Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Zweiter Chancen ❯ Revelations ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

*****10*****


“I know what happened to Emery.”

The men of Weiss stare back in shock at their youngest member, who is seated far too uneasily at the computer in their basement headquaters.

Omi called them down to the mission room at the crack of dawn, before Emery would be awake, to inform them of his recent findings. After being up most of the night, he finally has some answers. After over a week of investigation, he has uncovered the truth.

“Spill it, Omiitchi!” Youji demands, clearly over-tired and impatient. “What made the kid turn into a teenager?”

“...a spell.” Omi explains, looking quite exhausted himself. “A poor one, actually. I found translations for that weird language that was on the piece of paper Emmy-chan had, and it turns out most of what happened is just a mistake.” Spinning around in his chair, Omi faces the computer screen to bring up the files he had been working on. One of them is the translation for that spell. “The wording is unnatural, so I’m pretty sure he wrote this thing himself. It was hard to make out, but what I think he was trying to do...is block his telepathy. Not completely, but enough to keep the voices *out* when he wanted and back *in* when he wanted.”

“So...what went wrong.” Ken asks tentatively, peering over Omi’s shoulder at the text.

Omi fidgets, sighing as if to indicate he knows the answer, but wishes the final truth could be something that it isn’t. “This word here...” he begins, highlighting one of the odder selections. “...is very similar to the word that means ‘strengthen’ but it’s actually ‘revert’. Only one letter pairing is different, but Shucldrich must have gotten them confused. Then here...” he continues, highlighting a word further on. “...this means ‘body’ but it is very close to ‘mind’. The only thing different with them is an accent above the last letter. All of it is so simple and minut, but it was enough to change ‘Strengthen my mind to a point of more control’ to ‘Revert my body to a point of more control’. Why his body has more control at 16 than 22 I have no idea. Maybe that’s the age he first got a hold on controling his powers. Anyway, that’s what happened. That’s why he’s Emery.”

“That’s not everything.” Ran’s low and sceptical voice sounds from behind. He has yet to say a word this glum morning, scowling in the corner as always. “There is more writing beneath the phrase you explained.”

Indeed, there are a few more lines, and Omi must reluctantly pay them the attention they require. “Gomen, Aya-kun. It’s just...” Omi swallows - hard - before collecting himself to continue. “The next part says... ‘Grant me control that leaves and comes back at will. Control that remains only long enough for me to control it’. Just bad wording really. His telepathy completely left until he had adjusted to being Emery, and I’m pretty sure now that it’s back he’ll start controlling it better than ever. The spell *will* turn out right, he just messed the translation up a little.”

“Wait... ‘remains only long enough for’...shit...” Youji repeats, cursing under his breath. “Now that it’s back, as soon as he gets used to using it...he’s gonna -”

“Don’t say it, Youji-kun!” Omi cries, spinning back around in his chair. “We don’t know anything for certain.”

“Don’t say what?” Ken questions, blessedly oblivious. “What’ll happen when he starts controlling his powers?”

Omi and Youji look to Ken and each other pitifully, neither wanting to believe their theory is correct, even when they know there is no other way. It makes far too much sense. When Emery begins to control his telepathy again...

“He’ll become Schuldrich.”

The others turn instantly to Ran, who has a knack for speaking up only when no one else can, and always with what no one else wants to admit.

The truth is clear to Ken now, and forced clear to Youji and Omi as well, who couldn’t say it for themselves.

Pushing away from his perch, Ran turns from his team mates and heads upstairs, wearing his accostomed exression of unreadable emotion, instead of the recent half-smile he has been growing so oddly fond of with their short-lived tenant around.

“Ran...” Ken calls, rather softly for him, but enough for the stiff red-head to halt his ascent. “...what do we do now...?”

“We wait.” resonates Ran’s even reply. “If we’re wrong, there is nothing to worry about.”

“And if we’re right?” Youji challenges back, narrowing his emerald eyes.

Ran remains still and silent a moment, unable to face his companions. Slowly, however, he gathers enough courage to face his apprehensions and his friends as he turns to look down at them from the staircase. “That...is for *him* to decide.” he breathes, and turns once more to climb the steps. “...whoever he chooses to be.”


*****


Breakfast was unbearable.

The whole of Weiss couldn’t help staring at Emery as if he might at any moment change shape right before their eyes and become Schuldrich again. As for the poor, young German, Emery barely even noticed the piercing gazes.

He is too full of guilt for not being able to tell them about his midnight visitor, without even understanding why he can’t.

Ran alone focuses on what he assumes Emery to be feeling, instead of being consumed by his own fears, as the others have been. He alone picks up on the subtle changes already evident in Emery’s behavor.

“What are you hiding?” Ran demands, cornering Emery in the hallway after the others had gone downstairs to open the shop.

“What do you mean, Aya-san?” Emery asks back, doing quite a poor job at sounding innocent - for once.

“You know exactly what I mean.” Ran seethes, appearing very threatening as he pins Emery to the wall with both hands holding tightly to the boy’s shoulders. “You’re acting strangely, and not just because you can hear our thoughts...” Pause. Suddenly, Ran realizes... “We had a meeting about you this morning. I would have thought you’d pick up on that and discover what we discovered. How come you haven’t?”

“I...I didn’t look. I mean...I kept myself from...hearing you.”

“You’re getting better at it? Learning to control it?”

“A little.”

Damn. This is an obvious setback if their theory pans out, but Ran reminds himself that he has something else to worry about right now. “Forget it. Just tell me the truth. Tell me what you’re hiding.”

“I’m not -”

“Don’t lie to me!!”

Flinch. Ran’s grip tightens visciously, digging deep into Emery’s narrow shoulders.

“Aya-san, please...you’re hurting me...” Emery whimpers, squirming beneath those powerful hands. “I thought you didn’t hate me anymore...”

Defeat. Ran softens, his grip and his expression. “I don’t hate you. It may seem that I overreact, the way I did when you first came to stay here, but I only do that when I fear someone I care about is in danger. I’m not saying I care about you...I’m not saying I don’t care, either...but I definitely don’t hate you. I just want to know what you’re hiding from us. I know something happened last night. I can tell by watching you. Now...please...tell me.”

Gazing deep into Ran’s violet eyes - eyes that hold so much more than that expressionless face will ever allow to cross its features - Emery’s will crumbles. Whatever kept him from telling them about what he went through last night disappears and seems unbelievably foolish.

Emery does his best to hold back the oncoming tears he feels just beyond falling, but it is one more battle he is not going to win. “Aya-san...bitte...forgive me...I didn’t know how to tell you...”

“Tell me what?”

“...ye...yesterday...when I was in the shop...I saw...Naoe Nagi standing across the street...”

“You what?!”

“...and last night...before I went to sleep...Far...Farfarello...broke into my room...and did *this*...” With trembling hands, Emery lifts up his shirt and tugs at the waist of his pants to show Ran the ‘X’ scar between his hips.

“Oh God...” Ran breathes, instictively lowering one of his hands to brush over the newly given cuts on the boy’s lower stomach. “He got *this* close...and you said nothing...”

Emery recoils, filled with odd emotion at the feel of Ran’s touch in such a tender area. Instantly, Ran pulls away as well, choosing to ignore the flush of color that has rushed to Emery’s face.

“I will only ask you this once.” Ran states sharply, seeming somehow taller as he towers above the boy. “Are you still in league with Schwartz?”

“No!” Emery shouts in defence. “I swear, Aya-san, I’m not. I’m still Emery. I just didn’t...know who Nagi was at first, and when Farfarello came I...I was so scared, and...something...something inside me told me not to tell you.”

“That something...is Schuldrich. And like it or not, he *is* apart of you.”

“I know. I know he is, but -”

Emery’s eyes spring open. Suddenly, he can’t think of anything to say. He is far too preoccupied with what he is hearing. At last, he is beginning to pick up on a little of what Ran had been talking about.

“...a meeting...about me...?” Emery whispers, sliding along the wall to escape Ran and all his mind is recieving.. “...nein...you found out...I...I’m becoming...*him*...nein...bitte, nein...Ich will ihn nicht sein!”

Like a shot, Emery takes off down the hallway, with Ran instantly chasing after him. “Emery!” the panicking red-head calls out, running as fast as he can to keep up. “Matte, Emery! Come back!”

At the top of the stairs, just as the young German is about to sprint down them, Ran catches up and grabs Emery’s arm, pulling him back. The force of it topples Emery against him, and the boy needs little more prompting to grab on for dear life and sob into the folds of Ran’s shirt.

They stay that way, with Emery clinging to Ran’s chest like a lost little boy - how fitting - while the usually stoic red-head does his best to offer comfort.

“You don’t have to run.” Ran soothes, tentatively stroking Emery’s sunset-colored hair. “The others feel just as I do. We’re...afraid...of Schuldrich suddenly reentering our lives through you, but we want to believe that you can still be the person we have come to know, even back in that older body, with all those...revolting memories...”

“...you really believe...I can still be...me...?”

“Yes.”

“And...you’d let me stay here...if I was me...?”

“Emery is always welcome here.”

Within the newly damp creases of Ran’s violet-colored shirt, Emery smiles, and pulls away slightly, still holding tight, but now able to look up into his companion’s eyes. “Danke...I mean...arigato, Aya-san. You surprise me. Why are you so nice to me now?”

Ran goes fittingly blank, as if wanting to study the question before answering it. Eventually, he makes a choice. It always comes down to a choice. “I was angry. When you first showed up at our doorstep, I wanted to mistrust you because it was difficult to believe someone like Schuldrich could change, even if the outside had changed. After awhile, I realized you really had, and I...admire it.”

“...admire?”

“Very few people get a second chance. The idea that someone like...like you and me...could actually find a new life, gives me hope. You give me hope, Emery. That’s why I seem different towards you. It just took me awhile to see it.”

Emery blushes, at last slipping has arms from around Ran’s waist. “That first morning I woke up with my powers, I heard you thinking something kinda like that...about me. It surprised me then, too.”

Now comes the true surprise: Ran actually smiles. Nothing earth-shattering, like a smile from sweet, genki Omi-chan, but one subtle enough to be pure and breathtaking, because it is such a rare occurance.

Flicking a strand of orange hair out of Emery’s eyes, Ran gently guides his young friend down the steps into the shop. “I’m not as bad as I seemed at first, ne?” he jokes lightly. “Sometimes, I wish I could be more like the me I was before I joined Weiss. Especially around my team mates...my friends...but it isn’t easy to change when you still remember the crimes you’ve committed. That doesn’t mean I don’t have faith in you, Emery. Even if you change back into Schuldrich, I believe you can hold on to who you have become. And if you do, I promise we will never turn you away.”


*****


“You went to see him?”

No reply.

“You really saw him up close?”

Silence.

“Did you find out for sure if it was him?”

Still nothing.

“Did he recognize you?”

Not a single word.

“Damnit, Farfarello, answer me!” Nagi cries in exasperation, positioned just inside the doorway to Farfarello’s cell. Entering it completely is never a good idea.

“Yes, I went to see him. Yes, I got close. Yes, it was definetely him. And no, he didn’t know who I was at first.” Farfie answers, dead-toned as always when he’s in one of his sureally sane moods. “Satisfied?”

Nagi shivers, ever so slightly. He would never admit to being afraid of his one-eyed team mate, but he has always felt a little out of place, especially around the cryptic albino. “Do you know why he’s like that? I mean...things like that don’t just happen. One day he was pestering me like always, the next...he disappears...and a week later I find him tending flowers in the midst of out enemies. What does it mean?”

“It doesn’t mean anything.” Farfarello replies, stretching out on his tattered bed. The room is rather small, so in truth, the two members of Schwartz are only a few feet away from each other. “He did it to himself, whatever it is, but I don’t think it worked out the way he wanted. It won’t last, though. He’ll be back, even if I have to split him in two to find the old Schuldrich inside.”

“You’d...do that?”

“I’m the only one with the *right* to do that.”

“But...that would kill him.”

A low, humorless laugh escapes Farfarello’s throat, and he suddenly gets up from the bed, closing the gap between himself and Nagi in the space of a breath. “I refuse to let him become like them. We understand each other, you see. Always have. He won’t mind. Not the real him, anyway. It would only be fitting for him to die at my hands if he was trapped as something he never was, and never should be.”

“But...aren’t you...friends...?” Nagi whispers, tensing from their close proximity, and backing out of the room without realizing what he is doing. “What if...what if he wants to be that way...?”

“Don’t you dare say that?!” Farfie growls, shooting out an arm to grasp Nagi by the shoulder. “He would never choose to become one of those lost lambs. I won’t let it happen. I won’t let God take him back and make him one of His children again. Do you understand, Prodigy? Once you become one of us, the only choice left is to stay with us, or to face death alone. At least I will give him a beautiful death. That...I will gladly give him.”

Nagi is tossed back, out of the cell to hit the wall outside. He recovers quickly, despite the spasm in his lower back, and turns to sprint out of the basement, not stopping until he reaches the safety of his own room.

Crawford still does not know what has befallen his right hand, blocked from seeing any future concerning Schuldrich since the German cursed such an outcome out of protection for himself. Those of Schwartz who do know, are either not on Emery’s side, or can do nothing but sit idly by.

Nevertheless, the final outcome will come down to a choice. And only one person can make it.