Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ the rescue ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Main Pairings: Nagi/Omi, Schuldig/Yohji

Timeline: Set a year or so after Gluhen

Disclaimer: I don't own them

Chapter Six

He thought that taking a long walk might clear his head. Making his way through throngs of people crowding the sidewalk, he paid no attention to them as he let his own thoughts dominate his mind. Shielding people was a task that had become easier to do through years of practice, though sometimes he had to be careful. Once, he got too detached from everything that it almost got him into trouble. That day he saw himself crossing a rushing current of cars and buses and yet he heard not one sound. The people around him saw him as a troubled young man crossing the street with the green light still on.

Having established his shields properly, he allowed himself to brood over his current dilemma. The way he saw it, any choice they make would benefit their enemies one way or another. If Saijou allowed the Crashers to perform the rescue mission, there is a possibility that Kritiker might loose their back-up team. If Schuldig went along, Weiss will be one more step closer towards getting their vengeance, the same goes for everyone else who were involved before. Meaning if Kripton Brand, Kritiker’s ally in Europe, respond to Saijou’s call, in effect they will have given a chance for their enemies to exact their revenge on the other people who are responsible for their downfall – Fujimiya Ran and Hidaka Ken. This is the reason why Crawford had warned him. Although Schuldig had good intentions, he along with the others who will aid him might only aggravate the situation more. How could Kritiker think that he and Crawford can help? Nagi was the strongest among them, yet he could not bring to save himself and the young Takatori from their captors.

Behind every solution they could conceive of is a trap. There is no other way out.

Schuldig sighed as he looked up and saw he had somehow strayed from his usual route home. He recognized the place as part of downtown, its nearly deserted alleys covered with a slight haze of smoke welcoming him and threatening to swallow him whole. He turned with the intention to go back. ‘A long way back,’ Schuldig snorted as he walked the other way, sinking back into a silent stupor once more.

He vaguely heard the rapid footfalls fast approaching him, ignoring it deliberately. The smoke could not possibly be that thick for people not to see him. Stubbornly, the telepath walked straight ahead.

Thus, he failed to see a tall man materialize from the shadows before him. The redhead looked up just in time to see the man collide with him squarely. Schuldig had already caught him in his arms and yet both still lost their footing. With a twist, the telepath managed to land on top of the other man and not the other way around. “Watch wherever the hell you’re going, you moron!” He spat.

“Sorry...”

The dust settled and the smoke cleared enough to allow him to see the man’s face. To the German’s surprise, he saw his former nemesis’ jade green eyes wearily looking back at him.

Balinese. ‘I’ll be damned.’ “Kudou.”

Two other sets of footsteps raced towards them. Schuldig pulled the other man up and pushed him in a dead-end alley nearby, shoving both of them against the wall in an attempt to become invisible.

“Help me.”

“Shh.” The redhead placed his broad hand over the blonde’s parched lips and watched two men stop on the spot where they were a few seconds ago.

While the men lingered just a few feet away, Schuldig scanned their thoughts and found the reason why there had been a chase; they were about to lock poor Kudou in the asylum for God knows how long. He also found out that if it had not been for the man’s wife, their friend doctor would not have found out Yohji’s condition in the first place.

Yet it was not all Itou Asuka’s fault as to why she had considered the option. Her husband had attempted to kill her twice in her sleep, although neither had been intentional, since Yohji had been dreaming dreadful nightmares. ‘Or recalling his past,’ Schuldig thought, as he turned to gaze at the younger man and gently delve through the man’s thoughts.

The redhead wondered why, in the midst of all chaos waiting to explode in his face, he found the time to save his ex-rival from trouble. Maybe he thought it a relief to find someone who has a link with his past, what with all that was happening. Perhaps it was due to the possibility that Yohji might be able to help them.

But then, Kudou Yohji, though alive and currently available will serve no purpose in their mission if all he had were fragments of his memory, which he apparently thought were mere dreams. With no recollections of his previous life as an assassin, the Balinese will only be a hindrance to the situation. His problem with Asuka is his own business. Schuldig thought he would give the man a breather before he left him again.

The men had fled. Having decided, Schuldig straightened up with the intention to leave the younger man to his fate. As he tried to pry off Yohji’s surprisingly tight grip on his arm, the man pulled him down to the ground. The telepath dropped to a squat in front of the barely conscious man, his eyes half-lidded and threatening to fall over tired, green orbs.

Schuldig stopped, recalling the scene so similar to this one - one of him and Yohji three years ago, when the last of the bombs had already been triggered and the place began to fall apart. He had stumbled upon the younger man who seemed to have lost all hope and had given up just trying to stand up. Injured and exhausted, he lay amongst the rubble, seeming to be breathing his last few breaths.

He had said 'help me forget,' and Schuldig decided to fulfill the request of a dying man, as he thought there was no chance of saving him, since he was somehow trapped. He manipulated his mind into forgetting Weiss, along with it the memories that motivated him to stay alive all these years.

What he thought was death became a new life for Yohji, free from Kritiker and Estet, from danger. Now the past was haunting him, and somehow it was happening again, when all that seemed to save the man was Schuldig. Just the same, he stayed to hear his request.

“Thank you, Schuldig.”

“Yohji,” The redhead watched, stunned for a moment before realizing that the younger man was about to slip away. “Wait! Wake up! How do you know me?” ‘Schuldig…he knows who I am. He remembers.’ “Do you know Omi? He is in trouble. Help me, Yohji!” He stared desperately at the now unconscious man before him and suddenly changed his decision. One way or another, their enemies might have their way with them. When the time comes to face them in a fight, it would be better to have all the help by his side rather than to have no one at all.

He let out a grunt as he got up and pulled the unconscious man with him. Kudou Yohji, help or hindrance, was a welcome distraction to the situation. Perhaps the gods chose this day for them to meet. He stepped out into the street with Yohji’s arm slung around his neck and Schuldig’s right arm around the man’s waist. The people around them glanced at them and nothing more. Although they drew a lot of attention, it was not enough to send them running away from the two foreign-looking assassins, one of which was looking apparently stoned and the other appearing slightly haggard. A good man stopped his cab in front of them, offering them a ride. After much struggle, Schuldig finally got the both of them in the back seat. He let out a sigh he was unaware he had been holding. The ride lent him a much-deserved peace, a breather before the real turmoil finally begins.

******