"Are you guys sure this is okay?" Valerie asked the group the moment they pulled into the driveway of the Moore residence.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Elizabeth inquired of the tall blonde.
"I dunno…don't you think it's just too soon? Like, he just got out of the hospital yesterday, right?"
"It should be fine." Evan said with a slight grin on his face.
For Evan, Elizabeth, Maria, and Valerie, this would be the first time that they would be visiting Cyrus since he reappeared after being kidnapped. The group had waited the entire day for this little excursion of theirs after finally getting the green light from Chief Chandler. And needless to say, they were all eager to see how their friend was doing.
None of them quite knew what to expect, though. They had been given very little information regarding the state that the freckled-faced teen was currently in. All they had to go on was what the Chief told them right before they came out here.
"Besides, you remember what Chief Zoe told us back at the station, right?"
-(o)-
[Thirty Minutes Earlier]
"Let me make this very clear to all of you." Chief Chandler told the four young sorcerers who were all standing in her office. The woman was speaking to them as if they were her own children. "Moore is not in the best of shape right now. And I don't want any of you saying something stupid when you go see him. When you see him, don't ask him any questions that might make him uncomfortable. Don't say anything inconsiderate. And for the love of God, do not say anything about his face. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am." Evan said with a calm smile. "We promise to mind our manners."
Maria nodded in agreement with what the young 'wind magic' user said.
Elizabeth was the next to speak. "Is it that bad?"
"Yes." The brunette woman replied. "Whoever had him decided to slice him up pretty bad. Please make sure that you try not to act too surprised when you see it."
"Do we at least know who did this to him?" Valerie inquired.
"Not yet." The Chief told her niece. "We're going to wait a couple more days before we start asking questions. He just got back, and I don't want to overload him too quickly."
'I guess that makes sense.' Maria thought. Trying to prod Cyrus for information right now was probably a bad idea. They had no clue what the guy had been through over the last three weeks. And from what they were told so far, it didn't sound good.
"I'm serious." Chief Chandler then stared at the group, more specifically toward Evan and Elizabeth. "If either of you says or does something stupid, I promise you that you're going to regret it. And I don't care if you two aren't agents, or if your father is my boss. I'm sure that Eugene will have no problem with me shoving my foot up your ass for acting like a pair of dumbasses."
"Can't really argue with you there." Elizabeth shrugged. If anything, their father would probably take the time out of his busy schedule to personally sort the two of them out if he caught wind of them being insensitive idiots.
-(o)-
"Well, here goes nothing…." Valere said with a sigh before knocking on the door.
About ten seconds later, the door opened to reveal who they all remembered to be Cyrus's mother, Cynthia. They had briefly met the woman and her husband during Freddy's funeral, but they hadn't had the chance to talk to her all that much with everything that was going on.
"Hello." The redheaded woman said to the group of young sorcerers with a slight grin. "Mrs. Chandler told me that you four would be dropping by."
"It's nice to see you again, ma'am!" Evan said to the woman in a polite tone.
"We apologize for dropping in on you like this. If this is a bad time, we can leave." Elizabeth's tone mirrored her brother's.
"No, no, it's fine." The woman waved off. "Please, come in. My son's partner already told him that you four would be dropping by. Thank you for coming. I appreciate you guys doing this, especially with everything that you have going on right now."
"It's our pleasure." Valerie said with a smile. "Cyrus is our friend, after all."
With that, the four agents quickly entered the house and placed their shoes beside the door. Although it wasn't nearly as big as the MacNamara residence, it was still a rather impressive home. It made sense, though. Cyrus's father was a judge, and his mother owned a popular florist's shop. The fact that they lived in a nice neighborhood like this was to be expected.
The four young sorcerers were then quickly escorted to the living room, where Cyrus and his father, Darius, were sitting on the sofa watching television. And despite being given prior warning about it, the four of them couldn't help but pause when they finally got a look at the state their friend was now in.
'Santa mierda….' Maria thought while failing to hide the look of shock on her face.
'Ay Dios Mio!' Elizabeth fought the urge to bring her hands up to her face upon seeing Cyrus.
'Jesus Christ.' Evan's eyes widened.
'Damn, he lost a lot of weight.' Valerie thought while inspecting the 'tree magic' user's body. 'Even his hands are all cut up. Just what the hell did they do to him?'
"Hey, what's up?" Cyrus asked the group in an oddly calm tone after turning his head away from the television and looking in their direction. "Ayako said that y'all would be dropping by today."
Cyrus was currently dressed in a set of heavy-looking sweats with the hood draped over his head. On top of that, his curly black hair was noticeably longer than it was the last time they saw him. Unfortunately, this look did nothing to hide the scars that now littered his face. Nor did it hide the numerous scars and slight skin discoloration that were all over his hands.
After taking a second to shake off the initial shock, Maria was surprisingly the first to speak up. "Hey, how do you feel?"
"Not great." Cyrus replied to the raven-haired woman's question in a cool tone. "But I can't really complain."
"Cool."
"I'll give you all some time to catch up." Darius Moore then said before standing up and making his way toward the kitchen. The four young sorcerers quickly gave the man a polite greeting before he and his wife gave them all some space.
The group then took a second to sit down at one of the many available seats in the living room. And once they were all comfortable, they decided to get right down to business.
"Here you go!" Valerie said with an awkward smile while holding the gift basket that she was carrying in front of her. One that had an assortment of flowers, treats, and a few "Get Well Soon" cards from some of he other agents from the station. "Sorry if this seems kind of lame, but we thought it would be a bad idea to show up here empty-handed. Don't worry, though, we plan on getting you something better since your birthday is in a few days."
"Thanks." Cyrus smiled at the woman before taking the gift basket from her and looking through its contents.
An awkward silence then filled the living room for a good thirty seconds before Cyrus spoke up again. He already had a pretty good idea as to what everyone had on their minds. So, he saw no point in delaying the inevitable.
"Y'all don't have to beat around the bush, y'know. Just go ahead and ask me whatever you want. I promise that I won't get upset."
The other four sorcerers all gave each other a series of unsure looks before Elizabeth decided to just bite the bullet. "What happened to you?"
Images of the last few weeks flashed through Cyrus's mind before he quickly got himself in order and replied. "Those Iznana guys that attacked the fundraiser got the drop on me and Freddy right after we left the movie theater. One of them was the same 'fire magic' user with the McKenna family technique."
"Fuck!" Valerie cursed upon hearing that. Of course, that guy was involved in this. She really needed to figure out who he was.
"After that, I was taken to…somewhere. I don't know where the place was, but when I woke up, I was already there, strapped down to some exam bed and locked down with mana-cuffs."
"And then what?" Evan couldn't help but ask.
Cyrus let out a deep sigh before giving him an answer. "This woman…Han- Frost, the one in charge of the whole operation, spent the entire time I was there harvesting my sperm. I'm not going to go into detail about everything that she did to me, but just know that it wasn't pretty."
Elizabeth was the next to speak. "Is she the one who did that to your face?"
"Yup." Cyrus nodded. "She also gave me this."
The freckle-faced teen then opened his mouth to reveal to everyone the enchantment rune that was currently etched onto his tongue. Unlike the ones that the twins usually created, this was in the style of an old Nordic rune instead of the voodoo style that they preferred.
Ironically enough, Cyrus didn't even know that the enchantment was placed on his body until he looked in the mirror yesterday. He figured that Hannah, or someone else, must've given it to him while he was unconscious.
'That's a silencer.' Evan thought while visually inspecting the enchantment. 'A shitty one. But one that works.'
"Apparently, it stops me from divulging too much information about the people who captured me. It's not strong enough to kill me, from what I was told. So, I guess that's something positive to think about."
"Why? Why did she do that to you?" Maria asked, genuinely curious as to what purpose this Frost person could've had for doing something like that to the 'tree magic' user. If she just wanted the man for his DNA, then mutilating him to such an extent was completely unnecessary.
"Honestly…who the fuck knows? She said that it was because I was being disobedient, but I'm not sure what the hell was going on through her head at the time."
Hearing that made Valerie feel sick. This woman was obviously not right in the head if she was willing to do this to Cyrus for such a bullshit reason. The tall blonde was seriously hoping for a chance to shove her fist through this Frost person's face the moment she saw her.
"Did she do anything else to you?"
Cyrus looked at Elizabeth with a cold expression. One that sent a chill down the 'earth magic' user's spine. It was clear that whatever Cyrus was about to say wasn't going to be pleasant to hear. And to be honest, the dark-skinned woman was regretting even asking the question in the first place.
"She also decided to…have her way with me when she wasn't pumping me full of drugs and beating me for fun. Apparently, she has some weird dominatrix kink or something, and she took great pleasure in using me as one of her toys."
"What the fuck…" Evan couldn't help the exasperated sigh that came out of his mouth. He already had a pretty good idea as to what the guy had been through while he was gone, but actually hearing him say it out loud was something different altogether.
Cyrus then spent the next couple of minutes detailing what little information he could to his friends. Because he was floating in and out of consciousness the whole time that he was captured, there wasn't really all that much he could say. On top of that, he already promised Chief Chandler (and someone else) not to divulge too much information on Hannah and her friends until a little bit later on. There was an ongoing investigation going on, after all.
"So…what happens now?" Valerie asked the freckle-faced teen while doing her best not to look at the scars on his face.
"Well, Chief Chandler told me that I'm basically going to be off duty for the next month or so to recuperate and get my strength back. After that, I'm pretty much going to be doing desk duty until I'm cleared to go back out on missions with Ayako and Fred- with Ayako. But until then, I'll just be doing rehab and training."
"Well, that's good." Elizabeth said with a forced smile.
"I'll say!" Valerie joked while pinching Cyrus on the arm. "You are looking a little thin right now. You need to start getting back some of that muscle you lost!"
Evan, Maria, and Elizabeth all sent death glares in the tall blonde's direction the moment those words came out of her mouth. Why she decided to say something like that was completely beyond them. They were all just told not to say anything stupid, and here she was trying to crack jokes at a time like this. What the hell was she even thinking?
"I know, right?!" Cyrus perked up a bit to try to diffuse the sudden tension. "I haven't been this skinny in years! It'll be a while before I'm back in fighting shape!"
Evan decided to use that declaration to his advantage. "Well, luckily for us, our bodies gain muscle quickly. You should be back to normal in a couple of months."
Maria was about to say something, but she was interrupted when Cyrus's mother came into the living room.
"Alright, everyone, the food's ready! Oh, wait, you guys are staying for dinner, right? Sorry, I forgot to ask you when you all came in." The redheaded woman said as she leaned on the back of the sofa.
"Oh, we don't want to impose, ma'am." Evan told the woman.
"Nonsense!" Cynthia shot back. "We made more than enough for everyone here!"
"W-what are we having?" Valerie asked with a wobbly grin, still feeling a bit embarrassed over her earlier comment.
"Smoked ribs, mashed potatoes, cabbage, and sweet potato pie!" Darius Moore shouted from the kitchen. "I spent all day making this, so if you aren't going to eat it here, you're still taking some home with you!"
Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well…who are we to turn down such an extravagant meal?!"
With that, the five young sorcerers all got up and began making their way over to the dining room. While they were doing that, Maria took a moment to glance over at Cyrus. She didn't want to say anything while they were talking earlier, but there was something off about him. She was nowhere near an expert on how people were supposed to react to trauma, but the way that the 'tree magic' user was acting right now unsettled her quite a bit. The guy was way too calm and even-keeled after going through something as terrible as he had. And it was clear that he was putting on a mask in front of them.
Speaking from her own experiences, she knew that he was doing his best to keep it all together in front of the others. But she couldn't help but wonder how long he was going to be able to keep it up until something happened.
'I should keep an eye on him, just in case.' The 'beast magic' user thought before joining the rest of the group at the table.
-(o)-
"So, you and Evan found a workaround for your flying issue?"
"Yup!" Valerie said with Cyrus with a happy smile on her face. "It took a while for us to figure things out, but we finally found a method that works the best for me! It's still a work in progress, though."
"Well, that's good to hear."
"I still can't believe that you people can actually fly." Cynthia said in between bites of her food. "I almost had a heart attack when I saw my son floating in the living room while he was cleaning earlier."
"It does seem like a pretty useful skill to have." Darius commented while looking down at his tablet and reviewing some documents from work.
'Should we really be talking about stuff like this in front of Cyrus's parents?' Maria couldn't help but think while chewing on her piece of pie. After all, sorcerers were technically supposed to be a secret from the general public. The fact that they were openly discussing this kind of thing in front of two non-sorcerers was technically not allowed.
"Uh…can we backtrack to what you said earlier?" Elizabeth looked at Cyrus. "You said that you're going to be doing your rehab with Quintin for the next month? Like, Quinton Vurr? Our sister's flunkie?"
"That's right." Cyrus replied.
"How did that happen?"
"She didn't tell you guys?" The 'tree magic' user then gave the twins a confused look.
"We know that she went and visited you in the hospital, but that was it. She didn't say anything about helping you out with your recovery."
"Honestly, I was pretty surprised about it myself. Elaine said that Quintin Vuur is a certified expert in this kind of stuff. And that her other two friends, Nick and Reyna, could help me repair my body while I'm there. I was too weak to get the full treatment from the station's 'healing magic' users yesterday. And having the two of them patch me up in between sessions is going to help out a lot."
"I guess that makes sense."
There was something about this whole arrangement that Evan found odd. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the idea that his sister just randomly offered to assist the young man in his rehabilitation just didn't sit right with him. Elaine very rarely showed this kind of generosity without getting something back for it in return. So the idea that this was happening was a bit strange to say the least.
Then again, Cyrus and the others were strongly affiliated with their family now since all of them had the flying enchantment on their bodies. So, in a way, it did make some sense. The 'wind magic' used still had an odd feeling about it, though.
"Man…you're so lucky!" Valerie said with no small amount of envy in her voice. "Getting to train with Quintin Vuur is like a dream come true for me. You think Aunt Zoe would let me come with you?"
"Doubtful." Cyrus shrugged at the question. "The Chief said that the station was still stretched pretty thin right now. I don't think she'd take too kindly to the idea of me dragging you along to the mountains for an entire month."
"Yeah, you're right…."
'Wait, did the Chief not tell her yet?' Maria looked at Valerie in slight confusion.
Chief Chandler and Robin had already told the 'beast magic' user that they were planning on sending her, Cyrus, and Valerie away for training sometime in the future after this whole Iznana mess was over and done with. This was something that had been in the works for the last couple of months or so. Apparently, they were still in the process of finding suitable trainers for all of them. Other sorcerers who could help them get better with their magical attributes and fighting skills.
Actually, if the raven-haired teen remembered correctly, Captain Mubele was using his vacation time in Florida to discuss the matter with one of their possible tutors. Some woman named Zharia Owens, if she had that right.
Maria assumed that the Chief had a reason for not telling the tall blonde about it yet. So, without wanting to potentially ruin her plans, she decided to keep that information to herself for now. The last thing she wanted was to step on her boss's toes.
"So, besides all of that, what else have y'all been up to?" Cyrus then asked the group as they all continued their conversation.
-(o)-
"Thanks for having us!" Elizabeth said to the Moore family as she and the rest of her group made their way to the car, to-go plates in hand. "The food was amazing!"
"Come again soon!" Cynthia gave the dark-skinned woman a friendly wave.
"Don't worry, we plan on it!" Evan replied with a smile that showed off all of his impossibly white teeth.
"It was nice seeing you. I hope you feel better." Maria said to Cyrus in her usual cool tone, causing the man to simply nod his head in her direction.
And just like that, the young man's friends made their exit, leaving him and his mother standing in the doorway as the cool autumn breeze permeated the air around them.
'Fuck, it's cold!' Cyrus instinctively shoved his hands in his pockets to keep himself warm. 'I should probably put a hat on something.'
"They seem like nice people." Cynthia said to her son with a soft smile on her face. "I'm glad that you have friends like that now. And they genuinely seem to care about you."
"Yeah, I know." Was all the freckle-faced teen said before walking back into the house to get out of the cold. "I'm going up to my room. I need to make a phone call real quick."
"Alright. Call me if you need anything."
"Will do."
Not even a minute later, Cyrus walked into his old bedroom and immediately rushed to the nearby thermostat to turn up the heat. Even though it was currently seventy degrees in the house, the man was absolutely freezing. So much so that it was hard for him to hide the fact that he was shivering under his sweatsuit from the others while they were there.
Ever since he got back, the freckle-faced teen has wanted nothing more than to be as warm as possible. All that time he spent trapped in Hannah's playroom had made him completely averse to the sensation of cold altogether. Even now, he couldn't even stand the feeling of cold water without his entire body seizing up. Thankfully, he had been able to hide this from his parents. At least, for now. The last thing he wanted was to worry them even more about his current condition; they had already suffered enough.
After putting on a hat and throwing on another jacket over his hoodie, Cyrus then hopped into his bed and used his thick blanket to cover his body. Now that he had some privacy, it was time to call a certain someone.
"Well, here goes nothing." The 'tree magic' user said in a low tone as he pulled the phone out from under his pillow and placed the device up to his ear. Not his regular phone that he had gotten yesterday, the special one that Elaine gave him right before she left him at the hospital.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me."
"Of course, it is!" Elaine said in a rather chipper tone on the other end of the line. "So, have you finally come to a decision?"
"I have." Cyrus nodded.
"So…what's it going to be?"
The young 'tree magic' user knew that he was probably going to regret doing this. But the opportunity presented to him was simply too good to pass up. He knew good and well that the 'wind magic' user was trying to manipulate him. However, there was nothing that said that he couldn't use this to his advantage. He truly did want revenge on Hannah and the others for all the pain they caused him. And as things stood, Elaine offered him the best chance at getting back at the 'ice magic' user and her friends.
"Before I say anything, I just need to make one thing clear. I still don't trust you."
"I wouldn't expect you to. And honestly, I'd be surprised if you did."
"That being said, you did have a point. I'll help you with this little scheme of yours. But you have to uphold your end of the deal."
"You have my word."
'As if that's worth anything….' Cyrus couldn't help but roll his eyes. "And after this is done, I want to know what your real plan is. I'm not dumb, I know that you have something else in the works. You wouldn't have gone through all this trouble otherwise."
The young man could practically see Elaine smiling on the other end of the line. "Well, color me impressed, you're smarter than I thought. Good for you!"
"I'll be talking to Chief Chandler tomorrow afternoon. After that, I'll be ready to go."
"Excellent!" Elaine replied, still holding her creepily cheery tone. "I can't wait! And rest assured, when me and my friends are done with you, you'll be more than ready to deal with Hannah once and for all."
"Yeah…we'll see…."
That was the last thing Cyrus said before the conversation ended. Once it was over, the young man dropped his face into his pillow and thought about the path that he was now going down. The weight of his decision rested heavily on his mind, but all that he cared about right now was avenging Freddy's death and getting rid of the woman who caused him so much grief once and for all.