-1Devil's Eye

Zero looked at her with earnest eyes and repeated, "stay with me."

"Are you crazy?" Yuuki couldn't help but ask.

He began to laugh hysterically. He really did seem mad to Yuuki. She tried to reason with him, "I did save you in the end. I helped. Please let me go. Nothing I do should endanger you or be a threat to you. I won't even mention you at all. I actually want nothing to do with you."

"You know, it's not possible. That's what I thought when I saw it but… it doesn't lie," Zero said ignoring Yuuki. He moved closer to Yuuki, leaning towards her, now practically on top of her, "I can try to kill you but I won't succeed. You can try and run away from me but you will find yourself coming back to me."

"Stop it," Yuuki almost shouted, "stop speaking in riddles. Just let me go."

"You saw it didn't you. Not just once but twice," Zero now said, "the illusion that I was killing Aaron Cliff and the time before with me chopping off the man's hand."

Yuuki didn't say anything. She looked away from Zero. What did he want with her? She was beginning to get frustrated. Illusion, she knew what he was talking about and she couldn't help but want to know the answer. How can she go along with him even till now? But the Illusion was undeniably appealing to her.

"I'll tell you," Zero continued, "my red eye has a weird ability to let me plant illusions into people's mind. They call it the Devil's eye."

Yuuki couldn't resist but stare at Zero again. Was he serious? Her face must've shown how much she didn't believe him because he smirked.

"Unbelievable isn't it?" Zero said, "but its true. Once my target looks into my red eye I can control their mind and what they see. Usually I just affect the person I want but somehow your particularly vulnerable to my red eye."

Yuuki looked hard at him. He seemed so serious about something that was so supernatural and so unreal. But how else would she explain the illusions then. Why was she so bothered to know whether she had illusions or not? Yuuki knew the answer deep down. She still wanted to be right in her decision to ask DOUBT or Zero for help. She didn't want herself to be wrong. However, a devil's eye sound way too unreal. "I'm not a fool."

"You aren't," Zero agreed. "We'll test it out then."

"Test it? How can you test something that isn't real?" Yuuki asked.

"Listen. I'll tell you before hand exactly what illusion I'll implant into your mind. Once you stare into my red-eye, the illusion will start but you'll find everything is fake once you wake from the trance," Zero explained, "then you'll believe me."

Yuuki clenched her fists. She somehow couldn't stop herself from being so curious. Partly going against her better logic she said, "fine. Go already."

Zero smiled, "it won't be nice."

"I didn't expect it to be…" Yuuki stated.

"I'll rip your clothes and start to rape you Yuuki. Then you'll find that the belt is actually loose and you'd free yourself. Then grabbing that knife over there you stab it into my heart and I will die on this bed."

"WHAT?" Yuuki shouted, but Zero had already removed his contacts. She found herself instinctively looking at his crimson eyes. They did look eerie and dark with a sinister feeling about them. It wasn't wrong to call it the Devil's eye - it looked like one.

Yuuki suddenly felt his hands slipping under her shirt. They were warm but his touch still made her shiver. He groped her breast, squeezed them and leaned in close to her, kissing at her neck. "STOP," Yuuki screamed though she couldn't even push him away because she was tied. His hands slipped out from under her clothes and he grabbed them on the surface instead, tugging hard at them. There was a loud ripping noise as the clothes tore from Yuuki's body, revealing her naked flesh. "STOP! GO AWAY," Yuuki cried, "YOU BASTARD, You DEVIL, what test? All you want to do is hurt me…"

"If you understand then don't try to struggle…" Zero taunted, his red eyes blazing into hers.

She felt a sudden strong will to fight him. Yuuki pulled hard with her hands and surprisingly, they came loose. She pushed the unexpected Zero away from her and grabbed the knife that was on the table next to the bed. As if possessed, she shoved it deep into his heart, piercing his skin and flesh with no hesitation. She watched the warm blood running down her hands. His eyes losing its soul and the lifeless body drop dead onto the bed. She had killed him. Yuuki began to tremble from the realisation. It seemed too easy but more scary that she would actually do something like this. No, she wouldn't do something like this… she wouldn't…

"SO…It's time to wake up…"

Yuuki turned around at the voice behind her and as soon as she did, everything around her began to collapse.

"No…" she gasped, not believing her own eyes. Zero stood, perfectly fine before her, eating a apple, leaning against the wall. Yuuki looked back at the bed. Empty. No blood or dead body. She touched herself. She had clothes on, she wasn't partly naked or anything. Her clothes were the same and definitely not ripped. The knife was still on the table. The only difference was, she wasn't tied to the bed anymore. She slowly turned to look at Zero, though she was too confused to say a thing.

"Do you believe me now?" he said with a victorious smile, "I really can control one's mind."

Yuuki breathed. What was he trying to do? What is he scheming? Why did he tell her about his eye? "It has nothing to do with me…" she finally said.

"You'll need to know since your gonna be my apprentice from now on. I don't want you hindered by my devil's eye in your work. Take note of it and try to distinguish between illusion and reality-"

"HOLD IT!" Yuuki interrupted, "I don't recall ever being a murderer's apprentice."

"Don't accuse me of murder," Zero ordered, "well in an illusion I suppose I can kill one person a dozen times. Anyhow we don't have time to chit-chat, get to work on the next case."

Zero chucked the apple core into the bin and made his way down the stairs. He staggered slightly, probably from the bump he took when falling down the stairs. Yuuki felt very perplexed about everything. He was so capricious in his recent actions and sayings, it worried Yuuki and to how far can she trust herself to be safe with him. Once he was trying to kill her, then the next, she thinks at least he was trying to save her and then the next thing he does to her is tie her up. Then came his confession of this devil eye and now he calls her his apprentice. Yuuki couldn't hold back any longer, "Zero Kiryu or DOUBT even."

He stopped to listen to Yuuki.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" she asked, which almost came out as a shout. "I don't understand. I don't understand anything at all. Don't you hate me, resent me, think I'm annoying. Didn't you even want to kill me, get rid of me? Why? What now? Explain before I go crazy…what do you actually want?"

There was a long pause of silence where Yuuki breathed heavily waiting for his answer.

"I don't understand…" Yuuki continued, "what are you? Who are you?"

"I said it before didn't I," Zero started to answer, "I've changed my views on you Yuuki Cross. Before when I want to get rid of you is because you weren't of any value to me. But… now I think I need you with me."

"No," Yuuki said, "that's not an answer. I can't accept your sudden change."

"I didn't want to change either," Zero began to shout. "If I had a choice, I would want to be alone forever, for eternity and have no one besides me. But I can't deny it…"

"Deny what?" Yuuki questioned.

Zero stared at Yuuki, his expression full of agony, "I can't deny what the devil's eye predict. I can't risk going against its prediction a second time."

Yuuki bit her lips in frustration. This was crazy. They weren't getting anywhere through talking to each other, Yuuki still doesn't understand him. She just wants to leave. "Open the door and let me go. If you won't kill me then just let me go."

"I told you I can't go against my eyes prediction."

"You can't but I will and can," Yuuki protested. She ran to the door and banged on it. "There's no reason for you to keep me with you."

Zero continued to stare at Yuuki who desperately banged at the door and clawed at its side. He can tell she craved to leave him and he too wanted to be alone. He touched his crimson eye. The vision he had when her blood dropped into it was something he can't ignore. He will not repeat the past and go against the devil's eye. It wasn't for her sake but his own. To fulfil that small vision all he needed to do was keep her besides him, then nothing can go wrong.

"Give up Yuuki Cross," Zero finally said after watching her fro some time. She stopped her banging on the door. Maybe she too sensed it was a hopeless action. There must be a way to keep her willingly staying with him without having to imprison her. Despite how much it was a lie, Zero said, "you want me to help your father don't you?"

Yuuki eyed him with much suspicion, "you, helping me?"

"Earn that right Yuuki Cross. You did manage to help in the last case and you do have sharp observation skills that can be useful to me. Work as my apprentice and whilst your at it, collect evidence to show your father's innocence. Present your evidence to me and I swear on my own life to help your father. What do you say?"

Yuuki didn't answer. Zero could tell she was thinking but he already knew the answer before she even answered. She was his wife.