"At first, I thought it was the Phantom. I caught him a couple of years back, but he recently escaped from prison. Someone's stolen Ms. Lotte's washing, you see, and I thought that was the Phantom's way of getting back at me, so I thought this blue ball was some sort of trick by him. But.." Dex's voice trailed and Houren could detect just the slightest hint of the fear in the man's voice, as though the very thought of the blue ball triggered some bad memories in the young man's psyche. Perhaps, this time, Dex was actually ware that his cases were completely bogus and was just using it as an excuse to deny what it is that he had seen. It might be that he actually believed the lies that he told himself, but after confronting it personally, he was aware that it was nothing more than a farce, and was genuinely scared as to what the light he saw a few nights back was. It looked like he was intending to talk about his experiences catching criminals some more, but Houren quickly shushed him and told Dex to lead him to the place where he had seen this orb of blue.
So, they made their way towards the river.
It was strange, Houren had only half expected to find something there, but to his surprise, there actually was a glowing ball of blue light there, almost as though it was waiting for him. The sight of this thing only excited Dex who began to walk briskly towards it, and Houren followed not far behind. He quickly slowed down the closer he got though and eventually, the Fairy Tail mage was forced to take the lead. He not intended to touch the ball of blue light, but there was something about it that tempted him, that enticed him almost as though it were daring him to make a grab for it. It was beautiful in that moment, and because of that, Houren couldn't help but raise his arm and reach out for the light. His head began to turn terribly as soon as his hand somehow made contact with the light.
Now Houren was in another place; Dex was gone and he couldn't be sure whether he was simply having some sort of incredibly vivid flashback or whether he had actually been transported to a completely other place. It was almost as though Houren was staring at a mirror, but when he inspected further, he realized that he was actually looking at another person, just someone who resembled him greatly. It had been years since they had last met, but it was definitely his father, that was unmistakable. Of course, Houren knew that couldn't be possible. His dad was dead, and that was definitely true; simply because Houren had sliced his father in two with his very own sword. This definitely wasn't reality, Houren's entire being knew that, but his body still moved by instinct to embrace his 'father's' shadowy figure, to apologize for what he had done to him, but before he could make contact, he found himself being pushed back and suddenly, he was at Orchidia River again.
It seemed like the blue orb had pushed Houren and Dex back a good few meters from completely disappearing to God knows where. Houren's body was somewhat aching and he had a cut here and there, but all in all, it was nothing to worry about, and he would recover with a good night's sleep. Dex, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as lucky as Houren noticed that he was completely out cold. A quick check confirmed that he was, fortunately, alive, but it was still better to seek immediate medical attention for him. Houren got back up and was going to piggyback the false detective to the nearest hospital when he was approached by a man who instructed Houren to bring Dex to his automobile, offering to drive them both to the nearest clinic. It was a kindness that the Fairy Tail mage saw little reason to reject.
The newcomer introduced himself as Dacol Lubex, who Houren would later learn was a pretty famous figure in this town. The two of them stayed by Dex's side until he woke up a few hours later, and he the first thing he did was pay the Fairy Tail mage the money he was owed, with a visibly distressed expression on his face as he coughed the money over. After that, Dacol told Houren that he should leave for now, but that he wished to stay to hear the rest of Dex's story, noting that they would likely meet again not too long in the future.
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