Breakdown

Chapter 22: Prodigy

Nagi had no doubts that he wouldn't be getting to sleep that evening. He was certain of it when he climbed into Schuldig's car with Farfarello after they'd been called off the mission by Crawford. It was obvious that the German was furious, which was a rarity after a mission because usually Schuldig delighted in passing the time by loudly recounting the events of the mission and how he had tormented Weiss or killed the target. But this mission had obviously gone differently, because this was not the same Schuldig. This Schuldig was disturbingly silent, which led Nagi to believe that he was inwardly fuming, and a quiet Schuldig was far more dangerous and unpredictable than the usual loud, mischievous one.

Nagi figured that he'd have to try and get the details of what had happened from Farfarello once they'd arrived back at the safe house, which would be an interesting task considering truth and fantasy were often interchangeable with the Irishman. The teen would have to pick and choose what to believe from the story.

Sometimes Nagi really hated the missions where he didn't get to participate in the fighting. It always made him feel left out of the loop, this time especially. Apparently he had missed something really juicy back there.

Nagi peered out of the corner of his eye at the German as he sat in the passenger seat of his car, wondering what was going on in the redhead's mind. Sadly, telekinesis wasn't helpful in this case; neither were his hacking skills. It seemed that he'd just have to let his genius mind form its own hypotheses.

And then Farfarello spoke up from the backseat, shedding some light on the situation. "Crawford was sure gone a long time, right Schu? I wonder what he was doin'." Nagi heard the leather on Schuldig's steering wheel creak as his hands tightened on it, giving him a starting point for his hypothesis. Clearly Schuldig was angry with their leader again.

Farfarello grinned from his seat, staring at Schuldig's reflection in the rearview mirror. "Didn't see the red kitty all night. Maybe Crawford was playin' with 'im," he said thoughtfully, and Nagi's breath hitched in his throat as Schuldig's teeth clenched and he suddenly stepped on the gas, beginning to weave recklessly between cars. He heard Farfarello chuckling in the back and wished that the Irishman would keep further observations to himself, at least until they were safely parked.

Nearly home, Nagi even debated whether or not he should get out at a stop-light with Farfarello and walk or take a cab the rest of the way, but for public safety, the teen decided to risk staying in the car. Farfarello was probably still wound-up from the earlier fighting, and the police would almost definitely be called if anyone saw the blood-covered albino. After taking part in a murder, it was best to stay away from the authorities. He just had to hope that Schuldig wouldn't be pulled over for his driving.

So Nagi sat quietly, barely daring to breathe, while dreading another backseat comment and police sirens. When Schuldig screeched to a stop in front of the safe-house, Nagi exhaled in relief and quickly scrambled out of the car, opening the back door for his crazed teammate. "Come on," he whispered hastily, determined not to be the cause of, or be around for the inevitable blow-out.

Farfarello grinned wickedly at the back of Schuldig's head, seeming to know that there was a battle on the horizon, and slid out of the car, following the boy to the front door. "Somebody's gonna get shot," he chuckled. "Who're you bettin' on?"

Nagi frowned and opened the door. "No one," he replied in his usual monotone as they entered the house, glancing back over his shoulder once to see Schuldig still sitting in his car, hands clench around the steering wheel.

"Crawford better watch his arse," Farfarello said, "Schuldig's really pissed off."

"I know," Nagi answered and walked off to the bathroom to go about the usual after mission routine with the albino. Typically it was Schuldig's duty to make sure Farfarello got cleaned up, but the teen decided to take on the task himself since the German clearly had other things on his mind. It made no difference to Farfarello who helped him anyway.

"They should just take my advice and fuck already before Red explodes," Farfarello repeated his earlier advice, to which Nagi still had no comment. He frankly didn't want to think of his teammates getting together in that way.

"Get cleaned up," he told the Irishman as a way to end the conversation, shutting the bathroom door behind them, just as another door slammed open and Schuldig began yelling.

"What the hell were you doing in that office, Bradley!? Or should I say WHO were you doing!?" Schuldig roared, causing Nagi to flinch and Farfarello to snicker.

"Crawford's home…" he said amid his laughter. Nagi missed his leader's response, but whatever Crawford had said had pissed Schuldig off even more.

"You know that's not what I'm fucking talking about!" the German shouted and Nagi frowned at Farfarello, trying to shush him so he could hear Crawford, but only managed to catch more of Schuldig's yelling. "Oh no you don't! Don't you DARE try to blow me off. We're—" there was an abrupt pause and a few seconds later Schuldig spoke again, voice less shrill this time. "Fine," he said. "Fucking fine. But you better not hold anything back, Bradley Crawford."

Nagi listened to two sets of footsteps walk down the hall and past the bathroom. He knew Schuldig was in the lead by the stomping, and at the end of the hall, a door shut and locked, the battle taking place in Crawford's office. Nagi strained to hear more, but he couldn't catch anything. Their leader liked his privacy enough to have had his office sound-proofed.

Farfarello chuckled again. "It's rude to eavesdrop, you know," he said with a wicked gleam in his eye.

The teen frowned and pointed to the shower. "You know what to do," he said, "Go get cleaned-up."

Farfarello grinned. "My money's on Red," he said before stripping down and dropping his clothes on the floor. He reached for a knife to take into the shower with him, but Nagi pulled his vest away and frowned at him until he turned like a good boy and stepped into the shower, sitting on the floor. Nagi set his vest down on the counter and walked over, filling a bucket with lukewarm water. He then handed the Irishman a sponge so he could begin wiping off the blood.

Everything had to be carefully monitored with Farfarello, even when it came to a simple thing like bathing because, being unable to feel anything, the albino was prone to try and scald himself with boiling water. The bucket ensured that he didn't. And in the off-chance that a razor was brought into the shower, Farfarello would be unable to reach it while sitting.

"Go on. Ask me." The Irishman said while roughly scrubbing at his arms, pulling off his bandages at the same time. He was in a strangely talkative mood. "You want to know why Schuldig's suddenly crazier than I am."

The teen frowned deeply and nodded. "All I heard was Crawford tell Schuldig to stick to his mark, and then he was calling us back. What happened during the mission?"

Farfarello snickered. "It's pretty simple. Schu wants Crawford's arse, but Crawford won't bend over for him. It looks like he'd rather stick it to the pretty Weiss kitty."

Nagi's frown deepened. "Are you referring to Abyssinian?"

The albino fixed him with his Cheshire grin. "Do you think there's another pretty Weiss kitty, Nagi?"

The boy blushed and shook his head. "I was just double-checking…" he trailed off and then asked slowly, "Why would it bother Schuldig now? Crawford always fights with Abyssinian."

Farfarello smirked and dropped the sponge into the bucket, apparently deciding that he was clean enough. "For a genius child, you're pretty dumb. Weren't you listenin'? I'm not talkin' about fightin', I'm talking about fuckin'. Schu's jealous 'cause he thinks Crawford wants Abyssinian's arse. And who knows. He probably does. Plus Crawford and Schu usually kill the target together and this time Crawford did it by himself."

In a way, Nagi felt he could believe the latter reasoning, but he had difficulty accepting the former. He shook his head as he handed Farfarello a towel and then got up to fetch some fresh bandages from the cabinet. "But that doesn't make any sense," he objected, picking apart the main argument. "Crawford wouldn't go for someone on a rival team. It would be stupid."

Farfarello chuckled and stood up. "A suppressed sex-drive can make a man do very stupid things. Crawford probably has his reasons."

Nagi thought about it quietly for a while as he bandaged Farfarello's arms and eventually came to the conclusion that he didn't to believe what the Irishman was saying. The man that he thought of as something of a father-figure couldn't be involved with a rival assassin team in a sexual or friendly manner. It was simply impossible. Farfarello and Schuldig could keep their chaos theories, but Nagi refused to buy into them. It just wasn't logical.

Discerning the look on his face, Farfarello chuckled, glancing away to concentrate on putting on his clothes. "You don't believe me, lad, but you'll see," he said.

Nagi shook his head and walked him back to his room once he was fully dressed, eager to finish off his duties and get away from Farfarello's crazy hypotheses. After strapping his teammate into his jacket for the night, he left him and walked back down the hall to his own bedroom, trying his best to ignore the chanting, but even as he closed his door, he could still make out to the words, "You'll see…you'll see…you'll see…"

And maybe he would. He just wasn't looking forward to it.