And just as I promised (a tad late I must confess but anyway~) part 27, and finally getting back to the base plot once more.

I wish you all a happy new year~

Enjoy m'dears~

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Upon finishing the last of their work, Ivory and Ebony met with the temporary replacement, who turned out to be so greatly underwhelming in terms of personality, even by normal reaper standards, it left them both feeling a little sorry for their teams. But not quite enough to cause them to spend more time around them then entirely necessary.

"Honestly, I'm sure that Hannah woman is William's soul mate... either that or a twin separated at birth" Ebony exclaimed as they moved to go meet Theo at the gates of the mortal realm portal.

"Well that at least gives Helena something to entertain herself, lord knows she could never pass up a opportunity to play match maker" Ivory replied thoughtfully

Making a heart shape with her hands, "so they can be perfectly stoic together~" her red haired companion concurred with a chuckle.

Theo raised an silver eyebrow as they approached "from the sounds of it, you pair had a interesting meeting"

"Mine's a possible candidate for a wife for William, and Ebs got a male with about as much charisma as a boil-to-death cabbage leaf" Ivory replied honestly as she slipped her hand into his, earning a curious look "All this pretext is getting rather boring now" she added in a soft whispered.

"Well they were hardly going to find candidates to beat the originals, now were they~?" Ebony boasted playfully, linking arms with Ivory.

"Why do I get the feeling we're about to go see the wizard of oz?" Ivory inquired looking from Theo to Ebony and back again...

"Because he is a wonderful wiz, if ever a wiz they was?" Ebony replied, trying her best to keep a straight face, but completely lost it as Theo burst out laughing.

Laughing along, the white haired female spoke again "lets go home, shall we? And please no skipping..."

Wasting no time in getting to work, the three of them quickly assembled a plan of action, of a systematic sweep, keeping a sharp out for any disturbances. Each member of the group taking a different segment of the city, leaving Theo's shop just after nightfall and returning at the first light of dawn.

Ebony set up camp in Theo's massive basement area that afternoon, living in a tent, well she calls it a tent, it's more like a canvas mansion... whilst Ivory rejoined Theo in his dark bedroom.

Taking it in turns to cook, well Ivory and Theo did, since it was quickly proven that Ebony don't have much talent for cooking, that is unless you like food that has the consistency, colour and flavour of charcoal, so she just stuck to doing the table and the washing up.

Truth be told Ivory felt slightly disappointed when Theo returned to his usual undertaking wear, covering back up his eyes and letting his hair go wild once more. She knew it had to happen eventually, she just secretly hoped she could enjoy the sight of him in full reaper gear for a little longer.

Ninth day of the investigation:

Returning for the eight consecutive night of patrolling the city, with nothing to show for it apart from the obvious exhaustion and aching limbs.

"What are we missing?" Ebony exclaimed, bursting into the back room Theo had cleared out, so they could have a functioning base for the investigation, where they congregate to mull over their findings as well as meet the surveillance team. Who seem to be having as much luck as they were, so far their had been no sightings of anyone either entering or leaving the premises of St Michael's church. "Because this is getting ridiculous, it's been almost a week and a half now and we haven't found anything… zero, zilch, nada…"

"Calm down, it's only a matter of time until they strike again, and when they do we'll be ready and waiting" Theo stated calmly as he followed Ebony into the room, holding the door open for Ivory as his other hand remained intertwined with hers.

"Ebony, if you only took a second to use the thing occupying the space in between your ears, you may realise there is a perfectly plausible explanation to why we are continuously coming up short. They've obviously gone into hiding for the time being, laying low and biding their time until they're sure that it's safe to resume activities" Ivory mused thoughtfully, perching herself on the edge of a table, Theo by her side, as she surveyed their board of information.

"Since when have you been the master of dark schemes, Ivy?"

"No matter how much I may wish to deny it, but it seems scheming is in my blood, you only have to look at my siblings to realise that…" Ivory replied sounding distracted, before shaking her head slightly "It's the most sensible course of action, if you do not want to be found, you let the tracker pass by before emerging from your safe place"

"Ivory, are you okay honey? You seem a little off" Theo asked sounding concerned, giving her hand a light squeeze.

Smiling at him, she nodded "yea, I'm fine, I promise, just thinking that's all" she reassured warmly "Nothing to worry about, honestly"

Letting go of her hand, he shuffled closer and wrapping his arms round her waist, laying a soft kiss on her temple "We'll find them together, I just feel it, we just have to be patient, that's all"

"It still won't bring them back, will it? All those people that lost their lives just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time… no one deserved to have to suffer like that…" Ivory muttered bitterly, her gaze lowering to the floor.

"Honey, there was nothing that could have been done for them, at least you helped their bodies return home, that counts for something, my love, believe me it really does" he whispered softly nudging her ear with his nose "now come on, my clever little Kimi, let's get these disgusting beings, caught and punished, huh?"

"You're right…" she sighed, gently rubbing her cheek on his "What ever would I do without you, huh? I really do love you Theo, very much, you know that right?"

"Of course I am, have you ever known me to be wrong~?" he chuckled lightly, giving her a playful squeeze "I know, and I love you too, very much" he whispered, kissing her cheek.

"If you pair could, perhaps stop whispering sweet nothings for like 5 seconds, can we get back to the issue at hand, it mainly being what the hell do we do now our would be scientists are hiding, like frightened bunnies?" Ebony inquired getting rather impatient

"We just have to be patient, since it's a only a matter of time until they strike again, like the sheep dog says, then we'll bag our bunnies and take them to their stewing pot" Ivory grinned at Ebony.

Night twelve:

"Right, let's separate and meet back here at dawn, okay?" Theo bid,

"Yea, we know the drill fuzzy ball, let's just get it over with already. I think of far better ways to spend my evening then trailing around of this damnable city… even paperwork sounds appealing at this point" Ebony grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Now that is something I thought I'll ever hear, Ebony using appealing and paperwork in the same sentence. Please say you not coming down with Spears-a-vitas, otherwise I'm going to have to order the people who insert the sticks to come… now that is a message I really don't feel like to sending" Ivory joked teasingly, causing Ebony gave her a unimpressed look and Theo to burst out laughing.

"No, this is just that boring" Ebony stated sourly "And you can shut up sheep dog, before I call the pound and tell them that there is a stray they need to pick up"

"Who knows tonight might be the night we bag the wabbits" Ivory laughed "Besides Shep here, isn't a stray at all, he is my crazy sheep dog" she added ruffling Theo's hair.

"I'm surrounded by nutters" Ebony stated slapping her palm on her forehead.

"You know you love us really" Ivory grinned

"You, yes. Him, not so much"

"Why don't you love me?" Theo whined pulling a sad face, sticking out his bottom lip.

"You are a good friend, but you're far too crazy for even my tastes, besides I love my Ru-Ru"

"Who's Ru-Ru?"

"Rueben, her partner"

"Oh really?" Theo grinned mischievously

"That's another thing, it's creepy as hell when you do that… and why do I have the feeling he's either going to do something extremely creepy or embarrassing?"

"Because he is a mischievous mutt and that's what he does best?"

"Ah that works" Ebony concurred before quickly changing the subject "Can we get going already?"

"Alright, take care and happy hunting" Theo giggled, kissing Ivory's cheek before binging off.

"See ya later" Ebony bid, taking off in the opposite direction.

Taking a short break from patrolling, resting on the flat roof of a several story high building when he was ambushed by a group of reapers, two of which hastily grabbed his arms, locking them together behind his back.

"Theodore Warren, we are arresting you on suspicion of committing treason, with 7 accounts of murder and one of attempted murder" the leader stated coldly "Make sure to secure him, and follow me to the detainment cells" he commanded before leading through a portal into the reaper realm.

"You've made a mistake, I would never do such things" Theo exclaimed trying to reason with them, whilst making no attempt to resist their hold as they dragged him along, not wishing to make things worse then they obviously already were.

"I have 5 eye witness that say they saw you lurking around the sight of where the bodies were found." The leader retorted disbelievingly.

Ebony was snatched a short while after, but without the curtsey of being told what she had supposedly done. She was simple grabbed mid step, pulled into a alley, cuffed on the spot and dragged through a portal and unceremoniously shoved into a dark cell.

"What the fuck?" Ebony exclaimed as she got to her feet, her knees complaining after meeting the unforgiving stone floor.

She received reply off her abductors, but one from her cell mate "They think we did this…" a far too familiar voice stated from the dark corner, Theo, as he sat slumped over on the creaky bunk bed.

"Theo?" Ebony asked turning towards him "Why the hell would they even think that, I mean we're on the damn investigation team!"

"Well considering that if we were indeed the perpetrators that is the ideal place we want to be to avoid suspicion, it hardly makes us amune to the line of fire" Theo speculated bitterly, leaning back on the bunk "but otherwise apparently I was spotted outside St Michael's church a couple nights ago, behaving suspiciously... and with your past affiliation with me, they have you pegged as my would be accomplice."

Ebony frowned slightly, begrudgingly agreeing with him "I suppose that makes sense... being on the team means we could pick and chose the information and leads we follow, stopping ourselves getting dragged into the spot light"

"But personally I think the superiors are simply getting desperate, they need someone to pin this on, to keep the crowd happy" Theo shrugged

"And it just had to be us, didn't it?" Ebony grumbled, before plunking herself on the free bunk "Let's just hope Ivory is having more luck then we are…"

"Where the hell are they?" Ivory exclaimed impatiently as she restlessly paced the width of the alley, where she had been waiting for her companions' return for over an hour now and there was still no sign of them.

"My, what is such a fine creature as yourself doing standing all alone, out in the cold?" an oddly familiar voice interjected curiously from a short distance behind her.

"Theo?" she called hopefully as she turned to the location of the voice, freezing the moment she locked eyes on the figure stood there, her jaw dropped at the sight the new comer.

"Not quite, the name's Dominic" the figure corrected, flashing her an all too familiar grin "Dominic Warren..."

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Dun Dun Dun... I do love a cliffhanger, don't you~

So is this new person friend or foe? Do review with your predictions, I love reading them~