I woke up cold and hot and very disoriented. I could certainly feel my arm now. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't find the strength. I also wanted to rip my arm off to make it stop hurting, but I couldn't move, either, probably for the better.

"Hey," someone said. "You awake?"

"No," I groaned.

"That's nice. Here, sit up, please."

"Who are you?" I mumbled as they helped me sit up and lean back against the soft wall.

"Doesn't matter. Your arm got pretty torn up. Wanna see?"

"No thanks." I winced and tried to blink away the blurry spots in my eyes, to no avail. Something ice cold suddenly pressed against my arm and I screamed, trying to jerk away.

"Hold still. I'm almost done. Then I can wrap you up."

They gave me something to bite down on and I accepted it gratefully, nearly ripping the cloth in half as they finished washing my arm. By the time they were finished, I was drenched in sweat, and my vision was more blurred by pain now than it had been before.

"You scream a lot," they commented. "Also, when this heals, you probably won't have a lot of feeling in your arm. You'll be able to move it, but it'll feel sort of numb. Sorry."

"At least I can still feel," I mumbled, tasting blood in my mouth from where I must've bit it.

"True. Anyway, there you go. You're all wrapped up. A couple people wanna talk to you, so I'll check on you later." Before I could respond, they were gone.

"Joel!" Aaron shouted, running to my bedside. "I was so worried about you! Don't ever go off and be heroic again! And - what happened to your arm? You look like you got run over by a truck."

"I have no idea," I muttered, rubbing my leg. I wanted to rub my arm, but it felt like it was on fire, and I figured that wasn't a very good idea.

Before Aaron say anything, Sky, Leo, and Braken opened the door and came in. Braken immediately ran to me and gave me a quick side hug, writing something quick on my wrist - something about being worried and so glad I came back alright.

"Oh, Sky's the one who carried you back when you passed out," Aaron said. "He saved your life."

I glanced at Sky, who dropped his eyes. "Thanks," I said.

"It was nothing," he mumbled.

"What happened?"

"The building exploded, sending you flying, and your arm got caught in the heat," Aaron said. "It's burned pretty bad, all bloody and gross, but the heat's mostly gone, which is why you're wrapped."

"Oh," I said. I tried to think back to last night - or maybe it was only a few hours ago, I wasn't sure - but I couldn't remember anything after the explosion, and I could only remember one thing from the mission. "Could ... could you guys leave for a minute?" I asked. "I need to talk to Leo for a minute."

Aaron nodded and quickly left. Sky looked like he wanted to protest, but Leo gave him a little hand gesture, and he sighed and left us alone. Braken followed a little slower, glancing over his shoulder, but he didn't move to say anything. He just rubbed his freckled nose and slipped out after Sky.

I took a breath to say something, but Leo cut me off.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

I blinked in surprise. "No."

"Yeah, you are. You're mad at me because I didn't do what you asked and you got hurt." The mix of anger, fear, and regret was written plainly across his face as he spoke. "Now you want to yell at me, and tell me everything I've done wrong."

"That's not -"

"Don't try to deny it, Joel! You're not any different than any one else! I've already had at least three people tell me off for what happened, and I don't want to hear it from you, too!" His voice cracked and he balled his fists in anger.

"Leo, I just wanted to ask you what was wrong," I said softly. "I want to see if there was anything I can do to help you."

"Yeah, right," he snapped.

"Why couldn't you -"

"I don't know!" he shouted. He was shaking, barely able to stay standing. "I don't know why I couldn't do it! I just panicked and got all shaky ..." I started to speak again, but again, he cut me off. "I didn't want you to get hurt. Honestly. I'm sorry. But please don't yell at me. I already know I'm worthless. I don't need you to tell me, too."

"Leo, you're not ..." I started to say, but he'd gone before I could finish my sentence, the door slamming behind him.

I wanted to yell, to scream at something. Why wouldn't he listen to me? No matter what I said, he just went on believing he was worthless. It was honestly frustrating.

A few minutes later, Braken poked his head in the room again, waving a little. I invited him in, and he came over and sat on the side of my bed, taking my right hand to communicate.

WHAT DID YOU TEL LEO? he wrote, jumping right to the point. He kept my hand in his, even when he was finished.

"I tried to ask him why he was acting weird on the mission," I mumbled. Braken remained staring expectantly, so I sighed and continued. "I just wanted to help him. He kept saying he was worthless and wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell him he wasn't. No one is worthless."

Braken nodded and shifted his gaze, staring at the wall now instead of me. He rubbed his thumb absent-mindedly over my palm as he thought. He was quiet for a minute, and then wrote again. ARE YOU MAD AT HIM?

I shook my head a little. "No." I thought I was, a little bit, but I tried to push that away.

ARE YOU MAD AT ME?

"No, Braken. Why would I be mad at you?"

He shrugged. THEN WHO ARE YOU MAD AT?

"I'm not ..." I let my voice trail off as he continued writing. It was strange to be silenced by someone who couldn't talk.

ARON SED YOURE MAD. He looked up at me again, and I sighed. He certainly knew what was going on. He just had this way of seeing what people didn't want to say.

"I'm mad at myself," I said, keeping my eyes down. "I can't help anyone. I almost got everyone killed last night."

NO. LEO DID.

I glanced at him in surprise, and he met my gaze steadily, his expression completely serious. I didn't expect him to say something like that. He always defended Leo. 

DONT TEL HIM I SED THAT.

"Of - of course I won't," I said quickly.

Braken smiled a little and shifted to sit with his back against the wall, on my side. IM SORY YOURE MAD. I WISH I COUD HELP. He sighed a little and scooted closer. ARON SED WE CAN WACH A MOVY. He paused for a second. MOOVEE?

"M-o-v-i-e," I said.

He nodded. Yeah, that.

I looked around and found a remote for the screen on the table. Braken got it for me and I flipped through the channels, quickly skipping over the ones I knew showed the games. We found an old cheesy romance playing that Braken seemed to be interested in, so I stopped there and relaxed. The small Gifted snuggled up next to me, leaning his head on my shoulder.

He fell asleep first. I didn't mind. Just having him next to me was comforting. I liked feeling his chest rise and fall as he breathed softly, knowing that even if I couldn't save Leo, I saved Braken. I saved one of them, and for that one, I changed the world.

...

A couple days passed. Our little mission showed up on the news - we'd taken out the power, alright, and damaged the side of the building on top of that. The games wouldn't be up and running again until they found a new power source.

At least I accomplished something, I guess.

I was up and moving again after that first night, thanks to the one with the ability to heal people faster - no one would tell me their name, or even give me a pointer. I wanted to thank them.

My arm was badly burned, but it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. The mystery Gifted had seen to that, too.

And more people started to side with me. They saw that we could do something, and they thought we had a chance. People are much more willing to fight for a cause that can win, rather than one doomed to fail.

The next person who asked me about it was David.

"When are we going to take down the games for good?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Have any ideas how to do it?"

"I'll break it all," he said, nodding in determination. "I'm going to get my half brother out sooner or later. He's the only family I have left."

"Who's your half brother?"

"Willem," he said.

"William?"

"No, Willem. Willem Laszlo."

And suddenly, it was as if I'd been shot with a bullet of ice. I froze up completely, my mind screaming at me. I could see everything again, as clear as if I was back in that maze. Murder is something you don't forget, but I'd managed to push the memories away, focusing only on the present and the future. Now, it all came crashing back to me.

All I could see were those eyes - those eyes full of terror and agony. I could taste the blood in the air, feel it on my hands, and every other sound was blocked out. There was only screaming.

"Joel, are you okay?" David's voice broke through the screaming, snapping me out of my trance.

"Huh?" I blinked and stumbled back, feeling hot and cold. The sweat on my back felt like blood. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Um ... your brother ..." I swallowed nervously as David's face paled. I had a feeling he knew what I was going to say. "Laszlo isn't ... um ... Willem isn't ..."

"He's already dead, isn't he?" he whispered.

I tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. Instead, I just nodded, wishing I could shrink until I disappeared. He was dead because of me. I had killed him. I was a murderer, and while I hadn't forgotten, I hadn't thought about it for a long time.

Now, it was all I could think about.

"It was his fault," Leo's ice cold voice said from behind me. I hadn't realized he was there.

David's eyes flickered over to the other Gifted. "Wh-what?"

"Joel killed him," Leo said in a dull monotone.

"Is ... is that true, Joel?" the younger Gifted whispered.

"It was an accident," I insisted, my voice cracking.

"No, it wasn't."

I could hear the taunting in Leo's voice, buried beneath thick layers of emotionlessness. He wanted to hurt me somehow - I didn't understand why. I didn't know what I did wrong.

"Joel?" David stayed staring at me, terrified, confused, disbelieving. He was shaking terribly, barely able to stand.

"I -" I started.

"He fought him in the games," Leo interrupted.

"Leo, knock it off," I snapped, starting to lose control. He was driving me absolutely crazy. I was trying to help David deal with his brother's death, and he was only making it worse, making me feel like some sort of monster. "I had no choice, alright? You know exactly what it's like in there! Don't make me seem like the bad guy! You've killed dozens more people than I have!" I turned back to David, who was staring blankly at the ground with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry about your brother," I said softly.

"Did you kill him?" he whispered.

"I had no choice -"

"Did you kill him?" he repeated, firmly this time.

I knew what he was going for, and I winced as I said it. "Yes. I'm sorry."

He just forced a wry smile, still keeping his eyes down. "You're just like the rest of them."

...

"What is wrong with you?" I demanded, grabbing Leo's shoulder and spinning him around.

He gave me a quick glare and pulled away. "You have no idea."

"No, I don't. I was trying to help David with his brother's death and you only made it worse!" I yanked him back, forcing him to stop walking. "That was none of your business. Why did you ... why are you so insensitive?"

"He needed to know, and you weren't going to tell him." He backed up and I grabbed him again, but he slapped my hand away and shifted to a more defensive stance - the way he always stood before the games began. His hands were up and out, ready to block any attack. "Don't touch me, Joel. Don't even come close. I want nothing to do with you, not if you keep denying the facts."

"I was not denying facts!" I stepped forward but paused as he tensed up, ready to fight me. "I was trying to show a little sympathy for someone's pain."

"Then why aren't you concerned about me?" he demanded.

Someone poked my shoulder, but I shrugged them of, glancing over my shoulder at them. Braken was here. Just perfect. I started to say something, but he pulled my arm and shook his head, and I lost it.

"I've tried to show concern!" I screamed, unable to stop myself. I was tired of trying to stay calm when Leo was so infuriating. "I've tried to help you, and if you're going to criticize me, don't you dare say I didn't try! I'm tired of my life revolving around you! You're a lost cause and nothing I will ever say will change that!" I spun around and grabbed Braken's hand, pulling him with me. "Come on, Braken. I don't want you around him anymore."

Braken pulled feebly against my grip, but he wasn't really fighting me. He stumbled behind me as I marched away, and only glanced over his shoulder every few steps. I was forcing him to choose between me and Leo - I was forcing him to choose me.

I didn't even care. Not anymore. I was sick and tired of nothing happening, of no one following me, of no one listening to anything I had to say, but most of all, I was done with Leo. I left him standing there in shock, his dark eyes wide with disbelief, but I didn't look back.

I was completely done.