Nicole, Belle, and I were in my office, staring at the image of Mr. Fox. Yet, the three of us said nothing.
Next thing I knew, Nicole stood up abruptly and began to pace back and forth. "Great, just great, we have a sinner defending Perlman, who uses forged evidence to win cases, who also can control people!"
Nicole then stopped and pointed at me. "Is there anything I should know?!" I hook my head at her question.
"Good, now how are we going to win this?!" She shouted and began to breathe heavily.
"Belle, can you have Fairy locate Mr. Fox?" I asked, which caught both of them off guard.
"You… want to contact him?" Belle asked, looking at me as if I had grown a second head. "You want to contact the sinner who is working for the enemy."
"Yes, he may not abandon the case, but he still is a lawyer, and we can negotiate the outcome in our favor." Seeing that I was dead set on talking, Belle pulled out her phone.
"Um, fairy, you there?" Belle asked. The next second, her phone vibrated, and Fairy appeared.
{Always master, now searching, Mr. Fox.} It didn't take long for her phone to start ringing, and the line soon connected.
"This is Mr. Fox. If you are contacting me about special deals, I am not interested." He said, his voice sounded smooth like silk, but it hid the danger.
"I'm afraid it's not a sales pitch, Mr. Fox, but a negotiation." He went silent the second he heard my voice. After a moment passed, the sound of chuckling could be heard.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the chief of MBCC." I could practically hear his smile. "How can I help you?"
"As I stated, I want to negotiate." I repeated. "And to find your location as well." This made both Belle and Nicole look shocked at what I said.
"Oh, how bold of you." Mr. Fox laughed. "But, it's how you are, however, I regret to inform you that there won't be a trial, so negotiations are pointless."
I narrowed my eyes to what he said, but I remained calm. "I'm curious, why say that?" I asked.
"Simple, Mr. Pearlman's assistant is not truly his assistant; in reality, you could call them partners, and she plans to 'rescue' him before the trial." He explained.
"In fact, she's the reason why Vision planned to abandon the people." He continued.
"Is that all?" I asked, wanting to gather more information; however, he sighed, and the sound of ice clinking against the glass.
"Sadly, that's it. I was lucky to eavesdrop on her conversation." He sighed. "If I tried anymore, I fear I would have to expose my cards."
The three of us stayed silent at his explanation, leaving all of us to think about our next plan. "Thank you for the information. Is there a chance that you can send us your location?"
"Same answer as before, it seems that someone tipped the woman off on the information about us. Currently, I am accommodated in a nice room, but the drinks could be better." He sighed.
"I see, if you get the chance to leave, meet us in Lumina Square." I was just about to hang up, but he spoke one last time.
"Really? Are you sure?" I was curious who he was talking to. "Chief, it seems we have a little bird helping us, well, helping you specifically." He chuckled.
"And what could this little bird have told you?" I asked, but he only laughed.
"Meet with a certain cub, you'll find a sinner soon." Was all he said before ending the call.
As the three of us stayed silent, I began to think of the possible meanings he said to us. Yet, I couldn't come up with anything, I could only sigh and hold my head.
"Do any of you two know what he meant by meeting a certain cub?" I asked, and both Belle and Nicole looked at each other, then back at me, and shook their heads.
I closed my eyes and leaned back into my chair, both hands on my face, and I pushed my hair back.
"Sometimes I wish things could be handed to me, but that's asking too much." I muttered. The second my hair dropped, I stood up and made myself some coffee.
"So, are we going to look for this cub, or are we going to do nothing?!" Nicole shouted, but I was unfazed by her screaming.
"We wait, if I know one thing that's certain, things will somehow fall into place." Nicole wanted to say something, but she could only sigh and nod.
"Fine, then you'll have to accompany me on the next few commissions." she said while pointing at me.
I took a sip of my coffee and smiled. "Fine, but we'll negotiate the payment." Nicole flinched at my words and soon began to collect the papers.
"T-thats great, but at a later date, I seem to recall an appointment of mine, so I'll leave first." Nicole soon darted away, leaving both Belle and me.
The two of us then began to laugh at what just happened, and soon a comforting silence descended.
I was about to speak, but Belle soon beat me to it with a question. "Eros, do you… plan on going back when things are safe?"
Looking at her, I could see she was nervous, with desperation in her eyes. "Yes, once all of the sinners and Mania are back in my world, I'll have to go back."
Belle lowered her eyes at my answer, and her hands formed fists. "You're right, sorry for asking." She said before standing.
But before she left, I held her hand. I was concerned as to why she was acting like this, but I wasn't going to leave her alone.
"It's fine, do you want to stay for a while?" This caught her off guard, but she nodded and soon sat next to me.
During the next few hours, we spent the entire afternoon getting to know one another. And, it felt nice to speak to someone outside of work.
[Time skip! Also, send those power stones!]
As the sun began to set behind the horizon, I was accompanying Belle back to her car. Laughing as she told me stories.
"You should have seen Wise's face when he got a lot of chocolate." She giggled. "He took them all, but when the girls left, he offered them all to me!"
I couldn't hold back. I didn't expect Wise to be dense, but I was proven wrong. "I'll have to assume he's still dense?"
"Yes!" She exclaimed, raising her arms to express her feelings. "I try to tell him, but he keeps denying it!"
"I mean, it's obvious that Nicole has a thing for Wise; she's been coming by the store every chance she gets!"
"He'll understand it one day, though, I think you'll need to be more creative." I smiled, which caused Belle to roll her eyes.
"Okay then, matchmaker, how can we make my brother less dense?" She asked with her arms crossed.
"Simple, invite both of them to the same spot, like a restaurant, a movie theater, or a park." Hearing such a simple plan, Belle widened her eyes, and her jaw hung loose.
"That's so dumb, it could just work!" She said and entered her car. But before driving away, she flashed one last smile.
Once I was alone, I made my way back to my inside. But instead of going to my office, I went to one of the laboratories.
"Summer, how goes the portal?" I asked, already seeing the documents she had finished set to the side.
"Well, good news and bad news." She said while typing on the keyboard. "Which do you want to hear?"
"Bad news, I'd rather hear the problems first." Summer stopped for half a second, but she started once again.
"Alright, bad news, it's a one-way portal. Once we send a sinner through, they stay gone." My eyes widened at her words.
"You succeeded?" Summer wore a large grin, puffing her chest with pride.
"That's right, I, the great Summer, have created the first dimensional portal that can take us home!" She laughed. "Bow before my genius!"
I had my hand dig into my pocket and pulled out a piece of candy. "Here." The second she saw it, she darted past me and grabbed it.
"Thank you for the treat!" She said and tossed the candy in her mouth. "Anyways, that's the situation at hand, so you'll need to be careful about who you want to send back."
"That's understandable, but I'm more worried about who won't go." I said, causing Summer to stop what she was doing.
"You're right, most if not all of them won't leave." I sighed, a frown forming on my face.
"Should I soundproof your room in case some of them try?" I didn't need to ask what she meant; I only gave her a nod.
"Alright, give me a minute or two." She said and soon left, leaving me alone to stare at the now-formed portal.
In front of me was a large circular, reaching ten feet tall and ten feet wide. On it, you could see small groves running across it.
I could only assume it would be the mania flowing through it. And in front of me was a small podium with an empty spot.
I ran my hand across the spot, feeling the smooth metal beneath my fingers. I could guess the W-engine is going to power it. I was tempted to place the w-engine, wanting to see my home.
But I decided against it, I couldn't be selfish at the moment. Not until I find suspect R and place her under the shackles.
After staring at it for a bit longer, I left and began to wander through the halls to think. Why were we brought here? Who brought us here, and how were we brought here?
These questions haunted me every day, and I felt myself feeling more exhausted as each day ended. However, one thought remained in my mind.
'I wish no one had to suffer.' I knew it was naive of me to think that way, but I couldn't help it. I would sometimes imagine everyone was in Dis City with a smile.
No one was sick, no one had suffered, no one was abused, no one was experimented on, no one was alone.
I wished they could all have normal lives.
But I knew it was all a dream, and I would come back to reality. It's funny, really. I've comforted them all, telling them that things will get better.
Yet, I could only feel guilt. Every smile they gave me, every look of hope, it felt as if I was lying to them. Giving them a false dream that will never happen.
When I took the position as chief, when I used the shackles, they never told me how heavy the burden was.
In every mission I led, all of the soldiers would turn to me for orders. They didn't see the burden I carried, the pain I went through every day.
All they saw was a leader, a symbol, a savior who would save all of humanity. I was forced to carry it all.
Only a few knew how I truly felt, yet, they could do nothing. This is something only I could do.
If it were another person, they would have most likely forced the sinners to fight, to kill all of humanity.
Maybe they would create an empire, claim to be a king to all. But it would be pointless if they didn't care for the people.
So, I chose to protect humanity. Even if they never knew who I was, or what I did, they could at least smile at their friends and family.
This is the burden I chose to carry, the path to walk on.
This is the sin I bear.
[Chief… I'm sorry. Sorry readers, but I'm not in the mood. Just... Do whatever you want, I don't care.]