The next few days were an odd mix of flying by extremely fast and not wanting to end, or at least it seemed like that to North.

Training himself, helping the Lieutenants who Ala had trained previously, helping the other soldiers with their training, going on salvage missions with soldiers, talking with Kimball about the reconstruction of the city. All of that made the time fly by incredibly fast.

But there were the times where he had moments to himself, like during the night when he was trying to sleep where the minutes stretched to hours, and hours seemed to stretch to days—or at least it felt like that.

He never really had been one who suffered from insomnia, but given what happened not even a week ago, he guessed it could be understandable that he wasn't really up for sleeping. Suffering from insomnia in such a situation was a reasonable thing, although it was not a very healthy experience.

Sighing, he closed his eyes and at least tried to doze for a while to at least get a rudimentary amount of rest.

North was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Mac turned out to be Ala, and that she was still in an artificial coma and fighting for survival in the infirmary. Not to mention that they still weren't allowed to visit her.

Well, that was understandable on one hand. He would rather not visit her if it meant that he wouldn't endanger her life. He didn't want her to die or have massive problems after healing by being so selfish and visiting her although the doctors had said no.

Closing his eyes, he searched his brain for better memories of their time together from about ten years ago, and tried willing himself to sleep with them.

After more than two weeks since Ala had gotten injured, Dr. Grey informed them that they would try to wake her up.

The wounds were healing up nicely so as soon as the medication was lessened enough and she was out of the dangerous phase of waking up, people would be allowed to meet her.

But they would have to wear masks and gloves just to be safe as the wound was still healing. And, of course, nobody who was sick or had a cold would be allowed to visit her. And not everyone could go in at the same time. Three people tops were allowed.

It took about twelve hours until the medication was reduced enough for her to not be in immediate danger anymore. She was still sleeping, but Grey said that this was because of the remaining medication in her system. This would wear off in the next few hours and she should wake up.

Each and every member of the Blood Gulch Crew was standing outside of the room, all of them proceeding to get ready. First of all, Tucker and North insisted that the others should go and visit her since both men obviously wanted to stay a bit longer and having the others wait wasn't really nice. It was preferable to let the others go in first and take your sweet time upon entering last.

Carolina and York went in first, coming out about fifteen minutes later. It was strange staying beside someone you hardly know in York's case, or who was still unconscious and wouldn't answer.

Next were Doc, Donut, and Caboose, with the two former guys making sure that the latter wouldn't set something on fire.

The third group consisted of Simmons, Grif, and Sarge, the leader of the Reds accompanying the two to make sure Grif wouldn't eat something he shouldn't and to shoot him should he find him doing so. Simmons would be able to check her cybernetics when not having to watch Grif all the time.

In the end, there was Wash, Tucker, and North entering the room.

There was a chair beside every side of her bed and North immediately took up the chair on her right side, carefully reaching out for her hand to cover her small and pale one with his big one. It was always such a big difference. For being so tall, she was still frail and small, having delicately formed hands and limbs. She was not broad and muscular as he was. She was more the one to be agile and nimble, landing her hits with not much force but with high accuracy.

On the other side of the bed, Tucker sat in the chair with his shoulders slumped. He looked as tired as North felt.

Wash didn't look much better. North suspected that the two of them had been up all night because neither was able to get some sleep.

Junior was currently undergoing another health check, but Tucker promised the young alien that he and Wash would take him for a visit later on. Dr. Grey wanted to be sure that whatever drug the Sangheili had gotten from Felix wouldn't affect him in the future.

North braced his head on his free hand and closed his eyes, subconsciously searching for her pulse.

The beeping sound of the machines she was hooked up to was enough for him to know that she was alive, but still. It was like a second confirmation that the machines weren't just beeping away to another pulse and Ala here was already long dead.

For the first time, North dared to look at her face.

There was the low sound of an artificial lung doing the breathing for her. There was a tube sticking out of her mouth. The oldest of the Freelancers was positive that this oral airway went down her throat and was keeping the airstream into her lungs steady.

There were bandages around various places on her body. Many of them weren't visible since they were hidden by the tracksuit pants and the shirt she was wearing, along with the blanket pulled up to her chest, but there were some patches on her face such as the one covering a split eyebrow and a broken cheekbone. There also was one on her arm, as Felix had landed a hit there with his knife.

She looked so pale and miserable, not like he remembered her.

North remembered her being vivid, happy, and always having this special spark in her eyes.

Now she was lying still, almost as though she were dead, her hand eerily cold and her chest almost not moving when the artificial lung pumped oxygen into her lungs.

Looking up, he could see Tucker sitting there and regarding her face with a strange blend of anger, tiredness, and sadness.

What surprised him the most was when the aqua-clad soldier suddenly spoke up. His voice sounded hoarse and husky, obviously from crying if the red-rimmed eyes were any indicator and not just from the lack of sleep.

"You better be waking up soon. I have some shit to give you back, like the rubber bullets you used to shoot at me at the digging site." He drew a shuddering breath.

Wash, who was standing behind the chair and had both of his hands on Tucker's shoulders squeezed them gently to comfort the young male.

Tucker then continued, "Junior is up and well, thanks to you. But he wants to say thank you himself. When you are awake and doing well again."

The last words were bit out and Wash's grip on Tuckers shoulders became a bit tighter when he noticed that the dark-skinned man again was fighting with his tears.

"He doesn't want to see the corpse of one of his dearest friends and have to say goodbye after being reunited again after so long." He then bit out, tilting his head forward.

The shaking shoulders and the shuddering breathing gave away that Ala's adopted brother was fighting against his emotions again.

North had been observing the young male silently, not saying a word, just listening to what the young male had to say.

It was Wash who spoke up after a while, "Tucker, how about we go over to the room where they are checking on Junior? I'm sure he would be happy if you're with him for that."

Tucker only nodded and got up. Before turning around to leave, he again looked at Ala, "You better wake up, sis, or I'm going to get really angry."

North couldn't help but laugh at that. He doubted Ala would be really bothered about Tucker being angry if she was deceased, but he could reciprocate the feeling.

On top of that, North had once heard that, depending on the case, people could hear you in their coma and react to it. So if Ala had heard that, he hoped that she would move heaven and hell to wake up again.

Days passed again.

One, two, three… On the fourth day, Mac still hadn't woken up and that was dulling not only Tucker's and North's moods.

Wash sighed, lying on his back and keeping Tucker close. He was cuddled up closely into his right side, lying between the wall and the Freelancer.

Wash knew that the aqua-clad Sim Trooper wasn't sleeping, but he was lying still for once. His body looked tired enough, but his mind was wandering and preventing his body from falling asleep. That was why he was so still currently. His body was too tired to move and tried to get as much rest as it could, while his mind wandered and he was caught up in his thoughts.

Wash sighed deeply, slightly tightening his grip around Tucker's shoulders to keep him close. The thumb of his other hand, which laid on Tucker's hand on Wash's chest, stroked over said man's hand absentmindedly.

Wash too was suffering from insomnia again. His body needed the rest, which is why he was lying still too, but his mind was too riled up to sleep, although he was so tired currently that he felt like freaking out at any moment should something unexpected happen.

Luckily though, the war was over now and they were able to walk around without their armor on most of the time and the mood in the city seemed lighter in general.

Speaking of mood… He had heard that Mac's team had visited her in the hospital too, once or twice. It wasn't only the guys of Blood Gulch suffering, he realized, the city was too. She was a hero for them as much as Tucker, Sarge, Grif, Simmons, or Caboose were. Consequently, they were suffering for her too.

He had realized that there were a lot of flowers standing in a room nearby, as Doctor Grey still made sure there would be nothing in the room that could possibly endanger her.

Later on that day, Doctor Grey had ordered all of the people of the Blood Gulch Crew, Junior, and the four Freelancers in one of the anterooms in the hospital.

Everyone in the room was tense with anticipation, all of them knowing that Mac should be awake by now and the fact that she wasn't was worrying in and of itself.

"I am sure you all know why I called you here." She started, not the slightest hint of her usual cheery voice, just like the evening when they came back with Mach fighting for her life, "From the medication stance, she should have been awake long ago. The medication wore off already two days ago at the latest and the fact that she is not waking up has another reason."

All of the people were silent, but many of them already knew about what the doctor was talking.

"The reason why she isn't waking up isn't due to a physical cause. It's because of psychological issues. She either can't or won't wake up because there's something keeping her from doing so." Doctor Grey passed on saying that she probably didn't want to wake up anymore and wanted to stay like that for some reason.

She knew Mac herself and she had always been a fighter, which is why even she, against all medical rationality, wanted to believe that Mac would wake up again.

"In any case, the only thing I can ask of you, if you feel up to it, is to keep on visiting her. Talk to her, try to include her in your discussions. That's the only thing that could help her find her way back at the moment." She breathed in deeply before continuing, "I once had a patient who said that he was lost during the coma and only found his way back because his friends were often talking with him so he could find his way out of the labyrinth he was in. I hope it's the same in her case. It won't hurt to try." She concluded, letting the others process the information.

"So you're saying that she can't or won't wake up because there's something on her mind that keeps her from doing so? And talking maybe helps?" Simmons concluded, looking up, and Wash realized for the first time that the others were looking tired too.

Not as bad as North, or Tucker, or himself, but still tired. It seemed to have taken a toll on all of them.

She might have been a Blue, but she had been fighting with them since she joined.

She had helped Simmons get along with the girls better, would often shoo Grif out of the canteen to make him train the Lieutenants even if it meant that he was training the Lieutenants on how to break into the mess hall five minutes later with her still being around, had helped Tucker train and channel the energy of his grief and anger of losing Wash during the fight, made sure that Caboose wouldn't shoot someone or set something on fire by accident… She was doing the same things as the others did.

Tucker often helped Simmons, Wash, and Caboose too. Simmons often helped the others as well… et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Wash sighed. He really hoped she would be waking up again soon. Although he had the opinion that Mac was too much of a fighter to just die like that, he still had to think about that possibility. There was a slight chance that she would fall asleep and never wake up again.

Standing up after Grey left, he pulled Tucker with him, "Okay, then let's try that."

He could feel the glances of the others on him. Most of them were insecure and in search of leads.

"It's a chance, so let's try all we can to get her back." He intensified his grip around Tucker marginally. He didn't only want to comfort Tucker, he needed some comfort too at the moment. He needed some comfort and confirmation that he was doing the right thing.

Beside him, he could hear Tucker exhale too and how he pulled his shoulders back, "Okay, yeah, let's try it."

All the others nodded, soon after that they made up a plan so that almost all the time someone would be around Mac to make sure she wasn't alone upon waking up.

North was something like a constant visitor, Grey having organized a bed for him to sleep in so that he would not break his back by sleeping on the chair.

Now that the war was over, there weren't as many injured soldiers and people as during the war. Which was why Grey could allow someone staying for a change of pace, such as in North's case. At least she was the one who proposed that they all keep Mac company.

More than a month later, the status quo hadn't changed.

North was still sitting with Ala whenever he had the possibility of doing so. Wash, Tucker, and the others would drop by regularly, although Wash, Tucker, and Junior were the most frequent visitors besides North.

Besides caring for the woman still lying in the coma, they had other things to do. Reorganizing Armonia's social structure, rebuilding the city after it was almost completely destroyed, making sure the economy was properly set up and wouldn't break down within months from now on, amongst many other things.

There were negotiations to be had with the Sangheili and the scattered groups of Chorus-inhabitants to make sure that the planet will evolve evenly and without anyone being at a disadvantage.

There were the Sangheili as previously mentioned. Junior had contacted them some days ago, telling them that he had gotten captured by a rebel group and that he had been rescued by the Chorus United Federal Armies. He told them that he would like the leading Sangheili diplomats to meet him in Armonia to negotiate about the proper reward to give for the help of the Armonian army.

There were other things that Kimball had also mentioned, but first these things were the most important, all the other things could follow later on.

It was evening, soon turning to night.

Tucker and Wash were sitting on the other side of Ala where her cybernetics were. Grey had informed them that any surgery was set off until she recovered. Her body needed its strength to recover from her lung injury.

North suspected that there had to be several surgeries done in order to get her arm functioning again.

Anyways, Tucker and Wash informed him that they were getting some shuteye. Junior was saying something about wanting to put off the meeting with the Sangheili diplomats for as long as possible since he wanted to introduce Ala to them for having saved him.

North nodded, being able to understand that feeling perfectly well, although his hope of her waking up anytime soon faded with every day passing by that she didn't give a reaction to their interactions with her.

When the door closed, North decided to get up and lie down on the bed beside her to try to get some sleep since he had another day of organization ahead.

Theta was sitting on the pillow beside Ala's head, her face looking even paler when the violet hue of the Fragment illuminated her face.

It was silent for a moment, until Theta suddenly spoke up, "Do you think she's going to wake up?"

"I don't know, Theta." North sighed, turning on his side to watch the Fragment and Ala.

"I wish she would." the Fragment muttered with a crestfallen note to his voice.

"Me too, buddy, me too." North muttered, rubbing his burning eyes. They had started burning sometime during the last few days due to exhaustion.

"Would you mind if I try something?" the Fragment suddenly asked, looking up and directly at North.

"You have anything particular in mind?" North asked, regarding the Fragment with surprise and curiosity.

"Yeah, but I prefer trying it out before telling you. There's still the possibility that something could go wrong." The young Fragment explained, standing up and staring at the face of the woman, "I just want to try it. I want to make sure we tried everything we could." He explained, kicking an imaginary pebble.

North looked over to the bed where the two most important people in his life were standing and respectively lying.

A contemplative frown appeared on his features as he was thinking about Theta's idea.

There was a possibility that it could work. There was also the possibility that it wouldn't work out or one of them would take damage.

But if they didn't do something, Ala might never wake up and they would beat themselves up for the rest of their lives that they didn't try everything possible. Theta was right.

"Okay, do it. Just take care of yourself and her. You're responsible for her until you return, okay?" North then agreed with the Fragment's idea.

"Okay, I will." The Fragment replied, turning around and staring down at the face of the black-haired woman.

North could see that the figure of the little guy started to fade until he was completely gone.

However, he didn't feel the prickling in the back of his head that he usually did when Theta returned into his very own part of North's mind where he would be whenever he wasn't showing himself.