Searing pain. Lost memories of recent times. Heartache. Once he returned to full health, he would seek revenge on the one who did this to him. The one who altered him and his powers.

M12: Manifest

"Aya!" Bang, bang, bang! "Aya, open the door!" Omi and Nagi were outside the Kitty in the House. It was dark even with the streetlights, and quiet save for Nagi's panicked actions. Suddenly the door unlocked and opened. Aya Fujimiya, little sister to the lead member of Weiß, peered out at them from behind it.

"Nagi-kun?" she asked. Then her eyes met Omi's and she went rigid. "Bombay?" she gasped. Nagi stormed into the store and pulled Omi in behind him. Omi stumbled onto the floor.

"Omi-kun!" A girl with brown hair flung herself at him and pulled him upright. Her name came to Omi when he looked her in the eyes.

"Sak…Sakura-chan?" Sakura came forward quickly and threw her arms around Omi. Omi looked at Nagi warily, but Nagi was busy being scolded by Aya. They had a heated exchange for a few moments in a language that Omi didn't know. He looked to Sakura, who was starting to mother him: brushing through his hair with her fingers, and asking him questions such as had he eaten dinner and was he cold from being outside.

"I'm…I'm fine, Sakura-chan…" Omi said. Nagi coldly turned away from Aya. He and Omi made eye contact. "Why did you bring me here?" Omi asked.

"It's the safest place for us," Nagi said. "They won't think to look for us here. There's no reason for me to have brought you here to them." Sakura ushered Omi into a chair and smoothed her hands across his shoulders.

"Ran-chan was so worried about you," she said. "We were all worried about you." Her eyes had saddened, but she was smiling. "I'm glad you're all right."

"I… Thank you." Sakura turned to the others.

"We should go downstairs, just in case. There was an awful lot of noise just now, and someone might come looking to see what happened." Aya nodded. She pulled her night shawl further across her chest as she walked towards them. She gave Omi a look of displeasure upon approaching the door.

"You can…have your old room," she said. Omi wasn't positive he wanted it, with the unwelcome vibe she was giving him. He stood. Nagi followed close behind him and they approached the stairs.

The spiral staircase was cramped and made Omi feel claustrophobic. It was not familiar to him at all, and neither was the room they entered. Aya turned on the overhead light and kept her back to them as Nagi led Omi to a couch.

By the stairs, Sakura asked, "Would anyone like some tea?" Aya inched her body to her and nodded. Nagi and Omi refused. Sakura smiled briefly and left the room. His anxiety feeding off of the tension in the room, Omi put a hand to his stomach.

"We shouldn't have left the way we did," he said. "And I hurt that guy…"

"Are you worried about him?" Nagi asked. "Schuldig tortured you when he had you, Omi." His dark blues irises were flashing with anger.

"I…I know…" Omi said. "I know, but… Still. I don't want them to retaliate on my friends because of what I did."

"They won't. They won't go back there anymore."

"Well, why not?" Omi asked.

"Because you aren't there anymore." Omi shook his head slightly.

"That guy…that guy wants us all dead," he said. "Of course he'll still go there. It's not just me he's torturing, it's them too. And if they find out that we're here… It'll be Aya-chan and Sakura-chan, too."

"You see?" Aya said, coming forward in an angered haunch. "He understands. He understands that you should have kept away from here." Nagi faced her, his expression taut.

"So you won't help me protect him?" Aya faltered. "You told me I was always welcome here, Aya. You told me that and I believed you."

"I wasn't lying, Nagi."

"Then why are you so upset?"

"It would be fine if it was just you, but I don't need you bringing trouble here!"

"He's not trouble, he's my boyfriend!" Nagi said. Aya straightened. In a repressed tone, she began to explain something to Nagi in the other language again. Omi looked between them as they exchanged words. Then Nagi took his hand and squeezed it with his last words, as if finalizing something. Aya was scowling at him, and Omi understood her feelings exactly.

"I'll agree for one reason, and that is… And that is because Ran cares for him deeply. I…I can't bear to see Ran hurt and I…won't be the reason why he's hurt ever again." Nagi swallowed and nodded.

"I understand. We'll…we'll stay down here, then." Aya gave them a despondent glance up and down as she sat down on the other couch. Nagi's hand was cold and clammy. Omi felt scared sitting there next to him. He wanted to know what was going on. Why did Nagi bring him to the old flower shop? How did Aya and Nagi know each other? Why didn't he remember this place very well? He'd thought that just about everything important had come back to him. Nagi turned to him and Omi jumped. Nagi's smile was faint.

"I…missed you so much, Omi…" Nagi reached over and kissed Omi on the side of the mouth. Omi tried as hard as he could not to act disgusted. He had once thought he had feelings for Nagi, but in an instant, they had gone. He couldn't love someone who could inflict such pain on a defenseless living being. He realized that no matter what, no one mattered more to him than the three members of Weiß and he had nearly sacrificed them for Nagi.

Sakura returned with tea, but she sensed the tense mood and didn't say much. She fixed Nagi a wet towel and Nagi cleaned his face. Aya was still visibly upset and Omi felt tired from having stayed up long past his bedtime. He couldn't hold back a yawn.

"If you're tired, why don't you go to sleep?" Nagi asked. "The room is just through there."

"What…are you going to do?" Omi asked.

"I'd like to talk with Aya-chan more." Omi nodded. He wanted to do that, too. Instead, he got up from the couch. He glanced nervously at Aya and Sakura.

"Goodnight, Omi," Sakura said. "Sweet dreams."

"Thanks. Goodnight." Quietly, he walked into the room. He turned on the light as he closed the door and looked around. So this was his old room? he pondered. There was nothing familiar about it, but he had the sense that a lot was different from the last time he'd seen it. He quietly searched the room for something electronic he could manipulate, but the room was pretty much bare. There was no way he could get in touch with Weiß. He would have to wait, probably until morning, and act while Nagi was asleep. He settled on the bed in the farther corner of the room and sank heavily into the mattress. The sheets were cold and they were black. Black sheets. Omi closed his eyes and faced the door, thinking of one thing only as he drifted off quickly.

Black sheets…

Ken was sitting on his room floor tightly holding onto a soccer ball as Yohji lounged on his bed. In the living room, Aya was still shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs. The entire room was trashed and no matter what Yohji and Ken did, Aya couldn't be stopped. Ken couldn't take anymore of it. Not only did he not know what had happened with Omi, but Aya was completely off the deep end. Ken looked over to Yohji, who was flipping through a sports magazine.

"What are we going to do, Yohji," Ken asked with conviction. "We can't just sit around like this. Omi might be in danger."

"As usual, you've got it all wrong," Yohji said. "We can just sit around like this. We're doing it now, see? And there's no question about it. Omi's in danger big time."

"Then let's do something!" Yohji raised an eyebrow.

"Don't raise your voice at me," he said. "Until Aya calms down, there's nothing for us to do."

"We can plan," Ken said. He gripped the ball tighter. "Damnit! If only I wasn't so weak. Omi would… Omi would…"

"There's no telling what would have happened if you were stronger, Ken. Omi is strong too, but he still managed to get kidnapped."

"He…he didn't have to get on that bike. He could have killed Nagi sitting behind him like that. There has to be a reason why he didn't." Ken steamed about it. "He's not in control of himself. That Schuldig, he's controlling him," he said, pointing for emphasis.

"Let's not forget that Schuldig's kinda incapacitated right now, thanks to Omi," Yohji said. "If Omi was under Schuldig's control, he never would have gotten that poison into him and he never would have let Nagi take him on his bike." Ken perked.

"That's it," he said. "Yohji, that's it."

"What's it?"

"The bike. We can track Omi down by the GPS on his bike." Excited, Ken got up quickly.

"Hey. Aren't you forgetting something?" Yohji asked.

"What?"

"The last time Aya saw us, he flung a vase at our heads and barely missed. You really wanna go out there?"

"I have an idea." Ken went to the door with Yohji on his heels. Taking a deep breath, Ken wrenched open the door and sailed past the living room to the kitchen, exclaiming, "I know where Omi is!" as he zoomed by Aya. Aya's entire body straightened and he whipped towards Ken, but Ken was already out of sight. Aya charged into the kitchen and caught Ken at the sink. He turned him around and pressed him against the counter.

"Where is he?!" Aya shrieked. "Tell me!"

"We need your car," Ken said. "We can pick him up, right now." Aya's entire body was shaking though he was starting to relax. He took a while to digest the words Ken had spoken.

"The car," he said slowly. Yohji looked cautiously around the refrigerator at them.

"We should go Aya," Yohji said. Ken nodded, trying to hide the fact that he was scared. The crazed look in Aya's eyes had gone, so he felt better, but Aya was still squeezing him so hard, his arms were losing blood.

"The car. Right…" Aya swallowed hard. "We've got to hurry. Get your weapons." He let Ken go and started for the back door. Yohji still had his watch from earlier, and plenty of string leftover. Ken retrieved his glove and met them at Aya's car. Aya's arms were tightly gripping the wheel and he faced Ken eagerly as he got into the front seat. It wasn't a good kind of eager. Ken was scared of what would happen if the tracking system somehow didn't work. Since the car was started, he immediately punched in Omi's identification numbers and then leaned back. Soon, a small map popped up on the screen and a red dot showed up where Omi's bike was. Aya understood and started the car, and then he abruptly stopped. Yohji slid off the back seat.

"Aya?" Ken asked. Aya's eyes were burning through the screen and the steering wheel creaked under the pressure of his fists.

"Shit."

"What is it?" Yohji asked. Aya shut off the car.

"He's… He's at the shop. We can't lead them there." Aya slowly looked up at the street.

"Lead them?" Yohji asked. "Like they can follow us. Schuldig was half-unconscious when Crawford left with him, they aren't in any position to follow us, Aya."

"We just can't," Aya said.

"What's our next step, then, Aya?" Ken asked. Aya reached over and grabbed Ken by the nape. Frightened, Ken tensed, but it didn't hurt. He relaxed as Aya shook him gently.

"I need some time," he said. "Just…leave me alone for a while." Aya got out of the car and closed the door. Yohji and Ken watched as he walked into the house.

"He left his keys…" Yohji said. He looked over to Ken. "I'm going to…suggest we do something really stupid."

"What's that? Go and get Omi back, anyway?"

"No." Yohji climbed into the driver's seat. "First we're going to pick up something to eat. Then, we're going to hunt them down."

"Huh? Who, Omi?"

"I just told you no, Ken," Yohji said, starting the car. "Schwarz."

"Oh—eh! We can't do that, Yohji! It's too dangerous and Omi and Aya and the girls are counting on us!"

"We have to strike them when they're down, Ken," Yohji said. "This is the best time… it's all up to us." Ken chewed on his bottom lip. "Now let's go get some chow." Yohji started the car and pulled out onto the street.

"I can't eat right now," Ken said. "I'm…freaking out again."

"You've got to learn how to handle stress better, Ken-Ken." Ken gave him an odd look.

"Don't call me that," he said. "Only Omi can call me that." Yohji chuckled at him.

"Speaking of Omi, how do you think he'd feel if he knew you haven't had any dinner?" Ken looked conflicted, then he nodded with certainty.

"All right, I'll do it," he said. Yohji chuckled at him.

"This is why I love rolling with you, Ken," he said. Ken thought it was too tense a situation for him to be laughing, but hearing that from Yohji made him feel better, some how. He sat back and let Yohji drive without nagging him.

Please review,

kaj