Jaire awoke with a groan. Everything inch of him hurted. His head sported a dull headache, his body ached, and he was awfully cold. With another groan, he tried to turn on his side, but found it difficult to move. Still half asleep, his tugged at his body again, but once again he was stuck in place.

What the hell? Annoyed he continued to try, until he realized that there was something wrapped around his arms, legs, body, and head, holding him firmly in place.

His eyes shot open in alarm but he was immediately greeted by darkness. What’s going on!?!? Fear swelled higher as he struggled against his restraints. As the seconds passed, the most extreme scenarios crept into his mind, such as being held for ransom by bandits, captured by mad scientists, or experimented on by aliens, and other strange scenarios he had read in Lin’s novels. No no no, those are just stories. I just have to calm down and-

Just then, a door swung open somewhere in the darkness, propelling his fear tenfold.

He thrashed harder while trying to shout, only for a hoarse croak to emerge from his mouth.

“Jaire!” a female voice shouted, “Jaire calm down! Doc! Hurry up!”

Who are you?! What do you want!? He screamed internally, unable to voice his fears.

“Everything’s okay, calm down little bird.”

He paused in his struggles, taken aback by her words and tone of voice. It was soft and sultry, and there was a hint of an accent on those last two words.

“Lin?” He croaked out, fearful but confused.

“...what?” she responded. Before she could continue, the door swung open once again.

“How is he?” Another spoke as they entered the room. The voice was of a male,and it seemed much older than the female’s.

“He’s calmed down, but-”

“I meant his body.” The man interrupted, “Any signs of bleeding or convulsions?”

“I haven’t checked yet,” She responded with an annoyed tone, “He just woke up I’m not going-”

“Bah! If you aren’t going to follow proper-”

As they both began to bicker, Jaire had time to calm his nerves. No, the voice is completely wrong, and the accent is completely gone. I must have been hearing things...but where did she learn that though? Only Lin has ever called me by that name. And where the hell am I? Who are these people???

He tried to speak once more, only to fall into a fit of coughs caused by his parched throat. As he recovered, he managed to squeak out a request, “...water…”

The female started to speak, but was quickly interrupted by the male, “You heard him. Fetch.”

An awkward silence stretched before Jaire heard the female shuffle up and walk out, closing the door with a bit more force than needed.

...should I have kept silent? Sorr-…whoa! He felt cold metal pressed against his bare chest. The man hummed by his side, which he had failed to notice approach. “I-”

“Shut up and do as I say.” The man responded, “Breathe in. Out.”

Wary, Jaire obliged. No longer hampered by his fear, he pieced together the little that he knew about his current situation. Doesn’t seem like he’s trying to kill me. Why is he asking me to cough though- oh! Didn’t she say ‘doc’ when she came in? Yeah! So he's a doctor! Hm, I’m guessing that she's his assistant then? From their bickering, sure seems that way. But that doesn’t answer-

The door swung open and slammed against the wall as the assistant returned and marched over.

“Move.” She grunted and Jaire heard a shuffling as the man scoffed.

“You insufferable-!”

“Here you go Jaire.” The assistant spoke. Jaire felt a cold metal press against his lips and heard a liquid slosh around. “Drink.”

With his head strapped down, it was a little difficult to drink, but he managed to take a few sips. As the cold liquid entered his mouth, he lost all reason and attemptedto lunge forward to greedily drink the water down. He hadn’t realized how parched he truly was, and now could think of nothing but downing every last drop.

“Whoa there!” The assisant spoke with a chuckle as she pulled the container away, “Take it easy Jaire, you’re going to choke if you aren’t careful.”

Feeling embarrassed, Jaire slowly nodded and fought the urge to guzzle the water down when the container returned. As it trickled down his throat, he felt a blissful ecstasy spread throughout him, and he sighed in relief a full five minutes later.

“Thank you,” Jaire spoke. It still stung to talk, but at least the pain was manageable. “Um, can you untie me please?”

His question was met with silence. What’s wrong? Wait, do they not intend to let me go? What- Before fear fully returned to him, the female finally spoke, “Okay, I’ll undo the straps.”

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Relief washed over him, but was cut short as she continued. “But Jaire, you must listen to me okay? You are in no condition to be taxing your body too much, so please do not try anything rash like moving too quickly or walking on your own. You have been unconscious for a month now and your body-”

“A MONTH!?” Jaire shouted in disbelief. Pain raked through his throat but he paid it no mind, too shocked by what he had heard.

“Yes Jaire.” She replied, “A month. Now listen, I know you have a lot of questions, and I am happy to help,” An annoyed grunt sounded beside her, but she continued on, “-but you have to answer some of our questions first okay? We have been looking over your recovery but we need to know how you came to be in this state to begin with.”

He stayed silent with mouth agape. A month...a month?? No. That’s not right. That isn’t possible... how could I even-

“Secondly, concerning your eyes,” she continued as he felt the restraints come undone, “They sustained heavy damage, thus the bandages. Although I know it must be difficult, I urge you to keep them on until we are sure that your eyes have fully healed. If you don’t, you run the risk of losing your eyesight permanently. Understood?”

The last restraint came off as she finished.

“Yeah...okay…” Questions continued to pile in his head, which only made the dull headache worse. With the restraints undone, he tried to sit up, only to find that his body was too weak and feeble to move. God damn that hurts...

With the help of the assistant, he was able to sit up properly, though his muscles still protested and he felt feint. No, I need answers first.

“Well then,” the assistant began, “It’s nice to officially meet you Jaire. My name is Zero, I am the all-rounder-in-training of the group. The old grump behind me is our local doctor and he simply goes by Doc since his creativity died in the womb.”

All-rounder? Group?? Zero??? What-

“Bah, as if I’ll stoop so low to play along with your little games. Nicknames, bah!”

Nicknames?...oh! Sentinels! I’m in the Sentinel base! How could I forget? Well, I’ve only been part of it for a day...well a month apparently...ugh...that just can’t be true...and seriously what’s with the nicknames?

“Jaire?” Zero spoke, “Can you tell us what happened?”

“Huh?? When?”

“Out in the forest. You came back with grievous wounds and with an injured Ghost in your arms. How did that happen?”

...what? Taken aback for the third time that day, Jaire sat dumbfounded. Grievous wounds?? And Ghost was injured? But didn’t we fix-...we? Whose-

“Jaire?”

“Oh, uh...I…” He frowned. The train of thought he had been on vanished entirely. What was I thinking about?? It seemed important, but why can't I remember...what happe-

“Well?” Doc spoke with barely restrained annoyance.

“I...I don’t know?? I’m sorry I just can’t remem-”

“You MUST remember!” Doc practically shouted, “It’s inconceivable that you would not! Whatever event occurred, it was not something a person simply ‘forgets’ about. Your injuries were far too bizarre and extreme to have occurred by any mundane event let alone anything I could possibly theorize. You came to us not only with blood literally pouring out of your eyes, but it was also steaming out of your pores. Even more bizarre, for some god forsaken reason, your muscles were atrophying right before my very eyes. By all accounts you should have died long before you showed up, and even if my workshop was fully furnished and I had top quality surgeons by my side you were as good as dead!”

Doc paused to huffed in annoyance before he continued, “But no…you still live. Tell me boy, what happened and are you still breathing?”

“I-I-I-” Jaire stammered, anxiety building once again, “I can’t remem-”

“Think. Harder.” Doc snarled.

“That’s enough.” Zero cut in. Silence fell within the room once again, and Jaire could only imagine what was going on around him as his heart thumped and he felt light headed. Eventually, he heard Doc grumble to himself and storm off as he heard Zero sigh.

“I’m sorry about him,” Zero said, “He’s not normally like that. Well, okay yes he is, but he’s been more irritated lately.”

“...Because of me?”

“No. Well, technically yes,” She sighed again, “but not in the way that you think. He wasn’t exaggerating when he listed the...symptoms...that you had, and even though he and everyone else wrote you off as a goner, he still spent all his time and energy in an almost vain attempt at keeping you alive. I helped as much as I could, but I'm nowhere near as...knowledgeable as he is, and even I didn't expect you to recover. Yet he was by your side for the full 30 hour day, every day, for almost two full weeks before you finally stabilized. It’s honestly a miracle you are here right now, and you have him to thank."

"But...why would he do that?"

"Mm, well, knowing him, I'm sure it wasn't because of any moral reasons. Just that it was the right thing to do I guess. Plus he really wanted to know what could have happened to you, and Ghost has kept their mouth shut. Er, figuratively as well."

"Ah...okay..." And I can't help him either...he must be really disappointed...oh man...

"Don't feel down, I'm sure somewhere deep, deep inside his old and cranky heart, he's incredibly relieved and happy that you are awake now. Even if most of it is simply because he get's to sleep now."

Although he couldn’t see her, Jaire could sense that there was a smile on her face with that last part, so he smiled in return. “Right…”

“Anyways,” she continued, “let’s get you up and out. Although he calls this his ‘medical bay’, it's actually just an extension of his home. So although you aren’t fully recovered, I think you may have overstayed your welcome.”

“Oh...okay...um…” How the hell am I going to survive out there? This is no different from leaving me out for dead.

Zero chuckled, “Wow, that’s impressive. Even with half your face covered, you’re incredibly easy to read.”

Jaire turned his head down in embarrassment. Ughhh...again with that...

She chuckled again before continuing, “Relax Jaire, you can stay at my place for the time being, at least until we can take the bandages off safely. Besides, I’ve seen your place, and no offense but it’s no place for a recovering patient.”

“Thank you…” He responded, still feeling awkward. She’s being awfully nice, but she seems trustworthy enough. I mean, not like I have much choice regardless. I wonder how Styx and the others are doing...and I have to know what happened with Ghost.

"Come along then, we have time for questions later, I bet your hungry anyways."

As on cue, his stomach grumbled in response and he agreed to wait until after dinner. Slowly, she helped him stand, and when he was able to walk, she practically held him up as she guided him to the end of the room and out the door. The moment they walked out of the premise, a foul smell attacked his nose, and he grimaced in disgust.

Ah, how could I forget. Home sweet home.