"Hmm," The wizard hummed after Soren was done telling the entire tale of kids getting sick back in the orphanage, "you might suspect that it could pass through touch?"
Soren nodded his head.
"I see," He thought for a while longer, "you won't mind if I check the girl out?" He looked at Marryanne.
Soren also glanced at Marryanne looking for any signs of discomfort on her face, "would you be okay if Elias checks you?"
Marryanne nodded.
"Great, please sit here," Elias gestured to her to sit on the bed. Meanwhile outside Elias's cabin on a bench Cyrus was there with Ray and Jay.
"Now you two better not cause any trouble here." Cyrus warned, "this situation is serious, not a place for your little antics."
Ray and Jay reluctantly nodded their heads, "we get it." They both said in unison.
"Good."
The front door opened as Soren stepped out, a grim expression on his face. Cyrus turned to look at him.
"What's up with you, Crow-Face?"
Soren sighed. And that made Cyrus worried.
"What's wrong?" Cyrus questioned again, this time his voice carried an air of urgency, "What did that wizard tell you?"
Then Soren slowly smirked, "Marryanne's not infected."
The smile and words took Cyrus by surprise as he felt a kind of anger bubbling inside his chest. He gritted his teeth as he raised his hand and brought it down on Soren's head. "You idiot," He muttered through gritted teeth, "you had me worried! What was with that expression?"
"Ow Sunshine that hurts!" Soren mumbled, his hands coming up on his head to clutch the spot Cyrus had hit.
"It should HURT." Cyrus grumbled.
Ray and Jay almost giggled watching the scene unfolding infront of them barely holding out their laughs.
"Ugh," Cyrus grumbled again, "What are you out here anyway?"
"I was here to call you three inside." Soren removed his hands from his head.
With that the four of them go inside. Marryanne is happily chatting with Elias. Elias stands up after getting wind of their presence to greet them.
"So, why isn't she infected? She was exposed to the infected kids back in the orphanage." Cyrus said as he sat down.
"The reason is simple." Elias said as he went to Marryanne again, "Marryanne has the ability to manipulate nature and nature is where sometimes many medicinal qualities come from." His smile widened, "so by that theory, Marryanne is immune to whatever the curse or disease might be."
"So, having the ability of nature means you're immune?" Soren tilted his head, at least Soren doesn't have to care that Cyrus or Marryanne could faint next.
"Yes," Elias nodded, "So I may need the permission to take a small amount of blood from Marryanne to make a cure."
Soren gulped, as much as he wants the cure but he also doesn't want Marryanne to turn into a lab rat.
"I will give my blood." Cyrus said, standing up and approaching forward.
"You are a dual." Elias sighed, "I can only make a cure out of the blood of a pure nature wielding person."
Marryanne sighed, "It's okay big bro, Cyrus." She grinned, "I can do it."
Cyrus was taken aback with Marryanne's willingness to turn into a subject of experiment. He was about to protest that. Then Soren spoke.
"Are you sure, Mary?"
Marryanne nodded, still smiling.
"Really sure?"
Marryanne still nodded.
"You know. No one's forcing you to do this. You can back out. You know."
Marryanne shook her head, "but I want to do it, Big bro Soren."
Cyrus sighed, "but it's gonna hurt," He looked straight into her eyes, "can you handle that?"
"I can."
"Good then." Cyrus sighed.
"One of you stays here with her and me," Elias said, "and the rest of you, go take a walk though the village."
Soren and Cyrus looked at each other and nodded, "Alright I will stay here with her," Soren said.
"Fine," Cyrus sighed, "Let's go you two troublemakers."
"Okay." The twins said in unison.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cyrus held both of the twins' hands, afraid they were gonna run off and cause trouble.
"Bro Cyrus," Ray called, making Cyrus glance at him. "Can I ask you something?"
"Go on."
"How long have you been in the orphanage?" Ray asked curiously.
"I've been here since I was a baby."
"That long?" Jay asked.
"Yeah."
"And what about Big Bro Soren?" Ray asked again.
"Soren's been here for seventeen years," Cyrus sighed. He still remembered Soren being annoyingly cheerful even as a damn toddler.
"Oh," the twins muttered in understanding.
"How did Big Sis Marryanne end up in the orphanage?"
Cyrus froze in place. He still remembered that horrible, horrifying memory — the first time he'd seen scars from someone who was supposed to be a protective figure. His hands shook a little.
Cyrus sighed to calm his nerves. "You wanna know?"
Both twins nodded in unison.
"Well then…"
Cyrus and the twins sat down on a bench in front of a stall.
"It was a cold winter evening," Cyrus began, his voice softer now. "Soren and another big sister were walking back to the orphanage after running errands in a nearby village."
The twins tilted their heads but didn't interrupt — they'd learned from past experiences that Cyrus would stop telling his story if anyone cut in.
"Soren heard groans from an alleyway. Being the guy he is, he thought someone needed help. The sister didn't want him wandering into a random alley because that was the hang-out place for thugs roaming the streets."
Cyrus paused to check the twins' attention, then continued.
"The big sister reluctantly went with Soren toward the alleyway. His intuition was right — there really was someone who needed help. A six-year-old girl, lying face-first on the cold snow. Her ragged clothes had holes, and when they turned her over to see her face…" Cyrus bit his lip, holding back his emotions. "Her face was swollen, bruises all over her tiny body."
He looked at the twins again. "That little girl was Marryanne."
The twins' eyes went wide. "What?!" they both shouted in shock.
"How did Big Sis end up there?" Jay asked, hoping Cyrus wouldn't stop.
"I'm getting to that," Cyrus replied, continuing, "Soren and that sister brought her back to the orphanage and into the infirmary. Fallon managed to stabilize her. After she woke up, she was too afraid to say anything about how she ended up there. But after a few weeks, she warmed up to us — and told us everything."
Cyrus sighed. "This part's tougher. Still wanna hear it?"
The twins glanced at each other, then nodded.
Cyrus nodded back and began again. "She told us her dad used to hit her and her mom really often — so much that he started using her to sniff out cash like a damn dog. If she didn't, he'd do something worse to her. One day, he killed her mom right in front of her." Cyrus's voice trembled slightly. "She saw everything. He beat her until she blacked out, and when she regained a bit of consciousness, the cold hit her. She was in an alleyway. Dying."
He exhaled shakily. "Then Soren and that sister found her."
The twins looked like they were about to cry.
Cyrus sighed again, softer this time. "Look at the bright side — she's here with you now. Looking after you, treating you a thousand times better than her dad ever did."
The twins nodded quietly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You guys are back!" Marryanne almost squealed, jumping down from the bed and ran over to Cyrus, sticking to his waist. Her right arm was bandaged up. Cyrus fought back a smile and held her back.
She noticed Ray and Jay looking sullen beside Cyrus, "What's up with them?" She looked up at Cyrus, "Did you scold them big bro?"
"No I didn't."
Marryanne sighed and let's go off Cyrus's waist and goes over to the twins, "What happen-"
The twins hug her waist as she lets out a surprised yelp "big sis…" Ray whined.
"Sis Mary…" Jay whined as well.
Marryanne confused but hugged them back, "What's wrong…?" she then looked at Cyrus, "did you really scold them that bad?"
Cyrus lets out a frustrated sigh, "I didn't scold them."
Marryanne scowled clearly not believing Cyrus. She turned to comfort the twins who were still clinging to her waist.
Soren walked in from another room, "hey sunshine and troublemakers." he grinned widely.
"You look awfully happy?" Cyrus questioned tilting his head slightly, he scrutinized Soren's expression for a bit.
"Uh-huh." he nodded his head, "Elias had been working hard to make the cure though he still needs a few ingredients."
"Ingredients?"
"Yeah," Soren's smile got wider, "we can find those ingredients in the market."
"Oh?" Cyrus tilted his head, "would he go and buy it?"
"No," Soren shook his head, "he asked us to buy it for him."
"Ah," Cyrus nodded in understanding, "shall we leave now?"
Marryanne and the twins had left the room.
"But you just arrived." Soren tilted his head, "why don't you rest, I will get it for master Elias."
Cyrus felt something bubbling in his chest as he heard Soren say that, "you have been hanging out with that white haired wizard too much." Cyrus mumbled, looking away.
"Sunshine…" Soren stalked closer to him, "are you jealous?" Soren almost jokingly whispered.
Cyrus almost jumped back out of surprise, the tips of his ears turned a shade of pink. "What are you talking about?! No I'm not." he answered too quickly.
Soren chuckled, "I know, I know. I'm just playing with you." He then cracked his neck from side to side, "Let's go together."
Cyrus huffed, for a moment he thought his heart might jump out of his chest. His heart fluttered as it might fly away from his chest.
"Fine…" he grumbled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The market bustled with villagers doing their usual things. They walked through the market talking to shopkeepers… well Soren's the one doing most of the talking. Cyrus just walked beside him. He strangely doesn't mind being beside Soren.
"The people here are so nice." Soren said, walking beside Cyrus.
"I guess so." Cyrus sighed, they are only nice because Soren looks likecas uf he would belong to a noble household and not an orphanage.
Soren sighed, "come on, Sunshine cheer up. After we get the cure," Soren looked at him, "we could leave."
Cyrus sighed, he doesn't or doesn't want to trust anyone outside of the orphanage. He tried to, but couldn't. All he wants is to get the cure and go back to Matron Nell and the others in the orphanage. For Cyrus, they are his family, even that annoying Yvonne or that demon Marryanne are like his own.
After walking for some more time a sharp pain hits him. His chest burned as if someone had set his heart on fire. He sipped in his tack. His hands clutched his chest hard. His face contorted in pain as he gritted his teeth.
Soren finally notices and looks back at Cyrus. His eyes widened in horror and fear, "Cyrus!!" he rushed to Cyrus's side as Cyrus collapsed into his arms.
"Soren…" Cyrus mumbled through a pained gasp.
"Cyrus!" he clutched him closer to his chest. "What is happening-"
A crowd forms around them as a realization hits Soren like a wall of bricks. The crowd watched as Soren clutched Cyrus's aching body tighter, not willing to let go.
"Cyrus…" Soren's eyes were almost filled with tears.
Cyrus couldn't talk; he let out an aching whimper. Soren's heart swelled up as he buried his face in the crook of Cyrus's neck as the three words slip out painfully from his lips
"You are infected…"