END GAME

Chapter 13: Narrowing the Search

This chapter contains various themes including: Gore, violence, murder, lots of blood, etc. This is your forewarning.

A man crouched down inside of the shop, the sharp scent of blood filling his nose, a familiar and welcome scent. He pulled the note from his pocket and a thumbtack from the other one. All that was needed was a quick jab through the paper and plaster and then his job was done. The man stood, nudging the body to his right with the toe of his foot. Those morons... they'll never figure it out. They need all the help they can get.

Of course, the Lord had given him very specific instructions to be careful, to leave no evidence behind, even if it meant burning the place down behind him. The Lord would punish them if those persistent detectives picked up on anything before the plan could fully unfold. Perfect execution was a must, especially if they hoped to complete the plan. The man shouldered the shop's door open, wary of the blood coating his gloves. He would have to burn those later. It was a nuisance, but it was a necessary precaution.

He tugged the glove from his right hand, slipping it into his pocket to extract several quarters. Dawn would be rising soon. He needed to complete the last step and return before the sun fully rose. It would be a bit suspicious to walk around in broad daylight with blood on him. He stopped at a phone booth and tucked the wire phone between his ear and shoulder before he slid the quarters in, one by one, and pressed the buttons; 9-1-1. The person on the other line picked up on the second ring. "This is 9-1-1, what is your emergency?"

"T-there's been a murder." It was a struggle to keep in the character of a terrified citizen, to refrain from letting the malicious smirk pull his lips up, which would bring a harsh, sadistic laugh bubbling to his lips once the façade broke. Because he knew, oh he knew, he knew, he knew that it would be an urge too sweet to hold back once it got started. That would be a dead giveaway in the fact that he was anything but an innocent citizen. If they realized that he was anything but a terrified person calling from a public phone they would go through the video cameras on the streets. What a nuisance. The days when there weren't cameras on every street corner were long gone, a mere memory that he wished was still a reality. Maybe then these jobs would be easier, especially with the police increasing the amount of patrols. "Can you give me your location?"

The man let a small smirk tug his lips up, his blue eyes glittering maliciously. He swept a gloved hand through his hair, smearing blood through his blonde hair. "Yes…"

Levi and Eren stood outside of Crowley's Clock Shop, located on Jade Street in the Karanese District. People walked around the perimeter of the blockade, talking anxiously even though day had yet to fully break. Reporters were already on scene, clamoring for attention, for an interview with one of the officers, who were unresponsive towards their questions other than orders for the more exuberant ones to stay behind the tape and hurdles.

"Sir, tell me, what exactly did you see inside of the clock shop?"
"Sir, do you have reasons to believe that this murder is connected to the recent murders of Eliza Elliot and David Smith?"
"Sir could you-"
"Madame would you-"
"Detective, I have some question-"
"Officer, what is your take-"
"Could you tell us-"
"Sir-"
"Officer-"
"I have some questions-"
"If you could spare-"
"Please, just one quest-"
"Thirty seconds, that's all I-"
"-a statement for the press-"
"Do you think-"
"We just have a few-"
"The public needs to know-"
"You over there, yes you! Could you-"

They wouldn't stop the endless flow of questions. It was testing Levi's patience; he could already feel his eye beginning to twitch and he hadn't even set foot inside of the shop yet. The day was already going downhill and he had only been awake for an hour and a half at most. It was amazing how the moronic citizens of Eden could infuriate him so easily.

Levi kept his head down and ignored the questions that flew through the air as he took the offered notepad from one of the officers, taking a few moments to look over the information on it before he entered the shop, Eren on his heels. Our victims are Alexander Johnson and Black Cornish, who were twenty-five and twenty-seven respectively. They were coworkers at the Herald of Eden. God that is such a pathetic newspaper; I'm amazed anyone buys a pathetic rag with such horrendous quality. Levi pulled the glass and metal door open, a bell jangling irritatingly as he jerked the door open. It only added to the headache that was starting to build in his temples, steadily growing as the day slowly inched onwards.

The stench of blood was thick, pressing against his senses like a thick cloth that smelled metallic, of copper. He could almost have tolerated it though, due to the blissful silence and darkness of the shop, opposed to the cacophony of the street outside. Well, silent except for the tick of clocks and the chimes that seemed to come every few moments from one of the hundreds of clocks littering the shop. They ranged from pocket watches to cuckoo clocks, grandfather clocks to digital clocks.

Levi pressed his fingertips to his forehead as he pulled the gloves from his pocket with his other hand, passing one pair to Eren. I really should just give him the damn gloves to keep. Levi let his eyes sweep over the scene for a quick moment before he selected which body to start with. The first man, who was propped up against the wall directly in front of the door, was apparently supposed to be Alexander Johnson, based off of the notes that he had been given. The other man, Blake Cornish, was lying, limbs all askew, in front of a large mahogany grandfather clock.

The brown tiled floor was coated with a layer of glass and blood, several broken clocks scattered about, and their gears spilling onto the ground. Levi picked his way across the shop till he could crouch beside of Johnson's body. His eyes were shut, the long brown-blonde hair that had escaped from his ponytail concealing part of his blood-smeared face. The bloodstain, still fresh, originated from the right side of his chest, where a screwdriver was firmly embedded into his chest, all the way up to the handle. The yellow handle had smears of blood on it, but they couldn't hide the thing that had been etched into the side, an 'R.' Another letter on another weapon. What the hell are they trying to tell us? Levi tugged the shirt till it was taut, checking for any more holes or gashes in his shirt. Aside from the screwdriver impaled into his chest Johnson appeared to have no other wounds.

Levi stood and moved over to Cornish, glass shards crunching beneath his feet and gears skittering across the floor when Eren accidentally dragged his feet. He crouched beside Cornish and his eyes swept across the man's body. There was a long, jagged gash going across his throat, just above the base. Blood still flowed from the gaping wound, trickling down his blood-stained neck and shirt and dripping down to the floor below. There were several other stab wounds dotting his body. Several fingers were missing, his ring and pinky from his right hand and his thumb and forefinger from his left, leaving only blood-crusted stumps of varying lengths on his hands.

A square of yellow beside of Cornish's shoulder caught Levi's eye. The note had been folded and taped up onto the wooden wall. The same note that would give them an abstract clue as to where the next murders would occur. Levi reached up to pull it away but another hand beat him to it. He glanced up at Eren, watching the other boy as he unfolded and read from the yellow scrap of paper, the black typed letters somewhat visible through the paper.

"The time begins, the plan unfolds
See now what your future holds
Three warnings have come, three warnings have gone
The Titans will rise, our age is about to dawn
Do you hear now, the people's sound?
Above the street, the Stars wait to be found."

Levi raised an eyebrow and Eren looked down at him with a shrug. "These people are enigmas wrapped in puzzles wrapped in riddles. There's just no damn end to the layers of shit they've wrapped themselves in."

Eren folded the note back into its original form, folding the tape over on the paper so it wouldn't stick as he slid it into his pocket. "They're inconsistent for the most part. Although, the last two murders occurred Saturday night or Sunday morning and Wednesday morning respectively. Today is Wednesday. Assuming that this is a pattern, they'll be planning to strike sometime Saturday night." Levi's eyes darted back up to Eren and he watched the other man for a moment before he let a small smirk pull up the corner of his lips, slight but evident. "I see you're finally picking up on something."

Levi rose and began to tug the gloves off of his hands. "That is an assumption that we'll have to make. Until then, we need to analyze this note, and the others for good measure."

Levi set the three notes out, side by side by side in order of when they had been acquired. Three scraps of bright yellow paper left behind, three cryptic poem-like messages left to decipher. They stared at the notes, pictures, and pages of information for a while. Papers were passed back and forth, comments exchanged – a mixture of caustic and calm – and thoughts were exchanged. They had come to call the group the Titans, after the fourth line in the note. "Levi, can I see the notes?" Eren inquired, holding his hand out in the general direction of Levi, his head turned towards the board the map was pinned to, along with at least a dozen other photos from the assorted crime scenes. Levi slid the note over and Eren looked down at it.

Eren pointed to the last two lines of the first one, the bottom of his black long-sleeved shirt pushing it forwards along the desk a bit. "In the last line it said 'Bring your best to the garden.' It didn't specify what garden, but it still said 'garden.' Then the Harper girls were found in the Trost Botanical Gardens. In the end of their poem, it said 'Tick tock, the gears won't stop till the shops close.' Tick tock is a sound associated with clocks most of the time, while gears could be something mechanical oriented. But the fact that it says both 'shops' and then 'crows' in the third line kind of points us in the general direction of where the next murders occurred – Crowley's Clock Shop. Crowley has the word 'crow' in it. Maybe that's the purpose of the last two lines, giving us clues to where the next bodies will be found."

Levi's eyes widened and his hand shot across the desk, plucking the last note from the cool wooden surface. "If that theory is true, and I'm pretty sure it is, then I think we've got a general idea of where the next attack will occur. If it's just the last two lines, we're left with 'Do you hear now, the people's sound? Upon the street, the Stars wait to be found.' The problem is that there are several broad and small areas could be taken from those two lines alone."

Eren nodded in agreement and moved over to the map, prodding parts of it with his finger. "If we take the noise-related elements from the first of those two lines, we end up with several places, ranging from the Coliseum that the Orchestra of Eden plays in at least once a month to the entirety of the Yalkell District since they produce massive quantities of musical instruments annually."

Levi opened one of his desk drawers and grabbed a red marker and tossed it to Eren. The green-eyed man thankfully managed to catch it before it nailed him straight in the forehead… or in the eye. "Circle those areas," Levi commanded and he pulled two other markers out, a green and blue. "I never thought I would actually need these damn things," he muttered and he watched Eren, waiting for the other man to finish outlining the two areas. Eren turned back to Levi and they traded markers, the red for the green. "If you look at the latter of the lines, the Titans stated 'street,' which could be interpreted as either a literal street, a shop, or an underground name for something. If it's the first of those three things, that narrows down the roads since it specifies street instead of avenue, road, lane, and such."

Eren turned back to the map and scanned the map for a few minutes, highlighting certain roads and circling certain smaller areas green. "Then they also state 'Stars.' The odd part about that is that it's been capitalized. It could be the name of a street, a business, or it could even be code for something."

"Isn't there a street in Yalkell called Sun Street? The sun is a star – that could be a place it could be on." They traded markers once more, the green for the blue this time. Eren located and highlighted the street, talking as he did so. "We'll need to get a detailed map of Yalkell, but this is a good start. It's narrowing down the places we'll need to look. If we can narrow it down any further, we might be able to post officers along various points of the place."

Levi leaned back, a feeling of satisfaction blooming in his chest. For once they finally had a chance of being ahead of these 'Titans,' as they had dubbed themselves. Of course, they had no clue as for when or where the next kidnapping(s) would occur, but since Damien Twist and Karen Ramirez had gone missing five days ago, no bodies had been found, nor had any more children gone missing. However there was still the problem of the first four lines of the poem. The warm sense of satisfaction quickly turned to icy tendrils of dread at that. What plan? What were those murders warnings for?

Levi glanced up at Eren, who scratched idly at his arm as he stared at the board. The arm which was currently bandaged, which had been previously hidden by his long sleeves. He made no comment on it, but a thought did strike him then. I thought he healed quickly… so why would he need bandages in the first place?

By the 18th of October, a Friday night, Eren and Levi had managed to narrow the possible places down to three streets, all within the Yalkell District. The roads were Sun Street, Treble Street, and Starfall Street. All three contained things related to the clues in the notes, ranging from places to acquire hearing aids to places to buy music to places to buy lights and star-related objects.

That, however, had not prevented two charred bodies from turning up and two more children from disappearing. The bodies of Damien Twist and Karen Ramirez had been found earlier that morning, the ashes and bones smoldering inside of a large green Dumpster. The two other children that had gone missing, Erin Redford and Lukas Miller, had been reported missing nearly an hour after the burning Dumpster had been found.

Levi and Eren began to plan out patrols for the three streets for the following night. They could spare five officers from their own station and the Yalkell District was willing to provide ten to fifteen more for that night and morning. That might give them the chance of deterring the occurrence of the next murder.

A curfew would be set for all of Eden, but Yalkell would be set for an hour earlier, requiring all residents to be indoors by seven o'clock PM at the risk of being arrested. Some might have deemed it unnecessary, but it was a precaution that they had to take. Perhaps that would prevent the amount of people being falsely accused as the murderers, or even being shot on accident. The latter of the two was thankfully a worst-case scenario if anyone was still outside past the curfew.

Eren was in the process of panicking, worried that his assumptions were completely off, that he was wrong. As the night wore on Levi slowly but surely found it harder to refrain from smacking the other man, but he managed to do so, instead straining to focus on the papers in front of him. He was about to break out the duct tape when Eren stood and pulled his bag over his shoulder. "I've got to go now. I've got a shift at the bookstore. Let me know if you figure anything else out."

Eren gave Levi no time to respond, instead whipping around and darting out of the station. Levi could almost have sworn that the man's face was bright red, but the split second glance he had taken was not enough to be able to completely tell if that was true.

Levi clucked his tongue and leaned back, propping the bottom of his foot up against the edge of his desk. He's an idiot alright… It's amazing he's managed to get this far in life. Levi glanced up. It was already darkening outside and the few people on the streets were darting into their apartments, locking the doors and most likely even the windows behind them. Perhaps I should have offered to walk him there or something. It would really be a drag if he got killed now, especially when we might have finally found something to give up a break in this damnable case.

It was strange how he found his thoughts wandering down that path. It was strange how his thoughts seemed to be going down paths concerning Eren more often than they originally had. It's just because we're on a case, Levi rationalized. I'd think the same thing if I was working with Petra or someone else… wouldn't I?

A woman knelt in the dark antechamber, her forehead, palms, and knees pressed into the cool, damp stones. Two small children were crouched in kowtow-like bows, one on either side of her. The girl on her right was sniffling quietly, the sounds filled with pain and fear. The boy on her left was crouching quietly, his gaze fixed firmly on the ground. "How long did each child last?" The voice echoed off of the curved stone walls and pillars that filled the dimly lit place, bouncing around before they died away.

The rustle of paper reached the woman's ears as she knelt on the ground, waiting for the moment when she and the children could rise. "The boy lasted twelve hours before the regeneration abilities came to a stop. The girl lasted three and a half hours before her regeneration abilities ceased to function."

The second voice was soft, timid, and masculine. It was deceptive, especially considering the fact that J was an assassin. It wasn't the kind of voice most would expect for an assassin, but then again, he was surprisingly delicate-looking for one too, so he didn't fit the bill appearance-wise. Despite that, he could still lodge a knife in the center of a person's forehead from fifty or so paces away. "The boy is coming along nicely… the girl could use some improvement, but I we still have time to develop her regeneration capabilities," J continued.

The man who had spoken first, their Lord, hummed quietly in response. "Their progress has been good thus far," he mused. "How are the two newest subjects faring?"

"Decently," J murmured. The woman could imagine him standing by the throne, his head bowed and eyes fixed on the ground in his deceptively timid manner. "The boy started to decline about twenty minutes ago, but the girl's blood pressure and heart rate are stable for the moment."

"Good…" the Lord murmured. "You three… you may rise." The woman rose, her stiff knees screaming in protest as she straightened them. She helped the children rise on trembling legs, gripping their hands firmly but in a comforting way. The worst is almost over children… she thought quietly to herself. Soon you won't have to be in pain anymore. The woman looked up at her Lord, her gaze steady and blank. "You must draw the Subject closer," the Lord said. "The end is coming. He must be prepared."

The woman nodded and waited for the Lord to dismiss them. He flicked his hand and the woman bowed once more, pulling the children down with her before she backed out of the room, her eyes fixed on the man, an exit that had been drilled into her since before she could remember, back when M was still in charge. The doors closed when they left and the woman led the children back to their room. She waited till they were both asleep before she slipped out of the room and went to go watch the two new children they had taken.

Chapter 13: End

Good morning darlings~ Hahaha I'm so glad I don't have school tomorrow... today... whatever. Aaaaanyways, I should probably go ahead and name this chapter and get started on some various things.

calleyrose: Hahaha who knows? And good, the suspense should be killing you. Slowly. Literally. Just kidding. Oh my gods, a 2 yr old... I hope you're censoring some of this. Hahaha, no, no I didn't.
layer14: I almost feel like I have them on a hamster wheel to be honest.
ichiruzuka: Bingo~
TheOtaku2: Hahaha, I've been planning this since like, early September, and the plot can be confusing, even to me, and I'm writing the damn thing. But that's cause I'm trying to make everything connect without it being too weird and it's irritating sometimes. But I do hope this confusion starts to clear up soon.