Sinners & Saints: Redemption

Part 7

"Schuldig! CRAWFORD!"

Omi nearly had a heart attack when Nagi suddenly bolted upright and screamed out his teammates' names. "Nagi! What is it? Are you okay?"

Nagi's eyes had gone wide, and for a moment Omi thought he was trapped in a nightmare... but then he recognized the 'listening'looke people often got when they were communicating telepathically. Schu? he tried projecting as loudly as he could. Schuldig, can you hear me? Are you okay?

He listened hard, trying to keep the thoughts in his mind quiet, but there was no reply. Nagi was still listening intently, and Omi knew from past experience that the younger boy was storing everything that was being said to him in his near-perfect memory. He all but held his breath, not wanting to do anything that might cause Nagi to lose the connection. With any luck, having this chance to talk to his Master would stabilize the boy somewhat.

Finally Nagi slumped back against him again, blue eyes dazed. "What did Schu say?" Omi asked him gently. Nagi shook his head.

"It wasn't Schuldig," he croaked, his voice hoarse as if he'd been screaming for a long time. "I mean... it WAS, but it was Crawford talking to me, using Schuldig as a boosting point."

Omi frowned. If Schuldig was capable of reaching Nagi, why hadn't he talked to the telekinetic himself? Why have Crawford do it through him? "Maybe it was taking all his concentration just to reach you," he finally offered. Nagi brightened slightly; as Omi had suspected, the telekinetic had been afraid that his Master hadn't spoken to him because he'd done something to displease the telepath. "Or maybe they didn't have much time, and Crawford needed to relay the instructions to you directly. What did he tell you?"

Nagi tried to sit up again, but went very white and fell back again, clutching at his chest. Frightened, Omi supported him, remembering what he'd concluded about Nagi's condition. "Nagi? Are you okay, Liebe?"

"I... I'll be... okay..." the boy gasped after a moment, though he still looked horribly pale. "I s-stopped my heart... then I used my powers to jumpstart it, but I lost control, and the overload stopped it again, I think. I don't remember."

"You STOPPED your HEART?" Omi repeated, incredulous, just as Youji walked through the door. "Nagi, why on earth would you do that?"

"Is it because of what Aya said to you?" Youji asked, and Omi looked up, eyes narrowed. Nagi hesitated, then nodded slowly. "He didn't mean it," Youji said, coming to sit next to Omi on the bed. He shifted Nagi so the boy was cradled between them, and Nagi settled in with a sigh. "You have to remember that not everybody knows you take things literally, Liebchen. He's sorry, and he wants to apologize. I'll call him to let him know you're awake..."

"Not yet," Omi interjected before Youji could hunt down his phone. "Nagi just got contact from Brad and Schuldig... I want to get the information now, in case he forgets any of it." He knew that wasn't likely, but with the way this week had been going so far, this would be the one time that Nagi actually forgot something.

The colour had started to seep back into Nagi's cheeks. Omi realized that the boy's hands were cold, and curled up a little tighter, sandwiching Nagi between him and Youji and pulling the blankets up over all of them. Within moments his bed was a coccoon of warmth, and the subtle shivering that had been present in Nagi's body since he'd awoken faded away. "Tell me what they said," Omi commanded when he was sure the telekinetic was going to be okay.

"Crawford said they were still being blocked, but they'd managed to find away around it for a few minutes," Nagi recited dutifully. "He said it had something to do with Schuldig's empathy, but he didn't bother to explain it because they didn't have much time before Schuldig would be completely exhausted." He sighed and turned his head to rest on Omi's shoulder. "He said the people who attacked us are NOT from Estet - they're from another group, called the Institute. These are the people who trained him, before he left them to join Estet, and they want revenge on him for betraying them."

"That explains why they just left you and Farfarello to die," Youji observed, and Omi nodded. "But why take Schuldig, if that's the case?"

Nagi shook his head, but Omi closed his eyes, trying to remember something. "Didn't Schu once say that he thought Crawford might have known him from before he had amnesia?" he said slowly. "And didn't he say something about how it seemed like he'd been trained to fight when he first woke up - that if he just relaxed and didn't think about it, his body did the work for him?"

"That's right," Nagi agreed, startled. "He doesn't talk about it much - he says he doesn't like to think about that time."

"So is it possible that Schuldig was also originally trained by these people, left, and then got amnesia?" Omi persisted. "That would explain why they took both of them."

"Sounds reasonable," Youji agreed. "The question is, what are we going to do about it? If they're not from Estet, that means they have no reason to go after US; which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It means we don't have to worry about being attacked out of nowhere, but it also means Ken and Aya aren't going to have as much motivation to help us."

Omi looked grim. "They're going to help us if I have to tie them up and drag them along behind us. Especially after this afternoon."

"I'm sorry," Nagi whispered, shoulders shaking again. "I didn't mean to cause trouble. I should never have come here..."

Omi and Youji both dropped kisses on his head. "Of course you should have," Youji said firmly. "It was absolutely the right decision to make. One of the hardest lessons in life, kiddo, is that sometimes even the right decision has negative consequences."

"I'd much rather have you here safe, and us helping to look for Schuldig, than to have you wandering around out there on your own," Omi agreed. "We love you, Nagi, and we WANT to help you, even if it makes trouble for us sometimes. That's what friendship and love is all about, Liebe."

"I love you, too," Nagi replied almost inaudibly. "But I don't want to stay here... I want to go home!" Both white hunters knew very well that 'home' to Nagi meant anywhere that Schuldig was, rather than a physical location. They hugged him tight.

"We'll get you home," Omi promised. "Now we know they're both alive, and not even too far away. I was worried that they might have been taken out of the country; but so long as they're anywhere in Japan, we WILL find them eventually."

"Did Crawford say anything else?" Youji asked. "Anything about their location?"

Nagi thought hard. "He said he didn't know where they were being held. But... I got a visual impression, from Schuldig, I think. Bars on a cage..."

"A cage?" Omi repeated. "They're keeping them caged? That seems... odd..."

"Was there anything in the cage with them?" Youji prodded. "Don't try to force the memory, just close your eyes and remember what it looked like."

"They weren't together," Nagi said after a long moment. "They were reaching through the bars to hold hands so they could link... they couldn't see each other. Um... because there were walls on three sides. And... a bed, I think, and a basin. And... there were lots more bars outside..."

"That sounds like a prison of some kind," Omi said. He stretched out his leg, straining with his toes, and at last hooked the strap of his laptop off the floor. He dragged it towards him, and positioned it so they could all see the screen while he typed one handed. "From what I found today, the attackers both came from and left Tokyo to the northwest," he said, struggling to bring up a map of the area while one hand was tucked around Nagi.

His laptop beeped, then screens started to fly past. He hovered his hand over the keyboard for a moment, shocked, before realizing that Nagi was using his powers to control it. "You can use your powers again already?" he said, amazed. "I thought you told me that after you exhaust yourself, you have to rest for a long time before using them again."

Nagi was pale and sweating again, but there was a determined look on his face. "Gebieter can't wait for me to take time to recover," he said firmly. "I'll be okay. Look, here... there's an abandoned prison complex a couple of hours outside the city. That would be right on the edge of Schuldig's range, but he COULD project back here to me if he tried hard enough."

Omi and Youji traded surprised looks over Nagi's head. This was the most forceful either of them had ever heard the boy, and it was a radical turnaround from his earlier increased dependence. Omi would have thought that this newest traumatic experience would have driven the pet further into his shell, but apparently it had created just the opposite effect. "That would explain why he didn't talk to you, and why he didn't bring me into the connection," Omi agreed. He would worry about the reasons behind Nagi's sudden turnaround later. For now, they needed his help, quite frankly. "It was taking everything he had just to reach you."

Youji frowned. "I would have thought that relaying Crawford would take MORE effort than just talking to you himself," he said, and Omi glared at him as Nagi looked crestfallen again.

"We're not telepaths... how should we know what is and isn't more difficult?" Omi sallied back, rubbing Nagi's shoulders soothingly. "Maybe it takes more effort, but less concentration, who knows? Whatever the reason, we're now a HELL of a lot closer to finding them than we were an hour ago." He nodded at the computer screen. "Given what Nagi sensed, and what I discovered, they're almost certainly being kept at that old prison complex."

"Let's go," Nagi said excitedly, starting to worm his way off the bed. "They're waiting for us!"

"Whoah, hold on there," Youji said, catching his arm gently. "First of all, you're in no shape to be going anywhere. Second of all, the four of us are exhausted from looking for YOU all night. If we go out there now, without resting and planning first, we might as well just hand ourselves over to these guys."

"Youji is right," Omi agreed reluctantly. "Believe me, Liebe, I want to rescue him nearly as much as you do, but if we go off half-cocked we won't be helping anybody. They'll still be there in the morning, and we'll have a much better chance of rescuing them after we've recovered."

Nagi looked torn, but finally he nodded. "Okay," he said softly, settling in again. The lights went out abruptly, and Omi's laptop shut off. "Then we should go to sleep now, so we'll be recovered faster," he insisted when Omi and Youji made startled noises.

Youji chuckled, and tugged both the boys into a tight hug as he slid down to snuggle into the narrow bed. There was barely enough room for the three of them - a tight squeeze, but in some ways that made it more comforting. "I'll sleep to that," the playboy said. "Sleep well, you two... tomorrow we've got some ass-kicking to do."

Nagi woke slowly, his body loudly protesting his return to consciousness. Everything hurt, and his head was pounding with the worst headache he'd ever had in his life. Morosely, he reflected that maybe he should have just waited for Omi to slowly type everything into the laptop after all; using his powers that way right after exhausting them might not have been the smartest thing he'd ever done. But he was so desperate to find Schuldig, any delay seemed unbearable.

Mentally he thanked whatever hitherto unknown stubborn part of him had kept him from committing suicide yesterday. Schuldig was ALIVE... alive and well, and he needed Nagi to rescue him.

He... needs me, the telekinetic thought to himself wonderingly, turning the thought over in his mind. Oh, the German had said often enough that he 'needed' Nagi, but that had been in terms of 'I need you in order to be happy.' Now it was a case of 'I need you in order to survive.'

Schuldig needs me. Crawford needs me. Only I can do this. Nagi knew that was true. He needed the help of Weiss, because he couldn't do it on his own; but neither could they face such powerful psychics without help from another powerful psychic. Granted that these people had been able to block Nagi once before, but they had caught him by surprise then. Hopefully this time he would be catching them by surprise. And even if they DID manage to block him, he knew the common weak points of psychic powers, and how to defeat them. Weiss just didn't have that kind of knowledge, despite their experience with Estet.

Schuldig needs me. Crawford needs me. Weiss needs me. It was an oddly empowering knowledge... that they needed him, that they were depending on him... it meant he couldn't afford to fail. More than that, he couldn't afford to hesitate. If he was going to do this, then he had to DO it... no questions asked, no waiting for orders, or it might be too late. It had taken Schuldig and Crawford a long time to train him to be able to handle himself in a fight without needing direct orders for every move he made, but even now he still clung to the outline they gave him before any battle. Crawford's precognition had allowed him to give Nagi detailed enough guildelines to get through the fights in one piece. Weiss didn't have that ability... if they had to guide him, he would only be a liability to them, and they couldn't afford that.

I have to do this... on my own, he realized. The thought sent spasms of terror through him, making him want to bury himself in a deep dark hole and never come out again. What if he screwed up? What if he made the wrong decision? What if he made the RIGHT decision, and it still turned out wrong, like Youji had said last night? Worse, what if he got out there, and THEN froze, unable to think for himself at the critical moment? He might get them all killed, or worse.

But if he didn't try, then Weiss would be all but guaranteed to fail. Schuldig and Crawford would remain captive, would probably be moved, and he would never see his Master again. Of the two options - having to make his own decisions, or never again feeling Schuldig's loving prescence in his mind - Nagi knew which one frightened him more.

"Then I just have to do it," he said aloud, opening his eyes. He was alone in Omi's bed - the pillow on the left side of him was still faintly warm, but the right side was cold. Judging by the sunlight streaming in through the window, it was late in the morning; Omi had probably gotten up early to plan, and Youji most likely had lazed in bed for a few more hours before getting up to join him. Probably the bedroom door closing behind Youji was what had drawn Nagi from his sleep in the first place.

He sat up, the blankets sliding off him into a heap on the floor beside the bed. His head still hurt almost too much to think. He glanced around. Omi was a hacker, and Nagi knew for a fact that the older boy spent long hours at his computer. Nagi also knew from experience that staring at the screen for hours at a time brought on plenty of headaches. So... if Omi sat THERE, where would he probably keep his painkillers?

He found the two most likely drawers, and hesitated before opening them. Omi had told him to 'make himself at home'... but hadn't specifically said that he could touch anything...

"Are you going to do this or not?" he asked himself crossly. Reaching out before he could think too hard about it, he opened one of the drawers. He started to reach inside, then realized how badly his hand was shaking and sat down at the desk instead, gasping for breath. What if Omi was angry with him for touching the other boy's things? What if he got into trouble?

Rescuing Schuldig is more important than making sure Omi is pleased with me, he realized after a moment's thought. I can't help Schuldig while suffering from a reaction headache. So I need painkillers more than I need to please Omi.

Really, when it came right down to it, it was all about priorities. Nagi was amazed at himself. Schuldig had talked to him before about situations where the 'ends justified the means', but he hadn't understood what the telepath had meant at the time. Now he did... the 'end' of rescuing Schuldig justified the 'means' of possibly upsetting Omi... even of breaking any orders that prevented him from doing what needed to be done to help the German telepath.

Everyone had always told him that he needed to make more decisions for himself. But it wasn't really about the decisions, Nagi saw now. It was about figuring out what was important to you. After that, the answers to the decisions were obvious... and it didn't MATTER what the consequences were, because you did what you had to do in order to achieve your priorities.

Could it really be that simple? Was this how ordinary people lived their lives? No wonder decisions were so easy to them. Now, if Nagi could just hold to this, remember the way he felt right now, then maybe he would be okay after all.

"I can do this," he said to himself, wondering. "I can really do this." He looked into the drawer, and as he'd suspected he found a couple of bottles of varying strengths of painkillers. He picked up the bottle that had the strongest kind that wouldn't also knock him out, and swallowed a couple of them dry. His hand was still shaking, but his resolve had firmed.

He put the bottle away and closed the drawer, standing and padding to the bedroom doorway. It was time to go out and find out what the plans were, and make sure he was included in them. He wavered a bit at the idea of actually telling someone ELSE that he wasn't going to listen to their orders, but kept an image of Schuldig at the forefront of his mind to remind him why he was doing this.

He opened the door and moved down the hallway, but paused just before he came in sight of the living room. Omi and Youji were out there talking - no, they were arguing, Nagi realized, eyes wide. He plastered himself against the wall, trying to decide whether he should go back into the bedroom. Making his own decisions was one thing. Walking into the middle of someone else's fight was another matter entirely.

"Give me one good reason why I should fogive what you did," Omi demanded angrily. Nagi couldn't remember ever hearing the older boy so furious. "We had an agreement, Youji, and you broke that. Unless somehow I just MISSED the fact that I was actually wearing my collar last night."

"You weren't and you know it," Youji replied, sounding defensive. Nagi's eyes widened further; listening to them, if he hadn't known better, he'd have thought that OMI was the Dom and Youji was his sub, not the other way around. "Yes, I broke our agreement, all right? Will you stop yelling at me long enough to LET me explain?"

"I'm not yelling," Omi bit back, which was true. Neither of them had raised their voices, though the intensity imbued in the words made it SEEM like they were being shouted. Presumably they hadn't wanted to wake Nagi up. "And yes, you can explain. But this had better be good, Youji."

Youji sighed. "You were about to lose your temper and blow up and Ken and Aya. You're too close to Nagi - too emotionally involved to think straight about the issue. YES, they needed to be chewed out, but if you'd done what I know you were planning to, we'd have a hell of a lot bigger problems now. You're our leader, you're supposed to stay unbiased, remember? We have enough issues with the fact that I'm your lover."

"And how do you think it affected my authority for them to see me give way to you like that?" Omi retaliated. "What's to stop them from thinking that you don't do that ALL the time - that you're actually leading Weiss, and I'm just a puppet, and they never knew it? For gods' sakes, Youji, they're already nervous about the whole thing. Now we're going to have to convince them all over again that Schuldig hasn't 'conditioned' me into being completely submissive, all the time."

"We'll deal with it when it comes up," Youji replied. "Look, I'm sorry, all right? But it was the only way I could think of to get you out of there without getting into exactly the argument I was trying to avoid."

"And you're telling me that you didn't chew them out after I left?"

"Of course I did!" Youji said. "But I didn't blow up at them, and I'm not in any kind of authority over them. That kind of thing is easier to take from a teammate than a leader sometimes, Omi. I managed to talk some sense into both of them, and they'll realize pretty quickly that I'm not secretly controlling you. If you had yelled at them the way you wanted to, they'd just have gotten defensive, especially Aya... and it would have ended with them refusing to help us any further."

There was a long pause, and finally Omi sighed. "Maybe you're right," he agreed reluctantly. "But damn it, Youji, if you EVER do something like that again, it's over. Understand me?" Youji made a startled exclamation. There was the sound of soft footsteps, then rustling fabric. "I love you, always. I'm not talking about breaking up with you. But if I can't trust you to stick to your agreements when I HAVE a choice to refuse, how can I trust you when I'm helpless?"

"It won't happen again, I promise," Youji replied. His voice was oddly muffled, and Nagi peeked cautiously around the corner to see why. Omi was curled up on Youji's lap, and the taller man had buried his face in Omi's neck as they embraced. "You're right, I shouldn't have done it that way. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Omi said softly. "And no harm done... this time. Now... much as I hate to wake Nagi, we need to get moving and I don't want him to wake up alone."

"I'm awake," Nagi said, making both of them jump. He stood hesitantly in the doorway. "I'm sorry... I didn't want to interrupt."

"Nagi!" Omi exclaimed, jumping up and crossing the room to his side. "You shouldn't be out of bed... you had a major shock to your system yesterday, Liebe. You could have just called for us."

Nagi shook his head. "We need to go rescue Schuldig and Crawford. I want to come with you."

"No, Nagi," Omi replied softly but firmly. "You're in no shape for a mission. I want you to stay here and rest... we'll bring Schuldig back to you, I PROMISE."

He almost broke... given an order that clear, it was hard to bring himself to remember what he'd decided, back in the bedroom. "N-no," he finally forced out, feeling as if the air in the room weighed several tons. "No, I'm going too. You need my help."

The two white hunters traded startled looks, and Youji stood. "Liebe, you're staying here. That's an order. We'll manage without you."

"But we're very, VERY proud of you for sticking to that decision!" Omi added quickly. "Gebieter will be so pleased when we tell him."

It was easier the second time, Nagi discovered. "No. I'm going. You can't stop me." They both stared at him in utter shock.

"All right, who are you and what have you done with Naoe Nagi?" Youji finally asked weakly. Omi shot him a dark look, and the playboy shrugged. "I'm serious. We know we're up against psychics, Omi... what if they rearranged his mind?"

"I'm s-still me," Nagi insisted. "But I'm going with you. You NEED me... Gebieter needs me. You don't know how to fight psychics." Seeing that they were still going to refuse, he added with a reserve of stubborness he hadn't known he possessed, "If you leave me behind, I'll steal a car and follow you. You can't keep me here... unless you knock me out, you know you can't force me to stay anywhere."

Omi continued to gape at him, jaw dropping in shock. "You... I..." he stammered, clearly stymied. Finally he shook his head helplessly. "All right," he agreed.

"Omi!" Youji exclaimed, giving him a disbelieving look.

"What?" Omi replied. "What am I supposed to do? Drug him? Not after the mess his system went through last night. And he's right, unless we knock him out, we can't force him to stay. I mean, what are we going to do, lock him in? Tie him up?"

Youji had to concede the futility of those ideas. He looked at the two of them. "You sure you want to do this, Liebe? It's going to be a nasty fight, and we aren't going to have time to take care of you. You'll be on your own for the most part."

It was clear to Nagi that the playboy was hoping that prospect would prove too daunting for the former pet. But he shook his head. "No. It's okay, I know that. I'm going anyway. I'll be okay."

"Nagi... there's one thing I want you to understand," Omi warned him. "In the field, *I* am the leader, and you will take orders from me. Forget about the fact that I'm a submissive - my orders are to be obeyed instantly and without question, understand? If you can't agree to that, if you don't think you can see me that way, then I WILL drug you to keep you here if I have to."

It only took a moment for Nagi to decide. "Yes. I can do that," he agreed. "You... you're not... ACTING like a submissive."

"I'm not, not when it comes to missions," Omi said, giving him a small smile. "All right... Youji, you get the two of you a quick breakfast, then take him down to the mission room and fit him with the spare transmitter and show him how to use it. I'll go get Ken-kun and Aya-kun and fill them in on the plan." His blues eyes glittered with a determination that made Nagi's hopes rise. "Let's show them what happens when you mess with Weiss and Schwartz."

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