Vampire Knight: Innocence

Vampire Knight: Convicted Preview

The rain was slamming against the window, causing the glass to quiver as the thunder made the wooden panes tremble. Lightning lit up the dark sky, the stars were hidden by the thick storm clouds. Zero ignored it as he swept away the eraser shavings with his hand.

"Do you think Mom and Dad are safe?"

He looked up, seeing Ichiru staring out the window, facing the storm unafraid as lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating his twin. It was rare evening where it was just the two of them. Zero pushed himself off of the floor and walked to his twin.

"Come away from the window, Ichiru."

Ichiru glanced over his shoulder at his twin. Zero stepped forward and put his hand on his shoulder, feeling his bones through his thin pyjama top. Ichiru had not been feeling all too well as of late, and he hadn't been eating as much as he should. He felt so frail to Zero, and it frustrated him that he couldn't do anything about it.

Ichiru turned back to face the storm, "Zero, I want to become strong."

Zero stared at Ichiru. No one could see how strong Ichiru truly was, fighting his own battles every day inside his own body. Zero wished that the Hunters wouldn't refer to his twin as weak. Zero pulled Ichiru into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Ichiru, you are strong. I believe this. I know this," Zero proclaimed and his voice echoed around him.

Zero opened his eyes, they were no longer in one of their old childhood homes, they were in a cell below Cross Academy and Zero was holding Ichiru close to him. Ichiru had shot him, and both were bleeding out on the hard cold concrete floor. Ichiru's hand was laid upon Bloody Rose, his fingertips just touched the bell that Shizuka Hio wore. The little bell chimed.

"Zero...I miss you, sometimes," Ichiru admitted softly, slowly raising his arms to wrap around Zero. "But we can be one, right?" Zero felt his shoulder ache, his blood was seeping down his cold skin, soaking his shirt while Ichiru smiled, "Sorry, for shooting you, Onii-san."

"Don't be," Zero hugged his twin tighter.

Ichiru chuckled, the sound brushed against Zero's ear and made his hair stand on end, "But a Vampire needs blood, right, Zero? You can have mine...not hers..."

"Hers?" Zero looked past Ichiru. There were no longer in the cell where Zero had eaten his twin. They were in a lounge, much like the one at their last house where his parents were attacked by Shizuka Hio.

Blood had splattered all over the walls, it was dripping from the paintings, seeping down the walls like a waterfall. The furniture was stained red, the rusty smell of blood filled the air with the lingering scent of some home cooking. Kaito, was in the corner, unmoving and staring at Zero with the same kind of hated defeat that Zero had seen once...with his own brother when Kaito and Zero were out in the log cabin and they had found Kaito's brother as a Level E.

"Not hers, Zero," Ichiru repeated again.

And then Zero saw it. She was laying on the floor, her skin was whiter than snow and had no warm blush in her cheeks that Zero had gotten used too. Her eyes that once sparkled with the zest for life that Zero had once held so dear to his heart was slowly fading, dimming as she reached out for him weakly.

She was lying in a pool of blood, it was smeared on the tiled floor as she dug her fingernails into the ground and dragged herself towards Zero. Zero sitting on the corner now, not far from him his twin was laying under the threshold of the room, his eyes hidden by his long hair. Zero felt hot, too hot. Zero lifted his hand to reach for his gun that was beside him, but it had vanished. Zero looked at where his gun had lay but saw his hand, covered in dark red blood. He lifted his hand to his eyes when the girl had reached him.