Dlbn: Hello, everyone! I'm back!
Nbld: Between planning the wedding, excruciating back pain, two attacks from the flu, a stomach bug, two er visits, work, cat-sitting, and the typical busy crap I'm stuck doing, there's been no time to write or update. But here we are, another chapter, and another Review Corner! Thank you to Promocat and The DarkCat for reviewing! Cookies for you both!
Promocat: Someone has to. Pretty sad it must be a sixteen-year-old boy, when there's so many adults in their world capable of doing something.
The DarkCat: He's pretty screwed up. Using your son's death for your own personal gain? How much trashier can you get? We're getting nearer to the end. The suspense is killing even me, and I know what's happening ^^"
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, Kaji, and any other Units that aren't canon to Loveless. Everything canon to Loveless belongs to Yun Kouga. I make NO money off writing this fic.
000
Sanji grabbed Ritsuka and pulled him aside just before lunch the following day. She handed him an envelope with nothing written on it. He cocked an eyebrow at her.
"What's this about?" He wondered.
"That man…sensei's father…" She paused. "His minions gave this to my parents when they invited them to the first meeting. We're not sure if its anything useful, but my parents don't want it in the house, so why not give it to someone who could make use of it?"
"Thank you." Ritsuka shoved it in his pocket. "I'll look it over with my Fighter and Zero when we get home tonight."
She nodded once. "Thank you for…you know…trying to help. My mom's cousin…he really was innocent. I've seen the evidence…"
"I'm surprised your parents let you in on anything regarding our world, honestly. It's not something civilians should be privy to."
"Well, considering I'm a civilian and my parents clearly have made enemies of your organization and who knows who else, it's probably better that I know what's going on around me, so I'm prepared." She rubbed her left arm. "Mom was always adamant about me being able to defend myself. I've been doing karate since I was four."
"Better to be prepared and not have to be than to be caught off guard and ill-prepared." He nodded. "If I didn't think it would freak them out, I'd let my friends in on it, too, really."
"Honestly, the first time I saw a battle, it did freak me out a little. Mother explained it to me and knowing makes me feel a little safer. But…do you think he was right? That guy? That they'll turn on you if they know? The rest of the civilian world, I mean."
"I'm not sure how civilians will react. I'm hoping they just pass him off as a madman."
"I think that's what he is…if sensei's mother was right…using your son's death like that." Her skin crackled under the pressure of the fists she was balling up. "It's despicable. I don't care if you're trying to protect the world. You failed to protect your son and ran away when he was just a child…if that's the case, you've already failed the world."
Ritsuka nodded. "I'm glad to meet someone so level headed about this. Everyone else has been…"
"Scared stiff, and rightfully so…you don't know who killed Sensei, do you?"
"That Unit the man mentioned, that can be anyone they want? I'm pretty sure they're connected to the murder, yes. Obviously, I have no proof and we haven't been able to locate them."
"I wonder if this guy can." She shuddered. "I'm afraid to see what kind of fresh hell we're going to be thrown into if this idiot opens his mouth."
"You and me both, Sanji…"
000
Sensei's father was thorough, Ritsuka decided as he looked over the information Sanji had given him for the tenth time that night. His mother let him stay the night at Soubi's again, so long as he came back with his ears and tail attached, so he and the others were trying to make sense of it all. There were charts and timelines, photographs of Sanji's parents that were obviously taken without their knowledge, and information blurbs about everything from how battles were fought to who was in charge of their world. Thankfully, no names had been given. Everyone who was part of the spell world would know who was in Septimal Moon, anyway. It was more likely just to show how much he knew and how much of a threat he was. One candid picture of Sanji sitting outside a café, drinking bubble tea and laughing with friends made Ritsuka's skin crawl. The guy had the audacity to stalk and make mention of their civilian child. No wonder they were so on edge and took Sanji with them to the meeting.
"He knows his stuff." Natsuo put down an index card he'd been looking at that depicted how a bond worked. "I wonder how much he's found on his own and how much his goons managed to collect."
"I doubt everything here was discovered by him. A lot of it are things you wouldn't know unless you went to the Academy." Soubi tapped on a card about healing spells. "They have to have been feeding him this information."
"But for what purpose?" Ritsuka tapped his chin. "I mean, why would they tell him anything? And how did he find these people in the first place…"
"Maybe he happened on a spell battle." Yoji offered.
"And he just knew they were enemies of Septimal Moon, of the very world he's trying to destroy?"
"He just wants to cause fear." Yoji rolled his eyes. "The more fearful we are, the better control he has over our world. No one is going to fight or do anything they'd normally do when they're afraid the rest of the world will notice and hunt them down for it."
"He's hoping it would be like the Salem witch trials in the old days of the US if he exposed us. People killing one another and turning in people they suspect of being one of us when they're not. Its fear mongering and an attempt at control." Soubi sat back in his chair. "He knows enough to ruin us. That's all he's doing with all this information gathering and photo taking."
"I can understand that, but what's his motive? Why, because he saw his son use a spell and it freaked him out? Most people would just force that deep into their subconscious to forget about, so they didn't have to deal with the fear and reality, not use it to destroy something they don't understand."
"Maybe he's one of those strange overly religious types." Yoji shrugged his left shoulder. "Who knows, who cares? Forget a motive. We need to figure out how to stop him and his goons before they open their stupid mouths."
"Easier said than done." Soubi pointed out. "He's a civilian. If we do anything regarding him, they're just going to use that as further proof that our kind are to be feared and eliminated."
"And if we go after the Units working for them, he'll use that as well to prove to our kind that we can't be trusted." Ritsuka sighed, sliding down further in his chair. "He's got us backed into a corner no matter what approach we make."
"We have a right to defend ourselves if attacked, so we could just wait around, but that's not going to do us any good. Our people want justice for sensei's death, and they're not going to be happy with us just sitting around." Natsuo pointed out. "What are we going to do? We need a solid plan."
Ritsuka fixed him with a solemn gaze. "Unfortunately, I think it's time we brought Septimal Moon up to speed."
000
To say Mikado was upset that Ritsuka and Zero had gone behind her back would be an understatement. The normally calm teenager was standing at attention at Septimal Moon's meeting table, tight fists clenched on the table and tit obviously grit as she spoke slowly. Tokino put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her, but she shrugged it away.
"You did what I specifically asked you not to do." She complained. "What if you had been caught?"
"But we weren't." Ritsuka pointed out, standing as well in anticipation of a Ritsu-Nagisa style argument. "Our people want justice for Sensei's murder, for the other Unit's murder, and you expected me to just sit around and do nothing, just wait for something to fall into my lap? That's not how we do things, Mikado."
"We do things when we are in agreement." She pointed out. "And you deliberately went against our own policies. And for what?"
"Vital information of what this psycho is planning and just how much he knows." Ritsuka threw the file from Sanji onto the table, contents spilling out across the table. The photograph of Sanji and her friends slid to a stop in front of Mikado's clenched hands. "I got this from my classmate. My civilian classmate. It was left for her Unit parents by the guy orchestrating all this." Ritsuka informed as Mikado's eyes shifted to the photograph. "He was willing to go after a civilian just to get at her parents. What he knows? He knows almost everything of our world. The Units working for him already probably told him most of it. But he knows enough to not only expose our world, but to destroy Septimal Moon from the inside out. I can't sit around waiting anymore. I have to take action. Sensei's mother and step father deserve it, my classmates that are part of our world deserve it…sensei deserves it. We have to take this man down before he can take us down."
"We find ourselves at a crossroads." Ritsu spoke up. "Both of you, sit down. Your points are valid."
Ritsuka did as ordered, plopping onto Soubi's lap with a huff. Tokino gently eased Mikado away from the table and back into her seat.
"And how do you propose we go after him, Aoyagi?" Ritsu looked to the youngest member. "If we go after him, its proof we will hurt civilians."
"And if we go after his allies, it proves we're willing to hurt our own." Ritsuka nodded. "Zero and I discussed the possibilities last night. That's why I called this meeting myself. We're stuck. We have the who and the how, but we don't have the why or the plan to follow through on."
"If we can eliminate his people quietly, we may have a chance of at least disarming him." Nagisa offered.
"The moment one of his people go missing, he's likely to leak everything he knows." Ritsuka informed.
"The question remains, then." Nana piped up. "Are we willing to risk exposure of our world to the outside to take down a civilian who may not even make good on his threats?"
"He's clearly done his research." Ritsuka replied, tapping on the folder on the table. "If he's gone this far, there's no reason to assume he won't say anything."
"Whether we take care of him or not, the information is probably going to get out." Mikado laced her fingers on top of the table, appearing calmer now. "If we take out his people one by one, he'll reveal it himself. If we take care of him, we don't know if the others have standing orders to expose what they can before they're caught." She tapped the photograph in front of her. "Obviously some civilians know more than they're supposed to, but they're okay with it."
"She's the only civilian we know that is aware of our world. I'm not sure how others would react. People aren't really kind to things they don't know or understand." Ritsuka objected. "Are we willing to run the risk that exposing us won't hurt us?"
The room went silent, weighing the options. Risk exposure under the assumption that people would be accepting? Or take the problem out completely before it could spread and run that risk? The options weren't great. No matter what, the world would be stained in blood, all of Septimal Moon's hands tainted by plasma if they were to either eliminate the issues or dive head first into a war by letting themselves be exposed. Guilt weighed heavily on Ritsuka's mind. Though he knew there was nothing he could do about it, he wished something could have been done sooner. Sensei deserved justice, that was true. But Ritsuka and the others first and foremost had a duty to keep their people protected from anything that could destroy them. And Kaji's father met that description to a T.
On the other hand, they could run the risk that civilians simply wouldn't care. The spell world didn't involve them, so why fear something they didn't need to bother being a part of in the first place? Ritsuka knew his friends might be a little more open-minded than other people he knew and would definitely see himself and Zero in a new light if they knew what they were capable of. But Yuiko was jumpy as it was. And wouldn't exposing their world give Units free reign to fight out in the open, in front of witnesses? Would the police get involved in battles when they saw them? Would other civilians run in terror or stare in awe as battles unfolded right before their very eyes? Would their people even know to continue keeping themselves indoors and out of sight when battling?
There was the chance that revealing their world could cause mass panic in either world. Their own people would fear civilian retaliation, maybe stop using spells altogether to prevent being found out. Civilians might fear being attacked with spells they had no way to protect themselves from. They had no way to tell how civilians would react. Sanji was okay with it, but they were her parents. The bond between parents and child wasn't something easily broken, and Sanji had probably been a part of things since she was born.
Kio and Akira knew a few things from what Soubi had opened up to Kio about back before Seimei faked his death, and though wary of their friends being hurt, they seemed understanding and accepting. But, he supposed, when it was the people closest to you that were revealing this side of themselves, it was easy to see them as the same people you'd known all the years you'd called them friends, family.
"He's working in the shadows as of now." Ritsu broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the meeting chambers. "Confronting him in public isn't going to get us anywhere. There's no point. The people siding with him are our enemies just as much as he is." Ritsu drummed his fingers on the table top. "Currently, our biggest threat is the false Flightless Unit."
"He's made it pretty obvious that they're either on his side, or at least have seen him enough to know anything he's planning." Soubi stated. "He made specific mention of their ability to mimic any Unit at the meeting."
Nagisa shook her head, teal curls bouncing. "He knows of them, but we don't know if they're allies."
"His son died by their hands and suddenly he comes out of the woodwork to frighten our people into joining him." Ritsuka cocked an eyebrow. "I'd say the two are pretty connected."
"We need to find them and take them down before anything. The Executioners specifically cannot move until we are certain the Units we are going after are really behind the trouble." Mikado informed.
"That brings up another point." Ritsuka cleared his throat. "The girl who gave me this. Her parents are related to a Unit named Merciless. I'm sure you know of them. They were falsely Executed by the old squad, when my father was present."
Ritsu flushed crimson. "I'm aware of the situation regarding Merciless…"
"Could it be possible that this odd Unit was functioning back then and posing as Merciless? They would have attended the academy at the same time Soubi did, making them about his age."
"Yes, Merciless attended the Academy with Soubi, that's true. But we have no record of this Unit. They likely didn't go to school here."
"And sensei was about the same age as Soubi, correct?"
"Yes? Where are you going with this, Loveless?"
Ritsuka's ears twitched at mention of his true name. "Hear me out on this theory. Sensei's father would have run off when he was six. Merciless were teenagers when eliminated?"
"Sixteen and fifteen, if I remember correctly."
Ritsuka nodded. "With all the information he's gathered and all the people he's gathered, it's safe to assume he's been working on this since he ran off on sensei and Hostile, yes?"
"Yes…?"
Mikado chuckled. "I see where he's going." She informed. "You think Merciless was the first victim. Not Kaji."
Ritsuka nodded again. "A test run. As far as we know, has anyone else been falsely eliminated by the Executioners?"
"Your father officially retired after the Merciless incident, since he was the one tasked with carrying out the Execution. Gomon's father was sick at the time." Ritsu informed. "Rules changed after he left in shame of what he'd done. There's no record of any eliminations that were false."
"Merciless were a test run." Ritsuka declared. "When their death brought the Executioners to their knees, Kaji's father succeeded in his plan."
"And then what? He waited all this time to make another move with the false Unit?" Ritsu cocked an eyebrow.
"Hostile and Kaji moved shortly after she remarried to her Fighter." Ritsuka informed. "He would have had to not only track them down but earn Kaji's trust enough to get him alone so he could be drugged and kidnapped before his death, as he was. It wouldn't be a stretch to say this false Unit were still coming into their name and abilities. Once they succeeded in taking down Merciless…"
"He was ready to use them for the big show. Get his son alone, kill him, and use his death as a catalyst for the rest of his plan."
"My witness said Kaji got a call about a visitor and went pale. He disappeared shortly after. I don't think he paled out of fear. I think he paled out of surprise, or maybe shame that he was actually communicating with the man his mother despised." Ritsuka sighed sadly. "Family drama worked in this guy's favor. I can't say exactly how he got Sensei out, just that Kaji wasn't seen again after leaving to meet with this person. He was likely abducted either from school or right after the meeting."
"Assuming Merciless was a test run, as Executioners, we have the right and responsibility to go after whoever caused their false execution. And that would have to be this false Unit." Mikado spoke softly.
"Technically, it would be Kaji's father if he was the one orchestrating everything." Ritsuka pointed out. "But since he's a civilian and we can't prove he'd ordered it, it's not our place to deal with him."
"You have a way and a reason to eliminate this false Unit." Ritsu stated. "Solving the mystery behind the unlawful death of Merciless and the murders of Kaji and Victorious. Connect the three incidents as well as you have, and we have proof enough to eliminate this false Unit. Take away the false Unit, take away his power and stop him from creating any more victims."
"And if he uses the death of this false Unit as a catalyst to expose us?" Mikado wondered. "Then what?"
"Then we will handle it as it comes. For now, we can't worry about the what ifs. Catch this false Unit and Kaji's family, as well as Victorious' respective families and your classmates will be satisfied that justice was wrought. We don't need anyone knowing about Kaji's father and his plans. It would only cause mass panic. Take out this Unit as quietly as possible. We'll handle any kickback as it comes in."
"We don't know what they really look like, or who they are. We don't even have a name." Mikado objected. "How are we expected to find them?"
Ritsuka smirked. "We set a trap."