𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒 | liam stewart [1]

20. happiest year

Pandora sniffled slightly as she snuggled further into Liam's warm arms. He'd helped her back into bed, and now that she was awake, he spent every living minute he could with her. The light had gone off in the infirmary, leaving them masked in darkness. The nurse - a different one to the girl Pandora had threatened - had previously told her that she could leave the infirmary the next day. Dora let Liam's arms hold her as he stroked her hair with feathery touches. "Could you sing me a song?" She asked, her doe eyes looking up to him. He gave her a long kiss on the forehead before starting to sing. 

"I'm really on the ropes this time, I've been fighting all my life for you," Memories of Pandora being beaten up by the Captain, blood gushing from her broken nose. Crimson liquid pooling onto the floor as she smiled. Her eyes were swollen and bruised, her stomach tensed as her booted her again and again. She focused on the emotional pain her father had caused her, nothing could be worse than that.

"I never should've say goodbye, but maybe that's what stupid people do," She had woken in the van, racing through the woods after she'd exposed her true powers. She'd hidden under the roots but Liam had noticed. The smell of his jumper kept her mind straight. He'd somehow convinced her to come back. She remembered how her legs wrapped around his waist, their faces close. She'd felt at peace.

"Cause you gave me peace, and I wasted it," The greenery surrounded them. They were in their underwear after stripping from their army uniform. They were swimming, the afternoon warm and sunny. He'd offered them his dessert for her happiness. They swam and splashed. She'd swam away, knowing he would always be faster than her. He'd caught her and they had hugged and kissed and reminisced. He'd watched her as she swam into the sunlight, how the rays caught her eyelashes and the angles of her face. He knew he loved her. She was then on her back, paddling in circles as she watched the clouds pass by.

"I'm here to admit, that you were my medicine," Her passing jokes in the car, everyone laughing. They were heading towards something but at the same time, life was perfect as it was. Liam and her spent hours talking in the front. They laughed at their stock of twinkies. They giggled at Zu's cat doodles over her maths homework. They'd smiled as Ruby tried on the red dress Zu had kept. Or when Chubs tried rapping some stupid music which had come up on the radio. They had laughed and laughed and everything had slipped into place. That was their home. They were home.

"Oh I couldn't quit, and I'm down on my knees again," She remembered when she'd grabbed the acid. She'd poured it into the plants, not stopping to hear complaints from the Greens. She'd smashed up the cabin material with an axe that had been lying about. She'd somehow lit the hay bales on fire. She'd done it all in a fit of fury. Men like that don't deserve to live. He will pay. He will pay. He will pay. It repeated in her head like a mantra. She'd run up the stairs, telling the guards that she needed to speak with Clancy urgently. She'd locked the door. Walked up to him, relished in the blood which spurted from his nose. How she stood over him as she kicked him. She was on her knees, his fist plunging onto her jaw. Again and again. Nothing was original. He couldn't count on his fingers how many times she'd been in the position. She wouldn't stop the sneaky comments until she was unconscious. Pain was a childhood friend.

"Askin' for nothin'," Pandora had just revealed her and Ruby's presence in the van. She'd tried to leave, Ruby chalking up her shoes. Her eyes had first made contact with Liam. He was intruiged by her, so he slammed on the accelaration. Chubs was shouting, so was Pandora, Ruby was crying. Everything was chaos, nothing unusual for Dora. But Liam wouldn't stop driving, not until he'd know who she was.