Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss or Schwartz or ANYTHING! Thus no suing, yay, and no money…darn.
Chapter 11
In the light of night
It was about four hours until the negotiations were over. Four hours of bargaining and bartering for information with Bombay before we had made any sort of headway at all. Finally, as darkness had begun to give way to the beginnings of dawn, the participants had dispersed, Bombay leaving with Nagi and Balinese with Farferello. It had been decided that one of each team would sleep in the same room as another of the other team, just as a safety precaution against plotting and conspiring. Of course, no sane man would let Farferello spend the night with an enemy and expect him to be able to resist the temptation of mutilation. So he would have his own room, I would sleep with Siberian and Schuldich with Balinese. A dangerous combination I know, but I had seen the way Schuldich was already teasing the living daylights out of Siberian, and that young man could be very impulsive when he wanted to be. At least I knew that Balinese had more self restraint.
As I sat in silence the sound of footsteps on the stairs drifted to my ears, slow and methodical, approaching the room where I sat alone in meditation. They stopped outside the open door, leaving a moment of silence before the person spoke.
"This was a bad idea," said voice from the doorway, the long trail of smoke floating into the room telling me that it was Schuldich that was moaning again.
Not that I really needed to be told considering I knew that he was going to be there even before he did himself. I heard the tell tale sound of a cigarette butt being ground out on the floor and just continued to stare forwards towards the lamp in front of me in contemplation. It was too bright compared to its surroundings, so I just looked away and sighed sitting forward in the chair that I had adopted for my negotiations; a large, old, black recliner that was a little worse for wear yet entirely comfortable. It was still dark outside and the curtains were drawn against the streetlamps and prying eyes leaving the room dull. The only light in the room emanated from one lone lamp sitting dejectedly on the table, all the others either broken or completely disconnected from the power by the fight. It had done more damage than it seemed; half the building was now without electricity and hot water, the mains having been damaged along with the water supply pipe. If there was one thing I hated it was inefficiency and this building, admittedly an old building, was rife with it.
"So," the redhead ignored my silence and entered the dimly lit room anyway, feet making no sound on the uneven floorboards.
"How's Siberian?" I asked before he could continue.
"Unconscious once more," he smirked, "he wasn't exactly too happy when I told him about his precious Ran so I "helped" him to sleep. Lump on his head the size of a brick, but he'll live."
"Good," I nodded, not looking at him once.
"So," the redhead started once again, not pausing this time to give me the chance to interrupt, "how did it go?"
"Desirably," I replied after a pause, stopping so flick some dust from my immaculate jacket sleeve before returning my gaze to the lamp.
"That sounds too evasive to be good," Schuldich smirked as he took a seat on the couch to my right, pulling out a packet of cigarettes from his green overcoat, "what did you have to give up?"
"Not enough for anything to be jeopardized," I said once again not giving anything away.
I must have still been in defensive, I'm-not-giving-you-ANY-information mode, side effects of having a negotiation with the enemy, because Schuldich suddenly became very annoyed.
"Is there an actual reason you're being an asshole," he paused to take a long drag of his newly lit cigarette before continuing, "or is it just a trend you're slipping back into?"
"Don't try me Schuldich," I snapped testily, "I'm in no mood to deal with you at the moment."
"Oh," said telepath smirked, leaning back comfortably on the couch and crossing his long legs, "so I see the negotiations didn't go entirely as "desirably" as was foreseen then?"
I sighed irritably through my nose at the insult to my power, knowing full well that the German was just trying to goad the information out of me because he knew I was being secretive. However, even though I knew what he was doing, I couldn't for once in my life be bothered putting up a fight. On the surface I told myself it was because I didn't want to give him the satisfaction, but in reality I knew it was really because I was to tried and tired to even try.
"I told them about my vision," I said plainly, knowing full well what sort of reaction that would get.
There was an ominous silence then, only the sound of some early morning birds outside disturbing the less than serine calm that had descended over the room. I continued to stare ahead of me, not looking directly at the other occupant of the room for fear that I would turn to stone under the gaze I knew he was giving me. I nearly laughed out loud at the thought, but thought better of it as I heard Schuldich take another drag from his cigarette. The smoke glided across my vision as he let it out in a long slow stream, the light hazing as it struggled through the smog.
"How much of it did you tell to them?" he asked casually, yet I could hear the slight strain in his voice that he was trying to mask.
"In this sort of situation it is a severe risk to hold back any important information," I told him as if I was giving a lecture, pushing my glasses up my nose as I spoke, "so I told them everything about it."
"Everything," he said with a small snort and an almost wistful shake of his head.
There was silence once more as we both just continued to sit, neither wanting to be the next to speak. I knew what he was thinking, and I knew that he was right to think it. I should have told him as soon as I had the vision, I should have let him know what I had seen. Now I had ended up telling the enemy before I had even let my own team know exactly what I had seen or even what I was planning to do. Yet, awkwardly enough, there was a part of me that still believed that I should be able to keep whichever secrets I wished from whomever I wished. It was an annoying part of myself that I had never been able to shake off, useful at times and at others, damned inconvenient.
"Were you planning on telling us at all?" Schuldich voiced my own thoughts as if he had read them, although I knew that he hadn't; I would have known, I always did.
"When the time was right," I nodded as if this conversation wasn't affecting me in the slightest.
"And when exactly would that be?" the redhead asked with conviction, stubbing his cigarette out on the arm of the couch, not caring about the back hole he left there.
"Right about now," I informed him, turning to look at him for the first time since he had entered the room.
He was staring at me from underneath his long dishevelled auburn hair, his trademark bandanna having been removed for comforts sakes. His eyes didn't turn me to stone, yet they had a good enough go at it. They were, or it seemed so, shifting colour from that deep forest green into that depths-of-the-ocean blue, an odd trait that I'm not quite sure where he picked up. Yet I did know however that when his eyes seemed to change from colour to colour that it spelled trouble for whomever their gaze was resting on. I wasn't exactly thrilled to be in the line of sight right at that moment.
"You're a card Crawford, you know that right," Schuldich uncrossed his legs and sat forwards to rest his hands on his knees, his face showing his aggravation, "a real card."
"I told you I was in no…"
"Yeah, yeah, in no mood to deal with me, well guess what I don't care. I'm right here and you can just deal with me, alright?" deep blue eyes flashed menacingly in the lamplight, surprising me with their vehemence, "I have to tell you Crawford that this wasn't exactly the way I planned to spend my night, fighting and babysitting and pairing up with the enemy. But I didn't say no did I? So don't turn round to me and say you're not in the mood, alright?"
His voice was surprisingly calm, considering when Schuldich wants to blow up he usually does a really good impression of a fireworks factory coming into contact with an arsonist. I just sat and stared at him, a little surprised that he was doing this now of all times, yet not really that surprised that he was doing it. I felt like doing it myself, even just to vent a little frustration. Yet I still had my self control and that was all I needed to keep me sane.
"Are you finished?" I asked with a raise of an eyebrow, eliciting a narrowing of the eyes from Schuldich.
"Not really, but go ahead," he waved his hand lazily and looked away from my eyes, "say what you're going to say."
"I was going to say," I continued as if he hadn't spoken at all, "that during my vision…I did not see Schwartz die."
"But," Schuldich frowned at me, "you said that…"
"Yes, I know what I said, and it was a half truth," I interrupted him before he could go on any sort of rant about my supposed infallibility, "what I actually saw was only one death before my vision ended."
There was a silence then, Schuldich sitting forward on the edge of the couch with an anticipatory look on his face and I with a look of resignation. He lifted his eyebrows as I continued to sit in silence, hoping to prompt me with the gesture.
"Well," he growled finally, "who was it?"
"It was you," I said simply.
Schuldich hid whatever emotion that passed through his body on hearing this fact with practiced ease. He was silent for no more than three seconds before he was composed enough to ignore the fear that had seeped involuntarily into my tone as I spoke of my vision.
"What did you see exactly?" he asked as he flicked a stray lock of hair from his eyes only to have it fall right back down again.
"Take a look for yourself," I offered in invitation.
He seemed to hesitate then, knowing that it would be less harsh and disturbing if I were just to describe it to him. Yet it would not be the first time that Schuldich had seen his own death through my eyes. He was no longer squeamish about these things it seemed because he rose to the challenge. I opened my mind then, letting the mental barriers that lay around my vision lower completely. I didn't react as I felt that familiar presence in my mind, like someone brushing their fingers through a pool of still water. It was calming, almost serene in its familiarity, yet still an intrusion. I tensed as Schuldich sought out that one particular vision, being forced to watch it once more with him as it played over again in my mind. I flinched as the blood flowed, as the screams seemed to reverberate throughout my skull. I closed my eyes as if through that simple action I could shut out the image of his eyes rolling back in his head, the feel of that last breath against my neck. Then suddenly it was broken off, Schuldich retreating from my mind quickly to settle back into his own. I opened my eyes slowly to regard him, his pale face revealing only slight discomfort. I recognised however the tell tale signs of horror in those once more forest green eyes.
"You sure have some imagination," he snorted a laugh to try and cover his disgust at seeing his own horrific death.
"Thankfully it was not I who concocted this vision," I said levelly, "but a fate that has since been averted."
"Yes, thankfully," he replied with a slight nod, letting out a long slow breath.
"So, do you believe now that I followed the correct course of action in seeking out Weiss tonight?" I asked with a raise of an eyebrow.
"You mean last night," the redhead corrected me annoyingly as he pointed to the clock on the wall, "and…yes I do. Not that I still don't think this was a bad idea."
"There's just no pleasing some people," I muttered under a sigh, letting my head roll back against the thick cushioned headrest of the chair.
Now that Schuldich had so helpfully pointed out the clock to me I could hear nothing over its incessant ticking. I cursed mentally as the ticking seemed to grow louder and louder, the silence fading away into the background.
"So you told them about your premonition," Schuldich's curious voice cut through the annoying ticking, "and what did they tell you in return?"
"They showed me some rather…disturbing news," I replied slowly, wondering how the rest of my team would take it when I told them about the encrypted message.
"Can't be more disturbing than what I just saw," Schuldich snorted, "so shoot."
"It was an Esset coded message," I told him, "telling the order that The One had been successfully resurrected."
"Heh, well their going to be getting a bit of a shock when they find out the truth then aren't they," the redhead said, letting a bitter laugh escape his lips.
"Well, that's just the thing," I said with a sigh, "it seems that this message is no fake. It seems to have been sent by the Sanroujin shortly before their death. It holds very specific details and…it seems that, considering all that has happened tonight, that it may well be true."
"True?" Schuldich frowned, looking at me as if I had gone mad, "What are you talking about? That girl was dead, I carried her out of that place myself! I'm telling you her mind was gone, she was dead!"
"Exactly," I sad back, "leaving room for another entity to enter her vacated body."
"But…" Schuldich started, stopping when he realised he didn't know what he was going to say, "…but, well, wouldn't we have noticed?"
"Why should we have?" I shrugged nonchalantly.
"If this is real…Crawford how can you be taking this so lightly!?" the German finally exploded.
"I am not taking this lightly Schuldich," I warned him with a glare, "I'm just not sure what to believe right now."
"Well, you'd better hurry up and figure something out," my companion told me as he leaned back in his chair, "I don't thin I'd really like to see that premonition of yours come true."
"It wont," I said a little too quickly, cursing mentally as Schuldich picked up on my reaction.
"Yeah," he said with a small smile and a single nod, "I know it wont."
Silence settled back down over the room. The clock continued to tick. It mixed with my thoughts, scrambling them, breaking my concentration. I cursed the stupid thing, wanting nothing more than to take it off the wall and smash it to pieces. Yet I still possessed my beloved self control and so refrained from doing so. It sounded more like a jack hammer than a second hand by the time I sat up in annoyance and proclaimed that I was going to bed. Schuldich just nodded at me, seeming to be too off in his own world of thoughts to really notice my discomfort.
"Oh and Crawford," he said suddenly, stopping me as I stood in the doorway, "about the card thing, you're not a card."
"Of course I'm not," I said with a slight smirk.
"No, really, I mean it," he said sincerely, "you're a good leader. I just think that you should open up some more."
"Haven't we already had this conversation?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "About three years ago?"
"Well, it seems like we're having to have it again," Schuldich smirked, "that tell you anything?"
"I told you…"
"You are in no mood to deal with me tonight, yeah I know already," the redhead shook his head and sighed, "I'll see you in the morning."
"Yes," I said coldly, closing the door behind me as I left.
Yet, despite my tone, I could feel the humour drifting through the mental link that I and the redhead shared. Schuldich was laughing behind that closed door and, oddly enough, it didn't make me angry. Instead it made me…relieved. He was happy, I could feel it even as I stepped into the dark room where Siberian slept. It had been a long time since I had actually seen any of my team happy, including myself. I couldn't really say that it was ne of my main goals, but it was good for morale at least.
-Yes, - I thought as I sat down in the chair Schuldich had previously occupied and prepared to sleep, -good for morale. That's what it's for.-
I let my face relax as I prepared to sleep, taking off my glasses and resting them on the arm of the chair. Yet somewhere, deep down in my mind, I could have sworn I was smiling.
AN: Crawford? Going soft? Nooooooooooo! Don't worry, it won't last long ^-^. As always please R&R, and thanks for the reviews, they really do help get my ass into gear, lol!