FAKE Fic: In The Wreckage
Title: In The Wreckage
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Aunt Elena, Uncle Rick.
Rating: PG
Setting: Before the manga, referencing Vol. 3, Act 9.
Summary: After the brutal murder of his parents, Ryo’s life gets turned upside down even more.
Word Count: 1075
Written For: Theme Prompt: 067 - Shattered at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Ryo was waiting in the downstairs hallway when the bell rang, and opened the front door almost immediately, stepping back to let his aunt and uncle in. He was dishevelled, his dark eyes red-rimmed with exhaustion and grief, and he looked far older than his eighteen years.
Aunt Elena stopped just inside the door, blocking her husband from entering, and simply stared, wide-eyed with horror.
“Oh my goodness, is this why you called? What in the world happened?”
Ryo glanced numbly around the hallway, through the open doors into the other rooms; the furniture was upended, some of it broken, photos and art, ornaments and personal belongings scattered all over the floor…
“It was the police; they showed up late last night, and there was nothing I could do. They had a search warrant; they made me wait outside under guard while they tore the place apart.” Ryo’s tone was flat and emotionless. “I started trying to clear up after they left, but…” He trailed off, shoulders slumping. “Mind the glass,” he added as Elena stepped past him.
“Why would they want to search the house? And if they had to, couldn’t they have waited until after Christmas?”
“I guess they were worried if they waited too long I’d have time to get rid of any evidence my parents might’ve hidden here. I thought they were going to arrest me.”
“But whatever for?” Elena was shocked. “You haven’t done anything wrong!”
Ryo shrugged helplessly. “They found all that cocaine in my parents’ car; I guess they figured there might be more stashed here somewhere, or some kind of proof that they’d been smuggling it into the country. They’re convinced mom and dad were criminals, and that’s why they were murdered.”
“But your parents hadn’t been here in ages! They were in Europe!”
“I tried to tell the police that, tried to explain mom and dad hadn’t been home in over three months, but they wouldn’t listen. I’m sorry for calling you, I know you’re busy getting ready to leave for your trip, I just didn’t know what else to do.”
“No, you did the right thing.” Uncle Rick came inside, stepping carefully, and rested his hand on Ryo’s shoulder. “Your aunt and I will help sort this mess out, don’t you worry.” He looked closely at Ryo’s face. “Did you get any sleep at all last night after the police left?”
Ryo shook his head. “I was too scared to close my eyes in case they came back, and anyway, they turned my room upside down too. I suppose they thought I might have evidence stashed there. Uncle Rick, how can they think my parents were smuggling drugs? They’re… they were respectable art dealers, they’ve never broken the law, never even had a speeding ticket! They must have picked up the wrong package at the airport, or maybe someone slipped the cocaine in with the artworks they were bringing into the country.” Fresh tears filled his eyes.
“The police have to follow the evidence,” Aunt Elena soothed, hugging her nephew. “They were just doing their job.”
“They didn’t need to make such a mess though.” Uncle Rick sounded angry. “An eighteen-year-old kid loses both his parents just before Christmas and they come in here like a bunch of hooligans and tear his home apart, destroying his property? What kind of people are they?”
“Rick, you’re not helping,” Elena chastised. “Come on, Ryo, I’ll make us some tea and after we’ve had that we’ll see about cleaning up the mess. You would have had to go through everything sooner or later, decide what you want to keep, what’s going in storage, and what to do with anything you don’t want. We might as well make a start on that. We can sort out the downstairs first, then do your bedroom.”
“Okay.” Numbly Ryo followed his aunt into the kitchen, filled the kettle and put it on before realising the police had emptied out the tea caddy, loose tealeaves all over the floor amid broken crockery, rice, sugar, coffee powder… Even the trash bin had been emptied, its contents strewn across the tiles.
Rick shook his head. “I’ll go to the store and pick up a few essentials; you two do what you can to straighten up in here. See what can be salvaged and make a shopping list for later. The boy’s got to eat.”
Aunt Elena took off her coat, hung it on a hook in the hallway, rolled up her sleeves, and fetched the vacuum cleaner while Ryo silently filled a trash bag with the broken items, setting aside anything that was still miraculously in one piece.
Amid the wreckage, he uncovered the shattered remains of the antique fruit bowl that had sat on the kitchen counter for as long as he could remember, always laden with fresh fruit. His father had brought it for his mother on their honeymoon in Austria. His knees gave way and he sank to the floor, sobbing over the shards, not really knowing why. He’d always hated the stupid thing; it was so ugly. He’d even made a really nice fruit bowl for his mom at school, carved from a piece of beautifully grained wood and carefully coated in several layers of varnish, and yet his mom had still insisted on using this eyesore; the wooden one she’d put in pride of place on the coffee table in the lounge, filled with crystals. Where were they now?
So many of his parents’ things had been broken as the police had searched the house from top to bottom, finding nothing illegal whatsoever. How many valuable one-of-a-kind art objects had been destroyed in their careless rampage? His parents had been collectors as well as dealers. Everything would have been insured, but that was hardly the point; works of art couldn’t be replaced with an identical item, any more than Ryo could replace his parents. Once they were gone that was it.
He buried his face in his aunt’s shoulder, wondering when she’d joined him on the floor amid all that was left of the life he’d known. His heart felt like it was shattering into fragments to match everything else damaged beyond repair; he couldn’t imagine it ever being whole again.
He would never hear his father’s warm laughter again, or see his mother’s gentle smile. His family was gone, and he’d never even gotten a chance to say goodbye.
The End
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Aunt Elena, Uncle Rick.
Rating: PG
Setting: Before the manga, referencing Vol. 3, Act 9.
Summary: After the brutal murder of his parents, Ryo’s life gets turned upside down even more.
Word Count: 1075
Written For: Theme Prompt: 067 - Shattered at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Ryo was waiting in the downstairs hallway when the bell rang, and opened the front door almost immediately, stepping back to let his aunt and uncle in. He was dishevelled, his dark eyes red-rimmed with exhaustion and grief, and he looked far older than his eighteen years.
Aunt Elena stopped just inside the door, blocking her husband from entering, and simply stared, wide-eyed with horror.
“Oh my goodness, is this why you called? What in the world happened?”
Ryo glanced numbly around the hallway, through the open doors into the other rooms; the furniture was upended, some of it broken, photos and art, ornaments and personal belongings scattered all over the floor…
“It was the police; they showed up late last night, and there was nothing I could do. They had a search warrant; they made me wait outside under guard while they tore the place apart.” Ryo’s tone was flat and emotionless. “I started trying to clear up after they left, but…” He trailed off, shoulders slumping. “Mind the glass,” he added as Elena stepped past him.
“Why would they want to search the house? And if they had to, couldn’t they have waited until after Christmas?”
“I guess they were worried if they waited too long I’d have time to get rid of any evidence my parents might’ve hidden here. I thought they were going to arrest me.”
“But whatever for?” Elena was shocked. “You haven’t done anything wrong!”
Ryo shrugged helplessly. “They found all that cocaine in my parents’ car; I guess they figured there might be more stashed here somewhere, or some kind of proof that they’d been smuggling it into the country. They’re convinced mom and dad were criminals, and that’s why they were murdered.”
“But your parents hadn’t been here in ages! They were in Europe!”
“I tried to tell the police that, tried to explain mom and dad hadn’t been home in over three months, but they wouldn’t listen. I’m sorry for calling you, I know you’re busy getting ready to leave for your trip, I just didn’t know what else to do.”
“No, you did the right thing.” Uncle Rick came inside, stepping carefully, and rested his hand on Ryo’s shoulder. “Your aunt and I will help sort this mess out, don’t you worry.” He looked closely at Ryo’s face. “Did you get any sleep at all last night after the police left?”
Ryo shook his head. “I was too scared to close my eyes in case they came back, and anyway, they turned my room upside down too. I suppose they thought I might have evidence stashed there. Uncle Rick, how can they think my parents were smuggling drugs? They’re… they were respectable art dealers, they’ve never broken the law, never even had a speeding ticket! They must have picked up the wrong package at the airport, or maybe someone slipped the cocaine in with the artworks they were bringing into the country.” Fresh tears filled his eyes.
“The police have to follow the evidence,” Aunt Elena soothed, hugging her nephew. “They were just doing their job.”
“They didn’t need to make such a mess though.” Uncle Rick sounded angry. “An eighteen-year-old kid loses both his parents just before Christmas and they come in here like a bunch of hooligans and tear his home apart, destroying his property? What kind of people are they?”
“Rick, you’re not helping,” Elena chastised. “Come on, Ryo, I’ll make us some tea and after we’ve had that we’ll see about cleaning up the mess. You would have had to go through everything sooner or later, decide what you want to keep, what’s going in storage, and what to do with anything you don’t want. We might as well make a start on that. We can sort out the downstairs first, then do your bedroom.”
“Okay.” Numbly Ryo followed his aunt into the kitchen, filled the kettle and put it on before realising the police had emptied out the tea caddy, loose tealeaves all over the floor amid broken crockery, rice, sugar, coffee powder… Even the trash bin had been emptied, its contents strewn across the tiles.
Rick shook his head. “I’ll go to the store and pick up a few essentials; you two do what you can to straighten up in here. See what can be salvaged and make a shopping list for later. The boy’s got to eat.”
Aunt Elena took off her coat, hung it on a hook in the hallway, rolled up her sleeves, and fetched the vacuum cleaner while Ryo silently filled a trash bag with the broken items, setting aside anything that was still miraculously in one piece.
Amid the wreckage, he uncovered the shattered remains of the antique fruit bowl that had sat on the kitchen counter for as long as he could remember, always laden with fresh fruit. His father had brought it for his mother on their honeymoon in Austria. His knees gave way and he sank to the floor, sobbing over the shards, not really knowing why. He’d always hated the stupid thing; it was so ugly. He’d even made a really nice fruit bowl for his mom at school, carved from a piece of beautifully grained wood and carefully coated in several layers of varnish, and yet his mom had still insisted on using this eyesore; the wooden one she’d put in pride of place on the coffee table in the lounge, filled with crystals. Where were they now?
So many of his parents’ things had been broken as the police had searched the house from top to bottom, finding nothing illegal whatsoever. How many valuable one-of-a-kind art objects had been destroyed in their careless rampage? His parents had been collectors as well as dealers. Everything would have been insured, but that was hardly the point; works of art couldn’t be replaced with an identical item, any more than Ryo could replace his parents. Once they were gone that was it.
He buried his face in his aunt’s shoulder, wondering when she’d joined him on the floor amid all that was left of the life he’d known. His heart felt like it was shattering into fragments to match everything else damaged beyond repair; he couldn’t imagine it ever being whole again.
He would never hear his father’s warm laughter again, or see his mother’s gentle smile. His family was gone, and he’d never even gotten a chance to say goodbye.
The End