Trails of intertwined stars: Chapter 6

-51: Settling in-

Zero closed the heavy bedroom door behind him, sliding down against it. He grimaced, looking up of the portrait of Hikari and that young boy. That boy was him, yet he'd had no clue of it at all. He shook his head, resting it on his knees with an exhausted sigh. He felt slightly saddened by it, and he wasn't entirely sure why. A few moments later, there was a soft knock on his door.
"Young master?" The gentle voice was hushed, relaxing, like that of a caretaker's," I apologize for my careless words...I truly did not mean to downplay how distressing this must be for you."
It was Joshua. Zero was slightly convinced that perhaps, just as he shared a soul, these people in Hikari's domain shared a soul with others from her world. Joshua and Sebastian, Valec and Satan, Ifrit and Asmo; the list was endless. Zero glanced over at the door.
"Please, if you'll let me in..." Joshua practically insisted.
Zero gritted his teeth together, groaning as he pushed his back further into the wall.
"I just-...need a minute...okay? Just let me be alone."
Zero heard a muffled sigh from beyond the heavy, wooden door.
"I understand, Master. We've alerted the servants that you'll require a human meal, so please return to the dining room whenever you're ready. And...I truly am sorry."
Zero listened as the vampire turned away, his footsteps echoing down the barren hallway.

After a few moments of pitifully sitting on the floor, and grieving for reasons unknown to the entity aside from sheer boredom and selfishness; he felt hunger tug at his mind. Zero had gotten quickly bored at watching the thawing ice nip at the window, and the spider's web shine in the moonlight out in the garden. Not to mention the boredom of counting how many times his heart had beaten, which was 978, hunger was the only thing that seemed to snuff him out.
"I may as well..." Zero sighed, pulling himself up onto his feet.

Neil and Philip were waiting for him in the dining room, hardly as bothered by the situation as Zero had been.
"Huh," Neil frowned, glancing up at the entity, his eyebrow raised," Didn't think you'd still be here. Guess you're braver than I thought. Or maybe you're just hungry."
Philip pouted," Come on, Neil. Play nice!"
Philip turned to the entity, looking sheepish.
"Sorry about the misunderstanding with your food earlier..."
Zero grimaced, his stomach twisting at the thought of downing such a drink.
"Yeah... about that," Zero frowned," You say I'm related to the Mother, but clearly I'm no vampire. So, it's all pretty hard to believe."
Neil tilted his head," See for yourself then."
The vampire pulled out a small knife from his pocket, slicing a line through his palm, in the same cutting position as Hikari had used on her palm to transport herself and Zero. The cut healed quickly, only spilling a small drop of blood, that Neil swiftly licked off onto his tongue before it stained the floor. Neil smirked, haughtily, flashing two distinct sharp teeth.
"Well," Zero deadpanned," That's pretty hard to refute. But I can't do that."
Joshua came in with a tray, the other two butlers straightened up quickly.
"As I mentioned, the confusion was simply a little lie. We assumed it was true due to you being the Mother's descendant. Again, my fault for not noticing her mischievous expression. Since most vampires in their first twenty years spend their life just as humans or any other species, we assumed it may be safe to say you are the same. But, it seems we were off the mark and easily fooled by our young jester. Now, please eat your food before it is cold."

Joshua elegantly set the tray down with a flourish. With a snap of movement, Joshua draped the cloth napkin over the entity's chest. Quickly and confidently, he tied it behind Zero's neck, a careful hand pulled the entity's hair out of the way.
"Please, master," Joshua gave a closed eye smile, gesturing towards the bowl," Don't be shy."
Zero pulled the bowl over to himself curiously, peering down, begging there were no stray organs floating about or severed limbs. Zero met the meal with a deadpan. It was extremely childish. It was tomato soup and pasta, though this was no ordinary pasta. It was shaped as letters or animal heads, and they swirled around the liquid miserably and somberly. Joshua seemed to catch Zero's expression, clearly unsure how to improve the entity's enthusiasm towards the food.
"Erm, aha, here," Joshua hummed, taking the spoon off the entity.
Zero watched as the vampire elegantly pushed pieces of pasta around, smiling to himself; he seemed as though he'd done this more times than he could count.
"There, that should be more appealing," Joshua hummed, passing the entity his spoon.
Zero glanced down. The pasta spelt out "Zero, I want to be eaten, hmph!". Zero deadpanned even further, Joshua even more surprised.
"Normally everyone likes that-?"