Nobody ~ Edvic

< Ch. 7 >

< Edgar was about to turn back to the door so he could head back up to his room and fall asleep, but a heavy metal object was thrown at his head, knocking him unconscious. >

(TW : IMPLIED SELF HARM!!)
The artist woke up in a pitch black room. He couldn't move anything on his body. He felt paralyzed. He felt heavy bindings trapping him onto the chair he was on. A cloth being wrapped around his mouth. Nobody was there. Not even a fly. The room was dark and eerie. Edgar thought he was having a nightmare.
< Victor? Victor! Victor, are you there? Anywhere..? Is anyone here...? >
Edgar yelled out, but all that was said could only translate into quiet mumbling. His words were trapped inside his mouth from the cloth, as Edgar was about to give up hope and accept his fate, a door that was in front of him opened, and there stood a man wearing a green hood with the sleeves ripped off, his arms were bandaged, and he had a serious look on his face. That's all the details of the man that Edgar could make out with only the light from the hallway behind the man. The hooded man walked up to Edgar, and asked :
< Valden, Edgar, Correct? First son of the Valden family? >
Edgar sat still, not moving a muscle. Why would he answer suspicious questions from a suspicious person?
< ...I'll take that as a yes, damned brat. >
Naib kicked Edgar's chair a bit, tilting it, making Edgar tense up from the fear of hitting the floor.
< Heh, look man. I'm not here to hurt you, much, we only need you for the money your father owes us. >
Edgar stayed quiet, questioning the situation in his head. ' Why does my father owe them money? Why did they kidnap me instead of telling him something? What is going to happen to me? ' Edgar shook his head multiple ways to try to get the cloth off of his mouth before the hooded man jerked it off for him.
< You have something to say, huh? Well, spit it out. >
The hooded man said in a stern tone, making Edgar nervous.
< Why did you kidnap me instead of talking with him yourselves? Why does he owe you money? What's with the weird hood..? >
Edgar let his questions spill out, giving him a surprised look from the man standing in front of him.
< Woah there dude, I'm not here for interviews, look, your dad is a fuckin' jerk and only used us for his own good. And instead of paying us like he promised, he kicked us out. And that comment about my attire is rude, y'know.. >
Edgar stared at the man, waiting for a last response so he could come up with something to say.
< Cat got your tongue, eh? Oh well, I've got business to do, you have fun in here man. >
Those were the last words heard from the hooded man before he left Edgar in the pitch black room again. Edgar felt worried, scared, and hopeless. All he could wonder is what Victor would be doing at this time.

Once the sun had reached Victor's window, he immediately jumped out of bed and did his daily routine of showering, getting dressed for the morning, eating breakfast, and brushing his teeth before he walked out of his apartment with Wick to the Valden manor. He rung the doorbell and waited for a response. To his surprise, the wait wasn't as long as he thought it would be. Instead of a maid or butler answering the door, a young maiden pulled open the door hurriedly.
< Investigation team? Have you finally come — oh.. It's just the postman.. I'm dearly sorry but we are quite busy at the moment so if you would hand me the mail quickly please? >
The young girl looked as if she was crying. Her cheeks and nose were red and her eyes were puffy.
< Oh no, no, no! I've come to see Edgar.. I'm his close friend and we planned to meet up at a nearby café to talk! >
< Oh dear.. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Sir, you don't understand, my dear brother.. He's gone missing! >
Victor's heart stopped for a few seconds. His face went blank. His mind was cluttered with emotions he didn't know he could have. Victor shook his head, snapping himself out of his daze and coming to his senses. He looked down at the girl again and could hear her sobs, to which he responded with a tight hug. He didn't know why Edgar went missing or where he might be, but he would find out, no matter what. He wasn't going to lose his lover.
After the whole moment with Edgar's sister, Victor hurried to the police station to see if they had any type of clue to where Edgar might be.
Victor has a long and serious conversation with the detectives and policemen that were at the station the time he got there. All of the answers had only led him nowhere. Victor ended up walking back home with no idea where his lover may be. This was no time to give up though. Victor sat on his bed, thinking hard of who may have done this. He knew Edgar had no plan to run away, so he knew someone else must have caused this case.
A couple hours pass, Victor has been worried sick for Edgar. He never wanted this to happen. Just as he was about to lose hope — he remembered he had Wick. Wick is a dog. Dogs have great senses of smell.. Victor realized this and quickly put on his normal outside attire, picked up Wick, and hurried down to the Valden Manor.
Victor hurried to the front door and knocked rapidly on it. Again, Edgar's sister; Maple, answered it.
< Oh! It's my brother's friend! Hello again! Just letting you know, we've already gathered up a search party and we're investigating the matter as we speak! Yet we haven't gotten the search dogs yet.. >
Victor held up Wick for Maple to see. She gave a confused look back as a response.
< We can use my dog to search for him. He's already gotten to know his scent and hopefully will find him quickly. >
Maple's face lit up. She then opened the door more for Victor and his dog to step inside. They both headed to Edgar's studio first. It doesn't hurt to look for some kind of clues, does it?

But in this case, it does.

Victor let wick sniff around the place to find anything, after waiting a few minutes the sound of barking could be heard. Victor rushed back into the studio and saw Wick barking at an empty easel with a scalpel on it. The tool had red looking smears on it. Victor first thought it was maybe a dark shade of red paint, but he thought again. Why would Wick bark at this if it was merely paint? Victor's eyes widened as he realized what this could mean.

Edgar was keeping something from him. Something serious.

Victor couldn't believe this. Was Edgar really harming himself? For what? Victor overfilled his own head with millions of questions. Until he caught something in the corner of his eye. Behind the easel was a pile of destroyed canvases. Victor knew how easily Edgar could get angry with his own mistakes and destroy the whole painting.. But this was different. All the paintings had smearings of a dark crimson color on them. Every. Single. One. Victor picked up one of the canvases and read what it said:
"RED IS GENTLE."
"RED IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER."
THESE CUTS, THEY ARE THE KEY TO MY ART.
"THE BLOOD THAT I DRAIN FROM MY BODY WILL FINALLY HELP ME MAKE A MASTERPIECE.."
The rest of the writing was smeared off. Victor threw the canvas back in the corner it was in, picked up Wick, and decided there was nothing in the studio, continuing his search to Edgar's room.
Edgar's room was as clean as ever. No sight of anything that could have happened anywhere. Not even the dog could figure anything out. Until a familiar voice of a young girl came.
< Mr. Postman! I think our maids have found a clue! >
Maple rushed in and spoke, sounding out of breath from how fast she sprinted. Victor quickly got up and followed Maple to the garden. When they entered the heaven of flowers, they found one of the maids standing by a gazebo near the entrance, holding a blue ribbon of silk.

Edgar's ribbon.

Victor impatiently asked for the ribbon. When the maid gave it to him, he quickly let Wick sniff it, telling him :

< Find Edgar.. Please. >