Chapter 15

I walked over to Tenebris’s cell and broke the lock with a blast of light. Tenebris gasped in surprise at the sound of the broken lock pieces hitting the floor.

“W-Who’s there? I swear, if one of you Solem guards comes even an inch near us We’ll bite your nose off!” I snapped my fingers and a lantern outside Tenebris’s cell lit up, letting him see me. “Lux? Could it really be you?” I smiled and nodded, walking toward Tenebris, feeling so happy to be reunited with him. Tenebris got up and walked toward me, but he winced when he got pulled back and couldn’t move any closer. I gasped and saw that Tenebris’s hands were encased in metal boxes and they were chained to the wall, giving him limited room to move.

“Tenebris,” I said as I gently caressed his cheek, “I am so sorry. If I hadn’t brought you down to the village, none of this would’ve happened...” Tenebris looked at me, his yellow eyes wide with sadness. I could tell he must have been crying because they were slightly red.

“No,” he said, “it’s okay. Y-You don’t have to apologize.” He winced, closed his eyes, and turned away from me. “You should probably go...please...” I ran my fingers down his right cheek soothingly.

“I’m not going anywhere without you.” Two black tears dripped down Tenebris’s eyes.

“You belong back in Gemina, with all the good people...” I moved Tenebris’s stray hairs out of his face.

“So do you.” Tenebris turned away from me and moved into the shadows.

“No, Lux, We belong here...Alone...where We can be who We are, without hurting anybody...” I sighed and put my hand on Tenebris’s shoulder.

“Tenebris, you don’t have to be afraid. We’ll get out of here together and everything will be okay. I know you can control yourself and your powers.” I heard Tenebris sobbing lightly.

“No,” he said, “We can’t...Goodbye Lux.”

“No!” I said, “I refuse to leave this cell without you.”

“We’re just trying to protect you, Lux.”

“You don’t have to protect me, I’m not afraid!”

“Enough Lux...”

“It’ll all be okay once we get out of here. I can help you with your powers and-”

“We said ENOUGH!” Tenebris shouted at me, shaking the ground and cracking the walls around us. I moved back a step in surprise and Tenebris gasped, backing away with tears in his eyes. “Please,” he said sobbing, “We don’t want to hurt you...not again...” Tenebris looked down at his chains and cried silently.

“Tenebris,” I said, “everything will be alright.”

“No it won’t!” Said Tenebris crying. “You’re always so happy and think that everyone has good in them, don’t you, Lux? Well they don’t!...We are living proof of that...No good is inside this Nocte...We only destroy and hurt things We care about...” I walked up to him, lifted his chin up and wiped away his tears.

“You won’t hurt me, I trust you, Tenebris. I’m not afraid, so you shouldn’t be either.” I kissed his cheek softly, making him blush lightly. I blasted the chains off of Tenebris and the metal boxes on his hands fell to the ground. I held his cold hands and our fingers interlocked. We were looking deeply into each others eyes and I smiled a little. “I promised I’d never leave you alone no matter what, and I won’t.” Tenebris smiled, grabbed my face, and pulled me into a deep and passionate kiss. Beams of light shot out from my fingertips and sparkling stars surrounded us as Tenebris’s cold pink lips pressed against my own. Tenebris pulled me closer to him and I moaned softly as our lips parted.

“Oh Lux,” he said, twirling his fingers in my hair, “me adorabunt in conspectu tuo.” I blushed lightly and giggled.

“What?” Tenebris chuckled as he ran his ringed fingers down my right cheek.

“When We were small, We would hear Mother say it to Father. It means, ‘I adore you’.” I blushed even brighter, laughing nervously. Tenebris laughed softly and smiled, the moonlight reflecting off his flawless yellow eyes.

“You’re so weird.” He kissed my cheek and held my hand. I smiled at Tenebris held his hand tightly.

“Gladly.”

“Halt!” Cried a guard. Tenebris and I gasped as we turned and saw three guards pointing spears at us at the entrance of the cell. “Put your hands where I can see them!” I immediately put my hands up and started trembling a little in fear. The guard turned towards Tenebris, thrusting his spear at him. “You too, beast!” I turned my head to look at Tenebris. He glowered at the guard and was growling viciously.

“Tenebris,” I whispered, “please, just put your hands up so they won’t hurt you.” Tenebris looked at me with a smirk, but there was something strange about him. His eyes weren’t yellow, they were red. “Tenebris, a-are you al-” He put his index finger on my lips and ran it across them.

“Shhhhh,” he whispered, his voice distorted and multi-pitched, “hush, darling.”

“I said,” shouted the guard, “put your hands up! Now!” Tenebris chuckled, sending a shiver down my spine. He smiled at me, shadows forming around his and my body.

“Watch this, handsome.” Tenebris snapped his fingers and the shadows around us sprang as fast as light onto the guards, constricting them tightly. Tenebris laughed as the guards struggled to break free. He walked up to the lead guard and ran his ringed fingers down the guard’s cheek. “We told you you would be the first to feel our wrath once We broke free, but you didn’t listen. Tsk, tsk.” The guards gasped for breath as the shadows drowned them in darkness, until they were no longer visible. I gasped and grabbed Tenebris’s arm.

“Tenebris!” I cried. “Stop! We have to go!” Tenebris’s eye twitched, and once again his eyes were yellow. He nodded and we ran out the trash door to escape.

“Where are we going?!” I could hear more guards following us, the clanging of their armor approaching haunted my eardrums.

“Away from here!” I ran as fast as I could, pulling Tenebris along with me. Tenebris looked  behind us and saw the guards approaching.

“Lux,” he said concerning, “Lux, they’re coming!”

“I know!” I said taking a quick look behind us. “I’m running as fast as I can!” Tenebris gasped lightly. I could tell he had an idea. ‘

“But I’m not.”

“What?” Tenebris gripped my hand tightly.

“Don’t let go.” I nodded and before I could even breathe, Tenebris and I were moving faster than anything I had ever seen. The guards quickly became smaller and smaller with distance. I laughed.

“Tenebris, don’t stop! We’re outrunning them!” Tenebris smiled at me, then zoomed into an alleyway. He and I panted softly as we clung to the walls, hiding from the guards.

“I think they went this way! Get ‘em!” Tenebris and I waited for the guards to be out of sight and sound, then burst into laughter.

“We did it!” I wrapped Tenebris up in a warm embrace, making him blush lightly. “Thank goodness that you can move so fast! How do you do that anyway?” Tenebris blushed more.

“We don’t know,” he said, “It just comes naturally.” I giggled and nuzzled his nose with a happy sigh.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I said softly. “If anything happened to you, I don’t know how I would live.”

“But Lux,” said Tenebris, “you’ve lived without us before.” I chuckled softly.

“That wasn’t really living. That was a fantasy world my mom brought me into.”

“Which do you think is better?” I kissed Tenebris’s ice cold lips.

“The one that has you in it.” Tenebris hugged me tightly, cutting off my air supply a little bit, but I knew he meant well.

“Oh sweet Lux, you’ve made us so happy! We haven’t been this happy in forever!” I laughed and kissed his cheek.

“I’m happy to have helped.” Tenebris smiled and looked down at me with his beautiful yellow jewels of eyes.

“We’re going to Nirvana now, right?” I tilted my head a little in confusion.

“Nirvana?”

“You know,” replied Tenebris, “the better place. A place where we can dream all night, where we’ll be safe. Nirvana!” I smiled and held Tenebris’s hands tight.

“Yes Tenebris,” I said, “we’re going to Nirvana.”

“Do you think Mother and Father will be there?” I looked down and bit my bottom lip.

“I don’t know, Tenebris,” I said, “We’ll just have to go and see!” Tenebris smiled at me, then pulled me into another deep and passionate kiss. I purred as Tenebris ran his hand down my back.

“Oh,” said a familiar voice behind us, “how touching.” Tenebris pulled away from me, a look of fear and shock on his face. He spoke shakily and quietly.

“Clara...” I turned around and saw Mom emerge from the shadows.

“But if you wanted to be with your parents so badly...” Large balls of fire appeared around my mother’s hands, her gaze fixated on Tenebris. “...all you had to do was ask.”