Magus {Complete}

15

 Cinder groaned and shifted on a soft surface. His body was aching, his skull mostly, it was what woke him. The pounding that resounded in his head was akin to someone banging on a drum with his ear right next to it. Cinder reached up and rubbed the heel of his palm against the side of his head. As his groggy mind started to catch up, he opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. A couple of lamps were splashing their pale yellow glow across the walls, creating shadows in the room.

"Fuck," he groaned.

"Cinder!" The higher pitched tone that called his name had Cinder wincing as it worsened the headache. Rubbing at his eyebrows, he turned to look for who called him, though the voice was very familiar.

"Lyn. What the hell happened? Where are we?"

Lyn released a huff of air as if he'd been holding it that entire time. He draped himself across the bed and was silent for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was muffled as he kept his face pressed against the sheets. "Wow. You scared the hell out of all of us. Well.... Mostly Kydyn. Another day or two and I don't think anyone would be safe from him. He just about lost it after Jika said he couldn't do anymore. And even then, Jika collapsed a couple times healing you—"

"Wait, hold on," Cinder cut him off. Whatever Lyn was talking about, Cinder didn't understand a word of it. Well, he got the gist of it. Jika healed him, apparently. But that didn't explain to him where they were or what happened after he passed out. "I remember falling into the hole and something grabbing me and then trying to eat my fucking leg off. Kydyn pulled me out and then... something about grey magic being forced into me." Cinder shook his head, his memory was too fuzzy.

"Sorry." Lyn straightened off the bed and ran his fingers through his hair, tugging it back as he took several deep breaths. Cinder watched him, waiting for the story to come out of the enchanter's mouth. "Okay. So. We lost you and Kydyn. Syl thought you guys got caught in the magic. Jika and I wanted to go back and get you but she said it was too dangerous. Jika was arguing with her and by the time he basically said 'screw you' and went to go back into the station, Kydyn was hauling ass out of there with you bleeding fountains all over the place." Lyn's gaze dropped from Cinder's to where his legs were under the covers.

"It was pretty bad. We didn't think you'd survive it. Kydyn was really pissed. And scared. I've never seen him like that before. Anyway! Jika said there was grey magic flooding your body, kinda like a poison. That's the only way I understood it. So, Syl decided that the underground hideout was too far and we ended up stealing a couple of cars. We found this house next to your parent's place. No one's living here, so we just sorta took over. And Jika spent two days healing you. He got all the grey magic out, which was the worst of it actually. He passed out for several hours, then came back and finished healing your leg, and dropped a second time. I swear Kydyn was about to skin someone alive at that point."

"Holy shit."

Lyn shook his head. "Don't even start. If you apologize or even feel a little bit bad about it, I'll smack you. It wasn't your fault. We were attacked by some asshole. And they nearly succeeded in killing us all. It was just our bad luck. Not to mention Iriyn is one hell of a powerful bastard. Not like we can contend with that all that easily."

Cinder's jaw was tight as he stared at Lyn. Even if the enchanter told him not to feel bad, Cinder couldn't help it. Jika had obviously pushed himself to his limits not once, but twice for him. How could he not feel guilty? Cinder let out a heavy sigh and hauled himself up into a sitting position. Tossing the sheets back, he felt a blush creep across his face as he found himself in only his boxers. Clearing his throat, he didn't even look over at Lyn.