Chapter Text
"Are you sure you can't come?" Rafayel asks and Xera swears she could hear the pout on his face. "Or do you just not want to?"
"Of course I wan't to. You know I love all your art shows but I have a mission at the exact same time." she replies apologetically.
"I told Thomas to keep it at night. I don't know why he never listens" Rafayel grumbles. "I'll have to wake up so early. It's not fair. What am i gonna do all day without you? Maybe I just shouldn't go."
"Rafayel, You know Thomas finally managed to get hold of that magazine he really wants you in and they're coming tomorrow. You have to go!" Xera replies sternly. Rafayel doesn't sound convinced. She decides to try a different tactic. "Well, that's a real shame. It's my favourite magazine... if they put you in you'll be in like celebrity status."
"Oh, puh-lease. I already am celebrity status." He retorts.
"Not to me though. If you had an interview in that magazine, you'd go from hypothetical crush to celebrity crush." Xera replies playfully and Rafayel goes quiet on the other end, thinking.
"Really?"
"Mmhm. "
"Ugh, fine. I'll go." He mutter, giving in.
○●○
The next day passes without so much as a message from Rafayel, which was certainly unusual but Xera assumes the event has just tired him out. When she and Xavier return from the mission late in the day, thoroughly tired herself, she's surprised to see Thomas calling her. What could Rafayel possibly have done this time.
"Hello?"
"Can you tell Rafayel that I've had it up to here with him? I worked for months to get that interview with the magazine and he just left without even telling me. He also left his phone." Thomas snaps, sounding thoroughly annoyed on the other end.
"I'm so sorry, Thomas. That is terrible...but Rafayel isn't here."
"Huh? I thought you picked him up. His car was still out front."
"No, I just got home from my mission. We didn't have any plans today. Last thing he told me was that he'd do the interview. Isn't he probably at Mo Studios? In bed or the bathtub or something?"
"No, I checked. . It doesn't look like he's been there at all. Well, I'm going to try to see where he is. Don't worry too much. He's probably on the beach. I'll call you as soon as I get a hold of him." He says before hanging up.
"Everything alright?" Xavier asks looking up from the couch.
"I'm not sure." Xera replies, plopping down next to him as he holds out her takeout container, shifting her focus to eating and trying to think about where on earth Rafayel could be.
○●○
An hour later, when Xera's phone rings she's expecting it. Thomas sounds a little short of breath on the other side.
"Did you find him?" She asks before he can even get a word out. Xavier looks over at her with a quirk on his brow, both of them still on the couch.
"No.. not really. But I did ask the exhibition venue for their security camera footage and I went through it. He didn't leave from the front door, and I'm certain he's still not in the venue because I cleared it out." Thomas explains slowly. Xera feels her stomach sinking.
"What? Then where'd he go?" She asks, sitting up.
"Well, after that, I remembered there was a side door so I checked the cameras around there but there's none really facing it. Theres one down the path from there and there was this white van pulling in and out."
Xera's breath stills, heart sinking faster than she can think. "A white van?" She chokes out, her face suddenly so pale that Xavier, leaning on the couch beside her and previously silently slightly irked that she was talking to someone else leans in to hear more of what was happenning.
"Yeah. And there's a logo on the back but I can't make it out with the quality of the camera." Thomas admits, sounding weary.
"Can you send it to me?" She asks and he agrees. "This is really bad, isnt it? " she hopes he'll say no, knowing otherwise.
"Yes. I just hope he's safe."
"I should've been there." Xera croaks out, a sudden guilt smothering her. "I could've- "
"Don't blame yourself, Xera." Thomas says gently. "You have a job, and I did hire extra security guards for the event. Let's just focus on finding him."
"Okay, yeah. Thank you. I'll tell you if I find anything." She replies, hanging up. She tries to breath to get her heart to beat a little slower, her uneven heartbeats starting to worry her a tiny bit.
She opens the video Thomas sends her, sure enough a blurry video of the back of a white van. It's the wrong angle for the number plate, and the logo on the side of the van is barely visible. Xavier silently peers at it from beside her.
"I would send this to Nero but he doesn't get to work until morning." She says, feeling somewhat helpless. Xavier rewinds the video once more before turning to her, the distress and guilt visible on her face. "Send it to me, I'll get Jeremiah to look into it." He says gently, rewinding the video once more.
Xera nods gratefully. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me for that." He takes her phone from her, playing the video again and holding it close to his face.
"Do you see something?" She asks, leaning over to catch a glimpse of what he's staring at.
"Look, there's some kind of blue glow coming from small window of the van. See?" He scrubs through the timeline, holding down every frame. Xera sees a faint blue light too. "Does your friend have an evol like mine?" Xera is too distressed to hear the very slight pout in his tone.
"No... but" she trails off, thinking. The only time Rafayel glows blue is when he tranforms into a lumerian, the bioluminescence emanating from him slightly overpowering for a good five minutes, before it fades to a lighter glow. It can only mean one thing. "He's in there!"
At that moment, Xera knows she will do anything to get Rafayel back.