Static Reflections: Book 1 of The M... - Chapter 54: Chapter 54

"So this case . . . ." Adrian said as everyone stepped into the hall. "It's really scary."
"Agreed," Nick nodded, sighing. "And I'm still trying to get over the last one."
"Yeah . . ." Adrian turned to the gray wolf beside him. His shoulders were broad, and he wore a judgmental look on his face. "So, this is my partner Dmitri. He's a wolf magician, as you can see."
Nick waved. "Nice to meet you."
Dmitri nodded. "Same. Adrian's told me more about you than I should know. I feel like I already know you."
"Well, ain't that something," Nick blinked, glancing at the rodent. "You didn't tell him anything like . . . that, right?"
Adrian smiled playfully. "In detail."
"ADRIAN!" Nick's eyes widened. The mouse winked, tail flicking.
"No, don't do that." Nick crossed his arms.
Richard shook his head. "I'm not following what you're talking about."
The hyena put his hands on Richard's chest. "Please ignore it."
"By the way, what happened to you when I was there yesterday? You totally conked out."
"Well, apparently, you already know I'm Patience." Nick sighed. Iwai had told them they could speak to anyone on the King case about their situation and who they were.
Adrian pursed his lips. "Yeah, we do. It's big news."
"I guess it's good everyone knew but me," Nick huffed. He pulled his coat aside, showing Tålmodighed's tiny sheath. "This sword appeared to me in a dream. When I woke up, it was real."
"That looks like a knife," Adrian pointed out.
"When I put it in the sheath, it shrunk down to that size. I also can't get it out."
"What? Lemme try." Adrian held his hand out.
"It won't work," Richard stated. "The weapon appeared to him now that he knows he is Patience. Only we can activate our weapons, but I gave up on mine."
Nick turned to look at him. "You said it was sitting in a closet?"
"It is, but I did try to activate it a few times. I couldn't figure out any of the times, so I just stored it."
"You didn't say that before," Nick muttered.
"Did you guys find anything in the room?" Dmitri asked, interrupting the conversation. "We shouldn't waste time standing in this hallway."
Nick gazed at the door. "We didn't. No diary or phone or anything."
"We didn't find a phone, either," said Adrian.
"Wait, you're not creature hunters." Nick's brows furrowed. "How are you investigating this?"
"No, but we are on the King case due to our level of power and prowess," Adrian explained. "You'd be surprised how good I am at combat."
"Attack magic is no joke," Richard nodded.
"The downside is a magic fight completely wears you out." Adrian waved them along, and they all began walking down the hall. "But I've always beaten Dmitri."
"Hmph. You get lucky," Dmitri mumbled.
"We also end up getting distracted a lot of the time," Adrian smiled.
"Please, no more." Nick stuck his tongue out. "If you didn't find anything in your victim's room, what do we do?"
"We'll have to do some more digging," Dmitri answered. "I think that Adrian and I should talk to the officers outside while you talk to school staff and arrange to talk with your victim's friends. You should talk to her family, too, to see if they noticed any weird behavior. Chances are, the Mortal Guard hasn't altered her memories yet, so you should do it quickly,"
"Are they going to make her forget that she existed?" Nick asked, rubbing his claws together.
"Chances are, they won't. I'm sure they'll make everyone forget that all of the suicides happened at once but keep the suicide aspect of the deaths."
Nick's stomach tumbled. "Mmm . . . That sounds like a tough call for us to make. Is there any way we can have someone else do it?"
Adrian raised his brow at them. "Are you two okay?"
Nick frowned. "Well, it's crazy that we seem to be the only sane ones. I just had my first case a few days ago, and the woman, Veronica, lost her son recently. During the case, she lost her husband, too. If we had just stayed. . . ."
Richard placed his hands on both of Nick's shoulders. "Nicholas is still getting over it."
". . . Didn't you go to Trauma after the mission?" Adrian asked.
"No . . . I think therapy is great and all, but I don't think I'd be over it after only two days. I had never seen anyone die before, and the husband, Jack, was chopped into three pieces!"
"Oh, yeah, that'll happen," Adrian stated. "Dmitri and I have seen some crazy deaths in our time."
"Sad ones, as well," the large wolf added.
Nick stared at them, bewildered. "That doesn't mean animals didn't die! Are you insane? How can you be so calm about this?! In fact, how can you be so calm about thirty suicides?! That's fucking awful!"
Richard squeezed his shoulders. "Nick . . ."
Adrian's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow. You were never this emotional before all this. I mean, it's not that it isn't horrible. We've just been around this bend a few times and seen a lot of deaths. It will never not be horrible, but I'm past the point where I break at every life lost."
Dmitri nodded. "Police have to do the same. They stay calm in intense situations and paramedics in deaths that were caused on purpose or by accident. They have to put personal feelings aside and just get the job done. We need to do that now."
Nick sighed. "I don't think I can. I'm sorry. Can we scan your phones so we can stay in touch?"
"Good idea," Richard said. They all took out their mobile devices and added each other as contacts. "We will figure out our side of the case. Keep us updated."
"For sure," Adrian waved. He and Dmitri walked off, speaking more about the mission at hand.
Nick looked at the floor. "They're right. I need to go to Trauma to at least talk about how I'm feeling."
Richard rubbed his shoulders. "I'm going to contact Iwai. It would be a lot for us to contact the family. If they're only gathering info, we can get everything the police found out from them."
"Can we do that?" Nick blinked.
"As you've already seen, the Mortal Guard is like the supernatural version of the police," Richard stated. "We have access to their notes. They'll update our Cases app once they have more info. They didn't do it for the first case because it was all Mortal Guard involvement, and the fake paranormal investigator didn't find anything."
"That does cheer me up . . . a little," Nick sniffed.
Richard nodded. "But we are going to need to speak with her friends." He looked at his phone. "Looks like Sandy's friends included Hailey, Tanner, and Shel."
"I guess that's the trade-off," Nick nodded. "So we talk to them here?"
"Chances are, they're in the Trauma Sect. There are two places Mortals go when we bring them in for questioning. Since there were no injuries before they were brought there, they went to Trauma."
"Let's do what we need to and . . . talk to them, then," Nick swallowed. "I'll try and keep my emotions in check."
Richard reached up and stroked his cheek. Nick noticed that he enjoyed doing that. "Don't worry about what they said. Just keep being you. It's good to care."
The hyena leaned into the touch, comforted by it. "At least I'm not the only one."
Nick opened the door to the room where they would be interrogating Sandy's friends, looking around. "This is just like the one I woke up in. That feels like a lifetime ago."
Richard nodded. "We all wake up in a place like this unless the Mortal Guard comes to us directly and leads us here."
"Yeah, but being on the other side of the interrogation is crazy." The hyena rubbed his mane down. "Do we really have to handcuff them to the chair?"
"It's for safety," Richard told him. "You never know what could be lurking inside of a mortal. Just like your friend Boris. No one would suspect that Absalom possesses him."
"I guess you're right . . . ." Nick stroked a claw across a table that sat in front of the chair. "Mine didn't have a table like this."
"That's the difference between Trauma Sect and Medical's."
"The one difference," said Nick.
Richard walked beside him. "Pretty much. All we have to do now is wait for our Cases apps to update with the information the police gathered."
Nick sat on the edge of the table, looking up at his partner. He took in the animal before him, realizing that he thought the tired eyes made him more attractive. He liked his straight posture and the way he carried himself, and he loved his mask. Lately, he just wanted to run his hands through all of Richard's fur.
Richard looked back at him, admiring the hyena's casual posture and slight smile whenever he saw him. He felt good that he could make an animal do that. The raccoon's favorite feature of Nick's was those emerald eyes tied with the spots dotting his body. He found himself just wondering how many there were.
And both animals cared so much for each other, each feeling safe in the company of the other. They both knew that they wouldn't let anything happen to the other, and while the duo hadn't been looking for anything when they met, they were slowly finding each other through all of this.
Nick had no idea that he could even sacrifice himself to save another animal, and Richard never thought that someone could do that for him. It meant everything that Nick was so dedicated to keeping him safe.
Richard stepped forward, and Nick's ears perked a bit. The room faded around them as the raccoon closed in. Nick brought his hand to Richard's green tie, tugging him closer gently. The taller animal obliged, and soon they were inches away from each other.
Nick grazed his hand along Richard's chest, up to his neck, which sent a chill down Richard's spine. The raccoon kept their eyes locked as he leaned closer. Nick moved to drag his digits through Richard's cheek fur, his dark hand slipping into his collar. Richard placed his hand on Nick's leg.
"Richard . . ." Nick let the name escape him, and it felt special at that moment to acknowledge the other animal in his presence.
"Nick . . ." Richard responded, feeling his breath catch as he realized that this hyena was taking a sledgehammer to his walls. But he didn't mind. He wanted him to break through.
"You know I'm getting through this because of you, right?" Nick asked.
"It's the same for me," Richard nodded. "I wish we didn't have to be on this case right now. I just want to be in bed."
"Oh?" Nick asked.
"With you . . . Sorry if that's too much."
"Would my arms be around you?" Nick blushed.
"I'd hope so." Richard hoped that he was doing any of this properly. While he was still very nervous about everything, there was no doubt that the spark he felt when Nick opened his eyes after saving him lit a flame.
"How much time do you think we have?" Nick turned his head, looking around for a clock.
"A few minutes, possibly," Richard answered. "Why?"
Nick pushed himself off the table and now stood at his full height in front of Richard, a few inches shorter. "I wanna show you something since we're just waiting."
Richard tilted his head. "What is it, Nicholas?"
The hyena opened his arms and wrapped them around Richard's neck, resting his head on his left shoulder. "Is this what you imagined when you wanted my arms around you?"
"S-something like that . . . ." Richard felt his throat go dry.
"Can I sing to you?" Nick's warm breath hit Richard's neck, causing electricity to course through the raccoon's body.
"Is it a song similar to the last one?" Richard asked worriedly.
"No . . . promise, it's not. It is another Water on Fire song, though."
"I'd love to hear it," Richard stated.
"Sway with me," Nick told the older animal, and their bodies began moving left and right. Nick hummed gently, and his ear twitched against Richard as he started singing.
I don't believe in
The other half of me.
It isn't something
I think I need.
But it sure is nice to
Wake up every morning
Next to you,
Like I always do.
I never wanted to ask for more,
But you're at my door.
And oh, how could I say no?
When I'm so far, but you're so close?
I don't go looking for love.
It finds me, baby.
You found me, baby.
Does that make me crazy?
I was never stuck,
No, never waiting
For you to come and save me.
I'll come and save me.
I don't believe in
A missing link.
You wouldn't think
This chain would break so easily.
But this chain's a part of me.
And if in this great big desert,
A thing would bloom,
It would be you.
Oh, honey, it'd be you.
So don't go looking for love.
It finds you, baby.
I found you, baby.
And it won't make you crazy.
You won't ever become
What they want you, darling.
Oh, the past is haunting.
A ghost in our sin.
In our sin.
In our sin.
And you can fall hard in,
In me.
And we can take time.
You'll see.
Heart in heart,
Hand in hand,
So!
We won't go looking for love.
It found us, baby.
We found us, baby.
Oh, we found us, baby.
We found us, baby.
Richard's cheeks were burning as Nick continued his song. Hearing words like "baby" and "honey" vocalized toward him made him extremely anxious. He knew Nick didn't write the words for him, but he liked to imagine the song was for him. The two swayed during the entire thing, and luckily, there was no call to interrupt anything. Could Nick feel Richard's heart hammering in his chest?
After finishing it, Nick pulled his head back and kissed Richard's cheek, unable to keep the impulse down. "There."
Richard felt the words struggle to escape the floodgates. "I think you nailed it on the head."
"Mhm . . . Cue the phone ringing and shattering our moment." Nick paused, waiting to be correct. The phone didn't ring. "Aw, damn. I was wrong."
"Maybe we can do what I imagined and lay down anyway?" Richard chuckled softly. He really wanted to after all of that.
Nick looked back. "Are you talking about the—?"
"Yes."
Nick blinked, slowly pulling his arms away from Richard, removing his jacket and setting it on the floor. Richard did the same, watching Nick mount the table and lay his back on its hard surface. The raccoon joined him, carefully, resting by his side as they lay together on the highly uncomfortable thing they made a bed. Luckily, it would be big enough to fit them both.
Nick buried his face into Richard. "This is all I want right now."
Richard put an arm around him. "You'd think this should be shameful of us, but they'd be elated to find us like this. Trust me."
"Believe me, I know," Nick giggled. "Mm . . . let's just enjoy this moment until it's murdered violently, okay?"
Richard nodded, finding Nick's hand with his and grasping it softly. "Okay."