No Place Left To Run

By Secera Crystalfire

C1: Reversion

Visions of blood, they ate at him constantly. Nightmares of chaos, accompanying his sleep and pursuing him even while awake. His distorted reality was becoming increasingly severe with each hour of life, threatening to drive him into irreversible insanity. This terrible vision, shown to him by his cursed gift, was this what the future promised?

Precognition did not allow him a choice, it granted what it desired and withheld what it determined should remain unrevealed. No way was there to circumvent the visions, just as it is impossible to escape the future. This terrible, beautiful form of advanced intuition was integrated into his mind, his life, his every moment and every thought. It held complete and undivided control over him. And it was now torturing him with the inevitable future of his own blood.

"Careful, Aya!" Manx called out from behind the counter of the Koneko no Sumu Ie. Aya Fujimiya was standing on top of two precariously balanced footstools, trying desperately to tie up the last bit of ivy above the window. Manx, watching the dark-haired girl, nervously bit her lip as the footstools creaked ominously and began to lean to the right. "Maybe you'd better let one of the boys do that," she suggested.

"I'm…all right." Aya gritted her teeth with determination and tried to stretch just a little bit further. "Almost got it."

"Whoa, Aya, let me get that." Yohji insisted as he came in the front door without knocking. "You're gonna fall and hurt yourself." Ignoring Aya's protests, he lifted her off the footstools and set her carefully on the ground. "Geez, don't kick me! I'm only trying to help."

She stuck out her tongue defiantly, but didn't object as he easily reached up and arranged the ivy.

A knock on the door announced the arrival of another visitor.

"At least someone has the courtesy to knock, unlike one particular blonde Weiss boy I know," Manx teased, poking Yohji's shoulder on her way to get the door.

"Not Weiss, not anymore." Yohji disagreed softly, suddenly turning solemn as he remembered the days of the past.

"Hey, ladies, Yohji," greeted Ken as Manx stepped aside so he could come in. "So Omi and Aya, er…Ran, haven't arrived yet?" The former Weiss members still hadn't managed to kick the habit of calling the red-haired assassin by his sister's name.

"My brother's here, I think he's upstairs taking a shower right now. He didn't have a job today."

"So Ran's still taking odd jobs, eh?" Yohji questioned. "I would have thought he'd have settled down a bit by now. Found one job to stick with, you know? Or maybe gone off to college, he's certainly intelligent enough."

"No," Aya shook her head. "In truth, I think he's still trying to work things out. I'm worried about Ran…won't he ever get over this?"

"I'm sure he'll be all right," Ken comforted. "It's just taking a bit longer for him than it did for us…"

Manx nodded encouragingly before opening the door as another visitor began to knock.

"Hi, everyone!" Sakura Tomoe waved cheerfully with one hand. In the other, she held a platter covered in cookies. "Since this is a special occasion and everyone's finally getting back together, I thought I'd bring something to munch on! Hope you like them. Where's Ran?" Sakura, unlike the others, had adjusted quite quickly to the change of names.

"He'll be out soon," Manx assured, ushering the girl into the room and stealing a cookie as she passed.

Omi and Birman, who attended the same college and were driving here together, walked up before Manx could close the door. "How's it going? It's been so long since everyone's been together like this. Oh, cookies…"

"Not now," Sakura chided as Omi looked longingly at the platter. "They're for later."

Manx quickly swallowed the last bite of her cookie before anyone noticed. "Come on, let's go into the other room so everyone can sit down.

The entire group followed Manx into the remodeled living room that had formerly been known as the 'mission room'. Ran joined them soon after, fiery hair slightly damp and flattened. The conversation tended to focus on the various ways of life that the former comrades had chosen. Omi and Birman described the wonders of college life; Ken was enjoying his job at a bike shop and volunteering to organize a soccer team for the local children. Only Yohji, normally so outgoing, was loath to discuss his choice to return to the police force. The others didn't mind, though…they understood his pain.

I bit later, Manx announced that they should start making dinner, "but not everyone, that would be an absolute mess…I'll choose three people to assist me." She looked around the room, at the calm and attentive ladies, and the men, who were carefully not meeting her eyes. "Aya, you come with me, you're a good cook. How about…you, Sakura, you did well with those cookies…and you, Ken."

Ken looked up in surprise. "Me? Why me?"

"I trust your cooking skill a bit more than the other guys. No offense meant, of course," she stated impassively.

The three chosen traipsed off in the direction of the kitchen. Manx turned to follow them.

"Wait, Manx," Birman stood up. "I'll take your place. I'm sure you're tired of cooking by now, having managed this place for so long. No, I don't mind," she resisted Manx's protests. "You just stay here and enjoy yourself."

That decided, Manx resumed sitting in her place beside Yohji on the sofa. Birman headed off to direct the others in their task.

Right outside the door to the kitchen, she found Aya leaning rigidly against the wall. The younger girl's face was pale and her breath was coming in short, unsteady gasps. "Aya, what's wrong?" Birman asked with a worried tone. The girl had been very susceptible to illness since awakening from her coma.

"I'm all right," Aya assured, her voice wavering slightly. She straightened. "Just felt light-headed for a moment, but it's going away." Smiling cutely, she added, "I'm probably just hungry."

"If you're sure you're okay…" Birman followed Aya into the kitchen.

"I'm sure. Don't worry about me, Birman." She walked over to where Ken had begun slicing carrots and promptly threw up.

"Ack! Aya?!" Ken caught her as she collapsed. "What's wrong?!"

"Sakura, go get Ran." Birman directed urgently. She noticed the redness of blood in the girl's disgorged food. "Quickly!"

Sakura, distress apparent on her face, sprinted through the house. She had noticed the blood, too, and knew that her friend's rasping, unsteady breathing and sudden ghost-like complexion were not good. "Ran! It's Aya! Something's wrong with--" she stopped dead at the scene that awaited her. "Ran!"

Yohji and Omi were kneeling on the floor supporting a deadly pale Ran, covered in his blood. More blood was streaming steadily from his mouth and nose, saturating the carpet and converging with his already dark red hair. Manx was frantically shouting into the phone.

Ran weakly lifted his head at Sakura's arrival. "…Aya?"

"My God, it's the same thing…"

"What?" Yohji questioned fiercely. "What do you mean? Is Aya sick, too?!"

Sakura just nodded, trembling.

Manx slammed the phone down. "They can't send an ambulance. We'll have to drive him to the hospital."

"Omi, help me carry him to the car. Sakura, Manx, you go get Aya," Yohji directed, his voice suddenly imperious. "Why the hell can't they send an ambulance?!"

Manx looked questioningly at Sakura.

"Yeah, Aya's sick, too. Let's go."

It was times like this that made Yohji glad he had joined the police force. The portable siren that he had affixed on Aya's, no, Ran's vehicle made sure that they had a clear path on the way to the hospital. He was driving Ran's white car instead of his own because there was more room. Ken was sitting in the passenger seat, and Manx was supporting the two afflicted Fujimiyas in back. The others would be following in another car. Ran looked terrible leaning against Manx, head on her shoulder, but his sister seemed even worse. She was out cold, while Ran was still semi-conscious, and her face was whiter than Yohji thought possible. She'd lost too much blood already, and was losing more still. Manx carefully stroked the girl's head, removing her hair from her face. It didn't help.

Ran tried to lift his head, eyes dull and unfocused. "Aya…"

Yohji drove into the emergency parking lot, despite the sign that read 'ambulances and hospital personnel only'. Curse it all, he was police! And if they had a problem with it, too bad!

Squealing the brakes, Yohji brought the car to a stop right next to the double doors leading into the hospital. Ken quickly jumped out of the car and went inside. A few minutes later, he returned with some of the hospital staff bearing stretchers. With the aid of Yohji and Ken, they carried Aya and Ran into the building. Manx followed, doing whatever she could to help.

Two long hours later, the former members of Weiss and the three associated women were all assembled in the waiting room. Since Aya and Ran had been brought in, seven more had followed, all who appeared to have the same affliction. Two of the seven had been DOA, dead on arrival. A sense of foreboding hung over the room, as the six watched and waited.

There were many other people in the waiting room, enough so that the hospital staff felt it necessary to bring in more chairs. A number of the people had splotches of blood on their apparel.

Finally, a nurse entered the room and announced, "Visitors to see Aya and Ran Fujimiya, this way, please." The six stood up. "Hmm, no, that won't work," The nurse commented. "Two of you may come. I'm sorry, but the others will have to wait."

They agreed after a moment of discussion that Sakura should go. A minute more, and Omi was also selected because he would be best at getting and understanding the information about the disease. The two followed the nurse down a long corridor and up a flight of stairs before stopping outside room 2-108. The nurse opened the door and gestured for Omi and Sakura to follow.

"Omi, Sakura…" Ran was sitting up on the hospital bed, still very pale but looking somewhat better. A doctor stood over him trying to convince the redhead to lay back down, obviously very frustrated. Ran was completely ignoring him. Also in the room was Aya, still unconscious.

The doctor looked up at the newcomers. "We'll leave you two here with them for a few minutes." He collected a few materials and started for the door. "But please, get him to lay down. He shouldn't be up right now, he's still very sick." The doctor had a pleading look on his face as he followed the nurse outside.

"Ran? How are you feeling?" Sakura asked. "Maybe you should do what the doctor asked…"

"There's no way. I'm fine." He lowered himself defiantly from the bed. "I just want to see how Aya's doing."

Sakura came forward to help as Ran stumbled unsteadily over to Aya. "You don't seem fine."

"I am." Ran assured ardently. He politely shunned her support.

A nurse entered the room at that moment, not the same nurse as before. "What? …You shouldn't be out of bed, sir."

"I'm fine!" The nurse was taken aback by the fierceness in his voice.

"Don't mind Ran," Omi reassured. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Oh, people have been streaming in all day with this disease. It's terrible, it's like an epidemic! They come in, covered in blood…all our ambulances are out and we're running out of room in the hospital. Family members," she gestured at Aya and Ran, "are put in the same room so we have enough space for everyone. But soon, we'll have to start sending people to other hospitals. There's only so much that can be done!" She walked up to Aya and began taking the girl's temperature.

"Do you know anything about the disease?" Omi asked. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure, no one is. Our staff is working on it without pause, but I hear it's not going too well. No one has ever seen this before. We don't even know what causes it, much less what cures it."

"I see." Omi thought silently for a moment. 'This is going to be more difficult than I thought,' he conceded to himself.

The nurse recorded Aya's temperature on her notepad and left silently.

"An epidemic…" Ran repeated the nurse's words.

"Did the doctor say anything about it?" Omi questioned curiously.

"About the disease? Not much. He said I was one of very few to even partially recover from it, that most people were still unconscious, and all that could be done was to stop the bleeding before they died. He said that even I am not fully recovered, that it will probably recur from time to time, just not as violently." Ran walked over to the door, more steady and unwavering with each step. "Schwarz, they're the only ones who could have created such a disease and turned it into an epidemic! This time, they shall not survive!" Eyes vibrant with hatred, he started out the door.

"No, Ran! Wait!" shouted Omi, catching up to him in the hallway. "You don't know that this disease was created at all! And you can't possible go up against Schwarz as you are now. Anyway, I don't believe Schwarz even exists anymore." He grabbed Ran's arm, stopping the angry ex-assassin from going further.

"Shut up and leave me alone!" Forcefully, he pulled away.

Omi knew he couldn't stop the taller, stronger man from leaving, even as ill as Ran was. He ran off in the direction of the waiting room to alert the others. Sakura, who had been watching with a frozen look of alarm on her face, started after Ran. However, one look at his eyes warned her away. "I…I will take care of Aya, while you're gone."

"Thank you." He turned and walked away without looking back.

"Stupid Ay, er…Ran, what is he thinking?!" On his way back to the waiting room, Omi passed two nurses pushing a stretcher with a red-haired woman on it. Quickly, he looked back at the patient. Then, "Manx?!"

Sure enough, it was Manx who was being carted away, blood flowing freely from her mouth and nose.

End Part One.

Note of the Authoress: I plan for this to be several chapters long, especially if I get reviews (hint, hint)! More Schwarz in following chapters, and I want to pick up the pace a bit… Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

Also, if you notice anything incorrect, please let me know. I'm not really all that familiar with hospitals. Arigatou!