Before Thomas woke up, Jade was standing right next to her unconscious son, listening to what the doctor had to say about Thomas' state.
"The results to Patient Thomas' exams have arrived... The cause is unknown, but the anima energy in his body seems to have gone berserk during his breakthrough to Elite Adept, causing severe injury from where all his energy leaked. His body is strong enough for him to survive, i'm afraid the patient won't be able to recover his adept status for the rest of his life."
Clarisse had just felt something was wrong and went to look for him in the basement when she saw he was laying on the ground with blood on his chest and lips.
She knew Thomas was hiding something when he looked strangely pale wherever they met. She would just never expect it would be this bad.
Once everyone was left, another person headed to the door of his room.
"Is this where he is?" Asked the voice which Thomas found a little familiar yet he couldn't remember where he heard it.
"Yes, this is where Pacient Thomas Ries is resting. He must be awake by now, do you wish to see him."
The door opened and a nurse accompanied by a tall brown-haired man walked in the room, Thomas was still in deep sleep otherwise he would find unbelievable that this person had come all the way to see him.
'Adept King Jin Lesso.'
'Ohhh.' As soon he laid his eyes upon the youth, a subtle delight appeared on his face before he could hide it. 'Strange his body is definitely as powerful as any Elite Adept.... So this is it.'
Jin Lesso turned to the nurse and asked for her to leave the two of them alone. The nurse nodded repeatedly while blushing. There is no way she would have refuse something asked by the strongest expert of the human colony of mars.
Thomas felt really uncomfortable having only the two of them in the room. After a couple of minutes of embarrassing silence, the Adept King turned back and left.
Alice, the captain of the Azure Garden was waiting for him when she asked. "So, can you help him?"
Then Jin did something she would have never expected, he showed a bright smile before shaking his head. "He doesn't need my help. I was too blind to see the truth and when I did it was too late. That kid is much better than me in that aspect. See whether he wants to continue in the training camp, if he doesn't just giving him some resources and left him leave. He has his own path to walk. Haha, that kid saw something that took decades for me to realize, haha!"
Alice was looking at Jin's back in the distance in confusion. The reason she called Jin here was to see if he could help Thomas who turned into a cripple, but it seems the former doesn't think the latter is in need for any help.
"What did he mean with that?" Thinking about his words, Alice couldn't figure out their meaning and had to give up.
Days later, Thomas was discharged from the hospital.
Because of the accident, the police gave Jade some time off to take care of her son. Since the house THomas bought to stay during the training camp was closer and even had medical installations in the basement, it was decided he and his mom would stay there until he was better.
Clarisse who resigned from work at the cake store before the training camp, had a chat with his mom and both decided she would stay in the room Thomas prepared for her. She would stay there during her time at the training camp as she would help taking care of Thomas and what would happen later was still to be decided.
As for his aunt and cousin, they spent some time in the chatting with Jade in the living room as Clarisse went upstairs, bringing some rice porridge for Thomas.
Knock Knock*
"Thomas, I have some porridge for you."
After a second. "Bring it here."
Hearing a response, Clarisse opened the door, carrying a pot of porridge and a plate full of plicked fruits. Placing the plate of fruits in the corner, she sat next to the bed and moved with the small pot towards him, a bright smile forming on her lips.
"Do you need help to eat?"
"Er... no, I can do it myself." Blushing, Thomas took the pot off her hand and started feeding himself.
Seeing he was good enough to eat normally, Clarisse felt satisfied as she pondered about something.
What she found really strange during all this time was that despite the horrifying news he could never be an adept again, he didn't seem disturbed as she thought he would be. Then she thought to her own powers and then to all the different abilities Thomas has showed... Could it be those powers are unrelated to anima?
This was something she thought of herself since her own red flames looked nothing like anima energy or the power an Adept should possess.
Wait... Memories of that day played back in her mind. Thomas didn't have any trace of adept energy at that time yet he survived the attack of demons, his chest being pierced.
The strange purple and orange air is most certainly unrelated to anima energy and adepts... Thomas seems to know about a lot of things, sometimes, it feels like he know more of her then herself..
'I should forget about it.' Shaking her head, Clarisse decided to not think too much about it as she kept watching Thomas eat her porridge with a satisfied grin on his face. Thomas was somebody important to her, she didn't care if he kept a secret or two to himself. Still, it felt painful to watch Thomas like this...
Clarisse had thought of something. Hesitating for a couple moments, she had an idea. "Thomas, are you free for the rest of the day and since todays rift-risk is pretty low, why don't we go out a little?"
"Go out?" Thomas held the spoon close to his mouth and stopped eating. Only now did he realize how long had it been since he had the chance to walk around the city for something other than work.
After thinking for a second, he realized it would be good to take some time himself.
"Well I guess it's okay. How about leaving at 10?"
"It is decided. I will have you finish your porridge then." Clarisse was happý Thomas agreed so easily and went back to her own bedroom to search for the right clothes to wear.
After the clock reached 10am, Thomas and Clarisse left the house and went straight to the commercial center a few blocks away in a near district.
Unexpectedly, today of all days happened to the Mars Day, the holiday commemorating the anniversary of mars' first human city thirty years ago. Because of that most of the streets were filled with all kinds of people from large families to thousands of couples.
At first, it felt kind strange strolling around the city without work clothes, it was a strange feeling but not an unwelcome one. Walking shoulder to shoulder at his left was Clarisse, happily biting onto her strawberry crepe while humming a song.
"Is this the theme for the new anima that came out this season?"
Clarisse stared back at him in shock. "How did you know? I remember you didn't watch anime back in school."
"Well, some things change. I picked up a taste for it during my three years in Dexia Institute. Hey, what about we go there?" Thomas pointed at a large building.
Inside the building.
Clarisse eyes went wide as she saw the whole holographic stars and the many celestial bodies together with Thomas in the planetarium.
Thomas laughed at her stunned face. "Cool, isn't it? I heard this is the only planetary in mars with a eighth generation holo matrix so its projections had over 24k of resolution, over twice of what other holo matrix can do."
Clarisse eyes were bright and she nod. "It's great. Last time I have been on a planetarium has been in elementary school where they brought us with the other children. I remember the face I made when all those planets started to appear over my head."
Once they had a fill in the planetarium, Clarisse took the lead and and headed with him to a Italian restaurant.
Thomas had a an entire Margherita for himself while Clarisse preferred pasta and some organic orange juice.
By the time they left, it was a little past 5. The sky was bright thanks to the streetlights and so they calmly walked back.
During this time, none of them spoke a word. However, the silence didn't felt awkward at all and it was in fact very comforting, and peaceful.
"Huh?" Thomas froze when Clarisse reached out and bashfully holds his hand.
Glancing sideways, he noticed she was avoiding his gaze. However, giving a closer look he saw her ears burning red.
"Did you like it? Getting out and strolling around the city?"
"Y-yeah, I don't remember the last time I had enjoyed some peaceful time"
"hihihi." Still avoiding his gaze, Thomas could hear the giggling, this girl had become much joyful than seconds ago just with his words.
Only now did Thomas came to realize the true meaning of the word peace which brought him a whole new understanding of the world.
He didn't know who is the owner of the gray eye nor why it opened the rifts from where creatures are invading, the origin of the system, the future moving forward as well all the challenges he was going to face.
But for a least this day, and right now, he had never felt this peaceful and happy with himself.
'Fights doesn't need to be never-ending... I see now, its for this feeling that I must fight. I want to get my whole family back together so we call all enjoy this peace together.'