You have no idea how much it freaked me out (and made me really happy!) to get all of your reviews. When I checked online a few hours after posting my story and found that there were SEVEN REVIEWS I was starting to get nervous. I mean, seven reviews in one day is great, but I hadn't written the next chapter yet. When there weren't any reviews for the next few hours I was like "whoot!" I don't need to freak out. I told my friend about the number of reviews, and she said I was cheating because I had asked you for them. I told her I still got seven reviews, so there. My good mood lasted until I checked my email again and realized I now had nine reviews. Then I really started freaking out. I was searching around in a panic, trying to find the sticky note where I had written the plot points I needed to go through in the next chapter. It was stuck to the left-hand corner of the computer screen and I, being the smart person that I am, was searching the floor. So, by no less a miracle than my friend (the one that told me I was cheating) walking in and saying "hey, loony bin person, you looking for that neon green thing stuck to your computer?" I bring you the next chapter.

Sorry for the delay, I blame it on the sticky notes!

Enjoy.

Aya slammed his hand into the wall of the compartment a few doors away from where he had left Yohji. He was furious at himself. Furious and confused and disgusted with himself for showing that much weakness in front of anyone, much less Yohji. He hadn't meant to show any emotion, just to warn Yohji and then get out of the compartment before the feelings and memories overwhelmed him. He'd thought he had been doing pretty well at keeping control of his emotions—at least until Yohji had said "we'll protect you". It took more then Aya knew he had to keep from breaking down right then. There was no way he was going to slice himself open so Yohji could take a look at what made him tick, even if he had felt a brief flash of warmth at the words.

He moved to pull his hand away from the wall only to realize it was snagged in the dent his fist hand made when it hit. After a silent struggle it came loose and Aya ran his fingers over the side of his hand, already feeling the bruise forming.

The phone rang and Aya nearly jumped out of his skin in startlement. He sent a mental scolding to his heart telling it to stop beating so fast. His heartbeat didn't slow down in the least as he walked over to the end table and roughly jerked the phone out of its holder.

He didn't say hello. He didn't say anything for that matter, just waited for the person on the other line to start talking. The quality of the silence made him uneasy and he was all ready to slam the phone back into the cradle when the voice started talking.

Aya missed the first few sentences because his hearing failed him. He knees failed him too and he only missed meeting the floor head first because of the bloodless grip he hand on the end table. Even as Aya tried to stop himself from manifesting his panic physically he felt his breathing change into sharp, distressed pants.

This couldn't be happening. Not now, not after he had just relieved this voice in his head, the memory clear and knifing.

"…away from me? I hope you're prepared to pay with precious coin for the few years you bought when you escaped, Red. Don't think you're going to get away this time.."

Aya didn't know if the sentences continued or not. He dropped the phone on the floor and pressed shaking fingers onto the hang up button. A few words from Phelan could turn him into this? A shaking puddle of nerves and fears? What was he going to do when he actually had to face the man again?

Aya pressed his back against the wall and wrapped his arms tightly around his stomach. He winced and let up as the wound in his side protested, then hugged himself harder. As his legs gave way and he sunk slowly to the floor he could feel the train shuddering around him begin to slow.

Omi sipped his hot chocolate out of a coffee mug he found in the 'kitchen' section of the train. The drink was a little too hot and he kept burning the roof of his mouth ever time he took a sip, but he didn't stop drinking. If he looked completely absorbed in his drink maybe no one who ask him to deal with whatever was going on.

It had only been a small while ago that Yohji had returned from wherever he had gone. He'd walked in, mumbled a hello to everyone—he'd even mumbled a very reluctant hello to Nagi and Farfarello—then promptly dropped himself on the floor in from of Schuldich and stared at the still unconscious man in intense, determined silence. Any attempts at asking him what was going on were either ignored or met with a desperately pissed off stare.

Omi took another sip of his drink, wincing when this time he burned his tongue, and turned his gaze to Farfarello, who was sitting quietly on the floor tossing a paperweight back and forth in his hands. The man made him nervous, despite the fact that he hadn't done anything insane or violent or anything like he usually did when Weiss and Schwartz met up. It made Omi wonder if the man was still being effected by the drugs, which inevitably led to him wondering if Yohji was still be effected too and if that explained his strange behavior.

Omi started as the couch depressed a bit next to him and almost made him spill his drink. He looked to his left to see Ken sitting down next to him, a slightly sheepish smile on his face as he apologized for startling him. Ken seemed to be taking all of this weirdness in stride. It was obvious he wasn't really concerned about Schwartz attacking them. He even seemed to be enjoying helping them. Omi sighed and shook his head; now that Ken had decided to protect Schwartz he would do so with everything he had in him. Ken was just too generous a soul sometimes. Omi didn't believe working with Schwartz would turn out quite as well as Ken seemed to think it would.

"What was the sigh for?" asked Ken.

"Do we really want to protect them?" replied Omi with a question of his own. He wasn't watching Ken as he spoke, instead trailing his eyes along the unconscious Schuldich and Nagi, who was curled up by Schuldich's head and fast asleep. "I mean, I know we're going to, I told Aya we would, but I just can't see this working." Weiss and Schwartz working together. Even if he was willing to do it Omi doubted Schwartz would be on board with the idea.

"We're going to have to try. Aya…Aya's been acting so weird since this started," mumbled Ken. Omi didn't know if he realized or not hat he'd gone off topic, but he didn't blame him for it. Aya was acting weird. He was advocating working with the people who had kidnapped his sister, and then there was this whole deal with the Shiro Kaze and the shinkonsen…

"Aya's scared," said Yohji.

Omi jerked at the sound of Yohji's loud voice breaking the silence, sloshing the liquid around in his cup. He hissed when the hot chocolate spilled onto his lap and seeped through his cloths onto his skin. He set the mug down on the end table and stood up to grab some napkins to clean up the spill. When he spoke it was more harshly than he intended as he said, "What do you mean?"

Yohji ignored him, reaching up to press his fingers onto his temple and rub at the spot above his left eye.

"Yohji, what-" Omi felt it then. A pressure in his head like someone was pressing on his brain. It wasn't painful, but a little more pressure and it would be.

Schuldich moved on the couch, groaning and twitching as he jerk his hands about and twisted his body around. Omi reached for a weapon so he could be prepared if Schuldich woke up in a less then friendly mood, but found he couldn't move his hand. He tried his other hand, but that, too, wouldn't do what he wanted. It was as if his commands just died somewhere between his head and his hands. He turned wide eyes on Ken to see the man in the same condition that he was, frozen in place on the couch, unable to move. Something hit the floor to Omi's right and he looked over to see Farfarello's paperweight on the floor next to him, his hands frozen as if he had been in the middle of tossing it. Omi wasn't sure if Nagi was frozen or not since he still looked fast asleep.

Yohji did seem to have the same problem. He was up off the floor and holding on to Schuldich in seconds. Schuldich eyes flew open at his touch and he jerk away, only to give a gasping scream at the movement. Omi watched helplessly as Schuldich flung himself off of the couch and landed on the floor with Yohji.

"Get the hell away from me!" screeched Schuldich.

In an amazing feat of flexibility Yohji twisted up off the floor and slammed Schuldich into the couch. He had his right left arm up against Schuldich's exposed neck and his left holding tightly onto Schuldich's right wrist. The movement forced Yohji to press into Schuldich's ribs and Schuldich screamed.

Omi could suddenly move again, but all he could do was collapse to the floor as his knees gave out from under him. He saw Ken topple over onto his side and heard another thump to his right that assumed was either Farfarello or Nagi.

"Get…away…" panted Schuldich. His head was tipped back against the couch, baring his throat to Yohji and his body was limp and unmoving.

Yohji didn't really seem bothered by any of it; he still wore the same intense, determined expression that he had when he'd walked into the room. He sighed and said, "Look, Aya told me-"

"I don't care what that damn katzchen said," Schuldich cut in. His voice was rough and shaky, but loud enough that Omi could hear him clearly. "Just get the hell away from me."

"Damnit Schuldich…" Yohji faced screwed up in a frown of concentration. Omi could almost see the metaphorical wheels turning in his head. "Do you know Crawford got kidnapped?"

There was a full heartbeat of silence before Schuldich bucked in place, trying to shove Yohji away with his feet. Yohji simply shifted until he was sitting on Schuldich's legs and pushed himself further into the man. Schuldich subsided in a pained gasp.

"You want to rescue Crawford, right?" said Yohji.

Schuldich snarled back at him, "Yes!"

"Then listen to me!" yelled Yohji. "You're acting like Omi on four tubs of ice-cream!"

Everyone stared at Yohji incredulously for a few seconds, Omi trying to decide if he should be insulted or not. Then Schuldich stared choking. Yohji pulled away from him, looking worried and Omi was finally able to push himself up off the floor. Schuldich was making this disturbing gasping sound that sounded a lot like…

Schuldich was laughing.

"Are you high?" Yohji asked in a completely serious voice, as if he really wanted to know the answer.

Omi didn't hear Schuldich's reply because the door opened behind him. He looked over his shoulder expecting to see Aya and was surprised to find a little old lady dressed in forest green standing in the doorway. It was only then that Omi realized that somewhere between Schuldich waking up and now the train had stopped.

"Welcome," she said in a sweet, alto voice that somehow sounded ominus, "to the Consortium."

"Who the hell are you?" snarled Yohji. Omi looked back at him, surprised by the amount of animosity in Yohji's voice. Yohji looked angry and…protective.

"Mari?"

The woman, Mari, spun around on the spot. Omi could see Aya walking through the neighboring compartment. He looked pale, paler than normal that is, and was walking slowly. Omi blinked in shock when the little old woman bounded over to him and basically glomped Aya. Omi wasn't sure if he was surprised by the actual glop, or the fact that Aya seemed almost happy about it. He shivered from the weirdness of it.

"Oh, Red! It's so good to see you again." She let go of Aya to look back at them. "Come on, all of you, we need to get you to your rooms. The meeting's being held in a few days." When no one jumped up at her demand she raised an eyebrow in impatience. "Well? Come on. Up," she commanded.

Aya was the first one to shuffle out the door, Farfarello close behind. Mari ushered Ken and Nagi out the door next and Schuldich and Yohji followed. Yohji supported Schuldich, who protested the help between groans of pain. Surprisingly neither of them seemed to upset about the arrangement. Though Omi supposed that might be because they were still discussing the benefits of 'being high'. Omi tried harder to bock them out after he heard them say 'sex' for the second time.

Omi hesitated before stepping off the train. He felt a sense of foreboding, a feeling he would sometimes get before a mission went terribly wrong. It made him want to pull out his darts and he was reaching for them before he realized he didn't have any.

So it was, vulnerable, weaponless, and anxious, that Omi stepped out into a huge, cavernous hallway filled with old, flame-lit English lamps.

I was going to write more to this chapter when my muse whapped we on the back of the head with a wooden spoon and told me I was insane. If I wanted to kill my fingers writing more drivel it was fine with her, but she was going to bed.

I decided that the pillows were calling to me, too.

YAWN

9:43 PM

03/18/07