Sorrow & Mercy: a Great Ace Attorney AU

Strange Shadows

Susato could not sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed. Massive and black...with dripping jaws...and flaming eyes...The shadow-hound kept twisting through her mind, terrifying and looming, eyes boring straight into her.

Body hot, Susato pushed off the bedclothes and adjusted her white sleeping kimono. She pulled a dressing gown Lady Baskerville had purchased for her overtop her clothes and grabbed a small candle holder before cautiously stepping into the hallway.

The night was black and silent. Susato's steps were light and quiet as she navigated through the halls and then circled down the steep, curved stairwell. Her mind was fraught with images, darkness lying heavy beyond the halo of candlelight, which murmured just enough illumination to prevent a fall.

Susato reached the bottom of the steps and trailed into the wide entryway.

A sharp click. A low groan.

The candle guttered in Susato's hand as a breath of air issued into the room.

Something moved. A large, hunched shape. Bristling darkness. Foam hit the marble ground with a wet splat. Susato's throat squeezed shut. She inched back a step, the candle quivering in her hand.

Deep, lightless eyes blazed. The lantern above the inhuman shape threw an eerie orange hell-light upon its muscled haunches, filled its wretched eyes with sharp points of flame. The wet splat. Heavy breaths sawing between teeth. Pink foam. A scarlet-flexed muzzle.

Susato's hand flew up to her throat, her breath a wheeze, her heart beating hot and heavy in her mouth.

The lantern swung, and cast the light upward, concealing the black hunched thing. A flash of brilliant red, a gleam of metal. And a pale, smooth face. Expressionless, heavily shadowed, filled with sharp lantern glow. Narrowed eyes, black sockets, arched brows, and high, angled cheekbones.

"Miss Mikotoba."

Klint's voice eased away the vise of panic constricting Susato's throat. She stared at him, uncomprehending, a juddering breath spilling from her lips. She tried to speak, but nothing fled her mouth. And her thoughts were completely silent in her mind, no words forming in either Japanese or English. An utter, terrified blank.

"What are you doing out of bed at this ungodly hour?" Klint said.

"I—...I couldn't sleep."

The lantern swung forward as Klint moved, throwing light over the shape again. Something sparked. A gem. An intricate crest. That was Balmung's jewel-studded collar. Susato's shoulders eased, although the tremor had not left her hand.

It's just Balmung.

"Sleep has evaded me as well," Klint said, his face unreadable, voice pitched low.

He set the lantern down. Susato's eyes adjusted to the dim light. She could see them both now, although they were nearly colourless in the dark. Pale blue light streamed in from the window, suffusing the room with dim illumination, breaking over them in bars as Klint bent down to look at Balmung. He rubbed his jowls with a handkerchief.

"Went for some hunting to ease my nerves," Klint said.

"Is...Is there much to hunt at night?" Susato said.

"There is quarry that stirs in the darkness," Klint said.

"O-Oh...I must say, you and Balmung gave me quite the scare. I did not think anyone else was awake," she said and let out a short, shaky laugh.