Ascot found it hard to wake up, not because of the stress of the battle against the White Witch's army, but rather, because the boy had reached his nadir of despair. Even with Holy, he couldn't win against a named opponent; granted, most of that was because he had chosen to give Thomas the glory of victory, but that didn't change the fact that the boy viewed himself as more useless, more weak, than he had ever been before.

[i]I can't catch up to Joshua, I can't catch up to Reno. They're just...so powerful, so powerful that I can't hold a candle to them, even with new spells. I'll lose every battle I enter, I'll just be the load. Heck, I am the load now; I can't do anything that Joshua, Reno, Thomas and Amaya can't do better.[/i] Thomas now had Scathe, while Amaya could bring people out of the Darkness; much cooler than what Ascot can do currently.

[i]You are Ascot Carver,[/i] his mind whispered to himself, [i]you are presistent. Remember Bertam? How you[/i] refused to give up?[i] If you can't win, accept that, then! Your purpose is to[/i] protect people[i], not wangst over not being able to catch up to the other members of your group. Focus on that, and you will gain victory in the end, even if it's just over yourself. You have to remember, whom you should protect.[/i]

[i]And that is why, I will wake you up.[/i] And, Ascot felt himself waking up, being brought back to conciousness as he opened his eyes, and saw Elyse's face; the face of his future little sister. And he knew peace, peace that came from the fact that the boy once again [i]saw[/i] the people he wanted to protect, and remembered [i]just why[/i] he wanted to protect them. 

And he smiled at Elyse, a very big smile that showed how happy he was to see her.