“Are you ok, Kan?”

“Do you have any injuries?”

“Did you meet a strong monster in the forest?”

“Why are you naked?”

“Who is that?”

The three of them bombarded Kan with questions. Kan didn’t know who to answer to first, but he had something more important that he had to do.

“I’m a little bit hurt but i’m fine. More importantly Aunty Jane can you heal this person.”

Being asked to heal this person by Kan, she didn’t take another second to start healing. Jane kept on healing this girl and could only think that this person was lucky. Their were two gaping holes on her body but none of them had injured any vital areas. Her healing may seem almighty, but it even it wouldn’t be able to heal any destroyed organs.

The more Jane looked at the girl in front of her, the more familiar she began to look. It didn’t take long for her to realize that the person she was currently healing was Nicole. Although this Nicole was taller, more muscular, and even more beautiful, Jane still recognized her. Just looking at Nicole’s face made her remember how much Nicole has grown up.

……

“Come here Kan, let me see your injuries.”

“It’s not that bad Daddy.”

“Listen to Daddy Kan. We need to see if you’re fine.”

“Ok.”

Both Claire and Clive began to inspect Kan’s body. He was injured, and it wasn’t a small injury. There were three gashes on his back that had luckily stopped bleeding, and his organs were slightly bruised. These would have been life threatening damage to any child, but his injuries were slowly healing.

It was then that Claire noticed the necklace that Kan was wearing. The mana within it was rhythmically pulsating like a heart. ‘This must be what was helping him.’ Claire knew about the necklace that Jane had given Kan. At the time she could sense that there was some of Jane’s personal mana stored inside of it, but hadn’t figured out what it did. But now she knew that it was what had helped heal some of Kan’s injuries.

While Claire was thinking about the necklace, Clive was talking to Kan and also stimulating his body to heal itself faster.

“How did you get these injuries Kan?”

“We were attacked by a Bone Bear.”

“A Bone Bear? How many horns did it have?”

“I think it had three horns.”

“Just three horns. Did you guys meet any other type of monster while in the forest?”

“Yeah, we did Daddy. There was a really fast monster that ran by and took the Bone Bear with it. It was so fast that it was just a blur, and that lady over their, or you could call him Cole, was already passed out.”

Kan lied about what happened. The voices inside of him had temporarily taken over his body to fight back the bear. When they had finished their job, they had told him to keep quiet about their existence because it could bring danger to them if anyone knew about them. Kan kept his promise to them and lied to Clive about the events that had occurred.

“Cole?! Wait, are you saying that beautiful woman is Cole? Cole wasn’t a guy!?”

“Yep, I was just as surprised as you were Daddy.”

‘Wow!’ Clive was truly surprised that Cole was a female. Never in his mind had he thought that the man he shared a few drinks and stories with, was a female. It was actually quite embarrassing for him since he had told Cole some embarrassing stories about himself.

Although Clive was worried about the monster that Kan had described, at the moment, his priority was to get Kan and Cole both healed up. He also didn’t want to worry Kan, so he decided to put off the matter concerning the monster to a later date.

“Oh, so you’re checking out other women again, Clive.”

“It’s not like that Claire. I’m just appreciating beauty. You’re the most beautiful woman I had ever set my eyes on. I would die 100 times just to be with you again. No, I would die 1,000,000 times just to spend my life with you. None of these other women would be able to compare to you.”

“Hmph. Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

Although Claire was trying to act cold towards Clive, she was still blushing. Seeing that his flattery was working, Clive showered her with more and more compliments. Kan began laughing at his parents bickering. It was a normal occurance for them to bicker over small things, but in the end they would always make up. He had just been in a life and death situation, and he was glad to be back to his everyday life. He could only hope that these days could last forever.

“Jane are you done helping that, umm...lady.”

“Her name is Nicole, Claire. She is basically all healed up and she just needs to rest.”

“Ok, let’s head back to the clinic then. And I will be the one to carry Nicole, Clive.”

“Ok.”

“Can I trust you to take Kan then, Jane.”

“Yeah, i’ll also treat some of his wounds on the way back to the clinic.”

Claire carried Nicole on her back and Jane carried Kan on her back. Clive was left with no task, so all he could do was try and appease Claire.

“I found her Aunty Jane. Now you and Nicole can catch up on the years you haven’t seen each other.”

Jane was surprised. Jane didn’t think that Kan would hold onto such a silly promise he had made 2 years ago. Even she had nearly forgotten about it because she didn’t expect Kan to actually find Nicole. But in the end he never forgot about their promise, and had even found Nicole.

Tears began streaming down Jane’s face. The book she was reading was correct about boys around Kan’s age. They are reckless and put their lives at risk for their own ideals.

Jane was carrying Kan on her back and she was healing him. She could see the severity of his injuries, and that the only reason he had survived was because of the necklace she had made. Without it, Kan could possibly be dead at this very moment.

He was truly reckless. Jane knew Kan well enough that if he knew that Cole was related to Nicole, then he would do whatever to figure out Nicole’s location. That was just Kan’s personality. If he was given a choice to fulfill someone’s wish and have another person’s dreams destroyed or vice versa, then he wouldn’t choose either option. If there was even a small chance of making everyone happy then that would naturally be his choice.

Knowing that her small wish of being reunited with Nicole had led to Kan’s injuries, Jane felt guilty. It was her fault that Kan was attacked, it was her fault that Kan had to feel pain, and it was her fault that Kan could have died.

“Don’t cry Aunty Jane. It’s not your fault that I was hurt. It was my choice to find Nicole, and it was my weakness that led to me being injured.”

Kan tried to wipe the tears off of Jane’s face, but the tears wouldn’t stop. This was another aspect that Jane loved about Kan. He was trying to be considerate of her feelings, even though he didn’t need to. He was trying to take all the blame on himself, so she wouldn’t feel guilty.

No matter what she did, she would never be able to pay back Kan’s kindness. Such a young child had severely injured himself just to fulfill a little wish of hers. Even giving her life to him wouldn’t be enough. She could only say one thing to express her gratitude.

“Thank you.”