When I got back to the cabin after work, I found a simple black envelope resting on the welcome mat. I slowly picked it up, eyeing the elaborate 'E' which was imprinted into the red wax that held the envelope shut.
I went inside, "Hey, Cloud? There's, uh, there's an envelope."
"Oh?" Cloud called from the kitchen. "For me?"
"Uh, it's not addressed to anyone."
Cloud appeared from around the corner, a confused look on his face. I held out the envelope, and he took it, inspecting it front and back. "Hm, that's weird. E? I-I don't know any 'E's."
"Sh-should we call the others or open it now?" I asked.
Cloud was quiet for a bit. "...Let's get my brothers."
I was quick in calling Sphinx and Dexter, and they were quick in coming back to the cabin from their office in the New Lands. They each inspected the black envelope and the wax.
"Standard candle wax," Sphinx said. "Sold everywhere."
"Open it, open it!" Dexter eagerly said, practically jumping up and down.
Cloud slowly did so, pulling out the simple piece of paper that waited inside. He unfolded it, visibly swallowing. "I.... It...."
"What does it say?" I asked.
"...Your brother is safe. He will return soon. E." Cloud frantically opened the envelope wider, pulling out a few pictures. He sharply gasped, eyes going wide and ear pinning back. Sphinx and Dexter stood beside him, and their eyes went wide as well.
I wiggled my way in to look at the pictures.
I sharply gasped, eyes widening to join the gods'.
There were three photos of Ice, clearly taken from farther distances and without anyone knowing, perhaps even through monitors and other cameras. He wore a white tank top and slim white pants. On one leg of the pants, 'EW-54' was printed in black letters. In two of the pictures, he was accompanied by a man with light brown hair, who wore a lab coat, lanyard, and a button-up. The pair were walking down a white hall, surrounded with guards clad in black body armor. Ice had cuffs around his wrists, and even wore a basket muzzle in one picture. In the third picture, he was standing freely over a hospital bed where there lay a teenage boy, a small blue object floating above his cupped palms.
In each picture, Ice's right arm was made of a silver metal. In one of the pictures, I could clearly see where the metal joined with flesh around his shoulder, skin pink and pulled.
"Oh Grandfather," Dexter breathed. "He's alive. O-our brother's alive!"
"That's the same metal Dew has," Sphinx said, holding one photo.
"W-well, they were held captive by the same people, right?" I confirmed.
"Yes, and they were both turned into cyborgs using the glaytine, but, to see it, even if it's in a photo like this...," he shook his head.
I looked at Cloud. Tears were silently streaming down his face. I gently took the envelope and letter and the two remaining photos, handing them off to Sphinx. I wrapped my arms around Cloud. He softly choked a small gasp. His arms wrapped around me and he nuzzled his face into my shoulder.
"H-he's alive," Cloud choked. "Ice is alive. Our brother's alive."
"And, by the sound of it," I gently pushed him away to look him in the eye, "he'll be coming home soon."
A/N: Keep an eye out for anything beyond your comprehension ;) Ice will return
YOU ARE READING
Little Red Robin Hood
Hombres Lobo"You've seen him? The grey wolf?" Raine Swann has always been an outsider, now more than ever. Homeless and jobless in a strange town where people are oddly suspicious, he considers going back home and taking up an offer from an old friend. But he c...
