Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Noir Fan Fiction ❯ There Can Be Only Two ❯ Interlude - Lanes to Anywhere ( Chapter 4 )

Interlude: Lanes to Anywhere

 

Slowly Brad Crawford walked out the door and turned towards a little alley next to the restaurant. Alone in the small gloomy side street he carefully he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small silver etui, extracting a white cigarette, and equally elegantly igniting it with a exquisite looking lighter, taken from another pocket. Inhaling some of the blue smoke he watched the warm glimmering tobacco at the end of the cigarette and thought about the events to unfold.

 

Some people might surely disavow, that some of the ideas and concepts going around in his head would even cross the mind of Brad Crawford, but keeping the obscure interior of his precognitive mind separated from outer appearance up to the point that even his psychic friend Schuldig only had seen mere shadows of the real Brad Crawford, was one of the things he was proud of.

 

Though who exactly was Brad Crawford, he mused, absently looking up into the glooming sky trying to see beyond it. Maybe the destinies, if there indeed entities like those existed, had to choose who Brad Crawford was on this night, or what he had said and done before. As they had maybe chosen the paths for all of them, all of humanity in this world even. Had to? Or did they enjoy it? To play with them as they saw fit for unknown reasons.

 

Maybe only for entertainment. Letting people meet and clash to see what would happen, deciding, that there was none of them to survive this night.

 

Or they might as well rule in favor of their enigmatic opponents, seeing Schwarz as the inferior assassins and tweaking all odds, and even their own motives, feelings and personalities, against them, wanting to see them utterly defeated and brought down by those women. He shuddered the according images crossed his mind. Images that were replaced with scenes from quite the opposite alternative.

 

Absently he brushed off some ash of the end of the glowing stick and smiled at the silly thought of some higher entities being on their side, looking down on and guiding them, following their every move and thought. Being his heavenly fan girls or boys or whatever they were.

 

Of course fans always had different opinions about their `stars' and fan girls (and boys) usually had a creative imagination, too. Yet if the destinies, really existed and were in fact really anything like fan girls (and boys) he had heard of, the consequences of this night might even go into a completely different direction. Horrific maybe, maybe extraordinary, or maybe simply completely absurd.

 

Drawing in the last smoke from the cigarette he flipped away the still glowing cigarette butt, watching it's parabolic arc through the dark.

Keeping his eyes on the small puddle where the orange fire had faded away with a low sizzle he continued to wait for whatever would conclude this night.

 

 

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PLEASE READ THIS!!!

This part is not really part of the story itself, it is not necessary at all, but it has been an explanation and hint at how this story is going to end. If you understood the meaning of it, got it otherwise, or do not want to get spoiled (yet with the slight danger of getting confused) you do not need to read on.

 

 

 

 

NOT NECESSARILY THIS!

Just one more idea: you could wait for what will come next and maybe than read what comes below. Or you could read on a little and than stop to wait for what is next.

 

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So you are really sure about wanting to know?

 

 

 

OK have it your way. But it is not my fault. The explanation is needed, I fear. Tell me if you disagree, even though by than it is to late.

 

 

 

What I did here was exploit Brad do a little kind of “in-story” explanation of how things will work from here.

 

To be exactly: this story does not have one ending but four and one-third (4 1/3). So far that is.

 

For the moment the working titles of those endings are:

 

Ending I: No man's land

(Ending I alternate: There will be always two)

 

Ending II: The French Connection

 

Ending III: Power of Schwarz

 

Ending IV: Soap Bubbles

 

 

They are all a different conclusions to this story, except for “There will be always two, the 1/3 endings. That one is a little special I wrote for my Friend/Beta-reader/FanArtArtist/the-one-that-caused-all-this-mess Panda-Chan and is not a stand alone as the rest but an alternate ending for alternate ending I (little confusing isn't it?)

 

You can choose to finish this story with only one of them.

 

For Schwarz fans who do not like OOC very much I recommend to read only ending III, and leave it at that.

If you favor the French maidens though, or want to read about them, too. Chapter II is your choice.

I warn you of ending I - as it is a dark one - and of chapter IV as a fitting adjective to describe it would be “cheesy”.

 

But the way I would like you to read them, as well as to enjoy them is the order I listed them, as it is the order they were written to work together.

AND READ CHAPTER IV THE LAST! (it is the last for a reason even though it might be cheesy)

 

How can this work and why I did it? I don't know if it will work out, maybe you can tell me.

In the beginning it was a merely the problem of deciding on an ending, long before the first chapter was finished. I just got too many cool ideas to finish the story (at least in my opinion they are pretty cool) and I did not want them to go to waste. But to release the same story three or four times to finish it? Yet just writing four quite different ending with the same story while still being plausible? From that point on I for once wrote the chapters as to befit all of them. There are some details left open and some other things hidden in the story that might have different interpretations. Or all the same?

 

At first I tried an explanation for the endings with quantum physics, parallel timelines and really big coincidences. But it was just too confusing and did not serve a real purpose. So how can one and the same people go such different ways? Simple. They are not the same people, as Bread said. By choosing an ending, you all so choose a different character one that might have had different experiences in life, just went another way last week or just the evening, or made another decision in the heat of battle that night. They are only slightly different. But you will figure out in what ways they might and might not. It's up to you.

 

Suggestions for timing of the release of the endings?