Weiß Schrecken
Disclaimer: Weiß Kreuz and all associated and registered trademarks are copyright Project Weiß and associated firms. In the writing of this fanfiction I am making no claim or stake in the profits of it. In other words, I don't own these sexy bishounen, and I don't intent to. Get it? Got it? Good.

Weiß Schrecken

Chapter Two: Wortspiel

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Smack!

The sound was like a mallet hitting a raw steak and carried through the split silence of the mission room. Thrown back by the force of the blow, Youji raised a hand to his cheek, covering the already forming red mark from Ken's fist. Emerald eyes overlaid with surprise from the sudden strike stared into the mixed blue green of the brunet's, seeing anger burning within. Straightening, the lanky blond slowly lifted his hand, resettling his ever present sunglasses over the bridge of his nose. "It wasn't my idea or want for this to happen, Kenken," he said evenly, staring over the rim of said sunglasses.

"No, but it was your watch he was covering when it happened, Youji!" Ken shot back, fingers still clenched into a tight fist, his knuckles pale red from the force of the punch laid to the playboy's face. "And because of your flirtatious nature, Omi's missing!"

Having stood quietly back, no fool to try to singly break up a fight between two trained assassins, Aya's violet eyes opened, looking directly at Ken. "Omi is hardly missing," he said, the voice of calm in the strained situation. "There is only one place he could be and that is with Schwarz. We find Schwarz, we find Omi."

That same angry gaze that had held no remorse at striking down the wire-wielding member of Weiß turned and laid itself on Aya's form, a frown on Ken's face. "Unless you have a map to lead us to them, Aya, we're still in the same position," he retorted hotly. "Schwarz has Omi, and we have no idea where Schwarz is! Back at square one before we even left it!" Rather than letting his rage get the better of himself and his team mates, the claw-bearing assassin spun and drove his fist into the wall. Literally. Pieces of gyproc followed his fingers as he withdrew them, glaring back at Youji once more. Anger and frustration flooded through him. Anger that the playboy had not been around when Omi needed help, when he should have been there. Frustration that the youngest member of Weiß had been taken without a trace. Omi was like a little brother to him, and Ken was very protective of him, always there to help whenever the youngest needed it. And to know that the teen was in the hands of their enemies, specifically the one that took special pleasure in screwing with them, was driving his anger well beyond breaking point. "So, what the fuck do we do now?"

"We find Schwarz." Certainly a simple answer, and logical; it could only have come from Aya. That man knew how to state the obvious, if impossible to achieve, truth. "Ken, you have the best working knowledge of computers with Omi gone; try to track them down." Violet eyes met the angered gaze of the brunet, an 'ask no questions, receive no glares' look on the supposed leader of Weiß's face.

Nodding, Ken glanced at the computer at the back of the room, already painfully missing Omi's hacking skills. Finding Schwarz. Talk about asking the impossible. "And what will you two do?" he asked, his temper somewhat back under his control as a passable plan of action began to form.

"What else?" Youji commented, rubbing his cheek delicately. "We can't just drop everything. Koneko still needs to be run in the kid's absence, and we can't afford to look too suspicious, so we'll keep the damn store open." Brushing back the golden strands of hair that the mini-brawl had pushed out of place, the playboy chanced once glance at each Weiß member before heading up the stairs. "And right now, I need some sleep, and ice to stop this from bruising up. Though I'm sure I could get plenty of pity dates if it did."

Tossing on his smirking grin, Youji disappeared up the stairs, his pace quickening as he headed to his apartment. He wasn't about to show it to the others, but Omi's disappearance already had him on ragged edge. He couldn't stop hearing the German's voice, replaying the same statement over and over again. Just as he could not stop blaming himself for not being there on time. Damn everything, it would have been better for him to be up there for Schuldich to find. Anyone BUT Omi! That telepath had already had his time with playing mental games with the youth. And the thought of Schuldich having Omi in his cursed hands was almost too much for the playboy to bear. At that point in time, Youji would have given absolutely anything and everything to have switched placed with the genki kid.

Slamming his door behind him, the blond dug for his pack of smokes, shakily bring one out and jamming it between his lips. Kami... Omi alone with that bastard. Digging out his lighter, he managed to light the cancer stick, taking a long drag from it. Damn him and his obsession with being the ladies man. Because of it, he'd been delayed, and now... Omi... was gone. Clenching his fist, he drove it against his door, muttering a curse. And it was all because of him.

*

Very slowly, at the pace a snail could easily have rivaled, the world was coming back to Omi as the youth began to pull himself back into the realm of the awake. The first thing he was aware of was the fact he was lying on something cold, hard, and flat; the floor of a room of some sort, or a cell. With care to avoid being blinded by any bright lights, the teen's sapphire eyes slowly drew open, blinking as he forced them to focus. It seemed that care was wasted, for there was little light at all to illuminate the room, much less enough to blind the unwary eye. But that low light, from a single, half burned fixture in the ceiling, was just enough to allow him to view his surroundings. He seemed to be in a small room, bare of walls and floor, and furniture for that matter. The cement floor he lay on was covered in a network of cobweb cracks, well in need of replacement from the strains of wear had been placed on it. His back was up against a wall, and the faint pain towards the rear of his head suggested that he had been carelessly thrown there and that the wall had stopped his motion. Shifting in order to get a better view of his cell, Omi found his actions greatly restrained. His arms were pulled behind his back and held tight in place by loops of rope that refused to give enough slack to allow motion. Further attempts to move proved that his feet had been similarly tied, to keep him from getting up and running, as though he could run anywhere. And last to note was that he had been gagged, a strip of foul tasting cloth shoved against his mouth to keep him from calling for help. Or making too much noise.

Pulling at his bonds, and knowing full well he would probably have a good case of rope burn for it, Omi tried to shift more. Finally, he managed to pulling himself to his knees, leaning his back against the wall as he recovered from the effort. Whoever it was who had restrained him with rope had certainly known how to do so to allow minimal motion.

//Guten tag, Kätzchen. Welcome back to the world of the living.//

Sapphire eyes widened as the telepathic message carried through his mind, filled with the nasal tones he knew too well. Schuldich! Being unable to speak, his words were only in his mind, yet that could hardly matter with the German around.

//Glad to see you remember me, Kätzchen. Not that I thought you'd ever forget me, little murderer.//

This time the mental phrase was accompanied by a soft chuckle as the door opened, spilling light into the darkened room. A shadowed figure stepped through the frame, closing the panel of wood behind him. In the again dim light, Schuldich's features were barely visible, his normally vibrant hair dulled by the lack of light. With the grace and speed of a cat, the man crossed the small room to stop in front of the genki assassin, kneeling down to his level, his ever-constant smirk playing on his features.

To Omi, being anywhere near Schuldich was too close for comfort, and the man being less than two feet from him was only worse. Fighting against the ropes holding him in place, he tried to shift away from the fire-haired male, all while his mind was working, trying to figure out what the hell had happened.

Another chuckle escaped that constant smirk, jade eyes staring into the deep blue one's of the youth. "It's quite obvious, Kätzchen, isn't it?" Schuldich inquired. "I merely picked up that which Weiß no longer wanted."

Endless blue eyes narrowed as Omi took in the words. What the hell is he talking about? Mused silently once more, the bitter tasting cloth still holding his words in, the unspoken thought was laced with confusion.

The jaden eyes assumed the look of a predator watching their prey. "I'm talking about how Weiß left you up there for me," he replied, trying to assume an innocent seeming air. With Schuldich, however, it was a failure; the man was no more innocent than Omi was evil.

Left me? Lying bastard! I was taking my turn at watching for the target! By this point, Omi's mind was filling with surprised anger as the youth struggled further against the ropes burning into his wrists.

"Your turn?" Mocking this time, the voice echoed in the near silent room, bouncing again and again back to the youth and his captor. "Tell me, Kätzchen, wasn't your turn over two hours before I arrived? Wasn't someone else supposed to replace you so you could rest?"

Youji-kun... Demo, he was just held up! No matter how hard he struggled, the teen could not pull himself free of his bonds. That hardly stopped him, of course; he just kept fighting, pulling, struggling. Anything to get free.

A deep throated chuckle split the air. "Held up? Ja, perhaps that could be true to cover a few minutes," the German mused, settling back on his haunches like a cat watching the mouse it was stalking. "But two whole hours? Nein, Kätzchen, he was not held up. He did not want to show up in the first place. None of them did. They just wanted to leave you there, alone, while they hoped for the worst."

There's no way to prove that. It's just a lie, just like him. Always the liar! His wrists were truly starting to hurt, yet Omi kept pulling. He wanted to get free, away from the words. To find a way to shut the German up before he started to make any more sense than he already was.

"Why tell a lie when the truth tastes so much better, ja?" More deep laughter graced the teen's ears, Schuldich shaking his head as though he were speaking with a child rather than a full-fledged, if young, assassin. Shuffling his weight to be closer to the boy, the telepath leaned in, emerald eyes meeting sapphire in a battle to find which held more truth. "As for proof, Kätzchen, think for a moment. Who was it that suggested the watches be solo? Hadn't that suggestion been counter to what you had just said?"

Omi blinked, startled by the different tactics put in use by the telepath. He could recall the discussion between Weiß about how to go about the shifts of watching the penthouse, and what he remembered made him pale. They had been facing the problem of the target not being home often, so Ken had suggested watching the penthouse for when he did return. The idea had seemed intelligent, so there had been a discussion about how to go about it. He had suggested two of them to a shift, for safety's measures and for a while, it had seemed like that would work. Then Youji had informed them that it was a stupid idea and that it would only create suspicion if only two of the 'florists' were running the shoppe, rather than the usual three. Points were made that only furthered Youji's comment and, in the end, he had been outnumbered and the watches were deemed to be cone singly. What made him pale was not the discussion, but the fact that YOUJI had been the one to suggest single shifts. Youji, the one who had been absent up on the roof. The one who should have been there to replace Omi when Schuldich had captured him. Youji... Kami... No! It couldn't be true! Despite his resolve, the youth's eyes began to mist over as even the thought of being betrayed by his friends ate at him.

"What a hypocrite you are, Kätzchen," Schuldich commented. "You say you fight for truth, and yet now you are trying to deny that which you know is true. Mein Gott, don't you ever confuse yourself doing that?" Brushing back his fiery hair the German once more turned those cat-like eyes on the youth, spotting the forming tears. And round two is mine. Me: two. Weiß: zero. Long fingers reached out to brush at those forming tears, the young assassin shuddering at the touch of his most hated enemy. That smirk never lost its place on Schuldich's face as the man stood. "I'll leave you to think on that, ja, Kätzchen?"

Fighting the desire to brush away every last feel of the German's fingers, knowing that it would only hurt him more, Omi watched with confused eyes as the telepath left, dropping him back into the solitary darkness. Abandoned and left alone... No, it couldn't be! Weiß would never betray him!

... Would they?



Author's Note:



Whee, finally finished chapter two! Explanations why it took so long? Well, I kind went into shock as some really positive feedback and sorta just... stood around like a baka for a long time. So, now it's finished and chapter three is pretty much fully formed in my head. Lil' Omi fans out there, you might hate me when it's written though. *hides*