When I finally came back to my wits, I was back in my dorm room, tucked in neatly in my bed. The room was mostly dark, save for a set of lights that flowed softly from the wall. Eris insisted on putting them up, so she could see where she was going in the morning without waking me up.

I sat up slowly, even though my head was screaming for me not to. Looking across at Eris's bed, I was startled to find it empty.

What time is it? I knew I had to get up to find out, but it was a slow, painstaking process. It took a while to get used to the floor below me, and each step nearly sent me to my knees.

I shuffled my way out of the room, having to pause periodically in order to regain my balance. I, stupidly, took the stairs to the ground floor, but somehow made it down without killing myself. I felt my stomach growl.

Maybe I should stop and get food, wait... I realized then, that I had totally forgotten about my original mission. Instead, I guess I wanted to find the others first. Well, maybe they're eating food right now...

"It's not like we had a choice or anything!" I stopped as I heard a voice outside. "She was going to hurt everyone!"

"I get that, I get that, I'm just... this is not a good thing." I inched towards the door, being able to tell that the second voice was Roark. I started to open the door, despite how much the sun hurt my head.

"Well, I'd say that it was still very inappropriate for Clara to battle there, since we did not get to that— oh hello, Clara." My teacher stopped whatever smack she was about to say about me as I walked out, feeling the intense heat hit my face.

"Hi." I have a small wave, leaning against the doorframe. "What time is it?"

"A bit after dinner." Eris stood up from where she had been sitting, taking a step towards me. "You probably shouldn't be up." Worry contorted her normal carefree look, and I tried to calm her with a small smile.

"I'm fine, it was just one attack. I've been hit, and probably will get hit, by worse." I gave a small shrug, trying to act casual despite the pain.

"It was still very brave of you, kid. What the four of you did the last time, too. Lucas told me about it." Roark smiled, though I wasn't exactly sure how he was truly feeling about us.

"Which, I don't understand why you still went to battle again, though, since you have barely gotten through anything for the writing portion." I tensed up as my teacher said this so nonchalantly, but what came out of my mouth next was something I was more surprised by.

"Well, I know everything in the books, and I also know that all the books in the world isn't going to do anything for me in terms of battling." I regretted it immediately. It was rude. Disrespectful. It went against everything I had ever been taught to do.

"You—"

"She is right." I looked over at Aster, who with Markus, had been quiet until now. "Clara's really smart, but with how little battling experience you're giving her, she could've gotten hurt by Team Galactic. Twice. Can't you at least show us what a battle is? Let us learn?"

"Hey, kids, maybe that's enough." I shrunk back as Roark finally went against us, feeling disappointed, but not surprised. He was an adult, and adults always stuck together. "You four should rest, you've had a long day. I need to talk to Lucas about some things, anyway." And with a small wave, he walked away.

Eris pulled the four of us inside and towards the stairs before the teacher could say anything, which sent a wave a nausea throughout my body. Stumbling, I hit into a wall, nearly sending me down back to my knees.

"Eris, be careful!" Markus scolded Eris as he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling mine across the back of his neck. "Clara's still not up to a hundred percent yet."

"See? I told you that you shouldn't be up, dummy." Eris crossed her arms in a playful manner, but I could see the worry coming back onto her face.

"I'm fine..." I could feel myself getting dizzy again, and leaned my head against Markus's shoulder.

"Come on, let's get her back to bed," Aster said, before Markus slowly dragged helped me to my room.

When Markus finally got me into bed, he sat with me for a bit, the room still dark except for the string lights.

"Where are the other two?" I asked, trying to press my head into the pillow as much as possible.

"Getting food for you. And the one that will probably eat your food if left unattended." Markus smoothed my hair down, and I could see him grinning through the darkness. "I'm here to make sure you don't, like, throw up or anything."

"Thanks for that, I guess." I laughed softly, closing my eyes. I didn't want to sleep, but it was easier. "And, he can eat if he wants to. He's the one that saved us, after all."

"Yeah, but you were the one with the strategy." I heard the door creak open as Markus spoke, a beam of brightness shining into my face. "Someone's excited to see you."

Soon after he said that, I felt a fluff ball in my face. Opening my eyes slightly, I wrapped my arm around Swinub, laughing softly.

"It's okay buddy, I'm fine." I squinted to see Aster and Eris through the sudden brightness. "Uh... light?"

"We'll be out in a second. Just bringing food." Aster placed whatever they were holding onto the nightstand near my bed, before giving an awkward peace sign and heading out. "Come on, Markus. Leave her alone."

"I know." Markus looked at me, patting my head. "Night, Clar."

I was a bit confused by the shortening of my name, but I wasn't fully opposed to it. So, I said nothing. I just curled up with Swinub, wishing the headache away.

Spoiler alert: wishing it away didn't work.