Subject: [fic] Pawns of Power[2/4]




Hi, it's me again. Thanks to everybody who has commented on my fic. 
Here's the second part. (No, I didn't write it that quickly!) And 
yes, I'm a Mercedes Lackey fan. Am I that obvious? (magic, elements, 
clear tolerance of yaoi and yuri--I guess I am.)

*tries to imagine Weiss as Heralds.*

Oh yes, the Schwarz boys are making their appearance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Hayashi Azusa
Email: wingdance@h...
Title: Pawns of Power
Type: Series, Alternative Universe
Teaser: Weiss boys in a fantasy setting. (as in sci-fi/fantasy, not 
your own dream-world)
Rating: Either PG-13
Spoilers: Regarding the four members' pasts, if you know where to 
notice. (Personally, I don't think you can tell the spoilers from my 
own crap) 
Warnings: Strong Language, angst
Keywords: Weiss, fantasy, angst

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part II-Ken

"Is he all right?" Ken asked as they dismounted and led the horses to 
the stables. He looked at Aya's naturally pale face, now bloodless 
under the waning moonlight, and felt a fresh stab of guilt. They 
could have shielded themselves; it would tire everybody, but not that 
much, and an hour or so of meditating would have restored them. But 
Aya…he simply reached within himself and included everybody in
his 
shield; there had been no hesitation and no look of sacrifice. In all 
the time they had known Aya, he had never appeared to have any 
inclination towards martyrdom.

"He will be," Youji replied in his usual bantering tone. "We'll just 
put him to bed. He can sleep it off."

"But-"

"I've been through this before," Youji reminded him. "And it wasn't 
that long ago. I felt perfectly fine the next morning."

Youji had a point there, Ken admitted. It had been only two years 
since the former spy became a mage-assassin. Ken himself had been one 
for four years. It was well neigh impossible for him to recall how 
his own early trysts with magic had gone.

Ken went up to Aya to help him off the horse, as did Omi, expecting 
him to be as weak as he had been just now. But the newest member of 
Weiß was fully awake, his purple eyes completely alert. "I'm
fine," 
was all he said, before sliding off the horse in a controlled move, 
and headed back toward the tower, his steps firm and steady.

The two of them stared after the retreating figure. Youji 
whistled. "Even if I hadn't known his Element, this display of 
stubbornness would have told me. Classical Fire."

Ken nodded in agreement. "Would he be all right?"

"You heard him. He wouldn't thank you for chasing after him like a 
mother hen," Youji replied. Such a comment would have made both Ken 
and Omi stare two years ago, but they've got used to Youji's quirks 
by now. They both nodded reluctantly. Youji had his faults, but he 
had very sharp eyes.

The three of them unsaddled the horses, rubbed them down, and 
returned to the tower. Omi went to the mirror behind the door, and 
opened the magical link. Immediately Manx's face appeared.
"Mission-"

"Accomplished," Omi finished the sentence. The mirror darkened once 
more.

Ken went back to his room and changed out of his assassin attire, 
considered for a moment, and then took off his body armor as well. 
None of the others wore body armor, they found it troublesome, a 
hindrance when they needed to move quickly. Ken found it so too, but 
he was used to it. He had trained in body armor ever since he was old 
enough to hold a sword. Ten years of knighthood training left its 
mark. But tonight-he didn't want it. Something told him that he
would 
have a hard time falling asleep, and the body armor had never been 
comfortable in bed to start with.

Why did he feel so out of sorts, anyway? The mission didn't tire him 
out; in fact, it was one of the easiest Ken could recall. Perhaps 
that was it. He had got used to touch and go, after which he would be 
so exhausted that he could fall asleep on his feet.

Ken sat down on the plain mattress that served as his bed, pulled his 
boots off, and lay down. Strange, he kept seeing Aya. The way he had 
looked when Weiß had found him on their way back from a mission
that 
had sent them out of the kingdom. The flash of pain and determination 
that crossed his face when he first gave his name. The indifferent, 
aloof creature who never left his room without a very good reason. 
The quietly authoritative figure who led them out of danger via a 
path of least resistance. The almost automatic decision to shield 
everybody. And, just now, the stiff way he had refused their help and 
went back by himself-Aya was so proud, so unwilling to let
anybody 
come close to him; but he would do things for everyone else, and 
without expecting them to even be grateful. They should never have 
doubted him.

Ken gave up. Sleep wasn't going to come without a long argument. He 
lowered the sound-resistant spell in his room. The spell was set in 
every room, and with good reason; all mages had excellent senses, if 
they didn't have some way of blocking out noises, they would never 
get any peace. Omi had insisted on it after the first time Youji 
dallied with a girl in his room. All in all, the power invested had 
been worth it. But now, Ken wanted to be sure that Aya was all right. 
The redhead didn't look well, and he knew Aya well enough by now not 
to trust any statement about his well being without at least the word 
of three Healers to back it.

The spell lowered, Ken strained his ears. Before long, he heard 
sounds of movement in Aya's room, then the door opened, and footsteps 
going downstairs, not half as steady as they had been when their 
owner went off just now. Then he heard something slip, and-crash.

Ken almost snatched the door off in his hurry to open it, and rushed 
out, coming down the steps three at a time.

Aya was half-lying at the foot of the stairs, looking slightly dazed. 
He looked up at Ken's approach, his hair falling back behind his 
ears, and dug his elbows against the floor to push himself up.

Ken reached out instinctively to support him. "Aya, how do you feel?"

"Fine." The word sounded as though it was forced out of the 
throat. "I came down to get some water."

That really alarmed him. "Exactly how do you feel?" he demanded, 
feeling the other's forehead. "You are having a fever, aren't you?"

Aya ignored him, getting to his feet with difficulty. At least he 
didn't push Ken away. Or perhaps he didn't have enough strength. Aya 
was new to magic, after all, and his body had never experienced 
drainage before; shielding four people at one go wasn't exactly the 
best way to get started. It was like making a child carry the load of 
two adults without giving the muscles time to develop.

"Go up," Ken urged him. "I'll get the water for you."

Aya gave him a look, and went up slowly. Ken waited until he had got 
back to his room safely before going to the kitchen and got a cup of 
water.

:Is he really all right?:

Ken had expected that. :I rather thought you'd have been awake, 
Youji.:

:You think you're the only one worried over our icy Fire?: Youji 
asked. :Of course I'm awake. You beat me to him, so I decided to stay 
put. How's he?:

:Having a fever. I was going to help him up, but I didn't think he 
would let me.: Ken had reached Aya's door by now. It was slightly 
ajar. He pushed it open and entered.

The room was dark, and he could just make out Aya's figure, seated on 
a straw pallet in a corner. There was almost nothing in the room. He 
went over to Aya, and pressed the glass into his hand. "Here, Aya."

Aya lifted the water to his lips, but his hand was shaking so much 
that Ken ended up holding it together with him. "Want some more?"

"No."

Aya was plainly waiting for him to leave. Ken hesitated. "You can 
always talk to me, Ran."

"I know." Aya gave no indication of the fact that he heard Ken 
address him by a name he had never given Weiß. Ken gave up and 
returned to his room.

:What was that 'Ran' business about?: Youji asked.

Ken debated whether to tell his friend. Youji would find out, one way 
or other, if he was really curious. :His real name.:

Youji whistled mentally. :I knew a noble's son wouldn't have been 
named a girl's name at birth. But how did you know it?:

:Remember where I come from?:

There was a silence. :You two knew each other?: Youji 'yelled'.

:We've met in the Court a few times,: Ken replied shortly. He did not 
want to think about that part of his life anymore. It belonged to the 
past, belonged to an aspiring squire training to earn the title of a 
knight, belonged to the second nephew of the Earl of Hidaka, before 
he had been disowned.

:Sleep well, then,: Youji caught the hint.

:Thanks.:



----------------------------------------------------------------------



Manx raised her hands before her, and mist swirled from her 
fingertips, condensing into a screen-like ball before the four of 
them.

"Good morning, Weiß," Persia spoke. "There has been a series of 
killing of important officers in the Kingdom, we have reason to 
believe that the next target is Shimaya Jiro, the Lord Chancellor." 
An image of Shimaya Jiro, a wrinkled old man with snowy white hair, 
appeared in the mist. "White hunters of the night, hunt the tomorrow 
of the dark beasts!"

"All in?" Manx asked.

One by one they nodded. After Manx had shape-shifted into her 
favorite alternative form and winged off, they sat down to discuss 
plans.

"We have to follow Shimaya Jiro around, I suppose," Youji said, 
yawning. "I hate politics.' Aya glanced at Youji before turning away 
from him. Ken resisted the urge to sigh. Aya had managed to form some 
sort of cordial relationship with Omi and himself, but there was a 
solid wall between him and Youji. Aya was serious; Youji was anything 
but serious, out of missions. Irritation was the mildest look Aya 
wore when Youji was around. It didn't help that their Elements, Fire 
and Water, were natural enemies.

"Right," Omi said, ignoring the by-play between the passionate, 
forthright nature of Fire and the smooth, urbane character of 
Water. "And speed is essential. If Shimaya Jiro dies before we get to 
him, we'll lose the lead."

"We go, now." Aya had a gift with monosyllables.



----------------------------------------------------------------------



They were all inside the Lord Chancellor's mansion before sunset. Omi 
was stationed inside his bedroom, and Youji in the study, where the 
old man was working. Youji's old skills as a spy were coming in very 
useful. Aya was hiding in the gardens, and Ken had slipped into the 
kitchen.

The night passed uneventfully, and the Lord Chancellor left for the 
Court the next day. Aya and Youji tracked him, while Ken and Omi 
remained inside the mansion for a rest. They would take over at night.

"You are sure no one's going to find us here?" Omi asked 
doubtfully. "Personally, Ken, I wouldn't have minded the attic or 
some storeroom."

Ken grinned. He had chosen a moderately luxurious suite in a wing of 
the mansion as their temporary-resting place. "Trust me, Omi. No maid 
ever goes to the guestrooms during the day. All we have to do is 
enter after they tidy it in the morning."

"Oh." The younger boy lay stretched out on the silken bed 
sheets. "Ken, how do you think they are doing?" he asked a moment 
later.

"Youji had been a spy for years before he became Weiß," Ken
replied, 
lying down beside Omi. "He'll be fine. And Aya was born a noble; he 
knows how to be inconspicuous in Court."

"Aya's very good, isn't he?"

"That he is," Ken agreed. "He has to be the best decision maker, 
after you."

"Me?" Omi chuckled. "Be real, Ken. By now, we all know who's the 
leader. Aya is much more clear-headed and decisive than I can ever 
be."

Ken had to agree to that. Only a few missions after he had first 
joined, Aya was already the leader by unspoken acknowledgement. Omi 
was still the one to gather information, but he waited for Aya to 
make the final decisions. "And he learns very fast."

"The speed at which he mastered magic-egad! It took me much
longer 
than that," Omi replied. "Even taking into account that I was very 
much younger at the time than he is, it's still pretty incredible."

"Maybe that's why he doesn't talk much. He has a lot to think about." 
Ken closed his eyes. "Let's sleep, Omi. We have to be alert tonight."

"I know."



----------------------------------------------------------------------



A few hours later, Aya and Youji followed Shimaya back from the 
Court. They woke Ken and Omi briefly to inform them of it, then the 
two youngest members of Weiß fell asleep again.

Towards evening, Ken went in search of Aya, and Omi went to fine 
Youji to take over their posts.

Ken followed Aya's magically enhanced silent instructions to find the 
redhead himself behind the thick curtains in the study. Aya nodded at 
him. :Youji and Omi are outside. I'll be off now.:

Ken nodded back and settled himself in for a long watch.

It turned out to be very, very short.

The window hinge cracked as thunder rolled overhead. That was their 
only warning. One moment there wasn't anybody in the room except an 
old Lord Chancellor and two unknown assassin-turned bodyguards, the 
next moment there was a man standing in front of the old man's table, 
a dagger in his hand. He didn't wait either; the dagger was already 
coming down upon the old man's head, even as surprise, then shock, 
registered on that wrinkled old face.

Omi's darts distracted him for the crucial instant it took for Ken to 
leap out of cover and stop the dagger with his own bugnuk. The two of 
them had worked together the longest, after all. They were used to 
each other's fighting styles.

The attacker stopped his advance, looking up and down at him. Ken 
returned the courtesy. The attacker was a young man, probably around 
his own age, with cropped white hair and an eye patch over his left 
eye. The other eye was a curious mixture of gold and green, and 
totally insane. His face was bloodlessly pale, but he made up for it 
by having several deep slashes on it. A mess of old scars underneath 
gave testimony to the fact that being wounded was a daily occurrence 
for this man.

His bugnuk came down again; the man met it with his dagger. Omi threw 
out another handful of darts, which hit their mark without any change 
of expression from the man. Didn't he feel any pain when five darts 
landed on his bare arms? Ken wondered as he dodged another of the 
man's slashes. For somebody who looked totally made, he was very 
quick with blades. And Ken did not dare to use magic, not in this 
kind of place. The slightest hint of foreign magic in the Lord 
Chancellor's study would probably trigger off all sorts of alarms.

"You aren't bad, you know. What's your name?"

Ken looked in the direction of the unfamiliar voice. Omi was engaged 
in combat with a tall, orange-haired man, and he wasn't faring very 
well. The other man was simply too fast. "Bombay!' he cried, using 
Omi's code name. He wanted to go over to help, but the dagger-
wielding madman wasn't one to be discounted. The moment his attention 
wavered, that dagger came slicing down his chest. If not for his body 
armour-

Even with it, he had his breath knocked out of him, stumbling back. 
The white-haired man closed in again, and that damned dagger was 
coming down upon his unprotected head. Shit, he had no time-

Steel against steel. Blade for blade.

Ken stared. He knew he wouldn't have been able to wake up after 
staying up for one and a half days. Aya looked completely alert and 
capable, though. He looked across at Omi. Youji was with him, the two 
of them closing in against the orange-haired man with a smirk on his 
face. He joined Aya.

The tide wasn't turning yet, but the odds were starting to shift.

"Farfarello, let's go," the orange-haired man said as he somehow got 
out of the corner Youji and Omi were backing him into.

"But-" the white haired man called Farfarello protested, sounding
for 
all the world like a spoiled child deprived of his favourite toy.

"You heard me. Do it!"

Farfarello turned and left by the same way as he had entered, through 
the window. Aya slashed his chest as he turned, and Ken's bugnuk left 
four trails of blood down his arm. Farfarello did not appear to have 
noticed either wound. Could he feel pain at all?

The orange-haired man lingered at the window a moment longer than his 
companion. "So, you are the mage-assassins I've heard so much about," 
he said with a smirk. "What name do you go by, mage-assassins?"

"Weiß," Aya replied coldly. "Who are you?"

"Weiß? Interesting." The man laughed. "If you are Weiß, we are 
Schwarz." And then he was gone. For a moment, the four members of 
Weiß saw him silhouetted against the moon, his hair flying out in
all 
directions. "And my name is Schuldig, by the way." The silent voice 
that spoke inside all their minds was a seductive purr.

"Are you all right?" a cool voice asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine-" Ken replied automatically, then stared. That
wasn't 
Omi's voice, or Youji's. Aya? But the redhead was already turning 
away.

Omi was examining the prone figure of Shimaya. The old man's nerves 
had given up on him even before Ken stopped the first attacker, the 
one called Farfarello. "He's alive, but I don't think he saw or heard 
anything after the first attempt."

"That'll be enough reason for him to increase the security around 
here," Aya observed quietly. "I don't think the group we are looking 
for would make another attempt on his life with a very big chance of 
succeeding."

"Schwarz," Ken supplied.

"Schwarz for Weiß; black for white," Omi said grimly. "Is that
their 
real name?"

"How would we ever know?" Youji shrugged.

Aya ignored him. "The mission is not yet accomplished."

"We have to find out more about them," Ken said. "A few code names 
and two physical descriptions aren't much to work with, but it's the 
best we have."

"Yeah, hear that, Omi?" Youji patted the younger boy. "Good luck."

Omi groaned.



----------------------------------------------------------------------



Ken dropped by the workroom two days later. "Any luck, Omi?"

The blond boy lifted his head wearily. "Not a clue. The scrying spell 
just can't pick up anything. I've tried everything: mirrors, stones, 
pure water, mist-you name it. I even used my focus stone, and you 
know how sensitive that crystal is." His shoulders slumped forward in 
defeat. "I tried, Ken; I really tried-"

"No one's saying you didn't," a new voice said calmly, almost 
emotionlessly. How long had Aya stood there, observing the way Ken 
was trying to comfort Omi? "I think it's time to contact Manx. She 
might have the answer."

Omi and Ken exchanged a look, both nodded. Manx might have less power 
than they did, but she studied under another branch of
magic-sorcery 
instead of magery-and she probably had different means of finding
out 
things. How did they overlook that?

Omi and Aya settled down in the workroom. Ken extended a mental hand 
to Youji. :Come down, Youji.:

:Huh? Did Omi find out something?: Youji sounded as though he had 
just woken up. Big surprise; he had been out the night before, and it 
didn't take much to guess that he hadn't really slept.

:No. We are getting Manx.:

:All right, I'm coming down. Who suggested it? Aya?:

:Aya.:

:I knew it. The great Kudou Youji's never wrong.:

:Spare me.:

Youji joined them in the workroom. Omi formed a message, a very 
simple one. :To Manx: contact us as soon as it's convenient.: The 
four of them extended mental hands to each other, letting their 
magics merge. Fire, Air, Water, Earth; the moment all four were 
linked, a bond sprang up, a bond of magic so completely merged and 
balanced that it achieved perfection. Together, they sent out the 
message. It would contain the signature of all of them; Manx would 
know that the matter was important.

Even Aya looked reluctant when they finally pulled back into 
themselves. That moment, that glorious moment of absolute balance-

"So this is what Persia had in mind when he formed Weiß," Omi's
voice 
was awed. "Perfection."

"Don't lose sight of why we are doing this," Aya reminded them 
stiffly. He seemed to be regretting that look of reluctance just now. 
Aya never showed any emotion if he could help it.

Youji rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother." He started humming along with 
music only he could hear, ignoring the glare Aya sent in his 
direction.

Ken stood up and went to the window. He was getting tired of the way 
Youji and Aya always rubbed each other off the wrong way. Besides, it 
was spring now, and the world outside the tower was gorgeous. The 
blue sky, the green grass, the fresh fragrance of blossoming flowers, 
the chirping of birds from tree to tree… For a moment, he was
back in 
the gardens of his uncle's manor, the ancestral home of the Hidaka 
family. He could remember the day so vividly, he almost heard the 
beating of the boy Ken's hart as he sneaked away from his weaponry 
lessons to enjoy himself, just for once. Those were the days when he 
had nothing to worry about beyond how well he did in his lessons, and 
occasional daydreams of finally becoming a real knight.

His hand was clutching the window frame so tightly that his knuckles 
were turning white. Ken let go, feeling disgusted with himself. He 
didn't go into brooding. One Aya was more than enough.

There was a bird shooting across the sky, heading towards the tower. 
Was it--

Ken pulled the window open a split second before the white bird 
crashed through it.

--a falcon?

"Manx!" Omi exclaimed.

A red velvet gown replaced the falcon's white plumage, even as the 
sorceress herself emerged. "Well? I'm here now. What is so important 
that you four had to send a private message instead of the usual 
link?"

"It's the target," Omi said. He began explaining what had happened 
when the attack on the Lord Chancellor came, and after. "These people 
are very good," he said after he had finished the succinct 
report. "We all believe that we need more information before we can 
confront them directly."

Manx had gone absolutely still. "What did you say their group name 
is?"

"Schwarz."

"Describe the two men again. How good were they, physically?"

"The one with orange hair seemed to be superior to the white-haired 
one in rank; his speed is pretty incredible, and he calls himself 
Schuldig," Youji supplied.

"The white-haired one is called Farfarello," Ken took over. "He's 
very quick with his daggers and he doesn't seem to feel any pain. 
That gives him a vast advantage over his opponents."

Manx nodded. "This is serious. I have to check with Persia first." 
With that, she shifted into bird form, and flew off; even faster than 
when she came-if that was possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yours, 
Hayashi Azusa

p.s. (non-Misty fans, ignore this please)I change my mind about Weiss 
as Heralds. I know their name means white, but Youji would strangle 
me and leave me hanging upside down off the highest tower if he has 
to wear white all the time. Tayledras maybe? On second thought, that 
means Firesong's gonna get jealous of all the handsome bishonen. 
Never mind.
]