Disclaimer: *takes deep breath* O f**k! Go looking at the ones of the previous twelve chapters! Still hasn't changed a bit. (Though I wish it had.^.^)
Author notes: Whoo-!! Sorry that that took so long. Also, I fear that I've somehow ´mixed´ the beta-read version and the alpha one of this chapter, so if there are any mistakes in it, it's fully my fault. (If they're not, then I somehow managed to find the right one.) ^.^* Translations are on the bottom, hope you enjoy!
What he certainly hadn't planned
Chapter 13
It was heavy to tell who was more surprised, Farfarello or Weiß. Well, with Farfarello, it was probably just the fact that he'd actually shot at them. Maybe it was also just because he had mentioned Nagi. Anyway, the Irishman froze on top of Aya, the edge of his blade dangerously near the redhead's throat.
His single golden eye regarded Crawford with a questioning look.
Ignoring the others, Crawford met it with one of his authoritarian glares. The tip of Farfarello's blade touched the skin of Aya's throat, poking it slightly.
Another bullet drove itself into the floor, this time just inches away from hitting the white-haired man's hand.
Farfarello tilted his head a bit, still staring at Crawford. The Oracle's eyes were blazing by now, not out of concern for Weiß or something, but out of rage over the open questioning of his authority. Disobeying his orders was not healthy to do. "I said no, Farfarello." The tone of his voice was icy, sounding like it always did when the American was about to kill somebody.
´Don't dare to disobey me.´ Getting the unsaid warning, Farfarello slowly relaxed his grip on Abyssinian a bit, though not enough to give the redhead a chance to free himself. After a reluctant moment also the blade vanished. Crawford just continued glaring at him.
"Go to safe-house number thirteen and check if Nagi's there. If not, return immediately." Crawford's voice sounded cold and matter-of-fact, like always when the leader of Schwarz was explaining a mission to his team, and like always, he just told what was pressing necessary. Standing up, Farfarello blinked slowly at Crawford, giving him a questioning look once again. "The old warehouse?"
"No. The one in the business district. And no dawdling."
For a moment the two psychics still held eye contact, then, Farfarello suddenly turned around soundlessly and left the room. Too shocked, none of the members of Weiß even tried to stop him.
"…Crawford?"
Crawford tilted his head in Ken's direction, slightly raising an eyebrow. "Yes?" His voice stayed cold, and he also didn't lower the gun. With a bemused expression, Crawford took in their different reactions to his true identity. While Ken was simply staring wide-eyed at him, obviously not wanting to believe what was happening, Omi took it quite better. The sandy-blond teen just looked at him, wearing a somehow crestfallen expression on his face. Yohji was glaring at him as if he was wishing to rip his throat off, and Aya… Crawford frowned a bit on the hurt look that had appeared on the redhead's face. As if he'd betrayed him.
Crawford didn't know exactly why, but that look irritated him. Disbelief, sorrow, anger and hate, he was used to deal with, but that… That expression was something different, foreign to the precog. A thing he didn't know. Crawford didn't like to be ignorant.
His eyes narrowed, Yohji hissed. "You disgusting, traitorous, little Schwarz bastard!! You planned this the whole time!" The muzzle of the gun swung in his direction, aiming directly at his head. Wearing his usual cold-ass, smug expression, Crawford flashed him a sneering grin. "Not exactly."
At this moment the whole scene was concentrated on the confrontation between their once believed alley and the playboy of the group. All of the other Weiß members had stayed on their respective places, not really daring to interfere with the dangerous situation. Internally, Crawford cursed. If he gave Yohji a chance, he and the other assassins would attack. The dark-haired teen knew that he wouldn't stand any good against the four of them at once, with gun or without it.
Yohji growled. "What do you mean?" At the same time, he reached for the thin wire in his watch. Crawford noticed it. "I wouldn't try that." Yohji shot him a venomous glare. "You can't intimidate me. We found your contact lenses. You can't see anything properly, much less take aim." Crawford grinned at the defiant sound in the playboys voice. Keeping his smug impression up, he retorted. "I wouldn't be so sure on that."
If possible, Yohji's glare got even more deadly. Crawford chuckled lowly.
"Brad?"
The strangely strangled tone in Omi's voice irritated Crawford for a sliver of a second, making him look at the small blonde. That was long enough for Yohji. With an enraged outcry he sent his wire flying, aiming directly at Brad's face.
Again, the incredible happened. Letting go of the gun, Crawford jumped back, changing into a fighting stance. For a moment nothing happened. Then the small dark-haired teen suddenly unleashed a quick row of boxing punches, seemingly hitting the thin air. Actually he was hitting, fending the nearly invisible deadly wire off like nothing.
The thin thread fell to the floor without fulfilling its deadly mission. With one single smooth movement Crawford stepped on it, disabling Balinese from starting a new try and picked up the gun, aiming it immediately at Ken who had been trying to reach him.
"Stay where you are!"
Ken froze immediately, his vibrant brown eyes showing clearly his uneasiness with the situation. He wasn't the only one who could barely belief what was happening. The Oracle still held the gun aimed at his head, looking as bastardly smug as Ken was knowing it from the leader of their enemy assassin group. ´But that's impossible! Brad can't be Crawford! He can't!´
The brunette nearly jumped when Aya suddenly appeared beside him. The always cool redhead's eyes were shining with something else than usual, something Ken didn't knew from him. Disbelief. Hurt. His friend looked as horribly hurt as one could be.
Then he realized that the barrel of the gun wasn't any longer aimed at him, but at Aya. The redhead didn't seem to care - neither about the obvious threat nor the fierce glare he received from Brad. Instead, he kept advancing until another bullet found its way into the floor, not even an inch away from Aya's foot. Stopping, Aya looked at Crawford, calm violet eyes making straight eye contact with excited amber-brown ones.
"… Crawford."
There was no hint of emotion in his deep calm voice, nor was it a question. It was a simple statement of a fact, no accusation or silent plea for denial. Just a statement. Crawford's eyes narrowed dangerously.
Before either of them could further react, Yohji sprang into action again, withdrawing his wire with a sudden, brutal jerk. As strange as it sounded, Crawford had obviously not been prepared for something like that. Being caught by surprise and over-judging his weight, the slight, black-haired teen got jerked from his feet and, loosing his balance, tumbled down the whole staircase.
Not only Ken winced at the awful sounding crash with which the Oracle landed.
Wincing, Crawford tried to banish the pain out of his body while trying at the same time to reach for his gun. He yelled out in pain when somebody stepped heavily at his grasping fingers. Looking upwards, he could see the tall form of Balinese towering over him. `Damn!´
"Brad! Daijobou?"
Omi was stopped from an icy glare. "Omi! Don't you get it?! He's Crawford!" The anger was evident in Yohji's voice. Though, it wasn't directed at Omi, the genki youth shrunk immediately back as if being hit. A small gasp from Brad made them look down. Yohji had unconsciously stepped harder on his hand as he'd talked to Omi. With provocative slowness, the tall blonde lifted his foot just enough for Crawford to pull back his hand. Rubbing his hurt fingers, Crawford shot him a glare of death. ´How dare he-!´
All right, so he was down, disarmed, and outnumbered. That still didn't give them the right to stomp around on his fingers! Using all of his self-control, he managed to stand up quietly and to give all Weiß members a mocking, self-confident half-smile. An expression that he knew made other seethe.
"Thanks for your concern, Omi, but Balinese is right. I AM Crawford, and as a member of Schwarz, I´m not depend on it."
Making a small gasp, Omi backed away from the dark-haired boy. Ken shook his head. He simply couldn't believe it. That was Brad! Brad was not older than fifteen! Crawford was over twenty! Did the oracle shrink? That was impossible!
"But how-?"
Crawford cut him off, the same gruel smirk playing over his face. "How it is that I'm this young now? I don't think that's anything of your concern Weiß."
At those cold, uncaring words, Ken gave him a hurt look. Crawford cringed inwardly. ´Like beating a puppy.´ Still, that was something that had to be done. Mustering his self-control once more, Crawford laughed at their faces, showing them undoubtedly that he wasn't afraid of them in the least.
Omi winced at the awful sound. That laughing sounded totally different from what normally came from the dark-haired teen. Unlike his usual dark chuckles, it didn't sound amused in any way at all. Just cold, malicious, and cruel. It was a dead sound.
By now, Yohji was ready to jump and strangle Crawford with his bare hands. How could he dare to laugh?! His green eyes narrowed dangerously; the blonde gritted his teeth. How could he dare?! After all the time they'd spent together, he was simply laughing at their faces. ´Schwarz!´ He should have been expecting that. After all, the boy was Crawford. He was Schwarz. Of course he wouldn't let his head hang down and stammer something like that he hadn't done it deliberately, that he don't want to fight them anymore, or something like that!
No, he really couldn't expect that. Not from Schwarz. The guy had coolly watched how his own team-member being buried alive and hadn't even cared to see if he was still living or not! Yohji was seething with rage. Not from the fact that the boy was a member of their enemy team or because he had shot at them, no. His rage came from inside, where he was hurt because his, _their_, thrust had been abused that badly. Wasn't there even one human they could thrust without being betrayed immediately? Yohji was hurt. Badly.
´First Asuka, now Brad…´ He wasn't going to take this any longer. He wouldn't let them get away that easily after playing with their feelings anymore. He would make Crawford pay for hurting him, and even more for hurting Omi and Ken.
At that instant, Crawford's eyes narrowed "Of course I've betrayed you."
Right then, Brad didn't look like a young, helpless boy anymore, but like the cold Oracle, leader of Schwarz, whom they had fought so often. He couldn't have looked more intimidating as his normal self and armed to his teeth. The two younger members of Weiß stared wide-eyed at him, unable and –willing to honestly believe what happened.
With an angry growl, Yohji pounced on Crawford, just to be caught with a jab right into his guts. Having already been ready for this, Crawford continued immediately, hitting the lanky playboy painfully against at head.
Yohji didn't even have time to realize what was happening, when he had already landed on the floor in a painful crouch. "Damn Schwarz-bastard..! …ow.....You won't get away with that!" Crawford regarded the fallen Balinese with a contemptuous look.
"Won't get away? I already have, Balinese." He shook his head at the blonde's futile attempts to get up again. Eyeing Yohji with a thoughtful look, Crawford sighted slightly before shaking his head again.
"I really don't know want you want Yohji. After all nothing happened."
Yohji glared at him. "You tricked us! You used our feelings for your advantage!"
Crawford let out an barking laugh. "Of course I did! I don't know about you, but I for my part prefer staying alive for some time longer. Honestly, what did you expect? That I'd say ´oh, by the way, I'm the leader of Schwarz´? Really Kudou, as a former PI you ought to be a bit more clever."
"You wormed your way into our confidence to kill us!"
At that Crawford whirled around, snapping. "Kill you? Kill you?! You fool! How often do you think I could have killed you before, if I'd wanted it?! Idiots!! Don't take yourself that important, Weiß! Neither your foolish secrets nor something else about you interests me! Do you think I would've stayed if I had a choice?! Certainly not!"
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Aya watched helplessly as Brad started to scream. No, not Brad – Crawford. Schwarz. Oracle. The one who was responsible for the kidnapping of his sister.
His enemy.
As solid as it looked, his calm was just external. Inside Aya/_Ran_ was shaking with horror. It was as if the worst of all his possible nightmares had become true. Crawford. Schwarz. He had fallen for his worst enemy.
No, that wasn't true. Aya had fallen for that elusive, mysterious boy they had brought home that fateful night, not Crawford. Brad was totally different from the cold, calculating oracle.
Brad had been nice in his covered ways.
Brad had been honest.
Aya could not think of any possibility that the charming teen was in reality such a vicious murderer. That was impossible. Simply impossible! Aya barely noticed when Yohji got knocked down. All that was feeling to him like in an unreal dream about which he knew that he'd wake any second. Just, that it wasn't a dream.
Aya couldn't wake up, and nothing would be good.
It was real. Brad was Crawford, and, as much as he wished, Aya could do nothing to change that fact.
Crawford's eyes were filled with barely disguised disdain by now, his voice having gotten a cutting edge. Glaring right at Aya, he sneered.
"You Weiß kittens are so miserably pitiful that it makes me ill! All you're concerned about is yourself, no matter how generous you act! Don't tell me that shit that you're killing people for the sake of others! That's fucking nonsense!! You're killing people because they were bad?! Who made you god that you can decide that?! Admit it or not, you're bloodthirsty killers just as much as we are! You like the hunt and the thrill of killing! You want to kill them!
And what beats everything is that you have the courage to keep complaining about how miserable you are! So your lover died while saving you? God, at least somebody cared about you that much! Your friend deceived you? How often, do you think, does that happen every day?! Your parents didn't care enough about you to pay your ransom? At least you didn't got thrown out like a piece of trash or got sold like some old keepsake! And hey! If I see right, you were saved! All that trash happens everyday, but how many people have started killing other because of it, huh?!"
"And you!", He was speaking directly to Aya now, "You're the best of all of them! Do you even remember the reason you started killing people? Do you?! She's awake now, Ran, and you are dead to the world. "
A deathly silence had befallen the room by now, being broken solely by Crawford's hypnotic voice. As if time itself had paused, none of Weiß had moved since the first moment of Crawford's outburst. Though seemingly calm again, Crawford quivered inertly with anger and shame. Shame that he hadn't been able to prevent his feelings from breaking free in front of the enemy. Shame that he hadn't managed to control himself, out of all people.
Aya froze at the expression that had suddenly turned up in Crawford's amber-brown eyes. It wasn't really anger…more like something else far more destructive. Hate. And it wasn't really directed at them.
Starting to speak again, the teen gave the redhead a weary look. "Did you ever think of the consequences when you took on her name? When you killed in her name? Do you think she wanted you to become a murderer to pay her bills with bloody money? "
He was past the point of angry shouting by now, having reached the state were his words didn't had to be emphasized by volume anymore, to be cutting. Somehow, this new way of speaking was even scarier than the shouting.
"Dou you think she wanted her brother to become a killer for her sake?"
Aya was no longer able to bear the other's gaze. Evading Brad's eyes, he lowered his head.
For a seeming long moment Crawford still looked at him, then he shook his head wearily.
"As long as you stay like this, you are never going to be a real threat to us, Weiß."
With that, he started to leave the room, obviously uncaring about the other four males in there anymore.
"Stop right there!"
Once again, it was Yohji, who recovered first. Holding the gun Crawford had lost, he aimed it at the small teen. "Don't think that I'll let you get away with that like nothing happened, Schwarz! And don't think that we didn't already knew everything you said."
Looking at the gun aimed at his chest, Crawford chuckled. "Really? Then why don't you act on it?" He started moving again.
Growling, Yohji pulled the trigger. Remaining unimpressed, Crawford turned back to him. "A bit far off the mark, even for a warning."
"I warn you Schwarz! One more step and I'll shoot you."
Once again, Crawford just smirked at the threat. "Will you? Then I recommend you to take better aim this time, Yohji, because there's just one more bullet in that gun."
Yohji's eyes narrowed. Was Crawford just bluffing, or was he speaking the truth? Crawford smirked again. "You can ask Fujimiya, if you don't trust me. After all it's his gun." Yohji shot Aya a disbelieving look. He didn't know that their leader was actually able to use such a thing, not to tell from owning one. His violet eyes as unreadable as always, Aya nodded. Seeing the blonde's uneasiness, Crawford immediately decided to push it a little further.
"I have to admit, it was quite a peasant surprise to find it in his room."
Having directed Balinese's attention back at him, he started walking again, still smirking. "Stop!!" Turning, Crawford sized him with a devilish expression. "What is it, Kudou? I thought you wanted to shoot me if I keep moving?"
He spread out his arms. "Well? I´m waiting." His voice was wearing an amused edge now, which was a bit similar to Schuldig's. O yeah, Schwarz was learning quite well from each other. "Or is it that you don't have the courage to shoot me in the back?"
Despite all of his determination and desire to simply shoot the outrageous guy, Yohji's hands were trembling. He still was Brad. He still was the secretive boy, who had become their friend over the last two weeks. And, no matter what, he had been a _good_ friend.
He was relieved from making a decision by Aya, as the redhead suddenly stepped up and grapped Brad from behind. Wrapping his hands securely around the smaller teens shoulders, he held him in a firm, yet not brutal grasp, keeping him from moving. Not to mention that Crawford wasn't exactly happy with that. His amber-brown eyes flaring with anger, he immediately started kicking and squirming, cursing at the redhead. First, Aya didn't react. Then…
"Don't."
Crawford hesitated for a moment. "Don't what? Try to free myself?" "Ie." Lowering his voice so much that just Brad could understand his next sentence, Aya said "Don't keep trying to hurt yourself."
At that words Crawford's eyes widened, taking on a unbelieving expression. How could he know-? Aya watched calmly as all of Brad's –(he kept calling him that in his mind)- efforts to get out of his grip suddenly subsided. From one moment to the next, the fake teen became perfectly calm, as if the recent events had never happened. With a soundless sigh, which the redhead rather felt than heard, he relaxed all at once, not only dropping his fighting stance but also every other thing which made him look like in control. Lowering his head a bit, he asked in the same lowered voice Aya had used. "But what if I want to?"
Closing his vibrant violet eyes, Aya whispered. "Then I wont let you." By now, he was more embracing than holding the dark-haired teen, though to everyone else, the difference was not visible. Crawford stiffened a bit at those words. Still keeping his eyes from being visible, he asked. "Why? Why won't you, Aya? I'm your enemy and nothing will change that, no matter how nicely you treat me."
The redhead didn't answer. Crawford clenched his fists, the tension returning into his body. "Answer damnit! Why should you care if I hurt myself or not, Abyssinian?!" He paused of a moment before hissing. "Let go of me! With my talent I'm maybe not very useful in battle as an adult and like this even less, but I won't just sit here and watch one of my freakin´ teammates DIE!" In his anger, he hadn't only returned to the use of his mother tongue, but also the words had gotten out a bit louder as planned, allowing the rest of Weiß to hear for the first time what they were speaking. "Damn!" Registering his mistake, Crawford pulled himself free from Aya's grip and, quickly bringing some distance between him and the redhead, glared hatefully at them.
What did he knew about them to tell him what to do? Nothing! Inwardly Crawford was shaken. That what Aya had done had hurt him much more than the short physical struggle with Yohji. The Oracle was well-acquainted with physical pain and mental hurting, coming from Rosenkreuz and being viewed as a freak for nearly his whole life, but that… Aya had sounded different. As if he cared. Crawford wasn't used to somebody caring about him. Not used to caring at all.
So, naturally, every gentle word and touch, -and that they were, doubtlessly,- felt to him like a direct hit into the face, hurting more than anything else. ´Why haven't I simply left already?´ Crawford had no answer for that simple question. He wanted to go, for sure. …did he?
"Crawford…He will die, won't he?"
Crawford arched an inquiring eyebrow at Omi's tentative question. "What do you mean by that?" Omi obviously didn't feel well under that look, when he continued, asking again. "Nagi – I mean Prodigy... He's going to die, don't he? You have seen it?"
For a long moment Crawford simply stared at him, his eyes wearing a blank expression. Just as Omi was about to give up to hope for an answer, the Oracle blinked, the expression in his eyes changing rapidly. For an fraction of a moment, the youngest member of Weiß thought that he saw something akin to care flash across his warm amber-brown eyes, but already in the next second, they were cold again, calculation orbs without any visible soul behind them.
Somehow, these cold, dead eyes were making him shiver, wanting to retreat. ´As if he's looking right into the innermost of my soul.´ Feeling that this wasn't the right time to give in to such unfounded urges, Omi held his ground against that stare. After what seemed to be half an eternity, Crawford stopped to size him up like that and turned to Aya instead. Meeting the redhead's eyes with an firm look, Crawford nodded briefly, never lowering his eyes.
"Yes, I have had a vision of his dead."
"Because of that you've sent Farfarello away instead of attacking."
Crawford blinked again, not really giving away any of his emotions. "Exactly."
Aya nodded in approval at that answer, seemingly understanding what the Oracle meant. "You care about him."
Yohji had to keep himself from laughing out loud at this question. The Oracle and care?! "About all of my team." Green eyes widened in surprise at that answer. None of the others seemed to be surprised at the natural tone Crawford had said this with. As if it was something matter of fact simple.
"Then you should go rescue him."
"First I have to wait for Farfarello to return."
"Aa."
Aya nodded with as much as a hint of approval, his and Crawford's eye contact having never been broken during the whole conversation. Yohji gaped wide-eyed at them. Did that mean that they were going to do nothing? Crawford had been leading them up the garden path the whole time and they were going to do nothing?! He couldn't believe Aya was going to do that.
He couldn't do other than to blurt out. "Hey! Wait a minute!" Four pairs of eyes turned at him, three questioning and one illegible.
Giving his team-members a disbelieving look, the tall blonde asked in an inquiring voice. "Excuse me, but the last time I checked that was Crawford we were speaking about. Crawford, minna! The leader of Schwarz!" Amber-brown eyes narrowed. Looking puzzled, Ken nodded slowly. "Yeah, so?" Yohji could just shake his head in open disbelieve.
"So?! The leader of Schwarz! Our enemies, remember? You can't simply let him go, don't you get it?!"
Ken shook his head again, this time more energetically. "Ie. I understand that. But you don't seem to understand. Yohji, we _have_ to let him go." "Huh?" To say that Yohji was nonplussed at that reply was an understatement. Gesturing with his hands in a way that was indicating with his slight embarrassment at suddenly having to play the advocate for somebody of Schwarz, Ken said. "Schwarz. He's a member of them. You said it yourself. They're his family, as much as Weiß is ours. We can't keep him from trying to help them if they're in danger."
This time Yohji couldn't keep himself from giving a snort in derision. "His family? Do you guys really think that-" "Such freaks could really have something as human as a family?"
Everyone froze at that calmly asked question, staring at Crawford. The black-haired American was still disturbingly calm, as if he wasn't concerned about this at all. "Brad…" Crawford noted slightly amused that the brunette was still using his Christian name. Next to him, Yohji growled.
"Not exactly what I wanted to say, but close enough."
Omi stared wide-eyed at his friend. "Yohji-kun!" He couldn't believe that he could be that spiteful. Before he could say anything more, Brad weaved his hand, cutting him off. He still seemed to be totally unaffected about the turning of this, no; even amused.
"Let him, Omi. It's not the first time I have to deal with such prejudices, nor is he totally wrong. Our bond to each other is not that strong that you could call it anything any more than resembling a loose fellowship."
"Still it is far more than any of us could be expecting to get." Heaving a little sigh more for effect than anything else, he studied Yohji with a slightly amused expression of an adult who had to deal with an stubborn, angry child. Yohji immediately disliked that expression. Maybe because it was a bit too justified for his own liking. Giving him an unreadable look, Crawford continued "But you don't understand that, do you? You don't want to understand. For you it's easy. You just have say a few sentences, and you're welcomed wherever you are. You can't understand how it feel to be chased through the streets or when people are throwing things after you, without you having done anything wrong to them. "
Now he was definitely amused. "Like you, none of us _wanted_ to become killers. But we are." For a moment angry green eyes met amber-brown ones, fighting a silent battle. Crawford won. After another moment of silence, Yohji lowered his eyes, mumbling "Gomen." Crawford shook his head, smirking. "For what? Certainly not just because you said the truth."
Turning, he gave Aya a firm glance. "I'll leave you now, Weiß." As he passed by Aya he added in a lowered voice. "As you see I've redirected my choice." With that he went to leave the room.
He didn't go far before he felt a familiar tingle at his mental shields.
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"Hey Farf! Are you sure he's here?"
Halting the car in front of the building, Schuldig gave the white-haired man on the passenger seat a doubtful look. Due to sheer dumb luck he had run into the psycho while checking on one of their substitute bases, or, like Schuldig had entitled them, one of their Rattenlöchern [1].
All he had got out of Farf was something of child-Crawford playing with little kittens and Nagi not being where he should. Not to tell that the nosy telepath had immediately teamed up with the Irishman on his search. Mumbling something what Schuldig assumed was a ´yes´ in his mother tongue, Farfarello started to climb out of the Germans red car.
"But-! Farf! That's the Weiß headquarter!"
"Shop."
"What?"
"It's a shop."
"Sheesh, Farf, I _know_ that it's a shop. Shop or base, that's Jacke wie Hose [2]! Its Weiß´!"
Seemingly confused, the albino stopped in front of the closed shop, regarding the locked door with a puzzled look. "Will you finally listen?!" Catching up with him, Schuldig glared at the albino, not caring if that it was totally fruitless with Farfarello or not. He didn't like to be ignored. ´Good thing that the shop's closed.´ Having Farf storming in there and wanting to play was the last thing he needed right now.
He decided to give it another try; though, it was hard to get something into the crazy Irish's skull if he didn't want it in there.
"Farf, that's Weiß. We're looking for the chibi and Crawfish." Farfarello nodded. "Yeah. He's inside." Clutching a hand to his aching head, Schuldig suppressed the involuntary urge to sigh and try to shake some sense into that crazy nutcase. ´A~lright. Let's try it with a different way.´
Lowering his hand, he stared directly into Farfarello's single amber eye, though he kept himself from trying to get the information simply from Farfarello's mind. He wasn't that desperate right now, although it wouldn't take long anymore.
"All right, once again from the beginning. You're saying that Crawford's inside there." Farfarello nodded. "With Weiß." Again a nod. "And he has sent you to go check on Nagi, but you found me." "Yes." "Then I have just one question…" The albino tilted his head in a questioning manner. "How the fucking heck did you get inside there?! The door's locked! Did you grow wings and flew over the wall or what?!"
Farfarello tilted his head a bit more, seemingly contemplating about what was upsetting his redhead companion that much. Schuldig gave him an exhausted look. "So?" "I broke the window." "Where?" "Garage." "And how did you get into the garage?" The redhead German sounded slightly annoyed by now. "By car."
"By car?! Farfie, I honestly doubt that they would ever let you park inside their garage, even if you'd ever learn how to drive!" Non the less he checked the mind patterns of the people inside the house. There were really five. Four he recognized as the members of Weiß and one was hooded, with mental walls thick enough that he'd nearly missed it.
Schuldig froze. He knew those walls! There was just one person strong enough to close his mind from him by sheer willpower. ´Crawford´. Starring disbelieving at Farfarello, he said dumbfounded. "You're right. He's there." Right at that moment the door behind him opened.
"Of course he's right."
Surprised by that answer, Schuldig whirled immediately around, expecting to see the tall American standing right behind him. There was nothing. Somebody cleared his throat. Schuldig looked down. And jumped back in surprise.
A not so good idea to do, like it seemed. Slipping on something on the ground, Schu lost his balance and landed rather graceless on his rear end.
"C-Crawford!!"
Right in front of him was standing nobody else than the stiff American, seemingly unperturbed about his unwanted funny interlude. Schuldig stared disbelieving at the person in front of him. That was definitely Crawford, no doubt ´bout that, but his shape! The American had kept his looks, but he seemed to be at approximately Nagi's age.
Instead of the stiff, tall man who towered even the German easily about an head, he was facing a slight, rather small looking teen with short black hair and some unruly bangs hanging into his unconcealed, amber-brown eyes. Schuldig blinked. Crawford wasn't wearing his glasses. Also, his eyes seemed…less narrow, a bit easier too read maybe, thought the American had never been easy to read, and it still was nearly impossible. The German honestly didn't knew how describe them; anyway, something seemed to have changed inside them.
"B-Braddy?!?"
´Great, really clever thing said there…´ Reaching out his mind, Schuldig carefully touched the boy in front of him. ´Crawford…?´ A slight smirk crept over the kid's mouth, obviously being amused at the Germans loss of words ´Höchstpersönlich.´ [3]
He bowed down, stretching a hand out to help him back up. "Do you want do sit more on your lazy ass, or will you come with us trying to get our fourth man back alive?" Standing up by himself, Schuldig shot him a puzzled look. Still smirking, Crawford reacted in his own, unique way by dropping his shields enough to let the mind reader see what he had seen in his vision. With a certain amusement he watched how all the color drained out of the redhead's face.
"Scheiße!"[4]
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Ken watched the reunion of the Schwarz members with mixed feelings. ´These are the guys I've though of as our worst enemies until now…´
"What should we do now, minna? If they're just playing that to us, than they can go and name themselves for the next Oscar awards, if you ask me."
Looking also irresolute himself, Omi nodded slowly. "They seem to mean it serious…"
Yohji snorted at that comment, but stayed silent beside of that.
Even Aya looked thoughtful, as far as the soccer player could tell.
"What should we do now, Aya?
…!
Aya!"
The redhead was heading directly at Schwarz!
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When Aya reached them, they seemed to be caught up in a rather heated discussion. Or rather, Crawford and Schuldig seemed that way. Farfarello was standing next to the car, directing his one-sided glance once to the one, then to the other of his team members. As soon as Aya had left the shop, it had fixed on a spot on his throat, reawakening rather unpleasant memories of a knife there, in the redhead.
"- No, I definitely won't let you drive and search for Nagi's mind pattern at the same time."
"And what do you want to do against it?! Kind am Steuer?![5] Every policeman in that fucking city will be after our asses! Or do you want to give Farfie a quick-course in steering a car?"
Their quarrel stopped as Aya reached them. Schuldig sucked in his breath with a hissing sound, but before the Schwarz redhead could do anything, Crawford stepped forward, bringing his own body between the two. He was all professional cool once again. "What do you want?"
Inclining his head in direction of the car, Aya asked. "You have problems?" "What should you ca-!" Schuldig was cut off by Crawford's answer. "Slight problems with the choice of the driver." Schuldig gaped wide-eyed at him. That wasn't going to take the way he was thinking it was going, was it?!
"Then I will drive you."
Schuldig nearly fell out of his shoes at that offer. `Tell me that that's no true…´ Right then, to his eternal shock, Crawford accepted Abyssinians offer. Before he could voice any protest, they had already climbed into the car, Aya on the driver seat while Crawford had settled on the passengers seat next to him. Squeezing himself next to Farfarello on the back seat, he whined. "But Crawford! You can't possibly -!" "I've already done it."
Green eyes narrowed in frustration. `But Braddy! You can't let him seriously-! He's Weiß! My poor baby…!´ Turning, the American shot him an equally annoyed glare, saying mentally. ´Shut up and start searching for Nagi! We don't have much time.´ The German clapped his mouth shut. He'd nearly forgotten the chibi. Concentrating, he opened his mind, searching for the feeling of the little telekinetic's thoughts. ´Brad…That doesn't looks good. Either he's unconscious or sleeping.´ ´Keep searching.´ Some moments passed. "Got him!"
"Tell the way."
"Yeah, yeah… shut up, you're not the leader here." None the less Schulding, started giving the Japanese redhead the directions until they arrived at a run-down building in the business area, which seemed to be old but still used.
When they left the car, Aya went with them in such a self-evident way that it seemed as if the redhead had planned on doing this the whole time.
Giving him a confused glance, Schuldig replaced the mental link between him and the remaining two members of Schwarz, sending to Crawford. ´You certainly owe me an explanation…. And a damn good one, that is!´
Like expected, Crawford didn't answer.
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Ken watched with mixed feelings as Aya vanished together with Schwarz. ´That couldn't have been planned, could it?´ What if Yohji had been right after all and Schwarz were now having their leader? No, he mustn't believe that! He had to trust Brad, right? He wouldn't do something like that.
Next to him, Yohji started moving. "Let's go!" "Huh?" "We're following them!" None of the remaining two members of Weiß had any objections with that, and they soon reached the building where Schwarz had left their car in front of.
Readying their weapons, they carefully entered. First they had no problems, seeing as Aya, Crawford, Schuldig and Farfarello had been taking the same way just a few minutes before. Their luck ended as they reached a locked door on the first floor, which was impossible to be broken open.
While Yohji was lowly cursing working on the lock and Omi helping him, Ken let the ray of his pocket light wander. Somehow, this building was giving him the creeps. The ray halted when it came to rest on a couple of white pants.
"Having a bit problems here, huh, kitties?"
Everyone turned his attention at the smirking redhead at that statement. "Schuldig?" ´What is he making here?´ Wasn't he supposed to be with Aya and the others? The person in front of them sniffed shortly and readied his gun.
"Allow me to solve your problem."
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End chapter 13
[1] Rathole – meant is a _really_ dilapidated, shabby apartment.
[2] ´it's as jacket as trouser´, literally translated. A pun, like, that's six of one and half a dozen of the other.
[3] in person
[4] Shit!
[5] child on the wheel? – another pun. Originally its ´woman's driving´, meaning that that just _can_ go wrong.^^*
Whee~sh! Finally done. Sorry that the chap's so long but a rabid Nagi fangirl made me not to stop before at least trying to save the chibi. ^_^* So, Naoe-chan, hope you´re happy now.^.^
About the Porsche…I didn't forget it. Delayed doesn't mean forgotten. *grins manically*
Great thanks for reviewing to: Blue6-Blood6J6, Snickerdoodle, Kyra, Blume, Sirogane, Shuo Ri, newtypewshadow, Naoe aka Ryuke-chan, S.Wing, Yami no Tenshi, Stuntcat, Inkino, PinkSpider, Yaoi King, P-Chanmisao and C.M Aeris Queen of Insanity. Wish you all a happy new year!^_^
PS: The next chapter will be more fun, promise!
PPS: Didn't I say to wait for the next chapter before killing me?!
PPPS: Review, bitte? ^.^