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~ Prologue ~

Once long ago, a young prince lived in grand castle. His grounds were vast and beautiful, filled with only the fairest nature could offer. But most lovely in all the gardens were his roses. They climbed the walls surrounding the prince's land, and bloomed in a deep crimson that almost reminded one of blood.

They were a breathtaking sight, one that tempted others to draw near and pluck a seemingly innocent rose for themselves, unaware of the sharp thorns that hide just beneath the sea of beautiful red. The prince's large castle was almost just as entrancing, huge and filled with wonderful things that only an impressive fortune could buy.

Though, if you were brave enough to step into this enchanting home, you would find it strangely silent and unwelcoming. For although beautiful, the castle was just as empty and cold as the master of it.

But it hadn't always been that way. The castle had once belonged to a royal family, a family that had been so loving and bright, their joy seemed to seep into the castle's very walls, filling their home with light.

But those days had long passed along with half of the family. Tragedy had struck them in the form of a vampire, killing the parents and tearing apart a once strong bond between siblings. One faded into the background, serving his brother in hopes of redeeming himself.

The other, the heir to the throne, alone and shrouded with darkness, slowly grew more and more bitter, hate festered in his heart with no one to stop it.

On a dark, chilly, winter night, wind blew strong and unforgiving on a hooded figure that unsteadily made its way up a large castle's steps. Finally reaching the top, the person beneath the cloak stopped to breath heavily for air, it was cold and burned their lungs but they showed no outward reaction other than shivering and drawing the fabric of their cloak tighter around themselves.

Hastily, the figure shuffled up to the large, heavy doors before them and raised a fist that began urgently knocking. A moment had barely passed before one of the doors was opened by a tall, intimidating man. He was a good foot taller than the hooded stranger and his right eye was covered by an eyepatch. The man stared down at the smaller with his one, steely blue eye, giving them a good once over before gruffly asking "Who are ya and what business do you have here so late at night?"

A young, petite girl with wide eyes peaked out of beneath the hood, shivering she said "P-Please, sir, I've lost my way and I have no where else to go! At least for the night, may I please stay in this castle til morning?" She whimpered as another gust of wind nearly swept her off her feet.

The man at the door was silent for a heartbeat but after a long sigh, he looked her up and down once more before finally meeting her eyes and saying (with no small amount of disgust and resignation), "I don't know how he'll take having one of your kind at his door, but stay here and moment and we'll see." With nothing more than that vague statement, he closed the door and the girl was again surrounded by the pitch blackness that had hugged her form before.

Less than a few minutes later, the door opened again and roughly, the man ushered her in. Her knees nearly gave out but a smile spread across her face, eagerly she stepped through the doorway and into a large, warm hall. She tugged the hood off and shook her pale hair from it.

A richly dressed, young man appeared to be in the process of walking towards her and was only paces away, but suddenly he stopped. Frozen, he studied her a few moments, his face unreadable for only a second before it grew rapidly dark with anger.

The man standing beside the girl appeared unsurprised and took a step towards the sidelines, scowling and shaking his head, lowly muttering something that sounded like "Tried to talk, tried to tell him, damn it...". A cool and barely controlled voice interrupted him and chilled the atmosphere, finally the young man spoke "What brings a vampire to my castle?" The girl swallowed nervously, "I lost my way, my lord. Please, may I take shelter in your stables, at least? Only for a night."

Quickly, she reached beneath her cloak and presented a pearly white rose. "I have no money, but please take this in return." The handsome, young man stared at the rose in her hand. Many emotions flashed through his eyes but incredulity was strongest and it bubbled up out of him in the form of a bark of humorless laughter.

"I wouldn't allow a bloodsucking leech to sleep on my doorstep, much less my stables" he snapped "Especially for as little as a mere flower."

The hand holding the rose tightened til blood dripped from the clenched fist. With a quiet voice the girl said "Do not turn me away because of this body, my lord. For a beautiful soul can be found in even the lowest of beasts."

The young man's glare deepened with rage and snarling he said "Get her out of my castle! Never bring one of these monsters in my sight again, Toga." The man, Toga, huffed indignantly but heeded the order and reached forward to grab the female's arm. He never got the chance.

The cloak fell from the girl's body and instantly, light seemed to coat the surface of her skin. The brightness was so great, the young man and his servant had to shield their eyes. They only lowered them when finally, the blinding glare melted away. To their astonishment where once a young vampire girl stood, now a terrible but beautiful enchantress took her place.

The young man stared with wide, bulging, lavender eyes, he opened his mouth to speak but could find no words. The brilliant gaze of the enchantress rose to meet his. A long, pregnant pause followed until with a shaky voice, the man said "Forgive me, my lady. I thought- I mistook you for an animal in human's skin."

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say, her eyes narrowed dramatically and seemed to pierce into his very soul, "You have become far more hateful, Prince Zero. Now, I struggle to find even an ounce of love within you." the prince was taken aback, but even after regaining his composure he could give retort. What could he say? He couldn't defend himself, for she had just seen the worst of him. That's not to say Zero didn't have much he wanted to say. He found quite a bit he wanted to scream, wanted to fling at her in defense of himself and his hatred. Wisely, he controlled himself. Instead, he floundered and struggled, trying to find a word to explain that wouldn't leave him even worse in her eyes, only to come up empty and defeated. So Zero gazed at her hopelessly, and with grief he couldn't explain to her nor himself.

The enchantress's heart almost softened looking at the wretched and miserable man. But the dark hatred in Zero poisoning his heart, hardened her resolve. "Now you shall be what you damned, a beast that you cursed. And even among them you shall be know as the lowest."

Toga leapt back in shock when a scream tore from Zero's throat. Suddenly the prince was clawing at his chest, tearing clothes as claws lengthened from the beds of his fingernails. Zero's blunt teeth were torn up from the roots and pushed out of his mouth by large fangs, that sliced his gums and cut through his lip when he bite down to hold back another shriek of pain. His human teeth fell to the floor, in their wake, blood drizzled down with them.

It wasn't just the prince, Toga was changing too. His body shrank in a way that made him feel like his bones were breaking and his limbs stiffening uncomfortably. All around the castle, servants were falling and shifting as he did.

Finally, agonizing minutes later, Zero lay trembling on the floor in his own blood. He looked up through blurry eyes as the enchantress stepped towards him. The woman held out the previously offered white rose, and this time, he took it. She straightened and taking it as a cue, Zero weakly drew himself up as well. "This rose shall bloom til your hundredth year. If you can learn to feel love once more and can be loved in return, by the time the petals have all fallen, you shall be human again."

A harsh glare darkened her face, "If not, you will slip from a 'filthy' vampire to the madness of a fallen one." With these foreboding words, as if she had never been there the enchantress vanished. The prince, clothing torn, covered in his own sticky blood, alone except for a clock a few feet away, began to shake.

He fell to his knees, partially because he was too weak to stand, partially because his form began to heave with sobs. Tears flowed down his face and he gripped the rose he now held so tightly, that thorns tore Zero's skin and he began to bleed. Suddenly his eyes flew open and snapped towards the few drops of blood the enchantress had let fall while disguised as a vampire. For the first time, his eyes burned crimson at the smell of blood.

'A monster, an animal. Filthy and evil. Who could ever love a beast?'

(It is like twelve and I decided to rewrite this and I haven't edited it, I literally did this in the past hour so I'll probably regret it in the morning. Idk, if you are reading this it means I decided to keep the changes)

What do you think? This has been done before but you never see a fic make Zero the beast and Kaname belle? I thought it was an under appreciated idea so I decided to write it. Kaname is going basically going to be Zero's knight in shining armor lol. It's going to be slow burn and I'm very excited!

Please leave a review if you enjoyed I greatly appreciate any form of feedback. Thank you for reading!