Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ New Beginnings ❯ All Around Silence ( Chapter 1 )

New Beginnings: Ch.1

by Shakaku

Disclaimer: These people don't belong to me ::softly crying::

Author's note: Nothing much to say about this one…err…read? C&C much appreciated ^_^

Italics are personal thoughts.

{Italics and Brackets} are telepathic.

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{Hurry up, Mastermind. You're wasting time.}

Schuldich sneered to himself, pulling the cigarette from his lips. If he hadn't secretly agreed with Crawford's mental criticism, some snide remark would've followed. But as it was, he did agree. Damn his (usually suppressed) worrying side…

The tension was building in these final moments of the mission, and if he didn't act quickly, their target was going to escape. Well, he couldn't let that happen. He had Schwarz's reputation to protect.

Bracing himself against the wall, Schuldich let out a deep sigh. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a well-dressed, but annoyingly shrimpy man looking somewhat vacant behind thick-rimmed glasses in the far corner of the room. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why Crawford thought this guy was so much of a threat to their budding organization.

After their last decisive fight with Weiss, Schwarz had taken to the shadows. The death of Eszet had left them free to their own devices, and they were currently pulling towards achieving the chaotic kingdom of their dreams. First step: destroy all opposition. Crawford would get visions on different enemies-to-be, and the said persons would be eliminated. Easy as pie. Lemon pie. With strawberry sauce and… Damn, he was hungry.

{Three minutes left.} Crawford's voice rang in his head warningly, breaking off his silent meditation.

Scowling slightly, Schuldich reached out with mental feelers, running them along the edge of the target's consciousness. The man's mind seemed as shrunken as his body, caving and twisted in on itself. A mass of confused thoughts rained over the telepath, which he brushed away unconcernedly. He was aiming for certain strings of thoughts or memories…ones of self-image or history. If those were found, he could slowly break apart the man's universe, destroying everything that tied him to a happy existence. The result? Insanity. Mission completed.

Schuldich cackled inwardly, brushing against a childhood memory. Strange…those weren't usually located so far on the outskirts of the brain, most minds preferring to package this type away for careful preservation. No matter. He ripped silently at the memory, using it to tear his way deeper inside. Fragmented thoughts surrounded him. Half-imagined ideas, pieced together somewhat haphazardly. Now this definitely wasn't right.

{Schuldich! Stop! I…} It was Crawford's voice again…why did it sound so far away? And he seemed…frightened. The telepath shrugged mentally, pulling to withdraw from the weirdo's mind. The target's thoughts closed in around his own consciousness, keeping him inside.

What the…?! He pulled again, harder, tearing some of his own mind in an effort to be released. Still it held him, strangely fragmented thoughts plowing to the surface. Like a bad day, it dawned on him.

This man had been broken before, by some other telepath… Why hadn't he felt it before?

The target's thoughts seeped further into Schuldich's… It hurt.

Crawford's telepathic voice was like a whisper on the back of his mind, slightly covered by somebody's screams. Schuldich's screams. Schuldich, the great and powerful telepath, who had erased an uncountable number from the face of the earth, was going to be killed by a man not even half his physical size. In the portion of his mind still unaffected by the other person's demented brain waves, he almost laughed. It seemed Fate disliked him.