sakon76

A scene I wrote before I realized "wait, Ran wasn't *there* for that line in the last chapter."

Yes, the screams are significant.

Ran sat in a landing of the building's stairwell, back to the dividing wall, stairs going up to his left and down to his right. He was warm in the autumn sun as he contemplated a spot on the cement opposite.

"I ain't your fucking dog, Crawford," Schuldich had snarled at the other Schwarz the night before.

Was that true, Ran wondered.

He had never had any illusions about being owned by Kritiker. When Birman had caught him that time, while he was freelancing between his time in Crashers and his time in Weiss, her words and their implications had been quite clear: "Will you be my dog, or will you die here?"

He'd chosen life.

He'd been Birman's dog, and Manx's, and Persia's.

Was it true that Schuldich wasn't owned like that?

Or was it only true that Crawford wasn't the one who owned him?

Ran's face tilted upward until the back of his head hit concrete.

Then his musings were interrupted by screams coming from Youji's apartment.