Chapter 2
Burning Memories
Rosemary Academy was put under deep reconnoiter.
After the discovery of the young girl (Name: Angelique Laroche) who was confirmed as the killer when her finger prints was discovered in a old forgotten boiler room somewhere in the school where the corpses of two other students were discovered in another macabre masterpiece, it was clear that there was a bigger master mind behind this sinister plot. That master mind whom Alfred was sure was that man disguised as a teacher.
However both Angelique and the man had gotten away.
And that probably hurt more than anything.
The investigation team had quickly taken to assay the school's record system in search of the teacher everyone in the school called "Professor Francis Bonnefoy" only to come up once again empty. The only teacher that came up with that name was an old man that the entire staff swore they've never seen before. Further investigation proved that the old man was a gay linguist named Berwald Oxenstierna studying philology who lived a crime-free life with his loving husband Tino Vainamoinen over 300 miles away.
None of this helped Alfred who felt like he was still going through a mini-shock attack after seeing that monster's face again. In his mind that horrible memory he's tried so hard to suppress kept surfacing and tormenting him. And also because he sat in his bed, by himself, in an apartment that was meant for two.
And oh how that memory kept playing that a broken record right before his eyes.
Arthur was once again gone. Running off to plumb that abyss that threatened to overtake the man and turn him into something more horrible than the monsters he chased after. After all as the saying went, "If you gaze into the abyss long enough, the abyss gazes back at you."
Alfred shivered at the thought as he continued running down the dark uncharted halls of the old city sewers. Next to him Gilbert Beilschmidt ran along steadily, his breath even despite having ran so long. The German Inspector was the one who gave him that quote when Alfred had once tried to canvass Arthur who at the time and still was an enigmatic to him. Arthur who was a lone wolf, Arthur who once had a high standing in the PSD department but had fallen from grace, Arthur who stares unwavering into the abyss.
However Alfred knew that this time it was his fault. He was the one who had lured Arthur here with just a single word, and his heart ached for it. That morning he had woken to an empty apartment and a letter addressed to him in fine cursive from his twin brother.
Dear Alfie,
I'm leaving. Please don't come after me. I wish you best of luck with that Arthur guy, I know he can cause you trouble at times. I'll be now living at the Reverenis District of the city with a man I met named Bonnefoy.
Love,
Mattie
In hindsight Alfred probably should've seen how suspicious the letter was, Matthew wasn't as brash as Alfred was and wouldn't just drop everything, especially his brother, without really thinking it through. After all Mattie wouldn't give up for the world his upcoming tutelage under a skilled man. He always did have a love for Archaeology. In fact, he would've been leaving in a little less than three months for Egypt to an excavation site.
But Alfred had always been the overprotective one though being the younger of the two twins, and the moment he read that letter he couldn't help but panic. He was quick to ask for help and by coincidence –though perhaps not now that he thought about it- Arthur had been the only other Inspector free that day.
The seasoned Inspector had at first been reluctant to join Alfred for his cause even at the younger's loud pleading. But as soon as the letter had been presented to Kirkland he fell quiet and without hesitation agreed to ferret the situation out with Alfred. Upon reaching the Reverenis District and asking around Arthur had volunteered to enter the sewer system, where the residence had said they saw Matthew and another man enter, saying Alfred should stay behind and call for back up if it was needed.
Alfred complained of course, but agreed after much persuasion. They set up a communication system and the blue-eyed blonde watched as Arthur entered the sewers.
Everything went okay for the first few minutes and then suddenly Alfred lost all connection with the other Inspector. He panicked and looked at the monitor that showed where Arthur was and the Inspector's dot moved beyond where there should've been a wall on the map. Horrified Alfred kept trying to get in contact with Arthur to no avail. Then suddenly Arthur's dot moved at an extraordinary rate in a straight line as if he got onto a vehicle.
Later when the rest of the team arrived it was discovered that old subway tunnels ran under these streets. Subways that had long been abandoned and decommissioned. And the reason Arthur and Alfred's communication had been cut was because a jamming signal had been set up in the area.
So now Alfred and Gilbert were running down one tunnel, Gilbert's younger brother Ludwig and his partner Lovino ran down another with Feliciano and Kiku waiting on top monitoring their movements. However, all communication had been cut until they could find the source of the jamming and destroy it.
Before long the pair entered a large circular room in which Gilbert commented, "it looked like a large game arena." The "arena" had been stuffed full of painful traps and what looked like dried blood everywhere. Later Gilbert said that it looked more like a hunting arena to which Alfred asked what the prey was and the German fell silent.
And finally after a long time of searching and avoiding near death in the form of strings that activated falling spikes or bear traps that surely would've take off Alfred's foot, they stumbled upon Arthur.
He was lying on the ground and for a second Alfred was scared that he may be dead, but then he saw the subtle rise and fall of his chest. However that didn't mean the immediate danger was over because Arthur was also bleeding heavily from several places on his body.
"Gunshots," Gilbert said sickened. "Whoever was here was hunting humans down like animals."
Alfred paled at the painful looking wounds inflicted by such a primitive weapon. He looked around and in the distance he saw another body. Panic once again spiked through him in fear that the body was Matthew's. He quickly rushed to the fallen figure and he was almost sickened at his sudden relief at the sight of the dead body. It was the figure of an older man that Alfred surprisingly recognized. His name was Roderick Edelstein, a famous professor in the sociology field who preached the evolution of human society by taking it to the next level and cyborgizing the human population that could eventually lead to perhaps one day, immortality.
The man himself was at least 80% machine and clearly saw himself as superior to everyone in general. But now he was just like any other human being would eventually become.
Dead.
Alfred quickly began his rote procedures as Inspector and mindlessly activated his drone pocket where all Inspectors were required to keep tiny drones that would begin to analyze and assess a body. By the way Edelstein as dressed it seemed that he was the hunter in the game, apparently Arthur had gotten hold of his shotgun and shot the man dead.
"Kiku, Feliciano," a voice suddenly buzzed through his ear communicator.
"Ah! Ludwig-san, you've destroyed the jammer then. Good." Kiku buzzed in from far above them. "Has anyone found Arthur-san yet?"
"I have," Gilbert said. "I'm currently giving him first aid he's got multiple bullet wounds from a shotgun and- Hey-!"
Alfred frowned when there was suddenly a bunch of bumping and rubbing noises coming though the communicator as if Gilbert had removed his earpiece. Then a deep baritone sounded in his ear, "Alfred."
Said man gave a start when Arthur's voice suddenly breathed out of his earpiece sounding in pain and out of breath. In the background he could hear Gilbert protesting for the injured man to lie back down but he was ignored.
"Alfred, he was here." The Brit said quickly, "You're brother Matthew. And no, he not hurt… Yet." Alfred shivered at that. "And there was also someone else here. A man with –cough- long blonde hair. He took your brother."
At that Alfred jumped up eyes wide with fright.
"There should be a doorway near you," Arthur continued. "They went through that door."
Alfred breathed out a quick thank you and threw down his earpiece. He knew that everyone would just try to convince him not to go alone but if he let them do that then the bad guy might escape with his brother.
He ran faster than ever had before down into an unknown hallway that progressively got darker until in the distance he could see an opening where the dim sewer lights flooded in. Putting on and extra burst of speed he burst out into another round chamber, but this time several metal platforms ran from wall to wall up the entire room's height and there in the distance two figures could be seen walking across one.
Alfred clenched his Dominator and ran forwards quickly, "STOP!"
The two figures on a grated platform above him froze, one was a very frightened Matthew who had both his hands handcuffed and the other was a tall looking white-blonde man who dragged Matthew along with one hand and held a shotgun in the other. The man turned to face the young Inspector and smirked.
"Why hello Inspector Alfred Jones," he spoke in a slight French accent. "How nice of you to join us."
Alfred growled and quickly pointed his Dominator at the man, "Release your hostage at once."
"Oh?" The Frenchman blinked at him, "And what do you suppose you are going to do with that piece of scrap metal?"
"Release him or I will fire."
At that the man started to lightly laugh, his deep voice reverberating around the chamber. "Really? Please go ahead young Inspector. Point your silly gun at me."
Alfred felt surprised and his eyes widen a fraction of an inch but quickly schooled his face back into a scowl. He waited for the Heta system to read the man's hue and give him the access to stun him. But to his utter surprise the Dominator called out something completely unexpected.
"Criminal-Capacity at 32. Not suitable for enforcement action." The Dominator stayed locked in safety mode.
"So?" The man called after a few moments of utter silence from Alfred. "Not going to shoot me?" He smirked, "Fine."
"What…?" Alfred's confused voice echoed through the room, "B-but- you're-"
"A perfect citizen?" The man asked mockingly, "Nothing higher than a 50 I'm sure."
The Inspector took a step back, "But… Why won't you release him then…? W-who are you? What are you?"
"Moi?" The white-blonde man asked. "I am Francis Bonnefoy, at you're service." He smirked and gave a mocking bow. "And I am the epitome of a perfect citizen. At least, in the eyes of the Heta system."
Alfred pointed his Dominator at the Frenchman again.
"Criminal-Capacity at 27. Not suitable for enforcement action."
"How about we play a game huh?" Francis said. He gave Matthew a harsh tug causing the younger man to cry out in pain, and then he unhooked one of the cuffs and wrapped it around the metal railing of the platform and re-cuffed him. "You see this?" He held up the shotgun, "It's my present to you." Then he tossed it down to Alfred who still had his Dominator trained on the mysterious man.
Alfred flinched when it landed loudly next to him, his cerulean eyes looked up fearfully at the Frenchman. "W-what? I don't understand."
Bonnefoy laughed, "Don't worry. It's an easy game." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out. "This is a knife." He flicked the object and a sharp blade suddenly appeared, it glimmered dangerously even in this dim lighting. "I'm going to kill your brother with it."
The words got choked in the younger blonde's throat, even while holding the Dominator in both hands it trembled. "W-What?!"
Francis rolled his eyes, "Didn't you hear me? I am going to slit poor Matthew's throat open and kill him."
In a panic Alfred pointed his Dominator at him once again.
"Criminal-Capacity at 21. Not suitable for enforcement action."
"I-I don't understand!" Alfred cried out tears starting to form in his eyes. "Why isn't you're Criminal-Capacity higher?!"
Bonnefoy laughed again, "I told you already. That's not going to work on me. I'm not sure why, but for as long as I've been alive my hue has never read anything above a beautiful pure white."
Alfred began to heave; he didn't know how he was going to save Mattie. How could someone threaten to kill someone and still read under criminal-status? He felt backed up against the wall. His brother was going to die if he didn't do anything. And then his foot brushed up against something.
Alfred glanced down and saw his answer then, the shotgun Bonnefoy had thrown to him.
Francis saw what Alfred was eyeing and smirked, "There you go. Now you get the idea of the game. If you can shoot and kill me with that gun then your dear brother will be saved."
Hesitantly Alfred bent down, his eyes never leaving Francis' cold icy-blue ones. His shaking hand wrapped around the cold handle of the primitive weapon and shakily he brought it up to face the soon-to-be-killer. Now both his Dominator and the shotgun were pointed upwards at the man.
Francis frowned, "Still using that Dominator? I thought I'd made it clear that wasn't going to work. The only way is to kill me using that shotgun. But be careful, shotguns only hold two barrels, only two shots. And since one was already used to kill Mr. Edelstein I'm afraid you've only got one shot to kill me." He smirked, "But I'm sure as a Inspector you've gotten training in aim right? Now Mr. Jones, show me you're true will."
"True-will?" Alfred echoed.
"But of course," Francis said. "That Dominator in your hand has always told you who to apprehend and who to kill yes? None of that is your own will of course. Tell me Alfred, do you know what Dominator means?"
The younger man didn't speak.
"Well," Francis continued. "In Etymology the world 'Dominator' derives from the Latin root word 'dominātus' which stands for master. In this age everything is run under the Heta system the 'master' of everything." He ran the blade lightly across Matthew's throat so that a thin trail of blood was left in his wake. Matthew let out a pained whine and struggled against his cuffs.
Alfred stared at this in horror.
"Humans these days can't even be called humans," Bonnefoy continued. "They follow every order the Heta system tells them with no free will of their own. Free will which is such a beautiful thing has been forsaken for the sake of being stupid sheep." His icy eyes flashed dangerously, "That Dominator at this moment is your 'master', in the past humans were the master's of their own guns, since when has those roles been reversed? That is why we play this game now mon-cher Alfred." A smirk. "I enjoy seeing human's enact their own free wills, it is such a beautiful moment when a sheep sheds their wool and becomes a human, master of their own will and not the other way around. Can you feel it Jones? The heavy weight of a life under a single finger. Isn't it wonderful? So Alfred, shall you become a human? Or will you stay a sheep and allow your dear brother to die?"
Alfred was utterly consumed by fear at this point, his entire body shook and his breath came out in short spurts. He couldn't let his brother die, his sweet, dear brother. But… He has never killed someone before. Even during his recent start as an Inspector only the other Inspectors have taken lethal enforcement action. He's seen the death of many criminals but has never actually pulled a trigger to end a life himself.
And now he was expected to do it even when the system he has lived his life following tells him not to.
"Better hurry up or poor Matthew is really going to die."
Alfred let out a whine and once again pointed his Dominator at the dangerous man hoping the scans have been a mistake this whole time.
"Criminal-Capacity at 14. Not suitable for enforcement action."
"Will you really let this system keep you as a sheep forever?"
"Criminal-Capacity at 9. Not suitable for enforcement action."
"Your brother is going to die."
"Criminal-Capacity at 3. Not suitable for enforcement action."
"And it's going to be your fault because you were too weak to save him."
"Criminal-Capacity at 0. Not suitable for enforcement action."
Alfred let out a shout and closed his eyes, his index finger squeezed down on the trigger and a loud band reverberated around the chamber. The young blonde felt the force of the shotgun push him backwards. His back hit the ground painfully and both guns fell out of his hands.
He opened his eyes in fear.
Francis Bonnefoy stared down at him with a look close to disdain.
He brought the blade up to Matthew's throat who began to struggle even harder.
Alfred could only stare up helplessly as it played out before his eyes. "No! NO! PLEASE STOP THIS!" He crawled onto his four limbs tears streaming down his face. "PLEASE!" He cried out.
Francis frowned, "I'm disappointed in you Inspector Alfred Jones."
And he ripped the blade across Matthew's throat. Red seemed to drown out everything.
Alfred screamed.
Sometimes Alfred wonder's why he choose this particular job. His final scores had been high according to the Heta system; he could've gone into practically any field. In the end he choose this over an Ethnology path despite having strong interests in peoples and cultures. He supposed it was a deeply engrained need to save people that led him to it. But in the end, even that didn't work out.
After that whole event not even Arthur, whom Alfred put most of his trust in strangely enough, could educe him from his apartment. His heart was utterly broken into pieces at the loss of his other half. Mattie had been his everything and he had been the one to let him die. If Arthur had been given the choice he would've killed Francis Bonnefoy without hesitation but Alfred… He had been too weak.
It had taken him several weeks to finally imbibe the whole situation. A deep aching feeling of how horrible a person he was refused to leave him even after that. After all, only three day after Matthew's death his Criminal-Capacity hue still read a pretty powder blue as it always has. What sort of monster wasn't affected mentally after the death of his beloved brother?
Alfred rolled over in his bed. His mind still swirling in self-hate and sadness. He felt as if by letting Francis Bonnefoy get away again he had failed Matthew for a second time.
But that was okay. Because he had promised himself at Matthew's funeral that he would ascertain to capturing Bonnefoy.
Even if it cost him his life.
A/N: I feel like this chapter was rushed a bit, like it could've been split into two chapters though being twice as long as the first. :P Oh well, this assignment had to be done so here it is. Hope ya'll enjoyed it! :D
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