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Act 1.2: Control
Is nothing sacred? Is nothing safe?
["Split Me Wide Open" The Bravery]
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The first sensation was that of slivers of daylight in otherwise cold. She knew it to be very green. She had a vague feeling that she should have been able to sense more than this, but it passed like nausea.
There were shouts to her right. A pursuit. Suddenly she knew what the cold was.
And it wasn't her blood.
She felt a scream bubbling in her throat but it would not pass.
A sudden hush by her ear. It was him.
He was safe.
More voices, more shouts. All with purpose cutting on their tongue.
She looked again at her side, a flicker of silver and sea and she knew, one of them would not make it out alive-
Marron awoke stained in sweat. She gasped out a sob and looked at her door, expecting someone, anyone-
No one was there.
She brought her knees to her chin and passed her hand through her hair. Concentrated. It seemed important, something she had seen and needed to remember.
The night knew no such distinction.
"Mom!?" Marron, stumbled backwards, "You- You're-"
"Yes, I'm still here. Honestly. You'd think I was a terrible mother the way you carry on." She smirked, conceding her lack.
"Mom," Marron rolled her eyes affectionately, before she caught sight of the stove, "…you cooked."
"Of course!" She flashed a victory sign. "I'm entirely domestic." She finished with a grin and slapped some pancakes onto a dish. "Eat, eat."
Marron eyed the plate warily. Sure, it looked normal, it even passed as appealing. She glanced up and noticed that her mother was completely oblivious to her hesitation.
"Yosh! This is good stuff. I should cook more often. Too bad I'm stuck in the lab all the time, eh? I suppose mixing chemicals is what gives me my superior abilities. The aftertaste has a bit of body to it don't you think? I should try something more involved- this doesn't challenge me at all." She paused to breathe, "Marron, you look tired."
Marron rolled her shoulder, shrugging off the comment, "I think I had a nightmare."
There was a clatter across the table. She looked up to see her mother busying with the silverware, seemingly nonchalant.
"Really? You should have woke me."
"I can handle a nightmare mom."
There was pained look on her mother's face but it was gone before she was certain it was there.
"Of course. So. Your dream. What was it about?"
"… Can't remember."
Her mother harrumphed, stiffness leaving her movements. "Maybe you didn't dream at all. You haven't really had one since, well, awhile at least."
"No! No, mom I did. I remember… green… just… a feeling…"
"Ayah, enough. Get to school. I have lab results I need to go over."
Startled by her sudden abruptness, Marron complied. She left her dishes in the sink and grabbed her bag on the way out, still stinging from the dismissal. Before she could leave, Marron paused as she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder.
"Wake me next time."
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Marron was late.
Again.
Miyako shook her head as she saw her friend run out of the locker room.
"Sorry! Pakkyaramao Sensei had some… issues to bring up."
"What issues?"
"…How you can't run a half a mile in half an hour. And something about not being quite so sprawly with the jumping."
"Oi, you're in real form aren't you?" Miyako chuckled.
"Hey, if I could make your 'leaps' of logic I'd be captain."
Miyako glared, then was indifferent. "I'll be captain soon enough."
"Well you run like it's a cop chase and there is no one better at dodging obstacles …You're not talking about the team are you?"
Silence.
"Miyako…?"
Miyako rocked on her heels.
"Miyako! You're not tailing after your dad again are you?!"
Smirk.
"You are! I can't believe you!"
Miyako's smirk gave way to a full blown grin. "I just saw the newspaper while you were-"
"Talking."
"Yes, yes talking. Anyway, it made front page! A thief that no one can catch." She lowered her voice accordingly, as if sharing a great secret, before handing over the paper.
The headline read, 'The Thief no one can Catch'. Marron sweat dropped.
The picture bore a figure in a white trench coat, grainy and obviously lifted off a security camera. Above him was a net that would, presumably, fall on top of the police officers behind him, a fact that did not reflect well on the chief detective on the case, Toudaiji, Miyako's father. She scanned the caption.
"Sinbahd?"
Miyako nodded enthusiastically. "Clever name right? And look," Miyako pointed at a particular section in the paper before pulling it away immediately, "he always puts out a calling card before he steals any artifacts. Don't you want to take him down a notch?" She said siding up to Marron and outstretched an arm upward, as if to paint a great future.
"Enough," Marron sighed, "Miyako, do you even remember what happened the last time you tried to help your dad?"
"I got the bad guy." Miyako looked smug.
Unbelievable. Marron placed her hands on her hips. "AFTER you accused the Minazuki family of smuggling. It took a ship SINKING for you to find the real guy!"
Miyako started to open her mouth.
"WE WERE ON IT WHEN IT HAPPENED!"
"Um.. Justice prevailed?"
" Justice nearly put us in jail for ASSAULT!!"
"I know! Good thing Yamato has such a crush on you."
"Shut up! …You're going to do it anyway aren't you?"
"Well, yah. Kinda wanted my sidekick though."
"I AM NOT YOUR SIDEKICK!"
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Thieves hide in shadow.
Thus, there was light.
"Hey Toudaiji, what's with the girls? This ain't no place for kids." A burly cop approached them.
"Who you calling a kid?!"
"Wait, I know you. You're the smuggling chick."
Miyako preened.
"Well, no wonder you're here. You'd probably blow something up if you were restricted."
"Why you-!"
Toudaiji placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Miyako and Kusakabe-san are respectable interns of my division. Please treat them as such." He looked at both briefly, the obvious undertone reproaching them on doing anything otherwise.
The cop conceded to the detective, "I'll alert my men. I take my coffee with two sugers, no cream."
Toudaiji restrained a groan as Miyako proceeded to rage.
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Marron leaned against the squad car. "You didn't put any 'traps' up, did you?"
"What? Oh, no. We're just observing tonight."
"Good. They never work anyway."
"Thank you Cassandra. I'd say the same things about your jokes."
"Oh, ouch. So. The mummy is on the third floor."
"Yah." Miyako leaned on the car as well, "Kinda unusual for his M.O. Not like he's been doing this for long, but generally Sinbahd goes after, well, cherished items... like ceremonial relics or famous paintings."
"And not exceptionally well preserved corpses on loan from France?"
"Exactly! …Maybe he's just testing his hand on security. Tokyo Museum is known for it."
"Exhibitionist on top of arrogance. Sounds like a winner."
Miyako made an affirmative sound and pointed around the side of the building facing a decorative garden. "We've got a blind spot right there. The camera angles and cop layout only partial covers it. Once he gets here it might be completely forgotten."
"He won't use that for a flashy entrance."
Miyako shrugged. "Sucks the thrill out of it. But he'll need an exit."
With a glance of agreement, they made their way to the brush around the side, just as a group of policemen shouted an arrival.
Sinbahd was here.
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At first they took turns guessing what he was doing.
Once Sinbahd was inside, they deduced his position in accordance to the frustrated cries of officers. At last they decided to move apart, covering more ground, in anticipation of his arrival. Miyako would face the building and Marron would face away, surmounting the difficulties of 180 degree vision in a 360 degree environment.
Or so they hoped.
…Marron wasn't even sure if people had 180 degrees to start with.
More voices called into the night, the increased noise indicating high confusion. Which meant that Sinbahd had probably lost the cops and was making his escape.
They waited.
Marron started to braid the grass.
Miyako signaled to her. The side closest to Miyako had a congregation of cops chasing after a pale figure-
It looked like they had miscalculated. He would escape into the busy streets.
Miyako jumped to her feet, rounding the corner, and was quickly out of sight. Marron moved to follow suit, but stopped as a flash of purple shot past her, streaming into the night.
What-!?
Something hard barreled into her, knocking Marron onto her stomach. Her breath kicked out of her as it proceeded to fall on top of her. Lifting her head, she caught sight of a white coat and a hand gloved in black.
Oh, hell…
She gasped in a breath and moved to scream. A hand clamped over her mouth and the body straddling her shifted to her ear.
"Shhh…."
She made a move to kick him in the crotch, announcing her displeasure. He countered. Looking up, the purple light sped back toward them and as it slowed, Marron could distinctly see a person. A small person …with wings…
"Mphhh! MMM MPPPH MPHH!!" She waved her hand toward it and struggled away, not noticing as she moved into the thief.
The thief's surprise allowed her to sit back, cradled in the crook of his arm. He moved his hand and both looked at each other, bewilderment evident in both glances.
But whatever they had intended to say died on their tongues as approaching shouts grounded their situation.
He escaped.
That they had known from the beginning, she and Miyako. He would escape because tonight they hadn't tried to catch him.
"Marron! Are you all right!?" Miyako's rapidly approaching footsteps signaled her concern. "It was just a Sinbahd groupie of all things, I mean it's so seventies… He came here didn't he, the real one?"
Marron nodded mechanically, still on her knees.
"Yatta! I was right! I knew I was right!… You didn't try to stop him did you?" Miyako yanked Marron up with enthusiasm.
"… I don't know if we can stop this one."
There was suddenly more to this than a simple thief.
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"Why didn't you tell me!?" There was pain in the voice, desperation.
Betrayal?
"I didn't know! I wasn't ever sure, I thought… damnit, it wasn't supposed to affect her!"
"…"
"Say something. Don't condemn me without saying anything!"
"I'm leaving Arashi… I'll go to God."
"…What?"
"Your work hasn't helped her. Maybe it never will… and I won't let this destroy her."
A door closed, unbalancing a porcelain doll.
Breaking it into pieces.
Marron was beginning to hate the night.
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An idle sunny day.
Marron took the last rock out of her hand and pitched it into the water. She turned around to lean against the rail, sighed peaceably. Not bothering to see where the rock landed, she was instead satisfied to wait for it to plop.
She was long in the waiting.
A laugh bubbled to her left. There, a woman dressed in chic business attire smiled and held out a rock to her.
The same rock she had, moments before, effectively suicided.
She jumped, a hand flying over her heart while the other pointed.
"Wha- how- is that my-?"
The woman laughed again, tossing her green hair behind her.
"And imagine your response if I had shown you a real miracle."
There was soft teasing to the woman that put her at ease. Marron relaxed slightly, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Who are you?"
"….Finn Fish."
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[Dreaming Omega]
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