The time was 3:04 pm, the day was Friday. Preciser would've attacked an hour and four minutes ago. And what had Alex been doing?

Sleeping.

There had been many times in his life that he'd felt like a total idiot, but this time exceeded them all.

Alone in his hospital room, as soon as he picked up his phone to check the time, he just about jumped a mile high in horror. Why hadn't the giant made his usual explosive entrance, at least to jolt him awake?! Had Sunray had to fight him all by herself?

Then again, he couldn't really remember what had happened last when he'd been with her and his father. He only remembered blacking out after getting attacked by the darkald, then waking up in the hospital with Jakira.

He sat there rigidly for a second, inwardly panicking. The nurses had strictly ordered him to stay in bed, and just to hit a button if he needed anything. But this was kind of an urgent situation, and of course he couldn't tell them about it . . .

Making up his mind to just transform and sneak out for a few minutes to find Sunray, he hesitantly twisted sideways and slowly stood up. Instantly pain like fire shot up his left leg, causing him to stagger and almost collapse of he hadn't grabbed one of the little tables for support and balance. At the sudden jerky movement, the room started spinning around him and his heart started to hurt again.

Not good, NOT GOOD . . .

He took a deep breath, then straightened and limped heavily to the window, whimpering "Ow, ow, ow, ow," the whole time. Every breath he took made it worse, and nausea was starting to roll over him like waves. With a groan, he hugged his torso with both arms and sank to the cool white floor beneath the window sill, then reached up for his jacket and yanked it into his lap. As soon as the dark gem was in his hands again, he whispered his transformation rhyme.

Immediately, he felt better. The vertigo and nausea faded away, the pain in his heart ebbed, and he felt ten times stronger. With a satisfied grin he rose to his feet and mentally announced, Take me to Sunray.

When the familiar darkness of the shadow portal had enveloped and released him, he found himself on the roof of Torre Breda. For a moment he froze at the terrible memories that flooded his mind at the sight of this place; one of them had been rather recent. The first few months that he'd been a guardian . . . all those long, agonizing hours through the cold and sleepless nights spent sitting on the edge of this very roof during the cold and sleepless nights . . . staring down at the tiny cars far below, wondering if anyone would care if he moved just a little closer over the edge . . .

He shook himself, trying to shove the flashbacks out of his mind. All that's behind you now, he reminded himself harshly.

Sunray was sitting cross-legged about ten feet away in the falling snow. Her shoulders were tense with expectation, and the way her head turned slightly every now and then made him realize she was watching for something in the city.

Surely not Preciser . . . ?

"Sunshine!" he called through the snowy wind, and in a flash she was on her feet. He hesitated, wondering if she'd been as focused as she'd appeared. For a long moment she stood there, still facing away and stiff as a board. Confused by her reaction, he took several steps closer until he was just a couple feet behind her. "Hey . . . you alright?"

". . . Just a dream," she mumbled, and he frowned. Her shoulders sagged wretchedly. "Just . . . a dream . . ."

Night wasn't really sure what was going on. She seemed to be in dazed denial that he was there.

He took the final step towards her and lightly wrapped his arms around her neck in a gentle, affectionate embrace. She stiffened, and he replied with friendly sarcasm, "If I'm just a dream, then pigs have been flying for the past seventeen years."

Very, very slowly, she reached up and clasped his hands in her own. She was trembling from shock ever so slightly; he squeezed her hand in reassurance. "Sunshine, what's up?"

Together, they shifted steps till they faced each other. Sunray's jade eyes grew wider still when they met with his, and her mouth parted slightly. Their fingers still entwined, she said hoarsely, "You're alive."

He smiled. "I'm alive."

She lifted a hand and gingerly touched the side of his face. Her touch was warm, despite the snow. "H-How . . ."

"Well— honestly I don't really remember anything after the darkald. I do remember feeling pretty crappy, but I don't recall actually dying. I mean, I could be wrong—"

She stopped his confused ramble by lurching forward and flinging her arms around his neck. She hugged him so tightly that her whole being shook, her face buried in his shoulder. Since she was at least half a foot shorter than him, she was on her tiptoes. He embraced her back in silence, tenderly rubbing her shoulders to comfort her. Despite her tears, he couldn't hold back a smile. Somehow, she'd thought he was dead, so in this situation he was able to console her simply by being there to hold her. No words were needed.

"Don't even tell me how," she choked out once they finally leaned back a little. "I just . . ."

Her eyes were reddened from crying, seemingly for longer than just the last few minutes the two had held one another. Their faces just inches apart, he moved one of his hands from the back of her head to gently wipe her tears away, then slowly ran his fingers through her hair. "I'd never leave you, sweet Sunshine," he whispered with a little wink. "You can't lose your shadow that easily." He kissed her forehead, then hugged her again.

Sunray was crying once more as she embraced him, but this time from happiness. He'd never seen her so emotionally unsteady: crying at first from grief, then in depressed denial, now in joyful tears. She looked a mess, too— her tied-back hair was loosely arranged with random wisps hanging in her eyes, and her face was streaked with tear stains— but in his eyes she'd never looked so beautiful and precious.

Surrounded by the whirlwinds of snow, the teen heroes merely clung to each other for a few more golden moments, and finally let go. For the first time in months, he felt no kind of anxiety or stress about his life and responsibilities. He felt no complications in their relationship— no tensions or problems with communication. For the moment, there was no barrier. They were simply best friends . . . and maybe something more.

I have to tell her . . . That she's more to me than just a close friend.

Not now, though. Timing is everything.

The list of reasons to wait grew longer as he became aware of a crushing, tight sensation in his chest. Sunray had just asked how he'd been doing, and he took a deep breath in an effort to ease the pressure before replying. "Pretty iffy, but getting better."

She pursed her lips in concern. "You look a little worried . . . ?"

"Uh . . ." He hesitated; he did feel a bit apprehensive about a nurse or Jakira or someone walking into his hospital room and finding him gone, but not terribly. "Well— I'm technically not supposed to be out and about . . ." As he spoke he unconsciously started rubbing his chest with his left hand, but switched to his right when the strange discomfort began spreading down his left arm.

Sunray's eyes widened at his answer. "You should probably get back, then," she advised worriedly. "We have no idea when Preciser's going to attack again, and you need to recover. Okay, Night Hawk?"

Despite the steadily increasing pain in his chest, he smiled again. "I missed that nickname. Okay, Sunshine."

"Now go back to wherever and take a nice, long nap," she instructed with something of a motherly tone. He started to back up, rolling his eyes.

"Geez, how many mothers do I need these days?"

"For your condition, combined with your stubbornness? Every woman in Milan. Now get outta here or I'll take away your dessert privileges."

Now almost twenty feet away, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called back "Yes, mother!" in a falsetto voice, then vanished before she could reply.

A moment later he reappeared back in his hospital room, but nearly toppled over at a rush of sudden dizziness, although he was still transformed. Staggering wildly, he managed to grab the side of the bed but collapsed to his knees on the floor beside it. The hard impact sent an arc of pure agony shooting up his leg and spine, which did not help the now-searing pain in his chest cavity and left arm. He barely stifled a yelp, and bit his lip to keep from crying out for someone to hear. Actually beginning to lose consciousness but remembering his current ego, he said through gritted teeth, "S-Sunrise."

His transformation wore off in a whirlwind of shadows, the darkness blending in with the blackness already spreading over his vision. He scarcely recalled crumpling fully to the ground, the pain seemingly twenty times worse. In ways, going out to meet Sunray had been good, but now the cons were being proved the hard way.

Almost relieving him, everything went dark.

-

Beep . . . Beep . . . Beep, beep . . .

The same sound he'd first woken up to out of the coma. Heart monitor.

He forced open his eyes, and blinked until the blinding light above him faded to its clear and normal brightness. When his eyes adjusted, he jumped when he saw two intense green eyes staring down at him anxiously.

Jakira.

"Hi . . ."

"A nurse noticed all your monitors gone dead," she replied sharply. "They came running and found you passed out on the floor. Al, you had a freaking heart attack. And you greet me with 'hi'?!"

He looked at her blankly. "Yeah."

"You almost stopped breathing again." Her voice trembled. "You almost died."

"Is it scary if I'm kinda getting used to that?"

"Yes?!" she burst out, exasperated. "What the heck were you doing out of bed? They told you to stay put for a reason!"

He started struggling to sit up, but the movement sent both a hot sense of vertigo and a wave of nausea rolling over him. Quickly he stopped trying, lay still, and shut his eyes. Jakira adjusted his bed a little so he could sit up just the slightest without effort, and he muttered, "Thanks."

She nodded in acknowledgement, then asked again, "What were you doing?"

Shoot . . . what do I say?! I can't tell her the truth . . .

What's even the point of keeping identities secret from people other than Preciser? Things would be so much easier if Sunray and I knew each other's true selves; we could communicate so much more, and we'd be so free . . .

"You with me?" Jakira asked sharply, but her tone was more alarmed than anything else. He figured that if he hadn't been in the hospital in such a critical condition, she would've sounded more annoyed.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He sighed. "I just . . . um . . . I-I can't explain, actually."

She stared at him silently. Her expression was thick with confusion, and held the smallest trace of hurt.

"Jak, I do trust you. Just . . . could you trust me and not ask anything like I didn't ask you about your friend?"

Another long awkward and tense silence passed before she exhaled heavily, took a deep breath, and nodded. "Okay," she said briefly.

His spirits sank uneasily. "Are you mad at me?"

"Upset you keep getting hurt," she countered. "Not really mad. It's hard to stay angry at you in this situation."

Alex raised an eyebrow, cracking a grin. "In that case, maybe I should go looking for trouble more often."

Jakira smirked at him. "Go ahead and try. You'll come home and find all your chocolate ice cream gone. Then we'll see who's mad."

"You wouldn't dare," he retorted, his smile growing wider.

"In that case, you don't know me very well." She leaned back a little and stretched, then relaxed and grinned, looking more sappy than he'd ever seen her.

"Now what's up? You look like you're lovesick."

His friend got up from the chair, wandered to the couch, and plopped onto it. Her dreamy expression remained glued to her face the whole time. "Maybe I am."

Alex adjusted his bed again, back to an almost-upright position. He leaned closer, flashing her an interested glance. "Did you meet someone while I wasn't looking?"

"Nope," she sang.

"C'mon. Something's going on in your love department. What's his name?"

"Alex!"

"Me?! I knew you loved me, but I thought it was platonic."

"I'm gonna shoot you." Her face was redder than a tomato, although she was still smiling.

"What does he look like?"

"Shut up."

"Is he wondrously handsome? Worth dying for?"

"If you don't shut your face right now . . ."

"I won't shut up till I know things. What's his personality type?"

"Al."

"How about his last name? Eye color? Foot size?"

"What is this, 'Frozen'?!" Jakira flung up her hands in exasperation. She groaned in frustration. "If you must know, though you absolutely cannot tell a soul in the world, it's . . . it-it's Night."

He froze.

She . . . she . . .

How the heck could Jakira have feelings for his alter ego?! As Night, he'd had little to no interaction with her and the rest of Milan. Sure, he'd saved her life a couple times, but otherwise, she didn't know him at all. He and Sunray had even made a few jokes around that topic. Actually, the only girl who could've possibly had a crush on him was . . . the only girl Night was friends with . . . more like best friends with.

His lovely guardian partner. Sunray.

That thought, and those that followed, nearly stopped his heart. Forget how. There was no way she could have real feelings for him— unless she was Sunray.

". . . Are you okay?" Jakira asked cautiously, but his gaze remained wide-eyed and locked on the wall. "You just went really pale."

Her voice, too. That voice.

Could his partner really have been so close to him for all these months?! He'd tried picturing her without the mask before, but it had never worked. Many times he'd wondered what her life was like outside of guardian duties, but never once thought . . .

Slowly, he dragged his gaze over to meet hers, almost flinching when he realized the familiarity in her intense emerald eyes. "Would he also happen to be the guy you've been friends with for how long . . . and couldn't tell anyone about . . . ?" he asked weakly.

A guarded look flared up in her expression, but then subsided— replaced by one of defeat. "Yes," she replied softly. "And by the way, I was wrong, thank goodness. He's not dead."

I knew that! he wanted to shriek. Because I'm sitting right here talking to you!

Oh gosh. And she'd thought he was dead, somehow. So had Sunray.

Alex felt like his head was going to explode, but couldn't tell whether it was from the splitting headache that was suddenly throbbing in his skull, or this absolutely insane theory that his two best friends were the same person.

"Al, seriously," Jakira said, this time making him actually flinch. "You really don't look so good. Is everything alright?"

He shook his head in a daze, truthfully feeling ill and faint. "I-I . . . um . . . I'm gonna lie down for a bit . . . I feel sick."

She nodded. "That's what I thought." Rising to her feet, she added, "Just give me a call if you need anything, okay?" and backed out of the room.

As soon as the door was closed, he grabbed his phone with the intent of comparing a picture of Sunray with one of Jakira, but the screen's brightness quickly worsened his headache several times, and he nearly dropped it. With a groan, he set it back on the little table beside him and paused, thinking.

He hadn't been lying when he'd told her he was going back to sleep, but he had a strange feeling he would forget this whole thing if he fell asleep now. In haste, he snatched an old, crumpled piece of paper with Jakira's phone number on it from his coat pocket, flipped it over, and scribbled down his theory and its proofs. Only after he was finished did he at last collapse back into bed and surrender to sleep, the paper grasped safely in his hands.

-

There was a hand on his shoulder. It wasn't Jakira's; it was too strong and big.

A hazy voice: ". . . lex, y . . . an . . . you he . . . ee . . . ?"

"Mm . . ." Why did he feel so disoriented? Who was there?

The voice gradually began to clear. "Are you awake?"

"No," he mumbled.

"My goodness gracious. You've gotten lazy."

Who the heck is this person? I need my sleep.

"Alex, I didn't even know you were still alive until last night, and this is how you greet me?" 

Nothing this person was saying made any sense. Maybe it was just another weird dream.

A frustrated groan. "Sunray said you're an insomniac, so this was genuinely the last thing I expected."

That was what finally snapped him out of his drowsy state. His eyes flew open. Sunray?!

"I knew it!" the voice exclaimed as he rolled over and sat up to find his father standing beside his bed. "You're completely smitten with her. The very mention of her name wakes you up."

Alex was so surprised to see his father there that he didn't react at all to the teasing. "Dad?"

"Nope, your fairy godmother," Tizian replied sarcastically, then broke into a grin. He leaned down gave him a strong hug. "How're you feeling?"

"G-Good, I'm uh, sorta— yeah, yeah. Pretty good," he stammered.

His father raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You really ought to break that habit. They said you had a heart attack yesterday."

Uncomfortably, he shrank into the pillow. "I feel okay now," he protested. "It's mainly just feeling tired all the time, and shaky, and everything inside aches, but it's not horrible."

"Doesn't sound very pleasant, either," Tizian countered.

"Gee, I just spent two weeks underground, chained to a stone floor, with no food or water. I'd be amazed if I felt pleasant."

Tizian's gaze lowered to Alex's closed fist. "What do you have?"

He looked down and frowned, then uncurled his fingers. There was a folded and crumpled paper in his hand, but he had no memory of putting it there. "I dunno . . . I keep doing weird things in my sleep."

With a hesitation and a prompting nod from his father, he unfolded it and studied his own frantic handwriting: "JAK'S PROBABLY SUNRAY. She said she likes Night and has been friends with him for years and bc I'M Night only I know who my friends are and Night's only friend is Sunray"

His eyes quickly widened as he read the words, and the memories started flooding back into his mind. He and Jakira had been talking the day before. Her love life had come up in the conversation, and she'd eventually admitted to having feelings for Night, his alter ego. From that, he'd realized there was practically a hundred percent chance that she was Sunray's secret identity, which— now that he thought more about it— perfectly explained the strange feelings of déjà vu that he'd felt since he'd first met her. It also explained why she always tied her hair back in ways that hid the ends of it, or tucked it in sweatshirts. And why she suddenly had to leave for inexplicable reasons at the same time he did: 2:00 p.m. every Monday and Friday.

"Alex!" Tizian suddenly yelled, and he jumped so badly he almost fell out of bed. "Calm down! Breathe!"

Only then he realized he'd started panicking, and had been holding his breath. He took in a long, deep breath of air, dropping the paper, and lay back down with his hands covering his face.

"What on Earth does that say?" His father snatched the note from the floor and scanned the words. A look of shock filled his expression as he processed what it read, along with confusion. "Who's Jak?"

"My nickname for Jakira," he moaned, not moving his hands. "My mortal friend." He groaned loudly. "Dad, my two best friends are the same person. Which means that I have feelings for Jakira even though I tried not to because she said she liked someone else, which I guess doesn't really matter anymore, now that I know I'm that someone else, but she doesn't know . . ."

"Hold up," Tizian said, lifting both hands. "You don't know for certain she's Sunray—"

"The only way for her not to be is if she's making this all up," Alex interrupted. "And I know Jak. She doesn't do stuff like that."

Tizian hesitated. "Well . . . okay . . . then why do you seem so upset? I mean, sure, you're not supposed to know this, but it could also be a good thing."

"I'm not upset. It's just giving me a headache."

Another pause. "No, it's not," his father said. "The light gem is. It's trying to protect her identity."

In desperation he rolled out of bed, limped to the door and shut the light off, then staggered back to bed. "I won't be able to live like this. Every time I interact with her from now on . . . it'll feel like a lie. What am I supposed to do . . ."

There was a final, long moment of silence. "Then it looks like the time of secret identities for you two is over," Tizian ventured at last.