TKG .TGHC. o25o

Hospitals are becoming a regular hangout place for the Guard, and Jerran is frankly getting sick of it.

    He’s also getting sick of how fast news spreads about how certain celebrities are being rushed into the Emergency Room so early in the morning. Especially the way that Gale and Axelia look - one with supposed blood poisoning, the other with roping bruises around her neck, torso, and legs. Ursula attempted to squeeze the life out of her, and almost succeeded. Amber’s well-placed hit caused jaw displacement and a bloody nose, not to mention the unattractive bruise growing up her cheek and down her jawline. Jerran didn’t want to let go of her at first, not speaking but shaking as the doctors and paramedics swarmed around them just as Gale fell to his knees. It took three men to pry Jerran off of Axelia and drag him away as he hovered over the people working on her. They had to do the same to Waverly, and everyone else was forced to move to the cafeteria.

Here Jerran is, sitting in yet another uncomfortable plastic chair, staring at his hands as Axelia shifts in a probably dreamless, medically-induced sleep. He wrings his hands, looking at the bracelet Axelia had given to him what feels like ages ago. He runs his hands through his hair - which is already growing back to it’s mangled mess - and slumps back into the chair as he covers his face with his hands. He can feel his entire body starting to shake, his teeth chattering. They bandaged his wounds up easily, and he hasn’t thought about himself, or anyone else, as he has gotten here. It was all for her.

Axelia, who is drugged far beyond what she is used to, looks like a zombie from The Walking Dead. Her eyes are hazed and half-open as she is buried in starch-white sheets and pillows that are choking her with their overwhelming scent of antiseptic. But, her fatigue, pain, and anguish (plus the drugs) don’t let her move at all. This is the most sedated, cramped, and uncomfortable she’s been since that first fateful day screening in that green leotard that was a bit awkwardly tight in all the wrong places, with the weird bobbles. That’s what she’s thinking about now, for some reason.

    Her mind has brought her back to when they were just a bunch of awkward kids in jumpsuits doing the same moves ten times over. Back to when she was trying so hard to be friends with everyone, and took so long to become even anything with any of them. Images of her younger, innocent, naive self come to mind, fighting off Mother Gothel that day, Gale and Penny being a thing, Penny not being so evil, and her budding friendship with Jerran…

    That gives her energy to speak. “Jelly beans.”

    Jerran perks up his head at that, his eyes red-rimmed from the tears falling down his cheeks without any control over them. He isn’t sure if this is shock or not, but it sure feels like it. For all he know, it could be signs of a major panic attack. But, Axelia’s voice breaks through that cage a bit. He was forcing himself not to come too close to her, to let her rest, but now he is scooching his chair closer. Everyone who tried to come in who wasn’t a nurse or doctor were death-glared by him until they left.

    “What?”

    Axelia’s face is towards Jerran. The light from the shades of the window is slashed through on her skin, light on her eyes and nose. Her lips twitch into a smile. “Jelly beans, remember?”

    It doesn’t register at first, but then it clicks. His favorite treat, their codeword for the beginning of their friendship. “Yeah, Ax. I remember, Jelly Bean Buddies.”

    Her eyes close and she smiles, then they open again. She’s trying so hard to move, her words are slurred. She’s still stuck still, but the drugs aren’t stopping her running mind. “Remember when you liked...liked Charlie?”

    “Yeah,” Jerran looks at his hands again, and then slowly reaches out to grab her hand with the pulse monitor on her thumb with both of his. He treats her like a fragile glass figure. It’s a partial lie, he can’t remember much of that crush. “I do.”

    “Why didn’t you go out with her?” Axelia can’t stop her running mouth now. What they say about pain-killing drugs, they’re right. Nothing stays inside the mind. “Why did you want to date me?”

    Jerran blinks, then gets up and sits on the bed next to Axelia, still holding her hand with his. She is trying to curl her fingers around his. He strokes her slender fingers with his thumb, the tears keep coming, but he tries not to get too close for her blurred vision to see. He’s silent for a moment, and Axelia lifts her heavy head for a moment, before dropping it again.

    “I mean,” Axelia continues, “she’s what Penny is but better, obviously. I’m second rate to her, hands down. The little girls look up to her more than me-”

    “Stop, Ax.” Jerran’s voice is suddenly hoarse. His mind is running with all of the memories he has with Axelia, both on their DHi adventures, and outside of that. How much good it’s brought him, their relationship. It’s probably the only good he can see in being a DHi right now. His skin feels like it’s on fire. “Listen to me, Ax. Nothing could ever compare to what I feel for you, Charlie was just a crush, remember? Sometimes crushes fade. I never thought, when we first met, that anything would happen, Ax. You were so different than what I’ve been used to when it has come to girls, but you’ve changed that. I now know that girls can be loud, quirky, clumsy, and tough, but also utterly amazing because of it.”

    Axelia eyes are bloodshot, and the black circles are so deep around her eyes that she looks like she got punched in both eyes. The way she is laying, Jerran can’t see the bruises on her face, but he knows they’re there. Despite that, she still gives him an attempt at her usual goofy smile. Her fingers curl more around Jerran’s hands.

    “You’re more amazing, Jay.” Axelia’s eyes close, and then open slightly again. She frowns now. “Jay, why are you crying?”

    Using only one of his hands, keeping a grip on Axelia with the other, he rubs hastily at his eyes. But, the burning doesn’t stop, the shaking coming back. “No reason, Ax. It’s fine. We’re going to be fine.”

    “But…” Axelia winces, her medication is wearing off. Jerran should go get a nurse to give her another dose. “Jay...what’s going to happen now?”

    Jerran blinks. “What do you mean? You’re going to get a little better, and then we’re-”

    “I don’t think I’ll be able to fight off any OTs like this, Jay. What are we going to do?” Her coherence is coming back slightly, she can form more thoughts and sentences, although they’re still slurred. Attempting to sit up, Axelia bends a tube connecting her to a saline drip, and it beeps loudly. Axelia whimpers involuntarily in pain, but she keeps trying. A nurse is bound to come soon. Jerran’s throat burns at her urgency. “Jay, that only means they’re not playing anymore...we need to stop them.”

    “...” Jerran is at a loss for words. He nearly jumps out of his seat as Axelia suddenly slumps over, hugging her stomach with her free hand. Her shoulders heave with the effort she’s taking not to scream out in the agony that is encasing her. Jerran grabs her to try to help, and sees something bright where his fingers remain. It slips his mind as soon as he helps her back laying down, plumping her pillow. He cradles her face in his hands, his chest heavy. Stroking her cheek, he tries to smile through the mix of emotions swirling around in him like a storm, it seems to work, because the tension seems to leave her face. All that is left is the pain. “I’m...I’m going to take care of it, don’t worry. You just rest, you’ll be safe. I’m going to get the nurse to give you more painkillers.”

    “And you’ll talk to the others?” Axelia winces, as if breathing is starting to hurt. It probably is. X-rays haven’t come back, but the doctors think that she may have a cracked rib, or two, or five.

    Jerran bites the inside of his cheek so hard he tastes blood. He kisses her forehead softly before answering. “Yes, I will.” He kisses her lips and then keeps his eyes on her as he walks out the door into the bright hallway. Axelia’s parents, his mom and Anthony, and Gale’s dad are coming. Waverly’s mom can’t get on a plane, and her father is still overseas. For now, they’re all they each have. Nothing more, nothing less. One for all, and all for one. What a sick joke.

    Just as he expected, a nurse is hurrying down the hall towards him, with bottles and cups of pills in her hands. He recognizes her as the the nurse that was there before, who first bandaged him up as he refused to leave Axelia’s side. His legs tingle from finally standing up after all these hours. It’s well past noon.

    The nurse isn’t very old, but she isn’t inexperienced either. She’s breathless when she comes up to Jerran. The shirt of her scrubs is Mickey Mouse patterned, it nearly makes the young man gag out of his anxiety. His hands are shaking still, hidden away in his pockets. He hopes it doesn’t show he’s been crying. Hell, he doesn’t even know if he’s still crying. But, as she examines his face, her pitying, gentle face is enough to get his answer. The answer is yes, by the way.

    “She is hurting again.” His voice is hoarse, from everything he’s done, or what he doesn’t know about what is going to happen next, he isn’t sure. “Can you help her?”

    “Helping her is my job.” The woman smiles up at him, since Jerran is, of course, taller. “Why don’t you go and get something for the two of you to eat? Her next dose is less, since we don’t want her to get dependent on them.”

    “She has ITP.” Jerran automatically states for the sixteenth or so time since they started working on Axelia. He doesn’t know why of all times he remembers, but it seemed important enough to do so. She has this blood disorder, but Wayne still chose her. She can get hurt a lot faster - and she really does - than the others, and yet they still let her jump right into the line of fire.

    “We know.” The nurse’s eyes go dark for a moment, and then Jerran pauses. His breath catches in his throat as his heart speeds up even more. No, she has dark brown eyes. Not green. Not under any spell - just concerned and worried. She has a job to do, and Jerran lets her do it. He needs to find the others. He walks down the blindingly bright hallway, towards the direction of Gale’s room at the end of the hall, where he knows everyone is probably stuffing their faces with vending machine food and downing caffeinated drinks to stay awake.

    But, someone stops him from behind. The tug on his shirt makes him jump almost out of his skin. Spinning around, he can’t help the hiss coming from his curled lips. Thank goodness no one else is in the hallway at this moment. Because then they’d see two members of DHi2 glaring one another down like each is looking for that one opening for the killshot.

    “What do you want, Harris.” Jerran’s voice is still tight, but all emotion has been voided. His voice is dead when directed towards her. Rage starts building in his chest, making his ears burn under his hair. “Haven’t you done enough?”

    Penny stares back at the taller boy, knowing she is at a disadvantage. Jerran remembers how she flirted with him when they first met. He’d rather deal with an airheaded, prissy brat then someone who probably is planning to legitimately stab him in the back. But, there is something in Penny’s blue eyes that keeps him from mouthing her off anymore. He needs to be careful with her, she is an actress, after all.

    “Listen, Dodson,” Penny returns the improper, not-really-a-greeting greeting. “I don’t have anything on the agenda you think I have right now. Look past what has happened and listen to me now.” She is the only one who doesn’t look like some version of the undead. But, past her perfectly applied makeup, Jerran is almost sure that he can see half-moon smudges under her eyes.

    Penny crosses her arms over her purple and pink striped sequin tanktop, squeezing her upper arms. Her thin shoulders shake underneath her brushed, strawberry-blonde hair. “I didn’t think it was going to get this far. I thought they would just humiliate and degrade you enough to break you into giving up. I mean, why even bother with this at all, Jerran?” She walks past him down the hall, turns around and swoops her arms out and looks around, meaning being in the hospital again, just as he first thought to himself. “Why bother with being stuck here, in this neverending circle of fighting and maddening retaliation when it’s been going on since Walt himself was around?”

    “I don’t think it was this bad back when he was alive.” Jerran stays where he is, keeping the distance she created when she walked past him. He doesn’t want her that close anymore, or probably ever again, for that matter. “If you’re trying to get us to-”

    “No, Jerran, I’m not!” Penny stamps her foot, her eyes on fire. She delicately bites her bottom, glossed lip as Jerran watches thoughts and ideas form behind her wide eyes. She’s trying to convince Jerran of something, if not to just throw in the towel. Her eyes go past Jerran, and probably to the door that leads to Axelia. Her shoulders slowly lower, as do her arms. Her face falls, all that is left is sadness. But, still, she won’t cry. She looks down at her Toms.

    The silence and beeping and bustle inside the rooms is almost too much for Jerran. He almost screams out the, “What?” That blurts through his lips.

    “I...I didn’t think they’d try to kill you guys.” Penny’s voice comes out small, like she’s finally waking up and realizing what she’s been doing, what she’s done. She looks at her manicured and perfectly smooth hands. “I didn’t think...they’d hurt any of you…”

    “That’s what happened, though, Penny.” Jerran spats out her name. “You are used to causing emotional and mental pain to people, but war is more than that. And that is what this is, a war. Between good and evil, no middleground. People get hurt. There are casualties on each side, for each cause. One is right, and one is wrong. But, to each side, they are doing what they want. People get hurt, and people...die.” Jerran looks over his shoulder towards Axelia’s door, his heart heavy with a bunch of emotions. He turns back to Penny, and the way she flinches slightly shows that she is vulnerable, and that his eyes are wild as much as he feels they are, even with the burning tears slipping down. “You helped cause this. Whatever you have to say, it’s probably too late. Especially too late if you choose this time to redeem yourself.”

    Jerran stalks off past her, towards the break room. He doesn’t want to hear this anymore. He can’t listen to this anymore.

    “I’m leaving, Dodson.” Penny’s voice calls after him, demanding his attention. But, not in the usual Penny-way. It’s a new, forceful way.

     Jerran stops in his tracks. He doesn’t turn around, but he’s in shock.

    “I’m staying here in Hollywood, they’ve given me jobs here. I’m finally going to be free from it all.” Her footsteps alert him that she’s coming closer. Jerran’s arm and neck hair go on-end as his actual hair puffs out on the top of his head. “All I wanted was to be a princess, but they - the OTs - dragged me in too deep for my liking, just as you all tried to do, and I refused. Look at where we are, Jerran.”

    “Your acting makes you a great…” Jerran’s almost at a loss for words. Almost. “A great bullshitter, doesn’t it? You could be spouting lies and crap for all I know, stop talking to me.”

    Penny doesn’t touch him this time. Like she knows that if she tried, she’d need a hospital next. But, she continues to speak. “Just think about what I say, and let that decide, alright? I’m not going to force you...but this is ridiculous, isn’t it?” Her bell-tinkling-like laugh is tight. Her arms wrap around her stomach as she walks in front of Jerran so she can at least look at her audience’s face. This truth looks like it’s killing her. But, she could be acting, couldn’t she?

    “I know a few things.” Penny’s voice quivers, but she stops herself to steady it. She can’t look into Jerran’s cold, hard, and hate-filled glare. “Amber is under a strong spell, whatever Finn did at the hotel jarred her enough to break it a bit. Her will is cracking. In the GRID, you guys opened a portal-”

    “Yeah, we know that, we need to close it.”

    “I know that you know, but you don’t know all of it.” Penny glares at him for cutting her off. Even when trying to be real and serious, she is still that typical Penny underneath it all. “The portal needs a crapload of energy to be kept open, I don’t know exactly where it is, but it was first opened in Disney Interactive.”

    “Where we got out.”

    “Yes, now stop interrupting me. That’s rude.” Penny sniffs, and hugs her stomach with more force. “About Axelia, they wanted her out so badly...that C.L.U. injected her with something that…”

    Jerran remembers this, and he jumps on the mention. “What did he do to her?!”

    Again, Penny flinches. “Agh, Jerran, I don’t know! But, I think it has to do with her autoimmune deficiency! They made me look it up, and they did something with the data, but I don’t-”

    “How long have you known this?!” Jerran’s voice is rising. He points behind him. “The stuff they’re giving her could be killing her because of what that bastard did!”

    “Then she’d already be dead, Jerran! You all would be, they probably just brought it back to slow her down-”

    “She’s as good as dead in this condition! Christ, they’re going to-”

    “Oh my GOD! Jerran, SHUT UP!” Penny covers her ears with her hands as she backs up. She really can’t take anymore of this. “I’m so done with all of this! With all the madness! And to think I thought I got away from it when he-enough! Just enough! That’s all I know, and I’m going to remain a DHi in the parks, but my career is here,” Her hands drop, and her eyes go back to their usual placid coolness. “No more of this business, understand? Take what you want out of what I’ve told you, but I’m done.”

    Jerran watches her go without muttering so much as a good-bye.

---

In the break room, the Keepers and Fairlies are doing just what he thought they’d be doing. Phoebe is the only who was admitted into the hospital to already check out. Her face is bandaged to a point where she could be considered a half-mummy child, but she’s as animated as the rest of them. She sits on Luke’s lap, who sits on the edge of the small windowsill in the room.

    Finn looks up as Jerran enters. His eyes are somber. “How is she?”

    Still shaken up by his confrontation with Penny, Jerran takes a second to respond. He blinks rapidly, realizing that his face still probably looks like Hell but doesn’t care, and shrugs. “Y’know, back in a hospital, but who’s complaining?”

    Everyone takes Jerran’s usual hostile response and widen the circle of chairs around the table for him to join in. Jerran doesn’t pull up one of the remaining folding chairs, in fact, he stands right where he is, staring at the table. It’s littered with plastic bottles, cups, and all kinds of foodstuffs. Surprisingly, he isn’t hungry in the slightest.

    “What about Gale?”

    “One more transfusion and they say he’ll be fine.” Millie responds. She must’ve stuck with Waverly, since like Jerran, she wouldn’t leave her love’s side. “He’s already complaining about how hungry he is.”

    “Typical Gale.” Jerran mutters. At least one thing seems to be normal right now, but everything else is upside down. He stares down Finn and Philby, who sit side-by-side, “Axelia wants to know what is going to happen now, since she can’t really do much, obviously, Ursula almost killed her.”

    There is a silence, and then Willa speaks up. “Rapunzel is in DisneyLand. If we could find her overnight and have her heal Axelia, we can go straight into our next plan, closing that porta-”

    “Wait, what? Time out, rewind.” Jerran bristles, coming closer to the table, staring at Willa, and then the supposed leaders of the Keepers. “What do you mean ‘continue?’ Are you seriously thinking of crossing us over, when Gale just got a transfusion from basically freaking INK poisoning and Axelia is unable to walk, let alone get the hell away from any flying monkeys, psybugs, or whatever else the OTs want to throw at us right now!”

    “But, we can’t just stop, Jay.” Finn states as gently as possible. His hands are shaking as they clutch the Coke bottle. “The OTs are, as we now witnessed, ready to finish us, which means they’re closer than ever to finishing off whatever plans they have now. This isn’t a game-”

    “It was NEVER a game!” Jerran hisses.

    “Shut up, Dodson!” Maybeck stands up, “And listen to what Finn has to say.”

    “The last time I checked, Gale was in charge of the Guard, not Finn,” Jerran sneers, “and certainly not you.”

    “What about me?” Gale’s head pokes into the break room, his cheeks flushed and eyes droopy like he’s drunk. Waverly is holding him up as best as possible, but Gale shakes his head and leans on the doorframe, but he frowns as he instantly reads the emotion level in the room. Maybe he isn’t that drunk, just lightheaded. “What’s going on in here?”

    “What’s going on,” Jerran jumps in before anyone else has any time to react. “Is that they want to Cross Over tonight.”

    Gale stares at Jerran, blinking slowly as everything registers. He turns to Finn and Philby, his voice even and steady, given he’s just had three blood transfusions and most likely is in desperate need of copious amounts of water and sugar to get his levels back. Even so, his eyes never wander to the food on the table.

    “How are we going to do that if Ax and I are barely a foot out of the hospital, guys?” Gale grins his signature grin. “You gonna give us the day off we deserve?”

    “Well, no.” Philby taps his fingers on the table, like this is wasting his precious time. Jerran would like to see how he’d be without fingers to tap a table with. “We need to close this portal Ralph and the others had explained they traveled through.” Jerran tries to not let his mind wander too far into what Penny had said not ten minutes earlier to him. “The opening can’t be at Interactive anymore. No, it has to be somewhere else, where the effect could be catastrophic to just DisneyLand only.”   

    “Then, is it in DisneyLand?” Waverly speaks up, her wings are tucked underneath the sweatshirt she hastily put on that Gale was wearing. No one questioned it.

    “That’s what we’ve come to believe.” Willa nods at her, trying her best not to acknowledge both Gale’s paling face at the realization of the situation, or Jerran’s growing scowl for the same reason. “Well, that is what we know. It’s the only plausible conclusion. We just need to understand the biggest powersource-”

    “It’s us.” Charlene blinks as everyone turns to her. She sits up a bit straighter in her chair. Just like Penny, she tried to fix herself up, as usual. Jerran can barely look at her, remembering the strange discussion with Axelia, but forces himself to. “I mean, our DHis, the servers and stuff are IN the parks, right? Then, wouldn’t they….?”

    “Of course.” Philby groans, leaning back into his chair, rubbing his temples under his bright red hair. “It’s in the server board room.”

    “Eh?” Finn blinks. “Then what do we do?”

    “In the words of Jesse Pinkman,” Maybeck fills the silence, of course with being his usual self, holding out his hands in a large gesture. “Magnets, yo.”

    No one laughs, much to Maybeck’s dismay. Danny leans forward. “Maybeck is right, though. In that episode, they clear the history of the laptop with a big magnet.”

    Maybeck points at Danny, “My man! This guy gets it.”

    Again, no one laughs. Maybeck ‘harumphfs’ and leans back in his chair. Jerran rolls his eyes at him. “Okay, so get the magnet and do it yourselves-”

    “But,” Jess inquires, scooching further into the table, reaching for a bag of Goldfish cracker. She pops it open as she continues. “Won’t a big magnet crash our server, too?”

    “These buggers are smart.” Gale rests his cheek on the doorframe just above Waverly, who rubs his back. He doesn’t know how much longer he can take before needing to close his eyes for another hour, but a sickly feeling is back in his stomach, the feeling from being stuck in this life. Jerran can see it in his eyes, and he goes back to what Penny had said about this vicious cycle, of being pulled in too deep. He shoves the thought away for now, he can’t go back on that right now. He might just lose it altogether. “They’d make us wipe ourselves off.”

    If the server were to crash, by say a magnet for instance, no one is really sure what would happen to the kids who are Crossed Over. It could be anything from permanent DHi shadow, to SBS coma for the rest of time, paralysis, death...more warnings and possibilities than definites, and that terrifies the kids the most. Jerran clenches his fists until the sharp pain in his palms let him know that he definitely just pierced the skin again, and he should expect blood.

    “Then a small magnet.” Philby holds up his phone. “Maybe one about this size. Attached to the side of the component that is creating the portal...that should short-circuit it and close it.”

    “Okay,” Finn nods. “Can we get a magnet?”

    “Psh, we could probably find one with all of us on it here!”

    “Guys,” Jerran’s voice is hostile, everyone goes silent. “Do we have to do this tonight? Can’t we rest?”

    Finn looks at Jerran, then at Gale. Gale shakes his head. “Finn, we’re in a hospital. I’m all for this plan, but I can’t keep going unless you want me to force Axelia to drag herself.”

    “We’ll get her a wheelchair.” Philby adds.

    “Oh, that’s gonna help, huh, Professor?!” Jerran hits the table with how fast he wants to get into Philby’s face. The girls gasp and Charlene even shrieks, Gale somehow is gripping Jerran’s shoulder. “Just use her as bait, huh? What else can she do?! She’s more drugged than anyone on Walter White’s meth! Christ, she could’ve died! SHE AND GALE COULD HAVE DIED LAST NIGHT.” His voice is shrill, his eyes blurred again. Everyone stares at him in horror, “AND YOU WANT US TO RISK IT ALL AGAIN?! How come none of you are in the hospital?! Huh?! Why is it ALWAYS US?!”

    “Jay…” Gale squeezes Jerran’s bony shoulder as much as he can, but he knows it isn’t as comforting as what Jerran needs right now. “Jay, please…”

    “No, I want an answer.”

    Phoebe looks like she’s about to say something, but Luke covers her mouth with his hand and shakes his head. It’s not her place. Damn right, it isn’t. Jerran thinks to himself. He stares around the room, incredulously - in his cracking voice - asks again, “Well?”

    “...Because you’re the Guard.” Philby had to be the one to open his mouth, the one to say the thought that has been drifting in the air, that he’s expressed to Finn. That the fandom has been doing, have given them the name in the first place. “You’re to guard the Keepers as we work to save the Magic.”

    There is a pause, and then Jerran backs up accidentally into Gale’s chest. He looks at Gale, his face shows just as much shock and pain as he feels. Gale is the one to speak next. “Is that...that how you feel about us?”

    “No!” Willa jumps up. “Philby is just going back to what those fans have come up with. Those theories -”

    “Are right.” Philby states. “Why else would we do this, with kids as skilled as Gale, Jay, and Ax are?”

    “That...no.” Waverly covers her mouth with her hand, hurt prevalent in her wide grey eyes. Jerran is ice-cold. Finn is staring at Philby with a slack jaw.

    Finn turns to the Guard standing there. “Guys, don’t-”
“No, it’s fine.” Gale’s voice has never been cold before, but right now it seems so hollow that it might be. “I’m going to go and rest up. I suggest you all do the same. Whatever the plan is to get Axelia in the place, I want to be in charge of it. The Guard aren’t to be separated. After this...we are going to get a break. And that’s it.”

    Gale turns to Waverly, and then Jerran, who are both staring at him in the still silence that has overcome the room, along with the heaviness that hangs like Florida humidity from the weight of Philby’s words. Of the ‘obvious truth.’ He gestures for the two to help him out into the hall and back to his room, which they do, not breaking the silence. Jerran feels like his head is swimming as he helps Gale sit on the edge of his bed. Waverly goes to get food for them from the cafeteria, and Gale hangs his head. He runs a hand through his bright red hair, brighter than Philby’s. He’s in his pajamas still.

    “...Gale.” Jerran doesn’t know where the strength to speak comes from, but when Gale looks at him, he’s just as surprised as he is. “I’m sorry.”

    “Now,” Gale doesn’t skip a beat, leaning back with a grunt. “Why are you apologizing for that?”

    “If...If I didn’t explode like usual, maybe we wouldn’t have…”

    “We would have found out eventually.” Gale shakes his head. He rests his elbows on his knees. “Wow. Just wow. All this time…”

    “...Penny left.” And with that, Jerran explains what had happened in the hall between him and Penny. Gale is the only one Jerran could tell, he isn’t even sure if Axelia could take it. He doesn’t regret letting it all slip out at all to Gale, who listens with a saged gaze. “And...that’s it.”

    Gale lets it sink in, and then nods. “All right, that settles it. We need to relax, and take a break from all of this. We need to finish this portal to take them out long enough to get us home. Go with Axelia, get ready for whatever could happen tonight.”

    Jerran nods and the two give side bro-hugs before he gets up to go.

    “Jerry?”

    Jerran turns around, seeing Gale’s smiling face.

    “Let’s not let what they said effect us, alright? We’re stronger than that, right?”