Disclaimer: I own nothing, you hear me nothing! All rights reserved for Takehito Koyasu and Project Weiss. Also the title of this chapter happens to be the same as the title of an episode from Evangelion: Neon Genesis, but that's just coincidence and I don't own that either…gah!

Warnings: Umm, excessive sibling abuse, violence, swearing, the usual…

Chapter 32

Familiar Ceiling

"I wish I had an angel

For one moment of love…

…I'm in love with my lust

Burning Angel wings to dust

I wish I had your angel tonight."

"I wish I had an Angel" by Nightwish

"Wake up sweetheart."

The world was quiet save for that one request which, to all intents and purposes, sounded more like an order. I resisted the instinctual want to open my eyes and see who was speaking, instead laying carefully still and silent, hoping they wouldn't notice I had woken yet. Although, considering their words, they'd probably guessed already.

"Open your eyes," a more severe voice said solemnly, seeming louder, clearer, as my mind began to come to itself.

"I thought you said you would bring him back unharmed?" another voice said testily, sweet and childlike.

"I did," the first voice informed them, my eyes slowly fluttering open, "this was how I found him. All this wasn't my doing."

The first thing that registered in my mind when I finally opened my eyes was that the ceiling I was facing was entirely familiar. It was wooden, arched with spindly beams slinking from side to side. The rich wood was lambent with firelight, dancing from some unknown source as I blinked once more. I couldn't see the faces which had been speaking moments before and, when I tried to move, my arm spasmed making me cry out in pain. I closed my eyes and rolled onto my side instinctively, feeling soft cloth and warmth beneath me, my free hand coming up to cover the bleeding hole in my arm; and here I was thinking that it was just healing up nicely too…

"Idiots! Clean up this wound before it becomes infected, hurry up!"

"Yes Lord, right away."

"He's no good to me dead."

"As you wish."

I forced my eyes open at these words, needing to know, before answering any of the other questions that were dancing through my mind, just who these people were. I could remember being grabbed from the abandoned Esset base but the memory was fuzzy and out of focus. It was as if I was having a really bad hangover without even getting the benefit of actually drinking anything. I groaned, my head lolling over the edge of whatever I was lying on, blinking at the blue rug which washed into view. Scratch that hangover shit, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

"Well sleeping beauty," the first voice said from somewhere above me, "rise and fucking shine."

Despite the fact that one of my kidnapers obviously wanted me back in full health, I had no delusions that this meant I was to be treated like royalty. When a hand fastened itself in my hair and yanked my groggy head upwards to face them I really wasn't shocked at all; what I found there when I came back into focus though was much more, even if not entirely, surprising. And might I just point out, before I record the next event for you, that I am rather proud of the fact that, even though I was out of it, I could still react as quickly as I did. When that blurry smiling face registered in my brain, still only half conscious, it only took me half a second to react.

Lorelei.

"Bitch!" I yelled out, my hand screaming up to collide with her jaw bone, sending her flying back into a small side table holding some floating water lilies; her face was priceless, honestly.

And that was the most impressive thing I was going to do all night; even though I knew that I was capable of standing up I didn't try it. It was too risky, I wanted to conserve my energy and that meant not overdoing it. I mean, I know that punching my sister was overdoing it considering my physical state but, hell, it wasn't like it wasn't immensely satisfying. Anyway, if I stood up now I was bound to be jumped on, beaten more than likely, and I don't think my body was really in the state for taking much more than it already had. First I needed to figure out where I was, just how many of them there were and also the best way out; then I could work on finding my way back to the others.

I pulled myself up onto my forearms and looked over to her as she rose gracefully from the water covered wooden floor, the flowers lying haphazardly between the floorboards. I realised absently that the fire lighting the room was behind her, silhouetting her figure as she rubbed her jaw and smiled. The room was really quite dark to be honest, even though I only seemed to be noticing it now. I was lying roughly in the middle of what seemed more like a main hall than a room, the floor was the traditional tadami (1) and there were two fusuma (2) facing me from the thin cream paper walls held in bamboo frames. The corners of the room furthest from the flames were shrouded in darkness, but I could just make out at the far end of the hall from my feet, the dark rain thrashed sliding windows where the flimsy walls joined to the sturdier outer walls. I tried not to focus on her as she continued to look at me, but in the end she forced my gaze into hers as she walked slowly towards me.

"Well, we're not so sleepy now are we? Pity," the voice was one minute coming from across the room, a split second later right up beside me as she moved faster than the eye; it was like when a song changes speakers mid chorus, disorientating.

"What do you want with me you whore?" I smirked out, feeling my body begin to shake simply from holding myself up on my own two arms, "Miss me that much?"

"As much as the plague," her lip curled with disgust as she eyed me, once more standing over me with her arms folded and her hair dribbling down around her face.

She was wearing a black cat-suit, like something from sixties British fashion, which contrasted with her bright blond hair. She was smirking distastefully down at my prone form, her long painted nails like blood stained claws against the black material. I took another quick scope of my surroundings, trying absently to figure out why this place had seemed so familiar. In the end it didn't take long to figure out.

The mountaintop, the San-Roujin's old place, what the hell was I doing here? What the hell was she doing here? What the fuck was going on?

"Oh, so foul mouthed," she said, breaking my train of thought as she leaned in to look at me, now visibly struggling to stay upright, "or should I say foul minded?"

"Cut the crap," I coughed, trying to force myself back away from her sweet perfume, "what do you want?"

"Oh, the nonchalant treatment hmm? You're acting all unsurprised again, how boring. I thought you would have been more shocked at seeing me but, oh well, if that's the way you want to play it. But really is that all I'm worth to you? Your only surviving family member?"

"You weren't a family member, you were never part of my family!" I snarled, rising to her bait too easily, "You were an adopted and you know it, abomination…"

"Shut your face," she snapped back, one clawed hand smashing down into my face, tearing at my cheek and sending me back to the tier on which I lay; I lay there dazed for a moment, simply blinking at the ceiling once more, "You always were an insolent brat, I remember that much."

"It never did sit well with you did it, being the adopted one after I was born," I smirked, waiting for the blows to keep coming like I knew they would, "it was almost like they didn't need you then, wasn't it? Is that why you did it? Jealousy?"

"Oh you think I'm that easy to goad don't you?" she laughed, her voice harsh with malice as slim fingers and nails spread around my exposed throat, "but it's not going to be like that, oh no, I'll take care of you properly this time."

"I can't wait," I sighed back, closing my eyes once more just to piss her off.

"Look at me you piece of shit," her hand constricted around my jugular in a split second, my own hands flying up to my throat as I gasped for air, "or do you want me to choke you to death?"

The look in her eyes was murderous when I opened my own to look at her, the hand which was crushing me suddenly too tight to be ignored. I wasn't even a little bit shocked by her behaviour, more just pissed off that I couldn't do anything about it. I watched her face constrict in anger as she squeezed just that little bit more tightly, her blonde brows knitting together in fury before she let out a harsh breath and let me go. I heaved the air into my lungs, coughing roughly and noisily as I sucked in lungful after lungful. My hands massaged the bruised flesh of my throat and I couldn't stop my eyes from watering as they stayed fixed on her, her back now turned to me, the edges of the fair hair dancing golden in the firelight.

"It's a good thing for you that you're needed," her voice was cold and hard when she spoke again, still refusing to turn round and face me, "or you would already be dead, don't think that I would have left you alive. Even if meant that I would have missed the unique opportunity to watch your face twist as I drained the life from you…it would have been worth it just to know that I'd never have to feel your eyes on me ever again. It was really disappointing, you know, finding out that you were a part of all this. I was so looking forwards to ripping out your throat…"

"Oh…dear," I hacked out, wheezing a little as I forced saliva down my raw throat in an awkward swallow, "and I t-thought you liked…the sound of my voice."

"Oh yes," she laughed then, her cold eyes glancing back at me over her shoulder, "like nails down a blackboard. But anyway, it's not like I should really complain in the long run, there are other ways to hurt you other than killing you. In fact, it seems so insignificant an amount of pain, death, compared to the suffering I could inflict on you while you're still alive, things to use against you…."

"Ha, I've heard that one before," I said sarcastically, rolling onto my back and staring once more up at the domed ceiling, "but in the end it always seems to come straight back to the physical, don't you find that? Come on Lorelei, you don't fool me, you know that you can't break me, what's left to break?"

"Oh Alaric," she said softly, almost a lament, "sometimes you are so naïve, I always did think that about you. When you were younger it was the naivety of youth, the optimism, the joy…and now it's the naivety of cynicism. You really believe that you have nothing left, don't you? Nothing I can ensnare you with, make you into my little puppet? I wonder how long you've believed that, or how long it will take me to show you that it's all just a lie you've sunk into..?"

"Da es zu diesem gekommen ist," I spat out, coughing once more to clear my throat, slipping back into my native tongue with ease in my anger, "mein name ist nicht Alaric, es ist Schudig."

"Ah, Schuldig, ist es?" she turned around on hearing this, her smile almost playful in its cruelty, her eyes dancing, "sehr passend. Dieses ist gut, ich mag dieses. So namen austauschen wir, schließlich…ich bin Lorelei nicht mehr, ich bin jetzt Schimäre."

"Schimäre?" I said, more to myself than to her, "Hmm, Ich nie bewunderte ihre phantasie. Du überraschen mich…"

There was a soft crash, somewhere behind the thin wall that flickered beyond the fire. I stopped in my tracks, faltering on my last word and looking instinctually towards it. Lorelei, or should I say Chimera now, still stood smiling, not turning towards the noise as any other person would have. Instead her smile only grew, her eyes closing as her teeth flashed soft white and her hand lifted up to push her hair back behind her ear. This of course didn't bode well; if she knew what was going on and I didn't and it was something to make her smile...

I felt a chill up my spine as she locked her eyes to mine, suddenly feeling the need to take back all my words (which is quite a remarkable feat let me tell you) and replace them all with two neat little questions.

"Lorelei…" I started, ignoring her cluck of disapproval and shake of her head at the use of her real name, "…exactly why do you need me here?"

"Oh, back to English are we? And I was enjoying our little chat so much, it's been ages since I've talked in my native tongue with such…veracity."

"Tells me a lot about the company you keep," I spat out, once again trying to pull myself up onto my now weakened arms, "that you have to hunt for lies in their talk, but that's not important. Tell me, why do you need me?"

"Orders, orders," she shook her head despairingly, "you haven't changed at all, arrogant, naïve, stupid…can't you think for yourself?"

"I would if you threw me a fucking clue!" I shouted, ignoring the sharp stabbing at my raw throat, "Tell me you bitch!"

"Testy, aren't we?" her smile was now a grin, "Well, if you insist on knowing your own fate, I can only say that you are required in my Lord's plans and that you don't need to know any more than that right now, or, well, ever if I'm being realistic."

"Great," I snorted, quite sure that this was the most that I would get out of her at the moment, there was no need to ply her just yet; the second question was becoming insistent at the forefront of my thoughts, "but, just one more thing…"

Faintly, in the background, as Lorelei looked to me with feigned interest, started the sound of approaching footsteps.

"What exactly is this…" I swallowed through my dry throat, feeling a horrible nagging sensation in my gut as the footsteps grew nearer; my eyes began to involuntarily flick to one of the fusama that sat to the right of the fire, set far back on the wall, "…what is it that you have?"

"Whatever do you mean, dear brother?" she frowned, seeming oddly intrigued, her head cocking to the left.

"This…leverage," I managed out, feeling the nagging become nausea, my hand instinctually going to my stomach; the footsteps stopped, just outside the door, "what do you have on me?"

This sensation, what was it..? It wasn't the same as the feeling of terror from the Esset base, it wasn't the same at all. That had been horror, blinding…this was nagging, insistent, sickening. Why was I feeling this…fear?

"Oh, that!" she barked out a laugh and waved her hand nonchalantly, "Well, that's an odd coincidence isn't it? It's just been delivered, I can just show you if you'd like? Enter!"

My eyes were riveted to the door, I couldn't move them. I felt horribly like I was being somehow manipulated, yet I could feel no foreign presence in my mind, no tampering…yet something else must have been holding my gaze to it against my will because I knew that if I'd had control of my body that I would have been looking anywhere but at that door. But I couldn't tear my gaze from it, even as it slid slowly to the side and, behind it, stood a tall dark figure carrying a small body in his arms. The firelight danced on them both as the invited man stepped calmly into the room.

I felt the distinct need to throw up.

"Nagi!" I couldn't help but cry, almost falling off the small plinth on which I lay.

Chimera could only smile cruelly in return.

(1) "tadami" – Japanese style wooden floor

(2) "fusuma" – Japanese style sliding doors

German translation: Author takes no responsibility for the (because most assuredly there's bound to be!) mistakes in the German in this chapter considering it's been about seven or eight years since I did any! Also, you can blame my friend Rachel who helped me with it, because she took it to higher heh heh…anyway, here's the rough translation of what it was meant to say, even if it is a load of old bollocks in the German above.

"Since it came to this, my name is not Alaric, it's Schuldig."

"Ah Schuldig, is it? Very fitting. This is good, I like this. Thus we exchange names, at last…I am not Lorelei any more, I am now Chimera."

"Chimera? Hmm, I never admired its fantasy. You surprise me..."

Author note…

Hello! Well, I'm not dead, just very badly burned! Ha, I love Austin Powers, but it really is true this time. I went to T in the Park and DID get very badly burned DESPITE my continuous use of factor 45 sun cream RARGH! Anyway, that is no excuse for the extreme tardiness of this chapter and I do apologise. I hope this one was alright because I've had a long enough time to stew it over in my brain and if it isn't well fermented by now then it never will be! Hopefully the next one will clear some more stuff up…err, I know I say that every time but really, hopefully this time it's true…blame Lien…oh well, I'm off to watch Constantine mow, see you next chapter!