Schuldig followed Yohji into the kitchen and came to a halt in the doorway. They didn’t have time for a protracted drinking session which would be the easy option so he headed for the coffee machine with a slight sigh. “You want some?” he asked.
The blonde shook his head, his back to the German. "No. Thanks but..." He shuddered visibly and took another drag off his cigarette.
He stared into the sink, but that wasn't what he was seeing. In his mind's eye he could clearly see Aya writhing in pleasure under Crawford, the American's face alight with passion as he pounded into the red-head.
Yohji closed his eyes and told himself yet again it was only a dream, it wasn't real, Aya... would never let the Schwarz leader fuck him.
But it had been so real, as if he were watching it from beside the bed. So real that the scent of Crawford's cologne still tickled his nostrils and he could smell Aya's shampoo.
"Gods... I don't want to lose him..." he whispered brokenly, not even aware he'd spoken out loud.
Schuldig decided against the coffee. They didn’t have the time. Instead he perched on the counter and took a deep breath.
“The guy that forced Zeshin to attack Aya tonight and approached him in the elevator is part of a team called Terror. One of their operatives, Nightmare, has the ability to twist dreams. I’m guessing that’s what has happened to you.”
“If we’re to escape with our lives, we have to take on this team. So I need to sort out the damage that Nightmare has done to you.”
"Nightmare," the blonde repeated the name, thinking about the images drifting through his mind.
Yohji raised his head and looked over his shoulder at Schuldig. "You want in my head?" He could still see the dream he had playing in his mind.
He turned around and held out his hand, "Do it. I can't live with this in my head."
Schuldig nodded, knowing only too well the way dreams could be twisted by certain kinds of telepathy and some empaths. He’d had first hand experience of it during his own training.
He entered Kudoh’s head as gently as he could and immediately saw the dream. Oh boy! No wonder the blonde was in such a state, especially as this dream might even come to pass one day. Nightmare had set the damned thing like a tape loop running over and over again in Kudoh’s mind.
Schuldig erased the dream completely. Best for Kudoh if he had no memory of it at all.
When it was over, Yohji tried to step away from the German and almost fell, one hand landing on Schuldig's shoulder to steady himself as he swayed, dizzy from what had just been done.
Brilliant green eyes met crystal blue. "You know, I never noticed it before, but you have beautiful eyes."
Here it came.
“Danke, mein Freund,” Schuldig said. He wanted to add, but I’m already taken and so are you, but he remembered Brad’s instructions just in time.
Yohji sank back against the counter, his head lowering, shoulders starting to shake, "I know it was just..." he shook his head, stopped speaking, took a long breath and let it out slowly. "He wants things I can't give him. I can see it when he looks at Zeshin. This... hunger."
Yohji gave a bitter laugh, mocking himself. "The great lover Kudoh Yohji, womaniser and murderer. But you know what, Schuldig?" he met the telepath's gaze, "He scares me more than Farfarello ever will. Scares me to the bottom of my soul because there's something in his eyes, something... dark and cruel and I don't want to see that in his eyes when he's looking at me."
Now Schuldig understood why Brad had told him to accept the pass and talk to Kudoh. The gold kitty had suddenly realised that Aya had a streak of sadism that he couldn’t pander to as an alpha male.
“Do you love him?” he asked after a few moments of thought. He could have dug the answer out of Yohji’s mind but, if there was ever to be trust between them, he had to do this without his talent/curse.
"I love him so much it hurts, Schuldig..." he sighed, shrugged and looked away hiding the raw pain in his gaze, but it didn't hide the feeling of defeated sorrow coming from him. "What can I do? I can see it won't work out between us."
He closed his eyes to keep the tears in check, "I... thought I could do this. I thought I could make it work, do what he wanted but..."
Schuldig reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Yohji before lighting his own.
Yohji took the offered cigarette and stared at it as if he'd never seen one, " I knew he was repressing his sexual desires, and I've kept my feelings for him locked up for years.”
"What he wants and what I can give him fall short of what he needs, and go farther than I can handle. So here we are. We're lovers, but we're at odds. I want to tie him up and make him my toy, but that's what he expects of me. For me it's nothing serious, I can live without it. I don't think he can."
“Because he wants to do precisely the same to you.” It wasn’t a question. On his few trips into Aya’s mind, Schuldig had taken the opportunity to see what made the other redhead tick. He’d received quite a few surprises and that had been before the interest in Singapura as a toy.
“The idea freaks you out because he scares you when he’s cold and cruel. I think you’re in love with Ran rather than Aya and he can never be Ran again. Your friends at Kritiker saw to that.”
Time to tell Yohji some truths. “His first team turned on each other, did you know that? He was betrayed by both his first lover and his sword master. He knew about betrayal before you and Hidaka learned that particular lesson and he found out at a much younger age.”
"I heard rumours inside Kritiker about that."
Yohji lit the cigarette he'd been holding, took a long drag and studied Schuldig. "Look, none of us have all our oars in the water, and I think you know which pieces of my puzzle have gone missing," he began. "I don't know Ran. I never have known Ran because he was dead before he reached Weiss. What I didn't realize is we both have a few of the same pieces missing. I should have seen it, I really should have."
He took another drag from the cigarette, exhaled the smoke in a thin stream. "Okay, let me rephrase that. I did see the twists, but chose to ignore how deep they were in favour of thinking I could make it work. Gods, I do love him, every cold, violet glaring, bitchy snarl, alabaster skinned inch of him."
The blonde's voice broke and he made a great show of flicking ashes into the sink, mouth twisted into a pained imitation of a smile while unshed tears sparkled like broken glass in his eyes. " I think if we try to be lovers someone is going to wind up dead. Maybe Zeshin, " his expression went even more bitter, "maybe me."
“Yes, he is beautiful,” Schuldig said thoughtfully as he gazed at the lit end of his cigarette, “but then most poisonous snakes are beautifully marked. In fact, when you think about it, all predatory animals are beautiful.”
He glanced up then, straight into sad, green eyes. “I don’t think he would ever deliberately hurt you but if you tried to tame him he would turn on you. You said it yourself, Kudoh, in a gay relationship you need to be the top. You’re not comfortable enough with that side of your sexuality to be anything else.”
"You hit the mark, Schuldig. I'm not comfortable with it." He watched curls of smoke rise in the air, then added, "I think part of my problem is that I don't have the same urges with women that I have with men. I don't tie women up and want to hurt them. Not even a little And it's not like I have the desire to go fuck guys left and right either. I want Aya.
"But with Aya, what I want is very different than my normal sexual needs. Probably because I associate him with danger and I want the rush of controlling a dangerous creature. Like you said, he's a predator, a beautiful one, and I want him to be mine in ways he can't accept."
“Aya can be bottom simply because he is fully and contentedly gay. Women don’t interest him the way they do you. But he’s not by nature a bottom and you’re too afraid to truly ever be one and enjoy it.”
"Again true." Yohji ran his hands through his tangled hair, "It's like I'm two people, the man that dated half the women in Tokyo, and this guy that can't get enough of a man named Aya." He considered it a moment, "I think if I’d never met him I'd have kept fucking women and not worrying about the other side of me."
A thought occurred to Schuldig and he wondered if he dared voice it. Then again… “If you’re in love with his personality, you could do worse than get to know his sister better.”
Yohji frowned. "His sister? Hell Schuldig you do want me to die, don't you?" the blonde asked. "He'd tear my heart out with his bare hands for even thinking about her like that. I'm not sure I could either. I mean... she's just a kid. Besides, he made me promise no more women if I wanted to be his lover. I agreed so that'd be two reasons to rip my heart out."
Schuldig sighed as he did a bit of mental math. Yep, that was right. “She might look like a kid, Kudoh, but she’s nineteen. And who better to take care of her than you? He trusts you. I don’t think you can make it as lovers but you still have a very deep friendship based on trust. I don’t think you’ll ever lose that.”
"Probably not. But she is his kid sister and no matter how old she gets that fact won't change. If I so much as look at her the way I'd look at a woman you can bet he'll be talking to me from the end of a katana."
He glanced at his watch and frowned. Time was against them in this particular tete a tete. “We need to pack and get out of here.”
"Yeah, well I never unpacked," the blonde remarked as he tossed the remains of his cigarette into the sink.
He hesitated then looked at Schuldig and said very softly, "Thanks, Schuldig. You aren't such a prick after all."
* * * * * * *
Crawford pushed his glasses up and reached into the duffle, handing Farfarello a batch of knives of varying sizes, including one that was more properly a short sword than a knife.
The Irishman pulled it from the sheath and studied his own reflection in the well polished metal. A finger stroked along the edge and he grinned at the blood that welled up in the cut.
"Nice. Very nice."
"I'm glad they meet with your approval," the American said dryly before handing the man a .44 semi-automatic pistol. "Just in case they bring a few low power goons."
Farfarello nodded.
Schuldig emerged from the kitchen and went to receive his own gun from Brad’s hands before disappearing into his bedroom to pack the last of his belongings.
Aya, who never had unpacked, stood to one side, arms folded as he thought about Brad’s offers from earlier. Zeshin submissive and his to toy with was a very tempting thought but Yohji would not be able to share him with the cat-boy. And then there had been the last offer…’I could show you.’
Aya shuddered slightly as he thought about what Crawford might be able to show him. Strange how being at the American’s mercy didn’t freak him out the way the thought of being Yohji’s toy did.
Then it hit him. Much as he loved Yohji, he couldn’t respect the blonde outside of missions. To Yohji, he was their leader and that was how the blonde treated him outside of a bed.
Did that mean that he respected Crawford? He supposed, if he was honest with himself, that he did. The American had pushed himself to the point of ill health to save his team.
Brad caught Farfarello's attention and motioned for the Irishman to take a walk with nothing more than the tilt of one eyebrow.
Glancing from Brad to the fiery-haired kitten he picked up his new toys and vanished into the room he'd been sharing with Schuldig.
Brad frowned and glanced at the kitchen as Yohji drifted in, paused to smile at Aya, and then disappeared into the room the two Weiss had been sharing.
A flicker of sight showed Yohji standing under a tree, tears flowing from his eyes. From the vision he caught the corner of the house he'd just purchased and knew that what he'd seen would happen shortly.
He also knew that, much as he desired Aya, he would have to take it slow or risk losing the blonde. The man was unstable and so much hinged on how well he accepted his own flaws and dealt with the rejection of his lover.
"Have you been considering my offer?" Brad asked softly, not ready to have Yohji know about this additional betrayal of his lover.
Aya glared at Brad but nodded. “With regard to Mitsuwa, yes.” He glanced at Zeshin still crouching on the floor, eyes vacant. “He should keep the name he knows but I want his memories of that Takatori shit or Rosenkreuz gone.”
He shivered as a wave of lust went through his body. “I want him loyal to me.”
Brad smiled. "Good. And about the other thing I mentioned. Are you considering that too?" he pulled a Heckler & Koch .45 automatic pistol out of the bag and turned it in his hands. It felt good. He pulled out the shoulder harness and removed his jacket preparatory to putting the shoulder rig on.
The American took a step closer to Aya, "Will you be loyal to me?" he asked softly, lowering his head just enough that his warm breath stirred one of Aya's eartails.
"I'm not like him, you know. Pain doesn't bother me," he whispered. "It's like spice, it makes it everything feel better."
Another shiver coursed through Aya’s body but all he said was, “I will not leave Yohji. He needs me too much right now.”
"I know," Crawford replied.
He gripped Aya's chin in his hand and made the Weiss look up at him, "But we both know he's not what you need." The dark eyes met Aya's violet ones. "You'll tear him apart no matter what you do, Aya, unless..."
“Unless?”
"Unless you let him go." Brad slid his fingers though Aya's hair, "Yohji still loves women, Aya. He'll find a solution right here under his nose. One I don't think even you've considered."
His sister! Kami-sama, why hadn’t he thought about that earlier? His possessive nature made him long to deny the very idea. Yohji was a fucked-up, alcoholic killer, not good enough for Aya-chan.
But good enough for you…
And then another thought came. For all the blonde’s faults, he trusted Yohji with his life so why not that of his sister? She must be lonely after all. Could he really condemn her to a life of celibacy and loneliness?
Ken would have been better for her but Ken was gay and Yohji… wasn’t. At least not completely.
Aya sighed. “He’d better not hurt her,” he said aloud.
The hand slid through Aya's hair again, the touch a lover's caress. "He needs someone like her to make him whole, to mend his shattered soul. And without that, he's going to die. I think you are as fully aware of that as I am. I can see the future, Aya. And I've seen Kudoh dead in our future. Dead because you can't give him what he really needs anymore than he can give you what your soul craves."
Voice gone to a velvet whisper, Brad said, "You have to let him go."
Aya nodded, but pulled away from Brad’s hand. “Did you get me a gun or will my katana be sufficient?” he asked, all business once more.
His gaze fell on Zeshin again. “And what about him? Doesn’t he need to function right now?”
Brad slipped into the shoulder harness for his own pistol, "Yes. But what needs to be done isn't something that should be carried out where everyone can see it. Take him to Schuldig. He needs to have at least a partially functional semblance of humanity before we leave here."
He adjusted the shoulder rig, "You're doing the best thing for them both, Aya." His mouth twisted in a peculiar hint of a smile, "And really, we do need to start calling you Ran. It will be confusing in a tight situation otherwise."
“Ran is dead,” Aya said flatly, “leave him buried with Kikyou, Shion and Tsukiyono Omi. If you need to avoid confusion use my codename.”
He crossed the room and lifted an unresisting Zeshin to his feet, both of them disappearing into Schuldig’s room.
Brad's glasses flashed and he allowed himself a pleased chuckle. Gordian knot time not withstanding, they were already making good progress toward becoming a team.
And he was a step closer to having the red-head where he wanted him. Moaning in passion right in Brad's own bed.
Smiling to himself he straightened his tie and reached out for the German. *Get that genetic experiment from hell thinking like a person again and let's get the fuck out of here, Schuldig.
*We've got work to do.*
* * * * * * *
Schuldig was smirking as Aya entered his room with Zeshin in tow. Brad’s mental voice had been both smug and businesslike. More like his old, demonic self. He wiped the smile off his face as Aya glared and tried to look ready for duty.
Zeshin sank quietly to the floor at Aya's feet the instant they stopped walking. He didn't look right or left, didn't look at any of them, or seem to be aware of much at all really, his motions more those of an automaton, a thing, than those of a person or animal.
“Have you decided what you want?” Schuldig asked.
Aya nodded. “The name he’s used to, including any and all nicknames except those that Takatori might have used. Complete loyalty to me, a…respectful personality, intelligence and no recollection of either Rosenkreuz labs or Takatori Mamoru. Give him a Kritiker that has betrayed us all.”
“Respectful eh? Don’t you mean submissive?” Schuldig smirked again as Aya flushed to the roots of his hair. Bingo! Right on target.
Farfarello finished strapping a knife to his calf and rolled his pant's leg down before he looked up. "If they weren't already dead I'd kill the bastards that used my flesh to make that... toy."
Aya glanced at the psychopath. The man had reminded him of something. “He’ll need his fighting skills, of course, and the memory of those that trained him.” A slight, cold smile. “Make his daddy proud of him.”
Farfarello actually burst out laughing at that comment, a chilling glint of something coldly wicked in his own amber eye. "Oh, aye, make me proud of the little beast."
Silently to Schuldig he said, *While you're in there, see exactly how much like me he could be. Part of him is me, maybe he's inherited my talents too.*
Schuldig nodded and began the job of sifting through Zeshin’s mind. Some doors he opened, others he left firmly shut and bolted them for good measure. Total erasure of Rosenkreuz and Takatori could come when he had more time.
He spotted a flicker of something that reminded him of Farf and investigated it. Oh boy! The kid was as dangerous in his own way as his genetic father. Schuldig strengthened that flicker until it was a steady flame. The boy would have no conscience about killing and that could only help him.
Zeshin sat, motionless as the German reshaped him in the image they desired, moulding him into something better than he had been before.
Someone they could trust their lives with.
Someone incapable of ever betraying them.
Someone that would obey Abyssinian's every command without question.
Farfarello watched his lover with keen interest, wishing, not for the first time, that he shared the telepath's ability so he too could go into the boy's mind and hone him to a weapon attuned to the destruction of Rosenkruez and all it stood for.
Just watching his lover made him hard. He glanced at Aya, wondering what was going through Abyssinian's mind. Was he excited and eager to play with his toy? He had the impression that the red-haired kitten had more in common with Schwarz deep down than he'd ever had with Weiss.
Aya stood motionless as Schuldig worked, stance belying the excitement he felt at the thought of having had some say in the creation of a team mate. Of course, there was still the possibility that Schuldig would betray his trust but somehow he doubted it.
And that lead to another epiphany. He was actually beginning to like all the members of Schwarz now he wasn’t constantly called upon to face them as enemies.
Zeshin's eyes closed and he wilted to the carpet, slipping into a light sleep as the telepath did his work.
"He's deep in the boy's mind now. It shouldn't take too much longer," Farfarello murmured, watching the telepath as sweat started to bead on Schuldig's forehead from the effort.
Ken stuck his head in the door and whispered, "Brad says when you're done to meet us in the kitchen. Nagi and I are packing the food."
He was gone, the door closed softly before either of them could reply.
Aya smiled slightly. Ken was now calling Crawford 'Brad' and accepting his orders without question. They were becoming a team, a force to be reckoned with.
Schuldig withdrew from Zeshin’s mind with a slight sigh of relief. “There’s still stuff I have to erase, but it’s locked up tight for now and should cause no problems until I can finish the job properly. As for the rest of the requests, it’s done.”
He smirked at Aya. “That’s a dangerous little toy you have there.”
“Good,” was all Aya said.
* * * * * * *
They'd arrived at the house without incident but Crawford had refused to let any of them in the place until he'd walked around inside and determined it was safe.
He'd set Weiss and Farfarello up as guards and sent Nagi to wire the place to blow the minute they were safely on the retreat from the attack that would come from Terror.
Schuldig had been given the task of helping Fujimiya and Kudoh to get a grip on their powers because it was up to the pair of them to get them out of their current predicament.
Less than eighteen hours remained to them, and Brad knew better than to trust Rosenkruez to actually give them that much time.
No, Terror would be coming for them all too soon.
Brad sat back on the couch and closed his eyes, trying to let some of the tension drain away, using the few minutes alone bring his own turmoil under control. He could feel the threads of time pulling apart finally. It was good to be able to peer down a thread and see a single path rather than the mobius strip he'd been facing the last week or so.
With his eyes closed he realized how tired he was. While being tired only made his visions more clear, he knew it would hamper Weiss and make them prone to mistakes.
And a tired Farfarello could be unpredictable.
The Weiss kitties and Farfarello needed sleep, but he doubted they'd get any. Not since they were facing Terror and what those Rosenkreuz bastards could do to a sleeping mind was not to be contemplated.
Nagi appeared from the door to the basement. "I've found the weak spots in the supports," he said, "and wired them up with explosive. If the blast doesn't get them the roof falling on their heads will."
The youngest member of Schwarz had dark rings under his eyes from the use of his talent when he really needed sleep. But he would not sleep and allow Nightmare to get into his head.
“Or you hope it will,” Kai said from the doorway where he was stationed. He had made no comment at all on Weiss teaming up with Schwarz and had actually come to the conclusion that they’d been damned lucky to be of use to the ex-Essett talents. He couldn’t picture Brad losing now.
Of them all Ken was the most alert, his dark eyes scanning the darkness of the lush tropical plants that surrounded the house.
"It will. But since we're awake they'll have to get in here first, and I don't plan on letting that happen." He made a fist and, instead of his bugnucks responding to the motion, hints of flame flickered across his knuckles.
Crawford saw Siberian call up the pyrokinetic power and his dark eyes lit even as the flame bathed his eyeglass lenses in a ruddy glow. While he'd hoped they'd have more time, it seemed possible that Ken at least had a natural control of his ability. Which brought to mind the idea that, perhaps, the little bed burning incident had been caused by an outside influence. Nightmare perhaps.
Crawford turned his attention to Nagi, mouth twisting down in a sharp frown. The boy had to have sleep, and that meant they'd have to get moving soon.
*Schuldig have you made any progress? Time is running out for us.*
*Aya understands his power, at least, it’s just getting him to use it outside of life or death situations and at will. So far it’s been all instinct. Having said that, he understands the situation we’re in and is trying hard. We’re making progress by leaps and bounds. What we need to know is backwards or forwards in time and how far?*
*Keep working with him Schuldig. I know this is pushing them both hard, but what I'm seeing if we stay here... We might not die, but we'll lose Kudoh and possibly Farfarello and I'm not willing to permit that.*
*We need to go back. At least fifty years, more if you think the pair of them can manage it,* Crawford replied. *We'd be safe in the nineteen twenties, or thirties. Before Rosenkruez gained all that power during World War Two.*
*I don’t really want to go through World War Two, Brad. I’ll see how far we can get things. Whoops! Wait a minute! Yes! He’s mastered it! Whenever you’re ready, Vater.*
Crawford gave a mental chuckle, *Perhaps you'd prefer a nice ocean cruise on the Titanic?*
To the others he said, " Nagi, Abyssinian is ready, make sure this place will blow if anyone comes in after we're gone. The rest of you, come with me. It's time for us to depart where none of them can find us." He started for the master bedroom where he'd sent the other three.
If Abyssinian could truly pull this off with help from Kudoh, there was nothing they couldn't do, nowhere they couldn't go.
And when they were ready...
The American's glasses glinted with an evil shimmer.
Yes, when they were ready it would be Rosenkruez that would be on the run.