Kim Youngwoon would've died during his first encounter with a Chaser, had the creature been looking for him.

"Hyung! Wake up, hyung!" Seeing that his shouting wasn't stirring his unconscious partner, Youngwoon stumbled over to his side and crouched down, gun in hand in case something from the area decided to come for them in their vulnerable state. He'd spotted something black and purple earlier, and while it wasn't what knocked Jungsu out he didn't want to stick around in case it made a meal of the two of them.

That was when he saw it.

It would've stood two metres tall had it not been hunched over, with slitted amethyst eyes that seemed to drain the life out of everything that it looked at. Long black claws left glowing purple trails as they dragged along the ground, connected to a skeletal body by skeletal arms, A translucent layer of smoke grey skin protected the creature, but it didn't make it any less formidable.

Youngwoon gripped his gun a little tighter as watched the creature shuffle around in front of them, snapping its heavy jaw at thin air as it seemed to search for something. The air around him felt light...and unless he needed his eyes checked, it was...glowing...

"Oh no..."

Arcane...

Thinking with his heavy stomach, Youngwoon dragged the still-unconscious Jungsu behind a half-wrecked wall and leaned against it, keeping one eye on the creature still patrolling the alleyway. When they got back to the Citadel he was going to rip the captain a -

"GRRRRARGH!"

The creature suddenly fled down a side alley, its shadow disappearing as Jungsu (finally) returned to consciousness.

"Ugh..." He rubbed at his slightly throbbing head, "Are we still in the Burned Quarter?" Youngwoon nearly knocked him out for a second time. First thing out of his mouth isn't 'Are you okay?', it's 'Are we still where we're supposed to be?'

"Yes hyung, we're still in the Burned Quarter," he finally deadpanned, "but we're currently hiding from a black and purple thing that-"

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"

Without thought, both men tore after the sound, leaping over skeletal remnants of buildings to yet another alley where the 'black and purple thing' lay, clearly dead. Its long limbs stuck out at odd angles from its body, the glow hanging in the air having vanished when its life was extinguished. Surrounding the creature lay several long feathers, emerald green that darkened to bkac at the tips and trimmed with gold.

Jungsu looked like he wanted to curl up and cry. "Arcane..." he breathed.

"What?" asked Youngwoon.

"There's Arcane at work here," his partner clarified, "We're looking at a dead Chaser." Youngwoon may not have known what a Chaser was, but he knew about the Arcane, as everyone on the Citadel Police Force did. He'd felt the Arcane in the air when the creature - Chaser, he corrected himself - was still alive.

"What do we tell the captain when we get back?" he asked after a while of watching Jungsu collect all the feathers and putting them into his gun holster.

"The truth. We found a dead Chaser." the elder replied, slightly staggering as he led Youngwoon out of the alleyway toward the Citadel.

~~~~~~

It wasn't the first time Jungsu had seen the feathers, but it was the first time he was able to collect some.

Three of the green objects from the Chaser patrol lay idle on his coffee table, the light in his living room glinting off the golden edges. He laced his fingers together and rested his chin on top, staring at the feathers as if he expected them to fly around the room of their own accord. They belonged to an Arcane creature, that much he was certain of; he could feel the Arcane still emanating from them as he stared. The wuestion remained: what creature did they come from, and why were they in the Burned Quarter?

BZZT. BZZT. BZZT.

"Park Jungsu."

"You locked your door again." Jungsu heaved himself away from the feathers as the call was disconnected, answering his door and automatically stepping aside to let his guest in.

"Why can't you ever let me know you're coming over?" he sighed tiredly as he shut the door.

"I don't do it with anyone else," Kim Jongwoon replied cheekily, "Where'd you get the cool feathers?"

"Found them on patrol."

"Really?"

"Why are you here, Jongwoon?"

"I brought that book you wanted." A brown-wrapped package was carefully placed next to the feathers, approximately as thick as Jongwoon's forearm. Jungsu tore away the paper to reveal a black leather-bound book embossed with gold lines around the words 'The Crown Jewels'. It was held together by a clasp in the shape of two interlocking crowns, gold like the rest of the embellishments.

"I don't see why you wanted that one particularly, hyung," Jongwoon quipped over his shoulder as he left, "Everybody knows the Crown Jewels are just legend." The door shut, and Jungsu was left alone with his thoughts once more.

Suddenly the feathers rose off the table and streamlined for the book, wedging themselves between the pages but not unlocking the clasp sso he could get to them. Jungsu dived for the book, picking it up and shaking it to try and get the feathers out.

"It can't be a legend..." he breathed finally, stopping to catch his breath, "Not after what I just saw. Not after what happened." His eyes found a photo frame sitting innocently in front of the television, depicting him with a beautiful young woman wearing a white dress and posing for the camera. Turning his head away, Jungsu heaved a sigh and carried the book with him to bed, pondering how he was going to unlock it. he didn't have a key that would fit the lock; maybe if he spoke to Jongwoon in the morning he'd have a lead he could follow.

~~~~~~

Jongwoon whistled cheerily to himself as he drove through the Citadel, his job done and looking forward to some rest. When it came to being shifty, no-one could do it better than him. After all, who would suspect a turtle-loving book store owner who whistled as he worked?

Yeah, everyone thought it was 'quirky', too. No-one could possibly be that happy working with books.

Pulling his car over to the curb, Jongwoon looked up into his rear-view mirror. "I hate it when you do that." he said to his sudden passenger.

"I swear to the Shining, it wasn't me this time," said the woman in the back seat, "I was minding my own business when POOF! I appeared here." Jongwoon rolled his eyes at the obvious lie, but couldn't fight back the smile on his lips at how silly it sounded.

"So I'm assuming he's checking up on me and this isn't a social call?" he asked. The woman adjusted her opaque sunglasses and nodded once.

"The officer has the book then?"

"Like you wanted. I also threw in a quip about legends, for extra believability."

"Nice touch."

"But why Jungsu, though? Has he seen something about him that links him to the Crown?" The woman looked at Jongwoon through the rear-view mirror, her lips pursed slightly to keep information in. Jongwoon watched a set of claw scars on the right sidde of her jaw shift as she tightened it, the urge to divulge more than necessary quashed by the obvious pain she was inflicting upon herself.

"Let's just say that Chaser in the alley was after him, despite what his partner thought," she replied, adjusting her sunglasses again as Jongwoon's eyes widened, "We're sending someone to keep an eye on him soon."

"What about me?"

"According to higher up, your eyes are the best ones we have here in the Citadel. They need to be on many targets, not just one."

Jongwoon pouted. "So who will you be sending in?" A smirk suddeny split the woman's face.

"You'll know him when you see him." In a blink she disappeared, leaving behind one confused and slightly frustrated book store owner.

"Ah!" Jongwoon banged his hands against the steering wheel, "Just let it go." Starting the car again, he took off down the street.

Author's Note: Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's Chapter 1! Questions that have arisen may include:

Where did the feathers come from?

Who's the woman in Jungsu's photo?

What is Jongwoon involved in?

Why is GuardianOfTheDawn asking so many questions when we can ask them ourselves?

...yeah, I'll get to work on the next chapter now. Bye~!