My eyes blasted open.

'What happened?'

I was in a bed inside the nurse's office. At this point, I probably spent more time in here rather than in my own room.

It did look awfully cleaner though. And though the light was bright, it didn't hurt my eyes.

There was no one around and from the looks of it, it was midday. 'I was out for a day?'

My head felt heavy and as I got out of bed, everything hurt. "ARGh."

Strangely I didn't feel groggy.

Last time my body wasn't this sore though.

'What happened to mom and the others?'

I became a little soberer. My body ached but I couldn't lose time here. My head throbbed a little but I still moved anyway.

One step at a time.

And when I reached the end of the nurse's office, something shook me. This wasn't the nurse's office.

An infinite space of darkness stretched far and wide.

No wonder the nurse's office seemed so clean and white.

I sighed from the edge. There was something within that darkness. It was liquid in shape but I could make out its face.

Me.

"Yes, that's you."

The voice came from my left. The shadow was right next to me, leaning against the wall.

"You're free?"

I didn't know why but my mind was very calm. I didn't feel all that necessary to feel anxious. I didn't feel anything in particular, not when I worried about mother and even when I saw the liquid darkness oozing ever closer to me.

"Kind of. But this is only the first seal. You have three on you." I really didn't like that wide grin of his.

"Three huh. One for you. And one for that. But what about the third?"

I wondered aloud. If the thing next to me could hear my thoughts, then it was pointless to hide my thoughts anyway.

His grin widened.

Didn't look like he was about to talk anytime soon and from the looks of it, I wasn't waking up either. "Looks like I've got time. Would you mind telling me more about you? Why you're here, why you want me to accept you, and what that is."

The liquid darkness was just a meter away. It was fast and I was its target.

The shadow raised his arm and the door closed before the darkness could creep in.

"Both of us are you, and we were born from you. This place is our prison. The seals… are our prison. And unless you acknowledge us, this will never end."

"So that white room expanded when I accepted your deal? Hmmm… what happens when I accept you?"

"I become free. I've been trapped in here for a decade and a half, I want to be free."

"Then what happens to me?"

"You'll be in here."

"So we'll be switching places." I sighed. I should have seen this coming. "Are my powers sealed along with you guys?"

"Yes."

No wonder I felt stronger whenever the seals weakened. But if one broke just because I accepted this shadow's deal, it was possible that the other seals could break too. And from the sound of things, if the seals broke, they'd take over and I'd be stuck here.

'Well, that sucks.'

I knew being stuck here was a terrible way to live life and I knew these guys wanted to get out. But I had my own things to worry about. "I'm sorry but I've got a lot of dreams, plans, and desires I want to fulfill. I cannot accept you, now." Lying didn't really suit my tastes all that much. And this guy would have just seen through me anyway.

His grin disappeared and was replaced by a glare. "Then get out." He pointed in the opposite side and a door opened. There weren't any doors there before and this door only had light coming in.

I guess that was my ticket out of here.

I started walking. "Hopefully, one day we'll understand each other."

"We'll never understand each other."

I didn't know why, but this just felt a little sad. Of course, I was just being selfish. But I couldn't help it. All my life I'd been living a life I thought which was only mine. I couldn't just hand it over to others.

But one thing was for sure, making deals with these guys might leave me vulnerable and they might take over.

But then there was the question. Was I real? Was I the real one?

***

I crossed the white room and before I knew it, my eyes opened again.

Again, it was midday and I felt way too groggy and my body felt sore. The light was hurting my eyes but they eventually adjusted.

But there was a major difference this time, mom and Elsa both were here.

Both of them cried as they hugged me and after half an hour of melodrama, they explained things.

Apparently, the headmaster and that terrorist had a fight and the headmaster drove the terrorist away freeing everyone in the process. That terrorist group was known as the Killboyz, and this group did all sort of dirty work around the world: their leader- Devrock was the one I fought.

But when that guy spoke to me, he assumed I was the son of my grandfather. He was talking about gramps like they were friends or something. Or maybe arch-nemesis? Either way, that guy knew gramps and he was strong. Meaning the headmaster might have been equally strong or maybe stronger.

Of course, I didn't tell mom about the guy knowing gramps, cause she was still very unstable.

"The Battlesuins have declared the death of one of their kids, the kid who you dueled that day." Mother massaged her temples. "The official declaration isn't out yet, but we can assume they were the cause of all this." She sighed. "There's more but I think you shouldn't concern yourself with it. I'll handle it with the family."

I kind of assumed too. After all, Blaze did harbor hatred for me. And since I shamed him to that extent, this wasn't something out of the world. "But he died?"

"Yes, their family head got rid of him. The official declaration would probably have some other interpretation for the general mass."

"The family head huh?" I'd never met anyone from the Battlesuin main family and I certainly didn't want to. "And what other thing are you talking about?"

Neither answered.

This whole thing felt more and more cumbersome.

I tried moving around and strangely the fatigue cleared a lot quicker than I thought. I sat down on the bed, using the pillow as support for my back. "What about you two?"

They both looked at me with a bit of awkwardness and looked away. "We're both okay… but."

But? "Tell me, why were you there?"

It seemed a bit odd. Mom and Elsa were supposed to be in my room. And yet they were at the gym.

Neither of them looked me in the eye anymore. They were sweating more than necessary.

"There was actually supposed to be a game of basketball and well…" Elsa started something but she didn't finish.

"Basketball? So you guys went there to watch the game?" I had a nagging feeling that neither of them had any noble intentions such as watching an outdated game.

"Yes and when some guys started to block our way, mom kind of got a bit infuriated, and well, things happened."

"What kind of things?" I smiled. But one or two of my veins throbbed.

Did these morons seriously lead themselves to be kidnapped?

"I- I was kind of mad you know….I kind of knocked seven of them out." Mom still didn't look at me and tried to smile.

I guess I got my temper and awkwardness from her.

I sighed. "So, what happened next?"

"They had someone who could control minds. And well, though it shouldn't have affected us, since we weren't calm, they knocked us off," Elsa explained

"Wait, Marg was with you too." And as far as I knew, Marg was probably the sanest among the three.

"Teleporting out was a no-go, so I just pretended to be unconscious and let them take us inside." Marg walked in.

The nurse also came in right after her.

'Wait, what?'

"Umm… what?"

"After they took us in, they just kept us on the floor and watched the outside through the master Holo. And when I saw you whilst pretending, I teleported you inside the barrier." Marg was awfully proud of the fact. "Normally I can't do that unless I can see things with my own eyes but this time I took a gamble and beamed you in. I'm glad all of your limbs were attached." She looked even prouder now, giving me a satisfied grin.

So, apparently, all this happened because a certain someone wanted to see young boys sweat and lost her cool?

'Wait, it had nothing to do with them calling me?'

Meaning they didn't invite me in and they were just as surprised as I was when I went inside.

'Wait, if no one could get in, how the hell were they going to come find me?'

I don't know why, but I was very confused right now.

And if this is how it went, then those guys didn't even know who I was or whether the three girls on the floor were my family or not.

Meaning, when the big guy in the middle addressed me the first, I already gave him all the information he wanted.

SIGHHH! 'AWW, MAN!'