French Consulate General, San Francisco.

Luxia Dawnes meets with a male French emissary, and has apparently arrived late.
And without San-Ha Mitsuba, whom he seems to favor.

Luxia implies that she executed Mitsuba for failing, as being favored by the emissary does not exempt her from the rules and the punishments for breaking them.

He asks her if it was connected to the Primal Heart being in the news. She confirms this, saying Gris Grande was out-gambitted by the CLEP, with assistance from a civilian therapist, who has become a person of interest for various reasons, including her suspicion that said therapist has unclear ties to the Falcon, whose very presence, the emissary says, has been a deterrent against them executing their plans for some time now.

Luxia hands over a manila envelope, filled with documents that the emissary reads in silence.

Meanwhile, Luxia explains why she arrived late. She'd been held up by needing to silence Mayor Gladstone, whose connection to them would have been revealed by the CLEP's investigation into Gris Grande's dealings. She assures him that no-one will suspect foul play, or that Gladstone was involved with anyone but Gris Grande.

The emissary finishes reading the documents and tells Luxia to contact their "new Canadian friends" and tell their captain that he has decided to accept her offer. He dismisses Luxia to carry out these tasks.

Left alone to his thoughts, the emissary muses on the subject of the documents.

Jonathan Ventus and the emissary had been college roommates, and both had disappeared after being attacked by the Dead-Hand Killer over ten years ago.

The emissary is the Dead-Hand Killer, and was trying to gain dark power via virgin sacrifice. He returned to France to let the heat die down, and would have made another attempt, if the Falcon had not appeared and not been so efficient at taking down criminals, which would result in his exposure and capture.

But now, Jonathan Ventus will be instrumental in getting the Falcon out of the way of his destiny to rule the world as the dark god-emperor it deserves and craves, whether it's willing to admit it or not.

It is, after all, his divine right.

Author's Note

Yep, 7DSJ reference. RIP Three-Leaf, and that's all, folks.

Read the afterword for more.