*Author's Note: This is kind of a fun one. Or at least, it was fun to write haha. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight.
I hurried to finish my ice cream and pay, since I knew Zero was likely waiting for me outside of the restaurant. When I was done, I came outside, not even bothering to look for him before saying, "Thanks for waiting Zero. Are—" I stopped, realizing he was nowhere to be found. I looked around, thinking maybe he was just sitting on a bench nearby, and saw the packages we had picked up for the headmaster on the ground, as if he had needed to leave in a hurry and hadn't even bothered to take them with him. This couldn't be good.
I immediately took off, looking for him all down the streets. Not only was he most likely in some sort of trouble, but I had a strange fear of the town when I was alone. Ever since I had run into that level E, I had been a little scared of town. I searched frantically for him, feeling like a child separated from her parents. I felt unsafe.
As I ran past a broken down building, I caught my exposed elbow on something sharp and protruding and started to bleed. Now I was really panicking. I tried to calm myself down, telling myself that it was fine; I wouldn't run into any vampires.
Just then, someone jumped down from above, almost landing on me, but I pulled out my Artemis Rod just in time and deflected whoever it was. My heart stopped.
Before me was a vampire, clearly a level E, smiling demonically and laughing. "You know, your blood smells delicious!" It rasped. "Let me drink…every drop of it!" it screamed, grinning and running towards me.
I froze. I couldn't control my limbs. I felt like a deer in the headlights, seeing the danger coming straight at me, but not able to do a thing about it. As fear washed over me I realized I wasn't going to be able to deflect the level E in time, and I was about to scream when two arms came from behind me, one gripping Artemis and the other circling my waist and pushing me back against a warm body. Before I knew it they had both hands on Artemis and had used it to knock the blood-thirsty vampire aside.
"Don't just stand there, Yuki," he said. It was Zero. I felt a surge of relief at having him there.
"Zero!" I said breathlessly. He said something behind me, but I wasn't paying attention. I kept thinking what would have happened if he hadn't come at the right time.
Half way feeling safe with Zero there and half way being terrified at the beast before me, my legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the ground, asking the dreaded question, though I already knew the answer. "So is that…a level E?"
As I said this, the creature came rushing towards me with a hungry look in its eyes. Before I could react, Zero jumped in front of me, blocking its path to me. He was about to swing the rod at it when suddenly the creature seemed to explode. Behind the cloud of dust that had been the level E, I saw two of the night class students, one of them sheathing a sword.
"Takuma! Senri!" I said, recognizing them. They were two of the vampires that I often ran into, but had never had any problems with.
"There we go," said Takuma, smiling kindly at me, as if killing this level E had been some small nuisance that he had taken care of.
"Why am I here? You didn't need me," Senri said from behind him, sounding bored. Finally able to feel my legs again, I got up from the street. However, I stayed behind Zero, still a little shaken from the experience. If I fell or something, I could brace myself on him.
"Why are you two outside doing this?" I asked, confused. Why were these vampires killing other vampires? Granted it had been a level E, but it was still something I considered strange.
"If you really want to know, stop by the moon dormitory tonight. Then we'll discuss the reason why we came for that level E," Takuma said before turning to leave with Senri close behind him.
I turned to Zero, looking up at him to see him staring down at me, one eyebrow cocked. "I don't think you should go," he stated simply. Well, he had worded it as an opinion…and it was a request, not an order. Not that that would have stopped me. Without saying anything, I made up my mind that I would still go.
I suddenly remembered that he was still holding my Artemis Rod. I reached out to take it, but when I got a grip on it, I pulled and it wouldn't come loose. He was gripping it tightly. Confused, I looked up at him. He was still staring down at me. Actually, it was more like glaring now. I was about to ask him what his problem was when he started talking.
"Yuki. What were you thinking?" he asked, a strain in his voice. Not knowing what he was referring to, I cocked my head, asking a silent question. He sighed.
"How could you just stand there as that blood-thirsty beast was running at you?" he said, looking very disturbed at my lack of action. "If I hadn't come in time…" he trailed off, and his body visibly shuddered.
Not wanting to explain to him since I didn't even really understand myself, I went for a different approach. "But you did, Zero. Just like you always do," I said, smiling up at him.
His expression softened the slightest bit, but then it went hard again. He pushed Artemis towards me and said, "I need to see you use this properly, or I won't be able to sleep at night." Before I could ask him what he was talking about, he stepped back from me, crouching as if ready to pounce. I suddenly understood.
"Zero, wait, I can't—!" I started to say, but he was already rushing at me. I started backing up like crazy, trying to tell him that I was not going to use Artemis on him, but I hit a wall.
Just like that he was upon me, his arms on either side of me, boxing me in with the wall at my back. He was standing up, out of the crouch now, but his neck was bent, looking down at me, his face just a scant few inches from mine. I stared at him wide-eyed, listening to him breathing much too hard for the short 15 feet he had just sprinted. Again, we just stared at each other, not breaking eye contact for what seemed like a long time.
Suddenly breaking the eye contact, he stepped away from me, looking especially angry. "Yuki, what is wrong with you? Why didn't you use your bracelet on me?" He yelled at me. Hearing him talk about my bracelet, I was confused. Hadn't he wanted me to use the rod? I wasn't supposed to use the bracelet unless he was going to bite someone…oh.
It hit me suddenly that he probably had been fighting an internal battle not to bite me. Especially with the open wound on my elbow still exposed. I gulped, trying to find the words to say.
"Zero…I'm sorry...I promise I know how and when to use Artemis, ok? I was just…not quite on top of it earlier. And as for the bracelet…It's my fault, since I didn't do anything about my bloody elbow. So…don't worry about me, ok?" I finished, hoping he would be satisfied. He sighed.
"No Yuki, it's not your fault," he said softly, taking his tie out of his pocket where he had put it when he had changed out of his uniform. He stepped closer to me and began wrapping the tie around my elbow, loosely enough that I could move it, but enough that it would hopefully stop the bleeding. I watched his hands as he worked, grateful to have a friend who cared about me so much.
Later that night, I was quietly heading in the direction of the moon dorm. I wanted to go see Takuma about what had happened with the level E earlier today, but I would rather that Zero not find out, since he had said he would rather I didn't go. I was looking around, making sure I hadn't been seen when I heard a voice.
"I knew it," Zero said. He was standing at the entrance of the moon dorm, arms crossed, as if he had been waiting here awhile, expecting me. I felt a blush heat my cheeks at my obvious predictability.
"Zero. You…you can't stop me!" I said confidently, though I knew if he really wanted to he could just pick me up and take me back. But I also knew he wouldn't. He rarely tried to force me into anything, and when he did it was usually for my own good.
"No, I'll go too," he said, surprising me. I turned to him to ask what he was thinking and found him holding out a vampire hunting gun to me. "I borrowed this anti-vampire gun from the headmaster," he told me. My first reaction was defense.
"Why are you bringing a gun here? The night class students are good people. Put that away!" I said, crossing my arms.
"You've got it wrong," he said, reaching out to take my hand and placing the gun into my palm. I made a sound of surprise.
"If at any time I lost the human part of me and go out of control…use this," he said softly, looking straight into my eyes. I pulled away sharply.
"I could never do that! Besides, if I need to stop you I can always use the spell the headmaster taught me," I said, trying to hand the gun back to him.
"There will come a day when that spell will not work on me. You know this. You saw that level E today. That is eventually what I will become. When it does, Yuki, I want you to be the one…to kill me," he finished, closing his eyes.
I stared at him, with his eyes closed, holding my hand with the gun in it. I blinked a couple times to keep the tears from starting to form. I couldn't even think of that. I couldn't imagine a time when Zero wouldn't be here, by my side. And he wanted me to kill him? Why me? How could he possibly believe that I would be able to kill him, my best friend since childhood? Then I had a thought. If he never ended up at the stage of level E, then he would not have to die. I resolved to think on this and find a way if there was one to keep him from becoming a level E.
"Alright. I'll agree to what you want. But the reason is because I don't think that day is ever gonna come, Zero. I just won't let it," I said, determination plain in my voice. I was suddenly desperate to know he was trying too. I couldn't fight for him if he wasn't going to fight for himself.
"Zero. You have to promise me something. Promise me you'll keep fighting so that I never have to use this pistol," I said, making sure to stare him down.
"I promise," he said softly, looking at me with sad eyes. Satisfied with his answer, I nodded, turning around to continue walking towards the moon dorm.
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