glitched | ✔️

f o r t y f o u r

Amara POV

It was just Peter and I.
And his eyes were filled with raw hatred.

I backed away, weaponless.
The Machine seemed to be drawing my energy towards it, sucking it up.
I needed to focus.
To fix it.

"What happens if it doesn't work? What happens if I can't make the green light do the right thing?"

I was twelve, once again talking to Doctor Levine in my bedroom.

"I do not know for sure, but the Machine is a very sensitive structure. It would be like hitting a bee hive with a stick and expecting the bees to keep going about their day."

"...so I could get a storm of bees chasing me?"

"Metaphorically, yes. You can't mess up."

"No promises."

Doctor Levine smiled softly and I suspected there was something she wasn't saying... but I already knew what it was.

I had one shot at this. And if I messed it up I could leave things worse than before.

I couldn't mess it up.

I snapped back towards the real world, where I was still backing away from Peter.

"A storm of bees...." I muttered. I had to fix it.

"Please... just stop for a second and think about what you're doing!" I shouted over the whine of the Machine.

Peter laughed, a dry laugh. "You just killed my father. A life for a life... doesn't seem that crazy."

"Peter, look at the Machine before you. It has the potential to kill everyone on this planet, you have to let me shut it down!"

"I'm already alone on this planet, witch. I've got nothing else to loose."
He rushed towards me, knives raised.

"Damn it."
I moved to the side and he ran past me, missing by a few inches.
I reached out and grabbed his arm, sending electricity through the knife blades.
He dropped them instinctively and I took the moment of his distraction to pull him towards me and press my lips to his.

His body went rigid.
Than, tentatively, his lips started to move against mine.

The pain that was being heaped upon my shoulders by the Machine seemed to lessen as I felt him lean into me.

That's right... remember me... remember...

Peter POV

Two parts of me were at war with eachother.

This girl in my arms... this beautiful creature who crackled with power, burned with light, I knew her.

She wasn't the temptress, she wasn't a witch. This was Amara.

I loved her...? Didn't I?

No you don't. She killed your father.
She's evil, she's manipulative. She has a spell over you.

No.
She's funny and sweet, but with an outer layer of stone that she has built up to protect her heart. A layer you were starting to penetrate before...

Before what? Before you finally came to your senses and realized she was tricking you all along?

Before my memories were stolen.