Shadow Slave

Sunny scoffed.

”Well, obviously.”

Opening the preliminary autopsy report of Mordret’s dead driver, he shook his head.

”The report says that he died from the injuries received in the crash, and Mordret’s retelling of the events corroborates that. It is weird, though… I have not heard of vehicle crashes that leave knife wounds behind.”

A human body could be torn and broken in all kinds of ways during a high-speed collision, but Sunny had seen countless stab wounds — most of them, he had delivered themselves. So, he would never mistake a wound delivered by a sharp blade for anything else.

Even if the driver’s body had been pierced by metal debris, the shape of the wounds would have been different. The edges of the cuts would have been different, as well — so, the chances of these ones appearing on the body of course were close to zero.

Something had happened between the second the car fell into the water and the moment Mordret and his dying driver were found on the shore of the river.

Which meant that Mordret had lied to them.

Effie nodded.

”Someone killed that man, and Mordret is covering for that someone.”

She lingered for a moment, then sighed.

”Also… I think that your theory was true.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

”Because of that discus thing?”

Effie nodded again.

”Yes. I wasn’t sure at first, but after rummaging in my counterpart’s memories, it is obvious. That guy might not be the Mordret we know, but he was testing us. She won many medals, but her most famous win was a record-breaking spear throw, not a discus throw. She actually messed up while throwing the latter — she gripped the discus so hard that it cracked and fell apart in the air. It was a pretty lackluster performance.”

Sunny frowned.

”He was definitely testing us, but what was he trying to find out?”

Effie looked at him somberly.

”Whether or not I am the real Detective Athena, I presume.”

Sunny exhaled slowly.

”Which means that he’s aware that someone could have taken her place. Which, in turn… means that he remembers the outside world.”

Effie chuckled.

”That is why he did not react in any way when I told him to snap out of it. It was not that my authority had no effect on him — it’s just that he had always known the truth, so there was nothing for him to snap out of.”

Sunny rubbed his face tiredly.

”There really are two of him. Damna… huh? Wait, you ate all of that, already?”

There was now a pile of empty snack packets on the floor of his car. Sunny’s eye twitched. ”And why are you throwing them on the floor?! My PTV might be a scrap heap, but it is not a trash heap! Pick them up immediately!” 𝘳áƝƟＢĘʂ

Effie coughed a few times, then picked the packets up and rolled them into a ball.

”These morsels were pretty sweet, by the way! Oh… sorry for not leaving you any…”

Sunny glared at her.

”Whatever… I’ll forgive you this time. Only a sick lunatic like you would eat something covered in honey, anyway.”

He shivered.

Effie laughed.

”How about we go back to that diner and eat something? It’s on me, partner.”

Sunny scoffed.

”Sure. Spending illusory money to treat me to an illusory meal… how generous of you.”

Soon enough, they found themselves in the familiar decrepit diner. The food was just as delicious as it was the previous time, though — neither Sunny nor Effie was in the mood to discuss serious matters at the moment, so they simply enjoyed it in silence.

Eventually, Effie sighed in satisfaction and looked outside.

”What a turn of events, huh? Makes me wonder… if I had an evil twin, what would she be doing?”

She chuckled and shook her head.

”Then again, I did have an evil twin for a while, in the Tomb of Ariel. She just went around devouring Nightmare Creatures — and people, I guess.”

Effie’s expression changed.

”Wait, does that make Soul Steal an evil twin of an evil twin? That’s like… double the evil!”

Sunny smiled faintly.

”I am not sure that it’s so simple — that there’s a nice and evil version of Mordret. Who knows? Maybe if the Mordret we know grew up in the idyllic Mirage City, he would have been nice too. And if the CEO of the Valor Group experienced everything his other version experienced, he would have become a insane bastard too.”

Effie shook her head.

”Nature versus nurture, huh? No… there’s definitely something wrong with Mordret — the one from the real world, I mean. He would have been an eerie creep even in Mirage City.”

She looked at him with curiosity and asked:

”What about you, partner? If you had an evil twin, what would he have been doing?”

Sunny smiled.

”No idea. Who says that I’m not the evil twin?”

Effie laughed.

”Oh? Have you done a lot of evil things?”

He shrugged.

”Did you think that I became a Sovereign by being kind and good to people? I killed those who could not defend themselves, betrayed those who trusted me, and chose myself at every step of the way. Well, sure, I did a lot of good things too — saving the powerless, standing by my allies, and spilling my own blood for the sake of others. I guess it all balances out, in the end.”

Sunny sighed.

”Nephis and I, we were prepared to sacrifice millions of lives if it meant getting rid of the Sovereigns. Something like that… is exactly the kind of thing I hated the Sovereigns for, you know? So even if I am not evil, I am at least a hypocrite. Oh, coincidentally, hypocrites are what I hate the most.”

He laughed at the irony.

”I guess an opposite version of me would have been selfless, kind, and honest… and dead because of it, most likely.”

Effie studied him for a while, then shook her head and smiled.

”No, stop pretending. I know you’re not evil, Shadow Boy.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

”Do you? How so?”

She shrugged.

”Well, it was what you told us back when Nephis first brought you along, wasn’t it? You said that you knew yourself to be a killer, and that you hoped that all the killing you did changed the world into the shape that allowed better people than you to build things. Even if they had to build them on the ruins left in your wake.”

Effie smiled.

”I did not show it then, but I was actually quite touched by that speech. I thought… what a nice guy! Inferior to Master Sunless in all regards, of course, but still a catch!”

She laughed.

”Who knew the two were one and the same? It’s like the best of both worlds. Lord of Shadows in the streets, Master Sunless in the…”

Sunny threw a napkin at her.

”Cut it out, damn it…”