∆ Clock Strikes Twelve

I was thrown to the ground like a bag of heavy cement. Groaning, I looked up at my kidnapper and frowned in annoyance. He had a long white hair, angry face and a pretty cool uniform. The air was a little too cold for my normal nightwear. I tried to sit up and resist but he had a binding spell casted upon me so I wouldn't be able to run.

'Filth.' He uttered with disgust.

I stared at him in disbelief. You kidnapped me and said "filth"?! Who's the filth right now?

He shoved me down to the ground with his leg on my chest and when I was completely lying down, helpless, he pressed his foot only to result in me screaming in pain. 'Karl Heinz,' he hissed. 'Tell me everything he had done.'

I was confused. 'Who?' I croaked.

He gritted his teeth as he nearly squashed me flat with his heavy boot. 'Karl. Heinz.' He repeated maliciously.

'Who is that?' I queried. 'I know no one of that name.'

'Karl Heinz!' he began yelling, starting to get impatient. 'The creator of Endzeit! He almost destroyed the whole population of First Blood by doing that!'

I shook my head. 'I really have no idea who that is!' I yelled back at him like a madman. But right after, my chest pain returned and I had trouble breathing normally. Gasping for air depicting a near-death fish out of water, I used my hands to try to remove his foot from my chest.

'Please...' I coughed. 'Help me...'

He frowned. 'What, you're resorting to that method to be released?' he chuckled. 'You're so unbelievable.'

Bending down, he removed his leg and grabbed my neck like he meant to break it. But he quickly retracted his hand seconds after with much dismay displayed upon his face.

'Human?'

I stopped breathing and lost it.

-

She felt a hand behind her head and forced her eyes to open. Her instinct told her it wasn't danger but she just had to make sure. There wasn't much light piercing unto her eyes when she did. She saw a blurry figure but surely, with a blonde hair.

'Shuu...?' she queried with difficulty.

She finally could see clearly and she swore she saw Shuu smiling a bit. 'Koyuki.' He spoke.

Koyuki tried to sit up but it was to no avail. She coughed. 'You're not okay right now, aren't you?' Shuu asked softly.

'Better, at least,' I exhaled. 'How did you find me?'

'On the street,' he answered. 'That damned First Blood left you stranded like a bitch.'

'Did you just call me a bitch?' Koyuki chuckled, knowing it wasn't what he meant.

'I called that First Blood a bitch, not you.' He sounded a little annoyed and she laughed.

Her breaths became shorter each time she inhaled and Shuu couldn't do anything except staring at her, probably thinking what he should do. Her hand clutched his chest. 'He asked for Karl Heinz,' she began. 'And I don't know anyone with that name.'

Shuu frowned a little. 'Karl Heinz?' he murmured. 'Why would he ask for him, and especially to you?'

Koyuki shook her head slightly. 'I don't know.'

She coughed a little more. 'He said something about creating... Endzeit, if I'm not mistaken.'

'Stop,' Shuu interrupted. 'Stop talking, you're getting paler.'

He was right and as if on cue, she blacked out again.

-

Shuu watched silently as she was rushed into the hospital on a stretcher. Her disease was reacting actively, trying to kill her. He met her doctor's eyes and they nodded to each other before he turned around and walked away.

-

The nurses were in panic. The new patient that came through the emergency section wasn't breathing and the doctor in charge was taking time. Or perhaps, because they were waiting that it seemed long.

They had set her up in the operation theatre and her heartbeat was recorded and displayed on the machine. After an agonizing wait, the doctor rushed in with raised hands. The nurses put on the gown and the gloves for him. When done, he marched forward and the head nurse explained the situation.

'Kubota's patient, eh...' he muttered and began reviving the girl. Several attempts were taken and she finally coughed, gasping in air desperately. However, the heartbeat machine didn't record any heartbeat patterns.

She was breathing, they were sure of it but it was a straight line as shown on the machine. The head nurse frowned. 'Doctor, this is weird. We clearly can see her breathing.'

'I know,' he sighed. 'Do something. Try changing the machine? Find help.'

The girl opened her eyes, and they met the doctor's surprised ones. 'Help...' she whispered.

He smiled. 'We'll help you, don't worry, girl,' he looked at one of the nurses. 'Inject her. She gained consciousness.'

The nurse nodded and soon, the girl fell into darkness.

-

The library-like room was empty and quiet as usual and it fit Shuu's preferred environment. His eyes scanned the rack he was standing by. As if magically told to do so, he saw the book he was searching for. He'd read that when he was a child and understood nothing but he knew what he wanted to know was inside that book.

The book was handwritten nicely and there were some illustrations drawn. The title was obvious enough: "Endzeit". If he remembered correctly, Endzeit originally was an experiment on vampires but it was somehow contaminated and became a virus instead. He checked the publication's info but found none, which means the book was never published and approved of its contents. In short, it was an illegal production.

The book was poorly put together, with individual papers being tied messily and faded drawings were inserted randomly here and there between the pages. He sat on the floor and began analyzing.

-

Leonardo and Arthur were discussing something very seriously when Cyril appeared in the dining room. 'Cyril? You know that's rude, right?' Leonardo frowned.

'The prince is outside.' Cyril quickly said.

Leonardo immediately stood up from his seat and left the room. Arthur rolled his eyes. 'He really left me like that...' he murmured, shook his head and trailed after his friend-rival.

At the main gate, Arthur and Leonardo walked side by side as they neared the figure standing outside the gated area. Leonardo nodded at the guard and the gate was opened. He had a smile plastered on his face. His black-greyish hair was short-length and messy.

Leonardo and Arthur bowed, greeting the man. 'Prince...' they chorused.

Kino nodded. 'My office is flooded with blood. I heard it's your doing.' He looked at Leonardo.

Leonardo faked a short laugh. 'Sorry, I was attacked.'

'Yuuri said it was the First Bloods, it seems like a lot of things happened.' He commented.

'Yeah you can say that,' Arthur interjected. 'A few Berserks were also released.'

'Shall we discuss this further in my bloodied office?' Kino offered and without waiting for the two's replies, he teleported off.

Leonardo was about to do the same when Cyril appeared and held his arm. 'Stop, Leonardo-sama. You've just recovered from their attack, you can't teleport—I'll get the carriage and I swear it's as fast as teleportation so can you please stop being stubborn for one whole second?!' the servant was shouting at the end.

Leonardo blinked in surprise. 'Wow, Cyril, I never knew you could shout.' He spoke.

'That's not the point!' Cyril said through gritted teeth.

The blonde chuckled and removed his servant's hand. 'I'll be fine. Besides, I have you,' his eyes travelled to Arthur then. 'And him.'

'Please, just die.' Arthur sighed and left. Leonardo's laughter echoed throughout the mansion as he teleported. Cyril exhaled sharply.

-

I could hear the ECG machine. I could hear soft wind from the fan. So I'm still alive. I opened my eyes, then. The familiar white ceiling and spinning fan greeted me. An oxygen mask was over my mouth and I was breathing rather slowly. I felt tired and my body ached all over. If this is my last moment, please let me see Shuu.

-

A/N: You guys thought I died. I finally updated after a long hiatus. I said the big reveal would be in this chapter but I moved it to CS13, so expect another chapter coming up. 

I am mentally screaming that I'm finally updating. I'm crying. A long P/S:

When I was writing this story, Lost Eden had just released its trailers and not storyline so I only know Kino is a prince (self-proclaimed actually lmao) and nothing else.

After reading his walkthroughs and biography (which is way after I plotted this story), I found out he's actually

(SPOILER) 

a combination of Karl Heinz's DNA and Rotigenberg Miasma, which means he's a ghoul with power.

(SPOILER END)

A typical ghoul has no power but lives in the demon world.

So, I'm sorry that his character and personality might not be exactly the same as in the game.

About Endzeit, it's a disease created by Karl Heinz to wipe out First Blood races and the survivors are Shin and Carla. Cordelia is one of the survivors but she was killed and her heart was then transferred to Komori Yui, so she is half-demon half-human.

I decided to alter the story (I mean that's the purpose of fanfics right hahah) so it's like this.

In this story, I created a lot of other stuffs, ignoring the fact that there are Church Team, Ghouls, Demon King named Burai, Menae (or Mene idk how it is spelled), the very significant Adam-Eve Project, Sakamaki mothers' important existence and others.

Lastly, I have this story all planned out but they are only the main plots. So I can't possibly shove them all into each chapter, I had to think what to put in in the middle.

And then.... around two years, I fell into what you call a writer's block. A massive one. I really couldn't think of anything. I even stopped reading books. I lost interest in everything I used to do and went into a slump. Plus I was really busy with university stuffs so it's kind of hard to make time for writing (or maybe I just suck at time management hihi)

I had to bring myself back so I slowly re-read my stories (realising how cringy and disgusting it is in the process lmaoooooo) and tried to pick up where I left it.

I love writing but I lost the ability to write for years and months and I hated it. I hated myself for it.

I went to reflect on myself and I am right now, trying to continue what I started.

I know most of you are not here anymore but I still would like to apologise. I love all of you and every single day, I try to write. I open the document every day and try.

To those who are still here reading this pathetic thing, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you for waiting. I really appreciate all of you. 

To Yuki_Akacchi, nxshi_ , momo_dibo_dania , LynEmpress , fujisawa_ , Arisu_ , MagicMeLove , QuinDD , yw_fuyu , Mysterious_Kitty , raineisrain , parasolguns , RyuPendragon , JisatsuWolf , Fanfic_Hime , xrandomkr and Anime_Linlin , thank you so much for commenting! I read it everyday to gain inspiration and it helped me produce this new chapter after the old chapter has been destroyed with my laptop's memory card. And to those who has voted as well, I thank you so much. I love all of you.

By my leave, mortals....