Chapter 5
Schuldig was warily glaring at Brad once again, but he wasn't paying a bit of attention to his discontented lover and was instead taking the time to actually look over the information that had been given to them yesterday. Nagi had been shocked when he asked for them, but had turned them over anyway. He rarely ever spent valuable time learning about whatever their current mission was, allowing him to take over those responsibilities for them. Perhaps it was because he was actually taking what Schuldig had said yesterday into consideration and he wanted to see for himself if what the report contained was actually suspicious or not. Or maybe he just wanted to do something other than sit there and have an angry redhead glare daggers at him.
He wandered toward the door, not because the tension in the room was unbearable but because it was "feeding time". Just because Farfello had been acting even worse than usual lately did not mean that it was any reason to stop feeding him. Neither of the other two in the room commented on his departure, assuming of course that they had noticed it in the first place. They had moved their fellow Schwartz member earlier so that he was far enough away that he could not disturb them any more than they could stand. He had been rather uncooperative and despite the fact that they tried to reason with him, it seemed he was completely unable to comprehend what they were saying. Sometimes he was like that and they just had to wait it out until he became tolerable once more.
Farfello's new, padded room came complete with strong chains that had cuffs with a soft lining to limit chaffing. There was no telling how long he would remain in them and they had learned long ago it was better to have a safe environment around their less than sane friend. Farfello might have enjoyed mutilating himself but that did not mean that they should allow him to.
As he neared his destination he saw an unfamiliar person approaching with a tray, obviously headed to the same place. It appeared to him as if he had seen this woman before and wondered if she were part of Rosenkreuz, which lead to the question of why she was there and what exactly she thought she was doing. He confronted her silently, his expression perfectly blank.
"I was just making sure your friend got his meal on time."
How, exactly, did she know when Farfello was to be fed and why would Rosenkreuz care at all about their team member? Perhaps Brad truly was wrong and Schuldig was right. Then again, wasn't Schuldig normally right, anyway? One should never overlook the powerfully predictive intuition of a telepath. After all, his gift was much more predictable and accurate than Brad's foresight, because the future could always be altered, but what Schuldig sensed was the here and now.
She smiled tightly and offered him the tray. "If you want, you may do the honors. We only wanted to see that you are all comfortable during your stay here."
"He would kill you." Nagi took the tray without another word, carelessly using his powers to open the door in front of him. He didn't bother to notice her turning on her heel and leaving him behind. It was true that even if Farfello were not in his current extremely hostile state that he would kill her if she got within range. And to deliver food that he could actually eat, the food had to be put in close enough for him to get at; that was why Nagi usually dealt with him at meal time when he was in these unreasonable states; he could easily defend himself without much difficulty and without any unnecessary violence. It was one thing to control a punch when struggling against an opponent and quite another to defend when tightly controlled psychic attacks when one knew they were not actually in any danger in the first place. Thus, it was much easier for him.
Farfello was sitting quietly in a corner, his arms spread out as if they had just flopped lifelessly at his sides, his head tilted back and to the left as if he had died or collapsed. Naturally, he was fully conscious, his eyes staring into space as his mind pondered complex problems that may or may not have truly made sense to him. Somewhere, deep within his mind, Farfello was a brilliant man and that may have been the reason he had ended up going insane. He pondered everything, took truths too literally, but deep down he was a good person, though he was extremely confused. Schuldig still insisted that one day they might be able to salvage what was left of him, but personally he wasn't sure if that would ever be possible, especially in moments like this.
It took just the slightest bit of power for the cuffs to be released; the other showed no signs of life at all, which meant nothing. "Are you hungry, Farfello?" He set the tray down near him, close enough so that he could reach it. Still no response. "It is lunchtime." He waited some more; sometimes it took him a while to come back to himself. "Farfello."
There was a flash of movement, almost more rapid than anything had the right to be - then a sharp grunt as Nagi reacted instinctively, throwing him back against the wall. The Irishman bounced back as if the impact had never occurred, forcing the younger man to restrain him with his powers again. "Farfello, stop this now. You know you can't win against me."
Farfello howled, struggling against him, wanting, needing to attack, to strike out, to damage something or someone. Anything, anything to stop the pain! (1)
It was his intention to wait out the fit and to calm down his friend, but he did not seem to tire and no sudden burst of reason entered his eyes. In frustration Nagi slammed him forcefully into the padded walls with just enough pressure to stun him momentarily. "What is wrong with you, Farfello?" There was no anger in his voice, the only emotion that crept into his voice a hint of curiosity. The fits never lasted this long nor were they usually this debilitating, either. Farfello had never failed to recognize him or the other members of Schwartz after an initial outburst. He had always stopped an attack when it was them, the people he recognized as his friends since they had all come to an understanding of sorts long ago. This was truly unnatural for him.
The man stirred and began to rise again, insanity in his eyes and blood on his mind. The shackles re-attached themselves to him; Nagi pushed the tray toward him with another small burst of telekinesis then watched him for a moment longer. "You should eat." It only took a small effort to deflect the tray that was thrown at him.
He left the cell quietly, the door shutting and latching behind him as he headed back to Brad and Schuldig with slightly quicker steps than he had used to reach the cell in the first place. They were as he had left them, mostly immobile in their fixed positions except for careful, minute movements that barely showed them as having some signs of life and proving that they were not, in fact, wax figures.
He stood in the doorway for a moment before entering the tension filled room, closing the door behind him. When Brad finally glanced his way, acknowledging his existence, he stared at him, holding his gaze and making their leader frown at him in confusion. Somehow, Nagi looked even more serious than usual, which was a rare thing indeed. He almost looked worried and that was just as rare an occurrence since hardly anything ever phased their youngest member unless it was truly noteworthy. Most often concern arose from something being out of character in their odd little "family unit", which meant that it had nothing to do with either of them - Brad and Schuldig's spats were more than typical and barely made Nagi bat an eye.
Schuldig, catching the brief exchange of glances, sat up straighter. "What? What is it?"
"Something is wrong with Farfello." Had Schuldig been in a more playful mood he might have said that of course there was something wrong with Farfello - they all knew that! Nagi was far too serious to make this a joking matter and the eeriness of the situation was getting to all of them. There was something horribly wrong about this place, about this situation, and especially about Rosenkruez.
"What do you mean?" Brad. He did not sound happy and his tone was a bit gruff and demanding, but that was to be expected.
Nagi did not really have any details to tell. "Just what I said. Something is wrong with him."
"Like what?" Schuldig persisted. "What happened?"
He stared blankly at the wall for a moment, trying to grasp the right words, being generally unfamiliar with the need to express himself verbally. "He tried to attack me. He fought back." Nagi frowned slightly, remembering the way Farfello had looked, his expression, his actions. "He wasn't there. He didn't recognize me nor I him."
"Not there?" A visible shudder tore through Schuldig and he suddenly wrapped his arms around himself, his eyes becoming distant. It was always disconcerting to feel the mind of someone who was there, but not. Farfello was a bit out of his mind, but he had never experienced the "not there" sensation around him. He had a tendency of losing his own thoughts around those "not there" individuals and when he came back to his own senses the person that caused it was dead. The only way for him to recover was to kill them. Of course, he had to be unshielded in the first place to sense them and he generally always had some sort of barrier protecting his mind at all times, though often they were semi-permeable shields.
"This isn't right."
That simple statement brought Schuldig snapping back to reality; he jumped to his feet, his eyes gleaming angrily as he pointed an accusing finger at his lover. "Now you agree with me? Only now after everything I said? It takes Farfello acting worse than usual for you to actually believe me?!"
Nagi took a breath, catching Brad's eye. Schuldig had not exactly been rational lately, either, and this was rather uncharacteristic for him. He argued, yes, but he usually got cues from them, from their minds, that he was not acting rationally and would calm down almost immediately. Was it possible he was blocking them out completely, which was something else that was unusual for them since he had always told them that their thoughts were soothing to him. Come to think of it, Nagi had not left the familiar nudge at the back of his mind lately, that little feeling that someone was watching over his shoulder or tugging at his sleeve that signified that Schuldig was there and wanted him to know there he was.
"I just think that there may be something going on here and this vague outline is not improving my opinion on this situation. Rosenkreuz and Esset are in on it and for some reason have not felt the need to include us on this little secret."
"Because WE ARE the little secret! It has to do with us!" Schuldig looked like he was on the verge of pulling his hair out, though he settled on frantically pacing up and down instead. "That makes sense, doesn't it? Why else wouldn't they tell us and why else would they need us and something is seriously, seriously screwed up here and I don't know what it is!" He stomped his foot suddenly then glared at Brad at if it were all somehow his fault. "It's so frustrating!"
Quietly Brad hauled himself to his feet and crossed the room to stand beside the upset redhead. When he attempted to steer Schuldig back to his seat he resisted at first, but eventually gave in and collapsed wearily. The agitated, unhappy look about him was progressively getting worse in much the same way Farfello seemed to be.
Brad's hand brushed against Schuldig's cheek in an uncharacteristic display of affection (or, at least as far as Nagi was used to seeing). "What is it that you are picking up? Tell me and perhaps we can figure out what it is together."
His eyes lowered and when he was able to raise them again they were shimmering with unshed tears that nearly shocked both of them. Schwartz did not cry; they made others cry. They were much too hardened and broken, each of them, to remember what it was like to shed a tear for any reason. Yet, there Schuldig was, looking lost, liquid welling in his eyes. "Nothing. I don't sense anything at all!"
"Nothing," Brad echoed flatly unable to comprehend what he was saying. "What do you mean?"
"It's gone! THAT is what I mean. Everything is just completely and utterly gone and I think I'm losing it, losing reality because nothing is right! I can't sense you or anyone or anything, but I do know something is wrong. I-it's like I am being blocked, trapped inside my own mind and I KNOW they shouldn't be able to do that because there isn't anyone capable of those abilities and even if they were, who could possibly teach them to do that?" He raised his arms as if to strike at him, but there was on malice or force behind it. Brad caught his wrists in more of a comforting rather than a restraining gesture. "It isn't right and I think we all know that."
Brad sat down heavily, shaking his head. "You should have told me that earlier."
"You wouldn't have believed me until you were ready to, anyway."
~~~~~~~~~~(1) Yes, I know - Farfello doesn't feel pain, physically, that is. ^^ Not talking about physical pain here.