Author's Notes: I would have had this up sooner, but my computer crashed and I lost the chapter in progress and I haven't had the heart to try and rewrite what I had done. Because there was nothing at all left. Sad, isn't it? It really is. Sorry. Working on this. But I have neglected enough. So this one goes out to Raine because she's been patient with me. I promise I will try not to leave this for too long!

Chapter 5: Frustration

Once more he found himself in that damn small room, hands and ankles chained to the wretched metal chair. The only thing that kept him from freaking out was the fact that he could HEAR his attorney's voice in the hall. Of course, it was just faintly and that meant he had no clue what was going on, but it had to be something very, very bad for this much noise to have been generated. Noise in a place like this always meant something bad was happening in the world outside, and if it involved Nida's case…

Without any warning the door swung open, hard enough for the knob to slam into the wall before the bulk of Seifer Almasy entered the room to hold the door open for several others. One was the small form of a woman clad in a bright yellow suit, something that often caused pain to Nida's eyes when taken with the sudden contrast of it against his gray cell walls, or the darker tans of this very room. The next was a very on edge Ellone, her eyes red with tears and untold worry. After her slunk in two others, ones Nida recognized instantly and his heart fell with that knowledge.

"Damnit Nomura, I don't really understand all of the shit that is going on here, but I want it cleared up RIGHT NOW!" Seifer started the second the door was closed. The last two words were punctuated by the detective actually kicking the metal door and leaving a rather impressive dent without seeming to feel the slightest amount of pain.

The young businessman-to-be shifted nervously under the glare of the emerald eyes, knowing that the blond would enjoy nothing more than tearing him to shreds right now. How could he not really? Nida hadn't heard much about the situation yet, but he knew something had gone terribly wrong if Seifer had pulled Squall's parents into what could only be called a brutal interrogation. He didn't even feel the slightest bit comforted when his attorney, who insisted he call her Selphie, rested her deceptively strong hand upon his shoulder.

"Seifer," the woman spoke, trying her hardest to keep her voice level. "Yelling and damaging things is going to get us no where rather fast."

Alas, the words did nothing to calm the detective. "And WHAT exactly do you suggest in this case then? I've got another body, I've got a missing man, I've got a serial killer on the loose, and in possession of said missing man, and the only hope I've got to handle this all is this little bastard here who hasn't been giving us straight answers since the beginning!"

Selphie seated herself on the edge of the table, crossing both arms and legs and shaking her head slowly. "And your behavior really isn't going to convince him to talk to you, now is it?"

"What the fu…"

"Please, stop it," Ellone's voice cut through the words like a knife through butter. Instantly everyone in the room was silent. The pure anguish on the profiler's face was more than enough to stop Detective Almasy in his tracks

Ellone frowned deeply as she looked to Nida, "Please," she said softly, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes, "Please help us Nida. You're the only hope…"

Finally it was his turn to talk, and the asian shifted to sit up straighter, "I need to know what is going on before I can even think of being able to help Ellone."

Total and utter silence, for the first time since he had been brought from his cell, dominated the room. No one seemed to move, seemed to breath, seemed to LIVE for those few seconds until Seifer reached out. At that point every breath was tense, as if everyone, even Seifer himself, feared he would strike Nida. But in the end all the man did was unlock the chains that kept Nida bound to the seat and floor. With only the sound of the chair scratching the floor to mark that he had actually moved, the dark haired male stood and rubbed his wrists, trying to numb the pain from them being, once more, put on far too tight. Everyone watched, waiting for the moment Nida would be ready.

At last Nida moved, with grace Seifer and Ellone were yet to see from him due to their limited contact, to stand before the two who had followed Ellone in. Their eyes were as red as hers, but they made no move to interfere with what was going on. Once more everyone was watching as the asian stood there, and then…

"I'm sorry," Nida said, something akin to pain creeping into his voice. "If… If you are here, Mr. and Mrs. Loire, then something must have happened to Squall. I'm… so sorry. I never wanted him involved in any of this. I wish I had just given into Rei years ago so your son never would have become involved with this. But I must admit to not being able to regret all of this, because if I hadn't have run so many times, I never would have met your son. I'm… I'm so sorry."

Selphie and Seifer watched on in shock as tears streaked down the face of the asian male, knowing better than to get between Nida and what he had to say… or what the Loire couple would have to say to him.

New tension filled the room, and even Ellone wasn't sure what was going to happen now. Her father was capable of many things, and she had no clue exactly how he would react to such an admission from the man who had been believed, just hours before, to have been a serial killer. But it was more her mother she was concerned for. As strong as Raine was, as determined as the woman could be, something like this could break the woman.

Finally something happened, this being in the form of Lagune Loire moving forward to wrap his arms around Nida. Silently he allowed the younger male to let his tears fall, acting as nothing more than an oversized pillow for the moment, until Nida regained control of himself. Then Laguna hugged the young man fiercely before at last releasing him.

"That's it, isn't it?" Nida asked of Laguna. "Something has happened to Squall, and it's all my fault isn't it? That is why you brought Squall's parents, right? You think that seeing them, hearing them plead for me to help would break me down, right Detective?"

It had been obvious, even before that, that though Nida spoke at Laguna, he was speaking to the blonde, who was now sitting in the chair that had been vacated.

"That was the plan," Seifer admitted softly.

"It wasn't needed," Nida whispered more to himself than to anyone else. "I would have let Rei kill me if I really thought it would have protected Squall. But when he tried, Detective, in my apartment… I knew that Squall would never want that. I knew that dying wouldn't satisfy Rei at all, that even having me would never satisfy the monster he has become. If I would have died that night, all you would have had was another victim with no reason, something you might have marked off as a copy-cat killing because I didn't fit the MO. Except from the beginning, I was the reason. Boys have died because I ran Detective, and if I had died, Squall would have been the next… And even though I almost killed him, it's not going to stop, is it? It won't stop until he's dead. Put him away if you want, but it won't STOP until he's six foot under."

Now Nida moved, well more of shifted slightly, to stand before Raine. His eyes were downcast, as if he couldn't bear to look at the mother of the man he loved. Sure, he could accept anything Laguna did to him, even if the hug had been a surprise, but Raine… How could he look the woman in the eyes, when there was such sorrow there? Did she blame him, for whatever it is that happened that no one had dared to tell him about yet?

"Mrs. Loire," he said, barely able to get the words out. "I can never tell you how sorry I am for letting this happen. I should never have become close to your son. Broken hearts would have mended in time, both his and mine, but I fear something will happen that will change us all forever."

"Nida," the woman said softly, reaching out to place her hand on his cheek. Carefully he looked up at her, and saw only pity in those eyes. After a while the two broke apart, some silent agreement reached before he turned to look first at Ellone, and then Seifer.

"Okay… I'm ready now. Tell me."

"Rei Yamamoto," Seifer began slowly, "Escaped at approximately midnight, with the Head of the Intensive Care Unit, one Miss Quistus Trepe, as a hostage to assure his freedom. Two hours ago the same woman was found dead, while Ellone and I were interviewing Mister Squall Loire to confirm your story. New characters were carved into the flesh this time, and though she did not fit the normal victims and she wasn't cut up like the others, it was known that she was last with Mister Yamamoto, and the culprit was obvious. The characters proved to be a message, fully intended for said Mister Loire…"

At this point Seifer shoved a piece of paper that the characters had been copied onto towards Nida, and the asian paled. Well, paled would not be the term for it. The man was white as a sheet, all of the blood having drained from his face. His fingers moved over the characters while he mouthed the Japanese words, trying to find some way that what laid there could have been mistranslated or copied.

"Oh God," Nida said, shoving the message away. The words were so clear, so characteristic of Rei that Nida was almost sick. He could almost hear the man whispering them into his ear.

"Then you know what the paper says?" Seifer asked stoically. "Can you please read it so we can make sure you understand?"

Nida swallowed hard and stumbled over the words, "Squally-boy, he's my everything… hands off him."

Seifer nodded before continuing. "We asked Mister Loire to translate, not knowing the content of the message. You can imagine how he reacted. It was decided that with the proof that you could not possibly have been the one to commit the murdered, I informed your attorney that you were to be released, while we brought Squall in for protective services until Mister Yamamoto was removed from the public for the safety of all. Unfortunately, on the way back here an accident happened. The vehicle was cut off by Mister Yamamoto, who proceeded to use Miss Loire here as a hostage to gain the custody of Mister Loire…"

"Oh God," Nida repeated.

"Mister Loire gave himself over to save his sister, claiming that he would not have to worry about being harmed because…"

"Because Rei is using him as bait," Nida finished for the detective. "He's using Squall to get to me. He knows that I'll come for Squall's safety…"

"Which we cannot allow," Seifer pointed out.

"Not allow?" Nida said softly. "Not allow?" he repeated with more force. "How can you not allow something like this? You'd let him DIE?"

"Now I didn't…" Seifer started.

"Where is he! I'll go there now. A fair trade. And when Rei thinks he's safe you can bust him. I don't care. I just can't let Squall be harmed any further!"

Seifer's fist came in contact with the table, effectively silencing the protesting male. "You're so damn stupid. Even if you go to him willingly, do you think he's going to let Squall go?"

Once more the eloquent man stumbled over his words, not getting anything out before Seifer could resume his angry tirade.

"He won't! THAT is why I brought the Loire's in, to convince you NOT to do something so fucking rash like that!"

Dark brown eyes widened, the idea never really having occurred to Nida before. Then again, he hadn't known the extent of the situation in the first place, so what could one expect.

"There isn't much we can do at the second until he tries to contact you, tell you where you're supposed to go. So until then I refuse to operate on limited information. I want to know EVERYTHING about EVERY encounter you've had with this bastard. Got it?"

Slowly the male nodded, swallowing hard. It wouldn't be easy, to talk about it all, but he had to do it, for Squall, right?

"Fine," Nida said, "But… Could we do it somewhere a little less… cramped."

Seifer looked to the elder two of the Loires present and frowned at them. "I'm sorry, but…"

"I'll take care of them Seifer," Selphie said softly, rising from her place on the table to move to the distraught parents. "Come on, I think you two can use some hot coffee if not something to eat."

Raine nodded softly before pushing her husband towards the door. She might have even expected her daughter to follow, if she didn't know better.

Ellone slowly moved to open the door between this room and the one behind the two-way mirror. Monitoring equipment was turned off and two chairs fetched, one for herself and one for Nida. Once everyone was settled in their chairs Nida cleared his throat.

"I met Rei halfway into my seventh grade year, back when I lived in Los Angeles…"