Alternatives

Capture


Yohji had no idea where the hell he was going. All he could think about right now was how the man he loved more than life itself had pushed him away so heartlessly. But, then again, had it really been so heartless? There was no denying the love he’d felt from Aya last night even though it had been confused with some other, darker emotion. He had obviously hurt the man very badly, he just couldn’t remember how. It was the only real gap he had in his memory, apart from his old partner, and it was really beginning to piss him off.

He was also very confused by the way he was picking up on everyone’s emotions. What the hell was that all about? Was that part of whatever had been done to him?

Calm down, Kudoh, and think rationally. If this empathy for other people’s emotions was part of what had been done to him, perhaps retrieving the memories that had been used against him might make a difference. He tried to remember his time as a private detective and found that most of it came easily, only his female partner was missing from his recollections. Schuldig had said something about them using his emotions against him when the tampering was done. Did that mean they’d used his memories of her?

That still made no sense. If they’d used his emotions, why hadn’t they made him forget Aya? Had he thought himself in love with this unknown woman at one time? Is that what had hurt Aya so much that he’d felt the need to push Yohji away in order to protect himself? Had he looked for his partner in other women as Aya seemed to think he had? And didn’t that beg the question of why he wasn’t interested in women now?

He was so deep in thought that he didn’t notice the car that drew up beside him or the man who got out of it and crept up behind him. The first thing that alerted him to something being wrong was the cloying sweetness of chloroform. By then a cloth full of the stuff was over his nose and mouth and he sank into darkness.

* * * * * * *

Aya awoke to find the bed empty of Yohji. Sighing, he threw back the covers and sat up. There had been so many mornings like this, over the years, where one or other of them had realised the futility of it all and simply left. What a fool he had been to give in to Yohji and his own desire. Seemingly it wasn’t just the blond who never learned.

And yet Yohji had seemed so different in this last week since they had met again. There had been none of the fake humour, no women or clubs, very little drinking. It confused him enough to think that he might have misread the situation. Then he remembered Asuka and Yohji\'s quickly returning memories. What if the man had remembered the love of his life? He would want to get away from Aya and the memory of what had happened last night as quickly as he could.
Slowly, Aya dressed and headed to his own room for clean clothes. Once there he stripped off and pulled on his robe before heading for the shower.

Standing under the water, he berated himself for being all kinds of a fool. He’d had years of experience of Yohji’s blandishments yet, every time, he gave into his own pathetic desires and hurt himself even more. Well, last night was the last time. He would never give in again, never again lay himself open for such pain.

He dressed, went downstairs, and entered the kitchen to find Ken, Nagi and Mamoru eating rice and miso. Ken glanced up and smiled. \"There’s more in the pots if you want some.\"

He shook his head and went into the garden instead. Schuldig was out there, smoking, and glanced up at his approach. There was a slight frown on the telepath’s face. \"I got a barrage of images from Yohji earlier, is he okay?\"

\"How the hell would I know?\" The bastard just left.

Schuldig shrugged. \"I thought you might have seen him.\"

\"Not this morning.\"

\"I think he’s remembered a whole load of stuff all at once. There’s something else, though. I believe him to be a powerful empath and that his power has just kicked in with a vengeance. Right now I’m getting some very garbled thoughts and a lot of confusion.\"

His temper snapped and he glared at Schuldig. \"Do you do that a lot? Spy on our thoughts?\"

\"Aya, when someone is broadcasting as strongly as Yohji is right now, I can’t help but hear them. Believe me, I’m trying to shield as best I can.\" His eyes widened slightly before they narrowed into the kind of look that Aya was used to seeing on his face. \"He’s gone.\"

\"What do you mean, gone?\" The pain and fear he felt surprised him. He’d only just found Yohji again, he couldn’t simply lose him so soon.

\"Suddenly I’m getting nothing from him. It’s as if he’s unconscious or something. Oh Mein Gott. I think they’ve found him. Rosenkreuz.\"

* * * * * * *

Dietmeiller sat waiting for his blond, Japanese prisoner to wake up. It shouldn’t be long, his English agents assuring him that the dosage had been just enough to get the empath to Rosenkreuz headquarters in Germany. Sure enough, the flicker of eyelids heralded Kudoh’s return to consciousness.

\"Ah, welcome to Rosenkreuz. I do hope you are not too uncomfortable.\"

Green eyes gazed up at him. \"What the fuck…?\"

\"To summarise, you are in Rosenkreuz Headquarters in Germany. The reason you are here is because you are an empath. That means you can read people’s feelings. With training you will be able to affect their feelings, cause acute pain or pleasure in them, persuade them that they were mistaken, make them hate themselves for pulling a weapon on you, so much that they throw the weapon away.\"

\"What the hell have you been sniffing?\"

\"Nothing at all. Every word I’ve just spoken is the absolute truth.\"

\"Do you usually kidnap people who are out for a morning stroll?\"

\"Only if they’re of use to us.\"

\"And if they don’t want to be of use to you?\"

\"Then they are convinced of the error of their ways.\" He smiled at the young man. Spirit was good but Kudoh would learn, one way or another.

\"I’m going to take a lot of convincing.\"

\"That’s not a problem. Shall we make a start right now?\" He was going to enjoy this. He loved making new agents suffer.

* * * * * * *

Yohji waited to see what would happen to him. He would rather die than betray his friends.

There was a sudden pain in his head then a woman’s face. Somehow he knew it was his long lost Asuka. Another face, the same yet not the same, superimposed itself . Neu. He saw himself kill her as she proclaimed her love for another. It should have hurt him, should have given Dietmeiller what he needed to destroy him, but somehow it didn’t. Instead Aya’s name sounded in his head like a clarion call and the women were now seen through a veil of memory. Aya was of the here and now and safe from Dietmeiller’s manipulation. He had to keep it that way. \"Okay, okay, I’ll do whatever the fuck you want.\"

Dietmeiller smiled at him. \"I knew you’d see reason. Very well, let’s get on with your training. Just remember that if you double-cross me in anyway whatsoever, I’ll use your lost love against you.\"

That didn’t really worry him, although he managed to look suitably cowed. Just as long as Aya wasn’t lost to him forever he would get through this. \"I get the idea. What’s the first lesson?\" It suddenly occurred to him that anything he could learn could be used to fight Rosenkreuz and their evil training methods.

* * * * * * *

Schuldig threw his cigarette butt away and strode into the house, Aya hot on his heels. \"They’ve got Yohji. That means that they’re here, in London.\"

Nagi stared up at him, eyes wide, Ken swore and jumped to his feet while Takatori sat looking to Aya for answers.

\"Do they know that we’re here too?\" Nagi asked.

\"I don’t know, kid, I simply don’t know. I dare not even try to read them just in case they think we’re somewhere else. It’s a possibility, considering our previous relationship to Weiss.\"

\"Do they know that Crawford sent Nagi to me?\" Takatori’s voice was as cold as ice but he realised that, for once, it was not directed at him but at Rosenkreuz.

\"We tried very hard to make sure they didn’t know where he went, but we were at a severe disadvantage at the time. They were able to block both Crawford and myself because they had trained us.\"

Aya had remained silent throughout, but his pain and fury was obvious to Schuldig. He was surprised when Aya asked quietly, \"Did they train Farfarello?\"

He snorted derisively. \"When Jei first arrived at Rosenkreuz he was a very talented psychometric. They destroyed that.\" Three blank looks and a surprised stare made him sigh and explain. \"A psychometric picks up images, emotions and memories from objects. It can drive them crazy unless they’re well shielded. Jei’s natural shields were destroyed as a punishment. He defended himself by feeling nothing but it cost him his sanity.\"

\"Sister Ruth told us that he killed his family,\" Ken said slowly, \"that his madness stemmed from that.\"

He felt his temper rise at the suggestion. \"And, of course, you believed her. He was nine years old, Ken, do you honestly believe he killed them? Two adults and a beloved little sister?\"

\"But wasn’t Ruth his mother?\"

\"That bitch was a Rosenkreuz operative. She fed him all those lies. Yes, he did attack her with the knife. He did cut open her hands. Do you want to know why? Because she’d just told him that his family’s deaths were the ‘will of God’ and that she was his mother. He didn’t lie to you when he told you he was the victim. She took him straight to Rosenkreuz.\"

\"She was so convincing…\" Ken was obviously upset by his belief in the woman.

\"Of course she was. She actually trained as a nun just so Rosenkreuz could acquire Jei. That\'s how thorough they are.\"

\"Are they going to drive Yohji-kun as mad?\"

\"I said this to Ken and now I’ll say it to the rest of you, the emotions they used against Yohji to wipe his mind were not the most important to him. He thought they were but deep down he felt more for someone else.\" He watched Aya’s eyes widen in surprise then shut on acute pain. \"They will continue to use what they found, thinking it his only memory. If he can keep his mind on what really matters to him, and with his memories almost intact he can, then they shouldn’t drive him mad.\"

\"Does Farfarello hate them?\" Ah, the little Takatori was over his shock and beginning to plan. He smiled slightly.

\"More than you could ever know. You think we fought the elders for the sake of it? You think we sent Nagi to you for fun? You think we let Jei go and try to find his own happiness for the sheer hell of it? He’d earned that happiness, fought hard for his freedom. We all did. You only ever saw us as your enemies and you were right to do so. If you had ever come between us and our dream of freedom we would have killed you without a thought.\"

\"You tried to often enough. Or have you forgotten Sakura?\"

He bowed his head in acknowledgement of Aya’s anger. \"I’ve neither forgotten nor do I regret using her. Had I used one of your team-mates or another Kritiker agent, you would be dead. Besides, you always forget Crawford’s visions. He saw her wound you and saw Yohji disarm her. Hell, he even saw her swap places with your sister. He strengthened every future that had us free. Which is one of the reasons that all of you survived us. He kept seeing uses for you all.\"

\"With all due respect, this is getting us no closer to rescuing Yohji-kun. Would Farfarello, or Jei, whichever you prefer, be prepared to help us?\"

\"Only if Crawford asked him to. He has no interest in Yohji’s fate but knows that Brad cares about those of us that were Schwarz.\"

\"So we can’t count on him. Okay, what can we do?\"

He caught Nagi’s eye. \"Are you prepared to go up against them?\"

\"If it means being totally free, then yes.\"

He nodded. With Nagi being the least affected by Rosenkreuz and Yohji having a virtually intact memory they might just have some sort of chance. He opened his mouth to speak when a voice he knew very well indeed came through his head.

*Schuldig, don’t ask questions as there isn’t much time. If you want to help Kudoh and I then you must come to Germany with Fujimiya. That is the only way that this will work. Nagi and the other Weiss will follow but you and Fujimiya must come first. Do you understand?*

*Ja, Brad, I understand. Good to know you’re alive.*

*I have to go. You and Fujimiya, don’t forget.* The link was cut abruptly.

\"What is it, Schu?\" Nagi’s voice finally got through to him. He stared at the young man.

\"Crawford’s alive. Rosenkreuz have him too. I need to go to Germany.\"

\"I’m coming with you.\" Aya’s tone was final. He nodded his agreement, not sure, at this moment, that he could speak at all. If they could retrieve Brad and use his visions they really would have a chance.

* * * * * * *

Crawford waited resignedly for Dietmeiller to arrive and punish him for sending a message but nothing happened for a long while. When the door finally did open, Kudoh came through it, closely followed by Dietmeiller.

\"Well, is he seeing any visions,\" the German demanded. Kudoh’s eyes went distant before he shook his head.

\"All I’m feeling from him is pain. You’re dulling his power, right?\"

\"Very good. You see how much you can do with just people’s feelings to go by? Come, there is more that I can show you.\" Dietmeiller turned for the door but Kudoh stared down at him for a moment, his eyes trying to convey a message. Then he turned and followed Dietmeiller out of the room.

It took him a few moments to realise what had happened and what Kudoh had been trying to tell him. Then it hit him. Kudoh had known he had his power and had kept quiet even though he must remember him as an enemy. He had even lied through his teeth to make sure that Dietmeiller still thought him helpless. That meant he must have somehow blocked the Rosenkreuz boss from picking up his message to Schuldig. For the first time in a very long time, Crawford actually smiled.