Aya gradually returned to consciousness, disoriented and angry. Memory returned and he felt bile rise in his throat. Takatori Mamoru wanted them dead, had sent Singapura to do it. That thought made him struggle back into full awareness. Where was Yohji? Was he safe?
He opened his eyes on a strange room. He found he could move easily enough and he was not restrained. He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings. He appeared to be in a high-class hotel room, perhaps part of a larger suite. Yohji was in the other queen-sized bed and Aya stumbled across the intervening space to check on him.
The blonde was pale, his hair damp with sweat and he'd been stripped to his underwear.
Jade eyes opened blearily and he reached up to take Aya's hand in his. His palm was sweaty. "Hey baby," he murmured. He sounded tired, and his eyes closed then opened again as if he'd dozed off for a second. "You okay?" he asked. "Had me worried."
�I�m fine. What about you?� Aya asked. �I thought you weren�t going to accept that bitch�s so-called help.�
Yohji gave a harsh bark of laughter, "Believe me, I didn't intend too. She did something to me, I just couldn't help myself." He held onto Aya's hand a bit tighter. "You're mad, huh?"
Aya was silent for several minutes. �I have reason to be more than mad,� he said finally. �The whole mission was a set-up, an excuse for Singapura to kill us. There can only be one person who gave him that order. And yet Schwarz wouldn�t let me kill the boy.�
He glanced at Yohji. �And I don�t know if Bengal was involved or not.�
"He was following orders." Yohji sighed, "Don't pretend you wouldn't have killed me or Ken or even Omi if you'd been ordered to do that instead of joining Weiss."
�Perhaps,� Aya said after a moment, �but not if I�d been accepted as part of your team. I realise Singapura was following orders. It was whose that hurts.�
"Yeah," Yohji agreed despondently, tears filling his eyes. He turned away from Aya, curling into a foetal position around a pillow. "And then I fucked up on top of it. I didn't mean to fuck up."
�I doubt if they gave you much choice,� Aya said. �Ise was involved in your attempted abduction and he was a telepath.� He frowned. �Rosenkruez seems to want you for some reason. Do you have any idea why that might be?�
"None," Yohji replied. "But I'd bet whatever the reason it�s why we're here with Schwarz. That bastard Crawford wants us for a reason." He wiped at the tears streaking his face and sighed.
"I don't suppose you'd consider joining me in this bed for while. I feel..." he shrugged, "disoriented and just.. weird. Here but not here if that makes sense."
Aya blinked, still somewhat in shock at his changed relationship with Yohji. �Move over then,� he said. When Yohji shifted over he lifted the covers and slid under them, spooning his body around Yohji�s. Somehow it felt right which surprised him. It perhaps shouldn�t surprise him but he still felt so undeserving of anyone�s love, even that of another killer.
A smile eased across Yohji's face as Aya held him close. "Don't leave me, Aya. Just promise you won't ever leave me," he murmured as he pressed closer to the red-haired man.
That was his greatest fear now, losing the last person that meant anything, that he could trust with his life.
�I�m not going anywhere, Yohji,� Aya said quietly. �You�re all I�ve got.�
A couple of light raps on the door heralded an unwanted intrusion. Schwarz come to talk, or make demands.
"Tell them to go away," the mumbled words came from a Yohji already at the verge of sleep.
Aya sat up. �Who is it?� he demanded. �We�re still getting over the effects of your damned drugs!�
"I can go away and come back later, but I brought some food if you want it."
It was a voice that Aya knew well.
Yohji sat up abruptly. "Holy shit." Jade eyes were staring at the door, then at Aya. "Is that...?"
�Hidaka,� Aya breathed. Then he was out of the bed and across the room, throwing the door open. He took in the familiar figure, his eyes staying locked on the haggard expression although he said nothing. They�d learned long ago not to pry into each other�s feelings, that they would share only if they wished to.
�Come in,� he invited.
Ken stepped into the room, the smell of Chinese food entering with the bag he was carrying. He put the food down on the dresser and turned to regard Aya. He reached out and touched the man's arm as if reassuring himself that his team mate was real.
Still not saying anything he went to the bed and just gazed at Yohji for a moment. A slow nod and the ghost of a smile then he was on the bed, knocking Yohji backwards, his arms around the blond, the man pinned under him. "God I thought you were dead!"
"Christ! Ken! Shit!" Yohji gasped as his ribs creaked in reaction.
Ken let Yohji go and almost launched himself at Aya giving the red-head a more restrained very brief hug.
Surprisingly, Aya hugged him back. "It�s good to see you, Hidaka," he said. Then he shocked Ken by climbing back into Yohji�s bed.
Lovers. That could explain why he really wanted them dead. It could compromise the team, but I know that wasn't it. He considered them to be monsters like Schwarz. But they were our friends, they saved his life and mine too. A lump grew in his chest and he struggled to breathe, to swallow, fists clenching for an instant before he started to empty the bag of food.
"There's enough chow mien for the three of us," he told them. "Crawford thought we'd like a few hours to ourselves."
A frown darkened Yohji face and he glanced at Aya, one eyebrow arched at the way Ken was acting.
Aya was watching Ken, trying to figure out what was bothering him. He was acting like he�d been acting just after killing Kase only this time it was worse. It was as if a light had gone out inside Ken Hidaka. There were other things he had to know first, though.
�Do you have any idea why Schwarz have abducted us?� he asked.
"They haven't abducted anyone. They're helping us, Aya," he stated. "I'm not really sure why, but Rosenkruez is after us." He glanced from Aya to Yohji, "All of us, and not just for the roles we played in bringing down the Elders whom they didn't really give a shit about."
He offered a Styrofoam container of food to Aya. "Crawford was insistent that we all eat."
"I'm not hungry," Yohji said. He hadn't even sat up after Ken knocked him flat.
Aya glanced at his lover but said nothing. Yohji was still getting over whatever crap had been forced into him.
He took the container and a pair of chopsticks from Ken and began to eat as he tried to make sense of things. �So, the Elders and Essett weren�t the ones in charge. Rosenkruez are. We were told that much.� A bitter tone had entered his voice as he spoke. �Was Bengal part of the plot to kill us?�
He didn�t think the ex-yakuza boy had been anything more than an expendable patsy but he wanted to be as sure as he could be. The recent betrayals had been too raw for him to take anything at face value anymore.
"No. The Takatori bastard put that bullshit Endgame mission completely on Zeshin." The muscles in Ken's jaw bunched the man so angry and hurt that the agony showed in his expressive gaze. "He had me train him with the harigane. Fucking stupid moron that I am, I did it too."
Ken put the container of food down by Yohji. "Both those kids were nothing but expendable garbage, like the three of us. Bastard didn't give a shit about any of us. Not them, not the two of you and sure as hell not me!"
"I told you, I'm not hungry, Ken." Yohji closed his eyes, too tired to either eat or talk. Sleep was the only thing that appealed to him. About a month's worth would be about right.
"Don't argue, just eat it Yohji. Crawford says you're suffering malnutrition from boozing it up, and the drug you were given is best fought off by food and rest."
Aya glared at both his team mates. Yohji for being fool enough to risk his health with booze and malnutrition and Ken for hassling his lover.
�Eat it, Yohji,� he growled. �Ken, back off and give him room.�
He ate his own portion in silence for a moment or two. He supposed he shouldn�t hate Zeshin. The boy would have been given no choice in the matter, after all. And if Takatori had taken him as a lover, just as he had Ken� No! He needed to stop thinking about that particular betrayal.
�What else have Schwarz seen fit to share with you?� he asked.
"Not much. " Ken replied taking the only chair in the room to try and eat. He had no appetite and after a few bites he set the food aside. " Prodigy is the one that told me the two of you were alive. Crawford hasn't really shared any information. I think he's waiting to dump the information on us at the same time, or the prick just plans to keep us in the dark and play fearless leader."
He sat back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. His voice dropped to a harsh edged whisper, "You think you know someone, you think you can trust them and then, ping, the pretty picture shatters and you realize you've been played for a fool, not once, but twice by people you loved."
The brown eyes closed, "This fool ain't going down that road no more."
Aya couldn�t blame Ken for his attitude but it hurt him just the same. �So all five of us are here, wherever here is,� he guessed, deliberately changing the subject. �At least I�m assuming someone picked Bengal up. It just remains to find out what Crawford wants with us.�
He turned to gaze at Yohji who was still prodding at his food without eating it. �Try a couple of mouthfuls at least,� he suggested, his voice softer, �then you can go back to sleep.�
The blonde nodded and shoved some of the food into his mouth. Normally he loved chow mien, but his desire to eat had abandoned him weeks ago, right about the time he'd thought only he and Aya had survived the encounter with the Essett Elders at the Ani.
He chewed and watched Ken, seeing something in the man's gaze he'd only seen once before: the day he'd killed Kase.
Jade eyes widening he almost dropped the food. Oh shit... oh shit. He set the container down and got unsteadily to his feet, going over and putting his arms around Ken.
The younger man remained rigid but Yohji felt a tremor pass through him. Grief bottled up, crushing his friend's soul.
"I'm sorry Ken," he murmured.
"For what? You didn't do anything."
"No, but you did, didn't you?" Yohji asked, turning to look at Aya he silently mouthed, 'He killed Mamoru.'
"Isn't that how you handle betrayal and a dark beast when you're Weiss?" Ken answered.
Remembering Neu, Yohji said, "Yeah, it is."
Aya kept his thoughts to himself, unwilling to upset either of his friends any further. He realised that if Mamoru really was dead it would be a lot easier for them to escape Kritiker�s clutches. And they had to escape Kritiker�s clutches. He only had to look at Yohji and Ken to realise that they could not continue in their present life.
This made Schwarz�s unexpected help more intriguing and he found he was eager to hear whatever Crawford would choose to share with them. He had the intelligence to realise that it wouldn�t be everything but he would insist on enough information to make a viable decision.
After a moment Yohji got off of the floor and moved to sit down on the bed where Aya had awakened because it was closer to the brunette.
"So what now?" he asked no one in particular.
�We see what Crawford has to say,� Aya said. He wondered if Singapura knew that Mamoru was dead and if that knowledge would actually change anything.
"Crawford," Ken muttered the name and shook his head. "This is just too weird." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "The last two days have been like some kind of totally fucked up dream."
Aya opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a tentative knock at the door. He frowned slightly but invited whoever it was to enter. The door opened to admit Kai and Nagi.
The telekinetic having delivered Kai turned as if to go but Aya stopped him with, �Can you tell us anything?� Nagi turned back.
�I might not be able to add very much to what you already know except that we face a common enemy for once.�
"Rosenkruez, right?" Ken asked, trying to get Nagi to stay and tell him what he did know.
Yohji frowned, "Where's Zeshin?"
Nagi nodded in answer to Ken�s question while looking uncomfortable at Yohji�s.
�He�s under sedation,� Kai answered for him and sighed. �He�s determined to kill Schwarz and perhaps both of you still.� He shook his head in sorrow. �Believe me, I knew nothing about that.�
"I think he's telling the truth, based on what the three of us know. It sounds like Persia stuck Zeshin with the task of killing us." Ken frowned, the expression more common lately than his easygoing smiles been during their days at the Koneko.
"I feel sorry for the kid, really," he admitted.
Ken shook his head, "Nothin' but trash put out for collection. That's us." He glanced at Bengal, "All of us."
Kai nodded. �That has been made very clear to me right from the start,� he said bitterly. �I was given no choice though.�
�You weren�t the only one,� Aya said. �They could have proved Ken�s innocence if they�d tried. Choice is not something Kritiker is good at.� His eyes narrowed in memory of Birman�s words to him. �We are their dogs.�
"Even Zeshin realized that," Yohji reminded Aya, "it was in that sketchbook." Jade eyes searched the room, "Is there anything to drink and I really need a cigarette."
"Sorry," Ken said to the blond. "You're going to be drinking coffee, tea and soda from now on Kudoh. No more cigarettes either."
Yohji blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You hear me," Ken stated firmly. "If you want to kill yourself, use the damned harigane and get it over with. No more slow motion suicide."
�Let him keep the cigarettes,� Aya said, �for now.� He caught Ken�s eye, trying to get across the idea that it would do Yohji more harm than good to go cold turkey on all his addictions at once. �Doesn�t Schuldig smoke? Maybe he can spare one.�
"I'll find out," Ken said, wondering how Aya knew the Schwarz telepath smoked. Maybe from the smell. Aya always noticed things like that about people. He got up and left the room, showing the other Weiss that the only thing keeping them in there was a lack of interest in going out.
Yohji got up off the bed and moved to the one where Aya was seated, picking up the food Ken had brought them and trying to get more of it down.
�Does Crawford want to speak to us yet?� Aya asked Nagi.
�He�ll speak when he considers the time to be right,� Nagi replied. �In the mean time you are to have rest, food and be comfortable. You are not prisoners.�
It didn�t really answer any of the questions he had, such as, if Singapura was so intent on killing them, why were Schwarz keeping him alive? Then he remembered the boy�s unique DNA and it made sense. If he could see reason, he would be an effective weapon against Rosenkruez. So what did Schwarz want with the rest of them?
His head was spinning with possibilities, all of which seemed crazy.
Ken came back in with part of a pack of cigarettes and a disposable lighter. "Here," he said, tossing them to Yohji, "they're all yours compliments of the German bastard in the living room." He tossed them to Yohji, expecting the man to catch them.
Yohji didn't, his ability to coordinate hampered by his deteriorated physical condition. The lighter hit the wall, the cigarettes landed in the food in Yohji's lap.
"Thanks," the blond muttered as he fished the smokes out of the food. "Is it me, or does this stuff taste like crap?" he asked as he put the food aside for the second time.
�It�s you,� Aya said without hesitation. �You have to eat something, Yohji.�
The blond favoured his lover with a bland stare, but did what the man asked, picking up the food and trying to eat.
Kai�s eyes widened as he realised something. They were polar opposites and yet he was certain that the two eldest Weiss were lovers.
Weiss. Were they even Weiss anymore? Wouldn�t Persia see their defection with Schwarz as a betrayal? No. Wait a minute. It was Persia who had apparently ordered Singapura to kill them. Had this �Endgame� mission included him? If so, what the hell were they going to do?
Aya turned his attention back to Ken and Nagi as the two sources of information in the room. �Was Bengal to be killed also?�
Aya amazed Bengal quite frequently and now was one of those times. How had he known to ask the very question that was bothering him?
"Not as part of Endgame," Ken replied. "But I've got the distinct impression that Bengal, Singapura and I were on his 'to do list' right after he'd had you two taken care of." The bitterness in Ken's tone was close to toxic.
Ken abruptly got to his feet, "I'm sorry, I've got to get out of here for a bit." He headed for the door.
"Ken, sit down," Yohji said. "If I have to eat, you have to stay here."
�Why?� Kai asked. �Why would he want to kill his own team?�
"That's a good question, too bad I don't have any answer for you," Yohji said as he forced another bite of the food down. It tasted too salty to him, but after being drugged with who the hell knew what, his sense of taste was probably off. If it was the crap that bitch gave you, then explain why you've had this problem for weeks.
He honestly knew what the problem was, and he also knew he'd better eat or Aya might just get annoyed with him.
From the way Ken was acting, it might be a good idea not to further stress the brunet with his own problems.
"I know the answer, but it didn't make any sense when he told me, and it doesn't make any sense now." Ken informed them. " He said Yohji and Aya were freaks just like Schwarz. I don't know why Takatori thought that, but he did and it scared the hell out of him."
Aya frowned while Nagi winced at the word �freaks.� �You�re right, Hidaka, it makes no sense at all,� the redhead said.
�Like most mundanes the thought of psi power terrifies him,� Nagi said in a small voice. �He could only see me as some sort of killing machine.� His gaze met Aya�s and the dark blue eyes were cold as he added, �it made me hate him.�
"Correction, 'terrified' him," Ken stated as he ran a hand through his hair, pulling on it in an excess of emotion. Kase's betrayal had been painful. Killing him had left an ache in his heart that had yet to heal. But this... to be so horribly betrayed by someone he'd trusted with his very life... it was too much. Worse he knew that the younger man's death was going to be very hard for someone else to bear.
"Singapura wants to go back to Mamoru, but all he'll be going back to is a funeral. How can I tell him I killed his lover for betraying us?"
�I don�t give a fuck how Singapura feels,� Aya said coldly. Then he did the double take. �You killed him?� He thought about the ramifications of that for a moment or two. �Makes no difference. Kritiker will still want us dead.� His attention turned back to Nagi.
�Are you honestly saying that he believed us to have powers like yours? That�s crazy, we have no power at all.�
Oh, and why have you got shields strong enough to keep Schuldig out then? A little voice asked him. He ignored it.
Yohji frowned, "You know Aya, there might be something to it. I mean why else would they have been trying to kidnap me rather than just slit my throat?"
It bothered Yohji to some degree that Aya hadn't put the numbers together and figured out that Ken had killed their one time team mate. Ken didn't handle betrayal and liars well, and the brunet must have been in a fury of hurt when he found out that, not only were the two of them alive, but they were the targets of murder themselves.
Murder ordered by Mamoru who'd once been their own team mate. Omi what happened to you? Why did you fear us so much you wanted us killed?
It hurt the blonde to think how much the boy must have changed to be able to order their deaths. But he also realized that maybe Omi hadn't changed a bit. He'd always been the most pragmatic about what he was having been raised by his own father to be a murderer.
Ken was staring at nothing, but he finally nodded, "Yeah. He must have, but I don't know why." He frowned, "And if he planned to kill the pair of you for being... whatever you are, then why would he have taken Zeshin into Kritiker? The boy is a complete freak, a deliberately engineered one."
�I doubt if he would have outlived us by very long,� Aya said, his brain finally functioning properly again. The food must have helped, he realised. �My guess is he was recruited, programmed and set in motion with the idea that it takes a fr�talent to kill a talent.� Yohji was right. Rosenkruez wouldn�t bother taking him alive unless he was of some value to them.
"Makes as much sense as anything else these days," Yohji remarked off-handedly. "One thing I'd like to know, how did Persia know? We don't know ourselves so how could he?"
Brown eyes still fixed on blue infinity, Ken's mouth twisted into a frown, "What do we really know about Kritiker? I mean, really know? Not jackshit, that's what. We've killed for them and done their dirty work," he glanced at Aya, "we've been their dogs but when you really get down to it, what did we really do? We offed 'Branch A� of the Takatori family for 'Branch B' and that was it. In the end it was all about power and politics."
Aya made a derisory little sound though it wasn�t aimed at Ken. Kritiker had used his own thirst for revenge against Takatori Reiji against him often enough. Riot had been a Takatori business as had the yakuza gang that Kase had tied himself to and Kritiker had known that without lifting a finger to help either Asuka or Ken. Of all their agents only Botan had ever offered him any real reasons to continue and he�d paid with his life.
Kai grimaced. �They don�t offer much of a retirement plan do they?�
Yohji shook his head, "No kid, they don't."
"Just a nice plot in the nearest cemetery," Ken stated, gone back to staring at nothing. He remembered everything that had happened to him from the day he'd met Kase to the day he'd killed the Takatori who'd been his lover once, once when he'd still been Omi, his friend.
For the first time in his life he understood why someone would want to get drunk and stay that way. For the first time he finally understood what had made Yohji the way he was.
Pain so great the only way to dull it was to drown yourself in a river of booze. A sea of faces, bodies, and meaningless relationships.
Anything just to make the hurt stop.
Yohji was watching Ken carefully, seeing something in the younger man's expression he was all too familiar with from staring into mirrors.
A soul going to pieces, a mind slipping into darkness.
He touched Aya's arm, to get his lover's attention.
Aya turned his pale violet gaze on Yohji, his concern for Ken apparent for anyone who could read him.
The jade eyes regarding the red-haired man were no less worried. Ken was coming unravelled as badly as Yohji had after the Ani, after Asuka and Neu.
For himself, Aya didn�t care about the death of Takatori Mamoru. Tsukiyono Omi had died at the Ani Museum and he�d already wasted enough time mourning him. To him they were two separate people, but he knew that wasn�t the case for Ken.
Hidaka looked at Mamoru and saw Omi�s smiling face until the young politician spoke with the words of a Takatori.
Ken stood, "I really need that walk," he stated as he headed for the door.
Before Ken could reach it, the door opened and Schuldig�s orange mane appeared round the edge of it. �Crawford says it�s time to answer your questions now, kitty-cats,� he said.
Spotting Nagi in the room he smirked at the youngest Schwarz. Nagi glared back and Schuldig chuckled and retreated.
Yohji frowned, "Are there some clothes I can wear? I'm not going out there in my underwear."
Ken pointed to the dresser and walked out.
The blonde shook his head, "You as worried about him as I am?" he asked Aya.
�Of course I am,� Aya said, �although I have no idea what to do about it.�
Kai and Nagi, having followed Ken out of the room, Aya allowed himself to show some weakness and leaned his head against Yohji�s shoulder. �I just hope we all have the strength to deal with what fate throws at us this time.�
Yohji wrapped his arms around Aya and held him for a moment, placing a gentle kiss on the man's hair, "I know the feeling, believe me."