NEMO: Into The Depths

Chapter 34: First Contact

The door to the records room could only be described as unassuming, tucked in the corner of a corridor that they barely passed through. It was a plain wooden door, an engraving of Minerva's spear flush against the surface, only observable at certain angles, and a normal handle, which in this mansion of abundance was still gilded. Even he would've missed it if Lady Cyllenium hadn't specifically pointed it out to remind him to visit the room the next morning.

However, as the moon hung, stranded between the black ocean above, dots of white twinkling beyond it still, Alex stood waiting, staring out onto the gardens, trying to think of contingencies for his contingencies. He completely failed entirely, as he instead got wrapped up in creating parallels between the garden and the night sky. Then he got roped in with chatting with the maids and butlers on patrol, listening to the local gossip, before a drunk gardener yelled out to him, and then he spent ten minutes cracking jokes with him. He had already fallen asleep underneath an apple tree by now, and a sigh sputtered out of his lips, bored out of his mind, cursing the gods for making his partner late.

He knew there were countless he had wronged by now, but whichever deity had come up with his power had earned a personal kick in the balls, and just as the thought crossed his mind, Elyza turned the corner, remarking, "What are you staring at?"

"Just seeing if one of my bestest friends is lost in the woods..." He retorted with a grin, eliciting a sigh from her, before adding, "Since it has been twenty minutes since I told her exactly where we had to meet."

"I apologise," Her voice didn't mean it, explaining, "I was cornered by the General, thankfully, Sarah dragged me from the conversation before I had the chance to stab him in the gut."

"Are you alright?" A nod satisfied his anxiety, and the first thing that popped in his head had to be spoken, grinning as he added, "You need to learn how to suppress your beauty better, Ears. It's starting to become quite a problem for us; first a prince, then a bigoted general. At this rate, you might catch the eye of Zeus, and trust me, you do not want to be on the bad side of Hera."

He spotted the roll of her eyes as he flipped around and readied himself, his partner replying without a hint of mercy, "Why are you advising me on a phenomenon you have never experienced?"

Scoffing, chuckling between them, he replied, "Excuse me? Are you the person that just tucked in the Lady Cyllenium herself!?" He didn't give her the chance to reply, relishing the smile that flashed across her face, quickly adding as he grabbed the handle of the record room, "You ready to begin on our grand old journey of reading piles and piles of documents?"

"Why'd you have to be there that night..." Elyza remarked, gesturing for him to continue to open the door for her.

"The wheels of fate are a bitch to predict," He stated, his hand pulling down, yet as he pushed it, the door refused to open. Stopping her partner's chuckle with a glance back, he crouched to examine the lock, peering into the hole to study the pattern he needed to copy. He reached into his shadow, pulling out a leather holster full of lock picks, and placed a key without any prongs into the lock. As he turned it, he slammed his hand onto the key, the lock clicking in response.

Staring at his partner, he tried the handle once again, and the door allowed them to pass, Elyza faux clapping as he stuck out his tongue at her. "You are twenty-five years old, why must you act like this?" She remarked without a hint of questioning, a smile adorning her face as he let her through into the room, ahead of him.

"I was cursed with a heart that will always be twenty, and a panache for truly awful humour, and the usual stuff of a demoness living in my head trying to wrestle control."