"Teacher Julius?" Sunny let go of him.
"Sunless, Soul Reaper?!" Julius dismissed the memory he was holding.
"What are you doing here?" Sunny looked at him sideways. This was not a good look for his former teacher.
Gathering himself, Julius took a deep breath and began explaining.
"I was going to deliver food to the residents of the building, so I came to this floor and went to this room. However, as soon as I heard screams coming from down the hall and the sounds of bones snapping, I hid inside this closet, hoping that I wouldn't be next. Instead of helping like an awakened person should, I chose to hide. I truly am a coward." Julius looked regretful and bitter while holding Sunny's shoulders.
Sunny gave him a look over, and sure enough, he was right. Teacher Julius's clothes were dirty, but that was all; there was no blood, no visible signs of exertion.
"Yes, you are. There is no shame in being one; it's why you are still alive, Teacher Julius," Sunny softly reassured him.
"I suppose so," the older man sighed sadly, keeping his gaze away from the body, and shakily picked up the rest of the wrapped sandwiches he brought.
"Go downstairs and outside. You'll have to be taken to the station for questioning since you were here, but I doubt they'll see you as a suspect, considering the lack of blood on you and your reason for being here, in contrast to the ceiling. After that, I'll come see whenever I'm free." Sunny pointed upward and then at the sandwiches Julius was clutching onto.
"Alright, thank you, my dear boy, as well as Soul Reaper and Lieutenant." Julius gave a shaky nod and walked away.
Once Sunny felt his former teacher's shadow leave the building, he looked up at the body on the ceiling, inspecting the mangled body of the unidentifiable woman hanging from a hook that was embedded in her back. Her face was beyond recognition; the Dream hunter cut words into her bare back.
'Is this what you creatures do?'
Her wallet was burned beyond salvation, and there was a pair of gloves completely charred as well. Forensics would have to run a DNA test to determine who this victim was if her ID wasn't on her body.
Sunny wondered why the Dream Hunter had written that until he looked underneath the body and saw pictures of the victim, standing next to children with a bright smile.
Suddenly, Sunny wanted to rip the killer limb from limb; they were going after innocents like Sunny had feared they would.
"Disgusting, she was a new teacher at the academy, she was going on about her children starting school," He heard Jet comment from behind.
"It is tragic," Sunny felt Static's shadow nod.
Despite the body being clearly fresh, the room still had a faint odor of decay. Sunny didn't know if it was from the corpse or the abandoned building.
"Look at her arm; a piece of skin is also gone from there." Jet moved beside him and grimly pointed out with a dark look on her face.
"Just like all the other victims. Okay, wait for forensics to arrive and gather what they need first, then we'll take a closer look. In the meantime, Sunless, are you sure no one else is here? " Static looked around the room, then back at Sunny.
"I'm positive, sir," Sunny nodded.
"Okay, go check around this floor just in case. I'll have the guys check the other floors for good measure." Static gave the body one last glance before departing.
Sunny did the same. Looking around the room to see if anything else was off, he went to leave, but then he spotted a broken mirror on the floor. He walked over with wide eyes and a growing smile.
Sunny looked over his shoulder. "Master Jet, I think I just found us a lead."
He watched her walk over with a surprised expression. "Really? Also, for future reference, call me Jet."
"Yes, really, look." He pointed at the mirror.
Crouching down with him, Jet looked over Sunny's shoulder and gave him a blank stare. "Detective, that's a mirror."
"Yes, I know." Sunny nodded.
She gave him another long stare." That's a mirror." She repeated.
"Yes! Exactly, it's a mirror." Sunny cracked a smile.
"Detective, how in the dead gods is this a lead?" Jet frowned.
"I have a friend whose aspect is directly affiliated with reflections." Sunny stood up, looking at Jet, her narrowed eyes telling him she didn't believe him.
"You mean Mordret, the prince of valor?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, that's right," Sunny nodded.
"Yeah, and I'm Ki Song, if you're going to lie, at least be good at it, Detective." Jet shook her head.
Sunny wasn't listening, though. He was already fishing for the mirror shard he kept in his pocket, but Sunny stopped and decided to wait after he did the interrogations at the precinct.
"Trust me, if we want to know what happened here, he's the man. I'll ask the captain if I can call Mordret into the station and see if he'll come to tell us anything noteworthy." Sunny walked around the room again before he sensed a dozen shadows coming through the building. Three of them remained on the first floor, moving around, and another three went to the second floor and made their way towards Sunny and Jet.
Sunny knew those were the forensics. The last six went to the floor above them and began moving around, presumably covering each floor individually.
"I hope it's worth it. Are those the forensics?" Jet turned towards the door, hearing the sounds of footsteps.
"Yeah, it is," Sunny nodded, finally sending Gloomy to search around the floor like Static had ordered.
"I have to admit I've never seen anything like that before," Jet observed with a curious expression as his gloomy shadow glided out of the room right as the forensics team walked in with luminous memories and mundane cameras. Sunny and Jet moved out of the room to let them take pictures.
"I'll call Mordret after I've done the interrogations with the potential suspect and our remaining witness, Teacher Julius," Sunny informed Jet, getting a nod from her.
"Alright, I'm following your lead; you're the senior here." She leaned against the wall, sighing, lazily staring at him.
"Are you trying to call me old?" He raised an eyebrow.
Sunny watched her give a short laugh for the first time that day. "No, detective, I'm not,"
"Good, I wouldn't want to have to file a complaint against you on your first day working with me. Speaking of, know any good new places we could stop by after today's shift?" Sunny joked, then slightly frowned, realizing he was beginning to sound like Uncle Jest.
"Yeah, I know a few, but I can't," Jet shook her head.
"How come?" He tilted his head in curiosity.
"I still have work for the government, so my day is far from over," Jet shrugged with a sigh.
Sunny stared at her incredulously." They're still having you work for the government after they put you here?"
Jet nodded. "Yeah, it sucks, but who am I to complain?"
"A person, even masters like us, needs rest every once in a while." Sunny frowned, wanting to say more, but one of the forensics approached them before he could.
"Detective, this will take a lot longer than usual. In the meantime, you can go about your shift, and we'll let you know when we are done here." The forensics informed him, casting a nervous look at his new partner, getting Sunny to raise an eyebrow silently.
'What was that about?'
Sunny nodded. "Alright, thank you for letting me know. What is the estimated time of completion?"
"Six hours," he told Sunny before returning to the room.
"Six hours? Damn, how long does it usually take?" Jet walked beside Sunny, who was making his way down the stairs.
"Two," Sunny took the last step down to the first floor as Jet looked at him with a hint of surprise.
"Damn, I think it's because they want to be more thorough so they have more of a chance to find traces of DNA on the killer." Jet proposed shielding her eyes from the morning sun.
"Maybe, but so far there have been no DNA traces at all. The killer wears gloves, then burns them; that's what those were beside the body." Sunny told her, earning a nod from Jet.
"I hate it when they're smart," Jet sighed tiredly.
"Yeah, so do I. I'll go tell the lieutenant that we're heading back to the station for interrogation, and then we'll head out. You can wait in the car or come with me; it doesn't matter." Sunny stopped by the dispersing crowd and looked at her.
"I'll just stay in the car," Jet said, beginning to walk to the vehicle.
"That's fine with me," He shrugged.
As Sunny walked to his lieutenant, he acknowledged that the rain had finally stopped pouring down, the beautiful, clear skies slowly revealing themselves for all to see. Sunny let himself forget about the horrors of this place and soak in the sunlight.
"Detective Sunless, is this about the time it will take for forensics to be done?" Static turned his serious blue eyes on Sunny, looking down slightly at his missing shadow.
"Yes, sir, I was coming to inform you that Soul Reaper and I are going to head back to the station to start interrogations to kill time." Sunny moved a bit closer just in time for Gloomy to attach back to his feet.
"Affirmative, also the sergeant got your report. Good work as always, how's your new partner?" Static fully turned to him.
"She's a tough woman. I only made her chuckle once. But progress is progress, sir." Sunny cracked a smile.
"Good to go then, you're dismissed," Static nodded and walked off into the building again.
'It's only 8am and I'm already exhausted for today.' Sunny inwardly sighed and began walking back to his vehicle.
"How did it go?" Jet asked through the window she rolled down on the driver's side
"It went well," Sunny nodded, getting inside the driver's seat with Jet already sitting in the passenger seat.
"So how does it feel?" Jet glanced at him as Sunny started the vehicle.
"How does what feel?" He questioned while checking his front mirror.
"Being out of the outskirts?" Reaching for the seatbelt, Jet raised an eyebrow at him.
"Amazing, I sometimes think I'm dreaming, how did you know I was from the outskirts?" It was Sunny's turn to do the same.
"Years of experience, I can just tell by looking at you. Besides, it takes an outskirts rat to know one." Jet gave him a crooked smile.
"Yeah, I guess it does, doesn't it?" He put the vehicle in reverse, turned his head around to look behind him, and then drove off.
Sunny was surprised to learn that she was also from the outskirts; he would have never known had she not told him a few seconds ago.
Smiling wider to himself, he began driving back to the station, thinking about what any other Mordrets in NQSC could have seen take place through the mirror, if anything at all. It didn't matter what they saw; Sunny would take any evidence because something was much better than nothing.
After much contemplation, Sunny decided to contact Mordret before starting the interrogations. That way, if Mordret or the other Mordrets did actually see something, then Sunny would have more to work with and compare his eyewitness account to the suspects' stories, except for Julius, whose alibi was rock-solid, of course.
"Mordret," Sunny said while driving, pulling out the mirror shard and holding it in front of him.
Nothing happened for a moment until his reflection looked around in confusion, then visibly brightened at the sight of Sunny.
"Sunless, my friend! Do you need anything?" His friend, in his reflection, gave him a pleasant, naive smile, which Sunny returned.
"Yes, I do, I need you to check with the other Mordrets to see if they saw anything in an abandoned building by the Academy."
"Oh my, did another murder happen?" Mordret's face creased with concern.
"Yeah, but there was a mirror at the murder scene, so I was hoping one of you saw something."
"I'm sorry, Sunless, but I just got out of hosting an event, and I'm sure one of my twins saw something. I will ask them and send one of them down there as soon as possible." Mordret held a worrying expression but nodded nonetheless.
"Thank you," Sunny made a left turn at the light.
"Of course, anything for you, little brother. Ah, hello, Miss Soul Reaper! It is nice to meet you finally." Mordret smiled before Sunny's reflection mimicked his actions again.
"You know, just when I think I've seen it all, someone like you comes around and humbles me." Jet sighed, shaking her head
"Is that a compliment or an insult?" He eyed her out of his peripheral vision.
"Take it however you want it, Detective." She leaned her head against the window.
Pulling into the parking lot of the police station, Sunny turned off the car and sat there for a moment. "I'll meet you inside. Would you mind letting the lieutenant know that we are ready to start interrogations?"
"Alright," Jet gave a nod and got out, closing the door behind her.
Sunny sat there for five minutes, thinking about an odd detail he had noticed with each murder: the lack of blood from the Dream Hunter. Most victims put up a fight as a last-ditch effort; that much was obvious, but there were no traces of any DNA of the killer at all.
So either they had a form of Blood weave like Sunny, which was impossible, or they were somewhat invincible like Effie.
He sighed, feeling a headache coming on, and got out of the car, then walked towards the police station to sign in his vehicle. Sunny wasn't going to use it until the interrogations were over anyway.
Walking up to the pool station, he smiled at Dorren. "Hey there,"
"Hello, Sunless, have you found anything on the Dream Hunter yet?" Doreen asked from behind the desk where he was signing a paper with a smile.
"Not yet, but we might have a lead, fingers crossed though. Take care." He began walking off to the interrogation room
He stopped noticing something move in the mirror. When he looked, nothing was out of the ordinary until his reflection winked at him and waved. Sunny immediately went to the interrogation room, opening the door, he spotted one of the Mordrets; his back was facing Sunny while he was chatting with Lieutenant Static and Jet.
"Thank you, Prince Mordret, for coming in on such short notice. We apologize for any inconvenience we might have caused." Static nodded.
"I promise that it's all right, Lieutenant Static. Besides, this gives me an excuse to see one of my best friends who works here; his name is Sunless. I'm sure you heard of him; he is a detective." Mordret's tone was friendly, much like the kind Mordret. The Prince of Valor wore a simple black suit.
"Yes, I have, and you're in luck, there he is." Static nodded behind Mordret, prompting the Prince to turn around in his seat with a smile that only grew when Mordret spotted him.
In his suit jacket pocket was a red handkerchief. His smile was so genuine that it reached his eyes, a melodious laughter and upbeat personality, but for Sunny, who had been around all seven of the Mordret's for years, he knew exactly which one had shown up. It was the Emotionless Mordret. Sunny could spot him from a mile away.
"Ah, Little brother, I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience I might have caused by coming here. I know that you called me here, but still! Miss Soul Reaper told me you and she were going to start with interrogations, but I'm afraid those will have to wait, my friend. You wanted information on the murder scene and the Dream Hunter, correct?" The Emotionless Mordret walked up to him, shaking his hand and giving him a hug and a bright smile.
"Call me if you have any questions, Prince Mordret," Static got up and left the room.
This Mordret never ceased to unnerve Sunny, who marveled at how well the detached other had become at faking emotions over the years. It was so good that Sunny sometimes mistook him for the Kind Mordret. Controlling every muscle in his face to seem more friendly, his body language to make people more comfortable, his charming personality, not a single person in existence knew what he truly lacked, except Mordret's family, Clan Song, Sunny, and Kai.
But everyone already knew that there were seven of him, just not which Mordret contained their death. Only those closest to the seven Mordrets knew.
"Yeah, Mordret, that's right. Do you have anything?" Sunny pulled away from the hug with a nod, sitting beside Jet, who had sat down.
"Oh, yes, I have plenty. You'll want to have a seat for this," The Prince told him with a slight frown, sitting back down in his chair.
"Why's that?" Sunny took a seat beside Jet.
"I have a drawing of what I witnessed in detail, specifically the image of the Dream Hunter. " Emotionless Mordret passed a piece of paper to him.
Despite the Dream Hunter wearing a mask in the drawing, Sunny could see the malice and lack of remorse shining through their unseen eyes, strangling the woman, but nothing out of the ordinary. The drawing of the mirror on the wall carelessly reflecting the murder happening.
Sunny took note of every detail in the drawing but saw nothing noteworthy
"Thank you, but I'm not sure if this will be much help out with this case, Mordret. I don't see anything that will bring us any closer to catching this lunatic." He put the paper down with a sigh of defeat and pushed it to Master Jet.
"Me neither, except that the drawing is kind of messed up." Jet inspected the drawing, then pushed it back to Mordret.
"How do you mean?" He took the paper and gave it a look over.
"It's missing the killer's reflection." Sunny pointed out.
"Look closer, Sunless, I did not just draw the rest of the room for no reason, nor the lack of reflection." Mordret pushed the paper back to both of them.
"I don't understand what you mean?" Sunny creased his eyebrows.
"Tell me, little brother, what do you see when you look into this mirror?" Turning to the one-way mirror, he pointed at their reflections and his own with a pleasant smile.
What was he going on about?
"Our reflections?" Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"Precisely!" Mordret smiled at him.
"I don't see how that has anything the Dream Hunter your highness." Jet gave a skeptical look at the drawing.
"It has everything to do with them, which why I am telling you now Soul Reaper that I made no mistake on the killers lack of reflection." Mordret turned his head to Jet with a smile.