Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Mortituri te Salutant ❯ Its Tail Lost in the Depths of the Land ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Weiß Kreuz and all its associations belong to Takehito Koyasu and Project Weiß.

Warning: Yes, this fic will contain NCS, torture, yaoi, BDSM, violence and quite a bit of blood and angst. Doesn't sound like your cup of tea? Go read something fluffy. For those who wish to continue, by all means read on.

Mortituri te Salutant

Chapter 1 : Its Tail Lost in the Depths of the Land

By : Tora-uma

Author Notes :

". . ." - speaking

^. . .^ - inner thoughts

//. . .// - telepathy

Special thanks to wannabeinanime who agreed to be my beta reader for this one. *bows* You're a lifesaver. A yummy, orange flavored lifesaver.

Ken woke up to a blasting pain in his head. He opened, but then immediately shut his eyes. ^I can't remember ever having a headache this bad,^ he thought. ^Taku . . . I feel like I've been run over by a drunken elephant. What the hell happened?^ He breathed deeply, wincing at the sharp pains in his chest as he inhaled and tried to remember the events that could have led to his entire body becoming dead weight. ^There was . . . the mission! But what happened? I remember going into the drug lab . . . and an explosion . . . but then . . . I was wounded and someone caught up to me, but who?^ Ken couldn't pull the face out of his memory. He tried to open his eyes again, ignoring the initial burst of pain when light hit his eyes. It eventually died down to a dull ache and he glanced around the room.

It certainly wasn't his bedroom; it was too clean and organized for that. The only real feature of the room was the large bed he was lying on. None of it looked familiar in the least. Ken tried to sit up to find that he couldn't. He craned his head to look at his hands. They were handcuffed to the headboard. An experimental tug with each leg revealed that they, too, were restrained. For the first time Ken realized that he was lying on the bed completely naked. ^Strange room, injuries, arm and leg restraints and no clothes. None of this can be good,^ he thought. He started struggling with the handcuffs around his wrists, wishing his thumbs would stop preventing his escape. ^Damn digits! Trying to thwart me!^ he growled in his own head. He kept jerking on the handcuffs, rubbing his wrists raw. The skin finally split and started bleeding. Ken continued working his hands around, hoping that the blood would lubricate his skin enough to let him slip through.

Ken paused in his struggle. He heard footsteps coming towards the door of his room. He quickly weighed his options, deciding it might be better if his captor thought he was still asleep. He closed his eyes and relaxed his body just as the door opened. Ken listened closely to every noise the other person made. He heard his captor enter and slowly walk around the bed, stopping at the footboard. The bed creaked slightly as it was leaned on. Ken heard a small chuckle.

"You can open your eyes, I know you're awake. Have been for some time, judging by the state of your wrists."

Ken's eyes flew open as the voice registered and he recognized the speaker. "Schuldig, what is going on?" he demanded.

Schuldig leered from the end of the bed, studying Ken. "Well, it would appear that I've captured you. What, you don't remember our happy little chase through the park?" he asked innocently. Ken growled in response. "I'll take it that's a `No'."

"You really think you're going to get away with this? Weiß will come for me . . ."

Schuldig interrupted with a spat of laughter. "You really don't remember, do you? No one will be coming for you, Ken."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that your teammates are either dead or captured. There's no one left to rescue you."

"Nani?!"

Schuldig grinned. "Well, I think I'll leave you to think about that for a bit. I hate to delay my fun, but I think you might enjoy our . . . activities . . . later a bit more with that nugget of information in the back of your mind." Schuldig tickled Ken's foot, making the brunette jerk, before leaving Ken alone in the room again. Ken stared at the ceiling, hoping that what Schuldig had told him was a complete lie.

~ * ~

"Shimatta!" Omi cursed under his breath. He'd searched every bit of the room he was in but couldn't think of a way to get out. He was well aware of where he was and the immense danger he was in. Unlike the others, Omi had been awake through the entire ordeal. When the drug lab had exploded due to a technician's slippery hands, Omi had been thrown relatively clear of the debris. He had a few minor injuries but they were nothing compared to everyone else. He'd pulled Ken out of the rubble first. He'd been conscious at the time, barely, and had started helping Omi to dig out Yohji and Aya. Omi had just caught sight of Aya's red hair when Schwarz had attacked.

Omi sighed and slumped down against the padded wall of the room. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them. He huddled there, with his arms wrapped around his legs, shaking as he remembered what had happened.

They'd gotten Yohji right away. Schuldig had pulled him from the rubble, pale and unconscious and seeming on the verge of death. Ken had attacked in a blind rage; Omi doubted he had any idea of what he was doing. He seemed to act on pure instinct, swiping at any member of Schwarz he saw, trying desperately to keep them away from his teammates. Aya regained consciousness not long after and immediately figured out what was going on. He pulled himself from the rubble and attacked. Omi had picked up his crossbow again and started fighting with the other two. It had looked like they might actually have a chance at winning until . . .

A small sob escaped Omi and he felt himself start to cry. "Aya-kun," he whispered. When Crawford had first pulled the gun from his jacket, the boy froze, not sure what to do. Aya had his back to Crawford and was caught up in fighting Farfarello. Before Omi had time to shout out a warning, Crawford squeezed the trigger. The bullet entered the center of Aya's back and went through his body at an angle, coming out from the left side of his chest through his rib cage. His eyes rolled back in his head as he fell face first among the rubble and didn't move. Omi had screamed for him to get up, running towards the redhead until Nagi and Farfarello attacked him. He had managed to knock Farfarello down temporarily when he saw Crawford raise the gun again, this time in Ken's direction. Omi reacted without thinking, throwing a dart straight into Crawford's wrist and causing him to drop the gun. The blond had run to Ken, realizing they couldn't win and pulled the older assassin with him into a nearby park to try and escape. They'd split up, hoping to confuse Schwarz but Farfarello had caught up with Omi not long after he'd separated from Ken. Nagi held Omi still on the way to Schwarz's hideout, Schuldig had carried an unconscious Ken and Crawford carried in Yohji. Nagi had deposited him in here, he hadn't seen anyone since.

Omi eventually stopped crying and picked at the hem of his shorts. ^I'm cold . . . I wish they hadn't taken my jackets when they captured us . . .^ He sighed and dragged his hands through his hair. He was worried about the others. The sound of the door being unlocked caused Omi to start and jump up to his feet, feeling entirely too vulnerable in a T-shirt and shorts with nothing even resembling a weapon. He saw a pale, lean figure come through the doorway and stared straight into Farfarello's single gold eye. Farfarello stepped further into the room, allowing Omi to see Crawford standing in the doorway.

"Well, how is the young hacker doing in here by himself?" Crawford smirked. Omi noticed the bandaging on his wrist.

"Fine. How's the wrist? Guess you can't see everything coming," Omi shot back. Crawford's eyes flashed in annoyance.

"Getting more insolent, I see. Well, it won't last long. Meet your new roommate," Crawford motioned to Farfarello. "I'm sure you two will have . . . fun," The Schwarz leader smirked again and closed the door. Omi heard him lock the door again and watched Farfarello closely. The Irishman leaned his back on a wall and slowly slid to a sitting position. He kept his eye focused entirely on Omi; the molten gold would have burned a hole through the young Weiß member if it could have. Omi backed up against the wall, wondering how many sharp objects Farfarello had on him at this point in time. The fact that the Schwarz member wasn't attacking made him more nervous that he would have been if he attacked.

"Why are you holding us here?" Omi demanded. "What do you have planned?"

"Nothing, at the moment. That's why I'm sitting here, thinking."

Omi pressed himself further into the padded wall, wishing he could disappear in it. He didn't like this situation in the least. He doubted that any of the others were in a better one.

~ * ~

"Is he awake?" Nagi asked.

"Iya . . . The explosion did more damage to him than to the others," Crawford touched Yohji's forehead gently. He'd placed the assassin on the couch inside his office, his lean frame taking up its entire length. "He's been knocked into a light coma."

"Then why did you bring him back? There's not much you can do to him if he won't wake up."
"That's where you're wrong. Over the years I have worked to increase my powers. I'm not just precognitive anymore," he told Nagi.

"So what exactly can you do now?"

Crawford smiled and leaned against his desk, pushing his glasses back up on his nose. "It's a form of mind manipulation."

"Like Schuldig?"

"Not exactly. I can change thoughts and images inside a person's mind. It's not physical control like Schuldig's telepathy can be. But there's a catch. I've found that the person has to be in a receptive state. It works best if they're asleep or unconscious," Crawford smirked. "Like our friend Kudou."

Nagi nodded, showing no emotional reaction to Crawford's explanation.

"Something wrong, Nagi?"

"Hmmm? Iie . . . just thinking."

There was a knock on the office door and, without waiting for an answer, Schuldig walked in. "So what are you going to do with him?" he asked, flicking Yohji's booted foot.

"Nothing just yet," Crawford answered. "Get bored with your toy already?"

Schuldig grinned. "Letting him rest up, actually. The last thing I want is for him to pass out again from his injuries while I'm playing." He lifted a roll of gauze. "Need any before I patch up Ken?"

Crawford shook his head. The few bleeding wounds Yohji had were already cleaned and wrapped up. Nagi moved from his spot near the desk and headed to the door.

"Nagi, where are you going?" Crawford asked.

"Out to take care of some loose ends," he answered before leaving.

"You're just going to let him go?" Schuldig asked.

"Well, without Aya here he has nothing to do. Besides," Crawford pushed his glasses up, "it's not as though I can't find out what he's going to do."

"Good point. Are you ever going to get those glasses fixed?" Schuldig saw the look on Crawford's face. "I'll leave now," he decided, heading back to the room where Ken was stored.

~ * ~

Aya slowly awoke to a white ceiling. Groaning, he turned his head, seeing the IV stuck in his arm.

"Are you finally awake?" Manx bent down over him.

"Water," he croaked and Manx poured him a glass from the pitcher on the bedside table. She lifted his head and held the glass while he greedily drained the water from it. "What happened?" he asked when the glass was empty. "Where am I?"

"You're in a secure hospital. You were shot, Aya, the mission failed."

"Mission . . . ?" Aya struggled to remember what happened. "The others," he growled and tried to sit up. A wave of pain washed over him and he collapsed back onto the bed.

"Listen to me, you can't be moving around. The bullet nicked your heart and passed through your left lung. You had major internal bleeding; you need to rest for awhile!"

"But the others, where are they?" he demanded.

"Aya . . . we . . . we don't know. You were the only one we found."

"Nani?"

"Schwarz has them, we think, but we don't know where they are. Gomen nasai."

"Why do you think Schwarz has them? How did you even know Schwarz was there if I'm the only one you found?"

Manx avoided his eyes. "You can't be worrying about this, you need to rest," she told him, tucking the hospital blanket around him. Aya reached up and grabbed her wrist, preventing her from leaving.

"Tell me," he demanded.

"Aya, it won't help anything to hear this, we don't have any idea about what really happened and . . ."

"Tell me."

Manx took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Are you sure?" she asked. She waited for a short nod from the man on the bed before continuing. "You would have bled to death, we never would have found you if . . . well . . . Aya, Nagi's the one who contacted us and told us where you were. He said Schwarz had the others but didn't give us any more information. Aya . . . gomen," she whispered. Aya released her arm and let his head sink into the pillow. ^Schwarz has them all?^ Despite the panic he felt in the pit of his stomach Aya tucked the emotions away and looked up at Manx calmly.

"How long until I get out of here?" he asked.

"I don't know. I think the doctor said complete bed rest for at least a week."

Aya tested the limits of his mobility again. "Three days," he said, "and then I'm going after them."

"Iya! You can't, you won't be healed enough . . ."

"I'm going in three days," he told Manx, making it clear through his tone of voice that he wanted no more debate on the issue. But Manx wasn't ready to give up.

"Aya, it's not a mission. Kill them and you're nothing more than a murderer."

"That's all I've ever been."

Manx's eyebrow twitched in exasperation. "You'll be out of Weiß. Completely."

"Fine." Aya's voice was ice. Manx glared, realizing she was out of ammunition for the moment.

"Don't move from that bed. We'll talk again later," Manx told him on her way out the door. Once she'd left Aya tested his ability to move his arms and legs. Everything worked fine. Aside from some bruises, cuts and the bullet hole in his torso that was still preventing him from sitting or moving around much he wasn't in bad shape. He looked around the hospital room they'd put him in. It was small, sparse and white. ^I hate hospitals.^ He pushed the call button on his bed.

"Nurse's station, did you need something?"

"Could I get a book or a magazine?"

"I'm sorry sir; we don't have reading material available for patients. There's a remote by the bed for the television though."

Aya released the call button and looked up at the black box mounted in the corner of the room. ^I hate television, too.^ He stared up at the ceiling. He'd grow tired enough to fall asleep. Eventually.