A Heart's Thoughts

Day 21

He laid her down on one of the cushions in their shared room, pulling off her shoes and socks despite Cecilia's protests. He silently placed one of Eden's bottles on her stomach as he lift up her foot to inspect it. She stared silently at the bottle balanced on her body until Anthony lift his head.

"I know you've been pretending to take them. Why would you do that to yourself? You keep saying you don't want to slow us down, yet you torture yourself like this."

"Anthony, I-"

He cut her off, "you keep denying Eden's help, lying about taking his medicine and it never stops! You always try to act all tough and in the meantime your body crumbles away!"

Cecilia stared at him in shock, leaning heavily on her shoulders which were not yet healed from the bruises as she tried to keep her head up to look at him. Anthony turned his head away from her but not before Cecilia could see the sparkle of a tear in his eye.

They remained in silence for a few more moments before Cecilia pulled herself into a sitting position and silently embraced Anthony, letting his head rest on her shoulder as she slowly stroked his back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly, careful to keep her voice from trembling.

"I-I'll take the medicine. I'll even let Eden personally work his powers so please don't be mad. I'll start taking care of myself properly."

Anthony pulled away and shook his head, "don't you see that's not going to work? Just taking care of yourself for me to worry less isn't going to last. Why won't you take care of yourself for your own sake? Why must you always take the tough route and get hurt?"

Anthony's tears silently escaped his eyes and he gripped onto Cecilia's arms. His voice was filled with raw sadness and it caused Cecilia to tear up as well.

"I-I don't know, Anthony. I just... don't want to take care of myself. I feel like I shouldn't. Like I don't deserve to."

"But you do deserve it. You deserve it all so please, please, don't be like that. If you don't plan on doing it for yourself you might as well not take care of your body because it won't last. I hate seeing you hurt. Even now, you go out and run, knowing full well what happens when you do, yet you always neglect your own needs. You had Annabelle and Julian with you, they could've run for you in your stead."

Anthony took a deep, shaky breath, clearly upset by Cecilia's self-treatment. Cecilia opened her mouth to speak, but Anthony suddenly stood up, the tears had stopped flowing and his expression hardened.

"You convinced me to let you go through with this plan. If you plan on treating yourself like this I'll personally walk into the Council Head's office and turn myself in. You're an adult, Cecilia. Take responsibility."

With that, he left the room, slamming the door behind him. She heard the boys teasing Anthony over his possessive demeanor earlier and she heard their laughs, Anthony's being louder than all the others. She pulled up her knees and buried her face in them, letting out a long sigh as the room suddenly felt cold and gloomy. She saw the bottle Anthony had left for her from the corner of her eye and reached for it, pulling up her head to be able to look clearly at it.

"Idiot. Who in the world cries his eyes out and then gets such an attitude a split second later?"

She smiled softly to herself as she gulped the contents of the bottle down and firmly set it back on the ground. She let the effects of the medicine spread through her body, making some bruises lighten or disappear entirely. Once she felt the effects fade she stood up, still wobbly, but sufficient enough to be able to hold her weight.