So, I had two options. One: Skyla could be right when she declared she had figured it out, and I'd be done with that subject. She'll be revealed to be more perceptive than you'd think. However, that's just option one.
The boring one.
Now, for the fun one.
Option two…
Co-Author: Skyla Xerious
Editor: Allix Stowe
Beta Reader: demonic1556
XSRA's Flame Chapter 52: Murder Mystery
Skyla's POV
"Pfft, of course I'm Sherlock! Come my dear Watson, we shall solve this case!" I giggled, grabbing Weiss by the shoulders and pointing her in the direction of our dorm rooms.
We must fill Ruby and Yang in on what 'actually' happened.
I pushed back through my friends, stepping in between Allix and Rex and grabbing Blake by the hand.
"Come, come, my dear; the journey begins." I smiled and took the nearest corner, dragging Blake with me.
Behind her followed my teammates and 'Watson'.
"Please tell me you're not about to-"
"Of course I am!" I interrupted loudly, standing up and proudly plopping myself down in the center of RWBY's dorm room.
"But how did you figure it out?" Ruby asked, her bed swaying slightly as she peaked her head over the edge.
"It's elementary my dear Watson, elementary." I replied smartly, whipping out my detective hat and bubble pipe.
As I nestled the cotton deerstalker cap into place and blew a few bubble, I was once again assaulted by my peasants.
"What about the bullets? And the blood? You can't explain that, can you?" Yang asked unsurely.
"Ah, yes. The bullets and the blood." I sighed and blew a few more bubbles before continuing, "Obviously those were faked. Now, instead of wondering about the evidence… you should be focusing on the culprit!"
"Culprit?" Blake suddenly asked.
Did I just pull her out of her depressing thoughts? I was wondering why she's been so quiet.
"Yes! Someone is behind this… someone wanted to fake Xera's death… someone is responsible!" I bantered, whirling around and storming to the door; locking it tight in one swift motion.
"Uh, why'd you lock the door?" Yang's voice caused me to turn around.
The blonde brawler sat on Blake's bed beside the cat-faunus herself, and across the room Weiss just sat herself down on her own mattress. My gaze fell on Allix and Rex, sitting on the floor and leaning against the base of Weiss's bed.
"Isn't it obvious?" I said as if it were common knowledge, "One of us, here, in this very room… is guilty!" I skipped back into place and shifted my gaze across the eyes of my observers.
"You can't be serious." Weiss sighed, fingers already pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Oh, I'm totally serious. Fear not, for Herlock Sholmes is on the case!"
"Isn't it Sherlock Holmes-"
"SHUT UP, MIKE!" I screamed, cutting off Allix.
"But I'm not-"
"Moving on." I began pacing back and forth in a small circle, my hands clasped officially behind my back as I blew more bubblers… professionally.
"It's a classic really." I started, then turned my attention to Blake. "You're the lover Blake, tell me… how well do you really know Xera Stark?" I inquired as I leaned in.
Blake's cheeks flushed red a bit as she looked away. Ah hah! A natural response to being referred to as Xera's lover. The text book example of someone in love.
Or… someone who is undeniably guilty!
"Hmm, I see. So you don't want to talk huh? Was there an affair?" I pushed, leaning back and looking down on her.
"W-what? N-no… wait, why is this even important?!" Blake replied, glaring at me suddenly.
"Ah, an excellent question!" I pointed my finger to the ceiling and whirled around, resuming my pace again. "For you see, behind every murder case is a scandalous affair. Why? Because…"
I spun around again and pointed to Blake's face, "It is always… always the lover's fault!"
"Well this time it's not!" Blake defended herself with a lie.
"Irrelevant! Now, let's just say you weren't the culprit." I moved my gaze onto someone else. "Perhaps you were the reason. Someone wanted to hurt you, and to do so hurt Xera. Or, maybe someone had their eye on you. Someone wanted you for themselves and Xera was in the way?!" I continued, walking over and staring up into the red-reapers eyes.
"You were always after Xera's cookies, weren't you Ruby? All this time, you lied and waited for the moment to strike, and now… this was your perfect moment. This was the time to attack. It was YOU! You killed XERA!" I shouted at Ruby, seeing if she'd cave in.
Ruby squeaked and threw herself back against her blanket; causing the whole bed to sway.
"How could you say that?! Xera's my friend, we're forging buddies!" She cried out, then stood defensively on her bed.
"As I thought, you are truly an excellent liar Ruby Rose." I relented my attack and moved on again. "You are still a suspect, but now I must question you further. Tell me Ruby…" I blew a few more bubbles to pause for dramatic effect and suspense.
"Where were you on the night of the murder?"
"It was day." Rex corrected.
"Irrelevant. Now, answer the question honestly." I spoke calmly, looking up at the young girl I just put on the spot.
"I was with you, in the cue room. Didn't you see me?!"
Oh, for she tells the truth. However, there is a huge flaw in her alibi. "How do I know your alibi isn't crazy?"
"You're my alibi!"
"Exactly!"
The room fell into silence again as Ruby slumped back down into her bed.
I smirked, "So, you have no alibi and no proof to harbor the fact that you're innocent." I concluded, blowing a few more bubbles for good measure.
Despicable, to kill your friend just so you could steal his secret cookie stash.
That's just horrible.
"I can be my sister's alibi. I was there the whole time, and she never left my side." Yang raised her hand, clearly a novel example of an elder sister bond. But of course, she's obviously fabricating her own alibi in the form of Ruby!
Surely she has an ulterior motive for speaking up!
She's the guilty one!
I whirled on Yang and thrust an accusing finger at her, "So you admit it! You were there at the scene of the crime!"
"We all were." Allix chimed in, she had a small smile on her face.
Awe, look at who's cheering up.
She's totally hiding something.
"And you!" I once again spun on my heel and approached the archer, "You have analytical eyes that can take in an entire battlefield and focus on a single target all at one time! Obviously you noticed the crime, and saw that it was truly faked! And yet, you stayed silent… why is that?"
Allix was taken aback by my exclamation of the truth and held a hand to her heart. "Why would I hide anything?"
One small lightbulb lit up in a row of six dim bulbs. It appears one has just figured out what I'm on about. I smiled humorously at her and she cracked a smile of her own.
"Only a guilty woman says she isn't hiding anything. That's the most common lie that's been told throughout all of history!" I stated, then stepped away and began pacing again.
"Skyla-"
"Ahp up uhp up!" I zoomed over and stopped Weiss's tangent before it could even start. As I flicked her in the forehead, she gawked at me and I smiled stupidly. "I'm not done yet silly…"
Suddenly, a second bulb lit up. And that makes two, I commented in my head as I smiled at Weiss; who just sighed exasperatedly.
"For you see! There is one factor that we've overlooked…" I placed my hand against my chin then looked at my friends in front of me. "…maybe the spouse was in on it the whole time!" I claimed and walked over to Blake.
She just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
Three light bulbs. They're catching on quick.
"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. I have my suspicions, but I have trust in my boyfriend." Blake spoke seriously.
Oh, she's good.
"A worthy excuse for an attempt for innocence." I simplified and flashed her a smile, "But you see, you could've been in cahoots with Xera from the very beginning. You could've been a part of the plan and saw it through so that it was executed flawlessly! But the real question is… why?"
I stepped back and blew more bubbles into the room, "Why? You may ask. Well, it's quite simple really." Giggling a little, I flicked the tip of my cap up a bit and looked out the window dramatically. "Once Xera's death was faked. He could work behind the scenes to fake Blake's death, and then… once everything is said and done. They rob a bank and disappear!" I exclaimed. "Truly a plausible fairytale vendetta."
There was a hard thump behind me, and I turned to see Rex lying on his back; shoulders shaking.
And that makes four light bulbs. We've reached the halfway threshold, they've all almost figured it out.
"My god sir, you've fallen over!" I rushed over and nudged the chuckling Rex in the side; sending him a short wink as I did so.
"My bad, please, 'Herlock'. Continue." Rex gestured to me after he sat himself back up.
I grinned and spread my arms out wide, "It was the perfect plan. Nothing could go wrong. But, clearly there was one small mishap. One unforeseen obstacle…" I offered my stake and looked around, "…and that would be a third party.
Blake gasped uncharacteristically.
Oh, she's really good.
"Someone didn't want these two to be together. And so, they've took it upon themselves to interfere!" I further explained, "A potential love interest? Or even an arch nemesis? Either one could hold the motive to break these two up and foil their perfect plan."
I looked over and noticed Ruby and Yang sharing a glance, before Ruby fell back and she started giggling silently. Yang just flashed the biggest smirk I've ever seen on her face as she looked toward me.
Two more lightbulbs lit up. And that makes six.
I see my goal has been reached.
Smiling proudly, I sighed again and continued with my explanation.
"Now, I know what you're all thinking…" I turned on my heel and crossed my arms, "There's no way a girl like Skyla can figure out just who this third party is. Well, I'm about to prove you all wrong!" I declared as I bound for the door, unlocked it, and forcefully yanked it open.
Just as I thought.
In the hallway, with his hand grasped around his dorm room door handle, was Ren who was accompanied by Nora. The two stared back at me as if I was crazy.
Pfft, crazy? I know what you've been up to! I see what you doing! And I don't like eht!
"It was you! You killed Xera!" I screamed, dashing out and catching Ren by the collar.
"Gasp! How'd you know?!" Nora cried out in horror, hands in the air and on their way down to meet my shoulders. With a hefty grip, she took hold of my shoulders and gasped again.
"We were totally being sneaky! And we would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling-"
"Nora, I believe we are innocent." Ren sighed, causing me to relinquish my grip on his collar. "There's someone who wants to talk to you." He suddenly said seriously as he patted down his shirt, looking up at me when he was done.
I quirked an eyebrow.
"What, really?" I asked questionably.
"Yes, and he had requested everyone be present." He leaned over and addressed the six teens poking their heads out of RWBY's door frame.
"Us too huh?" Yang reiterated.
"Looks like we're doomed." Rex said, his head above the two girls below him.
"Yep." Ruby chimed in with a pop.
Xera's POV
I took a few deep breaths and once again, dried my sweaty palms against my new black sweatshirt. "Why'd I agree to this again?" I asked, pacing back and forth to the constant churning of gears. I had to change out of my bloodied clothes and switch to something different than the usual. Now I wore all black. Black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, black combat boots, you know… the usual but black.
"Don't ask me. You said you needed to do this." Ozpin's voice responded to my encrypted plea for comfort.
"Well, this'll be the most people I've ever told about this." I stated, stopping for a second and turning to the two at the large desk. "I mean, you're the only two living people that has ever known the truth for years." I pointed out.
"Yes, but you need to do this. We can't keep it from them, not with what we've found out." Glynda sighed tiredly, standing tall beside Ozpin.
The sun behind them sent dancing lights through the large spanning window of Ozpin's office. Its large glowing orb settled perfectly behind them, creating a shine of light that did nothing to relinquish the twisted pull on my nerves.
"I really don't want them getting involved though, or worse… hurt." I said, walking up to the only two people I can really call a guardian at this point.
They were the ones that took me in anyway, and now they're the closest things I have to family.
Squinting my eyes a bit, I stood at the front of the desk before my headmaster and my uncle… more or less. Beyond them was too bright to even glance at, so I kept my gaze low. Scattering my visuals onto the surface of the desk and using my peripherals to see their shadowed faces.
If I weren't so nervous, this site would actually be quite scenic. I wonder what the mountains look like with this kind of sunlight. Seriously, this is a photographer's dream; a golden sun.
"They're already involved, Xera." Ozpin said softly, using my first name. "We can't keep dancing around this subject."
"Ozpin's right. If anything, they deserve to know the truth." Glynda looked to the side for a second before turning back to meet me again, "Well, most of it anyway."
They were making small attempts to reassure me. I knew why I was doing this, it's just… it's hard to actually go through with it. When you live a life of secrets and lies, you get used to that very life style. But once the time comes to put actual trust into someone, let alone a group, it becomes an internal struggle.
No one can take change easily.
I'm no exception to that.
But even so, sometimes… if you don't change… the world won't either.
It's one of the most selfish decisions you can make as a living being here on this Remnant. Refusing to change just creates problems for the people around you.
I was pulled out of my thoughts as I heard the doors to the elevator slowly slide open. My heart skipped a few beats when I heard footsteps echo in the now silent room. The gears beneath my feet slowed to my rapidly beating heart, and I closed my eyes to take a deep breath.
Silently, I turned around and opened my eyes.
"Hey guys." I said sheepishly.
I met the eyes of my team, Ruby's team, and Jaune's team. His full team. Pyrrha seems to have made a full recovery, and is here now too.
"I know what you're thinking." I started, fidgeting slightly under the silent scrutinizing of all their gazes. Not a word was uttered from them, and it only made my heart beat even faster. "I won't blame you if you hate me for what you saw out there. If anything, you should hate me. But, just… hear me out…"
Speaking slowly, I kept my eyes from dropping. Even though that was the only thing they wanted to do right now.
"I-"
*Slam*
Out of nowhere, I was tackled to the hard glass ground by something soft but durable. And whatever it was, it started giggling.
I looked down to the site of my partner, teary eyed but she smiled at me. Her light purple eyes just kept staring at me as she continued to laugh and cry, dampening my chest as she pressed her face into it.
"I cheered them up for you, now it's your turn." She spoke, muffled by the cloth of my sweatshirt.
But I heard it.
I reached up and pat her on the head softly, "Thanks, that means a lot."
A pair of crimson dust black boots came into vision, followed by a pair of silver ones. I looked over and up, meeting eyes with the rest of my team.
Allix fell to her knees at my side and choked out a breath, "Y-you're… y-you're an i-idiot, you know that?" She spoke in a broken voice, but a small smile fell across her lips.
"There's no way our leader was going to go down without a fight." My gaze switched to Rex as he looked down at me, hands in his coat pockets. "And here you are. Still alive and kicking." He started to chuckle.
His words seemed to open the floodgates. As I came to realize just how much my team cared about me, the rest of my friends in the room made their way over.
Skyla was suddenly pulled off and I was immediately pulled up into a spine crushing hug.
"You scared the living hell out of us dumbass." Yang spoke over my shoulder as I struggled to breath, "I might kill you myself if you do that again… but, I'm glad you're not dead."
Awe, she cares-
"…it gives me the opportunity to beat on you for making Ruby cry." She smiled as her grip somehow tightened, and my life flashed before my eyes.
My bones cracked and I let out a pained whimper, whether that was because of the pain or the knowledge of my imminent doom in the future, I have no idea. But, she let me go after that.
I barely had time to breath before Ruby engulfed me in her own hug, smaller and lighter; much more forgiving than Yang's death grip.
"I'm glad it wasn't real." She said happily, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. I saw that she was trying really hard not to cry.
"I'm glad it wasn't either." I smiled back.
"Playing it close to the chest I see." I looked past Ruby and saw Jaune behind her. He gave me a nod and I reached over with a fist, and he promptly bumped it with his own.
"Yeah, I had to." I admitted, and pulled my fist back.
"Why though?" Pyrrha asked from beside Jaune. She looked a little tired, a bit weak on aura too, but otherwise fine.
"Right. That is why you're all here." I tapped Ruby on the top of the head and she separated, stepping back to be in line with the others.
I moved my way back to the desk and leaned against it, "I uh… need to tell you all something. But first, you all need to know the truth."
Crossing my arms, I shifted a bit and continued, "There is a corporation out there that wants me dead."
Blunt, but efficient. I guess.
"More of a syndicate actually, funded by an unknown backer. However, they share a common interest…" Time to be dramatic, "…the total annihilation of the faunus race."
Several of my friends stepped back, others took a short sharp intake of breath, the rest seemed to just accept it. It wasn't too unexpected for a large group of people to eventually take drastic measures against the faunus.
"Someone has been working behind the scenes to make this a reality, and for whatever reason they've come after me and my family." I explained.
"Wait." Ruby suddently said, catching my eye. "What do you have anything to do with this? Or them, whoever they are?" She asked, getting elbowed in the side by Yang for interrupting.
"Y-yeah, there's a good reason for that." And here's the hard part. "They call themselves the Angels of Death. And ever since a few centuries ago or however long they've been doing it, they've hunted down a particular pure breed of faunus for their DNA."
"I don't know why, but I can only assume they're building a weapon forged from ancient genetics. That particular race of faunus has probably fallen into myth now, but they were once called a proud civilization. They were the Phoenix."
This time, it was Weiss who interrupted. But she raised her hand first, apparently. "How come I've never heard of them? Even if they're ancient, we'd still have some information recorded somewhere."
"That's because they went into hiding as soon as they realized they were being hunted." I answered. "The Phoenix had always been excellent at adapting, hence why their DNA was sought out by the AOD."
"Yeah, well that's just DNA though. What could they possibly use it for?" Allix asked.
I just shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know, but it's anything but good."
My words lingered in the air for a few seconds before someone finally spoke up.
"You're a Phoenix… aren't you?" Ren asked, probably already assuming the answer.
I nodded my head, "Y-yes… I'm the last of my kind."
Before anyone could speak, I continued, "My bloodline, my ancestors, developed a technique to mask our aura and hide our wings completely. Not just under a baggy sweatshirt or cloak…" I emphasized my point by ruffling my wings a bit, causing my sweatshirt to shift in different places. "…but entirely so that the wings could disappear and reappear at will."
"I… never had the chance to learn the second part, but my mother was able to teach me how to mask my aura signature. And we survived for a while, up until five years ago. That was the last time my family was still a whole."
"You all know my brother by now, Zerath. We don't share the same blood, but he's been in the family ever since I was three. He's adopted, but still… he's my brother. But the man you see now isn't the same guy. When our mother was killed, we were both taken to a facility and put through experimentation. After about a month, my brother and I worked up a plan to escape."
"He got me out, but Zerath… he never made it to the water. God knows whatever he had to go through once I left. The following days were a blur, but I remember waking up on a raft to see Ozpin standing in front of me at the docks. He took me in and I underwent training to become a huntsman."
"And now, five years later, they've sent my brother to kill me. But in order to do that they needed some sort of control over him. So they merged him with a dark entity built for destruction, Soul-Slasher. And then they placed a kill chip inside my brother's neck. In the tournament, we were able to disable it as well as convince them that I'm dead… for now."
They'll find out eventually, but before they do… I'll already be burning that damned corporation to the ground. I added mentally.
"Well, that's great! Now you don't have to worry about them… right?" Skyla asked, unfortunately.
I shook my head, "Zerath…" I bit my lip, I know it wasn't my fault but I can't help but blame myself for at least being part of the cause, "…he fell into a coma. And we don't have the knowledge to do anything to help him, not unless we find the research they've done and use that to save him."
"That's easy." Yang smashed her fists together, startling a few people, "Let's just bust in and steal it."
"It's not that easy." I responded, "Ren was able to trace back the signal they sent to activate Zerath's kill chip, but unfortunately it wasn't all the way back to the source. So we still don't know exactly where they are, but we have a lead."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Rex asked, stepping forward.
Ozpin cleared his throat, "I thought you'd never ask. Team Sahara, this will be your first mission. We've already pulled thermal imaging of the facility Ren found, and we have reason to believe that it's entirely abandoned."
Glynda opened up her tablet and began typing, "I'll send you the specifics, but this is strictly a reconnaissance and information gathering mission only. Execute with extreme caution though, we still don't know what that facility was for… or why the signal was pinged there."
"Why can't we help?" Blake spoke up for the first time.
Blake already knew about most of this, so I'm not surprised that she's been so quiet. Rideat and Anna also knew about my death being fake; the prior for obvious reasons. So they didn't need to be informed about all this.
"Because, miss Belladonna, classes start up again tomorrow and there is no need for more than one team to be missing them for an entire two days." Ozpin informed her, as well as the rest of my friends.
"It's the start of the second semester, please don't take it lightly or neglect your responsibilities." Glynda followed up.
There were a few groans from the group, but they did sign up for at least learning a thing or two here. So they accepted it.
"That brings me to my third reason." I spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention again. "I can't have word get out that I'm alive, so you all need to keep it a secret. I also need someone to take notes for me in class since I can't actually attend any of them for now."
"I'll do it. We have the same classes together anyway." Blake spoke up, "Although I can't do the leadership classes for you."
"I can do those." Jaune offered.
"Then it's settled. From here until I say otherwise, I am officially undercover and presumed dead." I leaned forward and moved away from the desk, "Did I miss anything?" I asked, looking over my shoulder.
Glynda shook her head and Ozpin gave me a thumbs up.
"Great, well I'm going to get some sleep now. I'm exhausted." I stuffed my hands in my sweatshirt pocket and moved around the group, "Good night guys, if anyone asks… tell them I'm dead."
Option two; Skyla is perceptive enough to figure it out as well as assess the situation. So, she decided to try and distract her friends with her antics in an effort to cheer them up.
She was successful.
Okay, so there were a couple references in this one. First of all, there is a very hilarious video called 'Sherlock Sucks at Deduction' by Pete Holmes. If you haven't seen it already, it's a ridiculous parody about the idea behind a 'what if' question.
That being; "What if Sherlock was completely and horribly wrong with his in-depth assumptions?"
It's more than an enjoyable video, if you ask me.
Anyway, I also referenced a bit of Scooby Doo. But it was essentially just a small known quote, so it wasn't much. I grew up watching those episodes though so it was a nod to one of my favorite childhood shows.
Haha, I just noticed the title actually references the references I referenced in this chapter.
Reference inception!
Anyway, now you get to have a look into Xera's past. Woo! I'm not too sure how exciting that actually sounds, but there is an interesting story behind what happened five years ago. Anyone interested?
Maybe you're not interested. Might I interest you in some food for thought to potentially give you a taste of what's to come?
How did Xera get a fire affinity? Or Zerath an ice affinity?
Exactly what happened five years ago?
Who killed Leona?
Who is the antagonist that was revealed two chapters ago?
What's at the facility that Ren found when tracing back the 'kill signal' to find its source?
Is your mouth watering yet? I hope it is, because I'll cover more than these in the chapters to come. Oh, and you know what. Vulderak is coming back. He's been… on a bit of a hunt. Let's just say, he's been trying to find someone.
REVIEW! Let me know what you guys are thinking. Anything and everything is appreciated.
Favorite and Follow the story, I'll see you in the next one.
Cya XD
