Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Auld Lang Syne ❯ First Prize ( Chapter 3 )

 

Dear gods, he should have known better, Crawford thought to himself for the thousandth time since getting to NARITA. Not only had Schuldig packed for fifty, he had worn a shirt guaranteed to get him noticed. It was a lurid neon pink tee shirt that said, “I Feel A SIN Comin' On” in eight different languages, including Japanese. He'd gotten some odd looks from the international crowds but no comments. Thank the gods. The last thing he needed was a scene at the airport just because the telepath was bored.

 

Things were made even worse by the fact that people were getting the most from the last blast of the summer vacation going into fall so there were a number of small children bouncing off the walls as well. One in particular had taken to yanking Schuldig's hair then retreating behind his older sibling.

 

“Ignore it,” Crawford warned.

 

Schuldig huffed and sat back with his arms crossed over his chest. He listened to the whispers behind him from the children before feeling another tug on his hair.

 

“What the . . . “

 

“I don't think it's real,” the kid said. “Gotta be a wig or somethin'. Nobody's hair's that color.”

 

“Oh, yeah, brat. Want me to prove it?” Schuldig said, eyes narrowing.

 

“Schuldig! Just because you behave like a child it doesn't mean you are one,” Crawford snapped before turning to glare at the children's mother. “Madam, I suggest you keep a leash on your pets before someone else is inclined to do them harm,” he said before going back to his newspaper.

 

The woman looked like a fish out of water for a moment before she quickly gathered up her progeny, finally scolding them for harassing other people.

 

“No manners,” Nagi said, shaking his head.

 

“Ha! And you're always the well bred little one, Naggles?”

 

“Don't call me that,” Nagi said, opening the case next to him and taking out his laptop. “Exactly why are we going if Crawford has personal business?” The question was addressed to Farfarello, who was seated next to him.

 

Farf shrugged. “For the fun of it, I suppose,” he said. “Besides, be nice to get back to that part of the world for a little while. Get some real food, enjoy a pint of decent beer.”

 

“Plus, you've never been anywhere but Japan and the States,” Schuldig pointed out, tossing Farf a container of pocky.

 

“I've been to Germany before, Schuldig, remember?” Nagi said.

 

“Going to the Rosenkreuz headquarters then flying right back out doesn't mean you've been there, kind.”

 

“If all of you don't shut up I'm turning in your tickets for ones in Coach,” Crawford said from behind the paper.

 

“But Braaaad,” Schuldig whined.

 

“Make that the luggage compartment.”

 

***

 

Eleven hours later they had landed in Edinburg, then had an eighteen minute hassle over luggage. Namely Schuldig and an elderly Scottish woman arguing over the same bag before the carousel finally regurgitated the woman's luggage. She had shoved the bag into Schuldig's chest and told him not to let it happen again.

 

“Mein gott! And I thought Germans were stubborn as hell.”

 

Farfarello shrugged. “It's an even thing as far as I can tell,” he said before loping off to help Nagi spot his bag.

 

“Schuldig,” Crawford said from behind him. “I swear if you embarrass me on this trip I'll send you back to Japan in separate boxes.

 

Schuldig turned and grinned at him. “Herr Crawford, we're here now, we'll have a nice rest in the hotel before driving to wherever we're going. Relax a little. What can go wrong?” he said, going to find Farf and Nagi.

 

Crawford sighed and tried not to give in to the jet lag on the spot. “What can go right is the million pound question.”

 

***

Schuldig disappeared immediately upon them checking into their rooms as did Farfarello. Crawford presumed Schuldig was going out drinking and Farf was hunting. He sighed and set the alarm beside the hotel bed for an hour. He'd take a nap to be rid of the worst of the jet lag then contact certain people to let them know he had arrived safely in the country. Not that half of them wouldn't already be aware of it already.

 

He still wasn't quite sure how he felt about being back here. He hadn't been in this country since he was thirteen years old and that had been with his father at the standing stones. He shook his head, wondering exactly why he'd been summoned back here. He supposed all would be made clear when he got to the ancestral home.

 

He and Nagi ate after they'd both slept a little, Nagi poking suspiciously at the food in front of him at first then tucking into it with more enthusiasm than Crawford had seen the young man display in . . . ever.

 

“I'd like to go see the castle,” Nagi said. “I've only seen Japanese castles and as I understand it the architecture is very different.”

 

“Just make sure you're back before it gets too late,” Crawford said.

 

“I take it you aren't expecting the other two back for some time.”

 

“At least not until morning,” Crawford said.

 

 

As it happened, that was a fairly accurate timeframe. The sun was just starting to rise when Crawford was startled out of bed by someone pounding on the door to the suite. He grabbed a robe and shoved his glasses on before going to answer it. He opened the door to reveal Farfarello and a very naked Schuldig slung in a fireman's carry.

 

“Couldn't get to the damn key with this,” he said, hefting Schuldig a little. He walked in and deposited the other man none to gently onto the leather couch. “Hope he sticks to it.”

 

Nagi had been woken by the noise as well and had come out of his room in time to see the couch toss. He was also the one to notice that Schuldig wasn't completely naked. There was a distinct flash of blue around certain parts of the telepath's anatomy.

 

“Crawford?” Nagi questioned, not quite sure how to process this oddity.

 

Crawford sighed and shook his head. “Lad, I don't know where you've been but I see you won first prize"