On that day, Ken Kaneki's whole world fell apart. Everything precious in his life taken from him. His family. Anteiku. Even Hide, his best friend. Kaneki crawled out of the burning Anteiku, trudging through the freshly fallen snow, carrying the most precious person in his life under a white sheet. While he was walking, Kaneki could see humans and ghouls alike fighting, killing, dying.. Trying to survive.

A sudden gust of crisp winter air blew the white sheet covering Hide. Several investigators turned to watch as he passed by confused, but soon went to save their comrades. Then, he came face to face with the most feared investigator, the CCG's Reaper, Kishou Arima.

Kaneki looked down and studied the face of his best friend. Hide's face was a pasty white, his body devoid of any warmth of life, blood still spilling out of the wound in his abdomen onto the freshly fallen snow. Kaneki set Hide onto the snow and brushed snow from his hair.

I'll never be able to see his bright smile again, will I.., Kaneki thought, barely refusing the fact that his friend was lying dead at his feet.

The CCG's Reaper looked up at the strange ivory haired ghoul. Though Arima knew that he needed to kill ghouls, something was different about this one. But before the White Reaper could do anything, a surge of blue energy surrounded Kaneki, pulling him from his world.

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Kaneki woke up staring up at a dark, cloudy sky with snowflakes descending around him. It was now that reality finally hit him, and he felt the full repercussions of what had happened that day. Kaneki started to feel numb. He tried to distract himself, the sounds of the city, the cloudy sky, anything. Anything to keep from thinking about all he'd lost. It didn't work. It never did.

I wonder if this winter will ever end..

Kaneki sat up, observing his new surroundings. It looked like he was in a city, most likely in America considering everyone spoke English. He stood up, duly noting the Hide's blood still on his hands and what had been rubbed off onto the snow. He limped through some back alleys to find some abandoned buildings to rest. Though his body was running on instinct, his mind was in a completely different place.

In a dark alley, he spotted a starving homeless man. With his kakugan flaring to life, Kaneki ran up and ripped the man's throat out with his teeth and began feasting. What Kaneki didn't notice, was the gaze of someone across the busy street. The man grabbed his cell phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Fury, I found the cause of the power surge in Manhattan.."

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Throughout the next week or two, Kaneki learned that he had teleported to another dimension. At least, that's all he could figure, since he was in New York City and it was a few years in the past compared to his world and the technology was much more advanced than before. There was also no sign of ghouls anywhere, even in a big city like this. Kaneki felt that he was slowly going crazy, not that he wasn't already partly insane.

He went around the city of New York to find suicide spots for food sources and went to find someone to forge a fake ID and papers for him. Which is easier said than done. Soon enough, Kaneki made a temporary home in an abandoned building a few blocks from his new workplace at Nadia's Cafe. Though Kaneki didn't think he deserved it, he new Hide would want him to take this chance at a new life. A second chance of sorts. Kaneki was slowly starting to accept this new life before him, even if he was unbearably lonely.

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During one of his shifts, Kaneki was running the bar when a redheaded woman came through the front door of the cafe. Kaneki put down the cup he was polishing and adorned his mask of cheerful friendliness.

"Welcome to Nadia's Cafe! What can I get you?" He said with a pleasant smile.

The redheaded woman wore a stylish shirt under a blue jean jacket and a pair of chic knee length boots. Though Kaneki still spoke heavily accented english, he had taken courses in college so he knew enough to get by.

The woman glanced up at the menu and ordered a coffee and a slice of cake. While Kaneki was making her order, he took a deep breath, and couldn't help but feel her watching his every move.He walked up and handed over her order.

"Is there anything else you need?" He asked.

"No, this is fine" she replied.

"Your total will be $7.65".

She handed Kaneki the money, ate her food and went on her way.

She was certainly odd, Kaneki thought, she smelled almost like... gunpowder.. Maybe it was just my imagination..

Kaneki was so deep in thought that he didn't notice several people following him after his shift at the cafe. Throughout his small time in this world, Kaneki found a shabby apartment that he could afford with his small wages. The small apartment fit him well. He didn't want one that was too big because it was impractical, and he couldn't afford a bigger one even if he wanted to. He also didn't want to bring too much attention to himself because of his 'eating habits', so it suited his needs. Kaneki, tired from his shift, went to a fitful sleep and forgetting to take off his eyepatch completely.

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Agent Romanoff saw the lights in Kaneki's apartment shut off and spoke in her earpiece.

"The target has gone to sleep, prepare to execute the mission".

After a few minutes, her and the other agents got into position for the extraction. While Kaneki was asleep, agents broke the windows and threw sleeping gas into the apartment. After about five minutes, they went inside to apprehend the sedated teen. They put the boy in cuffs and went to the extraction point.

"This is agent Romanoff, the target has been apprehended. We are returning to base as we speak."

"Good, I'm going to have to talk with this cannibal as soon as he wakes up.", her boss said.

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Kaneki woke up to the sound of an engine running. Slightly panicking, he tried to move and open his eyes. Immediately discovering that he couldn't move, Kaneki started shaking and hyperventilating. He his hands were chained with handcuffs that were connected to a metal collar around his neck. The chains and blindfold brought up memories he wish he could forget. One of his captors, seeing that he woke up, tried to calm him down.

"Oi, Oi.. calm down, you'll be ok," his captor said in Japanese, rubbing circles on his back, even his scent was soothing, like a warm midsummer breeze,"We're almost there, we'll explain everything when were there, just be patient for me ok?" Kaneki calmed down a little before he could go into a full panic attack.

He sounds so much like him, Kaneki thought, immediately confused and feeling slight apprehension, It's like he knows what I'm thinking before I do. What's going on??

Kaneki, relying on his other senses, tried to figure out what had happened to him. There were few distinctly familiar smells in the small jet. Gunpowder being the most prominent. This probably the woman from the cafe.

Damn, Kaneki thought, I knew something was suspicious about her. If only I'd done something sooner, I probably wouldn't be in this mess. I'll play along for now, there's no telling who these people are or what they want from me. Not that there was much I can do in this state anyways..

About fifteen minutes later, Kaneki felt the jet start to land. He heard the hull of the jet open and let in a much needed breeze throughout the room. Then, he noticed the other occupants of the ship moving and felt a hand on his arm start to pull him up from his sitting position.

"Come on big guy, we need you to have a chat with the boss man."

Kaneki heard the man say, he could practically hear the smirk in his voice. Because he was nervous, Kaneki started cracking his knuckles with his thumb unconsciously and started out of the jet being led by the strangely cheerful man.

As soon as Kaneki stepped outside, he knew that they weren't on solid ground, the floor rung with the sound of feet tapping on hard steel. He could hear waves on the ocean crashing around him.

So much for trying to escape.., Kaneki sighed internally. He felt the man lead him inside whatever he was on and into a room. The man sat Kaneki onto a folding chair, moved to leave, then said apologetically,

"Sorry about the blindfold, the boss will let you take it off when he gets here, I promise. You also might get a slight headache from the gas"

After around 10 minutes of waiting, he heard two pairs of feet walking toward the door before it opened. As soon as the two people walked through the door. Kaneki heard one of the people walk toward him and pull his blindfold off his head. He had to blink and wait for his eyes to get used to the sudden brightness, and looked up at the person who ordered his capture.

To his right was the redheaded woman from the cafe, and right in front of him across a table, was a man in a black trench coat with an eyepatch on.

The man with the eyepatch turned to him and started to speak,

"I'm sure you have some questions as to why you were brought here-"

Kaneki deadpanned and stared at him sarcastically before he continued,

"-but before that, I need to ask you some of my own."

Kaneki leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and folded his hands together. He could already feel the headache coming. And it's not only from the gas. He mused. The man in the black coat started asking questions like, 'what's your name?', 'where are you from?', 'how old are you?'.

"Why did you move to New York?", the man asked.

Kaneki hesitated then replied, "Certain situations led me here."

"Is it because you cannibalise?"

Kaneki felt his eyebrows twitch in annoyance and said,"Now that's assuming that I am human."

The man leaned back to study me again,"Well then, humor me, what are you."

Kaneki sighed and said,"I'm a ghoul."

He scoffed at the man's confused reaction, he knew that he was in a different world, but this was ridiculous.

"Oh for the love o-. If you didn't already know what I was, then why'd you bring me here? You can't tell me you've never heard of ghouls, I know they reside mostly in Japan but this is insane."

The man leaned forward and furrowed his eyebrows."Tell me, what is a ghoul." The man said it as more of a demand than a question, Kaneki creased his brows, and started explaining.

"Ghouls are people that have to eat human flesh to survive. We have a certain predatory organ in our backs that lets us hunt humans for food. Though not all ghouls kill to eat. Some work in morgues or go to places with high suicide rates to scavenge for food."

Kaneki narrowed his eyes and spoke with venom dripping from his words.

"Though there are some innocent ghouls, but the humans took it upon themselves to assume we're all the same and started a genocide."

The man looked up and said,"And how come I've never heard of them?"

At that comment, Kaneki visibly blinked in slight confusion. He then smiled grimly.

He actually doesn't know about ghouls then, huh.. Then this is sure proof, I really am in another world, aren't I..

"What's so funny? Because I can assure you, you're in no laughing situation."

Kaneki looked up at the man with the eyepatch,

"No.. I just realized that I truly am alone in this world, that's all."

As the man started studying him again, Kaneki realized that he let his mask slip, and quickly removed the emotion from his face.

"I have one last question for you," Kaneki looked the man in the eyes,

"I already know that you're not from this world, but I need you to answer this one last question. Bear in mind that your answer will determine whether or not I let you free or lock you in the deepest, darkest, hole and never let you see the light of day.

"Are you a threat to mankind?"

Kaneki looked down at his hands and tried to think and form a good answer; the voices in his head did nothing to help him think.

You eat people, do you really think they're going to accept you? But I only eat homeless and suicides.
Eyepatch, you can't fool anyone here, you know what happens when you have one of your episodes, nobody is safe from Him. You can't even save yourself~
We should just eat everyone and escape. You know, we haven't eaten in a while, and I'm ravishing for some fresh meat, and there's a meal right under our noses~ unsuspecting and completely oblivious. I wonder what he tastes like. No, stop talking-

Or the redhead, she seems like a real treat. NO. JUST SHUT UP.

Hurry and make a decision Eyepatch, or He might decide to come out on his own.

After the battle in his mind, Kaneki stopped his hands from trembling, shook his head, and looked the man in the eyes and said,"Yes.."

"Just lock me up and be done with it, I don't care what happens to me anymore." Kaneki said while looking away.
There's not much of me to enjoy living anyways. And I still could never find a way l, this could be fate finally letting me meet my end.