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A shaky gasp escaped my lips, as the first thing that registered in my mind to do was to grab the first aid kit. But with the condition he was in, there was no way I could leave him alone.
Hudson was lying on the ground in a heap of pain, shivering and afraid of everyone, or anything that might touch him.
It reminded me that even though Hudson was evil, he was still a delicate human being like the rest of us.
"Mara," he whispers shakily, unsure if he could finish his sentence. His eyes were filled with pain and regret as I cup his face with both of my hands. He attempts to speak, but his words came out as soft chokes. He was having trouble breathing.
Hudson was shirtless. And on his chest lied a series of angry bruises, as I could tell he had been punched in the gut ruthlessly. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and my hands could feel his cheeks burning up with a disgustingly high fever. His eyes were so swollen, you could've thought he had an allergic reaction. He wore nothing but a pair of sweats and boxers which he probably struggled to get on.
I wanted to scream at him until my lungs burned for joining that hellhole of a place called the Plague. They were the ones who did this to him, when he did absolutely nothing wrong. But at the same time, I wanted to give my life up for him. Hudson was the closest person I had in this world. I felt something for him that my years of loneliness couldn't decipher.
Seeing him like this made my insides burn with anger and sadness all at once.
"Mara," he says hoarsely. I held a finger above his lips so that he wouldn't say another word. But he removed it, shaking his head back and forth as he continued. "Please say something... Say anything," he pleads.
My eyes are wide with disbelief. I didn't know what to say or do, as my eyes couldn't leave the countless abrasions and infected cuts that covered his body. I kneeled down to him so that I could be eye level with him. His gaze held a thousand silent words yearning to be spoken.
"Why?" I manage to ask with all my remaining strength. "Why would they do this to you Hudson?"
Great. I was supposed to be mad at him, but my hormones thought differently as a small tear formed in my eye.
And for some reason, when I look back down to him his expression was content. The pain in his eyes semeed to diminish all at once, but his fists were still ghostly white from being clenched.
"Hudson, how are you so calm when you're literally on the brink of fading out?" I exclaim to him. "You're covered in the worst injuries I have ever seen! Come on, sit up," I demand. "I'm going to heal you."
He softly smiles as he shakes his head, his floppy hair moving with the motion. "I don't need your powers, Mara. Hearing your voice and knowing that you're safe healed me just fine."
I attempt to cover the growing blush that covered my face as I carefully grabbed an uninjured part of his arm to help him sit him up. "Okay, sappy romantic. Become a poet after I finish healing you."
I couldn't help but hear the loud thud of my heart through my chest. Hudson was doing something to me, yet I couldn't explain what.
"I'm serious, Mara. Using your powers—your healing powers is very energy-consuming. Doing so may knock you out for hours, or even days. And trust me, I am not worth your energy."
"I don't care, Hudson," I say to him honestly, my gaze meeting his soft, green eyes. "This is something I want to do."
He finally relaxed, letting me do as I please as I turned him around to inspect the injuries on his back. And seeing what was there, my stomach struggled to hold back my dinner from earlier.
His back was covered in angry, violent whip lashes that were a deep red, now turning purple as they looked extremely painful. His head hung low in shame, as if this was the last thing he wanted me to see.
Taking deep breaths, I begin to summon the power I had found within me the other night. Healing was more of a willpower than anything. The familiar golden wisps suddenly start to appear from my fingertips, as they reached out like little branches to each one of the whiplashes on his back.
Slowly yet surely, the marks on his back began to close up. The bruises on his chest must have been healing too, because his shoulders visibly relaxed as a soft sigh came from his lungs.. The job was hardly even halfway done when a wave of fatigue suddenly washed over me. But I had to do this. I had to stay strong for him. At least two minutes passed, and my mind was ready to give out on me.
As the process finally came to an end, I didn't notice the tear that fell from my eye until it landed atop my kneecap. As my smaller body sat behind his larger, now fully healed body, I rested my head softly on his defined, muscular back as if he were a pillow. The fatigue of the healing process was proving to be way too much.
He begins to turn around in his position, but I stop him by placing a hand on his back.
"Why can't I turn?" He whispers to me, his voice now sounding much better than before.
I wipe another tear with the sleeve of my eye as guilt consumes me. "Because I don't want you to see me crying again," I whisper.
That sentence only made him turn more forcefully than before, not letting my hand stop him this time. I sit there like a helpless puppy next to a human. He slowly takes both of my hands and pulls me into his chest, making butterflies erupt in my stomach.
Hudson wipes a tear from my eye as he looks upon my smaller figure. We were so close, so damn close that I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest.
"Why are you crying?" He asks softly, beginning to play with the loose strands of my hair. It wasn't fair that he was so naturally good at everything — especially when it came to winning my heart.
I look anywhere but his face, too overcome with guilt. "Hudson, this is all my fault. You wouldn't be in such a poor state if it weren't for me. Each day that I'm still breathing is just another day of trouble for you, and I'm sick of it all. Sometimes I wished that I was still working in that darn scrapyard, away from all of the commotion and away from—"
"Do you even hear yourself speaking right now? This isn't the Mara I know," he interrupts with a hint of panic in his voice. "Did the Rebels do something to you? Did you get a concussion from the battle?" He questions like an overprotective mother, inspecting my face.
Despite the guilt in my chest, a weak laugh escaped my lips. "No, Hudson. I'm perfectly fine."
He sighs. "Fate does things for a reason, Mara. Just like how we met. Who knew that I'd be sitting here with a beautiful girl I found from a junkyard?" He questions to himself but didn't seem to notice his slip-up. "It was my wrong-doing by joining the Plague. After what happened at the Rebel base—the murder attempt on me," he clarifies. "I was angry at everyone, and vowed to never let anyone close to my heart ever again. I thought joining forces with the Plague would help me become more powerful and stronger, so I could defend myself against future attacks like those. For seven years I fought alongside with the Plague, searching the continent for mutants all for the damn throne. Looking back now, I regret it every day. I could never kill mutants myself, though. They would be tortured in a cell for days by guards until they were too weak to survive."
"That's... that's horrible," I say softly, and he nods.
"I never wanted to hurt mutants. I only wanted throne in the end. But now that you came into my life, I see everything different now. The past me craved power, yet I didn't know inside of me yearned for some kind of love in my life. I had abandoned all emotion in me because I thought it was too distracting. I hope you know Mara, that you've healed me. Not just here," he says pointing to his back where the nasty wounds had closed. "But here, as well." He points to his heart. "And I'll forever be in debt to you for that."
I looked up in astonishment to see a smile on his face. Not a smirk. A genuine, whole-hearted smile. It had my stomach erupting in butterflies, which I hoped he couldn't sense with the bond.
At the same time, I was speechless from his open confession. Who knew the scary commander I met a month ago had those words in him? I wrap my arms around Hudson embracing him in a hug, as he visibly tenses from the skin contact. I feel him relax to my touch a few seconds later.
The moment was short lived, as I heard two simple knocks on door to my room immediately snapping me out of my trance. I get up from Hudson's arms as he heard the sound too, getting up and moving to the corner while I tried to come up with an excuse as to why I was sitting on the ground.
"Mara?" Priscilla's voice filled my ear as I turn to see her standing there in the doorway. "Are you alright? I thought I heard talking from in here," she says and I freeze.
"Uh," I say looking down. "Yeah, I just couldn't find something so I was looking under the bed to see if it was there!" I rush out, and mentally face palm myself. That was the most embarrassing thing I've ever said.
I hear Hudson snicker from the corner, as my cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.
"Alright then," she says giving me a smile. "I swear my old ears hear things all the time," she murmurs to herself before shutting the door from behind her.
"You really need to work on your excuses," Hudson jokes from behind me, plopping down onto my bed. He props his head on both his hands, revealing his finely-toned chest that I had trouble keeping my eyes off of.
"Hey, it's not everyday that I get put onto the spot like you," I admit and smile, climbing into bed next to him as I stare at the ceiling. A lengthy silence fell upon the both of us, as the occasional sound of a person walking by in the halls filled my ear.
Random thoughts began to enter my head, such as the urge to be closer to Hudson. He was addicting, everything from his touch to the way he looked at me with his glistening blue eyes. But it was the bond surely messing with us, and Hudson was probably feeling the same urge.
"Mara, what happens next?" Hudson whispers.
I turn my head to look at him. "What do you mean?"
"I don't want to be a part of the Plague anymore. You're fighting against the Plague. I can't join the Rebels because many of the older guards will recognize my face and remember I was the one who ruined the last base. What comes next?"
I purse my lips. "I'm not sure. For now, you'll have to keep acting. Me on the other hand, I'll start coming up with ideas, maybe there would be a way to..."
Realization hits the both of us at the same time, as his eyes widen to turn and look at me.
"Get the enemies together in one battle," we both say simultaneously as his hands reach out for mine. Excitement filled both of us as we realized that this could be it.
"That way I can command the Plague so poorly that the Rebels would be able to crush us in an instant," he says. "Then you and I will take on Red together. Before he sent me through reform, I tried reading his mind and using my powers on him, but it didn't work. I don't know if he's immune to my abilities or something... but I think he's a mutant."
"Then we'll stop him together. Just like our parents tried to do." I give him a smile and squeeze his hands excitedly.
His green eyes stare into mine with an unknown emotion making the grin slowly fall off my face. Our faces were so close, my mind couldn't shake the thought that we were going to lean in and just... close the gap between us.
But all of the excitement I had just went through made me realize how tired I was. Healing was an extremely energy-consuming task from what I had learned. I struggle to keep my eyes open, as the fatigue from when I healed Hudson was slowly creeping its way back into my mind.
"Sleep Mara," he whispers to me, concerned for my wellbeing. "You're safe with me." He brushes a strand of hair out of my face as I put my head in the crook of his neck, and he pulls me closer with his hands, finally fulfilling the wants of the bond.
I was knocked out in almost an instant, until I heard Hudson whisper something like 'holy shit,' as if he were having an epiphany. Either way, I fell to sleep in his arms as he pulled a blanket over us once more. Nothing felt better than being here in his arms. And I could only wish that this moment lasted forever.
But as many have said, good things will eventually come to an end.
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