Ash woke up sometime later when there was a knocking on his door. Wait… a knocking? Nobody ever knocked on his door; they always just yelled at him to get out.

He tried to wake up and open his mouth to allow the person to come in, but his throat was so dry that all he managed to make was a quiet groan. “If you don’t make any noise, I’m coming in.” A voice he didn’t recognize said to him through the metal door.

When he didn’t say anything, the voice let themselves in through the door. It turned out to be the only boy mage that never spoke ill about him. He nearly never spoke at all.

He saw Ash laying on the floor, half hidden by the scratchy blanket and said, “I come bearing gifts.” He held in his hands a crate that was full of things.

The boy frowned when he saw that Ash wasn’t saying anything. “You know, usually when people say hi, you’re supposed to say hi back.”

Ash just looked at him. He didn’t know what to tell the guy considering he couldn’t really talk at all. When he still didn’t say anything, his eyes opened wide in understanding.

“I brought water?” He asked him in a way wondering if that’s what he wanted. He moved his head up and down slowly, but that was all he could do.

He tried to hand the water over to Ash, but when he didn’t take the water, he just looked confused. “I can’t…” Ash croaked but couldn’t say anything else after.

“Oh…oh!” He said as understanding hit.

The boy carefully put an arm under his neck causing Ash to wince in pain. “Sorry.” He muttered and pulled the water to his lips.

After Ash had gulped down nearly all the water, he huffed and then said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m Eric by the way. You’re Ash, right?”