Disclaimer: I do not own Weiss Kreuz or any of the keyboard buttons to spell the name properly either! Darn!

Key: //Denotes POV//

        -Denotes thought or telepathic speech-

Chapter 8

The remains of the day

//Schuldich//

You know, some days you wake up and you just know that you're going to have a bad day. I think I figured out that my day was doomed when I spilled my coffee all over my French toast at breakfast. Of course when I walked into Crawford's bedroom only to find our fearless leader semi-conscious and twitching on the floor my suspicions were confirmed.

It was going to be one of those days.

Crawford's violent vision and his sudden decision to go in search of Weiss had thrown me a little, but then that's our Braddy. He likes his secrets and his surprises; yet this doesn't mean that I have to like them. Let's just say I wasn't too chuffed about this decision; Weiss weren't exactly on my Christmas card list at the moment to put it nicely. In fact ever since we met I've had this thing for hating their meddling inexperienced little hides, but hey that's just me! Don't get me wrong I like nothing more than to play with their minds like I would a board game but…teaming up with them? I wasn't exactly dancing like a cheerleader at the thought…not that I would know how to dance like a cheerleader anyway. Also I wasn't too sure that was such a good idea; I mean just because Crawford thought it was the best course of action, that didn't exactly mean that Weiss were going to accept us with open arms; in fact they would probably react in the completely opposite manner. However I found out a long time ago that when Brad wants something done, it tends to get done come hell or high water. If there was one thing life had taught me the hard way it was not to underestimate Bradley Crawford or question his actions.

I pulled myself from my reverie as I ran swiftly up the stairs, Farferello and Nagi behind me with Brad bringing up the rear, and took in the situation. So we were here finally, in the kitties' lair. Well this was nice…well, as nice as you could get for a war zone. There were holes in the walls, tables and chairs and broken things everywhere. It looked more like a targets house after a hit than a safe house. Well, I wasn't really sure that said adjective was suitable for this accommodation any more, better using something like very vulnerable and crap made house. That had a certain ring to it I think.

I shook my head and gathered my wits as I reached the hallway only to find myself facing an outraged Abyssinian and a shocked Bombay. I ignored the intense glare the redhead shot me along with the incredulous one the younger Weiss was throwing vaguely at me. He looked like his eyes should be on springs dangling around his mouth. The thought made me laugh. Yet, the situation in itself was far more humorous than Bombay's shocked expressions. The fact that I had been bitching to Crawford for the whole drive over to this side of town, moaning about why this was such a bad idea and that Weiss would never accept it anyway, now seemed quite laughable. I had also pointed out that we would have a fight on our hands as soon as we reached their base, and now look at us! We had Weiss served up to us on a platter of rubble and now we held a severe advantage over our long time rivals. I looked down at my feet only to find one of said Assassin's lying there; I quickly grabbed up the unconscious Siberian from the floor. He moaned briefly as he was moved but then lay still after that which I was gracious for. I wasn't really in the mood for dealing with this particular kittens claws.

So, to just recap on the situation: Balinese was lying unconscious on the floor, Siberian was unconscious in my arms, Bombay might as well have been unconscious the way he was staring blankly at us, and Abyssinian…well Abyssinian had gone mad to put it bluntly.

I just knew he was going to snap one of these days. He always was just too up tight for his own good. A good stiff drink and a screw would have fixed him up I'm sure, but then no one ever asked me did they? Of course not, who does…? Bombay continued to stare.

"What? Have I got something on my face?" I smirked as the youngest Weiss member blinked at me.

Farferello ran to Balinese and gathered him up out of harms way…or if you could consider being in the arms of a psychopath in a room full of destruction out of harms way. I heard Brad letting off a few shots at the out of it redhead, but focused on my own target. As my gaze locked with Bombay's however his shock vanished in an instant and his shields slammed down over his mind.

Now they are wily kittens that's for sure and there's been a couple of times that they've managed to surprise even me, but even their stronger than your average mental shields are nothing compared to that of a fully trained Esset agent. For example when Brad shuts you out of his mind it's like someone pulling the wool over your eyes; completely disorientating and effective. When Bombay put his shields down it's like someone holding their hand over your eyes with their finger open; not quite as devastating. So when I began to probe at the corners of his mind, hoping that I could maybe knock him out before he noticed what I was doing, his eyes narrowed and, almost before I could stop him, he brought his crossbow up into attack position. I put my mental attack on hold.

-I wouldn't if I were you- I warned him as I lifted Siberian in my arms, - you might just miss…-

He froze with his finger on the trigger, eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. That stopped him attacking me yet it didn't stop him from growling at me, his youthful visage distorted with rage and pent up emotion.

"Get the hell out of my mind!" he spat, his mouth twisting into a snarl as he spoke.

-Give me one good reason, - I snorted back.

"Let him go," he said seemingly ignoring me, his tone promising pain in abundance, "now."

-Right and loose my only shield? I don't think so, - I said shaking my head, -So why don't we all just civilly put the weapons away and…chat about this?-

"I told you to get out of my mind," Bombay said maliciously, suddenly looking very old for his age, "and to put him down before I make you put him down."

I'd decided this conversation was getting nowhere after the first couple of replies, so I figured I'd talk to Brad instead of following up this fruitless line of tête-à-tête. Bombay couldn't hide the relief he felt as I withdrew my mind from his and searched for Crawford over the din of the fight.

-Hey Brad, done yet? I am…-

-Abyssinian has escaped, - Crawford's reply was almost a little…shaken?

-Escaped, how the hell did you let that happen? - I shot back, not liking the uncertainty in Brad's tone.

-He seems to have developed some…unusual traits, - Crawford surmised cryptically.

-Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean I'm sure I won't like it, - I smirked as I shook my head to clear it of Crawford's uneasy feelings, -shouldn't we go after him?-

-…No, I think we should regroup and deal with the Weiss situation first, - Crawford said, once more sounding cool and in control and.

-Whatever you say fearless leader, - I snorted a laugh as Bombay tensed, the sound of Crawford and Nagi's footsteps nearing us, -I think Bombay will have a hissy fit if you don't hurry.-

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//Omi//

It was going to be one of those days, I could just tell. When I stepped out of my room this morning and tripped over one of Ken's many stray footballs I knew things were going to be awry for the rest of the day. It's always how you start the day that tells you how things are going to lay out, and my own had not started that well.

Then, later on when Aya pushed me up against the wall…and all I'd asked was if he was alright. That was when I knew things were definitely going wrong…and maybe not just for the rest of the day.

Things had been building up for a while now, each of the four of us growing more tense with each passing second. It was like we were living in a box, our world suddenly reduced to an hundred square feet, and that it was slowly closing in on us. Things were constantly tense, the very air seemed to vibrate with it and it grated on you after a while, eve if you tried to ignore it. It did so on all of us, yet on Aya most of all; yes especially Aya. At first I thought that it was just a natural response to our new situation and surroundings, an adverse reaction to the way events had played out. But for Aya…Ran, well it was painfully obvious why he would be suffering the most out of all of us. His sister had died and I guess he felt as though he was totally alone…I suppose that didn't help the tension either, him thinking he was alone when we were there for him and he just wouldn't let us in.

"NO!" Yoji moved quicker than the eye, his wire snaking out and latching itself around Aya's blade like a snake would its prey.

The katana slithered out of Aya's desperate grasp, and he even made a pathetic whimpering sound at feeling its loss. He reached after it with shaking hands, but it was out of reach; it was too late now to end it the way he had wanted to. I could only thank whoever needed to be thanked that Yoji had caught Aya before he had done it. I didn't want to think about Aya dead, I could hardly eve think straight after what had just happened, and Aya dead, no, not dead…

"Get up, I said GET UP!" Yoji was hauling at Aya's shoulders but he was like a limp puppet in his hands. It was as if someone had just come casually by and snipped his strings, leaving him with only enough strength to carry out that one final deed…

"Come on Aya stand up, we have to get out of here…" Ken was on his other side now, his voice more coaxing than Yoji's authoritative yet upset tone.

Aya just let them haul him up, not making a sound as they pulled him onto his feet and held onto him loosely. He stayed deathly quiet and shaky pale, his face seemingly emotionless. Aya shouldn't look like that; he had never looked like that. He may have been cold and insensitive, but there was always a passion and a drive behind his actions. Now he was just…empty looking, broken almost. I guess that was what scared me most of all, that was what spurred me forward out of my shock and into action, helping my two comrades with their burden.

Aya was hard to move, he was so heavy and just lay unresisting in our hands. As I helped Yoji pull him up into Ken's arms I noticed two things: one was that there was blood on Aya's hands, and the second was that there were tears running down his pale cheeks. I couldn't tell where the blood had come from, and it seemed oddly far off and distant a worry as we struggled in the deserted ritual room. It bothered me more that Aya was crying. I realised I had never seen Aya cry before. Never. I felt my chest tighten when those dead looking eyes suddenly fixed on me with insane desperation and then, without warning, Aya sprang into life.

"Get your hands off me!" he screamed as he flailed in our awkward grasp.

As soon as we dropped him in our surprise he was scrambling to his feet and running towards the door we had seen Schwartz leave through. Ken was the one this time to restrain him, grasping his wrists and pulling on him with all his strength. I was once more struck dumb by Aya's odd behaviour. Yet, it wasn't really odd behaviour. Actually considering what had just happened it was perfectly normal behaviour for Aya, it was exactly what I would have expected from him…except the fact that he cried…and that he was shunning us; or maybe that wasn't the oddest part.

"I told you to get off me!" he snarled as he tried to fling Ken from his grip but the brunette held true.

"No, don't! We have to go back, we can't go after them right now!" Ken pleaded, "You aren't in any state; we need to regroup Aya."

The use of that name, of his sister's name only seemed to enrage him further. He pulled one of his hands from Ken's and held it up high as if he was going to strike out. I let out a cry, yet I wasn't sure whether it was in warning to Ken or just out of shock that Aya would strike him…yet it wasn't needed. As soon as Aya looked into Ken's shocked face with anger and hurt and desperation and hopelessness warring for dominance in his eyes, all the anger seemed to melt from his face and he once more became that dead puppet. His raised hand began to shake as Ken didn't dare move in the face of such raging emotion, and finally dropped lifelessly to his side; the rest of his body followed and Ken caught him as he fell into his arms. I let out a sigh of relief, and as Yoji helped Ken with his load and we all ran for the exit and back to safety not looking back once; only one thought raced through my mind.

-You do need us Aya, you do need us.-

I hardly even noticed the tears running down my face.

He did need us, yes he definitely did. I knew this and so did Ken and Yoji; I wondered if Ran knew it yet. From the way he had been acting I would think that the answer to that would be no.

"What? Have I got something on my face?" the German telepath standing in front of me with Ken in his arms smirked nastily at me and I tried my hardest not to shoot him right there and then.

However when I felt that sickening feeling in my stomach, that dizzy sensation in my head that I recognised as what I could almost call the redhead's trademark, I acted purely out of response. I brought the bow up and aimed it straight at his heart…and almost killed the unconscious Ken in his arms. I cursed as I felt that sickening nasal voice in my mind, trying to ignore the side effects of the mental probe.

-I wouldn't if I were you, you might just miss…-

"Get the hell out of my mind!"

-Give me one good reason. –

"Let him go, now."

-Right and loose my only shield? I don't think so, So why don't we all just civilly put the weapons away and…chat about this?-

"I told you to get out of my mind and to put him down before I make you put him down," I said in the most dangerous tone I could muster.

Yet he only kept that damnable smirk on his face and shook his head, finally leaving my mind. I found it hard not to sigh in relief as I felt his presence move from my brain, opting instead to just let my shoulders relax a little.

Yet, as soon as communication was lost with the German I realised exactly how hopeless this situation was. Yoji was unconscious and under Berserkers care, and ken was also in the clutches of the enemy…and I was helpless to stop them. I could do nothing, well nothing helpful anyway. I felt so utterly devoid of hope, just like when it had finally sunk in that Ran was attacking us, or when my sister was killed, or when Aya-chan was killed right before our eyes…but wait, my hidden message. She wasn't dead, that was what it said…I couldn't think about this right now, I had to focus. Yet I couldn't, I just couldn't stop thinking about Ran.

As I stood in front of the smirking Schwartz bastard I realised I hadn't felt this helpless since that night with Ran after his sister's death. When we finally got him home, back to our safe house, he had just lay on the couch we placed him on and stared ahead of him the whole night. It was then that I realised that the blood on his hands was from a savage gash on his earlobe where he had torn the long gold bar from it. It made me want to cry again just on seeing the absence of the earring and the devastation it left behind it. In a way the loss of the treasured accessory and the bloody hole it left behind was reflective of the way Aya-chan had been torn from Ran's life that night, but the difference was that the wound Aya had left behind wound not heal so quickly, if ever. It made me feel sick thinking that.

I had tried to comfort him, I tried to get him to eat, I even tried shouting at him I became so frustrated when he wouldn't respond! Yet nothing worked, he just kept laying there, his crimson hair a stark contrast to the green couch, his violet eyes vacant and emotionless. I remember feeling this horrible fear and hopelessness. It was the same feeling I was getting now as I stared at Ken in Mastermind's arms. I tensed as the sound of approaching footsteps, trying to ignore the stupid laugh the German let slip as his comrades finally came into view.

Then I finally let go of my memories, my thoughts, and suddenly it was just me again. Just me on my own with my crossbow facing four Esset agents with no back up.

It was most certainly going to be one of those days.

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//Farferello//

I have to say it's not everyday that you wake up to the news that a church in Northern Ireland was bombed by a local group of Fenian's killing twenty six people. When you wake up to news like that, you can tell it's going to be a good day. Then when the red haired devil Schuldich told me that we were to go play with the kittens that night, I could tell my luck was in. I was going to have a good day that was sure. Schuldich always brings me the nicest morsels of information, maybe that's why I savour his visits most of all.

So after this mornings good omen, here I was with proof in my arms that lady luck was smiling down on me. I had caught myself a little kitten and he was all sleepy and grumbling. It was a shame though that Crawford had told me specifically that there was to be no harm done. None at all in fact. That was the only down point of my day I suppose, everything else was shaping up nicely.

"Well, well, what a mess we have here," I raised my eyebrow as I smirked at the damage surrounding me "been playing too rough I see."

There was a hole in the wall of the room I had found myself in and the cold night air was smarting against my exposed skin. I didn't really care though, the cold never bothered me and it was refreshing to feel the invigorating wind while in the midst of a fight such as this. Not that I was getting to do much fighting at all.

Balinese shifted restlessly in my arms, turning his head to expose the already colouring bruise on his right cheek. That was interesting. So, Abyssinian had finally seen sense and decided to give in to his primal hatred. Another kindred spirit I would be happy to embrace. Yet was he another fallen angel ready to strike back at his creator perhaps? It would be interesting to know just how far the crimson haired kitty had fallen, and just how far he was prepared to fall before he stopped himself.

I felt that a certain redhead was ready to join with us perhaps? Ready maybe to help me thwart His bidding? Or maybe I could follow whatever power he had decided to follow; if that power hurt Him as badly as Abyssinian had hurt his team mates here then I would be glad to lend my help to their cause. My fellow heretics might even be interested in such an offer; I knew the redhead devil would be that's for sure. It would be right up his street.

I stared with glee out into the hallway where Schuldich was intimidating the younger kitten and receiving malicious looks in return.

Yes, this was shaping up to be a fine day to be sure.

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//Yoji//

I hate being knocked unconscious. You can tell that a day is shaping up to kick you in the ass when you get knocked out after two punches. Yes, that's right TWO punches…can't believe it even happened; and Ran of all people. I mean what the hell was going on there!? The guy fucks with our heads, runs off into the night worrying us all sick and then comes back just to try and kill us! Kill us for fucks sakes!! Just when I thought that the world couldn't get any crazier and this happens. I really was just considering giving up…just after I'd convinced myself to keep going…

I realised, as I slowly found the darkness lifting from my blurry eyes, that I wasn't alone. This fact didn't instantly throw me considering the last time I had checked I hadn't been the only nein the room. Yet there was something about the unfamiliar smell that was so close t my face, the feeling of soft skin against my cheek, that made me feel very uncomfortable. It took me a little while to realise that I was in fact in someone's arms. In fact, as I looked up with said bleary eyes and focused on the pale face looking down at me, I was in very dangerous arms. I was in the Schwartz psycho's arms.

Fuck.

I hate days like this.

"What the hell get the fuck off me you mad bastard let me go and go find something else to play with!" I shouted/slurred out all in one breath as I flailed in the surprised mans grasp.

I found myself unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. Well at least the floor was a step in the right direction considering where I had been before that. As I tried to prop myself up however I felt the whole world carrousel around me a couple of times. Despite my current location and all the mad shit that had just happened with Ran and the fact that Schwartz seemed to have found their way into our happy little get together, I decided to just lay my head back down onto the floor. There was something jagged digging into my back, like a broken chair leg or something, but I couldn't have cared less at that particular moment. I really couldn't, considering I really should have had cartoon birds flying round my head just for effect.

"Don't get so flustered kätzchen," a familiarly nasal voice announced as boot heels clicked along the exposed floorboards, "you really should calm down before you burst something."

I tried to think of some sort of cocky reply, yelling silently at my mind to just ignore the fact that Schwartz was here in our safe house for the time being and focus on, well…focusing.

"Leave it alone Schuldich," the familiarly cool, calm and collected tone of Oracle slipped to my ears, "Farferello get him off the floor."

I tried to push away as I felt myself lifted from the floor, but the invisible "hands" of Prodigy held a grip of steel which I could not have resisted had I been fully in control of my body. So I once again found myself in the psycho's arms against my will and my protesting rather wobbly mind. I could feel Prodigy's power against my back as he lifted me into his team mate's arms. It was a horribly unnatural feeling, and strangely enough it was quite like what I had felt earlier when I was close to Ran, fighting him…odd.

"Well," Crawford's smooth tone interrupted my thoughts, "now that we're all here…"

His voice was too smug, too calm and collected to ignore and definitely too calculating not to be wary of. I looked blearily over the sea of destruction at a fuzzy outline that looked decidedly like Omi. As my eyes finally straightened themselves out I realised that it was Omi and that, as our eyes locked together that he looked terrified and raging all at the same time…and as we stared at each other that look melted like morning frost under the dawn sun. I was glad to see it leave, and I think Omi was glad that I was no longer in the land of the fairies. Oracle was talking but I couldn't focus on his words so I left the hard work up to Omi. He would figure out what to say to get us out of this, he always was good in these types of situations. I tended to just get cocky or be too sarcastic and end up fucking things up. The American wasn't exactly my type of business partner and I knew wouldn't know how to deal with him had I been in Omi's place. The kid had been trained for these very situations and I had every faith in him to pull off whatever he had lurking up his sleeve.

I unwillingly broke eye contact with Omi as he started our "negotiations" with Schwartz and searched around for the last member of our team. I was to say the least a little worried for Kenken. The last thing I had seen before I had blacked out was Ken barely breathing slouched like a rag doll against the shattered wall he had been slammed into. In short, he hadn't looked too hot. The fact that I was being held up quite tightly by Berserker didn't give me much leeway to take scope of the room, and it was only when Mastermind leaned back against the wall behind him, revealing what he held in his arms, that I finally found Ken. Yet finding him didn't assuage my fears, it only heightened them. Ken was sporting a large bruising lump on his forehead along with a deep cut along his neck and a bust lip. He was also completely unconscious, perhaps (and more than likely) concussed. He needed to be seen to, a head injury wasn't something to be taken lightly. I had a good friend once who was hit by a falling roof tile from a first floor bungalow. It didn't seem to bad a lump and he ended up leaving it alone and just sleeping it off. He didn't wake up the next day; blood clot in the brain due to swelling caused by the seemingly harmless injury. I didn't want Ken to go out like that.

"He needs," I said uncertainly, my voice sounding wobbly and slurred even though my vision had cleared and my mind was less foggy, "help, his head. Ken…"

In my urgency and my lack of thought I even forgot to use codenames, not that it really mattered anymore. I think we just used codenames for Schwartz out of principal now; if we didn't acknowledge that they had real names, we didn't have to think of them as human; which they're most certainly not.

"Oh don't worry there Kudo," the redhead smirked back, his forest green eyes sparkling in an unreadable fashion, "he'll be alright. Fearless leader here wouldn't let your little friend die, it's not the plan."

"You mean…you actually have a plan? That's a first," remember what I said about my being cocky and sarcastic, well this sort of thing is why I don't get to negotiate.

"I'd watch your tongue little kätzchen, or I might just drop him…out the window," he added with an obliging smile that barred teeth.

"Oh, so you don't have a plan then, or at least not one that you're willing to follow," I smirked back a little lopsidedly.

"Enough," came the commanding reply from Oracle who now looked at us both sternly, which I found odd because I would have thought he wouldn't have minded the German annoying his enemies; he never minded before, in fact he used t join in. I was thoroughly confused and disorientated and not sure why only two punches had had so much effect on me.

It was going to be one of those days.

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//Crawford//

I have to say I really hadn't bee expecting this at all. You know that when your own power begins acting against you that it's spelling doom for the good day you had foreseen earlier. I remember seeing a good day in my premonition, yet now this was happening; and my premonition most certainly did not contain an Abyssinian with powers such as the ones I had just seen him display. At first I could have sworn that I was just seeing things that weren't there, that Abyssinian wasn't really flinging trashcans and park benches out of his way as he escaped…but when he suddenly disappeared, just like Schuldich often did when putting his unnatural speed to use, well let's just say that I knew something was amiss.

"Don't get so flustered kätzchen, you really should calm down before you burst something."

I had to restrain a laugh when I stepped into the room where Farferello was standing only to find Balinese sprawled ungainly on the floor at his feet. Schuldich's attempts at humour weren't helping and I told him so.

"Leave it alone Schuldich," I said as calmly as I could, adding as an afterthought "Farferello get him off the floor."

The pale haired man consented with a manic grin, once again gathering the lanky assassin into his willing arms as Nagi lifted him from the floor using his telekinesis. Balinese made a feeble effort to protest, but I could tell that his mind was still reeling with the after effects of the fight. The bruises along his jaw and face were testament to that. I was sure that, considering Siberian was unconscious, Balinese was barely awake and Bombay was fuming silently in Nagi's sure grasp, it was a good enough time as any to say what I had come to say.

"Well, now that we're all here…" I started with a small smile, "why don't we get down to business."

Strangely enough that single request gained the focus of the entire room, including that of my own team mates. Sometime I forget how commanding and compelling my tone alone can be, yet I learned at and early age how…compelling a leader I could be. When you are thrown into the deep end of and Esset training facility such as Rosenkreuz you have to adapt quickly or fail. And failure meant only one thing in Esset… death. So you either used your powers and your benefits to your own advantage or you let yourself be pulled down and destroyed. That was success in a nutshell. I had chosen life over years of servitude and final death.

Another benefit of being your own leader is the ultimate power it presents. I found out a long time ago that if you're going to keep a secret successfully that the first rule is not to tell anyone; not even the people you trust most...not even those you would trust with your life can know your secret. That rule had helped me through my life in training and my years as leader of Schwartz. And even now, well…as they say "old habits die hard", I found it hard to shake off my untrusting and secretive nature…even when I did find someone I trusted enough with my life. This was why I found it hard to let the rest of Schwartz in on my plans unless it was strictly necessary; or sometimes I just left out details of the plans I did divulge to them, keeping the need-to-know details to myself. As I saw it, I've only ever been the one who needed-to-know.

So this was also why I had gained the attention of my own group when I decided to divulge my plans; I hadn't even let them know yet why exactly they were here. From time to time I tended to forget what I had told them and what I hadn't told them, but it was obvious that they knew nothing in this case. The blank yet expectant looks on their faces were entirely priceless; I could never get tired of that look.

"I'm here to proposition Weiss," I said to Bombay with a smirk; considering the rest of Weiss was out of action at the moment I let Bombay be their spokes person.

He didn't seem too chuffed about gaining the job of liaison with Schwartz, but I could tell from his expression that he wasn't stupid enough to think that he had a choice in the matter.

-Good, - I thought smugly, - things aren't going completely off the plan.-

Sometimes days can turn out well for you after all.

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//Nagi//

Well today wasn't quite what I was expecting. I had hoped to finally get my science project finished and handed in, but I suppose that wasn't going to happen now. Ever since we failed to resurrect The One things had been a little weird to say the least.

"I'm here to proposition Weiss," Brad said coolly, his glasses glinting predatorily in the dim light.

Yet even when I had woken up this morning to find Farferello in a disturbingly happy mood, Schuldich in a very irate mood after ruining his breakfast and Brad seemingly in the same mood as usual…I hadn't had any idea what the day was going to throw at me. When I woke up first of all I had thought it was Friday and I was going to have to go to school, but it had decided to be Saturday instead. I just love it when that happens, extra lie in time and a lazy day ahead. Yet even though the day had such a good start it still turned out to be a little odd…or at least a little more odd than it usually is around the Schwartz household. Brad had vision, a powerful one Schu said, but he had said nothing to me of what it had contained. He hadn't even told Schu, and I found that seemingly simple and routine evasion…more revealing than Crawford would like to know.

Even if he hardly ever told us any of his secrets or his visions, our leader was much more trusting now than he ever used to be. I remember when Schwarz first accepted me as one of their own, that was a long time ago when we weren't even called Schwartz at all, and Brad Crawford had been a very different man. I was five when he first pulled me off the streets, just grimy kid covered in blood and dirt. I guess, in comparison to what we were when we first met, we're all very different now…

There was blood this time. There had never been blood before…

"I…" he was quiet, like he was sleeping, "…wake up."

He didn't get up when I called, didn't move at all. He just kept on sleeping there in that puddle of red, sticky blood. He looked like the drunken men who sometimes lay in the alley when they spilt their drink and then fell asleep in it. Only they always sang, even in their sleep.

This man wouldn't sing.

Even when I carefully nudged him with my toe and pulled on his hair. He wouldn't move, only lay there sleeping. Or maybe he was dead. I wasn't sure. I hoped he wasn't, the police didn't usually care about the death of a random in an alley…but sometimes they made exceptions when street kids were involved. I think they liked to pick them up just to get rid of them. I didn't want to know where the other kids got taken, what happened to them. I just wished I hadn't pushed him so hard. I had only meant to get him off me, he had been so heavy and his breath stank of alcohol and…

"They'll take you next you know," said a voice from behind me, so cool and sophisticated and unexpected that for an irrational moment I thought that it was my father.

He had sounded like that, my father, not that I remembered him properly at all. One of the only vivid memories I had of him was that voice talking me to sleep…But the person I saw before me as I spun round to look wasn't my father. It was a young man, about a couple of heads taller than myself, well groomed clothes and hair all neat and tidy. His glasses and his watch were expensive and new. He didn't fit in to the backdrop of grimy brick walls stained with seamen and blood. Not at all, he was too…clean. I wasn't sire where he had come from, or what he was doing here, but I knew that he knew I had killed this man I was crouching beside. For some foolish reason I didn't want him to know, even though I knew nothing of this man, that I had done such a terrible thing. He seemed so…not pure, but pristine and…powerful. I felt small and stupid and dirty in his presence, and I didn't want someone like him to see me like this. I couldn't explain it.

"Who?" I asked cautiously. Usually if a stranger talked to me like this I ran, but there was something in his voice that made me want to stay. It was commanding, yet compelling at the same time.

"The police, they're coming right now," he said back in that same collected tone of voice, his glasses glinting in the failing light.

"But..but I didn't mean it!" I blurted out, jumping up from my crouch beside the mans bloated corpse, glancing down in irrational fear that he would get back up and point a finger at me as the police came…

"Of course you didn't," the young man smiled as he pushed his hand through his hair to move his bangs from his eyes, "and he deserved what happened nonetheless."

I was instantly wary. Was this man…siding with me? Trying to help me? He couldn't be, no one ever had, why would he? He didn't even know me and he was so…clean. Yet there was something in his voice that made me want to trust him so implicitly…I just wanted to run into his arms and let him do whatever he wanted.

"I only pushed him…because…" I started, not even really knowing what I wanted to say, not knowing why I was telling him any of this, "because he…"

"I know, and you were right to," he said with small smile that didn't quite glint in his eyes, "you are a very powerful young boy, very powerful. What if I were to tell you I could take you away from this place?

"…How?" I breathed out, my eyes beginning to tear at the thought of escape from this hell…

"How would you like to come with me Nagi?" he asked as he stretched out his hand to me.

I didn't ask why he was taking me, where he was taking me, who he was taking me to. I didn't ask his name, I didn't ask how he knew my name; I didn't even ask if I should ask. All I knew was that when I heard the distant wail of sirens that grew louder and louder with every second, that young mans hand began to look even more and more inviting.

I ran into his waiting arms without a second thought. That was when my nightmare ended, and a new one began…Yet at least I would not face this one alone.

Yes Bradley Crawford had been cold and calculating when I had first met him, and he still was now, but not to the same extent…and not with everyone. I had noticed that he had loosened up around us, that he had started revealing more of his plans to us even though he still kept his closely guarded secrets to himself. He had begun to trust us, and that simple faith was more satisfying than having him tell us all his secrets all the time out of duty. At least it finally proved he was human…and perhaps it proved that I was human too, if I evoked such trust and human feeling then surely I was deserving of it, ne? I liked to think so anyway. Now here he was telling us more of his grand plan, and it mad me feel, despite the fact that Weiss and the rest of Schwartz were here too, decidedly special. I had always liked that feeling.

Maybe this day wasn't going to be so weird after all.

-------------

//Ken//

Darkness and light.

I was swimming in it, I was floating in it. I could feel it and it was…soft. I was floating and I was light. I wasn't sore but I should be. I wasn't on the ground but I should be. I could feel a hand on my own, yet there was no one there. I could see my own feet wrapped in the maw, and my own head doused in light. I could feel it…I could feel it.

"Where am I?" I asked softly and I let myself go to wherever my body wanted to take me in this weightlessness.

There was no answer, nothing distinct. I thought for a moment that I could hear the ocean, waves crashing against pebbles and scraping and tousling them together as they were raked back down into the water. Then it changed to footsteps, and I thought I could hear someone crying, though I wasn't certain. I thought for a moment I could feel something pressed against my back, yet when I moved my arm to feel what it was I found nothing was there. I was still suspended in this place of dark and light, just listening to the vague sounds surrounding me. For some reason that I couldn't fathom I felt strangely at peace in this place, even though I had no idea where I was or what I was doing here. I remembered very little of where I had been before I came here, but there was a vague notion in the back of my mind that told me I should be in some sort of pain. Yet I felt nothing. I just felt…serene.

-…So sorry…- was whispered.

I twisted round to try and find the source of the voice I was certain I had heard. Yet when I turned there was no one there, only a blinding light that shone amidst a pool of inky black right in front of me. It had come out of no where, yet it was as if it had always been there. I just hadn't noticed it until now. It was like a star in the abyss of space, shining defiantly and brilliantly against the stark contrast of the void. I felt strangely compelled towards it, somehow drifting forwards through this fantasy landscape towards the glowing orb. For some reason, when I neared it, I was overwhelmed with a strong sense of recognition and familiarity…even love. I wasn't sure why, and I wasn't even sure what it was that I was nearing. Dammit, I didn't even know where I was! I was just here because…I felt safe here. I couldn't explain that either.

-You're alright…Ken,- the voice whispered again, yet seemingly more to itself than to me; it had been more of a…wish, than a statement of fact or a question.

I just nodded absently and tried not to feel too sick as the light and the dark swirled together suddenly. I reached out my hand unconsciously and touched the light that danced uncertainly in front of me. It responded instantly, as soon as I touched it. I just gasped as I was suddenly flooded with a vast array of emotions and thoughts and images and feelings…and hopes…and…

…and love…

…and Ran in the park smiling…

…and anger…

…and Ran in the moonlight laughing…

…and worry…

…and…

Then it was gone. The light was gone so suddenly, and once again the darkness swirled around me ominously. I tried not to cry out at the loss, I felt like I had lost something so dear to me. It was like my soul had gone out in a puff of smoke, yet it wasn't my soul…I felt a great fear growing tightly in my chest. Then the whole landscape suddenly began to waver around the edges.

-Who is this person called…Ken?" – the voice asked suddenly from the darkness, and for some reason that statement hurt most of all. I just couldn't comprehend it right now. It was just wrong to hear it, just wrong that they shouldn't know who I was.

Then I was awake.

I was in my room.

I was in the dark.

I couldn't feel that safe warm feeling, it was gone completely.

Kuso.

As I sat up in the bed I thought for a moment, as stars danced before my eyes, that I saw a flash of crimson tears and pain. I couldn't understand it, I was sore all over…yet a moment ago I had been fine.

"Must have blacked out," I murmured quietly to myself so as not to disturb the raging headache that was making itself known now that I was fully awake, "damn weird dream though."

"I think blacked out is putting it mildly," came the smug tone from the darkness.

I would have jumped three feet into the air if my head would have permitted it. Unfortunately I think there was a severe risk of it falling off if I had done that, so I levelled my reaction down to just a curse and a start.

"Fucking hell!" I said, "Who's there?"

"Well, I'm hurt that you don't remember me," came the pouty reply, "I thought you would have more of a memory for your mortal enemies."

"…Schuldich?" I said warily, forgetting to use codenames in my surprise; yet I had always thought that Weiss and Schwartz had gotten past codenames a long time ago, and Schwartz's were so silly sounding…but that's not important.

"Bingo," he said with a snap of his fingers and I could almost see the nasty smirk on his smug face as he said it.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I said with a slight growl; I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries and I guess that I've never really been famous for my subtlety. I wasn't going to wreck my image now.

"To help of course," he said back, the rustle of fabric indicating a shrug.

"Yeah, to help yourself more likely," I snorted, trying not to die from the amazing searing pain that accompanied the small gesture.

"Hmmm, you learn fast," he chuckled back, "yet I think that in helping myself this time that you will also benefit. I mean, don't get me wrong, if I could avoid that pleasantry I would, yet it seems inevitable. So I guess I'll be stuck with this good deed on my record now. I always knew you four were bad for my style."

"…You know what," I said wearily as I feebly rubbed at my head and tried to comprehend the situation, "you talk too much."

"That's not an original insult," the German snorted.

There was something preying n the edge of my mind, like a dream not quite remembered…then all of a sudden…

"Ran!" I shouted, actually startling the other man as my thought had come so out of the blue; I didn't care about the pain that lanced through my head and down my spine as I said it, "Where is he, where is Ran!?"

"Hell will you keep it down, sheesh!" the redhead complained, "here I am assigned to babysitting duty, having to sit here in the dark lie an ass and you can't even be considerate enough to think quietly!"

"Just quit prattling and tell me!" I shouted back, groaning as I felt a fog like feeling descend over my mind and the space behind my eyes begin to throb.

"…Well," came the smug reply, "I could tell you…if you ask nicely."

I sighed, finally letting the pain allay my anger while I let my head settle down.

I could tell this just wasn't going t be my day.

…And for some reason I couldn't get the image of light being extinguished my dark out of my head…and Ran laughing…and Ran smiling…and Ran not knowing my name.

…And that hurt more than anything else.

AN: Wow, this took me long enough didn't it!?!? For some reason I got severe writers block after finishing the first POV, and then after every other POV I just had writers block too! Ahhh! But now it's finished, yet I still don't really like it that much. I think that there's something not quite finished about it but then that might just be me. I can't help it, I'm a perfectionist! Okay, enough rambling! I actually have the next chapter mapped out, and it will be linked to this one through the events during Ken's POV. I had originally planned to have the events in the next chapter take place at the end of this one, but I thought it would be to long and not flow properly. So I hope it still makes sense! You can kick my ass if it doesn't, really!

Alright, enough already! As always feedback is very welcome, please R&R!

Ps: Thank you so much for all the reviews! You really are too kind to my hash of a story *^-^*, love and peace and stuff and a charm against writers block to all of you!

Thank you also to Tschubi-chan for the hints with the german spelling. I finally found the "a" with an umlaut, yay! So no worries, but please point out my mistakes because I don't have a beta reader and I make so many ^~ ^!