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In Captivity – Part 1(/3)

As part of my writing marathon in June of 2023, as I was eager to proceed forwards, towards the conclusion of “The Case of the Titan Syndicate”, I realized that the story of Volpes and Azurium’s rehabilitation was around the same length as Night of Revelation, And similarly, it could also be broken down into three different component parts. Since breaking it up worked for Night of Revelation, I chose to use the same tactic here.

I’m also happy to showcase my conception of Corrective Justice. If you believe the system is flawed, you can place the blame for it directly on me as this is my ideal, aspiration conception.

The illustration that went with it is courtesy of Marsel-Defender, as a YCH, posted in July of 2023. Where most illustrations could be taken literally when it comes to my work, this one was more of a metaphorical representation, the chains representing both Azurium’s literal capacity in rehabilitation and the control Volpes has over him.

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The Magistrum City Corrections Facility was awash with the low-level background noise Bethany had grown used to over her tenure working there. As she manned the front desk, preparing her cart for the nightly rounds, the squirrelkin heard the groans of drunken bar patrons after regurgitating the contents of their stomachs, counselors referring petty thieves to financial aid programs, and truants getting lectures about why they shouldn’t cut class.

Most of these people, as is standard for Magistrum City, will be released from her custody within the hour. At most, the drunkards will be held overnight so they can sleep off the worst of their escapades, and that assumes their relatives or roommates don’t come soon to escort them back home. For their large population, crime in Magistrum City is decidedly small time. Just as they taught her during orientation, these aren’t bad people. They just made some petty mistakes and need a place where they can safely put themselves back together. Her job was simply to facilitate that.

And yet, here she was, every morning, noon, and night, making the rounds of the wing dedicated to long-term arrivals: People who needed more than a helping hand. For various reasons, whether due to dangerously destructive behavior or simply because the criminal justice systems of other city-states left them underserved and there was nowhere else they could securely go, they had problems that weren’t going to be solved with a simple lecture or monetary support.

Two such cases were admitted personally by Professor Rabrandt “Enigma” Cyanis, the Great Detective, only a few short months prior. Though they had to be restrained in an uncomfortable confrontation on the first day of their stay, they were both quickly assigned rooms, located next to each other at their request, in the facility’s long-term care wing. A far cry from the cells of Opelentian prisons, Volpes and his Captain Azurium were surprised that their captors would bother to house them comfortably, with room and board comparable to a cozy apartment in the merchant districts they passed on the way to raiding the wealthier districts.

With Ray’s help, the shackles they were chained up with were quickly swapped out with enchanted armbands that kept them from harming themselves or others, or leaving the facility. Both titans appreciated the upgrade, but with her experience, Bethany could see the subtle twitches of the eye and shrugs of the shoulder that told her the both of them were still less than pleased with their circumstances. She herself was less than comfortable with the arrangement, but she knew that this was the best compromise between autonomy and captivity available to them.

Since then, a number of months had passed. Both of the partners-in-crime had begun acclimated to life in the clinic, making use of the Magistrum archives along with the facility workshop and fitness center to pass their time between appointments with their therapists. Though they still held their suspicions regarding what would happen to them, that paranoia was slowly starting to seep away.

That was, of course, until both of them hit a block in their rehabilitation. Their councilors began to note that, when the topic of their relationship with each other came up in conversation, neither one of them was willing to discuss the matter despite spending almost all of their waking hours, and a few sleeping ones, at each other’s side. No matter what questions were asked or how, neither one of them refused to budge.

Clearly, more expert, personal help was needed.

“Good afternoon, Bets.” Enigma walked in, wearing the tunic and vest that distinguished him as a Professor of the Magistrum.

“They finally called for you, Ray?” Bethana was only surprised that it took them this long to request his aid on the case, as she finished loading the meals onto her cart.

“Yes. Reading the councilor’s notes, I think I have an idea why they’re both acting the way they are.” He put his hand upon his chin as he pondered the situation. It was then that Bethana realized he was alone, and her ears began to lower subconsciously.

“Well, I guess I better take you to them then.”

He merely nodded his head, “Let’s go. I don’t want to keep our patients waiting.”

Guided by the receptionist, Enigma arrived at the room with “Volpes” emblazoned upon the nameplate, but the two of them could hear more than one voice speaking.

“Looks like Azurium is staying the night here again.” It happened so frequently that the squirrelkin had long since stopped taking note of it.

“I see. This lends support to my hypothesis.” He places his hand to his chin, focusing intently on the door.

“You’re doing it again, Ray.” The squirrelkin receptionist chided her old friend, giving him a gentle poke on the nose.

“What? Oh, sorry. Force of habit.” Realizing his error, Enigma shook his head gently and returned his hands to his sides. Bets couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“It’s what makes you the Great Detective.” Opening the door, she was already going through the motions before she realized the conversation between Azurium and Volpes had fallen silent. With practiced hands, she lifted two meal packages off of her cart and onto the small dining area in the corner of the room. “Hope you’re both hungry, because today we’re serving-”

“Detective Enigma.” Volpes was the one to address the intruder in their private space, glaring daggers at the one who put him here, but Bethana’s experience at diffusing situations quickly took command.

“Actually, it’s fried cockatrice. Put yeah, Enigma was brought in to help the two of you figure out just what’s going on between you.”

Eyes looking around the room, Azurium sighed heavily as he made the same realization that Bethana did when talking to the professor at the front desk. “Ed’s not with you?”

The mentalist averted his gaze, unable to bring himself to look Azurium in the eye. “He said he had to catch up on his studies.”

It was all Azurium needed to hear to confirm his deepest fears. “You mean he don’t want to be around his lowlife old man?”

Though he knew it would be painful, Enigma also knew it would be more painful to keep dancing around the issue. “Yes. That’s the distinct impression he left me with. It’s only been a few months. The wound was just freshly reopened, Captain. It hasn’t had time to heal.”

Looking down to the floor, the old soldier let out a melancholic sigh before responding. “Guess it hasn’t. You’re right about that…”

Undaunted by tasks ahead of him, the detective outstretched his hand, beckoning for composure and calm. “And while addressing those wounds is still on my agenda, that is not the purpose of my visit here.”

Volpes rolled his eyes, unsurprised that the Great Detective had an ulterior motive. “And just what is your business here, Detective?”

Seeing Volpes’s hand curl into a fist, Bethana was quick to interject. “Your counselors both asked Ray to get to the bottom of whatever’s causing the tension between you two.”

The titans returned the receptionist’s words with puzzled stares, heads tilting in confusion. Azurium was the one to break the silence.

“There’s no tension between us. We were just talking. Hell, I was about to spend the night with Mast… Volpes in his room.” The Captain closed his eyes and started to massage his temple, leaning forward into his seat as he mentally acknowledged his own error. At the slip, Bethana’s ears perked up. Looking to Enigma and seeing him return the gesture, words passed through her lips.

“Oh, of course. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Astute as ever, Bets. That was my hypothesis.”

Volpes tried to summon the persona of the criminal mastermind he often used to mask his insecurities, but the shame was too great for him to overcome. Even to the fox himself, as he stood up to his full height, the affected growl he injected into his voice felt hollow.

“You’re talking nonsense. There’s nothing wrong between us.”

It was then, slowly, deliberately as to draw attention to the act, that Azurium stood up to wrap his arms around his partner, both in crime and so much more. A gentle purr escaped him before he started to speak.

“Master. I think they’re right. I think we need to confront it.”

“Az…” To Volpes, the therapist and her pet detective might as well not have been in the room. He only had eyes for the one he trusted most of all.

“I figured it out quickly enough when we started bringing in recruits. What you did to me… it changed something didn’t it? In my head? Me and everyone else?” Though there was no malice behind his words, the second-in-command of the Titan Syndicate knew that broaching this topic wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Even still, he realized that there would be no better time than this moment.

But for his Master, the one who was responsible for it all, it was almost too much to bear. Even after a long pause, all that came out was a stammering of words that barely coalesced into a complete thought.

“Yes… I had… I had to… I couldn’t just… I.”

The Captain placed two fingers gently on the lips of the foxkin that had changed his life. “I know. My feelings for you might not be my own. I know that, but I don’t care. They’re still my feelings, Master Volpes. They’re still real. This past decade making our home a better place for the slummers was real. I don’t regret a minute of it.”

“Are you sure, Az? Then why-”

“I’m okay with it, but you aren’t. You never were. All of us could tell no matter how you tried to hide it. I was okay with that too, but now we’ve got a chance to fix it, finally.”

The foxkin took a deep breath. A pained grin crossed his features in admission of defeat.

“Once again, you remind me that I made the right choice making you my partner.”

Holding the foxkin tight, Azurium embraced him with strength that would crush a normal man. But to the one he had dedicated his new life to, it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

“And that will never change, no matter what happens to me, or us.”

Watching the two make this breakthrough was enough to force a content sigh out of Bethana, but as she turned to the Great Detective Enigma, he was already leaving the room.

“Ray? Where are you going!? We still need you!”

Turning back, the detective shook his head, smiling softly.

“No, Bets. Not right now. Tomorrow, certainly. But not right now…”