A.N. More of my words of thanks will be posted in the next chapter (Acknowledgements). For now, I hope you will enjoy the very last chapter of this book.

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MARINETTE

(7 months after)

Promise me, when this is all over you'll stop working for the garrison.

"Patient in Room C-307 is requesting for more rolls of toilet paper. You think you can be the one to get from the supply room and bring at most two to her, Marinette?"

I smile at our head nurse of the station and bring my nurse cart with me, ready to head to the supply room. "That's the simplest task I've received all day."

I stopped working as a nurse for the first two months, following my promise. But the rush and joy I get from serving people was what I missed the most.

I couldn't simply let go of it.

I went back to nursing, but this time in a general hospital.

I do it for the thrill, and I do it because I get small reminders of him in every action.

I arrive at the supply room and head to the shelf where they keep the endless rolls of toilet paper. After I grab two, my gaze lands on the different kinds of pairs of forceps and needles placed neatly on the compartment under the toilet paper rolls.

Memories of teaching Adrien back in the garrison's infirmary comes flooding in my mind and I could only let out a bitter smile. I reach down to grab one pair of Kelly forceps and run a finger, tracing its metal shape. The ring hanging around my neck leaves an aching sensation on my chest.

It hurt to not see him ever again after that time in the emergency building. I've started to live with it, but there are times when the pain becomes unbearable.

My lip quivers and I bring the pair of forceps to my chest, crying softly in my spot - deciding to let the tears fall freely down my face. There are times when I allow myself to cry...there are times when I chastise myself for doing so.

It's unhealthy. I know that. But the moment Adrien was declared MIA, missing in action, a part of me died. My closest friends tried to let me continue hoping but I was too weak to continue. Uncle Hugo also died, in action, and despite the hardships brought by him I still broke down - I couldn't take care of myself for that period of time. They allowed me to grieve and I needed that opportunity...I was strong for a long time and letting go of that front allowed me to breathe again.

I did mope around and mourn more over losing Adrien. Even if a lot of changes happened right after - the distribution of same power and leaders continued. Nino and Monarch now work together, with Nino taking care of the matters of the southern border and Monarch in the northern border.

"Mari?" A voice calls me from behind, taking me back to where I am at the present. I let out a small gasp and wipe away the tears on my cheeks before turning around. I sigh in relief when I see that it's just Nath, standing by the doorway of the room. His eyes soften when he enters and closely sees my current state.

"Hi," I whisper and he quietly wraps his arms around me. I continue to cry in his embrace and I feel his shoulders heave as well. He's crying, too.

Nath also continued his work as a nurse. Monarch made sure that we both would work at the same hospital so that we could support each other. Nath begged to work here since it is where Chloé is. She's been in a comatose state for months now. She was one of those badly affected by the last explosion, but it could have gone worse than what actually happened.

If Uncle Hugo did not use his body to deflect most of the impact, more people would have died and more families would have suffered more losses.

Sometimes the sacrifice of one is the greatest benefit for most, but the sadness is still there. It's an omnipresent feeling that radiates off everyone who was there that day.

Yes, victory was ours that day but it still brought grievances and some regrets.

"I cry every day," Nath murmurs, still in our embrace. "I visit her every day and I cry by her bedside."

I pull away and force out a smile. "It gets hard sometimes."

"All the time," he adds and I nod in assent. "I'm actually here to tell you that Alya is at the station," he continues and grabs the rolls of toilet paper from my cart. "I'll take these to the patient in Room C-307, the head nurse told me. It's best if you see Alya now."

"Thank you, Nath," I say, meaning every word.

He shakes his head. "No need to thank me. Just doing my job."

We both walk out of the room and he starts to head in the opposite direction as I. "Oh!" he exclaims and turns back to me, "Don't forget our dinner with the others on Friday."

"Same people with us, again?"

"Well, aside from Chloé and I, we still have Rose and Alya. I heard Monarch and Nino are planning to join us for the night."

"Wow, Nino and Monarch will be joining us this time? It will feel like a party," I comment, surprised and starting to feel light and happy again.

"Chloé, I bet, is excited. Anyway, I'll go ahead. I'll see you around, Mari." He waves his hand at me and continues in the other way to head to the patient's room.

"Take care and thanks, again!"

It became an unwritten agreement for us that every Friday, we would eat dinner together. It first started in different restaturants but when we realized that we're leaving Chloé alone and we're sure that she would kill us for leaving her out, we decided to move our Friday dinners to her room. It's always Alya, Rose, Nath, and I. Monarch and Nino would join when they are free (sometimes it's just once a month for them).

When we're complete, it's like a feast. The best part about our Friday dinners is that we get to talk about things that not everybody would understand. No one else experienced the exact same things we were put through. So, to have a collective consciousness over a specific event is calming. There is always an understanding aura towards one another.

"Hey, girl," Alya greets me once I arrive back at the station.

I beam at her and embrace her tightly. She wraps her right arm around me, reciprocating the hug.

"It's nice to see you."

"See me?" She laughs, pulling away from the hug. "You saw me two days ago at my place."

"True," I agree, beaming at her. My eyebrows furrow in curiosity after. I ask, "Why are you here at the hospital though? Isn't your next check-up still in two weeks?"

"Oh." She nonchalantly points at the stub her left shoulder where her arm used to be. "I've been feeling pain again, lately."

Alya lost her left arm from one of the explosions set during the movement. It took time for her to adjust to having one arm only. Her hospital check-ups were once a month and from her visit, I heard that they were planning to create a prosthetic arm for her.

"Phantom pain?"

"I think so." She gazes at the empty sleeve of the jacket she has on. "It's not really that painful but it's been going on for the past days. It hasn't stopped as well."

"It's itching for an arm to connect with," I joke. She chuckles and playfully slaps my shoulder.

"Don't get me too excited for my new arm." Then she sighs and looks around the place, perhaps basking in the ambience of the hospital. "I just want to go back to being a nurse."

"And you will go back to being one," I assure her, gently rubbing her back. "This might just be fate telling you to rest some more."

"What about you?" she asks. "I think you need more rest as well."

I shyly smile at her and shake my head. "I think fate has different plans for me aside from rest."

She smiles back at me then suddenly exclaims, "Oh! Before I forget!" She opens her bag hanging on her right shoulder and goes through its contents.

"Yes?"

"I passed by the office today to check up on how Nino is doing in the south and I got to see Monarch there." She brings out a sealed envelope and hands it to me. I slowly take it from her, inspecting what's written outside. "He asked if I could give it to you since he found out that I was going here after."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Hm, he did mention something about an agreement you made long ago."

My eyes widen in recognition and look at the sealed envelope once more. "Then, I guess he needs some explaining to do," I utter and unseal the envelope in front of her and take out a piece of paper which is a short note addressed to me.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I'll be visiting an old place we all know," I simply answer, dread starting to creep up on me.

Once I reach the top step that leads to the main entrance of the building that was once where the leader stayed, I take my time to gaze at my surroundings and see how so much has changed in the past months.

There used to be a statue of a certain leader placed in the middle of the main entrance. Now it's a statue made in memory of the first people who envisioned another perspective, another life and system for the nation, the proditors. Nathalie did not want a statue in the first place, saying that they do not deserve one since they only did what they believed was right, but Monarch and I insisted.

It's a statue made out of cement shaped into closed fists of different sizes.

The statue is not only in remembrance of the proditors, rather it stands as a reminder of that day seven months ago when people, from all different walks of life, came together to demand a change we all deserve.

I arrive at the front desk and grin at the person in-charge. "I haven't seen you in a long time," I greet her and she waves it off with a smile on her, as well.

"Marinette, we see each other once every week."

I shrug and lean on her desk. "After everything, I've learned that I miss a lot of people, Nathalie."

Nathalie rests a hand on my arm and pats it. "We all miss some people and allow that feeling to live with us."

"It's a different feeling," I murmur.

She nods in assent. "It is..." then she clears her throat and throws a serious glance at me. "Monarch is in his office, waiting for you. We figured that after receiving that envelope, you would be coming here."

"Thanks. I'll see you again, Nathalie." I force myself to head to the elevator and wave good-bye to her just as I get on it.

I get off on the floor of Monarch's office and continue to walk in the direction I've learned to memorize for the past months. If Monarch is not at the south or at his home, then one would definitely find him here. Because that man has been committed to his work ever since.

"Hi," he greets me once I enter his office after knocking on the door. He wheels himself away from his desk and goes to the front.

Monarch has become a paraplegic, paralyzed from the waist down, due to a spinal cord injury caused by one of the explosions when he was bringing a group of people to safety.

It was hard for him in the first months, waking up agitated and in pain on the hospital bed after being treated. And what hurt the most for him was the fact that he could not feel his legs. Nath, Nino, Nathalie, and I were there when he woke up. When he asked how Adrien was, we didn't know how else to tell him. He was devastated and blamed himself for everything. It broke my heart to see him break down like that.

But Monarch is strong. This is his second life, he keeps telling me. And whether he continues it seated forever, he'll still continue making that difference. Just because he's paralyzed, it does not mean that his will has stopped as well.

In fact, it made him stronger.

"If you wanted to talk to me, you could have done it on the phone."

He playfully shrugs. "I had a hunch that you miss receiving letters and," he drawls out, "I think it's another way of calling you here to meet me."

I walk to him and grab a seat from the side before propping down on it. "Again, you can always call me if you miss me."

He chuckles. "Cut some slack for me, Mari. I don't have enough time to make a call just like how you don't have time to answer one." 

"Fine, you make a point," I state with a smile. "I'm sure you know why I immediately came here."

"It's because of the address in the letter, isn't it?"

I nod and take out the opened letter from my bag. "I wouldn't say no to helping, but...should it really be at the old garrison?"

The letter was addressed to a number of nurses, I was one of them. Some places are now used as rehabilitation centers for those who were affected by what happened in the movement. A good number of people need physical rehabilitation, some need help in the mental areas.

I saw the names of nurses assigned to the different areas, but when I saw my name...I did not know that it would come so soon.

"I know that I would normally say that you're allowed to deny the request," he starts off slowly. "But for this one, I think it's wise if you take this opportunity. And we made an agreement before."

"...Are you trying to open closed scars?"

"I think...it's more on healing them."

"Monarch, I need more time."

"And you've had your time," he states. Monarch closes his eyes and exhales a deep breath. "I wanted the garrison to never be used again. Maybe have the whole place cleaned before it being used. Yet, we don't have space to place others...sadly, I'm still working on that."

"I'm okay as a nurse, I really am. But to be back in the garrison is..." I trail off and bring a hand to my chest. Monarch deeply sighs as he watches me hold the ring.

"Adrien did not want you to continue being a nurse," he whispers, "yet I still allowed you to return to working as one."

"He knew that I love doing it."

Monarch smiles at me and wheels himself back to his desk. "Adrien would have still been proud of you even if you disobeyed his request."

"How can you say his name so nonchalantly?" I breathe out, gazing at him in disbelief. "Am I the only one hurting even just by the thought of him? Monarch, you were devastated when we told you. And now, you talk as if nothing happened."

"I think it's because," he starts off slowly, "I decided to visit the garrison a month ago..." he looks down at his desk and brings out a pamphlet on the new facilities at the garrison. "I wanted to check on things there...and I can't believe I'm saying this but it brought a lot of fond memories."

"Is this why you are so adamant with wanting me to go?"

"You might find your happiness there." He holds out the pamphlet for me to take. "And that's what we all want for you, Marinette, to have a little piece of yourself again."

------------

Monarch told me to arrive early so I arrive at five in the morning. I also wanted to be here early so that I have free time to go around the place on my own.

Letting out another deep breath, I pull the jacket draped on my shoulders tighter around me. It's his jacket, the very same one he gave to me, but I can't smell his scent on it anymore. It has started to disappear.

The crucifix he gave me is in my bag, it is always there for me to grab when I feel that I need assistance...or when I simply think of him.

The mess hall is now transformed into a place with more room in it. I guess they added more walls and doors to separate the private space of the rest of the patients.

I'm given a short orientation of the place. The head nurse brings me around, and even outside the mess hall. The infirmary, my first home, is still the same yet looking more busy with bustling nurses and few medical practitioners working in it. Some of the private quarters before of the soldiers and higher officials have turned into either storage rooms or spaces for the doctors and therapists that come every other week to check up on the patients. Some of the nurses have also used the quarters as theirs for sleeping. I am assigned to one of those quarters.

"I'll give you the morning to settle in," the nurse tells me with a smile on her face. She goes to the door, ready to exit my assigned quarters. "Again, thank you so much for taking this job."

"It's nothing, really," I breathe out and place my bag on the floor, beside the bed. The inside is still the same, just a few stuff have been fixed in a different arrangement.

The nurse hesitates at first by the doorway then purses her lips before saying, "We actually know about you, Nurse Marinette. We have an inkling of what this place means to you."

I chuckle ruefully. "This place means a lot to me," I whisper, looking out the window, gazing at the main building, the mess hall - my direct view from where I'm standing.

She nods in assent. "Then I think you wouldn't want to waste time to explore the place again. If you'll excuse me, I'll go ahead and check up on you after lunch."

"Thank you so much."

"My pleasure," she replies before leaving me, closing the door behind her.

I set my lips in a tight line as my chest aches again in pain. Looking around, it reminds me of how Adrien and I would spend our nights together lying on the bed. We talked about anything and everything.

Now, it is just an empty room.

"Well," I whisper under my breath, "I shouldn't ruminate too much. I think going outside could help me."

I step outside the room and make sure to have my jacket with me as I start to stroll around the area. The lights outside are still lit while the sky is in a dark shade of blue. The sun is starting to rise for the day.

There is one particular place that I want to see again. I dub it as the most special place for me, and perhaps, the most heart-wrenching one.

The field is still the same. They dismantled the obstacle course so it's just plain grass that decorates the whole field, with a few trees outlining the boundary. It's nice to see a few benches placed around the area, I suspect that they were placed for patients to sit and relax outside during the day.

I take a seat on a bench facing the east so that I could watch sunrise. I run my fingers on the cool wood of the bench and slowly inhale then exhale. Closing my eyes, I enjoy the peace and quiet I'm starting to embrace. From being so busy at the hospital and transitioning to working here in a tranquil place, it feels different; a good kind of different.

Maybe Monarch is right. Maybe this place could slowly start to heal me...

"Excuse me," a voice, from my left, suddenly starts speaking, "I think you're sitting on my favorite bench."

I shoot up frantically on my feet. "Oh my, I am so sorry-" I freeze, my breath hitching in my throat, when my gaze lands on the person standing by my left.
  
"...There's my nurse," he whispers, smiling softly through his tears, glistening under the light of the overhead lamp, as they fall from his eyes.

He is just as good-looking as the lieutenant in his dress uniform almost a year ago. His smile is still the same as the ones I would see when we're alone together whispering things about our hopes and dreams...sometimes promises to one another. And his tears are like how we would cry for each other, hoping to see the other, alive.

I clasp a hand over my mouth and start to sob, losing the strength to hold my feelings in. My heart swells with emotion as he takes a step closer to me, with the help of his crutches.

There is only a stub of where the most of his right leg was, and I could see burn wounds from his right jaw down to his neck and maybe more to the right side of his body beneath the clothes he's wearing. Aside from that, he is still the man I love with all my heart.
 
"My...my soldier," I cry, my voice shaking as he's standing right in front of me.

He musters to chuckle softly and reaches out a warm hand to cup my cheek. I immediately lean on his hand, letting my arm fall and press a kiss on his palm. "Remember what I told you about your stuttering? It makes you unattractive. I wouldn't want people thinking that my fiancée is unattractive when in fact, she is the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes on." He leans in and presses a lingering kiss on my forehead.

"Adrien," I cry. Right as he draws back, I throw my arms around him and bring him back close to me. I bury my head in his chest, taking in his scent again and how he feels against me. "I missed you so much," I continue, my voice quivering as I can't stop crying. My shoulders heave as I sob into the embrace. I feel him place his head on top of mine and both his crutches fall to the ground as he wraps me in his arms, reciprocating the warm embrace.

"Seven months...it was too long," he murmurs, kissing my head repetitively. "I couldn't live another day without seeing you."

I pull away a bit, my arms still around him. "It was so hard," I whisper.

"I know."

"I couldn't keep you off my mind."

"Me, too."

"Yet, I was starting to lose hope," I confess, guilt starting to cloud my thoughts. I wipe away the tears on his cheek and whisper, "I am so sorry."

"Don't be, please," he quietly utters and leans in to softly kiss my tear-stained cheeks. "I'm so sorry for letting you feel that way," he murmurs against my lips before pressing his on them. I close my eyes and cry harder as the familiar feeling overwhelms me. The way his lips feel on mine and how he would lean to take me all the more. 

"I love you," he would murmur against my lips as we share countless kisses.

And for the first time, in a very long time, I have found my peace again. A huge weight is off me and I don't feel burdened by anything anymore. There's light in my world again, and I feel like I've returned back home.

We both draw back slowly. I still can't stop the tears but I'm beaming in happiness. 

"I did stay alive, didn't I?"

I breathe out a laugh and nod. "And you did well, Adrien," I utter, brushing my fingers lightly against his burn wounds that look like they have mostly healed already.

"I'm glad you disobeyed my words when I asked you to not be a nurse anymore."

"I can't simply let go of it."

"I had a feeling, and I love you all the more for that."

I help him sit on the bench so that he could rest from standing for so long. His crutches are leaning on his side of the bench. I sit beside him and he insisted to have my legs draped over his lap, so I follow his request.

"Did it hurt?" I quietly ask, cupping his cheeks in my hands. I caress them and he closes his eyes, enjoying the sensation.

"I couldn't feel most of the pain," he admits, "But when it would hit...it felt like I was dying."

"I wish I was with you."

"You're here now. The pain was worth it."

Adrien and I continued to whisper amongst each other, telling the things we've been doing during those seven months we were apart. Hearing the news of those we lost killed a part of him, as well. We were both feeling the same kind of pain, the same kind of aftermath from the movement. He would steal kisses at times and I wouldn't refuse any of those kisses, making sure that I kiss him back fervently.

"Monarch found out about my being here a month ago," he tells me, softly.

"That explains why he was so adamant in wanting me to be assigned here."

He grins at me. "I'm happy he was," he simply says back.

"Why are you out so early in the morning?"

"I get to watch the sunrise for a moment and then I have to go back inside before my wounds start to hurt again," he answers quietly.

"Then allow me to stay with you," I whisper.

"Of course." he leans in and playfully nips my bottom lip, causing me to softly giggle yet feel my cheeks starting to flush. "I'm not going to lose you, again."

I grab his left hand and see that our makeshift ring is still on his finger. I bring it near my mouth and press my lips on that finger. "I love you, Adrien," I murmur, meaning every word I said.

"I love you, Marinette. Let's never leave each other, again."

I nod, tears starting to well up again. "Let's continue what we lost, Adrien." I take out the ring around my neck and show it to him.

He touches my ring and with tears brimming his eyes, he asks, "I think it's time we get married for real, then?"

And just with that look on his face and the tears he shed for me, for us, I know that a new path has opened for the both of us to take.

I love this man and I know that nothing else is going to stop us anymore. It was painful to love each other yet we continued despite the growing pain.

Now that the pain is gone, love still remains. We have loved until it hurts no more.
 
"I would love that, my soldier."

THE END