Waking up

[Rey....ey..Re..y]

"Unghhh!" instead of replying, Rey just let out a low groan.

[Thank god, you woke up. I was worried that you'd be out cold for a few more days.]

Rey slowly opened his eyes but immediately shut them because of the sudden brightness. He has been unconscious for the past couple of days and because of this, his eyes were not adjusted to light.

"What do you..." Rey tried to ask Sophie what she meant but stopped in the middle, because of his bad breath.

"Ugghh... god I stink!"

[What did you expect when you have been lying here out cold for three days?]

"Three days? What about Ed? Where is he?" Rey remembered what had happened earlier and sprang up on his bed.

[Don't... don't get up just yet.]

"Wha..... Ahhhh!" Rey screamed as all of his muscles were aching.

"Ow.. Ow.. Ow!" he tried to caress the aching muscles to soothe the pain, but it only worked to increase it.

[Just, just stay still. Will you?]

While Rey was trying to endure the pain, two people entered the room. A middle aged man and woman.

"Rey!" the woman ran towards him and embraced him in a hug. She started crying uncontrollably as soon as she touched him.

"Ahhhh!!!" but the save couldn't be said for Rey. His body was screaming in pain because of the sudden hug and the force from it.

"Honey, did you forget what I said? No contact and absolutely no movement." the middle aged man also approached the bed Rey was lying on and sat down on a stool kept beside it.

"My bad, my bad! Are you okay dear?" the woman let go of Rey and after laying him down, sat next to the man.

"Yes, but *huff* barely." Rey was panting because of all the muscle pain.

The three of them looked at each other and an awkward silence ensued. None of them knew what to say when Rey spoke up.

"So, where are we exactly? I don't remember this background." Rey looked around the room which was strangely familiar but still unrecognisable. There was a table beside his bed with some equipments and a sofa adjacent a large window.

"You are currently in my clinic." Rey's dad answered his question.

"Wow! It looks better than I thought. At least I am not getting that urge to puke. So that's pretty good." Rey was seriously impressed by the hygiene in his dad's clinic. He expected there to be that nauseating smell that a hospital usually has but rather it was quite pleasing.

"What do you take me for? I personally clean all this till it's sparkling clean, hmph!" Rey's dad snorted at Rey's remark.

"I can almost guess how much you clean this." Rey pointed at a spot near the bathroom door, revealing a pretty gross stain.

"How did it get there?" Nathan got up from his seat and taking out a cloth from his inventory, started scrubbing the stain.

The three of them started laughing as the father and son kept taunting each other.

The atmosphere was light and cheerful, so Rey thought that it was up to him to ruin the mood. So he decided to ask what happened earlier in the forest, as this was the best option to go by.

"Well dad umm... what happened in the forest exactly? I don't remember much, it is all hazy and unclear."

Nathan looked at Rey, feigning an innocent face and then at his wife, who looked disappointed by his son's lack of common sense.

"*sigh* You should really learn to read the mood Rey. But not that you have brought it up, an explanation is certainly required."

Nathan adjusted his posture so that he was facing Rey directly.

"I'll leave you two to it then." Amanda sensed that she should let her husband take care of this matter and walked out of the room, leaving the two alone to talk.

After Amanda left the room Nathan started talking, "So by the time I arrived at your location, you were already on the verge of exhaustion and as soon as I got a hold of you, you fainted as if your body just let go of itself.

I carried you and Ed back to my clinic using my wind attribute and treated you both immediately as you were in a pretty dangerous condition. But even after doing everything, unfortunately Ed still hasn't woken up and you were also unconscious for three days before waking up now."

"Is he out of danger?" Rey just had one question after listening to everything.

"*sigh* Ed is... a complicated matter." Nathan averted his gaze to avoid looking at Rey directly.

"What do you even mean by complicated? He will be fine right....right dad?"

"I can't say anything as of now. I have done everything there is to do and he is also out of danger, but for some reason he has still not regained conscious.

We are constantly monitoring him, but it can take some time till he wakes up. I can't say for sure."

"It can't be for more than a couple of days right? I mean.. I mean you just said he is out of danger, so he should be waking up soon. Dad, he too won't leave me right? He.. he.."

Rey was starting to panick, as he was sweating heavily and his breathing also got rougher.

"Rey..." Nathan couldn't see his son reliving the trauma of his childhood all over again and thus got up from his seat and sat next to Rey. Putting his hand on his shoulder and gently caressing it.

"It will be fine."

Though it was painful with his dad's caressing, he didn't complaint and instead leaned into his father's lap. He felt the warmth of his father and soon fell asleep.

Nathan laid down Rey after a couple of minutes and walked out of the room, where his wife was waiting.

"How was it?" she got up from her position as soon as Nathan came out of the room.

"He is fine health-wise but his trauma was starting to come back but luckily he fell asleep."

"Rey...." Amanda has tears in her eyes. She didn't cry in front of Rey, to appear as a strong woman when he was a kid, but every night she used to cry in her room whenever she saw Rey's miserable state.

She remembered how Rey used to come home sometimes covered in mud and bruised and sometimes completely drenched from head to toe. But whenever he saw her, he just smiled at her, masking the pain.

So Amanda also resolved that if her son can smile through all that pain and suffering, she as his mother, will not show him his weak side. That was also the time when she started to take an initiative to become Rey's friend.

"Nathan... I ju-just don't *sob* want him *sob*..." she clenched Nathan's shirt and started crying.

"If.... if only I *sob* was a good *sob* mother."

"No, you were a good mother. If only I had not hesitated back then, those brats alongwith their families would have been groveling at our feets." he hugged Amanda, comforting her.

While they were having their moment, the Mayor came in, ignoring the receptionist outside.

"Hey, Nathan!"

Nathan heard the Mayor's voice and broke away from the hug, wiping the moisture from his eyes.

"Hey Brac, how are you doing?"

"Shut up you idiot and come with me, we need to talk urgently."

"*sigh* Amanda you go home, I'll see what little Braxxy here has to talk about."

Amanda nodded at the Mayor and went away, giggling.

"And don't call me that, natty-watty!"

"Oye!!" Nathan saw his wife off and then walked towards the Mayor who led him to the roof of the building.

"So why are you in such a tense mood?"

"Why am I tense? Because of what you did earlier, it took me 3 whole days to cover up for you. What were you thinking removing your bracelet like that?"

" Ah that! Well accidents happen." Nathan averted his gaze and looked down in embarrassment.

"ACCIDENT? What would you have done if the 12 sapiens cave to know about it. Thankfully there weren't that many men after you, it got resolved quickly otherwise it would have been over. All of it." the Mayor was furious at Nathan's recklessness.

"What was I supposed to do when my son was in danger? You see what condition Ed is in right now? If I would have come to you for help, it would have been too late. And you are asking me why?"

Nathan also raised his voice so as to not get pushed by the Mayor.

Both of them came to an awkward silence, understanding the other party's concern.

"Try to understand Nathan, I don't want what happened back then to happen again just because of an impulse."

"I know why you are worried and it was wrong of me to do what I did but hearing Rey, I couldn't think of anything."

The Mayor walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"I understand, I probably would have done the same."

"Thanks for understanding, after all I have never done anything other than to worry you and Gerald. Even back then and now. Thank you for being there for me."

Nathan put a hand on the Mayor's shoulder and went down to Rey's room.

"Damn you Nathan, making me all emotional and all."

The Mayor stared down from the roof for a little while longer and after that went away directly from the roof.