Author's note:
ZEEROOOOOOO! I MISSED YOU TT_TT
The cool sip of water hit his stomach, just as the Rose Shield toppled out of his lap onto the floor, water spraying everywhere. Zero surged forwards, gasping and heaving. He shook with exhaustion, feeling as though a thousand years had passed since he had drunk from the Shield.
"Now, Rima!"
He whirled around to see Kaname shove Rima towards the window, the girl's arms were outstretched and she yelled. Then there was lightning bursting from the morning skies, crackling against the window glass. Great volts of lightning streamed through the clouds-
Wait. Morning? It was still morning? How long had he been away in the Memories?
Zero yelled as he was suddenly air-bound, but quickly found that it was Kaname's doing, the Pureblood's face was strained in concentration as he propelled Zero from the platform into his waiting arms. As he was caught, he writhed in Kaname's hold, it was perhaps sensitivity from the Memories he had just seen, but Kaname… Kaname.
Could they be the same person? His mind was a jumbled mess of confusion. Isamu and Kaname… well this Kaname looked pretty much identical to the one he had seen. Zero recalled being given a brief family history lesson by Yagari in his childhood, but the gruff Hunter barely glossed over it – he wasn't bothered with studying dead Ancestors, more interested in getting Zero to practise his physical training. He knew that the Kiryuu line was old, which was why it was considered a strong, prestigious family line – famous for producing the best Hunters. But he had never suspected they were so "close" to the Vampires, or at least, he hadn't ever thought one of his Ancestors would be one to fall in love with a Vampire.
Honestly, Zero didn't know why Kaname had worried so much over him discovering these Memories, nor Rido for being so pleased for his eagerness to see them. In the end, he didn't even understand them at all.
There was no time to dwell on these thoughts anyway. As soon as the lightning had sparked from the sky, and he had fallen into Kaname's arms, Kaname signalled to Kain. The fire master instantly erupted in flames, directing them in a circle around the room. The flames poured into the room, and like any sane person, Zero screamed, shoving at Kaname.
"What the hell are you doing? We'll all be killed!"
Kaname shook his head, "Kain knows what he's doing. Come. Yuuki needs us,"
From the sudden blaze of fire, Nori had dropped her in shock, and was blindly trying to evade the flames. He and Kaname dashed towards Yuuki, but Kaname got there first and scooped her into his arms.
"Come on, Zero. We're leaving," Kaname called, making towards one of the exits Kain had left open.
Zero hesitated though, seeing Nori surrounded by the flames. It felt wrong. He wouldn't be able to live with himself, his conscience didn't agree with leaving disabled people to burn to death. Anyhow, something told Zero that whatever Nori had done wrong, he hadn't done it willingly. He didn't deserve this. So he dashed back, looping an arm around the Vampire, wincing as he was clawed in panic. He dragged Nori towards the exit.
It suddenly hit Zero – where was Rido?
Amazed that he hadn't noticed sooner, he scanned the room. But it was all ablaze – he could barely see anything above the roaring fire and the smoke obscured his view.
There was no one there.
"Come!"
He turned, seeing Kaname at the door still waiting for him. Zero hurried towards him.
They ran through the narrow corridor, each supporting one side of Nori, as they tried to get out as fast as they could. At the speed they were going, it became apparent that it was mostly Kaname running and the others clinging to each other, being pulled along. Soon enough the corridor widened and they reached the gallery. A blast of hot air hit them on their backs. Zero risked a glance behind to see their exit-way corridor ablaze.
"Fucking shit!"
Kain chortled, herding Rima away from the wrong left turn she was going for. Seiren snuck between them, snatching Rima's arm so she could follow them the correct way. The girl seemed to still be in shock from seeing Kasumi's body, as was Yuuki.
"Akatsuki, shit! You are so fucking dead!"
Kain couldn't help but howl with laughter. Seeing his fire all around him was empowering. He finally felt like he was in control of himself again, when he was in his element (quite literally). Even though he knew he was torching down priceless wall-hangings and decorations, and destroying the home of a fucking Pureblood, he couldn't help himself. Fire was, at heart, a destructive force. Kaname had, by his signal, told him to simply make a 'diversion', but there was no way Kain was holding back.
He knew that, oddly enough, this time it was his fault, and he would be severely punished when (not 'if') they got home.
His jovial face contrasted with the incredibly pissed off face of his cousin, who ran beside him. Aidou's short frame was overbalanced with Yuuki on his shoulders, but he was too proud to hand her over to the more capable Kain. On top of his pride, he was scared of Kain's explosive fun at the moment. He was literally burning the place down. He didn't fancy possibly letting the princess get burnt or scalded – when Kain was 'in his element' (as he liked to say), even his skin would be blisteringly hot.
"I'm sick of this fire! I've been burnt enough times!" he squeaked, panting and choking on some smoke fumes. Kain snorted.
"Oh, grow yourself some ice shoes, you're fine!"
Aidou pouted but proceeded down the corridor with haste. He didn't want to risk icing his feet again. If he skidded and lost control, he could glide right into the flames! No, he'd have to cope with facing fire again.
"Jack be nimble, Jack be quick-"
Though he hated the reminder of the ordeal he and Kain had been through, with his very torture-device surrounding him, Aidou couldn't help but feel just as amused by Kain's over-the-top fun. He hated the heat, the fire, being burnt – but these were all elements of Kain, and…well, how could he ever hate Kain?
"Shut up Kain, or I'll rip off your bloody candlestick!"
Ruka groaned. She checked her watch again. Did eleven o'clock count as noon? They had been in the castle for so long. She hated Kaname for leaving her out of the action, especially with her beloved friends in there. And her job was to babysit a bunch of recruits…
"Souen-sama,"
"Souen-san, is my name. For the last time,"
"Souen-san, what exactly is it that we are waiting for?"
Flicking her hair over her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes at the annoying fixture attached to her ankles. A young boy, a Human, obviously found her interesting, since she was, well, beautiful (Ruka had no desire to be untruthfully modest about her beauty. She knew she looked good.). He had hung around Ruka for all these long hours, barely saying a thing, but admiring her. Ruka liked to be admired, but not for several hours like this. This boy was honestly creeping her out, he was only like…fifteen years old, maybe?
"We're looking for a change in weather," Ruka drawled, "Like a flash of lightning. That's our signal to go in,"
"Oh," the boy nodded, still staring at her. She scowled, leaning over to tap his knee.
"Oi, if you want to be useful, look over there-"
Just as she had pointed her finger to the sky, it burst into lightning. Startled, the whole army gasped collectively, turning their faces up to the sky. There was no thunder, but the lighting was almost blinding in its intensity.
"Whoa! Did you do that?"
"I did not," Ruka ran out of the forest, to the Border. She turned to face her charges, "Everybody, move!"
Kaname's eyes scanned everyone several times till he was satisfied they were all safely out of the building. His eyes lingered on Kain, whose face was still flushed in pleasure. The fire master promptly stopped smiling and lowered his eyes reproachfully.
The Hanadagi mansion was billowing smoke, but as soon as they had cleared the building, Kain had sucked all the fire out in one fell sweep. They couldn't afford to risk harming the sleeping family. Kain knew he had controlled the fire to swerve far away from them.
Unfortunately, Nori was inconsolable. No matter what they tried to tell him, he couldn't believe his family were safe. He couldn't see it to believe it, and all there was to smell was burnt furniture. The poor Pureblood sat beside a sympathetic Zero.
They all gathered on the grass, exhausted from running, but still wary of Rido's whereabouts. He had vanished completely. Kaname, personally, was grateful for it. He was pretty that Rido's goal had been met now – he had wanted to show Zero… to show… Kaname's eyes strayed to Zero, who was attempting to comfort Nori, though he was still stubbornly despondent. Even though he thought he knew what Zero had seen…why then was he so calm about it? Had Kaname feared the worst for nothing? Maybe the worst of the Memories hadn't been seen. He certainly hoped that was the case. This was one of the terrible things about the Rose Shield – you never knew what you would see, it was completely unpredictable in what it would show you.
From the Border, he could see the tiny pinprick movements of the recruit army moving towards them. Now that they all were safe, Kaname realised that they were unnecessary, but it was better to be cautious than sorry later.
He walked forwards towards them, slightly away from the group, waiting for them patiently.
No doubt Ruka would come rushing a good hundred metres ahead of the army, desperate to see her friends safe.
But up ahead, something stirred in the air, a crackle – and it wasn't Rima's lightning.
Immediately Kaname motioned Seiren to join him. He knew he hadn't imagined the crackle, but it was unusual, for him to be unable to see what it was.
"Seiren, we need to leave immediately,"
"Toya-san called for reinforcements…"
"I know, but that was a precautionary measure. We're out of the castle now, we must leave,"
"Hai, Kaname-sama," she bowed, scurrying off to round up the group. As she did, Kaname squinted off into the distance, staring at the place he'd seen the crackle. There was never relief in escaping Rido, because you always knew you weren't safe, you'd never be safe with him looking for you.
And right now, with his half-injured, half-traumatised group, Kaname wasn't allowing himself to relax in the slightest. This confrontation was definitely not over yet.
What frustrated Kaname the most about Rido was the way he played with him and never revealed what his intentions were. He still didn't understand why Rido had lured them there. Was it simply to get to Zero, so he could show him those Memories? If so, what had Rido gained? All that had done was make Zero aware of… aware of them.
His stomach clenched.
It was frightening for him to not know completely what Zero knew now. He would just have to wait for him to speak, to ask questions. And then he would have to answer, with the truth.
Zero deserved the truth.
Kaname sighed, what was that crackle? Squinting, he stiffened as he saw it crackle again. Something fell out of seeming nothingness. He watched the figure stand up slowly, tensing. Was it Rido? He opened his mouth to call the others alert, but then the figure turned. He didn't recognise who it was, but saw that it was a young woman. She also looked bewildered, spinning around to meet his gaze, and then catching sight of the castle. He saw her gasp, putting her hand to her mouth as she saw it, and then she turned and saw the army charging towards her.
Something stirred in his stomach, a gut feeling that she was innocent.
A gentle breeze blew from her direction, Kaname sniffed it urgently, eyes widening when he realised.
She was a Human.
And then the air crackled again, and there was Rido.
The others had noticed too and pulled up beside him.
"Get back!"
Kaname stretched his arms out, creating an imaginary barrier which none should cross. He scowled briefly when Zero blatantly went right against his arm, staring at him defiantly as he pushed against it. Finally he threw Kaname's left arm down and stumbled forwards, peering towards Rido and the girl.
He couldn't help but notice the bruises on the back of his neck, spreading in tendrils shaped like fingers. Zero looked like he'd been strangled from the wrong side of his neck. Kaname shook his attention from him though, he must see what Rido was up to.
Rido was holding the girl now, around the waist. His posture was open and he beckoned the army towards him. From their distance, they saw the army falter at the sight of Rido. Kaname could imagine Ruka's surprise as she reined in the army, urging them forwards, even as their confidence began to wane, seeing a Pureblood before them.
They knew that they could not kill a Pureblood – it was both impossible, and a death sentence. Ruka was probably going to order them to try to avoid Rido and aim for the castle, where she thought they were.
But then he saw her close enough, and she spotted him also. Kaname could see the panic in her face, her eyes darting towards Rido. He held up his hand, telling her to not approach any further. They would have to wait and see what Rido had to say.
Seeing the army stop around him, an arch of clear perimeter between himself and the Vampires, Rido smiled, his teeth flashing white, visible even from the distance. He raised his arms, theatrically opening his body welcomingly towards his audience, like a circus ringleader. Then he began to speak, and with no wind to muffle him, his voice was clear across the grassy plane.
"Is this your army, Kaname?" he laughed, "How many are there? A couple hundred? Enough to guard your precious Hunter, but are they enough against my forces?
"My, my, Vampires, what a sorry band you make! Look at yourselves. How many of you eat those blood pills, like you're curing Vampirism as though it is a sickness. Where is your pride? Be proud of yourselves and what you are. Be proud of your hunger. Your insatiable thirst. That is the special thing about Vampires – we are clever. The very device of hunger, our natural appetite for blood marks us as an eternally superior species. We know that true power lies in the blood.
"I welcome you to join me and fight for us. The world belongs to us, or at least it should have been ours. Humans should have died out many years ago, but due to a fool's mistake, they survived and now see how they are. They live freely in this world. They don't even know of our existence because some think we must conceal ourselves, for the means of preserving the Humans' sanity. They fear us. No matter what you say, they will always fear us. Even if you save a Human's life, they will turn on you in disgust and fear.
"They are an ignorant and weak race – one that should be extinguished. Look at her," he snapped, throwing the girl in his arms to the floor. She screeched as he pulled her hair, yanking her head up to face him.
"Rido, that's enough," Kaname called, edging forwards. What was a Human doing here? What was Kaname thinking?
But Rido ignored him, tugging on the girl's hair until she screamed in pain, scrabbling at his hands, he had dragged her onto her feet again. "Look at her,"
"Rido, that's enough!"
"She is a prime example of the Human race. They're weak. Even with all her strength, she cannot stop me-"
"Rido!"
"This," Rido held the girl up, swinging her by her hair so they could all see her. "This is food. Nothing more. The Humans are our livestock, if they insist on continuing to litter our world. They belong with the beasts we farm and eat,"
At this point, the girl was sobbing, and everyone could see the dark patch in her crotch and smell the mess she had made in her fear. They all watched in disbelief as Rido began to unbutton her shirt.
Zero sprung forwards, gasping as the air was squeezed out of him against Kaname's restraining arms, "-Kaname!" he hissed in protest.
The Pureblood shook his head, holding him tightly, even as he struggled and grunted in pain when his aching bruises were disturbed. "Kaname! We have to stop this,"
However Kaname shook his head solemnly, his eyes fixed on Rido and the girl. Zero stared at him in disbelief. Rido was going to kill her – and they were just going to watch?
They all watched Rido peel the girl's collar open, exposing her vulnerable neck. Zero felt sick. He kicked backwards, bucking against Kaname's hold. "No! He can't do this!"
At this, Rido swerved around, his attention suddenly drawn to him. The girl spun in the air, held by his powers as he took a step towards them. Kaname instantly drew back, pulling Zero with him, but Rido didn't make his way towards him. It was only his keen eyes that stared at Zero with barely concealed amusement.
"Dear Vampires, this is now the perfect example of the other enemy you aren't even aware of. Many of you have already fought alongside the Hunters during the last War, but would you have complied so readily, had you known that the Hunters are past Humans who ate our Ancestor's flesh?"
This made the army suddenly disperse into murmurs of disbelief, and they stared at Zero, hard accusing eyes labelling him as "Hunter", and from Rido's description- "enemy". Zero almost coloured, feeling all the eyes trained him.
"Yes. And that boy in your beloved King's arms is among those who first ate her. He was the one who first bit into her flesh-"
"That's a lie!" Kaname roared, bringing Zero closer to him.
"No matter, no matter – believe what you want," Rido said, waving his arms in an exaggerated placating manner, "It doesn't matter. What I brought you all here to do was to explain my reasoning and get some facts straight.
"My side of the fight will be on behalf of all Vampires. I fight for our dominion of the world – our birthright as a race. Your King fails you. He does not love you enough in return for the love you give him. He is weak for the Humans, he even favours them over you. His power is wasted on them, even now," he chuckled, glaring at Kaname darkly, "When he only has a few years left," his eyes flickered towards Zero before returning to the wider audience. "The Original King will reign as long as he loves his people, but does he love them enough?
"I'm giving you all a choice, to join me or stay with him. This war will be between Vampires and the lesser species. If I win, I will bring a new age of prosperity for our people. I will use my Pureblood power to do what is right. I leave it to your faithful army, Kaname, to choose which side to take. You will see once and for all where the true loyalty of the Vampires lies,"
Rido hitched the girl up in his hands again, shaking her like a lifeless ragdoll in his grip. She shrieked as he dug his claws into her skin. The first motes of Human blood drifted into the air. Zero was transfixed on the girl, but from his peripheral vision he could see hundreds among the army who were unused to the scent of fresh blood – their eyes glowed red, and some even clutched their noses desperately trying to control themselves.
Then Rido's head snapped down, and he gorged on her.
The ear-splitting screams echoed out, all across the plateau. Zero couldn't stand it. No one was moving. No one was even trying to stop Rido. Part of him longed to spin around and punch Kaname till his arms loosened, but the iron tight grip around his waist told him even his punches wouldn't be enough to convince Kaname to let go. Another part of Zero was like those around him, reluctant to intervene. Rido was eating her, he could see the blood dripping from his chin, trailing down the girl's neck and staining her shirt red.
Rido was pulsating with power and confidence, and though Zero had a powerful, confident Pureblood right behind him, the thought of leaving his place to confront Rido was daunting. The savageness of the way he tore into her was intimidating, even to the Vampires, for whom this was a display of their absolute authority, their "right" to treat humans as livestock. The girl's screams had finally faded out, and now the only sound everyone could hear was Rido's slurping and the sick squelching of his bloody lips on her skin.
When he finally tore off of her, dropping her like a stone to the floor, he grinned widely at them with bloodstained teeth. His mouth was still dripping. Zero suspected the feeding had been all for show, since he was carelessly letting so much blood go to waste.
"This is food," he grinned, maliciously stepping on the girl's knee. With a sickening crack, her knee cap gave, splintering into many pieces when he rolled his foot over. She didn't make a sound. Rido spread his arms again, a horrifying picture of welcome. "If you choose to join me, we will gather in this castle. Nori, come," he motioned towards the still incoherent Pureblood.
Numbly, they watched as Nori stood and blindly staggered over to Rido, and he gasped when he was caught in Rido's welcome embrace. Kaname jammed his hand against Zero's mouth as he opened it. He dipped his head down to the level of Zero's ear, whispering, "Don't. He can't help it,"
Rido bowed mockingly towards Kaname, laying his hand on Nori's shoulder securely, he turned towards the castle.
They returned to Kuran Castle swiftly and in silence. Seiren quietly led the new recruits towards the barracks the servants had prepared. Zero caught a glimpse of Takuma at the door, but was whisked away before he could even see his relieved face. Kaname was insistent on getting him, Kain and Aidou fully checked up by the good doctor. Already he could hear Aidou squawking at a nurse who was ripping his shirt from his scorched skin, and Kain grumbling as the doctor checked his circulation for fault (Apparently he had been bound in ice for a long time. As they'd been told this, their eyes drifted to Aidou, who scoffed and simply pointed at his burnt feet in defence. The story of what they'd been through was very strange and complicated, at least when it was being told by Aidou, and so they really had no idea what had happened for sure).
Zero was lying on a bed, for no other reason than Kaname had put him there and was sitting next to him, daring him with his eyes to move.
So Zero sat up and directed his own frightful glare at Kaname, marvelling at how the Pureblood didn't even flinch at the sight. For a while it was a battle of the eyes, one glaring at another for defying his orders, the other glaring at the audacity he'd had to give him orders. Finally Zero harrumphed and shook his head gravely.
"I don't understand you, Kaname. You could have stopped him, so why didn't you? An innocent girl died today!"
Kaname closed his eyes, letting a breath hiss out of his teeth.
"Her death is regrettable, Zero, and I'm not saying it was expendable, but it was necessary,"
Seeing that he was speaking in a voice deep with regret, and his forehead pinched in worry (of many things), Zero's fierce eyes reluctantly softened. He hadn't known the girl, but it didn't make her death any less poignant. Never had Zero seen anything like that, even during the last War, no one had been slaughtered like that and disgraced in their last moments like that, where Rido had tossed her aside and degraded her to food.
He saw that Kaname felt guilty for her death, and shuffled sideways to lower his head to reach Kaname's view. When he caught Kaname's eye this time, he tilted his head to the side as a sort of way of apologising and forgiving at the same time. At the same time, his eyes told Kaname that he should explain what he had meant by "necessary".
"They had to see…"
Kaname held his head in between his hands, framing his weary face.
"What do you mean?"
"I wanted everyone to see what Rido's intentions are. If they didn't get the chance to see the brutality of his goals, they wouldn't fully understand why we need to defeat him. They might never know exactly what they are fighting for, but I want them to know what they're fighting against at the very least,"
So one life had to be sacrificed for hundreds of people to understand Rido's intentions? Zero could actually see the validity of that argument. Rido's ideals… the full impact of them were difficult to take without a shot like that.
One life to be sacrificed…
Zero blinked rapidly, finding a strange burning sensation in his eyes as he remembered the Memory of that Lady. That tragic scene of her brutal slaughter, though that time it had been a reversal of the recent girl's death – the Humans had been the ones to feast on her blood. Her loss, her sacrifice, for the Humans…
"…Zero? Zero?"
"Hmm?" he jolted, shaking himself from his reverie.
Kaname fixed him with a worried stare, but after a few moments of having Zero stare back at him dryly, he blanked his face and stood slowly.
Zero almost scoffed when Kaname offered him his hand to get off the bed, but took it when he realised his body, at least, was still unsettled from all the events of the day. On shaky legs, he found himself supported around the waist, again, as Kaname led them out of the Infirmary.
He was partially glad that this time Kaname didn't bother with throwing him over his shoulder. This wasn't the time for playing around like that (since when did he think of it as playing around, he didn't know…). Kaname obviously realised Zero had quite a stubborn pride, and that to prevent them from being on unfriendly terms, he would have to assent to Zero's pride. That meant walking much slower than he wanted, because then Zero's feet could walk by themselves, and letting only the bare palm of his hand touch Zero's waist as a measure of support.
Zero appreciated Kaname's thoughtfulness, but despised the Pureblood's mysteriousness and obsession with being secretive. If he wanted to take him somewhere, he could at least tell Zero where the hell they were going, right?
