Chapter 4 - The Smell Of Perfume

Kade suddenly jolted from his bed, heavy breathing as he heard similar, although lighter, breathing to him, seeing Silvia having jolted up from her sleep as well, she looked panicked and teary eyed as Kade tried to grab his composure. But he couldn't. He felt the metal so clearly, the sound of the snap was loud, and even if it was painless, something ached in his neck as he felt Silvia give him a hug. She was warm, really warm, and yet her skin was at such a neutral temperature as Kade raised a hand, patting her head as he looked around. He was still at his office at least, the moon light poured through the window, night has come by now as Kade looks back over at Silvia, who simply didn't let go. "Who are you…little one…" he asked gently as he heard her speak back…or at least, as far as he could tell, it was her voice, right?

"I…Silvia…always…" she said, Kade looked around his room one more time, seeing something that frightened him. A pair of bright orbs stared at him from the corner as he got up immediately, trying to grab the dagger or his gun but both, along with the holsters belt, were put on the desk.

"H-Hey! Who are you!" he asked, keeping an arm up in front of Silvia who was still in the same position, seemingly undisturbed by the presence. Slowly, the two bright orbs disappeared as Kade just…sat back down.

"Silvia…you…hugged mom and now me…you have an undoubtedly extreme trust for me…but why?" he asked as he could hear her whisper out of sleepiness.

"She told me I can…that if everything falls down…I can trust you to catch me…" Silvia said as Kade was going to ask who this 'she' was, only to see a small finger point at the corner where the figure was.

"She led me here…" and then…a small plop onto the bed, as if knocked out, with soft snoring commencing afterwards as Kade got up. He needed to do something first.

Kade would slowly open and close the door into the hallway. It was empty, no lights were on for any of the offices, everyone else had gone home already. Everyone was too busy to come out even on break, trying to…

Kade ignored the thought as he walked down the hall, only able to see thanks to the soft lights that are on for night time as he went down the stairs carefully, headed towards the kitchen as he saw the lights on, and heard soft murmuring as well. Kade would peek his head inside, seeing someone who did decide to stay…a familiar person. Same style of outfit as the rest yet wildly more serious, long black hair, sleeked and kept still with gel. They had a more masculine approach yet it seemed like they were neither 'styles' as Kade would call them.

"Ah…Castle…more work again tonight?" he asked, they turned around to him, holding a cup of coffee as they drank from it.

"There is always more work, Kade, especially now that we have to hire a few people to help us find Grear, which means budgeting…tsk, what an opportune time to disappear, maybe she's that Mystery Murder…ahem, jokes aside, you aren't usually awake at these hours, something changed besides our guest your mother's told us about?"

"N-No, no, just a nightmare I had, nothing more" he comes in, opening the fridge to see that the barely empty chocolate milk carton…wasn't there. Unlucky. Kade instead just grabs a bottle of water, drinking it right there as Castle drank his coffee.

"1 week, 1 day, 9 hours and 23 minutes. Grear is usually not gone for longer than 3 days, 3 hours and 3 minutes…" Castle said as he kept taking small sips. Kade would finish the bottle in one go, heading to the sink to refill it as he sighs.

"Everything strange is happening now, Castle…am I really up for this?"

"Are you not? Thought you were the "Great Detective Kade" who'll solve anything you put in front of him…is that not what you told me since the age of 9 or has an imposter replaced you?"

But of course. Castle has been a friend of Celeste since school, and like a father to him when his real father was…

He ignored that thought as well, putting the bottle of water back as he sighed.

"I'd be upset if I was replaced by some imposter. They wouldn't have the same sort of vigor as me!" Kade sat down, chuckling, as Castle chuckled softly along with him.

"I'd be upset as well, I quite like your energy as is," Castle added as they finished their coffee, going to the sink to clean it immediately as Kade thought to himself…maybe he should take a walk in the city, keep it fresh in mind, and…to try something again.

"I'm walking again, if anyone asks, tell them I went to the 24-Hour Store again for chocolate milk" Kade said, getting up once more as he walked to the door frame, hearing Castle speak up at him.

"Be careful now, Kade. These days will prove strange now…" Castle gave warning as Kade simply gave a thumbs up without looking as he walked out the kitchen, going to the front desk in the lobby and grabbing a keychain with a key for the main entrance. He unlocks the door, walking out before locking the door behind him as he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, and remembering Grear.

A tall, muscular tanned woman. Dyed short blue hair, purple eyes, and a smile that could melt The Farthest North without having to even look at it. She was a police officer before this who was put off due to some incident, and Celeste had found her, inviting her to be part of the detective agency as a personal guard, and she accepted happily. And then a blue string appeared from the palm of his hand again, leading east from the building. And he follows.

He had always done this, every time he went for a walk, looking for her. She is in the city, and she is within the supposed range of the string, which he now believed to be genuine after interactions with Silvia. But whether she was alive or not always caught up to him. He's found bodies before with it, and can only hope it won't happen again.

And he kept walking, following it until it led him to the same place. Again and again, it led him here. An empty, dark alleyway, as it goes through the wall to somewhere, but WHERE? Where does it go? He's checked behind and inside the buildings but the string kept wrapping back around to this wall! This specific alleyway and this specific wall, and he tried everything. Knocking, hidden buttons or switches, attempts to break it without making too much noise, but nothing worked.

He gives up again, walking away as he takes a proper walk, passing by closed shops, barely anyone else walking around now after the Mystery Murder. Same thing as always. A few cars here and there, maybe, but it was a quiet night for the city again. The whispers grew again in this head…were they a part of something as well? These whispers, always knowing more than him, but he could never get an answer out of them…

It seemed like everything was unwrapping so fast in a single day, and it's all…surface stuff. Nothing deep yet, nothing complex. Just a man alone with his thoughts after 3 AM. Hah, he chuckled to himself as he kept walking around near the block before deciding to return to the office, unlocking the doors and locking it up again after entering, passing the kitchen, the lights were off and the door was closed. Kade climbs up the stairs quietly, passing the empty office of Grear as he sees soft lights on at the end, near his mother’s room. Castle’s office, of course. Still working. Always working.

And as Kade was going to open the door to his room, he heard two voices whispering to each other, and he decided to listen in.

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

“Cars. Sounds were cars, Silvia. Cars not dangerous machines, okay?” it sounded just like Silvia, but the pitch was higher and the grammar a bit more limited.

“O-Okay…c-cars…not dangerous machines…o-okay okay…” Silvia followed along, sounding like she was crying shortly before Kade heard them whispering.

“Mhm. Still dangerous, but not hunters like Angels. Sleep important. Sleep before Kade come back. Please, thank you” and then…it felt like there was just 1 person inside as Kade softly knocks, hearing Silvia’s footsteps scatter and the sound of his bed bouncing a bit before he opens the door, seeing her on the same side of the bed as he left her, closing the doors quietly behind him as he approached, climbing onto the bed as he lays down, sighing, a smile cracking in his head as a single person whispered in his head.

‘Small…’

“Small…” he whispered back audibly as he let his mind wander off again, the night washes over him again, and this time, he was getting proper sleep.

Chapter 5 - Reality Shifts

The day returns into the sky. Kade had already woken, shooing Silvia out of his room when she woke up to change out of his outfit from the day before (when he was going to jump into the lake) into a different pair of casual outfit, very plain one, he just needed to get it over with, he’ll look his best again when they get to somewhere safe to change. But for now, this will do. Kade grabs his luggage bag once again, checking that everything he’ll need for this short venture is there, putting his belt back on, holstering the dagger, but putting the pistol away into the luggage bag to save it from any water damages. Once he confirmed everything, he zips it up tight, grabs his car keys, and leaves his room, seeing an already familiar face in the hallway as he gives a thumbs up. “Ready this time, sweets, for real” he said to her, as Sugar nodded. “No more distractions now” she leaves by the stairs as Kade hears the pitter patter of someone’s small footsteps, turning around to a sudden lunge from Silvia as they spin around a bit. “B-Be careful, mister!” she said as Kade could only chuckle. “More like whoever’s down there better be careful of me, dear! But I’ll do my best anyway to not worry your little silver heart” he said as she nodded, letting him go as she raised a hand to him. Kade kneeled to her height as she put a hand on his head, a small whisper he couldn’t hear properly as she nodded.

"I-I bless you, sir…” she said, and Kade didn’t know why but…he felt something warm in his chest as he nodded. “But of course, Silvia~” he gets back up, patting her on the head before he turns around, walking down the hall as he raises a hand up, waving goodbye behind him.

“Bless be the stars, Silvia” he said as he went down the stairs and out the building, seeing Sugar waiting by his car as he opened it up with a click of a button. Sugar gets into the passenger seat as Kade climbs into the driver’s seat, putting the key into the ignition hole and turning the beauty on. And so he drives over to the park once more.

They reach Red Ring Park, Kade parking and locking the car properly once they get out, approaching the lake as he sighs, staring into the lake as he looks back at Sugar. “It’s insane I am just going along with this completely now, you know? But! You are lucky I am quite a believer to believe long enough~”

"Just swim, damnit…" Sugar sighed in annoyance as Kade stared into the lake. He sees himself in the water as he takes a deep breath, remembering himself, and remembering the phrase.

'I want to travel to another world..'

And the whispers repeated along with him as he dives into the lake with the luggage bag, letting its weight guide him downwards, and slowly, as the water went from a clear blue to murky brown, he felt his whole body shift from sinking down, to rising up, and as swam upwards, he heard someone swimming with him as well as soon…they break the surface of the lake.

It was the city, the same city he always dreamed of. Cold, rotten, old. He quickly swam to land, Sugar followed along as they got out, both breathing as Kade was quick to open the bag, pulling his pistol out and away into his holster before closing the bag quickly, getting back up as he turned his head all around to look at the area. An abandoned lake, similar to the one he saw before in the first dream yesterday as he felt someone grab at his arms.

"No time to gawk, time is tight" she said. He followed her as they went down the old streets. Cars and other vehicles were strewn about the place, old machines, familiar and out of this world similarly broken, scavenged for parts, and savagely, he notes. And then the most horrifying sound for him to hear yet.

Scraping metal, like someone was dragging themselves on the ground as Sugar raises a hand in a sort of fight stance, and as the noise gets louder, he sees what was making it.

Some…mass of bolted and rusty metal, with bits and bobs here being newer, or at least, not looking salvaged, with a very realistic humanoid head, with melted plastic, and the other most terrifying part. Two human eyeballs. Its head slowly turns as the eyes slosh around in its eye holes to look at the two. And as Kade was going to pull his pistol out, Sugar swings her hands at the air in front of her, and as he felt the air behind him suddenly rush forwards, he sees the head decapitate so suddenly, cleanly as well, the metal wound on the neck looked to be burnt as well as Sugar pulls onto him again.

"Let's go!" and he runs after her again, he hears a loud sound coming from behind him, and he takes a quick peek to see the main attraction and objection…The Clock Tower.

And as the tower rings, that single instance of metal scraping became multiple, the dark, black sky suddenly gained 5 small dots of light following. He held tight on the bag's grip as Sugar pulled him into a corner, and right into a building, closing the door quietly and pulling him behind and down a shop desk as the scrapes got loud, and passed by, growing quieter as they left. Sugar sighed in relief as she pulled onto him again. Kade kept silent, it was all he could do in fact, and as they leave the building, they continued walking, hiding in alleyways and any sort of darkness from…whatever the hell was in the skies as they kept going, and going, minutes likely passed as they just kept walking, avoiding close calls with any more of those…Living Machines, he assumed, as they finally reach a destination. An old bank building. Entering inside, the one thing Kade noted was that there were no korpses. No skeletons. It was an empty city with absolutely no life left except grotesque machines and a man after…something.

He ignored thinking further of that observation as Sugar played around with the vault door, some sort of pattern before it finally opened. Kade steps in first at her command when she does a 'get in' sort of gesture before following along inside, closing the vault door manually before pressing another button as it locks itself automatically.

And finally. Sighs of relief as Kade sits down.

"Nothing had me prepared for that, Sugar…"

"As if that was obvious…" she would wave her hand at herself and then at Kade as he felt himself getting…dried by wind that shouldn't have been in this room, warm too. Kade just took this time to rest, as did Sugar, who looked up. "We'll change in here, look away, would you?" she asks as Kade nods, looking away in response as he sat in silence, waiting, before breaking his own silence.

"I've always seen all of this…in my dreams…my nightmares…this city…" he said as he heard her sigh.

"I see…hm…beginning to warm up to you already, Kade. Still a bit more annoying than I would have liked"

"Oi, I am still here"

"Shut it. You can change now, I'm looking away" she said. Kade looks over, seeing her did having looked away as Kade opens the bag, taking off his clothes before putting on his much cleaner and professional looking outfit as he notes down what Sugar had. Before it was all casual, but somehow it is a bit more. Orange hoodie, black jeans, and the addition of a red scarf and yellow sunglasses on her head. Kade finishes changing, packing everything up as Sugar looks over.

"Always so overdressed"

"It's agency dress code, not my choice~"

"As if you hadn't had a hand in it" Sugar walked past him to one of the locker cabinets as she opened the second cabinet, pressing something inside before closing the cabinet door. And as she does, a set of 4 cabinets very slowly sink into the ground, revealing an elevator behind it as she gets in.

Kade got up, grabbing his bag again as he got in after her, and as she pressed a simple elevator button to go down, the cabinet doors rose back up to their original position as the admittingly creaky and shaking elevator began its descent down as they waited in silence.

"So…where are we going anyways?"

"Where people are, Kade, get with the times. 97% of our survivors do not live up there obviously. We all live down here, underground, in artificial towns. This is the 4th one to come. My own home town…Polar Growth Town. Try to watch your mouth, humans are a bit rare in this town…"

"Duly noted, sweets…" he said a little nervous as the elevator finally stops, the doors opening, revealing to Kade the town deep underground, with a sky as blue and bright as his own in Raiden City, green plains that looked like they stretched endlessly, a clean lake passing through the middle to the other end, and in the middle of it all, a proud looking town.

And so his investigation began now. Here. Now or never.