Silas stood in shock at Charybdis' words. Even now he was skeptical of everything that Charybdis had said up until this moment, but the sincerity of her words and the genuine emotion behind her eyes was real. He knew that much. He stole a glance at Saya and saw that she was brimming with emotion.
"She means it," Saya whispered.
"Trying to escape on your own is possible, but extremely risky. And if that happens, there are hundreds of repercussions if you try and do it Redd's way. But I can come up with a much better, safer plan that'll cause the least damage possible. I have connections outside of PSEF and RimOps that I can use to get you out. I have contacts and safe houses I can use to hide you. All you need to do is trust me and play along."
"I know it's hard. I'm supposed to be the enemy, right? But not all monsters want humans dead. That's just the majority. But the silent few who don't… I know. Because I am one of them. I promise I will keep you safe to the best of my ability."
"And how do we know you won't turn your back on us the second you get the chance?" Rekka spat, eyes narrowed.
Charybdis sighed heavily, staring meekly down at her cup and swirling it around.
"Answer me this. Why would I help you now and turn my back on your later? There's nothing for me to gain by doing that. If I really wanted the money and to comply, then I would simply follow protocol. It's much simpler that way, I wouldn't have to complicate things by risking my life like this."
"Hmm," was all that Rekka said.
"If there are no more questions, I'd like to shake all of your hands… to seal the deal."
Charybdis rose from her desk, stepping out in front of it, her lab coat trailing behind her like a flowy cape. She stuck her hand out and the four did as well. She went from left to right, shaking each person's hand one by one.
When Charybdis shook Silas' hand he cringed, expecting an ice-cold steel grip, not unlike a dead body. To his surprise, Charybdis' clawed hand was smooth and warm, despite being wet.
Charybdis shook hands with Macy last, and as she pulled her hand away, tears began to form in her eyes. She hastily wiped them away, rubbing her eyes.
"So beautiful. You're all so beautiful. So young and pure… you're just… you're just, so human," she sobbed. "I can't believe I have the honor to meet you all. You're all so unique and wonderful."
Charybdis took a long sip of her coffee, breathing in the pleasant aroma and taking a second to breathe and compose herself. Silas and the other politely waited for what she was about to say.
"As you can see, I'm quite injured. I had a confrontation with an earlier colleague of mine… the werewolf girl, Redd. The same one who captured you and injured your friend, Evelynn. I'll go over the details later, but now, I need some medical care. Though, I can't see my medics, because they'd learn about my little scuffle, and I can't have that known. So�� I was wondering if you could do me a little favor."
Charybdis bowed to them and humbly held her hands behind her back.
"Your friend Jasper is quite adept at healing magic. He's almost as good as professionally trained medics. So I was wondering, as a sort of… good show to solidify our partnership… you could have him heal my wounds for me?"
"I think that would be wonderful!" Macy exclaimed cheerfully. The mood in the room had considerably lightened now. And so, the four bedraggled youths, accompanied by their newfound dragon ally, exited the office. They trailed behind Charybdis, shielded by her lab coat and her authority. If she was seen outside with them, then no operator would dare to question. Rekka's tall stature, in return, blocked her wounds from view.
"I would love to believe you," Jasper stated, working his magic as Charybdis lay on her back, on top of Jasper and Julia's bed. "You see, I was born with an innate cynicism. A biting tongue, a sarcastic mouth. Hmph. But yeah, if there's hope out the window, I'll sure as hell take it. So you're on board," he was saying, wiping sweat from his brow as his long and wavy hair dangled in front of him against the soft glow of his pure and blue mana.
"But you better not make me regret this. None of you insufferable idiots. You hear?" He shook his head. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he said, as he worked through Charybdis' wounds without hesitation, and with a gentle hand.
Seeing Charybdis lie down flat on her stomach like that gave Silas an odd and uncomfortable feeling in his chest. Her raw backside exposed like that, where she wasn't towering over him or sitting smugly in a chair, but open with the blood glistening on the surface of her skin, felt alien to him, like a totally different Charybdis.
Silas noted the rise and fall of Charybdis' shoulders, and saw the contours of her shapely shoulder blades and the curvature of her spine. Underneath the lab coat, Silas began to realize her physique was not unlike a normal woman's. It was not that much different from a human's, save the small wings protruding from the conjunction of her shoulders and her neck. Even those were easily passable – they folded themselves politely off towards the side as Jasper operated.
"I can't believe you all went off without us," Axel snarled from a shadowed seat in the corner. Evelynn lay on the floor beside him, legs stretched out wide. She rubbed her eyes groggily in the light. They had a faint purple glow to them.
"We've already told you the reason behind it, Axel," Rekka said coldly. He scoffed.
"That is true, sure. But it doesn't make it seem like you trust us very much."
"What do you mean, trust us?" Rekka bit back. "There is only one person here that I don't trust."
She looked directly at Axel as she said that, but for a split second her eyes wandered towards Charybdis' torn back, and back towards Evelynn.
Charybdis sighed in relief as the pain was drained from her body. She crossed her hands out in front of her and lay her head on her fingertips, the bright yellow light illuminating her figure. She shuddered involuntarily as her wound began to heal rapidly.
"You truly are quite magnificent, Jasper," she complimented.
"Shucks," he responded, blushing ever so slightly. "Kay, that seals the deal. We're keeping her."
"I'm glad to hear that," Julia said gently. She walked over to the side of the bed, next to Jasper and bent down on her knees next to Charybdis. She put a comforting hand on Charybdis' shoulder. "Make sure not to go too hard on yourself. I'm really grateful that you're willing to put everything on the line for us. We all are. But make sure to take care of yourself as well. I don't want to see these wounds again."
"Hahaha," Charybdis laughed, turning her head over to look at Julia, meeting her motherly gaze. "Is there a different age of maturity for humans? Even though she's much younger than me, she's treating me like her daughter. How interesting. And lovely."
"Perhaps it's my magic that's doing the work," Julia explained. "I have defensive magic, just like Jasper. I feel a duty to protect my allies. So prepare to be pampered, I guess!"
Charybdis sighed, stretching out her arms. Her wings fluttered softly and her body shook slightly.
"I wonder what that feels like. I've never really made an effort to care for myself like that. I must be at least 50% coffee by now, after all these years of research in the field," she said fondly, but with a shadow in her eyes. "Research" was the best way she could put it, but she knew that the term was far from the whole truth.
Jasper told Charybdis that in the morning, the wound would be fully healed. Of course, he couldn't mend Charybdis' torn lab coat, so she would have to wear a new one tomorrow. Once against Charybdis thanked him heartily for his service and left quietly, informing the group that they best get some rest, as Inspector Io would be arriving at 9 am tomorrow, and it was important that they be well rested and ready for the day when that happened. Charybdis told them that the experiments that she had designed for the next day were harmless and non-strenuous, and that Io would mostly be looking at Evelynn and Axel. When that was to happen, the rest of the humans were to give Io and Charybdis and the rest of the RimOps staff time alone. She gave them a reassuring smile and told them that Axel and Evelynn would be in good hands, or claws, and there was nothing they needed to worry about. Still, Charybdis would monitor them occasionally with her camera system in order to ensure that they didn't act out, which Macy assured her that they wouldn't. Saya nodded along, as did Julia. Jasper crossed his arms and smiled in agreement.
Evelynn's face was locked in a distant stare. She gazed straight ahead at nothing, sitting with her legs spread on the carpet, her palms pressed into the floor. She didn't make any movement, and when Macy's eyes fell on her, she grew worried.
"Evelynn, are you alright? You aren't angry, are you?"
"I don't know," was all she said. Her voice was quiet and monotone, with no emotion.
"How are you feeling?" Julia asked. "I haven't gotten a change to check up on you. How is your Lykanthropy? And what exactly is Lykanthropy?"
Evelynn paused for a moment, opening her mouth and then closing it. She kept her gaze focused straight ahead of her and didn't look at Julia as she spoke.
"Apparently I am supposed to be able to transform into a wolf-like beast, just like… that one girl who attacked me did."
Silas recalled a frightening image of the giant white-grey beast that had suddenly lunged at Evelynn and bitten her arm. It was then when they had been captured. Before, however, the giant white beast was originally a little girl, shorter that Silas, appearing even younger than he was. Around sixteen years of age, going by appearance. The thought that such a small girl could transform into such a frightening beast, something that could cross great distances in the blink of an eye, with such primal hunger… was that what would become of Evelynn?
If that was so, was Evelynn even a human anymore? Or was she a monster now, just like that girl?
"I can… control it, I think, but it's supposed to happen whenever I use a lot of magic. Thankfully, I don't have to use my magic… to kill someone." Evelynn's eyes flashed brightly, but everything else about her body expression did not change. Axel bit his lip. Evelynn's weapons had been taken away by Charybdis. Silas secretly wondered if it was wise for Charybdis to give them back to her, or if it was better to restrict Evelynn's access to them. After all, Evelynn's true personality and background were a mystery. The fact that she was infected with a disease that transformed her into a beast made Silas even more wary of what Evelynn was capable of.
"But otherwise, I'm fine… I don't seem to have... any side effects, while I'm still a human," Evelynn said, her gaze shifting towards the side.
"That's good, I suppose," Saya said, deep in thought. She bit her lip absentmindedly. Her eyes narrowed, but Evelynn did not meet her suspicious gaze.
"I suppose that there'll be quite a bit of complications when they find out that Evelynn is infected," Rekka mused. "Charybdis says that she will handle it, but I don't feel very good about letting too much of our fate lie in the enemy's hands."
"She's not our enemy," Evelynn blurted suddenly. "She's just trapped. She wants to help us, and she has always wanted to help humanity. But the system and the society that she lives in doesn't allow her to do that. Or they'll kill her."
Evelynn's face still remained stock still, her mouth barely opening. But there was a quiet passion and deep sympathy underneath what she said that Silas didn't understand. And it seemed like neither did Evelynn.
"You should be grateful that she's taking the risk, Rekka," she advised. There was no malice in her tone, but the threat was present. "Not many people… have the strength to do so."
Rekka did not respond, too taken aback to formulate a reply. The tension in the room was palpable and everyone stood still. Not even Axel said a word. His face was worried and he fiddled with his thumbs meekly in the shadow of the corner.
"I support the decision to trust Charybdis. And it seems like the majority agrees with me. We should trust her, Rekka."
"…very well," was all that Rekka had the strength to say.
Finally, Evelynn shifted her gaze away from nothingness and turned to look Rekka straight in the eye. The normally intimidating girl seemed to shrink back a bit upon making eye contact, uncharacteristically flustered. Even from the side, Silas could see something much, much darker than Rekka reflected in the deep red irises of Evelynn's eyes.
Silas glanced from side to side. The cold, steely expression and lack of emotion on Evelynn's face made the tension even more biting. She did nothing but look Rekka dead in the eyes, as if waiting for a response, but it never came. Rekka, folding first under the pressure, turned away.
"We should get to bed early, like Charybdis says, then," she suggested. Without looking back, as if pushed by invisible hands, she left the room. Evelynn followed her gaze, and Axel scoffed silently in the corner, though nobody noticed him. Feeling immense relief wash over him, Silas took Saya's arm and led her out of Jasper and Julia's room. He itched to look back, but the remnant of Evelynn's icy stare scared him too much for him to do so.
Saya clutched his arm much tighter than was necessary as they made their way back to their rooms. Silas found that his footsteps were shaky and wobbly. His head began to reel and the dim blinking lights of the hallways began to swim before him.
"Are you alright, Silas?" Saya asked hurriedly.
"Yeah, yeah. It's been a long few days," Silas chuckled. "I'm not as energetic as you are, obviously."
"Let's get some rest, huh?" she said. "Okay now, take it slow. Easy, now," she continued, gently pulling Silas on towards her shoulder, easing him into leaning on her for support as he steadied his steps. A sudden warm sensation flew through Silas' limbs as he let his shoulders droop.
"That's it, you're doing great. Should we have asked Jasper to check up on you? When you came out of the experiments with Hydra and Scylla, you looked terrible-"
"Not like that, no, no, I mean, you looked really worn out and depressed. And beaten down. Are you sure you're okay? I hope that they didn't hurt you, I suppose."
"I'm… fine," Silas said after a brief pause as they approached the door to their room. Silas reached his hand weakly out to activate the door with his mana, but suddenly he realized he was too weak to do so. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment and shame, but unlike before, Saya didn���t tease him about it. Instead, without a word, she opened the door for him with a wave of her hand.