Chapter Two
Burmecia, Royal Gate, Early Evening, Two Hours Later

Luck had held out for the city of Eternal Rain; no other disasters haunted the city. During the two hours that Freya found herself tense, and waiting for a counterstrike, she got nothing but peace, steady construction, and ever-increasing reports of a near-perfect amount of security in the city. This latter point made no sense to her, as it offered no explanation for how the murderer could've possibly gotten in the city. The guards at the gate reported seeing and hearing nothing, and they reported that they had opened the gates for no one. The few soldiers -- there would be more, but many had been lost three years ago, and many more needed to repair rather than fight -- patrolling the streets reported seeing no one, hearing nothing, and sensing no danger. It did not assure Freya in the least; it was wonderful that the city was in top security, but incredibly disturbing that someone had managed to kill someone, cast a spell, and sit on a roof, without anyone noticing.

The two hours between the discovery of the murder and meeting with Puck had been distressing for Freya, indeed. There had been nothing else to think about, or nothing else that seemed so important. Hence, Freya had headed to her home, one of the few houses looking decent. Fratley had joined her, and the two had spent of great deal of time trying to figure out what in the world could've happened. In the end, the two of them came up with close to nothing, except for the completely obvious. The two of them basically agreed that the man must have some very excellent magic skills of some sort, and that he had most likely either teleported into the city, or made himself invisible and floated in. Both were absolutely bizarre possibilities, incredibly unlikely, and over all, extremely silly. Worse were the possible reasons for him killing the female Burmecian, whose name the two were eventually informed of: Anke.

A few reasons they had come up with were remotely sensible. Anke could've done something that made the killer want revenge, she could've done something to make the killer's employer want revenge, or he could just be a psychopath. The other reasons were not nearly as sensible. In fact, the other reasons were absolutely bizarre, and Freya wondered how they could've come up with them in the first place.

"Perhaps she looked distinctly like someone he knew, but was a Burmecian, so he assumed she was in disguise..." This was Fratley, and the more he said it, the more Freya couldn't help but stare. When he trailed off and smiled, she realized that he knew how stupid it seemed, and he shook his head. "Never mind. It seemed decent in my mind."

"I don't want to know what else seems decent in there, then," Freya said mockingly. She then quickly became serious, eyes turned upward to stare at the dreary ceiling above her. She bit her lip thoughtfully, but no revolutionary possibilities came to her. In fact, not even any completely goofy ones came to her mind. It was almost as if her brain had gotten tired of working, and decided to take a break. She sighed and shook her head. "Well, at least you came up with something, I suppose. I can't think of a thing besides the general, unhelpful assumptions."

Hearing this seemed to set Fratley to thinking again. He took off his hat and began to fumble it, as if it had hindered his thinking, but his silence continued. Freya watched him for a few moments, before finally shaking her head and tapping the table, indicating a change in subject. Soon, the last subject they could think to discuss came up: what would the killer do next? Freya somehow had a feeling that the killer would return; after all, the entire set up had clearly been intended to harm someone other than Anke. The man staying around and shooting at Freya proved that fact well. However, if the man came back, the question was when and where would he come back, and whom he would target next. These questions were the hardest to answer of all; they knew close to nothing about the man, and they were also not overly excellent at predicting another's motives. Perhaps three years ago Freya could've given it a decent shot, but after a few years of doing basically nothing but rebuilding and going to parties she really wished to skip out on, many of her handier skills had gone severely down the drain.

Still, they managed to come up with a few things. Freya assumed that the man would try to go after Lilah or herself. He would probably go after Lilah because she had found the body, and he'd definitely go after Freya because she'd successfully chased him off. However, how he would go about it was a different story entirely. Where he'd end up depended on where Lilah and Freya would be, and neither of them could predict that properly; it all depended on the meeting with Puck. When he would come could only be guessed generally; Freya and Fratley agreed that he would probably come at night, to avoid being seen so easily by someone again; on a side note, they also agreed that him appearing in the middle of the day was absolutely bizarre, and incredibly bold. Finally, they concluded that very little could really be determined or guessed upon until Puck met with them, and went over whatever he wanted to discuss. It made the two Knights feel rather helpless, but it was all they could conclude.

An hour later, however, progress was about to be made, or so the two hoped. The two Knights had made it to the Royal Gate, and were waiting for Rose, Aireff, and Puck to show up. Puck had a strange problem with people meeting him right at the castle, and preferred to meet at the Royal Gate first. Freya decided it was paranoia, Rose said it was "just Puck", and Aireff and Fratley chose to keep their opinions completely to themselves. Regardless of how anyone felt about it, though, they were slowly getting used to it; Freya was even starting to find it to be rather helpful. The gate kept them dry while waiting for Puck to show up -- he had a habit of showing up extremely late, and Freya had a funny feeling he did it just to annoy everyone -- and even a little time to try and discuss a few things before meeting. Overall, it was a time to try and relax before meeting and, most likely, getting scolded by a child who wanted to be off adventuring, but was staying only long enough to try and bring the city back to order.

Freya and Fratley only had to wait a few minutes before Rose and Aireff arrived on the scene. Rose looked purely irate, and once she had gotten under the Royal Gate and uselessly shaken off the extra water, her fur bristled slightly. Freya was going to say hello, but one look of death from the older woman made her decide that unless she wanted her throat slashed open, it wouldn't be wise. Aireff, thankfully, looked far more approachable; in fact, he was the only one in the group who looked normal. He had a calm, placid look on his face, his eyes sparkling with a hint of humor below seriousness, and he stood quite pleasantly, though a safe distance from his wife, who was even giving him murderous look. Fratley shared the calm look of his father, but he also was clearly concerned; Freya was just generally nervous, and wanted to start solving the situation immediately. Looking around and clearly taking all this in, Fratley focused his attention on his mother, then quickly changed his mind and looked at Aireff.

"Please tell me she is not going to murder Puck the second she sees him," he said in a very concerned tone. Aireff looked over at him, then glanced at Rose; then, oddly enough, he smiled pleasantly. Fratley blinked with surprise, while Rose decided to try and melt the wall with her glare. Freya decided to keep silent and listen; she too wanted to know what was so wrong with Rose. She hadn't seemed nearly so angry before; in fact, she had almost seemed happy for once.

"It's not Puck, actually. She got into an argument with one of the helpers from Alexandria," Aireff said in his normal, neutral tone. Fratley nodded his head for him to continue, and Aireff did, in a voice that said he was taking no sides. Freya sometimes wondered where he got his impressive ability to stay on the fence, when there seemed to not be one to be on. "The man wanted to help build our house. Rose wanted only her and I to rebuild it. The man pointed out that this would take a long time and we would be stuck without a house for a while. Rose said that being it was a Burmecian house, her house at that, then Burmecians should build it, not others from other cities. He took offense, and they argued from there."

"And that has her ready to kill?" Fratley asked with disbelief. He looked over at Rose with shock; even after three years, Fratley still wasn't quite used to how incredibly hot-tempered his mother would be. Freya assumed he never would be; it took him sixteen years to get used to it the first time, and he had been a child then. Most adults, from what she could see, couldn't get used to Rose in twenty years, let alone the three Fratley had had so far. She refrained from sighing, and pushed away her regrets over Fratley's loss of memory; the past was the past, and she would just have to deal with it.

"-- Build my own house just fine." Rose's icy voice brought Freya straight out of her musings. The woman had turned around, and was giving every one of them a very aggravated look. Aireff returned the gaze coolly while Fratley backed up a few paces, even though he was already seven feet from the woman. Freya, quite used to Rose's mood swings, looked over at the woman with a tired, "not now, Rose" gaze. Rose looked at the three of them, then snorted. "I'm arrogant and too full of pride for my own good. So kill me now."

"Sure thing! Would you prefer a Dragon Ability or being stabbed?" Aireff replied cheerfully, getting a not-quite-grumpy glower from his wife. He merely grinned, knowing that his strange, "serious" comments could sometimes bring Rose out of a bad mood. Her sense of humor was incredibly unusual, and Aireff could cater to it perfectly. Freya simply watched with great amusement, used to the two Dragon Knights; Fratley, on the other hand, watched with curiosity. Ten or so years ago, he would've been rolling his eyes, just as used to it as the rest of the group.

"I think I'll pick this time to break up the cheerful 'family' reunion." Puck's loud, annoying voice cut off any reply Rose was going to come up with, and the four Knights immediately looked toward the Castle. Puck was standing at the top of the Royal Gate, looking down at them with a serious look on his face, yet a sparkle of amusement in his blue eyes. For someone who had to try and find a way to prevent more murders in a city, he was certainly in a decent mood. "Come on, let's move." With that, the King whirled about and began walking back toward the Castle. The four Dragon Knights exchanged glances, then together began to follow Puck.

The "richer" part of Burmecia had taken just as much damage in the past as the rest of the city, though some of the more aggravated refused to acknowledge it. Many of the formal shops had been destroyed completely, leaving people jobless and, in some cases, homeless as well, when their house had been part of the shop. Those whose shops had been spared found them badly damaged, and all their goods stolen. Those who had kept their houses found them to be in similar condition. Furthermore, the "nobles" and merchants of Burmecia were getting a pitiful amount of supplies to rebuild with, as most supplies went to the former poor. No one truly realized how the entire city was destitute, and how it didn't matter whether someone was "rich" or "poor"; they still had no home, and still needed help. It was a rather tragic situation, and proved how social classes affected everything, even when they were technically destroyed.

Having gotten fewer repairs, Burmecia beyond the Royal Gate was looking very destitute. Freya looked around at the surroundings, her face not betraying her sadness, as she gazed upon the charred remains of houses, great chunks of stone that had once been royal homes, and cracked streets that people had once walked upon freely and happily. Moving from the neighborhoods, she looked up at the Castle they were approaching, which was in a state of half-repair. While Burmecians would not help average noble citizens, they would repair the Castle for their King, something Freya had chosen not to try and understand. As she thought on it, gazing about the city, she realized that she didn't question much of anything that happened during repairs anymore. She figured she'd have plenty of time to think about it later, once the city was back to normal, and she had close to nothing to do. Though, with a murder happening, Freya realized that perhaps she wouldn't be able to relax nearly as quickly as she wished...

The group's walk to the castle was uneventful, no one in the streets to greet them, no one watching them from behind buildings. It was eerily quiet, with the sounds of construction echoing in the distance, and the Dragon Knights, in stark contrast to the boldly walking Puck, couldn't help but be on edge. While it seemed like they were alone and not being watched, they couldn't help but have a distinct feeling that someone was observing them unseen. Once they reached the great doors of the gate, the feeling seemed to dissipate. When they had entered the grand hall of the castle, following Puck as he headed swiftly and without pause toward one of the pack rooms, the paranoia vanished altogether. Relaxing visibly, the Knights followed Puck was considerably more confidence, though none of them forgot the distinct discomfort the outdoors had offered them. Still, they had more important things to focus on, such as not losing track of a swift-moving, short Burmecian, and hence they followed the King through at least three hallways, until at least reaching their destination.

This location happened to be a massive room, longer than it was wide. It appeared to be untouched by the destruction the rest of the city drowned in; the walls were clean, the paintings hung upon them untouched and cheery, and the stone floor free of any stains. A large table stood in the center of the room, smooth and free of cuts or discoloring, and except for a small chunk missing from the edge of the seat, its accompanying chairs were in similar condition. It was roomy, comfortable, and strikingly beautiful and perfect in comparison to everything else the Burmecians had seen. The Dragon Knights couldn't help but stare with surprise; they had assumed, like the rest of the city, that everything and everyone had been affected by the tragedy three years ago. Puck turned to examine them, and smiled at their surprised expressions. Without any explanation, he waved at them to sit, then sat down at one of the chairs. The Dragon Knights seated themselves silently, exchanging glances with each other, then all looking at Puck expectantly. He showed no signs of noticing, and simply sifted through a great stack of papers that had been at the seat he sat in.

"So..." It was a wonderfully professional way to start of a serious meeting, or at least it was for Puck. He looked down at the papers in his hand, then began to scramble madly through them, sending a few flying across the table. Except for Rose, who was too busy scowling, the Dragon Knights calmly caught high-flying papers, while Puck suddenly plucked a paper from the pile. "Ah. All right, so basically this woman was murdered a full three hours, give or take one hour, after Lilah noticed her. Two to four hours she'd been lying there, and no one noticed. The slash to her eyes had been made first, then the killing blow. There's a decent amount of time between the wounds, too: five minutes. No struggle, obviously no noise, nothin'. The chances of one of these things happenin', let alone all of them, is a thousand to one. Any ideas?" Puck's tone got considerably more frustrated as he spoke, and Freya couldn't help but sympathize; it was an aggravating and confusion situation.

"There was a spell," Fratley began, as Freya was a little too into her thoughts. "When I tried to approach the body, I was knocked back by a spell. However, Freya was able to approach without trouble. A Dispel scroll worked and the spell was destroyed without trouble." He paused, ignoring the gazes of surprise on him. Except for Freya, no one had had any idea that Fratley had been so involved with the case, mainly because lately Fratley didn't get involved in much of anything. "The minute it was gone, people swarmed the alley... I think the spell prevented anyone but Burmecians seeing the body, and only female Burmecians approaching it. It was a shield of some sort."

Silence followed Fratley's words, as the entire room began to think over what he said. Freya nodded to herself, finding that she agreed with Fratley. Rose soon looked up, not saying a word, and Freya assumed she had the same thoughts as Fratley. Aireff and Puck, however, were still clearly in thought. Aireff gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully, still as stone, while Puck shifted absentmindedly through the papers before him. The silence was thick, the tension building up slowly, and Freya soon found that she wished someone would say something, and enlighten her and what was occupying the King and older Knight's thoughts.

"A shield?" Aireff's soft, calm voice regardless managed to seem loud and powerful in the room. All eyes turned to him, only to find him to still be staring at the ceiling, as if it held all the answers to their problems. "Isn't there some type of magic that can cast a shield of sorts...? White Magic, I think... Ah, yes. 'Protect' and 'Shell'. Both of them protect against damage, normally by absorbing it. And 'Reflect' causes magic to simply bounce off someone."
"You're suggesting that this man can cast a modified version of White Magic?" Rose asked, clearly doubtful. "That sounds a little absurd. Magic can be manipulated, certainly, but not to that extent. That's completely changing the magic..." She trailed off, as an idea apparently hit her. Whatever it was, however, she didn't speak it. Freya watched her quietly, before deciding to try and continue where Rose left off; Rose's words had brought an idea to her.

"Not exactly. The spell reflected Fratley, just like Reflect reflects magic. That makes it much like a Reflect spell, perhaps even the same things; it just reflected something completely different." She paused, as a counter to her theory came to her mind. "Though, it doesn't explain why no one noticed the murder, nor why we didn't hear a thing--"

"A Silence spell," Puck cut in, ignoring Freya's glare at his interruption. "A Silence spell, cast upon the victim, would prevent her from making a sound. Black Magic, existing, and an easy solution to that problem. Once she died, the spell would naturally disappear. Why no one would notice its casting is a problem, but the spell existing is not. As for people not noticing... Isn't there an invisibility spell? It's not Black or White Magic, but I think one exists--"

"'Vanish'. It's Blue Magic. It could've been cast to make he and the victim disappear, and dissipated soon after. However, people still would've gone over to the alley to work, and most likely noticed something was amiss. No, I don't think Blue Magic was involved in this," Aireff interrupted, apparently finding that if Puck could cut off everyone, so could he. He smoothly ignored Puck's attempt at yelling at him, and kept on talking. "I think the shield did more than just reflect people. I think it also prevented non-Burmecians from even knowing the alleyway existed at all, or cast an illusion of the like."

More silence came upon the group, as they all considered this wild possibility. In the end, they all came up with the same conclusion: Aireff appeared correct. It explained why no one had approached the alleyway, and why they swarmed in the very second the spell vanished. Not knowing the alleyway -- and perhaps the houses surrounding it -- existed, the workers would've found no reason to go near it and work on it. Nearby Burmecians would've been scolded for heading in the wrong direction -- toward what the out-of-city workers thought was nothing -- and thus, to keep away arguments, would go back to other houses to try and work. It was luck that Lilah had happened upon the alley at all; she probably would've been investigating for someone, perhaps. However, despite all the questions it answered, Aireff's conclusion only made things more baffling.

The "shield" had only covered the alleyway, which meant that if it was an illusion, the workers would've still known that the house existed, and still been working on it; however, no one had been near the house. Furthermore, certainly some Burmecian would've gotten bold enough to investigate the alleyway in the two to four hour's time that the body had lain on the ground. The body should've been discovered many hours before. Finally, the spell theory had a great hole in it: no such spell existed. There was no shield that not only reflected specific people, but also made things completely nonexistent to others. It explained many things, only to bring up more problems, and emphasize on those yet unsolved. It caused the group to frown, rub their foreheads, and try and think of something better, or reasons that such flaws were present.

"All right. We get it, this is strange, and we can't figure out what really happened. However, I doubt we can from only one event... But we don't need another one. What we need to do is figure out why this woman was murdered, and when this guy may try it again," Rose said, her voice full of exasperation. She looked around, only to meet a bunch of nodding heads, which caused her to scowl. "Well, then start thinking! We know that this guy apparently has a beef with female Burmecians; why else set up such a scheme that only allowed them in? Furthermore, he apparently planned to take down many at once, since he stuck about for hours just to shoot at someone approaching the body. This guy is quite insane, and I believe we should quickly find out where he'll--"

"Me." Freya's flat tone cut Rose off completely, causing the older woman to, surprisingly, close her mouth without delivering a reprimand. She gazed at her companions, who looked at her with needs for an explanation, though Freya could tell that they agreed with her. "I approached the body, to start off. Then I dodged his crossbow bolt without blinking an eye. And then I attacked him with a spell. Certainly Lilah found the body, but I certainly did a lot more than that. He'll most likely take me as a threat and try to get rid of the threat."

"Sounds lovely. However, Lilah is a threat as well. Perhaps not as big of one, but if she hadn't discovered the body, you wouldn't have gotten anywhere." Puck looked at the Knights collectively, who looked at him expectantly. His tone told them that he was tired of the meeting, and planned to bring it to an end very soon. "All right. We've been here for who-knows-how-long, and all we can conclude is that this guy is most likely a crazily powerful mage, and that he will most likely attack someone for revenge. Either way, we do know something important: he's powerful, he's angry, and he's guaranteed to come back."

"Let me guess," Rose said coolly, obviously displeased with the quickly coming end to the meeting. "You want us to go on patrol, and make sure he doesn't kill another person? Even though we know nothing about him, nothing about the first murder, nothing about his intentions, and basically nothing important?" Rose's classic temper was flaring in an instant, and Aireff gave her a warning glance. She completely ignored it, glaring at Puck, who returned her harsh gaze with his own. Freya watched them quietly, wondering if someone would have to intervene.

When Puck spoke, however, he was perfectly calm. "Yes. I understand there is plenty to figure out. But while we're sittin' on our asses tryin' to figure it out, he's getting ready to murder somebody else. Sit here for too long, and we'll have two murders to use to try and figure out his motives. And I honestly don't care to find out that way. So go out there and stop him." With that, Puck rose and left the room, leaving the papers on the desk.

The Dragon Knights in the room exchanged glances, none of them surprised or shocked. Puck had a particular hatred for long meetings, especially ones that didn't have anything insightful coming out in the first five minutes. With more time, Freya felt they could've made some decent conclusions, and maybe even had a better idea on where the murderer would show up. Unfortunately, Puck had been sitting around for too long -- Freya estimated the meeting had lasted at least half an hour -- and was in no mood to listen to more contemplation. He wanted action, not thoughts, and he wanted the murderer captured. His impatience had eliminated any chances of being able to get farther. It caused Freya to sigh and shake her head, getting the knowing smiles of Aireff and Fratley, though Rose was too busy scowling to sympathize.

The silence in the room was shattered by Rose abruptly rising. Without so much as a glance toward her fellow Knights, she charged out of the room, with an air that said she was ready to kill. Aireff soon was on her heels, most likely making sure she wouldn't strange Puck with her bare hands; before hustling out, however, he nodded politely to Freya and Fratley. The two remaining Knights glanced at each other, then smiled softly. They, and the two Knights who were charging around somewhere in the castle, had the same thought.

It was going to be a long night.

I have to find a better way to end chapters without having a cliffhanger. Anyway, I started this chapter back when I wrote the first one, but then my Writing Muse got in a fight with the School Muse, and lost. But now I have some time to write again, so here we are. It flows like rocks, has possible-OoC-ness galor, and has enough dialogue to kill a dinosaur, but I was trying to make it interesting without being tedious. Dialogue sometimes is the best way to do such. I had actually planned to explain what happened to Burmecia in the past ((AKA. Kuja, Brahne, and such)), but it never really fit; random explanations on a game really don't fit into trying to figure out a lunatic's motives and abilities. -laugh- I was also going to add more to this chapter, but it's long enough already, so we'll get some nice excitement the next chapter. 'Til then!

And... Another funny typo!

His impatience had elimatined any chances of being able to get farther.

You have to wonder, how do my fingers type these things?

See you soon, hopefully!

This story is copyright to me. All elements of Final Fantasy IX are copyright to Square-Enix.