Lyn let out a roar as her fist met the wall with a hard thud.

Fuck the QA, fuck Brendan, fuck everyone. Fuck all of this.

Yet again, she had been unable to help Cydney. She had to watch Cydney get taken away by the QA, too exhausted to run away, too tired to argue. She had to see Brendan's stoic face again, scrunched up in disappointment, body averted away from her as if avoiding her on purpose.

"I can protect her too!" This sentence rang in her head. She had insisted that to Sybil a few weeks ago, so naively, so confidently. But look at her now, useless, once again. Cydney was taken away.

But how could anybody see an adorable girl like Cinna—drenched in blood and fainted on the floor—and deem her as "a dangerous threat"? Were they blind? And why did they even need to cuff her up? Did they not see that she was injured? They were a bunch of heartless assholes.

Lyn let out another roar and punched the wall a few more times. Spots of red painted the pristine white walls. She would have kept going, if not for the familiar voice behind her.

"You seriously need to calm down."

Emily was standing on the other side of the lobby, hands folded across her chest.

"How can I?" Lyn said through gritted teeth. "They won't let her out!"

She waved at the reception desk at the end of the room. The receptionist had shrieked and ran away when Lyn had shouted at her, locking the door to the department behind her. "And these people won't talk to me! These- these stuck up, condescending f—"

"The QA doesn't have time to be talking to you, idiot."

"But they have time to arrest someone without evidence?" Lyn bellowed. She kicked the wall this time, leaving a brown stain under her bloodstain. If she could, she would paint this entire room red and brown.

"You're ridiculous." Emily sat down on the leather couch next to the desk. "Stop making a fool of yourself. The more you do, the less they want to talk to you."

"They locked the door on me! What do they want me to do? Blast it open with lightning?"

"Don't be an idiot." Emily rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "I spoke to the people in charge of this case."

That finally got Lyn's full attention. "Oh, what did they say?"

"They're linking her to a lot of crimes," Emily said with a small sigh. "They think she's involved in this rigged open quest, and that she's the notorious Crimson Witch... and that she's also..." —She gulped.— "a blood magic user."

"Oh," was all Lyn managed to say before she turned her gaze away.

"You don't look shocked, so I guess you knew about these, huh." Emily let out another sigh. "Anyway, because of these suspicions, the QA is currently preparing their team of attorneys. Cydney is in big trouble if she does not have one too."

"That's right, she needs lawyers." Lyn nodded, her mind gradually clearing from her anger. "I can definitely help her hire a team. I'll help her hire the best ones, and then we're gonna beat the shit out of them," she spat out the last few words while glaring at the locked door.

Emily chuckled. "You're gonna hire them for her? You're gonna bankrupt yourself, you know that?"

"I don't care."

The blonde woman shot Lyn a strange look before lowering her head. "Yeah, well, good for you," she whispered, "but I went ahead and decided to be nice, for some reason. I've convinced the guild to sponsor a team of lawyers for her."

Lyn blinked. "What?"

"I spoke to the higher-ups and convinced them to help Cydney," Emily repeated, much louder this time. "They're gonna help her, pro-Bono."

"Wait... really?" Lyn had to ask again. "You got Dawn Avengers... to go against the QA?"

"I got them to help this one case, why are you saying it as though I got the guild to go to war or something?" Emily snorted, her blue eyes affixed on the reception desk. "And we're the only guild out there who can do this without repercussions on our relationship with the QA anyway. Also... she did save all of our lives, mine included. So, I convinced Azarius to help."

Lyn staggered on the spot, as though lightning had struck her in the head. "Y- You spoke to the Guildmaster?"

In her three years stint in the guild, Lyn had never spoken to or even met the famous Dawn Avengers Guildmaster. Even the idea of it made her head spin with both admiration and terror. She never realized how high up the ladder Emily had climbed already, to not only be able to meet Azarius but also put in a request like this.

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"W- Wow, Em. It... must not have been easy to do that." Hands trembling, she pulled Emily up from her seat and into an embrace. "Thank you so much for this, Em. Really."

Emily pushed Lyn away, the scowl on her face was flushed pink. "Shut up. It wasn't hard at all. It was actually much harder convincing Becca about me going to that stupid open quest than convincing Azarius to help you, the ex-star member." She folded her arms and sat back down. "Becca kinda hates you now, by the way, just a heads up."

Despite the guilt creeping up her heart, Lyn could not help but chortle. "Aw, no way, I can't have a pretty girl hate on me! We're friends! Friends help each other."

"Yeah, no, I don't want to be your friend. Being your friend sucks. I don't even know why any of us remain your friends." Emily rolled her eyes and leaned back on the couch. "Anyway, I'm also here at the request of the lawyers. We may need your help convincing Cydney something."

"Oh." Lyn sat down next to her. "What is it?"

"Well, we need to convince her to... willingly... you know..." Emily trailed off, but her chagrined expression gave her thoughts away.

"It's not about taking the truth serum, is it?" Lyn snapped. "She's never taking that shit again."

"Calm down, Lyn, it's..." Emily took a deep breath as if hoping that would calm both of them down at once. "Listen, the QA went and did a thorough check of the island. It's a very strange island, Lyn. Everything on that island is completely void of magic in a way that we've never seen before. Enhancer mages can't make weapons from the items on there, psychics can't move anything, Monzo can't shift the rocks, and even the specialty mages can't work their tricks. It's almost as if... magic doesn't exist there."

Looking down at her outstretched palms, Emily's brows furrowed. "And it's even worse inside the cave. You and I both felt it. Even the air within the cave is void of magic. We all couldn't do basic magic, you couldn't use your lightning, Irene couldn't use her fire, and even my sword... I could still wield it but it definitely felt... a lot weaker."

Lyn also stared down at her hands. She definitely remembered that feeling, that utter sense of helplessness when she had failed to generate a charge, when she had lost all connections to the clouds. It was terrible and she never wanted to feel it again.

"But despite all that, Cydney and that- that dude could still use magic," Emily continued, "and at a level I've never seen before."

"Cinna is a very powerful enhancer mage, Em. So is Han. I've seen them duel."

"Yes, but did you see what she did, exactly? She did way more than enhancer magic."

"She told me that the Witches have been teaching her a lot of stuff." Lyn remained adamant. "She learned how to do elemental magic and even healing."

"Are you even hearing yourself, Lyn? Since when have you heard of someone who can do so many types of magic, and at such a high level? She practically moved Earth, like a god! She created stone fences around herself in seconds. When we were all fainting from whatever weird magic that was going on with the runes, she single-handedly brought the cave down. Monzo can't do even a quarter of what she did, and the last time I saw her, she couldn't even get herself a cup of water from the water fountain!

"And it's not just her, that dude too! Both that guy and her, the way they controlled the metal bird and the cave and everything else, it's... it's almost like they have a... special affinity to the island, an affinity we don't have. It's like they're so in tune with the energies of the island that they can control them willy-nilly." Emily stared at Lyn, wild and exasperated. "Don't you see, Lyn? Don't you see how different she is? Does it not occur to you that this is too strange?"

Lyn looked away, her teeth clenching up. "If you say something about her being a freak again, Em, I'm gonna—"

"Lyn, come on, you know that's not what I—" Emily cut herself off with a vexed sigh, before throwing her hands up. "Alright, whatever, believe whatever you want. I don't care anymore. I'm just here to inform you that the QA finds this very suspicious, and that should be your main concern. They're suspicious about the island, that dude, and Cydney. The dude disappeared without a trace, by the way, and now they think that this whole event is orchestrated by her."

"Wait, Han is gone?"

"Is that what that guy is called? Yeah, Han disappeared when the cave came crashing down. Probably ran away. Not sure how, since the teleportation ports were closed—"

"He's obviously the one who caused all of this!" Lyn barked, standing up and clenching her fists. "How can the QA pin everything on Cinna? She was fighting him! They're not on the same side!"

Emily's grimace deepened. "I know that. Don't attack the informant, Lyn. You know I owe Cydney my life." Her voice quivered at that last sentence. "She saved us, we all know that. But the QA wasn't there to see it. And they just want a thorough explanation for the events too. All they saw was a strange island, full of strange things, with Cydney in the middle of it all."

"And I take it that they don't trust her words unless she takes the truth serum," Lyn muttered, glowering at the locked door next to the desk. She wished her eyes could burn a hole in the door.

Emily nodded. "If she takes it and recounts what happened that day, I'm sure what happened on the island won't be blamed on her. I don't know about her other crimes though, but... but the lawyers think that Cydney's knowledge could be potential leverage for sentence bargaining." She tugged at the ends of her short, blonde hair. "It's not just Brandon and his Department of Magic Misuse that is involved, you know. The Department of Specialty Magic is involved too. The QA seems to be exceptionally curious about the island, and the special magic it may hold. If Cydney could get them information about the island, the lawyers think they can try to strike a plea bargain."

Inside Lyn, a lava of hope washed into her just as a hailstone of dread rained down. Her heart exploded, and her head spun. Cydney could be saved, she could be set free from the QA's grasp forever, and she did not need to run around like a fugitive anymore... but she'd have to take the truth serum.

Lyn's knees buckled and she slumped onto the couch again, burying her head into her hands. Her heart shattered into a million pieces as she recalled the tortuous side effects of the serum; the pain it had brought to the poor, petite girl; the betrayal she must have felt, being pushed to a corner...

Lyn never wanted to do that to Cydney again.

Not again.

"So, she just needs to take it this one time... and everything will be fine?" she croaked.

"Well, depends on your definition of fine. But, yeah, potentially."

Lyn's jaw hardened. "Is there... no other way around it?"

There was a slight pause before Emily relented, "I'm sure we can figure something out. But according to the lawyers, it'll be... very tough going against the QA without doing this."

Lyn gulped. Her saliva tasted coarse and bitter.

"Yeah, okay. I'll... I'll talk to her."