only brought me more satisfaction.
Our lips were only inches apart, and I took the opportunity to acknowledge one thing he said. "So, we're married, huh?"
"You don't think so?"
"I don't have a ring."
"You don't need a silly ring."
"Oh really?" I countered. "Fine. I'm leav-"
He muttered a curse and tugged me just slightly - enough for our lips to meet as he kissed me long and hard. Our eyes were still boring into one another’s while our lips moved and pressed firmly in the soothing kiss.
I don't know why it ignited a mix of emotions, feelings of relief, hope, and acceptance fluttering through my core as we deepened the kiss while our eyes came to a close. The strongest emotion was this nostalgia of the past that molded us into the dark shadows we were now.
The past was still haunting us in this spectrum of life, and yet I was grateful to discover and accept the best of both worlds. There was this lingering thought that always made me realize that without Jaxsin, Jax would still move forward, just like without this dark side of myself, I'd be who I was before the grand discovery.
It was something that should have been easily acceptable in my mind, but with the months of accepting these dark parts of ourselves and how that acceptance morphed us into stronger, mature, and determined individuals, it felt like none of us could see our worlds without the other.
The darkness and the light. The past and the present. Our futures would mold together into one, and that combined force was what the Shadow Kingdom feared the most. There would always be the aspects of power, magic, and knowledge, but when you accepted the frail darkness within yourself, you grew in all aspects, and that growth was the hardest to tamper with.
You could kick, shove, shoot, and bury its awakening, but the pain would only be the fuel it needed to prosper, to be accepted, and to help one realize that they were worthy of all aspects of themselves.
We broke the kiss to press our foreheads together, the two of us still with our eyes closed as we simply took deep breaths.
"Death was scary," I finally voiced, knowing we needed to confront it here and now.
"Dying with you was better than dying without you," Jaxsin whispered as I opened my eyes to see his sad ones. It was the first time in what felt like forever that he didn't wear a mask of anger.
That he allowed his true emotions to rise to the surface and be seen.
"I never want us to experience that again," I voiced.
He nodded and inched closer to place a gentle kiss on the top of my nose. "Just a semester left. Then...we'll have a moment to live before we start whatever is ahead of us."
"You think so?" I questioned with a slight smirk. "What if we're all separated?"
"Where you go, I go."
"What if I want to go to school again?
"Then we go to school."
"What about if I want to travel?"
"Then we travel."
I huffed and gave him a look.
"What?"
"You can't follow me everywhere."
"Why not?"
"It's not how life works," I muttered.
"Really?" He surprised me with a slight grin as he brushed his lips along mine. "We met during a time of despair. Unwanted. Despised by our lovers. Left to be nothing but trash on the side of the road. We were brought together on a mission to implement change, and it was during the time we spent together that we began to blossom."
I met his eyes as he continued to recall the circumstances of our last life. "Our love wasn't out of pity or hate. We weren't jealous of each other's success, and we strived to do all the things we feared doing alone. You were my other half, and even in the toughest times that made my heart quiver in fear, I knew I'd be okay with you by my side. No matter what obstacles came our way."
He cupped my cheek with his hand and pressed another kiss to my parted lips. "If you want to see the realms of this world, I'll be right next to you. If you want to study more to discover what you want to achieve in this world, then I'll be there to hold your books and gain knowledge with you. Nothing will tear us apart, Marianna. Even death couldn't."
I stared into his eyes and saw the truth and confidence within the spheres of black. His words were more valuable than