The next day at work, Kairo and Nyx returned to the rehabilitation center. This time waiting patiently in the office, Nyx could not stand still, touching and observing the images displayed on the table.
The images depicted the familiar figure of Ortega and another younger figure. Both sweaty and barely covered after an intense workout. Another displayed that of a scared figure holding a little baby in his hands with Ortega and Camila to the sides.
"Donsentos has risen through the ranks slower than his brother, but I start to understand why he was so determined in the submarine," Nyx said, picking one of the images to her eye level.
"I wonder what it feels like to have a brother. Have you ever had a brother, Nyx?" Kairo asked sincerely. But then he saw Nyx settle the image back on the table and he remembered. She had grown in a care center and had never had any sort of real family. However, before Kairo could add anything,
Nyx sat by his side, hands on her lap. "Brothers I have had many. Sisters too. Fathers, mothers. I can't even count them."
"I'm sorry for that."
"You haven't done anything wrong. When I look at those images and think of the love Donsentos has for Camila and his brother, I can't help but remember what my life would have been if I had been accepted into another family. Had I landed in a normal family with a real brother and sister." The longing in her voice was real, but mixed with it was the deep-seated reminder that this feeling will forever be dreams in her mind.
Kairo gently pushed her head against his chest. His voice dropping low. "Now you have me. Mirelle. The card mage police. These are all your brothers and sisters," Kairo said. He could understand her state quite well. Having been the only son of his parents, he had always wondered what it felt like to have a complete family. Nyx grew without real parents. He grew with real parents but he never met them. His mother left him when he was five and his father was never present. In a sense, they mirrored each other and perhaps that was why they were so close. They were each other's family now.
"Sorry to have made you wait. Mushrooms. Why did you come to my place?" Donsentos slammed open the door. As he took his seat in his chair, he continually tried his best to arrange the collar of his suit. But the suit was so blue to his skin he appeared to be suffocating in it.
Kairo and Nyx had their mood lightened quite somehow. "Bureaucracy is definitely not for you," Kairo said.
"Think I have a choice, mushroom? My brother left and abandoned everyone over my shoulder. I need to handle what's left of the reaper. I need to handle the inquisitors and this place. And you two, what do you need this time around? I am busy."
"Help," Kairo said simply. Their next mission was approaching, and this time for deployment as newly appointed vice-captains, him and Nyx would have to make proof of their abilities once more. Leading men under their command. The investigation department being little thin on manpower, the most appropriate place to ask was here.
"Hmmm. Time to get out of the cocoon, I see," Donsentos nodded. "Then it's settled."
…..
After settling the issue with the reinforcement, Kairo and Nyx left the card mage police. But on their way, Nyx suddenly asked for a drink. After the earlier conversation, she needed a little break. Thus they changed their destination briefly in the kitchen direction.
But as they walked through one open rest room, Kairo and Nyx heard a relaxed laughter, one too exaggerated as if it was trying to fill the space for two. Intrigued, Kairo briefly stopped and peeped into the room.
From the faintly open door, he could see his father seated on the sofa, with Fabian serving a form of liquor bottle in his hand. From the movement of Fabian's lips, he could see the joy almost relief in his being. It was mostly Fabian talking, with his father barely answering, but he was there. And when Fabian offered the drink, Magnus grudgingly took it in his hand.
Kairo couldn't hear what was being said, but he didn't need to. Magnus appeared to have learned a thing or two from his son. He hadn't forgiven them and he didn't need to. "It was about time," Kairo told himself. Then left with Nyx to the kitchen.
…..
The day had been long and Kairo had decided to make one last visit before leaving the card mage police. This time he sent Nyx off to wait for him in the car while he went deep into the card mage police.
After crossing a series of biometric doors, Kairo arrived at the newly developed containment center. In this containment area there were only a few cells, where only grade four and above criminals would now be detained.
As Kairo went through the corridor, he glanced over a few of the cells. Most of which were still empty at the moment. But in one corner, he saw a familiar figure. Felix was leaned onto the cell walls, his usual smile on his lips.
Their eyes met briefly before Kairo continued onward. Unlike most of the prisoners he had met, Felix didn't seem eager to leave, nor did he even appear to feel disturbed being detained here. Kairo could only cast him aside for the moment; he wasn't the main reason for his visit.
The main objective for which he came here stood in front of him. In one of the biggest cells, with chains that coiled around all her extended limbs, Selis sat on her knees with her long golden hair, once a symbol of her untouchable aura, now laying uncontrolled along her face and shoulders.
The moment Kairo arrived, she slowly lifted her face as if she had known he would come. However, in her expression, the anger she had displayed on the island was long gone, replaced by her usual terrifying calm, almost amiable smile.
"What brings you here, Kairo?"
Kairo got even closer, until he was almost face to face with her. Then leaned on the ground, seating himself on his lap, a hand hanging on a knee. Now at eye level, his voice came out low and reserved. "Was it worth it?"
For a brief instant, Selis fell silent, eyes reverting back to normal. Her smile grew even more. "Would you ask the weather why it changed, Kairo? What's the end of something bigger than it?"
"Something bigger than the end? What could be bigger than the end, Selis?" Kairo tried to dive deeper into her words. Among the criminals he had faced, she was probably the only one he admired. And that admiration would have been his despair had he not had the Eye of Truth, and that was why he was here. No matter how he turned it in his head, the end was the finality, it was where stories ended, where everything came to a halt. What was there after the end?
"The order of bounty hunters was dissolved after the Collector and Card Zero left the game. The underground card mages have become almost docile without you. It has ended, Selis, but you refuse to admit it. What is there after finality?"
"Deep inside, you probably know the answer but refuse to admit it, and that's why you came to ask me. However, it's a waste of time to admit what you already know, Kairo. I had so much fun shuffling my cards with you all card mages." Selis leaned her head backward. "It's time I shelve my deck."
"Perhaps." Kairo gave up on trying to understand what she meant. This would probably be the last time he met her. He had wanted to look in her eyes to see if there was anything else. But he was wrong. Selis Variant had not fallen into an abyss like he had assumed, shaken by her past. No, far from it. Selis was the abyss.
Kairo left that day without turning his back on Selis.
v