It took a while for everyone in the family to recover from the emotional outpouring. There were more then a few times when one of them had begun to recenter themselves only to lose it again as the emotions of the other two opened the floodgates yet again. Eventually however, they did all settle down and their tears stopped pouring out.

Following that emotional storm, the room fell into a silence broken only by the occasional sniffles. Watching all of this happen in front of him Jack felt his own emotions well up. A combination of joy and pride at the scene of a family reunited thanks to his work, but at the same time there was the dark twist of jealousy at seeing just what a family should look like when it came to one another. The thought that a parent should actually care for and about their child.

Catching their breaths the couple turned their heads toward Jack, keeping their arms wrapped around their daughter. “Thank you, Mr. Bertrand. We are so happy to have our child back again. It means the entire world to us.”

Jack held back a sigh. There was a part of him that wanted to simply deny that he was responsible for her return. That because he had not accomplished all he had set out to do in terms of finding out just what had happened he had failed his job. Even as those thoughts went through his head, he saw both of their expressions. Their faces filled with such sincerity and relief that he couldn’t get the self-deprecating words out. Instead, he managed to force out a simple. “Of course. I am glad that I was able to help.”

“Help? You did far more then help! Thank you so much for everything. I’m sorry that for a while we were thinking the worst of you. That you had taken the money we gave you and just run off. We know better now, but it was still the only thing we could figure when you had disappeared.” Dilacy’s father exclaimed before his face took on an ashamed cast.

“As I told Dilacy before, that is completely understandable. I disappeared in the middle of the investigation after only giving you the possibility of her being involved with Telipar Industries somehow. I hadn’t even had the chance to confirm if she was or not, simply the conjecture based on data that they were likely involved.” Jack let out a massive sigh. “In all honesty I can’t claim too much credit for finding her as that was more… lucky happenstance than anything else. Yes, I had worked out that it was likely Telipar was involved but in terms of her being in that specific facility and everything else that came with that? That was far more incidental.”

As Jack said that, Dilacy peaked out from around her mother’s head with a glare. “Pretty sure I said to not claim that shit. Yeah, sure you wound up there on accident, but that doesn’t lessen what you’ve done. You saved me. Literally. You saved me from a life of being stuck forever in a hospital complex and being a prisoner in my own body.”

“Right. You’re right. I know I should take more pride in what I accomplished. There is always just the niggling sense in the back of my mind that I should have done more. Somehow. I am truly glad that I was able to help you and bring this joy to your family.” Jack let out a small breath and replied as his face got a melancholic smile.

He shook himself slightly and forced his smile to take on a happier tinge as he continued. “Well, I should let you folks enjoy your reunion. It has been far too long since you last saw each other.”

Dilacy’s mother spoke up as he was about to turn around, “Thank you again. I don’t believe there is any way for us to ever truly repay you for what you have done. If there is anything that we can do in the future to help in some way please… just let us know.”

Jack rubbed his forehead at what Vinistey said. Closing his eyes, he let out a deep breath and replied, “I know that I’ve said this or something like this before when we first met. You shouldn’t be giving someone a promise like that. There are more then a few people in the world who would take advantage of you because of that. And not just monetarily either. There are spells and rituals that can take advantage of such promises to bind you to things against your will.”

Opening his eyes, he finished up, “Well that’s enough out of me. I don’t mean to lecture you. You three have a wonderful day.” With that he finished turning and began to head back out of the lobby deeper into the building.

As he walked away, he heard a voice call out from behind him. “No matter what you might think or feel, please just know that no matter what you have saved our family. You are a good man who went far above and beyond what we had dreamed possible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

Jack walked away to the sound of sobs behind him, an odd mix of emotions waring within him. The lessons of worthlessness that had been beaten into him throughout his life fighting against the sense of accomplishment for just what he had managed. He had done it. He really had done something difficult that was bettering the world rather than just pulling off near impossible larcenies. He kept the smile plastered on his face, slightly less stiff and fake as the fire of pride within him was stoked.

After leaving the room Jack took the time to find one the of security and arrange to meet Carlos the next day to get from him whatever it was that was so important. Other then that he spent the rest of the day working on figuring out just what he would need to gather up to accomplish the ritual that he planned on. The one that would hopefully make all of his memory to be eidetic rather than just those associated with strong positive and negative emotions.

The next day came much faster than Jack had thought it would. He had been so involved with his planning and research that he hadn’t even noticed the fact that he had stayed up all night. It was only when there came a knocking on his door announcing someone’s arrival that he realized just how absorbed he had been.

Blinking blearily Jack looked around at the mess of papers and books scattered around him. Even the bed sheets had been torn from the bed to be drawn upon. He had designed the ritual before but only with a temporary use of it in mind. His desire to turn it into a permanent solution meant that he needed to take the foundation that he created and transform it. Unlike what he had done to his mind previously in order to deal with his mental hang up and the concepts from his childhood that were so strong they could literally overwrite parts of his personality and how his mana functioned, this time he wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to permanently damage his mind and sense of self. In order for it to truly be safe, he needed to research every aspect of what he wanted to accomplish and what changes it would cause in him both physically and otherwise.

As he sat there staring blankly at his surroundings the knock on the door came again. This time accompanied by a voice. “Hey. Bertrand, you awake in there? We were supposed to meet up half an hour ago. None of the guards have seen you leave your room following yesterday after lunch so, unless something happened you should be here!”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

The shout through the door jolted Jack back to reality. Shaking his head, he groaned, joints popping loudly as he stood. “One second. Give me one second. I’ll… I’ll be right there. Just one moment.”

“So, you are here!” Came back the reply from the other side of the door.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m… I’m here. Just one moment. I’m coming.” Jack called out again as he shambled his way across the room. Carefully stepping around the numerous bits of his work scattered everywhere. As he did, he couldn’t help but wonder just how he let himself get so entranced with the research. He had meant to only work on it for a few minutes before he went to bed, but the next thing he knew… well the next thing he really knew was that someone was knocking on the door.

It took a minute but Jack finally made his way through the mess he had made to the door. Yanking it open he couldn’t help himself as he grumpily growled out. “Yes? What is it? What do you need?”

Standing there in the hallway was Carlos Ross-Telipar with a large box sitting next to his feet and an unhappy expression on his face. “Took you long enough. Is there some reason that you didn’t show up earlier? I know we don’t have the best relationship but I didn’t thi…” he trailed off as he noticed the bags under Jacks eyes. “Shit man. You look fucking awful. Did you not sleep or something?”

Jack just exhaustedly gestured at the room behind him stepping out of the way so Carlos could look in, unable to muster up the energy needed to even snark back a response.

Looking into the room Carlos saw the disaster that lay within. Books and paper were scattered everywhere throughout the room, with what looked like a terribly overelaborate ritual circle being created on a swath of pinned together sheets. “Telipar’s teeth!” He exclaimed as he stared with horrified amazement at the mess, before getting an embarrassed look on his face at his choice of swear. “Er, I mean. Just what were you working on in here? Whatever it is looks to be ridiculously complex.”

Jack’s jaw cracked as he let out a huge yawn and blinked blearily at Carlos’ question. His eyes had been drawn down to the box sitting at his feet as his brain absently wondered just what could be inside. “Hmm? What was that? Sorry, I didn’t catch it.”

“I asked what you were working on.” Carlos repeated

“Oh, yeah. All of that is the theory stuff.” Jack said sleepily before shaking his head and speaking more clearly. “I mean that’s some of the theory crafting for a ritual I am hoping to create for fixing my brain.”

“Fixing your brain. Wait… fixing your brain? You are planning to cast magic on your brain. Are you mad? Wait what am I saying? Of course, you’re mad. You are the person that decided the best way to deal with a multiplaner parasite was to take other peoples mana into yourself and purify it. Don’t get me wrong, it worked, and it is and will be a great boon for my family. Doesn’t make it any less insane.” Carlos shook his head as he felt a headache coming on at trying to understand the madman in front of him. “Is there some reason that you are now deciding to play with your brain?”

Jack let out another yawn, covering it with his hand, “Yeah. Got some… uhhh…” Another massive yawn interrupted whatever he was trying to say. He took a moment to stretch and tried to speak again. “Yeah, I got some problems in my head thanks to that same parasite. It did a number on me. I had worked out some possible solutions that I tested while I was trapped within that complex. I now need to turn one of those from temporary to permanent. So…”

“Right, well. It’s your own brain.” Carlos shook his head in disbelief, “Anyways I got something for you. Here.” With that he shoved the box on the floor toward Jack with his foot.

“Neat. What is it?” Jack asked blinking at the box.

Carlos let out an irritated sigh, “It’s your stuff. Any and all of the crap that you had with you when you were brought in.”

It took a moment for what he was told to sink in but when it finally did Jack felt a mix of apprehension and relief. “Ah. Excellent. Thanks.” Saying that he reached down and opened the box. Sitting inside folded neatly was Jacks threadbare clothes and jacket.

As Jack was reaching in to pull out the items, Carlos turned away and started to walk off. After a few steps he paused and without turning said, “Hey, good luck.”

Jack gave a confused look at Carlos’ back as he replied, “Thanks?” before turning back to the contents of the box. Emotions began to well up within him as his mind drifted to everything he had gone through in the clothes in front of him. As he crushed the feelings down, he lifted the clothes out. As he did, he felt a hard lump inside the jacket. Pausing for a moment he set the other clothes back in the box and shook the jacket out. When nothing came out from the shaking, he began to check the pockets. First those on the outside and then the ones on the inside.

In one of the inside pockets, he found the source of the lump. A small package, well wrapped in brown butcher paper. As he looked at it his paranoia began to ramp up. Just what was it that they had hidden in here?

Before opening it, Jack took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After getting his mind back into order, he opened his eyes and grimacing cast a diagnostic spell. Concentrating through the pain Jack scowled. There was no response. The only way that could happen was if the paper wrapped around whatever this was had anti-divination properties.

Jack took another gulp of air to calm himself. Whatever this was couldn’t be outright deadly to him or overly dangerous. Otherwise, it would violate the contract that he had signed with the director. Even as he worked to settle himself and not let his paranoia run rampant his hands shook with a mix of anticipation and fear.

Without waiting longer, he held his breath and tore the paper open. There in front of his eyes to his shock were the several ward breaking tools that he had been carrying. Jack stood there dumbfounded as he stared at the expensive and illegal tools.

As Jack stood there, he heard a noise at the end of the hallways and jolted. Quickly as he could he grabbed the jacket and hurriedly rewrapped the items stuffing them back into the pocket, throwing the jacket on as he did so. He looked down the hallway to where he heard the noise and saw a man walking calmly toward him.

It was an older gentleman wearing an expensive business suit. The suit was well taken care of, with not a speck of dirt or grime on it. Each step the man took was accompanied by the click of a cane on the floor, it was that very noise that had caught Jack’s attention in the first place. As the man got closer Jack was able to make out a few other characteristics. He had neatly styled grey hair along with a well-trimmed beard. There was a small pair of glasses perched on his nose and a smile on his face.

Jack was just about to go back into his room and close the door, having shoved the box into the room with his foot. Right before he could make his way through the portal himself however the old man called out. “Excuse me good sir, might I have a moment of your time? It won’t take but a second.”

Jack froze in the doorway unsure of what to do. His body tensed up with worry at this person suddenly approaching right after getting those tools back. He ran his tongue over his teeth and frantically tried to decide on what the best course of action would be. Finally, he forced a smile and turned around even as in his mind he screamed about the betrayal of the Ross-Telipar’s. “Of course. What can I do for you?”

“You wouldn’t happen to be a Mr. Bertrand by any chance, would you? One Jack Bertrand.” The older man’s mouth twisted in distaste as he said Jack’s full name.

Seeing the mans expression Jack’s heart dropped. Here it came. He was obviously here to take Jack in, to catch Jack in the act of holding such tools that carry a huge fine and jail time for if one was without the proper licensing to do so. The forced smile on Jack’s face becoming even more brittle. Swallowing slightly, he managed to respond. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Ah. Good. My name is Drafus Montgomery. I work for your father.”