Heroes and Villains

23 - So the drama

Michelle

I wake up the day after feeling like s**t. I hurt all over and feel like my skin is being consumed by flames.

Getting up in bed and throwing my sheets to the side, I end up throwing Luki along with them. He must have snuck inside during the night and cuddled in with me.

“Well, good morning to you too!” He shouts, clearly angry that I threw him off bed.

I ignore him and stand up, keeping a hand on the bedside table as the world swirls around me. My mind tries to wrap around the fact that I am indeed alive. It’s true I am severely burned but if I did fall from such height, I should be flat as a pancake.

When I first woke up, I didn’t have the head to think much about it, but now that I can think clearer, it doesn’t really make much sense.

Nausea hits me again and I have to run to the bathroom, tripping on my own two feet along the way and barely missing the toilet. I end up throwing out what little contents I have in my stomach.

The sound of the door opening doesn’t startle me. It must be Cain or Jaden coming to check up on me. On cue, Jaden comes running into the bathroom, finding me holding onto the toilet seat.

“You shouldn’t have gotten up!” He scolds me and helps me sit down on the toilet.

“She’s stubborn” Luki says, coming into the bathroom too. “You know that”

“Oh, shut up” I mumble, still feeling like s**t.

“It’s normal that you don’t feel well, Mia” Jaden tells me with a soothing voice. “Your wounds are still healing”

“What I don’t understand is how I am even alive” I say, taking Jaden by surprise. “I fell directly from uptown into the blazing downtown. If you found me on the ground, I would be nothing more than a splat on the concrete”

Jaden looks conflicted at me, which tells me there is something he is keeping from me. This bothers me. We have always shared all of our secrets.

“Jaden, what aren’t you telling me?” I pointedly ask and he looks at me with a guilty look.

Suddenly feeling ashamed for pressuring him like this, I retreat.

“Sorry…” I say. “I’m glad you saved my life. It’s just… So many strange things have been happening lately… It’s alright. You don’t have to tell me”

He sighs and smiles gently at me.

“No, you’re right” He tells me and I look hopefully at him. “You deserve to know what happened, but not yet. First, you have to recover”

“You could just tell me now” I insist. “My ears can still hear perfectly”

He chuckles and ruffles my hair.

“It’s something I have to show you, dummy” He says. “Now let’s take care of your wounds”

Leaving no room for argument, he helps me remove my nightgown and starts applying a smelly scream to the burns on my back. He tells me it could have been a lot worse.

I only got burned on my back and on the back of my legs, which also tells me that the wounds I have were inflicted solely by the blast. That means I never got to touch the ground. How that happened, I have no idea, and Jaden is not about to spill the beans.

As he cares for my wounds, my mind rampages, and I think about the memory I recovered while I was knocked out cold. That old scientist was my dad and that was how I got to be filled with radiation before Jaden found me. But what happened to him? Why wasn’t he at the beach with me then?

“Jaden…” I mumble and he nods to signal me he’s listening. “Was there anyone else with me and Luki when you found us at the beach?”

He stops his movements of spreading the cream around my back and I can sense his eyes on me.

“No” He simply answers. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering…” I start. “I… Remembered something while I was knocked out”

“You did?” He asks me, continuing to care for me.

“Yeah…” I continue. “It was about my dad and how I got to be at the beach in the first place”

Again, he stops and I feel him getting tense.

“You remembered your dad?” He asks me.

“Yeah” I confirm. “He was a scientist at the Hamato Industries. I think he was working on the Meteor”

“That’s not possible” Jaden affirms. “The meteor is extremely radioactive. No one can get near it”

“I know, but…” I say. “I remember seeing it. It was this huge rock and…”

“Mia” Jaden interrupts. “You got injured really badly. These memories you have may not be real”

“But they felt so real” I say, turning to look at him. “I remember it, Jaden. My dad was Dr. Jones and if he wasn’t with me at the beach that day, he may still be out there. If I lived, he must have lived too, right?”

“That is very unlikely” Jaden tells me, his voice growing stern. “You and Luki only survived the radiation because I found you and brought you to someone I knew so you could get fixed”

“You never really told me who that someone is either” I comment and this seems to send him over the edge.

“You should rest a bit more” He bluntly tells me, going to wash off his hands. “Lay on your back this time”

Then, he leaves me there alone!

“That was rude” Luki comments.

“Tell me about it” I agree. “I wonder what got to him”

I am about to get up and go back to bed when I hear the door opening again. Thinking it must be Jaden again, I head to the door of the bathroom.

“Coming back to apologize for being so rude?” I say as I turn at the door, only to gulp down my words.

It’s not Jaden that came into the room, it’s Jack. And he’s looking at my bare chest, his face hot red.

I yell in embarrassment and immediately cover my chest with my arms, trying to head back into the bathroom to hide myself. I am only wearing a pair of panties, for Christ sake!

In my rushed attempt to get inside the bathroom, my clumsiness strikes, and I end up tripping and falling headfirst.

“Ow!” I shout as I hit the ground, fortunately not hitting it with my injured back.

“Mia?!” I hear Jack’s voice and then feel him enter the bathroom and look at me, splattered across the floor with my back exposed.

“D-Don’t look!” I shout, my voice in a high pitch.

He closes his eyes immediately after. “I have to help you get up”

“N-No!” I say, my voice sounding as girly as ever. “I’ll be ok”

He steps closer to me, his eyes still closed. I am about to crawl away from him when he crouches down and grabs my arm.

I look surprised at him and he just smiles, his eyes still closed.

“Ninja, remember?” He says and proceeds to help me get up, mindful of my wounds and with his eyes closed the whole time. “Where are your clothes?”

“Huh…” I mumble, still dazed at the fact that I am standing here, almost naked, with Jack next to me. “I think Jaden put them on the sink”

Jack turns around and quickly finds my nightgown, handing it over to me. I quickly put it on and ignore the pain the cloth causes when it touches my fragile skin.

“You can open your eyes now” I tell him and he does so, a pinkish color still quite present on his cheeks. I suppose my face is no better. This was a really awkward situation.

I am about to say something stupid to lighten the mood and force us to forget this whole scene ever happened when his bare arm catches my attention. The clear red dots of recent needles piercing his skin flare out like a white bunny on a black canvas.

I reach out to touch his arm but he flinches back, obviously ashamed.

“Don’t worry” He tells me. “Most of the dose has worn off by now”

“Jack…” I mumble, sad that he has rebound to take h****n again. He was doing so well. “What happened? Was it your brothers again? Your dad?”

He shakes his head, his demeanor changing drastically and I can see how bad he truly is feeling. Tears threaten to escape from his eyes, the paleness of his skin becomes more apparent and his expression is one of extreme sorrow.

I have the urge to hold him in my arms but repress from doing so. Not just because of the awkward situation from before but because the images of him kissing me as Kitty Girl suddenly assault me.

“It’s Kitty Girl” He says and I look at him in surprise. “She’s gone”

I try not to allow him to see how that makes me feel. How heartbroken it makes me that I can’t tell him that Kitty Girl is alright, that she is right here in front of him. How she loves him as much as he loves her, but she doesn’t love him as Kitty Girl…

“W-Why do you say that?” I ask, trying to keep my emotions from showing through my voice.

“My brother told me” He says and I close down on myself, the fact that he is still Monkey Paw’s brother punching me in the gut.

“Right” I mumble, unable to say anything else.

“I loved her, Mia” He admits, breaking my heart even further. “I can’t believe she’s gone… I… I can’t take this anymore…”

“Hey, hey” I start, touching his shoulder gently as the tears finally start coming down his cheeks. “Kitty Girl is tough. I’m sure she must have found a way to get out”

“She fell from so high” He says. “No one could have survived that”

“You don’t know that” I tell him. “She still could have found a way out. You never know with her”

He looks at me, his blue eyes shining with the salt of his tears.

“You really think that?” He says, his voice holding a hint of hope.

I nod, trying to smile and he goes to hug me. Unable to control myself, I hug him back and lay my head on his shoulder, wanting to cry too.

His hug grows too tight, though and I end up hissing at the pain. He immediately let's go and looks apologetically at me.

“Sorry” He says. “How did you get so wounded, anyway?” He asks me and I stop breathing with the panic that assaults me. “Cain told me you were downtown at the time the explosions started but he never told me why”

“I ah…” I stutter, looking around for an excuse. My eyes fall on Luki, washing himself on the bathtub. “Luki! I was looking for Luki”

Luki jumps when I call out his name and frowns at me with a clear face that tells me: Don’t drag me into your mess.

“Your cat?” Jack asks, confused. “He was still downtown?”

“Yeah, you know how Luki is” I say, confident in my excuse. “He goes wherever he wants to go. When the explosions started, I got worried and went to look for him”

“Oh” Jack says. “It’s a good thing you found him, then”

“Shame I was always here” Luki suddenly says and I widen my eyes at him, but he just runs out the door, purposefully colliding with my legs.

“What was that?” Jack asks me. Fortunately, he didn’t hear Luki clearly.

“I’m so glad to have you here!” I exclaim to pretend everything’s normal.

Jack chuckles at my silliness and shakes his head.

“Silly Mia” He says. “I can always count on you to make me laugh”

This does make my heart melt and I almost forget he is in love with Kitty Girl instead of me. Almost.

“Anytime” I tell him, smiling and he smiles back, filling my heart with joy. “You know, the last time you rebounded the one thing that helped you was quite simple”

He looks confused at me, clearly not remembering.

“Training me” I say. “That was when you first started training me to defend myself”

“Oh” He mumbles, remembering. “How do you know that was the thing that worked?”

“What else could it have been?” I ask, pouting like a child. He smirks teasingly.

“I started drawing Kitty Girl’s comics around that time too” He says and my heart drops again. Why do you have to do this to me, Jack?

I punch his shoulder lightly. “It was the training”

He laughs but I know it is yet another fake laugh.

“Anyway, I need the practice” I continue. “I am a little rusty”

“Haven’t you been practicing the moves I assigned you to do?” He asks me and I wonder about all the times I used those moves as Kitty Girl.

“No” I lie.

“No wonder you are rusty, then” He says. “But I can’t train you now, Mia”

“Why not?” I ask him, pouting again.

To prove his point, he presses a finger to my back and I flinch in pain.

“Right” I comment and he nods.

“Once you’re better” He tells me. “Then, I can train you”

“Fine, but you’ll have to promise on it” I say.

“Promise?” He asks, showing me his adorable confused look.

In response, I pull out my pinky and intertwine it with his. “Promise it”

“I promise?” He says, a little unsure.

“Come on, Jack!” I say. “Say it with conviction!”

“I promise I will train you to become a better ninja” He says, more certain.

“I wouldn’t call myself a ninja, though” I comment.

“I promise I will train you to be able to kick anyone’s ass” He corrects, smiling.

“That’s more like it!” I say, glad that I managed to lighten his mood.

I always hated it when he tried to mask his own feelings with a smile or joke. It’s not who he truly is and he can be so much more if he just stops hiding.

Now, I just have to find a way to get him over the fact that Kitty Girl is ‘dead’. Piece of cake, right?

Nope, I’m screwed.