(Collapses and dies)


Policeman Pt2

XX

He was sticking pins into a map of the city.

An oversized map of the sprawling city streets and the murky rivers that flower through it lay spread put over the entire length of his table. He scanned the pink blocks marking every house and hovel, every bakery and brothel there was. The grandfather clock in the corner was ticking off the seconds a little too loudly. Sixty more to go and it would chime the midday bells in unison with the city's church bells, playing a familiar tune.

Fai bent over the map, sticking in brightly coloured pins every so often, one for every church, one for every murder.

"The first victim…found dead inside Whitechapel cathedral," he muttered to himself as he traced his fingers along the thin lines of the map. "The second girl was discovered in St Catherine's. The third was…"

He continued to stick pins into the map until all nine previous murders had been located. Stepping back, he stared at his work with a frown forming on his face.

"This is…" he trailed away, sighing. The bright pinheads formed some sort of odd pattern but he could not remember where he had seen something similar before, certainly it was nothing like the symbols he had learnt in Celes. Something he had picked up from his travels?

If he ran a line through the points, it formed an odd sort of hexagon but then there was a point inside the hexagon that seemed placed there quite randomly. It made no sense.

He was sure that he had seen a picture of it somewhere before, perhaps in some other world. Somewhere…

Sighing again, he grabbed a corner of the map and rotated it another way. Still no good. Like a portrait without a face, no matter how he tilted his head or from what angle he stood, it was never complete.

With a sense of defeat, he threw himself into his chair. His head was hurting again. Maybe he should go outside and get some fresh air. The sunlight would do him good and the trees would provide enough shelter for the harshness of the rays.

Trees would be nice.

"My head's in a jumble today," he sighed to himself. Something must be wrong with him if he was dwelling on trees.

The clock continued to tick too loudly.

What good would trees do?

Ten seconds.

Soon the bells would begin to chime that sinister song.

He could hardly believe that he was still thinking about trees.

The cuckoo burst from the grandfather clock.

Something sparked his memory. The bells sounded in unison, echoing over the murky brick houses as they sang that song throughout the city Two strides took him to the small bookshelf next to the clock. It was full of usually useless information, its occupants mere dusty relics whose yellowing pages could hardly be read, their impressive leather-bound covers more for appearance than for any specific reading value.

Fai grabbed the first book on the third row. He knew where he had seen that strangely shaped hexagon before. He had even read about it here, in this world, in a book from this office. How could he have been so careless as to forget?

Dust had gathered on the front. He hurriedly wiped it off with a sleeve and flicked through its contents, eyes following the pages as rapidly as they passed.

"The tree of life," he smiled as he uncovered what he had been searching for. Perhaps now things would begin to make sense.

However, his victory was short-lived. On closer inspection of the picture inside the book, it was obviously different from the pattern he had formed on his map. It was missing a point. There were only nine out of the ten points.

Bringing the book closer, he pressed a finger against the paper map, running it down the spindly line of streets, it came to a stop exactly where the tenth point should have been.

St Pate's chapel

Old father Bald Pate.

XX

"There you are, I was looking for you!"

Fai came marching down the hallway just as Kurogane entered the building.

"What is it?" he frowned, shrugging off his heavy coat.

"I think I know where the killer will attack next. Come with me!" Fai grabbed at his hand only to be quickly shaken off again.

"I don't think you should be doing any running about," Kurogane said sternly, folding his arms so that he could not grab him again.

Normally he would have expected to receive a laugh in return, or maybe some off-hand remark, a good-natured slap to the back and a teasing comment meant to aggravate him even, but now he granted none of them. Instead, he was treated to silence and a slightly bewildered stare that was only a little marred with uncertainty.

"…Why not?" he said after a time. Fai looked a little lost. "Why not, Kuro-chan? Is there something you're not telling me?"

Kurogane's eyebrows furrowed. He opened his mouth as if to speak but thought better of it and silently shut it again.

Fai tried to laugh but it only came out as a half-hearted, abrupt kind of sound. He tried clearing his throat to make up for the awkwardness of it, tried running a hand through his hair only to feel a sharp pang spark in his head.

It hurt. Every time he tried to think, it hurt.

He was aware that Kurogane was staring at him, but, even when he heard him ask; "That night when we found the dead girl, something happened, right?" with a grudging tone that clumsily tried to cover up his concern, Fai still did not know what to really say.

"I don't think so."

"I left you alone for a while but it's still time enough for something to happen. Did you see the one who killed the girl? Or - "

"I already told you!" he snapped. The look of shock on Kurogane's face was almost priceless but it was incomparable to the look gracing Fai's own face. This was not like him.

What was he like then?

"I told you that nothing happened. Don't you trust me?" he sighed, sounding a little more irritated than he had intended

"That's my line," Kurogane muttered, before returning the favour by stealing one of Fai's. "Do you really trust me?" he asked. Just by studying his expression, it was hard to tell if he was annoyed with him or not, though for some reason Fai was certain that he was.

"I…" he paused the instant he had begun to speak. Some distant part of him wondered why the words that normally would have come so easily to him were now getting lodged in his throat, as if they refused to be spoken. "I do trust you," he said at length, though it felt as if he were lying.

He felt Kurogane study his expression for what felt like an eternity. It made him feel uncomfortable, as if Kurogane could see right through him. What was he looking for? Was there a trace of something suspicious on his face? Or was he just imagining this awkward pause?

"Okay," Kurogane finally sighed, "I'll go with you, but you're staying close to me."

XX

The chapel was, in reality, tiny in comparison to the other churches and cathedrals they had visited so far, but when they stepped inside the empty hall, it felt unnervingly vast. The wood was old and smelt damp, long beams sagging under the weight of a spiked roof. The windows were plain and covered with dust, cobwebs creeping along corners of the rafters and across the podium.

"This is the place, right?" Kurogane glanced around the deserted chapel.

"Yeah," Fai wandered further in, to the podium where the sermons would be given.

They searched the main hall but found no signs of anything suspicious. The pastor's room was old and full of dusty books, none of which seemed particularly useful, a long corridor filled with oil paintings lead to the ante room, which turned out to be merely large and empty.

Fai sighed at their unyielding results. Despite the seeming peace of the chapel, the air felt a little too thick for him to disregard it. It felt…like that night when he…when he…

He frowned and rubbed the butt of his palm against his throbbing forehead. The motion did not go unnoticed by Kurogane, who moved closer, but before he could catch a hold of Fai's wrists, Fai suddenly stiffened, turning wide-eyed to the doorway they had just walked through.

"Over there!" he suddenly cried, bursting into a run.

"What? Hey, get back here, you idiot!" Kurogane cried, startled, and lunged for him, missing his sleeve by a hair's breadth as Fai went racing into the hall. "I told him to stay close to me!" he threw open the door to the hall, biting back a curse as he quickly gave pursuit.

He did not have to run for long, however, for by the time he reached the main hall where the sermons would be given Fai was already running back to him.

"Kuro-chan! Did you see him?" he panted, stopping short before him.

Kurogane's brows furrowed at this odd question. "See who?" he asked.

"The man! He ran right this way!" Fai cried breathlessly.. "You didn't let him get away, did you?"

"I didn't see anyone!"

"But I definitely saw him. He was running right for you!"

Before Kurogane could open his mouth to protest, a shrill scream pierced the air. They both spun around simultaneously and began running in the direction of that sound.

Kurogane arrived on the scene first, pushing open the door to the ante room. He stopped short, Fai almost colliding into his back. Upon the far wall a circle had been drawn in blood, the same haunting words running down the middle of the circle. However, both their eyes trailed downwards, to the foot of the wall, where there lay, slumped and drenched in blood, the body of a girl.

"This makes ten," Fai muttered in awe, as if he could not believe what his very eyes were showing him.

"How did anyone get past me? I didn't see anyone!" Kurogane growled, frustrated. Something was definitely amiss, what was infuriating was that he did not know what was causing it.

"Really?" the question was automatic. Fai slapped a hand over his mouth as though he were not responsible for the words that came from them.

"Yes, really," Kurogane replied tersely. There was another mystery standing right in front of him. He just wished that someone would point out who was responsible so that he could beat the living hell out of them and order them to fix that idiot wizard.

He did not know of any technology that could alter someone and there was no magic in this world that he knew of so why was Fai acting so strangely? Brain washing? He waved it off as ridiculous.

Fai's hands curled into fists, his breath hitched in his throat. He did not know why he felt so angry, or why he felt a little betrayed - what was there to feel betrayed about? - only that he could hardly contain his rage inside of him.

"I told you someone came your way but you keep insisting that you saw no one. Every time I ask you what happened at that cathedral, you always say it's nothing," he gritted his teeth. "I…I don't trust you anymore, Kurogane."

In that moment, it felt as if he had done something terrible.


A big thank you to all those who reviewed and reminded me that I still had to finish this. I know, I totally pushed this back. Anyway, part three will definitely be the finale. Again, I had to split it in half before it became monstrously long.