Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING!
AN: Hi! So this is just the beginning of what I have planned for this fic in my head and while the updates will probably be sporadic I hope to keep writing this. Please read and tell me whether you think I should continue this or not.
Chapter One
The first time it happened the local police just put it down as normal graffiti and ignored it. This continued on for a time as the message appeared in different places all around the United States and Canada with no reason for anyone to connect it.
It was by chance that a connection was first made, two wives of police officers in small towns across the United States who used to be best friends in high school were talking on the phone when one of them brought up a strange piece of graffiti that had appeared on the music store wall. The graffiti reminded the other woman of some graffiti that was eerily similar and had been on the scrawled across the gym just a month ago. After the two wives had talked to their husbands they both talked to the people at the station about it and communication was established. It was agreed to set up an internet site for other sighting of this strange graffiti and to spread the word around to fellow police stations and friends.
With the internet as it is word flew to every remote town that the similar words had graced and it wasn't long before almost a hundred filled the impromptu site made by a small town police officer. It was at this point that the graffiti was brought to the attention of the FBI and authorities of Canada because while that someone was traveling about the two countries and spreading the graffiti its self wasn't particularly troubling the haunting words were.
They all were similar in the fact that they consisted of two sentences. The fist was always a warning, a clue or a piece of advice but the second sentence that was only two words long was terrifying to the small town officers when they realized just how big this mystery they'd uncovered was. The second sentence always said, "SAVE SEPH." In all capital letters.
It brought the inevitable possibility that for however long this graffiti had been appearing someone by the name of Seph was being held hostage and anything could have happened to this person since then. Even if the earliest graffiti they could find was only a mere four months before the site was created that was still a long time or someone to be completely at another's mercy.
"The Havens isn't what it seems. SAVE SEPH." Appeared in Mentone, Alabama.
"The Alumni can't be trusted. SAVE SEPH." Was found in Brisbane, California.
"No matter what they tell you don't leave unless you see a body. SAVE SEPH." Had been written in Churchill, Manitoba in Canada.
In a thousand different colors and a thousand different words came the same handwriting and the same words. Several conspiracy theories came and went as time passed while others remained, steadfast and true. No matter what possible target they were starting to zero in on the next hint would through them in a completely different direction or it would simply appear to lead to a dead end.
Even with the people saying that this search was a waste of resources or that whoever this writer was he or she was leading the authorities on a goose chase of the likes that had never been seen before and then laughing at them supporters sprung up in the dozens. Millions of people all across the word were chanting to Save Seph. It was uniting countries and people in a way even matters such as child labor and world hunger couldn't.
Many thought that it was perhaps how person it seemed with graffiti like, "Seph loves Latin and French. SAVE SEPH." Or "Seph should be going into his senior year of high school now, too bad everyone thinks he's dead. SAVE SEPH" Or even "Seph wears the necklaces of three friends around his neck, only one is still alive and Seph thinks they're dead too. SAVE SEPH."
Whatever the reason people felt a need to save Seph and to free him from whatever torment he was experiencing wherever he was. Every piece of graffiti was bitter sweet because while it gave them a new step forward into finding out who Seph was and what was happening to hi it also meant that whoever Seph was, they hadn't saved his yet.
It was think sort of unsolvable mystery that made people yearn for answers and dig deeper than ever before to find them so it wasn't unexpected when there was some negative reactions from extreme fanatics of SAVE SEPH as it was being called. Armed men broke into schools in towns called Haven, demanding to know the location of Seph and such events occurred frequently yet a chastising, "I want Seph to be saved, not innocents to be frightened and killed. SAVE SEPH. "all but put these riots to rest in a much more effective way than the police ever would have been able to.
It brought about a whole new line of thought, that this voice that communicated with the outside world with graffiti had so much control over the general populace that it was frightening. This bodiless voice pulling and pushing the actions of fans and detectives in the right direction by giving them hints that they always dutifully investigated.
Perhaps it wasn't that surprising that after all the excitement and people looking for Seph that it only took about nine and a half months from that fist graffiti to find the teen, four and a half since the world became aware that someone out there was missing and suffering.
On February 18th SWAT teams stormed the impressive fortress that was the all-boys school of Havens in Maine and took the men reigning over the frightened children there by surprise. They lost half their men while taking down the so called alumni and the headmaster but one lucky shot to Dr. Leicester and they all had gone down like rocks.
After the fighting was over the FBI came in and helped to escort the relieved children back to their parents while searching for the place the headmaster had kept the infamous Seph. They looked in every corner of the dorm rooms and the grounds as they couldn't find a single spec of the seventeen year old that was supposed to have been held captive here.
They would have never found him if not for the graffiti that appeared the next day in Ohio, "Try the basement. SAVE SEPH."
With the search now focused downwards in was only three more hours before they found a devastating sight in a section of the alumni's basement that had first appeared to be closed off and inaccessible. After breaking down the barrier to the second half of the basement what they found was the result of their worst nightmares whenever they pondered what was happening to poor Seph.
The teen was cuffed with on both his ankles and wrists with large and clunky metal shackles that looked quite painful. It was easy to see on his naked form that he was not only covered in wounds and scars from head to toe but completely malnourished as his ribs were clearly visible and all his bones were sticking out considerably. Seph had his pinky and middle finger missing from his right hand as well as the three middle fingers on his left cut to the same length. His toes were hardly in a better state as his right foot was missing his pinky and the two toes closest to his big toe while his left foot wasn't even there. The man that had held the young wizard captive had cut off his right leg just below the knee and had appeared to have burned the stump to stop it from bleeding as the skin all around it was black and charred.
Seph curled in on himself in a useless effort to protect himself from these new strangers as he looked suspiciously at them with his left eye, seeing as the right one was swollen shut. One of the FBI agents took out his gun and placed it on the floor, prompting the others to do the same before getting down to one knee so he was about the same height as the frightened teen.
"Hey there Seph." Said the man in a soft voice, "We're here to get you out of here Seph. The men who hurt you can't get to you anymore."
Regardless of the kind words and well-meaning all Seph did in response was attempt to push himself further into the corner as if he might escape if he made himself small enough.
One of the few woman in the team crouched down next to her team mate before whispering something in his ear that made him look regretful before he slowly backed away and stood with the rest of the agents.
"Hello." Started the woman softly, "Would you like some food? I bet you're hungry." She said calmly before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a granola bar.
As the woman extended her hand to give it to Seph, the teen struck out like a snake and snatched the food from her hand before quickly retreating to eat his prize. The raven haired teen ate quickly at if he kept expecting someone to take his food away from his before letting the wrapper fall to his feet.
"That's good. May I see your wrists Seph?" Questioned the brunet lady softly.
The scared teen clenched his hands to his chest nervously and looked around at the tall men standing at the entrance of his prison, blocking the exit and any means of escape. The woman turned around and glared at her coworkers until they got the message and filtered out into the hallway.
"They're all gone now Seph. May I see your wrists now?" Questioned the agent patiently.
Nodding jerkily Seph held out his shaking arms that were trying desperately not to give up and fall to the ground with the weight of the shackles. The woman carefully took his hands into her lap and started to inspect the cuffs for a way that she could take them off. After a brief once over she deduced, much to her disgust, that the chains shackles had been welded while on his hands and would be impossible to remove without a professional.
The agent carefully placed the teen's limp hands onto the floor where he picked them up and dragged them back to his chest.
"I'm afraid I can't remove the shackles at the moment but that will be taken care off as soon as we get you out of here." Calmed the brunette, "Can you uncurl from your ball so I can see if you have any injuries that need immediate care?"
The distrustful wizard refused to meet the woman's eyes as he slowly spread out his body from the fetal position he had placed himself in up against the wall. The teen was completely naked and covered in everything from still bleeding wounds to terrible scars.
"Okay." Said the woman shakily as she took in the horrendous damage done to one so young, "We need to get you to a hospital Seph. Is that okay with you?"
Seph quickly curled back into himself and shook his head negatively. The primal fear in the teen's changeable eyes was clear.
"You need to get healed Seph." Continued the FBI agent as she nervously licked her lips, "They can make the pain go away. Don't you want to make the pain go away?"
The fear regressed and while it was still there it wasn't quite as prominent as Seph eagerly nodded.
"Well then you've got to let the men come in and put you on a stretcher. I'll be with you the whole time and it will be real quick, okay?" Said the woman as she silently prayed with all of her might that this would work.
Seph violently started shaking his head negatively as he attempted to push himself as far back into the wall as possible while curling back in to himself tightly.
"No, no. It's all right. It's all right. Shhh, Shhh." Said the woman as she frantically tried to calm down the teen as he started to verge on hysterical. While she was a complete mess on the inside she was doing her best to appear unmoved on the outside as not to give the damaged teen any more undue stress.
Struck by a sudden idea the FBI agent started to hum a soft lullaby that she would sing to her young daughter at home when she was scared or was having a tough time falling asleep. Slowly, Seph started to relax his excruciatingly tense muscles to something that looked a little but more comfortable. The agent could tell that the young teen was mentally falling apart at the seams and had been for quite some time and that all he wanted was to fall into the deep abyss of sleep that he was being slowly lulled into by the lullaby but was unable to do so because he obviously still didn't feel safe.
"Shh, it's okay. I've got you." Murmured the brunette comfortingly as Seph's eyelids started to flutter closed, "They are never going to touch you again, okay? Never again."
The female agent breathed a sigh of relief as the teen's face finally smoothed out in sleep and stood up a silently as she could. As the agent tiptoed to the door that the rest of her team was behind she peaked her head around the thick metal door and beckoned in the medics. The silent woman gestured to be quite with a quick single finger to her pursed lips as the two men came into the small cell with the stretcher.
They were as silent as possible as they sneaked over to the lightly sleeping teen before jabbing him in the neck with a small needle. The female agent watched as Seph's feature's momentarily bunched up before relaxing again in a much deeper drug induced sleep. The two medics carefully loaded the extensively damaged and limp body onto the stretcher before lifting it up in the air and leaving the cramped area.
"You good Agent Farewell?" questioned the woman's superior as he stepping into the room directly after the medics stepped out.
"Yeah." Answered Farewell breathlessly, "I've just never seen anyone that injured before, and I'm not exacts a new at this either."
"I think this case will be like anything that we've ever seen before Farewell, it's okay to been uneasy about it." Reassured the man.
"Believe me sir, I'm plenty uneasy."
AN: Good? Bad? Please let me know by leaving a review and know that I am always welcome to any suggestions that you may have!