"His demigod gifts,” I repeated.
"That's what Professor Phoenix concluded. It's just like how you jolt in and out of existence."
"Which is still a cool superpower," I concluded.
"Sure," he stated with an uplift in his voice before getting back to explaining. "Connor has the ability to reverse time. He said he experienced it when he and I were talking one night on the balcony. I sensed something was off when he mentioned I repeated what I'd said, but I assumed since he had a nightmare that he just needed some solid sleep."
"So does that mean he was the one to reverse the whole dead situation?"
"Actually, no," he admitted. "He said Sebastian was involved. He also met the same woman who saved us during the bridge incident."
"Wait. Do you mean the one with silver hair that helped? The one from another universe?"
"Yes," Jax replied. "Connor explained that her familiar, who was in the form of a little girl was the one to save Elsa and Fuwa from some sort of trap. It summoned them when they tried to warn you of the danger, with the intention of destroying them. The familiar was called Star and said Elsa and Fuwa were her friends. The woman, Silver, came to assist, but Sebastian decided to help with the exchange of a promise of some sort."
"A promise?"
"I guess an agreement," Jax tried to elaborate. "Connor didn't really go into much detail of what that agreement was. To be honest, I don't think he knows. He just said that it would happen after we graduated."
"Well, I guess it’s surely better than being dead," I stated and lifted my head to rest my chin on his chest. He looked down at me as I wondered about what happened.
"The evil Elijah said that if we kill him, the other Elijah will die as well."
Jax was quiet for a bit before he replied, "It bothers you."
"It shouldn't, right?" I offered. "I mean...he's the past. We can't really save him."
"But," he pressed.
"But is it fair for him to be judged and executed now that we know there's two of them?" I whispered. "Just like Elisha. It would be cruel for us to persecute her without acknowledging the crimes of her twin, who may be the culprit of everything. Obviously, none of them are innocent, and who knows how much control the Shadow Kingdom may have had on certain decisions, but I guess...it worries me that we could punish someone who may be truly a victim."
"Which may be the Elijah who was once your best friend," he concluded.
"Maybe. I understood his jealousy but never really could wrap my mind around the idea of him wishing to harm me. Who knows if the evil Elijah just manipulated his mind to benefit his arrival into all of this. It's even more confusing because I can't understand which Elijah was the one at the exam where he crumbled with the mountain."
"Could he have been swapped last minute?"
"Maybe? Or manipulated?" I suggested.
Jax closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "We have too many missing pieces of this puzzle."
"Where are we, anyway?" I decided to ask, needing a moment to not think of the list of things we were struggling to figure out.
"We're at some Switzerland hospital for mages. It's really tiny and in the mountains to ensure privacy. Professor Phoenix, Starlight, and Katsume had arrived with reinforcements when you passed out and we were brought here via teleportation. We've been here for about two days? They were worried that they would have to cancel the trial."
"When is it?"
"Tomorrow."
That made me cringe as nervous spikes of worry went through me.
"I'm frightened by it...but I don't want to delay it as well," I confessed. "I want it to be over with once and for all. No more worrying about this aspect of the past. I want justice to be served, and I secretly want the truth to come out. All of it."
"You want the truth of Elisha to come out as well," he concluded.
"Everyone makes mistakes," I whispered. "Envy. Anger. Jealousy. Emotions trigger reactions that don't represent the best of us. Who knows if everything she did was her evil twin or her, and it doesn't dismiss what she did when dating you, but with the truth, we'll know who the real culprit is, or if it's both of them."
Jax bobbed his head before he whispered, "Your growth always inspires me to do better.”
"Just like your support makes tackling life a lot easier," I praised.
We shared a wide smile as we leaned in to kiss.
"FUFUFUFU!"
Our lips crashed into fuzzy hair, which made us both grunt in displeasure before seeing Fuwa's fuzzy body floating there.
"Well, well, well. Look who's back," Jax dryly declared, and I realized it was Jaxsin.
"Fufu!" Fuwa moved and crashed into Jaxsin's face.
"Ugh. Leave me alone," Jaxsin groaned, and I smirked at the fact he'd come back from apparently sleeping.
While he dealt with Fuwa, I glanced around the room and noticed the bandage on my arm, which confirmed I must have been on an IV drip at some point.
"I need to pee," I announced, which made Fuwa pause in bothering Jaxsin as he pointed past the curtain. "In the corner. Don't walk too fast though. Your sister said the meds they used to keep you stable make people dizzy."
"Okay," I replied and took my time getting out of bed. Walking at a rather slow pace, I noticed the popcorn right next to the curtain.
Elsa was at my feet with the acknowledgment of the colorful piece of food, and as soon as she noticed, she dived right at it. All I could do was shake my head.
"Elsa," I whispered. "Come back here."
"MewMew!" she replied but didn't return to my feet. I moved the curtain just slightly, noticing Elsa was hugging and nibbling the popcorn in her paws’ grasp.
Reaching out to lift her up, I ended up having to crouch down just to avoid the chance of falling over. Rising up, my eyes landed on the person in the bed, and I froze.
"Brianne?" Jax's voice called out to me.
No way...
"Jax?" I whispered, and he was at my side in a nanosecond, but he too stilled at the sight before his wide eyes met mine.
"Elijah?!" he gasped as I slowly nodded. The two of us returned to the sight before us: Elijah with an oxygen mask in the large hospital bed. He was hooked up to various machines, but what surprised me was the picture on the side of the bed which had me and him taking a selfie with our hands up in the typical bunny ear sign.
"How did he get here?" I asked.
"Who knows...but holy crap. This...may help the case."
"What do you mean?"
"Professor Phoenix and Ms. Electra are going to be at the trial as magic council judges. They know about our repeated past, but we still have to prove that Elisha is a twin. Since evil Elisha is connected to evil Elijah with all the recent activity they've been doing with the support of the Shadow Kingdom, what if we proved that it's almost impossible for Elisha and Elijah to do what their counterparts have been doing due to Elisha's disability and Elijah being in a coma?”
"Well...that would make sense, but wouldn't I need a lawyer who would be able to gather all that information in basically less than twenty-four hours? I don't even know who's representing me. It can't be my sister because of conflict of interest and it can't be a lawyer associated with my parent's firm."