Kaneki Kaede was fine. She could get through this. But how long has it been since Jason took her, anyway? How long has it been since she'd been in this checkered tiled room?
Her hair was white now. Why was it white? There was no way she had been here so long she had turned into an old lady.
But how long had she'd been in here? Days? Weeks? Months?
It couldn't have possibly been more than a few months at most. Right?
Pain was something she could handle. The others were safe. Jason let them go in exchange for her so they were safe. That mattered more than anything.
So she could handle her toes getting repeatedly cut off, she could handle the centipede crawling in her ear, she could handle being violated.
That last one she was used to, at least.
Her whole life had been filled with nothing but pain. Her mother, her aunt, her cousin. All have left a mark on her body. Irreversible marks that stayed. They littered her body, staining her, not letting her forget, even with Rize's accelerated healing abilities that no longer allowed for new scars.
Her hair was long and draped over her face. Like a curtain. It covered her eyes and that was the only reason she'd even noticed that it was a shocking shade of white in the first place. It was a mess too.
Just like how it did back then. Before everything. Before Nishiki-nii and Touka-chan and Anteiku.
Before. When pain was familiar. When pain was a constant. Her one and only companion for the longest time.
When she was just a weak girl waiting to die.
But now she had other people. That was important. It was all that mattered. So long as they were safe. Then everything would be fine.
Except her hair was white now. Why was it white again?
"Kaneki-chan,"
Kaede almost ignored the sound of her name.
She hadn't had a moment of silence in a while. How long? There were voices in her ears. They were in her ears, but there was nobody else in the room. Maybe they were the centipede?
But that voice was distinctly Jason's.
"These past few days have been more than enough to realize that your body... and mind… they're unexpectedly tough. And so, I tried to come up with something different."
His footsteps were loud. They echoed.
"What do you think about this?"
Kaede barely looked up, barely cared to know what twisted new torture the man came up with next, but then she saw them. And her body froze. Her heartbeat sped up impossibly, or maybe it stopped and dropped to the floor, but that didn't matter, nothing mattered, because of the two people she saw.
Looking even more beaten down than she remembered them being the night they tried to escape Aogiri.
"Mother and child," Jason exclaimed. He looked way more unhinged than she'd seen him before, with that too wide smile, that glee in his eyes. Kaede gritted her teeth and glared at the disgusting man in front of her.
She wanted to wipe that cruel smile off his face. She wanted to tear those eyes from their sockets and crush them in her palms. She wanted to tear her white hair out for being so fucking naïve.
"Kaneki-sa...n.." the mother called out to her. It was a pitiful sound that she barely managed to hear. It made her want to cry.
"Which one should I kill? CHoOsE!"
"You… you fucking liar…" she muttered through gritted teeth, despair creeping through her very bones. Because of course Jason wouldn't do as he promised.
"Didn't I say? I don't tell 'boring lies'. Look AT HOw fUN I'M HaViNG!!" Jason bellowed, yanking at her hair and got all up in her face. "God, was it hard to stop laughing. It was too funny thinking about you struggling to bear with this for your friends… So…? Which one??"
What?
"Well?? If you don't decide, I'll kill both. Should I rephrase the question? 'WHICH DO YOU WANT TO SAVE'?"
"Kaneki-san…"
Kaede's attention was brought to the mother. 'Choose Kouto' she saw her mouth the words. She felt herself shaking. She couldn't stop. She could barely breathe.
How the hell could she choose? Just like that? Whoever she chose, one of them would die, and the other would have to watch their only family get killed. If she chose to save the mother, what was her name again, she would be forced to watch her own son get ripped to pieces. And if she chose to save Kouto…
She could still remember how determined Kouto was to protect his mother. What was her name how could she forget did she ever even know? He was so young, he shouldn't have even had to–
"Hey… Hurry up. Or I'll really kill them both, got it? The kid? The mother?" Jason took hold of her hair and violently shook her. "I said… answer ME! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME! ANSWER!"
Jason shoved her head forward and suddenly the mother and child were lifted up in each of his hands. By the neck. Choking them.
"oR I'LL KiLL ThEM BoTH!! WhICh WiLL iT BE KaNEkI-CHaN?!!!"
Kaede was helpless. Utterly and irrevocably helpless. She could do nothing but watch, horrified, as the mother and child struggled against him. Watch as Jason cackled like the madman he was, shaking them so violently, his grip tightening, almost enough to snap their–
"THE CHILD!"
Kaede's shriek of an answer tore out her throat. And with it, loud sobs that she didn't bother to muffle, and tears that streamed down her face. It blocked her vision, she almost didn't see his grip on the two slightly loosen, but she definitely saw the unhinged glint in his eyes and the maniacal grin on his face that stayed the same.
"What was that Kaneki?!"
"I CHOOSE… to save… the child…" she said, forcing the words through her sobs.
The child was dropped to the floor. Then the loud snap of the mother's neck. Jason made sure both Kaede and Kouta saw her die. Made sure they had a clear view.
With one last laugh, he finally collected himself. Calming down into something that looked vaguely more stable only after he'd got what he wanted.
Kaede could only watch as Kouta crawled over to his dead mother. What was her name? She could only watch as some underling dragged him out of the room. And then Kaede was left alone, once again, to the sound of her own thoughts.
And those incessant voices of people that weren't there.
Maybe they were the centipede.