It's a busy day in Centropolis
Replies
I knew I'd like E.
Do we get to peek in the diary in the next part? :D
That's a super cute CW too, thank you so much anon!
"Thanks for blowing my cover, Tanja." E glares at Tanja before he redirects his attention to you. "Pleased to meet you even in these circumstances. Like this wench here says, I'm E." He extends his hand to you.
"Hey, don't call me a wench!" Tanja swings her arm backward to hit E with her elbow. Carlos then presses a button that closes the elevator doors, and another button for the fourth floor.
While nary a doubt that the elevator would quickly make its ascent to your destination crosses your mind, the lights in the elevator shut off. Tanja immediately screams, but is silenced just about as quickly. You hear her continue to say something, but her voice is muffled by what you assume to be someone's hand blocking her mouth.
"I wonder if he knows I'm already here. He's definitely getting better at this. Or he hired more skilled people," E mutters.
As soon as Tanja ceases her attempts to speak, there is a few seconds of silence.
Ask E what he means
"What do you mean?", you ask E.
"Man, I hope the power getting out means the closed-circuit cameras aren't running on backup power. Actually, we'll be fine as long as they aren't recording any sound."
He pauses for a moment.
"Okay. I think we're safe for now. I needed assistance from Neutral Force because I can't enter the bar in the fourth floor alone. I've tried to infiltrate this place before, but I made a misstep. I can't go back in there now. They'll capture me immediately."
"What are you trying to infiltrate? And why didn't you give us any leads sooner?", Carlos asks.
"I don't know if I can trust any of you fully." "Fair enough." "I need to physically destroy a server in the bar. Or at least delete a few files for a friend." "Can't you do it remotely? I thought you were a skilled hacker." "The server was supposed to be in a run-down apartment, but that turned out to be a false lead. Technically not, because I tracked the place down and found a handwritten note telling me to go to this bar instead, because the server was brought here." "But why go through the hassle of visiting the server's physical site?" "This is more than just a couple of files that shouldn't exist. I'm going to confront its owner. Since that failed, I'll need your assistance."
Carlos screams in pain, and shortly after, you hear Tanja speak clearly.
"E, I think this is a bad idea. What are those files, anyway?" "Nude photographs of a friend. Apparently." "Are you sure they even exist?" "Yeah. He is diabolical enough to do that. He has done worse." "Let me guess, this is Brandon Dorian, right?" "How did you know?" "He turned himself over to the police in the Upper City." "WHAT?" "I heard he didn't seem like himself. It's like his confessions were made under duress." "Recently, I started to think he's just being used. That someone is framing him for everything."
You feel the air around you become more tense and scarce.
"Tanja, have I told you about the contents of Brandon's USB? I believe the person who gave the simple cyphers in the device is Brandon himself. He's warning people of a certain 'Master'. That person is who I seek to confront."
"Be careful, E. He might be shifting the blame to someone else. We're talking about an organisation of bigots who recently attempted to set up base here in the moon."
Just when you thought you'd all suffocate from a lack of breathable air, the lights come back on. The elevator resumes its trip up to the fourth floor. You hear a ding, and the elevator doors slide open. As you walk out of the enclosed space, greeted by a lounge with glass walls that show the dance floor and giant mirror ball below, you notice that E stayed behind in the elevator. He waves his phone at you, and presses a button before the elevator doors close again.
All three of you take a seat in one of the lounge's sofas, when you feel your phone vibrate. You receive a message from an unknown sender. There is a "Secret Message" label where the contact name should be.
"i think bella and grace were brought here by that master
their phones geolocated to an area close to this place
dunno where to find them so good luck i guess
the server can wait -e"
Before you can show Tanja and Carlos the message, it vanishes. You relay it to them instead.
"Grace? I've heard E mention that name earlier," Carlos says. Tanja swings her arm backward to hit E with her elbow. "Yes, he's the person in the CCTV feed from Club PLURality. Who would have known they'd wind up somewhere close?"
You allow your eyes to wander around the room. There are only a few patrons in the lounge, compared to the crowded dance floor. One person is looking over the glass walls. You also notice a hooded individual reading from a pink book on the sofa next to the one where you are seated. He suddenly looks at your general direction, hurriedly standing up to dart away from his seat. He leaves the book on the arm rest. It seems to be a diary of sorts.
mfw I saw the cw... THANK YOU!!!! <3 <3
he/him / 31 / EST |  | My best friend is |
I kinda really love E lmao, I hope to see more of them!!
And thank you for the cw!!! It's completely precious <3
omg i'm not caught up with this at all sorry anon ;o; i just logged on and saw the cw, im so shocked !! but in a good way ah thank you you are such a dearie !!! first the bg and now this super qt sweater :0 and paired along with a riveting story!
(( i just noticed that i wrote tanja to hit e with her elbow when he wasn't there anymore, that was supposed to be carlos! i think i forgot to close the spoiler tag, too. i'm so embarrassed haha. ))
You pick the diary up from the arm rest. Before you can decide on opening it or not, a few pages fall out of the book.
Look at what fell out
Perhaps it's not a prudent idea to open and read the entire diary, but you can at least look at what's written on these loose pages.
[spoiler=Transcript of the Pages]Jan. 10
It's been a while since I wrote on this thing so I'm going to get very rambly.
The office is oddly quiet this morning, I thought to myself. I heard someone knock on my door. Creepy! At the time, I was reading some journal articles about herniorrhapy to present to this class I was asked to teach on behalf of my father. I had no idea he thought of teaching clinical epidemiology. Or that he still read new articles. Wli Wills told me to get ready to leave. The lecture was still in the afternoon, so I did not understand the rush. We were headed to the medical centre first to discuss Grace's contract with the medical director. He told us to speak to the program director instead.
Finally at the program director's office. There was briefing about our appeal reading the contract. He told us it was fixed. We asked him what the catch was; He could not leave. Our proposal would not please the program director even with changes. We wanted to help him. I wish I was there to warn him about the loopholes in his contract. He's no longer a resident, he doesn't deserve this kind of unfair treatment just because we're "aliens."
At the place we were ret renting, I told Grace everything. It lit a fire in his eyes when I told him about Centropolis, it was his exit from being stuck in the medical centre at Saherimos. He told me he'd think about it, but then he agreed hesitantly. It's like something was stopping him from joining us.
...
Just as a certain fear would still be there. How long can I hide? I've been hiding it in my careful heart. Whenever he smiles at me, I feel like melting! It never gets old. How can I continue to talk like I'm a giddy little schoolgirl, when we've known each other for such a long time? I just can't help it, especially when I look at him... I don't know what I've done to deserve his affection! I can fill all the pages of this diary talking about him, but if it were a person, I'm sure it would have been tired of hearing every conversation I I make, day in and day out, centered around him. What I'm feeling... I can't bring myself to tell him. I'm ridiculously weak. What is he doesn't feel the same way? Hopefully before the Subetan winter ends, I can tell him how much he means to me. [/spoiler]
Tanja leans closer to you and whispers, "Did you see that?"
What, Carlos heading to the bar?
Your eyes quickly catch wind of Carlos talking to the bartender in the nearby bar.
Tanja cups her hands over her mouth and yells, "I'm not going to look after you if you get drunk again, Carlos."
Right after she says that, you see the bartender pour whiskey onto a shot glass. Carlos gleefully takes it and drinks it in one shot.
"Carlos, you IDIOT!" "What? It's just one shot." "One shot is too much! With such a low alcohol tolerance, this guy…" Tanja hits her face with both of her palms, and screams in frustration. "You doubt me too much, Tanja. Do you know how much this hurts me?" "My, my, my, it hasn't even been a minute since he drank and he's all emotional like this? So sad." "Tanja, I'm being serious here! I'm tired of being treated like a doormat, being stepped on all the time--" "Then stop acting like one!"
Tanja runs to where Carlos is seated, and pulls him out of his chair.
"Hey, what was that for?" "Get yourself together. We weren't here to drink. We're here to address a distress call, remember?" "You realise that I'm supposed to be off-duty today, right? I'm not even supposed to be here if you didn't lose your friggin' car." "Didn't you receive the call from this bar? You're so irresponsible!"
You stand between both of them just as Tanja prepares to slap Carlos, and tell them both to stop.
"This person is right, Tanja. I'm sorry I lost control of myself. I just have so many problems…" "We'll talk about that later. Let's look for those missing people first."
[[Proceed to 2.]]
What, the writing that suddenly turned pink as I was reading the pages?
You're not sure if you were just seeing things, or if some of the words in the journal changed ink colour as you read through them. It might be something important. But how could that have happened? Perhaps Lower Ziaran paper diaries have some odd technology unavailable back in the planet.
"The fire exit," Tanja whispers to you. "What about it?" "We should probably check that place out. A lead is a lead, we can always investigate deeper if it turns out to be a false one."
Just then, you notice Carlos sitting on a bar stool. The bartender pour whiskey onto a shot glass. Carlos gleefully takes it and drinks it in one shot.
"Carlos, you IDIOT!" "What? It's just one shot." "One shot is too much! With such a low alcohol tolerance, this guy…" Tanja hits her face with both of her palms, and screams in frustration. "You doubt me too much, Tanja. Do you know how much this hurts me?" "My, my, my, it hasn't even been a minute since he drank and he's all emotional like this? So sad." "Tanja, I'm being serious here! I'm tired of being treated like a doormat, being stepped on all the time--" "Then stop acting like one!"
Tanja runs to where Carlos is seated, and pulls him out of his chair.
"Hey, what was that for?" "Get yourself together. We weren't here to drink. We're here to address a distress call, remember?" "You realise that I'm supposed to be off-duty today, right? I'm not even supposed to be here if you didn't lose your friggin' car." "Didn't you receive the call from this bar? You're so irresponsible!"
You stand between both of them just as Tanja prepares to slap Carlos, and tell them both to stop.
"This person is right, Tanja. I'm sorry I lost control of myself. I just have so many problems…" "We'll talk about that later. Let's look for those missing people first."
[[Proceed to 2.]]
continued in next post
he/him / 31 / EST | | My best friend is |
The amount of work and care that has gone into this plot is just astounding, anon. And it probably sounds cheesy but I really am honored and flattered that you chose me to be a part of it!
I flailed a little at the diary entries. Also have I mentioned how much I love E? XD
continued from previous post
2
"Do we even know where to start? There's nothing else in this floor apart from a bar. Maybe we should try the third floor--"
"No, let's check the fire exit first."
"What for?"
"The pages that fell from the diary." Tanja is visibly frantic. "I-I can't explain it… but… but… the ink on some of the words just changed colour as we were reading it!"
"Why the hell are you reading someone's diary?"
"The pages fell off, okay? Don't blame me!"
"I'm not going to argue with you. Let's go!"
You all head towards the fire exit, conveniently located next to the elevator. The barkeep yells at Carlos, demanding that he pay for the whiskey he ordered. Carlos just yells back, "I'll be back!"
As soon as you open the door to the fire exit, decorated with an ominous "OFF LIMITS EXCEPT DURING EMERGENCIES" sign, a fire extinguisher nearby, you hear a loud noise coming from inside. On the junction between the fourth and third floors, you hear some noises coming from what seems to be the wall. Tanja knocks on the wall, immediately triggering a panel to fall into a gap. Green-coloured light floods a portion of the floor through the opening Tanja inadvertently made. She leads the way, and encourages you to follow her.
It's a lengthy stretch of hallway, illuminated with alternating green and blue neon lights. You all decide to keep quiet, just in case someone might be nearby. Sooner than you think, you reach the end of the hallway, where an unmarked door lies before you. Tanja holds the door knob, and gently turns it.
"They didn't even bother to lock the door."
The door opens to reveal what seems to be a control room. Multiple screens show closed-circuit camera feeds, including at least three that seem to monitor the hallway you just passed by. There is nothing else illuminating the room, apart from the screens and numerous flickering dots, which seem to be computer boxes of sort. Carlos locks the door behind the three of you, as Tanja and you look around.
"It's strange that nobody's in here." "Defeats the purpose of a security room, don't you think, Tanja?" "Indeed."
You feel your phone vibrate in your pocket.
"i tried to ask one of the employees of the bar for floor plans uhh i cannot use the free wifi or anything here so i cannot send it here go to the fire exit just until between the 3rd and 4th floor there is a fake wall just knock it over and go to the end of the hallway to the door you see thats a control room hurry up while the guard isnt there the server looks like a normal wifi router unplug it and take it with you -e"
It's from a different number from the one he used to text you earlier. You relay the message to Tanja and Carlos.
"But there are a lot of blinking dots here! How do we know which one is the correct router?", Tanja asks. "Just unplug everything you can, Tanja," you hear Carlos say. Tanja gets to work, and you begin to look for something that appears more like a wireless router rather than a CPU. After a bit of searching, you find a lone, red wireless router. You unplug it, and give it to Tanja, who may hide it under her suit.
"Are we sure this is the right one? Can you try calling E?"
You take out your phone again, and ring the number where E most recently sent you a text. After a while of waiting, a familiar automated prompt informs you that the number is out of service.
"Typical of him to do that." "Tanja, I think we've overstayed our visit. We should leave now."
Tanja stands back up, kicking the wires she unplugged to a place where the screens cannot shine light on them. You prepare to leave as soon as Carlos opens the door. The lit hallway you passed by earlier is now noticeably dark, and you are greeted by a hooded figure pointing a gun at you.
aw don't worry anon. I hope that was really E and we took the right router... oh crap someone with a gun
he/him / 31 / EST | | My best friend is |
Okayyy so I'm a terrible person and didn't open my gifts for a month. I'm sorry. :'( I'm trying to be good today though. I already replied to a comment from over a month ago so I can totally keep this up! c:
/starts reading from the bloodied hydrus necklace gift UH OH blood isn't good I'm scared :c
police car: Yay for not touching bloody evidence! Always a good plan.
Tanja seems chill. Me likey. Answers: "I WAS GOING TO…" 3B 3C 4 I kind of wanted to learn more, but I went with the more urgent options. Bloody things lying around should probably get investigated. I like your pendant design btw. It's a very pretty eye! Clues and detective work, hurray! And noooo not the car! Police cars are cool. Ask anyone. :c
Disco ball: Yay, Carlos to save the day! Or at least the not-having-a-car situation. /volunteers all the information Something tells me that the hospital bed and footprints could be important. Wonder what. c: MEETING E! How awesome. I love the pants.
OH WOW another CW what are you doing to meee why are you so nice It's super pretty! ^_^ Thank you so much! You used the word 'nary', yay! :D Hehehe, she bit him! Fair enough too. Dun dun dunnnn, Brandon's behaviour is making a teeny bit more sense! I hope Bella and Grace are doing okay! Figures just about everyone gets caught up in these things. Interesting that certain people are ready to INFILTRATE dangerous places to get rid of nudes. Then again, I wouldn't want any nudes floating around either. So there are none. Woohoo. I found a diaryyy - wonder what it says!
Final message. :o :o
/looks at notes (the stationary is SUPER CUTE.) Yess, I read! /wants to run for the fire exit immediately Loving the interaction between Tanja and Carlos! They're silly. C: Knock the fake wall over? Heh! I like that E is so paranoid. IT'S A GUN OH NOOOOO
And oh geez can I just comment that I love your awesome creativity and how you manage to use so many new and old items to make such a wonderful story?! It's truly amazing!! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING have my love <3
🔭🐢
"Neutral Force is conducting an investigation in this control room. Please do not interfere with our activities," you hear Tanja say.
"Who gave you authorisation to enter private property?", inquires the hooded figure. Her voice is uncharacteristically saccharine, creating some kind of cognitive dissonance when coupled with her Unliving appearance. Perhaps she's not the kind of Unliving with damaged vocal cords?
"Does the name 'E' ring any bells to you?"
The stranger hisses. "That snake!"
"Leave us be, or we will call the police to sic on your little party."
The hooded Unliving woman puts her arm down, and returns the gun to her pocket, walking away. Carlos walks close to the door, keeping an eye on what's happening outside.
"Good work, Tanja! I was so convinced you'd stutter there," he says. "Must be the adrenaline. Gosh, that was stressful." Tanja hits her forehead with her palm. Carlos then closes the door and walks closer to Tanja.
You feel a looming presence behind you. Turning around, you see three figures. It seems that their eyes of one of the strangers have met yours, but you recognise the other two people.
You tap the shoulders of Carlos and Tanja, who also turn around.
"Oh, these must be Grace and Bella! Glad you're safe," Tanja whispers, albeit audibly. She then points at the stranger. "Who's this person with you?" "This is our new friend. We were locked in a room with hospital beds." Grace looks at the door. "Tanja, we have to get out of here, quickly. But it's good that person who held you at gunpoint didn't seem to notice us." "Who was that?", asked Carlos. "That's Orin, the Unliving nurse who tended to us while we were in the room. No doubt she'll shoot us if she found out we escaped," says Grace. "We better keep quiet for now. Let's wait it out for a few minutes, then we get out of here," Carlos says just before he walks back to the door. "We also retrieved the server E was talking about." Tanja pulls out the red router from her vest, but quickly places it back inside. "That's a router, Tanja." Grace raises one of his eyebrows and gives her an odd look. "Let's talk about it later. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. You two are safe, and we have the router. We have no other business here."
You receive another text. It's from yet another phone number.
"i got rid of the guard get the heck out of there do not wait for me i will face master alone -e"
You show the text to your companions, who are surrounding you on all sides.
Will E be okay?
"He'll be fine. He might be like that, but he knows how to handle himself," Tanja reassures you.
"You have so much faith in him, Tanja," you hear Carlos say.
"We can't let E do that alone!", exclaims Bella.
"Bella, please." Grace rests his hands against Bella's shoulders. "We shouldn't interfere."
"What if he gets hurt?"
"We'll endanger more people if we go there. He'll be fine. I promise."
He did WHAT to the guard?
"I don't think he killed the guard. That's not his style."
"What did he do, then? Poison the bugger?"
"Grace, can you see what he did?" Bella audibly whispers as she tugs on Grace's arm.
"I can't do that here and now!"
"What's that about?" Tanja turns her head around to face the two.
"It's nothing." Grace covers Bella's mouth with one of his hands.
continued in my next post
he/him / 31 / EST | | My best friend is |
continued from my previous post
Carlos stays behind until all five of you -- Grace, Bella, the stranger, Tanja, and yourself -- leave the control room. You return to the lengthy, neon-lit hallway, just to find that the break in the false wall that Tanja made earlier had been incompletely occluded with a steel trash can. Tanja pushes it away, and you safely descend the fire exit.
Leaving the building, you find yourself on one end of an empty, albeit dark and derelict alleyway. You can hear muffled music. A stray hospital bed blocks the way out. Pushing it to no avail, Carlos resigns to climbing over it. Tanja notices that the wheels of the bed are attached to both walls of the alley through welded chains. Grace and Bella motion for you and the stranger to go over the bed before them.
Before you can do so, you catch sight of the hooded figure from earlier, passing by. She seems too preoccupied with counting a fat pile of paper bills, humming a familiar, cheesy pop song. You feel someone pull you down, the draping sheets of the hospital bed covering you. As soon as she leaves your sight, you slowly stand up, and discreetly climb over the bed, taking care not to make any noise.
The woman in the orange hoodie is far from your sight by the time all of you go through the hospital bed. Tanja and Carlos high-five each other.
"Typical," Tanja mutters. "Of course E would bribe her." "I haven't been here for long. Are the people here in Lower Ziara generally… economically depressed?" "You can say that." "It's hard to believe, with all their technology and all these bars." "Ever noticed that the drinks are dirt cheap?" "How would I know, Carlos? I don't drink." "You should try it out sometime." "Not in a million years." "Anyway, these people know how to maximise minimal resources. Most of the plastic they use is recycled." "Fair enough." Tanja's hair sways gently as a gust of wind blows by.
Yet another hooded figure passes by in front of you, stopping in front of Tanja.
"I'm sorry, the Master you're looking for is in another castle."
"What is the meaning of this, E?", inquires a slightly irritated Tanja.
"That's what the guard told me after I gave her all that money."
"How important is it that we find this 'Master' guy? My freaking car got missing AND I NEED TO LOOK FOR IT, UGH UGH UGH!" Tanja begins to bang her head against the wall. Grace and Bella take her by her arms and pull her away from the wall of ChouChou.
Through the distorted, distant sounds of what seems to be club music, you hear someone announce "Unleash your Chouchou!" loud and clear. "Should we still release the butterflies," asked Carlos. "I can't believe you kept those things on you!" "Well, give me your butterfly. I'm sure my daughter will love it." "That's all fine and dandy, but I need to find my car!" Tanja is visibly anxious. "Tanja, will you calm down for a second? I'll help you find your car, okay?" You all walk away from the building, heading towards Carlos' car, which is still where it was parked.
"It's fine, Carlos." E scratches his right cheek. "Take Grace and the others someplace safe. I'll help Tanja locate her car. Finding Master isn't much of a priority." He glances at the stranger, reaching his hand out to them. "Carlos' car might not fit all five of you. Why don't you come with us?"
Tell Tanja to show E the router.
Upon your reminder, Tanja takes out the router from her vest.
E's eyes light up. "That's the one. Take it apart and you should find a flash drive inside. I'll keep in contact via text." He then hands the router over to you. "Keep it safe. Hide it for now."
Carlos starts the engine and begins to drive off.
Yay Grace and Bella are back! idk who the third person is.. a new friend ?? Still loving this story
he/him / 31 / EST | | My best friend is |
This seems to be the more active thread for this plot, so I'll post here. I went to another thread, "We come in peace," which seems to have the same characters, but I don't recognize their latest installment. Anyway.
Glad to meet a new friend! I wonder if they're otherworldly like Grace and Bella. I'm glad they're safe! That recording had me worried. E doesn't sound too concerned about Master, which seems like a good thing.
I got some bad news the other day that I'm still trying to process, so I'm super sorry my response to this is short. Do know that I'm grateful, as always, for the update, and of course the gifts as well! <3 Thank you. I always enjoy reading these and get super excited when I see that there's a new chapter to read!
There are three posts that are all this same plot, but they're all slightly different storylines. I think, anyway. It's very confusing to my tiny brain, but that's my understanding.
Nice HA, btw, and I hope everything is okay.
Man I love Bella, she's always so selfless! Super curious about this new person too.
Also does anyone know what wig E is wearing? Is it a CW?
this looks like the same one as the thread I was posting on before, at least the most recent post, so hopefully i'm still in the right place.
thank you! and it's probably not. but. i appreciate distractions like anon's plot all the same!
edit: Just got an anon gift that was typed in out-of-character parentheses, so I'm guessing it was our lovely and talented anon here! (( i'm sorry to hear about the bad news. hopefully everything will sail smoothly for you soon. :c )) Thank you so much. My cat goes in to get more blood work done in 2-4 weeks, so I won't know more until then. reeeeaaally hoping the bad news will turn into good news then.
Am I silly for feeling all fangirlish that E replied to me? ^^; It has nothing to do with the plot but I'd feel weird posting in the general anon gift thread because he's a character from the plot, so
You receive a text from an unknown number.
"you wanna know who did my hair? its a hairstyle from the renowned styx i cannot remember which salon i got it from the hairdresser said she would only do it for 20 people i keep remembering really dumb things and forget important stuff wth if i could name my locks i would call them ghostly fringes of a reluctant lad cuz i am a reluctant sob ya know -e"
which would be why it looked so familiar, the Navy version has been on my impossible most wanted wishlist forever. ^^;
Lol I feel the same way!
A new installment just arrived and I got all excited. XD But oh no! Poor Anjy, what's happened to you? D: Gawd she looks awful. D:
o god, anjy, no. :( and took her place? i'm not sure what that means but it's intriguing. i'm glad this installment came so quickly after the last, super curious to see where this is going. and i also want to hug anjy. :( also brandon is an alien, wow, i think that's new information, right? because i thought he was just some rude human
After just a few minutes of Bella and Grace filling Carlos in on what happened to them in ChouChou, you can't help but notice that Carlos' driving is becoming more… erratic, for the lack of a better term.
"Stop the car, Carlos. I'll take over," says Grace. "You can't even drive!" "Sure I can." "You don't have a license." "But you're drunk!"
Carlos parks the car at the shoulder of the road. He alights the vehicle, allowing Grace to take the driver's seat.
"I trust you not to speed or do anything stupid," says Carlos. "You know, driving etiquette where I came from isn't too different from how you Ziarans do it." "Where are you from anyway, Grace?" "Saherimos." "No, where are you really from? Your name doesn't sound… local to that place." "A bit invasive AND abrasive there, buddy." "I used to kinda dislike aliens. I didn't care for them all the time, but I witnessed these people talk about how ugly they looked, how you don't respect other species and only want to dominate worlds. Those were the days when we thought we knew aliens would have green skin and weird, bug eyes." You hear Carlos pause to retch for a moment. "But you guys are pretty cool. I don't get why those Anti-Alien Alliance guys hate you all so much." "That's what I don't understand. Brandon himself is an alien." Carlos makes a spitting noise. "WHAT?!" "I always knew he was familiar, but I didn't realise he was Albert's son--" Bella interrupts, "Albert Dorian… that murderer from back home?" "Yeah. I can't believe I didn't realise it sooner. I always felt like Brandon was just… misguided or brainwashed." "Who could have done it?" "I don't quite know. I can only see immediate possibilities; I can't look far into the past." "Would have been nice if Chronny was with us. What is that guy up to, anyway?" "The old fart is probably chronicling the history of Subeta. He always told me that history is his life." "Speaking of Brandon… where's Anjy?" "I haven't heard from her for a while now." Grace steps on the breaks, the car coming to a halt in the middle of the road. He then turns around to look at Bella. "I have a bit of a hard time focusing on the road if people are talking to me. Can I ask for some silence, please?"
You all oblige, and Grace continues to drive. As the car ascends through a bridge, you suddenly have a strange feeling in your gut. Over the bridge is a river whose water sparkles even at night. You see a discarded black shoe, but pay it no mind. As the bridge is close to its plateau, you notice someone with light blue hair, curled up in a fetal position, on the shoulder of the road. Before you can tell anyone about it, Bella tells Grace to stop the car. She immediately gets out of the vehicle, and Grace follows after her. Carlos opts to stay inside while you go out as well.
"Anjy?", asks Grace, as he approaches the blue-haired figure. She stands up and turns around to face you.
Bella runs to Anjy, and embraces her. "Who did this to you?"
Anjy falls to her knees and begins to sob hysterically.
"Where is he?"
Anjy only responds through anguished crying. She holds on to Bella and buries her head in her chest, kicking her other shoe off her feet.
"Shh…" Bella gently strokes Anjy's hair, accidentally pulling the blue wig out.
"Brandon…"
"That rascal did this to you, Anjy? Where is he?" Far from the usual soothing tone of Bella's voice, she now sounds stern.
"No… he took my place..."
I didn't know Brandon was an alien either! and oh no this is horrible, look at poor Anjy :( what has happened
he/him / 31 / EST | | My best friend is |