While Monique and Aiden were still in Dr. Arroyo's office, Synnove made her way out, and began heading to the Offense Corps building. The spring weather was warm and inviting, signaling the gradual approach of summer. Synnove adored this prospect, because there isn't anything that she loves more than to see the beauty of nature in full bloom. And, her thoughts adrift and her focus on the freshly returned greenery, she was walking without paying attention to her environment.
Soon, as her eyes moved to the large tree in the center of the courtyard, suddenly her shoulder hit something. A man next to her thrust forward rapidly, a large stack of logs and folders falling from his hand. A bearded fellow, who should be familiar already - Dr. Gabriel.
The papers and notebooks quickly slammed against the ground, and Synnove, embarrassed, rushed to help Gabriel pick everything up. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as she dropped to her knees and reached for the closest item to her, before the man pushed her hand away.
He muttered some unintelligible words under his breath, before he quickly threw all the things on a messy pile and fast-walked away. Synnove was confused by this altercation, her eyes following the man as he awkwardly waddled away, trying to sort the items in his hands. Except, she noticed something.
She didn't know who Gabriel was, but, on the back of his lab coat stood the Oracle insignia. As he walked away, Synnove caught a glimpse of it. A circular insignia with a phoenix-like bird in the middle, surrounded by six stars, representing the Head of each Corps and the six ranked members - and triangularly placed around the main section, three circles, representing the three Corps. She immediately knew he was an officer, and noting his suspicious and secretive behavior, she decided to follow him.
In his fast pace he quickly made his way out of the courtyard, but, Synnove had to be discreet. Following him a large distance behind, once they both exited the courtyard, she pretended as if she went down another path than him. They both went into the forested park on the right side of the Oracle compound, and Synnove was lurking around the bushes, following him wherever he went. It seemed as if he made a few pointless laps around the park's perimeter, before he started walking with intent, almost as he was waiting for something.
Synnove was confused, not sure what he was intending on doing. All the while, he was fiddling with the papers in his hands, occasionally pressing one of the binders against a tree and roughly jotting something down, but, he was too far for Synnove to be able to read anything. And after around fifteen minutes of waiting, Gabriel suddenly stopped in place, before he turned towards the coast and began sprinting out of the park. Synnove was caught off guard by this, and began bolting behind Gabriel as well. She looked at her wristwatch, it was 19:59. She was running while in a half-squat position, still trying to keep her cover up, before she finally made her way to Gabriel's position, off to the side.
Except… nothing was happening? Gabriel was just standing there, waiting for something. Despite fearing this was a distraction to keep her away from Aiden, Synnove was determined to see what Gabriel was up to. However, not even a minute after Gabriel arrived, the air directly in front of him suddenly sparked and jolted, before a purple orb appeared, floating for maybe a second, before a man appeared.
Gabriel was startled by the man's appearance, despite clearly coming here with the purpose of meeting him.
"Fuck, Garnet, can you stop appearing so suddenly?" Gabriel asked, stepping back in surprise.
"Shut up and take my hand before I leave." he said, impatiently, before extending his hand. Gabriel quickly grasped it. "Were you followed?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure… You know my spatial awareness is poor." he awkwardly giggled.
"Eh, it doesn't matter. They wouldn't know where we went anyway." Garnet looked at his watch, before he spoke up again. "9… 10."
As he reached ten, both vanished, the purple orb reappearing briefly before fading away.
As they disappeared, Synnove jumped over the bushes and went over to where the two of them were standing. Other than some purple dust on the ground, there was no trace of them ever being here.
However, when Synnove returned backwards, following Gabriel's footsteps, she approached one of the trees he was jotting things down on. Only to see, a paper fell out - a sketch of a machine of some sort, along with some sloppy handwriting.
Looking at the paper, she wasn't sure how to react. A machine with an enclosure, and a seat inside it with restraints, and multiple needles - pointing down at the restrained person's neck. At the top of the paper sat a large title - with a date. And on the bottom right, a brief explanation.
"29. 04. 811. Machine: Soul Separator
The Soul Separator serves to remove a Soul in a body where two Souls are present. It does this by analyzing the Essence pattern and amount on both Souls, before piercing the general area used to store said soul - top or bottom half of the nape. The machine proceeds to drain said half from all the Essence in it. Afterwards, it drains a small batch from the Soul you wish to keep, and places it in the now empty second Soul.
Note: Do not confuse Separator with Overloader! Can lead to deadly consequences!"
Synnove was in shock. She sat down on a bench to analyze the paper, but all she could muster up was a shocked gasp. After the initial wave of fear and confusion passed, Synnove's mind raced as to what such a machine could even do. Until she came to a conclusion that only seemed right.
As she read the paper, her heart raced. "Two Souls... remove one?" She tried to think who this could apply to. Then it hit her. "Aiden!"
"The Cult of Feyr! It must be them!" Synnove disregarded her shock, and got up from the bench before sprinting back to the compound. "They must be attempting to remove Aiden's Soul, to only leave Feyr behind." she ran and ran, before sprinting into the Medical Corps building. She screamed at the man behind the front desk. "It's an emergency! Where is Dr. Arroyo?!"
"She- she's in her office… miss." the man behind the desk stammered. "Seventh floor…"
Synnove got in the elevator, before manically spamming the seventh floor button. She got up, and rushed in. "Miss Arroyo! Miss Arroyo!"
Dr. Arroyo exited from a little room in the near left corner - what seemed like a toilet. "Yes, honey, I'm here… no need to yell."
"I'm sorry, but this is urgent! Take this." she handed Dr. Arroyo the paper, before glancing around. "Where are Aiden and Monique?!"
"I'm not sure, they said they went to wait for you somewhere in the Offense Corps building?" Dr. Arroyo said, her eyes gently moving across the sketch.
Synnove opened her phone, noticing the text from Aiden.
"We're in the basement of the Offense Corps, training.
If you come, it's level "-3".
Passkey is 1104804."
"They're in the Offense Corps basement." Synnove said, opening the elevator. "I'll go get them. You read that, miss."
"This is… horrific!" Dr. Arroyo gasped, clutching her head. "Who made this? Where did you find it?!"
"Dr. Gabriel!" Synnove yelled as the elevator doors closed. "I'll explain once I get Aiden and Monique!"
Synnove was already out of breath, running all around the courtyard. She, now much slower than before, made her way to the Offense Corps building. She got in the elevator, completely disregarding the receptionist, before pressing the "-3" button and typing in the passkey. The elevator descended, and the doors opened. Aiden was in the practicing sword fighting against a training dummy, and Monique was giving him tips.
"Guys!" Synnove shouted, startling Aiden. "It's urgent! We need to get to Dr. Arroyo's office now!"
Monique turned to face Synnove, before waving at Aiden to stop. "What happened?"
Synnove bent over, and placed her hands on her knees, struggling to catch her breath. "It's… a long story. I'll explain when we're all together, alright?"
Aiden still hadn't managed to say anything, seeing Synnove distressed caught him off guard. Nothing more than a gentle "Huh?" escaped his lips, before Monique grabbed him by the shirt and began dragging him along.
"Come on, Aiden. We hadn't the time to ponder when it's an emergency." Monique dragged Aiden with her, before turning to face Synnove. "Is this an immediate threat, or a long-lasting one? I need to know whether to call in emergency lockdown."
They made their way back upstairs, Synnove thinking of an answer. "No, no, definitely long-lasting. Also, calling in a lockdown would only hurt our cause."
"Hurt our cause? How?" Aiden finally chimed in.
"Well, the person responsible doesn't know I'm onto him. Staying quiet gives us the advantage to catch him in the act."
They made their way back to the Medical Corps building, before Synnove turned to the receptionist. "Sorry for yelling a minute ago… Listen, could you please keep tabs on who is entering and leaving the building? But, don't be transparent about it."
The receptionist lightly nodded his head, acknowledging the assignment, before grabbing a pen and paper.
Returning to Dr. Arroyo's office, the elevator door opened to reveal Fornicus, Aldegar, and Ingrid - Head of the Defense Corps. All of them supposedly called in by Dr. Arroyo.
"Here they are," said Fornicus. "Let's get to the bottom of this."