17-May-2002
Breakdown: An Alternate Universe Weiss Kreutz Fanfic
by Nixerchan and bonnejeanne
Contact: nixerchan@aol.com and bonnejeanne@yahoo.com
Category: AU
Pairings: Various, or to put it another way, most of them ^__^;;
Warnings: Weird premise, weird psychic powers, probably confusing plot, um, possibly some OOC, some violence, probably gratuitous use of pointless Japanese, what else... oh yeah, LEMON from time to time... poor Nixers, I'm such a corrupting influence... ^__~
Rating: NC-17
SUMMARY/PREMISE: What if the Weiss boys actually possessed psychic powers similar to Schwartz, which had been suppressed or erased from their memories?
AU TIMELINE: Picks up *almost* at the end of the OAV, just after the death of Gen. Norman Powell.
/something/ - may indicate thoughts, telepathy or other psychic contact.
'something' - indicates just thoughts.
Chapter 1: Breakdown
There was more blood than there should have been. Hidaka Ken could feel it soaking into his shirt and jacket as the now headless general Powell slid to the ground with two meaty thumps. It wasn't satisfying. To repay a life of blood in blood.
He felt a little of the warm substance slowly slide along his hand.. /from the gun/ a disconnected sense of sight informed him. Akira's gun. He hardly heard it clatter to the ground as he dropped it.
It was too easy to picture each of them dead. Akira... Youji... Omi... Aya... Aya... He should never have been able to win against Aya. It wasn't planned that way. But then, it was hard to remember the plan... it was hard to remember which of those he knew were just playacting death and who really lay out in the snow...
Ken heard a voice calling his name, the pitch in her voice growing a little bit... The slide of the security doors.... and an odd lack of warmth as two left through it...
It was almost second nature to call the warmth back... Looking down at the mess of himself and the blood now causing numerous shorts on the consol in front of him. 'I really should clean this up.'
He only barely heard the scream of metal as it began to snap and warp in the intense cold...
Kaori had passed out. It wasn't a surprise from the grotesque sight of the general's death at her brother's weapon, but she had been warned not to watch. Youji immediately caught the girl, and touched the door's keypad lightly, intending to take her outside the room, where there was some air... Then something felt wrong, building up quickly... the room didn't seem quite so stuffy and overly hot as it had. Quickly he transferred his burden into Omi's arm's, ignoring his surprise. "Get her out of here."
Frowning, Omi accepted the girl's limp form obediently. "Youji-kun...? What...?"
Youji stepped forward, so that the smallest member of the group couldn't see him pull the wire from his watch. "Just go on ahead. She'll need attention quickly," he said, his voice covering the *tsssing* of the filament leaving its spool. He glanced over at Manx, a pleading expression on his face.
The redheaded woman was frowning, throwing a sharp glance at Youji as she turned to help Omi, hustling him and his burden away in the process.
Apparently oblivious to the exchange, Aya was watching Ken, the expression on the young man's face as he'd delivered the coup de grace to their enemy making him suddenly uneasy. Ignoring Youji, he moved forward, incidentally placing his body between the blond assassin and Ken.
A chill settled into both of their skins, leaving an unnatural feeling of the cold moving the wrong way. The lanky assassin muttered something under his breath and let another instinct take over the wire. If he had to go around Abyssian, he would. "Aya, get back or get out," he called, then looked beyond him, where the intricate patterns of frost were spreading across the floor and machinery. "Ken, let it go, it's over. We'll just go home, right?"
Aya threw a glare back at Youji, his hackles rising even further at the tone of the man's voice. Something was very wrong. The chill was biting and seemed to be concentrated in front of him. Something about Ken... but it was Youji's tone and words that seemed to eat through his mind like acid. There was knowledge in that tone. Knowledge that wasn't shared, and the implication was something Aya already half believed most of the time about almost everyone around him anyway. Instinct brought him closer to Ken, his eyes seeking the young man's face.
The assassin's face wasn't quite blank, just distant, as if concentrating on something else entirely. He'd lost the mania that had possessed him earlier, but this Ken was no more recognizable than the one that pulled the trigger. In return, there was no recognition in dull green eyes when they flicked his way either. Ken shook his head, "A lie," Aya heard the boy say, talking a little too slowly. "I saw you die." At that there was the briefest flash of heat and the paneling gave out under the stress of two extremes, shattering in a hot/cold spray of metal and plastics.
Throwing up his arm instinctively, the swordsman shielded his face from the flying fragments, groping for an understanding of what was happening. Somehow Ken had lost his grip on the charade now that it was over? But what the hell was this... bizarre manifestation...? Some unknown weapon? His impulse was to grab Ken and give him a good shake, recognizing the urgency to reach him, but there was suddenly a great deal more going on.
A line of silver snaked past him, curving, impossibly around Aya, to wrap around Siberian. The end of the wire hovered in the air, a second from wrapping around the neck of the unresponsive boy. "Don't make me," Youji yelled, his voice cracking slightly as it rose desperately. "Let it go slowly, or you WILL kill him, both of us. Ken, I know you can hear me."
If anything, the blanked expression began to hold a mix of rage and ecstasy. The wire melted, and in front of him, the body of the general began to, of all things, smolder. The air wavered, a roll of noise as two temperatures began to meet.
"Aya! Stop him!"
The words made less sense than Youji's actions, which made *no* sense. It was as if they'd somehow had to go back and re-enact the damn charade, playing it out for real this time, but there were other things happening. The impossible behavior of the wire defying physics... Youji going after Ken with his weapon... did he expect Aya to use his sword on his partner? Stop him?? Almost snarling, Aya reached out and grabbed Ken's shoulder, but the moment he made contact something shot down his nerves through it. As if through other eyes, he saw strange patterns in the air and sensed currents of energy and temperature that could somehow be controlled. That were being controlled. Suddenly and clearly he realized there was going to be an explosion. They were going to die.
Instantly furious at the knowledge and refusing to yield to it, Aya reached towards Ken, into Ken, through Ken - you can stop this - and somehow felt *Ken*, felt him, grasped his energy and forced his will into it. Just... /STOP!/
Ken seemed to freeze at the words, eyes widened at the realization of the second presence, too late to fight. He stiffened as muscles obeyed the outside command, breath caught in his throat, and the air seemed to smooth out, a gentle release of those invisible currents at it slipped through his fingers.
Relief nearly whiting out his vision, Youji retracted what was left of his wire as the room began a more natural thawing. An encroaching feeling of frustration sped up his steps. Two of them at once, and he'd done it. There was no way to cover it from them, or more importantly, explain to Manx. Stepping up to the two, he reached out a gloved hand and pinched Aya's arm as hard as he could.
The brief if superficial shot of pain seemed to unseat Aya's concentration for a moment and he felt himself slipping out, away, his arm dropping from Ken's shoulder. Unfortunately it also focused him on another source of what he was now perceiving as danger. Before Youji could move back, Aya seized the other man's arm. "What the hell was that... WHAT DO YOU KNOW?"
/TELL ME!/
There was a brief snarl on the taller man's face as for a split second he tried to fight the command, then gave it away with a sigh. "Pyrokinesis," he was already explaining as he shifted just enough to catch Siberian as the boy collapsed, released from Aya's attention. "One of the highest levels in particular and one of the most dangerous. I doubt Ken really knows he's got it."
Aya's hand dropped away from Youji as if he'd been stung. He backed away a step, not liking the sight of Ken being held so, by this man who had been about to...
"You were going to kill him," he said coldly, trying to ignore the way his nerves were screaming at him. "No act this time. Get away from him."
"I was trying NOT to kill him," Youji said, not relinquishing the assassin. "I really don't want to. That's why I didn't have Manx force you out to... in case I couldn't talk him down."
/Put him DOWN./
Youji knelt and laid Ken down on the floor before standing again, with the same fluidity as if it was his own idea. The assassin's jaw worked as he grit his teeth. "Stop doing that, or someone's going to notice," he growled.
Aya found his katana in his hand and knelt beside Ken, reaching down his free hand to touch the side of the boy's face. "Wake up," he said urgently. Returning his attention to Youji quickly, he growled back. "Stop what, Kudo? Who will notice? What the hell is going on?"
Still under the impulse to answer, Youji's expression got quite a bit more strained as he glanced back towards the doors. "Forcing me. Just about anyone with the slightest bit of talent, and that's going to take a lot more time to explain than we've got." He sighed as Ken seemed to respond to Aya's command, blinking at the cracked ceiling with a slow returning recognition. "Aw hell, just get out, I'll distract the rest."
Aya glared at Youji, trying to put the pieces together as quickly as possible, but hampered by the sheer number of missing pieces... He looked down at Ken. "Hidaka... you with us? Know where you are?"
"Kuso," was the muttered response. His face scrunched up and one hand covered his eyes. "Yeah, kinda." To the second question, he moved just enough to glance around. "Fuck, you two trashed the place? Shoulda let me help." He put an elbow under himself and tried to at least sit up.
"You did more than help," Aya muttered, getting to his feet and pulling Ken up. "You woke up from one nightmare to a weirder one. I think we've just been fired by Supervisor Kudo."
Youji was watching the two, knowing better than to step up and try to help Ken right then. "If you want to stay, fine." Youji said stepping aside of the door. "Go see Manx and I promise you won't remember this. But trust me, I'm doing you a favor."
Ken pulled together enough of a focus to glare at both of them, "What the hell are you two talking about?"
"Trust you," Aya said to Youji with another glare. "I did. We did."
/Do me another favor, Youji. Keep them out of here for two minutes./
Feeling the impulse more clearly than he 'heard' it, Youji shook his head and turned for the door. "Make it quick." As he walked through, he pulled his wire again, a few lengths and then cut it. In front of both of them, it strung itself into an intricate pattern across the doorframe even after the door had shut.
"People who hide the truth from me are enemies," Aya muttered. He put one hand to the side of his head where something was starting to feel wrong. "We need another way out of here," he said to Ken. "We've been threatened, I think, with having our memories taken. Exit now, regroup later. Come on."
Ken was only half paying attention, staring at the doorframe. "Omi ever mention anything good for concussions?" he said half to himself. The more instinctive side was following the order in Aya's tone, glancing around for a possibility for escape. Something of a vent might have been above, but the metal of it was half twisted, half melted so that removing it would have been a project all of its own. For some reason, that felt more familiar and right than the wire webbing. "Not looking good."
"Look harder," Aya answered shortly. He quickly worked his way around the room, finally finding a small maintenance panel that led to a passage behind the walls. "Here."
Ken slipped into the portal, feeling forward as the light seemed to immediately recede. As the door closed, sending the passageway into complete darkness, Ken shot a glance backwards. He froze as he could still see Aya... lacking details, more along the outlines and shifting colors of white, red and orange... with a bit more concentration, he could start to make out the walls, which for some reason were loosing blues slowly. Voice low he closed his eyes, waiting for all of that to disappear. "Care to tell me why we're running?"
"First, to keep from being memory wiped or otherwise manipulated - further," Aya growled, moving as quickly as the space would permit. "Next, to give me some time to figure out how to get the drop on Kudo. And third to figure out what the hell you did in there..." And what I did, he added silently, the small sense of wrongness having slowly grown into an increasing headache that didn't seem to be leveling off.
It was hard to ignore a second reference to memory wiping, no matter how irrational. He followed as Aya passed him. The view was surreal but clear as daylight. "Duck," he said, offhandedly, as the other came to a low hanging bulkhead that he didn't seem to see. "What did... Nevermind. Any plan on what we do if this run out?"
Ducking almost too late (and feeling the wind of the overhead obstacle a little too close), Aya glanced back sharply at Ken. "You can see...? Fine, you go first. No I don't have a plan. We get out of here, we run. Then we come back. They will probably either be expecting us or pursuing us, I don't know which. I want to talk to Omi and I want another crack at Kudo. You went nuts back there. Probably traumatic stress. Instead of grabbing a gun and shooting or even kicking the place up, you did something else. He called it pyro... pyrokenisis, I think." He grimaced. "There's a story about something like that by an American horror writer."
The sound of footsteps ahead of Aya, and the occasional navigational warning were the only signs the other was even there for several long moments. "Go on," the other prompted, quietly.
Aya didn't answer immediately. After a pause, and some more travel, he finally said. "He knew. He wasn't surprised. And he... you saw that wire thing, right? With the door?" He shook his head, not quite ready to discuss the thing that really messed with his mind worse than the rest. 'Stop him, he'd said. He knew I could. How? And how did I?'
"I don't remember," Ken said, after another few moments. "If I think about it, I know that something happened." His footsteps stopped, "It splits here, right or left?"
Trying to make a guess about where they were, Aya replied, "Left. You were over stressed." 'We all were. I'm not entirely sure I'm not the one who's cracked up here. Maybe I'm sitting on the floor somewhere, hallucinating all of this,' he thought grimly. The headache had increased to near blinding proportions. He was walking with one hand to his head.
The hand that he had trailing the wall was encircled by the other assassin's fingers as he took it to guide them along the turn. "Aa," the assassin muttered, not sounding convinced. "If I was the one that did... that, back there, why are you with me?"
Swallowing back the nausea that had decided to accompany the headache, Aya muttered, "I stopped you. He told me to stop you. I thought he was crazy. I didn't even know what you were doing. He... knew something. Knew I could do it."
There was a soft sound of laughter from ahead of him, "I think both of us are crazy. Hang on, it's brighter here." The hand on Aya's wrist released it. "Pretty sure there's got to be a way out behind this."
Leaning back against the narrow passage wall, Aya watched Ken curiously. He also prepared to run, if there was indeed a way out of the passage. He didn't have to think about it. The idea of being hunted was so much a part of him that he didn't need to consider what Youji had said or its implications, he was already ahead of it. Always ahead of the worst... almost always.
Ken had definitely found a door, that he was sure of, but whatever let him see wasn't as forgiving with metal, which all managed to look the same. Just by touch something was covering the latch, a panel that wasn't giving no matter which way he pried. 'Probably locked,' he thought, frustration at being close enough to a clearer exit manifesting. He didn't relish the idea of staying in this alien place with no knowledge of when the next exit might be and where ... whoever would be hunting them, if anyone, was. A flicker of his vision was the only sign he felt of the sudden snaps of cold and hot in front of him before his fist met the plate. It shattered effortlessly.
He threw a sheepish grin backwards as he pulled on the revealed handle and pushed open the door. "Musta been rusty," he offered, covering his eyes before opening the door to any width.
Something tingled along Aya's nerves just before the blow. The pain in his head almost covered it. However his mind was tuned to a high pitch of suspicion and he filed away every detail for later consideration, as he tightened his grip on the katana.
The room the door opened up to was a barracks of some kind, abandoned in the night's confusion. Fluorescents struggled above in the uncertain flow of electricity, giving the room a flickering atmosphere. Ken stepped forward first, his fingers curling to the trigger on his bugnuks. He shook his head, nothing.
Entering the room, taking up a position that covered Ken and allowed Ken to cover him automatically, Aya surveyed the choices of exits from the room. He picked one and nodded towards it.
Moving fluidly and silently, Ken positioned himself to one side of the door, hand on its handle. He waited for Aya to take his place opposite before pushing it open hard and snapping back to his position. At no gunfire and no shouts or commotion, he cautiously checked the hallway and made a clear signal to his partner.
Each following corridor and hallway were similarly empty as the two oriented themselves, memories of the floorplans guiding the way through the reality of it. The situation was sending more than a few uneasy twist down the hackles of both hunters. Close to one of the side exits and still not a single encounter, Ken found his voice, "We took out a lot of them... but..." he whispered.
Aya simply growled. He had a mental image of people being pulled out of the area *because* they were in it. "Let's just get out." But with each step, his nerves sharpened even further.
"No arguments," Ken replied, pushing the trigger on both sets of claws before they reached the outer doors.
A flood of fresh air swirled in with the last door's outward swing. Outside was nearly as pitch black as within the maintenance tunnels, and Ken paused at the threshold, letting his eyes adjust. When they finally had, he didn't move, it was too late. "Three, maybe four... I can't tell. They've already seen us."
"Find us some wheels," Aya said, and swept forward, katana at ready, darting out into the snow with a conscious intent to draw attention and possible fire. Once he knew where they were, he'd take care of them.
The metallic rattle of guns being locked off and aimed were distinct even across the crunch of snow. "Abyssian, Siberian, stand down. You were to report to Kritiker," a strong female voice called out, demanding. "Are you turning coat?"
"We're taking a small vacation," Aya growled, almost pleased to recognize the voice. As satisfying as it might be to attempt to match the katana against soldiers with guns, it was also suicidal. He really didn't like the idea of checking out with so many unanswered questions hanging over his head. Head swiveling towards the voice, "Birman... Kudo has flipped. Come out here and I'll explain."
"We understand," Birman's voice answered. "We also know you both reacted badly to his stories. We suspect there was some biological contaminant in the air. Possibly a last ditch from Powell that was aborted. We need to get you checked and clean your system or these hallucinations may continue. Are you experiencing headaches? Dizziness? Nausea? Either of you?" There were sounds of footsteps across the snow, but Birman was well proceeded by a few operatives before stepping into the circle of light herself.
The headache she described so accurately flared as if sensing his intention. As if pain would stop him from doing a thing once he'd made up his mind. Looking beyond the shoulders of the men in front of her, he locked eyes with the woman and focused his will like he focused his body in a battle. *Reached...*
And felt something, perhaps a millisecond slower than himself, reaching back, sliding along the line of connection that he had established.
The threat provoked an instant reaction and he fastened on her mind with a steel grip. /STOP that!/
The woman let out a choked noise. /You still haven't learned your place whelp,/ he could feel the woman struggling fiercely, her touch 'burning' but not making much progress. /Be glad there's still use for you./
Aya ignored the voice in his mind. /Tell them to let us go./
Her hand paused, in the middle of making some signal. /And where will you go?/ Her resistance was palpable, threaded with both knowledge and sarcasm, bitter in his mind. /How long until you both damage each other with your clumsiness, or run into someone who'll use you? How willing are you to leave Omi and Youji behind?/
Each thought that seemed to come from the woman only had the effect of cranking his already notable paranoia up even further. Not interested in a debate, not sure how one was even possible in this insanity, he simply *pushed*. Hard. So he could damage someone with this? Well it was worth a try to see if there were limits. He let that concept move over the connection.
/Do it now./
Birman's face washed completely free of color, the irises of her eyes overtaking her pupils entirely. "Drop your weapons and step back." There was a pause as the operatives realized she was talking to /them./ "Now." As they hesitated, a few recognizing the situation, she raised her own handgun and pressed it hard into the back of the head of one of the men in front of her. "Three men, six bullets. I'm sure you boys can figure this little problem out."
There was some obvious reluctance, but one by one, each of the operatives weapons disappeared soundlessly into the snow.
Staring with open disbelief at Birman, Ken glanced back at Aya. *I stopped you.* He took a breath and answered an earlier command. "There's nothing close, should be a parking lot some 70 meters away, on the other side. Could try?"
Nodding an acknowledgement of Ken's words, Aya collected his remaining energy and moved, grabbing a couple of the discarded weapons and kicking the others some distance away from the men. Coming closer to Birman, he reached out with one hand and took her wrist, staring into her dilated eyes.
/Take a nap./
The woman crumpled, suspended halfway by the assassin's grip.
A flare of white-hot pain behind his eyes almost made Aya do the same before he mastered it and jerked his head at Ken, turning to sprint in the direction of the supposed parking lot.
With no time to glance after where their secondary contact had fallen, with her escort diving for their weapons, Ken followed. Everything looked uniform now, no variation or contract, except for Aya. 'No heat,' a part of his mind supplied as something else refuted it.
The lot was lit by virtue of a few low lamps, revealing a few personnel's cars, showing the tags of military clearance in romanji. They probably wouldn't be claimed again. "Pick something we can both use," Ken said on aside, "You look ready to drop."
"You pick something," Aya managed, before dropping the weapons in his hand. He leaned against a vehicle and placed both palms against his temples. It felt like his brains were about to split his skull and come pouring out into a steaming mess on the snow.
"I'll settle for something unlocked." Whoever was going to be behind them, wasn't going to be too far. He finally settled on a likely candidate and yanked open the door. A quick run brought him back to the red-haired assassin. With a long look at the other, he picked up both discarded weapon and tucked them beneath the tie of his sweatshirt. Then, as if expecting to get hit, reached over to pull Aya's weight against his.
The swordsman simply attempted to provide what help he could manage in going where Ken took him. If he could get into the vehicle it wouldn't be so bad if he actually passed out, and he felt like that was going to happen rather soon. Looked forward to it.
"Shit, must be bad," Ken murmured to himself as Aya settled on him. At the car he managed to open the door without disturbing the other's headache too much. "Whatever you're doing, give it a break for a while," he said, giving the other a light push to the passenger side.
"Not doing it... any more," Aya managed. He curled up on the passenger seat in a tight ball. "You heard her..."
Ken paused then closed the side door. This time he was a little unhurried about getting to the driver's side, but settled in none the less. Again, there didn't seem to be much pursuit, but then.. "A bit, said we're crazy right now. Then went insane herself." The briefest, invisible flash of cold/hot raced along Aya's senses as the paneling on the dashboard gave away under Ken's hands. Some quick work with the wiring turned the engine over. "If you did that... stopped her.. can't be a hallucination right? Or maybe we're still there, dreaming while she babbles?"
"Maybe," Aya muttered. He didn't think so. He believed what his senses told him, even when they told him things that didn't make sense. "Said there was a use for us..."
"She did?" Ken asked, subduing the urge to rub his temples, or to check over Aya... they needed to get farther. He shifted the car into drive and pulled it forward, seeking the gate in the circle of headlights. "You and Youji maybe," he said thoughtfully, "S'okay, I know a few good places. Until we can figure this out."
This was acknowledged with a grunt. By the time he made it to the highway, Ken realized his companion on the other side of the seat was passed out.
The cessation of the motor noise brought Aya back to consciousness. He sat up slowly from the cramped position and looked around, his eyes seeking surroundings and his hand seeking the hilt of the katana.
From one side, he heard the door open and the overhead light blink on. "It's not much, but its off the records," Ken said quietly. "Omi's the only one who might be able to find it. He is... safe for now right?"
Rubbing his eyes, Aya slid out of his side of the car before answering. "I honestly don't know. I want to talk to him. And I'm going to talk to Kudo again."
"They'll come after us, one way or another," Ken replied, watching Aya carefully out of the corner of his eye. "Feeling any better?"
Stretching the kinks out of his body, the redhead nodded. "Better." The headache was mostly gone, reduced to a slight, achy memory. "How do you feel?"
"Like... usual," he shrugged, a scowl over his features. "It's weird. The only thing I'm worried about is the fact that I'm not worried about anything else. I'd figure I'd be hysterical by now."
Aya studied Ken for a moment. Then he shrugged. "You did lose it for a moment there. Seemed like you forgot the fight we staged wasn't real."
"It felt real," Ken said, not looking back as he left the car for something of an apartment building, a squarish grey shape taking up its share of the block, neither really worn nor well kept. A cool breeze blew across Aya's skin. "Even at the time it was hard to remember I wasn't really killing you for running Omi through."
Aya snorted softly. "Thanks. That was supposed to be believable to people without a fucking clue. Not between ourselves. If I was that much of an automaton I'd have given you up back there."
"*Now* you're being an asshole," A touch of humor laced the reply. "I was just saying I'd never make it as an actor."
The corner of Aya's mouth twitched. "No? The hero of the fucking play? Too bad, I guess." Following Ken, the redhead surveyed the area and the apartment quickly, marking blind spots and escape routes automatically.
"Two, there's another door in the back, well covered so give it a hard shove if you need it, the windows won't open without a mess and some work," Ken recited, flopping down in a covered chair a few paces from the door. "I'm afraid the protagonist will cede the limelight for a bit. How about it? Feeling heroic?"
"Feeling paranoid," Aya grunted, prowling the place superficially. After a few moments he took a spot on the old faded sofa. "I almost wish I *were* crazy."
"If it weren't for what Birman did to our... her own men, I'd still argue with you," Ken sighed and put his hands behind his head, "Bullshit or not, it was a pretty appealing explanation."
Aya studied Ken for a few moments. He was right, it was an appealing explanation. It just didn't jibe with what had come before from Youji. *That* had had the crawling feeling of reality behind a lie. Not comfortable, paranoid as hell... and a perfect match for Aya's own perhaps warped view of the world.
"How about a test?"
Ken's eyes darted back to where Aya was sitting. "Like what?"
Better make it something he wouldn't ever think of doing on his own.
/Come sit on my lap./
The dark haired assassin found himself moving on a whim that felt like his but sounded vaguely like Aya. Green eyes widened in surprise as they found themselves on eye level with violet. A flush colored his face and he pulled back a hand that had rested on Aya's shoulder naturally on the decent. Despite the embarrassment, he had no response from his legs to leap back to his feet. "Point proven," he said, a little hurried.
Looking back into those jade eyes, Aya felt an odd tingle run through him. 'This is... dangerous,' he thought. 'It's... intoxicating. I could just...'
Swallowing, he said, "It was different with Birman. She seemed to be... thinking back at me or something." His voice was a bit huskier than usual and he was trying to think about what sort of reaction he should have to resume being in character. He didn't figure Ken had any idea of his interest since he'd been careful never to allow it to be expressed. But now that the boy was sitting where he was sitting... he didn't want to hurt him with a cold brush off. His weight felt... pleasant.
"So this is what it felt like," the other boy said, thinking aloud. "After Birman, I figured it had to hurt. Can't say I feel all that sorry for her." He settled a bit more, figuring he wasn't going anywhere until he was allowed. If Aya wanted numb feet for his efforts.. well.. Besides, it wasn't all that uncomfortable at all. "If she pulls out of that, we may be dead men just for embarrassing her."
"I refuse to worry about a PMS-ing bitch, with all the other things hanging over our heads," Aya murmured. "She was... I think she was trying to do something to me, only I beat her to it." He shook his head. "I don't know. Kudo has some answers. And he was trying to keep it from Omi." After a slight pause he lifted his arm, intending to make some kind of shooing gesture, and found he'd casually draped it over Ken's lap.
"So she's the same as..." Ken paused as he felt Aya's arm, and any idea of what he was saying flew out the window in shock. Paranoia was a trait not only shared in Weiss, but well refined. He took in a deep breath, collecting himself and wondering how to guard his own memories, a few in particular. "How far.. can you read in, Aya?" he asked, voice a little tense.
"I don't know," the redhead answered. "It feels easier with contact... need at least eye contact, I think." He shrugged and sighed. "You better get up. I'm making you uncomfortable."
"Um, Aya... I can't yet," the other said, another distinct look of embarrassment.
Aya blinked. He looked into Ken's face, trying to figure out what he meant.
/Get up./
The assassin responded immediately, feeling something of a control returning. Ken found his chair again, taking the same easy posture he'd had before. The only difference was a watchful look in the red haired assassin's direction. Ken let out an audible breath. "I promise I'm more pliant if you ask first," Ken grinned, delivering the line flippantly enough to be one of Youji's.
Aya found his heart was pounding in his ears. He got up abruptly and walked to the door. He stopped next to it, his back to Ken. Arguing with himself. For the first time in his life, Aya found something that terrified him.
"I shouldn't have done that."
"It's... fine," Ken studied the other's back, deciding to give the other assassin, and himself a way out of this. "Just a test right?"
There was silence for an answer. It had been... but... "We should separate."
Ken frowned, putting his between his hands. The easy way out was always appealing but ... not the best. "I don't even remember what set me off, or even what it was like. Honestly it all cuts out approaching that dirtball. I can't stop it, I don't think."
Aya had his own theory about what set it off. Going backwards wasn't much of an option. If it had been anyone else, he probably would have tried anyway.
"Were you... did you fall for Akira?"
A soft sound from behind Aya could have been an explicative. "Was probably well on my way," the other said, a tension of it being forced out was audible. "I've got some luck in that."
Aya nodded without turning around. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice even.
"Just drop it," Ken let his hands fall, and stared up at the ceiling. "Wouldn't have happened anyway. Nothing to mourn there."
"There's a human being to mourn," Aya muttered. He shook his head conscious of having pushed it past Ken's expressed wishes. "I didn't bring it up to taunt you. I figured it might have had something to do with what happened. Why you flipped." Another reason for me to get out of here. "You said you knew a couple of places. Keep your head down. I'll figure out what is going on and find you to let you know."
'Fucked up Hidaka,' he berated himself. "No problem," he lied, shoving aside more than one glaring ones. He stood up. "Just hurry up with it, I feel a lot better knowing I can flip harmlessly," the last was with some humor and an exaggerated stretch. "I'll be here... there's another place on Third and Ash, 2478, third floor, first room, it's owned by a friend of mine who's in Kyoto for the time."
Having gotten agreement, Aya felt reluctant to move. With everything turned so crazy... he felt the likelihood that he would actually be coming back rather small. Turning around, he leaned against the door for a moment, crossing his arms over his chest.
"It wasn't just a test."
The other blinked then gave a lazy eyed smile in return, "I'll take the couch."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the redhead growled.
"It means, you don't have to say anything if you want to stay," Ken replied, deliberately meeting the other's eyes for a moment. "It means you can have as much distance as you need. It means, in short, that I'll take the couch tonight," he gave the other a half grin, "It's more comfortable than the bed anyway."
Aya paced the short distance to the chair, scowling down at the occupant. "How nurturing," he said.
The other's eye's narrowed slightly. "I'll remind you that you're in kicking distance of a goalie right now."
"You're in touching distance of a man who can make you do whatever he wants." The delivery of this sentence was entirely cold, the only apparent non-sequitur a slight catch at the end of it. Another brief taste of that nearly unknown experience. Terror.
"You'd pass out before you finished," Ken replied, in almost the same tone. "I already told you it'd be better if you asked first."
"If I could have done that it would have been done a long time ago."
Struggling to get back some semblance of his self control, Aya continued to carry on an internal argument between logic and several emotions that had managed to take the opportunity presented by the bizarre events to slip the leash.
Ken had closed his eyes and found the situation no better. He could feel the other's warmth even that distance away, a sort of a natural pull towards it, but further thoughts in that direction slipped away like water, flowing back to the source. He'd never been exceptionally good at quelling temptation of any sort. Any emotions he had, he knew were played on his face always. At times he envied Aya's control more than once. And would have given a great deal for it as the other's seemed to be slipping. The fact that it wasn't something spur of the moment, a convenience in the middle of trauma eased something deeply wound.
When he opened his eyes, they didn't quite meet Aya's again. "On the other hand, the bed does have all the blankets... If you, oh screw it, let's take this easy until my head stops spinning." Ken gave a short laugh, "A guy doesn't always get told he's either crazy or psychic, get split from longtime partners, get propositioned by a longtime crush in a roundabout way all in one night." He let it all out on one breath. "Company would be good, very good, I think."
Aya watched Ken's face, receiving an near-inexplicable reassurance from the emotions traveling across it.
"You have something to test," he said finally. On his brief survey of the place he'd noticed the compact "apartment fire pit" that had been the rage among young couples for a while a few years back. Nodding towards the metal flu in the corner, he said, "Give it a try."
Ken followed Aya's look at he frowned looking up between Aya and the small fireplace. Seeing Aya's expression he focused more of his attention on the contents of the pit. It had become a storage more for flammable trash than true wood than the designers had originally intended. Paper should be easy right?
A few second passed before Ken sighed and shook his head, gathering nothing more than a headache from the experience. "Are you sure it wasn't something else that did that?" he asked, a little self-consciously. Between attempts of picturing fire and mentally telling the obstinate pile to go up, nothing seemed to click.
"I'm not certain of anything," Aya said grimly. "Or very little. But... it got cold before it happened. Like... like the energy was being... sucked up or concentrated somehow..."
"I... well, I can give it a try," Ken shrugged, though the possibility seemed as distant as before. Just concentrate energy.. heat probably...
The thought seemed to stir a process he wasn't aware of. A growing sort of contentment and warmth contested with a growing pressure above his sinuses. The world shifted in front of his eyes, not so much changing as becoming more visibly complex. A wave of purples and deeper blues crept into his vision, as the warmer colors of oranges and yellows seemed to vanish from the air.
It took a moment, in the simple euphoria, to remember there was another presence in the room... and a purpose for all of this. His eyes found the mixture of papers and wrappers in the fireplace, and simply knew how easy that was going to be. And applied just enough focus to let go.
To Aya's eyes, the air wavered for a moment from the heat distortion as a wave just barely touched him and rolled over the papers. They ignited instantly, going up into a short but fierce blaze.
Blinking, the redhead looked from the small fire to Ken. He nodded.
The other didn't seem to connect yet. The changes in front of his vision fading away, with something else. With a blink he found himself staring back up at Aya. There was an uncomfortable look at Ken gave an apologetic smile, "Sorry, forgot what I was saying?"
Aya reached out and turned his head back to the small fireplace, where the blackened remains of the paper still smoldered a little.
"When did you.." A vague a fading memory, of a test, strayed just close enough to be recognized as he followed Aya's prompt. "Oh. Then I... I don't have an excuse this time, do I?"
"Excuse? It proves it was you." Not me, Youji or some freak effect of something.
'That's what it was about,' Ken considered, trying to keep some of the frustration and confusion off his face. It got a little easier remembering when he had something to start from. "That's it then?" he asked, deciding it was a safe question.
"It's something," Aya replied. He reached up and rubbed his temples absently. "Not enough pieces," he muttered.
"Unless they pulled him out of school, Omi should be easy to contact tomorrow," Ken said, finding something of a focus. "I don't know how much help he'll be if you're right about Youji trying to protect him from this."
"Once he knows something is up, and I don't see how they can keep it from him, he'll dig on his own. There won't be a story they can tell him that he will buy about us. I don't think." And I want to talk to Kudo again, he added to himself mentally. He was fixated on Youji due to his revelation that the man had known something, withheld something... even if he had some semblance of harmless intent, it was a breach and he wasn't going to give it up.
"Then we'll probably have a knock on the door by noon, knowing him," he shrugged, "Omi already knows about this one, he's just too much of a perfectionist not to double check. I was counting on that to buy enough time to vacate if we need to."
"I'm counting on Omi," as much as I'm counting on anything, Aya finished silently, which isn't much. "He's had too many betrayals not to catch the scent once it starts to unravel."
"As long as he knows it's there..." Ken said, "You mentioned something about loosing memory?"
"Youji said it..." Aya scowled. The blond was going to have to make some decisions. If he made the wrong ones... But Aya realized he didn't even know enough to speculate on that. Just let me see the fucker, he thought, already relying on the newfound ability.
The other sighed, "Which amounts to nothing yet." He stood up from his chair, brushing past the other assassin. "While you've had a nap, I operate on eight hours. Don't be too quiet when you walk in."
"Aa."
Part of Aya wanted to follow, but it wasn't the right time. There would probably never be a right time. There hadn't been so far.
Moving the furniture in the room carefully, Aya made enough space to start doing a basic work out.
In the other room, Ken shook his head at the sounds adjacent to it. If after all this, Aya took the couch, he WAS going to kick him, and get a good start at it too. Resolutely, he curled most of the blankets around himself. /He can fight me for 'em if he wants 'em./
After about twenty minutes, long enough for Ken to be good and deeply asleep if he was going to reach that level, Aya came into the other room. He looked at the boy curled on the bed and let his mask down. Setting the katana beside the bed where he could reach it easily, he took a seat next to the blanket wrapped figure and leaned back, his mind calmed but still too full of questions to relax. It was probably better to have one of them watching anyway.
TBC