He probably passed out again, seeing how when he opened his eyes again, he was in a hospital bed. The beeping of the machines around him gave it away pretty quickly, and then it was the smell of disinfectant and flowers. He tried to sit up in his bed, but the wires plugged on his chest and arm pulled at his skin, which made him wince and fall back on the mattress. He pulled the covers off him. His knees had been bandaged, and he had a few more stitches and bandages on his torso and legs. It seemed like he was more banged up than he had previously thought. The adrenaline and shock probably attenuated the pain.

He could feel pressure on his head, and pat around it, realizing his head had also been bandaged.

He looked at the window, next to where a bouquet of flowers had been placed, sitting comfortably on a small black leather chair. The curtains had been closed, probably for his intimacy, but he could still hear the chirping of a few birds nearby.

A nurse entered the room, and she smiled softly as she saw he was awake.

"Oh, hello there. You've slept quite a bit, young man. A few days, actually." She said in a quiet and reassuring voice, taking a notepad out in front of her.

"Can you hear me properly?"

Green nodded.

"You fractured your skull and torn an ankle when you fell, and you have a few scratches and burns over your body. Do you still feel any pain or discomfort?"

He shook his head.

She smiled. "It seems the morphine is working well, then."

She walked up to him and handed him a piece of paper.

"Another patient, the one in the room next door, asked me to give this to you."

Green grabbed it, and thanked the nurse, his voice hoarse. He had trouble speaking, it seemed.

The nurse walked off, and she stopped before closing the door. "If there's anything happening, there's a little red string you can pull on, it's at your side, here, next to the heart monitor." She pointed to a red wire that was hanging from the ceiling. "When you pull on it, a nurse will come help you."

"O-okay.." he answered. The nurse smiled, and walked away, shutting the door behind her.

Green was now alone again in the calm, warm room. He looked at the paper the nurse gave him, and gently unfolded it. The writing seemed uneasy, like the person's hand was shaking violently as they were writing the note.

"I know about the Changers."

Despite the scribbly handwriting, Green could still guess who had written that.

Black. Where was he?

Green sighed, and looked back at the flowers. They looked freshly picked. Did his parents bring that to him while he was asleep?

He looked around for a clock, or any sign of what time it was exactly. Nothing. How long had he been out exactly? The nurse said a few days, but how many days exactly?

He closed his eyes, and waited. While he didn't feel any pain, he still felt extremely tired. And bored.

He didn't even know how much time was passing as he was simply laying there on his bed, pressing the morphine button whenever the pain would start coming back, staring blankly at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts.

"I know about the Changers? What does that mean? As in, their death? Wouldn't that be obvious?"

At the thought of Carriah, Green's heart got tighter. And yet, why did he feel happier now than before, in an odd and satisfying way?

"Is that what Black is trying to say? Is there something happening with the Changers that people don't know about?"

He stopped, his eyes widening in horror as he realized something.

"Is… is this thing related to Red?"

He didn't know the girl as much as Black or Yellow, as he wasn't in her class, but he did know she never had a Changer, and that everyone liked making fun of her for it. Including him.

Something about this was off to him. Why would they make fun of her for such a stupid thing?

Yet, she deserved it, right? No.. she..

He could hear the beeping of his heart monitor get faster, in sync with the current flow of mixed emotions that was invading his mind.

"What the fuck? I don't get it?! She deserved it! She was weird, she… She…" he was so confused, why would he ever do something so mean, if not for a good reason?

She was just like them, there was nothing wrong about her. They were all bullying her, and for what?

He felt tears roll down his cheeks. She didn't do anything wrong. And now she was dead.

The door slowly creaked open, and Green looked to the left, wiping his eyes and sniffling.

"You're awake? Finally. I need to talk to you." A slightly muffled, low and naturally raspy voice came out of the frame.

It was Black. He wasn't in great shape, judging by the bandages on his face, hiding his left eye, nose, and parts of his mouth, as well as his neck, and the fact that he was in a wheelchair, indicating something happened to his legs.

"It's temporary, don't worry. My legs are just…" he stopped and sighed. "Let's say you could mistake them for well done steak."

He rolled inside, closing the door slowly, before pulling himself on Green's bed. Green noticed the man's arms were also covered in bandages. Black took notice of Green's stare, and scoffed. "It doesn't hurt, don't worry. I got a morphine patch before I could get out, nurse basically begged me to."

Green sighed in relief, and looked away. "I'm assuming you can hear me?" Black asked him. Green nodded. "I can't… talk very well… though.." he said softly, voice still raspy, as if someone had rubbed sandpaper on his vocal cords.

"S'alright, you won't need to talk much, I'll be the one doing that." Black said. "So, you might be wondering, what exactly is going on? How the fire started, what happened with Red, and what's the deal with the Changers?"

Green nodded. Pretty much

"Well, let me tell you one thing: Red is still alive."

Green gasped. She was? Then, was she found after Green was, or did the nurse simply forget to mention her?

"She's the one who started the fire." Black them said, a somber and sad look darkening what could be seen of his face. "But, don't go thinking she's the only one to blame.."

He scratched his bandaged arm, and sighed. "She did it because of us."

Green's breathing got deeper, his eyes wide. Because of them? Because of the bullying?

"But… you couldn't have known, nobody could have. And that's where the Changers come into play."

Green titled his head. The Changers? What part did they play in all this, exactly? Other than being the reason for Red being ostracized, of course.

"I think we were controlled by them, in a certain way. You've probably felt lighter, in an odd way, after Carriah was gone, right?"

Green nodded. "You also felt as if your head was full with water, or cotton, or something like that?" Black then asked.

Green nodded again. Was he saying that the Changers were mind controlling them? And that Green's headache was due to the mind control being gone?

"I've tried telling Yellow, but the nurses didn't want me seeing him, not even going in his room. Apparently, he's not in good shape."

Green shook his head. He remembered what his friend looked like a few days back.

"But hey, I'm glad I could at least tell you." Black then added, and Green could hear a hint of a smile in his monotone voice.

A few minutes of silence passed.

"Is… is there... anyone else... that survived?" Green asked.

Black shook his head. "No. It's only the three of us.."

He sighed. "Because we're still young, they'll probably give us CRT when we heal completely. You'll have to tell them you're not ready yet, when the nurse asks. You can't let them give you another Changer. You can't."

Green nodded. They were the only ones alive? "D-do… do you... know if… my parents visited?" He asked.

"I mean, they probably did, yeah, why do you ask?"

As a response, Green pointed to the flowers on the chair.

Black hopped back in his wheelchair, rolled to the window, and took the flowers in his hands. "That's odd, I didn't get any flowers."

He sighed and down. "My parents didn't visit at all. I don't think I had any visitors, actually, other than the nurses and doctors. No flowers, no cards, nothing at all."

He placed the flowers back on the chair, as gently as he could, and rolled back to Green's bed. "When you're able to walk, we should get out of here." He said, in a lower voice than before. Green frowned. "W-what?"

"You know what'll happen when we're completely healed, right?" Black asked.

"W-we'll… go back to college?" His throat was starting to really hurt. He should probably stop talking.

Black shook his head. "And we'll have to act as if nothing ever happened. And fall back under the Changers' control."

He stopped, and groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose, avoiding the bandage in the middle, with his thumb and index.

"We have to find Red."

He looked up and stared at Green. "We have to apologize to her. But most importantly, we have to tell her what we know.."

Green wrote the letter Y in the air with his finger. What about him? Would they leave him there? Would they wait until he heals?

"Y… Yellow? Well, we'll have to see. Let's just hope he gets better before we leave. We don't even know what exactly happened to him, anyway."

Green looked down. "I… saw him… after the fire…" he whispered.

Black gasped and hopped back on the bed. "What?? Really??"

Green nodded.

"Was he okay? Did- did he look okay??"

Green shrugged. "I… don't… know…"

He sighed, and shuddered, the image of the tall blonde screaming and sobbing in terror flashing in his mind.

"He… was in shock… his body.. was burnt."

He paused. "He… he was crying.."

Black stared at Green in horror. "Yellow? Crying? That's…" he paused, and breathed in. "What- what did he look like?" He then asked, a bit louder.

"One.. one of his ears… was missing… and… his right side… there was only... skin, no… no more hair…a-and-"

Green brought a hand to his mouth, body trembling as he felt tears swell up and roll down his cheeks once again. A ball of bile raised in his throat, and he swallowed it back down with difficulty. "He-he was bleeding… he didn't- the nurse said he couldn't hear very well... t-they had to sedate him because… he was panicking too much."

Black pulled back, and passed a hand in his hair. "Jesus, fuck… I hope he's alright…"

Green nodded, silent, as he kept sniffling and crying. Black sighed, and looked at his friend. He opened up his arms, and pulled Green into a hug. Green's crying only doubled as that happened, body shaking with his sobbing, tears staining Black's hospital gown. He felt the man wraps his arms tighter around him, body trembling softly, head moving down. He was probably crying too, judging by the noises above. They stayed in each other's arms for a while, letting all the emotions just flow out, without any restrictions. It was too much right now. It just has to be let out, Green wouldn't have known what to do otherwise.

A knock on the door was heard, and both boys pulled away from each other.

A nurse entered the room. It was a different one than the one Green had met before. "Hey Black. Shouldn't you be going back to your room?" She asked. She didn't seem as nice as the nurse who was taking care of Green. Her traits were harder, despite her looking younger than Green's nurse, she was taller and thinner than her. And her expression.. She looked… annoyed?

"D-do you mind if I stay here a bit longer? I wanna talk to my friend more." Black asked, wiping his valid eye with a bandaged hand.

The nurse sighed, and tossed a small packet on the bed. "Take this morphine patch when your friend's meal arrives. If you want to stay longer, I'll bring your meal to you."

Black nodded and took the patch, placing it on the chair.

"Do you know when Green will be able to walk again?"

The nurse turned to Green, and then walked to him, pulling the sheets away from his legs, looking at them closely. "I assume your legs were wounded?" She asked, then looking to the paper on the base of the bed. "Oh, your ankle was torn, and skull fractured?"

Green nodded.

"How long have you been here?"

"As… long as him…" Green said. The nurse gasped as she heard him speak.

"Oh, goodness me, my dear, don't talk too much. I'll ask your nurse if she thinks you're ready to get rid of your morphine. Looking at how little damage you've had, I'm sure you'll be alright with patches, like your friend here."

Green nodded, and watched her as she walked out of the room.

As soon as she was gone, Black scoffed, and sniffled. "My god, she's annoying. She kept telling me I wasn't allowed to talk to either your or Yellow, no matter how much I asked. She didn't even want me getting up." He chuckled. "In the first few days, she didn't even want me eating on my own, and I had to beg her so i could stop taking morphine in my arm. She didn't believe me when i told her it didn't hurt as much as she thought."

Green laughed softly.

"She also told me that talking to you could be 'problematic', whatever that means. Maybe she thought I was going to traumatize you with my look.." Black then added mockingly, pointing to his bandaged face. "Had to practically twist her arm to just let me get in your room. I mean, who does she think she is? Am I not allowed to see my wounded classmates?"

Green sighed. It honestly was nice to talk to someone else. He wasn't as close with Black as he was with Yellow, but nonetheless, talking to him made him feel better. It was also reassuring to see that somehow, he hadn't changed much. He was still as grumpy and cynical as he usually was, only difference now was that he was a bit more on edge.