I got my PS3 working! Yeah, that's why I'm uploading this at 9:56 something (Pacific time) at night. It's a good thing I have up to Short 21 finished, because I'm not going to be able to put that down until my controller dies. (I'm not sitting on the floor.)

Anyway, back to the girls' side of the crisis. Early on, I mention Mona as being younger than the Magicist. No one has their ages stated, so I like to think that the alchemist is not as old as the magician.

Well, that's all I have to say. Have fun.

Short 17

(Day 13; 6 of the kidnapping crisis)

"You going to be okay for a couple hours?"

A small nod.

"If you say so. Yell if you need me."

The Magicist walked out of the room, letting out a sigh as she did so. She didn't have high hopes that she would raise her voice beyond a whisper even if someone broke in and was attempting to kill her.

After the first 3 days staying at the doctor's, Mona looked like she was either going to go crazy or become as lifeless as a vegetable, so the Magicist took her back to the Potionarium. The doctor was glad to have her gone, as both women very nearly scared him quite literally shitless at least three times on the day they left alone.

Despite being in a more familiar and comfortable environment, Mona continued to become more unresponsive with each passing day. While this made the prospect of her reopening her wounds unlikely at best, it quickly became difficult to get her to so much as eat. She was even starting to ignore Xenon, regardless of the cat's constant pleas for attention.

This was starting to really eat at the Magicist. Despite her admittedly mean comments about the younger woman being 'Adam's' mother, she was fully aware of her feelings towards her partner, and the fact that he saw her the same way, and that's why she felt extreme exasperation and disappointment when after Mona joking told him to get out his final words before they attempted to return him to his real age, he failed to get it out despite the fact that he was clearly arguing with himself over it. She wasn't about to step in and let each other know unless this continued on for another year or two, though, because it just wasn't her place.

The Magicist was honestly starting to wonder if the best course of action was actually to bring the other woman with her on the trip to get Plague Knight. At least she'd respond to that.

Nodding to herself, she resolved to drag Mona along. Only if she could walk, of course.

As luck would have it, a minion came running up to her, flailing his arms about wildly. "I found him!" He shouted excitedly.

"Are you sure? I've already had several idiots tell me that today, but their descriptions were far from accurate."

The minion nodded confidently. "Yeah, I tried that potion thing you gave us to sense the magic signatures of the people we were looking for!"

"So did the other ones," the Magicist cut in.

"You didn't let me finish," the minion said. "I came across a house, which was literally straight from where you left off. I'm guessing they weren't trying to be sneaky. Anyway, I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I found two men who had absolutely no magical capacity, to the point of absurdity."

"That must be the two buff guys," the Magicist muttered.

"Would you stop interrupting?" The minion growled.

"Sorry, go on."

"Thank you. There was another that seemed… normal, I guess, and then one that seemed distinctly…" he searched for the correct word for several moments.

"Female?" The Magicist provided. "That usually trips people up."

The underling snapped his fingers. "There we go; it wasn't that of a male! That was bugging me the whole way back!"

"Yes, anyway, about Adam?"

"I was getting to that. So, I finally spotted a fifth signature, and it was, well, odd is the only way I can describe it. He was clearly male, judging from what you just said about the males and females apparently being different (why is there a difference?!) and there was something weird about it. He clearly had quite the capacity for magic, far beyond anything anyone else and he really stuck out like a sore thumb. Though I do fear that means that it couldn't be Adam due to his status as an abused child, but…"

"No, he had a good affinity for magic, at least more than what he has towards the physical arts. However, let me ask you this… How do you know it wasn't just a visitor, or a smart member of the family?"

"I felt… rage. Is that possible?"

The Magicist nodded. "Indeed, it is. Your emotions can affect your magic, and that can make using it particularly self-destructive weapon if you're trying to use it directly after or during a painful event. Anger makes it more powerful, but also more likely backfire, sorrow can cause it to be less powerful or just not work to begin with. You get the point."

The underling nodded. "Right, thanks for the magic lesson I didn't ask for. So I'm not crazy then. I'm not well versed in this sort of thing, but I swear it was aimed at the three other men!"

The Magicist nodded. "Alright. I'll gather a team and go check it out. Thank you. You may rest for a couple of hours before we go."

"I'm coming with you?" The minion asked, incredulous.

"Of course. Go rest now."

The minion nodded slowly and turned, walking away.

The Magicist set about gathering the few remaining minions in the Potionarium, informing them that they would be accompanying her. After that, she made her way over to Percy.

"Mona and I are going after Plague Knight in a couple hours. I'm going to be entrusting you to hold down the fort until we can get back."

Percy blinked in confusion. "But Mona just left."

The Magicist's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "And you just let her go?"

Percy shrugged. "She seemed in a hurry. I figured it wouldn't be wise to hold her up."

"Wait, was she running?"

Percy nodded.

The Magicist took a deep breath, and then let it out as a low hiss, finally allowing herself to yell, "Shit! Don't you know she's hurt?"

Percy nodded slowly, surprised at the rage that the Magicist was showing. "Well yeah, but…"

"And you let her run off?!"

Percy took a couple steps back, correctly identifying that the situation he had gotten himself into was not exactly ideal despite his usual inability to figure out what he's walking into. "If you're quick, you can catch her," he provided.

The Magicist almost continued chewing him out, but figured she could deal with that later. Turning swiftly on her heel (a feat that she was surprised she managed in high heels), she dashed as fast as she could to the exit.

Oh, the suspense! Yep, Mona bothered to drag herself out of bed upon hearing the minion shout, then snuck out of the lab afterwards because she wasn't aware that the Magicist was going to bring her along.

Yeah, the magic lesson was there more or less just because I could, and the rules and workings for magic are not elaborated on, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents about how parts of it could work.

Also important, this chapter marks where this is officially not something the canon can cross with. Why? It's a small detail, but I stated that the Magicist was well aware that Plague Knight liked Mona, and vice versa. It's small, so most of the canon could still take place, but still. It opens up possibilities for what else I could shake up that would otherwise fuck with the canon that I don't quite care about now.
Suggestions, people?