(Mira Oka)
My head felt fuzzy, and it felt like it was spinning. But still, I needed to focus. Open your eyes! I snapped them open. Then I felt a sudden warmth. Carefully, I observed the scene around me, then what I was against. The sense of flaming heat entered my cheeks. I was on Ace’s chest! I pushed myself off immediately. “What happened? Why did you?-”
He seemed a little flushed too. “Don’t think of it like that. I just did it to make sure you weren’t as cold as before. I had no other option.”
I blow out a long sigh.
“The clothes in the bag were damp, but they should be dry now,” He explained. “You can change into something more comfortable if you want.”
I turned to the bag against the wall. I took it before leaving the cave.
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I was wobbling back, forgetting I injured my leg during the chase. Then I noticed that there was a bandage around my head, when I began pressing fingertips against my forehead to check if there were any scars. My mind was still foggy, and I felt like passing out…or maybe I just wanted to sleep. I lost my balance at the thought, and nearly fell forward when Ace caught me. He helped me sit down. I twisted my face in pain.
“Yeah,” He started. I figured he was not raising his voice out of disguise for once. “Your leg is still busted despite it being bandaged up. You should rest. We’re safe here.”
I cleared my throat. “I remember being chased…my leg was distracting me from using my powers…And I stumbled off the cliff by mistake. Then I lost consciousness.”
Ace nodded. “It seemed that your head collided with a rock and you sank in the water.”
I lost consciousness. I thought with realization. I sank in the water. I could’ve died. I thought for sure I would be done for…My thought trailed off as I looked down at myself. But I’m still alive. Ace…saved me. I thought he would never save me after what happened in the forest. Could it be? Is he trying to make amends too? I turned to him, giving a nervous laugh. “You saved me. I thought I was the last person you wanted alive.”
His face turned beet red. “It’s not like that! It would just suck if I went back to Anita and Vera and you were gone.”
I smiled at his consideration.
“Anyways, rest. Being unconscious doesn’t count as resting. Besides, it will make you stop talking weirdly.”
I giggled. But then I stopped and turned side to side. “So, do I rest on the ground? Or by the water?...”
He rolled his eyes and pulled me by my shoulder. My face slammed into his chest. My head spun once more. What’s happening? I felt hot again. This feels…intimate. I didn’t really feel much of it before because we were acting. But now, we’re ourselves again. Nah, he’s just keeping me warm…but why? Why do I feel like this? Why does it feel so different? I felt his hand on my head. I looked up.
“Are you okay?” He asked with raised eyebrows. “You’re trembling.”
“Huh? No-I’m fine,” I replied quickly, before looking down again. Dammit, I’m so weak. “I’m sorry. Every plan I came up with failed miserably.”
Pause.
“Don’t blame yourself,” He finally said. His voice was calm and sincere. “It will only make yourself weaker. Believing in things like that will make you an easy target against the council. Besides, we don’t know if Anita and Vera are there yet. If they are, they can just hide until we meet up with them.”
He’s right, I thought. We’re okay. We’ll meet with them shortly. I smiled. “At least we pulled off the disguises in a sense.”
“Yeah. And we have extra clothes in case we’ll need to use them.” He added. His arms were around me again. My head continued to rest on his chest. Why did this feel comfortable? I was starting to feel hot again. What is this? Why don’t I know? I pushed the thoughts away and forced my eyes shut.
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A loud crash awoke me. My eyes snapped open and I flinched. Ace’s grip grew firm. He’s still holding onto me. Probably to protect me from danger. I felt his chest rise and fall slowly, at an even rhythm. I looked up to see his head resting against the wall. His eyes were closed. He’s asleep too. How long did I sleep for then?
I noticed light peaking through the cave. I have to check what that sound was. I need to make sure it isn’t anything dangerous. Using my fingers, I tried releasing myself from Ace’s grip by taking his hands off me gently. I had more space to move around then, so I whipped my head toward the exit, facing away from him.
“Gah!-” I turned back to him. He was still asleep but now with a pained expression. What happened? Did I touch something? I got close to his face, but there was nothing. I placed my hands near the neck area. When I got no reaction, I moved onto the shoulder. He sucked in a sharp breath, clenching his teeth; looking worse than before. Huh? I carefully moved his sweater away from his neck along with his shirt, exposing his shoulder. I let out a gasp. There was a large vertical gash there. It was still bleeding. When did this happen? I thought in horror, before covering it up again. Why didn’t he say anything!? I turned back to the exit. Then back to him. I don’t want to leave him, but if I let him fight whatever is there, he’ll get hurt even more. I gazed down at his scarred hands. Ignoring the pain in my leg, I left the cave.
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There were about three guards there. My eyes widened. “How did you get here?”
“We found a safer entrance,” One of them replied. “We had to use our weapons to do so. Let me guess, you were left here by the crash of that hill over there.”
I didn’t dare to turn around, I was well aware of what cliff I fell off from, and I wasn’t taking any chances of these fools getting to me.
“I guess that’s one way of getting two jobs at the same time.” Another one said.
“It’s over for you.” The first one said to me.
I shot a shard of ice, but they dodged it. I then proceeded to shoot a gust of wind, but they remained standing. Their armour must’ve gotten stronger. I didn’t let that intimidate me. The first guard approached me. “This is the only way to deal with people like you. We could give you resisting handcuffs forever, but your actions do have consequences.”
I took a step back. Then I glared and threw punches, kicks, whatever it took. In the end, I was beaten down. And my leg was pulsing with pain. Between my breaths, I managed to say, “You can keep trying, but you will never win!”
The first one aimed a taser at me.
I froze.
“All it takes is one click.”
I completely forgot. I thought. Every guard is armed with them. I looked down at my leg. I can’t run. I looked back at the taser. If they get me, at least they won’t find Ace. The taser will just knock me out. I’ll wake up afterward and escape.
He pressed the button.
I shut my eyes tight, awaiting to get hit. Then I heard several gasps. What’s happening? I opened my eyes and looked up. Shocked by what I saw. Ace was standing in front of me. His wings blocked me as they and he were getting tased. However, he wasn’t backing down, or weakening his stance because it spread out his entire body. All I could do was watch. Appalled. How did he know? Whether it was by coincidence, or he heard something, I wanted to thank him. This whole time he had been focusing on saving me. But now because of my lame attempt to return the favour, he’s had to get hurt. Ace was about to finish them off when they stopped and pressed their fingers by their helmets. The first guard turned to us. “We must return to the council.” They ran off.
Ace’s wings went away along with his other demonic features. I was relieved that they randomly took off. But I had a feeling Ace was going to be crossed with me. He carried me on his back and hurried back to the cave. My eyes met with his gash.
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He shot me a stern look right when we got back, crossing his arms.
“Before you get mad at me,” I started, holding my hands out. “I did it out of a good intention.”
“Good intention, huh?”
He doesn’t believe me. “Yes. I heard a sound and I didn’t want you getting more hurt than you do already.”
“You’re the one with a busted leg!” He argued.
“And you have a gash on your shoulder!” I argued back.
He turned away.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had that?” I asked after a pause. “When did that happen?”
“It’s nothing,” He replied. “It hit one of the rocks.”
“It’s nothing?! It’s still bleeding!”
“I’m used to bleeding a lot, okay?”
Silence.
“Sit down.” I told him.
“You sit down.”
“You first.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
With pursed lips he sat down. I walked over to the bags to get one of the clothes. Then I went out to the water to wet it before returning.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“Because of me, you got shot a lot,” I explained. “You must have burn marks everywhere now.”
He sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal. You’re so dramatic.”
“You’re too careless!” I shouted.
Another following silence.
I squeezed the cloth to get the water out so the cloth would be damp, I noticed Ace was looking at his hands. He’s probably not used to seeing them. I sat next to him on my knees. Using my thumb and my index finger, I gently lifted part of his shirt. His cheeks flushed into a deep red, but he didn’t deny. I let go and he took off his sweater before yanking his shirt off. Aside from his six-pack abs, it was just as I predicted. Small burn marks all over his torso and arms. I started with the bloody shoulder. He winced, but didn’t say anything. I wrapped a bandage around his shoulder before moving onto the burn marks. As I gently pressed the burns with the cloth, I said, “I don’t want you getting hurt from them, y’know. I’m fed up with it.”
“What about you?” He asked. “You’re a target too.”
I put the towel down. “Forget about me,” I decided to change the subject, before returning to pressing the burn marks gently with the cloth. “I’m not even sure if the disguises are necessary since those guards ran off like that. I’m sure they have something big planned for us.”
He put on his shirt and slipped on his sweater. “Probably.” He then caught me giving him a toothy smile from a sudden realization. He raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“You did it.”
“Did what?”
“You used that violent side of yourself for protection like I said.”
Clearly embarrassed, he retorted. “Again with your weird, nonsense talk!”
I pointed at him. “Don’t deny it.”
Still red, he propped his arm up under his chin, turning his head away from me. “You’re impossible.”
I was okay with that response. “Now what?”
He turned back to me. “We head back, right? We have things to do.”
“Right. As I said before, we probably don’t need disguises this time.”
“Then what do we do?”
“The people must know what they’re going to do,” She replied. “So let’s just be casual and meet in the shade with Vera and Anita. Care to fly us out?”
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