Volume II - Episode 76 Where: Cologne, Germany When: 1 month and 12 days after E-Day, 1:53 pm The bright light faded. A strange buzzing/crackling sound filled the air. Ahead of him was a face; one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen in his life. "Are you an angel?" he asked, croakily. The face beamed a beautiful smile. "Oh, he's American! Did you hear that, Mamma? He called me an angel." A woman’s voice answered from somewhere nearby. "You are an angel. You're my angel." Rob's eyes adjusted slowly to his surroundings. He was not in Heaven, but in fact lying on a fold-out couch in a large, dimly-lit living room. The angel leaning over him was a young woman, around nineteen or twenty years of age, and judging by her accent and striking features eyes she was from Sweden or Norway. "I suppose I should introduce myself,” the girl said. "No, don't try to sit up. You had a really bad car accident. My name is Gabi, and these are my parents, Gunnar and Helen. My brother Levi is in the other room." Two older figures came into view. "Hello!" the woman, Helen, said cheerily. The man sat on the edge of the couch, being careful not to bump Rob's tender, and clearly broken, knee. Oh my God, what's wrong with me? What the hell happened? The man's face was calm and friendly, his voice gentle. "As my daughter said, my name is Gunnar. May I know your name?" "Robert. Robert Frazer." "You're American?" Rob nodded. "And you're from the Academy?" Rob nodded again. "Good, good. I was a little worried you might have been with the Hexenjägern, but Helen assured me, quite vigorously I should add, that you were not." Rob saw Helen smile. "She quite sensibly pointed out that Hexenjägern soldiers are not in the habit of smashing cars into their own armoured personnel carriers. Do you remember what happened?" “I…no. There was a car accident?" “Yes. We - my family and I - were on our way from Stockholm to Paris, to gather with all the other spellcasters at the Academy. We decided to stop in Cologne for a couple of nights along the way, to stock up on supplies and give my son Levi a rest from travelling. Travelling is…difficult for him.” “He has cerebral palsy,” Gabi explained. Gunnar nodded, then continued his story. “The city was deserted when we got here. We found this house, and decided to set up camp here. That night, we saw a light on in one of the nearby apartment buildings, on the very top floor. I suspect that was the building you came from?” Rob swallowed but said nothing. “We talked and talked about approaching the building, to greet whoever was living there and asking if they wanted to come to Paris with us, but in the end I decided it was too risky. On the 2nd night, the Hexenjägern stormed into the city. There was the sound of gunfire and explosions. The top floor of the apartment building exploded into flames, and then we heard tanks rumbling through the streets. A short while later, your station wagon came racing down the street, and smashed into a Hexenjägern APC parked right outside our house. It was too dark for me to see much, but Gabi saw you fly through the windshield and land in the Rhine on the other side of the street. We had to wait for the soldiers to leave before we could go rescue you. Helen dived into the Rhine and pulled you out. You were in a bad condition - bleeding, unconscious, lots of broken bones - so we brought you inside and have been taking care of you ever since. Well, Gabi has been taking care of you. So if you find that anything is still broken, you should blame her, and not me or Helen.” “Thanks, Pappa,” Gabi said. “I know deep down you are proud of your wonderful daughter. Deep, deep down.” “Meh.” Gabi laughed and mocked disappointment, then turned back to Rob. “You’ve been in…well, I guess it would be called a 'coma', since last Saturday. That was a week ago." [CONTINUED IN FIRST COMMENT]