The Ace

"Hey, Ace! Are you awake?", the voice came from a stately woman with impeccable posture, her white hair done up in an impeccable bun, that spoke of seriousness and a no-nonsense way of life.

"Ughh...Yes, Samantha, I'm in here.", Ace responded, his head pounding from what he had just experienced.

"Have you…", the grandmother started.

"Please, not so loud…",Ace let out, lifting his head up slightly, wincing, then letting it fall back down, all while furiously rubbing at his temples, as if attempting to simply wipe the headache away, and then suddenly, the pain alleviated, rising up and away from his body as if it were steam.

"How are the pains today?", the grandmother started, her face a wall of stone, yet her eyes screamed of anticipation and a dash of hope.

"Better, surprisingly so, in fact, they are almost gone."And then, as if remembering something, he shook his head and whispered: "Maybe that guy was right?".

At this, the grandmother smiled, a crack in her impenetrable wall, and her eyes let out a single, lonely tear. "The treatment...Is it finally working?"

The boy smiled, he knew it wasn't but well… A perfect opportunity had appeared for him to make use of and as he had been taught, he did. "Yeah, I think so, I didn't want to say anything just in case but it's been getting better and better now for a while".

Ace had gone through regenerative therapy, the best money and her grandmother's extensive connections could get, it had honestly helped some, just enough for Ace to have short moments of clarity, but the pain was still there…

However, Ace knew there was a problem, he was unsure about what the shadow had done to his body but he knew that the doctors would want to research his body and if they found something weird, well, it wouldn't be the first story he had heard of mysterious patients that had miraculously recovered that suddenly disappeared.

He knew, however, that he, unlike all those other patients, had an easy way out of such precarious situation. "But, Samantha, I'm scared, I don't want them to do research on my body, just the thought of that…", Ace shuddered, partly faking it, yet some other part, well, the pain was finally gone, and he could now have a normal life.

"Don't worry Ace, no one will touch you, and if they do… It will be the last thing they or their families will ever do, I'll make sure they know that, so just rest, for now, I will call Doctor Tintenfisch, and he will make sure to set up the best physical therapy program he can. For now, your job will simply be to rest and recover your body."At this, his grandmother left, and Ace stayed laying on his bed, thinking of all that had happened.

'The pain is now gone, it happened just like he said it would, but I need to be careful, and test all aspects of this change slowly, ensuring that no one notices anything weird. For now, the best thing would be to go along with the physical therapy and follow the instructions of the Doctor, after, well we will see.'