As It Once Was

After what felt like a few seconds, Mayr slowly opened his eyes. He gradually regained his vision and the first thing he saw was the blurry white ceiling of a hospital room. As he became more coherent, he noticed that he was hooked up to an IV and an oxygen mask.

Mayr began looking around the room to make sense of his surroundings. On the far side of the room, there was a pile of flower bouquets and cards addressed to him. To his right, Mayr saw an elderly man sitting on a seat, half asleep.

"Bastion?" Mayr weakly mumbled. As soon as Mayr said this, the old man immediately became attentive and looked at Mayr with surprise.

"Mr. Mayr!" Bastion exclaimed. As soon he saw Mayr's open eyes, Bastion immediately called a doctor. A doctor followed by 2 nurses came rushing in to assess Mayr's condition.

Once they finished doing the appropriate tests, a big smile came on each one of their faces. "He's fine now!" The doctor cheerfully informed Bastion. "Thank God!" Bastion cried out with tears in his eyes, "I'll inform the necessary people right away!"

Mayr looked at his hands. These were the rough and hairy hands that he recognized. "Was it all just a dream?" Mayr thought to himself.

"While you wait for your contacts to arrive," the doctor said to Mayr, "do you need anything from us? We will bring you your first meal in a moment."

Mayr shook his head in response to the doctor's question. "Alright!" The doctor said with a big smile, "we'll visit you later tonight for further tests, Mr. Mayr."

The doctor exited the room and a few minutes after he left, a nurse brought a trolley with a light meal on it. Mayr's bed was adjusted to place him in a sitting position.

The meal was placed in front of him and Mayr slowly began ingesting it. After Bastion informed the necessary people of Mayr's recovery, he took a seat beside Mayr. Bastion didn't want to bother him by forcing a conversation, so he just sat there, waiting for Mayr to start one instead. However, Mayr was lost in his own thoughts. He still wondered if what he had gone through was a dream or reality.

-

A few hours passed and 5 men entered Mayr's room. They all entered one after the other with small intervals in between. These 5 were the captains of Mayr's crew, Mika, Juts, Fezan, Nero, and Koji. They all looked shocked and relieved to see that Mayr had finally woken up.

"Boss!" each man called out as they entered the room. Once Mayr saw his men, he felt a comfort brewing within him. "I left for Jakent as soon as I received Bastion's call." Juts said full of adrenaline. The other four nodded in agreement.

"Ah," the doctor exclaimed cheerfully as he entered the room once again, "you guys are here."

The 5 men immediately turned to the doctor and asked about Mayr's condition. "He's fine," the doctor replied with a friendly chuckle, "most of his injuries have healed since the accident. The only problem is that due to laying in a bed for almost a year, some of his muscles have atrophied. However, that can be easily fixed with a proper diet and exercise. His physiotherapy will begin in a few days and he should be able to walk around on his own by the end of the month."

Everyone took a deep sigh of relief as they received the good news and thanked the doctor. "Trust me, I'm just as relieved as you are that Mr. Mayr is okay," the doctor replied, "I don't know what this town would have done without him. Anyways, it's been a while since you guys have seen each other. I'll let you catch up."

The doctor exited the room and left Bastion and the 5 captains to spend time with Mayr. "It's...been a while." Mayr said gently with a smirk. Noticing Mayr's playful mood, everyone else's mood lightened up as well. "How's it been going for you, boss?" Fezan, said jokingly. Everyone shared a lighthearted laugh at the comical question.

"Actually, Fezan," Mayr replied, "It's been a good experience. I learned a lot about myself and what's important in life". Mayr said this as if he was answering the question seriously, but to the others, it was such a bizarre answer that it had to be a joke.

"You sure you didn't go crazy?" Mika asked in Jest. "You never know." Mayr replied jokingly. "By the way, Mika," Mayr continued on a serious note, "I wanted to ask you something. What's the situation out East with Anthony and his crew?"

Suddenly, the smiles were wiped off everyone's faces. "I actually had to get rid of the entirety of Anthony's crew, boss." Mika replied earnestly, "Turns out, he was the one who arranged that crash. What's more is that he was trying to take us down. I couldn't let that stand. I gathered all the necessary proof to ensure that I wasn't making a mistake, but I apologize for not waiting for your approval."

As Mayr heard this, a shy smile appeared on his face. "So it wasn't a dream after all." Mayr thought to himself. "Don't worry about it, Mika" Mayr said, "You made the right call."

"On a side note," Mika continued, "I met this very interesting kid named Soju. Somehow, he had a lot of classified information. I assume he knows you somehow, but why would he have that information?"

Mayr slightly chuckled, "If you ask him about that stuff again, he probably won't remember any of it." Mayr said confidently, "Don't worry about that kid. He won't cause us any trouble."

"If you say so." Mika replied. "However, Mika," Mayr continued to say with nostalgic eyes facing towards the floor, "Once I can move around on my own, I'd like to visit Youngsville."

-

It had been 3 weeks since Mayr passed out in Soju's body. Once the 3 weeks passed, Soju would finally open his eyes. As Soju slowly opened his eyes, he was saddened by the fact that he was, once again, woken from his usual dream. In his dream, he is a strong man that everyone loves and respects. He is able to provide for his parents and for those in need. He is able to deal with any tough situation that life throws at him and builds respect for himself and his peers. But it always ends with him being woken up to reality.

Mayr slowly shifted his eyes back and forth, trying to figure out where he was at. He saw the light blue walls of the room and the bright lights on the ceilings. Furthermore, the comfortable bed that he lay on couldn't be his. He concluded that he was in a hospital.

"So it didn't work." Soju disappointedly thought to himself. Once his senses started working a bit better, he heard frantic crying to his right. When Soju looked to see who it was, he saw his mother and father crying tears of joy. "Of course, it's my parents," Soju thought, "I doubt anyone else even noticed my absence."

Soju became upset when looking at his sad parents. He felt guilty for making them worry like this, but the more he stared at them, he noticed something out of the ordinary. His mother was wearing a beautiful dress and the father was wearing a nice button-up with a comparable pair of dress pants and expensive-looking shoes.

"Where did they get the money to buy these things?" Soju thought to himself. The doctor rushed in once he heard that Soju had woken up. He came in and asked Soju how he was feeling. "I'm ok." Soju feebly replied. The doctor conducted some tests to see how Soju's body was and came to the conclusion that his condition was now stable. The doctor informed Soju's parents of this and left the room for the family to spend time with each other.

Soju's parents came closer to him and his mother began shifting her hand through his hair. "I'm so glad that you're ok!" She said with relief.

"I'm sorry… for making you worry." Soju replied shamefully. "Don't be," his mother said, "Don't let any negative thoughts fill your mind. You're graduating in a week and we're moving right after. Just look forward to those things."

"Graduating?" a shocked Soju thought to himself, "I've been unconscious for that long? That must've really taken a toll on my body."

When Soju looked down to inspect his body, he was baffled to see that he was in the best shape he'd ever been in. He was no longer a pale husk. Somehow, he had built a considerable amount of muscle and felt the strongest he had ever felt.