Chapter 4: Tastes like Dust (Blech!)
Emerald lead the ghoul to the new base of operations. Chatting idly. "It's still some-what difficult to believe you're not from this world." She commented.
"It does sound a little out there." Kaneki replied. "But nothing suggests it's wrong. This world is incredibly different, the technology is vastly superior, the history is...actually very similar." His revelation caused his brow to furrow. He quickly shrugged off his thoughts to return to his conversation. "Anyway, nothing suggests you've had ghoul problems either. If you had, I believe hunters would make more regular appearances in the cities.
"I doubt we'd need that many." Emerald muttered. "Hunters are the best warriors Remnant has to offer. They're abilities and weaponry make them worth more than fifty regular military personnel."
"Regular weaponry doesn't even affect ghouls. Knives break and bullets bounce off our skin." Kaneki states.
"Well then I doubt the humans just let ghouls run rampant, wherever you came from." She said.
"No they didn't. The CCG had aimed to push the ghouls out of Tokyo, which was the city I was living in at the time." Kaneki responded.
"CCG?"
"Oh right, my bad." Kaneki apologised, realising he had never explained his past situation to the green-haired girl. "The Commission of Counter Ghoul, abbreviated as the CCG, were the federal agency that dealt with all ghoul-related crime around the world." The pair walk past a trio of young faunus, who shudder as they walk past and hurry away. "Their agents were to ghouls, what hunters are to grimm. And from what I've seen in the news, about as powerful."
"You really shouldn't be comparing yourself to grimm, y'know." Emerald points out. After several minutes of walking, they finally reach the docks, and the warehouse area that Cinder was using as a base of operations.
It looks like any other warehouse in the area; But that was the point. Being inconspicuous made them harder to locate. Sure, the cost of buying was probably high, however Cinder had plenty of funds to work with, from various sources. On the outside it was just another warehouse among several others. On the inside however, hundreds of crates filled with dust were being moved around, organized, by masked men and women wearing the uniform of the infamous White Fang. Most of which tensed up considerably upon sensing the ghoul. Work seemed to halt altogether. Well, at least until a casually hooded man in wearing an officer's mask came in.
"What's going on? Why have we-" He laid eyes on Kaneki, and bristled. He was quiet for a few seconds, before snapping back to attention. "Back to work!" He barked. Every faunus in the room went back to their tasks, now accompanied by a tense atmosphere that refused to leave.
"Yeah..." The ghoul said awkwardly. "Sorry about that." The officer shook his head.
"It's not a problem, sir." He was tense, Emerald could tell that much. He didn't seem any more comfortable than his subordinates. "They're trained to stand firm against things like this." From his voice it was easy to tell he was straining to sound level. His posture changed slightly to some revelation he must have had. "Follow me, Miss Fall wishes to speak with you."
As they walked out of the warehouse and to a small office building, they passed by several pier workers carrying crates around. At least, to the untrained eye they were pier workers. Kaneki and Emerald however, noticed one who was chatting idly with others had left a short, brown fluffy tail untucked.
The officer noticed as well. "Hey! Tuck your tail in!" The faunus turned his head towards them, most likely about to insult them until seeing who had addressed him, and who accompanied him. Word audibly died in his throat, as he and his colleagues continued to stare at the ghoul.
"What's causing them to stare?" Emerald queried, throwing a navy-blue wallet into the air which Kaneki swiftly snatched. The ghoul handed the stunned officer his wallet back, who trembled at the close proximity.
"Uhh..." He mumbled something under his breath. Kaneki interrupted him, assuring him he didn't mind whatever he said. "Well, sir...something about you is just...terrifying." He finished lamely. "I'm just sensing something, and it's making me nervous. I can't even describe it as anything other than fear-inducing." Kaneki stayed silent for a moment, processing this information.
"Thank you for sharing." The ghoul finally said. "I'm not going to be able to do much about it however. So please bear with it."
"No problem, sir." The officer said, seeming a little less tense.
"You're late." Cinder informed the ghoul and the thief, who kicked at the ground beneath them. They currently stood in a meeting room, with several chairs and a large table. "I'm very busy this week, so my tolerance for your unpunctuality is low."
"It's my fault." Kaneki spoke up. "I'll take responsibility." Cinder watched him briefly, before letting out an exasperated sigh.
"That doesn't matter right now, what matters is why you're here." She said. "Take a seat." The ghoul ended up on a leather chair, spinning lazily. Emerald decided to follow his lead. "Well then, let's get started. I believe we should start with more important questions."
"Ask away." Kaneki prompted.
"Why did you follow Emerald out of the the Lamp Light Forest?" Emerald stopped spinning in her chair, and began to stare at the white haired man.
"So that's what that forest was called." Kaneki murmured. "Well then, I should start from why I was in there in the first place." Cinder leaned forward. "I have no clue."
"You don't know?" Cinder raised an eyebrow. Kaneki shook his head.
"I remember thinking that I wanted to rest. Next thing I know, I'm lying down on dirt, surrounded by trees and a starry sky. And next to me sat that leather satchel with a note on it." Kaneki takes a second to look out a nearby window. "With no knowledge as to how I got there, I started to wander in one direction. I start making a few plans in case I come across anything hostile, and my thoughts started wondering towards 'what do I do if I come across somebody?'"
My first idea was to just eat them. Get a bit of strength up." Emerald became slightly more wary. "However, I figured that doing so would just make finding civilisation harder, as soon as I finished thinking that, I bump in Emi, here." The thief relaxes, before giving the ghoul a pointed look.
"Emi?" She didn't look impressed with the nickname. Kaneki shrugged.
"That explains that." Cinder hummed. "And the next question: Why are you still working with me?"
"Care to elaborate?" Kaneki asks.
"You're English is excellent, not considering you only started learning over a month ago. I know of few people who have learnt the language as quickly as you have. Then there's your strength, intelligence, agility, you could make quite the name for yourself as a huntsman." Cinder conjured a small flame, letting it dance across her hand. "So why stay with us?" She said, gesturing to herself and the thief.
"The tutors are the ones to thank for my fast learning, I only really deserve credit for grasping their lessons." Kaneki stopped spinning, becoming bored with it. "As to why I stay, well...hunters are protectors of the people. I'm not wrong in saying this, am I?"
"Not at all."
"I am not a protector of the people. I protect my friends, the other reason I don't leave, not the people. In fact, I eat the people. I need to do so to live. That makes me a threat to the people, and therefore an enemy." Kaneki elicited a pop from his middle finger using his thumb. "Then there's you guys."
"Hmm?" Cinder raised an eyebrow again.
"Emerald here was really lucky she bumped into me at that moment." Kaneki states. "Had she been around ten seconds earlier, she would be dead." The thief's eyes widened. "However, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't know Mercury or you, my tutors and Roman, who I do in fact regret knowing." The pyro smirked. "I consider her a friend, as I do Mercury. Since they trust you, I'll help."
Cinder stopped extinguished the flame, her eyes narrowing. "And me?"
"Again, I'll help because they trust you enough to give up their lives for whatever your plan is." Kaneki said, before leaning forward on the table. "However, should anything happen to them, and it turns out to be your fault, you will regret it." His features were blank, were anybody else to walk in at that moment they would have never guessed the threat he had just announced. Cinder didn't seem happy about, and neither did Emerald.
"Kaneki! You can't just-" The pyro cut off the thief, holding up a hand to silence her.
"If anything happens to you, as a friend ha can do what he feels is right." Cinder tells Emerald. "you're not expendable, as shall be treated as such." The green-haired girl went silent. "Now," The pyro turned back to Kaneki. "There are some other things I need to know. Things that you won't be able to tell me in enough detail. Which Is why I brought this." Cinder put on a simple black glove and pulled out a metal box. Opening the box revealed a light pink crystal.
"What is it?" Kaneki enquired, eyes squinted at the object.
"Memory dust crystal." Cinder informed. "Camera companies use the processed version to allow phones and cameras to record in high definition, while law enforcement uses these crystals as a way of seeing what suspects had done in the week or days during a crime, but only within that time frame. The reason they can only check that time frame is because their budget doesn't allow them to use pure dust, so their stuck with the ones with all the imperfections. Pure crystals can last up to half a decade."
Kaneki focused back on Cinder "And that's a pure crystal?" The ghoul asked.
"Indeed." Cinder confirmed. "They work on touch. As soon as someone touches it, the memories of the person are imprinted, allowing anybody who touches it next to view the memories at their leisure."
"And you want me to touch it." Kaneki guessed. Cinder took the crystal in her gloved hand and extended it in front of the ghoul. "It all started around two years ago." He said. "I hope you're ready."
"There's only one way to find out." Cinder replied. The ghoul eyed the crystal for a few moments before allowing a finger to rest on it. The dust quickly start glowing, brighter and brighter, leaving pink light illuminating the surface of the table. Emerald leaned forward, but Kaneki stopped her.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." He said. "For you're own sake." The thief looked up at Cinder, who nodded and gestured for her to leave. She complied reluctantly leaving the room empty but for two individuals. "Now I should warn you: You are not going to enjoy this."
A/N: I've been re-reading all my other prepared chapters. And I realised I really need to rewrite a lot of them. I should easily get the next chapter rewritten easily though, so expect that.
If you haven't realised at this point, something I'm to blame for in that case, this is set after the end of the Tokyo Ghoul manga. So that's for all you asking about that.
Oh, and one last thing. Next chapter will define where we are episode-wise in RWBY.
Man, I need to find a cover soon. Well, see you next week.