Chapter 1

Of Chases and the Unreasonably Reasonless

From the view of any soul standing outside of the Louvre's securely guarded walls, it would seem as if nothing was out of place. That particular night would seem strangely calm; not even the ominous humming of nearby car engines would seem to disturb the silence. Any passerby would take no notice to how enveloping the darkness was.

However, on that particular night there was nobody present. Nobody would notice the obvious harbinger in the change of atmosphere, and not a single beating heart was in the Louvre's periphery that could have recalled the frantic chase that began there.

No one witnessed the cloaked man that was sprinting away from his armed female pursuer.

No one knew what he had done within the Louvre, and no one knew the girl.

The man ran, and she followed him, with her breath ragged and her heart beating at an incredibly fast pace. She had been made witness to a murder, and was now intent on apprehending the one responsible. As she quickened her pace, her hand slipped down to her gun, and with shaky fingers she drew it.

Still running, and with her arms now raised, she aimed at the murderer's broad shoulders. She intended to wound, not to kill. However, as her finger lightly touched the trigger, preparing to shoot, the man lurched around what seemed to be an invisible corner.

Only for a moment did her thoughts waver, and before being able to command her body to stop, she had also turned the corner and rammed headlong into the murderer's grasp.

As she was flung around and her wrist was twisted to her back by the man, she managed a last defensive action. All her anger and fear was converted into energy, and she struck her attacker's knee with such brute force that he seemed to partially collapse. Not a moment later, however, he regained control and had an even stronger hold on her than before. The man wrenched the gun out of her grasp, immediately placing the mouth at her temples.

"It would be wise to purge your memory of what you witnessed tonight."

His words were breathy, and even in whispers some sort of accent was recognizably thick. He was also wheezing quote noticeably. His face was at such a close proximity to hers that she could feel the heat radiating from him, and an unpleasant and unrecognizable smell entered her nose. She couldn't avert her gaze far enough to see his face, but out of the corner of her eye his skin looked illuminated.

The gun was cocked, and more pressure was put on her head.

"I insist that you comply. There is no need for an unnecessary death tonight."

For a fraction of a second, her breathing stopped, and she froze.

However, no eloquently weaved words would be able to divert her strong belief in justice. Myriad thoughts were telling her to flee. But her mind stayed focused on her deepest belief. This man was dangerous, and he needed to be locked up.

Of all the intelligent things that this girl could have done – of all the things that were just slightly reasonable - this girl chose to shut down all worthwhile thoughts, and started to depend on her hormones and physical strength. She struggled and writhed.

She burned up every remaining amount of energy in her body attempting desperately to harm the man. She kicked and twisted around, trying to get out of the arm-lock that he had her in. She punched, clawed, and bit anything and everything that seemed to be attached to him, yet she didn't phase him in the slightest. He merely growled angrily and roughly jerked her arm in an unpleasant direction.

The sudden pain that ran through her wrist and shoulder cleared her head, and she stopped struggling, letting out a soundless cry. Her body immediately tensed up, trying not to move in fear of hurting her broken arm.

Cruelly, her arm was twisted even further. Her knees became weak, and her vision blurred.

Finally, the woman screamed as the man wrenched her arm around one more time, and threw her to the ground.

Trying to ignore the pain, and knowing how dangerous is would be not to move, she rolled onto her back and glimpsed at her attacker's face. In an instant, his features were embedded into her memory.

He directed the gun at her chest.

As she stared at the opening of the gun, a crooked smile flickered across her face, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. The single emotion she felt was fury.

So this was how she was going to die? In this shit hole? In this situation? Without any recognition?

And suddenly... so suddenly... she felt tired. So comfortingly tired. Her thoughts were weakened, and her body was exhausted. The image of her impending death drifted away, and her muscles stopped. Even the pain seemed to fade a little.

She rested her head on the freezing concrete and slept.

* * *

It was strange seeing the disheveled young woman sleeping so peacefully.

Although he had seen this reaction from so many of his victims, it was always fascinating when they did 'fall asleep'. He knew it was more of a graceful collapse due to pain and lack of energy. But it rendered them so vulnerable.

The man allowed himself to relax his muscles and think through his next steps a bit more thoroughly. He lowered the gun and hid it inside his He would need to get rid of anything that would identify the woman's corpse once he had killed her. Fingerprints and DNA he wasn't worried about, since he knew that the Police Judiciaire didn't have a profile on him. That, and it didn't even know he existed.

He removed his hood with slender fingers, and proceeded to search the woman's clothes. His movements were quick and a bit rough. He wasn't worried about her regaining conscious, but still he felt that respect was needed. He pointedly avoided feeling anywhere inappropriate. Temptation would not sway him.

He found a wallet, chap-stick, and a tattered photograph of the woman and a male companion. Discarding the latter two on the ground, he opened the wallet.

The Police Judiciaire insignia sewn to the inside of the wallet turned the whole situation on its side. It made him pause, and he gazed over at the still unconscious woman.

'This woman could either be a dangerous and useful asset to the Teacher...' the man thought, 'or harmless and useless dead.'

How would he make this decision without the aid of the Teacher? Would he be punished for eliminating the perfect hostage, or punished for not wiping her out when he had the chance? Then again, he thought, if the Teacher never found out about the girl, what could he get mad about.

But the Lord would see, he realized. The Lord would always see. And the Teacher, being such a man of God, would without a doubt find out sooner or later.

Going through the rest of her wallet, he discovered a drivers license. Although smiling was prohibited on any sort of personal identification card, the corner of her mouth was slightly slanted upward in a strange smirk. She had a mess of mousy brown hair, and according to information on the card, her eyes were green.

He read her name.

The look he'd previously had in his eyes softened. God was clearly on his side, and this was meant to be a sign. He was certain now of what needed to be done.

Replacing the wallet's contents and stashing it away in his pocket, he knelt down beside the sleeping female figure. Somewhat gentler than he had been before, he placed his arm behind her head and lifted her limp body.

Currently, this woman was more useful alive.

Killing her off would be easy if necessary.

First off, thank you for reading all the way to the end! And if you plan on reviewing, please give me a number (on a scale of 1-10) of how much of a Mary-Sue you think my female character is so far. 1 being 'Not at all', 10 being 'Pure-blooded Mary Sue'.

Yes, a plot will be developing. There will be more than just romance and drama throughout the story.

What happened to my female character (name still to be revealed) can happen. Think about the situation: She's wounded, has used up all her energy, and has billions of hormones working at the same time to create fear. Of course a collapse is possible.

I realize that it may have been a slow and a bit confusing beginning. And if you didn't read everything, you might have been a bit lost. My apologies!

All hail Dan Brown! :D

~Misirou~