@cunzy4 -- ...Yeah, it really doesn’t, does it?
Hmm...well, I’ve let everyone else know this much, at least: Ford’s time under Cipher’s control is on a time limit. When he gets six tails -- the same number a Vulpix has -- not long after that, he and the rest of his family are rescued from Cipher’s control. I’ve written up to 3 tails, so we’re not too far from that point in time.
We’ve already seen who rescues them -- at the end of Chapter 4, when Ford awakens rather abruptly from his night terror, there’s a girl who comes in that Ford refers to as “the Guildmaster.” That’s who rescues him specifically; I’ll leave the “how” up in the air for a little while longer (unless someone can guess how they leave Cipher’s control!)
I’m putting more snippets from that future into the fics. You should see another glimpse of the Guildmaster in...Chapter 14. But also Chapter 12, which will be up as soon as my beta-reader works up the mental stamina she needs to read and curse Cipher’s existence to the Void where he belongs.