Experienced Weiss Kreuz fans and authors:
Forgive me, I beg of you. I am among the unfortunate, uninitiated people, who have never really seen or read the series, but I've formulated an idea of what happens, from the marvelous fanfictions out there that I've read.
This story is an extremely *sappy*, *angsty*, and undoubtedly *horribly* out-of-character pairing between Brad, my favorite clairvoyant, and Ken, a fellow soccer-player. And I mean SAP, SAP, *SAP*, okay?
I understand that this is one of those "rare" pairings, but, well... I kinda like it!
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Disclaimer: I own nothing except the pictures in my head
Warning: Sap, angst, and shonein-ai situations. Brad+Ken, plus a few other pairs mentioned along the way...
Author: Kasey
Archive: Not unless I send it to you.
Status: Complete, self-edited.
Key: /italics/ and *emphasis*
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"Lavender"
-Part Six-
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Now, as I look at him, laying quietly in the bed I made up for him, I wonder what's going to happen. His shoulder is wrapped thickly in bandages and plaster, but he's been washed clean of blood.
Aya, Omi, and Youji have left me alone. They're in my apartment. They're sitting in my kitchen, sipping coffee, but they've left me alone. With Brad. I don't know what Youji told them... I know he wouldn't lie to them, but I doubt he told them the whole truth, either.
Brad licks his lips, and yawns. He's cute when he yawns, even if he's not wearing his glasses. I took them off so that they wouldn't get lost in the emergency rush at the hospital. Now they sit, cleaned, on the desk beside his bed. "Ken..."
I step forward, and touch my hand to his uninjured shoulder, the one closest to me. "Yeah?"
"Mmm." He smiles, and opens his eyes. "I love you."
For some reason, I find myself unable to smile back. "What's going to happen, now, Brad?"
He closes his eyes again. "You collect your pay from Kritiker," he says, as if that were the obvious answer.
I frown. "Kritiker only pays us if you're all dead," I say.
"And we will be."
"Not..." I shake my head. "Not if I have anything to say about it!"
"But Bradley Crawford is dead," he says, raising an eyebrow, "And Schwarz cannot operate without him there to run things."
This isn't making sense to me. I don't understand. "Brad, I don't--"
"The others left, after you hit me, right?" he asks. I nod. "Then, as far as they know, I am dead. That is what they will report to what remains of Estet."
Shu will know, I think. "What about Shu... He knows. He has to know, doesn't he?"
I think this is the first time I've ever seen Brad grin like this. His whole face lights up, and he looks especially pleased with... something. "Shuldich will tell Estet exactly what he saw. You hit me, and I fell down. I didn't return."
Realization dawns upon me. "You-you're faking death?" I ask, wide-eyed. "And... and Shu's helping you!"
"You did it," he reminds me.
"But... I wasn't *trying* to..." Another thought hits me. "Why, Brad?"
He closes his eyes again, and his hand reaches up to cover mine. "Schwarz is done with, Ken. We're done. Tired. To quote Nagi, we can't take it any more."
"Killing?"
"Mm-hm." He's smiling again, and our fingers are intertwined. "Killing. Working a thankless job. I, in particular, have better things I would like to do with my life." Now he's looking at me, in my eyes, and I realize that he means *me*.
I gulp. "And the others?"
"They agree. Nagi has found himself... drawn... to someone who would not accept him, if he was part of Schwarz. He told me, himself, that they mean more to him than Schwarz does."
I blink. Nagi, the youngest member of Schwarz, who couldn't be any more than sixteen... The same age I was, when I met Brad.
"It's Bombay," Brad says, chuckling, and I stare at him.
"*Omi*?!?!" What was it mom used to say about manners? Don't screech in the injured man's ear. Brad winces, and I'm instantly sorry, but he's still chuckling. "You're... you're kidding..." I'm blustering, but Nagi... Omi... the thought isn't quite connecting.
"What? Ken?!" Omi's outside the room, knocking on the door. Of course, he must have heard me yell. I let him in. "Ken! What's wrong?" he asks.
Aya's coming down the hall, an angry look on his face, and I can see Youji's blond hair, behind him. I pull Omi towards me and whisper, "What do you know about Nagi?"
I know Brad's right, when Omi turns a deep scarlet. Christ, I didn't think even *I* blushed *that* badly! "K-Ken!" he stammers. "What do you mean?"
"Ken?" Aya asks. "What's going on?"
"I was just talking with Brad," I say innocently. A particularly dark look comes over Aya's face... apparently, he doesn't like my having a first-name relationship with Schwarz. "He's not Schwarz, anymore," I add, hoping that will help.
Aya snorts. "He's lying."
"No," Brad says, from the bed. Of course he can hear us... we're only a few feet away, even if we're speaking softly. "Schwarz... is done."
"How d'you figure that?" Omi asks, stepping into my room. He's not afraid of Brad. Brad isn't particularly dangerous when he's laid up in bed like this. Omi hovers near the foot of the bed, waiting for an answer as Aya, followed by Youji, enters the room.
Brad sighs. "It's my plan," he says slowly. "Infallible, I think. Shuldich is telling Estet that I am dead..."
"You came too close," I mutter. Youji is the only one who hears me, and he gives me a somewhat amused glance.
"...He will tell them only the truth," Brad goes on, "That Ken hit me, and I went down..."
"Were you part of this?" Aya asks me sharply.
There is death in Aya's eyes... I know how he hates traitors and double-crossers. "No!" I say. "I... I had no idea this was gonna happen!"
Omi glances curiously between me and Brad, and I can almost see the realization formulating in his head. "So... what's the plan?" he asks Brad.
Brad lifts his head, slightly, to get a look at Omi. I have to refrain myself from pushing him back against the bed--the doctor told me that he was not to move unless absolutely required to, i.e. eating and going to the bathroom. But Brad smiles slightly, having seen Omi's big, questioning eyes, and settles himself back on the pillows.
"Without me to guide them," Brad says, "Schwarz will fall apart. Shuldich cannot take over... neither can Nagi. Farfarello is out of the question!" he laughs. "Estet has no replacement for me, so Schwarz will be..." He looks up at the ceiling, trying to find an analogy, and I get a good look into his brown eyes... He looks at me, and continues. "...Schwarz will be like a snake, without its head. Once the head is gone, the rest will slowly die."
Youji's eyebrows are pressed together, and he is nodding as he makes sense of Brad's plan. Aya is still glowering, his fingers tapping lightly at the hilt of his sheathed katana.
Omi speaks up. "What do you mean, 'die?'"
Brad doesn't answer him immediately. He looks at Aya. "Aya?" he asks, testing the name.
Aya's hand tightens around the sword hilt, and I tense. "What?" he asks tersely.
"You prefer to take tougher missions, for more money... You know very well that these three..." he indicated Youji, Omi, and myself, "...Can take care of themselves, without you. However, you also like to think that, without you, they wouldn't stand a chance against the real world."
As Brad speaks, Aya's eyes widen slowly. It seems that Brad speaks the truth. Youji, Omi, and I are appropriately silent--Brad is trying to make his peace with Aya.
Brad nods. "I'm the same way. Those who are left at Estet also believe that Schwarz is incapable, without me. That's why they won't be surprised when Nagi disappears, in a week."
"What?!" Omi cries, jumping forward. "Wha... Why? What's going to happen to him?" His eyes are big and worried, and I remember what Brad had said about Nagi's feelings towards him.
Aya and Youji are slowly coming to comprehend Omi's feelings, and Brad laughs.
"Nagi won't be hurt... maybe a little," Brad says, "But he will fake his death, like me." Omi relaxes, and blushes as he realizes how his outburst must have sounded, to the rest of us.
The whole thing makes sense, now. I understand. Youji, Omi, and Aya understand, too.
"It's brilliant," Youji whispers. "You're... disappearing. As far as Estet knows..."
"We'll all be dead," Brad finishes. "In a month, or less."
Aya is the only one who is still tense. "Why?" he asks. "What reason?"
Brad just smiles at Aya. "Ken."
Aya whirls to look incredulously at me, and I feel my ears burn. I can practically see my own nose turn red! "Brad!" I admonish, turning slightly away from him.
Youji chuckles. "Don't embarrass him!" he laughs. "That's my job!"
"Youji!"
"What the *Hell* do you mean, *Ken*?!" Aya hisses.
"I don't want Schwarz anymore," Brad says. "I'm tired of that... life. That was no life. I want Ken." He's teasing me! Dammit, Brad, as soon as these guys leave the room...
"You... want... Ken," Aya repeats slowly. "Ken..." He looks at me, in my face. I was never a good liar in the first place... Aya can see the truth written all over my face, right now. He sighs. I think this is the first time I've ever really seen him look... defeated. "I think... I think I need something to drink."
Youji laughs, and steps around to pat Aya on the shoulder. He starts steering him out of the room, and calls back over his shoulder, to me. "I hope you don't mind if I tell him the whole story! C'mon, Aya, I've got a bottle of Boone's Farm that you'll love..."
I look at Brad, and at Omi. They look at each other, and at me. Finally, Omi speaks.
"So... Nagi's gonna be okay?" he asks shyly.
"Yes," Brad says. Omi sighs in relief. "He told me to tell you 'hello,' for him."
Omi smiles. "Thank you," he says. There is an awkward moment of silence. "Um," Omi humms, and then scurries out of the room. I imagine he's heading towards his computer.
Now it's me and Brad again. I think the others will leave us alone for the rest of the night.
"Ken."
"...Yeah?"
"I love you," Brad says.
This time, I smile. I lean over, and press a kiss to his lips. "I love you, too."
When I pull back, Brad tilts his head. "You're preoccupied."
I sit on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle his body. "Yeah... I thought you were going to die," I say somewhat lamely.
"Ah."
"When you brought me home... you walked away... you said you had paperwork to finish up, and I thought..." I'm fidgeting, twiddling my thumbs and doing a very bad job of it. Twiddling isn't easy, but I can't look into Brad's face.
"You thought I was writing my Will?" Brad asks.
"...Yeah." I nod. "You weren't?"
"Absolutely not!" I look over, and Brad grins at me. "Nagi and I were scrambling documents so that after we're all 'dead,' we'll still have access to our bank accounts and suchlike. We didn't feel like letting those idiots back at Estet have them back."
I laugh. Of course! It makes sense now... I was just being pessimistic. "You're brilliant, Brad," I tell him.
"Useless flattery. It'll never get you anywhere," he scoffs.
"But it gets *you* everywhere!"
"And that is exactly the way it should be." I laugh again, and Brad joins me. Maybe now... maybe now Brad and I can have our Heaven again. This is the way life *should* be.
---
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The End?
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---
Forgive me, I beg of you. I am among the unfortunate, uninitiated people, who have never really seen or read the series, but I've formulated an idea of what happens, from the marvelous fanfictions out there that I've read.
This story is an extremely *sappy*, *angsty*, and undoubtedly *horribly* out-of-character pairing between Brad, my favorite clairvoyant, and Ken, a fellow soccer-player. And I mean SAP, SAP, *SAP*, okay?
I understand that this is one of those "rare" pairings, but, well... I kinda like it!
---
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the pictures in my head
Warning: Sap, angst, and shonein-ai situations. Brad+Ken, plus a few other pairs mentioned along the way...
Author: Kasey
Archive: Not unless I send it to you.
Status: Complete, self-edited.
Key: /italics/ and *emphasis*
---
"Lavender"
-Part Six-
---
Now, as I look at him, laying quietly in the bed I made up for him, I wonder what's going to happen. His shoulder is wrapped thickly in bandages and plaster, but he's been washed clean of blood.
Aya, Omi, and Youji have left me alone. They're in my apartment. They're sitting in my kitchen, sipping coffee, but they've left me alone. With Brad. I don't know what Youji told them... I know he wouldn't lie to them, but I doubt he told them the whole truth, either.
Brad licks his lips, and yawns. He's cute when he yawns, even if he's not wearing his glasses. I took them off so that they wouldn't get lost in the emergency rush at the hospital. Now they sit, cleaned, on the desk beside his bed. "Ken..."
I step forward, and touch my hand to his uninjured shoulder, the one closest to me. "Yeah?"
"Mmm." He smiles, and opens his eyes. "I love you."
For some reason, I find myself unable to smile back. "What's going to happen, now, Brad?"
He closes his eyes again. "You collect your pay from Kritiker," he says, as if that were the obvious answer.
I frown. "Kritiker only pays us if you're all dead," I say.
"And we will be."
"Not..." I shake my head. "Not if I have anything to say about it!"
"But Bradley Crawford is dead," he says, raising an eyebrow, "And Schwarz cannot operate without him there to run things."
This isn't making sense to me. I don't understand. "Brad, I don't--"
"The others left, after you hit me, right?" he asks. I nod. "Then, as far as they know, I am dead. That is what they will report to what remains of Estet."
Shu will know, I think. "What about Shu... He knows. He has to know, doesn't he?"
I think this is the first time I've ever seen Brad grin like this. His whole face lights up, and he looks especially pleased with... something. "Shuldich will tell Estet exactly what he saw. You hit me, and I fell down. I didn't return."
Realization dawns upon me. "You-you're faking death?" I ask, wide-eyed. "And... and Shu's helping you!"
"You did it," he reminds me.
"But... I wasn't *trying* to..." Another thought hits me. "Why, Brad?"
He closes his eyes again, and his hand reaches up to cover mine. "Schwarz is done with, Ken. We're done. Tired. To quote Nagi, we can't take it any more."
"Killing?"
"Mm-hm." He's smiling again, and our fingers are intertwined. "Killing. Working a thankless job. I, in particular, have better things I would like to do with my life." Now he's looking at me, in my eyes, and I realize that he means *me*.
I gulp. "And the others?"
"They agree. Nagi has found himself... drawn... to someone who would not accept him, if he was part of Schwarz. He told me, himself, that they mean more to him than Schwarz does."
I blink. Nagi, the youngest member of Schwarz, who couldn't be any more than sixteen... The same age I was, when I met Brad.
"It's Bombay," Brad says, chuckling, and I stare at him.
"*Omi*?!?!" What was it mom used to say about manners? Don't screech in the injured man's ear. Brad winces, and I'm instantly sorry, but he's still chuckling. "You're... you're kidding..." I'm blustering, but Nagi... Omi... the thought isn't quite connecting.
"What? Ken?!" Omi's outside the room, knocking on the door. Of course, he must have heard me yell. I let him in. "Ken! What's wrong?" he asks.
Aya's coming down the hall, an angry look on his face, and I can see Youji's blond hair, behind him. I pull Omi towards me and whisper, "What do you know about Nagi?"
I know Brad's right, when Omi turns a deep scarlet. Christ, I didn't think even *I* blushed *that* badly! "K-Ken!" he stammers. "What do you mean?"
"Ken?" Aya asks. "What's going on?"
"I was just talking with Brad," I say innocently. A particularly dark look comes over Aya's face... apparently, he doesn't like my having a first-name relationship with Schwarz. "He's not Schwarz, anymore," I add, hoping that will help.
Aya snorts. "He's lying."
"No," Brad says, from the bed. Of course he can hear us... we're only a few feet away, even if we're speaking softly. "Schwarz... is done."
"How d'you figure that?" Omi asks, stepping into my room. He's not afraid of Brad. Brad isn't particularly dangerous when he's laid up in bed like this. Omi hovers near the foot of the bed, waiting for an answer as Aya, followed by Youji, enters the room.
Brad sighs. "It's my plan," he says slowly. "Infallible, I think. Shuldich is telling Estet that I am dead..."
"You came too close," I mutter. Youji is the only one who hears me, and he gives me a somewhat amused glance.
"...He will tell them only the truth," Brad goes on, "That Ken hit me, and I went down..."
"Were you part of this?" Aya asks me sharply.
There is death in Aya's eyes... I know how he hates traitors and double-crossers. "No!" I say. "I... I had no idea this was gonna happen!"
Omi glances curiously between me and Brad, and I can almost see the realization formulating in his head. "So... what's the plan?" he asks Brad.
Brad lifts his head, slightly, to get a look at Omi. I have to refrain myself from pushing him back against the bed--the doctor told me that he was not to move unless absolutely required to, i.e. eating and going to the bathroom. But Brad smiles slightly, having seen Omi's big, questioning eyes, and settles himself back on the pillows.
"Without me to guide them," Brad says, "Schwarz will fall apart. Shuldich cannot take over... neither can Nagi. Farfarello is out of the question!" he laughs. "Estet has no replacement for me, so Schwarz will be..." He looks up at the ceiling, trying to find an analogy, and I get a good look into his brown eyes... He looks at me, and continues. "...Schwarz will be like a snake, without its head. Once the head is gone, the rest will slowly die."
Youji's eyebrows are pressed together, and he is nodding as he makes sense of Brad's plan. Aya is still glowering, his fingers tapping lightly at the hilt of his sheathed katana.
Omi speaks up. "What do you mean, 'die?'"
Brad doesn't answer him immediately. He looks at Aya. "Aya?" he asks, testing the name.
Aya's hand tightens around the sword hilt, and I tense. "What?" he asks tersely.
"You prefer to take tougher missions, for more money... You know very well that these three..." he indicated Youji, Omi, and myself, "...Can take care of themselves, without you. However, you also like to think that, without you, they wouldn't stand a chance against the real world."
As Brad speaks, Aya's eyes widen slowly. It seems that Brad speaks the truth. Youji, Omi, and I are appropriately silent--Brad is trying to make his peace with Aya.
Brad nods. "I'm the same way. Those who are left at Estet also believe that Schwarz is incapable, without me. That's why they won't be surprised when Nagi disappears, in a week."
"What?!" Omi cries, jumping forward. "Wha... Why? What's going to happen to him?" His eyes are big and worried, and I remember what Brad had said about Nagi's feelings towards him.
Aya and Youji are slowly coming to comprehend Omi's feelings, and Brad laughs.
"Nagi won't be hurt... maybe a little," Brad says, "But he will fake his death, like me." Omi relaxes, and blushes as he realizes how his outburst must have sounded, to the rest of us.
The whole thing makes sense, now. I understand. Youji, Omi, and Aya understand, too.
"It's brilliant," Youji whispers. "You're... disappearing. As far as Estet knows..."
"We'll all be dead," Brad finishes. "In a month, or less."
Aya is the only one who is still tense. "Why?" he asks. "What reason?"
Brad just smiles at Aya. "Ken."
Aya whirls to look incredulously at me, and I feel my ears burn. I can practically see my own nose turn red! "Brad!" I admonish, turning slightly away from him.
Youji chuckles. "Don't embarrass him!" he laughs. "That's my job!"
"Youji!"
"What the *Hell* do you mean, *Ken*?!" Aya hisses.
"I don't want Schwarz anymore," Brad says. "I'm tired of that... life. That was no life. I want Ken." He's teasing me! Dammit, Brad, as soon as these guys leave the room...
"You... want... Ken," Aya repeats slowly. "Ken..." He looks at me, in my face. I was never a good liar in the first place... Aya can see the truth written all over my face, right now. He sighs. I think this is the first time I've ever really seen him look... defeated. "I think... I think I need something to drink."
Youji laughs, and steps around to pat Aya on the shoulder. He starts steering him out of the room, and calls back over his shoulder, to me. "I hope you don't mind if I tell him the whole story! C'mon, Aya, I've got a bottle of Boone's Farm that you'll love..."
I look at Brad, and at Omi. They look at each other, and at me. Finally, Omi speaks.
"So... Nagi's gonna be okay?" he asks shyly.
"Yes," Brad says. Omi sighs in relief. "He told me to tell you 'hello,' for him."
Omi smiles. "Thank you," he says. There is an awkward moment of silence. "Um," Omi humms, and then scurries out of the room. I imagine he's heading towards his computer.
Now it's me and Brad again. I think the others will leave us alone for the rest of the night.
"Ken."
"...Yeah?"
"I love you," Brad says.
This time, I smile. I lean over, and press a kiss to his lips. "I love you, too."
When I pull back, Brad tilts his head. "You're preoccupied."
I sit on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle his body. "Yeah... I thought you were going to die," I say somewhat lamely.
"Ah."
"When you brought me home... you walked away... you said you had paperwork to finish up, and I thought..." I'm fidgeting, twiddling my thumbs and doing a very bad job of it. Twiddling isn't easy, but I can't look into Brad's face.
"You thought I was writing my Will?" Brad asks.
"...Yeah." I nod. "You weren't?"
"Absolutely not!" I look over, and Brad grins at me. "Nagi and I were scrambling documents so that after we're all 'dead,' we'll still have access to our bank accounts and suchlike. We didn't feel like letting those idiots back at Estet have them back."
I laugh. Of course! It makes sense now... I was just being pessimistic. "You're brilliant, Brad," I tell him.
"Useless flattery. It'll never get you anywhere," he scoffs.
"But it gets *you* everywhere!"
"And that is exactly the way it should be." I laugh again, and Brad joins me. Maybe now... maybe now Brad and I can have our Heaven again. This is the way life *should* be.
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The End?
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