From:
Gonyosoma
Title: End of game?
Rating: M / MA – references to
violence
Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss Kreuz, the boys belong
to Project
Weiss. I just borrow them for a while. There is no money made with that fic.
Please,
if you like it, send Feedback – there nothing to speed the
next
story up like some nice comments …
End of game ?
Suddenly,
Crawford jumps up and starts to run. Out of the living room,
through
the floor and the stairs down into the cellar. Schuldig and Nagi
look
at each other and follow behind, curious about their
leader's
agitation.
They find Crawford standing in a heavy
metal door frame, the door still
in his hand. He stares into the
dimly lit room on a slender figure,
sitting on an old,
uncomfortably looking stool.
Ran has his hand on a dirty computer
keyboard, the index finger hovering
right above the enter key.
"Don't!"
A cold smile slipped over the redhead's
face.
"I knew you would be there for the final."
Crawford ripped his magnum out of its holster and points it on
Ran. The
redhead just presses the enter button and stands up in
one fluid motion.
His coat isn't belted closed. It swings open.
Ran is nearly naked beyond
it; he just wears a pair of black
briefs. Angry red criss-crossing
stripes are revealed on his body,
just deep enough not to bleed - not to
scar.
It looks like
Crawford had quite his fun last night, teaching the
redhead his
place.
Nagi gasps in horror. He knows about Crawford's sadistic
games but
seldom saw the outcome that bad. Schuldig looks between
Ran and Crawford
forth and back.
"What did you do?"
It isn't sure to whom the question is directed.
Crawford
stares transfixed on Ran's body. Conflicting emotions shows on
his
face. Hurt, Anger, Pain, Sorrow and slowly, as realisation hit
him,
Despair.
"No, please don't ... Please don't tell me
you did this."
"I might have been an enemy, an ally, a
Comrade-in-Arms and a Tool - but
I have never been nor will I ever
be neither a slave nor a toy. For no
one. I recommend
packing."
Slowly, he undid the dog collar on his neck and
throws it at Crawford.
The Oracle just stands there as the heavy
leather piece hit him in the
chest and falls to the ground. He
still points his magnum at Ran as if
to shoot, but the otherwise
steady hand shivers.
The elegant man walks over to the little
group, right up in front of
Crawford.
In spite of the whip
marks, bruises, rope burns and numerous other
lesser injuries on
his body he holds himself proud, is his walk graceful
and
fluid.
"What's going on here? Ran, do you need a doctor?
Crawford, what is
happening?"
Nagi's voice takes a
hysterical edge on.
The hand holding the Magnum falls down,
Crawford slowly slumps. He rubs
with his other hand over his face
in despair; tears start to gather in
his eyes. He looks down on
the ground.
A deep, pleasant voice vibrates in the Cellar room. It
is still coarse
from screaming last night but unmistakably Ran's.
"Esset never knew the extension of your involvement of the
Elders death.
They just thought you to be some runaway agents who
used the ruckus to
get away and start new. They could tolerate
that, especially in the
chaos of rebuilding Esset and minimise the
damage. They always wondered
why Kritiker was that successful and
never fully resolved the accident.
"Now they know. You better
get going."
Nagi stares at the old, dusty computer screen.
Internet sites pop up
with information; pictures jump on the
screen and got overlaid by new
sites and other pictures. It is so
fast, he just sees glimpses of it -
but already knows what they
show. Schwarz killing the last elder and
prancing in their
victory.
Nagi gazes up in the beautiful violet eyes. For once,
Crawford spared
Ran's face last night so they glitter brightly.
There is a hint of
regret in them, directed on the teenager.
"He
won't stop until I am dead or broken" Nagi knows exactly who
"He"
is. "So I decided to take Schwarz down with
me. I wish I could have
spared you. You deserve a better future.
Please take care."
Nagi nods. "It's okay, I will
manage. Just get out of here soon, before
you are caught in the
crossfire."
In this second, Crawford leaps in action.
"You
are not going anywhere." His hand closes around Ran's to thin
upper
arm, bruising it with its force. The American stares at him
with a
mixture of anger and fear.
"You won't leave me."
Ran turns him, so his coat swings open again and his front is
fully
exposed to Crawford. The red stripes seem to scream in
accusation, every
cruel mark on this body a charge against the
Oracle. He coldly ignores
the brutal grip on his arm.
"You
need accomplices on the run, not unwilling prisoner. Either you
shoot
me now or you let me go. There is no time for something else and
you
know it."
His body is thrown against the concrete wall, a
bigger body presses up
against it, trapping him. Crawford holds
his gun just under Ran's left
eye, pointing upwards. His other
hand catches Ran's face, stroking it.
There is a feverish glint
in Crawford's eyes.
"They will kill you, too. You had a part
in the fall of the tower,
remember? You will come with us and we
escape together."
Ran narrows his eyes staring into
Crawford's. Suddenly, the bigger man
crouches down and holds his
crotch.
Surely he didn't see THAT coming.
Untouched, Ran
climbs over him and steps into the doorway.
"Esset were on
war with Kritiker then. They will kill me, if I stumble
in their
way but won't put much effort in finding me. Beside, "Fujimiya
Ran"
is a rotting corpse on a cemetery in Tokyo and Fujimiya Aya
doesn't
exist anymore, too. No Crawford, there is no way I am
coming with you.
This is your chance to kill me. Either that or I
am leaving. Right now."
When the man on the ground utters
only inscrutable words which might -
or might not - have been a
protest, Ran turns to look at Schuldig and
Nagi. Both have been
very quiet during the exchange, especially
Schuldig.
"Never
should have gone that far. Get going kitten, we are running out
of
time - all of us."
Ran nods silently to his former enemies
and vanishes up the stairs into
the living quarters.
Nagi and
Schuldig stay behind to help their leader up. It seems that
Oracle's
plan to turn the kitten into his sex slave backfired badly.
A
slam of the front door announces the departure of Fujimiya Ran,
former
Kritiker Agent Abyssinian.
Nagi is disturbed in his
musing, when a pitiful wail is heard. He and
Schuldig stare amazed
on the despaired, drowned in tears face of their
usual so reserved
leader. Crawford stretches his hands in direction of
the staircase
and all he manages to whine is ...
"Get him back,
please get him back."
