The Choices We Make: part four
By Draegyn
Dragynne2000@yahoo.com.au
(I don't own Sailor Moon)
Cosmos, is she what I would have become had I followed the path of a Senshi? I think not, else Starseeker would never have surrendered me. No, she is something special, something unique and never again will she be mine. She had grown past my ability to comprehend her.
I saw the same understanding in her eyes. Then she set aside her winged staff, offering it to the concealed Prayer Pillar for safekeeping. The blood-born rubies winked at me as she moved the sword aside. No longer my child, was this enigmatic woman and never would she be again.
As serving Senshi to her queen she genuflected.
Within my soul I felt the crystal stir and reach for her. It recognised her, I knew that instantly and, unlike myself, it welcomed her as its daughter in the manner I could not. I watched as it woke the sleeping Senshi within and laid a veil across the Senshi of life. I watched as she changed.
Had I seen her thus in that first moment I would not have felt the way I did. I would have been fooled as so many were. No longer did she intimidate but that did not change the truth. Beneath that façade laid Cosmos and that was a being who was too bright for my eyes.
Not a word was spoken between us before she left. No greetings, no words of love or even recriminations. There was only that shared knowledge and, perhaps, regret. Once more I watched as she departed. We would meet again, even then I knew that, but that next time would be the last for at that time she would present my heir to me. Then she would leave and nevermore return to the world of her birth.
Once more I willingly stepped aside and watched her leave.
Once more I let her go.
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Five figures stood together garbed in tried and tested armour, wise precautions with Senshi battling so close. Kunzite stood beside his prince and they both watched the battle with faint amusement. Or rather Endymion watched with amusement, Kunzite just felt much of the same never-ending weariness that had plagued him throughout his last four lifetimes. Existence had become monotonous but he showed no sign of these emotions. On the surface he was a man of ice much the way his prince was a man of stone. Neither revealed to others anything they did not wish to but unlike his prince Kunzite felt the passing of time heavily.
Almost as if he had read his general's mind, not an impossible occurrence, Endymion turned his head and his indigo-black eye met Kunzite's silver-blue. Kunzite forced himself to hold that probing gaze. The other man raised an eyebrow in silent question and Kunzite found that humour was not totally beyond him after all.
"That won't work on me Endy," he murmured, "And I'm not Venus to be inflamed by something so petty."
A smile made its way onto that cold face but that did not halt the insistent regard. They stared at each other in silence, their fellows unaware of the interaction, and finally Endymion's expression softened. As much as was possible for him to do so at any rate. "You should not have accompanied me again my friend. You have felt no desire for this world for more than ten lifetimes now. Why do you persist in returning? It cannot be that you fear true death."
Finally Kunzite's three fellow generals noticed the exchange. They steadfastly refused to turn and intrude but the first of the quartet knew that they were listening… but not wondering. They too knew the all-encompassing yearning for rest and the even stronger desire to see their prince find what he was searching for. They knew and so the only question in their minds was how their superior would explain it to their liege.
"You of all people are aware that none of us fear death Endymion. In truth it has been so long that we would welcome it."
"Yet you continue to return with me. Is it that you fear the judgement for the acts you have committed in my service? Most, if not all, would label our deeds evil and us demons as the Senshi have already done. "
Kunzite's lips curved further and his eyes lightened. "You know as well as I my prince that it is not by the good or evil that we done with which we will be judged but by the intensity with which we lived." He turned to look out at the park. A magical battle raged there. Had any been killed? How many of their lives would be bright enough to stand them in good stead at judging?
He turned back to the prince who regarded him. The man he had served faithfully for a millennium. The man who he had followed through Hell. The man who he would remain beside until he found that intangible unknown that he had spent his existence searching for. It did not matter that mortal man was not intended to know death so intimately. It did not matter that he was tired. As long as his prince needed him he would remain.
Not for much longer though. Something was coming. It was not the power they had all felt come to Earth. It was not on Earth, not yet. But it was coming and Kunzite felt his time shortening. Finally the end was coming and he had not one regret. Not one.
His prince, even after all these years could believe that. Familiarity allowed the general to read what no other ever had. Did he resent sacrificing himself on the Moon? No. Did he repent breaking the laws of nature and forcing his way back to the world of the living? No. Did he feel remorse for the uncounted lives that had been ended by his hand? No. Did he wish that he had never known his prince?
Never.
"No regrets Endymion," he promised softly, "Whatever comes, I would change nothing. At your side I have lived and if that means that I am guilty of sinning then so be it."
Endymion turned back to the battle without another word but Kunzite knew the prince's thoughts. They all did, they had been together so long. They had begun merely guarding his body and now they guarded his soul. Kunzite was not quite certain what they guarded it for, not even Endymion knew why he preserved that final portion of his humanity when he had easily discarded the rest. It was not friendship or affection, as most would know it. It went beyond even the kinship shared by the Senshi. They were his generals. He was their prince. None analysed the bond, it simply was.
They watched the Senshi fight one of their own in silence. Kunzite even spared a thought to admire the skill the strange Senshi showed as she fought superior numbers.
"What is she?" Zoisite broke the silence. Kunzite did not know, his knowledge of Senshi was limited to those who named him enemy a thousand years before. He glanced at his prince. Before the ill-fated invasion of the Moon, when Endymion had first looked to the sky with conquest in mind he had learned all he could of those who would one day be his enemies. Then, because instinct compelled him, he learned all he could of the entire Kindred, both greater and lesser.
Endymion answered. "She is a Metal Senshi. In the hierarchy they are Celestial Soldiers below the Asteroid Senshi. This one is too powerful for her rank, she must be a cat's-paw."
"For the other that unsettled the Senshi so thoroughly?" Jadeite inquired.
A malicious smirk grew on the prince's face. "I would not be surprised," he admitted lightly, "As I told the Senshi themselves, things are going to get interesting. And we, of course, will be here to enjoy the show."
"Will we help them?" Kunzite asked. The Metal Senshi had somehow managed to separate Mercury from the other Senshi of the Lunarian court.
"The Senshi?" Endymion lifted his eyebrow once more in sardonic amusement.
Nephrite murmured, "Which side?"
"Either, both." Kunzite did not care but they would need to decide. For some reason they could not stay neutral in this war.
"Either way we decide would provide a wealth of opportunities," Zoisite noted, "Help the strangers and inflict a lot of pain on the Senshi we know. Join Serenity's pets and they go crazy trying to unravel our motives."
Jadeite added, "Venus at the very least is already suspicious. This could be an opportunity to drive her into unwise action or perhaps into fully fledge paranoia and after that…" He trailed off and shrugged suggestively.
"Oh yes," the prince agreed with his generals but his mind was on the battle not their words. "There are uncounted possibilities in the situation." Kunzite followed his leader's eyes.
Mercury was unconscious on the ground and several creatures kept her sisters at bay while the strange Senshi bent over her. Something shimmering began to rise from the Senshi of ice's chest and Kunzite frowned. He could taste Mercury's magic in the air in spite of her condition and the levels of power were increasing. What was happening?
"Gods above and below!" Jadeite exclaimed, "Who are they?"
Kunzite's eyes narrowed. Black Senshi battle leathers? Skimpy things weren't they? But then the same could be said of all Senshi uniforms.
"I do believe, my friends," Endymion suddenly drawled in a cold voice, "That my poor little planet has been graced with the presence of three of the Greater Kindred. These illustrious Celestial Warriors are Starlight Senshi, no less. I do wonder what we have done to merit such an honour."
"Perhaps the stranger with the wings and armour, hiding down there in the shadows has something to do with it," Nephrite commented, the urgency in his eyes belied his flippant tone of voice. Kunzite glanced where he was directed and then blinked, unsure of his own eyes. The impression the hidden one gave him was pure evil, a strange sensation for one such as he. He glanced at his prince and noticed that Endymion had marked it also. Their eyes met and a wordless understanding was shared.
The power.
Whoever the winged one was, she was the cause of the Senshi's distress. She was the origin of the Metal Senshi's power and she was more depraved than they. But nowhere near as dangerous.
"The Starlights are helping the Planetary Senshi but they cannot reach the Metal Soldier and Mercury," Zoisite commented almost regretfully. Kunzite was not surprised, once upon a time the other man had regarded the little Senshi as the best opponent he had ever faced across a chess board. He had never had such an interesting game since events prevented their matches and, if Mercury died in a few moments, he never would again. Kunzite shook his head and then noticed that Endymion was no longer watching the battle.
He was looking up, his shadowed gaze seeing into the distant recesses of space. His lean form was tense and Kunzite could feel the anticipation contained within him. Indeed, he could feel it grow in himself.
"It's coming," he whispered unconsciously.
Endymion shook his head. "No," he denied, "She's already here."
Kunzite watched in disbelief as his previously emotionless prince became a strictly disciplined mass of emotions too tangled for even the prince to understand. For the first time in eons the silver-haired general saw life come into the other man as he stared at the battle, patient and rapt.
"Another one?" Zoisite uttered incredulously.
There was a flash of gold and silver but Kunzite did not see the new Senshi's arrival. He was transfixed by the first true smile Endymion had ever given. A abruptly as it appeared the smile vanished to be replaced by a terrible frown. "Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite go to the Senshi's aid. Free them from the spells that are threatening them. Kunzite, with me!" The orders were snapped out and not one of the generals even thought of disobeying. Not waiting to see what his fellows did Kunzite followed in the prince's wake as, black cloak trailing, he virtually flew through the air towards the hidden stranger. In the periphery of his vision a blurred white and gold form registered but then they were in the shadows.
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It watched as its slave stood over the little Senshi. It could already taste the power of her starseed. Then the ice Senshi would become a phage and that was something even more delicious to the being that was Chaos. Dark lips set within a discoloured face smiled in vicious pleasure. It did so enjoy when those rare time when it could torment Senshi vermin as they so richly deserved. Their presumption in believing that they could challenge it! None were a match for it. Not the pawn that slaved for it nor the wretch it had possessed and she was supposed to be the most powerful of their wretched Kindred.
Bar one. The smile turned into a snarl. One day… One day Cosmos would lie broken at its feet and then…
It felt the sting of pain at its neck. Who would dare press a blade to it? Who dared threaten it so?
Dark eyes narrowed in rage and power of nightmarish strength began to gather. Another power roused and it was the faster. Chaos spun in shock, unmindful of the sword. Dragon-like wings mantled and a man with silver hair was bludgeoned away. Another, darker, man stepped forward in his place. Blood red eyes pierced shadows to meet those of darkest blue and then power hurled it back into a tree.
Chaos shook its head. The man was only mortal, where had that power come from? His face covered by shadow and his voice like the frozen depths of space, he addressed Chaos. "Whoever you are, whatever your purpose, you are on my world now. You obey me."
It hissed. The arrogance… "How dare you mortal…" It was interrupted when tendrils of the man's magic twined around its throat and tightened.
"I have no compunction about killing you," he told it calmly. "In fact it might even by amusing. However leaving you alive at this time will be more so. Know this though, you are alive only by my sufferance. Should you resent this then leave my planet. As for the Senshi your pawn was weakening for you, they are my toys and I do not appreciate another trying to break them before I've finished with them. Do you understand me?"
Confusion flitted through Chaos. Did not all mortals worship Senshi? Why then was this one behaving so… so much like itself? It raised the chin of its stolen body and considered the man in cold calculation. With a flick of power it broke the bindings that held it and hung in the air, its dragon wings extended. "And if I were to propose an alliance between us? Would you permit me to… share them with you?"
"Perhaps." Three more men arrived and silently arrayed themselves behind the one who challenged Chaos. The one who could be naught else but their master showed no sign of noticing. A black rose appeared in his fingers and he began to twirl it idly. "And who would I be allying myself to?"
Chaos smiled. Its words were distinctly flavoured with satisfaction but it did not care. "Chaos." The four lesser mortals did not understand the magnitude of what they had been told else why would they show no reaction? If the final man knew of what it spoke then he did not show it. Its smile vanished. Were these mortals so ignorant? Or was this more of what they termed bravado?
"Do you not know me?"
He of the shadows and darkness just twirled the rose and his subordinates followed his example. The silence grew heavier as none answered. Anger began to rise within the being. What was this man playing at? Galaxia's power roused and then men shuffled. Vindictiveness danced at the edges of Chaos' mind and it bared its teeth. They were playing a very dangerous game and that intrigued it. Never before had any possessed the gall, not even Cosmos. This man, however, was not Cosmos.
"Go."
It started. He dared to command it? The danger increased with each moment. One more provocation and Chaos would ignore the potential this man possessed for its plans. One more and it would destroy the insignificant microbes where they stood…
Endymion fingers stilled and walked into the light. His eyes were dead and yet simultaneously alive with power. Chaos paused. Endymion continued, his will plain to see and equally as undeniable. "I will consider your offer but until then the Senshi are off limits."
A cry came from the distance along with a flash of silver light. A new Senshi had come. One that had never been seen before and her strength could be felt by even the mortals. Chaos flinched visibly as the loss of Tin Nyanko reverberated through it. Yet it did not look away from the prince. "Who are you?" it demanded, "Who would dare to command me?" It bared its true power, the way a dog would bare its teeth in threat, and Galaxia's stolen power was a mote when compared to the raw entropy that had possessed her.
The scent of death began to pervade the area but Endymion's expression did not change. Chaos narrowed its eyes, what was he summoning? It did not understand and a part of it feared. Only Cosmos had ever stirred such emotion in it before yet it understood the Senshi. She was powerful but she was also weak and although there was something about her that fascinated it Chaos did not doubt that it could defeat her, it just wanted more than that. This man was different though. There was something in him that Chaos had found in no other living being in all of its memory. It needed to know what that was before it would crush it. Perhaps it would be the one who could deliver the Sailor Cosmos alive into its grasp.
Slowly it bowed. "As you wish," it acceded and then its eyes hardened further. "But do not wait too long mortal. You will not like what happens if you do." With a clap of its wings Chaos vanished.
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Like an angel, she floated to the ground, her wings of pure white framing her slender form. Golden tresses spilled in two falls from round buns atop her head, the crescent insignia on her brow glittered and two perfect sapphire eyes welled with a mixture of sorrow and hope as she carried her sister with her.
Sailor Moon carefully withdrew her sword from the Lesser Senshi's body. Light glared along her blade and as the last inch left Tin Nyanko's torso the brightness engulfed the fallen Senshi. The last sight of her that met Sailor Moon's eyes was her peaceful face and then she was gone, leaving only a small pile of starseeds and a single black crystal. Sailor Moon nodded to herself and the crystal levitated off the ground and floated to her waiting hand. She examined it carefully and then concealed it within her magic. When she finally caught up with Chaos she would retrieve the young Senshi's starseed and release her from the crystal stasis.
A tingle of magic coursed through her and she smiled as she saw the Senshi approaching her. Her smile faltered a little when they were close enough for her to see the awe in their faces. Resolutely she projected the personal magnetism that her teachers had assured her she possessed and attempted to charm them out of their intimidating veneration of her.
The Starlight Senshi knew her immediately and she would have expected no less from her companions of a decade but the other Senshi, the Lesser Senshi, they too knew her identity. She bore the crystal sword. There was only one soul that she could possibly be.
One by one they arrayed themselves around her and, while the Starlights looked on impassively, they knelt. Moon immediately stepped to the nearest, Mercury who was still recovering from the shock of almost losing her starseed, and pulled her to her feet.
"Please don't," she begged them, "Please, you do not need to do this for me. I am like you. I am Senshi, your sister. No more."
"No more?" the ice-scented Soldier in her grasp whispered incredulously, "No more? Oh princess you are far more than merely a Senshi. You are…"
Moon placed a gloved finger against the other's lips. "I am Moon, never more than that," she warned more harshly than she had intended. Mercury was taken aback at her vehemence and she smiled apologetically. "Greater Kindred or Lesser, the only true division between them is power not importance never forget that, no matter what may come…"
"But princess…" protested the Senshi within whom a living flame raged.
Sailor Moon shook her head. "There is much you need to learn of my enemy who has now made itself yours and I will tell you all but you must remember that I am solely Sailor Moon."
"So you are Serenity," an ageless Soldier murmured. Sapphire eyes met magenta and recognition flowed into both.
"Pluto," Moon greeted and, shocking all bar Starfighter, she embraced the Senshi of time.
"It has been a long time princess," a woman accustomed to no emotion said in a voice choked with tears. "A very long time."
Moon pulled back and stared at the one she held. In her eyes the Senshi of the Moon saw the centuries of vigil at the Gates of Time with only Saturn as a companion. She saw the renewal of hostilities between the Senshi and a Terran prince each time he woke into life once more. She saw a man with searching indigo eyes and power enough to defeat death and she felt the flow of fate whirl around her.
"Before I depart, the Gates in the realm of Limbo shall be closed," she declared softly and her gaze sought out the shadowed purple orbs of the Senshi of death. "Both those of Time and Space and those between Life and Death." She stepped away from Pluto and regarded all of her mother's Senshi. "And this war between you and Earth's prince will end."
"But," an exquisite blonde burst out immediately. Moon focused on her and the other blonde gasped at the sudden scrutiny yet she persevered. "Endymion is evil, complete and utter evil."
"And yet it was his liegemen that enabled you to capture the phages you battled."
She blinked, her light blue eyes utterly blank. "What… what do you mean?"
Moon frowned, her power as Cosmos was still a part of her yet it was not that which had enabled her to sense the hidden warriors. Why could her sisters not feel it like she? "Their power did not register with you? At all?" she questioned uncertainly. "There were three, one who burned with flames much as does Mars, one of reeked of illusion and a final who sounded of starsong."
"Zoisite, Jadeite and Nephrite," a tall Soldier who smelled of trees muttered in confirmation. Her emerald eyes glittered surprise. "They helped us? And Endymion let them?"
"It is not possible," the blonde announced firmly, "Endymion would like nothing better than us dead. He would never allow the generals to help us."
Moon did not argue she merely smiled. Deny it how she would, the blonde, Venus, would soon be forced to accept the truth. "So his name is Endymion," she murmured aloud.
"Princess, what of the creatures we fought?"
Moon blinked and glanced at the phages tangled in a web of golden plasma. "They are phages… Uranus?" she explained and inquired simultaneously. The tall Senshi who had spoken nodded and Moon continued. "And I will tend to them in a moment, until then their bindings are secure."
She looked away from all of the Senshi then, off to the side where a grove of trees drew her. Her heart began to beat faster and once more she felt fate and destiny dance around her. "You may reveal yourself now." When she called out she showed none of her turmoil but he who answered felt it anyway. Just as she could see the hidden currents within him.
There were cries of outrage behind her and even Pluto raised her staff in menace as the five men appeared from the darkness. Venus' golden chain uncoiled and began to lash out at the party but Moon flicked it away with a touch of power.
He knew this and smiled.
There were five men, those of fire, illusion and stars that she had detected before along with a fourth who radiated ice but it was the fifth that held her. He mesmerised her as she did him. Their eyes caught and held. Eternity passed within those depths. There was so much pain and it was of such strength that it swept the passages of his thoughts bare. How could he endure that? The trivialities that others gathered to make existence more bearable were absent from him, his mind and soul was pared down to pure thought and he did not have even the option of insanity as a retreat.
It was no wonder that he had become what he had. It was no wonder that he had done what he had. It was no wonder he saw through her silver exterior and saw the roiling golden power underneath. Nothing about him surprised her.
She saw him smile and she forced herself not to touch him, not to trace the curve of his lips or the line of his jaw. She knew he saw the teeming life inside of her and held only by the crystal cage of her mind. So different from him, she was full waiting, he was empty and searching.
Behind her only the Starlights prevented the Moon queen's Senshi from erupting into violence, but then, they knew her and trusted her perception. The Lesser Senshi had yet to truly understand that it was Sailor Moon who was the illusion and Sailor Cosmos who was the reality. They had not seen her as Cosmos and so she did not condemn them for their blindness. Her mother had taught her that such ignorance might be preferable.
But he had never seen. He knew and he did not fear her.
"You and yours have my gratitude," she told him. Her eyes flicked to the three she had sensed with the Senshi, "If you noble warriors had not aided my sisters the phages would be dead now with no chance of restoration to their original forms and Sailor Tin Nyanko would have no hope for a future."
"You can heal them?" the warrior of fire, Zoisite, asked.
"Once their starseeds are returned to them it will be as nothing happened."
Their eyes flicked behind her to the small pile of starseeds. The hostility behind her grew in intensity as the Planetary Senshi misconstrued the generals' interest. She felt the stir in the Senshi as one of them immediately knelt down to retrieve the precious objects.
Her gaze returned to the prince's. He had never stopped looking at her but now the examination was that of a man who saw a woman he desired. Colour gathered in her cheeks as his eyes raked over her in her revealing Senshi's fuku. Unconsciously she returned the feminine equivalent of his inspection and blushed further. By any standard he was exceptional and the currents of fate and destiny had become as undeniable as the tide.
When was the last time a man had shown interest in her when he knew what she was?
When was the last time that she had felt such interest in return?
Consternation began to mingle with fear and anger in the minds of the Soldiers behind her. She could virtually taste it but it was inconsequential. Soon she would move to appease them but there was more that needed to be said.
"What you have done, Endymion, can never be repaid."
"Repaid? More like atoned for," one behind her muttered in ignorance.
Endymion's lips curved into a smile. He knew of what she spoke.
"They were not prepared for the one you sent away. My sisters would have died by its hands had you not intervened," she continued for the Senshi's benefit.
"I did not do it to help them," he spoke.
It was the first time he had spoken and she found herself staring at his lips. What was wrong with her? She forced herself to concentrate. "Perhaps not but that does not alter the deed."
"Then it follows that you are indebted to me." His eyes darkened almost to black with something other than anger.
"Perhaps," she whispered. An intangible something sparked between them. The Senshi behind her surged forth, ignoring the Starlights, and attempted to interpose themselves between the two.
The prince was the faster. Instead of being pulled away from him she found herself in his arms, held close to his body. "It seems that your sisters," he sneered the word quietly, "Would prefer it if you did not trust me." His warm breath caressed her ear and she felt herself pressing even closer to him.
"I make my own judgements," she murmured back, breathing in his musky scent and then she stepped away. Without a protest his arms fell away from her but that did not mean he had released her willingly. "We will meet again," she promised him, hoping to lighten some of the darkness.
"Never doubt it," he told her intently. With a single dismissive glance at the Senshi and a last, lingering look at her he faded back into the shadows, his loyal companions, as ever, at his side.
"What do you think you were doing?" Venus demanded angrily, "He's dangerous…"
"And so am I!" Moon whirled on them, he sapphire eyes blazing. "I have been Senshi longer than any of you, only Pluto was sworn in before me. I am more than you know, more than any bar your queen will ever realise." Why had it only stung slightly when she acknowledged that her mother was not her queen? An hour ago it would have been agony to admit it. Could it be because the missing part of her had never been concealed within a silver-haired queen rather instead a raven-haired prince?
Her attempts to court camaraderie with them were failing and her last words had hastened the effect. She softened and said, more to herself then to them, "For centuries you have been locked in an endless cycle of violence with him. How did you ever expect to break free of it if you did not comprehend him?"
She searched their faces for a hint of understanding. Fire, ice, storm, sea and wind showed her nothing. Eyes of magenta, purple and azure were blank and the pale green and rich brown of her Starlights were sympathetic. Only in an ocean blue gaze did she find the understanding she sought. She met Starfighter's eyes and the unspoken awareness of the meddling of fate and destiny was exchanged between them.
Moon was afraid, never before had she been caught in such a torrent but never before had she felt so close to achieving true peace. It had nothing to do with Chaos and ending the interminable chase and everything to do with a depraved prince given to shadow and darkness. She feared but Starfighter's expression reassured her. Whatever came, the Senshi would be beside her.
"Come," she said, breaking the silence. "I will show you how to restore a phage."
She turned her mind to her task and to once more setting the Planetary Senshi at ease. Yet, deep inside her, where not even she could see, a small but essential part of her being began to count the moments until she next saw those bewitching indigo eyes once more
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And so was her first meeting with Endymion ended. I wonder at the bond that formed between them, even before each laid eyes upon the other. They knew that their lives would change profoundly because of their meeting and they knew that even before that meeting. A part of me is helpless to prevent my anger and fate and destiny for drawing them together as was done. For all my questions and, yes, even sympathy for Endymion I have never and will never believe him worthy of her. However I forfeited the right to protest her choice in companions.
But was it a choice on her part? Or even on his? Or had fate and destiny so ensnared them amongst their threads that not the even the most world-altering decision could stop their meeting?
Both were beyond me. I could look into his past and pity him for the trials he was forced to undergo but I could not bring myself to look at his subsequent actions as anything but those of an angry and bitter madman. I could see past her seeming of humanity to both the almost divine blood of her sire the role she had been born into and the power but did not know what I saw.
He looked at her once and knew.
She looked at him once and understood.
I felt the shock of that first encounter even on the moon. The Ginzuishou sang with the force of it and however much I did not like it I knew I had no choice in what would come.
Together everything changed for them. I might have let her go, willingly or not, but he never would. It seems that destiny or fate or both were madly at work to repair something I had unknowingly destroyed.