"This is where we keep the others, Kasumi. You'll be helping the guards." The woman looked over her shoulder at me. Her eyes seemed to shift in color, from red to blue to teal, all in one moment. Tunnel vision. She was the only thing in focus. I couldn't look anywhere else, but why did I want to? This woman... she was the only thing I wanted-no, the only thing I needed to watch.

"Kasumi, dear, are you listening?" She asked.

I stopped and cocked my head. "...Yes." I said automatically. Something pulsed at the edge of my vision.

The woman smiled and turned back around. "Good, good! Now, how 'bout I tell you about what we do here? Ah, here's a good example..." her voice distorted and faded as she stopped and opened a door. Then it slowly started coming back. "...t's a machine that takes magic. You've experienced it, I'm sure it was painful... well, I've never endured it myself, though, so I'm not sure, but judging by the screams..." Gone again. I came up behind her and stopped, then moved to look over her shoulder. She moved aside. "...disk connects to the main 'pipe' that magic flows through in a mage's body, and takes it away before it's properly been converted into form..." Gone again.

I watched the dark room, waiting as my eyes slowly adjusted. I could make out vague shapes. My vision was still blurred and black at the edges, but if I concentrated, I could see what I needed to look at...

"K-" I heard someone say. It might have been a male... I wasn't sure. Ah, no, it was... I was sure of it. He coughed, the sound echoed through the dark room. But my eyes were adjusting quickly now, and light began to creep onto the man's-no, the boy's features.

"Kasumi...?"

My name.

How did he know...

My name...

Familiar...

What was familiar again?

Was it his... his hair?

The room?

His...

Voice.

BAM.

My vision returned. Clear, light flooded my retina. My body tensed, then relaxed, then tensed again. I moved my fingers. Mine. I was...

In... control?

I was...

Free?

I was free. Free! I was thinking, I was in control! But...

This was...

I stood, frozen, in the hall, looking in the open door of one of the rooms, staring with my eyes wide.

Oh god...

I recognized him.

'Ty...ler?' I thought to myself.

Tyler was kneeling on the ground, his hands chained to the wall. Rubber had been wrapped around the entirety of the metal for some reason, so it wasn't cutting into his wrists, but it didn't make him look much better. His head drooped forwards. His dark blonde hair hung in his face, dirty, limp, and tangled. His shirt had been ripped open from his left shoulder down to the center of his stomach, and I could see an awful gash in his ashen skin, glowing red with infection. He was thin, he obviously hadn't been eating. Bruises marred his flesh, and there were dark circles under his dazed, amber eyes.

But the thing that most caught my attention was the thing behind him.

A huge, looming machine was attached to the wall above him. A series of tubes were connected to a single, metal disk, which seemed glued to Tyler's back. Red and yellow lights lit up on some sort of panel in the top left corner of the machine, and I could hear a faint humming noise coming from it.

I remembered now.

I clenched my teeth. She still hadn't realized. This woman... she put me under some sort of spell, or something. She didn't know I was normal again, that I was sane again.

I concentrated. I could hear her droning on and on in the background. I could hear Tyler say my name again, this time a little louder. I was weak, but I could feel it. Now that I wasn't connected to that... that machine, I had regained some of my magic. I gathered it in my right hand, the one farthest from the woman. What was it... Petal... no...

Ice.

"-and so we figured he was lying about it, so-" she was saying, probably talking about some other victim of their horrible... experiment, or whatever this was. My lip curled. I didn't give a damn.

"Shut up, bitch." I growled, looking up at her out of the corner of my eye.

Her eyes snapped down to me, startled. "You-how did you-"

"Ice make lance!" I shouted, thrusting my hands towards her.

I caught her off guard. Before she could even scream, the icy weapons had impaled her. Through her stomach, her throat...

Had I still been looking, I probably would have thrown up, but I was already running into the room. My shoulders felt bare. Where was my shirt? Oh well, it was tattered and dirty anyways, it wasn't any use.

I dropped to my knees in front of Tyler, scraping my skin on the stone floor. I touched his face, my hands trembling. Tears pricked at my eyes. "T-Tyler! What... why are you here!? You're not a mage, you said that you-"

Tyler made a sound that was reminiscent of a shush, but he ended up turning his head away and coughing. Blood splattered the floor. "Hah... I've seen better days..." He coughed again, before looking back at me. "I...it's a long story..." he rasped. "Are you okay?" He asked, his voice hoarse.

I sobbed and moved closer, wrapping my arms around him. He was much thinner than I expected, he was starving. "Why the hell are you asking me if I'm okay?! Look at yourself!" I cried.

I didn't expect it, but he offered me a weak laugh. "Sorry, despite... despite the five star rooms... there's no mirrors..." He wheezed. "Tell me... please... are you okay?" He pressed.

Tears dripped down my cheeks as I pulled away. "I'm... I'm okay..." he smiled, but it quickly began to fade as his lids started to drop over his honey colored eyes. "N-no, stay awake! Stay awake, Tyler! We're gonna get you out of here! B-both of us, we're gonna-"

His head dropped forwards, his eyes closed.

I stared. I reached up and intertwined my fingers with his. I could feel the constraints against my finger tips. "T-Tyler?" I whispered.

Nothing.

"Well well, we seem to have a strong one, huh?"

I stiffened. She wasn't dead...

But Tyler...

"It does pay to have illusion and mind tricks as your magic, doesn't it? You would have done quite a number on me... if, of course, it had been me." the woman cooed.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to look at Tyler's face. I stayed still for a moment, then whipped around, my hands glowing blue.

"Ice make-"

"Fall."

The world as I knew it faded.

And...

So did...

Pain.

Hurt.

Oh.

So madness wasn't so bad, huh?

Ohhh... so we finally see Tyler... only to have him die on us, apparently. :( get your act together! Be a man! Oh, you're only thirteen? ...well then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll be updating again soon, I swear, I won't die again! :) I love you all, thank you for reading!