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Blood dripped from his clothes as he huffed and tried to catch his breath. The silver haired boy was surrounded by piles of dust that were once Level E vampires - ones he was sent to kill.Not long after the war against Rido, Kuran and Yuuki moved away from the Academy and he was left alone inside the still ruined dorms. After much pestering, Cross managed to convince him to go somewhere else while he rebuilt the Academy. Begrudgingly, he went along with his not-really-adoptive father and decided to travel alone.Not one to do nothing, Zero requested missions from his old master, now Hunter President. Those same missions took him everywhere and more; from Japan to the other side of the world and places few would know about.It was during one of those missions that he ended up in a far more hidden place - somewhere that was completely disconnected to the outside world and stood secluded for thousands of years: the continent of Eos.The silverette wondered how an entire continent stood hidden from the world and even more how he even found about it; he’d just been following a strange trail left by some level Es. However, as soon as he found the fallen vampires, he noticed they were very different from the ones he’d grown accustomed to kill. They looked like they suffered some sort of mutation - looked like demons, not ex-humans.Nevertheless, Zero eliminated all of the vampires, which led to his current situation. Slashes and scratches scattered over his body, blood dripping from a cut on his cheek. His clothes were in tatters and his shirt hung on his body by few strings. A slender hand ran through his messy and caked with dirt and dried blood hair.All around him was a once beautiful rose garden in full bloom - was it spring? He didn’t know - and now it was covered in red, the same deep red red of the flowers. Sighing, the silver head slid against a nearby tree and sat on the ground. His throat ached with need for blood. Although he was stabilized after drinking Ichiru’s blood, the toll of losing so much of that red fluid was taking its place. He would need to drink soon. Did he still have pills?A quick search through his pants’ pocket came with negative results.What should I do now? He thought. Can’t go back before the wounds heal or I’ll just lose more blood. He pressed his head further into the tree bark and looked towards the dusk tinged sky. Eyelids feeling heavier and heavier, he slowly closed them as tiredness and exhaustion took control over his body, not caring about the slight chill of the oncoming night. “You guys sure that the targets were seen in this area?” A bright blonde, blue eyed boy asked for the umpteenth time as he and his three companions walked through the dense forest of Duscae, searching for a request target. It seemed like some sort of daemons were running rampant and attacking citizens. “I mean, we still haven’t found a trace of those daemons.”“Geez, stop complaining Prompto.” A tall and gruff man reprimanded the younger boy. “Duscae is a big region and the forest’s thick. We’ll eventually run into them.”“Gladio is correct.” A third man, the second tallest from the group, pushed up his glasses with glove covered hands, carrying a formal image. “With night approaching, it’ll become far more likely to find the targets.”“But still, I would’ve liked to already have a camping spot for the night, in case we do not finish the request today” He added.The last, but not least, of the group of four was a handsome young man, with black hair as the night and deep blue eyes. He carried himself in a casual posture, but alert of his surroundings. The young man was none other than Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the throne of the Lucis Kingdom.Stretching his senses through the forest as he had been doing for the past few hours, the prince suddenly halted, catching the attention of his comrades. The three of them looked at their friend, all chatter stopping, with serious looks.“There’s something behind those trees... I can sense someone.” He pointed towards a bunch of trees and started walking in their direction. All his friends went after him, walking while keeping a formation to protect their prince, in case anything jumped out.Using both hands, Noctis cleared a path and kept walking until they reached a clearing. In a quick scan, he could see the marks of a battle scattered throughout the entire place. In the middle of the clearing stood a tree and slouched against it was a figure that took his breath away-The early moon’s light shone through the foliage and touched the figure’s ivory skin and their silver hair - a feature he’d never seen before - and made it look like there was a halo on the figure’s head. From where he stood, Noct could see the figure’s, that he now saw was a boy, ragged clothes and blotches of dried blood. All in all, the darkening red complimented the boy’s ethereal beauty in a way that that left him speechless. He looks like a silver flower painted in red.Noct could care less if he was staring at the young man for far too long, but a light touch on his shoulder awakened him from his daze. Turning his head around, he saw Ignis, his adviser, giving a look that asked ‘Are you alright?’. The prince simply nodded his head and turned back to the sleeping boy.“Er... Do you think he’s alive? I mean, look at all that blood!” Prompto gave a slight cringe at all of the spilled blood on the ground.“I suggest we approach with caution and see if he’s alive. Perhaps he might have encountered our target...” Ignis commented from Noctis left side.“Alright, let’s be quick about it.” Gladiolus rubbed the back of his neck, hand almost twitching to grab his sword at the slightest possibility of an attack.The group approached the body slowly. Ignis reached his hand carefully towards the boy’s neck, trying to feel a pulse. Releasing a soft breath, he retreated his hand after feeling a faint beat. “He’s alive, but maybe not for too long if we leave him here like this. Should we heal his injuries, Your Highness?”The prince gazed once more at the boy’s pale face and nodded. “Let’s heal him and bring him to a camping site. If he wakes up and proves to be a threat, we’ll deal with him. But for now, just treat his injuries.”Ignis proceeded to take out some potions and bandages from their supplies and patch up the boy.From behind, the prince’s shield approached. “Seems like we won’t have to search for our targets. There’re some leftover traces of daemon energy coming from those ash piles. I’d say the brat over there must’ve defeated them. He’s got some guts and strength.”The prince only hummed in response. Few hours later, the group found themselves seated around a campfire eating a dinner prepared by Ignis as usual, while they waited for their guest to wake up.“Looking close, he is quite beautiful.” The photographer resisted the urge to snap a picture - because, hey. Improper.“What, fell in love at first sight, Prompto?” Gladio teased the youngest of the group with a large grin.“Wha- no way! I’m just saying because he has such unique hair color!” The blond sputtered and almost spat the food in his mouth.“Oi, that’s gross. Don’t talk with your mouth full.” The bigger man reprimanded and the other squeaked a quick apology.The rest of the dinner went normally with small talks and teasings being shot every way, but a small twitch and the sound of rustling sheets made them snap their heads towards the tent, where the silverette laid. Four sets of eyes looked at the bundle with anticipation as a silver head raised from it.Everything happened in a blink of an eye as the silverette snapped his eyes towards the group in high alert and scrambled backwards, frantically searching for something. As the boy realized that he didn’t have whatever he was looking for, he settled for glaring his amethyst colored eyes at the four people outside. In a raspy voice and dripping with venom, only one word came out of the boy’s mouth.“Bloodsuckers” Zero didn’t know how much time passed, but he could feel his head pounding. He let out a soft groan and turned his head around, feeling the soft mattress underneath him. Wait. I didn’t sleep on a mattress, rather, I blacked out on the ground.Focusing on himself, he knew he was still wearing his pants and what was left from his shirt. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, he carefully stretched his hunter and vampire senses slightly as to feel his surroundings. He focused on the direction of the tent’s exit, from where he could hear some chatter. However, as he approached their auras, a shiver went through his spine as he felt a very powerful aura coming from one of the four. With all his instincts screaming Danger! at him, he didn’t notice that the chatter had stopped and he suddenly raised his head, alarmed, and backed up, his hands moving through the mess of mattress and sheets in order to find his beloved gun. After failing to do so, he moved his blazing eyes towards the four people outside and growled “Bloodsuckers”.“Whoa! Whoa! Hey, we’re not gonna hurt you!” Prompto raised his hands in a sign of peace as the silverette kept growling at the four vampires.“And why should I trust you leeches?” Zero snarled, shifting his focus towards the blonde.Gladio gave the boy a glare as they were insulted “Aren’t you one yourself brat?”Zero snorted at the statement and replied “As if I ever wished to be one of your damned kind.”Slightly taken aback, Ignis shifted his postured and asked with genuine curiosity “You... You’re an ex-human?” Receiving no confirmation nor negation, he continued “Incredible. Your aura does not feel like a E’s. Rather, it’s as almost as strong as a pureblood’s.”“Even so, there hasn’t been a human in Eos in thousands of years.” Noct cooly stated.Pureblood. Zero noted in his head. However, he couldn’t put his finger on a foreign feeling that came with the sight of the prince. His aura felt... Very different from Kuran. Whilst the brunette’s aura was cold and reserved, the raven’s felt warmer than he’d ever seen in a pureblood, even more than Yuuki’s, although there was subtle layer of apprehension.“What do you mean by that?” The young hunter inquired.The prince stared at the amethyst orbs for a moment, measuring his words “You seem to hate vampires.” It was clear statement “I wonder what are you doing in this vampire-only continent.” He said with a slight tinge of amusement and gave the hunter a small teasing smile.The same hunter widened his eyes by a fraction at the new information.“Indeed, Eos has been a vampire continent for several millennias. The Lucii Crystal kept us isolated from Gaia. Your presence here...” Ignis put his hand on his chin “Could something have happened to the Crystal...?” He trailed off.By his side, Gladio huffed “At any rate, we saved your sorry ass from dyin’ out there. You should be a bit more grateful y’know.”Immediately after, Zero looked at his bandaged arms and touched his cheek to feel that the cut has already healed. Begrudgingly turning his eyes back to the group, he let small “Thank you”, face slightly flushed from embarrassment.Ignoring an indignant “What the hell was with that thanks?!” From Gladio, Zero turned his eyes away.“I... Appreciate your help, but I must go now.” He crawled towards the tent’s opening and stood, albeit wobbling while doing so.“Um, are you sure you should be going with those wounds?” Prompto asked the silverette in concern. Zero turned his head towards the other.“I’m a hunter. I’ve been through similar situations and I refuse to receive more help from you vampires.” He turned around and started to walk away.“You owe us though.”Noct’s smooth voice stopped him on his track “We did use our resources on you. Potions, bandages and even blood capsules.”Zero frowned at the statement, which quickly turned into a glare “I didn’t ask for help.”The prince’s mouth slightly twitched with the defiance of the hunter and he chuckled “... You’re interesting. Not many would dare to defy a pureblood. Much less a royal one.” He approached the silverette “I like it.”“Don’t come near me you damn pureblood!” Zero took a step back “And there’s no way I’d ever wag my tail for someone with a pampered ass like you!”The prince’s companions lowly growled at the insult thrown, but held back as Noct gestured with his hand for them to not act.“Then pray tell me what is this ‘pampered ass’ pureblood doing so far away from his kingdom’s capital?”“...!” Zero searched for a rebuttal “How the hell am I supposed to know about your schedule?!”“Well, to answer it, we were out hunting just like you.” Noct took a few more steps forward “And it seems that you already took care of them.”Zero gave the prince an annoyed stare “Doesn’t that mean we’re even?”Noct chuckled “Perhaps. However, that also means that we won’t receive a reward for that request.”“Why don’t you just claim you killed those leeches?”
“Now, that wouldn’t be fair since we didn’t do the work.”Zero groaned “Fine. Here.” He reached one of his pants’s pocket and retrieved a small piece of paper. Biting the tip of his finger to let the blood flow out, he drew a symbol on the white sheet. After he was done, the paper gave a faint glow and he offered it to the prince.Noct looked at the paper and then at the hunter with a questioning face. “It’s a hunter charm. I’m heading back to where I’m from so if you need me for anything you can use this charm to summon me. Just add a drop of your blood on the paper and call my name.”The four Lucian vampires looked at the paper mildly impressed as Noctis took it from Zero’s hand.“Don’t get me wrong and don’t misuse that charm. I won’t play friends with you lot, but I hate being in debt.” With that, Zero lowered himself to the ground to get his shoes. “I’ll be going now.”“Before that,” Noct’s voice stopped him once again. “Mind telling us your name?”Zero smirked “Isn’t it good manners to introduce yourself first?”Noctis gave back his own smirk “Noctis Lucis Caelum.”“... Zero Kiryuu.” He said with a satisfied grin. The group watched the silverette’s back until he disappeared inside the lush of the forest.“You know, I’ve never seen Noct talk that much to a stranger.” Prompto commented as they sat back down around the dying campfire.“Hoo, you’re right. Perhaps His Majesty is the one who fell in love?” Gladio grinned and teased their prince.Ignis sighed “Come on Gladio, I don’t thin-”“Maybe I did.”Three sets of eyes snapped towards the raven, speechless.“Wai-waitwaitwait-Wait a second! For real?!”“You serious Noct?!”“...”All three of them looked at their prince incredulously. In response, Noct only smiled.“... Noct.” His advisor started “Even if it’s that way, won’t this meeting be a one time thing, disregarding the charm he gave you?”“Mmm, who knows...?” The prince leaned his head back and stared at the dawning sky “I do think we’ll see him again soon.” ‘I’ll wait for you to come back, my dear Silver Rose’ —END— Omake: “How are you that sure we’ll see him again?” Ignis asked as they entered the Regalia.“Let’s say he left something with us” —Not too far away— Zero sat aboard the small ship he used to reach Eos. As he checked for the engine keys, he felt the lack of weight and almost let out a scream of annoyance, dread and rage ‘Oh shit...! I forgot Bloody Rose!! Master Yagari’s gonna kill me..!’ Somewhere else a middle aged man sneezed.