FIC: STALEMATE (PG) for red_squared
Author: athena8
Recipient: red_squared
Title: Stalemate
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing(s): Crashers (with implied Knight/Ran)
Summary: Members of Crashers reflect upon what it means to have lost one of their own.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 3131
Author's Notes: This fic is written from 4 POVs. The timeline I've used is from the end of "Crashers: Knight & Ran II" through the end of scene 1 of "Theater of Pain." Some backstory picked up from "Jazz Me Blues." I really hope you enjoy it, red_squared! ♥
STALEMATE
Pawn
All right…so I have a little confession to make. I peeked into Ran’s dossier - totally by accident, I swear - when I was looking for something else in Bishop’s files a little while ago. It fell out of the file cabinet along with a few other docs, so I kinda had to skim through it so I could put everything back in the right folders. It had some stuff about his family, his sister, and how he ended up getting picked up by Kritiker. Ran doesn’t really talk about himself much, so it was weird to find out about it like this. I mean, all of us have of some kind of story, but usually we tell each other about ‘em. We’re a team, right?
But I got the feeling it was more a private thing with Ran. I think he trusts us now as teammates and all, but he’s still sort of new and that’s not the kind of story that just comes up in your typical “getting to know you” conversation. I know Knight thinks he’s annoying and temperamental, but I’ve always like Ran. I think he’s just a cool guy with a lot of stuff on his mind.
After the Metal Venus mission, we had a small break, so I went to visit Rook at his apartment to see how his recovery was coming along. Knight was already there, and what do you know, grumbling about something to do with Ran. Rook looked at me over his shoulder and gave me an almost-eyeroll. (Cuz you know, Rook isn’t the kinda guy who rolls his eyes). I got the feeling this wasn’t the first time Knight’s given him an earful about the guy.
Anyway, this time it had something to do with Taiyou - that’s Knight’s sister - and Ran being friends with her and all that. I thought it’d be a good thing for her, but I guess Knight wasn’t so sure about it. He tends to be somewhat overprotective of her, and maybe he was afraid Ran was all wrong for her. So I kinda let it slip. I didn’t mean to, but it just…came out.
“Maybe he sees his own sister in her, you know? He probably misses her tons.”
Knight and Rook both looked at me then, and I knew I had to explain. You couldn’t just hint at something important about your teammate and then shut up about the rest of it. So I told them about the incident, the hospital, the medical bills. I felt bad about putting it all out there, but I figured it was bad enough being misunderstood. The good thing was, Knight sort of laid off after that. I think he felt a little guilty, but it wasn’t his fault, right? It’s not like Queen told us anything about Ran when he was first recruited for Crashers.
A few weeks after that, I popped in on Ran at Knight’s house where he was still staying. (I really like Knight’s house - it’s so big! - but before Ran started staying there, I barely got a chance to see it). So I came by that day to hang out with Ran and show him my new iPod.
I was sitting on the edge of his bed when I noticed something shiny on his nightstand. I picked it up to get a closer look.
“Hey…are these cufflinks?” I asked, turning them around in my palm.
“Oh…heh. Yeah, I used them on the Metal Venus, when I had to wear that monkey suit.”
Ran never wore tuxes. I think he found them stiff and comfortable. I thought he looked okay in it, even though it was actually Knight’s tux. The cufflinks must have been borrowed, too. But the Metal Venus mission had wrapped up weeks ago. We definitely didn’t have any missions in between that required any tux-wearing. So I asked him why he still had them.
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “He said I could keep ‘em. Not that I would ever have a need for them, but there’s Knight for you.” There was a funny kind of smirk on Ran’s face, like he usually has when talking about Knight when he’s not around.
“Hmm…okay.” I turned the pieces around and looked at them carefully. I dunno a lot about tuxes or cufflinks, but these looked really nice. I think Ran knew they were really nice, too.
“Hey, Ran-”
“What?”
He glanced over his shoulder with one of his rare sort-of smiles. Maybe it was the way he looked then, with a smile that I knew was just temporary. Or with a look in his eyes that seemed to be focused on somewhere far away. I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
“Never mind.”
I smiled and put the cufflinks back on the nightstand.
Rook
I’ve known Yuushi for years, and I can always tell when there’s something on his mind that he doesn’t feel like sharing. He’s stubborn like that, and in a way, he has more in common with that headstrong Ran than he would ever admit.
That day, I couldn’t get a hold of him all afternoon. This was not typical. He almost always picks up his phone, or he’ll let me know when he has to be out of touch. I called his house and spoke with Suzuki, who told me Yuushi had left early that morning and hadn’t been back since.
I went looking for him in the city, hitting up all the spots where you can usually find him - Crashers headquarters, the office, his favorite café. Each place, I had just missed him by a few minutes. I finally found him on the pedestrian bridge that spanned a highway near Bishop’s apartment, looking anxious and somewhat nervous.
He seemed surprised to see me.
“How did you find me?”
I grinned and leaned against the bridge railing, trying to appear casual to put him more at ease.
“You’re predictable, what can I say?” He snorted, giving me that look that’s pure Yuushi - a little proud and a little sulky. I laughed and let him have his moment of brattiness. I lit a cigarette - something I hadn’t done in a while - and took a lazy drag, letting the moment pass. “So,” I said after a minute, “What are you looking for?”
He scowled.
“What makes you think I am?”
“You’ve been all over the place today, and haven’t picked up your phone. You’re looking for something. Or someone.”
Yuushi frowned and averted his gaze, so I knew I was on the right track. Sometimes, you have to be upfront with him, or he’ll never admit to anything. Especially if it’s really personal.
“It’s Ran, isn’t it?” I ventured the best guess. The crease on his brow furrowed deeper. He stubbornly kept his mouth shut, so I went on. “Suzuki told me he hadn’t seen him today either. Did something happen? Tell me.”
Yuushi glanced at me and I could see the worry in his eyes. That’s one thing about him I’ve always liked - stubborn as he can be, he’s honest to a fault. It shows in his face, even if he can’t say it out loud.
“Yeah. He cleared out last night. Of course, he didn’t tell m- anyone. Just disappeared without a trace.”
“How do you know he’s not coming back?”
“Hn. Why would he? He doesn’t want my help.”
“Your help? Did you ever offer?” Because the problem with Yuushi and Ran is that they fought so much, they could never tell each other how they really felt. Yuushi shifted uncomfortably. I knew it wasn’t an easy topic of discussion, especially with me. It wasn’t clear that Crashers needed two Rooks, and even they did, Yuushi would be the last person to bring that up with Ran. That would mean he wanted him to stay. To give up his fool’s mission and find a home with the team.
“Did you offer to cover his expenses? For his sister?”
“No!” Yuushi said, a little too heatedly. “I mean…not really. It’s not like he’d accept my offer, anyway.” He sighed and dug something out of his pocket to show me.
“You gave those to him?”
“He left them on the dresser before he left.”
“I see.”
I exhaled the smoke from my cigarette. I think Ran understood the worth of those, which was why he left them behind. How could he take them, knowing what they meant? It wasn’t just the monetary value - which I’m sure was a lot - it was a message, wrapped up in that roundabout way that Yuushi has, saying things without really saying them. Offering up a chance that anyone else would be crazy to reject. But Ran was never the reasonable kind. He was stubborn, like Yuushi. We all knew that.
“Let’s go look for him,” I said, flicking the cigarette to the ground and stepping on it. Yuushi frowned at me - partly admonishing my blatant littering, but mostly because of my crazy suggestion.
“What for? He’s an idiot. He’ll do whatever he wants, and to hell with everything else. He’s been gunning for something all along, swinging around that stupid sword of his. He’ll get himself killed.”
“Isn’t that why we need to find him?” I smiled.
“…And you’re gonna help me?” he asked, almost surprised.
I shrugged. “I’ve got a few contacts here and there. I’ll put in a word, and we’ll follow some leads when we get them. We’ll find out what he’s up to.”
Yuushi looked at me silently, holding back what he wanted to say, like so many times before. I thought then that I would do anything to smooth out those anxious lines that pinched between his eyes. Someone had to look out for him - because he couldn't always be everybody’s Knight.
Bishop
The data was coming in, and I had a bad feeling that things were about to take an unfortunate turn in the case of Mission 0103. I would not know for certain until all my assets reported in later today, but I watched the phone cautiously, predicting it was only a matter of time before we received the official command to abort.
For now, all there was to do was wait. And as I often do on my downtime during a mission, I procured myself a hot cup of jasmine tea and sat in the company of Pawn at Crashers headquarters.
“Thank you for this lovely tea, Pawn. I think it has the most calming aroma,” I remarked as I took a sip. He’d given me a fresh box a few days ago, to replace the one that had run out earlier in the week.
“No prob,” he said, smiling as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot. He was more a coffee person than tea, though I found that he naturally had a peppy demeanor without the need for the extra caffeine. He took a seat on the office couch, curling up his knees against his chest comfortably.
“So, what’s gonna happen, you think? We’ve been looking for the Kimizukas for a few weeks now,” he said, referring to the mission at hand. “That’s kind of a long time to be missing, isn’t it?”
I sighed, sitting back in my chair.
“I’m afraid the chances of finding them alive are exceedingly slim…” I said. “They are too much of a liability to the syndicate.”
Pawn frowned and stared into his cup.
“I guess that means we’ll probably have to pull out soon, huh?” The implication of Pawn’s remark was clear - this was no longer going to be a Crasher’s mission.
I nodded. There will be more missions that ended like this in the future, I could only imagine. It was not that we were incompetent in doing our jobs, but rather our targets were getting cleverer in expunging incriminating evidence and buying out officials. It was no mystery where our missions went, after our team had been withdrawn.
“They’ve been looking for Ran. I don’t think they found him, though,” Pawn said, seemingly out of the blue. By ‘they’ of course, he meant Rook and Knight.
“Yes, I know.”
Pawn didn’t look too surprised. I knew most things about our team - even things that were left unspoken. I am the mission planner, after all. I also knew that looking for Ran was not something that Queen would condone. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to put a stop to it. I understood it was something that needed to be done, because some of us have a harder time moving on than others.
“You think he’ll be there? You know, after we’re aborted and they call in the…other team?” Pawn mentioned them in a whisper.
The other team. The one we never spoke of, but that we all knew existed. It was not much of a promotion for Ran, if you asked me, but my opinion did not matter in the grand scheme.
“…Most likely.”
“We gotta do something!” Pawn said suddenly, nearly spilling his coffee on the couch.
“What are we to do? We’ll get our orders, and we know what that means,” I said, frowning.
“I know that! But we can’t just…sit back, you know? This is our mission! I know Rook and Knight will be with me. What about you?”
Pawn looked at me with pleading eyes. There wasn’t much we could do, quite honestly. But he was right - this was our mission, and I never liked having to turn it over to Weiss for the unsavory clean-up work. That was not what I signed up for. Our work meant nothing, if we gave up so easily. Maybe at the end of the day, we might end up seeing things we didn’t want to see. But we couldn’t turn our eyes from the truth.
I had a feeling Queen would understand.
The phone buzzed, and the official orders were in. I set aside my teacup and rose from my chair.
“…Let’s go.”
Queen
We don’t meet too often nowadays, he having taken on the sort of work that doesn’t call for much socializing. I imagine one likes to isolate oneself when they’re in such a position of power, but I think there is more to it than that. It’s probably what I say with my eyes, though I never speak of it directly. He meets with enough disapproval already, maybe from his own conscience most of all. He doesn’t need to see it from me.
Still, every once in a while, we meet for drinks at the Monet, a little private bar located off a small side street that you would never notice unless you were looking for it. Of course, it is strictly for business. I have no doubts he also wants a sympathetic shoulder from the only woman who can tell him no, but I know better than to give him one.
I walk in fashionably late and take my seat beside him. He nods briefly to acknowledge my presence.
“I’ll have my usual,” I tell the bartender.
“A Marilyn Monroe, of course.”
As he starts mixing my drink, I turn to glance at the man beside me. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but in the few months since I last saw him, he looks like he’s aged several years. It’s in the way his shoulders slope, looking like they’ve carried more than their share in burdens. And I can see it in his eyes, weary and clouded, where they had once been so clear.
I ignore what I see and cross my legs, settling down comfortably in my stool.
“So?” I drawl, taking a sip from my cocktail. “I know you called me out here for a reason. Unless you just wanted to reminisce over old times.”
He gives a brief smile, a little forced.
“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it? I feel like it’s been a while since we just had a drink.”
“It has,” I agree. I admit, I miss his company sometimes, but I know that the man who sits beside me now is not the same, and there are some places I just can’t go. A lady has to draw the line somewhere, and he’s already made his bed.
“You do know I gave the order to abort,” he says, jumping ahead to the point of our meeting, since small talk was getting us nowhere.
“Of course I know, and I can assure you I relayed that message clearly, as I always do,” I say, not very pleased with his tone. I know what he is implying though, and I don’t have much to say in defense.
“Not clearly enough, I gather.”
I sigh, stirring my drink with the cocktail pick.
“The mission was, we withdraw the moment we had confirmation the witnesses were dead. That’s what we did.”
“You’re splitting hairs, here. It’s unlike you.”
I chuckle bitterly and take another sip.
Yes, they disobeyed my orders. Crashers had no business being there after I’d relayed the abort message. Weiss was already taking position, and it was dangerous to even be there. But I know my team. And I know why they did it. And I know better than anyone else, how Knight felt when he had to stand by and watch someone he loved become a monster. His helplessness then was the same as my own.
It makes me a little angry that this man cannot understand. But how could he? He can send his own nephew down the path of no return. I never would have thought him as heartless as this.
“So did you call me here tonight to admonish me? I should think a phone call could have sufficed. Unless you plan to order a more severe action.”
“No,” he says, frowning deeply. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. We can’t be compromised in our work. You understand that.”
I smile. “Oh yes, I understand. You can be sure it won’t happen anymore. We know our place. …Now if that is all, I should best be going.” I grab my purse and stand up to leave, my cocktail still half-finished on the counter.
“Queen…”
At the sound of his voice, I turn back and force myself to look at him. He’s still every bit as proud as he always was, with that stubborn set jaw and infuriatingly handsome mouth. Even behind his tired gaze, I can see the steadfast part of him that believes in himself, despite all the unspeakable things he has done. More than ever, I feel like I’m staring across a wide chasm, knowing I have lost him to that dark beast he so adamantly wants to slay.
I lean close and kiss him lightly on the cheek before I leave.
“Good night, Shuuichi.”
- fin -
Recipient: red_squared
Title: Stalemate
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing(s): Crashers (with implied Knight/Ran)
Summary: Members of Crashers reflect upon what it means to have lost one of their own.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 3131
Author's Notes: This fic is written from 4 POVs. The timeline I've used is from the end of "Crashers: Knight & Ran II" through the end of scene 1 of "Theater of Pain." Some backstory picked up from "Jazz Me Blues." I really hope you enjoy it, red_squared! ♥
STALEMATE
Pawn
All right…so I have a little confession to make. I peeked into Ran’s dossier - totally by accident, I swear - when I was looking for something else in Bishop’s files a little while ago. It fell out of the file cabinet along with a few other docs, so I kinda had to skim through it so I could put everything back in the right folders. It had some stuff about his family, his sister, and how he ended up getting picked up by Kritiker. Ran doesn’t really talk about himself much, so it was weird to find out about it like this. I mean, all of us have of some kind of story, but usually we tell each other about ‘em. We’re a team, right?
But I got the feeling it was more a private thing with Ran. I think he trusts us now as teammates and all, but he’s still sort of new and that’s not the kind of story that just comes up in your typical “getting to know you” conversation. I know Knight thinks he’s annoying and temperamental, but I’ve always like Ran. I think he’s just a cool guy with a lot of stuff on his mind.
After the Metal Venus mission, we had a small break, so I went to visit Rook at his apartment to see how his recovery was coming along. Knight was already there, and what do you know, grumbling about something to do with Ran. Rook looked at me over his shoulder and gave me an almost-eyeroll. (Cuz you know, Rook isn’t the kinda guy who rolls his eyes). I got the feeling this wasn’t the first time Knight’s given him an earful about the guy.
Anyway, this time it had something to do with Taiyou - that’s Knight’s sister - and Ran being friends with her and all that. I thought it’d be a good thing for her, but I guess Knight wasn’t so sure about it. He tends to be somewhat overprotective of her, and maybe he was afraid Ran was all wrong for her. So I kinda let it slip. I didn’t mean to, but it just…came out.
“Maybe he sees his own sister in her, you know? He probably misses her tons.”
Knight and Rook both looked at me then, and I knew I had to explain. You couldn’t just hint at something important about your teammate and then shut up about the rest of it. So I told them about the incident, the hospital, the medical bills. I felt bad about putting it all out there, but I figured it was bad enough being misunderstood. The good thing was, Knight sort of laid off after that. I think he felt a little guilty, but it wasn’t his fault, right? It’s not like Queen told us anything about Ran when he was first recruited for Crashers.
A few weeks after that, I popped in on Ran at Knight’s house where he was still staying. (I really like Knight’s house - it’s so big! - but before Ran started staying there, I barely got a chance to see it). So I came by that day to hang out with Ran and show him my new iPod.
I was sitting on the edge of his bed when I noticed something shiny on his nightstand. I picked it up to get a closer look.
“Hey…are these cufflinks?” I asked, turning them around in my palm.
“Oh…heh. Yeah, I used them on the Metal Venus, when I had to wear that monkey suit.”
Ran never wore tuxes. I think he found them stiff and comfortable. I thought he looked okay in it, even though it was actually Knight’s tux. The cufflinks must have been borrowed, too. But the Metal Venus mission had wrapped up weeks ago. We definitely didn’t have any missions in between that required any tux-wearing. So I asked him why he still had them.
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “He said I could keep ‘em. Not that I would ever have a need for them, but there’s Knight for you.” There was a funny kind of smirk on Ran’s face, like he usually has when talking about Knight when he’s not around.
“Hmm…okay.” I turned the pieces around and looked at them carefully. I dunno a lot about tuxes or cufflinks, but these looked really nice. I think Ran knew they were really nice, too.
“Hey, Ran-”
“What?”
He glanced over his shoulder with one of his rare sort-of smiles. Maybe it was the way he looked then, with a smile that I knew was just temporary. Or with a look in his eyes that seemed to be focused on somewhere far away. I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
“Never mind.”
I smiled and put the cufflinks back on the nightstand.
Rook
I’ve known Yuushi for years, and I can always tell when there’s something on his mind that he doesn’t feel like sharing. He’s stubborn like that, and in a way, he has more in common with that headstrong Ran than he would ever admit.
That day, I couldn’t get a hold of him all afternoon. This was not typical. He almost always picks up his phone, or he’ll let me know when he has to be out of touch. I called his house and spoke with Suzuki, who told me Yuushi had left early that morning and hadn’t been back since.
I went looking for him in the city, hitting up all the spots where you can usually find him - Crashers headquarters, the office, his favorite café. Each place, I had just missed him by a few minutes. I finally found him on the pedestrian bridge that spanned a highway near Bishop’s apartment, looking anxious and somewhat nervous.
He seemed surprised to see me.
“How did you find me?”
I grinned and leaned against the bridge railing, trying to appear casual to put him more at ease.
“You’re predictable, what can I say?” He snorted, giving me that look that’s pure Yuushi - a little proud and a little sulky. I laughed and let him have his moment of brattiness. I lit a cigarette - something I hadn’t done in a while - and took a lazy drag, letting the moment pass. “So,” I said after a minute, “What are you looking for?”
He scowled.
“What makes you think I am?”
“You’ve been all over the place today, and haven’t picked up your phone. You’re looking for something. Or someone.”
Yuushi frowned and averted his gaze, so I knew I was on the right track. Sometimes, you have to be upfront with him, or he’ll never admit to anything. Especially if it’s really personal.
“It’s Ran, isn’t it?” I ventured the best guess. The crease on his brow furrowed deeper. He stubbornly kept his mouth shut, so I went on. “Suzuki told me he hadn’t seen him today either. Did something happen? Tell me.”
Yuushi glanced at me and I could see the worry in his eyes. That’s one thing about him I’ve always liked - stubborn as he can be, he’s honest to a fault. It shows in his face, even if he can’t say it out loud.
“Yeah. He cleared out last night. Of course, he didn’t tell m- anyone. Just disappeared without a trace.”
“How do you know he’s not coming back?”
“Hn. Why would he? He doesn’t want my help.”
“Your help? Did you ever offer?” Because the problem with Yuushi and Ran is that they fought so much, they could never tell each other how they really felt. Yuushi shifted uncomfortably. I knew it wasn’t an easy topic of discussion, especially with me. It wasn’t clear that Crashers needed two Rooks, and even they did, Yuushi would be the last person to bring that up with Ran. That would mean he wanted him to stay. To give up his fool’s mission and find a home with the team.
“Did you offer to cover his expenses? For his sister?”
“No!” Yuushi said, a little too heatedly. “I mean…not really. It’s not like he’d accept my offer, anyway.” He sighed and dug something out of his pocket to show me.
“You gave those to him?”
“He left them on the dresser before he left.”
“I see.”
I exhaled the smoke from my cigarette. I think Ran understood the worth of those, which was why he left them behind. How could he take them, knowing what they meant? It wasn’t just the monetary value - which I’m sure was a lot - it was a message, wrapped up in that roundabout way that Yuushi has, saying things without really saying them. Offering up a chance that anyone else would be crazy to reject. But Ran was never the reasonable kind. He was stubborn, like Yuushi. We all knew that.
“Let’s go look for him,” I said, flicking the cigarette to the ground and stepping on it. Yuushi frowned at me - partly admonishing my blatant littering, but mostly because of my crazy suggestion.
“What for? He’s an idiot. He’ll do whatever he wants, and to hell with everything else. He’s been gunning for something all along, swinging around that stupid sword of his. He’ll get himself killed.”
“Isn’t that why we need to find him?” I smiled.
“…And you’re gonna help me?” he asked, almost surprised.
I shrugged. “I’ve got a few contacts here and there. I’ll put in a word, and we’ll follow some leads when we get them. We’ll find out what he’s up to.”
Yuushi looked at me silently, holding back what he wanted to say, like so many times before. I thought then that I would do anything to smooth out those anxious lines that pinched between his eyes. Someone had to look out for him - because he couldn't always be everybody’s Knight.
Bishop
The data was coming in, and I had a bad feeling that things were about to take an unfortunate turn in the case of Mission 0103. I would not know for certain until all my assets reported in later today, but I watched the phone cautiously, predicting it was only a matter of time before we received the official command to abort.
For now, all there was to do was wait. And as I often do on my downtime during a mission, I procured myself a hot cup of jasmine tea and sat in the company of Pawn at Crashers headquarters.
“Thank you for this lovely tea, Pawn. I think it has the most calming aroma,” I remarked as I took a sip. He’d given me a fresh box a few days ago, to replace the one that had run out earlier in the week.
“No prob,” he said, smiling as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot. He was more a coffee person than tea, though I found that he naturally had a peppy demeanor without the need for the extra caffeine. He took a seat on the office couch, curling up his knees against his chest comfortably.
“So, what’s gonna happen, you think? We’ve been looking for the Kimizukas for a few weeks now,” he said, referring to the mission at hand. “That’s kind of a long time to be missing, isn’t it?”
I sighed, sitting back in my chair.
“I’m afraid the chances of finding them alive are exceedingly slim…” I said. “They are too much of a liability to the syndicate.”
Pawn frowned and stared into his cup.
“I guess that means we’ll probably have to pull out soon, huh?” The implication of Pawn’s remark was clear - this was no longer going to be a Crasher’s mission.
I nodded. There will be more missions that ended like this in the future, I could only imagine. It was not that we were incompetent in doing our jobs, but rather our targets were getting cleverer in expunging incriminating evidence and buying out officials. It was no mystery where our missions went, after our team had been withdrawn.
“They’ve been looking for Ran. I don’t think they found him, though,” Pawn said, seemingly out of the blue. By ‘they’ of course, he meant Rook and Knight.
“Yes, I know.”
Pawn didn’t look too surprised. I knew most things about our team - even things that were left unspoken. I am the mission planner, after all. I also knew that looking for Ran was not something that Queen would condone. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to put a stop to it. I understood it was something that needed to be done, because some of us have a harder time moving on than others.
“You think he’ll be there? You know, after we’re aborted and they call in the…other team?” Pawn mentioned them in a whisper.
The other team. The one we never spoke of, but that we all knew existed. It was not much of a promotion for Ran, if you asked me, but my opinion did not matter in the grand scheme.
“…Most likely.”
“We gotta do something!” Pawn said suddenly, nearly spilling his coffee on the couch.
“What are we to do? We’ll get our orders, and we know what that means,” I said, frowning.
“I know that! But we can’t just…sit back, you know? This is our mission! I know Rook and Knight will be with me. What about you?”
Pawn looked at me with pleading eyes. There wasn’t much we could do, quite honestly. But he was right - this was our mission, and I never liked having to turn it over to Weiss for the unsavory clean-up work. That was not what I signed up for. Our work meant nothing, if we gave up so easily. Maybe at the end of the day, we might end up seeing things we didn’t want to see. But we couldn’t turn our eyes from the truth.
I had a feeling Queen would understand.
The phone buzzed, and the official orders were in. I set aside my teacup and rose from my chair.
“…Let’s go.”
Queen
We don’t meet too often nowadays, he having taken on the sort of work that doesn’t call for much socializing. I imagine one likes to isolate oneself when they’re in such a position of power, but I think there is more to it than that. It’s probably what I say with my eyes, though I never speak of it directly. He meets with enough disapproval already, maybe from his own conscience most of all. He doesn’t need to see it from me.
Still, every once in a while, we meet for drinks at the Monet, a little private bar located off a small side street that you would never notice unless you were looking for it. Of course, it is strictly for business. I have no doubts he also wants a sympathetic shoulder from the only woman who can tell him no, but I know better than to give him one.
I walk in fashionably late and take my seat beside him. He nods briefly to acknowledge my presence.
“I’ll have my usual,” I tell the bartender.
“A Marilyn Monroe, of course.”
As he starts mixing my drink, I turn to glance at the man beside me. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but in the few months since I last saw him, he looks like he’s aged several years. It’s in the way his shoulders slope, looking like they’ve carried more than their share in burdens. And I can see it in his eyes, weary and clouded, where they had once been so clear.
I ignore what I see and cross my legs, settling down comfortably in my stool.
“So?” I drawl, taking a sip from my cocktail. “I know you called me out here for a reason. Unless you just wanted to reminisce over old times.”
He gives a brief smile, a little forced.
“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it? I feel like it’s been a while since we just had a drink.”
“It has,” I agree. I admit, I miss his company sometimes, but I know that the man who sits beside me now is not the same, and there are some places I just can’t go. A lady has to draw the line somewhere, and he’s already made his bed.
“You do know I gave the order to abort,” he says, jumping ahead to the point of our meeting, since small talk was getting us nowhere.
“Of course I know, and I can assure you I relayed that message clearly, as I always do,” I say, not very pleased with his tone. I know what he is implying though, and I don’t have much to say in defense.
“Not clearly enough, I gather.”
I sigh, stirring my drink with the cocktail pick.
“The mission was, we withdraw the moment we had confirmation the witnesses were dead. That’s what we did.”
“You’re splitting hairs, here. It’s unlike you.”
I chuckle bitterly and take another sip.
Yes, they disobeyed my orders. Crashers had no business being there after I’d relayed the abort message. Weiss was already taking position, and it was dangerous to even be there. But I know my team. And I know why they did it. And I know better than anyone else, how Knight felt when he had to stand by and watch someone he loved become a monster. His helplessness then was the same as my own.
It makes me a little angry that this man cannot understand. But how could he? He can send his own nephew down the path of no return. I never would have thought him as heartless as this.
“So did you call me here tonight to admonish me? I should think a phone call could have sufficed. Unless you plan to order a more severe action.”
“No,” he says, frowning deeply. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. We can’t be compromised in our work. You understand that.”
I smile. “Oh yes, I understand. You can be sure it won’t happen anymore. We know our place. …Now if that is all, I should best be going.” I grab my purse and stand up to leave, my cocktail still half-finished on the counter.
“Queen…”
At the sound of his voice, I turn back and force myself to look at him. He’s still every bit as proud as he always was, with that stubborn set jaw and infuriatingly handsome mouth. Even behind his tired gaze, I can see the steadfast part of him that believes in himself, despite all the unspeakable things he has done. More than ever, I feel like I’m staring across a wide chasm, knowing I have lost him to that dark beast he so adamantly wants to slay.
I lean close and kiss him lightly on the cheek before I leave.
“Good night, Shuuichi.”
- fin -