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Lin looked down at the potion and began filling up the vial again as she considered what Professor Akakios had to say.

"Sir, thank you for trusting me with this information and for treating me as an equal. It is somewhat odd because it sounds as if you are speaking about a normal young person with little restraint but awesome power. I would have never thought of a Headmaster that way. It is very interesting."

Lin had just finished filling up the last vial. Instead of putting it in the vial holder, though, she held it out to her professor and arched one of her delicate eyebrows.

"I agree, but I do not believe that I will ever learn how to be accepting of dark magic users, nor do I want to. Not only do I not agree at all with what they are doing, but black magic literally makes me ill. Now Professor, here is your vial. Please drink it now. You should feel a great boost of power within just a few moments of ingesting the potion."

Salem scowled at the naga, placing a protective arm around Addie. "She's not a slave, merely a child who's better off clueless for the moment. I suggest you forget about this little encounter as well." He said, and with a snap of his fingers, he and his 'family' were gone, already in front of their house once more.

Once there, Salem took Addie's hand, led her inside. "Addie, come sit down now. That's a girl." He murmured as she moved silently, unaware of her surroundings, or anything but Salem's voice. Her eyes looked out but were unseeing, her brain active but dulled as she obediently sat stiffly on the couch, freezing with her hands on her lap, her eyes looking straight ahead.

Salem sat across from her as the rest of the family filed in, and across the room, Edmund froze as he looked at her blank expression. "Is this really the best way, Eldest?" He asked softly, and Salem looked up, raising a brow.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, and the one known now as Ed seemed to find his nerve, and took a step forward, towards the girl they'd jostled around the continents like a ragdoll.

"I'm asking you if this is what you had in mind when we started this. She wasn't supposed to be a puppet again, wasn't supposed to have the decisions taken out of her hands. It was supposed to be all about her, and her recovering things she'd lost. This isn't it, though, is it? She has the family, but the memories we needed her to get back are letting her contact people who think her dead. How can she grow up happy, grow up loved, but mor egrow up learning how to cope, if we wipe her brain every time something we didn't expect pops up? How can she be normal if we blast away her short term memory every time it's convenient?" He asked, and everyone just stared at him in disbelief but for Eldest, who regarded him calmly.

"We hide her away, and we wipe her memories, because coming into direct contact with any who caused her such pain in her first life would prove too much for the innocent soul we've placed inside a false body. It's our job to ensure that the soul itself remains unscathed so that it can tolerate the memories we let loose in the future. She needs them in small doses if we don't want her to break. All will be lost if she breaks down, Edmund. We need her, as we've needed no human in all our years of existence. And if our little warrior needs love and protection to make her whole again, that's what we shall give her." He said slowly, quietly, so that Edmund was merely left staring at him for a moment before he shook his head, turning on his heel to go up the stairs, annoyance and irritation bouncing off of him like waves.
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Ambrose appeared in halls of Mystic Fountain with a dull thump as his feet hit the floor. He'd brought nothing but the clothes on his back, yet he'd been aiming for Cook's shack. That he'd missed showed how upset he was.

Without breaking stride, he took off like a shot, navigating through the halls until he found a door out. His heart was pounding in his chest as he ran around the school towards the shack, and then he came to a stumbling stop when he spotted the casket on the rocks, the hole and the stone.

"Oh, no...no, no, no...Izzy." He dropped to his knees, just as the door to the shack opened and his father came out, his eyes rimmed with red.

"Son." Ambrose's head turned slowly, his eyes dry now as he looked up at his father. "Dad...Why? Why, damn it? Why?!" He shouted, and the tears did come then, for the second time, when his father laid his hands on his shoulders, blinking back tears himself as he looked at the grave where his youngest daughter would soon reside.

"Because...Because we never saw, never wanted to see, just how desperate she was. Because with the life she'd been forced to lead, death seemed like...an all too welcome relief. Because I never made sure she felt loved every day, never looked and saw what was so clear. I just...never saw this coming. Never this..." He spoke softly, but his fingers dug into Ambrose's shoulders.

Cook had stayed in he doorway, since he'd been right behind Sly. And now, seeing that the brother finally knew, he trudged his way through the mud and made his way to the kitchens, where there was an intercom hookup.

He looked at it, squeezed his eyes shut before he let out a breath and pushed the button that would send his words throughout every room in Mystic Fountain.

"This is an announcement for all staff and students within Mystic Fountain. Tonight, all of you are invited to a funeral for one of your fellow students. Early this morning, freshman Isadora Danni Rinaldi passed away in a...tragic set of circumstances. Many of you will have known her as Danni, she was a dark magic user who worked in the kitchens. Any who wish to come to the burial should come to the clearing beside the cook's shack on the west side of the school as soon as possible...Thank you."

He released the button, and stood there for a moment before he shook his head, his fist pounding down on one of the granite countertops, cracking it right down the middle. "God damn son of a b***h...You damned Ancients, if you can hear me, you give me my baby girl back. She's mine, ya hear?! She's mine..." He trailed off, turning and beginning the slow trip back to his shack.

The naga crossed her arms and huffily watched the girl and her captors disappear. "Well if forced ignorance isn't slavery, I don't know what is! What bastards! Oy, Joey, let's get out of here." Nina motioned for the rattlesnake to follow her, and they slithered away. "We ought to tell the Boss about this, huh? He was asking around."

------

"Lin, you should listen to yourself once in a while!" Ophiuchus gratefully took the vial and swallowed the potion. "Oh, wow, this is potent!" Just like she had said, he could feel his energy coming back.

"We can have a spirited discussion if you'd like, afterwards, but I think you're more tolerant than you think you are."

------

Kai! The entirety of Ialo's mind recognized him, and calmed down immediately. The darkness moved aside, and the Human was visible - he was only seeking shelter from the Dragon's rage. But with Kai here, none of them would lash out at each other.

They'd probably all get their asses kicked for that....

Kai, we have the strength to get Danni back.

I believe it, Ophi thought to himself. He wasn't surprised, elves hadn't seemed to change much since he last had any significant interaction with them.

"This place never changes, it'll still be here when we come back. I'm sure we'll be back in about an hour, two at the most." Or longer, if... no, it could very well be longer once Lin heard the announcement for Danni's funeral.

There was no intercom in this dimension, but Ophiuchus always kept an ear out for the school. Yes, that's what he would do. He would bring himself and Lin back to the time right as Cook was making the announcement. He certainly didn't want to be cruel to Lin and he wasn't entirely sure how she would react to the death of a dark magic user. But he knew that knowing others were in trouble would fire her up, and that sort of enthusiasm was exactly what everyone needed.

Lin laughed bashfully and nodded to her professor. She was being silly. Where would the lab possibly go in between uses? She would be back with her professor. What she liked about her professor was that he never made her feel foolish for something she said. She was embarrassed at herself for not being more reasonable, but it had nothing to do with what her professor said. He seemed to take everything she said to heart and never thought badly of her for whatever she said. If anything, he laughed at her extreme enthusiasm. It was nice and Lin appreciated her professor very much for it.

She walked over to him and clasped his hand while her other hand carefully held the potion vials before she gasped and dropped his hand. She ran over to the potion counter and set down the vial holder.

She then propped up her leg on a nearby wooden chair, her back mostly to her professor, and pulled a section of her dress up to reveal her thigh. There was a potion holster around her mid thigh. It was very common for healers, at least elven healers, to carry a potion thigh holster. Always have potions nearby.

Lin herself had some basic potions with her. A refresher, much less potent than the one she had made here, a nourishment potion in case she didn't go to the cafeteria to eat, and various potions that would take care of minor scrapes and bruises. Those last ones weren't for her. Elves didn't have to worry about minor injuries like that, but as a future healer, she wanted to be prepared for minor injuries around her.

She could only hold 6 potions with the thigh holder, though, so she quickly started taking out the potions she had in there, putting them on the counter, and putting the powerful power booster potion in the holster. She was not embarrassed, surprisingly, around her professor by lifting up a part of her dress. You think Lin of all people would be horrified, but this was about healing and was all to help people who really needed it. She was in a healer mentality right now, not a student's mentality.

"You will have 2 potion vials left over, Professor, for the 2 individuals that you wanted to administer them to yourself. Please conceal them before we leave. I do not want anyone seeing them and possibly inquiring about the potion."

Lin finished putting the potions in her thigh holster and put her dress down. When she felt her professor's hand on her shoulder, she smiled softly and moved her leg off of the chair. She then turned around and she was slightly taken aback at the appearance of her professor.

He had put on a long black coat that was full length. He looked very professional and... something else. Something else she wasn't sure of. With his long white hair framing his face and standing out in sharp contrast to his long black coat, he looked quite... attractive.

Lin about swayed with shock at her last thought. What was she thinking?! Her professor?! Attractive?! He was her professor! It wasn't like Dymetri. Dymetri wasn't HER professor. Maybe it was the scent of all the herbs in the lab that was affecting her mind right now.

She smiled slightly nervous at her professor, though she tried to make it look natural, and nodded. "Alright, sir. I am ready."