part 243: "Don't congratulate yourself too much."
Previous installments are available in my Memories here. Please make sure the Memory page is set to sort by Description to get the entries in the correct order.
"Glass Houses" part 243/?
By Viridian5
4/2003 - present
RATING: R. If m/m interaction bothers you, pass this by. AU.
SPOILERS: Glühen.
SUMMARY: After Aya's sister dies, Schwarz tries to save themselves and Aya from the mistakes of the Dramatic CDs and Glühen Schwarz tries to save him from himself--for their own reasons, of course--and neither they nor Weiß are ever the same again.
ARCHIVAL/DISTRIBUTION: No, not yet. This is a trial run of a piece of an unfinished fic.
DISCLAIMERS: All things Weiß Kreuz belong to Koyasu Takehito, Project Weiß, Polygram k.k., and Animate Film. No infringement intended.
NOTES: Thanks to syvia and fluffymaru for audiencing, typo-watch, and encouragement. Thanks to 'nat for "puisín," which she says probably sounds like "pu-sheen." Inspirational music includes Covenant's United States of Mind, mayatawi's V Mix the Second CD (Jane Jensen, Kidneythieves, Poe's rock version of "Hello," Kristen Barry's "Ordinary Life," Lacuna Coil), Linkin Park's Meteora, A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step, Pigface's Easy Listening..., Shriekback's "The Bastard Sons of Enoch," Zeromancer's Eurotrash, and Neuroticfish's Les Chansons Neurotiques.
I am not responsible for any therapy bills incurred as a result of trauma from doing research on things mentioned in this story. If you look up, say, "butter dog porn" on your own, I refuse to take the blame. I've been told that it's a bad idea to eat soup or drink while reading "Glass Houses."
========================
"Glass Houses" part 243
By Viridian5
========================
After breakfast ended, Farfarello offered to let Aya participate in the torture, whether as a joke or because Farfarello thought Aya might have changed his mind Aya didn't know. Of course, Aya turned him down and went to their bedroom. Although he tried to read to block everything else out, he could still hear muffled screams and whimpers. The smells also wafted in under the door, burnt flesh and blood. He'd successfully blocked out Scry's sensations but could easily imagine what they were doing out there.
Finally it reached a point where he couldn't take it anymore. He put the book aside, having actually read none of it, and stomped out.
Scry looked worse than Aya had imagined, so bloodied, burned, swollen, and damaged that he barely looked human anymore. Schwarz had taken him to a point where it would probably be kinder to kill him. Aya didn't want to look at him but wouldn't turn his eyes away. This was his team, and this was what they were doing. While he hadn't personally participated in the torture, he hadn't stopped it either.
He could manage to excuse torture done to get information but not extended torture done for no reason other than petty sadism. If you had an enemy too dangerous to keep alive, kill him quickly and be done with it.
"Stop it!" Aya said. "This is just petty now. It looks like you've done more than enough." When Schwarz responded by just staring at him, Aya said, "I'm going out. I've had enough of the smell and the noise."
Farfarello had looked somewhat bored when Aya had first come in but looked much more interested now. "Don't go, puisín. I think we've done enough as well. We've taken his best already."
Schuldig's face looked sharper and his eyes brighter. "You're passing up an opportunity for some prime pain causing, Farfie?"
"It's less fun when they don't look human anymore and I've already broken them. We broke him."
Crawford looked thoughtful. "I see some sense in that. It might be best if we finish this last bit of business so we can move on to new things."
"Vacation?" Schuldig asked.
"Vacation."
"Then let's end this sucker."
This turn of events surprised Aya. Could he have ended this sooner by saying something sooner?
Perhaps not. What Farfarello had said sounded as if Schwarz had to reach a point where they'd felt that they'd tortured Scry *enough* to be satisfied.
"Let's," Crawford said, sounding perfectly agreeable. "Do you want the coup de grâce, Aya?"
"No," Aya answered.
Schuldig suddenly had a knife in his hand as he said, "I'll take it."
"Just make it fast. You've done enough."
"You're not the boss of me."
"That's true, because *I* am," Crawford said.
"That's what I let you think, Brad. Hmm, which artery should I cut? How quickly or slowly should I let him die?"
If Scry could still understand them, Schuldig's words would just terrorize him more. Upset, Aya said, "If you're going to dither at it, I'll kill him."
"No, no. You refused it already. You can't take it back."
"Schu, just kill him," Crawford said.
"Brad--"
"End it. You've gotten more than your fill of cruelty out of him last night and today. This is gluttonous."
"Fine, fine." Schuldig deeply slit Scry's throat with inhuman speed and smirked at the gush of blood. His eyes glittered dangerously. "Fast enough for you, Rose-red?"
"Is he dead?" Aya asked.
"Look at him. What do you think?"
"Is he dead?"
"Yes. His mind has snuffed out."
"Good."
"You're so soft."
"I don't care what you think."
"You should." Schuldig handed the knife to Farfarello, who happily licked Scry's blood off it.
Thoroughly disgusted, Aya walked to the closet, grabbed his coat, and let himself out with a hard slam of the door. He shouldn't be so surprised by what they'd done to Scry, because he knew they could commit atrocities. Sometimes he just forgot how bad they could be and how far they could take it.
Aya had walked halfway down the block before Farfarello caught up with him. "Puisín, wait."
Aya knocked his hand away and kept walking. "I can't deal with any of you right now."
Farfarello kept pace with him. "You got them to listen."
"It didn't do much good."
"I was getting bored and--"
"I didn't intervene because you were bored!"
"Aye." The hood and sunglasses covered a lot of Farfarello's face, making it harder to see his expressions. "I know. But I supported you."
"Not for the right reasons."
"That's your opinion."
"You licked--"
"It's what I do. I'm not going to completely change myself for anyone."
"Don't try to make yourself into a persecuted victim. And I'm not going to completely change myself for anyone either."
When Farfarello suddenly pushed him up against the wall of the nearest building and held him pinned there, Aya growled, "Distracting me with your body or threatening me won't change my mind on that either." He pushed back but Farfarello wouldn't move.
They breathed hard together, body to body, their breath steaming in the cold air. Farfarello's mouth was so close to Aya's face, so hot.... Aya noticed bystanders either staring at them or carefully ignoring them. While Farfarello had most of his head covered, anyone passing by could see Aya's face and hair clearly. He wished he'd put his hood up before getting outside, because he couldn't do it now while he had his arms tangled up in Farfarello.
"We shouldn't be drawing attention to ourselves in public anyway," Aya said softly.
"But I love getting physical with you."
Aya hit his arms hard, though he knew Farfarello was currently too dissociated to feel pain. "Don't toy with me. I won't be distracted. We each have things we won't bend to the other on, so don't expect me to completely change myself when you wouldn't either."
"Hmmmm. I do love your spirit."
"This resolves nothing."
"We're not so far apart on this. You wanted it ended, and I wanted it ended."
"I never wanted it started!"
"Aye. But you saw that he could no longer be saved with how far things had already gone, so we're not so far apart, are we?"
Aya growled in frustration. "This kind of thing will keep coming up. You have to face it someday."
Farfarello didn't say anything, and with most of his face covered he looked unreadable as well. Maybe he thought Aya would eventually change given enough time in Schwarz. Aya watched him in silence for a while, waiting for a break or a sign.
"Aye, someday," Farfarello said, giving nothing away. "Let's take a walk. You like walks, you do. Sometimes you're more dog than kitten."
He probably figured it would calm Aya down. As patronizing as that thought sounded, Aya said, "Yes. Let's." A cooler head might do him good.
They kept pushing toward this point and then backing away, so Aya knew they would get back to it sometime, though maybe not today. Someday.
******************************************************
"Why do I have to clean up after the rest of you so often?" Nagi asked as he telekinetically pulled the corpse to bits and wrapped them in the plastic.
He hadn't even participated in the torture much, just watched because seeing how people fell apart helped him fix the injured. While Scry had been a delusional, arrogant pain in the ass and obstruction, Nagi would have killed him quickly and been done with it. Hadn't Scry already wasted too much of their time?
"Because you're so good at it," Schuldig said as he smoked a postcoital cigarette. He really got off on torturing people. "And because only you can unfuse the plastic and chair legs from the floor."
"You could have dismembered the body."
"Only by using a loud power saw or chainsaw. Telekinesis is much quieter. Besides, we would have to *rent* a power saw or chainsaw first."
"I hate you."
"It's tough when I make good sense, isn't it?"
"I *really* hate you."
"I applauded when you neatly ripped the body up."
"I want more than applause. I should get a substantial tip or something."
The cigarette smoke curling around his face made Schuldig look even more wicked. "I'll give you a tip--"
"Money, asshole, and you know it."
Schuldig had been so annoying to Nagi this morning as well, but at least Aya and Farfarello hadn't realized from it that Nagi had dreamed erotic dreams about each of them last night. They obviously hadn't considered it possible, which kind of insulted Nagi, and Schuldig hadn't gotten detailed enough to let them know.
"See, I could have been worse at breakfast and you know it," Schuldig said.
Nagi telekinetically waved one of Scry's plastic-wrapped hands at Schuldig in a very threatening way. "Don't congratulate yourself too much." Nagi's morning had sucked.
"Wah, wah. Once we've taken out the trash we can go on to planning our vacation."
"*We're* taking out the trash? *You'll* be doing something soon?"
"Maybe. If you can't do it yourself and need the help."
"That was a brazen attempt at manipulation that won't work."
"Worth a shot."
"Crawford, where are we going for vacation?" Nagi knew Crawford too well to believe that Schwarz would stay on vacation for long. Crawford became too restless and bored and was too addicted to staying on top of his e-mail and the world.
"Somewhere offering sun, sand, and an ocean," Crawford answered. "Schu wants to learn to surf, and I think it would be interesting to watch."
"I'm so graceful that I don't *do* awkward newbie flailing," Schuldig said. "I was thinking Jamaica, because the Caribbean's nice but too many of the other islands are named after saints."
Crawford snorted. "Good thinking."
"I'm thinking hotel cottages right on the beach. I even know of some places. Telepathy is good for many things."
"You are aware that some members of this team might spontaneously combust in sunlight," Nagi said.
"That's what people invented sunscreen and linen for. Or just enjoy the nightlife and sleep during the day. You might find a hottie to have a fling with."
"A vacation romance? How disposable."
"It could be a many-night stand! Though a kid who'd tried to tumble Yoji shouldn't complain."
"I really don't want to hear that," Crawford said.
"Then I'll help Nagi get a life under your radar. We'll just not talk about it in front of you."
"Schuldig, I really don't want your help on this," Nagi replied. Anything Schuldig considered paradise would probably be hell for Nagi. "So how long will we be home in Japan before heading out on vacation, Crawford?"
"We're going straight on vacation from here," Crawford answered.
"We don't have the clothes for beach weather."
"We'll buy them when we get there."
"...who are you, and what have you done with Brad Crawford?"
"People on our trail in this area would be expecting us to return home soon. I intend to throw them a curveball."
That made a little more sense for Crawford, but Nagi had to ask, "We're really doing this?"
"We're really doing this."
"...okay. Do Aya and Farfarello know?"
"Nope," Schuldig replied with a grin. "Not yet. Rose-red will probably have a reaction similar to yours."
Seeing that Nagi had finished dismembering and wrapping up the corpse, Crawford said, "The two of you scatter and hide the pieces. If you see Farfarello and Aya while you're out, pick them up."
Watching Schuldig standing by doing nothing, Nagi asked, "Are you going to help carry any of this?"
"As a telekinetic, you're much stronger than I am."
"I'm not lazy either."
"Schu," Crawford said.
"Hmph." Schuldig stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray and picked up an arm. Nagi took the rest.
Schuldig's telepathy kept anyone from noticing what they carried or from paying much attention to them, while Nagi's telekinesis scanned for security cameras and didn't find any. Once they had the parts loaded into the trunk, Schuldig took the driver's seat and Nagi sat as the passenger. Schuldig would determine where the parts should go, so it made sense to let him drive.
They rode in silence until Nagi dropped the last part in a dumpster and buried it, at which point he went back into the car and asked, "Why do you get so much input into our vacation location?"
"Because, unlike the rest of you, I'm a vacation expert. Also, I'm fucking the boss. Easy."
"Great."
"I sense the Psycho Twins nearby. I love it when things work out neatly." Schuldig drove up to them, rolled down his window, and yelled, "Daddy wants you home, so get in!" When they stared back at him unimpressed, he growled, "*Now*."
Farfarello took an obviously disgruntled Aya by the arm and led him into the backseat. Still, at least Aya didn't resist being brought over. He was still Schwarz. Having watched Aya's explosion in the room, Nagi had wondered if Aya would come back so easily. Or at all.
Once Aya closed the car door, Schuldig pulled out into traffic and said, "Good. Even aside from how we have prices on our heads, Brad doesn't want you wandering around because we'll be leaving for our beach vacation in the morning."
"If we're not going back to Japan first, what will we do for vacation clothing?" Aya asked.
"Buying it when we get there. This is spontaneity for Brad, so don't knock it."
"He's forgotten about my sister's remains. We can't traipse around the world with them."
"We'll send them to Omi in Japan inside a special refrigerated shipping container. It's not like you can make them less dead by returning with them to Japan."
Aya looked enraged. "That's not the point and you know it."
"Omi did the arrangements for the rest of her body so it makes sense to send the box to him. We'll call to give him a head's-up so he doesn't have a major 'what the fuck?' moment when the box arrives. It's really the best way to do it and *you* know it. It's not like you could have carried the box onto a plane with you."
"I'm not so convinced."
But Nagi could feel from Aya that he saw some of the good points of it.
Nagi thought it a great idea to have the remains sent on to Japan without Aya escorting it. Send it to Omi, and let him inter the remains at the Fujimiya family monument. When Aya returned to Japan after the vacation it would already be taken care of, with nothing more for him to do than finish mourning.
~ Is that a plan you and Crawford thought up? ~ Nagi asked.
~ Nope, just me, right now, but I'm sure Brad will go along with it. Don't feel like that. I've always contributed to Brad's planning and directed some of the action in the field. ~
~ I know. ~ Once upon a time, Schuldig hadn't done it so openly and confidently out of the field, though. Nagi couldn't quite say why it bothered him. Did he worry that it might undercut his own status within the team?
"Where would we be going on vacation?" Farfarello asked.
"One of the Caribbean islands," Schuldig answered. "Brad hasn't said yet how long we'll be there."
"It's Crawford. We won't be there long. Good for me. I get bored easily."
"We all know that too well."
"I haven't agreed to any of this," Aya said.
"You need a vacation as much as any of us, Aya," Schuldig replied.
Aya made a sound that wasn't total disagreement.
"What's dead doesn't care who buries it."
Looking in the rearview mirror, Nagi watched Aya's eyes close. "...I suppose," Aya said softly.
"Good! Brad will be making the arrangements today. We're going on to new and better things."
Nagi hoped so.
"Glass Houses" part 243/?
By Viridian5
4/2003 - present
RATING: R. If m/m interaction bothers you, pass this by. AU.
SPOILERS: Glühen.
SUMMARY: After Aya's sister dies, Schwarz tries to save themselves and Aya from the mistakes of the Dramatic CDs and Glühen Schwarz tries to save him from himself--for their own reasons, of course--and neither they nor Weiß are ever the same again.
ARCHIVAL/DISTRIBUTION: No, not yet. This is a trial run of a piece of an unfinished fic.
DISCLAIMERS: All things Weiß Kreuz belong to Koyasu Takehito, Project Weiß, Polygram k.k., and Animate Film. No infringement intended.
NOTES: Thanks to syvia and fluffymaru for audiencing, typo-watch, and encouragement. Thanks to 'nat for "puisín," which she says probably sounds like "pu-sheen." Inspirational music includes Covenant's United States of Mind, mayatawi's V Mix the Second CD (Jane Jensen, Kidneythieves, Poe's rock version of "Hello," Kristen Barry's "Ordinary Life," Lacuna Coil), Linkin Park's Meteora, A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step, Pigface's Easy Listening..., Shriekback's "The Bastard Sons of Enoch," Zeromancer's Eurotrash, and Neuroticfish's Les Chansons Neurotiques.
I am not responsible for any therapy bills incurred as a result of trauma from doing research on things mentioned in this story. If you look up, say, "butter dog porn" on your own, I refuse to take the blame. I've been told that it's a bad idea to eat soup or drink while reading "Glass Houses."
========================
"Glass Houses" part 243
By Viridian5
========================
After breakfast ended, Farfarello offered to let Aya participate in the torture, whether as a joke or because Farfarello thought Aya might have changed his mind Aya didn't know. Of course, Aya turned him down and went to their bedroom. Although he tried to read to block everything else out, he could still hear muffled screams and whimpers. The smells also wafted in under the door, burnt flesh and blood. He'd successfully blocked out Scry's sensations but could easily imagine what they were doing out there.
Finally it reached a point where he couldn't take it anymore. He put the book aside, having actually read none of it, and stomped out.
Scry looked worse than Aya had imagined, so bloodied, burned, swollen, and damaged that he barely looked human anymore. Schwarz had taken him to a point where it would probably be kinder to kill him. Aya didn't want to look at him but wouldn't turn his eyes away. This was his team, and this was what they were doing. While he hadn't personally participated in the torture, he hadn't stopped it either.
He could manage to excuse torture done to get information but not extended torture done for no reason other than petty sadism. If you had an enemy too dangerous to keep alive, kill him quickly and be done with it.
"Stop it!" Aya said. "This is just petty now. It looks like you've done more than enough." When Schwarz responded by just staring at him, Aya said, "I'm going out. I've had enough of the smell and the noise."
Farfarello had looked somewhat bored when Aya had first come in but looked much more interested now. "Don't go, puisín. I think we've done enough as well. We've taken his best already."
Schuldig's face looked sharper and his eyes brighter. "You're passing up an opportunity for some prime pain causing, Farfie?"
"It's less fun when they don't look human anymore and I've already broken them. We broke him."
Crawford looked thoughtful. "I see some sense in that. It might be best if we finish this last bit of business so we can move on to new things."
"Vacation?" Schuldig asked.
"Vacation."
"Then let's end this sucker."
This turn of events surprised Aya. Could he have ended this sooner by saying something sooner?
Perhaps not. What Farfarello had said sounded as if Schwarz had to reach a point where they'd felt that they'd tortured Scry *enough* to be satisfied.
"Let's," Crawford said, sounding perfectly agreeable. "Do you want the coup de grâce, Aya?"
"No," Aya answered.
Schuldig suddenly had a knife in his hand as he said, "I'll take it."
"Just make it fast. You've done enough."
"You're not the boss of me."
"That's true, because *I* am," Crawford said.
"That's what I let you think, Brad. Hmm, which artery should I cut? How quickly or slowly should I let him die?"
If Scry could still understand them, Schuldig's words would just terrorize him more. Upset, Aya said, "If you're going to dither at it, I'll kill him."
"No, no. You refused it already. You can't take it back."
"Schu, just kill him," Crawford said.
"Brad--"
"End it. You've gotten more than your fill of cruelty out of him last night and today. This is gluttonous."
"Fine, fine." Schuldig deeply slit Scry's throat with inhuman speed and smirked at the gush of blood. His eyes glittered dangerously. "Fast enough for you, Rose-red?"
"Is he dead?" Aya asked.
"Look at him. What do you think?"
"Is he dead?"
"Yes. His mind has snuffed out."
"Good."
"You're so soft."
"I don't care what you think."
"You should." Schuldig handed the knife to Farfarello, who happily licked Scry's blood off it.
Thoroughly disgusted, Aya walked to the closet, grabbed his coat, and let himself out with a hard slam of the door. He shouldn't be so surprised by what they'd done to Scry, because he knew they could commit atrocities. Sometimes he just forgot how bad they could be and how far they could take it.
Aya had walked halfway down the block before Farfarello caught up with him. "Puisín, wait."
Aya knocked his hand away and kept walking. "I can't deal with any of you right now."
Farfarello kept pace with him. "You got them to listen."
"It didn't do much good."
"I was getting bored and--"
"I didn't intervene because you were bored!"
"Aye." The hood and sunglasses covered a lot of Farfarello's face, making it harder to see his expressions. "I know. But I supported you."
"Not for the right reasons."
"That's your opinion."
"You licked--"
"It's what I do. I'm not going to completely change myself for anyone."
"Don't try to make yourself into a persecuted victim. And I'm not going to completely change myself for anyone either."
When Farfarello suddenly pushed him up against the wall of the nearest building and held him pinned there, Aya growled, "Distracting me with your body or threatening me won't change my mind on that either." He pushed back but Farfarello wouldn't move.
They breathed hard together, body to body, their breath steaming in the cold air. Farfarello's mouth was so close to Aya's face, so hot.... Aya noticed bystanders either staring at them or carefully ignoring them. While Farfarello had most of his head covered, anyone passing by could see Aya's face and hair clearly. He wished he'd put his hood up before getting outside, because he couldn't do it now while he had his arms tangled up in Farfarello.
"We shouldn't be drawing attention to ourselves in public anyway," Aya said softly.
"But I love getting physical with you."
Aya hit his arms hard, though he knew Farfarello was currently too dissociated to feel pain. "Don't toy with me. I won't be distracted. We each have things we won't bend to the other on, so don't expect me to completely change myself when you wouldn't either."
"Hmmmm. I do love your spirit."
"This resolves nothing."
"We're not so far apart on this. You wanted it ended, and I wanted it ended."
"I never wanted it started!"
"Aye. But you saw that he could no longer be saved with how far things had already gone, so we're not so far apart, are we?"
Aya growled in frustration. "This kind of thing will keep coming up. You have to face it someday."
Farfarello didn't say anything, and with most of his face covered he looked unreadable as well. Maybe he thought Aya would eventually change given enough time in Schwarz. Aya watched him in silence for a while, waiting for a break or a sign.
"Aye, someday," Farfarello said, giving nothing away. "Let's take a walk. You like walks, you do. Sometimes you're more dog than kitten."
He probably figured it would calm Aya down. As patronizing as that thought sounded, Aya said, "Yes. Let's." A cooler head might do him good.
They kept pushing toward this point and then backing away, so Aya knew they would get back to it sometime, though maybe not today. Someday.
******************************************************
"Why do I have to clean up after the rest of you so often?" Nagi asked as he telekinetically pulled the corpse to bits and wrapped them in the plastic.
He hadn't even participated in the torture much, just watched because seeing how people fell apart helped him fix the injured. While Scry had been a delusional, arrogant pain in the ass and obstruction, Nagi would have killed him quickly and been done with it. Hadn't Scry already wasted too much of their time?
"Because you're so good at it," Schuldig said as he smoked a postcoital cigarette. He really got off on torturing people. "And because only you can unfuse the plastic and chair legs from the floor."
"You could have dismembered the body."
"Only by using a loud power saw or chainsaw. Telekinesis is much quieter. Besides, we would have to *rent* a power saw or chainsaw first."
"I hate you."
"It's tough when I make good sense, isn't it?"
"I *really* hate you."
"I applauded when you neatly ripped the body up."
"I want more than applause. I should get a substantial tip or something."
The cigarette smoke curling around his face made Schuldig look even more wicked. "I'll give you a tip--"
"Money, asshole, and you know it."
Schuldig had been so annoying to Nagi this morning as well, but at least Aya and Farfarello hadn't realized from it that Nagi had dreamed erotic dreams about each of them last night. They obviously hadn't considered it possible, which kind of insulted Nagi, and Schuldig hadn't gotten detailed enough to let them know.
"See, I could have been worse at breakfast and you know it," Schuldig said.
Nagi telekinetically waved one of Scry's plastic-wrapped hands at Schuldig in a very threatening way. "Don't congratulate yourself too much." Nagi's morning had sucked.
"Wah, wah. Once we've taken out the trash we can go on to planning our vacation."
"*We're* taking out the trash? *You'll* be doing something soon?"
"Maybe. If you can't do it yourself and need the help."
"That was a brazen attempt at manipulation that won't work."
"Worth a shot."
"Crawford, where are we going for vacation?" Nagi knew Crawford too well to believe that Schwarz would stay on vacation for long. Crawford became too restless and bored and was too addicted to staying on top of his e-mail and the world.
"Somewhere offering sun, sand, and an ocean," Crawford answered. "Schu wants to learn to surf, and I think it would be interesting to watch."
"I'm so graceful that I don't *do* awkward newbie flailing," Schuldig said. "I was thinking Jamaica, because the Caribbean's nice but too many of the other islands are named after saints."
Crawford snorted. "Good thinking."
"I'm thinking hotel cottages right on the beach. I even know of some places. Telepathy is good for many things."
"You are aware that some members of this team might spontaneously combust in sunlight," Nagi said.
"That's what people invented sunscreen and linen for. Or just enjoy the nightlife and sleep during the day. You might find a hottie to have a fling with."
"A vacation romance? How disposable."
"It could be a many-night stand! Though a kid who'd tried to tumble Yoji shouldn't complain."
"I really don't want to hear that," Crawford said.
"Then I'll help Nagi get a life under your radar. We'll just not talk about it in front of you."
"Schuldig, I really don't want your help on this," Nagi replied. Anything Schuldig considered paradise would probably be hell for Nagi. "So how long will we be home in Japan before heading out on vacation, Crawford?"
"We're going straight on vacation from here," Crawford answered.
"We don't have the clothes for beach weather."
"We'll buy them when we get there."
"...who are you, and what have you done with Brad Crawford?"
"People on our trail in this area would be expecting us to return home soon. I intend to throw them a curveball."
That made a little more sense for Crawford, but Nagi had to ask, "We're really doing this?"
"We're really doing this."
"...okay. Do Aya and Farfarello know?"
"Nope," Schuldig replied with a grin. "Not yet. Rose-red will probably have a reaction similar to yours."
Seeing that Nagi had finished dismembering and wrapping up the corpse, Crawford said, "The two of you scatter and hide the pieces. If you see Farfarello and Aya while you're out, pick them up."
Watching Schuldig standing by doing nothing, Nagi asked, "Are you going to help carry any of this?"
"As a telekinetic, you're much stronger than I am."
"I'm not lazy either."
"Schu," Crawford said.
"Hmph." Schuldig stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray and picked up an arm. Nagi took the rest.
Schuldig's telepathy kept anyone from noticing what they carried or from paying much attention to them, while Nagi's telekinesis scanned for security cameras and didn't find any. Once they had the parts loaded into the trunk, Schuldig took the driver's seat and Nagi sat as the passenger. Schuldig would determine where the parts should go, so it made sense to let him drive.
They rode in silence until Nagi dropped the last part in a dumpster and buried it, at which point he went back into the car and asked, "Why do you get so much input into our vacation location?"
"Because, unlike the rest of you, I'm a vacation expert. Also, I'm fucking the boss. Easy."
"Great."
"I sense the Psycho Twins nearby. I love it when things work out neatly." Schuldig drove up to them, rolled down his window, and yelled, "Daddy wants you home, so get in!" When they stared back at him unimpressed, he growled, "*Now*."
Farfarello took an obviously disgruntled Aya by the arm and led him into the backseat. Still, at least Aya didn't resist being brought over. He was still Schwarz. Having watched Aya's explosion in the room, Nagi had wondered if Aya would come back so easily. Or at all.
Once Aya closed the car door, Schuldig pulled out into traffic and said, "Good. Even aside from how we have prices on our heads, Brad doesn't want you wandering around because we'll be leaving for our beach vacation in the morning."
"If we're not going back to Japan first, what will we do for vacation clothing?" Aya asked.
"Buying it when we get there. This is spontaneity for Brad, so don't knock it."
"He's forgotten about my sister's remains. We can't traipse around the world with them."
"We'll send them to Omi in Japan inside a special refrigerated shipping container. It's not like you can make them less dead by returning with them to Japan."
Aya looked enraged. "That's not the point and you know it."
"Omi did the arrangements for the rest of her body so it makes sense to send the box to him. We'll call to give him a head's-up so he doesn't have a major 'what the fuck?' moment when the box arrives. It's really the best way to do it and *you* know it. It's not like you could have carried the box onto a plane with you."
"I'm not so convinced."
But Nagi could feel from Aya that he saw some of the good points of it.
Nagi thought it a great idea to have the remains sent on to Japan without Aya escorting it. Send it to Omi, and let him inter the remains at the Fujimiya family monument. When Aya returned to Japan after the vacation it would already be taken care of, with nothing more for him to do than finish mourning.
~ Is that a plan you and Crawford thought up? ~ Nagi asked.
~ Nope, just me, right now, but I'm sure Brad will go along with it. Don't feel like that. I've always contributed to Brad's planning and directed some of the action in the field. ~
~ I know. ~ Once upon a time, Schuldig hadn't done it so openly and confidently out of the field, though. Nagi couldn't quite say why it bothered him. Did he worry that it might undercut his own status within the team?
"Where would we be going on vacation?" Farfarello asked.
"One of the Caribbean islands," Schuldig answered. "Brad hasn't said yet how long we'll be there."
"It's Crawford. We won't be there long. Good for me. I get bored easily."
"We all know that too well."
"I haven't agreed to any of this," Aya said.
"You need a vacation as much as any of us, Aya," Schuldig replied.
Aya made a sound that wasn't total disagreement.
"What's dead doesn't care who buries it."
Looking in the rearview mirror, Nagi watched Aya's eyes close. "...I suppose," Aya said softly.
"Good! Brad will be making the arrangements today. We're going on to new and better things."
Nagi hoped so.