The Fallen Throne

Chapter 12 ✦ Reunion

"To be human is to love,
Even when it gets too much."
~ Rose (Sia ft. Labrinth, To Be Human)
{ P.S. Wonder Woman, anyone?! }

♚♚♚♚♚

Alaina feels the need to scream, but her throat is tangled in invisible knots.

The only thing she hears other than her accelerating and crescendoing heartbeats are her thundering footsteps, as she rushes to his side. Nothing else is in her sight, nothing else reaches her ears, nothing else bothers her senses.

Nothing else distracts her. Then again, nothing else matters.

Lucky for the both of them, despite the fire separating them from the manticores being gone, the manticores do not return. They are probably long gone, retreated for good after they'd given up. Yet Alaina hasn't the mind to think or wonder exactly how large is the hole.

The wall of fire overhead had disappeared along with the fire they used as a weapon against the manticores, but Alaina doesn't seem to notice or even bother, in her case. Kai is her priority.

She kneels next to him, pulling him close. Gently, she rests his head on her laps as she reaches for his hand, grasping it so tight as if it's her life.

It's the first time she's ever actually touch him. Sure, they've brushed each other briefly during their fall, shook hands and held hands -- though unknowingly -- before, but they're all through a simple pair of gloves; something, Alaina has noticed, he's never taken off.

But she's holding his hand. Without a glove in between.

It burns. Her skin, where it touches Kai's, burns; a sharp, piercing pain. Reluctant, Alaina doesn't let go of his hand. But the pain only increases, and she feels her hand burning up. Finally, she lets go and shakes it off, yet there's nothing there when she inspects her hand. Nothing, just like the pain -- gone, as if it was never there.

With his eyes still closed, Alaina acknowledges the fact that he's still unconscious. She wonders at first if he's the one causing the burning sensation on her hand, but a sudden thought strikes her.

It has happened before.

Back in the cell, Lancaster felt it.

Sorry, it wasn't on purpose. Just don't touch me again.

She touches his forehead lightly, then pulls her hand away. Despite the cold sweat, his temperature is something else. Not even fever high; it's a burning furnace -- if you leave your hand there, it might scorch up.

Alaina regrets to think that he'd done it purposefully, because she finally understands why Kai never fails to emphasise, over and over again, for people not to touch him.

Before, she'd thought he was just afraid of human contact. But in reality, amidst his series of 'don't touch me's, he can't actually touch anyone. He can't simply touch someone without them burning up.

Focus, Alaina reminds herself. Only when she tries her hardest to see in the dark that she finally finds his arm with a scratch. A tiny, innocent looking scratch. Yet the state he's in now tells Alaina that it's more than a simple scratch -- it does more than a simple scratch.