A short chapter that will address what I have planned for Yūgao, and for the rest of this arc, making this less of 'Kaneki easily kills everything' and more into 'Kaneki meets Dead Space and Silent Hill.'

Okay, don't have much time for author's notes to address reviews, just know that I have read them, and appreciate them! Hopefully after this, we can go back to cushy living in Tokyo, until the Brotherhood of Steel arc.

Mostly a lore chapter, and introduction to this AU's horror take on the 'White Zetsu'.


Upon sliding past the rusted vault door, Kaneki was immediately greeted by an odd sight. With his kagune's tendrils arched and ready to strike, and his rifle at the ready, Kaneki was expecting to be greeted by immediate resistance for him barging into the vault's lobby entrance. However, there was only emergency back-up lights that were dimly illuminating the floral-filled entrance area, and as Kaneki walked over the suspended rusted catwalk that bridges the gap between the opened vault door and the entrance to the underground city itself, he used his Pipboy light and night vision eyepatch to look down over the faded yellow-painted railing to get a gander down at the overgrown tropical-looking plants down beneath the catwalk, below where vines and flowers had grown over old storage containers.

Immediately getting the feeling in his stomach that stomach was wrong, Kaneki's suspicions only grew the moment he finally made his way over the suspended catwalk and past the check-in area, where scientists and security teams once upon time greeted their unknowing test subjects. Making his way to the security office that was built into the lobby area, Kaneki was greeted with the sight of a mummified skeletal figure dressed in a vault security suit, hanging from a noose near where a terminal resided on top of a metal table near the paneled window looking out toward the rest of the lobby area.

What was most uncomfortable about the sight of the crisp blackened skin of the eyeless corpse wasn't the smell nor the agaped jaw, it was the fact that it had small vines growing out of its sockets, blackened throat, and the hole in the center of its face where a nose had once been. Lowering his rifle while feeling his heart racing, Kaneki took in a nervous breath as he anxiously turned his back toward the unsightly corpse in order to take a seat at the old dusty office chair sitting in front of the terminal he wanted to gain access to.

Logging into the terminal and using his Pipboy to hack into the vault's Overseer account, Kaneki used what he remembered from what Kuzen had taught him about vault terminals to link the device into the central mainframe of the underground city. Once he was in, Kaneki accessed the vault's laboratory files, and made sure to look over his shoulder and through the dirty security window as he read through the research documents for anything useful.


'December 17, 1966…'

'Aloha! This is Dr. Kalawai'a! I'm very excited to announce that we here at Vault 937 have finally perfected our first batch of our artificial and universal stem-cell medication! By using the RC-cell infused Blue Maui flowers and Tarot Roots, we were able to get the perfect, and easy to produce, mixture that allows the body to regenerate missing limbs, blood, bones, you name it!'

'Delivered through an auto-injector equipped with a gague meter on top, the 'stimulation delivery package', or 'stimpak' for short, we'll be using our surplus of auto-injector syringes to begin immediate production of our new product! Stimpaks will allow humans to heal from grave injuries that otherwise would be fatal, and will allow us to rival the regenerative property of even ghouls themselves!'

'And unlike the way humans, and even ghouls, naturally regenerate their bodily injuries, 'Stimpaks' don't rely on the body's cells to heal! The RC-cell infused Blue Maui flowers and Tarot Roots create their own unique cytokines, which reads the already existing white blood cells within a body to mass produce its own platelets to begin the haemostasis phase, followed by inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling, all within seconds!'

'Out all forty-thousand test subjects, both a mixture of humans and ghouls, the only noticeable side-effect is that test subjects have reported mild thirst after being administered one stimpak. I suggest making sure that the military personnel who will be receiving these have a bottle of water on hand, to avoid dehydration.'

'I'm very excited with this project, and will be continuing research into the 'Red' Maui Flower, and 'Bleeding' Tarot Root.'

'Dr. Kristina Kalawai'a, Senior Director and Researcher.'


'December 20, 1966…'

'We've sent over a million Stimpaks overseas to our boys in green, and with the increased budget and resources, we've been able to create the missing link to my next masterpiece!'

'Using the spliced DNA of a kakuja and genetically modifying the cytosine to be capable with the Yellow Hibiscus flower, which of course is the flower of my home state, we've created a new variant of the flower known as 'Black Hibiscus', due to the pedals being made of the same hardened metal-liquid that one would find in a kakuja. The pedals are incredibly durable and are razor sharp, but the blood-red nectar inside is what we're able to use in order to create an even more potent healing medicine that surpasses even our previous product!'

'It's not original, but I'll be naming the new product the 'Super Stimpak'. Unlike the run of the mill Stimpak, the Super variant continues to regenerate the body, even hours after the bodily injury had already been fully healed, meaning that one dose would be good enough to constantly provide healing for approximately that time frame. This would be especially useful for soldiers who are under constant enemy fire, as the bullets wouldn't be enough to keep up with the Super Stimpak's regenerative rate!'

'Through our testing trials, we've discovered that the Super Stimpak will heal brain trauma, as seen with subject #385, who we experimented on by inserting the tip of a jackhammer in through their forehead. They were able to stay alive for a full ten minutes, before the Super Stimpak wore off, in which only then did they receive an immediate death.'

'As seen with subjects #390-#590, the Super Stimpak will allow the user to survive getting decapitated for, on average, five times, before the artificial palates and RC-cells will be unable to reattach the idea back to the hosts' body. We've found that fatal damage to the body drains the formula out of the cardiovascular system faster than more minor wounds.'

'And finally, and most excitingly, we've found that the Super Stimpak is capable of restarting the heart and restoring brain functions in a corpse that's been fresh for at most six hours! Say goodbye to defibrillators and pesky surgeons, and say 'aloha' to the future of combat first aid!'

'Dr. Kristina Kalawai'a, Senior Director and Researcher.'


'January 13, 1967…'

'We've had reports of Red Maui flowers, Bleeding Tarot Roots, and especially Black Hibiscus flowers growing within the vault's ventilation and water system. Not sure how that's possible, the flowers are kept secured in a quarantined area, along with all our test subjects who have their own filtered waste disposal system that's separate from the vault's primary systems.'

'I'll have to look into the matter further on my behalf. Other than that, I don't see there being an issue— the flowers are beautiful and have no negative side effects that aren't offset by merely drinking water. Maintenance will complain about anything these days.'

'Dr. Kristina Kalawai'a, Senior Director and Researcher.'


'January 23, 1967…'

'I'm absolutely livid! The Overseer was the one who abused his administrative rights to gain access into MY lab, and for what you may ask? I'll tell you what: Just because that imbecile wanted to take a few of MY flowers to his office, as a way to decorate his desk!'

'That absolute moron has caused a breach in security, all because he thinks my hard work, my MIRACLES, are something to gawk at and put on some junk table!'

'I'll be reporting this to Vault-Tec immediately! This is unacceptable!'

'I've already received reports of some of the vault residents having vivid hallucinations, all of which seem to allude to there being some sort of 'otherworld', filled with rust, a pitch black-darkness. Most disturbing, and probably false, is the claims that there are these 'monsters' inside the vault with us, that only appear in this 'otherworld'.

'Ridiculously enough, most of the affected residents who've all been within close proximity of the black hibiscus, including the Overseer himself, have all ranted about there being some 'Angel' on the moon, who's speaking to them through their hallucinations. Apparently, she's telling them to mutilate themselves, and 'readying' themselves for some crusade or other rubbish.'

'They've even begun calling themselves 'White Zetsu', whatever that means.'

'Dr. Kristina Kalawai'a, Senior Director and Researcher.'


'January 24, 1967…'

'They've quarantined us. Vault-Tec released a memo to us that states that they won't release their remote override access until either we've destroyed the flowers, or allow for the Black Hibiscus spores to naturally stabilize themselves over the course of ten years.'

'I've accepted my fate, and I'm willing to lay my life down and allow for the airborne spores to begin eating my body. It's worth it, more beautiful black hibiscus flowers will grow, and my blood shall be used to develop my nectar for future generations to use.'

'The Black Hibiscus fertilizes the grounds its precious roots grow through, which allows for more blood tarot roots and red maui flowers to flourish. The roots, they can hydrate and keep the other flowers alive indefinitely, all they need is blood. Our blood.'

'According to my calculations, one droplet of blood is enough for the mighty black hibiscus flower to stay alive and fertilize the soil for an entire year! Just imagine what it could do, if it were ever used for reforestation!'

'It's destiny, and I'll laugh while the cowards of vault 937 try to save themselves by burning the black hibiscus flowers, or trying to salt the fertilizer, as if my beautiful legacy can be annihilated by such trivial means!'

'In ten years into the future, we will all be immortalized by my creations' growth, and we all will serve a higher purpose that none of these selfish ingrates could ever fathom with their own insignificance.'

'I feel the roots tickling my insides, moving around gently like how I would imagine a mother would feel with a small baby in their womb. I am their mother. I am 'Makuahine'. Kaguya, the 'Moon Goddess' has blessed me with a vision.'

'We will perish in this tomb, and be reborn when the vault door reopens. Evil itself will come within our realm, and we shall see to it that Her enemy is slain and his blood drained. This dark garden of ours will gain its salvation, once a new tree of life sprouts from our flesh and agony.'

''Dr. Kristina Kalawai'a, Senior Director and Researcher, and Proud Mother of the Black Hibiscus.'


Sitting there in the old dilapidated chair, Kaneki couldn't help but to make sure that his mask was sealed tightly, as the thought of having accidentally inhaled the spores of the black hibiscus flower sent a shiver down his spine. 'They should be naturalized, even if that was the case, right? But even so… It doesn't hurt if I were to restart the power grid, and turn on the ventilation purifier system, and the water processing plant… Plus, having lights would make this place feel less… Scary.'

Typing away at the keyboard of the terminal, Kaneki eventually remembered how to restart everything he needed to, in order for the electrical grid to come back alive. Powered by cold fusion batteries, the vault had no issues coming back to life, but even with the electrical grid back online, Kaneki noticed that the ceiling lights above were in desperate need of changing.

With some lights in the front lobby flickering, and some barely bright enough to dimly illuminate the surrounding area, Kaneki wasn't sure how much better the ambience had gotten, now that the shadows in the room appeared to be dancing. Sitting in the chair, almost too afraid to get up and look behind him, Kaneki could have sworn that he heard the sounds of claws scraping against metal, and skittering footsteps echoing within the metal catacombs that were the corridors of Vault 937.

Thinking back to what he had read, it dawned on Kaneki that there was a possibility that there could still be Super Stimpaks kept stored inside the vault's laboratory, which meant that there was a chance he could save Yūgao from her demise. With less than six hours to spare, Kaneki made sure to download the map's layout onto his Pipboy's map, before unplugging it from the terminal.

Fearful of anything coming into the cave to take Yūgao's body, Kaneki finally built up the courage to get up from the chair to make his way back out to the opened entrance of the vault door to bring the kunoichi back into the somewhat safe lobby. That's when Kaneki accidentally bumped into the hanging mummified corpse hanging from the rope, and immediately started screaming as he felt it reach out and grab a hold of his body. Whipping out his quinque, Kaneki wrestled against the dry limbs of his attacker, and managed to shoulder tackle it away from him, before slashing it in half with Yukimura 's blade.

Breathing rapidly, Kaneki took a few steps backwards and recoiled as he watched an entire garden of black hibiscus flowers pour out of the corpse's severed half, and land on top of its skeletal legs. Regaining his composure and feeling sweat beading up on his forehead, it took Kaneki a few moments to realize that the corpse of the hanging man hadn't actually moved, and that he had just imagined it grabbing him.

Still shaken even after realizing that it was only his overactive imagination that led him to believe that he had been attacked by a zombie just moments ago, none of that stopped Kaneki from leaving the security office, before locking it from the outside with his Pipboy. Letting out a shaky breath, Kaneki quickly made his way back out into the cave, and scooped Yūgao's body up, and kept her and her sword wrapped up in his black cloak, as he carried her inside the lobby area.

Once inside, Kaneki made sure to remotely close the vault door, sealing him and Yūgao inside the erie underground city, and away from the dangers of the wasteland. Still very much aware that he still had The Blades to deal with, and whatever else was in the vault with him, Kaneki made sure to keep Yūgao hidden from plain sight, and away from any vines.

Laying her down behind a few metal crates in the corner of the lobby check-in area, Kaneki knelt down beside Yūgao and gently squeezed her cold hand, before getting up to make his way to the sliding door that would lead him down the stairwell into the depths of the vault. Once he got to the front entrance, Kaneki couldn't help but to think back to the stories of what Teuchi told him of Konohagakure's past, as he found himself staring at a mural of the moon, painted with dried blood on the front panel of the door he would need to take.

Taking in a deep breath, Kaneki opened the sliding door with the side control panel, and once he was inside the dimly lit stairwell corridor leading downward, he made sure to use his Pipboy to lock the entrance into the lobby behind him, so that no one could escape from the vault, without him allowing them to. With his kagune unraveled once more, and his gun raised, Kaneki began his descent down into bowels of Vault 937– making sure to not psyche himself out as he felt the overgrowth from the walls brushing up against his body.