Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss, and I don't own Schwartz and I don't make ay money!!

Chapter 14

Trojan horse

Pale, pale light was drifting in through my eyelids, waking me. Yet…it almost felt, as I lay there, like it was shining directly into my eyes even though I knew I had them closed…yet I didn't know. I felt like I didn't have control over my eyes, like I didn't have eyes at all! Yet I cold still see. Wait…laying there? Was I actually lying down? I couldn't feel…

I was…I remember…

The breeze was gentle as the memory washed over me, taking me with it, wiping away the terrible thoughts that had teetered on the edge of my consciousness. I blinked again, realising that now I had eyes, eyes that I could open and close. So I played with this long taken for granted power, now seemingly godlike, just opening and closing my eyes and marvelling as I watched the nothingness before them.

But…I could see the red…the darkness…

Again the memory was snatched from my very essence, the entire thought being swept away as I tried my best to hold onto it. I wanted to know where I was, wanted to know what I was doing here, how I got here, where Ken…

Ken?

Ken.

Oh Ken…

I sat up suddenly…and I nearly died at the shock I received as I looked around me. An entire sea of blue gentians, just like the ones we used to sell at the Koneko no sumo ie, waved and swam around me. The sea green grass danced with the flowers, intertwining and mingling with them as they poked their way through to the sunshine. The sunshine? Ah, the sun was shining…and I was sitting on a hill. There were fluffy white clouds in the sky above me, and I was sitting on a hill…or it seemed so anyway. Yet…

How did I get here...I remember a pitch black…

Then it was gone, replaced by the thought that the breeze was really very calming and pleasant, the sky shifting imperceptibly, the blue turning a shade lighter and more harmonious. I sighed as the breeze ruffled my hair, sifting through my clothes as I sat serene, gazing out over the newly formed landscape before me. I looked down absently, noting that I was wearing a light cotton shirt and a pair of black trousers, like I had used to wear some days in the shop when it was especially hot. My pale arms stuck out from the ends of the shirt, a stark contrast t that electric blue…

I was sure, as I glanced at the distant sparkling peaks and the rivers of green grass that flowed over the steel grey rock, that I recognised this place. I had…seen it before, yet I had never been here. It was a book, I was sure I had seen pictures of this place in a book…

I stared up at the sky, laying back down as the clouds willed me to lie back with their lazy attitude. I watched absently as a small bird danced its way across my vision, shrilling its joy at the wonderful sunshine. I sighed happily, breathing in the heavy, musky scent of gentians and pollen. A bee buzzed past my ear.

"What's it all for?"

I was on my feet in a second, the voice seeming to come from all around me, so sudden and indirect. I stared wildly around, the large dent in the flowers where I had lay slowly bouncing back up towards the sunshine and the breeze. Yet, there was no one there. Just more rolling hills and sharp mountain peaks. There was no source for the voice, no person in sight, no…

…no earthly reason why I should be here in this storybook landscape in complete peace and serenity.

"He's…gone."

Again I couldn't help but start in fright as the voice sounded again, my mind having lolled me back into a false sense of security in those few moments, as the sunlight danced over my hands, warming my head. It was so calm here, yet there was something…wrong. I couldn't place it, but I shouldn't be here. It was strange, but, when that voice spoke…I could almost feel it in my own flesh. It sent tiny quivers up my spine and goose bumps over my skin.  Could have sworn I knew that voice…just like I knew this place…had I been here?

"Nothing to fight for, no reason…he wanted to…he tried to…"

Who was it, I knew I knew it! If I just thought hard enough…

"…wanted to kill me."

Ken?

"Why?"

Ken is that you?

"I just…I don't know anymore…"

Ken, where are you!?

"I just wish that, everything could be back the way it used to be."

Ken, where are you, can you here me!? Ken?

"Isn't that what dreams are for?"

Ken, why don't you answer me!? I mean it, I am not kidding around!

"To live out our fantasies?"

Are you listening to me!?

"And all I get is a washed out sky and a field of old flowers."

And me! What about me?

"Why aren't you here…"

…I am.

"I just…just…I want…"

I…what's going on here? Where am I? Where are you Ken? Why amn't I..?

"…to be with you."

The shift was so sudden that I didn't even have time to blink before the pressure in the air suddenly intensified tenfold. I cried out as I felt the air itself pressing into my very skin, the feeling of being pushed inside of yourself with nowhere else to go. I just sighed long and breathlessly, having the power to do nothing else, as the whole peaceful scene, confusing as it was, just swallowed itself up along with me.

But that last glimpse.

I saw someone standing on the horizon, arms hugging their small frame…nothing but a child.

Then there was nothing but fire, fire engulfing me, surrounding me, tearing at my flesh, heat permeating my very being, right into my soul…

"Kase!"

That one impassioned cry. I tried to open my eyes but the burning inferno of heat assuaging my senses overwhelmed me.

Then it was all black, still and charred, nothing but smoking ruins as far as the eyes could see…

"…Kase…"

Someone was crying.

"…why, why did you..?"

It was just like that disembodied voice…I knew, was that Ken again?

"Just like him, everyone betrays me in the end."

But…

"Am I so gullible?"

…I didn't…

"No one, I can trust no one!"

…I tried to stop it…

"I'm not worth caring about!"

…no, please…

"He just…hates me…"

…who? Where? What is happening?

"I wish…I wish it was all over…"

…What over? What are you talking about? Why can't you hear me?

"But even then it would make no difference…"

…Don't you want to help me?

"I can't help him."

…I'm lost.

"He's lost."

Darkness.

"Darkness."

Alone.

"Alone."

Please…

"Please…"

I need you…

"I need you…"

Ken…

"Ran…"

AN: Well, even Ran hasn't really figured it out yet, he with his penchant for being a stubborn ass and all heh heh! I don't really like this chapter personally, so don't be surprised if I go back and rewrite it, but as ever please R&R, feedback very welcome and please, make any suggestions you like to make it less crap, heh heh!