Chapter Text
“It’s confirmed,” Heero tuts, climbing down the stairwell, careless with the weight of his footfalls despite the fact that this is a library and, it’s probably turning give or take a hundred years this year. He even goes on to lean his hip against the balustrade at the landing where he crosses his arms…he’s practically vandalizing a certified antique here from before the war, but there are more pressing matters at hand: “Volume 1’s missing.”
“Is it now?” That’s what No-name says from down below the first floor—but judging from the flow of his movements, it looks like he’s already come to expect this. The towers of tomes that surround him barely seem to budge and yet, undeterred, he takes one book from his side, encodes it into the database, then shoots it straight through a hatch at the other side so he can take the next title. Over and over again.
Heero shifts his attention to the rest of the expansive room, just because he likes the view of overflowing shelves and honey-glazed wood better than No-name’s uncaring back. “What does the database say about it?” he inquires after a moment.
The noisy key taps actually pause this time, and No-name even glances at his direction over his shoulder. Heero shouldn’t be so petty about it, but he counts this as a win for his cause.
That book in No-name’s grasp finds its way back to its original perch so the encoder can use both his hands to issue his query. “Status is ‘available’, but the last activity is dated one-hundred and ninety-five days ago.”
“Six months and four days,” Heero mutters after a quick calculation in his head. He frowns. Since then, they’ve had near-countless people dropping by to peruse their books and resources.
“You weren’t planning on reading it again for the hundredth time, were you?” Count on No-name to take a jab at him in spite of his statuesque form. Then again, Heero supposes they wouldn’t have stuck as friends otherwise, even after the war was won.
He pushes his hips off the balustrade and heads back up the way he came without another word said.
Six months and four days. Make that six months, four days and a few more hours give or take. They could have lost the book in the first few hours, or it could have just gone missing yesterday.
It’s a lot of data to sift through. But aside from helping No-name out in maintaining their archive, it’s not like Heero has other plans tonight, anyway. So he sits in front of the computer in the security room and burns through his entire evening that way.
No-name doesn’t come up to offer him one of his mind-blowing coffees either. Then again, the guy did just come back after having disappeared for more than a few nights in a row, logging back hundreds and hundreds of books to boot. When it used to be that he’d only be gone for forty-eight hours max, with only the usual bags of coffee beans and-or boxes of tea to show for it. It’ll take him a while to put even just ten-percent of the new acquisitions into the database.
Anyhow. Six months, four days, a few hours give or take. They’ve had nearly two-million nine-hundred visitors since, some nine-hundred fifty-thousand of which came away with a new book checked out. Of the books checked out only half of them fit in the category of the missing Volume 1. And of that half of the population, the ones who came away with a book from the author are…
A lot. But. Heero goes through each and every one of them. The young and the old, the morning visitors and the nighttime readers, the new readers and their old regulars.
Vaguely, through the solid wall of the tiny room, he hears the cock crow. Vaguely, too, he notices that the light has shifted—that brick square room, with all its clutter of paper, tapes, other whatchamacallits that might prove useful in some distant life, doesn’t seem to glow quite as golden anymore after the sunlight has rendered his lamps moot. In one of the many cubic screens this place has, he catches the shape of No-name making the trip to the kitchen, ready to start the day.
In another screen, a new shape comes into view exactly two months back from this day. Black from head to toe, a cap that conceals their face, and a thick, braided tail that sweeps the floor after them. They have their hands in their pockets, and they give the section a casual glance-over before they disappear behind the shelves. Never to be seen by the cameras again.
“Did you even try to nap last night?” No-name sets a fresh cup of his magical coffee in front of him.
Heero is glaring at it, but now that he’s found his culprit, he does feel his midnight homework weighing down upon his shoulders. At this rate, he really should just hit the sack—but the fragrance of No-name’s coffee is just too much to resist.
Just this one cup, he convinces his better senses as he enjoys his first sip.
“Take the day off today.” No-name sits in his usual place to the right of him, taking his time to enjoy the aroma wafting from his cup before he drinks from it. “I’ll handle everything.”
Heero looks at his shape for a second before he finally cedes the photos he’d brought down with him. “If you can, see if this person drops by today, too.”
No-name trades his cup for that picture of the black-clad visitor standing inside the lift. “And who’s this one?”
“The one who stole our copy of Volume 1.” Heero drinks from his cup again, not too much that he’ll drain it in a single gulp, not too fast that he’ll burn his tongue. Just enough to keep him going for a little longer.
“Him?”
Heero eyes No-name under furrowed brows. “You know him?” So it’s a him, huh.
“We have a record of him.” The heavy chair groans as No-name gets up, coffee in hand.
Down a narrow stairwell, the stone walls giving out to a furnished corridor, Heero follows him into the inner library where he then sits down in his leather seat and brings his computer back to life.
“Here he is.”
Heero leans over to check the square screen over No-name’s shoulder. The thief is still dressed in the same way, but he’s by the back door this time, a great grin on his face. There’s No-name with his back turned to the camera, facing him.
“He’s the one who bought our old vending machine.” No-name brings up a separate window and types on. “His name is registered as…”
Heero frowns at the information that comes up. “G.O.D?” What kind of a name is that?
“It’s the name he provided so it’s the name we have on record.” The printer screeches to life, No-name’s loaded workstation shuddering to its dance. The guy rescues his coffee before he spills any of that precious caffeine on even more precious books and enjoys a casual sip. Heero remembers his own cup and finally finishes it. There’s work to be done.
“Now that you think about it, this is hardly an address that he left us. More like a general location.” No-name rips the paper off the printer’s teeth and hands it to Heero. “But you should be able to make do with that, anyhow.”
Heero looks briefly at the text. “Looks like I’ll be seeing you later, then.”
“You’re leaving now?” No-name throws his voice far enough to chase his back when he starts for the door.
Heero turns to him again. “I’ve got to collect his late fee.”
“Trust me, after a sleepless night, you’ll want to do it tomorrow.” No-name actually gives him the grace of whirling around in his throne just so Heero can watch him cross his arms. “Besides, one more day won’t mean that much to his overdue balance.” That’s true.
Heero glances at the paper he’s holding again. Well, it’s not like the trip would take him all day.