Crimson Pieces: In which the body is seen
A Soul Eater Fanfic
*I don't own Soul Eater*
Seeing is not always believing. –Martin Luther King Jr.
The pair stood in shock for a few more moments, waiting for someone to jump out and say "Surprise! We're kidding!", or something like that.
It never came.
Eventually, the two went back to their normal composed selves and faced the reality that they were mentor-less on their first case. Both of the detectives refused to state this, being the headstrong people that they were. But really, they were screwed. Maka looked at her new partner, who was still staring wistfully at the direction where Stein's car went. They should probably get to work, starting now.
Internally sighing, Maka cleared her throat and faced her new partner, Soul. "So. Shall we enter the scene?"
The man glanced at her as a toothy smirk began to stretch across his facial features. She noticed that he had rather pointy teeth, akin to a shark's. An unusual trait, in any person. But rather than flinching, she continued to give him her usual unnerving stare.
"Ladies first." Maka felt her hand twitch uncomfortably. She wondered if she would get fired for slamming the man in the face with her folder. Deciding otherwise, she strode towards the old building where the crime had taken root as the man followed her. The entrance of the building consisted of a set of rusted double doors, which seemed to be held loosely by a pair of old hinges.
The young detective wondered what she would see in front of her, and bravely stepped through the entrance before any uncertainties sprouted in her mind. And she found herself in facing a mess, to say the least.
The first thing that hit Maka was the strong odor. The building stank of mildew and dust, a combination familiar in abandoned places. But those were merely the underlinings of the scent. The smell of blood, coppery and overwhelming, filled the air, along with of decaying flesh. Maka felt her stomach churn, and a quick glance at her partner told her that he was experiencing the same feelings as well.
Not surprisingly, there was no electricity in the building. The only light came from the cracked windows placed along the walls of butcher shop. She hoped that the forensic team would have more light on hand at night, since they were probably going to stay here til then.
"Well, it looks like a hurricane looks rolled through here after someone blew up." Soul stated.
Maka snorted. "You don't say…"
And that was the best description anyone would give. The place was a minefield; you would never know where to step before setting something or someone off. The small crowd of people Maka and Soul approached had equipment and evidence cards were scattered about, and the occasional sheet of paper flitting about on the floor. People hurried around the scene of the crime, either uniformed or in scrubs. There were people taking notes, analyzing the scene, and speaking to their coworkers or into a recording device of some sort. However, there appeared to be a small group of people that caught her interest, since they stood in the middle of the room and were huddling around something.
The first person who she saw had raven black hair, with three strange stripes on one side of his head. Perhaps it was a fashion statement, an unfortunate decision on his part, she thought. He was wearing a set of scrubs that covered his pants and shoes, and it seemed reasonable to assume that he already had his fair share of work this morning. They were covered with what seemed to be blood and other bodily fluids, and she could tell that he wasn't enjoying his morning. The man examined what appeared to be the remains of the victim with a cool gaze.
The women accompanying him were blondes. Usually Maka didn't care too much about her appearance, but she felt rather lacking in the beauty department when she saw them. If she didn't know better, she would of thought that they worked as models, with their curvy bodies, long legs, and baby blue eyes. She wondered how it was possible to look stunning in an unflattering CSI suit. It even had front pockets, of all things! The world could be so cruel at times.
She deduced that they were siblings, since they had similar facial structures. One of the blondes had light colored and choppy bob for hair, while the other was taller and had long dirty blonde hair. Based on their body language, she could tell that the trio worked together often.
The man with the striped hair looked up suddenly, seeing Maka for the first time, and frowned. Both of his eyebrows twitched as his mouth opened slightly. Maka wondered if he had to sneeze or do something of the nature.
"The left side of your jacket is 5 degrees too short and you missed a strand of hair in your bun!" the man declared.
Maka flinched at his random outburst. Soul ignored the outburst made by the man and stretched out a hand in attempts to introduce himself to the man. Again, the man twitched both of his eyebrows and in return used both hands to shake both of Soul's hands (i.e. the double handshake). In return, Soul gingerly shook the stranger's' hands with a blank expression on his face, save for the slightest twitch in a corner of his mouth.
The blonde with the longer hair sighed as the other began to shake with laughter.
"Sorry about that, Kid's OCD. " the sister with the long hair informed. "It takes a lot of time to get used to him and his obsession about symmetry." Soul dropped the man's hands and muttered something about the number of crazies in the world.
"Its…fine. I'm Detective Evans, currently assigned to this case with Detective Albarn." he stated
Soul sent a flirtatious wink to the blonde with long hair. "Pleasure." Maka and the blonde rolled their eyes. Again, the holding Maka's folder twitched.
"I return the same greeting. I'm Death, medical examiner of the DCPD. However, you call me Kid, since my father is Chief of the DCPD."
"If your dad's the chief, then why work as a squint?" Soul inquired rudely.
Kid blinked. "Sorry, I didn't catch that. A what?"
"A squint. You know, the people who squint at all the evidence and do their science and lab magic."
"Ah, you mean the forensics team." Kid shrugged. "Well, I have my reasons, and you have yours, don't you, Detective Evans?" Soul gave him a lazy grin in return.
The blondes shot Kid a glare that made him shudder. He paused and cleared his throat.
"And, uh, I apologize for my tendency to… correct everything I see. As Liz said, I'm OCD."
The long-haired blonde, Liz, muttered something under her breath. The other faced the detectives and stook out a gloved hand covered in blood.
"Patti!" she exclaimed, beaming a 1000 watt smile to the detectives. Maka waved at her, since she had no interest in touching blood without gloves this morning.
"Nice to meet you." Maka replied courteously. Soul shuddered beside Maka.
"Liz and I work as the forensic biologists and toxicologists for the team, respectively." said Patti cheerfully. "As you can see, we have collected some amaz-ing samples of the body."
The woman smiled again as she held up a plethora of vials and bags, filled to the brim with what appeared to be blood, hair, and skin tissues. Maka wondered how someone could be so enthusiastic in a rather depressing career choice. Liz, on the other hand, looked somewhat disturbed by her sister's conduct.
"Patti! Don't pick those up with your dirty gloves! You'll get blood all over the vials!" Liz rushed over and plucked the vials out of her hands. Patti have a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, Sis!" Soul cleared his throat and motioned his at what remained of the victim.
"I hate to end the intros, but we have work to do." The group turned their attention to the body, just a few feet away from where they were standing. It appeared to be decomposing at a steady rate, and a pool of blood surrounded it. Silently agreeing, they all approached the body and viewed it.
Like Stein had stated previously, the skin was cut, forming intricate patterns resembled vines. They curled around the victim's nude body, and blood seemed to have gushed out of the wounds. However, what was most disturbing was the missing head from the body. Based on what Maka saw, it appeared to be severed by some sort of blade, but with caution. The neck, a stump that remained on the body, beared no signs of a rushed job. The head seemed to have been cut with care. Maka grimaced, and looked at Kid.
"Have you figured out what happened?" she asked. Kid nodded and set a neutral expression on his face.
"Right. we'll give you the quick fact check of what we have so far. The victim was Caucasian and was in her late teens to early 20s. She had red hair, and between 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 8 inches. Without the head, we can't do a facial match, but we can run a DNA test back in the lab." Kid explained.
Soul frowned. "We don't have time for testing. An unknown sample will take weeks at best for a result. Check with schools and colleges for the list of missing kids. Redheads are a pretty rare find nowadays."
Kid spun around and looked at the sisters.
"Liz? Contact the Lab for digging around for a list of missing redheads. Patti? Get Tsubaki to come here ASAP for photos. We are ready for stage three."
The blondes nodded. "We're on it."
Maka wondered out loud "Stage Two?"
Kid sheepishly smiled. "I kind of gave a nickname to the stages of examination. Stage one is when the basic forensics team plus Liz, Patti and I are on the scene. Stage two is when the detectives swing by, and stage three is photography, secondary analysis, and scene preservation come in."
Soul snorted. "How old are you, five? This isn't Mission: Possible."
Kid's eyes narrowed. "Without proper treatment of the scene, we would have serious problems with the casework, Detective Evans. And for your information, I'm twenty four."
"Whatever."
Maka felt her eyebrow twitch as she slammed her folder into Soul's forehead.
"Ow! What the hell?!" Soul held his forehead in his hands.
"Now is not the time to fight, boys." She said in a stern voice, with a dark aura surrounding her rather petite figure. The men gulped and muttered a quick sorry to each other.
"We'll all be friends, correct?" asked Maka.
"Yes ma'am!" they replied hastily. She smiled and ruffled their hair as if they were toddlers, and they shrunk underneath her hands.
"Good."
The Author's Corner
Well. I found the wonderful use of the horizontal line/line break. I literally facepalmed myself upon discovering it. Also, I was going to post yesterday, but Fanfiction was being a (insert a string of cusses that will get me kicked out of Fanfiction).
Also, acknowledgments to some creepers on the WWW
TheAnimezingGamer13
MrRedDead
Mermain123
ibelyim
eyelumos207
Spiky Hope
speedslasher
roro213421
yellow331akb3
Love y'll. Reviews, favs, and follows are what get y'll on this list.
