Luminescence

Fifteen.

As soon as I was pulled out of the memory, I collapse.

My bare knees hit the cold, dark metal ground as the pain in my chest could compare to no other. It felt as if gravity had just become twice as strong, and I was a two ton boulder. Cold, relentless tears streamed down my face as the horrific images play through my head over and over again.

"Mara..." his voice falters, unsure of what to say.

"Why would you do that?" I whisper. My hands were shaking relentlessly as I could hardly control the emotions coming out of me. "Hudson, holy shit why on Earth would you do that?!"

He shouldn't have resurfaced that memory. Now all I felt was stone cold heartbreak.

My breaths became irregular, as my head felt like it was spinning at a million miles per hour. I couldn't focus on one thing while my vision became blurrier by the second. I was having a panic attack.

"I didn't," he whispered so softly I could barely hear him.

The audacity of this man was unbelievable. He was the one who had just entered my mind, and there is no way in hell he should be lying about it, especially in this moment.

I didn't know what to do. I don't think I will ever be able to stand up again once more after what I had just witnessed. It felt so real, as if I were actually there reliving it. It made me weak.

I wanted to fight back verbally, but nothing escaped my mouth but a sob. Pure heartbreak was eating me raw from the inside out.

Hudson had taken off his armor, as it fell to the floor in one heap. Then his helmet fell from his hands which caused a heavy crash. He was in nothing but black pants and black sweater. With hurt but curious eyes, I wondered what on Earth he could be doing.

He said nothing as he grabbed a large, heavy blanket from my bed and sat down behind me. I heard him sigh, as he wrapped the blanket around himself, and pulled me closer to his chest, wrapping me inside a burrito with him. He rested his head on my shoulder, his height giving him an advantage in this situation.

As much as I hated him at the moment, I needed reassurance. Reassurance that everything was going to be okay, because I was barely hanging on at the moment.

The softness of the blanket lured me in to his warmth, as I curled up closer into his chest like he were a pillow. I rested my head just below his chin before his arms wrapped around me.

"I didn't resurface the memory. I swear Mara," he whispers.

I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to speak to him or anyone at the moment.

"My abilities only allow me to read minds and see emotions. Seeing memories is something far more complex than what I can do. That's the difference between Priscilla and I's powers. It was like..." he pauses. "It was like the bond between us wanted for us to see the memory."

I sniffle, and could've sworn I heard Hudson's heart rate increase as he brings a hand around to my forehead, feeling my temperature and brushing a stray hair back from my eyes.

"I just don't believe it," I barely whisper. "That our parents were four of the last hero mutants on record."

He nods, as I let the fact sink in.

"The first time I saw you at the junkyard, I knew you looked familiar except I couldn't put a finger on it. Now here we are," he says. "Getting tortured and running from the same people that killed our parents."

We sat in silence for another couple of minutes. The heating systems still hadn't been repaired, but with Hudson here I felt nothing but warmth.