In The Fight To Survive (Golden Trio Era) {4}

Freddie's Superpower

Mikayla hates her Anxietas episodes, she has yet to experience one that focused on good memories of the past. What she hates most about them though is explaining them to almost strangers after they bare witness to her moments of weakness. The look on their faces always carry the same feeling, pity. There's probably some psychological reasoning behind it that stemmed from her childhood trauma. Why she always has the need to only showcase herself as fearless and the epitome of strength in front of others. That being vulnerable made her feel uneasy.

So when Mikayla's eyes flickered open, seeing Fred trying to calm down a frantic Cairo, with tears rolling down her cheeks as she gasped for air, Mikayla felt her stomach sink in self-disgust. Escaping the horror of reliving Greyback crushing her throat to come explain herself to somewhat strangers. Fred was doing an amazing job in de-escalation the situation and stopping Cairo from spiralling. His soothing tones dissolving the pressure that had gathered in Mikayla's chest as the stresses of explaining her Anxietas floated away.

Mikayla quickly swiped away her tears, ignoring her every instinct to just curl into Fred's side and hide there forever. She waited quietly, listening to Fred explaining her condition to Cairo while he absentmindedly drew small circles on her hipbone with his thumb. Mikayla allowed herself smile and relax against the touch, which caught Fred's attention. He turned towards her with a gentle smile on his face that mirrored hers, "welcome back, love, alright?" Mikayla hummed softly while taking his hand, that had become still on her hip, into her own.

"Better now, just didn't know where I was when I woke up." Mikayla answered vaguely to get across to Fred what had triggered the Anxietas attack without delving into too much detail. "That's good. Sorry I wasn't here when you woke up, I was helping set up the wards with Samuel and Belvine. The Reynolds' offered us their guest room for the night while you recovered, Úna wanted to make sure that you were actually okay after last night." Mikayla nodded slowly, shrugging off Fred's apology as it wasn't needed, while thanking him for subbing in for her to set up the protection of the town.

"So, the necklace worked then. Any lasting effects? And what about the Death Eaters?" Fred told her that Úna hasn't mentioned anything but can tell that she's withholding information from him. He drew up the conclusion that Úna wanted to wait for Mikayla to wake up, since she has experienced temporarily dying before. "As for the Death Eaters, Remus, Séan and George sorted them out, put a time activated reviving spell on them all and left them at the doorstep of O'Brien Manor. Faolan, Bill, and Alicia brought the bodies to the St. Mungo's Morgue last night, the staff there have sent the letters with details of their deaths to their families."

By the staff, Mikayla knew that Fred was talking about Brian, Angelina and Andromeda, but he didn't want to name them as they weren't present at Sundry Valley. They couldn't risk outing their friends involvement in the Order in front of anyone, it would put them at risk. "Were there many casualties?" Mikayla asked in a whisper, which Fred answered with a simple nod, "three locals and twelve Death Eaters." Mikayla frowned at the news, a deep fictitious ache pushing against her heart as guilt and grief echoed in her mind.

She decided to continue this conversation when she was alone with Fred, knowing that he can't go into much detail in front of someone outside of the Order. At the reminder that she and Fred weren't alone, Mikayla eyes shifted towards the silent Cairo. He had been standing awkwardly by the door watching their interaction, and she was feeling slightly uncomfortable under his surveillance. When their eyes locked, Cairo immediately broke the eye contact to look down at his feet, his face flushing red. "Thank you for allowing us stay overnight in your lovely home, Mr Reynolds. It's greatly appreciated."

Mikayla felt herself cringe at her awkward over-politeness towards the man that had attacked her hours beforehand. She couldn't think of any other way to invite him into the conversation, feeling a little rude for excluding him in the first place. Cairo swiftly raised his head to meet her gaze with a look of disbelief on his face, "you're thanking me? I'm the reason you needed to recover in the first place." Fred shook his head at his girlfriend, when she just shrugged her shoulders in response to Cairo's words. "Vocalise your thoughts, Mia, not everyone can read people's emotions like you." Fred whispered to her as Cairo's expression shifted into one of confusion.