A Peacekeeper's Oath pt. 4
Celie begins her investigation alone...
Below are all previous parts in case you need to get caught up!
Alright, let’s jump into this…
The day after the last emergency meeting, Monroe called yet another emergency meeting. Akashi couldn’t remember why this one - or really any of them recently - had been called, but he showed up, settled into his spot, and tried to fill enough space for him and Celie both. Not having her there made him nervous. Akashi knew he wasn’t the details guy - that was Celie’s thing. He was more big picture. More the charismatic speaker. He wasn’t the guy behind the ideas. He just conveyed them. That’s how he saw it at least. Just as the rest of the department leads sat down, Monroe turned to Akashi. Her face seemed more fierce than usual, her eyes were pointed and she had a look of impatience all across her face.
“And where is Miss Green?” Monroe asked. Her elbows were practically digging into the table as she leaned forward, her hands resting under her head.
“She’s taking a short vacation.” Akashi replied.
“Hm. A vacation? I must’ve missed that in the system.” She checked something on a datapad next to her, scrolled through, then shrugged as a hmph escaped from her throat. “Alright then. What’s the news in Investigations?”
“After the uh - the uh…” Akashi’s face contorted and he felt his head begin to pound. He couldn’t remember what he was trying to say. Then he felt a clarity of mind as Monroe added on,
“After the event?”
“Yes, the event.” That sounded foreboding in a way, but it made sense. Clearly Monroe knew what he was talking about even if he didn’t, and that would have to be enough. “Thank you ma’am,” He checked the vague and confusing notes he had left on his ring and tried to make sense of them out loud. “After the event nearly 48 hours ago, we’re tightening security in Halenite. I’m also proposing that we have a meeting with all three branches to discuss the council’s decision to divide up their districts into subregions. They’re bureaucratizing the council in a way that could cause some disjointed communication if we don’t get out ahead of it.” Akashi hated all this technical talk. It was boring. Political. Gross. Celie made it easier for him to focus. She’d always add on things he missed or forgot about, but without her, his mind wandered and he couldn’t think entirely straight. He could really use his partner right about now.
“I agree with Investigations on this.” The Clean-Up head announced, “We could improve coordination with the council if we communicated with these subdivided representatives. It would make keeping the city in better shape a lot easier.” What a relief that someone else spoke up in Celie’s place. He never thought much of the other department heads - they were just featureless faces in a sea of other Peacekeepers that he couldn’t keep straight. Not from disrespect, but merely from his own lack of ability.
“Yes, exactly. We need to be more united across all branches. A united Paradia is better than the three parties moving like they’re not connected to each other. Oh, and that reminds me, did you know the Secretary sent an underling to chastise Celie and I, Prov? That’s something we ought to talk about -”
Akashi was suddenly hit with a wave of confusion - as though he was floating atop the air. For a moment he was gripped with fear of his mind disappearing into an ethereal sleep. His brain felt faint and flooded with emotion he couldn’t comprehend. Then, he felt a blissful peace. Monroe’s voice pierced the fog and brought him back to the meeting room,
“So we agree then. Pacè will focus Investigation’s resources on identifying the followers of the Void Fiend. I want everyone else’s department to start pressuring the other branches to move forward with the ban on sorcerers so we can get this under control. Once we have that taken care of, Paradia will return to living up to its promise.” Akashi tried to wrap his head around what she was saying. Had he agreed to that? That didn’t sound like something he’d agree to - not all of it at least.
“Ma’am?” Akashi asked. “I don’t remember -”
“Akashi, did you fall asleep?” She asked as she let off a guffaw. “Look, you can’t keep being so flippant with your responsibilities. Don’t make me -” She cut short as something caught her attention on the datapad next to her. Her eyes flashed white then returned to their resting jade as she focused on the datapad.
Akashi looked around the room. Everyone looked as dazed and confused as he did, but no one else seemed willing to say anything. He felt a flush of embarrassment, but before he could say anything more, Monroe raised a hand, “Dismissed. We’ll reconvene next week - barring any further emergencies. I want this city locked up so tight, you need a full magical probe before the doors even open. Is that clear?” The group nodded. “Great. Get to work, Peacekeepers.” Everyone stood up to leave.
Akashi decided to walk over to the head of Clean-Up and ask them if they remembered what the meeting was about before the lapse in his memory, but Monroe gestured to him first, “Akashi, stay here for a sec, would you?” He stopped in place. Monroe turned her attention away from him to speak with someone over her comm.
“Negative. No, it isn’t a breach - not a true breach. Don’t send anyone down, I’ll take care of it. Well, I won’t, but - no. No, consider the problem dealt with.” She turned to Akashi and smiled,
“Now listen here, Keeper Pacè, you’re going to do me a little favor.” Akashi felt his mind twist and wrench as his will shattered. Before he felt his eyes grow heavy and weak, he saw Monroe’s eyes flash a bright burning hot white. Then, he lost consciousness.
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Just as the emergency meeting commenced, Celie went into the Peacekeeper HQ and made her way to the Investigation department. The department took up several floors of the HQ and was made up of large junctions of office spaces filled with cubicles, locker rooms, and meeting spaces. The walls in the department shifted away from the pristine white and metal of the rest of the building and gave way to synthetic wood and plush carpets. That was Akashi’s idea.
“If we’re going to spend a lot of time here it should be comfortable.” She had to admit, he had a point.
As she made her way through the department, she noticed it was busy with Peacekeepers in their full blue and gold uniforms working on the countless things that plagued Paradia. With the rest of the department heads in the meeting, Celie was the senior member in the office. It wouldn’t be difficult to find someone to do what she needed done and be on her way. She immediately found the perfect candidate. Sitting at a desk was a low level Peacekeeper filling out forms on a holographic computer embedded in his desk. Celie pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.
“Keeper.” She said in her most professional tone.
“Oh, Peacekeeper Green, what can I do for you ma’am?” He immediately gave her a look of uncertainty, as if she had caught him doing something he shouldn’t be doing. As far as she could tell, he was just the least busy person in the department, making him the perfect candidate to do something for her. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but she felt more like a creature baring her teeth in warning. She decided to scrap that approach and return to her more official role as his boss.
“Were you involved in turning over the recent Halenite murder investigation to Providence Monroe?”
“Uh… I’m sorry, the what?” The Peacekeeper stared at her like she was crazy. “There was a murder in Halenite?” Celie looked at the officer. Two days ago, the entire department was running around trying to make sense of the murder. Now a Peacekeeper was staring at Celie like she just came in with her head in her lap. She knew something had happened to the department leads, but had it gotten all the way down to the rest of the Peacekeepers?
“Were you here two days ago, Keeper?” She asked in her most authoritative voice.
“Yes ma’am. I was doing intake all day.”
“And you don’t remember…” She thought for a moment. Maybe the intake was still present in the files even if the report was gone. “Pull up your intake record.” The Peacekeeper turned away and went back to his desk interface. The Peacekeeper pulled up the intake files within a few minutes.
“Okay, what am I looking for, ma’am?”
“Look for the last name ‘Carson.’ First name ‘Jona’. Intake some time in the early evening. I don’t have the exact time, but it is definitely past noon. Maybe 4PM.”
“Got it, but ma’am, I want you to be prepared to be disappointed. I don’t tend to just forget - huh?” Jona Carson’s face flickered onto the embedded screen. Celie hadn’t looked at his mugshot yet, but that was definitely the same man. His eyes were that horrible jade green and he had a sickening smile plastered across his face. The man was a monster. Celie turned her eyes away from the photo. Looking at him alone made her skin crawl. She forced her gaze back towards the Peacekeeper,
“You’re telling me you don’t remember him?”
“I’m sorry ma’am I -”
“It’s not your fault.” And she meant it. She scanned the file to see any transfer information. It looked like after Investigations took him in, security took over, transferred him to one of the upper level cell blocks on the 9th floor, but then he was transferred out to - “What the hell is the sublevel cell block?” Celie asked out loud. All the prison cells in the Peacekeeper HQ were on the upper level. As far as she knew, there was never anything in the lower levels specifically for imprisonment.
“I’ve never heard of it, ma’am.” The Peacekeeper said with a shrug. “Sounds like black level stuff.”
“Black level?” She asked. Celie was one of the leaders of the Peacekeepers, but there was nothing like that on record.
“Black level.” He confirmed. “It’s what we call the guys who aren’t part of any of the main departments. They work right under Monroe and tend to step on our toes whenever they want. They’re known for doing shady stuff. They’ve got a bit of a reputation for being… not great.This sounds like black level stuff to me. Spec ops.”
“Oh, Monroe’s private force? I’ve never heard them called that before. Is that a name from the staff?”
“Yeah, those are the guys. Most Peacekeepers don’t like to talk about them. I can’t speak for everyone, but the black level guys give me the creeps. They wear that all black armor, you know the ones?” Celie thought. She knew about Monroe’s private team. They wore black armor that stuck out like a shadow in a sun-filled room compared to the blue and gold uniforms of the other Peacekeepers, but she didn’t realize they had developed such a reputation among the other Peacekeepers.
“Maybe you’re right, Keeper. So you think they have something to do with this?”
“Don’t know for sure, but maybe. They’re weird, but I didn’t know they had their own prison level or anything like that.” Celie nodded then replied,
“Do me a favor, would you?”
“What can I do, ma’am?”
“You didn’t see me. We didn’t talk about this. Got it?” The Keeper nodded slowly,
“Yes ma’am…” He looked nervous, sweat was starting to bead around his hairline. He sighed and swiped it away. “I didn’t see anything - anyone. I’ll just - I have paperwork to fill out. That’s all I’m doing. Paperwork.” Celie nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder,
“Have a good day, Keeper. Stay out of trouble.” Then she left the Investigation department.
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Celie was familiar with the sublevels of the Peacekeeper HQ. In the early years, she helped clear out an abandoned temple to a forgotten god. What she didn’t remember was there being a prison down there. She was certain that there wasn’t anything like that down there at all.
On two opposite ends of the building were two separate stairwells that led into the sublevels. As far as anyone could tell, the HQ was built over top of another much older stairwell. Whatever was here before was the foundation for what was now the HQ. Celie traveled these stairs dozens of times in the beginning. She always found it harrowing the moment she could see where the HQ stairs ended and the ancient stairs started. It made her wonder what was here before. How much had Paradia been built over top of? She often thought it couldn’t possibly be easy to just pave over so much history. How many had tried before Paradia was even an idea?
Celie pushed open the door to the stairwell and began the descent to the bottom of the HQ. She made her way down the stairs for several flights before she came to an abrupt stop. This wasn’t where the stairwell used to end. The floor was filled in with concrete - as though someone drowned the past beneath their feet. At the bottom of the stairs was a heavy metal door locked off with a security scanner. There was nothing else here. She knew it used to cascade further down, but now the floor ended in an abrupt period. There was no security here, only the implied expectation that no one was allowed beyond this point. There was nowhere to go but beyond that heavily secured door. But Celie was a department head. She had access to everywhere in the building. Without a second thought, she put her ring to the scanner.
Beep-Beep.
The scanner flashed red, rejecting her ID. “Shit.” She whispered. If this door was like anywhere else in the building, somebody in the security department was notified of an unauthorized entry attempt. Or worse, Monroe was notified. Celie sighed. She didn’t have much time, but she needed to get in there. Celie knew what she had to do. She knew the danger she was putting herself in. This was going to be bigger than anything else she had pulled recently, but it had to be done. She needed answers.
Celie reached out to the realm of the ancients. Her mind felt as though it shifted between realms, a strange dryness overtook her as she reached beyond what was possible in this realm and twisted it into what was possible in another. She hadn’t used this specific trick since the war, but she still knew how it worked. Of course last time she used it, she was doing it the other way, but the principle was the same. All she had to do was pick a space and move matter from one plane of existence into another. Easy.
She reached her hand out in front of her and felt the door creak and groan against her will. But she was strong. Stronger than the unmoving will of an inanimate object, stronger than any obstacle to ever dare challenge her. Power coursed through her, her mind began to spin with the euphoria of pure otherworldly power coursing through her. Bending to her will. Doing the impossible. Until it was possible.
The door popped out of existence with a satisfying groan that echoed off the walls.
Celie smiled. She still had it in her.
She stepped through the doorway. As soon as she passed through, she willed the door back across planes and let it seal shut behind her. She was surprised that there weren’t any cameras in the hallway she now found herself in, but she supposed that you didn’t need to monitor a space if the guest list was exclusive enough. The hallway was wide with a brick arch overhead. The walls were lined with prison cells blocked off with full panes of thick glass with only cots and brick inside. She could feel her connection to the realms stutter as she reached her being beyond the glass. She assumed these must be the new magic resistant fields that R&D in Paradia had been working to design for years. It was similar to the cuffs they often used on sorcerers, but on a much larger scale. She shuddered at the thought but it only appeared to be in the cells. Not only that, but as far as she could tell, it wasn’t as strong as the cuffs were. It seemed to dampen her reach rather than nullify it entirely. Though maybe it was more powerful if one was actually inside the cell.
Celie pressed down the hallway. Each cell was empty and neatly kept. How did this work? How was there an entire cell block never mentioned in a meeting? Who maintained all of it? After making it about halfway down the hall, she saw what she was looking for: Jona Carson. In this entire cell block, he appeared to be the only one there. How strange. This entire magic-proof prison was for one single man. Celie began to wonder just how bad things were. She stared at him through the glass with caution at the front of her mind.
Jona was laying on the floor, face down, arms and legs spread out like a starfish. His breaths were labored and deep, swelling his back up as he inhaled the cement floor, then flattening his bulky construction workers physique into the ground as he heaved out. Next to the cell was a panel. There was a ring scanner, but Celie didn't want to leave any more of a fingerprint than she already did so she ignored it. Instead, she cleared her throat.
Jona flinched.
“Mr. Carson, can you hear me through the glass?” The man convulsed rhythmically on the floor, sending a chill down Celie's spine. “Mr. Carson?” She tried again.
Without a single muscle engaging, Jona's body bent back at the waist, leaving his legs on the ground. His torso twisted up and his eyes sized Celie up. They blazed jade and a smile grew across his face. Celie met his gaze and hardened her face. It reminded her of when she blocked out every emotion that didn't help her survive in the Calt. The emotions had to be turned off. She'd turn them on later when she had the time to process whatever was happening.
As they held eye contact, she felt the strange presence she had felt in the apartment. Something was needling at her, trying to get inside of her mind. But she could stop it. She could control it. Contradict it. Fortunately still, it felt weaker here.
“Whatever you're trying isn’t going to work on me, Mr. Carson. I'm just here to talk.”
Jona's face twisted into anger. He looked like a child throwing a tantrum as he slammed his hands into the ground and screamed in anger - no, not anger. Pain. His hands grew bloody as the chilling screams echoed off the walls of the cell. Celie put her hands on her hips and waited. For a brief moment, she was present in the moment again and felt sick as the man thrashed and his body tumbled around the prison cell. She steadied her hands, digging her fingertips into her waist to stop herself from reacting. She gritted her teeth, but kept her face as featureless as cold steel.
Finally, Carson simmered down to a whimper as he whispered, “I'm sorry.”
“That's okay, Mr. Carson. You've had a difficult couple of days, haven't you?”
“Not you. Not you. Not you. Her. I love - loved. I loved her. I’m so sorry. But she couldn't see.” He wiped away the tears, leaving smears of red across his face. He let out a hiccup of a whimper as he tried to wipe it off on his dirty pants. He was still wearing the clothes Celie and Akashi had found him in. Jona looked at his hands as if he never wanted to see them again, but couldn’t look away. As he stared at them, he whispered,
“She wouldn't see it.”
“It? What is it, Mr. Carson?”
“You can't see it either.” He announced. He didn’t sound surprised, but he did sound hurt. As if Celie had stepped on his very soul.
“What can't I see? Tell me. Maybe I can see it then.”
“No. No you don't understand it! You don't understand Ri!” He gasped through tears and balled his hands into fists as he dug his knuckles into his thighs and forced his head down onto the cold cement floor.
“What is Ri?” She asked him.
“Who is Ri.” He corrected. Celie shook her head. It felt semantic but she knew she needed to stay calm if she wanted to keep him speaking.
“Yes. Who is Ri, Mr, Carson?”
“Ri is the end. Ri is the collapse. Ri is the new chaos. The old chaos. All chaos. Ri is me and should be you. She couldn't see…"Jona started to cry as he shook his head, “she couldn't see Ri…” He smashed his bloodied fists into the concrete floor as tears flew from his face. He shook his head in fury and sorrow as he began to scream, “SHE COULDN’T SEE SHE COULDN’T SEE SHE COULDN’T SEE!”
Celie backed away, her nerves beginning to break. She had to get past it. It was as though he was arguing with himself. This wasn’t just a man having a sudden break. There was something else there. Someone else there. She took a deep breath, “Mr. Carson, did you mean to kill your wife?” She asked him through his screams. That’s what made him stop. He released a sharp gasp of air. The green of his eyes faded to brown. He looked down at his fists and whimpered.
“Gods… gods help me… Guaya, please, bring me peace. Bring me peace…” His eyes flickered to focus on Celie’s face. “She - no. No, I would never do that to my Erosa. She’s my world. She’s everything to me. That’s the whole reason - the whole reason we’re here. So we could finally be together. Safe.” This was the most coherent Celie had seen Jona Carson.
“Then who would’ve done it? Who did that to her?” Jona shook his head and tried to wipe away the tears.
“I’m so sorry, my love… I’m so sorry.” He dug his face into his bloodied hands and cried. “It’s Ri. Ri did it.” He said through heaving labored breaths.
“Why would Ri do that?”
“Ri needs to corrupt. Devour. It isn’t evil. It needs it. But it loves it.”
“And how do you know all this?” He slowly looked up at Celie, meeting her eyes.
“It told me.” Celie felt her breath catch in her throat as Jona’s eyes flashed from brown back to green.
“See me? Yes?” Jona announced, his face twisting into a smile. “You must become. You must see.” He whispered.
Implored.
Desired.
Something deep in Jona wanted Celie. Needed to corrupt her. Become her. Destroy her.
“Mr. Carson, please. Where did Ri tell you all this?”
“Worker bee worker bee, my Jona is. That damned woman wouldn't see. She refused! REFUSED TO SEE! Just like you.” Jona let out a low growl through a toothy grin. The lights in the facility flickered faintly. When they illuminated again, Jona was pressed against the glass. Celie took an involuntary step back, her breath catching in her throat. Bloody handprints cascaded down the glass as he slowly sank down to his knees. His smile fell away, revealing pools of tears.
“Please… please, you can’t leave. Can’t leave me. Like this. You can’t.” Jona pleaded. He was barely breathing through fits of giggles forcing themselves from his throat.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Carson.” Celie whispered. She couldn’t take any more of this. She had to get out of here and gather her thoughts. “I - I’ll be back for you, okay? I won’t leave you like this forever, but I can’t risk -”
“No!” Jona jumped to his feet and pressed his fists against the glass, “No, you don’t understand! Listen. Listen, please. Ri won’t let me go. Please, you have to - you have to -”
He couldn’t bring himself to say it, but Celie knew what he wanted. “I’ll fix this.” She said with certainty, “I just need you to wait.”
“It’ll use me. You can’t let it use me. Please. Who else? Who else will it do it to? Who else? Please! Please!”
“Mr. Carson.” Celie whispered. Celie implored with those simple words for him to stop.
“Let me see my Erosa again. Please.” He begged. “I don’t deserve this. It wasn’t me. Its torture to leave me like this, please. Please.”
“I - I can’t. I’m sorry, Mr. Carson.” Celie took in a sharp breath, trying to process what just happened to her - what was happening to that poor man. She backed away from the glass, “If I need anything else, I’ll come find you.” Celie turned and walked away.
“No! No, you can’t leave me like this! Please!”
Celie tried to focus on the door in front of her. Jona Carson’s screams echoed through the cell block as she forced herself to ignore him. She felt her hands shaking and her eyes tearing up. He didn’t mean it. He didn’t want that. Did he understand what he did? Did he even do it? Or was it this Ri thing?
With a final effort of force, the door in front of her disappeared, then reappeared behind her as she entered the stairwell. She took a moment to breathe, trying to gather her thoughts as she struggled to make sense of it all. What was that? That wasn’t just a man. There was more happening. It wasn’t sorcery, it wasn’t any god she knew… it wasn’t anything that she knew.
Suddenly, her entire body let out a panicked alarm in her. At first she couldn’t figure out why, but then she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She ducked behind the corner of the stairwell, but as soon as she saw the person who had come down the stairs she felt relaxed. There Akashi was in his wrinkled pants and untucked button-up. His curly hair was falling all around his head and he had a panicked look on his face.
“What are you doing here?” Celie demanded as she stepped out from behind the stairwell.
“That’s what I’m here to ask you..” Akashi responded. His voice was firm and strangely robotic.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Akashi, you were supposed to cover for me.”
“I never said that.” He countered. “Celie, Monroe detected an illegal entry into a restricted area. Was that you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Celie replied, turning to steel once again. Akashi’s face contorted as if he was in pain, then he began to lecture her.
“Celie, you can’t just go behind the rest of the team’s back and do whatever you want. There’s a reason we have these regular meetings. You aren’t on your own out here, you’re part of a team, and right now it looks like you’re committing treason.”
“Akashi,” Celie prepared to counter, then realized something. This wasn’t the same man she had known for over a decade. This wasn’t her brother. This wasn’t the man always ready to get into trouble and do whatever was necessary to do the right thing. She shook her head, “Okay, tell me I’m wrong. Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong.”
“Wrong about what?”
“There’s something fishy about the Carson murder - you would understand that if you could even remember that it happened. But listen, he didn’t just kill his wife for no reason. Something happened. I don’t know what, but there’s some sort of deeper thing underlying this and all of the city might be at risk.”
“Carson murder? What are you even talking about? Look, the city is safe as long as Monroe is allowed to keep order.” The words hit the right nerve on Celie, and even if she knew it wasn’t truly Akashi, she couldn’t help but say something.
“Her order is superficial, Akashi! Can’t you see that? Her order doesn’t make things better. It makes things look better. Shouldn’t we treat the underlying problem? Whatever this thing is -” She chose not to say Ri, but whatever Ri was, that was the underlying problem. “ - Whatever it is, we need to stop that, not just hide the culprit in a high security prison that only Providence has access to!”
“Celie…” Akashi shook his head. He ran his fingers through his hair then put his hands to his temple. “Oh, gods above, my head hurts. Strala himself must’ve struck me because - oh - oh man.” Akashi leaned back and against the handrail of the stairs. “I need - I need some rest…” Akashi fell back onto the stairs, his head clipping the railing. His eyes glazed over, a jade green glowing in them.
Celie gasped as she ran over to him. “Akashi?” She propped his head up and checked him over.
His silence was palpable. His face was blank and his jaw was slack. Celie put an arm around his shoulder and leveraged him up. She was going to have to carry him up the stairs. She couldn’t let Monroe see her. Clearly something had happened to Akashi, but she couldn’t find out without getting caught herself.
Once she figured out he was stable and alive, she carried him up the stairs and to the nearest medical bay. As soon as he was in the care of a doctor, Celie rushed out of the HQ and back home to try and put together her new clues.
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“So we're not going to talk about this morning at all, huh?” Celie glared across the table from Akashi in their usual diner booth. He had called her a few hours after she dropped him off in the medbay and said he was, “Feeling some pie. How about you?” She figured this was the best way to make sure he was okay and safe.
“What's there to talk about? Docs say I passed out from work-related stress.” He replied.
“That’s not what I was talking about.” Celie replied. She needed to know if he was still compromised.
“What? I covered you. Isn't that what you wanted?” He asked through a bite of pie.
Celie stared at Akashi. She looked up and down his face. He seemed sincerely confused as far as she could tell. Akashi was wearing a crinkled white button up and a black tie - a slightly different outfit than earlier, but it might as well be the same. He looked like he was dressed for a funeral - all the way to the five o'clock shadow, messy hair and bloodshot eyes.
Celie casually placed her hand on the table. I'm breaking all the rules lately, she thought to herself as she began to tap into the realm of the ancients again. Whatever this strange force was, something about her connection helped her feel it. As subtle as she could, she began to prod Akashi with ethereal force.
Celie could feel his very essence. She could sense everything that made him who he was and she even felt some things she didn't expect to be there. Akashi was afraid. Confused. ”What's wrong?” She demanded.
“Hm? Nothing. Nothing.” Akashi said with a quick shake of his head. He looked down at his pie then back at his friend across from him in the booth.
“Oh yeah?” She demanded.
“Mhm.”
“Gee always said you were a bad liar. I just never thought I’d be on the other end of it. What happened, Akashi?”
“It's nothing. I'm handling it.”
“Are you handling it or is it nothing? Can't be both.” Akashi bit the inside of his cheek and sucked in, making him look like a hollowed out husk.
“I'm handling it.” He decided on.
“Fine.” Celie conceded. “But I'm only trusting you on this because I have bigger problems right now.” Akashi waved her off and forced an uncomfortable smile. He's so full of it, she seethed.
She focused again and reached back towards his essence. She found it. Deep in the essence of who he was there was something strange. At first it felt to Celie like a blank space. Part of who he was was missing. As if someone had cut a tiny piece out of a string then tied the ends together, but then she realized they weren't tied together. They were glued.
The glue felt subtle, but malleable by the right hands. Not hers. The glue reeked of something familiar. The essence of it was jade. Like the murderer's eyes. Like Providence Monroe's eyes.
“So you don't remember talking to me at all in the sublevel?”
“Sublevel?” Akashi scratched his head. “Look, all I remember from earlier is I have a lead to follow up on that one of our guys in Investigations gave me for the sorcerer circle. But you're on ‘vacation.’ Don't worry about that.”
“A good lead?”
“Depends on what the magic and occult department has to say at PNU tomorrow. Anyway, that's not important right now. What's this about a sublevel?”
“Yeah… the sublevel. You don't remember the sublevel?”
“I'm sorry, Celie. No clue what you're talking about.”
This was worse than she thought. She began to wonder how many times was a member of the Peacekeepers or anyone else manipulated to the will of someone else? How did Monroe tie into any of this? Why would she do this? And the thought that was most pressing to her: Who was Ri? Celie took a deep breath in then became resigned. He had his work to do and she had hers. She knew he'd figure this out without her. Like she said before, she had bigger problems to worry about.
“Good luck tomorrow, Akashi.”
“You too, Celie.”
Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed part 4! I’m thinking it might end up being 6 or 7 parts rather than 8, but we’ll see. Either way, It’s coming together nicely I think! Let me know what you think in the comments!
Little bit of housekeeping, we will be taking a break next week from this serial, and instead I’ll be reposting something along with a celebratory reflection in celebration of being on Substack for one year! I am super excited, and if everything goes to plan, I have a potentially fun surprise prepared for next week. I don’t want to get hopes up too high just in case it doesn’t work out, but I’m just saying, if it works out, it’ll be really cool.
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And as always, if you have the money and the inclination, consider dropping a tip here!
See you next week to celebrate one year! Thanks so much everyone!
Oh, this is getting very dark! Poor Jona.. and is Providence actively behind everything, or just a tool? Can’t wait to find out how it develops!