Chapter 21
Yohji was suspended by rope twining around his crossed wrists, his head resting on his left shoulder. He was stripped of all his clothes and his body was illuminated by two tree lamps. Two more tree lamps stood in the far back corners lighting the rest of the room. The brick walls were painted a bright white, allowing the four lamps to provide more than enough light.
Yohji clung to the dreads of unconsciousness. His awakening brought an acute awareness to the acnes and pains traveling throughout his body. As the last bit of unconsciousness left him footsteps could be heard descending a set of stairs. Though awake he was still groggy, leaving the footfalls sounding miles away. Before those footsteps could close the non existing miles Yohji forced his head to look upward at the restraints surrounding his wrists. Ever so gently he tugged on them testing their resistance.
"I assure you they are quite secure." The booming voice caused Yohji's head to snap down and sending a wave of nausea and dizziness almost sending him into oblivion. "I would appreciate it if you would not make sudden movements like that again. I had to wait long enough for you to come back around the first time and I would really like you awake for this.
Günter moved about the room fiddling with various tools splayed on the table before Yohji. Spying the instruments Yohji asked "What do you want?"
"In general or you specifically?"
"I guess at the moment me."
"Well, you are a means to an end, really."
"Meaning?" Yohji did not care the vague answers he was receiving and should he keep asking questions perhaps he can prolong the pain and torture that was sure to come.
"Meaning that you are a device, a tool if you will. A tool to get what I want, what I deserve."
"What do you want?"
"I want..." Günter's fingers became a dark red and blistering hot with each of the following words he traced a finger across Yohji's abdomen. "I want the world." Yohji howled in pain as his skin instantly blistered.
In between his gasps of pain "please, the baby." Tears streaked down his face. He would never forgive himself if something happened to the baby even if he was helpless to do anything.
"Ah, yes the baby." Another streak of blisters and cry of pain.
"Why?" Yohji spoke through a heavy breath.
"Why, what? You are going to have to be more specific."
A deep breath to calm his nerves and even his voice. "Schu never mentioned a brother. Why?"
"The question of family. I am surprised that in your current situation you should ask that of all questions. The simple reason is because he hates me. In his defense the hate is mutual. You see." Günter leaned in close and whispered the remaining words. "I killed our parents." Yohji eyes widen almost to a comical state. Still Günter laughed boisterously. "Yes, I, the child born of the forced coupling and he the child born out of love. We were bound to hate each other. He was supposed to die as well. Somehow he managed to escape the inferno and survive the world at the age of three. It was quite the surprise when he arrived at Rosenkranz. He vehemently swore vengeance. I see you are confused. Everything I did, even at that age was for my gain. I met the Great Elders a few months prior to the deaths of my parents. They told me of Rosenkranz and I saw my opportunity. I recognized power when I saw it and the Great Elders were power. They have had their time and that will end when the time is right." Günter reached his hand toward Yohji and Yohji strained away as far as possible and when Günter's finger tips grazed his skin he felt nothing unusual, no burning. Relaxing slightly, Yohji's body once again became completely vertical. At that moment Günter dug fire hot finger into Yohji's ribs. The pain was too much causing him to black out. The relief of unconsciousness lasted only seconds.
He was brought back by the sudden slamming of the door and hurried footsteps sounding on the stairs. Aya flew down the stairs and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Yohji. Slowly he walked toward Yohji his increasing the he came. He whispered, "Yohji." His hand moved toward Yohji's face until he caught sight of his pregnant belly. His hand detoured to Yohji abdomen. Scant inches from the surface, Yohji shifted away. Aya hesitated, but continued despite Yohji straining in his bonds to get away from him. He placed his hand on the swollen stomach. Yohji continued to stretch away from Aya's hand, disgusted and scared. Soothingly and almost sensually Aya rubbed, but stopped as his hand came across the first series of blisters. Aya immediately addressed Günter. "What are these?"
"They are blisters."
"I can see that, what caused them." Günter answered by wiggling his fingers. "Why?"
"Dear Aya, allow me to introduce you to our prize." A small glance at Yohji's pregnant stomach, he continued "Then again I do believe you already know one another."
"Yohji? Why him?" His voice grew in volume.
"He is a weak link for them all, all of Schwartz. The Elders."
Aya interrupted the explanation, "the Elders are dead."
"What?" Günter for the first time was shocked.
"Weiss. They killed them. Schwartz practically did nothing to save them."
"I am not surprised at the last bit of news. Those four were, are, traitors. I am surprised that two non-talents were able to destroy the Great Elders. Well, we do have our little safety net." Günter reached for Yohji with scorching fingers. Aya quickly reached out, grabbing Günter's wrist, stopping his fingers from touching Yohji's skin by millimeters. Günter heated his skin up pass his wrist. Aya immediately released his hold cradling his hand protectively. Günter stepped as close as possible to Aya, "do not interfere with my work." He stepped back. "Now go clean yourself up before you bleed. Should that happen, how are you to protect your obsession?"
Aya said nothing the only action he took was to level Günter with his shi-ni glare. He warily watched Günter as he maneuvered around Yohji. When he was sure no lasting harm would befall Yohji he tended to his wounds given to him by Siberian's claws.
Throughout the entire exchange between Günter and Aya, Yohji remained perfectly silent. He had no desire to turn the full attention to his person. All he wanted was to make sure the baby was alright since Günter seemed to focus his torturing there. While Aya was bandaging his wounds and Günter was fiddling with something he could not see, Yohji tried once again to contact Schuldig. 'Schu, please answer. I need you.'
Günter turned around, the object he was fiddling with firmly in his grasp. Yohji registered Aya screaming "no" before all went black again.
Though Schuldig was able to pull himself together enough for the others to leave the room he was far from okay. He made his way over to the window and stared at the scenery before him. BY the looks of him one would think he was lost in his grief. They would be wrong for his mind was on over drive. Schuldig knew Günter better than most. He remembered his brother from those first few years of his life; the way he behaved, spoke and most importantly the way he thought. His knowledge of Günter only grew when he entered Rosenkranz. Schuldig took the old saying "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" to heart and with control of his telepathy and off the narcotics he did not have to be physically close. As far as he was concerned Rosenkranz was full of potential enemies and enemies alike. Günter topped that list of enemies. Crawford at the time was the only one he trusted, for he kept Schuldig safe until control and sobriety was achieved. Throughout the years at Rosenkranz, Schuldig form a virtually invisible link to Günter. The type of link that you would only find if specifically went looking for it and Schuldig was looking for that tiny, thin, single thread among the clutter of his head. Günter was his only link to Yohji at the moment. Initially when Schuldig received no response from Yohji he followed the thread and found it to be severed. How he could not say, but the individual had to be strong because he did not even feel the disconnection. Yohji's severed link was something to ponder at another time.
Everyone in the world of talents Günter's exploits. He liked to play with his targets, draw out their pain, suffering and eventual death. Though this gave Schuldig time he knew that a person could take a lot of damage especially a trained assassin like Yohji. He needed to act quickly.
Several minutes of searching Schuldig finally uncovered the thread to Günter. It was thinner than he remembered and extremely fragile. Very carefully his followed it. The thread lead him through the city and grew in thickness and strength, which surprised Schuldig for he specifically created the thread not to be noticeable. He could sense he was getting closer when suddenly the thread went slack. Someone cut the thread. It took every fiber of Schuldig's being to not break down.
He grabbed the sides of his head. "Think! Think! Think! Arghhh! I know him, I know Günter. Where would he go? He would need space, time, and concealment. I know he is in the city. I was close to him until the thread broke. The city has high-rise apartments, no houses. Apartments have neighbors; screams...screams of pain would be heard. So, not up in a building, but down is possible. Basements, underground, are their apartments with basements or underground dwellings?" Schuldig ran out of his bedroom and halfway down the stairs. "I need help! Where...are there any basement dwellings in the city?"
The group downstairs was shocked by his sudden appearance that it took a moment for his question to sink in. "Guys!" They all snapped out of their shock. Nagi and Omi bolted to the computer and did what they do best, gather information from the internet. Crawford and Ken met Schuldig at the stairs and brought him down to sit on the couch. Once seated Schuldig shared his train of thought about Günter's whereabouts. Minutes passed before Omi and Nagi were triumphant. They discovered four potential locations, but only one stood out to Schuldig as the place Günter would go. Günter was a narcissistic bastard; he wanted the best and richest always. The search result was a premier apartment high-rise. Where the top floors had roof access, half of the lower floors had basement access. The high price tag for the apartments clinched it for Schuldig.
A destination in mind the six of them prepared for the mission. A small quick meal was prepared and eaten for sustenance. Weapons were checked and concealed in pants, shirts, and jackets. Farfarello never ending his care for Aya-chan picked her up, cradle her to him and tucked her into one of the guest room's bed. He left her with a small kiss on the forehead and joined the others. The six piled into their vehicle and drove to the rescue.
A/N: Thank you all for reviewing, alerts, and reading. This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I decided to split it into two chapters. I apologize for the long wait. School the past couple of weeks has been kicking my rear. I am hoping to have this fic finished in two more chapters. It was brought to my attention that my back story between Gunter and Schuldig is like another author's. This was not my intention. I have expanded on their history and hopefully it is different from the other author. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and as always please review. I will try to have the next chapter up in a week, but do not hold your breath.