[Authors Note] Let's just say, I'm really sorry for the lack of writing? I'm posting this one on the college computers at the moment! I hope they don't decide to block , or I'm screwed, lol! Hope this one is a good chapter, I'm writing it how it flows. The next chapter is mostly written! Anyways, enjoy~!
-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX: The Looking Glass Of Despair
The wind howled relentlessly as the beings trudged through the rain, their gazes upon the wreckage of the old church that was along the outskirts of the small town many kilometers south of Mutsu. There were no children, and no undesirables, only people clad in black and gold scanning the wreckage in the hope of finding something. The sounds of rain was all that could be heard through the howling wind, and all that could be seen was the hints of what was in front of the beings as they searched. Glass was scattered over the grounds of the church, barely any real rubble asside from the supports of the church. The glass seemed to shine with the light of the sun that wasn't even there, the clouds blocked the early morning sun effectively in that reguard.
One of the many beings straightened up slightly at the approach of someone not clad in black and gold, the sight of a being that was of higher ranks than themselves drawing their immediate attention from their job. The approaching being was one clad in blue and red, standing at a taller stature than what everyone was really used to, and brown eyes stared out over the expanse, no umbrella to block the pouring rain, and no one escorting him through the lands.
"K-Koenma sir, what're you doing here?" The being spoke, pulling back a heavily sewen hood to reveal magenta eyes set in a pallid face. Long, blonde hair hung down her face and shoulders as she brushed her overly long fringe from her face. She watched the approaching toddler ruler with apprehensive eyes, which glanced to either side of her lord in search for the non-existent bodyguards. "W-We haven't completed the securing of the--"
"I know." Koenma spoke quietly, his eyes falling upon the woman in a solemn manner. "It's better that I get a look at the scene now, before my father sends his people in to purify the area."
"Purify--" The woman began quickly, but she fell silent as Koenma held his hand up to silence her. "I see."
"In any case, is there any more news? Any more information about what happened with Meia?" Koenma asked, his gaze shifting to the woman in front of him momentarily – she was about a foot shorter than he was in his teenager form, which wasn't that surprising to him. He saw her nod slightly, and he saw her turn on her heel and begin to lead the way towards the remains of the church. The many other black and gold clad beings kept with what they were doing, their attention, however was upon the toddler ruler that was within the area without any notice, and any body guards. The woman stepped through the little jungle of wires and leaves without trouble, leading the way towards where the wall of mirrors was located before anything had happened, many shards of glass were in large pieces, but the ground, despite the rain, looked like glitter against the soaked ground. One large piece of the mirror remained intact however, leant against the remaining bricks of the wall.
"There's no real sign of the girl that the beings of black were after, nor is there really any real sign that she's even alive." The woman spoke, coming to a halt a few meters in front of the mirror, and she turned slightly to look at Koenma, who had come to a stop just next to her, and was looking at the large sheet of mirror. "There isn't even any real sign that the beings of black were even here, unlike the samples we had recovered from the other three incidents, there was no iron residue, and there was no engulfing in life-force that came up on the scanners like before." Koenma cast a somewhat scathing look to the woman standing next to him. "However..."
"However what?" Koenma asked, rather impatiently, which earnt an apologetic look from the woman.
"There's signs, that there are existences within the mirrors that fall upon a reverse time-plain to the world that we are in." Koenma narrowed his gaze upon the woman as she lifted a hand and tugged at the pointed tip to her elfish ear lightly. "My analysis on the mirror shows that there's more than enough energy to prove another time-plain, however, there aren't really any real signs of anything more than mirror energy that you find in reflections cast in pure, saturated energy, much like the very few mirrors that haven't been destroyed in the Makai."
"So you're telling me that you think there's another world inside there, but you don't have any proof of that." Koenma summarised, and the woman inclined her head forward in an answer of agreement.
"It's impossible to test the factors that exist in another whole dimention without distorting the barrier between the two, and, in all likelihood, if the girl is within the mirrors, we'd risk tangling her up within a distortion of time and space, much like a black hole in the middle of space." The woman spoke, releasing the tip of her ear as she looked back at Koenma. "I'd have to take a proper look at the mirror before I risk anything, and I'm not that experienced with the barriers between dimensions."
"Based on a theoretical manner." Koenma commented, and the woman nodded fractionally. "Great. Take whatever you need from here and take it back to the Laboratories, then report back to me by midday the latest."
"Yes, Koenma sir." The woman spoke, bowing forward slightly before bringing her hood back over her head and beginning to move back to where she had been working before. Koenma's gaze trailed back to the strange mirror after a few moments, his attention on his train of thought as he stared into the misty depths of the glass substance. There was no real point in looking around anymore, he had already done a lap of the whole area beforehand. The reflections in the mirror were hazy, distorted, like the glass was covered in a layer of condensation, however, as Koenma carefully ran a hand over the surface to try and clear it up, his gaze narrowed at the lack of change in the clarity of reflections. His hand wasn't shocked with the ice-cold temperature that was overcoming the rest of the area, in fact, the glass was warmer than his hands were. He just didn't know what was going on anymore, and who to place trust in. It was becoming far too difficult to trust his own judgement these days too.
"Lord Koenma." Came a gruff, abrupt voice from behind, causing Koenma to snap back to complete awareness. His gaze traced the mirror before turning around cautiously. His gaze fell upon the sight of a group of ten beings, wearing the colouration of black and red clothing, like the people clad in black and gold, however, they were heavily armed with many weapons. Standing with the same stature of soldiers, the many beings remained silent and motionless, asside from the one being that was standing just a little away from Koenma, his hands held behind his back in a form of military-like order. Clearly, this one, with the dark red hair and the cold grey eyes was the one that had spoken. A great many scars lined the being's neck and face, though Koenma knew better than to wonder where the being could have gotten them from.
"What is it?" Koenma questioned, his gaze flicking from face to face before he placed his gaze back to the being directly in front of him.
"By the order of King Enma, we will have to escort all personel from the vicinity of the debris now." The being spoke, and Koenma glanced at the other soldier-like beings from the one in charge.
"For the purification, I'd assume." Koenma spoke, and his statement was met with the incline of the soldier-in-charge's head. "Fine, I'll need two of your men to bring this mirror back to spirit world for testing."
"We're not under orders to provide any help in this situation." The soldier spoke, causing Koenma to blink in shock.
"You're what?"
"We've been given orders by King Enma to merely purify the area, and nothing more." The soldier spoke, straightening up slightly as Koenma stared him down. "All objects within the vicinity of the debris will be destroyed, so there are no more incidents of the like occuring in the future."
"But one of my spirit detective's lives are at stake here!" Koenma exclaimed, his pacifier nearly falling out of his mouth at his sudden outburst.
"The unclassified being, Meia Arisawa, is to be treated as a casualty in service." The soldier spoke, and he began to pull an envelope out of the front pocket of his vest. "All efforts to rescue the said being are to be abandoned, and therefore, no investigation, or attempts in recovering her body, will be authorised, as ordered by King Enma himself." The soldier then handed the piece of paper to Koenma, before standing back in his straight-backed stance.
"There has got to be some mistake." Koenma spoke, hesitantly opening the envelope.
"No mistake, Lord Koenma, we serve King Enma directly." The soldier replied, and, he tilted his head to the right slightly. "Yuta, Reiko, escort Lord Koenma back to Spirit World, the rest of you, begin the purification." Two of the beings behind the one in charge immediately stepped forward to begin escorting Koenma away, while the others began to disperse. Koenma watched as one of the soldiers went straight for the mirror, and threw the sheath of their sword through the mirror, shattering it into many small pieces.
"Lord Koenma, please come with us." Spoke one of the two beings, and Koenma looked at the first immediately.
"The use of force has been authorised, Lord Koenma." Spoke the soldier-in-charge, and Koenma grit his teeth together as he looked at the said being.
"My father seems quite intent of sweeping all of this under the carpet." Koenma spoke, however, no reply met his statement, asside from the two beings taking grip of Koenma's forearms and beginning to lead him towards the portal that the black and gold clad beings had been escorted through. "I can walk myself." Koenma commented bitterly, forcing his arms out of the grips of the two beings with him, and, begrudgingly, he began to head towards the portal in silence. The rushing air of the standard portal met Koenma, and, he found himself standing just outside of his office in the castle.
"It's only been two hours. Why is he getting himself involved in this?" Koenma wondered out loud, his gaze falling upon the door as he began to step over to walk inside. "Not even when Yusuke's demon side was awakened, did he act this fast." The doors of the office swung open with no real effort, and Koenma's gaze was directed to the desk that was situated in the far end of the room. Something felt, off, for some reason, Koenma didn't understand what, but, it felt very, off, very strange. He waved his hand, and the large doors closed with a loud thud, and, the sounds of the doors locking met Koenma's hearing.
"Casualty-in-service. What a load of rot." Koenma seethed, his bad temper beginning to rise as he allowed himself to turn back into his toddler form. "He'd have executed her with his own sword if he had half the chance." Koenma shook his head as he began to head towards the desk. It seemed far too convenient for this all to mesh. King Enma wanted to get rid of Meia, more than he seemed to want to get rid of Yusuke before. It was like Enma was waiting all this time for the perfect opportunity to just write the girl off, wipe his hands clean of her existence. It wouldn't have surprised Koenma if he had first set the condition of Meia acting as bait for any assignment, in the hope that she would be taken out, just like this. Just dangling the girl in front of a group of demons spelt out ill. Koenma let out a weary breath as he reached his chair, and sat down, his gaze falling upon the ceiling above his head. There really wasn't anything he could do. He didn't doubt the soldiers sincerety about any investigation or rescue attempts being forbidden, it was the most likely thing King Enma would have done given the circumstances. So that meant that he had to wipe his hands clean of Meia too, or at least, just appear to have done so. This was just reaking foul-play, the longer things went. But King Enma wouldn't do that, Koenma was at least certain of that.
"The only thing I've got left, is to interrogate the suspect." Koenma spoke, his gaze shifting to the drawer where he had been keeping all of the papers in connection with Meia. The suspect, was a chance that had just fallen into his lap, or rather, had been noticed and beaten within an inch of life by one of his spirit detectives. For all the hot-headedness that was his spirit detective leader, it was that same hot-headedness and argumentative streak that had landed Koenma with someone to interrogate over Meia's disappearance. In this situation, Koenma decided to overlook Yusuke's outburst. Koenma let out another breath as he reached down to the handle of the drawer, his mind beginning to unravel itself out of that stress-made tangle of wires as he then pulled the drawer open.
What met the toddler rulers gaze was not the sight of something that he was previously unaware of, but rather, the drawer of Meia's papers, was completely empty.