Cody
There are many things I never thought I would be doing. Of course, I was proven wrong countless times when I became King, but there were still things I never would happen to me, even then. When you're young, sometimes being a detective sounds really fun and exciting, but when it's real, it isn't.

Because in the end, it comes down to the fact that the person really is dead and someone murdered them. There was one thing that made it worse. This was my citizen and they were murdered in their own home, most likely by another citizen.

All this was horrifying when it became a reality.

By the time I got down to the crime scene, the body was taken away. PebbleTeen quickly filled me in on what was going on.

"The victim was a 26 year old male, killed presumably through being strangled. We found a towel which is currently the murder weapon until the report gets back." I sighed and looked around the house.

It was a small house, having a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, also having a balcony with a glass door leading to it. There was a spot where a trace of a body was on the floor in blue tape, right by the kitchen. On the stove was a pot, which when I asked PebbleTeen, she explained that there was Mac and Cheese inside of it, now cold. She through this, she estimated that the time of death was after 5 PM, still being worked out. The only other thing out of the ordinary was the balcony door open.

My eyebrows knitted together and I found myself strolling over to it and standing on the balcony. I gazed out and around, nothing was different about it. Many of his neighbors around him had a similiar design. "This is probably where the murderer entered." The General nodded. "That's what we suspect as well. Unfortunately, the forensics couldn't find fingerprints. Gloves must have been worn." I sighed.

"Well, is there anything else I should know about?" The female thought for a moment before speaking again. "Well... You won't want to hear this, but we suspect another Atlantean did this. All criminals we know of have some sort of trademark they leave behind. The Twins would have a clear double person job done and would have scratched the Gemini symbol into the wall, Pyro would have set this whole neighborhood on fire, Greed doesn't kill and even if he did, this would would have been striped of the vaulabes and Kevin would have electrified him. I suspected maybe one of the Tide Changers finally struck after being inactive for so long, but this isn't their style. Basically, no one we know of could have done this, and they weren't robbed at all. We think, maybe someone did this because they really hated him."

I blinked and gazed at the other houses near him. "What was his name?" I asked finally. "Paul Hill. We're looking into his profile as we speak." I huffed, shaking my head. "Has anyone spoke with the locals?" She shook her head. "Well," I straightened myself out and looked her dead in the eye. "I'll do that. Call me if you find anything else out."

When I walked outside, there was a group of Atlanteans outside, talking amongst themselves. They were all too busy chatting to notice me until I addressed them. "Atlanteans!" I caught their attention. The noise died down, allowing me to speak again. "Atlanteans, I know you all are frightened about what has happened. If you don't know, Paul Hill, a human Atlantean, has been murdered in his home." Upon hearing this, the crowd started murmuring to each other. "Now I know this is scary, but I promise, I will find who did this and uphold JUSTICE! Paul will be avenged! I will make sure that everyone is safe. FOR ATLANTIS!" I cried out. The crowd then began to cheer. I grinned at my work. "Now go home, I have this under control."

Upon hear this, they all started to disperse and leave. One of them dressed in a mailman suit caught my eye. "You sir!" They perked up and whipped around. "Were you the one who found Paul?" They nodded, now fully stopped. "That's correct my King." I hummed. "Mind answering a few question?" I raised my eyebrow. "Not at all! What do you want to know?"

Outside of the classic outfit for a MailMan, it was a guy. He had long and curled brown hair and bright green eyes. His skin was quite tan, like he'd been outside a lot and had an average form.

I thought for a moment. "What's your name? Occupation?" I glanced at his outfit. "Actually, never mind, I'm going to go with MailMan." The man snickered. "Yep! The name's Vincent. Vincent Ferris!" He grinned, bouncing his feet a bit. "Well Vincent, how well did you know Paul?"

"Well, I was his MailMan, always giving him packages and letters. He got the most out of everyone. I didn't always get to talk to him, but he's quite friendly! Charismatic too, really knew how to have a meaningful conversation. He always got packages from his mother, who lives on the other side of Atlantis. Paul moved out here a two years ago, but practically everyone knows him. Paul was always energetic and often took runs around the city. He says he's been around over 200 times!"

I chuckled. "You liked him huh?" His face turned solum. "Yeah..." His head shook and Vincent let out a sigh. "I know he's gone but... Man, who would do that? He was such a nice guy! I'm really going to miss our talks." I nodded along with him. "Anything about him you know? Maybe recent information?" Vincent thought to himself for a second. "Well... The last time I saw him, alive I mean, was a couple days ago when I delivered another package. He mentioned something about getting a new job and quitting his old one. He applied in quite a few places. I think that was around Monday. He hasn't got anything else since then other than a letter I tried giving to him today. Molly's going to be devastated once she hears what happened." I paused. "Molly? Who's that?"

"Molly's his childhood friend and I think she was in love with him. She was the person who wrote the letter I delivered today."

Childhood friend huh? I thought for a moment. "Where does she live?" I asked. "Who, Molly? Other side of town. Lives in a huge yellow house, hard to miss." I nodded and let him go. Soon I checked on the neighbors. I decided on the four closest to him.

The first was a couple, one of them a human male, the other seaweedian, one of the people made of seaweed but living and breathing. The male had short black hair and leaned against the female. "Yes? Do you need anything?" They asked when I came to the door. Once I told them the situation, they let me in. The pair were fine with telling me about Paul but seemed devastated by his death. They told me a lot of what I already found out, how friendly Paul was and everything. One thing they did mention was how excited Paul was for a new job and how he was telling them he nailed the interview. However, none of this seemed interesting or useful. I said my goodbyes and left.

The one on the other side were four females all living together. Basic information was given and all they had differently was how the last time they saw him was when he was going around looking for milk. They also mentioned something about him never minding their partying or loud music.

After them was an old man, who simply told me that though they had talked, him and Paul weren't really friends. The old man told me that he did come by the house the night he was murdered for some milk and he gave it to him. That was it.

Though the last had nothing on Paul himself, he did know Molly's exact address and gave it to me.

Exhausted, I stopped for lunch and let an Atlantean guard go speak with the female. As I finished up, they came back to report. Molly was a mess, but she did lose her best friend so that was understandable. Molly told us that Paul applied for a few jobs and was most excited about working for the zoo, but that didn't seem useful.

I rushed around the city to find clues but nothing came up. I was on a murder case, and nothing to point me in the right direction. My only chance was just to wait for the results of the autopsy to come back.

The morgue was located nearby the jail. The body was checked out and now in there, waiting to be rechecked if they found something or straight to the funeral. In there, I stared at the containment the body was in, not looking directly at it. A sigh escaped me and my eyes closed. What if I can't figure this out? What if someone else gets murdered? Why would a perfectly good man get murdered in the first place? Thoughts swarmed my mind and everything else just seemed irrelevant.

"Something told me I'd find you here."

I knew the owner of the voice before I opened my eyes. There was only one person it could be after all. "Hey Tanith," I gave a quick smile. "What are you doing here?"

She chuckled. "I don't know if you know, but Pikalus and I were the ones performing the autopsy, or at least doing most of it. His science knowledge and my experience made quite the team! Anyways, I came to tell you the results. I had a feeling you'd be in the morgue pondering life and thinking that you failed everyone so I checked here first. Took me a while though. I should have been here 20 minutes ago. Unfortunately, I don't know the layout of Atlantis as much as I thought I did, I got lost and had to ask someone for help. Spartakus is a really helpful guy."

I nodded along. "Okay but what is the news."

The hybrid grimaced. The snake tail flicked around uneasily. Her throat cleared before talking. "Cody... We barely found anything."

My heart sank as she continued. "He died through being strangled and the murder weapon was exactly what we thought in the first place so that didn't really help much. The only things that might help was that his muscles were weak when he was being killed. Professor is looking into it but he was an athlete so it just might have been soreness. That's barely anything! We have no valid suspects!" When I sighed, her head shook. "I wish I could help more but I've never done something quite like this and we have no idea what we're looking for."

"No, no." I mumbled. "It's alright. I just want to solve this. You know," Taking out the spear, I gazed into the crystal, something sparked inside of me.

I turned around, not wanting to look anyone in the eye. "Why can't I just understand these Atlanteans? I mean, why would they murder such a loveable guy? I need a lead!" Power seemed to spark throughout me as I spoke but I ignored it. This was normal right? Just emotions.

Probably.

When my eyes shut for a long second, a pulse spread inside. I whipped back around to face the female. "I mean, what are we even supposed to-"

"HOLY CRAP!"

I jumped at the sudden outburst. "What? What's wrong?" I exclaimed. Tanith was frozen for a second before talking. "Uh... Cody? Quick strange question: Do your eyes normally change color?" My eyes widened and I spazzed out.

"WHAT? MY COLOR CHANGED?"

"OH THAT'S NOT NORMAL! CRAP!"

I started to pace around, looking for something reflective. "WELL WHAT ARE THEY? THE COLOR?"

The blue eyes squinted. "Like a white or silverish color. I'd say silver." I took in deep breaths, calming myself. "Cody, don't worry. It's probably nothing serious." I kept nodding, but then noticed something very wrong. "When did they get here? I though we were alone."

Surprised, the half snake did a full 360, eyebrows raising. "Cody... There's no one else here."

I glanced at her, the man behind her, and back again. "What are you talking about? He's right behind you!" I pushed past her to the male. She looked where I was looking, but it was like she was looking through air. "I... Cody I really don't see who you're talking about." My eyebrows knitted together. "Than who..."

Suddenly it hit me. I'd seen them before, but not like this. They were dead, or supposed to be. This had to be Paul Hill.

His back was to mine at first but when I started to speak, he faced me. "Uh..... Hello?" They just blinked at me, perplexed. "Can you... See me?" I nodded.

"Huh. Well I'm Paul! Nice to meet you!" The man smiled warmly, but it faded quickly. He looked around. "I though I was dead though... This certainly is different." I opened my mouth, but hesitated. Paul seemed to pick up on it. "Ah. I am dead aren't I?" I nodded solemnly. He just sighed. "Huh... Well, how come you can see me?"

"Not quite sure yet... Hey Paul?" He perked up. "How did you die? Who murdered you?" Paul thought for a moment but shook his head. 

"The person snuck up on me and I never really saw their face. I will tell you this, I was paralyzed! I couldn't move! I was just eating some of my dinner and suddenly when I tried going for another bite my arm wouldn't work. Not only that but it was like I was getting all sick inside and my chest was on fire! They came in through the backdoor and killed me after that! I don't even know what I did to deserve this."

I hummed, thinking. "Anything else?" The man just shrugged. "I was getting a job at the zoo! Someone just had to be fired first. I felt really bad about it but I hope nothing came out of it! I guess they get to keep their job now." Ideas began to spark in my mind. "Oh! That's it!"

Almost as soon as I said that, his form faded. I blinked and checked around, but he was gone for good.

"... Cody?" When I turned back around, Tanith was still staring at me. "What was that? You were just talking to air. Wait a second, Your eyes! They're back to normal!" I rubbed my face before responding. "Tanith, I just spoke to the dead. I have no idea how, but his muscles weren't sore. I think he was poisoned."

After getting the message and orders to check the body more carefully, the hybrid departed to go tell Professor the news while I had one place to go: The zoo. There's no way that all this could have been a coquenidance.

The zoo was in the far sector, I had only been there once, back when I first came back to Atlantis. It was fairly big, having all sorts of animals, both land and sea. Though it was great and all, I got very uncomfortable upon seeing penguins here. Quickly moving past it, I was able to locate the manager. I told her what I was here for and she told me everyone that worked there. I thanked them and left, exploring the zoo for any more clues.

I passed by many signs, checking out anything interesting. I tried bats, snakes, anything that could have poison. There were even butterflies that the keepers told me that had vemon. Nothing was coming up, but I still searched. The zoo was mentioned by too many people to be nothing. Who ever worked here had to have used some kind of animal venom or something. It would make sense, I just had to find out what it was.

As I passed by everything, one sign caught my eye. I hesitated on going inside, but eventually dragged myself in there. As I stood on the other side of the glass, memories started to trigger again. All from one cursed animal.

The octopus. Not exactly it but way too close for it to be comfortable around it.

Blood. Blood all over my hands as the feeling passed. All of the sudden and powerfully destructive anger faded in that single moment that I acted. As soon as the sword was pulled out, life drained out of the yellow eyes and they fell off the ledge. I panted, thoughts consuming my mind. "What have I done?" Seemed to be the main one. I couldn't stop thinking, no matter how much I wanted to.

What have I done?

"Sir?"

I gasped and whipped around. One of the employees was standing behind me. They searched my face before asking the fabled question. "Are you okay?" I nodded, unable to speak at that moment.

What is wrong with me? I though I was getting better! I silently sighed. I guess it take more than a... What did she call it? Feels jam? Whatever it was, I still need a little more therapy than that. 

Why can't I just let it go?

"Huh. Well if you say you are, it's not my place to question it. Sorry but you just looked kinda out of it." The green eyes of the zookeeper followed where I was looking into the containment. "Ah, now I see." I raised my eyebrow at the statement. They just snickered. "You're looking at the octopus! The blue-ringed one to be exact! My personal favorite. It's so pretty and I always liked blue." I made an 'Oh' sound and nodded with him. "Yes sir-y! I often find myself just watching it and getting lost in thought. Hey! Wanna know a fun fact?"

"Sure man. Go for it." He grinned wildly.

"Well you know the phrase, 'Every rose has its thorns?'" I nodded. "This is one of them that apply to it! Not only is it one of the most beautiful creatures here, but it's also one of the most toxic!"

Toxic? I perked up. "I'm sorry but toxic? How toxic? What would happen if you got this in your system?"

The person blinked. "Well, if you really want to know, you can get nausea, have some respiratory or heart failure, and if it gets bad, blindness, paralysis and even death! 'Course, you'd have to have it pretty bad so this bad boy never leaves his containment. There's only three people here that are qualified to work with him! Just good old me, the nurse and that old guy."

My mind began to race. "Wait... Paralysis? Only three people?" Then a thought came to me. "Old guy?" They nodded. "Yep! Really old guy. Called Mr. Gideon. Why do you ask?"

However, I was gone before he could say anything else.

"Come on, pick up!" I muttered impatiently while rushing. As the phone rang loudly in my ear, it finally picked up. "Finally! Hey! Professor!"

"Cody? What do you need? I'm a bit busy here. We still haven't figured out anything."

"You can check for specific poisons right?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Well, yes, of course. But why would I-"
"Blue-Ringed Octopus. Have you heard of it?"

"... Yeah. The name sounds familiar."

"Scan for it in the blood stream."
"Cody, why would I-"
"SCAN IT! JUST-... Trust me on this."

He sighed but complied in the end. "Okay, I did it. It'll take a few minutes to-" I cut him off again. "Once you're done, I need you to do me a favor." The male paused again. "What?"

I knocked on the door vigorously. Seconds later, the elder opened the door, and looked surprised. "You're back? Why? I gave you everything I knew." Paul's elderly neighbor just stared at me as I stood there. Taking in a deep breath, I spoke. "Hey, can I come in?" The old man nodded and I slid in.

He showed me to his living room and told me to sit as he retrieved tea.

He came back, poured us both a cup and I spoke. "So, Mr. Gideon right?" Gideon nodded. "That's correct. Mr. Maverick, what is this about?"

"You knew Paul right? Not very well but, well, he's a talkative guy from what I've heard." Carefully, he confirmed my statement. "So you knew about how excited he was to get a job at the zoo?" The old man shrugged. "Well, I can't deny that he mentioned it. Quite the man."

"Then did you know he had a degree in toxicology? Paul Hill was a talented and truly gifted young man. He would have gotten any job that could relate to his major. Even one that had to do with a certain octopus. I hear he applied for a job at the zoo." Mr. Gideon froze, but kept eye contact. There was no fear in his eyes, only watching me. I continued. "I also hear that you worked there. The boss thought you were slacking with age, but admittedly you can't help that. He doesn't need you anymore if he had another person working with the creature right?" Something flickered in the male's eyes, but still no words were spoken. "So you were on the line. I mean, if anyone else could replace you, you'd be out of there, but no one else could. No one, except Paul, am I right? Paul could do that. So what, you couldn't lose your job? You decided to pull a little karma on him? His toxicology major wasn't good enough to detect that he consumed poison? How did you do it anyways? How did you kill him?"

For the longest time, he gave me a cold stare, but then started to slowly laugh darkly. His hands clapped together and he stood up.

"I though no one was going to catch me. I left too many clues didn't I?" My brown eyes narrowed. "Let's just say I had some tricks up my sleeve."

He stifled a laugh. "Well King, you caught me. But perhaps you'd like to know more? How I poisoned him?" I nodded.

"Milk. He asked for it and it was the perfect time. Just some drops, but it was plenty enough for his body to seize up. While he suffered from the paralyzed state, I swooped in and took him out. It's so easy when they can't move you know. I used to hunt while I was young. I used some tricks to slow down birds then, I figured it'd work on a human. I was right."

My head shook. "But why? Why do this?"

"I need the money. I can't lose my job, and not to that kid. No, I have things to pay for." His smile turned devious. "But the evidence is fading king. That milk? It'll be gone soon and anything left in the bloodstream certainly won't last. Soon, every piece of evidence you could have will be gone. You can't touch me."

A smile began to form on my face. "Oh can't I? But I have other evidence. Something that will put you away forever."

"What?" Even though his voice was level, a layer of fear was in it. I grinned wildly. "This." I held it up.

His face turned horrified at the sight of it. "No..." I shrugged. "You know, just your average everyday recorder. I have everything you said on here. There's no getting out of this one Gideon." I picked up the tea, and sipped out of it. "Check mate."

Suddenly, the doors burst in and in came the guards, accompanied by Professor Pikalus and Tanith. I waved. "Finally! I was wondering when you'd be here. Did you get it?" Pikalus nodded. "Yep! Just like you said, venom in the blood. Thanks for the tip." I waved it off. "Don't mention it. Anyways, something I've been wanting to do this whole time. Guards! Arrest this man!"

Though he tried to make a break for it, they caught and started to drag him out of the room. As he did, he stole a glance at me and chuckled. I rolled my eyes at him. "What?"

"It's funny. Do you know how long it takes for that venom to act? A couple of minutes." I paused. "Wait, what do you mean 'That venom?' I don't understand." Suddenly, a burning feeling came from my respiratory system and I couldn't move. I dropped to the ground, making everyone react. The world seemed to spin as he kept laughing. "You really shouldn't have drank that tea."

That was the last thing I heard as I blacked out.

My whole body shook and I awake again. The blurry white walls started to clear up and I could see properly. Two figures were by my bedside. More beds were in sight as I slowly realized where I was. The Atlantis Hospital.

"What the-"

"Oh! Cody, thank goodness you're awake! That venom really took a toll on you!"

"Yeah! I thought you were dead for a second there! Only a second. Lucky for me, the antidote kicked in fast."

The two voices filled my ears as I made out who it was. Of course, I realized that it could only be these two in the first place. Tanith and Professor.

I blinked. "Venom... Oh! Right. I remember now." I said nodded along. I snickered to myself when a thought came up. "You thought I was dead? Come on! You should know by now that it takes a lot more than some octopus to get rid of me." We all laughed. A warm feeling passed through me. For a second, something flickered behind the pair. It looked just like Paul. It was there, smiling, then a bright light consumed it and once again, just the three of us.

I had finally done it. I solved a mystery. I didn't fail Atlantis.

Boy, that felt good.

**********************************

It's finally here! Sorry it took so long but this chapter require much research and a lot of thought into the murder mystery. I had never done a thing like this, but it was pretty fun! Did anyone guess it from the start or at least when I dropped hints?

I meant to put this up a long time ago but then a bunch of crap happened and I got delayed and the making took a long time but I hope I can get more updates in! I try to update something everyday but I haven't been able to for a lot of reasons that I'm not going to list.

 Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this little chapter because it took a lot of work! Be sure to comment and tell me what you think! There are some big things coming up for this book so be ready for that! Bye!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter

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