Child of Darkness, Warrior of shadows
Chapter Two: Murder
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of any of the Star Ocean games, though I'd very much like to have some hand in the next one. The additional original characters, especially those involved in Albel's past, are all copyright 2005 to me.
Intro: This second chapter, though there was no delay between postings, is quite a bit longer than the first. Don't jump to any conclusions about the plot, however; and yes, Albel has a huge part in this fic.
Clair shook her head slowly.
"We have a positive ID on them; they were each suspected of criminal activity, but with insufficient evidence to do anything about them," Farleen said, hoarsely. She looked like a wreck, but then, who wouldn't after being assigned to a case like this?
"So, why were we ordered to do this? Isn't the normal military responsible for this?" Tynave asked quietly, looked at the dead body.
"It's obvious, right? Someone has been killing people with some of the strongest runology I've ever seen, and you're wondering why we were chosen to do this? We're runological combat specialists," Clair said angrily, looking away from the corpse.
The particular body Clair had been inspecting was a soot stain on the ground. Another one further down the alley had been cut to pieces by an extremely long, sharp sword. The wall next to him had been nearly cut in half.
"This is the third attack this week," Farleen said nervously. "And we still don't have any leads. Whoever is doing this is pretty careful. I can't even find a footprint!"
"This is the kind of thing I'd expect Albel the Wicked to do," Clair said, looking at the final corpse. This one looked like he'd actually seen who was attacking him; his mouth was still open in a soundless scream. There was a hole in his chest where his heart should have been.
"I'm sorry, but that's all," Clair was irritably. Lasselle, despite his knack for escaping actually doing any work, always seemed to assume she was supposed to keep him posted about every little mission she went on. It was infuriating, especially since he seemed to think he was being nice.
"I thought by now you'd have learned more. Why don't you call in someone from Airyglyph? I understand they're excellent with this kind of thing," Lasselle suggested snootily.
"Airyglyph! Don't be ridiculous!" Clair said, standing up. "We can't let them think we can't handle our own problems!" Clair would have loved for Lasselle to push the point; she'd been waiting for a chance to chew him out for months.
"Then what about Nel Zelphyr?" Lasselle suggested quickly. He knew when to escape.
"Nel?" Clair said, startled. "But she said she didn't want to fight anymore. And besides, she officially resigned a month ago."
"So? She doesn't have to fight to help you catch a murderer, and there's no law prohibiting a civilian aiding an investigation," Lasselle said quietly. "The people are becoming extremely paranoid. There have never been so many murders so quickly in Aquaria, and having people killed in Peterny, Arias and Aquaria all by the same murderer is unheard of! We need to catch this killer, soon." Lasselle backed out of the room and hurried away.
"We?" Clair asked spitefully. "Since when does he help with anything?"
Clair sat down, sighing. No matter how much it annoyed her, Lasselle had a point; it was extremely bad for the people for this killer to be loose out there. Even if many of them were afraid, many actually thought of the killer as a hero, killing the impure aspects of society that law couldn't touch. Clair had the sick feeling that this particular killer wouldn't stick to criminals for long, regardless of popular opinion.
At least she had a plan, now. There were only three real criminal organizations in Aquaria and all three of them were essentially bandits with exceptionally smart leaders. Each of these organizations had thus far suffered a serious blow at the hands of the killer, and by no means was Clair going to protect them. She had posted lookouts at all likely locations for the organizations to be attacked, so all she had to do now was wait. It was simple, really; once they had an ID on the killer, they could track them down with runology.
It was a simple plan, and it shouldn't have any flaws; yet, somehow, Clair couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
She shoved the thought out of her head and stood up. She had at least a couple hours to herself, now, unless the King of Airyglyph went insane and tried to invade, so she might as well go see Nel. She was actually rather curious to see if Nel was really okay, living in her family mansion alone, and she couldn't deny that Nel would make a valuable asset in this case. After all, she was the finest in Aquaria.
Clair stared up at the house. No, house is the wrong word. It was far too big to be a house. Clair recalled, dimly, that most rich people only had two, or possibly three stories. Nel's mansion was five stories tall and roughly as long and wide as five normal houses. The huge gate in front of her was made with steel bars as thick as a grown man's arm, and the oval wall surrounding the mansion must have been at least four feet thick. Clair looked around slowly, half expecting to see another, more manageable house. There was none; and why would there be, in the middle of the forest? The Zelphr family had owned this wood for centuries.
Clair nervously reached up and pulled the bell rope. It shouldn't have surprised her that it was louder than a bomb, considering the size of the estate. It took Clair by surprise and she spent the next few moments stumbling around in a daze.
A hand caught her shoulder. Clair wheeled around and looked at the woman with longish red hair standing there with a basket. She was wearing a plain white dress and a pair of soft boots.
"What are you doing here, Clair?" she asked, steadying Clair as she started to tip to her left again.
"Nel?" Clair said, staring at her friend's dress. It just didn't fit; Nel had never let her hair grow out before, mainly because it got in the way occasionally, and she'd certainly never worn anything that restricted her movements. Yet here she was in an ordinary long dress, which probably wouldn't even let her run properly, and hair past her shoulders.
"What?" Nel asked irritably, blushing. "It's not that strange!"
"Well, I guess I didn't think you'd really resigned until now," Clair said, looking at her friend. Nel shut her mouth and walked to the gate.
"I guess you want to come in?" Nel asked kindly over her shoulder as she unlatched the gate. It slid easily on its hinges and only took a slight shove to swing it all the way open.
"Well, I do have some time away from work," Clair said, following Nel as she headed for the main door. She wasn't sure, but it looked like forbidden runes had been etched into the door and removed long ago.
"Make yourself comfortable. Most of the mansion is still closed off, so there aren't many places to sit, I'm afraid," Nel said as she walked out of the main hall and slipped down a side corridor. Clair took a glance around the room and noted that most of the doors were indeed coated in dust, but the stairs seemed to have been recently used. Well, that made sense; in mansions like this, the servant's quarters were on the ground floor and the master's as high up as they could be.
Clair sat down on a stool in what had once been a first rate kitchen. It looked alright, overall, but it was obvious that someone had spent days scrubbing it. Many of the pot racks were nearly empty and it was easy to see where an entire counter had been removed. Well, It wasn't as though Nel was going to use a kitchen meant for at least twenty people.
"So, what did you really come for?" Nel asked, smiling, as she leaned on one of the metal counters.
"Huh? No, really I just came to see how you were," Clair said quickly, laughing. She stopped when she noticed how annoyed Nel looked.
"All right. There is something that's been bothering me lately," Clair said, guiltily, then she took up her formal manner again to explain. "Over the past week, a series of murders have occurred throughout Aquaria. As of yet, all we know is that the murderer or murderers uses extremely powerful runology and a very long sword."
Nel rubbed her eyes and tapped her forehead. Clair hadn't seen her do that before; it must be a new mannerism she'd developed over the last month. Or maybe it was while she was running around with Fayt.
"I take it you have no suspects and absolutely no leads," Nel said coldly, looked at her friend in her familiar, militant way. "Or it wouldn't be troubling you, correct?"
"I have a suspect, with no grounds. Lately they say Albel the Wicked has been bored, so it's entirely possible he's been slaughtering people," Clair said calmly. "Of course, I have no proof. But we have yet to even find a footprint."
"I don't think it was Albel. It isn't his style, and aside from that he can't use runology," Nel said, shaking her head. "How powerful would you estimate the killer is?"
"Hard to say. It's obvious the victims had the opportunity to run, but each was dispatched with a single attack. We do know that in order to do that kind of damage, they'd have to use forbidden runes," Clair said, looking away.
"Forbidden runes? Interesting. I thought all of the actual runes were destroyed," Nel said calmly, propping her chin in her right hand. "Are you sure they didn't use something else?"
"It was runology, without a doubt. The place was humming with it when we arrived," Clair said, shaking her head.
Nel leaned back, seemingly lost in thought. In actuality she was thinking about her own experimentation with the forbidden runes kept within this very mansion. Coincidentally, the reason it was so large was to hide the location of those very runes from prying eyes.
"There's absolutely no way they used forbidden runology, because the few runes that remain are kept hidden in this mansion. I looked for moths at a time when I was young and I never found even one," Nel said distantly. Of course, that was a lie. She'd found every one after her mother died. Clair needn't know that Nel's own body was a fair guide to Forbidden runology.
"Then what else could it be? Nothing else has that kind of power!" Clair said, frustrated. Nel looked at her sharply. It wasn't often that Clair had so much stress in her life, but nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel that there was something else behind that look that Nel wasn't telling her.
"First of all, getting upset isn't going to help. Second, in order to use forbidden runes for anything a symbol grid has to be laid out. For an attack, such a grid would have to be made around the victim," Nel explained, standing up and walking to the window. "Third, I'm no longer in the legion. I can hardly help you solve the case."
"That's not a problem," Clair said, standing up. "Lasselle said that you could help as a citizen."
Nel laughed at that, but it was only a half laugh. Clair didn't laugh; something in the way Nel acted seemed so cold, so joyless. She'd been like this since her mother passed away, but living in the very house her mother had died in had made that joylessness all the more acute.
"He's actually useful for a change!" Nel said, leaning against the window with a smirk. "If the great escape artist is looking for loopholes for me, how can I refuse?"
"Then you want to help?" Clair said, torn between relief and guilt.
"Don't say it like that, I'll lose my nerve," Nel said, narrowing her eyes and cocking her head to one side playfully. "Honestly, you make everything sound so depressing!"
"Well, it's not like this is a vacation or something! There's an extremely powerful killer on the loose!" Clair said angrily. "This is a serious case! If you're just going to make remarks…"
"No, no, sorry. Of course I'll be serious. Just let me get changed, and I'll go back with you," Nel said, shaking her head gently and folding her arms. "I won't think of it like a mission otherwise." Nel turned and walked out of the room, smiling to herself. Helping Clair would be a welcome break from the monotony of civilian life, even if living in an enormous mansion wasn't exactly normal.
Author's note: This ones a bit longer, but since I'm submitting them at once, it's no real problem. Oh yes, if I'm mangling the characters in any way, tell me and I'll try to fix it, unless I completely disagree with you. Also, If there's something you'd like to know, such as when exactly the fic takes place, tell me, and if there's someone you'd like to see in the fic, I'd be happy to consider it if you tell me. Constructive criticism still approved. Don't just say you like it when you review, tell me what you like and dislike!
Character Talk
Me: This is kinda dark, even for me.
Nel: What am I doing? How, why, and when would I ever live in a forest and spend my time cleaning?
Clair: Well, it isn't as bad as sitting around doing paperwork! Poor Farleen…
Albel: Am I in this thing or not? I seem to recall hearing something about my life story.
Me: Why? I thought you didn't want to tell everyone about your life?
Albel: I don't care what you tell them as long as I get to kill someone!
Me: Nope.
Albel: You worm!
Me: Watch it, I'll make you lose a fight! Aaaah, get away from me with that sword!
Nel: Well, since they're preoccupied…
Clair: That's really funny! I wish Farleen could take some time off to see this!
Me: You're all going to pay! Especially you, Albel!
Nel: Next chapter, Eyes. In the dead of night, a narrow escape!
Me: No way!
Albel: What? Stop running so I can kill you!
Me: She got the title right!