Disclaimer: WE DO NOT OWN SUPER SMASH BROTHERS, FIRE EMBLEM, LEGEND OF ZELDA, OR ANY OTHER NINTENDO FRANCHISE.
Author's Notes: Hi! Soundless Memory here. This is the first chapter me and Descendant of Truth wrote for our first ever Smash fic. I wrote chapter one myself, and DoT will write all of chapter 2, and we'll continue swapping like that. Also, the reason everyone's name is different is because this was originally going to be an Evil AU where the original cast met they're evil doppelgangers and we needed a way to differentiate between the two versions of each character. Basically we just reverse the hiragana spelling for each character's Japanese name. For example, Marth in hiragana is MA-RU-SU, so his mirrored self is SU-RU-MA (and he wears the red palette). Iro is Roy and wears the green palette, and Daruze is Zelda in the black/shadow palette. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story, let us know what you think! :)
The sky was bright with afternoon sunlight as three young travelers came into town. Stumbling tiredly through the village square crowds, they approached the first unoccupied shopkeeper they could find – a trying task as the many workers were enjoying their lunch break with friends, and those that weren't were shopping furiously.
"Hello, there, Sir! I was wondering if you could point us to the nearest hotel?" one of the travelers said, a small-framed teenager whose red hair was as vibrant as his smile and sense of dress – he wore nearly all green, his headband and cape standing out more than anything. Only after blinking at the brightness of the speaker's garb did the merchant notice the travelers were armed with swords.
"New in town, huh? We don't really get the warrior type around here much, but you gentlemen and your lady friend could probably find a place to stay at the Inn just a few blocks south of here." The merchant said. The traveler standing a small distance behind the green-garbed fellow, her silver hair in strong contrast to her all black clothes, glared at the merchant. The blue-haired boy next to her, clothed in red and black, avoided eye contact and appeared at a distance (and close up) to be sulking.
"Great, thanks so much! Is the Inn a good place to get info, too? I'm afraid we didn't do much research before coming here." The redhead said with a bashful smile. His companions remained silent.
"Every where's a good place for info here, Mister," the merchant laughed, "Our village is so small everyone is eager to greet the tourists and share their bit."
"Alright, thanks again!" the cheerful traveler replied, walking in the direction of the Inn with his companions. It wasn't long after they left that the silver-haired girl spoke up.
"Why is it that everywhere we go I'm 'the lady friend'? It's like everyone automatically assumes I must be dating one of you." She said bitterly.
"Well, you and Suruma technically are engaged." The cheerful one said.
"That's a mere technicality, and you know it. Besides, it's not like the engagement really means anything now that we've both either abandoned or have been abandoned by our kingdoms." The girl said.
"Iro, Daruze, can you two not bicker for once? I'm tired and want cake." The red garbed one, Suruma, said.
"I'm with you there, buddy. Maybe the Inn will have some, that would be great. Do you two think we'll really find any leads in this place?" the cheerful one, Iro, asked.
"Nope" Suruma said, at the same time Daruze said, "Not really." Iro laughed.
"I see you guys are as optimistic as ever. Even if this place is small, someone might have heard something, or might know where someone has." Iro said, his blue eyes shining with hope.
"If you say so." Suruma said glumly; he was always more down than usual when he'd been travelling too long without rest. He didn't even really see the point in staying in such a tiny town; they should have headed somewhere more lively, where there was an actual chance of them catching a lead. He kept these thoughts to himself of course, for doing otherwise would simply lead to more tension and exchanges of dialogue (which he personally found exhausting).
Once they had reached the Inn, they all stood outside of it for a moment, staring. It was nice enough, well furnished and all that. But it was…small. Very small, to the point where they wondered how it was an Inn at all and not some late night café.
"Um, are we all even going to fit in this place?" Daruze asked; as much as she liked her two friends, being squished into a tiny room with them all night didn't exactly sound pleasant.
"Guess we'll find out by going in there. Come on," Iro said, beckoning to the other two as he walked to the entry way. Suruma and Daruze shared a hesitant glance before following after him.
The inside of the Inn was just as nice as the outside, with clean carpets of royal blue, polished, functional furniture, and high vaulted ceilings with bright chandeliers. But the layout was still tiny, leaving the trio confused as to where the rooms for rent were even located; to the right was an area full of tables and chairs, the left was an open floor space that seemed to serve as a dance floor, and directly forward was the counter where food was ordered and rooms were presumably requested. Walking up to the counter, Iro addressed the lady filing paperwork.
"Excuse me, Miss? Do you have a moment?" he asked politely. The attendant looked up with a smile.
"Oh, of course. How may I help you?" she said professionally.
"I was wondering if me and my two friends could rent some rooms here? We're only looking to stay for one night." Iro explained.
"Hm, we only have one open room right now, but it's a double size, would that work? It costs 200 rupees a night." the lady at the counter said.
"We'll take it! Thanks so much!" Iro said before the other two could complain. The attendant lead them to their room and left them with the key after giving them some paperwork to fill out. The room was somewhat large and had two full-sized beds and nightstands with already lit candles on them. Iro threw himself onto the nearest bed. "Finally! Hey Suru, I'll sleep on the floor if you let me take an afternoon nap right here right now." He said.
"You sure we can't switch places there?" Suruma said tiredly, collapsing in a corner and wrapping himself in his cape; Daruze had already taken the other bed and looked thoroughly unwilling to move.
"Only if you're willing to drag me off this thing; I don't think I could move anymore even if I wanted to." Iro said; they had been walking for over twenty-four hours with little rest. Suruma really did pull himself over to the bed and shoved Iro off of it, who just laughed as Suruma curled up for a nap.
"Well, if you two are going to be sleeping, then I should probably go out and look for food soon. Or later. Either works." Iro said. There was no reply; the others were already asleep. Unnerved by the quiet, Iro forced himself to get back up; he'd come see how they were doing later.
Suruma awoke to what at first seemed to be sunrise, until his sleepy brain remembered that he'd gone to bed at noon and that this was in fact sunset. Sitting up, he looked around to see where the others were. Daruze clearly had only woken up moments ago herself and was flipping through a book with a plate of food beside her. The sight of the food suddenly made Suruma realize that there was an amazing smell coming from the tiny kitchen. He was about to get up and investigate when Iro came back into the main section of the room with another plate of food, a bright smile on his face despite the dark rings under his eyes.
"Rise and shine, Suru! While you and Daruze were napping the day away, I went out and got us some food. Here!" he said happily, shoving the plate of food into Suruma's hands. He took the plate even as he was still blinking in tired confusion, ignoring the nickname which Iro insisted upon using against Suruma's will. Looking at the food he saw a bowl of mashed potatoes, a small portion of what seemed to be fried vegetables, a slice of apple pie, and a cup of tea.
"Um, Iro…where did you get all of this stuff?" Suruma asked. While they weren't completely broke they were far from being well-financed, so Suruma couldn't figure how all the food got there without using their hotel money.
"Oh, I won a few games of cards and got some extra funds, so I figured why not spend it on pie? Even you two grumpy-heads can't frown in the face of good pie." Iro replied. Suruma had to admit that Iro was right at least about that last part; even Daruze smiled just a little as she took another bite. Although that did raise another question.
"And Daruze was just alright with you gambling? I thought she hated it when you did that?" Suruma said as he dug into the mashed potatoes; he didn't really care too much whether Iro gambled or not, although he did worry about him hanging around dangerous people sometimes. It wasn't safe for any of them to be out in public too long, but that was doubly true for Iro; ironically, he was the one that craved public attention most.
"It's not that I'm alright with it. If you hadn't been sleeping, you would have heard me yelling at him earlier. But what's done is done, so why not enjoy the pie while it's there?" Daruze said, barely looking up from her book.
"I really don't see why you two worry so much; I'm a card expert, and an even better cheater. There's practically no risk involved as far as finances go." Iro said lightly, happily eating his own slice of pie. Suruma wondered if one of the reasons Iro ate so many sweets was because he was always staying up longer than him and Daruze.
"But there's plenty of risk in ways outside of money." Daruze said darkly.
"Hey, Iro, you must be tired if you've been up this whole time. Make sure to get a nap in soon, alright?" Suruma said, staring at his food. Mainly he just didn't want to put up with another quarrel between Daruze and Iro (they managed to have even less mature arguments than he and Iro did, which is saying something), but he was also concerned about Iro's well being, even if he wouldn't admit it out loud.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't sweat it, Suruma. I'll go to bed at a normal hour, unlike you two. Until then, want to sing some poetry?" Iro asked; he had a fondness for theatre and music, so even though he had no training he liked to sing poems to tunes he knew when the group was down (or even just bored).
"I think it's a little too early for that." Suruma said; he was very aware of the fact that they were in a building inhabited by other people. Iro just laughed.
"More like too late, but alright. Got any other ideas?" he said, looking back and forth between Suruma and Daruze.
"You could both be quiet so I can continue reading." Daruze suggested dryly.
"See, Daruze, now that was just rude." Iro said, completely unfazed by Daruze's bitterness.
"But kind of a good idea. It's getting dark, and the manager of this place probably wouldn't want us being loud." Suruma said.
"Alright, if you guys insist." Iro said lightly, flopping onto the bed Suruma had just gotten out of. Pulling out his sword, he began to polish it. Only a few hours later he had fallen completely asleep. Suruma got up and put a blanket over him before returning to the sofa.
"You know, despite being the same age as me, Iro sure can act like a little kid sometimes. I don't get how he pulls it off, what with having a bunch of crazy assassins after him and everything." Suruma said idly, flipping through the pages of a book.
"I've wondered at that too. I guess it's just his personality; although we admittedly don't know as much about him as we do each other, so it could be something else." Daruze replied.
"I guess so." Suruma said; he often forgot they'd only met Iro four years ago as opposed to the seven years he and Daruze had been friends. It was hard for him to imagine a time when all three of them weren't together. "Hey, Daruze, if you don't mind my asking…why did we decide to come here? It seems awfully out of the way of anywhere we might gain some useful information." He added after a moment.
"Mainly just as a way of laying low… no one in your kingdom is really looking for you, but my guards almost definitely are, and Iro's always in danger, so I figured it would be safest to go somewhere non-exceptional for a little while, even if we can't get any useful info here." Daruze explained.
"And we didn't tell Iro this because…?" Suruma asked. He didn't see any reason to keep Iro out of the loop, at least not with that type of information.
"You know how he gets when people worry about him; he doesn't really like acknowledging how much danger he's actually in, and is annoyingly good at switching the subject. He probably would have avoided coming here purely on the basis that he didn't want to cower in fear or hinder us in reaching our own goals." Daruze. Suruma could see her point, but it still felt slightly manipulative. Even so he had to admit that it was the best thing they could do at the moment, as anxious as putting off his goals made him. It was just one of the things they had to put up with when travelling as a group; sometimes things had to be delayed for the safety of a friend.
"Where do we want to go from here, then? Altea can't wait this war out forever." Suruma said; Altea, the kingdom to which he was born the prince of, was losing a desperate war, and even in exile Suruma was determined to do all he could to save it.
"I know. I think our next destination should be a large city, somewhere you can advertise the war effort and try to get recent information on how things are in your kingdom. And somewhere where hopefully there will be a mage or scholar that can tell me about dark magic." Daruze said.
"…I'm sure you'll find him, Daruze. I don't think there's anything you couldn't do if you set your mind to it; you can be amazingly stubborn sometimes, after all." Suruma said. The 'him' he was referring to was Kunri, an old childhood friend of Daruze's who had gone missing in a cloud of dark magic shortly before she first met Suruma.
"True; I did manage to convince you to rebel once in a while instead of taking whatever your crazy family threw at you, which by any normal standards should have been impossible. You're pretty stubborn, too." Daruze said with a rare smile. Suruma chuckled nostalgically.
"Fair point. Tomorrow, then, or I guess later today depending on how we look at it, we will get an updated map and decide where to go next." He said.
"Yeah." Daruze agreed, and then for the time being, they both went contentedly back to their books.
Once the sun was up again, Suruma and Daruze set out to find a detailed map of the country they were in; Iro had left shortly after waking up, saying there were things he wanted to do while they were still in town, which from him could really mean a number of things. Suruma was glad for the small population of the town even if it was inconvenient in the long run; crowds always gave him anxiety. When they went into shop that sold some maps, he let Daruze do all the talking in Iro's place. She wasn't as cheerful and suave as Iro perhaps, but she held a great deal of confidence and spoke her mind well, even if her sarcasm and blunt way of speaking typically threw people off.
"Hey, you. I need a map of this country, as detailed as you can get. Maybe a couple of maps. Can you show me where to find them?" she said as soon as they entered the small building, pointing at one of the people working there.
"Oh, um, yes of course! The maps are this way, Miss." The employee said, gesturing that we should follow him. "I heard there were new people in town, where are you two from?" he asked, eyes full of curiosity. Suruma glared instinctually at him, simply because he hated small talk and giving information about himself to strangers.
"Not here. Now which of these maps have the most detail, one for geography and one for the location of cities." Daruze replied.
"Oh, um, right. Let me take a look." He said, slightly flustered. Suruma was inwardly amused by how awkward people got whenever Daruze talked to them; admittedly, there was a time where he had the same reaction to her only even more severe, but that time was long since past. "H-here, this one has nearly every city labeled, definitely all the major ones, and this one shows where all the mountains, rivers, and natural forests are. Will these do?" he said, holding out the maps so Daruze could see them; Suruma apparently didn't exist. It was then that he noticed the employee was blushing slightly, and he realized with a pang of irritation and dread that he had a crush on Daruze. He was at least grateful Iro wasn't here; he no doubt would have noticed it sooner than he had (if he was even right, maybe the employee was just easily embarrassed) and then boasted loudly that Daruze couldn't be with him because she was Totally In Love With Suruma and Vice Versa, which would have effectively destroyed Suruma's ability to ever show his face in this town ever again.
"Yeah, that works. How much do they cost?" Daruze asked bluntly.
"F-fifteen rupees each, Miss." The employee said.
"Great. We're buying them." She replied, pulling out her pouch of money and emptying it onto the counter.
"Anything else I can do for you?" the employee asked.
"No. Goodbye." Daruze answered, grabbing the maps and leaving with Suruma following closely behind her.
"Have a nice day!" the employee yelled after us. They both ignored him and hurried to reach their next destination; they had to restock on a few more supplies before going to meet back up with Iro at the Inn.
After buying some more food and blankets (and nearly getting into a fight with a rude-spoken bread salesman), they headed back to the Inn with near empty money pouches. There they found Iro, sitting alone at an empty table idly stirring a cup of tea.
"Hey, Iro. How were things on your end?" Suruma said, sitting down next to him.
"Huh? Oh, things went well! Did you and Daruze have a good time?" Iro said. He was still smiling, but there a sort of pained look in his eyes, and he was behaving more reserved than normal, leaving no doubt in Suruma's mind what he had been doing. Iro made a point in every town they went to to at some point meet with the police officials and see if there were any recent or well-known deaths or strange foreigners, for he too was looking for an old friend as well as his father, both of whom were missing and assumed dead. That Iro was able to still smile told him that there still wasn't any news, but that he was at least relieved to know they didn't die here. Suruma couldn't imagine having a more anxiety-inducing habit, but Iro kept up without fault everywhere they went.
"Well, sort of. Daruze nearly knocked a guy out, it was kind of amazing to watch." Suruma said. Iro laughed at that, and Suruma tried harder to smile to help cheer up his friend.
"I'm more amazed she managed not to, she can be really scary sometimes!" he said affectionately.
"You know guys, I'm right here." Daruze said from her seat directly across from them.
What? All I said was that you were scary which is, by the way, scientific fact. You're the only person I know who would punch a shopkeeper and not regret it afterwards. Dare I ask what he said to earn your wrath?" Iro said, slowing returning to his normal upbeat self.
"Just your typical arrogant, classist, overly-macho banter. And he insulted Suruma, so I felt I was pretty justified." Daruze said.
"Fair enough. Anyways, what did you guys – hey, what's that over there?" Iro asked, looking over at the window. Suruma looked that way as well, and could have sworn he saw some odd, glowing lights – almost as if someone was working a spell. But there weren't any mages in this town as far as he knew. "Come on, let's check it out." Iro said, getting up and heading out the door with Suruma and Daruze close behind them.
Outside, it became apparent that it was someone using magic. The person's identity was impossible to tell from a distance, however, for they were wearing a hooded robe. Blue lights swirled, but Suruma wasn't able to tell what spell specifically was being cast; the only magic user out of the three of them was Daruze.
"Hey, You! Robe-Person, what are you doing?" Iro yelled as they ran to catch up with the figure. The light was now fading, the figure starting to walk away. They increased their running speed, but a sudden burst of blinding sparks made it impossible to see for a moment. When the flashes of light ended and they were able to see again, the figure was gone. The trio stood for a few moments unmoving, taking in what had just happened.
"What…was that? I didn't think this place had any mages." Suruma said.
"Well, they apparently have at least one. Although I'm not inclined to trust someone who hides their face and runs away as soon as they're noticed. Daruze, did you recognize what kind of spell they were using? It didn't look like anything I've seen you do before." Iro said.
"It looked like it could have a been related to a few different spells, but I'm afraid I didn't recognize it either, which in itself could be worrying. But is also means they might know something that could help us." Daruze explained. "Let's go see if their spell left any kind of a mark." Walking the rest of the way to where the mage had stood, they all carefully examined the nearby surroundings. All they found was that the trees had darkened wood at the bottom of their trunks, with a faintly glowing, vein-like trace just barely visible on the darkened area. None of them knew with certainty what it meant.
Deciding instead to gather what information they could from the residents of the town, they went about to see who was willing to talk to them. But it didn't take long to realize the futility of their task; everyone had roughly the same response. There weren't any mages in this town, and nobody had seen any foreigner wearing a robe.
"How about a foreigner not wearing a robe?" Iro asked one of the villagers, a seamstress selling clothes at an outdoor shop. Daruze and Suruma both stared at him.
"No, there haven't been any newcomers in the last few days other than you three. I'm sorry. Is there anything else I can do for you?" the seamstress said.
"Not as far as information goes, but I'd love to buy that bandana." Iro said with a smile, pointing to a green headband with gold embroidering. Daruze and Suruma both glared at him. He bought it anyways, and they were soon on their way again.
"You know we don't have the money to buy whatever catches our fancy, Iro, and we especially don't have money to tip people with." Daruze said disapprovingly.
"Well I had to pay her for the information she'd given us too, didn't I?" Iro responded happily.
"First off, you don't pay for information, second off, she didn't even give us any useful information. And why did you ask about someone without a cloak when the mage clearly had one?" Suruma interjected.
"Well what if that person only wore a robe specifically doing magic? Daruze turns into a man to use her ninja skills and can poof up any garment she likes at any given time, it's not that crazy of an idea; mages are very fashion-conscious I've discovered. Not to mention they could have been wearing something else when they came into town." Iro said.
"You have a fantastic way of making magic sound incredibly shallow and ungraceful. I don't 'turn into a man', I shift into my Sheikah gear and…well, there might be a little bit of shapeshifting involved, but that's for disguise not because it makes fighting easier. And I use my magic for plenty of other things as well." Daruze said, irritated.
"Either way, guys, the end result is still that we don't anything about that magic user, and we all know how dangerous unknown magic wielders can be." Suruma said. He knew he had got them there; much of their time was spent hiding away from the insanely powerful, anonymous group of white-robed mages trying to kill Iro.
"True. Should we stay here another day to see if they turn up then?" Iro suggested, looking at Suruma. Suruma appreciated the weight his friends put on saving his kingdom, but he also wished that it didn't always end up with him making the final call.
"I dunno. I guess one more day wouldn't hurt." Suruma said, even if he knew it wasn't entirely true; when there was a war going on, every day counted, but he had to chase every possible lead and eradicate every possible danger, so he didn't think was much of an option there. The other two agreed, and they went back to their hotel.
The next day, it was shortly after sunrise that Suruma heard a loud, shrill scream, waking him from his sleep. Looking about in a panic, he saw to his immense relief that, while greatly startled, neither of his friends were injured. Grabbing their weapons, they all got up to see what was happening, a feeling of dread overwhelming Suruma's state of mind.
It was immediately apparent what had alarmed the villagers so; it made Suruma faint just looking at it. Several feet above the ground, above the terrified crowds, there hung a man; there were no visible strings attached, yet he was clearly suspended in midair, unable to come down. There were deep slash wounds across his chest and limbs, and his skin was pale, his unmoving eyes wide; he was dead, frozen in the sky and seemingly time for how still he was.
Suruma glanced to see how the others were reacting; Daruze had turn her gaze downwards, a pained look in her eyes, but otherwise kept her composure calm while Iro had gone pale and didn't seem capable of pulling his eyes away from the floating corpse. Suruma himself felt a sudden fear for his friends, if there was a killer about then the same thing could happen to one of them.
"Daruze…what happened here?" he asked nervously. Iro didn't say anything, but he finally tore his eyes away to look at Daruze, a cold, forlorn look in his eyes.
"Well, he looks like he was slashed to death, and then suspended in the air with a spell. In other words, I don't know any more right now than what's in front of me." She said. "Speaking of which…" she added, looking at the villagers trying desperately to figure out how to get the body down. "Everyone move!" she shouted, moving to the front of the crowd. Suruma and Iro glanced at each other before following her. The crowd moved, looking unsure as to what was about to happen. Daruze extended her arms up towards the hovering figure, took a deep breath, and next thing anyone could see was a small burst of purple light, which increased in size dramatically when it hit the corpse. The corpse finally fell to the ground, and even as people gasped and screamed Daruze calmly walked over and caught the body in her arms. She then gently handed the body to a very stunned looking police officer.
"What the… how did you – you're a mage!?" the police man stuttered in shock.
"Did you do this to him!?" another person shouted, clearly upset. Suddenly the crowd was bursting with accusations and panicked voices, and weapons were starting to be raised. Suruma panicked, afraid they were going to try and kill his friend, but in another flash of light, she had disappeared. Then the crowd turned to Suruma and Iro.
"You guys were with her, you helped her didn't you!?"
"Give me my friend back, you freaks!"
"Get out of our village!" the crowd yelled, amongst other things. Suruma grabbed Iro by the wrist and bolted in the other direction, determined to keep him and his friend safe. He was pretty sure Daruze wouldn't have teleported very far away, so he ran back to the Inn as fast as he could. Dragging Iro inside of their room, he locked the door behind them.
"Why did you go and drop the body, Daruze? Now everyone suspects us!" Suruma said, for Daruze was sitting calmly on the sofa.
"There aren't any sorcerers in this village. If I didn't, he'd be stuck up there forever, since I doubt our friend from yesterday had any intention of doing it." Daruze said. Suruma supposed she had a point, since the mysterious magic user was by far the most likely suspect, but he wasn't exactly in a calm and rational mindset.
"Yeah, but you could have gotten us all killed! Angry mobs are dangerous, okay?" Suruma argued.
"Suruma, it's alright." Iro said, sitting on the floor in the same spot Suruma had left him.
"What's alright about it? If they don't come to their senses soon we could have an angry mob at our door in just a few minutes! Not to mention there is a crazed murderer out there to deal with!" Suruma ranted; why weren't the others getting this? It wasn't safe here anymore!
"Daruze did what was necessary. We can leave if things get bad enough, but otherwise we should try to help this place, since it's more likely than not that the murderer was drawn here because of us." Iro said. Suruma frowned; even though Iro said 'us' Suruma knew he really meant 'me'. Iro owned a mysterious, but extremely powerful magic gem, and magicians often were drawn to its power and attempted to steal it from him.
"I guess. But that doesn't make it your fault, Iro. So what do we do about the angry mob, then?" Suruma said, finally giving in.
"Well, first off we're going to wait and see if they calm down on their own, and if they don't then we're going to have to try and talk to them; I can make a magical barrier to protect us while we try and convince them we're innocent." Daruze said.
"So in other words, we don't do anything unless they try to break our door down." Suruma said.
"Yup. Pretty much." Daruze responded. Suruma sighed; he was never very good at handling high-stress situations, but having a whole village think you're a murderer was particularly hard to handle. Not because he wasn't used to people disliking him (that is more or less the status quo to him), but because you couldn't be too aggressive or too submissive without making things worse. It was that middle ground that Suruma struggled with, which was in part what lead to his exile in the first place.
Nearly half an hour went by, but while there were times it almost sounded like a crowd was heading their way, no one ever tried to break their door down. Suruma found the anxiety almost unbearable, every moment he thought a wave of people would come streaming into their tiny hotel room, forcing them to hide behind a wall of magic while they desperately tried to make their voices heard over the cacophony of screeches and accusations coming from the masses. Suddenly, Suruma felt a hand on his shoulder, making him jump.
"Just relax, Suruma. Everything will be okay." Iro said, giving Suruma a weak, but warm smile. Suruma only then realized he'd been holding his breath; releasing it, he tried to focus just on the conversation at hand, which was easier said then done.
"What's okay about a hive of angry people? If they come, there's nothing we can really do, and if they don't, we risk pissing them off again just by leaving the front door." Suruma said bitterly.
"You don't have to worry about anything, Suru. I'll handle all the crowds; after all, not even the most furious person can't resist my charm." Iro said.
"Th-that's just you being arrogant." Suruma replied, although he was actually oddly comforted by Iro's cheer and confidence, even both were obviously being faked at the moment for his benefit. He knew Iro was at least being honest about handling all the crowds himself, which while Suruma felt bad about leaving all the work to his friend, it also decreased his stress to know he'd have help.
"If you say so. But also keep in mind we can teleport away at any given moment should we need to. Really, we have the upper hand even if we're outnumbered." Iro stated, and Suruma couldn't deny that he was right.
They waited a little while longer, until finally, rather than the crashing bang on the door they were expecting, there came a single, civilized knock. The three of them glanced at each other for a moment, and then Iro got up to answer it. At the door were two police officers.
"Hello, is there anyway I can help you, Officers?" Iro asked politely.
"We ask that you and your companions come with us peacefully for questioning. Any resistance will be met in kind." The first officer said.
"Of course, sir. We'll cooperate in any way we can." Iro said, beckoning for Suruma and Daruze to follow him. Suruma glared spitefully at the officer as he allowed himself to be handcuffed; he didn't like being tied up and was annoyed that they had to be interrogated. He also wasn't convinced their interrogation was going to be any kind of fair or reasonable; he just hoped Iro and Daruze weren't injured too badly.
Once they were at the police head quarters, they were each put into a chain in a large room. The police man in charge, a tall man with short brown hair, turned to face them with a suspicious gaze.
"What are your names?" he asked first. Suruma was seriously considering giving an alias when Iro spoke up.
"I'm Iro, that's Suruma, and over there is Daruze. Nice to meet you!" he said happily, and Suruma noticed Daruze was glaring as well.
"Where do the three of you come from?" the police man asked, staring hard at Iro.
"Lycia, Altea, and Hyrule, sir. But we're all more like nomads, our real home is wherever the wind takes us." Iro answered.
"And when did the wind bring you little tyrants to Horon, then?"
"Two days ago, Sir."
"What were you doing at the time Taru was killed?"
"Asking around the town for information. You can check that with almost any of the shop owners in town."
"What about your friends? They haven't said much, what were they doing at the time of the murder?" the policeman said, shifting his iron gaze to Suruma and Daruze.
"Casting spells of light and darkness, I don't know how everyone missed it. You should look into that." Daruze said sarcastically.
"Wha – no you weren't! We were with Iro! The whole time! So no way could we have – actually, yeah how did a crazy death spell go on in the middle of town with no one seeing it?" Suruma asked, suddenly puzzled.
"Shut up! You're the magicians, you should know. The perpetrator probably cast an illusion or invisibility spell around him and the victim." The policeman yelled, and Suruma flinched, expecting him or Daruze to get kicked to the floor.
"I won't deny I have the power to do that, but I don't have any motive, unless you can think of something?" Daruze said.
"Actually I'm pretty sure you can't do that kind of dark magic, and you're the only magician of the group so it's not like they can argue you had an accomplice." Suruma said, talking to Daruze because he knew if he addressed the policeman he would get unspeakably flustered.
"I said shut up! Your job is to answer my questions, not go speculating yourself. As for motive, we're still looking into that. But it's not unheard of for mages to act purely out of hate, you could easily be convicted on that basis alone." The policeman said.
"Ah, that won't be necessary, Sir, you have our sincerest apologies. Those two just get snarky when they're anxious, they mean nothing by it." Iro said.
"Hm. If they're anxious, what about you? You seem awfully calm, almost arrogantly so. I might even say you seem like the criminals I meet that are so convinced they did the perfect crime and can't be caught that they don't even bother keeping secrets." The policeman said.
"An innocent man with copious amounts of faith in the local justice system has no reason to be anxious." Iro said, giving the policeman his most dazzling smile.
"A sweet talker, huh? Alright, let me ask you this, then. If your girlfriend here didn't kill Taru, who do you propose did? There aren't any other mages in Horon." The officer said.
"Well there was that shady fellow we saw doing magic the other day, it's quite possible it's them." Iro said hurriedly before Daruze could voice her visible protests to being called Iro's girlfriend. Suruma could feel his anxiety increasing; what would happen to his country if he was arrested or executed?
"You saw a stranger doing dark magic and didn't report it!?" the officer stormed.
"Well, we didn't exactly know what spell they were casting, and we had assumed if they were here at all you officials already knew about them, but apparently he's kept himself outside of the public eye." Iro explained.
"Even so you should have reported it! Even if you're not guilty you should be punished for negligence that endangers the community!" the officer yelled.
"With all due respect, Sir, we've seen a lot of places with a lot of unusual customs. We didn't have a reason to think anything like a murder would happen." Iro said calmly.
"Never mind. For now, you can go, but there will be guards that watch your every move until the culprit is captured. Any sign of spellcasting will be punished and could lead to your arrest. Do you understand?" the officer said.
"Absolutely, yes Sir! Now, could you please take these handcuffs off? They make the leaving part of the equation quite difficult." Iro said, beckoning with his head toward his manacled hands. The officer sighed in irritation, but got up to unchain them all.
Suruma breathed a sigh of relief, even if he was annoyed that they had to be followed everywhere; he only had bad memories of being stalked by his guards back in Altea, where he couldn't leave the castle walls without everyone being instantly informed and put into defense formation. At least he wouldn't have to think about interacting with anyone other than Iro and Daruze for a while.
"Well, that wasn't as bad as it could have been." Iro said lightly.
"Speak or yourself. That guy was all kinds of obnoxious; and why does everyone assume I'm dating you?" Daruze complained.
"Yeah, that was pretty uncalled for. Especially since it's obvious you were meant for Suruma, not me." Iro added teasingly.
"We were not meant for each other! And how can you be so relaxed when we're being stalked!?" Suruma exclaimed.
"They're just making sure we don't kill anyone, I'm sure they're not much happier about then we are. In any case, we should lay low while we look for clues, to make sure we don't get arrested again. Are you really alright without using your magic, Daruze?" Iro asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"It's a little annoying, but not much more than that. I can get by just fine without it." She answered.
"Alright. Then let's just go home for now, we can look at that infected tree again tomorrow." Iro said.
The next day was mostly uneventful, however. They examined the trees, which were more prominently infected now then the day before. But they couldn't investigate properly without using Daruze's magic. They really were followed everywhere by guards, to the point that it was nearly impossible for them to have a private conversation. Suruma hated it beyond description, and he could tell Daruze found it bothersome as well, but Iro seemed strangely unaffected. He wasn't nearly as cheerful as usual, but he wasn't annoyed or upset either.
The day after that, by comparison, was a nightmare. Another body was found, magically bound to a tree without a drop of blood in them, despite there not being a single puncture wound to be found. The guards were forced to admit it couldn't have been Daruze since it happened over night while they were being watched, so they asked her to unbind the dead villager, which she agreed to. The trees looked still more infected. And the report on the first victim, Taru, came in.
"The slash wounds weren't caused by a blade?" Suruma said incredulously when Iro told him the news.
"Nope. They were undeniably done by some sort of magic, there was all sorts of unnatural poison in him, a common residual element to using dark magic on people." Iro explained. "They can't figure out specifically what killed him or in what order were the wounds inflicted, and they really have no idea who's doing it."
They all sat in silence for a while after that. Suruma's paranoia was mounting, and even Iro couldn't completely hide that the villager's deaths were making him feel guilty, especially once they came home to find their room had been broken into and had fallen victim to a violently thorough search.
"Do you think if we left, the murderer would come after us?" he asked.
"Maybe, but the murderer might also stay and kill everyone else. If they're not after us specifically, then we're likely the only hope this village has, since we actually know a few things about magic and can even use it in Daruze's case." Suruma replied.
"In other words, now really isn't the time to be sitting around." Daruze said darkly. Suruma knew that look in her eye; it was the look of someone ruthlessly determined to achieve an end, and it was one he was familiar enough with to know that it almost never lead anywhere safe. "Regardless of the town's rules, we're going to go out there and investigate, and I'm going to use as much magic as I like. We're not leaving until that killer is stopped." Suruma didn't say anything, just sighed in silent agreement. There was no use fighting with her, and he knew she was right. Even Iro just nodded his agreement. This wasn't just a mystery anymore, Suruma knew. It was nothing less than a small-scale war.
Author's Notes: This is Descendant of Truth speaking! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and are willing to give us some feedback. Critiques are welcome as well as compliments, as is speculation. I think it'd be great to know what you guys think of our new story!
By the way, feel free to check out our individual accounts here on . As I mentioned earlier, my solo-username is Descendant of Truth, and my awesome co-author that you heard from in the above notes is Soundless Memory.
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