"This is pointless," Yuki complained, adjusting her Prefect's badge in the mirror before giving her appearance a final once-over. Her usual Day Class uniform was missing; in its place was a tasteful (but easily maneuverable) white ball gown. Her hair was done in a precarious up-do. She looked lovely, so grown-up... And fiercer than before. He eyes used to be so loving - now when Zero met her gaze in the mirror, her eyes looked much like his own; cold, distrustful. Yuki used to love these vampires so... Zero felt bad for taking love away from her. Zero knew they were beasts, but Yuki used to see something more in them - something almost tender. That was gone now, thanks to a certain Pure Blood... Oh, but that was so long ago. Two years to be exact, and Zero hardly thought about what happened anymore; the memories had long since lost their meaning, or so he liked to tell himself. He was a different person now. What that Pure Blood did – Zero rarely thought his name anymore, it made the beast sound too human – was trauma that belonged to another man, a stranger.

Tonight, however… Perhaps it was the banquet that had these old memories coming back to haunt him. Vampires and humans alike would be in attendance, and that included many old acquaintances. Acquaintances from another lifetime.

"It's just a ball. Why do we have to attend?" Yuki huffed. Zero remembered a time where she would have been thrilled at the idea of dressing up and dancing, fancy food and friendly conversation. That girl was gone now - disillusioned.

"It's called posturing," Zero explained, his voice perhaps a bit sharper than intended. Those memories - they put him on edge. Yuki was on edge too. This... wasn't going to be a pleasant night. "Reminding them who's in control of Cross Academy. They're still beasts, you know." Lest they forget.

A sad sigh escaped her lips, as if she really had forgotten. "You're right. Sorry."

Zero merely nodded, following Yuki's example and examining himself in the mirror. His clothing was slightly more subdued - he wasn't one to draw attention to himself, especially with vampires nearby. Yuki - she was positively radiant, skin glowing, eyes sad but still reflecting beauty. Oh, how his sister had grown...

He still wore his school uniform, adorned only by a white rose sitting in his pocket. His gun was hidden beneath his jacket, resting ever-faithful at his side. Not exactly the kind of accessory one would expect to see at a banquet like this, but Zero was working security. And even if he wasn't, he never left his gun behind.

"Come," he said, turning from the mirror stiffly; all business. "Guests will be arriving soon."

"Takuma!" Yuki waved, forgetting herself amongst the beauty of the banquet hall. She was supposed to be working security, but she could afford to say hi to old friends.

The vampire in question lifted his head at the voice, smiling when his eyes fell on Yuki. He looked much the same as he did two years ago; same haircut, same smile, same glimmer in his eye. Vampires never changed. "Yuki," he greeted once he was in earshot, bending down to kiss her hand. Yuki blushed. "What a pleasure."

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" She spoke easily; small-talk was still something she could manage.

"Indeed…" Takuma trailed off for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face, as if wondering whether or not he should speak any further. "When Kaname left… our absence from vampire Nobility had no purpose. Our houses needed us, you see…" he trailed off. Perhaps he'd said too much.

"I know," she said, slightly subdued at the mention of Kaname.

"Excuse me," Kain appearing behind Takuma, a welcome distraction from their current conversation. He nodded to Yuki, but that was his only acknowledgement of her; something seemed to be bothering him. "Takuma, have you seen Aido anywhere?"

Takuma shook his head, looking apologetic. "Not once," he shrugged, though the concern in Kain's face seemed to spark some anxiety in him as well. "He's probably trying to pick up girls," Takuma gave a good-natured laugh, but it didn't sound quite right; too stiff, slightly forced. The Yuki of two years ago probably wouldn't have noticed. But the Yuki of today, the disillusioned girl, saw it instantly. Still, she said nothing. Matters between vampires did not concern her.

Kain shrugged, shoulders tense, but he was making an effort to appear unconcerned; he was often chided for being overprotective of his cousin. It seems that hadn't changed either.

"How is Zero?" Kain asked suddenly, and for a moment Yuki swore she misheard. No one ever asked after Zero, not anymore, and certainly not with a tone like that – not the polite tone of someone making conversation, but quiet, serious. He was asking about that.

"Kain!" Takuma exclaimed in surprise. That was a question he would have expected from Aido, but Kain had more tact than that.

Yuki opened her mouth to answer, but closed it almost immediately; she didn't have an answer. She thought of Zero's night terrors, the quiet sobs she heard from behind his door when he thought everyone was asleep. Feeding off anyone caused Zero so much pain, and his guilt was only part of it. Yuki suspected it had something to do with Kaname, though she never asked. He was only just starting to allow casual touch.

How was Zero doing? Poorly.

"He's fine," She gave Kain a sharp, disapproving look, halting the conversation right then and there. Everything, right down to the way she stood, screamed for Kain to drop the topic. Yuki prayed Kain would get the hint. She didn't want to tell him to stop, didn't want to make it seem like this was still a sore subject, even though it was.

Kain looked thoughtful for a moment, as if considering his next words very carefully, but before he could inquire further, Yuki's phone – hidden tastefully in the folds of her dress – quietly went off, just barely loud enough for those in her immediate vicinity to hear. Yuki herself nearly missed it, but she was looking for a way out of this conversation, and this was it.

"Excuse me," she said with a slight dip of her head, then hurried to the edge of the crowd where she could take the call without disturbing anyone.

She pulled the phone from her pocket, checked the caller ID and frowned. Yagari. Why would Yagari call her? He wasn't even attending the banquet. She shrugged and answered her phone. "Hello?"

"Can you get to the infirmary?" Yagari wasted no time with pleasantries. But then again, he never had been the polite type.

"Sure," she said immediately, then after a slight pause, "What about Zero?

"Already here."

"What?" Panic filled her, voice going slightly shrill. "What happened?"

"Zero is fine," Yagari said quickly, easing Yuki's worry, though not by much. "I'll explain when you get over here. I don't know what happened, exactly. But…" Yagair's voice got quieter, as if had turned away from the receiver. "Shit, he's losing too much blood." Yuki heard something shift, then a metallic snip. Yagari swore again, voice louder again as the background noise faded. "Just get over here. Quickly."

"Of course," Yuki snapped her phone shut. Something was definitely going on, something bad.

Zero could not bear to stay inside for very long - despite his cold, formal attitude, he was never one for formal occasions; too much was expected of him, and Zero did not like expectation. Instead, Zero took to patrolling the grounds. At least, that was his excuse. The formal occasion he could have dealt with, but he hated seeing vampires be so civil. He hated the lie.

It was much calmer outside, and Zero felt at ease. He could barely hear the noise from inside, so the night was peaceful.

And then Zero smelled blood.

He froze, the scent hitting him hard – not overwhelming, close to it. His eyes flashed red, and Zero didn't even have the luxury to wonder after the source of blood as the lusty fog began to settle in. Hands shaking, Zero dug into his pocket, producing a small, square pill box. He swallowed hard, stomach doing a frustrated flip, demanded to be fed – blood, real blood, not the pale substitute it knew it would receive. Fingers fumbling in his haste, Zero snapped the case open and dumped the tablets into his hand. He took two and popped them into his mouth, immediately biting down to release their full effects, wincing at the taste.

The red receded, his eyes slowly losing their violent color. He stood still, allowing the wave of bloodlust to pass over him completely. Those pills tasted awful, and they made his stomach wretch; his body wanted to reject them, but wouldn't allow itself, for he needed the sustenance. He always felt sick after taking them, but they worked in a pinch, gave him enough of a boost to stave off bloodlust. A true lifesaver in the months following Kaname's departure; Zero couldn't stand physical contact, not even the little bit it took to feed… His body had to accept the pills, otherwise he'd have died.

Now that Zero had his wits about him, Zero noticed something distinctly off about the offending scent. Unnatural, but familiar.

He felt a sudden chill. That couldn't be good.

He drew his gun and followed the smell, quietly, cautiously, legs bent in something that resembled a fighting stance. As he moved closer, Zero heard… screaming? No. Moaning.

"Who's there!" he yelled once he was within earshot. No response, but a flurry of movement caught in the corner of his eye. A heavy thud, and something that sounded like a whimper. All pretense of caution dropped at that sound. Zero sprinted forward, burst onto the scene, and –

He gagged.

There was… someone – he couldn't tell who, perhaps a male – lying in a heap. Blood matted his hair and obscured his face. Vampire blood, Zero realized with startling clarity. He took a step forward, trying to get a better look at his face, but he couldn't stop his gaze from running over the rest of him. Torn, disheveled clothing, shirt pushed up to reveal what would probably be a pale stomach, though at the moment it was nothing but slick, black blood. His legs were mostly bare, pants bunched up around his ankles, thighs drenched in red and milky white.

Zero felt another wave of nausea. The man was practically unrecognizable, but Zero did recognize him, finally. Aido. Which meant… Zero shook his head violently. No. He wouldn't let himself go down that train of thought, not right now. He had work to do.

He wanted to gag again, but he forced it down. That was the reaction of another man; a weaker man.

Besides, Zero had seen worse.

"Yuki," a voice called, a familiar voice, stopping her mere feet from the exit. She couldn't afford to stop. She exactly wasn't sure why, but the phone conversation with Yagari left her with a feeling of dread. Zero needed her; she had to get to him, and fast. But…

That voice.

She whipped around, dress fluttering around her at the sudden movement. "Kaname," she greeted harshly, doing little to conceal her animosity, though she did try. It was just so hard. Memories hit her all at once, long-buried emotions. Hate, betrayal, affection. She loved this man at one point. She thought the world of him.

Then he tore her world down around her.

And he was smiling.

Logically, Yuki knew she could have expected to see Kaname at this banquet – vampire nobility was in attendance, so it only made sense their king would be as well. But seeing him after all this time still caught her off guard.

"It's been too long," Kaname said evenly, voice impossibly smooth and rich. Though she hated him, Yuki could understand why other vampires worshipped him.

"There's a reason for that," she snapped back, feeling perhaps a little childish at her outburst, but she had a reason to be so hateful.

Kaname frowned, his face a mockery of hurt. His eyes were still smiling.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm supposed to be working security." She turned on her heel and walked away, struggling to keep herself from running.

Getting Aido to the infirmary had been no easy task. Unconscious though he was, Aido flinched at every touch, and Zero had one hell of a time picking up the squirming vampire. And the blood. Bloodlust remained mercifully at bay, but Zero was still a vampire, and the smell was not easy to ignore. He was covered in it now, and the smell made his stomach churn with need. He managed, though. It wasn't too hard; he felt too sick to eat.

Zero was surprised to find Yagari in the infirmary, but he didn't question it. He was just thankful; there was no way he could have treated Aido on his own. Too hard to concentrate. Too much blood. Zero couldn't even stay in the same room, let alone tend wounds. He waited in the darkened hallway, popping blood tablet after blood tablet to ward off his lingering hunger.

Footsteps.

He glanced upwards, head turning to look down the hallway.

"Zero!"

The footsteps ran towards him, and before Zero could even process the sound of his name, Yuki's arms were already wrapped around his middle. "You're all right…" she whispered against his chest, relief dripping from every syllable, and were those tears Zero heard in her voice? She stayed like that for a moment, holding him tightly, as if reassuring himself that he really was okay. What on Earth could have prompted this? Zero didn't ask, content to simple let Yuki hold him. It took a long time for Zero to get used to this kind of contact, but now he found it nothing but comforting.

"What happened?" Yuki asked, finally pulling away. Zero merely shook his head. He didn't want to answer, couldn't bring himself to recount all that gore. Too familiar. He couldn't speak of it without bringing to mind pictures of his own body, glimpsed by firelight in the reflection of a window, bloody and oozing and beaten; ugly, but called beautiful.

Zero thought he was over that. Apparently not.

Yuki nodded. Zero doubted she knew what was running through his head, glad she didn't know, but the nod told him that at the very least, Yuki understood his silence, and accepted it. Zero was grateful.

Eyes still on Zero, Yuki opened the infirmary door, watching his back – shoulders hunched, muscles tense – slowly disappear as she shut the door behind her. "Yuki," Yagari called the moment she shut the door, causing her to turn. Whatever he said next was lost on her eyes landed on the figure lying in the infirmary's bed.

"Is that Aido?" Bandages covered a good third of his body, and the rest oh him was very, very bloody. Three long, deep gashes ran from the middle of his stomach to his right hip, unbandaged and bleeding profusely. Who – what – could have done something like this?

Yuki took a step back, stumbling over her own feet. Where Aido's head once lay, Yuki saw silver. She saw firelight, heard Kaname snarl, saw him –

"Yuki!" Yagari called again, yanking her from whatever psychosis she had wandered into. The figure on the bed was Aido once again. No firelight, just harsh florescence. "I have to stitch him up, but there's no anesthesia." Yagari explained evenly. How was he so calm? Yuki looked at his face – really looked – and what she saw was the calm, calculating man from all those years ago; the man who forced down trauma for necessity. That's how he was functioning. That's what Yuki needed. "And he won't sit still," Yagari continued. "Bandaging him up hard enough with him flailing around, but I managed. However… this is delicate."

"But he's unconscious! How did this even happen?"

Yagari shook his head. He had no answer for her second question, but… "He's not unconscious. He's primal. Lost too much blood, so he's running on instinct. I see it all the time." To demonstrate, Yagari reached out towards Aido. When his hand was mere inches from Aido's face, the vampire snarled, eyes snapping open, vacant but afraid. Yagari withdrew his hand and Aido seemed to settle, body stilling, eyes slipping closed. "Whenever I get near him, he does that. I hate to ask you, but he's losing so much blood, Cross is at the banquet, and Zero –"

"I'll do it." Yuki cut him off, taking a determined step forward, positioning herself at the head of Aido's bed.

Yagari nodded, the closest to thanks he would probably ever offer. He grabbed the surgical needle and thread, antiseptic and bandages. "Okay," he muttered, seating himself beside Aido's wound. Yuki took a deep breath then wrapped her arms around Aido's shoulders, holding him in place. Immediately he began to struggle, weakly, ask there was very little blood in his system; Yuki didn't know much about vampires, but she knew this was bad, very bad.

Suddenly, Aido's struggling violently increased; screams tore from his throat, chilling Yuki to the bone. Still she held on tight, refusing to let go. Blood stained her dress, red on white, and her hair was a mess from struggling to keep Aido down, but Yuki paid her appearance no mind. A glance to the side showed Yagari, slowly and methodically cleaning out the wounds, brow lined with concentration as he worked. Yuki was impressed he could do anything remotely productive with Aido squirming like this, but Yagari was a vampire hunter; he was probably used to working in such extreme conditions.

Next he moved to the stitching; tough, tedious work. More than once, Yagari was forced to stop when Yuki could not manage to hold Aido still. But they were making progress, and they were going to save Aido, that she would make sure of.

Yuki could not bear to leave another friend broken.

[There's a time skip of about two years in this chapter. I hope you caught that (I did mention it a few times), otherwise this chapter probably didn't make much sense. There's also a lot of POV switching in this chapter, which I tend to do a lot. I hope it wasn't confusing! I do try and make the switches obvious.

I got super pumped writing this chapter! It was fun to write, so I hope you enjoyed reading it.]