Chapter 3

That ghoul, Hide thought in an unconscious state. She looked just like—

Hide awoke with a start, his eyes snapping open. But then he felt the sudden sting of opening his eyes in water and he blinked, but he couldn't rub his eyes to clear them. He couldn't move his arms or legs, bound but feeling weightless.

He was wearing a respirator and was immersed in a tank of water. He had a feeling of deja vu, but he had had once been in the same position when the Shadow Lord kidnapped him before, only a couple of weeks ago, and tried to turn him against his best friend. But the Shadow Lord found out very quickly just how loyal a friend he was to Kaneki.

He wrists and ankles were bound with some kind of vine to clamps within the water tank. He looked up and saw there was a hatch. How did he get here? The last thing he remember was being attacked by the fake Touka in the graveyard as Kaneki tangled with Seidou and the other ghoul, which he saw Ken kill with his tentacles.

He was completely at a lost. But a gap in his memory wasn't the only thing missing, so were his clothes. He was showing it all, letting it all hang out, and the water wasn't the warmest. He was just glad he didn't have an audience, especially—

He didn't like closed spaces, but he refused to panic. He liked to be in control of his surroundings. And he didn't like being alone.

For the first time, he saw he was in some sort of laboratory with a wall of computer equipment just beyond the water tank. He saw the tank was attached to some sort of filtration system and there was another hatch below him. The water was clear, though wavy with every move he made, but he was able to see his surroundings well.

Just then, a door slid open, and the traitor—Seidou—walked in out from an adjacent corridor, hunching like usual did, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He bit his fingers again as he looked up at Hide. Hide eyed the former member of Kaneki's kin with a look of disdain.

"Seidou," Hide said, finding he was able to communicate with the respirator, attached to a audio system outside the tank, "you insidious slime! What the hell is going on?" And I hope there are not be any wiggling tentacles this time, he thought with a shiver.

Seidou smiled as if lustful. In another life, he was a straight guy. His old dossier had him dating at least six women, and he was even once in a serious relationship. But had his change made him switched sides or was he just deranged? Hide knew a sudden change like he went through would bring out a perversion in anyone. Or had he been hiding an itch?

Hide didn't care. He wasn't interested.

A tall, menacing figure, in a red, long dark robe then entered the fray. He was completely bald with red eyes. He stood next to Seidou. It was the Shadow Lord.
The man was utterly insane.

The Shadow Lord bore his gaze straight at Hide. Hide looked back. Hide had a flashback to the last time the Shadow Lord had him trapped in one of these things. He kept checking the bottom hatch for any sign of tentacles.

"The One-Eye King's best friend," the Shadow Lord said with a chuckle. "You will be a guinea pig for my next experiment. I call it CT, 'Consciousness Transference'."

"Consciousness Trans—what?" Hide's eyes widened. "Oh, hell no! You're not cutting off my—" Hide struggled to no avail, then took a deep breath.

The Shadow Lord smiled with a broad grin.

"Do you approve?"

Seidou cocked his head. "If it works, it will be a drastic improvement from my current self, despite his severe deformity, but I could live with it. If switching cognitive states is possible."

Switch cognitive states? Hide thought. What the hell?

The Shadow Lord watched to the water tank, placing a hand on the glass. "I will finally obtain what I seek, complete dominance over mankind and the ghouls. And I will rule as King."

"Kaneki would never allow that!" Hide declared.

And both the Shadow Lord and Seidou laughed.

With a forceful pull, Hide managed to free his right arm and then pound on the glass. The Shadow Lord was unperturbed and merely smiled as if amused.
He didn't know the aspects of their plan, but he had no intention of switching anything with that freak. Even with his deformity, he liked who he was, who he was.

All of sudden, the hatch opened up in the floor, just like the previous time, and four slender, wiggly, tentacles emerged, and snapped through the water towards him. They wrapped their wet, slimy bodies around his arms and legs, as one more tentacle emerged, and it looked to be their larger than life mother, with a giant mouth.

"Oh my god!" I'm about to be eaten!

"Unaware that you are, this new place of mine holds some nasty, horrific secrets," the Shadow Lord explained. "Soon, you and the King, will learn what it truly means to feel pain!"

Hide shrugged, bubbles filters out of his mask, as he looked down into the dark, open maw of the giant creature's mouth.

The smaller tentacles locked his legs and arms together to straight him, as the mother tentacle came up from beneath him, and enveloped legs, then his torso, chest, and finally—and Hide shook his head thinking he was about to die—he was completely taken in, the smaller tentacles loosing their grip along the way.

"Kaneki!" he screamed.

Kaneki thought he was dead. He couldn't move and he felt his consciousness reside in a deep, dark abyss.

He immediately thought of Hide and that brought his thoughts forward into a focused and concise manner for him to open his eyes, at the very least. He gasped, but he breathed artificial air from a respirator wrapped around his mouth and nose.

He was floating in a capsule, about twelve feet in height and approximately eight in diameter, in some sort of paralyzing, transparent liquid, which prevented his extremities from moving, numbing his nerves. He couldn't even call his tentacles out.

He moved his eyes around, but a fogginess met his eyes, as he tried to look through the density of the water. His eyes were the only thing he could move. He also felt wet. Not the kind of dampness one felt with their clothes on, but one whereby they had been removed.

He was naked completely.

Where was he? The last thing he remembered was fighting Seidou in the graveyard, killing that one other ghoul, and then—

Oh god, he thought.

A third ghoul masquerading as Touka, that was after Hide!

Bubbles burst from the mask. "Hide!" he cried out.

If he was where he thought he was, then he was at the mercy of the Shadow Lord.

Ken's anger swelled. So, did his guilt. He had had been a complete idiot to get suckered so easily by Seidou of all people.

Where is Hide?

He couldn't move, but his mind was sharp. And he dug deep inside himself, and for a split moment, he thought he could move a tentacle. Something pressed in his back, but from the inside of his body. But it took all his strength to fight back against whatever chemical mixture was preventing his mobility in the capsule water.

The place where he was, appeared to be some sort of storage facility. There were several other capsules in a semi-circle around him. Eight in all, each seemingly filled with a similar fluid.

Just then, a door opened—sliding up into the ceiling, and Ken gasped. When he saw the individual, he couldn't believe his eyes. With the fake Touka, Ken could not smell her perfume, and with this other—he knew it was not his friend immediately.

The fake Hide walked into the large room and smiled. This Hide had no face deformity. This Hide was who Ken wished his friend still looked like, if it wasn't for Ken.

"Well, King," said the fake Hide, cupping his hands on his hips. Hide's mannerisms and facial features were duplicated perfectly. "I'm surprised you were caught so easily."

Ken's eyes narrowed with contempt. The shape-changer, he thought, first Touka, now Hide! Ken was beyond furious for such a blatant violation that he held most dear! This strange new ghoul was some piece of genetic engineering by the Shadow Lord.

"You can call me Zion," said the other.

Ken was taken back by the brashness of this ghoul. "What the hell do you want with me? Where is the Shadow Lord?"

Zion smiled broadly, and it sickened Ken just how much this ghoul mimicked his friend so exactly. "Patience is a virtue, King," he said. "Didn't anyone tell you that?" He wagged a finger. "The Shadow Lord is planning something big for you and your friend, and I'm not allowed to spoil the surprise."

Ken sneered beneath his respirator. "I hate games," he demanded. "Last time, the Shadow Lord wanted me humiliated and dead. He wants to control both humans and Ghouls, how is still a mystery."

"As you may have guessed, I'm a large part of that mystery. But as you figured out, I can look like others, but I can't smell like them. And we both know all ghouls have a fantastic sense of smell."

"Go on," was all Kaneki said.

Zion shrugged. "That's it! I was genetically breed to a shape-shifter. I can be anyone I choose, just by obtaining a single sliver of DNA. I even have the ability to be you."

Zion changed to Kaneki, on a whim, wearing a full black body suit.

"When you 'ate' me, I gained your DNA. When you friend vomited after seeing you regurgitate me, I secretly obtained his DNA on the floor. He missed a bit under your couch when he cleaned it up." Zion laughed.

"And with my wife?" Ken's left eye glowed red. "If you touched Touka, I'll kill you!"

Zion laughed Ken's laugh. "You'd be surprised how much DNA is left on everyday items no one would think about to clean for days, even weeks. I have to say, your wife is a lousy housekeeper. But being a mother to two kids, they must not leave much time for it."

Ken mentally agreed, which was why he was the one who volunteered to clean the house. And he was just told he was lousy at it. That got his goad. "Stop being me!" he finally said, irritated that he had to talk to himself.

The other laughed. Then changed to Touka. "Is this better, King, dear?" He laughed again.

Ken's anger boiled. How dare this ghoul impersonate his wife! He felt something move in his back, his tentacles were restless. They wanted out. He pushed and pushed, but still something inside the capsule water prevented them.

"I want answers, Zion!"

"Oh no," the fake Touka said. "All I'm willing to say is that when this is over, you and your friend, will never look at the world the same way again."

Suddenly, Zion changed again. And Ken gasped. He became the one thing Ken feared more than anything in the world. It was not just an irrational fear. His heart raced, he actually felt he was beginning to sweat with trepidation, as old memories began to flood back of those times—when he was a child, and when he was assaulted by the one person he thought he could trust the most. Who he thought was his protector.

"Ken, honey," said the uncanny image of his mother in her voice, her face and eyes embodied with a lust for violence. "It's time to take your punishment for being a disobedient son. You will give the Shadow Lord what he wants, or else!"

Zion stepped to the capsule and pressed his hands against the glass. With some sort of interaction with the glass, four slithering tentacles burst forth made from glass fibres, with sharp blades. They thrust towards Kaneki, and began slicing at Kaneki's body, mixing blood with water.

Ken screamed. Something like this wouldn't normally hurt him, but with the paralyzing efforts of the water, it was causing his nerves to feel more pain than usual, and he could not regenerate his wounds.

"Ghouls can regenerate, so loping off a few limbs will be fun!" Zion said. "But while you are at my mercy, King, you will feel pain like no other! The Shadow Lord will be along shortly, but in the meantime—"

To be continued...