Ha! Another chapter finished. Thanks for all your reviews.
I'm going to sleep now.
Enjoy.
Aya was never one to be startled. Never one to rush into a room without knowing what was going on. But when he hear the muffled slam as something hit the floor in the compartment where he had left Yohji and Schuldich he didn't think about what he would have usually done. He was in motion, spinning around, pushing open the compartment door, before he could think.
The tension in the room hit him like a wave of hot sand. Harsh, desperate breathing and chocked, gasping whimpers filled the compartment. Aya stood stunned at the sight of Schuldich pinning Yohji to the floor, one hand gripping Yohji's neck so tightly that his knuckles were turning white and bloodless. Yohji's hands weakly pushed at Schuldich, but had no effect on the other man. His lips were slowly turning blue.
Aya felt a hand and a shoulder shove him into a wall as Farfarello barreled past him. He reached out and caught himself before he hit the door, but winced as the sudden movement jarred his side. The ache from the healing wound in his side intensified becoming too painful to ignore successfully.
Aya looked up in time to see Farfarello pull Schuldich off of Yohji and toss him lightly onto the couch. Yohji lay there on the floor for a second, just breathing, then he jack-knifed up off the floor and scrambled to his feet.
"The..the hell…" he panted in a chocked, raspy voice. One of Yohji's hands reached up to touch lightly, and after a wince of pain, rub at his neck. His other hand was clenched into a tight fist at his side as he stared at Schuldich.
Schuldich himself was crumpled on the couch, clutching at his chest and moaning pitifully. On a groan he opened his pain filled eyes to the room. When he saw Yohji he reached a hand out, straining towards Yohji with a desperate expression twisting his features.
Yohji jerked back from the man, a confused, angry expression barely covering the scared look Aya could see in his eyes. Then Yohji did something Aya never would have expected of him. Yohji always jumped into any situation headfirst, weather that situation was angry or awkward or completely unknown to him. But now Yohji fled, pushing past Aya and into the next compartment.
Aya's first instinct was to follow him. He was almost through the door after Yohji when a pitiful, desperate, almost inhuman noise stopped him. He looked over his shoulder to see Schuldich curled in on himself, trembling. Farfarello was crouched in front of him, using his hands to stop Schuldich from harming his ribs further, but his eyes were all for Aya.
"Follow him," said Farfarello in an emotionless voice.
"Is this supposed to happen?" asked Aya, careful to keep his emotional turmoil out of his voice. "For Yohji being his…anchor, I mean."
"Schu's fighting it," replied Farfarello, as if that explained everything. "I'm surprised your Balinese isn't."
A frown crept onto Aya's face. Yohji wasn't fighting? But he was the one that had fought so hard against joining up with Schwartz. If anyone was going to be fighting this it should be Yohji. Maybe the drugs from before were still effecting him. Maybe…Aya had no idea what the other maybes there might be, but he was getting more worried by the second.
"Follow him," Farfarello repeated.
Aya left to do just that.
Crawford's scream was sweet music to Sybil's ear. The first shot into his leg hadn't induced more than a grunt. It had just grazed his outer thigh, planned to cause more pain then injury. When that shot hadn't gotten the response she was looking for she had taken another, and another. She was careful to aim all her shots so they would elicit the most pain, without being fatal. Sybil was at the fourth shot before she got the full-bodied scream she had wanted.
"What do you think now, Crawfish? Do you think you can get away from me as easily as you did last time? I'll make you suffer before you die, and then I'll send pictures of your mangled body to Sora and make her weep," Sybil hissed. She laughed in glee at the very thought of brining pain to the two people she hated most.
"Sora will kill you," whispered Crawford. The weakness in his voice caused Sybil to grin.
"Oh, but you'll be just as dead. And thanks to you I'll be dead soon anyway. Phelan is starting to notice."
"Notice what? That you can't see the future anymore?" Sybil could see the malevolent satisfaction in Crawford's eyes.
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Sybil yelled. She picked up the gun and fired another shot into his leg, not caring if she wounded him too seriously. "It's all your fault. You and that bitch! My master's going to kill me and it's all your fault! I'll kill you for this!"
For a second Sybil thought that the shot that echoed off the walls of the room was the one she had just made. She thought it was her shot, killing Crawford, as she pointed the gun at his heart.
She knew differently when warm blood started to spill down her chest. She collapsed to the floor, numb to the pain, but aware she was dying. She saw the leader of the team that had been hired to assassinate the two Schwartz standing over her, a smoking gun in his hand.
"Don't think you can escape," she hissed, speaking only to Crawford. "Phelan is going to kill you for evading him. You and Red are going to pay for escaping before." She started laughing. It caused her shocking, mind-numbing pain but she couldn't seem to stop herself. "Red is going to pay. I wouldn't want to be him…Phelan was angry…so angry. He won't let him escape…this time. Die. You're all going…to die."
Sybil chocked on her last breath, and was dead before her head hit the ground.
Yuri shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Of all the calls he had to make to set up the meeting this was the one he dreaded the most. Of all the people who had to come to the meeting, this was the one person he would have gladly left out.
"He has to come," Sora had told him when he had called her earlier. "He is the Consul now; if we really do have a breach we're going to need him."
"But Red…" he protested.
"We'll do all we can to protect him, you know that. And he has his own team now."
"You think they can actually survive getting involved with the Consortium?"
"They're going to have to. Look, Yuri, I would call Phelan myself but..."
"But you need to get on a plane in order to get here in time. I know. I'll call him."
"Thank you. Try to keep him away from Red until I get there."
"I will."
Maybe it would have been better for Sora to call Phelan, even though it would delay her arrival. If Yuri had to listen too much more of Phelan's self-centered complaining he was going to do something he wouldn't regret.
"What do I care if The Shiro Kaze has been compromised? It's Sora's building, let her deal with it," Phelan said in an idle, mocking tone.
Yuri shifted in his seat again, glad that Phelan wasn't able to see his irritated fidgeting. "It's more your problem than hers. You're the main enforcer for the Consortium, it's your job to stop any leaks."
"I can do that without going to a useless meeting," Phelan snapped.
"We have people coming in to give us information on the situation. Everyone is coming to the meeting."
"What people? Murata was the only one at The Shiro Kaze and he's out investigating the Agano deaths."
Yuri shifted again in the chair and cursed himself silently for getting trapped in the line of conversation. He really, really didn't want to tell Phelan, but he couldn't lie to him, and avoiding the question would be too obvious.
"Crawford got captured there."
"So?" Phelan replied, so quickly that it made Yuri suspicious. "That probably has nothing to do with the Consortium. He's made his fair share of enemies since he left."
Yuri frowned, wondering how Phelan knew that, but decided to forgo further questions. He had to get off the phone with Phelan before he started screaming. If Phelan already knew about Crawford, and it sounded like he did, then knew about Red as well.
"Red's coming in with his and Crawford's teams to give a report."
Phelan sudden inhale told Yuri that he hadn't know about Red. Yuri was still berating himself for his slip when he heard the 'click' as Phelan hung up the phone.
"Dammit!" he cursed. Yuri slammed his fist down hard onto his desk.
"Sir?"
He looked up to see his secretary standing unperturbed at the door. The once gorgeous woman had grown elegant and refined with age. Fine creases lined her face and her snow white hair covered her head in a short, curly mop. Her presence alone calmed him somewhat.
"It's nothing, Mari. Red and his friends should be arriving soon. Would you be able to meet them and get them settled in?"
"Of course," she said kindly. "It will be nice to see the young one again."
"Yes, it will," mumbled Yuri as his secretary shut the door. "I just hope seeing him again doesn't get him killed."
Nagi's wrist was itching when he woke up. He picked up his uninjured hand and tried to scratch at his wrist through the cast.
"Nagi, don't do that." Omi's small, pale hands grabbed Nagi's and pulled it away from his cast.
Nagi looked up and stared at Omi. He narrowed his eyes, staring past Omi's shoulder into nothing, and tried to remember what the vague panic he still felt meant. His memory was blurry and confusing and he couldn't really remember what had been happening before he had fallen unconscious. He had been yelling…
"Schuldich!"
"Whoa! Hey, calm down." Nagi felt hands pushing him back onto the couch as he tried frantically to get up. "It's okay! Nagi, it's okay. Calm down, your going to hurt yourself."
"Schuldich," Nagi gasped again. He stopped fighting as he began to feel the aches and bruises his body had accumulated over that last day.
"He's in the other room. Farf's watching him," said Omi.
"Watching him? Schuldich…" Nagi tried again to get up, curling his casted wrist around his stomach and using his other hand to push himself up.
"Alrighty then."
Nagi was suddenly lifted up off the couch. He felt one arm holding him under his knees, the other curled around his back just below his shoulder blades. He turned his head to see someone's tanned chest covered in a green and white soccer jersey. Nagi tilted his chin up to see Ken staring down at him.
"Well?" Ken challenged. "It was either this or watch you hurt yourself."
Nagi just stared at him, not quite sure what to say.
Ken grinned and then turned to take Nagi over to the door. Omi opened the door in front of them and Ken turned sideways to carry Nagi through. Even though Nagi wanted to question this unusual helpfulness, he didn't, because as soon as they were through the door he saw Schuldich.
He was laying flat on his back, breathing in shallow controlled breaths. His chest was taped to support his ribs, but from the lined, hollowed features on his face it wasn't helping much with the pain. Farfarello sat cross-legged on the floor toying with one of his knives.
As Ken carried him over to Schuldich Nagi was surprised at the minimal amount of tension in the room. Everyone should be at each other's throats, but they weren't. He supposed Schuldich being unconscious, and the lack of the two eldest of Weiss, might have something to do with it. The lack of tension was actually…nice.
Nagi was gently set down on the open space of the couch right above Schuldich's head. He reached forward and ran his fingers through the vermillion hair, listening absently to Ken and Omi's conversation.
"Where are Yohji and Aya?" asked Omi. Nagi noticed that he kept his voice soft.
"In another compartment. I caught Aya on his way after Yohji. I guess the thing with Schuldich really freaked Yohji out." Ken wore a puzzled frown as he talked.
"Do you know where we're going?"
"No," answered Ken. "But Aya said we'll be there in a couple of hours."
And it's off to write the next chapter. Please review and return.
Oh! Props to Thalia's review; I had to read it a couple of times before I got it, and then I started laughing and couldn't stop.
For those of you who want more Aya, don't worry. He's got more than his fair share of angst and injury headed his way.
Ta!
02/12/07
12:11 AM