I finally got off my lazy bum and corrected Yohji's name from Yoji to Yohji in the previous chapters because I like it being uniform and I'm now used to typing 'Yohji' and correcting myself every time I make a mistake is downright irritating.
Anyway… Those who thanked Shiiru-sama… She very happily appreciates it. And thank her again and again for all the next chapters to come, she's a lot of help to me.
The full title of this chapter is "Shakespeare is an Idiot". Its alternate title is "And Blondes go Crazy".
It became long again… oiii… oh well… more recompense… Please believe me when I say it was a very difficult chapter to write. Especially two scenes of it, and I'm not exactly happy with one of them until the end.
Chapter 19 - Shakespeare
"No… No no nonono NO!!"
"Omi…" Ken reached out to touch Omi's shoulder but the younger boy just shook him off, burying his face in his hands.
"Omi… It's… It's okay…"
"Don't say that!" Omi cried, standing up abruptly and stomping away. "It's not okay!"
Ken watched helplessly as Omi plopped onto the sofa, gripping at his hair. "Omi… C'mon! It's…"
"Shut up, Ken-kun." Omi snapped. "And don't think I'm going to let you off easy after you tried to kiss me again."
Ken clamped his mouth shut. He had hoped that Omi wouldn't be sore about that. Ken did almost succeed after all.
Omi groaned again, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "This is crazy… I mean… It's almost as if I really was sucked into some stupid fairy tale… Or fantasy bo-…" He suddenly straightened. "The book…"
"What?"
"The book!" Omi cried, jumping to his feet. He scrambled back to the computer and shuffled through all his papers. "It's not here!" was his next despairing yell before he darted past Ken and up the stairs.
Bewildered, Ken followed. He thought he saw Yohji in the living room on his way up, but was too concerned for Omi's mental health to care.
He arrived at Omi's room to discover the boy giving his desk the same treatment as he did the computer table downstairs. He watched Omi go through the drawers, pulling them out so forcefully, they almost came out of their compartments.
Finally, there was a cry of triumph. Omi spotted the precious black and white cover that Ken recognized to be the story Omi had been reading for a project. He grabbed it, immediately flipping through the pages so fast, Ken was sure it was going to rip apart at the spine.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Ken dared to ask.
"It's got to be a happy ending… It's a comedy!" Omi continued to rifle through the pages. "Puck had to have found something to cure Demetrius and Lysander! With them both after Helena, they had to have done something to cure them!"
"Wh-what's that got to do with us?"
"Maybe I could do the same thing! Maybe it washes out with water… Or maybe a blow to the head will knock them back to their senses… Or something!!" Omi let out a squeal as he finally stopped on a page, "Here! This is the part where the four lovers left again at Oberon gets mad at Puck for making a mistake."
Ken nodded absently as Omi scanned through a page or two, "And here are his instructions!" He held up the book and read aloud. "Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep, With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep: Then crush this herb into Lysander's…"
Omi trailed off, his eyes widening. "No…"
"Omi?" Ken asked, moving a little closer. Omi ignored him, his voice beginning to quiver as he skipped a few lines and continued.
"When they next wake, all this derision, Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision, And back to Athens shall the lovers…"
Omi flipped through the pages, his head shaking, his eyes desperate. He scanned through more paragraphs, "Demetrius… 'But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia, Melted as the snow, seems to me now.'" He mumbled the next few lines before starting again, "'And all the faith, the virtue of my heart, The object and the pleasure of mine eye, Is only Helena…'" Omi swallowed. "'To her, my lord.'"
Before Ken could react, Omi suddenly leapt to his feet, angrily throwing the book across the room.
"O-Omi??"
"No… No no no no!! This is whole load of bullshit!!"
"O-Omi…" Ken said slowly, shocked from what Omi had done, and from what Omi had said. In all his stay with Omi, he had never thought that the boy could actually use such a word. He tried to step closer to calm his friend. "Omi… What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong??" Omi half-shrieked. "Shakespeare's crazy!! Do you know what happened?!" Ken just stared at Omi blankly, so Omi continued, "You know how he 'cured' Lysander and Demetrius?? He just put the potion on Lysander again!! The same potion!!"
"… Oh…" Ken murmured. He tilted his head, "But that doesn't sound so bad."
"Ken-kun, don't you understand?! He didn't cure Demetrius!! He was still in love with Helena in the end!!" Ken gave him another blank look, so Omi continued. "The potion, Ken-kun… That idiot Puck put it on Demetrius so that he'd fall in love with Helena because she liked HIM even though he liked Hermia. I don't agree with that of course, I think it's completely moronic!!"
Ken remained to look confused. "What does this have to do with anything?"
But apparently Omi was ignoring him, looking ready to tear up his own room to shreds.
"Idiot idiot idiot! He put it on Lysander instead, so Lysander fell in love with Helena… In the end, I thought they were gonna cure everybody but they just USED the DAMN thing again just so that Lysander would fall in love with Hermia all over again and didn't even think to cure Demetrius…
"H-how could Helena be happy like that?? How could she let him stay that way?! This isn't real. It can't be how the play ends!!"
Ken was still confused… What was Omi rambling about? It was just a book. A goddamned book. One that he had needed for an assignment for school. What did it have to do with their lives? Much more with their current situation. Of course, that was the same book that Omi had found out what was wrong with everyone, but why was he going on something about some girl named Helena?
Knowing that he was missing something, Ken went over what Omi had been saying again. He processed everything slowly, something about two guys… they… liked one girl? And some idiot fis something magic on them and they fell in love with another girl… who was in love with…
It finally clicked. In the middle of Omi's outbursts, Ken gazed up at him. His lips formed the words to a simple statement, though it was one full of meaning and comprehension.
"You're Helena… Aren't you?"
Omi trailed off. His Ken couldn't see his face, hidden beneath long golden bangs. The boy didn't look up, just standing there, lowering a fist and unclenching it when it was at his side.
Silence hung in the air, before Ken continued.
"You're Helena… That other girl is Aya… and Yohji and… me… are the two guys…… That's why you're…" Ken would have snorted, but he didn't. "This is some fucked up joke! I mean… What's happening to us is exactly what's happening in the book……"
He trailed off, realizing there must be something wrong when he saw Omi trembling a little.
Finally, Omi spoke with vehemence. "Get out…"
"H-huh?"
"Get the HELL out!!" Omi shrieked.
Before Ken knew it, he was hightailing out of the room. He spun around to try to speak one last time to Omi before the latter leapt forward and slammed the door flat on his face.
Ken stared at the wood for a while, shocked at what Omi had just done. What did he do? He had just said that the person in the book was Omi in their real life. It was true, wasn't it? The similarity in the whole affair, and the fact that Omi was way too upset about the book's outcome, was too much to be coincidental.
Maybe Omi was touchy about being associated with a female character and his masculinity was challenged.
Finally, Ken retreated to his own room, watching Omi's door sadly and hoping the boy was fine.
-----*-----
It was later when Omi peeked through the door to check if Ken had gone. He sighed, opening it and stepping out. He knew he was better, but he had decided that the best course of action was to go back down and try to find out even more about his discovery. Perhaps find something that the others had overlooked.
As he stepped out into the hallway, he just knew that he was just deluding himself. How was he going to be able to find out more about it? But he didn't want to lose hope. The very fact that Ken had tried to kiss him again, especially after him saying that he wanted Omi happy, made him more determined.
Omi walked down the stairs. He hadn't really meant to kick Ken out of his room. But there was so much happening and the fact that Ken had figured it all out made him even more distressed. He was even surprised that the brunette realized what Omi had thought of long before. He definitely hadn't expected that to happen, probably another reason why Omi threw him out.
But enough of that, he had those records to look at again. As much as he wished he didn't have to look at them, he knew he needed to go and see if he had missed something important.
He somehow knew he wouldn't find anything. The hopelessness of the situation hung over him, not wanting to let go. He tried to shake it off but it remained. Nothing was going to cheer him up. Frustrated, he just continued and moved through the living room on his way back to the basement.
Omi stopped and did a double take. The living room was occupied.
Yohji looked like he was normal enough. He was wearing his normal nice pants, an Armani shirt, even a pair of shades perched on his head. He looked as if he should be in the shop, flirting with the girls.
But he wasn't. Instead, here he was, seated in the middle of the living room floor, cross-legged, clutching a canister of ice cream, and munching on it like a girl who had just been dumped.
Kind of like how Omi felt at that moment.
Images of Ken: Ken's sad face, Ken's guilty eyes, Ken almost kissing him again, ran through his mind These images were coupled with his imagined pictures of Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander which very oddly resembled caricatures of himself and his teammates, as well as wishes of Shakespeare being brought back to life only to be brutally tortured by knives, probes and tiny sharp objects.
Omi continued to stare at Yohji…
… and the oh so enticing prize in his hands.
With a soft grumble, he plopped into a position beside the older male. Not bothering to ask for permission, he took the canister from Yohji, found it only half-full, grumbled in disapproval, took the spoon, and began munching on the ice cream, himself.
It took a while before Yohji registered what had happened. He stared blankly into his empty hands, then even more blankly in Omi's direction. He glanced at the canister that Omi was digging into, then glanced at Omi shoveling ice cream into his mouth.
Finally, he stated vacantly. "That's my spoon…"
A loud thunk followed.
Omi had dropped the spoon back into the ice cream.
Looking a bit green, he slowly set the canister aside and climbed to his feet.
Yohji watched as he staggered for the kitchen, to retrieve a new clean spoon. After a moment, he returned and settled back in his spot. Yohji handed him back the canister. Omi mumbled a 'Thank you' before continuing to dig in.
They sat in silence until Yohji decided to speak again.
"Chibi… you know… you have enough baby fat as it is."
Omi shot him a glare and snarled something unintelligible before returning to the prized ice cream.
"…… What's wrong with you?"
Omi grunted before mumbling more coherently, "Shakespeare's an idiot."
"Aa…" Yohji nodded earnestly. "All poets are, my friend… All poets are…"
-----*-----
"Ha!"
The blade came down a final time, narrowly missing the side table. Or perhaps it was calculated as such. This was the precision that Aya had with his katana. It was almost an art – No it was an art – his skill in sword fighting.
Of course, practicing this art in one's own bedroom was normally not a good idea.
But desperate times called for desperate measures.
Aya could opt to not practice at all. He could read a book, but lately books reminded him of Yohji, and thoughts of Yohji he could definitely do without. He could try to sleep, but he had tried and troubling thought had disturbed him back into consciousness. He could also do something else, but most other things required him leaving the safety of his bedroom.
Above all else, doing his kata helped Aya clear his mind. He thought more clearly, or else he didn't think at all. This time, he has quite a number of things to think about.
Normally, however, Aya practiced these kata in the basement. Going down to the basement meant possibly meeting up with Yohji. Yohji, who was hallucinating, spouting nonsense about food and flowers brought together on one dish while he was in bed. And this image was somehow connected to himself. Why? Aya didn't know. He doubted he even wanted to know.
Though the point was that something wrong with Yohji, and Aya knew he didn't want to face the man while he was in this delirium.
Why did his thoughts happen to come back to Yohji?
Aya scowled. That scene in the kitchen was not funny. Save for the way that Hidaka was on the edge of death from horror and humiliation, Yohji's speech disturbed him. He replayed the words in his head.
He called out as he slashed at the air before him twice. He smirked to himself, "Yohji's a bad poet."
Aya wasn't a fan of Shakespeare, and he thought Yohji was even worse than the crazy man.
This insanity had been going on for far too long. Even since before that Schwarz bastard decided to interfere with their lives, when Yohji and Ken were gaga for him. Even before that, to when Yohji was an asshole who liked to tease him by reading ludicrous poetry to him.
The switch that occurred was doing too much to all of them. Omi was almost always depressed, Yohji was somewhat insane, Ken was surprisingly cheerful, and he himself was losing it.
The events over the past two or so weeks replayed in his mind. From the restaurant and inn, to the next morning when the change in affection had first sprung. From Ken and Yohji courting Omi, to himself accusing them of playing a sick joke, and finding them also lost and confused. From Omi telling them the truth of the matters, to himself being relieved…
Relieved?
Aya faltered a bit and cursed himself. He recomposed himself and restarted his current kata. Why relieved? Relieved the two imbeciles weren't playing a joke on Omi? That this was some sick manipulation that Schwarz had imposed upon them? Relieved that what the two men had felt for Omi wasn't real?
Or maybe just one of the men…
Aya growled. That was not true. Just because Yohji's affections for Omi were incorrect, it didn't mean that he should care.
Yohji? Why Yohji?
"Shut up…" Aya mumbled to the voice in his head. And even as he said it, an image drew itself up from the back of his mind.
It was the hotel the previous night. He saw what he was seeing at that time… Yohji being very close to Omi. He felt again the seething anger and some small trace of… betrayal?
Betrayal? Betrayal??
Aya growled and swung his sword more forcefully than he should have. He tried to calm himself down as the memory continued. He had yelled at Yohji, given him a piece of his mind and more. However, Yohji had stood. He was now with Aya, embracing him, and Aya had done nothing to stop him.
And Yohji's simple question. "Well then, what's the real reason why you're here?"
And in his mind rang his simple answer.
The answer that seemed obvious, now that he knew it. With all the emotions running through the house, it seemed only right. With everything that had gone on, he couldn't come up with reasons on why he didn't…
No… Aya growled to himself again. It wasn't obvious… It wasn't even true. And it definitely wasn't right.
He definitely was not in l-…
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!"
The cry had not come from his own lips; in fact, in seemed to have come from the next room. In a moment, Aya realized why.
He stared in surprise at what had just happened. He cursed under his breath. He had gotten himself distracted; he miscalculated a step. He had moved forward too much, and jabbed his sword too soon.
He took a cautious step backward, letting go of his katana… and perhaps marveling at the sight.
For at that very moment, Aya's sword, the very weapon that had killed hundreds, perhaps even a thousand dark criminals and corrupt men…
… was unceremoniously lodged into the wall, buried halfway deep.
Aya stared.
It took several more moments, before it finally registered that there really had been a cry from the adjoining room.
Had he killed anyone??
The idea was unsettling. If he had killed any of his own teammates, that would not be good with Kritiker. Then, he thought, to hell with Kritiker, he'd have the other two members of the group to answer to. It actually drew him into a small panic as he forgot that he had an unofficial authority over the others, not including Omi. He wondered temporarily if it was Yohji he had killed (and if he wanted the man dead or not) before rushing out of the room to the next.
He arrived at the doorway in time to see Ken against the wall, eyes nearly falling out of their sockets, his hand clutching his chest. His breathing was ragged, and he was mumbling nonsense about Omi and 'karma' and katanas and madmen.
Aya glanced across the room, and resumed staring. On the opposite wall, the wall that separated his room from Ken's, protruded the other end of his katana.
Ken was still clutching his chest, his mumbling going faster, though louder.
"S -standing… o-over th-there and..and w-worried a-about Omi th-then… then shit... leaned ov-ver there and then the SWORD and.. inches –no- MILLIMETERS from.. from my fucking HEAD!! H-heart attack.. dying.. shit…"
With those words, Ken slumped to the floor, still bug-eyed and still gasping for breath.
Meanwhile, Aya pondered the situation. He took another glimpse at Ken, before taking another long look at the katana; it was almost pointing at him accusingly.
Aya voiced out the first thought that came to mind.
"How the hell am I going to get it out?"
Ken paused in his heart attack to gape at Aya, "Damnit, Aya! I'm dying here and all you can fucking care about is your sword?!"
Aya blankly stared at him. Then he voiced out his second thought, "Oh. So it wasn't Yohji I killed?"
With that final statement from Aya, Ken's eyes seemed to be popping out of their sockets before the man finally fell over and passed out.
Aya stared at Ken a little more. The final thought he merely… thought, as none could hear him.
If Ken really was dead, he was sure to get hell and more from Omi later.
-----*-----
"I feel bloated…" Omi grumbled to himself, patting his stomach as he sat down in the computer chair. I guess that's what I get for eating half a can of ice cream.
He temporarily wondered if Yohji was feeling the same. After all, the other blonde had been the one who had eaten the first half of that can before Omi had relieved him of it.
He sighed a bit, spinning in his chair once before deciding that he should stop procrastinating and start working. He remembered he had left the window with the file open. He also remembered there was not much left to scroll and Omi had doubted that there was anything to note after that final statement, anyway.
He sighed as he scanned the document again, growling at the last line and going over the formulas. It was a short document. It didn't take long; he stopped when the line that stated there was no antidote appeared at the bottom.
Finding nothing that pleased him, Omi looked again at the file index, trying to see if there could possibly be something related. As he scanned the names and titles, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what the other experiments involved. He took a deep breath, and moved his cursor to click on one of the other titles.
"This is hopeless…" he finally murmured. "I want to help you Ken-kun. But… this is so…"
~Talking to yourself is unhealthy, Bombay. Haven't your beloved teammates told you that?~
Omi immediately tensed at the new voice in his mind. He would have gotten up the same way he had done before, but he was too exhausted and frustrated. Instead he just growled, remaining in his chair.
You're back… What the hell do you want?
~What do I want? Why are you always so presumptuous, young kitten? It's no wonder you hadn't gone and laid your claim on Siberi…~
"That's none of your business!" Omi snapped. He hadn't meant to say it out loud; he had just forgotten.
~Oh but it is. See, despite your wonderful suspicions and prejudices against me, I'm actually here to help you with something.~
At that, Omi dropped his guard a little. He quickly recovered himself, hoping the telepath hadn't noticed his slip, Help me? What are you playing at, Schwarz?
~Ah, see that was the problem… It seems that our dear leader wasn't too pleased with my playi-… What the-…? Schiebe!!~
Whatever the telepath had meant to say after that was lost in a loud cry and Omi felt something that he assumed was the connection being cut.
Omi blinked. … Mastermind? Mastermind?! Schuldich?!
With no response, Omi wondered what in the world could have happened. He jumped out of his chair and ran up the stairs, taking them two steps at a time. He scanned the shop, found nothing, and finally ran outside.
He was greeted with one of the most peculiar sights, one he never thought that he'd see.
Somehow, Yohji had escaped the confines of the living room and was now straddling someone on the sidewalk. His hands were wrapped around what appeared to be a neck, and were shaking the poor man violently. Omi could swear that the man's head was banging against the pavement.
"S… Schuldich??"
"Get this lunatic the hell OFF of me!!" Schuldich screamed in both mental and actual speak.
"Yohji-kun!!" Omi found himself obeying the man as he rushed forward and tried to pry his teammate off.
"Yoooouu!" Yohji slurred as if he were drunk, though Omi knew that he wasn't. "You're the cause of this!! You're the reason I like chibi and not Aya and the reason why I gained a pound or too just now!"
Omi stared, bewildered at how incoherent his eldest friend was being before he finally managed to make Yohji let go of Schuldich. He held the man back before turning to stare at Schuldich in question.
Schuldich cursed something in German as he brushed himself off and glared at Yohji. "Mein gott! What is wrong with him?? His thoughts are so fucked up, I hardly felt him coming!"
Omi couldn't help but believe that that was true. After all, it wasn't every day that you could even get close to Schuldich when you had a death threat on your mind.
"Now where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?" Schuldich sent Yohji another stern glare.
Omi sighed and looked up, "Yohji-kun. Can you go back inside?"
Yohji looked appalled. "But chibi, I'm not leaving you with the bastard who did serious damage to our love lives."
"Yohji-kun!" Omi groaned, knowing there was no use talking to the older man while he was in this odd state. "I'll be fine. I can handle him. Just go."
With final glances at both Schuldich and Omi, Yohji reluctantly reentered the flower shop. Schuldich watched, amused. "Getting cocky, Bombay?"
"Mastermind," Omi sighed once more. "If you were here to kill me or hurt me, you would've shown yourself to me instead of tried to talk to me the way you did before Yohji-kun arrived. And you already said you were here to help, though I have no idea how you could."
"Ah, you are fond of your assumptions, aren't you, young chibi?" Schuldich smirked. "But for once, you are right. I'm here to help because our oh-so-loved leader was not pleased with what I had done."
"He wasn't?" That was something Omi didn't know if he should believe or not. He didn't know the members of Schwarz very well.
Schuldich waved a hand before straightening his collar, "You see if you'll be pleased with constant headaches. Apparently, something I did resulted in the near future being so fucked up, even Brad Crawford himself has been getting unclear images. So he sent me to fix it and here I am."
Omi narrowed his eyes. "What can you do to fix all this?"
"Ah, I thought I could offer you advice."
"Advice?"
"Oh, don't take me wrong. It won't be much. In fact, you could benefit so much more if I gave you straight information. But…" Schuldich smiled with mischief. "I like playing games, and I'm assuming you're a smart kitty anyway."
"Damnit, Mastermind, just get on with it!"
"An impatient, smart kitty at that. I wonder if Siberian will find you impatient in bed as well."
Omi felt his cheeks grow hot, and he growled. "Say what you wanted or I'll…"
"You'll what? You can't do anything to me." Schuldich glanced at his nails, seeming to delay the moment even further. When he felt that Omi was going to jump him and strangle him as his teammate had done, he finally lowered his hand.
"First, you will find nothing that will help you with the other sick projects that group had done, so don't bother even looking through them unless you have a vomit bag ready."
Omi looked as if he was going to say something in reply, but Schuldich continued, "Second, you need to take a closer look at the file about the love-in-idleness. The information you need about your group's situation is all there.
"Lastly…" he smirked. "Books are fiction, boy."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Omi said, irritatedly.
"Exactly that. Now I need to run. I've taken long enough, and I need to give my beloved leader my report."
Before Omi could stop him, or even react, Schuldich had just turned on his heel and left, disappearing into a small crowd. He hadn't even noticed the crowd in the first place. His eyes widened, realizing in alarm that they could have heard him and the telepath speaking. Then, he noticed that noone was paying attention to him; everyone just walked by, as if he and Schuldich hadn't had their conversation.
As Omi stepped back into the Koneko, he wondered briefly if Schuldich made it so that everyone else thought exactly that.
He descended for the computer, replaying Schuldich's 'advice' in his mind. He wasn't supposed to look at the other files; all the information he needed was in already in Experiment 7043. He frowned at the last bit about books being fiction, then shook his head.
He sat back down, gazing at the monitor and closing the window he had opened before Schuldich arrived. He now faced the one about the Love-in-idleness.
Everything he needed was there. That's what had been said. Omi temporarily wondered if Schuldich was pulling his leg. He wouldn't be surprised if the man was lying after all.
He scanned over the file one more time, his eyes passing over the formulas, the processes of how it was made. Then he glanced back down at the final line. However… an antidote has yet to be found…
Omi looked at the formulas once more then narrowed his eyes at the screen.
Well then… I guess that means that I'll have to be the one to find it.
-----*-----
omiclones@hotmail.com
