Lyn tried to reach for the bowl, but the chains rattled on her wrists, holding her back.

"Oh, right, sorry Lyn, I forgot," Cydney mumbled.

Sitting down on the chair, she took a scoop of the soup and offered the spoon to Lyn, which Lyn slurped up as fast as she could. She must be in a dream—Cydney was not only here, right next to her, in person, but she was also feeding her soup. The liquid slid down her throat, warming her chest and calming her heart.

"Y- You made this, Cinna?"

"Yeah, do you like it?"

"Yes!" Lyn nodded, but a little too vigorously that she knocked on Cydney's hand. The bowl tilted to the side and a splash of soup spilled on Lyn's shirt. "Oh, sorry, Cinna..."

"It's okay." Cydney chuckled.

She took a handkerchief and started to wipe; her head leaned dangerously close to Lyn, the familiar aroma of her shampoo piercing right into Lyn's heart. When she was done, she looked up. Their lips were a breath away.

"Cinna," Lyn whispered, "I've missed you."

The petite girl froze at that statement, a strange mix of emotions ran across her face.

Despite the lack of response, Lyn continued, "I've missed you so, so much, Cinna. I dreamed about you every night, and- and every day I could only see you through that eye-fone you left behind, and it crushed me inside because it made me miss you so much more." Her voice faltered, but she pushed on, "Cinna, please, come back to me. I want nothing more but to be with you again. Please."

Cydney kept her gaze lowered.

"Me too, Lyn," she whispered before wiping her eyes.

"Oh, no, Cinna, don't cry..." Lyn's heart broke into a million pieces. She tried to wipe away Cydney's tears as well, but her hands remained in that awkward, bound position. "Uh, Cinna, could you maybe get me out of these?"

"I can't, Lyn." Cydney put down the bowl of soup. "I'm sorry, but I can't go back with you."

"Why not?" Lyn asked. She remembered what Sybil had said and added, "Is it because of the QA? I can protect you too, Cinna."

"It's- It's not..."

"I will never let the QA do that to you again, I swear! I'll be smarter this time, I'll get you a lawyer and everything, and fight for you. Remember the money you earned from your duel? I saved them all, didn't even touch a cent, so we can hire you a team of lawyers. I'm also back doing quests and earning money. I have my own savings too, I even gave up getting myself a lawyer so that I can spend them on you when you come back. And my apartment! My parents bought it for me but I can sell it for you! We can do this, Cinna, I can help you—"

"Lyn!" Cydney cut her off, her eyes shimmering with tears. "It's not about that. I don't need protection, I- I just want to go home, and... and Sybil is helping me with that."

"Well, I can help you with that too! Whatever she can do, I can too!"

"It's not that simple." Cydney shook her head. "I wish I could explain more, but Sybil is my best shot at going home."

"I... I don't understand...." Lyn stared at Cydney, frantically trying to search for clues in her face. "Just tell me, I'll help you in every way I can..."

"I'm sorry, Lyn, b- but, I've been trying to go home for years, and ever since I met you, I... I've been putting that behind me. But the QA made me realize that I don't belong here, and I need to go back, even if that means I won't see you again..." Cydney paused as if to stop herself from sobbing. Then, she forced a smile. "But it's okay, Lyn, once I get home, everything will be normal again for you. How have you been, anyway?"

Lyn blinked at the sudden shift in topic. "Well, I'm..."

Not good. Terrible. My mind hasn't been in the right state ever since that night, Cinna.

Lyn gulped away those thoughts. There was no way she would tell Cydney any of that. "I'm okay, but forget about me. What about you? How have the Witches been treating you?"

"I'm okay too, I guess... The Witches, they're really nice to me." Seeing Lyn's scowl, Cydney defended further, "They're actually good people, Lyn, despite what other people think of them. They've been teaching me a lot too, especially Sybil."

Lyn remembered what Sybil had said, and her saliva turned sandy and coarse. "Oh, what... what has she been teaching you?"

"Magic." Cydney's eyes lit up. "Magic is so cool, Lyn. I mean it's always cool, but I never appreciated that it could also be... that it could be so scientific at the same time."

"Huh?" Lyn did not understand what Cydney meant, but the petite girl looked so eager to share, like a child telling a parent all about the things they learned in school, that Lyn did not want to interrupt.

"So now, I can do even elemental magic, too. Look!" She raised her hand and blew into it. Ice crystals formed on her palms, and the more she blew, the bigger the gem-like structure became. "Isn't it cool?"

Ice magic. That was a type of special elemental magic that was a lot more common than lightning. "It really is, Cinna."

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"Isn't it? As long as the substance comes from my body, and I understand what they are, I can control them. Like the water and wind from my breath, or... blood from my body." Cydney touched her shoulder, where Emily had cut her.

Lyn was hit with a pang of guilt. "Oh no, I'm so sorry, Cinna. You have yet another scar on your body now..."

"No, it's fine, Lyn." Cydney chuckled. "Sybil also taught me how to heal, so the scars are all gone now."

"You can heal now, too?"

"If it's my body, yes." Cydney nodded excitedly and lifted her shirt, revealing her pale torso.

Instead of being covered with scars like how Lyn remembered, the slim waist was now smooth, flawless, and even had subtle definitions of her abdominal muscles. This was the perfect model body that Lyn had imagined, and that Cydney deserved.

"Look, I don't have the ugly scars on me anymore. I healed them!"

Lyn took a while to gather her thoughts. "That's- That's so awesome," she gushed, her eyes glued onto the beautiful figure in front of her. "I'm happy for you, Cinna."

"Not just the scars too, I can also change other parts of my body, as long as I understand how it works. I can finally get curly hair like Millie now, and... and nice red hair like yours." A small blush painted across Cydney's cheeks. "And I also have unlimited materials that I can do enhancer magic on, too." She took out a pouch from inside her hood and picked out a coin. The round object twirled around her fingers, its shape and color changing at each rotation. "I never have to worry about losing materials again. I will always have the ability to protect myself with magic now, no matter what happens."

Lyn stared at the floating coin, and then at Cydney's unblemished body, and then at her face. "Look at you, Cinna, you're a triple threat now, a master of all three classes of magic. That's so powerful. You're so damn cool, Cinna."

Cinna's blushing face turned even redder now. "N- No... it's still very limited," she said, waving her hands around. "I- I can't create lightning like you, or- or fire, like Irene..."

"You are a hundred times better than all of us combined," Lyn emphasized. "You should be celebrated and recognized by the world, Cinna, not hiding out with the Witches like this. Come back with me, and whatever treasure you want, I'll buy them for you. You don't have to steal them."

"I'm not stealing treasures because I want them..." Cydney sighed, her enthusiasm vanished in an instant. She closed her eyes as her shoulders drooped. "I'm really, really sorry, Lyn. I'm a terrible person. I knew I shouldn't have come into your life, and yet... I... I was being really selfish, and that's on me."

"What are you talking about, Cinnamon Pie?"

Cydney opened her eyes again, her dark irises shimmering with regret. "Forget about me, Lyn. Forget I ever came into your life."

Lyn's mind went blank. What trace of happiness she had from seeing Cydney vanished, and all the heartache, anguish, and loneliness she had accumulated from the past year returned.

"W- What are you talking about, Cinna? I will never forget you, I can't, I literally can't."

The hooded girl stood up and staggered backward.

Lyn's voice escalated into a crazed shriek. "Wait, Cinna? Are you leaving me again? Wait, don't!" She struggled as hard as she could against the chains, but to no avail. "No, no, no, no, please don't go again, please."

Her cheeks felt wet—was she crying? Oh god, she did not want to cry in front of Cydney, not in front of her. Lyn blinked as fast as she could to get rid of her tears. "Please, Cinna, listen to me, we can make this work, I can make this work, I swear, I promise, I will put my life down to protect you, to help you get back home. Please, don't leave me, not again..."

By now, Lyn's vision was completely blurred. Even so, she could still tell that Cydney was sobbing. Her shoulders were throbbing up and down while soft gasps escaped from her throat occasionally. After a while, Sybil appeared next to the petite girl, wrapping her arms around Cydney, letting her cry into her body.

"Let her go, Lyn Bronte," Sybil said, "don't make this harder than it already is for her."

"Shut the fuck up, witch, and keep your hands off her!" Lyn barked.

"You keep your voice down," Sybil snapped. "Honestly, what can you even do for her? You are a quester, the dog of the QA, blindly listening to them as they try to catch her, hurting her in the process. You say you miss her, but where were you all this time? You didn't even try to find her."

"I did!" Lyn screamed, as more tears streamed down her cheeks. "I was trying so hard to find you, Cinna, but I- I thought you were with Han, so I spent all my free time finding him instead. I got myself a private investigator and everything, and I even found out the open quest that he was going to do, and—"

"Han?" Cydney lifted her head and looked at Lyn for the first time since her breakdown. "What about him? He's doing quests?"

"Yeah, I found out that he's been going around doing a lot of treasure hunts. I was even ready to go for the one that's happening soon, hoping to find him and also you there. But I guess you were never with him, so that's useless information now..."

"What treasure hunt?" Cydney demanded. "What is it about? Tell me more!"

"Oh, uh..." Cydney's drastic change in tone gave Lyn a whiplash. "Uh, well, I- I have this poster with me, it's in my pocket right here..."

Cydney dug her hands into Lyn's pocket. Lyn let out a small yelp at the sudden intrusion, but Cydney paid no attention, her focus solely on finding the poster. Once she grabbed the poster, she scanned it before showing it to Sybil.

The older witch raised her eyebrows. "Interesting. An island. Are you gonna go check it out?"

"Of course," Cydney said solemnly. "I need to find out what he's up to."

"He might be trying to do the same thing as you."

The petite girl shook her head. "No, that's not it. He's not interested in going back. He's definitely planning something big with that man."

Lyn stared at the two of them in puzzlement. Her vision had cleared, but her face was now cold and sticky.

"Erm, Cinna," Lyn probed, "what are you talking about?"

Cydney pocketed the poster. "Lyn, stay far away from Han. Don't go to this."

"But you are, aren't you?" Lyn asked. "I will if you are. I'll go wherever you go!"

"No, Lyn, you really shouldn't—"

Just then, the ring on Lyn's finger lit up. Strobes of red light danced around the room, like a rotating beacon of alarm.

"They found us," Sybil said. "Dylan, it's time to stop your magic."

With that, the cozy cottage room vanished. The illusion around Lyn dissolved, revealing a smoky, dark cave. Spiky vines crawled everywhere, their sickly sweet scent gave her nausea. The bed that she was on was revealed to be just a stack of hay on a flat rock, with her limbs chained to the surface. At the very far end of the cave sat a horse carriage with six more witches, who were all glaring at her warily.

"Let's get out of here before they arrive."

Cydney nodded. She glanced at Lyn, hesitated, and looked away. "Goodbye, Lyn, for... for real now."

Before Lyn could respond, she dashed off towards the carriage.

Lyn laid on the hard bed of hay as she watched the carriage leave, becoming smaller and smaller until it could no longer be seen. This was the second time Cydney had left her, and this time, Lyn had to watch it happen. And the entire time, Cydney did not even turn back to look at her, not even once.

She slumped down. Her head landed on the rock with a loud thump, while the rest of her body still throbbed from her injuries, but the physical pain meant nothing to her. Next to her, the bowl of chicken soup was still there; its tempting aroma wafted across the air, but it was too far for Lyn to reach. So close, yet so far. Just like Cydney.

She laid there for the next one hour, staring blankly at the grimy ceiling until the QA finally arrived on the scene.