Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ With my eyes wide open ❯ Hell on my left ( Chapter 6 )

Title: "With my eyes wide open"

Author: Lilla.

Category: Angst/ AU.

Warnings: R

Pairings: YxR and SxA.

Archive: If you want it, take it. Just let me know where you put it, please.

Feedback: C&Cers are worshipped… I want my writing and plotting skills to grow! Help me out!

Disclaimer: All people and events in this fic are purely fictional!

But you already knew that… ^.^;;

I don't own any of the Weiss characters!

Sobs…

I am just playing with them OK? I won't ruin them… much…

Author's Note: Some POVs. Spoilers? For the TV series, maybe, if any... Original characters. This is very much of an AU I won't follow the original timeline too much, be prepared for a not so nice Aya-chan. Oh nearly forgot Aya is Ran and Aya-chan is Aya, OK? Quite easy actually!

Sorry for the long delay between postings but my PC caught one of those nice viruses which attack the boot sector of the disk… So this is a rewrite… not a good one, I am afraid, but the best I could do under the circumstances.

Many thanks to Enna Namo and all my other reviewers!

Many additional thanks to Neko and Sardius for the beta reading! And to Sardius-chan for being a great Muse!

Character's Thoughts

`Mind-speech'

(Character's POV)

**************** Change of POV

++++++ Past memories.

§And this is a prophecy, or rather a BIG vision…§

Chapter Six: Hell on my left…

(Aya)

When I felt Schuldig's touch leaving my mind, I could have almost screamed in anger. After I had finally managed to lure my so called master back where I wanted him, on my terms, he simply decided that there was more interesting prey elsewhere.

This talentless bullshit of his is starting to get old…

I might not be able to influence other people's mind directly, but I've always managed to get what I wanted with just words. That took real skill, I thought, still feeling vaguely miffed. The idea that Schuldig had found another pet project that he found more interesting than me sort of rankled, even if I wasn't exactly sure why it should. I should have been relieved to finally be left in peace. Maybe it was just that I was afraid of being alone. And the idea of having to realise my "plan" all on my own didn't seem as attractive as doing it with Schuldig's help would have been.

All in all, maybe it's just that he got me hooked on manipulation. Well, to be honest with myself, I always did manipulate Ran; I got him to go out with others, as is normal for a young man. I forced him to try and make friends. I wanted him to find a girlfriend. All that in the name of what was proper, as Okaasan had taught me. Was what I did morally reprehensible? But then, what defines morality if not customs and traditions?

You just wanted the perfect little Oniichan as a part of your perfect little family.

Yes I did and was I not right to want it?

What about what *he* wanted?

What he wanted didn't get him any further than working as a waiter and making moon eyes at a male co-worker… I interfered for his own welfare. As much as I did it for me, I also did it for him. I wanted him to have a normal happy life, to be able to live up to Hikaru's expectations…

Maybe if I repeat it long enough, I will believe that…

That doesn't change the actual situation though. These people who are holding me prisoner in this hospital, they are forcing Ran to dishonour the family, after they shamed us all by exposing Hikaru. I will have them pay.

And Schuldig… He *will* help me, will he not?

*******************

(Schuldig)

The gaki was back on the net again. Trying to determine which of our two little birds to catch.

Entropy, the talent whose very identity is unknown; such a load of crap. If those incompetents fools in Esset had done their job half-way decently, they would have captured him years ago.

It must be the man, Mako or something. As an exchange student these last five years, he had been moving all over Europe, studying art, on paper, but in truth dealing in death and weapons for his grandfather, the Oyabun. A trained killer for an important Yakuza family. He was the person I would look for if I was searching for someone who had left a few hundred rotting bodies in his wake.

A little uncouth Briton Miss, coming from a quaint little village, as a feared serial killer didn't really make any sense. Wonder why the fools even left the kid as one of the possibilities; she might have made some odd choices in her university education, anatomic-pathology and some ancient language crap, but still her profile was all wrong.

I barely bit back a yawn; we had been up for most of the night as Brad-lily had insisted that we all remain ready to start out, should there be a positive confirmation coming from Nagi as to the identity of Entropy or to the location of our two targets. Going without sleep for most of the night was OK for me, as long as I could enjoy myself, but having nothing to do for hours on end, and remaining up after six in the morning surfing the net goes against my grain.

Time to make my displeasure clear enough.

`Baad-Braaad, I'm boored!'

After all, we had found a possible location for Kougen several hours ago, and it was in the centre of one of the two areas where Entropy's powers had almost certainly be used. Four buildings falling down like domino pieces on their own were a mite suspicious looking.

I just wanted to go and have a look, a peek really… Would do anything just so that I could get out of this fucking computer room.

`If I have to stay here for another night, I demand that the grüne Gemuse[2] sees to some new decorations for this fucking room. No way in hell I'll spend another twelve hours looking at all these nursery style glowing stars!'

My complaints not having elicited a response, I decided to persevere.

`Braaaad, can I at least go and take a look around? I mean, if I follow the rotting bodies I'll get to the man anyway, and it will take less than if we leave the chibi out there on the net searching for… whatever he has been slaving over these last few hours.'

With a bare glance in my direction, Bradley observed, "There hasn't been one rotting body to be found in Tokyo these last few days. Not a single corpse has been found."

`Sooo, he hasn't been killing lately? Maybe he doesn't want to ruin his turf here in his birth country?'

"You haven't been paying attention Schuldig, I have said there hasn't been ANY corpse found… It is as if no one has died in the city, no one… There hasn't been a single car accident or whatnot that ended up with a dead body found. There have only been disappearances. And this in the whole of Tokyo."

`But what about the fallen buildings; there must have been bodies in there!'

"No bodies were found, and yet entire families were supposedly in them when their houses went down around their heads."

`If there hasn't been the usual spate of bodies, why do both you and the old timers think that Entropy is the culprit?'

Brad simply stared through me and then said, "I know he is. He or she has simply learnt a few new tricks." In the chilling voice he always has after just having had a vision, he added, "He didn't leave enough to be found, this time. You saw that as well as I did, when you tried to eavesdrop on me yesterday."

That pronouncement almost caused a shiver to run down my back, half in pleasure at the thought of the rush that sort of power had to give, and half in fear, that this time we might have bitten off more than we could chew.

The excitement won hands down; if I could get close enough to Entropy to read him, I would get to feel all the power needed to turn a body into dust with my own mind. I didn't want to miss on this opportunity; the high that touching talented minds at work gives me is the best that can be imagined.

Wonder if that is the reason why Crawfish won't let me in; he doesn't want me to share on all the natural drug of his talent at work.

Crawford could wait for another day; however, now there was a much more succulent prey to hunt down and enjoy. That idea firmly in my mind, I announced that I would be going out to buy a few snacks and, seeing as the mighty Führer didn't object, I went out with the firm intention of tracking down and analysing the two possible talents.

*******************

(Kougen Maro)

I looked out at the destruction of our main opponent's business. The fall of those four building's had been a God sent. Now the Oyabun would have the opportunity to claim control of the smaller organisation, and we would be left in complete control of this part of the city.

Those buildings had had weak foundation; I had known about it, and had been prepared to capitalise on that. The study of architecture for five years had helped me to recognise a badly constructed building. They had probably added the last two stories afterwards, thinking to profit over it and to lord over smaller fishes, the idiots. But then, their idiocy had served me well; I hadn't even had to plant explosives as I had planned to do. The whole of their headquarters had gone down on its own.

To tell the truth, I had almost known that this would happen; even when I had been toying with the idea of the explosives… A part of me had almost known they wouldn't really be necessary. That they would all die, very soon. Fall prey to the flame, that raging bonfire of destruction that I had felt compelled to follow through half of Europe.

Given the sort of mishap I had weathered over the last five years, the conclusion that I had amazing bad luck, or that I was an outright jinx, would have been sort of a given., but for the half buried knowledge that it was the presence I had been chasing, hopelessly attracted to, that had created all those events and that somehow, someway, it had wished me spared.

I had been no more than five feet away from some of the falling pieces of the Tower degli Asinelli in Bologna as it had collapsed. In Paris, I had barely stepped off a grid holding up several other tens of tourists before it fell, from close to the top of the Eiffel Tower, to the ground nearly three hundred meters below. I had survived a plane crash, and had narrowly missed a plane that had failed its take off and had crashed without survivors. I had found myself enmeshed in two train accidents, and several car crashes. The number of shoot outs, not business related, that I had found myself in was daunting. Yet miraculously, I had always been completely unscathed.

Thinking about it, I probably should feel indestructible. I don't; it makes me feel mortal… and yet at the same time oddly special, powerful… And for someone like me who was always been overlooked, that's… important.

And now I couldn't shake this feeling that soon, very soon, I would be the Oyabun. Yes, my grandfather would die before the night was out, snuffled out by the flame that had been raging throughout Tokyo all week, tantalising, almost out of reach, but never out of mind. Finally, I would have power.

It was then that I felt once again the sort of vague stirrings in the air that I had learned, during my European trip, preceded someone's coming after me, or some sort of cataclysm. But this wasn't the forest fire I had followed through half of Europe, like a moth attracted by the flame; this was more of a candle, and one which was gradually growing weaker the more it approached.

Like all those others in Austria that time… becoming weak while the fire rages on and finally rises to devour them all…

Someone coming after me then, I thought as I checked my gun to make sure it was in working order. A smile formed on my lips and it wasn't a nice smile; all too soon some fool would die messily at my hands. Why those weak people kept trying to get a piece of me I had never managed to phantom, not that I had ever cared enough to even bother to inquire about their motives.

Taking my time, I stealthily approach the location where I had felt the pinprick of light before; now the faint feeling of the power at the edge of my sight was muted and almost gone. I could still pinpoint the source of it; some orange haired gaijin wearing a very odd combination of white pants and dark green jacket, with an horrid yellow bandanna to top it off.

Not wishing to lose any time, I decide to see what this was all about before taking care of the problem permanently. "Who are you?" I curtly demand.

My face doesn't give any indication of the almost physical pleasure the nearness of this little flame of his gives me. Hungrily, I can feel something inside me reaching out for it and snuffling it, drawing it into myself to assuage the black hole at the core of my being. The sensation assaulting my senses would probably make another person cry out in pleasure, but I have trained myself never to show what I feel, and the stone mask remains in place as for a minute I feel almost satiated. I know the emptiness and hunger will come back all too soon.

It isn't the great fire that has fed me completely for the last five years, but it will have to do... for now…

The man looks at me intently, as if trying to divine my thoughts; then a faintly puzzle expression appearing on his face he replies, "Oh a friend to be sure, a very good friend; for example, I could make you the next leader of this little gang of cut-throats you have here all too easily."

"Why should I need your help?" I reply carelessly as I get out my gun and train it at the redhead almost negligently.

For a minute, the man smirks as if in a private joke, then as I wait for fear to make an appearance before killing him, the nearly relieved expression that reaches those previously ice cold jade eyes gives me pause.

Either he doesn't think I would actually kill him, and that means he is an idiot, or else… he wants to die.

Sheer perversion on my part to not give a person what he wishes for, as I never got it myself, spurs me to simply tell him off instead of going through with my stated intention.

It is a dangerous precedent to make… If word goes out that I make empty threats, or worse that I am squeamish, I will be ruined!

Regardless of what my logical mind is telling me, I simply say, "This is my turf… You come back here, you die. Is that clear enough?"

The man turns around and makes as if to leave. For a minute, I think that will be all, but then he turns around to face me once again, and with something that could almost be called longing, were it less filled with heavy sarcasm, he tells me, "Pity, it was a silent place. I enjoy those now and then…"

In the time it takes to blink, he was gone. I could still feel his flame going further and further away and growing stronger. Steadily escaping my… grasp. Making my way back to the room which had been assigned to me, I could already feel the hunger churning, demanding to be fed.

Maybe I should go out for breakfast… Not that it is going to help at all…

*******************

(Ran)

After my first day in the shop, I woke up still feeling tired; there hadn't been much to do to keep things going, but the sheer numbers of idiotic schoolgirls coming in to ogle my co-workers was daunting. The fact that all the harassment was for nothing, as they bought very little in the way of flowers, had further annoyed me.

Why the heck don't they boot them out and be done with them?

Another source of unease was Manx's pronouncement of my role as the new leader of Weiss. It just didn't make sense.

The team had a previous leader, probably that blond Omi kid, who was still living. Why replace him? If he had made a big enough mistake to warrant that sort of treatment, I was pretty confident that the organisation would have quietly taken care of him without bothering with demotion.

So that was to say, that it probably was a way to gain better control over myself.

Why that would be considered important enough to give a team under my control, at least on the surface, was something I could only speculate about. But I knew that it was imperative that I try to find out what their plan might be.

On the other hand, if the leader had been either Hidaka or Kudoh, I could envision the organisation wanting to keep them on as cannon fodder, while putting them in a more laid back position.

Neither of those two struck me as having any control of themselves, let's forget about anyone else; Hidaka especially… Of course, his behaviour of the day before yesterday made more sense if you cast him as the team leader, and considered his rage as resentment for my having usurped his place.

Still, frankly he doesn't strike me as someone who would have the nerves or the intelligence for leading a group, and Kritiker seldom makes that sort of mistake.

Kudoh, on the other hand, was intelligent, no doubt about it, and canny; he had made a couple interesting observations while we studied our mission information yesterday evening, and he had been the first one to realise that there was something fishy going on.

But no matter how useful in the mission planning, he was still a laid back, flighty person who could hardly be counted upon… Hardly proper leader material.

Which left the probable leader as Omi. I had the strong impression that under all that genki exterior, the boy was made of steel, as hard jaded and ruthless as most of the upper echelons of this goddamned shady organisation. What the kid thought about the recent developments was anybody's guess, but having to venture an opinion, I would say that he must have been let in on the ruse.

I should look to him to figure out what they are planning. I don't like this; he puts me in mind of Aya-chan, with his happy and carefree exterior…

Thoughts of my sister and our last painful meeting just before our recapture, when she renounced any relationship with what I had become, aren't something I can bear. Especially if I have to be able to function for the rest of the day, I remind myself sharply, as the accustomed rendering heartache assaults me once more.

+++++++++++++++++++

"You! How could you do that, Ran! We have nothing left already, and now you pawned away what little honour we had, for blood money… " Aya cries, "How could you?!!"

"Aya, please understand, I had no choice. We were destitute; I had to look after you… I couldn't have found any employment and…"

"Oh, and so now it is my fault!! You are the one who decided! You think I would have wanted that?!"

+++++++++++++++++++

"No, Ran, I can't forget what you told me, I can't forgive what you did, no matter that you may claim you did it for me! You didn't! You did it for yourself, to make yourself seem stronger, to obtain revenge as you have said, but I refuse to be the cause of this! You hear me?! I won't be the banner you wield in this senseless crusade of yours! I no longer am your sister, Ran…"

+++++++++++++++++++

Aya, please forgive me… Aya, don't leave me. I need you! You are all that is left of my soul! Aya!!!

One day I shall have love… I can no longer even make myself believe it, why bother repeating this stupid mantra? Aya is as gone from my life as my parents; I am alone, I will always be…

+++++++++++++++++++

"Attachment sullies your mind. Follow the way of the middle; let neither hate nor love be your companions. Neither joy nor sorrow. Feel nothing and find peace…"

"But Shion-sensei, if I feel nothing, how will I know that what I do is right?"

"Action itself has meaning, feelings do not, Ran; you must be enough for yourself."

+++++++++++++++++++

With an effort, I got my thoughts back on track, disregarding the remains of my shattered soul.

Feel nothing… No attachment… No pain.

I feel nothing, no, I *am* nothing…

The idea of having to be on my guard around that Omi boy seems somehow ridiculous, and yet I can hardly discount the evidence pointing to his being the puppeteer for Weiss.

And then there was the mission itself, I considered, while turning on my side to face the faintly illuminated window.

Time to get up and do some stretching and practice all too soon.

People kept talking about the disappearances, but there had been no deaths for days now, in all of Tokyo. Not even in car accidents; the drivers of the destroyed vehicles hadn't been found at the wheel, they seemed to just have upped and left, gone without a single trace.

We had been unable to explain this sort of evidence, of course, and I had the impression that my psychologist would wish to see me again, to try and convince me that such things as telepathy do not exist, if I had given the only explanation I could think about.

People are dying, we just haven't found their bodies. They are consumed… Destroyed maybe? But why, and by whom?

Seeing as lying in bed was hardly going to solve any of my problems, I got ready to get up, feeling all too keenly my isolation as I recalled my wake up call of the day before yesterday, a somewhat traumatic one indubitably, but still one where, for a few precious seconds, I had felt the closeness of another human being.

With a faint shake of my head, I dragged myself out of bed and proceeded to put that experience behind me, as I faced the somewhat daunting prospect of finding something to wear. In a fit of idiotic pique, I had left all my clothes behind. They had belonged to a free man, and I didn't want any reminders left of previous times while in captivity.

Still, the money I will spend to buy at least the bare necessities would have been better spared…

With a faint sigh, I put back on my worse for wear black jeans and shirt, and decide to see about some shopping before making my way to the sites of some of the more catastrophic events of the last few days for further investigation, as for the mission plan.

*******************

(Drien)

I came to with a start; my head faintly aching, and found that I was lying on cold concrete. Smoke and faulty eyesight obscured my vision completely. Carefully, I took stock of myself; I hurt all over, but could feel all of my limbs.

That is usually a good sign…

Carefully, I tried to recall what I had been doing at the last and came up with a blank. I vaguely remembered getting on a plane, no way of saying how long ago that had been, and that was all.

Not even a hint of where was I supposed to be.

There was no reason for me to have taken a plane, though, it didn't make any sense. Actually, I had been scared stiff of planes ever since I had had to go through a failed emergency landing, which resulted in a crash, in Dublin. The plane had crashed and the scattered recollection of all that had passed afterwards were the stuff of nightmares. Even working as a forensic expert doesn't inure you to certain sights.

Carefully putting behind me those disturbing memories, I went back to taking stock of the present situation. Last I could remember was reaching Prague, by train of course, for that seminary on forensic medicine.

This isn't a good symptom at all…

Maybe, I rationalised, I hadn't taken a plane at all, and was still in Prague, which would actually make sense, and had been involved in another accident.

Probably just getting out of the station; it bloody figures! Story of my life, actually!

It was then that my eyes finally focused on the burning wreck of a bus lying a few hundred meters from my actual location, which as best as I could tell was a sidewalk.

The bus was a flaming wreck, with plenty of firemen hanging around it; luckily they must have evacuated all those involved, as not even a cry for help could be heard. A couple mauled cars were present also, but those too were empty; the rescuers had been incredibly efficient. And yet, there wasn't a single ambulance in sight, I mused distractedly.

Cautiously , mindful of possible broken bones, concussion and all whatnots, I tried to lift myself up. The heavy black smoke coming from the burning wreck made breathing fairly difficult, nonetheless, I managed to get to my knees and take a good look around.

OK, I am not in Prague; somewhere in Asia, I would guess. Pity, I never got to learn to read kanji; this seems like either China or Japan, if I had to hazard a guess, maybe Taiwan…

I tried to go about it in a collected fashion. I had left Paris to go to Prague, had gotten there, and then didn't even have the faintest idea of what might have happened.

How much have I forgotten? A few hours, days, weeks… years? I think I might just be entitled to a good freaking out session… But that would hardly do any good, now would it?

There was no way to tell how much of my life I had lost. I would have to simply reconstruct my past travels, and the rationale behind them, with some specialised help.

Pity, with all this I still remember perfectly well just who I am and a few other couple details I'd love to ditch.

Slowly, so as not to jar my aching head, I looked around at the sidewalk. There were just a couple other people, bleeding and out cold, to my right, much as I must have been before, plus some ash markings.

Must be things that got blown off the bus. They are oddly human shaped though… Just being a bit too fanciful, I suppose.

Judging by the sky, I would place the time of day to be early morning; the silvery intensity of the rising sun illuminated the deserted street. No paramedics seemed to be on site, which was just odd. Seeing as I no longer felt as if my head was about to explode, I decided I might as well go and get a look to the wounded couple; probably homeless people, considering their shabby apparel.

I don't really want to do this. The dead I can deal with. Living people and the stress of keeping them on this side of life isn't something I can face that easily. Especially when just touching them will let me know just how useless my efforts are going to be.

Gathering my courage, I reached out for the woman first. She had a long gash on the back of her head; it was bleeding very shallowly. As I touched her scalp, I sucked in a breath, for now I knew, without a doubt, that in just a few short hours she would be dead of this wound. What I could have gone without knowing, was the fact that being homeless, she would die alone and untended in the entrance of an Emergency Room.

Panting, both because of the vision and out of anger and grief at the fate of this nameless woman, I steeled myself and approached the man. He was younger than I would have guessed at first sight, not the woman's husband then, and while Asian, his features looked rounder, more western than the woman's. There was a resemblance, though, probably mother and son; I considered stalling for time.

Reach out damn you!

§Old before his time, lying drunk in a filthy back alley. The sharp pain of a knife entering his chest, and then blessed darkness.§

Not dying now then, but is what I saw any better?

Carefully, like a woman twice my age, but then I considered I might very well be twice as old as I remembered being, I got to my feet and moved to approach the closest of the working firemen. I had to see that the man was taken to the hospital. The woman… well, I knew all too well that there was no stopping those events I saw from happening.

At times I wonder why I even bother trying…

It was as I neared the flaming ruins that I saw something which made my blood run cold in my veins. Black letters in a circle on the pavement. Foreign writing, ancient writing, but to me all too familiar.

Please God, let it not be what I think it is!

I was surrounded by darkness, on the brink of a discovery I wouldn't like; a little part of myself whispered insidiously that I should just turn around and ignore what I thought I had seen. But I had to know; I opened my eyes and read "Malkut"

My vision darkened, and I felt myself falling. Vaguely, I saw a person running towards me as if to catch me. It didn't matter.

It's all a nightmare, it must be!

*******************

(Yohji)

I was making my way back to the Koneko in the early morning from one of my supposed dates. Last night I hadn't felt like putting up with someone who had no idea what my life was like, not even for the dubious comfort of sex, so I had mumbled something about a date and had simply stepped out for a drink or two.

This last mission we got is really spooking me out! No solid information, no clues, just people disappearing. All ages groups, nothing to tie them together. Just something reaching out and plucking them up like flowers…

I am becoming morbid once more. I should really avoid withdrawn, gorgeous, crimson-maned assassins; they are bad for my disposition!

The night had been disappointing, as I hadn't even managed to lose myself in the heady inebriation of alcohol I had looking for, tormented as I was by the sneaky feeling that my life was about to be turned on its proverbial ear, and not only by the mission but by one redheaded team-mate as well.

And you know better than getting involved with a co-worker, especially one who will be risking his life, Yohji. Or rather, you should know better, but then when will you ever learn?

Never, I guess…

I am attracted, though.

Shit, what the fuck is that!

It was then that I realised I had almost walked onto the site of an accident; a bus was burning in the middle of a street, and a car, just the husk of a sleek sport car actually, was practically melded to the blackened ruins of the bus.

With a start, I realised one important detail; there wasn't even an ambulance in sight.

Shouldn't they be trying to get the casualties out? Unless… There are no casualties once more.

Bingo! I just have to look around then; the culprit is likely in the neighbourhood, or maybe considering the speed the seems to be striking at, he could be a half town away…

Carefully, I look around. But for the firemen, there are only a couple shapes lying still on the pavement.

Some poor soul that was walking by when the blasted car wreck went up, and got caught in the explosion.

Then a smallish shape, silhouetted against the flames, caught my attention. I could see a young woman with dark curls, probably a foreigner, making her way unsteadily towards one of the rescue team. She seemed in distress and not too steady on her legs. Even if she wasn't the sort of beauty I usually go for, still I couldn't stop myself from going to the rescue. And barely in time too, I realised, as she seemed to lose balance and started to fall down.

I caught her just before she hit the pavement. She didn't weight much, and her torn and burnt clothing had surely seen better days. But that wasn't what caught my attention. What I found my attention drawn to, was an unusual tattoo, which seemed like writing, but in no language I could discern, on her exposed left arm.

Without even being able to realise why I was doing this, I gathered up the woman and took her in the direction of the flower shop a bare five hundred meters away. Somehow, I was certain I had already seen something like her tattoo somewhere before, and while she seemed more of a victim than a killer, I couldn't shake the sensation that she would prove invaluable in solving the case.

*******************

(Crawford)

Schuldig has just gone out on his so called "shopping" trip. I let him go, as I hadn't seen anything particularly menacing in his future, but for that bullet he would be taking in a couple of weeks. But there was no way I was getting involved with that. A whole week of calm and quiet without the telepath around would be sheer heaven. Even having to listen to him bitching afterwards about my faulty `sight' wasn't deterrent enough to have me messing with that particular vision. Trusting in my visions, I felt significantly certain that the blasted man would be unable to find and face Entropy while on this outing.

Also, having the telepath out of the house might just prove to be a Godsend, as I had felt the migraine intensity headache that precedes a prophecy building in the back of my head for the whole of the morning. The last thing I needed, once I was laid low by my gift, was Schuldig discovering just how badly I was affected by it. It had taken a great deal of luck, as well as careful planning on my part, to keep the true nature and consequences of my most accurate and important visions to myself.

A sharper pain assaulting me gave me enough warning to have me take leave of a hard at work Nagi, before I managed to completely shatter the boy's image of cool composed leader he projects on me. With a curt "I shall be in my office, you aren't to disturb me for the next few hours," I left Nagi's darkened room and barely bit back an exclamation of suffering at the bright light of the rising sun, illuminating the living room.

I don't have much time, I had better hurry!

It didn't take me long to reach the welcome darkness and safety of my room, the furthest from the entrance of the house. I had been looking for quiet from Schuldig's outings and security from possible attack when I made my choice, and was never more grateful for my foresight than when laid low by my gift. With a soft sigh, I turned the key into the lock and carefully made my way to the bathroom, my headache now having reached migraine intensity. I put my glasses on the space to the side of the sink, then as an afterthought, I added my watch also.

Hopefully, I will make it to the shower stall before I collapse…

My sight was already starting to get blurry as I knelt down to untie my shoelaces and remove my shoes and socks, before taking care of the rest of my clothes. I made it as far as the second sock, then It hit.

§A tall, black haired man fighting with a smaller red-haired man wielding a katana…§

Or is it a Ninhotoh? Why am I fighting? … Hurts…

§The younger man is losing; suddenly a young black haired woman, she isn't Japanese, seems to appear and tries to touch the black haired man. He is wearing glasses…§

I have seen her face before…

§The man recoils as if stung, and cries out, `How can you choose their side, idiotic woman! I didn't want to believe you could be this short sighted! You have doomed us all!'§

Why does it matter what she did choose? …He should just kill her… Oh God, the pain!

§The man turns. His one chance at power, his chance at freedom, is being taken away, but he has to face both the redhead and the woman with the curls. He points the gun he is holding to the one taking away his prize; his glasses are broken, now, he can barely see his target.§

My body, is it moving?

§A female voice calls out clearly, "You freak, how dare you hide amongst us! You shall be made to pay for your crimes, monster!"[1] The man with the broken glasses turns around, a red haired woman is pointing a gun at the black haired woman; she fires.§

No more please, no more, no more… it hurts too much…

§The black haired man steps forward and stops the bullet with his body. He falls heavily to the ground. The whole structure around the fighters starts to collapse, as the unassuming foreign girl cries out in rage.§

No Oracle has ever seen his Death… What does this mean?

§Blackness.§

No more pain… yes, let it fade… No! Not again!!

§Light once more. A room, bare, nothing more than four concrete walls, really. A young woman with mousy ash blonde straight hair, her eyes are a soft doe-like brown, is standing before the bespectacled man. Somehow, her features are familiar, her colouring seems wrong, though.

She is talking, but the man isn't listening. His eyes are unfocused, then his gaze clears. He says, "An Oracle can't see his Death. But you, apparently, can see the death of a person by touching them, can you not?"

The woman's expression closes down; she wordlessly reaches out, almost as if in distaste. Her fingers barely come in contact with the man's wrist , then surprise flashes briefly in her gaze as she grasps the proffered limb firmly. After a while she murmurs, "Not yours, apparently. I haven't seen yours."$

I can't stand this any longer…

§Blackness.§

Peace? Just let me in peace!

§A roof; a storm is gathering. A tall dark shape, asexual, face hidden by a black cowl, is standing, apparently untouched by the fury of the elements. Lighting strikes in the distance, fell violet discharges striking the ground. Faint shapes of people can be seen around the black garbed creature.§

No more, no more, no more… I hurt…

§With a faint keening sound, black letters appear around the `thing'.§

Is it Hebrew?

§The creature seems to melt in the shadows. All fades to darkness.§

I came to with a soft cry. My muscles hurt, and I could feel the strain in them left by the movements of my uncontrolled body.

No wonder my parents used to think I was epileptic…

The disgusting smell coming from my person was evidence enough of the fact that I probably had soiled myself.

My `gift' may have given me power, but I could go without having to pay the price required, that's for sure…

With a sigh, I saw to getting into a warm bath before having to face the hustle of a empty-handed Schuldig returning home. The three piece suit I had been wearing would regretfully have to be thrown away, I realised with a faint sense of betrayal.

I should have realised it was coming sooner. I may have avoided the hustle of prophecy, with all its discomfort for at least half a decade, but I should have realised that this wasn't going to be a simple vision…

Relaxing in the water as I washed the sweat and grime away, I pondered over all that my so called *gift* had shown me. There were several pleasant facts about this one prophecy. For one, it had confirmed that the elders might indeed be brought down; for another, though, it had shown me getting seriously wounded and possibly dying.

No Oracle can see the manner of his Death, or so goes the saying…

Normally, I am not a real Oracle, no matter what they call me. I only see the Future that May come to be, and not the Future that Will be. Normally… but then I have never tried changing any of the few prophecies I made… They all came to be without any help on my side.

And do I dare mess with the Future that I was shown, a Future where the elders lie dead at my feet?

On the other hand, I will condone no weakness, and that girl, that Drien, will become that. She will be a dangerous one, if I will be willing to step in the path of a bullet to save her!

I can't allow that! No matter how hard I will have to work to get to the same future by changing that detail, her presence, I will do it! She will have to die even IF she is Entropy…

But can I change what I saw?

I HAVE to, and I will. Destiny is mine to mould!

Not many of those that See what will be survive unscathed; insanity seems to be inevitable for us. As inevitable as what we See.

TBC…

Well that was all folks! Still, come back in about a couple of weeks for another instalment of this… thing… After careful consideration I think that chapter seven "And the angel of death behind me" will be in two parts as it would otherwise be terribly long say 30 or plus pages... ^.^;;

Before that, though, I really have to try out a little thing I have been meaning to write for a while, or the Muse won't let me work in peace. Hope you won't mind and please check it out, coming (hopefully) soon "May you live in Interesting Times" prologue Here comes Aya!

Before leaving though please help me out a little!! I need to know, do you want the OC characters to die now or do I forbear gruesomely killing them for now?

Please tell me what you think! Their fate hangs in your hands… That is to say, left to my own devices I will probably angst over it for another couple of weeks and then uhh possibly kill them off… and again maybe not…

Notes:

[1] I haven't been watching too much Xmen lately, so I don't really know where this comes from! Still it kind of makes sense… I mean why the heck send someone normal out after guys with superpowers without even giving them guns, if not to prove such a point? Humans are better, etc etc…

[2] German meaning literally green veggies… You would use it to refer to someone who is `green' as in too young.