Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Red Shaman ❯ And If I Should Fall ( Chapter 67 )

 

 

And if I should fall

Would you catch me?

 

Crawford stared, amazed as the blackness beneath him cleared and he could see into the club as though he were above the room. He could see Schuldig holding on to his body with one arm while wrapping the other around Nagi. He watched as Farfarello lifted his body and set it on the bar. Saw Nagi pick up his glasses from where Schuldig had placed them on the floor.

 

“Why am I being shown this?” Crawford demanded of the other man.

 

“Because you need to see it. I think it's the only way to get through your thick skull that they need you and more than that, want you with them.”

 

Crawford made a noncommittal noise and resumed watching his teammates.

 

“Your family, you mean.”

 

“They are not my family,” Crawford said, still not looking up.

 

“They are the only family you claim.”

 

And if I should fall

Would you hold me close to your heart?

 

Crawford ignored him and then tilted his head to see better as something caught his attention.

 

“What's wrong with Skye?” he asked.

 

“She's taken on too much pain.”

 

“I don't understand.”

 

“Of course you don't,” he said dismissively. “She's drained Schuldig of the vast majority of his agony in losing you. On top of that, there is her own grief at your loss. Yes, she is hurt by it, whatever you might think.”

 

Crawford snorted then was silent as he watched the events unfold below him. Right down to Schuldig pulling Skye away from the mass of demons. It hurt to watch. More than anything else, Schuldig's actions brought home to him a very real fact. Schuldig loved Skye. Crawford had never seen Schuldig be so protective of another person in the entire time he'd known him.

 

“Haven't you?” the other man asked, one crimson eyebrow lifting in question. “Think about it a little harder. I'm sure you'll come up with something.”

 

Memories assailed him almost instantly. He remembered being dragged onto the beach after the tower had collapsed. Scheisse, you're heavy. Esset survivors being shot when they got too close to him. Get the fuck away from him. Being half carried to an empty beach house. This looks like a good spot to rest. We'll find Nagi and Farf later. His wounds being dressed and someone making sure he didn't have a concussion. Crawford, focus, you stubborn bastard. How many fingers am I holding up? Being tucked beneath someone's opulent silk sheets. At least someone has good taste. Shields which were not of his own making were created to protect him when he couldn't protect himself. Can't let anyone else into that hard head of yours.

 

Those were some of the more major things. There were a thousand and one little things as well. Everything from Schuldig nagging him about working himself to exhaustion to making sure they had the kind of coffee he liked. The small everyday things that made up a real relationship.

 

Crawford groaned. “I am such an idiot.”

 

“Yeah, well, join 99.9% of humanity in that one.”

 

“At least my being dead will make things somewhat easier for Schu and Skye.”

 

“Really?” the other man asked with a calculating gleam in his eyes.

 

It took a second or so for Crawford to register that he was falling.

 

“Hey, don't worry, you had the great Divine's energy going through a mortal body,” the man called as Crawford was dropping. “The brain damage from being dead so long should be minimal because there should still have been energy going to your mind. I think. But I could be wrong. Watch that first step, it's a killer.”

 

 

Crawford's sprit slammed back into his body at high velocity. He gasped as every nerve ending reported back pain.

 

“Fuck!” he said, too tired and weak to really get anything else out.

 

Tatsumi blinked at him startledly. “Maybe I don't need new glasses after all.”

 

“Crawford?!?” Nagi said in disbelief.

 

Before he could do much more than twitch, Crawford found himself with a teenage boy plastered to his side, holding on to his tux jacket and crying.

 

Schuldig and Skye were both on their feet almost instantly. Schuldig looked at Skye in amazement.

 

“How is this possible?”

 

“Does it matter how?” Skye said.

 

“Nein. Just as long as it's real and not my imagination.”

 

Nagi shifted then grabbed onto Schuldig's hand and pulled him closer.

 

“Mein Gott!” Schuldig said wonderingly. He ran his hands over Crawford's face, looking into the tired but open eyes. “I'm not just imagining things. You really are alive.”