The following morning started off in a pretty bizarre fashion. Or at least, that's how Cyrus would've put it, considering what was currently happening to him.
As luck would have it, the young 'tree magic' user just so happened to have the day off today. With all the craziness that had been going on over the last few weeks, he completely forgot that he had requested to add an extra day to his weekend a few months back. For the life of him, he couldn't remember why he had decided to do so, but he certainly wasn't about to complain about it.
Normally, on days like today, Cyrus would've taken advantage of his newfound free time and stayed in bed for a few extra hours to catch up on sleep. Unfortunately for him, however, those aspirations quickly came to an end when he heard someone knocking at his door.
"Who the hell could that be?" The young man wondered as he lazily dragged himself out of bed.
All of his friends were currently at work, and it wasn't like any of them not to call ahead before showing up at his front door. And his parents had an extra key to his apartment, so they wouldn't have even bothered knocking.
"Did I order a package or something?"
In his still half-asleep state, Cyrus had forgotten to look through the peephole to see who it was that came to see him. So, without a care in the world, the young man flung the door open, and what he saw genuinely surprised him. Well, more specifically, it was who he saw that threw him for a loop.
"Oh, thank God!" The new arrival said in a relieved tone after finally laying eyes on the freckle-faced teen.
"Bianca?!" Cyrus suddenly blurted out. "What are you doing here?"
Instead of answering, the woman chose to stare at the young man's face for a good five seconds before stepping forward and placing her hand on his cheek. An action that sent a slight chill down Cyrus's spine.
He still wasn't totally okay with people touching him after his whole ordeal with Hannah.
"I've been trying to get in contact with you for weeks!" The woman frowned. "You weren't answering my calls, and you still have me blocked on all your social media profiles, you asshole! I ended up just biting the bullet and asked your dad where you were. He told me that you were off today, so I came over here as fast as I could."
"I-I, uh…."
Bianca then wrapped her arms around Cyrus's torso and pulled him for a tight hug while shoving her face into his chest. "Oh, God, I'm so glad you're okay! When I saw what happened on the news, I didn't know what to do. I tried to see you when you came back, but you were gone the last time I came over here."
To say that this was awkward would be putting it mildly. The last person that Cyrus was expecting to see today was his ex-girlfriend, of all people. Hell, it would've made more sense for Elaine to show up at his door than her.
The young man simply chose to allow the thin woman to continue hugging him, even if the feeling made his skin crawl. He knew that she must've been worried about him based on how she was acting. So, the least that he could do was give her a moment to collect herself before they continued their conversation.
Eventually, Bianca let up on her embrace and pulled back just enough so that Cyrus could see her face. And the two stood in awkward silence before she decided to speak again.
"Are you okay?" She asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered. "Not great, but not terrible either."
"Were the people who kidnapped you the ones who did that to your face?"
Cyrus absentmindedly rubbed his hand over his forehead before responding. "Yeah…."
Seeing as he had no intention of staying out in the damn cold any longer than what he needed to, Cyrus ended up inviting the woman into his apartment to avoid the elements. Once they were inside, the two made their way over to the living room before sitting down on his sofa. The young man still found this surprise visit of hers to be weird as all hell, but there wasn't much that he could do now that he was here.
"Is it okay if I ask what happened to you?" Bianca said with a slight hint of nervousness in her voice.
"It's really not all that complicated." The freckle-faced teen replied nonchalantly in an attempt to downplay his past torments. "I got abducted by some human traffickers after coming home from seeing a movie with Fred- with one of my coworkers…."
Cyrus then spent the next couple of minutes giving the woman a brief explanation of what happened after that. Of course, he kept out most of the gruesome details that he wasn't too include to relive. Or anything relating to the DPA and what his actual job was. But he said enough so that Bianca could get the gist of the situation.
"Fuck…" The thin woman let out after finally digesting everything that her ex-boyfriend had told her.
"Yeah…" Cyrus leaned back in his seat and directed his gaze up toward the ceiling.
"You're really okay, though, right? You're not still hurt or anything like that?"
"Yup, totally fine! My rehab with Elaine went perfectly. I'm as good as new. Actually, I'm even better than I was before! Well…aside from the scars. But I've already started to get used to them."
"I still can't believe that you actually know Skye." Biance leaned forward in her seat. "I remember you were with her brother and sister at the restaurant, but I had no clue that you guys were that close."
"We're really not, she just let me stay over at her place to help with my recovery. It was really just a favor to Evan and Elizabeth."
"And that woman, Hannah, or whatever her name is, she's not going to be coming after you again, is she?"
"No." Cyrus said with a flat expression. "She and her co-conspirators have already been handled. They won't be coming after me again."
The young 'tree magic' user decided against telling the woman that he was the one who killed Hannah. Bianca had neither the clearance nor a good enough excuse to know what happened to the 'ice magic' user. All she needed to know was that they wouldn't be a problem anymore.
"That reminds me, since when have you been working for the Department of Homeland Security? I remember you said that you didn't know what you wanted to do after you finished school, but you were the last person that I expected to start working for the government."
"I've been with them since January."
As far as the general public was concerned, all DPA agents were simply labeled as members of the DHS. It was the easiest way to identify them without having to expose their real jobs to anyone who didn't need to know. Most of the higher-ups in the government were aware of the truth, but anyone else just got surface-level information and nothing more.
"Is that how you met Skye's siblings? Because of your job?"
"Yeah." Cyrus nodded. "Technically, I'm one of their on-call bodyguard whenever they need me. But the rest of my time is just spent back at the office."
"That's crazy."
"What about you? How's work been treating you?"
Bianca perked up a bit before responding. "I actually start my first day as a sous-chef this afternoon! I'm no longer stuck waiting tables and dealing with a bunch of bougie customers that have a permanent stick up their asses!"
"Good for you!"
The duo spent the next thirty minutes or so chatting about basically nothing. Eventually, Bianca decided that she had overstayed her welcome and should probably get out of the freckle-faced teen's hair so that he could relax and enjoy the rest of his off day. And although Cyrus didn't necessarily have a problem with her staying over, he wasn't about to stop her from leaving either.
"Seriously, I'm glad that you're okay. I was really worried about, y'know." The woman said as the two made their way toward the door.
"Thanks for showing up." Cyrus gave her a warm smile. "I really appreciate it."
For a brief moment, Cyrus and Bianca stared at each other. And out of nowhere, the woman pressed up on her toes and leaned forward before planting a kiss on the young man's lips. Cyrus, who was completely thrown off by this, had no clue what to do. But for some reason, he found himself instinctively wrapping his arms around the woman's waist in response.
"Shit!" Bianca cursed after quickly pulling herself back. The woman's face was now completely red, and she suddenly found it hard to look the young man in the eyes. "I-I'm sorry…I, uh…I don't know what came over me."
"I-it's fine!" An equally embarrassed Cyrus awkwardly rubbed the back of his head in response.
Seeing as now was probably as good a time as ever, Bianca opened the door and turned away from the young man. She didn't trust herself not to do anything stupid while she was here. The woman had already crossed the line with that kiss. "I'll…see you later."
"Yeah, you too." The young man responded as he watched her walk out the door and make her way over to her car.
For the purpose of maintaining his sanity, Cyrus decided that it was best to just forget that the sudden kiss had ever happened. He really wasn't in the mood to think about it any more than what he needed to. Nor would it have been good for his already shaky mental state.
With his sudden visitor now gone, Cyrus remembered that there was something that he needed to do. There was a certain phone call that he had to make. One that he wasn't looking forward to in the slightest. But since he was now awake, he might as well get it over with so that he could enjoy the rest of his time off in peace.
-(o)-
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me."
"Cyrus! How have you been?" Elaine said in an eerily cheerful tone on the other end of the line. "I heard about your big operation. Congratulations! It's truly a shame about Hannah, though. I'm really gonna miss that little dumbass now that she's gone."
"Cut the bullshit." Cyrus scowled before speaking again. "I held up my part of the deal; now it's time for you to do the same."
"Of course, of course…so when do you want to meet?"
"As soon as possible."
"Good." The 'wind magic' user sounded pleased to hear that. "I can be over there tomorrow night since I have to go check in at my company's headquarters in the morning. Is your place fine?"
"Yeah, that's fine with me."
"Excellent! And don't worry, I'll be sure to bring what I promised with me. I'm also only going to be bringing Nick with me. So you don't have to worry about us trying to jump you or anything like that."
"And do I have a reason to believe anything that you're saying to me right now?"
"Other than the fact that I can fold you like a napkin at a five-star restaurant with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back?" The woman responded in a tone that made it obvious that she was smiling on the other side of the line.
The young 'tree magic' user rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just make sure that you keep your promise. We can figure out what to do after I get what I want."
"Sounds good to me!"
"Bye."
"See you tomorrow!"
-(o)-
[Later That Evening]
As the sun began to set over the horizon, Cyrus was already in the process of packing it in for the night. He had a pretty relaxing day, all things considered, but now it was time for him to shut it all down and get ready to head in to work the next morning.
At the moment, the young man was combing out his hair while looking at himself in the mirror. It had been a while since he first cut off his curled locks and opted for a more normal and tamed hairstyle. But now that he needed to hide his scars away from the public, Cyrus found it oddly satisfying to go back to what was once his signature look. He doubted that he would ever get braids again; the upkeep was way too much for him to deal with. But it was still nice to have a nice fluffy head of hair to keep his head warm now that he couldn't stand to be in the cold for any longer than a few minutes.
"Maybe I should get dreads like the twins." He jokingly said to himself with a slight smile. "I wonder if Evan will tell me who his hairstylist is. Whoever they are seems like they'd do a great job."
"I don't know. I don't think the dreads would be a look for you. The curly afro really frames your face well, cutie."
The sound of an eerily familiar voice sent a cold chill down Cyrus's spine. Cold enough to force him to drop the comb out of his hand and freeze in place. And worst of all, the voice was coming from right behind him.
Suddenly, the young man felt as if icewater had entered his veins, and all of his scars started to ache much more than they ever had before. So much so that they even felt like they were starting to burn.
There was no way…
There was simply no way…
It was impossible…
There was just no way…
His breath was now heavy, and it felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest. His feet felt like they had been dipped in lead, and his eyes started to feel dry. The logical part of Cyrus's mind was telling him to remain calm. But the illogical part was refusing to do that.
Against his better judgment, Cyrus somehow willed himself to turn around to see what was standing behind him. Not out of curiosity, but out of straight fear and anxiety. And when he finally did so, he was wholly unsure of how to handle what he was looking at.
This didn't make any sense.
This didn't make any sense at all.
There was no way for it to make any sense.
There was no logical explanation for anything that this possibly could've been.
He had watched her die. He had done the deed himself. There was no possible way in Hell that she could be standing here right now, casually leaning against the wall of his bathroom as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
'How?' Was the only thought that came to Cyrus's mind as the world began to spin around him. 'How is this possible?'
"Long time, no see, babe!" Hannah Donovan waved at the young 'tree magic' user with a creepy smile. "I bet you never thought you'd be seeing me again, huh?"
"Hannah?"