Spes Novis

Savior - 12

As soon as the car stopped, Lavender ripped open the door. She dashed through the small crowds of people and searched for a familiar figure.

He couldn't be the dead one, could he? No, he was too strong, he'd stood up to agents before. Finnikin had to be alive... And yet...

"Finn!" Lavender searched the crowds. If he was dead she would hate herself. If he was hurt- There! "Finnikin Frost!"

Huddled amongst some soldiers was a group of battered looking mages, sipping out of canteens and holding each other close. Finnikin sat somewhere near the edge of the group sporting a black eye and a bandage on his arm. He looked up at the sound of his name, tilting his head a bit in her direction.

Lavender's eyes widened, had they cut his hand off? No, she could see it there. She called out again, "Finn!" Moments later, Lavender was upon him, offering hugs and exclamations of concern. "Oh my God, you're alive. Thank God, I was so worried about you, Finn, you have no idea."

"Lavender?" Finnikin returned the hug, somewhat hesitantly. After a moment, he hugged her tighter. "You came-"

"Of course I did. Are you okay?" Lavender asked, pulling away from the hug and holding Finnikin's face. "Your eye."

"Yeah yeah, I'm," Finnikin brushed Lavender's hand away from his eye, wincing a bit. "I'm fine, mostly. Looks like you have a matching one." He gestured to Lavender's bruised eye, from her brawl with Stoughton.

"That's nothing. I'll fill you in on it later, there's just so much to talk about. I'm so happy you're alive," Lavender gently pushed Finnikin's hair back and leaned closer to him, checking his injuries. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing..." His icy blue eyes bore into hers, freezing time for a split second before he glanced away. "That girl, she lost her mother."

Lavender's gaze shot over to a young girl who couldn't have been older than ten. A small sigh escaped her mouth, "I'm so sorry... I'm going to go..."

Finnikin nodded, smiling somberly.

Lavender shuffled over to the little girl and cleared her throat to alert her of her presence. "Excuse me?"

The little girl looked up, tears staining her fragile cheeks. Bruises dotted her figure and her mouth was swollen out of proportion. Several bloody knuckles bore evidence of a brutal struggle. Finnikin's injuries were nothing compared to hers, then again, this girl must have been held hostage much longer.

"I already talked to the doctors," the girl said. "Are you a doctor too?"

"No, I'm a soldier." Lavender responded, "From the National Protection Unit. My name is Lavender. What's yours?"

"Tamara," she responded, wiping some tears and dirt off her face. "Mister Frost said you would come save us."

"Did he?"

Tamara nodded. "Yes. I just wish you could have done it sooner. My mother is dead."

"I know. I'm so sorry."

"You're a necromancer. Can you bring her back?"

"I can't, Tamara," Lavender admitted. "I wish I could, but I can't." She shook her head and sat down next to the little girl.

"Do you know what they did to us?" she asked.

"No, but you don't have to tell me. I would never make you relive that experience."

Tamara shook her head. "You need to know. If you're really a soldier, you can help. I can't bring my mom back, but I want to make sure this doesn't happen to someone else."

"That's very mature of you, Tamara."

"I know..." Tamara bit her lip and looked up at Finnikin, who had joined them. "Hi, Mister Frost."

Finnikin offered a small wave and slipped an arm around the little girl in a comforting hug, "Hi, Tamara. I'm here if you need me."

Tamara murmured, "Thank you." She locked eyes with Lavender and said, "Those people poked us and prodded us and used bad things on us. They wanted to know what could hurt us and make our powers not work so they could beat our strongest warriors. They had some humans locked up too... I don't know why."

"Experimentation?" Lavender asked.

"Yes," Finnikin clarified. "Exactly."

"They tried using metal and plants and other stuff to hurt us. My magic stopped working but my mom was stronger. Mister Frost was strong too, but he listened to them. He didn't fight back like my mom. They cut off my mother's hands because she kept using magic at them. But she wouldn't stop. She kept summoning unicorns and dragons to fight them off; they weren't very happy about that so they killed her." Tamara rubbed her face and looked off past Lavender and Finnikin.

"They're all locked up now," Lavender promised. "They can't hurt you anymore." She slowly reached out and tried to comfort the young conjuror, but jerked her hand away when her name was called.

"Lavender! We have an issue."

Lavender looked up to see Corey Gesly running full sprint toward her. "What is it?" Lavender asked. She glanced back at Finnikin and Tamara, holding out a steady hand. "I'll be back." She stepped aside with Corey to hear what was wrong.

"The prison in Spes Novis was broken into. All the agents have escaped."

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