302You have two choices:
1. Believe that everything they told you was a lie; they were killed for the sake of justice.
2. Believe that everything they told you was what they truly believed; the true reason they were killed was concealed from you.
Would you rather believe that they betrayed you or that they were killed unjustly?
Which is the real truth?
Chapter 1 ~ How to Catch a Serial Killer - or Two
"It was kinda hard to find him using that blurry photo of the murder suspect that you distributed to the public," the voice on the other end of the phone said, "but I have a tip as to where Slicer's current location might be."
"Oh?" Lt. Colonel Hughes asked as he studied the picture of the almost one-year-old Elysia in front of him, wondering how trustworthy this random caller's tip could possibly be when not even the military had any information on where Slicer was. Normally, it was the job of a lower-ranked officer to take calls like this, but today was a holiday. Hughes was only at work today because Slicer was causing such terror to the public. His murders were sporadic and occurred in random places… no one felt safe.
"Would you like to make a deal with me?" the caller asked.
"…A deal?" the man asked, frowning skeptically.
"I'll give you the tip, but only if you let me come with you guys to investigate the town that I was tipped off that he might be in."
Hughes raised an eyebrow. Why did this person want to be there during the investigation? He didn't really have anything to lose though, and he needed to catch Slicer before there were any more victims.
"Deal."
How fun it would be to slice them up; slice them into countless pieces.
Each of them, except for perhaps the fragile- looking girl, would be a fun opponent. He loved it when his victims tried to fight back, only to still fall prey to him.
The only problem was that they'd handcuffed and… (footcuffed?) him, obviously to restrain him. He certainly never heard anyone use the term "footcuffed" before, but they'd cuffed his feet, and he was pretty sure that you couldn't handcuff feet. But if you could, that wouldn't make a whole ton of sense. Or, he could just save himself a lot of trouble by simply saying they shackled both his hands and feet.
What crazy things he thought of in his boredom.
The room he was in was mostly white, save for the gray-blue floor tiles. This town was so small that it didn't even have a jail, so the police ended up throwing him in here instead. Well, since this room also happened to be the only place they could talk privately, the police were also still around in here. The room was closed in with no windows and only a single door. It was barren with no decorations or furniture, save for a single wooden bench in the corner and a table and chair in the center. The slight buzz of electricity could be heard from the lights that occasionally flickered above them. Overall, it was a pretty dreary place.
The murder suspect known as Slicer stared into space with naught but a smirk on his face. Although he hadn't thought that he'd be caught in this town he was pretty confident that this wasn't the end. In fact, he had come to this town to meet up with his younger brother after they'd split up to find a blacksmith who'd sell them cheap, good, and easily hidden blades.
As soon as he got the chance, he'd escape.
At the moment, Lt. Colonel Hughes, and some military and police officers were arguing about what they should do with him, but he wasn't particularly interested in what they were saying. They had only managed to take him in without a fight because they had caught him off-guard and currently weapon-less since he was waiting for his brother to bring the new blades. It was too bad, really. He wanted to know how many of those dumb cops he could take on at once. How many of them would run like animals when they realized their fate, how many of them would stubbornly try to resist it, and how many would be killed as he sliced them into so many pieces that they were no longer identifiable. But surely a few of them, like that Lt. Colonel, were skilled opponents.
He wanted to let out an insane cackle at this thought. Yes, death to the defeated. But it would be them who were defeated, not him. He wasn't yet defeated.
He turned his attention to the dark-haired girl sitting on the other side of the room, swinging her legs back and forth happily on a bench while eating some cookies. She wore a simple, knee-length red dress with a white-and-black plaid ribbon on its front, loose white socks, and black shoes.
He found himself to be quite puzzled by her. From what he had heard the police say, she was the one who gave them the tip about where he was in the first place, and now she looked as if she wasn't at all afraid of a murderer. But still, she didn't seem strong enough to fight back against him. Maybe she knew alchemy or something, but at such a young age, he doubted she was proficient enough to be able to do anything against him.
Which again left him the mystery as to what this girl was up to.
Glancing briefly towards the military and police officers, the girl hopped off the bench, cookie still in hand, and walked over to him. Ironically, they were too busy discussing about what should be done with the two of them to be paying any attention to them. From what he'd heard them say, they were trying to figure out where the girl had got her information on his location and what they were going to do with him.
"Nice job finding out where I was," he said, when the girl was only a few feet in front of him. "I congratulate you."
"Why thank you," the girl said, smiling triumphantly.
"Is there something you want with me, kid?"
"Straight to the point, aren't you?" she asked, sighing and looking a bit dejected. Had she wanted to hear more compliments about herself or something? She kicked her feet at the ground a little bit, frowning, before perking up again. "Well, that's fine," she concluded. "Do you, by chance, know anything about the Philosopher's Stone?"
"Hahaha," he laughed – in the end, the girl was still a kid, no matter how good she was at getting information. He found it mildly ridiculous that he would know anything about something like the Philosopher's Stone. "That's an interesting question, kid, but I have no interest in something like that."
"Yeek," she said, looking slightly disgusted. "Don't laugh again, that's creepy."
She was more scared of his laugh than she was of him evidently. He laughed again.
"I just told you not to laugh again!" she complained vehemently, glaring at him with her amber eyes. "And well, there's no harm in asking even if there's only a remote chance that you'll know something. Besides, from what I can tell the information on the Philosopher's Stone appears to be somewhat difficult to find for the average citizen, so I figured an outlaw might know something."
If he wasn't handcuffed, the man would have scratched the back of his head. "I don't know anything," he conceded, "but you're pretty sharp for a kid."
"Hehe," she giggled, pleased that she had been complimented again. "Naturally. I would be quite offended if you thought otherwise."
What a cheeky brat, he thought to himself, but he actually found her to be quite amusing. "Aren't you scared of me, kid?" he asked in earnest wonder.
"Erm," she said, looking somewhat puzzled as her brow furrowed and she stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well, I kind of thought it was obvious, but I just figure that you're not of much danger to me if you're all shackled like that." She smiled happily. "There's no reason for me to be afraid of something that can't do anything to me."
Well, that is certainly an interesting way of thinking… the man thought. But she makes a good point.
"Oi," Lt. Colonel Hughes suddenly broke into their conversation, frowning. "I don't want a child like you involved with a serial killer like him."
Irritation passed over the girl's face for a moment. Apparently, she didn't appreciate getting treated like the child she was. Taking another bite of her cookie, she turned to walk back to the other side of the room where she was originally sitting.
But then she turned around again to face him once more, her amber eyes examining him one last time. She walked away after that, but not before grabbing his battered old hat.
The suspect serial killer was left wondering why in the world a young teenage girl would ever want to steal his hat.
Normally, you would think that Slicer's killings would stop if you caught Slicer.
But they didn't.
It had hardly been half an hour since she had been scolded by Lt. Colonel Hughes for talking to Slicer when they received a call from a nearby city about a murder. It was to be expected though, especially considering Hughes' personality (she had gone through an awful lot of trouble to look up basic information on most of the important military officials to give her some standing with them when she actually met them). Hughes had just been preparing to interrogate the man, but the new murder was a more pressing problem, especially because, from what the police had reported to him when they called him, it was just like one of Slicer's killings. Claire bit her thumb nervously as she walked down the hallway to the room where the murder had occurred.
Damn. She hated it when things didn't go according to plan. On the other hand, she loved a good mystery. This really was turning out to be quite the intriguing case.
The sliding door of the room where the murder occurred was just slightly propped open. The door led to the fighting hall of the tiny dojo the murder had taken place in. She walked over to it but paused when she was right in front of it. She'd never actually seen a dead body before, let alone one that had been chopped up. In all honesty, she had to admit that she wasn't looking forward to the sight. She wasn't particularly delicate about this sort of thing or anything, but … she didn't really know – know what bugged her about this. The idea of seeing the body of a murder victim gave her a sort of twisted feeling in her stomach. This was probably her last chance to back out of this.
…
Well, she wasn't taking it.
Why?
Because curiosity was greater than common sense.
Curiosity might have killed the cat, but she wasn't a cat. Not to mention that an awful lot of people thought that curiosity was framed by stupidity, and she wasn't stupid.
And with that thought, she walked into the room as if it was her every day routine to walk into a murder scene.
By the time she walked through the doorway, Hughes was already barking some commands at his officers. Some of the officers were scrambling around, trying to follow his orders, and others were carefully examining the scene with their equipment. Someone had already covered the remains of the body, but no one had tried to hide any of the blood splatters in the room.
The splatters that dripped down the walls, the splatters that stained the polished wooden floor, the splatters that made it look like a horrific art piece.
Claire felt the color drain from her face as nausea washed over her. The whole thing was utterly repulsive.
"…This is disgusting…" she muttered quietly to herself.
Hughes, who had been kneeling as he briefly examined the remains beneath the cloth, looked up and noticed her. "Hey, I thought I told you to stay away from here," he said disapprovingly as he let go of the cloth and let it fall back into place. She could hear the protective tone in his voice, almost like a father would say to his child.
But she most certainly wasn't his child.
"How rude," she sniffed, crossed her arms across her chest sulkily and turning away from him. Just because she was a kid didn't mean she couldn't handle a little gore. Or maybe a lot of gore. Well, that was beside the point, though. The dark-haired girl returned her stubborn amber eyes to the lieutenant colonel. "If I help you catch the murderer then you have to acknowledge me as a decent informant."
"No," Hughes replied simply. His tone was adamant and his stare serious as he stood up to face her. "I don't want to put you in any more danger than you're already in."
Argh, she thought in frustration, I hate being a kid! Changing her approach, the thirteen-year old tried, "Oh come on, I know you want it! It's for the benefit of both of us." She looked at him with expectant puppy dog eyes.
"The help?" Hughes asked, his brow furrowing. "I'd rather keep kids out of danger. Sorry."
Claire glared at him before finally saying, "Hmph," annoyed that he wouldn't accept help. She would have to try to convince him again later. As Hughes turned back to the cloth with the remains beneath it, the girl's eyes wandered the room until she found a bloodless corner. Walking over to it, Claire sat down and pulled out a Sherwood Helmes novel to read while she contemplated what her next move should be.
Well, at least this wasn't boring.
But it wasn't long before she ended up putting the book down. In fact, it wasn't more than ten as it was hard to concentrate with the family members of the dead man were sobbing in the hallway. After his body had been found in the small dojo, and Hughes had contacted his family. He had advised them not to come to the scene of the murder, but they had come anyways. She understood why they were crying, but she just wanted to shut them out.
She didn't want to think about how broken the murdered man's parents must feel right now, how broken his girlfriend must be, how broken his younger sister was. It was never easy to lose a family member, especially so suddenly, but silently, she wished they would all shut up so that she wasn't forced to feel the dead man had ever been anything other than dead.
Throwing her book back into her bag, the girl stood up, opened the sliding door, and walked out of the room, and then out of the building, to get away from the depressing atmosphere. The outside air was clear and everything seemed much lighter and less tense than it had been inside. The girl took a deep breath and exhaled, listening to the calming sounds of the chirping birds and rustling leaves. Upon noticing a nice rock in a sunny place, she leaned against it and rubbed her temples as she went back to eating another lollipop.
No, don't question the lollipop. It helped her think.
Okay, Claire, she told herself, get your facts straight. You're perfectly capable of figuring out this mystery.
The man they currently had in custody shared a resemblance with the one in the photograph (as great a resemblance as one could with such a blurry image), but he was already in custody by the time this murder occurred. It was physically impossible for him to have committed it.
So then did they have the wrong criminal? That was also a possibility, she supposed. When she had talked to him, he had neither admitted to nor denied the crime he was accused of. No one had interrogated him yet either. She really didn't have any proof that this guy was indeed the one who had committed the murders, other than the fact that he resembled a blurry photograph.
Claire reached into her backpack and pulled out the copy of the photograph that she had. If only fugitive criminals would stand and pose for the camera, jobs like this would be a lot easier. Sadly, she didn't think that would happen very soon.
In any case though, she wanted to figure out what was going on. In her head, she listed the possibilities: 1. The criminal had magic abilities that let him attack people remotely, or 2. He was the wrong guy.
…(The second seemed an awful lot more likely than the first.)
But normally, if they hauled you in under false charges, you'd do quite a bit of objecting. He just kind of sat there and laughed like a maniac.
She wouldn't file the second option as impossible (like she would the first), but perhaps she was missing something.
She thought back to the moment she'd seen him buy a ticket and get on the train to this town (mind you, she wasn't about to reveal to anyone that it was only by little more than mere chance that she had gotten the information on Slicer).
A man she recognized walked up to the ticket stand.
One of her rules for the past year had been to memorize every wanted man's face possible. Unfortunately for her though, she didn't have some magic ability that would allow her to instantly communicate with people to get her updated on criminal locations, so she didn't have any other choice. She was too young for adults to take her seriously unless she somehow proved herself to them, and in order to prove herself to the military, she needed to prove that she could somehow help in an investigation.
But why did she want to help in an investigation?
Again, there's that thing called curiosity. Don't forget it.
As such, she had this tendency to walk right into danger, which was exactly what she was doing at that moment. The man she recognized had the face of the man called Slicer. There was no doubt about it. And so she proceeded to stalk him thoroughly enough to determine where his ticket was for.
Buying a ticket to the same location he was going to, she slunk onto the train, choosing a seat that was close to where he was sitting.
"Haha," he chortled quietly to himself, "Checking out those new blades will be fun, eh little brother?"
Little brother?
Claire's amber eyes widened with realization.
Damn it, she miscalculated.
Just as she was about to run back into the dojo, Hughes came running out.
"Tch, we hadn't even interrogated him yet!" Hughes said angrily. "I can't believe they released him when I was gone, thinking that he couldn't possibly be Slicer. We don't know that he doesn't know anything. He looked too much like the man in the photograph – this crime could be a copycat crime."
The man was frustrated, unable to solve a case that could cause the deaths of who-knew-how-many-more people if left unsolved. He was kind; he wanted to save as many lives as possible.
And she held the key to save those lives now that she knew the answer. This was her chance to offer her deal once more.
Taking a deep breath, she stated firmly, "No, you're wrong."
Hughes stopped ranting and looked at the girl.
"I'll repeat my earlier offer," she said seriously. "If I help you catch Slicer, then you have to acknowledge me as a decent informant and let me investigate for the military."
This time, though reluctantly, he agreed.
Lt. Colonel Hughes couldn't believe the incompetence of these rural policemen. He should have warned them not to release the suspect before he left, but he just assumed they wouldn't do that. Not only that, but they hadn't even taken his name down. That man clearly had an insane look in his eye when they'd caught him; not once did he look like a man convicted of a crime he didn't commit. Rather, he looked extremely confident that something would work in his favor even though he'd been caught. Claire hadn't explained exactly what she had figured out yet, but even without any explanation, it wasn't hard to see that that man still might have something to do with the case.
He wasn't sure what to think of the thirteen-year old girl, and he most certainly wasn't sure where she was getting her information. If it wasn't for the threat Slicer was posing to the public, Hughes wouldn't have agreed to let her help.
Does this girl even know what she's getting herself into? Hughes wondered, clutching the steering wheel of the car as they drove back to the police station.
Why did she want to get involved with the military?
Was she a spy for some other country or something?
He didn't have the right to make this girl's decisions for her, but if Elysia ever tried to do what Claire was trying to do, he would never let her do it. It was just too dangerous. Too brutal. She was too young.
Well, although the only things he'd noticed about her so far were that she was incredibly smart, appeared to be extremely good at collecting information (he seriously wanted to know how a thirteen year old had managed to get a hold of Slicer's location), and appeared to have somewhat of a sweet tooth, he would probably be doing the investigations on her anyways, providing she actually managed to succeed in helping them. As if someone who hadn't even had a background check done on her could just work as an informant for the military. That would be an extreme breach in security, to put it lightly.
She reminded Hughes of the Elric brothers who had become state alchemists just last year. He couldn't say that he knew everything about why Edward would want to become a dog of the military at such a young age, but nothing easy could bring a person to do that to themselves.
People were killed in the military. People were killed by the military.
Death wasn't just something that happened to other people that you didn't know. It was something that was always around, always waiting to creep up on you.
By now, they had arrived back at the police station. He and Claire climbed out of the car, and he noticed her reaching into her bag. She seemed to keep an awful lot of food in there, but this time she pulled out a battered old hat.
"What's that for?" he asked, slightly mystified. "Wait, isn't that the guy we had in here earlier's hat?"
"Yup," the girl said cheerfully, holding the hat up and smiling. "You guys have tracking dogs, don't you?"
Hughes blinked, realizing what Claire was implying. She was entirely one step ahead of him, even though she was probably twenty years younger. He would have to step it up a bit. "Yeah," he told her.
"Awesome." She clapped her hands together with pleasure. "Let's use them."
"We went wrong when we assumed Slicer was just one person. We were too narrow-minded," Claire began carefully.
The big hunting dogs sniffed fervently at the ground, trying to locate the scent they had sniffed on the hat. So far, the dogs had led them from the police station to the forest on the edge of the town. The brush in there was overgrown, and it didn't look as if people normally tread through, which made it a perfect place for Slicer to be. Hughes had to admit though that he was still in shock that a kid could have thought far enough ahead to grab something with the man's scent on it.
When he asked about it, she had grinned at him and replied, "I was just taking a precaution. Wasn't it a good idea?"
Kids these days.
Hughes, Claire, and a police officer that came with them were getting deeper into the forest, and less and less light was finding its way through the thick, entangled branches of the trees. The trees reached far into the sky, each with vines crawling up its trunk and branches. A few crows perched high above them, staring down on them with beady eyes. Old rotting wood covered in moss was scattered across the ground, and they had to be careful to avoid poison ivy. Occasionally, a sudden rustle of the shrubbery would catch their attention, but it tended to be either a rabbit or a squirrel.
One of the tracking dogs suddenly looked as if something had piqued its interest as it tried to urge Hughes, Claire, and the police officer that was with them to follow it.
"I'll check out the situation first," the police officer said, holding the dog's leash. "You guys wait here for a second."
"Alright," Hughes agreed as the officer quickly disappeared behind the vegetation. Hughes hoped the officer wouldn't get himself into any trouble…
A silence descended upon Hughes and Claire, and only the sporadic caw of a crow could be heard in the distance. Claire was certainly very good at keeping her calm even though they were in a situation where Slicer could come upon them at any moment. Despite her age… No, perhaps because of her age, she would probably make a good addition to the investigation department. It wasn't likely that anyone would suspect a little girl like her was a spy for the military. Besides, she said she wanted to be acknowledged as an informant.
He still had his qualms about letting another kid into the military, but –
"Help me!" the police officer desperately called out from somewhere nearby. Hughes felt his pulse quicken with fear for the officer. A second later, an agonizing scream pierced the air, shortly followed by a cackling laughter.
Hughes and Claire rushed over to the sound of the scream, where they found two tall men standing over the bleeding body of the policeman. Hughes clenched his fists; he shouldn't have let the man go alone.
"It wasn't a copy cat crime," Claire said, looking him in the eye. "Slicer is not one, but two people."
"You did well finding us," the man they had caught earlier today said. What little light that shone through the trees glinted menacingly off his silver blade. "I think it is fair to assume that that little girl who was with you earlier played a great contribution to that."
Noting the man's word choice, Hughes glanced around him to see that Claire had mysteriously vanished into thin air. That was good though. At least this way, she was less likely to get attacked.
"Bro, what should I do with this guy?" another man (who looked quite similar to the man standing next to him, just a bit shorter) asked as he waved the body of the man he'd just sliced in the air. Hughes assumed he was the younger brother. He gritted his teeth angrily as he resisted the urge to attack rashly at the way they treated the officer.
"Just kill him if he's not already dead," the older brother said nonchalantly. "He's not our main priority right now."
At that comment, the other man tossed the body aside. "I'll kill him as soon as we finish with this guy then," he said, smirking in anticipation as he glanced eagerly towards his blade.
Hughes wasn't going to let them attack anyone else.
Before they could react, Hughes dashed sideways and threw several push knives in their direction. His hazel eyes quickly analyzed his opponents as well as his surroundings – this environment put him at a disadvantage because he had to avoid all the vegetation while throwing his knives, but the two men who made up Slicer were equally disadvantaged, because it was harder to locate him in the dark.
Each person that died had family, friends, who would cry for him when he was dead.
No death was easy.
Charging through the trees like a lion towards prey, the younger brother lunged at him, but Hughes quickly dodged the attack and kicked the man in the face, causing him to fall back. He had to think quick – facing two opponents was four times as hard as facing one. The man swore, wiping blood from his now-bleeding nose. Where is Colonel Mustang when you needhim? Hughes wondered in frustration as he prepared to attack once more. As part of the investigations department, Hughes was better trained in self-defense than offense.
A nervous feeling gripped Hughes' stomach – something was wrong. Although Hughes was winning so far and the younger brother was still slightly unsteady on his feet, a confident sneer had found its way onto the younger brother's face.
In his position, he shouldn't look so confident… Where was the older brother? His pulse quickening, Hughes took a step back.
And walked right into their trap.
"It looks as if we've been underestimated," Hughes heard a voice say from behind him.
Instinctively, he threw himself to the side, just as the older brother swung his sword downward with a slice that easily would spelled the end for the lieutenant colonel.
"Tsk, tsk," Hughes said, gritting his teeth. "I wouldn't let you guys get the better of me that easily."
Now completely recovered, the younger brother flew towards him again, wildly jabbing a blade at him. His eyes were wild as he enjoyed the excitement of the fight.
Hughes could feel his heart beating in his chest, his breathing getting heavier as he just marginally dodged each jab. One blow would be enough to disable him enough for them to easily take him down. He should have thought to call for back up before he started this fight, but there was no time to call for help now. Next time, he would definitely remember to call for back up before he got into any sort of trouble. Other than that, he was definitely going to practice his offensive skills when he finally got out of this. Self-defense was just self-defense, and while he could probably knock these guys out, he was going to have to do things pretty under-handedly. But if there was one good thing about this battle, it was that it was proving to the girl just how dangerous the work she was getting herself into was.
"Mustang!" Hughes suddenly exclaimed to a Mustang that didn't exist. "Get him from behind!"
His attacker froze for a mere second to see who Hughes was talking about, but that was all Hughes needed. In that instant, he stabbed the man in the stomach with one of his pull knives and gave him a quick karate chop to the back of the neck to make sure he was out.
Although his breathing as ragged, Hughes taunted, "And I thought I was underestimating you guys?" almost amused that his ruse had actually worked. As if Mustang would actually be all the way out here near Central- not that these two knew that.
"I suppose I miscalculated," the older brother said. He was still totally relaxed as he readied himself for the lieutenant colonel's next move. "Come."
Hughes was already running through the shrubbery by the time the invitation was given. He wanted to keep his distance from his opponent to avoid getting stabbed.
Observing Hughes' actions, the man changed his mind. "If you're not going to come," he said, "then I will."
With speed faster than what Hughes had anticipated, the older brother dashed in the direction of the sound Hughes' footsteps as the lieutenant colonel threw yet another knife towards him.
"Ahahahaha," the older brother cackled as he swung his blade towards Hughes. "Running is getting you nowhere, and it matters naught how many knives you throw if you're only going to miss." The older brother was no saner than the younger.
Both of them were predators that enjoyed the hunt.
Hughes managed to duck out of the way in time to avoid the swing, but he found himself backed against a tree. "Damn," Hughes cursed under his breath. He fumbled around his clothes searching for another knife.
And then he realized he'd already thrown all the knives he usually carried on him.
Having noticed Hughes' hesitation, the older brother shouted, "I'm not giving you time to find another knife!" preparing to stab Hughes.
Hughes, doing the first thing that came to mind, swiftly grabbed the thick, leafy branch of a nearby tree, and shoved it in the man's face. Surprised, the older brother missed Hughes and his blade embedding itself deeply into the tree behind Hughes' trunk.
Yanking the older brother's arm away from the handle of his blade, Hughes threw him to the ground.
"It's over," he said, letting his breathing slow. "You've lost."
After Hughes was able to knock out the older brother, Claire let out a huge sigh of relief. Although she had assumed Hughes would win beforehand (he was, after all, a military officer who should have decent combat training), the anxiety she felt from the "what-if-something-goes-wrong-and-he-really-does-die" was still pretty strong. She had been hiding behind a bush as inconspicuously as possible.
Combat really was not her strong point.
"Ah, so you were back there?" Hughes asked as he approached her. He must have detected her by hearing her let out the breath she had been holding.
"Yup," she said, looking up towards him."I thought I hid pretty well."
Hughes shrugged. "Well, kids like you should stay out of fights like that anyways."
Ignoring the fact that his comment seemed to imply she was too young to handle any of this stuff, she looked at him with sparkly eyes and asked, "So was I helpful enough? Will you let me work as a military investigator?"
"Yeah, yeah," Hughes agreed, scratching his head in a mix of resignation and bewilderment. "I never expected to have to rely on a kid to solve the Slicer case. You're in." Then he paused for a moment. "So, would you like to see a picture of my super-cute-absolutely-irresistible daughter, Elysia?"
Claire looked at him quizzically, ignorant of the endless doting that was in store for her.
And that was how she first began investigating for the military.
Author's note: Yay! A new story. / / shot by readers of previous story. Please do read the overly long author's note.
Edit Dec 16, 2011: Added some extra description in little spots throughout the chapter.
This story will be based purely off the 2003 anime.
For those of you who don't know: Fallacy - a deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.
Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa Hiromu.
The romance in this story will be slow. Envy isn't the kind of character who will just *poof* fall in love. I have to deal with various other issues first before I can even start to think about that.
Thanks to everyone who has helped me edit this chapter! I made way too many people read it. The next chapter will begin after a two year time skip.
For those of you who want to see what Claire looks like, there are links to pictures of her on my profile. I promise they won't scare you.
And I know this is just the first chapter buuuuuuuut...
What do you think so far? I don't normally write mysteries, so was it interesting? If you remember Slicer from the anime, did you like the way I made use of him?
Modern-style lollipops were invented somewhere around 1908. So says Wikipedia.
Hope you enjoyed reading ;D Review please xD