Omi frowned in concentration as he tapped out the
commands. Three more minutes.
"Bombay! Backup now! We've got Schwarz." Youji's frantic voice crackled over the
clicking of keys and spurred him on. He
had to finish this first, or Ken
would be trapped. He keyed in the final
command and unlocked the lifts.
"Bombay
done," he transmitted, wasting no words, or time. He tapped in another command and brought up a map of the building.
Youji
and Aya were on the ground floor, near where the lift would take Ken. According to the sensors, only two members
of Schwarz were involved. Two for two. But there was someone in the room next to them, watching? And another outside, waiting?
~ = ~
Reinforcements
would be there in a couple of seconds.
Crawford stepped out of the entrance.
"We
have better things to do than fight you," he said shortly, addressing the red-haired
leader.
/I was having fun,/ Shuldich protested.
"Goodbye,
Weiss… it was fun," he said aloud, even as they melted back into the darkness
that was their namesake.
Farfarello
had been enjoying the fight too. He
could feel his blood singing for freedom, his lips hungered for the blood-tears
of God. The fight was over too soon,
though, and not all of Weiss had participated.
Not the one whose blood he wanted the most, the sweet one, the
faux-innocent one, the liar…
He had managed to hit his opponents only
once; a thin gash along the sword arm that wept enticingly. He licked his lips in remembered desire –
combining the image of the youngest Weiss with the dripping blood. Does
it hurt you when they bleed? Their precious blood dripping from their bodies
and onto your earth. Are you weeping?
Shuldich
smirked as he listened to the thoughts.
He could feel the desire – to hurt Weiss, hurt God… to fulfil his lust
and bloodlust. He's not so complicated really, but he would be fun to play with…
~ = ~
The
child was in his head again. The bright
smiling killer, avenging Angel. Killer
by night, yet strangely innocent by day.
/Wouldn't it be fun to break his wings?/
He
turned towards the smirking redhead.
"What
are you doing?" It didn't surprise him
that Shuldich had taken the image from his mind, but for what purpose?
Shuldich
moved closer towards him. /I'm bored./
He
was playing with the straps of his strait jacket now. Caressing his mind with tendrils of thought, stroking tendrils of
hair with his hand.
"Why?"
It was as much an accusation as a question.
"Why
am I bored?" He laughed.
"No. Why are you touching me?"
/You are beautiful, in spite and because of
your flaws… it fascinates me/ That was half-true, and half the truth.
All
Weiss were in his head now. Their
smiles, their kills, their lies. Could I be like him, in his innocence and
deception? He had eyes only for the Angel.
It would hurt Him to hurt him.
/Are you the opposite or the same?/
He
ignored Shuldich, fascinated with the child, consumed with the child. His smiling face hid the truth.
/I
need to taste him… to taste God…/
Then
the image was gone, with only the memory of its substance to fuel him.
/Do you want to pay with the kitten, Farfie?/
His
strait jacket was gone, but he wasn't free.
"I
want to taste him…"
Shuldich
laughed again, amused with the ease he'd accomplished his wish. "You're so easy to please," he said, leading
the madman from his cell.
/I will enjoy watching you…/
Farfarello
smiled too, he could feel himself being manipulated, but he was getting what he
wanted. He could touch the Angel, the
one who hurt God without ever realising it.
He could taste the illusion of his innocence, and shatter it.
/You can't kill him…/
/I
don't want to. I can taste him?/
"I'm
looking forward to it."
They
both smiled, twisted beyond the idea of happiness, reflecting their inner
demons, and soul-quenching desires.
~ = ~
"Youji-kun!"
The
exclamation caused him to jerk his head up guiltily as he crushed his cigarette
into the counter.
"I
asked you to water the roses, and not to smoke in the shop!" Omi yelled, glaring at the playboy.
Youji
couldn't help but smile. Omi didn't do
'angry' well. He just looked cute.
"Sorr-"
he began, but was saved from placating the Omi-beast as Ken burst into the
shop, nearly knocking over one of the displays.
"Sorry
I'm late," he panted, pulling an apron on with one hand as he straightened the
display with the other. "Soccer went
into overtime."
Omi
nodded, good humour returning with it usual speed. "There's no rush," he said, smiling brightly at his teammate.
Youji
took this to be a good time for him to make an exit.
"Hi,
Ken-ken," he said, ruffling the boy's hair on his way past. "Bye, all."
He
swept from the shop in style, dropping his cigarette butt in a flowerpot on his
way out.
"Youji-kun!"
Omi protested, too late, he was gone.
Ken
laughed and patted the younger boy on the shoulder. "That exit was a bit wasted on us," he said.
Omi
smiled. "I'll take orders, you do
deliveries," he ordered, but he squeezed Ken's hand as he moved away, and the smile
didn't leave his face. School was
nearly out. The rush would soon begin.
~ = ~
Omi
blushed as he overheard what one of the girls was saying about him. He didn't like working alone with so many
people there. Hurry up and get back, Ken-kun.
He
smiled politely as a girl flirted with him.
"Would you like to buy anything?" he asked finally, growing steadily
more flustered with her brazenness. She
pouted then selected the cheapest bunch available.
"Thankyou,"
he said, sincerely thankful that she was gone.
It wasn't that he didn't like her, but he didn't know how to deal with
her – that was Youji's area of expertise.
He
dealt with the remaining customers swiftly, smiling sweetly whilst inwardly
cursing his teammates for abandoning him.
/Is the little kitten mad?/ The bell jingled simultaneously with the
voice speaking in his mind.
"Schwarz!?"
he yelped, glancing wildly around the shop for something to protect himself
with.
"Don't
be scared, we just want some flowers," The redhead, Shuldich, said, laughing in
Omi's mind as Farfarello followed him into the shop.
He
wasn't smiling now, Farfarello noticed.
They'd been watching him.
Watching him smile and laugh and talk, as if he were whole.
/Wouldn't it be fun to drink him?/
He
glanced at the German, who was studying the displays and Omi with the same
studious, smirking, indifference.
"Get
out!" Omi shouted, panicking, knowing it was useless.
"I would like some flowers," Shuldich
said innocently. "And Farfie can't decide whether he wants to kill you or keep
you."
Omi's
gaze shifted to the Irishman in wide-eyed, possum-like, fear. But he wasn't where he had been a second
ago. The pale madman was closer now,
slipping like oil, or blood, quickly gracefully, impossibly closer. He was laughing.
"I
won't hurt you, little kitten," he purred.
"You're like me… we hurt God…"
Omi
backed away, walking into the counter, terror clutching at his throat. "N-no," he stuttered, hearing the madness,
seeing the lust.
Farfarello
moved faster than he thought possible, seizing his wrist and bringing it to his
mouth.
/You've occupied his thoughts for days…/
Farfarello's
tongue was tracing the path of his veins, tasting the saltiness, feeling the
throb of blood – so close.
"P-please…"
he couldn't move, his limbs wouldn't listen, wouldn't obey his frantic inner
screams to run. He was trapped within
his own unresponsive body.
/The smiling child who dies by night but
lives by day/
Shuldich's
silent, mocking, inner-commentary distracted him from what Farfarello was doing,
until with sudden, gaping, clarity he was falling.
The
impact with the floor knocked the air out of him, and then Farfarello was
kneeling over him.
/My thoughts can be his own…/
"Are you a killing Angel or a
smiling Demon?"
"I'm… not… either…" Ken will be back soon… He clung to the
hope of that thought for the second Shuldich allowed.
/Your teammate won't be back anytime soon/ The mocking voice was
laughing at him, at his hope.
"Share your taste with me,"
Farfarello commanded, bending to plunder his lips.
Omi could feel the scarred
mouth pressing against his own, then a tongue forced its way through his lips
and caressed his teeth. He opened them
slightly, then bit down on the invader.
Blood filled his mouth. Why me?
/Why you? They always say 'why
me'. I was hoping for something more
original/
Farfarello tasted his own
blood, and it was sweet. He wanted
more, wanted to share, wanted to hurt.
"You're so pretty, little
kitten," he said, not unkindly. "I want
to taste more of you."
He cut a shallow line along
the boy's stomach, then sucked the crimson life-force from it. The blood mingled with his and tasted sweet
with pain. He kissed the cut again, and
felt the flesh tremble beneath his lips.
/He chose you./
He opened his eyes and saw a
tarnished, burnished, gold eye gazing at him.
He tried to focus only on the eye, to ignore everything happening to
him. With stunning detachment he
realised he was somehow behind the counter.
But the eye held his attention – more so than even the scars around it.
"Your tears make Him weep."
Farfarello licked the trail
of each salty tear and left a bloody smudge in its wake.
/Because your smiles lie… and you hurt God…/
"P-please… don't hurt… me…"
The broken, bleeding boy knew – must know – how useless his prayers were, but
he pleaded anyway.
/Our Father in heaven/
Farfarello was humming now, a
hymn, as his blades gently caressed Omi's flesh.
/Hallowed be thy name/
"I need to taste you again."
The soft, pale flesh of his
mouth was kissing him, pressing a kiss to his eyelid – fluttering like the
wings of a moth, to his throat – throbbing with fear, to the soft, marred flesh
of his stomach… then down…
/Thy kingdom come/
Oh God. It wasn't real. It couldn't be. The
sensations playing upon him, the presence of Shuldich in his mind, and
Farfarello upon him… the entire scenario could be looked at with a certain
disconnected surrealness. Not this.
Farfarello's mouth, still
filled with their blood, engulfed him in a twisted parody of a lover. Ken… He burrowed deep within himself and hid.
/Thy will be done/
He was dimly aware of
Shuldich reciting the Lord's Prayer, of Farfarello's warmth. But that was only a part of him, the rest of
him was staring with wide-eyed fixation at a display. Ken had made it up only that morning. He'd already had some inquiries into similar arrangements. The fine wispy ferns went very well with the
tiny blue Gardenia. A pity they were
out of season, it may be hard to fulfil the demand. Ken…
/On earth as it is in heaven/
His strength flowed slowly
from him as Farfarello's impossibly talented mouth made him soar to dizzying
heights. Ken…
/Give us this day our daily bread/
His body reacted now, again
without him. The pleasure was
overwhelming, intense and new. He fell
quickly through stars and lay shuddering on the ground.
"You taste sweet," Farfarello
told him, licking at the white fluid.
The image of his tongue, slashed with the wounds Omi had inflicted on
him, wiping the creamy release from his pink, petal-soft lips jarred him. He smiled.
/Forgive us our sins/
"Now go close shop like a
good boy," Shuldich ordered, pulling Farfarello off him, while they were both
still stunned.
"Aren't y-you going t-to…?"
Omi stammered, unable to believe it was over, that he was alive.
"It was as much for you as
for us," Shuldich said, ignoring Farfarello pulling on his newly-clipped leash.
"W-what…"
"I put the closed sign up,
and have been reinforcing its message mentally, but you'd better start on the
cleaning before Ken-kun gets here."
The bell jingled in response
to Shuldich's statement. Omi was
unsurprised to see a customer – people frequently came in despite the sign if
they saw one of them in there. He hastily
rearranged his clothes, and fussed busily with a display. He ignored the Schwarz members and his own
injuries, but smiled blindingly at the customer.
"Can I help? We're actually closed, but I can take one
last order…"
/As we forgive those who sin against us/
When he looked up again, they
were both gone. Slipping as subtly out
as they had in. Invading, marauding and
disappearing.
Ken bustled in a second
later, apologising clumsily for his extended absence. The grass-stains on his knees, however, spoke much more
eloquently than his guilty words.
"That's okay, Ken-kun," Omi
assured him, smiling sweetly with his mouth – if not his eyes.
Ken sighed, feeling guilty
and relived. "What happened to your
face?" he asked, noticing Omi's puffy eyes, but not the distracted expression
within them.
Omi shook himself and
blinked, the smile slipping slightly.
"Leaf-spray," he answered,
turning from his searching gaze. He
couldn't tell him. He smiled wider,
hiding the tears deep inside, where he already wept for his childhood, his innocence,
his pain…
He felt a slight sting in his
hand, and was surprised to notice deep gauges where his nails had dug into his
palm. Beneath his clenched fists a thin
red line had soaked through, staining his apron, and under that, wetness
stained his pants.
/Do not put us to the test/
Shuldich seemed almost
sympathetic, perhaps he too knew what it felt like to lose even hope. Maybe he'd looked into the eye of a killer
and seen himself reflected back and absorbed within, and known he was the same.
Blood trickled down his
wrist, leaving his hand painted red. He
laughed. At least now they're stained more than metaphorically.
~ = ~
Farfarello's mind still
fascinated him, with its twisted convoluted thought passages all ending in
locked rooms.
Sometimes Shuldich truly
believed he was insane, but he certainly wasn't stupid.
"Did you hurt God?" Sometimes the right questions opened doors.
Farfarello didn't answer, he
was savouring the sharpness of the blade and the sour-sweet taste still
clinging to the blade, but an image came to his mind – the smiling Weiss angel
crying crimson tears as he wrung his blood-stained hands.
Shuldich shivered, both
attracted and repulsed by the psychotic fervour.
/Deliver us from evil/
It had been fun to break the
Weiss brat, and his curiosity had been somewhat sated without killing the kitten. He'd been a lot gentler than the people that
had broken him.
He looked back at his
impervious companion, and debated leaving.
He felt… empty, and needed something, someone, to fill the silence, the
space, the… ache.
~ = ~
Crouched. shivering in the
corner of a locked room, Jei sobbed silently and longed for human touch, for
God's love.
Farfarello shivered with
remembered bliss and an imaginary image of tears. For thine is the kingdom?
Shuldich sifted through the
turbulent thoughts. /The power and the glory?/ he added
musingly, and laughed when Farfarello lunged for him, pulled up short by a
chain linking him to the wall.
"Down, dog," he taunted. "Just play with the kitty in your
head." He laughed again and the
emptiness receded.
They were together, yet each
alone. Broken bleeding hearts in cold,
heartless bodies. They were empty, and
they needed life to be filled.
Farfarello smiled around his
blade. He had hurt God. But God hurt him so much more. Jei cried.
Shuldich continued to sort
through the thoughts around him, deriving some sort of life from their
existence. They cried. He smiled.
~ = ~
The knock on the door awoke
him. It wasn't late. He was tired.
"Omi?"
Ken's voice.
He opened the door, and
smiled at his friend. Hoping to banish
any darkness that leaked from his soul.
"What's the matter, Ken-kun?"
he asked. It wasn't usual for Ken to
visit him without notice at, he glanced at his watch, ten at night.
Ken looked at him for a long
moment. "Why are you smiling, Omi?" he
asked, reaching up to cup the younger boy's face.
Omi flinched. "I'm fine, Ken-kun," he said.
Ken stepped in. "Don't smile," he said. "Not when it doesn't reach your eyes."
Omi continued to smile, but a
tear leaked from the corner of his eye and ran down his pale, smiling face.
"Ken…"
Ken didn't smile. He stepped closer, and ignored it when Omi
backed away a step. He wrapped his arms
tightly around his friend.
"Don't smile…"
With his face pressed against
Ken's chest, where no eyes could see him, he let the smile fall. And the child within, that he'd thought was
dead, smiled.
~ AMEN ~
Thanks to Wannon for fixing
up my appalling grammar and spelling _ (She does a lot of fixing for
me, ne?)
~ Dedicated to the colour teal and the number 3 ~
