Last revised: 07/26/01 (v1) Completed: [fic][AU] Competing Realities [1/?] (rough draft) Hello, there! My name's Madamhydra. I've written other fanfics, especially for Gundam Wing, but I've only recently started dipping my toes into the WK fandom. I apologize if I'm crossposting excessively. ^_^; This is my first Weiss Kreuz story, so I'd appreciate any C&C you guys can give me! Summary: What if Weiss were the bad guys and Schwartz were the... well, the *nicer* guys, relatively speaking? NOTE: This is one seriously twisted AU fic, so be prepared to have everything you know about the series and the characters to be ruthlessly folded, spindled, mangled, or otherwise turned upside down and inside out. Title: Comparative Reality Author: Madamhydra Email: madamhydra@aol.com Status: WIP (work-in-progress) Type: Alternate Universe, Romance (yaoi), Angst Rating: R (for now) Spoilers: episodes 1-24 Pairings: Schwartz x Weiss, Schuldig x Aya, Brad x Yohji, Ken x Farfarello ********** WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********** Violence Obscene language Mature themes (references to torture and rape, etc.) YAOI (male/male relationships) LIME (implied sexual content) ********** WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********** Disclaimer: (Full Disclaimers at the end) Wei§ Kreuz is the copyright and property of its creator and legally associated parties. Used without permission. Not for profit. Credit 1: Much of the inspiration for this fic comes from Jean D's AU Weiss Kreuz fic "Dysfunctional", which gave me a definite taste for Weiss x Schwartz fics. ^_^ Credit 2: Thanks to my friend Amy-chan's fault, who keeps egging me on, no matter how crazy, demented, and perverted my fic ideas get. (...) represents mental and/or subconscious dialogue ====================================================================== COMPETING REALITIES A Wei§ Kreuz ALTERNATE-REALITY fic by Madamhydra ====================================================================== Part 1 ====================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How do you define reality? By the memories of an individual, or by the memories of many? How do you define identity? By what you know about yourself, or by what people know of you? Who do you believe? Yourself, or those around you? Who do you trust? Those around you, or yourself? Who are your friends? Who are your enemies? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ====================================================================== He awoke in pain. That wasn't too unusual, pain being an occupational hazard for a person in his line of work. However, this pain was different. It was a strange, pervasive, bone-deep ache all over his body. Even his brain felt bruised and battered. For several minutes he just lay there on the soft bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. It took that long for his sluggish mind to notice several disturbing facts. First, the ceiling, with its expensive plasterwork, was completely unfamiliar to him. Second, he wasn't alone in bed. Third, this unknown bedmate was snuggled right up against him and even had an arm thrown over his waist in a decidedly possessive fashion. Fourth, he was completely naked under the sheets. Even as he clawed his way back to alertness, the person beside him began to stir and he caught the faint scent of cigarette smoke. (Yohji? What the hell does that idiot think he's doing...?) Gathering what little strength he had, he managed to lift his head a few inches off the pillow to take a look at his unwanted company. But to his utter shock, the person lying so close beside him didn't have blond hair. It was red. He knew of only person with that particular shade of red hair. Even as a wave of fury, revulsion, and disbelief flooded his mind, Schuldig awoke and opened his eyes. For a frozen instant, he and the Schwartz telepath stared at each other, their noses almost touching, his gasping breaths skimming across the other man's cheek. He moved first, flinging Schuldig's arm off his waist and driving his elbow as hard as he could into the redhead's side. Amazingly, the maneuver caught the telepath off-guard and he toppled off the bed with a startled yelp, knocking his head hard against the bedside table in the process. With a surge of effort, he dragged his body into a sitting position, then paid for the effort by nearly passing out as the room spun sickeningly. Fighting down a wave of nausea, he hauled himself to the edge of the bed and peered down at the semi-unconscious redhead on the floor. Unfortunately, it seemed that the red-haired bastard was only momentarily stunned. He gritted his teeth and looked around for something suitably lethal to use. (I'm in no shape to run. And I don't think I could fight off a sick kitten, much less a member of Schwartz!) He grabbed for the bedside lamp, and gasped as every muscle in his body protested at the forceful movement. (What the hell's wrong with me? Come on, get moving, damn it!) he swore furiously at himself. But before he could force his reluctant limbs to move, the bedroom door slammed open. "Going somewhere, Aya?" Crawford said, raising an eyebrow. (Shit.) -------------------------------------------- Instead of bashing Schuldig over the head with the lamp, Aya opted to fling it at Crawford's head. To no one's surprise, it didn't hit its target. "Nagi, hold him," the American ordered crisply as he stepped forward to check on Schuldig. "Is he delirious?" the teenager said with a concerned frown as Aya began to struggle fiercely against his firm mental grip. "I don't think so. I have a nasty feeling that it's something worse. Much worse," Crawford said grimly as he examined the bloody corner of the bedstand and the corresponding wound on Schuldig's head. "....ugh...," the redhead muttered as he slowly sat up, clutching the back of his head. "....owwww...." "You bastards! Let me go!" Aya snarled. "What on earth's wrong with you?" Nagi demanded, taken aback by the searing look of rage and hatred on Aya's face. "Calm down. We're only trying to help." Aya's only response to this expression of concern was a scorching string of obscenities. Crawford's frown only deepened as he listened to the angry tirade. Turning to the telepath, he started to say, "What's wrong with...." But his words came to a abrupt halt when he saw Schuldig's expression. Nagi had seen many emotions on the German's face, but the teenager had never seen Schuldig look so... shaken. At first, his eyes narrowed as he tried to make sense of Aya's obviously chaotic state of mind, but as the seconds ticked by, the look of concentration was slowly replaced by slowly dawning shock and a sort of sick horror. Concerned that the telepath was losing himself in Aya's head, Crawford reached out to firmly grasp Schuldig's shoulder. Aya glared back at the other redhead and hissed furiously, "Stay the hell out of my mind!" "Schuldig...." But the German ignored Crawford's voice. Instead, he slowly pulled himself onto the bed and sat down next to Aya, who recoiled as much as Nagi's telekinetic grip allowed. "Those fucking Kritiker mind-butchers...," Schuldig whispered. "What's wrong with Aya?" Nagi asked with an uncharacteristic tone of impatience. "What's wrong? What's WRONG!? They've fucking screwed his brain to hell and back! That's what's wrong!" yelled the telepath. "Care to be a bit more specific?" Crawford said tersely. Schuldig impatiently raked his hair back and snapped, "Shit, I've done some serious brainfucks of my own, but this one really takes the cake! It's like they've completely rewritten his memories!" "You mean that he doesn't remember us?" Nagi said in dismay. The German burst into harsh laughter. "Oh, he remembers us, all right. He remembers that Schwartz and the Takatoris are his worst enemies!" "He WHAT!?" Nagi's eyes widened in disbelief. Aya's lips were set in a thin line as he subsided into a cold, hostile silence. "Oh, it gets even better. He thinks that he's still working for Persia and Kritiker, and that THEY'RE the good guys!" Even Crawford looked somewhat startled by that announcement. "How did they manage that? You mean he doesn't remember a thing about what happened to his parents? And his sister?" the American demanded. "He remembers that a Takatori was responsible for the death of his parents and his sister's coma, all right. The only problem is that he's got the WRONG Takatori. He's convinced that *Reiji* was the one who gave the orders." "But he knows that it was really PERSIA, Shuiichi Takatori, who was responsible. That's why he left Kritiker and joined up with Schwartz," Nagi protested. Schuldig looked like he wanted to hurt someone very badly. "Well, he doesn't know it NOW." That much was obvious from the way that Aya was gritting his teeth and his furious stare. If looks could kill.... "That's SO twisted," Nagi muttered. "Ah, but that's the sheer beauty of it!" Schuldig said, a bitter grin on his face. "They didn't have to change that much. Change a few facts, throwing in some subtle skewing, and voila, the bad guys are now the good guys, and vice versa." Crawford said evenly, "Remember, up until a year ago, thanks to Kritiker's indoctrination, Aya was absolutely convinced of that Reiji Takatori was his mortal enemy. It's wouldn't be that hard to make him believe it again." "You mean he's completely forgotten everything that's happened over this past year? He doesn't remember leaving Kritiker and joining up with Schwartz and Schreient to stop them?" the teenager said. "That's right. Which means that in Aya's eyes, we're now nothing more than evil, lying, murderous scum that needs to be exterminated, instead of...." The German suddenly stopped and looked away, as if he couldn't deal with Aya's obvious anger and hatred any more. Nagi barely managed to suppress a sympathetic wince. (Schu....) (Don't say anything, Nagi. Not a fucking word!) the telepath thought at him. (Why not? Maybe if you told him.....) (Geez, how naive can you be? What would YOUR reaction be if you woke up in a strange place, surrounded by your worst enemies, and they tried to convince you that you've been playing snugglebunnies with one of them for nearly a year, huh!?) (Oh.) (Glad you see the problem!) Schuldig snarled back. (Get it through your head, Nagi. This isn't the Aya we've come to know. He hates our guts and he's not going to believe a damn thing we're going to say!) One look at Aya made it clear that Schuldig had not been exaggerating. His burning violet stare promised serious mayhem the instant he got free. Nagi suddenly realized that there was something very wrong with this entire picture of a furious, captive Aya. (Wait a moment. Schu, if he hates us so much, why hasn't he....) (....teleported the hell out of here? Because he doesn't remember that he can.) "He doesn't remember THAT?" the startled teenager blurted aloud. "But...!" (For some reason, Kritiker seems to have erased or suppressed his knowledge of the Weiss members' special abilities.) (You mean Omi's clairvoyance, Ken's pyrokinesis, Yohji's pain- and pleasure-inducing abilities, and his own short-range teleportation powers? He doesn't remember ANYthing about them?) Nagi thought in somewhat incredulous tones. (Zip. Zilch. Not a thing.) (Why?) (Hell if I know what those Kritiker bastards are up to,) Schuldig retorted impatiently. (Then we'd better not give Aya any ideas,) Crawford said coolly, slipped into the mental conversation. Schuldig jerked his head around and stared up at the American. (Brad, if they did this to Aya, then they....) (They probably did the same to Yohji.) Crawford's mental voice was utterly flat, stripped of any hint of emotion. (Shit! I should've scanned them as soon as we rescued them from Kritiker!) (Don't blame yourself. You were absolutely exhausted. And considering how heavily drugged they were, you probably wouldn't have been able to reach their minds at all. But if Aya's awake, then the others won't be too far behind. And in that case, I want to be prepared.) (.... Maybe they only tampered with Aya. Yohji could be fine.) (Don't be an idiot, Schu. What's the likelihood of that?) Schuldig scowled and muttered, "I'll check on him as soon as I can." Crawford looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "Yohji's not waking up for at least another thirty minutes, so we still have some time to deal with Aya." -------------------------------------------- Aya's eyes narrowed as the three members of Schwartz turned to stare at him. He knew what the extended silence and exchanges of looks meant -- they had been having a telepathic discussion about him. But before anyone could speak, a gut-wrenching stomach cramp doubled him over and the dull throbbing in his head escalated into an agonizing pounding. Sweat poured down his body and yet he was so very cold, as if he had suddenly been ducked in ice water. "Wha... what are you... doing to... me!" he managed to choke out between the waves of searing pain assaulting his body. "Shit, he's going into withdrawal from all that crap they've been pumping into him!" Schuldig yelled. Crawford hit the intercom on the wall. "Get up here with a medical kit. Now." By the time help arrived, Aya was barely conscious and on the brink of convulsions. "Aya looks sick," a soft, girlish voice said behind them. Schuldig glared at the girl standing in the doorway and snapped, "Don't just stand there clutching that damn stuffed bunny and DO something, you nitwit!" "Don't yell at me," Tot said with a pout, but stepped forward with a compact medical case in her hand. "You better know what you're doing, girl," Schuldig growled dangerously at her. Looking very miffed, she retorted, "Papa Masafumi taught me what to do. He says that I'm very good with needles. Nagi, hold him still. He's wiggling around too much." "I've got him, Tot." Aya's eyes widened as he watched the girl remove a pre-loaded syringe from the case. "No... NO! I won't let you... drug me... any more!!!" he shouted, thrashing his head back and forth. "Stay away from me, you damn bitch!" A startled Tot recoiled and nearly backed into Crawford. "... Aya yelled at me," she said in a tone of shock. "He called me a bad name!" "He's not himself at the moment," the American said coolly, shoving the girl back toward the bed. Schuldig's control abruptly cracked. Wrapping his arms around the feebly struggling Aya, he buried his forehead against the other's neck. (Dammit, Aya! We're only trying to help you!) (Get the fuck out of my mind, Schuldig! I won't listen to any more of your lies! I won't let you turn me against my friends! I won't betray Weiss!) (Fuck it! I'm not asking you to betray Yohji, Ken, or Omi! Schwartz isn't your enemy! *I'M* not your enemy! Kritiker and Persia have been manipulating and using you for years! You fought your way free of their lies once before. You can do it again!) (You're the one who's lying! YOU!!!) Aya retorted furiously. (No, THIS is the truth!) Aya's eyes went wide and blank as Schuldig flung the memories of the past year at him.... ....the discovery of who was truly responsible for the tragic fate of Aya's family... fighting to overcome years of conditioning and indoctrination by Kritiker... the struggle to free Yohji and the others members of Weiss from Persia's control... and the discovery of something totally unexpected, but infinitely precious.... (.... Ran... please....) "...no... no... NOOOOO!!! Stop it! It... can't be true! It CAN'T!!!" The combination of mental and physical stress was simply too overwhelming. But even as Aya slipped into unconsciousness, Schuldig heard something. It was only a faintest whisper of a thought, but a whisper that gave him some desperately needed hope. (Schu... help me....) -------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Tot finished the injection and said, "There. All done." Schuldig glanced at Tot and said, "How long will he be out?" She cocked her head cutely. "Twelve hours, I think. What do you think, Rabbi-chan?" she asked her stuffed bunny. She listened thoughtfully, nodded, then looked up at Schuldig and said, "At least twelve hours." "Oh, great. I'm getting medical advice from a pink stuffed rabbit?" She gave him a pouty little scowl, then said, "But he's going to feel very, very bad when he wakes up." She nibbled on a fingernail and added in that child-like voice, "You should ask Papa for help." Crawford watched as Schuldig cradled the unconscious Aya in his arms. "Yes, I think I will." "Poor Aya. I don't want him to feel bad." "You and me both," Schuldig muttered. -------------------------------------------- Masafumi Takatori took the phone from Schoen and said, "Yes? Crawford?" He listened carefully for several moments, then said, "So you managed to retrieve all of them? Including Mamoru?" Schoen jumped when Masafumi suddenly rose from his chair and exclaimed, "What!?" into the phone. "Sir?" But Masafumi ignored the blonde's question. He listened some more, then he said, "Tell Tot to pull some blood samples from all of them. The sooner, the better. Yes, she knows what to do. I'll send Schoen over. If we're lucky, we might be able to formulate something that will buffer the withdrawal symptoms and make it less painful. Yes, I'll notify my father and Hirofumi at once. Good-bye." Hanging up the phone, he turned and stared down through the large observation into the room below. "Schoen, I want you to help Tot get those samples. And find out all you can about the situation with Weiss." "Weiss? What's wrong? I thought we got them back from Kritiker!" "So did I. That's why I'm sending you over there to find out what the problem is." "All right, Masafumi." Once Schoen left the room, he said softly, "Ask...." A woman with short, dark hair emerged from the shadows. Even in the darkened room, she didn't removed her oversized sunglasses. "Please, Masafumi, call me Neu. Asuka Murase is dead." "All right... Neu." A long silence settled between them. Finally he said, "We have Weiss back in our custody." "So they managed to rescue Aya... Yohji?" "And the others. But there are complications. Serious complications." He paused, then said quietly, "You still care about him." "....Yes. I loved him. I think I still do, a little." She pulled off her oversized sunglasses, then turned to face him. "But I also can't forget that Yohji Kudou betrayed me to Riot, tortured and raped me, then left me to die in the gutter." Neu walked over to his side and joined Masafumi in staring through the observation window at the medical bed below. "I know it wasn't really his fault. By that time, he was already under Kritiker's influence. But despite that knowledge, I don't know if I can ever forgive him for what he did to me. And for what he did to all those other women." "That's understandable." He didn't take his eyes from the young teenage girl lying in the bed, surrounded by the best life support and monitoring equipment that money could buy. "You never had the opportunity to meet the old Yohji. The man I knew. The man I fell in love with. He was...." Neu abruptly fell silent, then shook her head. "I don't know why Kritiker targeted him for recruitment, but they started poisoning his mind, with their drugs and their lies. They were destroying his sanity right under my nose and I didn't notice a thing. If I'd been more alert back then, perhaps I could have done something... stopped them somehow...." "Or you could've gotten yourself killed. Don't blame yourself for what happened, Neu. Just be glad that you managed to survive and become stronger." "Only thanks to the Takatori family, and especially you, Masafumi." In a voice tight with contempt and barely suppressed loathing, she snarled, "And in the meantime, Kritiker took Yohji and turned him into one of their pet assassins! 'Hunters of light'? Weiss is nothing more than Kritiker's dogs, a psychotic pack of killers and sadists, even the youngest of them!" She abruptly halted her tirade. "I'm sorry. I know how you feel about your youngest brother." "My dear uncle Shuiichi kidnapped Mamoru all those years ago for just one reason -- he did it to hurt my father and mother." He finally turned away from the observation window to look at her. "I won't deny the truth of your statement. Thanks to Persia, Mamoru is an insane, cold-blooded killer who harbors a fanatical hatred of his own family. How many times he has tried to murder one of us? And then there's poor Ouka...." "Your little sister." "... yes, Mamoru killed her with his own hands when he learned she was a Takatori. But I don't blame him for that. He's been under Kritiker's influence over twelve years. They've had ample time to poison his mind. But Weiss no longer serves Kritiker and Persia." Masafumi took a deep breath. "At least, I hope not." She glanced sharply at him. "What do you mean? I thought Aya and Yohji renounced any allegiance to Kritiker, and that they were working with Schwartz to convince Hidaka and your brother to join them." "That's correct." "But?" "Schwartz succeeded in rescuing all of them from Kritiker, but apparently not soon enough." "What do you mean?" "It appears that Kritiker had enough time to brainwash Fujimiya and most probably Kudou into believing that we're their mortal enemy. Again." She uttered a soft sound of protest. He responded with a grim nod. "I see. So we're back to square one." She slipped her visor back on, then said, "And if we can't undo the brainwashing?" Masafumi took a deep breath. "You know what will happen, Neu. If they can't be freed from Kritiker's control, they die. You know what they're capable of doing." She lifted her hand and squeezed her right shoulder as if to rub away an old ache. "Yes. I've experienced Yohji's touch. And his power. To think that the ability to bestow both heaven and hell lies in the hands of a sadistic madman." Glancing at Masafumi, she added, "Crawford might be able to handle the pain, but is even the Oracle strong enough to resist the type of pleasure Yohji is capable of inflicting?" "Jealous, Neu?" She shook her head. "Hardly. I pity anyone who's the recipient of Yohji's...," she smiled grimly, "...'affection'." "Crawford's one of the most strong-willed persons I know. He's very much aware of what he's dealing with. Besides, I have the impression that Kudou actually cares about him, in his twisted sort of way." -------------------------------------------- "For a moment, I thought that Kritiker had planted some sort of psychic boobytrap in Aya's mind just for you," Crawford said. "It's the sort of charming souvenir they enjoy leaving behind." "I almost wish it had been," Schuldig muttered, taking a deep swig from his drink. Suddenly, he cursed and hurtled his glass against the wall. Crawford ignored the expensive liquor dripping down the wallpaper and said, "Feeling any better?" "No, not really." Schuldig said with a snort. In a pensive voice, he added, "He hates me. He really hates me." "That's nothing new. Before this last year, Aya hated your guts with a passion." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that. It's just that his hatred was a lot easier to handle back then. I didn't have any expectations of anything different from one of Kritiker's puppets. They made Aya into a fucking murder machine, programmed to hate and kill, and nothing more. But now...." He exhaled slowly. "Now I've seen glimpses of the real Aya, the person he could have been if Persia and Kritiker hadn't gotten their claws into him. It's just different, that's all." The German abruptly shook off his thoughtful mood and slouched back against the wall. "And now I'm SO screwed. You can bet that Aya's going to take anything I say, do, or even think at him as being part of some shit-assed mind game." "Bitten by your own notorious reputation, Schuldig. Are you giving up on him?" "Fuck, no." The telepath gave Crawford a dirty look. "I heard him, Brad. I heard him calling my name. Somewhere, deep inside that twisted mess inside his head is the real Aya. He's still in there. I just have to find him. Somehow." Schuldig laughed sharply and flung out his arms. "I've spent most of my life screwing up people's minds. What the fuck do I know about straightening them out?" "You've been doing a fairly good job so far, especially with Aya. And if it hadn't been for your help, Yohji would still be torturing and killing innocent women," Crawford replied coolly. "You know that you're our best hope of restoring Aya, Yohji, and the other members of Weiss to some semblance of sanity." "Jeez, ask for a few more miracles, why don't you?" the telepath retorted. The American's glasses caught the moonlight, obscuring any view of his eyes. "You know what the consequences of failure are. If the damage can't be undone... if Weiss attempts to return to Kritiker's service, then we'll have to kill them. All of them." He looked at the telepath. "You know that's the last thing any of us wants to do. But we may not have a choice. With their abilities, Weiss is too dangerous a tool to leave in Kritiker's hands." Schuldig said irritably, "Don't you think I know that? With Aya's ability to teleport, no place will be safe from Kritiker's reach." "Exactly. Hidaka Ken's pyrokinesis probably matches Nagi's telekinesis in sheer destructive potential. And if Tsukiyono Omi's clairvoyant abilities continues to strengthen, there won't be a person, place, or thing that he can't find. You can imagine how useful a talent like that would be to Persia and Kritiker." "So that's how Kritiker tracked down Aya and Yohji. I thought those funky magical wards of Schoen were supposed to prevent that sort of shit from happening!" "Her wards would have sufficed under normal circumstances, but we all underestimated the strength of the emotional bond between the members of Weiss. Say what you want about Omi's and Ken's sanity, but they really care about Aya and Yohji. That extra bit of motivation was all Omi needed to overcome Schoen's wards." "Those two thought they were doing the right thing. In their minds, they were simply 'rescuing' Aya and Yohji from our foul clutches. Well, you know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions," the redhead said with a twisted grin. "And then there's Yohji," Crawford continued in the same cool, uninflected tone that he had used through the conversation. There was nothing to tell a casual observer that he had a personal stake in the fate of Weiss, but Schuldig knew better. The American stood to lose as much as he did if they failed. "Oh yeah. With his ability to control the pain and pleasure receptors in virtually any living creature, it's no wonder that he's become Kritiker's up-and-coming specialist at coercion and torture," Schuldig said with a sigh. "Exactly." The telepath gave Crawford a sly, sideways look and said, "But Yohji's a sadist by programming, not by natural inclination. More of Kritiker's wonderful handiwork." "I'm quite aware of that fact. If I didn't think we had a realistic chance of breaking him free of Kritiker, I would have killed him and simplified my personal life considerably," Crawford replied shortly. "As it is, we got through to him just in time. I don't think he would have been capable of resisting Kritiker's complete control for much longer." "*We* didn't have thing to do with it. YOU were the one who managed to reach him," Schuldig said with a sly grin. When Crawford declined to say anything, the German added, "Which reminds me, what do we do about Ken and Omi?" "I'm having them put under restraint until they wake up and you have a chance to check them over. Nagi and Tot are dealing with Omi." Schuldig raised an eyebrow. "Oooo... I suppose that leaves poor KenKen with Farfie." Crawford smiled slightly. "I hope you realize that Farfie's probably happily stuffing our friendly Weiss psychopath into his favorite straitjacket at this very moment, Brad." The American's smile grew just bit wider. "You know, I'm a friggin' telepath and I STILL can't quite figure out what's the hell's going on between those two. Besides the fact that they're both sadistic, homicidal lunatics with a fetish for sharp objects and blood. One second they're trying to slash each other to pieces and the next they're trying to rip each other's clothes off. Go figure." "You mean to tell me that you and Aya didn't do the same thing?" Schuldig snorted. "Hardly. He might look like a walking wet dream, but when we first ran into each other, Aya had the sex drive of an ice cube. The only thing he cared about was hating Takatori or killing his assigned target." "Perhaps, but you certainly managed to thaw him out nicely." "What can I say? It's a gift," Schuldig retorted with a decided smirk. "But as for Hidaka, I really don't give a damn what Farfarello is doing to him. If it wasn't for his and Omi's interference, Aya and Yohji would have been safe out of Kritiker's hands." "Or as safe as any of us are," Schuldig commented cynically. Crawford abruptly put his drink down. "Yohji will be waking up in a few minutes. We should be there." As he turned to leave the room, Schuldig put a hand on his arm and said, "There's something else you need to know before we talk to Yohji. I only got a quick look inside Aya's head, but I can tell that the tampering goes much deeper than just erasing his memories of the past year." "Meaning?" "Meaning that he's definitely not the Aya we've come to know and trust, but he's also not the same Aya we fought a year ago, either. If that makes any sense. Something's different about him, but I haven't had a chance to pin it down." The American folded his arms and said thoughtfully, "One would assume that Kritiker would mainly be interested in getting their best assassin back." "Yeah, one would think that. The quickest and most efficient way would be to simply erase his memories of this last year. So why did they go through all this extra effort into revamping his entire past?" Crawford pushed up his glasses and said, "An interesting question, certainly," before heading off to Yohji's room. -------------------------------------------- Yohji gradually woke up, then fervently wished that he hadn't. He hurt all over and the simple act of breathing made his brain ache. He tried to curl up and pull the pillow over his head, but failed miserably. It took him a moment or two to realize that the reason he couldn't move was because he had been firmly strapped down to the bed. (What the...?) He had known several women with decidedly kinky tastes, but this is the first time that HE had been the one tied down to the bed. (Great. Now the hell do I get out of this mess? The guys will never let me hear the end of it.) With no other options available to him, Yohji finally opened his eyes, only to find two members of Schwartz standing at the foot of his bed. (This is bad. Really bad.) Schuldig gave him a long stare, then glanced over at Crawford. The two men looked at each other, then the leader of Schwartz uttered a soft sigh and pushed up his glasses. "I see you're finally awake, Yohji." He suppressed the urge to edge away as Crawford moved closer to him. The American said nothing for several minutes, but instead folded his arms and stared down at him. However, despite having his enemy in such an obvious state of helplessness, Crawford's expression was utterly devoid of triumph, satisfaction, or malice. Finally, the other man abruptly turned and moved back toward the foot of the bed. (Okay, what the hell was THAT all about?) Yohji wondered uneasily, discretely testing the restraints holding him down. ------------------------------------------------- (Well?) Crawford curtly asked the telepath. Throughout his mental examination, Schuldig had maintained an indifferent expression on his face, but when he replied, his thoughts had a decidedly tense tone. (Just like Aya, he doesn't remember about leaving Kritiker and joining Schwartz. And like Aya, he's got no idea about having any sort of paranormal power, either.) (That's a rather intriguing omission, isn't it?) (And he doesn't remember anything about you, except that you're Weiss' enemy. And his.) (.... I see.) (Brad....) (Later, Schu. I'll deal with it later. Anything else I should know?) The telepath hesitated, then said, (He doesn't remember torturing anyone.) (What?) Crawford glanced sharply at Schuldig. (You heard me. He knows that he's killed people on missions, but that's it.) (So you're telling me that he doesn't remember what he did to his former partner and lover Asuka Murase? To all those other victims?) (That's right. He hasn't got a clue.) (Wonderful. I can imagine his reaction if I try to tell him the truth,) Crawford thought dryly. (Oh, that's a good one. "By the way, you might not remember, but you're actually a sadistic serial murderer with a taste for torture and rape." I'm sure he'll just LOVE you for that.) (Schuldig. Shut up.) ------------------------------------------------- (end Part 1) ===================================================================== ------------------------------------------------- Keeper of Duo's Dark Side ~~~ Duo no Seishi Co-Keeper of Duo's Scythe & Bat Wings (w/ Death) Co-Keeper of Little Grim Reaper Duo (w/ Kitsune) Saitoh no Koibito ~~~ Corruptor Extraordinaire ------------------------------------------------- madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E http://www.madamhydra.net/ ------------------------------------------------- ===================================================================== The Full Disclaimer All names, likenesses, and rights of Wei§ Kreuz are trademarks, copyright, and property of Kyoko Tsuchiya, Koyasu Takehito, Project Wei§ and legally associated parties. The characters and associated materials of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit. Original portion of the fiction included here is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author. =====================================================================