#almondcookie

You were both in a dark alley. The only noise that you were able to hear was water falling in puddles from the roofs of houses. The blue lamps illuminated the dark alley with dark blue light, and made the now grey brick walls show up. There were wood signs pointing to different directions from the lamps. The darkness made it impossible to read what the signs said. Through the noises of water dropping, you heard Almond’s shoes hitting the stone tile path. He hasn’t said a word since you entered the alley, and you understood why. There was a criminal on the loose, and you two had been assigned to catch the bastard. 

You quickened your steps to make it next to the other detective. Even though you weren’t scared of the dark alley, you didn’t want to walk behind Almond. It was safer to stay together. Your gaze wandered off to him. He looked calm and collected like every time you had worked with him. In fact you were with him in every case, since he was your working partner. 

You wanted to start a conversation with Almond, to ease the tense environment, but you knew that he wouldn’t like that. He wasn’t one to talk a lot while on serious cases like this. For him it was more important to stay quiet, so it was easier to hear the smallest noises of any movement near you two. 

As you kept walking further in the quiet alley, the environment got even more tense. While you were in your thoughts to calm your mind, Almond seemed to have spotted something. He didn’t say anything, but quite harshly elbowed you on your upper arm to indicate to you that the foe was around the corner. You let out a little ‘huh-’ before turning your head to the direction Almond was looking at. Before the person started to run back where they had come from, you were able to see what they were wearing. Due to the darkness you only saw the outline of the criminal, but you could see a long coat with a collar and a hat with a long brim that made a pitch black shadow that covered the foe’s face completely. “This’ll be quick. After them!” Almond stated, and without another word he started to run after the foe, with his cape flinging behind him. The alley seemed to be a circle, or that's what it at least looked like. You decided to be sly and go the other way, so that if Almond didn’t catch the criminal, you’d meet them halfway, and catch them! 

You headed to the next alley, and ran as fast as you could. There were no sounds or noises around you, just your steps on the hard stone tiles. Soon you stopped since the alley you were running in came to an end, and turned to the left. Being alone you didn’t want to risk going any further. You had started to feel like this wasn’t a circle since you had run so far already.

 As you were about to turn around and go back to where you and Almond had been separated, someone ran behind you and stabbed you on your shoulder with something sharp. You let out a hissy scream, and collapsed on to your knees. The shadowy person didn’t let out a sound, but they seemed to be out of breath from running. This indicated that the person who had stabbed you was the criminal Almond had ran after. They hit your back with the back of the item they had stabbed you with a couple times to make you collapse fully. Then the criminal lurking under the flowy clothing in the shadows seemed to hear the steps of Almond, and started to take off. You tried to get up even though the pain, that was going around your whole body, but it was no use. You hissed in pain again, and with your non hurt arm tried to see how much you were bleeding. With the dim light from the blue lanterns hanging on top of you, you saw how your hand was covered in wine red blood. The stone tiles under your knees were all painted red as well. Even though the panicked attack, the foe seemed to have hit you in a critical spot.

While your shoulder was flowing down blood, you tried to support your upper body up with your free arm. With your body shaking  you tried to call for almond, not knowing how far he was. “Almond!” You hissed in pain. Before you knew it, you heard the steps of your partner. He came from behind the corner that was near you, and then ran next to you, kneeling down. “Let’s stay calm. What happened..” He tried to calm you down, also trying to stay calm himself. He wasn’t the type to get shocked easily. He had thick skin, and that is why he was a detective, he was made for this job. But seeing you, his partner hurt, was challenging him. “ah...They got me when I turned around..” You grind your teeth together, to maybe ease the pain a little. “They ran that way..” You nodded in the direction. “As if I'd still go after them..” He murmured, and moved you against the wall to rest. “We need to find a healer for this..” Almond said when he had seen the amount of blood you had already lost. He furrowed his brows when he saw the amount of pain you were in. Clutching your other hand in a fist and grinding your teeth as the waves of pain hit you every other second. “And we need to find one quick.” The detective stated firmly, as he carefully lifted you up from the tiles. “Does this hurt too much?” He asked as he took a few steps. You barely shook your head, as you were starting to lose consciousness. When you started to get limp in his arms, he started to quicken his steps, to get out of the alley as soon as possible.

Through the tile and brick alleys you had walked together in, he carried you through with worry on his face. Because he was alone, he let this show through freely. He was still out of breath after running behind the now lost criminal, but even though that he kept walking forward. The dim blue light guided the way back from the alley. He set you down in the car, not caring if the shiny clean seats got stains from the blood. As he was starting the car, his mind was filled with the worst case scenarios. When the car finally started, he wiped his forehead and quickly drove to Herb's house. 

He quickly parked the car, and took you in his arms once more. Herb was thankfully in the front yard, watering his flowers so he saw you two quickly. “Oh gosh, come in quick!” He exclaimed without a question. The sight of you unconscious in Almond’s arms said enough. The two of them hurried in the house, and Almond set you on the couch. The detective himself moved to the kitchen, since he didn’t dare to keep looking at the sight of you unconscious. He had never seen you so emotionless, and it wasn’t something he had ever even wanted to see. 

Herb started to slowly heal your arm, and then the bruises on your back. The wound on your shoulder started to heal, and close up. The bruises on your back were easier to heal up, since they weren’t anything serious. Herb looked at you sadly as he walked up to Almond in the kitchen. He didn’t want to ask what had happened since the poor detective already looked harsh enough. “Do you want a coffee?” Herb offered kindly. Almond only nodded, looking towards the couch you were laying on. Herb sighed as he saw how saddened Almond seemed to be. After that he went to brew coffee for Almond and some tea for him. 

Herb had been able to start some kind of a conversation with Almond to get his mind off of you, and it was going well so far. Almond wasn’t talking all too much, but still clearly listening to what Herb was talking about. 

You stirred a little, and opened your eyes slowly. The pain was mostly gone, and only a headache was left behind. You sat up and lifted an arm on your head. “Where am I…” You muttered, as you started to look around. There were a lot of flowers in pots all around the living room, and large windows that showed a big garden with more flowers. Those were the only major notes you were able to make before Almond had spotted that you were awake. Suddenly what Herb was telling him about his flowers didn’t matter at all, all he cared about was how you were doing. He rushed to your side and kneeled down a little. “Are you feeling any better?” The detective asked. “Surely better, my head just hurts like hell. Other than that I'm good. If I may ask, where are we?” You moved your gaze to your partner. “At Herb’s house. He was the first person I could think of when I had to think of a healer for you…” Almond said as the worry that had been on his face started to fade away. “Shall we get going. I’ll drive you home and then make the report for today myself. You don’t have to do that anymore.” Almond stated and offered his hand to you. You took it and stood up. As you two started to walk towards the door you wobbled a little. Almond noticed this and took a hold of you. “I’ll walk you to the car.” He stated, and did that. When he closed the car door, Herb walked towards the car. “Are they doing better?” He asked while tilting his head. Almond opened the driver's side’s door and before sitting down replied. “Much better, thanks to you.” Herb smiled, “Any time.” 

Almond started the car and started to drive towards your house. “I’m sorry for messing up, they were in front of me and I did nothing..” You muttered, while looking at your hands. Almond huffed. “None of this should you be sorry about. They got away this time but we'll catch them.” He replied as he pulled up to your house. “You go and rest now, I'll come and pick you up tomorrow. And don’t worry about the report.” He said. You only nodded at his kindness towards you and got out of the car. Almond made sure you made it in your house, before he started to drive away.