Disclaimer! I do not own Bungou Stray Dogs. The characters are owned by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa. The only things I own are my storyline and OC's. I am not making money off of this story, nor do I plan to.
This story takes place sometime after season 3 of the anime. This can be seen as canon divergence as I do not follow the manga nor the light novels.
…...
Charlie paced back and forth in Chuuya's office as he stepped out to talk to someone from the Port Mafia, presumably Mori. She chewed on her nails, staring at her phone. She had tried calling her mother back several times, but all it had said was that someone had disconnected the phone. After her mother's number was out of service, she tried her siblings.
Fanny, Allen, Lottie, and Harriet's phones had all been disconnected, just like her mother's. Frederick's and Alfred's went straight to voicemail. And Augustus didn't even have a phone yet; he was only eight years old.
Charlie's fingers trembled as she pulled up the last contact in her phone, which she hadn't tried yet.
John Dickens.
Her father.
Her father terrified her. He was the first to openly despise her for developing an ability. She had been six years old at the time. But… He deserved to know. He deserved to know that his family was likely missing.
She clicked call and held the phone up to her ear.
There was a click, then,
"Hello?"
"Father? I have some—"
"Hello? Is this thing working? Dammit! Leave a message or whatever, don't waste my time." There was a beep, and Charlie hung up. There was no use in leaving a message when he didn't even know how to set up his voicemail box. Plus, she hadn't factored in the time difference. Japan was nine hours ahead of London. He was probably working late or asleep at this time.
Charlie tossed her phone onto the desk just as Chuuya walked back in. His face was sour, like he had been sucking on a lemon. The call had most likely not gone well if Charlie had to guess.
"The Boss said he's willing to divert some resources to try and find your family. It'll take some time, but we better go to the crime scene to make sure there aren't any clues." He said, and Charlie nodded, scooping up her phone back up from the desk and slipping it into her pocket. She followed Chuuya to the genkan, where they both put on their shoes before leaving the apartment. He had said to leave her stuff behind as they would just be coming back to get it.
However, they didn't go out to the front of the apartment building. Instead, Chuuya pressed the button in the elevator for the garage. The elevator ride was silent until Charlie decided to speak,
"Why are we heading to the garage?" She asked, and Chuuya put away his phone as the elevator dinged and the doors opened.
"We're taking my motorcycle." He said, and immediately Charlie opened her mouth to protest. So they were going to ride that death trap again? No, thank you!
Chuuya must have noticed her face and sighed,
"Like I said when we first met, you'll be one hundred percent safe. So there's no need to worry. My ability will make sure you don't fall off." He said calmly, but Charlie was still apprehensive.
"And like I said before, that's an awfully high bet you're placing in a vehicle with no seatbelt." She retorted but followed him nonetheless.
The motorcycle was just as much of a death trap as she remembered it. Chuuya swung his leg over the side of the beast and held it steady while Charlie clambered on. It was marginally easier without her bag, but she still hated the thing. Chuuya started the vehicle, and Charlie wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his back as he guided the motorcycle out of the garage and onto the busy streets. He smelled like cologne and wine.
He smelled… nice.
…
The morgue was crawling with Port Mafia henchmen by the time they got there. Then, finally, the motorcycle rumbled to a stop, and Charlie nearly fell off in her haste to get off the thing. Chuuya looked mildly amused but rubbed at his head as if he had a headache.
"Are you okay? Is your head hurting?" She asked him, and he nodded,
"I'll be fine once I've had some coffee." He said and gestured for her to lead the way inside.
Someone had shattered the glass doors of the morgue. One of them was hanging on a hinge; the other was completely ripped off. Charlie's shoes crunched over the shattered glass as she picked her way into the morgue. The lights had been shattered, and deep gashes from some kind of weapon covered the walls. Charlie could only imagine the screaming that filled this place as whoever did this dragged her siblings out of the building.
Charlie made it to one of the operation suites and paused. What was once an empty room with some spare equipment was utterly destroyed. She spied some of her sibling's belongings scattered throughout the ruins and crouched, tugging something out from underneath the overturned operating table.
It was a teddy bear. A tatty old thing, well-loved and worn down, with an old red ribbon tied around its neck.
Charlie felt tears well up in her eyes at the sight of the bear. Her teddy bear that she had given to Augustus when he had been born.
"Are you okay?" Came Chuuya's voice, and she hurriedly turned, wiping her eyes underneath her glasses and nodding.
"Yeah—yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get this done so we can find my family." She said quickly, and Chuuya looked like he wanted to say something more but ultimately relented and nodded.
"Right, I'll go check the other rooms." He said, and Charlie simply hugged the teddy bear tightly to her chest.
Charlie scoured the room, picking up Fanny's backpack full of medical textbooks and swinging it over her shoulder. She set about cleaning up the place. The Port Mafia had already gone through the room and cataloged everything that was in there, so Charlie was free to do what she wanted with all the left-behind belongings. She found several cellphones, all cracked and broken or just plain missing parts. She guessed that they belonged to her siblings.
Charlie moved on to the next room after stuffing everything she could into Fanny's backpack. So this was where she guessed her mother had been. Bits of her cellphone were scattered across the floor. The windows had been shattered, and she saw Chuuya inspecting something skewered into the wall by a massive sword. He looked concerned as she approached his side.
"What's this?" She asked, and Chuuya held up an arm.
"You don't want to see this." He said, and she shook her head, attempting to push past, but his arm held firm on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "I mean it, Charlie, you don't want to see what this asshole left behind."
"I deserve to see what happened to my family." She snapped, and he sighed but lowered his arm, leaving her behind with a mutter of "suit yourself" as he left the room.
Charlie turned and instantly regretted demanding to see what the person who did this left.
There was a note and an ear.
A human ear.
Charlie covered her mouth with a hand and tried not to throw up. She had seen countless human bodies, but something about one of her family members losing an ear made her nauseous. Her mind whirled, going faster than she could keep up with. But slowly, her thoughts began to make sense.
It was someone older, judging by the size. So that meant Augustus, Alfred, Frederick, and Harriet were likely okay. It didn't have earrings, which meant Lottie and Fanny were alright. So that left Allen and her mother. Allen was always outspoken about his thoughts and feelings, so she wouldn't be surprised if he were the one missing an ear. He likely said something stupid or tried to protect his siblings and paid the price.
Charlie swallowed, slowly taking her hand away from her mouth in order to rip the note off of the wall and read it.
It said four things.
"Come to the abandoned warehouse by the docks at midnight. Come alone. Do this, and your family will live. Fail, and they'll lose much more than just an ear."
…
FairyTailWzard's OC's (these are mine! Do not steal them!):
Charlene "Charlie" Dickens: Sleep-deprived 23-year-old medical examiner works to solve homicides and performs autopsies for the police, Port Mafia, and the Armed Detective Agency. Ability: The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain; allows her to see and interact with the spirits of the dead.
Rudyard Kipling: Deceased Englishman in his 30s, unknown background. Ability: The Jungle Book; he can manifest his tattoos into real animals. He has the tattoos of a python, a Bengal tiger, and a giant bear.
Jacob Marley: He is Charlie's assistant in the morgue and during autopsies. He lives with his nephew Tim Cratchit and businessman Ebenezer Scrooge.
"Bones": Port Mafia member found dead
Katrina Van Tassel: Port Mafia member found dead
Ichabod Crane: Port Mafia member found dead. The only one not to come back as a ghost.
Diedrich Knickerbocker: Port Mafia member found dead. Ability: Storyteller-Basically whatever he reads/writes becomes a reality.
Dickens Family: Mother, father, eight children. Charlie's family.
Washington Irving: Suspected serial killer still on the loose.