[TimeSkip: 5 Days Later]

Over a week had passed since the invasion and five since Alex had finally woke up after getting a nearly fatal blow to the head.

After waking up, Alex spent a few more days in his hospital getting treatment to at least ensure that he had recovered enough to at least be outside.

In this time he had gotten plenty of visits from the usual visitors he'd see, Fu Hua, Kiana and Mei, Himeko, and Theresa when ever she had free time from her usual duties as St. Freya's Principal.

Eventually the day had come when Alex was finally discharged and cleared by St. Freya's medics to go outside.

After being escorted by wheelchair outdoors, he stepped out the entrance doors and was immediately greeted by Himeko.

"Sup kid. Looks like you were finally given the green light to be outdoors now." Said the red head.

"Yeah I was. Though the medics were heavily insistent that I just live a normal, calm life for now and not to do anything too difficult since I'm still easily susceptible to headaches." Said Alex as he pointed to his forehead which was still wrapped around in bandages.

"Alright understood. Anyways, you coincidentally got released at just the right time. School's been over for a while now and the girls back at the dormitory have actually planned a surprise for when you finally return back." Said Himeko.

"Oh really?" Asked Alex.

"Mhm." Said Himeko before looking at her phone at chuckling. "And speak of the devil. They just told me they're ready. Come on lets go."

The two began to walk towards the dormitory which wasn't really a long walk to begin with.

"Hey kid. I haven't really gotten the chance to tell you this since you just woke up a few days ago, but, I really thank you for taking that punch for me back at the invasion." She said.

"Eh it's no big deal. Once the mech showed up, I knew that by the time it had reached you, you were gonna be defenseless and were gonna suffer and even worse punch than I did." Said Alex.

"Wow. Who would've thought that under that mostly uncaring and simplistic exterior lies a selfless boy who's willing to throw himself into harm's way." Playfully said the redhead as she poked his cheek.

"Okay okay stop that. No need to be that deep about it. I just did what I felt was right in that situation. There's nothing else to it." Quickly said Alex as he pulled her hand away.

"Oh okay sure. We'll just leave it at that." Said the girl as she winked as Alex just sighed at her.

'Christ this girl is something else.' Thought Alex to himself.

After a nice walk, the two made it to the dormitory as Himeko told Alex to wait as she walked in first.

Eventually Alex was allowed to walk in as the moment he did, all the girls jumped out from hiding.

"Surprise!" All the girls said as they confetti appeared from their confetti poppers as a welcome back banner appeared from above.

Alex had no clue what to say as out of all surprises, he definitely didn't expect a welcome back party.

"Hell yeah we got him! He's so surprised that he's speechless!" Said a proud Kiana.

"U-Um, t-thanks guys. I really appreciate it. T-Though, this wasn't exactly the type of surprise I expected." Said Alex.

"Hm how not? What were you expecting?" Asked Mei.

Himeko chuckled and got close to his ear.

"Were you expecting us to lend our bodies to you~? Such a dirty mind you have~." Teasingly whispered Himeko into his ear as Alex immediately blushed while Theresa groaned and pushed Himeko back.

"L-Like hell I was!" Shouted Alex at Himeko before quickly calming down. "A-Anyways, like I was saying, thanks for the welcome back party. I really appreciate it."

"Then prove it by joining us for the feast!" Said Kiana as she grabbed his hand and took him to the dining room where a nicely sized feast prepared by Mei was there.

There was no more waiting as the group quickly began to dig in as the food was great as usual when cooked by Mei.

After they all had ate a decent amount of food, they all had a toast to celebrate Alex's release from the hospital.

Shortly after that when they were all talking amongst themselves, Theresa cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention.

"Excuse me girls and Alex, but, I have something to say. I don't wanna sour the joyful mood, but this news is important. I've received an update on Bronya's condition." Said Theresa.

Everyone there quickly went silent and allowed Theresa to speak.

"Well, her condition has finally been officially determined. Though she is stable, she's unfortunately in a coma. Our medical staff has done everything they could to try and awaken her but nothing has worked. At this point we can just hope for the best that it isn't permanent. Don't worry though. I'm gonna ensure and do everything I can to make sure that Bronya awakens. I promise." Said Theresa.

They all smiled and nodded, being optimistic that Bronya would indeed awaken soon.

Afterwards once they were all done eating and after Mei and Fu Hua washed the plates, everyone bid good night to each other as they all went to their rooms and slept.

[3 Weeks Later]

A month had passed since the AE Invasion.

In the time that has passed since then, updates on Bronya's condition have been non existent as she's still listed under a coma and has shown no signs of waking up. At the very least her condition was still stabilized so there currently was no threat of her dying.

Cause of this, Theresa had also been coming back to the dorm later and later than usual, showing just how dedicated she was towards finding a solution to wake up Bronya from her coma.

On the positive side, in the days that passed now that he was fully welcomed, Alex had getting along with the girls more than before, more notably Kiana who choose him as the one she'd constantly harass and annoy due to Bronya's state much to Alex's annoyance.

If anything it got to a point where Alex genuinely thought that he was a student attending St. Freya due to how frequent he was there cause of not only Kiana but also Mei seeing as those were the two he mostly spent his time with.

Currently Alex was just watching TV in the dormitory's living room just minding his own business, unaware of someone sneaking up on him.

"Alex!" Shouted Kiana as she grabbed his shoulders causing the young boy to jolt and shout in a panic as he turned around to see a laughing Kiana as he just groaned.

"Don't do that again! And just what the hell do you even wan-woah!"

Before he could even finish talking, Kiana grabbed his hand and began to take him towards the school.

"H-Hey explain yourself!" Shouted Alex as Kiana quickly had the two hide behind a corner as she told him to quiet down and look, as the two peeked out of the corner to see Theresa passing by.

"Seriously? Your snooping on Theresa? Why?" Asked Alex.

"I ended up eavesdropping on one of her talks with Himeko. Apparently she's found a cure for Bronya. So I just figured that I'd go find out what it was so I could go tell the others about the news." Said Kiana.

"Okay. Then why're you dragging me into this?" Asked Alex.

"For backup! Now come on we're losing her tail!" Said Kiana.

Alex sighed and begrudgingly followed as the continued to follow Theresa.

This pursuit wound up leading Alex and Kiana to place they didn't even know existed as eventually they quite literally were underground, underneath St. Freya, as a long dimly lit hallway greeted them.

They continued their pursuit until they saw Theresa turn left, seemingly into a room.

Eventually the two made it and stopped behind the corner and peeked into the room

At the front of the room was Theresa at a control panel as multiple holographic screen appeared in front of her.

Alex and Kiana were unfortunately too far back to see what Theresa was looking at but it seemed like she found what she was looking for.

"Okay we found the key. Come on let's go back now. This is illegal trespassing." Whispered Alex to Kiana.

"Darn. How could it be on that particular day?" Said Theresa as she sighed. "Database, help me export the related records."

To the surprise of the two snoopers, the control panel spoke.

"Yes, Master Theresa." Said the panel as shockingly, Theresa seemed to be digitalized away as her body was gone.

"W-What!? Okay we gotta get outta here now!" Said Alex as he tried to leave, only for Kiana to grab his hand.

"Come on we gotta hurry! The screen's closing!" She shouted.

"W-What the!? Hey Kiana don-!"

Before Alex could finish speaking, Kiana with a firm grip on Alex dashed foward at the control panel's holographic screen as a blinding light enveloped the two.

There was a cold feeling around his body as Alex slowly opened his eyes to see a clear blue sky above him.

He sat up and placed his hands down, and to his shock didn't feel grass or pavement, but rather snow.

His surroundings was also just snow covered trees around them.

Alex then saw Kiana unconscious next to him as he tried to shake her awake.

"Hey Kiana! Hey come on! Get up!" He shouted.

Kiana slowly groaned and rubbed her eyes as she sat up.

"Hmm.....Alex? Where, are we?" She asked.

"Um, stay here and don't move. I'm gonna go check." He said.

Alex then began to look around for a good view point until he did, as he reached a cliff and stood at the edge, getting a good sight of the surrounding landscape

However, when Alex saw this landscape and a peculiar tower in the distance, he was in complete disbelief.

'Hold on, that tower. No way. That's Babylon Tower. This is Siberia, 16 years ago................we're in the 2nd Honkai War.'

Chapter 24: Complete