Mare

I wasn't dead, but I was close to it. I wake up slowly not being able to move an inch. My eyes flutter open, but my arms are glues to to mattress and nothing is under my control other than my face. Cal is squeezing my hand beside me even though I can't feel it. He sees me open my eyes and calls for the doctor immediately. I struggle trying to think what had just happened. I remember the metal hitting my thigh, and then... the bright purple light... my lightning. It all comes back to me fast. I try to feel for the pain of the metal in my thigh, but no pain comes. Cal returns with the doctor. I am propped up against a pillow, but I can't move or feel anything. Cal's eyes are red as if he's been crying with bags under them as if he hasn't slept in days. I look around me as much as I can to see myself in bunk beds surrounded by many others. In those bunk beds are many other people injured, or dying. My eyes flicker to Cal and the doctor,

"What happened," I ask my voice coming out hoarse. Cal looks towards the doctor for the real explanation although I'm sure Cal knows.
"Well Cal has filled me in on what happened before you came and to me it sounds like you have a injury from the metal in your thigh which caused a ton of blood loss, which caused your blackout. That was healed by the healers, although it might be sour. It also seems that you sent out a strong shock through all of the square and near the square. You killed most with metal on them, paralyzed or injured others. Very few made it out alive. You on the other hand your body let off that kind of energy which for normal silvers you would've killed yourself in an instance. It could be that your a new blood or it could just be you Mare Barrow, but you let off a shock that put your body in shock, paralyzation. We aren't sure how long it could last. We hope it'll be temporary, but there is nothing out healers can do about it," he finishes as I think back to the first aid training we had before missions. I couldn't help but notice the power still out,

"The power is still out?" I ask. Cal nods,

"You've been out for a week, it's good to see you up."

"Did we win?" I almost whisper afraid that the war is still going on. Cal smiles at me half heartedly,
"You killed most magnetrons, the few that made it out agreed to join us, their leaders were dead, except one," he nods to Evangeline who is unconscious in a bed across from me. I smile as much as I can back at him. I had won this war, "we were waiting for you to decide how to proceed. I nod and look at the doctor,
"How long do you think until my body isn't paralyzed?" I ask him. He sighs,

"We don't know, your body is in shock from the amount of energy it contained and it is just something that'll heal on its own hopefully. We could do a surgery that would be able to possibly do it, but it's a dangerous surgery as it can result in permanent paralyzation from the legs down. It's up to you," he says fluffing the pillows. He then leaves Cal and I alone. He knows what I'm thinking,

"Leave it for a little while longer, it's not worth permanently injuring your legs. I should call your family, they'll want to see you," he says changing the topic and calling them. The thought of seeing them excites me, but I know that I have to get that surgery. In the meantime I have to go to the Scarlet Guard. We have won this war. Won the reds equality. I knew exactly how I wanted it to work.

Next thing I know my families running in hugging me,

"Good to see you back injured," Bree jokes and gets a shove from Dad. I smile looking at them checking to see if they have injuries. I notice that Gisa has a bandage on her neck, but I don't push it.

"There is a surgery I can get to heal myself, I think I'm gonna do it, I don't feel like spending the next little while in bed. We just won a war after all!" I exclaim. There faces go into a frown and they've obviously already heard about it. I ignore it and address them, "so how is everything around here, are you getting along with the silvers?" I ask they all nod and narrow their eyes at Tramy who then blushes,

"Tramy found a friend," Bree says nudging him a little," I smile and laugh at them. Not that I can judge I am younger and I'm engaged to the former prince of Norta. I smile at him. I can't shake the feeling of not being able to move and how much I want to move.

"I want to get that surgery as soon as possible," I tell Cal and my family. They all nod at me. They don't want me to get it, but they know they know it's my decision. The doctor overhears and comes over,

"We can do the surgery as soon as tomorrow night if that's okay?" he asks. I look at my family before nodding. I don't want to be stuck in this bed for the next few days hoping I'll get better.

The rest of the day they catch me up on what's going on. Everyone is going back to their homes, all the red maids have been released, and reds aren't being mistreated. No laws have been put in place, but anyone who rebels is killed or imprisoned. They wanted to have a guard meeting to figure out what's next because Norta needs a leader. There was still more I was curious about,

"Who was killed during the wars?" I whisper to them. They look at each other and then Mom responds,

"Cameron was injured, she isn't doing very well after using her powers so much. She's a little crazy right now. Farley is fine and so is Clara, you killed almost all the Samos's except one," she nods at Evangeline who has been sleeping since I shocked her apparently. She isn't dead though and I think I know what I want to do with her when she wakes up. The day passes quickly and I go back to sleep. I didn't do much as I couldn't. I was just waiting for tomorrow night when hopefully this will be fixed.

That night I dream about Cal and I having our wedding, then having a family and it makes me smile. The surgery tomorrow better go well, so I can walk down the aisle at our wedding. I picture myself in the wedding dress walking down the aisle as I drift off to sleep.

Gisa

That night I could hear mom and dad pacing. They were nervous about the surgery tomorrow, but I agreed with Mare. She shouldn't have to sit in a bed when nothing might happen. I rub the bandages on my neck that are wrapped tightly. During the battle someone skimmed my neck with metal. The healers healed it, and put stitches in. They said it was too bad for the healers to fix. I have to wear these bandages for a little while longer even though they do nothing. It hurts either way. I don't complain to anyone as Mare is much worse than I am. I visit Cameron quite often, but she always talks about crazy things. It's hard to tell what's going on her mind, but it has to do with the amount of people she has killed in the past few days. They aren't sure if she'll ever return to normal. It worries me, but at the same time there's nothing I can do about it. I should just be happy everyone made it home.

I wake up the next morning to smell pancakes I walk out to see Mom packing them in a container and about to leave,

"Come we are going to see your sister and bring her breakfast," she says walking out the door. I love Mare, but she has so much attention right now. I know how selfish I sound and I know it'll be over after tonight if all goes well. We arrive to see Mare's eye's open, but she's still lying there doing nothing.

"We brought food!" Tramy exclaims jumping onto her bed post. She smiles, and opens her mouth. Mom feeds her like she's a baby. I see the ring on her finger and can't help wondering when they are planning to do the wedding. The doctor comes in and sees us eating and looks at Mare,

"No food 12 hours before, so you better eat that fast," he says motioning to the clock. I look to see that it's already 9:30. I had training in 30 minutes. I gulf down the food and run off the see Cameron.

I enter her 'room' more like her cage. She is pacing around the room yelling things about I don't even know what,

"It begged me to kill him, but when I did... His poor family is alone without their father... that would be terrible... I am a monster!" I interrupt Cameron ranting,

"Cameron stop it, everyone killed lots of people during those days and you can't blame yourself, if you didn't do it, he would've killed you!" Her hair was a mess and her eyes darted at every moment. She wasn't the same girl I knew. She was going insane, or at least that's what the doctors told me everytime I asked. They said they had someone coming to talk to her everyday, but it's done nothing, so I come for a few minutes just to try and bring her back to Earth. She keeps ranting as I sneak out to go to training.

I arrive in the arena to see Cal over in the corner. I walk over to him and when he sees me he throws a gun and a knife my way. I catch it and I turn to the targets and start shooting. He starts with just me shooting targets, but soon enough he throws fire my way. I've gotten better at dodging it, but I still have burn marks by the end of training. Once the targets slow down and Cal stops I walk over to him for feedback.
"Your aim is off today, you never hit the bullseye," he says narrowing his eyes at me. He knows why I'm anxious after all he is too. He sends me for a lap around the course a few times before we continued. All through training all I could think about is Mare's surgery in a few hours.

It was time, or almost was. She was going in for surgery in half an hour, we are all standing outside the room waiting for Mare to go in. She was meant to go in for surgery at 10, and it will take 4 hours to complete the surgery and we have to wait until the morning to find out if it worked or not. Just another sleepless night.

"How you feeling Mare?" the doctor asks as he comes to her bed.
"Well... I'm about to go into a surgery so..." she laughs. He nods at her,

"Time to prepare her for surgery, say your goodbyes," he says while picking up Mare's bed and placing it on wheels,

"Goodbye!" Mare shouts as he wheels her away.

Even after she's left my family goes to sit in the surgery waiting room. A few minutes into sitting there I notice a woman come out of a room. She holds a little bundle. A man runs over to her and peers down at the blanket, the baby. They are celebrating the birth of their new baby right now, while we sit anxiously while Mare's in surgery. We all sit there, Mom, Dad, Bree Tramy, Cal, and I waiting for hours for the doctor to say it's done. I sew while I'm waiting. I was making a wedding present for Mare and Cal whenever it is. Just from me, my family doesn't know about it. The blanket was simple, just lightning on fire. It represents them both. Next to me are other families who wait for their family to come out. While I'm waiting my mind flicker to the worst, what if they messed something up and killed her, what if she'll never be able to move anything ever again.

Eventually 4 hours later the doctor finally comes out. I'm the first to stand up. He wipes the sweat from his forehead.

"You can go see her, but she's unconscious from the medication. She'll be like this for a few more hours," I go into see her with everyone else. When I walk in she's lying in a big hospital bed hooked up to an IV, wearing a hospital gown. She looked so small and fragile. Not the girl that made a power outage in all of Norta and the Lakelands for weeks. Not like the girl who's my sister. I grab her hand and squeeze it to show her I'll always be there for her, even if she can't feel it. Mom, Dad, Bree and Tramy leave so it's just Cal and I left. I see him looking at her. He strokes her face and pushed some hair out of her face. They were perfect together and I'm glad it worked out for them. I then leave him to be alone with Mare for a moment. When i walk outside the doctor is telling my family about something,

"She'll have a scar all down her back, but it'll be fine, but you have to keep it wrapped for 6 to 8 weeks. Even if the surgery worked, she won't be able to stand or walk for the first month as she'll be the fragile from the surgery itself. After she's healed, she can't hold anything over 10 pounds for 12 weeks," the doctor says going on about everything. All I can think about is when Mare's going to wake up, and that she'll be able to move.

We sleep in the guest quarters that night waiting for them to come in and tell us Mare's awake. No one comes until around 7am. We all get up right away and rush to her room. She was propped up on pillows and just opening her eyes when I rushed in. Then she does it. She brings up a hand to rub her eyes, which she then puts down and groans.

"Try not to move, it'll be very painful at first," the doctor hushes. She was moving, she was healed! The thoughts all ran through my mind as I squealed in joy. She fully opens her eyes to see all of us.

"I guess it worked, I can feel everything, including the pain everywhere when I move a muscle!" she says sounding more like Mare. The doctor nods and presses a button. She relaxes a little at it. Must be painkillers.

"How long until it stops hurting to move everything?" she asks the doctor. He goes through his whole long list of things again and I can tell Mare doesn't care.

"Great so I'm stuck in bed for the next little while anyways?" she questions. The doctor sighs and leaves the room. We all talk to Mare for a while, but I can tell she wants us to leave so she can talk to Cal alone.

"Let's give Mare and Cal some alone time," I interrupt pulling my family out of the room. Mare laughs and thnks me before talking to Cal. I catch the first few words which excite me,

"So about our wedding..." she said before I closed the door on them.