Part Eight
"Such stunned looks. And here I thought I'd be a sight for sore eyes." Her voice is true and smooth, full of confidence and ease as if she is merely making a friendly house call to the neighbors down the street. "Haha. I guess for you boys, your eyes are just a bit too sore to be soothed." Manx finishes, taking in the stunned looks of the five young men closing in around her.
She is dressed in the attire they know her so well for—a red suit and skirt with socks inside her heels—her hair in two large curls at either side of her face.
Placing a hand on her hip, Manx smiles to the many handsome faces of the boys she knows so well, and even to the one she has yet to meet in person. "So here you are…" she speaks softly, stepping forward to look Shioshiro over, who is standing beside Ken. Youji and Omi are next to them, but Ran hangs back, closer to the RV. "On video screen was one thing; in person you are the spitting image of your parents. Hard to believe, really."
"Hmph."
This derisive grunt has come from an obvious source, and all turn their attention to Ran, who maintains his usual look of disapproval.
"You too readily trust, Manx, even after the advice you have often given us. You barely even questioned his validity before sending us on that mission."
Manx turns from Shioshiro to focus her brilliant blues fully on Ran, stalking challengingly up to him. "Let's see…there is sufficient DNA evidence, the entirety of your crew believes him to be who he says he is, AND…he looks just like you. Yes, I definitely jumped to conclusions, didn't I?" A toss of her hair and Manx has turned away from Ran just as quickly as she stood her ground in front of him. Ran has nothing to say. "Tell me then, boys…" she begins, addressing the others. "…where do you plan to go from here? Persia is beside himself with all this cryptic nonsense. I find it rather exciting, but I don't pay the bills. If you want to continue to receive aid and resources from Kritiker you're going to have to let us in on your plans. What IS your plan exactly, young Shioshiro?"
Having stopped her graceful pacing in front of the brunette in question, Manx tilts her head in wait for an answer.
Shioshiro, of course, is well prepared to give her one.
"Just the usual." he grins, shrugging his shoulders. "Save the world, rescue those in distress, ensure love conquers all…" He trails off slightly at that, casting a pointed glance in Ran's direction. "…and…hopefully still exist when it's all over."
Manx cannot help returning the young brunette's grin—Shioshiro really does have an infectious charm—and Ken, Youji, and Omi mirror it as well.
"Although…" Shioshiro continues, "I'm sure you're more interested in the details, ne? As I've told your dear members of Weiss, our next target is Schwartz…indirectly."
"Indirectly?" Omi pipes in, eyes large though still surprisingly good at keeping certain things hidden. "You didn't say that before. What do you mean by 'indirectly'?"
Before Shioshiro can answer, Youji takes a small step forward. "Means you wanna make friends with 'em. Right?"
Most of the others' eyes widen significantly, though all for very different reasons.
Shioshiro lowers his gaze a little, mock shyly, and gives a soft laugh. "And here I thought I was so good about being ambiguous. Good summation, Yotan. It's not really that I think we can 'make friends', but Schwartz isn't our enemy. They could be, but…it's a little more complicated than black and white. Pun intended." he adds with a smirk.
Weiss does not really know what to say in being for or against Shioshiro's declaration. There are a few personal vendettas to be settled between certain members of Weiss and Schwartz, but that doesn't mean any of them really want any more trouble than they are already going to get.
After all, are the two groups really that different?
"I take it you know about Rosenkruez then?" inquires Manx, looking as if she expects an affirmative but still needs to ask the question.
"Yes. I know they must be dealt with, and I know it won't be easy."
"Estet's greatest agents protect Rosenkruez, its objectives, and its occupants. And most of those agents are far more powerful than Schwartz."
"I know that, too."
"And yet you have no fear for the mission you plan to undertake."
That half-believable, shy laugh of his echoes once again. "Oh, I'm scarred alright." Shioshiro admits. "But…I know what has to be done. Rosenkreuz isn't even the end of it. Truth be told, we won't be going after the entirety of it…yet. Only a few agents who will soon be having a run in with Schwartz."
All of Weiss hang on every word, though much of the subject matter is still focused on things they do not fully understand.
Manx, however, knows more than most might give her credit for. "Which agents?" she asks, aware of only a few of Rosenkruez's dark little secrets, but aware of enough to fear anything correlated to that place.
Shioshiro is clearly reluctant to reply because he knows she will definitely recognize the name that soon leaves his lips. "Farblos."
It certainly doesn't help Weiss' situation—at least in feeling confident in the mission to come—that Manz's gasp is painfully audible. "You must be joking. They are the most powerful, most deadly--"
"I'm aware. But we won't be facing them alone."
A briefly static silence before Ken can no longer keep quiet. "You're not saying Schwartz is gonna help us out, are ya?" he asks in an amusedly disbelieving voice. He peers around into his son's face for signs of deception, but where can deception hide in such vague details? Besides, he finds himself trusting his son as much as he trusts his teammates.
He wouldn't believe deception existed even if he found it.
"Schwartz will help." Shioshiro affirms. "They have just as much reason to fight Farblos as we do. Or at least…they will."
"Hmm…I suppose that's good enough for me." Manx says with a nod, turning suddenly back to her car. "We'll take care of transportation. You'll be needing plane tickets I imagine if you're going to get to…" she trails off purposefully, waiting for Shioshiro to finish for her.
He does. "Munich."
"Munich. See you boys later then. I'll be in touch." And she is back inside, soon speeding away before they can even form phrases to detain her.
"Well…" Youji begins after a significant pause. "…guess that's settled. I can't believe she came all the way out here just for five lousy minutes."
The others slowly turn their attention on Ken as a gentle rumbling of laughter begins tumbling out of him. Eventually, he can no longer keep his internal joke to himself. "Well, Youji, you should be used to it. Isn't that what your dates always come here for."
Shioshiro and Omi are lost to chuckles instantly, Ran characteristically rolls his violet eyes, and Youji—naturally—grimaces. "You know what, KenKen?" the playboy says overly sweetly. "Fuck off."
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"Fuck." Ken curses, kicking the flimsy door to his small closet as hard as he can without causing any lasting damage. Time to pack up for a brand new trip to Munich. As in Germany. Europe. Not anywhere near here. And he still hasn't sorted things out with Ran, despite Youji's promise that they will 'think of something'. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
"Ano…Ken-kun?"
The brunette's head snaps up from glaring at the floor to see that Omi is peeking his head inside the room. The younger boy's large blue eyes are questioning with worry. Typical, seeing as how Omi is always worrying for the others' sakes.
"When you're packed we're going to have dinner and sort out the mission, okay?" Omi informs his friend. After Ken's slight nod and very weak smile in reply to Omi's words, the young blonde takes a few more steps inside the room, gently shutting the door behind him. "You keep trying to act like you're your normal self, Ken-kun, but it's pretty obvious you're not really feeling that way. Is there anything I can do?"
Ken's smile forms quickly into a genuine one; he really can't help finding Omi's concern endearing. "If you know how to make Aya love me, it'd be a great start." he kids, running a hand through his mused, brown hair. Sauntering listlessly to the bed, Ken plops down on the edge and looks back at his friend with a shrug. "I'm fine. As fine as I'm gonna be. This is just a lot to deal with. I was kinda hoping when Hiro said we were going to get a few days off, we actually would. Guess it was just a figure of speech."
"Everything could still work out." Omi offers, full of endless optimism.
"Sure. Maybe."
"Listen to me, Ken-kun." Omi begins seriously, advancing on the bed but remaining standing in front of Ken. "Aya-kun is just being stubborn. Really. I don't know why, but he's lying when he says he doesn't return your feelings. I'm sure of it. I've caught him watching you sometimes, when he doesn't know anyone is looking."
This perks Ken's attention. "Really?" he asks hopefully.
Omi smiles. "Hontou ni. He blushes, too. It's easy to see since he's so pale. But he makes it go away so fast, no one else notices."
"But…then…then why is he being such a jackass? I'm holding my heart out to him and he just keeps throwing it to the ground and stomping the life out of it. What does he want from me?"
An expression almost too mature for Omi's youthful features appears on his face. "Maybe…he's afraid of what he wants."
For a moment, Ken and Omi's eyes meet and lock, and without a word spoken they understand just what the other is feeling.
Nothing more needs to be said.
"So…how do you feel about this Schwartz thing?" Ken asks with a smile, happily changing the subject as he gets up from the bed to finish his packing. "I mean…working with them. Making friends. Sounds pretty messed up, even with all the other messed up shit going on."
Omi doesn't say anything.
"I'd just as soon stab 'em in the back and run for it. I don't wanna have to fight those guys ever again if I can help it. That Farfarello still makes me queasy, especially when I remember…Ruth…"
"And Ouka." Omi adds in a melancholy tone.
How could Ken forget? "Yeah…"
"Ken-kun…I…I really want to believe they could become our friends, even as much as we…hate them. Everyone deserves the chance to start over, don't they?"
"Heh. In most cases I'd agree with you, but Schwartz? I don't trust them."
"Aa."
Ken turns from his packing to look back at Omi, discovering his friend too be a little too deep in thought for his liking. "Hey…don't start sounding like Aya on me. We're going to Munich. We're gonna face Schwartz whether we want to or not, and…who knows what'll happen. We just have to trust Hiro and…hope. Heh. Hope. Didn't think I believed in that anymore."
Lifting his slightly bent head to meet Ken's chocolate gaze, Omi attempts a smile and nods. "Hai, hai. Hope. Hope is a good thing Ken-kun. It'll all work out. Somehow."
Somehow.
"Yeah…I'm sure it will."
Somehow. Someway.
Everything happens for a reason.
"Dear God...please watch over Sally. I have felt Your love for the first time since I was born...because of her…"
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"That woman's blood lineage is all witches, one generation after another."
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"Sally told me everything, that Rosenkrus only seemed a facility for the supernaturally 'gifted', but actually houses brutality more gruesome than the concentration camps at Auschwitz."
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"Don't hit the malefici!"
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"Experimentation on innocent children, slain without mercy if deemed as failures?! How could you!?"
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"Damn you…Farfarello."
It is quite a peculiarity that birds can still sing in this world. That after facing death, after escaping the clutches of evil purer than any other on earth, one can still wake to their joyous song, as if there is still something to live for.
As if this world is still worth saving.
"Nnn...where...where am I?" the young woman mumbles groggily, her head pounding from the fatigue that had ensured her continued slumber for quite a few hours until now.
"You're awake?" The question comes from a figure to the woman's left, sounding young but aged by experience, very somber and gentle.
She turns her head towards the voice and slowly his form focuses. He is no older than 16, with brown hair falling into steel grey eyes. He is pale and frail in his striking beauty, but there is power that emanates from him like none the woman has ever felt from one so young. "Wh-Who are you?"
Young Naoe Nagi leans forward in his chair beside the woman's bed. Well, his bed to be honest. "Don't be frightened. You're in the Munich outskirts. Our base."
"Base? I...but how…wha…what happened to him?"
"You mean Farfarello? After he brought you here he collapsed. He had five bullet wounds in his back."
"Then...he's…"
The door to the woman's right suddenly swings open, a man with long sunset-colored hair and sharp blue eyes sauntering inside. He walks with attitude; he is sexual prowess.
Schuldig.
The German lets out a whistle. "Pretty lil' thing. Where'd Farfarello steal ya from?"
The woman sits up in the bed. She is indeed quite lovely. Truly Aryan in appearance, her long blonde hair falls in gentle waves down her back and her eyes match Schuldig's for everything but their cruelty. "Is he...is he still alive?" she asks, almost desperate in her hope that Farfarello lives.
A new voice answers her question, coming from across the room where a third man stands in the darkened corner. The woman had not noticed him. "He's the kind that if you kill him, he still won't die." Brad Crawford speaks simply, forever cool, calm, and perfectly collected. Unless you piss him off. "More to the point, who are you? What do you have to do with Farfarello?"
The woman doesn't know what to say. After the day from hell, she has woken up in a world of even more confusion. "I only met him last night, but…I felt like I'd known him from long ago..."
"Are you also...a psychic?" Nagi inquires, perched on the edge of his seat in semblance of a child's eagerness, though jaded because it is him, and he never knew childhood.
The woman hesitates, but believes she must be in relatively good company. "...yes. My name is Sally Schumars. I…I don't know what powers I have…but they exist. I was…in this place that wanted to use me for my powers. There's…there's a laboratory for supernatural talents in the Austrian Alps--"
"Rosenkreuz!?!" Schuldig exclaims, eyes wide. "You ran away from there!? Hey, then that means Farfarello was fighting...Farblos?! Shit, he's crazier than I thought."
Sally looks in shock at Schuldig. "But...how do you…?"
"We all once lived in Rosenkreuz." Nagi explains matter-of-factly.
Sally is stunned now into silence. She now has a better idea of just what type of people she is dealing with. Powerful people. People with reason to stay in hiding.
"This is unfortunate." Brad states, pushing from his place against the far wall and walking forward with an aura Sally does not particularly like. "Colonel Amlisch's clairvoyance will lead him straight here."
"Fuck that!" Schuldig responds, holding up his hands as if in defense of some unseen force. "There's no way we can stand up to them."
Nagi tilts his head, interested, but not necessarily afraid. "I don't know much about them. Are the people in Farblos really that strong?"
Crossing his arms, Brad stands just at the foot of the bed. Nagi is still in his chair. Schudig remains across from him on the other side. And Sally sits overwhelmed in the bed, surrounded by them all. "Colonel Karn Amlisch, former commander of an Indian special forces unit, is their leader." Brad begins, all too serious. "Both of the Colonel's eyes have been blind from birth, but his talent for clairvoyance allows him to 'see' anything that happens on the planet. Moreover, he can create illusions. In both military and psychic matters, he is an extremely dangerous man. His right hand is Sergei Prahanov, a military man from the Ukraine. His psycho-barrier has proved unbreakable against all forces thrown against it so far."
"There's one more." Schuldig pipes in, a strange little smile managing to break into his unrest. "Silvia Lin. She grew up in the slums of Hong Kong. Got some lethal bitch-slaps as a master of not only Kung Fu and other Chinese martial arts but telekinesis, too. She's also pretty damn incredible in another field..."
"Another field?" Nagi asks curiously.
Schuldig makes a point of deliberately coughing loudly to signal it should be understood what he means without putting it into specifics. "Anyway, that Weiss bunch can't compare to them. To them, even our powers are just spit in the wind." he finishes.
"You understand well, gentlemen."
Four heads whip to the still open door, discovering the imposing figure of Colonel Amlisch. He is smug in his green uniform, hat pulled down low on his head, believing he has won even without a fight.
Schuldig holds back a cold sweat, Nagi tenses in his chair, Sally bites her lip to keep from crying out, but Brad manages to maintain perfect poise. "It's been a while." he says conversationally.
Amlisch steps into the room. His eerily closed eyes are unnerving, knowing he can see better than most without them open, though not at all normally. "Crawford, I have no interest in your group. Simply hand over the malefici and there will be no reason for trouble between us. We will be waiting outside."
We? Sally for one certainly knows that the other two members of Farblos would not have been left behind.
"Malefici...isn't that...a witch?" Nagi asks once Amlisch has left, looking to Sally with curious critique.
She visibly swallows but nods her head to the looks of the others. "Yes. My mother and grandmother were called that all their lives."
Nagi's eyes gain a small bit of life, almost like tenderness. He leans slightly over the bed. "I see. You were always discriminated against and persecuted because of what you are. Like us…"
Schuldig snorts; he is not one for sentiment, and Nagi shrinks back, more however from Brad's disapproving glare than the redhead's mocking.
"What do we do?" Schudig asks, ignoring everyone but Brad since he is the only one Shuldig would ever take an order form.
"It's nothing we need to think about." the American explains simply. He then turns coldly to stare down at Sally in the bed. "You will return to Rosenkreuz."
"No!" To everyone's surprise this exclaim has not come from Sally but from Nagi, suddenly up on his feet to disregard his 'father's' proclamation. "She can't! We can't make her go back there! Farfarello risked his life to bring her here!"
Brad's look is withering as he approaches his uncharacteristically unruly 'son'. "To Farfarello a woman is just a toy to rip into pieces." he says firmly, and then turns to Sally again with a look that could almost be considered sympathy. Almost. "It'll be much safer for you if you return to Rosenkreuz. Believe me."
"You're lying!" Sally cries, shaking her head in dissention. "Farfarello...he's...I don't think he's the kind of person you're making him out to be at all!"
"Heh." Schuldig laughs darkly, raising a thin, orange eyebrow. "At first glance you can tell Farfarello's that kind of person."
"There is no room for argument." Brad breaks in, not inclined to discuss this any further. He pushes roughly passed Nagi on the left side of the bed and grabs Sally's arm, successfully pulling her up onto her feet. "Come on."
He pulls her by the arm out the door, Schuldig and Nagi both scrambling to follow after them. In no time at all, they are outside their base—what appears from the outside as only a small home far from the constraints of civilization.
Still holding Sally by the arm, Brad approaches the waiting members of Farblos. "Hold your fire. We offer no resistance."
Coming up next to Brad, Schuldig's attention focuses immediately on the lone woman of Farblos, Silvia Lin. His grin turns carnal. "Heya, Silvia. You're still lookin' fine in that Chinese dress."
Silvia, chin-length, black hair perfect and shimmering, tilts her head in amusement, black eyes staring back at the German who dares to talk to her on such familiar terms. "Oh, Schuldig, I forgot you'd be here. Well, have you gotten any better at making a woman happy?"
Schuldig quickly represses his anger, his pride only marginally hurt. "Heh, thanks to you, yeah."
Her voice taking on a much more seductive tone, Silvia returns her attention to Brad. "Mmm, Crawford. How many years has it been now since we stayed in that lodge in Switzerland, just the two of us?"
If Brad does indeed remember, his expression veils it well.
"What?!" Schuldig cries in Brad's face, a strange combination of hurt, betrayal, and the irony of it all playing over his features. "Shit, you slept with Silvia, too?!"
"Colonel Amlisch, we will give you back the woman." Brad speaks, ignoring the irate redhead next to him. Roughly, he shoves Sally towards them, seeing no need to be gentle when he knows where they will be taking her.
"I...I don't want this." Sally says with tears stingy at the corners of her eyes, struggling to get of the hold of the third member of Farblos, Sergei, who caught her easily when Brad let her go. "If I'm made to cooperate with Rosenkreuz, I'd rather die!"
"Don't worry, beautiful, I'll make you want to die as much as ya want!" Sergei whispers loudly in her ear before forcefully shoving her towards their waiting jeep. "Now get movin'!"
Sally cries out as she falls hard to the ground, panic coursing through her at the thought of going back to that cruel place, that prison where those with gifts are used for plots she would never dream of aiding. "Please! Please don't take me back there! Let me go!!"
The sound of breaking glass is their only warning before Farfarello comes careening through a window of the base, screaming wildly as he comes to land hard on top of Sergei.
"You idiot, what are you doing?!" Schuldig screams at the enraged albino.
Young Nagi steps from having remained hidden at the entrance to the base, at last seeing some reason for him to participate.
Sergei and Farfarello continue to struggle on the ground for the upper hand, Sally lies in the dirt, stunned, and Amlisch and Silvia are not looking none to happy with the rest of Schwartz.
Although Schuldig certainly does not like how things are turning out, he knows where his allegiances lie. "Well, guess we better help him out, right Naggles? Bradley?"
The others nod.
"You fools!" Amlisch calls out, rushing with Silvia to the jeep to collect their weapons.
"Well, you know what they say…" Schuldig begins, reaching into his coat for his own weapon. "If we're all fools together…"
"We may as well dance." finishes another voice.
Oddly enough, it is NOT one Schuldig was expecting.
Schuldig, Nagi, and Brad all turn to the source of this voice, and for all of any of the present psychics' powers, no one could have predicted the sight before them now, or that a certain playboy would finish a certain telepath's thought.
"Weiss?!"
A/N:
This is long overdue and for that I am very sorry. I have been excessively busy, though I have no excuse since I wrote a Saiyuki fic over Thanksgiving Break. To make up for my tardiness, I am going to try and have another chapter up this weekend.
elishaann: hehehehe. You're on to something, honey. :-)
Me-Nuriko: doesn't the time stuff mess with your head? it's best not to try and sort it out. :-) As for your theory, I have a feeling you might be right if you're thinking what I imagine you are. :-)
M-chan: I do the whole 'violets' and 'emeralds' thing on purpose actually. Though quickedit still makes me scream. ;-)
And thanks to everyone shirking exams to read my fic. It makes me so proud.
I'll do my best to get up another part in the next few days, k? Love you all!
Crim