite beret wouldn't fall off if she had to make a run for it. But the usual request for money didn't follow.

"I think," the green-haired man had continued, quite calmly, but almost as if he were puzzled, "that I am looking for a place called Anteika. Or maybe Anteiki?"

The girl with glasses should have left then. Because the puzzling sense of familiarity had suddenly fallen into place. He was a ghoul. He had to be. A ghoul had badly injured her best friend just the year before, and probably would have killed her too, but she had wedged herself in behind a large dumpster and their attacker had hesitated for a moment too long between the meal in hand or the live witness. Just seconds later, the ghoul had been taken down and dragged off by what appeared to be a young woman with a black hood wearing a mask made to look like a rabbit—it had reminded her of the traditional masks that people wore at festivals. It had been terrifying. She had thought that the attacker was dead, but as the woman in the rabbit mask had carried him away, he had shouted:

"I'm not like you Anteiku freaks! I'm not! Let go!"

The name had lodged in her mind along with the woman's answer:

"You'll be safe and fed with us, and you'll learn not to hunt humans. Or you'll be dead."

[III] - The Coffee Shop

They called him Ukyo, because that's the name that had come to mind when they'd asked. It might even be his real name. That name, and the dreams, and the love of photography were all that seemed to remain of his past, whatever it was. It had taken him a while to find out that the girl with glasses had soft green eyes just like the girl in his dreams, but he didn't think that was why he felt so comfortable with her. He thought it was her warmth and her kindness, or maybe her courage. In the end it was the way that she had been willing to care for him even though he wasn't human—was in fact a human's worst nightmare.

After that first meeting in the park, when she'd told him that he was looking for a café named Anteiku and told him how to get there, it had taken him a little while to sort himself out well enough to try to find the her again. In the end, she had found him. She had come to Anteiku about two weeks after his arrival, moving as quietly as she had in the park, her eyes covered by sunglasses and a pretty cloth hat with whimsical pink roses and a soft brim that fell over her forehead. He had known her by her smell, but he hadn't wanted to startle her when she was obviously already a little afraid.

She had tried to be inconspicuous, but they really didn't get so many human customers as all that. Ukyo had made sure to give her enough time to look around and come to a decision about staying before coming over to her table to take her order. He was still wearing his own trousers, as they were black, but otherwise he had changed into the white shirt and black apron that served as the uniform for the café. His long green hair was tied back into a low pony-tail on the nape of his neck, which still felt strange to him. They had wanted him to cut his hair, in order to be less conspicuous, but at the time he had still been clinging to the thought of having had some kind of a life before being a ghoul.

When he had brought her coffee and a sweet roll, she had shyly caught at his sleeve.

"Are you… doing better now?" she had asked, eyes invisible behind her dark lenses.

"Yes, much better, thanks to you."

"And… you are not unhappy… here?"

He had shaken his head. It was strange, but he was neither happy nor unhappy. He tried very hard not to think about eating human flesh, but he did eat what they gave him without complaint and he didn't starve. Strangely, however, now that she was here he felt a flicker of interest in something other than just getting through the day.

"My name is Ukyo," he had told her, a little boldly. It wasn't entirely like him, but had felt very strongly that this was a person of whom he shouldn't lose track.

She had hesitated, and he had understood. So he had smiled at her and said:

"I call you Glasses Girl, you know, like a super hero. If you'll give me a moment I'll come back with your sweet roll and a copy of the picture that I took in the park the other day."

When she had nodded without words, he had hurried back with the sweet roll and the best of the prints that he'd gotten from that day. She had looked quite lovely in the one photo he had been allowed to take of her. The others at Anteiku had been very impressed with this skill—with that photo and others. It had already been decided that he would try to find a basement apartment not too far from the café where he could print art copies of his photos of Tokyo to sell in the café and perhaps at other local businesses.

Glasses Girl had studied her picture very quietly, but she had been smiling a little when she had looked up again. Her smile had warmed him.

"May I have this?" she had asked.

"Not this one," he had told her, "but if you come back tomorrow, I'll make a copy for you."

She hadn't given in easily.

"But I know you can just make one from the negative, right—or from the digital image or whatever?"

He had slipped the picture deftly away from her and smiled.

"I will bring you your own picture tomorrow."

He had thought that she would pout, but instead she had stood up, finished the last of her coffee and left the shop. He had discovered that she had left money on the table for the coffee and sweet-roll, and the total had been about three times what it should have. With the money was a note that said: If I'm a super hero, can I have a better name please?

[IV] - A Date & A Proposal

Two weeks after that, they went on their first date. Well, Ukyo had called it a date, and Heroine (formerly Glasses Girl) had called it a bad idea. He had invited her over to his new apartment for dinner. Just the two of them. He had said that he would make or bring something nice, and he would drink coffee and eat a little of whatever she had just to show he could. She had agreed, but he honestly hadn't know if she would come.

She did of course, because she was brave and also, probably, because Ukyo intrigued her almost as much as she intrigued him. Actually, that wasn't true. By that point he was falling in love with her; had already fallen in love with her, either in the Tokyo-here-and-now or in some other half-remembered place, although that made no sense.

He dressed in his original clothes, the ones that made him feel connected to the person he had been before the amnesia, whoever that was. He washed and brushed out his hair, because he wanted it to be perfect. He wished that he were perfect.

They ate dinner at the rickety table in his kitchen eating area, and for the first time she took off the sunglasses that she always wore to the café and he saw that her eyes were the most beautiful green, with just a hint of soft blue to make them a little softer than his own.

"My friend thinks I'm nuts," she said nervously, as he handed her a plate of seafood lasagna (microwaved, unfortunately, since he couldn't remember how to cook).

"Because of me," he responded, knowing that it wasn't a question. He sighed and looked down. How could he explain how much he cared about her when he didn't understand it himself?

"Well… she thinks you'll probably get too hungry one day and be overwhelmed… and… you know."

"I promise you that I will die before I even consider touching you in order to harm you."

They stared at each other for a long time. Eventually, she ate her lasagna and he ate a little as well, even knowing that it would taste terrible and would likely make him sick later. But there was a reason.

"I want to walk you home," he told her an hour later. They had spent the hour curled up in comfortable chairs in his small living room, just talking, and despite everything he had not thrown up. Yet.

Heroine—he still didn't know her name!—just nodded. She even smiled a little when he took her hand. At her doorstep, he reached out tentatively to touch her face and she didn't flinch.

"May I kiss you good night?"

She turned red and looked shyly at her feet. The she looked up suddenly.

"That's why—" she began.

"Partly. So that you would know that if you kiss me it isn't a tainted kiss—at least no more than it is just because of what I am."

"You don't seem tainted to me, Ukyo." She put her small hands on his shoulders and stretched up for her goodnight kiss.

It made his heart melt. When her hands slid down his chest to play lightly with his hair he did something very strange: he asked her to live with him, if she could bear it.

Not surprisingly, she laughed at him.

"You don't even know my name! It's crazy!"

"I don't need to know your name," he told her quite seriously. "It's enough to know your heart and your mind and to see your face."

Her hands continued to play with his hair.

"It very strange… I feel like we've met before, but that can't be true. And how can a human love a ghoul?"

"I think it would take a lot of trust and courage and love," he agreed wistfully. "But it can be done."

"But… We've only gone on one date."

"That's all I need to know you. But I can wait for your answer, Heroine."

[V] - Together

About a month later, on October thirty-first, Heroine moved in with Ukyo. In fact, she rented the other studio apartment across from his, and they set up their combined living space to take into account everything that they did. She worked in a bookstore, it turned out, but she also liked to write in her spare time. She had already completed a year of university, but she wanted to work and write for a year to raise some money before returning to full time studies.

That night, which was Halloween night, was one his bad nights, and he dreamed about killing the green-eyed girl. But this time when he woke up he found Heroine lying next to him in his bed. She was already awake, and she sat up and took his hands. With her glasses off, her eyes were the same green that he had seen so many times before in his nightmares.

"Whatever happens, I'll be there for you." She kissed his lips, as though those lips didn't eat human flesh. "And you'll be here for me."

He buried his head against her shoulder until he stopped shaking, and wiped the traces of tears from his eyes.

"Alright," he said. "Alright. Thank you."

This time, her kiss was more insistent. It was going to be alright.

[END]

A/Note: Thank you for reading!