Cici walked with Helen down the streets of her husband's home town, her arm wrapped around one of Helen's as they conversed, and despite their earlier hiccup, they were quickly finding they got along pretty well. Helen had looked shocked at the time when Cici suddenly grew ears and a tail, and then shocked again when she practically sucked them back into her body. That was a little bit ago, and now they both walked arm and arm towards Eli's apartment.
"I'm sorry for the things I said earlier... it was wrong of me to say the things I did without knowing the full story... although I'm still not sure how I feel about it... even if I do know that you're both probably right... Marcus is not well in the head. He's dangerous." Helen said, and Cici just smiled as she squeezed her arm a little tighter.
"It's fine, mama." Cici said, which made Helen's eyes widen and caused moisture to gather at the corners, "Any mother would be upset to hear that, at least I think. But Eli is a man who would never do something like that without a reason. He's too nice of a man."
Helen nodded as she used her free hand to wipe her eyes. She never thought she'd hear another person call her mom. It was touching in a way she didn't expect. And of course, she agreed with Cici wholeheartedly. Despite Marcus's cruelty, Eli had turned out to be a fine boy, and it made her want to cry with joy all over again that he was no longer sick or in pain.
"What... what is my son? He's big, more confident, and his eyes... they hold something special in them, although the look behind them is still the boy I know and love." Helen asked, and Cici thought about what to say.
"I think Eli wants to tell you himself. He probably wants you to come home with us before he does, though." Cici answered after a moment.
"Home, you say? This is the other world?" Helen asked, and Cici smiled and nodded.
"Yes. Eli and I live in my village together. He built a home for us to live in as part of a ceremony for us getting married... although thinning about it, he probably would have done that anyways. It's a really nice place. I think he made the extra bedrooms in there with you in mind. I hope you'll agree to stay with us." Cici said, and Helen's eyes actually fully teared up this time as she nodded.
"O-of course... I've wanted to be with my son again for so long..." She said, her lips trembling as she smiled, "I know nothing about this world of yours, but looking at you, and my son, it has to be wonderful. It helped my boy... and it's your home. It must be great to have a woman like you in it."
Cici's eyes now began to water as she looked at this incredibly sweet woman. Any irritation that still lingered from earlier was crushed instantly. She truly was a kind woman, and she cared a lot about Eli. She wasn't even blood related, and yet she still loved him this much. She respected her a great deal.
Soon enough, they reached the apartment, although Cici sensed something was off due to her perception. She couldn't exactly-
"Something feels off." Helen said, making Cici blink a few times. How could she feel it too?
Well, either way, that was a question for later.
"Just so you know... that girl might still be in there. That Rachel woman." Cici said, and gave a brief explaination of what happened earlier when they ran into her and that other man, Keith.
Helen's eyes narrowed in anger.
"I can't believe those two did that to him! Come on! I'm going to give her a proper smack in the face!" Helen said, and began to pull Cici towards the building, before pausing, "Actually... I was never allowed to come here, so I don't know where to go." Helen said this with slightly red cheeks.
Cici was honestly surprised at how pretty this woman was, and how young she looked despite learning that was in her 40s. She looked only a few years older than herself. Very good genetics or something, she guessed. Cici led her up the stairs towards Eli's apartment, and froze when they got close to the door. She could both sense and smell people on the other side, and none of them smelled like that girl.
"Something is wrong. Stand back there." Cici said, and Helen nodded as she did as was instructed, and stayed behind.
Helen's eyes widened and she blinked rapidly when Cici simply vanished, and her eyes widened even further when thr apartment door seemingly moved and then slowly opened by itself.
"Creepy..." Helen muttered.
Once Cici was inside, she heard various noises coming from the different bedrooms in the apartment, but her eyes were drawn to the still form of Eli's friend Keith, who was lying dead in a pool of his own blood, a clean slash across his throat. The sight made her gag, but it wasn't like she had a very high opinion of this man, but...
"Damn it." Cici thought as she turned and followed the noises towards Eli's bedroom.
Suddenly, as she snuck through the apartment, voices started up in a low tone.
"That kid was an idiot... although I didn't want to see him die..." One man said, and another voice snorted at his words.
"He knew what he signed up for. He's the one that brought us here to teach some punk a lesson, but he didn't even turn out to be here." The voice answered, and when she got to the bedroom, and peered inside, it was to the sight of two men tearing Eli's room apart, probably looking for valuables. They looked about a scummy as they sounded.
"Can't believe he was hiding such a cute girl from us, though. I'm sure she'll make us a bunch of money." The first man said, sounding a lot better about the situation than before.
"Hell, I'm thinking about giving her a try when we get back." The other man said, then scratched the back of his head, "Can't believe he tried to protect her like that though. I mean, it was 6 on 1. The boss is ruthless, man."
Cici's mind blanked out for a second. These men were... some kind of sex slavers? This happened in this world too? She didn't like this Rachel, but she just seemed like a fool and not exactly an awful person persay... then she thought back to how she felt when she was taken away, beaten, locked up, and almost raped. Those images caused an intense rage to surge through her so much that her vision became tinged with red. She wasn't even thinking as her stealth deactivated and she slowly began walking into the room.
The floorboards creaking under her feet alerted the men to her presence, and they both turned around quickly.
"What the... oh... oh wow." The first man said, a letcherous look in his eyes as he looked at Cici.
"Damn man, we sure are getting lucky today, aren't we? She's hot as fuck." The man behind the first one said.
The first man began walking towards Cici, licking his lips as he did so.
"You're small and cute thing, aren't you? Do you want to have some fun with us? We can take you somewhere nice and relaxing, and we can have a lot of fun." The man said, reaching out his hand towards Cici.
*Shlunk*
The man who was just reaching out his hand, stared in shocked surprise. The arm he was reaching out towards Cici was now gone, and when he looked down, he saw it laying on the floor in a pool of blood. He looked at his now stump, at the blood spurting and dripping out of it, and that's when the pain hit his mind. He opened his mouth to scream, but he never got the chance. It instead came out as a gurgle as Cici, whose finger nails had grown out to the length of small daggers and emanated a dark black energy, sliced across his neck. The last thing he saw was a small white haired woman leaping up above him, only to bring her heel down on the top of his head with a snarl.
"HOLY SHI-" The second man said, only to have the small woman leap at him, and smash his face into the wall.
He struggled and tried to push her off of him, but his eyes widened when he realized that he couldn't. This tiny woman was stronger than the world's strongest male body builder. Then, she pushed the long nails on her fingers against his neck, the man's eyes buldging even more when he realized the dark energy flowing off of them. She pricked his neck, drawing blood and making him wimper. There was a cold look in her green eyes as she stared him down.
"Where is the girl?"