When Mel woke up again, he was too tired to move. He blinked blearily as he tried to figure out where he was. He seemed to be in a small dark room—a holding cell, really, judging by the heavy metal door. Mel struggled to get up and failed immediately, only then realizing that the reason he couldn't move wasn't that he was too tired—although he still was exhausted. It was because a heavy chain was looped around most of his body. It was actually quite painful how the chains held his wings in an unnatural position.

That wasn't all though. There was also some contraption holding his mouth closed. Mel shook his head, trying to get the piece of metal off his snout, but it stayed firmly in place. It was probably to stop him from breathing fire or biting someone.

As if he could manage either of those things right now.

Mel let his head fall to the ground, a clanging sound following as Mel's muzzle hit the ground as well.

He wondered why he was still alive, or at least not yet hooked up to one of Relioth's energy extracting machines. He also wondered what had happened to Rayni after he'd lost consciousness. He hoped she was all right, or at least not captured. She hadn't even been supposed to be there, and now she could be in serious trouble.

Mel shut his eyes and whimpered quietly. He was already dreading the kind of punishment he was in for if he ever got away from Relioth. For getting captured, for failing to protect Rayni, and for giving Relioth any information he wanted.

If Relioth meant to interrogate him, he had no way of defending himself from the other's mental attacks. Mel hadn't been able to resist Relioth in Carcer, and he hadn't been dead tired at the time.

Feeling more and more nervous, it was a good thing the door opened just a while later. Once he saw who the door revealed, though, Mel's jaw dropped. Or it would if it weren't immobilized right now.

"Happy birthday!" said Relioth to Kaleth, who was standing next to him, staring at Mel with the same shock and confusion as Mel was watching him with. Kaleth looked exactly the same as he had when Mel had last seen him, but despite that, there was something very different about him that Mel couldn't place.

He quickly forgot about this, though, when Kaleth turned to Relioth with a look of righteous anger and delivered a blow to Relioth's jaw with so much force it actually made the Eternal general stagger a bit.

Mel would have gasped in surprise if he could. Relioth had brainwashed Kaleth to obey him. Why would he let him do this? And how come Kaleth was so strong all of a sudden? Mel knew he was the Aperios, and therefore should be more powerful than anything, but he hadn't been a month ago.

Oh, so that was why Kaleth seemed different to Mel. The Eternal could subconsciously sense just how strong Kaleth had become.

What had Relioth done to him?

"Ugh, what the hell, Kaleth?" Relioth asked, rubbing his jaw. "No wonder no one ever gives you birthday presents."

"Leave," Kaleth said coldly, already heading over to Mel. The Eternal curled in on himself as much as the chain allowed, letting out a fearful sound. Was Kaleth going to hurt him? Mel may have imagined being reunited with Kaleth a few times, but not one of those fantasies included Kaleth working for Relioth still. He'd been too afraid to think about that, yet it was somehow his reality right now.

"Mel..." Kaleth said, sounding deeply hurt, his expression matching the tone perfectly. "You think I would...." He sighed and swallowed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

He sounded so devastated that Mel was afraid of him that the Eternal couldn't help but feel guilty about causing that. He nodded at Kaleth, uncurling a little as the man pretty much ripped the muzzle off of him.

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Once again, Mel was left dumbfounded at how strong Kaleth had become. He'd just ripped apart metal with his bare hands, a feat Mel would have trouble with at full power. Sure, he was one of the least powerful Umbra, but still.

Yet somehow, despite wondering why Kaleth was so strong and what Relioth had done to him, the first words out of Mel's mouth were: "I missed you."

Kaleth's frown disappeared, replaced by a warm smile. "I missed you as well."

He did short work of the chain, finally letting Mel stretch out his wings. He was too drained to change forms, but at least he could sit up.

"Are you okay? Did Relioth hurt you? Oh, I'm going to kill him!" said Kaleth, sounding angry again as he checked Mel for injuries. Mel was glad the man wasn't angry with him because it was kind of scary.

"N-no, I'm fine. Just a bit drained right now," Mel replied, trying to reassure Kaleth that he shouldn't go try to kill Relioth. Mel didn't want Relioth to hurt him. But who knew what Kaleth was capable of now? Maybe he was strong enough to take Relioth out.

All of these thoughts quickly left Mel's head when Kaleth started scratching him behind his ear. Mel closed his eyes and hummed happily as he couldn't help but relax. It was always so nice when someone scratched him behind his ears or under his chin—it was the same kind of feeling like when someone hugged him, but this usually lasted longer.

"Why did he bring you here? You shouldn't be here," Kaleth muttered quietly as he continued the scratching. Mel frowned, unsure as to what Kaleth had meant by that, but before he could ask, Kaleth took a step back.

"I hate to do this, but would you mind waiting here for a minute? I need to have a word with Relioth." Kaleth almost growled the last part, and Mel could only imagine Kaleth was going to yell at the Eternal who'd brainwashed him. Mel still didn't understand that. Why did Relioth let Kaleth treat him this way?

"Of course," Mel replied, wrapping his tail around his body and nodding. Kaleth smiled at him slightly before turning around. Mel couldn't help but notice the way the man clenched his fists as he headed to find Relioth.

Well, one thing seemed to have changed in Kaleth. He seemed more prone to violence now. Mel really didn't like that. It scared him more than a little. Kaleth didn't seem to want to harm him, but Mel would still try not to say anything that could anger him.

Mel wondered what Relioth and Kaleth would talk about. It would be about Mel, no doubt about that, but Mel was still curious just what would be said.

As his long ears picked up a faint conversation, Mel struggled to stay put for a while, but soon enough, his curiosity got the best of him and he sneaked out of the cell, finding himself in an almost featureless corridor with white sterile walls. There didn't seem to be anyone around, but Mel still tried to keep quiet as much as he could, anyway and only went far enough so he could make out the words being said.

"You actually thought I'd be happy that you dragged Mel here against his will?" Kaleth snapped, and even though he sounded really mad, the words that had been said made his heart swell. It was nice to know that Kaleth cared enough about him to say this to someone like Relioth.

"Uh, yeah?" Relioth replied like he had no idea why Kaleth was reacting this way. "For some reason that I'll never understand, you have a thing for him, right? So—"

Mel's eyes widened as Kaleth sputtered. "N-no, I don't."

"Yeah, I get it, Kaleth. No one of your stature would want to be bonded to him, but you gotta go with it."

Mel's ears drooped at those words. He wasn't even sure he understood what they were talking about, but he knew Relioth had just said that Mel wasn't good enough for Kaleth—a fact Mel agreed with fully.

Mel hadn't expected Kaleth to be angered by it, however, and he listened in awe as the man threatened Relioth. "Insult Mel again, and I swear I'll make you regret it."

"Oh, that reminds me—how would you like a proper weapon?" Relioth said, not taking the threat seriously in the slightest. "I know of a certain legendary sword that's just gathering dust in one of Enor's labs."

There was a pause for a moment before Kaleth replied, sounding very irritated. "We'll talk about that later. Just don't kidnap anyone else in the meantime."

"Yeah, fine, I'll give you something else next year."

Oh, right, it was Kaleth's birthday. Mel should probably give him something, but he didn't have anything. Maybe he could bake him a cake? But was there even a kitchen around here? Where was here, anyway?

Mel froze as he heard footsteps, and as quickly as he could, he bolted back to the cell, trying to look as natural as possible as he sat down in the middle of it. All of his efforts were useless, though.

"You listened to all of that, didn't you?" Kaleth asked, his voice flat.

Mel nodded shamefully, hanging his head as Kaleth rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"Okay," Kaleth said, stroking Mel's forehead. "Come along. We need to talk."