~from Hide's POV 2nd person~
You watched Ayato's face closely, observing the slight twitch under his eye as he tensed his jaw but refused to respond. Turning to Kaneki, you asked, "So, where have you searched before you called me?"
Kaneki shrugged, scuffing the sidewalk with the sole of his shoe in frustration as he looked down at the ground. "We wasted an hour searching Aogiri, but she wasn't there. That's when I called you to see if she was still at your place..."
"...And when I told you that she wasn't, that's when you told me to meet you here," you finished for him, nodding as you picked up the story from the point in which you'd entered. "Any ideas of where she might be?"
Kaneki hesitated, looking up for a second. "I'm trying to think, but...it feels like I didn't know her as well as I thought I did, because I can't think of anywhere that she'd go." Kaneki looked back down, disappointed in himself.
"Luckily for you, I've got a few ideas," you said after a moment of letting him bask in his own negativity. Kaneki had been your friend first, but the fact that he'd let down (y/n) on countless occasions still bothered you too much to just let go. Casting a small smile at him, you nodded to your left. "Follow me."

~time skip brought to you by Hinami trying to read (so adorable)~

"Do you really think she'll be here?" Kaneki asked doubtfully, and you shook your head.
"Probably not. But we need as much help as we can get if we want to find her, and I happen to know that a few people here are probably willing to join us," you said, ignoring the CLOSED sign and knocking loudly on the door until you saw a tired figure approach the door with disdain in her eyes as she glared at you, opening the door just enough to talk.
"What are you doing here?" Touka asked grumpily, but then she saw Kaneki. "And you," she said in surprise, a weird look on her face, "Why are you..." But then she saw Ayato, and her look was murderous. "You bastard," she growled, flinging the door open and preparing to battle him, but you put your hands up in a defensive gesture.
"You can kill each other later, okay? We need your help right now."
She crossed her arms, scowling. "What do you want?"
"(Y/n) is missing," you said without wasting any time, and once again, her emotions flickered visibly to change from anger to concern.
"(Y/n)..." she murmured, eyes dark as she stared at the ground before looking up, her eyes meeting Kaneki's. "Is she...is she all right? At Aogiri? She's not...being hurt again, is she?"
Kaneki hesitated, throwing a dark look at Ayato that you would have to look into later. "She's...fine right now, just missing. Which is why we came." He looked to you for confirmation, and you nodded, letting him take the lead as you stepped back. It only made sense; Kaneki knew Touka better, and she'd trust him. "We need your help to search for her. Can you help us?"
She only paused for a brief second. "Of course. Just let me grab Hinami and the others. Is that okay? Can they all help?"
You nodded. "The more the merrier." With a half smile, she returned inside Anteiku, closing the door behind her, and you whirled on Ayato.
"What did you do?" you asked immediately, dropping the smile.
"Huh?" he asked, caught off guard and on the defensive. "What do you mean?"
"What did you do to hurt (y/n)?" you asked, and when he didn't respond, it clicked in your head. The broken wing, the bruising on her throat. With pure white anger in your mind, you advanced towards Ayato in long strides and put your hands around his throat. He was too surprised to even resist and you started tightening your grip. Maybe it's not surprise. Maybe it's guilt. Leaning in close to him, you glared into his eyes. "Is this how (y/n) felt when you choked her?" you asked, a glint of malice in your eyes before you released him, sending a glance towards Kaneki, who didn't make any move to stop you. "You knew?" you asked softly, gesturing towards Ayato, who held his chin up but looked strangely disappointed. "You knew that he hurt her?" Your mind was moving too quickly for you to process now. "You're the one who dropped (y/n) off at my house, aren't you? You knew that he hurt her and so you wanted to put her somewhere safe. That's all I am to you, even now, isn't it? I'm fine if you need somewhere to hide but not good enough for you to tell the truth."
"Would you have encouraged me to make a different decision?" Kaneki asked softly, and in frustration, you kicked the ground.
"No. I just..." I just hate the fact that (y/n) is getting hurt and I still can't protect her or do anything about it.
"I know," Kaneki said softly, nodding as though he understood your thoughts.
"You say that but it's only partially true," you muttered. "You can adapt and become stronger for (y/n), but what can I do? What can I do for her in this state?" you asked quietly, gesturing at yourself. "Nothing. I'm completely and utterly useless."
"You say that but it's only partially true," Kaneki said, copying your exact words with sadness in his dark eyes. "Yeah, I can change for (y/n). I can try to become stronger so I can protect her, but if I could do that, then she wouldn't have ended up at your apartment in the first place. She wouldn't be missing now, either. What can you do for her, you ask? Well, what can I do for her? Because it looks like no matter how hard either of us try, we can't keep her safe."
You and Kaneki stood quietly in commiseration before Ayato jumped into the conversation. "Look. I know you guys are all obsessed with protecting (y/n), but I think she can handle herself. So drop the knight-in-shining-armor complex already. I'm sick of it."
You were about to reply when the door opened and the three of you turned to face the added volunteers. Joining you, it seemed, would be Irimi, Touka, Hinami, Yomo, Koma, Mr. Yoshimura, Tsukiyama, Uta, and Nishio.
"Thank you all for agreeing to help," Kaneki said solemnly, bowing in gratitude before straightening up and addressing them. "I wouldn't have asked for your assistance unless in case of an emergency, and while all that we know for sure is that (y/n) is currently missing, I feel that something bad is on its way." He paused, looking at the ground. "And I realize that you probably haven't forgiven us for leaving Anteiku, but-"
"You had your reasons," Mr. Yoshimura filled in for Kaneki, nodding towards him in acknowledgement. "You haven't harmed anyone from Anteiku or damaged anything of ours in any way, so what is there to forgive?" With a kind but tired smile, Mr. Yoshimura lifted his face slightly. "And don't forget that you are welcome back any time."
"Thank you, sir," Kaneki said with a nod before turning to you. "We'll have to split up, but where should we start the search?"
You thought for a moment. "I can think of three places off hand. There's your old apartment. She might have gone there. Otherwise, she could have gone into the outskirts of the city where there are far less people around." That's where I brought Maddy that day. "And finally, she could have gone back to the old Aogiri headquarters."
There was a moment of silence as all involved parties remembered the bloodshed of that night.
Kaneki nodded and turned to the Aogiri staff. "We'll need to split up into three teams of four people each then. Hide, you take Uta, Yomo, and Tsukiyama to the old Aogiri HQ. Ayato can go with Nishio, Irimi, and Koma to the outskirts of the city." Another moment of charged silence as Ayato received a killer glare from Touka. "An I'll go with Touka, Hinami, and Mr. Yoshimura to my old apartment."
"Sounds good to me," Ayato said, stretching his arms behind his neck, and with a sinister smile, turned and started walking in the direction of the outskirts of the city, walking all alone without waiting for the others to catch up, and for a second, you felt bad for him. But then you remembered the bruises around (y/n)'s neck, and you clenched your fists in restraint.

~from (y/n)'s POV 1st person~
I'm not sure where I am. I can't remember. There's four walls around me, though. I know that much.
The air is cold. I know that, too. I know because when I exhale, my breath turns white in the air, white like my dress and like my pale skin that keeps growing paler and paler.
My insides hurt, but I can't do anything about it. It's too cold for me to want to do anything about it.
Sometimes, when I hurt so much that I think a gaping hole will appear in my stomach, I start coughing, and as my breath hitches and catches on the frigid air, I cough more and more, harder and harder.
My dress isn't white anymore, but my skin still is.
That is, except for my wrists. They're a pinkish red. That's not from the coughing but from the chaffing away of skin as the iron of the chains rubs at my wrists.
I don't want to be here.
I don't want to be anywhere.