Journeys & Correspondents

Hello again everyone, it's been a while for me writing this since I took June off for my birthday so I'm now writing this in July. Anyway's we're back to Alexander's adventures which I think perhaps after this arc I might take a break from Grave Reality to storyboard a few more arcs for it since this fic is a very long-term project with the final chapter being years away in the story and I'm not going to just skip through it. Moving back onto Alexander he's just arrived in France and is on his way to the city of love... that's Paris, right? I'm not certain, never been and don't plan on going, anyways that's enough rambling here's the chapter.

Saint-Malo, France, Sunday February 11th , 2001

Alexander takes a few moments adjusting his clothes and making himself look semi presentable as he watches his stolen boat speed off towards the horizon, the throttle stuck forwards sending the boat onwards without any passengers or evidence. Before turning his head slightly to the left looking towards the tall fort like walls on the coast the night illuminated by the lights in the many buildings windows. "Now where am I?" Alexander asks to himself hauling up his case and makes his way towards the town off in the distance.

Which due to Alexander's abnormal physical fitness and sheer determination to not stop until he reaches the town, he arrives at the edge of the seaside city in just under an hour and a half. Partially making out the signs written in a foreign language he gently sets down his case and opens it ignoring the large amount of ordnance and magical reagents he reaches in and grabs a simple pair of glasses sliding them on his face before reaching into another compartment of the case pulling out an odd looking hearing aid, the device not serving any function to improve hearing and just being a simple disguise for the combinations of runes needed to translate the spoken word.

Having placed on his equipment Alexander swiftly shuts the case and looks up quickly spotting a now translated sign reading hotel. Entering the hotel despite the late hour Alexander is immediately greeted with "Hello sir, my apologies but check in's are only available between five thirty and eight twenty." the semi well dressed man behind the check in desk says as Alexander remembering the man is speaking French says "Sorry I don't speak French." Causing the man to say "Americans..." slightly under his breath before continuing in slightly accented English "Sorry sir but check in's are only between-" he starts before Alexander sets down a large stack of bills equaling around nine hundred pounds,

"My boat just crashed I don't have time for policies do you take bribes?" Alexander interrupts as the man quickly changing his tune hands Alexander a card "Room three fifty mister Wayne, third floor and to your right, we serve breakfast at seven fifteen, enjoy your stay." nodding as the man makes up a random name Alexander grabs the key card and ignores the elevator instead walking up the stair case to the third floor before finding his room and collapsing onto a small couch in it quickly falling asleep.

And so Alexander stays until he's awoken several hours later by some sunlight peering through the window shining directly into his eyes causing him to wake up. Flipping off the couch and bring himself back to his feet Alexander heads into the bathroom, before placing his hand against the wall discreetly pouring his prana into the room searching for any secret camera's just in case, having been too tired to do so last night. Once confident in his privacy Alexander gets ready to take a shower setting his pistol and other weapons within close reach should he need them before quickly taking a shower.

Finishing his shower quickly Alexander grabs his discarded clothes and sniffs them wincing at the strong smell of the ocean on his outfit, "I'll get them dry cleaned in Paris." he decides quickly getting dressed in the same clothes uncaring about the strong ocean smell as he picks up his case and exits his room. After a short trip down the stairs Alexander comes to the front entrance and without bothering to deal with the new person behind the front desk walks out the hotel and walks around searching for a train station.

Not having any luck after around an hour Alexander eventual stops a pedestrian and asks them "Hi sorry to bother you do you know where I could find a train to Paris?" only for the women to stare at Alexander for a moment before replying "I'm sorry I don't speak English?" the French translated for Alexander, nodding he walks by her still looking for anything resembling a train stations slightly wondering if he should just steal a car.

Taken out of his thoughts as a man in clerical robes suddenly bursts out of a nearby house hastily running towards a church Alexander can just barely make out the steeple of in the distance, as pained screams ring out from inside the house. "Damn it." Alexander curses to himself wincing slightly as he does so before barging into the home quickly bypassing the first floor heading straight towards the room the screaming's coming from testing the doorknob to see it's unlocked Alexander opens the door to see a young boy being held down by, judging from the family photos on the first floor, his mother and father thrashing around in a seizure.

"Who the hell are you!" The father shouts at Alexander still holding down his son but moving slightly to put himself between Alexander and his family, as Alexander's tongue curls at the truly alien taste, it almost reminding him of Louvre but lacking the fundamental wrongness accompanying a dead apostle. "A heretic, don't mind him mister Martin, Silver I would appreciate if you did not interfere with this exorcism." Another voice rings out answering the father with a slight pained quiver in her voice that sends cold dread down Alexanders spine as she switches to English.

"Caren." Alexander spits out as he turns to look at the silver haired girl who is currently wearing a full nun's habits instead of her executor's uniform her entire body shaking slightly only held still by her own determination. "Forgot about your spiritual masochism, gimme a second." he says setting down the case before opening it asking Caren "So what the situation?"

"Demonic possession, I do not need your help, in fact it would be far better if you left, it wouldn't do for you to take advantage of these poor people with your heresy." she says causing Alexander to grit his teeth slightly before saying "Okay simple enough just got to find out what pain it's trying to fix, any signs of a reality marble?"

Not receiving an answer and noticing how both Caren and the boy are getting worse Alexander pushes the mother aside and grabbing the boy holds him still with some assistance from reinforcement before muttering "Goodbyes," His magic circuits activating subtly as all thoughts clear from his minds except the extremely basic understanding of the third magic and a much better understanding of spiritual healing. "Lies," he mutters as his prana carefully makes contact with the slight amount of unnatural energy slowly easing it out of its frantic state as his prana slowly surrounds the energy the boy's shaking easing slightly. "Mind." Alexander finishes his circuits cutting off abruptly as Alexander falls to a knee fully exhausted barely having the energy to lean slightly out of the way from the scared fathers punch sending the man to the ground as Caren shaking far less points towards the door and emotionlessly says "Out, now. I'll deal with you later."

Alexander knowing better than to argue with an exorcists about an exorcism, and wanting to spend as little time with Caren as possible leaves the room, making sure to grab his case, and barely hearing Caren's "Wait on the steps." Ignoring her instructions Alexander walks out of the house and continues looking for a train station, which he does after a short time searching.

Talking to the cashier who luckily speaks English Alexander quickly purchased a train ticket to Paris, and after waiting another hour boards the train and departs without much issue or running into Caren again.

Paris, France, Monday February 12th , 2001

Alexander having settled down in a Paris enforcer safehouse, now waits for a potential contact in a hope of gathering more information on his target, needing to do so himself since Avenger did not hunt down Roux likely due to Avenger's inexperience compared to the current Alexander.

"Come in." A larger man says curtly as Alexander nods and walks into the room not batting an eye at the several armed individuals in the room, merely taking note of what weapons everyone had and turning on his circuits before starting to run prana through the runes inlaid in his clothes enhancing them just in case. "So I was told you wanted to see me?" the young woman behind the desk asks as two more men close the door behind Alexander.

"Let's skip this Aimée, and get to business." Alexander says harshly as he slams a briefcase onto the desk causing the woman to flinch slightly at the force of the slam and Alexander casually calling her by her first name. "That's miss Boucher to you, now I have some questions for you and you're going to answer." she says as she motioning with her hand as Alexander side steps the grabble coming from the man behind him as with a slight shove Alexander sends the man flying across the room and into three other men and a cabinet.

"Just open the case, then we'll talk." Alexander says taking a seat in a chair across the desk. Aimée, attempting to hide her nervousness, opens the case seeing a file and several stacks of pound bills. "Ten thousand should be your standard rate for finding someone."

"And why exactly do you think I'm an info broker?" she asks managing to recenter herself after seeing the money. "Oh I know you're not but the old man's dead, sorry about missing the funeral, but you're also the only person worth anything with less official connections in Paris I know of."

"And what is it that makes me worth anything?" she asks her teeth clenched as she struggles out the words her fist slightly shaking. "Because you and your boy's actively hunt human traffickers." Alexander says simply as all the signs of her previous moods disappear and a huge smile breaks out on her face. "You should have led with that." another of the armed men says, in accented English, patting Alexander on the back as Aimée nods "Indeed so who do you need found, oh!" she says opening the file taking a moment to look Alexander in the eye "I know who he is but what is your business with mister Roux?" she demands.

Sighing Alexander says "Let's just say that I run in a similar circle as Roux, and in that circle, I work as a... enforcer and my boss isn't exactly happy with Roux or his lover Andrysiak you see those two and their friends. Well, they poked their noses into something that has my employer on high alert, and considering what I know of him it's a very good motivator to get this done quickly."

"So you're an assassin then, looking to kill Roux?" Aimée asks to which Alexander sighing nods "Why not." he answers as Aimée nods. "Roux should be in his house doubles as his workshop-" she says causing Alexander's eyebrow to raise at the word workshop, "He's a bit of a recluse his family's old money, from what I can remember they made the money making dolls, bit of a tradition in his family since he's the seventh generation to keep making them."

"And where would this house be?" Alexander asks as Aimée motions for one of her men who quickly hands her a piece of paper which she writes on and slides it over to Alexander. Snaping her fingers Aimée points to the case which one of her men takes. "Anything else, mister?" she asks fishing for a name. "Silver, and no you've been a great help, have a lovely day." Alexander responds before being escorted out of the office building.

Alexander, knowing better than to invade a mage's workshop without a great deal of planning and preparation, doesn't immediately head towards the given address but instead starts walking back to his safehouse, after shutting of his circuits.

Eventually arriving at the safehouse having taken the time to throw off any potential tailers by taking a longer and more complex route to the safehouse. Once inside, and after making sure to lock every single door and window lock, neglecting any potential magical defenses as to not tip anyone off just in case. Alexander once sure of his safety heads over to the sole phone in the room and after calling the clock tower to inform them of his progress he then dialed another number this time placing the phone on speaker as he cleans his weapons and takes inventory of his supplies.

"Hello Edelfelt speaking?" Luvia's voice rings out over the phone the slightest bit of uncertainty still ringing through despite her multiple lessons on how to use a phone, "Luvia it's me." Alexander says as Luvia responds "Oh Alexander how are you, where are you and are you physically healthy?"

"I'm fine, I'm in Paris going after Roux, might be a little while before I can get to him outside his workshop, or I might have to bite the bullet and attack him in his workshop, depends on how much of a recluse he is." Alexander answers as Luvia's sigh audibly come over the phone, "Just because you have made a habit of attacking magi in their workshops and surviving does not mean that doing so is a smart decision." She starts before pausing and letting out another breath. "But since I know you I am certain you already have an idea of a plan."

"Well I have some ideas but none of them are very good, and most of them are very risky." Alexander admits silently sorting through his plans as he pieces his pistol back together and setting it aside to start inscribing runes onto different items just in case. "Go on, I am listening." Luvia urges as Alexander focusing on the phone call for a moment says "My main concern is if Roux decides to get the police involved since either way I need to get into his workshop, so I have an idea but it's pretty illegal even for me."

Omake, Downtime

Taking a moment to thank his waiter Alexander starts to eat his croissant taking his time to truly enjoy it's flavor before picking up his pen and writing on his notepad.

nagymama kis péksége, Budapest

Incredible buttery, flakey, bit dry.

Overall not as good as Rico's coffee in Italy, which still holds on as the best croissant in the world, until a better croissant is found.

Closing his notepad Alexander smiles as he takes in a deep breath and finishes eating his croissant, and takes in the fresh are around him.

And that's it, yep that's how Alexander spends his downtime. Moving onto the chapter not much to say just a Caren encounter who of course Alexander escapes from as soon as possible, and Alexander meeting up with some of his contacts, he actually attempted to meet up with Aimée during the time skip but instead met with her grandfather who was still alive at the time, anyways next chapter should be the assault on Roux which should be fun since I've got a fun idea on his mage-craft anyways goodbye.

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