Collective

Hadley

Hadley felt her mouth drop open in shock.

"W-wha-how?" she searched Will's eyes for answers. 

"I don't know," the smile on his face was ecstatic, but Hadley didn't match his expression.

"But Will, what does this mean? How could this happen? I don't understand! What if, what happens if..." Hadley didn't know why but the reappearance of Will's Power didn't make her happy, it scared her. 

"What's the matter?" Will asked Hadley, noticing her expression, "Don't you see how amazing this is? Don't you see what it means? Getting our Powers back is possible! Even after they take them!"

"I just, Will it just makes me nervous. What if it disappears again tomorrow? What if they find out about it? What if-"

Will stood abruptly, turned and stalked back and forth between two trees. Placing his hand on a large, thick oak, he ran his finger over the grooves in the bark. Then abruptly, he kicked at the base of the tree, sending dirt and rocks flying. 

"God Hadley," Hadley flinched at his use of her full name, "Why are you always like this? You can't just be happy for me, you always have to pick at things until it's turned into something negative." Will's breath came out in loud, irritated huffs. 

Hadley physically recoiled from his words. "Always like this?" she echoed him, "Always like what Will? I'm just being realistic! Doesn't this strike you as strange at all?"

Hadley was incredulous.

Will turned from Hadley and picked up a stone from the ground, throwing it into the river with a grunt.

"Of course it's strange, it's never happened before. But why does that have to be a bad thing? It doesn't feel bad, Had, it feels so, so good!" he hurled another fire ball into the choppy water and Hadley watched it steam into oblivion. 

"Will I, I want it to be a good thing I do! It's not that I'm not happy for you, I am so glad you get to have your Power again. I'm just worried. I'm worried at what it means."

Wills face became guarded and he turned his back to Hadley again.

"I wish you could just be happy for me and leave it at that for once in your life." he muttered.

"Well what did they say? This, this Collective group. When you told them?" Hadley asked defiantly, sure that a group like the one Will had described would see the concerns in this. 

"I haven't told them yet. I wanted to tell you first."

"Oh." Hadley swallowed. "Well...maybe you should."

"I will." said Will, his back still facing Hadley. 

She sighed and stood up, walking over to him. She placed her hand on his arm, but he maintained his tense pose.

"Look Will, I'm sorry. I am happy for you. I think it's amazing that you have your Power back, I do. I mean, look at you, you're glowing, it's like your you again. I love seeing you this way!" she tightened her hand around his arm, begging to understand, "I'm just worried, not just about you but about everything. In the last few weeks since you lost your Power I've begun to really question the world around me, and in doing so I think my eyes have been opened to some hard truths about this world we live in. And those truths have caused me to question everything. But I'm sorry I didn't react the way you wanted. Of course I'm happy your Power returned. I just wish we knew more."

Will softened at her words, the anger fading out of his face.

"I know how you feel," he admitted, "And if I'm being honest, the first thoughts I had when my Powers returned were similar to yours. I've just been so down and out of it since losing my Power, when I got it back I just wanted to tell you and I just wanted to forget all the realities of the world for a while and just be simply happy at having it back. But I should have known you're smarter than that, more thoughtful than that. I should have realized you would see the repercussions behind this." he sighed, "I just wanted to go back and be kids again for a while I guess, where nothing matters but the moment."

Hadley turned her body to face him and laced her arms around him, pulling him into a hug, her eyes inches from the bottom of his chin. 

"When did we get so grown up Will?" she sighed, and Will rested his chin on the top of head.

"I think that was our biggest mistake," he smiled, "We should never have stopped being age 9."

"Age 9," Hadley joked, "I think 14 would have been a better stopping point. After all, by then you had gone through puberty." she looked up and winked at him. 

He laughed, "Alright I could live with 14. Anything before 18," his face turned more serious again. 

Hadley didn't want to go back to the serious place though, so she pulled his chin back down so he was looking at her, "Hey," she said, "Don't go getting serious on me again. Let's be kids for just a little while." Grinning, she pulled back from him and bent her knees into an athletic ready position. "Sooooo," she shook her hair out of her face, "Lets duel."

An ear-splitting smile spread over Will's face and he bent his knees to match Hadley. "You sure you're ready for this?" he taunted her, "I think losing my Power has made my connection to it even stronger!"

"Bring it on!" Hadley smiled, knowing she had never lost at this game.

Closing her eyes, she watched Will throw a fire ball to her right, and jumped to the left, right as the real life Will launched a fire ball that skimmed her left ankle. 

She knew the next one would come right for her chest so she dropped down to the ground so quickly she could barely feel the heat over her back. 

She jumped over the next one, and twisted out of the way of the fourth. 

After fifty fireballs, Hadley was getting tired and the fireballs were getting a bit too close for comfort, so she held up her hands in surrender, and Will cheered even though they both knew she was the real winner, having let not a single lick of the flames hit her skin. 

He came over and gave her a celebratory hug as the collapsed into each other on the rock. 

"You were right," Hadley said, looking up at him, "That felt amazing, just forgetting the weight of the world for a little while. " 

Will pulled her closer into his side, "I agree," he put his nose in the air, " I was right."

Hadley laughed.

"But no seriously," said Will, "I'm sorry I got so mad before. I think I just needed you to bring me back in time a little bit but of course you wouldn't have known that. You aren't a mind reader after all."

"That I'm not," acknowledged Hadley, "And it's okay. l understand, it was unexpected and I'd probably be confused and reacting unpredictably too."

Will smiled at her, and for a second Hadley wondered if something felt different between them, separate from the tension of the last few weeks, more than just the return of Will's Power. It was almost as if something in their relationship had changed, and Hadley couldn't quite put her finger on it but it made her nervous in a different way than Will's Power being back did.