Prologue: The Bird And The Worm
Pre-Story Notes: Mukade (Centipede): Kaneki's CCG name.
Jason (after Friday the 13th): Oomori Yakumo's CCG name.
"The bird fights it's way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born, must first destroy a world." -Tokyo Ghoul
/ Out of his mind away / Pushes him whispering / Must have been out of his mind / Mid-day delusions of pushing this out of his head / Maybe out of his mind /
"One thousand... minus... seven..."
"Nine hundred... three... minus... seven..."
"Eight... hundred... six... minus... seven..."
/ All alone he turns to stone / While holding his breath half to death / Terrified of whats inside / To save his life he crawls / Like a worm from a bird /
Pain.
Nothing but pain.
It hurts.
For ten days. For ten days he sat there, limp against the ropes. Too weak to even hold himself up.
Kaneki Ken, only fifteen years old, and already well versed in the horrors of the world.
But this was nothing like what he'd faced before.
In the tender care of 'Jason', Kaneki was introduced to a whole new level of hell.
Picked off the streets, the psycho gave no reason or rhyme for torturing Kaneki other than the sadistic pleasure of it.
Yet throughout his painful stay, the boy noticed little things. Little things that equated to a bigger picture, that Jason was not acting alone. That there was someone (or someones) behind it all.
Those thoughts didn't last long, as Jason only offered short breaks to feed himself before the game continued, chopping him up bit by bloody bit.
Goodbye fingers.
Goodbye toes.
Goodbye sanity.
One by one, Jason severed them from Kaneki's being, until there was nothing left. Until he was dead.
"Am I dead?" he wondered."If I was dead, wouldn't the pain stop? Or maybe I'm in hell. Aren't ghouls supposed to go to hell? I wasn't that bad of a person, was I?"
Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't.
He'd killed people.
"I had to. I had to eat to survive. Kill or be killed, predator and prey. I was just doing what nature designed me to do. Should I be condemned for that?"
It made sense, didn't it?
"I guess I am damned..."
He felt like he was floating. A short break in the storm of agony. Flouting in an empty white nothing.
"Oh no baby, you're not damned."
Kaneki weakly lifted his head, his mis-matched eyes flicking around, searching for the origin of the voice.
"Mom?"
"I'm here baby."
Where?
"Where?"
"Here."
Kaneki's eyes landed on a soft warm glow not far from him. Not far, but also an eternity away. He couldn't reach it. Couldn't reach her."
"Mom?"
The light became brighter, just a little bit.
"I'm here Ken. I'm here. I'm not going to leave you."
For the first time since his mother died, three agonizing years ago, he felt hope.
"I love you mom."
"I know. I love you too. My darling boy." She murmured, voice full of comfort and warmth. "But you're gonna have to be strong."
"My brave, brave little boy. I know you can do it. Be strong, fight back. Take hold of your heritage, and use it."
"Didn't you tell me not to do that? Not to let my ghoul side control me?"
"I did, but right now, I want you to live. If you have to throw away your humanity, so be it. I just want you alive. But remember, you can decide if you are a monster. Don't let it control you. You're stronger than that."
The confidence she had in him, the hope she instilled in him with her words, gave Kaneki that strength to pull himself from the comforting whiteness, and face the world beyond.
As the white slowly faded into grey, the warm glow morphed into the figure of a woman with long black hair and soft loving eyes.
"I love you, my son."
The black overtook him.
"I love you too."
/ All he knows / If he can't relieve it it grows / and so it goes /
/ He crawls like a worm /
/ Crawls like a worm from the bird /
The battle between Jason and Kaneki was furious, bloody, and nothing less than a massacre.
There was no contest. The four tails, deadlier than any other kagune with their venom and wickedly sharp legs, ripped Jason apart.
The living corpse left behind was soon devoured by teeth instead of kagune. While the flesh tasted bitter, energy flooded Kaneki's drained system.
Done with his meal, Kaneki decided to make a grand introduction in the world of monster. He'd send the CCG a warning that there was a new player on the board, and he was not to be fucked with.
With little difficulty, Kaneki dragged the half eaten corpse out of the building in which he'd been imprisoned, and under the cover of dark, decorated the 12th's CCG headquarters with a nice new flag.
And so The Centipede was born...
/ He crawls like a worm /
/ Crawls like a worm /
/ Crawls like a worm from a bird /
"I seriously...seriously thought it was better to die" -Kaneki
~End~
A.N. Short but it's a prologue.
My first Tokyo Ghoul fic, and I must say, I'm really enjoying it thus far. I only finished the anime a few days ago, and loved it enough to write for it. Since I've yet to read the manga, this story will be based on the anime and what I can find on the wiki. If you guys point out any inaccuracies, I'll most likely fix it. But this is an au, and if the differentiation is needed for this story, I'll keep it.
I've found that I really like the line breaks being song lyric, so those are going to appear in every chapter.
Warnings: Teen (TV-14) for violence, gore, and strong but scarce profanity. Possible romance, pairings undecided.
Song: 'The Bird And The Worm' by The Used
Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul or the song.