Title: Schuldig
Author: annonymouse
Summary: As the title suggests… A Schuldig-centric fic, a look to his past and a continuation of the first season of Weiss Kreuz. Will be Brad/Schu later on so be warned…
Author's Notes: I promised myself I would not be writing another series… But here I am… Baka! Anyway, hope you enjoy this. No Brad/Schu to be found yet. But it will be emphasised on… later in the fic's life.
Sentences in italics will be telepathic interaction, time-jumps and thoughts depending on the situations. I promise it's not as confusing to sort out as the explanation is ^^
*
The voices started to invade his thoughts, he wanted to shut them out, to throw them all out. But he couldn't. Slowly the voices went louder, till he couldn't even hear his own heart beating frantically.
"You have to let it go."
"That 'it' is my son!"
"It is dangerous."
"He has a name!"
Then the one he hated most.
"Take it away from me."
Schuldig gasped as a sharp tap brought him back to the present.
"Get a grip Schuldig. You are starting to project your thoughts." Panicked eyes swept over two other figures in the room. "Not so much that they noticed. But be careful."
"How did you…"
"I've known you longer." The dark haired man went back to his own corner of the large apartment.
The tall German man stood slowly, letting his cat like grace hide his uneasiness. The fact that Brad had felt his emotions unnerved him.
"I think I'm going to bed." he said casually. Schuldig did an exaggeration of a yawn, it was a sign to the others not to say or do anything which might make them loose their mind.
Once he clicked the door shut he had the unnatural urge to run and jump on his bed like he used to when he was a little boy. So he did. He used to have to run at least five steps before he leaped to his bed. Now it only took two.
His heart was beating crazily.
Schuldig chuckled softly. No monsters under the bed, he reminded himself. The only monster is the one on the bed. The one covering his eyes with one hand, lying limply, trying to get his emotions under control.
The red head fell quickly into uneasy sleep.
*
"Bitte… Mütter… Bitte…"the small boy whispered hoarsely. A woman approached him, a cold smile fixed on her face.
"Relax now little boy…" The boy didn't understand the foreign words the woman spoke, but the smile on her face was enough to place a chilly premonition that nothing good will happen anytime soon. A look of concentration settled on her face and suddenly the red headed boy began to scream. A mix of German, Japanese, French and English spilled from his throat.
"No! Bitte! Stop! No more… Bitte… Onegai…Madame, s'il vous plait!"
"Hey, wont that make him lose his mind?" a man asked as he approached her. He was barely visible to the little boy who clutched his head and sobbed helplessly.
"He'll be fine. This way, he'll know what we expect from him over the next few years." She shrugged and finally the concentrated look fell off her face. She seemed pleased.
"Mika'el. Can you hear me?" she spoke English with the drawling accent of an American.
"Hai." Mika'el was surprised. He had meant to say 'yes'. Why was he greeting her instead? But somewhere in his mind he knew that he wasn't greeting her, he was giving her confirmation. The woman sighed exasperatedly, she turned to the man.
"I'm going to need to block some pathways."
"His teachers won't all be English."
"Just the Japanese and French parts. I don't think we have any students or teachers from those two countries right now, anyway."
"Why did you transfer the data, then?" the man rolled his eyes at her. She just loved showing off, this hadn't been the first time she overfed new potentials. Being one of the most powerful telepaths the institute had, she was given many different tasks that she always overdid.
"But I didn't. I was trying to stop the flow of information, but in his desperation to hold on to something… He pulled more information out of me." The woman looked put out by the new realisation. Could it be that the small red-head was more powerful than she was? She didn't like that at all.
Mika'el had by now stopped sobbing, he clutched his skinny shoulders and looked up at the two adults in front of him. His eyes flicked to the woman, Ashley Summers, 27, born in New York, America. Telepath. Now goes under the name Christine Pearson. The sudden knowledge of her personal data surprised him. How did he suddenly know all of this?
His gaze fell to the man next to her. Aditya Hanadi, 35, born in Semarang, Indonesia. Powerful telekinetic, brilliant strategist. Now goes under the name Adrian.
He shrank back from them, he didn't understand how he suddenly knew all of this. Maybe it was the place that was affecting him, was he going to know everything about the people he saw? He knew that Ashley… Christine… hated him. He also knew that Adrian wanted to take Christine down a few notches.
The connection Christine cut open in his mind seemed to make him more receptive to other people's thoughts.
"Ashley…" he whimpered. Christine Pearson looked at him sharply.
"How did you retrieve that data?" she grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard. Mika'el regretted calling out her old name. He was being bad again. Were they going to lock him up in a cupboard like his muttie would do? Or were they simply going to beat him? He gave a resigned sigh, he had hoped going away from home would change the knowledge hat bad things would happen if he was 'naughty'.
"I didn't mean to be naughty…" he looked to the man, pleading silently to him to help this poor little red headed boy who was suffering. The man gave a bark of laughter.
"Are you trying to manipulate me already boy? No chance of that happening anytime soon." Adrian came over to Mika'el and took him away from Christine. "But maybe in a few years you'll be taking over all of Christine's jobs!" he laughed again, leaving a furious Christine behind.
*
Schuldig woke to the curtains being pulled away from the windows. He saw no one there and growled mentally.
"Boy, if you can't give me one good reason why you're waking me up at…" he glanced at the clock, "ten o'clock in the morning, I'm going to make you live your nightmares for the next week."
Brad wants you. He said be in his study in ten minutes. Came the short mental reply from Nagi.
Schuldig swore. Even though Brad Crawford was designated 'leader' in their group, he had never used his position in anything other than missions. He usually let them roam free, this wasn't normal Eszet behaviour but then again… Schwarz was not exactly a normal group. The level of talent in their group was unusually high, each one being smart enough to conceal their full power while they went through training. After all, they didn't want the Elders to feel threatened.
He groaned and left the warmth of his blankets reluctantly. Ten minutes will only be enough time to either have a quick shower or a decent cup of coffee. He mulled over the choices before trudging to the bathroom to only wash his face. Coffee it is.
When he arrived in the kitchen area he found Nagi cleaning up his morning dishes.
"Oy. Did you go shopping?" as he remembered, they were low on coffee the other day.
"Coffee's in the cabinet by the fridge. As usual." Nagi didn't seem to need any further questions from Schuldig, it seemed that he knew what the elder telepath wanted. Schuldig often wondered whether Nagi was a telepath himself.
"Hnh." He peered inside only to find different flavours of instant coffee. "Boy, are you trying to poison me?" he groaned when he saw the lack of 'decent' coffee, which by his opinion were the type you had to brew yourself.
"They were on sale. And the ones you usually buy were out of stock."
"This is payback isn't it?"
His answer was a turned back. Schuldig groaned and pulled a few different 'flavours' out, seems like today he'd have to mix and match. This was going to take longer than expected, but coffee was coffee.
Schuldig. Office. Now. A stern mental voice which could only be Brad's sounded in his mind.
Nooo… he moaned childishly.
It's your own fault for not waking up earlier. Came the cold reply.
It's Nagi's fault for getting the wrong coffee. He complained, nevertheless he moved to the hallway, walking to a dark door. Sometimes he really regretted connecting the team in a 'link' any of them could use at any given time.
"What Brad? I haven't had coffee, I haven't had a shower and Nagi is being a brat." Schuldig huffed and threw himself on a plush leather sofa, legs sprawled half on and half off the sofa.
"First of all, I have been waking you up since an hour ago. Second, Nagi is never a brat unless you provoke him. Third, Adrian called." Brad's face stayed perfectly emotionless as he recited his words, he frowned slightly when he saw Schuldig's pose and rose up to throw the offending leg of his sofa.
"I think I need to get my hearing checked. I swear I just heard you say Adrian called." He stuck a finger in his ears and twisted it to demonstrate his point.
"You heard right. He called."
Moments seemed to pass without wither of them saying anything. Thoughts ran through his head in quick succession leaving him dizzy.
"And what did he have to say?" he tried to keep his voice steady, he tried to be his usual self but it wasn't working.
"Adrian took over Eszet. He is by far the most senior officer there. The younger ones either fear him or respect him. He called us as a warning... And maybe as a way of asking for a favour returned."
"Which was?" Adrian. Adrian called. His mind recited over and over for him, a look of mild disbelieve graced his face. His former mentor had called Brad.
"Basically, he's giving us the option of getting free. Totally free, no debts left with Eszet. But in return, we are to leave all their staff alone and not mess with their operations."
"Adrian?"
"Yes. I believe you knew him." Brad said sarcastically.
"We have to go against Adrian?" the red head asked, from what he remembered of his former mentor, he was a tough opponent to defeat. A person truly worthy of the title 'Talent'.
"Weren't you listening to me?! He's letting us go." He was really getting sick of having to repeat himself over and over to the seemingly dense Schuldig, but his subconscious kept him from lashing out to the tall red head. He was about to scold him when the tall German stood up jerkily and seemed ready to go. He stopped and looked back once.
"And the others? Christine for example."
"She'll obey."
"How did he find us?" this loophole bugged him. They had carefully wiped every evidence of their existence away, yet Eszet could still find them? It seemed too convenient, they had double checked and even triple checked that nothing could point the remaining Eszet members to Schwarz. No one could have found them. No one. Not even if it was Adrian.
"I saw this would happen and left him clues." Brad didn't seem bothered by Schuldig's reaction.
"You left clues for Adrian to follow us?" he really could not believe what Brad had just said. He had put the team in danger. Sure Adrian had been a fri… an ally while they were in that place, but to leave traces of their 'footsteps' after killing the Elders…
"Yes."
"I'm going for a walk."
TBC…
End Notes: I know there was a lot of time-jumping here. I promise it doesn't happen all the way, I just used it in the first chapter to lay down the base of what will be happening. ^_^
Next: Schuldig's introduction to Eszet and more of 'Adrian'.
