Chapter Twenty Two ~ Strengthening The Strong
Pandora blinked her vision into clarity, unable to keep her eyes open even for a second. She shut them, squeezing them as tightly as her weakened body would allow her to. She concentrated on her breathing, realising it was restricted. She, suddenly, coughed profusely and, at that moment, she heard the shuffle of feet before she felt someone help her sit up.
"Here, have some blood." The glass was placed to her lips and she sipped once, twice, three times before taking in larger gulps; every sip making her stronger. But only just a little bit.
Pandora opened her eyes again to perceive her aider.
"Tobias?" She whispered with a gasp. "You... how... what are you doing here?" Her voice came out in a harsh tone accompanied by her usual hisses even in her weak state.
Half of the glass of blood allowed her to gain enough strength to hold the glass herself, and wearily, she drank the rest after taking in the fact that she was in the cave. Tobias backed away and stood up.
"It's okay, Pans, he's with us," Jax commented, strolling into the room on cue.
"What's going on?" She asked, placing the empty glass on the floor besides the mattress she was laying on.
Jax approached her, knelt down and took her hand in both of his to check her temperature. Pandora was too weak to shove him away, surprised at his contact with her all of a sudden. He touched her forehead and sat next to her on the floor, relieved that Pandora was fine.
"You've been unconscious, that man-made sacconium is some pretty strong stuff, almost as strong as the real one. Your body has been rejecting the blood for a week, well, basically for as long as you've been unconscious, but now that you're awake, it's taking in well, I see," Jax answered, running his hand through his golden hair. "Thank goodness that you're okay."
"A week?" Pandora was shocked. She'd been out cold for a week?
"Yes, a week," he confirmed.
Once the information sunk in, Pandora used her chin to gesture towards Tobias who was stood by the table.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" She could sense his emotions, still unsure of his intentions.
He was calm, just as his face appeared: pretty blank and not the very least surprised by her wariness towards him.
"Yes, Pans, how do you think I was able to get all the sacconium years ago to build this cave? He's been helping me ever since you went to prison very discretely, might I add, so that he still has Fox's trust," Jax explained with reassurance. "Trust me."
"But he's Fox's most trusted guard," she argued, although, internally she had to admit that he did not send out any dangerous aura.
"Pandora, I said, trust me." Jax voice was stern and held authority.
"Jax, I can sense your emotions and aura, I know where the others are because I can feel my internal tracker. Did you do something to the cave so the Sacconium is ineffective?" Pandora felt like a little child asking all these questions and she didn't like it one bit. Usually, she knew everything and others were asking her but the roles were completely reversed and she felt vulnerable.
"What?" Jax was shocked by this information. How can Pandora possibly use her powers in the cave?
"It could have been due to the contact with the liquid sacconium when it broke," Tobias chipped in. "Did you drink it by any chance?"
Both Pandora and Jax snapped their heads towards Tobias. Jax was pleased to have Tobias on his side; he had more confidence in his trust in him now that things can be explained that would otherwise have gone on as a mystery.
"I'm not sure. Some may have splattered into my mouth and I tried to spit it out," Pandora answered, raising an eyebrow.
"That explains why your body rejected the blood until you were conscious again. You only woke up once you were able to take it out of your system, however, it may have created some immunity to the Sacconium. It's very strange though, it was tested out on one of those farmers. She drank some of that made Sacconium and she is still unconscious, it's coming up to a month now," Tobias disclosed, his tone displaying emotion for the first time; it wasn't monotonous for once.
"Which farmer?" Pandora questioned, no longer interested in her immunity of the one weakness her kind have. Her heart lurched at the mention of farmers and concern grew within her.
"Just some farmer, they're not important anyway," he shrugged as if it was nothing.
"My parents are farmers!" she emphasised, clearly angry by his statement.
Jax placed a hand on her arm in an attempt to calm her down, even though he knew it would have little effect, while Tobias was taken aback by this new information. Fox made it a point, ever since Pandora's parents were kicked out of their house, to ensure everyone thought Pandora was an orphan (claiming he had to rid her parents via the Crest as they were torturing her) so, even, Tobias was unaware she had parents, let alone about their occupation.
"I don't know who she is," Tobias replied, still unable to register her parents being farmers.
"Find out," Pandora simply replied. She attempted to stand up but she wasn't yet strong enough. Jax caught her in time before she collapsed onto the mattress; it wasn't the comfiest of places.
"We will," Jax assured her.
"Now!" She screamed as loud as she could.
"Jim," Jax spoke into his watch (well, what Pandora thought was a watch, but, in fact, was a walkie-talkie), which was strapped around his wrist. "Get me a glass of blood."
"Sir, we're running out of blood." The deep voice came out of the watch.
"How much do we have left?" Jax spoke into it again.
"Possibly ten glasses worth."
"Shit! Okay, bring two glasses for Pandora. I'll sort something out."
After the response of agreement, Jax placed his wrist by his side.
"I'll be able to sense a dead person. I could help you guys attain more blood," Pandora suggested after a few moments of silence where Jax was left thinking.
"Once you gain your strength," he agreed.
"Only if you find out who the farmer that they experimented on is." Pandora put in a condition. She wanted nothing more than to find out whether her mother was safe at that very moment.
"I said we will. We have more important things to worry about right now. Look, Pans, Fox managed to get a scientist to create a similar substance to the Sacconium and it has his blood in it so he's immune to it. We've collected most of it from the scientist; he agreed to help us. On the agreed date, when he was supposed to give us the remaining rocks, he went missing. It's been a week and Fox is back on his feet, but even he doesn't know where the scientist is. I'm sure he's figured out something is going on so we need to find him before Fox does." Jax was irritated by Pandora's demand. He didn't understand why she had to be so selfish most of the time. Here, he was trying to save the whole of the core and she could nothing but think of her own worries.
"I don't care! Either you find out or I will go down to the core myself. I don't care if I get caught, as long as I know if Mum is safe. Only then am I willing to help you. You've been trying to save our core for how long now and where have we gotten? Now where! So, a few more hours or even a day will not make much of a difference." She found strength in her worry. She could feel herself becoming stronger without the help of blood, however, she knew she needed it to gain her full strength.
"Fine." Jax sighed in defeat. "We need you so I can't let you do anything crazy. Tobias and I will find out who the farmer is and then we continue with our plan. Deal?"
"Yeah, I just need to know. You understand, right?" Pandora's eyebrows were raised and her lips were in a pout; she reminded Jax of a little puppy.
Jax cupped her face. "I understand. If it is her, I promise, I'll do everything in my power to keep her safe."
"Thank you."
It was the first time since they both met after Pandora was released from prison, that they both completely trusted each other. They were having a moment, a bond that no other person would understand. For the first time in a while, they saw each other as their best friend.
"You look stronger already," Jax smiled as he let go.
"I feel it, although I could do with some blood." They both laughed. It seemed like a long time since they both felt care free. Tobias watched them with amusement, keeping silent the whole time; after all, he was good at that.
There was a knock on the door and Jim walked into the room with two glasses of blood. He handed them to Pandora and she drank both within seconds. He waited until she finished the glasses, taking them from her before he left with all three glasses (one from when she initially woke up).
"It really is good to have you back," Jax stated, forgetting Tobias was still in the room, referring to her returning from prison.
"It's good to be back," she smiled.
A/N ~ Hey guys! I thought that it would be better to have the chapter up first before actually writing a note so that way you can just get on with reading the story lol. What do you guys think? Any good? I'm aware the chapters at the moment are quite boring and that more actiony/adventurous things need to happen, but in time there will be a lot so relish in the calmness for now hahaha.
This chapter is dedicated to afraidofthelight because she is such an awesome reader and her stories are very cool, so go check her stories out and give her the support she deserves! Thank you also for giving my story a read and I'm so glad you have liked it so far. It means a lot to me.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter; leave a comment of your thoughts please and vote if you believe it to be worth it! It really does make my day to read comments :). Leave any thoughts of what you think may/should happen. Readers thoughts are always so interesting!
~ Zana