Dynasty

Chapter 3

Made it through a maze to find my one in a million...

But now you're just a page torn from the story I'm living....

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Akutagawa Ryuunosuke was in no way an emotional man. Of course, he could feel emotions, like any other person, but that didn't mean he knew how to express said feelings. There were only a specific few people who he'd willingly try to show his feelings to. Gin was obviously the first choice. She had been with him his entire life and he'd murder anyone who dated hurt his little sister. Next was Chuuya-san. When he had been a mess after Dazai had left the Port Mafia, Chuuya had comforted him. The man had been there for him since then, in ways no one had before. If he blushed whenever the redhead gave him head pats, no one had to know.

Next was Dazai-san. Of course Dazai was one of the people. Even though the man had treated him horridly, abused and used him, he was still the one who mentored Akutagawa to become stronger after leaving the slums. Their relationship was also getting better, as Akutagawa started to forge his own path, not really needing Dazai's validation to do so. The last person on his list was, surprisingly, the jinko. The weretiger was the one who had first told him that his life was already valid and that he didn't need Dazai's approval to move on with his life. As time passed, they grew a mutual friendship between each other.

These were the most important people to him. So when something like the current situation ended up happening, he wasn't going to stand idly by and do nothing.

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 Akutagawa had woken up that morning feeling more horrible than normal. Regardless, he gently rubbed his eyes, threaded a hand through his terrible bedhead and slowly dragged himself out of bed. Coughing softly, he made his way to the kitchen and made breakfast for himself and Gin. They were going to have a simple miso soup, rice and some grilled salmon. After preparing, cooking and placing the last pieces of breakfast on the kotatsu, He walked to the last room down the hall to wake up Gin.

He knocked on her door gently before opening it to tell her that breakfast was ready, heading to eat his own breakfast after the task was done. After eating, it didn't take long for him to get ready. He was dressed and out the door in ten minutes, waving a final goodbye to his sister, reminding her to enjoy her rare day off. In about another ten minutes or so, he quickly entered the Mafia's main headquarters. He swiftly paced straight to his office, not bothering to return the good mornings sent his way. Entering his office, he swiftly got to work on organizing and completing the paperwork sitting on his desk. 

After completing about half of the second pile of work, he came across a small parcel. It had no label or stamp on it, only the words 'for the port mafia'. As the parcel was on his desk, Akutagawa assumed it was for him so after making sure it wasn't a bomb or something dangerous, he opened it. What he saw inside horrified him. There were two pictures. 

One was a picture of Atsushi. He was kneeling on the the floor, chains wrapped around his arms holding them up. A metal collar with long spikes on the inside was attached to his neck digging deeply into his throat and long iron spiked were impaled into his two shoulders and both sides of his hip. His stomach was ripped open, held open only by the spikes impaling him, his organs looking like they'd fall out if he so much as twitched. He was also blindfolded and gagged. What really upset him was the picture of Chuuya, tied to a chair by what looked like thick red wires, chains wrapped tightly around his neck, connecting to metal bars in each side of the room. A long metal spike was impaled into each of his arms and legs and he was blindfolded and gagged. 

Anger and hatred spiked through Akutagawa and he knew it could be een on his face if anyone were to see him. Taking a few minutes to inhale deeply and school his expression, Akutagawa quickly walked to Mori's office. He knocked loudly, not bothering to wait for a response before heading inside. Mori looked suprised to see him. It was something he expected as he had never willingly come to Mori's office before, much less by himself. Chuuya had always gone with him. 

"Well hello there Akutagawa-kun. What brings you to my office on this lovely morning," the man spoke, voice filed with amusement and wonder. Akutagawa could tell that he thought Chuuya or Ane-san probably put him up to this but he wasn't in the mood to deal with Mori's shenanigans.

"Mori-san," he responded, eyes and voice much coldler than usual, "This parcel arrived in my office this morning. I think you should have a look at it."

He then handed the parcel to Mori and watched as the man's eyes turned from playful to cold eyes promising deathand the wrath of the mafia as he saw what was inside.

"Well Akutagawa-kun, I think it's time to gather all our executives and pay our lovely friends at the Armed Detective Agency a visit."

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No one in the Armed Detective Agency when the Port Mafia showed up later that morning. In fact, they had expected it, and as such, already had a meeting room ready for them when they arrived. The Port mafia arrived in the from of Akutagawa, Kouyou, Mori, Elise, Hirotsu, Gin, Higuchi and Tachihara. From the agency, there was Kyouka, Dazai, Yosano, Kenji, Ranpo, Kunikida, Tanizaki and Fukuzawa. The atmosphere was tense and lacked the usual playful and competitive vibe it normally had. 

Once everyone was seated, Kunikida rose from his seat at the front of the room and began to speak.

"As everyone is now here, I would like to assume that we all know the reason for this meeting. If not..."

The lights were then turned off and a projector was turned on, presenting the pictures of Atsushi and Chuuya that both organizations had received that morning.

"These pictures were delivered to our organizations earlier this morning and found by Dazai and Akutagawa," Kunikida announced.

"As this is an attack on both of our groups, we will be working together to take them down. Any objections?"

No complaints were made.

"Good. Now to begin. So far, we have not deduced the reason for the kidnappings or the ones responsible, however, Ranpo and Dazai have deduced some places where Atsushi and Chuuya are likely to have been taken to. We were planning to ge- "

There was suddenly a knock on the door. Moments later, it opened to reveal the manager od the cafe. There was an envelope in his hand.

"President," he spoke softly, "Just now in the mail, we received this letter addressed to both the Agency and the Mafia."

Everyone in the room stiffened. 

"Thank you manager-san," Kunikida thanked the man before quickly ushering him out. He glanced at the president, the man nodding in response, before opening the envelope and reading it aloud.

~

Dear Armed Detective Agency-san and Port Mafia-san,

I see that you have received the wonderful presents my men sent for you at my demand. I am overjoyed that you've felt the need to gather together for my sake, however, I would like to lay down some rules. Firstly, Dazai Osamu has to select one of our two hostages. Only one though. If not chosen, they will die. We can't have both of these powerful beings as our enemies when we return now can we? Dazai will then be required to save said hostage. If anyone else other than Dazai tries to save hostage or the others attempt to rescue the second or both hostages, then both will be killed.  And just to let you know, you have until tomorrow at sunset to rescue your chosen hostage!!! I hope you choose wisely! I mean... I wouldn't want to ruin those beautiful relationships you all have going on between you all~ Good luck in finding them~~!!! And don't worry too much; we'll leave some clues along the way!

Yours truly~,

Leader of Universal Change.

~

The atmosphere between between everyone in the room became even more tense as Kunikida finished reading the letter. Eyes drifted to Dazai instantly, looking to see what the man would do. 

What an unfortunate mess this disturbance has turned into.