Post by Zuyuri on Feb 25, 2017 19:22:43 GMT
Mardi Gras. In Louisiana, it was a time for the craziest of party goers and party people to begin. Floats were rushing down the streets of Bellerouge. Jazz was playing loudly as people danced alongside different floats. Beads of gold, green, and purple were being thrown every which way into the hands of people, be they drunk or not. The smell of alcohol and cinnamon from various king cakes hung in the air. The crowd was so packed at watching the parade that no one took notice of a black blur that slipped into the unlocked doors of the St. Rose Cathedral.
The door echoed with a shut as Shadow entered. His eyes could barely stay open, and they were drooping down to the black and white tiles of the church floor. The blood red pews were situated towards a altar carved with figures of grapevines intertwining with rose briars. A tabernacle was lit in bright floods; a beacon of light in the dimmed marble. Smoke from candles burning was the only scent in the room. The small votives were blazing next to a box with a sharpie inscription, “25 CENTS PER CANDLE”.
Shadow reached into the folds of his inhibitor rings, finding a quarter. He wasn’t exactly the religious type, but right now, he needed someone of the highest to give him help. He slid the quarter into the pay box, picked up a candle, and lit it from one of the previously burning slots. As he set it in, the flames licked upon the statue of the Virgin Mary. Her brown eyes were cast at him with sympathy and her open hands looked like she wanted to hug him.The homunculus averted that gaze, speaking quietly,
“I’m not expecting real forgiveness…I just needed to talk to someone. About where I’ve been, what I’ve learned. I was created through dark magic, magic you…probably wouldn’t approve of. In so doing, innocent people died. My only friend was killed right in front me…Now because of me, more innocents are suffering the wrath of a power I can’t control…it’s why I’m in here, because I knew it was the only place he couldn’t try to talk to me. I’m not sure I should be even talking with you…” he chuckled grimly, “I mean, really, I should have been burning up just for setting foot in here…” He sighed and focused instead on the candle in front of him. In the tongue of fire, he pictured all of them, the people he had left behind; Yang, Omar, Anna, Ralph, Chat…Sunshine.
“This is why I left…because if I dragged any of them into it, if they got hurt because of something I’m trapped with, I’d never forgive myself. Maria died for me, I can’t let that happen again..she didn’t deserve to die for me, not with what I am…”
“All this time.”
A cold, unforgiving voice cut Shadow from his prayers. The homunculus turned, being face to face with a person that suddenly got his heart racing at a million miles per hour. His heart rate going up was bad. If he let adrenaline pump further, the church would be one thing added to the ‘collateral damage’ list.
Frollo was half-smiling, half-glaring. “All this time, I knew ‘the evil one’ that gave rise to all this destruction was in this cesspool of a city, but I never suspected a little hedgehog like you.”
Shadow narrowed his eyes. “After what you did to Yang, you’re lucky I’m not smashing your face into the concrete right now.”
Frollo chuckled. “In the walls of the church, you have no power. You said it yourself. You and Miss Xiao Long are not the first Others to defy me, though. There was one oh so long ago that took me three years to stop…” Like a magician doing a slight of hand, he pulled out a piece of gossamer. Gold stars and moons were spangled onto it. Burnt incense flecks were imbued onto it. As the scarf was turned, the tiniest tufts of phoenix feathers lit aloft.
Shadow froze. He recognized that thing. Esmeralda…the pole dancer turned cop…she had been on Frollo’s hit list for ‘defying’ him. “…Where did you get that?”
Frollo spun the scarf in his hands, almost like he wanted to rip it in half. “She thought that becoming an officer that she would turn the tables on me. Attempted arson, prostitution, insulting and nearly burning a cop, if you recall…” His eyes glinted darkly. Shadow briefly remembered Sunshine crying her eyes out. Frollo smiled at the reaction. “Yes. You do remember. I shouldn’t be surprised that you welcomed her into the fold of sinners…I’m surprised you didn’t come running when news of what you idiots call ‘gator chow’ didn’t come on the radar.”
Gator chow was the codename the Others Unit used for drowning. The nickname came from the first case of suspected Other activity causing a person or Other to drown. Yang’s mother Belle would have been qualified for that.
“You set the Elemental Gang on her?”
Frollo laughed. “I see your memory is still fuzzy despite the dark lord giving you the truth back. The day I associate with criminals is the day I turn in my lawyer’s license. She had crossed me for the last time. It was only fitting I ended it the way it started; together.”
The pashmina was thrown in Shadow’s direction. He dodged just in time t watch the purple fabric land directly onto the candles. The phoenix feathers plus cheap perfume plus the candles hitting the object made for a blast of fire that was both beautiful and dangerous at the same time. The flames were almost lavender amid the orange ball that situated itself to hitting the pews and prayer books. Both the lawyer and the cop were blasted back, standing to watch the fire consume the interior of the St. Rose Cathedral. Shadow looked at the Virgin statue one last time before glaring at Frollo, who was struggling to his feet.
“But you, Shadow Griffiths…you have been the worst thorn in my side. Your constant defiance of not just me, but your fellow officers, has burdened me. You fraternize with criminals yet do not bring them to the rotten cells they deserve. You let threats to this city run free…the blood of the innocent they have murdered is on your hands.”
Shadow’s fist clenched. No, no, hold the chaos back. But deep down, and he hated thinking about it, but Frollo was right. He had chosen to let criminals walk free. But Chat had backed up his threats with well-versed proof. Yang had been under a protection law that didn’t expire until her legalization. Shadow might not have been a lawyer, but he was seeing that Frollo was rewriting laws to benefit his own needs…not unlike what Shadow had been doing with police work.
“True, but unlike you, I give a shit about the people in this city,” Shadow answered as calmly as he could.
“Do you? You let your rage destroy city property. A rage brought on by an unholy power. If I recall, several of your officers were in there, including your own partner. Sweet Sunshine...it would be a pity if anything had happened to her…to let her see what you truly are.”
In a growl of unhindered rage, Shadow leapt forward. His hands had aimed directly for the lawyers throat. If the pews weren’t being burned, they were being splintered across by the force that was thrown forth by Shadow pushing Frollo down. The lawyer’s face was paling as the homunculus’ hands gripped for the windpipe. Shutting him up would be the easy part. It was the perfect punishment for a lawyer that spoke ill of anyone. It was closure for what he had done since the beginning, attacking the Others Unit with his claims that would be proven wrong time after time. It was payback for hurting Yang and her kids…for speaking ill of Sunshine.
As Frollo gasped for breath, something in Shadow’s mind snapped him from his anger. It was the image of Maria, reaching forward. She was speaking to him…
“…Shadow…help…”
It was the first time he had ever heard her say something other than ‘promise me’. She was begging for help. His hand released as he staggered back, looking at Frollo lying in the broken church. Maria wouldn’t want him to be killed violently. No, she wouldn’t want him killed period. He looked back at the fire. He had to get to the above pews; the fire wouldn’t touch up there. It was disgusting to think about helping Frollo up the nearby staircase, but he had no choice. He knelt down and looped an arm around his shoulders, the weight adding an extra oomph. Each step felt both embarrassing and uplifting. If the media got their hands on this, the reactions would be mixed.
The archway to the second story pew greeted him in the orange-bathed glow of the fire below. He silently set Frollo on the pew, staring down at the burning church. Again, destruction had been brought because of him…part of him wished he had his communicator so he could call for backup, to have someone escort Frollo downtown. But it was Mardi Gras, the streets would be packed and it’d be a long while until the fire department would be down to try and save the church. He still had his phone, but it was dead. He had to get someone…anyone…
“ARGH!”
A stabbing sensation on his right shoulder sent Shadow careening onto the ground. Frollo was snarling above him, holding a letter opener that was glistened to a deadly point. “Blood shall pay with blood. Appropriate that I get to kill the son of the devil in the house of God.”
Before he could make a deadly stab, Shadow dodged. Frollo lost his foot and stumbled over the edge of the pew. Before he could fall to a satisfying pulp, he had grabbed one of the decorative Lent banners hung above the church. A small wooden beam holding up the balcony was waiting nearby, Swinging, the lawyer managed to get some momentum before grabbing hold. All while he was rushing to get back up, Shadow was nursing the stab on him. His fingers became stained with crimson as he studying the wound…
As Frollo clambered on top of the gargoyle with the letter opener again, he grinned wickedly, “Any last words before God?”
Shadow returned the almost psychotic smile with his own cocky smirk. “As a matter of fact, yes.” He smeared the blood on the railing. Tricking him into thinking he was using blood magic was the fun part. “Claude Frollo, you’re under arrest for assault, fraud, and the murder of Esmeralda Fuego. You already know your rights, but where you’re going they aren’t exactly useful. You confessed your crime to the jury in his own house…not the smartest move. And he’s set up a penalty far worse than life in prison…”
The support beneath Frollo cracked, causing him to stumble and grip onto it for dear life. The fire below seemed to swirl in a whirlpool motion. The lawyer let out a scream of fear and despair as the beam broke away, the fire and smoke swallowing him up. It may not have been an actual portal to hell that had taken him in his final moments, but as Shadow watched he could have sworn Frollo was sent to where he was declared for.
The pain in his shoulder made him fall away from the railing, and he had to hold his palm to keep blood from spilling. He had to get out, before Bellerouge suffered a fiery Mardi Gras.
*******************************************
It took five hours for the fire department and the police to arrive on the scene. Sunshine and Riku both were called as extras in case an Other Units officer needed to be there. Hoses were going off, and the yellow line was beginning to be spread across the cathedral.
“A church? Not exactly the smartest place for arson,” Riku commented.
As they opened the doors, it was something far worse than they could have pictured. The pews on one half were broken apart, the others were charred black or turned to ash from the fire. Firefighters were spraying the flames, making the air smoggy. But the disturbing sight came from the burned corpse of Claude Frollo, his neck had been snapped to one side, his face in an expression of terror. Sunshine stifled a gasp.
“Uh, Sunshine…you might want to come look at this blood sample we found!” someone from upstairs called. In a blink, she had rushed to meet the forensics officer swabbing a big of the railing. Another was studying a bit of the wood, looking for signs of tampering. The swab was handed to her, and the officer announced, “we can’t identify exactly…well, what…it is. There are too many DNA runnings.”
Sunshine looked at the blood, then at the officer who was shrugging apologetically. Only one person would probably have a reading like this. Someone she had been looking for three weeks for. “And there wasn’t anything else?”
“Nothing. Except this.” He showed a refined letter opener, stained crimson. “We’ll take it to the lab, see if we can find anything else.”
The door echoed with a shut as Shadow entered. His eyes could barely stay open, and they were drooping down to the black and white tiles of the church floor. The blood red pews were situated towards a altar carved with figures of grapevines intertwining with rose briars. A tabernacle was lit in bright floods; a beacon of light in the dimmed marble. Smoke from candles burning was the only scent in the room. The small votives were blazing next to a box with a sharpie inscription, “25 CENTS PER CANDLE”.
Shadow reached into the folds of his inhibitor rings, finding a quarter. He wasn’t exactly the religious type, but right now, he needed someone of the highest to give him help. He slid the quarter into the pay box, picked up a candle, and lit it from one of the previously burning slots. As he set it in, the flames licked upon the statue of the Virgin Mary. Her brown eyes were cast at him with sympathy and her open hands looked like she wanted to hug him.The homunculus averted that gaze, speaking quietly,
“I’m not expecting real forgiveness…I just needed to talk to someone. About where I’ve been, what I’ve learned. I was created through dark magic, magic you…probably wouldn’t approve of. In so doing, innocent people died. My only friend was killed right in front me…Now because of me, more innocents are suffering the wrath of a power I can’t control…it’s why I’m in here, because I knew it was the only place he couldn’t try to talk to me. I’m not sure I should be even talking with you…” he chuckled grimly, “I mean, really, I should have been burning up just for setting foot in here…” He sighed and focused instead on the candle in front of him. In the tongue of fire, he pictured all of them, the people he had left behind; Yang, Omar, Anna, Ralph, Chat…Sunshine.
“This is why I left…because if I dragged any of them into it, if they got hurt because of something I’m trapped with, I’d never forgive myself. Maria died for me, I can’t let that happen again..she didn’t deserve to die for me, not with what I am…”
“All this time.”
A cold, unforgiving voice cut Shadow from his prayers. The homunculus turned, being face to face with a person that suddenly got his heart racing at a million miles per hour. His heart rate going up was bad. If he let adrenaline pump further, the church would be one thing added to the ‘collateral damage’ list.
Frollo was half-smiling, half-glaring. “All this time, I knew ‘the evil one’ that gave rise to all this destruction was in this cesspool of a city, but I never suspected a little hedgehog like you.”
Shadow narrowed his eyes. “After what you did to Yang, you’re lucky I’m not smashing your face into the concrete right now.”
Frollo chuckled. “In the walls of the church, you have no power. You said it yourself. You and Miss Xiao Long are not the first Others to defy me, though. There was one oh so long ago that took me three years to stop…” Like a magician doing a slight of hand, he pulled out a piece of gossamer. Gold stars and moons were spangled onto it. Burnt incense flecks were imbued onto it. As the scarf was turned, the tiniest tufts of phoenix feathers lit aloft.
Shadow froze. He recognized that thing. Esmeralda…the pole dancer turned cop…she had been on Frollo’s hit list for ‘defying’ him. “…Where did you get that?”
Frollo spun the scarf in his hands, almost like he wanted to rip it in half. “She thought that becoming an officer that she would turn the tables on me. Attempted arson, prostitution, insulting and nearly burning a cop, if you recall…” His eyes glinted darkly. Shadow briefly remembered Sunshine crying her eyes out. Frollo smiled at the reaction. “Yes. You do remember. I shouldn’t be surprised that you welcomed her into the fold of sinners…I’m surprised you didn’t come running when news of what you idiots call ‘gator chow’ didn’t come on the radar.”
Gator chow was the codename the Others Unit used for drowning. The nickname came from the first case of suspected Other activity causing a person or Other to drown. Yang’s mother Belle would have been qualified for that.
“You set the Elemental Gang on her?”
Frollo laughed. “I see your memory is still fuzzy despite the dark lord giving you the truth back. The day I associate with criminals is the day I turn in my lawyer’s license. She had crossed me for the last time. It was only fitting I ended it the way it started; together.”
The pashmina was thrown in Shadow’s direction. He dodged just in time t watch the purple fabric land directly onto the candles. The phoenix feathers plus cheap perfume plus the candles hitting the object made for a blast of fire that was both beautiful and dangerous at the same time. The flames were almost lavender amid the orange ball that situated itself to hitting the pews and prayer books. Both the lawyer and the cop were blasted back, standing to watch the fire consume the interior of the St. Rose Cathedral. Shadow looked at the Virgin statue one last time before glaring at Frollo, who was struggling to his feet.
“But you, Shadow Griffiths…you have been the worst thorn in my side. Your constant defiance of not just me, but your fellow officers, has burdened me. You fraternize with criminals yet do not bring them to the rotten cells they deserve. You let threats to this city run free…the blood of the innocent they have murdered is on your hands.”
Shadow’s fist clenched. No, no, hold the chaos back. But deep down, and he hated thinking about it, but Frollo was right. He had chosen to let criminals walk free. But Chat had backed up his threats with well-versed proof. Yang had been under a protection law that didn’t expire until her legalization. Shadow might not have been a lawyer, but he was seeing that Frollo was rewriting laws to benefit his own needs…not unlike what Shadow had been doing with police work.
“True, but unlike you, I give a shit about the people in this city,” Shadow answered as calmly as he could.
“Do you? You let your rage destroy city property. A rage brought on by an unholy power. If I recall, several of your officers were in there, including your own partner. Sweet Sunshine...it would be a pity if anything had happened to her…to let her see what you truly are.”
In a growl of unhindered rage, Shadow leapt forward. His hands had aimed directly for the lawyers throat. If the pews weren’t being burned, they were being splintered across by the force that was thrown forth by Shadow pushing Frollo down. The lawyer’s face was paling as the homunculus’ hands gripped for the windpipe. Shutting him up would be the easy part. It was the perfect punishment for a lawyer that spoke ill of anyone. It was closure for what he had done since the beginning, attacking the Others Unit with his claims that would be proven wrong time after time. It was payback for hurting Yang and her kids…for speaking ill of Sunshine.
As Frollo gasped for breath, something in Shadow’s mind snapped him from his anger. It was the image of Maria, reaching forward. She was speaking to him…
“…Shadow…help…”
It was the first time he had ever heard her say something other than ‘promise me’. She was begging for help. His hand released as he staggered back, looking at Frollo lying in the broken church. Maria wouldn’t want him to be killed violently. No, she wouldn’t want him killed period. He looked back at the fire. He had to get to the above pews; the fire wouldn’t touch up there. It was disgusting to think about helping Frollo up the nearby staircase, but he had no choice. He knelt down and looped an arm around his shoulders, the weight adding an extra oomph. Each step felt both embarrassing and uplifting. If the media got their hands on this, the reactions would be mixed.
The archway to the second story pew greeted him in the orange-bathed glow of the fire below. He silently set Frollo on the pew, staring down at the burning church. Again, destruction had been brought because of him…part of him wished he had his communicator so he could call for backup, to have someone escort Frollo downtown. But it was Mardi Gras, the streets would be packed and it’d be a long while until the fire department would be down to try and save the church. He still had his phone, but it was dead. He had to get someone…anyone…
“ARGH!”
A stabbing sensation on his right shoulder sent Shadow careening onto the ground. Frollo was snarling above him, holding a letter opener that was glistened to a deadly point. “Blood shall pay with blood. Appropriate that I get to kill the son of the devil in the house of God.”
Before he could make a deadly stab, Shadow dodged. Frollo lost his foot and stumbled over the edge of the pew. Before he could fall to a satisfying pulp, he had grabbed one of the decorative Lent banners hung above the church. A small wooden beam holding up the balcony was waiting nearby, Swinging, the lawyer managed to get some momentum before grabbing hold. All while he was rushing to get back up, Shadow was nursing the stab on him. His fingers became stained with crimson as he studying the wound…
As Frollo clambered on top of the gargoyle with the letter opener again, he grinned wickedly, “Any last words before God?”
Shadow returned the almost psychotic smile with his own cocky smirk. “As a matter of fact, yes.” He smeared the blood on the railing. Tricking him into thinking he was using blood magic was the fun part. “Claude Frollo, you’re under arrest for assault, fraud, and the murder of Esmeralda Fuego. You already know your rights, but where you’re going they aren’t exactly useful. You confessed your crime to the jury in his own house…not the smartest move. And he’s set up a penalty far worse than life in prison…”
The support beneath Frollo cracked, causing him to stumble and grip onto it for dear life. The fire below seemed to swirl in a whirlpool motion. The lawyer let out a scream of fear and despair as the beam broke away, the fire and smoke swallowing him up. It may not have been an actual portal to hell that had taken him in his final moments, but as Shadow watched he could have sworn Frollo was sent to where he was declared for.
The pain in his shoulder made him fall away from the railing, and he had to hold his palm to keep blood from spilling. He had to get out, before Bellerouge suffered a fiery Mardi Gras.
*******************************************
It took five hours for the fire department and the police to arrive on the scene. Sunshine and Riku both were called as extras in case an Other Units officer needed to be there. Hoses were going off, and the yellow line was beginning to be spread across the cathedral.
“A church? Not exactly the smartest place for arson,” Riku commented.
As they opened the doors, it was something far worse than they could have pictured. The pews on one half were broken apart, the others were charred black or turned to ash from the fire. Firefighters were spraying the flames, making the air smoggy. But the disturbing sight came from the burned corpse of Claude Frollo, his neck had been snapped to one side, his face in an expression of terror. Sunshine stifled a gasp.
“Uh, Sunshine…you might want to come look at this blood sample we found!” someone from upstairs called. In a blink, she had rushed to meet the forensics officer swabbing a big of the railing. Another was studying a bit of the wood, looking for signs of tampering. The swab was handed to her, and the officer announced, “we can’t identify exactly…well, what…it is. There are too many DNA runnings.”
Sunshine looked at the blood, then at the officer who was shrugging apologetically. Only one person would probably have a reading like this. Someone she had been looking for three weeks for. “And there wasn’t anything else?”
“Nothing. Except this.” He showed a refined letter opener, stained crimson. “We’ll take it to the lab, see if we can find anything else.”
