AN: I have decided to combine the Prologue and Chapter 1 into one big Prologue considering both chapters were rather short and I deemed it unnecessary for them to be separate.
PROLOGUE
Fog rolled through the 11th Ward. The night sky almost completely invisible due to the city lights and the cloudiness caused by the fog. The human citizens of the Ward were safely tucked away in their homes; all but one.
He'd had his suspicions of her real intentions for a few days now. Since telling her the true nature of his being, she had become… distant. When she'd learned of him being a Ghoul, she didn't even react; held no anger or fear or resentment in her eyes, and while that should have done much to ease his concern it only added to it. Her last words to him lingered in the back of his mind...
"I need time to think about this." She'd sounded so disconnected. It was as if all of the emotion and excitement that she usually spoke with was suddenly nonexistent.
When he reached out to try and grab her hand, she pulled away. Though her words had lost all emotion, her eyes told him another story altogether. Zero hoped she just needed some time to take in the new information. He'd given her a few days though, and they'd still had no contact with each other. Her silence worried Zero greatly, and so he'd decided to venture out in the hopes that talking with her would ease the tensions between them.
Zero and Violet had been together for 7 long months. He'd never really trusted a human before; he generally stayed away from them, save the times he had to sate the unholy hunger within him that forced him to kill. Violet had always been different though. She was kind and compassionate, and she always accepted him for what he was, never trying to change him or ridiculing a part of him she disliked or disagreed with. Maybe that's why he felt he could trust her with his most guarded secret...
But now it seemed that had only divided them. The thought gave him a strange feeling that coursed throughout his entire body. He was afraid; afraid that he would lose the only person he cared for. Would him being a ghoul really draw the line for her?
No, she's always accepted me. Zero thought forcefully. She just needs time to think about this, that's all...
Zero suddenly stopped, realizing his target had done the same a few paces ahead of him. Quickly he flattened himself behind the wall of a nearby building. He peered out just enough to get a good view of Violet with a man he did not recognize. He narrowed his eyes skeptically at the two.
"I feel like he's always watching me for some reason... I get the chills every time I'm walking alone." Violet's voice was shaky and hurried. She spoke to the person with her, and appeared to take comfort in his presence.
Their conversation was hushed, barely audible even in the deafening silence of the night that surrounded them.
"I just can't believe that..." Her male companion spoke in near silent whispers. "What do you think he's going to do when he finds out you've been seeing me behind his back? Can Ghouls even have feelings for someone?"
When she gave no response the boy sighed and put his hand on Violet's shoulder, gripping her loosely to reassure her. Zero cringed when the boy touched her. He wanted to jump him right there and kill him; to rip him to shreds so he never touched her again.
He hated when other people got that close to her...
Violet took the male's hand from her shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "I feel like I've made things so much worse... I should have broken up with him that day like I intended to. Before I even had the chance, he just went and told me he was a... a ghoul." She pulled away from the hug, a look of disgust on her face. "I don't even know why I got with him in the first place... I always knew he was strange, but I didn't sign up for this crazy shit! He's a monster! A heartless monster who should be hunted and killed by the CCG!"
Her cries were loud enough that even Zero could hear her words this time. He grimaced and closed his eyes, trying to stop her words from echoing in his head.
Monster… Is that really what she thought of him? After all the time they'd spent together, all of the good memories they'd gotten together, that's how she felt?
"Maybe we should just turn him in, yeah? That should guarantee your safety, and mine. Until then I suppose we just try and stay out of his sight-"
I'll show you a monster…
"A little too late for that." His voice was malicious and his kagune flared as he came out from behind the wall to face the two humans. "Don't ya' think?"
Violet screamed bloody terror and like a bullet one of Zero's kagune shot forward and wrapped itself around the girl's mouth, drowning out the sound she made until she was silent once more. The tall, lanky man with Violet stood there in shock, unsure of what he could do or whether he could do anything to help her.
Zero faced the cowardly looking boy with scowling eyes. "You, tell me your name!" He demanded abruptly.
"M-my n-name?" He barely managed.
"Did I stutter?" Zero grew impatient. This was already taking longer than it needed to. Police or CCG or who knew what else were probably already on their way after hearing Violet scream like that.
"T-Takeo, my name is Takeo." The corners of Zero's mouth turned upward into a vicious grin.
With one swift sweep of his kagune, Zero grabbed the cowering Takeo and pulled the boy toward him. His rage was uncontrollable, and his hunger consumed him. Zero tore into Takeo's chest and ripped out his heart, savouring the flavour as he devoured it in front of her. Violet watched in agony as the life drained from his victim's eyes. Could Zero always have been this ruthless? He took her up in his kagune next, lifting her to his level and staring deeply into her frightened eyes with his scornful ones.
"You- You MONSTER!" Violet cried hatefully, tears running down her fair cheeks as she bared angry teeth at him.
Monster… The word almost appealed to him now. He cracked a grin at the thought.
Zero's kagune tightened around her neck, and Violet writhed and squirmed, desperate to break free from the boy's grasp. Choking and coughing, she pulled at the kagune in vain as she tried to loosen its grip. With every movement she made his grasp on her neck became tighter until eventually her vision began to blur.
"This is your fault." Zero spoke, resentment laced in his voice. Crack. The girl's neck snapped from the pressure of his kagune. He released his grip on her and her body fell limp to the ground.
I can live with being a monster…
After eating both his now ex-girlfriend and her secret lover, Zero fled, making his way to the 20th ward. He would never be able to go back to Ota, and he certainly would never be able to trust anyone again, not after that.
…
Violet and Zero walked around the park on a hazy summer day, hand in hand. "I think people are too judgemental, you know?" The blonde girl looked up at her boyfriend with a friendly gaze.
"Yeah... I know exactly what you mean..." Zero agreed, not entirely realizing what he'd just said.
"Oh yeah? How so? I find it hard to believe anyone would have a hard time accepting you." Violet giggled.
Zero avoided the question, turning Violets attention instead to an empty park bench a few feet in front of them. "You wanna sit down?" He looked at her and smiled.
The couple sat down on a park bench, talking about nothing and everything all at once. It was all so serene. Zero had never been able to feel so at peace with anyone before, let alone a human.
Violet pointed to another couple disgustingly locking lips under a tree. "You wanna do what they're doing?" She smirked, looking to Zero for his response.
The boy laughed. "Who, them?" He pointed to a child getting viciously tickled by whom he could only assume to be the small childs mother.
"Zero don't you DARE-" He began tickling the girls sides, making her squirm and let out small cries of laughter. "S-stop! You're k-killing me! ZERO!"
He finally gave into her pleas and let up, and in the pause he found their eyes wandering closer until they finally met. They were silent for a few moments before the boy spoke.
"... Violet?" Zero found his voice sounded weaker than it normally did. His heart began to beat faster in his chest, sending pulses throughout his entire body that rattled him to the bone.
"Yeah?" Violet responded, breathless. Her eyes still locked with her boyfriend's, something that Zero really liked about her.
It was like she was staring right into the depths of his soul. He could get lost in those calm green eyes.
"Violet I… I love you." He breathed slowly, making sure not to stumble his words. They sounded so foreign and yet they described the warm feeling he got in his chest when he was around her perfectly.
"I could never love you. You're a monster!" Violet screamed suddenly.
"What? Why are you-" Zero was interrupted when he realized the beautiful surroundings of the park and everything else around him were fading to black.
Everything but Violet.
Zero blinked a few times, dazed and confused. 'What the hell is going on?' He mentally questioned, a flutter of panic stirring in his chest.
He closed his eyes tightly and when he reopened them mere moments later, Violet's lifeless body, limp and bleeding, was being held up a few feet from him by his indigo blue kagune. Zero loosened the grip of his kagune and she fell to the floor. He tried desperately to run to her, but it was as if the more he ran, the farther away she got.
"Violet!" He cried out to her, still trying to reach her even when it was clear to him that he had no chance of catching up to her. She was drifting farther and farther away from him… 'Say something… anything…'
Zero woke up abruptly, trying to shake off the events of his terrible dream. It had been 3 days since he killed Violet in the 11th Ward, and every night since then he had been woken up by some kind of nightmare involving her. He wanted so much to forget about what happened; to forget about her.
Monster… He couldn't get the word out of his head. It was driving him insane. I'm a monster…
He decided he would do what he did best and left the run down building he was staying in; hunger and resentment filling his mind.
AN: I know it has been quite a while since I have put a new chapter up. Rest assured, it IS in the works and the new chapter will be up VERY soon. I have absolutely no plan to stop writing this fic until It is finished. So, sit down and buckle up because you're in for one hell of a ride, I promise.
