If Mokuba Kaiba had never gone missing, it's likely no one would know about the kidnappings. The poor boy had been gone for weeks, meaning his affluent brother was causing a fuss with the police and in the media. Atem couldn't even count the number of times he'd had to defuse some situation or another with Seto. Not that anyone really blamed the man, losing a family member to something potentially devastating...

At least Atem knew how bad this could get. His partner, Jounochi, was the other party affected. His sister went missing and the case was a minor missing persons that quickly changed into a kidnapping and from there it only got worse. Only days ago they found her disembodied head at a playground near the station. Her eyes were missing along with her tongue and teeth, the amount of blood left behind was almost unreasonable, and was the first sign that the killer was sending them a message. Jounochi had been all but unreachable ever since.

It had been a good month since Mokuba had gone missing and everyone was beginning to fear the worst, keeping an eye on the area around the police station for more body parts. So far, none had popped up.

Then finally they had a break in the case. Someone who had seen the broadcast of the car that had been caught in security footage spoke up and when police got there, evidence of Shizuka Kawai's untimely death had been discovered in the basement. Fingers and the teeth that had been missing were sitting in bags along with a few other body parts... but even then some of them were missing, and the matter of Mokuba Kaiba was unsolved, not a single trace of the boy was found. Even still, they arrested the owner of the home, assuming he'd disposed of body parts and perhaps that Mokuba's case was entirely unrelated.

Mariku Ishtar had a history of mental illness and within minutes of speaking with him, Atem had no doubt he was completely off his rocker. The man had a perpetual grin, like he held some kind of secret, like this entire thing was nothing to him. He stared through you, reducing his conversation partner to nothing but a mass breaking up the air. His voice was enough to send chills down your spine.

But Atem wouldn't be broken so easily. He sat in that chair, waiting silently for what felt like hours for the crazed man to speak. When nothing came of his patience, he had to work up his own nerve to talk.

"What made you choose Shizuka Kawai?"

Without missing a beat, Mariku replied. "I didn't."

"You can't possibly be trying to deny you killed her, after what we found there's no chance you'll go free."

"Oh, I'm not denying anything. In fact I already know I've lost this game."

"So why can't you answer the question?"

"I did."

Atem had to refrain from giving him an incredulous look. They'd already decided he was crazy. Maybe that's why he answered to cryptically.

"Alright, then what led you to kill her?" He tried, sitting back in his seat and nearly scowling when Mariku made the same move.

"Why do you question me? Why do you come into work everyday? Because it is fun and it's your job." He replied, that same cheshire grin spread ear to ear.

"You think this is your job?"

"Job, calling... however you phrase it, it's what I'm good at."

"You've had no previous record of murder before."

"Not of people, no."

Ah, so he's a classic example of a serial killer then. The kind that torments animals and slaughters things smaller than him for the rush of power. For some reason that seemed like such a cop out.

"You're already caught, looking at a life sentence or worse... what aren't you telling me?" Atem leaned forward, finally taking notice that his posture wasn't the only thing Mariku mimicked, it was his every move. Atem's body went cold, despite the cuffs keeping this psycho secured, Atem did not feel safe.

"Oh, no no no. I'm not going to ruin the game. I'm sure you'll figure everything out soon enough, of course whether or not you'll be too late is yet to be seen."

"What game?! What good does this do you?"

"It's fun."

Atem had enough of this crazy fuck, he got out of his seat. He'd already gotten all he could out of him and he doubted Mariku would start making sense anytime soon. He could already hear the low rumble of a chuckle as he left the room, heading back for his desk.

Jou would want to know. Whether or not it was allowed, and regardless of if Mariku's apparent madness would make him feel better or worse, he had an obligation as his friend to tell him.

The young officer hardly left his house anymore, with a life already very rough it was unfair that he was the one to lose someone. All Atem could do now was be there for him, and he rang the doorbell with slight hesitation. Was he really up for this? He didn't have the option not to be.

The door opened, blocked by a chain. Atem saw Jou's tired eyes for a fraction of a second before the door closed and the click of the chain sent a wave of relief through Atem's body.

"Come in..." Jou mumbled, standing aside for Atem.

His eyes had the darkest rings around them, bloodshot as well, and slightly puffy from tears Jou wouldn't admit he'd shed. While he didn't exactly look malnourished, maybe it was the deep depression that made his face appear gaunt.

Atem kicked his shoes off and dared to give his friend a hug, contact that he knew the other wasn't really up for but he felt it necessary to prep him with that kind of tenderness. He waited a moment, and when it was clear Jou wasn't going to return the hug, he stepped back and looked up.

"We got him. Without a doubt, we got her killer."

The slow growing light that built up in his face was worth it. He wasn't going to all out sob, but Jou did have a few tears roll down his face. It didn't bring her back but at least there was some justice brought to the situation.

"Did you catch him?" Jou asked, taking a moment to calm himself.

"I did. It was the car, someone recognized it and reported him. She was... she was still there, it's because of that that he got arrested."

"It's absolutely disgusting. What kind of fucked up..."

"He's mentally unstable. He probably doesn't understand just how wrong it is. Not that I'm defending him or anything."

"Mental or not, I'm glad he's going down."

"Ah...what about the Kaiba kid?"

"You know, we never found any sign of him. I guess he's part of something different." Atem shrugged. He looked around at the conditions in the house. It looked like Jou really hadn't been taking care of himself. Mail was scattered on the floor and the kitchen was a disaster.

Stooping to pick up the mail that had collected over the time Jou had spent grieving, he flashed a smile and suggest Jou get them both something to drink. He'd clean up the kitchen himself. It was the least he could do.

And then one of the envelopes in his hand caught his eye, it was unaddressed, both to the house and from. Like a birthday card, with only 'Katsuya Jounochi' printed in Times New Roman. Whoever it was went to great lengths to make sure they couldn't be traced. Atem felt himself go cold though. If there was no address printed on it, that meant whoever put it there had come up and delivered it themselves. Fingers numb, Atem peeled the envelope open, the tearing of the seal deafening. He felt his mouth dry up when popping the envelope open and pulling its contents out. Several polaroid pictures and a folded letter dumped into his hand.

Atem sat the stack of mail down, choosing to focus on the strange mail and his breath caught at the sight of the pictures in hand.

They had been paperclipped together, so the one sitting on top was a very terrified image of Jounochi's sister. The poor girl had been stripped down entirely, sitting in her own feces for fuck knows how long. Her arms were bound over her head and her mouth stuffed with something, though he couldn't tell exactly what, it appeared at least to be a fabric of some kind. The second image was a bloody one, a close up of her face, riddled with tears, there was only one light source and it seemed to him that the flash of the camera was it. Either there was no light in this place, or there was only dim lighting. She was covered in scratches and cuts, but when they found the head, these wounds had almost disappeared. The third was where things got really bad, a gloved hand ran a knife through her eye, the image of pain and terror captured on her face was not one he'd forget, bile on her chin and her face twisted into a scream, captured by the sick fuck who had her. The other eye was already missing, blood almost entirely covered her face. The fourth was another full body, but her arms were missing, whether or not she was still alive was not something he was able to determine. The fifth showed the torso without any of its limbs, the head was on the floor, still in that mess of blood and human waste.

"What're you doing?" Jou called from the kitchen. "Don't just loiter in the entrance all night!"

"A-ah sorry!" He quickly shoved the images and letter in his pocket. He'd read it later and now he had more to add to the file. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to tell this to Jou, but for now he'd pretend he was entirely okay. After all, it was over now right?