To Be A Warrior

Chapter 64: Temporary Bliss

I wince as I shift under the blanket, the warmth slightly helping with the ache that courses through my body, but not enough to make it ignorable.

Sam looks at me from over his shoulder, his chair creaking slightly as she shifts to spin it around. "You're still hurting?"

"Yes," I groan, twisting my head on the pillow to look at him. "It's not even been twenty-four hours since I got back from New Oban."

"I know, I know," He frowns. "It's just... even on some of your longest runs, you've never been in so much pain that you couldn't move for hours."

Tom hums through his headset, not even sounding winded even though he's ran over six miles on the supply run Sam's directing him on. "Could it possibly be due to the nanites? Maybe they're making you feel worse? Or possibly they've already done the job, and this is your first time completing a run completely mortal again."

Sam hisses out Tom's name. "You know we shouldn't be talking about this stuff on runs. Janine asks for a mission report even for supply runs."

He scoffs. "We've all left out certain details of conversations on missions, Sam. It will be no different here."

He purses his lips, but then sighs in defeat. "Yeah, I guess you're right. What do you think, Five? Do you think you're... completely mortal again?"

Slowly, painfully, I push myself up onto my elbows. The blanket shifts some, and I honestly need to thank Sam again for getting me this heated blanket because I can only imagine how much this would suck without it. I look at him with a bit of a scrunched up face.

"I mean... I don't know. We won't until Sage's people do another blood test, and while I know my body will eventually get rid of the nanites once they shut off, it's not like I'll see them. They're tiny, microscopic.

"I mean, I feel really sore, much more sore than I felt when we finally stopped Sigrid, and you know how much running I did that day. Plus we went into a geothermal well! I never thought that my immortality affected how sore I got since I still felt really sore..." I click my tongue. "Guess if I was mortal I would have been feeling a lot worse."

"Do you think anybody's noticed?" Tom asks, and Sam shrugs even though he isn't able to see it.

"Paula's suspicious, but she may have dropped it. Maybe. She asked why Callista wasn't at breakfast this morning. I just told her she was sleeping in and that I'd bring her some food after I finished eating, since I'm a good husband and all that." He picks at his sleeves a little bit. "But if Callista is mortal now, does it really matter if she knows? I mean, you were the one who kept saying she needed to tell people about it eventually."

"I did. And I still do think that, but having them find out instead of her telling them might lead to them feeling hurt, and can stir up a lot of ill-feelings, especially since Five is the Head of Runners."

I've thought about that a lot actually, how people will feel about me once they find out the truth, that I've been lying to them for years. I mean, when did we truly figure it out that I'm completely immortal? It was on Maxine and Paula's wedding day, and they got married in 2019. It's 2021 now. I've been lying to them for just about two years, I think, maybe a little less since it's only February, but still.

How will people react? I mean, Tom figured it on his own, and while he's more okay with me now, he was insistent that I at least tell Janine about this. Sam came close to telling others about Moonchild, which I made extreme and stupid choices to prevent, but he didn't want others to know about this because he was afraid I would be asked to put myself in harm's way just like Peter was.

And Peter... well, Peter was just sad, upset about this, that I had to share the same burden as he did. And then there was Sage, and he was indifferent to it, really. I think he only agreed to help because he cares about Peter.