He fell backward, his back hitting the table. It felt like he had just torn his eyes out. And all he could hear was a loud ringing sound. He fumbled around, trying desperately to feel for the collar. His vision wasn’t working, and he still couldn’t hear a thing. There was heat emanating off something beside him. He guessed it was the person he had just hit with lightning. His whole body was shaking from the pain, and he fumbled aimlessly on the table behind him. He needed to put the collar on the man. His hands continued to run around wildly. He had fallen on the table, his torso covering the majority of the tabletop. He waved his hands about trying to find the collar. Desperation made him move more quickly.

He couldn’t find it, but he felt his hands brush against the weapon that he had made. His fingers wrapped around one if its jagged edges. He would use it if it came down to it. He couldn’t let this monster run rampant. Surprised by his own resolve, he panicked when he felt something touch his side. His immediate reaction, much to his later shame was to swing with his fist and not use the weapon. His fist connected with something soft, and he turned in confusion. The touch on his side was soft and familiar. Even without being able to see or hear, he could feel and that was enough to tell him who it was. Also, he felt like he recognized the person’s Ein, but didn’t know how that happened.

A second later it snaked under his arm and helped him rise to a standing position. Knowing that it was Stella was relieving, but it was also alarming, and he spoke. He had to make sure that she was safe above all else. It had been the whole reason for his position.

“The collar! Put it on the thing!”

The words came out hoarsely, and his throat was dry and burned. He couldn’t really tell how loud he was speaking, but he felt a reassuring squeeze on his side and took that as affirmation. The adrenalin that had been running through his body was dissipating now. The pain in his eyes and ears was quickly becoming overwhelming too. Then almost as if to stamp out his remaining consciousness, he felt himself lose control of himself.

____________________________________________________________________________

Stella P.O.V

Stella stepped into her usual lab and found it in a sorry state. The walls were scarred with burns and half the room looked like it had been struck by a wild animal. The door to the room was lying on the ground beside a cracked wall. Two of the light crystals were smashed, and none of that even considered what she had seen beside Wilt. She was still frightened, just looking at him. His eyes and ears had blood pouring from them. When he had yelled about the collar, she realized that he probably couldn’t hear or see him. Worry mixed with the fear, and she felt surprisingly vulnerable at the moment. She remembered how quickly everything had changed.

The lights had gone down and that had been surprising, but it hadn’t caused her to panic. The sound of thunder that she heard coming from her room had caused her to start sprinting though. It would’ve been smarter to call for help or to wait for someone else. She wasn’t a fighter and after specializing in wards, she lost a lot of her offensive power. That didn’t stop her though, and she had just run into the room without thinking. The dead guards outside should have made her hesitate, but she needed to see Wilt. Had to make sure that he was ok. She felt responsible for many of his decisions, and she was determined to keep him safe.

After his near-death encounter, she had improved the defensive wards on his equipment. It had also been the reason for her complete dedication to getting the collars to work. It was her duty to keep him safe, and she had failed at it spectacularly. She looked at him as she carried him toward the exit of the room. He was bleeding badly from a wound on his shoulder, and that wasn’t including the burns across his arms. He was heavier than she expected and found herself unable to contain her tears. She felt like a child for crying and tried to work through the depressing thoughts.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to think properly. She needed to stop the bleeding, and there was a medical kit within the room. Once the healers got here, he would recover, she just needed to make sure he held on for that long. She would’ve set him down on one of the seats, but they were hot, and he would probably get burned. She set him down on the floor outside, struggling to ignore the smell of blood and piss. He had seemed to relax when she helped him stand. Although his initial punch had been uselessly soft. It struck her side, but it might as well have been a pillow.

She ran back into the room, turning towards one of the metal cabinets. Focused on helping Wilt, she grabbed the metal handles without hesitation. They were as hot as she expected them to be, and her skin quickly burned. She pried the cabinet open, removing her hand from the handle in the same motion. It had scaled her skin, and some of the skin had even torn off in the motion. When she was leaving, she saw the charred man from the corner of her eyes. It made her stop and watch as his skin healed. When she had first entered the room, his whole body had been turned black from burns. Now, she could already see some new skin on his body. The collar was around his neck, and she could only hope that it would work

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When he got out of the room, she dropped to the ground beside Wilt. The defensive wards that she had spent days on had been useless. She tore open his jacket, and she paused just staring at the wound for a second. It looked like something had been driven almost into his heart. It was a deep wound, and she started to wonder how he was even alive still. That thought made the tears worse. Her vision blurred as tears started coming out uncontrollably. Her earlier determination was faltering, but she managed to press some bandages over the wound. She couldn’t muster the focus to properly tie them but was saved the need to as more people arrived at the scene. Her aunt was among them.

She was allowed to remain as healers quickly got to work on Wilt. Janette on the other hand was busy apprehending the monster. The man’s skin had nearly completely regrown although he was still unconscious. Even with the collar on him, Janette took more precaution, placing several more bindings on him. Hopefully, she wouldn’t need to see if it was enough. The healers began working quickly, and Stella was relieved to see Janette hand them one of the special canisters. They would greatly improve the healers’ abilities. Even still, the healers needed more equipment than what they had on hand. People arrived and started carrying Wilt away. Stella followed though she made sure to give the healers the space that they needed. ____________________________________________________________________________

Wilt P.O.V

Wilt’s eyes slowly drifted open. It took a surprising amount of effort to manage even that. One of his eyes was still covered and he reached for his face instinctively. He felt something cover it and remembered what had happened. Panic flashed for a second, and he tried to sit up. He was stopped by Stella, who was laying on his chest. His sudden movement woke her though, and she groggily lifted her head. Wilt tried his best to smile, but he was still unsure about what had happened.

“What happened?”

He formulated the question and found it hard to speak. His words came out softly, and he couldn’t put any strength behind his voice. Stella was quick to react, and she handed him a glass of water. She started explaining what she knew while he drank. He was surprised by some of the information and was glad that he could still hear after what had happened. There was an annoying ringing sound, but it was subdued, and he could still hear what Stella was saying. Apparently one of his eyes would need additional work, and he would probably need a monocle for it. When she finished, he noticed how defeated she looked.

He could guess why. She had probably gotten it into her head that he was her responsibility. While he usually didn’t mind leaving most of the important things to her, he didn’t want to make it feel like she needed to do everything. Plus, she was ignoring something else.

“Your collar worked. We should celebrate.”

He made a gesture of pumping his fist in the air, though the motion was slow, and he winced as he felt some pain in his shoulder. He glanced at the many bandages wrapped around his body. Stella had said that wound had been bad, but he couldn’t really remember much about it other than it had hurt. Stella noticed, and her mood dipped further.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve been there instead of-“

“No, I’m glad you weren’t there. Let’s just be glad that we're both okay.”

The very thought of Stella being with him was horrifying. The man might have killed her, or worse he might have. He had used his powers freely within the confined space, and he was terrified by the idea that he could’ve hurt Stella. They grew quiet after that, and neither of them said anything for a short while.

“I think we should get married.”

Stella was the first to break the silence, her words tearing Wilt from his random thoughts. He nodded his head quickly, He did it so rapidly that his shoulder started to hurt. It didn’t stop him from smiling. He didn’t need to consider anything and just agreed wholeheartedly. He had wanted this for a while and didn’t know how to bring up the topic properly. The conversation he had with his mother made him think that he needed to do a ceremony or something. As he thought about it, he realized that Stella might be rushing her decision for his sake.

“Wait, let’s do this properly. I’ll figure it out for this weekend.”

He hated speaking the words. It made him feel like he was being disingenuous. He wanted to just accept, and completely disregard the stupid thoughts, but he couldn’t. He wanted to do things properly, knowing that it would be the best for her that way. Stella could probably tell what he was thinking, but she didn’t get the opportunity to respond as there was a knock on the nearby door. Wilt heard the comforting sound of his mother’s voice enter the room.

“Stella, dear. I brought you something to eat.”

Stella went slightly stiff at the words, and Wilt saw as she rubbed her eyes. He was surprised to realize that she had been crying. It was such a rare thing from her, that he didn’t know how to respond. His mother entered, looking somewhat disheveled. She saw him and immediately ran towards him. The food she had been carrying, fell to the floor. Although, she didn’t seem to care at all as she pulled him into a hug. He winced in pain, but that didn’t stop the hug. If anything he thought that his mother was squeezing harder now.