Once again, Gaius experienced the sensation of being a weed. More specifically, about how a weed would probably feel if a gardener took enough umbrage at its very existence to pluck it out. It wasn’t an endearing feeling by any sense of the word, but there was some charm in being pulled of soil.

I must be growing crazy to even think favourably of such a feeling, Gaius mused, looking around at the place he returned to. His right hand was holding onto a globe that was floating in mid-air, the same one he’d used to enter Cybral in the first place.

Glancing down at the cube of wood in his left hand, Gaius decided not to think too hard about it. Either things would fall into place, or it wouldn’t. Closing his eyes once more, Gaius touched upon the bond that linked his current form to his body. It was pulling on him, in a way that transcended any laws of physics he knew about.

To return, he just needed to relinquish any resistance. And to do that…

He just needed to think.

With a jerk, the sounds of things rushing past him flooded his ears. Even though his eyes were closed, Gaius could vaguely feel that he was busily mimicking the ability of Earth’s ghosts to pass through walls. In this case, however, he was probably passing through Heritage and the Intersection, but Gaius didn’t dare to open his eyes.

The boy had a hunch that taking in the, uh, sights would rip a huge chunk out of his sanity. His instincts were rarely wrong too, which meant that beating down his curiosity with Gaius’ own internal logic wasn’t so hard this time. Focusing his thoughts onto the passage of time, the boy counted the seconds passing by, in order to distract himself from the temptation of seeing.

At the fiftieth second, the cacophony that was besieging his sense of hearing began to falter. The noise began to weaken with every second that passed after that, and before long, silence fell.

Gaius, with his eyes closed, finally felt complete. He could feel the trappings of a bed and a pillow, the creaking of bones in his body, muscles that hadn’t moved for years twitching. There was a small clatter as a wooden cube in his hand fell onto the floor, but that didn’t matter to him.

The only thing that mattered was the people in front of him

Opening his eyes slowly, he saw the family he’d missed for so long staring at him, felt their warm arms supporting him as he slowly sat upright. Dim, orange lights lit up his room, which was as neat as the day he left it at. The air was scented with a fragrance he couldn’t place, and yet, his throat burned as he breathed it in.

He opened his mouth, but no words came out of it.

“Have some water,” said Isabelle. The touch of her warm hands lingered slightly on Gaius’ own, and he looked up at her. She didn’t change all that much, but her hair, which had been long and straight, had been tied up into a ponytail. For a moment, Gaius wanted to ask about that, but his throat was too parched to even speak.

Sipping at the small canteen she passed over, Gaius turned to look at the person behind her. She had violet hair, and was only a head shorter than Isabelle. The boy couldn’t quite tell who that was, but for some reason, that head of violet hair looked really familiar. Taking a few more sips of water, the boy felt the burning sensation in his throat abate, before he voiced out the question in his mind.

“Nakama?”

“Yes?

Gaius blinked twice. In his mind, he compared the Nakama he’d seen in Cybral just a few moments ago to the Nakama in front of him, and then came to a startling conclusion — three years had indeed passed on Orb. Speechless, he looked up and down, and then reconfirmed his findings.

Three years had indeed passed. Nakama was as tall as the him back then, give or take a few centimetres.

An emotion Gaius couldn’t quite name filled his chest, and the boy leaned back. He had no words for his current state of mind, other than some very tasteful expletives that he wanted to hurl at the world. Exhaling slowly, a smile floated onto his face, straining his facial muscles at the same time.

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back.”

“Nakama, you saw me quite a few times,” Gaius said. “I don’t see why you should be so touched. Also, where’s Xanadu?”

“She’s resting now,” said Isabelle. “I would ask you to check up on her, but it would be better to wait until she’s awake. She’s rather frail now.”

“Frail, eh? She’s not the only one,” Gaius replied, before coughing harshly. Taking a few more sips of water, he slid his legs off the bed, only to notice a significant degradation in muscular quality. Even as a Knight, significant periods of unconsciousness evidently had debilitating effects on the body itself, and Gaius sighed.

“I might not be able to put up a good fight as I am now,” he muttered. “Isabelle, mind giving me some support? I’m going to wash up. My skin’s all clammy, and I think I stink.”

“You do stink,” Isabelle said, although she made no effort to shy away from Gaius. The two reached out to him, helping him to his feet.

“Is that really what you want to tell to someone who just awoke from effectively a coma?” Gaius shook his head. “Right, where’s La-Ti, Nakama?”

“Getting used to his new body,” Nakama, who was on his left, replied.

“Again, he’s not the only one…” Gaius shook his head, and then belatedly noticed that at standing height, his eyes were at the same height as Nakama’s. “Wait.”

“Something wrong?” Isabelle asked.

“Am I…still the same height as the me three years ago?” Gaius looked straight into Nakama’s eyes once more, and then shivered. “I’m like, what, sixteen this year, right? But I’m just as tall as Nakama?”

“Now that you mention it,” said Isabelle, “you are indeed very short for your age. It must be the lack of proper nutrition in the past three years. We simply followed Nexus’ arrangements for life support instead, since getting you to eat properly was impossible.”

Speechless, Gaius decided to not think about it anymore. With their help, Gaius made his way into the bathroom, locked his sister and Isabelle out, and then began to wash himself thoroughly.

He couldn’t quite tell if the water dripping down was his tears, or just plain old water. At any rate, however…he was back home, with his family.

Gaius couldn’t ask for any more.