The aftermath was dealt with in less than a day.

 

 

 

While many supporters went full bore once Prince Arthur said the coup de tat was on, most were less than enthusiastic. Arthur had a lot more fence-sitters backing him than he thought. In the face of the Queen, The Chancellor, The Headmaster of the school university, and both the Second and Third princes providing a unified front, Arthur's coalition collapsed overnight.

 

It took some time to convince everyone that Arthur was dead. Eventually, they found his charred skeleton with a signet ring fused to his hand. The headmaster personally examined the body and determined that the ring was indeed the very ring he had made for the prince's seal. The magical enchantment was still intact, as a show of Merlin's craftsmanship. Alas, Kyle junior informed everyone that the cure for the king's condition had been in Arthur's pocket. It would take time to make more.

 

Between the Queen and the Chancellor, things returned to normal fairly quickly. For the moment, the Chancellor would retain control of the country while the extent of the damage was worked out.

 

Ryan would be brought to the Palace and placed in the royal infirmary along with the King and anyone of importance.

 

And you know what else happened? I just discovered that someone is pirating my book. Hey, thanks for liking the story, but the fact of the matter is, you are making money off of something that I'm giving away for free. I'm okay with the aggregate sites. Hey, I'm giving it away for free on scribble hub, so if someone wants to mirror it, that's fine. Whatever. However, I almost exclusively post on scribble hub, and only just started to mirror it on royal road. So if you see this anywhere else, you can see it first on scribble hub and that's the only place you can post comments I will read and respond to. That all said, the bitch selling this book for money on Am@zon can go screw herself. I'm having a hard time proving that I'm the original author, so if you paid money to read this, please be so kind as to contact the site you read this on and tell them that the person posting this not only is a plag1ar1zer, but they apparently are using a bot to copypasta my work without reading it, the lazy cunt.

 

---

 

Charity blinked and held up a hand to block the light coming through the window.

 

 

 

"Good afternoon."

 

Charity turned to look at Reed sitting next to her. He had a book in his hand and had been writing in it while he watched over her. Charity blinked while she tried to clear her mind, "Reed?"

 

Reed put his book and pen aside to get up and stand next to her, "Well, this is a change of pace. I got to wake up before you did." He smiled down at her as he grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "How you feeling?"

 

Charity turned her head to the side to see Monica next to her. Past her was unconscious Lily. Monica opened her eyes upon hearing the conversation. She turned to look at Charity, "Hey. Don't get up. We both have something called a concussion."

 

Reed nodded, "You were right next to ground zero. Even if you didn't get hit with the flames or shrapnel, the overpressure would have banged your brains around inside your skulls like a rubber ball. The saintess healed you both, but she can only heal physical wounds. Brain trauma is something different." He looked over at Lily, "I hope that means that you just need time to get over it." Then turned back to Charity, "So your memories might be a bit scrambled while your neurons sort themselves out."

 

Charity sat up on one elbow as she rubbed her eyes "Thirsty."

 

Ryan nodded and shot a line of water across the room to connect with one of the many cups on a tray next to a pitcher of water. Ryan contracted the surface tension to yank the cup across the room, right past one of the attending nurses, causing her to yelp in surprise. Ryan winced, "SORRY! Sorry..." The nurse glared while Ryan filled it up with water as well as a few chunks of ice. He offered it to Charity.

 

Charity gulped the water down, handed the cup back, and fell back onto her pillow, "Still... feel fuzzy. Like... my body is fine, but my mind is all... something."

 

Monica spoke up, "It'll pass. I was feeling like that all morning."

 

Charity nodded then turned to Ryan, "Reed... I don't-"

 

Ryan leaned over to gently kiss Charity on the forehead, "Shush. Everything is fine. All I want right now is for you to get well." He straightened up and smiled at her, "Everything else can wait."

 

"You died."

 

Ryan froze.

 

Monica looked over at the two attending nurses, "Hey! You two!" The nurses looked up. Monica hooked a thumb at the door, "Get out. NOW." The nurses looked at each other, nodded, and quickly moved to leave. The last one to leave turned back to say, "We'll be right outside if you need us." Then closed the door behind them.

 

Ryan replied with a smirk, "Well, obviously it didn't take."

 

Charity closed her eyes to gather her strength, "No. We were right there at the edge. I was looking riqght at you. You... you just... burned away."

 

Charity grabbed Ryan's hand and spoke with a tremble in her voice, "Your flesh just-" She stared at his hand, fondling it and squeezing it as if trying to determine if it was real, "You covered us in ice when you saw Arthur preparing to attack you. The air ignited as soon as Arthur fired Betty. It exploded two feet from the end of the staff."

 

Monica nodded slowly, "Reed... I watched Arthur become a skeleton as his flesh burned away. HOW? How did you survive?"

 

Ryan's eyes went from Monica to Charity, then back again, "I don't understand."

 

Monica shrugged, "I don't either. How are you alive and... what... or who..." Her voice trailed off.

 

Charity squeezed, "Reed, No matter what. I believe in you."

 

Ryan turned his attention back to Charity, "What? Why-"

 

~What happened?~ Ryan heard another voice in his head.

 

Ryan opened his mouth, then closed it. He paused for a second then stood up, slowly pulling his hand out of Charity's grasp, "Give me a moment to think." He turned to walk away a few steps and faced the window.

 

~You still here? I was getting worried. You went quiet after the explosion.~ Ryan thought to Reed.

 

~Did you feel what happened when the blast hit us?~

 

~No.~ Ryan abruptly grabbed his chest and fell to one knee, "CRAP."

 

Charity started to get up, but Ryan waved back at her to remain lying down, "DON'T... get out of bed. I'm..." He suddenly started to feel dizzy. His face went pale. He got back to his feet and staggered over to his chair, "Crap. I guess I'm not a hundred percent yet."

 

~That's not it. I've been deep inside, examining our mana structures. Something happened when we got hit with that blast.~

 

"You can do that? I thought only fire elementalists could feel mana flow." Ryan muttered to himself.

 

Monica and Charity looked at each other. Monica looked at Ryan, "Reed? Are you okay?"

 

Charity rolled onto her side, "Wait. Is that...?" A thought managed to penetrate her foggy mind, "Hold it. Who are you?"

 

Ryan looked up from his chair, "Who? I'm-" He paused, "Oh. Right. He's back."

 

Monica tilted her head to the side, "Who's back?"

 

Ryan pointed at his head, "Reed. The original. He's back."

 

Charity raised an eyebrow, "The original?"

 

Ryan nodded, "Yup. Okay. Let me try and explain this." Ryan stood up.

 

Monica and Charity both let out a gasp as they witnessed a tall man with black hair and brown eyes, wearing a green US Army military uniform now standing before them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yet Reed was still sitting in the chair.