8 Case Closed

When Vander closed the door behind himself he let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes for a short moment to rub his temple a little with his hand.

"What a mess.", he mumbled in his breath and then walked away.

Later he went over to another room that he opened and walked down a few steps. What came into his view were a few young teenagers watching him intently.

"How did it go? What did Mord say about the stuff my sister said about him?" The first that started talking after he came over to them was the pink-haired lass Vi. On her face, there was a frown showing her concern about this matter.

Vander looked at them sitting and scratched his beard again.

"He didn't deny it." Vander told them without holding back the truth here.

"Damn. But do you see what I mean with him being a lunatic now?" Milo who heard Vander's voice chimed in with a remark now that he had already been telling them a few times. It was basically still a grudge from the time he was beaten by Mordyn.

"Stop that, Milo" Vi hit his shoulder for making that stupid comment.

"Ouch, why am I being hit for that now? It's the truth after all? He just went ahead and offed some people, didn't he?", said Milo back while rubbing his aching shoulder.

"Want another hit?" Vi asked now with raised brows. That he didn't get the message to shut up was flabbergasting her.

"Stop this right now." Vander stopped them before it could get worse. Tt was not really the time for this.

Hearing Vander voice out that they should stop, both of them did just that.

"And what are we going to do now?", asked Vi back.

Vander raised a brow. "We? We do nothing. Mordyn is already going to leave this place."

"What!? You can't be serious, Vander. You are banishing him?"

"He killed people, Violet. What he did can not be excused so easily."

"He protected my sister! Have you ever seen how Mord came back sometimes? Even little man showed all beaten up sometimes. And they didn't even start it!"

"You really think they didn't do anything stupid? We are talking about Powder here who told her view of the events after all.", interrupted Milo here again.

"Are you trying to say my sister is lying!?" That actually got Vi mad now after hearing Milo talk badly about her from the side.

"She is a Jinx, you know that." Milo shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I even could imagine how she ended up being the reason for the fight."

"Careful what you are saying there, Milo..." Vi threatened him now.

"Enough!" Vander frowned now seeing her rebel against an already foregone decision and the harmony of the group going haywire.

"The lanes would have his head, if it came out he was responsible for this! It is better for everyone here to accept this." Vander now told them wh this was necessary.

"Since when does Zaun care about murder? Haven't you all done that pretty much yourself when you were all younger?"

Vi's words got Vander shocked for a short moment. His demeanor then suddenly changed to someone who was angry with a heavy frown on his face.

"He is going to leave. That is final. You are too young to understand the consequences of such actions. And don't you dare even start with what was in the past, girl..."

Vi stopped in her tracks when she saw Vander being so angry. This was actually the first time hearing his voice in such a cold demeanor that he didn't even use her name any longer.

Even Milo and Claggor that sat close by got uncomfortable at that moment. Not that Claggor was much of a talkative person at the moment anyway.

Vander sighed with his lashing out. "Besides, he already has a future where he can escape this life in the undercity. Maybe when enough time passes this whole thing would be forgotten. And Mordyn himself knows this."

"That he would be the most reasonable in this already surprises me. I know you want to save him since he is family, Violet. But this is not going to work this time." Vander continued on and then looked over the three of them.

"Come to think. Where is Powder?" That question now got everyone looking around towards places she normally would sit at.

"I am here." A voice came from the door that got everyone startled for a short moment.

They all saw Powder holding a small canine pup in her embrace and walking down to them.

Vander frowned lightly. "Did you go and talk with Mordyn? Even after I told you to stay away from him for now?"

"Mord didn't do anything bad..." Now it was Powder that was defending him. She knew that Vander had told them before to stay away from him. But she was unwilling to follow that command since she felt guilty having brought this upon Mordyn.

"Just...sit down. You all can say your goodbyes to him later." Vander looked at the girl and sighed. He knew she felt down from this but some things can't be changed.

Then his eyes fell on the small black pup again. Its small ruby eyes seemed to be focused on him and it gave him a slight unwell feeling.

"What is that animal you got there?"

"Oh! This is Garm! He is Mordyn's pet." Now Powder smiled again looking at the puppy in her hands.

*I am not a pet, damn it.* Garm could only lament inside his head. But he still had his eyes on that large older man in front of him. He could feel that he was aware of his nature. It made him rather curious to how much darkness was inside this man. With a smile, he let out his cute little blue tongue.

That somehow worked and Vander seemed to get distracted from him and returned to look at the other kids.

Explaining how things would now go and that they could say their goodbye for the last time to Mordyn was basically the short explanation about his next conversation.

That is beside the scolding to never let something like this happen again.

Powder felt uncomfortable listening to all this while knowing what was going to happen. Only the words that she heard from Mordyn himself kept her mood somewhat up.