a/n: (updated for future readers (1/9/16)) Hi and welcome! So this is a "slow-burning" story driven drama about the two girls set in a modern AU. Noteworthy characters from the game/comic pop up here and there, but perhaps not to the importance as expected. I say this because the girls are by far the main focus, which doesn't leave an extensive amount of story development for the others.
This is, as noted in the description, an ElliexRiley (Rellie should you prefer) story. There's a bit of building to get to that point, but their relationship will be a heavy focus for the second half of the story.
There are 42 chapters at about 2,500 words each on average. In total there are about 110k words. And I would recommend against looking at the reviews since spoilers are all over the place in them.
So I think that's it. I spent quite a lot of time on this story overall and just did a polish for a bunch of it, so I hope the quality reflects that. And thanks for giving it a shot! (or not, that's okay too).
1;
The time was late, about a quarter to midnight, and the automatic sliding glass door leading outside was pitch black. The moonless night prevented him from seeing even just a short distance out into the world. The only light able to be seen was a dim speck from one of the parking lot lamps.
The precinct that he manned the front desk for was moving at a slow pace. A couple people here and there, but at this time it was rare for much foot traffic, which was preferred as it meant that few problems warranted police action. Quiet conversations between officers were taking place throughout the room causing a low, but relaxing, droning noise. The occasional phone ringing from somewhere in the offices behind him was distracting to a degree, but he was able to ignore most of it.
As he was settling into his chair and preparing for an uneventful evening, he suddenly found himself watching in interest as a dazed looking woman came partially staggering in through the glass door with a small child next to her. She looked around for a moment before catching the man's eyes and walking up to his small desk in the middle of the entrance room. Her hair was a dark brown, her left eye was bruised, and she had a minor smell of alcohol on her breath.
"Yes, hi, um… my name is Chloe Abel." The hand she didn't have resting on his desk was mildly shaking, as was her voice. "I want to… need to, get a, um, restraining order? On my boyfriend."
Her tone was conflicting with her words and caused some confusion. "Was that a question, ma'am?"
"No, it's… I'm sorry, it wasn't. It was a, um, request. To make one, or get one. On him. Please."
He examined her as she spoke, finding her perpetual wide-eyed way of speaking peculiar. He wasn't sure if that was normal or had relevance with why she was standing in front of him. He leaned forward from his chair, causing it to creak from the shift in weight, and looked over the edge of his counter. He saw a young girl clinging to the back of the woman's legs, her face half hidden and peering back out at the officer. She was wearing some worn looking jeans and an equally ragged t-shirt. She had shoulder length hair that was the same color as the woman's, who he presumed was the mother. He guessed she was probably five or, at most, six years old.
He leaned back and regained eye contact with the woman. "I'm sorry ma'am, but in order to request a restraining order you'll need to speak with the city courts. The most I can do right now is give you information for the process itself, but you'll still need to visit them tomorrow in order to legally obtain one."
"I see." She scratched the back of her head nervously. "Well, thanks anyway." She turned around and started walking away with the young girl still holding on.
He sighed before motioning her back over. "Hold on."
He had dealt with a lot of the outside world's problems working in the building. And though seeing what people can do to each other day after day was difficult to handle, working the job as long as he had caused him to become desensitized to it all to an extent. But whenever a child was involved the impact of the situation hit him just as hard as it did on his first day.
"…yes?"
"I may not be able to help you out with what you specifically want tonight, but if you'd like you can press charges for the time being. It's not a restraining order, but if you do, and should an officer spot your boyfriend's car, they could bring him in. Up to you."
The woman straightened her posture and raised her head as she looked back at him. She nodded and walked back over to his desk.
"Okay. We should… let's do that."
The officer nodded back and continued. "Alright, I'll go ahead and start the process. If you'd like I can suggest a nearby motel that you can stay in for the night in case you're currently living with him."
"I am… and that sounds good."
"It's not much, but at least you and your daughter can be safe in an unknown location. And when the courts open in the morning you can head directly over there to fill out the paperwork."
The woman shifted her eyes slightly back and forth, still clearly nervous, but then quickly gave another nod. "Where is it?"
After finishing up the report and then giving the woman directions, he watched as she headed out the door in a seemingly less nervous state than just minutes earlier. As they disappeared into the black night and out of his sight, he began unintentionally tapping his pencil against his counter out of concern.
Chloe and the young girl pulled out of the department's parking lot and drove west along the street as per the officer's instructions. The car's headlights were their only source of visibility on the pitch black night, but after five miles a lighted sign appeared on the horizon that steadily grew taller as they approached. It displayed the words 'Night Light Motel' in large letters with a small vacancy sign below.
She parked the car just outside the office's doors and left the car running while she went in. A few minutes later she came out with a key and pulled the car around to a spot in front of the assigned room. She got out, hurried over to the room, and unlocked it, only to turn around and spot the girl still sitting in the car.
"Riley, come on! Let's get inside."
The girl hopped out of the car and skipped over to the mother who was waiting just on the inside of the room. Chloe looked around before running out to the car to close the girl's door. She came back in, dead bolted the door, and closed the curtains. She sat down on the single bed in the room with a slight sense of relief and patted the spot next to her.
"Riley, get away from there. Come sit next to me." The girl listened and sat herself on the bed and started kicking her feet against it. "We're going to be here just for the night, okay?"
The girl focused on the door for a second before turning to the mother and staring at her innocently. "I miss Mr. Panda."
She sighed and put an arm around her, pulling her into her side. "I know sweetie. I'm sure Mr. Panda misses you too, but you'll get to see him tomorrow." She could hear that her own words came out unsteadily, likely not reassuring the girl. "Now hop in bed, we've got to get up early."
"Okay…" She sounded disappointed but listened anyways and crawled herself along the bed to the side nearest the wall.
Chloe took her shoes off and rested them at the foot of the bed. She then slightly lifted her shirt and un-holstered a small pistol that she kept hidden within her waistband, placing it on the nightstand next to her. She laid on the bed on her side and watched the door carefully, intentionally keeping herself between Riley and it. Their day had been long and she was slowly losing the fight to exhaustion, eventually giving in.
"Chloe! I know you're in there! Open the damn door!" The words that penetrated the room were almost completely slurred together, though still somehow coherent.
Her eyes shot open and stared out into the black room. "Shit!"
She glanced over at the clock sitting on the nightstand which read nearly a quarter to four in the morning. She immediately slid herself out of bed, grabbed the gun off the nightstand, and pointed it at the middle of the door. Her hands were shaking as she repeatedly alternated between rubbing the sleep from her eyes and keeping her aim steady.
"Riley, come here sweetheart." The girl sleepily fell out of bed and stood next to her with her eyes half closed. "I'm gonna need you to go into the bathroom and stay there. Don't come out until I tell you, okay?"
Riley nodded her head and confusedly walked into the bathroom and sat in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chin.
With the door now closed, Chloe pulled the phone out of her pocket and dialed 911.
"Chloe! Get out here now!"
The phone clicked and she heard the operator on the other side of the line ask her for the emergency.
"There's someone outside my motel room and they're trying to break in. Please get-"
A repeated series of blows on the door from the outside sent a loud tremor through the room.
"Mommy!"
"Stay in there, Riley!" She put the phone back to her ear. "Please get someone here now! I'm staying in room thirteen at the 'Night Light' motel." She hung the phone up after receiving confirmation and went back to concentrating her gun on the door.
After a few minutes of unrelenting pounding and yelling, the room was suddenly flooded in a pattern of flashing blue and red lights. She cautiously relaxed her grip when the pounding suddenly stopped. She warily walked herself over to the window and slid a finger between the curtains to peer out. She spotted a police cruiser parked diagonally out in front of her room with its officer standing next to it. His hand was laid on the side of his holster and the other extended out towards her door.
The officer's voice outside was distinct and commanding. "Sir, I'm going to need to you move away from the door and come talk to me."
The man at the door stopped and bowed his head for a moment before slowly turning and staring down the officer. "No offense, officer, but this doesn't involve you. I'm just here to… talk to my girlfriend."
The officer noticed, as the man turned, a glint off of something metal in his hand. He tensed up and immediately pulled his gun from its holster, aiming it directly at him and becoming severe in his commands.
"Drop the knife and get on the ground, right now!"
The man took a staggered step forward and continued on as though he didn't hear anything. "Like I said, officer, this doesn't involve you. So just, go… go ahead and get back in your car and I'll forget this ever happened. How's that sound?"
"Last time, drop the knife and get on the ground! I'm not going to warn you again!" The officer took one step back and quickly scanned the area, spotting several opened doors with curious eyes within their gaps.
The man's face shifted from smug to angry in a split second. "Now that's just not very nice. You see, when someone offers you-"
Before he finished his sentence he took a few fast steps toward the officer who broke the night's silence with three echoing cracks. The man hit the ground and slid a few feet along the loose asphalt of the parking lot, soon leaving a pool of blood where he lay.
The officer's hands were slightly shaking as he eased the gun back into his holster and pressed the switch on his radio set. "I have a 10-53 here at the 'Night Light' motel."
He took a deep breath after the voice over the radio confirmed his request. He slowly looked around at the L shaped two story motel as the red and blue lights of his car lit up its walls. Several of the rooms now had their own lights switched on with their own nervous onlookers within their windows. He walked over to the man on the ground and kicked away the knife that was lying within reach of his hand. He knelt over and pressed his fingers against his neck and found no pulse.
He looked back up and noticed a mostly empty window frame that belonged to the room the man was banging on, and that now had a pool of broken glass densely scattered on the ground in front of it. He walked past the man on the ground and over toward the window and shone his flashlight throughout the dark room. Its beam revealed a woman laying against the far wall with her head slumped forward.
"…oh shit." He found his breath suddenly labored.
He walked through the glass, each step emitting a crunch, and carefully stepped over the window frame that was now laden with jagged pieces. He moved more cautiously towards the woman after he had spotted a gun lying on the ground next to her. She had dark brown hair and a white tank top that was saturated with blood, the source of it near the center of her chest. He tilted his head to the side and held the button.
"I also have a 901, civilian shot. Requesting immediate medical assistance."
He lost himself in a daze for a moment while taking in the aftermath he unintentionally created. His trance was broken when he heard muffled sobbing coming from behind the door next to him.
He shook his head before reaching for its handle and slowly pulling it toward him. His heart sank immediately when he illuminated a small girl staring back at him with her knees tightly pulled in and tears soaking her cheeks. He glanced back at the other woman and then back to the girl.
Though his voice shaking, he spoke with the softest voice he could manage. "What's your name, sweetie?"
She looked him over slowly and wiped one of her cheeks with a sniffle. "…Riley."
"Hi, Riley, my name is Andrew. I'm a police officer. I'd like to bring you outside where it's much nicer than this stinky ol' bathroom. Is that okay?"
She barely managed to nod her head.
"Okay then. Come on."
He held her hand and slowly walked her out of the motel room while making sure to keep himself between the girl and the woman lying on the ground, as well as the man outside. They sat and waited on the curb away from the room for several minutes before other flashing lights eventually joined the ones from his own cruiser.
Separate ambulances took away the two bodies that had been covered in a black plastic. One of the paramedics did a quick analysis on the small girl before putting a blanket around her and telling the officer she was physically fine. The ambulances eventually drove off, leaving the officer to take care of the girl.
He put her in the back of his car and drove them back to the same precinct where she and Chloe had been just hours earlier looking for help. The officer at the desk watched in dismay as Andrew and the same little girl walked in together without the mother.
They walked passed him and into one of the offices where a female officer was already waiting, there to comfort Riley the best she could.
Andrew took a spot behind his computer and began looking through the department's system for information on the name 'Chloe Abel.' Reading through the results it became quickly apparent that, aside from her own daughter, she had no real family, immediate or distant. He sighed and began the paperwork.
