Because the Girls Want Action Too...

[windandwater]

Noin bit her lip as the uniformed officer lay the distressingly slim manila folder on her desk. She placed one tanned hand on top of the file and without even looking up, waved away the Preventer. He faltered, as if he wanted to say something, but then turned on his heel and strode out of the office, closing the door behind him.

The manila folder just sat there, slightly off-center on her desk.

With a trembling hand, Noin flipped the cover open. There, on the very first page of the report, black words on white paper. A color headshot of the former Preventer Commander paper-clipped to the file. Noin knew without looking that the file would be filled with reports, photographs of the crime scene, and very little evidence as to the motives or perpetrator of the crime.

CASE FILE # PRE/HOM/1311UA12
Victim Name: Une, Lady Anne
Cause of Death: Multiple stab wounds and trauma to skull

Noin swallowed as she read through the top of the report. At the end of the first page, she stopped, unwilling to read further. She didn't need to. She knew why the report had been handed to her. Reaching into her desk drawer, she pulled out a rubber stamp, inked it carefully and applied it to the top of the report. Withdrawing the implement and pushing it back into the depths of her desk, Noin viewed her handiwork, keeping the tears from spilling from her eyes.

There, over the pristine black words on white paper was the glaring red stamp.

UNSOLVED

Noin hastily slammed the manila folder shut and carried it in gentle hands to the filing cabinet set in the corner of the office. It had been Une's -- once. Now it was hers. The office had been Une's, now it was Noin's. Noin was the Head of the Preventers now.

Noin was the one to take Une's place... in everything.

As the ebony-haired woman deposited the folder into its proper drawer, a small smile twitched across her lips. Sapphire blue eyes watched resolutely as the manila folder was lost in the depths of the cold steel cabinet, to be forgotten.

She slammed the filing cabinet drawer with a hollow thud that echoed through the empty office.

Noin glanced at the clock. She had to hurry. She was going to be late in picking up Mariemaia with Zechs. With one last look at the filing cabinet, Noin shrugged on her coat, and snapped off the lights behind her.

"You should have been more elegant... Lady..."

Noin smiled.