Heart of Glass [manxman]

Chapter Sixteen

Louis and Meredith were in my apartment. They entered quietly, almost tiptoeing through the door as if I would pop out at any moment. Meredith started searching through the kitchen, while Louis headed into the bedroom.

"Any idea what Alexei Rivian would find valuable?" Meredith called, looking in my cabinets.

"The tears of first-years?"

Meredith rolled her eyes, standing up and closing the cabinets. She wandered over to the entrance of my bedroom. She leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms as she watched Louis search. Louis froze at my nightstand, picking something up and turning to face Meredith with my handcuffs dangling from his fingers.

"Do you think these are important to him?"

"As worn and busted as they are, probably." Louis dropped them onto the bed. "What the hell does he get up to in here? I've never seen him bring anyone back..." He fell silent, frowning as he turned back to Meredith. "Actually, that night I came over here, he had cuts on his wrists. I bet it was from those."

"Why would he wear them if it did that?"

Louis shrugged. "He said it was a technique Rainier used to use that became a habit."

Meredith frowned, not saying a word as she watched as Louis turn back to the nightstand, continuing to go through it.

"There's a gun in the drawer... and a knife... some throwing stars... another gun." Louis kicked the drawer shut. "He's paranoid, isn't he?"

"He was the only one armed when we were attacked during the first conference dealing with the Aquireign," Meredith said.

Louis nodded, sighing as he picked up a small metal tin sitting underneath my lamp. "Look at this," he said, turning to Meredith with the box. It was narrower than his hand, but about as long and in the shape of a rectangle. It was simple, metal and gray, with swirls along the front side, and the outline of roses engraved on the lid.

"Maybe that's where he keeps the tears," she said, a small smile curving her lips.

With a snort, Louis lifted the lid, his expression immediately falling.

Meredith frowned. "Lou, what's in the box?"

Louis said nothing, just stared into the box, wide eyed and face pale.

"Louis?" She stepped forward, peering into the box, frowning at the sight.

Laying in the box was a set of silver dog tags hanging from a silver chain. The first one had the number 1274 engraved onto the front, while the second one had an intricate design of a compass and a clock etched onto it.

"These are mine," Louis said numbly, the words barely forming with the silence almost drowning him out. "W-why would he...?" Catching his lower lip between his teeth, Louis extracted the tags from the tin, turning them over and over between his fingers, rubbing them, almost as if to see if the design would peel off or wipe away, to see if they were fake, if he was imagining it.

The designs and numbers stayed perfectly in place, though, just like the frown on Louis's face.

"I don't want to believe it... It can't be—"

"Hey," Meredith said, voice quiet as she stepped over, wrapping an arm around Louis's shoulders. "It's okay. At least you know now."

"I didn't want to know this." Louis shook his head, tightening his grip on the dogtags and tossing the box onto my bed. "Tell me this isn't evidence, Mere. Tell me that there's still some way it could be Remy or Oliver or anyone else."