Chapter 36: Mansion Mystery (Part 2)

There was silence in the mansion, near the dark stairwell laid a skeleton, white, a little yellowed with signs of physical abuse... Being it the small cracks across the bones of the arms and legs, or the big crack on the skull that had healed wrongly.

Luke felt the urge to vomit, he gagged and held his chest as he heard the voice of his mother, shouting: "YOU TRAITOR! DISGRACE OF THE FAMILY! WHY DON'T JUST KILL YOURSELF AND BE DONE WITH IT!?" His breathing started to grow faster, his mother's voice growing louder, just calling his name: "LUKE! LUKE! LUKE! LUKE!" Over and over again, he felt a pain in the back of his head followed by something hot touching his arms and he gasped for air as his hallucinations stopped. Touching his arms was Eny, his warm hands were on his cold arms and brought him back from his hallucinations... They always did. "Luke?" The screaming voice of his mother morphed into Pruno's sweet voice calling his name, which made Luke slightly embarrassed to be triggered by a skeleton.

"I'm sorry... It's just... She, the skeleton, has abuse marks." Luke scoffed, finding it ridiculous he was triggered by something as simple as that... He is pathetic, isn't he?

As if he could hear his thoughts, Eny brought Luke's head to his chest and hugged him whole he breathed in and out very slowly, trying to calm himself down. He could hear Luke's heart beating so fast and loud, he could smell his fear and panic that was slowly going away, Eny decided to distract him a little bit by bringing his attention to something that shouldn't trigger him now at least. "Hey, Detective Luke?"

Calling him detective would certainly make him a little happier, and it did! Luke smiled shyly as he heard Eny calling him detective even though he wasn't a true detective, he just liked a little bit of mystery. He decided to play along, at least that would take his mind away from his memories for now: "Yes, dear assistant Enychta?" Pruno chuckled by the side when Eny raised an eyebrow curiously before smirking and doing his best narrator voice: "We need more clues to solve this mystery, I'm sure we can find something in the house... Should we split up?" Luke turned his face back at the stairwell and said with his greatest dramatic voice: "No. I wouldn't be able to concentrate without my three dear assistants. Plus, I just noticed something..."

Pruno, seeing this was a great chance for him to speak, said in his most dramatic voice possible: "Oh, Detective Luke, what have you noticed!?" Adding fake fainting by the end increases the drama by 60%. Thalia sighed hard before saying, in her most dramatic but also sarcastic voice ever: "Tell us, Detective Luke! The suspense is killing me!"

Seeing that everyone was playing along, Luke no longer held his detective self and dramatically turned to the corpse, pointing his finger to the walls where the windows were and the door: "The windows and door were reinforced so the red lions couldn't get in... But was there a way to safely get out?" Eny was surprised by that for a second, the person that lived in this mansion and had barricaded the door and windows had... "Not only did the person that barricaded the door and windows had kept the lions out, but also trapped themselves inside the mansion!" Luke sharply turned his finger towards Eny and also Pruno, asking: "Tell me, Enychta, why are there vines and roots in the mansion?"

Pruno raised his hand and said: "Detective Luke, I grew them!" Luke nodded and said kindly to the pink-haired boy: "But I did ask dear Enychta why he made you grow the vines and roots, and i desire to hear the answer from his sexy, carnal lips." Eny sighed and shook his head as his dramatic voice answered: "I asked dear Pruno to grow vines and roots in the entirety of the mansion so i could smell it, and try to find any foreign scent." Luke approached Eny and pulled his arm, making him look directly into his blue eyes, as the purple gems that reflected the cosmus stared down at the sky blue gems that showed undying freedom, Luke could feel Eny's face heat up. "And what did you smell?"

Eny raised an eyebrow at the odd question, but he went with it for the moment: "Fresh smell of dew, sunlight, incense too." Luke nodded and said with confidence: "Lady and gentlemen, this proves my theory... The murderer is still in this mansion." Thunder echoed outside and flashed, making the scene even more dramatic, but it only happened on Luke's mind... The low thunder sound was made by Thalia when she used her abilities to cause her energy to rumble, causing the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder. Pruno was way too deep into character, he turned to Luke with a pale expression, saying: "Then, Detective Luke, had the murdered seen us fight the lions? Did we eliminate the only thing that kept the killer inside this mansion?"

Eny noticed that this was a fair point Pruno was making, even Thalia realized that maybe they did something bad.

"No, dear Pruno, we did not." Luke smiled and continued: "All the windows of the house are barricaded with metal bars melt into the walls and window frames to keep them from being removed, the only exit the killer has is the front door that had been destroyed by our dear Enychta." Eny felt a little bit embarrassed by that, he picked the big door and placed it back... It fell for being too heavy. "If we close the only exit, the killer will be locked here... With us." Thalia stated with a predatory smile, making Luke nod in agreement.

"Now, let's together go searching for more clues, but first... Let's take care of this door."

Taking care of the door was easy, they just had to hold it in place as Eny used to metal poles, melting them into the wall with his [Skill] Fire Breath that was got enough, and with his [Unique Skill] Fire Immunity he could grab hot, molten metal with his bare hands and be unharmed.

-Scene Ends-

Author Note:

Sleepy...

Why did God give me fucking Insomnia, Sleep Paralysis, and Night Terrors!?