Here is a new chapter.

Originally, it was supposed to be a single chapter, but turned out way larger than I had originally planned, so I decided to break it in two chapters. Enjoy the part one while I continue working on part two and maybe will post it somewhere within the next month.

Adrian was deeply worried.

I mean, could you blame him? He had just found out that there seemed to be another attack. This time inside of the mansion itself!

It had been one set of bad news after the other. First the news coming from a desperate member of security coming to report that Shepard had escaped from the dungeons, and that the five security guards left to watch over him and Clawde were all missing, and that they were not able to reach them.

They had no idea of where either the guards or Shepard were. Clawde, apparently, was of no use. He kept saying that he didn't saw what happened, and only said that he believed about someone called "Cornelius Wilde" being there.

The news that a mage they had under custody escaped from his cell was seriously an aggravating one. Especially taking in consideration the fact that the collar that suppressed his magic circuits was still in the cell. This meant that Shepard was now as dangerous as a mage could be.

And he was somewhere in the house.

At that moment, Adrian had been sure that there could be nothing worse than that. However, just three minutes later, a desperate maiden had come from another part of the house, to inform that had been an attack.

How could things go so wrong so quickly?

He was just trying to have a good conversation with his wife after all the tension that has been between them the last weeks. Maybe have it evolve into something interesting that could happen on their bedchambers, when he received the terrible news.

Now there he was, rushing across the hallways accompanied by both his wife and at least seven members of his security team, as he was guide to the place where all of the guests currently were.

Soon the group grew, as a door of the room they were crossing suddenly opened, revealing four more security personal and a very serious-looking Yahya.

"Father..." Adrian said, stopping for a moment, only for his father to cut him.

"Shepard escaped, five members of the team are missing and the guests have been attacked." The dark horse said, making it clear he already knew of everything. Adrian knew by his expression that there was no need or time to chat, and so, Adrian only continued to walk in direction they needed to go.

They needed at least two minutes, but eventually arrived.

All of the guests (well, not really), had gathered on a room after they rushed out of that hallway and from those double doors. They had met some servants in there, and they had made sure the guests were all okay before two of them departed to look for someone to talk and to inform of what they had been told.

The guests, including Gazelle and her bodyguard, were all pretty worried with what was happening. Charles was the one the most visibly worried, considering that he had been defending that they should not just stop there and should be going even further away from the hallway, in case of who or whatever was in there decided to chase after them after killing the others.

This commentary granted him a few glares.

Tyson, on his end, was sure of one thing: If someone came through those doors with the intention of harming Gazelle, then he was going to be using magecraft, claws and fangs to fight whoever it was to death. This much he swore on the name of the Tigereye clan.

All of those thoughts were momentarily forgotten by the arrival of the elder Manechesters with a gaggle of mammals in security uniforms.

Yahya took a single glance at all of them at once, before he said:

"Where is Chandler?"

"He was in the greenhouse with Benjamin when we heard the explosions." Euphemia said, looking at her grandfather. "Officers Hopps and Wilde, as well as Horne and Ogami went inside to try and help them. Joshua Clawhauser and Foxgrove went inside the greenhouse as well. The rest of us came here, as per Officer Hopps' instructions."

"Chandler is still there?" Adrian asked, looking at his daughter.

"He is not here, Adrian, so obviously he is." Yahya said, matter-of-factly, "When was this?"

"Nearly five minutes ago." Euphemia asked, "We haven't heard anything coming from there ever since. We don't know what is happening, or how many hostiles may have back there."

"There might be at least one." Yahya said to her. "Shephard has escaped the dungeons. He didn't passed by you, did he?"

"We haven't seen him." Euphemia said, sounding surprised for finding out that Shephard escaped.

"Wait, Shephard?" Gazelle asked, to what Euphemia said:

"The mage who attacked Benjamin with the tridents. He was captured earlier today and was being kept on the dungeons."

The other guests seemed surprised at this. Including Charles, who stared at his wife.

"Okay, when were you planning to tell us that?" Tyson asked, but there was no time for Yahya, or anyone, to formulate an answer.

"What is happening?" Said Simon Blackson, as he rushed into the room, coming right behind the security personnel.

"Simon!" Gazelle said, while the blackbuck ran to her.

"I heard one of the servants saying something about explosions! What is going on?"

"We can all talk about this later." Yahya said, "Right now, we have other things to worry about. Everyone, be ready. Make sure to have your dart guns ready." Yahya was giving those orders to the security personnel, who were also all employees of his company. "We never faced mages before, so we better be ready for everything."

As he said that, the guards all drew their weapons, which included batons, dart guns and stun guns. All of them ready to make use of all the training they had as agents of the Beastar Corps to go to battle with whatever it was that waited for them.

However, before they could:

"... are you telling me you knew?" Judy's voice came as she and Nick walked through the door, opened by the wolf with them.

"Well, yeah." Nick said back to her, ignoring the fact that all of the eyes on the room suddenly turned in their direction. "Kinda. I mean, I grew up in Zootopia, remember?"

"And you really didn't tell me?" Judy asked, to what Nick quickly said:

"Hey, it is not as if I could just slip that in a conversation while on the Manechesters' earshot. They are sensitive about it. Besides, I didn't even knew the guy was still alive. Word on the streets was that he had taken the old dirt nap. Or... water nap?"

"Well, it would have been good to know beforepaw, anyway." Judy said, before she and Nick turned their gazes to the many mammals now looking at them.

"Hi." Nick said to them, as other four mammals came in right behind them. Legoshi, who was holding the door, Horne, Josh and Marcy. All of them looked back at the mammals looking at them.

"Sup." Melor said to all of them, and some of them only looked at them for a few moments, before Yahya said:

"Assuming how calm you all look, I'd say that there is no more danger."

"Yeah, pretty much." Josh said, lighting up a cigar and smoking on it.

"Was it Shephard?"

"Sure was." Nick said to him.

"Did you caught him?"

"He escaped before we could." Horne said, "Left the greenhouse kinda messed up. Hope you were not too found of those rose bushes, Euphemia."

Euphemia looked at the hybrid, and she seemed like she wanted to say something, but Yahya continued:

"And Chandler?"

"A little bump on his head, but he is fine." Marcy said to him, "And so is Ben, by the way."

The mammals on the room seemed like they were glad for hearing that, as some of them let out sighs. Yahya, however, remained silent as he heard this, and he nodded.

"So, Shephard is on the loose." The dark horse said, sounding as serious as one could be in a situation like that. Everyone heard that, and they realized that this was something serious.

"Yeah, that's a bummer." Horne said, "But, on the good news, we have figured out who was the one who's been lurking around the house and spraying things on the walls."

"You did?" Adrian asked, looking at the hybrid.

"Sure did." Melor confirmed, "We just had the guy admit everything. Seemed pretty proud of that, to be honest."

"Well, a round of applause for you." Said Carolyn, "So, who was it? Some vagabond with too much free time on his hooves?"

The hybrid seemed like he was about to answer, when suddenly someone saying:

"'Some vagabond'?" Said a voice, as four other mammals passed through the door and into the room. Ben, Gabe and Chandler were all okay, or so it seemed. However, they were not the center of the attention, but the mammal that was coming with them, and who was the one talking.

"You know, Mom? This is not what I expected to hear after five years without talking to you directly."

Carolyn stopped. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates. So were the ones of her husband, who looked like he had just seen a ghost. In fact, many of the mammals on that room were looking at the newcomer horse with wide, surprised eyes. Meanwhile, the horse only seemed amused at their reactions.

"Angus..." Was all that could come up of Carolyn's mouth, while the horse looked around.

"Ahhh, look at this place!" He said, with wide arms as he gestured to the room, looking like he was showing off his own body, only covered by the piece of pelt-like material tied around his waist. "You know, I kind of missed this place. Ohh, those are new." He pointed at some vases on pedestals and to some statues near them. "Good to see that kicking me out didn't stopped you from getting new stuff for your collection, Dad."

Adrian said nothing, only continued to stare, and so was Yahya, who didn't seemed as surprised as his son and daughter-in-law were. However, he still looked surprised for seeing that face again.

"Okay, guys, this was the guy who's been lurking around the property." Josh said as he gestured at the horse, "Dude's name's Angus Manechester. But, I think you guys knew that already, didn't you?"

There were a few moments of silence. Which was then broken by the sound of hooves hitting the floor.

Carolyn rushed past everyone and reached out for Angus. She put her arms around his body and pulled him into a hug.

"Carolyn!?" Adrian said, looking in surprise in direction to his wife, whom continued to hug Angus, and was now starting to sob.

"Y-you..." She said, between hard sobs. "You're alive..."

Everyone could only stare as Carolyn hugged Angus. Her son. He firstborn whom she thought had been dead for three years. Meanwhile, Angus said:

"Mom, not that I'm not happy for seeing you again, but I'm kind of naked right now, and this is a little awkward."

Carolyn would not let go of Angus, but he eventually made her let do it, and she just stood near, whipping away her tears. Meanwhile, Angus turned his attention to another horse on the room.

"So?" Angus asked, looking straight at Adrian. "No hugs from you, Pops?"

Adrian looked at him.

"How are you alive?" Adrian asked, and Angus could do nothing more than laugh at this.

"Now that was an upset voice." Angus said, "What, feeling sorry that a shameful son like me is still around?"

"You were supposed to have died!" Adrian said, looking at his son. "You're supposed to have vanished at the sea three years ago! There were witnesses!"

Angus looked at the older horse, letting out a small chuckle.

"Oh, Adrian." The horse said, "You should already know that mammals will say and do almost anything... for the right price."

The way Angus spoke that was quite condescending, nearly as if he was speaking to a person who didn't had a clue. Adrian clearly didn't like that, as he glared at the younger horse, who then turned his attention to Yahya.

"You don't look as surprised as I expected, Gramps." Angus said to the elder of the family. "I kind of expected you to be more shocked."

Yahya looked at him with an indifferent expression.

"You knew I wasn't dead, didn't you?" Angus asked, to what Yahya answered:

"I had my suspicions. The details of your 'death' were not clear, and the fact that a body was never recover made me wonder. Not to mention the fact that the money from the life insurance was cashed out literally on the following day."

Angus smirked.

"Of course, a good detective as always."

"Just figured you could be up to something." Yahya said back to his grandson. "And I see I was right."

"And we all know how you love being right, don't we?" Angus said, looking at his grandfather with a smirk that nearly seemed like a provocation. Yahya only glared back at him with a cold gaze, while everyone around witnessed this, some of them feeling quite nervous.

"So, you knew about him?" Judy asked, looking at Yahya, who turned his attention to the smaller mammal. "Why you ddin't told?" Judy asked to him, before looking at the rest of the Manechester family. "Why have none of you spoke about him?"

There was a very awkward silence following this. Euphemia looked quite indifferent, but she was looking at the ground, while her husband looked to the sides. Yahya only seemed indifferent. Adrian turned is head to the side, while Carolyn glared at him. It was Chandler who finally spoke:

"Dad forbade us from talking about him." The younger horse on the room said, and everyone looked at him, before turning their gazes back to Adrian.

"Why?" Judy asked, and this time it was Angus' turn to answer,

"Because, if no one talked about me, then it would be easier for him to pretend I was never born. And to make everyone do the same, of course."

Adrian turned his gaze to Angus, who was glaring back at him.

"What? Are you going to deny it?" Angus said, looking at his father with an angry glare, nearly challenging him to try denying it. "After everything you did to erase every trace of my existence?"

"After kicking me out with nothing more than the clothes of my back and everything I could stuff in a suitcase, and threatening to shot me if I ever came back?" Angus said, walking in direction to his father with slow, but firm, steps. "After burning away every single picture of me and any diary and journal that mentioned my name? After turning my bedroom into a second library? After threatening to fire any servant that even mentioned me? After going around all of the city to make sure that my name would be forever left off any mention on any official mean, and that everyone who ever knew me would play dumb if they were ever asked any questions regarding me?"

There was no anger on those words. However, the way he spoke let it show that there was a resentment behind those words. Adrian only continued to glare at him, while Angus glared back at him.

"You made Zootopia forget about me." Angus concluded. "All because it was better than having to remember what a shame of a son I turned out to be five years ago."

Everyone heard that in silence. Including Judy.

Wait. Five years ago? Judy thought, and then, something sparked on her memory.

"The attack on Bogo..." Judy said to herself. The silence on the room was so much that many were able to hear the bunny mumbling something. Including Angus, as his ear twitched.

"Excuse me?" Angus said, turning his gaze at the bunny, who was now looking intently at him, and said again, this time loud enough to be heard clearly:

"The assault on Chief Bogo five years ago. The one that made Adrian lose the election."

Adrian flinched upon being reminded of that, but Judy didn't noticed, as all of her attention was now focused on the other horse known as Angus.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Judy asked, and Angus kept his eyes on the bunny for a few moments, before he chuckled.

"Well..." Angus said, shrugging. "I guess that's kind of obvious at this point, ain't that right?"

Judy continued looking at him.

"Why?" She asked, "Why would you attack the police chief?"

Angus only looked back at her as he crossed his arms over his broad, naked chest.

"Many reasons." Angus said, "Mainly because he was poking his snout where he shouldn't."

"What does that even mean?" Judy demanded. This time, the answer suddenly came from Carolyn.

"You really want to know!?" The mare said, surprising everyone. "You really want to know so bad!? Then ask him!"

She pointed a hooved finger at Ben, who flinched and took a step back.

"It is all his fault!" Carolyn said.

"Mom!" Chandler said, but his mother ignored him and continued.

"This all happened because of this stupid fatso!" Carolyn said, pointing a finger at Ben as she said those words, and this granted a lot of angry glares at her. "It was all because he came into our lives and ruined everything! This stupid, ridiculous excuse for a cat came into our lives and he sedu-"

"SHUT UP!" Said a very angry voice, which surprised and shocked everyone on the room.

It had been Angus voice. He was glaring at his mother as well, who looked back at him with a shocked expression.

"Angus!"

"Mom..." Angus said, "I know that I never said it to you before. But, seriously, just shut up."

Carolyn still looked shocked as she stared at her son, and Angus seemed completely unfazed by his mother's shock, and only glared at her, before sighing and turning his eyes away, seeming as if he simply lost his interest in her.

"What do you mean by his fault?" Gabe asked. No. He nearly demanded. "What does that even mean? What are you accusing Ben of?"

Everyone looked at him. Including Angus, who then smirked.

"What? You don't know?"

The way the horse said that made it sound as if he was amused by this. The smirk he had on his muzzle also said the same.

"You have been on the house for a few days, and Benjamin hadn't told you about that?" Angus asked the deer, "Man, I guess you two really grew apart, huh?"

Gabe glared at Angus, who continued to smirk at him, nearly as if he wanted to mock the deer.

"Okay, I've been holding myself for a while, but now I had it." Marcy said, now taking the attention of the room. "Ben, do you mind explaining how exactly do you know this guy?"

Ben looked at his sister, and then at Angus.

"Come, Ben." Angus said, "Tell her. No need to be shy."

Ben then turned his gaze back to his sister, and he started explaining:

"Well... when I first moved into Zootopia, five years ago, I kind of had trouble to make friends." Ben said, rubbing his arm as he said that. "I kind of met Chandler by pure chance, and... well, I met the rest of the Manechester family through him." He turned his gaze to Gabe as well. "Angus too."

"So, you became friends with him by becoming friends with his brother?" Gabe concluded, but Angus let out a neighing laugh as he heard that, as if that was a joke.

"Actually..." Ben said, "Angus and I didn't really got along back when we met. He offered me money to never speak to Chandler again."

Gabe, Marcy and Josh all looked at the horse, who shrugged under their gaze.

"Hey, I was looking out for my little brother." Angus said, defending himself. However, Chandler had a look on his face that told he disagreed with it.

"Do you know how many people approached our family for our money?" Angus said to them. "How many only approached us because they wanted to take advantage of us? To find a way to leech and mooch out of us? Well, many."

He cast a glance over his shoulder, in direction to Charles.

"Some with more success than others."

Charles shrunk as that was said, while Angus continued to give him an amused glance, as if the other horse was nothing more than a joke.

"Besides..." Angus said, turning his attention back to the others. "Ben was not a member of any important or rich family I knew."

"And is that bad?" Legoshi asked, confused, to what the horse said:

"It was not good to associate with just anyone." The horse said simply. "Walking around with a low-class citizen? Certainly not good for people like us."

Everyone looked at him, and then the gazes shifted to the rest of the Manechesters.

"I never taught him that." Adrian said.

"Don't even look at me." Yahya deadpanned.

When the eyes were on her, Carolyn just looked away.

"Old money, huh?" Melor asked the mare, who simply snorted and refused to even acknowledge the hybrid. Meanwhile, Angus continued:

"Anyway, I just thought that this cheetah being friends with my brother could not be anything good." Angus said, "I was pretty sure he was just another guy trying to take advantage of our money and status. So, I decided to nip that problem on the bud. Right after Chandler told me about this 'new friend of his', I went to meet Ben at his house, and asked him straight away how much he wanted to never have any contact with my little brother again."

Chandler was glaring at his brother as he said that. It was very clear that he didn't liked the fact that Angus had done something like that. Most likely, behind his back.

"But... Ben didn't accepted it." Angus said, looking at the cheetah. "After he refused the first offer, I doubled it. Then tripled it. Then I offered ten times more. But he still said that he didn't wanted to give up his new friend. Then I... well, I implied that being associated with my brother any further could bring certain... complications on his life."

"Did you threatened my brother?" Marcy said, sounding not the least bit happy with hearing that. Neither did Josh.

"Looking out for my family, right?" Angus said on his defense, but that didn't diminished the glares of the other two in the slightest. "But, that was during the course of a few weeks. If I had just confronted him with the 'complications' at first, maybe he would have backed down right away. But, during those weeks, Chandler and Ben did became the best of friends."

"Still..." Angus said, looking at the cheetah. "The fact that you said 'no' to my face so many times is quite impressive. Shows that you are not one to back down easily. Looking back, I can really admire it about you."

Everyone noticed the way he looked at Ben and smiled as he said that. Some found that smile and look a little strange. To some, it even seemed... fond? Almost as if... the horse was remembering something pleasant.

Angus, seemingly noticing the way others were looking at him, decided to continued:

"Still, back on the day, I was really sure that this cheetah was trouble. I was determined to get him after that, and I decided to use some of the resources I had at my disposal. I used to be next in line to be the head of the Beastar Corps. I took advantage of it. I contacted our detective department and had them take a real close look into this cheetah. See if they could find any dirt on him. If he was a scammer or had some kind of criminal record."

"He didn't." Gabe said, glaring at the horse, as if offended for him to even think something like that about Ben. Angus, unfazed by his anger, only nodded.

"Yeah, that's right." Angus said. "They didn't found anything bad on his past. No accusations. No prior records. No citations on his past. Clean as a whistle."

"So clean it was suspicious." Angus added, "Of course, at the time, I wanted to find something bad on his past that I could use against him. So I told them to check it again. And again. After the fourth attempt coming back without them finding anything, I finally convinced myself that the guys were just incompetent."

"That was when I decided to take matters on my own hooves." Angus was looking at Ben once more as he said that. "I decided to investigate myself, and to find out whatever it was that the cheetah was hiding."

"But, I don't need to tell you that, do I, Ben?" He asked, smiling at the cheetah in a playful way. "After all, we both know what happened after I followed you, right?"

Ben looked back at Angus, and everyone looked in between the two.

"What?" Adrian asked, "What, what happened?"

It seemed that Adrian really wanted to know what Angus was talking about. So did Carolyn, by the way she looked at her son. Angus, not seeming surprised by this, only sighed:

"I spend nearly three days following Ben." He said, explaining more to his parents than to anyone around. "Actually, I nearly camped out on my car outside of his building and kept watching him. I followed him when he got out. I made notes on everything he did throughout the day and everyone he met. I kept records on everything, and made sure he didn't made a single move without me knowing."

"So, you were stalking him." Nick said, and Angus answered:

"I was investigating him. Seeing if he went anywhere he was not supposed to go, or met with any suspicious individuals. Of course, I may have overstepped my boundaries a little bit, in one way or another, but I only did what I was taught. Get results and answers, at any needed price. Ain't that right, Yahya?"

Angus cast a glance at the elder horse on the room. Yahya said nothing in return, and seemed completely unfazed, as he had his eyes on Angus, listening very carefully to everything he was saying. Angus, seemingly amused by all of the attention the dark horse was giving him, decided it was best to continue.

"Anyway, I found nothing interesting on his life after following him for the first two days. But, on the third day." Angus was smirking. "Oh, on the third day, that was when things got truly interesting... Your remember it, don't you, Ben?"

He once more had his attention turned at the cheetah.

"You were minding your own business, taking a stroll on the city during the night, when that sheep and his friends came and pushed you into that dark alley." He said, "I was following you from behind, and I found that very suspicious. That was when I approached through the other side, and I could hear very clearly of the things that sheep was saying to you. About the 'thing you did', and about how 'playing innocent wouldn't work with him'. And all of that stuff."

Ben looked down as he heard that. The ones who were hearing this immediately assumed it was about the accusation regarding Fawnshope. This sheep had been taking to Ben regarding the crime he was wrongly accuse of.

"Of course, since I spent the last three days following you after any dirt on you, I knew that this could be what I was looking for." Angus said, "I made sure to hear and see everything. And, of course, I have my cellphone recording everything."

"Of course, I was not sure what I was expecting." The horse admitted. "I mean, by the way the sheep was talking, I expected to have then speak of some misdeed Ben committed on the past. About something that he did and ran away from. I mean, I could even expect someone to draw a blade or a gun."

A brief paused, Angus chuckled.

"Of course, I never expected the sheep to materialize a fireball from his fingertips. Or for Ben to make a trashcan float and fly at the sheep. Or for a giant, two-headed, talking snake to come out of hiding and threaten to kill the sheep if he even touched that cheetah."

"I guess you can all imagine my surprise." The horse said, looking around, and some of them looked like they could. "I was so surprised that I tripped on my own hooves and landed on a bunch of trashcans. That was when they realized I was in there and turned their attention to me."

"As for what happened next?" Angus continued, "Well, let's just say that trying to run away from mages after seeing something they didn't wanted you to see is not the best idea."

"I barely dodged being stabbed on the stomach." Angus said, causing Carolyn to gasp. "I ended up hitting my head and passing out. But not before I heard Ben's voice, telling the sheep not to do anything to me, that he would 'take care of everything'. After that, I blacked out. When I woke up again, I was into an abandoned house, with Ben near me. I was sure I had dreamed it all... until I saw the giant two-headed snake looming over me, wishing me a good day. I swear, at that moment, I nearly dropped an entire pie on my pants!"

Angus laughed at this, while some looked at him with disgust, before the horse has decided to continue with the story.

"Anyway, after I calmed down from the giant snake, Ben started explaining everything." Angus said, "About mages, about how he used to be one, about how that sheep I saw was one as well. Basically, he put me in pair with all that happens behind the curtains of the normal world... and how it was important to keep it a secret 'at all costs'."

Ben rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't chose my words right back then." Ben admitted, "And the fact that Zass and Slizz kept singing that song didn't really helped."

"Song? What song?" Adrian asked, and Angus answered:

"That song from the TV series Pretty Little Liars. That one that goes 'two can keep a secret if one of them is dead'."

"As you can imagine, I got a little jumpy." Angus said.

"A little?" Ben asked, "You hit me in the head with a wood box!"

Angus actually chuckled at this.

"Yeah, you certainly didn't saw that coming, did you?" He asked, and Ben took his paw to his forehead, as if he was massaging the bruise that had been made five years ago, which long healed, as if it was still tingling. Everyone kept looking in between the two.

"So, you actually fought him?" Yahya asked, and Angus looked over his shoulder at his grandfather, before shrugging.

"I could've." He said, "But, with a giant snake in there, I didn't felt like taking the risk. Honestly, I was still shaken for finding out that mages were really a thing."

"You ran away." Melor concluded, and Angus said back:

"I retreated... as fast as my hooves could carry me."

"Oh, come on." Angus said at everyone who had their eyes on him. "Are you saying you wouldn't retreat from a guy with a giant snake who you thought were both going to kill you?"

No one really criticized him, as some of them had to admit they would have probably done the same.

"Go on." Yahya said, and Angus did.

"Yeah, I got scared for me life, not gonna lie." Angus said, "I mean, I still didn't knew about the whole Codex thing, and mages' laws against murder. For all I knew, that cheetah would probably kill me and let his snake eat my corpse. I spent the two following days hidden on a house on the outskirts of the city."

"Wait." Adrian said, "Was that the week when you didn't answered your phone and we barely saw you?"

Angus chuckled.

"You still remember that, huh?" He asked, eyeing his father with a strange look, and Adrian looked at him back without saying anything.

"Yes, it was that week." Angus admitted. "Three whole days dedicated to follow Benjamin Clawhauser around, and then two whole days locked into a room, hoping that he wouldn't come for me and with a gun on my hoof in the case he found me."

Some of them looked at him with worried, even horrified, expressions, but Angus ignored them as he shrugged.

"Gotta say, I was really glad you got all of us licenses to carry and use guns, Gramps." He said to Yahya, who said nothing in return.

"And then... Ben found me." Angus said, and he chuckled. "Of course he would. He was both a cop and an ex-mage. Of course he would have no problem to find a poor, helpless horse like myself. I was nothing compared to him. If he wanted, he could have got rid of me and make sure no one would have ever found my corpse."

"I would never!" Ben said immediately, and Angus looked at him, nodding.

"Of course not." He said, "You would not kill me. You're way to kind for that. Way kinder than most mages are supposed to be, ain't that right?"

Ben said nothing, only looking away. Everyone else remained in silence as they heard that.

Save for Horne.

"Alright then." The hybrid said, "So, he didn't killed you, obviously. And the fact that you seem to remember everything in so much detail says he didn't used mental interference to alter your memories either."

"So, this begs the question..." Horne said, looking at the horse. "How exactly did he got you to keep the secret of magecraft?"

Angus looked at him, and he smirked.

"He made me sign a contract."

This certainly surprised everyone present.

I could hardly believe it.

That cheetah only wanted me to sign a contract.

After two days hiding, afraid that he would break into my door and try to toss a fireball at me, or disintegrate my head. He simply knocked at my door and then, while I pointed my M1911 straight at his face, he just pulled out a piece of parchment and told me to read it.

I already saw my fair share of contracts. You have to when you are being prepared to take over an important company that had its own legal department. I had to get myself acclimated with reading and understanding contracts, and all of the legal implications that they brought.

I kept that cheetah on the aim of my gun as I read the contract he brought over to me. It was not the most technical contract ever written, and it actually seemed quite rushed. But, the gist of what it entailed was pretty clear.

Basically, I compromised himself to not reveal the secrecy of magecraft to those who didn't already knew about this world. In return, Benjamin compromised himself to never use magecraft to bring me direct harm, and to defend me from those who tried.

It was a pretty straightforward.

"So, you just want me to sign this?" I asked him, not believing that he just wanted me to sign that piece of paper. I was sure that there was some kind of trick in there. Maybe he would shove a knife on my neck as soon as I let down my gun to sign the thing.

"Yeah, that's right." He said, in all seriousness. "I promise, I won't hurt you. I won't do anything to you, I swear. You just need to sign your name there. Just do that and it will be fine."

I was not so sure, and I'm pretty sure I communicated that well with the look I was giving the cheetah. He then put his paws together, as if ready to plead.

"Angus..." Ben said, "Please, you don't understand how important this is..."

"Oh, really?" I said, glaring at that cat. "Then explain to me."

And, of course he did.

"Keeping secret is important for mages." He said to me, "Everyone knows that. Including Wooly Bellwether."

"Who?" I asked right after hearing that name. Benjamin explained that he was the sheep who was there when I saw them days ago.

"I assured him that I would deal with this." Benjamin said next, "I gave him my word, and he took is seriously. If he suspects I'm not keeping it and doing something about you, he will tell his uncle about it, and then both of us will be in serious trouble. Believe me, you have no idea how the Bellwether clan is. They might kick me out of Zootopia. Sweet Goodness, I wouldn't even be living on the city if Asher had it his way on the first place."

He sounded really sincere as he spoke that, and this actually made me lower my guard. But only a little bit.

"So, that's how you deal with it?" I asked him, "I sign the contract and then I'm your responsibility?"

To which he answered:

"You became my responsibility the moment I convinced Wooly I would deal with you."

Honestly, I was not sure how to feel about it when he said that. It kind of made me feel like a little foal. Ben continued insisting for me to sign it. So I eventully did. I kept him on my sight all the time as I used one hoof to sign my name on the dotted line. My full name, as he had instructed me. Then I passed the scroll back to him for him to do the same.

I understood that it was a matter of responsibility. But, what was the bad of signing that? What, did it allowed him to sue me if I babbled? Then what? It was not as if this would change the fact that I told people he was a mage or anything. There was no way that this contract would actually force me to keep my mouth shut for real.

Boy, was I wrong...

Right after he signed his own name on that scroll, he held it with both parts, and then he said those exact words. I still remember them to this day:

"The names of Clawhauser and Manechester now are together, bond by a mutual agreement, by the vows of silence and protection. By the names of our ancestors, by the magic circuits of Benjamin Augustus Clawhauser, he is bond to never bring harm or, by inaction, allow harm to be caused by the means of mystery. By the body of Angus Alabaster Manechester, his lips shall be forever sealed of speaking of the secrecy of mystery to those who don't already know of it. By the names of both our noble lineages, by the legacy carried in our blood, and by the words written in this contract, both parties are now bond for eternity!"

I could only look at him as he said those words while holding the contract with both paws. Then, there was light. The contract was glowing! Then there was a gust of wind. Something happened. Something took hold of me. Not physical, but I could feel something on me. On my body. Grasping at me like a bunch of tentacles clinging its way into my limbs. Into my skin. Into my internal organs.

It was over as quickly as it had started. I could no longer feel anything actually holding my body, but I felt something different. Something strange. As if whatever it was that held my body for just that second was still there, waiting to hold me again.

I was in panic, I turned my gaze back to the cheetah, who was looking at me with a look that nearly made it seem like he wanted to say "I'm sorry for this, but I had no choice". He continued to look at me like that, even when I pointed my gun straight at his face and demanded to know what he did to me...

"No. Way." Melor said, with an amused grin on his face, as he looked at both the horse and at the cheetah, and so did everyone else.

"A geis." Tyson said.

"A what?" Charles said, turning to look at the tiger.

"Ben, did you really did that?" Marcy asked, looking at her brother with worry. "Did you really used a geis on this guy?"

Ben kept his head down.

"And on myself too..." Ben admitted. Marcy looked at him with worry.

"Oh, Ben..."

"Hold on!" Carolyn said, looking at all of the mages present, as if for answers. "What is a 'geis'? What did he do to Angus? What did you do to my son you goddamn sorcerer!?"

Ben flinched as he was yelled at, and many of the presents glared at Carolyn.

"A geis, Mom..." Angus said, causing his mother to once more turn her head on his direction "Is simply one of the worst curses a mage can cast on someone."

By hearing that, Carolyn had a look of pure horror on her face, which morphed to fury once more as she turned her attention to Ben. However, before she could actually say anything, someone else said:

"It's a magical contract." It was Josh who said that, and now all eyes were on him, however, it was Horne who explained:

"Mages rarely work well together. This is a long date problem. Still, sometimes, mages had no choice but to work together with other mages to reach their goals. Still, trusting other mages is a lot hard when they are not from your family. So, mages had this problem, how to work well together with someone in whom they could not trust? The answer was to create a curse that would make sure they would not betray the other. That's when someone though about creating the geis."

"A geis is basically a contract. Like the one our dear pudgy here made horse boy sign." Horne said, gesturing to Ben and then to Angus, respectively. "However, as you guessed, this is not your usual contract. Normal contracts are reinforce by power of law. A geis, however, is reinforce by the power of magecraft. This means it is way more effective than a normal geis. With a geis, you can make it that, if the person breaks the terms of the contract, they will be penalized."

"Penalized how?" Carolyn asked, sounding worried.

"Well that can vary." Melor said, "The penalty is usually decided when casting the geis. For example, a mage who breaks the terms of the geis can lose the ability to use their magic circuits, go blind, go deaf, feel immense pain, or even die."

Carolyn had an expression of pure horror as she heard that, and then looked at Angus, as if he could drop dead any second. Angus, however, said:

"That's not the kind of geis Ben used on me."

Everyone had their eyes on him again, and the horse continued.

"Geis can be of two types: punitive and coercive. A punitive geis, is the kind that imposes penalties for the breaking of the terms of the deal. Like the ones 'horns and fangs' over there just explained."

He was referring to Melor, who seemed unimpressed by the little nickname that Angus just came up with for him.

"The geis Ben used was a coercive one." Angus said, "It is a more efficient type of geis. Also a 'nicer' one. It is not the type of geis that imposes punishments, but that forcefully makes you comply with what has been agreed upon firming the contract."

"In my case, I agreed to keep the secrecy of magecraft. So, the geis forced me to do that." Angus said, "Every time I tried to speak to someone, and tell them that magecraft was real and that Ben was a mage, then the geis would act on me and keep me from doing so. I would bite my tongue. I would lose my voice. I would choke on air. Anything that would make me not say a word." Angus laughed, "It even worked on my hooves! If I tried writing it anywhere with the intentions of showing it to anyone, then my fingers would freeze and lock in place and I would not be able to write or type. Heck, at some points the geis even forced me to lie and destroy evidence so the secrecy of magecraft would not be reveal! All because that was what was stipulated on the contract I signed. Gotta hoof it to you, Ben, you did a pretty good job on those fine prints."

He said that as a compliment to Ben, and the cheetah seemed like he would say something back, when Carolyn yelled:

"You fat bastard!" She tried to charge at Ben, only for Marcy to hold her back.

"Hey! Hey!"

"This is all your fault, you cursed my son!" Carolyn yelled, glaring daggers at the cheetah.

"Yeah, geis are really a nasty curse." Horne said, "And tricky too. You can only cast one on someone if both parties agree with it."

"What!?" Carolyn said, "Angus didn't agreed!"

"He signed the contract Ben centered the curse upon." Josh said, arms crossed over his broad chest. "That's enough agreement for the geis to work."

"Angus was tricked!" Carolyn nearly roared (an impressive feat for a horse), "He tricked my little foal into signing that thing! No one on their right minds would have signed a cursed contract! Where is that thing?! I demand you to destroy that thing!"

Ben flinched as he was yelled at. Gabe stepped on his defense.

"Hey, calm down!" The deer said to the mare, who was still trying to get past Marcy and reach out for Ben. "Even if he destroyed the contract it would have no effect! Even when you center the geis over an actual physical contract, once it is cast, the geis houses itself on the body of the cursed mammal. That thing is only a piece of paper, and destroying it would have no effect on the curse whatsoever, so don't yell at Ben!"

"Not yell at him!?" Carolyn shouted, her expression filled with rage. "How can I not be angry with someone who tricked my son into agreeing to be cursed!"

"I had no choice!" Ben said, "I needed to keep him from revealing magecraft! Besides, I also used the geis on myself! I bond myself to never use magecraft against him and always acting on his defense if others did! And the geis would always make sure I kept my word!"

"Oh, so this makes it all better, huh? The fact that you put a curse on yourself makes it up for what you did to my son!? To my precious foal!? You cursed him! You cursed all of us! You ruined our lives, you stupid, disgusting piece of-"

"ENOUGH!"

That shout was followed by a wave of air, coming from a single point as someone on the room stomped his foot extremely hard on the ground. Hard enough to create a crack on the hardwood floor and generated a loud sound akin to a thunderclap into the room. The fact that it produced a literal wave of air that washed over the room was enough to achieve the desire of making Carolyn cease her attempts of attacking, both verbally and physically, Benjamin, and just make her stare at that person. Just like everyone else on the room.

It was as if the room had frozen up, as everyone stood there and looked at Angus. His face was serious, and the ground under his right hooved foot had a small crater created by his hard stomp into the ground. However, that was not the most interesting thing happening there. The most interesting, in the opinion of some, was the fact that Angus' leg had glowing marks running all over it.

Everyone looked at the markings, which glowed before fading.

"A-Angus?" Ben said, looking at the horse, and Angus smiled at him.

Then, the horse lit up. Not only his leg this time, but all of him. All over his body, markings lit up. From his legs, up his chest and onto his head, greenish-blue markings appeared. They were mostly spiral patterns, with some solid lines here and there, running all over his body like led lights. Everyone could only stare in surprise and awe.

"W-what the heck?" Charles was able to say. "I-is that... the curse?"

"No." Said Josh, who looked at the horse with surprise. "Those are magic circuits!"

"Cool, huh?" The horse asked, opening his arms as if to show off his glowing body to everyone on the room. "But this is nothing. Check this out."

With that said, Angus then rose a single index finger on his three-fingered hooved hand. As he did, something formed on top of it. A shifting, flowing mass of water in the form of a bubble formed. The circuits on his body had gone out, but the bubble of water was still on the tip of his finger.

Everyone looked at that, wondering what it was the horse was going to do.

Then, Angus turned, and making a finger gun with his hoof and pointing it right at Yahya. Yahya looked at him as he pointed that finger at him, grinning. Then, Angus shifted his pose, turning his finger away from Yahya and, instead, pointing it to a statue on the room.

His whole hoof flinched, as the water of the bubble shifted. It compressed, becoming of the size of a water drop, and them, it was propel.

With the speed and force of a bullet, that water drop flew from Angus' finger, hitting the statue. The sound of stone breaking filled the room as the hitting water broke the stone statue on the same manner a bullet would have.

Everyone gave a step back, and Angus grin only widened.

More drops of water materialized in Angus' finger. Each one was propel like a bullet in direction to the statue, hitting it like an actual bullet, splashing water on it while it broke apart, until it finally collapsed to the ground, broken to pieces after being hit by five water bullets.

"Now!" Angus said, turning back to the room. "How cool is that?" And, as if to add "coolness" to everything, he blew his finger as if it was really the barrel of a gun. Everyone could only stare.

"My statue..." Adrian finally said, after a few moments of silence. And then he exploded.

"It was an ancient statue of Babylion!" He screamed, glaring at Angus. "It was over three thousand years old!"

Angus seemed completely unimpressed by his father's outburst.

"Good to see you still care about your art way more than you ever cared about me." Angus said, and everyone only continued to look at him, taking in what they had just witnessed, and what it meant.

"W-wait..." Charles said, "I-is Angus... a mage!?"

"Angus..." Ben said, looking at the horse. "How?"

Angus looked at him, and he smiled.

"Well, that's kind of a long story." He said, to what Yahya, with his arms crossed, said:

"Give us an abridged version."

Angus chuckled.

"Yeah, good to see this family has not changed so much on the last five years." He said, not even bothered to turn his head in his grandfather's direction as he said that. Then, Angus decided to just do it, and tell then.

This is it. Stay tuned to the next chapter, which will be the second part of this story.

Also, for a little Zootopian vocabulary – Babylion = Babylon