DISCLAIMER: Normal disclaimers apply. If ya don't know the drill by now,
you'll never know it! MuWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! ^___^
Warnings: slight OOC-ness, future character deaths, heterosexual relationships(suffer, yaoi fangirls!) (A/N: Excuse that outburst..I don't know what came over me ^_^;;; I really have nothing against yaoi fangirls, honestly.)
Chapter Seven - Where angels fear to tread
Schuldig woke up with a headache. He was ashamed to admit it, but he'd done a lot of crying the night before.
// I hate myself. //
Crawford looked up, eyebrows raised. // You're telling me this, why? //
// You were right about Bengal, the new Weiss member. She IS Solera..//
Crawford raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you last night, then?"
"I'd rather not say, if it's all the same to you."
// I'll guess then. You tried to add her to your list of conquests without realising who she was, is that it? //
Schuldig ran his hand through his hair. // Something like that. //
Usually Crawford would have smirked at this, but he was in the same position as Schuldig. He wanted Solera as much as Schuldig did. Both of them were vying for Solera's affection all over again.
History repeating, Crawford mused.
// How right you are, Brad. //
// Don't call me Brad! //
// Fine. //
Schuldig pulled a beer out of the refrigerator, opened it, and was about to take a sip, when Amber raced past and floated the can out of his hand.
"Thanks!" she said, and headed back to her room, can of beer floating in front of her.
"Damned teenager!" Schuldig growled, getting another beer from the fridge.
"In America, she'd be arrested for underage drinking," said Crawford, raising his coffee cup to his mouth.
"Tch! This from a guy who only drinks alcohol on occasions when there's no coffee. And besides we're not IN America!" He sat down again. "So, how are you handling the brat?"
In reply to this, Crawford did something very unCrawford-like, and bashed his head against the table repeatedly.
"That good, huh? Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see Solera."
"Schuldig, you know that if you set foot inside the shop while Abyssinian's on duty, you probably won't get out alive."
The door slammed shut.
"Dammit, Schuldig, I'm talking to you!"
"Do want me to get him for you, Crawford?" asked Nagi.
"No, it's okay, Nagi. But I want you to wear Amber out, so she doesn't bother me today."
"Yes Crawford."
"Can I do it?" asked the eager Irishman, knife in hand.
Crawford sighed. "Fine, but if there's any blood on the carpet, I will personally kill you."
The door of the Koneko opened, and Schuldig stepped inside. "Nice shop."
Taia's shift had just started when Schuldig walked in. "Can I help you?" she asked, completely oblivious to the fact that she was talking to her attacker. Schuldig was the same way.
"Is Solera here?"
"Gomen, she left an hour ago. I can take a message for you, if you like."
"Just tell her a close friend came by."
"Okay, bye!"
Schuldig left the shop, a little disappointed. To make himself feel better, he decided to go shopping for some new clothes to wear when he went clubbing. A shop called Gen X caught his eye, so he went over to check it out.
And stopped dead in his tracks when he saw none other than Balinese and Bengal in the same shop. Schuldig thought that now would be the perfect time to annoy Balinese no end, so he walked up behind Solera and put his arms around her waist.
"Wie geht's(1), Katzchen?" he purred softly in her ear.
Solera looked up and blushed. Yohji stared in shock, and dragged Schuldig out of the shop.
"I should kill you right now, but I won't. Just tell me why the hell you were trying to hit on Bengal!" Yohji said fiercely.
// It's funny how the past catches up with us, isn't it? //
// What's that supposed to mean? //
Schuldig smirked at how pissed off Balinese was. // Solera and I were an item 6 years ago. I bet she failed to tell you that, didn't she? //
// I don't care! Touch her again, and I'll...I'll...//
// Oh, but you do care. And until you can actually get hold of me to kill me, I suggest you keep you mouth shut. Auf Wiedersehen(2), Balinese. //
Schuldig turned to Solera and winked at her. // Until next time, Bengal. //
"Come on Solera, we're going now."
Solera followed Yohji to the car, and on the way home, not a word was exchanged between them, until Yohji broke the silence.
"Why didn't you tell me you knew him, Solera?"
"I didn't know he was with Schwarz! We lost contact six years ago!"
"He said something to me. He said, 'It's funny how the past catches up with us', and he also told me you two were an item six years ago. Is that true?"
"Yes."
"So when you told me last night that you met up with your past, you were talking about him."
Solera nodded.
Yohji sighed, reached over and held her hand. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"
"I was afraid you'd get me kicked out of Weiss!"
"Well, you having connections with our rivals can have serious ramifications."
Solera looked away. "That was my past. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could start a relationship with Kio again, not without splitting Weiss up..."
"Wait a second, who's Kio?"
"The guy you were yelling at. You didn't know?"
"No, I didn't. He usually goes by the name Schuldig."
"How ironic. It means 'guilty' in German. The only thing he feels guilty for, is letting his father take him away from me."
"You got it rough, didn't you?"
Tears welled up in Solera's eyes, and she looked out the window. "Twice."
"Twice? Who else?"
"Brad Crawford."
Yohji's stunned look spoke volumes. "As in, Brad Crawford from Schwarz?"
"One and the same."
Yohji pulled up in the driveway of the apartment building, and faced Solera again. "If you're having problems, come and tell me."
"I'll try when you and Taia aren't busy gazing longingly into each other's eyes."
"Now that was sarcastic. What makes you think there's anything going on between me and Taia?"
Solera gave Yohji an 'I-know-you-too-well' look.
"..Okay, I like her alot. Hey, we're going clubbing on Saturday. You up for it?"
Solera had a flashback to her first clubbing experience and shuddered. "No thanks, the bad first-time experience scarred me for life. I think I'll stay here. It's safer."
Yohji laughed, and his hair flopped into his eyes. The two of them walked inside, arm in arm.
"Guys, we have another mission."
It had been a week since Solera and Yohji saw Schuldig, and everything had been going okay up until then.
"Spill, Aya-kun," Solera replied.
"This is where yours and Omi's hacking abilities will come in handy. A man named Masumi Ikeda has plans to destroy The Embassy on the same day the world leaders will be meeting there. The plans are saved on the hard drive of a computer in Ikeda's base, located underground. Turns out, it's being guarded by Schwarz, who also have a new member. A young female telekinetic, and before you ask, Yohji, she's only 17."
Yohji pretended to look hurt. "For your information, I wasn't going to ask! So, now they have two telekinetics, eh?"
"Her name is Amber. She's slightly shorter than Omi, and she does taekwondo. We can only assume she's Japanese, other than that, there's no record of her nationality. Whoever's controlling Schwarz got her when she was a baby."
"Finally! A chance to hack into something! Omi's been hogging the computer."
Omi looked horrified, "I have not!"
Solera poked her tongue out at him. "I'm gonna get ready. I'll be in the shower."
"That was mature," said Ken, rolling his eyes.
When he heard the bathroom door shut, Aya grumbled, "She'd better not use all the hot water. Women have a nasty habit of doing that."
Yohji winked, "Why don't you shower with her? It's save water, and besides, it'll be fun!"
Aya glared at him.
"Okay," Ken replied, "every day since she arrived, you've managed to tell us what you hate about her. Is there any thing that you don't hate about her?"
Aya sighed and closed his eyes. This was bound to come up in conversation. "She's like Aya-chan, a free spirit. Doesn't listen to anything you say, but you can't help liking her."
Aya was interrupted by Solera calling out, "Yotan! Can you go up to my room and get my shampoo?"
"I'll be back in a minute, guys," Yohji said, heading upstairs.
Solera's room was much like his own: clothes all over the floor, and an unmade bed.
On her bedside table, he spotted a picture that looked like a teenage Crawford, Schuldig, and Solera.
"Hmm, they looked so much happier then."
He found the shampoo, and kicked it through the slightly open bathroom door.
"Thanks, Yotan!" came the reply.
Crawford was tired, irritated and bored. He wouldn't admit it to the other four so easily though.
"So, how long until Weiss show up?" asked Amber, kicking the tyres on Schuldig's convertible, "I have to do my nails."
Schuldig was bored and irritated as well. "I don't know! And for Christ's sake, stop kicking my car!"
"Fine," she replied, and sat next to Nagi, "What, we're just gonna wait here until they show up?"
"Yes, that's the idea!" snapped Crawford.
"Hmph. I'd rather go back to Rosenkreuz. Even that was more fun than this."
"You were probably a teacher's pet," snorted Schuldig.
"What would you know, Bozo? I'm a higher level telekinetic than you are a telepath. If we went up against each other, you'd be dead before you even tried anything."
"Oh yeah? Prove it!"
"You can kill each other after the mission, just SHUT UP UNTIL THEN!!" Crawford yelled, losing his patience, "Honestly, Nagi's better behaved than the both of you!"
Farfarello was looking at a picture of Bengal that he'd swiped from somewhere. He was talking to himself. "So innocent, so corruptible. Perfect skin, soft. She must die."
// Trust me Farf, she no more innocent than I am. //
Farfarello cocked his head to one side. Schuldig's words had caught his attention. // You know her? //
// Personally. She's a vicious little kitty. //
// Even better. //
Farf wasn't as insane as people thought. He was actually very intelligent, but people had ignored his intellect for so long, that even he was beginning to believe he was insane.
His ears picked up another sound. "They're here. Time for kitty kebabs!"
// Easy there, not until mine or Crawford's signal. //
Farf grinned. // Ah, eager to impress the female kitty? //
// You'd better believe it. //
// God will cry! //
Amber paired off against Solera first up.
"So, you're Schwarz's new member, huh?" said Solera, dodging punches.
"It's not like I had a choice," Amber replied, kicking Solera in the shoulder.
"You went to Rosenkreuz, handpicked by Este when you were a baby."
"You sure know a lot about me." Amber was amused.
"Let's just say that I have a lot of time on my hands, and, like you, I was forced into this way of life." Solera kicked Amber in the side of the head, knocking her unconscious.
Farfarello charged at Solera, dagger in hand. He leapt the last ten feet and only managed to nick her arm slightly. Solera unsheathed her katana and swung it at him. Farf ducked and knocked the katana out of her hand. It clattered to the ground a couple of metres away.
"Nice kitty, I won't hurt you...much!" Farfarello cackled, "You have a lot of spirit, I can see why Mastermind likes you so much."
He lunged at Solera only to be sent sprawling backwards. Solera took this as an opportunity to find Omi and the others. She picked up her katana and ran through the seemingly deserted base. She had been given an earpiece so that she could communicate with the rest of Weiss.
"Bombay, where are you?"
"Downstairs in the den part. Be careful, the place is still heavily guarded."
"I'll be there soon-" Solera was cut off when she felt herself being lifted into the air. "Oh shit."
"'Oh shit' is never a good thing to say on a mission. What's the trouble?" asked Yohji.
"Boy telekinetic."
"I'll be there in a minute."
Suddenly a voice from the darkness said, "Put her down, Prodigy."
"But Crawford-"
"Don't question me, Nagi! I-" Crawford didn't get to finish. A wave of pain swept over him as he had a vision. The building had blown up, and a female was the only one dead.
When the vision was over, Crawford opened his eyes, but the building had already filled with smoke. "EVERYBODY OUT!" he yelled, hoping that even Weiss could hear him, "THE BUILDING'S GOING TO EXPLODE!"
He found the exit and saw his team accounted for, and the Weiss boys, but no Solera.
"Schuldig, Farfarello, we have to go back in and find Bengal!"
With an affirmative nod, the three psychics ran back into the smoky building.
"They'd better find her," muttered Aya, pacing up and down the concrete.
"I can't find her, Schuldig!" Crawford exclaimed, getting more and more worried by the second, "Have you made contact with her?"
// Her brain appears to have shut down. She's unconscious. Any luck, Farf? //
"Yes, the little lost kitty's accounted for."
Schuldig and Crawford breathed a sigh of relief. The three men ran for the exit. As they reached it, the building blew up, and they were thrown several feet away.
Crawford lay there for what seemed like hours. Farfarello was sitting up with a very injured Solera laying in his lap.
"Come on. We'll take her home with us. We'll send a message to Weiss later."
As the car drove off, Ken woke up. Looking around, he exclaimed, "Schwarz have Solera!"
Another Cliffhanger!!!!
MuWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
What'll happen to Solera? Do Schwarz have good intentions, and how will Weiss go about getting her back?
Please Review!! Onegai?
~Blue Silhouette~
(1)= How are you
(2)= Goodbye
Warnings: slight OOC-ness, future character deaths, heterosexual relationships(suffer, yaoi fangirls!) (A/N: Excuse that outburst..I don't know what came over me ^_^;;; I really have nothing against yaoi fangirls, honestly.)
Chapter Seven - Where angels fear to tread
Schuldig woke up with a headache. He was ashamed to admit it, but he'd done a lot of crying the night before.
// I hate myself. //
Crawford looked up, eyebrows raised. // You're telling me this, why? //
// You were right about Bengal, the new Weiss member. She IS Solera..//
Crawford raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you last night, then?"
"I'd rather not say, if it's all the same to you."
// I'll guess then. You tried to add her to your list of conquests without realising who she was, is that it? //
Schuldig ran his hand through his hair. // Something like that. //
Usually Crawford would have smirked at this, but he was in the same position as Schuldig. He wanted Solera as much as Schuldig did. Both of them were vying for Solera's affection all over again.
History repeating, Crawford mused.
// How right you are, Brad. //
// Don't call me Brad! //
// Fine. //
Schuldig pulled a beer out of the refrigerator, opened it, and was about to take a sip, when Amber raced past and floated the can out of his hand.
"Thanks!" she said, and headed back to her room, can of beer floating in front of her.
"Damned teenager!" Schuldig growled, getting another beer from the fridge.
"In America, she'd be arrested for underage drinking," said Crawford, raising his coffee cup to his mouth.
"Tch! This from a guy who only drinks alcohol on occasions when there's no coffee. And besides we're not IN America!" He sat down again. "So, how are you handling the brat?"
In reply to this, Crawford did something very unCrawford-like, and bashed his head against the table repeatedly.
"That good, huh? Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see Solera."
"Schuldig, you know that if you set foot inside the shop while Abyssinian's on duty, you probably won't get out alive."
The door slammed shut.
"Dammit, Schuldig, I'm talking to you!"
"Do want me to get him for you, Crawford?" asked Nagi.
"No, it's okay, Nagi. But I want you to wear Amber out, so she doesn't bother me today."
"Yes Crawford."
"Can I do it?" asked the eager Irishman, knife in hand.
Crawford sighed. "Fine, but if there's any blood on the carpet, I will personally kill you."
The door of the Koneko opened, and Schuldig stepped inside. "Nice shop."
Taia's shift had just started when Schuldig walked in. "Can I help you?" she asked, completely oblivious to the fact that she was talking to her attacker. Schuldig was the same way.
"Is Solera here?"
"Gomen, she left an hour ago. I can take a message for you, if you like."
"Just tell her a close friend came by."
"Okay, bye!"
Schuldig left the shop, a little disappointed. To make himself feel better, he decided to go shopping for some new clothes to wear when he went clubbing. A shop called Gen X caught his eye, so he went over to check it out.
And stopped dead in his tracks when he saw none other than Balinese and Bengal in the same shop. Schuldig thought that now would be the perfect time to annoy Balinese no end, so he walked up behind Solera and put his arms around her waist.
"Wie geht's(1), Katzchen?" he purred softly in her ear.
Solera looked up and blushed. Yohji stared in shock, and dragged Schuldig out of the shop.
"I should kill you right now, but I won't. Just tell me why the hell you were trying to hit on Bengal!" Yohji said fiercely.
// It's funny how the past catches up with us, isn't it? //
// What's that supposed to mean? //
Schuldig smirked at how pissed off Balinese was. // Solera and I were an item 6 years ago. I bet she failed to tell you that, didn't she? //
// I don't care! Touch her again, and I'll...I'll...//
// Oh, but you do care. And until you can actually get hold of me to kill me, I suggest you keep you mouth shut. Auf Wiedersehen(2), Balinese. //
Schuldig turned to Solera and winked at her. // Until next time, Bengal. //
"Come on Solera, we're going now."
Solera followed Yohji to the car, and on the way home, not a word was exchanged between them, until Yohji broke the silence.
"Why didn't you tell me you knew him, Solera?"
"I didn't know he was with Schwarz! We lost contact six years ago!"
"He said something to me. He said, 'It's funny how the past catches up with us', and he also told me you two were an item six years ago. Is that true?"
"Yes."
"So when you told me last night that you met up with your past, you were talking about him."
Solera nodded.
Yohji sighed, reached over and held her hand. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"
"I was afraid you'd get me kicked out of Weiss!"
"Well, you having connections with our rivals can have serious ramifications."
Solera looked away. "That was my past. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could start a relationship with Kio again, not without splitting Weiss up..."
"Wait a second, who's Kio?"
"The guy you were yelling at. You didn't know?"
"No, I didn't. He usually goes by the name Schuldig."
"How ironic. It means 'guilty' in German. The only thing he feels guilty for, is letting his father take him away from me."
"You got it rough, didn't you?"
Tears welled up in Solera's eyes, and she looked out the window. "Twice."
"Twice? Who else?"
"Brad Crawford."
Yohji's stunned look spoke volumes. "As in, Brad Crawford from Schwarz?"
"One and the same."
Yohji pulled up in the driveway of the apartment building, and faced Solera again. "If you're having problems, come and tell me."
"I'll try when you and Taia aren't busy gazing longingly into each other's eyes."
"Now that was sarcastic. What makes you think there's anything going on between me and Taia?"
Solera gave Yohji an 'I-know-you-too-well' look.
"..Okay, I like her alot. Hey, we're going clubbing on Saturday. You up for it?"
Solera had a flashback to her first clubbing experience and shuddered. "No thanks, the bad first-time experience scarred me for life. I think I'll stay here. It's safer."
Yohji laughed, and his hair flopped into his eyes. The two of them walked inside, arm in arm.
"Guys, we have another mission."
It had been a week since Solera and Yohji saw Schuldig, and everything had been going okay up until then.
"Spill, Aya-kun," Solera replied.
"This is where yours and Omi's hacking abilities will come in handy. A man named Masumi Ikeda has plans to destroy The Embassy on the same day the world leaders will be meeting there. The plans are saved on the hard drive of a computer in Ikeda's base, located underground. Turns out, it's being guarded by Schwarz, who also have a new member. A young female telekinetic, and before you ask, Yohji, she's only 17."
Yohji pretended to look hurt. "For your information, I wasn't going to ask! So, now they have two telekinetics, eh?"
"Her name is Amber. She's slightly shorter than Omi, and she does taekwondo. We can only assume she's Japanese, other than that, there's no record of her nationality. Whoever's controlling Schwarz got her when she was a baby."
"Finally! A chance to hack into something! Omi's been hogging the computer."
Omi looked horrified, "I have not!"
Solera poked her tongue out at him. "I'm gonna get ready. I'll be in the shower."
"That was mature," said Ken, rolling his eyes.
When he heard the bathroom door shut, Aya grumbled, "She'd better not use all the hot water. Women have a nasty habit of doing that."
Yohji winked, "Why don't you shower with her? It's save water, and besides, it'll be fun!"
Aya glared at him.
"Okay," Ken replied, "every day since she arrived, you've managed to tell us what you hate about her. Is there any thing that you don't hate about her?"
Aya sighed and closed his eyes. This was bound to come up in conversation. "She's like Aya-chan, a free spirit. Doesn't listen to anything you say, but you can't help liking her."
Aya was interrupted by Solera calling out, "Yotan! Can you go up to my room and get my shampoo?"
"I'll be back in a minute, guys," Yohji said, heading upstairs.
Solera's room was much like his own: clothes all over the floor, and an unmade bed.
On her bedside table, he spotted a picture that looked like a teenage Crawford, Schuldig, and Solera.
"Hmm, they looked so much happier then."
He found the shampoo, and kicked it through the slightly open bathroom door.
"Thanks, Yotan!" came the reply.
Crawford was tired, irritated and bored. He wouldn't admit it to the other four so easily though.
"So, how long until Weiss show up?" asked Amber, kicking the tyres on Schuldig's convertible, "I have to do my nails."
Schuldig was bored and irritated as well. "I don't know! And for Christ's sake, stop kicking my car!"
"Fine," she replied, and sat next to Nagi, "What, we're just gonna wait here until they show up?"
"Yes, that's the idea!" snapped Crawford.
"Hmph. I'd rather go back to Rosenkreuz. Even that was more fun than this."
"You were probably a teacher's pet," snorted Schuldig.
"What would you know, Bozo? I'm a higher level telekinetic than you are a telepath. If we went up against each other, you'd be dead before you even tried anything."
"Oh yeah? Prove it!"
"You can kill each other after the mission, just SHUT UP UNTIL THEN!!" Crawford yelled, losing his patience, "Honestly, Nagi's better behaved than the both of you!"
Farfarello was looking at a picture of Bengal that he'd swiped from somewhere. He was talking to himself. "So innocent, so corruptible. Perfect skin, soft. She must die."
// Trust me Farf, she no more innocent than I am. //
Farfarello cocked his head to one side. Schuldig's words had caught his attention. // You know her? //
// Personally. She's a vicious little kitty. //
// Even better. //
Farf wasn't as insane as people thought. He was actually very intelligent, but people had ignored his intellect for so long, that even he was beginning to believe he was insane.
His ears picked up another sound. "They're here. Time for kitty kebabs!"
// Easy there, not until mine or Crawford's signal. //
Farf grinned. // Ah, eager to impress the female kitty? //
// You'd better believe it. //
// God will cry! //
Amber paired off against Solera first up.
"So, you're Schwarz's new member, huh?" said Solera, dodging punches.
"It's not like I had a choice," Amber replied, kicking Solera in the shoulder.
"You went to Rosenkreuz, handpicked by Este when you were a baby."
"You sure know a lot about me." Amber was amused.
"Let's just say that I have a lot of time on my hands, and, like you, I was forced into this way of life." Solera kicked Amber in the side of the head, knocking her unconscious.
Farfarello charged at Solera, dagger in hand. He leapt the last ten feet and only managed to nick her arm slightly. Solera unsheathed her katana and swung it at him. Farf ducked and knocked the katana out of her hand. It clattered to the ground a couple of metres away.
"Nice kitty, I won't hurt you...much!" Farfarello cackled, "You have a lot of spirit, I can see why Mastermind likes you so much."
He lunged at Solera only to be sent sprawling backwards. Solera took this as an opportunity to find Omi and the others. She picked up her katana and ran through the seemingly deserted base. She had been given an earpiece so that she could communicate with the rest of Weiss.
"Bombay, where are you?"
"Downstairs in the den part. Be careful, the place is still heavily guarded."
"I'll be there soon-" Solera was cut off when she felt herself being lifted into the air. "Oh shit."
"'Oh shit' is never a good thing to say on a mission. What's the trouble?" asked Yohji.
"Boy telekinetic."
"I'll be there in a minute."
Suddenly a voice from the darkness said, "Put her down, Prodigy."
"But Crawford-"
"Don't question me, Nagi! I-" Crawford didn't get to finish. A wave of pain swept over him as he had a vision. The building had blown up, and a female was the only one dead.
When the vision was over, Crawford opened his eyes, but the building had already filled with smoke. "EVERYBODY OUT!" he yelled, hoping that even Weiss could hear him, "THE BUILDING'S GOING TO EXPLODE!"
He found the exit and saw his team accounted for, and the Weiss boys, but no Solera.
"Schuldig, Farfarello, we have to go back in and find Bengal!"
With an affirmative nod, the three psychics ran back into the smoky building.
"They'd better find her," muttered Aya, pacing up and down the concrete.
"I can't find her, Schuldig!" Crawford exclaimed, getting more and more worried by the second, "Have you made contact with her?"
// Her brain appears to have shut down. She's unconscious. Any luck, Farf? //
"Yes, the little lost kitty's accounted for."
Schuldig and Crawford breathed a sigh of relief. The three men ran for the exit. As they reached it, the building blew up, and they were thrown several feet away.
Crawford lay there for what seemed like hours. Farfarello was sitting up with a very injured Solera laying in his lap.
"Come on. We'll take her home with us. We'll send a message to Weiss later."
As the car drove off, Ken woke up. Looking around, he exclaimed, "Schwarz have Solera!"
Another Cliffhanger!!!!
MuWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
What'll happen to Solera? Do Schwarz have good intentions, and how will Weiss go about getting her back?
Please Review!! Onegai?
~Blue Silhouette~
(1)= How are you
(2)= Goodbye