Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Only at Night ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

"Omi!!" Ken skidded to a stop outside the room Omi was trapped in. Ken reached for the doorknob and twisted it, intent on getting to his lover quickly. The door refused to budge. Not pausing in his efforts, Ken backed up a step then threw his shoulder against the door. Over and over, Ken rammed into the door, still calling for Omi. The brunette was nearly frantic and Omi's screams were not dieing down. Standing back, Ken balanced himself on one foot and kicked the door as hard as he could. The lock finally gave and the door swung back on its hinges. Ken rushed inside immediately, "Omi!!"

A whimper caught his attention and, looking down, Ken found Omi curled into a tight ball. Fearing the worst, the soccer player knelt beside the boy and started to pull at him. He had a hell of a time getting Omi to open up, but his efforts finally paid off. Looking down at the blonde, Ken felt his chest tighten painfully. The boy's normally bright blue eyes were dulled over and vacant; they seemed to be frozen in fear. Two pair of gloves hit the ground as Ken reached out to cup Omi's face. He was freezing.

"Omi. Omi, com'on. Omi, look at me. Dammit, look at me!!" Ken shook Omi fiercely as he continued to just stare off into space. Ken was beyond worried at the moment; he was sick with fear. And to top everything off, Omi hadn't moved since Ken had found him. Feeling his lover's face again, Ken found that Omi was still freezing. Not knowing what to do, Ken began to chafe his lover, hoping to warm him up. After a moment of that, and finding it wasn't working, Ken was ready to scream. He looked around and saw that the bed was nearby. Without a second thought, he lifted Omi up and placed him on the bed, stripping the boy once he was lying down. Ken quickly stripped himself as well and lay next to Omi. He pulled at the blankets until he had successfully wrapped them around him and Omi, trapping the heat.

Omi was a lot colder than Ken had thought. Wincing, he tried to keep from pulling away, hoping that Omi would be all right. Seconds later, footsteps pounded in the hallway and Aya appeared in the room. Youji staggered in a minute later leaning against the wall heavily for support. Ken didn't so much as move to acknowledge the others' presences. The silence was broken finally when Ken spoke.

"I don't know what's wrong. He's cold. And he's not moving. His eyes...they're frozen too. Don't know what's wrong. He's so cold. He's frozen. Not moving." Neither Aya nor Youji knew what to say as their teammate started to break down. Slowly, Aya reached out to touch Omi but Ken pulled the boy away from Aya's reach. Mouth thinning, Aya reached over once more for Omi and forcefully pulled him away from Ken. By this time, a little of the color had returned to Omi's face and his eyes didn't look so distant. Protectively, Ken pulled the blonde back to him, running his hands down Omi's back to warm him up more quickly.

Resigned to waiting, Aya stood by the door as if guarding the room while Youji flopped on the floor, holding his head in his hands. They could hear Ken mumbling something to Omi, but couldn't make out what was being said. The minutes crawled by as the three men waited for their teammate. Ken nearly shouted from surprise when he felt Omi's hands slid around him. Instead, he stammered a little and tightened his hold on the boy. Something about the way Omi held him felt odd; and it worried Ken. Omi's body shuddered as silent sobs raked his body, his head buried in Ken's chest, "Omi...Omi." Ken breathed.

~~~

The trip downstairs turned out to be an adventure in itself. Omi refused to let go of Ken for a moment, so they had gone down the stairway pressed together and nearly tripping over each other's feet. Youji seemed to be having trouble doing anything. He was swaying and trembling violently, stopping every few feet to curl up for a moment. Aya ended up nearly having to carry him down the stairs to make sure he didn't trip and kill himself. They made it to the front room nearly twenty minutes later. Ken and Omi had taken up the couch, Omi still curled against Ken, leaving Youji and Aya with a chair and the window seat. Not surprisingly, Aya reclaimed the window seat allowing Youji to have the chair.

"What.....happened...?" Youji asked, his eyes shut in pain. Ken shrugged and looked down at Omi, hoping he would finally answer them, "Omi?"

Instead, the boy just clutched Ken more tightly and buried his head in Ken's jacket, "Ken-kun..."

Ken rubbed Omi's shoulders and turned to Youji to reply himself. However, Youji nearly jumped from the chair and ran as best he could out the room, a hand over his mouth. Ken called out to him and was about to chase after the blonde but was hampered by Omi still holding him. Deciding that Youji could take care of himself fine, Ken sat down and wrapped his arms around his lover. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, Ken could tell that Aya was concerned for Youji as well. The red head had given up staring out the window and was standing, as if undecided about what to do. Catching Ken's glance, Aya turned around and resumed his lookout.

"Ken-kun..."

~~~

Youji stumbled down the hall, running into the walls in his haste. The door slammed shut once Youji had nearly fallen into the bathroom. Heaving, the blonde was just able to reach the toilet before throwing up once more. The room spun as pain began to dull his vision. Running a hand across his face, Youji forced himself to breath. The room spun violently once more, causing the playboy to fall back against the wall. Weakly, Youji rubbed at his eyes, his hands shaking. Choking out a cry, Youji clutched his stomach and slid to the floor. The sunglasses fell from their perch as Youji's body shuddered once. The door slid openly slightly as a soft breeze left the room.

~~~

The hour beeped out from Omi's watch. Ken had hardly noticed the time pass as he had tried to soothe Omi. The boy had finally calmed down enough to stop clutching at Ken, but still had yet to talk. They now sat side by side, with Ken's arm laying gently on Omi's shoulders. Aya had hardly moved since Youji had left the room. Suddenly noticing they were still missing a teammate, Ken looked around the room, concerned.

"Aya, Omi, where's Youji? He isn't back." Omi's eyes flitted around the room for a moment while Aya surveyed the room as if he could draw Youji out with his gaze, "Should we go look for him? It's been a while..."

Pushing off of the window, Aya nodded and headed out the room quickly. Ken and Omi headed in the opposite direction Aya had taken, Omi holding Ken's hand tightly. They looked through every room and double checked the kitchen. There seemed to be no sign of the playboy anywhere. Stifling a yawn with his hand, Ken turned to Omi completely at a loss.

"I dun know where he went. Might even be outside, the way he ran off. What do ya think?" The floorboards creaked loudly beneath them as they walked back up the hallway. The shadows seemed to shift as they walked by, binding more tightly together as soon as they walked past. Omi was staring at the floor, not quite aware of what was going on around him. Kicking at the trim of the wall, something vaguely familiar caught Omi's attention. Tugging on Ken's hand, the boy headed over to the doorway and pushed the door in. Squinting, he absentmindedly reached for the light switch and flipped the swith. When the lights didn't come on after a moment, Omi just stepped over the threshold and bent down to study the object more closely. A quiet gasp escaped him as his hold on Ken's hand increased.

"Ken-kun."

"Owowowowow!!! Omi, that hurts. What is it?" Ken asked, bending down next to Omi. Ken's eyes widened with realization as he looked over at Omi. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Ken also noticed that there was more than just Youji's sunglasses in the room. Not a foot away laid Youji, curled into a ball and dead. Fortunately, Omi hadn't taken his eyes off of the sunglasses and so hadn't noticed Youji yet. Pulling Omi out of the room, worried about what seeing their teammate dead would do to him, Ken yelled for Aya. Omi was not being helpful and kept trying to break out of Ken's embrace to see what had happened, "Aya!!"

~~~

Thirty minutes later, Aya, Ken and Omi were back in the front room after having placed Youji's body in the adjoining room. Wearily, Ken rubbed at his face. Omi had taken Youji's death better than he had hoped; but the reality of the situation had yet to actually settle in to any of them. By now, Aya had given up on his sentinel position and was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him.

"What do we do now?" Ken asked, his hand seeking out Omi's automatically. It didn't seem as if Aya had heard the question for a second.

"We search for the killer." He replied. At that, Ken jumped up from the couch, nearly falling back as he forgot he was still holding Omi's hand.

"That's fuckin' crazy! We've searched the house how many times now? There's no way the killer could be here! And how do you think he killed Youji? There's no sign of any wound on his body." Aya lifted his head and stared straight at Ken.

"We obviously haven't searched hard enough." Ken's hands fisted, the bugnucks snapping out automatically.

"Bullshit! You know we've searched more than enough." Aya continued to calmly stare back at Ken, not budging from his position.

"We search again."

Before Ken could reply, Omi stood up and reached for Ken's arm. Fingers tightening their hold briefly, Omi nodded to Aya. Leaving the room, they stood in the main hallway for a moment. Without another word, Aya took off towards the kitchen leaving Ken and Omi to stare after him. Sighing, Ken faced Omi and watched as the younger boy looked up the stairs.

"Guess we get the second floor again." Sad, dulled blue eyes turned on the brunette, studying him carefully. Silently, Omi nodded and grabbed his lover's hand before ascending the stairs.

~~~

Aya stared at the kitchen, feeling as if the answer to their teammate's death lay within. Cautiously, the red head reached out and pushed the door open. With a quiet creak, the door opened allowing Aya inside. Everything was coated in dust. Dirt and grime made everything seem much older than it should and gave off the feeling of disuse. His mind set, Aya began to look for the liquor cabinet. There had to be something there that would explain Youji's death; Aya had a gut feeling that the two were directly related.

It was a moment before Aya was able to find the liquor. There were barely any bottles left and most of them had been opened. Those that hadn't were dated as far back as seventy years ago. Not finding anything, Aya closed the cabinet intent on continuing his search. It was only when he pulled his hand away that he noticed something odd.

His were the only marks in the room.

There was no trail left from when Youji had been in the kitchen. Everything was still layered evenly with the dust and dirt. But this had been the only place where Aya had found any alcohol; so Youji would've had to have been in the room once. Disturbed by this new discovery, Aya left the kitchen quickly. He needed to find Omi and Ken. They needed to leave immediately.

~~~

"Last room." Ken commented as he toed open the door. Behind him, Omi froze, refusing to move. Noticing that Omi wasn't following, Ken turned and tugged at the boy, "Com'on, Omi. What's wrong?"

Still refusing to talk or move, Omi pulled his hand out of Ken's grasp and backed up into the far wall. Confused and slightly worried, Ken watched Omi for a bit longer before heading into the room, "Ok. You stay there then."

Ken searched the room quickly and found nothing. The search had been a complete waste of time, just like this mission was turning out to be. He stood just inside the doorway, scratching his head.

"I dun get it. Unless Aya found something, there's no way..."

"Ken-kun!" Omi cried out and moved to the door, his eyes wide with fright. Vague forms were slowly taking shape around the room and Ken hadn't noticed them. One by one, the dead children Omi had encountered before filled the room. The moonlight reflected off the small forms giving them an ethereal look; making them look almost angelic. The girl holding the bear seemed to stare directly at Omi sending ice-cold shivers down his spine. It looked as if she was smiling at him. One look at the blonde had Ken instantly on alert, "Omi! What's wrong?!"

The brunette tried to run to Omi, but the door slammed shut before he could get out. Omi couldn't move; his whole body was shaking and wouldn't move. Ken pounded on the door yelling for Omi, concerned for his lover and not aware that he was the one in danger. Omi knew what was happening, could still feel the children's frozen hands on him, feel them digging inside of him. Ken was still pounding on the door, calling for Omi. He wanted to move, wanted to save Ken as Ken had saved him. But he was frozen. He could still feel them digging inside of him. A tear crept down his cheek as Omi continued to stare at the door. Ken's pounding was growing weaker, to the point where Omi could hardly hear it. Everything was getting blurry; the pounding had stopped; Ken wasn't calling him anymore. Tears were streaming down Omi's face, but he still didn't make a sound. He knew what was going on. He knew Ken was dieing. He knew the children were digging into Ken like they had done to him. But Omi couldn't move; he wouldn't move. And he let Ken die.