I'm back, with another new fanfic that I shouldn't have started because I already have many wanting to be updated but I needed to satisfy my nearly Evil Within needs and this plot bunny wanted to be written.
Anyway, yes, I think it's safe to say I've been sucked into the Evil Within fandom, and I am yet to actually own a copy of the game. I've been mostly watching Markiplier play the game, and I have had a go at it when someone in my college brought her laptop that has the game on it. And so I had an idea for a fanfic.
I've decided to write about the first case that Sebastian and Joseph worked on together, and I want to explore how I think they would have been like during the early stages of their partnership. I wanted to be the first to do this, but saddly I never got this satisfyingly finished in time. Oh well, not that it's gonna stop me. Plus, I've been wanting to do a detective story, since I actually quite enjoy detective stuff.
A lot of what's gonna be in this story is mostly headcanon stuff, I'm doing the best I can with researching odd bits about the backgrounds of the characters and such, but since it's kinda vague the rest is gonna be somewhat made up. So just keep that in mind. And also, since this is set before the tragidy of Sebastian losing both his wife and daughter, the character's will most likely act differently to how they do in the game. So sorry if they may appear a little OOC at times.
Anyway, so I shall shut up now and let you read the fanfic for yourself. Enjoy~!
Chapter 1- A new partnership
Traffic was surprisingly quiet this morning. Well, as quiet as the morning rush hour in Krimson City can be. But nonetheless Sebastian managed to arrive at the police station earlier than normal. He parked his car in his usual parking space, grabbed his coffee and excited out of the vehicle.
He said hello to more or less everyone that he'd walked past, some of them noting his rather cheery mood. And he had a reason for being a little happier than usual. Today was the day he was going to propose to Myra. They had been together for a while now and he thought it was about time that they took that extra step in their relationship.
His plan was to take her out to an evening meal at one of her favourite restaurants, and while awaiting their food, that was when he was going to propose. There was nothing that could put a damper on his mood, he was practically bouncing with anticipation and excitement.
He blessed the day he and Myra were assigned as partners. There was something about her that he had never noticed in any other girls he'd dated, which made her all the more special. She had become her world, and he now he's going to make sure that it stays like that for the rest of his life.
He finally made it to his office, placing his coffee on the table. As he was taking off his jacket, there was a knock on the door. Sebastian turned to see the Chief standing by his door.
"Morning, Harry," Sebastian greeted.
"Morning, detective," Harry replied. "I have a new case for you today, should be an interesting one."
Sebastian perked up more than he already was at having to finally given field work. His last case ended at least a week ago and since then he's been doing nothing but paperwork. He prefers to get his hands stuck in the nitty gritty of crime fighting, rather than being stuck behind a desk.
"What do you have for me this time Chief?" He asked.
"Two bodies were found in a home on Fourth Avenue Street," Chief Harry said. "A woman and a man shot dead. I want you to go over as soon as you're ready. I've already sent your partner to start investigating."
"Oh? How come she's there already?" Sebastian queried. Myra never leaves for a case without him.
"I'm afraid Myra won't be joining you this time, I'm assigning you to a new partner."
Sebastian's face fell slightly. It was inevitable, but at the same time he would think he and Myra would be partners for a good few years at least. Well that's what he was hoping for anyway. But then again, maybe this new partner might be reliable, especially if they're already at the crime scene.
"So who's my new partner?" He asked.
"Detective Joseph Oda, just finished his training. He's quite a smart kid, he was here even before me this morning. Must have been rather eager to get to work on his first case."
"OK, I'll just get my things and then I'll be on my way," The chief nodded before leaving Sebastian to get his things gathered and sorted before heading off to work.
It was only a fifteen minute drive, and before long Sebastian had arrived at the house where the crime had taken place. He parked his car just behind a Police car, and took a swig of his still somewhat warm coffee before making his way out and onto the front porch.
Fourth Avenue Street was one of the much nicer and quieter streets of Krimson City. Hardly any crime was committed here, if at all, so it was certainly strange for Sebastian to be investigating a murder scene here. This place was practically a picture perfect suburban neighborhood.
He approached the officer who was stood outside, and presented his badge before him.
"Ah, Detective, you're here!" He proclaimed. "About time! I believe Detective Oda's still inside." Sebastian muttered a 'thank you' and headed off inside.
The house was rather nicely decorated. Plenty of photographs and paintings hung around the hallway. He ascended the stairs first, noticing how everyone was wondering up and down the stairs, and immediately headed for one of the rooms.
The room happened to be what he assumed was the master bedroom, judging by the double bed. Oh, and the bodies. Investigations were still yet to be finished up it seems, and Sebastian was glad that the forensic team hadn't moved them yet. He wanted a good look of them at the scene before looking at them a little closer in the morgue.
He took a good long look around the room. It was a rather a large and spacious room, the palette consisted of different shades of purple. On one wall stood a large wardrobe that ran the length of the room, with large mirror doors. The other side consisted of a dressing table with a mirror and an assortment of different kinds of make-up brands and fragrance bottles. The mirror was framed with photos of what Sebastian thought were friends and family of the couple. Speaking of which, one was found lying sprawled on the bed, the sheets covered in blood from what was obviously a bullet wound. The other was lying on the floor, and had also dead by a gunshot.
That was when Sebastian spotted the man kneeling next to the body, taking notes. He was very smartly dressed, black waist coat and trousers, with his white shirt tucked in neatly and buttoned all the way. His red tie was also neatly knotted, and a gun was seen by his side under his arm. He also noted the smooth leather gloves and the glasses that just perfects the whole intellectual look this guy wore.
"I'm assuming your Detective Oda," He wasn't really assuming, he already knew. His whole appearance gave it away.
The younger man looked up, his notebook and pen still poised.
"Yes," He replied, getting up. "Detective Joseph Oda."
"I'm Detective Sebastian Castenallos, your partner," He offered a hand and Joseph took it without hesitance. His gloves felt smooth and cool in his own callous hands, and they felt much smaller too. He took in his whole features as a whole, now that he was up close and personal. He had also just noticed that he happened to be Asian, and he must have been a good few years younger, probably hasn't been out of the Academy for long. If it wasn't for the intelligent look about him, he would have been worried about Joseph being the 'naive newbie type', but he appeared to be the very observant type. Just the right kind of skill for a Detective.
"I'm sorry if my head start was rather inconvenient for you," Joseph said.
"No, no, it's fine," Sebastian shrugged. "It's good that you got here nice and early, I'm guessing you've done plenty of note taking."
"I've noted everything that I felt convenient," He waved the notebook slightly in his hand. Sebastian gestured to take a look and quickly scanned though the small book. By god there's a lot of notes!
"I'm almost done here, so unless you want a closer look at things yourself, I don't think there's anything," Joseph took back the notebook and pocketed it along with his pen.
"I wanna just look around myself first," Sebastian decided. "Y'know, just in case you missed anything. Then again, with the amount of notes you've taken I don't think I need to do much looking." Joseph nodded and Sebastian got to work on investigating the scene himself.
A lot of what he saw was already in the young Detective's notes. He checked under the bed, the drawers in the dressing table and the wardrobe, finding nothing that Joseph hadn't.
"Have you checked downstairs yet?" Sebastian asked.
"Not thoroughly, my top priority was the bedroom," Joseph replied.
"It's best if we should, and we can always ask any of the officers and forensics about their findings. They could have something we haven't."
The two headed downstairs. There were still plenty of investigators around, and it looked like the forensic team were getting ready to bag the bodies and move them. Before they could enter the living room, they were stopped by an officer, waving a plastic bag of what one could only assume was evidence.
"I think we found something you'll find rather interesting," He said. He gave the bag to Sebastian, who looked closely at the contents.
"Papers," He noted.
"They're written in something like Chinese, and not very neatly too," The officer added. "Thought you guy's might like a crack at it."
"Shall do, thanks." Sebastian pocketed the bag in the pocket of his jacket.
After looking around the entire building, the time came to conclude their investigations and head back to the station. Since Joseph was escorted here, he had hitched ride with Sebastian, which he insisted now that they were officially working together.
"How about we stop by for a coffee, take a breather before we head back," Sebastian suggested, a he was unlocking his car.
"Shouldn't we get straight on rather than 'taking a breather'?" Joseph stated.
"Nah, it won't be long. We can always take the coffee with us if you really wanna crack on." He heard a slight sigh, before a confirmation that they would both be getting coffee.
Once he was seated and belted up, Sebastian turned on the ignition and drove off to find the nearest Starbucks
It was relatively quiet in the coffee shop, and thankfully they had gotten their orders pretty quickly. They had decided to have coffee to go since Joseph insisted that if they were going to get coffee, they can have it on the way rather than spending half an hour at the café when they could be working on the case. Not that Sebastian was complaining. He still got coffee and a chance to take a small break before getting on with solving this case. Plus he wanting a chance to get to know his new partner before properly start working together.
"So, Joseph," Sebastian's starts, as he revs up the engine of his car. "Where is it you come from? You don't really seem the type to have lived in Krimson City that long."
"I was born and raised in Toronto," Joseph replied, cupping his warm, milky coffee. "My family actual all come from Japan."
"I see," Sebastian commented. "What made you want to move down to this City?"
They was a hesitant pause for a second, as if Joseph was mulling over what his reasons were.
"I guess I wanted a change of scenery," He finally answered, sipping at his coffee. Sebastian took a chance to glance at him. He was about to open his mouth, but decided to drop the subject. He could tell that the Kid didn't really want to talk about why he was here, which is pretty understandable. Maybe something happened and he just wanted to leave it all behind.
"What about you then?" Joseph suddenly asked.
"huh?" Came Sebastian's response.
"You lived here long?"
"Oh, yeah, lived here my whole life, more or less," He answered. "I've always wanted to become a Detective. It's not so much about solving crimes as it is about wanting to help people." He heard Joseph hum his understanding.
They were soon back at the station, and they took no time in getting out and heading off inside. Their first order of business was to review what they had so far, before analysing the evidence and getting the gist of why the murder happened.
Probably the most difficult part at the moment was finding the reason behind the murders. One could say that the culprit wanted to rob them, and since they didn't want the police after them, they shot the victims to keep them quiet. However, there wasn't much that looked suspicious enough to be out of place. For now, they decided to focus on finding as much information as possible as to what happened, through the eye witnesses' accounts and the evidence they've found so far.
Sebastian was staring intently at the paper that the officer at the scene had given him. As he had said, there were what Sebastian assumed at first were Chinese characters. It didn't help that he knew jack shit about Chinese. The dictionary he found was absolutely useless. Then again, any language dictionary was useless to him.
"Any luck?" Sebastian looked up from the paper and saw Joseph was now standing by his desk, holding a file he'd been looking through.
"No," He sighed, throwing the paper away from him. "Don't suppose you will?"
"I can try at least," Joseph took the sheet and scanned it thoroughly. There was a rather lengthy pause, and somewhere in the middle his brow started to crease into a frown. Then his whole face widen as if he just realised something.
"This is Kanji," He muttered, his eyes darting around the paper.
"Kanji?" Sebastian asked, feeling rather puzzled.
"This is Japanese not Chinese," Joseph elaborated. He still didn't tear his eyes away, as if transfixed.
"Oh," Sebastian replied. "Wait, didn't you say you were Japanese?"
"S-sort of, but-"
"That means you can read it."
"I never said I spoke Japanese," Joseph had now turned his full attention to the older Detective.
"But you said your family were," Sebastian countered.
"Well, yeah, but I'm only half Japanese. And to be honest I only really speak basic Japanese."
"And here I thought you could crack this in two seconds."
"I'm sorry, I guess I'm not as smart as I appear to be!" Sebastian looked a little stunned by Joseph's sudden outburst. He hadn't realised he had somehow touched a nerve.
"Sorry, kid, my mistake," He finally said, holding his hands up in defense. "I guess I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."
"Well next time, don't! And don't call me kid, I'm only a few years younger," Joseph snapped, before turning his back to Sebastian and storming out of the room.
Oh great! Look what you've done now, Castenallos! You pissed off your new partner and you hardly even started on this case.
I hope this first chapter was satisfying enough for you. I had rewrite practically half of it because it just didn't work. I kinda wanna rewrite it still, but I decided to leave it as it is. Either way, I was always gonna at some point have Joseph suddenly get annoyed at Seb for no real reason, cause why not? I can actually see their partnership starting out like this.
Fun fact: The case that they're working on is somewhat inspired by the Blind Banker episode of Sherlock, since I was watching that when I started writing it.
So I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, and hope to see more (be warned, updates may end up being EXTREMELY slow, just a heads up. I just write whenever I have motivation, and usually there's a lack of it), and feel free to leave a review and fave/follow~!