Markus hated failure and even more so on a subject he had personally participated in. He previously had an agreement with Jamie, that Cilia would become Jamies personal property in exchange for his loyalty. Naturally, she would still belong to Markus in the end, and he would give her missions from time to time.
Jamie, who had been seriously injured during Cilia's kidnapping, was unable to escape from Markus's wrath, as he was quickly captured and was now hanging from the ceiling, stabilized by sharp hooks, which had penetrated his flesh.
If it would tear, he would just be regenerated, before being hung up again.
Although he wouldn't get killed, since he failed, becoming a puppet was inevitable.
However since it would bring a negative Impact if he would just turn into an emotionless puppet, they would change a few memories and increase his loyalty, so that he would never betray them and obey every order to the best of his abilities.
***
Today, Cilia was quite happy, since that woman, Nisha had promised her a surprise. She had begun having limited trust in her since her days with her were at least multiple times better than the last few years of her life.
However, although she anticipated the surprise, she wasn't too expectant, since she was still a prisoner, although one with a huge amount of freedom.
Though that thinking would make a 180° turn in a mere few seconds.
*** (POV Lusha)
It had been a while since they had both seen each other. And even then, they met maybe thrice in the last few years, since Cilia had stopped contacting her.
She felt happy, at the thought of seeing her favorite student again.
Seeing the familiar silhouette, even though she had always kept her composure in front of her, seeing the many scars on her body, emotions overwhelmed her as she stormed toward her student.
*** (POV Lusha end)
Cilia, who had been practicing until now, suddenly felt danger as she jumped to the side. She tried at least.
Feeling those warm arms wrap around her, Cilia suddenly felt a wave of emotions, which were couped up inside of her.
All the tensions she had accumulated after living for Jamie for years and suddenly being kidnapped by an unknown person overwhelmed her, as she fell asleep in the arms of her teacher.
***
Cilia finally woke up after sleeping for almost two days. Both Nisha and Lusha had taken turns to take care of Cilia during that time.
Although the was still confused, she decided to trust Nisha, since she appeared to be on good terms with her teacher.
What she didn't know was, that she was the reason why they got along so well. One adored her as a student or in some sense also a daughter and the other adored her as a crush.
They knew each other pretty well since they had worked together for some time to free Cilia. This continued to improve their relationship.
This was also the reason, that Lusha would leave Cilia in Nisha's care, without the need to check, since she had noticed how important Cilia was to both of them.
Cilia, who had finally resolved herself to get up, even though she wanted nothing more than be in her bed, noticed Nisha sitting on a chair next to her bed.
She didn't disturb Cilia and just continued observing her. „What is it?" Cilia felt uncomfortable due to Nisha not moving her eyes away from her.
„Nothing, just admiring the sleeping beauty, that stopped sleeping."
Too embarrassed to say anything, Cilia got up and went to the bathroom. She was really bad at getting compliments, she never knew what to say other than maybe thanks and continuing the previous conversation.
After breakfast Cilia was informed, that her family had arrived. As such she quickly ran over to see them, leaving Nisha behind.
Nisha knew, that this was something she shouldn't interrupt. At least not yet. There was still some time until she wanted Cilia to introduce her to her family.
The concern in her dad's and Seraph's voice was evident, as they had been informed beforehand about Cilias condition. Well, at least the important stuff.
Things like her treatment, while she was with Jamie, were overlooked for obvious reasons.
*** (POV: Cilia's father)
It had been a few weeks since Cilia had last visited and the house was once again quite empty. Cilia living elsewhere and Seraph breaking up with her boyfriend, led to this big house being quite empty most of the time.
Work was mostly done from home anyway and Seraph was out almost all day. Contrary to Cilia, who would have loved to spend all day in her room.
Fortunately for me, Cilia's teacher, Lusha, would sometimes come over and visit. Today she had once again sent a message, that she would come over for dinner.
I had been cooking almost every day since my wife passed away and teaching my daughters how to was a family activity that we all enjoyed.
Though, being alone led to making food less often. After all, it was more fulfilling to have other people share your food than just eating alone.
But since Lusha was coming over, I got a bag and went shopping for ingredients. It wasn't very much, which was missing. Just a few tomatoes and a bit of meat.
I was happy to have someone in the house today since Seraph had told me she would be sleeping over at her friend's house.
What I didn't expect however was that Lusha would bring another person with her. It didn't seem like they were related but she was of a similar age to my daughter.
However I seemed to have seen her somewhere, but I just couldn't put my finger on where that was.
Luckily I had made enough food for three people since Seraph had told me she wouldn't be there only after I was home from shopping.
Although the atmosphere during dinner was quite pleasant, something was off. The girl, which introduced herself as Nisha was way too nervous for a casual meeting. And Lusha looked like she had something to say all the time.
Since this had been going on for quite some time, I finally decided to alleviate the tension, since being silent would lead nowhere. „ You look like you have something to say, just tell me."
I didn't expect Lusha to be so conflicted, as such I just waited for her to make up her mind.
What I would get informed about, made me utterly speechless. My heart pained as I couldn't utter a word for the next ten minutes.
„I'll visit you soon, I need some time alone." Knowing what Cilia had been going through pained me, but not as much as knowing that even if I knew, I would be unable to do anything.
Failed, was the only thing I could think of. I had failed as a father and it almost broke me. I was trapped in guilt and became depressed, thinking that I had failed to take over my deceased wife's duties.
Years later, getting to know how severe the situation was, almost broke me completely. Luckily Cilia was with me at that time and helped me understand that even if I would have known, I couldn't have done anything at that time.
*** (POV Seraph)
A few weeks back I was out with a friend I had recently made. Her name was Nisha and she said she was acquainted with my sister's teacher.
The day was quite fun, well at least until she found out, that her boyfriend was cheating on her.
Not so fun.
Today, I planned to sleep over at her friend's house. Fortunately, it seemed like Lusha was coming over. As such, I didn't have to worry about my dad being lonely.
The next day I went home after a fun night out. I had prepared a little gift for my dad and was happy to surprise him.
Well, that was until I saw his state. He was just laying in bed with the windows closed in complete darkness.
The usually fun dad had become a wreck overnight. I didn't know what to do and just decided to be with him until I found the solution.
I did find one, in the form of an envelope. It was mail from Lusha, which she had left for me. She explained the situation and asked me to go over to her place as soon as possible together with my dad.
I could tell my father had sunken deep into his guilt, while I was trying to do my best to get him up.
Which was hard, since I had to suppress the guilt which was plaguing me too.
After two days, we were finally ready to go onwards, since it didn't help to be consumed by the past.
That was a few days ago. With Lusha and Nisha's help, both of us were smuggled to an unknown location where we finally arrived today.
A guard, who had been waiting for us relayed Nisha's message, that Cilia had woken up and where we should go to meet my sister.
*** (POV END)
Although Cilia was shocked to see the state her family was in, she was happy nonetheless to see them.
They both seemed extremely anxious to see her, especially her father who wouldn't stop hugging her.
After checking if she was alright, her father finally let her free.
Cilia felt sorry for lying to them, but she had transformed her body slightly to cover all her scars. She knew it wouldn't be good for any of them if they saw them by chance.
It turned out to be a validated idea, seeing her father being anxious and depressed.
Although she wasn't tired, she was unable to escape her dad, who swiftly put her into the bed before collapsing next to her.