He was dead.
Or it looked like he was. The corpse in front of him laying on its side, was blond and tanned, wore the same burgundy jacket, black shirt, and chains as he was wearing right then. Even his face was the spitting image. Upon closer inspection Klavier frowned at the thick burgundy stitch marks attaching a vinyl mask to the corpse's face. The only glaring difference was the dead Klavier was bleeding out onto the hardwood.
Then he saw the writing.
THIS BODY SHOULD'VE BEEN YOURS, GAVIN
Bloody letters coated the hardwood behind the corpse. Apollo squatted and crept towards the body, as if he were afraid of scaring it, then took its wrist. The pulseless warmth of the body was below human, and Apollo knew he was dead. He flipped open his phone open, ready to call the police when it flew out of his hands.
Klavier huffed, returning his hands to his pockets.
"You can't call the police."
"Why not?!"
Klavier stared at him earnestly.
"I can't get you involved in this, Apollo."
Apollos frustration deminished at his real name.
"Try me," he retorted, and stood as tall as he could muster.
Klavier sighed, but relented.
"This is a particularly dangerous weekend for me. Some fans are very disappointed at the disbanding of the Gavineers. I've received many pointed threats, from many ex-fans, and one of them are who calls themself Rint has been getting closer and closer. They toy with me, try to make my skin crawl. They say they'll kill everyone I love, then kill me. But I've seen far too many corpses, and done far too many things to be startled this easily. I went about my buisiness as usual, sure that they'd give up eventually. But their attempts got closer and worse." He paused and sighed, turning away from Apollo he continued: "They said "This will be a fun weekend Gavin. And then they sent some weird card…"
Gavin pulled a crumpled note from his back pocket and handed it to Apollo. As Apollo searched the scrap of paper Klavier continued.
"They've gotten too close. I don't think I can ignore it anymore. They've killed somebody."
O
On the card was a pair of deep red scales, shimmering indentations in expensive card stock.
"It's just some weird symbol?" Apollo said aloud.
"Herr forehead..."
"Oh nevermind. What about the body? I'm calling the police."
"I already told you no!" Gavin shouted.
"At least Ema!"
"No."
"Why not?! This is crazy dangerous now. You're a potential victim Klavier!" Apollo shouted back.
"They said they'd kill the second I ask the police for help. I...can't risk that. Not...them."
Apollo paused, eyebrows raised quizzically.
Who was this person? Alll of Klavier's family was dead lamentably, and Gavin never seemed to be interested in relationships. He was a total flirt.
"What do we do with the body then?" Apollo sighed.
"Do you have a shovel Polly?"
-/-
When they arrived at Apollo's apartment, it was a bit after 3. Klavier parked a few streets over to hopefully deter Rint.
Upon entering the building Klavier noted the thin walls and the waterlogged linoleum of the halls. He was silent the whole walk to apollos apartment thoughts heavy with dreariness, anxiety and tiredness.
Apollo opened the door and ushered him in with a swoop of his hand before shutting the door and locking it.
They entered through the small kitchen, sweeping on the light switches. The living room was illuminated, a small tv, a couple folding chairs and a dark blue futon. Minimal decoration minimal fuss.
'Much like Apollo.' Klavier thought.
"ThNk you herr forehead. Hopefully this will give us a little peace from Rint."
They'd already buried the body, somewhere near the middle of nowhere taking lots of turns to lose any potential followers. And Klavier knew for a fact Rint knew his address so that was out of the question to return to his home after this.
Apollo grunted and gestured to the pullout.
"You can crash there, Herr Gavin." He muttered, and shuffled away to get some blankets.
By his return, the couch was now a bed and Klavier lounged on the mattress, grinning at him.
"How gentlemanly of you Polly " he crooned,
Rolling his eyes, Apollo throws the comforter at him with a grunt.
"Call if u need me," he manages half-heartedly before disappearing into his room.
They didn't even know who the body was, probably mutilated beyond recognition under the stitched-on mask and crusted blood.
He would find out.
Thank you for reading
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