Fox Life

Kyro returned in a few minutes, and Iris dressed Mila up. The clothes were a little too baggy for her, but the little girl was excited about new stuff to wear. She twirled around, showing off to Iris, and stumbled around the room when her balance failed her.     

While she was enjoying herself, Iris shared with Kyro what she had learned. It wasn't much, but it did show that there were more things happening than they had thought.     

"Would she speak more? There might be some information to understand why they're doing it buried in her mind," Kyro said in the end, his gaze following the stumbling girl.     

"Speak more…" Something clicked in Iris' mind. "Wait, when I met her the first time, Tyler told me that she's very sickly, always in hospitals, and that she doesn't speak."     

"Cake. Cake!" the girl sang with exuberance, attempting to make another twirl for her skirt to raise up around her.     

Kyro's expression hardened. "Seems like they lied to you even about the smallest things."     

It did sound like that was what had happened, but Iris found it unbelievably strange. "But why? It would be a dead giveaway if I heard the girl speaking. Did he want to be find out?"     

"You're probably thinking too much. He might just be a compulsive liar."     

Iris rolled her eyes at him. "And you don't like the guy. I got it."     

The truth was that she didn't like Tyler that much either. He was a nice guy when she was following his lead, but the moment she stepped out of his script, he turned reticent and showed signs of being able to do horrible things.     

"Mila, can I ask you another question?" Iris crouched down and caught the girl before she could stumble into the dresser.     

The girl nodded while trying to regain her footing. Once she was steady, she beamed at Iris.     

It almost physically hurt Iris to voice her next words. She didn't want for the bright smile on Mila's lips to disappear once more, but she knew that it was necessary. 'Once we learn everything, I'll get her more sweets than she can ever eat,' she promised.     

"Were those things,"—Iris pointed at the needle marks—"done to you at a hospital?"     

"Hopita?" The girl looked at her with puzzlement. "What hopita?"     

"It's…" How was she supposed to explain that word… "It's a building with white walls inside, long corridors, people in coats, and—     

Before she could say more, the girl began dancing on her heels. "Men white!" She mimicked something starting at her neck and going to her knees. "Scary men! They hurt."     

"Hurt you? How?"     

Mila pointed at the needle marks. "Hurt!" She opened her mouth again, but no words came. She scrunched up her face, like she was thinking really hard about something, but it didn't help. In the end, she just started to motion wildly with her hands.     

"Hurt this bad!" she said while extending her hands to the sides as if hugging a wall. "Bad men!"     

With an ominous feeling raising within her, Iris asked, "Did it not hurt before they gave you the medicine?"     

The girl shook her head. "Sleep? No. Nap? No…" Once more she ran out of words and began to act. She fell on the ground and pretended like it was hard for her to raise her hand.     

"You were weak?" Kyro suggested, and the girl nodded. She grinned at him like he'd just won the game.     

"Weak! I get weak. They hurt I, I get strong!" Mila jumped to her feet and twirled for them, again. She seemed to really like her new dress.     

There was a knock on the door at that moment, and Kyro opened it. A tray with food was pushed in, and Kyro thanked the staff. It was a bit of a challenge to make Mila eat dinner before diving into sweets, but Iris managed it. Barely.     

While the girl was enjoying herself after, Iris let herself feel the dread that had started to rise at the girl's last words. Weakness? Lying in hospital and subjected to painful treatments? Then changing out of nowhere?     

It sounded way too familiar in her ears. Iris could see her own story in that description, with only difference that hers was drawn out through a much longer period of time.     

"She might really have had some sickness," Kyro said, seemingly having read her mind. "We don't know anything about her."     

"I'm certain there are no records about her, either."     

Iris looked at him and knew he was thinking the same thing. There was no other reason why his brow would be so wrinkled if he thought Mila's words didn't matter.     

"If that's the case, we need to find that lab."     

"Lab?" Mila asked, entering their conversation out of nowhere. They looked at her in surprise, neither of them having paid attention to her at that moment. "Lab scary. Mila hurt, and uncle scream. Bad place," she told them like a mother lecturing children.     

"Do you know where it is?" Kyro asked, and Iris turned to him in surprise. How could Mila know such stuff?     

"Big place. Pretty horsey front." She thought for a moment while biting on her lip, then her face brightened up. "Shiny door! Very pretty!"     

Iris' smile grew strained. It was the first time she was given directions by a child, and they were as bad as she had thought.     

"Thank you," Kyro told the girl and picked her up. "Now, for helping me, I'll teach you how to become friend Lucy."     

"Lucy? Kitty?" Mila asked with interest, all her seriousness evaporating. "Kitty!"     

For the next ten minutes, Iris marveled at how patient and understanding the two men in her life were. Once Kyro placed Mila on the bed, he brought Lucy, but didn't let the girl jump him.     

Instead, he taught her to just pet him gently. He explained that Lucy was also alive and had feelings. If she pulled on his tail, it would be the same if someone pulled on her hair. Mila was shocked by that knowledge and apologized profusely to Lucy.     

The majestic black beast watched her with coldness in his eye, but didn't try to escape again. He let her brush his fur and even kiss him on the forehead in apology.     

When the girl curled up by his side in the end, he didn't get angry, either. He allowed the small hand over his body and just complained in his gaze at Iris and Kyro, both of whom were laughing at his sacrifice.     

"He's enjoying the attention," Iris said.     

"No doubt," Kyro agreed, smiling. He looked proud of his old man that was being really forgiving at that moment.     

But his light expression didn't last for long. "We need to find that lab," he said when they returned to the living room. "It should be in this city if they could bring the girl there and back in a few days just because you grew suspicious about it."     

"What then? Do you plan to just storm it?"     

Kyro shrugged. "We'll see. I just might. It's about time we got some answers about what's going on here."     

"Agreed."     

Even though worry knotted her stomach, Iris knew that it was something that had to be done. Whatever that new knowledge brought, she'd deal with it as she'd dealt with everything so far. She was no longer the her from before who would rather avoid the reality and continue as is for as long as possible.     

'I have something I want now.'     

She was going to stop all those that played with her life and that of those around her. They were going to face the wrath of one angry fox.