Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Red Shaman ❯ Lost Daughters ( Chapter 58 )

 

Schuldig looked curiously at Skye when she gripped his shirt hard. Then, he heard the first faint noise. A snuffling slightly muffled cry that seemed to be everywhere in the room. Skye's eyes were tightly closed and her hands had clenched in the fabric of his shirt. He could see tears start to leak from beneath her closed lids.

 

“Skye? Gods, lieb, what's wrong?”

 

“Just give me a second, Schu,” she said, struggling to regain her composure. When she opened her eyes again she saw faint forms beginning to take shape in the room. The crying noise around them increased.

 

Star, stay right where you are. I'll try to block this as much as I can, sweetheart. There's enough Clan energy from when Aya shifted that it should keep them away from there.

 

Star nodded and wrapped her arms around her knees. She was still sitting on the floor with Aya, who had shifted more or less back to normal. Yohji dropped down next to her.

 

“Star? Are you okay?” he asked, touching her tentatively on the shoulder.

 

“Not right now, I'm not. These are so hard for me to deal with.”

 

Yohji wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. Aya did the same, winding his arms around both of them as they sat on the infirmary floor and Star explained between bouts of crying what was going on downstairs.

 

 

“They look like little girls,” Tatsumi said, glancing at Sunny for some kind of explanation.

 

“They are little girls,” Sunny said, sighing heavily. “Or at least they were.”

 

“What do you mean?” Watari asked.

 

“These are the souls of unwanted daughters,” Sunny said. He looked as though his heart was breaking to have to tell them what was going on. “In so many countries, for so long, daughters weren't important. Sons were wanted to carry on the family name and do the work. Daughters were sometimes taken from their mothers as soon as they were born and either murdered or left somewhere to die.”

 

“Oh, my god,” Crawford said, staring in horror at Sunny. Something had seemed to crack in him while hearing Sunny tell them who and what these lost souls were. He wasn't entirely certain what to make of it.

 

“I don't think any god would lay claim to this,” Sunny said, shaking his head sadly.

 

“But why are they here?” Watari asked.

 

“I have no idea. Usually you find them in deserted areas such as deep woods, mountain regions, etc. They don't really pose a threat to any of us except for the living men in the party,” Sunny said.

 

“Why?” Tatsumi asked.

 

“Because, they gravitate toward men. No one is really sure why. Maybe looking for someone to protect them from those who abandoned them. To save them somehow.”

 

Crawford's hands clenched into fists at his sides. “If anyone had tried to take my daughter to either be killed or left somewhere to die there would have definitely been a death. But not of my child.”

 

“I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. What makes it worse is the fact that it was usually their fathers who did this to them.”

 

 

“Why are Oracle, Mastermind and I the only ones at risk from them, Goddess?” Ken asked when Blaze physically put him behind her.

 

“They're looking for comfort. For warmth. Because so many of them died abandoned, cold and alone. They don't mean to hurt anyone. But as soon as a living person takes one in their arms they latch on to them and drain all the life and warmth from someone's body. Let's face it, what person with any kind of warmth in their soul can resist trying to console a crying and frightened child?”

 

“Can't you help them somehow?” Ken asked. “You're technically a shinigami. Isn't that what they do? Send souls on to where they should be.”

 

“I would if I could, believe me. But that isn't within my power. These are a special case. Sending the Lost Daughters on isn't like anything we deal with. There are special conditions that have to be put into effect.”

 

“We can't just let this go on.”

 

“We have to,” Blaze said, closing her eyes briefly before opening them and focusing on the tiny forms that had started to slowly drift in the directions of the three living men in the room. Little hands outstretched in a silent plea for help and warmth. “The only way to send them on is for a living adult male to be used as a channel. No one here has that natural ability so it would have to be forced. I don't have the ability to do that.”

 

“Then who does?”

 

“As far as I know, only one of the gods. And even they have to ask permission to use that person first.”

 

 

“Gods, lieb, what's wrong with Star?” Schu asked, keeping a wary eye on the tiny souls. “I finally felt something from her and it hurts.”

 

Skye nodded. “These take such a toll on her because of what happened while we were still alive.”

 

Something clicked in Schuldig's mind as even the shielded emotional backlash hit him. “You hated him for a reason. Because he took your nieces into the swamps and left them to die. All three of them. And . . . and Star,” he put a shaking hand to his forehead. Then tilted his head back a little to stop the thin trickle of blood that had started to run from his nose due to the pressure of what he was receiving mentally. “Star went off the charts insane after he took the last one.”

 

“Yes. She did.”

 

 

Star smiled a little through her tears as she heard a softly lilting voice in her head, his accent was all the more pronounced because she was fully hearing Jeirn, not the mix of him and Farfarello.

 

My Lady Rose, are you in need of me? I feel you in pain.

 

I'll be fine, Jeirn. Fortunately, I'm not alone. This is just difficult for me.

 

I know. I am so sorry that you must suffer through this. Call me to you if you wish me there.

 

I will. Thank you.

 

As always, it is my honor.

 

 

Sunny put Crawford behind him, knowing he could shield him from the lost souls but do little else to help. Crawford's mind cast about almost frantically, looking for a solution to this problem. They couldn't stay shielded all night. This felt wrong in more ways than one. It felt like a . . . distraction.

 

Goddess, do you know what's happening with our children?

 

Not exactly. Jeirn?

 

Therein lies the difficulty, came Farfarello's voice. They've disappeared. There's no trace of them and I can't seem to contact any of the three via our links.

 

Blaze went utterly still on all levels, physically, mentally and emotionally. When she snapped back to herself everything about her seemed to burn blindingly bright.

 

When I get my hands on whoever used these babies to distract us from our babies; I will destroy them utterly.

 

Everyone in the room shivered, including Blaze's husbands.

 

“So, what do we do now,” Watari asked, “I don't think anyone wants to hurt them. Gods know they've suffered enough without us adding to it.”

 

“We may not have any choice in the matter,” Sunny said. “Crawford, don't look at them.”

 

Crawford nodded and closed his eyes. He felt something tap on, then blow through his shields like they were nothing. That was when he heard the voice in his head. A very determined male voice. Brusque, clipped and completely to the point.

 

You have been informed of how they must be sent on. Will you help them?

 

Crawford took a deep breath and made his decision, sincerely hoping that he wouldn't regret it in the end.

 

Use me.

 

Power seemed to skitter along every nerve, surging and flowing through his body. He'd felt power before just from being around Goddess but this was like nothing he'd ever experienced. The sheer force of it made every nerve tingle and come painfully alive. Expanding and spiraling outward with and intensity that literally stole his breath away. When he opened his eyes they were no longer the color of old gold but bright emerald green. Sunny, Tatsumi and Watari turned to look at him, all of them sensing a shift. Sunny inclined his head briefly to him and allowed him to step around him.

 

When he spoke, his voice reverberated with the power coursing through him. His voice was layered with another, much stronger one.

 

“I am the Father of all. I am the protector of every thing that has ever or shall ever live.”

 

Everything in the room came to a complete stop at his words. Skye, Sunny, Tatsumi and Watari had bowed their heads slightly in honor. Ken looked confused. Schuldig was staring at Crawford as though he had completely lost his mind. And Blaze was smiling.

 

“Thank you, Dad,” Blaze said sounding relieved.

 

“That's your dad?” Ken asked.

 

“No. That isn't my genetic father. That is Oracle channeling the Great Father of the world.”

 

Ken's jaw dropped as the magnitude of her last statement sank in. “You mean that's . . .”

 

Blaze nodded. “Kami-sami, Allah, Buddha, Yahweh, the Oak King, whatever you want to call him. It all amounts to the same thing, the great Divine masculine.”

 

One by one the little souls began to drift toward Crawford, who now stood in the middle of the room, arms held open in invitation.

 

“Come to me, my precious daughters. I call you to rest. I call you to sanctuary. To the light and warmth you were denied through the cruelty of others. Come to me, my beloved children. I call you from the darkness of wandering the Earth for so long. I call you to peace. I call you home.”

 

When the first tiny hand tentatively reached up and touched his fingers, Crawford dropped to his knees and swept her into his embrace. Within moments the little soul dissolved and seemed to be absorbed into his body.

 

 

“What the . . .” Schuldig said, starting to move toward Crawford.

 

“It's okay, Schu,” Skye said, taking his arm and lightly restraining him. “The god is using Oracle's body as a gateway for the girls' souls to pass through.”

 

“And he volunteered for this?”

 

“Not exactly. But evidently, when the god asked him to help, he agreed. Plus, I'm fairly certain he's the only one who can handle this.”

 

“What makes you say that?”

 

“The human body was not meant to contain that much power for any extended period of time. It's like putting all the power in a rocket engine into a toy race car. It overloads the neurological pathways and burns them out if let go too long. He'll probably go into a full crash after the god energy leaves him then be higher than a kite when he comes to. Being a channel is not an easy task. Oracle is mentally strong enough to support those temporary changes without overloading too badly or getting lost in it. Much as I adore you, I don't think you could handle it without completely shutting down.”

 

“I don't think I'd really want to. I would have never pegged him for being anything other than the selfish bastard king of demons that he is.”

 

“Under the worst circumstances is when we find out who we and others truly are beneath the façade we all present to the world.”

 

 

“Everything's gone so quiet,” Ken said, looking at Blaze.

 

“It's because whoever did this doesn't dare interfere right now. We'll have a few minutes of down time while they regroup and reassess the situation. What I want to know is where my babies are.”

 

 

One by one the little souls were embraced and sent on. When the last one dissolved and passed through there seemed to be a distinct shift in Crawford. Both in mannerism and power. One hand slammed down onto the floor and the whole building shook with the force of it. He stood slowly and the shockwave of energy was enough to send Ken and Schuldig to their knees. The rest trembled with the force but remained standing. Star paused halfway down the stairs grasping the railing hard for support, Yohji and Aya did the same behind her.

 

“Whoa! Hel-lo, Dad,” she said.

 

“What's going on?” Yohji asked.

 

“I'll explain later.”

 

Anger seemed to radiate from every line of Crawford's body. Flowing and crashing in waves over one particular spot on the far side of the room.

 

“Coward,” he hissed softly. “How dare you use those children in order to abduct and harm other children? How dare you deliberately orchestrate this entire debacle to gain favor with the lowest of the low. You will suffer for this. If there is any shred of you left when Edana finishes with you, then, you will deal with me.”