WHO: Sam and Marina(Seven) WHAT: A morning talk and breakfast WHEN: Recently WHERE: Their apartment WARNINGS: None STATUS: Closed and Completed GDoc
Arriving in Madison Valley had been pretty overwhelming to Marina, especially on top of everything she was going through back home. She still desperately missed Eight, and blamed herself for his death. She also missed Sarah, who she’d been unable to save. So many people had been lost and she’d been helpless to stop it. For the past year she’d just wandered; a shadow, unable to settle or find a place she felt she belonged.
Staying with Sam helped keep the monsters at bay somewhat. At least he understood the situation, even if he hadn’t yet lived through its climax. She knew he probably wished that it was Six here and not her, and she felt guilty for that, too. But at least Six was fine back home.
She’d gotten up early this morning, but had stopped in the kitchen, where hours later she was still sitting, freezing her cup of coffee and slowly watching it melt, her thoughts elsewhere.
***
Sam wandered out from his bedroom, in his robe, and peered over at her, hmming. He was worried, some, about her. She had been like this since she arrived, and he had no idea how to help. Frankly, he was starting to get more than a little worried.
Today, he busied himself about making some food, and got some coffee as he called to her softly. “Hey, oh groovy one, you awake over there?”
***
Marina blinked and looked over at him, as if waking up from some sort of dream. She wasn’t sure where her mind had been, but it was no place good and she wasn’t upset at getting distracted from it.
“I’m awake,” she said. “Sorry.” Then as an afterthought, she added “Good morning.”
Sam had been good to her since she arrived here and she wished she could pull herself out of this.
***
“Nothing to be sorry about.” He ambled over and hugged her, gently, then back toward the kitchen to continue cooking. “Want some pancakes? You looked like you could use them.”
He worried about her, and he cared, and more than he had thought he would. But he didn’t want to be that guy, who said one thing then did the other. He had promised her a safe place and so he would make sure this was one.
***
She looked up, nodding a little. “Yeah, that sounds good, actually.” She hadn’t had pancakes in a long time, and it sounded like the type of treat she could really use.
“I can help you make them, maybe?”
She didn’t want to just sit around and be waited on. That wasn't her thing.
***
“Absolutely. Come on.” He grinned at her. “If you like, you can grab the milk and butter from the fridge and mix them while I get the dry ingredients? Then we mix them together and make some magic.” He grinned wider.
This could be fun!
***
Marina would try to be happy and make this fun. She really would. For herself as well as for Sam.
She got the wet ingredients together and mixed them, the. Turned back to the freezer and pulled out a bag of blueberries and a bag of chocolate chips that she’d bought a while back, thinking she could use them for something.
“What do you say to chocolate and blueberry pancakes?”
***
Yay! He was glad she was up for it, and he shifted aside to make space. It was a small kitchen though and they touched now and then in moving.
He mixed his dry ingredients, watching her as she did the thing. When she pulled those out, he grinned.
“I say yum! And pour ‘em in.” He bumped her hip with his own, winking.
***
She grinned a little, weakly, and bumped him back, then poured the entire bags of both into the mix. It might turn it purple, but she didn’t care. It would taste delicious.
“I appreciate it,” she said, when she had her back turned to him. “You know, putting up with me. I know I’m not always...well, fun.”
***
Sam smiled and touched her side, lightly. And helped to mix the batter and ingredients. “This si going to be so good.”
Her words made him blink. “What? It’s not putting up with. You’re someone I care about, and someone I like, for you. You don’t have to be fun, or act fun, or anything. You just have to be you and I will be glad to be around you.”
***
“I’m sad that you don’t remember me from home,” she said. “I wasn’t always like this. I was a lot happier once.” Before Eight had been killed and the war had broken something inside of her.
“War does bad things to you. Things that don't leave scars on the outside.”
***
“I wish I could remember you also. What I know from here is that you are amazing.” he nodded to her.
“I killed my first person the day the war came to the high school.” he spoke to the bowl as he poured out the batter. “It was a Mogadorian, and it was over suddenly. It was like… a video game, just point, shoot, and suddenly there wasn’t even a body.”
He shivered as he watched the pancakes cook.
“It sometimes haunts my sleep. The faces of those two guys, probably just doing their jobs, whether or not they were good or bad.”
***
“They’re mostly bad,” She said. “Especially the Vat Born. Which is what yours was if he disintegrated like you say. Adamus is True Born. And he’s...different. So I guess they don’t all have to be bad. Like everyone else. Like the Loric.”
Five, after all, was evil. And Setrakus Ra had been Loric, not Mogadorian.
“But yeah. I know what you mean. I don’t think that’s something you ever get over. Ever.”
***
Sam nodded. “I think there are good and bad in every race, everywhere. But in war… sometimes, it is you or them.” He shuddered. “And it sucked.”
He gently put a hand on her arm, looking up a little at her face. “Very true. And I wasn’t trying to like, overshadow your sorrow, but just let you know… you are not alone.”
***
“No, I know that. I know there are people other than me who hurt. People who hurt worse than me.” Like John. He’d lost everything too. “We were all in it together at the end, you know. You were right there with us, fighting alongside us.”
She shrugged.
“Sometimes I wish I’d killed Five. I know I shouldn’t wish that, but I do.”
***
“I was, really? I wish i could remember any of that. I like knowing you. And I think it is worth knowing the rest.” He nodded.
He listened. “What all did he do?” He didn’t know the whole story yet.
***
“You were,” she said. She hadn’t told him the whole story of how he’d joined with them and gotten Legacies of his own. Maybe she would some day.
“Well,” she said slowly. “It’s more like what didn’t he do?” She sighed, but figured that Sam deserved to know.
“We found him, took him under our wing and he betrayed us to the Mogs.” She took a deep breath, because the next part was painful. “And then he tried to kill Nine. And Eight stepped in the way, trying to stop him.” Her eyes filled with tears. “He died before I could save him. And that was when I discovered my ice Legacy. And I took Five’s eye with an icicle. John stopped me before I could take his life.”
***
Sam winced, and nodded, listening as he cooked the pancakes next to her, flipping them then setting them on plates, one by one. Slowly the pile stacked as he listened. He winced at her words, and the loss she had sustained.
“I’m so sorry. That is a hard thing to deal with.” He turned, and he hugged her tight. She deserved all the hugs.
***
“We took him to the sacred place,” she said softly. “And the spirit of Lorien accepted him. And I had one more moment with him…” She’d never forget that precious last moment for as long as she lived. She wiped away a tear.
“What do you say that we stuff ourselves with pancakes and stop thinking about depressing stuff?”
Or at least stop talking about it. She was certain she could never stop thinking about it.
***
Sam nodded, listening, and smiled softly. “Yeah? I’m sure he was glad for that.” He kissed her cheek, then nodded at her words, glad to do so.
“Absolutely. I think i doubled the recipe, so we have a lot of pancakes.” he’d been steadily making them the whole time, and the pile was growing.
“Hey, you ever been down to the river? It’s nice for swimming this time of year.” Distraction of subject!
***
“Well, that’s good,” she said. “We kind of have stupid big appetites.” She took one of the plates, drowned it in syrup and butter, and carried it to the table.
“Yeah?” She asked. “I can breathe underwater, you know. It’s one of my Legacies.”
***
“We do, we do.” He grinned, and did the same with his plate. He was glad he didn’t have to worry about how he ate around her.
He settled to a seat opposite her as she spoke that, and he was sure his face went purple as his mind went entirely naughty places with that statement. “Ah, yeah? That must… that must be fun? And useful, right?”
***
Marina hadn’t meant it that way. In some ways she was very innocent, having spent most of her life in a Spanish convent. She blushed too, and looked down at her pancakes.
“Yeah. It can be. I can also see in the dark, heal, and run super fast. In addition to the ice thing.”
***
“Wow! You’re a regular superhero.” He nodded. “And you’re already my hero.” Which was true. He thought the world of her. She was kind, and cool, and pretty, and she kind of made him grin a lot, but also think.
He gently reached out to squeeze one of her hands. “I’m glad you’re here in my life.”
***
She squeezed his hand back, blushing a little. She didn’t think she was much of a superhero, in the end her healing abilities hadn’t been able to save those who mattered most. John was a hero. Eight had died a hero. But not her.
Still, it felt good to know that someone wanted her around.
“I’m glad you’re here too.”
***
“Thanks. Want to go out and do something, later? So as to not think about things and talk about sad things?” He grinned at her, willing to offer distraction.
“Or we could stay in and do whatever you like, too.“
***
“Sure,” she said. She could definitely use the distraction. She was tired of being sad all the time, she just didn’t know how to break the cycle.
“What did you have in mind?”
***
“Swimming and/or movies, out, or a movie and popcorn in? “ Something to just get out there and be doing a thing.
“Or minigolf.”
***
“Minigolf?” She asked with a smirk. “You sure you want to play minigolf with someone who has telekinesis?” She reached out a hand and pulled one of his pancakes out of the bottom of his stack, floating it over to her pile.
“It would almost be impossible not to cheat.”
***
“That’s okay. Half the fun would be watching you use it in creative ways to do so. I don’t care about willing, Marina. I care about hanging out with you and having fun.” He nodded.
He grinned at her little pancake theft, lifted another and tossed it at her, just because..
***
...and she caught it midair with her telekinesis, spun it around, then landed it beautifully upon her plate of pancakes.
“Then sure,” she grinned. “As long as you don’t mind losing.”
Sure, she had a bit of a competitive spirit. Who didn’t?
***
Sam smirked. “I might surprise you, or just look forward to your grooviness.” He chuckled.
“I’ll be glad to play with you, any way, anytime.”
He nodded.
***
“Then let’s finish breakfast, clean up and go play minigolf. And then we can get something to eat afterwards. Sound good?”
***
“Sounds perfect to me.” He extended a hand to her, slightly blue, slightly buttery, but a hand nonetheless.