I'M SO SORRY! I know I haven't updated in forever! My terrible procrastination on top of my school work really didn't allow me to spare any time to write the next chapter. But anyway, I tried my best to produce a good chapter for you guys.

Chapter 16: Disappearance

His body began visibly shaking, breathing erratic, eyes twitching madly, until he began hyperventilating without warning.

Gazel-chan

My fault

Unprotected

A pink haired girl that Kaneki had already forgotten about began shaking him, though he didn't feel a thing, just hate. Even the sounds around him became distorted.

"B0gGa-cHn?"

Kill

"Wh t'$ wrOng?"

Revenge!

"Ar3 y0u 4|r1g#t?!"

ERADICATE!

Kaneki fell to the floor, saliva flying out of his mouth from his hyperventilation and salvation to avenge!

Kaneki brought his dark-nailed hands to his head, clawing at his pale skin enough for it to bleed before he threw his head back and screamed. That scream however soon turned into laughter, ever so slowly as the two other conscious people in the room stood their ground, unaware of the impending danger.

Kaneki cocked his head at the 'interrogator', an impossibly wide, manic, insane, downright crazy grin forming on his face. The 'Interrogator' was taken aback, naïvely questioning 'What the hell is wrong with this albino kid?!'

"Bogga-chan! What are you doing? Have you never seen someone wounded like this before?" She stupidly took a step forward, reaching her hand out. "It's alright, not-"

Before another brain cell so much as moved an inch in her brain, her hand was ripped clean off her wrist.

"-everyone is accustomed to gore. Yo- AarrARARAGAggaAggG-hhhhhhhhh!" Just as the pain hit her, she looked down from the horrified face of an 'interrogator' and a suddenly vanished white-haired ghoul to an equally as vanished right hand. The skin was visibly torn and jagged along with the flesh, the bones were broken, sticking out a couple inches from the initial tear.

Her body smashed against a tray of utensils as she fell, eyes bulging and uninjured hand clawing and scratching her face in agony.

As the screams finally died down, quiet laughter could be heard. The 'interrogator' spun his head around to see a small body crouched on all fours, the head was tilted an irregular ninety degrees with a downright insane grin slapped on. But what caught his eyes however was the increasingly growing centipede-like 'things' coming out of his fucking back. Slowly, inch by inch they grew. Heads formed on the four centipede bodies that were soon equipped with venomous fangs and drilling legs.

"Hahaha, fuck. I'm so crazy. L00000L. Huh? Wait. U da 1 wh0 hurt her r!ght?" Kaneki's smile somehow got bigger when he noticed the 'interrogator's' stiffened form.

Kaneki slowly began to crawl forward, his head returning back to its natural place as the all too familiar mask grew over his crazed face. Purple scales began sprouting from his skin, hardening into plates stronger that steel. This time, the scales covered up to seventy percent of his body, leaving out the front of his torso and waist area where his four centipede 'pets' grew.

Kaneki's clawed hand slammed into the tiled floor, effortlessly creating a crater from its destructive force. Suddenly, Kaneki's visible mouth dropped open letting out an inhuman scream of mixed emotions. The now fully formed 'pets' began squirming about, clashing their fangs together and skittering across the small corner where Kaneki lay on all fours.

The ear piercing scream seemed to bring the unnamed 'interrogator' out of his daze as he ran past the stunned pink-head as straight to the door. What seemed like a successful escape was abruptly rendered unsuccessful when he saw the door he was just about to open obliterate along with a considerable amount of debris from the wall.

The smoke cloud that surrounded him began to invade his lungs and choke him. "H-holy fuck… what the fuck was that? Is this some kind of joke? Does he know her or someth- *COUGH COUGH*"

Blindly walking in the direction he believed was opposite to where that mutant half-centipede half-ghoul boy was while waving his arms about in an attempt to clear the thick smoke, he began to hear screams from various different voices occupied by the sound of tearing flesh then chokes.

It was obvious what was happening. Nothing but common sense was needed to know that.

Fearing it would be him next, the 'interrogator' ran back into the room. There was no way he's going out to where that 'thing' was.

He crouched down into a ball at the corner of the room, finally realising that his ability to do anything was that of a sack of potatoes.

His breathing slowed down, and he began to rub small pieces of debris and dirt on him. That thing may be strong, hella strong, but its brains is probably mash potatoes right? If it couldn't smell him, then it wouldn't come after him.

The man sat there, with only the ability to breathe and pray. The blood showers continued as he faintly began to see all his colleagues dissemble into a pile of their own body parts, then reassembled in a creative way by the abomination of a boy. What was sicker was the fact that the boy seemed to enjoy it, giggling and laughing at the different creations he was able to make.

The interrogator was able to do at least one more thing: cry. He sobbed in his own trousers and he clung to them, wrapping his arms around them even tighter than before in an attempt to become even the slightest bit smaller.

As if his prayers were answered, a small light shone from his left. Turning to look at it in the hopes it was an angel, he saw the room to his left through a damaged, broken wall.

The biggest sense of relief he had ever felt in his life felt so good. Not because he was able to get to a slightly safer residence, but because the room was home to a particular science experiment. One that would need to successfully work now more than ever before.

The 'interrogator' slowly made his way to the hole in the wall, ducking as a flying pinky toe came his way. "Fucking hell… Jesus Christ… who the hell is that boy?!" He couldn't help but whisper those words as he climbed through the wall, instantly running to the various cables and switches. He found himself dancing around the room, frantically trying to set everything up.

Red, green, yellow, black, and grey cables flew everywhere as there were put into place. Buttons and switched were flipped, pressed and shoved into place before the 'interrogator' ran to the last lever. The lever that would hopefully begin to charge enough electricity in the generator below it to electrify the beast in the room to life. It was a simple concept, except the process wasn't simple at all. This thing had obviously not been used before, which is never a good sign when you need it to work the most. The only thing that comes next is to fight fire with fire.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!i!"

Using the psychotic laugh as his queue, the man shoved the leaver down. Almost instantly, he was blasted back into the wall, the force being enough to send him through it and give him a broken back. He landed roughly back into the 'interrogation' room. As his eyesight wavered and the pain in his back began to grow, he faintly saw the 'Frankenstein 2.0' being engulfed in blue and yellow electricity. The sight was beautiful, even in his situation. The harmony of the two colours dulled it's background and slowly but successfully brought the monster to life.

Abruptly, the show came to an end and the injured ghoul was almost as abruptly reminded of his dire situation.

…

…

…

But nothing happened.

The demolished underground facility was eerily quiet, no screams, and no sounds of flesh being torn or eaten. Not even a sound from the recently revived monster.

Rubble fell and closed the hole in the wall he just recently made, along with the other one beside it. Now his sight and entrance to the room was denied, even though he doubted he could move in his situation.

He began to heavily breathe as the energy was slowly leaving his body. The only sound he could hear was the sound of his own jagged breaths as he hopelessly looked around him slowly, agonised by the eerie lack of action in the facility holding two creatures without their leashes.

Anxiety took the better of him as he slowly but painfully sat up, his field of vision increasing by doing so. However, the only two things that his widened field of view allowed him to see was his dead pink-haired colleague and a tattered and bruised girl. The girl he tortured who was long forgotten in the cluster fuck of event that just recently transpired in the last five minutes.

Looks like you will be useful after all. The 'interrogator' thought as he slowly dragged himself towards her limp and fragile body lying helplessly on the floor. Not in the way I expected though.

The 'interrogator' didn't waste a second as he bit into the closest part of her body that was available to him; her calf.

The girl immediately woke up and screamed. Her reflexes caused her to take her leg back from the zombie-looking man's jaws, except that wasn't the smartest decision. A sizeable chunk of red meat ripped off of her leg, causing her to scream a second time.

Not bothering to chew it, he just swallowed, and slowly crawled forward for another bite.

He would get his desire if not for the animal-like snarl he heard behind him. Slowly turning around, he saw the boy just a metre behind him. He was on all fours and didn't have his centipede pets behind him, but six regular kagune tendrils instead. His mask was visibly crumbling, but ever so slowly. Only his limbs were covered in scales, though there were also fading slowly.

He snarled again, and bared his teeth as he slowly inched forward towards the terrified and horrified 'interrogator'.

"Stop! NO! Don't come closer!"

The boy didn't listen, for he only kept advancing. The 'interrogator' inched back, forgetting his back pain and focusing on getting the heck away from him. The half-ghoul stopped, but his kagune didn't. Two of them carried on forward, aiming for the heart.

In a panic, the 'interrogator' leaped back, and bumped into the horrified girl slowly whimpering behind him. She let out a sudden yelp in response causing the boy to suddenly freeze. His kagune hung in the air and his body didn't move a muscle.

The other two froze in response as well, both waiting for the white-haired ghoul's next move.

The half-ghoul slowly began to retract his kagune, but also began to inch forward.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHAT ARE YOU?! AN ANIMAL?!" The 'interrogator' suddenly burst out, unable to hold anything in any longer, also resulting in a delayed wet-patch to appear between his legs.

The boy got started in response, but hissed at the man soon after. He suddenly sent his kagune after the man's throat only to stop and hesitate at the little girl's scream.

Now it was obvious what the fuck is wrong with the white-haired freak. Joining all the dots, it was clear he wanted to kill the man probably by eating his heart in front of him but not lay a finger on the girl. The reason why the girl was so precious to him was beyond the 'interrogator', but he couldn't care less in this situation. All he cared about was getting out alive, and he would do just about anything to do that.

The man grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her small body in front of him placing his hand on her neck. "Come any closer and the bitch is dead."

The white-haired boy didn't react, though he did react on the inside. All the blind mess of hatred, sick fun, and revenge slowly washed away, being replaced with the slightly more sane emotion of worry. His stomach was full, but it didn't feel full of the feast he had just eaten, it felt full of bricks.

But why?

He didn't know why.

Hell, he was asleep.

What's going on?

What the fuck?

I felt so sleepy so I just took a nap right?

Or wait, I think I was pissed.

But still…

Then why am I on all fours?

Then why am I so hesitant and worried?

Why do I feel so full of shit?

Why is my fucking kagune out?!

Vision and consciousness returned to the 'sleeping' boy as he saw a sight he was not prepared for. Of course he wasn't prepared, he doesn't even know what the hell just happened himself. His memory of what just transpired was almost all lost, just like how he forgot who he was or who he loved for his lonely CCG life.

The Kagune retracted back into its owner's body. The speed of the mask and armour crumbling increased, until it all faded away, revealing a shocked and bewildered young man.

No one moved.

No one dared to move.

If any of them moved, the consequences of them doing so would be highly regrettable.

"….What?" Kaneki managed to splutter. "…The actual fuck?" He blinked several times, as if he didn't believe the image before him of a half dead looking girl and a terrified man holding said girl hostage was genuine.

In the confusion and soon the realisation of his situation, he was unable to hear the very dull sparks and lose cables flickering in the background.

"…Gazel?" Kaneki asked, slowly inching his hand forward. Everything was taking forever to happen. Everything seemed to be in slow motion.

"GAZEL! WHAT THE FUCK?!"

The 'interrogator' shook from the sudden outburst and felt a sharp pain engulf his body from his suddenly moved, broken spine. He began to strangle the girl's neck to relief some of the pain his broken back was giving him.

Working on instinct, Kaneki leapt forward and yanked the hand off the girl's neck and threw it back to its owner, smacking his head. The 'interrogator' rolled over and fell unconscious, unknown whether it was from a concussion or the pain. Either way, he stupidly lay on a pile of rubble next to the girl's bleeding leg.

Now everything's going so fast. Kaneki had no idea what's going on. Who would? He just 'woke up' in the middle of a hostage situation in a demolished facility and is just grasping the clues of what just happened.

…

It happened again.

Fuck…

FUCK!

Kaneki scrunched his face in anger of himself.

How hard is it to fucking control yourself?

Do you fucking have anger issues or something?!

Slow but gradual tears began forming in his eyes, his now evenly coloured light-grey eyes. When the pool of water became too heavy, the tears gracefully fell, leaving a trail of water behind as they rolled across his cheeks.

I failed, again.

Over and over. It never stops.

Déjà vu every fucking time.

He slowly began to realise the presence of the little girl in front of him, and the significance of her being at that.

They make eye contact.

Terrified, shocked, disbelieving merlot eyes meet equally as shocked grey eyes, that no longer hold their dull, smoky atmosphere but a clear, transparent view of deep regret.

Five seconds pass with no movement, nothing. Not a blink.

Time was very cruel, inching forward slowly. Making every second seem like an eternity for the two.

But it was overwhelming. The series of events was too much to handle:

.

.

.

"BWAAHHHHHH!" Gazel jumped into Kaneki's arms and began sobbing like a child who broke their favourite toy. "It hurts!"

Kaneki, whose brain still didn't comprehend the sudden change in atmosphere, carried on staring where the little girl's eyes once were.

"I-I… I was only shopping! Gran-ny said to buy some p-potatoes to make mash p-p-potatoes for dinner! I DIDN'T HURT ANYONE I SWEAR! B-but they still t-took me." Gazel was struggling to find the words. Her poor little throat was too dry make a smooth sentence. "I didn't-t know w-why, but th-they hung meby m-my wrists. Then it hurt. It really hurt! They cut me and h-hit me! It REALLY hurt! They askedme wheresome Mukade person-ghoul-guywas. I didn't know! What was I supposed to do?! But they didn't believe me! So they hit me and hit me and hit me more and more and m-m-more!"

The half-ghoul slowly looked down to the girl crying in his chest. She looked so weak. So fragile. On the verge of being broken. He could mistake her for another girl if not for his guilt and regret.

Subconsciously, he began rubbing her head, trying to comfort her as she cried more and more,explainingher painful experience. But he couldn't help but dread the fact that his tainted bloodied hands are corrupting this innocent girl. Her innocence is too pure for his filthy, dirty, polluted hands to stain it.

In fear of doing so, he stopped rubbing her head. The little girl looked up, and met his tear stained, now mismatched eyes.

"I'm a ghoul."

That was all that came out of his mouth, it came out without him even realising it.

They continued staring, except Gazel shifted her eyes to Kaneki's left one. She dazed into the blood red vortex in his eyes, and wondered on the glowing scarlet webs forming from the eye.

Despite its clear predatory look, they was no venom in it. Nothing but different shades of colour was visible in the eye. Unlike the demon that ripped her sister to sheds years ago, this eye didn't hold the bloodlust and hunger, it held something else. It held broken resolve. Resolve that wasn't quite able to piece itself back together again.

His eyes glistened and she could see buried under the rubble of sadness and sorrow, was determination that just needed to be freed from its restraint.

.

.

.

"Yeah, you are."

Kaneki looked down and closed his eyes. After a short moment of clarity in his mind, he re-opened them, facing the dusty floor.

Gazel continued to look at the white-haired ghoul. "And I can tell, that it's a big problem for you."

"It is."

"Then I guess you believe that it's a big problem for others too?"

"… Yes."

Gazel shrunk, and her eyes saddened.

"No…"

Kaneki looked up, almost as if he expected her to say that.

"For me the answer is no. But that answer is purely influenced by my experiences with you. I doubt you understand that people who have a strong and stable bond won't break it because of this problem. It is a problem no doubt, and will drive others to hurt, hate and hunt you. But that doesn't apply to everyone Kaneki."

Kaneki smiled. "I heard that before Gazel. Well, something along those lines, but the same thing happens. It still remains a problem, a very big one at that. Look around. It's a problem that put you into this situation, and killed hundreds of others, granted some of them deserved it."

"Yes, it is a big problem, but not one that outweighs others. You still have a liveable life, and this problem doesn't change that. There are other problems right now that outweigh this one right now."

Gazel's leg had already made its own little swimming pool beneath it, without any of them noticing. Until now.

The pain began to resettle itself in Gazel's leg, as if it took a temporary leave.

She squinted her eyes and softly moaned, causing Kaneki to instantly start making a makeshift bandage out of torn fabric from Gazel's trousers.

As he finished tying a knot to hold the first aid bandage in place, Gazel slowly drifted onto his shoulder, unconscious.

Gently resting the unconscious girl down, Kaneki blankly stared at her bruised, cut body as he let the recent series of events slowly settle in on his head.

He took in a deep breath, one that he really needed, and let the air flow out through his mouth. He wasn't in a safe place, and he knew it. Staying and staring at an unconscious girl wasn't the smartest thing to do considering the situation.

Standing up and lifting the sleeping girl along with him, Kaneki made his way over the rubble to what he could remember was the entrance to the facility. As he looked around, seeing his own huge destruction. Huge dents and craters in walls along with talon-trails. However, what was most horrific of all were the poor disassembled bodies scattering all over the floor. Intestines stretched side by side to see which was longest, faces frozen in the middle of their scream and the unrecognisable pulp of what was once organs and guts.

Kaneki stared with empty eyes.

It's worse.

It's horrible.

Why…?

Just as Kaneki began to ask more and more unanswered questions in his mind, he finally realised the faint background noise of sparks. Turning around to face the noise, Kaneki's eyes immediately flew open in shock.

…

Someone, or rather something, is missing.

Thank you so much for reading! I didn't really like this chapter or how it turned out but I hope you guys did. Again I'm really sorry for not updating in a while. :(