Freedom Fighters League of the Exiled

Paralyzed

My eyes shot open and I wasn't sure if I went unconscious or just closed my eyes through all the explosions and being thrown around by the blasts. All I know is one minute we were standing trying to figure out what was happening and now I'm flat on my back in damn near pitch-black darkness. I can't hear much because my ears are still ringing from the blasts. My body is screaming in pain and I'm too afraid to move a muscle. My only concern at the moment was if the others are okay.

Wait a minute. Where's Marco? He was standing right next to me when the explosions went off. He has to be nearby. He has to be okay. I shot up and instantly yelped in pain. Not even the adrenaline I was feeling could mask the pain shooting through my chest and back.

"Lay back down," I heard a voice tell me and at first I wasn't sure if I had imagined it through the ringing in my ears or if it was really there. That's when I felt a hand lightly push my shoulder. "You need to lay back down," she said again.

I couldn't place the voice. It didn't sound all that familiar to me which is probably why I thought I imagined it for a moment. I just did what she said. Maybe she can help. I have to ask her if she's seen Marco. Wait, if I don't know her she probably doesn't know who Marco is which means asking her would be useless.

As I was laying in the pitch-black area I knew I should probably get a look at the surroundings. I mean we have to figure out where we ended up. That's the excuse I'll use, but mostly I just want to know what this mystery woman looks like.

I took a deep breath and breathed out a little bit of fire to light the room enough to see the person leaning over me. Her hair blended in with the darkness of the rest of the area, as did her eyes. The only other things I could see was she had a lot of scars on her arms and a few little ones on her face, but those I really had to look closely to see.

"You have fire powers?" she asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to get a look at where we were at, but I didn't see much," I said which wasn't a complete lie. I mean with the little bit of fire I used I really couldn't see much.

"I can't really see where we ended up, but if you keep doing that maybe I could find some way out. I also keep long candlesticks on me in case of emergencies so we can light one of those to help."

"If you back up I can make a bigger flame it would help us see more."

"Perfect," she said before scooting away from me.

I made my flame really big and watched as she stood up and started looking around the area. She also pulled out one of her candles and used my flame to light it to help her look.

"Why the candles?"

"My team and I have been stuck in a base that had very little light so we all got in the habit of keeping at least five of these candles on us at all times as well as a few matches. Normally I would also have my matches, but they were all burnt out from the explosion."

That was pretty smart. I mean our team has never really had to worry about light since I was here and was able to make light before we had the lanterns in each room.

"I'm Jean by the way. I don't think we've had a chance to meet yet." I said making awkward small talk. I mean if we were stuck here together might as well at least know each other's names.

"Seraphina and I don't think we have. Are you a part of Pixis's group?"

"Yeah. Have you seen anyone else or are we alone?"

"I haven't had the chance to check around the area. I couldn't really see much, I was stumbling around blindly and I found you by chance."

"How did you find me?"