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worldsandfeathers · 7 years

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Pt 1: Betrayal

Olivander strode onto the academy premises, a lively bounce in his step. After weeks and several hundred dollars of hard work, the machine was was finished and he could hardly contain his excitement!

On paper, it was known as the zero-point extractor. Theoretically, it could extract energy in and from any of its forms, including when it was dormant inside of matter. After all, it was theorized that at the smallest subatomic level, energy was at the core of everything and was thus a more than plentiful bounty than any other material ever known. However, that was only the official statement of the project.

Unbeknownst to the academy, he and his colleagues had more supernatural uses for it. No one would believe them if they said anything, but the machine had the genuine ability to extract supernatural energy from supposedly haunted objects. They had run numerous tests on objects they’d determined had supernatural attributes, objects like his mask and cane sword, most of which had been successes. Animals had been less successful, leading to the majority of the group, including Olivander himself, to rule out using the machine on living subjects.

He and his colleagues had been ecstatic to find out that their theories about the existence of supernatural energies were correct, if not a little skewed. But tonight was the night for solidifying facts and though the head of the group, Katsuro Kurosawa, had become a bit more tight-lipped about the newest test, Olivander was sure they would find out for sure where the energies originated! They might even find out why they permeated his body so thoroughly and possibly find a way to deter the masked monsters that hung about so frequently –at least that’s what he hoped.

“Good evening, everyone!” Olivander chimed cheerfully, as he stepped into the lab. “I hope I’m not too late for the test.”

Souma Nakashima, a light haired fellow strode forward and shook the blond’s hand warmly. “Not at all, Druze-san!” he replied with a smile, “In fact we were just about to bring out the specimen.”

The blond returned the smile and looked around at the room, spotting only a third of their usual group. “Hmm, it looks like most of the group is absent,” he remarked, his expression falling a bit. “Perhaps we should post pone the test until everyone is able to attend?”

“We can’t,” Souma sighed dismally. “If we don’t get the final test done by the end of the week, Nakashima-san said the board will be pulling the plug on our project.”

“What?!”

The brunette nodded at his friend’s shock and folded his arms. “Mm. Some of he board members found out about the supernatural energy we’ve been searching for and said that unless we can figure a way to charge a battery or make it into visible particles, we needed to stop and focus on real science or they were going to shut us down because of this –and I quote– ghost hunting nonsense.”

“But what about all the proof we’ve uncovered? All the results of our testing?!” Druze asked, feeling himself puff up with fury.

“Staged. A hoax. Completely void until we give him solid, physical evidence,” Souma huffed, clearly as furious as his blond friend.

After a moment stewing on this new discovery, Olivander spoke. “Well, even if not everyone is able to make it tonight, I’m sure they’ll be excited with what we find,” he affirmed, putting his hands on his hips.

“Heh, yes, and I hope that with this new test that we’ll finally have something solid to show for it!” Souma said with a grin and looked up when another colleague approached.

“Ah, Druze-san, you made it,” they called, patting his back cordially before turning to call across the room. “Kurosawa-san, Druzes-san is here!”

Kurosawa turned from the machine’s control panel and looked up from his clip board at Nakashima and Olivander, his narrow eyes obscured by the glair of his thick frame glasses. “Ah, good,” he called back, only the slightest hint of enthusiasm in his usual monotone. “We need to do some last minute adjustments before we can start the test. Nakashima-san, do you think you and Druze-san could prepare the chamber?”

“Of course!” Souma replied and grinned at Olivander. “Come on, let’s show that board what we’re really made of!”

The energy of the night was infectious and soon the two of them were working side by side as they checked every piece of equipment in the testing chamber. It was a curious little room, if the blond did say so himself. But then they were doing curious work and the appearance of the machine itself seemed to match. It was large and tubular, with the extractor looking more like a giant oblong gyroscope within a tapered lightbulb. His idea of course and entirely based on his alchem spinner. How else was one to obtain such elusive energies?

“Mm, I think that’ll about do it,” Olivander said at last giving the machine an affectionate pat.

“Good,” Souma sighed and wiped his hand over his brow. “I’m exhausted!”

The blond chuckled at his companion’s exhaustion and dabbed a handkerchief against own forehead. He stopped and turned when the door opened and Kurosawa entered the room with a few of their associates.

“The machine’s ripe and ready for testing,” Druze remarked, placing a hand proudly on the machine’s glass casing.

“Well done. Now we all we need is to bring in the specimen and we’ll be ready to test,” Kurosawa replied, his eyes flashing behind his glasses.

“Specimen?” Druze asked, looking to his friend in confusion. Souma shrugged helplessly, seeming to be as much at a loss as him.

“You’ll see,” Kurosawa replied as he gave one of their colleagues a nod.

Olivander raised an eyebrow curiously, but refrained from asking anything. Kurosawa was such a mysterious person, which was sometimes quite infuriating. But that didn’t stop him from turning and nudging Souma, a beaming grin on his face. The brunette flashed him an equally proud grin. It seemed tonight was to be a night of surprises and they were both eager to begin!

However, as the two moved to vacate the testing room, Olivander felt someone grab him from behind and press a damp soft something against his face. Startled, he tried to push his colleague off so he could demand what the devil they thought they were doing! But as he did, the smell of the dampness reached his nostrils and he felt the tell-tale onset of numbness sapping the strength from his limbs. Panicked questions flitted through his mind as he tried to claw at the hand holding the chloroformed cloth.

‘What are you doing?!’ he wanted to scream, but his attempts at words were too muffled to be understood - at least by his attacker. Souma on the other hand seemed to have been in as much shock as Olivander, and he could hear the man bellowing in Japanese too quickly for his fading consciousness to translate.

Olivander’s knees buckled and he felt his head lol against his chest as a strong arm wrapped around him, holding him up. The last thing he remembered was the fuzzy silhouette of Souma shouting as he was wrestled by two other men before going limp when a third man struck him from behind. He didn’t even have a chance to think of his friend’s name before his sight was consumed by the terrifying darkness.

#| :LifeReflected: |#| :Ghosts&Swords: |#| :MirrorOfDeath: |#| :JumpingQueues: |#//Was feeling inspired for this so I'm writing this up #//Probs gonna break Aleta's heart when this concludes!

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