Rise

Melanie

"Is she going to wake up any time soon?

"How the hell should I know? It's not like im there with her. We will just have to wait until she's awake to go anywhere else."

"She's been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past two days. What makes you think she will wake up now."

"It's too dangerous to travel through Silva with her like this, all the broken cities will be too hard to navigate if I have to worry about her."

I feel like I'm floating, my head resting on the water's surface. My eyes snap open to reveal clear blue skies. The loud ringing left in my ears is now gone, replaced by the ocean waves crashing against the shore. Am I at the beach? What happened at the border? I go to lift my head but someone puts their hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"Relax Mel. You're bound to be lightheaded after all that." Fins voice blares through the air, making the dreaded ringing return. I wince and close my eyes, resting my hands on my temples.

"Please don't talk, you'll make it worse." I want to explain, but my voice burns far too much to talk.

"What worse?" Fin ask.

"The ringing!" I snap, opening them up again. Two hazzy figures stand in front of me, one blond... My brother of course. And one has deep brown hair and striking blue eyes.

"Porter?" I say softly. It was his hand that held me down. He now lets me go, letting me sit up. Half of my body submerged underwater. The chill is refreshing but startling.

"Why are we in water?" I ask. they both look at each other then back at me.

"Porter put you in here, you were burning up so he thought this would help. I guess he was right." Fin places a hand on the man's shoulder and I stare at the two, perplexed. Since when are these two getting along? I start walking to shore, but both Fin and Porter take my hands and put them on their shoulders.

"Update me, where are we? What happened at the border and since when did two become friends?" I try to joke, but all they seemed concerned about is me. I huff and let go.

"I can walk on my own," I mumble, trudging through the water. It isn't what is holding me back though, I can feel the current pushing me closer to shore. With my help of course. At least your ability isn't weakened. No, what's holding me back is my own legs, weak and numb. It gets worse when my feet touch the hot sand. I trip over myself and my dress, falling to the ground the wind getting beat out of me once again.

"Melanie!" The sound of rushing footsteps makes my head pound. I groan and slowly push myself off the ground. My chest burns and I feel like I'm drowning.

"Mel, let us help you. We need to get out of Unda and you can't move fast enough on your own-"

"Don't tell me what I can't do, Fin." I snarl, standing. It takes me a bit longer than I care to admit but I still get up nonetheless.

"You expect me to be invincible. Well, guess what, even you can fall." my voice is shaky, and I can feel tears stinging my eyes. I shake it off, pointing my finger at the two. They stand awkwardly, I huff and walk away from them yet again. This time they stand close, waiting for me to make another mistake.

"So why are we going to Silva?" I state. Fin stops, cocking his head to the side.

"You heard that?" I turn to him, trying my best to hold back a glare. Porter turns to me before speaking.

"We think Cal is going to rat us all out. It's better to be safe than sorry. We planned on going through Silva but Tellus is heavily guarded and Lumen is destroyed from the raids. The only safe place in that country is Terram, Nari, and Vita are being held safely there and we will call a rescue team to take you the rest of the way." I haven't looked at him since I woke up. A cut on his head sticks out on his semi-golden skin. One of his eyes is swollen black and blue and there is a bloodstained hole where his heart is. A healed bullet hold.