I confidently walked past several nurses and patients. My hands were dug inside of my jean's pockets to save myself the trouble of an annoying talk about where my band was.

Occasionally staring out the windows of the hospital's hallway, I avoided many people's gazes. To most, I seemed like a moody teenager avoiding small talk, what with my hood up and all.

In reality, I was steering clear of the cameras' pestering lens'.

My heart thumped in my chest, not from the fear of getting caught, but from the thought of finding two of my closest friends lying dead on the ground.

I, hesitantly, raised my hand and knocked on Reed's door. I held my breath as the knob instantly turned and, to my surprise, the first thing that came to my sight was a blur of red.

"Laila!"

My hands reached out unconsciously and wrapped the pale girl into one of my bone-crushing hugs. I rested my head on her shoulder and breathed in her strawberry scented perfume.

"Oh! Uh... Are you okay, Elly?"

Opening my eyes, I caught Reed in the background smiling. His untouched face was illuminating a gentle glow of happiness in the room.

"Reed!"

I walked past Laila and stopped short in front of Reed, leaving only a few feet in between us.

"You're... Alive..?", I frowned suddenly. Images of the demon, Ma'lik, having his claws wrapped around Reed's neck sent chills down my spine. Laila laying on the ground in a pool of blood as the other demon, Zen, stood unfazed crossed my mind as well.

"Yeah, but could you not look so surprised? Heh, If anything, I should be relieved that you're okay. You were the one who got trapped in the mines after all."

"That's right... How did you get out?", Laila stepped up beside Reed and frowned as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

My eyes widened as I stared up at Laila, "...Wait... She didn't even know I escaped this whole time...?"

Anger awakened in me, one that I thought I wasn't even capable of manifesting. I bowed my head, stared down at the ground in amazement. A wave of hurt struck my chest and a lump formed in my throat.

"Laila... Can you give Reed and me a minute? ...Please."

Letting her arms fall to her sides, Laila nodded her head and left the room. Sensing her body walk past me almost made me feel disgusted.

"Elizabeth... What's wrong, I can tell you're upset."

Bringing my gaze up to look at Reed, a stream of tears flowed rampantly from my eyes, "I expected Laila to be the airhead in this situation, but you too..?"

I collapsed onto my knees, gripping the white sheets tightly as I rested my head on Reed's lap. His body flinched from under me as he kept his hands from touching me.

"I... Elizabeth... What...?", hesitantly, he gently rested his hands on my back, comforting me.

"I've never seen you cry before...", rubbing circles on my back, I could feel Reed's soft gaze on me.

"That's not what I want to hear from you, Reed!", pressing my eyelids shut, I trembled on the hospital bed. Several emotions swirled and conflicted me, leaving no room for thoughts of reason.

"I was in a coma, Elly. I just woke up this morning... Laila wasn't here to hear the news of what happened to you when Ian had dropped by earlier to tell me."

Sniffling, I raised my head and stared up at Reed. My hand reached out to his face and gently grazed the skin of his cheek. His large hand cupped mine as I held back more tears.

"I'm glad you're awake now... I'm sorry I didn't come back to visit sooner when you were... were..!"

Reed's smile faded, but the warmth and gentleness of his eyes didn't as he spoke, "I understand. I wasn't the only one who saw them."

My breath hitched, memories of Reed's haunted face from the darkness of the mines flashed before me. 'That's right, he saw them too...'

"Elizabeth, when I saw those...things... I got scared knowing you were going to see them too once you came in looking for me. At that moment, I wanted to protect you, but...", biting his bottom lip, Reed averted his gaze from mine.

"But I couldn't... And I'm more ashamed now that I remember the walls of the mines coming down on top of us... Shoving me outside and leaving you to fend for yourself inside..."

This time it was my turn to comfort Reed, so I coupled his hand in my two.

"You wouldn't imagine how relieved I was to hear from Ian that you found another way out...", Reed's smile returned as his hands cupped both my cheeks. He stared down at me lovingly almost as if taking in the features of my face could erase that horrible memory for good.

"Reed... You can't tell anyone what you saw. Just say a rock hit your head and hurt you badly", I brushed Reed's soft hands away from my face and found the courage to stand back up on my feet.

"Wha..? But what if more idiots like us go venturing inside McGreggor's Mines! We have to board up the place and—"

Before Reed could finish what he said, I brought my hand up and channeled the purple light to glow beautifully in my palm. The mist around the light danced on my fingertips before splurging onto the ground.

Reed's eyes grew like saucers as he gawked at the magic that poured from my hand.

"...You didn't find that exit, did you..?

I smirked, "No, Reed, I made it."