"C-come on. You've gotta be joking! I wouldn't have done that! I'm innocent!"
"Get BACK! That doesn't change the fact that you're the only person that could have killed him! I better not see any funny business!"
"Look, I get it! I'm a stowaway and I really shouldn't have done that! But I wouldn't kill anyone like that! WHY would I do that?" Sun WuKong threw up his hands, iron cuffs jangling. "He was my uncle!"
"It doesn't matter why. You must have had your reason. But once we touch down in Menagerie, you will see the inside of a cell until we get you to court."
"Sun? What's-"
"Velvet! Hey, tell them I'm no murderer! They think I killed my uncle!"
The White Fang Guardsman, his white ballistics vest shone with the symbol of the blue wolf's head over a dark blue sailor's outfit, turned as he barred the entry of Sun's girlfriend.
None of this made sense. His head throbbed again. It had been hurting all morning too, and not just because of this insane situation.
"Nobody is allowed into the crime scene! It is to be left intact for inspection!"
"Sun? What's going on?" Her black hair sprayed about her face as she was pushed back, chocolate brown eyes filled with worry and concern. "Sun? Are you ok?!"
"I don't know either! I woke up and I'm being told they think I killed my uncle! Fuck! He was fine last night! I swear! Gods… what do I tell Starr?"
"I-I'll go get help! There has to be someone on the Marching Finn that can figure out what's wrong!"
Sun eyed Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang hanging off the Guardsman's waist.
"Don't even think about it!" The hulking Guardsman spat, reading to raise his bullpup rifle, "I've got enough Stun Rounds to put you down and give you a heart attack if I have to!"
"...what's going on here?"
"Back away from the-" The narrow eyes of the Guardsman shot open wide. "P-Professor! What are you doing on the business class deck? Please feel free to return to your cabin in First Class! We have this handled, sir!"
"Uhhhh doesn't sound like it? Not that I'm judging or anything. Rather, I've just been hearing a lot of yelling while I was passing by."
This guy sounded way too young to be called a 'Professor'. Rather he sounded Sun's age.
"But-"
"Just lemme take a look. This girl seems really worried about her boyfriend."
"Oh! Th-thank you!" Sun could see from the open doorway the sight of Velvet smiling widely, with hope. "Please help Sun! He's… I love him, even though he's an idiot, but he'd never kill his uncle!"
"Uncle? Well this is complicated. I won't touch anything I shouldn't, just let me take a look around."
A fellow blond Faunus boy looked in, long ears flopping casually as black earrings shone like the night against his hair.
"Well, firstly, I'm pretty sure he's innocent."
The problem was that there wasn't exactly any evidence that Sun WuKong wasn't the man that killed his uncle. And despite Jaune's name and abilities… actually he was pretty sure he could sort of force the White Fang to allow Sun to walk free, but that had its own set of issues.
He didn't want to have to resort to that, both from a desire to not abuse his influence and because he'd much rather figure out the truth of the matter.
He'd ask Big Brother Juniper for advice if he wasn't currently somewhere higher up by the prow of the ship, basking in the sun as he consolidated the prana that Jaune had released to him from a Command Seal.
"Ok. Let's get this straight. You stowed away. Snuck on by squeezing into your uncle's steamer trunk, which I'm surprised you fit into."
"Uh, yeah, there wasn't a lot of room to breathe in that thing either, but I'm pretty limber from all my Huntsman training and martial arts. You know, my uncle and I figured that… we could save a bit of Lien. We weren't ever flush up on the stuff and we were traveling with my girlfriend at the same time so it kind of made sense at the time. I mean… really. That's all it was."
The monkey Faunus sighed weakly as he gazed at the white outline on the floor, his tail curling up around one of his arms as if he was trying to comfort himself with it. It might even have been worsened by the fact that in a bit of blue-black ink from a cracked fountain pen that had leaked a small, dried up pool on the wooden floor, a finger had been dipped in the ink, spelling the word 'Wardrobe' in an almost accusatory manner.
Jaune felt it didn't feel right, however.
It was written in too clean a manner. Not shaky at all, as if it wasn't the last written word of a dying man. Not to mention the word had been fully written to completion, the consistency of the neat writing being maintained all the way to the end.
"We're from Vacuo and stopped by Mistral before coming down to Menagerie because I'd been thinking maybe I'd like to try going to Haven when it came time to it. Y'know?"
Jaune blinked at that.
"I'm more surprised you want to go to school in Mistral as a Faunus." He frowned. "I know the College itself is pretty kind to Faunus but… it's still Mistral."
"Hey, it can't be all that bad. It feels kinda unfair judging the rest of the other normal students because the Kingdom's kind of shitty."
Jaune laughed.
"I admire your optimism, Sun. Honestly. I go to school in Argus, which is… arguably the best if not second best place in Mistral for a Faunus, and I can't wait to go elsewhere."
Despite the weird situation the blond Faunus boys found himself in, it was easy to talk to Sun. The fellow Huntsman in training was easy going and bright, even with the sudden loss of his uncle. And as a bonus, didn't seem to know who Jaune was at all, even though his girlfriend Velvet Scarlatina had recognized him on sight.
She'd been wearing a brand shirt, hilariously enough, though she hadn't been like any of Yang's friends who seemed to view him as some sort of pop icon more than a person. That was nice that she, though a bit excited to meet him, had instantly viewed him as just another teen first and foremost.
Jaune gazed at the wardrobe that the White Fang Guardsman Jack Monsoon had told him that Sun had been found inside.
"Bit of a shame that your Semblance is a Clone Type." Jaune frowned. "There's nothing holding you back from having theoretically killed someone and place something like this over the doors, sealing you in."
He gestured to the seal that had been apparently originally left over the wardrobe that Sun had been found snoozing in. A thick bit of adhesive tape with the words 'Do Not Open' printed on it. Clearly meant for packages rather than furniture, but it must have done its job when any cleaning ladies came on by.
"But I didn't do-"
"I know." Jaune interrupted. He'd seen the honest and naked confusion and loss in Sun's eyes. "I believe you. I'm pretty good at reading people. Ideally we find who did this, but at minimum we just need to prove that you couldn't have done this. You're not guilty until proven innocent or anything, but it's not like the White Fang can let the primary suspect walk free."
"...It just doesn't feel real."
"...We'll have the autopsy report from the ship's doctor soon, so we'll figure out exactly how he died. What did your uncle do for a living?"
"Oh, uh. He taught people how to fight. He was really good at melee and Aura Arts. Actually, unlike me and Vel who were going to go back to Vacuo at the end of winter break, he was going to stay here and try to set up a dojo."
"So he had Aura?"
"Technically. He… had very little actual capacity. It made him really good at learning a lot of different techniques, partly out of necessity. You need to be able to fight to really do well in Vacuo. They're not so bad on Faunus there, but the whole Kingdom's focus on strength of arms and might makes right just never really sat too well with me or Uncle Sanzang. His daughter, my cousin Starr sort of leaned into it well, but... his Aura was weaker so they fought sometimes."
Sun sighed, shaking his head.
"Sorry for the tangent. Either way his Aura capacity was pretty low. I can believe that he died. Even if I can't really believe it. His durability wasn't that different from a regular person. Though he had a lot better control over what remained of his Aura compared to most. He was a really good fighter."
"...and because the Guardsman had to force open the bolt, you look like you've done it." Jaune turned to the door, seeing the slide bolt having been forced open.
The Marching Finn was a former armed Atlasean cargo vessel that had been reworked and repurposed by both Faunus and his BOLT units to become one of two ships that replaced the Glacial Ferry. The work wasn't shoddy by any means, but it had been simple, as it had been necessary to get an overhaul on one of the ships as quickly as possible. So unlike the first class cabins which only occasionally saw use, the business class cabins simply had a simple slide bolt to keep the doors shut.
Easy to lock for privacy, but easy enough to break with enough force should something have gone wrong. Loud when it happened too, so that any thieves might be heard.
"A locked room murder, is what it looks like, eh? Even though it could equally have been an accident."
"This is impossible…" Sun groaned as his fingers scratched into his scalp in frustration. "I look guilty as hell!"
"You'll be fine. You're innocent. We just need to prove that."
Jaune stepped over to a small table in the corner, by the foot of the bed that Sun was sitting on. The bedpost bumped against his side as he leaned down, seeing a plate having fallen onto the ground, the bottom of the plate pointed up.
"Did you share meals with him?"
"Yeah. Uncle Sanzang was never really a big eater and Velvet would keep coming by to sneak me snacks and food she'd brought on board with her. We had enough for the trip."
"Hmm. What did you have for dinner last night?" Jaune tested.
Sun might have believed himself innocent, but it wasn't impossible that his own memories had been manipulated by someone's Semblance. Plus Jaune had prepared enough food for both his family, plus their extended members with Team STRQ+ so he actually had zero knowledge of the ship's menu at the moment.
"Pork chops. Uncle hated pork, uh, eating it, that was. He didn't really like how greasy it could be. He was almost a vegetarian really."
Jaune nodded, pulling a box of black nitrile gloves, usually for his work as The Green Hornet, from his Inventory, slipping one of the gloves over his right hand.
"Whoa. That your Semblance?"
"Pretty much." Jaune said, pulling the edge of the plate up. "Hmm. Smells like pork alright. You didn't finish your meal though."
"Oh, I didn't? That's weird. I like pork. I… I don't really remember why I didn't finish it."
Jaune hummed, looking at the mostly eaten pork chop.
Something smelled funny.
It would be convenient if he could swipe the food into his Inventory and back out to look at the Description Window for additional details, but it was better to not to accidentally mess around too much with a crime scene.
Still. Jaune sniffed again, narrowing his eyes. Something about the remaining pork chops rubbed him the wrong way. SR Rarity Ability: Two Star Michelin Chef burned quietly in the back of his mind.
Also why was the plate on the floor?
"You normally ate at the table, right? Not on the ground?"
"Course I did. I know there's some backhanded joke somewhere about being from Vacuo, but I'm not a savage."
"Not what I meant. In Mistral a lot of people sit on the ground and even have tables for that sort of style. I asked that because it's odd that your plate would be on the ground and turned over like this."
"Oh. Uh, sorry. My head hurts so I'm a bit on edge."
Jaune blinked.
"Have you used the bathroom since you woke up?"
"Uhhhh, no?"
He nodded as he took in that information.
"I need you to pee into a cup for me."
"Bro what the fuck?"
"This is impossible. Too much time has passed. Trust us, they said. We'll find it, they said. Ugh!" Blake muttered, pacing by the location that Jaune's Multi-Fabricator had been in the workshop by the Honua HoHonu Mines. "There's definitely some scrape marks from it being dragged away. Somebody took it. Stole it. Who would even do that though?"
Of course there were many reasons somebody might do it.
Jaune was a genius. And not even in the fun way one might compliment someone, but in a revolutionizing the world kind of way. There were a lot of people that might do anything to get hands on some of his best tech, and one of his personal Multi-Fabricators would probably sell for millions if not billions on a Black Market somewhere.
But both the Menagerie Milita as well as the White Fang Guardsmen would have been on duty. Would have been on guard against intruders, but neither group had reported any suspicious activity.
Blake sighed angrily, pacing again, turning to the report log from both organizations.
The Militiaman on guard the night it went missing had made a note that at 1 AM there had been a small issue when he'd found some kids sneaking around, trying to take a look at the exoskeletons for the miners by the storage warehouse, but nothing else of note. And the kids had been questioned already.
Plus they were ten and didn't have Aura, so they couldn't have spirited the machine away.
The White Fang Guard report on the other hand had regular reports every thirty minutes from 8PM to 12AM where it had been clearly noted that 'Nothing of Report' had happened. At 12:30AM there had been a guard change and unlike the previous guard didn't bother noting that nothing had happened as meticulously as the previous Guardsman. They'd made a token effort of including 'Nothing of Report' until 2AM, however, though also noting that they'd received a note that the Militiamen handled an incident at 1AM.
But the rest of that night's report was blank.
There was a note at 5AM that a Bangaroo had gotten a bit close by, however, though it seemed at that point 2B and 9S had been patrolling about as it had been wiped out quickly enough. It followed again with notes of 'Nothing of Report' every thirty minutes once more until 9AM when the miners had begun to come to work on the Yellow Line Trolleys that led from Kuo Kuana and La Hau to a Cable Barn not too far from the few different mining operations that Menagerie had at the moment.
Still it was impossible for nothing to have happened, but the machine to disappear anyways!
Something stunk but Blake couldn't put her finger on it.
The worst thing was that Jaune would be here in a day or two on the Marching Finn and Blake still hadn't figured out what had happened to it!
Ugh! She wanted to break something!
And her legs needed an update as well, beginning to feel faintly too short for her height, which meant that Umbral Hare would need an adjustment when that was done too.
Great, because what she wanted was to add more to Jaune's workload.
…even if he'd give her a heart melting smile and happily help her out anyways.
Gahhhh!
Her hands covered her lower face, the base of her palms meeting each other as they held her cheeks, covering her mouth and letting her fingers graze the lobes of her human ears. Her hands felt warm as she hid her embarrassingly wide grin at the thought of Jaune's own smile.
"Ok, ok, you lovesick moron." Blake chided herself, pacing around again, feeling Guardian Shroud press against the blades of her shoulders as she stretched, trying to get the blood flowing. "Think, think, think. There has to be another angle. The trail is… well it's frigid at this point, but there's gotta be something somewhere!"
"Well that's pretty decisive proof right here." Jaune nodded as he officially noted down the results of the urine test. "You were drugged asleep, probably from the pork chops. That's why you don't really remember finishing your dinner. Likely you got sleepy, returned to sleep in your wardrobe like normal to prevent from being spotted out, and your uncle must have placed the tape over the doors to your wardrobe out of habit."
"So I just missed it all? I was asleep when my uncle died? Fuck. Gods damn it."
"I'm sorry, Sun. The Guards only found you because you'd fallen asleep deep enough that you'd snore here and there and when they dragged you out, you didn't even wake up. Must have needed it to burn through your system enough."
Sun fell back on the bed, his handcuffed hand balled into fists as they laid over his eyes.
"...this is camelshit."
"...and the autopsy report just came in; it seems that he died as he'd suffered trauma to the neck, breaking his spinal column."
It also meant that he'd died instantly. That there was no way for the man to record any 'dying words'. That this was a murder and not an accident, though that seemed to fly over both Sun and the Guardsman in the room at the moment.
That was fine. Causing them to panic over that fact might even send the real killer running. Or even make them feel they'd been backed into a corner.
Neither situation was to his liking.
"See?!" He heard Sun's cuffs jangle as he sat up and turned to the Guardsman in the corner of the room, feeling the White Fang sailor give an apologetic look from behind as Jaune noted the urine test results and made an official document for evidence. "I couldn't have killed Uncle Sanzang! I wouldn't!"
"My apologies, Mister WuKong." The Guardsman apologized with a sigh, "You have to understand we only did what we had to out of concern for the rest of the passengers. In our defense, all signs pointed towards you."
There was a rattle of metal as Sun was freed from his handcuffs, though Jaune kept his focus on the clues and info at hand. He wanted to take a better look at a dark brown smudge on the ground, not far from where Mr. Sanzang's foot was by the outline of his body.
"Alright! Now that I'm free, I can better help find who did this! Thanks, Jaune! Shit, you're a cool ass dude!"
"Now look here, mister Wu-"
"It's fine, it's fine." Jaune waved off the Guardsman's retort as he placed a plastic cap over the wax paper cup that still had Sun's urine in it. "We're more or less the same age, please don't make this all a big deal."
"If… that's what you want, sir."
"Why're they calling you sir and stuff anyways, man? I mean, I get that you're smart and stuff, even figured out I'd eaten some sleeping pills or somewhat from my pee, but what's the deal? You like, a detective or something?" Sun inquired, slinging an arm around Jaune's shoulders. "Tell your buddy Sun. You a secret agent, huh?"
Jaune snickered as he rolled his eyes. Sun was curious, but he was also trying to distract himself. He didn't mind lending a hand.
"Eh. It's more like a part-time gig at this point, isn't it? Jaune, Sun, and the Mystery of the Locked Room?"
Sun laughed before quieting down with a frown.
"Actually it doesn't feel too great realizing that I still don't know what happened. It still could have been an accident. Which would suck even more, somehow. Not that I want Uncle Sanzang to have gotten murdered, but…" The fifteen year old monkey Faunus boy scowled. "This is all so messed up and my head still hurts."
Jaune passed him a bottle of mineral water from his Inventory.
"Just hydrate more. It's probably the drugs just still leaving your system. Or maybe you bumped your head while-"
Jaune blinked. Bumped his head?
The plate on the ground.
The bolt that had been slid shut. Not strange alone, however-
The rest of the room looked a bit messy too, and while that could be accounted to the fact that two males were effectively cohabitating in a small cabin for one…
Jaune glanced at a bookshelf built into the wall, a small metal bookend had slid to the side, causing loosened books to turn over on their side. None of them belonged to the victim, just a smattering of casual reading material for anyone that might enjoy such provided by the ship itself.
His eyes flickered from the books and bookend to the bolt that normally 'locked' the door shut. The bookend had slid to the left, the same direction that the bolt would have had to slide in order for the door to be locked shut.
It could be a coincidence… but…
"Huh." He muttered, beginning to see an odd clue. It could just be coincidence, but there might be something here. "Interesting."
He had an idea, but couldn't confirm it himself, as he'd snuck away to meet with Winter, Weiss, and Whitley the previous night, as it had been a Saturday. Jaune had acted as a shuttle to sneak the Schenee siblings (wigs included) to Vale to watch a movie together. Ironically it had been a murder mystery, not unlike the one he found himself trying to solve, though one on a train, rather than on a boat.
That had been fun, though both of the Schnee sisters had scolded him for being a bad influence on Whitley when all he'd done was answer questions about ear piercings. They could be oddly overprotective of their little brother. It was a stark contrast to when he'd first started helping the sisters and they'd both not known how to deal with their youngest sibling.
…They were both heart-stoppingly adorable when angry. Was that weird?
Either way, he'd have to ask around.
"Didja notice something else?" Sun's hand gripped at his shoulder.
"Yeah. I don't want to say it out loud right now though. Just a theory I'm beginning to cook on. Either way it's important to get more details. I'm gonna keep looking around."
"Cool. Mind if I, uh, step out and assure my girlfriend that you just proved me innocent? I'm worried about her just standing out there all nervous like. Oh hey. You have the same shirt as… wait. Uhhhhhhhh."
Sun's eyes narrowed as he looked at Jaune's shirt, then up at Jaune who grinned sheepishly, then back and forth again.
"Waaaaaaait."
Jaune just laughed and nudged Sun's bare chest with an elbow. The boy wore a short sleeve white button up aggressively open, revealing well defined musculature.
"Just go and assure your girlfriend that you're free and we've proven your innocence for now. I'm still busy trying to piece it all together."
Sun snapped out of beginning to realize who Jaune was and instead focused on his girlfriend who was probably still waiting just outside their room.
"Ah, thanks pal. I'm coming, Vel!"
Sun quickly shuffled away to go see his girlfriend Velvet as he very carefully made attempts to avoid anything that could be deemed as evidence.
Jaune knelt down to the smudge that had caught his interest earlier.
It smelt strong. A bit chemically. Most likely boot wax or polish. It was a dark reddish brown that blended in almost with the wooden floor.
With a cotton q-tip, he wiped a small sample off before testing the makeup of the material using his Inventory. This time the Description window was only useful enough in confirming that it was supposedly boot wax.
He had to manually test it for the chemical composition, but knowing what it should be meant that he could just test for the direct compounds he knew WOULD be there to prove it officially.
The results came in quickly: a mixture of colored dye, beeswax, paraffin wax, ammonia, plus other chemicals he didn't bother to test for.
That should be enough for him to make an official note that it was boot wax without complaints.
But what was more curious was a small shard of bluish glass that had rolled into the wax smear, being almost so small and covered in the stuff that he'd almost not noticed it.
Judging from the way the angle the smear had been created, plus the theory of the boat having rocked heavily somehow, maybe even having made a sudden stop… there.
Between the waste bin and the wall of the small but surprisingly spacious cabin, next to the small office table not far off from the wardrobe that Sun had been sleeping in.
"Hmmm." Jaune muttered. "It looks… sort of like a half of a bell."
A blue glass bell, but the other half was missing.
Jaune looked around some more, but the other half couldn't be found.
Somebody had taken what they could find of this bell with them, but had missed this piece.
"Jaune?" He heard Ruby's voice call out innocently, her silver eyes glimmering curiously as she peeked inside from the doorway that was being held open by the White Fang Guardsman.
The large Faunus man didn't seem to have clear idea of what had happened last night, though he was hiding something.
And he didn't look happy about Ruby's sudden appearance.
"I've been looking all over for you with Yang and the others. What're you doing?"
"Solving an important mystery." He frowned.
Jaune didn't know what the murder's purpose in all of this was so the thought that Ruby and his friends were running about with a potential murderer on the loose didn't sit right with him.
"Sorry, but could you message my parents and Team STRQ? Tell them to keep everyone together just in case?"
"Sure but-" Ruby's eyes flickered to the outline of Novak Sanzang etched in white on the ground. "...did somebody-"
"Ruby." Jaune cut her off with a look of seriousness. "Please."
Ruby pursed her lips, looking concerned. She was concerned about HIM. Why him? He was fine.
"...is there anything else I could do to help? I'll stay out of the room so I don't mess with anything on accident."
"Actually… well first make sure to find Yang or anyone to buddy system with just in case. Can't be too safe. But after that…" Jaune scribbled a pair of notes, folding one up super small, with his personal signature, walking over to the entrance and pressing it into her small hands.
"Could you take this to the Captain of the ship? Forgot I wanted to make a personal request for something else when we first boarded a few days back. Also I wrote something on the back of for you. Don't read it out loud."
There was an air of nervousness that wafted from the Guard at the mention of the captain.
Odd.
"Sure! I got this! I'll be right back!" Ruby smiled as she turned to run off. "I'm going to find Yang first!"
"No Semblances in the halls! And she's already spilling rose petals. Great."