Moonless: Vengeance Of A Broken Heart | Vampire Knight

X I I

Mizuki and Yuki walked hand in hand down the school's halls, heading to the nearest exit. They were silent, still reflecting on Zero and his vampirism. And although he attacked Yuki, she couldn't help but feel sad for him.

As they walked, Yuki's eyes were on the floor, trying to hide her face from Mizuki.

"Four years..." Yuki thought. "Four years, and I knew nothing about this."

They climbed down the stairs, and suddenly, Mizuki stopped walking. Yuki looked over at her and saw her staring at the bottom of the stairs. Yuki also looked over and noticed her bloody bandage sitting on the landing. This was where the accident happened.

Yuki then let out a whimper as her emotions quickly surfaced. She covered her face as tears spilled from her eyes.

"Yuki," Mizuki said, holding her.

"I'm sorry," the younger girl sobbed. "I just..."

"It's all right," Mizuki soothed her, petting her hair. "Let it out."

"I'm so sad, Mizuki," she cried. "Zero... He had been a vampire all this time, and I never knew. He must have been suffering all this time and trying too hard not to be a vampire and drink our blood, but even then, I never saw the signs."

Mizuki let out a sigh, feeling the same way.

"He must have felt...so alone..." Yuki said, pulling away from Mizuki. She looked up at her, tears in her dark velvet eyes. "He must be so alone."

Mizuki stared down at her for a moment and then nodded her head. "He must be..." She turned away from her and urged her down the stairs, grabbing the bandage to dispose of it. "Tomorrow," she said. "We'll talk to him tomorrow, but you need some rest right now."

Yuki's eyes widened. "Do you mean it?" she asked, shocked that Mizuki even suggested that.

"Do I ever make broken promises to you?" she said, helping Yuki down the rest of the stairs that took them to the second floor. They walked down the quiet halls. Moonlight shone through the large windows, giving off a blueish hue.

"No, but...I thought you were mad at Zero for biting me," she said.

"I should be," Mizuki said, her tone low, almost ashamed that she wasn't. "I should track him down with Hades at the ready to carve him a new asshole. But...I'm not."

"Really?" Yuki asked, stopping to speak with her earnestly.

"Yeah. I feel more sad than mad. I mean, after all these years, why didn't I notice he was a vampire," Mizuki said, letting go of Yuki as she approached the window. She looked out of it and down at the empty courtyard. "He was fighting the urges to drink blood, risking himself to turn into a level E..." She said this quietly, the gravity of the situation hitting her hard. Yuki approached when Mizuki added: "He was hiding this all this time while we never even had a clue."

Yuki nodded, completely agreeing with her.

"He was suffering all this time," Yuki said. Mizuki leaned on the window pane, sighing. "And all that stuff I said about him being lazy and slacking off..."

"Don't." Mizuki stood up straight. "Do not feel guilty for nagging him on that stuff. You had no way of knowing what he was going through."

Her stern advice made Yuki nod, but the guilt remained.

"Come on, let's get to the house," Mizuki said, holding her hand so they could continue walking down the hall.

They walked silently to the next flight of stairs they knew had an exit right next to it. Coming up on it, Mizuki slowed her pace until she came to a halt.