I then rode my trusty Valitha to

the location of the falling star.

I studied it with curiosity, but

it was frightening when it talked.

“Excuse me miss, could you tell me where I am?” Ludwig asked the lady sitting in front of him.

She glared at his eyes in silence, her eyebrows raised. She looked surprised and confused, just like Ludwig.

“Miss?”

Her face was familiar. Did he know her? Was she perhaps an old classmate? It was possible, but most likely she wasn’t. She looked too old. Who was she?

“Excuse me, are you ok-”.

Ludwig didn’t even get to finish the sentence before the woman lunged at him. She hugged him, grabbing the back of his clothes and a little bit of skin with a strong grip.

“Lwhig. Lwhuhjg! Fightnau yotr atjake!”

The woman was crying her eyes out. Anything that came out of her mouth sounded like incoherent babbling, “Luwhji, I misds yhfou!”

She kept him close to her in a tight hug while giving fast and short breaths.

What was happening? Everything passed so quickly that Ludwig stood still for a moment, trying to understand the situation, the woman still crying on his chest. Should he say something? It seemed like she knew him, but he couldn’t really say the same about her.

“Uhh… It’s okay, it’s okay,” Ludwig said while patting her on the back. Trying to make it easier for her to breathe.

The loud cries coming from the lady attracted a nurse to the room. Ludwig saw her standing next to the door frame.

“Excuse me, could you help me out here?”

His eyes pointed down at the woman crying like a small child. The nurse stared at him silently, similarly to how the woman hugging him just did. But instead of throwing herself at Ludwig, she began shouting a name as she went sprinting down the corridor.

“Doctor! Doctor José Luís!” The words reverberated through the hospital’s halls.

The woman against his body started sniffing. She also tried to get some deep breaths in, trying to regain her composure.

“Lud Lud, I’m hgapjpy tu see you!” She said, having a hard time speaking due to the teary eyes and runny nose...

Wait, Lud Lud? How did she know that nickname? The only one who called him Lud Lud was Laura.

Ludwig grabbed the woman by her shoulders, slowly and gently pulling her away from him. He saw her face, tears falling from her blue eyes. A vertical scar crossed the right one.

She had long black hair tied into a ponytail. Her skin was a light brown, and from what Ludwig could feel with his hands, she had muscles. Solid muscles. She wore a red and long sleeved shirt with some blue jeans. Despite the scar, she was a truly beautiful woman. But now that he was closely looking at her, she even seemed more familiar.

“Um… Are you... Okay?”

Ludwig didn’t really know what to say to the lady. Should he try to calm her? Maybe get her name? He also didn’t know where he was. Should he ask?

“May I know your na-”

The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway as a brown man dressed in a white coat peeked out the door frame.

“Señor, es verdad!” Said the man with an astonished face. Ludwig faced the apparent doctor, not finishing his sentence.

What was going on? Why was everyone freaking out?

“Excuse me, Mister Lock?” The doctor said while rubbing his baggy eyes, amazed at what he was seeing. He approached Ludwig almost hesitantly. He then knelt and looked at a screen that hung from the side of Ludwig’s bed. How long has that been there?

“Yes?”

Ludwig didn’t know how to act. Mister Lock would be his father, not him. He was just... Ludwig.

After a few moments of staring at the screen, the doctor looked up at Ludwig and got up from his crouched position. “Hi... I’m Doctor José Luís Ernesto de La Pradera, but you can just call me Doctor Ernesto.”

Well that was a long name. Did Ludwig know him? Last he remembered, doctor Williams was his family doctor.

Doctor José Luís Ernesto… Doc stopped being so careful after getting a closer look at Ludwig. Doc ran his hand through his hair as he gave out a long sigh.

“Buff… We need to inform you about some things. Nurse Johnson, could you please take care of Miss Lock here? I think she really needs to get some rest.”

Miss Lock? Lock was the family name of his father, and from what Ludwig knew, his father didn’t have any brothers or sisters. Was she a family member or just a coincidence? But if it were to be a coincidence, how did she know him?

The nurse nodded. She then helped the woman, who was still crying, out of the room. She resisted a bit, but the nurse was able to make her stand and leave the room with her. Doc approached the chair that was nearby, dragging it across the floor. He sat on it.

A few moments passed by. The atmosphere in the room remained the same until Doc broke the silence.

“Like I’ve said earlier, I’m doctor Ernesto, and you sir are in the Grassland Hospital,” he said with a calm and smooth tone. “Please, do not panic. I’m sure you have many questions. Do you want to ask them, or just listen to what I have to say?”

He did. He had so many questions. Too many. What happened? Why was he in the hospital? Who was the woman that was crying? Was she Laura? Why did he have a beard?

“I have too many that I don’t know where to start,” Ludwig said.

“Well, that’s simple. From the beginning. Where else can you start?”

Ludwig nodded slowly, “Yeah, you’re right.” He took a deep breath and let the air slowly out of his body. “Why am I here?”

Doctor Ernesto paused for a moment.

“You had an accident,” Doc finally said. “A car accident.”

“A car accident?”

He didn’t remember getting into one. In fact, he didn’t remember what had happened before waking up in the hospital.

“Yes. It was some time ago, but from what I can remember, you were apparently driving through your neighborhood and, at some point, you accelerated to high speeds. The next thing was you crashing into another vehicle.”

Ludwig clenched his fist, grabbing the bed sheet. He felt somewhat angry, or at least had the intention of being angry. He should be furious with himself, yet he felt extremely calm, as if nothing could bother him. Could it maybe be the shock? He hoped so, because he wasn’t feeling anything, and in a weird way, that pissed him off.

Doc’s talking made him remember a bit of the event. He had been practicing for his driving test. His father asked him if he wanted to practice a little. That maybe getting some experience with his old man would help, wait… His father!

“My father! I was with my father at that moment! I-Is he okay?!” Ludwig asked nervously, showing some kind of emotion other than doubt and fake anger for the first time since he had woken up.

Doc looked him straight in the eye, then lowered his vision to look at a clipboard with some papers attached. He left the clipboard above a tiny bedside table, then rubbed his hands, trying to do something that would ease his obvious discomfort and exhaustion.

“Your father… He survived the car accident.”

Ludwig sighed in relief.

“Ah. Thank god! Where is he now?”

The doctor stopped the hand movement and raised his vision. There was some doubt in those weary eyes.

“I’m sorry to say this but... Your father, he passed away.”

Even though doctor Ernesto’s words were intended to be filled with empathy and condolences, his voice, more than anything, sounded greatly tired, which in turn made his words sound cold and empty.

“What?” Ludwig said, surprised.

“He passed away three years ago due to liver failure.”

Ludwig closed his eyes, feeling nothing but shocked. All the previous thoughts that he had had were now gone. His father was... Dead? That meant he would never see him again. That he had just lost something precious and there was nothing he could do about it. It was sad. Depressing. Horrible.

Then why did he feel nothing? He loved his dad. He adored him. Then why? Why didn’t sadness fill his head?

It wasn’t because of the shock. Even if he were to be deeply shocked, he would still feel something. Instead, he was calm. No. Emotionless.

There was only one thing in his mind. Death. Neither the word nor an imaginary corpse that would represent his father’s. Just death. The plain concept of death flooded his mind. The idea, what it meant, the loss of life. There it was, alone in his head. Almost like if he had already experienced it.

Right. He had experienced it. His mum had died a year ago.

Ludwig was tired. He had just woken up and yet, he felt like he had been without sleep for several weeks. His head was almost empty and yet, it felt like it was going to explode. But the most annoying thing of all were the questions, trying to get inside. Those damn questions which didn’t leave him alone. Itching his brain. Trying to get his attention.

They eventually did. He had lots of questions. Too many. He wanted to ask them all, and at the same time he wanted to speak no more for the rest of his life. A very unpleasant contrast.

Doc looked at Ludwig, his eyes and voice conveying his exhaustion, “Do you need a moment?”

Of course he needed a moment! He had just informed him about the death of his father! Had he been desensitized by the years he had worked as a doctor?!

Ludwig took a deep breath. It was not really the moment to get angry. He opened his eyes. Doc said that the accident happened some time ago. But how long had that been?

“No.”

For some reason, that was a lot harder than what he had anticipated. Not feeling emotions made things harder to understand.

He did want that moment. But maybe... Maybe getting everything out of his system would make him feel better, or at least make him feel... Anything. Plus, he needed some answers.

“I noticed I have a beard now,” Ludwig said, his voice failing him a couple times even though he was hollow inside. “How long have I been...”

It was tough. He knew why it was, but at the same time, it was confusing. His peaceful state blinded him somehow. He knew without knowing. Felt without feeling.

He swallowed the lump in his throat.

“How long have I been in the hospital? How long have I been, “asleep” ?''

Doctor Ernesto licked his dry lips. He then looked to the window as he composed his thoughts.

You could tell from the look on his face that he didn’t know if it was right to tell Ludwig. There was doubt. Maybe he still felt empathy after all. He thought long and hard, but made a decision in the end.

“As of today, we are on October fourteenth...”

He had been asleep for a month?!

“... of the year two thousand forty-three. You have been asleep for, roughly, fifteen years.”

...

“I know it is a long time but-”

“Could you please leave?” Ludwig interrupted Doc. His words filled with a slight anger.

“Um…”

He looked at the screen located to Ludwig’s right. “Sure,” Doc said after checking everything was in order.

He got up from his seat and picked up his clipboard. And as he was about to leave the room said, “I’ll come back later.”

Doc left as silence stepped into the room. Ludwig didn’t know what to do nor what to think until a discarded thought came back.

Ah. He forgot to ask Doctor Ernesto about the crying lady. Was she... Laura? Probably. No one else called him that or even knew about the nickname. There was also the family name. Now that he was thinking about it, she resembled Laura a tad too much. And of course, it now made sense time wise. Ludwig almost seemed indifferent towards the idea. Fifteen years… His baby sister was now a grown up woman. A beautiful one, in fact. She really took after her mother in appearance.

Oh, and Jonna? He was nothing more than a three year old baby the last time he saw him. That would now make him... Eighteen or nineteen years old. Damn.

How old would that make Ludwig? He was born on November nineteenth in the year two thousand eleven, so… Almost thirty-two years.

Even though Ludwig had been struck with many surprises way too fast since he had woken, he was strangely calm. That enervated him, yet the calmness weakened his anger.

He looked in the window’s direction. Through it he could see the entrance to the hospital from above.

The entrance had a main white road that led into the hospital. Grass, trees and bushes stood beside the entry, six street lamps illuminating it with a warm, orange light.

The window was positioned so that Ludwig could only see the entrance, the street, and three buildings on the other side. The buildings to the left and to the right were fairly similar. Three or four story buildings colored with shades of grey with windows at every floor. But the one in the middle really stood out. It was a short and wide building with Japanese style doors and ceiling with a purple and blue neon sign on top that said ‘Fusion 日本語イタリア語.’

Yeah, this certainly wasn’t his neighborhood. Or maybe it was. Who knows? A lot can change in fifteen years.

Ludwig sat still. Everything was silent except for the wind, waving the treetops.

There was simply too much.

He looked at the hospital’s entrance and let time pass.

After a few seconds, maybe minutes or even hours, the sound of an ambulance emerged, growing bigger and bigger. After a moment, the ambulance was next to the hospital based on the intensity of the siren. Ludwig examined both ends of the street below, searching for the ambulance. He found nothing. It was weird, the sound came from this side of the hospital.

He raised his vision from the street onto the sidewalk, lifting himself up a little from his bed. There were people walking on it, but the majority stood still, looking up to the sky. Ludwig followed the gaze of the pedestrians.

A floating ambulance with a sunken roof and a broken side was in the air, raised by two figures. One of the figures was positioned on the front of the vehicle, using every part of its arms and a little bit of its chest to hold it. The other one was glowing in yellow light and directly below the car, using both of its hand and back to lift it. Both the vehicles and the figures gently descended from the sky. At the same time as the ambulance landed onto the black street, two paramedics burst through the ambulance’s back door, carefully lowering a medical gurney with a laid down person on top. Even though the paramedics were now well gone inside the hospital, one of the figures that had transported the ambulance across the sky stood still, looking in the entrance’s direction. The figure glowing in yellow light approached it, putting a hand on its shoulder. After a few moments, both figures flew off into the skies with the destroyed ambulance.

That paralyzing calmness evaporated in a matter of seconds.

“Ha… Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha!”

Ludwig laughed maniacally. The small dimension of the room gave some echo to the laughter.

“I get it! This is just a bad joke! Some kind of bad dream! Of course, very funny! But I know how to get out,” he said to the air, waving his index finger back and forth.

Ludwig’s mouth flew off into his arm, biting it. Pain sprouted from it. He bit harder and harder, until blood came out. He stopped. His arm was now covered in his blood.

He grabbed his hair, pulling some of it, tears falling from his eyes as he closed them. He began crying, the vanished emotions now abruptly and frantically growing inside of him.

“FUCK!”

—-----

A ringing phone woke Laura up.

For a moment she thought it was a normal day. That she was in her bed and someone was calling her for her car extended guarantee. Her calmness ended rather quickly and abruptly as the events from the prior day rammed into her head.

She extended her right arm to pick the phone up from the bedside table. Looking at the screen, she saw someone was calling her. The name ‘Jonna’ appeared at the bottom half while the top had a profile picture on it. The image showed a young teen under a tall tree.

She pressed the green icon at the left, then swiped it up.

“Hello?” She said slowly. Her voice had a sleepy tone to it.

“Sis?” Said the voice coming from the phone. It sounded worried.

“Jonna, hi. Yeah um...”

“Are you okay? Where are you? You said you were going to call me by six a.m!”

What time was it? She looked at the superior right corner and saw that it was ten a.m.

“Ah, shit. I’m...I’m sorry I ah… I got hurt and had to go to the hospital and…” the face of Lion Fist, surrounded by fire and smoke popped into her head, “...some things happened-”

“ARE YOU OKAY?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I’m fine. Look, I have to take care of something. I’ll call you later, I promise.”

“Don’t do anything stupid!”

“I won’t. I promise everything is and will be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay… I love you.”

“Love you too,” Laura said, looking at the ceiling.

She hung up.

Laura looked at her pants. They were resting on the metal frame of the bed, next to her feet. She rubbed her eyes and gave out a long sigh. She was tired. Laura had woken up early due to a day full of monotonous patrols, followed by an operation late in the night which resulted in her taking a beating by a crazy teen. At least she was able to test the new suit.

Ah, her head was such a mess. Laura raised it to look at the room directly in front of her, past the open door.

She pulled the white sheets away as she got up from the bed. She then walked towards the main area after putting on her red shirt, her pants and some black shoes. She had spent the night at the Oak Room. Basically a room designated to hospitalized heroes. Although it was frequently used by the hospital’s staff as a break room. After all, it was the best place to have a good rest with some privacy. Plus, it had a coffee machine, which was also Laura’s next stop.

At the same time when Laura was reaching for a cup, she heard the sound of keys unlocking the main door to the room, located to her left. Doctor Ernesto was the one to open the door. After getting in he closed it using his key. He walked dragging his feet a bit, almost falling on top of a chair shortly after. Laura looked at him while pouring her coffee.

"Good lord, Doc! Are you okay?"

Doctor Ernesto had a dark look on his face. His eyes looked even more tired than the last time. And his brown skin was pale. He was keeping his head from falling thanks to a tight grip to his hair. He gave a drawn out sigh.

"Just a thirty six hour shift again,” trying to emulate sarcasm. “Hey, could you serve me one too?" Doc said while pointing at the coffee machine.

“Black?”

“Yup.”

Doctor Ernesto laid his head on the table next to the chair he was sitting on.

“Did you get any sleep?” He asked.

“Yeah but, the important thing here is if you got any sleep. And by the looks of it, you didn’t.”

“There was an explosion near Sting Street. There were too many injured people. I couldn’t leave them. They needed me.”

“They needed help, not you. Do I have to remind you that you are not the only medical potens here anymore? You have partners now. Trust them.”

“I do trust them,” Doc said, pausing a little at the end.

“But?” Laura said.

“It 's just… My power.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“I can do so much good with my ability, but only in a short period of time. I fear being late. Explaining to a husband that his loved one died because I arrived a second late. To a father that his kid won’t be able to walk again because I decided to take another coffee,” he said, sinking his head into his arms. “It’s just… Time is so fast and… I need every advantage I can get,” his voice sounded muffled by his arms.

There was a pause between the two of them. Only the coffee being poured into a cup could be heard. Laura put doctor Ernesto’s cup on the table, in front of him. She then blew her cup, taking a sip after.

“No one can outrun time. Some will have a bigger head start than others, but time will always catch up to them. Without exception.”

She rested her free hand on his shoulder. Doc raised his head in response.

“Besides, how much time are you going to lose if you don’t take care of yourself?”

Doc sighed, ”You’re right. Thanks Laura.”

“No problem. Now, how about you get some rest?” She said as she was turning around.

“I will, but not now.”

Laura snapped her head back, giving him a cold gaze.

“It’s just one more patient,” he rushed to say. “I just have to check him. Make sure everything is ok.”

Laura let out an irritated sigh, “Fine. I’ll believe you because I have to make some calls.”

She walked to the door, which made Doc stand up hurriedly.

“Actually, can you come with me for this last one.”

She turned her head, looking a bit confused.

“I don’t think you got the chance to welcome him properly.”

Oh.

Jonna’s call and her conversation with doctor Ernesto had made her forget Ludwig. A wave of nervousness and anxiety entered her body, forcing her calm state to go.

“Ah. Right,” Laura said, trying to sound calm.

“Well then, let’s not delay it any longer,” Doctor Ernesto said, exiting the room with his cup of coffee in one hand. “I believe it was room one hundred and thirty seven?”

“Ye-Yeah.”

“Great.”

He marched out of the Oak Room, Laura walking behind him after locking the door.

Ludwig’s room wasn’t very far from the Oak Room. They only had to go left, keep going straight for a bit, go upstairs with the second staircase to the right, and once on the second floor, they only needed to go left. All that was left was to check the room number. But thanks to her numerous visits, she knew Ludwig’s room was next to a huge drawing of Rocky John. The size of the painting did the man justice.

As they were going upstairs, Laura tried to calm herself. Why was she so nervous? Her brother, who was once believed to remain in that state for the rest of his life, had woken up. It was a miracle. Everything would be fine. No. Great. After some days at the hospital, he would come to live with her. They would be able to go on a walk, just like they used to do. Meanwhile, she could tell him how a man gone mad tried to knock out Bryan with a frozen brick of milk, and how that made him create somewhat of a hate towards milk and... How she was a superhero.

Anxiety and nervousness crawled back, reclaiming Laura’s thoughts. Her chest turned heavy. She started to hyperventilate more and more, her footing getting looser.

“..hundred thirty three, one hundred thirty five… One hundred thirty seven! Here.”

She looked at Doc. It appeared he didn’t notice Laura's struggle due to the fact that he walked in with a now mixture of both exhaustion and calmness.

She tried to enter as well. Before she could peek through the door, she stopped. Doubt paralyzed her. How would she tell him? Would he complain? Would he be angry? He wouldn’t. The Ludwig she knew wouldn’t do that.

But what if he had changed? What if she had changed? She wasn’t the little girl she once was anymore. The little girl who Ludwig knew. She was now an adult, a hero. She had grown, fell in love, fought… Killed. She was a potens.

Just like Master Mind.

Fear crept her body at the sudden thought.

What if he hated her? For not saving her father despite being a hero. For not waking him up earlier. For being like the villain who put him in a coma.

There were people who thought of potens as abominations. Monsters capable of changing reality. People who feared them, hated them for that. Would Ludwig be like that?

Laura had to lean on the wall to her left to avoid falling. What if-

“Ok mister Ludwig, um, are you ready to- Dios! What happened to your arm?!” Doctor Ernesto yelled from inside Ludwig’s room.

Laura’s nervousness, anxiety, doubt and fear all vanished. Well, they didn’t disappear. They had been overshadowed by something way bigger. Her concern over her brother.

She ran into the room, making her slightly lighter to arrive there faster.

Once in the room, she could see Doctor Ernesto grabbing Ludwig’s right arm, which was covered in dry blood, and inspecting the wound. Ludwig also had some blood in his mouth, cheeks and beard.

“What happened?” She asked.

Ludwig looked at her.

“I just… Got angry and… Bit my arm. I wasn’t thinking.”

Ludwig had both an embarrassed look on his eyes and a fake smile.

“We can already see that,” Doc said. “It is going to hurt a little.”

“What is going to hurt?” Ludwig asked Doc as he looked up at him.

The blood in Ludwig’s face began to move, going from his chin to his neck. Even though she had previously seen Doctor Ernesto’s power, it was fascinating. The blood moved slowly through his face and neck. Then, it diverted its path and began moving to his right arm, on top of his sanitary gown. As soon as the blood stained the gown, it joined once again the largest pool of blood. It kept its steady and calm pace until it reached the wound in Ludwig’s arm. Once there, it made his way into the interior of Ludwig’s arm through the bloody marks of teeth. From the change in Ludwig’s expression, Laura guessed it hurt. To finish the treatment, the skin closed itself in a weird and quick way. Almost like the backwards motion of something being cut.

Doc let Ludwig 's wrist go. Ludwig touched his arm, where the wound had been, slightly impressed.

“So, you are one of those super-powered people, huh?”

“Yes? Is there a problem with that?”

Laura’s anxiety began to build up…

“No. It 's just… Weird. Superpowers were something born from the imagination of people. Something that didn’t really exist except in books, movies and media. And, by your reaction, they now seem so… Normal.”

…To slowly fall back in with her other emotions. Her previous concern for Ludwig wasn’t as big as it was just a second ago. But, still, some of it remained in her mind. Although it was now focused on his emotional and mental state.

“Ah. Right. I... Didn’t even think about that,” Doc said.

She hadn’t thought about it either. Even though powers had been around for only fourteen years, they were now ingrained and accepted by people. Even more in people who had powers, like Laura or Doctor Ernesto, and were a part of their daily life. Nevertheless, that didn’t mean it had been an easy process.

“Well, I’m sorry to change the subject like this but, I need to double check some things, to ensure everything is okay. Would you mind answering some questions?”

Ludwig took a deep breath through his nose, “No. Go ahead.”

Doc sat on the chair next to Ludwig.

“Before that, could you…”

Doc threw a pen at Ludwig before he could end his sentence. Ludwig was surprised, but was able to catch it due to the fact that it was travelling slowly through the air.

“...Hand me my pen back?” Doc said with a slight grin on his face. “It seems your reflexes are just fine.”

“I don’t think that’s how you test someone’s reflexes,” Ludwig said.

“Yeah but, where would be the fun otherwise?”

Despite the image that someone like him normally showed, he wasn’t the depressed and serious type. He prefered being the fun doctor, or at least tried to. The frequency in which he took long workshifts made him look like the former. But he could be quite goofy sometimes. This being an attempt at it.

Ludwig handed the pen back. Doc then checked his clipboard and wrote something on it.

“Ok. You can also speak without a problem,” Doc said, looking at Ludwig.

Ludwig nodded back at him. He wrote something on the clipboard.

“Is there any part of your body that’s difficult to move around?”

Ludwig moved a little bit around to check his body.

“Everything feels alright.”

“Good. Do you have a problem with any of your senses?”

“No.”

“Ok.”

Doc continued filling the paper attached to the clipboard. After a moment, he flipped the page and moved onto the next one.

“Now, have you felt stronger than usual? As if, abnormally strong?”

“No… Why?”

Doc ignored Ludwig’s question.

“Have you felt something weird since you’ve woken up?”

Ludwig hesitated in giving his answer. Laura caught on what Doc was doing.

He was checking any early signs of an awakening. In other words, if Ludwig had developed a power.

“No… I’m sorry, why are you asking this?”

“Last question. Were you telling me the truth?” Doc said, locking a firm and cold gaze with Ludwig.

Ludwig looked confused, but didn’t break eye contact between him and Doc. After a few moments, Doc was the one to break eye contact.

“Don’t worry. I was just messing with you,” he said while chuckling.

Ludwig winced at the comment.

“Okay,” Doc said looking at the screen located at the right side of Ludwig’s bed. “I think that’s all. Thank you for your cooperation, Mister Lock.”

“Just call me Ludwig.”

“Sure. Well then, Ludwig, I’ll see you on a later date.”

Doc got up from his seat, turned and walked to the door.

“And you,” he said to Laura as he reached the door. ”Don’t come back with injuries like the ones from today while I’m not here.”

Laura cursed to her insides. Doctor Ernesto put a hand on her shoulder as he passed her and left the room.

Laura, who had been next to the door frame, looked at Ludwig. He looked back at her.

“Laura?” Ludwig asked, as if he didn’t know who he was looking at.

“Yes?” She responded.

Ludwig smiled lightly in response to the answer.

“Wanna take a seat?” He said, tapping the chair which Doctor Ernesto had used.

Laura walked to the chair. She then sat down after a moment of consideration. Her nervousness and anxiety began to sprout from her interior. Her mind started filling with doubt. She could feel-

“What was that about you being hurt?”

Ludwig’s question brought her back from her thoughts. It wouldn’t do any good to think about that stuff. But now she had another problem.

Was she going to tell him about the previous night? Make something up? She would feel better telling him the truth, but that seemed impossible right now.

“You know, I just… Got burnt.”

She opted by telling him the truth. Just not the whole truth.

“Oh. Was it with the stove or something like that?

“Just… Something really hot …Touched me.”

“That’s what normally happens when you get burnt,” he said while laughing lightly.

“Ha. Yeah I guess you’re right.”

God, this was worse than she had expected. She knew that her anxiety and nervousness would make it difficult, but not antisocial teen difficult.

“It… It looked like you knew the doctor. Do you know each other?”

“I uh… I know him from work. He’s been attending me for, uh, three years now.”

“Ah. Got it.”

…

What now? It was obvious that the atmosphere wasn’t the best. Maybe telling him that her little sister was a superhero whose normal Tuesday consisted in not being hit by flying cars, wasn’t the best idea at the moment. Nonetheless, a doubt crossed her mind. Would she be able to tell him about who she really was at a later date?

Probably not. Still, she didn’t believe in herself to tell him about it now.

“Did you say anything?” Ludwig asked.

“No. Why?”

“I just thought I heard someone talking, that’s it.”

“I- I should call Jonna. He’s been worried for a bit,” Laura said while getting up from her seat, then walking to the door.

Ludwig grabbed her left arm, making her stop in the spot.

“Please. Don’t.”

He paused, giving the words time to sink in.

“This is also difficult for me. I mean, look at you,” Laura turned to see her brother. “For me, it’s like my ten-year-old sister grew fifteen years in a day.

He scratched his head while looking for words.

“I know it’s hard,” Ludwig said, looking at himself. “Just talk to me. Tell me what happened. What have I missed?”

“Do you mean, about what has happened to the world these last ye-?” Laura asked, barely holding her tears.

“No,” Ludwig said with a calm voice. “About you. What has my little sister been up to these last years? Fill me in. What have I missed?”

Laura walked back to her seat and sat down. Ludwig let her arm go. She stayed in silence for a moment while she collected her thoughts.

“Well, nothing really happened while I was in elementary school. But after that, I picked up the violin.”

“Is that so?”

He sounded genuinely surprised.

“Yeah. I even won a competition once. Although, it took seven tries for it to happen. I also started…”

Laura’s anxiety and nervousness began to fade. Maybe she had been too pessimistic. Maybe she just had a rough week which resulted in her being paranoid. Maybe it could work.

Maybe everything could be like before.