Title: Cold November Rain [part 12/?]
Book 1 of "Redirecting Destiny" and prequel to "Romantic Resolutions"
Author: Enigma
Series: Weiss Kreuz
Written: January, 2002
Rating: R
Pairings: (Yohji + Ken + Aya) (Omi + Nagi) (Brad + Schu)
Category: Dark! Yaoi Angst Action/Adventure Violence Blood Squick Language Romance. AU-OOC.
Archive: fanfiction.net [author: "E-sama the Llama"], Scripta Manent: http://digilander.iol.it/sakaba/Home.html
Spoilers: None, safe for new viewers as well as old.
Warnings: dark! yaoi, heavy angst, action/adventure, graphic violence, large quantities of blood, squick: medical and other, coarse language, agonized and overwrought romance, rare touches of sap, cigarettes, destiny, cruel cliffhangers, original characters. AU-OOC.
Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiss. This unauthorized work of fanfiction is intended for entertainment only; kindly do not sue me.
Notes: When Ken falls in battle, how can the other members of Weiss cope with the guilt and blame that they all seem to share and will he survive in spite of the odds against him?
++ date and time reference within the storyline beginning with the day of the battle ++
{{telepathic speech}}
*****
++ day: 1. time: 1330-1400 hours ++
*****
An hour and a half passed for the understandably worried occupants of the surgical waiting room with relatively little change.
Dr. Yanagisawa had indeed come shortly after being notified that Omi had returned and had gently chastised the boy for his ill-advised flight from the hospital yet didn't press the issue much past an insistence that teen promise to rest and get something to eat soon. He also took exception with the youngest member of Weiss' claim that the cold damp scrubs he was wearing were still acceptable and sent an orderly with new ones for him as well some for Nagi shortly after leaving the room.
For his part, Nagi felt quite amazed at the way the four Kritiker agents had welcomed him into their presence without reservation and saw to it that he was well taken care of instead of simply being dismissed from them after completing his "mission". The way Manx had sat and talked comfortably with him was unexpected, yet after getting to know the woman better, he realized that she only had Omi's best interests in mind.
The redheaded woman had watched like a hawk when the youngest member of Weiss had spoken with the doctor and duly noted the protective presence of the telekinetic had never wavered. In that moment she accepted fully that the two teenagers were as dedicated to one another as Aya and Yohji had claimed earlier, yet she wondered how she would explain this to Persia and whether or not the man would condone her own encouragement of the young lovers.
As time passed in the tense room, the two eldest Weiss assassins had repeatedly stepped outside to share the intermittent sunshine that was trying to force its way through the stubborn cloud cover as well as to silently offer one another their own version of emotional support.
To anyone who casually passed by the smoking area, it might not even have appeared as if the two men even knew each other, the silence between them was so profound. However, each time Yohji sighed deeply and reached miserably for yet another cigarette, concerned violet eyes would immediately capture worried jade ones and somehow convey hope or at least resolution to not give in to the despair. In turn, when Aya would lean against the wall, eyes closed, and arms crossed over his chest for the moment too long, the lanky blond would shift in place or some other small thing that would distract him long enough to open his eyes and receive the same unspoken reassurance. It was an intricate dance they performed, but it helped them through one of the hardest days of their lives.
The cerulean-eyed boy was uncharacteristically quiet, too, but it was because of obedience to the instructions he'd been given and not a show of what he really felt like doing which would have been to pace like a caged tiger and possibly talk at length just to distract himself. Instead, he contented himself with sitting as close to Nagi as he felt the other boy would allow him to in public and simply prayed to any god that might be listening for Ken's safe passage through the surgery.
The smaller boy had surprised him at one point by asking quietly, "Do you think Aya-kun and Yohji-kun are all right, Omi-koi?" His gaze was directed towards the glass door to the smoking area and he had a pensive look on his face that had previously been reserved for his teammates in Schwarz or his boyfriend alone and it warmed Omi's heart to see it there on behalf of his teammates.
With a sad smile, the blond nodded and answered, "Yes, Nagi-love, they're just really worried about Ken-kun, same as us. They just have a weird way of showing it, that's all."
A small scowl crossed the telekinetic's face as Yohji reached for his third cigarette in less than ten minutes and he asked, "Does he always smoke so much when he's worried? I remember him usually having one or two cigarettes when I'm at your place, but this is worse than I'd expected."
Even as Nagi expressed his concern, Aya's pale hand gently took the white cylinder from between his lover's lips and placed it behind his own ear with an expression that told the taller man to wait and collect it from him later if he dared. The scowl on Nagi's face was replaced with a shy smile as he amended, "Oh, never mind, I guess I wasn't the only one wondering about that."
Omi had glanced outside quickly enough to catch the rare overt act of love the swordsman had performed and he smiled with relief before saying, "It'll be all right. I know those two haven't said more than five words to each other since they went out there a half-hour ago, but they don't need to speak to communicate. If Aya-kun hadn't stopped him we might need to worry, but I think it's okay now." Turning to glance at the clock on the wall he frowned and said, "But you know, it seems like it's been an awfully long time since the doctors have told us anything about Ken-kun. I wish we knew how it was going in the operating room."
"I agree," Nagi frowned and turned to Manx who was walking back into the room after yet another update call to Persia to see a look of satisfaction on the woman's face. He respectfully asked, "Manx? Is there news about Ken-kun?"
"No," she shook her head and sent red curls bouncing across her shoulders as she strode to the glass door to the smoking area, opened it and said, "Balinese, Abyssinian, come inside. There's something I need to tell you and Bombay."
The use of the code-names indicated there was Kritiker business to discuss and Nagi rose to his feet, politely offering, "I think I'll take a walk in the corridor for a few minutes, Omi. I think I probably shouldn't hear this."
Omi looked wounded and started to reach out a hand to draw back the boy who had stayed faithfully beside him since their dramatic reunion at the bridge, yet it was Manx herself who stopped him from leaving by saying, "That won't be necessary, Nagi. You'd know about this practically before I was done telling them anyway. Besides, if anyone has earned the right to be included in any news that affects Weiss at this point it's you."
The young telekinetic might have blushed if he'd been a more emotional individual, instead, he paused, regarded her was if uncertain and then moved to reclaim his position next to the boy he loved, allowing Omi to capture his hand without protest, reestablishing the physical contact he'd missed.
"What's up, Manx?" Yohji asked as he and Aya entered the room in time to catch the brief exchange between the Kritiker agent and the Schwarz assassin. The scarlet-haired man seemed curious yet said nothing, trusting his lover to handle the verbal conversation even as he pondered the nonverbal one going on between the two boys on the couch.
"I have news about Weiss that will most likely affect Nagi as well and I feel he ought to know about it from the very beginning," the woman said mysteriously yet with a touch of sadness she couldn't suppress despite her best efforts.
For the briefest of moments, Aya wondered if it was wise that an enemy agent would be present for what was obviously a formal meeting between Weiss and their contact from Kritiker. However, almost immediately he discarded that thought as irrelevant. If they could trust the Schwarz psychic to protect the safety of their youngest teammate the way that Nagi had done earlier that day, then they could trust him with anything. The violet-eyed man remained silent and awaited the unveiling of the next shift in their lives' directions.
Yohji smiled grimly as he agreed, "I'd say that sounds fair to me, Manx. As far as I'm concerned, he's as much a part of the team now as he can be without us giving him a cute little kitty-cat code-name." The man saw a look of surprise cross midnight and cerulean blue eyes and he cast the young lovers on the couch a look that practically challenged them to disagree so they could hear him speak at length on his now extraordinarily high opinion of Nagi. The two boys, however, said nothing so he simply turned his focus to the woman and waited for the promised information.
"Well, I wouldn't go quite *that* far," Manx blinked in amazement as she disagreed yet didn't pursue the issue, preferring to address the actual matter at hand instead of putting things off any longer. She looked at the four young men and then stated, "As of right now, Weiss is being placed on Kritiker's inactive list. Regardless of the outcome of Siberian's surgery, this team won't be at fighting strength for quite awhile and it's been decided to suspend its operations until further notice."
"But, Manx," Omi asked with a frown, "what about that new case you gave me yesterday that you wanted me to start data-hunting on as soon as this one was closed? The one about that money-laundering scheme in Shibuya?" He frankly couldn't care less about the criminals involved in what should have been a routine police matter, he simply wanted to remind her that he had an assignment that he would be overlooking if they were truly being deactivated.
"That's not a problem, Bombay," she smirked and watched Yohji for a reaction as she explained, "Grün's going to be covering that one." [1]
"What the fuck?!" The eldest member of Weiss nearly exploded and didn't appreciate the way that the woman smirked at him as he stated flatly, "No way in *hell* are those amateurs anywhere *near* ready to be activated yet! Calico is an arrogant bastard with no discipline whatsoever and an ego bigger than my own! You can't *possibly* think of sending them into action the way they are right now!"
"Yes she can," Aya stated unexpectedly, giving Yohji a meaningful look before adding with sadness, "Face it, Balinese, we're a man short right now if not worse and there's nothing we can do about it. But why did you want Nagi to know about that, Manx? No disrespect intended to him, but I fail to see why you wanted him here while we talked about it since I rather doubt he needed to know you were developing a new set of operatives and now he does."
Nagi spoke up and agreed, "I was wondering some of the same things myself. Um, is this a less than subtle hint that you want me to find out about the situation in Shibuya and see what Schwarz can do to either shut them down or interfere with their operations?" He shook his head as he considered this and found it highly unlikely, so he added, "I don't think I can do that without making Oracle ask an awful lot of questions I'd prefer not to answer."
"Of course not, Nagi." Manx hurried to explain, "First, of course, I wanted you to know that Omi wouldn't be sent on any missions for awhile which is something I thought you might appreciate having my personal guarantee on. There's no way to know for how long at this point, a great deal depends on Siberian's condition, but I think this entire group needs some 'downtime' regardless."
There were several nods of agreement even as she continued, "Second, regarding Grün, well, let's just say that I don't see them remaining a closely guarded secret much longer. Even if you hadn't heard it from me, Schwarz would've discovered them soon anyway so it's not a problem. On the other hand, the Shibuya matter hadn't crossed my mind until Omi mentioned it but I don't really care. They were more of a nuisance than a true threat, so if Grün's data analyst isn't up to task the way Weiss' would've been, no loss."
The four men had listened with expressions of interest and it was all she could do to keep explaining her intentions without asking what they thought so far. After drawing a breath, she finished by saying, "Lastly, though, and perhaps the main reason I wanted you to know was that along with the temporary deactivation of Weiss, I had also spoken to Persia on your behalf."
Omi gasped audibly in shock and fear, he'd dreaded letting the mysterious leader of Kritiker discover the truth behind the way he handled confrontations with Schwarz differently at this point than he had earlier in his career with Weiss. However, Manx knew that she wasn't the only operative Persia had whose objectives included monitoring the residents of the Koneko no Sumu Ie and she had wondered how much longer the secret would've been hidden from her boss. But like Yohji, she had been greatly impressed by Nagi's faithfulness and the risk he'd taken by publicly displaying his talents when he'd used them to prevent Omi's untimely death earlier that day. She doubted that Persia's disapproval would've done anything other than make the youngest member of Weiss feel miserable and conflicted, hence she'd taken the bull by the horns and forced a decision.
"Wh-what did he say?" Nagi stammered nervously, afraid that under the best case scenario he'd be warned to stay away from Omi and at worst case both of them might be hunted down and executed for daring to fraternize across team lines. Frightened midnight blue eyes darted towards equally terrified cerulean ones and they clasped hands more firmly, awaiting the answer.
Manx smiled reassuringly at the distraught youth then answered, "Well, he isn't thrilled about it, of course, but as expected, I wasn't the first person to report it. In fact, if he'd had an extreme dislike of the idea of the two of you being together, he'd have done something about it before now. However, he's willing to agree not to interfere at this point as long as Omi plans to come to see him and talk it over in the near future." She turned ocean-green eyes towards the Weiss tactician and asked, "Do you think you can do that, Omi? Come with me someday for a meeting with him to talk this over? You know he only wants what's best for you."
Relieved that he wasn't being told to leave and never set foot near Omi again, Nagi gave his boyfriend's hand a comforting squeeze and kept silent, at this point it was up to the cerulean-eyed youth to make his own choices.
Omi glanced at Nagi and then turned and nodded slowly, "All right, Manx, I'll do that, but can it wait for awhile? I don't want to worry about that until I'm sure that Ken-kun's going to be okay."
"I understand," the woman agreed and looked at the pair sitting so close together on the couch, earnest faces filled with love and concern for one another.
The redheaded woman most likely would have said more, but the door to the waiting room suddenly swung open and the bloodstained figure of Dr. Egami stood in the opening for a moment then walked towards a chair and collapsed into it with an exhausted sigh.
"Doctor?!" Manx cried out as the two youths on the couch sprang to their feet and all five worried people moved to form a semi-circle around the man's chair and she asked, "What is it?! What's happened?"
Running a freshly ungloved hand through sweat-dampened salt-and-pepper hair, the man failed to lift eyes weary with fatigue. The surgeon merely shook his head tiredly and remarked simply, "It's over." Sighing as his eyes slid shut briefly, he added, "It's all over."
*****
To be continued.
Author's Notes:
[1] Grün is German for "green" and, yes, I *am* playing fast and loose with the series by introducing a new group of assassins to the mix, aren't I? Melpomene asked me to mention that the color chosen for them *does* have meaning and with a bit of encouragement, she'd love to introduce you to four new bishounen that can add to the angst in this continuity in a rather spectacular fashion if it's desired. Will they be friend or foe, *that* is the big question and if she thinks about it much longer, you can bet they'll change both Weiss' *and* Schwarz's destinies more than you might suspect!
Full Author's Notes to Run at Conclusion.
Please be advised: Parts 11 & 12 will be posted together.
This evening's posting run is dedicated to the folks who found time to send me some much needed words of encouragement after last night's reopening of the Angst Theatre! Thanks and Pocky go to Rubious, Ryoko, bearilou, Ami-chan, Yanagi-sen, Yasmin M, plus a TON of way cool people at fanfiction.net!
By the way, allow me to say publicly that I'm positively *thrilled* by the great response to the fic there!! I've got to admit that the feedback I'm getting there is *really* a driving force that helps me get these parts out even on a night like this one where I'd ordinarily go hide in someone else's stories for awhile and let Melpomene rest. However, since there's some wonderful folks who are desperate to see what's going to happen next, I'll keep being a slave driver and make that angst muse of mine come up with endings like she did for this posting run. After all, since e.e enjoys my cliffhangers I ought to oblige with one as quickly as possible, ne? Then again, darling bearilou *doesn't* like them so maybe I should've explained what the surgeon meant more clearly tonight instead of ending it there, ne?! Oh my, what a painful dilemma!
{mock-screams in horror and then chuckles and sticks with cliffhanger endings gleefully before going to sleep for awhile}
Hope to see here at Angst Theatre again very soon!
~~~E-sama the Llama~~~
(who is now officially labeling himself a cad for not getting thank you notes out to people who are writing him directly but if it's do that OR write/edit/post more fic he thinks he ought to stick with that instead. what do *you* think? {wanders off worrying too much since it's late and his mind's fuzzy now})
Posted 30 January 2002 ~3:30am EST