After the trial had ended, there was some uproar among the populace of the capital about allowing a murderer to attend one of their prestigious academies; some called into question the judge's and headmaster's decision to accept them, some even going as far as to claim Alex had placed them under a spell, which of course was far from the truth.
Meanwhile, Alex's family wasn't allowed to see him for a few days after the trial. They still had things to ask him, but there was much less torture, which Alex was, of course, thankful for. While he could heal his wounds nearly instantaneously as long as he had magic in reserve, he could still feel pain.
After answering several questions regarding his travels before arriving at the academy, he was released and officially enrolled at the academy, but before he went there, he had one place to go.
Alex was standing right outside the door of a fancy house.
"Are they in there?" Alex asked out loud.
"Yes." a voice from the shadows answered.
"And why are you hiding Claire?" Alex asked as he faced one of the trees outside.
"I doubt I'd be welcome." Claire said. "After all, I did try to kill you."
"You are far from the first and certainly won't be the last." Alex said with a slight smirk. "Just come in."
Claire jumped down and stood side by side with Alex. It had been a while since they started travelling together full time, and over that time she had gotten to understand Alex, at least as best as she could. Alex was a mystery to her and anyone else. One moment he could be kind, gentle, and caring; the next he could be a ruthless, merciless, downright monster. She had seen both sides of him during their travels, but that wasn't all. There were moments, moments of weakness in Alex. Nights where he would just stare out of the window for no reason with a solemn expression and even some nights where he couldn't help but break down. It was one night; they were camping outside, and in the middle of the night, during a full moon, Alex had gotten up randomly and walked over to some clearing nearby, where he just stared up at the moon, and a single tear washed down his cheek. Claire didn't know how to react; she herself was never one to be open with her emotions, but she felt something inside her, an automatic response to what she saw. She walked up and sat right next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Since that night, Claire had felt attached to Alex. She was always near him; whether you could see her or not didn't matter; she was there.
"Alright, I'm with you." Claire said.
Alex nodded in response before knocking on the door. He waited for about half a minute, which was completely filled with anxiety, before the door was finally opened. He was greeted by all-too-familiar purple eyes, which quickly filled with tears.
"A-Alex...?"
Alex looked up with a hint of sadness in his face.
"...Hey Mom."
Alex was immediately embraced by his mother. Her arms wrapping around him so tightly he could barely breathe. Anna cried into Alex's shoulder. She hadn't seen him in what had felt like a lifetime, each day praying for this day to come where she would finally be reunited with her son after all these years.
"I can't believe...it's really you!"
Anna refused to let Alex go as he finally wrapped an arm around her.
"It's good to be home, Mom."
"Alex? Is that...really you?"
Another voice spoke from behind Anna, yet another pair of familiar purple eyes.
"Hey Raven... I'm home."
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