(no subject)
Title: Collared
Chapter: 5 (what, it took me four chapters to come up with a title, you think you get chapter titles too?)
Chapter summary: Kratos goes information hunting and meets with another familiar face. Yuan screws with the authoress' careful foreshadowing when he decides to get genre savvy.
Rating: The fic overall should be PG-13 for atmosphere
Warnings: Nothing special
Kratos stepped into the seedy bar, glancing around to find his contact. They hadn't started off on the best of terms, but the younger man owed him a few favors, and over time they'd fallen into a casual business relationship: as long as Zelos stuck to relatively victimless crimes, Kratos would make sure his occasional slips onto the wrong side of the law stayed undercover, and in return Zelos would answer questions - at his own discretion, of course - when Kratos came to call.
Zelos raised an eyebrow at him, as Kratos made his way over, then lifted his glass in acknowledgment and whispered something into the ear of the girl on his arm, who pouted prettily and made herself scarce. “Haven't seen you around here in a while,” Zelos greeted him. “I thought the Renegade case was closed.”
Kratos raised an eyebrow in return as he sat down. “Who says I'm here to ask about the Renegade?”
Zelos rolled his eyes. “Come on, pops. I know you can't let go of something this good just because the department says, can you?”
“Well, as long as you're offering, I do have a few questions I'd like resolved,” Kratos allowed.
The younger man smirked at him. “I'll tell you all I know, but the truth is, it isn't much. Guy's slippery as an eel, and he's a black sorcerer, so most people aren't all that inclined to ask.”
“He's well-known, then?” Kratos frowned. “Why haven't the police ever heard of him before?”
Zelos chuckled. “Well, that's the thing, isn't it? He only preys on other lowlifes; everyone was surprised to hear about the museum job. Any idea what he was after there? The police reports didn't make much sense.”
“Not all magical artifacts are properly cataloged,” Kratos told him. “He must have a lot of enemies, then, if he makes his living off other criminals.”
“Sure does,” Zelos agreed. “But no one knows where he lives, and most of them don't even know what he looks like. Like I said, slippery bastard.”
Kratos sighed. “Is there anything useful you can tell me, then?” If no one knew who he was or what he looked like...
“Ah, ah, ah,” Zelos told him. “I said most people don't know, I didn't say no one knew. I thought you'd be coming by, so I asked around a bit.”
“...And?” Kratos gave his informant the most penetrating stare he could manage, well aware that Zelos was drawing this out purely to savor the drama.
“He's tall, they all say that. Hair color varies, but that's easy to dye. The most consistent detail is his eyes, though - green, like...really green. Like an elf's.” Zelos paused, and then added almost offhandedly, “Oh, did you want a name?”
Kratos' eyes widened, and he took a deep breath to keep his tone level before he spoke again. “That would certainly be appreciated.”
Zelos smirked wickedly at having caught Kratos off-guard, and leaned back in his chair a bit. “Mind you, I got no guarantee it's actually his True Name, the one you could scry with, but apparently a friend of his calls him 'Yuan'. Never got a last name out of it.”
Kratos nodded slowly. “...You've been very helpful. I only have one more question, and it may be entirely unrelated: Do you know anything about a Raine Sage?”
The younger man raised a single eyebrow, and nodded. “Uh, yeah, she's the lady with the halfway-house, right? Used to have a sick niece, but she's recovered lately. Raine's a tough lady for a healer, but they're both nice folks. Not to mention...bad things seem to happen to anyone that makes trouble for them. Didn't take long for word to get around.”
A sick niece? Kratos smirked. “...I see.” He rose, nodding once to Zelos. “Thank you for the information; it'll be helpful if I ever manage to meet with him.”
Zelos shook his head. “You're never gonna catch him,” he replied. “But hey, at least the questions were easy this time.”
Kratos scoffed faintly, and made his way out. His main hope was still for the Renegade to make contact with him, rather than the other way around; and it wasn't helping that his best contact seemed to have no information that would help him get in touch.
-----
Yuan tapped the corner of the business card on the coffee table, considering it carefully, and causing Reno to raise an eyebrow at him from across the room. “What's got you twisted up?” he asked casually.
“This.” He waved the card as an explanation. “A cop left it with my healer friend - looks like someone in the FBI has enough of a brain to figure out what it was I took and where it wound up. And, incidentally, enough of a heart to leave it where I put it.” He shook his head. “Naturally, he asked her to pass on that he'd like to meet with me.”
Reno snorted. “Right. ...You're not actually thinking of going, are you?” Yuan did have a funny sense of the dramatic sometimes, but that seemed a bit much even for him.
After another pause, Yuan smirked. “I don't look like that much of an idiot, do I?” He tucked the card safely into the pages of his book. “He'll have to try a little harder than that.”
Chapter: 5 (what, it took me four chapters to come up with a title, you think you get chapter titles too?)
Chapter summary: Kratos goes information hunting and meets with another familiar face. Yuan screws with the authoress' careful foreshadowing when he decides to get genre savvy.
Rating: The fic overall should be PG-13 for atmosphere
Warnings: Nothing special
Kratos stepped into the seedy bar, glancing around to find his contact. They hadn't started off on the best of terms, but the younger man owed him a few favors, and over time they'd fallen into a casual business relationship: as long as Zelos stuck to relatively victimless crimes, Kratos would make sure his occasional slips onto the wrong side of the law stayed undercover, and in return Zelos would answer questions - at his own discretion, of course - when Kratos came to call.
Zelos raised an eyebrow at him, as Kratos made his way over, then lifted his glass in acknowledgment and whispered something into the ear of the girl on his arm, who pouted prettily and made herself scarce. “Haven't seen you around here in a while,” Zelos greeted him. “I thought the Renegade case was closed.”
Kratos raised an eyebrow in return as he sat down. “Who says I'm here to ask about the Renegade?”
Zelos rolled his eyes. “Come on, pops. I know you can't let go of something this good just because the department says, can you?”
“Well, as long as you're offering, I do have a few questions I'd like resolved,” Kratos allowed.
The younger man smirked at him. “I'll tell you all I know, but the truth is, it isn't much. Guy's slippery as an eel, and he's a black sorcerer, so most people aren't all that inclined to ask.”
“He's well-known, then?” Kratos frowned. “Why haven't the police ever heard of him before?”
Zelos chuckled. “Well, that's the thing, isn't it? He only preys on other lowlifes; everyone was surprised to hear about the museum job. Any idea what he was after there? The police reports didn't make much sense.”
“Not all magical artifacts are properly cataloged,” Kratos told him. “He must have a lot of enemies, then, if he makes his living off other criminals.”
“Sure does,” Zelos agreed. “But no one knows where he lives, and most of them don't even know what he looks like. Like I said, slippery bastard.”
Kratos sighed. “Is there anything useful you can tell me, then?” If no one knew who he was or what he looked like...
“Ah, ah, ah,” Zelos told him. “I said most people don't know, I didn't say no one knew. I thought you'd be coming by, so I asked around a bit.”
“...And?” Kratos gave his informant the most penetrating stare he could manage, well aware that Zelos was drawing this out purely to savor the drama.
“He's tall, they all say that. Hair color varies, but that's easy to dye. The most consistent detail is his eyes, though - green, like...really green. Like an elf's.” Zelos paused, and then added almost offhandedly, “Oh, did you want a name?”
Kratos' eyes widened, and he took a deep breath to keep his tone level before he spoke again. “That would certainly be appreciated.”
Zelos smirked wickedly at having caught Kratos off-guard, and leaned back in his chair a bit. “Mind you, I got no guarantee it's actually his True Name, the one you could scry with, but apparently a friend of his calls him 'Yuan'. Never got a last name out of it.”
Kratos nodded slowly. “...You've been very helpful. I only have one more question, and it may be entirely unrelated: Do you know anything about a Raine Sage?”
The younger man raised a single eyebrow, and nodded. “Uh, yeah, she's the lady with the halfway-house, right? Used to have a sick niece, but she's recovered lately. Raine's a tough lady for a healer, but they're both nice folks. Not to mention...bad things seem to happen to anyone that makes trouble for them. Didn't take long for word to get around.”
A sick niece? Kratos smirked. “...I see.” He rose, nodding once to Zelos. “Thank you for the information; it'll be helpful if I ever manage to meet with him.”
Zelos shook his head. “You're never gonna catch him,” he replied. “But hey, at least the questions were easy this time.”
Kratos scoffed faintly, and made his way out. His main hope was still for the Renegade to make contact with him, rather than the other way around; and it wasn't helping that his best contact seemed to have no information that would help him get in touch.
-----
Yuan tapped the corner of the business card on the coffee table, considering it carefully, and causing Reno to raise an eyebrow at him from across the room. “What's got you twisted up?” he asked casually.
“This.” He waved the card as an explanation. “A cop left it with my healer friend - looks like someone in the FBI has enough of a brain to figure out what it was I took and where it wound up. And, incidentally, enough of a heart to leave it where I put it.” He shook his head. “Naturally, he asked her to pass on that he'd like to meet with me.”
Reno snorted. “Right. ...You're not actually thinking of going, are you?” Yuan did have a funny sense of the dramatic sometimes, but that seemed a bit much even for him.
After another pause, Yuan smirked. “I don't look like that much of an idiot, do I?” He tucked the card safely into the pages of his book. “He'll have to try a little harder than that.”