Chapter Twenty
When Nagi reached the hospital that evening, he was trying to hide how he was swaying with weariness. Farferello was still sitting in the waiting room, looking as alert as ever. "Any news?" Nagi asked him.
"Boooring," Farferello said.
Nagi sighed. "Go home and get some sleep. I'll have Yohji-san drive you."
Farferello frowned. "I don't think he'll like that."
"I think I'm too tired to care." Nagi walked past him and through the doors that led to Schuldig. One of the nurses tried to stop him, but fortunately for her, Kagerou appeared and told her that it was all right.
Yohji had fallen asleep next to Schuldig, his face resting against the edge of Schuldig's mattress. Nagi sighed. He was loath to wake him, but someone needed to take Farferello home and he wasn't about to call Chien to do it. "Yohji-san?" he asked, shaking his shoulder quickly.
Yohji sat up abruptly, then relaxed. "Oh, it's you," he said.
"Hai." Nagi shuffled nervously.
"God, you look awful," Yohji said.
"I feel worse," Nagi said. "Can you take Farferello home? He's been here ever since Schuldig was hurt, and he needs to rest. I'll stay for a while. You can come back or go home and rest if you like."
"You. Want me. To take Farfie home."
Nagi just looked at him. "Could you? If you can't, I'll take him on the subway, but that'll be a trip. I suppose I could pay for a taxi . . ."
"He won't eat me?"
"He's tired," Nagi said.
"All right, I'll take him," Yohji said. "But I'm coming back here afterwards."
"If you want," Nagi said with a slight sigh.
Yohji nodded and left the room. Nagi slumped into the chair, resting his elbows against the mattress and his head in his hands. "Ano . . ." Kagerou poked his head into the room. "Nagi-san?"
"Yes?" Nagi tried to straighten himself up. "How's Schuldig?"
"He's stabilized, but . . ." Kagerou cleared his throat. "He hasn't woken up yet, and I'm finding it a matter of some concern. The injury occurred nearly twenty-four hours ago. It's unusual that he hasn't regained consciousness yet."
Nagi rubbed his temples. "And the long and short of what you're saying is . . .?"
"He's in a coma and I have no idea why." Kagerou cleared his throat again. "It is possible in cases of extreme blood loss for the person to drop into a coma. But you understand that when the person in question is a telepath, these things get touchy."
"I see," Nagi managed.
"The best thing I can think of to suggest is to get another telepath present to see if they can discover the cause," Kagerou said. "You can use the phone in my office if you'd like to notify your . . . superior?"
"Technically, yes," Nagi said. "All right." He followed Kagerou to his office and made a brief call to Chien, explaining the situation. Fortunately, Chien showed no signs of idiocy; he offered to contact their superiors in Germany to ask for a telepath to be sent.
Nagi wobbled back to Schuldig's bed and slumped into the chair. Chien had said it would take at least a day or two for them to send somebody, which was all right as far as Nagi was concerned. That would allow Schuldig time to wake up if the coma was purely physical.
Yohji came back about a half an hour later, and Nagi told him what the doctor had said. Yohji looked like he was too tired to take in properly, and with some effort, Nagi convinced him to go home and sleep.
Nagi stayed with Schuldig that night, then went to work the next day when Yohji came back. He went home briefly to check on Farferello, but was fairly sure that Chien was not going to try anything stupid concerning Schuldig. One tongue-lashing from Daeja was probably enough. Given this, he allowed Farferello to stay home.
"I'm going to work," he told Farferello. "Then I'm going back to the hospital. I don't know when I'll be home." He frowned. "Feed the kitten."
Farferello looked at him. "All right. Don't fall down at work."
Nagi said nothing. He had napped briefly at the hospital, but he'd had some vivid and disturbingly graphic nightmares, so he wasn't interested in trying again.
Somehow he made it through the day, although he was not precisely sure how. He wandered into the hospital in a daze. Yohji gave him a look, then said, "I'm going to go have a cigarette."
Nagi mumbled something and waved vaguely.
Yohji went out into the waiting room and pulled out his phone, calling the Koneko. It was late, so the store was closed. Aya picked up the phone. "Aya desu."
"Yo, it's me. Put Omi on, okay?"
"Okay." There was a long pause.
"Yohji-kun? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, no change in Schu," Yohji said, "but Nagi just got here and looks like he's about to collapse into a heap, so I thought you might want to come get him."
"Okay."
In the interest of the fact that he was probably going to need to have Yohji drive him home anyway, if he was toting Nagi, he took the subway. He reached the hospital about twenty minutes later. Nagi was, looking glazed, attempting to make the tea vending machine work.
It was rather amusing, actually. Omi watched as he repeatedly hit the button, then glanced over and saw that Nagi had neglected to put in money. "It helps if you put change in," he remarked, walking over to stand behind him.
Nagi jumped and whirled around, one hand outstretched. He came within inches of knocking Omi into the wall behind him. "Don't startle me," he said.
"I didn't particularly mean to," Omi said. He gave Nagi a look and admitted that Yohji was right. The teenager looked absolutely terrible. "You need to go to sleep."
Nagi frowned, attempting to process this. "Okay," he finally said. His knees buckled and he crumpled towards the floor. Omi leapt forward and grabbed him around the waist, nearly sagging to the floor with him. Nagi wasn't heavy, but Omi wasn't particularly big, either.
He managed to haul Nagi over to one of the chairs and prop him up. He asked a passing nurse to keep an eye on him for a minute, then went to find Yohji. One of the nurses stopped him. "Excuse me, this is the ICU," she said. "Only family is allowed beyond this point."
Omi felt a headache coming on. "I need to talk to the person visiting Schuldig-san," he said. "If I can't go in, can you bring them out here?"
She nodded and hurried off. Yohji sauntered out a minute later. "Yo, Omittchi."
"Hi," Omi said. "Can you give me and Nagi a ride home, since he's, well, passed out?"
"You need my help with everything," Yohji teased.
"Oh, sure, I'll try to grow a foot over night," Omi said.
"Get your driver's license and a car while you're at it," Yohji said, although he was heading down the hallway towards the elevator. Omi had let him off flower shop duty until Schuldig was awake, so he really couldn't deny the younger man anything.
"Why, so I can have as much trouble finding a place to park my car as you do?" Omi asked.
"Well, so you can drag your unconscious friends around," Yohji replied.
"That's what I have you for, Yohji-kun," Omi said with a grin.
Yohji rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I needed a cigarette anyway."
"Excuses, excuses. Can't just do something nice for me out of the kindness of your heart, oh no."
Yohji just grinned unremorsefully. He carried Nagi out to the car, and even carried him inside for Omi once they reached the Koneko. "Where d'you want me to put him?" he asked, hefting Nagi's slim frame with ease.
"Oh, just put him on my bed," Omi said.
"Aww, how cute," Yohji said with a grin.
"Don't make me kick you in the shins."
Yohji shrugged. "I'm going back to the hospital."
"Okay. Thanks for the ride."
Yohji went back to the hospital and got himself coffee, but he was almost as tired as Nagi had been, and he drifted off very quickly in the chair next to Schuldig's bed.
He was having a very random dream involving a diner and Aya being bitchy when the door to the diner opened and Schuldig strolled in. Dream-Aya scowled at Schuldig and stormed off. "Yo," Schuldig said, sliding into the seat where Aya had been.
Yohji blinked. "Hi," he said, feeling extremely surreal.
"Nice diner you've dreamed up here," Schuldig said, glancing around.
"Yeah." Yohji frowned. "Usually when I realize I'm dreaming, I wake up."
"Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you," Schuldig said. "Feeling kinda lonely, really."
"So this is you-you, not . . . dream-you."
"Yeah. You're dreaming, but you're not dreaming me."
"Oh." Yohji considered this, then burst out with, "Why are you in a coma?!"
"I don't know." Schuldig looked truly alarmed. "Why am I?"
Yohji let his head thunk against the table. The waitress brought them more tea. "I don't know. Nobody knows. The doctor says it was probably induced by blood loss, but that you should have come out of it. They're bringing some telepath in to try to wake you up."
Schuldig made a disgusted noise. "That means they're going to try to poke in my head. I hate that. It makes me feel dirty."
"Sorry," Yohji offered. "It's your own fault for getting yourself shot."
"It was not my fault," Schuldig said indignantly, scowling at Yohji. "I don't want to be in a coma. How long has it been? Exactly what happened?"
"I'm not sure about the days," Yohji admitted. "It's all been kind of a blur, with very little sleep. I think . . . three days ago? Four? Something like that."
"You need to sleep more."
"I'm okay. Omi excused me from flower shop duty until you were okay, so I've been sleeping some. Anyway, as to what happened, you got shot, you dumbass, and then you bled everywhere. Hope you didn't like those clothes."
"So I was coughing up blood? Wasn't really sure there."
"Well, I wasn't there; you'd have to ask Nagi. But I'd bet so, yeah. I mean, you punctured a lung. Collapsed it, in fact. And broke several ribs. And bled everywhere."
"Well, that's no good, because that means when I wake up, I'm gonna be sore." Schuldig pouted.
"I'd still prefer you wake up," Yohji said.
"Well, as soon as I figure out how, I'll do so."
"What do you mean, 'figure it out'?" Yohji asked, alarmed.
"Well, I'm kind of stuck." Schuldig delivered this statement nonchalantly.
"Oh my God."
"Well, I've never been in a coma before," Schuldig said. "So how's Nagi-chen? Is he okay?"
"Well, he just collapsed, but other than that . . ."
"He what?" Schuldig squawked.
"Yeah, you think I don't sleep enough, you should've seen him. I'm not sure he'd really slept since you got shot. Omi took him back to the Koneko to sleep for a while. But it was pretty cool. He sort of kicked that prick's ass for you."
"Really?" Schuldig grinned. "Tell, tell."
"I missed a lot of it," Yohji said. "I heard some about it later, but apparently the guy -- Chen? Chien?"
"Chien," Schuldig said with a sneer.
"Chien wanted to have you moved to some . . . secure facility or something like that."
Schuldig shuddered, and Yohji gave him a questioning look. "They're . . . they're Esset run hospitals, but . . . uh." He shuddered again. "The entire buildings are secure. All the rooms are shielded from the outside world and stuff. So it all kind of bounces around inside and echoes. And then they put some of the Talents that have gone terribly wrong there."
"Wow," Yohji said. "Well, Chien wanted to move you, but Nagi wouldn't let him. I wouldn't have said that kid had that much backbone in there."
"When you talk to him, tell him that I'm proud of him," Schuldig said. "And thank him for me."
Yohji nodded. "Will do. We haven't seen Chien here since then. It's mostly just been me and Nagi."
"And he's not in trouble with Chien?" Schuldig asked.
Yohji grinned. "That was the best part. Nagi wanted to beat Chien to making his report, so he would get his side of the story in first, but he didn't because he had to go get me. Oh, he also kicked Chien's ass about that, so I could stay here with you. Anyway, Chien beat him to it, but then you guys' superiors called and yelled at him anyway, for letting you get shot. And Nagi got 'commended', which I think was their graceful way of saying that he wasn't in trouble."
"Well, that's good. And thank you. For being here. I can tell, if that helps."
"Of course it does." Yohji frowned as the dream started to melt. "What's that mean?"
"Either someone's trying to wake you up, or I'm running out of strength. Neither of those would surprise me, but you're probably waking up."
"Okay." Yohji leaned over the table and kissed Schuldig. "I love you."
Schuldig smiled. "I love you too."
"You get your ass back here."
"I'll do the best I can"
Given that Schuldig found he'd had success reaching Yohji, he tried reaching further. He didn't think it could really hurt him; the worst it could do would be force him to wake up. Within minutes, he had latched onto Brad's mind. The older man was also sleeping, although he was not dreaming.
/Hello Crawford,/ Schuldig said, dropping to sit on the 'floor' of Brad's mind.
Brad gave a mental jump. /Are you all right?/ he demanded. /What happened?/
/Well, all right is a relative term,/ Schuldig said. /Apparently I was shot. Well, okay, I know I was shot. I was there. But apparently collapsed lung, broken ribs, massive bleeding./
Brad glared at him. /Are you all right?/ he asked in a strained voice.
/I'm alive. A bit . . . stuck./
Pause. /Stuck?/
/I've never been in a coma before,/ Schuldig said cheerfully.
/Imagine that,/ Brad said. /That's because I'm competent. How did you manage to get yourself shot?/
/There were just . . . snipers. No warning, and . . . my Talent has been on the fritz, and I couldn't pinpoint all of them./
/What about Nagi and Farferello?/
/They're both fine. But apparently everyone's really worried about the fact that I'm in a coma, because they're sending another telepath to figure out why I'm in a coma. I thought it was pretty obvious. I mean, I got shot./
/Yes, but if there was no head trauma, there's no reason for you to remain in the coma,/ Brad pointed out. He paused, deep in thought. /How long have you been in the coma?/
/Three or four days./
Another pause, this one much longer. /That's very interesting,/ Brad finally said.
/Fill me in,/ Schuldig said.
/Usually they'll wait at least a week before deciding it was probably something gone wrong with the Talent and they need to send someone else. They almost always give it that long, unless they're very worried about whether or not the person will stay in the coma permanently, or die./
/Oh. Well, this is really boring, and I don't think I'm in danger of dying. I can only talk to people in their sleep./
/Yes, but Schuldig . . ./ There was a pause. /No, I don't have all the facts to make that assumption. Do you have any idea why Chien wasn't using his Talents the way he should? Was he punished for it?/
/Because he's an incompetent dick, and Yohji said that somebody higher up called and yelled at him. And gave Nagi a commendation, you know, for saving my life./
/Hm./ Brad considered all these facts. /I don't suppose you know who they're sending?/
/No./
Pause. /If Chien was reprimanded, that means that this wasn't planned. If it wasn't planned, then it wasn't supposed to happen. If they're rushing things and sending a telepath to fish you out, it means they want something from you -- and there's a time limit./
/Huh,/ Schuldig said. /You'd think there'd be a way to use this to our advantage, but I don't know what it is./
/I don't know,/ Brad replied. /I'll have to think about it./
/Well, I'll come back and talk to you when you're asleep again, because wow, this is lonely./
/Please do. It's rather lonely here, as well./
/I'll do my best./
Nagi slept for a solid twelve hours. It was a mark of how exhausted he had been that he didn't get embarrassed about having slept that long, although he was somewhat horrified to realize that he'd been in Omi's bed and Omi had slept on the floor.
"I need to go see Schuldig," he said, sounding alarmed. "The telepath is going to be arriving today and I need to be there."
"Okay. You want a ride? And you're not going anywhere until you have food."
"Yes, thank you." Nagi wolfed down the food Omi set in front of him, knowing that Omi wouldn't let him go until he'd eaten and wanting to get out of the house. Omi was quite pleased with this, and they went to the hospital. Nagi rode double behind Omi on the motorcycle for the second time, and they both enjoyed it just as much as the first time, although Nagi was much less embarrassed about enjoying it.
Nagi was displeased to see that Chien was pacing around the ICU waiting room when he got there. "Is the telepath coming today?" he asked. Having lost some of his worry over Schuldig, he knew he was going to have a much harder time standing up to Chien.
Fortunately, Chien just gave him an abrupt nod.
Nagi turned back to Omi. "You and Yohji-san had better go," he said. "It wouldn't really be good for either of you to be here with our superiors here. I'll go get Yohji-san."
Omi nodded. Yohji put up a little more fuss, but he did need his sleep, and allowed Nagi to talk him into going home for a while. It was a good thing he did, because only minutes later, a tall blonde women swept into the room. She looked down her nose at both of them. "Naoe-san, Chien-san," she said.
Nagi held back a squeak. "D-Daeja-sama," he managed, with a quick and low bow.
Chien also bowed, although he didn't look anywhere near as pleased to see her. It was rumored that Daeja was the most powerful telepath that Esset had; they obviously weren't pulling any punches.
"And Schuldig-san is where?" she asked.
"This way," Nagi said quickly, scampering ahead. Daeja followed him after giving Chien a cool and disapproving look. Nagi led her into the room after reassuring Kagerou that it was all right for them to see him. "Should I stay?" he asked hesitantly.
"You may stay," she said with a nod. Then she glanced at Chien. "You should go. Another unfamiliar presence won't do any good."
Chien scowled and left the room without another word.
Nagi sat down in the corner and tried to look small.
Daeja settled next to Schuldig and closed her eyes. There was a long minute or two of silence, before even Nagi clearly heard the words /GET OUT/ and Daeja shot backwards, across the room.
She stood up and straightened her shirt as if this was not out of the ordinary at all. "That was interesting," she said, taking her seat again. "Let's try that again."
She made her way into Schuldig's mind again more slowly and cautiously. /I thought I told you to get out,/ Schuldig snarled at her.
/I'm trying to help, you know. Unless you'd prefer to stay in your coma?/ Daeja looked around at where she found herself; a large, empty plain. Schuldig was stalking across it towards her, his arms pulled across his chest in a protective stance.
/I know how to get out now. Now you're just invading./
Daeja paused. "My sincere apologies," she said. "However, if you can make your way back, I highly suggest that you do so. Your team members are worried about you."
Schuldig looked at her, frowning in thought. "What do you do if I don't?" he asked curiously.
She blinked at him. "What on earth do you mean?"
"You want me to come out," Schuldig said. "Why? And don't give me bullshit about concern for my teammates, because you don't give a damn about them."
Daeja cleared her throat. "You're a valuable member of Esset, Schuldig-san. We look after our own."
"You don't look after anyone but yourselves," Schuldig said. "This is my mind. You're invading. Don't lie. You want me for something, and I want to know what it is."
Daeja smiled slightly, seeing that there was no point in prevarication. "I'm afraid I'm not allowed to tell you," she said. "Just be aware that you do have your place within Esset, and it's a place for which you need to be conscious."
Schuldig suddenly had a brilliant idea. "I want Crawford back."
"Excuse me?" Daeja asked, startled.
"Our precog. Our team leader. You took him away and I want him back."
"I'm afraid that's not possible. Crawford's loyalty to Esstet was in question and he was taken to a secure facility."
"You want me to come out. I want Crawford back. I think it's a fair deal. I need him."
She arched an eyebrow at him. "A dependence on another is never a good thing, Schuldig-san."
"Neither is having a fucking crazy telepath," Schuldig snapped.
"I see your position, Schuldig-san, but I'm afraid it simply isn't possible. The superiors will not agree to release Crawford. However, I'm sure they'd be just as pleased to kill him if you don't do as they command."
"I'm not coming out," Schuldig said firmly, "until I get Crawford back. And you can't get me out. Because I can tell that you're the strongest they have."
Daeja gave him a cool look. "And you're willing to risk the fact that you may sacrifice his life for his return?"
"Are you willing to risk your plans to have me a vegetable for the rest of my life?"
There was a long pause. "I'm not sure I believe you'll do it," Daeja finally said. "However, the decision is not in my hands. I will have to report to my superiors on this matter."
"Have fun with that," Schuldig said. "And next time you want to talk to me, ask politely. Because I don't tolerate this."
Daeja bowed slightly and left his mind. When she opened her eyes, Nagi was looking at her anxiously. "He's a very interesting man," Daeja said.
"Oh God," Nagi said. "What did Schuldig say?"
"It's not really any of your concern." Daeja stood. "I'll return in a day or so to try again."
Nagi wilted. "Oh my God," he said to Schuldig's still form. "What the hell are you doing, Schu?"
/Guess what?/ Schuldig said gleefully to Brad.
/Oh dear Lord, I'm afraid to ask./
/I think I made a deal!/
/Now I know I'm afraid to ask./
/I'm also pretty sure I called their bluff, which means we get you back,/ Schuldig said proudly. /Ha ha on them!/
/Schuldig, what the hell are you babbling about?/
/They sent that Daeja chick to come get me out. Because they really need me, not that I know why. But I could totally whoop her ass, which means if they want me to come back, I get you back! So, ha ha, I win./
/You just threatened to stay in your coma if they didn't agree to your demands?/ Brad asked, aghast.
/Essentially, yes./
/And it never occurred to you that they might just start killing off the people you care about?/
/Well, yeah, it did. At which point I added the capper on the threat. They kill you people, and I'll die. And then they'll really be in a bind!/
There was a long, long pause.
/You're crazy, Schuldig./
/I pointed out that to them, too./
/The craziest thing is that it might actually work./
/Ha ha, I win!/
Daeja was gone for two days, without telling Chien or Nagi where she was or when she would be back. She finally walked briskly back into Schuldig's room, where Nagi was nodding. He still hadn't slept much; the nightmares were not going away.
"Your terms have been accepted," she said abruptly, and said nothing else.
There was a long pause while Nagi stared. Then Schuldig said grudgingly, /Come in,/ Schuldig said.
Daeja nodded and closed her eyes. She found herself standing in what looked, unbeknownst to her, like the hotel room that Brad had kept Schuldig while he went through withdrawal. It was somewhat of a mental safe place for him. "As I said," she greeted him, "your terms are accepted. Crawford-san will be returned to you."
Schuldig grinned. "Oh goody. I'll wake up as soon as he's back."
"I assume you mean physically in your presence?" Daeja asked dryly.
"You're so smart," Schuldig agreed with a smirk.
"However," Daeja said sharply, "you are to keep in mind that Crawford will not be your team leader. He will stay with you by our sufferance and he will have no say in the activities of your team. He is on probation and will be watched carefully. One wrong move from either of you, and he will be removed again."
Schuldig considered this. "So you want me to trust Chien, the man that got me shot."
"He is your team leader, Schuldig."
"And that just makes everything okay."
"Don't question Esstet's judgment," she said. "You're in enough trouble."
"I am?" Schuldig asked.
"Yes," Daeja said. "You, too, are on probation and will be watched."
"You people don't make any sense," Schuldig said.
Daeja arched an eyebrow at him. "You know that we need you for something," she said. "But you don't know what. If you don't want to be killed as soon as your purpose has been served, I advise that you behave from now on."
Schuldig frowned. "Okay, there you do have a point."
"I thought you'd see it my way. Now if you'll excuse me, I have airline tickets to arrange."
"I still don't trust that little prick."
"I never asked you to." Daeja was gone without another word.