Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Nobody's Listening ❯ More Truths Revealed ( Chapter 5 )

All warnings and pairings noted in the previous chapter.

//blah// = thoughts
~blah~ = telepathy (trust me, it'll come up *sweatdrop*)

Note: Just a couple words used in this chapter with their definitions:
dea rtháir -- brother (Irish Gaelic)
bru der -- brother (German)

Also, thanks to Angel-chan for the loan of Sin. After some flirting and acting, Kara and Nai both got off their asses and helped get this chapter done.

(This chapter contains minor spoilers for the Schwarz drama CDs, proceed with caution.)

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Nobody's Listening
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"You're an ass."

"Ah, you say the sweetest things, bruder."

"...fuck you, Schuldich."

Ran winced slightly and opened his eyes, drawn out of his dreamless slumber by the brief argument. He turned his head slightly to one side, silently taking in the sight of the Schwarz assassins. The telepath leaned against the wall, a slight smirk on his lips as he taunted his friend again:

"You kiss your girlfriend with that mouth?"

"Do. Not. Mention. That. Whore. In my presence."

The tone startled both natural redheads, causing the one in bed to pull himself into a seated position with a slight groan and the one against the wall to stiffen slightly. Jei turned his gaze towards the bed, amber eyes hard and still containing that hint of sorrow that Ran had noticed that first day he awoke in La Guardia.

"Farf..." the German started, reaching towards the younger psion. Jei took a step backward, turning his body in a manner that fairly screamed 'don't touch me.'

"Farfarello's dead," he said, voice dispassionate. "The malefici bitch killed him three years ago."

"When Este found out." Schuldich now turned to give Ran a look; the Japanese assassin paid him no mind, instead watching Jei's reaction. "You told me Este found out about your psychometry when you were twenty-one. Three years ago, ne?"

The telepath looked from Ran to Jei: "I *told* you not to trust her! She turned you in, didn't she?!"

"Shut up, Schuldich."

Blue-green eyes blinked twice, a bit startled that both men had spoken almost as one. It was... hell, honestly it was amusing. He could easily read the Weiss assassin's thoughts, knew a secret desire that the violet-eyed man wasn't even aware of. And from his observations of his former comrade-in-arms, he could see the changes.

The Cat, as he'd always privately called the Irishman's ani psi self, was poised and in control; it was always The Cat that took on missions and got Jei in and out of potentially fatal situations time and again back in the days when Schwarz was four and no one could tear their family apart. Hell, The Cat was present in the way Jei interacted with Ran.

Why, Schuldich intended to find out later. Right now, though....

"Okay, I know when to keep my mouth shut," he huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall again. He noted that his 'little brother' was still clad in his mission gear, only he'd pulled on a lab coat one of the staff doctors had offered after stitching up the nasty gashes he'd gained in the fight with Siamese.*

Jei sighed quietly and sank into the single chair in the room, this time being very careful not to pull his stitches as he moved. He tilted his head back, amber eyes sliding closed and a soft sigh slipping past his lips. For a moment he was silent.

"Well, I suppose it's easier to relate once," he finally said quietly, "rather than tell Ran now and then tell deartháir later. You might want to both get comfortable; it may take some time in the telling as it's difficult for me to even think about."

Ran frowned slightly; since sinking into the chair Jei had yet to open his eyes once. For some reason, the redhead was... hurt by that action. In just a short amount of time he'd become accustomed to seeing the other man's eyes and reading the truth in them even as it was spoken aloud. Without thinking about what he was doing, Ran reached out and lightly rested his hand on the Irishman's.

//Interesting,// Schuldich mused to himself as Jei opened his eyes and offered a tiny smile to the man in the bed. //Perhaps I need to take a little glimpse into Farfie's mind as well....//

Jei straightened up a bit, unconsciously twining his fingers with Ran's as he took a deep breath and began to speak: "Her name was Sally. Sally Schumars. She was... ah, she was something special, at least I thought so when I was nineteen. She was in Este, but wanted out... hell, she ran from Rosenkruez with little more than the clothes on her back.

"I could go into all the boring details"-at this Schu chuckled softly and shook his head; trust Jei to call that encounter with Farblos 'boring'-"but let's just suffice it to say that in the aftermath, I left Schwarz. I thought Sally was the one I'd been waiting for, the one The Cat had been waiting for in silence. Hell, when I touched her I could see everything about her... and it didn't overwhelm me even for a moment."

The Irishman paused for a moment, tilting his head back to smile bitterly up at the ceiling: "She was malefici, a psychic witch. A touch of telepathy, a touch of empathy, and a lot of uncertainty all bundled up into a petite blonde-haired brown-eyed woman. Oh, but I thought I was so in love with her. I understand now that I should have treaded more carefully rather than jumping into anything, but that's one of those lessons you have to learn on your own I suppose.

"Anyway, we left Germany, went to Ireland. I had wanted to go 'home' for a while but never said anything; I knew it was safest for me to be around those who could protect my secrets but like I said, I was nineteen. I thought I knew everything... thought I could trust Sally. After all, I loved her and didn't want there to be any secrets between us.

"We'd been living in Crawforsburn for a little over a year when I noticed that something had changed." Jei paused, a frown marring his features and his eyes flicking over to where Ran's fingers were tangled with his own. The redhead followed his gaze, blinking slowly as if he hadn't noticed the change before giving the other man's hand a slight squeeze.

Schuldich couldn't help the smirk that crossed his lips at that display; neither of the younger men seemed to realize that the same thoughts were lingering in the other's mind. Of course, the German wasn't about to tell them that. It was going to be far more entertaining to watch them stumble through on their own.

"At first I ignored it," the Irishman said after a moment, "chalked it up to growing up a little bit and getting more comfortable with one another. But that didn't explain why she was staying later hours at the small shop where she'd gotten a job. It didn't explain why she waited to come to bed till she thought I was asleep. And it sure as hell didn't explain why The Cat grew agitated in her presence.

"So I confronted her about it. She told me, 'The tourist season is a bit heavier than last year, Farfarello. I've been helping with inventory, and I didn't want to disturb you. I know with your talents you could pick up on my anxiety. I could never do that to you.' And even though The Cat was bristling, I accepted her explanation." Jei paused in his narrative again, turning amber eyes to the wall and seeming to look through it as if it were a window to the past. For a brief instant it seemed as if he truly was in the past, listening to Sally's voice as she made her excuses.

"I accepted that explanation until I realized that she was blocking me. That's the plus side of life with a 'path; a psychometric doesn't have to worry about throwing up a wall if the telepath is strong enough to keep anything in his life that could cripple the other hidden behind his own barriers. Sally was never really that strong; I could touch her without being floored, like I said before, but all of a sudden there were more walls, more blocks keeping me away from *something*. For months I let it slide, until finally my curiosity got the better of me."

"What did you do?" Ran asked after another long pause, frowning as Jei's gaze slid over to the wall once again. He could tell this was a painful tale for the other man to tell, but for some reason he *wanted* to know what had happened that could have sent the former Berserker running to Kritiker. Farfarello had fascinated him since that first battle between them five years before; as Jei he was a mystery that Ran wanted to solve.

Schu smirked and answered for his friend: "No doubt he went through her things until his psychometry kicked in and told him what the fuck was going on with the little bitch."

"Got it in one."

The older two men turned their full attention on the youngest as he offered up a bitter smile. "There was one necklace that she wore most of the time. That was the sixth thing I touched of hers, and the one that gave up the information that she'd been hiding from me. It was just *such* a thrill to find out on my twenty-first birthday that my lover of two years had been plotting to return to Este, the price of her re-admittance being me.

"I decided to make a run for it. I grabbed a bag, threw in a few changes of clothes and all my blades, and headed out of Crawforsburn. Unfortunately, Este's 'path caught up with me about five miles later. He shut down my motor skills and knocked me out before I had time to even unzip my bag. Next thing I knew I was waking up back in Rosenkruez's 'care,' my blades confiscated somewhere in the building and half a dozen of their scientists eager to test my skills."

The Irishman gently pulled his hand from Ran's grasp and stood up, crossing over to the window and peering out: "For three months I didn't even see the sun. They kept me in a room deep in the heart of the building, with no windows and only one way in or out. I was a prisoner, an experiment. The only time I was left out was for testing, which I purposely fucked up so I could plan and plot my escape.

"I was about ready to give up hope and give in when they did the stupidest fucking thing. Wanna know what they did?" Jei turned his head and smirked over his shoulder. "They decided to do 'physical testing.'"

Schuldich blinked. "You mean, sit down with you in a room, hand you other people's discarded junk and see what you could tell them about said people? I'm not sure I follow, but *how* was that a mistake on their part? It's basic testing for psychometrics."

"True," the younger man conceded, still smirking, "but how many times does that test include weaponry?"

Not for the first time since Jei moved, Ran wished he currently had the strength to get out of bed and go over to join the ex-Schwarz assassin at the window. "They were stupid enough to hand you a knife?!"

"Oh, but not just *any* knife. Think for a moment, kitty: the first day we spoke, I told you that I grabbed the knife when my *true* parents and sister were murdered. I read a hell of a lot in that first burst of power, and there's no way in hell I could ever forget that particular blade.

"The stupid fuckers handed me my mother's knife. I knew it was the same blade before my fingers ever touched it; I have a constant reminder of it right here"-he pulled off his right glove and turned his hand palm-out towards the other two men in the room, revealing a jagged scar amongst the natural lines-"and I can still see Ruth's face as she killed dozens of times over for Este.

"Still, I took it from the morons and told them *everything* I saw when I held it... then I shoved it into each of their throats. Messy, yes, but effective. At that point my main goal was to get out of the heart of the building, and if I had to kill every damned man and woman inside then so be it." Jei pulled his glove back on, staring at the cloth for a moment before dropping his hand to his side and walking back over to the chair. Sinking into the chair once more, he closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands.

"The malefici was the last person I found in the compound. She had tried to escape when one of the 'paths I sliced sent out a mental scream before I shut him up for good; unfortunately for her the compound was much like my cell and only had one way out. All I had to do was sit at the entrance and wait for her to come to me.

"Oh, Sally tried to talk her way out of everything, saying that she had no choice, that Este was going to kill us both if she hadn't caved in and handed me over. Three months before I probably would have believed her and forgiven her, but she killed my trust. I already had... issues with women thanks to Ruth, but that fucking psi witch killed any remaining trust I may have held for the fairer sex. I think I caught her off guard when I wrapped my hand around her throat and slammed her into the wall; her mental shields failed and I could read *everything* from her.

"She lied to me; she *wanted* back in Este, life on the outside was just too much for her to handle and so she made a deal with the devil so to speak. Sally could return to Este as a subordinate if she handed me over; she could become a higher up if she went through the right channels." Amber eyes narrowed, rage over his former lover's betrayal clearly visible. "The little whore fucked her way to the top of the ladder. *She* was the one who ordered my testing.

"I took *great* pleasure in ending her life. I held her in place by the throat and used Ruth's knife to leave shallow cuts all over her body. Not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to bleed for a *long* time. And when there was no more skin to cut, I snapped her neck. Then I went back inside, found my blades and enough cash to buy a plane ticket, and left Austria forever.

"The next day I was in Japan, sitting in Persia's office and telling him everything I just told you two." Jei smirked slightly, shaking his head. "All I can really say is Takatori Mamoru knows the right words to say. Within an hour of setting foot in the building I was on Kritiker's payroll and being scheduled for surgery to fix my eye and get rid of a few scars so I could be a bit more anonymous."

Schuldich shook his head slightly. "Fuck, and I was going to bitch at you about not showing up when everything went down a couple months back."

"You mean Epitaph and Class Z?" the Irishman said, sitting up straight and stretching carefully. "I heard all about it from Persia, and was *strictly* ordered to remain in New York. I don't think Mamo-kun wanted me anywhere near Rosenkruez or Este. There are probably standing orders to kill me on sight. Hell, the only reason I knew everything had been taken care of was when I found Sleeping Beauty here on the street with a knife sticking out of his gut."

Ran scowled slightly, hoping desperately that the other two wouldn't notice his face reddening slightly (Schuldich, however, *did* notice). Rather than remark, though, he turned his gaze to Jei: "Did you get any sleep?"

The fair-skinned assassin blinked at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted wings. "No, I was a little too busy fighting Siamese and then getting stitched up to catch a nap."

"Then he came in here and stared at the wall until I decided to annoy him," the German added helpfully; he was greatly amused by the new flow of the conversation. //Maybe I don't have to look too deep into their minds after all... everything's *right* on the surface!//

Ran's scowl deepened: "There's another bed. Go to sleep."

"What are you now, my father?"

"A concerned friend. Get your ass in bed and go to sleep."

~Your bed or the other bed?~

"And you keep out of my head," he added to Schuldich, face growing red again. He wasn't about to admit that the suggestion was tempting to him for some reason.

Apparently Ran's wasn't the only mind the German had tapped into; Jei looked rather stunned and embarrassed by the unspoken suggestion. Rather than argue with either of them, he stood and walked to the other bed, sitting down and fixing his amber-eyed stare onto Ran for a moment.

"Hm?"

"Didn't notice it before," the Irish assassin murmured, eyes half-lidded as his adrenaline high suddenly plummeted. "Your hair's not as bright anymore. Used to look like blood to me, now it's more like wine." He smiled slightly as he lay down and closed his eyes. "I like it."

A few minutes later the only sound in the room was the breathing of the three redheads, Jei's even and deep as he fell into an exhausted slumber. The silence was broken by Schuldich:

"You should get some more rest yourself. You *are* still recovering, after all. I've gotta go call Br-Crawford and tell him what's going on. He'll probably want to come and check on Jei himself. It's that overprotective big brother kick of his; since Naggles left he's gone back to worrying over what the banshee over there's been up to."

"I'm not tired," Ran protested weakly, turning his eyes towards Jei's sleeping form on the other bed... and wondering why he wished the younger man *had* joined him in his bed.

"Do I have to shut you down, too?" Violet eyes widened and met amused blue-green. "Don't tell me you thought he would just go to sleep that easily after everything that went down tonight?"

The Japanese assassin simply shook his head and lay down, turning to glance towards the other bed once more before closing his eyes. "Probably not unless he bled out awhile."

Schuldich waited quietly until he was certain Ran was asleep, then carefully reached out to delve into the younger man's thoughts. He found what he was looking for surprisingly close to the surface; the same as when he'd lightly rifled through Jei's as he was easing him towards sleep.

"I was right," he murmured to himself. "Abyssinian's fascination runs back to the same point of origin as my little brother's. Huh, I'm so going to have to wave this in front of Brad.

"How did he fail to see this attraction between Fujimiya and Farfarello?"

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Owari Part the Fifth
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*The now-deceased Siamese who will not be missed... this proven by Angel-chan killing him five times over in her review of the last chapter....

BTW, ani psi is simply the abbreviated form of animal psi, just in case anyone may have missed it and thought I was making up new words *sweatdrop* Also, I took some liberties with Sally's appearance as I've never heard any mention of what she looked like.

One last note: Crawforsburn *is* a town in Ireland. I learned about it about a year ago when I was doing a travel brochure project for Illustrator class. It's located in County Down, Ireland, and I think I may want to go visit it someday. Also, it just amuses me that the town's name is so close to Crawford's name....