Skeletons of the Past: Chapter 10

Collection: Ages of Youth//the Halleaux
Chronicled by: Ghasty

​Ren was running through the halls of Roanoke Base, checking in every door he passed to see whether Petra was there or not. He was running out of one room when he bumped into Alexa on accident. Alexa happened to be carrying a key ring, which she dropped when Ren bumped into her. The rings hit the floor, making a great clamour which quickly echoed through the halls.

“I’m so sorry,” Alexa apologized immediately.
“It’s okay,” Ren assured, “I should have been watching where I was going.” Ren looked down at the ground at the fallen keys.
“Why do you have those?” Ren questioned. He bent down to pick the keys up.
“I found them,” Alexa answered.
“Where?”
“They were in the lab.”
“Why were you in the lab?”
“I was looking for Jehan.”
“Why weren’t you at the wall?”
“I heard there were enemies in the garage and came to help.”
“Jehan’s in the garage, he’s been shot in the shoulder, but he should be fine,” Ren said as he walked away, “also, I’ll be keeping these.” Ren went back down to the holding cells to see the five still there. Dullahan had since unfrozen from her time-altered state. Ren walked over to the holding cells and unlocked the door. He helped escort the Harbingers into their own separate gaol cells. As Antonin, Ren, and Zenobia were about to leave Antonin noticed some unusual movement out of the corner of his eye. Antonin walked over to where he saw something he didn’t expect.
“Ren, I think you might want to see this!” Antonin called. Ren turned around and walked over to Antonin, followed by Zenobia. Ren picked up his walkie-talkie and spoke into it.
“Eoin, Lacea, Marius, Mech, Xanthia, you guys might want to come down to the holding cells right away,” Ren’s voice came crackling over the walkie-talkies. The five came down in waves, first Eoin and Lacea, followed by Mech and Xanthia, and finally Marius. They were all looking upon a cell, in which held three people, all of which were tied up. Ren unlocked the cell and the six started to untie the three. These three were Melody, Petra, and a young man, whom all began to embrace the six. The young man had short brown hair, fair skin, and eyes whose color changed between a spectrum of blue, gray, and green. He wore a white undershirt, fingerless gloves and black corduroy trousers. Over his undershirt he wore a leather vest, which was covered in gears and other mechanisms. Upon his right arm there was a vambrace covered in various mechanisms, which stretched into his gloves. Over the right side of his face sat a mask, one which he was never seen without. The mask included a darkened lens, mechanisms both independent and interconnected with the lens, and a band wrapping around his head to secure the mask in place.
“Thank you, Marius, Mech, Ren, Zanthia, and … I don’t think I know the names of you four,” the young man thanked.
“I’m Lacea, and this is Eoin, my brother,” Lacea responded.
“My name is Zenobia,” Zenobia answered.
“And I am Antonin,” Antonin responded.
“Well, thank you all for your rescue of us,” the young man thanked, “oh, also, my name’s Desmofýlax.” Ren handed Desmofýlax his key ring.
“Where did you find these?”
“I got them from Alexa, and she said she got them from the lab,” Ren answered.
“Do you know who did this to us?” Petra asked.
“I figured you three would know,” Marius responded.
“We know the person who kidnapped us was masked, and they had some sort of voice distorter.”
“Do you have any more information about them?”
“They were wearing some type of hooded robe.”
“Anything else?”
“They carry a bow and quiver,” Melody answered.
“Who would want to do this to you three?”
“A spy perhaps, one who wanted to bring down the Haven Rebellion,” Desmofýlax suggested.
“Then why did they take you?” Lacea asked Melody.
“I witnessed them take Petra, and they probably didn’t want loose strings,” Melody answered.
“Do we know of anybody who owns a bow?” Mech asked Xanthia.
“A few people do,” Xanthia responded.
“Who?”
“Alexa, Avilius, Engilram, Kirsten, Hallr, Mikhal, Nicodemo, Yishmeray, and Zenon.”
“Do you know what type of bow it was?” Mech asked Melody.
“It was wooden,” Melody answered.
“That narrows it down to Alexa, Kirsten, Hallr, Mikhal, Yishmeray and Zenon.”
“Do any of those people own a mask or robes?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Well at least we have an initially list of suspects,” Petra reassured.
“Are we just going to go up to people and start to accuse them? How are we going to go about finding the suspect?” Ren asked.
“We investigate their belongings, if they contain a mask or robe, we might have our suspect,” Petra answered.
“But interrogation is so much more fun,” Ren sighed. Petra glared at Ren.
“Six of us will search one of them, and the other three will keep an eye on things,” Petra explained, “Antonin, Lacea, Mech, Melody, and Zenobia, you guys will keep an eye on things. Desmofýlax, you’ll investigate Kirsten, Eoin, you’ll investigate Alexa, Marius, you’ll investigate Hallr, Ren, you’ll investigate Mikhal, Xanthia, you’ll investigate Yishmeray, and I’ll investigate Zenon.”
“Understood”, everybody except Petra said in unison.
“Good,” Petra said, “now let’s get to it.”