Time waits for no one
It will not slow down just because one asked for it to
It will not stop when one begs for extra seconds
And it will not cease until the end inevitably comes for those that are deemed ready for it
So make the most of what you have
And do what you can.
Durandal slowly drove along the rather vacant road, her gaze lingering on the myriad of houses littered across the sidewalk. Her eyes occasionally flickered back to the interior of her car, blue irises gazing at the small digital clock flashing before her steering wheel.
It was still early morning, but people had already begun leaving their homes, likely heading off to work.
She didn't pay much heed to that however, her mind focused on just one thing. One confusing information that she had yet to fully decipher within her head.
It was the three distinct locations she had been given by Bronya, all of which hardly held little relevance from one another.
No matter how hard she tried to think of an explanation for such a case, she couldn't quite figure out what each of them meant. Was it just to act as a diversion of some kind? No, that couldn't be, Raiden Mei didn't even know she was being tailed by Durandal until two days ago.
If so, then what were the purposes of these addresses? Was it to house Kiana in them? But if that's the case, it didn't explain the weirdly public and crowded apartment complex, and it certainly didn't explain the abandoned and broken down workshop either.
The only one that would fit the bill would be the house in that elderly neighborhood, the very one she was currently driving around the outer area to survey the place, but if that really was its purpose, how does that explain the fact that Mei had to walk here, if she was really holding her little sister in that house, wouldn't it make more sense if she had walked from this direction?
Something wasn't adding up. And Durandal was getting more frustrated with herself by the minute for not knowing what was missing.
She racked her brain, stopping her car completely as her mind was dwelling too much to even focus on pressing on the pedal anymore, the car awkwardly halted in the middle of the road. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel, closing her eyes as she let her mind wander even deeper into her psyche.
There had to be something. Anything.
….The address?
A spark ignited inside her head, her eyes burst wide open as she brought them back onto the road ahead of her.
No, it was more specific than that. It was the area that each one was located that she had carelessly overlooked last night, thinking not much of it until now.
One of the things she picked up on when she got the address from Bronya, was the fact that they were all relatively close to each other. Not enough to just simply walk there if you don't want to spend that much time getting from one place to another, but it was still doable.
Back then, she didn't quite give it all that much thought, but now…now she realized just how important that really was. It was right there in front of her.
Consecutively.
The locations of each place were stationed just shy from each other, but rather in a circular radius, it was almost like a straight line. The only one that deviated from this was the abandoned workshop, but judging from the fact that it was the oldest place that woman had purchased before the other two, she felt safe to exclude it from the equation. Which only left her with two real options.
She already figured out which one that was.
The apartment was not meant to hold Kiana, instead, it was supposed to be used as a way for Mei to safely and discreetly move Kiana from one place to another. The real location was the house, that's where she wanted to keep her.
But right now, her little sister wasn't in either, which meant that Mei hadn't had the chance to do any such things. It was very likely that Kiana was being kept in the same location all those weeks back when she first vanished, one that should be close to where the apartment complex was located, but just far enough that it wouldn't arouse any suspicion or odd looks.
Which means…if Durandal can follow a path similar to how each location was situated nearby each other, she could narrow down the search area enough that she will eventually come across a matching description for one of the buildings, the one where her sister is likely being held in.
The only thing I need now is Bronya's recording.
Rather than trying to go on her own to search for this, Durandal can instead wait for Bronya to record any message she gained from her conversation with Mei. It might not be likely that Mei will really reveal anything, but there is still a good chance that if she was talking to someone she considered a friend, the woman wouldn't be too alert.
The thought made Durandal's heart clenched a little though.
She didn't want to resort to such an action, she didn't want Bronya to take up such a morally wrong action just for her sake. She understood why, she was grateful even.
But it didn't change the fact that it still felt wrong.
Ah…Sirin is going to hate me for this..
The image of her younger sister flashed through her mind. It was the same scowl the girl had given her right before she set off to Nagazora City, along with some parting words that still echoed in her head, now more than ever.
Those words couldn't be any truer to Durandal than now, her emotions caught between anger, frustration and hatred for the woman who took away her little sister, yet also pity and compassion for a girl who was so clearly not all there in the head not by choice.
It was conflicting. So very conflicting.
She wanted to hate Mei. She wanted to keep hating her for what she did. That's what Sirin would have done, she was sure of that.
But she couldn't. Durandal simply couldn't.
Not after seeing what she saw with Mei, the genuine vulnerability and regret so plastered in her voice and tears. Not after she had seen Bronya's own fragile mind holding onto any sliver of hope that her friend and savior was one to be trusted.
Durandal couldn't bring herself to after all of this, even if a part of her still raged at her to do so. A part of her that will never go away no matter the years that goes by.
But that was okay for her.
For Durandal had long since made her choice already. A choice that had defined her very being, one she felt no regret over. The only choice she never once held regret for, and wouldn't start doing it now.
So if it was in any way possible, she will keep her promise to Bronya, and subsequently…to Mei as well.
I just hope that things will go well for those two.
She heaved a soft sigh, letting herself relax further onto the comfortable seat of her car. The grip she had on the wheel lessened, returning to a more relaxed hold as she prepared to spin the car back around, finishing up her side of the survey of the area. She figured Rita would be done with hers as well, the rest of them would meet up at the same location once Bronya met up with Me–
[Captain, something's happening.]
The voice of Owl cut right through her train of thought, bringing her attention back to the walkie talkie laying on the passenger seat beside her. His voice sounded…nervous?
The thought was foreign to her, which only drove her to quickly pick up the device, her fingers gripped firmly against its sides as she spoke:
"What is it, Owl?"
[Mei's house, something might be happening within it. Everyone in the area had started moving out of their houses and away from it.]
"What?" Durandal blurted with surprise, before quickly recomposing herself as she leaned closer to the speaker. "Have you tried asking the people there what it's about?"
[None of them really had an answer either. All we know is that some girl has been getting people out of their houses and onto the streets. At least, any that were near our target's home.]
There was a brief pause from the man, before he spoke again, the grimness of his voice unmistakable now.
[Something isn't right, Captain. What's the order?]
"...Copy that," Durandal simply replied, stepping on the pedal as she began to turn the steering wheel, her car rotating alongside her. "Wait for me, I'll come over as soon as possible. Do you see Bronya?"
[I do. She's already on the porch of the house.]
"Keep a close eye on her and tell me everything you see. If there's something even remotely odd, get her to back away as fast as you can."
[Copy that.]
As soon as those words echoed through the device, Durandal threw the walkie to the side, both hands now holding the wheel as she pressed onto the pedal further.
She trusted Owl's intuition more than anyone in her squad. It wasn't because the rest didn't have their merits, quite the opposite at that, but rather, he was the one that could pick out the most minor of details no matter how insignificant it may be, and find something truly worth noticing from it.
And that tone, there was only a handful of times in her entire time knowing him that she had heard such palpable uncertainty emanating from his voice. The thought of which only served to heighten her anxiety, a pit forming in her stomach at the sheer implications of it.
Before she could tell, one of her hands had already reached into her pocket, taking out her phone as it began to dial the silver-haired girl's number.
She didn't pick up, the call dying almost as immediate as it began to ring.
Durandal's lips thinned as it did, quickly turning to voicemail as she began to speak:
"Bronya, pick up the call right now. Something isn't right," she turned a sharp corner, the view of the neighborhood now visible from within her car shield. "Get away from the hous–"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
For a moment, Durandal couldn't hear a single thing.
Her eyes blanked, her vision seeming like they short-circuited. She blinked, hard, trying to clear the overwhelming red that clouded her eyes, like a curtain draped over it.
Her ears rang loudly, muffling anything else she could hear. She could still feel her legs, a foot stepped onto the brakes as her car screeched to a halt.
A painful growl escaped her, shaking her head from side to side as she attempted to reorganize her jumbled thoughts.
It took almost a full minute before the girl could open her eyes again, her vision clearing up properly.
What she saw made the rest of her body frozen in place, blood nearly drained from her face.
From a distance, black smoke was trailing up into the sky, darkening the clouds that surrounded it in its inky tendrils. She could spot something beneath it, a palpable orange hue that seemed to only grow brighter by the second, almost as if…
Something was burning.
She could hear voices echoing from beside her, static and erratic. It felt familiar somehow.
She didn't take the time to properly register it; however, her arms swung to the side as she practically bursted the car door to the side, her body sprung out from the car as she immediately began sprinting down the road.
Each shaky slam of her foot onto the concrete pavement only echoed a pant from her gaping mouth. Each swing of her arms only further aroused the chaotic heartbeat inside her chest, her mind racing through so many different conflicting and confusing thoughts at once, she could hardly even begin to concentrate on anything else but running.
Except for one thing. A name.
Bronya!
The fire burned at the very edges of her vision, the sounds of crackling wood and burning metal like screechings within her ears. It was deafening, the very vibrations alone enough to make anyone tremble in their steps.
But not Mei, for the woman did not register any of it, her mind blank and unresponsive to any such stimuli.
Insead, she stood in complete silence, her gaze merely looking down at the burning body of her friend.
She would have screamed, but the thought never came for her to act upon. Nothing did.
For long, impalpable and excruciating seconds, the woman couldn't move, speak, or even so much as feel. All she could do was watch.
She watched as the fire began to creep further into the laces and fabric of the material of the body laid before her, a familiar coat she had seen countless times before, but never like this. She watched as the fire caught onto the strands of silver-hair laid across the pavement, its ends turning to burnt embers as it trailed further along the strands.
Mei watched, as her only and closest friend burned to cinder.
"...ngh…"
A singular noise awoke Mei from her unbroken trance, her eyes suddenly filled with life again.
For just a second, an interminable and invaluable fraction of a moment in time, she could see that very body shift on the ground, the noise undoubtedly coming from her.
And it was all that she needed to crash onto the hard ground, her arms sprung up from beside her towards the burning body as she screamed out the name of her friend.
"BRONYA!"
The moment her hands reached them however, she immediately winced. Her palm instinctively thrusted backwards, the fire so intense that it was enough to burn her skin from just the surface alone.
Still, Mei only hesitated for a moment before she quickly pulled her arms through the sleeves of her outer jacket, the pain already searing through her skin was nothing more than a distant hum in the back of her mind as she did so.
Flinging the now freed jacket over her arms, she grabbed its hem and in one swift motion, swung it down onto the fire before her. The heat was intense, nearly causing her to scream in agony as some of it struck at her neck and face, but she pressed on, until the jacket fully covered Bronya's form, snuffing the raging inferno in its wake.
With the fire gone, Mei didn't waste another moment, reaching her burnt hand over to the girl's face, grazing her cheek in a shaky, erratic display of panic.
"Bronya! Bronya! Bronya!" She called out to her, the name lingering on her tongue every time as she shook the girl's shoulder. The heat from Bronya's cheek was unbearable, the fire already done a number on what was once clean and smooth skin, now ripped and seared in such a grotesque fashion that only served to plunge Mei's heart into the depths of pure terror.
She continued calling for her friend, the sound of her voice quickly becoming just another on-going noise in this cacophony of sounds that surrounded her. Her hand clenched and unclenched Bronya's shoulder, her trembling wide purple eyes darting from top to bottom to look for anything she could do. Anything she can do.
A part of her mind already knew the answer to that puzzle, but she didn't care.
Her friend was whimpering, the noise so drowned out by everything around them and Mei's own voice that it was practically impossible to tell, but Mei can. She can tell.
And that alone was all she needed to keep screaming, to keep latching onto her for all that she could muster herself to do. The only thing she could do.
It was only until a familiar voice, trembling and utterly scared in its tone, that finally pulled her mind and eyes away from her friend's half burnt body, to a young girl standing in shock a few steps from her.
"M-Mei?" Carole whimpered, hands covering her mouth as she stared at the body right behind Mei. "W-what is-?"
Mei registered the girl's presence for a moment, before she lifted herself up slightly, still sitting beside her friend as she shouted towards the horrified girl. "Please call an ambulance! Now!"
The young girl practically jumped in place, her arms shook on either side as she finally looked towards Mei's direction instead of the body. "I-I…" She muttered, barely finding the resolve to even string up any words to say.
"CAROLE!"
The woman calling her name finally snapped her out of it, her previously trembling eyes now settling into a fearful, yet somehow stabler state.
"PLEASE!" Mei begged for her to listen, straining her voice further to be audible amongst the fire that was screeching right next to her.
"O-O-oOOkay! I will!"
Finally, the girl replied, clumsily taking the phone from her pocket as she tried desperately to call for help. Mei snapped her head back to Bronya now that she got the girl to do so, lifting the girl's body up into her arms as she wrapped herself tightly against her, holding her head firmly as she cradled her friend.
Her arms were shaking. Her palms were so thoroughly darkened and shaking that each movement sent waves of agony flushing through her nerve-ending. She wanted to scream into empty air, the agony proving to only worsen as she felt the heat from the girl's burnt clothes clinging into her, the jacket providing little protection from that very heat.
But Mei didn't care, her head lowered to meet Bronya's forehead as she continued to whimper Bronya's name, over and over again. As if merely repeating it enough times would magically rouse them back to the waking world.
When it didn't work, Mei only found herself drowning further into her delirious state, no longer capable of registering anything else but her dying friend in her arms, and the smell of burnt skin clogging her nose until it was all she could scent.
She didn't even register when a familiar blond-haired woman stumbled frantically into the crowd, her bright blue eyes wide open at the horrible sight before her.
How it only took that same woman a moment to recompose herself, her arms flung to her side as she shouted to the on-looking people surrounding the burning house, the voices of many others beginning to join her as well.
None of it mattered to Mei, her ears all but drowned by a singular sound, intermingled with the near inaudible choked breath of the girl she owed her life to. The very girl she had…
"Bronya….Bronya…"
Her mind didn't finish that thought. It couldn't think anymore.
All it could do was repeat that name, until it was all it knew how to do.
It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive after Carole had managed to reach them. WIth the girl's help, the paramedics were able to quickly secure and carry the two injured girls into the car, right before the police and the fire department responded to Durandal's emergency call.
Just before the ambulance was about to carry the two girls away, Durandal caught a glimpse of Mei, who still clung tightly onto Bronya even when the paramedics tried to pry her off the unconscious girl as carefully and softly as possible. In the end, they just had to accept that she wouldn't budge, before rolling the car away from the neighborhood.
WIth the help of the firefighters, the fire was quickly put out, the scene being observed and properly guarded by the newly arrived officers as they secured the perimeter and assessed the situation from one of the commanding officers of Division 5 that was already there when the fire broke out, Durandal Kaslana.
After giving the full details of what had occurred to the others, Durandal along with her division members were requested to return to the station asap, a direct order from their Head Chief.
Knowing there was no way she could simply ignore such an order, Durandal headed back to the station along with Rita. The rest of her crew however went on their own, with Kira being the last to receive the news, much to the girl's dismay.
After returning to the station, Durandal didn't waste any time heading towards the Chief's personal office, with Rita following her closely.
The Kaslana took one long look around the place, the station seeming a bit more chaotic than usual, with people walking to and from desk to desk. She didn't need to make a guess on why.
Nonetheless, the woman tore her gaze away from the chaotic surroundings and towards the metal door, its glasspanes etched in its frame too blurry for her to really see anything inside. Even so, she doubted that it would be a very pleasant conversation with him.
So with a sigh, she craned her head back to Rita, who was standing right behind her, ready to go alongside her. Her face seemed as composed as ever, but she could still make out the sharp edges at the corner of her eyes, the way she ever so consciously nibbled her lower lips occasionally. Her partner was very good at keeping appearances, but it was clear to Durandal that the events of this morning were very much heavy on her mind.
She found some relief in that, knowing they felt the same way.
"…Rita," she called out to her partner, her voice steady. She needed to be the calmer one of the two right now for Rita's sake. "Please stay outside for this one, alright?"
The woman's eyes widened at the sudden request, her lips parting as if to protest.
"This is between me and him. No one else," Durandal didn't give the poor woman time to say anything back, however, simply flashing her a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, don't worry."
"...Okay," Rita softly muttered, seeming to accept that nothing she said was going to change Duranda's stance. She had known the Kaslana long enough to know this, something which the girl herself didn't mind at all, and had grown to appreciate the consideration Rita gave her. "Then I'll be waiting nearby. Please call upon me once you're done, Lady Durandal."
"I will, thank you," Durandal nodded to the woman's words, before turning back to face the door. With a sharp inhale, she pushed the handle, the frame shifting to reveal the interior inside.
It was a small modest room, a single window-still sitting at the very back of the compact area. Small picture frames hung across the walls, framing the myriad of certificates and pictures Durandal only gave a brief glance over —unable to truly discern what they were about— before focusing her attention onto the man standing beside the window, his back turned against her.
He stood behind the small desk, his arms folded behind his back. He barely moved, almost like he didn't even register the sound of the door opening, nor the bustling noises from behind the girl.
"Close the door," he simply ordered, his voice unusually calm.
Durandal obliged in silence, shutting the door as gently as she could before she walked closer to his desk, arms by her side.
"You requested for me, sir?" she voiced, her posture as rigid and proper as if she just returned to being a novice officer all those years ago. It was almost by instinct at this point, something she at one point valued and strove to get it right down to the minute details, like it was the only thing she could find any semblance of pride within herself for.
Now though, she found it to just be uncomfortable.
"…Explain," the man uttered, confusing Durandal slightly with the vagueness of his words.
"Explain?"
"The fire. You were at the fire, were you not?"
His equally short elaboration did help to settle the slight confusion, but it only raised another question within her. Why would he need her to explain such a thing, if he likely already got a report of it by now?
Nonetheless, the girl heaved a quiet sigh, her shoulders drooping slightly as she began to narrate the events from memory to him.
"The explosion occurred around 6:30 this morning. I was nearby the area at the time, so I quickly headed over to assess the situation. Fortunately, most of the people inside the neighborhood had already evacuated away from the building that was the source of the explosion, with only two people being injured from the fire. I then–"
"That's not what I'm asking," he simply corrected her, his voice raised a bit more than before, a roughness to it that she had grown familiar with over the past month she had spent working under him. "I was asking why you were there."
"I'm…sorry?" Durandal uttered, the confusion evident in her voice as she tilted her head slightly to the side.
"You weren't supposed to be there," he finally turned to face her, his aged expression seeming even older with the visible scowl plastered on his face. "Your area of patrol that I assigned you to wasn't anywhere near there, so I am asking you, how is it that you were the first one to arrive there? Our station only got the call of that fire nearly ten minutes after you arrived at the scene."
"Is that…really important to answer right now, sir?" The girl asked, barely hiding the sheer bafflement that was flowing through her mind right now. The man didn't seem to take that question all too well however, his scowl now etching further into his skin as he slammed his palms onto the desk with a resounding thud.
"You disobeyed a direct order from your commanding chief officer, Kaslana. Something you have repeatedly done, again and again might I add. And you dare ask me if that isn't important?! What the hell were you even doing down there anyways?!"
Durandal could only stand in silence, her face a veil of utter calm amidst his verbal shouting.
Was that really all this man could think about, above all else?
She posed that question in her mind, before quickly imagining herself shaking her head towards it.
No, that wasn't right. Of course he could only focus on that. He had no context to anything she was doing, and only reacted upon the limited information she had allowed herself to present to him. Information that was clearly too conflicting for one to take kindly to. Not to mention that he was taking direct orders from the people above his station and power with no right to refuse or even to ask why, it was all that he could focus on.
It didn't change the fact that Durandal's knuckles tightened beside her hips, the anger brewing underneath the deceptive veil of composure she was holding on tightly for the sake of her mission.
Suddenly, the man's voice dropped to a low grumble, his face stretched into a surprised expression. The change brought Durandal's attention back to him, wondering just what made him look like that.
It was then that she recalled the last words she heard him say before she began to zone out, and she immediately understood why he had that look.
"Don't tell me…it's that missing person's case isn't it? That's why you were there weren't you?"
Durandal didn't reply. She didn't need to. Her silence was all the confirmation the man needed as he twisted in place, a loud scoff echoing from his lips as he seemed almost overwhelmed by a silent answer that was as good as yes to him.
"For god's sake, didn't I tell you to drop that damn case already?! Why the hell are you so fixated on it anyways? Is it just because it's another Kaslana like you? Is that it?!"
"Sir–"
"Do NOT talk back to me, Durandal Kaslana!"
He shouted, slamming his palm onto his desk as he glared fiery red daggers at her. That was enough to immediately shut her up, the anger she witnessed in his eyes seeming far more intense than she expected. She could understand that he would be frustrated at her, but this rage…was it really worth that much to stress over?
"Let me guess, those two girls, one of them is already in the ER as we speak, is the one you're looking for, right? The graaand culprit behind the missing case?"
Not a single answer was uttered by the girl, eliciting a grunt that sounded like he was almost trying to laugh off the absurdity of the situation he had found himself in.
"Fuck…I'm right, aren't I? You actually believe that one of them is the one? Are you kidding me right now?! We have two, TWO, people in the hospital over this and you somehow are still thinking about that?!"
She gritted her teeth, her palm forming fists. The hypocrisy of his words was getting so unbearable now. The man didn't seem to notice, or perhaps he just didn't care, merely letting out a tired scoff as he slumped onto his chair with a slide, his back firmly leaning onto the spine of it as he tapped his fingers on the hard surface of the desk.
"When I found out you were investigating this case, I didn't tell you off at first. It was fine, I told myself, so long as it didn't get out of hand. And now, time and again have I told you to stop, and you still wouldn't listen. And now look at the shit you are in…" He said, seeming so very tired from the way his throat was barely managing to utter those words.
"...But it doesn't make sense," Durandal finally spoke up, unable to take the frustration building up within her chest as she placed a firm palm against it. She couldn't tell him everything she knew, but she at least had to get something off her aching heart. Her other hand planted firmly onto his desk, right next to his hand as she leaned closer to him, scouring his face for any signs of acknowledgement from his hardened gaze. "The case being rendered a runaway just doesn't make sense. None of the information we have on her adds up, and most of all, there weren't even any apparent reasons for her disappearance? Why would someone like that just decide to run away?"
"You think I don't know that?"
Those simple words from the man were enough to shock Durandal into silence, her frozen blue eyes fixed onto his tired expression, now looking straight at her as he leaned up from his chair.
The man huffed, an action born not of malice or aggression, but helplessness to his situation, and at his own inability to do anything else. His head hung low as he buried his face into his palm, a hoarseness to his voice far different from what he sounded before began to echo through his lips, one filled with palpable regret and shame.
"Of course it doesn't make a lick of sense. That girl…she had no one. No parents, no siblings, only herself to tend to in a house far too large for one person. A girl like that had no reason to run away from home. No, the most probable answer would have been that she…"
He held his tongue, his lips quivering, not daring to finish that train of thought.
Durandal gripped her fingers tighter, fully understanding what he was going to say. It's not like the thought itself had never crossed her mind all this time, whenever she was at her lowest points mentally. Even now, that forbidden and haunting thought still held strong at the back of her head, always a possibility even when she didn't want to admit it.
The thought being that her little sister had killed herself because of how utterly alone she must have felt.
Durandal quickly shut her eyes, giving her head a violent shake, pushing those thoughts out of her mind. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of that, not when there was more hope than ever that such a thing wouldn't and won't happen. Not to her little sister.
The man seemed to share the same thought as her, clicking his tongue as if to banish those lingering words away for good, before lifting his head back up to face Durandal.
"Regardless, I tried looking into it on my own. But before I even got around to it, the case was immediately deemed as a runaway case and was put away. When I found out who decided that, it was from one of the official workings for the city's government. No matter what I said or did, no matter how hard I tried to convince them to see reason, they refused, and the case remains this way till now."
As she processed those words, the girl had already begun to form an answer to the man's confusion.
Sirin…
It was her sister's doing, in an attempt to prevent the kidnapper from being on-guard and to continue settling inside this city. The girl had enough power over this city to even pull something like that.
Durandal wanted to tell him, to explain to him why things are the way they are. But she couldn't, a simple thought that made her bite her lower lips in frustration.
She hated keeping secrets.
"I thought…that if I just let a Kaslana like you roam around and start digging yourself, intentionally feigning ignorance over your actions, you'll find something out. But you kept getting bolder, and it didn't take long before they began to notice. And now, with this and you just so happen to be around it? It doesn't take a very bright mind to connect the dots."
"...Sir…"
"Just tell me," he said, looking at her almost pleadingly. "If one of those two girls really are the culprit you're looking for, can you give me proof of it? Something undeniably and unquestionably real and tangible, enough to convince even them?"
"I…"
The words died in her throat the moment she attempted to speak, her eyes breaking away from the man. She couldn't find the will to look at those pleading eyes anymore, not when she truly did not have anything to give. Even if her heart was sure of it, she had no real proof. Not yet. Not when the only people who could give that proof was in the hospital away from all of this.
Instead, she could only keep her silence. A silence that was instinctively understood by the man, who withdrew his gaze as well with a heavy sigh.
For a short time, the two simply basked in that mutually agreed silence, neither wanting to break it. It was comforting, almost, that for the two of them who had been at odds with each other for so long now –realizing that they were always on the same page since the beginning– was finally allowed a moment together, shared in peace.
At least, it was for a little while.
"You're being transferred back to Arc City. Tomorrow."
The man's sudden announcement of her departure made whatever comfort she found in that brief silence all but gone, the meaning of those words sending a ripple through her mind.
It took several long seconds before she could finally part her lips to utter a singular word, yet it was more than enough to express the sheer shock that was coursing through her veins.
"What?"
"It wasn't from me, if that's what you're thinking," he explained, letting his arms fall onto the armrest as he slowly turned his chair away from Durandal. "Your family requested for your immediate transfer."
"My…family?"
The words died in her throat the moment she spoke it, her blue eyes trembling slightly.
This wasn't part of the plan. Not at all.
Did Sirin mess up on her end? None of the rest of their family —their household— should have known that she was even here to begin with. And even if they did, they wouldn't care what she was up to, not the ones that mattered anyways.
The only explanation she could think of was her parents, and that thought brought utter dread to her. If her parents knew of her being here, then they likely found out that Kiana was missing as well, which would go against everything her and Sirin was aiming to not let them know.
No, it wasn't Sirin…
She knew her sister well. That incredible girl would never let such a thing befall their parents, not if she can help it. She was simply far too careful and precise to ever let such mishaps like that to happen.
It was most likely that somebody from the higher-ups at their family was able to connect the dots between her and Sirin, and grew curious enough to request for her return to Arc City, where they would easily be able to take her in and question her on what she had been doing.
Of course, being in the force meant she had no choice.
Ironically, their plan hinged on the fact that she was such an unknown factor that nobody would ever account for anything, and yet now, she was starting to become the center of attention.
Durandal couldn't begin to decide whether she should laugh about that, or grimace.
Durandal bit her lips from her lack of carefulness. She knew that this was outside her control, but what else could she do?
Too much. There was still too much left for her to do. Leaving isn't an option to her, but what can she do now to avoid it?
"I suggest you get everything sorted out by the end of today. You'll be leaving first thing in the morning tomorrow," the man only accentuated the inevitability of her departure verbally, echoing a sigh to go along with it. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Durandal…but this wild duck chase of yours needs to end by today."
"Today…"
She repeated in whispers, her hands clenching and unclenching by her sides. She had her head hung low, contemplating on what she should do next.
With no more words spoken between them, the man simply let the silence return, falling back to his chair with deep exhaustion seeping through every part of his body.
Even so, he still found the will to turn his attention back to Durandal, a faintest hint of pity echoing from within his irises.
All the while, the Kaslana simply stood still, her mind continuing to think of what to do now.
How would she make the most of her last dozen hours?
After some time, Durandal exited out of the room, closing the door with an audible click.
She took a moment to let the chaos of the station's atmosphere engulf her, before breathing out a heavy sigh. Her head lowered as she racked her brain on what to do next, only to hear the sound of a familiar woman approaching from beside her.
"Lady Durandal," Rita's voice still felt comforting to hear even now, blue eyes drifting to meet those pink-colored ones.
"Rita…"
The woman walked up to Durandal, a forlorn expression on her face as she lowered her gaze, almost in shame.
"I…heard the news from Alvitr," Rita said, the familiar name made the Kaslana's eyes widened a bit.
"Alvitr? Is she here?"
Rita shook her head at that. "She's still with Sirin, but she was able to deliver us the details from your sister."
"What did she say?"
"She…said that it isn't just you, but our entire division will be called back as well. However, your sister said that she can delay your transfer by at most a day, but any more and it will start to raise alarms. Sadly, that isn't possible for us."
"I…see."
Neither uttered another word, both finding the act itself difficult to do.
Durandal's head shifted to the side, looking downwardly in contemplation. Rita simply casted her gaze to the floor, a rarity for her to do. She had always tried to keep her head straight even in the most precarious of situations, but even she couldn't find the right or proper words to say to her lady.
Nonetheless, the girl mustered her chest to rise, bringing her slightly shaky eyes to look at Durandal.
"What are we going to do?"
"..."
For a moment, the girl's soft blue eyes flashed with uncertainty, a shakiness to it that made Rita's heart clenched. But just as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished, and instead what took its place was a gleam that made Durandal's irises shined with firm resolve as she returned the woman's question with an answer Rita found to be so very fitting for her.
"Whatever we can."
Those words brought a small sense of comfort to Rita, who was relieved to see that her lady still had that spark in her even now. She held her fist against her chest, her head slightly bowed a little forward towards her.
"Of course, Lady Durandal."
"Do you know which hospital those two were taken to?" Durandal asked.
"Of course. Kira was able to gleam their location for us."
"Mmm, then let's head there together."
Rita simply nodded, before the two began heading towards the station's entrance.
All the while, an anxiety began to build up within Durandal's heart, one she hadn't allowed herself to feel until now. And it was all directed towards a certain silver-haired girl, who just hours ago was still sound and breathing.
Bronya…I pray you're okay.
Mei was not okay.
Of course she wasn't. How could anyone be?
Certainly not when her hands and fingers were wrapped in bandages, the dressings carefully laid each digit to prevent any tight constrictions to them, but enough to prevent the burnt skin from being exposed.
Not when she could barely let out a single whisper, her voice broken that each gasp of breath brought prickling pain along her throat.
Not when she laid in a hospital bed, the memory of her unconscious and dying friend laid lifelessly in her arms, their face half singed from the fire that consumed her surroundings no matter how many times she recalled that same memory over and over.
Mei was not okay, and she didn't care to be.
The only thing she could think about was that very memory, replaying through her mind like a broken disc record.
She could hear someone speaking beside her bed, their words mingled with the medical noises and machinery that was placed inside her small room. It was intelligible, utterly garbled voices that didn't make sense nor did she care enough to decipher.
Mei couldn't care. All she wanted, all she needed, was to know one thing and one thing only…
And as if a response to her very desires, Mei's ears finally picked up something truly legible for the first time, her aimless staring at a nearby metal pole planted beside the end of the bed finally broken, their sights settled onto the figure of someone standing beside her.
It was a nurse, her face half covered by a mask as she held a soft look on her. She was carrying a small clipboard in her hand, a pen firmly grasped between her fingers as she spoke to Mei.
"Mrs. Raiden, can you hear me?" she asked, seemingly a repeat of a question that she had echoed for the last minute or so, only this time did it gain any recognition from the violet-haired woman. "I wanted to ask you some questions about Mrs. Zaychik, if you are feeling capable of answering."
"…Bronya?" she voiced, barely audible amongst the reverberation from a nearby AC situated atop the ceiling. Immediately, her throat punished her for it, a stabbing pain spread throughout it that nearly made her wince, only barely holding it back from the fear of hurting herself more than she already did.
"Yes, that's correct," the nurse nodded, seeming relieved to finally get any kind of proper response from her. "I would like to ask you about your relationship with Mrs. Zaychik, and any information you can feel inclined to give. Of course, if you do not feel well enough to do so, I won't push you to answer it."
"…is she okay?" Mei asked, her voice strained as she suppressed a painful cough rising from her lungs. She couldn't move her hands either, each twitch was already agonizing as it was, her limbs laid uselessly on her lap.
The nurse's gaze lowered to the floor, a palpable silence acting as her response. "I…I'm afraid I don't have the proper knowledge or right to answer that, Mrs. Raiden. I'm very sorry."
"Ah…" she could only bring herself to utter, not even a proper response anymore due to the pain.
"…I have heard the report, however," the woman suddenly said, her voice losing that faint sense of professionalism she had carried just a second prior. "About what you did for her; jumping in to snuff out the flames like that. It was very brave of you. I'm sure that Mrs. Zaychik would be grateful to you for that."
"..." she responded with silence, the pain travelling from the burns on her hands numbing any other emotions she could hardly bring herself to feel anymore.
"Was she…someone close to you? A relative perhaps?"
It took some seconds before Mei shook her head slightly.
"Then do you perhaps know of any family members she may have? Is it possible to contact them? I believe they should know what happened to her."
After an even longer delay, Mei shook her head, the movement almost robotic in its response. Her head hung just a bit lower, the slow realization that she really didn't know much about her only friend's past beginning to sink in for her.
It wasn't that she never asked about it either. Rather, Bronya had always found some way to subtly avoid answering her questions, always with some kind of convenient excuse to turn the topic to something else.
Eventually, Mei stopped asking altogether, accepting that if it was something the girl genuinely didn't want to be reminded of, then she had no right to pry. Especially not as her friend.
And yet…Mei can't help but feel unending regret over her decision in her current state. Regret that she didn't at least keep trying.
Her friend was an enigma to her, a past so thoroughly buried and hidden away that even now, she had never come close to scratching the very depths of it.
It was like a gaping wound sewed shut, unable, or perhaps unwilling, to ever be let heal. Forever bleeding through from time to time, yet never enough for the girl to just admit it.
And now she might never get the chance to.
Mei's head sunk even lower, wanting nothing more than to bury her face into the blanket, wishing that she could just disappear for just a moment. A single second from this reality she found herself in was all that she asked for.
Yet asking was all she could do, her throat far too damaged to even voice it as anything but choked gasps of painful breathing.
"I see…" the nurse uttered, lowering her clipboard to her side. "I'm very sorry for bothering you then, Mrs. Raiden. I'll be taking my leave now."
She turned her heel towards the door, but not before giving one last good look over Mei's form.
"Your burns were thankfully mild, only sustained on your hands and some parts of your neck. You should be able to move your hands somewhat properly again after a day or two, but I very much suggest that you take a week in the hospital to recover."
She opened the door, the small opening leaving a scene of staff members walking back and forth just outside Mei's room.
"Goodbye, Mrs. Raiden."
With that, the nurse promptly left, leaving the silent girl to mull over her thoughts, the only company she had left beside the ever present humming of the AC and the occasional beep of machinery next to her bedside.
Mei sat in utter stillness, her head hung forever low as she slowly and carefully pressed her fingers deeper into the blanket, visible indents creasing beneath the soft surface. She could feel the tips of her fingernails slowly pushing through the frantic and onto her thighs, the slight sting of pain was just enough to keep her aware of her surroundings, her mind alert.
Bronya…
Her thoughts swarm with the image of her friend, each memory only growing more painful than the last.
She didn't understand. Why was Bronya there?
It wasn't supposed to go this way. She wasn't supposed to be caught…no one was…
The mails…she read the mails.
It was the last thing Bronya had told her about right before the explosion, the fact that she accidentally read through her mails and found the address to that place.
It didn't take long before Mei came to the realization that such an accidental discovery was incredibly implausible, unless…
She was looking for it. Intentionally.
But why? Why would Bronya do this?
What was she even searching for? Why did she even come to that place? And why…
Why was Durandal also there?
Mei couldn't answer, her mind far too tired to even try. So she simply held her gaze down onto the bed, indigo irises barely flickered with life.
The only thing she could do was repeat the question in her head, again and again, until it was all she could hear in her head.
"Third-degree burns on her neck and half her face, with second-degree burns scattered throughout exposed parts of her body. Her clothes were able to shield her from most of the blast, but it still seared her skin in some areas through it," the voice of a woman echoed rhythmically through the hallway towards the two police officers standing beside her, their eyes trained on her with bated breaths.
"...Is she alive?" One of them asked, their strawberry-blond hair stuck out amongst the myriad of nurses and doctors along with staff members rushing through the busy hall. Their question was answered with silence, but then a short nod.
"Thankfully, the explosion didn't engulf the girl, instead pushed her back; likely from the force of the spark that caused the ignition of the gas within the house. The fire that covered her was also snuffed out in a relatively short time frame from the explosion, so the flames didn't have time to fully cover her, so it never got through her clothes. But yes, she's alive, at least for now."
That earned a soft sigh from the blonde, seeming relieved by the news. But the woman can still tell the tension in her shoulders hadn't relaxed, and so she continued.
"The doctors are still currently treating her. They're trying to graft new skin onto the areas where it's beyond saving. Her condition may fluctuate during it, but for now, it is a miracle that she is still breathing."
"I see," the officer simply said, before she turned her gaze over the door behind them. The door that led to the room where that very girl was currently being operated on.
Miracle….no, it wasn't a miracle.
The officer, Durandal, thought to herself, her lips thinned in its realization. Her partner beside her noted the girl's expression, glancing passively over to the Kaslana.
It wasn't a miracle that Bronya survived. Of course it wasn't. If Mei hadn't been there any sooner than she did, the girl would have been burnt to a crisp at that point.
If she hadn't saved Bronya's life right then and there, while Durandal herself was still too busy running in confusion on what's happening, the girl would have died. And yet…
The irony of this situation couldn't have been any more apparent to Durandal, who could only clenched her hand into a fist as she trained her gaze down on the floor.
Had there been any inkling of doubt left in Durandal's mind before this, then it had been utterly shattered by now.
But even so…even when she was the one that was the root cause of the explosion, the one that planned for it all to go down this way, to force Durandal and herself into a standstill where the Kaslana simply had no choice but to just react to the situation at hand, unable to properly focus on the woman before it simply became too late…
Even she didn't expect the outcome would be this.
That look in her eyes when Durandal finally came face to face with what had happened, spotting the motionless Bronya cradled in her arms. They weren't the looks of someone whose plans went without a hitch, nor the look of someone faking their emotions.
They were a look of utter disbelief, of anguish, of pain and loss. The woman truly didn't expect her friend to be there, that she would so brazenly walk up the house to knock on the door, to be the one to receive the full punishment of this tug-of-war between her and Durandal.
And the two of them had nearly paid the price with Bronya's life.
She bit her lower lip in utter frustration, a tinge of hatred burning in her heart. But it was not directed at Mei, nor anyone else. It was to herself.
She had let this happen. She had foolishly allowed Bronya to get too involved, to throw her right into the lion's den for her own desperate need to "win", and in the end, she would have gotten her killed had things just gone a little different.
How foolish was I…
She shouldn't have ever let things escalate this far. This chase had always been between the two of them, not Bronya's. And yet, because of her own personal needs and urgency, she had wrought untold pain onto the one girl who didn't deserve any of it.
And deep down…she knew Mei felt the same.
"…What about the other girl?" Durandal suddenly perked from the side, catching the nurse by surprise from her question. "Raiden Mei, is she awake?"
The nurse took a moment to compose herself, straightening her posture ever so slightly. Quickly however, as the question began to sank in, she lowered her gaze a bit, the uncertainty of her voice so clear from her answer:
"She is, but she's unresponsive to most attempts at communication. I'm unsure if right now would be a good time to talk to her."
"I see…but will you let us see her?"
"...Very well," she said, echoing a barely audible sigh as she turned away from them, her footsteps echoing with each clack of her shoes on the white tiled floor. "Please follow me."
Durandal gently turned her neck to the side, giving Rita a soft look, to which the woman simply nodded.
The two promptly the nurse, walking side by side. For just a moment, Durandal glanced behind her shoulders, eyes peering for the shining light above the doorway to Bronya's room.
Her gaze softened at that, before tearing it away again to face the hallway in front of her.
"I'll give you all some privacy," the nurse softly said, twisting the handle as she opened the door into Mei's room. "But please understand that Mrs. Raiden's condition prevents her from proper verbal communication, so please refrain from asking her too many questions."
Durandal nodded to the woman's request. "I will. Thank you."
She gave the two of them a second long look before closing her eyes, her head dipping lower a bit as she allowed the two to enter the room, before promptly closing it shut behind them.
Immediately, Durandal frowned, taking a good long look at the woman sitting upright on the single bed in this compact room.
Her arms were limped beside her, her bandaged hands resting on what seemed to be her legs slightly visible below the thin blanket. Her purple hair laid messily behind her, some parts of it seemed darker than the rest, perhaps from the remnants of dirt clinging onto her strands.
But what was most damning was the girl's expression, or lack thereof. She was completely emotionless, her eyes stuck in a wide-eyed stare as she simply kept her head downcasted, staring at seemingly nothing.
The woman didn't seem like she even registered Durandal or Rita, merely keeping it to herself as the Kaslana watched in contemplative silence.
"…"
Durandal found it difficult to think of what to say, all the more so with how lifeless the woman's appearance was. Even so, she took a deep breath, her legs lightly kicking up again as she moved slowly and gently towards the near-catatonic woman.
"Mrs. Raiden?" she called out to Mei, earning no response she could discern. This didn't dissuade her however, who continued to step even closer until she reached the side of Mei's bed. "I…need to tell you something."
With her shoulders properly tensed, Durandal bored her head low to Mei, receding a look of utter shock from Rita behind her.
Mei however, didn't seem to react to that gesture.
"I'm sorry."
Until she heard those words, her previously frozen expression shifted ever so slightly to that of faint surprise. Slowly, painfully, she craned her neck to the side to properly stare at Durandal's arched posture, her head bowed before her.
"It was my fault that your friend got involved in this. It was my own doing that led to such a terrible event to happen. I'm sorry."
Rita opened her mouth slightly as if to say something, but a moment later, she closed them. Her gaze softened from the shock, settling into what was akin to sadness.
After all, she understood her lady the best. This was just like her in every way.
"…why?"
The word barely passed through Mei's gaping lips, her voice strained beyond belief. It took every ounce of will in Durandal's body not to flinch slightly from the exhaustion emanating from that question, still keeping her head down.
"…Because I was desperate," she answered, an honesty to her words that strangely enough, brought some sense of relief to her heart. For once, she didn't have to hide how she truly felt.
"…"
For the first time in the past few hours, Mei broke away from the wide-eyed stare she had kept all this time, and settled into something a bit more natural. Slowly, she turned her head away from Durandal, a slow sigh heaved from her lungs as she let her shoulders relaxed.
"It's okay," she voiced, an answer that seemed to surprise Durandal as she arched her back up to Mei. "I'm desperate too…"
"...Too?" Durandal repeated, confused by what that could mean. She received no further explanation from the exhausted woman however, her body falling backwards as she softly landed into the embrace of her medical bed.
"I'll…rest a little," she uttered, closing her eyes as she seemed to shudder slightly from the comforting sensation. "Please…let me rest."
"…Of course," Durandal found it only right to say, straightening herself back up as she backed away from the now resting woman.
She turned towards Rita, who simply closed her eyes as she made her way over to the door, gently craning it open as she stepped one foot outside the door.
"…We'll be waiting for you if you wish to talk to us," Durdanal said behind the door, her eyes peering into Mei laying on her bed one last time before she began closing the door. "Rest well, Mrs. Raiden."
Finally, the entire room fell into silence, only accompanied by the ever present humming of the AC and soft machinery noises echoing beside her bed.
Mei laid quietly on the soft mattress, her form unmoving as she simply allowed herself to sink deeper into the embrace. Yet, as much as her body was being covered by such warmth and gentle invitation to let herself drift to sleep, her mind simply could not.
So it was you…
It all made sense to her now. The oddities in her friend's behavior recently, the unexpected encounter between her and Durandal, and now this.
She had gained the answer right from the woman's mouth, and now she laid there, unsure if her friend was even alive at this point.
Her friend, who was blown up by an explosion she…
Mei didn't finish that train of thought.
It was because of her.
Her mind drifted back to only Durandal, the Kaslana being all that she could see in the darkness of her own vision.
It was her fault that Bronya got dragged into this. She said it herself.
Had her friend not been there, no one would have been hurt. Had her friend was never dragged into this entire fiasco because of her, Bronya wouldn't be burnt, she wouldn't have to suffer from god knows what kind of pain she is going through.
The thought that she might not even be alive right now made her hands twitch, slowly circling within itself as she clutched the thin blanket fabric for support. She could still feel her fingers, even if it took a while to move it. No matter, her body likely would get better by the end of today.
Mei had tried.
She had tried to do whatever she could to prevent the absolute worst from happening. And yet, even when she did, even when she had resolved herself to not fall into such paranoia again, someone still got hurt. Someone important to her.
Bronya, her friend, the only friend she truly had. Her body encased in an inferno embrace that nearly took her life, took away the person that saved her life. A girl so thoroughly hurt by her, and for that…
I'm going to kill her.
AN: Well things are certainly taking quite a turn now, aren't they?
Hello again, and what do you know, I managed to just barely get this done a little over a month. Definitely a rough month it was, but I'm glad I got through it. Chapter 1 Rewrite would also be uploaded roughly at the same time as this chapter as well, so once you finish this, please do go back and read Chapter 1 again! I'm certain you'd find some very noteworthy changes and additions that would be very fun to look back on later on :)
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Surprisingly, this one didn't suffer too many rewrites as the previous, which is absolutely a good thing for my psyche heh. Durandal is now also on a very in-universe time-limit, which means that the stakes are now just slightly higher than it already is, but hey, that's gonna be interesting to see where she's gonna go from here. As for Mei…girl is going through it, but let's see how far she's going to go now to achieve her goals.
And similarly like always, I'd love to hear you all thoughts for this one! Chapter 16 is going to be special as it's going to be one dedicated to a single character that hopefully, I have made you all interested in seeing. The next chapter will likely explore a bit more of her, and give some needed clarity to her.
But anyhow, that's it from me. Go read Chapter 1 Rewrite if you haven't! I won't erase the old chapter though, as I'll create an old archive for it just to preserve the original chapters once I go through all of them. But that's about it, I'll see y'all in the next chapter!
P.S: Arcane season 2 was pretty darn good, and its songs have given me plenty of inspiration for stuff to write, so pretty grateful for that heh.
