With his face into the pillow, Jamal took a sigh of relief, as he felt his body stitching itself from the inside. Except that it wasn't his body doing so, but a healer doing the process for him. They finally reached a healing establishment only four hours away from the woods he saved everyone from. For now, only Leon and Hops were completely healed, as the others were also in a similar process as him, or still waiting as he last heard.
"How are you feeling now?" the woman healer asked him.
"Better than before. I think we'll be done soon enough at the rate you're going. You have my thanks." Jamal turned his head to look at her.
"I just don't understand how you gotten into this condition. Your body was covered in bruises and marks. Several of your bones had been fractured. I mean, I've never seen something so severe in my life. You really are surprising, Jake, right?"
"Yeah," Jamal stiffed with the name, "I've suffered through worse, and I just trying to get through this now."
The woman just mumbled in agreement, as Jamal sighed in more relief. As he took another breath, he heard a knock, as he watched Hops allow himself inside. He was actually grinning at him, with all of the burns and injuries nowhere in sight as he predicted, to which the healer turned around and quickly saluted, before getting back to work.
"I see you're in a better position than before. You've been here for like three hours." Hops noted, "The others have already started the process."
"Good to know." Jamal replied back, noting his uneasiness, likely something on his mind. "Anything else you wanted me to know?"
"It's just once we get to the capital, what if everything doesn't go right? There are just so many factors we got to take into account." Hops tensed up at the thoughts, "I mean, if that was to be the case, I just-"
"It's about Alice, isn't it?" Jamal figured out, "No wonder you brought her with us."
"What? Of course not!" Hops surprisingly shouted, spooking the healer for a moment. "Sorry. But it's not that. It's-, It's really not. That can't be it."
"Hops, you better shoot your shot before it's too late. Don't be like me though, and waste it down the drain. I bet she has something for you too, since she was so eager to join us."
"Thanks, Jam-, Jake." Hops recalled the nickname, before saluting him. "I'll be on my way then."
With that, Jamal watched as Hops left the room with a little more confidence, as he himself laid his head into the pillow. He wasn't worried about what was going to go down at the capital, but regardless, it wouldn't be pretty, and he had to get back what was left of his family. Even if they didn't want him anymore, freeing them from the atrocity Youden put them through was going to be the least he could do.
"Sir, it seems that your body is almost healed. At most, another hour or so of healing, and should be on your way." the healer announced with joy, ready to be done.
"Thanks once again," Jamal muffled through the pillow, as he began to fall asleep with more power than ever.
.....
Energized with the final results, Jamal opened the door of the healing room with a fresh set of clothes on for the journey ahead. He waved the healer goodbye, as he traveled through the small lobby. Outside, the sunshine shined brightly outside, as he could see Leon, Hops, and Fonda awaiting his arrival.
"Look, he finally showed up." Fonda noted with glee.
"You guys really were destroying me. But now I want you all to put that effort into Youden. We are already recovering, we'll finally flesh out our plan against Youden, and retaliate once and for all." Jamal said, to which the rest of them nodded. "Once the others are with us, let's get to work, and make it count for the world."