#evan mann

“So! Who’s our vic? A poor butler? A poor maid? A noble lady who heard too much? Maybe…” You lean in, voice dropping to an unnecessary whisper, “Maybe a member of the special forces caught in the middle of a secret mission!?” Your theories just get worse and worse as your colleagues and the members of the Crime Scene Investigation stare at you with confusion and disgust.

The self-appointed nickname “Best detective of the 63rd!” (thougth your coworkers and subordinates would like to disagree) was achieved via the blackmail you obtained of the Captain of the 63rd precinct in a steamy affair while consuming very much illegal substances.

After being confronted by the harsh truth of his crimes, you managed to manipulate him into giving you quite the good position, Sergeant! You’re still proud of your tactics and intelligence, otherwise you’d still be stuck in a miserable dead end 9-5, and now you’re joyfully stuck in a 7-9 exciting dead end job!

Evan sighs a gust of exhausted air next to you, Evan’s been working his ass off for the past 6 years in an attempt to get promoted to sergeant while you managed to snag the position within 30 minutes of blackmail.

“Everyone, out.” He calls out to the room full of police personnel as he turned towards you, eyes heavy with lack of sleep, it was evident he wasn’t able to shave before coming her due to the handsome blonde stubble on his face, he’s wearing his favorite blue hoodie, normal t-shirt underneath with his badge hanging off his neck.

Evan’s eyes lock onto your own excited ones, “No, sergeant, it’s none of that–”

You cut him off, “Never say never, detective! Ya never know the possibilities of crazy murders!” You exclaim as you smile full heartedly towards your partner.

Though all you get in return for your very awesome optimism is a look filled with a profound amount of exhaustion and annoyance. As soon as the last of the Crime Scene Unit cleared out of the room he cleared his throat and reported his findings.

“As I was saying… The victim is Lady Zainab Ahmad, a well-known gossiper among the courts. From close friends of hers, we’ve found the victims of her over zealous gossip sessions are primarily the queen and all who serve her, being the chiefs and her assistants. We’ve narrowed down the list of suspects to 5 people who have attended.”

You whip your head to Evan, confusion spreading all over your face, “5?! How’d you bring it down to that?? There’s hundreds of people out there! Woah… You a mind reader Evan?” Another exasperated sigh left your companion’s lips, his hands cradling his head knowing he’s going to get a migraine soon enough.

“No… No, Sergeant. The way she was stabbed indicates the killer is over 6 feet tall, below 6’7 feet, there are, surprisingly, only 37 people that fit that criteria, but most of those people had never left the ballroom.” You nod along Evan’s words as he explains himself, squatting to the floor, next to the body with tarp draped over it, you note the state of her body after you had lifted the tarp to gather more information for yourself.

“She looks pretty shocked, seems like it was a surprise attack, hm? Still warm, must’ve been recent. No defensive marks at all, Evanny?” 

“Don’t call me that. Yes, we all agree that this must have been a crime of passion, the rest of the drawing room is in tact, so far no DNA gathered other than the victim’s, and the words ‘For the poison of thy mouth, the shadow will claim thy voice. Be still, and be undone.’ are engraved onto the knife. A sentence from the Holy Writ of Sunneva, the chapter “Sita Siteen.” Which warns its believers against the sin of gossip and slander against Sunneva and her subjects.”

You purse your lips, no one is religious anymore, except for of course the Church of Sunnae but those guys are regarded as insane to begin with. It’s been thousands of years since Sunneva’s last “appearance”. Xelera and its people were written to be her children, her oh so benevolent beloved children. No one believes in any of that shit anymore, except for the Shiko, though they weren’t Sunneva’s children to begin with.

No, they had a different Grand Mother, and apparently, their goddess is still active. You don’t doubt that, even during the rare appearance of a Shiko where they end up in the world’s most deadly situation and still come out alive, smiling, and more confident than they were previously. You’ve seen wounds heal themselves on unconscious Shiko, they’re lucky enough. But they usually despise the rest of the natural order of gods.

Some story about the other gods betraying the Grand Mother Goddess. Since then, any and all Shiko visibly get mad at the mere mention of those gods, and barely tolerate us children of such treacherous gods. That much can be seen by two of the most well-known Shiko in the modern world.

Redanis Adonis, self made mafiaso, just looks at every human he sees with disgust. And Siolis Adonis, whom you’re pretty sure no human has ever made them laugh, always monotone and rigid. Both had shown their violence when necessary, when defending one another, and for Siolis’ case, for defending the Queen when it came to it.

Your sat there, thoughts swarming your heads, eyes boring into the floorboards now covered in blood and malice. Across the body, Evan was a rigid, staring at the sight before him, but not on the corpse. 

Rather his eyes are trained on your frame, mind swirling with thoughts of how irritating you are, how you barely deserve the job, but sometimes there would be a moment of clarity in the room. You’ve solved dozens of cases correctly, you’re smart enough to do so. He just hates how much he looks up to you. Though that fact stays between him and… He shouldn’t be thinking of her.

You cleared away the fog of thoughts and conclusions out of your mind, straightening your back and staring at your companion again, hands shoved into the pockets of your waistcoat.

“Hm…  Are Siolis and Red suspects?” 

“Yes, they were present. I had a guard corroborate that she saw Siolis leave for a suspicious amount of time, Red teleported randomly in the middle of the party, he could have killed the vic and then went to the ball. Siolis under law and morality can’t use their magic in the palace, so we can rule that possibility off.” Evan itches at the stubble above his upper lip, eyes trained and droned onto your frame as you once again break contact to remove the tarp completely.

You circled around the victim’s body, “No one moved her, correct?” Evan responded immediately, “Yes, sergeant.” You hum, squatting by her feet, looking at a bare foot. A heel is missing, your eyes slowly shift upwards, studying her appearance. Everything looked pristine, except for the jagged cuts on her dress in her midsection. The stabbing was violent, that much is certain.

Redanis doesn’t dabble in weapons, he prefers to use his fist after one too many encounters with the man you’ve come to know too much about him and Siolis, who was somehow always there when Red got into trouble with you. And Siolis is too elegant and prissy to do something so unorderly. But all of this could be used to throw you off the trail.

You keep them at the top of your list.

“Other suspects?” You called out to Evan, who once again was ready to feed you all the information you required.

“An accomplished scientist here to visit her friend Julie McCanister, Chief of Military Gen Ludenhart and…” He sighs uncharacteristically, “Chief of Police Grim Ludenhart.”

Your head snaps up towards Evan, giving you painful whiplash you had no other choice but to ignore from the sheer shock of the words that left Detective Mann’s mouth, “Chief Grim?! Are you sure???” You almost screech, Chief Grim is the most virtuous and protective man to exist. You’ve met him countless times, and never in your life would you think he’d ever attempt to hurt a civilian, regardless of their crimes.

Evan bites his lips, shushing you as he leaps towards you, grabbing your forearm and pulling you close to him, whispering, “Don’t scream it! No one knows except for us!” He sighs, pulling you towards the end of the room, far away from the door.

“He and Lady Zainab used to be intimate years ago, they separated amicably but there has been talk that she has been trying to reconnect with him, though he refuses her in reason of his love for another. Lady Zainab didn’t enjoy hearing that so she resorted to talking badly about him and his secret love. You know how he gets when someone speaks badly of those he cares about.”

You retort, “Yeah sure! A bunch of scolding and yelling and maybe he’d fire you, but never kill a random woman! And a noble no less! And you got all of this an hour in the investigation? You should sleep with one eye open, Evan, you might be next you tattletale!” 

Evan rolls his eyes so hard they almost pop out, he pulls you closer, your noses almost touching, his voice drops lower, eyes bore deep into your own, “No. You don’t know him, you’ve only worked here for 2 years, I’ve seen how he acts when something he loves is threatened, and it is beyond death itself.”

You both stood there, breath fanning over each other’s faces, one dead resilient on proving Grim’s innocence, and the other in the belief that he is as guilty as any other suspect. The stand-off lasted a while before Evan himself withdrew, spinning so his back is turned to you, a hand on his hip while the other covered the blush covering his cheeks, though that wasn’t something you had seen just yet.

You sigh, “God, this is getting more and more complicated, 4 high profile individuals of Xelera and some scientist… What’s the correlation..? Any other murders similar to this one, Detective?” You call out to Evan, still oblivious to how intimate you two were a moment ago, your eyes went back to the victim, searching longer for anything out of place.

“I– Ahem, the scientist is also well-known to the public, she’s invented a variety of devices that we use currently. She invented a machine that can create human life, using the DNA of two parents, via asexual reproduction, she created wi-fi, bluetooth and a bunch of other shit I’m not bothered with remembering. And another lesson not to gossip and talk shit. Lady Zainab humiliated Julie in front of half the ball by spilling wine or some such drink on the scientist’s clothes, which ended with Julie almost jumping Zainab, many declarations of death thrown to the noblewoman’s way. Happy ending, Siolis let her borrow some of their clothes so…”

Evan takes in a deep breath, collecting himself before turning back towards you, face still a little pink but much better than the red he was covered in previously. He continues, “And no murders like this one, this seems more like a crime of passion, not of repetition.” You nod and hum, as usual your companion is right.

You begin to lose yourself in your thoughts as you try to construct a story to the scene, but were interrupted soon enough by Evan speaking again, “And Gen is–”

You flinched, god he yells at you for being obvious and then he does it too?! “SH!! D-Damn it Evan do you want us dead?! I know that she’s–” You stop, grimacing as you twirl your pointer finger around your temple, Evan immediately understands what you were trying to say.

Chief Gen hasn’t been herself since the war 2 years ago, she’s been erratic, violent, and emotional. She can laugh with you right before she rips your larynx straight from your throat, her mood swings were severe, and Grim was the only one able to calm her down. He hated it, the sight of his sister dumbed down to an overly traumatized soldier with severe personality disorders that only emerged after she came home from the battlefield, clinging to dead friends and comrades like they were the last thing holding her together.

Bearing this in mind, you decide to place her at the top of the suspect list. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for Gen, you have come into crime scenes where it was glaringly obvious Chief Gen had done it. But every single time, Chief Grim was there to slide the case under the rug, forcing you and everyone on your task force to retire it, there was no hope.

After taking a moment to collect yourself, you nod at Evan and let him lead the way to the room holding the suspects. After a long walk, you were met face to face with every suspect on the list, all were quiet, eyes trained on your figure as you confidently walk to the middle of the room, with no hesitation, pause, or fear, you address the room.

“Good evening, everyone. I apologize for the inconvenience, but were you all made aware of why you’ve been gathered here?” You pause, allowing everyone to nod and hum in approval, “Good! Alright, I’ll take everyone one-by-one for interrogation. First… Julie McCanister?” The woman stands tall, her dress shoes clicking on the floor as she steps forward slightly.

“Please follow me, it won’t take long.” You flash Julie a charming smile before turning and nodding once more at Evan, allowing him to take you to the temporary investigation room. 

But you weren’t able to take 3 steps before the low voice of Grim Ludenhart spoke up, “Sergeant, I hope you know how sensitive this case is.” You take a peak at him, smile gone, but you can tell he’s stressed, he likes you enough to consider you a friend. Anyone who knew him well enough knows that whenever he says condescending shit like that, it was out of fear for your own safety.

A smile graces your face as Julie stands beside you, ready to move when you do. “Of course, Chief. I won’t do anything to disappoint you.”

“No. I did not. Your behavior is intriguing. Why do you act like that? Were you neglected as a child? Maybe your parents let you have an ‘imaginary friend’ for a little too long? Are you suffering from hallucinations maybe?” Julie asked question after question, trying to gauge why your demeanor is so confident even when you’re faced with rejection.

You smirked, hand slowly dropping as you lower your head. You got her where you wanted her! Now she’s saying nonsense and digging herself a deeper hole! You’re so getting a confession now. You dramatically step forward and take a seat opposite Julie, it screeches against the expensive wood flooring.

Evan watched the entire spectacle with an amused face at first until the suspect began asking personal questions that only he is supposed to know. Not only has he been your self-appointed best friend since the 10th grade but he’s been right next to you through all the hardships and joyful moments in your life. Though you still got his dream job all those months ago, he felt so proud of you, but also of course seething with jealousy and irritation.

You weren’t someone easily deterred by anything, ever since he’s met you Evan noted how confident and egotistical you are. Regardless of anyone’s shitty criticisms of you and your behavior you did your best to stand tall. But you weren’t perfect.

He has been a witness to the times where you couldn’t stand your ground, where you couldn’t think of anything good about you as you usually do, face sullied with grief and self deprecation. You’re wonderful and confident, that he can always praise you about, that Evan will always be sure of.

But, there are times, when he sees the more vulnerable side of his partner, where you get emotional and lash out at a criminal who committed atrocities beyond the average human’s comprehension. Those are the times where he feels most connected to you, where he can feel the pain and anger you emit around the criminals of the modern day.

You weren’t like that most of the times, you give your suspects a lot of leeway, giving them the good cop routine, because most of the times, you can see their guilt and regret from a mile away. You’re empathetic, but there were limits, and he hopes to god that you won’t have to be pushed off the edge by the end of the case.

Your melodic voice sliced through his thoughts, giving him a brief respite from the mess inside his head, giving him ample time to calm himself before he lunged at the suspect you dared interrogate you like you’re the insane one.

“Are you projecting? Have you gone through something traumatizing? Was it recent enough for you to take out your emotions on this innocent Lady of our courts? Or was it old enough for you to hold a grudge, for the hatred in your heart to spill over until you took away a human person’s life?!” 

Bad cop is it? You want to be bad cop today? God, it’s like your read Evan’s mind on a daily!! Fuck, he shouldn’t get too excited. He’s working not whoring himself out at the slightest sight of domination from you! But wouldn’t he love to do so…

On the opposite end of the room, sitting on a cushioned fancy chair, Julie was impressed with your ability to flip the tables on her, seems you’re much smarter than she gave you credit for.

Julie retaliates, “Why would I kill her? I don’t live in this city, I am just here to visit my good friend Siolis and I’ll be out of here.”

You frowned, she’s lying straight to your face.

Being a spy wasn’t so bad afterall, even after getting fired for reporting corruption within the League of Xeleran Spies, you still got it. Being a part of the league was fun, being able to tell immediately if someone is lying from the smallest body twitches and movements was even more enjoyable.

“Don’t lie to me. You know damn well you have a motive, not only that but visiting a friend isn’t the reason you came to Aurora. Tell me, isn’t the trip from Leonar to Aurora 6 hours? In what world is entertaining a friend for a couple of days enough of a reason for that long of a trip, hm?”

She shifted in her seat.

Her lip keeps twitching.

She readjusted her glasses.

She pursed her lips.

Everything you say seems to only rile her up further and further, you continued seeing her stay silent as she stares at you like you had destroyed everything she loves and cherishes.

“No, I can tell, y’know? Look at yourself. Come on look! Turn your head and look at that mirror,” You aggressively pointed to the mirror on the left side of the room, framed with gold as Julie reluctantly looks at the mirror, “Stare at yourself, be honest. Come on, damn it! Is that the face of a person saying nothing but the truth?!”

You take a deep breath in, rage seeping into every word you speak, “Just because one woman chats shit everyday, doesn’t mean her life is less valuable, are you aware of that McCanister? Are you smart enough to know that? Or are you so emotionally stunted that you KILLED an innocent woman?” You pause, finally allowing Julie to defend herself, to explain to say something!

Julie’s seething, she feels attacked, she feels the urge to defend herself no matter what, and given how smart she is you’d think Julie would learn how to control her emotions, allowing both you and Evan to clock that she’s already on edge, that a few more pushes and she’d crack right open.

“Yes! Of course not, as a scientist I value all forms of lif–” 

Evan cuts her off, hands slamming down on the antique table in front of Julie, not allowing her the freedom you gave her.

“LIAR!! You knew what you were doing, didn’t you!?! No one would suspect the genius who invented half of modern technology used today, would they?! Using your intelligence and job as an excuse for your heinous crimes? You’re so guilty the only way out of this situation is acting high and mighty?!”

“No! I–”

This time, you cut her off, getting closer to the table, leaning forward to look deeper into the traitor’s eyes. “No, save the theatrics for court day Evan, who would use their job title as an excuse and alibi out of an investigation? Not even a goddamn toddler would do something so stupid!” You looked pointedly at Julie, her face twisting in rage.

You continued regardless, “Ohhh, look, Evan. She’s fucking enraged!!” Evan obeyed, staring down Julie as she sat there, taking it all like a quiet dog.

The man beside you smirked, and oh how Julie saw it as the most condescending ugly smile she had ever seen.

“Looks like we got our culprit, isn’t that right, partner?” Evan threw a prettier smile as he looked back at you, which you also reciprocated with a laugh and a pat on the back, the sight is enough to make a grown man vomit.

Julie couldn’t ever guess for the life of her that behind the ditzy persona you put on is someone who’s screaming in her face, gaslighting her into a confession. They all saw you coming in, talking to everyone. It was obvious you were respected yet your subordinates were comfortable enough to laugh and be at ease around you.

Your speech and behavior as you spoke to your subordinates, looking around at the now vast and empty ballroom for anything out of place, until eventually your partner came up from behind you. He looked exhausted, but he kept touching you, pulling and pushing you as he seemingly teased you, workplace romance, huh…

But right now Julie feels ashamed, like a child who’d been caught sneaking cookies in the middle of the night. Never in her life had she ever thought she’d feel less than when she’s recordedly the smartest woman— No, smartest human in history. Julie broke records, an inventor and scientist who bettered the modern world, without her the booking system in jails to begin with would never have worked on computers.

Now to think her own invention would be used against her, you’re good at this, that much is obvious from how easily you took control of the conversation, pressing every button Julie had when you had never met her before. It was impressive, and Julie was intrigued.

You sighed, the soft exhale made Julie look back up at you, eyes now scanning for anymore emotional outbursts. Though all you did was pull the chair across from her back, sliding softly on the chair that most definitely costs more than two  years of your salary. Your forearms were settled on the wooden table, fingers intertwined together, you stared at her with pity etched onto your face.

Now, we’re onto the good cop routine, damn it. A certain detective beside you already mourning the loss of the Bad Cop Sergeant he knows and loves and definitely doesn’t pleasure himself over the fantasy of you dominating him nightly… He shakes off the naughty thoughts, those are for after work and in the comfort of his bedroom, he refocuses on the interrogation as you begin to speak.

“Listen, Julie, I—” You click your teeth, face twisting into one of regret, showing that you’re upset, “This job is hard, and you’re so smart! You know more than anybody else how exhausting it is to think constantly, to think of every variable and outcome possible from one solution you came up with, right?”

The woman in front of you regains her composure as you begin to give her emotional whip lash, Julie nods, now her expression is more controlled, less shocked, she’s still tense you note.

Your eyes soften, “That’s what we go through everyday for hours on end, thinking of who, how, and why all the time, much like many of the experiments you’ve conducted and believe it or not I’m a big fan of your theories, truly,” A stroke to anyone’s inflated ego would make them more comfortable…

“You, Julie, are important. Beyond that, even! You improved our daily lives! People for many generations to come are going to be singing your praises! Billions of people already feel at ease with your inventions now, now imagine just how comfortable you’ve made the future for every human from now on! It’s beautiful!”

And now the “It hurts me more than it hurts you, I’m doing this because I care.” routine…

“I was harsh because I’m afraid, you know how extreme the Xeleran government is,” You feel Evan tapping your foot in worry, but you ignored him, you had bigger fish to fry, “If you’re convicted, and we find out you’re lying about this, I know for sure as a detective and a member of the Xeleran Police Forces that everything you’ve created and invented would be crushed and scrubbed from Xeleran history.”

You shuffle closer to Julie, whispering to her as you see some of the panic settle into her face, “You still haven’t launched your creations worldwide yet… So the process of scrubbing your intelligence from the world won’t be very hard, trust me, I used to do so myself!”

Everything you were saying now was a lie. Both you and Evan are aware of it, but it’s your job to lie just for the sake of the truth, as messed up as that is. That had been a thing previously but Chief Love, Chief Grim’s predecessor, as well as Chief Grim had ensured to remove that part of corruption from the police force. They had put down numerous rules and laws to make sure that no more Xeleran history is erased all because one criminal did something bad. Pity that Chief Grim is suddenly blind to his own corruption.

“I need complete honesty from you, Julie. We need an alibi, we need you to tell us everything. I feel for you, it’s hard to just sit there while someone bashes your work constantly while you’re helpless, I’ve been there and I was as close to killing them as you. I can sympathize with you, really I would’ve done the same thing if I weren’t a cop! We’re all human, and we all have our limits, and…” You whisper to her, kind smile gracing your face, “I can tell that blasted noble lady pushed you far beyond yours.”

It felt like she was entranced, Julie had never sat there so quietly listening to someone else ramble with her mouth hanging before. She was never a listener, and she didn’t care for anyone’s opinions or stories but… You were captivating, you somehow managed to blend your anger and rage with your love and acceptance so seamlessly. She felt like a hypnotized victim walking right into the vampire’s fangs.

“I…” She clears her throat, god does Julie despise not being in the position of power, she feels so fucking weak. “No. I swear to you, I did not kill this woman. Yes, I was upset, and… Yes, visiting Siolis wasn’t my sole intention, I wanted to give Lady Zainab many choice words and then an invention I made for her.”

Bingo. You nodded along her words, acting like you care for her and not her alibi.

“When did this happen? What was your invention, surely it was beautiful.” God, you hated glazing suspects but it never fails to work on every single potential culprit. People like Julie think they’re perfect just because they’re smart, but they always are the easiest people to play with.

Julie bites her lip, she’s ashamed of something, your eyes stay trained on hers, even if she looks away and takes a bit longer to reply. You waited patiently for a reply as she gathered her words, obviously a bit in shock after the verbal abuse she had gotten a minute ago.

“It was when the Queen came out, she left the room so I followed her and gave her my gift, I didn’t stick around because I wanted to talk with Siolis immediately, and…” Julie takes a long and deep breath, her green eyes moving their gaze off the floor and towards your own, “The gift was… Intentionally made to look cute and innocent but when opened it was a vulgar song by some random guy off the internet that I paid to make a song about Zainab and her idiocracy.”

Silence.

You had to cover your mouth as you almost spat in the—now very innocent— woman’s face from the genuine surprised and delayed cackle you let out. Your partner stood unimpressed, a look of pure judgement and disgust colored on his face, Evan rolls his eyes as he walks to the door, standing by it. He just wants to get out of here and get to a more serious suspect. Preferrably Redanis or Gen.

It takes a couple of seconds for you to recompose yourself as Julie looks at you curious and Evan looks at you tired. But unlucky for him, as soon as you looked back at Julie you just ended up laughing even more and for even longer.

Eventually after many attempts at making you stop Evan just escorts Julie back to the drawing room as he calls for the next suspect to take for interrogation.

That was… Interesting. Julie sat next to Siolis, itching to talk to her best friend, to tell them about everything that happened and how surprisingly good you are at coaxing and manipulating people into submission. She was genuinely shocked for half of the case, and if it weren’t for the three cops standing guard making sure none of the suspects speak, Julie would’ve told the entire room, and it would be her first time gossiping… Is it seriously a murder investigation that’s gonna make her popular socially…?

Back to where you are, Redanis enters the unbearably fancy room turned investigation chamber, the sight of the detective from earlier slumped over a desk with two chairs opposite of each other, your body was shaking from a bad case of the giggles.

Evan can only pinch his nose bridge and breath slowly to stop the upcoming migraine from hurting too bad, he knocks hard on the wood of the door to the room making you flinch as you stand up straight, face easy and relaxed, ready for another round of endless interrogation until you and your partner get a statement you’re satisfied with.

“Ah, our mystery guest is Reddy steady, hm?” You chuckle at the nickname you came up with after being assigned numerous cases to investigate his sketchy yet popular club. After many hostile meetings since the both of you hated the others way of living and job, you became quite friendly, and depending on who you’re talking to you can say that you’re proud to have made a friend with someone so cool.

The man of the hour shines a crooked smile as he comes closer to you, giving you a soft push on the arm, “Don’t call me that, asshat.” You both laugh softly but…

Your joyful reunion was rudely interrupted by the presence of Evan, who squared his body, hands clutching his cuffs tightly, “A–Assault on an officer!!” He screamed like a distressed pigeon. 

Gonna be a long day… The two unlikely friends thought as Detective Evan calls for backup.

Another sigh escaped you, how many sighs now… I think 12, you thought to yourself as you wandered through the grand halls of the palace, slowly making your way to the camera room, looking for the specific door Siolis described to you countless times now.

Gilded ivory door… Flower in the center… Flower, flower, flower… I…I circled this door a million times… How did I miss it?!

Noting the fact that you needed to make an appointment with the optometrist soon, you knocked on the door. No answer. Well, protocol is protocol—polite knocks first, brute force next.

BANG, BANG, BANG!!

“Police!! Open up!” You shouted, fist hammering against the door that is worth your entire salary until you heard the scuffling of feet and muffled voices panicking on the other side. Years of fieldwork and spywork have sharpened your senses, especially your hearing enough to catch the faint sounds coming from the other side.

Click, swoop, clack. And the door opens, greeted by the face of a meek woman and a meeker man behind her, standing there eyeing you like you’re about to kill them. 

One of them speaks up, the man “Th-this is a-a restricted area!! Y-you can’t,  uh, be here!!” His hand points at you, eager to make you leave. Except you needed the evidence, and you needed to get this case over with immediately.

Pushing past dumb and dumber, who were both surprisingly lenient—should make Chief Siolis aware of that—allowing you to go in with such feeble attempts at stopping you, which was raising their voices a bit and then closing the door to ensure no one finds out about the palace’s dirty secret. You ignored them thoroughly, hands gliding over the controls of the huge security camera station ahead of you.

Once again, no proper attempts to stop you, threats and whatnot but nothing of substance, you zoomed past footage of the day—you saw yourself, Evan, and Red entering the interrogation room, Julie escorted to the bathroom, Evan running with his broken nose, and finally—!

There’s Red and Lady Zainab’s mother, speaking lowly, and then—

the footage blacked out. 

Static filled the screens, harsh and sudden, the noise filling the small room like hellfire. Right before the camera froze, you saw Red glancing toward the windows off screen. And when the feed returned, he was by the window, prying it open while Lady Ahmad stood behind him, exasperated at his childish actions.

“No! No! No! No!!!!” You hissed, fingers flying over the keyboard in panic, you scrubbed through the footage again, rewound, replayed, refreshed—but the same static is what greets you every single time. The cameras were tampered with.

“Wh-what the hell happened here!? Why’s the feed like that? What caused this?!” Your words left your mouth faster than you could process them, I shouldn’t be this involved, this emotional over a case, you calmed yourself, breaths slowly entering and exiting your lungs. Eyes stinging with the threat of unshed tears.

The security lady stammered as she responded to you, “I-I– Wait! You have no-no identification! This is illegal!” One flash of Siolis’ ID shut her up, “Oh. Uh… We don’t know, C-Chief?” Oh this is just painful, who the hell did the palace hire? “We– you know, we just got here… S-Sorry boss! We–We won’t be late next time!!”

It’s been over 7 hours since the footage was taken, the concept of being late for seven ungodly hours… You’d be fired if you didn’t have the dirt you have, thank god for affairs. You sighed, hands grabbing your face, protecting you from the reality of this case you’re about to fail. 

You wouldn’t call yourself a perfectionist from birth, no it was a trait carved painfully and deliberately by your old boss, by the occupation you had. You were never in the ‘Security Forces of Xelera’ faction, no, you worked for something far less noble, more shameful. The League of Spies, an unofficial network of contractors who took any job—legal or not, as long as the price was met.

Painful, grueling memories came in waves, sharp and relentless—the punishments for a single mistake, the weeks of silence you were inflicted by your boss and pears, the way your boss would withhold assignments as a way to force you into learning your lesson. She didn’t care about needing the money, about medical necessities or food. Until you learnt your lesson and came begging with genuine fear of repeating the same ‘mistake’ you weren’t given anything.

You needed to leave.

Rushing out the door, tears falling and breath ragged, you needed peace and quiet, a spot where no one will witness your unravelling. It was a bad time, sure, and an even worse spot. 

Without thinking, you ducked into the first room you found, slamming the door shut behind you with shaking hands. The smell of roses and wood hit you, subtle and sweet with a strange sense of comfort that enveloped you. The room was quiet, dim, and too calm for the storm that brewed inside you.

You slid down the door as soon as you locked it, hands clutching at your heart as you tried to put yourself together. The memories weren’t helping your attack at all. The lashes, whips, the screams, the disgusted looks, having to beg and plead for forgiveness. All over one or two mistakes, a failed mission equaled a failure, and the League has no place for failures.

No, life itself doesn’t accept failures, you’ve been taught, the lessons beat into you to correct your errors, to reduce them. And it worked, of course with its long lasting effects, you’re still traumatized, but over the three years you’ve been a detective you haven’t had a single cold case—until now.

As you wallowed in your self pity, a voice called out to you, “Sergeant? Are you okay?? Ah, did you get lost again, I can lead you this time.” You flinched, rising as soon as you realized there was someone else in the room.

Wiping your tears away hurriedly, cloudy vision now clear, your sight was welcomed by the lean figure of Siolis Adonis, their staple black eyes and hair with those green streaks immediately flooding your vision, they changed clothes, you note. Their hand rested on the doorknob of what looked like the bathroom.

Why the hell are they outside of the holding room?! God I probably look like a mess…

“I– Ah, I’m fine. No, didn’t get lost just… needed a moment. Why are you here, then?”

“This is my room, Sergeant.” Just my luck. “Are you sure you’re okay? You aren’t the picture of fine, right now… Wait,” Siolis held their finger up, shutting the bathroom door as they rummaged in their cabinet, and then suddenly as they messed around in there, a flurry of green translucent bunnies jumped out of the cabinet.

You gasped, reaching for your gun before realizing, Shiko magic, you can see Siolis eyeing you with an expectant look, a smile playing on their face as you marvel at the sight ahead of you. No one really witnesses a Shiko’s magic unless it’s used as a last ditch resort to save their lives. 

You guessed that cheering people up also counted. You watched with a twinkle in your eye as Siolis’ power twirled around you in the form of cute bunnies, landing on your shoulders as you cup your hands, two of them cuddled right into your open hand, chirping—they can make noise?!—and sparkling around you.

Soon enough, they rolled one last time in your hands, the rest jumping all around you, and then the bunnies started to go, their bodies now floating specks of shimmery magic, you squeezed, so warm… you thought, hands already missing the bunnies.

“Feel better?” Siolis asked, their hands on their hips and a casual smile gracing their face. You looked up, hands falling to your thighs, and as soon as you processed their appearance you gasped, going up to them hurriedly.

Their hair, the usual streaks of soft green on their bangs now reduced to one solitary streak, their hair now completely black, save for the tiny speck of green.

“Your hair! Chief Siolis, it’s… it’s—” Your hands go to touch their hair, completely unaware of the person you’re touching, the same person that kneed someone in the groin for touching their arm before. 

Siolis’ surprisingly calloused hands grabbed your wrists before they got too far, a gentle grip that allowed freedom at the slightest tug, “I’m fine, sergeant, this is normal. I don’t have much magic to begin with, so I always look like this when I use my magic, sorry if that scared you.” Though their apology was followed by a quiet chuckle, amused by your worry.

You couldn’t really argue with a Shiko of how Shikos are, especially since you’re human. And you really didn’t have the energy to question and learn, so you sighed, slipping away from them and sat down on their bed, missing the way their smile twitched.

Eyes gazing into your hands as they fiddle with each other, you spoke, “The security cameras were tampered with, we have no evidence and… I’m just upset, I take my cases seriously, sometimes a bit too much. What about you, Sio? You’re not really supposed to be here.” 

Gaze shifting towards their form as you take in how they look, a little less stiff, especially now with a very casual blouse and jeans, they moved towards you, settling next to you. 

“One of your officers threw up on me. This doesn’t look like frustration, Y/n.” They said blatantly, letting you hear your name and relish in it, you haven’t heard it for the duration of the investigation, it was disorienting quite frankly. Xelerans are like that, the moment you clock in for your job you abandon your true self and become an employee, only ever addressed as your title unless by coworkers, and even then that is rare.

You enjoyed Siolis’ presence, you’ve drank with them and Red before, where they constantly were the one taking you and Red home, sending pictures and videos of last night’s drunk escapades. The two of you aren’t close but you will always consider them as an ally.

You sighed, hands moving to massage your arms, going crisscross as you try to self soothe yourself, “Ah, you read me like a book… It’s— You know already, Sio, my old job… Still running through my mind.” You chuckled, trying to keep it lighthearted but the clear discomfort written all over your face betrayed your words.

Siolis hummed, unconvinced, they knew already after you drunkenly confessed to them that you used to do so much illegal shit back in the day, but they never really cared. They’ve done their fair share of unlawful actions, who are they to prosecute? 

A sigh left their lips, hands unapologetically reaching out to you, one on your back and the other wrapped around your front, you flinched as they brought you closer and let you lean on their chest. Siolis hummed to you as they rubbed your back, comforting you silently without needing the story of why.

Though of course you were as stiff as a board, given Siolis’ dislike of physical affection unless it’s on their terms, you’ve seen their masterful ways of avoiding hugs and affection, it was almost artistic. 

So when you’re coddled and loved by someone who never does this type of thing? You explode into a puddle of tears, folding yourself into them as you embrace them back, hands tightly clenching the back of their blouse, face burrowing into their chest. Sobs wracked through your body as they let you cry out, sniffles and all.

When was the last time that someone comforted you? Especially after doing a bad job at your own job? You… You expected hatred and disgust, but instead you were being soothed by your best friend’s sibling, they hands softly patting your back, chin resting to the top of your head, frequently squeezing you as a way to calm you down.

It felt so damn good, so relieving to let out the stress brimming in the back of your mind to someone who didn’t need to hear the entire sob story to know you needed comfort.

You stood in Siolis’ bathroom, the queen obviously spared no expense in the making of this room and in extension the connected bathroom, everything was gilded and golden, stinging your plebian eyes. You washed off the dried tears, looking up at a wet and red face, grimacing over how Siolis now has seen the lowest they’ll ever see you—after a good fresh cry.

Siolis let you have a moment to yourself, letting you overstay your welcome in their room of the palace—something you refused to forget as your face only got hotter—and they went back to the holding room, not wanting to smother you too much.

I could search this room, see if they have a weapon in here… Wait… We didn’t think of searching this room?! You burst through the bathroom door, looking at the pristine and clean room, yeah, no search team searches this cleanly. Taking a beat to contemplate whether searching the room at this point was even worth anything—you just ugly cried to them, and they said nothing, yeah the least you can do is let them have a clean room.

Didn’t mean you weren’t searching through their shit though.

Drawers and surfaces weren’t spared, you searched thoroughly, keeping everything the way it is, looking above and below every object without tampering with them too much. You’ve discovered the odd things here and there, like a notepad written in a language you couldn’t discern, a lot of paracetamol, an even larger collection of cigarettes and… You’re going to pretend you never saw those condoms.

After that unofficial search turned up unrewarding you went and chased after the idiot you hadn’t seen in two hours—Evan Mann.

“Evan! Evan!” You called out in the seemingly deserted clinic of the palace, eyes searching for a big idiot with a cast on his nose, soon enough, your big idiot responded.

“6B! I’m in unit 6B!”

Shoving your hands in your jacket’s pockets, you approached his unit, hand swinging the curtains open to be greeted with Evan sitting on a hospital bed, completely fine save for the cast on his nose.

You cringed, laughing as you went up to him, his fingers touching your thigh as you stood unaware, though it’s the only thing he can focus on, “Yikes, looks like the floor won, huh? How are you feeling?”

You groaned as you planted yourself next to him, sitting shoulder to shoulder as you peered into his green and tired eyes. Evan blushed as he looked the other way, “I won, just got hurt while winning, y’know, and I’m okay now, drugged as fuck though, I can’t feel my fingers!” He wiggled his fingers in your face as you giggled, enjoying the brief moment of silliness before having to get back into a murder investigation.

“Hey, guess what.” You nudged at Evan, “Red’s innocent—” Evan rolled his eyes, “—and he has an alibi! So does Julie by the way, turns out there are cameras, and I skimmed through them. Julie did prank our vic and left, and Red was preoccupied the entire time. There was a moment where the cameras caught our perp–”

A gasp cut you off, but you only covered his mouth, “Sh, but, the footage was tampered with, we have no clue who they are and what their build is aside from what Red told me, he described them as the height we guessed, he said the build wasn’t clear cause they were wearing really baggy shit, so now we cleared two suspects! Just gotta figure out if three Chiefs who are important to our government killed someone and how we’re supposed to arrest them! Fun!”

You finally took a breath, far too excited to tell Evan everything that happened while he was absent, hands flailing in gesture and mouth moving so fast you damn near spit in his eye. Yet, your partner couldn’t mirror your excitement, he was only gone for two hours!!!

“So, I miss everything, by getting my nose broken by our suspect?!”

“He’s not a suspect, and do you want him to sit there and take it when you jump at him like a hungry bear?” You laughed, though defending his rival only soured his mood further.

“What the hell! I can’t leave you for a second! I need to cuff you to me, you know.” 

‘With a ring’ was left out, but he definitely was thinking it as you laughed, your shoulders bumping his upper arm, the atmosphere light and relaxed, perfect for a first kiss, for confessions, for a good story about how you got together. His eyes always shift to your lips, but now they’re stuck there—how easy would it be to make you aware of his intentions? Would grabbing your chin and making you face him allow you to realize just how much he yearns to nip at your lips?

Evan’s hand shifted from his lap, wanting to reach out and just do it, damn it to hell with the consequences of workplace romance!! Isn’t it the most romantic thing to begin with? Working with your partner is adorable! A kiss on the lips and then getting nagged at over how bad he’s done… God, just degrade him and collar him already and he’ll shut up.

But of course, nothing will ever go Evan’s way. He watched as your face fell, eyes visibly tired—you look worse for wear now, like the hours you two have been there are slowly sucking the soul out of you. He can attest to that, Evan’s own energy depleting as the case goes on and no real developments have been made, regardless of the team’s effort.

The forensic team’s still here searching for anything, Angel would always complain about analyzing crime scenes in mansions, Evan can only imagine how exhausted they are right now.

You sighed, hands pushing you off the bed as you turned to him, one hand extended towards him and the other deep in your jacket’s pocket.

“Come on, we have suspects to beat the shit out of—verbally, Evan, I hope you’ll remember that now.” You pointed at the cast on his face, snickering to his dismay.

Evan chuckles drily, eyes rolling but he still accepted your hand, helping himself down as you quickly dialled for an officer to allow Siolis into the interrogation room. Moments passed as you and Evan took your time walking down the halls, trying to find some semblance of joy and peace during an investigation that will definitely have you holed up in your apartment for weeks.

“Y’know the nurse kept shoving his fingers in my mouth for some reason…”

“He wants you so bad, Evan, go back there and let him shove his fingers elsewhere.” 

“Wha—No! My heart belongs to another!! I’ll tell them to shove their fingers anywhere they please.”

“Evan, that’s disgusting.”

“You started it!”

Eventually throughout all the bickering and jokes the two of you made it safely to the room holding Siolis, your shared laughter is seized as you settle a hand on the golden doorknob, you paused allowing yourself to steady yourself and push away any of the hesitation that came with the experience you shared with Siolis.

The hinges creaked unexpectedly as you swung the door open, and there they were—posture perfect and relaxed, hands folded on one another atop the table in front of them, gaze sharp and expectant, as if they knew you were coming far before you approached the door, and knowing Siolis, they probably knew the moment you left the infirmary.

You walked in, forcing  your earlier humiliation to stay buried deep where it couldn’t be found. The pathetic feeling of needing someone else’s help to stabilize yourself a sour taste on your tongue, you shook the embarrassment off, Gotta show off my feathers coolly like a peacock, you thought to yourself, forcing a bout of confidence to take control of your mannerisms as you leaned casually against the wall to the left of the door.

Evan followed close behind you, hit boots tapping against the floor as he looked to you, you nodded in gesture; you take this one. There was no way you could face Siolis head-on yet.

Evan hesitated as he accepted the offer, pulling a chair and sitting opposite to Siolis, still pushing himself forward, adjusting his seating uncomfortably until Siolis’ voice cut through the air, smooth and decisive, “You’re not the primary detective on this case, Detective Mann,” they began, amusement glinting within their eyes, “I would prefer if the primary questioned me, if you would.”

The unspoken statement thick in the air, or else I’m not talking. You blinked in shock, briefly thrown off guard as Evan slowly turned toward you in confusion and panic, his eyes screaming what the hell do I do?! You straightened up, allowing yourself to take on the personality of someone who’s totally not affected, easing yourself into the seat beside Evan, face painted with grace and curiosity.

“Yes, of course, that’s understandable. You wanna gauge how good I am, huh? Haha.” You said almost too brightly, your laugh too forceful to be genuine as you tried to ease the tension that now suffocated the room.

Siolis smiled, indulging you, but you knew they were going to make it worse, that was what was so infuriating about Siolis. Their blunt truths, sometimes it’s as refreshing as spring water, other times you wanted nothing more than to tape their mouth shut permanently, you fiddled with your fingers as they calmly observed you.

They smiled, “I know you’re good, Y/n—” Evan looked between you two suspiciously at the sound of your name rolling off their tongue, “—I just want someone competent, that I will always be sure of when it comes to you. I just want to be interrogated by someone I like.” 

Every word hit Mann like a brick to the face, his brows shot up so high they might’ve hit a cloud for all he knew… What the fuck?! Are—Are they in love?!? His gaze darted from you to Siolis, his disbelief almost comical while Siolis’ attention remained on you without a single hiccup, as though Evan wasn’t even in the room. The intensity in their stare made Evan’s throat dry, his composure cracking as he cleared his throat.

Evan attempts at regaining control, “So, Chief Siolis, how—”

“You spent a while longer in my room after I left you,” Siolis interrupted, not giving Evan the time of day as his voice sharpened with implication “I wonder why that is?” 

A smirk curved their lips, and you swore you could see mischief flicker in their eyes. They knew exactly what they were doing, and worse they knew of Evan’s pathetic crush on you, even as you say oblivious to Evan’s affections, thinking that Siolis was teasing you mercilessly. Evan nearly choked on air, his head snapping toward you so fast you worried it would spin off his neck.

“Room?!?” He shouted, his entire body swiveling toward you, his face red and his jaw slack with regret. Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?! Unless… oh god, I was too late, I’m an idiot and now I have no chance!

You flushed, face turning hot and sweaty as you chuckled awkwardly, “Ah don’t say it like that, Chief—”

“Siolis.” They cut you off, voice as soft as silk, a kind smile gracing their features.

You blinked, fumbling, “Alright… Siolis, we only talked for a while, and… I just took some time to wash my face properly.” 

Your attempts at trying to make the conversation sound better than it actually does, your hands flailing in denial as Evan sat there in complete shell shock, frozen as if every brain cell he had was in the process of imploding.

“Why… Why would you—you need to clean your face properly… F-For what reason…” A quiet sound leaves Evan’s mouth, his entire body stiff in disbelief as Siolis finally acknowledges him, a mischievous smirk on their face, eyes glinting with trickery.

Before you could even try to reply, trying to explain no! It’s not like that!! Siolis took it upon themselves to make it look like that, “Y/n came bursting into my room while I was changing, they looked in need, I only delivered what they needed.” 

Evan didn’t need to hear anymore, he slumped over and fainted.

The panic that followed the chaos wrapped in exhaustion. Officers scrambled to lift him off the chair, muttering complaints about Again? The hell are you guys doing?

You stood there, rubbing at your temples, exasperation weighing on you.

“Wow, I think he has high blood pressure, why’s he so easy?” 

Their voice had that air, amused lilt that only made your headache worse. You sighed, walking toward their figure, hands instinctively grabbing their waist and pushing them gently back into the room. And they surprisingly allowed it without resistance, body pliant under your touch. For someone so tall and fierce, they melted easily, almost like playdough.

You sat them down, sitting where Evan was, speaking up loud and clear so the recorder could hear you. You didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea, you and Siolis were strictly platonic!! Not if they had anything to do about it.

“All we did was talk, Siolis, and I came into your room by accident. You gave my detective a heart attack! You can mess with Evan anytime you want, but now is not the time.”

“Alright, alright,” They said with a shit-eating grin, hands raised in mock surrender, “I’ll keep my tactics to myself. But you have to admit, I didn’t have to say much for him to faint, Y/n, the man fainted from me baiting him!” They burst out laughing, an unrestrained and delighted sound that was far too human for someone with their level of beauty, hands clenching excitedly like a mischievous child.

You sighed, smothering your face in your hands, overtly stressed and now extremely worried if your partner will ever come out of this case alive, and with no surprise, Siolis laughs again but this time at you, softer and more delicate.

Long and thin fingers grabbed your hands, one hand pulling yours from your face and pinning them to the table and the other propping their head up in a relaxed manner.

“I come in here expecting an interrogation, y’know sexual tension and—” You smacked their hand, though still not leaving the warmth of Siolis’ hand, fingers intertwined with theirs as you regain your composure.

You needed an out, a way to bring the interrogation back on track, so you did just that, you evened your breath and narrowed your eyes at Siolis, hands freeing themselves from their grasp. Siolis pouted playfully, but not all that bothered, he just wanted to bother Evan as much as he could earlier—unsaid affections are enough for them.

You went to push yourself up, hands pushing you away from the table, but Siolis chuckles softly and pulls you back down with your forearm, their head still propped on their hand and they spoke,

“I’m sorry, sorry I genuinely couldn’t help it! He’s exactly like Red told me, but either way. I won’t make your day worse than it is; the guards corroborated that I was gone for too long correct?” They questioned, you nodded softly, leaning in as they spoke, fully captivated by them.

Siolis closed their eyes, “I was on the top floor of the palace, dear, I had my right hand by my side the entire time. You can check the security cameras and with Assistant Gray, mention the investigation and my involvement and she will cooperate, I also had a handful of other assistants on my team helping. They were with us the entire time.”

You squinted at them in suspicion, gauging whether they were lying or not, steady breath, eye contact, no squinting, no tension. You concluded that they were telling the truth, thankfully.

“And for the record,” You pointed at the recording device planted on the table, “What was the emergency that held you up like that? If you don’t mind me asking, is it really that important for a whole team of royal assistants to hide away and talk like that?”

Siolis laughed their hand leaving their chin and resting on the recording device—you allowed it, those things are there for the comfort of the suspect, if they want it off then so be it, you trusted Siolis and your unit trusted your word.

“You sound awfully like a reporter now, but,” they pressed the pause button, “let’s keep this between us and the unit A of the royal assistants.”

“Unit A?? But that’s the– Wait. What the hell is going on that the entirety of the A unit and the chief needed to go and talk for that long??”

They smiled, but it’s wobbly and tired, “Yes, good observation. Half of unit A had to take emergency flights back home using my card, Espora–” A neighboring country that’s been up Xelera’s ass since our independence from Esporian regime, “–Espora has—again—threatened to declare war. It’s been 6 attempts now and we’ve been able to calm them down. Tonight they threatened to publicly execute the diplomats and assistants there to ease the waters.”

You tried to speak and panic, but they continued, “After further correspondence with the King of Espora, we found out that all these threats of execution and war were being made by their demented Military Commander, much like our dear Gen. They’re planning to dethrone him soon, and they apologized for the mistakes by sending a bunch of guns and war what-nots, and offered to decrease the cost of imports from Espora, which we declined. I mean, if we had to do that for every stupid decision Gen made we wouldn’t be a queendom anymore.”

Siolis took a breath, much too tired from talking this much for this long, they’re more used to being interrupted by half the village and taking minutes for them to resume their words. Though they felt much more relaxed talking with you, their shoulders relaxed and their hand constantly itching to grab yours.

You, on the other hand, had your head in your hands, completely in shock at the words being uttered to you, “Does—Does Gen know…?”

They laughed, this time genuine and strong, “Hell no! If we told her we’d all be dead! I’m not joking, this is a genuine statistic I’ve calculated more than a hundred times, the least of the destruction Gen would’ve caused by knowing this would be our population dropping by 27%. And that’s the least of it!!!” They exclaimed, hands flailing.

Obviously they’ve had their bad experiences with Gen, obviously no one blames her for the trauma she’s endured and she is enduring but could she pretty please step down from her position or not make it everyone else’s problem? She damn near killed you once for even hinting she did a crime, only stopped by her brother Grim, you couldn’t imagine all the things she could’ve done to Blunt Siolis.

“I… I believe you, first of all, but also, does Queen Nia know?” They nodded, “She does, that’s how we connected with the King of Espora during all this, they were childhood friends, fun fact.”

You nodded solemnly, this time standing without Siolis’ calloused hands pulling you back, “Oh, hey. Your security camera guys are incompetent and shit. You need to hire new ones.” A loud laugh bellowed from them, their head leaning back and exposing their neck to you, a tiny adam’s apple you were never aware of showed itself bobbing in joy.

You smiled, hand extended towards them—a simple gesture, but one ingrained from years of habit and courtesy, for your superiors in the League and in the police force. No matter how nimble Siolis is, you’d been raised to extend a hand, not stand idly like a bumbling idiot as they helped themselves up.

Their eyes flickered up to you, a spark of amusement and respect glinting there before their fingers slipped around yours, and instead of using your hand for assistance, they gave a gentle tug, pulling you forward until you stumbled down to their face, your own head by their own, their breath fanning by your ear. Their lips brushed your cheek, a fleeting, weightless but appreciative kiss that lingered far longer on your mind than your skin.

“Thank you, sergeant,” They murmured, voice carrying that adorable blend of warmth and love that only appeared when they were drunk, a rare sight. “it truly has been a laugh being around you tonight. And I needed it too, you’re seeing more of me, my dear.” 

The words landed with devastating ease, slipping past your guard as though they’d always belonged there. Then came a soft sideways hug, brief and almost teasing, before they rose and went to the door, allowing an officer to escort them where Red is, allowing them to ask you first as you nodded mindlessly.

They just left you there! Frozen like an ice cream! Your heart battered in your chest loud enough for you to hear, you could still feel the ghost of their kiss on your hot cheek, mind a flurry of emotion. What the hell just happened!?

It took a moment or two before you managed to shake off the shock, forcing your limbs to move again. You left the room, the faint scent of Siolis’ cologne still heavy on the air, and nearly collided with Evan who was running down the halls like a mad man, oblivious to the Siolis walking right by him.

“I-I’m here!! Wh-what happened?! Where— oh my god, give me a second,” He keeled over, hands on his knees as his chest heaved as though he ran a marathon. His hand slapped against the wall, narrowly missing the painting of an apple beside him, you laughed loudly freely, the kind that echoed through the polished corridor. And poor Evan, for all his dramatic, would gladly walk through fire if it meant he could hear it again.

“You’re okay Evan,” You assured him between chuckles, clapping him on the back in attempt to help him cough out the exhaustion, “Siolis has an alibi, security cameras apparently caught them and the rest of assistants, but we have to check first. They had to address a crisis, there were a bunch of important documents that burned in a freak accident.”

The lie slipped off your tongue freely like second nature. Which it is, it’s almost effortless for you if not for the guilt. Your background required you to mask your intelligence and prowess behind a dumb persona, hanging off the arm of a decoy as you took control of the mission without alerting your victims.

You and Evan took your time once again, trying to enjoy your time as you debriefed him the rest of the interrogation, his arm protectively wrapped around your shoulders the entire time.

Unaware of the way Siolis acted around you, soft and affectionate, a trait none see other than their family, the way they casually spoke to you as if you were old friends. Saying this won't be the last that you'll say them is barely hitting the mark.

“What the hell was that about, by the way? Seriously, on the job??”

“Evan, it was an accident! I didn’t know it was their room and even if I did, I didn’t know they were there!!”

“Then next time come to my room! Why the hell did you need a moment in theirs.”

“You don’t have a fancy ass room in the Grand Melari Palace of Xelera, Evan. I’d go back in that room any day, it’s so clean and spacious and it smells like roses—your room’s a mess!”

“Yeah well—”

“Good evening, Sergeant. Detective.”

The voice sliced through your bickering like a freshly sharpened knife. The both of you jumped out of your skin, Evan reflexively clinging you to his chest, arms tightly wound around you as he spun the both of you around.

When the both of you turned and processed the man standing ahead of you, eyeing the contact suspiciously, you realized Chief Grim of the Police force is watching Evan, my colleague, cuddle me like we’re together.

“Ch-chief Grim!” You blurted out, scrambling to stand, trying to look as professional as possible, pushing Evan off you, damn near colliding into the wall. “How c-can I help you?” You nearly saluted, ignoring Evan’s look of utter despair as your face burned so hot it could melt steel itself.

“If I may interrupt this… interaction, sergeant a word please.” Grim’s eyes flicked briefly to Evan before focusing on you, voice deceptively calm.

“Of course!!” You replied instantly, perhaps too eagerly, but you didn’t care, you always made your appreciation for your boss obvious, not ever bothering with hiding it.

You followed after Grim down the gilded halls, the echo of your boots against the marble floor sounding too loud, leaving Evan behind to mourn whatever chance he foolishly thought he had.

Taglist: @randomlyappearingartist. Send an ask or comment to be part of the taglist, thank you!

A smirk graced his lips as Red also looked you over, your hair was a little messy, you kept biting your lips as you analyzed his body language for the millionth time since he’s met you.

Red liked you, and a lot. He never tried keeping it a secret, he has always been vocal over his very obvious affection for you. To Red it was the perfect romantic story, a criminal and a cop who knew that he had done it, a cap that had piles of evidence they had stolen hidden in their house, the cop who’s protecting the criminal from the tight grip of the so-called ‘justice’ of the Xeleran Police Force.

Anyone with a brain knows how corrupt the police were and currently are, and you’re one of them on a technicality. But neither you nor Red regard your actions as corrupt, since hiding and burning all the evidence stacked against Red was a form of protection for all the victims of violent crimes he had avenged. 

The criminal justice system of Xelera was flawed, you both knew it. Major crimes and felonies were sentenced with the lightest possible amount of prison time, allowing culprits and criminals to leave prison far too early and go out to take revenge on their victim, and the cycle of violence continued this way

Brushing Red’s “crimes” under the rug was the least you could do as the sergeant of the 63rd precinct. The man in front of you  had hundreds of victims in his protection, all of them wearing a small red ribbon tied loosely to their wrists, a mark and a statement that if anything were to happen to the bearer of this ribbon, whoever hurt them won’t live long to the next day.

You coughed, lips still stretched into an easy going smile, Evan sat by your side, glaring holes into Red’s figure. It wasn’t a secret that Red and Evan hated one another, Red hated Evan mostly because he would constantly interfere between the two of you whenever the precinct would assign you to a case with Red. While Evan’s hatred of Red was because he was envious of the natural connection Red had with you.

“Redanis Adonis, mob boss of the century…” Evan suddenly spoke up, his entire demeanor screamed ‘I want to frame you falsely sooo bad right now.’, which was strangely unlike him. Evan’s a little bitch, Red knows that much, the smirk on his face only widened at the pathetic display of intimidation.

To Red, Evan was a jealous little girl, twirling his hair around you and then spouting the most foul shit Red’s ever heard when your back was turned. Evan is an obsessive, jealous, and freaky guy, sometimes he acts like you’re genuinely the worst person to have ever lived and then the next second Evan is worshipping the very ground you walk on,

“I wouldn’t exactly call myself that, Mann, I’m just a business owner! You can check my record, it’s as squeaky clean as a hospital floor.”

And while sure, he has no criminal record whatsoever, anyone who was anyone knew he killed and tortured absolutely anyone who hurt others. Call it karmic justice, a lot of the people side with him especially when certain criminals get freed way too early given their crime and their bodies appear out of nowhere mangled and beyond saving.

No one could catch him, not like you let them even if they tried. You and Red came to an agreement all those years ago to have each other’s backs, and so here you are, watching your subordinate assault Red.

It was a mess of limbs, Evan throwing himself across the table to grab at Red as the aforementioned man leaped out of harm’s way, giggling to himself as Evan stupidly fell over the table, landing face first.

The sickening sound of breaking bones filled the room, you and Red stood silent as shocked—then Red started laughing hysterically, his arm grabbing his stomach as he wheezed at the sight. “Oh my god, Evan!!” You yell out, moving towards the man that was now lying pathetically on the floor, he moans and whimpers pitifully.

Shit! No! D-Don’t look!!

The tiny sad man flipped to the other side, his hands covering his nose, words barely discernable through the loud cackles of the idiot club owner ahead of you, “Fuck! I-It’s my nos—OW!!” As soon as he tried to take a deep breath in, a sharp pain shot through his nose, spreading through his entire skull as he groaned harder.

The jackass that caused all of this stood to the other side of the room, his laughter only growing louder and alerting the other officers posted outside, they nearly shattered the wooden door in fear of something happening. Chaos exploded within the previously tense but calm investigation room. You helped Evan get up, wrapping your arms around him and as soon as he felt your ‘affection’ he idiotically leaned in.

He leaned in way too aggressively. Evan was a goddamn body builder with the height that could rival titans themselves, while you obviously do your fair share of working out, no amount of arm curls had prepared you for a 200 pound man crashing into you.

Which caused a short domino effect as the world tilted for a second, fear encapsulated your body at the thought of being crushed to death by your secondary, and you damn near would’ve if it weren’t for Red somehow moving across the room fast enough to catch you. 

He pulled you away from the moron, saving you and giving you time to regain your balance, while he left absolute half-wit to crash into the floor instead.

“MY NOSE!!” Detective Genius howled from the floor, clutching his face with the melodrama of a soap opera as he fell on his nose. Again.

Eventually, the chaos died down, Evan was sent to the infirmary, and the rest of the squad had relaxed when you told them you could handle taking on the most insufferable criminal to be unofficially recorded.

You exhaled softly, hand reaching for your chair—only for Red to beat you to it, pulling it back with a steady and fluid motion, you mumbled a short ‘Thank you…’ as Red only nodded and went to sit on the other side of the table, his expression easy-going and relaxed.

“So, watcha gonna ask me about? Hope you aren’t as dull as the smartass that just crushed his own nose twice in the span of five minutes,” His laugh was low and wicked, his ever-present smirk mischievous as you sighed, “Well, you can’t help the partners you’re assigned, right Sarge?”

You let out a sigh for what felt the umpteenth time during this interrogation, your hands skillfully flipped through the case file. The sounds of shuffling paper echoed in the quiet room, your fingers trailing after the words and pictures that were hastily prepared for you.

“No you cannot… Red… Do you remember the favor you owe me…?” You exhaled the sentence out softly, voice low and quiet, reserved for Red and only Red.

Your friend leaned forward, his face closing in on yours, “Of course, I’d never forget. What do you need? Everything you want I could give it to you right now.” You smiled gently at him, motioning for him to come closer as you whispered in his ear.

Sighing, you stirred the sugar into your coffee, it’s been a long night, and you haven’t had a lick of sleep at all, tapping the spoon on the edge of the fine porcelain of the teacup, this place full of unnecessarily expensive bullshit… What if I break this..? You shook the troublesome thoughts out of your head, you required a clear mind for the next step of your plan.

Red… isn’t himself. You’ve never seen him act so defensive and rude before, you expected as much when he spoke with Evan but even with you? You’ve been friends and silent partners in crime for years, and you’ve never seen him act so… guilty. It was beyond suspicious, there were cases that were much worse, that had caught him red-handed, but he was never stressed or this tense about them…

This is a new development, that’s for sure. You thought of the differences between this case and the rest that involved Red Adonis, he always took full blame but walked off scott free—ahhh… So it’s his baby sibling he’s worried about, Siolis.

Siolis has been a silent protector of the nation since they became assistant to the queen when she was given her title as Queen of Xelera at the ripe age of 16, a year after her parents’ death. Those two had a dependent relationship, with Nia not having a single family member alive other than Siolis, who walked her down the aisle for her coronation, an act usually reserved for the current monarch.

Nia thought of Siolis as her older sibling, and everyone is sure they saw her as their little sister as well, but no one can really crack the younger Adonis’ shell. They don’t rely on anyone other than their big brother, calling on him only during times of great hardship, both of them never asked for help other than from the other.

So it wouldn’t be farfetched to say Red is especially stressed over Siolis’ safety and wellbeing during a case as high profile and intense as this one. You had Lady Zainab’s family up your ass about finding the murderer—as if you aren’t sacrificing your time and health to be here, you could’ve easily just postponed this case for tomorrow as the lead detective.

“Oh~! Baby! You’re still here?” A sultry voice you knew well voiced out from the doorway, the familiar form of the lead forensic scientist on most of your cases welcomes your sight, and as usual they were staring at you like you’re a box of forbidden chocolate all for them to devour.

Once they were sure they’ve caught your eye they slowly made their way to  you, making sure to slide their finger across as many surfaces as they could, eyes looking away bashfully from yours.

“Oh, Angel, didn’t see ya there, when did you get here? Want a cup of coffee in an expensive cup of tea that won’t get us fired if we break it?” You joked, knowing that Angel loves to laugh at the worst jokes you let out, which predictably, they did.

Angel sighs, they leaned on the counter next to you, hips gently brushing yours, they twirled their thumbs around each other, “I’ve been here the entire time!” They whined, “How come you don’t pay attention to me the same way you do those corpses? Do you want me dead to finally look at me like that..?”

You laughed, naively thinking Angel was joking as they shuffled their feet and pouted, “Aw, come on Angel, don’t be so childish, y’know I don’t like it,” You really hated it, gives you the ick, but you were trying to keep it lighthearted, “Didn’t mean to ignore you, just sleep deprived.” You hummed as you finished the last of your coffee, sad to see it go but happy as all hell that you’ll get some much needed energy in a bit.

“You wanna sleep? I can help you with that, but it just might take a while… A long, long while…” And another attempt at winning your heart, not like you ever knew how hard they’ve been trying to gain your heart, much to Angel’s dismay. 

And as usual, the innuendo flies right by your head, “Hm, like hypnotherapy or something? Heard that takes some time to take effect and stuff.” You turn to the porcelain sink, is there anything here that doesn’t cost half my yearly wage…, a sigh escapes you as you wash the cup gently.

They stood there, dumbfounded. Was it stupidity, naivete? Or are you trying to tease Angel back, trying to get a rise out of them so they can finally confess their undying love to you and then you would fold your arms around them, announcing that you’ve been waiting—nay fantasizing over this scenario!! Oh how much you yearned for Angel, unable to make a move in fear of rejection! How cute you would be, Angel loved a soft lover, but they wouldn’t ever dream of wanting you to be anything other than yourself!!

As Angel dives deep into their weird fantasyland, you’ve already left right after excusing yourself from your coworker and saluting them goodbye, not like they were aware of anything other than their weird obsessive daydreams. 

You had to get back to the man of the hour, it’s been enough time for him to think through and recollect before you came bursting in demanding his confession or else things would get ugly, kinda like those bad cops in TV. You chuckle, never in a million years would you think of doing that to your dear friend, but it’s still fun to picture.

You pushed the door open, swinging it as you entered the room, looking around the room, for the man with the half red hair—only to freeze.

Where the fuck did he go?! You spun around analyzing every inch of the decorated makeshift interrogation room, irritation with a drop of fear filling your mind, a breath away from yelling out the news of your missing suspect.

Except there he was, hiding behind the door, that stupid ass smirk still on his face. 

“Redanis! You–!” Slamming the door you hit Red on the chest lightly as payback for the heart attack you just received, “You can’t scare me like that smartass! What if it wasn’t me, what if it was my captain, hm?! Go sit down!”

Red laughed at your display of panic and fury, raising his hands lazily in surrender, “Aw come on, you really think I can’t tell who’s who? Remember I have magic and the sense of a lion. Rawr.” He playfully teased as he slowly sat down on his chair, not before he pulled your chair back, offering it with a little showy flourish as though he was your own knight in shining armor.

Sighing, you rubbed your temple as you slid into your seat, your entire body aching after spending hours in this stuffy palace, “Red…” Another sigh, this time it felt like your soul slipped out as you did, “Listen. Now’s not the time for jokes, I’ve got some noble family up my ass and down my throat over this and—”

“I can take care of them for you.” He cuts you off, but you don’t entertain it.

Ignoring him, you continued, “I need you to cooperate, I need the truth, and I need you to listen to me like you used to. This is stressful, I know, and Siolis being here doesn’t help, does it?” Red tenses at the mention of his younger sibling, blood probably boiling, “I know neither of you do it, you’re a snarky bitch and that’s as far as it goes with gossip girls like Lady Zainab.”

Red flinches, “Wha–! Hey!” He’s offended because it’s true, you’ve never seen someone so catty and sardonic, the moment anyone speaks out of line about him or his sibling his tongue becomes sharp and hurtful. Much like the one time you caught Evan sobbing in the evidence locker after he apparently talked smack about Siolis. Red wasn’t even in the room.

“It’s true and you know it! I–I don’t want to see you or Siolis in jail, surprisingly you two Shikos are keeping this country from falling apart, and—” You disabled the mic in the room, “We both know Nia will let everyone and everything use and walk all over Xelera until we become bottom of the barrel—” You turn the mic back on, “Oops, elbow must’ve pressed it.”

Regardless of the hearty nature of your last sentence, your face stood still and serious, begging and pleading with Red to work with you, to ease your worries over him. You needed his cooperation, even if he hated your line of work and colleague, you needed your friend—not the partner in crime you’re used to, not the criminal you had to interrogate—no, you needed Redanis son of Miannis Adonis. The more compassionate side of him.

God, you’re good… Managing to get connections in the police force using bribery was easy enough, but he somehow got you to fall for his charm and his cause, you understood him. You were logical, finishing his sentences when he couldn’t and doing what you could to screw with the cases against him even if you weren’t the primary detective. 

Redanis respected you, a lot. There were times where he’d crash by your couch, like he didn’t have a 4-story mansion, like Siolis didn’t live in a mansion, like he didn’t have any other choice but you. Never in his life had Red entertained the idea of falling in love with a human, but here he is, staring at your eyes that reduce him to mush. If only you’d seen what he’s done for you that he kept a secret.

The criminals he killed without triggering the police’s radar, those criminals that insulted you, and at times assaulted you. Red had threatened your landlord into reducing your rent by 40%, damn near killing him if Red’s right hand wasn’t there to calm him down.

“...You’re not as incompetent as the rest of the cops.” He let out quietly, voice low and soft, vulnerable, his accent slowly slipping into his speech. You sat silent, forcing him into talking more, “I… I did see something strange. I was talking to a friend, she called me there after we talked a few weeks ago. She wanted to be a customer of my alcohol business, and a big one at that.”

He sighed, pausing for a second to collect his thoughts. God, that stare of yours is making him nervous, not the type of nervous a criminal is, but the type of nervous when your crush is drunk and all over you. Choosing to wear these big ass jeans today was so lucky, shit.

“We were talking and I saw someone scaling the damn walls, I opened the window to look and there was no one there. I’m pretty sure they were scaling the walls to get to that room.” Another pause, you leaned in close, the scent you wore today enveloping Red and his already raging hard on as he shifted in his seat.

“I know what I saw, sarge, I’m not crazy. They were wearing full black garb, baggy, and really tall. Like taller than Siolis, trust me.” You quip your eyebrow up, not convinced at all. He lets out a small laugh, “Nothing gets through you, huh? Like 5 foot 10 maybe higher. I couldn’t tell their build all that much but they’re in between lean and muscular. Face was covered, by what? No clue, you can check my alibi though, there were cameras in the east hall of the northern exit, that’s where we talked.”

You scribbled everything down, “And who’s the woman?”

“...Lady Olaya Ahmad.” You gaped, head springing up, as you stared at Red. The Ahmad family were strongly against alcohol and the likes of it, they always made fun of and critiqued anyone they saw drinking it. Weird that the lady of the house is making business with Red Adonis, an alcoholic drinks manufacturer.

Eventually everything was wrapped up, you gave Red as big a hug as you can for the assistance, narrowly avoiding the issue he had in his pants that you were still thankfully unaware of. Red was escorted to the bathroom by a cop since he desperately needed it but he’ll be in a separate waiting room to the other suspects while you check for his alibi.

You called for the officer in charge of gathering evidence, trying not to let impatience and annoyance bite into your tone. I should’ve been told if there were cameras… You asked him politely, or as politely as you can be when annoyed, if he had checked the cameras yet.

“Huh? No, there are no security cameras in the palace? Or is there?”

Confused, you thought over it a little. Who knows everything about the palace–inside and out–like the back of their hand… Siolis Adonis, they’ve been working here for 7 years, and if anyone would know, it would be the Queen’s right hand.

You didn’t bother with bringing them to the interrogation room, only dragging them by the surprisingly lightly muscled bicep away from prying ears. They seem like they’re strong enough to drive a knife into a woman’s chest… You noted.

“Apolgies, Chief Adonis,” You nodded as you left them go, they were facing you now, posture as perfect as it always is, black irises staring at you inquisitively, “Ahem, do you know if there are cameras in the palace? Specifically ones in the uhh… Northern exit door East hall? Oh and are there any on the exterior of the palace, like the perimeter walls and entrances?”

Unlike their older brother, Siolis was immediate in their response, “Yes, Sergeant, we have hidden cameras all about the palace for security measures. There are two cameras in the area you mentioned.” Their response was measured, tone steady, almost as if they expected this question as soon as they were detained. “However I didn’t order many cameras on the outside of the palace, only at the exits and entrances. I ensured a lack of blind spots regarding the camera’s points of view.”

They reached for their pocket instinctively, only to curl back in annoyance once they felt an empty pocket and the reminder of the search that ended with them not having any of their items. Why did you people take my belt, that I’ll never understand.

Siolis sighs, while their expression is steady, you can feel the air of offense thicken around you, “I apologize, the keys to the camera room aren’t in my possession, they would be with Officer Steed if I remember correctly. You won’t be allowed in without a card… Take my Identification card, if they say anything threaten them… or whatever it is you do.”

There was something snide in the way they said the last few words, like Siolis knew exactly how you and Red operated, as though they were aware of your criminal partnership with their older brother.

You pouted, you’re no better! You do the same things I do, damn.

Still you mustered up a kind smile, as you nodded at their tall and lean figure, “Appreciate it, please follow me, Chief.” You managed a kind and bureaucratic tone. Arm extending as you lead them back to the detention room, which was again, way too pretty and extravagant.

Each step you took tapped on the marble floors of the palace, each step you take from now on will either lead you to a breakthrough, or break through your record and give you your first cold case. You won’t allow it, you refuse to fail your chief, this case, and the families affected.

If those cameras had anything you were about to find out. There’s the chance you’d have to erase the footage, or use it against the criminal to bring them to justice.

Red wasn’t the only one you’re willing to commit crimes for to protect, he is waiting for you, and you abhor the idea of seeing someone you love so much stuck behind iron cast bars.

Taglist: @randomlyappearingartist. Send an ask or comment to be part of the taglist, thank you!

Fingers trembling violently around the fabric of your shirt, shoulders locked and tense as if bracing for impact, your lungs refusing to pull in anything more than slow, shallow, and fractured breaths.

You had quit, walked away from the life of dangerous missions, the blood and detached almost clinical mindset the League of Xeleran Spies needed to complete the most body and mind consuming missions possible. Yet, the moment that voice crackled through the serene air of the palace, something old and deeply engraved within your very bones came up.

Finish the mission. Neutralize the threat. Leave without being noticed.

The instinct surged up so violently through your blood you almost gagged, your vision clouded with impending panic as adrenaline surged through your blood, your boots slamming on the beautiful marble flooring of the halls.

You shoved past your colleagues and subordinates alike, eyes and mind completely laser focused on finding Gen before she even tries to lay her rough and violent hands on your officers.

Someone cussed at you; another tried to grab your arm. You tore free without even properly registering the people around you, hand instinctively settling on the handle of your gum, thumb pushing the safety off. If it had to come to it, you’d gladly shoot her down to save your officers.

Chief of Military Gen Ludenhart. Once, she had been composed. Measured in speech, gentle in posture, her authority resting in quiet confidence than fear. Veterans used to describe her as patient, the kind of leader who listened before she commanded, who gentle cared for her troopers and worried over them as though they were family.

But that was all before the Fate-defying War of Xelera, before the forest turned into a graveyard of unmarked graves, of heroes with no one to properly identify them.

You weren’t there, but you’d seen the news, the reports, assassinated a few Estonian mafia members, but never the actual war. Entire platoons of Xeleran soldiers had been torn apart in the underbrush, uniforms drowned so thoroughly in blood that fabric and flesh were barely recognizable.

The Estonian arm had advanced with brutality, cutting through our defenses like they were but sheets of paper. By the time reinforcements had arrived, Gen’s unit had been reduced to a fraction of its original size––friends and comrades ripped to shreds in front of her eyes.

Only a handful of Xeleran soldiers remained standing, and they shouldn’t have been.

After numerous medical assessments, the medics later stated that several of them had sustained injuries incompatible with life. Wound that should’ve had them begging for life, death imminent. Bullets laid deep within their bodies, lacerations and cuts so deep it was impossible to stop the bleeding. Yet the ones alive stayed up, guns shattering through the air, broken swords being used regardless of usability, and arrows used as knives.

By some twisted miracle, the remaining Xeleran forces, fueled by something beyond desperation and fear, shot down enough of the Estonian forces that their leader finally ordered surrender.

The Estonians underestimated the will of a person half dead yet refuses the grip of death, the type of soldiers the Xelerans were when death loomed over their innocent people. There was a certain danger that entered a human’s heart when their loved ones are even within miles of death and pain.

A Xeleran on their last breath would fight with teeth and bone if it meant their homeland remained untouched and safe.

They won the war, but they didn’t allow a single Estonian live past the warzone, lies flooded from their lips, a united front of a trauma bonded platoon, “They kept attacking us. Their surrender was fake. They tried to kill us. We killed them.”

But the Estonians were brutally executed by Gen, being chased and caught by the soldiers as one-by-one Gen went on to cut every Estonian down, limb to limb.

When the remaining Xeleran soldiers came home, they were hailed as heroes. They stood on polished podiums, medals glinting against clean uniforms that still somehow smelled of iron. Their faces were carved from stone, hands cold despite the summer heat, eyes stayed too wide, scanning through the crowd as if expecting gunfire to erupt from somewhere no one else was aware of.

Gen was promoted during that fragile window. When she was quiet, compliant, hollowed out with a shred of herself in her body. The former Chief had died defending their nation. Gen was the most decorated survivor standing, healthy on paper, brilliant in strategy. A symbol of resilience.

The Council needed someone of strength, and she was the strength of the nation. And thus, they placed the highest of authorities in her bloodied hands before she could even begin to understand what she had survived and done to survive.

Catastrophic mistake.

As the numbness wore off her bones, something far more volatile took its place. Gen began acting on impulse, her sword a permanent presence by her side. Threats slipped from her mouth without hesitation, then they began to ring true. She struck first and justified later, if she was bothered to justify anything at all. Her body moved before thought, violence became her very being, and in her mind, there was always a reason. She is the most decorated soldier of the Xeleran Army.

But when it comes to you? The edge of her sword dulled, if slightly. The tension in her shoulders eased in your presence. Her expression lost that rigidness, voice lowering into something almost careful, as though you were glass and a decibel above the normal range would break you.

Yet Chief Gen seemed to take pleasure in humiliating you. Flirting away to your face, touching you when you wouldn’t respond, lewd comments flying from her mouth the moment she realizes her previous flirtations garnered no reaction from you. Her hands always somehow on your figure, be it on your back or your head, she enjoys the discomfort of your face when she touches you, when her fingers brush past yours.

“Chief Gen!! W-Wait! I—” Your voice cracked as you pushed yourself forward, still thick with sleep and slightly tinged in fear, “I heard you asking f-for me. I’m here, so please let my officer go, she’s not part of whatever… whatever tantrum you’re throwing today.”

You sounded so small and pathetic, a thing rarely to come out from your mouth came about regardless. Shame and embarrassment burned hot at your cheeks, though you cannot flush with red, you can still feel the heat begin to make you sweat. Your mind was meant to be quick and efficient, able to process things in seconds and responding with the sharp edge a spy is meant to have. You don’t tremble for goodness sake!!

And yet, when your eyes met the deranged green hues of her own, it was as though your entire body ceased to function properly. Alarm bells sounding off in your brain as your heart begins to pound violently against your chest, hand shivering with fear as a twisted smile formed on the woman’s face, her slightly yellowed teeth twinkling under the bright light of the imperial halls.

It was only then that you noticed the officer Gen had lifted by the collar. The woman’s boots dangled and struggled uselessly against the air, trying her best to kick at the deranged psycho almost choking her yet to no avail. And without warning, Gen released your officer. With said officer crumpled to the ground in an undignified heap, the sharp crack of impact echoed.

You focused back on Gen as she took a step towards you, her expression getting creepier the more she crept near you, her big boots slamming against the marble floors without a care in the world.

“There you are!” She drawled, voice rough with amusement, “I’ve been lookin’ for ya. What the fuck is taking so long, hm? You’ve already dismissed every other irrelevant cunt in that holding room, why not me?”

With every word exiting her mouth, she stepped closer to you. Her broad frame swallowed the space between you, blocking out your officers behind her. You could feel their fear trembling through atmosphere, but none of them dared to intervene, not against Gen Ludenhart.

You stepped back carefully, in tune with her own steps. You hated that you knew the exact limit––how many steps you could take before she eerily noticed the retreat and interpreted it as violent rejection. She’d violate your space so often that you’d memorized exactly what to say and do to minimize the damage she’d cause regardless of whether she was in a good or bad mood.

A strained smile stretched across your face as you force your body to relax, forcing your pulse steady. Pretending that every encounter you had with her didn’t feel like a coin toss between survival and disaster.

“Ah, I apologize for the long wait. Er, we had to go down from most likely to least likely, and…” You gulp almost comically, not believing in what you’re gonna say but needing to say it regardless of if you valued the lives of you and the people around you, “Don’t tell anyone but I–I truly don’t believe you did that. So, I had to prioritize our other suspects.”

The way Gen’s smile only broadened at your flattery only spiked your already high heartbeat, not in adoration but utter fear of the fact that she could turn that smile upside down and strike you where you stood with the dullest of items.

She’s conventionally attractive, sure, but if she weren’t fucking deranged, I might’ve been able to feel butterflies in my stomach. You thought, entire body tense with a wild range of emotion, completely unaware of the man sprinting a distance away from the two of you, hardly able to catch up with your speed.

Is that…? Evan thought, his eyes squint at the sight ahead of him, vision blurred without his contacts. He’d taken them out before collapsing into that short, heavenly nap with you, never expecting to wake up to the chaos of Chief Gen. But even through the haze, her immediately recognized your silhouette, you were stiff, rigid, and the towering figure ahead of you was almost leaning over you in the creepiest way possible.

“…––eally, I’m so glad you think I’m innocent, because I really haven’t a clue who the victim was nor do I care to find out!” Evan heard Gen boom out, her laughter obnoxious and loud as she mocked Lady Zainab.

As if you don’t kill random people, psycho! The though flashed through both of your minds at once, as Evan caught up, his hand landing on your shoulder as he panted with exhaustion. He could feel you relaxed under his touch, allowing yourself the moment to take a moment and appreciate that you at least have your greatest ally right beside you.

A mutual look of anxiety and determination was shared between the two of you, both agreeing to back the other up if it ever came to it, and to shoot the manic woman down even if it didn’t come to it. A running joke between the two of you of course, you’d be imprisoned immediately after, and she’d somehow still be alive with the sheer bitterness in her heart reviving her.

Gen noticed the sudden appearance of Evan, and the following calm of your form in result of your puny friend, she scoffed, the smile that graced her face previously wiped off as she noted your appearances.

Her gruff voice spoke up, displeasure clear within her tone as she spoke loudly, “Why the hell do you two look like you just had sex?”

Silence.

Complete silence from every police officer in the vicinity.

You were completely frozen, eyes blown wide, and mouth hung open as your entire body stays exactly how it is.

On the other hand, Evan was also completely still, but he was glowing red instead, body going up in temperature and the hallway feeling as if it had rose up a couple degrees as Gen stood confident, as though she hadn’t said the worst thing the 63rd precinct had heard.

The due of the precinct. The pair who bickered constantly, who rarely agreed on anything without a big blowout fight. The two tangled in an unspoken rivalry even since you’d gained your positive that was morally supposed to be Evan’s–– only for him to be assigned as your partner in what everyone agreed was the pettiest decision the department has made thus far.

You were overjoyed at the prospect of having your childhood friend be your partner in most of your cases, trying your hardest to blend into the work environment, but the wound was too fresh, and you were isolated for a short while. Of course, given your previous occupation, charm was your sharpest weapon, and you won everyone’s hearts eventually.

So, hearing Gen so unabashedly say something about the two people half the unit see as their mentors is strange, so to say.

“No! W-What the he–– Gen, we were sleeping on two separate couches! You––Ugh, Gen, I hope you’re aware of how weird that was! We’re coworkers! Case partners! You’re just… so hard to even moderately tolerate!” You blurted out, barely holding your composure together, absolutely sick and tired of how undeniably creepy Gen is.

You weren’t done, no, far from it, “Gen, if you think implying that I’m having some sort of twisted sexual affair with my coworker and childhood friend is going to make me attracted to you, then you know nothing about me.” You huffed, amping up to dish out more as you took in a deep breath.

“You have been harassing me since I’ve got my job, and I haven’t had a single peaceful moment when you’re around because I’m always stressed that just one wrong day will make me experience something awful at the hands of the most unpredictable and wild woman I’ve ever come to know. You need therapy, and you need it desperately or soon enough not even your poor fucking brother will stand to be near you.”

Releasing a long, shaking breath of relief, you wiped your forehead as a migraine already began to make itself clear behind your eyes.

Barely any sleep, exhaustion, and endless overthinking for a cold case had worn you thin. To the point where your usually composed nature crumbled apart at such a small and pathetic comment such as that.

Meanwhile, Evan stood frozen, shock written across his face, but also… awe and attraction. The confidence you displayed even at the face of adversity, completely exploding on the woman for months of inappropriate behavior, made his chest tighten and his stomach flutter with butterflies. The blush spreads further across him only strengthened.

None were aware of the shadow behind you and Evan, the officers all unable to see either of you through Gen’s frame, and Gen looking down to the floor, her expression strange in a way where you couldn’t tell if she was ashamed or gearing up to beat the shit out of you.

You took in a deep breath, trying to calm your stomach down as bile rises to your through when you realized what you had just done, what you had just done to a very remarkable and connected woman, my life is over…

Suddenly, a soft masculine voice spoke up from behind you and Evan, spooking the both of you as you turned to him, the officers behind Gen’s peaking through her legs as they notice the booming figure of Chief of Police Grim Ludenhart.

“Had I known that my sister had been harassing you for so long, sarge, I would’ve done something sooner. I apologize for that, first and foremost.” Grim huffed, his arms crossed and an actual look of shame crossed over his elegant features, his silver eyes filled with sorrow and guilt.

Horror encapsulated you, eyes widening as you went to say something, anything to make the situation any better, yet nothing left your gaping mouth, trying your hardest to better a situation already too grim for you to do anything about it.

Grim raised his hand, waving you off as he continued, “No, it’s alright, sergeant, it is mine and Gen’s shame to carry, I truly am sorry.” He sighed, eyes pinched tight as he rubbed his chin in disappointment, “I’d like to have a moment with my sister, please.”

All you could do was open and close your mouth like a fish out of water, guilt riddling your very being as you could only mumble out a weak ‘Yes sir…’ before shuffling away with Evan on your heel, hand wrapping around your shoulders in comfort as he brings you in close.

The two of you didn’t go far as Grim called out to you once again, his voice quieter more resigned, “Oh, and let me take this case from your hands onwards, I’d like to interrogate my sister by myself. Thank you for the hard work you’ve done thus far.”

You and Evan share a look of certain disbelief, aware of how every interrogation that involves Gen goes and how exhausted he looks right after. Grim unfortunately has to be on every case that involves his sister, aware of every move, already having predicted whether she was the culprit or just there coincidentally.

She was never innocent.

“Yeah, that’s alright. Er, thanks, Grim, good luck.” Evan muttered from beside you, his hand gripping your shoulder as he sent a soft reassuring smile towards Grim, regardless of how jealous Evan was of Grim, there were some parts of the Chief’s life that he will always pity, one of them was being adopted by the Ludenhart family and never knowing who or where he originally came from.

The man doesn’t look Xeleran at all, silver eyes, blue hair, those boxy eyes of his, none of it originated from Xelera, nor Estonia, nor any country anyone could think of. His appearance was unique and his size was nothing to laugh about at a whopping 6’8 feet (cm) and the build to pummel anyone down with his fists alone, the man’s physique was not of this Earth, Evan was sure.

It’s been 2 hours since Grim had taken over the case, he still sat in the makeshift interrogation room with Gen, still grilling her for any information on the case, his voice raised at times so loudly it’d echo through the hallways. There was a full blown Ludenhart argument in the interrogation room and no one wanted to be part of it.

Meanwhile, you and Evan sat around the palace’s breakroom, gossiping and sipping on the expensively delicious cups of coffee the palace cooks graced the two of you with.

“No, no, you don’t get it Evan! I saw the footage with my own eyes and handed it to evidence, Redanis was nowhere near the scene of the crime and has a solid alibi, you’re just bitter about how you broke your nose twice trying to make fun of him!” You laughed, eyes twinkling with pure joy for the first time today, your hand grasped at your stomach with the way Evan sputters in attempt to defend himself.

“W–What?! No! You’re just trying to defend a criminal! Come on, the hell do you see in that guy?!” His voice boomed, a smile on his face regardless of how jealous he was, although he wanted your eyes to focus on him alone, his hand slithered its way to your shoulder, softly grabbing it as he gently pushed you back and forth.

You sighed softly, face at ease with the relaxing atmosphere and joyous conversation you’re having with your best friend, hands wrapped around the mug of perfectly warm coffee as you leaned into Evan side, completely oblivious of the surging heat across his face and the hand hovering above your back.

“…Y’know what,” You said softly, eyes trained on the swirls your coffee makes as you move it back and forth, “this is nice, I just wish this isn’t happening at the exact time of an ongoing case. Which we have absolutely no leads on, and the last suspect is denying everything, as if she has the self-control to resist murder.”

You scoffed, brain whirring with every possibility of how the case could go wrong, of how the case could completely fuck you over and your newly found career. A career that’s been treating you better than the last, with fair pay and caring coworkers, you couldn’t help but grin, subconsciously burrowing yourself further into Evan’s chest, his soaring heart rate only soothes you.

You assumed it was due to the unlimited coffee supplied to the unit, but in fact, it was all due to the unbelievable soft and warm body of yours pressed against his, your back to the solid mass of his torso as he tried to say something suave and attractive, yet his voice betrayed him, without a single sound escaping his mouth aside from the breath of relief.

The both of you sat there for a while longer, embraced in each other’s warmth as the clock ticked by and the soft hum of the refrigerator kept you company, your legs crossed over one another as you contemplate the case, mind busy with potential things you’d overlooked, a suspect not accounted for, a speck of blood that may change the course of the scene entirely.

Another sigh escaped you, your hands playing with the handle of your mug, eyes downcast and unfocused, but then––

“Sargeant––!!” An officer yelled out your name, his voice muffled from the distance he was from the breakroom, you jumped off Evan, mind scattered as you answered with a loud grunt, body uncooperative as you fumbled around, completely confused on who and where this person called you is.

“Detective Mann!! Sarge––!!” The officer, Officer Renly, shouted, his body crashing through the door of the breakroom, his hair messy and his expression panicked, “W-We found another suspect!!! He was caught trying to scale up the building! Quickly, come on!”

And Grim asking such a question so shamelessly just because he’s the chief of police? As attractive as his audacity is, you cannot give him the time of day right now.

You hiss, face apologetic as you look at him with pity, “Oooh, nope. So sorry Chief Grim, but I can’t give you any information on an active case, especially given that you’re a suspect at the moment."

Grim chuckles before letting you go, his head dipped downwards as he gazed at the floor as he rubs at his stubbled chin. Forgot to shave, I guess... Yum.

And when he looked back up at you, grey eyes narrowed, expression stiff with impatience, and tongue darting to his lips. Who put a stick up his a—.

"That's good,” Grim says slowly, “Good as in you won't tell a suspect any information about an ongoing case but I wouldn't have thought my 'title' as suspect outweighs my position as Chief of Police. Your Chief of Police."

Grim's uncharacteristically strained tone interrupted your train of thought, his hands flying toward his hips as he stared at you like you're the greatest obstacle in his way, eyes scanning your own for any information he could possibly gather. But unfortunately for him, no one can outdo an ex-spies acting, unbeknownst to him.

You smiled again, face looking at him like he just broke down about how his mommy wouldn't give him allowance this week since he's been bad.

"Again, sorry Grim, doesn't work that way, you know better. But..." You leaned in, face next to his as you whispered directly into his ear, your hand settled on his shoulder to properly reach him, "Right now, there is nothing to point to Gen doing any of this."

You felt it immediately—the way his muscles loosen beneath your touch, his breath of relief brushing down your neck as you smile up to him, still in his face and desperate for some sort of reciprocated physical affection, hands squeezing his shoulder to reassure him as you decide to finally let go.

I have no chance... Love me asshole!!!

"That's... That's great, for now.” He mumbled, word heavy and defeated. “Sooner or later it's gonna turn out to be her and I'll have to deal with it again. Fuck."

Grin exhales sharply as he all but slams his back against the wall, the painting nearby rattling from the sheer force of his weirdly aggressive relief. Grim’s hands thread through his grey-blue hair as frustration spills out of him in waves, silver bracelets glimmering under the palace’s warm lighting as if mocking how powerless he felt.

You chuckled softly, shifting to lean against the wall beside him, eyes roaming freely now, tracing the defined lines of his arms, the tension in his shoulders, the exposed bit of his neck that makes your thoughts drift somewhere they shouldn’t go near.

"Yeah, well.” You shrug lightly, voice deceptively nonchalant, “Would it really be so awful to let her taste the consequences of her actions once in a while? I'm running out of ways to destroy evidence here, Grim." 

No you aren't, you have many ways.

"And honestly? If you let her sit in a cell for even a day, it would be a nice change of pace! You could go out on a date or something."

You don’t bother pretending as though you were joking, you never do. You desperately need him, and yet he remains completely oblivious, every touch, every flirtation shrugged off under the conditions of friendship, those are platonic and harmless gestures to Grim. It’s just your luck to fall for a man who hasn’t a clue how dangerous his presence is for you, and of course the fact that he’s rich, influential, and part of the highest nobility never helped your case.

"I... I can't lie,” He admits, voice quieter now, “I've been thinking about it. If she did this, I don’t think I could protect her anymore. There won’t be a secret door out.” He lets out a weak laugh, head dipping in shame, “It’s just… Ah, never mind.”

You watch him carefully, the way shame and guilt tightens around his shoulders, the way his adam’s apple bobbed up and down in remorse, swallowing his own words to deny his own thoughts, terrified that if he dared to admit that he’s exhausted of caring, denying, protecting his sister who at the end of the day looks at him with malice and violence.

"It's just that you never expected to see your sister like this, right?"

He whipped his head to you, expression full of surprise and slight wonder. Grim's mouth was open as he stared at you, hands flitting to cross each other as he awaits an explanation.

"Come on, don't make that face,” You scoffed, “You know I'm good at reading people. What happened to her isn't your fault, Grim. She... You need to realize that every choice she makes is conscious, her bad attitude and rudeness is an effect of the war, not the sole reason. She can be nice and kind, but she doesn't want to, we've all seen it. Who she was before the war doesn't excuse who she chooses to be now."

And oh how you loved him, adored your own boss, but this is the sole part of him of which you can’t stand.

The way Grim keeps allowing Gen to do whatever she so desired because he’s drowning in his own form of guilt, because he couldn’t be there beside her as a soldier, because if it hadn’t been for his chronic illness he would’ve died fighting against the Estonians, right next to his sister. But guilt doesn’t reverse the wrongdoings of a hurt woman, and it sure as hell doesn’t absolve a grown woman’s crimes.

Gen is mentally ill, Gen is unwell, and Gen needs help. But Gen shouldn’t be allowed to do such heinous things just because she's traumatized. Murder, assault, hate speech. Every case with her in it makes you dread the entire week. And her unnerving crush on you doesn't fucking help at all.

The gentleman beside you sighed, his breath uneven as he refused to look up at you, ashamed he was to constantly let others down. If only he could be ashamed of allowing an unstable woman to take a high position of power and brushing any wrongdoing under the rug, 

"Yeah. You're right, but if I hold my sister accountable, who will she go to when she needs someone? I'd have betrayed her."

"Grim, you're acting like she's a child. I think she'll live." 

You rolled your eyes, as much as you adore the soft haired man ahead of you, how he acts about Gen pisses you off to undeniable degrees.

You straighten, eyes soft with sorrow for his own pain and Gen’s to an extent, hand stretched out towards him, "Anyway, I have to go, do you want me to escort you back to the holding room?"

Grim shakes his head as he finally looks you in the eye, face full of sorrow as he gauges for any emotion other than you deep seared hatred for his sister, "Is it really so bad to let an unstable woman do as she pleases? Is it so bad to let her have free will?"

As much as you feel for both him and Gen, you can’t stand by and listen to this self pity any longer. You’ve given him advice before, and you gave him even more advice now. The rest is up to him—the statute of your patience ends here.

“...You have the ability to think for yourself, Grim. You know the answer to that question.”

Another sigh escapes you as you pinched your nosebridge, eyes meeting Grim’s again, more tired now as you continued. “Listen, I want to finish this case as soon as we can, so… Let’s go, you’re being interrogated next.”

“Wait here, Lord Grim. I’ll be back with Detective Mann.”

Your voice echoes softly in the interrogation room as you speak, grip tightening around the golden doorknob while the weight of your earlier conversation hung over your head, energy completely drained, and migraine already pulsing through your skull. You needed Evan here, you need him to take control this time—you can no longer trust yourself to stay neutral.

Grim nodded, his hands grasping against each other nervously as he sat down on the chair across the table. A smile was sent to him, as tired as you were, you didn’t want Grim thinking you despised him.

The door clicked close as you turned to an officer by the door, “Hey, you know where Evan is?”

The officer shakes her head, arms crossed over one another in impatience, I feel you, I’m sick and tired of this stuffy palace too. You thought before thanking her regardless, regarding the other two officers stationed outside the interrogation room, then you turn on your heel, heading toward the small kitchen down the hall, again.

Looks like the forensics team’s left…

This time, you made sure to scan the area carefully for any signs of Angel, absolutely dreading trying to endure that strange, whiny nagging they like to throw your way. But thankfully, you’re spared by the familiar sight of Evan’s back, hunched over a small kitchen table, broad shoulders curled inward as his hand grips a chipped mug filled with a very sweet drink, from what you could tell.

This. This is your chance for revenge.

Only a disgraceful person would take advantage of a moment like this—catching a man off guard when he least expects it—and you’re more than happy to wear that title with pride if it means payback against Evan. Against the bastard who has, for years, perfected the art of jumping from the most niche and unreasonable hiding spots just to scare the living daylights out of you.

And today, it’s your turn. Years of spywork have trained your body into near silence, your steps light, movements controlled and deliberate—enough to spook half your coworkers regularly. Everyone complains about it lightheartedly, except for Evan. Never Evan, the one person who deserves it the most.

Slowly.

Painfully Slowly.

You inched toward him, Evan blissfully unaware as you lift your arms above your head, anticipation and joy curling around your chest tighter and tighter as the seconds tick by.

“Boo!”

You practically yelled as your hands came down hard on his back, laughter prematurely bubbling up as your grin stretches wide. Except nothing ever goes your way, does it?

Evan looked back, staring at you with those twinkling green eyes, indifference flooding his expression as he greeted you, “Hey, what did Chief Grim need you for?”

You scoff, your victorious smile immediately collapsing into a frown as you reach out, chest to his back as you pluck his mug straight from his hands, ignoring the way his fingers twitch in reflex before dropping useless to the table. You drag a chair back with your foot and sit down tiredly, shoulders sagging as you take a long and unapologetic chug of the coffee.

“Checking in on the case.” You said after swallowing, wiping the corner of your mouth with the back of your hand before setting the mug down between you and Evan, allowing him to take his own chug, “Of course, I told him I can’t say anything, but I did tell him we have nothing on the one.”

The department took to calling Gen ‘the one’ whenever it was needed, which was always, given her influence and how crazy she gets when someone speaks badly of her, many nicknames came about. You had enough remorse for her to stop your department from calling her anything worse.

Evan clicked his tongue sharply, leaning back in his chair as his lips pull into an unimpressed scowl, he’s been Gen’s number one hater even before the war, and her unsettling crush on you isn’t helping his distaste for her.

“Tch, yet, you mean.” He added pointedly, eyes rolling to the back of his head.

You huff out a dry chuckle and slumped further into your seat, fingers fiddling with each other as you blinked slowly, dead tired and in desperate need of a nap.

“Ha! Yeah, I want this case to be over with now, and if the one turns out to be our perp it’ll make the rest of this much easier. Just burn a bunch of evidence and we call it a day.”

Another inside joke, as insufferable and annoying Gen is, one good thing about her is how easy it is to get her cases closed, usually it would come out that she is innocent which is in fact always wrong. For every case she’s involved in it’s a 99% chance that she’s the perp.

A soft silence overtakes the two of you as you both take turns drinking from his mug, you too exhausted to make one for yourself, and him loving the fact that you and him have shared numerous indirect kisses.

Evan sighs as he leans into his chair, looking up at you as he relays the latest news, “There’s a fucking sea of reporters and papparazi outside. They’re all banking on Redanis being the perp, and they want Siolis out to tell them how the case is going.”

You leaned back, staring up at the ceiling, jaw tight with apprehension.

Them again. As much as you just love to speak with the press, their questions give you migraines like none other, and the fact that you punched a reporter in your first week. He was being an asshole and kept questioning your victim of torture, you couldn’t handle it and you still hadn’t settled into peace after your spy gig.

“Ugh, complete idiots. Why the fuck would we let a suspect go out and talk to a bunch of reporters how the case is going? You tell em’ anything?”

“Course not,” Evan replies instantly, snorting as he leans in, taking in another sip before continuing, “There’s a buttload of officers out there holding them back, and the palace guards basically barking at the reporters, was a beautiful sight, honestly.”

Another comfortable silence settles over the two of you as you sit there, both minds quietly spiraling back throughout the case as it has unfolded thus far, replaying every lead, every statement, every deadend, searching desperately for any blind spot—a missing detail, an overlooked suspect anything that could close this damn case within the hour.

If only it were that easy.

Evan sighed, “Who’s next?” 

You look at him—really look at him—for the first time in a while. If everything were to go to shit, Grim hates you, and you no longer have a chance, would it be so bad to use Evan as a rebound? Use him as a way to take revenge against Grim? It wouldn’t be fair to Evan, but it wouldn’t be fair to you either if Grim ever declines your advances.

Evan’s pretty easy on the eyes, thick dirty blonde hair up to the junction of his neck, a beautiful set of green eyes that capture you off guard too much for you to admit, he’s also pretty strong, you like that. You like the idea of your partner doing whatever they can do to protect you, and Evan would create a black hole if it meant you’d be safe.

“Sarge?”

His voice pulls you out of your lovesick spiral before it goes too far.

“Are you okay?” He asks gently, concern softening his features as he leans forward slightly. “ You can take a nap if you want, I can take over for you…” 

You cleared your throat, pushing yourself to your feet, and without fully thinking it through, you grabbed his hand.

“No, I’m fine.” You say softly, a gentle smile spread among your face, grounding yourself into the warmth of his skin. “Just… thought of something silly.”

You leaned forward, nose brushing his as you whispered to him mischievously, “Come on, we’ve gotta interrogate our chief next. How exciting.” 

You tug him up with you, still holding his hand as you walk down the hall together, steps falling into an easy rhythm side by side, and for a brief and selfish moment, you let yourself enjoy it. The simplicity and act of it, the soft comfort it brings you.

Right up until the officers come into view that you’re forced to let go. 

Still… It was very nice.

Evan, on the other hand, is very much not fine. His face a bright shade of red, heat encapsulating his being as his pulse spikes uncontrollably, sweat prickling at his skin from the unexpected but beloved act of intimacy, from the casual affection he had long since convinced himself into thinking he’d never receive from you.

And to Evan, this little walk with your hand in his, it was the greatest gesture of love he’d ever experienced. And he’d be damned to let Grim Ludenhart take you away from him, to just sit there and watch you fall in love with another man who has no clue what’s best for you.

It’s been two hours since Grim’s interrogation. You decided to let Evan lead the interrogation, sitting back and analyzing what was said back and forth, only speaking up to reinforce Evan’s questions. It went as well as you could expect, you didn’t think that Grim killed Lady Zainab at all, but now you’ve got concrete evidence in the form of camera footage of Grim sitting in the garden during the murder.

And now here you and Evan were, sprawled across separate couches in the staff lounge of the palace, catching whatever hints of rest you could before inevitably have to deal with Xelera’s closest equivalent to the devil.

“Who do you think you are?!?!”

You jolt awake with a sharp gasp, your heart nearly crashing its way out of your ribcage as you fling yourself off the couch, far too used to being awoken to gunshots and needing to run to safety as soon as possible.

Your vision swimming and limbs uncooperative, you gracelessly crashed onto the floor as panic floods your system.

“Wh–What?!” You sputter, scrambling upright as your eyes darted wildly around the room. “Evan–Fuck! Evan, wake up!”

You stagger toward him, knees still weak from sleep as you shake his shoulder hard, hastily wiping drool from your cheek while your discarded jacket that covered you previously is now lying forgotten on the floor.

Evan groans, blinking blearily up at you as he tries to bring himself back to reality, “What is it..?” He mumbles, voice stiff from sleep as you blinks slowly as you/

“Get up!!” You hiss urgently gripping his arm tighter than necessary. “I think Gen’s nearby.”

That does it.

He’s on his feet immediately—well, trying to— promptly tripping over his own feet and hitting the floor just as you did a while ago, the two of you stared at each for a half a second, wallowing in your mutual misery, hairs messy, eyes bloodshot, and bodies aching from the uncomfortable couches.

Laughter bubbles up despite everything, quiet and breathless, but it dies almost instantly as Gen’s voice echos again, louder, angrier.

“You will fucking let me go when I say so!!” She roars, “I am the Chief of Military Gen Ludenhart, first daughter of Amiele Ludenhart and successor to the Ludenhart name! I fucking risked my life for you people and this is how I’m treated?! Where’s the Sargeant?! Bring them here, now!!!”

Your stomach drops, Evan’s face is drained of any color as he looks at you, frozen somewhere between fear and disbelief. He lunges for the jackets, shoving yours into your arms and tugging it around your shoulders with shaking hands as he helps pull you upright.

“Shit!” He breathes, voice tight and panic clear, “She’s losing it. We need to—”

“I’m gonna fucking KILL YOU!!!!”

The scream slices through the air of the palace like a blade.