The tap water on his face mixed with a slightly saltier version, and Jamie quickly wiped away the signs of weakness, even though there was no one there to see them. He needed to stay resilient and tough. There was no time for weakness or mistakes.

After he stepped out of the shower and managed to dry himself and get dressed, he returned to the next room, where he found Creed nervously pacing back and forth, if it could even be called that. He was hunched over, hugging his arms around his waist, trembling more than usual.

“What’s wrong?” the hero finally dared to ask about his condition.

Creed didn’t answer and kept up his ritual as if he hadn’t even realized the hero had returned to the room.

Jamie approached cautiously, and when the stranger came close enough, he grabbed his shoulder.

“Don’t touch me.”

He didn’t know what shocked him more, the man’s venomous tone or the sharp movement with which he shook his hand off as if it had caused him pain as well.

“Creed.” Jamie still didn’t give up and addressed him again.

“Creed.”

Even after the second attempt, it didn’t seem like the younger man had heard him.

“Whatever’s wrong—” Jamie’s voice still wasn’t suited for longer sentences, so he spoke slowly and in parts. “—the Legion can help you.” Then he made the same mistake and placed his hand on his shoulder again.

“No Legion!”

This time, when Creed pushed his hand away, it wasn’t the same as before. No… Now the hero was blinded by a bright flash, and he had to shut his eyes as the light overwhelmed him. He felt them start to water, but it was hard to focus on that when a sudden headache struck just as unexpectedly and the loss of balance pressed his back against the wall.

Jamie held his hands against his head, trying to recover and ease the symptoms he was fighting, but every time he opened his eyes, he didn’t see the world as it was. At first he saw nothing but white, but after a few seconds pulsing patches of light began to appear. The sharp pain behind his eyes forced him to close them again every time.

He didn’t know how long it took before he finally started seeing blurred outlines and faded colors. The pressure behind his eyes still lingered, so he kept them half closed.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Only Creed’s voice made him open his eyes again and try to push past the obstacles that made the room look warped and unclear. Details were slowly returning, but his faulty vision still disoriented him and made it feel as if things in the room were moving closer or farther away. So he decided to drop to the floor and crawl forward on all fours toward the place where he heard Creed’s voice, which continued repeating apologies.

“Creed,” he called to him as he moved slowly forward, keeping his gaze on the stained carpet. “Listen.” He didn’t know if he was heading in the right direction, but he had to trust his hearing. He had no other choice. “Listen to my voice.”

Suddenly fingers wrapped around his wrist, and Jamie knew he had reached his target. As Creed held him, he grabbed the other man’s wrist with his free hand and shifted into a sitting position.

To Jamie’s eyes, the man looked like a dark blur. Thanks to the distorted outlines, he could tell he was sitting, seemingly curled into himself, though he still couldn't see details—so he couldn't see his expression or if he was still gripping himself in pain.

He kept searching him with his gaze until he finally found one point that came into focus. Even though Creed’s hands were trembling, the hero could see long red lines there that he definitely had not had a moment ago, so they were undoubtedly caused by his own nails.

“Everything hurts.”

Jamie was not prepared for how the stranger’s voice would sound. It was not desperation or fear but something much darker. It sounded as if in the last few seconds he had lost all hope and fully surrendered to whatever was tearing him apart from the inside.

The hero realized that he had seen him in three stages. First there had been exhaustion, then pain had come, and now…

When Jamie’s vision finally cleared enough, he could think properly and realize what had actually happened. Creed had blinded him. With light that had come from his hands. He had abilities. He…

All the time Jamie had been trying to find Sunshine Boy, he had found him.

“Sunshine Boy,” he said aloud, as if he himself could not believe it.

“What?”

Creed was still coherent, and that was a good sign.

“That’s what we called you,” Jamie said before adding more. He was still trying to conserve his voice. “After the pharmacy.”

“Oh.”

It was clear that he did not need to say more for Creed to know exactly what he meant.

“How can I help?”

“You can’t.” The stranger shook his head faintly. Yet the way he said it and the look on his face, with his cheeks wet with tears and his eyes full of despair, begged Jamie to find some way.

“Come here.”

The hero leaned back against the wall more firmly and then opened his arms. Even though he still did not fully trust the dark-haired man, he had taken care of him for a whole month, and it was time to return the favor.

Creed moved closer without hesitation. He buried his face into his shoulder while his hands reached around to his back, where he tightly clutched the fabric of his shirt.

Jamie held him somewhat more gently, afraid of causing him even greater pain.

“The pills?” he suggested after a moment.

“They don’t work,” Creed murmured into his shirt.

Jamie had never heard of anyone for whom medication meant for prostration did not work. On the other hand, that single beam with which he had weakened the hero certainly could not have been enough to completely drain his abilities and leave him helpless.

So there was nothing else for him to do but sit there with the stranger in his arms and wait.

After a moment, the hero noticed something strange.

Although it was normal that their embrace meant they both warmed up, Jamie had the feeling that in the younger man’s case the temperature was somewhat higher than it should have been. He decided to move his hand lower and slip it under his shirt so he could feel the bare skin beneath his fingers.

Creed jerked as if the contact had caused him another wave of pain, and Jamie automatically moved his palm away, though he would have done so anyway, because keeping it on his burning skin any longer had been practically impossible. Creed was burning, and although his skin was not wet with sweat, it was as if he had a fever that urgently needed to be brought down.

“Creed?” Jamie addressed him as he got an idea.

The man in his arms trembled and did not answer.

“Creed?” he tried again, and this time he felt the other man nod to show that he had heard him.

“Would water help?”

He did not specify, but Creed nodded anyway.

“A shower?”

Another nod.

Jamie gathered all the strength he had and, with the help of the wall, managed to pull both himself and the younger man onto their feet. However, Creed was still leaning heavily on him, and the hero had to push through his own limits to get him into the bathroom, as standing was a struggle.

With slow steps he moved them forward, allowing the man to remain bent over, since it seemed to dull the pain at least a little. At any other time he would have simply lifted him into his arms without trouble, but now he did not have enough strength for that.

They reached the bathroom after several minutes, and Jamie carefully sat Creed down beside the shower. Then he stood up and turned the water on, trying to adjust the temperature quickly so it would not be icy but lukewarm, so he would not shock him.

“Colder.”

It turned out Creed was still conscious of his surroundings, which was a good sign, and Jamie fulfilled his request.

Then the hero moved back to the man on the floor and, with one glance, assessed that he could not move him under the stream of water like this. Carefully, he grabbed the hem of his hoodie and tugged at it to show what he wanted. Creed stopped clutching his waist so he could help him pull it off. Jamie hesitated for a moment, but then moved his hand to his trousers and unbuttoned them, waiting to see if he would protest. When he didn’t, he continued until the man sat before him wearing only a light shirt and underwear.

“Under the water.”

Carefully he moved him beneath the running stream, letting him curl up on the floor directly under the shower head, and he saw Creed squeeze his eyes shut tightly.

“Better?”

“Better.”

In the first few seconds it was even visible how the water that touched the man’s body turned to steam. That was definitely not normal.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

Creed’s voice sounded resigned, which gave Jamie a clear answer to the question of whether this had happened to him before.

So the hero sat leaning against the wall opposite the shower, while the stranger who had probably saved his life sat across from him, soaked to the bone, but finally looking as if he felt something other than pain.

Jamie had time to think about what he had discovered.

Creed was Sunshine Boy.

Sunshine Boy was Creed.

What were the chances that the person Jamie had been trying the hardest to find was the one who had ended up finding him? Could it truly be a coincidence?

He didn’t know.

However, this realization confirmed one thing for him. No matter what was happening, it was time to return home. Instead of escaping, though, he was now planning a kidnapping, because he did not only need to get himself back to the Legion, but also the mysterious man who had the same abilities as Eclipse.