Healed Hearts
"Are you sure he's here?"
Alice nodded "Positive, you're sure you don't want me to come in with you?"
"Yes" Scar replied lightly
With one final glance in her direction, Alice turned the spare key and pushed the massive door open "Okay, then. He'll be in his room upstairs, last one on your right - can't miss it"
"Thanks" Scar replied absentmindedly before passing the familiar mansion doors.
Entering the place hit her with a wave of guilt, it was dark, cold and completely different from the last time she had seen it.
"Scarlett? Is that you?"
Scar spun around swiftly "Mrs. Kearen?"
"Oh my stars, it is you" Felicity collected her in her arms "I'm sorry you had to find out about your parents like that..."
At that moment Braxton's father spoke up from beside her "I know we should have told you-"
"No, it's okay" Scar reassured them "It's not your fault - I would have found out sooner or later"
Felicity sniffed slightly before pulling away and taking a step back with a soft expression on her face "...Are you here to see Braxton?"
"Yes," She replied hesitantly "How is he?"
Zachariah shook his head slightly "He has felt better, that's for sure."
"He won't let anyone past his bedroom door" Felicity said sadly "But I'm sure as soon as you tell him it's you, he'll open right up."
Scarlett offered a small smile "Are you going to wait?"
"No, we've tried our best for now" Zachariah replied tiredly "I think we'll just leave you two alone to sort things out."
Felicity hugged her once again "It's good to see you again, Scarlett. If there's anything you need, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask"
"Thank you" Scar replied softly.
After a moment or two she sighed lightly before making her way towards his room.
When she finally stood in front of his door, Scar couldn't help the uneasy feeling that made it's way to the back of her mind. She didn't know how long her eyes stared at the white painted wood but she continued to stand there nervously.
After collecting a small breath, she gathered her senses and gave the door a small knock "go away!" she could hear his gruff voice yell from inside.
"Braxton...?"
For a minute nothing happened and she feared he didn't hear her.
Just as she was about to turn around and walk away the door in front of her flung open to reveal a very dishevelled familiar looking young man.
His hair was messy, like he didn't brush through it this morning, or any other morning for months and his normally sun kissed skin looked pale.
He stared at her for a long time, as if not believing his eyes "Is it really you?"
"Yes..."
A stray tear escaped his eye, before she could process what was happening he brought her into a tight embrace.
He held her like she was going to disappear in a second and run again "I don't even know where to start...I guess I'll start with how unbelievably sorry I am."
"I forgive you, Brax" she whispered against his shoulder. He pulled back in shock "It wasn't your fault, the road was slippery that night - I was angry, but after a while I realised that this whole time you blamed yourself. You had carried around this guilt with you all these years...And for that I forgive you."
A small smile broke across his hardened face "Thank you, Scarlett"
"Scar," she smiled lightly "Call me Scar."
Brax sighed contently "Scar."
Scarlett took a shaky breath "But there is one thing you need to do for me; tell me what happened that night - Everything - I want the truth."
"Of course." He agreed immediately. Brax went over to his bed and took a seat in the middle while she sat opposite him "I'll start from the beginning..."
*
*
*
FOUR YEARS BEFORE...
It was a rainy night but it was to be expected. News reports stated that a big storm was coming but that didn't stop me from getting on my motorcycle.
It was a new bike my father bought for me — a reward for graduating.
A massive smile made it's way across my face while I drove incredibly fast down an empty road.
...It happened so fast.
I could barely process what was happening.
The rain under my wheels made my motorcycle swerve in to the wrong lane — I tried everything I could to gain back control but I couldn't.
A familiar red car flashed across my vision and for a second I thought I was going to get run over but it turned and missed me completely, at the cost of going off the bridge.
I smashed straight into a tree, my new bike to laid in pieces beside the road. At that moment I couldn't care less about my graduation gift or the injuries I got, instead I limped as fast as I could to the edge of the bridge to see over it.
"Oh God, oh God" I whispered over and over again.
My hands fumbled desperately for my phone before calling emergency services. Now all I had to do was wait and hope they'd come before it was too late.
This can't be happening. This can't be real. What have I done?
Suddenly my eyes caught a glimpse of a small necklace float to the top.
It was a silver chain with a miniature feather hanging from it.
My gaze widened in horror — that was Scar's necklace, she never took it off.
Without thinking twice I took off my jacket and dived in to the water — I swam over to the necklace and turned it over in my cold shivering hands to get a better look.
'It couldn't be, please don't let it be'
Surely enough the other side of the metal feather displayed an intricate 'Walker' across it. I felt my heart drop — the car that went over the bridge was her family's car, and to make matters worse she was inside.
I gulped as much air as I could and went underneath, I kept my eyes open underwater with my waterproof phone only to use the flashlight so it could help me see through the murkiness.
My gaze widened as her shadowy figure came into view.
Her eyes were closed and looked completely lifeless.
I grabbed her hand firmly before collecting her body in my arms and swam to the top. When I re-surfaced I gasped for air, but she didn't "No, no, no" I chanted over and over again.
I swam over to the side of the river bank and laid her body on solid ground "Stay with me, Scar. Stay with me" my shaky voice whispered roughly. I pulled back slightly to look at her drenched body before I started performing CPR.
"C'mon Scar, c'mon Scar!" I yelled furiously, the rain didn't stop falling for a second and the coldness made me shiver.
'Please, not her, don't take her, anyone but her'
I kept pressing her chest and breathing in to her mouth — it was at that moment Scarlett spat out a mouthful of water.
She coughed violently while I stroked her head and back.
Tears of relief fell from my eyes.
'Thank you, thank you, thank you'
She looked up at me tiredly "you...it was ...you..." Scar croaked.
I held her closer to me so she didn't have to talk too loudly and hurt her throat "I'm sorry, Scar, it was an accident. I didn't mean for any of this to happen...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, it was all my fault" I sobbed brokenly.
"I..." the sirens of emergency crews and the rain drowned out what she said.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion before leaning closer to her "I didn't hear you, what did you say...?"
"I said," she paused for a second to look me in the eye "I hate you."
*
*
*
Scarlett gasped "I don't remember saying that to you"
"Well, I do" he grunted roughly before rummaging his hand through his thick dark hair "I remembered that you hated me because you knew the truth. I wanted to tell you, Scar, I really did. Every day from then I practiced what I was going to say, how I was going to say it...then I'd remember the way you said you hated me. And I got scared, Scarlett for the first tim-"
Scar collected him in her arms while he sobbed against her shoulder.
It broke her heart.
She stroked his hair and held him warmly "I don't hate you, Brax. No matter what you do, I could never hate you"
"But yo-"
She interrupted him "At that time I had seen my parents die, I wasn't in the right state of mind, and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Scar..." He whispered before pulling back "Thank you so much, you don't know how good it feels to hear that."
Scarlett smiled "Well, now that, that's all out in the open I guess I'll tell you where I've been for the past year"
"I'd like that."
She continued to tell him how she won the title, how she grew close to Mark and even how they met again.
Braxton thought he'd be jealous to hear how she fell for another man but at that moment he couldn't help but feel happy for her — she deserved a guy like Mark.
He was sure that Mark could fight for her even when she couldn't fight for herself.
Brax thought it was rather ironic. That bridge had taken away the people she loved, only to give her the one person she would ever truly love.
For the first time in years he smiled blissfully because right now, he couldn't be happier. His best friend was back and she was undeniably, incredibly and genuinely happy.
Braxton thought bringing her in to the Arena and introducing her to fighting again would bring back the old Scarlett, but he was wrong. The only thing that brought back the old Scarlett was Mark.
And for that he was thankful for the Fielder that seemed to exceed all his expectations — not that he would ever tell him that...
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