A Sense of Dark

Chapter Two

by PenguinKye

I thought I'd die when Schu got stabbed. Catching a Schu projection is like feeling what he feels for two, and then playing it over on high volume. I didn't want to be stabbed at all, but being stabbed on projection was horrible. Luckily I passed out before I could make any obvious noises, and I woke up before someone tripped on me. I had to guess that it was Fujimiya who had stabbed Schu, because no one else could have caught him. How Fujimiya'd done it was mystery enough. Anyway, assuming it was Fujimiya, I didn't want to attract too much attention from the other Flower Babies. Not, at least, until I could see.

I fumbled around until I found my tree, and leaned on it. Crawford was gonna be really angry about this. Schu'd been off-kilter for a while (probably drinking), but getting stabbed was beyond off-kilter. I wondered if Crawford was conscious, and if Schu was alive. I couldn't feel him touching my mind anymore. After the projection, when I was halfway to the ground, the connection had cut out. That meant he was either out cold or corpse cold.

I hoped he wasn't dead. I liked Schu.

There was a noise nearby, a crunch of listless snow and the muted crackle of long-dead leaves. It was a familiar step, but I was ready to move even as I spoke. You can't be too careful when your life revolves around death.

"Farf?" I whispered. The crackles stopped, wary. "Nagi," I said. "'s Nagi." The crackles started.

"Took him," said Farf, sounding angry, and I relaxed. He crouched down beside me and began to finger the straps on his pants. 'Took him'? Which one? Farf had been nearer to Schu than Crawford, according to the plan, and he didn't really like Crawford enough to get angry about abduction. And Schu was the stabbed one. Had to be Schu.

"Alive?" I asked. Farf would know, if anyone would, whether someone were alive or dead.

"Yes. Made noises," said Farf. He bared his teeth. "I want to kill them." And they want to kill us, I thought, imagining what they would do if they could get their hands on….Schu. The kid's sister, the boss's daughter, all in all not a good person for them to have killed. I thought of golf clubs. I thought of Weiß and their wires and katana and arrows and claws, and of cutting slicing blood all over. (Not that there wasn't normally.)

Poor Schu. And Crawford would be so angry on top of it.

"Crawford?" I asked.

"Huh," said Farf, like that was the least of it. And it probably was, for Farf. As he saw it, Crawford was just an organized way to kill people. Farf could still kill without him. He liked me, and he liked Schu very much, but Crawford was just a presence for him. You couldn't make Farf talk about things he didn't care about; if he didn't care about it, why should he talk about it? You could only talk to him about what he liked. So I did.

"Crawford will help," I said. "We'll go get Schu." Farf looked at me.

"Or I'll kill him, too," he said, meaning Crawford. There were many days when this wasn't what he'd have said. Why did he have to be in one of his bad moods?

"All right," I said. "Have you seen him?" Farf rose and began to walk away. Yes? I thought, and stood up to follow him.

Crawford, as it turned out, was some three hundred meters away, rubbing his shoulder and looking stormy.

"Why didn't that little fool hear them coming?" he snapped at himself, pacing. "What kind of telepath can't hear someone fifteen feet away? And what did he mean by shouting at me like that? If I have a headache tomorrow…"

"Crawford," I said. He stopped pacing, though his hand, now on his temple, kept drawing furious little lines.

"Yes, Nagi? Must you say something?" No, I thought. I must refrain from kicking you and Farf.

"We have to find him," I said.

"Do we?" said Crawford. "He practically deserves them and all of their torments for that projection of his." His hand moved back to his vicarious shoulder and he scowled. I stared at him patiently. He didn't mean it, though Farf, growling in the background, might have thought he did. Soon he would remember it, would realize that he was lying and was sorry about his lie.

Only a few seconds passed before Crawford dropped his hand and said, "I know, I know. We do have to retrieve him. I'm simply troubled-- he ought to have heard them coming. And I can't think what about Weiß would panic him so much. No, no, we'll fetch him free of them. Farfarello, I suppose you saw which direction they were going?" Farf pointed. Out of town, into the near hills.

"Good," said Crawford. "Nagi, you know Weiß inside out. Anything in that direction that you can think for them to go?" I nodded.

"A cabin," I said. "Called Villa White." A horrible name, but at least the Weiß had a theme. How they afforded the place on flower money I didn't know. Name aside, it was at least appropriate. Tsukiyono (or Takatori—whichever) was anal about files. He kept them like mad. The nice thing about being a good telekinetic was that I could move information as easily as people, and as soon as Weiß's records were updated, so were ours. So from what I knew from Tsukiyono (my stupidest and most helpful informant) was that the last time they'd been at their cabin, Weiß had used it to permanently clean the clocks of four murderers who were interrogating and threatening the life of one of their friends. Hm. That seemed oddly familiar.

"You can direct me?" I nodded again.

"Then let's go," he said. He strode into the trees, and Farf and I followed close.

I hope he's alive, I thought. Beside me, Farf gave a predatory shiver and reached down to caress one of his knives. I thought what Farf would do to Weiß compared to what Weiß would do to Schu, and decided I'd rather be Schu.

The cabin was recognizable from Tsukiyono's notes alone. If I hadn't wanted him dead, I would have been almost nearly a little impressed on his precision, even if he was a girly boy and an idiot.

Crawford touched the door.

"Locked," he said. "Nagi?" I felt inside the lock, learned its shape and its wants, and nudged. There was a click, and Crawford nodded shortly. "Good," he said, and pushed the door open. It made no noise. Equally noiseless, we slipped into the cabin to find our Schu and our prey. There was no one where we walked in, only silly bits of 'rustic' furniture and unlit lamps.

"Where's the basement?" whispered Crawford. "We need to be there." I didn't know. I held up a finger. Wait. I could move files from one computer to another, and so could I move them from my computer to my head. Wake up, stupid, I told my computer. It growled at me and stretched away. Files, Weiß Imports, where, where, where, there! I looked at Tsukiyono's very helpful blueprint. Smart enough to have it on file, but stupid enough to have it on file. It was for the good of mankind, I thought, that he be killed. The stupid were only useful up to a point.

"This way," I said, and led the way to the basement, where we were supposed to be. I opened the door softly, and light broke through the crack. Beneath us, I heard the not-quite-familiar voices of Weiß, and Weiß only.

"Go on, Nagi," said Crawford, and pushed me into motion.

"Kill them," breathed Farf into my ear.

I began down the steps, silent as Schwarz always was when it needed to be. Schwarz, who would be not much of Schwarz with only three.

I really hoped that Schu was alive.

Notes: Come on, peeps. I know you're reading it. So leave me some reviewwwwws. resorts to begging As much as I know I'll post even if NO ONE leaves even ONE WORD, I would be so much happier if you did. ;;