Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Moon Ascendant ❯ Hunter's Moon ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimers: I own nothing here except the nasty monsters and assorted bad guys.

Warning: Contains scenes of nasty violence and some foul language. Also, it's a very long chapter so those with limited online time should save it to read at your own leisure. And by all means, please log back on to drop me your review/comments/praise, etc. Yeah, me shut up now…^^;;

Chapter 7: Hunter's Moon

Three months later…

Chiba Prefecture, after midnight

The muffled screams of the dying man gurgled into silence as he fell to the ground of the dusty warehouse. Giving his bugnucks a quick shake, Ken managed to remove the excess bloody fluid before stepping back to take in his surroundings and prepare for another possible attack. Seeing Omi and Yoji finish off the remaining bodyguards, Ken looked around for Ran. A quick flicker of a dark shadow caught his attention and he tensed in readiness.

Stepping out of the shadows, Ran flicked the blood off his blade before coolly sheathing it within its scabbard. Giving Ken a brief nod, the leader of Weiss quickly took in the scene before giving the order to move out. Omi and Yoji then prepared to set up the explosives to demolish the building. Sending Ken to keep a lookout in case of any possible escapees or reinforcements, Ran turned to help the other two with the explosives. Planting the explosive capsule and setting the timer took barely a minute and Ran turned to leave the final touches to Omi. It was at that moment that all hell seemed to break loose.

A loud howl seemed to fill and echo around the warehouse and the men jerked up at the horrible cry. Eyes flicked frantically around to spot the source vainly managed to pierce the gloomy interior. It did not help matters that it was the night of the new moon and light was feeble at best. Ken came racing in and skidded to a stop as he joined the others.

"Seems like somebody forgot to feed ol' Rover boy," Yoji joked half-heartedly, his eyes nervously scanning the darkness. "Anybody brought the puppy chow?"

"I don't think that sounded like a dog, Yoji-kun," Omi replied in a worried voice.

"Whatever it is, we take it out. Move towards the exit," Ran replied tersely as he edged backwards. "Are the charges set, Omi?"

"Hai."

"Hit the switch when we clear the perimeter. If it comes after us, kill it."

"I don't like this, Ran. Something's fishy," Ken muttered as he followed the others towards the exit. "It's like it's watching us, waiting."

As if in answer to the brunette's words, something moved towards the group, its form gaining shape as it entered into the pale light. Its eyes glowed red as it took in the four men gawking in shock and horror at it. Opening its mouth, it released another bloodcurdling howl to rattle the rafters.

"Oh shit…" Yoji choked out as he took in the unbelievable sight.

"I thought all of Masafumi's creatures were destroyed!" Ken gasped aloud.

"Ahh…" Omi whispered in fear. "I think it can hear us."

At that moment, the strange creature leapt, forcing the four to instinctively scatter. Focusing its sight on Omi, it stalked the terrified young assassin. Releasing several of his darts, Omi managed to distract the creature long enough to scramble out of its way. Seeing an opening, Ran levelled a hard slash at its side before barely dodging a heavy blow aimed at his head. Howling in pain, the creature began its rampage by charging at the stunned Yoji and Ken.

Quick reflexes allowed both to dodge the now clumsy beast and Yoji released his wire to entangle it. Ran took the opportunity to jab it through the throat while Ken attacked its rear with savage slashes of his bugnuks. Writhing in agony, the creature opened its mouth to cry out when Ran yanked his blade through its neck severing the head from its body. Suddenly, there was a strange muffled explosion and a choking cloud of dust descended about them. Of the creature there was no sign. Looking about themselves in confusion, the four men searched for the remains of the beast.

"It's gone!" Omi exclaimed, puzzled at its sudden disappearance.

"You don't think it just vanished into thin air, do you?" said Yoji voicing his suspicions. The shock was rapidly wearing off for the chestnut blonde and his mood was now darkening.

"But how?" Ken questioned, his eyes still searching the surrounding darkness with his bugnuks still drawn.

Ran narrowed his eyes as he took in the situation. What he had seen of that thing brought very unpleasant memories to the surface. Aya-chan's face flashed before him and he gritted his teeth. He knew that search as they might that creature was gone. It had disintegrated once it had been decapitated so there was no evidence of its existence. Calling out to the others, he gave the order to demolish the building after checking the fuses. Five minutes later, the building was rubble and they were heading home.

The ride was tense and the mood heavy. Each of them was lost within their own thoughts and none wanted to break that silence. Yoji drove through the dark streets, his eyes periodically glancing into the rear-view mirror for traffic but mostly to check on the two younger members curled in their respective seats. Ran was stiff and silent beside him, something about the weird creature having sparked some unpleasant memory.

Yoji knew Ran best and guessed that it may be something to do with those periodic nightmares he had been having recently. That damn monster was certainly a prime candidate for the late night horror movie. Glancing into the rear-view mirror once more, he caught sight of Omi biting his lower lip and frowning worriedly. Deciding that it would be up to him to break the tense mood, Yoji spoke up.

"Hey Omittchi, what's bugging you? Don't tell me you're worried about that nasty gargoyle following you home, is it?" Yoji grinned as he looked at the young man in the mirror.

"Yoji-kun!" Omi protested his eyes widening in embarrassment at the older man's teasing. "I'm only wondering about what we should report back to Birman and Manx about this."

"Yeah, how do we explain this weird mutant thing that tried to eat us?" Ken asked sharply.

The brunette was beginning to come to terms with what had happened and it was not improving his mood. All he wanted at this moment was a long hot shower and some cocoa before sleeping in till after ten. Thankfully, his shift was not till the afternoon. He really wanted to stay in bed.

"We will not mention this to anyone."

Ran's stern tone cutting through the air effectively stunned the rest into a momentary silence. Omi's eyes widened and his mouth opened to protest when Ran turned around in his seat to glare at the sandy blonde. Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, Omi managed a small nod before sinking back into the seat. Ran was even more foreboding than usual and it made everyone even more high-strung than they had been.

Turning the thought over in his mind, Omi conceded to the fact that it would cause more questions to arise to which he had no answers to give. Surreptitiously glancing up, he could not help but wonder if Ran knew something more than what he let on. Even if he did, Omi had no intention of being the one to interrogate the formidable redhead. Inwardly sighing, he turned to stare out the window as he mentally began his report presentation for Manx.

***************************************

Two weeks later…

Outside Tokyo's industrial hub, after midnight

Crawford tensed as he felt an overpowering vision sweep through him. Gripping the table's edge, he forced himself to breathe in deeply to calm himself down. Blinking to clear his eyes of the resultant blurring, he straightened up to see Schuldig frowning at him, the concern barely masked within his cool blue eyes. Farfarello was watching him intently, anticipation evident in his lean body. Across from him, the man known as Nagata watched the American, his interest sparked at what he had seen. Schwarz had never advertised their abilities, but somehow word had spread of the American's uncanny abilities in predicting outcomes. And Nagata was now curious of those 'outcomes'.

Catching Crawford's eye, he gave a small polite smile - his subtle hint that informing him of it would be a beneficial thing for the health of all concerned, especially that of Schwarz. Grimacing inwardly, Crawford projected his thoughts at Schuldig to be ready for any trouble while he handled the greasy kingpin. He accepted the instructions, any hint of the telepathic connection masked by the redhead indifferent façade. Settling down, Crawford returned Nagata's smile with one of his own.

"Please excuse my sudden inattention, Mr Nagata," Crawford began. "I've not been feeling too well recently."

"Perhaps you have been working too hard, Crawford-san. It is often said that you put in much effort in all your endeavours. And that it has shown to be most profitable for you and your companions."

Crawford could hear the mental sniggering of the German telepath in his head. Forcing a light smile to his face, he acknowledged the remark with a small bow of his head. The tension he was feeling heightened as he could sense time slipping and the threat he had earlier envisioned approaching. Pushing the contract towards Nagata's personal assistant, Crawford mentally warned Schuldig of the time.

'What the hell are we expecting Crawford?' Schuldig demanded, eyes flicking towards the brunette. 'Farf's getting edgy and is pestering me about what you saw.'

Crawford kept his face impassive as his gaze focused on the contract Nagata was going through. 'I'm expecting all hell to break loose, Schuldig. And by that I mean almost literally.'

Crawford then sent a mental picture of what he had seen earlier. He felt the telepath's recoil at the image he received.

The sudden silence in his mind indicated to Crawford that Schuldig was mentally processing what he had just revealed. Farfarello was beginning to twitch and Crawford knew that the suspense was beginning to push the berserker's buttons.

'Calm Farfarello down Schuldig, before he gets us into deeper trouble than what I predict will happen.' He soon felt Farfarello relaxing slightly as the telepath relayed the information to the white-haired Irishman.

Curiously, the berserker took the news as matter of fact. But Crawford had other things to worry about than that of the Irishman's odd reaction. He felt Schuldig stiffening before shifting slightly into a ready stance. Farfarello did the same and Crawford allowed the two to bear the initial brunt of the attack that was rapidly approaching. Outside, distant screams began and gunfire sounded. Nagata heard it as well and his face scrunched up into an angry mask.

"What is happening outside?" he barked out before turning his glare to Crawford. "Crawford-san, what is the meaning of this?"

"I assure you Mr Nagata that it has nothing to do with me. My colleagues are with me and I do not stoop to such tactics to get what I want," Crawford responded coldly.

At that moment, the door burst open and a bodyguard fell into the room his face bloody and his mouth open in a silent scream. The man was dead even before he hit the ground. Schuldig cursed in German as he side-stepped the corpse and pulled out his gun from its concealed holster. Farfarello released the switch on his knife and the sharp blade sprang out with a sharp hiss. There was an almost feral glow in his single amber eye as he waited for it to arrive. Crawford had drawn his gun and now stood his attention focused on the coming action. Within seconds, it arrived.

Nagata screamed in a high-pitched voice as he ducked behind his bodyguards. Schuldig and Crawford backed away as they took in the grotesque thing that swivelled its head about slowly. Its jaws dripped with the blood of its earlier victims, while glowing red irises took in its new surroundings.

"The damn thing's even uglier than what you showed me, Crawford!" Schuldig muttered as he edged away from it.

"It has come to hurt God," Farfarello murmured in almost awed tones. Crawford and Schuldig aimed dirty looks at the almost blissful berserker.

"Goddammit! Farf's having a fucking epiphany," Schuldig swore as the creature moved further into the room. It ignored the Irishman choosing instead to focus its attention on the Schwarz duo. The black scales rippled in the light as it stalked them, the bullets fired barely grazing it.

"Farf! Get your damn ass over here! We need your help!" Schuldig yelled as he ducked a vicious swipe of a clawed hand. Crawford fared better, his pre-cognitive talent enhancing his fighting skills. Slamming a punch into the monster's side, Crawford grunted in pain as he felt the shock waves travel up his arm. It felt as though he had hit a brick wall rather than that of flesh. Nagata was yelling something to his bodyguards and Crawford hit the floor as a hail of bullets flew overhead towards the creature.

Schuldig had also joined him on the floor and they both managed to crawl hurriedly towards the door as the barrage of automatic gunfire carried on overhead. Schuldig grabbed hold of the mesmerised Farfarello and was half-dragging and half-shoving him down the corridor. Crawford followed close behind, his head turning back now and then to make sure that there was no pursuit. He cursed inwardly at the vision's flawed detail. If he had known that it would be bulletproof, he would have braved Nagata's men than face off against that thing. For the first time in his life, Crawford began to taste fear.

Dashing down the corridor, the three men stopped as they took in the gruesome scene before them. Apparently the monster had brought a few of his buddies along for a night out. Schuldig sucked in his breath with a hiss and stepped back almost trampling on Crawford's toes.

"Bloody fucking hell!" he swore under his breath. Farfarello stared at the three new demonic creatures before lightly running his tongue over the blade of his knife. His sole amber eye took in the view and before Crawford could grab him, he had launched himself at them. Schuldig stood momentarily shocked at the Irishman's daring charge before he started to frantically load a new clip into his gun.

Hoping against hope, the two remaining psychics joined their now berserk partner in his deadly dance of death. Crawford managed several shots with precision into the nearest creature's head and was vaguely surprised and satisfied when it vanished into a cloud of dust.

Yelling at Schuldig to do the same, he dodged the second creature's swipe while quickly loading another round of ammunition. He heard a loud thump as Farfarello was slammed against a wall but barely paid him any attention. He knew the man would simply pick himself up before throwing himself back into the fray. Schuldig on the other hand, was not as immune. Even as he managed to avoid the creature's attempts to claw him, the speed at which he was battling against seemed only to increase with each passing moment.

Even as Crawford took aim, an unfortunate miscalculation on Schuldig's part resulted in a mind-numbingly painful blow to his ribs. He felt a couple of them crack further when the force sent him slamming into a concrete pillar. Slumping to the ground, his vision grew hazy as his abused lungs struggled to pull in air. Crawford had fired several rounds but it barely resulted in anything. A part of Schuldig watched with detached interest, his mind automatically blocking off the agonising pain. The fight was now two against two.

***************************************

Farfarello was on a high as he attacked the creature. After seeing the first one, his mind had pictured the vision of the Great Beast that was foretold in the Book of Revelations. He had no idea it could be so beautiful in its utter debasement of a humanoid life form. But after being dragged out of the meeting room by Schuldig, he started to think about it and it began to anger him. That thing may have been sent to bring about the downfall of the world but where would that leave him? Farfarello gave in to the feeling of jealousy. The thing had come to hurt God; it was unforgivable. Because, it was Farfarello's mission in life to achieve that goal, not that of some interfering demonic spawn.

When he saw the other three, he snapped. Nothing was to stand in his way, even if he had to challenge Hell itself to fulfil his goal. Needless to say, he had every intention of sending them back where they came from. Weaving and slashing, he blurred around his target trying to kill it before it got him. But despite his best efforts, his knife barely caused anything more than shallow cuts that swiftly healed over as soon as they were made.

For Crawford, his idea of a horrible day paled greatly in comparison to what he was currently experiencing. His idea of fighting monsters involved slimy underworld kingpins and drug lords. Those were the monsters he had to deal with, not these grotesque parodies of Masafumi's creations. Apparently, he had been lucky with the first one; the second one was too damned tenacious. He could feel himself tiring and he knew that Schuldig was out of the fight given his serious injuries. For the first time in his life, Crawford began to pray for a miracle. If he had to die, he could think of a hundred and one more pleasant ways to shuffle of this mortal coil.

Ducking under the claws aimed at his head, he delivered a hard blow to its exposed side. Thankfully, it was softer than the previous one and his fist stoically bore the sharp discomfort. The thing stumbled back a couple of feet before righting itself and Crawford cursed inwardly. At this rate, none of them would survive.

'Should have brought Nagi!' his mind screamed but it did little good.

The teenager was over thirty miles away and even if Schuldig managed to telepathically contact him, it would still be too late. It seemed to Crawford that Schwarz's luck had run out. To further emphasise it, the earlier creature turned up. Crawford's heart sank as he saw it and wondered if there was any hope they would survive this night.

Seeing Farfarello being grabbed by the black monster from earlier, Crawford thought of escaping. It was pointless to stay and fight and although the losses would be great, he tried to justify it. There was no point in sacrificing everybody for the sake of the group; it had never been Schwarz's intention from the beginning. Cut your losses before you damn it all. They all knew it and while it had never been followed through, there was always a first time for everything.

He could see Schuldig out of the corner of his eye and the resigned look that passed over the man's face. It did not take a telepath to know what he was contemplating. A small smirk curled his lips as Schuldig leaned back in a now calm acceptance of his fate.

'Make sure you get my revenge on the bastard that created this mess, Crawford' he called out weakly. 'If you don't, I'll come back and haunt you.'

Crawford chanced a final look at his fallen comrades and made a move to escape. Before he got ten feet however, he drew up short at what he saw in the shadows.

A silver gleam danced off a sharp sword as the person moved in. For a moment, he thought that Weiss had come to take out Nagata and wondered if he could use their distraction to his advantage. But the figure that stepped out was considerably shorter and slighter in stature. Dressed in black, he looked like a ninja. Only the two neat braids by the sides of the head gave away the fact that she was female. Crawford blinked as she moved past him in a blur of speed. Turning round, he saw her engage the monster he had been fighting.

Watching her deftly wield the blade, he could not help but to compare her to the Weiss assassin Abyssinian. Before the monster managed to redirect its attention, she had angled her blade upwards and decapitated it in one smooth motion. Like what had happened to the one he had shot, it disintegrated. With barely a pause, she made her way to the other two and swiftly disposed of them in a similar manner. Despite his shock, Crawford had to admire her abilities. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if he should recruit her into Schwarz, the uncharacteristic feeling of generosity welling within him.

'Quite the little samurai, ain't she?' Schuldig projected his thoughts to a stunned Crawford. 'Reminds me of another Weiss kitty with a knack for handling sharp swords.'

'She seems to know how to destroy these creatures so I don't think she was the one who sent them. But she may know who did,' Crawford retorted as he recovered from the earlier shock.

'Ah,' Schuldig replied. 'It seems that my knight in shining armour is in fact a pretty ninja miss. If I wasn't so busted up, I would probably get her to accept my offer of thanks,' he concluded.

Crawford felt himself frowning at the leer in the telepath's thoughts. It made sense that one would want to savour life even more after being led to death's door and having the buzzer pressed loudly, but the last thing Crawford wanted was to chase off the only lead they had in this attack. As he thought about it, he forced himself to swallow the anger that was now rising to the surface.

Slowly moving towards the girl, he made sure that she saw his intentions clearly. If she could take out those things within a minute, she could do the same to him. Crawford was too exhausted from the fight to want to antagonise a potential foe. Besides, he was also out of bullets. Standing before her, he bowed his head slightly in a gesture of truce before speaking.

"I wish to thank you for your help, Miss…?" he began hoping she would take the hint and offer her name.

Sheathing her blade, the girl cocked her head to one side as if thinking about his unspoken question. The mask she wore gave her an anonymity she was still not ready to relinquish. Smiling to herself, she bowed in return.

"I see that you are not as hurt as your companions, Mr…?" she replied, throwing the question back at him.

She heard a muffled chuckle before it abruptly turned into a choking fit. Looking past Crawford's stiff frame, she could see the flame-haired man's discomfort. She moved past Crawford and kneeled by the suddenly attentive redhead. Reaching down, she brushed aside his heavy bangs searching for any head injury before running her hands against his chest to check for any broken ribs. Schuldig grunted when her hands found the exceptionally sore area and reflexively grabbed her hands within his.

"Easy liebchen, you wouldn't want to bruise the merchandise any more than it already is, would you?" he grinned at her, blue eyes hooded in pain.

"I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as me," Schuldig replied ruefully while still holding onto the slender hands. Focusing his power, he tried to probe her mind but came up against a wall. It seemed that his black-clad angel of mercy knew how to protect herself from curious mind readers. Sensing Crawford's impatient thoughts, he shot back his reply. In response, Crawford turned on his heel to check on Farfarello. Returning his attentions to his new interest, Schuldig was disappointed to find that she had managed to wriggle her hands from his grasp.

However, he smiled once more when she asked him to place his arm around her neck. Thinking that she was going to support him as they left the building, Schuldig was not prepared for what happened next. Once the man had positioned himself to her liking, she scooped him up easily into her arms much like Prince Charming did to Snow White. The German yelped and clutched at her, his pain momentarily forgotten in his shock. Easily carrying him as though he were a child, she walked up to a wide-eyed Crawford and intrigued Farfarello.

"You might want to send them to the hospital, mister," she said to Crawford as the man in her arms twitched at the embarrassing position he was in. "You might want to keep still. You wouldn't want me to drop you now, would you?" she continued now addressing the squirming redhead who then stilled at her words. "Good boy."

Schuldig's eyes goggled as he tried to process the situation he was in. Cute girls did not go round carrying handsome guys in their arms; on the contrary, he should be carrying her, right?

'Riiight,' his inner self replied sarcastically.

Today really wasn't his day. But never let it be said that he let any opportunity slip by, especially where cute females are concerned. Well, any cute masked females with exceptional strength and wielding a mean blade that is… Barely a minute later, Schuldig was out like a light.

Crawford helped a limping Farfarello with the girl carrying the unconscious Schuldig following behind. He was annoyed that she had not revealed anything about herself but at the same time was intrigued at her abilities. He hoped that their paths would cross once more but under different circumstances - very different circumstances.

Having reached the car, he got Farfarello in before opening the rear passenger door to let the telepath and her in. She shook her head at his unspoken offer of a ride and arranged the redhead inside comfortably before stepping back. Looking up at the taller man, she extended her hand in a friendly handshake. Grasping her small hand within his larger one, Crawford gave it a brief shake as his mind processed the gesture.

"Is there no way you could tell me your name, Miss? It would make the introduction a little more complete."

She paused for a moment before seeming to smile at him. Crawford wondered at it for a moment before she responded.

"I am known as the Hunter. That is all you need to know for now, Crawford-san."

Stepping back into the shadows she had earlier appeared from, she left a stunned pre-cog scrambling to discover how she knew his name.

Author's Notes: Phew! A super long chapter with lots of action. Since I've been lazy with exciting chapters, I've decided to go all out on this. Why is it Weiss had it easier than Schwarz? Heh, heh, I wanted to torture them, that's why. Actually, the time scale is different. The demons are stronger now than before. Weiss had their first encounter earlier than Schwarz so the nasty things were weaker. Time is moving along so the arrival of the Hunter is necessary. I know I've been very bad in not saying how the Hunter appeared but really, it's meant to be in a separate story Just need to sit down and do it.

Farfarello's response to the arrival of the monsters was very difficult to write. In the end, I think I opted for the slightly twisted humour that seems to characterise the berserker. Besides, I think given Farf's oddball charm it could actually fit in. Can't you picture him being rather protective of his 'right' to be the one to hurt God? I think I was actually laughing as I typed out that part. I seem to enjoy Schwarz torture a little too much. Uh oh, don't wanna think about my karma with regards to them. *lol*

If I were to study German, it'll be my fifth language… I think I'll pass on that. I would however like to thank Bj./ShadowAndromedar for the really informative Weiss Kreuz German Dictionary I found on ff.net. Very helpful in spelling [with an English keyboard] and the general use of various *cough* interesting words.

However, I just used one - liebchen [my lovely].

I couldn't decide between that and schaetzchen [my sweet, darling, honey, etc] but figured with the complex spelling, I would rather take the easy way out. ^___^

Am I planning something between Schu-schu and the Hunter? Heh, that remains to be seen. I've been messing around with WK so much that I think another crime may be committed. The next chapter will be shorter. It'll serve as an interim to the climax as this arc draws to a close. Anyway, let me know if you liked the story. [No, I don't want to know if you hate it, my poor ego would be crushed. I am that sensitive >.<;;] Till the next chapter, enjoy!