A/N. This is a spoilers to those who hasn't read up until TG RE chapter 129 yet so proceed at your own risk.
Do play the videos I've inserted into the one shots. For best results, use a laptop to read this one shot :)
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The king, aka 'Ken Kaneki', was reading some papers and it just came so suddenly. Touka blurts out the secret that she has been hiding from him for a month now. "I'm pregnant."
The papers dropped to the floor and the king stared with wide eyes at Touka, who was sitting on the bed. "What?" It came out as a whisper. He couldn't believe his ears. He just needed her to say it once more to confirm.
"I'm pregnant." She repeated, once more in a louder and clearer voice.
His body shook and he moved to sit down beside her on the bed. "H-how long? Have you checked?"
"A month now. I checked with a pregnancy test. It was positive."
He looked down at his lap. "I'm sorry. I don't... I don't know whether I'm supposed to feel happy or scared. I've always wanted a family of my own but we are in the middle of a war and I don't think this is going to work. Furthermore, we are having a shortage of food and the CCG are everywhere—"
Touka cupped his cheeks and forced him to look at her. "We will make this work. I promise." She then smiled.
--
Kaneki felt scared at first. It is very hard for a child between a human and ghoul to survive and Touka's body might mistake the child as food and digest it. But as he watched Touka's belly grow bigger as the months past with Hinami and everyone's help, and both she and the child are healthy, he's starting to think that it would be alright.
--
"I'm back." Kaneki declared as he entered the room, removing his coat and hanging it onto the chair. He felt exhausted but all of his fatigue faded away as he saw Touka sitting on the bed, her hands on her belly and smiling at him.
"Welcome back."
He moved to hug her and rested a hand on her belly. "I've been thinking all day but what do you think about the name 'Kou' for our child? Since he's a boy."
"Kou sounds nice."
--
The 9th month...
A wave of pain hit Touka and she was brought to a room specially designed for her to give birth and several ghouls who were experts in childbirth surrounded her. Only kaneki was allowed inside and he settled down onto a chair beside her bed. He held her hand and smiled at her. "It's going to be alright. We'll finally get to see our son, Touka."
She nodded. The ghoul midwives told her to push and ten hours into the birth with Kaneki by her side, Kou finally came out. "You did well, Touka-chan!" Kaneki said as he kissed her sweat-filled forehead and a big grin showed on his face.
Touka panted and smiled. Her head then turned to the midwives. "Can we see him?"
The midwives whispered amongst themselves.
She frowned. "What's wrong?"
One of them who was holding the child in a towel stood out. "There seems to be a problem. He isn't crying no matter what we do. And..." she seemed hesitant to continue. "He isn't breathing."
Touka's heart stopped for a moment. She struggled to get up and Kaneki quickly helped her up. "Could we see him?"
The midwife passed the child to Touka and she looked down at him. "Come on, Kou. You can do this. Mama and Papa are here. You need to breathe, you need to cry. Kou!"
"If he doesn't cry or breathe in the next minute, he's considered dead." The midwives said amongst themselves and Touka pretended not to hear them.
"Come on, Kou! Breathe! Cry! Please... Something! Anything!" Touka's tears fell down her cheeks. She looked up at her husband and pulled on his sleeve. "Ken, what should I do?! He's not crying or breathing!!"
Kaneki tried to tell her the truth, that their child is no longer... "Touka, he's already dead..."
She shook her head, adamant. "No he's not dead! How could you? Don't you have faith in our child?!"
The king balled his hands into fists. He also didn't want to believe that his son was dead but a minute has already passed and he still wasn't breathing. Kou was gone. He needed to be firm. "He's dead, Touka."
Hugging Kou to her chest, more tears fell down. "No! He's not... He's not dead! I'm his mother, I know! I carried him for 9 months!"
"TOUKA!"
She flinched at his loud voice and a tear dropped onto the blanket that was on her lap. Looking up, her husband towered over her and was crying. Seeing him cry, the reality finally sunk into her and she wept. The midwives broke the news to Hinami and the rest and they cried.
A week has passed since they held a funeral and cremated Kou. Touka refused to leave her room, refused to eat or drink and spent her days crying over Kou. At the rate that she's going, Kaneki is worried that she'll do something silly, so on the days when he's busy and not able to stay with her, he has instructed at least one person to be outside the room to make sure she doesn't attempt anything reckless.
Kaneki is the king. The hope of all the ghouls in this messed world of theirs. That is why he must not let this matter affect him or else it would be obvious to his followers. But Hinami, Tsukiyama, Nishiki can tell, that the death of his son was affecting him badly, from his eye bags and bloodshot eyes, that he cried countless times and isn't able to sleep well at night. It was to be expected, after a loved one's death, no one, not even Kaneki can feel nothing about it. But they don't say anything, not wanting to make his grief even worse.
--
Hirako walked into the room where the rest were having a meeting and asked whether they have seen his quinque. They all shook their heads, with not an idea where it went when suddenly Hinami barged into the room. "Onii-chan! Onee-chan is..!"
Kaneki abandoned the meeting and charged out of the room and into their shared bedroom. On the floor laid Touka, in a pool of her own blood. He quickly took her in his arms and his eyes widened as he saw the very exact quinque that Hirako was talking about, stabbed into her chest. The rest of the people who were at the meeting quickly followed Kaneki and didn't enter the room as they saw the situation before them.
Touka slowly opened her eyes and moved one hand to cup her husband's cheek, which was wet with his tears. "Ken...I'm sorry... I can't keep my promise to stay with you... I'm going to see Kou and say sorry to him..."
"No! Touka stay with me..!—"
Her hand dropped to the floor and Kaneki held her body close to his. His tears wouldn't stop dropping. First, he lost his son. Now, his lover.
No matter how much time has passed, he could never get used to the empty space that his wife used to lay on and the coldness of the bed.
--
5 months later...
Furuta stroke a deal with Kaneki that if the ghouls were to win the CCG in a war, they will pull back and stopped killing ghouls. Ghouls will then be allowed to walk outside freely. But if the CCG wins, they will openly murder the ghouls in front of the civilians and no one can stop them. It was a deal with high stakes but Kaneki accepted, fully knowing the high risk that came with the deal. Goat then prepared for war and the time finally came.
The ghouls versus the CCG.
Kaneki would fight the head of the CCG, Furuta by himself while everyone else fought the other CCG investigators. The war went on for a full day and finally, Goat won and the ghouls celebrated by chanting Goat, Goat, Goat, Goat.
Meanwhile, at Kaneki and Furuta...
The two hit each other with their final move and both collapsed onto the ground. Furuta coughed out blood. "I underestimated you, Ken Kaneki. You win. I'll keep my promise. I have already written a will that after my death, the CCG will be demolished and ghouls are not to be killed anymore."
There was a pause.
"You know, when you were Sasaki Haise, it wasn't so bad working with you. You were a great partner. I'll be going off first now. I hope to meet you again in my next life."
Furuta closed his eyes.
"Thank you." Hearing Furuta's speech made Kaneki tear up a little. He too, loved having Furuta as a partner.
Kaneki struggled but managed to lay on his back. His body couldn't regenerate anymore. Several organs were also destroyed. Coughing out blood, he knew he didn't have much time left. Memories flowed back into him; him liking Rize, him turning into a half-ghoul, Anteiku taking him in, Touka purposely teaching him the wrong way to make coffee, the incident with Tsukiyama, Hinami and Jason, him going off alone claiming to protect everyone, him killed by the hands of Arima, life of a CCG investigator, regaining his memories, meeting Touka and everyone again, his first time with Touka and seeing Touka give birth to Kou. "It's finally over... wait for me, I'm coming to see you, Touka, Kou..."
With that, Ken Kaneki passed away, leaving behind his friends and a better world for the ghouls.
THE END.
--
You guys can kill me now for killing Kaneki, Touka and Kou. I'm ready. I actually do have an alternate ending but I don't like it as much as the original ending cuz I planned for this one shot to be a tragedy already. If you still want to read the alternate ending, read below.
-ALTERNATE ENDING-
REWIND BACK TO AFTER KOU'S DEATH...
A week has passed since they held a funeral and cremated Kou. Touka refused to leave her room, refused to eat or drink and spent her days crying over Kou. At the rate that she's going, Kaneki is worried that she'll do something silly, so on the days when he's busy and not able to stay with her, he has instructed at least one person to be outside the room to make sure she doesn't attempt anything reckless.
Kaneki is the king. The hope of all the ghouls in this messed world of theirs. That is why he must not let this matter affect him or else it would be obvious to his followers. But Hinami, Tsukiyama, Nishiki can tell, that the death of his son was affecting him badly, from his eye bags and bloodshot eyes, that he cried countless times and isn't able to sleep well at night. It was to be expected, after a loved one's death, no one, not even Kaneki can feel nothing about it. But they don't say anything, not wanting to make his grief even worse.
--
Hirako walked into the room where the rest were having a meeting and asked whether they have seen his quinque. They all shook their heads, with not an idea where it went.
After a long day of endless meetings, Kaneki retired back to his room and upon opening the door, he saw Touka with Hirako's quinque in her hands. It looked like she was going to kill herself. With lightning reflexes, he used his Kagune to knock the quinque out of her hands and pinned her to the floor by her wrists. "Why would you kill yourself?!"
He knew the answer to his own question but he asked it because it would make Touka feel better if she said everything out. Ever since Kou's death, Touka never spoke to him about Kou or her feelings and he's been really worried. Tears clouded her vision. "I wanted to go see Kou and apologize to him. He died because of me. Because I gave birth to him. If I had aborted him when I found out I was pregnant, he wouldn't have had to die!"
"Aborting him is like not giving him a chance to live at all. You gave him a chance at life, Touka. I'm sure even though he died in the end, he was happy to be born. Just like how I'm happy to be born, because I met you." He smiled, his own tears also dripping down. "Talk to me, Touka. We can and we will get through this. Together."
She pulled him down and buried her face into his chest. She cried and cried and let all of her feelings out and the same went for him.
A few months later...
Furuta stroke a deal with Kaneki that if the ghouls were to win the CCG in a war, they will pull back and stopped killing ghouls. Ghouls will then be allowed to walk outside freely. But if the CCG won, they will openly murder the ghouls in front of the civilians and no one can stop them. It was a deal with high stakes but Kaneki accepted, fully knowing the high risk that came with the deal. Goat then prepared for war and the time finally came.
The ghouls versus the CCG.
Kaneki would fight the head of the CCG, Furuta by himself while everyone else fought the other CCG investigators. The war went on for a full day and finally, Goat won and the ghouls celebrated by chanting Goat, Goat, Goat, Goat.
Meanwhile, at Kaneki and Furuta...
The two hit each other with their final move and both collapsed onto the ground. Furuta coughed out blood. "I underestimated you, Ken Kaneki. You win. I'll keep my promise. I have already written a will that after my death, the CCG will be demolished and ghouls are not to be killed anymore."
There was a pause.
"You know, when you were Sasaki Haise, it wasn't so bad working with you. You were a great partner. I'll be going off first now. I hope to meet you again in my next life."
Furuta closed his eyes.
"Thank you." Hearing Furuta's speech made Kaneki tear up a little. He too, loved having Furuta as a partner.
As he laid there, he looked up to the sky thinking that the centuries-lasting war between humans and ghouls is finally over...
The violet haired female ran along the streets, trying to find her husband and seeing her Kaneki lying on the floor, her heart skipped a beat. She already lost Kou, she can't lose Kaneki as well. Running over to him, she was relieved to see that he is already regenerating. Holding him in her arms, her eyes secreted tears. "It's finally over, isn't it?"
"Yes."
She hugged him tightly and he had to push her back because she was hurting him. "Touka... we can now go built the café you talked about and buy a new house. And when you're ready, I want to try having a child again. What do you say?" He asked, looking up at her expectantly.
Nodding, she kissed him on the lips. "That's a great idea."
A few years later...
The couple is happily married with 3 children.
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Alright, this is officially the end of this one shot. I'm dead... Much feels in this one shot. Typed this entire one shot in one sitting. Guys, guess how much time I spent on this one shot? Hehe.
Just being curious, but for angst/tragedy one shots, do you guys want me to warn at the top to read this at home/at your own risk or do you guys want me to keep quiet about it being an angst/tragedy?
Because I feel that if I warned you guys about it being a tragedy, it would spoil the entire plot already and the "surprise". But then if I don't warn and you guys end up crying outside, it might cause inconveniences to you all. So what do you think? Should I put a warning at the start of the story or not put a warning?