A/N: Ahh. I'm so slow. Sorry. On the other hand, Zokalo.

Thank you to readwithcats, Shadow Spears, Kittenanimegirl13, karina001, sparklehannah, Amelia Loves Anime, and guest for reviewing!

Title: Zephyr

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Angst

Warnings: Implied prostitution, implied abuse, a serial killer's thoughts (c'mon)

Summary: DGM Hallow countdown: Sometimes the end just sneaks up on you, and you don't see it coming.

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man.


When he was a child, Zokalo used to kill small animals for fun.

It started as a way to help around the house. His mother's clients didn't like to see bugs when they were over, and he'd never had a father. So he looked for beetles and spiders and flies, and he squashed them and threw them out.

It fascinated him. They were so small, and they scurried away from him very quickly. Then when he squashed them, when their little bodies crunched under his fat finger, they'd stop moving altogether. They wouldn't react no matter how much he flicked at them. It was as if they'd never been trying to get away from him at all. Like they'd forgotten.

He wondered what else would stop moving if he was big enough to squash them. What it would take for his mother to stop moving. For Zokalo to stop moving.

Then when he was older, he took on bigger animals. Rats were as bad as bugs, but he hadn't been able to do anything about them as a little kid. Snakes, Zokalo used to throw things at, until he hit one and realized they stopped moving, too.

The first animal he killed just for fun was a bird. Its skull crunched just like a spider's corpse, except much louder and harder, and it was as messy as a rat. Zokalo had to clean up before nightfall, so that his mother's client-of-the-night wouldn't see.

And it was exciting.

He replayed it in his mind, again and again – the fluttering wings, the frantic squawking like a rat's squeals, and the way it – crunched – and suddenly went still and silent.

Because of Zokalo. Because he'd wanted to.

He grew up, and the animals got bigger. A possum. The next door neighbor's cat. That stray dog that hung around and begged for scraps (of which there were none, anyway).

He hadn't meant to progress to humans, really. That was trouble-with-the-law territory, and Zokalo didn't really want to deal with that sort of shit.

Then he killed his mother, and found he wasn't really sorry. It was a good change, in fact – instead of her having power over him, he had power over her. When she stopped struggling, he threw his head back, and laughed and laughed.

That was the only time Zokalo moved on after a kill. Everyone knew he hated his mother. Wouldn't take a genius to figure out why she'd been found dead in her own home, with her blood splattered on the wall and her skull bashed in.

In the next town, he got a day job as a butcher. He thought it was funny. Too bad no one else would, if everything went right.

A month after he arrived, he realized that he missed the thrill of the kill. The power. He missed the feeling of someone struggling under his hands, and he missed the jolt of realization in his chest when they went still.

He wanted more.

Soon after, Madness claimed his first victim.

That was his name, Madness, when they realized (five kills in, the losers) that there was a serial killer on the loose. It was hard, he'd grant them – he used a different weapon every time, chose random victims, but he almost always crushed the skull. He liked the crunch. It reminded him of the spiders.

Madness claimed seventeen victims before he got caught.

Zokalo wouldn't have gotten caught, if he hadn't been followed down the alley as he stalked his seventeenth victim, if the akuma hadn't emerged from its skin. But he knew, the moment that the creature emerged from the woman's skin, that the tables were about to turn. That Zokalo would lose his hard-won power.

Zokalo wasn't about to let that happen, though. Nothing and no one would be stronger than him, as long as he had something to say about it.

And then, as the akuma bore down on him – a wagon nearby lost two of its wheels, and suddenly, Zokalo was stronger than ever, and the akuma fell before him.

He barely had ten seconds to relish it before the authorities finally caught him, but when they dragged him away, he was laughing again.

His newfound power thrummed through him for the entire five days it took the Order to find him, even as he'd been kept separate from his weapon, and after that, he just got stronger, and stronger. Strong enough to take down hoards of akuma, of things stronger than humans.

After taking down akuma, taking down something known to murder whole cities of humans, Zokalo wasn't sure he could go back to killing humans again.

What did it prove, after all, to kill something as weak as a human?


Zokalo is... interesting. Sorry if this was a little disturbing, but it's Zokalo. It was always going to be disturbing. *snort and shrug* Thanks for reading, and please review!