The Rise

 That night, after William made his way home from work, Riley was finally starting to wake up from his melancholic trance; returning to the joyful kid his parents knew him to be. Still in his room when his dad got home, Ellie stopped William before he could make it to Riley's room and relayed the information she got from the school so he'd know what happened before listening to RIley's version of the story.
After Riley and William talked it over, William reassured his son that he was not in trouble and in fact, was proud of Riley for handling the situation the way he did. Although Riley had his father's support in the situation, William had to remind him that not everyone feels the same way in this world; that some people don't like the idea of violence, even when it's justifiable.

The next morning after Riley got dropped off at school, the girl that he'd protected yesterday came up to him and introduced herself to him once he was in the building;
 "Umm... Hello. My name's Mary. I, uh- thank you for protecting me yesterday from that guy." She says feeling shy, having trouble holding eye contact. "Maybe...  we could be friends?"  Riley was genuinely happy to see that Mary was doing okay and was struck with a deeper sense of pride as this was the first time anyone had been so appreciative of his actions in all his time either as Spark or as Riley. When he stood up for her the day before, he knew that Mike was no threat, no child could pose any danger to someone with military training, even if his efforts as Spark were half-hearted. Remembering the warnings of the principal from yesterday, his actions, that now brought him joy seeped into his reply.
 "Sure! I'd like to be your friend. My name's Riley, nice to meet you, Mary."  Hearing Riley's response, and that he'd like to be friends with her, Mary seemed to feel a lot more relaxed; her tensed shoulders easing up, fixing her posture.

Riley and Mary spent the whole day together at school as they happened to be sitting next to each other in the same class. Throughout the day, he found out that Mary's parents were very protective of her; and when they'd heard that some child had protected their daughter when they were unable to do so, they were very grateful and suggested that Mary should get to know the kid. She'd gone along with her parent's request but she found herself nervous before talking to Riley, remembering how he acted the day before, during the whole ordeal; a melancholic shell of a human, and a little violent. But when she found out that that wasn't his usual state, and that he was generally a lot more joyful, she was happy with both her parent's request and that she followed through with it.

As the years passed by, the friendship shared by Riley and Mary would only continue to grow stronger, sharing more and more details about their lives and what they enjoy. At times, Riley even felt tempted to tell Mary the true nature of his past, but in the end, he found himself unable to bring himself to tell her about his past life;  Spark, Edok, Alduwitz, all of it felt more and more like a dream than his past. "No reason to bring up what no longer matters" he'd think. He was starting to live the new life he was hoping for and would do anything for it. 
As the two of them went through high school, they once again had an encounter with Mike, but this time was different. Mike turned out to be a nice kid who'd not had the nicest family life growing up and his actions were only translations of what he'd been going through at home; remorseful for all the time he spent bullying others. 

All three of them became friends, Mike still keeping some distance between himself and Mary; but as long as Riley was there, there was no problem. They'd share their plans for the future with one another, to the point where both Mike and Riley committed to joining the Canadian Armed Forces together once they graduated from high school. Mary would always feel a little uneasy whenever Mike and Riley would talk about joining the army, while she knew there hadn't been any wars or other major conflicts for a while now, and given the current global state, it was unlikely that any more conflicts would arise in the foreseeable future. But a part of her wanted to believe that Riley would be signing up to the army for her sake and to protect her like he had done the day they first met. 

Towards the end of their senior year of high school, the trio of young adults were all living their best lives, all boasting plans for the future and high academic scores, while Mike's were slightly behind those of Riley and Mary. 
When it came time for their graduation ceremony, Mary had been named as class valedictorian. In the audience, Mary's parents were seated beside William and Ellie who were also seated beside Mike's mother.  Once the ceremony was over, they all headed over to Riley's house as his parents decided to throw the friends a celebration as a congratulations for finishing high school. There they would hang out for one of the last times before each of their lives would evolve into something bigger than they once thought imaginable; and as their parents were talking, Riley brought Mary to his room so they could talk in private.
 "I know you know that Mike and I are going to join the army this summer since we're all eighteen now, but there's something I have to ask you before I leave, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to either of us while I'll be gone without asking you. We've been friends for so long, I like you and I can't see myself living without you for some reason. That being said, would you like to be my girlfriend?" Mary wasn't surprised by his confession. If any more time had passed without Riley asking her out, she probably would've confessed to him so she wouldn't lose him.
"Of course, I will" she replied "I was wondering when you'd finally ask me out." 

They both let out a chuckle at Mary's response and hugged for the first time before heading back downstairs to rejoin everyone else in the festivities, announcing their new relationship status to their families. They would spend the little remaining time they had before Mike and Riley would head out together for the army. Making as many memories as possible together, so they wouldn't forget each other no matter what.