Alwin continued to stare at Cooper Trooper, trying his best to ignore the gazes boring into him from both sides. The pressure from those glares caused him to sweat buckets. If anyone asked why his bed was wet, it was definitely, absolutely, one hundred percent sweat. Not some other form of liquid.

"Hey, Cooper Trooper," Alwin squeezed out.

The little bird-turtle thing crawled closer and patted Alwin on the cheek while chirping out a stream of incoherent baby-babble that did nothing to help his wet bed situation.

"You!"

The voice pierced straight through his skull.

Oh yeah. There were still people trying to kill him.

Just play dumb.

Alwin swivelled on his behind, scanning every possible object in the room—ceiling tiles, other beds, IV drip, and more—everything except for the enraged Cooper parents who wanted to whoop him to the next life.

"Who's there? Am I hearing voices? I think I might still need some medical care."

"Cut the act," Commander Cooper said.

"Wow, I must have a concussion or some really bad brain injury. I can hear voices."

There was a twitch in Mrs. Cooper's eye before she grabbed Alwin by the folds of his slimy cheeks and yanked him up to her face.

She hissed, "Stop it or else."

Alwin gulped. If looks could kill, he would've been dead ten times over, and even his ghost would've gone to the after-after life.

"Yes, ma'am. I mean, Mrs. Bow-Ma'am Cooper."

"Good." She dropped him.

He bounced on the mattress only to get whipped in the face by the IV line on the way down. Thankfully, Cooper Trooper was at the end of the bed, far away from the crash site.

This time it was Commander Cooper's turn to speak. He leaned in close, giving Alwin a good look at how bad he was. The large muscular bird had seen better days. His entire body was wrapped in a layer of bandages. Moistness oozed out of the ones on his back. No doubt from the myriad of burns from all of the bombs that Alwin had unceremoniously given him.

"What were you thinking?" he screeched.

"'Were' as in, five minutes ago or—"

Despite her bulk, Mrs. Cooper's hand moved fast. Alwin shut his eyes, bracing for impact.

But it never came.

He slowly opened them. Mrs. Cooper's hand was right in front of him, trembling. She breathed heavily, her entire body moving up and down, causing the extended spikes on her shell to poke tiny holes into the ceiling above.

Slowly and reluctantly—mostly reluctantly—she lowered her hand.

"Look," Mrs. Cooper grunted. "I'm grateful that you helped play a part in saving me and my husband's life, but what you did was beyond reckless. Suicidal even."

Commander Cooper winced as he folded his arms across his bandaged chest, but he quickly regained that deep, stern look and nodded along with his wife's words.

"Breaking your promise and rushing to your own death is one thing. But dragging along Trooper crossed the line."

"But—"

In a blur, Commander Cooper unfolded his wings and placed them over Cooper Troopers' ears.

"Silence," he boomed. "A senior officer is talking. You have not been given permission to speak."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir," Alwin replied reflexively.

Mrs. Cooper continued her tirade. "You were lucky. What if that fiend of a human attacked the moment he spotted you? Trooper would've been blown to pieces right alongside you. And for what? So you could play hero?"

Alwin stayed silent. It was equal parts wanting to be the savior in the story, equal parts not wanting Cooper Trooper to grow up without parents, and equal parts unexplainable flurry of thoughts that compelled him to do what he did.

Even if he was allowed to vocalize his thoughts, he couldn't find the words to describe any of it.

"Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Alwin struggled to put together the correct combination of words into a coherent sentence. In his head, it came out in a jumble of, "Hero—Death—Bomb—Boom—Parents—Yes. No. Maybe?"

When the words reached his mouth, it devolved into a long, drawn-out, "I..."

Speaking of devolved, he hadn't really tried filling out his Devolution meter yet. Maybe he could try doing that after he got out of the hospital. If he could get out. Something told him the Coopers' were moments away from doing something to him that would either keep him here for a long time or a one-way trip to the morgue—depending on whether the hospital had a built-in morgue, it'd still mean he was staying here for a very long time.

There he was rambling again. Panic rambling. Pambling.

"Let me take over," Mind Niwla sighed.

Oh, Niwla was back. Yay.

Yes, please. Take over, while he thought over the mechanics of the Devolution meter.

Alwin slunk into the background while Niwla took control of Alwin's Yin-Yang Slime form.

Niwla bowed down as far as a rotund slime could. "Mr and Mrs. Cooper, I apologize for my behaviour. I know what I did was rash, but I thought I didn't have a choice."

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"Go on," Mrs. Cooper grunted, her voice as sharp as the spikes on her shell.

"When I was inside the shell with Trooper, peering outside, I saw a losing battle. I don't have any parents. And I didn't want Trooper to grow up without parents. So, I did what I thought was the best method to ensure your survival. Looking back, I now realize that there were too many unaccounted variables. I got lucky. Extremely lucky. However, I stand by my decision. I believe that it was the only option available to me to help you."

Commander Cooper and Mrs. Cooper grumbled. Eventually, Mrs. Cooper let out a deep, long sigh. Her spikes shrank down as air escaped her mouth, leaving pinholes in the ceiling above.

"Look, kid. You're special," Commander Cooper said. "I know that much when I was assigned to proctor your final exam. But that doesn't mean you can throw caution to the wind and risk everything on a sub-par plan."

"I understand, sir."

Mrs. Cooper sighed once more. "I'll say it again. I'm grateful for what you did. But it was only because of luck that we all managed to get off somewhat scott-free." She turned to face her husband before continuing.

"What if you didn't understand how Inverse Shell worked? What if Commander here didn't get thrown aside and was able to get into position in the nick of time? What if the Elders had broken out of my Sealing Shell a fraction earlier? What if Minister Lapis didn't arrive exactly when she did? So many things could've gone wrong. You gambled and won. But what about next time? Luck runs out eventually. Orders are orders for a reason."

"Understood," Niwla said. "I'm sorry."

"Empty words. Just like your 'promise. '"

This time Commander Cooper sighed. He placed a wing on Alwin's head and rubbed it.

"Don't mind her. Despite everything, you did good, kid. You've got potential. I haven't done the Inverse Shell combo in a while. Although normally it involves a lot less explosives," he chuckled.

"Thank you, sir. I'll do better next time."

"Good. Go rest up."

Mrs. Cooper went to pick up Trooper off the bed. As she walked over, she continued to glare at Niwla. He could sense it was a mixed bag of emotions: anger and gratitude. Although anger seemed to be winning.

When she lifted up Trooper, her gaze softened. She let out another big sigh and planted a kiss on top of his head.

She whispered into his ear, "Mommy's sorry for nearly leaving you alone."

Trooper blew bubbles in reply.

Mrs. Cooper returned to her bed, bringing Trooper along. Commander Cooper followed her, even though his bed was on Niwla's left and Mrs. Cooper on his right. They closed the curtain around them for some privacy, but even then, Niwla could feel the wrath radiating off from Mrs. Cooper.

It was understandable.

He—Alwin—had endangered her child, even if it was to save her. She was prepared to give her life up for her child, but not the other way around.

Niwla sighed. Why did Alwin have to be such a troublemaker? Even if the trouble helped save a couple of lives.

Now that it was safe, Niwla gave control back to Alwin.

And boy was Alwin surprised. Not because Niwla had managed to avoid extending their stay in the hospital, but because of two monsters barging into the room without even so much as knocking.

How rude.

He expected as much from one of them, but not the other.

Gus and Uchronia had come to visit.

"Alwin. Alwin. Alwin. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Uchronia panted as she ran over, her little root-like legs pushing against the ground. She looked to be in the green of health; the leaves that had been burned off had regrown. That was good.

Meanwhile, Gus was already by his bedside in a flash of lightning. He extended a paw that contained a special brown treat.

"Muffin?"

"No. He can't eat a muffin. He needs proper food with actual nutritional value."

"But, a muffin is nutritious. It's good for the soul." Gus pouted.

"Never mind that. Alwin, are you okay? What happened? When the portal closed all of a sudden, I was so worried."

Alwin's gaze shifted over to the curtain before moving back to Uchronia. "I'm okay, for now. I think."

Uchronia traced Alwin's gaze, but chose to ignore whatever was behind it. Instead, she chose to focus on him. "Tell. Me. Everything."

Alwin began to retell everything that had happened, starting from the moment the Elders, Chi Ren and Jin Ren, exploded onto the scene. He wanted to exaggerate a little, regale Uchronia and Gus with a story of bravery and how he had single-handedly saved the day. Too bad the Coopers were within earshot. Alwin had no choice but to tell the truth.

"... And that's how I ended up here, talking to you two while being pumped full of gross green juice."

"Alwin..." Uchronia trailed off. She looked at him, and he looked back at her. Her normally green complexion was growing red. She was doing her tomato impression.

Alwin knew what that meant.

He closed his eyes and braced for impact, going so far as to beg for Niwla to take over again.

"No. Just open your eyes."

Alwin begrudgingly did so. What he saw was Uchronia pulsating between green and red. It was like she was trying to control her anger but was failing to do so—or was she winning? He really couldn't tell.

Eventually, Uchronia let out another long, deep sigh rivalling that of Mrs. Cooper. Her color mellowed back to that normal grassy green.

"What you did was incredibly stupid. It's a miracle you came out unscathed."

"Exactly!" Mrs. Cooper's voice boomed out from the curtain.

A soft—but-not-soft-enough—'shush' by Commander Cooper caused her to settle down.

She was eavesdropping on their conversation? Rude.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Uchronia continued. "And remember, leave the plans to me, okay?"

"Yes," Alwin drew out the word. He wasn't in the mood to be lectured again. Although technically, it was Niwla that had been lectured by Mrs. Cooper. But since they were the same person, he technically got lectured as well.

His rambling was cut short when he noticed the scowl forming on Uchronia's face. Her eyes narrowed, and her bulb was turning red.

"I mean, yes." This time it was short and snappy.

Uchronia undid her tomato transformation and smiled. "Good. Rest up and come back to class when you're ready. Apparently, Mr. Milvus has a big announcement to make."

Alwin responded with another snappy, "Yes!"

The Potted Plant monster smiled as she reached out a leaf. It wasn't to hug Alwin, it was to grab Gus. The FluffPaw had snuck his way to the IV dripbag and was trying to figure out a way to inject his muffin.

Not the smartest move, but it was the thought that counts.

"Stop that, Gus. You'll make him sick."

"But, you can't recover if you're sad. And muffins make everyone happy. This way Alwin will be healthy in no time."

Uchronia rolled her eyes at him, before dragging Gus out the door.

"Take care," Gus said in between bites of the muffin he wanted to administer intravenously to Alwin before a certain plant intervened.

"Thanks for visiting," Alwin said, as he watched them disappear into the corridor.

Just before the door closed, he caught sight of someone staring at him. Not a monster that he recognized.

It was in the shape of a bell. A massive one. Four dark tentacles slithered out from underneath the hollow mass. What's more, it was covered head-to-tentacle, in a dark metal-like layer, which gleamed like a mixture of oil and ink. Two small yellow dots glowed on its front, staring at him.

Alwin blinked. The bell-thing didn't.

Then it scuttled away without a sound.

That wasn't creepy. Not at all.

Having a stalker was most definitely cool.

Alwin closed his eyes and hoped to Cor that he actually had some brain injury and that what he'd just seen was actually a hallucination.

He tried to sleep, but couldn't. That person—or hallucianation—was really freaking him out.

Who was that? And why did he—or she, or they, or it—just stare at Alwin from the door? Most importantly, what did it want with him?

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