"You who?" Neo asked disrespectfully as he looked at the speaker standing by the door.
It was an angel.
At least, the person looked like an angel to Neo. They had platinum blond hair, brows, and lashes with smooth, fair skin. Their dressing was also angelic. It was white, from the top to the bottom.
"Senior, you're really awake…" They said with a gentle voice, coming closer carefully.
That was when Neo realized that the person was a man. Neo couldn't have known from the face alone, but his walking style, height, and body structure made it a bit obvious.
"I couldn't believe it when they told me, but you really are awake." He cautiously stopped in front of Neo. Then he stretched out his hand as if to touch him, but Neo slapped his hand away reflexively.
"Who are you?" he asked formally.
"Oh, Senior doesn't know who I am yet," his white cheeks tinged pink shyly as he scratched the back of his neck. "I'm actually one of your sync partners, Bryce Sterling."
This was the final shocking information that turned Neo's brain off after all the things he'd heard since he woke up.
'One of your sync partners…"
'One…'
'Sync partners…'
'Partners…'
Those words replayed in Neo's mind an infinite number of times as he zoned out.
Neo believed years of his life had chipped away by the time he was finally able to comprehend that sentence.
"What?" Neo opened his mouth in shock.
"Yes. Mr Sterling is one of your sync partners. You have three actually, and each of them have been doing a tough job of keeping you stable all these years." Dr Kenzie came forward to speak, aiding the introduction.
"Senior, I'm so happy you're awake." Bryce said and all the attention returned to him.
Neo studied his face and he felt that this sync partner of his was too beautiful and delicate. He didn't seem like a Hunter at all. He even looked like a weak omega in Neo's eyes.
"What Rank are you?" Neo asked, sounding like the overbearing boss he was.
"Oh, I'm an S-Class Hunter." Bryce said, and his electric blue eyes shone noticeably.
He was happy that Neo was showing interest in him, so he spoke without stopping.
"I'm actually an alpha too, though I get told that I look like an omega. I turned eighteen just last month. I wish you woke up then, so I would have celebrated my birthday with you. You're my favorite person, Senior. I always believed that you would come back."
With each word Bryce said, he gained more confidence to move closer to Neo and even grabbed his hand, placing it against his face.
By the time he was done ranting, one of Neo's hands rested on Bryce's cheek and his other hand was placed on Bryce's chest. Both were held very firmly by Bryce who was looking at Neo like he was some deity.
'He's way much stronger than he looks,' Neo thought.
"Um, yeah. That sounds good. Now, can you let go of me?" Neo said because he really couldn't retract his hands because of Bryce's death grip.
"But I want to hold you more." Bryce whined and Neo cringed all over.
He thought that this guy in front of him was not so normal despite his looks. He threw Dr Kenzie a look, so she could step in and stop whatever was going on.
The doctor also had an uncomfortable look on her face.
Despite that, she cleared her throat and said, "Mr Sterling, Mr Slater just woke up and is not yet in a condition where his body can be stressed. So it'll be much appreciated if you let go of him."
Bryce shot Dr Kenzie with a threatening look that made her step back and cast her head down.
Neo noticed the look and felt that this entire situation was really not normal by any means, and that he should treat this entire situation with heavy caution.
"Alright. I'll let go for now." Bryce turned back to look at Neo with an innocent smile, almost making Neo doubt if he was the same person who had a scary expression on his face seconds ago.
Bryce stepped away from Neo, but his eyes never stopped staring at him. Neo was a bit overwhelmed by his creepy gaze and scooted farther on the bed.
"I'd like to run a few tests on you to see what's going on in your body and brain that got you to wake up." Dr Kenzie requested.
Neo nodded, on board with the idea and ready to get away from his odd sync partner. But as he thought of tests, he remembered something.
Neo tried to summon his needle, but just like when he first woke up, it wouldn't appear. He switched weapons in his head and tried to make his gun materialize, but that didn't work.
He tried using his powers to materialize four other things in the span of ten seconds but nothing happened.
"I think there's something wrong with my ability." Neo announced.
•••
"Along with the other functions of your body that stopped working during your coma, your abilities stopped as well. But unlike the rest of your system, it remained dormant even after you woke up."
Professor Malcom, a middle-aged ability researcher in the lab department of the private hospital Neo was in, explained all of this after some tests were run with Neo's blood.
"Just like how it was before you unlocked the ability when you were young. It's there, but sleeping. I believe to unlock your ability again, you have to remind your system you have it. Or wait till it reawakens on its own." Professor Malcom concluded.
Neo felt like crashing out. His ability was everything. Without it, he couldn't be the strongest Hunter. Or the strongest anything.
"Is there any other way to get it back? A faster way?" Bryce asked in Neo's place after noticing that he was internally spiraling.
"Um, let me see." Professor Malcom pushed up his glasses and went through the report in his hand for a moment.
"Perhaps if he completely syncs with his partners, which is the usual way of unlocking the final potential of an ability user, maybe his powers will come back." Professor Malcom said.
Hearing those words, Bryce's eyes lit up and he turned to Neo and blurted, "Did you hear that? Did you hear it?"
Neo heard it, but he definitely wasn't having any of it.
Since the tests were over and there was nothing else to do since Neo was completely fine except for the fact that his powers were gone, he could leave the hospital.
"It's better to stay at my house." Bryce suggested to Neo.
The hospital had tried to connect with Neo's family, but they couldn't reach any one of them unfortunately.
"You're a stranger." Neo pointed out. Not only that, Bryce seemed like an abnormal stranger to Neo.
"I'm also your sync partner. I can't leave you all alone in the hospital. What if your family never comes?" Bryce said in concern.
"What? What does that mean?"
"Nothing. I just want to take care of you. Please, stay with me." Bryce's eyes turned sad.
Neo was about to decline again but Bryce continued speaking.
"All I've ever wanted in my life was for you to wake up. Every day, when I come to visit you, I wish that you woke up so that I can be with you. And now, you're awake. I want you to get better quickly because you're my hero and the strongest person in the world to me. Please…"
Bryce came closer to Neo, shoving his pretty face right into Neo's face. His eyes were glassy and he looked like he would burst into tears if Neo refused him again.
"... I guess I can stay for a day—"
"Yes!!!" Bryce threw his long arms around Neo without even waiting for him to finish.
The sudden hug was not so bad, Neo thought. Bryce was the right temperature and it had been a while since Neo had hugged anyone.
He didn't even know when he lifted his own hands to embrace Bryce back.