Red Shaman

Bard's Apprentice: Thanks. I sincerely hope you think digging through the archives was worth the time and trouble.



*****



And if I should fall

Would you catch me?



Crawford stared, amazed as the blackness beneath him cleared and he could see into the club as though he were above the room. He could see Schuldig holding on to his body with one arm while wrapping the other around Nagi. He watched as Farfarello lifted his body and set it on the bar. Saw Nagi pick up his glasses from where Schuldig had placed them on the floor.



“Why am I being shown this?” Crawford demanded of the other man.



“Because you need to see it. I think it's the only way to get through your thick skull that they need you and more than that, want you with them.”



Crawford made a noncommittal noise and resumed watching his teammates.



“Your family, you mean.”



“They are not my family,” Crawford said, still not looking up.



“They are the only family you claim.”



And if I should fall

Would you hold me close to your heart?



Crawford ignored him and then tilted his head to see better as something caught his attention.



“What's wrong with Skye?” he asked.



“She's taken on too much pain.”



“I don't understand.”



“Of course you don't,” he said dismissively. “She's drained Schuldig of the vast majority of his agony in losing you. On top of that, there is her own grief at your loss. Yes, she is hurt by it, whatever you might think.”



Crawford snorted then was silent as he watched the events unfold below him. Right down to Schuldig pulling Skye away from the mass of demons. It hurt to watch. More than anything else, Schuldig's actions brought home to him a very real fact. Schuldig loved Skye. Crawford had never seen Schuldig be so protective of another person in the entire time he'd known him.



“Haven't you?” the other man asked, one crimson eyebrow lifting in question. “Think about it a little harder. I'm sure you'll come up with something.”



Memories assailed him almost instantly. He remembered being dragged onto the beach after the tower had collapsed. Scheisse, you're heavy. Esset survivors being shot when they got too close to him. Get the fuck away from him. Being half carried to an empty beach house. *This looks like a good spot to rest. We'll find Nagi and Farf later.* His wounds being dressed and someone making sure he didn't have a concussion. *Crawford, focus, you stubborn bastard. How many fingers am I holding up?* Being tucked beneath someone's opulent silk sheets. *At least someone has good taste.* Shields which were not of his own making were created to protect him when he couldn't protect himself. *Can't let anyone else into that hard head of yours.*



Those were some of the more major things. There were a thousand and one little things as well. Everything from Schuldig nagging him about working himself to exhaustion to making sure they had the kind of coffee he liked. The small everyday things that made up a real relationship.



Crawford groaned. “I am such an idiot.”



“Yeah, well, join 99.9% of humanity in that one.”



“At least my being dead will make things somewhat easier for Schu and Skye.”



“Really?” the other man asked with a calculating gleam in his eyes.



It took a second or so for Crawford to register that he was falling.



“Hey, don't worry, you had the great Divine's energy going through a mortal body,” the man called as Crawford was dropping. “The brain damage from being dead so long should be minimal because there should still have been energy going to your mind. I think. But I could be wrong. Watch that first step, it's a killer.”





Crawford's sprit slammed back into his body at high velocity. He gasped as every nerve ending reported back pain.



“Fuck!” he said, too tired and weak to really get anything else out.



Tatsumi blinked at him startledly. “Maybe I don't need new glasses after all.”



“Crawford?!?” Nagi said in disbelief.



Before he could do much more than twitch, Crawford found himself with a teenage boy plastered to his side, holding on to his tux jacket and crying.



Schuldig and Skye were both on their feet almost instantly. Schuldig looked at Skye in amazement.



“How is this possible?”



“Does it matter how?” Skye said.



“Nein. Just as long as it's real and not my imagination.”



Nagi shifted then grabbed onto Schuldig's hand and pulled him closer.



“Mein Gott!” Schuldig said wonderingly. He ran his hands over Crawford's face, looking into the tired but open eyes. “I'm not just imagining things. You really are alive.”





Crawford looked up into Schuldig's face. “We . . . need . . . to talk,” he said haltingly.



“Not right this second we don't,” Schuldig said. “In case you haven't noticed, you're a few quarts low on blood. Not to mention being dead for almost half an hour and scaring the hell out of us. Don't worry; I'm going to yell at you later. A lot.”



Crawford tried to smile, found it hurt too much, and settled for groaning.



Schuldig glanced at Skye. “I know it's asking a lot, you've blown insane amounts of energy . . .”



“But?” Skye said, smiling slightly.



“Can you fix him?”



“I can repair the internal damage to the point he'll be less work for the EMTs but I can't replace the blood he's lost,” she said and immediately began to sing quietly over Crawford. He could feel the torn muscles begin to heal almost instantly.



“I see you've returned, none the worse for wear it seems,” Farf said from behind Nagi. He had broken away from the fighting and come back over to the bar when he had felt Crawford reenter the world of the living. He looked pointedly at Nagi, then Ghost and Omi. “Don't you three have something else you need to take care of?”



Nagi gave Crawford's hand a squeeze and hugged a startled Schuldig then Farf. “Consider us vapor.”



Skye stopped her work on Crawford briefly. “Be careful,” she said, gathering the three youngest into a group hug. “If you need us, we'll be there to support, but this is your fight.”



“We're ready, Skye. Don't worry,” Ghost said.



“I know you are, babies,” Skye said as she watched them walk away. “I know you are.”





Blaze sensed the emotional shift seconds before decapitating the last demon with her bare hands. The sudden upsurge of disbelief and then sheer joy had nearly knocked her down. She grinned and fought the insane urge to giggle. There were far more important matters at hand. Namely finding out who her brother had a firm hold on.



“Anything else we have to worry about?” Blaze asked.



“No,” Morrigan said. “He's exhausted his ability to call anything else.”



Fen smiled a little, sensing the impatience radiating from Blaze. “Chill, little sister. You aren't going to be happy with it. You know this one.”



“What walking disaster don't I know?” Blaze said.



“Get on with it,” Morrigan growled.



“Since you insist,” Fen said. The person in his hands began to slowly become visible. “Ooooh, he's fighting me. What fun!”



“You are very odd, brother,” Jormund said.



“Thanks! Grab hold of our little sister willya.”



“Why?”



“Because, she'll need to be restrained in a few seconds. And since you're the only one she won't fight tooth and nail . . .”



“Why do I always get the dirty work?” Jormund said with a heavy sigh. The lower half of his body becoming mist then solidifying as it coiled around Blaze several times, holding her immobile. “It really is for your own good,” he said as she glared at him.



“I'm going to hurt you as soon as you release me, you know that,” Blaze snarled.



“Yes. I know.”





“Sei, get that thought out of your head,” Watari said.



“What thought?” Tatsumi asked, clenching and unclenching his hands.



“The one that has you assaulting a demi-god because he's coiled around our wife.”



Tatsumi glared at him briefly. “You're frighteningly astute sometimes.”



“Wouldn't have taken a genius like me to figure that one out. But thanks anyway.”





Aya had curled into a ball just off to the side of the dance floor. He had shifted back to normal when Blaze had eliminated the last demon.



Yohji dropped down to the floor and pulled Aya's head into his lap.



“What do we do to help?” Ken asked, still standing.



“I don't know. I've never dealt with this before. I guess we'll have to wait until that drama is over and then ask Star or someone,” Yohji said, nodding toward the small group gathered around the other end of the room.



“I'm fine,” Aya's voice croaked from Yohji's lap. His voice sounded strange to him. Almost as if he hadn't used it in years.



“Not to mention far less furry than you were,” Yohji joked.



“Does this freak you out?” Aya asked, blinking up at Yohji.



“Does what freak me out?”



Ken shifted from foot to foot, trying to look anywhere but at his teammates. He was beginning to feel uncomfortably warm. “I think I'll go see what's going on with Star,” he excused and all but bolted away from them.



“That was weird,” Yohji commented.



“It was Ken, what isn't weird about him?”



“There is that,” Yohji said. “Now, what's supposed to freak me out?”



“Me!”



“Why?”



“I'm a . . . hell, I don't even know what to call what I turned into.”



“A big, friggin' scary monster,” Yohji supplied.



“Not. Funny.”



“I thought it was. Aya, stop obsessing and worrying. You didn't scare anyone who didn't need to be scared. No one in the teams freaked out on it. Relax. Everything is okay.”



“Are we okay?”



“Insecurity from you? Now that's kind of scary. But, yeah, we're more than okay,” he said, stroking Aya's hair.





Blaze snarled and started to fight Jormund's hold on her as the last vestiges of the man Fen was holding came into clear view.



“Bastard!”



***********Author's Notes********



Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing. Divine bless you all for your fortitude and patience.