*RING*

———

——

—

*RING*

They both went silent for a little, Ace shocked by the noise coming from his phone and Aliza shocked by the unfamiliar sound.

That was the loudest ringtone he’s ever heard.

The sound wasn’t turned up or anything but... it caught his attention so fast that his ears just wouldn’t listen to anything else.

“A...”

“Ac...!”

“Ace!”

He couldn’t notice her yelling at him because of the sound of the ringtone overpowering every other sound.

“Ace! What does the sound mean?”

Now snapped back from trance, he properly responded to Aliza.

“Someone is trying to contact me...”

“So, what are you just sitting there for?! Answer it!”

Ace knew he had to, but he was so in shock that he forgot to.

Ace grabbed the phone and pointed the screen towards his face to see the word “Mom”, illuminated at the top of the screen.

He brought his unused hand towards the screen and pressed the green accept button.

Before he could bring the phone to the side of his ear...

“ACE! IS THAT YOU! WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU HURT?”

“Mom!”

His dried-up tears welled up once again, this time as tears of joy in reaction to the voice he wanted to hear so badly.

“Is it really you... you’re okay?!”

Relieved to hear the extremely familiar voice next to his ear, he spoke slowly as to calm himself down from the panicked state he was in just a few seconds before.

“What are you talking about! Stop stealing my lines! I’ve been worried sick looking for you. What happened?! Where have you been for the past day?!”

“Who cares about that right now! You’re okay!”

His happiness took over every other emotion he was feeling.

The tears kept flowing in unison with every word that came out of his mother’s mouth.

“Who cares about me?! Thank god you’re okay! Are you sure you’re not hurt anywhere...”

“I’ll explain everything once you and dad get home. But before that...”

“Mom, quick question... did you already call the police?”

“Yes, of course! You were gone for a whole day!”

“Could you tell them I just stayed at a friend’s house? I don’t want to get them involved.”

“Ok... but, please explain properly. You can’t just run off on your own for a whole day without saying anything. I’m your mom... talk to me before doing something like this.”

“Haha... I’ll make sure to, next time... just come home please.”

He couldn’t blame her for thinking he ran away. He disappeared without saying anything, who wouldn’t come to that conclusion?

“Ok, I’ll be home in 15 minutes, I have to get your dad and we’ll be home. You better not go anywhere!”

“I won’t... I promise... not yet... at least...”

He whispered the last part under his breath, but his mom caught a little bit of what he said.

“What does that mea--”

And he hung up the phone.

His happiness took a plunge after recalling that he would only be seeing them for one day.

“*sigh* One year, huh?”

He stared up to the ceiling as he started to think of the year ahead of him.

Before he could get too lost in thought, he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there to help you out...”

It was reassuring to hear Aliza’s voice right now.

She really was reliable... too reliable.

Ace felt like he didn’t deserve her, but he received her help, so he made sure to thank her.

“Thank you... and sorry, because I’ll probably keep relying on you for a while.”

Aliza gave a smile back to Ace.

“Don’t worry about it, one boy my age isn’t too much work. You’re also fun to be around so the work pays off.”

“But really... this world looks so much different from mine.”

“Humans have made a lot of progress over the centuries. I wish I could’ve shown you more but... I’m sorry, I can’t focus on you today.”

“It’s okay... I wouldn’t make you waste your time doing something like that when you can only be with your parents and friends for one more day.”

“We do have about 15 minutes so I can show you some stuff while we wait. Here, look at this...”

He turned on his game console and turned on a gun game.

“You use these devices to control the person in the game and kill the other players.”

He handed the controller to Aliza...

Only to get it swatted out of his hands, her face a shred of scared and disappointed in Ace.

“That’s horrible! Don’t give me that! Using other people to kill others just for enjoyment! You’re horrible!”

“Calm down, calm down, the people aren’t real, just think of them as illusions.”

“Tell me that from the start... I thought you were going to make me into a mass-murderer.”

“Sorry, I’ve never explained it to someone, people usually know it’s fake. Here, try it.”

He picked up the controller and handed it over to Aliza once more.

“The weapon you’re holding is similar to a bow but, much faster and much more deadly. You use this button to aim and this one to shoot.”

Aliza started to play the game.

“This is amazing! Who would’ve thought a killing game would be so fun!”

“Told you!”

“This technology is amazing! The most we have in the other world is magic items but those aren’t nearly as good as this!”

“Haha... my world is pretty advanced.”

Just as they finished the game...

The front door to Ace’s house was opened.

“Ace! Are you here?!”

Ace felt a rush of relief come over him now that he actually heard the voice of his parent in person.

But before he could bask in that relief...

He spoke to Aliza quietly.

“My parents are here... I want to explain everything to them so stay here for a little. I’ll bring you out later to show them I’m not lying about the whole situation.”

Aliza nodded her head in response and sat on Ace’s bed, obeying Ace’s orders.

Ace quickly stepped out his room and closed the door, nodding back at Aliza before shutting it fully.

He ran down the stairs to confirm his parents were really there.

And he saw them.

The woman a little shorter than him who usually had her hair into a ponytail over her shoulder and the athletic man with messy, black hair who always had a calm, relaxed attitude.

These were his parents.

They were nothing like they usually were, both having an extremely worried expression on their faces.

His mom’s hair was not tied into a ponytail, it was laid out across her back and her face looked extremely worried, natural for a mom who hasn’t seen her son in a whole day, not knowing where he was.

His dad’s hair was also messier than usual, and his face expression was identical to his wife’s. Ace never would’ve thought he would see the day when his dad made a face like this, but here it was.

Before he could analyze anything else...

*Hug*

2 sets of arms wrapped around his body. On his right side was his mother’s and on the left was his father’s.

“Where were you? Don’t ever make us worry like that again.”

His mom also looked she was going to say something, but she was crying too hard to get anything out.

Ace also had a few teardrops dripping from his face.

He wrapped his arms around his parents, embracing the parental warmth they shared with him.

“…”

“Mom... Dad... I’m home...”

And his dad hugged him even tighter than before, giving him no room to breathe.

A relieved smile came on Ace’s face as his dad squeezed his body.

“Dad... I can’t breathe..”

“Who cares about that right now! You’re safe! You’re okay!”

His mom slowed her tears down and removed herself from Ace.

She gave a small, relieved smile directly towards Ace’s face.

“Welcome home... Ace...”