"Why?! Why did you...?"

"Dalia", he lifted his hand as she took a step away from him, "I did it for-"

"Don't say it was for me! Weren't you just scared of him?", her faced twisted into a hysterical expression and she laughed, half mad.

He didn't have any words to say. Of course, he wasn't scared. Scared of that little midget Hodel? He didn't even feel a tingle all the while that man was spouting nonsense and yelling at him. It had happened in the spur of a moment. He didn't realize it until he'd heard Dalia's scream in the distance.

"Murderer!", he saw fear in her eyes as she ran off but he followed her.

She had run towards the abandoned block where he chased her. Realizing she had nowhere to go, she really thought she'd be killed just like Hodel.

"You...something is wrong with you. You can never be loved."

She said and looked at him like he was a stranger. And seeing that fear on her face, he thought she was just like the others. She wasn't different at all. Her hysterical laughter echoed in his head but his arms hung limp and he seemed to have lost sight of her. Noticing that he'd given up and wouldn't chase her anymore, she turned around and started off again.

And knowing she was just like the others, Wladys couldn't really see her anymore. Even her striking dark hair didn't seem to make a mark. And then what befell her slipped his mind. Like everything else he didn't know, he also didn't know what happened to Dalia.

***********************

"Embarrassing that it happened while we were around, huh?", Lady sighed, "And we didn't even catch him."

"Why not worry about this mess first, Lady?", Chopper said, kneeling beside the corpse, examining it.

"This is where we sensed it from, isn't it? That massive pulse of magic", she was fiddling with his lighter.

"Oi, that's mine", Chopper noticed.

"Well, who is this?", she asked him about the corpse.

"She's split clean in two. Too cleanly, in fact", Chopper thought that might be a clue for them.

"Eh? Hmm...Chopper?", Lady looked at him suggestively.

"Huh? Oi, the hell are you looking at me for?"

"You don't have a clone, do you?", she asked, wearing an innocent look on her face.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Chopper gritted his teeth.

"Cut it out, hag!"

"Eh, you're so sensitive about it", she chuckled.

In fact, he hated hearing about it. And she had the audacity to joke about it.

"She has to be one of those immigrants, I say", Lady said, covering her nose with a handkerchief.

That part of the capital that had been abandoned was only inhabited by the immigrants from West.

"But Chopper, if that man is an immigrant too, he'd be Western. That's the exact opposite of you. Aren't you Eastern?"

Chopper was ticked off.

"No", he replied bluntly.

He didn't quite know himself. There was a likelihood he could be from the East. Either way, what did it matter?

"Now Lady, quit dawdling", he snatched his lighter from her, "This is that actress from the opera."

"Eh?"

"Czarna Dalia. We saw her poster outside that theater when we came here."

"Did we see it?", Lady didn't remember, "So she is an immigrant."

"Forget about that. Look at her face", Chopper lifted her face a little.

It was twisted into a hideous smile and her eyes were rolled back.

"She was attacked from behind while running away. And this cut isn't from any blade or sword. Its way too clean. And there's no blood splatter anywhere. This must be some sort of magic at play. We better watch out for this one."

"Scared, Chopper?", Lady asked after a pause.

Chopper sighed helplessly, annoyed enough for the night.

"In any case, let's check in at the theater for now", he stood up, having seen all he wanted to see.

"Eh? But he could still be around!", Lady didn't want to leave.

"Do whatever you want, Lady", Chopper didn't care and started off towards the theater.

"How cold!", Lady pouted but didn't follow him.

******************

It was a cold night. And Chopper could hear every single crunch of his step. He thought it was awfully quiet, it almost felt stuffy. But he could see his breath now, the night certainly was cold.

Walking through the abandoned town at night, his only guide was the moonlight. But when the clouds got in the way, he felt like he'd been dropped into a charcoal sketch.

"Excuse me, sir", he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

He quickly turned around. He hadn't sensed anyone approaching but just a few steps behind him, now stood a giant of a man. Chopper was taken aback for a minute. But he kept his composure.

"You're a detective, aren't you?", the towering man asked, without making a move.

Chopper scrutinized him with a quick eye.

"How did you know?", Chopper straightened himself to face him.

"So you really are? I overheard you, detective. I knew it."

"Overheard me?"

"Yes. I was in my home because its so cold now. And I heard you and your partner talking."

"In your home?", Chopper realized that they'd never sensed him at all.

"Yes, just over there, detective", he pointed in the distance, "There's a killer going around, detective. You have to catch him."

Chopper took a pause.

"Yes. That's what I'm here for. But I'd prefer if you kept that information to yourself. It interferes with my work", he replied.

"Yes!", Wladys replied, "I won't tell a soul."

He said that having forgotten the soul he'd already told. But she didn't matter anymore anyway.

"So can you tell me something about this killer? What does he look like?", Chopper asked, carefully.

"Yes, I've heard about him. He killed someone at the theater tonight, detective. You best hurry over there too. They say he's as tall as a giant, and has very long white hair and wears a raincoat all the time."

The clouds slid by, as Chopper continue to stare at that description standing right in front of him. Perhaps the killer had forgotten what he was too. But he remembered the man he killed at the theater. Chopper wondered if Lady's split personality theory wasn't right.

"Well, young man", Chopper said, knowing the man was older than him, "Could you tell me your name?"

"Yes. It's Wladys. Wladyslaw Mazurkiewicz."