Chapter 3 – There Goes; Manx

The situation at hand couldn't get any worse. Here's the 4-1-1. Authentique came, Ken was left to drive with his kindergarten driving skill and Farfarello, who, by the way, is strapped snuggly in his straight jacket without his trusty knives, was supposed to protect him. Manx? Still in the chiller. The cat? Safely tucked away in a dust bin. Our guys, Rex and Birman? Well, let's just say they're not doing too well.

"You little vixen! I swear, if you ever go near my Crawford again, I'm gonna make your sorry ass pay…" cursed Schuldich, moving at top speed to match the little girl who-just-totally-kissed-Crawford-right-under-his-nose.

"Say – if I didn't know any better, I'll say you're jealous, dead jealous," laughed the little girl in a deep, rich Brittish accent.

Odd… she doesn't look English… she looks, AsianUgh, great. Now, I'm getting the accent… - Schuldich radiated to the whole group.

Had Crawford been less busy himself, he would've definitely payed more attention to that comment. Unfortunately, it was taking both him and Aya to keep up with 'that' guy in 'that' business suit. This was one of those times, he just wished he had Nagi's power.

"Ugh!" spat Aya, along with a few drops of blood. It seems that the 'that' guy in 'that' business suit had hit him right at the spot, where he was stabbed the few weeks before.

"I'm sorry… did I hit a… 'tender spot'?" the criminal whispered, somewhat sensuously, into Aya's ear.

Aya hissed and cursed before using his weapon to probe himself up and slash it across himself. Maybe Aya's skill was better than anyone would've expected. Or he was pure lucky. The movement caught 'that' guy in 'that' business suit totally off-guard and Aya's blade made a tiny trickle of blood dripped from the enemy's cheek.

No way, he should've seen that coming… That was a grade-kid's move! – announced Aya across the 11-people bond. Although, sad to say, Manx doesn't really know what was going on.

Crawford seized the chance to shoot some fires. Which were totally bogus 'cause he didn't hit anything.

Meanwhile, Nagi and Omi were having one of the worst time of their lives trying to get to the mime. Apparently, the mime was pulling off a classic – the mirror moves. Whatever moves Nagi and Omi tried, he does exactly the same. Which was weird because, the mime doesn't have any bows and arrows or any telekinetic powers for that matter. But, invisible darts and force keeps flunging them back and giving them a run for their lives each time they try to get the mime. And the weirdest incident has yet to happen.

SMASH! – the vases broke due to the sudden impact of Nagi's and Omi's fall.

"I don't get it! How is he doing that?" whined Omi, struggling to get up, after what seems like the hundredth fall.

Before Nagi could response, they caught the mime's movement. The mime in question was moving his hands about, acting as if there was a big box in front of him, right where Nagi and Omi was.

"Great, he's a seriously annoying mime through and through… I've never told anyone this, but I have this weird thing about mimes… They just creep me out…" whispered Nagi, gritting his teeth to hide the pain of being thrown across the van a few moments ago.

Omi moved to stand up but – "OUCH!" he screamed.

Nagi, in alarm of his kitty being in extreme pain (just for the account, that was exaggeration on Nagi's part), quickly try to got up to help him, unfortunately – "YEOWCH!"

It seems that our two pretty boys are trapped in an invbisible box. Courtesy to the ever-irritating mime.

"Get... us... OUT!" screamed Nagi with a powerful telekinetic blow. Of course, the box held both of them snuggly without the powerful force affecting it at all.

So, where's Yohji? Yep, he's busy entertaining the last cute boy.

"You're pretty skillful for someone as young as you are..." smiled Yohji, teasingly.

"You're pretty agile for someone your age..." mocked the boy coyly.

Yohji's wires went all over the van. The boy was easily evading them. And the age comment wasn't helping.

"Done with your toys? Time for mine then..." smirked the boy.

A thin line of laser emerged from the boy's wrist-watch, cutting everything on its way. Yohji had to jump for his life before it hit him.

Birman and Rex were trying hard to make sure nothing happened to the chiller Manx was in. But alas, fate would be for Manx to fall into the hands of Authentique.

"Long Xian! The chiller! Get it!" called 'that' guy in 'that' business suit.

The little girl, who turned out to be Long Xian, immediately scanned around and spotted an obnoxiously large chiller. With even higher speed, she easily skipped and reached the chiller.

Rex and Birman was ready with their guns.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to take your little friend in there!" she giggled with eyes that doesn't smile.

As if on cue, the real reason oblivious to everyone else, Birman fell to the floor of the van and Rex dropped her gun. She turned around and unlocked the chiller.

"Damn! What are you doing?" shouted Schuldich, mustering the fastest run he could.

Too late. The chiller was unlocked.

A barely conscious Manx fell out. Long Xian tried to support Manx against her weight. But gravity just wouldn't let her. Manx fell on top of her, "ugh... Alex! Get her off of me!"

Alex, who turned out to be the cute boy who was lasering Yohji off his butt went to get Manx on her feet and dragged her out of the moving van.

At that moment, Schuldich arrived beside Long Xian and grabbed her arm. He stared deep into her eyes and, to his surprise, so did she. He saw her eye color change. From a strikingly beautiful green color of the leaves to red, blood-like, rich color. It was then, something oddly familiar struck Schuldich. A blaring vision of the past. A nightmare that left him sleepless during his childhood. A flair memory.

There she was. A pretty little girl around his age. Dancing around, with a crown made out of cherry blossoms that made her red hair fall pale in comparison, under the shady willow tree. She was laughing, with him. The two of them, singing...

"A little princess, hair of fire, lips of rose... locked far away in her filthy tower. Who will come to escort her, who will befriend her? Who will take her away? Won't someone come and safe her?"

The lyrics swam around their laughter. Living a bloody afternoon far behind.

Two Hours Later-

The Schwarz' residence.

"Schu?" a familiar voice whispered.

Slowly, and painfully, Schuldich force his eyes open. Slowly, the image of Yohji came to focus.

"Ugh..." groaned Schuldich, rubbing his head with his right hand, "what happened?"

"Typical question..." snorted Nagi in annoyance.

"Nagi... he's injured, be nicer..." scoffed Omi in a somewhat polite tone.

"You want to know what happen? Birman is unconscious and Rex is in a no-go condition, she's like one of those walking dummy you see on tv and oh yeah, before I forgot, you fainted right in front of the little girl, who, by the way, left you a message." Grumbled Ken trying to appease Farfarello who were irritated he didn't get to fight.

"I did what..?" the words came rumbling out of Schuldich.

"Fainted. You fainted and gave me a heart attack..." whispered Yohji into Schuldich's ear.

"'Do you remember? Do you remember now? Won't someone come and safe her? Won't someone come and safe me?' that was her message. It was really weird, she was whispering it exclusively for you but we heard it through the bond... Almost as if she was saying it over the bond... Any way to explain that?" asked Crawford, a bit sour that Yohji was all over Schuldich, but of course, wasn't showing any of it.

"I don't know... I seem to remember a girl from my younger days at Rosenkreuz about my age who looks just like her... But that can't be... I mean, she would be around my age now, wouldn't she?" stuttered Schuldich over his pounding head.

Aya came in with a tray of hot tea. "Well, Manx is gone... we have absolutely no idea if she's alive or dead... I don't think we should be thinking about your happy little childhood..."

"Ugh, for your information, I didn't have a 'happy little childhood' but yeah, Manx is gone..." spat Schuldich, sipping his pipping hot tea in disgust.

"One thing there though, we know Authentique aren't just a bunch of D-level Rosenkreuz agents." Remarked Crawford, refusing to make eye contact with Schuldich, God knows why,

"D level? With those powers, they might as well be A level!" snorted Nagi, pushing away his cup of tea.

"Well, we know that girl is called Long Xian, so she's definitely chinese... That blond guy is Alex and his weapon is laser. And that mime guy, he's good, I mean I saw the two of you getting locked up in nothing and that 'boss'... hmm... tricky..." commented the now fully conscious Schuldich.

"He's a clairvoyant." Said Crawford, flat.

"What?" replied everyone present.

"Aya slashed him. His expression was blank, like he was in some sort of trance, he didn't even feel the cut... he was having a vision..." explained Crawford.

"That's not possible. You still feel pain when you're having visions..." remarked Nagi.

"That's because I was properly trained. And I was taught to still notice my obvious sorrounding when receiving a vision. This is to make sure I don't get killed while having a vision and it serve as my wake-up call during visions I get in battles. You don't understand. Even a grade-A clairvoyant will be totally oblivious to their surrounding if they weren't trained how to still keep in touch with real world during visions. He didn't feel it-" blabbed Crawford, which was so totally wasn't like his cool self.

"He isn't trained..." finished Schuldich, "we saw it wrong, they're powerful, but totally clueless in direct combats. If what Sakura said were true, that would make sense. They weren't trained at all!"

"Exactly... and they got away without being trained... Just think of what'll happen if they were trained." Sighed Crawford, gulping down his tea while rubbing his temples.

"That was how they knew Manx was in the chiller, wasn't it?" inquired little Omi.

"Long Xian. You missed her powers..."stated Aya suddenly, eyes as if he just stumbled upon something.

"Now that you mention it, I couldn't stop her..." Schuldich replied, "because I couldn't read her mind at all..."

Sorry it took some time… Ooo, and sorry to Ken's fans for making him seem a teeny bit stupid (alright – a lot, but hey, that's entertainment, no?) Hope you enjoy this one, and, just out of curiousity, how many of you felt the pinch when Long Xian actually kissed Crawford? The mysteries are going to unfold in the next chapter!

Long Xian – literally translated into Dragon fairy, sorry, my chinese is VERY bad.

Alex – short form of Alexander, I just thought it really suit him.

More romance and action coming soon! Tessa (Please keep those reviews coming!)