I apologize again for the long absence
I'm sorry I'm having issues with writing
I started this chapter quite a while ago as I had a sudden inspiration
however, when I came back to it the next day I couldn't find a way to finish
I managed to end it now but it's still a little hard
I hope you guys enjoy this despite everything.
Love you guys.
Enjoy!
.
.
.
.
.
"Fear those with nothing to lose-'
.
.
.
.
.
Chapter 9: Barbaric
~QOoOQ~
"There's been a murder." Oh what a lovely morning it was. Lucy turned in her spot at her desk toward Gildarts. He was standing by the windows, coffee in hand and his leg bouncy like nuts. Lucy noted the paleness of Gildarts' skin and the way he seemed to cling to his drink as he took a swig of the caffeine. "Gray and Erza I want you-" he shook his head, "Ah to hell with it, I need you all to come." This was affecting him, Lucy realized.
Whatever this was, it must be important.
Natsu bumped her arm, "Luce, come on." He was holding out her jacket to her. "You zoned out, didn't you?"
"Briefly." She nodded and shrugged her jacket onto her shoulders. The Majority of 1st Unit had left the room, all visibly woken by Gildarts' rushed words. Lucy followed Natsu out of the room and down toward their vehicles.
"I just hope they have coffee. "Lucy hoped they did too. "I'm going to need it, it's too early for this." It was around 6AM Lucy noted. "Oh well, no rest for the wicked as they say." Indeed. Lucy turned slightly toward her partner. His left leg was bouncing in its place beside the break, fingers drumming on the wheel. Concentrate. "Spit it out Luce, it's weird having you stare like that."
"What else did I miss while I was zoned out?"
"Not much," he said. His leg bounced again at the light. "Gildarts didn't say much and a lot of his words were,-he was sweating a lot." The bouncing stopped. "-He reeked."
"Really?" He nodded. "I couldn't smell a thing."
"I have a good sense of smell, remember?" She did. His fingers twitched, the wheel turned. "I can even tell you had a shower last night." They stopped. His leg bounced. "Pantene if I'm smelling correct."
"That's some nose you have." He nodded, they turned and his fingers drummed again. "Natsu, is there something bothering you?"
"Not a thing. "He turned toward her at a red, leg bouncing. "Why?"
"Your leg just seems to be shaking a lot." The bouncing stopped.
"Haha, I'm just tired." He laughed, "-need my coffee." His eye twitched and his finger drummed. He was lying. "Really, I'm fine Luce." She didn't push but his eye twitched again and the drumming never stopped.
"I guess we are here." Natsu parked and all jittery movements halted when they got out of the car. They were in a slightly forested area with a large trail that lead further into the greenery before them. There were many forensics analysts buzzing around the field. She could see a few other Officers keeping the trail blocked off to anyone who wasn't related to the investigation.
"They'd be in that tent over there." He gestured toward the large white tent behind the crime scene tape. "Mavis I hope they have coffee." She ignored her grumbling partner and flashed her badge to the guarding officer who allowed them behind the tape and further toward the tent where the rest of their unit had disappeared into. "Holy-the stench is putrid." She hadn't smelt anything- she plugged her nose. The smell belatedly wafting toward her. Mavis she felt sick. "I smell gasoline." She didn't know how.
The stench of the flesh of the corpse was overbearing.
She whipped the tarp panel open. In the center of the tent was a charred corpse, tied to a chair. The air left her lungs and she swore she may puke. This was horrifying.
It was the gruesome art of a psychopath.
"A jogger caught her burning around 5:30AM while he was in the middle of his routine. He wet his extra clothing in the pond and through it on her before throwing some dirt on her to finish the job." She couldn't shake the sick feeling in her stomach ."Oh Mavis the blood."
Focus.
Detach.
"Burned alive?" Erza questioned. Natsu stepped forward and shook his head. "How can you tell Natsu?"
"There's an odor." He paused and breathed. "It isn't just burnt flesh, there's been some decomposition. " Natsu turned to Gildarts and Laxus, who was standing with his arms crossed. "She's had to have been dead for a few days now." The poor woman.
Focus.
Detach.
"Investigators report backs up your theory Natsu, she's been dead for longer."
Lucy approached the center, gloves being hastily shoved onto her shaking hands. Focus. Dark blotches on her sternum and a few elongated stressed marks on her bare bone. "Stab wounds. It was blood loss, wasn't it?"
"Not confirmed but it's suspected." Gildarts averted his eyes. "We will have to wait until we get reports for the autopsy."
Lucy turned to the ground, away from the corpse. Don't think of her as a person. An object. Not a woman with friends, family, lovers. "There's dirt beneath her nails." She leaned closer. Multiple marks around her wrist. She struggled. "It looks a lot darker than the shit around here."
"Dampness."
"Or its rich soil." She turned away "Have we been able to identify her yet?"
"Not as of the moment, no."
"I'd suggest searching for areas that have rich soil, like a farm perhaps."
"How do we know that it isn't just dampened soil though Lucy?" Erza looked beneath her, "It all looks similar when it is wet."
"She seems to have small amounts of skin residue underneath her nails, however, the color and texture of it are different from that of a human. She may have been clawing at the ground trying to escape." Lucy gently turned over the corpse's hand. The skin moved, peeled. Focus. "The texture is more similar to that of a worm or possibly a plant. Either way, there tends to be plenty of earthworms in nutrient-rich soil." Gildarts nodded and left the tent. "There is that and the natural clumping of the dirt is different than the one in this forest.
"I've never seen you at work like this Lucy," Gray stepped toward her, analyzing her. Stop. His eyes followed her fingers as they touched at the charred skin before her.
Focus.
"How were you able to identify all of that?" Lucy shrugged. "Either way it was impressive, excellent." There was nothing excellent about this. Detach. Mavis she felt sick.
"Fuck this is disgusting." The sick bastard was enjoying himself. "He took his time if she died from the knife wounds like I thought then he took his time." Stabbing someone is difficult, messy and time-consuming. Whoever this was, they were in no rush to kill. "Fuck." She turned and through her gloves to the ground.
"I-" She turned and saw a very pale looking Natsu. "I'm going to go grab some coffee, ill be back." He stumbled out, almost in a hurry. Something was wrong. She nodded to her brother and followed Natsu out of the tent. He stood a few meters away from the tent and flashing lights of other officer's cars. Damn, she couldn't figure how he had walked so quickly. He was bent over, hands squeezing his knees. Mavis did he look so pale. "I'm fine Luce."
"Quit it. I know you aren't."
"You're right, I'm not." He turned to her. "The smell is burnt into my nose."
"Never can get used to the scenes."
"Not at all." He shook his head. "This is terrible though, I've never-" He swallowed. "-I haven't witnessed anything so gruesome since I started working at MPD." She wouldn't imagine. It isn't often that a body turns up like this.
"Whoever did it must have been in no rush." She nodded. "Why don't you come with me for a walk? I need to go see if there was anything missed around here." He nodded and stood, thoughts of coffee were completely forgotten. "How many homicide cases have you worked?"
"Eight, how many have you?"
"Three, I don't usually get many that involve homicide and I've never had something like this brought to me." Mavis she never would have wanted one either.
They started their travel path around the forest, straight lines, never detouring too far from one another. "I think you're right about her not being murdered here." Natsu suddenly said. She searched past the trees, to the ground. Nothing seemed to be unsettled. "She must have been dead for days now and it's hard to believe nobody had found her before now."
"Footprints could be ruled out, there were too many here to count and none were prominent enough for forensics to use. "This trail is quite popular." She nodded. Lucy stopped, turned and continued their path, "I've walked through here a few times, and it's usually pretty busy." Full of life. Something that woman could no longer do.
Focus.
Detach.
Lucy stopped. "What is it?" Drag marks. There were a few flowers that seemed to be trampled. A few broken branches here and there. "You think this is from our case?"
"Possibly, however, it doesn't give us much in terms of evidence." She headed back towards the scene. "I hardly believe he dragged our Jane Doe all the way through. Had he driven right up to that point there would have been some slight tire impressions on the ground."
"He must've driven though."
"Of course but he most likely parked somewhere close by in order to remove the possibility of tire prints being left behind on the trail. Although there is still the possibility of them being there if we are able to find a space where he parked." They searched a bit more, looking carefully for any signs of a vehicle being in the forest, however, even after another hour of scoping the area there were no further clues.
"I suppose we should be heading back." Lucy bit her lip and nodded, Natsu gently guiding her back to second unit who had been patiently awaiting their return. She was exhausted by the time they packed up and began to get ready to return to the office, Gray and Erza giving her worried glances every once in a while as they did.
Focus.
Detach.
Don't show them the fear that shakes your heart so persistently.
….
"Lucy you should go home." She shook her head at her brother's words.
"Not yet."
"Soon please." He gestured toward the door. "Erik is staying late as well, I'll get him to take you home. I don't want you walking right now."
"Don't bother Laxus, I'm going to be here late, I might as well just stay the night, I'll sleep on the couch." Lucy knew her brother had a disapproving look on his face when she heard him sigh. She couldn't sleep yet though. The image of the burned woman in the middle of the trail was imprinted into her memory. That poor woman. Detach. Focus. "Just leave Laxus. I need to focus."
Reluctantly, her brother left her with the quiet sound of second unit's door closing behind him. Her head was throbbing as she rubbed her temples to try and ease some of her pain. Lucy knew she wouldn't have been able to sleep if she left now anyway, she was far too restless and her heart was beating relentlessly against her chest. No matter how much her exhaustion piled up, she couldn't close her eyes without images of the woman's burnt body appearing before her. Mavis she felt sick.
Lucy continued researching, anything and everything she could find on the man who haunted her every thought. She knew he had to be a part of this, he just had to be. And although she had doubts about her assailant's actions, she continued to press on. Although he never burned a previous victim to crisp as this woman's assailant did, that wouldn't rule him out. He did set fire to her home with her mother in it. He did use a knife against both their bodies. There were small details that just bother her about this. She had no proof. This would never be approved by her fellow unit detectives however she had fallen too deep into this to pull away from it.
"You're still here Lucy?" She startled and Natsu waved his hands reassuringly, "I come in peace."
"Why are you still here?"
"I could ask the same of you." He returned, glancing down at her computer, a slight understanding reaching his eyes. "Today bothered you, didn't it?"
"Of course it did." She turned from him, looking back at her computer which had multiple tabs open on it about the Zodiac killer. "I could never get used to seeing that."
"It comes with the profession." Natsu nodded, although he didn't seem to mock her for her words, just stared blankly. "In all honesty, I would probably be more surprised had you said this didn't bother you at all."
"I shouldn't be though." She resisted. "This is my work, I am not supposed to show vulnerability to others and I certainly cannot react in such a way in front of everyone at these scenes." Natsu stared at her momentarily, seemingly thinking over what she said before taking a seat on the desk beside her.
"Luce, do I look scared to you?" She looked at him hesitantly but nodded nonetheless. "I've been at this longer than you have with much more experiences than you as well, and I still get shaken every time something happens to someone and we have little to no evidence on who the killer may be." He swallowed, "We need to appear professional to those involved in the homicides, you're right, however, being afraid is not a bad thing, especially in cases such as this."
"How is it not bad?" She looked to him, stress apparent on her pale face. "If you show fear then you become weak to your suspect."
"No, having that fear settle in your heart only drives you forward." Natsu looked into her eyes and gently tapped over where her heart was. "If you had no fear at all Lucy then would you feel inclined to work so diligently? You are driven to work so relentlessly because you are afraid of what might happen if you don't. You're afraid of others becoming harmed because you can't pinpoint the suspect, your fear allows you to do amazing things and it definitely keeps you going forward."
"I'm not saying this just to comfort you either, I truly believe that the fear we experience during these investigations makes us strive toward reaching our goal even more."
"And what goal is that?"
He smiled brightly at her, "To prevent things that we've experienced from happening to others." He patted her head comfortingly despite her confused look, "Besides, I'm here as well Lucy and so is all of second Unit, you can show us your fear without worry, none of us could ever berate you for it. We all feel it too, alongside you."
"…Thank you, Natsu." She smiled blearily up at her partner and patted his hand as a sign of gratitude. Her fear hadn't subsided and she didn't think it ever would, however, her feeling of loneliness surrounding her with the cloud of fear was beginning to melt away from her.
"I know I can't convince you to head home, but do you mind if I stayed here with you to help with your research." She wasn't sure, she felt almost bare having to share all of the missing pieces to her gruesome past to him, she was embarrassed, afraid and felt vulnerable to the thought of Natsu researching about the Zodiac killer. However, the more she stared into her partners face the more she began to relent, despite her initial feeling of having Natsu as a partner, part of her was beginning to get used to him being around. She was beginning to depend on this man much more than she ever thought she would depend on someone before. Maybe she could finally, finally let someone into her world. "You can trust me Luce, I promise you we will finish this." He was the most sincere person she's ever met. He was obnoxious, loud and annoying. He always stuck to her like glue and tended to put his nose where it didn't belong. However, maybe that was why she had begun to feel less lonely when he was around. Finally, she had someone she might be able to trust deeply enough to share her pain with.
"Alright."
.
.
.
.
"-Cause when it all ends, it's me or you."
.
.
.
.
ALaViola: I hope you guys enjoyed that. I got some sudden inspiration after watching some documentaries, I've realized many mistakes in my writing from earlier chapters, which I plan to fix, nothing drastic but there will be some details added to improve the flow of my writing and to put more focus on things. So I will update you guys before anything gets edited to let you know so you can go back and read them. I've also started doing more research on things to make my writing a bit more realistic so that you guys can enjoy the story more as well as actually feel what I'm trying to present to you through my book. If it isn't immersive then the book isn't as enjoyable I find.
Love it? Hate it? Review!