RJO - The Valen Saga

Who Could He Be?

 Weiss and (Y/N) arrived at the infirmary. As they reached the door, they encountered a nurse standing outside the room that they were headed for.

Weiss: How is he?

Nurse: Four broken ribs, widespread bruising on his upper abdomen, and mild head trauma. Definitely took a hard hit, but it's nothing he won't walk away from given enough time.

Weiss let out a sigh.

Weiss: Oh, thank goodness. Is he awake?

Nurse: Not yet, ma'am. He's still unconscious.

Weiss looked down in shame.

Weiss: This is all my fault. I shouldn't have let him out in the city alone during a time like this.

(Y/N) put a hand on Weiss' shoulder.

(Y/N): Come on now. These things are unpredictable. I've learned the hard way that blaming yourself never ends well.

Weiss: Well... that doesn't stop me from feeling guilty about it.

(Y/N): I know... but-

They were cut off from a voice behind them.

Sariel: (Y/N)! I've got something!

(Y/N): What do you have?

Sariel: I may have found a way to uncover Valeris' identity AND motives!

(Y/N) and Weiss' eyes widened.

(Y/N): Really?

Sariel nodded.

Sariel: Come with me back to the terminal. I'll show you everything I've found.

(Y/N): There's no time to waste. Let's go.

(Y/N) turned to Weiss, who still had a look of guilt on her face.

(Y/N): You can stay with your padawan... if you want.

Weiss smiled.

Weiss: Thank you, (Y/N).

A few minutes later

(Y/N) and Sariel stood in front of the terminal.

(Y/N): So, walk me through this. How did you find this information?

Sariel: Of course.

Sariel pulled up the footage of Valeris' declaration of war on the terminal.

Sariel: I started by pulling up the footage from his declaration. I wanted to see if facial recognition software could pull up anyone on any criminal database.

(Y/N): And?

Sariel: Nothing. I hit a dead end. But, I still thought that this footage could yield something promising, so I kept digging. Eventually, I found something at the very end of the broadcast.

She played the end of the broadcast, where the screen had been cut to static.

Sariel: Static, obviously. They stopped broadcasting... but for a split second, just a split second... feed came back on. There are only a couple frames of this, but in those frames, we can see Valeris walking off to the side. We can see the side of his head.

She paused on the frame showing a side view of Valeris.

Sariel: Lo and behold, this was my ticket!

She zoomed in on Valeris' neck, showing a familiar symbol tattooed on his neck. (Y/N)'s eyes widened as soon as he recognized it.

(Y/N): Shut up!