The Void in the woods (Void)

Henry walked out to the woods in East Eden cheerful as usual, as the path it walked through was a shortcut he liked using back to his house. The animals there would usually come around once he came through to greet him, and he would spend some time "talking" to them, while Shirokarasau would quietly seem to disappear as usual until he resumed walking.

That is, that's would have happened usually.
"What the...? Where did all the animals go...?" He wondered. Usually they were so friendly towards him, practically coming out towards him in groups... but today... something seemed... off.
This feeling was only further reinforced by Shirokarasu's cawing.

"What the...? What is it, Shiro? You usually only caw when either I have a new corpse to examine, or when I leave... so why...?" He muttered.
Then it hit him. He knew what that off feeling was.
It was like he was being watched.

"Alright. Come out, come out, who, or whatever you are... i'm not going to harm you, I promise... so long as you haven't harmed the animals. If you've harmed the animals, there will be blood, oh yes, there will be blood..." Henry said, tone cautious and friendly, yet also with a significant amount force behind it to where he could back up his threat.

"Grr, why does this keep happening..." Void would growl to himself, he simply didn't understand it. His once peaceful home kept getting worse, things he couldn't explain kept happening and ruining the perfect sanctuary that he and all the other animals called home. Who or what was causing all this trouble, he was determined to find out and put a stop to it all to ensure the safety of all his animal friends. He'd find a way to stop it, he had to, he'd do anything to ensure the safety of his homeland. "I promise... You wont go without being avenged little one..."

Sighing, the roughed up boy would pick up the corpse of the dead rabbit he had been talking to. He hadn't a clue who or what killed it, but whatever it was it wasn't trying to eat it and all the other animals must've been terrified of it considering they still hadn't come back here yet. As upset as the nature loving boy was that this had to happen, he saw no need in putting the rabbit to waste, nothing should ever be wasted within the forest. Everything has a purpose in both life and death. He'd be sure to honour that code tonight.

Suddenly, Void's attention was taken away from him... Someone, or something was walking past near here. He'd hastefully head in the direction of the noise, making sure to keep as quiet as possible whilst he scouted out whatever it was that dared walk this way. For all he knew, this being was the cause of al the mayhem there had been in the forest as of late. However Void would instead find a man with a bird on his shoulder... Peculiar, he hadn't seen another of his kind come this way in a long while. Then again this wasn't his usual grounds, he was merely here to investigate.

With a low growl, Void would step forward from his hiding place with the rabbit still clutched in his hands. "Funny... I was going to ask you the exact same question..." The boy would say with a low intimidating tone. Void would keep his distance from this new face, not wanting to risk anything he didn't  have to. Yet he needed more information about what was going on... He had to see if this person knew anything about all this. "I found this rabbit in a horrific state." He'd begin, holding the rabbits corpse up by its ears to show the claw marks that ran through its chest. "It was in pain, I had to do what was right. I don't suppose you have any clue what could caused something like this..."

Henry sensed the truth in the boys words, silently nodding, still maintaining his usual smiling expression. However, once he saw the rabbit, his aura seemed to instantly change, becoming far more darker with a pure, righteous, fury. He remembered that rabbit from the last time it had come. It had a whole litter of babies with it, and it was one of the most friendly critters to him.
Only to die like this. Not even eaten, either.
A wasteful death.
A meaningless death.
And he hated meaningless death.

"I don't know what happened, and I don't know what did it, but mark my words I WILL find out." He said, the dissonance created by his cheery tone unnerving, further magnified by the fact he seemed to speak it in a low, hissing, voice, trembling from that fury briefly before stopping and continuing.

"This wasn't done for survival. This was done for one reason only: To cause terror. A meaningless death... and I HATE meaningless death!" He said, voice now laced with genuine tranquil fury.

"You know... I usually HATE giving people a bloody, painful, death. But in this case, i'll make an exception. There WILL be blood, oh yes, there WILL be blood..." He said, reaffirming his earlier threat.

"You and I seem alike... we both want to know what happened to this rabbit... and therefore, we must both want vengeance on who or whatever did it. Thus..." he began, making a grand sweeping motion.

"I propose we work together. It'll increase the likely hood that we'll succeed in finding whatever did this. That bunny was one of the most friendly creatures here. Last time I came, it had a litter of babies with it... and now those babies are probably dead as well because of this. So i'm serious about this. Will you help me?" he asked the boy.

Void would let out a sharp sigh. So this new face didn't know the cause either... Pity. It would of made this a whole lot easier. At least they seemed to be wanting the same outcome and wasn't just going to go off on a blind rant blaming him for it all. As clear as it was that Void couldn't of done this, some people are just so clueless. This man seemed more his style though. Aside from the whole extreme revenge thing, he seemed alright. He clearly liked animals too, most notably as he had one sitting right on his shoulder. Anyone who takes a liking to nature gets bonus points from Void's point of view.

"Tsk, calm down new face." The boy would say in a rather rude tone, not really knowing what else to call the man. "I agree. We share a common objective. But don't expect to run face first into whatever this is wanting blood and expect to live to tell anyone about it." Void would look down at the rabbit in his hands and once more raise it up to grab the mans attention. "Nothing natural caused a wound like this. And this isn't the first case either. I've seen this kind of thing all over the forest recently. Whatever it is that's doing it is ruthless and only strikes at night, if we want to do anything about it. We're going to have to be smart about it. Okay?" The scuffed up boy would wait for a response, hoping this new face would agree to his plan. If he did, Void would let out a brief smirk before taking a step closer to the man and observing his bird.

"We can look for those cubs now." Void would say in response to this new found information about the rabbits babies whilst still staring at the bird. "As I said, I had to end its misery. So the attack was recent. Those rabbit cubs could still be alive and if so we must help them." They had to be somewhere nearby, if he had seen the baby rabbits along this path before their burrow mustn't be too far. "I like your bird." He'd add, seemingly randomly and in a much lighter tone. "Did you train them yourself?" He'd continue, scratching the bird's neck gently. Most animals had a natural love for the boy, unless this new face had trained the bird specifically not to like anyone else he doubted the bird would mind.

Afterwards, Void would turn his attention away from the bird to lock eyes with the new face. "Fine. You can help me solve this. And that's the way it is, you're helping me. Not the other way round." The boy would say bluntly. "This is my home, I know it better than anyone else. This threat is attacking my lands so this is my duty. Understand?" As welcome as Void was for having help, he still had his over exaggerated pride. This was the only place he could call his own and he never wanted to lose that. He'd continue to turn on the spot and head back in the direction he came from, if there was anywhere to start looking for clues it would be where the incident happened. "So if you're serious on this new face. Let's start now."

"Alright. Sorry. You are right. In all the reports i've read on corpses (which is a lot), animal or otherwise that take place here that aren't classified, i've never seen anything my claw marks like that." Said Henry, taking a deep breath.

"Also true. We should try and find them." He said, nodding. He was beginning to like this kid, who was now asking about Shiro.
"Oh, you mean Shirokarasu? You can call him "Shiro" for short. And no, I didn't train him. He sort of... trained himself. Surprisingly smart for a bird like him. He's kind of unnatural at times, like cawing only whenever I enter or leave the house, or whenever a new corpse comes in for me to examine... but eh. He likes me, and I like him, so... we get along nicely." Henry said. He noticed that Shiro himself seemed to be almost... judging the boy. Almost like he was smiling. But he payed it no heed.

"Alright. Glad to do so. I'm always willing to help out in times like this. I don't like it when people hurt those close to me. Those people tend to meet very bad ends." Henry said.
"So then... I agree. Let's start. Let's put these souls to rest." Henry said.

What was he talking about... "So you like... Study corpses?" He'd question with a curious look on his face. That was most definitely one of the strangest things he'd ever heard someone to do in their spare time. What was there to look at other than what caused the mortal wound...? Usually that was enough. But he supposed in this case, these marks were something he had never seen before. "That your job? Or are you just weird like that?" He'd straight up ask, not really registering that as a weird question to ask. "Not that it matters much to me either way."

Void would smirk again when he heard that the bird was the one to tame itself. "Smart bird. Glad he wasn't forced into any training, treated like a slave like some moronic people do." The boy would sigh at the thought, he didn't understand how some people could be so blind that they're just hurting animals when they do that. No creature wants to be forced into anything. Although he wondered how wild the bird really was if he wasn't trained properly. Void would let off a soft whistle that he'd often use to call out to the birds of the forest and awaited how Shiro would react to such a call. He wouldn't be surprised if nothing happened, but he thought it was worth a shot.

"Good." He'd reply as he walked through the brush that he was hiding behind just a moment ago heading straight for where he found the rabbit, picking up a stick from the ground as he went. "I found the rabbit just here." He'd continue, pointing the stick towards a small pool of blood that was surrounded by flattened grass, tufts of rabbit fur and overturned dirt. "I didn't get long to look before. You distracted me." He'd admit, yet maybe the fact he did would prove to be beneficial in the end. "So new face, what do you make of it?"

"Hm? Well, yeah, it's my job. I'm a coroner AND a pathologist. I just simply find out what killed people, and make a record of it, really. I'd tell ya more, but i don't wanna bore ya with the details." Henry said, knowing he was right when the boy said it didn't matter much to him.

"Oh, Shiro? I had to train him a bit, but he's surprisingly obedient. Catches on quick too. Kinda freaky, eh? There's a reason why I gave him that name. but i'll tell you that one later." he said.
Shiro himself, the second he heard the call, turned his head briefly to look at the boy, its glare curious, yet somehow knowing.

Henry followed the boy to where he had found the rabbit, and examined it in response to the boy's words. Henry was almost glad that he had distracted the boy. The crime scene was still relatively intact. and he minored in forensic sciences, back in the day. One of the first things they taught was that an undisturbed crime scene is the best one to investigate.
"Hmmm... definitely a struggle. That much, I can say for sure." he said, crouching it, then touching the pool of the blood.
It was about halfway dry.
"Since the blood isn't fully dried, the attack can't have been longer than... i'd say about 7-8 minutes to since I came, and about half that before you came along. Blood takes 15 minutes to fully dry, you see." he said.
"Other than that... not much. I'd need to examine the body more carefully in my lab to determine much more." he said, shaking his head sadly.
"But with that done... we should find the rabbit babies... actually, that's something that's been bothering me." Henry said.

"You see, a lot of mammals like rabbits tend to gather around the corpses of those they have a connection too. According to what you said, though, you didn't see any of them. Considering how recently it happened, i'm surprised they left. Unless..." Henry gulped, looking at one of the bigger tufts of fur that had, now that he looked at it, tiny miniature pools of blood. Carefully walking over to it, he turned it over, and gasped.
"Oh... um... never mind. Scratch that bit off our list... I found them. Poor little guys..." He said, gathering each one, and showing them to the boy.
In his hands were the corpses of all the bunnies in the litter.
"Now it makes sense." Henry said, briefly touching the tinier pools of blood to further determine his theory.
"The little guys were killed first. Right in front of their mother, judging from the positions..." he said, shaking his head sadly.
"Poor them... they never stood a chance against what happened. The mother... oh my..." He said, letting the boy fill in the rest of the gaps.
Then he realized something.

"Hey... wait a minute.... one of them's still alive! I can feel something warm. Which means..." he said, putting down each corpse gently until...
"Ha! Gotcha! What do you know... life persists." he said, holding up one of the little bunnies gently.
It was twitching, but alive.
"It must have played dead..." Henry said.
And for the first time since he got there, he laughed.
"I keep forgetting! Never underestimate the will to survive!" He said, then sighed.
"Hey... can you help me out here? From here, my house is only a 10 minute walk from here. If you can help me carry all these corpses to my house, I can autopsy them, and that'll really help us figure out what killed them." He explained.

Hm, so it was his job. That was probably for the best, Void didn't want to have to deal with any psychopaths today if he could help it. "A whatner and a whatigist?" Those were two words he could definitely say he had never heard in his life. Certainly not when it came to the case of dead animals... Or people... Or both. Whatever it was that they meant. However the boy would agree to the statement of talking about Shiro's names backstory was best saved for another time. There was an important matter they had to deal with and there was not point wasting time now.

"Grr... So it was just before I got here." Void would growl to himself in anger. "If only I got here just a little earlier..." The boy would shake his head annoyed with himself at the thought of what the rabbit had to go through just because he was a few minutes late. He was annoyed at himself enough before the further news of the rabbit cubs being killed too. "Damn it!" He'd shout, slamming the stick he was holding into the ground so that one of its points stuck into the ground. Why was something doing this! It made no sense at all. What heartless creature could maim an entire family of innocent creatures then not even use them for any kind of survival! It made Void so angry to even think about. "No matter what the creature was, why would it kill them all and not even eat a single thing? Any creature that could cause this much damage could easily fit one of those cubs in its mouth all in one go. What was the purpose of all this!"

Void would sigh deeply as he scratched his forehead with both hands to think. W-wait... One of them was alive? "Heh. It's always the runt that hides itself away that survives in the end." The boy would say, noticing how much smaller the cub that was still alive was from the rest of the dead corpses. Void would give the new face a weird look when he suggested what to do next. He hadn't been to any kind of house for as long as he could remember, nor would he under normal circumstances want to at all. Yet this was an exception he had to make. "Okay fine." He'd say, picking up half of the cubs with his free hand whilst still holding the mother in the other. "We need to hurry though. That one wont survive long without food and warmth. Do you have anything at your home that we could feed it?" Something of that size wouldn't eat any solid foods yet, and without its mother it would need some kind of replacement for the milk it would naturally drink.

"Also." Void would say as they began their trek towards new faces home. "I need this one back once you're done." He'd say, holding up the mothers corpse once more. "I have an honor code I must keep, so its mine once we're done. Understand?" The cubs however were too young, he wouldn't have the heart to be able to use them even if they could supply a decent meal. For now though, all that truly mattered to him was to make sure the last cub would survive. "Come on new face. We should pick up the pace, that cub isn't going to last forever."

Henry nodded solemnly at the boy's remarks, and answered his questions as they began to walk.
"Yes, I do. I have some milk in a baby bottle I can give it, as well as some baby food that it should be able to swallow." He answered, in regards to the food.

"As for the mother rabbit... yeah, I can, if you're going to bury it (although I can't imagine why else). But fair warning: To preserve the corpse, I'll have to freeze it, and there's no telling if I have to use chemicals potentially to examine it." He said. He agreed with the boy, though, that cub wouldn't last forever.

"By the way... what's your name? My name is Henry Mortimier." He said, deciding to introduce himself. Better late than never, after all.

Void would walk in silence, thinking over everything that had happened recently. Today in particular had been such a bizarre day for him. This creature keeps attacking things, then a man shows up in his home wanting to help and furthermore he apparently knows how to identify things wrong with bodies. It all seemed way too coincidental to be real. Honestly he probably wouldn't of agreed to go all the way out to this mans house if it wasn't for that last surviving rabbit cub. He had to make sure it was okay. That was all that mattered to him right now.

As for the rest of the day, he'd been preoccupied all day trying to track down this creature. He only managed to catch up with it once it attacked the family of rabbits yet he was still too slow to actually stop it or see what it was. Because of this he hadn't had the time during the day to collect any supplies for the night, he had no food stored so as much as he didn't like it. The honor code with the mother rabbit would of sufficed him for the night, but... "What!" The boy would exclaim in response to what new face had planned for the rabbit. "That wasn't apart of the deal new face! You said you'd just look over the corpses, why would you need to desecrate their bodies in order to find clues!" The boy would sigh, as annoyed as he was that his plan couldn't work if he went through with this. He supposed one night without food would be better than letting this creature keep terrorizing his home. "J-just... Fine. If you have to. Do whatever."

The scuffed up boy would smirk as the new face decided to introduce himself. "I still prefer the name new face." He'd say, semi joking but also actually preferring the name. He didn't tend to like common names humans gave to each other. "As for me. I don't have a name." He'd say honestly, he hadn't had one for a long long time and couldn't for the life of him remember what he used to be called. "Heh. I guess if you want to call me something though. The animals call me Void. It's about the closest thing I have to a name."

Henry listened to the boy, at first thinking he might have to explain to the boy why it might be necessary, but eventually decided not to as he seemed to get it. He wasn't exactly happy at being called new face, but, eh, whatever.
As for what the boy said his name was... well... eh, another thing he really wouldn't ask about.
"Welp, alright Void, we're here." Henry said, stopping at his.. well, manor, of sorts. "Mmmm... it's getting late. I'm hungry. You hungry? I can whip up something." He asked the boy.
"Oh, and if you want the results from the autopsy in quickly, you'd either better stay the night here, or come here first thing tomorrow. It'll be at least a night before I can get back to you on that." He told him.

"This is it?" The boy would say looking over the place new face called home. Hm. Wasn't anywhere he'd like to call home, but whatever it'll have to do for now. If he had the supplies and equipment in there to examine the rabbits and keep that cub alive that was all that mattered. "I usually prefer somewhere a bit more... Open." He'd say, still ashamed with himself that he was even here, let alone the fact he knew he was going to go inside.

"F-food...?" Void would look away from the new face, avoiding eye contact as his stomach would rumble. He was starving. But he didn't want to make out the fact that he couldn't fend for himself, then again the man was taking away the food he was going to use for tonight, so he felt like new face owed him at least something. "If you're offering." The boy would say simply with a light sigh. "Let's just make sure that cub is okay before we do anything else."

Void would growl lowly. "It would take that long?" That was annoying, he really wanted to try to figure this whole thing out as soon as possible to stop that thing having another chance on damaging the forest even more. "If it really has to take that long, I'll come back tomorrow. I wont be comfortable here." He'd say honestly. "After we get this cub sorted, I'll head back to my den and return tomorrow. You better be done by then."

Henry nodded with each question, preoccupied with the task of setting up the cub comfortably, then feeding it. Once he made sure the cub was okay, he quickly heated up so leftover pasta for the boy (and for himself), and handed it to him in a disposable container.
"Here. Eat this. It's pasta. And don't worry, i'll be done with it by tomorrow, you have my word on that!" Henry said, cheerfully.

Once he was done with that, (and said goodbye to Void for now) though, he knew the real task would begin. Now alone, he picked up the corpse and began to carry it over to his lab.
"Sleep tight, little guy. I'll find out what killed your mother, don't worry." He said, talking to the rabbit.
"Now... let's find out who did this... shall we, Shiro?" He said to the bird.
It could only caw in response.
Exit. Mission Complete. Grade: S+. Perfect.

Soundtrack:
Opening theme (s-links)/Macabre Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om3W3GFu9LY

Henry's Theme (1): Mr. Macabre


Void's theme/Howling Void: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDle_P--pSU

Void would take the food he was offered and give it a bizarre look. The hell...? What is this? It wasn't anything like what he found around the forest, it definitely didn't smell like anything from out there. Is this really the kind of thing he used to eat? He couldn't imagine it, it was just so unnatural. Void would sigh when his stomach would rumble again. "Grr... Fine, if you want it so badly. See if I care if you poison us." The boy would think to himself, speaking to his stomach from his mind before trying some of the food. "Gah!" This stuff was awful... If he wasn't so hungry he wouldn't of bothered finishing it, but instead he'd just finish it quickly to get it over with.

"Thanks..." The scuffed up boy would mutter as he left new faces home. "I'll be back tomorrow..." He'd add as he walked back towards to forest heading for his den. Today had been so stressful for his liking. Hopefully everything could get sorted out tomorrow and no other creature in this forest would have to suffer. As he reached his den he'd pause for a moment to stare at the sky.