The Midnight Symphony || VK Fanfiction

Chapter 3 - A Forlorn Star

It was a sight that carved itself deeply into his psyche, a burning sensation in his eyes. Yagari-sensei initially didn't want him to read those but his parents insisted, wanting to stomp out his pity. His parents, their usual kindness short where it concerned vampires. Just like their parents before them, they all had a particular perception of what a hunter has to learn early on. 

After that, he saw the outlines of said gruesome sight over and over again in the darkness, repeating like a broken record. Everywhere he'd look, he saw that girl's dislodged eyes, emptily gazing at him. Zero would snuggle deeper against Ichiru, inhaling the familiar scent and shutting his eyes, trying to ignore the staring figure. But sleep wouldn't come to put him out of his misery. Instead, as a result his skin turned a sickly pale. So much so, his teacher would send him to the school nurse to check up on him. 

His school nurse had been a kind woman. Asking him how he was doing and if he needed anything, he could come to her. The gentle allure of simply caring made him feel a warmth that he missed amongst all the training. 

Then she turned out to be a vampire. And his Sensei lost his eye because of him. 

Zero had trusted her and she turned on him. His already bruised heart squeezed in betrayal. After that, he swore to himself that he'll never trust someone again outside of his family and Sensei. Which is why he pulled his brother away when they saw a beautiful vampire wailing under a cherry blossom tree. But even he couldn't predict the tragedy he and Ichiru would become part of. 

He remembers crying. A lot.

Crying when that awful woman bit him, crying when he had to watch his parents being killed in front of him, sliced open like a stuffed pig and their intestines crawling out just like he read in the book and crying when Shizuka Hio touched him. But what he remembers the most is when that mad princess turned to his brother.

Zero still wakes up with his hand reaching out to the thin air, realization dawning upon him that he'd been too late, like always. 

He hadn't known how to live after that. Breathing became a chore for him and for the first few weeks, he wouldn't move an inch out of his bed. The clean smell of the bed sheets only served to remind him even more that his beloved Ichiru, was in fact no longer there. His body ached, yearning for the hugs his mother would occasionally give him and the head petting his father did when he'd learned something new. Zero didn't want to interact with his supposed new 'family', he wanted his old one back. 

He came to the heartbreaking realization that the dead didn't come back and would never do so.

Zero Kiryu, last of his family, thought about how peaceful it would be if he fell asleep and never woke up again. Maybe then he wouldn't have to deal with the grief, sorrow and the sheer agony that awaited him each morning. Only in his dreams could he be with his family, so why not stay there. It was better than the reality. The young child was drowning in his own bottomless pit, seeking for just a little air but finding none. He became an empty shell.

A shell waiting to be filled when he found out that he wasn't completely human anymore. Self-hatred or hatred for the entire vampire race, it didn't make a difference to him. Zero would muster all the strength left in him to shatter the mirror in his new room, despising the sight of someone so similar to his brother. And with the shards of his broken self, he'd cut open the skin that was violated by the murderer of his family. He pushed the shard so deep, he struck an artery. Blood poured down onto the carpet and Zero winced slightly. But not even that could chase the vast emptiness away.

There truly was no purpose for him to live on.

And then, he'd meet the second daughter of the Cross family. At first, he envied her just as he had envied Yuki. Having a sibling and father left is more than Zero could say. Those naive little girls, who knew nothing about the cruel world, caused anger inside him to bloom. The gall of Yuki Cross to say to him that everything will be okay, when it isn't and never will be again. But in truth, he just couldn't bear the fact that someone had a loving family when he didn't anymore.