My consciousness was floating through an empty, dark space. Throughout it, my heartbeats pounded loudly, echoing in my ears alongside the fading pleas for help. I was blissfully unaware of what was going on around me. The silence that surrounded me hung in the air like a gaping void, needing to be filled with sounds, voices, anything. It gnawed at my insides and lingered in the air, thick and heavy, like a blanket luring me to a deep and dreamless slumber.

Am I dead? Was the first thing that crossed my troubled mind in that unresponsive state, and the idea of me not surviving sounded reasonable and rational after the dangerous and self-sacrificing stunt I pulled to defeat the high ranked Grim ones.

It seemed almost tragic, to finally figure out who I was and what I was meant to be, only to lose everything in the blink of an eye again. But I couldn’t bring myself to regret the decisions I had made, for they resulted in the safety of everyone I held dear. After all, what were my powers even for if I didn’t use them to save my people, my family, and my friends?

Whenever I tried to move or ponder about my condition, that silence followed, always watching never fading, like my own personal shadow. It has spread into my veins, drowning my mind in its thick nothingness. Not long after, my thoughts deserted me as well, leaving me drunk in a deep exhaustion. Quickly enough, the silence became eerily tempting and inviting and I found myself drawn to it and its quietness. I wanted to fight it, to push back against it so I can go back and check on my people, but the darkness was too tempting.

The silence was too peaceful.

And so, I drifted.

I had no idea how long I was drifting in that state of nothingness before my senses started functioning again. At first it was faint, a barely audible sound that hardly disturbed the silence. Then it started growing louder and louder until it was all I could focus on. It wasn’t exactly clear, nothing like the screams for help that plagued my mind before I finally surrendered to the peace. It was more like a white noise machine spitting unidentifiable murmurs as you fought the polar pulls of sleep and consciousness. I tried to move, to push back against the darkness one more time, but my limbs wouldn’t cooperate. So I focused my attention on the sounds instead.

After what felt like an eternity, the murmurs turned into jumbled words which soon started making sense. I recognized the voice of my mother- Queen Annabelle- ever so soft and melodic, talking to someone else.

“… much longer? We’re all so worried about her!”

“Her body has healed itself completely, which is an incredible feat for such a short amount of time your highness. Her vitals are stable and physically everything seems to be alright.”

“But…?”

“We can’t wake her up. Her brain is protecting her from the trauma of all the recent events so we have no idea when she’ll wake up. She’ll have to do that herself.”

My brain seemed to be doing that a lot in the past two years. Trauma after trauma, it’s a miracle it still had the ability to function at all.

The beeping in the room grew louder and louder until I could barely handle it anymore. I craved that peaceful silence once again, the nothingness that engulfed me was soothing, but as the darkness opened its arms to embrace me once more I knew I couldn’t go back.

My throat was dry and itchy and my tongue felt like sandpaper against my mouth. My eyes were heavy and as I forced my lids open the bright light felt like tiny daggers against my tired eyes. A barely audible whimper left my mouth in protest, but soon enough my mother was by my side, her usually calm voice loud with worry and relief.

“Ahri?”

There it was again.

“Ahri, darling can you hear me?”

I gritted my teeth against the onslaught of protests that fought to leave my mouth and nodded instead.

“Oh my goodness honey I’m so glad you’re awake.”

I tried opening my eyes again but the light was still too bright.

“Can you dim the lights please?”

“Of course your highness.” The doctor, I assumed, rushed out before heading to do as asked.

Once I could finally open my eyes, I looked around me. My mother’s face was the first thing I saw, pale with exhaustion but just as regal as always. She smiled warmly as she caressed my face, rushing to hand me a glass of water when I cleared my throat.

I tried to sit up but the wires and whatnots that were hooked to my arm restricted my movement. I had half a mind to just rip them out because they weren’t exactly doing much, but I didn’t want the queen and the doctor to think I was deranged.

Better I kept that to myself.

Noticing my frustration, my mother helped me sit up and put a bunch of fluffed pillows behind my back for support. I smiled weakly, grateful for the assistance.

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

“Fine.” I nodded.

“Does anything hurt? Are you in any pain? Do you need anything?”

“Mom!” I cut her off. “I’m alright.” I held the hand she extended towards me. “I promise.”

“I just have to run a couple of tests, your highness.” The doctor cleared his throat, addressing my mother. “It won’t take long; I just have to make sure everything is as it should be.

The queen nodded and stepped back, allowing the doctor to start his prodding and poking.

After he was done, he assured us both that everything was indeed fine and excused himself, promising to alert the king of the new developments. Not long after he left the door to the room burst open and my father rushed in.

“Oh Ahri, thank the heavens!” His voice boomed through the hospital wing.

“Lower your voice, Alexander.” The queen reprimanded. “She barely just woke up.

“And we are in a hospital.” I reminded them.

“Yes, of course!” His hazel eyes shone with unshed tears. “I apologize.”

He stood there awkwardly for a second, his fingers playing with the hem of his suit jacket. I looked both my parents over. Two years apart felt like an eternity, but they looked exactly as I remembered them.

“Well?” I started as they both looked at me like I was an unknown phenomenon. “Can I get a hug?”

It seemed as if my words were a hammer that broke the awkward tension piece by piece and in seconds both of them were at either side of me, engulfing me in a warm, albeit awkward embrace.

Hours passed by in what felt like seconds as we talked and caught up, soon joined by my siblings. The conversation was light, they asked about me and what I was up to in the past couple of years, about my memory loss and my life at the academy. They assured me everyone was alright and the kingdoms were still standing which was a relief. I noticed however that certain subjects were being avoided so I decided to let them go for now, guessing they were just trying to take it easy with me. They hugged me again one by one before leaving me to get some rest, but I was too alert to go back to sleep, so when it was Jessica’s turn I held on to