They burst through the double doors of the hospital and rushed to the lobby desk, where a nurse was waiting.

"Nurse, we need help right away!" Lei said, gesturing to King, who was still unconscious in Marduk's arms. "He's lost a lot of blood, and he's very weak."

"Over here." the nurse said calmly, and led them to a gurney that a medical crew had brought in. Marduk gently laid King down on it, and as they swiftly wheeled it down the hall the doctor questioned Lei and the others on what happened.

"We found him chained to a tree." said Julia. "There was blood everywhere, but we couldn't find any wounds."

"He might've been hemorrhaging." said the doctor. He ordered his team, "Prepare for a transfusion." He asked King's friends, "Do any of you know his blood type?"

"It's A." said Marduk.

"Please wait out here." the doctor said once they reached their destination. He pointed to a bench outside the door. "I'll come out and talk to you when the transfusion is finished." We went in after his team and closed the door behind him.

Julia sat down and put her face in her hands. Armor King sat down beside her and put his arm around her. He could feel her trembling, and hear her shuddering breaths.

"Julia?" he said uncertainly.

"I can't lose him." she said quietly.

"Hey, you don't think I'm worried?" Marduk said, taking a seat at Julia's other side. "He's my best friend."

"He was so weak when we found him. He'd lost so much blood." The sight of tears running down her face made Armor King hurt. "What if he-"

"Stop." Armor King said gently but firmly. "We can't think of the possibility that he might not make it. We have to hope that he will make it."

"He's right." said Lei, who leaned against the wall. "We have to keep our hopes high for King's sake, and we can't do that if we think of losing him."

Julia nodded and wiped her tears away. "You're right. I'm sorry." she said. She rested against Armor King's side and took his hand. And when he pulled her closer, he realized he was no longer nervous. Maybe it was because they were all so worried about King. Or maybe, having spent so much time with her, his nervousness had lost its control over him. Whatever the case, he was finally feeling confident around the woman he liked, and he was almost happy.

Almost.

Inside, the doctors worked swiftly but carefully. After gathering the right amount of Type-A blood, they inserted an IV into King's blood vessel via needle. The heart monitor connected to him registered his heart rate, which was dangerously slow.

"Hurry, team." the lead doctor ordered. "He can't last much longer. He needs blood right away."

But right before the stream of healthy blood entered his veins, the green line on the monitor that showed King's heart rate flattened, and the steady rhythm of beeps became a single, unending one.

His heart had stopped.

The head doctor was alarmed, but wasted no time. He rubbed two defibrillators together and set the electric currant to a high level. He pressed them to King's chest, yelled "Clear!" and sent the electric shock through his body, hoping to restart his heart. But it didn't work. He tried it again, with the electricity set to a higher level, again without success. He restlessly continued the process for sometime, hoping against all odds to bring King back.

White light surrounded him when he opened his eyes. It was very bright, but not so much that he couldn't see. As his vision focused, he could see a white door several feet in front of him. With a grunt, he pushed himself to his feet.

He was in a large empty room. The walls, floor, and ceiling appeared to glow white. Turning around, he could see another door an equal distance behind him as the one in front. And he was all alone, not a single person was in the room besides himself.

"Hello?" he called out. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

The door across from him opened, and a woman entered. King didn't see her face at first because it was covered by the light of what appeared to be a vast white void behind her. The light faded as she closed the door, and King's eyes widened in realization.

The woman looked exactly like him. Tan skin, dark hair, green eyes. He knew who she was. He also knew that her standing before him now was impossible. But there she was. A smile broke out on his mask, and his eyes filled with happy tears.

"Mama." he said.

It was his mother, Primavera Mendoza.

"Hello, Rey." she said with a wide smile. She walked up to him, and mother and son embraced. King started to cry with joy, having thought he would never feel his mother's touch again. He didn't know how she was here now-he watched her die. But for the moment, he didn't have a care in the world.

Primavera pulled away and looked King up and down. "Oh, look at you, son." she said happily. "You're so big and strong."

"Mama, how are you here?" King asked. "You died."

Primavera's smiled faded and her face turned grim. "This is the division between Heaven and the living world." she said, gesturing to the room they were in. "Beyond the door I came through lies Heaven, and beyond the other, the living world. Your spirit is here now, while your body is still out there. You're here because your heart stopped before the doctors could begin the blood transfusion. They're trying to revive you."

This was undoubtedly a lot for King to take in.

"I mostly came to warn you, Rey. Listen," Primavera took his hands and looked him urgently in the eye, "you can't follow us."

"What?" The idea of losing his family again was too painful to bear. "Mama, I-"

"You can't die, Rey. Not now and not like this. It was too soon for Papa and me, and it's too soon for you."

King thought of all the little ones in the orphanage who were counting on him to keep it going, and all his fans in wrestling, and his friends who were waiting for him to be brought back, probably worried to death-and he realized Primavera was right. It wasn't his time. It was nowhere near his time.

For the sake of his parents and everyone else he held dear in the world, he had to be strong and move on.

"Alright, Mama. I won't follow you." he said.

"And Rey, promise me and Papa something." Primavera added. "Promise us that you won't grieve our deaths. That you'll live your life to the fullest to make our deaths count."

"I will. Of course I will."

"And always know..." Primavera's smile returned and she held King by the arms. "Always know that we're so proud of you."

King returned his mother's smile and hugged her, tears sliding down his mask.

"Te quiero, Mama."

"Yo tambien te amo, hijo."

King pulled away and walked toward the door behind him. He grabbed the knob, took one last look at his mother, and stepped back into the living world.

"Clear!"

The endless monotone beep on the heart monitor finally went back to a steady flow of beats per minute. The head doctor had succeeded in restarting King's heart.

"He's back." he said with obvious relief, and the energy in the room relaxed.

King opened his eyes, though his vision was a blur. He faintly registered the needle in his arm. He felt a liquid seep into his bloodstream. Then, gradually, his extreme weakness began to fade away. His vision cleared, and King could see the head doctor standing over him.

"Can you hear me?" he asked. King slowly nodded yes. "He's responsive." the head doctor said to his team. "Good work, everyone." He turned back to King. "Would you like to see your friends now?"

King nodded again, even managing a small smile. He was absolutely eager to see Marduk, Julia, and even Armor King again. The head doctor stepped out into the hallway, where everyone was waiting. They stood up, anticipating his announcement.

"He made it." he said. They all heaved sighs of relief. "You can see him now."

"I have to go, actually." said Lei. "Places to go, crimes to solve. I'm glad to have helped you."

"We're thankful for your help." Julia said. The she, Marduk, and Armor King entered the room. The team of doctors walked out so they could see their friend in private.

"King!" Marduk said happily, walking quickly to his friend's side. "Thank everything, thank everything you're okay!"

"We were worried sick." Julia added. "How do you feel?"

Instead of answering her question, King said what he was thinking.

"I saw my Mama."

His voice was still weak, but his friends managed to pick it up. "You did?" Armor King asked.

"I was in a white room with two doors. One led to Heaven, where she came from, and the other led to here, the living world. She told me not to follow her and Papa, that it wasn't my time. I couldn't bare the thought of losing them again, but I remembered I had people who cared about me, like you guys, and I knew I couldn't just leave you like that. So I went back to the living world."

"Wow." said Julia, and Marduk and Armor King nodded in agreement, looks of awe on their faces.

Nothing more could be said to describe what King had experienced.

King closed his eyes, feeling tired again.

"We should let him rest, guys." Armor King said. Julia and Marduk got up to go, but Armor King lingered, watching his rival. Actually, it didn't feel like they were rivals anymore, at least not in a bitter way. Armor King leaned in close to King and said softly,

"You"ll never lose your parents, King. You never have. They'll always be with you. No matter what."

He left, leaving King smiling with genuine happiness at what he had just said. He could almost hear them say to him in his head,

"Siempre estaremos contigo, hijo."