Chapter Text
~*{ ✧ }*~
Ina carefully shielded her eyes from the sight unfolding in front of her, result of her latest case. Some old lady who killed her husband, only to turn around and try and blame it on their oldest son who didn’t have the best relationship with his father. A few turns of the knobs on her pocket watch and a few carefully planned nights, and case closed.
Taking another puff from her pipe, the detective wondered if that this is what the rest of her life would entail of, looping time to catch criminals became boring after a while, and time consuming. All that time spent waiting so she could be in the right place in the right time didn’t leave her with any spare time to pursue her hobbies, considering she constantly had to be taking notes just so her idiotic boss would be satisfied with her work.
Ina just shook her head, relishing the taste of chocolate mint. She wasn’t sure if it was any safer, but it sure as hell didn’t taste as bad.
The only sound Ina could hear as she strolled home, or her office, they were pretty much the same, was the tapping of her doc martins against cobblestone, the dying birdsong and the quiet murmur of passers-by’s as they shuffled into the late-night bars.
The sight of another stack of papers on her desk threatened to break Ina’s already stressed resolve. She wasn’t sure how much more work she could take without a full three hours of sleep.
“Let’s see what this is all about?” Ina grumbled as she mindlessly thumbed through the stack of paper, eyes narrowing as she read through more and more, pardon the language, utter bullshit. Set approximately seventy-three years in the past, Ina actually found herself looked forward to this case. Not some run of the mill classic murder scene that Ina could solve in a day or two, but a full in-depth case that could keep her mind occupied for more than a day.
Sure, the idea of a cult following someone with eldritch abilities that allowed her to summon tentacles and break peoples minds sounded like some story and edgy eleven-year-old would write. But hell, Ina could travel through time, so who was she to say anything about it.
What also piqued her amusement was the neat scrawl at the bottom of the document that was obviously not typed up like the rest of it, were the words 'life changing! Do it!'. Life changing her ass. This'll just be some case that'll keep her occupied for a few days, maybe a week before she moved on to the next one.
She could feel herself smiling somewhat, a case was a case, and this one was no run of the mill crook. Ina puffed her pipe once more before gripping it tightly, bringing it away from her face. The mahogany wood shone with a dim glow, reflecting the dull light in her office. Ina grimaced and let it fall in the bin beside her desk.
“Guess I got a cult to investigate” Ina rewound the knobs on her watch before clicking it softly, feeling the energy course through her veins as she snapped out of her time.
~*{ ✦ }*~
Ina wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Maybe some old-fashioned fairy-tale village like what they showed in the movies, or some dreary old rainy town. But it looked fairly similar to the run down town she was used to, despite the fact that the horse-and-carts outnumbered the people walking on the street.
And from her vantage point, Ina could separately count each cultist that milled about, mixing in with the regular townsfolk. The way they held themselves, the clothes they wore, the way they interacted with each other just seemed off to the detective.
Ina skilfully pulled out her pen from her back pocket, not even averting her gaze from the crowd below, and started scribbling notes in her notebook, checking her pocket watch periodically to mark down the time.
She did this for hours, perched up on top of what she thought was the library, tucked away behind a pillar that managed to perfectly hide her. Her gaze flittered around, marking every suspicious activity she saw, and occasionally doodling different aspects of the down. A sketch of the bakery under her notes of two cultists cornering someone in an alley, the sketch of the piers as fisherman bartered with the townsfolk.
It quickly got boring, and after a few hours Ina realised that she wouldn’t get much information just by hiding away. She’d need to talk to the cultists, befriend them maybe. If anything went wrong, she had her pocket watch around her neck and her 422. Webley holstered on her hip.
But then she caught sight of something interesting. Someone, a rather beautiful someone, if she was being honest, stalking through the main road, surrounded by robed figures. Her sky-blue eyes scoured over everyone until she lifted her head to look at the surrounding buildings.
Ina froze, her breath caught in her throat. No way in hell she able to see her, let alone zero in on her exact location after being in the same area for only five minutes.
Ina shook herself out of her stupor and ducked behind the pillar, shuffling alone the roof towards the back of the building. Behind her, Ina could hear the priestess barking out orders. She hissed to herself. Now she had pretty much nowhere to inconspicuously disappear into thin air with everyone running around, trying to sniff someone out.
Tipping her hat forward, Ina tried her hardest to blend into the background of confused people watching the cultists run around. Her plan was to try and get far enough so she could book it out of the village and find a bush she could hide in while she calibrated her watch.
But to her absolute luck, the moment her shoes touched the ground, a pair of cultists spotted her, yelling out to their comrades. Within moments, two turned to eight, and eight turned to fourteen, and Ina had absolutely no way out of this.
“It’s her!” One shouted, the rest of them taking a few steps closer.
“Are you sure?” The cultist got smacked over the head by one of their friends.
“Of course it is! You know anyone else with purple hair?” They hissed.
“Did the priestess clarify that she wanted her alive?” One smirked, several others joining in.
“Y’know, I don’t think she did” The first one said smugly.
“Yes! A great sacrifice to our priestess!” The closest was now only a breath away from her, dark eyes shining with bloodlust. Every single one of them was armed with some sort’ve weapon.
‘Guess this is the end of the line for me’ Ina narrowed her eyes, hand reaching slowly for her Webley.
Or at least she would’ve, until a sun-yellow tentacle appeared out of nowhere, wrapping carefully around her midsection with surprising gentleness. And once again Ina found herself on the roof of the library, tucked against the side of the mysterious priestess with golden-yellow hair.
Below them, each cultist quivered with fear, dropping to their knees and holding their hands up in a prayer. Ina chanced a glance to the priestess next to her to find her blue eyes dangerously dark.
“Whose bright idea was it to kill her?” She hissed between sharpened canines. None of the cultists spoke, or even moved. The priestess tutted and turned around with a flick of her hand, turning Ina with her. Probably for the better as a chorus of pain screams reached her ears, along with the occasional spatter of red blood.
The priestess didn’t say anything, though the tentacle slithered back to where it came from as they neared the edge of the building. Opening her mouth to ask how they were going to get down, Ina was quickly silenced as the priestess scooped her up into a bridal hold. With no hesitation, she took a step off of the building and landed without a single falter in her step. She seemed reluctant to set Ina down but did so at her request.
“Ina, isn’t it? Ninomae Ina’nis?” The priestess smiled at the detective, which caught Ina entirely off guard. This had been the first time she had travelled back to this point in time, right? Although, there was always the possibility that another version of her had screwed around with her timeline.
“How do you know my name?” Ina asked, her eyes narrowing. The priestess’s smile didn’t waver, in fact it only seemed to grow.
“You’ve been in my dreams.. Every time I fall asleep, you appear. Sometimes it’s when we first meet, sometimes it’s visions of your past, sometimes it’s… visions of our future..” She trailed off, averting her eyes as her cheeks became redder and redder with each word.
“I’m Amelia. Amelia Watson” Amelia held her hand out to shake. Ina remained frozen for a few moments, her mind still reeling at the information the priestess had leaked. Pushing that aside for now, Ina returned the gesture.
“Now, how about a spot of supper?”