UNPROTECTED

Part Twenty-Two

Alina's POV 

Sitting in the same old cell, my head slumped in my hands, I kept recalling what I had done and prayed that it would work. 

Time seemed to pass differently in here. Every second seemed like an eternity but didn't at the same time. The air was lodged with the everlasting smell of burning and the sounds of screams and yells for help from other cells. 

I had to shut them out in order to not go crazy. So, closing my eyes once again, I wished that everything was back to the way it had been. 

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"Alina! It is Alina, isn't it?" Someone shook me awake. Matthew? 

"Yeah, it is. How did you get in here? Aren't you supposed to be in the Reformation bunkers?" He shook his head, smiling. 

"Thanks to what you did, the people of the arena saw the truth through their television screens. That Connor lad was very smart to want the whole thing streamed through CCTV." Lifting me up, and helping me to stand on my feet, I left my cell to find that everyone was waiting for me outisde. 

It was beautiful. 

The arena walls had been knocked down along with the Ministers buildings and people who were once confined to four walls and cramped together, were now spread out and busily creating and collecting bricks to form new, stronger homes. 

Each prisoner was being rescued and I watched like a hawk at the people coming out. 

A tap on my shoulder made me wonder who beat me out, but it was soon clear that they hadn't been in there at all. "Marcus!" I squeezed him tightly as I surveyed the stitches on his head. 

"Hey! You've been in there five days by the way. It's been pretty lonely, you know, without..." He drifted off, bringing back the painful memories of the days before. 

"I know. It's been pretty lonely for me, too."  

As the sun turned to it's center point in the sky, me and Marcus waited and watched at the captors being released from the prison. 

Zoning out completely, Marcus nudged me with his elbow and pointed his head towards the boy emerging from the gloominess of the cells. "Alina! Marcus!" 

Sprinting towards him, my mind processing things to fast, I felt like I could kiss him. 

Then I realised that I already was. 

His lips were soft and sweet as they worked around mine, his hands tenderly caressing my head and waist. Tiny fireworks formed on the insides of my closed eyelids as I placed my arms around his neck, going on my tiptoes just to get the perfect angle. 

Parting and panting for breath, he kissed my cheek, softly as my lips touched his cheek too, then his handsome jawline and then his perfect nose and landed back on his lips again. For a long time I had wanted this and now I had it, I didn't want to ever let it go. 

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"Well done, everyone." Pearilia congratulated us all on our achievement. 

It seemed silly that it was all over - that we had finally done what was once thought to be impossible. Plant seeds had been replanted and now everyone was rebuilding their lives, freely (but making sure that an oxygen-bit was handy for the harder tasks). 

Louisa and Ryan were history and, as soon as Maria was found out, she was shoved in the darkest crevice of the farthest away prison in Russia. When she died, Pearilia was donating her body to medical science. 

Marcus had decided that Delia would have wanted him to move on and, so, he was on the prowl for the perfect girl to replace my sister. 

Louisa had given up on guys altogether and vowed to never kiss one ever again.  

Me, on the other hand, I had my happy ending right where I was. 

With the ceremony of thanks over, Connor took my face into his hands and whispered, "Why do you have to be so...perfect?" 

He leaned down and kissed me. 

Little did he know that I had been asking the same question for a long time, but about him.