School Days Origins: Crossing Paths

Marie knew that her family had money troubles. She knew that the fights that her partents got into were about money. How her father had lost his job and her mother didn’t have one to begin with.

She knew that they were scared. She also knew that her sisters were scared. And that she was scared.

Fear circled throughout the family, causing fights and tears, but the source was ignored.
One day Marie woke up and her mother was gone. She snuck out of the house and into the woods to find her when she heard a scream.

She ran over to see a boy not much older than her wearing dirty clothes. He was holding his arm to his chest.

“What happened?” she asked as she knelt down beside him.

“I think it might be broken,” he gasped, avoiding her question. “Go get your father.”

Marie nodded and ran back to her house, bringing her father back to where the boy was, but he wasn’t there. There was only a cross carved into the tree.

She didn’t notice that her father had wandered off until she heard his scream.

.-*-.
Maxien Mjölnir funeral wasn’t as special as it should have been, for her family couldn’t afford it.

Mark Mjölnir was given a job out of the blue and life went on for many.

But Marie always remembered the boy with the broken arm, the one who killed her mother.

One day she smashed a wall thinking about him, discovering her weapon ability.

The case went cold, and there was only one clue to the identity of the killer.

The cross.