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Chapter X

Intricacies

Sartorius shuffles on the traditional japanese futon, sweating profusely, a light shines in the horizon, the scenes flashes to Neos as he lifts a man by the head, many other men watch in terror, their shrieks reverberating through the night under the new moon, the image etched into his mind.

His eyes open in a flinch, he hears the stomps on the floorboard and the sliding door smacking the wall, Sarina sits down by his side, a concerned glint in her eyes. He's out of breath, sweating aplenty, another of his nightmares and that scares her too.

"The light… I saw it again… It's free. I feel it getting closer."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but it's disquieting. It wanted to show me what it's doing… I…" His lips tremble, he stutters repeating the pronoun, the words failing to come out.

"Brother, calm down. I'll bring you some water-" She stands up, but he grabs her wrist.

"No, I'll go back to sleep. You shouldn't stay here either, go back to your room… I'll be fine."

He swiftly releases her hand and accommodates himself under the blanket, shifting to the side, closing his eyes. A drop of sweat rolls down her face as she leaves the room, looking over her shoulder a last time before sliding the door closed.

As soon as she's out, Sartorius opens his eyes again, they're vacant and lost, his body shudders, a chill running down his spine. What does the light want with him and why did it show such horrendous murders? And why does he feel it creeping closer? All those questions render him immobile and sleepless that night.

At the Central Hospital of Domino

Zane can see the panic in Rie's eyes as she sweats profusely. Her garments are the same plain hospital set of pants and shirt as his, but a bit more fitting for her size, her neck is surrounded by bandages, he can guess it's to cover the leftover marks from the slave collar. There's a single plaster on her forehead, partially covered by her pink bangs, but no other visible bruises or concussions, at least she seems fine on the outside.

"As you may see, I cannot harm you." He opens his arms to show the wheelchair. "I just want to talk."

She grimaces looking at his state, there's a needle stuck to his arm, some bandages around both his wrists and upper arms, a purple bruise on his cheekbone from the brawl with the other summoner, his skin hue isn't the healthiest either.

Her eyes avert from him guiltily, it's in part, her fault after all. Had she warned him about his gems before and about her unsuspected powers, perhaps he would have fared better against the other summoner and not be this wounded.

"There was a misunderstanding and my friend thought you were to be brought here, which means you didn't officially join the other free slaves yet. I apologize for that, but we'll see how to best help you now."

There's an awkward quietness in the room, the news contributing to the atmosphere, announcing an increasing number of dead or missing summoners in the suburbs and a mysterious shooting star that caught the eyes of many astronomers.

Zane taps his finger on the wheelchair impatiently, raking on his pants' pocket, he takes out the garnet, disrupting the silence:

"Chazz said when he found us, we were both unconscious and I was clutching this. Help me clarify some facts: First I don't remember you were unconscious, I probably fainted before that, but… Second, I'm sure I wasn't holding this when I fainted. And lastly, but the most important of all, this gem should be depleted." He pauses before asking the vital question. "Did you do this, Rie? Was it you who recharged this gem?"

The nervousness peaks inside her, her brows curling up, she twiddles her fingers on the bed sheets, her gaze running away from him again.

"You don't need to be afraid, it doesn't matter if you drained my energy before. What I want to know is if you did this on your own volition or if it was a fluke. That is assuming you really can't control your own powers…"

Her eyes squint before she taps lightly her collarbone to confirm his suspicion, unsure if this answer will elicit a bad reaction or not. Nonetheless, he couldn't possibly stand up from that wheelchair, could he? It's possible to see bandages coming from his chest up to his neck from the small opening on his upper piece. No way he recovered from all those wounds in such a short time.

"I thought you didn't know how to control your powers, or at least, it looked like the case…"

She adjusts on her seat, it happens again, a burst of his duel energy coming out, floating in a grainy stream in her direction, he moves his arm around, admittedly intrigued on how this keeps happening, sadly it's making him a tad too dizzy to think properly.

The sound of the sheets shuffling startle him. He observes her slide off the bed and run towards the opposite side of the room, putting her arms in front of her torso, entwining her hands together in a praying motion and frantically shaking her head.

His energy stops leaking, is it because she's not close enough? Is it related to distance? Or to her emotions? Maybe both? His mind throws more and more questions at him, making a knot in it.

"A bit nervous, are you?" The tone is completely unfazed, much to her shock. "Even if I collapse, this is a hospital, I wouldn't die here."

A further explanation, but she doesn't seem convinced, her hands getting a hold on the wall, to still keep a good distance from him, he continues:

"I understand Bonaparte must've forced you to do many things you didn't agree to, but this…" He flaunts the garnet like a trophy. "This was your choice, right? No one told you or forced you to do this, you decided it on your own. And this saved my life. Now, that's what really matters. Don't you think so?"

Her posture relaxes slightly, her blue orbs landing on his, scrutinizing his intentions, wavering subtly when she comes across an interesting realization, despite the stoic demeanor, she could feel gratitude in his words. The door opens in a rush, Chazz intrudes the room thoughtlessly, shouting out loud:

"The nurse is coming, we need to get out of here!"

He stops himself momentarily to take a look at the scene, his eyebrows angling in puzzlement as he sees the cornered girl, casting a glare back at Zane in a scolding way.

"I hope for your own sake you were not scaring other people using those underground tactics again."

"I wasn't-"

"Whatever, time to go!"

With a firm grip on the wheelchair, whirling it around and proceeding to leave the room, he halts abruptly, Zane shakes once on his seat at the indelicate braking, letting out a contained growl at the sharp pain that spreads on his torso. At the entrance, he sees the problem: an angry nurse that puts her hands to her hips, her wavy-brown ponytail wiggling at the motion.

"Zane Truesdale! Chazz Princeton! What are you two doing in the room of another patient?!"

"Listen, miss Fonda, I just wanted to pay a visit to see if the girl was fine. Zane was worried too."

Her eyes narrow at his explanation, she casts a glance over to Rie and so do they, Chazz expression practically compelling her to approve their theory, she looks at the nurse nodding hectically, gesturing it was all fine.

"And you, Truesdale, who told you that you can go around with those wounds?! You should be bedridden, resting! You're not allowed to go around as you please."

"I have a driver. I made no effort to come here, I swear." He raises his arms a tad, defending himself.

In the middle of their argument, as tension bursts into the room, they all stop when both Chazz and Zane grumble, their duel energy making a trail, Chazz' power has a light-yellow color, the grainy specks of light floating away from him like galaxy dust, mixing with Zane's darker energy in a cloth-like stream, they both follow it with eyes, going towards the pink-haired woman.

"What the-"

The black-haired man is interrupted by the soundly noise of her slapping her face into her hands, hiding it and hitting her own back on the wall, cornering herself more, sliding to the ground, curling up in a ball while sitting.

"You two, get out of here! I have to tend to her!"

They exchange a concerned glance, the older summoner sighing deeply and shaking off his head in dismay, some people were already gathered at the entrance of the room. As they leave they can see Rie looking at them terrified. Perhaps, she'll need more than just a bit of talking to forget the incident at Bonaparte's mansion.

Chazz drives his senior back to his room, his jaw still dropped as he asks genuinely confused:

"I thought she was a catalyst that helped you."

"She did, but she's unable to control her powers."

"As a catalyst? No way, aren't they all ready to be tools or something? At least, that's what people say and what summoner school said."

"You saw it yourself. Not all of them are ready, and sincerely, this does not amuse me. This is the price of forcing experiments onto people's bodies. I'm not sure how delighted she is about it, though. And that's exactly why you shouldn't have messed up and sent her away with the others. She needs help to figure her powers out. Lady Kisara knows how to mend people and how to help them."

"I'm sorry, It was a misjudgment. Maybe Syrus can do something to fix this."

"Maybe. I'll try calling him." He rolls his eyes around, imagining the level of a lecture he'd get from his brother for not following plans, as usual. Bending his head up, he asks. "Do you have a phone?"

Chazz frowns at his request as if he's abusing too much of his kindness. Then walks at hurried steps, grumpily pushing the wheelchair over the limit of speed, scaring some nurses in the process.

"Fine, fine, we can make a call and I'll own up to my mistakes, happy?!"

At Syrus' office,

The blue-haired man is on a call, the wireless telephone glued to his ear and a serious curve on his brows, swinging his chair from left to right.

"I sent you all the information I gathered those last days to your device, Jaden. Your client asked you to hurry, but try to be careful, summoners disappearing in the suburbs is a common occurrence, most of the time is just getting involved in the underworld of summoning and doing bad deals, but the numbers keep increasing for the past few days at an alarming rate."

"Gotcha!" He confirms with all his energy, Syrus can almost see him giving a thumbs up. "What about Neos, did you find something out?"

"Hm… Unfortunately…"

He taps a few keys on his laptop, a sigh of dismay comes out of his lips, the base of the phone blinks, he's puzzled at the number displayed in the device.

"Wait a sec, Jay, I'll have to talk to you later, Chazz is calling." With a click, he switches the line, whirling his chair around. "Is there a problem, Chazz? Did my brother wake up?"

"Yeah, I'm awake, Sy."

That familiar, grave voice is unmistakable, he gets up in a rush, his eyes wavering in surprise. So Zane is already awake. But how? The questions do not come out of his mouth.

"You were briefed by Chazz I believe, so I'll be simplistic: we need to get a catalyst to lady Kisara."

"You just woke up and that's the first thing you have to say to your brother, really?!" He huffs, adjusting his glasses.

"What? We can save the emotional reunion for later. I'm stuck in a wheelchair and that girl has huge issues to control her powers, you have to contact the rebels."

"Zane."

"It's urgent."

"Zane!" He interrupts in a stronger tone, leaving the other one silent. "I can't do anything now. The rebels already took a big risk with the operation in Deltora and you might not be aware," His tone hints at irony. "But we're in the center of the Empire, the very core capital of it, unlike in other regions where the Empire has less control, it's way harder to move around here, specially for rebels, it will take at least a few weeks to organize something, if not a couple months, they can't be showing their faces around these parts without a consequence, I can't simply ask them to do it without a plan."

"Weeks or a couple months…?" He can hear the exasperated gasp of his brother. "Listen, you have to find something, any shelter for catalysts or ex-slaves that's nearby, anything. We… She can't stay here. She's a catalyst, do you know what they'll do if they find out? She'll be dragged by a soldier in the name of the Empire and no one will ever see her face again, she'll be thrown to a dark summoner or to some sick noble."

"Say what you may, that won't change the Empire enforced laws to end all the shelters for ex-slaves and catalysts in the area, and the soldiers enforce the law for the 'illegal' shelters managed by rebels too, that's why we act in this part of the city, Zane, the rebels need our help to get info and everything here, we are the thin stretch of arms they got into the capital. Our hands are tied here, there are no such shelters in these parts of the empire anymore."

He supports his hands on the table, sitting down on his chair again, tapping his feet repeatedly on the ground.

"The best I can do is try to contact someone and they'll come to fetch her, but like I said it will take some time."

"I get it." He sighs in defeat. "See you soon."

The words come so fast that Syrus barely has time to formulate a response, in the meantime, his brother does the favor of ending the call as he gawks there.

"I can't believe it! How can he just end the call like that? Ugh…" He switches back to Jaden. "I'm sorry that I made you wait just to say this, but I didn't find Neos whereabouts yet."

"No problem, Syrus! If I get any useful news, I'll call you back and report!"

"Thanks."

Jaden also ends the call. What's with all those people that can't even say a proper goodbye before ending a call? He's surrounded by brutes, but no time to whine, there's a lot of work to do, and since Zane dropped a big bomb onto his hands, he will see how to best settle it.

Central Hospital,

Night shift

Miss Fontaine bends onward slightly, checking the stitches on Zane's wound as he sits on the tall hospital bed. After a quick inspection, a smile sprouts on her lips, taking off the needle on his arm, pressing a cotton ball on the bleeding until he takes over her task. She prepares a roll of bandages.

"It seems despite your forbidden adventures, your main wound is healing well, you won't need that serum or blood donations anymore. Now, let's wrap it up in some clean bandages and don't forget to take your anti-inflammatory medicine."

She hands him a cup of water and a pill that he swallows in a gulp, weary lines of insomnia under his eyes and a bored mood stamped all over his face at the procedures as he raises his arms slightly so she can roll the bandages around his torso.

The only sounds he can hear is the cloth tying on him and Chazz low breathing while he naps, sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, guarding the door. No wonder he's tired, he left an Ojama permanently watching over Rie, just to be safe. In reality, Yellow refused to go back to the spirit world and had to accept any menial task Chazz assigned him.

"We're done."

She pulls the straps on his upper robe to close it neatly, making a one loop ribbon to keep it in place, her eyes squinting upon seeing the piercing and intimidating gaze of the patient.

"What about Rie?"

"Her wounds are also recovering quickly."

"At least she's doing well."

"I'm not so sure about that." Her brows curl up. "I've seen other catalysts in life, during the war too, I've treated many, but… This is the first time I saw all the energy draining without control and… This is quite special."

"We're two, I never heard of it before either."

"I can't imagine what she must've seen and suffered. Just look at her, there's nothing wrong with her body in terms of health, but she still can't speak. Whatever they did, caused so much horror that her brain muted her as a defense mechanism. And she's only one of many others. I wish I could've done more for them during the war. And…" Her eyes flicker while looking at him for a moment, she averts her gaze when they get too teary. "For all you kids too."

"We all did our best, miss Fontaine. You saved us as many times as you could and we'll always remember that. Now we have to help the people who crossed our path too."

"You're right."

She nods, forcing a curve up on her lips, he can see she's hung onto that. But who wouldn't? As someone who is supposed to help and save people, seeing so many deaths and the tragedy must've left a deep mark in her, so much that she started helping rebels and all sorts of people without ever questioning who they are after the war and thanks to that, she became part of their support team to the rebels.

"I don't mean to scare you, Zane, but you should consider removing her from this hospital. As much as I'd like to say we are trustworthy, the truth is that I've heard about doctors making illegal trades for catalysts whenever they happen to appear here, which is why I took Rie's care into my own hands, some doctors already saw she has a gem, but… I'm not sure how long it'll take until people notice what she is…"

"Catalysts sell for a lot in the market, I've heard that some hospitals are in the mafia of acquiring them too. This is… Damn." He exhales deeply, combing his hair back.

"I'm sure Syrus can do something about it, right, Zane?"

A third voice barges into the conversation, Chazz covers his yawn with a hand, still sleepy from his nap, stretching his arms up.

"I don't think it's that simple."

"Just call him again and ask for help."

"And where do I take Rie exactly? I've assessed the situation with him and it's bad. It's plainly bad."

"Stop complaining and just give him a call! He's been doing this for some time, pat him on the back and instill some confidence on your brother sometimes, will ya?"

He jumps up irritated at the defeatist attitude, the crease between his brows making it clear, suddenly, Ojama yellow opens the door with a bang, stunning them momentarily.

"What's going on?"

"Ah, master Chazz, I left my bro taking care of the girl, don't worry." He giggles with his annoying, distorted voice. "A doctor just came to check up on her and make some exams, so she left the room and we couldn't follow. But it's all fine."

"A doctor?" Fonda intervenes in disbelief. "No, that can't be. She only has exams scheduled for tomorrow… Unless it was an emergency, there shouldn't be any doctor making exams at this hour."

"But she already left a few minutes ago… The doctor was using a white coat."

Chazz stands up in an impulse, the three humans in the room exchanging a dense glance between each other, talking about underground business…

"You gotta be kidding me." Zane snarls realizing the predicament. "I don't think the guy taking her was a real doctor with good intentions. How did they find her out this fast?"

"You imbecile! Why did you let it happen?! You should've stopped the doctor!" His fists clench, his creature closing its eyes, expecting a violent lash, but it doesn't happen.

"We have to search for her, that doctor is a quack and he's up to no good." Zane forces himself out of the bed, Chazz helping him get onto the wheelchair.

"Wait, boys! You can't just go like this, I can try and confirm if she's fine with other colleagues, but you shouldn't be leaving this bed, Zane Truesdale."

"Sorry, we don't have time for that, trust me, I know these types of guys and they work fast, we can't afford to lose a second." He turns around and points at the door. "Give me a ride, Chazz. I'm counting on you if the area gets hot."

"Yellow, tell your brother to track and catch up to that doctor!"

"R-right!"

The spirit disappears and the summoners leave the room, riding through the corridor at full speed, some nurses scolding them for the noise on the way. They stop at the door of the room, it's empty. The doctor can't have gone far.

As his stern gaze searches through the corridors when they pass by, a green Ojama pops up in front of him.

"We found him! He's on the second floor!"

"Crap…"

Zane curses annoyedly, changing his position and taking Chazz' phone from the pocket as the black-haired complains at him doing this while he's trying to ride the wheelchair.

"I'm borrowing this again." He sits properly, using the quick call function from the list of last calls. "Syrus, we have a problem, you have to send someone to take me and that girl out of here asap!"

"I already told you that I can't-"

"I don't care where you'll put us, it doesn't matter, just take us out of here now, someone just kidnapped her. I'm going to help, but I can't stay here after this either! Send someone to pick us up at the garage of the hospital, NOW!"

Ending the call before his sibling can utter a word, he urges Chazz to go faster, they take a lift to the second floor, the green Ojama mediating the directions after receiving them from his brother. Who would have thought the mental bond between the Ojamas would be so useful at times?

"Chazz, can you speed up a bit?"

"Hey, you're heavier than you think!"

He stops brusquely again, causing a grunt of pain to escape Zane's lips at the sudden shake of his body, his blood boiling with pain.

"Fuck!" He says between his teeth. "Did you do this on purpose?"

"Look!"

They stare down the corridor, some nurses gossiping about them, about to come and ask what they're doing and far ahead, the pink-haired girl and the doctor. Upon listening some mumbles, she turns her head to look over her shoulder, her steps ceasing and her eyes widening when she sees the two summoners, puzzled at what they're doing there.

The figure beside her is a tall man, a white coat around him, an unmade beard, a middle-aged aspect to his face from what they can see. As Chazz rolls the wheels towards him, he turns around, perplexed while exchanging a glance between the girl and the two men, holding his clipboard tightly to his chest.

They can't hear his voice, but his lips move to form a sentence, she gulps nervously, trying to give a step back, but he yanks her wrist in an uneducated way and tilts his head to the direction of the elevator.

"Hey! You there, let go of her!" Chazz demands, the doctor scowls at him, pulling the girl behind him brutally, keeping a hold on her.

"Did you two lost your way to your room? You shouldn't be out this late at night, it's against the regulations."

"Did you not hear him? Let go of the girl."

Zane, forces himself up, the man snickers at his attempt as he stands up wobbling once. His posture erecting menacingly, his eyes narrowing. The man defies him:

"Or you'll do what, bleed to death on me? You two are breaking rules."

"You're no doctor."

The blunt declaration steals the smirk from the man's face, he pales at the two summoners looking into him, crumbling his façade. In a second, he screams:

"Help! The patient is having hallucinations!"

The teal-haired man looks around, as the nurses gather worriedly listening to the words of the fake doctor. His teeth grit. He doesn't want to summon anything here and not in his current state, either. He takes a peek at the girl that tries to get free from the doctor's grip, her desperation increasing as she notices what's going on and can't get free from him.

He can't just let it happen in front of him again, adrenaline rushing to his veins in that millisecond he considers the options. He can't cause a ruckus or destroy the building by summoning, the nurses are approaching to take him back to the room. The doctor knows he's at a disadvantage.

Without thinking twice, Zane steps fast towards the doctor, Chazz freezes in place, fearing the outcome, a flinch occurs and soundly gasps of shock when they hear a punch, bones crackling and the doctor crying in pain, knocked to the ground along with his clipboard.

Rie steps away, the man holds his nose that was broken, bleeding profusely, funnily enough Zane was also feeling almost as much pain as him, bending over his abdomen after the punch.

"He's out of himself! We need to calm him down!"

He gets up in a rush, the nurses come around, grabbing Zane's arms, forcing him to sit down on the wheelchair, he doesn't want to struggle back, the fake doctor pulls out a syringe from his pocket, coming furiously to apply it, but Chazz thwarts his attempt by holding him back by the shoulder.

"Stop right there! And you, run!"

He looks at the pink-haired, she covers her mouth with both hands, flabbergasted at his request, watching nervously the doctor that struggles with him and the contained Zane held by the nurses.

In his moment of distraction, the doctor overwhelms his strength and applies the syringe on Chazz's arm instead. His whole face relaxing at the strange injection, his body collapsing on the floor. The doctor angrily wipes the blood coming out of his nose, glaring at the teal-haired man, he stomps forward.

A whack soars in the air, the doctor stumbles one step ahead before falling face down to the ground, Rie still holds the crime weapon: the clipboard. She grimaces as if sharing his pain. Zane raises a brow, just how hard did she beat his head? That was impressive.

The nurses are so astounded they let go of Zane, she takes the chance to swing the clipboard at them threateningly, they step back nervously while one of them prepare another dose of the sedative quickly.

"I'm sorry for this, but it's out of hand, we need to get out of here, now!"

He announces, her eyes scan the vicinity of nerve wrecked nurses. Finally she gets a hold on the hand grip of his chair after fidgeting, driving it quickly and clumsily to the elevator door, Zane shakes on it a bit, his wounds burning, will he ever get a rest?

The nurses run after them, but it's too late. As soon as the door opens, some doctors come out and she rushes to fit the wheelchair in.

The nurses are close, but Rie presses the door closing command and a couple other buttons in panic. They watch the door shut, blocked by the doctors who just came and are still wondering what is happening.

When the lift starts its descent, she breathes deeply, leaning against the wall, then casting a glance at him, a jolt when she sees his sharp eyes glaring at her, the grainy, blue energy emanating from him leaking in the air and coming to her.

The elevator stops once, breaking the tension, but she stretches over his chair, quickly presses the button to shut the door, continuing their ride, walking to the wall of the place, trying to curb her powers.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." He states dryly, but from the colorlessness of his skin and the discreet cold sweat, it's clear he's lying. "There should be help waiting for us in the garage. But this was very close for comfort… I just need to make a call…"

Grabbing Chazz's cellphone, he dials. The door of the elevator opens as he awaits for his brother to pick it up, she reels him out of the lift.

The lights of the parking lot blinking on as she walks on the eerily empty place, the cars stationed in lines, blocking part of her sight.

"Strange, he's not picking up…"

His vision undulates, she suddenly stops, coming in front of him, and squatting down to look at his face, but he can barely make something out of the blurry mess of colors and shapes his vision became. He's groggy, having duel energy depleted so fast affected his senses.

"We just need… To… The exit…"

His finger points weakly, but his arm flops onto the chair, his torso swaying back and forth, until his head fully drops down, strands of his hair falling over his eyes. She comes closer, tapping his face a few times, flustered, confirming the diagnosis: he's officially fainted.

Rie's fingers twitch, she takes another glance around, where is the exit and where will this help come from? While she's thinking about it, many footsteps draw close, a bunch of men in black suits and sunglasses. Are they the ones?

Her question is answered by a bullet grazing on her cheek, opening a cut, a thin line of blood delineating her face, her muscles paralyzing in fear.

"Don't move!" The man points the gun at her. "Get him too!"

He sways the head to both sides, then to the front, his companions beside him hurriedly reaching out to Zane, each grabbing an arm, lifting him from the wheelchair, her eyes flash at the summoner. This can't be, hey came all the way here, she can't just stay quiet.

In a desperate move, she pushes one of the men around. One of them lets go of Zane's arm due to her attack and slams his hand on her face, she's sent to the floor in a blink of an eye.

"You wanna help your friend? Fine! You can both be together!"

He smiles, throwing Zane to the ground too, a heavy thud as he falls, she crawls closer, her arms hovering above him, afraid of even touching as more of his energy flies away, her eyes fast in checking whether his wounds opened again, there are no signs of blood in his clothes.

"We need them both alive, but we don't need to be soft."

His aim is at the leg of the girl, to frustrate any escape plan one could think of, she trembles in fear, her hands landing on Zane's shoulders, tugging his clothes and shaking violently to wake him up, her eyes tearing, bordering panic.

A shot occurs, her eyes close instantly as she bends over his body, her eyelids opening slowly upon hearing the confused voices of the other men, they look around indignant and their companion who held a gun is lying flat on the ground.

Another shot, the second man falls, there's no blood. She's also searching for the source of the sound, then a third shot comes, she sees a thin needle piercing the neck of the man before he falls down with a bang.

A gun cocks, a freezing sweat delineating her cheekbones, her muscles tensing up again as the steps echo in the empty space ominously, a shadow overlapping the pillars'. She supports herself up, sitting, her arms coming around Zane, bringing him closer, trying to slide back, the weight making it an impossible task, she knows she can't protect anyone, not even herself, but even so...

A man clad in a black coat and a dark-blue sweater, his light-blue hair spiking widely to the sides. He stops a few meters away from her, adjusting his glasses, gaping at the runaway patients on the ground. He didn't expect to find his brother like this and a girl. Pink hair, topaz-blue eyes and an expression of a scared kitten, the description is accurate, he acknowledges.

Rie clutches his brother in her arms as if this would save them both, his head resting comfortably on her chest as she stares at the newcomer, her brows twisting in a mix of anxiety and fear, unaware of the identity of Syrus. What now that she was caught?