I glanced upwards, rubbing my eyes. It had been a full twenty four hours since Pyrrha ran away from me. The sun was already setting, night time growing. I tried to set my sleep schedule opposite the sun. There was no real reason; ghouls didn't hate the sun. Even so, it felt... comforting. Comforting in a damning sort of way. I would live like the monster I was...

"Gear up, newbie." Emerald said, placing her mask on her face. It seemed to be a skull, but it was hard to say. The design was warped. "We got visitors. Ghouls just wandered through our territory."

"But what about the others?" I questioned, glancing to Mercury. The others were out fighting other gangs, attempting to gain territory. Mercury sighed, placing his gas mask over his face.

"We'll just have to manage. By the time they get here, the battle will be decided." Mercury said, his eyes glowing red as the tail of his kagune tore from his tailbone. It coiled around him, his gaze fixating on Emerald. Her eyes changed as she held up her arm, a wing of fiery blood erupting out of her upper back.

So that must be an ukaku, a wing kagune...

"What about me? I don't know how to use my Kagune." I said, causing Mercury to sigh. He turned around, walking over to a crate and slicing it open with his tail. In his hand he pulled out a P90, a small automatic submachine gun. He threw it in the air, causing me to let out a slight yelp in surprise. My hands wrapped the gun, my finger resting on the trigger. He reached in, grabbing several cartridges of ammo.

"We stole this from the CCG a while back. I originally planned to sell it on the black market, but we need support. That's a standard P90. On its own, it wouldn't do anything to a ghoul." He said, handing me the ammo. "But the ammo is filled with Q bullets. They're made from RC cells, the thing that creates the flesh of the Kagune." He said, pointing at his tail. "Point that at a ghoul and they'll be shot same as anyone. If you're lucky, you'll disable their regeneration."

I cocked the gun, swallowing hard.

"I've never fired a gun before."

"I suggest you learn." Emerald said, walking over to the garage door. She reached down, throwing it open and glancing into the darkness. A girl walked forward, her onyx black hair flowing gently down from her head. A white mask covered her eyes, coming down like a knight's visor and covering her nose as well. Her mouth, however, remained unprotected. On top rested two cat ears. It conflicted her serious vibe. To her right stood a tall man with crimson red hair, bearing a similar mask. His, however, was filled with red markings, two spikes jutting out the top.

"Why are you in our territory?" Emerald said angrily, glancing at me. Noticing her gaze, and how neither of the two were glancing at me, I retreated to behind the crate. Checking my ammo, I leaned forward, setting my sights on the girl.

"What do you want, Black Cat." Mercury said, his tail oscillating back and forth.

"Sacrifice your territory to us." She said, crossing her arms.

"Why would we do that?"

"Because we're telling you to, pip squeak." Said the tall one angrily.

"What did you call me, Crimson?" He said.

Crimson... I heard about him in the news. 'Black Cat' and 'Crimson' are just names assigned to these ghouls by the CCG. They must be using them here to hide their identity.

"Why do you even want our territory, anyways? We only have a block, basically. What's it to you?"

"This warehouse serves as an excellent perch and hub for our activities. You Shifts are just sticking your ass right in the middle of our business." He said, crossing his arms. "Plus, the Schnee RC Company runs through here all the time, delivering their samples to the CCG. We fucking hate them."

"I know damn well about them." Mercury said, narrowing his black eyes.

That must be how they got this crate...

"Is this going to turn ugly or not?" The Black Cat said in disdain. "I have somewhere to be, and I don't want to kill you."

"Well," Emerald said, placing a finger on the back of her thigh. It would be out of their view, but easy for me to see. It pointed to the right, to the side Crimson stood on.

She must have noticed that I was aiming towards the girl... or maybe she just wants Crimson dead.

"What's in it for us?" Emerald finished, tilting her head. I adjusted my aim, my heart pounding in my chest. It was so loud, I wondered if they could hear it... Ghouls are said to have heightened senses when they were ready to attack. How heightened?

"Nothing. You get to live."

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. That would be my signal.

Could I kill him?

No, it wouldn't kill him, likely. Ghouls can regenerate.

"This is your last chance." Crimson growled.

He would kill them. I have to...

I wrapped my finger around the trigger, resting the sights on his head. Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I pulled the trigger. The gun erupted, several bullets spewing from my gun and thrusting it upwards in recoil.

I heard a scream of pain as he fell over, gripping his head. The girl instantly reacted, tentacles erupting from the bottom of her back. She thrust forward, sending crimson claws forward. Mercury shot towards them, his tail meeting her tentacle in a clash. Emerald leaped back, throwing her arm forward. Thousands of tiny shards of crystals fired from the crimson mass, thrusting toward Crimson. He rolled to the side angrily, slamming his fist on the ground.

Blue erupted from his shoulder, wrapping around his arm and creating a claw around his hand. He sprinted forward, raising his claw into the air.

The sword Kagune, Koukaku.

Emerald dodged to the left, his fist slamming into the cement. He roared, trusting his hand to the left. Emerald reacted, swinging her wing across and covering her. Instantly, its flaming mass of muscle froze, crystallizing into a beautiful shield. The claw cared not for its perfection, slamming into it and thrusting her back.

I flinched, raising the rifle and setting my sights. With a deep breath, I held the gun sturdy and fired, the barrel erupting in black and scarlet fire. The bullets hit Crimson, launching him into a wall. He turned his head to look at me, his destroyed mask revealing his ghoul eye.

I fell back to cover, thrusting out the empty ammo cartridge and sticking a new one in, pulling the lever. A mass of red flew over me as the Black Cat landed elegantly on the floor, Mercury jumping over the crate and I in pursuit. He flipped midair, his tail slamming into her tentacle. The claws hissed as his tail sliced into them, a grunt escaping the girl. The rolled to the right, my sights aimed on her. I fired, her head instantly turning. One of her crimson limbs flexed, absorbing all of my bullets. She growled, sprinting toward me.

Mercury cursed, sprinting forward and tackling her to the side. She howled as they tumbled away, a fearful exhale erupting from my chest. I ran over to the next crate, raising my P90 and glancing at the battle.

Emerald cursed as she rolled away from the giant claw that slammed down, thrusting upwards with her wing. The crystal feathers shot through the air, hitting him in the chest midleap. He howled in pain, my finger pulling the trigger. Bullets tore through his already damaged figure, causing him to roll to the side. He howled, running behind Emerald and striking.

I winced, not being able to fire. He broke past her crystal shield, wrapping his claw arm around her. One of the claws of the fingers pressed against her throat, a muffled scream escaping her.

"Let her go!" I shouted, standing up.

He chuckled, pulling his claw back. Her head tore away from her body with a tearing of tendons and tissue, blood erupting from the corpse. His claw tightened, crushing Emerald's skull and raining down blood and gray matter. I stiffened, bile floating into my mouth. Ducking behind the crate, I listened as tearing flesh and the cracking of bones echoed around the warehouse.

"Emerald!" Mercury shouted, in anger. I clenched my eyes shut, covering my ears with my hands.

"Do you really think that's going to help?" A voice chucked in front of me. My eyes tore open to see the black eye of Crimson, who smiled evilly. I flinched, pressing against the crate. Blood and entrails rested on his black jacket, his finger brushing against my chin.

"You seem tasty. Are you a human?" He chuckled, glancing behind the box. "Cat should have him taken care of before long."

"Get off of me." I said, my voice cracking. He chuckled, wrapping his hand around my throat.

"Don't talk to me like that, kid." He said, narrowing his eyes and opening his mouth. "I've never been one for playing with my food."

I furrowed my brow, jamming the barrel in his stomach.

"Eat this." I said, pulling the trigger. Fire erupted below me as he the bullet's exploded from the gun's barrel, tearing through his stomach. A scream escaped his throat as stumbled backwards, covering himself with his claw. I bit my lip and furrowed my brow, stepping on the kagune and aiming directly in his chest. My finger pulled the trigger, sending out another spew of bullets. He screamed in pain, thrusting my off.

"Blake, we're leaving!" He shouted in a hurry, stumbling forward. Blood spilled from his chest, splattering on the ground.

Blake?

The cat turned to face him, her tentacles wrapped around Mercury. With a grunt, she threw him into a crate, leaping out through the broken window. I attempted to reload, wincing at a cut that ran along my arm. I watched as the blood sealed up, allowing me to finish loading in the ammo. By the time I raised the gun, he was gone.

I glanced down at the sight before me. Mercury stumbled forward, limping slightly as he glanced down at the center. He fell at Emerald's destroyed corpse, landing on his knees.

"Damnit..." He cursed, tear welling up in his eyes. He collapsed, slamming his fist into the ground.

"Damnit..."

...

I sat on the scaffolding on the ceiling, glancing around the warehouse. Despite two weeks passing since Emerald's death, not a single word has been said. Everyday, Roman and Neo leave to fight for more territory, and they'd come back after a while.

My days had been filled with reading since that time. I had walked to a library and stolen various books, which I had read since then. My phone was running low on battery, despite my best attempts to preserve it. I can't say why, but I was desperately waiting for something. The reality of why I was waiting wasn't something I could admit to myself.

Pyrrha was the human side of me. Human life, in this short period of time, completely left my mind. I can't remember what being surrounded by people was like, or having a schedule and a daily routine. The stresses, the worries, all I couldn't remember. Whenever I tried... she just came to mind.

"Jaune."

The word came silent, yet it echoed around the warehouse with the force of a hundred drums, breaking two weeks of silence. I looked down at Mercury, who had taken her death the hardest.

"What?"

"We're leaving."

"Where?"

"The Black Dragon club. I've arranged a trade." He said. I sighed, walking over and leaping onto a crate, hopping down to the floor.

"Whats this trade about? What's this about a club?"

"Club, you know, like a dancing club," He said, grabbing his gas mask out from the crate. I sighed, pulling mine out from the hood and placing it on my face, tightening the red straps.

"Okay, what are we doing there?"

"The place buys dead ghoul parts." He said, his voice catching slightly. I wanted to ask why, but I could tell that was all he was comfortable with saying.

I could piece together the pieces. That club needed the RC Cells, and we had some. Emerald's.

"Are we selling the club something, or are we meeting someone?" I asked. He nodded.

"Meeting someone."

...

I glanced up at the night sky, lowering my gaze. My hands fell to my pockets as I glanced over to him, scratching at my neck. The music was muffled, but it was even audible from here, nearly a block away.

"The Black Dragon is a dance club operated by a certain guy named Junior." He explained. "From what I hear, he's a human. In fact, the place is majorly human." He said, finally feeling comfortable enough to tell me. "I guess it's like the black market for ghouls. Kind of like how human organs can be sold illegally." He shrugged. "So, since I had to... clean up Emeralds remains, I harvested the ghoul sections." He said, holding up a trash bag. "We can at least make some money off of this."

I winced. I knew this was painful for him, but when you worded it like that, it seemed wrong. Letting out a sigh to release the tension, I glanced up at the club. Walking up, a large beast of a man watched us with his arms crossed. A line, longer than I could see, stretched out in front of us.

"How do we get in?" I asked.

"Sometimes it costs money to make money." He said, sighing and pulling out a $100 Lein bill. He walked over, grabbing the shoulder of the man and whispered in his ear, placing the bill in his coat pocket. The man nodded, Mercury motioning me forward. I swallowed harshly as I walked in, watching as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark.

Black lights and the raves soon filled my vision, the bass rattling the floor. I glanced up, watching as the DJ pumped his fist, his eyes a black and red.

"Over here!" Mercury shouted, motioning to the crowd. We pushed through, people smiling and laughing, dancing to the music. A woman glanced at me with her red eye up and down, licking her lips.

She's a one eye? What is this place?

With a glare, I activated my eye, showing her I was a ghoul. She shrugged, turning away and returning to dancing.

We pushed through the crowd, pressing past the dance floor and on to an elevated area, with what likely was the VIP area. Mercury walked up to the guard, holding up his bag.

"I'm meeting someone." He said over the music. The bouncer nodded, taking a step to the side. I stiffened walking past him, his black eyes easily visible and set on me. Mercury looked around the table, pointing to a certain one and walking over. I followed in pursuit. Turning my gaze to the table, I noticed several people sitting in the both side, glancing at us.

"Take off your mask." He said, pulling the gas mask off his head. I nodded, undoing the straps and taking a seat. A large chested girl crossed her arms and glared at me, blonde hair flowing from her head. She wasn't the focus, however. The elephant in the room seemed to be the white haired boy, no older than I, who sat at the table. Mercury sat down, glancing at the calm boy.

"Kaneki, was it?"

"Yes. You are Mercury, correct?"

"Yeah." He said. The white haired boy turned to me, tilting his head and cracking his finger.

"Who are you? My name is Kaneki Ken, and this is Yang Xiao Long." He said, motioning to his companion.

"Jaune Arc." I said, taking a quick glance at the girl. Mercury sighed, holding up the bag. Blood slowly dripped from the bottom, falling onto the table.

"This is it. Roughly 9000 RC cells." He said, plopping it onto the table. "I don't get why you need it. Its not like you're into body modifications like the rest of this place. Why would humans want to become ghouls? I don't get this place."

So thats it, then. This place buys and sells RC cells in order to allow humans to become ghouls. Ghouls sell the body parts of their enemies and deceased friends, and humans can become ghouls. There must be a lot of one eyes in this place.

"For personal reasons." He said, glancing back at me. "Who are you, Jaune Arc? I wasn't informed of you when Uta told me about this meeting,"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell Uta." Mercury shrugged, glancing at me. "This Kaneki guy was looking for RC cells, but I had no idea how to get in contact with him. Luckily, I talked to Uta while he was making your mask, and what do you know? He knows the guy. Made a mask for him, even."

"You haven't answered my question." Kaneki said, popping another finger, glancing at me and smiling. "Sorry, that was rude."

"I didn't find it rude." I said with a shrug.

"Anyways, Jaune is a new guy in the Shift gang. I found the one eye all alone, in an alleyway, doves on his tail. Being the kind guy I am, I recruited him." Mercury boasted. Kaneki furrowed his brow, leaning in.

"One eye?" He said, turning to me. I nodded, revealing my ghoul eye. Upon seeing my eye, he stiffened, glancing to Yang. "Jaune, you wouldn't have happened to have had an operation recently, have you? Or did you obtain it through this... establishment?"

"I had a surgery." I noted, glancing at his lap. In it was a leather mask, which had teeth and a zipper where the mouth would be. And eye patch rested around the right eye. His mask covered one eye, and Uta made it. He based the mask off of traits of the user. It wasn't hard to jump to my next conclusion. "Let me guess, Kanou was your doctor too?" I said.

He chuckled slightly, opening his left eye to reveal the ghoul eye.

"That's why I'm buying these cells off of you, actually." He said, glancing at the bag. "The group I'm with, Anteiku, we want some answers on how I came to be. I have a friend named Itori, she runs a bar. Between her and Uta, we discovered Kanou is doing some nasty things." He said. "I won't indulge you on the details, but long story short he needs RC cells. A lot of them. He has his own ways of getting some, but not enough." He said, standing up and taking the bag in his hand. His eyes fell on me, no emotion on his face.

"Would you like to assist us? Surely you want to know about Kanou." He said, glancing at us. I looked at Yang, who glared at me and popped her knuckles.

"No thanks." Mercury said, standing to leave. "I got enough shit to deal with as it is."

"Very well. Jaune, know that the invitation won't expire. Feel free to join us at any point. Simply go to Anteiku and ask for the Centipede." He said. Yang sighed, sliding the briefcase over to Mercury. He popped it open, smiling at all the Lein inside.

The music rattled the floor as Kaneki slowly passed me, his breath passing by my nose.

The...smell. It wasn't of humans, but meat surely. What was he eating?

"Let's go." Mercury said, sticking his hands in his pockets and pointing out. "Roman and Neo should be getting back soon."

"Alright." I said, looking over at the DJ. His active and excited bursts of movement and energy had all but faded as he stumbled back, pointing forward. Glancing over, I followed his gaze. It landed upon a man who wore only a purple suit, pushing back his short blue hair and giving a suave smile.

"Shit." Mercury said, glancing at the men behind him. "We need to leave, now."

"Why?"

"This place is about to turn into a war zone."

I quickly turned my gaze.

"Oh!" He shouted, so loud it even overpowered the music. The DJ kicked over his table in defense, causing the cords to snap and the music to stop. The man placed his hand over his face dramatically, glancing at the crowd.

"OH! How many half ghouls there are here! Can you just imagine the taste?! The perfection and simplicity of human flesh, combined with the delicacy and the purity of ghoul blood! OH, HOW IT MAKES ME DROOL!" He shouted, thrusting his hand up in the air. "And so many, too! I can hardly stand up straight, as these scents of the perfect delicacy assault my nostrils! Friends, do you not agree?!" He shouted, turning to his army. Each was wearing either a suit or a dress, a masquerade on their face.

"That's the group MM, lead by the Gourmet. He's crazy, we need to leave." He said, tugging on my jacket.

"Oh, but I can't eat any of you now! You all having been drugged, and drunk, and all those nasty things! That simply won't do! I only eat the best!" He said, stepping back. His well dressed goons trusted down several people, each tied up. A bag was tied around each of their head, a muffled scream escaping the bindings that rested beneath it.

"I bring you a gift! Your final meal. Only the best! Much like humans eat only grass-fed beef, I only eat those who ate the best. Ghouls, I offer you the best humans I have found." He said, grabbing one and hoisting her up.

'"Behold! Bare witness to the delicacy I have prepared!" He shouted, tearing the mask from her head.

I felt sick.

It was Pyrrha

A/N:

Okay, turns out it isn't finals week, I just had a 'mock'. 'Tis dumb. Either way, still a few chapters ahead, so don't worry. You guys shouldn't have to worry about a slow schedule. And again, production will increase in the summer.