Fireproof - Kenric and Oralie

Headaches

Kenric's POV:

When Kenric woke up, his head hurt. A painful throbbing in his head, even when he laid down.

His vision was blurry at first, but cleared up after a few seconds. He was lying on a cot, in some sort of healing center. 

He couldn't remember anything about this place, yet it seemed so familiar.

Then a door to the side opened. Out came 11 people, his fellow Councillors. 

Minute by minute, Kenric was starting to remember things again.

He tried to slowly sit up, but winced at his arm pain, and fell back down on the cot again. 

"Take it easy Councillor, you're not going to be capable of moving for a while now." A friendly yet serious voice said. 

Kenric craned his neck to see around him, and recognized the curly yet messy hair of Elwin. 

Elwin looked up at the Councillors, "If you need space, I can leave the room, but I need Bullhorn to stay. If he does anything different, call for me and I'll be right here." He said as he excited the room.

Councillor Emery stepped forward but remained distant from him. "How are you feeling, Kenric?" There was a questionable pause between "feeling", and "Kenric". 

"E-Emery? Where am I? What happened at the field?" Kenric said, but winced at the pain from even speaking. 

"Do you think you'll be up for a mind probe?" Emery asked gently, but that caused a painful, rigorous reminder of the interogations he faced. 

The fire, the fire, the fire- him being trapped with metal bonds, having a telepath trying to scour his brain. Using all his energy to protect the things that mattered most.

It felt like his mind was shattering, shattering into pieces. They stopped after that.

When Kenric came back to reality, he noticed Oralie cringing and fanning the air. She backed up and leaned against the wall, causing all the Councillors to stare at her. 

"Is everything alright Oralie?" Terik asked, now concerned. 

Oralie nodded with a pained expression, "His emotions- they're so strong- I think-"

The councillors looked at each other knowingly as Emery touched his temples.

"Alright, lets bring them in."

Most of the Councillors left except for Emery himself, Oralie, Bronte, and Terik. In came Sophie Foster, Fitz Vacker, Alden, and the Mr. Forkle man. 

Elwin came back him and helped him sit upright. Emery then said, "Kenric, we're now going to be doing a memory probe, just to see if you saw or learned anything from the Neverseen. It's not going to hurt, okay?"

Kenric looked at Oralie with a pleading face, she came over and held his hand, sending in soft breezes of calm. 

Kenric nodded ever so slightly, making Emery motion towards Sophie and Fitz, who came over to Kenric. 

Sophie was on his left side, Fitz was on his right side. They each put two fingers on one side of his temples, then he felt them slip inside his mind. 

Kenric had tried to avoid listening or looking inside his mind due to the utter mess the Neverseen created in there.

"Woah-" Sophie said, "What happened in here?" 

Kenric couldn't see what they were seeing because they were the 3rd person viewers of his mind, if that makes sense. He didn't understand what they were talking about.

They rummanged through his mind, helping each other get past his mind's defenses.

The came out of his mind, looking exhausted. 

"His mind is an utter mess!" Fitz exclaimed, wiping sweat from his brow. Alden put reassuring hand on his son's shoulder. 

Everyone else had concerned faces. "What do you mean, a mess, like- shattered memories?"

"I don't know. I couldn't figure it out." Sophie said "The memories were on the verge of cracking, but still intact."

"I'm sure there's no reason to worry. It must be because of all that stress he was under when having those memories." Alden said with a smile that wasn't as reassuring. "You probably need rest."

Everyone agreed and slowly left the room, except for Oralie. 

Elwin noticed and asked, "Do you want me to give you two some room?" 

"Yes please", Oralie said while Kenric nodded.

When Kenric stared back into her eyes, it looked like she was on the verge of crying. 

"Kenric- I can't believe you're really here. I missed you so much. I was so scared, so guilty-" Her voice cracked on the last part.

Kenric pushed a ringlet of hair behind her ear. "Don't feel guilty Ora- I would've done it over and over again to save you. And I'm fine anyways. I'm here now." 

"I just- I just want to hold you, hold you tight and never let go." Oralie said.

Kenric brought her arms over, hugging her and soaking it in.

"Me too Oralie, me too. Sometimes I want to grab you tight and run away with you" He admitted with a slight chuckle. 

Oralie lifted her head slowly in surprise, but with a smile on her face. 

"Promise me you won't leave again. Promise me you'll stay with me?" She said softly.

"I promise," Kenric said while interlocking his fingers with hers. "I don't want to ever leave you again." 

"Kenric" Oralie said after a few moments. "Did they find out any important information from you?" 

Kenric looked down, then back up at her beautiful blue eyes. "No. No Oralie." He stared at the wall which had a picture of Atlantis. "I took everything that was important, and I stuffed it in a chest. I put that chest in the back of my mind, and then I locked it up. I buried it. I knew it was there. I knew it existed, but it was gone."

Oralie sighed with relief. "So they didn't try to interogate you?" 

Kenric looked at her with a sad smile. "No- they did." He said slowly, then paused, staring into space.

There was a small throbbing pain in the back of his mind, but he tried to ignore it.

"Sorry Ora, my head hurts a bit." He cringed, the pain becoming more and more prominent within the second. 

Elwin came back after Oralie called for him. Elwin gave him a sedative to drink while he treated him. 

Before the sedative started to work, Kenric whispered to Oralie.

"I wish we had more time". 

Then the lights faded to black, the throbbing in his head slowly going away .