Chapter 43

'What do you mean nothing?' Jaye said, sitting down in a huff. 'Like nothing nothing, or nothing of use nothing?'

'Nothing nothing.' Ray said, crossing his arms. 'I pulled their faces and names off the passenger list, but nothing came up when I searched them. No records of employment, study or residence. Not even a damned phone number.'

It was just before dinner, and Ray had managed to get ahold of some info for them. They were huddled in their room, door locked, and curtains drawn. The hooded figures had yet to go to dinner, and they were currently debating the necessity to raid the room.

'So they're with the Faction then?' Indigo asked, and Ray shook his head.

'No one matches that description even in the Mistral branch.' He said. 'Might be they're even bigger than we think they are, or they're really nobodies and then you guys are at square one.'

'They might be using fake names?' Kamina suggested. 'It could explain the lack of info.'

'I already considered that.' Ray said. 'I ran facial recognition, so I ought to have come up with something.'

'Damn, looks like we might have to get into their room after all.' Jaye said, crossing his arms. 'I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this.'

'Doubt they'll leave anything in that room that's traceable.' Indigo said, and Jaye nodded.

'That's the point. If we find nothing, not even prints, then we know for sure we're dealing with some kind of organization. Regular folk wouldn't have access to those kinds of things.' He said, and Kamina nodded in assent.

'Yeah. It would also cement the possibility that this is a trap.' He said, his ears twitching. 'If they were working for an organization, they couldn't possibly be this bad.'

'What were their names?' Jaye asked, and Ray scratched his head.

'The boy's name's Apollo, the girl is Artemis.' He answered. 'Aside from that, no idea. No last names, age, or anything. You lot better be on guard.' He got up from his chair. 'I'm heading back to the kitchen. You lot want any grub?'

'Make me a sandwich.' Kamina piped, and when the group raised an eyebrow at him, he grinned mischievously. 'I'm serious, I want a sandwich. Get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich.'

'Look at you, objectifying men and everything.' Ray chuckled, and Kamina placed a hand over his heart, an accused look on his face.

'Ha ha.' Jaye said obligingly, rolling his eyes at the faunus. 'Let's get moving. It's almost evening.'

After eating a quiet dinner in their room, courtesy of Ray, the three waited patiently for the hooded pair to step out for dinner. Jaye leaned against the glass of his door, watching the two pace quietly up the stairs. They waited a few minutes, until he was sure they weren't coming back, before they opened their own door quietly. Pulling a set of lockpicks out of his pocket, Jaye set to work on the door, while Kamina and Indigo stood in front of him, shielding him from prying eyes. Kamina's ear twitched.

'You missed the pin.' He whispered, and Jaye swore at him.

'Piss off asshat.'

'Shut up you third-rate burglar.'

'You shut up fox boy.'

'You missed the pin again!'

'Why don't you come do it smartass?'

'I would, but you're too busy being an idiot.'

'Both of you shut up.' Indigo hissed, pressing up against Kamina. 'For god's sake Kamina put your arm over me.'

Finally getting the lock open, Jaye pushed the door open quietly, sliding in through the space. Adjusting his gloves, he made sure his fingers were covered, although he knew they were, before he began searching carefully. He dusted the windowsill and chairs, raising an eyebrow as he immediately found several sets of fingerprints. Whether they were the two's fingerprints or not, the fact that they hadn't wiped the room didn't bode well for him. He pulled out an imprinter, getting as many copies of fingerprints as he could. They could sort through them later, but for now he just needed to find the most likely areas that would have been wiped before they came and would be cleaned if they were intent on erasing fingerprints. He found two sets on the bathroom handles and shower head, two more on the light switch, and more on the bags in the corner. He thought they'd at least wipe their own things for prints, but they didn't. That made things clear: they weren't working for an organization.

He swore aloud, covering his mouth immediately, and continued digging. Going through their personal belongings, he found nothing of interest. Underwear, change of clothes, random dagger, toothbrush, money pouch. He swore again. He eyed the weapons in the corner; there were two sets of bows and hunting knives. He dusted the handles for prints, finding more, and honestly wondered why he didn't think to dust those first.

Outside

'How are you feeling now?' Kamina whispered, holding Indigo closer to him. She faked a laugh, grinning up at him.

'I'm doing better, feeling a lot better.' She replied, a broad smile on her face as a few people passed by. They were leaning against the wall beside their tailers' door, pretending to have an intimate conversation. Physical intimacy tended to turn prying eyes away and make others uncomfortable. It helped reduce suspicion and risk of detection, and was an age old tactic when it came to stakeouts, searches and stealth. It used to always be Jaye and Indigo who did it, and Kamina and Damian would do their searches or assassinations. Things were, of course, different this time around.

'Do you think you'll be okay soon?' Kamina asked, and Indigo screwed up her face in thought.

'I don't know. I don't think I'll ever know for sure. But things will work out eventually, you know?' She tapped her chin. 'Having something to do helps.'

'Let's hope we always have something to do then.' Kamina grinned, and they laughed, genuinely, for the first time. Turning his attention back to the stairwell across from them, Kamina raised an eyebrow as someone rounded the corner, turning his eyes back to Indigo. Indigo watched the man through a small pocket mirror in her hand, and they continued to talk.

'Seriously though, Mina, thanks.' Kamina glanced at her quizzically, the person vanishing into another room across them, and Indigo cleared her throat.

'What for?'

'For being there. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been here for me all the way through.' She wiped her eyes quickly, turning her attention back to the pocket mirror. 'If you really were dead, and all this happened, I probably would have fallen apart completely. I'm really grateful for you.'

'Goes both ways you know.' Kamina whispered, chuckling nervously. He rubbed his neck, a nervous look flashing across his face. 'It was…tough in the dust mines. It really was. I can't even begin to count the number of times I wanted to just give up and die.' He scratched his ears. 'There were only a few things that kept me going; indignation, furious pride, and a lot of swearing.'

Indigo placed a hand on his chest, and Kamina glanced sheepishly down at his shoes. He coughed a few times, and she patted him reassuringly. Taking a shaky breath, he finally met her gaze once more.

'But you know…those things can only keep you going for so long. There were so many beatings, so much torture, so little food, and so much pain. It was hell there, even now I can't believe I really survived.' He licked his lips nervously, ears flicking about anxiously. 'It was hard. Every night I went to sleep cold and hungry; I don't think there was a day I went without bleeding. But when all my pride, my anger, my will, had been crushed to nothing, I wound up thinking of us.'

Indigo rubbed his head gently, and Kamina covered his eyes with a hand.

'You, Jaye, hell even Damian. You guys kept me going when I was in there.' He coughed slightly. 'I would have fallen apart if not for the bonds we had. Only the thought of coming back to you guys kept me going. I owe you guys more than you realize.'

'Mina…' Indigo touched a hand to his cheek, and he chuckled softly.

'When I broke out, I actually nearly died. Got shot in the back on the way out because I went back for my locket. They apparently placed clothing and weapons in different places.' He grinned. 'I nearly passed out from the blood loss, but I still kicked ass and vanished. Totally worth it.'

'That was dumb.' The auburn-haired woman laughed. 'We could have just gotten you another one.'

'Nah, this is one of a kind.' He patted the locket against his chest. Indigo pulled our her own, cradling it in her palm. 'Nothing can replace this.'

'Yeah, I get that.' She said, gazing down at it. The two teammates smiled at each other, putting the accessory away in their shirts.

'Look at me, getting all sentimental and stuff.' He said, touching her hand and sniffing nonchalantly. 'Alright, sappy time is over, let's get back to work. Also, I think someone's coming down the stairs. Quick, use a pick-up line on me.'

'Hey there sweetheart, wanna play? I can rock you better than the boat.'

'That's hot.'

'Goddamit.' Jaye swore under his breath, placing his hands on his hips. Despite going through just about everything in the room, he'd found nothing to clue them in on who Artemis and Apollo were. He stashed his newly acquired prints in his pouch, giving the room a glance over once more. Everything had been returned to just about how it was; nothing looked upset, and his gloves would prevent anyone picking up his prints. He glanced out the window, watching the sea spray splatter against the glass. Swearing quietly to himself again, he prepared to leave the room, resting his knuckles against the door. He went to knock, before a flash of light passed by his eye. He flinched away instinctively, snarling under his breath, and searched for the source. The setting sun's rays peered through the window, and he flinched as the light flashed once more. Catching the little bright spot, he darted over to the bed, sticking his head under the wooden frame. He burst into a dust bunny, coughing the foul dust bomb out of his face and regretting all his life choices, before seizing the source of the light flashes under the bed. It was a small wooden box with a silver lock on it, and he immediately set to work on it, sliding his picks into the tiny crevice. It came apart easily; it was one of those cheap little two Lien locks with just a single pin and a spring, and he flipped it open. He balked at the contents, raising it in his hand.

Clutched between his fingers were a bunch of photographs, the kind parents would put in their kids' albums, and he let them fall back into the box. He swore again, staring back into the wooden storage item, wondering if there was anything he'd missed. He doubted it; anything protected with such a crappy lock was hardly worth anything, and he raised an eyebrow at the toddler photos of their two pursuers. They were distinctly male and female. The female was a faunus, Kamina was right on the money, with cat ears and a tail, while the boy was a bright faced child that seemed to laugh a lot. He squinted at the photographs, something tugging on the edge of his mind. The two certainly bore resemblance to their ID photos, and considering their names were scrawled on the back of the photos he deduced that they weren't fake.

'Apollo and Artemis huh?' He pondered, tapping a finger on his chin. 'Where have I heard those names before?'

The two toddlers in the photo seemed extraordinarily familiar to him. He raised an eyebrow at the photos, peering closely at them. In the pictures they looked around ten or eleven and judging from the age of the photographs it had only been a few years since then. The two were most likely teenagers, and Jaye grimaced. Most criminal organizations had no issues recruiting teenagers or even children. He revised his earlier thought; they could still be working for one, just that they were expendable and so there was no need to train them well. He screwed up his eyes in concentration, but try as he might, he couldn't put a finger on where he had seen the two before.

In The Meantime, Outside

Apollo and Artemis stood quietly, fidgeting on the spot, unsure of what to do. The girl had turned beet red up to the base of her ears, and Apollo was staring at his shoes. They kept glancing up at the pair pressed against their door, ignoring them completely and focused entirely on an intense make-out session.

Indigo had pinned Kamina to the wall, eyes screwed shut and her lips sealed onto his. He stroked a hand up her back, running it through her hair, and she pressed her body into his much larger one. Sliding a leg between his, she moaned audibly into his lips, slamming her palm into the door. The twins flinched at the loud sound, and stood awkwardly as they continued, unabashed. After a good number of seconds of intense making out, Artemis, ears swishing, raised her voice.

'Um…!' She squeaked, making a high-pitched noise of alarm as Kamina roughly turned Indigo around, jamming his elbows into the door and making the slam of a lifetime. She trembled slightly as they continued, ignoring her, and Apollo shifted awkwardly. Kamina's ears twitched in response to the movement, and he grabbed Indigo's wrist, pushing it up against the door. In the cover of his own hand, he relayed the information to her with a series of rapidly drawn gestures in her palm. She squeezed his finger in response, relaxing into him, and finally Apollo found his voice.

'Excuse me!' He called, face redder than a tomato, and the two broke apart for a moment. Indigo narrowed her eyes at the boy, and he flinched away from her gaze.

'What? Can't you see we're busy?' She said, huffing at the teenager and turning her attention back to Kamina. She stroked his cheek, peering over his arm at the boy. 'Go away kid, the adults are talking.'

'Umm.' He muttered, raising his finger at the door, and Indigo raised a sarcastic eyebrow at him. 'That's our room.'

'What did you say?' She spat, twirling a finger through her auburn locks and looking as disgruntled as possible. 'Speak up boy, I can't hear you when you're blabbing through your teeth.' She narrowed her eyes at him once more. 'Do you have something to say?'

'That's our room!' He finally exclaimed, nearly trembling on the spot. Bewildered, Indigo turned to check the door number, patting her head with a knuckle like she'd forgotten something.

'Ah, ours is next door. Easy mistake, don't make a fuss over it.' She waved a hand dismissively at the two, and they practically flinched in response to the movement. 'But I can see why you'd be impatient with such a cutie pie next to you.' She leaned towards the two, who immediately took an unconscious step backwards. 'Having a nice cruise with your girlfriend huh? Teenagers these days.'

'N-No!' The girl squeaked, waving her hands in a rather comical fashion at the two. 'He's my brother! We're twins!'

'Huh? Is that so?' Indigo said, now focusing on her nails. It was clear she hadn't even heard them, and neither did she care. The two made uncomfortably faces once more. 'Well I'm not one to judge; have fun with whoever you like. Just don't get too loud, or you'll ruin my groove.'

The two immediately turned beet-red, yelling at the woman who waved them off dismissively. Grabbing the faunus boy by the hand, she dragged him over to their own door, winking at Apollo as she passed him.

'Fine fine, we're going. You two love-siblings happy?' She said haughtily, laughing as they continued to bluster.

Inside The Room

Jaye jumped as a massive slam erupted from the door, and immediately set the box back under the bed, kicking it out of sight. He gave the room a one over, scanning quickly for any signs of displacement. He heard a few muffled voices through the door, doing a scan of the room and pressing his ear to the door gap. He heard Indigo talking to someone, and recognized the bitchy, sarcastic persona she always used when the inhabitants of the room showed up. He swore under his breath, running across to the window and unlocking it. He yanked it open, sliding it until he had access to the outside of the ship, and reached through for the metal ledge above. He grabbed onto the window ledge, pulling himself out and lowering himself until he found purchase with his feet on a nearby metal ring. Sticking his head back in through the gap, he went over the room once more. A flash of metal caught his eye, and he swore into the wind. He'd left the lock for the box on the floor.

'Fine fine, we're going. You two love-siblings happy?' Indigo's voice rang clearly through the door, and he dived back into the room. Swiping the lock off the ground, he dashed to the bed, snapping it back into the loop of the box, and fumbled. The lock clacked onto his boot, and he scrambled for it as it bounced away across the floor. He snatched it back up again, looping it through the item and locking the box. Kicking it under the bed, he charged to the window and dived out feet first like a drop kick, grabbing hold of the windowsill as he did so. Slamming into the side of the ship, he cussed out the metal dome, feeling the pain spread throughout his body, grabbing the window and sliding it shut just as the door opened. He ducked his head back down, praying that they hadn't spotted him, and quickly shimmied over to the window to his own room.

Apollo and Artemis stepped inside, their footsteps soft on the carpeted ground, and they sank down into the furniture there. Artemis stuck her head under the bed, spotting the box, and reached out to touch it anyway.

'I don't think they know who we are.' Apollo said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. 'Those two are accomplices of his; they must be the Indigo and Kamina we heard about.'

'Yeah, that's most likely the case.' Artemis swished her tail back and forth anxiously. 'She was so scary!'

'She was seriously terrifying.' Apollo shuddered, rubbing his arms. 'She behaves so differently from how she looks. They might be even bigger than we thought.'

'But still, we're not here for them.' The faunus girl twitched her ears, cradling the locked box in her hands. 'We're just here for him. We're just here for Joseph.'

'Yeah, I know. But I'm sure they'll get in our way.' Apollo stared angrily out the window, narrowing his eyes at the waves. 'Just you wait Joseph. Just you wait.'

The two jumped as a loud clunk sounded from outside their window, and the twins glanced across each other.

'I thought I heard someone swearing outside.' Artemis said, her ears flicking about. 'It sounded kind of familiar.'

Apollo dashed to the window, throwing it open and sticking his head out. He scanned the side of the ship, glancing up at the deck above them, and saw no one. He raised an eyebrow at his surroundings, slowly dragging his head back inside. He peered out once more but saw no signs of disturbance, only the waves crashing against the side of the boat. He closed the windows suspiciously, returning his attention to the girl.

'I didn't see anything.' He said, and she nodded in response.

'Maybe it came from above deck.' She reasoned. 'I guess I'm just a little jumpy.'

Peals of laughter burst through the wall beside them, and the twins raised a communal eyebrow at the room next door.

In RKHD's Room

Jaye rolled down across the floor, reeling in his anger and his breath as Kamina continued to laugh at him. He swatted at the faunus boy's legs, swearing with every breath, and Kamina promptly sat down on his stomach. He threw off the laughing fox boy, getting to his feet and flipping him off.

He'd managed to escape the attention of the twins for now, although it was a close call. Aside from nearly getting caught in the room, and sea spray had made it incredibly difficult to hang on to the side of the ship, a nearly grave miscalculation as he'd nearly fallen off the boat, and although he made it to their window with relative ease, Kamina had forgotten to unlock the window.

That had resulted in Jaye hanging off the windowsill, hammering at the glass until the two noticed him and opened the window. At which point, Kamina elected instead to press his nose to the glass instead and make faces at the furious boy hanging off the side of the ship. Indigo had finally opened the window, and Jaye promptly swore his way back into the room.

'Did you have fun HANGING out?' Kamina grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at the still swearing boy. Jaye locked eyes with him for a long moment, clenching and unclenching his fists.

'Fuck you, you son of a furry faunus bitch.'

'Love you too baby.'

Bet that totally fit in with Kamina's personality. I realized it's a lot harder to decide on concrete actions that characters would take, because I start to question "Would my character do this? Would that be his personality? Or is that MY personality?"

In the end, I just decided to roll with it.