A/N: I hate o7. So I've been catching up on my manga reading…and…when is the plot going to MOVE. I love Teito, I do, but I don't care about his background! I wanna know how Frau died Dx I'm tired of speculating. Geez.
On a more important note: HAS ANYONE READ CHAPTER 73 of 07-Ghost? That black haired dude looks like FRAU! That has got to be Frau's dad! Or, like, relation. No, I'm sticking with dad (my fangirlism won't allow anything else, not even uncle). I knew Frau got his blondiness from his mother x3 If I just ruined it for some of you who haven't (or don't) read it up to that point, I apologize. I just got so EXCITED! I squeeled… it was embarrassing.
Chapter 21
Support
Word Count: 3, 583
Warning: Frau curses, A LOT. Along with Castor. They kinda…yeah. I'll just let you guys read.
"You need to tell me what's going on, Frau."
Sitting on the ground, his back pressed against the wall, Frau laughed into the air, something joyous yet bordering on delirious. The laughter continued for sometime, to the point where the blond was bending over, arms snaked around his abdomen in a failed attempt to ease the pain splitting his sides. Tears collected in the corners of his eyes and eyelashes as he attempted to blink the moisture away.
And once he began to wonder what was so damn funny that he would laugh like a complete psychopath,and with nothing coming to mind, Frau slowly calmed down, his arms falling at his sides as his head rested against the wall.
Then he grinned, looked to Lance with an expression akin to melancholy, and turned away, eyes kept forward and lips pulled into a charming little smile.
"You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" Lance questioned though it took the tone of someone stating fact.
Frau shook his head.
"Figured," the blond bishop sighed, "Told Labrador as much. But he didn't believe me. One would think he would understand your mood swings better than me."
Frau felt a bit awestruck at Lance's calm behavior, taking the archbishop's lunatic behavior in stride. He would have applauded if it wasn't Lance of all people.
"Perhaps I shall take my leave then," the bishop turned in place, a hand rose in a silent farewell, and he was beginning to advance forward when Frau called out to him. Lance paused but did not turn to the man behind him.
"If –," Frau began after a lengthy pause, certain that the stalling and the inquiry itself was his dwindling confidence reaching out to misery for some company. He would have scolded himself, called himself every demeaning word he could think of for his recent behavior, but he managed to bite his tongue and hold off his verbal lashing for the boundaries of his room. "If you were Archbishop, instead of me, what would you have done differently?"
The question hung in the air, neither clergyman moved to acknowledge the other's presence. Instead, Lance spoke to the air before him as milk-chocolate eyes glared at something unseen. He wasn't certain what exactly the current archbishop was fishing for: a warm response or a mocking one, but Lance decided that Frau didn't deserve the answer he was searching for.
"I certainly wouldn't be hiding in a hallway wishing for an easy way out."
Once Lance's receding steps blended into the silence hanging around Frau, the archbishop fished the pack of cigarettes hidden beneath his robes. He had the small stick cradled between his lips, ready to ignite it and allow blissful tobacco smoke to fill his lungs and calm his nerves, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Frau ripped the cigarette from his lips, crumbled it within his gloved hand, and littered the polished ground with bits of white paper and brown tobacco. He fiddled with the packet in hand for some time, reading the warning labels and wondering faintly how the smoking would affect him if he couldn't really die. Would his lungs just fill with black tar until it made breathing difficult, and he would live with that disability until…well, until what? He always hated contemplating his death, especially when he didn't understand the whole concept.
Calmer now, having exhausted his troubled mind, Frau slipped a new cigarette between his lips and ignited it without a second thought. Indulging in a small grunt, absentmindedly chewing on the filter, the archbishop rose to his feet, dusted his slacks, and confidently strode towards the District's courtyard.
.o7Ghost.o7Ghost.o7Ghost.
Later that day, when Frau decided to invite himself to dinner, three strange things happened. If he knew what had been in store for him, lurking in the shadows, he wouldn't have invited himself to dinner at all.
But on his way to the dinning hall, Lance had approached him and apologized for his blunt words and rude manner. The archbishop confusingly accepted the apology with a simple: "No problem." And watched the man politely excuse himself and walk away.
If that had not been bizarre enough to make pigs fly, the next strange thing had happened during dinner.
Castor and Hakuren had joined him at his table, without asking for permission, and immediately bombarded him with business talk – or he assumed it was business, sounded like business, had business-y words and phrases. Frau had listened on reluctantly, hearing them comment on the progress of the District's restoration, rehabilitation, or whatever word they used, partnerships and allies within other Districts, and their relationship with the First District, as well as with the royal Barsburg family.
But that wasn't the strange occurrence that had happened during dinner, it was when he had a total of three eyefish in his mouth, wondering how many more he could fit without choking, when the soft melody of bells tickled his ears.
In his surprise, he swallowed two whole and began to choke on the third. Castor, pointlessly, pounded his back until Frau threatened him with a fork.
Now, on its own, that would not have been so strange. They lived within a church – bells were a common form of signal within its walls. They woke the sun and District, signal commencement of mass, class, signaled the commencement of the day's chores, of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Signaled the final call before the doors closed.
But these bells were different. Soothing, soft, endearing. Frau experienced déjà vu as he searched for a physical producer of said bells before he remembered that the same thing had happened that morning, during the meeting. Now he regretted not explaining to Castor and Labrador what had gone through his mind the first time he heard the Bells because, now, he remembered nothing of the incident but that it took place.
Then, to top of the night and tie it with a big bow of crazy, Labrador came rushing into the dinning hall while Frau attempted to calm Castor's concern because Frau, apparently, had looked "like a child who was robbed of their stuffed toy."
It was during the part where Frau was denying being on any psyche medication that Labrador pounded the table with both his fists, glared at the Archbishop, and cryptically declared, "I know."
"You know what?" was Frau's quick response as he raised an eyebrow, fork still leveled over his meal since the bell incident. Castor looked between the two before stealing a glance at Hakuren - the boy was peacefully pushing around a pinkish flower around his salad, not even bothering to be a part of the conversation.
"I know!" The glare vanished, and something bordering on desperation turned Labrador's eyes a soft mauve color and contorted his face.
"That's very nice and all, Lab, that you know," Frau waved his fork in the air, attempting a look of indifference against Labrador's defiant pout, "but what I'm asking is that this thing you," here he stabbed his fork towards the gardener standing beside Hakuren, "know is relevant to anything I might know. Ya know?"
"Frau, you are being ridiculous." Labrador sighed as he rolled his eyes for an added effect.
"That should be my line. I didn't come busting into the Mess Hall claiming that I 'know'." Across from him, Hakuren stifled a laugh.
"I know what's happened Teito-kun."
Hakuren's laughter vanished in an instant, Castor was so startled that he showed it, and Frau's distant, calm expression contorted and soured at every passing second. He leaned forward, slowly, towards Labrador, before stabbing his fork into the wooden table. The young blond visibly flinched and cowered: chin pressed against his chest as his shoulders rose. Castor jumped a bit but easily regained his composure, eyes glaring from underneath his cascade of red-hued brown hair towards the blond beside him. Frau kept his unwavering icicle stare on the terrified but defiant bishop standing before him.
Seconds passed, and Frau counted them with every rise and fall of Labrador's chest. The petite man's glare took a darker shade, challenging, before their Archbishop inelegantly pushed away from his seat and sauntered towards the courtyard.
The room gave a unified sigh of relief, most uncertain why it had suddenly felt terribly cold within the Hall but terribly glad it had ended. A few moments passed before Castor followed Labrador and Frau, instructing Hakuren to return to his room and take a much-needed rest.
The puppeteer arrived just as the yelling began, Frau obviously furious while Labrador battled with distress. Their voices rose higher and higher, each trying to get their say in the conversation though the way Labrador seemed to chase after the taller man, it was apparent that Frau wanted nothing to do with the conversation. He caught sight of Castor approaching their group and pointed an accusing finger towards him, a growl in his voice as he yelled at the bespectacled man.
"You! You're the fucking one that told me to forget about the fucking brat, not even giving me the peace of mind to go looking for him that time we returned from the First District, and now this fucker comes up with this bullshit just when I'm finally getting the stupid piece of shit out of my mind? You two fucking sadists," he snarled at both approaching bishops, "better stay the fuck out of my life from this point forward. I'm finally turning my fucking life around," here he sighed and turned towards the sky in desperation, "never thought I would ever say that, ever, within my lifetime."
He turned back to his approaching problems, "and now you come up with this bullshit." Labrador made move to defend himself but Frau skillfully interrupted before the man could even take in a breath to speak. "I don't care. I don't care where the brat is, what the brat is fucking doing. Or who he's fucking, just stop before I seriously pound your face into your goddamn skull."
Castor approached Frau, clenching and unclenching his fists, as they stood nose to nose, neither backing off. He could feel the faint heat radiating off his archbishop, could see the faint droplets still in his hair, revealing the shower he took before coming to dinner. He could see the faint redness spreading like spider-webs across his sclera and almost felt sorry for the man before he heard the animalistic growling vibrating across Frau's broad chest and decided the blond had a lesson he needed learnt.
"Can you stop attacking Labrador like some unruly little child ," he rushed underneath his breath as he glared from beneath his shaggy hair, only to be interrupted half way by Frau's own attack of "Can you stop actin' all mature an' shit when we all know that's a goddamn lie ."
"Can you think about someone else for once in your pathetic excuse for a life !" he snapped, an edge to his tone as it took a louder pitch.
"Can you?" Frau full out yelled.
Castor was taken aback for a moment before he regained his composure, a glare in his eyes and a growl in his voice as he snapped at the Archbishop. "Of course I care about other people other than myself. I've been taking care of you these past fucking weeks, you ignorant, churlish, ungrateful little brat!" he spat the word like venom, sadistically satisfied when the blond suppressed a flinch. "All this time I've been attempting to comfort you, to consol and "
"Oh what a boat-load of crap "
"It is more than anything you've ever done for me!"
"Here we go with the Lazette thing again."
"YES! Here we go again, you selfish, crude brute!"
"You act as if you're the only one "
"I'm the only one who was not allowed to mourn her death "
"Because you're the only one who didn't. When you found out she died, you could've but you didn't. You decided revenge was a better route. I bet you're glad she's pushin' up daisies "
"Say that one more time, you fucking son of a bitch."
"I bet you're glad "
"Stop it!"
Labrador rushed in between them, using his depleting strength to push them apart, discreetly attempting to wipe away tears with the sleeve of his robes. The two easily stepped away, glaring at anything but each other. Labrador stifled a sob, grinding his teeth together as he attempted to compose himself.
It took a while, but the simple fact that the petite man was acting like a child who had just watched their parents fight, it was enough to calm Frau and Castor though not enough to quell their anger towards each other.
"Why do you two always fight until you draw blood?" the bishop's voice hitched because of his dried throat, but he courageously carried on, head held high and defiant. "You two are family "
"That fucking asshole started it "
"Let me finish," Labrador snapped at his archbishop without making eye contact. He took a calming breath before he repeated his request, quieter and calmer this time around. When he heard no signs of someone waiting to interrupt, he continued. "There is a point where arguing can bond two together, make them stronger, but not like this. I have seen the way you two communicate with one another other, how you two collaborate. It's flawless, near perfect coordination. Do not spoil something so precious over trivial "
"Lazette's death is nothing trivial "
"The way you spout it about, Castor, certainly makes it seem so!" Labrador spat, glaring at the puppeteer from the corner of his eyes. "I highly doubt she would approve of your behavior over her death." He noticed the fury contorting Castor's expression and continued, at a higher tone to drown out the man's protests, "And I highly doubt she wanted to be avengedby having the entire First District slaughtered. She was a kind, lovely girl," Labrador lowered his tone, softened his expression, "do not use her death as an excuse to release your frustrations and fears."
Brows furrowed, forehead creased, eyes narrowed, and lips pulled into a feral snarl, Castor took a threatening step forward before he was forced to halt by Frau's words cutting through him like a sickle.
"A few moment's ago you were defending him. What happened?"
Shock raised eyebrows, smoothed wrinkles and straightened lips. Then, slowly, eyebrows fell, lips dipped, and, before they could see the raw emotions contort the rest of his face, Castor placed a gloved hand over his eyes, shoulders slouched as if his pristine white bishop robes were too heavy for his frail form to carry.
Castor opened his mouth to speak, but closed it after a moment of silence. Prompted by encouragement he could not see but certainly feel for whatever strange reason, he removed his hand and grimaced at the light droplets staining his leather gloves.
"Then what," he croaked, and cleared his throat before continuing. "Then what am I suppose to do.?"
"Help this idiot over here," Labrador sighed contently, unadulterated affection spreading across his features. He silently watched as blond and russet stared at each other, both weary but seeming to realize where their smallest friend was going with this. "He has a chance at something you've experienced with Lazette. Yes, it will be difficult watching Frau experience a familiar happiness that you once possessed, but is it not better that someone be allowed such a thing than no one at all?
We live in cruel times, Castor. We've seen cruelty happen before our eyes; does that mean we must also bestow it upon others? If not because it is your duty as a messenger of God," Labrador approached Castor, took his hand and tugged him forward until he was standing before Frau. "Then because you are his best friend. And in this world of deceit and lies, we must cherish and foster the few friendships we have."
For one beautiful, heart meltingly, adorable moment, all three bishops basked in Labrador's sweet, honest words, feeling lighter and content, before Frau felt awkward, and in an attempt to regain his masculinity, interrupted the "moment" with his untimely, and horrible, humor.
"Lab, you sound like a fortune cookie."
Castor groaned and rolled his eyes, Labrador slapped his forehead but his smile remained in place. And after another moment of basking in Frau's stupidity, Labrador frowned and turned to his Archbishop. The blond visibly tensed, stood to his full-height and squared his jaw, appearing as if he was preparing to be punched on the nose.
"I saw Teito," Labrador spoke softly, delicately.
"Wait, saw," Castor frowned while Frau continued to act as if the information meant nothing.
"I know," the gardener direction his attention towards the russet. "I thought I had lost the powers I received as a Ghost, but it appears they have been dormant until I recuperated most of my eyesight. I assume it has something to do with my power's connection to my physical eyesight."
"So you actually saw Teito-kun." Castor faintly wondered why he was the one asking the questions, but assumed Frau was currently in shock. He knew he would be if he suddenly heard Lazette isn't really dead.
"He was…in a room…" Labrador pressed a finger to his temple, and struggled to remember as if it had been a dream. "It was strange, this vision. I could freely move within it, unlike the rest that often appear cryptic and flashes of pictures."
"That is certainly odd," Castor mused. But stealing a glance towards Frau told him he should muse on his own time. "So, what exactly did you See?"
"The room was small, square. There was a window across from the doorway, blocked out by some sort of black plastic, I think. The room was bare, aside from a single chair in the center."
Frau turned his back towards them, a hand on his forehead. He suddenly felt feverish.
"Frau?" Castor questioned, concern icing his tone.
"Nnnh," the blond shook his head, battling with something inside of him. "No, no. I don't want to hear. No."
"He was there," Labrador continued, attempting to consol Frau by excluding the condition he saw Teito in. "Along with Ayanami-san and his lieutenant. I was able to walk out of the room; they were in a small apartment; the houses appeared very simple, like that of lower class. There was a sign visible from outside one of the windows, hanging from the building. It read "Butcher's Choice". The sign was very rundown, chipped and faded. I believe the room was at least three stories high; the Barsburg Military tower was visible."
That was as far as Labrador's explanation went, having found nothing else that could direct Frau in the right direction, if the man was even planning on going after the boy. Labrador was certain he would, but as seconds passed and nothing happened, he began to doubt Frau's constant need to save Teito. He turned to Castor for assistance, found the man frowning at the blond's back, clearly thinking about something.
At that point, the gardener couldn't decide what exactly the man was plotting when he shocked both by telling Frau he shouldn't go looking for the brunet.
"What?" Labrador gasped, replaying the conversation he had with both about supporting each other, and wondered if he had not been clear enough.
"Yeah," Frau looked over his shoulder, "what?" He prodded the thin ice they were standing on with a small snap of tongue; perhaps he had heard wrong.
"You shouldn't go," Castor repeated, accentuating each syllable to make sure he wouldn't be misunderstood. He caught Labrador's shocked expression and steeled his owned, drawing himself up in defense. "Yes, I just said Frau shouldn't go. We currently have bad relations with the First District. If Frau is caught snooping around, we might end up going to war with them. Especially if he claims that they wrongly have Teito within their custody."
"The brat is not some negotiating token "
"The moment he stepped out of our borders and into the First District he became so," the man retorted with a passive expression.
"Look, you cold-hearted sonnavabitch "
"This will not be discussed, Frau. If I find out you have left the Seventh District on this stupid little mission, come hell or high water, I will denounce you in front of the Pope and make sure you are labeled a traitor, stripped from your title of Archbishop and have your Bishop's Pass revoked. I will make sure you will never be allowed to step foot within the Seventh District again."
"Are you honestly making me choose between my District and Teito?"
"How you perceive it is your own," Castor returned Frau's glare.
"This is not what I meant " Labrador exclaimed, exasperated but was rudely interrupted by Castor's sharp tongue.
"What I've said is final. Not one foot outside this District, Frau. The Pope will be arriving in a few days time; I will not lie to him for your sudden disappearance on such an important appointment. Do I make myself clear?"
"You can't be serious," Frau nearly begged, uncertain of why he was doing it but part of his conscience made him crave for Castor's support and approval on the matter.
"Not one foot outside the District. That is where my decision rests and how this conversation ends. Good night, Frau, Labrador." With an incline of the head to both, Castor turned and walked away.
A/N: I made TWO guys cry. Oh, I should get an award for that. Or scolded. THIS IS MY FIRST FANFICTION, LEAVE ME ALONE! I know guys don't act like this, I just couldn't help myself.