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Chapter Four

Best Friends

Cyrus’s eyes fluttered open. The world greeted him with the first slam of a nasty headache. He gripped his forehead, but it didn’t really help all that much. Objects swirled around him like a whirlpool, making him dizzier. Muffled voices echoed from somewhere close by.

“Why did you bring him here!? You knew we were still watching to make sure!” a whispering female voice said.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me! He kept asking questions—i-it was bothering me!” the familiar voice of Santos squeaked. Whoever he was talking to, he sure didn’t exactly like.

“Idiotic excuses!” The sound of a slap to the face made its way to Cyrus’s ears.

The boy’s environment started to sharpen. Blurriness began to cease. As he managed to look around, he definitely thought he was dreaming. He was in a bed in a small chamber. The walls were made of some sort of metal that gave off a bright, white luster. Nothing else was in the room. It gave off a bland atmosphere. In front of Cyrus’s bed was a door. In the window were backwards letters saying Unknown Subject.

He raised an eyebrow at that. Was he at the hospital or something?

The door knob turned.

Closing his eyes, Cyrus pretended to be asleep. It was better to not be carried off to some other place if whoever these people are found out if he was ‘Unknown’ or not.

“He’s still asleep, it seems,” The female voice whispered. Cyrus had the temptation to open his eyes and see who all was there, but he fought it.

“Yeah, well, I’d be, too, after a hit like that,” the laughing voice of Santos cooed. Another slap from his comrade made him shut up. Cyrus managed to not laugh.

A cold, small hand swept across his cheek. “He’s obviously not too strong, Santos. You could have at least gone a little easy on the hit.” The feeling made Cyrus’s nerves soften. It was like stepping into cold water on a hot day. Whoever this person was, she had an abnormally healing touch.

“My bad. Just don’t slap me again.”

Finally, Cyrus had had enough of this nonsense. He opened the eye closer to where the girl’s hand was. His vision was getting better again, so he could make out what was around him again. Same room. Just new people.

Santos was near the door, looking carefree and slick. He had on new clothes, a white cloak with an green V on both of its sleeves. His blue-hilted sword was at his waist. With his new outfit and the wall around them, his blonde hair looked whiter than usual. He didn’t have a cigarette anywhere. Must have been a rule not to smoke inside. As Cyrus opened his eyes to look at him, he grinned.

On the edge of the bed sat a girl with shoulder-length pink hair in the same white clothing, except a purple I was on both of her sleeves. A red quiver full of arrows was at her back. Her eyes were a sky-blue color, like the mental cold water her touch brought. Even though she was a couple feet away, the scent of flowers flew from her. She noticed Cyrus opening his eyes, and her hand flew quickly away. She crossed her arms. “You’re awake.”

Cyrus sat up, rubbing his head. The headache was pretty intense. “…Where am I?” he asked tiredly, hoping he would get some answers after the whole mess with Santos.

The girl’s blue eyes seemed to have some ice to them when she glared. “You’re in Acrux Headquarters. Stupid Santos here decided to bring you here before we were done deciding if you were ready to.”

There was that word again. Acrux. Cyrus rubbed his eyes. Whenever it was spoken, some nostalgia had entered his mind. It drove him crazy that he couldn’t remember it.

“What do you mean by ‘deciding if I was ready to’?” he asked, figuring he was going to get most of his questions answered.

The girl chuckled. “Don’t suppose just asking the question will make a difference. You’ll find out soon enough, Cyrus.”

Cyrus was fixing to ask how this woman knew her name, but Santos interrupted the conversation. “Hey, go easy on the kid, Chiyu. I just gave him a hit to the head and you shoot him down like that? Ouch.”

The girl named Chiyu stood up and gave Santos a defiant glare. “You’re too soft,” she merely replied, and stormed out of the room. She slammed the door on the way out.

Santos winced at the volume of the door. “Sorry about that,” he said to Cyrus, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. “She’s very…yeah.”

Cyrus scratched the back of his head. “She’s certainly not very friendly.”

The blonde boy gave a grunt. “You’re tellin’ me. You’re not the one who has to deal with her just about everyday. Movin’ on…how are you feeling?”

“…You hit me in the head.”

Santos groaned, like he had been told that millions of times. “Shut up! You’re better, now, right? Good. Get out of bed,” he retorted fiercely, walking forward.

Cy managed to get out of his covers, but when he touched the ground with his feet, he nearly fell over, if it wasn’t for Santos catching him.

“Gah, I really hit you hard, huh?” Santos remarked, getting Cyrus up on his feet properly.

“Y-yeah…” Cyrus replied, wincing. His head was hurting, and everything felt dizzy.

The blonde boy sat Cy back down on the bed. “Hold on…Let’s see here…” He scuffled through a pouch in his robes for a few seconds before pulling out some sort of pill. “Ah-hah. There’s the little b*****d.” He tossed it to him. “Eat.”

“What is i—”

“Eat it!”

Cyrus eagerly threw it in his mouth, and crunched it around in his mouth. It certainly didn’t taste good, but he didn’t complain. As he swallowed, his senses sharpened. Everything seemed a bit brighter. The dizziness made its last breath, and Cyrus stood up on his own. He stared at his hands. “W-whoa…I feel…”

“Better?” Santos suggested, his arms crossed again.

“B-better…”

The swordsman smirked. “Sweet. Now, we can begin testing. They’ve already gotten on to me for bringing you early, so they said you were now my responsibly. This means we’re gonna be best friends!” He gave him a big bear hug, which made Cyrus sigh in annoyance.

“That’s the spirit, Cyrus!” Santos walked to the door and opened it. “Okay, let’s go, man!”

Cyrus hesitated at first, but then he followed. Whatever this ‘testing’ was, it was probably better than staying an ‘Unknown Subject’. But he knew one thing for certain.

He was going to have to talk to that girl again if he was going to get good answers.