A/N: I always wanted to write some post-apocalyptic story and this idea just jumped me from out of nowhere. And I had to write it down. I have never written anything this quickly; maybe that's what they call being kissed by a Muse.

Story: AU/ AH with some dark themes. The AH starting sometimes after Kaname and Yuuki left the Cross Academy. The story is set in about thirty years after that. More will be explained in the fic.

Pairings: The main pairing will be Kaname x Zero or Zero x Kaname... or both, we will see how the boys work it out between themselves. XD

Disclaimer: This is a Vampire Knight fic, with some inspiration in Fallout, Metro 2033, The day of the Triffids, The Road, I am legend, and other awesome books, movies or games. But I don't own any of those.

There probably will be some mistakes, but hopefully nothing serious.

And please let me know if you enjoyed it. ^^/

1. Awakening

Zero punched the code into the small terminal next to the big metal door. He looked around just in case, but of course no one was there. The small vault was hidden in the mountains, quite some distance from any human settlements. The only danger here, were the mutated animals, but fortunately they were prone to avoid vampires. It would be quite a different story if he met the 'dark ones', but the shotgun on his shoulder assured he was prepared. He could see the remains of some village down in the valley, but it was long abandoned. Sometimes a small gangs of scavengers went there to see, if there was still something of worth, but they were never very eager to stray from the roads too far.

The door opened and with the last look over his shoulder Zero stepped inside. He waited for a few moments until he heard the distinct hiss of an airlock behind, before he put down his gas mask. Going down the steep steps Zero entered the long metal corridor. A few security turrets were laid out here and there in strategic positions, but fortunately impassive. If he was an intruder, who had tried to bypass the terminal, he wouldn't be so lucky. But of course the ex-human knew the code, as he was the one who helped to rebuild this shelter.

Zero looked in the box he was carrying; he could have sold these parts on the black market and earned himself quite a lot. Finding any functional electronics nowadays was almost impossible and scavenged parts were worth a small fortune in trading. These and the packs of blood, he was carrying in his backpack. It took a lot of work to find them. Most of the hospitals were pretty much looted empty, but you could still find some private clinics, that somehow escaped the eyes of scavengers. Yes, he should be selling these on the market, earning a small fortune, yet for some reason he always returned here. Maybe he was doing this because he felt like it helped to clear his consciousness a little. Or maybe he just had no better place to be.

At the end of the corridor was another metal door, that again opened only with the right code. Punching in the number, Zero finally entered a spacious laboratory. The room was dark and quiet. Only sound was the humming of various machines and ventilation system. There were various monitors around; he wasn't even sure what half of them displayed. It looked like a lair of mad scientist, which in fact was. Paper and ampules were scattered all around and every table was occupied by some old machine or two. Said mad scientist was currently bundled deep in covers, in makeover bed in the corner. Zero put down the box deciding to let him rest a little longer. His attention instead fixed on the big tank in the middle of the room. It looked like a cross between a bathtub and over-sized aquarium, with numerous tubes attached to it. You couldn't see what was inside as the water wasn't clear but ominously red. Red as blood. But the hunter knew exactly what, or more specifically, who was lying inside. Zero went to the edge of the tub pulling a few packs of blood from his backpack.

"Morning, I brought you a breakfast." The hunter said with a sad smile. He took two infusion tubes and attached one to the blood pack, and the other to his own arm in order to 'feed' tank's sole occupant even amount of conserved and fresh blood. He was just paying his debts, after all.

The 'mad scientist' sleeping in the corner stirred at the sound of his voice. "Hn... Zero, is that you? You weren't coming for so long... I thought you were already dead or something." Blond hair poked from the covers. "I was afraid I'll run out of blood and die of starvation."

"Nice to see you, too, Aido... and don't worry. I brought you a new stock. " Zero took another pack from his bag and tossed it in blonde's direction. "You know, you could get them yourself if you wanted."

"And get myself killed outside? No, thank you very much." Aido yawned, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"You know, you can't stay here forever..." Zero looked like he wanted to say more but decided to drop it for now. "I'll spent the night here, the sun is almost down. Maybe I'll even stay a few days. At least this way I can give him as much blood as he needs." Zero sat down on the edge of the tub.

The blond came over to sit next to Zero, biting hungrily into the pack. "You don't have to, you know... Why are you even helping us? You could have left us die with the most of the vampire population."

But Zero didn't offer any answer and Aido didn't seem to expect one anyway. They both stayed silent, lost in their own thoughts. Zero wondered how the hell he had survived for so long, how come he didn't grow older. It was almost fifty years since he was born, yet he still looked like teenager. It was probably thanks to the blood he got from Kaname, Shizuka, and… flesh of his brother on that fateful night. He closed his eyes. Maybe this was all punishment for his sins. Maybe he should have seen it coming. After Kuran and Yuuki left the Cross Academy, Zero somehow managed to get himself together and become a full-time hunter. It wasn't easy but after some time, he managed to get himself a high position. He was aware of growing tension between vampires and hunters, yet he hesitated to do anything about it. He should have been prepared for the time the other purebloods would get fed up with Kuran's peaceful agenda and start making their moves. The resulting war between humans and vampires was devastating. He didn't even know there were so many vampires walking on this earth, yet after humans had found out about their existence, they all went out of their hiding. Both sides used whatever they could to try to win. The weapons and bombs based on the newest technology held quite a destructive power, but the final straw were the newest nuclear and biological weapons, which left the planet in this screwed up state.

"Thank you... for whatever reason you're doing this." Aido said after a while. It wasn't easy to always remember to be grateful in these times. "Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be much easier to just end it... end this miserable existence. Maybe we should have died along with the old world. What are we even doing here? Isn't it crueler to actually wake him up now? Maybe we should have..."

"NO! No, we shouldn't ..." Zero looked at Aido quite surprised. For him to actually suggest something like that…. They really were at the end of their ropes, weren't they? But he couldn't just give up, not after struggling and surviving for so long. He didn't even know why he tried so hard to revive the creature in the tub. Maybe because next to Aido, he was the only other person that was connected to his past and was still alive. Well kind of. He met Kain and Ruka a few years back and brought them to meet Aido. But after a short time those two decided to travel to the north to try to find the rumored vampire city. Sometimes they sent a message through the radio connection to give them some news and ask how was "he" doing. There were probably more nobles that survived, but he hadn't met any of them. Zero dived his hand into the red liquid, taking out the pale skinny arm, his thumb drawing small pattern revealing the other's skin underneath the blood. There were almost no scars visible now; it wouldn't be long before he wakes. Hopefully.

But when he wakes up... what then?

Soon after the war started, important leaders on both sides quickly became the main target. Of course, Kuran was among the first. They shouldn't have known where his mansion was hidden, but it seemed that somebody leaked that information. And the humans made their move. As soon as Zero found out about this, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Yagari tried to stop him, yelling at him it was treason, but Zero had to. He could tell himself that he hated all the purebloods and wanted them all dead, but the truth was that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if anything happened to Yuuki and he had done nothing to prevent it. Somewhere deep inside, he still saw her as that innocent girl she was in high school.

Thus Zero stole one of the association's cars and drove as fast as possible to warn her... to save her. Yet that wasn't enough. He was too late. From his car he could already see the Kuran mansion in flames, No doubt the result of that newest human weapon. The explosion wasn't so bad, it was those blue flames, those flames could burn absolutely everything organic even vampire bodies which were usually more resilient to damage than human ones. The blue color was the result of the gas that was leaked the moment a bomb exploded. It was strong enough to sedate and burn alive any vampire.

Zero floored the speed pedal. As he arrived, he had to stop himself to not just run into the flames blindly from anxiety. That would be a suicide. He looked into the trunk, suddenly very glad that he took one of the hunter cars. There were protection suits and breathing masks stocked inside. He quickly changed into one and grabbed a spare breathing mask.

The inside of the mansion looked like hell itself. Zero tried to avoid the flames as much as he could, knowing his suit wouldn't help him much if exposed for too long. Almost everything in the hall was burning but the worst were all those bodies inside. It seemed that the servants were trying to evacuate, but the soporific gas hindered their successful escape. Most of them just started turning to dust, meaning that Zero must had gotten here shortly right after the explosion. It seemed that no one here survived... But that couldn't be true, could it? No, he had to go further. After a while Zero started to feel really hot, almost dizzy. It seemed the suit was reaching its limit. But he pushed further into the corridor, down the stairs heading to the basement, where the secret escape path was supposed to be. It seemed that at least in this part of the house the flames were scarcer, as if something tried to put them out. There were strange puddles of water here and there. He prayed that it meant the masters of the house somehow managed to avoid the gas and escape in time. Suddenly, he felt something crunch under his feet and looked down... The world stopped for him in that moment, for he saw Yuuki's bracelet lying on the ground. The one she got from Cross to be able to tame Zero. It lied in the pile of... ashes. Ashes of dead vampire. Zero fell to his knees, suddenly losing all his will to live. He picked the bracelet up, clutching it painfully in his hand as silent tears fell down his face. No, it couldn't be true. Was Yuuki really dead? This was the end then... He...he had failed everyone once again. First his parents, then his brother and now. Now he lost even the last warmth he had left in his miserable existence. But this would be his last failure. Zero will make sure of it...

Just as he was about to take of his breathing mask to fall into merciful oblivion and die here with her, he heard a weak noise. A whimper. Zero forced himself to follow it, as if it was the last straw of hope itself calling to him. It was hard to see in all the smoke, but after taking a few hesitant steps he couldn't believe his eyes. There laid Aido, covered in ice crystals that were already melting. Those weakened flames in this part of house must have been his doing too, but it seemed the noble was quickly losing his strength as the ice melted quickly. Aido seemed to be unconscious but still alive. He had a cloth tied over his mouth in attempt to minimize the effects of the gas. Zero crawled to him, desperate and thankful; at least someone survived. He checked Aido's breath which seemed to be weak but regular and gave him the spare breathing mask. He had to get him out of this house as quickly as possible. But when he tried to pick him from the ground, Aido opened his eyes and recognizing Zero, he started struggling, as if trying to say something. They really hadn't time for this, Zero wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible but something made him stop and lean closer to the noble's mouth and listen.

"I...I tried to save... both of them... but my ice was melting too quickly... " It was hard to understand between the coughs, but it seemed Aido was redeeming himself. They could certainly discuss this outside. Zero again bend down to carry him, but Aido wasn't about to give up and started struggling more vehemently with all the strength that was still left in him. "NO! If there is... some flesh left... we could save them... please... look... around! Please!"

But Zero already knew there was nothing left of Yuuki. Nothing but ashes. He shook his head and started dragging Aido again but... "No, please... Kaname-sama!"

And for some reason that actually made Zero stop and look around. He hadn't seen Kuran's body yet, did he? He decided to quickly look around and then, he saw it. Further in the corner, almost completely hidden by the smoke laid the mutilated corpse. Half frozen. Almost all the flesh was burned but still something clung on the bones. Zero saw quite a lot of dead bodies in his life but he was sure this sight would give him nightmares for a very long time. The figure had one hand stretched to direction of where Yuuki's ashes were, as if reaching for her, trying to save her. And failing... as Zero failed, too. The hunter felt his heart breaking anew.

Zero quickly put Aido down and looked around. He grabbed a half burned curtain and packed what was left of Kuran into it. He tried to not think too much about what he was almost literally scraping from the floor and tied the package on his back. The flames started to burn anew, as almost all of Aido's ice had melted away now. Zero quickly picked up the noble again, running out of the house.

Finally reaching outside Zero collapsed on the ground, tearing the gas mask from his face and taking a large dose of fresh air into his aching lungs. He looked over to where he dropped Aido trying to check him for injuries. Noble's body was badly burned but it seemed that he will live to see another day.

"Thank you." Were Aido's last words before he fully lost consciousness. He was thanking for saving his master's body not his own life. But... did Zero really save Kuran? The hunter untied the package from his back but refused to open it. He was not very eager to look at that thing again. He was not even sure what to do with those badly burned and mutilated remains. Zero really doubted that the pureblood would be able to survive in the state he was. And didn't care if he did or not at that moment... but Aido believed Kuran could somehow recover from it and it was what Yuuki would have wanted. Zero looked behind him for the last time, remembering who he didn't manage to save. The noise of the mansion engulfed by flames and the sound of walls collapsing hid his silent sobs.

And that was how they got to where they were now. With Zero being pronounced a traitor to the hunters and Kuran becoming one of the most wanted targets, they went into hiding, watching the happenings in the struggling world from sidelines. As soon as Aido recovered enough he found them this shelter, where they silently withstood all those years of destruction. This shelter, where they tried so tirelessly to revive what was left of Kaname Kuran.

Now Zero knew, that he wasn't trying to save the pureblood for Yuuki's sake. Not anymore. But he still couldn't find the real reason why he did this, why he bothered all those years ago. Zero looked at the pale hand he was still holding. It was almost perfect again. He was quite amazed about the purebloods' healing abilities. Suddenly, Zero jerked, nearly jumping out of his skin. Did the hand just... move? He looked at it not sure if to believe this, but again, Kaname's fingers twitched. Zero's eyes widened as his brain finally processed what that meant.

" Aido! I think he's waking up!"