Wings of Change | Yuzuru Hanyu

16.

Joan woke up in a hospital bed. The lights were very strong on her eyes after being used to the dark while held captive.

She blinked trying to get used to the environment surrounding her. She heard a few voices in the room.

"She's waking up honey"

"Joan, darling?" 

Joan recognized the voices immediately as being her parents.

"Can we turn off the lights?" was the first thing she said.

"It's better this way, believe me. Just do it slowly" she heard her father say.

"it hurts my eyes"

"I know. Blink slowly"

Slowly Joan started getting used to the lights in her room and managed to look at her parents.

"Hey warrior" she heard her father.

"Hey guys"

"How are you feeling?" her mother asked.

"Numb, probably from the drugs"

"Better that than pain"

"Yeah"

"Sweetie, we need to talk. I don't expect you to tell me everything, but I need to know how bad it was" her dad told her. "You weren't supposed to be on active war"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't really think I would let them send you to danger, did you?

"But..."

"It was part of the deal, they could take you, but you needed to be protected."

"Dad, I'm grown enough to make my decisions"

"Did you ask to be deployed  that day?"

"No, but I was all they had, me and Lt. Colonel"

"Doesn't matter, you shouldn't even be in Afghanistan to start with. I'm getting you out of there"

"What do you mean? Dad, my degree..."

"Don't worry, you have enough on-field experience. Choose a University, you'll finish there. You're getting honorably discharged from active duty"

"Can you even do that?"

"Don't underestimate a General"

"Alright, that's enough military talk for today, she needs rest." her mother said.

Joan could see in her face that she was worried. Her mother never agreed with the decision to go to the Army, let alone be in a Warzone. She had a feeling her dad had heard the classic *It's your fault* a couple of times by now.

"Just one more thing. Dad, I want to go back to Toronto, for med school"

"Already made your decision? You can stay here, it's always closer to us"

"Yeah... don't be mad, but I prefer Toronto over the States. It was my chosen University anyways"

"You're the boss hun. I'll take care of it."

Joan's dad left the room to make some calls that she assumed were related to her situation. As much as the girl loved her parents, she was starting to get bored when she remembered Yuzuru. I should probably call him. she thought.

"Mom, did they send my phone back? I want to check with someone"

"Yes, give me a second. I'll go get it"

When her mother returned and gave her the phone, Joan connected the charger and turned it on. Several texts started dropping, but only when she saw Yumi's name, she realize that they were probably really worried about her.