Deryck looked at the woman, his own expression harsh and unpleasant.

"...I never wanted to kill her." he said.

"I just wanted the eye." he told her.

"But I'm NOT willing to sacrifice her for it. Hunters do not hunt mages. And you've made it clear that your goal was to destroy my sister." he continued.

"I was nothing more than a pawn for that." he went on.

"You taught me to hate my enemy, and kill my enemy." he then said.

"...I just realised who my enemy really was."

"......" Deryck was silent, before walking up towards Desiree.

"I don't like you." he said.

"I never did." he told her.

"However... this was too far, I admit." he went on, grabbing her phone out of her pocket.

"You need help." he continued.

"Who am I calling for you?" he asked.

Deryck looked through the contacts, and found Rene, hitting the button.

As soon as he did, and Rene answered, he gave him Desiree's location, before dropping the phone beside her.

"...here's hoping we never see each other again." he told her.

With that, he turned and walked off, disappearing into the darkness... with Rene appearing in the area about 20 seconds later.

"Desiree!" he exclaimed.

"What happened!?" he yelled, getting close and kneeling down closer to her.

Jaden let out a pained cough.

"No..." he said.

"Desiree... eye..." he went on.

"She's hurt..." he muttered further.

Rene just sighed deeply.

"I'm taking you both to ER, where triage can properly be done." he told them.

With that, the three of them were encased in bubbles, and they disappeared.

-About 3 hours later-

"That should do it." Rene said to Desiree, in her room.

"All your injuries have been healed, except for your eye." he told her.

"THAT needs to heal on its own, and you may experience slight blindness or blurry vision in it for up to a week." he explained.

"..." Rene was silent, before sighing.

"It IS unbelievable." he agreed.

"But... no sense in looking a gift horse in the mouth." he said.

"Your injuries, though rough, were easily fixable." he told her.

"So you can leave whenever you wish." he continued.

"Which is to say... yeah, you're being discharged." he laughed.

"....ah, yes." Rene replied.

"Jaden." he said.

"He was hit with pure mana, yes." he confirmed.

"And it did... quite a number on him..." he admitted.

"You're free to go see him." he then told her, giving her Jaden's room number.

"He's allowed visitors right now."

"....been better." Jaden replied.

"My chest hurts. Like, a lot." he told her.

"But it's to be expected." he sighed.

"Mom's been notified, so I should be seeing her soon." he went on.

"...still processing what happened in the park..." he then admitted.

"Everything." Jaden responded.

"Everything about that." he told her.

"But you're right." he then said.

"We... really just should move on." he agreed.

"At least we know your mother will never bother you again?" he then said.