DISCLAIMER: I do not own Heavy Rain or any of its characters. Just an unhealthy love for all things Blayden.
A/N: I don't know why I love Jayden and Blake, but I do. For some reason or another, while working on other projects, my muse decided to remind me of this fact and inspired me to write a "what if Blake and Jayden did the trials" fic. So, here we are :) I do love how they interact, though. Their dialogue is full of gold. Plus it was a good reason to play through the game again.
Five Little Figures
Chapter 1: The Letter
Set in: Welcome, Norman!
Police Department
Tuesday
7:55pm
1.326 inches
Norman Jayden watched Ethan Mars slump away, head down and shoulders sagging. Jayden frowned and folded his arms across his chest. Guy looks so defeated, he considered. There's got to be more to the story besides his son disappearing.
"Last thing we need is for more work to be thrown at us when the fucking Origami Killer is on the loose," Carter Blake grumbled with a dismissive huff. "Guy can't even watch his kid and he expects us to solve the problem for him."
He closed up the file containing the information about Shaun Mars' disappearance and tossed the folder on top of the growing pile of paperwork and reports in the wire basket on the corner of his desk. Blake's desk chair creaked as he leaned back in it, his eyes drifting up to the face of the FBI agent standing still and silent next to him.
"Hey, Earth to Jayden," he said when he received no response.
Jayden said nothing, his focus entirely on Ethan Mars as the man weaved his way through the crowded and lively bullpen. A rookie officer was walking backward as he shouted something to his superior across the room, nearly crashing into Mars in the process. The uniformed officer apologized profusely to the distraught dad, who merely waved him off with as much of a smile as he could muster. The interaction itself was nothing spectacular; Jayden's blue eyes were drawn to the envelope that slipped out of Mars' pocket and fluttered to the floor. He hurried over to the spot where the letter dropped.
"Jayden, what the hell?" Blake threw his hands up, exasperated, as the agent walked off. "I was still talking to you!"
Jayden ignored the detective and kept walking, performing an intricate dance through the cluttered desks and endlessly moving individuals to reach the letter on the floor. Swiping the fallen envelope before his fingers could be stepped on, Jayden looked over the envelope. It was addressed to Ethan Mars, but did not have any indication of who the sender was; no name, no return address. There was a stamp in the corner, but there was no mark from the post office showing it had been processed. By all accounts, it could have simply been dropped into Ethan Mars' mailbox by the sender.
Looking up, Jayden spied Mars as he rounded the corner to go out of the bullpen. He hustled after the man, holding the envelope out as if to hand it to him. Jayden halted when he saw Mars speaking with a tearful woman. She turned away from him briefly before storming back over, emotional and heartbroken.
"How could you lose Shaun like that?" she asked him. "You should never have taken your eyes off him!"
It was Mars' turn to walk away from the conversation, but that did not deter the woman from continuing.
"For God's sake, how hard is it to keep your eye on a child in the park?"
Jayden ducked back around the corner to avoid being spotted spying on the argument as Mars' forlorn stare lingered in his direction.
"Why did you leave him, Ethan? Why?" the woman asked. "Wasn't it enough losing Jason?"
Losing Jason? The words echoed in Jayden's mind. He tucked that information away for the time being and returned his attention back to the two individuals.
"I'm sorry…" the woman stared down at the floor. "That's not what I meant to say."
She brushed away some tears as she expressed how much she missed the Jason she had just spoken of. Mars said nothing, Jayden figuring it was the only way the man could keep it together.
Beginning a slow walk back to the bullpen, Jayden looked down at the envelope in his hands. Ethan Mars' address is listed right on the envelope, he thought. I can drop it off later, after I leave for the night. I don't want to interrupt right now; he seems to have enough on his plate already.
Jayden tucked the letter into his suit coat pocket and made his way toward his makeshift office at the back of the bullpen.