Avery lifted me into his arms and carried me down to his room. Avery helped out the Training Mentors most weeks, and because of this he had his own room and bathroom. It used to be one of the old Mentor Rooms when one was stationed down each dorm. He pushed open his door and carried me past his double bed and set of drawers. He took me into his bathroom as he kept on stealing worried glances at me, making sure I was still conscious. He gently placed me down into the shower.

'Can you stand?' He asked quietly. I let go of him and put all of my weight onto my feet. Of course I could hold myself up. I was not going to be weak. My legs trembled and started to glow as well, a hot pain that made tears well up in my eyes.

'Yes.' I tried to say loudly, but it came out a hoarse whisper. Just as I said it, my vision lurched and blurred as I started to go down. I braced myself for the fall but never felt the impact. Avery grabbed my burning arm and steadied me. I tried to push him away, I didn't need his help. I could stand.

'I'll stand with you, it's okay don't worry.' The way Avery said it meant that I had no say in the matter. He stepped into the shower with me, and stood in front of me. He reached up and turned the shower on full cold blast. Normally I would have shivered with the cold, but it was such a relief on my burning body. The glow had now spread to my torso but the water wasn't reaching it, turned out that my new clothes were waterproof too. I gritted my teeth against the pain. I looked up at Avery, whose worried green eyes still were on me. The water dribbled down his face, his floppy brown hair and clothes were soaked. The pain in my torso was getting worse my legs no longer kept me up. Avery looped his hand around my back and lifted me up. His eyes widened in surprise as he felt the searing heat on my back. I shook my head, trying to signal that I was fine and then turned to focussing on his face, his cheekbones and his green eyes but he started to go blurry. I knew I wasn't going to be awake for much longer, I wondered if I was going to die. It sure felt like it.

My insides were burning, my arms were no longer hot but everything else was. I felt a cool pair of hands working their way up the inside of my shirt and lifting it over my head. I freaked out and I tried to push them away.

'Please, no, I'm okay...' I tried to say but by then I was too weak to even hold my eyes open.

'Mags, it's okay it's just me. I won't look if that's what you're worried about.' The cooling sensation of the water hitting my body was amazing. Avery's arm was still looped behind my back and he was a few feet away from me, and if I wasn't in so much pain I would have felt self conscious and incredibly awkward. I gingerly opened my eyes and saw him looking at the wall behind me. Completely respecting my privacy, and I finally felt safe in his arms. My eyes fluttered closed as I lost my battle with consciousness.

**

I woke up in a strange room; it was dark and was maybe around midnight. My eyes flickered open and I panicked. I struggled to sit up and when I did, my stomach lurched and I turned my head to vomit.

Suddenly there was a metal bucket by my mouth and someone rubbing my back as I gagged and coughed. My body heaved and I felt so frail, not strong or powerful like I had at dinner. I felt weak.

I wiped my mouth and collapsed back into the pillows, trying to remember where I was. I light flickered on in a room to my left and I heard a toilet flushing and the sound of water hitting metal. All of a sudden it all came back to me. The glowing, the pain, the shower, Avery.

'Avery?' I called out hoarsely. The bucket dropped and Avery was immediately by my side, his hands brushing my hair away from my face and a worried expression on his.

'What's wrong?' He sounded panicked.

'Nothing, nothing.' I swallowed but my mouth was dry and my breath probably smelled like puke. 'Just, hey.' I grimaced at how pathetic I must have looked. Avery looked relieved and he smiled.

'Hey, how are you feeling?' He asked, his hands still subconsciously running through my hair.

'Like I got hit by a bus that was on fire.' I smiled, but my lips were cracked and it just plain hurt. Avery laughed gently, it was nice I thought. He was like a big brother, he had always been like a big brother, even if he distanced himself from everyone. I wondered if Avery had a proper friend, like how I had Fidelia. He had always seemed a lot harder to reach than everyone else. At first, I had thought it was arrogance, because he had been on the base for the longest and was the strongest by far.

I felt something wet trickle down my forehead and I wondered if it was blood. It wasn't mine, I had decided after I ran my fingers over my head. I then placed my small hand over Avery's and ran my fingers over it. It was bumpy and blistered, and sort of slick like blood or something. I saw him wince and I pulled his hand closer to inspect it. It was covering in blisters and burns, a small line of blood trickled down his palm. He must have bumped it playing with my hair. I gasped, knowing where the blisters had come from. Me.

'Avery...' I started.

'Don't, please. It's fine, I'm fine.' He said quickly and a little harshly, cutting me off.

I recoiled, disgusted with myself. I had done exactly what I hadn't wanted to do; I had hurt one of my friends. I rolled over and choked back a sob.

'Magdalene...' Avery whispered. He placed his hand on my shoulder. I tried to roll away from him, but I was just too exhausted. I heard him settle down onto the couch and fluff up the cushions. I felt bad for being the reason that he couldn't sleep in his own bed. I wondered why he didn't take me to one of the Mentors. Surely they would know what to do. I thought about asking him, but I heard his gentle snores from the other side of the room and didn't want to wake him.

**

I woke up five more times during the night to vomit. Each time, I had been met with Avery's gentle hands and soothing voice. Towards the end of the night, I had been so tired and I vaguely recollect Avery wiping my mouth and holding me upright as I emptied my stomach contents into the metal bucket. In the morning, I felt sore and delicate, like a simple touch would bruise me forever. Avery was still asleep on the couch and it was just starting to lighten outside.

It was Sunday, which meant we only had two classes and they didn't start until after lunch. I slipped out of bed and as I walked past the mirror in the bathroom, I noticed I was in one of Avery's night shirts but still in my fireproof pants. I sighed in relief that he hadn't had to take my pants off, but it was quickly replaced by the growing embarrassment that he had stood in the shower with me, and was with me when I was vomiting everywhere. I inspected myself my closely, I looked awful. My face was pale and I had dark circles under my eyes. I gently lifted up the nightshirt which fell below my knees. I stifled a gasp as I looked at the dark pattern of purple and red bruises that covered my stomach. I thought about how nice a cold shower would be, and then again I felt incredibly embarrassed about the night before. Avery had been so gentle and kind, it was strange considering he was known to be abrupt and mostly kept to himself. I padded over to the sink and quietly closed the door behind me. I found a comb on the sink top and tackled my tangled hair. My brown hair slowly started to tame but it still needed a good wash. I thought about leaving to have a shower, but decided that it would be really rude. I wondered if Fidelia was worried about me, of course she would be, and wouldn't it be suspicious if I turned up to breakfast with Avery? I pushed all of the thoughts down, no one would think that I had, well you know... with Avery! We were all practically family.

Even as I tried to convince myself of these things, I knew it was no use. We mostly kept to our own age groups and genders despite living together our whole lives. I knew that there were strict rules about relationships, but no one had had one yet so we didn't know the full extent of them. I knew that eventually we were meant to only reproduce with our own kind, and that was why it made sense for me to be created. Maybe I wasn't an accident, I mean I did even out the numbers. I shook away all of these thoughts. I knew that as soon as we turned nineteen we were supposed to start doing missions outside of the base, but it seemed like we were going to be stuck in our pristine white world for a lot longer than that. Sometimes the base felt like a prison.

I heard a thump followed by a loud for fucks sake and I almost shot ten metres in the air with fright. I cautiously tiptoed round the door. Avery was standing in plain black boxers. It felt rude to stare, and yet I couldn't look away. His muscles were defined, and his abs looked like they'd been chiselled in. If Avery had noticed me staring, he didn't show it. I looked up and my eyes met his. He put his hands behind his head and yawned.

'Morning puker.' He grinned.

'Shut up.' I tried to look angry but I ended up laughing instead. Avery quickly pulled a class shirt over his head and hopped into matching pants. He then crossed the room until he was standing a few metres in front of me

'You brushed it... your hair.' Avery said. It wasn't a question; it was just a simple statement.

'I'm sorry for, well for everything.' I blurted.

'It's okay, it's fine.' An emotion flashed across his face but he quickly covered it up with a smile. He brushed past me and his warm skin touched my arm. I remember about his burns and I grabbed his hand before he could walk too far away. I held it in front of me to inspect the damage I'd caused. I remembered checking it in the night, but I was so out of it that I wasn't sure if I'd dreamed it. There were a few small scabs but all of the burns had healed up really quickly, even for us.

'Avery, how did you do that?' I asked and he snatched his hand away.

'It's nothing.' He almost shouted. And there he was straight on the defensive. I wasn't sure what to do after his outburst so I stood there looking at my feet.

'Look, I'm sorry I just didn't get much sleep last night.' He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and I felt even worse about keeping him up all night. I reached out and placed my fingers on his defined jawbone and turned his face so he was looking at me.

'Avery, thank you.' I whispered. 'I appreciate it, a lot.' I decided to let his freakishly fast healing rate slip, he was obviously not in the mood and I didn't want him to think I was ungrateful.

I let my hand drop to my side and we stood there silently. There was something about him, something about me. I wasn't sure what it was so I told my subconcious to shut up and leave me alone.