After War Storm

Mare

"Is that who I think it is?" I whispered to Cal staring at the young boy sat at the table nearest the door.
"Yes," he answered.

I headed straight to their table and sat down. "Mare!" Luther exclaimed hugging me. It was surprising because he was not wearing gloves, or long sleeves; he must have gotten his power under complete control to risk it like that. As if he could read my mind, it was probably my slightly shocked face, as Cal sat down he said "I taught him to control it." I was surprised by that though I knew how amazing a teacher Cal is.

"Why are you here?" Luther asked me. "Please don't tell me there's another war." I laughed but Cal's eyes were grave. It was only after I looked back at Luther that I saw he was serious. "No," I assured him "there isn't another war." Yet, I added in my mind. There could be someone out there taking powers but that was nothing to burden a twelve-year-old boy with. He was so young and had already seen so much.

"How is it going?" He whispered to me, nodding his head subtly towards Cal, though I know he saw.
"It is very good at the moment," I whispered back winking at him. Luther laughed.

"We have to go," he said gesturing to the others boys around the table and stood up with them. "Bye," I said "See you later."
"Bye!" He called as him and his friends left the room.

I sat in silence for a moment. It was so unfair that such a young boy had had to go through everything he had. It was unfair that a child carried the weight of being able to take away life with a touch.

I didn't notice Cal had moved seats until I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders and pull me into him. "Do you want to go back to the room," he whispered softly in my ear and I nodded, on the verge of tears.

We stood, hand in hand, and Cal led me back to his room, our room I guess since I'd destroyed the wall separating the two. We only passed a couple of people on the way back and none of them really payed us any attention.

Cal opened the door, without letting go of my hand, shut it behind us and led me to the bed. He pulled me down next to him before taking both of my hands in his. I broke down in tears.

"Shh, Mare," he comforted, gentling wiping the tears from my cheeks. "Everything's okay, you're safe, nothing's wrong."
"But it is," I choked out "He's what? 12? And was seriously asking whether there was another war? A war I created, led."
"Mare, you can't blame yourself for any of it."
"But if I hadn't fallen into that forcefield it wouldn't have happened."

"Listen to me," Cal said, taking my face in his hands, forcing me to meet his smouldering gaze. "None of this, is your fault. The war would have happened whether you had been there or not. Whether it would have been so successful is a different matter but you can't blame yourself for what happened. You saved Luther's life. He would have gotten to him if you hadn't. You saved so many people."

I stared into his eyes for another second before our lips met passionately. "He so young," I whispered after we'd pulled apart.
"I know."
"To have seen a war, to have such a gift."
"I know." Cal pulled me in for a hug and I melted into his embrace. He was warm and strong and comforting and...perfect.

"I love you," I whispered.
"I love you too," he said. "Let's just stay here for today. I have nothing else I need to do and Farley needs to conduct her interviews before anything else can be done so we have a free afternoon. How about we just watch some movies. Does that sound alright?" I nodded, happy that I would be able to spend a normal afternoon with him, just the two of us.

We watched movies all afternoon, snuggled together on the sofa, wearing pyjamas. "Do you want to order takeout instead of going to dinner?" Cal asked around 6.
"Yeah, sure."
"What type?"
"Chinese?"
"Sounds good." Cal phoned up the Chinese restaurant and it was delivered soon after. He left to go and collect it from the front of the palace.

We spent the evening together, laughing, happy. We talked about everything that had happened in the last two years but didn't delve into anything too deep. I wasn't in the mood to begin discussing Maven. I could barely think his name.

It was the best night I'd had in a long time. Not just the last two years but my entire life. We were together, like a normal couple, and for the first time we didn't have to worry about anything else.