Yoji had never really thought about what kind of sounds deer made. If he'd had been to guess, he would have said they just remain quiet. The doe on the bed, however, was far from quiet. It/she whimpered and even made sounds that resembled barking. It would have been fascinating if he had not been obliged to hold back Aya from ripping Schuldig apart.

"Let me GO!" Aya snarled and tried sink his claws into whatever part of Yoji he could reach. Again. Yoji certainly wanted to avoid that because, man, cat's claws really hurt!

"I can't, Aya. You pretty well know that," Yoji said or better tried to say as his muzzle was filled with Aya's neck fur.

But Aya did not want to hear of that. He was dangling his feet in the air and acted like he wanted to use Yoji as a scratching post. Yoji felt the rising urge to just shake some sense into the stupid feline until it stopped moving. It would be so easy. One fast jerk would easy break...

Yoji gasped and recoiled from what he nearly had done. Aya landed on all fours and immediately turned against Schuldig. He hissed and lowered his back to jump at the fox. Suddenly a white shadow moved in front of him.

"Fool!" Farfarello had lifted himself to his hind legs and bared his teeth. He was not really taller than Aya, nevertheless he looked more...intimidating. Aya could be pretty frightening when he was in a mood, but that one-eyed menace was a different kind of story. Who ever was attacked by it would not only be injured, he was in danger of loosing a body part even if the ferret would have to gnaw it off.

"Out of the way!" Aya hissed again, but backed off a bit. Farfarello shook his head.

"You endanger both of them, if you disturb Schuldig in his work." The ferrets gaze flickered to the doe whose legs were twitching as if she was running very fast. Another whimper left her nuzzle. Farfarello smiled. At least Yoji thought he did. 'Grinned madly' was another expression that came to his mind.

"We are born into this world through blood and pain. Do you think a rebirth will be any different? You have bathed yourself in blood. You should know better. Now keep quiet and wait for Schuldig to finish his work."

To say Aya looked puzzled would have been the understatement of the century. He seemed to be frozen to the spot not moving a hair on his back. Yoji felt the urge to sniff and snuffle him and perhaps lick him to tell him everything would be all right. The greyhound shook his head so his ears flapped against his head.

'I need some sleep, something to eat and a smoke. Not necessarily in that order.'

Suddenly Aya's pose changed. The cat seemed to relax and sat down drawing his paws under his body. He closed his eyes and started to...purr? Yoji blinked and let out his breath he hadn't noticed he was holding in. This was a good sign, wasn't it? If Aya was content with waiting so would be Yoji. Thus, Yoji sat down and lowered himself on his belly as well. He put his head on his front paws and peered up to the bed. All this mind reading, future seeing, moving things just by a thought kind of things were far beyond his horizon. If he had been honest, he would have liked to bark and run around to release some of his tension. But as this would have been humiliating, he limited himself to waving his tail a bit. It made things a little easier.

'In and out. In and out.' Aya controlled his breath and felt the vibrations of his own purring run through his body. It was oddly soothing like a kind of meditation. The waves of an ocean of calmness washing away some of his fear and anger. His heart started to beat slower and his muscles relaxed a bit. He still felt strung up, but it was bearable if he concentrated on the rhythm of the purring. 'In and out. In and out.'

The purring could not stop his thoughts from running around, though. Under the urge to hurt Schuldig for hurting his sister there was a steady undercurrent of worry and fear, fueled by Farfarello's accusations. What, if Schuldig really did it. If this telepath could really wake Aya up. He had always hoped it would happen and that he would be able to keep her away from Weiß and everything related to it. But now this would be impossible. She would wake up right in the middle of his messed-up, blood soaked life and would inevitably be drawn into it. The image was more disturbing than he liked to admit. She was still so pure, so innocent. It was not right...

"He's coming." Farfarello's husky voice shook Aya out of his meditative state.

He jumped up and stared at the bed. His tail went straight into the air and his whiskers stretched forward and vibrated. The movements of his sister had stopped completely. She looked like she had over the last two years. Silent and beautiful, but static and lifeless like a picture or a statue. He opened his muzzle and a strange noise, almost a yowl, escaped his throat. Was this really it? Would she come back? Would all his waiting come to an end now?

Her eyelids started to flutter and then...then...they opened!

Aya felt his heart stop for a moment before leaping back to beat doubletime. This were not his sister's eyes and yet they were it. It was like he was seeing through her outer appearance and looked into her face as it used to be. Aya was alive!

"Aya!"

He called out to her, before he had thought about it. The doe startled and sprang to her feet with a squawking noise. She almost keeled over, but quickly regained her balance. Her lanky legs were shaking a bit, but she stood her ground and lifted her head. When their eyes met, she smiled at him.

"Ran."

This single word was more than enough. He crossed the distance between them and was suddenly faced with a very odd problem. He wanted to close her into his arms and tell her that everything would be alright. But first of all he did not have any arms and second, she was taller than him. Much taller.

"Aya...I..." He searched for words, but there weren't any in his mind, only a blank space with droplets of red on it that looked like a ferret's foot prints.

Aya came closer and sniffed at him.

"Is that really you, Ran?" Her big eyes filled with tears. "I...I thought you dead for so long."

He really wanted to say something. Tell her, that he was sorry. Wipe her tears away and...

"Seeing Aya speechless was more than worth the whole transformation thing." Aya blinked. He knew that voice. Yoji!

The greyhound made himself visible and bowed to the doe. "My name is Yoji. I'm...a friend of Ay...your brother. I'm glad that red-furred bastard was able to bring you back."

"Red-furred...?" The doe shook one of her big ears while staring at the dog. Then understanding changed her features to worry. "Schuldig!" She turned around to the fox still sleeping on the bed. He snarled and snapped and...opened his eyes. He jumped up and shook his head.

"That must have been the oddest mind trip I have ever had." He paused and scratched himself behind the ears. "On the second thought, maybe not. At least you inner world made some sense."

Schuldig leaped down from the bed and shot the mismatched pair a look.

"You owe me one, Aya, " he said with a smirk leaving it open who he meant by that.

Aya's sister blinked and looked around. "This is so strange. One moment I was running through a forest, the next I wake up to be an animal. A doe! This cannot be real. Am I still dreaming?"

"You're not, princess," Schuldig replied before Aya could react. "I told your we were turned into animals. See, I did not lie. I never do."

Yoji snorted and Farfarello's face seemed to be on the amused side of dangerous until he raised his head and listened.

"There's someone coming," he informed them. "At least three or four. The head nurse with them. Should I take them out?"

Schuldig shook his head. "Not necessary. I guess, a silent alarm was set, when our sleeping beauty rose from her bed. We should take a French leave unless cat boy wants to have a bit of a hanky-panky with grumpy cat."

"Watch your mouth," Aya growled and looked in Aya's direction. She still seemed to be a bit confused, but able to walk and follow them. As much as he wanted to let her stay here longer and get used to the sudden change he just couldn't. He had to get her away from here as soon as possible. And on the way he had to keep Schuldig away from her as far as possible.

Farfarello grinned at him, apparently amused by his concern. "Don't worry, she's fine. I'm a predator. I would know if she was weak or injured."

His grin widened to something more dangerous. A flash of understanding crossed Aya's mind. He knew this state Farfarello was in. He sometimes reached it within a fight, concentrating only on movement, speed, sharp blades and finding the opening in an opponent's defense. It surprised him that Farfarello was still that functional.

Schuldig made a disapproving sound resembling a hoarse bark. "Hurry now, no time for idle chit-chat. We will have to use the stairs and our Bambi here will have some trouble with that."

The entered the hall and reached the stairs just in time. As the door closed that could here the nagging voice of the head nurse.

"They must be in here I told you, these punks meant.."

The closing door swallowed her words leaving them in the echoing stair way. Aya wanted to run as fast as possible, but Schuldig had been right about his sister having trouble with the steps. The doe carefully took one of them after the other.

"Hurry up, princess, or they'll catch you and cut you up just to see what's inside of you." Schuldig sounded annoyed and angry.

"Don't talk to her"; Aya growled and added a hiss for good measure. "And stop calling her princess."

"Oh, what should I call her then? Aya? Could be a little confusing, don't you think?" the fox sneered. "Or should I start calling you Ran? From the oafish look on your dog companion's face I can tell that none of your friends knows you by that name either? Really. Who takes his sister's name to go out and murder people?"

"Ran?" Aya had stopped climbing down the stairs, her eyes dilated with surprise and a hint of fear. She looked from Schuldig to him and back again.

"What is he talking about?"

Aya felt the urge to tear Schuldig's throat out here and now. He swallowed and took a deep breath. "Later," he answered. "When we're safe we will...talk."

She remained motionless, only watching him with those big, brown eyes. Finally, after what seemed like hours to him, she nodded. "Ok, brother. I trust you. Both of you. Now let's get out of here."

She went past him, leaving Aya confused. Did she just say she trusted Schuldig? What happened to make this catastrophe possible? What had Schuldig done?

They left the hospital through a side entrance and headed out into the night. It had to be long past midnight, the streets were quiet, only the streetlights leaving an evidence of the civilization that had fled Tokyo earlier the night before. Aya wondered, how many people had already lost their human consciousness. He himself felt it harder and harder to concentrate on the mission. Instead he wanted to curl up somewhere warm and groom himself thoroughly after a couple of hours of sleep. Some food would be nice too. Fish maybe or...

"Stay tuned, kitty-cat." Schuldig's eyes glowered in the dark of the alley the had just entered. "If I loose you, I'll loose her and with her my chance to get back to normal. So don't get any ideers."

He flashed Aya a grin and caught up to Farfarello who had already reached the end of the street. The secured the passage and hurried on. Aya and his sister followed them leaving Yoji to be the last of the group. It felt oddly right.

"They're here."

The badger who had remained silent most of the time, opened his eyes and stood. His striped head was turned to the entrance. Omi sighed in relief.

"It's about time. We have just finished the last adjustments on the drones. Everything clear up there, Nagi?"

He looked at ceiling where the little bat had to be hanging somewhere in the dark. When Nagi had woken up, he had eaten more than twice his own weight and had afterwards declared that he was out of this mission for good. His promise had lasted until they had started making plans how to spread the antidote. He had swooped down, landed on the back rest of Dr. Nishimura's chair and told them that they were all stupid and how he would do it. Now an army of altered drones was sitting on every surface of the lab, each of them equipped with a small container and a spray device. Omi had just finished programming the last of them.

"Don't talk to me," the darkness responded, but Omi imagined it to be a little less hostile than before. He hid a smile and turned to Ken.

"Dr. Nishimura is still making some preparations for the antidote. Maybe you should get the door. The other dogs might get a little excited when the others arrive."

Ken jumped up. "Right. I'll get them to sit and beg."

The shepherd dog went up the stairs. Omi glanced at Crawford. The leader of Schwarz had not contributed very much to their plan, only made one or two suggestions concerning the routes of the drones. He seemed to be quiet sure that this would work out right. But Omi wondered...what would it be like afterwards? Would they return to trying to kill each other every time they met? He cleared his throat to say something, but Crawford had obviously anticipated his question.

"No," he said and looked Omi straight in the face. "There will be no cooperation between Schwarz and Weiß after this episode is over."

"But..." Omi searched for words. "We have worked together, combined our forces. How can we go back to killing each other?"

Crawford's smirk was as unnerving as his casual voice or the amusement in his eyes. "We had never planned to kill you. If we had you would not be here."

Omi was completely at a loss. He set down and started nibbling his front paws. One of his claws had splintered when he had been working on the drones and he wanted to get rid of that distraction. In an odd way Crawford's words made sense, but they also crept him out. He almost felt the connection they had made fade and brake. It was like watching paper boats on a torrential river. At first it was a marvelous sight, but all too soon the water soddened the proud fleet and after a few more whirls of water nothing was left. It made Omi sad in a way it should not have.

Steps on the stairs saved him from thinking more about it. There still was the problem at hand to solve. He hopped next to Crawford and set on his hind legs.

At first, Farfarello and Schuldig entered the room. The fox looked a little tired, but his voice was as loud and pungent as ever.

"Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome the savior of the day, the awaker of the princess, the breaker of the spell, the ..."

"Oh shut up already!" Yoji woofed behind him. "Awaker isn't even a word."

"What a ruff response!" Schuldig grinned. "Has someone made a dog' s ear in your favorite hair style magazine? That's really dograding."

Yoji growled some more, but was cut of by Aya entering the room. The Abyssinian cat hissed at both of them and to Omi's surprise Schuldig and Yoji retreated and made way for another animal. A doe slowly entered the room and looked around with wide eyes. When she spotted Omi he smiled at her.

"You must be Aya's sister. Welcome Aya-chan."

The doe nodded at him, apparently not quiet sure what to think of all this.

Schuldig set next to her and grinned. "We hadn't quiet figured out the name problem," he drawled. "But here comes our rabbit friend and immediately hops to the solution. That's really bunny."

Omi opened his mouth, but Yoji only shook his head. "Don't even try. He's been punning around since we took off. I guess only a nuclear missile could bring an end to it and even that's uncertain."

Schuldig wiggled his brows suggestively. "You could try a silver bullet. Maybe that works. Anyway, how come you are not surprised we bring the whole girl and not only her blood."

"Crawford told us," Omi answered and noticed with satisfaction that this had an impact on the smug fox. He looked really baffled.

"What? He never...why did you tell them?"

"It made things easier to prepare." The badger's smooth response seemed to fuel Schuldig's irritation even more.

"If you knew, that I would wake her up, why did you not tell me about it."

The badger just looked at Schuldig and Omi imagined the surface of his glasses reflect the light making them opaque and hiding his eyes. It did not work so well without the actual glasses on, though.

"You know it does not work that way."

Schuldig growled, but remained silent after that. Even if he had wanted to add something, he would have been cut of by Dr. Nishimura's entrance. When she saw Aya's sister, she did not waste time, took the required blood sample and headed off to prepare the antidote. Time was becoming a crucial factor now. The sooner they turned back, the lesser effects would stay after the re-transformation.

Omi stifled a yawn and hopped towards his friends.

"Not very much longer and we will be back to our normal selves."

"Yeah, that will be great. I really crave seeing my actual face and so do the Ladies." Yoji grinned and nudged Ken with his front paw. "I guess you will miss being able to run so fast, won't you?"

Ken laughed and sneezed. "I'm not sure. I have a feeling that I might be allergic to dogs. Getting rid of all this fur sounds good to me. What about you, Aya?"

Both, the cat and the doe, looked at Ken, who seemed to blush and then turn pale under said fur. "I...I'm sorry. I'll have to get used to calling him...what? Ran?"

The doe's eyes grew a little wider. "Oh, please, I don't want to cause any inconveniences. I guess, we can find a way..."

"It's ok, Aya", Aya/Ran interrupted her. "We'll sort that out later. We still need to talk about what happened when you were gone. Perhaps the name problem will be solved after that talk as well."

Aya's sister smiled and nodded, but Omi knew what Aya meant by that. He did not think his sister would stay with them after hearing what her brother had done. He really hoped that Aya was wrong. He really hoped for it.

"Gentleman, your antidote is ready."

Dr. Nishimura held out a small container. A greenish liquid swirled around in it and made Omi raise his ears. This was it.. This would transform them back to real humans. He felt relief wash over him and something more. Something like...hope. He spared Crawford a glance but the badger's face was unreadable.

'So, this is it' he thought and closed his eyes. He heard Dr. Nishimura open the vial and a strange smell filled the room. It was the last thing Omi noticed before loosing his consciousness.

Music: One night in Bangkok - Murray Head