I'm super duper sorry I haven't updated in forever! I've been busy, which is weird for me, but still, sorry!
By the way, reviewing will also motivate me to update quicker! It just makes me sure that people are actually reading it!
Marina
Eight looks at me, his forehead creased in worry. His eyes are filled with concern.
"Why isn't it working?" He shoots at John, who frowns in confusion. He's tried to heal me again, with no results. My only guess is that he's still worn from battle. We didn't get to the crystal in time, so I haven't been able to use that. I have to heal myself, I think, but it's going to hurt.
"I don't know." John says finally, and sits back. "Could you heal yourself?"
"I think so, it'll be a bit more painful though." I say, determined to try.
"It's just your ribs, right?" John says to me and I nod, panting a little.
It's kind of hard to breathe with broken ribs and there's nothing I can do about them. I'm in a fair amount of pain but I try and hide it for Eight. I hate it when he's worried about me and I just want him to relax.
I try to sit up, but Eight pushes me back down gently. "No, Marina, you have to stay still. Otherwise it'll get worse."
"I'll be fine." I grumble, but lay back down anyway. Eight grins at me and I roll my eyes, trying not to smile at him.
"How long until she'll be okay?" Eight says to John. "It's just – we need to keep training."
John sighs and places his head in his hands. "If it works, she'll be fine after a rest. You know how it works."
Nine grins at me. "Still hanging in there?"
I nod. "Always."
"Try and heal yourself." Eight says hopefully.
I nod, and place my hands on my ribs. That tiny bit of movement is excruciating and I almost scream but I swallow it down and continue. The icy feeling finally comes, but slower than usual. I feel my bones knit back together, slowly, and I start getting a little drowsy. My healing's taking more out of me than usual because it's happening slower.
"Are you okay?" John asks me as my eyelids droop.
I stop, fully healed, but almost passing out. "Yeah... just drowsy. Healing takes a lot out of me and this time it wasn't working as well."
"That's strange." Eight says. "Do you think Lorien is fading and maybe our powers are fading with it?"
"No need to be all bright and positive, hey?" Nine says and Eight rolls his eyes.
"But seriously, though. Is that possible?" He asks John.
"It could be, I guess. But I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Henri said Lorien is hibernating." John pauses. "I mean, he also suggested that the powers could be fading, but we're still developing Legacies so that can't be true, right?"
I shudder. The thought of losing my Legacies – therefore leaving me powerless as hand-to-hand combat isn't my strong point – terrifies me.
"I don't know." Six chimes in, as she enters the room. "I guess all we can do is hope. And develop our hand-to-hand skills, just in case. But what about Setrakus? How would we defeat him without our Legacies?"
I cough. "We wouldn't?" I can't see how it would be possible to defeat Setrakus without our powers. When he took them from us in New Mexico, we were left vulnerable and unable to do anything until Ella saved us.
"Well, let's not think about that right now. For all we know, it was just something weird that happened to John and that's why he couldn't heal Marina." Eight says, grasping my hand. I give his hand a light squeeze and smile at him.
Of all the things I've lost in this war, I'm glad that I haven't lost Eight, at least not permanently. The others leave us, seeing that we want some time alone.
Xxx
Eight
I look around the room. For some of our precious gems, we got a penthouse apartment, similar to Nine's in Chicago. It's pretty good, but lacking the coolness of the Lecture Hall. Still, for a place to stay until the end of the war, it'll be great.
Marina glances at me and smiles. "You know, Marina..." I start, and sit down next to her.
"What?" She says, when I don't continue.
"I was really worried about you. I'm terrified of losing you, of... of watching you die." My voice cracks a little, but I continue. "I don't want to see you get hurt. You're everything to me... if you died I don't know what I would do."
It's so true, how scared I am of losing her. I can't imagine going on without her. Life without her isn't worth living. She's like air to me. Without air no one can survive; without her I can't survive.
"Eight, I'm not going to die." Marina says, her eyes slightly shiny with tears. Beautiful. "Well, not yet, anyway. One day, maybe, but not yet. Not right now. We've got the rest of our lives together."
When she kisses me, my brain goes blank. I'd always thought that after kissing someone so many times, it wouldn't be that special or amazing. But every time I kiss Marina, it's like the first time all over again. My stomach has butterflies and once again I can't believe that I can call Marina mine. That I can say 'that's my girlfriend'.
Marina looks at me and smiles half-heartedly. "You know," She says, a little sadly, "Losing you wasn't easy for me, either. I can't remember a time when I felt so empty. I felt like I'd lost everything, like I'd never be the same again."
"I'm sorry that you went through that, I really am." I say, lacing my fingers with hers.
"What were you thinking? When you teleported in front of Nine?" She asks, tears finally welling up in her eyes. I realise now how much pain she was in from my death. She's hidden it from me well.
"I was only thinking that we were defenceless without our strongest fighter. And Nine is our strongest fighter. What am I? I'm not really special, or the best fighter. I've just got a couple of flashy powers."
Marina sighs and takes in a shaky breath, the tears spilling down her cheeks. "Sometimes, Eight, I wish you weren't so selfless. I wish you would have thought a bit. I mean, Nine is a good fighter, sure. But he provoked Five. And you died because of that."
"Nine didn't ask me to die for him, Marina. He didn't want me to." I say, getting a little frustrated. I mean, yeah, Nine's an idiot for provoking Five, but she doesn't have to say that he should be dead instead. "I just did it because he's our friend. He's like family."
"I know, Eight, I do. But watching you die... knowing you were gone forever... that broke me." She looks at her hands, trying not to sob. "You mean everything to me. To watch you get stabbed through the heart and stagger towards me with seconds to live, when it wasn't even your fault, was the most painful thing I've ever gone through."
"I'm sorry. I am. But I'm here now, I'm not dead anymore. And I'm never going to leave you again." I put my arm around her, and she leans into my shoulder. "I love you, so much, more than you could ever know."
"I love you too, Eight." She presses her face into my shirt and finally lets the tears fall.
I sit there for what feels like hours, holding her while she cries. Her hair smells like watermelon and even though her eyes are red and puffy, she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I remind myself again that I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her. I will never take her for granted, ever. I'm always scared that our relationship will break – even though we've been together for a while, it still feels new and fragile.
"Eight?" Marina croaks, her throat dry from crying.
"What?" I say, hugging her closely.
"Thank you." She gives a small smile. "For being there, for letting me ruin your shirt. I know it's your favourite."
"You're my favourite." I kiss her forehead. "And don't you forget it."
"Uh, guys?" Ella walks in, looking worried. "You should see this."
Xxx
Marina
"Hundreds of fatalities have been reported and bystanders have reported that many are still missing, possibly trapped under the rubble."
As we walk into the lounge, the others are watching a news report. Footage shows lots of ash and debris, from an explosion in Kentucky.
"Mogs?" Eight asks, his voice hard. Nine just nods.
"As for the cause, we have no leads but Police have assured the public to stay safe as it is evident that this was no accident."
More footage of the damage goes around and I cringe, thinking of the orphanage back in Santa Teresa that was once my home, and how it had the same fate. All those people. Dying because of us.
"We have to do something. They're going to keep doing this until they get to us." I say angrily. Six places a hand on my shoulder.
"I know, Marina." She says. "But we can't do anything rash."
"They bombed my home, Six! Killed innocent people! And they've done it again! How many times are we going to let them do this before we act?" I'm yelling now, and Eight grabs my shoulders.
"Marina, stop. Six is right. We all know what they've done, and they'll pay for it, but if we don't plan our moves, we'll die and there will be no one that can stop them."
I sigh, tears already welling up in my eyes. I seem to be crying a lot lately, and I have no idea why, because I'm not usually a crier. I guess the stress of the war is getting to me.
"I'm sorry." I say to Six. "It's just a touchy subject for me, I guess."
She nods. "I know. It's okay." She gives me a strange look, like she knows I'm acting weird, but she doesn't comment.
"Look. I think our best move is to train first." John says. "Then, when they least expect it, we attack. Destroy one of their bases, maybe."
Nine grins. "Blow something up? Hell yeah, baby."
Ella smiles. "I guess we could do that. But wouldn't they always be expecting a fight?"
"True. But if we attack them during the night, maybe?" Eight says.
"Sounds good." Nine says. "I'm all for it."
"Of course you are. It's a fight." Six snorts.
"When do we start training?" Ella asks.
"Tomorrow." John says, grinning. "Then, we attack."