There were a dozen things wrong with this, but one stuck in Judal’s head the most as he stared at the other man. The CCG. Rank one investigator.
Judal himself had never directly encountered the CCG… But that didn’t mean he didn’t cringe whenever it was mentioned. The organization had a million associations – None of them good. Primarily fear. Because he had always been afraid. Afraid that one day the people with the briefcases would arrive to tear his life apart. Take away everyone he cared about, leave him alone. But, of course, that was what had happened. He just hadn’t been present to witness it.
So now, discovering that the CCG was continuing to fuck him over was only twisting the knife in deeper. They hadn’t killed Kaneki, they had… What? Brainwashed him? Made him into a new tool for their sick uses? The very thought of Kaneki being used like that brought bile to his throat and the bite of tears to his eyes.
“N-No, come on, don’t–” (Don’t do this to me please don’t reduce what we had to nothing) “That’s not who you are, you’re–”
And a pause. Even as desperate as he was, he wasn’t stupid enough to go blurting about ghouls. Not here. Not to someone who was apparently an investigator. “You’re not an investigator, you’re… You work at a coffee shop, you like reading. You’re Kaneki.”
(”See? Even he knows that this body doesn’t belong to you.”) He’s free of his chains now; phantom fingers gripping Haise’s shoulders tight enough that he swore he could hear the bones themselves groan in protest. (”He knows it’s mine, knows that you’re just a-”)
“Shut up.” Haise ground out between clenched teeth, one hand coming up to clutch at the side of his head (he could just barely catch a glimpse of a memory as it teased at the edges of his consciousness; a slender form with striking eyes and an easy smile.. and then it was gone again, leaving him with nothing but a gnawing ache in his chest.)
“I-I’m not...” His voice positively shook at this point, along with the rest of his body Haise realized belatedly. “I’m Sasaki Haise... a rank 1 investigator with the CCG..” The throbbing pain in his skull intensified along with his own stress levels, bringing with it a wave of dizziness that was enough to bring Haise to his knees. (His quinque was a long forgotten thing at this point; the heavy case hitting the ground with a sharp ‘crack’ that failed to even register with its owner.)
Haise tried his hardest to calm himself; to steady his heaving breaths and put his mind back into at least some semblance of order, but he just couldn’t. There were just too many emotions, too many things that hovered barely out of his reach that he wanted so desperately to both grasp between his fingers and run away from at the same time.
“Please...” The half-ghoul gasped out, so quietly he wasn’t even sure that Judal could hear him. “Help me...” Before this, what ever this even was, swallowed him whole.
