Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Project An ❯ Burying the Undead ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: No, I DO NOT own Weiss Kreuz and any of its characters so don't sue me because I don't have any extra money for that. Any similar of content to any events is due to pure coincidence and nothing discriminative or infringing copyrights.

 

PAIRING: Ken/Omi, OOC/Omi

 

RATING: PG-13 for violence, darkness and slight yaoi

 

BACKGROUND THEME: 'TRUE LIGHT' by Miyamoto Shunichi-The Opening theme of 'D.N.Angel'

 

 

+CODE08: BURY THE UNDEAD+

 

~~ +++++++++++++++ ~~

 

The street was lined with jobless thugs despite the cold night. Occasionally, gang fights occurred resulting to murders that would only be uncovered many days later.

 

A haggard man with matted flaming red hair stumbled along the building, one hand shaking a half filled beer bottle and other on the wall to support his unsteady body as he made his way forward.

 

Suddenly, he lost his footing and landed on top of a middle-aged man who was kissing wildly with a teenage girl obviously still in her school uniform.

 

The angry man stood up, grabbed the drunken man by his collar and barked: "WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING, IDOIT?!!"

 

The drunken man gave a hiccup and stared back in glassy eyes. He suddenly jerked and vomited on the other man's coat. The schoolgirl who was young enough to be the unlucky man's daughter yelped in disgust.

 

"Get lost!" The man screamed and kicked the red hair man away.

 

Motor vehicles and busy people on the street cushioned the loud crashing sound of broken beer bottle. No one laid an eye on the fallen man who began to crawl towards the shattered pieces of broken glass and beer on the floor. Neither did any offer a pity eyes when he struck out his tongue to lick the spilled beer on the path.

 

To them, he was just another hopeless trash of the society meant to be forgetting.

 

"Beer..... More b..beerr...." The man panted. Two bright black well polished shoes stood before his ground-leveled eyes.

 

"Are you having some problems in life, Mister?"

 

The drunken man grunted and ignored him.

 

The other party knelt down revealing a face with black glasses, tanned face and thick lips: "We can realize your dreams, unleash yourself to accomplish the impossible."

 

He got up and turned to walk away. The drunken man stared after the man for a second or two before he struggled slowly after him.

 

"Will... Will there be more beer?" He asked hopefully.

 

"Yes, more beer, more beer than you can imagine, Mister., fear not, you have nothing to lose." The other man smiled as he led the other through mazes of lanes before walking down a dark basement under a disco club.

 

There was other man in black suit waiting for them. Despite standing in the darkness, one could make out his high-bridged nose and deep green eyes, defying him of any Asian features.

 

"We've got a customer here," The first man in black announced.

 

The second man went over and blocked the only entrance where the first man and the drunken man had entered earlier preventing any route to escape for the drunken man if he had to which proved to be unnecessary.

 

There was a flash in the air as the first man pulled out a syringe and started to fill it with yellowish liquid from one of the test tubes on the table.

 

"What is it and where is the beer I am promised?" The drunken man grunted: "Are you trying to sell me drugs? I've no money here."

 

"Relax, this is a free service." The man gleamed through his sunglasses and walked step by step towards the trapped man. The second man grabbed the drunken man from behind so that he could not move when the needle of the syringe neared his flesh.

 

"Time to end your game, Misters." A new voice roared.

 

The first man with the syringe froze as he collapsed onto the ground, not moving. There were lines of cuts on the back. Behind him, a youth in late teens with brown hair shook his blood stained claws to undraw his weapon. The syringe rolled out of his hand.

 

Fear gripped the second man's eyes. The drunken man suddenly turned alive with agileness and tossed him over onto the floor with a thump. With shaky hands, he tried to reach for the fallen syringe, but a hand took it before he did. It was a blond young boy in mid teens.

 

"This is the drug that starts all the trouble." He whispered to the rest.

 

"This man is the only lead to the main source." The 'drunken' man with flaming hair said calmly.

 

"Mou, this luring job suits Balinese more, too bad he isn't around." The elder youth sighed.

 

They paused to stare at the trembling man on the floor who had lost all his coolness that existed not too long ago.

 

~~ ++++ ~~

 

"How's the progress getting on, Crawford?" Farfarello asked monotonously in their headquarter.

 

"Way too smooth, they are getting closer to our trap." Crawford smiled as he continued to roam through his vision of future.

 

"Looks like Masafumi-sama's experiment proves to be an excellent stepping stone to uncover the mysterious ritual one of our Eszett elderly has been keeping before his sudden disappearance 20 years ago." Schuldig grinned

 

A creepy grin drew across Schuldig's lips.

 

~Stupid fool, he is just wasting his efforts for our aims~

 

Schuldig never respected Takatori Masafumi. To him, he was just a fool that obsessed in chemicals, creating monsters and imagining himself as Kami. That crazy scientist was supposed to be dead. At least he was killed by his younger brother-Takatori Mamoru's dart, Fujimaya Ran's katana and Brad Crawford's gun shot.

 

One stormy night, Takatori Masafumi suddenly appeared at the door steps of their headquarter, dripping wet in a trench coat, obviously stolen from someone, wanting them to aid him in his continuous aspiration.

 

Schuldig remembered it was a thunderstorm night. Lightning flashed across the sky, revealing part of Masafumi's ghastly pale face for a second before engulfing everything into darkness. His face wore no expression, like a corpse that had just risen from its grave.

 

Not mentioning anything about what they had done to him during Schrient's attempt to revive him or breathing any word about Schreient or his own family clan's destruction, the Schwartz agreed to follow him, intending to use him to seek revenge on Weiss members who had almost killed them during their last battle in the tower.

 

From a piece of strange lead found amidst the remains in the collapsed tower, the Schwartz learnt that there was one powerful curse long lost 20 years ago together with an Eszett elderly. The three deceased elderly had known and kept this secret from them.

 

Crawford had long suspected that the three deceased elderly would not have chosen Japan as their station to fulfill their dream out of sheer chance. They must have found that the missing curse was lying somewhere in Tokyo that prompted them to seek Takatori Reiji's help to conquer the country and to travel all the way from Germany here, partly to search the curse themselves.

 

"Do you refer to the missing curse Eszett used to hold that can cleanse this corrupted world?" Nagi asked.

 

"Correct." Schuldig: "The ritual is coded 'Projektengel'.."

 

"Project Tenshi? What a beautiful name." Nagi smiled.

 

~~ ++++ ~~

 

~Pant, pant, pant....~

 

Below the rusty metal beams, a seven year old blond boy ran, his little hand clutching a piece of black-and-white photo.

 

~Save me, Mama, save me, Papa, save me, Uncle! Some one please save me..!~

 

Once or twice, he turned back, his baby blue eyes darting wildly behind. There was only pit darkness and silence from where he came. Spotting no sight of his pursuers, he heaved a sigh of relieve and came to a halt.

 

He could not remember how he got to this strange isolated place. All he knew was that someone wanted to take his life.

 

A sound of boots stopped before him.

 

Hastily, the boy turned to see a tall man in silhouette against the light emitted from the overhanging lamp. Something shone in his hand.

 

A silver pistol.

 

The man was pointing the pistol at the boy's forehead.

 

"Your existence is a threat, boy, blame yourself for being born into this world."

 

A click on the trigger.

 

"Sayonara, Mamoru-kun..."

 

Instantly, flames blazed its way through the place, tongued into the air and bursted into snow of white feathers spiraling through the hollow darkness.

 

"UNCLE SHUICHI, SAVE ME!!!!!!!!!!" Omi screamed and jolted in the car, hitting his head onto the car ceiling.

 

"Oi! Daijoubu ka, Omi?" Ken asked from the passenger seat behind. Omi was sitting besides Ran in the front.

 

"Uh!" Omi tried to force his smile and ran the back of his hand against his forehead. He was covered in cold sweat.

 

~What's going on with me? Fancy having a nightmare in the midst of our mission.~ Omi scolded himself.

 

It must be the doing of that picture of the warehouse seen on the Internet the previous night.

 

Ran took a look at Omi silently and returned his concentration back to driving.

 

Before them, dark towering skyscrapers, decorated with countless spots of sparkling lights almost resembling part of the stars-covered sky, emerged into view from the horizon of the lit expressway.

 

However, the prospering look was just a disguise. Behind the mask, the city was corroding. People were poisoning Mother Nature everyday by discarding wastes, destroying forest, polluting rivers and sea. Just like the city, human beings have became violent day by day, resorting to their dissatisfaction of all kinds by means of fights, vandalism, murders... Ages of criminals were becoming younger. Bribery, back stabbing and lies were common in all places, especially among politicians to climb higher levels. Determination of efficiency was no longer graded by how well you fare, but by how you can scheme your way through your organisation and how much you can eliminate your competitors.

 

"We are approaching," Ran said from the driver's seat.

 

Omi was still biting his lower lips. The tenseness inflicted from his nightmare still lingered within him.

 

A strange thought dawned on him. Why couldn't he remember anything 2-3 years after Persia (Takatori Shuichi) saved him from the kidnappers 10 years ago? He had a bad omen that it was something extremely important.

 

Under some interrogation, the man in black suit revealed that the drug was experimented in an isolated warehouse at the west end of Shinjuku. After handing the man over to Manx, they immediately set off to their next destination.

 

It was dark and quiet when the three Weiss members reached the place. Not a single light was switched on, not a single soul was seen and the interior was enveloped in complete darkness.

 

"It could be a trap." Ran whispered and hinted the younger members to put on their night glasses. He did not want the enemies to know they were here.

 

Everywhere, tables, chairs, beds and several apparatus lay scattered, overturned and smashed. Unknown chemicals dripped, almost like loud thumping sounds caused by their hearts.

 

Obviously, these people knew their whereouts were discovered and the base was isolated overnight.

 

"We are too late." Omi shook his head.

 

"Not really. We will spilt up and investigate," Ran instructed: "Stay in touch through the transmitter." The rest nodded in agreement.

 

Omi tucked himself tighter with his jacket. It was close to mid autumn and the place was much colder than outside. There were bits of dark liquid on the ground. He knelt besides it and put a gloved finger to it. He sniffed. No doubt, it was blood.

 

Deep lines engraved into the ground, forming a square. He dug his fingers into the narrow gap and pulled. A dark hole met his eyes. Just as he expected, it was a trap door. As he walked down the steps, the patches of blood increased in size and quantity.

 

"Guys," Omi could feel a slight tremor in his voice: "I've found a trap door near the furthest end of the room where a large shelf is. And, I see a lot of blood as I enter."

 

"Omi, stay where you are. I'm coming." Ken responded through the transmitter.

 

"Hai." Omi heaved a sigh of relief.

 

The tunnel was ghastly cold, quiet and eerie. He knew he needed someone to accompany him. The situation was too unusual. He was standing in the middle of the staircase that seemed to suspend in the darkness. Looking up, he could vaguely register the opening based on the texture of the surfaces.

 

Suddenly, he heard a cracking sound and the trap door snapped shut.

 

"NO!!" Omi gasped and raced all the way to the top, but in vain.

 

"Omi, I can't locate the trap door!" Ken was desperate: "I.." The receiving was cut off.

 

"KEN-KUN!!" Omi screamed. He was locked alone in total silence and darkness and his transmitter was dead quiet.

 

"Ran-kun! Can you hear me?"

 

Silence.

 

It was a nightmare. A nightmare in reality.

 

"Ken-kun! Ran-kun! Please response!" Omi cried out in terror.

 

"Ken-kun.. Ran-kun.. Ken-kun.. Ran-kun..." Omi's screams echoed in the tunnel.

 

Omi hugged himself in both fear and cold. He could feel his body trembling violently. With the above route cut off, he made his way down.

 

Almost like eternity, he finally made it to the ground.

 

Drip.. Drip.. Drip.... Drip.... Sound of water trickled from unknown places.

 

In the darkness, Omi saw someone in laboratory coat sitting on a chair with his back at him. Very softly, Omi approached the person. No response.

 

"Hey!" Omi called.

 

The person, obviously a man, did not stir. Omi swallowed hard and gave him a light push. The man fell off. Omi reached over and gasped. One of his white sleeves was hollow and drenched in his own blood. His eye sockets were gone and his mouth was wide opened as though he had seen something terrible before his death.

 

Omi quickly shifted his attention from the corpse.

 

More met his eyes.

 

Everywhere, disfigured corpses in laboratory coats scattered, either with missing arms or legs. Many had huge holes dug into their faces or chests. Blood stained the walls and ground in a wild exotic dance manner.

 

Omi could imagine a situation. The news about the discovery of the whereout broke out. To cover the truth, the mastermind commanded his men to trap both the scientists involved and the freed 'guinea pigs' together in the basement. With the 'guinea pigs' tearing the scientists apart in the mad massacres, the identity of the mastermind was protected.

 

Omi covered his mouth. He felt like vomiting. He retreated backwards to the nearest wall, hoping to get some support and protection from the cold surface.

 

His back banged into something firm and muscular. Omi jumped and turned to look up. A pair of glassy eyes glanced down at him emotionlessly.

 

// "Sayonara, Mamoru-kun...."// The strange voice coursed through Omi's mind.

 

A low growl rumbled in the newcomer's throat. He shot a fist at Omi. Omi leaped aside and the blow barely hit him.

 

Crush! Part of the wall besides him was smashed into a hole.

 

With the aid of the night glasses, Omi found the person almost a head and the half head taller than him. He wore torn patient's coat, stained with dots of blood. The man shone a sheepish grin. Saliva found its way down his gapped mouth.

 

A fearful shriek pierced through the freezing air.

 

Omi's scream.

 

"Omi! Omi! Can you hear me? OMI, ANSWER ME!!!!!" Ken screamed hysterically into his transmitter over and over again, but received no response.

 

"Omi says he found a trap door near a shelf. Any result?" Ran asked through the transmitter.

 

"Nope, not at all!" Ken cried out.

 

~Omi, please, please wait for me....~ Ken prayed silently to himself.

 

Omi's innocent gentle smile.. Omi's bright blue eyes... Not the fear dead Omi. No, no, no!!!

 

Blood trickled down the boy's forehead as callused hands closed round his tender fair neck. The boy was lifted feet off the ground.

 

Omi had used up all his darts, piercing the attacker from head to toes; yet, he did not seemed to be affected in the slightest bit.

 

Omi's eyes were no longer focused on his attacker. Instead, he was staring into the darkness above, ignoring the suffocation and pain the other was inflicting on him.

 

~ Gomen ne sai, Ken-kun, I can't wait for you any longer..My vision start to blur. Am I dying now? Am I going to see Uncle Shuichi and Oka now?~

 

Suddenly, warm liquid splashed onto his face and the force around his neck vanished. Omi felt himself falling into a warm embrace. In the darkness, he could feel someone looking down at him.

 

"Ken-kun.....," Omi choked weakly: "Is that you...." His sentence came to a halt as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness. He was not Hidaka Ken. Omi's eyes widened in surprise.

 

~Takashi Rei. What is he doing here?~

 

Omi wanted to bolt his body up. Unfortunately, all his strength was utilized to fight the insane man and the movement only resulted to weak struggle in the other man's arms.

 

Warm hands ruffled his blood stained hair, warm arms embracing his exhausted body.. It was so much different from the brutal battle and the suffocating feeling from the insane man...

 

Wait a minute, where is that insane man in patient's coat?

 

"Your attacker's dead," Takashi Rei seemed to read Omi's mind and pulled Omi's shivering body closer in a warm cuddle: "You are saved now, Takatori- san.."

 

~Takatori-san? He knows I am Takatori?~ Omi stiffened.

 

"Of course I do. We've met in 'Zombie' before."

 

"You.. you can read my mind?!" Omi cried out weakly in shock.

 

"That's my unfortunate special ability from child birth." Takashi Rei sighed sadly.

 

"Then you know I'm a 'he', why did you kiss me in the first place?" Omi stammered.

 

He felt tender brown eyes on his: "I.. I can't help it."

 

"Let me go!" Omi struggled: "Did you." Warm lips closed onto Omi's, silencing him into a heated kiss, gently nibbling his bottom lip, begging for an entrance. In his shock, Omi did not register when the older man slipped his tongue into his mouth, tasting him slowly.

 

Takashi Rei slowly deepened the kiss and ran his hands into the hems of the jacket, inhaling the boy's sweet scent and absorbing into the deepness of boy's blue eyes.

 

~Stop, please stop!~ Omi pleaded silently.

 

~Onegai, I want you for so long. Don't worry, I only touch you and I won't hurt you.~ The man's voice crept into Omi's mind.

 

A loud explosion disrupted his attention. He broke the kiss.

 

"OMI!!!!!!!!" It was Ken: "Omi! Where are you??!!!!"

 

A surge of relief ran through his veins: "I'm here, Ken-kun!"

 

"Omi!" Ken's voice was relieved.

 

~Omi's alive! Omi's still alive!~ Ken could not believe he was any happier, to learn that Omi was still in this world despite the dangers that almost took the boy away.

 

Ken raced down the staircase and halted in shock. A man in patient's coat lay on the ground dead with his head crushed like a smashed bean curd. But what shocked him was not that. Omi was lying.... in a stranger's arms.

 

"Who are you?" Ken questioned menacingly and cold: "Get your hands off Omi."

 

"Omi? Your name is Omi?" Takashi Rei's voice was surprised.

 

"Hai. My current name is Tsukuyono Omi." Omi whispered exhaustedly.

 

"Tsukuyono Omi?" There was a shock in Takashi Rei's voice: "Tsukuyono Omi?"

 

"What's wrong with the name?" Omi felt a tinge of offense.

 

"Eh, nothing," Takashi Rei resumed his calm look: "Your friend over there is anxious for you. Can you sit up?"

 

Omi quickly nodded.

 

"The name's Hidaka Ken," Ken roared from the other side furiously, obviously infuriated by Takashi Rei's presence by Omi's side: "I'm not just his 'friend', I..."

 

"Hai, hai, Ken-kun." Omi quickly cut his words. Ken appeared unusually worked up.

 

Takashi Rei ignored Ken's displeasure and spoke to Omi in gentle tone: "I'll see you again next time. Can I still call you Takatori-san?" Omi nodded, noting with great surprise at Ken's reddened face.

 

"If there's nothing more, get the hell out of here!!!" Ken roared.

 

Takashi Rei seemed to ignore Ken's presence. Very gently, he placed Omi on the floor and vanished into the darkness.

 

~Jah, Takatori-san, I'm leaving this building first. We'll meet next time.~ His voice spoke in Omi's mind.

 

Immediately after Takashi Rei left, Ken ran to Omi's side and pulled him into tight embrace: "Omi, who is he? What did he do to you? Did he hurt you?"

 

"Ken-kun, can we leave this building first? I'm not sure if there's anymore of such 'species' in this basement." Omi did not dare to relate Ken of the kiss. He could imagine his fury if he did.

 

"We'll meet up with Ran. This place has to be blown up." Ken said as he carefully picked Omi up in his arms.

 

Just as he expected, Omi was light as a feather. He was so small and slender that he fitted in Ken's arms. Ken could not resist a relief as he felt the younger boy huddled closer to him and his baby soft hair brushing slightly against his neck.

 

In a few minutes' time, the building was engulfed in a sea of fire. In the midst of the cracking sound, Omi could faintly hear roars of hysterical screams from the 'guinea pigs' still trapped in the basement. It reminded him of the zombies in a play station game 'Resident Evil'.

 

"The mastermind is still around. This mission is far from complete." Ran said firmly: "He has gathered all his chemists, together with the freed 'guinea pigs' into a basement and has destroyed all important evidences."

 

"Although this may not be of much help, I'll check with Manx's tape for more leads." Omi said from the safety of the car.

 

"I guess that's all we can do." Ken grunted gruffly.

 

Unknowingly, they did not see a green hair girl sitting on a tree branch, watching them from afar.

 

~~ ++++ ~~

 

"How's your finding, Nagi?" Crawford asked as the youngest Schwartz member returned from the scene of the destroyed warehouse.

 

"Just as you've seen, the plan is going on very smoothly." The boy replied with a smile: "The warehouse is burnt down to the ground."

 

"Very good," Schuldig smirked: "Other Weiss can die first, but leave Takatori Mamoru alive."

 

"Why the sudden interest in that kid?" Crawford smiled mockingly: "Care to share?"

 

"You have not seen him in feminine clothes, he's.... dashing..." Schuldig licked his lips lustfully.

 

"This is going to hurt god." Farfarello said: "Too bad, Masafumi's experiment is disrupted, it is going on the same path of our belief."

 

"I don't see him affected by its destruction." Nagi commented: "I wonder why." He suddenly smiled: "You should have seen the terrified face of the chemists when I drove them down into the basement with the experimented monsters."

 

In the semi-darkness of the laboratory, Takatori Masafumi was staring into the empty air with widened hysterical eyes.

 

"Don't worry, Mamoru-kun, Anijia (elder brother) is going to fetch you home. Don't worry, Mamoru-kuunnnnn...... Hee hee hee, ha ha ha ha ha......."

 

His giggling echoed in the cold hollow air for a long long time.....

 

~~ ++++ ~~

 

That night back to the basement of the florist shop, Omi pushed Manx's tape into the video tape player connected to his computer.

 

"Don't stay up too late, Omi. You are still hurt from that mission." Ken yawned.

 

"Hai, hai. Oyasumi, Ken-kun!"

 

"Oyasumi, Omi." Ken yawned as he made his way back to his bedroom.

 

Omi smiled and returned his gaze back to his computer screen.

 

Persia's image appeared and started his speech.

 

"Osp! Wrong tape!" Omi gasped. Out of his tiredness, he had taken a tape that was recorded before Persia's death.

 

Instantly, he stopped and switched to the correct one.

 

"Stupid me." Omi scolded himself.

 

The tape ran again. Omi's eyes were slightly glazed.

 

~Am I too tired? The contrast from the window in the tape looks so different from the one I've watched earlier. Aren't the images of Persia in the latest tapes duplicated from the earlier ones before his death?~ Omi wondered.

 

He suddenly bolted upwards and re-run the two tapes again.

 

~Just as I suspect. We are all deceived.~

 

// "Sayonara, Mamoru-kun...."//

 

~~ ++++ ~~

 

Manx returned to her seat by the computer.

 

A new message popped up. It was from 'TS'.

 

She still missed the time when Persia was still alive. A week after his death, she received a mail from a person from 'TS'. Ever since, she had been communicating with this person for months till today. 'TS' was a very analytical person and had offered many helpful advises and leads to Manx that aided her to crack countless unknown cases. Their interaction was a secret from everyone, including Birman. Even the computerized videotapes of Persia was suggested, provided and mailed to her from 'TS'.

 

Manx smiled faintly and opened the new mail.

 

The sentence wrote:

 

//Tsukuyono Omi is still alive. Keep a close watch on him and his cursed ritual-Project Angel.//

 

Manx tensed.

 

Unknown to her, a highly programmed computer bug was activated into her computer.

 

-END OF CODE08-