Disclaimer: I’m just borrowing these characters, they do not belong to me
Author’s Note: This is the third in the 732 Days series
Summary: Thea returns from the Prism World for a second time, hoping to find the one person she truly wants to see again.
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Her right cheek is pressed against something cool and smooth, concrete maybe, Thea realizes. She tries to open her eyes, but her lids remain stuck shut by an invisible force.
Attempting to move the rest of her body is an equally fruitless effort. Her limbs are leaden and her super strength seems to have disappeared. Over the rhythmic pounding in her head, she can barely make out the sound of footsteps and voices approaching.
“…don’t know how she got here, boss, but I’m sure it’s her.” The tenor voice sounds vaguely familiar, but Thea can’t quite place it, her mind still fuzzy and struggling to focus.
She hears two distinctly different gasps, and then feels the gentle pressure of a hand on her shoulder. A slightly deeper, calming voice calls her name and while she knows she heard it very recently, the memory of its owner is just out of her grasp.
“Thea, it’s Grayson, can you hear me?” the soothing voice asks, Grayson’s voice. A soft grumble sneaks past Thea’s lips and she hears him sigh heavily in relief.
“You’re at Prescott Industries. Dax, Santiago, and I are here with you. You came back home, Thea, and you’re going to be ok,” he states with a quiet confidence and she can’t help but believe him.
Her mind is going blank again. She feels herself slipping back into oblivion, but just before she does a nagging thought manifests itself from the growing darkness.
Did I make it back to Kenji?
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He stares at his phone in utter disbelief; surely his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Twenty-one missed calls and seven voicemails?
Kenji didn’t normally opt for a communication black-out while at his dojo, but today he wanted to cut out as many outside distractions as possible. He had turned off his cell phone, taken out his ear-bud communicator, and blasted his workout mix in an attempt to focus completely on working out and not on her.
According to the vast number of notifications on his phone when he turned it back on, he couldn’t do that without some kind of hell breaking loose.
He is about to check his voicemails when his phone begins to ring and Eva’s caller ID flashes across the screen.
“Hey Slow-Mo, what’s shakin’?” he teases, trying to soften the blow of the bad news he assumes will follow.
“About time you answered, Katsaros! We all tried calling you-“
“Over twenty times, yeah I see that. I had my phone off while I was working out,” While I was trying to forget about Thea. Eva lets out a loud snort and Kenji swears he can hear her eyes rolling before he continues. “So what was so important-“
“She’s back, Kenji. Thea’s back.”
Kenji’s breath catches in his throat and his heartbeat quickens.
Could it be true?
Did he hear her wrong?
Was he dreaming again?
“Yo, Bronze Boy, did you hear me?” Eva’s voice pulls him from his thoughts and another idea occurs to him.
“Yeah, I’m here. You know, if this is a joke to get back at me for-“
“It’s not a joke, Kenji.” She insists, her tone growing more serious.
“That’s just what someone playing a practical joke might tell you,” Kenji quips, still too afraid to allow himself to feel hopeful.
“Listen Metal Man, I couldn’t care less if you don’t want to get your stupid bronze butt down here to the Clock Tower, but seeing as you’ve been pinning for her the last two years, I thought you might want to be around when your girlfriend wakes up,“ Eva retorts, slightly aggravated.
Kenji hears Eva begin conversing with someone in the background and soon a new voice sounds in his ear.
“Kenji, it’s true,” Rochelle assures him. “Thea’s back. Dax and Grayson found her a little while ago and are bringing her-“
Kenji doesn’t hear the end of her explanation; he’s already hung up the phone. The towel that had been resting on his shoulder falls to the floor, forgotten, as he rushes out the door wearing nothing but his workout shorts.
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She’s so beautifully tranquil lying on the exam table in the Clock Tower. With two blonde braids crowning her head and a long rose colored dress draping perfectly over her curves, Thea reminds him a little of Sleeping Beauty.
If he were to kiss her, Kenji wonders, would she awaken?
Or would he be the one to wake, alone and disappointed once again?
He’d been sitting next to her for the past several hours, watching her chest gently rise and fall, listening to her soft, almost whistle like snore. And still, he couldn’t quite believe this was real, that she was real.
The room had been filled with excited, yet nervous energy less than an hour ago. Dax and Hazel ran numerous tests, grumbling every so often about him being in the way. But he’d refused to move, wanting to be the first face she saw when she woke up.
Theories of where she’d been, how she’d returned, and how she would react to being gone two years were thrown around endlessly, but Kenji hadn’t paid much attention. In that moment, he didn’t care about the answers, only the fact she had returned to them, to him.
Instead, he studied her face, noticing subtle new lines in her forehead and small bags under eyes. She looked older, more tired than she had in the pictures he’d stared at daily during her absence. After all of the turmoil of the past couple years, he imagined his appearance might have change similarly.
Finally, once she’d been thoroughly examined and fussed over and Hazel deemed her stable, Kenji had convinced every last one of them to leave. It was late and they would all need their energy in the coming days to deal with the aftermath of her return.
He promised to call them all, starting with Rochelle, if she woke during the night. However, if she was as happy to see him as he was to see her, he knew that would be a hard promise to keep.
Now he is simply watching her sleep and trying to fight a losing battle with his own exhaustion. He contemplates touching her, feeling the warmth of her hand in his again, but every time he reaches out for her, his stomach twists violently into knots.
What if this really is only a dream and as soon as he brushes a finger against her soft skin she evaporates into thin air?
Suddenly, Kenji watches a shiver run down her body and realizes the temperature had dropped drastically from when he’d first arrived.
Slowly he stands and, pushing his doubts aside, gently slides his arms under Thea’s back and legs. At his touch, she curls into him almost instinctively and he hears himself release a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Maybe his dreams were finally a reality; maybe the woman he loved really had returned.
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Moonlight streams through the large window of the Clock Tower, illuminating two figures sleeping face to face on plush couches pushed together to create a make-shift bed. The smaller figure, a woman, stirs ever so slightly.
This time as she drifts awake, Thea feels a distinct warmth and pressure on one of her hands. Slowly her eyelids glide open, revealing the source of the feeling; a large, strong hand rests heavy on top of hers, their fingers lightly intertwined. Slowly her eyes drift upward, over the muscular chest of the hand’s owner, until they reach a face.
Excited and hopeful butterflies flit around her stomach as a tiny gasp escapes her lips.
Sleeping peacefully in front of her is the man she believed she’d never see again.
Kenji.
Is it truly him? Had she succeeded in changing the future?
Memories of the past twenty-four hours flood her mind.
She was sitting in the Clock Tower with Poppy, sobbing uncontrollably, when a bright white light engulfed her. When the light faded, she found herself back in the Prism World, in front of the portal, her hand still grasping her necklace. Shocked and confused, she sprinted to the home of her birth family where her mother explained the time reversal abilities of the stone in her necklace.
Thea had wished for a different past and the stone had granted it, transporting her to the moment right before she made her ill-fated choice. She had rewound time and didn’t plan to squander this chance to make things right.
Instead of trying to activate the portal on her own, she’d anxiously waited until every last check had been completed the next day. That same afternoon, she bid bittersweet goodbyes to her Prism World family and made the dimensional jump once again. Now, it appeared she had returned to her true home.
She had returned and Kenji was alive.
For a brief moment she is elated by this revelation, before a dark thought clouds her mind with doubt.
What if this is just another dream?
Her heart beats fast and the butterflies in her stomach turn nervous as she focuses on the man in front of her.
His face is relaxed now, but Thea can see it saw more than its fair share of worry and sorrow, giving him a worn out and slightly more mature appearance. The moon casts a glow across his chiseled abs, causing her heart to race for an entirely different reason.
His touch feels real and his appearance is vivid, yet she can’t quiet the skeptical voice in her head.
This could all be too good to be true.
It always was before.
The hand holding hers twitches and she gives it a gentle squeeze. Warmth she hasn’t felt for years washes over her and a tiny glimmer of hope breaks through the doubt.
But what if this isn’t a dream?
Hesitantly, she reaches out with her free arm and touches his cheek ever so softly. Short, rough stubble tickles her fingers as she traces his jaw line. Her eyes wander back to his bare chest and her hand follows, slowly caressing his pectoral muscles.
“Like what you see, darling?” His voice is low and teasing.
Her heart skips a beat. She pulls her hand away quickly, her gaze shifting upwards. His silver eyes sparkle and a small grin plays on his lips.
“Kenji?” She whispers, the pitch of her voice rising somewhat.
Her faces must still show her uncertainty, she realizes, as his features softens and the affection in his gaze touches her soul.
“It’s me, Thea, I’m really here,” he reassures her tenderly, giving her hand a soothing squeeze.
As a content smile spreads across her face, she feels the exhaustion threatening to overwhelm her again. She musters all of her remaining energy into closing the gap between them, but her muscles are unwilling to cooperate. Instead she merely manages to fling her arm across his back and roll forward onto her stomach.
“Woah there, Little Bird, let me help you out,” Kenji says, chuckling softly.
Thea feels his strong arms wrap around her, pulling her close. She buries her face into his chest and the comfortingly familiar scent of chocolate and citrus fills her senses.
Her heavy eyelids droop closed, as soft lips brush a warm kiss to her cheek.
Wrapped in Kenji’s tight embrace, her muscles relax completely and she drifts back into a deep sleep, finally convinced she might be lucky enough to have a second chance with the man she loves.
