Andy smiled as she approached Ryon and Ryusei, "Morning guys. Want to get off base for a while? We are going to run errands."
They looked at each other, matching grins appearing. "Gets us out of doing paperwork. We're in."
Tet came in, shaking his head with a laugh. "Bad boys."
The grins got bigger. "You picked us.."
Andy chuckled, "Let's get going then. Want to port or drive?"
"Your invitation, your choice." Ryon looked at Ryusei for a moment. "Think he needs a haircut?"
Ryusei yelped. "Leave my hair alone."
"It's getting long." Ryon's lips quirked.
"That's rich coming from a guy whose hair is so non regulation it's not funny. And who uses more shampoo than Kei and the rest of us?"
Andy rolled her eyes, "Let's get going before I decide to cut both of your hair." She grabbed her keys with a smirk, "Driving will get us out of base longer."
Ryon swallowed hard as Tet began laughing. The three followed her to the car and climbed in.
"Where to first?" Tet looked at the list in his hand.
"Well, the market is definitely last. How about the clothing store?" She chuckled, "At least Kiba isn't here to buy ridiculous things again."
"We still have him.." Ryusei teased, pointing at Tet.
Andy smiled and started driving.
Tet chuckled and reached back, smacking the porter on the head.
Andy pulled up to the clothing store and headed in. She started going through the list of necessary items before getting distracted and browsing for herself.
"Found the perfect thing for mr smart ass over there." Tet whispered in her ear, one hand behind his back.
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Yeah?"
He pulled out a blue and gold leisure suit that looked like a reject from a disco revival dance with a massive grin.
Andy giggled for a moment, "Yeah, try forcing him into it though." She went back to looking at the rack before smirking. She glanced to make sure Ryon and Ryusei weren't looking when she pulled a cute lingerie item off the rack, "What do you think about me getting this?"
His eyes went wide and his cheeks reddened. "Oh..darlin, that's naughty."
She gave a small chuckle, "Should I?"
He gave a small needy growl. "Absolutely."
She nodded and put it in the cart before continuing on. She finished getting the stuff on the list before checking out and heading out to the car.
Tet soon followed, a bag in his hand. "Gonna give it for his birthday." His eyes twinkled as the two came out with bags of their own.
"So where next?" Ryon moved his bangs with an impish look. "There's a salon nearby…"
Ryusei gave him a look before putting him in a headlock. "I got him! Cut it off while I hold him!"
Andy laughed, "Seriously, I'm about ready to just cut both of your hair and be done with it."
Ryon gave her a look, then muttered "Fine. No more hints." He reached up and began to tickle Ryusei.
The other porter jumped, releasing him.
"Come on guys. Want some lunch?"
"Always." Ryon grinned as Ryusei stuck his tongue out at him.
Tet chuckled. "When are they not hungry?"
She smiled, "Let's go then," she started the car up.
They climbed in, playfully bickering. Tet gave her cheek a kiss. "Isn't the quiet lovely?"
She chuckled again before starting to drive off to the restaurant. She pulled up and climbed out of the car.
A minute later, the three were standing beside her.
Ryon's eyes narrowed, the porter frowning as he turned slightly. "Something's wr.." He jerked and sank to the ground, a dart in his neck.
Ryusei looked at them in alarm seconds before he too fell.
Tet growled menacingly at the men that began surrounding the group. He was beginning to shift when he was hit with a taser. He stiffened and fell at Andy's feet.
Andy scowled and started saying spells, taking a few men down before a dart hit her. She struggled to stay upright but soon lost the battle, falling unconscious to the ground.
When she woke, she found herself tied up in a cell. Within minutes, someone came in and injected her with something. She felt odd but didn't see any visible effects.
The man left as two more dragged Ryusei in. He was covered in blood and bruises, barely conscious. The men dropped him and left, relocking the cell.
Andy tried to heal him, reciting spells. She saw no effects. She then tried to heal with her revival power, but once again nothing happened. She moved him so his head was resting in her lap as she continued trying.
He coughed, his breathing wheezy. His eyes struggled to open. "You...okay?"
She nodded, "I can't heal.." Tears filled her eyes, "I'm sorry.."
"Not your fault.. My time's just up. I'm glad you're…" He stilled, the silence loud to her ears.
She held him close, sobbing. She didn't know how long she'd been in there but she continued to try to revive him, each try making her cry harder.
The cell was unlocked again, two men grabbing Ryusei away from her.
She tried to keep her grip on him but failed.
The porter was swung over one of their shoulders as Ryon was pushed in. As the door closed, he swayed and fell to his knees.
Andy reached for him, tears still streaking her eyes.
He did the same, his face white with pain. He didn't appear to have any injuries.
Andy wrapped her arms around him, unsure what to say.
His breathing was rapid, his eyes cloudy. "Andy? Andy, it hurts.." He arched his back as pain washed over him. When it receded, he lay quiet in her arms. The only sound was his irregular breathing.
"I'm sorry..." she muttered over and over, praying that somehow he'd make it through.
Another wave of pain wracked him and he clutched at her. "Promise me..my brothers safe.."
"They're safe. I promise to do anything I can to keep them safe.."
He gave her a small smile, his breathing slowing. Finally, he gave one last soft exhale and went limp.
Andy let out a sob, holding him close.
"How do you like being helpless?" A man stood outside the cell, a cold smile on his lips.
Andy didn't answer, just keeping her eyes down on Ryon.
"Not feeling talkative yet? That will change." He motioned to several men who disappeared.
Minutes later they reappeared, a bound and beaten Tet in their hands.
"Darlin!" Tet began fighting to get to her, getting a hard punch to the stomach in return.
Andy stared at him sadly.
The man produced a syringe, injecting Tet with the contents. He nodded to the guards who unlocked the cell and shoved him in. "You two have fun.. I'll be back in two hours."
Andy watched them leave before looking at Tet. She slowly reached for him.
He made his way unsteadily to her, looking at Ryon. "He's not sleeping, is he?"
"They killed them.." she whispered.
He closed his eyes in sadness. "And now me.. I'm so sorry darlin."
She shook her head, "I'm sorry.. I can't heal or revive.. I don't know what they did to me."
He gave her a soft kiss as his knees buckled. "It's alright. I know you'll escape."
She moved Ryon away and looked at him sadly, "I don't know if I want to escape if you aren't there to escape to."
"The others need to know what happened. You have to warn them." Tet winced as he took a breath. "You can't give up, darlin."
"They always keep coming back. They'll just come back again. What's the point anymore?"
He sighed. "Do you want this to happen to furball? Or our crazy earthwitch? Do you want any of them hurt?"
"No," she sighed as tears continued to trickle down her face.
"Then live. Escape and save them." He lay down in her lap as he grew dizzy. "Live for us.."
She ran a hand through his hair, "I love you."
He gave a soft purr. "I love hearing that.. I love you too. I'm glad I'm not alone.." He coughed, his breathing growing ragged.
She tried to stay calm, but the tears continued. She kept rubbing his hair, unsure of what else to do.
He gave her a soft smile as he passed out, his breathing slow and erratic. Minutes later, it ceased.
The man returned, the cold smile still on his face. "Are you ready to cooperate? We can save them you know."
"What do you want from me?"
He motioned for her to stand as a guard unlocked the cell.
She stared for a moment but finally pushed herself up.
"You must promise you will not escape and to follow all instructions. Agree to all tests. And you will help us break him." The man pointed to another cell, a single man chained by his wrists inside. "If you agree, our necromancer will revive and release your companions."
"And you won't go after the rest of my team?"
He nodded. "They are safe if you agree."
Andy took a deep breath, "Alright. I'm all yours."
He smirked for a moment, then stared at her. "If you break your promise, I can guarantee your friends will suffer horribly before they die for good. Understood?"
She nodded silently.
"Good. Now come with us." He motioned for the guards to unchain the unconscious man.
Andy looked at him sadly, wishing she could help him.
They were taken to a lab, where the man was strapped onto a table.
The leader looked at Andy. "We need you to find a way around his gift."
Andy nodded, "What is his gift?"
"He's apparently immune to psychic attacks. Vampires have no hold on him. He also can not be controlled by necromancers and brainwashing doesn't work." The man scowled at the still figure. "We can't control him in any way. It is unacceptable."
"Have you tried hypnotism?"
"No. We have no one trained."
"I wrote a hypnotism spell once. It might be able to work if you have someone to cast it."
He nodded, motioning to a guard. The man handed him a syringe and backed away. He looked her in the eyes. "If I return your gifts, what will you do? Remember, we still have your friends. We can make it very uncomfortable for them.."
She took a deep breath, "If you made a medicine to block my gifts, would it block his as well?"
"We have been unsuccessful. Maybe you will succeed?"
Andy nodded, "If you allow me to analyze the medicine you gave me, I might be able to mix it into a potion to block his gifts."
The man looked at her thoughtfully, then walked over and injected the syringe's contents into her. "The scientists will give you anything you need." He walked out the door, leaving her with them.
Andy looked the man on the table over before taking a notebook off the table and starting to take notes. She spent the next few days doing experiments and finally, made a potion she believed would work.
The man's eyes looked defiantly at her. "Why are you doing this?"
"They won't come after my friends if I do what they say.." Andy said quietly, unable to meet his eyes.
"You can't possibly believe them?" The man fought against the restraints.
"I don't know what to believe," her eyes filled with tears.
"Let me free. I'll help you escape." He told her quietly.
"But what if they go after my friends again? I can't keep fighting them forever.."
He slumped in resignation. "I understand. Make it fast if you can.."
"I'm sorry.." She whispered before giving him the potion.
He coughed, then screamed. He writhed against the restraints before going quiet.
She was quiet as she watched him. She then went to the man in charge and updated him on the progress.
The prisoner was watching her when she returned, his eyes semi blank.
She stared at him back, trying to think of something easy to order him to do. She unstrapped him from the table, "Stand up."
He did so, standing in place. He didn't move, his eyes straight ahead.
She was quiet, "What's your name?"
"Jun Igashi."
"Sit down," she sighed. She was unsure what else to ask, a little unsure if she wanted to know more about the man whose life she was ruining.
He sat, his body ramrod straight in the chair. He didn't move or blink as he waited.
The head scientist gave her a wide smile. "You did it! Now our plan can't fail."
Though she was curious, she decided she'd rather not know what their plan was. "What do you need from me now, sir?"
He took her arm and led her to another table. "Lie down. We need data on you."
She nodded and did as she was told.
He injected her with a sedative, turning away to speak to someone.
She tried to stay conscious but soon everything blacked out.
"Andy? Darlin open your eyes please."
She was confused at the voice but obeyed and opened them.
Tet's face was inches away from hers, his eyes relieved. His face was bruised, one eye swollen shut, his lip split. "Nice to see those blue eyes again."
She looked around quickly, "What's happening?"
"No clue. They dumped you in here a few hours ago." Ryon gave her a weak smile from where he was propped up against one wall. Ryusei lay in his lap unconscious.
"They..they never let you go?" she said barely above a whisper.
Tet scowled, shaking his head. "We woke up, then they began using us as training dummies. Not sure how long we've been here."
Andy's breathing quickened, her mind racing.
"You alright darlin?" Tet cradled her close.
Her breathing was rapid, tears filling her eyes, "I should have listened to Jun."
"Who is Jun?" Tet watched her, his face worried.
She started sobbing, unable to form coherent words.
The two of them exchanged glances.
Guards began shouting as the jail door suddenly burst open. There were the sounds of gunfire, then Kiba appeared, an unknown man beside him.
"Can't leave you guys alone for a minute, can I?" Kiba blew the lock and yanked open the cell door.
Andy looked up through teary eyes. She then noticed the man and her eyes widened, "I'm sorry.."
The man gave her a soft smile. "Apologize later when we're safe, okay?" He quickly turned and fired at a guard sneaking toward them.
Kiba looked at the porters. "Why aren't they gone?"
Tet scowled. "They were given an inhibitor. They're both hurt pretty bad. Darlin, can you get us out of here?"
She said a small healing spell for him to test her magic before she nodded. She wiped at her eyes before going to grab the porters.
Tet grabbed her arm, looking at Kiba.
The wolf shook his head. "Kai's here waiting for us. See you at home." He and the other man headed for the door, firing as they disappeared from view.
Andy quickly teleported the group to the infirmary. She got them all into beds before putting her doctor coat on and wiping her eyes again. She quickly got to work on saying healing spells, focusing completely on her job.
Tet wrapped his arms around her as she finished. "I'm so glad to see you safe darlin. I was terrified at what might have been happening."
Andy nodded, "I don't know what they did to me or how long I was out."
"Whatever they did, we'll handle it together." Tet gave her a squeeze before moving to a chair. He looked at her and was about to speak when Kai ported in with Kiba and the other man.
The wolf was the only thing keeping the other on his feet, blood beginning to puddle on the floor from the other man's injury. "A little help here?"
Andy went and helped get the man into a bed before spending the next hour on healing him. She checked him over again and made sure he was alright before looking at Kiba, "You okay?"
He nodded. "He took the hit for me. Who is he? All he said when I found him was he wasn't leaving without you."
"His name is Jun," Andy replied quietly.
"I'm guessing you guys spent some time together." Tet remarked, watching Jun sleep.
"Yeah, and I'd rather not talk about it," she replied before putting her coat back where it belonged and heading out of the infirmary.
Kiba followed her, grabbing her around the waist and kissing her hard. "I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner."
"How long were we gone?"
"Five months. Headquarters tried to declare you guys dead and we rioted. Boss told the brass to fuck off and told me as soon as Kei got a lock on you to make sure I brought all of you home."
"Five months...? Are you serious?"
"Yeah.." He released her, his eyes darkening. "I'm a little hazy on the particulars since I lost my shit and ended up in an induced coma on Boss' orders after I attacked some of the higher ups."
Andy nodded slowly, "I only remember the first few days..."
"Damn.. I'm sorry. They pulled out all the stops at hiding you. Kei wasn't even sure you were still alive until last week."
Andy frowned, "How did he find me?"
"Something about your auras being linked or something due to that potion you made to save him. You should probably ask him when he wakes up. Between worry about Ryon and all the magic, he passed out."
She nodded, "Did Branch attack at all while we were gone?"
Kiba's eyes flashed angrily. "They killed..they taunted us.."
"Are some of our teammates dead still or did Kei use that potion to revive them?" She asked quietly.
"They're still.. The potion revived them but it didn't last. The gloves have been refined and he couldn't.."
Andy closed her eyes for a second before nodding, "I'll come up with something." She headed for the lab to start looking over the recipe.
Kei was already muttering to himself, his face drawn as he assembled ingredients. He didn't seem to realize she was there.
"Kei?"
The witch jumped, his eyes going wide. "You're safe...I thought I'd failed again." He gave her a tight hug.
"I want to work on the revival potion, if you don't mind me taking up part of the lab?"
"I was just doing that. I don't know why it didn't stay working.." His face fell and she could see the tremors in his hands as he let her go and leaned on the table.
"What if we mix it with revival energy instead of life force energy? Then I can also add more revival energy once we give it to them.. As long as I can still revive.." She looked down.
"That might work.." Kei reached for an herb, then swayed. He gripped the table, waiting for the dizziness to pass.
"Go rest. I'll focus on making it," she said gently.
"My fault.. I.." He crumpled, losing consciousness.
Andy went and put him on a bed in the infirmary before going back to the lab. Two hours later she emerged with a gold glowing potion.
Jun watched her, his eyes confused. "What is that? And where am I?"
"You're in the infirmary of our base. And this is a potion I hope will bring back my friends.."
He raised an eyebrow as Tsukasa walked in slowly.
"Andy? You're a happy sight."
She gave him a small smile, "Hey."
"That for them?" His voice was hesitant.
"Where are they?"
He led her to another room where several beds were covered.
Andy took a deep breath and started to uncover them.
The phoenix twins, Shouma, Daiki and finally Yamae lay exposed.
Tsukasa stared sadly at the bodies. "Kei went off the rails. We had to stay away from him for awhile. Then he threw himself into trying to find you. Akasa had to restrain him because he stopped eating and sleeping."
Andy nodded before getting to work. She poured some of the potion into each of them before focusing her revival energy on them. Gold light shone around the bodies and she prayed it would work.
The bodies jerked as they gulped air. Slowly, they calmed, settling into sleep.
Andy checked them over before heading back out of the room.
Tet was snoring, his head thrown back as he reclined in a chair. Jun gave her a smile. "Does he always sleep like that?"
"Not usually," she watched Tet for a moment.
Jun gave a chuckle, then sat up. "Before you say anything, I don't blame you. So I don't need an apology. I'm just wondering what happens now to me."
"You're welcome to stay here. We always find the room for new people. But if you have somewhere you came from that you want to go back to, we can help you get there." She sighed, "And I blame me. They never released the three taken with me, they came after my friends, and even killed a few of them. Luckily I'm a necromancer, but it doesn't matter, they lost a large chunk of time because I didn't even attempt to escape." She looked down, "And apparently we were there for five months and I only remember the first few days of it."
Jun dropped his eyes. "Can a jail cell be called home?"
"I wouldn't say so," she frowned. "One of us can show you to a room."
Tet jerked, losing his balance and hitting the floor. "Oww." His eyes met hers sheepishly.
She gave him a small smile, "Why don't you show Jun to an empty room?"
He stood slowly. "He's staying? Thought he'd be going back to headquarters.."
Jun grimaced, ducking beneath the blanket.
"Yes, he's staying," Andy answered as she watched him.
Tet gave a wince at the reaction. "Shit.. I shouldn't have said that, huh?"
"Jun? You'll be okay here. We aren't making you go back," Andy said gently. "At least if I have anything to say about it."
He pulled the blanket down, looking at Tet. "You recognized me. Why didn't you say anything?"
Tet rubbed his neck nervously. "You were obviously trying to lie low.."
Andy watched them quietly.
Jun smiled wryly. "Go ahead and tell her."
Tet hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "Andy, meet General Katshiro's first born son."
Andy raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"
"According to the DNA." Jun's smile was soft. "I'm also a world class troublemaker, hence the jail comment. If they haven't declared me dead after two years.."
"Two years? Was all that time at Branch?"
"Yeah. My squad was wiped out in a sneak attack. I was captured and they went nuts when they found out I couldn't be broken. They tried everything, even used their necromancer a few times.." He trailed off as he saw Andy's expression. "Sorry.."
She looked down, "I'm sorry I found them a way."
He climbed off the bed and lifted her chin. "I said no apologies. One question, where's the kitchen?"
Andy gave Tet a look, "If all of us have been gone, who's been feeding the team...?"
He looked thoughtful. "Probably eating ration bars."
"I definitely have to go grocery shopping... Though last time we went to do that is when we got taken... I wish Branch would quit ruining our lives. I've probably lost over a year to them at this point.." She shook her head, "Come on, I'll find you something to eat."
Jun and Tet followed her out, Tet grabbing Kai as he walked by and whispering in his ear. The porter nodded, then vanished.
"So exactly what are you all?" Jun asked as they walked.
"Like shifters and stuff? We have shifters, porters, vamps, witches," Andy answered.
"The whole team? I've run into one or two on a squad but not a whole team.." He looked a little shocked.
"Yep. Started as military's experimental group. And we have multiple kinds of shifters too. Tet here is a tiger."
Jun eyed Tet with apprehension. "You aren't going to eat me, are you?"
Tet started laughing, stopping in the hall as he bent double.
"No one here will eat you," Andy chuckled, "I normally make sure the team is well fed. And we get blood deliveries in for the vamps."
Jun looked sheepish. "I sound like an idiot."
Andy gave him a small smile, "Not at all. Come on." She headed into the kitchen and found some uncooked pasta and started heating it up. She then grabbed a bag of blood out of the fridge and bit into it, sucking it down as she waited for the water to boil.
Tet gave her a kiss. "Kai's doing your shopping." He sat down as Jun entered.
The soldier froze, watching her. "I thought you were a witch?"
"Born a witch and necromancer. Then Branch turned me into their fucked up weapon making me a vampire and a shifter with three different shifts."
"I feel under gifted. I don't think I have anything to offer you guys." He sat down, staring at the table in silence.
"Your gift can come in handy. And believe me when I say, the more gifts you have, the more people come after you. You don't want all of this."
Tet looked at them. "What is his gift?"
"He's immune to psychic attacks. Can't be controlled by a necro or a vamp. Unfortunately Branch now has a potion recipe to control him..." She looked away, back at the stove.
Tet whistled. "One hell of a gift to have."
Kiba spoke from the door. "Branch has nothing anymore. So quit the pity party." He walked in and sat down beside Jun. "You forgot to tell her, didn't you?"
Andy finished up the pasta and plated it up, passing some out to the three men in silence.
"We vaporized that lab. Not a damn thing was salvageable when we finished. So those assholes are back to being frustrated." Kiba began eating.
Andy nodded and made her own plate, sitting down and starting to eat.
Jun ate hurriedly, then ran out of the kitchen.
Andy looked at the door in confusion, "What was his rush?"
Kiba and Tet exchanged glances. "No idea."
Andy finished up her food then headed out of the kitchen to see if she could find him.
He was slumped in a corner, his face tear streaked and his hands bloody. The wall above was marked by fist sized holes.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Andy crouched down and said a healing spell to help his hands.
"You should be furious at me.. Yet you act more guilty."
"Why would I be furious?"
"Your friends.. They were hurt because of me. You had them in your head and I was too fixated on trying to escape that I didn't help you.. You shouldn't be so nice.. You should just kill me again."
"What do you mean again..?" Andy asked quickly.
He paled, trying to squeeze into the wall. "The potion wore off and I started fighting. They had you under their control. They ordered you to kill me slowly.. Then you revived me. That's when whatever they did stopped working. They had to drug you and took you away. I didn't know what happened until your friend found me and dragged me to the jail."
Andy's hands shook but her voice stayed monotone and even, "What else did they make me do?"
He shook his head. "They were talking about sending you out. But it never happened because you broke the control. Before that, they focused on using you to control me. The potion made me receptive but only to you for some reason."
Andy stood, "I'm sorry. And no, they weren't hurt because of you. They were hurt because I didn't do enough." She turned and quickly disappeared from the room.
He chased after her. "They were hurt because of me. I'm the one who was beating them up.. The first potion acted different. It let anyone control me. So the head had me beat your friends. When that potion wore off, I refused and they killed me. Apparently, you were under control and when you remade the potion, something changed and I would only respond to you. It's my fault, not yours."
"It's not like you were in control of yourself. I doubt you'd hurt them on purpose, which is why I don't blame you."
"It goes double for you then." He turned away. "I'm a bad reminder. I should have died and stayed dead."
"You aren't a bad reminder. I'm glad you're here and alive. I'd feel even worse if you were dead. What is a bad reminder? Me. I'm not even sure how these five months will affect me yet, but this is at least the third time Branch has taken me. Every time I shift, or get a craving for blood, I'm reminded of them and everything they've done to me or made me do." She had tears in her eyes, "So don't you dare say you should have stayed dead. If anything, I should be. If I hadn't been there to make a potion, they wouldn't have been able to control you. If they hadn't been after me, I doubt my friends would have been taken. Yeah, I'm always here to find a way to bring everyone back, but I wonder how many less times they would have died if I wasn't here." She shook her head and turned, running off and disappearing down another hall.
Jun stared in silence before heading for the base gate. He ran into the forest, not caring where he was going. He kept running until he reached the edge of the cliff, then he paused. For a minute he stared into the horizon. Then he stepped off the edge.
Andy paced for a minute in her room before teleporting to the forest. She shifted into snake form and found a hole in a tree to hide in. She was trying not to think of everything but she couldn't stop all of the memories from Branch filling her head. She was glad she didn't remember killing Jun, but she also knew she'd end up having nightmares of it anyway. She curled up, hiding in the darkness of the tree.
She could hear Tet calling both her and Jun's name, then a horrified yell.
Andy frowned, turning into a hawk and flying over to where she heard the yell from. She froze when she saw Jun. She flew down to him and reverted back to her human form. She cursed at him explosively before starting on healing spells.
His eyes were glassy, unfocused as blood spread around his head. It trickled from his lips as he whispered "Let me die.."
"No. I refuse," Andy answered before focusing her revival energy on him to heal him quicker. Silver light soon surrounded him. "Please don't do this again. I'll just make sure you keep getting revived."
"Better..to let me go.. I'm not one of you."
"I already told you, you're staying here, which makes you one of us. You might just want to accept that."
He tried to chuckle, but his eyes were dimming and all that came out was a faint wheeze.
Andy focused harder, the light growing brighter around him.
He arched his back, the light entering his chest. A red light began mingling with the silver.
Andy stared in confusion but continued to try to heal him.
The red light vanished, the silver doing the same soon after. Jun lay still, his breathing steady and his wounds healed.
Tet suddenly appeared beside her. "How is he?" A basket stretcher lay nearby.
"He should be okay now. Might want to restrain him until we know he's in better mental health.." she sighed. "We need to hire a psychiatrist for the team, honestly.."
"This wasn't an accident?" Tet's eyes were dark. "He deliberately did this?"
"We were talking, and.. I didn't think he'd do this.. But I ran off with my own issues when I should have been making sure he was okay.." Andy said quietly, tears in her eyes.
"Stop it. He did this, not you." Tet scowled. "I should have seen it coming. He's been in Branch's hands for two years. He's bound to be messed up mentally, especially with what happened to us. Then I called him out on his parentage." He carefully lifted Jun, placing him into the stretcher and waving into the air. Hiroki was shifted, a large eagle like bird in the sky flying upward.
Tet drew her in for a hug. "I wish I could take your pain away. I feel so selfish.."
"I'll be fine.. I always am, right?" She tried to smile.
He gave a shake of his head. "This is my fault. If I had stayed away after I left.. You would still be at the clinic. You'd have been safe and normal. Normal for you, I mean." He chuckled softly. "I couldn't stay away..and look what's happened. I don't deserve you." He shifted, running as fast as he could away from her.
Andy quickly shifted, chasing after him until she got close enough to pounce on him and stop him from moving. "Will you stop it about that? It was years ago. I chose to stay here. I love you and you know, it really doesn't help my mental health having to run after all of you who keep having pity parties."
"You stayed because I came back. Then you got on Branch's radar because you were here. You would be safer away from us.." His voice was tear choked, the tiger making soft crying noises.
"Shut up." She smacked him in the face with her paw, careful not to claw him. "All this blaming ourselves stuff needs to stop. It doesn't matter. Branch could have found me anyway, just like Seltain did. And at this point, I wouldn't be any safer because they already want me. So just fucking stop and accept that I'm here, I'm staying, and it's not your fault."
He slowly shifted, keeping his face averted. "You could disappear. Boss would help you. Sooner or later, Branch would give up and you would be safe."
"Is that what you want? Me to disappear?"
He finally looked at her, his eyes filled with anguish. "Of course not. But if it would make you safe.. Screw my feelings."
"There's no way to be one hundred percent safe. I wish you'd just stop. I figured by now you'd get that I'd rather be here with you and Kiba and deal with anything bad that happens than to not be with you guys at all. And everytime something bad happens, I spend my time having to calm you down and convince you it's not your fault instead of actually dealing with things. I wish you'd just get it through your head one of these days. Not everything that happens to me is your fault or connected to things you've done."
"We could fake your death. Set you up in a different city. You'd be safe.." Tet spoke rapidly. "You would be free.."
"You know, for how much you say you love me, you sure love trying to push me away, don't you?" The panther finally moved off of him and started walking away.
Tet lay there, then roared in fury and pain. He slammed his fists into the ground as he began to sob. They were deep, heart rending cries as he pummeled the forest floor as if beating an invisible enemy.
Andy finally reverted back as she arrived back at the base. She soon found Kiba, "You always tell me to get my shit together. Why don't you tell Tet the same, maybe he'll listen to it from you."
"What happened? Where is he?"
"He's somewhere in the forest if he's still where I left him. I'm just so sick of him blaming himself for shit that's happened to me. He keeps trying to tell me to move away, go to a different city and I'll be safer. I'm so fucking sick of him trying to push me away. I have my own shit to deal with right now, I can't always be the one trying to help care for everyone else. Tet's struggling, Jun threw himself off a fucking cliff, I obviously am not very helpful today." She said angrily.
"They tortured him, did you know that?" Ryon's voice was soft as he leaned against a wall. "They showed him what they were doing to you. They told him they had had no interest in you until you returned after Seltain. They were interested in who could possibly break through his defenses and make him so was before they turned him over to their necro."
"That still doesn't mean he should be pushing me away," Andy sighed. "But maybe he'd be safer if I wasn't here."
"It will kill him. You didn't see him during the five months we were hostage. Everytime he was revived and you weren't you.. He forced them to kill him over and over because he refused to be alive while you were like that. The last time they revived him, he tried to make you kill him. That's when the control broke." Ryon pushed himself to stand. "Not trying to tell you what to do, just telling you the facts." He vanished without another word.
Andy was silent for a minute then looked up at Kiba, "Can you go find him and make sure he's alright?"
The wolf nodded, shifting and running for the woods.
Andy slowly headed to her room, overwhelmed by all the information she'd taken in that day. She laid on her bed and curled up, starting once more to cry.
Kiba cursed as he reverted, having found no sign of Tet. He slammed a fist into a tree trunk, trying to think of where he could have gone. Finally he conceded defeat and headed back to base, avoiding Andy's room.
Tet shakily raised the glass to his lips, knocking back the shot with a grimace. It burned his throat and he could only wish it was real fire. He sighed, threw some money on the bar and walked unsteadily outside. He began to walk, not caring where he ended up. Suddenly, he fell off the curb. He saw a brief glimpse of headlights and felt a dull pain, then the world went dark.
Andy ended up crying herself to sleep. She slept for hours, only waking when she had a nightmare. She covered herself with the blanket and forced herself back to sleep, not wanting to deal with anything.
The next morning, she heard subdued voices outside her door.
"Should we even tell her?"
"She'd go ballistic on us if we don't."
"She's unstable. And after yesterday.." Kiba's voice was thick with grief. "She could very well do something we can't fix.."
Andy pushed herself out of bed, looking disheveled. She opened the door, "What happened?"
Kei and Daiki froze, Kiba refusing to meet her eyes. "Tet's dead."
Andy tried to process the information, "What happened?"
"Apparently, he got plastered at a nearby bar and got hit by a car. He refused to go to the hospital and walked away. Early this morning, Boss got a call from a detective. Tet got into an altercation with what is left of that shifter gang he took out last year. They tortured and killed him. They dropped his body on the cop's doorstep."
She stared at him numbly, "Where is he?"
"Boss sent Akasa and Ryon to bring him home."
Andy nodded, "Let me know when he's back." She shut the door again and sat on the bed, staring at the wall.
Ten minutes later, there was a hesitant knock.
Andy sighed and pushed herself up again. She opened the door to see who it was.
Ryon stood looking at the floor. His shoulders were shaking and she realized he was crying.
"What's wrong?"
"He's in the infirmary.. I want to kill them!" His words were spit out, rage vying with grief.
Andy nodded, "Don't go doing anything stupid, okay?" She headed to the infirmary and started looking Tet over.
He'd been slashed and stabbed repeatedly. There were cigarette burns on his arms and legs. His face was swollen, almost unrecognizable. There were a set of deep stab wounds around his heart and she realized someone had tried to cut it out. The M.E. had cleaned him up, the lack of blood making him look like a disfigured toy someone had dropped.
Andy spent several hours going between actual surgery and using healing spells. She eventually got him pretty well healed up and set up a transfusion. She stared at him while she waited for the bag to empty. When it finally was done, she focused, gold light surrounding him.
When she was sure he was breathing, she looked around the room for a moment before sitting in the chair next to him, staring blankly at his chest rising and falling.
Akasa came in, Kei following. The witch was carrying an unconscious Ryon, who he laid on a bed as the nurse attached restraints to the porter. Kei sighed as Akasa left the room.
Andy finally looked up, "What happened?"
"He tried to leave. Said he was going hunting. We sedated him."
Andy nodded slowly then went back to staring at Tet.
"How are you doing?" Kei approached and began to massage her shoulders.
"I don't know, honestly," she admitted.
He paused, moving to crouch in front of her. "It's alright to be broken. With everything that's happened in the past few days, it's natural to need help. You just have to ask. We're here for you."
"I just feel like.. I'm always the strong one. And as soon as I'm not, bad things happen, like Jun and Tet.. I couldn't help them enough.."
"Stop it right now. You aren't to blame for Jun or Tet. They chose to do the stupid things they did. Jun chose to jump, you didn't push him. He obviously has issues stemming from his captivity. Tet.. well he chose to drink himself stupid. If he'd gone with the EMTs, he wouldn't have run into the gang, if he didn't actually start anything. Knowing him, he probably instigated the fight."
Kei hugged her close, kissing the top of her head softly. "Just stop trying to bear everyone else's problems, okay? Listening does not mean you have to fix us."
Andy gave a small smile, "I'm a doctor, I'm supposed to fix things."
"Fixing bodies is not the same thing as shrinking heads. You know that." The witch's eyes twinkled as he chuckled.
Andy nodded. "I know. I just seem to be the group caretaker, so I try to help any way I can, even if it's an inconvenience to me. I don't know how to stop that.." She was quiet for a moment before sighing, "I've never fully dealt with the things I've gone through. I always end up focusing on the others and pushing my problems to the back. And now, after going through even more.. I just don't know what to do, you know?"
He sighed as he sat down beside her. "Give yourself time. You just got back, you need to process everything. You-"
His words were cut off as a bright light flared from the direction of Jun's bed.
Andy looked over in confusion.
Kei stood and approached, then turned to her. "Andy, what the hell.. He's glowing.."
Andy shrugged, "He was glowing earlier, when I revived him, he had a red light then too."
Jun suddenly levitated off the bed, the light quickly being sucked back into him. A minute later, he opened his eyes in confusion.
"What the fuck was that glowing and levitating..?" Andy stared at him in equal confusion.
"I-I don't know.." The soldier looked at her in fear. "I can feel the power inside me..it's trying to get out. Help me.."
Andy nodded, "Don't worry. We'll figure this out." She gave him a small smile.
Kei slowly approached, his eyes glowing as he looked Jun over. After a few minutes, he returned to normal and gave Jun a reassuring smile. He turned to Andy, dropping the smile and inclining his head toward the lab.
Andy stood and headed in there, "What's wrong?"
"Not sure how to say this. Our stray is bursting with at least two types of power. One is flowing freely, though he probably has never given a second thought to it. The other.. It's been sealed within him. I think you loosened the seal when you revived him. It wants out.."
"Is it bad energy though? I mean, can we remove the seal?"
Kei frowned. "I don't know what will happen. His aura is strange. I can readily identify the earthwitch markers but the other, the closest I can compare it to is you. But different somehow."
Andy frowned, "Let me see what I can figure out." She sighed and headed back out to Jun. She focused on him, trying to get a sense of the energy. After a few minutes she sighed once more before saying a spell to help her identify the sealing spell. She soon said a counterspell to try to remove the seal entirely and watched to see what would happen.
Jun's eyes went wide, glowing red as his body was encased in a red barrier. He uttered a cry as the barrier got brighter and then shattered. His eyes returned to normal, then rolled up as he collapsed on the bed.
Andy got him situated in a better position before going back to sit by Tet.
Kei emerged, his eyes fearful. "Andy, I just did a spell using Jun's blood. He's not Katshiro's kid. He's Seltain's."
Andy froze. "So the energy is his necromancer energy.. and if Seltain was thousands of years old.. how old is Jun really? Would Seltain keep him living longer and him not know it? And why would Seltain want me if he had his own necromancer kid?" She shook her head, "Doesn't matter.. He seems to have no idea. I wonder how he'll take it."
Kei shrugged. "I don't know. He's scared though. Could Seltain have been hiding him, possibly as part of a plan? Like a trump card if he needed it?"
"I don't know.." she sighed, "but I'll tell him everything when he wakes up."
"Darlin? Am I dead?" Tet's voice was low, the words frightened.
"You're alive in the infirmary. Okay?"
He looked at her, then ducked his head as tears began to fall.
"Hey, it's alright, don't cry." She wiped away some of the tears.
"You were angry and you left.. I was sure you didn't want to see me." His breath hitched as his crying intensified.
"I'm sorry I got angry and left," she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm just trying to process everything and it seemed like you were pushing me away.."
"I just don't want to see you like you were there...so blank..I couldn't take it! I kept coming back, praying you would be there and every time it was the same…" He clutched her arm like he was drowning and she was his lifeline.
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
He cried until he passed out in her arms.
She laid him back and kissed his forehead before moving back to the chair.
"You should sleep. I'll stay here in case either of them wake." Kei said gently.
Andy nodded and headed out in the hall. She slowly walked toward her room, thoughts running a mile a minute. She struggled to get to sleep, her mind not wanting to shut off. Eventually she got a few hours, waking to a nightmare and unable to get back to sleep. She stood in the shower until the water ran cold before she finally got dressed and headed back to the infirmary.
Jun was tossing and turning, Kei trying to keep him from falling. The witch looked up and sighed in relief. "Nothing I do will wake him or stop his thrashing."
Andy nodded and recited a spell, Jun finally settling into a more restful sleep. "If he doesn't wake on his own in a bit, I'll get him up."
Kei relaxed, then looked at her. "You didn't sleep much. You want me to make you a sleep potion?"
She shook her head, "Not yet. We'll see how the next few nights go first."
He gave her a look, but dropped the subject. "Tet's out. I was actually surprised he woke at all."
Andy nodded, "Go get some sleep. I'll take over here."
Kei scowled, but left quietly.
Andy sat where she could watch both of them, taking some time to enjoy the quiet.