Chapter 4: What Must Be Done

My plan was simple, in response to the simple reality that Rune was no longer an ally, but the criminal we had been seeking all along. I had to catch Rune in the act and prove that she was the mastermind behind the killings.

I created a Fake Silhouette that moved into position near the tunnel. I slowly approached Rune from behind, as she remained focused on the Fake Silhouette. I had mentioned that I could use illusion-type magic, but had planned on keeping this technique secret until a situation arose in which I needed to use it to guarantee our survival.

I then contacted her telepathically, to prevent her from finding out where I was; my Fake Silhouette was too far away for her voice to carry. Ordering her to stay behind and protect the rescue personnel from the Mariage, I offered to do the thing that threatened her plans the most- find Ix, the key to controlling the Mariage, while telling her to stay where she could not reach Ix. Now, if she even appeared to be looking for Ix, she would become suspicious. And from her position, she would have to do so in order to prevent me or anyone else from getting to Ix first.

Immediately after my Fake Silhouette disappeared into the tunnel and faded away once out of sight, Rune suddenly began outlining her plans with no one else in sight. The façade of a law-abiding Bureau officer she wore like she did her uniform faded away, and she expressed her plans to kill and reanimate the hundreds of disaster relief personnel in the area. Subaru… Ginga-san… their four sisters atoning for their crimes… Erio and Caro… Commander Waltz… simple people who merely wanted to protect others from disasters accidental, natural or deliberate… hearing that Rune wanted it to befall all of them was almost too much to bear. But I listened, and had all my information recorded onto Cross Mirage.

Having heard enough evidence to convict Rune, I took aim and prepared a magical bullet, intending to stop Rune before she could notice me or make any more progress on her plan. My target was now just another criminal who had no regard for human life, least of all mine. I fired without hesitation or regret, and Rune fell, paralyzed, never seeing her attacker until it was too late.

I approached the fallen Rune with caution, in order to make sure that it was not a trap. She had been one step ahead of me for the entire investigation, so it was not safe to assume that she had not prepared a decoy or an illusion of some sort in order to get me to lower my guard and set me up for a surprise attack. As I had not only those abilities at those disposal, but had also kept them a secret, I naturally suspected that Rune might have done the same, especially since her aim was to deceive me all along.

But the truth was that she had not anticipated being taken by surprise, struck down and lying on the ground, paralyzed and exposed. She had been acting in her typical manner around me, and allowed me to see her weaknesses when I had hidden my true abilities from her. She admitted that her past had colored her perception of the world, and it helped me understand why she could never be at home at Mid-Childia, and why she hoped showing us suffering would teach us much about the true price of war.

But could I have understood more of this if I tried? Could she have turned back on her plan? Could I have convinced her to change herself? Her answers were all decisively "no", but having seen two of my mortal enemies become close friends indebted to me, and getting on good terms with several of the others, I know that sometimes resolve can be less adamant than it seems at first, and you can have more in common with your enemies than you initially think.

But I was also an officer of the law, and thus also knew that the first time Rune intentionally, albeit by proxy, murdered someone, she became a criminal. There was no future for her in the Bureau, and her crimes were severe enough to warrant imprisonment for the rest of her life. Even the part of me that wanted her to atone for what she had done realized that she was fully aware of the severity of the actions she had taken, and yet she still tried to justify the murder of innocents.

There was only one thing left to do, say the words I had always dreaded having to say to her.

"Runessa Magnus, you are under arrest as the mastermind behind the serial killings of the Mariage incident."

After Rune's arrest was completed, I watched as Vice-senpai's helicopter flew away with my former fellow enforcer, someone whom I had hoped would become a partner and a friend, as a prisoner of the Bureau. Her final question, however, haunted me, less because of what the question was, than the fact that she would ask it.

She had asked whether I had meant it when I had offered to make her my partner. From her perspective, anything she said to me could be potentially used against her, and her hesitation in delivering her false answer about Toredia was the only flaw in her carefully constructed persona that led me to uncover the truth. She only said what was necessary, to prevent me from seeing her as anything other than what she wanted me to see.

Indeed, everything suggested that Enforcer Runessa Magnus, officer of the law, was merely a façade and everything she had told me was merely her playing her part. She had never considered me a friend, and was trying to push me away; if friendship with me did not benefit her, then it was not worth her time or her effort. But the way she let her guard down around me and appreciated my offer indicated that her vulnerabilities did not belong to "Enforcer Runessa Magnus," but, Runessa Magnus, the girl who had been a child soldier and grew to do so many terrible things. Perhaps she had shared more of herself than I had thought, but more of her remained hidden.

Who was the real Runessa Magnus, and who was I to her?

Author's Note:

Sound stages don't have very long or detailed action scenes, but by all indications, Runessa was taken off guard by Teana's abilities, not knowing that she was observing from elsewhere or what her bullet did to her. It's indicated in the notes that Teana doesn't tell just anyone about this ability.

I decided not to retread the dialogue between Runessa and Teana before and after Teana springs the trap, but it was interesting seeing how surprised Runessa was at Teana taking her off guard, proof that Runessa never understood how much Teana knew about her until it was too late.

It's indicated in the Movie Sound Stage that Wendi and Nove are grateful to Teana for showing them the right path, as indicated by Teana's speech in Episode 24 about Subaru, even though Nove held a grudge against Teana for distracting her with her illusions of the retreating Forwards, delaying her from reaching Cinque.