Everything around Parker turned a bright white causing him to squeeze his eyes shut. He’d never felt such pure rage course through him before.

He began to slowly start blinking as the bright light calmed down. Something was wrong. Parker was staring into Alexis’s face from above him but it wasn’t the Alexis he was just looking at a moment ago. Alexis looked like she was fifteen again.

Next to her was Caleb, grinning from ear to ear with a patch over his eye. “Welcome back to the world of the living, man!” Caleb exclaimed.

“What happened?” Parked asked through a hoarse voice. He couldn’t stop staring at Alexis. How was this possible? He’d just watched her die.

“Well,” Alexis began. “You just got back from being kidnapped and when you were talking to Caleb out on the balcony, you just collapsed. He panicked of course and we got you to the Medical Ward as quickly as possible.”

Parker blinked a lot, taking all the time he needed before responding. After several minutes of taking in what Alexis just told him, he realized what had actually happened. He’d done it. He’d actually jumped back far enough.

“How long have I been here?” he asked, trying to figure out how long it’d been since he collapsed in front of Caleb.

“It’s been four weeks,” Alexis said, leaning down to hug him.

He wasn’t sure, but it sounded like Alexis was starting to cry as she hid her face in his shoulder. He hugged her back and tried to comfort her as best he could from his position. “I know that I’ve been asleep for a while now, but do you think I could be alone for just a little bit? I’m still exhausted…” He didn’t want to push them away, but he had to figure out what exactly had happened and at what point in his life he currently is.

“He’s right!” Madame Sasaki said sternly. “Being in a coma like that is physically draining on the body. As odd as it may seem, he needs some rest. You can come back later this evening.”

Alexis leaned in and hugged him again. Caleb gave him a smile and turned to leave.

“I lo—” Parker cut himself off, as he stared into Alexis’s eyes. “See you guys later.”

Alexis’s eyes went wide when Parker stopped talking and then she gave a half-hearted smile as Parker said he’d see them later.

“All right sir, I know you’ve been sleeping for a while, but we need to get some real food and liquids into you and you need to keep resting for a bit while I keep an eye on you. Do you remember anything from right before you collapsed?”

Parker looked at Madame Sasaki and started to think hard. All he could think about was Alexis. She’d died. He watched the light fade from her eyes. But, then, there she was. Right in front of him again. But not the same her. How does he explain this? Can he explain it? Or should this be something he keeps to himself? He’d kept his composure so far, for the most part at least. But, how long could he keep that up?

He made a decision and said, “I don’t. Like they said, I was talking to Caleb,” he tried to say confidently. “And then I just woke up.”

Madame Sasaki looked at him with a stern expression on her face. She felt like he was holding back but knew that pushing, at this moment, wouldn’t get anything out of him. After a moment, she turned and pulled the curtain closed behind her as she walked away.

Parker let out a large sigh and started to think about everything. Alexis had said that he just returned from being kidnapped. Which time was she talking about? When Lara took him to train on teleporting? He knew that he was in his third year because Caleb’s eye was already missing. If only he’d been able to jump a little further back he could’ve stopped that from happening.

She mentioned that I was on the balcony with Caleb, but that happened a lot so it was hard to narrow down exactly when it was. “Madame Sasaki,” Parker called out.

A minute of silence passed. “Yes?” she answered, pulling the curtain back slightly.

“What’s the date?” he asked.

She stared at him, clearly concerned. “It’s December 17th, Sweetie.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Parker figured it out. He had to have just gotten away from Master Terra. “Just to be sure. That’s December 17th of 2018 right?”

“Yes…” she replied, concern growing in her voice. “You’re struggling to remember even that?”

“No, I just wanted to make sure I was remembering correctly.” Parker was fairly certain that he said that convincingly enough. He still didn’t know what all he needed to keep to himself and what he could tell others.

Parker spent the rest of the day relaxing as best he could in the Medical Ward bed. Alexis stopped by for just a little bit to keep him company before she went back to her room for the night.

Madame Sasaki spent a fair amount of time that evening and late into the night using her Water Imperial to help the healing process on Parker’s body. By the time morning rolled around, Parker felt much better. It wasn’t easy, but he managed to talk Madame Sasaki into letting him roam around the castle a bit so that he could stretch and work his muscles out some.

Before he was able to walk out of the Medical Ward, Madame Sasaki sat him down on a stool and did a quick physical evaluation to make sure he would be safe enough to walk around. “Now listen here. You are to take it easy. And when I say easy, I mean EASY. That means no using your Imperial. ANY of them! You hear me?”

Parker rolled his eyes and nodded his head as he stood up and made for the door. As he reached for the handle, it began opening on its own.

“She’s letting you out?!”

Parker blinked repeatedly at the high pitched squeal of Alexis. “No, I’m just allowed to walk around a bit and stretch.”

“That makes sense,” Caleb said from out of sight. “Do you think you’re going to be able to play in the Aether finals?”

Parker hadn’t thought about that. He’d been so focused on what information he felt he could divulge to his friends that he didn’t realize the finals would be within the week. “I don’t know. I hadn’t even thought about that. My guess? Probably not. She was pretty firm a minute ago in telling me not to use any of my Imperials.”

Alexis groaned. “We made it to the finals, but barely. Not having you on the team is killing us.”

“Yeah, Toby is okay, but not having you on the team has definitely weakened the house team,” Caleb added. “Do you think you could come get dinner with us?”

Parker turned around to shout across the room about dinner but Madame Sasaki was right behind him. “Yes, you may go. But I will repeat myself—”

“I know, I know. No Imperials. I’ll behave…” Parker said, even though he felt completely fine, if not just a little sore from being in bed for so long.

It takes longer than normal to make it to The Regale, but the walk was relaxing. They talked the entire time about random things. Parker did his best to participate here and there but he did everything he could to just let them talk as much as possible. It was hard not knowing completely what he should and shouldn’t know. So much had happened since then it was hard to remember when everything happened.

As they walked to an empty table in the room, a lot of conversations stopped and eyes trained on Parker. At this point, pretty much everyone knew that he had been in a coma and couldn’t believe that he was walking into the dining hall.

They sat down and began their meal, ignoring everyone else. After several minutes, Hailee came out of nowhere and hugged Caleb from behind, draping herself over his shoulders. Parker’s eyes went wide as he stared at Hailee. His heart began to race seeing his friend with a smile on her face, very much alive.

“Parker!” Hailee exclaimed cheerfully. “You look so much better!”

Parker’s expression froze on his face as everyone turned their attention to him. His eyes were locked onto Hailee and his mouth hung agape.

Alexis grew a concerned look. “Parker? Is everything okay?” She grabbed his forearm and shook him slightly.

This snapped Parker back to reality. He shook his head and said, “Oh! Yeah! Sorry about that. Thank you, Hailee!” Parker did his best to give a convincing, normal smile but he caught Alexis eyeing him suspiciously.

Dinner came and went. They stayed at their dinner table and continued random conversations. Alexis and Hailee began talking about some drama between some of the girls in their room, so Parker decided he would turn to Caleb to ask some questions.

“So, uh… not to be nosey, but when did you two… you know…?” he gestured with his eyes back and forth between Caleb and Hailee.

Caleb laughed. “I guess you wouldn’t know would you?” Parker had to stifle a laugh. “Yeah, most everyone knows now. No reason to hide feelings we both know the other has right?”

Parker smiled. “I guess not, huh?”

“Have you two?” Caleb asked, mocking Parker’s eye gesturing.

Parker furrowed his brow. “Have we what?”

“You know…” Caleb leaned in closer, whispering, “Said that you love each other?”

Parker sat up straight and stared at Caleb. It was at that moment that Parker realized he’d never told Alexis. Not once had he told her that he loved her. She died in his arms, protecting him, and he never said he loved her. Tears started to form in his eyes. He tried to blink them away but that only made them roll down his cheeks.

Caleb looked shocked. He leaned in again, “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Parker got up and started to walk out of the dining hall. Before he made it to the exit, he bumped into someone. His head had been down so he didn’t see who it was. “I’m sorry,” he said through a sniffle.

“You’re fine my boy!” Master Sora boomed.