After Shrewman let it slip that they actually don't have his brother, Xeno hasn't been brought to the investigation room again. He also hasn't seen Shrewman since then, which good riddance.

A few months after, when Xeno finally realizes that they aren't bothering with him anymore, that's when the feelings hit. It's a whole bottle of emotions cramped in his chest that just explodes inside of him. But he doesn't allow himself to cry. Not here, not now. So, he settles for anger. Anger for the way he's been treated, at the Council he so proudly wanted to work for because he thought they were so good. He's angry at his father, who, for as long as he can remember, was always absent from his life, who was barely present for meals, who was gone before he woke and arrived once he'd long since fallen asleep; at his mother, who he was only allowed to see twice a year, who had been in a coma since he was six, who he has no recollection of because of an illness that had erased his memories of every moment prior to the day his fever finally broke; at the parents who have never acted like such, but who he loves nonetheless. He's angry that they were taken from him. He's angry that he's stuck here with no way out.

Anger, Xeno finds, is much easier to bear compared to sorrow.

After, long after, when his everything finally starts to settle, when the boiling rage begins to simmer down, that's when he decides to start to be productive the only way he knows how. He experiments. They wouldn't even give him any paper, though, so he settles for painting the images of his yet-to-be created sigils vividly in his head. He now has dozens of new ideas he wants to test as soon as he gets out of here, and he thinks he has a way to extend the time of effectivity for his rope binding to a good two minutes at most (read: one minute and a half). Xeno has also tried, dozens of times, to quietly escape from his prison, but the farthest he could make it was up the stairs and down the hall before he had to rush back so he doesn't get caught. With only his bare hands which are still bound together, though they've loosened considerably over the years, it's not hard to determine the outcome should they inevitably catch him. He also doesn't need to give them an excuse to finally get rid of him, thank you very much, and it's not like they treat him bad right now anyways. He gets food (sometimes they forget) and they leave him alone (most of the time). So, really, the sneakier the escape, the better; it's more time for him to cover his tracks and get off their radar, and it means it'll take a longer time for them to realize he's gone since they don't actually check his room all that often.

So, here he is, four years in, stuck with nothing to do but to think. Contrary to Shrewman's last words, his brother had not taken the bait, which is good, but also kind of bad. Xeno thinks he's started to go crazy from being imprisoned in this place.

That has to be the only reason why he finds a piece of paper sneakily stuck in his food. But the other problem with this is that it's stuck in his food. Naturally, it goes into his mouth. Only after a few bites in did he start to feel the strange texture on his tongue. Xeno remembers thinking, poison, then proceeding to spit it out.

Hence, the chewed up piece of paper now in his hands, which, okay, is not poison. Thank the heavens.

The ink on the little piece of parchment is smeared, with a large portion of it missing. He wonders if it's important because there's no way he can decipher it now, and Xeno doesn't exactly want to try digging them out from the chunk of recently spat out food. He's also pretty sure some of them have already made a home in his stomach anyway.

Hours later, they shut off the arc lamp in the corner, and Xeno knows night has come. With this, at least, he's able to track the days since there's no clock in his room. He ponders over the letter, but when nothing peculiar happens after a couple days, he starts to think it really was just a figment of his imagination. A fortnight after, however, as he's dozing on the little bed, his door creeps open. There, standing under the doorway, is a silhouette of a man.

"Let's go," is all the silhouette whispers.

Xeno pulls himself carefully off his bed. "Who are you?"

"The one who sent you the letter. Come on. Hurry up or they'll catch us."

Xeno refuses. He blinks his bleary eyes, still half-awake. Who is this guy? What's happening? "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who you are. Where are we going?"

"Didn't you read my note?" the man says impatiently. "We have to go now."

Xeno still doesn't move. "I would've read the note if I hadn't eaten it first," he says, a hint of a growl in his voice when he still gets no answers. Why is this guy being so cryptic? "Next time, put it somewhere more reasonable, so we don't have to have such a pointless conversation."

Now that Xeno's eyes had adjusted to the light pouring through the open doorway, he sees the sheepish look of a familiar face, but it's familiar only in the sense that everyone knows this guy. It only makes sense that Xeno has to know who he is, too. He hasn't actually met Evan Maux in person before, only knows him as Northern City's most sought out Reaper, or at least, that was his title four years ago. He hasn't exactly been in the loop since he's gotten himself kidnapped. What he is sure of, however, is the honorable reputation this man has; Xeno has heard it many times through many different people.

"Name's Evan. I'm here to help you escape."

The realization of the title attached to this man's face doesn't stop Xeno from asking anyway, "If I come with you, you aren't going to use this as an excuse to finally kill me, are you?"

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Evan splutters. "Of course not."

Xeno takes a minute to observe him before he nods and follows Evan out the door. He'll trust in the earnestness of that answer for now. Evan navigates through the maze of corridors with ease. He leads them down hallway after hallway. So far, they hadn't run into anyone yet. The suspicious quiet leaves Xeno on edge.

"It's the branch's bi-yearly check-in with the Chief Councilor. The meeting usually ends well into the night, so not many people are roaming around right now." Evan explains when they, once again, turn down an empty hall. Despite this, they keep their voices low.

"Why are you helping me?" the question comes to Xeno belatedly, "And how did you know where to find me?"

"I know someone who- " Evan cuts himself off. Xeno's just about to ask why when he hears it - the echoes of two, maybe three, sets of footsteps approaching from the next hallway. Evan hurries them through the closest room before they round the corner and shuts the door behind them as quietly as he can.

They press their ears against the door, waiting for them to pass by, but, to Xeno's utter confusion and horror, only one of them continue down the hallway; the other two seem to have stopped right in front of them. Xeno quietly steps away from the entrance, Evan creeping away after him.

What are they doing? He mouths at Evan, who, after a cursory glance around the room, winces.

Guards, he mouths back then gestures vaguely around where they've unknowingly trapped themselves. That's when Xeno notices where they are. His eyes scan through the array of strange objects laid out on two long tables and the unusual items stored on carefully on shelves; they're in some sort of treasure room. His gaze lands in the corner where a familiar sword leans inconspicuously on the wall. Xeno lights up. Apparently, this is also where they leave confiscated items.

He takes a step forward in his excitement and misses the way Evan does the same. And because the path between the two tables, which they were both trying to squeeze through simultaneously, is quite narrow, they clash into each other with more force than he expects. Both tables are bolted into the floor, so luckily, it makes no sound, but, unluckily, in the natural silence of the room, nothing masks the slight clatter Xeno makes when his hands land on one of the tables as he tries to steady himself nor the quiet grunt that escapes Evan when they collide. They freeze. Almost immediately, one of the guards raise their voice from outside.

"Did you hear that?" one of them asks.

His partner responds with an affirmative. "I think it came from inside."

"One of the officials?"

"Aren't they in a meeting right now?" There's a knock. "Excuse me? Anyone in there?"

Xeno holds his breath. None of them make a sound, but the silence doesn't stop the guards from pushing the doors open. Evan takes a step forward, blocking Xeno from the door. Xeno turns his back. Maybe, if they don't see his face, Evan can try making up some valid reason as to why they're in here.

"Who are you? Put your hands up." Xeno hears one of them unsheathe their sword. This can't go well. The guards already sound suspicious.

"I came with my uncle. For the check in. I was told to inspect the treasure room." Evan says.

Uncle? Xeno files that in his list of growing questions to ask about later.

The argument is reasonable, he thinks wryly, but his voice lacks the authoritative edge that should be present in it.

The guards seem to agree with this assessment because there's a heavy tinge of disbelief in his reply. "We weren't informed of this."

The most sought out Reaper of this generation, Xeno discovers with a wince, is a terrible actor. Covert operations would be his utter downfall. He tries to inch closer towards his sword while Evan fumbles over his next words.

"Who's the other guy? You, turn around!"

Xeno doesn't move. "Turn around or we'll shoot."

Xeno's jaw clenches as he slowly starts to turn around. Their eyes widen in recognition. Whatever doubt they had that this is a real inspection is completely obliterated when they see his face. The one with the sword charges toward Evan, who easily blocks the attack with his quickly drawn sabre. The one with the gun is still aiming at him, so Xeno places himself in a position where he can't get a clean shot without the risk of hurting his partner. But, with the way the sword fighters are now erratically moving around, his cover is quick to disappear. Xeno makes a break towards where his own sword lies. He's about to duck behind the edge of the table when a shot of energy hits and he feels a searing pain in his back. Xeno stumbles to his knees and he can't stop the grunt that escapes him. It burns, almost renders him immobile, but he forces himself to blink past the blurry haze of pain to find cover. When Xeno regains his bearing enough that the pain is no longer as unbearable as when it first hit, he lunges toward his own weapon, making sure to murmur his incantation under his breath. He focuses the energy in his sword so when the next shot comes toward him, he's able to cut it cleanly in half. It dissipates before it even gets the chance to hit him. With his weapon safely in hand, he goes for the shooter next. The next shots never make their mark.

When Xeno gets close enough, the shooter decides to drop the gun and unsheathes the little dagger he has that's strapped to his leg, but Xeno is faster. In his slight distraction, he manages a kick toward the guard's kneecap. He stumbles to the ground and with the hilt of his sword, Xeno aims for the head.

The guard crumples to a heap on the floor. Xeno takes this chance to glance at the other two. Somehow, they've both lost their swords and are currently in a fistfight. It ends, finally, when Evan throws an alarmingly powerful uppercut that Xeno swears he hears the other man's jaw crunch. Xeno shakes his head in disbelief. This guy honestly seems like he's made of more muscle than he is brains. It's not an entirely bad thing, though, if it gets them out of situations like this.

Xeno catches his eyes, tilts his head toward the door. They should leave before someone else catches them. Before they go, however, his eyes catch on a card with an odd-looking sigil laying innocently on the floor. "What's that?"

Evan huffs. "Found that on the table. I activated it when we lost our swords, but it didn't do anything. Must be faulty."

Xeno squints and goes to pick it up so he can observe the strange combination of characters on it. He doesn't think he's ever seen this in any of the books from the library before or from his personal collection either. There's a wisp of an old image in his head that gives him a sense of déjà vu when he sees it, but the picture in his head disappears as quick as it comes. Evan says the sigil doesn't work, but Xeno definitely catches a faint buzz of energy emanating from it. The minute it touches his fingers, a strange feeling envelops him. There's a tingle that runs from the tips of his fingers to the top of his head then straight down to his feet. It feels like every inch of his body has been pricked by a plethora of tiny needles.

He drops the card, but the feeling doesn't go away. Instead, it gets stronger. Then, he starts to feel like he's whole body is being pulled away, like the thread from all the needles prickling his body have merged into one and is being yanked by some unseen force. Xeno has to put his hands flat on the floor to try to steady himself. When he looks at Evan, he finds that he's leaning heavily on one of the tables for support. The strange feeling seems to have affected the both of them. It pulls so insistently that Xeno starts to feel dizzy. He feels one last harsh tug, where his soul feels like it's being ripped straight out of his body. The pain is so intense that Xeno promptly blacks out.

When he comes to, there's a figure by the door. Xeno startles. Another guard. He looks shocked by the scene before him. Their eyes catch. The guards widen by a fraction before he turns and flees. Xeno curses, as he tries to get up from his curled position on the floor. They need to leave. Now.

He looks for Evan, brows furrowed. Strange, is this where he was before he passed out? He doesn't find Evan's familiar figure among the collapsed bodies on the floor, but...

He does find his own.

That's definitely him on the floor. There's no mistaking it. While he's trying to make sense of what's happening - a hallucination? - he catches his body jerk awake. "Hey," Xeno says, and, okay, that's definitely not his voice.

Xeno watches his body's head - his head, which is no longer his head? - snap to meet his gaze. "You... me?" he sounds confused. Xeno watches his body get up from the floor. An uneasy feeling churns in his gut. If this is what he thinks it is, then whoever he's looking at... it has to be Evan.

"Evan?" Xeno asks hesitantly. This can't be happening. Please, someone, anyone tell him this isn't happening. "Is that you?"

He watches his jaw drop. "Xeno?"

Xeno curses.