Albedo expected pain when consciousness returned. Instead, he felt warmth. It was the first sensation that reached him through the fog.
Then ca weight. A small, familiar weight pressed gently against his chest, rising and falling in a slow, rhythmic pattern that tugged at sothing instinctive and deeply protective inside him.
He frowned faintly before his eyes even opened.
Hospital.
He could sll it before he fully registered it. Clean linens. Sterile alchemical disinfectants. Faint undertones of restorative herbs steeping sowhere nearby. Beneath all of it, the gentle hum of advanced healing wards layered carefully through the room like overlapping lullabies.
His eyelids felt heavier than they should have.
He forced them open anyway.
Soft white light filtered through tall windows, diffused by translucent mana curtains designed to reduce strain on recovering patients. The ceiling above him was smooth marble threaded with delicate sigilwork that pulsed in calm, reassuring cycles.
Zephyr Academy dical Wing.
The realization settled in almost imdiately. He shifted slightly, and froze.
Gwen was asleep on top of him.
Her head rested against his shoulder, platinum-blonde hair spilling across his chest in soft, tangled waves. One of her arms was draped over his torso, fingers curled tightly into the fabric of his hospital robe like she was afraid he might disappear if she let go.
Her face was half-hidden, pressed into him, but he could see enough.
Her eyes were swollen slightly, faint redness lingering along the rims. Tear tracks had long since dried against her skin. Her breathing was uneven, occasionally hitching in the way it did when soone had cried themselves into exhaustion rather than peaceful sleep.
Albedo’s chest tightened.
Carefully, so carefully it bordered on absurd, he lifted one hand and rested it lightly on her head.
She stirred imdiately, instinctively leaning into the touch without waking. The movent was small, unconscious, devastatingly trusting.
"...You stayed the whole ti, didn’t you?" he murmured softly.
She didn’t answer, of course.
He let out a slow breath and leaned back against the pillows, allowing himself to simply exist in that mont.
For the first ti since the train crash, since the forest, since the collapsing pocket dinsion and the relentless combat, there was no imdiate threat pressing against his senses.
His awareness expanded inward automatically, cataloging his condition with practiced precision.
Everything was thankfully stable.
The door opened before he could drift further into thought.
It was quiet, deliberate, professional. The kind of entrance made by people accustod to entering rooms where patients might be fragile or unconscious.
Three figures stepped inside.
Two were Academy dical staff, easily identified by their white and silver robes embroidered with restoration sigils along the sleeves.
The third was an older physician Albedo recognized vaguely, a senior healer, if mory served correctly, one who specialized in post trauma recovery.
All three froze when they saw his eyes open.
Then the senior doctor’s expression shifted sharply from clinical neutrality to visible relief.
"Well," he said, adjusting his glasses as he approached the bed, "that answers that."
Albedo offered a faint, tired smile.
"...Good morning?"
"Afternoon," the doctor corrected gently. "And welco back."
Gwen stirred again at the sound of unfamiliar voices. Her fingers tightened reflexively in his robe before she blinked awake, eyes unfocused for half a second.
Then she realized he was awake.
Her entire body went rigid.
"...Brother?"
"I’m here," Albedo said softly.
That was all it took.
Her composure shattered instantly. She lunged forward, burying her face against his chest again, arms wrapping around him with surprising strength.
"You idiot," she choked. "You absolute idiot... You didn’t wake up... they said you were stable but you wouldn’t wake up and, "
Her voice broke completely.
Albedo winced slightly as she squeezed him, but he wrapped one arm around her anyway, resting his chin lightly atop her head.
"I’m sorry," he said quietly.
The doctors politely pretended to examine dical charts while giving them a mont.
Eventually, Gwen pulled back just enough to glare at him through watery eyes.
"You’re not allowed to nearly die in secret dinsions anymore," she said fiercely.
"I’ll... add that to my schedule," he replied.
She sniffed, clearly not amused, but she didn’t move away. Instead, she shifted so she was sitting beside him, still holding onto his sleeve like a lifeline.
The senior doctor cleared his throat gently.
"Lord Neverwinter, how are you feeling?"
"Functional," Albedo answered honestly. "Tired. But clear-headed."
The doctor nodded approvingly, placing two fingers lightly against Albedo’s wrist. A diagnostic sigil flared briefly beneath his touch, scanning.
"Your vitals are remarkably stable," he said after a mont. "Honestly, considering the circumstances, it borders on miraculous."
"Circumstances?" Albedo asked.
The doctor exchanged a glance with the other staff mbers before continuing.
"After your group disappeared into the Dinsion, a search was carried out and we figured out the precise location you all disappeared. Then, once your group exited that dinsional anomaly, all of you collapsed imdiately right there upon exit,"
Gwen stiffened slightly beside him, clearly hearing this part before but still reacting to it.
"You were found unconscious within seconds by Headmistress Raphaeline herself," the doctor continued, "She personally retrieved and transported every survivor to the dical Wing."
Albedo blinked slowly.
"Headmistress... handled it personally?"
"Yes, this was quite an impactful event," the Doctor responded.
"When did the Professors wake up?" he asked.
"They began regaining consciousness several hours later," the doctor replied. "Their mana reserves and physical conditioning allowed them to recover faster."
"And the students?"
The doctor smiled faintly.
"You are the first student to wake up."
Albedo exhaled slowly, absorbing that.
"How long was I out?"
"Approximately thirty-six hours."
Gwen’s grip on his sleeve tightened again at that number.
"...Right," he murmured.
He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, thoughts already moving, reconstructing tilines, possibilities, consequences.
Then he turned back toward the doctor.
"Do we know who did it?"
The question shifted the atmosphere in the room imdiately.
Professional calm replaced casual reassurance. The doctor’s posture straightened slightly, expression tightening with careful neutrality.
"...No," he said after a pause.
Albedo studied him quietly.
"It is being investigated," the doctor added. "The Headmistress, the Academy Council, and several external authorities are involved. The dinsional structure you were trapped in was... extraordinarily sophisticated."
"That’s a polite way of saying terrifying," Albedo said.
"...Yes," the doctor admitted.
"Any clues?" Albedo pressed.
"Only fragnts," the doctor said carefully. "Residual signatures were partially recovered, but the collapse of the dinsion destroyed most stable evidence. Whoever constructed it layered the system with self-erasure contingencies."
That didn’t surprise Albedo in the slightest.
"Was this targeted?" he asked.
The doctor hesitated.
"...Officially, we cannot confirm that."
Unofficially, his silence answered everything.
Gwen looked between them, her expression hardening.
"They tried to kill him," she said quietly.
"No," Albedo corrected gently. "They tried to capture ."
Both Gwen and the doctor looked at him sharply.
"You’re certain?" the doctor asked.
"Yes."
The doctor’s frown deepened, but he didn’t argue.
"We will pass that observation along," he said instead.
A brief silence settled over the room.
Then the doctor straightened, returning to his professional tone.
"For now, your priority is recovery. We learned about the Mana Drain in that place, that would place alot of strain in your body and soul. We will run additional scans, but preliminary readings suggest no long-term damage, though you shouldn’t push yourself anyti soon,"
"Good," Albedo said.
The doctor nodded once, satisfied.
"We’ll allow you visitors after another full diagnostic cycle," he added. "But I strongly recomnd rest."
He turned toward Gwen with a gentler expression.
"You as well, Lady Gwendolyne. You have not left this room since he arrived."
Gwen flushed faintly but didn’t deny it.
"I’m fine," she muttered.
"Of course you are," the doctor said dryly.
The staff finished their scans quickly after that, leaving behind stabilizing wards and a tray of restorative tonics before quietly exiting the room.
The door clicked shut.
Silence returned.
Gwen leaned against him again, though more gently this ti.
"...You scared ," she whispered.
Albedo rested his hand over hers.
"I know."
They sat like that for a long ti. His fingers curled slightly around Gwen’s hand.
"...Whoever you are," he murmured under his breath, voice almost too quiet to hear, "you just made this personal."
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