Fire Meets Water - A Kotlc Marellinh Fan Fiction

Chapter 8 - Marella

Marella awoke to the sound of voices.

"Are you sure we should have knocked them out for this long?"A woman's voice asked. The voice sounded vaguely familiar but Marella's brain was too fogged up to place it.

"We needed to have the public believe that they died in a fire accident during training, without them interfering!" A man replied. Marella recognizes this voice. Fintan. Marella gritted her teeth. He had tricked her into calling down Everblaze and nearly killing her and Linh.

Linh. Marella tried to turn and try to find her friend but her muscles were so tired she couldn't even move them an inch, let alone opened her eyes if she found Linh. Meanwhile the people kept talking.

"Yeah, and that worked out so well for us last time," the woman said sarcastically. It was really bugging Marella that she couldn't place this person's voice, but if she tried to concentrate, all she got was a blaring headache. "But still, two weeks?"

This woke Marella up. They had been drugged for two weeks? And everyone thought they were dead?

As feeling returned to her, Marella took stock of her situation. She could feel herself trapped on a metal chair, rope tying her legs to it, locking her in place. She could also feel cold, rough cuffs, binding her hands together. Fintan and the woman kept talking, but Marella tuned it out as she was busy trying to find a way out of there. She tried to spark a flame to melt the cuffs off her, but she felt as if all of her power had been drained away. She could still feel the heat inside of her, but she just couldn't channel it out of her. Marella grunted, and eventually gave up. Was Linh trapped the same way? Marella couldn't take it anymore. She shoved her eyes open and called out: "Linh?"

Both Neverseen members turned her way. "Finally, you're awake!" Fintan said.

"Where's Linh?" Marella asked.

"She's over there," Fintan told her, then nodded toward a dark corner where Marella could just make out the shape of her friend. She was still out cold.

Marella was about to ask if Fintan had done anything to her. He seemed to read her mind. "Don't worry," he said, "she's safe."

Suddenly Fintan ran over to her, sparking a little fireball in his palm, he held it under her nose. Although the heat was painful, Marella ordered herself not to flinch. Don't show weakness, she told herself.

"I won't talk, no matter how much you burn me," Marella said. She hadn't been a part of the Black Swan for very long, only a couple of months, but Marella felt as though it was her duty to keep their secrets.

Fintan sighed and shook his head, "You just don't get it," he said sadly.

"Get what?" Marella asked then internally kicked herself as a smile slowly spread across Fintan's face.

"I know," he said.

Marella almost asked him what he knew but stopped herself. Fintan must have caught the look of curiosity on her face, because he kept going. "I know an awful lot about you, Marella Redek. I know that your ability was triggered accidentally, as you had the Forkle guy trigger it, but you were hoping for Empathy. I know you first met Sophie at lunch where you 'saved' her from some Jensi and his friends. I even know about a certain Sir Splashyhugs-" Marella's jaw dropped. She had never told anyone except her parents about the stuffed kelpie, how could Fintan possibly know that? "-but most of all," Fintan continued, "I know that you will go to great lengths to protect your secrets. But, you see, the thing is that I also know that you will do anything to save those you love. Decision, decisions,"

Marella kept her lips pressed together.

"I hoped it wouldn't have to come to this," Fintan sighed, "but it seems you have left me no choice." he snapped his fingers and sparked a ball of white flames in his hand. Marella watched in horror as Fintan held the flame right underneath Linh's face.

The Hydrokinetic woke instantly and started thrashing against her bonds, as the fire licked her chin. She screamed.

"No!" Marella yelled. Fintan looked toward her and said four words: "You cooperate, I stop," Marella looked back at Linh, who even though all the pain she must be suffering, shook her head vigorously. Marella looked Fintan in the eye.

"What do you want to know?" she asked

Word Count: 755

Art Credits: deepspacialrift 

Author's Note: Let me know if you think I should put a Trigger Warning at the beginning of this chapter (is much darker than the rest)