A/N: Hello, everyone! Orion Fowl here with the first piece of 2017! This is a present for a friend of mine, so I hope you and everyone else enjoys this! This is Ghost Trick femslash, and it takes a few liberties with how the game ended. But if you can get past that, then it's time for femslash!
Time enough now: a Ghost Trick yuri one-shot
There were a few reasons why Detective Lynne was someone Officer Memry shouldn't pay any attention to: her rather ridiculous hairstyle, her reputation of getting into a rather alarming amount of life-risking situations while on assignment, her perky attitude being grating, and so on.
Except if Memry were being completely honest, Lynne's hairstyle wasn't that bad (and was a pretty nice shade of red to boot), and her attitude wasn't actually grating (quite the opposite, actually). As for getting into hazardous situations, that was absolutely true, and Lynne somehow found ways to escape them by the skin of her teeth.
Except in Memry's mind, there were were faint fragments of- not a memory, exactly, but of a time when Lynne put herself in peril, and didn't make it out alive. What it meant, Memry didn't know, but it caused the officer to want to get to know Lynne better. The only issue was finding a way to approach her.
Thank goodness this is my last day on this assignment, Memry thought to herself as she skated around the Chicken Kitchen. She'd been posing as waitress for quite a while now, and was getting pretty good at it. Tonight, however, she was on the verge of a breakthrough. Two guests were supposed to arrive very soon that were key to her current case, and she was in radio contact with her partner for the case Detective Rindge.
The Chief was already upstairs, along with that dreamy bartender. If Memry played her cards just right, she could end tonight with everything: a position in the Special Investigation Unit, and a romance with the bartender upstairs. All she had to do was make sure the listening bug in her work uniform pocket made it to the right place.
Then Detective Lynne walked into the restaurant, causing Memry to almost stumble in her skates. When she called Detective Rindge, he didn't know why she was there either. If anything, he sounded a lot more surprised than she felt. Memry skated back out, and as her luck would have it, the plucky redhead spotted her and called her over.
Adjusting her chicken hat, Memry steeled herself and skated her way to the detective. Once she was finished with this brief distraction, she could get back to her job.
"Heeeey there, Officer Memry. You seem to be awfully distracted."
Memry started at the sound of Inspector Cabanela talking, only to see him and Detective Rindge at her desk, both looking unimpressed with her. Memry immediately saluted her two superiors, hoping to recover from this.
"I'm not distracted, I'm focused!" Memry exclaimed, while also discreetly hiding her still unfinished paperwork under her hands.
Detective Rindge gave a long suffering sigh. "I'm sure you are. Which is why you were looking at all the officers and not at your paperwork. You better not be thinking of one of your workplace romances."
Officer Memry couldn't help but flinch. In fact, she'd been stealing glances over at Detective Lynne chatting cheerfully with other officers. Judging by how much fun the officers seemed to be having, Lynne should be easy to approach. So why did the thought make Memry break out in a sweat?
Lynne even talked to her briefly, at the Chicken Kitchen a few months ago. While it was only to ask for water for her chicken, just that had been enough to make Memry's stomach fill with butterflies. The seriousness Lynne approached eating with should be annoying, but it was endearing instead.
Leave it to Detective Rindge to see straight through her. After all the years of being paired with each other on assignments, they could read each other like a book. The point of Rindge's question was to silently warn her not to be rash. Memry looked Rindge in the eyes and nodded.
"...Okay, just making sure you understand, Memry." Detective Rindge eventually said. "Just in case this actually gets serious."
"Lighten up, Rindge-baby. If our fair officer here has her eye on someone, that wouldn't be a bad thing," Inspector Cabanela said, twirling and dancing as he always did. "She just has to make it through her next assignment first."
This caught Memry's attention. Her ambition to join the Special Investigation Unit burned as strongly as it ever did, and she would reach it some day. Since Inspector Cabanela was the head of the unit, this assignment could be a good way to impress him.
"Okay, what's my assignment?" Memry asked, focusing intensely on Inspector Cabanela.
"Your wiretapping of the Chicken Kitchen has actually hit some pay dirt," Inspector Cabanela explained, "it caught wind of a potential drug deal going dooooown at a nearby abandoned warehouse."
The echoes in Memry's mind warned her to be careful of planting bugs, but for once it hadn't been her idea, but rather an order from the Chief. At the very least, she made sure it wouldn't get discovered, and she was immensely pleased that she'd succeeded.
"This is your party, so you get to lead the charge," Inspector Cabanela continued. "And Detective Jowd has already been assigned to go ahead to scope out the situation. But the Chief wants you to pick out a partner go in there with you, Memry-baby. Got any ideas?"
"Detective Lynne," Memry immediately answered. When this was answered with Cabanela quirking an eyebrow at her Memry quickly said, "If Detective Jowd is there then Detective Lynne is the best choice! They work well together, so that will help this bust go that much smoother!"
Judging by the way Rindge was pinching his nose he could tell she'd made all this up on the spot, but before he could say anything Inspector Cabanela pulled up a chair and sat down, so his face was level with Memry's.
"Sounds like you've got your head back on your shoulders. Feel free to let the Chief know of your choice, but if anything happens in that warehouse-" Cabanela narrowed his eyes. "Then you maaaay as well stay there."
"Don't worry about it," Memry said with a smile, even as she felt herself wilt a little inside. "You have no idea the lengths I'll go to reach my goals, and bringing down these drug dealers is one of them!"
Without another word, Memry dove back into her still unfinished paperwork, while in her head she mapped out scenarios for the drug bust. She hadn't expected this, but with a little creative thinking this could be a golden chance for her.
"...Odd girl," Detective Rindge said with tired affection.
"I agree," Inspector Cabanela added.
"Me too," finished a third officer passing by on their way to an assignment.
Detective Lynne was a pleasant enough person to serve, compared to previous customers Memry had to serve in this undercover assignment- at least, at first. At around the time Lynne requested a third glass of water, Memry found herself starting to get annoyed.
Then Lynne claimed that she didn't actually ring the bell, which just left Memry confused. But even Lynne's request to hurry up with her order slid right off of Memry; the two foreigners she was investigating were right upstairs, and so their chicken order took priority over Detective Lynne's at the moment.
"I knew that she was taking a dig at me for not being fast enough with her order," Memry murmured under her breath as she skated to the kitchen. Entering to the smell of chicken and the sound of the chef's singing, Memry put the listening bug into the foreigners' chicken, then put the chicken onto a plate.
As Memry made her way towards the elevator she found her spirits lifting. Once the chicken was in front of the foreigners, Detective Rindge would get the information they needed to make the arrest.
Before Memry left for her assignment, Detective Rindge took her aside.
"Memry, are you sure you should be doing this?" Rindge asked, concerned.
"Of course I am! This should be a simple enough assignment," Memry answered. "I can take care of myself, Rindge."
"I know you can, Memry. But both you and Lynne are really good friends," Rindge said. "I can't help but worry when you're walking into a dangerous situation like this. Just- stay close to each other. And don't let your heads go too high in the clouds."
"I know, Rindge. I'll make sure to come back, and with those drug dealers cuffed to me," Memry said, patting her friend on the shoulder.
That confidence lasted Memry lasted until she actually reached the warehouse to meet up with Detectives Jowd and Lynne. Both of them smiled warmly at her, which at least made Memry smile as well.
Good of you to finally join us, Officer Memry," Detective Jowd jovially. "Somewhere in this warehouse behind me are a pair of very nervous criminals."
"Given that there's three of us here they have a pretty good reason to be worried," Detective Lynne said enthusiastically.
"That as it may be, if those drug dealers catch wind of us this could ugly," Detective Jowd said in a much more serious tone. "Officer Memry, you'll be the one to enter the warehouse first, so be attentive. Lynne, you follow behind Memry, and watch her back."
"Yes, sir!" Memry exclaimed, desperately clinging to every shred of professionalism she could muster.
"You got it, Jowd," Lynne said. "Oh, but what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to guard the only entrance to this place," Jowd answered. "To make sure there aren't any surprises to this sting."
Jowd smiled graciously. "And once we bring in these perps, we can treat ourselves to some food from the Chicken Kitchen. What do you say, Officer Memry?"
Memry knew that Jowd was poking a little fun at how often she worked undercover there- it may as well be a second job to her. Memry was about to open her mouth to quip back at him, chain of command be damned, when-
"It'd be great to eat with you there as colleagues for a change!" Lynne said cheerfully.
"Then it will be my treat," Memry said instead. "I could even ask the chef to make your favorite orders just the way you like them."
"You sure know how to motivate a girl, Memry!" Lynne said, indeed looking a lot more excited at the promise of food.
"Then let's go. These dealers won't arrest themselves," Memry said, wanting to regain control of both the situation and herself.
Once inside the warehouse, Memry and Lynne carefully sneaked through the various boxes filled with broken electronics, attentive to the sound of anyone else inside. That Lynne was capable of walking quietly in the first place was quite a surprise to Memry, as was the intense focus on her expression.
In the middle of the warehouse, a single man stood by himself, moving restlessly on his feet. He was a blue-skinned foreigner, and the sight of him caused something to churn in Memry's gut.
A man and a woman just like this foreigner had blown themselves up at the Chicken Kitchen some months ago- the restaurant only opening up again for business a week ago. It was almost frightening, how these elements seemed to follow Memry around.
Gesturing to Lynne to follow her, Memry quickly hid behind a stack of boxes, taking the occasional peek at the lone man in the middle of the warehouse. Judging by the suitcase in his hands, he was the dealer- so where was the customer?
*click* The sound of a gun's hammer being readied went off behind Memry, followed by another man saying, "I knew it was a good idea to hide in one of these boxes ahead of time. Time to die, cop."
"Get down, Memry!" Lynne shouted, just before Memry felt herself get shoved to the ground, which was followed by the sound of a gunshot. Lifting her head, Memry lay eyes on Lynne laying on the ground- and was filled with fear and fury.
Quickly scrambling to her feet, Memry saw the customer getting ready to fire again, but before he could Memry tackled him into a wall, and with a groan the man lost consciousness. After that Memry went over to Lynne, and was immensely relieved to see that the redhead was getting back up.
"Are you okay, Lynne?" Memry asked, helping her on her feet. "Did you get shot?"
"No, I didn't get shot. But I think hitting myself against the concrete hurt almost as much as getting shot would have," Lynne said, managing one of her audacious grins.
With a veritable storm of emotions swirling around in her head, Memry found herself embracing Lynne, unsure if she was laughing or crying. Lynne returned the hug, uncertain at first, but then much tighter because she wanted to reassure Memry.
Suddenly there was the sound of screaming as the drug dealer encountered Jowd at the entrance of the warehouse.
The bug was in place, embedded in the foreigners' chicken. A quick call to Rindge confirmed that he could hear everything that was going on around the foreigners, so Memry went back to the kitchen to see if there were any orders she needed to deliver.
"The order for the detective lady is almost ready~!" The chef answered in his usual singsong. Memry had to suppress an eyeroll at this. The chef had a pretty good voice, but even that got old after listening to it for hours on end.
Memry exited the kitchen again, catching sight of Lynne as she waited at her table. All in all, she wasn't the worst customer to come through the Chicken Kitchen, but Memry wouldn't mind not seeing her ever again. If they happened to run into each other at the precinct, Memry would greet her, but not much else.
Memry skated toward the back of the restaurant, in Lynne's direction, to see if there were customers that needed her help. As she skated she caught something out of the corner of her eye: a pair of lights outside the window slowly getting bigger. At the same time Memry's legs suddenly froze, and she couldn't move anymore, only stare at the approaching lights-
It all happened in an instant.
Hands suddenly shoving her chest, sending Memry reeling back-
The violent sounds of breaking glass and a large van crashing through the window, right where Memry had been standing-
Followed by something snapping as Memry lost her battle to stay on her feet, causing her to fall backwards and smack her head against the floor.
Then everything went black.
Needless to say, despite the hiccup of almost getting shot, both the drug dealer and his customer were successfully arrested by Jowd and Memry respectively. For Detectives Jowd and Lynne it was another case successfully closed with their teamwork. For Memry, however, it was a grand accomplishment and a testament to her skill as a police officer, and she was praised by many of her coworkers, and even complimented (gruffly) by the chief.
This was followed by a celebration at the Chicken Kitchen, where Memry kept her word and treated Jowd and Lynne to whatever they wanted off the menu. The sparkling look of gratitude in Lynne's eyes made it all worthwhile, though the friendly pat on the back from Jowd was a nice bonus.
As Memry talked with Jowd and Lynne she found herself learning quite a lot about the both of them: For example, Lynne wore a plastic badge she received from Jowd as a child instead of her standard issue detective's badge, and Jowd had a wife and daughter, as well as a pet kitten.
In turn Memry told to the two of them why she decided to become a cop.
"There's just this air of coolness about being a cop," Memry explained. "It's something that I've admired since I was little, when they patrolled where I lived. So I trained to get my badge as soon as I was out of high school so I could become just like them."
"That does explain why you're one of the younger cops to enter our precinct in recent memory," Detective Jowd said thoughtfully.
"Well, after what you did in the warehouse I can certainly say you're a very cool cop," Lynne added.
Memry wanted to say that it was Lynne that saved her from a bullet in the back, except her throat was completely dry. Even more alarming, she could feel her face heating up and was she actually blushing?
"Well, I wouldn't be half as cool if I didn't have examples like you and, um, Jowd to follow," Memry said once she found her voice again.
Even after the dinner ended and she parted ways with the two detectives, Memry was still warm all over. Returning to her apartment, Memry lay on her bed, trying to make sense of everything going on inside her for these past few months, and at long last she arrived at a conclusion.
Memry was in love was with Detective Lynne.
"So this actually is serious," Rindge said to Memry a week later, when she decided to approach him to ask for some help.
"I know I can be flighty, Rindge, but this time is different," Memry said. "I'll personally go over to her house in my waitress uniform and with a plate of hot chicken if I have to."
"Please don't do that," Rindge said bluntly. "Normally I'd tell you to just drop this, but since you really do have feelings for her, let me tell you something: just ask her out. Lynne appreciates a direct approach, and the worst she can say is no. Though between you and me, you have a really good shot at this."
"I do? Really?" Memry said, in awe at the implication that Lynne might feel the same way as she did. "That definitely settles it, then. Thanks for the advice."
The conversation did an effective job of making Memry a lot less nervous about the prospect of asking Lynne out. It also reminded her that Rindge, at the end of the day, was one of her closest friends. She could only imagine what it would be like if he wasn't around. Except that….
Slowly, Memry opened her eyes, trying her best to ignore her aching head. There was the sound of someone sobbing, and she looked up to find the chef crying over her.
"You're awake! Thank goodness you're alright, child," The chef said, rubbing his eyes.
"What happened in here?" Memry asked, gingerly picking herself back up.
"All I heard from the kitchen was this horrible crash, and when I came here I saw you on the floor and…"
The chef started crying again, pointing towards where Memry had been standing before she was shoved away. The sight hit Memry like a punch to the gut: A familiar van embedded halfway into the restaurant, and sticking through the broken windshield-
"RINDGE!" Memry rushed to the van, but as she got close she could see that Rindge was hanging far too limply- there was no doubt he was dead. Memry shook his body anyway, harder and more desperately as her mind tried to deny the reality before her.
It was then that Memry noticed that the giant plastic chicken that normally hung from the ceiling was now on the floor. In a single glance Memry noticed an arm sticking out from under the plastic chicken. One clad in a very familiar yellow sleeve….
"Lynne?" Memry said, her voice now a small whisper. Already devastated by the death of her best friend, this reveal caused Memry to sink to her knees. It didn't take much to put two and two together- Lynne was the one that shoved her away, saving her from certain death by offering herself instead.
Even the sound of the chef calling her name didn't do anything to pull Memry from the pit of despair that she was slowly sinking in. More than anything, she wanted them back. To turn back on the clock on this entire day so she could be with Rindge and Lynne again. To be able to joke around more with Rindge, to be able to apologize to Lynne for acting rudely to her, and give her an extra big helping of chicken.
Memry would give just about anything for just a little more time with them.
Even after her talk with Rindge, it took Memry a few days to muster up the courage to approach Lynne again. In the meantime, Memry put forth even more effort into her jobs than she usually did- her ambitions to advance in her career where far from forgotten in the midst of her romantic endeavours.
One day after work, Memry caught Lynne as she was clocking out.
"So I was thinking I'd like to spend some more time with you, Lynne," Memry said, unable to hide her nervousness. "Since we did so well on the last case we worked together. Would you like to go rollerblading with me after work tomorrow?"
"Sure I would!" Lynne answered. "Actually, I've been wanting to talk more with you too, but I kept missing you for some reason. I was beginning to wonder if you were avoiding me."
In fact, Memry had been avoiding Lynne, but only because she had been distracted sorting out her feelings to be able to face Lynne again.
"Sorry about that. It won't happen again," Memry said sheepishly. "Meet me at the local rollerblading rink at six, then?"
"It's a date!" Lynne declared.
A date. Those words circled around in Memry's head for the rest of the day and through most of the next one. It all seemed far too good to be true. Was it possible that Lynne hadn't meant it in that way? What if something went horribly wrong while at the rink? Soon enough, it was six and Memry was at the rollerblading rink, tying on her skates.
Memry's skill with skates was second to none thanks to time at the Chicken Kitchen, and so she had chosen this as their date because Memry had absolute confidence in herself doing this. As the first time they would be meeting out of work like this, Memry put on a dress the same shade of green as her hair. The dip in the neckline was another way Memry was determined to assert herself in the best way possible.
"Looking good, Memry," Lynne called out when she arrived at the rink. "That dress is almost as cute as your waitress uniform."
"You're looking pretty dashing yourself, Detective," Mermy said, her tone low and flirty. Lynne was dressed in her work outfit, just without her badge.
"Thanks. Just call me Lynne," Lynne said, flustered from Memry's compliment.
It didn't take long after Lynne put on her skates for it to become apparent that she had no business being in them- she wobbled unstably across the the rink, and Memry found herself having to lead Lynne by the hand before the redhead got the hang of it. And Lynne was stubbornly insistent on learning to skate.
"If you don't want to do this, we could always just go somewhere else," Memry said, skating gracefully as Lynne followed behind her.
"I'm not about to give up now that we're finally on this date," Lynne fired back heatedly. "I'll get this right yet- woah!"
Memry looked behind her to see Lynne skidding again. On instinct Memry reversed course and dashed towards Lynne, just in time to catch the redhead before she could fall on her face.
"Why are you so set on learning how to skate?" Memry asked, a little irritated at Lynne for almost hurting herself.
"So that I could have fun with you, Memry," Lynne answered. "We're still learning a lot about each other, and I thought having more in common would make things easier."
"Well, I admit that I brought you here because I wanted to teach you," Memry said. "But if you aren't enjoying yourself then let me know. I want this date to be fun for both of us."
Lynne didn't immediately talk again, just let herself stay in Memry's arms. Then she straightened herself, blushing brightly.
"So when you say date, does that mean you want more in the future? With me?" Lynne asked.
"Of course I want more dates with you, Lynne," Memry said. "In fact, I'd like nothing more than to be your girlfriend."
"Does that include as much chicken as I want?" Lynne said teasingly. "Because that would go a long way towards winning me over."
"I think I've picked up a thing or two from working in the Chicken Kitchen for so long," Memry replied. "Would you like to come over to my place for a homecooked meal?"
"I'd love nothing more."
As they left the skating rink Memry and Lynne continued to talk: Lynne wanting to introduce Memry to Jowd's family Alma and Kamilla, mentioning how thrilled Sissel would be (whoever that was). Memry, meanwhile, told Lynne about how much help Rindge had been to her, jokingly requested help in impressing Cabanela, and promised that if Lynne wanted to she'd be more than happy to continue the skating lessons.
They had all the time in the world with each other, after all.
A/N: A big thanks to supercykes from Tumblr for editing this! Right before the end credits, Lynne tells Sissel "And so we meet again!" Implying she has some memory of the game. The premise of this story is that she isn't the only one. This pairing ended up unexpectedly cute, so if people want to see more of this I wouldn't mind writing it. Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my Corner of Romance!