What Zero Brings

Untold Pasts

My dad wasn't dead.

I had family left.

Why didnt he try to contact us?

Try to help us when Mom was drunk and couldn't pay the bills.

I never could understand.

Never would understand.

Maybe forgive and forget....but never understand.

**********************************************************************************************************Your dad's not dead.

I just kept thinking those words over and over again.

I was imagining what he would look like now when I started violently shaking.

"Vi! Get up!" someone screamed. I felt a sharp pain in my cheek and bolted up right. I raised my hand to my now welted cheek and saw Zero leaning over me. Well Tabber leaning over me, I corrected myself.

"What the hell was that!" I yelled back. Tabber instantly smothered me in a hug. I tensed up as I remembered he killed me.

"Omigod Vi! Don't do that to me! You scared me," he said in a rush. I awkwardly started to rub his back to try and calm him down. I murmured soothing thoughts like it's ok and I won't do it again. Finally he started to calm down and I did too. Maybe he didn't mean to kill me. It wasn't the Tabber I knew. The Zero I knew...

He leaned back and hurridly wiped some tears off of his face. He gave a weak smile and lingered there for a moment before standing up and pulling me up with him.

I grabbed a can of dr. Pepper and said, "explain. I want to hear everything."

Tabber let out a sigh and told me ringer comfortable.

"Well first of all you just passed out because you fed for the first time." He glanced at me quickly before returning his gaze to his interlocked fingers. How could the same person who killed me look so handsome?

"Your dad was being hunted for figuring out about the Render when he was still human. His brother was the one who turned him. His brother was the ruler of the Render and couldnt see his brother die. He decided to turn Nick instead of kill him. But when you turn you have to cut all ties with anyone you know. So Nick "died". Well a decade later he has slated his brother to become ruler and wants his one true love to join him. So he sent spies to find out where she lived and what her life is like. It took us about 5 years to get enough data on her to bring her to the Render. That is where I came in. I was supposed to turn her but the spies screwed up. Nick never knew he had a daughter. So instead of completing my mission I decided to follow you." he looked up and met my eyes. His bright blue eyes. He looked shy yet bold. I stared right back and wasn't the first to look away.

"I reported back to Nick and got kicked out of the Render. Now he's coming after you." I took a moment to process all of this and was baffled. This whole time there was a whole other world that no one knew about. Right around the corner but no one kept walking.

"So how do we stop him?" I asked.

Tabber smiled. "I have a plan."