Regression

"Thank goodness you are alright" He was sobbing and he didn't even realize what impact he could leave on her.

"I am sorry" She gently ran her finger in his hair.

She realized that he'd been through something that left him shaking still.

"You don't have to be sorry, It was just a test and all that matters is you are safe and sound" He forced himself back and wiped his tears.

"I need to find Emric" He rushed out and found Emric sitting with Ivy.

"So how are you doing?" Emric asked Ivy.

"I am fine I guess, you know crying for a year is better than crying all life" She winked.

He smiled when he heard footsteps running his way, as soon as he turned around Jayden hugged him tightly.

Emric stood straight for a couple of minutes then he patted him on the back "Okay… okay…" He raised his eyebrows while looking at Swan.

Swan shrugged then she held one of her wrists and smiled with awkwardness.

"Look, I am sorry that what you have just been through was no doubt something really painful but we have to talk about it, we need to prepare you, I have no idea what you experienced in the roots, so we need to go to Brigid" Emric sent Swan to bring Brigid while they wait out here.

After a while, Brigid arrived at the area where they had that tree,

She sat in front of the tree for a couple of minutes, and what happened next felt as if they are talking to each other, in a way no one else could hear or understand, the sight was giving more of an environment like a hi-tea in between them, as if two friends got together to relax and chit chat.

Only with their eyes closed, and mouths sealed shut, as if they are communicating through heart by heart.

In the meantime, Emric took Ivy and Henry to their homes.

So it left Swan and Jayden, waiting for Brigid to be done talking or whatever she was doing with that tree.

What they mostly had between them was silence, Jayden couldn't get what he experienced out of his head, and Swan couldn't get out of the spell of the way he held her.

It was nothing romantic, but his body language expressed a lot of care, which was enough for her at that moment, it left some strange sensation inside her, that embrace meant something.

She never thought she could matter so much to someone, and this is what she wanted forever.

She was avoiding eye contact and he wasn't talking to her, but then Brigid approached them.

Her expressions were neutral, she sat in front of them on a bench.

"I don't want to be discouraging but you need to get over the guilt that is eating you from inside! Your sense of guilt is your weakness! You realized too many things too late.

But now that you have realized you are clinging to them, that's not good, this will be your downfall!

See, what you experienced there wasn't just your test, it has fragments of the truth, but you have to learn to let go" She eased back as she had much more to tell.

"We got to know your strength too, and that is putting everyone first! This is something that might help you in the future, and I see that we don't need to prove that you are a Reegan, time will prove it for you." She was about to walk away when Jayden insisted to know more.

"You know I have no clue what happened in there, I need to understand! What kind of tests were they?"

"See Jayden, There are three stages, at first it pulled out your past and showed what it could have done to you if you haven't changed yourself.

Second, it tested you on how you will make up for your mistakes, so the decisions you made like sacrificing yourself to resurrect Emric was your own decision!" Brigid explained just two parts when Swan looked at Jayden with shock.

"See we don't know if this will happen or not, most of those parts were to test Jayden, others are just the fragments of the future, no one knows the future.

Well, the third part was to test if you are willing to do whatever it takes, to save the lives; of the people you love, of the people who are good" She glanced at Swan, and that's when she understood why Jayden was acting that way.

"You passed two of three tests" She later approached Swan and held her hands in her hands as she stood up.

"Now it is your job to make him learn to forgive himself" She turned her face toward Jayden.

"And Jayden? Hold on to your friends." She smiled when a small spark of light flew close to her.

As she caught it with her hands it turns out it was a sparrow, just like the one Swan made when they were in the Sleet Kingdom.

That light disappeared in her palms and she turned her face away from both of them "I must go now!" She slightly tossed her head and walked away.

Then Swan walked him home.

On the way Jayden couldn't stay quiet anymore "Why are you looking at me like that?" Even though Jayden was staring at the path he was walking, he still felt her gaze stuck on his face.

"I was thinking how true she is!" She dug her hands inside her pocket "I'm talking about Brigid."

"You can blame me for that too!" His face turned long, as he pressed his lips.

"Yes, there's a fire in the forests of California just because you made a mistake!" Swan stopped walking.

"What do you want me to do? Act as if I wasn't the reason behind Felix's death?" Jayden stopped walking too.

"No! I want you to stop blaming yourself for everything, Jade there's so much more to life than regressions, we make mistakes to learn, and we keep making mistakes until we take our last breath." She yelled but in a gentle way.

Jayden couldn't deny that she was right.

"I am sorry" All of a sudden she felt awful for talking to him that way, but she had no idea that her words helped him and maybe now he will be able to move forward, or at least he will try.