Fireproof - Kenric and Oralie

Questions

Oralie's POV:

What did the Neverseen do to Kenric?

Kenric was back.

He was alive. 

And- and here. He was living, breathing, smiling. 

But for some reason, something still felt wrong. Oralie was scared.

When she was holding his hand during the probe, his emotions- it was a bit different then usual.

They were, somehow, more, jagged. Somehow sharper, more broken. It was hard to process. 

She felt so much fear, so she had sent out cool breezes of calm.

Whenever she did that, she felt him calm down and feel a bit happier, but it was-

It was tinged with guilt.

Oralie had no idea why he felt even the slightest bit guilty.

She wanted to think she was imagining it, but when Sophie and Fitz came out of Kenric's head, it confirmed her worst fear. 

"The memories were on the verge of cracking, but still intact."

On the verge of cracking.

What did the Neverseen do to him? Oralie wondered. Did they break him? No, he was fine and was talking to us. He couldn've have been broken.

But...

Her mind drifted to Alden, remembering the awful time when his mind broke from the guilt.

Could that happen to Kenric? Why was he guilty? What made his mind break?

Oralie walked over to Sophie and Fitz, who were talking to Alden.

"Sophie, Fitz" Oralie said as they all turned around to face her.

"Remember when you said something about his memories on the verge of cracking?" 

Sophie's brow furrowed, "Yeah, it was kinda like his memories were delicate. It felt like if I looked at the memory too closely it would shatter."

Fitz nodded, "It was like if I spoke too loudly, his mind would break into tiny pieces. His mind was barely holding up."

"D-Do you think his mind is", Oralie struggled to say the word, but whispered it out, "broken?"

"That's impossible. He was fine when we talked to him. There should be no reason to worry, he must be stressed and tired." Alden said while giving her a comforting smile. Then his facial expression switched up immediately. 

He glanced at Sophie and Fitz, then to Oralie. "Did he say anything to you when you were speaking to him?" Alden said to Oralie, quite loudly and panicked. His tone made everyone else in the room stare.

"Um- yes, he said his head was starting to hurt." Oralie said nervously.

"Uh, maybe it was just a headache?" Fitz said, unsure. 

Alden took a deep breath and swallowed. "Did he- did he have a throbbing pain in his head?"

Oralie nodded slowly, "Why? Is that a bad thing?"

Alden didn't look at her, he looked at Sophie.

Sophie was the one to realize first. "Alden, you had those pains when your mind broke, right?"

Alden nodded his head in fear and shock, unable to process what was happening. 

Sophie starting walking backwards to Kenric's room, turning around to full on sprinting. Her sudden outburst caused everyone's head in the room to lift up.

Fitz ran shortly after her, then followed by Alden. 

Oralie was in shock, full of fear in her eyes. She covered her mouth as she was running after them, saying, "No, no,no!"

When everyone followed into the room to see what all the commotion was about, Sophie and Fitz both had their hands on Kenric's temples. 

Elwin stood by the side with a giant tray of sedatives on the counter. His hands covered his face.

Fitz had sweat glistening on his forehead, his frown got deeper and deeper.

Sophie's brow was furrowing so much, she thought her eyebrows would come off. She gritted her teeth, and all of a sudden, Fitz pulled his hand off Kenric's forehead, jerking backwards and landing on the ground.

He was panting and obviously shaken. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He didn't move after that. 

Alden looked at him with a hopeful yet knowing look. Fitz shook his head. 

Sophie pulled out slowly later, full of confusion, concern, and most of all, fear. 

She could feel it through the air, and when Sophie looked at her, she felt her heart twist. 

"Oralie, I'm sorry." Sophie whispered as she sat down abruptly with a blank face, and hit the ground unconsious.