When I heard the people caught in the cave-in had been rescued, I didn't wait. I ran straight to the clinic. I'd been there recently, after the ITF girl had hauled me to the clinic after ineffectively beating at and trying to pull down the rocks of the cave-in. They'd bandaged my left hand which had, surprisingly, become quite bloody, and the ITF girl told me, quite plainly, that I was not go back to the caves without an escort and, no, she wasn't escorting me.

It just wasn't fair. To find love with Coraline, and have her taken away? It just--

So I ran, and I was out of breath when I reached the clinic. And, fortunately, the people let me inside. And then I saw her. She looked... She looked hurt. But she looked alive. The rush of emotions almost made me crash.

"H-hey," I said, my voice cracking a little. I came forward, tentatively, looking at her for permission, worried that I'd hurt her more, and reached out for a hug.