Meeting Maia

Going Home

After eight weeks of boring hospitalisation, I was free to live again, as much as I could missing half of my leg. Celia had visited often and we'd become close in the first five weeks and then finals came up and visits became less and less frequent. Mom had to go back to work too so I was alone quite often, which meant that I began thinking about things like Maia and Jonas and Klaus and their mission and Kyle.

Despite my injuries, I knew I needed to go back to them. It was like a nagging inside me, begging me to go back. How could I, though, when I couldn't even walk?

I didn't care, I yearned for their company. It was where I belonged. I would have to ignore the heartbreak and pain inside of me, there was a bigger task at hand. I needed them. It would make me feel whole again.

"Maia. I miss you." I whispered.

"You do?" I turned my head to the side. Maia, Klaus, Jonas and Cleo had just entered my room. they were surprisingly clean and well dressed. Klaus was in a button up shirt and black jeans. Jonas was in his favourite leather jacket and skinnies. Cleo was in a tight tank and short skirt, with a pair of black boots on. She had sunglasses perched on her head and makeup back on her face. Maia, though, was the one who caught my attention. She wore a bright, flowy flowery summer dress and brown turnover boots, a light cardigan lay across her shoulders. Her hair floated in its beautiful auburn ringlets at her hips. She wore no makeup and her eyes were sunken in and she looked hollow. Unlike the rest of them, she wasn't smiling, she looked on the verge of tears.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, in surprise, tearing my eyes away from Maia.

"We came home, to get you back, bro." Jonas smiled as if nothing was wrong.

"Well, you'll have to go. Look at me, I'm no use to you guys now."

"Actually," interjected Klaus, "you are. My dad is getting weaker without blood. He is desperate, I can tell. He sent me a vision, of you, you were lying in a hospital bed, thrashing and screaming so much that your powers unleashed. They were so strong that the flames provided you with a sort of fire leg thing. It was amazing, Raph."

I could imagine it. I closed my eyes and concentrated. My body began heating and I could feel flames seeping from my skin, licking my arms and legs, like snakes. I could feel pain in my 'leg', pain as the flames lapped at my scars, pain as they spread downwards. The bedsheets burst into identical blue-red flames. I smiled, in spite of myself. I got up feeling unbalanced on my new leg. It was translucent like a fire but beautiful. A magnificent creation.

Klaus laughed. "A miracle! Now, my dad is attending a fancy masquerade ball tonight, we're going. Time to put an end to him right? Raphael, you'll be in a wheelchair. You'll look a lot more inconspicuous that way. Okay, tuxes are at home and you girls have dresses at the house too. We have to go to make a plan to defeat to your dad as a team. Got that, Raph?" Said Jonas.

I grinned.

"Let's do this."