Title: Fade to Black
Note: I actually put together a computer to put in my room, so I'm typing all these uber late at night (due to lack of a better time to do them I guess). But anyway, if I have a ton of typos, that's why. So sorry. By the way, I am terribly sorry if I ever just randomly change POVs on you guys. I really don't mean to, but I get to reading one story else where and then I come back and third person is really hard to write in for me. I'm usually doing first person work. . But ya know. Just beware of that. Also, I beg forgiveness for Brad fans now. You'll see later.
"How are you doing now Schu?" Crawford mussed as he smoothed his suit out.
"Now that you ask, great." Schuldich went up behind Crawford, wrapping his arms around his waist and purposefully wrinkling his suit. Chuckling lightly, he entwined his hands with Schuldich's, not even caring that Schuldich was purposefully wrinkling his suit.
After a moment Crawford slowly turned himself around to face Schuldich, who casually played with their hands. "Schuldich," Schuldich looked up, acknowledging the fact that Crawford was about to ask him something serious. "Do you have any idea why you lost control?"
Schuldich had a few theories. Of course, none of which he would share. But the concern and worry that Crawford didn't even both hiding almost made Schuldich tell him everything. With his stomach feeling like an empty pit, Schuldich wrapped his arms around Crawford's waist again and pulled himself closer to his chest. Tilting his head up so Crawford could hear him, Schuldich quickly whispered "I don't know" as if it were the truth.
Crawford quickly wrapped his arms around Schuldich, protectively pulling him closer. For a moment Schuldich just stood there, before the weight of what he had to do finally settled on his shoulders, and a solitary tear slid down the side of his face.
Yohji was bored. Again. Or still; whatever anyone wanted to call it. The fact of the matter was; he was really bored. Schuldich and Crawford had been locked in their room for most of the day, and Yohji didn't care enough to bother wondering what they were doing. He had a good enough idea as it was. Farfarello had been out wandering the house; only because Nagi and Schuldich had convinced him the day before that hunting any of Weiß would be helping God. So no one really had to worry about Farfarello. Of course they did, but it was unnecessary.
Aya and Ken were making supper again, which was a relief because the only Schwarz member who could cook was Nagi, and he couldn't do it all by himself. Aya and Ken had enough trouble by themselves as it was. Of course Yohji couldn't help but notice the few times Ken's eyes would wander and end up watching Aya's ass instead of the food, but it was all in good spirits. Yeah, right.
Of course, now that he thought about it, Yohji still hadn't told Aya or Ken about Manx's phone call, and from what he knew, neither had Omi. He briefly wondered if they would. Probably not. Unless of course it came as a problem, then in which case they'd probably tell them and in turn get their heads chewed off by Aya. That was all in good spirits too. Whatever.
"Yohji, why don't you make yourself useful and do the dishes?" Ken suggested as he stirred some sort of food on the stove.
"Fine, I'll make myself 'useful' as you like to call it." Ken rolled his eyes at the sarcasm Yohji put into his words, but let it slip as Yohji walked into the kitchen and stared at the dishes in the sink.
"They won't bite you." Aya muttered after a moment, obviously not pleased by Yohji's lack of motivation. Yohji was about to say something smart back to Aya when they all heard a sound.
Somewhere extremely close by a car's brakes were squalling to a stop. A few car doors were opened, and Ken made a mad dash to turn off the nearby lights as Yohji and Aya quickly knelt down so they couldn't see out the windows as the sound of footsteps approached their front door. There was a light 'thud', and then the harsh sound of the doorbell went off. No one moved. Yohji could feel the sweat rolling down his forehead, but he didn't dare brush it away. The sound of footsteps quickly retreated from the front porch, the car doors slammed shut, and the car peeled away on the gravel road and continued on its way.
Several minutes passed before anyone moved. Yohji glanced over at Aya, who just stared back. Finally footsteps were heard coming from down the hall.
"Don't jump me, and don't panic." Schuldich's voice called down the hall, but not loud enough to spook anyone. "The boogiemen are gone now, you can get up." Schuldich stopped in the entry way to the kitchen, crossing his arms as he watched Aya and Yohji get up slowly. "Really you guys, you are trained assassins after all."
"I thought the point of living out here was to hide from Kritiker and Esset." Ken frowned at Schuldich as he walked back into the kitchen from where he had been 'hiding' in the living room.
"It is." Schuldich replied flatly. "But the fact of the matter remains that you can kill people."
"We can't just randomly start killing everyone that comes to our front door though." Nagi pointed out as he and Omi trudged up the stairs. "What did they leave anyway?"
For a moment, no one moved. Omi and Nagi stood watching them all, and no one moved or said anything. Finally Crawford spoke up from where he was standing behind Schuldich. "Actually we hadn't checked yet."
"Well I am so thankful it wasn't a bomb or anything." Schuldich leered at them all, rolling his eyes. "Wait, no one move, let me get that." Schuldich quickly pushed past Crawford and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Scrambling after Schuldich, Yohji grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, halting the telepath in his steps.
"Okay really, this is ridiculous."
"Schuldich, what if it is a bomb?" Yohji pointed out quickly.
"Kudoh, you have got to be kidding me." Rolling his eyes, Schuldich pried Yohji's hand off his sleeve. "Seriously now Kudoh, I think Crawford would have seen it coming if it would endanger us."
The telepath had a point, so Yohji let him go. Schuldich smirked and headed towards the front door again, everyone following behind him carefully. Although truth be known, Schuldich was slightly unnerved. Truthfully, he found it odd that Crawford hadn't had a vision telling them what was going to happen. Of course, Schuldich was a trained assassin; he could take care of whatever these strange empty people left behind for them.
Although maybe that was what had frightened him the most. There were several people, maybe five at most. But the fact of the matter was, when he had lightly probed at their mind he had received nothing back in return. When he had probed further, all he found was a gaping black void. But hey, there was no backing out now.
Slowly Schuldich pulled the front door open, surprised to find a rather large bundle of cloth on their front porch. Slipping outside, Schuldich knelt next to it, poking and prodding at it to see what it was. Much to his shock, after Schuldich poked the bundle a few times it actually started to move. And then, to his horror, the bundle cooed.
"Heilige scheiße!" Schuldich cursed as he pulled back the cloth, revealing a small face. By god, these strange people had left a baby on their front porch!
"Schuldich? What is it?" Crawford stepped out of the doorway, careful to avoid Schuldich, who was now cradling the bundle in his arms.
"Well you see," Schuldich carried it carefully inside, pushing past everyone and going towards the living room. Everyone followed him, even Farfarello, who had come up from the basement with Nagi and Omi. "These strange people have left us a baby. Maybe it was the stork in disguise."
For a few minutes Schuldich just rocked the baby girl in his arms, before finally he looked up to see what everyone was doing. Much to his amusement, they were all staring at him. And they were all gaping at him as well.
"You can't keep it." Crawford snapped suddenly.
"Her, Crawford, it's a baby girl. Not an 'it'." Schuldich quickly corrected. She was a pretty baby, although small. Schuldich guessed her age at about six months, give or take a bit. The thin hair that she had was a pretty auburn color, and her eyes were brown with little flecks of gold around the center.
"Well then, you can't keep her." Crawford was irritated, but Schuldich didn't understand why exactly. It wasn't like she could harm them.
"Oh come on Crawford, it's not like I can take her to the police. Wow, that would be a bright idea. I might as well just lock myself up too." Schuldich grumbled to Crawford as the little girl reached up and gripped a piece of Schuldich's hair in her small fist.
"Schuldich, obviously someone is framing us." Not one to be convinced otherwise after he had made up his mind, Crawford pressed on. "The fact of the matter is we can't keep her. But you're right; we can't take her to the police. You have to understand though, that the people who dropped her off are probably working for Esset or Kritiker, whoever they are now, and are probably trying to frame us. If they send the police out here looking for the baby, it's the end of the road for all of us."
Schuldich just scowled at Crawford, the baby girl still playing with his hair. "So what are you saying Crawford, that we just ditch her on the side of the road in a box like an unwanted puppy?" There was something in Schuldich's eyes that made Crawford want to just give in, but he knew the dangers this one simple child could have to all of them if they kept her.
"Actually Schuldich, in all reality I was going to suggest we kill her." Crawford commented quietly, but it was no use. Everyone heard him. Nagi and Omi both gasped rather loudly in their shock, and Schuldich just stood there, holding the baby closer to himself as a look of sheer horror settled on his face.
"Crawford you can't mean that!" Nagi all but ran over to where Schuldich was holding the baby. "She never did anything Crawford, it's not her fault!"
"Nag-"
"No." Schuldich quickly interrupted anything Crawford might have been trying to say. "You're not going to kill her. You won't even harm her, ever!" Schuldich was outraged that Crawford would even mention such a thing. Farfarello looked slightly disappointed that he wouldn't get to hurt God anytime soon, but he left and headed to his room after a bit, so Schuldich didn't really care. After a moment he continued. "I'm going to keep her, I'm going to raise her, and I'm going to look after her!" He glanced around the circle, daring anyone to challenge his word.
"Fine Schuldich, you do that." Crawford turned to head back to his room, but turned back to Schuldich quickly. "But that- thing- isn't staying in my room, and I'm not babysitting it when you go out and get yourself wasted." With that Crawford turned back and headed to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. Schuldich grumbled some curses under his breath as he watched him go.
"Hey Schuldich," Yohji took a step towards the telepath, who quickly turned to him, a death glare still plastered to his face.
"What? Do any of you guys want to say anything? Have a problem with this?" Schuldich snapped quickly, almost barking out the question. Ken, Nagi, and Omi merely shook their heads and quickly retreated into the kitchen to finish the supper or set the table. Aya grunted before following them. "What Kudoh?"
"I actually wanted to know what you were going to call her." Yohji admitted, feeling his cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. Schuldich's anger seemed to dissipate as he thought it over.
"Oh. I thought you were going to yell at me." Schuldich glanced down at the girl, now asleep in his arms.
"No way, I think what you did, standing up for her I mean, was really awesome." Yohji walked over to look at the baby, who was holding on to a strand of Schuldich's hair as she slept. "You know I'll help you with her when you need it." Yohji looked up at Schuldich, who actually smiled at him. Not a smirk, not a grin, but a genuine smile. "What?"
"I just realized what I'm going to call her." Schuldich's smile turned into a faint smirk as his eyes locked with Yohji's. "I'm going to call her Clandestine."
And all Yohji could do was smile.
Note: I actually put together a computer to put in my room, so I'm typing all these uber late at night (due to lack of a better time to do them I guess). But anyway, if I have a ton of typos, that's why. So sorry. By the way, I am terribly sorry if I ever just randomly change POVs on you guys. I really don't mean to, but I get to reading one story else where and then I come back and third person is really hard to write in for me. I'm usually doing first person work. . But ya know. Just beware of that. Also, I beg forgiveness for Brad fans now. You'll see later.
Tigermink – Good question… wish I knew the answer… LOL! Just kidding! Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Myka – Ahhh Myka. XD Hurry and update Zelos please. ;; This chapter is for you since you inspired me to write more! Hope you like!
And with that said; the chapter! Wheeee!
"Manx." Omi looked to Yohji as he said the name, and Yohji quickly grabbed for Omi's phone. But before he could get it from him, Crawford intercepted and grabbed it from both of them.
"You have the wrong number, don't call back." Crawford snapped quickly before clicking a button and ending the conversation. He set the phone in his pant pocket before turning to Omi and Yohji, who stared at him with wide eyes.
"What were you thinking?" Omi fumed quickly, obviously pissed. "Manx might have wanted to help us!"
"Or on the other hand, she might have been working with Kritiker and Esset and had a tracking device set up to track down where you were on the cell phone." Crawford calmly pointed out, slightly irritated that Omi of all people hadn't figured this out.
"Well I guess we'll just never know." Omi snapped, turning his back on the others as he stalked across the room and sat down at the computer, almost immediately starting to work again. Nagi watched him for a few moments before going over to help him out.
Turning to face Yohji, Crawford shrugged. "I figured you would prefer safe over sorry."
"I don't believe Manx would betray us." Yohji retorted. He wasn't for sure if he believed that or not, but he would have liked to have believed himself.
"And why did she tell you Kritiker was letting Weiß go?" Schuldich quickly spoke up in Crawford's favor, only to receive a near death glare from Yohji in return. Shrugging, Schuldich just shoved his way past Yohji and out of the room. For some reason, Yohji felt utterly betrayed by the way Schuldich was treating him. One minute Yohji was truly worried about the other assassin, the next he was angry at him just like the old days. Crawford muttered "excuse me" as he slipped past Yohji and headed after Schuldich.
Yohji stood in the doorway watching Nagi and Omi work for a bit before he too turned and headed upstairs.
"How are you doing now Schu?" Crawford mussed as he smoothed his suit out.
"Now that you ask, great." Schuldich went up behind Crawford, wrapping his arms around his waist and purposefully wrinkling his suit. Chuckling lightly, he entwined his hands with Schuldich's, not even caring that Schuldich was purposefully wrinkling his suit.
After a moment Crawford slowly turned himself around to face Schuldich, who casually played with their hands. "Schuldich," Schuldich looked up, acknowledging the fact that Crawford was about to ask him something serious. "Do you have any idea why you lost control?"
Schuldich had a few theories. Of course, none of which he would share. But the concern and worry that Crawford didn't even both hiding almost made Schuldich tell him everything. With his stomach feeling like an empty pit, Schuldich wrapped his arms around Crawford's waist again and pulled himself closer to his chest. Tilting his head up so Crawford could hear him, Schuldich quickly whispered "I don't know" as if it were the truth.
Crawford quickly wrapped his arms around Schuldich, protectively pulling him closer. For a moment Schuldich just stood there, before the weight of what he had to do finally settled on his shoulders, and a solitary tear slid down the side of his face.
Yohji was bored. Again. Or still; whatever anyone wanted to call it. The fact of the matter was; he was really bored. Schuldich and Crawford had been locked in their room for most of the day, and Yohji didn't care enough to bother wondering what they were doing. He had a good enough idea as it was. Farfarello had been out wandering the house; only because Nagi and Schuldich had convinced him the day before that hunting any of Weiß would be helping God. So no one really had to worry about Farfarello. Of course they did, but it was unnecessary.
Aya and Ken were making supper again, which was a relief because the only Schwarz member who could cook was Nagi, and he couldn't do it all by himself. Aya and Ken had enough trouble by themselves as it was. Of course Yohji couldn't help but notice the few times Ken's eyes would wander and end up watching Aya's ass instead of the food, but it was all in good spirits. Yeah, right.
Of course, now that he thought about it, Yohji still hadn't told Aya or Ken about Manx's phone call, and from what he knew, neither had Omi. He briefly wondered if they would. Probably not. Unless of course it came as a problem, then in which case they'd probably tell them and in turn get their heads chewed off by Aya. That was all in good spirits too. Whatever.
"Yohji, why don't you make yourself useful and do the dishes?" Ken suggested as he stirred some sort of food on the stove.
"Fine, I'll make myself 'useful' as you like to call it." Ken rolled his eyes at the sarcasm Yohji put into his words, but let it slip as Yohji walked into the kitchen and stared at the dishes in the sink.
"They won't bite you." Aya muttered after a moment, obviously not pleased by Yohji's lack of motivation. Yohji was about to say something smart back to Aya when they all heard a sound.
Somewhere extremely close by a car's brakes were squalling to a stop. A few car doors were opened, and Ken made a mad dash to turn off the nearby lights as Yohji and Aya quickly knelt down so they couldn't see out the windows as the sound of footsteps approached their front door. There was a light 'thud', and then the harsh sound of the doorbell went off. No one moved. Yohji could feel the sweat rolling down his forehead, but he didn't dare brush it away. The sound of footsteps quickly retreated from the front porch, the car doors slammed shut, and the car peeled away on the gravel road and continued on its way.
Several minutes passed before anyone moved. Yohji glanced over at Aya, who just stared back. Finally footsteps were heard coming from down the hall.
"Don't jump me, and don't panic." Schuldich's voice called down the hall, but not loud enough to spook anyone. "The boogiemen are gone now, you can get up." Schuldich stopped in the entry way to the kitchen, crossing his arms as he watched Aya and Yohji get up slowly. "Really you guys, you are trained assassins after all."
"I thought the point of living out here was to hide from Kritiker and Esset." Ken frowned at Schuldich as he walked back into the kitchen from where he had been 'hiding' in the living room.
"It is." Schuldich replied flatly. "But the fact of the matter remains that you can kill people."
"We can't just randomly start killing everyone that comes to our front door though." Nagi pointed out as he and Omi trudged up the stairs. "What did they leave anyway?"
For a moment, no one moved. Omi and Nagi stood watching them all, and no one moved or said anything. Finally Crawford spoke up from where he was standing behind Schuldich. "Actually we hadn't checked yet."
"Well I am so thankful it wasn't a bomb or anything." Schuldich leered at them all, rolling his eyes. "Wait, no one move, let me get that." Schuldich quickly pushed past Crawford and headed for the door.
"Wait!" Scrambling after Schuldich, Yohji grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, halting the telepath in his steps.
"Okay really, this is ridiculous."
"Schuldich, what if it is a bomb?" Yohji pointed out quickly.
"Kudoh, you have got to be kidding me." Rolling his eyes, Schuldich pried Yohji's hand off his sleeve. "Seriously now Kudoh, I think Crawford would have seen it coming if it would endanger us."
The telepath had a point, so Yohji let him go. Schuldich smirked and headed towards the front door again, everyone following behind him carefully. Although truth be known, Schuldich was slightly unnerved. Truthfully, he found it odd that Crawford hadn't had a vision telling them what was going to happen. Of course, Schuldich was a trained assassin; he could take care of whatever these strange empty people left behind for them.
Although maybe that was what had frightened him the most. There were several people, maybe five at most. But the fact of the matter was, when he had lightly probed at their mind he had received nothing back in return. When he had probed further, all he found was a gaping black void. But hey, there was no backing out now.
Slowly Schuldich pulled the front door open, surprised to find a rather large bundle of cloth on their front porch. Slipping outside, Schuldich knelt next to it, poking and prodding at it to see what it was. Much to his shock, after Schuldich poked the bundle a few times it actually started to move. And then, to his horror, the bundle cooed.
"Heilige scheiße!" Schuldich cursed as he pulled back the cloth, revealing a small face. By god, these strange people had left a baby on their front porch!
"Schuldich? What is it?" Crawford stepped out of the doorway, careful to avoid Schuldich, who was now cradling the bundle in his arms.
"Well you see," Schuldich carried it carefully inside, pushing past everyone and going towards the living room. Everyone followed him, even Farfarello, who had come up from the basement with Nagi and Omi. "These strange people have left us a baby. Maybe it was the stork in disguise."
For a few minutes Schuldich just rocked the baby girl in his arms, before finally he looked up to see what everyone was doing. Much to his amusement, they were all staring at him. And they were all gaping at him as well.
"You can't keep it." Crawford snapped suddenly.
"Her, Crawford, it's a baby girl. Not an 'it'." Schuldich quickly corrected. She was a pretty baby, although small. Schuldich guessed her age at about six months, give or take a bit. The thin hair that she had was a pretty auburn color, and her eyes were brown with little flecks of gold around the center.
"Well then, you can't keep her." Crawford was irritated, but Schuldich didn't understand why exactly. It wasn't like she could harm them.
"Oh come on Crawford, it's not like I can take her to the police. Wow, that would be a bright idea. I might as well just lock myself up too." Schuldich grumbled to Crawford as the little girl reached up and gripped a piece of Schuldich's hair in her small fist.
"Schuldich, obviously someone is framing us." Not one to be convinced otherwise after he had made up his mind, Crawford pressed on. "The fact of the matter is we can't keep her. But you're right; we can't take her to the police. You have to understand though, that the people who dropped her off are probably working for Esset or Kritiker, whoever they are now, and are probably trying to frame us. If they send the police out here looking for the baby, it's the end of the road for all of us."
Schuldich just scowled at Crawford, the baby girl still playing with his hair. "So what are you saying Crawford, that we just ditch her on the side of the road in a box like an unwanted puppy?" There was something in Schuldich's eyes that made Crawford want to just give in, but he knew the dangers this one simple child could have to all of them if they kept her.
"Actually Schuldich, in all reality I was going to suggest we kill her." Crawford commented quietly, but it was no use. Everyone heard him. Nagi and Omi both gasped rather loudly in their shock, and Schuldich just stood there, holding the baby closer to himself as a look of sheer horror settled on his face.
"Crawford you can't mean that!" Nagi all but ran over to where Schuldich was holding the baby. "She never did anything Crawford, it's not her fault!"
"Nag-"
"No." Schuldich quickly interrupted anything Crawford might have been trying to say. "You're not going to kill her. You won't even harm her, ever!" Schuldich was outraged that Crawford would even mention such a thing. Farfarello looked slightly disappointed that he wouldn't get to hurt God anytime soon, but he left and headed to his room after a bit, so Schuldich didn't really care. After a moment he continued. "I'm going to keep her, I'm going to raise her, and I'm going to look after her!" He glanced around the circle, daring anyone to challenge his word.
"Fine Schuldich, you do that." Crawford turned to head back to his room, but turned back to Schuldich quickly. "But that- thing- isn't staying in my room, and I'm not babysitting it when you go out and get yourself wasted." With that Crawford turned back and headed to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. Schuldich grumbled some curses under his breath as he watched him go.
"Hey Schuldich," Yohji took a step towards the telepath, who quickly turned to him, a death glare still plastered to his face.
"What? Do any of you guys want to say anything? Have a problem with this?" Schuldich snapped quickly, almost barking out the question. Ken, Nagi, and Omi merely shook their heads and quickly retreated into the kitchen to finish the supper or set the table. Aya grunted before following them. "What Kudoh?"
"I actually wanted to know what you were going to call her." Yohji admitted, feeling his cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. Schuldich's anger seemed to dissipate as he thought it over.
"Oh. I thought you were going to yell at me." Schuldich glanced down at the girl, now asleep in his arms.
"No way, I think what you did, standing up for her I mean, was really awesome." Yohji walked over to look at the baby, who was holding on to a strand of Schuldich's hair as she slept. "You know I'll help you with her when you need it." Yohji looked up at Schuldich, who actually smiled at him. Not a smirk, not a grin, but a genuine smile. "What?"
"I just realized what I'm going to call her." Schuldich's smile turned into a faint smirk as his eyes locked with Yohji's. "I'm going to call her Clandestine."
And all Yohji could do was smile.