Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 53: Rushed

The moonlight was shining brighter than ever, and Mallix had been up for hours preparing for when everyone else woke. He got out of bed while it was still dark with full energy, jumped into the shower, and got to work.

Writing down what he needed on a notebook, he divided the work equally among the group. As preplanned; Nina would get to work on outfits, Alex would find out everything he can about the Cave through his connections, Zander would give tips on stealthiness, while James called any outside resources they had for any other necessities they'd need. All the while Mallix led them all on their mission. 'Showtime...' he thought to himself opening his door with confidence and pride.

Still before the brink of dawn the sun was still hidden behind the lake outside the cabin, yet Mallix walked around waking up the house.

Starting at Alex and Zander's room, Mallix banged on the door yelling for them to wake. However, one of them had other plans. Zander groaned as he instinctively tried to get up at Mallix's orders, but Alex snuggled Zander close to his chest as he kept his eyes shut.

"Not yet," was all he said with a tired voice as his hold on Zander loosened as his body fell limp to sleep. Rather than obliging Mallix's wishes, Zander lent into the cuddle feeling Alex's warm body soothe him back to sleep as well.

While they returned to their peaceful slumber, Mallix got to Nina and James's room once again knocking on it shouting for them to get up.

But after all the commotion going on between the couple last night they were treading on thin water. James had slept on the floor with his jacket as a cover, while Nina got the queen size bed to herself.

She lazily opened her eyes letting them adjust to the small amount of light shining into her room through the blinds. Stretching her arms outward, Nina yawned before fixing herself up. Wiping the sleep from her eyes and putting on her glasses from her purse, she found her crutches and got up.

Not even looking down at the floor near where James was sleeping, she made it into the bathroom and washed up before exiting the room. Outside she found Mallix sitting all alone on the living room couch.

"What's up?" her morning voice echoed out as she took a seat besides him. He looked down the hall frowning when nobody else followed.

"Where's everyone else?"

"I don't know...sleeping probably. It's too early M, the sun isn't even fully up yet. We all know Alex likes his sleep, and if Z's in there with him, well I don't think we'll be seeing them for a while."

"What about James?"

She rolled her eyes at the mention of his name, "he's still sleeping, he couldn't hear you more than likely. And even if he did he probably wouldn't have come out this early either." She answered truthfully.

Mallix just face palmed as he sighed loudly realizing he had expected too much out of his friends. Throwing his head into his hands he shut his eyes feeling slightly irritated.

"So what's this about?" Nina asked as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Here..." he annoyingly said passing over the notebook to her that detailed all his ideas for them. Nina flipped through the pages quickly, looking up at Mallix with am impressed look.

"Aren't these are for-" she began before Mallix lifted his head from his hands with his eyes shut, nodding his head.

"-rescuing Kaila and Lain. Which I wanted to talk to everyone about but..." he gestured to the empty seats around them, "we see how well this turnout has been." He stood up and walked into the kitchen.

Nina put the book down on the couch, using both hands to maneuver her crutches over to him. She had entered the kitchen in time to see Mallix putting a pot of water on the stove to boil.

"Hey don't be so upset with them. Their tired Mallix. Just give them some time, it's really early in the morning. Try in a few hours." She tried to comfort as he put his hands on the edge of the countertop staring outside the kitchen window looking out at the lake.

"Yeah, I'll do that." He threw his head down.

"Besides they'll probably be more attentive later anyways. Their brains will be awake and ready to listen and take in all the information. Last night was a lot when you briefly told us what to expect. They need time to process everything—so you know—a couple more hours of sleep won't hurt." She got closer noticing the stove wasn't turned on for his pot of water.

She lit the gas stove, letting the fire start to heat up the pot. Mallix just stared baffled at the action, he completely forgot to turn the fire on. "Seems like you could use a couple more hours yourself." She laughed seeing his frozen face.

He shook it off, "I can't sleep, not while I'm so close to getting them out of there N. I just need to last a few more days and they'll be here with us. They'll be safe and out of that horrible place."

"Mallix you can't just ignore your own needs. How are we suppose to get them out of their while your weak because you ignored your body's one request...sleep." She paused raising her eyebrows at him. "If you really want to do them a favor, then you'll go get some sleep yourself. At least that way when you wake up everyone else should be awake as well."

"But-" he went to protest but the second the word slipped his mouth Nina threw a finger in his face silencing him.

"No. No buts M. Seriously I know you love them and want to get them out of there as fast as possible, and trust me I love them and want them out of there just as badly, but your only hurting our chances of getting them back if we can't even rely on you to do simply things." She widened her eyes looking between the stove and him.

He couldn't protest. Deep inside he knew she was right, he just didn't want to have to wait any longer than needed. He stared out the window once again defeated, there wasn't anything he could say that would back his point.

"Why don't you go back and get some more sleep, M. Or at least go rest until the sun gets up." She smiled.

"Yeah, your right." He smiled back, "thanks N."

Leaving the tall woman alone in the kitchen Mallix slowly walked back into his room. After Mallix left Nina to her own business, she decided to use his pot of hot water to make her own cup of tea. With it she sat back down at the couch reading more of Mallix's notebook in depth.

As he made it inside his room, Mallix shut his door quietly before falling flat on his back on his bed staring up at the ceiling. His eyes slowly shut after an hour of hesitation.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off