Zane Part 2

It was the first memory he saw so; clearly, everything else would turn blurry for him. 'This person is that important to me.' Haruka made his mind up and stood between Kiryu and Zane.

"You can't hurt him; he is my friend."

It was only one memory, but he quickly picked up the pieces. Before he met up with his wife again, he must have experienced some type of torture. During that time, Zane was looking for him.

This guy is not the enemy.

Kiryu looked furious, but before Kiryu could say anything, black hair appeared before her and Kiryu.

"Wait."

It was his wife, Lila. She stood there with an unreadable and yet strong gaze in her eyes. She wore a dark-colored cape around her and yet even dressed in dark colors; in his eyes, she looked vibrant.

Lila looked towards Zane and then him.

"I see, so that's why Haruka lost his memories."

The upset Kiryu turned to Zane again and carefully looked at the man at those words. A surprised look appeared on his features.

"Could it be Haruka transferred his light hanyou powers to-"

"Because only darkness remains in his heart, it was easy for that woman to hurt Haruka. She gradually drains his light energy away from him by putting him through excessive torture. Haruka used the last of his light to send Zane to meet me successfully." Lila trailed off. "Even if it means losing his memories of me."

Haruka could not miss the regret and pain in her tone when she said those words. But before he could say anything, Lila swayed sideways and lost her balance. He reacted far too late to catch her, and somebody else did. To his surprise, it was not Austin Kiryu but Zane.

Zane exhaled deeply. "If you were not stubborn from the start, you wouldn't have ended up this way."

"Stubborn gave me a normal life for a while. I do not regret it."

...

After they returned to the manor, they immediately locked up Zane, and he could not leave his room for the first few days. Nobuhiko made sure he went through all sorts of tests before he safely said it was fine for him to go. It seemed the others were worried that Zane might have done something.

He did not hesitate to visit Zane in the dungeon area with a key. He knew he could not allow the man to go free; the others would not allow that. But at the very least, he wants to remove the chains.

The moment he arrived in front of the cell, he recalled the memory of himself in chains, and it pained his heart. There were no injuries on Zane, but the chains' sight upset him.

'Even if he is one of the three leaders, did they have to chain him up like this?' Haruka dismissed those negative feelings, and he went over to undo the chains.

"I'm sorry about this. I'll remove the blindfold now."

"It's alright; they are only concerned." Zane raised his hands and stopped him from removing the chains. "Don't."

"But-"

Zane shook his head. "If you do this, they won't trust you."

Haruka kept his head down when he heard Zane say those words. Sure enough. There is already a tense atmosphere because of him; whatever trust they have in him will vanish if he does this. If that happens, the one who will get hurt the most is his wife.

"You-are…"

"Did you remember something?"

Haruka explained his vision when he was thinking of how to persuade Kiryu. Zane seemed surprised, but then he suddenly sighed.

"Out of all the things you remember." Zane trailed off. "Well, no matter, I shall tell you about that time from my point of view. After I conquered New york too, I realized something was wrong. It did not take me long to realize how many people were infected. No, when I saw how bad her state was, I felt like dropping all my plans right then and there."

"Her? Oh your girlfriend?"

"My fiance." Zane corrected and nodded. "She is one of the leaders. I had not seen her in a while, but she was in an awful state when I did. I told her to stop taking the drugs, but she would not listen to me. When I snatched them off her, I realized there was something different about them. That woman, the other leader, messed with the drugs. It finally dawned on me that she was planning on doing this all along."

So that other woman must be the real enemy they have to face.

"After I realized this, I knew you would be in danger, so I planned to warn you. But then they tried to use Rosalia, my fiance. So I had to keep quiet for a while. However, when I heard that you got into an accident, people said you died. I could no longer hold back. Rosalia was far too gone to return to normal. I love her, but you were not like her. You could still live a normal life."

This person must have taken him long before deciding he would leave the woman he loves.

"I finally found you, but," Zane's gaze dimmed. "Seeing you in that state, I almost ended your life on the spot to ease your suffering. What did they do to you? I could only imagine the horrors."

"But you didn't kill me."

"I noticed even when you were in that state; you still had hope in your eyes. It was faint, but it was still there." Zane trailed off and sighed. "I suppose that is why she chose you. Even after everything you went through, you continued to live. You never ended your life. Though there was a time you entertained the thought of dying, you never went through with it."

Haruka felt very overwhelmed listening to this story. But he noticed one thing. "What is the other leader's name?"

"For now, I will not say it. Just for the record, she is the one who caused those scars on your body. We still do not know the main cause of your memory loss either. It is too dangerous for me to mention the name of that woman."

'The one who caused these scars-' It was just a brief mention, but Haruka felt a throbbing sensation in his heart. Although he had not cared when he first saw those scars, he ended up feeling like this at the mention of the one who hurt him.

"Haruka?" Zane asked, concerned. "Did just talking about her make you-" His friend could not find the right words to finish that sentence.

"It is okay." Haruka quickly answered.

Zane, however, was not convinced. "I thought you were fine when I saw you again. You have changed slightly due to your memory loss, but you seemed happy. That was why originally I did not intend to approach you."

"But you changed your mind?"

"I did not want you to lose control of your powers. You no longer have your light energy, so there was a high chance of losing control."

Nobuhiko mentioned that too. Is his current state that bad?