Dead Princes and Dead Ends (Davon and Melody)

The wind was howling outside Davon’s window and the clouds were menacingly gathering in the horizon with an unspoken promise of incoming rain. The horizon was beautiful, though, as the sunset painted the sky in hues of orange and red. The weekend promised only bad weather, had the weather forecaster said in the daily newspaper. But such people were so often wrong. It wouldn’t hurt with a bit of mid-spring summertime.

The small room Davon occupied was extremely bare. The walls were white, his bed neatly made, and there was no sign of dust in any nook or corner of the room. The only sign that there was a young man living in this space was the small loudspeaker that stood on his folded-out desk, currently playing a classical violin sonata, the scented candle that exhumed the scent of pine needle, and the man himself, sitting on the bed and reading the crime novel the Girl in the Mist. He wouldn’t be caught dead watching the movie before he had read the book, after all.

Usually around this time, he would be training and practicing his abilities further, as one could always stand to improve themselves. But as it were, Friday was his evening of restoration and as such, the evening where he let his mind and body take a break from hard work and training. He had, after all, earned it as the previous two weeks had led them to nothing but dead ends in regards to the dead prince. They really had all thought that they had found a lead in the suspicious young professor, but he had turned out to be more slippery than they had all thought. And there they stood at yet another dead end. Everyone could feel the growing tension and stress from the superiors as the outside world brought more pressure onto their search for justice. Everyone had to bring their A-game.

Davon shifted the page. If only one didn’t have to look so hard for competence within their division, he thought to himself, completely skimming over and only half-reading the book in his hand. Sometimes it seemed that the only people with any brains around here were himself and, of course, Melody.

Melody hated windy days. Not just because it messed up her hair and was a bother to walk around in and urgh, the noise of every blow was so distracting- but no, the worst part of windy days was all the energy in the air. Although Godia Warlock were connected to all elements, some affinities were stronger than others depending on the Godia Warlock, and Melody was strongly connected to air. Which was a great strength for when she had to quickly get a hold of things or easily raise her own stamina when running, using the wind at her back. However, it was also a huge burden on days like this, where the energy of the air surging through the city and spiking her everywhere on her body. Filling up her spirit so she was on the verge of combusting by air.
When Melody woke up and checked the weather forecast for the day and saw the three blue-gray squiggly lines, symbolising windiness, she almost stayed in her bed. After two weeks of discouraging investigation work she really didn't have the energy for, well more energy. She didn't even have a way to let some energy out, as Friday was her day at castle, working shifts as a Royal Guard. A day full of standing and sitting painfully still. Which was not an exaggeration - it truly was painful for her to be still like that.
But in the end and after a lot of encouraging self-talk she finally got out of bed to rush to work, and so her day went by. A painful day indeed, just walking over to castle filled her up with enough wind and therefore enough energy to sting her from the inside all throughout her shift. It wasn't even a fun shift; she didn't even get to say hi to Philippe. She just walked around the hallways and stood in front of doorways to look important. So much for being part of the strongest beings in the world. They really knew how to make use of her powers.
After her shift, she quickly made plans to train with some of her friends and colleagues. She would ask Davon but it was his evening off, and they also had to be in a certain mood to train together without biting each other's heads off. Melody was sure she wasn't in that mood today. Especially since the training - which they held inside to avoid the winds - had barely started before it stopped. Melody had made the mistake to discuss the investigation with her friends and after a brief conversation, she quickly realized that she couldn't deal with their incompetence right now. She really did not have the patience. So she excused herself and ended her training early. Taking a shower by manipulating the water to balance out the energy instead of just attracting it, because she literally could not handle more energy inside of her. Then she put on her cozy big sweater and sweatpants, the most comfortable outfit to wear after a day of wearing the Royal Guard uniform.

Initially, she had decided to be alone for the evening. But on her way to her room she changed her mind, instantly turning around and walking the other way. Towards Davon's room. On her way, she did text him:

"Done with training. So pissed. At your room in 2. Be ready"

She sent it, even though she wasn't sure Davon would even manage to see it, before she arrived. But that was fine, by now they were both used to the other just dropping in whenever. That was the part of the deal of their friendship.
Davon would be warned about her arrival before she even entered the room. Her energy was spurting out of her in a way that easily affected her surroundings, at least as she was nearing. Before her arrival, the loudspeaker glitched and the pages in Davon's book quivered slightly. It all stopped a second before Melody bursted open the door. She didn't say hi to her friend. Instead she threw herself at the bed - the room being small enough for her to not even have to take a step before doing so - with a frustrated groan. Showing off how tired she was she lied down on her back, her head resting in Davon's lap, so her thick curls spread across him and his bed. She didn't look at him but stared up in the ceiling with clear irritation in her face.
"Davon," she snapped, not at him but as the beginning of her rant. Her hands only for a brief moment rested over her stomach before she used them to gesture along as she spoke, "This is it. I'm done. I'm so done."
Now she looked at him. She pouted up at him, showing her frustration but still in a lighthearted way.
"How can so many people be so stupid?" she complained, as a joke sounding like she was about to cry over it. Thought she did feel frustrated enough that she probably could cry about it. Especially with all that aching energy still inside her.

His phone pinged with a notification, but Davon didn’t bother looking at the black screen lighting up. He was already fairly certain who it was, which meant he would have to read to the end of the nearest paragraph before he was interrupted. He turned the page. Soon, his suspicion was confirmed as the pages quivered in his book and the music started glitching. He sighed, grabbing his bookmark and putting away the book, watching the door expectantly. It sprung open and, to absolutely no surprise, Melody entered. The air was electric with all her charged energy and the scented candle fizzled out the moment she entered, smoke rising through the air above it.

She threw herself on the bed with a groan and Davon moved to make room for the both of them and so she could rest her head in his lap. With a flick of his fingers, he relighted the candle as Melody started speaking. He rested his hand on her shoulder and listened. He related deeply to her frustration, as the stupidity of their division really was incredible. He nodded. “This is about the case?”

He knew Melody had been frustrated about that and understood it well. He was frustrated too. It seemed the higher ups were all barking up the wrong tree and chasing themselves in circles trying to find the EFA, yet ignoring very obvious clues. “Still nothing new on the missing student?”

The girl with the faulty powers. She had seemingly vanished into thin air the very same day she had come under suspicion for being a Nachon in hiding. Which wasn’t that uncommon, but her connection to the shady professor was what was throwing the whole thing off for Davon. He also felt that that whole questioning had been a waste. The professor had played mind-games with general Decker, it seemed, using technological terms to confuse him. And then the thread of the explosive dangers within the contents of his safe, he wasn’t sure whether to believe that. It could be where the clue was hiding to blow the whole thing open. The topic of zeals itself was shady. The professor was a Kirscha warlock, according to his files, and any warlock messing with zeals had to be lazy by nature. An untrustworthy character flaw. Had he kidnapped the girl? Maybe. She helps out in the lab a couple of times a week. That’s all. That’s what he had said.

Whether the disappearance had to do with the girl being Nachon was just a detail in the grand scheme. The girl and professor had to be connected. But because the girl seemed innocent and the professor had an alibi, it had been moved low on the list of priorities to find her.

Sometimes Melody felt even more at home in Davon's room than her own. This was despite the complete lack of personality in his decoration - or lack off - in contrast to her own walls that were covered with pictures and small quirky drawings linked to different moments of her life. But she was never able to relax the same way in her own bed than she could in his. Maybe it was because she got away from the bed she had her nightmares in. Maybe it was because Davon could be found in this bed.

"Isn't it always?" she sighed deeply to show off her tiredness, when Davon asked if this was about the case. In other periods, it could easily have been about other subjects as well. This duo could always find something to rant to each other about - a great way to get rid of excess energy. But the last week the only thing to rant about had been the case, solely because there was so much to say about it.

Though Melody rested with her head in Davon's lap and his hand on her shoulder, she still couldn't lie fully still. Her fingers fiddled continuously, either with each other, with the fabric of her sweatshirt or with some of her curls. And when Davon asked about the missing student, she jerked her body to a twist, so she didn't lie straight anymore. Instead her back was bended in a curve to better look up at Davon. Her eyes widened to convey her disbelief as she said: "By Iosta, it's even worse than that."
As expected, she couldn't lie down for long. Sometimes she could, even being able to cuddle, but not after a day like this. So in one swift movement with her curls flying everywhere and with the candle lights threatening to blow out again, she sat up. Cross-legged, facing Davon. Her hands started out in her lap but quickly accompanied her with gesticulation as she spoke.
"So I'm working out with Penny and Jordan, right?" Two of her friends, that Davon did hang out with if Melody was there too but that Melody knew he would never hang out with by himself. "And okay-" She interrupted herself before she even really started, because something else hit her. "first of all - please remind me next time I'm considering working out with Jordan how agonizing slow he is at warm-up." She looked Davon straight in the eye, stopping her constant movement just a second to get her point across. Then she continued: "Second of all - I brought up the case, right, because what else should we talk about other than Penny for the hundred time getting back together with Jasmine." She rolled her eyes. "And of course I mentioned how suspicious it is that Auden disappeared the day she was questioned the second time." Thankfully, she knew that Davon shared that suspicion so she didn't have to include any arguments to defend it. He was just as frustrated by the lack of action taken by the authorities as she was.
"And you know what Penny said?" It was a rhetorical question but Melody still included a dramatic pause before revealing the answer. She repeated Penny's words in a indignant whisper: "Wait... who is she again?"
She let that sink in for a moment, possibly a briefer moment than she thought so herself. Then she threw her hands in the air in defeat. "Who is she?" she repeated before she - with yet another groan - fell down again to lie in the same position as before with her head on Davon. The groan was repeated as well when she placed her hands over her face, dragging down her face slightly. "Can you believe she said that? And when I was like 'are you fucking serious', Jordan defended her and said that 'not everyone can remember every single detail of the case'." The last part of her sentence was a parody of Jordan's voice. She removed her hands from her face and rested her arms over her hands, also in Davon's lap, now looking up at the ceiling again.
"So I'm done," she finished of her rant by saying, "This day's over now."
Finally, she realized how much she had been talking. Melody was the more talkative of the two, but it wasn't an everyday accordance that she went out on her own monologue without even realizing it. She just had too much to get out, both of her annoyance and her energy. To make up for it, she looked up at Davon, her expression softening, as she more casually asked him: "So - how's your day been?"

If it wasn’t clear from the crackling of energy in the air, then Melody’s restlessness was evident through her constant fidgeting. Her shifting and moving was in stark contrast to Davon who was sitting completely still. He wasn’t surprised, as this wasn't completely unlike her, but it did seem to be much worse than it usually was. No doubt a rant was incoming. He prepared himself.

She sat upright, which also made it easier to actually look her in the eye. He noticed the candle flicker out of this corner of his eyes. His attention returned to Melody once it was clear it was not going to blow out again. She was telling him about her friends, who it seemed had gotten on her nerves.

“Right,” he said. He did know Penny and Jordan, but to be frank, he didn’t care much for either of them. He found Jordan to be an ignorant jerk and Penny to be an incompetent airhead. They weren’t low-quality people, per say, it just wasn’t the sort of people he’d want to use his energy and free time on. Melody had always been more tolerant and outgoing in that regard. But to him, they were colleagues, at best. So it didn’t surprise him either that both had gotten on Melody’s nerves today as even she had her limits.

Though, he did raise a brow when she mentioned how Penny didn’t even remember Auden.  No wonder Melody was so frustrated.  He didn't think highly of Penny to begin with, but this seemed to confirm his judgement. It caught him off guard that anyone would forget what was one of the most important leads in the case. One of the only tangible ones, at least. But people like Penny weren't used to thinking for themselves. They followed orders from their superiors.  And as the superiors had deemed Auden not a priority, of course it had left Penny's brain as swiftly as it had entered.  What wasn’t surprising was that Jordan had come to Penny's defense. The man went to great lengths to defend the incompetence of others.

At some point in her story, Melody had returned to her place in Davon's lap. She looked every bit as frustrated as she sounded. He ignored her question about how his day had been, as the answer was that it had been uneventful and rather dull. The case was much more interesting in comparison.

He let out a sigh in frustration and looked down at his friend. “The whole Auden situation is so strange,” he spoke, his tone calm. “She can’t have disappeared that far." She couldn't have. The control of the city boarders and the boats leaving the docks had been much harsher than what was usual. Getting out of the country was close to impossible right now without the right documents. Besides, her leaving the city where all her friends and family were was highly unlikely. Which left her only one hiding place.
"It’s a shame we can’t search Erast ourselves to find her.”

It had been the right choice to go see Davon. Of course it always seem to be the right choice to do so; it was very rare for Melody to regret visiting him. That only happened once in a blue moon where they elevated energy levels suddenly didn't match and they both couldn't help but let their frustration out on each other. But even then it wasn't more than annoyed bickering until one of them didn't want to deal with the other anymore and left - for both of them knowing that they just needed a breather before they could hang out again. It never turned into a full fight, and that was perfect, because Melody hated fighting, even with all her build-up frustration. She's much rather rant about her frustrations and go back to having fun.

Which was why she felt so much better after her rant to Davon. He didn't outwardly share her frustration, but Davon wasn't a man to express himself loudly like Melody. He showed his annoyance over her experience in subtle ways like him raising an eyebrow over her Penny quote - a gesture that Melody always find satisfying to see and wished she knew how to do herself - and him sighing, letting out a tiny bit of steam as well. That's how Melody knew he agreed with her, but really, even he had not reacted at all, she would know. She knew where he stood on this whole Auden case, and she knew it was the same place as herself. If not, she wouldn't have shared this rant with him.

His tone was calm when he spoke, something Melody also admired and was envious of. How he had the ability to remain calm, even when Melody exploded with energy. She did notice that he hadn't answered her question about his day, but didn't think more of it. Davon rarely felt like sharing about his day if he didn't feel like he had anything interesting to share.
She looked up at him while he spoke. Her eyes widening in agreement of his point about Auden.
"Exactly!" she said, throwing her hands down in the mattress, making it bounce slightly, "None of her known acquaintances could have helped her disappear. Which means she must have some connections we don't know about - that we should know about."
She puffed and shook her head, while looking back up at the ceiling.

Only to prick up her ears as Davon, still speaking calmy, said his next thing. He had mentioned Erast. He knew just as Melody where Auden must be hiding. Or at least who was hiding her.
Melody became quiet, thoughtful - in a way she only did when she considered something mischievous. She looked up at the ceiling, knitting her eyebrows in pondering, while her fingers unconsciously fiddled with some of her curls.
Then, a slight smirk appeared on her lips. She pushed her lips together to try and hide it, looking down at her fiddling hands. She raised her shoulders in an attempt to shrug casually while still lying down in Davon's lap.
"I mean," she said, intentionally failing at sounding innocent, still looking down at her own fiddling "We could" - she stretched out the 'could' - "go out to Erast in our own time. You know, not as Godia Warriors perse, just as, you know... curious tourists?"
Without raising her head, she turned her look upwards to look up at Davon. With a naughty twinkle in her eye as she no longer could hold back the smirk. Waiting to see if he would grab the ball she had thrown his way.

The mattress bounced at Melody’s dramatic gesticulating. Then she got quiet. Quiet in that way she always did when something was brewing in her mind. Which meant one of two things. Either the two of them would get in trouble soon, or she was going to come up with something brilliant. Melody possessed that sort of genius that seemed to be nothing short of a chaotic mess of impulses at first glance – but turned into a masterpiece the more it revealed itself. Davon had long since learned to just trust his friend and go along with whatever crazy scheme she concocted. If nothing else, her plans and company were never boring, like he himself certainly could be. He adjusted his glasses as he waited for the pieces to come together in her mind. Then she smiled. The look of feigned innocence and the mischievous twinkle in her eye made little room for doubt in Davon’s mind. It was definitely going to end in trouble this time.

Davon couldn’t hold back his chuckle as Melody proposed her insane idea. This was where one just simply had to trust the process. To simply walk into Erast and hope to come across something none of their superiors hard noticed – well, the chances were slim. But knowing the two of them as a team, they would find something. Maybe it would be useful, maybe it wouldn’t be. But it would definitely be something.

“You know,” Davon started, pausing for dramatic effect. “I was thinking earlier about what a shame it is that we never broaden our cultural horizons.” He tilted his head, looking down at his friend, matching her mischievous smirk. “And I, for one, have never been to Erast. Have you, my dear Melody?” Certainly a believable cover story, as their superiors often encouraged that their warriors should at the very least try to understand the mindset of a criminal. And what better way to understand that than to witness how they lived, behaved, and perhaps stored the evidence – such as a student who had disappeared?

It was just their luck too that they also had access to the files that detailed the areas of Erast that were the most active in criminal circles, since Davon often helped out as an assistant to the archivists. What could he say? He found a sense of purpose in paperwork and the understanding of data. More often than not, it came to be an advantage for him.

Melody's eyes widened in excitement as Davon went along to her scheme. Of course she hadn't really had any doubt that he wouldn't, but he did it in such a nonchalant and cool way. It made the idea seem less of an impulsive act of disobedience and more so like thought-through scheme of going rogue.
And then he looked down at her with his own mischievous smile and called her 'his dear Melody'. Butterflies erupted in her stomach of anticipation. This. This was exactly what she had needed from him.
She reciprocated his smile with her own smile that matched his energy.
"I'm ashamed to admit that neither have I," she said up at him. Then yet again she sat up in one swift movement. Her curls still jumped up in the air with her, but at least the candles weren't affected by it. After her quick movement, that had placed her with her side to Davon, she looked back at him over her shoulder with a sneaky, almost seducing expression, still with the twinkle in her eye.
With a jokingly exaggerated formal voice and a hand over her heart, she said: "And with only a year left of my service, I really ought to explore the city I've been trained to protect."
In a way she meant it - she was trained to protect this city and she didn't feel like her training was put to good enough use by their bosses. But Erast wasn't a part of the city that they had been trained to protect. Their sector - the royal sector - didn't even go to Erast. Why should they? Their job was to protect the Royals. The only reason why she and Davon was a part of an investigation was because the victim had been the crown prince. It was very unusual for Sector 45 to help with an investigation and though it of course was horrible, tragic circumstances, Melody was still happy she got to try it. And she wanted to try more of it. In Erast. With Davon. Something he seemed to want to do too, luckily. But then again - when did it ever happen that one of them didn't want what the other wanted? Possibly never. Melody couldn't remember such a situation at least.
"So," she said, "We're doing this?"

Melody seemed excited by his reaction, sitting upright once again with a smile on her face, The excitement was contagious. She pointed out the fact that she only had a year left of service – a fact that Davon did his best to avoid thinking too much about, as it meant that he would have to spend the rest of his own service alone – and that it was a shame she had never gotten the chance to explore the city more. A fact that Davon agreed with, jokingly or not. Erast was a cesspool of crime and why the Godia Warriors weren’t more present than they were, well, it was a mystery to him. Their department had little to do with Erast, sure, but it was still a bit odd how they weren’t taught more about it. In order to understand criminals, wouldn’t they need to understand how they lived? But Erast remained like a cancerous part of Ilomar City, something that most seemed very comfortable with ignoring until dire situations like these arrived..

“I think we should,” he said, with definitive confidence. If he had learned one thing during his years working as a Godia Warrior and the surrounding bureaucracy, it was that sitting around and waiting for the system to work as intended was often beyond useless. In the time it took for them to even get through the necessary documents associated with interrogations, the killer would be able to kill three times over before they’ve even managed to have a definitive suspect. “When do you have time?”

It went without saying that planning things immediately was the only way he and Melody were probably ever going to get anything done. Their duties as Godia Warriors left them with little freetime and what freetime there was, Melody would often be busy doing god knows what. She had a tendency towards the impulsive, which while Davon admired it, it sometimes made it hard to plan things in advance.