RED DIAMOND

Chapter Thirteen - Fiona

I awoke with a gasp, I shot up to a sitting position. It looked like I was back in my room, on my bed. Harmon sat at my feet, he wore a hood and covered his face with his hand. He was wearing earbuds and his phone rested on the bed beside him. I rolled my neck around, a mild headache clouding my thoughts. I shook my head, wondering what had happened.

"Harmon?"

He didn't respond.

I tapped his shoulder and he jumped slightly, snapping to attention and revealing a grim expression and a black eye. Harmon pulled his earbuds out, "I didn't realize you were awake." He said hoarsely.

"What happened to your eye?" I asked, reaching forward.

Harmon leaned back and gently grabbed my wrist, "Sophia kicked me. Right after Deathslinger punched me in the gut."

I bit my lip, "Are you okay?"

Harmon took a deep breath, "I'm fine."

He wasn't fine.

A silence passed over us. "Why'd you stop me?" Harmon said finally.

"What do you mean?"

"Why'd you stop me from getting Sophia? We could have captured her for questioning."

"It should be her own choice to come! I know you're not exactly on good terms with her right now, but there's something we don't know about that she does, and it's what's making her like this. We're not her enemies."

"This is war Fiona!" He yelled.

I drew back, shocked at the sudden outburst. Harmon stared at me for a second, he then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It's just that... Sophia's put me through so much. I feel bad for saying that I'm going through a lot when you're going through more."

Harmon took a deep breath and leaned back up against the wall, "Thanks for stopping me though I guess. Had you not, I would have badly injured her and would probably currently be screaming at her, trying to pry information out of her."

"Y-you're welcome." I didn't know what to say, and I was afraid of saying anything wrong. Was what I was going through really worse than his situation? Or was he just telling himself that? I didn't really know the details about what had happened when he was kidnapped, so I couldn't help him properly, but in fear of how he might react to talking about it I refrained from asking.

Avi entered the room, "We need you now Harmon."

Harmon sighed, then I felt the mattress rise slightly as he got up, collected his phone and headed towards the door.

"Wait!" I called. He and Avi stopped, "What do you need him for?"

"Just some tests before you guys leave for the mission," Avi replied, "He somehow resisted the mind control, and we want to look into that."

"Oh, I see. I guess that's a good idea." I had half a mind to ask to tag along, but I didn't want to invite myself.

"I'll be back in less than half an hour, Logan's initiation test is today, so we need to be there for that." Harmon said, grabbing the handle and pulling the door shut behind them.

I took a deep breath and let it go slowly, it was usually at a time like this that I'd go find Sophia, to give myself something to do, but that wasn't going to happen. I re-positioned myself under my covers to try and sleep off the headache. A soft downpour of rain provided a relaxing background noise, but even so time passed slower than ever as I just stared at the ceiling, letting thoughts wander restlessly in and out of my mind. I was desperate to vent to someone, but everyone I usually would have gone to were either out of reach or already occupied with their own thoughts. I had also recently sent a message to Aluna with Pepper, so I wouldn't be getting that means of communication back for a good while. My eyes began to water. I didn't want to cry, but small tears began slipping down my face anyway. It wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep again.