Zero Kiryu x Reader

Part 23

 Zero growls and lunges at Adrian. 

 Adrian stands his ground and doesn't move. He takes Zero on. He doesn't topple over when Zero tries to tackle him. Adrian quickly steps out of the way and lets Zero crash into the wall behind him. Adrian turns around and jumps on top of Zero, raising the knife over him ready to plunge it into Zero's chest.

 I dash over and take hold of Adrian's wrist. He looks back at me and tries to push me away. "Talia, I thought I said to get out of here!"

 I grip his wrist harder and use all my strength to pull him off Zero. He falls back and I go to Zero who is starting to come back to his senses. I crouch next to him and help him sit up. "This is the friend I was telling you about," I say.

 "This monster?!" Adrian gets up and looks at both Zero and me with disgust. "You want to help a monster escape?"

 "He's not a monster," I say. "He's a friend that I'm trying to protect."

 "Yeah right," He says. "You're telling me that you want me to help you escape with something like that?"

I stand up and put myself between Adrian and Zero. "That is someone I care about," I argue. "If you're not going to help me then get out. I don't need someone who isn't useful." It was harsh but we were running out of time. Chances were that Yagari had called in some favors and we would have hunters on us by the end of the day. 

"Wow, you're just going to toss me aside like that? Your friend?" Adrian says.

"You're not my friend, just someone you dumbly latched onto." I snap back. Again, I know it was mean but I couldn't stay here all day going in circles with him. "Look, I'm sorry if I tricked you but Zero and I are in a life-or-death situation. I refuse to stand around and wait for him to die."

Adrian glares back at me with just as much intensity as I do him. If this were any other time I would have entertained his thought of spending an evening together as he wanted. It would have been fun. There was just too much on the line and every minute that went by was another minute wasted. The room is silent before Zero speaks up.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this mess." He says as he forces himself off the floor. "You don't have to help. We can manage on our own. The only thing that I can ask is that you stay quiet about seeing us. I know it's selfish to ask but it would give us the time we need to get ahead on foot."

"I'm not going to just leave you guys." Adrian finally says with an exhale. "I can get you a ride. They have horses up at the school, which judging by your uniform, you already know. There's a back route to get in. Its only use is an emergency exit so it's big enough to fit a stead through. It'll have to wait until nightfall so I can sneak in."

"Thank you," I say. "You don't know how much this means to me."

Adrian's cheeky grin grows on his face again. "Well what can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty girls in need."

I can't help but roll my eyes at his comment and for a brief moment, I can see how much it bothered Zero to hear it. "In any case, we have some time to kill. What do we do until then?" Zero asks.

"Wait out the sun," Adrian says as he turns away to look for a box sturdy enough to sit on. "I have nothing planned for the day and it seems like you guys are some type of fugitive so it weeds out spending a day in the town."

Zero doesn't look happy about spending time with Adrian but he had a point. We couldn't risk letting ourselves get caught. But if Yagari was planning on finding us then he'd do it during the day. Though the town is pretty big and searching the whole town on his own would be a tall order. Reinforcements, if called, wouldn't be here until at least dusk and by then we would be near the school. We should be safe here for the time being. I follow Adrian's example and find a spot on the floor to get comfortable in. "Would you be joining us on our journey to the next town?" I ask as I settle in.

"Don't get others involved if they don't have to (Y/N)." Zero says.

"(Y/N)?" Adrian asks. "I thought you said your name was Talia?"

"You were some random stranger," I say. "There was no way I was trusting you with my real name. If things went as I thought they were, there was no way you'd see me again anyway."

"My, my, aren't you just a hot flame with secrets," Adrian says. "A girl after my own heart. and anyway, about me joining you, I haven't made up my mind quite yet."

"We don't need you to tag along." Zero snaps as he glares at Adrian. "You're just someone that can get a ride for us."

"Well, I'm also someone who knows your whereabouts," Adrian replies, venom in his own words. "I'd tread lightly and hold your tongue if you still want a secure way out of this mess."

"Drop it Zero we need hi-" I start but get cut off.

"No, we don't. We can manage fine on our own." Zero says. "Don't you think it's a little suspicious that he knows about a back entrance to the school that we didn't even know about?"

"Speak for yourself," I reply. "I've only been at the school for a few weeks. You've been there years and you didn't know."

"Whose side are you on?" Zero asks. I can see his anger start to grow.

"No one, I'm just trying to make sure we get out of this alive and safe. At the moment, I don't really care how he knows as long as he can get us out of here." I say.

"It's not that deep," Adrian interjects. "I used to be a student at that academy. I didn't have much of a social life and enjoyed wandering around the campus. It was how I was able to sneak out on the weekends for a getaway from academia life."

"I would have seen you before then" Zero continues to argue.

"Really? Because you seemed more preoccupied with ditching and brooding over people you thought were below you." Adrian says. "The only reason I'm not surprised that you're still a student there is because you're the headmaster's kid."

Zero opens his mouth to say something but closes it and slumps against the wall in defeat. I look back at Adrian and sigh. "I'm sorry about that. Zero might be more secretive than me." I say. "All he's saying comes from a-"

"You don't have to cover for him. I understand." Adrian says. "Though, now I'm leaning towards staying just to annoy him."

I let out a small laugh. "That would make the trip interesting." Zero mutters something under his breath but I ignore it. At this point, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. "But you really don't have to. I'm sure you've got a life here."

Adrian shakes his head. "Not really. The reason why I dropped out was that my grandma passed and she was the one who was raising me. We could barely handle the tuition between the two of us and with her gone, I couldn't stay. I've been working since."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure losing her was a lot." I say.

"It's okay. It happened a year ago and if she saw that I dropped out I'm sure she'd drag me back to the school by my ear." Adrian chuckles.

I join in at the thought of that. A short old woman pulling Adrian up to the school gates was definitely an amusing image. "I think I'm going to try to get some shut-eye before we make an overnight trip," I say after a moment. "Don't kill each other in my sleep please." I meant it as a joke, but as I lay down and take a look between Zero and Adrian before I close my eyes, I wondered if I would wake up to a crime scene.