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thetorturedpoetsintern · 2 years

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The School for Young Assasins, pt III (the final part)

*credits for the drawing to @serpenera. Thank you for letting me use it!🤍

Note: I know it's been a while but I just couldn't write the ending right. Thanks to my burnout I got from coding daily for the past month and a half now I finally got to finish this story. And I hope you like it. Enjoy!🤍 tagging @smilingformoney and @astronova-00 to let them know that the story they showed interest into finally got its conclusion.

Warnings: to not spoil anything i'll say just death and a lot of talk about it and about suicide, also angst as hell. Again, if you're a maurader stan, this is just a work of fiction, James and Sirius take the role of Kurt and Ram, period. No massive editing, just raw material.

Part 1 // Part 2

“Put those back!” Veronica urged, looking panicked from left to right to check if anyone in the library heard or saw anything.

“So you’re familiar with them… All the better,” Severus smirked at her, putting the two pistols back in his school bag. He hunched over it, trying to fit them inside as they were before he showed them to Veronica.

“I’m not ignorant as others in the Muggle Studies class,” she whisper-shouted at him. Severus knew who those others Veronica mentioned. They were all those dunderheads that didn’t deserve to breath a second more, the ones he and Veronica would take care of. He could already imagine them two conquering the world from the shadows, two rogues against the system, always two steps ahead.

“But how are you going to scare them if you plan to kill them? Dead bodies can’t feel.” Veronica wanted for all this to be a dream but she could tell by seeing him so confident near her that this was all reality, his reality, their reality, her reality. Severus didn’t respond so she continued: “You already shot at them with blanks, that won’t scare them if you thought about it. Plus, where in Merlin’s name did you get them?” Her eyes met his school bag.

The guns, always the guns, why can’t she just go with the flow and thank me later? Always asking questions, too many questions, he thought.

“When you have a drunk, violent, and muggle father, you’d be amazed to see what one can find in the house waiting to be taken.” And it was true. Severus found one pistol in the bathroom of his father’s house. The bastard tried to take his life from the looks of it, and he couldn’t even manage to do the deed. Coward. One pistol turned into two with the help of a multiplying charm. You know what they say, you can’t make a killer if you don’t squeeze the trigger with your own finger. “And we’re going to use Ich luge bullets,” Severus added nonchalantly.

“Ich lu - What?”

“Ich luge bullets. The nazis used them in World War Two to fake their own deaths.” He could tell Veronica didn’t understand a word he said, but it was all good. It meant his charade would hold for long enough. “Muggle history. I didn’t expect you to know it. You’re pureblood after all. But thanks to them we can forge their suicide and make it look like a suicide pact. The bullets will leave them unconscious for some hours. It would probably damage some tissue but it won’t be anything deadly.”

“You’re sure it’s safe?” Oh, she was so delicious with her innocence. He would miss her once he turned her to his liking.

“Of course. Now, for the suicide scene. We shoot them and make it look like they shot each other and by the time they wake up, they’ll be the laughing stock of this school. And for the final piece, we need a suicide note.”

“And what did you have in mind?” Veronica asked, her face blank, with no indications of her true feelings. If you want to mingle with the predator, you have to act like one. Severus smiled when he noticed this and added proudly: “How about ‘James and I died because we had to hide our gay forbidden love from a misapproving world.’?”

“I can make it work,” she smirked at him. Veronica decided then to give him one more chance. If it turned out to be a messed up joke, fine, haha and move on, trying to make Severus see that the world wasn’t such a harsh place as he thought. But if it was the opposite, some cruel thing with consequences like the Heather Chandler accident, then it was goodbye.

And so they planned the encounter with James and Sirius for the remainder of their time in the library. By the time they each went to their common rooms, the note was written, the weapons distributed to both of them, and the lure set.

The lure consisted of a letter inviting James and Sirius to a menage a trois with Veronica in the forbidden forest, that night, at around 9. The letter emphasized this fantasy of hers and how shy she was about it until she gave it a second thought.

******

There they were. Both James and Sirius were facing Veronica in a moonlit clearing far from curious eyes. She tried to control her urge of fidgeting and biting her bottom lip nervously. She could feel the coldness of the gun’s barrel against her lower back and couldn’t think of anything else, no matter how hard she tried.

“Glad you could come!” Veronica managed as seductively as she could. “I’ll ask you each to step in the circle closest to you,” she said as they appeared on the ground with a wave of her hand. James and Sirius stepped inside without any fuss, too excited by the prospect of making the “once nerdy, now hot bombshell hanging with the Heathers” theirs. “Now strip for me!” They got rid quickly of their cloaks, shirts were discarded and when they got to their belts James raised his head, eyebrows meeting in a silent question, trying to make Sirius look at him.

“What about you, Veronica?” Sirius voiced the other’s query.

“I thought you could rip my clothes off of me, sport!” She gave them a reassuring wink. Veronica prayed for this to end soon. She felt sick, dirty, ashamed. What did she think she was doing so late after curfew? Playing good auror-bad auror with Severus in front of those two Hogwarts bullies? And with what purpose? So they could feel what the others felt in the presence of their “attention”?

Veronica was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by James. “What about now?” Yeah, what about now, Veronica?

“Now I’m gonna count to three. One…” Her right hand slipped under the cloak on the way toward her back. “...two…” Fingers found the cold metal of the pistol and curled around it. The air felt heavy in her lungs and seeing the eyes of James and Sirius gleem in excitement, her knowing what it’s going to really happen, didn’t help very much.

“Three,” a deep voice shouted from the sky. All three of them lifted their eyes, only to see a dense shadow floating between branches. A sudden explosion broke the silence, disturbing the forest, and making Veronica’s eardrums hurt, followed by a short flash of orange light that seemed to hit Sirius in the chest, knocking him unconscious. Creatures from the forest started to cry and run in a chaotic pattern.

“Now, Veronica!” The shadow screamed and Veronica remembered what she was supposed to do. Her fingers felt numb from squeezing the grip during the first gun shot and almost dropped the pistol when she released it from the elastic of her skirt. She pointed the barrel toward a scared and confused James and squeezed the trigger. BANG!

The bullet hit the tree left to James. His eyes were as wide as a niffler’s who was caught stealing and turned to run, forgetting his clothes and his wand on the ground near the circle he was in moments before.

“He’s escaping… Shoot him!” The voice was behind her now, but she couldn’t care less what he was saying. She let a wild laugh leave her parted lips.

“Did you see him? His eyes?” Veronica asked, turning to face Severus. His face was livid with anger, eyes hunting for a glimpse of James. She stilled her laughter, the worse things now coming in the front of her mind. Then her head turned to Sirius’ limp body on the ground, a thin trail of blood smearing the right corner of his mouth, a bullet wound ornating the left side of his chest like a morbid, wild rose.

“I’ll catch him. Stay here!”, and he rose up into the air, disappearing in the night in the direction James ran.

“Sirius! You’re alright, aren’t you?” There was once more silence in the clearing, too much for her liking. “Sirius!” She pleaded again, this time shaking him gently in the shoulder with the tip of her foot, pistol still in her hand. But he didn’t open his eyes, his chest didn’t rise and fall with the hint of breathing. He remained stiff in the same position he fell, on his back, arms by his side, mouth half open in shock. Veronica didn’t need anymore hints to know he was in fact dead. Ich luge bullets… How could she be so stupid?

From deep inside the forest the sound of another gunshot came to her. This is it. He’s done it. He lied to me, he used me. He killed them. Who could he kill now? It’s me. I know too much. It’s gonna be me. Severus is going to kill me.

“Problem solved,” Severus panted from behind her, reaching for her shoulder. He gave it a short squeeze and went to search in her school bag. “Now let's leave that note somewhere and get out before Hagrid decides to investigate what those sounds were,” he said as he rose to his feet, the false suicide note in his hand.

Severus went to Sirius’ body and left the note near him, then grabbed the pistol from Veronica’s hand and put it in Sirius’ right hand. “I left mine with James.” As if this was soothing for her or something. “Let’s go!”

He grabbed her waist and flew them to the wooden bridge where no one would think to look for them and where they could celebrate their success. At least that’s what Severus daydreamed.They landed and as soon as her feet felt the hard wood under them, Veronica tore his hands off of her and took several steps back from him.

“I’ll find my way to the Ravenclaw Tower by myself,” she mumbled, eyes fixed to the ground in front of her. “It’s pretty late, you should head back to the dungeons too before Filch or someone else finds you out of bed.” Veronica began to turn around but she was blocked by Severus’ hand grabbing her arm tightly.

“What are you talking about? I’ll take you there. I’m never letting you go, Veronica!” She flinched at his confession. She didn’t expect this of all things possible.

“Let me go, Severus! This is over. Us, whatever it was, it was over the moment you shot Sirius.” Severus let his hand drop from her arm and stared at her in disbelief. All he sacrificed for her, for them. Was she really that stupid? Was she really a dunderhead like the rest of them? No, not that. He wouldn’t have become so involved in this relationship if she was like the rest. He just made an error of judgment. Severus thought Veronica was ready for this, for his type of living, but it turned out she wasn’t. And he was left trying to fix what he had broken.

“You say it’s over but you’re wearing my cloak.” He smirked at her. Veronica was then aware of the fact that she indeed wore one of Severus’ green collared cloaks. He gave it to her after that night he made love to her in the clearing and she took it from her trunk because she looked for the comfort his smell provided before performing that sick joke to James and Sirius.

“Damn you and this cloak and me for not figuring it all out sooner!” Veronica shouted into the night, struggling to get the cloak off of her shoulders. In her confusion she didn’t notice Severus taking one step toward her. Veronica only felt his big, warm hands capturing her face. His thumbs were caressing her cheeks in up and down motions. She froze in place and stared at him in disbelief. Veronica expected him to scream at her, to jinx her, to throw her off the bridge, not coming at her with this tenderness that broke her heart.

“I love you, Veronica Sawyer! I may not be the pureblooded snob your parents want you to marry, but you're stuck with me, it seems.” Her cheeks were blushing. From his confession, from anger, from the temperature difference between the cold night and his hot breath on her skin. “All I did from the moment I met you, I did it for you. Heather hurt you, I took care of it. James and Sirius overstepped their boundaries again, I took care of that too.”

“You lied to me…”

“And I’d lie over and over again if I could keep you safe.” His eyes gleamed in the darkness.

“You call this safe?”

“Life isn’t fair and it bites you and chews that bit of you very slowly so it would hurt even longer. What we did is nothing more than assuring it won’t happen as often as before. We did a good thing. They won’t be able to bite, and spit, and mock, and torture just because they want to.”

“Severus, I don't see it like you do…” Veronica tried to escape his grasp once more but he kept her there, his fingertips finding their way to her hair.

“You’ll see. I promise you that, I’ll make you see,” and Severus brought her lips closer and crashed his against hers, searching for reciprocation. But all he found was reluctance. Veronica didn’t even touch him, let alone embrace him. He forced his mouth on her even more, eyebrows scrunched in concentration. He wanted to feel her passion too. It was there, Severus knew it, it was Veronica’s stubbornness that wouldn’t let it unfold. He broke the kiss and looked her in the eyes, searching for a clue of some kind. Severus found them glassy, and a little red from trying not to cry.

“Until then I don’t want to be near you again,” she breathed and ran away from him. It didn’t matter if Severus heard her, or understood her. This was about keeping the promise she made to herself.

Fine, of course, she is still influenced by the others. I should have thought about this before. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I need to end the others too. That’s how I make her see. I’ll bring quiet and peace in her life. I’ll eliberate her. Just wait, Veronica. I’ll come for you. His thoughts raced and he took off flying, going to the Astronomy Tower to think and plan all in the privacy the tower provided.

******

A few weeks passed by avoiding each other in the hallways. It was easier than avoiding the James and Sirius scandal anyway. Severus was right about one thing: they would end up being the laughing stock of the school. Rumors circulated among students more violently than wildfyre did, and as much as Veronica wanted to shout in everyone's face what the truth really was, she couldn’t because of Severus.

Severus? He was quieter than usual. He didn’t try to talk to her after that night, didn’t leave her notes. It was like she never met him in the first place. It worried her and comforted her at the same time. But nevermind Severus at this point. The NEWTs were approaching and Veronica focused on that when her mind forgot about him.

This and hanging out with the Heathers. Heather Duke took over after Chandler’s “suicide”. It wasn’t the same. Duke was more bossy and absurd than Heather Chandler. The perks of being chief popular I guess, Veronica thought. Did she bully Heather McNamarra to an inch of killing herself? Yes, she did. It was Veronica who stopped the Hufflepuff from doing something she couldn’t undo. Did she start gathering signatures for some school club or other, mocking and stalking and terrifying whoever dared to deny signing that piece of parchment? Yes, she did.

Veronica couldn’t care less about anyone at that point. Her thoughts seemed to keep bouncing to Severus. Will he come after me? I know too much. I know he’ll come after me, but when? How?

The day she sensed for the first time in a while his gaze on her through the crowd of students in the halls she panicked. Severus following her around did nothing but aggravate her state. This is it, she thought.

Everywhere she went, Severus was just around the corner. The panic turned to fear, who turned to dread, who turned into an idea. The only way he was going to let her be is if she was dead.

Climbing the stairs to the Ravenclaw Tower Veronica could still feel him behind her. Good, she thought, come and see with your own eyes.

That was the day Severus was going to let Veronica know about his big plan and drag her out, by force if necessary, to see and understand what he meant that night. He made his way after her to the Ravenclaw Tower, answered the riddle, and sneaked into the common room. It was deserted. All the better. It was lunchtime so most likely the other students were there, having their last lunch. He got to the staircase to the girls’ bedrooms and flew straight to Veronica’s room, avoiding the enchanted steps.

“Veronica, I know you’re in there, open the door!” Severus shouted through the wood, one hand turned into a fist that kept banging the door’s frame. “Veronica, don’t make me come in there. Just open the door and indulge me with your presence!” Silence.

Severus started to feel his stomach sink in an all knowing feeling. She’s behind that door dead. Veronica please don’t be dead, please. With a nonverbal spell he unlocked the door and entered. His knees were beginning to get weak and they buckled when he took in the sight of Veronica’s body hanging from a rope made of sheets. Her body was still warm and soft. Only if I acted earlier, she might still be alive. He let a quiet sob escape, a single tear tainting his cheek, before composing himself.

“I’m so sorry to find you like this, Veronica! It’s my fault in some way. You weren’t ready, I should have known that. But it’s too late now unfortunately. You know, I had prepared a surprise for you today. A gift one might consider. I planned to run away with you tonight after we watched the castle burn together. That was my surprise. Beside the gun I brought some explosives. From my father also. He’s a miner. I didn’t know what I would use them for when I took them. You gave them use. I do this for you. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Severus’ cheeks were wet with tears and his voice was nearly failing him by the end. He turned abruptly and left, shutting the door behind him.

Seconds passed like centuries, and Veronica’s muscles were sore from keeping herself up and making sure the sheets were loose enough for her to sneak shallow, hurried breaths. She let herself fall limp on the ground, her lungs burning for air and mind burning for explanations. So Severus was after her in a way, but not to kill her. He wanted to take her with him after…

“The signatures,” she exhaled, her mind running at a massive speed. Summoning her wand, Veronica ran from her dormitory in search of Severus. It might be too late to stop him, but at least she could look him in his eyes in their final moments in a silent cry of Was it worth it? as they burned to ashes.

******

The dungeons were the only place she had to search. By now all the other students and the staff were in the Great Hall for dinner which was what Severus looked for sure. To have all the victims gathered around in one place while he set up the explosives right under them. That’s what the signatures were for. A massive “suicide pact”.

“Veronica! You’re dead… I saw you dead!” Severus said, his eyes bulged in confusion. Veronica was in front of him, wand pointed straight at his chest. She got there while he was turned to grab a box of cables.

“You were mistaken, Sev-” he let out a tear at the sound of her nickname for him, “-and it seems to me you were mistaken since the moment I saw you.”

Severus’ soft expression turned into a frown.

“I wish your mom would have been a little stronger and would have stayed for you. I wish your dad was good to you. I wish you weren’t mocked and beaten in school and I wish those grownups saw what we all see, what we all face, what you’ve been through.”

“You know nothing of what I’ve been through!” Severus spat, still crying, though he didn’t know the source of the tears. He had his wand pointed at her too by then, his arm trembling slightly.

“You’ve told me enough of it. And they deserve to be punished, yes. They all wronged you, I wronged you too. But we don’t deserve to die. Life is a much harder prison than death.” Veronica was sobbing then too. All she’d been through these past months came back in that moment and turned into tears.

For a minute they kept pointing at each other with their wands, in silence broken only by their whimpers.

“You’re right, darling!” Severus said as he dropped the wand. With a slight move of his wrist the boxes of explosives and cables were gone. Veronica’s knees gave up then and let her fall to the ground, a relieved breath escaping her.

“Life is a much harder prison than death. I love you! Always!” She lifted her head only to see Severus’ black wand pointing at his head, a greenish glow at its point. “Avada Kedavra!”

“Severus,” she whispered in shock. Veronica didn’t have any power left but to stay and look at the lifeless body of her former lover. It might have started as a whim and a lie, but it ended how he always said.

A suicide.

#severus snape #snapedom #pro snape #severus snape x oc #snape x oc #young severus snape #snape angst #severus snape fanfiction #the school for young assasins

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aiden-png · 4 years

Note

Hyrule the baby detective?

ohohoho okay so.. I have three genres I like to write in my original lit: horror, scifi, and mystery. so I wanted to write a mystery for LU, multichapter and thoroughly outlined (partly because analyzing HSH was so much fun and I wanted to keep that going alkdfjkasdfj). so I came up with an idea for a crime mystery set in a vaguely 1890s ‘modern’ Castle Town city following apprentice detective Hyrule... I actually wrote a Lot for the first draft before realizing it was a bit too silly for my intent and I hadn’t outlined it enough to solve the sideplots I’d introduced while writing. so I scrapped this... 4? chapter first draft right before the climax and sat down to Really plot it out (I wrote this one in July I think lol)

I have a whole outline and I made a new setting: ‘modern’ university AU with a serial killer antagonist who takes an interest in Hyrule. I had so much of it planned out and I was hype to write it because the twist was amazing, which is the part I felt was lacking set up in the first try. but then classes started and I came up with another multichapter idea and started writing that instead, kinda.. oops!

so if I ever release a version of this fic, it’ll probably be an edited and finished version of the crack taken seriously first draft XD and I’m not sure if I’ll ever use the twist I came up with for the second version so I won’t share it, but it was Good omg.... I love adding twists into my multichapter fics, they’re so much fun aaa! :D

and I guess, just because I can.... have a (unedited and messy) snippet from it! :D

Hyrule was so nervous he’d managed to leave the office and board the subway before even opening the envelope. The envelope where the address of the client and time of meeting was… Hyrule sighed, carefully opening the clasps and peering inside. There was one tiny slip of paper and nothing else. Great. Hyrule pulled the appointment card out, squinting down at the scribbled address and-- oh dear, the meeting was in less than an hour! Hyrule’s eyes flicked around, only relaxing slightly as he realized he’d somehow managed to board the correct train.

He was a bit frustrated at the lack of information he’d been given, if he was being honest. A murder case typically had a name, some pictures, a report even when they got the call, but the card Hyrule held simply had an address and a name--Twilight. Odd name, but he didn’t really have room to talk, his parents had named him after a country after all.

The train arrived and Hyrule shuffled his way through the crowds at the station, climbing the stairs to find himself in the center of the historic district. Towering stone buildings lined the streets in streaked creams and greys, stained by coal even as most of the city moved to electric. The houses here were expensive and ancient and Hyrule knew the district was made of wealthy, private citizens more than anything else. People who preferred to keep their affairs under the table, tight-lipped and aloof, rude even. Hyrule lived in a dingy apartment, packed like a sardine in rooms barely big enough for a bed and stove. He felt small and out of place just standing in the street, suddenly aware of how cheap his white shirt and suspenders looked compared to the businessmen clad in full suits around him.

Hyrule rushed to find the building, glancing up towards the clock tower that rested in the building at the end of the street. Rows and rows of brownstones, all looking strikingly similar, before Hyrule found the bright red overhang of an apartment building, the address emblazoned on the cloth in gold script. He let out a small sigh of relief, still ten minutes ahead of schedule, and pulled open the grand wooden door at the entrance.

The interior was dark but spacious, high ceilings and sconces all fit with gas lamps that were out of use. There was a window at the top of the first flight of stairs, smudged and allowing a grey, watery light to pass into the foyer--the only light present. The right side of the hall held a built in alcove, a set of open mailboxes behind a desk and chair. An attendant sat in the dim light, head slumped forward on his chest, brown hair disheveled over his maroon uniform. Obviously asleep. Hyrule looked down at his note, up at the stairs, and quietly snuck past.

Two flights up Hyrule noticed a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling at the top floor, visible through the gaps in the alternating staircases. A small man was strapped to the rail and ceiling, grease and soot staining his shirt and hair pulled away with a green headband. Hyrule found himself on the fifth floor and peering at the precarious set up the man had constructed--or was he just a boy? He didn’t look much older than fourteen, but he was clearly hard at work, wires looped around his arms and clamps in hand as he converted the chandelier from gas to electric. The kid shot Hyrule a questioning look and he realized he’d been staring, quickly turning away and facing the hall ahead.

There were six doors, three on each side of the hall with tiny golden plaques adorning the wood with each apartment number. Hyrule winced as each step he took broadcast itself in loud squeaks, the maroon carpet rolled over the wood doing nothing to muffle them. Fortunately the apartment he was looking for was the first to his left, room 501, and he took a moment to check his pocket watch and take a few steadying breaths. Before he moved to knock on the door he heard the click of the knob, and a moment later the door tugged open to reveal a man dressed in a dark jacket with dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. They narrowed for a second and Hyrule felt himself stiffen in fear before the man grabbed his arm and pulled him in.

The door shut quickly, trapping Hyrule in the mysterious apartment with a threatening stranger and no escape. He almost considered trying to bolt before his eyes landed on the teen sprawled over the loveseat ahead, long blonde hair spilling onto the ground while his bare feet rested over the couch back. His left side was covered in a layer of streaking pink scars that pinched his eye slightly shut and twisted his mouth into a perpetual smirk. What made Hyrule pause however was the grin the kid shot him, warm and excited, and when he turned back to the other man he saw the tense posture had relaxed significantly.

“You’re from the agency, right?” the man asked, voice a bit tired and hopeful, like he’d been through this song and dance several times before.

“Ah, y-yes! My name is Hyrule, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Hyrule stretched out his hand and the man shook it readily, firm, and Hyrule felt himself begin to relax slightly.

“I’m Twilight. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll fill you in on why I called.” Twilight offered a small smile and Hyrule let himself be guided to sit in a high backed armchair opposite the loveseat. Twilight shoved the teen’s legs off the back and came to sit beside him as he readjusted into a cross-legged position, grin still wide on his face.

“I’m Wild by the way,” Wild waved, Twilight nodding somewhat resigned.

“It’s nice to meet you, Wild,” Hyrule nodded despite the odd name, smiling at the thanks Twilight mouthed at him.

“Alright, so,” Twilight huffed, crossing his legs and straightening his back. Hyrule perked up, pulling a notepad and pencil from his jacket pocket and flipping open to a blank page. “I didn’t say much on the phone last night because this is a… well, a sensitive case, let’s say.”

Hyrule hummed, curiosity easing his anxiety enough to shine through. “A murder, yes?”

Twilight winced and Wild snickered at his side.

“Yes and no…” Twilight shot Wild a glare. “See, it hasn’t exactly happened yet.”

Hyrule paused. Huh.

“So you heard that a murder is being planned and you called us to help prevent it?” Hyrule surmised, only to be met with more laughter from Wild. Twilight shoved him but the teen only hid his smile behind a hand in response.

“Not exactly,” Twilight sighed, and Hyrule noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes. “You see, we have this odd neighbor at the end of the hall, and--”

“Twilight saw the guy’s ghost in a dream and is convinced he’s going to be killed.” Wild cut in, ignoring the sharp glare Twilight shot his way.

“Well, that’s a new one.” Hyrule raised his eyebrows, taking in the giggling teen and Twilight’s tired expression.

“It wasn’t a dream, I saw him, or at least I think I did.” Twilight sighed, fixing Hyrule with pleading eyes. “It must have been a ghost because he just appeared out of nowhere in the hall, covered in blood, and told me to call the cops. I did, but when they arrived they said nothing was wrong and I must have been seeing things. But I have a bad feeling about it, something isn’t right. I just want to make sure the Old Man’s okay.”

“When was this exactly? Have you checked on him yourself?” Hyrule tapped his pencil on the notepad, mulling over Twilight’s words. This certainly was an interesting case, and while he wasn’t sure how much he could truly do to help, he understood what Twilight meant. Hyrule trusted his own instincts--a bit too much according to Legend--but they hadn’t truly led him astray yet.

“This was a week ago. I checked on him right after I woke up the next morning. He was fine, not a scratch on him, but something tells me whatever is coming for him hasn’t yet.” Twilight twisted his fingers together nervously and Wild’s laughter petered off. “I’ve been hearing arguments from his apartment. More and more strange people have been coming to visit, and at odd times of the night. I think he’s gotten himself mixed up in something, but he’s pretty stoic and keeps to himself. I just worry…”

Alright, so maybe this case wasn’t as straightforward as he’d been led to believe, but Hyrule wasn’t deterred. Twilight’s words shone with honesty and he realized that the man was likely on his last attempt to find help. No one in their right mind would believe this story, no respectable detective would take on such a case. So it was a good thing Legend sent him, because Hyrule had literally nothing to lose.

“I’ll help you,” Hyrule announced, feeling a swell of confidence as Twilight smiled and Wild shook his head fondly. “If what you say is true there is cause for concern. I can start interviewing those close to him and keeping tabs. If he’s in trouble, we’ll find out, and I can make sure he stays safe.”

Well, he could try, but that was beside the point.

“Thank you so much,” Twilight said, already relaxing. “You don’t know how many detectives I’ve reached out to. They all say I’m crazy or trying to pull a prank.”

“Well, I’m here now, and I’ll get to the bottom of this.” Hyrule replied with far more confidence than he had. At least Legend had taught him one thing--how to bullshit. “So, why don’t we start with what you know about this man…”

Twilight sat back in the chair, Wild getting up to make tea in the adjacent kitchenette. Hyrule readied his pencil, hands steady as his nerves eased.

“We call him Time.”

#genderfluid-puddle-of-soup #aiden writes #this fic is so fun aaaa I wish I'd just finished the first draft XD #oh well

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