Argent Eye III

60

"A week?" I gasped, not sure if I'd heard David right.

"Yup." He said, making tea for everyone. At the thought of having a drink, I realised how dry my mouth was. Then, my belly grumbled loudly.

"But..." I ignored the hunger whilst struggling to figure out how that worked. "It felt like hours." I said.

My attention was caught elsewhere when someone appeared in the room. It was Ronan. He just stood there for a moment, and I just stared at him.

"Millie." He said, clearly wondering if he was seeing things.

I frowned. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

Ronan lost whatever relief he had on his face for a second, before David laughed. "Millie, you can't do that to him."

I smiled, and laughed. "I'm sorry." I said, and stood up before running over to Ronan and giving him a tight hug.

He hugged me back. "That was fucking cruel." He said, but he was smiling. "Where have you been? I was beginning to wonder whether we should think about telling everyone you were dead, but I didn't want to believe it-"

I pulled away from him. "I will explain everything." I said. "But apparently it's been a week since I've eaten or drunk anything. I am parched."

And with that, David handed me a cup of tea. For a while, we all just sat in silence, drinking. In that while, I realised I felt oddly calm about everything. I mean, Adam was dead- whatever I'd been pissed off at him for, I was over. I guess you could say that I'd forgiven him. But despite his absence, I knew roughly where he was, and I knew that he was safe and happy. I knew that he was at peace, which was more than could be said when he was here.

He was where he wanted to be, which was all that mattered.

I didn't know where Fujio was, but I reckoned that Akio and the restaurant team had him under control. Maybe they'd kill him.

Whatever they did, or were going to do, I wasn't bothered. I didn't really care all too much.

And then there was me.

What was up with me?

Who knew. 

I didn't know whether the place I'd just come from had had any effect on me, physically or mentally. I'd fused with all seven elements at the same time, which had felt incredible, although I highly doubted that I would be able to do it again. It also allowed me to fuse with the air, but that also could have just been a one off. It could have been the paradise lending me a hand to get back to earth, perhaps. Because if I'd just fallen, then I would have just splatted on the ground and been back there within two minutes.

"You're killing me with this waiting business." Ronan said, breaking me out of whatever daydream I was in.

I looked at him, and laughed. "Sorry." I gulped the rest of my tea, and placed the empty mug on the table. "You guys have to keep an open mind about everything."

"More open minded than believing in dragons and tiger men?" David asked.

I chuckled. "Yes."

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, probably wondering what could be more unbelievable than what he'd already seen.

Well, I guess he'd never died before.

That was certainly something I could check off the bucket list.

"So." I began, and went right from when I lost consciousness in the alley, to the white space, to the paradise and care-free garden. I mentioned Adam and his dad, and Koji and Niko, before talking about my nan coming to save me. I realised that was the second time my nan had saved me from dying- she'd done it last year, telling me to believe in myself when I'd lost my powers. I'd forgotten to thank her for that.