Loyalty | Laurance x Reader | MCD Version | Aphmau fanfiction

Investigation

Avery POV

I woke up the next morning to my shoulders being shaken lightly and a constant tapping on my cheek. I groaned at the unwanted awakening and sat up straight instead of leaning against the tree I fell asleep on. I rolled my neck to try to get rid of the slight cramp I had, I heard my neck pop after a moment. While I was rubbing my neck I heard someone clear their throat, when I looked up I saw Laurance standing over me.

I stopped rubbing my neck and placed my arm on my knee as I looked up at him. "I'm assuming you're the one who woke me?" Even though I knew the answer, I wanted to hear it come from him. "Yeah, sorry about that. Ya know you didn't have to sleep outside." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as he gave me a smile. 

'No wonder so many are fond of him...' I ignored the thought. "I'm aware, like I said I don't mind being outside." I could tell he was skeptical despite what I was saying. "Yeah, but aren't you worried about catching a cold?" He crossed his arms and slightly tilted his head to the side as he looked at me. 

"I don't get sick easily." Even though that was basically the end of that conversation, I could tell he was still doubting what I said. He scoffed lightly and looked at the forest behind me.

Even though he was trying to hide it, I could tell he was on edge. He was staring off into the wooded area and his stance was tense. "Still upset about Hayden?" He looked over at me as I stood up from where I was, I rolled my shoulder a bit as I did so. He eyed me for a moment, he looked skeptical. "How can you be so calm about this? You said you were friends yet you don't seem fazed in the slightest." I looked at him, his eyes were narrowed at me and I could tell where this conversation would lead if it continued to go this way. 

'His mind's trying to make sense of the situation.' I took a deep breath before I responded. "As I mentioned, I hadn't seen him in a while. Getting upset about it won't do anyone any good. It just hurts morale, nor will it bring Hayden back. All living things die eventually it's just the way things work..." I was able to catch the glint of the red gem in my sword hilt. "Or at least...that's how it's supposed to work." I paused and sighed. "Unfortunately there are exceptions when it comes to this rule." I could tell he was a bit confused before he started to understand what I was saying before he muttered under his breath. 

"Shadow Knights...." He looked at me as if he was expecting me to continue what I was saying, but I could tell he was wondering how I knew such a thing. I silently nodded. "You are correct. However, I'm also aware that death is the easy way out when it comes to this. There are far worse ways of becoming a Shadow Knight."

I could tell he was on edge about my statement but before he could ask me anything else about the subject Aphmau showed up. She smiled at us and waved. "Hey." Laurance turned to her and lightly bowed. "Why hello lady Aphmau." I hummed and nodded as a greeting.

She looked over at me for a second before asking me something. "Hey, are you ok? It started raining last night so I didn't know if you were ok." I was a bit confused by the concern in her voice but I brushed it off. "Yeah, I'm fine." She seemed skeptical but thankfully didn't press any further. 'Strange...she worries for a stranger...I wonder if it's because of what happened when we first crossed paths...or perhaps that merchant was right about her.' 

She and Laurance spoke to each other for a bit and with that, we went to meet the head guard of Meteli. Since I didn't have any personal involvement in the matter, I stayed outside the door, though I could still hear the conversation. It started out smooth but it escalated rather quickly. 'A guard threatening a Lord with the safety of her village and the people in it...now I really have seen it all.' I would be lying if I said the predicament didn't upset me at all, though I knew what happened with Mateli's inner works were out of my control. I took a deep breath and remained quiet as I stood outside. 'No matter what was happening it's not my place to step in.'

After a short while, Aphmau and Laurance came back outside. Laurance turned to us after a moment. "I got a bad vibe from Gale, did either of you feel it?" I thought about it as I tilted my head down before I looked at him. "Sort of. But that might be the lingering feeling of Hayden's death. Not to mention I don't know him that well." After I spoke Aphmau did.

"He's kinda hard to read." I looked over to Aphmau, I wasn't really surprised. Gale was doing his best at keeping his composer. Only someone with a trained eye could've seen the difference. "He may be hard to read for you, but for me...I don't like him. I don't understand how he allowed this to happen to Hayden." Laurance furrowed his brows as he tilted his head down. I could sense the negative emotions building up around him. I wouldn't be much help in calming him down, and would most likely have no part in hearing the conversation, so I left for Hayden's residence.

I examined the outside of the house and found the window that shattered when the suspect was believed to have entered the house. When I looked at the floor I noticed indents in the ground, I kneeled down and lifted my bandanna over my left eye, I lightly traced over the marks in the dirt with my fingers so I didn't disrupt them. 'Drag marks...nothing was taken from the residence and Hayden's corpse was found on the scene...what could've been heavy enough to be dragged away but go unnoticed when missing...?'

I hummed under my breath as my eyes narrowed but something else caught my attention. "Hey!" I perked up a bit before I pulled my bandanna back down over my eye and looked over my shoulder, I saw Aphmau running towards me with Laurence trailing behind her. "Why'd you run off without saying anything?"

I stood up and made sure my bandanna was on right before I faced her. "The conversation was leading to a topic I had no part in hearing. Besides that, I wanted to examine the outside of the house to see if I could find anything the guards might've missed." She seemed to understand my reason or at the very least it satisfied her, she looked behind me and walked to the front door of the house. She paused as she stared at the structure.

Even though I had barely met him I could tell Laurence was uneasy about the situation. Though that might just be my sensitivity to sensing his emotions. "So the culprit came in through the window....according to Ulrich, Hayden's throat was...slit...I-" I held up my hand to keep him from thinking about it any further. "There's no need to continue, that's all we really need to know. Besides, I doubt you want to think about that any more than you have to anyway."

He sighed in relief and he visibaly loosened up before Aphmau spoke up. "Laurance if you feel that way let us investigate the scene."  His head was down and he was staring at the ground, he looked dazed. After a second he nodded. "....Right...." 

I observed from where I was. 'I would have been surprised if he actually had entered the scene, the average person wouldn't be able to stomach such a thing.' With that said me and Aphmau entered the house. The sight of the scene even made my stomach churn a bit. 'I get being lord may cause some tensions, but this is excessive...Hayden...' I heard Aphmau suck in a sharp breath when she closed the door behind her, I looked at her over my shoulder. "First time seeing something like this?"

She took a deep breath and she looked like she swallowed, she was a bit pale as she nodded. "Yeah...I knew it would be bad but I didn't really know what to prepare myself for..." I nodded in understanding before we started walking around to see if we could find anything.

I started to examine the window where the intruder broke in but something wasn't adding up with the information. I must have been staring at the window longer than I thought I was because Aphmau asked me a question. "Did you find something?"

I glanced at her for a second before I looked back down at the broken glass. "Something's not adding up. Even if the person was fast, Hayden would have been awake and alert by the sound of the window breaking, if not anyone nearby. Not to mention those footprints you were looking at, if he was killed in bed then whose footprints are those? Nothing appears to be stolen either, which doesn't explain the drag marks I saw outside. Something isn't right, nothing's adding up..." I could tell what I said had put her into thought, we looked around a little more before we left. 

Aphmau found a chicken feather which was the only thing we did end up finding.

Once we informed Laurence we decided to pay a visit to the chicken Shaman. 'This is gonna be a long day...'