Lost in Blue

𝕰𝖎𝖓𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖟𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖟𝖎𝖌: Into the Blue

When he arrived at the pier, panting from running and jumping all the stairs down as fast as possible, it was hard for him not to grimace at the scene in front of him. An unconscious Gessler knelt down at the dock's edge, hunched over and right next to him, the man responsible for it all.

"Hallo, Dorn. I've been waiting for you."

N's lips twitched. The blond had the audacity to greet the policeman with a wide smile, as if he had reconnected with an old friend of his.

Hello, my ass.

Henning almost gagged.

"N." Dorn came closer, but still kept a reasonable amount of distance. His footsteps made the wood beneath him creak. "You still owe me answers. And I want my partner back."

His gaze went to Gessler, scanning for blood or any obvious wounds. Apart from a few bruises from their fight and being out cold as a result, he didn't seem to be hurt that badly. He'd probably complain about the pain as soon as he woke up, but Dorn felt relief to know that he at least would be alive. Even a specialist like Arzt wouldn't be able to raise the dead, if worst came to worst.

He reshifted his focus to the blond, still wary, strategizing how to get out of this mess. Come to think of it, how had N been able to knock Christian out in the first place? Stature-wise, N was slimmer than Gessler, therefore, less muscular and he always assumed him to be rather frail. Unlike when he assaulted Dorn, there was no moment of surprise for him to abuse. Where did that power stem from? On second thought, maybe he just had overestimated the journalist. He did talk a lot of smack, after all.

"We'll see what I can do." Schrödinger made a gesture with his hand, as if he was calling a dog to him. "Go for it." He held up three fingers. "Only three questions."

Dorn inhaled sharply. Keeping composure felt too difficult at this point, but he couldn't let the chance slip to get clearance. He had to choose wisely which questions to ask or else he'd end up not understanding the big picture of it all.

Henning glanced around, scanning the area. No sight of her.

As if he could read his mind, N chose to answer the question lingering on Dorn's tongue. The blond tsked. "She got away." Then, he shrugged. "That traitor's faster than me in the waters, but I'm stronger."

Traitor?

Fräulein was a traitor? The policeman didn't know what to believe. There was still a possibility he lied, considering he didn't make sense at all. As of right now, it was fact that she wasn't here. Henning prayed that N told the truth about her escape.

"Oh, and Fräulein is such a stupid name for her. She's a real celebrity – pardon, a legend- out of all of us, you know?"

Us? Fräulein – a legend? Just what was he talking about?

Dorn chose to ignore the male's derogatory comments. The policeman needed answers and the more valuable intel he could lure out of his opponent without asking directly, the better.

"How do you know of Ruven?" First question. He'd keep tabs.

"Ruven? Ahh, my dear friend Ruven." N's hand moved to his left side, the spot where a heart should reside. "He was the one soldier who saved me when those bombs hit the Rhine and its waters. I'm the only one of my kind who managed to crawl onto the shore and he was kind enough to arrange my wounds to get treated. He knew of my true identity and I remember your folk just loved blonde, blue-eyed people back in the day, so I was welcomed with open arms."

The way 'loved' rolled of his tongue irked the policeman, but he chose to ignore the reference to his country's darkest period in time. He knew N wouldn't let the opportunity slip to further humiliate him. As expected, the latter continued his speech, a big grin plastered onto his rose lips.