Title: Cold November Rain [part 26/?]
Book 1 of "Redirecting Destiny" and prequel to "Romantic Resolutions"
Author: Enigma
Series: Weiss Kreuz
Written: January-February, 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: 2. time: 1110-1155 hours ++
*****
"NAGI!!!" Omi screamed when he shook the gory image that had combined Ken's bullet ravaged flesh with Nagi's too-slender body within his mind and reminded the inattentive nurse that she should have been in the room with the pair of teenagers all along.
Abandoning Ken entirely, he dropped to his knees beside the inert form of his beloved and tried to disentangle him from the tubing, wires, and bulky device that had luckily continued to function, burbling and making sickening sucking noises as it pulled more dark fluid into itself. Unable to free Nagi easily and fearing he might injure Ken if he kept trying to handle it himself, Omi shouted at the top of his lungs, "HELP!!! Somebody, *help* me!!"
The nurse came dashing into the room, an expression of horrified regret for her mistake on her face and she commanded, "Stop trying to pull on that! You'll hurt the patient!"
"Then *you* do it!" Omi insisted, distraught and feeling worse than helpless.
"I will, I will, just calm down and give me a chance, okay?" Takeshi assured and then reached to activate a button beside the door which would bring the doctor-on-call for the intensive care unit to their side within moments. Looking at Omi even as she carefully checked Nagi's pulse, she asked, "What happened to him?"
"I don't know," Omi answered in agony, then added, "I think he passed out."
The nurse frowned, the boy's heart rate seemed too fast and the rhythm seemed ever so slightly off, two fine distinctions Schuldich wasn't sufficiently trained to have detected. This was something that could have disastrous consequences in the future since the German telepath was always the one to check on Nagi after he passed out from overuse of his powers.
Failing to make a mental note to mention her observations to someone about them later, Takeshi asked, "Does he do that often?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe?" The blond youth's voice was filled with pain and confusion as he desperately wished for Yohji or Aya to miraculously appear at the door and give him the help he needed to deal with the situation that had spiraled out of control so suddenly.
The person who did arrive, however, was not anyone either Omi or the negligent nurse expected.
"What's going on in here?" Dr. Egami demanded as he stepped towards the trio on the floor. The emergency room's surgeon-on-call was wearing spotless scrubs since there hadn't been any need for his services so far that day, thankfully. He had only come to the intensive care unit to check on his patient from the day before, yet his timing couldn't have been better and Omi was understandably relieved to see him.
"Doctor! Help us, please!" Pleading cerulean eyes gazed up at the man and he added by way of explanation, "I think Nagi just passed out, but he's all tangled up in this tubing and wires and everything!"
"All right, son, I'll take care of it," the physician reassured and the distraught teenager felt greatly relieved as the doctor-on-call arrived as well, bringing the number of people available to deal with the emergency to an acceptable one.
As they struggled to unravel the multitude of tubes and wires from the unconscious teen, no one noticed the soft sound of fabric moving beneath a weakly grasping hand on the bed in the room as Ken rose to consciousness briefly in response to his teammate's screams. But the moment was so brief and the sound so quiet that it went unnoticed and the injured man sank back into the darkness before he even registered the event fully himself.
Within moments, Nagi's inert form was freed of its entanglements and was placed on a gurney so that he could be transferred either to the emergency room or a regular patient's suite for monitoring and possible treatment. Of course no one present had any idea that the moment the telekinetic had been placed onto the rolling bed had been foreseen by the Schwarz precog, and if Crawford had known, he might have been tempted to violate the warning dream himself to attempt to aid his youngest teammate. As it was, however, neither side knew to alert the other and the situation would have to simply play itself out as it was destined to be.
Ken had received a quick exam by Egami who proclaimed him unharmed by the incident to everyone's relief. Omi was shakily standing beside his lover's body, holding Nagi's hand in his own and feeling dreadfully guilty for everything.
A pair of orderlies arrived and pushed the gurney out of the intensive care unit and into the hallway pending a decision as to where to take the unconscious teen. It was there that Omi was reunited with Aya and Yohji since they had decided to find out why their friends had been gone twice as long as expected.
The younger blond whimpered miserably but didn't allow himself to cry as the elder one comforted him and kept a watchful eye on Egami who was giving Takeshi a proper dressing down for the disaster her negligence had caused. Yohji felt horrified that his young friend was suffering yet again, but he didn't have any idea how to help other than to rub Omi's back and tell him it would be okay, so that was what he did even though he felt it wasn't enough.
The scarlet-haired assassin, however, only had eyes for the ashen-faced youth on the gurney.
Aya wondered why seeing Nagi laying there helpless and vulnerable made him feel almost as angry as he would've been if it had been Omi instead. Unable to find an answer, he turned away and swallowed a desire to wreck vengeance of his own on the incompetent nurse in favor of doing what he could to improve the situation as it was. He found no new solutions, though, and in the end, the swordsman merely moved to place a hand on the distraught teen's shoulder in silent reassurance.
Omi didn't really notice either of the men's attempts to help him, though, and he just repeated his mantra of guilt from the previous day as he sank into a pool of grief and remorse, "My fault, it's all my fault."
"Take it easy, Omiitchi," Yohji quietly soothed, totally unaware of the details or the fact that for once the cerulean-eyed boy was basically right. "We'll get this figured out, just calm down."
Shaking his head and biting at his lips to try to keep from crying and failing as a hot salty drop slid down his cheek, the younger blond finally threw both arms around Yohji's waist and leaned against him heavily, repeating, "This is all my fault!"
"No, it's not, son," a warm and apologetic voice interjected as Egami walked up to join the Weiss members beside the gurney. He had a better idea of what had occurred after speaking with Takeshi and even though he knew only her side of the story it was enough for him to be able to grant a certain amount of comfort. After Omi turned sorrowful eyes towards him, he said, "I'm afraid that this is primarily the nurse on duty's fault. She failed to follow standard procedures by allowing the two of you to visit the patient unattended and she's been suspended from duty as a result of it."
The scarlet-haired man growled softly in the back of his throat yet didn't speak. In Aya's opinion, the woman had gotten off far too easily. Her negligence had placed two people that he cared about at risk and that meant Takeshi now faced Abyssinian's righteous anger if there were further complications for either Nagi or Ken because of her errors.
Yohji, however, wasn't nearly as composed as the younger of his two lovers. "What the hell is wrong with this place, Egami?!" He snarled, fury in his words that he didn't have any hesitation to express. "Last night, one of your nurses let Ken practically suffocate and now, not even twelve hours later another one leaves a couple of kids alone in an ICU? Shit, I'm no doctor, but even *I* know that's not the way things are supposed to be done!"
Omi released his hold on his eldest teammate and moved to wrap both arms around himself as if he was cold and he just shook his head as the tears continued to cascade down his face as he insisted, "But, Yohji-kun, this really *is* my fault!" He glanced mournfully at the surgeon and explained, "Doctor, I was checking Ken-kun's wounds and wasn't paying enough attention to Nagi before all of this happened. He had seemed a little upset or something and I should've been more aware of that. This is my fault, all my fault."
Egami frowned and asked, "What do you mean you were 'checking his wounds'? Do you have some kind of specialized training that you would be doing something like that?" The physician was well aware of the fact that the deceptively youthful-looking individual that he was addressing was actually a Kritiker operative and he had a healthy respect for those who served the secretive organization. Age and appearance often concealed unknown capabilities in the elite group and he assumed that may have actually been part of the problem.
With a heavy sigh, the seventeen year old answered, "Yes, unfortunately." Omi's tears seemed to lighten up a little as he explained, "I've been through advanced first aid training so that I can help if my teammates are injured. Because of that, I've seen more than my share of injuries like these in the past and I wanted to see how the sutures looked."
"Ah, I see," the man nodded and asked, "So, you're roughly an EMT then?" [1]
Omi glanced away, unhappy as he admitted, "Not quite, I'm more specialized than that. More along the lines of a combat medic, just not a very good one, apparently or Nagi wouldn't be laying there out cold."
"I don't think your training had anything to do with his being unconscious right now, son," Egami insisted. Then he looked to both Aya and Yohji before he glanced at Nagi, noted the boy's continued lack of healthy skin color and added, "I'd like to run some blood tests on your friend. Make sure there isn't anything going on here beyond a simple fainting spell."
"No," Aya suddenly insisted flatly when he realized this suggestion was upsetting the youngest member of his team, the situation had become mission-like yet again and as field-leader, Abyssinian took charge. "Give him a chance to recover first. He's a fairly private person and he may prefer not to have you do anything to him. I won't have anyone violating that unless it becomes absolutely necessary."
At first uncertain if he was pleased with his lover's decision or not, Yohji glanced at the unconscious youth and agreed, "Definitely. But let's get Nagi the hell out of this hallway and somewhere he and Omi both can have some peace, all right? Or is that too much to ask around here?" His anger with the hospital staff hadn't been resolved yet, but the wire-wielding assassin was trying to see to the best interests of his friends before dealing with that issue.
With a nod and an another apologetic shake of his head, Egami answered, "Certainly. Let me see if there's an empty room on this floor so you can be near him as well as Hidaka-san. There's really no need to put him in the ER if his vital signs are stable and we are simply waiting for him to regain consciousness."
"Fine, whatever, just get it done," the lanky blond growled before the doctor merely nodded acknowledgement of the command and then left them hoping to make the arrangements quickly. Yohji then reached out to draw Omi's attention back to himself, saying, "Omiitchi? Are you going to be okay, bishounen?"
The cerulean-eyed boy shook his head in sorrowful negation and unwound his arms so he could reach up and swipe away the tears that were slowly drying on his face, wiping at his wet cheeks with angry helplessness. "No, nothing's 'okay' any more, Yohji-kun! Ken-kun could've been hurt badly all over again because I wasn't paying attention and Nagi's unconscious and it's all my fault! I," his voice failed him and he choked as he exclaimed, "I just can't handle this!"
Jade eyes were filled with compassion as Yohji tried once more to soothe the boy by saying again, "I understand, Omiitchi, but you're got to calm down. Getting all worked up over this isn't going to help Nagi or Ken. Please?"
Stuttering slightly as he admitted his weakness, Omi turned huge pain-filled eyes towards his friends and he asked miserably, "Why is everything so messed up? Why can't we just have something go right for a change? Nagi seemed so happy this morning and *now* look at him! It's awful!"
"I know it seems bad, Omi," Aya interjected, the chill tones of Abyssinian temporarily lost from his voice and replaced with a mixture of warmth for his unhappy young friend and concern for the sable-haired boy who brought out feelings within him he didn't understand. When the distraught youth turned towards him he reassured, "But we've all been through a lot in the last two days. Until Nagi comes out of it, you won't really know *what* happened in there, so you've got to stop blaming yourself for this. Ken wasn't hurt and Nagi may just be overtired the way we *all* are right now. Yohji's right, you need to calm down."
In the back of his mind, Aya considered suggesting a mild sedative or something for the teen. Omi was clearly losing control of his emotions and the scarlet-haired man was afraid he might decide to simply flee again and with Nagi unconscious there wasn't anyone to go after him this time.
To their surprise, though, Aya's words of encouragement had the desired effect and the miserable teen nodded and then turned to face the silent form of his boyfriend. Omi reached out to gather one thin, limp hand into his own as he said in a small voice, "You're right, Aya-kun. I'll try harder not to get so upset, but this is all so hard to deal with."
"It is for all of us," Aya agreed then lapsed back into his customary quiet as a nurse and an orderly approached them to transport Nagi to a room several doors down from the intensive care unit's waiting room.
"Please come with me," the petite nurse requested, gesturing with one hand even as the orderly released the brakes on the rolling bed and started to push it down the hallway carefully, not asking Omi to release the hand he was holding as they walked together.
Yohji shook his head sadly and felt a craving for a cigarette hit which he ignored preferring to see to it that the younger assassins were taken care of properly and not willing to trust the hospital staff to do it. Head down and seemingly lost in thought, the former detective trailed along behind the squeaking gurney as it moved past the familiar door to the smoking porch and he sighed and felt exhaustion tugging at him.
As he walked slowly behind the odd processional, Aya wondered why Omi had chosen that moment to listen to his advice. Despite being relieved that he had indeed taken his words to heart, the swordsman felt there had to be something more than a few words from himself that had caused the sudden shift and if he could determine what that had been it might help in the future. The youngest member of Weiss was a passionate soul and his strong emotional reactions were understandable but they were potentially damaging if he couldn't control them as he obviously hadn't been able to earlier.
Not finding any answers as the gurney was placed next to one of a pair of unoccupied beds in a room identified with a placard beside the door labeled "121", the violet-eyed man refocused on the scene around him. The nurse and orderly were arranging themselves to move the unconscious youth into the bed by simply lifting the corners of the sheet Nagi was laying on and carrying him over to it.
Snorting angrily at the clinical impersonality of the process despite it being a perfectly acceptable approach technically speaking, Aya growled softly, "Let me do that."
The other two Weiss members present glanced at him in surprise and Yohji almost smiled despite his lingering dark thoughts as the elder of his two lovers repeated his actions from the previous night.
Aya slipped strong arms beneath the fragile-looking fifteen year old and easily swept Nagi up, cradling him warmly to himself for the moment it took to get the gurney out of the way and then settling him onto the bed gently. As he stepped away, the nurse busied herself drawing a warm blanket up over the motionless youth, tucking it in warmly and double checking the emergency assistance call-button that lay upon the pillow.
After casting an annoyed glance at the woman to tell her to hurry up, the twenty year old felt Omi's cautious touch at his arm and looked down into grateful, red-rimmed blue eyes. With a small smile for the boy, he patted the hand where it lay, then moved to draw a chair over to the bed and he inclined his head to indicate it was for him.
Omi sank into the chair gratefully, and after the two uniformed hospital workers had left, he sighed deeply and let his head fall into his hands, simply resting for a moment before asking, "What do we do now?"
Yawning slightly and feeling embarrassed about it despite being beyond exhausted after going without sleep for over 48 hours, Yohji answered, "We wait." He stretched and added with a sigh, "I think we need to let Manx know what's going on. She's going to be pissed when she finds out there's been another fuck-up."
"That's true," Omi nodded and moved the chair so he could go back to holding Nagi's hand, feeling more calm as long as he could maintain physical contact with his boyfriend even as he asked, "But what about you, Yohji-kun? You and Aya-kun both look so very tired."
"We'll be fine, Omiitchi, don't worry about us," the jade-eyed man responded tiredly then yawned again and shook his head, "I just need some coffee or something. I think I'll go get some and I'll call Manx while I'm at it."
"All right," the youngest member of Weiss agreed easily as Yohji turned and walked out of the room with Aya following him only a few steps behind. Omi then turned his attention back to his insensate lover and sighed softly, "Oh, Nagi-love, please be okay." He sighed and continued to hold his beloved's chilled and limp hand warmly in his own and silently hoped the other boy would awaken quickly.
After they had walked a few doors away from the room where they had left the two teenagers, Aya reached out and clasped one hand over Yohji's arm and stopped him so they could plan a new strategy for the changed situation. Simply patiently sitting in the waiting room to be called to visit their fallen lover was no longer an option either man was willing to consider since the staff had proven they couldn't be trusted to keep him safe.
"I'm going back to the ICU," the violet-eyed man stated quietly, voice mission-cool once more. "I don't trust them to protect Ken and I won't risk any further complications due to their stupidity."
Jade eyes narrowed angrily as Yohji nodded his agreement, "Sounds like a good idea to me, Abyssinian. Those assholes are lucky Omi needed us when he did a bit ago. It could've gotten messy otherwise." He didn't need to specify the type of violence that might have erupted earlier, they both knew it wouldn't have been anything as terrible as what had occurred the previous day, but it still would've caused trouble for all involved.
The Weiss swordsman nodded and snorted angrily, "My thoughts as well, Balinese. Can you stand guard over Bombay and Nagi while I take watch over Siberian?"
Yohji nodded in return, "Absolutely. I'll contact Manx and then get back to them in a few minutes."
"Roger that," the Weiss swordsman acknowledged his agreement to the current plan of action and they separated intending to protect their teammates and friend as fully as possible despite their dangerous and mind-numbing exhaustion.
Neither man would have had the energy to continue with his reckless disregard for his own health if there wasn't quite so much riding on their shoulders. However, as long as Ken and Nagi were unconscious and Omi was lost in an emotional haze, Aya and Yohji would remain on alert, protecting the three younger assassins to the best of their abilities. Luckily for them, though, someone was already on their way to radically change the situation for the better, bringing much needed support they hadn't even thought to ask for.
*****
To be continued.
Author's Notes:
[1] "EMT" is the abbreviation for Emergency Medical Technician, a.k.a. "Paramedic" in some areas, and I've met several volunteer fire-and-rescue workers younger than seventeen who held the title so this isn't as improbable as it may seem at first glance.
Full Author's Notes to Run at Conclusion.
Please be advised: Parts 25 & 26 will be posted together.
This evening's posting run is dedicated to a whole bunch of incredible people who deserve more praise than some of you can imagine, my faithful reviewers at fanfiction.net!
{blows the Horn of Friendship and then bows deeply to those who R&R at ff.net with delightful frequency}
Just so everyone can discover for themselves how fabulous these people are, I ran the URL for there not too long ago for my MLs and I won't take your time to repeat myself with that since it's easy to get to. However, as of this evening, there's *150* pieces of shiny, wonderful, delightful, inspirational commentary there that provide me with an almost limitless amount of energy to keep going against all odds to finish this Angst Epic!
{does the Official Llama Happy Dance of Joy in Honor of Fanfiction.net Friends}
If you wondered what kept me going as the migraine played holy hell with my soul OR while I worried over my sick chibi OR any other time this story hit a block, just go look. All you have to do is see some of the great things people have said to see that this is every writer's dream, to have readers who are just as passionate about his work as he himself is! There've been discussions about who will live and who will die, the best ways to cope with the pain of cliffhangers and oodles more of truly good stuff!
So, thank you *all* for the messages! I promise that each and every one of them has been read carefully, and then either: smiled at, giggled over, laughed along with, cried over, or some other emotional response I can't think of right now. These kind words are life's blood for me and ambrosia for my muses and I thank you all!
If I could ask my friends there for a favor it would be a simple one and it's being mentioned only because I adore them and might want to send a note to someone who didn't have a chance to sign in before commenting. If you do wish to leave me a message without a link back to your author's page where I can get your address, could you add it for me? I'd be crazy to think I could start answering these things one by one, but there's been a couple times I just wanted to reach through the internet and hug someone who left me a note there but without an address I didn't get to. So, please, never hesitate to leave me a note in whatever fashion appeals to you, use plenty of kind words since they make my muses work *extra* hard, and let me know how to reach you, okay? You're too important to me *not* want to know how to say "thanks", ne?
{bows deeply once again, these people deserve nothing but adoration but then realizes there's something important to mention and switches gears *after* storing the Horn of Friendship properly, of course!}
Just so it doesn't catch anyone by surprise, allow me to mention that "Cold November Rain" will officially go on hiatus after tomorrow night's posting run.
{ducks down to hide behind a steel-reinforced wall since there're a few rabid fans that aren't going to like hearing this, but such is life and a promise is a promise!}
As has been mentioned several times in my end notes during recent posting runs, my darling Ryoko, aka my kitten, my koi, my friend, etc. has a birthday coming up on Monday. The delightful lady was given her choice of stories for her natal celebration and she chose something for her new Cowboy Bebop yaoi shrine along the lines of fairly light and happy lemon for Gren and Vicious. Hence, after the Angst-Muse-from-Hell and I knock out the rest of Part 27 and all of Part 28, then edit both up for tomorrow, Melpomene will be taking a break and Erato will be in charge for a few days. With a modicum of luck, I'll be able to create a deliciously naughty piece for Ryoko to enjoy and then it'll be back to work on this Angst Epic again. I think I'd like to try to get as much of it done in rough draft form before beginning the posting runs again, though, so it might be as long as a week before there's more.
{ducks back down then peeks out with an olive branch in his hands}
Oops! Did I forget to mention that I'll also be working with *both* of my main muses on "Scars" while I'm doing that as well as outlining Book 4 which is untitled and will be either the "Schwarz Finds Out" story OR the "Yohji Quits Smoking" one? I think I'd like to save the (Brad x Schu) lemon as a tasty refresher course in Book 5. If I do, it means that "Redirecting Destiny" will have: Angst in "Cold November Rain"; Lemon in "Romantic Resolutions"; Angsty-Lemon in "Scars"; Angst in Book 4; then Sweeter-yet-slightly-angsty Lemon in Book 5; and then go ahead and let the three assassin teams go at each other in a Grand Melee in Book 6! I'd probably plan on slipping the non-chosen option for Book 4 into one of the others, but all of this is just llama-talk at too early in the morning, you know? Just some ideas you, the readers can think over and let me know what you'd like my muses to focus on next, all right?
{yawns sleepily and goes ahead and winds this one down}
All right, time for some sleep after putting this up at fanfiction.net. I'll be back soon with a really surprising performance for you next time! After all, I gave you a cliffhanger tonight, yes, but instead of fear it ought to have inspired a bit of hope and I want to deliver *that* before the story goes on hold for a bit!
Ciao!
~~~E-sama the Llama~~~
(who thinks Melpomene *really* needs a break after she delivered yet another idea for this continuity that made even *him* shudder tonight! damn, the things that evil goddess wants to have as hidden backstory for Yohji's time with Calico in Sapporo are far more cruel than what had been in mind originally but at least she's already providing a nice set-up for the little orange-haired bastard to get sliced to ribbons by Aya, ne? hmm, wonder why Kenken's not been included in that foreshadowed vengeance? {evil laugh as he vanishes into the pre-dawn hours})
Posted 08 February 2002, ~4:00am.