I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Restoration
I sit down on the bed, watching as Marina stares at her reflection in the mirror. So far, she's done alright with one arm, assisted by her Telekinesis. However, she's having trouble adjusting. I can see it in her eyes, even when she smiles and tells me she's fine. Finally she turns to me, forcing a smile.
"I'm kind of hungry," she says.
"Alright," I smile. "Let's go make ourselves some food."
She smiles and nods, turning and leaving the room. I follow close behind her, closing the door as I leave the room, then walking beside her through the base, holding her remaining hand. When we reach the elevator, she slips her hand out of mine, pushing the button for the floor with the kitchen on it. Then, she pushes the button to close the doors and leans against me. It's late, and we should be asleep, but we just got back a little while ago and Marina keeps insisting she's not tired. When the doors open, we walk through the deserted halls to the kitchen, where the selection for late-night snack is fairly limited. Unlike at Nine's penthouse, our options here are either microwave burritos or a bowl of stale cereal. Marina pulls down the box of burritos and begins to try and open them. However, with one arm, she can't hold the box still long enough to get it open. After a moment, the box tips over and flips off the counter, landing on the floor. Marina sighs in frustration and floats it back up with Telekinesis.
She set the box on the counter again and again tries to open it. This time, she gets her finger hooked under the tab then pulls. The box slips off the counter again and the side splits open as it falls. Frozen burritos bounce and roll across the floor. Marina stomps her foot angrily then leans back against the counter, putting her hand to her face. I float the box and burritos back up to the counter, setting them down then walk over, wrapping my arms around her.
"It's alright," I whisper. "You'll get the hang of it. Besides, if you really wanted to, you could just use your telekinesis."
"But I don't want to," she says. "I want my arm back. I want to be able to do things without my Telekinesis."
"This is only the first thing you've tried to do that you can't," I point out.
Marina leans against me, burying her face in my shoulder. I sigh, wrapping my arms around her.
"It's going to be alright, Marina," I sigh. "There's even a burrito still in the box."
"Great," she sighs. "I get to have a frozen burrito. Again."
I smile, putting it in the microwave and turn it on. While I do, Marina goes to wash her hand and I hear an angry groan. I walk over, putting soap on my hand then rub them together before rubbing the soap onto Marina's hand as well. We rinse our hands off and she passes me the towel, knowing she won't be able to dry her own hand. I dry mine and then hers and hang the towel back up. The microwave beeps so I open it and take the burrito out, passing it to Marina. She sets it on a plate, picking up a knife and trying to cut it. Except, every time she does, the burrito slips around on the plate. Finally, the plate flips as she presses down too close to the edge and the burrito drops off. I catch it with Telekinesis before it can hit the ground and set it back on the plate, but Marina's had just about enough. She's practically in tears. I step forward, wrapping my arms around her, taking her hand in mine and making her pick up the knife.
"Practice," I say. "It takes some getting used to."
I guide her hand to the burrito and stab the knife down into the burrito then begin to move the knife up and down from inside.
"How do you know how to cut things with one hand?" Marina asks, confused.
"I used to talk on the phone a lot," I smile. "Way back before the Marine Corps."
She snorts in amusement and I let go of her hand, wrapping my arms around her. She tries on her own and struggles a little, but eventually manages to cut the burrito in half. Once done, she holds half of it out to me. I smile, taking it from her and taking a bit out of it while she eats her half. As we eat, her face slowly sinks as she stares at her right arm. Finally, we finish and I slip my hand into hers. We head back to our room and I sit on the bed.
"I'm going to try to take a shower," she says. "I still have to be able to do that."
I nod and kiss her then watch her walk into the bathroom that is attached to our room, about the only good thing about it. I lay back on the bed, laying on my side with my back to the door and close my eyes. After a while of her not asking me to come put shampoo in her hair for her, the shower turns off.
"I'm coming out," she warns.
"Go ahead," I reply.
The door opens and then one of the drawers. I hear her sigh as she sees what she has to choose from, then hear her grunt in effort before grumbling in annoyance. She sits on the bed after a moment then stands again. After a moment of not hearing anything, I hear her groan in annoyance again but this time, her voice breaks and her breath hitches. I carefully look back, hearing her make a noise of complaint again, sounding halfway between a sob and a growl. She's reaching behind herself, trying to hook her bra, but can't reach the strap on the right side.
After another moment of seeing her struggle, I slide over and stand behind her, taking her hand away from the straps, moving it down to her side. I wrap my arms around her waist, gently kissing the back of her neck as she leans back into me, crying.
"I hate this," she says. "I hate being a cripple. I just want to feel normal again. I don't want to have to depend on you to do everything. I can't even get dressed!"
"Marina, it's alright," I smile. "You can depend on me as much as you want. I don't mind."
I rest my chin on her shoulder squeezing her. She leans her head back against me.
"No," she says. "I can't do anything for myself. I can't even wash my own hand."
I sigh, seeing just how much it's troubling her. Marina doesn't break down often. I can't imagine how she must feel. I lean back, trailing my hands up her side then back to the straps, hooking them before my hands move up to her head, pulling her hair back. It's grown long again, reaching a little past her shoulders now. I comb my fingers through it for a minute, before my hands mover to her shoulders.
"Marina, you know I'm always going to be here when you need me," I promise. "Whether it's as a Mogadorian blaster magnet or to help wash your hand."
She smiles, in spite of herself.
"I know," she smiles. "But I feel so...I can't live like this, James. I can't. I know I'm still lucky compared to a normal cripple because of my Telekinesis, but I can't take this."
I rest my chin on her shoulder again and she leans hers against mine as my hands begin to slide down her arms. My left moves faster, reaching her hand in mere seconds, but my right takes its time. Marina's eyes close as she tries to steady her breathing, and I let mine close too. I can practically feel Marina's pain. I hate myself for letting her be hurt. And I want nothing more than to make her whole again. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I feel a tingling sensation, almost like when you stand up too fast and not enough blood is going to your brain, only on a much smaller scale. Suddenly, my right hand feels an elbow. But that can't be right, her arm is missing above that. I open my eyes and suddenly their the size of dinner plates. As my arm slowly trails down hers, it's regrowing just ahead of my hand, muscle, bone, and skin all growing out of her stump and weaving together until there's no sign that spot was gone. Finally, my hand reaches hers, my fingers lacing together with hers and she smiles.
"You know, if I concentrate, I can almost feel you holding my hand," Marina smiles.
"That's understandable," I smirk. "Hey Marina, open your eyes."
Marina frowns, opening her eyes before gasping and looking down, staring at her perfectly healed, if slightly lighter, arm. Where it was bitten off it looks like she has a tan line. Aside from that, her arm is fully restored. She stares at it for several moment before turning around, staring at me questioningly, tears in her eyes.
"But...how?" She asks.
"I honestly have no idea," I admit. "Might be a new Legacy, though I'm not sure how I can restore limbs if you can't."
She holds her hand up, staring at it for another moment before kissing me. I kiss her back, wrapping my arms around her as hers go around my neck. After a moment, I pull back and smile, feeling her left hand touching every inch of her right, making sure it has feeling and marveling at the fact that she has it.
"Alright," I smile. "Time for bed. You can admire your new arm in the morning. We have an early wake up call if we're going to go take over a warship."
Marina smiles and nods. I go into the bathroom, shutting the light off and glancing in the tub. The shampoo bottle is laying on the floor of the tub, the cover broken off and shampoo leaking out of it. I pick the bottle up, rinsing down the last of the shampoo from the floor of the tub then return to our room and climb into bed beside her. She wraps her arms around me instantly, her head landing on my shoulder and I smile, wrapping my arms around her as well before pulling the blanket up over us and carefully turning the light off with Telekinesis.
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