Hans walked down the wing of the hospital he had woken up in. His clothes were tattered and barely covering him up. His feet were touching the cold ground as he lazily walked along the empty wing. He caught a glimpse of himself on one of the mirrors that were into one of the rooms and tried to fix up his hair but he gave up mere moments later, deeming the effort not worth it.

He made his way into the hall where he saw a small group of patients gathered along with hospital staff. Peter was the center of attention as he explained the situation to the others. Hans approached the group in a leisurely stride and made eye contact with him.

"Sorry about that. Is everyone okay?" Hans asked.

"No-one is hurt but what the hell happened back there?" Peter stepped away from the group and came closer to Hans.

Hans looked at the people and then back at Peter. Peter sighed loudly and whispered something to one of the doctors who then guided everyone back to their rooms.

"So? What was that all about?" He asked.

"Can you pass me a smoke?" Hans extended his hand towards Peter.

"I don't smoke." Peter replied coldly.

"Yeah but Gabriel does. Pass me a smoke." Hans gestured impatiently.

Peter rolled his eyes, grabbed a half empty pack of cigarettes from within his jacked, pulled out a cigarette and put one in between Hans' fingers.

"Want a light?" He asked.

"No need. I have my own." Hans replied, zapping the tip of the cigarette with his lightning, causing it to ignite.

"How did you kn-" Peter tried to speak but was interrupted.

"I promised my wife I wouldn't touch these cancer sticks again. But I have to test something." Hans took a puff of the cigarette and broke into a coughing fit. "She was right yet again. Gabriel was a bad influence."

"How was he a bad influence?" Peter had a curious look on his face.

"He got me into smoking. If it weren't for him I'd have the lungs of a healthy twenty year old boy." Hans paused for a moment. "Wait. I do have the lungs of a healthy twenty year old boy. Hahaha"

"What do you mean by that?" Peter asked, he was clearly trying to tread lightly yet his curiosity had gotten the better of him.

"Oh come on now. Don't pretend like you haven't figured it out already. You're smart enough." Hans crushed the cigarette in his palm, turned it to ash with his lightning and blew it away. "I'm a regressor."

Peter was taken aback, physically flinching at the straightforward reply.

"You have been a thing different since you woke up. Did it just happen?" Peter started touching his mustache, it was his tell for being curious.

"No, not really. I got back on the first day at the job. I had to do the training course again. Isn't that just great?" Hans covered his face with his hand and let out a loud laugh.

"But why are you telling me this? You don't really have a reason to expose yourself" Peter retorted.

Hans stayed silent with his own thoughts for a while before answering.

"Well. First and foremost I do trust you quite a bit. We weren't the closest after you got depressed but we were still good. Better for me to tell you than you finding out using that skill of yours. You were already halfway there anyway." Hans replied nonchalantly.

"I see. But do you really trust me that much? I am quite uptight. I could rat you out at any moment." Peter tried to keep a poker face but his mustache twirling was enough to give off that he was bluffing.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I will not use my knowledge of the future to accumulate extreme wealth or power and I will not influence the future in negative ways. I will use said knowledge for some selfish means such as having my parents not die and avoiding other tragedies in my personal life but I will maintain a healthy equilibrium and make things better than they were in my past life." Hans said. "This is good enough for the skill of yours right?"

Peter sighed and put his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"You got me beat." Peter said.

"A little bit ago you said I got depressed in your previous life. What's that all about?" Peter's curiosity got the better of him.

"I wouldn't worry about that. I might not use my knowledge to become rich off stocks but I sure as fuck won't let my mentor die. Especially with you as my partner in crime." Hans smiled.

"I get it but… Who was your mentor?" Peter spoke hesitantly.

"Peter, you're off your game today. Do I really need to spell things out?"

"It's Gabriel isn't it?"

"Bingo."

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the hall. Hans was looking at the condition of his clothes and Peter was deep in thought. That silence continued until Peter's phone rang. It was the hospital's admin.

"Hello. They are here? We'll be right there." Peter said and hung up his phone.

"Who's here?" Hans asked.

"Your emergency contacts." Peter replied with a faint smile.

-

Jack and Sarah were in a small waiting room near the main entrance of the hospital. It had around 10 metal chairs mounted to the wall andna small coffee table on top of which was a black plastic container. The room was nowhere near large enough for a hospital, especially one that big yet it was sufficient for what it was being used for that moment. Hans walked into the room alone with Peter waiting outside and making some calls.

"Guess who's back?" Hans said playfully and opened up his arms for a hug.

"Hans!" Sarah jumped out of her seat and gave Hans a strong hug. "We were so concerned. We thought you might not wake up."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily." Hans said with a chuckle.

"You're not being funny. Jack tell him!" Sarah turned to Jack, awaiting his reply.

"And here I thought I'd have to cook for one less person. More work for me I guess." Jack grabbed the plastic container from the coffee table and handed it to Hans. "Apparently you won't get into shock by immediately eating solid food if you're awakened so I brought you some leftovers. I think you'll be quite happy about it."

"Is this what I think it is?" Hans sheepishly asked as a ravenous hunger he hadn't realized he had come to the surface.

"It is." Jack replied.

Hans slowly opened the container and when he did he felt as if an orchestra was playing music in the background when the sight was revealed. It was a hefty pile of spaghetti and meatballs, enough to feed around three people. It was all for him and the lack of cutlery didn't stop him from shoving the food into his mouth. It was a sight to behold, the tomato sauce was splattering all around and Jack covered Sarah's eyes the same way a parent covers their kids' eyes when a spicy scene comes up on TV. The borderline horrifying sight would stop about five minutes later but the aftermath was hard to overlook as the spotless white walls had been tainted by the sauce in more places than one would imagine.

"Sorry about that." Hans said as he licked his sauce-covered fingers clean.

"I thought you'd ask for some utensils from the cafeteria. I should have known better." Jack took his hand away from Sarah's eyes and she looked in awe at the carnage caused by a mere man eating food.

"It's a bad habit I picked up from work. Don't tell mom." Hans chuckled in reply. "Wait. Why are you here? Aren't my parents supposed to be my emergency contacts?"

"They took all their paid time off to visit when you first fell into the coma but they did say they'll be coming this weekend." Jack said.

Loud voices from outside the room broke the equilibrium.

"I told you I just want to talk to him."

"Bullshit."

"I'm going to behave I promise."

"Like hell you will. Hey Hey HEY!"

The room's door broke off its hinges, fell on the coffee table and crushed it. Gabriel entered the room with the back of his shirt ripped and being held by Peter who was right behind him.

"Sorry kid. Couldn't hold him back." Peter said with the expression of his face screaming 'I'm done'.

"Hey newbie. I want you to show me what you're capable of. Let's spar." Gabriel said loudly with his chest puffed.

"Who-" Hans was about to reply to Gabriel but was cut off by Jack.

"Who the fuck do you think you are jackass?" Jack stepped in front of Gabriel and looked down on him.

"Tall guy I'll let you know that I don't appreciate being called a jackass. I'm his boss. Move aside." Gabriel said.

"I don't care who you are. He just woke up from a three month long coma. He is not your plaything do you understand that?" Jack replied coldly.

Gabriel tried to walk past Jack but he would match his steps so that he was always facing him.

"It's okay Jack, I'll do it. An awakened's body is much tougher than you'd think." Hans patted Jack on the backed off.

"See tall guy? That's the spirit a member of the enforcers should have." Gabriel said with a laugh and Peter looked at him in disapproval.

Gabriel grabbed his phone and called a number.

"Taxi me to the training room and lunch for a week is on me. I'll get 2 others with me." Gabriel said and the person he was talking to sighed loudly enough that everyone could hear it before hanging up.

The same circle Hans had seen at the graveyard appeared on the ground of the waiting room. That time Hans was cognisant enough to realize that it was the portal spell of Gary, one of the two hunters who assessed his rank when he awakened. Once the portal was fully formed Gabriel walked into it.

"Hold your breath." Gabriel said as he passed through, it was his usual way to mess with newbies by confusing them.

"I'm so sorry for this. Please excuse him. He might act like a fool but he is a good guy." Peter said before going through the portal as well.

With just Hans, Jack and Sarah in the room again an awkward silence fell and as Jack was about to speak, Hans walked into the portal, parting with his friends with some choice words.

"I'll treat you to an expensive meal later. I signed the contract before I fell into a coma so I practically scammed them off 3 months of my wage. That's what I call a bonus."

-

The portal led Hans to a large room with reinforced metal walls and ample lighting. It was a room Hans was well acquainted with. It's a special clearance training room that only government hunters B rank and above have access to, the only exception being the enforcers of the regressor elimination agency.

Gabriel cleared his throat loudly to get Hans' attention.

"This is the top of the line training room that I managed to get us a pass for through my own blood sweat and more blood. It is tough enough to withstand a nuclear explosion from both the outside and the inside so there is no need for you to hold back." Gabriel said "Of course I will be restraining myself so that you don't get hurt too badly."

Gabriel had a playful smile on his face and was looking at Hans intently to see how he would react.

"It will be no fun if you're holding back. I can't be the only one letting loose." Hans said and in an instant his body was covered in raging lightning.