WEEK 4 INVESTIGATION

[foundationmods]

Four weeks.

By now, waking up to death on Friday was becoming normal.

Gazing at something that should not have occurred...a death of one of them.
A death done by one of them....which could have been done by anyone.
Even by someone who would seem to have no reason to kill...🗈

Such a thing...was draining.
No, it was more than that - it was preying upon their very souls...
But they had no choice.

No matter how they felt, they had to search, to find the body and find the clues that would bring them to the killer themselves in tomorrow's trial.

...What kind of horror will they find today?

What kind of death did one of their number face?

And what sort of horrible, heart-rending truth....will be the end result, at the end of this week...?

Comments

[cryosurgeon]

I'm not a forensics expert. Anyone with common sense and a basic knowledge of biology could do what I've done. Holmes, Gebura, Kurama... they've all been more useful than I have. They're....

[He trails off again, that lost look in his eyes growing more pronounced.]

... I have no one to blame but myself, as usual.

[chaoscontrol]

That isn't true! [Shadow says it with EMPHASIS] You've been helpful -- with the crime scenes, with the trials... you were helping Koide. Don't you dare sell yourself short, not now!

[cryosurgeon]

... Shadow.

[He doesn't look up from his wrist.]

No one needs me. There are others who can do what I've done. I wouldn't be missed.

[Eight years of solitude. Twenty-four years of isolation. This is the toll they take.]

[chaoscontrol]

[Shadow stands in front of Erhard and grabs his chin roughly in his bare paw-hand, forcing him to look up]

I said quit that. Look at me! You're seeing at least one person who would care if you were gone!

[cryosurgeon]

[Erhard stares at him in genuine confusion, clearly trying to process the concept. He barely recognizes himself these days, after all. All this stress has turned him into an off-putting emotional wreck who can barely function. Why would anyone want him around when he could snap at any second?]

But you have others who matter. Everyone else here does.

[The people he cares about are dying or they're closer to others. He's extraneous. His own parents didn't want him, he heard what they said about him time and again in his childhood.]

I'm defective.

[chaoscontrol]

[Shadow's eyes become filled with something like... hurt? But it's so fleeting -- in a flash, there's nothing but anger and frustration]

Nnnnnrrrrghhh...! You want to sulk?! To wallow in your self pity? Do you really think that will accomplish anything, Doctor Muller?! Then fine. Sit here and stew in your misery, and make the rest of us suffer for your lost potential. I'm sure Koide would be happy to see you squandering yourself like this.

[Shadow doesn't give Erhard a chance to respond. He vanishes with a blip]

[cryosurgeon]

[But that's the problem, Shadow. If he's feeling misery, he doesn't understand it, because he has no basis for comparison. To him, this is just emptiness, a normal state of being. It's not self-pity, it's self-analysis. It's not sulking, it's sitting quietly in a cell, waiting for the end. He never left that place.

He sits there until it's time for the trial, unmoving, staring down at his bandaged arm.]