Chương 36: A Murder

"So someone's been fucking with my head?" Grim asked, but what she really wanted to know was why? She knew something was wrong, things she should've remembered. She'd be angry about something, but she couldn't remember why. Maybe this was the answer.

"Yes, but for some reason the massive amount of Aura that's going into powering this is being leached by your Aura, effectively giving you a capacity of someone two or three ranks above you which is the only reason you're able to use [FRIENDLY SHADOW]. Huh, maybe that was what Jeremy had been referring to when she told him. It was kind of hard to believe, even with her Aura being so much stronger than it should have been, she'd still been able to burn out both of her Boons.

She wondered how quick it would have been if she didn't have some foreign boon in her mind. Wait. If it was in her mind, there was probably a good chance she could remove it herself. Hell, she probably had the tools to do it with [CEDE] and her strand sight. If she had a name, that would be even better, her only worry would be if the person who did this to her was way stronger than she was.

"Do you know what the Boon is called? I think I know a way of removing it," Grim said, a bit of excitement in her voice. The Doctor had a sad look.

"Removing it isn't the problem, I have the tools at my disposal to do so. It's why Phil called me in the first place, not to mention the favour I owed him. The issue I must inform you of is that while you'll remember everything that's been blocked in your memory, you will also lose the Aura you are currently leeching from it."

"What's the problem with that?" Oh. Wait.

"I won't be able to summon Hazel," Grim answered. The Doctor nodded,"Not until you've gained enough power on your own." She'd already gotten to D-rank, and it had only been just over a month since she'd gotten her first boon, "How long do you think that would take?" Phil spoke up,"A long time, kid. The old lady here is over sixty and she's only a B."" Only a B," Doctor Lalok scoffed.

"It's taken me so long because I am the one who heals those who grasp for such great heights. As such, it is only fair to mention that B is no small achievement. Many die much before reaching it. It's only thanks to the Boon Regulation Act that we've cut mortality rates to what they are."" Was it worth it? Making these kids live under a microscope? We gave up all our power to Eternity, and for what?"" Lives, Phil.

You didn't have to prune through bodies extracting their dead shards to give to the next kid to hold the line. I was there while you were filing paperwork, safe in an office." Grim saw Phil's face light up in anger again.

"I was only there because of you."" Hey! I love the history lesson and all, but could we not start screaming again? My heads only just started to feel better," Grim interrupted them before they got deeper into their fight. Phil cast a forlorn glance at the Doctor before a wave of fatigue seemed to hit him, and he grabbed a rolling chair and just barely got it underneath himself before he sank down. He was still here, but his eyes were looking somewhere much further.

Doctor Lalok cleared her throat, she didn't seem to be embarrassed about being reprimanded by her, "My apologies, Phil and I have known each other for a… long time and many of those years were quite horrible to the both of us but that's no excuse. Where were we? Ah, yes, it would be quite some time before you were able to use your Boon again. If you were determined? It could be done in ten years, relatively safely if you only fought weaker Gate creatures while saving for higher-ranked shards. It's how I did it."

Ten years? She'd have to wait a third of her life? That didn't seem tenable. She could do it faster though, she was sure of it. The danger she was referring to would be having to get shards from something on relatively equal footing to her, but if she didn't die, that would be the fastest way. She could cut that time down by years if she wanted to risk it." I'm not sure," Grim admitted." The choice is yours.

I could only get a vague picture of the connections, but I believe the manipulation of your mind is related to the wounds you've sustained in the past. The burns, the missing appendage. Pardon my insensitive question, but do you have any memories of yourself, whole?"" No. I've always been like this," Grim said, a bit more bite went into her tone than she'd wanted. She turned to Phil.

"You said you had answers for me, and I've done a whole lot of speaking but you haven't said anything. What do you know?" Phil looked up, snapping out of his trance. He scowled at the Doctor,"Not in front of her, for all of our sakes." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site." For once, something we agree on," the Doctor nodded.

"I'll be in the other room, let me know once you've reached a consensus." They both watched as she grabbed her coat and left the room, the silence hanging in the air as they waited." What's your deal with her?" Grim asked." She works for the government. The same ones, I might add, who are probably involved in all this. It's probably what got her all spooked." Grim pulled the covers over her shoulders, it had gotten cold in the room.

"So we can't trust her then."" No," Phil nodded.

"Besides that, I think there's something she's not telling us."" How do you know?" Phil leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"She gets mean when she has something to hide. Don't get me wrong, we've never been particularly nice to each other. That woman drives me up the wall, but we've got respect. That's something better than nice, you can't fake respect. Her bringing up my stint in the office? She knows I hated that, aint no point in bringing that up unless she wanted me to be thinking about that more than about her."" Okay, well, we can figure that out later. What do you know about me?"" Not as much as you'd hope. Can you walk?"

Phil asked as he stood up. Grim pushed herself to the side, enough to sit up on the bed she was in. She felt weak still, but she was confident she could walk at least a little. She wobbled as she stood and nearly fell over when she went to take a step. Her legs were still weak from nearly a week of inactivity, but the next step was easier, and the one after that even more so. They were in a large room that seemed to be more of a storage room than a house.

There were no windows to the outside, and the bed she'd been sleeping in had clearly been put there last minute. A privacy divider made of gnarled wood had been put up, blocking off the side she'd been on while the other were assorted workbenches and filing cabinets. A small monitor was displaying what seemed to be a live camera feed of the outside of the building, confirming to her that they were in a warehouse.

She had a vague recollection of seeing it, but she hadn't been in the right state of mind to put anything to memory. Aligning the walls were various newspaper clipping and a big whiteboard, which looked to have been erased in a hurry, judging by the smudges of marker on it. Phil led her to the table in the middle of the room and pulled a chair out for her, she lowered herself into it as he rummaged through his filing cabinets." So where are we?" Grim asked.

Phil didn't look up as he searched, "Property I bought through a subsidiary, something they won't be able to trace back to me. I can't prove it but they've been going through my stuff, my accounts, anything they could get their hands on over the past twenty years. Making sure I kept my mouth shut."" Is this all… related to me? What did you find?" Phil tossed a folder onto the table and sat across from her.

"Open it." Grim grabbed it and inspected both sides before flipping it open, it was thick with papers and pictures clipped together. The first thing she saw was what looked to be a professional headshot of a man. He had short messy brown hair that connected to a full beard. He was well built but also had a smile that disarmed his imposing figure. Grim had a feeling that he would've been quick to laugh. She flipped the picture over and was greeted with an obituary for the same man.

Jackson was all they put for a name which said to her that he must've been a Witch. They usually tried to keep their identities separate, for their families sakes." Who is he?" Grim asked." Jackson Noore, a C-rank witch I'd sent as a response to a D-rank Gate world that had opened on a highway leading out of Eternity. Only, when he got there, the civilians were already all dead and the Gate World was closed.

Shortly thereafter, he spotted two figures in the distance but was killed instantly by something before he could identify them."" Oh, wow. I'm sorry. Did you know him well?"" No," Phil said, a bit too quickly.

"It was frowned upon for us dispatchers to get too close, for situations like… this. I, of course, immediately called for backup and the trauma teams to come in, but they were too late, and shortly after that the men in suits cameand started deleting everything. The footage, the call records, my report. I tried to stop them, talked to my supervisor, his boss, then the press. None of it did anything besides ticking them off. Soon after, I was arrested on trumped-up charges and stripped of my rank.

They took everything."" What do you think they were trying to hide?"" In the press release to the public, they claimed a Gate Guardian had killed Jackson, he'd been caught off guard by it," Phil explained.

"But thats bullshit, he was too good for that. I don't think that's what happened at all. I think one of us did it. I think it was a Witch."" Why would they do that? If they were strong enough to kill a C-Rank, then they should be strong enough to avoid collateral damage. Did they just go psycho or something?"" That's what we need to figure out, and why I think you're the key to solving it," Phil said. Grim frowned,"Why me?"" Because I think you were the person standing beside them."