I don't even remember the season. I just remember walking between them and feeling for the first time that I belonged somewhere."

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Ouch. Why, lord, why.

I slowly got up from the floor, raising my hand to massage my head. Shoot, everything hurt.
I stood up and staggered a little, looking around. As the dust settled, it became easier and easier to see.

"Oh, shoot." I muttered, trying to walk closer to the others. Unfortunately, my legs had not received the memo and definitely did not want to collaborate. I couldn't tell if it was the stress I had been through or everything else, but they were shaking so badly that it was almost impossible to stand and walk at the same time.

Luckily, Dash seemed to notice and ran towards me, magically appearing and putting an arm around my waist.

"Honestly, May," he murmured, with a smile on his face "You will end up causing me a heart attack."

I stuck out my tongue at him and the man still had the nerve to laugh. So funny. As if these things happened because I wanted to!

I managed to find Jace, who was in an even worse state than mine, poor thing, with Tanya helping him to stand.

"Well, I think that despite the moron over there, our plan was a success, right?"

I even opened my mouth to answer, but Aline interrupted me.

"Excuse? But no one told me what it was I was supposed to do to distract Izak. What the heck did you want me to do?"

Crossing her arms, Aline looked extremely indignant - which was a relief, well, at least for me.
Anything but the apathy she had been experiencing was a relief to me.

My eyes strayed to Malach, who clearly wanted to dig a hole right there in order to disappear.

"I don't know, something! Anything!"

"I did do something, I—"

"Oh yeah, you stood there, just like a statue. Very useful."

While Tanya and Aline argued, Malach clearly wanted to be anywhere but there and Jace and Dash looked at Tanya in confusion, since they only heard half the conversation, I let out a breath.

Success?

I mean, I was relieved to see them well, but the image of Joanne's panic as she disappeared into the mirror would never leave my mind. It seemed stupid to feel sorry for her, but...

I couldn't help it.

Joanne was many things, and one of them was my sister.
Of course, she had homicidal tendencies and had done many things that I wouldn't know if I could forgive, but still, I wish I had a chance to try.

Maybe I could try to get some sort of specialized help for her, I don't know. Unfortunately, that would not be possible.

Izak had robbed me of that chance.

*

I let out a sigh of relief.

Dash, Ingreth, Savannah and Jace slept peacefully inside the room while Malach and Tanya checked their injuries.

Natalia and I were waiting for our turn, but honestly, I didn't mind waiting. The relief at seeing them well was greater than anything.

Although the wound that Joanne made on me throbbed nonstop.

With a tired sigh, Malach stood up and walked towards us.
"Come on, let's go back to the room." He gave me a smile. "They'll be fine. There is nothing more serious than a few bruises and scratches." narrowing his eyes, Malach added. "And I have to take a look at you two too."

"... I thought we were screwed," Hugo said, gesturing non-stop "Izak had picked up Maisie, everything was getting dark and I couldn't see where everyone was anymore!"

Beside me, Malach rolled his eyes.

"As if I was going to send you guys to get Aline alone." He muttered, making Natalia laugh.

"Malach doesn't even trust his own shadow," she explained, shaking her head. "You should have imagined that he would send someone to help you in case something went wrong."

"I figured," Tanya held an ice pack over her head and was clearly not happy about it. "But I thought it was going to be the big one over there."

Geoffrey, who until then was watching the whole scene from the corner of the room, near the window, let out a grunt.

"Yeah, that's what I believed too."

"You weren't sure you would help them," Malach replied, an almost cruel smile on his lips "and as Natalia said, I don't like to leave things to chance."

"And you," Hugo retorted, poking at one of Luc's bandages that groaned in pain. "I was worried about you, you idiot."

Luc gave an embarrassed smile.

"I didn't lie, I really was hurt... but then Malach woke me up and said that you might need help soI helped him follow you."

"You could have warned me, given me a signal, anything!" Hugo grunted, still glaring at his brother. "I was worried, you know?"

"Wow, really? Imagine me then, when I saw that you went to rescue Aline without A SINGLE PLAN!"

As the brothers glared at each other, Malach sighed.

"Well, we survived." Natalia said, clearly trying to improve the mood. "We didn't capture Izak but we recovered the Mirror. Not bad, I would say."

I frowned.

"I didn't like the things he said to me."

"About you becoming an option?"smiling Malach shook his head and pointed to me to sit down. Apparently, the torture was about to begin. "We always knew that."

"Izak wanted to make your sister an Initiate," Geoffrey explained, running a hand through his hair. "but I don't believe she would have survived. It isn't an easy transition."

The memories of that were still extremely clear in my mind.

"Yeah." I agreed, staring at my feet and trying to ignore Malach as he moved my arm slowly, trying to understand the extent of the injury.

Shoot, it shouldn't hurt that much.

-Hm, there doesn't seem to be any problem with the bone. Most of the damage is muscle, to be sure, but there may be some tendon damage. Better check...

Malach asked me to make some movements with my hand and arm, and I tried my best not to offend him.

Ultimately, Malach chose to score and immobilize his arm. As he began to organize himself to do just that, Geoffrey took a deep breath and stood up.

"Well I have to go. Anyway, I can assure you that you are completely safe from any problems with the Holy Army... That said..."His eyes were kind when they met mine.

"Careful, Maisie. Izak's offer might not interest you yet, but one day, that could change... You need to make an effort to keep your memories and stay true to yourself... Or else..."

I felt a shiver at the back of my neck, but I forced myself to nod.

"Of course."

With that, he cast another look in Malach's direction.

"They will contact her, Malach."

"I know."

"They will demand that you take responsibility for it, Malach."

"I trust Maisie."

"Come on, Aline," Geoffrey said, and Aline nodded, smiling in our direction.

I frowned.

"But she helped us ... you will lock her up again?"

"Yes, they probably will.'Aline smiled, her gaze seeming strangely peaceful.–"The best I can hope for is to have my sentence reduced."

"But..."

"Do not worry. Tanya was right... Maybe it's time to stop regretting what happened and start working to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself. And Maisie... I'm sorry for your sister."

Aline left, but I didn't even have time to think about what she said to me. Malach had taken a liquid that reminded me of liquid fire and threw it into the wound on my arm.

"I need to sanitize," he explained when I glared at him, the burning pain so vicious it made my head bubble.

*

"MAISIE!"

I opened my eyes to find a white bandage around my arm, making any movement almost impossible. I could move my fingers, but the pain was so much that it just wasn't worth it.

At least the torture is over, I thought, sitting up confused. I was lying in the middle of the room, an old, musty blanket on my waist. Ah, my allergies...

Would I still have them, I wondered.

"MAISIE!" The scream was closer now, and I barely had time to finish the thought when I felt arms around my neck and holding tight.

Ingy.

Her hug was like returning home. There was an almost euphoric joy there, and I couldn't help smiling.

"Hi." I replied, and Ingy didn't answer. She just held me tighter.

My arm is going to kill me.

Yeah, I know, it probably isn't going to kill me. Probably not. But, my friend. Did it hurt...

Still, I didn't say anything: Ingy needed that hug.

And if we are going to be honest here, so did I.

"You silly!"Ingy shouted, leaving me deaf and giving me a light pat on my injured arm.

I was seeing stars.

"Never do that again, OK?"She went on, screaming even louder if it was possible."Don't die, May. You're my best friend, you can't die like that!"

I had no words, let alone strength, to answer Ingy, so I was silent. Trying to breathe and contain the tears that were falling from my face.

Whether it was because Ingy was hugging me or because she had touched my arm, I can't say.

Go ahead, call me a crybaby. I accept.

Tanya entered the room and smiled when she saw the scene.

"Aw, Maisie. And we were so proud of you too, Malach just praised you for putting up with everything without crying... So you go and start bawling now?"

They were proud.

It made me want to cry even more... or maybe it was because of all those stars I was still seeing.

"Thanks."I said, my voice breaking a little, and Tanya snorted.

"Oh, stop it! Let's save the drama and mushiness for later, like, maybe never?". She grumbled, walking awkwardly around the room. Clearly, I wasn't the only one in pain that morning. "We have business to do."

I was about to ask what she meant when a blond head poked in the door of the room.

" Maisie woke up already?"

I smiled at Jace, who smiled back at me. It was unusual to see him so happy.

"Hey."

Running towards me, Jace lifted me off the floor in a bear hug.

"Ah, I'm so happy that you're fine!"

"Argh, Jace, don't hug her so tightly, what if she opens the stitches?" That was Dash, who was also smiling at me as he leaned against the door. "And, just for the record, I won't answer for myself if these stiches open."

"Oh, oops."Jace said, as he carefully put me on my feet, before walking away slowly as if I were made of glass. I held back a smile.

"I'm fine."

And for the first time in quite a while, I was really being one hundred percent sincere. I was fine.

My arm was all screwed up, I didn't even want to think about the amount of bruises I had around my body, my head hurt and I was sick... But there, with all my old and new friends close to me, wrapped in more evidence than I could possibly notice of their love and affection, I was fine.

There were people whom I loved and who loved me too. How could I not be well?

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Hello everyone!

We're almost there! It's almost over! :D

Thank you for reading my story so far! It makes me really happy :)

Currently I'm working on the sequel to the Airyll series! When it's published, I hope to see you there :)

Originally published: August, 28th 2020

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