Where We Ended

by Ashley Munoz

“Brother, please do explain to me why the fuck you’ve cuffed yourself to my wife?”

“Anything happens to you, Caelum, and my brain won’t matter. Nor my heart, or anything else that allows me to breathe. It’s you or it’s nothing, my love.”

“I’ve wanted to make you my wife since I was seven years old. Whenever you’re ready to carry my last name, you’re welcome to have it.”

“Where else would I go, Caelum? You’re my home, my heart…my entire fucking soul.”

“It’s what’s under the ink, that’s ours, Caelum. The blood in our veins, the way our souls curl into each other, finding solace. You’re my home.”

“Tu meus es sol, luna mea. Vitam meam. Revertar ad te.” You are my sun, my moon. My life. I will come back for you.

“You forget that I was the one watching as you two exchanged those vows that night. I was the one who knew no matter what you said would ever compare to the strange connection you formed as kids. She slept on your floor, right under your nose for most of your life, like that was a normal thing or something. You both were so fucking careless, regardless that the rest of us knew how dangerous it was to fall that hard, so young. Still, I watched in awe as she kept loving you. I remember her lighting up like the sun when you’d arrive. Nothing but a dark thunder cloud, and she never gave a single shit.”

“You’ve punished yourself for letting her down…you’ve suffered, Silas. Keep her, love her. Start fresh with her.”

“I want a future, Natty. I want to fuck you when I wake up and kiss you before bed. I want to watch you dance in a home that belongs to only us. I want firelit winter nights and star speckled summers.”

“I want to be a peaceful man, Natty. Someone who helps the earth grow, especially after doing so much to take from it.”

“Then build your hope inside of me, Silas Silva. I’ll keep it safe and I’ll make sure our dreams come true for the both of us.”

“I’m a stain on your soul, Caelum. There is no removing me.” No truer statement had ever been made. “I don’t want to remove you, Silas. I want to exist with you…and the only way to do that is to hunt the same monsters you are.”

She laughed, and it reminded me of a poem. If her laugh could create constellations, then at least ten would have been birthed. Joy was a good look on my wife, and I realized it was an addiction to allow her to keep it.

“I’d die a thousand times over if it meant I could keep you safe. My life is not worth living without you in it, Caelum. You’ve been my forever since my life started. If you were to end, then I would too. The fact that you didn’t realize that…it kills me.”

“What of my love for you, Silas? Can I not also want to move the sky and crack the earth just to protect you? Loving you has been the greatest joy of my life, and if it meant that I lost a few pieces of myself along the way then it was worth it. Your mom did what she felt was best to keep us both safe.”

“She knew our love was made of the very same substance that makes the stars stay in the sky, and the currents that spread throughout the rivers. We’re an ocean wave: violent, turbulent and steadfast. No time apart would ever diminish that.”

Because while I’d been raised as a Destroyer, accepted becoming a Death Raider, it looked like, through love, I’d reluctantly and permanently become a Stone Rider.

“Once upon a time the sun was the brightest it had ever been. It looked down through the sky, and on the land below, searching for something of its equal. The ocean had depths and darkness to it that even the sun’s rays could not reach. The desert sands loved to bask in the sun’s glow, greedy and boastful of its heat. The trees would die from too much exposure. Everywhere the sun tried, she was either too much or not enough. She began to cry, sending solar storms to the land below and disrupting all the peace she’d previously found. The ocean roiled, the trees burned, and the deserts turned to glass. Nothing could soothe the sun, not until from under the surface of the vast land rose a great darkness. A vast shadow that was not deterred by the raging or the turmoil, and bravely asked the sun what was wrong. The sun stopped crying, its tears of fire holding off long enough that the land below eventually healed itself, for as curious as the shadow was, it did not anticipate the feeling of utter completion when it finally rose and found the sun. For the darkness had craved the light and warmth, and likewise, the sun had finally found a place that could absorb her shine. So the darkness fell in love with the sun, and for as long as the two held each other, sharing the sky, the land was prosperous.”

“Keep that jaw wide, beautiful, bout to fucking ruin your throat.”