It was extremely dark in the hallway.
It was sort of scary to her.
Gemma tensed as she tried to maneuver through the darkness, gasping as the temperature steadily began, in her opinion, to rise. She had to get to her destination.
But where was it now? She could feel the hall walls closing in around her. The heat was definitely getting to her.
"Who's there?"
She couldn't answer, but she was grateful for someone being there at all, especially since she could barely breathe at that moment. She collapsed on the ground.
A flashlight switched on above her. "Gemma, are you okay?"
"F- Flynn?"
"Answer me! Are you okay?" And then she passed out.
"Gemma!" He lifted her into his arms and rushed her over to his room. After a little while, she woke up again in his bed. Flynn fetched her a drink of water and sat beside her on the bed as she took a sip.
"Feeling better now?" he asked.
"I- I think so."
Flynn had closed the door and turned the nightstand lamp on.
"What were you doing out there?"
"I was actually trying to find you."
"In the middle of the night?"
"Yes."
"Well, you should go back to your and Gem's room now. This isn't a good time."
Gemma sniffed. "I had to get away from Gem though. He's been so overprotective of me lately."
"Why?"
"I don't know. But every time I want to do something by myself, he sticks to me the entire time to watch. He never lets me get near you and..."
"Aye, you really need to calm down. I'll talk to him."
"It's not just that. I tried to get away from him earlier and I ended up running into Tenaya. She attacked me and after I returned to Gem, he told Scott what happened, and Scott yelled at me. I- I don't think he was thinking straight, because he told me I'd deserved what Tenaya did to me for leaving."
"What did Tenaya do to you?"
Feeling uncertain, Gemma rolled up the right sleeve of her pajama shirt. A huge scar stretched along the length of her arm and Flynn recoiled when he saw it.
"She shot lightning at me, using all of her power and strength. It hurt so bad..." Her body shuddered violently and her companion gently wrapped an arm around her. "...and... she left me with this."
"But why would Gem be mad at you if it wasn't your fault?"
"Because he nearly lost me before!" Gemma cried, a few tears running down her face. "It happened when we were in the wasteland before. General Shifter found us and attacked me first. I would have died if Gem hadn't been there. He saved my life that day and any incident like this always results in him being a bit crazy. But he's never usually this overprotective."
"Actually, I can kind of see where he's coming from," Flynn pointed out.
"What?" Gemma looked up at him in shock and her eyes narrowed. "You think I deserve pain like this?"
"You didn't let me finish," he added teasingly. "I can see where he's coming from when it comes to protecting you."
"Um... what does that mean?"
Flynn wrapped his other arm around her and kissed her forehead. "It means that I love you, Gemma, and I will always fight for you."
For a moment, they just lay there, sharing the embrace, then Gemma began to speak again. "Why haven't you told me before?"
The Scotsman sighed. "I can't believe I was siding with your brother; I've tried to get you alone, but he never lets you out of his sight." He paused for a moment. "Now tell me what happened in the wasteland."
"Why?"
"I want to know what happened to make you so upset."
"Fine." Gemma took a deep breath. "Gem and I had recently escaped into the wasteland and the morphers from Alphabet Soup had a tracker on them that could lead us to Corinth. We were using mine, but then we saw a red dot coming straight toward us and before either of us could figure out what it was, I suddenly felt pain all over my body and then General Shifter slammed into me and knocked me over, away from Gem. He didn't realize immediately what had happened, which gave Shifter a chance to land a few really painful blows on me. He had had the element of surprise and since he had almost immobilized me, I could barely strike back. At last, I knew that I was probably..." She shivered. "...going to be destroyed." Her body shook even more and more tears spilled down her face.
"Shh, calm down, Gemma," Flynn soothed. "You don't need to tell me the rest."
"Then Gem finally came," she continued as if she hadn't heard him. "He- he managed to make Shifter retreat and then I could feel nothing as I lost consciousness. When I finally woke up, we were nearly at the entrance to Corinth and he told me that if he hadn't been able to break away from Tenaya, who had attacked him without the element of surprise, I wouldn't have had a chance of making it. Ever since then, we've stuck together always. And whenever I get hurt in a battle, he blames me for letting myself get hurt. We only act happy when we're not in the middle of that kind of stuff." She curled up against Flynn.
"Oh no," he murmured. "Gemma, don't cry; everything will be okay. I would never have made you tell the story if I knew it would make you like this."
"It's okay," she gasped out, her body still wracked with sobs. He placed a hand on on her chest and she nestled in closer to him.
"Listen to me," he said sternly, tilting her chin upwards until she was looking directly at him. "Don't let anyone make you feel this way. Stand up to them if you need to."
"Flynn, don't waste your time trying to convince me of this." Gemma pulled away from him. "I'm weak. There was a time in Alphabet Soup when we were working on a building project and I got nervous. Because of that, I messed up on a part and Gem pretty much threw me into a wall just because we had to start over. He hated that work, but I was never able to stand up to him at any time when that happened."
"You're not weak," he snarled, swinging her legs over his lap and grasping her shoulders to pull her back toward him, securing her in his arms so she couldn't escape again. "That happened one time and it wasn't your fault. I promise, I can back you up if you need it."
As if she hadn't heard her, Gemma continued to struggle, despite knowing it was useless, and eventually fell limp against him, still crying hard.
"Calm down and look at me," he told her again, more firmly than before. She finally did look at him.
"Want to stay the night?" Flynn asked. Gemma nodded.
"I love you," she whispered before falling asleep at last.