Arthur looked at the two very angry blonde men and cleared his throat and tried again, "I'm very sorry, but we are going to have to hold Emil until he is cleared of suspicion. He will be treated with up most curtsy and respect, I assure you!" Arthur wasn't sure why he was the one that had to deal with this, he was the unit leader, couldn't he assign this to someone else?

The shorter of the two, Lukas, who was apparently Emil's brother or guardian or something glowered at Arthur, "So you are just going to hold him till he confesses to something he didn't do?"

"How is that legal?" Yelped the taller of the two, Mathias, who . . . . . Arthur wasn't sure why he was here, maybe just support for Lukas, "Where in the law is it okay for police to hold little boys just because of a suspicion?"

"We are a private detective agency, we don't run by all of the same rules as the police." Arthur started, "However-"

"This is ridiculous!" Mathias yelled, throwing up his hands and glaring down at Arthur, "We can sue!"

Arthur glanced over his shoulder at Kiku, who was standing by uselessly for moral support. Turning back to the two irate men Arthur sighed. He could understand why Lukas was upset, after all who wouldn't be if their straight A, perfect student little brother was brought in for criminal charges? Arthur knew that he would be through the roof if something like this happened to Peter.

Still, Peter was innocent, Emil was not. That, Arthur was sure of.

"Emil can go home tomorrow, maybe sooner! The moment he is cleared, we will let you know!" Arthur said, "You may have supervised visits whenever you want until he is released."

"Like a prisoner." Lukas said, his voice cold and his eyes colder. Those eyes bore into Arthur and sent a shiver down his back; this was not a man to trifle with.

"No, this if for Emil's own good. If he is innocent, he won't be bothered for the rest of the case! This will never been on any of his records and if he is guilty, we can get him help." Arthur said and glanced back at Kiku to avoid looking at Lukas anymore. Lukas was intimidating without acting hostile, furthermore Arthur couldn't blame Lukas for his fury.

"You monster!" Mathias yelled, "Not only do you think Emil is a criminal, you think there is something wrong with him!"

"No-" Arthur said quickly, "I just-"

"Don't you think that locking him up is more damaging than anything else you could to to him?" Mathias demanded, his voice loud and oppressive.

"Please, everything is going to be fine." Arthur said, refusing to be cowed, "Emil-

Mathias stepped forward and grabbed Arthur's collar so fast Arthur didn't have time to react as he was lifted off of his feet and brought to the taller man's eye level, "If anything happens to Emil, you will regret it."

Arthur resisted the urge to kick Mathias. Kicking him would be impolite and the guy had a right to be concerned. Still, hanging here like a doll was unnerving and it took all of Arthur's self control to just look back at Mathias in a dignified manner.

"Mathias." Lukas said, his tone almost warning.

For a moment Mathias's grip tightened and Arthur could feel his windpipe closing, then Mathias dropped Arthur unceremoniously and turned, stalking towards the door. Lukas gave Arthur one last glance before turning and following his friend.

Arthur watched them go. He didn't want to see their reaction when he finally got the evidence against Emil. He wasn't sure how he was going to get it, but he knew it had to exist. Emil was guilty. Emil was Iceland. Arthur was sure of it.

Vlad's words had been too extreme, too crazy to believe at first. Emil? Little white haired Emil? That overly polite and placid boy who worked with Peter on that group project? That Emil? Seriously? Not possible! Emil was polite and shy and defiantly not professional thief quality.

Arthur still didn't think that Emil was professional thief quality, but Emil was, without a doubt, a member of the North. Vlad had been telling the truth. Emil was guilty.

Arthur moved back in to the building and passed all of the offices. He walked into the holding facilities and looked into the cell that now housed Emil.

The kid lay on his back on the white cot, staring at the ceiling. Guilty. Defiantly. Arthur just needed to prove it.

In all honestly, part of Arthur was disappointed that Emil was so unimpressive a criminal. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't a high strung, wispy, white haired kid who was top of his sophomore class. Emil was interesting. He made a huge effort to not seem high strung, he tried to be laid back and uncaring and that was exactly what Arthur had seen in him when he had first met Emil for Peter's group project. Yep, Arthur's first understanding of Emil was proved wrong during the questioning today.

Emil tried to keep up his facade, but Arthur could see the signs of stress coming off of the kid in waves. Emil was tense and he tapped constantly. It was possible Emil wasn't even aware of the tapping, but both Arthur and Ivan had keyed into that almost immediately. The tapping sped up when Arthur asked particular questions and slowed at others. Emil's tapping switched between his foot and his hand on the table, but it was constant. Then there were those little flashes of fear. Every now and then, Emil's face would transform into a mask of terror, almost immediately he would get control of himself and the emotionless, uncaring expression would return, but those little flashes told Arthur just how much stress Emil was dealing with.

If Emil really was the quiet, laid back person he pretended to be, then it didn't make sense for him to be that stressed if he was innocent. Plus, Emil was undoubtedly a smart kid, if he was innocent he wouldn't bother with being worried. The tapping was an impulsive behavior and when Arthur had met Emil before, he hadn't noticed any figetting of any kind. Emil was very good and presenting a good kid to the world, but he was not good at doing it in such intense situations.

Still, Arthur had been trying extremely hard to not make the questioning intense. He had been friendly and they had taken breaks multiple times. Emil was the one making the sessions so intense for himself by winding himself up as tight as he was.

Everything Emil was doing lined up perfectly with what Vlad had told them.

Emil was guilty.

The kid shifted on the cot and sat up. Arthur knew that Emil couldn't see him, it was one way glass and all he would be able to see was his own reflection. However, Emil looked at the glass, his eyes scanning it with a knowing expression. He knew that someone was watching him.

Tomorrow, Emil might crack. The night in the cell, the stress, maybe the kid would slip up and his story would change. Arthur sighed. He had control of this, he would find out where that stupid family relic was and get all of the North into jail.

It was nearly time to head home. Arthur turned away and started down the hall.

Arthur poked his head into Ivan's team's office and waved at Ivan, "Hey, thanks for stepping in for me. Sorry about the short notice."

"No problem." Ivan said with a shrug and a smile, "It's been slow today, but tomorrow we are doing some field work, so you will have to ask someone else to be in there with you."

Arthur nodded, "Okay, thanks again!"

Arthur started on toward his team's office. He had pulled Ivan away from his team today so that there were the required number of team leaders present during Emil's questioning. If Ivan hadn't been available, he would have had to ask Francis. Tomorrow he might have to. Arthur sure didn't want to, but over his dislike for Francis, he wanted to finish the North case, and that meant talking to Emil. Maybe he could ask someone else? Who's team wasn't busy? Everyone was busy.

Arthur walked past his offices and on to Francis's. He stepped inside and looked at the three desks. Gilbert's was a mess, even though he hadn't been using it recently. Antonio's was tidy, but in an unorganized way, while Francis's was spotless. How did he do that?

"Francis?" Arthur asked, "Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Do you want me to be busy tomorrow?" Francis asked with a smile.

"I need another team leader to be with me to talk to a minor I brought in today." Arthur said quickly.

"Of course! I'd love to!" Francis said then turned to Antonio, "You can handle things here, can't you?"

Antonio nodded and Arthur quickly left before Francis could start talking again. Arthur finished up his work as quickly as he could and walked out to his car.

The air was crisp and he would see a group of dark clouds gathering on the horizon. A rain might do the city good, besides Arthur always relished the scent of rain.

When Arthur got home he was surprised to see Allistor's car missing from the driveway. Allistor usually got home before he did. Well, there was no reason to not start making dinner. Allistor usually handled the cooking, but it would be nice of Arthur to give him a break.

Arthur was just starting to get the pots down when the door opened and Allistor came in.

"Hello!" Arthur called, "I'm cooking tonight, okay?"

"No!" Allistor said quickly, hurrying into the kitchen, "I'll cook!"

"Okay, if you want to." Arthur said with a sigh, "Why are you so late? Something happen at work?"

"No," Allistor said and started putting the pots away again, "I came home at the usual time, but Peter didn't get off the bus and wasn't answering his phone, so I went to the school to pick him up."

"I'm sure his phone died again, he always forgets to charge it at night." Arthur said, watching as Allistor got a pan and filled it with oil, "What's for dinner?"

"Fried potatos." Allistor said, "I figured he forgot too, lucky that you picked him up before I got there."

Arthur frowned, "What?"

Allistor over at Arthur in surprise, "You picked Peter up at school, didn't you? He wasn't there when I went and the ladies in the office said that he had gotten picked up."

"No, I came straight home."

"Then who picked up Peter?"

"PETER!" Arthur shot up and raced into the living room, "PETER! ARE YOU HERE?"

Allistor and Arthur searched the house, Arthur taking the ground floor and Allistor bolting upstairs. Arthur found no sign of Peter. He took the stairs two at a time and nearly ran into Allistor, who was standing in the doorway to Peter's room. Arthur backed up and looked at his brother's back. Allistor was stock still and tense. His fists were clenched, but his arms hung limply at his sides. Arthur slowly edged around him and looked into the room.

It was perfectly clean, Peter never left it looking this good. The window was open, letting in the smell of rain and a gentle breeze that made the curtains flutter. The room looked like one of the rooms one might see in a designer magazine; it was so clean and picturesque. On the bed was a set of cloths laid out and folded, like how a mother might if she was the sort to choose her children's outfits. On the cloths was a white business card with two words.

The North

Outside, the first drops of rain started to fall.

Emil lay on the cot and sighed. They had said that this was a temporary situation. Tomorrow they would have a real bed for him. That was nice of them. He hoped he didn't have to be here tomorrow.

Arthur had said that when he was cleared of suspicion, he could leave. In that case, tomorrow Emil would try harder to clear himself. He knew he hadn't messed up this time. He hadn't said anything incriminating and could prove all of his claims.

Now Emil was here. In this cell on this cot. At least they had allowed him his backpack after they had searched it. He pulled out his homework and started at it. He really didn't want to do this.

Emil dropped his homework on the floor and buried his face in his pillow. He could feel his eyes pricking, but he was determined not to cry. He would not let them win. They had nothing on him. He knew that this would become a war of attrition. A war of wearing the other side down. Emil would not be the one to break. The couldn't hold him forever and Lukas would get a lawyer or something and get him out.

Emil swallowed back the tears that kept threatening to fall. He wasn't going to break, he wasn't going to give them what they wanted. If he did, he would be destroying his entire life. He would be sending everyone he cared about to jail and would be sent to a detention center for his troubles. Emil wouldn't let that happen.

He just hoped the others were okay. He hoped the drop off of the birds went smoothly. He hoped Mathias would stay over at their house tonight and eat dinner with Lukas. He hoped everyone ate dinner with Lukas, so he wouldn't be alone. Emil wished he wasn't so alone. He felt miles away, an ocean away, but he hoped that they were all okay and didn't worry about him.

Emil sat up and leaned against the wall, clutching the pillow to his chest. He hoped they found a lawyer who would get him out. He hoped it happened soon, because he wasn't sure how much of being this alone he could take. No. He couldn't think like that. Emil would win this. He wouldn't break.

Emil squeezed his eyes shut, but the tears leaked out and ran down his cheeks. He cried quietly into the pillow and rocked back and forth. The cell was silent, except for his gentle sobs.

A lot has happened in the last few chapters and expect a lot more in the future, I want to make this fic less than twenty chapters long, so an end is in sight! That being said: thank you so much to all of my reviewers! I so look forward to seeing what you guys think XD

Also, after reading .weeb's reveiws, I wanted to extend the question out to the rest of you: Who do you want to win? North or Police? Your answer isn't going to change the out come, but I am curious!

Anyway, thanks again!