S reached down for one of the pouches on his belt, and held it up to the light above him, blocking it. 

He flipped the pouch over, and let the grains flow down upon and off of him. 

He blinked heavily a few times, and sat up.

"Right. That's enough of that." He said, getting off the bed.

He felt his arm reach up instinctually reach up to cast, if only just a little.

He cupped the sand back into his pouch. He got most of it, though a few grains were still stuck to the sheets. He decided to let it be, as something of a parting gift. 

He decided to go back to the seats. He wasn't sure if he was going to commit to looking for Beyes, but he figured he'd start, whatever that amounted to. 

He picked up her scent long before he'd made it to the seats. Which made sense, since she'd probably been in the halls.

It seemed to linger longer than most. The scent of his companions was already fading, but hers had some staying power.

He never thought much about it before. He hardly noticed it. But now that he unwittingly found out why this was, on some level, it was difficult to notice anything else.  

He covered his nose with his hand. 

He'd already pieced together what he needed to know. Beye's scent was also here, but it abruptly disappeared a few steps behind S. That means he probably ran to where he was now, and used his holes to teleport away. 

Strangely, the young girl's scent seemed to grow less consistent soon after this point, too, though it didn't disappear completely. It seemed to merge with her scent down the rest of the hallway, all the way to the exit. 

Now, why might that be? He knew that the young girl really didn't like her at all, so it was weird that they'd get close enough for that to happen. 

S decided to head for the exit. 

He strolled slowly as he made his way there.

'Y'know', he thought to himself, 'Those three all smell pretty weird. Totally unlike anything else I've been around. Wonder why that is?'

Eventually, he made it to the door the girls likely used. 

Her scent lingered in the air, and up the wall. The young girl's disappeared completely. Flying, probably together. That'd explain the merge from earlier.

He couldn't help but find it strange, and questioned how he didn't notice it before. Even all the way up there, he could just almost make it out. Maybe if he just squinted, he'd be able to feel it.

S shook his head, clearing his mind.

'Anyways, the chicks are flying together. That, or the girl figured out her brother's 'recipe' He thought to himself with a chuckle. 

He decided to head back to the seats, again, to sit down and piece this together. 

"Sorry sir, I can't let you back in without a ticket." Said the woman manning the ticket counter by the door, who seemingly recently woke up from a little on the job shuteye.

"Right, seriously? You took my ticket when I came in the first time. You saw me come out, didn't you?" S said.

"I've got no way of confirming you're a paying customer, sir."

"You said 'back in', there's no way you didn't see me."

The girl sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, kid, we're not normally this pissy about it, but we got a strict order bit ago to not let anyone into the arena for any reason. Woke me up from my friggin' nap..."

"Are you kidding me?" He asked, though he already knew she wasn't. "Why?"

"I dunno, somethin' about inky-darkness somethin' or whatever." She said with a yawn. "I wasn't listening."

"Of course." S said.

"Sorry kid, nothin' I can do. 'Course, I could, say, fall asleep again, if only I wasn't distracted by how light my pockets are..." She said with a smirk.

'Oh, I hate you.' S thought to himself. He could excuse, even celebrate sleeping on the job, but soliciting bribes from randos pissed him off.

Unfortunately, now was not the time to make enemies, he decided.

Instead, he reached into his cloak, and pulled out a small white card from his pocket.

"Right, I've got a date with the Big Man, so I'll be walking through whether you like it or not." He lied, tossing the card at her. It wasn't an air tight lie, but he figured she was tired enough to buy it.  "What you do next decides whether or not I discuss a certain uppity ticket collector at the head ceremony."

Her smirk quickly fell from her face as she looked at the card. It was definitely what they told her Grigor would use. She remembered thinking how weird it was that they all had to be told about his weird thing with the card, even though it's apparently never come up before, ever. 

"Alright, alright, jeez, you can pass." She said, tossing the card back. "And, for the record, getting fired from this dump would hardly be the end of the world."

"Right, sorry, that was probably unnecessary. I've just been having a week. You know how it is." S said, putting the not-so-useless-after-all card back into his robe. 

"I heard that." She said, returning to her napping position.

Thus, S returned to the inside of the arena.

'Right, I should remember that. 'Inky darkness' certainly sounds like him.' S thought to himself as he made his way back to the seats for real this time. 'But why would he use it here? There's no way anyone would still be here if a fight broke out...' 

The first thing S noticed as he arrived at the seats was the fact that the spot around where they were sitting was even more vacant than before. They were already in a less crowded part of the arena, but now it was totally empty, save some stragglers a few rows away. He noted this, and began investigating the area.

'Right, all trails lead back here... No signs of a struggle... Plus some... Salt? Ah, The Adjective Noun. Guess that's where they stopped for lunch. And... Hm? That scent, hang on, I recog-'

"Gasp! It's S!" S heard a whisper coming from a few rows down. He stopped in his tracks, didn't move a muscle, and made no sign that he was listening. "The boy that beat Grigor! He's at the seat where The Scourge was!"

"Why'd you say 'Gasp'?" Said another voice. "And what do you mean The Scourge?"

"You know, the freaky darkness abomination that appeared and did something to those kids! That's what everyone's been calling it."

"What do you mean 'did something?' I saw the whole thing. Some freaky demon 'kid' started leaking that darkness stuff, and then there was some yelling and the pack of freaks all high-tailed it outa here. If ya ask me, it was a pack of mad beasts. They say they've been gettin' smarter these days, more complicated and stuff."

"Ooh, that's an idea! Tell me more!"

"Ah, I don't really know much more than that. I got a question for you though, who are you, guy? And what's with that get up?"

"I've been wandering around the arena, gathering rumors and such, I love gossip like this. These are my gossiping clothes."

"I see. Y'know, you're oddly calm about this, ain't ya?"

"Fear means nothing to good gossip. Furthermore, aren't you also pretty calm?"

"Nah, I'm terrified. But I paid for the whole ticket, so I'm gonna stay for the whole damn show."

"I see. Can I quote you on that?"

"Uh, sur-"

S decided that he'd probably heard everything important up to this point, and that he should tune out all outside conversation for the time being.

'Right, that was convenient.' S thought. 'The 'freaky demons' that guy mentioned are probably them. The 'Scourge' sounds like something from Beyes, but why would he use it here? Probably for the same reason he decided to run away... Unfortunate that there isn't anyone close enough to have heard anything... Oh, and I can't forget what that guy said about the mad beasts, either... I'll have to think about that later. 

Hm... What do I know about this case thus far?

Beyes disappeared in the halls, the girls met up and flew away. They all left the seats, probably at around the same time, and didn't deviate from the course. Beyes was probably doing some magic crap before they ran, though there aren't any signs of a fight or any sort of reason.'

'But why? What set this all off? What am I missing?'

'Did she do something? Did she kidnap the young one, causing Beyes gave chase? No, then they'd have been closer from the start. Did she steal something? No, then she wouldn't have needed to grab the girl... Damnit, what am I missing...

Hold on...

Maybe I'm not missing anything? 

Maybe I've just got the order wrong?

Maybe it was Beyes that left first. That fits that other guys story, too. The magic itself could have been the reason they left. Most people don't know about dark magic, so he tried to run before there was a panic. And-

Wait... The first time we went to Basenholm. The way she talked about dark magic... And in Starsford, the thing with the Dark Lord... I completely forgot.

CATFACE KNOWS-'

S felt his heart began to pound, his knees gave way as he clutched his hand to his chest and gritted his teeth.

'AHHH- GAH, DAMNIT! 

CATFACE KNOWS ABOUT DARK MAGIC. AND NOW SHE KNOWS BEYES HAS IT!

AGH... That smell... I remember it now. It was when I left for the mountain, when I left him behind me. It's kind of like burnt bread... This is it. I'm sure of it.

It doesn't explain everything, but that's probably how it went down. Beyes freaked out after using his magic in public and warped away. Catface is probably tracking him down right now. The girl must've hitched a ride with her. But why would either of them agree to go together?'

. . .

'Right... I suppose that doesn't matter much, does it. At this point, all I can do is...

Man, this sucks...

Well, good luck, Beyes. I'll be waitin' for ya. Somewhere...'

. . .

'Whelp... S'posse now's a good a time as any to get lunc-'

"Excuse me, S, sir?" Said a newly familiar gossip loving voice. "Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

'Man, this sucks...'