5 Days Later
Emily sat with Tatara again only this time there was no delicious spread or easy atmosphere. The table was bare except for two steaming cups of coffee, fresh blood was dripping into a pool off the corner and Tatara's cold eyes were locked on Emily as she fought against the violent urge to vomit.
Several minutes ago, she and Tatara had gotten into an argument so fearing her life may have been in danger, Emily's minder for the day, Jun, had stepped in to calm her down when Tatara had shoved his fist right through Jun's chest. The worst part of it was Jun was still alive, groaning and twitching on the floor and Emily was too afraid to even breathe. She hadn't meant for things to get so out of hand, in fact she had gone in there ready to fold to him. She had had every intention of giving up Blue Lotus to Aogiri in favour of saving the lives of the people she loved, but when Tatara had mentioned killing Akihrio and the other CCG members they had locked up, Emily snapped.
She hadn't remembered everything she'd called the tall, white-haired Ghoul sitting calmly in front of her, but she knew it was bad. And now that he had all but murdered a member of his own organization right in front of her, Emily was definitely reconsidering what she'd said.
A skull-faced head appeared in the doorway behind Tatara after the sound of meat hitting the wooden floor. "Get rid of that." Tatara ordered pointing to Jun on the ground without breaking eye contact with Emily, "Then bring Ayato-kun here."
"Sir." the faceless Ghoul said and walked into the room. His boot steps were too loud on the wood though he tried to walk as quietly as he could so not to end up as another body beside Jun. Emily watched him as he bent over, grasped Jun's ankles and began dragging him out, leaving a thick trail of blood behind him.
"What will happen to him?" she asked although she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Why do you care?" Tatara asked her with an eyebrow arched, the only sign of emotion on his face. Emily swallowed - why did she care? She barely knew Jun and the only two things she knew about him were that he'd been present when she was kidnapped and he was the only one she'd seen actually get on well with Ayato. So why did she care what happened to a stranger?
"He'll die unless someone helps him." Tatara said, "But I doubt anyone here will be that kind, except maybe you."
"Why are you doing this?" Emily asked trying to search his eyes for some kind of enlightenment but only finding emptiness.
"Because this is how the real world is. It's cold and dark and filled with unfair choices and death. Your life is no different from this. I gave you an ultimatum; work for us or everyone you love dies. I cannot speak for everyone here but most if not all have faced something similar in their lives where the lives of people important to them have been on the line, occasionally against their own. Now you tell me who the monsters really are? We feed on your kind to live, that's true, but don't your kind slaughter thousands of other animals you deem lesser than you on a daily basis? Your kind hunt us for living so how must those lesser creatures feel when they see their own butchers coming towards them? What makes human kind the apex predator and the only beings who get to make a decision on who lives and who dies? Humans also kill humans and not because they eat them but because of trivial emotions like greed or vengeance or just because they don't like the other person." he explained.
"Don't act like humans are the only ones to kill their kind especially after what you just did." Emily spat feeling her anger over power her fear. Again, Tatara's eyebrows twitched in that pleased and annoyed way.
"Do you know why I did what I did?" he asked curiously. Emily wanted to say it was because he was a twisted, psychotic sociopath with no conscience but instead she stayed silent, knowing that if she wasn't careful he really would just kill her. Tatara didn't seem to mind her lack of answer, "He assumed that I was going to kill you so he interfered. Not only did he underestimate my self-control but he overestimated his own abilities. I did what I did to make a point. If he lives, he won't make the same mistake again and will think more about the difference in power between himself and his enemies."
"So what, you taught him a valuable life lesson by putting a hole in his chest?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Right." Emily said, her eyes shifting back to the bloody puddle on the ground. Nausea warred within her again and she had to look away or else she would vomit all over the table and Tatara, "So what does that have to do with why humanity are monsters and Ghouls are victims?"
"Nothing at all." he replied, "Ghouls aren't the victims, we're just as much the monsters in this world as humans are. The only difference is that we acknowledge that. We don't want to destroy all of humanity - why would we? That would be like cows becoming extinct. You're our food source. However, we can't keep living in fear of you either and that is why we must eradicate the CCG and assure our position at the top of the food chain."
"The CCG doesn't just exist in Japan, you know that right?"
"Of course. That's why I'm here and not still in China. After we take Japan, we will spread our branches throughout Asia, Europe, America and continue to grow until we have spread over the world." he replied sipping from his coffee cup. Emily frowned, "So your ultimate goal is world domination?"
"Correct. I can see you're wondering why I'm telling you this but it all ties back to the question you asked me. Why am I doing this? Because the world is wrong and it must be fixed." he said. Emily stared at him unsure on whether to feel terrified or in awe of him. So much of what he said was true, Emily knew that, and yet it was also insane.
"You wanted to see me?" Ayato's voice echoed in the room and Emily's pulse immediately quickened. She heard him approach behind her, climb the stairs and then he was in her line of sight, kneeling at the blood pool. "Who was this?"
"Jun." Emily replied without thinking. Ayato tensed and slowly turned his head towards her, blue eyes narrow and cold.
"Was I speaking to you?" he snapped darkly. Emily looked away quickly and tried to make herself small. Sometimes she would forget that Ayato couldn't know her here. It would ruin everything.
"Oi, trash, answer me." he growled, she knew it was an act but Ayato was still terrifying. She didn't have to try very hard to pretend to be scared of him right now, "No, you weren't."
"Good. Now shut the fuck up." he demanded before turning his attention back to Tatara, "You killed Jun?"
"No," Tatara replied rising from his chair, "I mostly killed him. There's a chance he'll live." Ayato winced subconsciously when Tatara said mostly killed as if there were another meaning behind the words. "Well that's something." Ayato said standing and shoving his fists into his pockets, "So what did you want?"
"Take the girl back to her room and then return here." Tatara told him while walking out of the room. Ayato's mood improved dramatically, "We have orders?"
"Yes."
Hallways
"I didn't scare you too much, did I?" Ayato asked just loud enough for Emily to hear as they walked down the hallways towards Emily's freezer room.
"Not really." she replied watching his back. Ayato had been keeping the promise he'd made the day she'd arrived at Aogiri's base but she knew that there were certain things he'd had to do to make sure. She'd heard Jun and Taka talking about how Ayato was getting more violent with some of the Aogiri members but they'd blown it off as challenges of his position. Hiko, the only one besides Ayato Emily actually got on with, had told her that since Kaneki had beaten Ayato during the CCG raid and Banjou had run off, there were people questioning his high position with Aogiri so there was no doubt that part of what Taka and Jun had said was true, but she knew there was another reason. One morning, Taka had been late to his post and Emily was on her own. She'd seen one of the guys who'd been standing next to Ayato the day they'd brought her in. His blonde fringe was slicked back and he wore a white suit. He'd been glaring at her while he stood in the open door way and for the longest time she thought he was going to kill her until Taka turned up and told him to leave. She'd seen how dangerous he could be, yet she still didn't think of him as part of Aogiri. He was just Ayato to her.
"I'm sorry about Jun." she said once they reached the freezer. Ayato shrugged and gazed in the direction they'd just come from,
"Shit happens." he said simply, "There's nothing you could have done to stop it anyway."
Emily frowned and crossed her arms, "Aren't you even the least bit upset about it?" Ayato stared down at her, his expression wasn't cold but it was far from kind,
"Why should I be?" he asked. Emily thought about getting angry and accusing him of being heartless, but she just didn't have the energy to fight with him again. Besides, he was risking everything to keep her safe so she couldn't really call him heartless and uncaring. Aogiri wasn't like Anteiku, they didn't necessarily care if their members died so long as there were more to replace them and it didn't affect their goal. Why should Ayato be any different. Emily shook her head and turned her back to him,
"Never mind. Just go before he gets suspicious."
"You're angry with me." he stated with a sigh, "What have I done this time?"
"Nothing, Ayato." she said, "I'm not angry with you, I'm just still trying to get used to how things work here, that's all." When Ayato didn't reply, she assumed he'd just left or there was someone walking past that shouldn't over hear their conversation. However before she could confirm her assumptions, his arms were around her hugging her tightly to his chest.
"I know it's hard for you." he whispered, "And I know you think I lack any kind of remorse or sympathy towards anyone here, but we're all killers, Emily. Not all of may be as sick as Yamori was or as unfeeling as Tatara, but we've all murdered countless of innocent people - civilian, Ghoul and CCG alike. Jun was no different. Do you really want me to be cut up over someone like that?"
"You say we...does that mean-"
"Yeah. I'm including myself in that. I'm not proud of some of the shit I've done but I don't regret it. I told you before that I haven't changed. I only have room to care about a handful of things, the lives of the people here aren't one of them." he told her. Emily turned in his arms and put her hand against his cheek, searching his eyes for the Ayato she thought she knew. His eyes fluttered closed and he leaned into her hand more. There. She knew that expression. It was the same as when she'd caught him asleep on her balcony. Her Ayato was still in there.
"I gotta go." he said peeling her hand away from him and giving her palm a small, quick kiss, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Please don't go getting into trouble, I really don't want to kill anyone else today." Emily gasped and covered her mouth instantly but Ayato chuckled, "I'm kidding. Just stay here."
July 3rd, 1:16pm
Ayato left Emily in the freezer they called a room and headed back to where the meeting would be held. Though he had told her he was joking, Ayato had personally killed four lesser Aogiri members and Hiko had killed two more. He would have liked to say that they were challenging his authority, but the two Hiko had killed were definitely out for Emily. It was just luck that Hiko had gotten to them before Ayato did. But she gave him this look that made him feel bad for it. Emily was probably the only person in the world who could make him regret killing someone with just a look. He supposed that was part of the reason why he liked her so much. She made him feel like less of a monster.
"Yo, Ayato." He turned at the sound of his name and watched the small woman approach.
"Miza." he greeted her, "Didn't know you were back." Miza shrugged and fell in step beside him. Out of the few executives left in Aogiri, Miza was probably the only one he didn't fully hate. She was short, shorter than Emily, and had large round eyes.
"I hear we have a human pet," she said thoughtfully, "And that you're looking after it?"
"Tatara's way of punishing me, I suppose." he replied nonchalantly, "Worst part is I can't eat her when she pisses me off." Well, that wasn't a total lie. He couldn't eat her, and he'd tried to, there was just something about her but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone but himself.
Miza chuckled, "Poor child. Do you know she's here?" Ayato had realized that none of the others had known the reason as to why Tatara needed her alive, they only knew the name of her father and that she was a human.
"Nope." he replied, "But I'm guessing he's going to enlighten us at the meeting."
The other three executives, Naki who had taken over Yamori's position, and two others Ayato hadn't bothered to learn the names of, as well as Eto, Tatara and Noro had all taken their seats in what was once a function room within the hotel. Ayato took his place between Noro and Naki while Miza sat on the opposite side.
"Good, now that you're all here, shall we get started?" Tatara said. Ayato listened quietly as he told them all about Emily and the plans he had for her - or rather the plans the King had. Some days, Ayato were sure Tatara and the King were the same thing.
"Therefore, the human female will not be harmed. Tomorrow, Miza and the subordinates she chooses will take the girl back to the 20th Ward and await further instruction." Tatara finished. Miza would be babysitting Emily? The situation wasn't ideal but Ayato knew the chances of him continuing to protect Emily were slim to none, at least Miza wouldn't fly off the handle and slaughter her whenever she felt the need to. Emily could trust Miza...
"So I won't be participating in the mission?" Miza asked curiously.
"No. You will make sure the girl doesn't inform people she shouldn't of our whereabouts. The rest of you will go to the 3rd, 7th, 10th and 16th Wards to recruit more members. There's still some of us who escaped the prison running lose out there. See if you can't recruit them to our cause."
"And if we can't?" Ayato asked. Tatara's crimson eyes moved to his face,
"Kill them. If they don't join us, they die."
"What about Anteiku and Eye-Patch?" one of the others asked.
"Ayato will handle Kaneki Ken. I assume you have a debt you'd like to repay. Eto and I will deal with Anteiku." Tatara said. Ayato tapped the fingers of his right hand on the table, the entire right side of his body was still stiff but it was healed. It's true he wanted to pay Kaneki Ken back for what he did, but at the same time he was one of Emily's friends, and his idiot sister's, killing him would make them both unhappy. Exhaling slowly, he figured he'd just wait until they ran into each other the next time and see what happened.
"Oi, oi, oi!" Naki exclaimed, tears welling in his eyes, "He isn't the only one with a vandetta against that Eye-Patch bastard! He killed Yamori-aniki! If anyone's gonna fight him it should be me!"
"Vans?"
"The word is vendetta." Miza said quietly but Naki was too busy complaining that Ayato was the one who got to kill Kaneki. Suddenly, Eto looked up towards the window. Tatara's gaze soon followed,
"Shut up." he ordered standing from his seat and walking over to the window, "We have visitors."
Emily!
June 25, 6:00pm - Renji.
Renji followed the phone's GPS signal to where Emily should have been, only all he found was a black, slim touchscreen phone and a hair tie. He glanced around trying to see any signs of a struggle...or worse, but found none. Frowning, he decided he would pay her friend in the hospital a visit. The nurse at the front desk gave him a strange look when he walked right past her and entered the elevator. He found Hamada Isao's room without any trouble and walked in.
"Hey that was -" the man in the bed looked shocked to see Renji standing there instead of Emily, "Can I help you?" Renji didn't say a word but instead walked over to the window, he could smell Emily's watermelon scent throughout the room, but it was more potent around the chair closest to the window.
"Um, excuse me?" Isao asked again. Renji huffed to himself, this kid was supposed to be a threat to Ghouls? What a joke.
"The girl." Renji said finally meeting Isao's gaze, "Where is she?"
"Girl?" his dark brows knotted together, "Do you mean Emily-chan?" Suddenly his meek expression shifted to a more dangerous glare, "Why?" There was the CCG training. Deciding that he'd find no more answers here, Renji left without a word.
Back outside the hospital he dialed Uta's number and climbed into his car. The mask maker picked up after the third ring.
"Yo." he said.
"Emily's been kidnapped." Renji said as he pulled out into traffic, "I'm on my way to you. He needs to know."
"What?!" Renji rarely ever heard Uta yell anymore, he was normally cool and collected, but hearing him raise his voice now was like a reminder of the past, "Emily's what?!"
"She's been kidnapped. I'm not sure by who yet but I have a pretty good idea. Call him." Renji said then hung up before Uta became more infuriated. His childhood friend may have calmed down a lot these days, but in reality it was just a mask to hide his true intent. Uta was dangerous back then and he was even more so now. Renji had thought about calling him the moment he suspected something had happened to Emily but knew that that would give Uta time to organize some kind of retaliation. He would end up destroying half of Tokyo just to find her. This way, Renji could keep some kind of control over his friend. He just hoped Uta did as he was told and stayed put until he could get there.
Uta
Uta was furious. When he found out who'd done that to Emily, he would make them suffer. He would do far worse than Omori Yakumo or the supposed One-Eyed Owl could ever imagine. He would paint the whole of Japan in blood until he got Emily back safe.
He clutched his phone so tight he was sure it was going to splinter and held it to his ear, trying to calm his fury with each methodical ring.
"Yes?" the voice on the other end answered on the last ring. Uta was so angry he couldn't speak. All he wanted to do was go out, find whoever took Emily and kill things but instead he took several deep breaths and tried to calm down.
"Uta?" the voice called when he didn't reply.
"You need to come here." Uta told the voice.
"Why? Is something-"
"It's Emily." Uta interrupted, he felt the shift in the air through the phone at the sound of her name, "She's been taken." The phone clicked silent and Uta knew that the voice was more furious than he was. There was going to be blood tonight, that much was certain.
Renji arrived half an hour later with a familiar face in tow. It seemed as though Itori and Tsukiyama weren't the only ones keeping in contact with Kaneki. He'd changed drastically since the last time Uta saw him. His black hair had become snow white and he wore more black than he used to. His expression had changed as well. Uta liked it.
"Well?" he said letting his wrap fall completely off his shoulders, "You said you had an idea of who it was."
"Aogiri." Renji said, beside him Kaneki flinched. Now that Kaneki was present, Uta had to keep complete control over his emotions, something that was much harder than it sounded.
"Why would Aogiri want Emily?" Kaneki asked taking a seat on the stool used for Uta's customers, but even as he spoke, he seemed to realize something, "Wait, are you sure she was kidnapped?"
"What do you mean?" Uta asked curiously, peering at Kaneki with owlish eyes. The boy frowned and stared at the checkered floor, "You were with her when she came to see me, right? For some reason she cares about Touka's brother, do you think it was possible that she found out where he was and joined up with him?"
"Ayato?" Uta said thoughtfully, it was plausible but Emily wouldn't just drop everything and leave.
"No." Renji said confirming Uta's thoughts, "She was taken." He produced Emily's phone from the pocket of his long coat and placed it on Uta's work bench, "She wouldn't leave this behind."
"That brings us back to Kaneki-kun's previous question then." Uta said, "Why?"
"I have a theory." said a new voice. Uta hadn't even heard the shop door open but there was no doubting that someone else had entered HySy. Kaneki was on his feet in seconds, ready to attack if he needed to, but Uta and Renji stayed where they were. This person wasn't unfamiliar to them.
"I didn't think you'd actually show." Renji commented as the being walked into the dimly lit room. His sharp, dark grey eyes shifted from Renji to Uta to Kaneki standing warily to the side and he arched an eyebrow.
"This him?" he asked, "The half-breed?"
"Yeah." Renji replied simply, "I ran into him on my way here and told him what happened. He's friends with her."
"I wanted to help." Kaneki replied sounding more like his old self than before.
"Huh." he said thoughtfully, "He's different from last time. Well, that doesn't matter now."
"I'm sorry, but who exactly are you?" Kaneki asked somewhat defensively. Uta resisted the urge to grin but wondered whether he would give his real name or a false one. It wasn't surprising that Kaneki knew nothing about him, not many people did anymore. But he knew almost everything, Uta was sure his connections reached further than his own.
"I'm a friend. That's all you need to know right now." he replied casually. Kaneki opened his mouth to protest but Renji interrupted him,
"You said you had a theory."
"Ah, yes. Aogiri..."
July 3rd, 1:25pm
Renji, Uta, Kaneki and Tsukiyama were crouched in the overgrown bushes just outside of the old, abandoned hotel. They'd been scoping it out over the past few days but no one had seen any sign of Emily inside. Occasionally they would glimpse members of Aogiri on patrol, but they were always wearing masks. Still, they were sure that Emily was inside somewhere.
"So, what's the plan?" Tsukiyama whispered.
"We infiltrate as soon as the guard changes on the service entrance. Once inside we split up and search each floor. Tsukiyama, you take the basement and first floor. Ken will take the second to fifth floors. Uta and I will handle the rest." Renji told them keeping his steel gaze on the guard whose shift was about to change. The masked and hooded guard stretched, looked left then right and shrugged before opening the door and stepping inside.
"Let's go." Renji ordered and the four of them ran straight for the closing door. Renji's fingertips curled around the metal handle just before locked shut and he yanked the door open, startling the Aogiri member who'd just entered. Uta was on him in a flash and shoved his hands straight through the man's chest, killing him before he could make a sound. Renji nodded once and he, Uta and Kaneki moved up the stairs, leaving Tsukiyama to hold the most valuable position - the exit.
1:30pm
Emily! Ayato didn't think about anything else as he shot from his seat and bolted towards the door.
"Oi, Ayato!" he heard Naki call out after him but Ayato ignored it. He didn't care right now, his priority was getting to Emily before anyone else did. He'd promised to keep her safe, even if it was from her own people. If they succeeded in taking her back from Aogiri, Tatara wouldn't hesitate in killing the people she loved. He couldn't, he wouldn't let that happen.
Hiko was leaning against the wall just inside the freezer when Ayato reached them. They seemed to be enjoying a conversation, Hiko had an easy smile on his face, but as soon as he saw Ayato sprinting down the hall, he became serious.
"Get the others." Ayato ordered him skidding to a stop and snatching Hiko's mask from him, "Give me your cloak too." Hiko did as he was told and removed the maroon Aogiri cloak, handed it to Ayato and took off to find Ayato's other underlings without question.
Emily was standing and walking slowly towards him, a look of confusion on her face. "Is everything alright?"
"Put this on." he told her handing her the cloak and glancing back out of the door for any signs of fighting. They were on the sixth floor, if the intruders entered from ground level they should be busy searching for Emily on the lower floors. Provided that's why there were here. He looked back to Emily who was smoothing the heavy cloth out. Ayato walked towards her and held the mask up but she shook her head.
"What is it?" she asked resting her hand over his.
"We're under attack." he said - well, it wasn't a total lie. Emily looked scared and like she wanted to ask more questions, but instead she took the skull mask from him and put it on.
"Do you trust me?" he asked her reaching behind her head to grasp the hood of the cloak. Emily nodded,
"I trust you." she told him. That was enough for him. He lifted the hood over her head to cover her long, red hair and took her hand, "No matter what, do not leave my side." He led her out of the freezer and towards where his men were gathering at the end of the hall.
"Are we to kill the intruders, sir?" Taka asked pushing through the bodies to stand next to Hiko who was still without a mask or cloak. The group parted as Ayato moved through them, Emily following closely behind him, clutching tightly at his hand.
"Just slowing them down will be enough for now." he said but then added, "Hiko, you're in command. Do as you like."
"Yes, sir." Hiko replied and started shouting orders as Ayato and Emily moved closer to the double door elevators. Although he'd told Emily that he had no attachments to the Aogiri members, he hoped that at least Hiko would make it out alive. Ayato let Emily's hand go and set about prying the elevator doors open. They groaned and protested but eventually gave way and slid open just enough for a person to slip through. He looked down, the elevator had fallen and crumpled long ago but the cables were intact still. It was possible to slid down them.
"Emily, come here." he said motioning for her to come closer to him, "How good are you with heights?"
"You can't be serious?!" she exclaimed figuring out what he was going to do. Ayato grinned at her and pulled her to his chest tightly.
"Hang on." he cautioned her before pulling them both into the elevator. Using his kagune, he spread only one of his vermillion wings and dug it into the side of the shaft. He probably could have just flown down but he didn't want to risk hurting Emily. Doing it this way would only hurt him. He could deal with the burn he would get on his hand from the cable, it couldn't be any worse than having half of his body broken.
"Ayato..." Emily whimpered. He smiled at her despite her burying her face against his chest,
"Hey, you said you trusted me." he teased lightly, "Don't worry, it'll be alright." With that, he loosed his grip just enough to start sliding down the cable. He clenched his jaw and winced as the friction started to tear at his skin. His kagune helped him keep a relatively slow pace so they wouldn't crash too heavily or too loudly into the debris at the bottom but it did make it far more painful.
By the time he reached the top of the mound of debris, blood was starting to drip down his arm. He ignored it and tried to figure out just how many floors they had to go until they reached ground level. The elevator was on the second floor but that didn't necessarily mean they were on it. Dislodging his wing from the wall, Ayato sliced open the doors and kicked them into the hallway.
"So much for tact." he muttered to himself as he stepped through and peeled Emily off him, "We're on the ground now. Damn."
"What?" she asked curiously as she looked around.
"We're only made it to the fourth floor." he said as he flexed his hand, his palm and fingers had already healed but there was still a dull ache. That'd teach him for using his right hand so soon. Reaching for Emily once again, he began pulling her towards the stairs, "C'mon."
It was too quiet as they ran. Ayato was sure it could have only been a small handful of Ghouls, not enough to take out the patrolling units unless... He caught the scent a moment too late. Stopping and spinning on his heel, he pulled Emily behind him and held his arm out protectively in front of her. Fuck! Out of everyone, why did Ayato have to run into him?
"Yo, Ayato-kun." he said walking out from the shadows and into a beam of sunlight, "Protecting one of your own, huh? I'm surprised." Ayato glared at the white haired man in black standing several metres away from him but didn't say anything. That didn't seem to bother Kaneki, in fact he seemed a little pleased.
"Seems you have learned something since we last met." he continued. Every bone in Ayato's body - especially the 103 on his right side - screamed at him to attack and kill the half-Ghoul, but he stood firm. "You know why I'm here, right?"
"I won't let you have her." Ayato said feeling Emily hold onto the back of his jacket. Kaneki cracked his knuckle just like Yamori used to and sighed deeply.
"I'd really prefer to not kill you and I don't have time to just torture you until you tell me where you're keeping her."
"I don't care what you do to me. Break half my bones again, hell break all of them if you really want to but I'll die before I hand her over!" Ayato growled.
Third Floor
Emily stood behind Ayato, clutching his jacket and keeping her head down. She knew the other person in the room with them was Kaneki and that Ayato was intensely wary of him. She could have said something, let him know that it was her, but something inside her was keeping her quiet. She'd been thinking about it every since Ayato had told her they were under attack and had suspected that it was Renji and Uta coming to rescue her. At first she was happy, she could finally get out from Aogiri and Tatara's control but then she realized the consequences of doing that. If she left with them, Tatara wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone. He may even kill Ayato for letting her escape. It was that fear that kept her silent. She couldn't go with them, she had to stay with Aogiri.
"I'd really prefer to not kill you and I don't have time to just torture you until you tell me where you're keeping her." Kaneki said. She was shocked, she never would have even believed that the Kaneki Ken she knew would say something like that. Everyone she knew was changing around her; Toshio was starting to take a career in the CCG seriously, Isao was part Ghoul, Ayato was totally different...now Kaneki. The one person in the world she felt could understand her completely was becoming someone different too. Did she even know these people she called friends anymore?
"I don't care what you do to me." Ayato said bringing her attention back to the situation at hand, "Break half my bones again, hell break all of them if you really want to but I'll die before I hand her over!" Break half his bones again? Emily's chest ached as realization of Ayato's words sunk in. Their fight, the things she'd heard from the others, Ayato's bandages. It all made sense now. Kaneki had literally broken 103 bones in Ayato's body.
"Ayato..." she whispered moving half a step forward unthinkingly. Blue eyes slid to her face briefly before returning to the person she hardly recognized in the middle of the room.
"Fine. Then I'll just kill the one behind you." Kaneki announced. Emily froze. Ayato's entire air shifted. She felt him grab her hand as she stared at the bright red tentacle racing towards her from the right, then suddenly, she was being spun around. Kaneki's rinkaku flew at her face and managed to graze her mask, sheering off a section of it as Ayato pulled her into the protection of his arms and ukaku. She felt his movements through his body as he deflected the blows until Kaneki stopped his attack.
"Why don't you fight back?" he asked curiously. From his tone, Emily could discern that it was a genuine question and not a bait. The Ayato that Kaneki had known wouldn't have hesitated, he would have disregarded the life behind him and just done everything he could to kill his enemy. But this Ayato was different. This was Emily's Ayato. She felt him unfurl his wings and spread them out behind him. Emily took the moment to take a peek, Ayato was standing to the side so Emily now had a clear view of Kaneki and his rinkaku twitching like long tails behind him. She watched as his expression turned from neutral to shock, she didn't think he could fully see her face but then she realized that during the tense few seconds when Ayato pulled her to him, her hood had fallen down.
"No..." Kaneki whispered as Emily lifted her head and fully faced him, the remainder of her mask falling off her face, "Emily? What are you doing with him?"
"Are Renji and Uta here too?" she asked him.
"Of course they are." he replied, "Tell me what's going on?" She smiled sweetly at him,
"I'm sorry. You all came to rescue me...I can't go with you." she said lifting her head and squaring her shoulders. She had decided to protect her precious people, no matter how hard it was, even if they turned away from her, she was going to see it through.
"Why?"
"For the same reason you're not with Anteiku." she told him and took Ayato's hand, "Let's go." Just as she knew he would, Kaneki let them leave without a word. Truthfully, she had only suspected the real reason as to why Kaneki had left Anteiku but his letting them leave confirmed it. He had left to protect them. Perhaps they were both still alike in ways.