World of Hearts: Linked as One (Book 1)

4-2: Darkness Surrounds Thy Soul

Yujo and his team went to the police station where the request was made. Yujo showed one of the officers his scroll, showing his student ID along with his rank. He walked into the station with his team, escorted by an officer.

"Hey, Detective Brea, these kids here read your request," the officer said as the group approached a cubicle where a blonde-haired woman sat in her chair. She looked at Yujo, her blue eyes staring into his eyes.

"Thanks, Gen, I'll talk to them," the woman said. "You can go home now."

The officer saluted her and walked off. The woman stood up from her chair.

"The name's Aya Brea," she introduced herself. "I have experience in law enforcement in New York before joining the FBI. Then I got sent here because someone recommended me. I guess you kids saw my request."

"Yujo Yukikaze," Yujo said. "And yes, we saw your request."

"Good," Aya said. "Now I'm sure you are aware of the acts of vandalism and the black feathers being everywhere at various crime scenes. Someone's been scribbling some disturbing messages on the walls, but so far, no one has any concrete answers as to what—or rather—who the messages are for and why leave them out on some buildings."

She took a scroll out and extended it to reveal a case file. She scrolled through the case file till she stopped at some images. She handed it to Yujo for him to look it over. He looked it over.

"Hmm... "Darkness reaches for the Clouds in the dead of Night" ... ominous..." Yujo said. "Hmm..."

"That sounds kinda creepy..." Nobara said.

"Yeah... really creepy..." Yuji said.

"We fight literal eldritch horrors day after day, and Yuji, you have to spend most of your life with a living curse in your body," Megumi said. "And then we have Fumikage with his Dark Shadow and Crona and his partner, who lives in his blood."

"This message... it seems like someone calling out to someone..." Yujo said. "But who is the recipient?"

"Beats me," Aya said with a shrug. "We do know that some eyewitnesses have come forward, saying that they saw someone holding what looked like a giant sword just before the messages were inscribed."

"A giant sword?" Megumi asked. "There are a couple of people who would carry a weapon like that around. Is there any evidence of the culprit leaving the city?"

"So far, we have nothing to suggest that the suspect has left," Aya said. "What are you getting at?"

"It leaves us with several notable potential suspects," Megumi said. "One of which could be Cloud Strife or Auron."

Nobara gasps. "Cloud Strife?! You mean THE Cloud Strife?!"

"Cloud... who?" Crona tilts his head.

"Cloud Strife, the super soldier," Tokoyami said. "Well, just label him as a person of interest."

"Cloud Strife... yeah, I guess he could be a suspect, but we should at least have an interview with him," Aya said. "First things first, we have to get his whereabouts."

Seventh Heaven

It was happy hour in the bar of Seventh Heaven. Cloud was at the bar with his colleagues. Among them was Laguna Loire, slumped over the bar after downing another shot of alcohol. From the looks of things, he struck out on a girl yet again.

"Man... I thought I really had that Mildred girl... but damn, did I fumble that..." Laguna said. "Cloud... buddy... I don't know how you do it."