Chapter 36- Consequences

They returned back to the mansion. The place where Zero had stayed when he had been the boy "Seiji". Zero was greeted by the other members. They all had managed to get back after they had been teleported. He saw some old faces. He saw no person that looked like Adeline amongst the others. He looked behind him and he saw Kaito and Akatsuki carrying Kaname's limp body. Maria was carefully carried inside by Aido. She was really pale and sickly. Yuki looked around curiosity on her face. She stuck close to Akatsuki and her brother.

The household servants bowed to Zero and touched him. They were making sure he was okay. He smiled at them.

"I'm fine," he kept repeating. "But help these people to get settled in, please."

They followed his orders. Richard came inside them. He carried Mai who had cried herself to sleep.

Zero still didn't know the meaning behind her tears.

Richard looked around. He looked as if he was trying to find someone.

A guard stumbled into Zero accidentally. He began to stutter.

"H-h-hello, s-s-s-sir. I-I-I p-p-protected the m-m-mansion for you w-w-while you were gone." The young guard said. He looked younger than Zero and still had baby face. He was shorter than Zero. He kept looking down at the floor. His face was red and he was sweating. He bit his lip.

"Hello," Zero said surprised. "I never saw you here before."

"E-E-Emiko brought me here. My family had been killed a few days ago. I kept out of sight."

Zero looked behind him when he heard an exclamation of surprise. He saw Richard's look of shock.

Richard stepped forward. He was surprised. He got Kaito to carry Mai. Akatsuki put Kaname down on the chair. Kaname's head fell to his shoulder. His face was pale.

"Yasahiro! Brother, you're okay."

The young guard looked at Richard. "Brother!"

Yasahiro stumbled into his arms. The young boy started crying.

"They killed Mother. I couldn't do anything. You had left to find the medicine for her and I couldn't protect her. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Richard hugged his brother. "It's okay. It's fine. I'm just glad you were safe. Look at me," he said.

He grabbed his younger brother's face. He could see his brother's amber eyes and the black hair that fell in front of his eyes.

"You're safe and that is all that matters."

Kaname was brought upstairs. He was put on the bed and the staff changed his clothes to sleeping clothes. He was very pale. His wounds were all healed. He wasn't awake. After they changed his clothes, Yuki was allowed inside. She sat near his bedside and she refused to leave.

Kaname twitched in his sleep. His right hand was covered tightly with cloth. It had strange markings. The cloth was covered with swirling lines that seemed to be moving. They contracted and disappeared.

"Brother," she muttered.

She wanted him awake. She wanted to hear him speak. He was no longer controlled by Sachiko. She wanted everything to be normal. She missed his smile. She looked around the room. She felt at ease at the mansion. Everyone had greeted her nicely. But she could sense that they did not trust her. They all talked to Zero like he was the joy in their life. They all talked about a small boy. They all seemed worried about Mai, the woman previously called Emiko.

She looked down at her hands. She saw the fingers encrusted with blood. She stood up and then sat back down. She didn't want to leave Kaname.

"Toshihiro," Kaname whispered with his eyes still closed.

He turned slightly. "Stop. Zero. Kill."

"Brother?"

She touched his shoulder.

He woke up with a start. He ended up making her jump backwards. He stared at the room wide-eyed.

"Where am I?"

"Kaname, you're at the mansion."

"Where am I?" Kaname looked crazed. He looked around the room with twitchy eyes. "Where am I?"

Stop talking. Get out of my head. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking! Stop talking! Stop talking! Stop talking! Get out of my head!

Get out of my head! Get out of my head!

Get out.

Please get out.

I'm going to go mad.

Zero ended up going outside. He felt sick. He had asked the maids to cover the mark on Kaname's hand. He had put a spell on it to contain whatever was inside of Kaname. He still wasn't sure it was Erich. He hoped it wasn't.

That would mean the future would be the same. That the future Zero had not changed the past at all.

That would mean that his future son Seiji would end up dying and with that humanity's chance to survive.

He could just see it. He could see everybody dying. He didn't want that.

He was going to have to decide what to do.

Would he execute Kaname? Would he put him in a prison? Would he just leave to stop all of this.

There were too many consequences. Too many choices.

Only one life. One decision that would change everything.

He didn't want to decide.

Maria drank the water Aido gave her. She closed her eyes. She was falling. She was still afraid. She felt herself sink into her bed. She was still weak. Too weak. She felt her consciousness disappear.

She was a barn owl. She flew over the mansion. She saw Zero looking terribly sad. He walked a bit away from the house and then he came back. He stopped. He looked conflicted. He bit his lip and he ran a hand through his silver locks. He sat on the ground, his head was down.

She watched silently, unable to do anything. She was too weak to help. She wanted to help Ichiru's brother. She wanted to help Zero.

She flew down onto the ground and she hopped closer. She could see his tears and his anguish. He was in pain.

She chirped and she bit a piece of his hair. He noticed her and he wiped his tears.

He stroked the feathers on her head.

"We're too weak. I can't do anything without it having consequences. There are too many consequences. If I let Kaname free, my future son dies. If I kill him, Yuki will hate me. If I imprison him, he will not find happiness. If I leave, I will be a coward and I will not be happy. I'm too weak. I don't know what to do."

She looked at him. She bit his finger with her beak. He yelped in pain.

"Ouch!"

She hopped a little bit away from him. She stared at him. She wanted to tell him that "You are not weak. You're the strongest person that I know. You overcame many hardships. Your brother would never think that you were too weak. You will make a wise decision and if there are consequences then deal with them."

She stared at him strongly and when she saw him nod, she flew into the sky.

I will make the right decision. I will deal with the consequences, Zero thought as he saw the bird fly away.

He was going to have to decide Kaname's faith.

He looked down at his hands.

"I have to decide now."

A/N: Hello, it's me. I am so sorry for the long wait. I was quite busy, really busy. Ah, I really do apologize. But now, I'm back. Yay! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will update more now. Thank you for reading. Ah, it's been so long. T.T I apologize dear readers. Anyways, I done with all the mess in my life and so I now have time to write. To tell you the truth, I had writers block and some problems in my life that needed attention. But I am back and I am going to finish this story hopefully. Well, I suppose many of you have forgotten me and what happened in this story. So I apologize. Ha ha, I'm saying sorry a lot. Either way, I would love comments and reviews. Thank you so much! See you later and stay healthy!