Part 8

Brad nearly cried out when he suddenly lost his visions again. Once again he was wrapped in the stifling blindness caused by whatever was blocking them. The hand in his went limp, and he knew Lukas had passed out from the strain of trying to hold the shields.

Lukas... it really was Lukas, not Schuldig. He had changed from the boy Brad had known; become more jaded and cynical. But then again, considering his life, that was only to be expected, really. Brad knew there was something Lukas was trying to hide from him, something that had happened to him since Brad had left the Institute, but for the moment it wasn't important. They would sort it out once they were free of this mess, and Brad would reassure Lukas that NOTHING could cause him to think less of the German telepath.

He still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about what had happened. On the one hand, this was a chance he had never expected to have... a chance to be with the man he had loved since they were both children. Lukas remembered him now, remembered their bond, remembered their promise. He DIDN'T remember the horrible things Brad had done to drive him together with Nagi...

But there was the crux of the problem. Nagi. The telekinetic was utterly dependent on Schuldig, and would be devastated without him. Lukas had no memories of Nagi, or his relationship with the Japanese boy. Never mind the rest of the telepath's tangled love-life with Weiss; Bombay and Balinese at least would be able to adjust to the change and move on. It might very well kill Nagi to lose his beloved Gebieter.

Without his powers, there was no way to KNOW the best path to take. If only there was a way for his old friend to be both Lukas AND Schuldig, but it didn't seem to be possible.

Once they had their powers back, there was a chance that he would be able to reverse what Emmanuel had done. But could he bring himself to do it? Once before he'd voluntarily given up Lukas, and he'd been suffering alone ever since, watching his friend's happiness with Nagi. Knowing the pain that was waiting for him on the other side, could he deliberately erase Lukas from Schuldig's mind once more?

Did he have a choice? They'd already lost Farfarello, he'd gotten that much from Nagi. The Irishman wasn't a devastating loss to Schwartz; but losing Nagi would be. And Brad had come to genuinely care for the telekinetic over the years, he didn't want to hurt Nagi now. Nagi trusted them to take care of him, to protect him from harm, and Brad had already failed him once, deliberately. He didn't think he could do it again.

He didn't realize he was falling asleep until he toppled over onto his side on the floor, losing his grip on Lukas' hand. The fall woke him, but only barely... he was drained and exhausted after straining to use his powers, and then straining again to reach Nagi through Lukas. They would both be useless until they slept it off.

Reluctantly Brad stood and staggered to the narrow cot, wishing there was some way he could get Lukas into bed as well. The telepath would be stiff and sore after sleeping slumped over on the cold concrete floor, but there was nothing Brad could do about it.

With a last glance at the wall that blocked Lukas from his view, Brad tumbled into the bed and passed out cold.

If he dreamt, he didn't remember it aftewards, save for vague impressions of horror and fear. They might have been his own nightmares; they might have been Lukas', echoing down to him through their new bond. Either way, Brad came awake abruptly, the sound of menacing footsteps still ringing in his ears.

"Brad!" hissed Lukas from the other cell. "Wake up! They're coming!" The precognitive realized that the footsteps were real, not a lingering product of his dreams, and he scrambled to his feet. Their captors were returning... presumably Emmanuel wanted to see if his efforts had been successful. Brad moved to the front of the cell, clutching the bars, eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

The Greek telepath came into view of Brad's cell first; he passed the precognitive by as if totally unaware of the American's presence. The young child still followed behind him, with the same blank expression as before. Brad felt disoriented for a moment, before he got hold of himself. He realized that the low-level link to Lukas, active despite the fact that the telepath was no longer shielding, had been cut off. He looked at the child with renewed interest. Could this be the source of the block? A sort of anti-psychic, as it were? And the ability got stronger with proximity?

"Lukas," the older telepath purred when he stopped in front of the German's cell. "I'm glad to see you're awake and well."

"Em-emmanuel..." Lukas stammered, and Brad heard him backing up away from the bars. The precognitive frowned; he'd expected Lukas to be defiant and brash, or possibly just subdued by the fact that he was facing his Instructor... but the German sounded terrified. "Jesus Christ, Brad, you didn't tell me it was the INSTITUTE that had captured us!"

"Ah, good," Emmanuel said, all but purring like a satisfied cat. "Your memories have been properly restored. It was quite distressing to discover that you had forgotten me, Lukas."

"For THAT, I'd pay money to have amnesia," Lukas muttered. "Got away from you, did I? I bet that must have pissed you off to no end."

Brad frowned. Obviously there was bad blood between student and Instructor; as the advanced telepath Instructor, Emmanuel would have had quite a bit of contact with Lukas. What had happened to set them at odds? He hadn't realized this capture was anything other than simple revenge on two rogue agents.

Emmanuel looked infuriated by the younger telepath's words. "Yes, you escaped me once, but you won't do so again. You belong to me, Lukas, and soon you'll owe your life to me as well. I am the only one who can convince the Council to spare your life."

"I'd rather die than do anything for you, ever again," Lukas spat, enraging Emmanuel more. Brad kept quiet, eyes wide. Yes, there was unmistakeably something going on here that he didn't know about, and without his powers he was afraid to interfere for fear of changing the tenuous future he'd seen in which they had been rescued by Nagi and Weiss.

"Is that so," the Greek man hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously. "That can be arranged, you know. But I think I have found something that will persuade you more effectively." He pulled out a gun, and levelled it - not at Lukas, but at Brad.

"No!" Lukas shouted as Brad tensed, automatically trying to see into the future to predict where the bullet would strike him so he could move out of the way. All he succeeded in doing was giving himself another headache. "No, you fucking bastard! Don't you fucking touch him, or I swear to God I will kill you myself!"

"Then obey me, and he'll live a while longer," Emmanuel replied. "You know what I expect, Lukas. Refuse me, and you will both die as slowly and agonizingly as is humanly possible - and I will make sure that he goes first, and that the block is lifted just enough to allow you to feel every moment of his suffering. Do you understand me?"

Lukas swore in a bastardized mix of English and German. "Don't, Lukas," Brad cautioned him in a voice that remained steady, despite his nervousness at facing a gun in the hands of a man who hated him while he was without his powers to save him. "He's going to kill us both anyway, don't give him what he wants."

There was a shattering explosion, and for a moment Brad thought he might actually have gone deaf. He stood there, stunned, as sound finally returned to him over the ringing in his ears. "...ad, Brad, are you okay? Fucking hell, you fucking BASTARD, WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Lukas was shouting.

"I'm all right, Lukas," Brad replied, and this time his voice DID shake. Turning slightly, he saw the hole in the wall where the bullet had buried itself, just an inch to the left of his head. He glanced at Emmanuel, who looked back at him with the cold eyes of a snake. "I'm fine, he didn't hit me."

"Just a warning shot," the older telepath agreed amicably. "The next one will be to a non-vital area; something which will hurt a great deal, but not endanger his life. A kneecap, perhaps, or the groin. You have ten seconds to decide, Lukas."

"God damn it all to fucking hell!" the German exclaimed. "All right, you win, God damn you. I'll do what you want. I'm yours. Satisfied?"

"Not yet... but I'm sure I will be shortly," Emmanuel purred. He tucked his gun into the hands of his little anti-psychic, who stood passively holding it out of reach of Brad or Lukas. Then he stepped up to Lukas' cell, one hand dropping to his belt. "Let's see how much skill you still retain, shall we?"

Brad's hands clenched the bars hard nearly hard enough to dent them as he finally realized what was going on. "If you lay one finger on him," he promised in a low voice, "I swear that Schwartz will hunt you down and destroy you. We will make what you're threatening me with look like child's play."

"This assumes you live more than another few hours," Emmanuel sneered back as he unzipped his fly. Brad couldn't see the details of what was happening, but he didn't need to. After an initial gagging noise from Lukas, the soft sounds of sucking told him everything he needed to know.

So THIS was what the telepath had been trying to hide from him, the secret he had feared would be exposed with the creation of the link between them. Emmanuel had been abusing him, using his position as an Instructor to force Lukas to be his sex toy. It disgusted Brad, but not in the way that Emmanuel had probably convinced Lukas it would; the idea of anybody taking advantage of someone under their protection in such a way had always disgusted him, and always would. It was one of the reasons it had been so difficult for him to do what he'd needed to do to drive Schuldig and Nagi together.

At last Emmanuel's breathing sped up as he came with a cry, and Brad heard Lukas coughing roughly. He hissed through his teeth, seething with anger but unable to do anything. At this point all he could do was wait until Emmanuel had left, and then try to talk it out with Lukas. And when they got out of here, Brad was going to make sure a special level of hell was reserved for the molesting asshole - AFTER he had Nagi rip the bastard to shreds pieces by tiny piece.

The older telepath zipped himself up and sauntered out of reach of the bars once more. "Now, I must go to convince the Council to spare your life," he said to Lukas. "It would indeed be a shame to lose such a well-trained toy - I see you have learned new skills since you left me. I shall have to make sure to explore them all."

"One of these days I'm going to bite it off," Lukas replied sourly. Emmanuel laughed.

"Oh yes, please do try. The moment I sense the intention in your mind, I will burn you out so thoroughly there will be nothing left but a vegetable. A very... pretty... vegetable," he added suggestively, stretching out a hand to touch Lukas. The German spat at him, and Brad heard the sound of flesh meeting flesh as the Greek man reached through the bars and slapped the other telepath.

"Fuck you," Lukas rasped, staggering back from the bars. "You God damn son of a bitch, go fuck yourself.

"But I'd much rather fuck you," Emmanuel replied softly. "Now, I must be off. But do not fear, Terri here," he clapped the child on the shoulder, "will still be in the complex. Do enjoy your last hours, Bradley. Be sure to thank Lukas for granting you a relatively merciful death."

Brad clenched his teeth to keep from spitting out the reply he wanted to make. Emmanuel was leaving, probably for quite some time... this was the ideal time for Weiss to rescue them, and he didn't want to say or do anything to jeopardize that future.

Emmanuel left, taking the anti-psychic with him, and Lukas and Brad were left alone once more. Brad tried several times to say something, only to find that he didn't know what to say - platititudes would have been beyond ridiculous, and might only have hurt Lukas more.

"Well, now you know the truth," Lukas finally said, his voice dull and hopeless. "I'm nothing more than his fucking whore."

"If you truly believe that, then you're right," Brad said coolly. If he was lucky, he would be able to shock Lukas out of his apathy. If he'd guessed wrong, he might very well convince Lukas that he DID believe the younger psychic was somehow soiled by what Emmanuel had forced on him. He prayed he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life, and once more he cursed the loss of his powers. With them, he'd have been able to see exactly what words to say to achieve the best effect; without them he was shooting in the dark. "All I saw was a man abusing his position and raping someone who had once been in his care; but if you choose to see it differently, that's your decision."

"Don't fucking kid me," Lukas burst out angrily. "Christ, Brad, don't you understand? I've been his fuck-toy since I was fourteen! I never fought him, I never argued... I was too much of a fucking coward! And I..." his voice broke. "I enjoyed it, God damn him. He made me enjoy it. He made me beg him for it."

"He MADE you, Lukas," Brad replied. "That's the key word there. Rape is rape - the fact that you're enough of an empath to be forced to share your rapist's pleasure does not mean that you truly wanted it. Nor does the fact that he frightened you into obeying him make you a coward. I know how much authority the Instructors held over us all - they literally had the power of life and death. What did he threaten you with?"

There was a long pause, and for a moment Brad thought Lukas wasn't going to answer him. "He said that if I objected or refused, he'd tell the other Instructors that I had used my powers against him," the telepath whispered at last. "He said they would burn my mind out. I... I couldn't face that. I couldn't."

"Of course not," the American said gently. He sat in the corner once more, reaching through the bars and offering his hand. Now that the anti-psychic was away from them once more, he could feel a dull throb of pain and despair in the back of his mind, through the connection to Lukas. "You were fourteen years old, Lukas. There is a reason that having sex with someone that young is considered rape even if they agree to it - you were still a child, and he was not only an adult, he was your Instructor. He probably couldn't have actually gotten you killed... all the others would have had to do would be to look inside both your minds, and the truth of the matter would have been known. He wouldn't even have risked the possibility that they might believe you when you said you hadn't done it. But how could you have known that?"

"You can't tell me that you're not disgusted, Brad!" Lukas objected. "I can FEEL it, damn it."

Brad shrugged, though Lukas couldn't see the gesture. "My disgust is aimed entirely at him, Lukas, not you." Sensing that Lukas still didn't believe him, he sighed. "Lukas... when I found you again, when you were eighteen, the situation you were trapped in was far worse than what I've just discovered about what happened to you at the Institute. Far, far worse. It has never changed anything about the way that I've thought of you... except perhaps admiration that you made it through such an experience with your spirit and sanity intact. I'm not sure I could have done the same. This means nothing to me... save that THIS man I can kill, slowly, to punish him for what he did to you, while I was unable to do anything to the people who had you when I found you."

There was silence for a long time, and Brad could feel many emotions swirling through their bond. "You really don't care," Lukas finally said, his voice rough as though he was crying. Wisely, Brad chose not to comment on that.

"That would be a lie," he said instead. "I do care, enough that I intend to make certain Emmanuel's death is appropriately painful and messy. But it does not CHANGE how I perceive you, or my feelings for you. You are my friend, you always have been and you always will be - even when you didn't know it. You are the only person in the world I have ever trusted completely."

For a long time Lukas said nothing, and Brad sensed that he was struggling. Finally the telepath reached through the bars and took Brad's offered hand. With the skin contact came a flood of emotions that left Brad gasping with their intensity. "Did I imagine it?" Lukas asked, so softly Brad wasn't even sure it wasn't a telepathic query. "What you said, at the end before you left me?"

"No," Brad whispered back. "No, you didn't. I said, and I meant it then... and I mean it now. I love you, Lukas, I always have. Though," he added wryly, sensing one of the causes of the conflict within the younger psychic, "I assure you the nature of my feelings has changed a bit since you were thirteen. You were a good friend, the closest thing I had ever had to family, and I knew that you would grow to be a very attractive man. I kissed you because I wanted you to know the possibility was there for the future - for when I saw you again when you were nineteen."

"Oh," Lukas said in a very small voice. His hand squeezed Brad's. "I... I love you too. Always have. I w-wanted to wait for you... I wanted you to be my first. But..."

"It doesn't matter," Brad cut him off. "We'll start again now, from here. Nothing in the past matters any more." In that moment he knew he would never be able to give up Lukas again; he wasn't sure what he was going to do about Nagi, but for the first time in a very long time, Brad Crawford had decided that he was damn well going to be selfish.

|Part 1| |Part 2| |Part 3| |Part 4| |Part 5| |Part 6| |Part 7| |Part 8| |Part 9| |Part 10| |Part 11| |Part 12| |Part 13| |Part 14|

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