"SO IT'S GONNA BE FOREVER, OR IT'S GONNA GO DOWN IN FLAMES."

M A R K

"It wasn't so bad working with you today." What the hell was I thinking, going off on a tangent and saying that? She probably thought I was an idiot now, even more than before.

Yep, that's the reason I went off on a walk instead of meeting my friends after my session with Tanni. I needed time to process how much of a fucking idiot I was. I mean, what was wrong with me? I was pretty much silent for the whole lesson, and then she asked if she'd done something more wrong than usual and of course she fucking didn't. I was being stupid. And then I felt terrible for making her think that and then I had to go and ask about her family and then feel even more shitty so I have the wonderful idea to distract her with the fucking piano.

Fucking idiot. I didn't even care about her, why was I acting like I was? Why did I feel the need to cheer her up when all we've ever done is bicker?

Why why why wh–––I stopped in my tracks when the strong smell of smoke hit me.

Oh no no no no no. The hut. I'd just seen Tanni walk inside a couple of minutes ago.

"SHIT!" I yelled in a panic, sprinting towards the burning building. Not that I'd admit it to her, but I didn't want Tanni to get hurt. I pulled off my hoodie and wrapped it around my face like a mask. Wishing I'd paid more attention to fire drills, I took a risk and broke open the door.

Thank God it wasn't locked.

I crouched down and struggled not to cough. I walked through the flames, which had begun to slowly spread. Tanni was standing in a corner; her wrist was burned, and she was weakly trying to back away from the fire. I managed to pull her outside onto the grass. And it's a good thing I did, if I hadn't, she'd be dead––to state the obvious.

Once we were a safe distance away from the hut, I put out the flames using a fire extinguisher.

"WHAT THE HELL IS IT WITH YOU AND FIRE?" I hollered angrily, my breathing was heavy and irregular, "YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURSELF KILLED!" She and I had both collapsed onto the floor, laying side by side.

Tanni smiled weakly. "I guess you could say I'm even more flaming hot?" she joked, pathetically, before collapsing into a heap of coughs and splutters. She didn't phase me though. I was pissed and nothing was changing that.

"Is the smoke affecting your brain, Arsonist?" I face-palmed.

"Sure."

"Okay, well shut up so I can take you somewhere safer," I muttered, wobbling as I stood. I was about to reach out a hand to help her when I hesitated. "Can I touch you?"

She raised an eyebrow, sitting up. Panic made its way into her eyes.

"No––I mean, you don't look like you can walk without help. Do you mind if I carry you back to your dorm?" I was rambling like an idiot, again.

"I can walk," Tanni said, firmly, beginning to stand. However, as I predicted, she fell back down. "Never mind," she grumbled, angrily, "carry me, just...be careful."

"I won't drop you," I assured her.

"That's not what I meant," she mumbled, as I lifted her off the ground. She tried not to touch me while I carried her back to her room.

♡♡♡

"Book-burner?" Tanni whispered once we were close to our destination.

"Yeah?"

"Put me down, I'll crawl from here," she said. I paused.

"No," I decided––she wouldn't make it there alone. I carried on walking until we reached her door. I slowly pushed it open, careful enough not to drop Tanni.

I made my way to a bed scattered with books and sheets of paper––which I assumed must be Tanni's. I knew about her love for reading. I set her down on the bed, but not before I cleared up some of the scattered sheets of notebook paper and pushed them to the end of her bed.

"Don't you dare read those," Tanni said.

"Why not?" I asked, in confusion.

She blushed. "I just don't like people reading my drafts."

"You write?" I said, intrigued. She nodded meekly.

"You write books?" I bombarded her with questions.

"Books, poetry, letters––I don't know, I just write what I want to write," she shrugged, seemingly embarrassed that I'd found out about her hobby.

"What are they about?" I didn't stop asking questions. Although I'd never seen Tanni as being the poetic type, I wanted to know more.

Tanni blushed even harder and began to bite her nails. "I don't know, friendship? Grief? Love? Pretty much everything."

"Why do you even know so much about books? You don't seem like a reader to me," she pointed out.

"I'm friends with Amira and Nico, two of the biggest book nerds you'll ever meet. I'm also unfortunately into Shakespeare plays." I explained. We both fell silent for a while until she spoke.

"It's nice how we managed to keep some of the good things from our culture before the war," Tanni whispered.

"Yeah," I mumbled, pretending like I knew what she was talking about. Then I remembered why I was in her room.

"I'm gonna go get the first aid kit, stay here," I told her.

"No, I don't want to stay here. I'm going to run a marathon and jump into a volcano before you even get back," she declared, a wide grin forming on her face. She was so exasperating.

"Cut the sarcasm a bit," I said and then made my way out.

♡♡♡

First-aid kits were almost non-existent at this place––or maybe I just hadn't bothered to look for one before. Eventually, I found a small cupboard filled with medicines and began my search.

"What are you doing here, Mark?" I heard Mr Vidius's tired drawl from the doorway.

"I just need a first aid kit, for a––um, friend."

Vidius raised an eyebrow and walked into the cupboard, easily finding what I was looking for and handing it to me. "Be careful," he instructed.

"Thanks," I took the kit from him, "and––uh, Mr Vidius?"

My teacher looked up tiredly.

"The hut burned down, I thought I should let you know. And if the nurse could stay in her office for the next half-hour or so, that would be great. We might have some minor injuries," I said, before running off in the other direction.

♡♡♡

I knocked on Tanni's door, entering when she gave me her permission.

"Give me your arm," I told her, while I sat on the edge of her bed.

"What?" her eyes widened in fear.

"I need to treat your burn," I said.

"Oh. Okay then," she gave me her arm––but she still looked terrified.

"I'll hold onto your sleeve and wear gloves, if you'd prefer," I offered, remembering her interaction with Giles. Tanni smiled with relief, so I assumed that was a yes. I slipped on a pair of those annoying plastic gloves and took hold of her sleeve, beginning to apply the ointment.

At that moment, someone walked into the room. The door was open, so we didn't notice her come in, at first––until she laughed out loud. It was Harper, I recognised her from our abilities class.

"Where did you go?" Tanni questioned, "I left you here, like, an hour ago?"

"I went for a run, and I thought you hated him," Harper signed to Tanni, jerking her head in my direction.

"I do hate him," Tanni signed back, removing her arm from my grasp, "I really can't stand him right now." I tried to not let those comments sting.

"You couldn't stand the fire either," I said––and signed. Tanni flushed from embarrassment when she realised that I'd understood her, whilst Harper laughed even more.

"Shut up, book-burner," she grumbled.

"Aw, you called me 'book-burner' again. I thought we were beginning to warm up to each other," I whined, jokingly as I continued to heal her burn.

"Uh-huh, sure," she replied. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Harper wiggling her eyebrows at us. I glared, half-heartedly. Tanni and I had gotten off on the wrong foot, but Harper was great––at least, that's what Nico told me. I also recognised her as the girl I'd helped out on my first day at the school.

"Well, Arsonist. You're all set. I would stay away from fire from now on, but hey! I'm no medic," I said, once I'd finished applying the substance. "Also, I'd recommend you go see the nurse for an extra check-up, I told Vidius we'd both go along later."

"Okay," she said, looking down at her newly bandaged wrist. Tanni rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched into a small smile. I got up, about to leave, and said goodbye to Harper.

"Hey, book-burner?" Tanni called out, as I stepped outside.

I turned around to look at her. "Yeah?" I leaned against the doorframe.

"Thanks. I still don't like you...But I'd be dead if you hadn't found me," she mumbled, "so, um––thank you."

Harper's expression twisted into a look of confusion, and I realised that she didn't know details about the fire. I guessed Tanni would fill her in later.

"No problem, let me know what the nurse says," I grinned and walked out the door.

And as I left her room, I had one single infuriating thought on my mind. One that no matter how much I tried to push it away that day, it always returned. And it explained my behaviour the entire time.

Oh God.

I cared about Tanni Evelyn.

♡♡♡

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME???" Nico's chastising voice yelled when I walked into our dorm.

"WALKING," I screamed back.

"Walking? Really?" Nico returned to a normal volume. "You can't be walking every night for over an hour."

"Well. Let's see, I walked. Saved someone from a fire, treated her burns, and had to see the nurse so she could make sure I'm not dying or something.," I said.

Nico's jaw dropped. His hair was a bright shade of purple. "You'd better explain the full story right now, Mark," he said.

So I explained. After I was finished, Nico had only one question.

"So, who did you save? I mean, you told me everything except for her name," he asked.

"Tanni," I shrugged, I'd been avoiding telling him that––but I guess I had to. And it took every bit of self restraint I had not to smile at her name. Pull yourself together, I reminded myself. Nico snorted.

"You both can't get enough of each other, can you?" he sniggered.

"Shut up, this is exactly why I didn't tell you," I said. At that moment, Amira decided to walk into the room.

I should really start shutting that door.

"Nico, do you have that copy of the drawing you did last night?" she asked, "oh, hey Mark." She waved. I smiled, hoping that Nico wouldn't expose me about what happened with Tanni.

"Yeah, I do," Nico began rummaging through his sketchbook, and I saw some pink highlights in his hair. "Here," he handed it to her. Amira thanked him, admiring the art. I wondered if Tanni liked to draw too, she'd had some nice posters on her wall earlier, and a few sketches in the corners of her draft pages.

"You good there, Mark?" she waved a hand in front of my face. Apparently, I'd zoned out.

"He's probably thinking about the love of his life, Tanni," Nico explained.

"She's not the love of my life," I retorted.

"But you were thinking about her?" Amira interrupted. I fell silent for a moment.

"Yes," Nico said, "he was."

"I hate you both so much," I groaned.

God, they were so annoying sometimes. It wasn't my fault Tanni was on my mind, she practically jumped into every dangerous situation possible, and it became my responsibility to get her out of the said problem.

"How's your project going, Ami?" I decided to distract myself from Tanni.

"Eh," she shrugged, "It's not bad, I just hate talking about this stuff, y'know?"

The three of us continued talking about who knows what until Nico fell asleep and it became too late to stay awake any longer.

Then it was me and Amira talking as I walked back with her to her dorm. I needed to pick up something from the library anyway.

"I just hate it, the fact that we're stuck here. It's all abilities and war. We just dwell on the past but don't take action on fixing it anymore," I whispered, "like the graduation paths, what if I don't want to have a career that needs my ability?"

"I know what you mean, it's rubbish," Amira shrugged. "They're trying to control us. But we can always prove them wrong, you know? Control the things you can control, bend the rules a bit. Find loopholes. Look for the opportunities."

I smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Ami."

"Anytime,' she grinned. "Goodnight."

"Night." And with that, we parted ways.

♡♡♡

I lay awake for hours, staring up at the ceiling that Nico had covered with his many paintings and sketches. I loved our room for that reason, it felt like someone was living there, imperfect and full of passion. My CDs, records, and compositions covered the floor, whereas his art covered the walls.

I got out of bed and silently began rummaging through my music sheets, trying to find my most recent composition. But instead, my eyes landed on a small, crumpled-up piece of paper. I unfolded it and began to read.

'I almost killed a boy who'd be better off dead anyway.'

Description – Black hair, seems innocent enough. But haha no. Eviler than Mr George Wickham– Pride and Prejudice, and that's saying something. Average height; and his nose is weird. All in all, he looks like a small goat. And not one of those goats that are absolutely adorable. No, he's a goat that would kill you with one glare.

Opinion– I think that's kind of obvious.

AWWC Quote/s–

"I never trusted you."

"Then why didn't you fight back?"

"I didn't want to be the villain."

I must have stepped on it when I was bringing Tanni back from the hut, I thought. But I doubted it was anywhere near the fire, anything in there would have burned. A normal person might have been concerned about the fact that the note said that the writer had almost killed someone, but me...Yeah, I was that normal person.

And what did AWWC stand for? And the description was so biassed that it would be almost impossible to figure out who had almost died. I lay back down on my bed, trying to decipher something from the mysterious note.

But it was too late because as soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.

A/N– fifth chapter, yay! quick question, who's pv do you enjoy the most? mark or tanni's? i'm really curious lol. anyway, please remember to vote and comment if you enjoyed it, and share if you like :). Have a nice day/night wherever you are!