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Chapter Text

“Kuran,” Zero moaned, slumping down in his chains. His throat ached for blood, and his heart was hammering in his chest. He had no idea where Yuuki was while he was trapped down here in the basement, and at this point, he didn’t care. He stared up at Kuran through his glazed eyes narrowed in an exhausted glare.

He was thirsty, parched for blood, tired and sore from hanging in chains. He wanted to go home, to breathe without the vile scent of vampire clogging up his nose, free of the hunger pangs tearing his stomach apart. Absent-mindedly, he murmured,”I want to go home. Kuran, please.” He had been down here for ages, half mad with bloodlust and exhaustion. He needed rest, to sleep on a warm bed and be plied with sweet food. He needed to shower.

He needed to leave, even if that meant baring his underbelly to a vampire. He was a better hunter alive than dead, and more importantly, he missed home. He missed Headmaster Cross and Master Yagari, and he missed the Yuuki who was once his friend. He knew she was no longer his; not after she chose Kuran over and over again, to the point of self-deteriment. Zero was too tired to deal with any of it for much longer, which is why he only caught half of Kuran’s words.

“...Control you Zero, and it is only through my kind grace that you are able to remain by Yuuki’s side.” 

Blearily, Zero stared up at him, his head lolling to the side. “What? Yeah, Kuran, I agree,” he slurred, blinking slowly. Each slip felt like a microsleep, and though it didn’t help the hunger pangs, it did help him relax a little bit into the cold wall. “I’ll do whatever I need to, just let me out of here. I’m tired.”

Zero slumped against the wall, tired of having to fight the chains to sit upright. There was no point. Whatever games the vampire was playing, Zero was too done to play into it. The girl he loved betrayed him for an enemy, and the man who should have despised him repeatedly fed him blood. Granted, Kuran only did it to prevent Zero from hurting Yuuki, but even so, Zero’s body was so obedient to Kuran. 

Even when Zero had bared his fangs to the Vampire King, his body ached for Kuran’s blood. He was a thing to be pitied in Yuuki’s heart, and a pawn in Kuran’s eyes. By now, he knew that there was no place here for him, not by their side. So, Zero gave up. He slumped against the wall, his head thumping against the bricks. His blinking slowed, until eventually, they simply fell shut. 

Zero could hear Kuran’s footsteps approach him, and he groaned, not willing to have another conversation when he was so exhausted. When the pureblood crouched in front of him, Zero tensed instinctively, cracking his eyes open with irritation. 

“Kuran, what the fuck-” 

Kuran was crouched in front of him, his deadly amber eyes digging into Zero’s. His lips were neutral but tense, as if Zero had gone against expectations. Zero let his head thud back against the wall. Figures. Even when he tried to be obedient, and submissive, and everything he was naturally not, it still didn’t work out.

There really was no end to his misery. 

He sighed, shifting to give Kuran more space when a surprisingly gentle hand cradled the back of his head, sneaking between the wall and his skull. Zero froze, staring at Kuran. His hands dangled, immobile, from the shackles that restrained him to the wall. 

“Kuran?” Zero stammered, confused. Unsurprisingly, there was no response. Kuran continued to stare deep into his eyes, and hypnotized, Zero stared back. Slowly, Kuran leaned in close, and Zero froze, his eyes fixated onto Kuran’s lips.

A shudder went down Zero’s spine when Kuran’s lips met his ear, his face heating into a violent red. “Kuran, what’s going on?” Zero didn’t hear a response, but the hand at his head tightened, dragging him down to Kuran’s neck. It smelled like ambrosia, heady and tantalizing.

Zero craved blood, and at this point, he was too weak to resist. Yet, he did, stubborn to his core. “Kuran, tell me what’s going on.” He demanded through his elongated fangs, thrown off by the other man’s strange behavior. A shiver went down his arms when Kuran whispered into his ear, “Drink.”

His hand tightened around the back of Zero neck, and Zero involuntarily moaned, his mouth turning into a moe as he turned crimson. “Kuran, what the hell is going on with you?” Zero tried to use what little, dwindling energy he had left to lunge at Kuran’s neck, but he was thwarted when the other man leaned into his mouth, his fangs cutting the engorged veins. 

Pure, distilled, powerful blood rushed into Zero’s mouth, and his instincts made him greedily slurp, taking down the ambrosia into his body and mind. He mindlessly rocked his fangs in and out of Kuran’s neck, distantly hearing the other man whimper. Kuran’s pure blood was dripping down Zero’s neck, staining his white uniform shirt, but Zero didn’t notice. He was too lost in Kuran’s blood, in his scent and his taste.

Even as Zero’s body slowly rebooted back to life, his fangs clung onto the pureblood’s neck until the other man had to pry Zero off his body. Zero gasped as he was wretched from Kuran’s neck, dismayed as a spray of blood splattered against the ground from the violent removal. Trembling, he stared up at Kuran, who was slowly climbing to his feet.

When their eyes met, Zero thought he saw a hint of some intense emotion flash through Kuran’s eyes, though it was quickly pushed back. Numbly, he watched the other vampire gently push his fingers against the weeping wound in his neck, watching as he licked his own blood off his fingers.

Zero stared dumbly as Kuran’s eyes fluttered shut before they refocused on him again. “You are always so obedient, even when you flash those worthless fangs at me,” Kuran whispered, reaching over to unclasp Zero’s wrists. 

Even with the blood, they fell into his lap numbly and without grace, not that Zero realized it. He was too busy staring at Kuran, confused. Trying to sound irritated, but mostly sounding lost, he asked, “What game are you playing now, Kuran?” It didn’t even sound angry, even though that’s what Zero had wanted it to sound like. It sounded soft, like he was lost and scared.

Kuran appeared not to have noticed, his eyes latched onto Zero’s. He took a step back, but he didn’t turn away. Instead, he ordered, “Go home, Zero. Give my regards to Kaien and Yagari.” Zero watched as the vampire turned and walked out the door, the only source of light in the dim, sickly blue room. 

The runes around Zero pulsed as the vampire walked away, and even though Zero was free from the shackles and the spells, he felt more captured than ever. He lurched to his feet, swaying in exhaustion as he used the walls to guide him out of the cell. Even with Kuran’s blood, he was weak, and he limped down into the brightly lit hallway as slowly as he could. 

The bright lights that suddenly flooded his senses burned his eyes, and he winced, bracing his back against the door he had just pulled shut as he attempted to brace his eyes against the light. Small, thin arms wrapped around his torso, and when he peeled his eyes open, Zero saw the top of Yuuki’s hair. He smiled weakly, placing a gentle hand on top of her hair. “Hey, Yuuki. It’s good to see you.”

When she pulled back, he saw her eyes widen in worry as they roamed down his body, lingering at his blood-soaked collar. “Oh, Zero, what happened?” She asked. Zero could hear the worry in her tone, but he didn’t have the energy to respond. Instead, he pet her hair silently, trying to formulate his thoughts into words that people would actually understand. “I want to go home,” he admitted quietly, parting through her hair and stilling his hand at her left ear. He rubbed the soft tissue gently, taking solace in her warmth. 

Zero laughed when Yuuki nodded frantically, trying to brace his tall form against her small body. “Don’t worry Zero, leave it to me.” They both would topple over if he rested his full weight on her, but he did lean a bit. She was a trained, albeit weak, woman. While she could barely handle a Level E vampire, she should be able to handle a vampire hunter mostly holding his own weight.

Even so, their walk down the hallway and out the cold, isolated building was slow and tedious, and by the time they had reached the lawn out in front of the building, Zero was tired, cranky, and craving real, genuine food; warm and salted and perfect. Distantly, Zero realized that he was craving Kaien’s cooking, and he winced. He missed his adoptive father, but he didn’t have any expectations from the Headmaster.

Even though Zero didn’t have intentions to, he always caused chaos wherever he went, and he knew he was more trouble than he was worth. First with him attacking Yuuki, and then with him getting his brother killed by a reincarnated or possessed or whatever-the-fuck Shizuki. Even though he didn’t like it, Zero understood why Kuran had shackled and imprisoned him. By that matter, he understood, and even supported, why Master Yagari had tried to kill him. It was better to die at the hands of a loved one than to live with their lifeblood dripping from his hands.

 Zero was so lost in his maudlin, morbid thoughts that he didn’t realize when Yuuki came into a sudden halt until he stumbled right into her. They both would have gone sprawling to the ground had a strong hand not braced Yuuki back. Zero looked up, and he couldn’t help the pleased smile that cracked across his face. 

“Headmaster!” Yuuki exclaimed, letting go of Zero to rush into her adoptive father’s arms. Kaien picked her up and twirled her around, and Zero watched them even as a heavy hand settled across his shoulders. Unconsciously, he leaned into his master’s hand, trusting the strong hunter not to let him fall. 

“You reek of vampire roach,” Yagari puffed, his arms securely curling around Zero. Zero grimaced, his mouth twisting violently as he admitted hoarsely, “Kuran fed me his blood. It…it wasn’t voluntary.”

Zero saw how Headmaster Cross immediately tensed, turning towards Zero before Yuuki claimed his attention back. More importantly, Zero felt how his master stiffened, his hand clenching down on his shoulders. Before the older man could speak, Headmaster Cross cheerfully called out. “Let’s start making our way back, it’s been a long night and we all need to rest.” 

Zero blinked, lost. He hadn’t even realized that they were right at the side of the road, Kaien’s car–sleek and silver and etched with wrapping designs–beckoning to him tenderly. Even so, he hung back as Yagari and Yuuki climbed into the vehicle. “Headmaster Cross, I don’t think this is–” he began to protest.

He was immediately shut up when Kaien grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into his chest. It was odd how solid the Headmaster’s chest was even as his body looked so fragile. Zero lost track of thought as once again, he was tucked against a pulsing neck, but this time, rather than feeling bloodlust or thirst, all Zero felt was comfort and relief. Reluctantly, he slumped into the Headmaster’s embrace. “Hush child.” The Headmaster’s voice rumbled through Zero’s body. “Get in the car, we’ll discuss everything at home.”

The drive was long, but Zero was slumped against the window, distantly listening to the conversation Yuuki was having with Yagari and Cross in the front. He could feel his breathing slow and the darkness between his blinks lasted longer and longer until he stopped listening at all. 

At home, a delicious spread was ready and waiting, the steam wafting as it curled up into the humble ceiling of the modest kitchen. For all that Kaien was a renowned vampire hunter, he was a tender hearted fool who was dangerously down to Earth.

As Zero sat down at the table, Yuuki glanced outside, exclaiming in surprise. “Oh! It’s snowing.” Zero turned, and it really was snowing, soft flakes dancing through the dark night before slowly settling down on the ground. It was cold enough for the water to soften into snowflakes, but the ground was too warm for it to stick. Zero stared at the little would-be snowflake, watching as the soft, white thing melted into the ground and seeped into the dirt.

He felt envious, all of a sudden. He wished he were that piece of snow, drifting and numb and lost before slowly melting down into the ground where he belonged. He was jolted out of his melancholy when Yuuki laid her head on his shoulders, her small arms wrapping around his neck.

It felt strange, now. They used to cuddle like this all the time when they were younger, then Zero began to distance himself from her as he fell in love. After he had fed from her that fateful day, all hope was lost. He was lost. Still, he sunk into her arms, tucking his cheek against her chest. “This is just like our first breakfast together, remember Zero?” She said softly.

Zero chuckled wryly, turning to tuck his face against her. “All that is missing is that piece of vampire shit Kuran.” He jokingly twisted his torso from Yuuki’s vengeful pinch. Zero had missed this so badly, and even now, as his heart and mind panged with some sensation of loss and love, he felt secure, less like drifting snow lost to the winds and more like snow freshly fallen and stuck to the ground.

Kaien and Yagari walked in, and Zero yanked his head up, peering at them intensely. There was something odd about the pair, and it was something that both his vampire and his hunter senses were picking up on. Their heart rates were in sync, and their footsteps were falling in tantamount to each other. As they walked, their knuckles frequently brushed by each other. Just as Zero opened his mouth to say something, Kaien clapped his hands, rushing forward and leaving Yagari behind. 

“My poor darling Zero, you must be starving for food. Let’s get some meat in you.” Kaien Cross carved a huge piece of meat, thick and luscious and steamy, before placing it on Zero’s plate. Yagari pried Yuuki away from Zero’s waist and hustled her into a seat nearby, before piling her plate with bread and corn and vegetables. Her plate resembled a rainbow while Zero’s resembled a slaughtered dragon. 

How apt, that the monster was to devour the meat of the slain, how apt that the monster was Zero himself.

Once Yagari and Kaien settled into their own seats and served their own plates, the tiny kitchen fell silent for a time, besides the clanging of cutlery against the dishes. It was quiet until Yuuki’s cutlery slowed and slowed, until it fell silent, dropping out of the cacophony of the others’ silverware. Zero wouldn’t have noticed, as preoccupied as he was with his own meal, had Yuuki not taken a sudden deep breath before exclaiming, “Kaname offered to turn me into a vampire. I think I might accept.”

Zero’s ears popped from the sudden, ringing, violent silence.

He shattered his beautiful, decorated fork in his hand with his vampiric strength when she meekly continued, “He also proposed, and that, I did accept.” He nearly flew out of his chair to slap her when she turned to Kaien and softly said, “I also think we’re related, Dad.”

It was a damn good thing his neck had the Hunter’s Seal, and that Yuuki was fast enough to activate it despite her inadequacy in all other forms of hunting. Otherwise, a lot more would be dead at the table than just the roasted boar Zero had been chopping on. 

As he slowly fell into a deep, unnatural slumber, Zero couldn’t help but think that he was truly destined to lose everything; even himself. It was not the graceful melting of snow that he craved; rather, it was an ache that reached deeper than the volcanic burning of Avernus itself.

Zero Kiryuu was not meant for peace from the moment he was born, and the world kept proving it, one heartbreak at a time.

Chapter Text

Zero slowly came to the cacophony of angry, tense voices arguing over his head. At first, he wasn’t able to comprehend the words; the voices sounded like a tense hum, buzzing of the lights. 

The headmaster’s voice was the first to pierce into his consciousness. 

“And you thought now was the best time, Yuuki?! Seriously? He was just shackled to the wall by your brother!” 

“He needs to know the truth, Headmaster!”

“I love you Yuuki, but this isn’t the right choice. None of this is the right answer.”

Zero clutched his head as he pulled himself up, heaving with effort. He was laid out on the couch in their living room. As he sat up, soft music from their old, timeless recorder glazed over the room, just barely drowned out by the screaming match from the kitchen.

He reached down and pulled the soft blanket that one of the others must have draped over him, sighing in exhaustion. He had just come home from a prison cell after being assaulted by a pureblood vampire asking him to drink his blood, and this is what he had to deal with.

Yet, even with his exhaustion, Zero blushed, shoving his face into the pools of fabric. The blanket did nothing to lower the heat from his face, but it did give him something to cover his shame because Zero, against all reason, was embarrassed.

Technically, Kaname had assaulted him, forced him to drink his blood even though he had not wanted to, but it wasn’t like Zero could deny him. It wasn’t necessarily because Zero needed the blood to survive, but the way Kaname had wrapped his lithe fingers around Zero’s neck, yanking him back into his neck when Zero had stubbornly turned away that made it impossible to resist the vampire. It was the way he leaned in when Zero was shackled, thirsty, greedy and tired and his scent wafted temptingly into Zero’s face.

Zero’s shame folded in on himself, and he sighed, taking in a deep breath through the fabric. He could smell Kaien’s soothing, paternal scent, Yagari’s masculine, cigarette stench, and his own stale, rosemary cologne. Zero never knew that he smelled like that when he wore it until now, and he didn’t know how he could have picked it up. By all reason, it should have just been Yagari’s and Kaien that he was able to notice.

His scent smelled oddly relaxing, and with each breath he inhaled, Zero’s muscles relaxed just a little bit more. He would have been content to remain here forever, relishing in his own, solitary existence, when the sound of silverware shattering echoed out around the house before being followed by sheer silence. 

Zero would have relished in the resulting silence if it weren’t for the fact that it was tense, and the sudden lack of noise rang loudly in his ears. He didn’t know what happened, but when the salty tang of tears reached him, he immediately stood up, letting the blanket pool down to the floor. 

He grabbed the back of the couch and hoisted himself over it, telling himself that it would be faster to reach the kitchen rather than taking the time to pick his way around it. He knew though, even if he didn’t want to admit it, that he wanted to feel capable after spending his time weak, bound and beholden. 

Even deeper in his mind, so deep that it resonated with his consciousness, Zero knew that he just wanted to be proud of himself and his abilities again, in a way that he was no longer capable of as a Level D vampire and a vampire hunter.

He was damned if he embraced the hunters, and damned if he embraced the vampires. Shaking his head, Zero trailed his way back into the kitchen, hoping that it wouldn’t get any worse than what it already was. 

He wasn’t sure if he could keep up with all this for much longer; he was just so tired. 

Zero’s soft footsteps went unnoticed by the two people in the kitchen. Yuuki was glaring at Kaien, tears trailing down her soft, supple cheeks. Kaien was glaring at her, but not the playful glare he normally used on Zero and Yuuki.

This was the Head of the Hunters’ Association, Kaien Cross, not Headmaster Cross, guardian to Yuuki and Zero. Zero instinctively recoiled, already knowing that whatever had happened, and whatever was going to happen, it would have life-long consequences for them all. This was compounded by the fact that Yagari was no longer in the room. Zero doubted he was even in the house, at all. His scent had gone slightly stale, and Zero couldn’t sense any movement that was not him, Yuuki, or Kaien.

Either his hunter capabilities were going stronger, or his vampire side was beginning to dominate, Zero realized faintly, for him to be able to pick out scents and movements like that. He roughly tousled his hair, shaking it out before darting glances around the room. 

The shattering sound appeared to have come from Yuuki, who had grabbed Zero’s plate of food and launched it at Kaien Cross. Even when he wasn’t in the room, Zero was still getting punished. Unbelievable, and he hadn’t even done anything this time. He hadn’t even been here, and yet it was his food, on his plate that was thrown. 

At least Yuuki had the sense to scrape his food off onto her own plate, by the looks of the rare meat spilling rouge liquid onto her discarded food. Absently, Zero wondered where she got the wherewithal to do so if her rage was strong enough to cause her to fling plates.  

 Zero sighed, aggressively scrubbing his face with his hands before delicately picking his way to the shattered glass. He grabbed a plastic bag as he went, kneeling down and delicately beginning to collect it. 

He could feel the heat of anger behind him, so he said, calmly, “I don’t know what the conversation was about, and I don’t want to know.” Without looking up or stopping from his task, he continued, “But Yuuki, keep in mind that Kaien Cross is our Guardian, not Kaname Kuran.” 

He cast a look around at the floor, satisfied. All the pieces were picked up, and the floor was tidy once again. Satisfied, he rose to his feet, finally meeting Yuuki’s defiant eyes. “His words are the words we obey, not some reckless pureblood’s.”

He turned away, decisively tying together the bag with firm, strong flicks of his fingers before discarding it away into the trash. He could sense Yuuki watching him with beady, glazed eyes swimming with affronted tears. “How can you say that, Zero? I love Kaname, he’s my fiancé!”

“No, he’s your brother, you just said it yourself. I heard it from the living room,” Zero softly corrected. “And Headmaster Cross and I don’t even know how that happened because you didn’t tell us. I only believe you because you both look so uncannily alike. You’re saying that you are related to a pureblood vampire, Yuuki. This has implications, without us even addressing whether this is true, and if it is, why Kaname chose now to tell you. Haven’t you thought about that?”

Zero walked to her, gently placing his hand on her tiny shoulders as he stared straight into her eyes. He was trying to make a point, to prove how incredibly convoluted this whole situation was, even if he barely understood what was going on now. Not that it was so surprising. Zero rarely understood what was going on in his own life, anymore. 

Life with Yuuki and Kaname felt more like he was waddling through a curdling, poisonous swamp than spending time with the person he loved and the person she loved. It was all so very convoluted, Zero was beginning to wonder why he didn’t just leave it all behind and stop.

If only he knew what to stop. Stop breathing, most likely. It was the one wish closest to his heart. That Zero could stop breathing, and return down to the dirt to be with his parents and brother. 

At the very least, Kaien Cross hadn’t intervened yet between him and Yuuki,  so he must have agreed with some of what Zero was saying. Either that, or, he didn’t find a need to intervene, which was just as well with Zero. 

He barely had anyone’s approval these days, so just staying out of his way was just as acceptable as them coddling him for his choices. He kept staring at Yuuki, visibly watching her get more and more enraged until she erupted, right at him. 

Zero didn’t have the energy to even pretend to be taken aback. It was Kaname, and when pitted against Zero, Yuuki would always take the pureblood’s side.

Hells, she would happily drive a stake through Zero’s heart if Kaname asked, and she would do it with a smile. Yuuki proved his point when she opened her mouth to yell at him. 

“What do you know anyway, stupid Zero? You hate all vampires, even yourself! Why do you expect me to listen to you when all the senses in your head tell you to put a bullet to your brain?”

Zero pulled back immediately, stung. Her words picked at wounds he held close to his chest, and he had confided in her looking for support, at the very least. To have his own fears slashed back at his face hurt deeper than he had thought, though he wondered why he was hurt. She was always so happy to be a pawn for that dastardly King. Compared to Kaname, it was obvious that Yuuki saw Zero as someone less than human.

She likely saw him as someone less than a beast, even. He realized this, and he distantly knew that she wasn’t the person he had thought she was; she wasn’t his little princess from their lonely, locked childhood anymore.

Even so, it still didn’t matter. Zero didn’t have anywhere else to go, really. He might as well stay put. It wasn’t like he would die from it.

That was why Zero merely sighed and shook his head, dragging a hand through his hair. “This isn’t about me, Yuuki, so don’t talk like it is. This is about the man who raised us.” He nodded to Headmaster Cross. “And the man who keeps lying to us. Why would Kaname tell you this now, rather than when we were children? And for that matter, why would you want to be with him if he is your brother?” 

“Because that is what beasts do, Zero!” She retorted back. “And you should know better than anyone because you act more like one yours-”

“That is enough!” Kaien Cross snapped, louder than he had ever spoken to his children. Zero reared back, surprised. His wide, amethyst eyes tracked Kaien Cross as he stormed forward, towering over Yuuki Cross. His hands were clenched into fists, so tight the skin was white and taut over his knuckles. When he spoke, Zero could hear the rumbles through his chest as palpable vibrations throughout the air.“You have no right to speak to Zero after all he has done for you, after all he has been through. Speak kindly, or don’t speak at all.”

Yuuki stared at him, the anger in her eyes pooling into disbelief and rage. More tears spilled out, and Zero’s heart panged in his chest, against his best wishes. This happened every time Kaname was brought into discussion, simply because of how narrow-eyed and blinded Yuuki got in the mere mention of his presence.

Not that Zero particularly cared, anymore. Compared to Kaname, he felt washed out and hollowed. A tainted vampire hunter, an incapable, insolent vampire, and a failure to all. Yuuki wasn’t completely wrong; he could understand the beasts simply because he was half-beast, half-devil himself, with the tainted blood of both. Both parties found him a traitor, and he found both sides lack-luster.

All things considered, Zero really might have lived for far too long. That bullet was looking more and more tempting by the second, but Zero only sighed. He had been doing that a lot recently, but just felt so tired. Everything kept demanding more from him, and even as a half-vampire-half-hunter-full-abomination, he wasn’t able to keep up. 

Maybe that was why he gently placed a hand on Kaien’s shoulder to pull him off, or maybe that was why he took a deep breath and said, “You’re right Yuuki. I should know better than anyone on what a horrible idea this is. Look at what I have been turned into, based on their shitty whims and games. But that’s besides the point.” 

Zero gestured between Kaien Cross and himself. “The Head Hunter of the Association wasn’t able to identify you as a pureblood Heiress, and he’s the guardian who raised you for all these years. As far as this is concerned, that settles it. We act on Kaien’s words, or we don’t act at all.” 

“And what makes you the Headmaster’s loyal lapdog Zero?” Yuuki replied waspishly. “I thought he annoyed you to the point where you would rather have my mark on your neck than deal with his affection.”

“I wanted your mark on my neck because I was in love with you, Yuuki, and I wanted your essence to be etched onto my body,” Zero said calmly. His emotions were blunted, though, his words sounding empty. Kaname’s promising presence made Yuuki into a well-honed weapon that was always wielded against Zero, especially now that she thought she had a chance with the man she loved. 

It always hurt, watching the one he loved leaving him for another over and over again. However, even as she was being abrasive now, it didn’t register in his head. He was used to it, and he was fed up of yielding to her even when she continuously discarded him. He didn’t have the strength or energy anymore.

He was simply too tired, and he wanted to go lay down and rest, preferably for a thousand years. Better yet, it would be better if he ceased to exist. Then, no one would bother him, and he would be free. Zero closed his eyes and tilted his head back, basking in nothingness for just a bit, just enough to ignore Yuuki’s abrasion and Kaien’s uncharacteristic brashness. He basked in it just long enough to begin to forget Kaname’s piercing eyes before dragging himself back to reality. 

She did this, every time. She would tease him, taunt him, then when Kaname came, she would leave him. Yuuki was Zero’s whole book, but he was barely a footnote in her novel about Kaname. It was far better for him to let her go, let everything go, before he disintegrated into nothingness. 

Zero was so tired. All this was pointless and never ending. The day he would get to end would be a day more blissful than anything in his life.

When Zero opened his eyes, he found Yuuki staring at him, surprised. Her hands were curved at her mouth, and they were trembling. “Zero, I-”

Kaien Cross was staring at him from the corner of his eyes, his lips pressed tightly and his face calculating. Even now, he was acting as a Hunter and not their Guardian. 

Zero sighed again, rubbing his face with his hands. “Forget it Yuuki, it’s pointless now. Everything is so pointless.” He pulled his face out of his hands before staring at her intensely. “Headmaster Cross is annoying, yeah. He aggravates me, and I wish I wasn’t so fond of him. But Headmaster Kaien Cross is not Hunter Kaien Cross, the head hunter of the association I was literally raised into.”

He sighed again before continuing, “That is why I listen to the Headmaster, Yuuki. That is why I live here. Where else is a part hunter, part vampire, all abomination supposed to go? Besides hell, of course.” 

“Both of you need to quiet down and let me speak,” Headmaster Cross said quietly. He was intent with his lips pressed thin. His eyes were sharp, sending a shudder down both Zero’s and Yuuki’s spine when his gaze landed on them. His arms were crossed over his chest, and when Kaien looked at Yuuki and Zero, his face was tense and serious. “You both are way out of line, and I should have corrected this years ago, but I didn’t because I thought both of you would grow out of it. Clearly, I was wrong.”

Zero watched as Kaien took off his glasses and gingerly rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. When he donned his glasses back on, his face was just as severe as before. “That is a mistake I will be rectifying now. Yuuki, we are nipping this obsession of yours to Kaname in the bud. You will be accompanying me to Hunter Headquarters tomorrow, and all your questions will be answered then.”

 Kaien didn’t give Yuuki a chance to respond when he turned to Zero. “You will be shifting to the Night Class, effective immediately, to act as their Guardian in a more intimate manner. This will be for your benefit as well as theirs, so don’t bother arguing.” 

Zero’s mouth dropped open in shock. From the corner of his eye, he could see a similar, gobsmacked expression on Yuuki’s face. For all his apathy, he never expected this to happen, and he wasn’t pleased either. 

“Like hell, Headmaster,” he snapped, his apathy vanishing in a flash. “I don’t want to deal with their shit, and I know they don’t want to deal with mine! I was just imprisoned there, why the hell do you think it’s a good idea for me to go back?” 

For the first time today, when Yuuki responded, Zero was actually glad. “Headmaster! If anyone is transferring, it should be me! I should be with Kaname! Besides, Zero might actually kill the vampires rather than work with them!”

Kaien only stared back at Zero levelly, completely stoning Yuuki out. Distantly, Zero realized that Kaien wasn’t kidding about this, about any of this, and for some unknown reason, he was focusing on Zero for whatever his intentions were. 

Still staring at Zero, Kaien Cross calmly asked, “First answer me this one thing, Zero. How did you know I am the Head of the Hunter’s Association?”

Zero stared back, nonplussed. He thought his life would have some semblance of normality after he returned home from his imprisonment; it had certainly seemed so when he had gotten into the car mere hours before. Now he had fainted, dishes were broken, the woman he loved wanted to marry her brother and his father figure was doing something that even the stupidest lunatic wouldn’t do; put a vampire hunter in a room of vampires.

Even the man he answered to, both privately and as a hunter, was questioning him. Zero was feeling more barricaded from reality as time slipped on, and he wasn’t sure if he enjoyed the experience. It was like everyone was holding cards from the same deck, but the gamemaster would change the game and everyone would know except for Zero. 

It made him want to throw in the towel and leave the table permanently. 

“What in the nine hells are you talking about, Headmaster?” Zero slowly asked. “You told us so, when you first started raising us.” 

Zero gestured around the room with his hand, indicating the white, pearlescent kitchen. “It was the breakfast after I had stabbed Kaname Kuran. Yuuki was crying, but you sat me down and told me that even if you were my Head and I was a vampire hunter and a vampire, I would always have…”

 Zero swallowed, his emotions burning his throat like bloodlust. This was much, much worse though. This was affection for the man who had raised him. Quietly, Zero finished, “I would always have a home in your arms, and you would always protect me.” 

Kaien’s face crumpled, and he reached out and yanked Zero into him. Zero didn’t raise his arms and hug back, but he did shove his face into his father figure’s neck, nestling in deep like a nursing pup. Distantly, he could hear the thrum of vital blood gushing through the headmaster’s veins, but that wasn’t what he was seeking.

Zero nestled in deep to inhale all of his father figure’s scent and scorch it to memory, so that no matter how eons passed, this moment, where the man who raised him wrapped his arms around Zero, would be etched into his very being, the very threads that made him exist. Quietly, he mumbled into Kaien’s shoulder, “Headmaster, I don’t understand. You told me that you were an active member, the lead head, of the association during that conversation.”

Zero could feel Yuuki staring at him, but he didn’t turn around. 

He didn’t turn around when she spoke, but he did stiffen. In this moment, her voice felt intrusive into his life, for the first time since the Headmaster had adopted him both. For the first time since they had met, Zero wanted her gone from his life. It only lasted a second though, and by the time his head cleared, Yuuki’s voice was already filtering into his brain. “Zero, what are you talking about? Headmaster never told us that. He told us he was a retired hunter, not an active one.” 

Anger coursed through Zero, but he pursed his lips before tersely replying, his voice muffled by Kaien’s shoulder, “Did it ever occur to you that maybe you weren’t in the room with us when he told me, the active hunter, the son of a renowned hunter family? Why would he tell you that when you were just a lost child drifting through the snow?” 

Yuuki never got a chance to respond because Kaien grabbed Zero by the shoulders and gently pushed him away, his eyes crinkling at the corners with his warm smile but sparking with concern. A nervous feeling shot its way through Zero’s heart, but he stubbornly pushed it back for the moment. 

He could handle whatever was going on. Possibly.

“Yuuki is right, Zero. I don’t know where you heard it from, but you never heard it from me. All I had told you kids was that I was a vampire hunter out of his prime who helped lost souls find their way back.” 

Or maybe he couldn’t. Nothing in Zero’s life was ever easy. Oblivion was truly bliss, and it was starting to seem like one he would never be able to afford.

Zero swallowed once, and again because no sound came out when he tried to speak. “What?” He rasped. “How can that be?” 

Kaien sighed, pulling Zero back into his chest. “I need you to remain calm for me, Zero. What I am about to tell you is something I know you will not like, but I need to say it.” 

Zero’s gasp was muffled in his guardian’s shirt, turning the cloth where his cheek rested into a damp, warm residue of comfort. Again, he nestled deeper into his guardian’s shirt, looking for comfort in a very meek, uncharacteristic manner. He was lost, confused, and he wanted comfort from the only figure left in his life who promised him unconditional love. 

Kaien only smoothed down his white hair, placed a tender kiss, before murmuring softly, “Zero, did anyone ever take you down to the catacombs that exist underneath the Hunter’s Guild?” 

Zero pulled away, peering up at Kaien. The man let him, his eyes just as kind and tender as the day they had been when Zero was brought to his house, his arms, as an orphan. Even so, confusion swam in Zero’s head. Only qualified hunters, the elite of the guild, had access to the catacombs, where information was stored on all hunters that had ever existed, but also all vampires. 

It was one of the reasons why the two factions had such a tumultuous relationship; both sides knew the others gathered information on them, but neither was sure how deep it went. It was part of the reason why only a select few could enter the catacombs for the Hunters’ guild; there was enough information there to drive someone mad, with centuries of ghastly murders, blood feuds, and human sacrifices. 

Any vampire hunter could stumble upon a data bank, consume the information, and either go mad with lust or revenge. Zero had heard of both, though he had seen neither. When he had asked Yagari about it, as indirectly as possible, he was shut down hard with a brutal slap. He never brought it up to his mentor again. 

“I don’t understand, Headmaster,” Zero said slowly. “Are you accusing me of treason?”

Headmaster Cross only stared at him levelly. “What do you think I would do if I was, Zero?” 

Zero stared back, oddly relaxed. This was the same man who had teased him, flaunting his neck to convince Zero to drink. Wildly inappropriate, but yet, so kind for a vampire hunter.

He took in an orphan, alone and grieving, who went from human to hunter to vampire to vampire hunter, and he gave him his love and unconditional acceptance. Zero was certain that he could drag a body right through Kaien Cross’s house and the first things out of Kaien’s mouth would be, “Are you okay?” 

Zero may not appreciate the man’s exuberance, or his jolly mood, but he could appreciate the man who had treated him as a son. No matter what would come next, Zero knew that would not change. However much he hated himself, he could never hate the man who chose to raise him. 

“You wouldn’t do anything, Headmaster,” Zero said softly, but confidently. “You would do nothing at all, and protect me until the day you perished underneath my sins.” 

Zero heard Yuuki gasp horrifically, but his eyes were only on the man he thought of as another father. Kaien had tossed his head back and cackled loudly, his hands braced on his chest and his eyes sparkling with tears of mirth. 

He looked positively deranged. 

Zero had never felt more at ease, nor more at home than in this moment, watching his father figure lose his mind.

It was ecstatically beautiful, and it pulled a haunting smile from Zero’s own lips, before he too began to chuckle softly. 

“How could you say that, Zero?” Yuuki exclaimed, aback. “How could you threaten the Headmaster after all he has done for us?” She jumped in horror when this only caused the two men to howl in deranged glee, and it was obvious she didn’t know where it was coming from.

To be fair, Zero didn’t know either. He could feel his sanity literally spreading thin over his grasp, but it wasn’t like slipping into the blood thirst of a level E. It was like…slipping into the blood thirst and depravity of a vampire hunter, a slayer of the literal night. 

It felt so right, Zero had to reach over and clasp onto his guardian to prevent being bowed over by the madness of elation. It felt like the best sort of insanity Zero had ever tasted on his tongue, and he wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to give it up. 

Zero could distantly feel Yuuki staring frantically between the two men even beyond his discognition, and he could tell that she was feeling the same feeling of isolated helplessness and confusion he had felt ever since he got his parents. It wasn’t enough to jar him out of himself the way her naive confusion used to, but was enough to severely muffle his psychotic and unexpected mirth. 

It seemed as though it was the same for Kaien, because he straightened up, brushed away the tears clinging to his lashes, before smiling beatifically at Zero. Without his control, Zero’s lips lifted up into a smile too, which only stretched into a sharp-fanged grin when Kaien said, “Good, Zero. If you forget all else, never forget that I am unconditionally on your side, and not even the hells can tear me away. You are mine, for all of eternity, and not even the gods can change that. Knowing that, I ask you again, Zero Kiryuu: Have you ever ventured into the catacombs that the Vampire Association has called home?”

Zero stared straight into the Headmaster’s eyes, before confidently replying, “No.” 

Kaien held his gaze for a long, tense moment before his eyes softened into butter. “Zero, you’re lying.”

“I can’t be,” Zero immediately exclaimed, his body becoming rigid. “I have no reason to lie to you, not after everything you have done for me!” 

Kaien only laughed, but this time it was forlorn. It was aching in a way that made Zero’s own chest hurt, and he gasped, pushing a palm against it. “You are a formidable hunter, just like your parents were, Zero.” Kaien said softly. “And Yagari is the best hunter of our generation, second only to me, the Head of the Association.”

He approached Zero, who stood frozen, gapping at the man he considered a guardian and father. He listened intently to Kaien’s words, hoping desperately that they would begin to make sense soon, before he lost what precious silvers of his sanity remained. Kaien continued, “Yagari wouldn’t have taken on any pupil for training, Zero. If he did, he wouldn’t have lost an eye for them. And I wouldn’t have taken on any hunter as a direct adoption. We did both, for you.” 

Kaien placed a hand on Zero’s head, and he stared deep into Zero’s eyes. “You, Zero Kiryuu, are a menace, because you were, in fact, in the catacombs, nestled deep into the archived on Shizuka Hio, content as can be, your eyes a shining crimson and your fangs leaking venom. Yagari found you, trained you, brought you to me, and I raised you.”

He straightened up, ignoring the jarring emotions swirling around in Zero’s head. Zero didn’t have any recollection of this, of going into the catacombs, into the archives for purebloods, an area restricted only to the vampire hunter head, to do his research on Shizuka.

Zero had always thought his plans of vengeance came from his own mind. Numbly, he stared up at Kaien. “Who am I?” He whispered, his voice trembling. “What the hell is all this, why can’t I remember anything about this?”

Kaien only stared back calmly, his face expressionless. “The only reason I know you went down to the archives in the catacombs, Zero, is because I think you smelled it on me, and you have been smelling it on me all this time. You subconsciously knew who you were talking to, and at some point in time, that translated into your conscious state knowing who I am.” 

“That’s impossible,” Yuuki said. “How can you even be sure that is true, Headmaster?”

Kaien stared up at the ceiling, huffing out a sigh. “To be honest with you kids, I’m not sure. This is only because of what you told me, Yuuki.” He turned to stare at the girl, and Zero watched, only distantly processing their conversation. “This is because you told me you were Kaname Kuran’s fiancee and sister, a pureblood heiress to a pureblood faction. Yet, you don’t remember. You are going off of his word.” 

He sighed again. “My guess is that if this is real, then a vampire suppressed your memories, Yuuki, and a Hunter suppressed Zero’s.”

“How is that possible, Kaien?” Zero asked. His body was stiff with uncertainty, and his lips white with how hard he had pursed them. “Vampires, especially purebloods, have the ability to manipulate memories and states of being, but vampire hunters cannot. How can we, we are human before monster.”

Kaien only smiled tenderly. “And that just shows how much you still have left to learn, Zero. Whatever vampires can do, their hunters can do better. However much they are monstrous, we are more so. How else would we be able to keep up with our prey?” 

He looked at Zero head on, his eyes holding a deadly glimmer. A jarring shiver whipped down Zero’s spine, and he stared at the Hunter, entranced. “You are the first of us to have the joys of experiencing both, Zero,” The Headmaster crooned whimsically. It sent a rod of painful discomfort down Zero’s spine as he continued to stare, transfixed. 

He could barely process what he was seeing, his mind a distant hum of incomprehension. He barely knew where he was at the moment, much less who he was, which was a trying question at the best of times.

Yet, he stared, transfixed, at Kaien as the man studied him hungrily. “You likely broke through your enchantments because of your vampire genes, Zero. They activated something in you that no hunter has ever had activated, and it likely turned you into something grander.” The man straightened, his whimsical aura abruptly drawing back into him and settling down.

Kaien quietly admitted, “That is as far as I know, Zero, and it is as far as any Hunter can help you. Whomever you are, you are beyond our reach.” He embraced Zero, and this time, Zero returned it, a haunting sadness beginning to pierce his soul. “Yagari and I have trained you to be the best vampire hunter you can be, Zero, but we cannot train you on how to be a vampire.”

Tenderly, Kaien kissed his forehead, murmuring against it, “And yet, we owe a lot to those genes you call a ‘beast.’” 

He straightened up for the last time, before tying up his beautiful, golden hair and adjusting his glasses. The shine in the glass was eerie, and something fearsome struck Zero’s heart. It doubled when Kaien addressed Yuuki. “My beautiful girl, you have a brain that is either feeding you damnation or salvation, and we need to know what kind before we make any further decisions. As a result, Yuuki, you will come with me to the Vampire Hunter Guild, where I will take you to the catacombs. We will finally find out how far the blood pools in this school.”

Without letting Yuuki talk, Kaien turned to Zero. “And you, my prodigious son, are shredding yourself apart over something you are sure is damning you to the ninth layer of hell. It makes you an abysmal hunter, a starving vampire, and a grieving human all around. I can tolerate the first two, but not the last when it is leading straight to your own demise. As a result, you will be going to the Night Class, where you will learn what the hierarchy really is in this school.”

Immediately, Zero snapped. He was already warring enough with his hunter side trying to subdue his vampire side, and it was killing him. Finding out that the person who wasn’t even a true hunter would get to go to his place of heritage hurt more than he could even bare. He could scarcely breathe through the anger. “You’re taking Yuuki to the place where I should be, to the place that is my birthright and my legacy?”

For once in her life, Yuuki chimed in at just the right moment, and Zero felt so overwhelmingly grateful. “And you’re taking me away from what is my rightful place at Kaname’s side and putting Zero there? They will tear each other apart.”

“Be that as it may,” Kaien said calmly. “This is my decision, and it is final. Though it may seem irrational, it is not, and you will not have the answers now, but you will eventually.” He stared at them both, and Zero was floored at the affection and adoration Kaien held in his eyes.

It did not diminish when it bounced between him and Yuuki, like Zero had thought it would. “It is how I love my children after all,” He said softly. “Now, go pack.” When both Zero and Yuuki opened their mouths to protest some more, Kaien slammed his palms firmly together, creating an explosive sound that silenced both him and Yuuki instantaneously. “That is a command from your father, one that I expect to be carried out promptly. You may share your thoughts later, but you, Zero,” Here, Kaien glared at Zero. “Need to rest in bed before your transfer, and you, Yuuki,” she shriveled underneath his gaze, “Need to be taught how truth and lies work in this world, my dear.”

When neither of them moved, staring at Kaien dumbfoundedly, he chuckled fondly, before waving his hand. “You kids are dismissed.”

Inexplicably, both Zero and Yuuki were suddenly facing the hallway to the kitchen, their backs to the doors. When the turned around and tried to prise it open together, the doors would not budge. Zero turned slightly, staring at Yuuki. “Did you lock the doors behind us?” He asked quietly.

She stared back, her gaze frightened and her posture tense. “Zero, we never even walked out of the kitchen.”