Kaida stepped away from the doctor that was looking at her with greed, glancing at the window behind her. Taking a deep breath, she ripped the IV out of her arm, ignoring the spurt of blood as she did so, and ran at the window, her wings taking the brunt of the force hitting the glass. She started falling, but her wings spread out almost immediately and she was soaring.

She gave them a few good flaps and was flying. Kind of. She was glad that there were no trees because she wasn't sure she would be able to avoid them. For now, she would just soar until she came across a town that would lead her back home. A few minutes later, she came across a small town.

Crash-landing a mile or two away from the town, she started walking towards it, her wings hanging down from her back. Each step she took was slightly wobbly. Her muscles weren't used to physical exertion due to her being in a hospital bed for so long and were struggling to hold her upright. The more she walked, the more she stumbled. It didn't help that she had extra weight on her back. She folded her wings against her back as she grew closer to the town, a dirt road finally coming into view. She started following it and as it turned to paved road, more buildings appeared, indicating that she was getting further into town. The buildings were mostly houses, and she noticed that there were clothes left to dry in the hot summer air. As quietly as she could, she stole a hoodie, a tank top and some jeans that looked to be about her size.

Normally, she wouldn't have stolen, but since she didn't want to look weird being in a hospital gown nor did she want her wings to be noticed, she needed something to hide herself in. Ducking into an empty shed towards the outskirts of town, she quickly changed into the tank top, pants and hoodie. The jeans hung loosely on her hips, but she figured they would work until she could get home.

Taking a deep breath, she exited the shed, and hurried back into town with the hospital gown tucked under her arm. She headed further into town, and quickly found a dumpster she could toss the hospital gown into. She went further into town to see if she could find something that would tell her where she was. She suspected the town was called Gongromy due to the hospital being called that, but she didn't want to assume.

As she walked further into the town, she gained many odd looks, and she tried to draw less attention to herself by pulling her hood over her head and looking down at the ground. She feared her wings made the hoodie bulge out more than it should, and that that was what was drawing the attention to her. Or maybe it was the fact that she was wearing a hoodie in summer air.

As she neared a corner, she saw a small convenience store and prayed that they would be able to tell her where she was. She entered the store, and pulled the hood of the hoodie down. She found the store clerk towards the front of the store, and smiled nervously. She didn't particularly like talking to people, unless it was necessary. And this was necessary.

"Excuse me", she said quietly as she approached the store clerk. "But can you tell me where I am?"

The store clerk gave her an odd look but answered nevertheless. "You're in Gongromy, the most boring town there ever was in this dry desert."

Kaida silently cheered, her assumption about the hospital being named after this town. She didn't know why it was so far away, but she guessed they didn't want to be too well known. Especially if the one doctor she had encountered was anything to go by. He seemed to have an indispensable greed to know about the unknown, and it scared her.

Kaida smiled sweetly at the store clerk. "Do you have a map I could look at so I could see the surrounding area?"

The store clerk gave her another odd look, but gave her a map that she opened quickly and studied carefully. She started looking through it, quickly finding the small town of Gongromy. She looked at the surrounding area and found her hometown. She didn't know how far away it was, nor did she know how long it would take to get her home, but she assumed it would take her a few more hours than driving. Perhaps it would take the rest of the day.

As her thoughts drifted to home, she grew confused as to why she wasn't taken to the hospital in town and why she was in Gongromy's hospital. She frowned but quickly folded the map up again, and handed it back to the cashier. She exited the store, and quickly figured out which way was west, by looking at the sun and where it was in the sky. It was later in the day, and the sun was starting to set. She quickly rushed out of town, pulled off the hoodie- revealing the tank top underneath- and spread out her wings, though was unsure of how to take off.

Kaida tied the hoodie around her waist as she brought back every memory she had of Aquila and Draco taking off, and starting flapping her wings quickly. When nothing happened, she frowned. Kaida decided to start running forward while flapping her wings. She felt her feet lifting off the ground and she flapping harder. Kaida began to rise in the sky and she laughed. She couldn't believe she was flying. Angling her body west, she moved up and down in the sky to try and find an air current that would help her move faster.

After nearly getting knocked out of the sky several times, crashing into a few birds- resulting in scratched skin- and straying from the right direction, Kaida finally managed to find an air current that went west and helped push her along. By now the stars had come out, and Kaida had to fight the urge to look up and search for the constellations she had befriended instead of focusing on searching for city lights.

After several hours, she came across a small town with a few lights poking up out of the trees and she grinned. Kaida angled her wings down, slowly losing altitude until she was almost level with the ground, and then flared out her wings to catch a wind current to allow her feet to become level with the ground. It sent her backward, and she stumbled back into a tree. She groaned in pain as she stood up, rubbing her back gently. She untied the hoodie, and pulled it over her torso and wings, before beginning the long walk to town.

As the sun came up over the hills, Kaida eventually made it into town. She walked through the streets that became increasingly busier as she walked further. Eventually, she made it to a familiar street, and stared down it, searching for anything else that was familiar.

As she walked through, she took note of all the things that had changed. The house on the corner had a for sale sign in front of it, and it was no longer the vibrant maroon it used to. Instead, it was a boring old tan color, like all the other houses on the street. Kaida frowned. The old lady there made the best chocolate chip cookies. She would miss her dearly. As Kaida continued forward, she noticed that all of the yards were green, and she smiled, a laugh barely escaping her lips. She knew that some of her neighbors hated watering their lawn and only did so because other neighbors would get upset with them for not keeping the yards uniform. While she was gone, they must have either got new neighbors, or the old neighbors decided to agree to water their lawns. She didn't understand it, but she didn't care to either. But even with the few changes she had noticed in the dark, when she finally reached the one house she wanted to see, it seemed as if nothing had changed.

The old red van was still there. The rusted bike rack sat unused, as per usual. The grass was still a jade green. Her mother's flower bed was still pristine, the flowers blooming beautifully. Kaida couldn't help but kneel down and smell the flowers. The sweet smell filled her nostrils, and she smiled happily. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes as she continued down the driveway and up to the door. She stared nervously at it, knowing this was her home, but she was afraid to enter. Taking a deep breath, she decided she would just knock.

And that's what she did. She stepped up to the door, raised a fist, and hit the door one, two, three times in a row. As she stood there, her stomach flipped and flopped. Her heart beat frantically even as she tried to take calming breaths. She didn't know how her family would react. Would they be happy? Would they be angry? Would they cry? Would they glare? Would they-

Kaida's many questions running through her head were cut off by the door opening. Her eyes watered furiously as she recognized the tall coffee-colored hair of the woman who was her mother. She recognized the keen look in her mother's eyes that showed her curiosity. Behind her mother, she saw a familiar dark haired man who's green eyes shined in confusion.

"Love? Who's at the door?" Kaida barely heard him ask. Her mother tilted her head, studying Kaida as she stood there.

"I... I'm trying to figure that out. I feel like I should-" Kaida's mother cut herself off as she brought a hand up to her mouth, her eyes shining in the sunlight as water started filling them.

"No..." Kaida's mother said. "No, it can't be... they said you were dead."

Kaida smiled, her tears finally spilling over. "I'm not dead. I promise I'm not. I'm here. I'm really here, Mom."

The dark haired man- Kaida's father- looked at Kaida more closely, and his mouth fell open slightly before he started crying. He was instantly by her mother's side, and welcoming her into open arms.

"Kaida,'' her mother cried softly, hugging her lost daughter tightly. "My baby... My baby has returned home."

Kaida let out a happy cry, and buried her face into her mother's shoulder, tears spilling freely.

"Mom, I can't find my- who's this?"

Kaida looked up to see a very familiar face. One she would never forget. Her twin brother, Ryu, stared in shock at the sight of her.

"Nuh uh. No. I'm seeing ghosts. I have to be," Ryu said, denying the fact that his twin sister stood in front of him. Kaida laughed softly, and shook her head at her brother.

"I'm here, Ryu. I'm not going to leave ever again," she said. "I don't want to have to find my way home again."

Ryu stared at her, still in shock. "But... you were gone for a year. An entire year! The police said... they said that since they hadn't found you, you were probably dead. And why is your hair purple?"

Kaida frowned and pulled some of her long hair forward to look at it. Sure enough, it was purple. Not only that, but it looked as if it was a galaxy, similar to what Draco had looked like. She gaped at it, unsure of how she was going to explain that. She wasn't entirely sure if her family would believe her story. She wondered if she should show them her wings, but decided against it. Instead, she responded to her brothers shocked words.

"I'm sorry. I hadn't meant to be gone for so long. It's just... I was in a coma... and-"

"You were in a coma?!" her mother shrieked, cutting her daughter off. Kaida nodded and her father gained a very angry expression.

"Why were we not informed of this?" he growled. Kaida shrugged, but now their questions were making her wonder about the doctor she had informed. If her family had not been informed of her whereabouts for the past year, and were instead told she was dead, then what were the doctor planning on doing once she woke up? Would she have become a lab rat? She sighed, and shook her head. She could worry about that later. For now, she wanted to learn everything she had missed.

"Mom, Dad, can we worry about that later?" Kaida asked. "I wanna know what all I've missed in a year."

Her parents glanced at each other, and sighed. They nodded, and they moved to the couch, talking and laughing as they once had in the past. Of course there were tears involved, as they hadn't seen each other for a year, and some of the stuff Kaida missed was saddening, such as the passing of the old grandma who lived in the once vibrant maroon house at the corner.

At one point, Kaida looked up at the ceiling, and her mind went back to Draco, and her constellation friends. She would miss them dearly, but she was grateful that they spent their time helping her get home. She smiled softly, and returned her attention to her family.

She was finally home.