Chapter 26: Hurricane - Thirty Seconds to Mars
CW/TW! This chapter contains scenes of emotional manipulation, threats of violence and torture, gaslighting, panic attacks, and mentions of child abuse.
Day 9: 20:40
Naru
Dr. Hiroa hasn't come back since he left earlier that day after the incident with Mai. He just said he needed to make preparations and then he was gone. That made him feel nervous. He didn't like being in the dark about things, especially when it was his and Mai's life on the line. A guard brought them dinner three hours ago. He and another guard opened the door to their room, dropped their trays on the ground, kicked them in, and shut the door again. Parts of the contents spilled on the floor, and he and Mai felt very undignified having to retrieve it off the floor. Now they were lying in bed with Mai resting her head on his chest and talking about little things. It felt…nice actually.
"So what was the hardest thing about living in England versus living in Japan?" Mai asked.
"Hmm…" he pondered for a moment. "Probably how people do business. Western Europe and the West really in general are more free-thinking and individualistic. Whereas in Japan it's more based around the group and respect of the leader. Which can be good for discipline and keeping everyone together on the same page, but you don't really have any room for expressing your own ideas. Or even if the leader has a dumb idea you can't counter them, because it's based on hierarchy," he explained.
"That makes sense I guess," she replied. "I mean given Japan's history as an island nation-"
The door burst open and guards started filing in and surrounding the both of them. They had their weapons raised and pointed at them in a matter of seconds. They both bolted upright in bed; their mixed PK and aura going up in a protective shield around the both of them as if on instinct. Eyes flashed silver and gold and glared them down ready for a fight.
"What do you want?" Naru growled.
"You two are to come with us right now. No exceptions. No questions," one of the guards said.
"Naru, I'm going to try to read their thoughts," Mai said through the bond.
"Go for it, be careful," he warned.
He waited a moment before she responded, "They're thinking about a 'special guest' and a 'pre-showing'? I don't like the sound of that."
"Looks like we don't have a choice in the matter," he said, sounding dejected.
"All right, you can put the weapons down. We'll come," he said.
"After what happened earlier today? Not a chance. We've been ordered by leaders Alaina and Akio to treat you two as hostile and extremely dangerous," the guard replied.
"Hmm, hostile and extremely dangerous?" Mai said, "I quite like the sound of that, don't you Naru?" She asked cheekily.
"Yes, I think it has a nice ring to it," he replied.
"Let's go you two. Now," the guard commanded.
They both got up from the bed and held each other tightly as they were marched from their room. They made their way down to the training area and main room. Neither of the leaders were there.
"You'll wait here," the guard said.
"Obviously," he said. Mai giggled.
"They're thinking about a 'demonstration of abilities'," Mai said through the bond, "I don't like the sound of that. Seeing how last time we demonstrated…" she trailed off.
He sent over feelings of calmness and began to rub her hand in small circles with his thumb. "I won't let that happen again. I'm not sure what's going on, but we just have to adapt as we go."
"Where's Dr. Hiroa?" She asked.
"Still making escape preparations I guess," he replied.
The sound of laughing interrupted their thoughts. Akio and Alaina were coming in and laughing with each other. "Good evenin'! I hope we're a little more cooperative now, yes?" Alaina said, marching up to the two of them and looking at Mai.
Alaina had red, cut scars over her face, neck, and chest. The left side of her face was bruised and swollen and her right eye was bruised with a broken blood vessel bleeding into her eye. A feeling of pride overwhelmed him as he looked at the handiwork Mai had done on her earlier.
"Excellent work Mai! She looks a lot better this way," he congratulated through the bond.
"R-right, m-more cooperative now," Mai said shakily, clinging to him. "Thank you, love. I'll dedicate her left eye as a punch from you," she said through the bond.
God, he loved her so much. Her sarcastic attitude while pretending to be scared was one of the reasons he was fond of her. He could feel that she was apprehensive, but pride was more apparent in her feelings than anything else. As if to say, 'That was just a warmup.'
"You're probably wondering what's going on," Alaina said, walking back to Akio. "One of my best friends came all the way from Albania to be here tonight! She's one of my interested buyers, so I thought we'd give her a private pre-showing of what you two have to offer. She should be here soon."
"Shit." They both said through the bond at the same time. They looked at each other and smirked.
"Alaina! Girl, how are you?" an unfamiliar voice called out in English.
A woman came in. She had long, curly black hair that was styled upwards. Heavy makeup and gold jewelry adorned her face and neck. She wore a black leather jacket, a red top, and skinny jeans. Long knee-length leather boots with heels clicked on the cement as she walked towards Alaina.
"Tayna! Përshëndetje! Si jeni? It's been so long," Alaina replied in a mix of Albanian and English.
"Naru, I can understand them! If I'm reading your thoughts, English is already translated in your head to Japanese! I can understand them!" Mai said excitedly.
He was impressed. "That's excellent! If you continue at this rate, you'll be well on your way to becoming a perfect medium like Gene," He replied.
"Girl, you look like shit, what happened to you?" Tayna asked.
"Well unfortunately when you're working with brats, they tend to act out. That bitch over there did this to me this morning. Don't worry though, a bitch with a little bit of training can become obedient and tamed," Alaina said, looking at Mai.
"I'm not some dog!" Mai said indignantly through the bond.
Tayna walked over to them. She stared them up and down for a minute. She walked over in front of Mai and brought a finger to her chin. Her fake nails poked slightly into her skin as Mai's head tilted upwards. Then she walked in front of him. He glared and didn't back down. She smiled. "They're cute. I like them. I could have some fun with Dr. Davis here. Where'd you find them?" She asked.
"Well as you know, Dr. Oliver Davis seems to have been hiding out in Japan for a bit. Then, I sent Akio's men to retrieve him and his onmyoji bodyguard. They fucked up so hard, they shot the omnyoji and brought her in instead. But, she has been more than useful and has been able to buffer Dr. Davis' PK,'' Alaina explained. "We took care of that dumbass who shot the omnyoji too. It was such a relief to shoot that fucker. Then we had Akio's men cleanse the area of Satoshi's spirit."
"Wait, ma'am?" The guard who brought them in piped up.
"What is it?" Alaina asked, sounding annoyed.
"You ordered us to clean the area. What do you mean by cleanse Satoshi's spirit?" The guard asked apprehensively.
"No…no way…did they…not cleanse the first place of spirits?" Mai started chuckling through the bond.
"I fuckin' meant make sure his spirit isn't still in the building I shot him in. He'll haunt the place, and that leaves evidence. What the fuck did you think I meant!?"
"Clean! Like with bleach, acid, and a wipe down!" He argued back. "I cleansed the scene! That is how I translated what you said!"
Naru started smiling as he realized what was unfolding in front of them both. "Mai, they didn't exorcize Satoshi's spirit…over a mistranslation! That's how everyone knows where to look and who to look for!" He said through the bond. They looked at each other quickly, smiled, and busted up laughing in front of everyone.
"They didn't even exorcize his spirit!" Naru laughed hard. "Your entire operation, your whole operation, could collapse due to a mistranslation!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Alaina yelled at them before turning to Akio. "Akio, why the fuck didn't they cleanse the building?!"
"Because they're fucking idiots!" Akio yelled and turned to the guard. "I should kill you and your team!"
"You're going to need a lot of bleach then!" Mai laughed.
Naru doubled over hard at that. He and Mai were crying, they were laughing so hard. "Absolute amateurs, they can't even do a simple exorcism!" He laughed.
"I probably could have exorcised it," Mai laughed. "Naru, maybe they should have hired us instead?"
"That would've been smarter than bleaching the spirit to the afterlife," Naru chuckled.
"Daaaamn. Alaina, are you worried that the cops will come looking for them?" Tayna asked, laughing as well.
"No, I'm not!" Alaina yelled, marching up to Mai and Naru. "Him? He's famous, but he hates the media. They don't know where to look. With her?" She glared at Mai and got in her face. Mai glared back just as fiercely. "This stupid bitch? Not even," She sneered at Mai. "It took me a few days, but I was able to delete her from all public records. No one's looking for her," Alaina replied.
"Wait, what?" Naru asked, feeling his blood run cold. He and Mai stopped laughing and stared with wide eyes.
"Oh? Did I forget to tell you?" Alaina asked, smirking. "When that idiot brought your bitch of a girlfriend in instead of the omnyoji, I had to clean up his mess. You see, where I'm from, if you want the job done right, sometimes you need to do things yourself." She flashed a glare at Akio and the guard who was slowly backing up to a nearby exit. "So, I found out who she was, and looked up her apartment. I went to her apartment expecting to kill her parents and family to clean up any loose ends, and what do ya know?" She paused and smiled wide. "This bitch is an orphan! More than half of my job was done for me! I didn't need to kill her family because she ain't got one! It wasn't hard to find all of her documents, photos, etcetera, and shred and burn them. Then it just took goin' to that school of hers to tell the principal that she got a scholarship to live and learn abroad!" She waved her hands in front of her face dramatically, like she was looking out to the horizon. "That she ain't ever commin' back to Japan. I felt so ecstatic! Such an easy job. As far as Japan is concerned…Mai Taniyama never existed in the first place."
Naru began trembling in rage and disbelief, but he was then hit with overwhelming feelings of despair, agony, hatred, and loss. He looked at Mai who was staring at Alaina with wide eyes in shock. Tears poured from her eyes without her face even scrunching or moving. He knew she was in shock. His heart broke for her. How dare Alaina do this?!
"Why…?" Mai whispered.
Alaina looked at Mai and smiled menacingly. She leaned in closer to her face. "Hurts doesn't it missie? And you looked so cute when you were a little one too. All smiles, wit' your parents holdin' ya'. All yer' records, your documents, your passport, your birth certificate, from the fuckin' report card you were so proud of in middle school, to the last pictures of your mother and father you ever had….gone."
Naru didn't think that his blood could run so cold and so hot at the same time. They destroyed Mai's life! Her family photos, her last remains of her parents; she broke into her apartment intending to kill her parents! He was expecting sobs of anger and sorrow, he was expecting screaming, he was expecting anything.
"Oh, just shut the fuck up you conceited bitch," Mai said in perfect English.
Except that. He wasn't expecting that.
"Hahaha!" Tayna laughed so hard she doubled over clutching her stomach. "Daaaamn Alaina, it seems she cut you more than once today!"
"Mai?" He asked tentatively through the bond.
"There will be time for grieving later. I don't care about that right now. I know our family is coming for us. Right now, I care about one thing and one thing only: escaping this place and going home with you. I was already planning on not leaving your place for a week. It seems like I might need to stay a little longer if you're ok with that."
He had to bite his tongue and close his eyes to keep from crying. He loved her so much it hurt. "Oh Mai, yes. It's more than ok. Stay as long as you want. Stay as long as you need. And we'll get this sorted out too. SPR actually has hard copies of your passport and birth certificate too. I wanted to make sure that if we needed to travel abroad for a case, that if you had forgotten something, I'd have a backup. She hasn't destroyed everything." He sent over a jolt of PK and she returned it to him wrapped in golden energy.
Alaina growled. "Tayna, did you bring what I requested for the showing?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"Ahh yes. Dërgoje atë brenda!" Tayna commanded.
Three men dragged a trembling man out in front of Tayna by the arms and hair. He was whimpering and speaking in hushed Albanian. Naru realized right then what they meant by pre-showing.
"Mai…they want us to kill him…" he said through the bond.
"What?! How?!" she panicked.
"PK…she wants assassins. She wants killers," he replied, just as panicked as she was.
"Te lutem Tayna … me fal!" the man trembled.
"Duhet të kishit ardhur keq tre misione më parë," she said back. She reached out with her hand to his cheek and he trembled even harder. "Kishit shumë potencial. Where do you want this trash taken out Alaina?"
"Right over there. That's about 20 meters away. Should be easy enough for them," Alaina replied.
The men dragged the trembling man over to the desired location and threw him on the ground. Tayna walked over to both of them. "This man here has failed me one too many times. Do me the biggest favor and kill him."
"No no no no no!" Mai cried. "Not again! I can't do that again! We can't!"
He tried to calm her down by sending out bursts of calming energy but it wasn't reaching her. "We are not murderers, Tayna. We will not use PK this way," he said defiantly.
"Let me handle this, my friend. You see, they're still in training. They haven't been fully broken in yet. They don't understand the situation they're in yet and need a little incentive," Alaina said. "Dr. Davis, you can either kill him in the next 10 seconds or we can put you in the metal room this time and leave ya little girlfriend with my men here. I'm sure they'll take good care of her when she's screaming bloody murder on the floor. Let's say…five hours this time?"
"No! I can't do that again either!" Mai cried through their bond. She was crying now and shaking.
Naru started to recall every time the orphanage put either himself or Gene into a metal room when they were caught using their powers. He remembers being dragged by his hair through the halls of the orphanage because he accidentally broke all of the silverware he was polishing with PK. 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't do it again, I promise!' Remembering Gene being grabbed and pulled away from him because he was caught talking to the ghost of a dead child who died at the hands of the orphanage's neglect. 'Brother! Noll! Don't let them put me in there again!' He recalled the pain felt just the other day when Mai was in that room. Remembering what she had said after four hours of continuous pain: 'Just kill me already; this hurts so much!'
"Naru please!" Mai sobbed.
"Ten," Alaina started counting.
"No no no no please no, I don't want to go in there again. Gene! Mai! Help me!" He panicked. He was hyperventilating.
"Naru! You're not there anymore! You're not at the orphanage; you're here with me! Come back to me!" Mai pleaded.
"Nine."
"Mai? Oh god, Mai I'm panicking. I'm not going to let you suffer that again Mai! I can't lose you a third time!" He said into their bond.
"Eight."
"Please, children, I don't want to die!" The man was pleading in English.
"Oh god oh god, Naru. The Urado case. I can't! Not again!" Mai was breathing heavily now.
"Seven!"
"Forgive me Mai, but we have to do something. I won't let you go through that again. I promised you! Please forgive me, love," Naru was sobbing now in frustration and fear.
"Six!"
"Ok! Ok! What if we paralyze him? Can we intend for paralysis?" Mai asked.
"Five!"
He thought it over. "Mai, you're brilliant! Yes! Can you focus your intentions on causing paralysis? Send a thought to him and tell him not to move."
"Four!"
"Yes, let's do it!"
"Three!"
"Mai, after this is over, let's go to the garden again," he whispered.
"Two!"
They both closed their eyes and put their heads together. He heard Mai send a thought over to the man.
'Whatever you do, don't move until they're gone. Please trust us,'
"ONE!"
They charged their PK, pointed their hands at the man, and released.
He screamed for a few seconds before everything went quiet. He held onto Mai so tightly he worried he was going to hurt her. But he realized she was holding him just as tightly.
"Wooooaahooo!" Tayna started cheering. "Incredible! So powerful! Complete obliteration just like you said, Alaina. Excellent demonstration. I love the use of the incentive. Good training."
He wanted to be sick. He didn't want to look. A part of him needed to see it though. To see just what damage he did. Wanting to make sure they did this correctly with as little suffering as possible. The man was lying on the ground with smoke rising from his chest. No way to tell right there if he was paralyzed or dead. He looked just like what happened to Mai the first time he tried to channel her. That realization made him sick. He looked down at Mai and realized she was looking at the area too in gruesome curiosity.
"Good job you two. We'll have someone clean this up later tonight. You can go to bed now. Good night killers!" Alaina said.
He grabbed Mai's hand and quickly booked it out of there. They ran through the halls, past guards snickering and cheering for them and to their room. They both slammed the door shut and dropped to their knees.
His breathing wouldn't slow down though. His vision narrowed, black dots started dancing in his eyes, a high-pitched ringing sound pierced his ears, and his head was spinning. He felt his spirit begin to split and crack.
When he opened his eyes he looked around to see the familiar halls of the orphanage. The place he vowed never to step foot in again. How did he get here?! Did he ever escape with Gene in the first place? Was getting adopted all just a huge dream?!
He started speaking before his brain could wrap around the words he was saying. "Where is Gene? Is he still in that room? I have to find him! Gene?! Where are you?!" He saw the familiar face of the Headmaster who hurt him for all those years. His glare, menacing and patronizing, as he loomed over him. He fell to his knees and sobbed. "I won't use my powers again, I promise! Just pleeeease stop hurting me and my brother!"
His mind flashed and he saw the red car, feeling pain, and then watching as the red car backed up again. Darkness clouded his vision once more. The feeling of drowning. "But…my brother is dead…that doesn't make sense! He can't be dead! Oh god no. He's been hurt! He's drowning! It's so dark where he's at! I need light!" Where can he find light?! Where is his brightest source of light?! "Help! Mai! Where is Mai? Is she here? She has to be here! Where's my light?! Mai? Mai! MAI!"
Suddenly, his body was flung backward and was grabbed from behind. He landed on top of his assailant. He struggled hard, but the weight held him down. "No! Get off! Get off of me! Mai! Help!" He was able to twist around to his stomach, but the weight and the arms held him tight. "I need to find Mai! I need her! Give her back!"
"NARU!" Mai screamed at him through the bond.
'Huh? Is that Mai? Where is she?' he thought. "Mai, where are you?!" He called through the bond.
"Focus: what are five things you can see?"
"What I can see?" he asked.
"Five things you can see," she said again.
He focused on his eyes and the narrowed vision. "I can't…see much. I see…" He looked and saw… "Skin?"
"Good, what else?" She asked.
His vision lifted more. "My shirt. You're wearing my shirt," His vision lifted more. "Your hair," his vision cleared more. "Your face…your eyes." He was looking at her face.
"Good, what are four things you can touch?" she asked.
He stretched his fingers and touched the fabric. "Your shirt," He traveled upward; he wanted to touch her. Wait, he was touching her. "Your legs," he reached up and touched her hips, "You…all of you. Your hips, your arms." She was holding him closer to her in her arms.
"Very good, three things you can hear?" She asked.
"Your voice, my voice, your breathing," he said out loud and realized how odd his voice actually sounded.
"Two things that you can taste?" She asked. Her voice was wavering.
"Tears…blood. I bit my tongue earlier."
"And one thing you can smell?" She asked, tears falling down her face.
He took a deep breath in. "You."
"Are you with me Naru? Are you here with me now?" She asked shakily.
"I think so, yes. I'm sorry I left," he said.
"It's ok! I'm just glad you're back!" She whimpered, brushing away her tears.
He realized he was lying down on top of Mai on the bed as she wrapped her arms and legs around him protectively. His heart felt calm, his breathing normal. "I had a panic attack," he stated.
"Yeah, it was a bad one," she sobbed, her voice hitching. Tears dripped down onto his face.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. That hasn't happened like that since I was a kid," He said. He rolled his body around hers and he wrapped his arm tight around her stomach. "I was terrified. I…didn't want you or me to go through that pain again. When Alaina wanted to leave you alone out there with those men, I thought about the pain you were in before. I thought about being in that room. I know what that pain feels like. I can't go through that. I can't feel that disconnect again. I wouldn't survive that. You wouldn't survive that."
"That woman…" she whispered, "how dare she…"
"Mai?" He looked up in confusion.
"How dare she use you like that. Your powers…they were never meant to be used like this. How dare she use me as a means to try to control you…" Mai was fuming with rage, her hands were trembling in fists clutching his shirt.
He didn't know what to say, so he just looked at her and said nothing.
"I didn't mean to Naru, and I'm sorry I did, but when I was connected to you, I saw part of your childhood trauma. It flashed in your head when Alaina threatened to lock you in that metal room. I saw you and Gene in the orphanage. When they tortured you two by separating and disconnecting your bond to each other…as discipline! You both were so young!" Mai looked down at him with tears pouring down her face and her eyes glaring in rage. "You two were children! You didn't deserve that and you don't deserve this! Your powers, I know how they're fueled now. They come from intentions as you mentioned before, but they're fueled by your emotions. That's why you can't hurt me with it again. That's why your PK fluctuates between giving me pleasure and causing destruction. It's your power, your emotions, and I hate how that woman is abusing you with them!"
Mai was panting now from exertion, and Naru felt like he had just gone through a therapy speed run. He was crying softly while staring in shock and awe. He wasn't sure of what to say, but he knew what he wanted to do. He surged upward and kissed her in desperation. He grasped the back of her head and he felt her bend her legs to boost him up. Her aura wrapped around him like wings protecting him. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.
"She's abusing you too, love. She destroyed memories and photos of your parents. She said if they weren't already gone she would've killed them. She manipulated you. She hurt you…She hurt my angel," he whispered.
"Naru!" She cried and held onto him tightly.
He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her back and forth. He realized they were on the bed somehow. "How…how did we end up on the bed?" He asked tentatively.
He felt her pull back slightly. She looked concerned and upset. "You were…well you were starting to use your PK and things in the room started floating and flying around. I tried calling out to you, but you were so stuck inside your mind you couldn't hear me," she explained.
His eyes widened as he looked around the room. Sure enough, tables were thrown around, papers and chairs were torn up and broken, and parts of the concrete floor had large cracks in it. "Oh god no…did I hurt you?! Please tell me I didn't hurt you!" His breath started coming in ragged.
"You didn't! You didn't hurt me," Mai insisted, petting his hair and holding him closely. He started to calm down, but only slightly. "But, I did end up hurting myself trying to help you."
He looked at her and started to scramble out of her arms to look her over. "Where? Where are you hurt? Are you bleeding?" He panicked.
"Naru, listen!" She yelled. "PK-ST is the ability that you have, correct?"
Taken aback by trying to find the relation between the question and to her being hurt, he stopped and thought for a second. "Yes. The ability to move and manipulate still objects. That's what we've been using," he replied.
"But…you can't move people with it, or manipulate people?"
"No, that's PK-LT. Why are you asking this now, Mai? Didn't you say you were hurt?!"
"Because I'm pretty sure I just used PK-LT on you!" She yelled.
He froze and his eyes widened. "What? How? When?"
"I panicked, and your PK was so overwhelming; it rippled in waves and was pushing me away. All I wanted to do was hold you in my arms. Something in my mind clicked, and I just thought to myself, "I want him in my arms, now!", and then you were pushed backward and you collided into me and on the bed. I hit my head on the wall when we landed. I have a slight pain in my head, but that's it!" She quickly said when he started to move to look at it. He settled back down. "Then you were thrashing trying to get up, but I didn't want you to get up and hurt yourself, so I used that same feeling and power to hold you to me," she finished explaining. She looked at him in concern and he could sense fear of the unknown as most prominent.
"That's…that's what that feeling was?" He asked, astonished. "Then…that wasn't my PK you used on Akio earlier, that was your own! You placed a small curse onto his brain directly! That's why you were nauseous and pale. You manipulated my body and the space around it to bring me to you. You held me to you! You…you have PK…" he whispered.
"I have PK…" she repeated and her eyes widened. "I have PK!" She perked up and smiled dazzlingly at him. "Naru, I have PK!" She cried happily.
"You have PK!" He started smiling at her. Before he knew it he was chuckling, and then laughing. "Mai, you brilliant angel, you have latent PK-LT!" He embraced her tightly and rolled her on top of him. He held her face in his hands. "The garden! You combined astral projection with PK-LT to create a garden for the both of us."
"Are you serious?! That's what I've been doing?!" She asked, astonished, but smiling so happily.
He pulled her in for a kiss and he could feel her PK flow into him and connect with his own PK and aura. It was exhilarating and breathtaking. He felt so light, weightless, and protected. She gasped suddenly and he opened his eyes. He gasped as he realized that they were slightly levitating off the bed. "Uhhh…lower gently?" She said hesitantly. They slowly descended a couple of inches back down to the bed.
"Mai…" he sighed. This was big, this was huge news. But at that moment he really only wanted to run away with her. He held her in his arms and stared into her eyes. "Can you…take us to the garden again?" He asked tentatively.
She smiled and touched his cheek. Her hand felt warm, so he turned his head and kissed her palm. She smiled and whispered, "Close your eyes love." He closed his eyes and could see himself back in the garden again. The golden chrysanthemums shimmering in the light. Feeling the light of the sun again felt so nice. He looked up and saw Mai standing there with open arms. He walked up and embraced her and held her tightly. "Can you feel the sun on you Naru? Can you see this place?" She asked.
"Yes…yes I can…it's so beautiful only you could create this," he replied.
"We're lying down. I hold you tightly," she whispered. He feels her head rest under his and into his chest. She brings her hands up and down his side slowly. He relaxes into her and a few more stray tears fall.
"Naru…I'm honored…" she whispered.
"Honored?" He asked.
"I'm honored that you've chosen me to share this power with you. To channel your PK is to channel your emotions. And I'm honored that you've entrusted your feelings to me. I'm honored I could make you feel safe enough to trust me with them," she finished with a kiss on his chest.
He looked at her and in that moment he saw Mai's spiritual aura shine bright above her head and wisp behind her, fanning out like golden feathers. She truly was ethereal. An angel. His golden light.
"What did I do to deserve you?" He asked. He truly didn't know.
She smiled and pulled him into a kiss. He felt life enter his soul and he felt their bond flare around the both of them. He felt at home with her. She broke away and smiled. "Just you being you, Oliver."
