"Ah!" Jaden exclaimed, as he felt the burning pain from the shot.

"Nngh." he growled, before looking around.

"Look, I've done nothing to you." he said.

"I'm just tryin' to live my life, here." he continued.

"So how about you just go shove off and leave me alone." he then said further, gripping his wound.

As he did, he started to form a hole underneath his feet. He needed to escape. This was a bad situation.

"GAH!" Jaden exclaimed, louder this time, as he felt the burn from what was around his neck, as well as his mana seem to just disappear.

"Damn it..." he cursed, as he whirled around in a circle, aiming to hit anyone that was there... but they had backed off and were out of his range.

'...damn it.' he repeated, this time internally.

'These guys came prepared...' he realized, as he continued to look around at the people that surrounded him.

"I'm not going down without a fight, damn you." he then growled, as he clenched his teeth, showing his fangs.

Jaden growled slightly, as those that were surrounding him started to close in.

"Damn it... damn it..." he cursed repeatedly.

"DAAAAAAMN IIIIIIIIT!" he yelled out into the air, before throwing caution away completely.

He couldn't handle this many people at once, he was crippled now, and he knew they were aiming to kill him. So he figured he would at least go down in a blaze of glory.

Or as close as he came to it.

So he charged right for the one that seemed to be their leader. He had to kill HIM, at least.

"....whu...?" was all Jaden managed to get out, before his world became black.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself exactly where he had landed... but those that had been around him were all dead.

"....wha...?" he asked, as his eyes started to become a little more focused.

"What happened?"

Jaden was silent as Anna said what she said, and did what she did.

"Uh..." he stammered.

"I think I can mana back." he told her.

"Need to check my arm, though." he said.

"I was shot with something... not sure if it went through or if something's embedded inside me." he told her further, shaking his head slowly.

"...ugh." he grunted.

"Didn't see THAT coming." he mumbled.

"Yeah... yeah, I think so." Jaden replied, as someone approached them.

"Welcome." they said.

"Please state the nature of your emergency." they told them.

It was clear that this hospital was streamlining their triage, to get more critical patients in first.

"......." they were silent for a moment, before nodding.

"Right, this way." he said.

"Wait a second." Jaden said, before looking at Anna.

"Where are you going to go?" he asked.

"I mean, are you going to hang around here? Head back home? Go elsewhere?" he asked further.

"....what...?" Jaden muttered.

"Sir, this way please." the man then said to him.

"Oh, right. Yeah." Jaden responded, before they headed off.

--

She was at her desk, looking through some papers, when the phone rang. She looked at it, and pondered not answering it, before sighing and picking up the receiver.

"Yes, hello." the voice on the other side said.

"Am I speaking to a Sydney Sherwood?" they asked.

"You are." she responded.

"I'm calling about your son, Jaden." the voice then told her.

The voice on the other side was silent for a moment, before sighing.

"Your son has been admitted to our hospital." they said to her, specifying the hospital.

"He came in with various injuries, but he is in stable condition." they told her further.

"That being said, he'll be here for a few nights to recover." they went on.

"If you want to see him, and get a more complete story from him, he's awake and can have visitors." they then informed her.

"We shall." they responded.

"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Sherwood." they then said, before the conversation was ended.

--

Jaden laid in the cot, staring at the ceiling.

"...after so long..." he muttered to himself.

"I thought I'd seen the end of them. Guess not." he said.

"Thought I'd been laying low so well, too..." he added with a light sigh.