He joined into the chant as if it was natural to him, his gaze fixed on his possessed not-loser-dad, a big lump in his throat. He would have liked to spend some more time with him. At the same time he could not wait to come home to his mom. She was probably worried sick. If time had passed in their universe as it had in this. He remembered his mother had once read Narnia to him, the kids coming home after years, to find no one had missed them because only minutes had passed in their world.

His thoughts were delayed by the static, the tingling all over his body, the shift. The ground felt different, and he fell, his knees weak for a second. It felt right immediately. Something made him feel like this was the right earth, like the ground beneath him was so much more stable then in the different universe. He belonged here. He smiled and got to his feet. Felix had not failed them.

That's when he heard the sound, a croaking sound, only interrupted by wheezing gasps for breath. The same sound the hellish ghost girl from the grudge made…(He had watched that movie with some of his mates, and he still sometimes wished he hadn't). It gave him the chills. He turned on his heals only to see Felix, crumpled in a heap on the floor. His heart skipped a beat.

‚Felix!?' He rushed over to his old friend, Sam's ‚What's going on?' hanging in the air.

He reached out, his hand sliding under Felix shoulders, lifting him from the floor into more of a sitting position, somewhat hoping it would ease his breathing. Felix was emitting heat like an oven. A fever? From casting the spell maybe, the picture of Felix fainting after healing their mothers popping into his head. They couldn't just catch a break after the emotional rollercoaster that just had been on, could they?

Andy sat down on Felix other side, gently taking his wrist, intently staring at his watch. ‚His heart is racing', Andy exclaimed, his eyebrows raised high in bewilderment, ‚His pulse is totally of. And the fever…'

‚What's wrong with him?' Sam had come up behind him, leaning over Jake's shoulder, supporting himself with his hands on his knees, to catch a glimpse of Felix. He ignored the question. If he only knew.

Jake rose his free hand to Felix face when he saw his eyes shifting rapidly beneath his closed eyelids, wanting to give his friend some sort of comfort, his own chest strangely tight. He knew that feeling. He had it whenever his mom was sick from working so much. His train of thoughts was harshly interrupted though and he pulled his hand back immediately, staring in disbelieve at his reddened fingers. ‚I burnt my hand…. Touching him burnt my hand!' The other two looked at him, the situation rendering them as helpless as they had ever been. Why couldn't they just come home? Why couldn't they be save and sound with their parents now?

Jake willed his panic down, he had to be practical. Panicking would not be of any use. He needed to help Felix. But the only one he knew that could help with this now was Felix. He pulled his shirt sleeve overs hand to isolate from the heat radiating off the pale face, and gently cupped Felix face. ‚Come on Felix, open your eyes for me.' His own voice sounded strange to him, he could not quite keep the panic out off it, which was unusual. He had trained to be his mothers rock in times of need so long, he had been sure to be better than this.

To his relief, Felix cracked open his eyes open, slowly and only to half-mast, but it was a start. The fire Element in his arms sucked in a painfully wheezing breath. ‚Are you'k?', he slurred,'S' the demon ‚ere?' Jake stared at Felix bedazzled. ‚What? No!' Felix looked and sounded like he was in an incredible amount of pain, and yet, he worried about them. ‚It think it worked! I think we are back!', Andy blurted out, while Jake gently caressed his face with his thumb through the fabric of his sleeve, trying to calm Felix down. And it worked, just a little to well, he thought, as he felt Felix going limp in his arms, his eyes rolling back in his sockets and falling shut. ‚No, wait!' He yelled, tapping Felix cheek urgently with two fingers, but to no avail. ‚Felix!' Andy squeaked, his level of anxiousness unsettling Jake even more, if that was possible.

‚Hang on dude!', Sam exclaimed, the silence following deafening. Jake wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel relieved that Felix stopped emitting the cracking noise, as his breaths sounded just as labored as before.

‚We need to get him help', Andy urged him out of his stupor.

‚Right. Sam, help me get him on my back. We should take turns carrying him home.'

Sam nodded eagerly, happy there was a plan to follow. They arranged Felix so that Jake could pick him up piggyback style, the movement of the chest and the warmth against his back and his breath against his neck giving Jake goosebumps, his heart stuck in his throat.

He only had to carry Felix lanky body for a few hundred meters though. Their fathers raced towards them, and while Andy and Sam were instantly in the arms of theirs, Mr Bates and Felix father gently lifted Felix of his back, raiding him with questions, while his loser dad firmly patted his son' s arms down as if to check if he was hurt to, something like the try for an affectionate gesture without actually knowing how to do that.

‚What happened to him?' ‚Did he fall?'…

‚I…', he had to swallow a few times, his throat suddenly to dry to speak. ‚He has a really high fever. I think he needs a hospital…' And then there were functioning Cellphones, a helicopter was called, Bates carried Felix to a clearing and Felix was whisked away. Out of his arms and away from his side, and it left an emptiness. That's not how it should be. They were back. Everything should be good know. Back to normal. Him being a Jock, Felix being the annoying Goth, whose big mouth constantly got him into trouble.

The rest of the day went by in rush, reporters asking questions they had no answers to, their mothers basically bundling them up after mandatory medical check-outs to take them home.

His mother coddled him, made him his favorite sandwich and hot chocolate, wrapped him in a blanket and held him close, and even though he felt to old for this, he savored it. He had a mother again. A mother who only had one man in her life: her son.

The only thing nagging on his mind was Felix, his family going through another hard time that they did not deserve.

‚Can I go see Felix in the hospital tomorrow?' ‚Sure honey. You two are friends again?' Jake only hummed in response. After this amount of batshit craziness, friends seemed to be the wrong word. Friends were his teammates. These two weeks had forged a bond that went further.

So... Sorry it took so long. thank you for the great feedback and all the subs! That made me really happy. I had a pretty rough couple of month and all the messages made me smile again and again. It took me four tries till I was halfway satisfied with the result. I hope you like it. I'll see if I find the creativity to continue. Tell me how you like it and if you have suggestions on how it should go on.
Cheers!
Scy