Experiment Zero

36. The Big Reveal Continues....And Oh Yeah There's Peter

There's a low sound, almost like a groan, and my chest rumbles. I realize the groan in coming from me.

I'm swathed in darkness, and slowly, very slowly, I crack my eyes open, only to be met with my dim room.

I'm lying on the bed, on top of the covers, and even though I'm not in pain at the moment, I'm scared if I move it will come back.

With this in mind, my eyes drift to the side to see Max kneeling by the bed, one of my hands in his, his eyes tightly squeezed shut. Only when I see the soft, glowing light coming from his hands do I realize  he's working his healing magic.

There's a soft gasp and my eyes dart to Max's side to see Becky there, glaring down at me. I wince internally.

"You're up." She says flatly.

What happened? I want to ask, starting to sit up, but then everything that happened before I woke up here flashes before my eyes and I fall back onto the bed, panting.

"What's happening to her?" A voice demands, and I manage to creak my eyes open enough to see Lager appear on the other side of the bed, staring down at me with something similar to worry.

I groan again, my head hurting even worse than before.

"It's the strain on the bond between Zero and her." Max explains, hovering his hands over my head and flitting them around over me. I admit it helps a little and slightly numbs it, but the pain always breaks through triumphant.

"Somebody...."I say, slightly out of breath. "Explain."

They all exchange glances, hesitancy clear in their eyes as Max helps me sit up and rest against the headboard.

"Now." I plead, my voice cracking.

I want, no, I need to know what's going on. I remember Zero, the kiss, then the words he uttered that sent me spiralling into darkness. I must have fainted.

It's not true. It's not true. It's not true.

I keep repeating those words in my head. There's no way Zero can be the reason behind these headaches and my impending death. He would never do that intentionally.

And oh God, the kiss.

"Dammit!" Lager curses, turning sharply on his heel and pacing the length of the bed, tugging on his dark blue hair. "I knew this would happen. That's why I didn't want that idiot to tell you, but he never listens." Lager rants, my mind half keeping up with everything he's saying.

"You're saying you knew." I demand, feeling betrayed and hurt at this discovery.

Lager pauses, before nodding. "I knew the second I met you." He says, his eyes meeting mine, before darting away.

This makes me feel hurt and betrayed. He kept something this huge away from me. I mean, we've only known each other for a few days at best, but I thought we had developed a bond of trust and friendship. What the heck happened to that?

"Why did you keep it from me?" I ask, the headache a dull pain in the back of my head as I focus on our conversation instead.

"Because  I knew something like this," Lager snarls the last word, gesturing to where I lay on the bed, "would happen."

"That's still something you shouldn't have kept from me! This is my life were talking about." I snarl right back, resisting the urge to flinch at the pain it cost me.

Lager's golden eyes turn molten, and he opens his mouth to respond, and most likely yell at me more, but Becky speaks up.

"Enough bickering you two. It's getting on my nerves." She rubs her temples, acting like she's the one with the really bad headache. The irony of that kills me.