JONATHAN

As Jonathan came to his senses, the first thing he felt was a strange feeling of loss, like the absence of a constant companion. As he slowly dragged himself back to consciousness. It occurred to him that for the first time in a long time, it was quiet. Too quiet. He felt odd; lighter somehow but not empty. It was a foreign experience but a welcome one.

And then the realization dawned on him that it was because the ringing in his ear had finally stopped.

Pain was the second feeling, and it hit him like a truck. His chest, his throat, his entire body really, ached in more ways than he could describe but he revelled in the sensation of it.

It meant that he was alive, that he was human.

The third, was a light, gentle pressure on his wrist, imperceptible if his skin hadn't been so deprived of touch. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on his side on the floor of a dark room. The record shop. With effort, he managed to turn his head, and he found her asleep beside him.

The lines of worry were still etched on her face, one hand had been tucked under her head like a makeshift pillow while the other stretched out towards him, two fingers resting on his arm where his pulse beat steadily beneath her fingertips. He stared for a moment, simply in awe of her. The bruises and scrapes on her face, a living tapestry of their near-misses, close-calls and hail Mary's.

In that moment, he forgot to put up his walls or how to hide behind his Mask and his chest ached for an entirely different reason. He owed everything to her, and he knew he'd spend the rest of his days trying to find ways to repay her.

As if sensing his gaze, she stirred and her eyes fluttered open. Upon seeing him awake, she let out a small, nearly inaudible gasp and tears welled in her big, brown eyes.

For a moment, he braced himself, waiting for her emotion to draw out the monster within him, but to his immense relief it never came.

"You're alive." She laughed through tears.

He took her hand and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her to comfort her as she cried.

"You sound surprised, Captain Obvious." He whispered, pressing his lips against her forehead.

"What? Aren't you?"

"No. Because it was you who kept me alive," he murmured softly, his voice hoarse but steady. He felt the warmth of her body against his, the rhythm of her breathing in sync with his own. In that moment, everything felt still and perfect. The world, the apocalypse, the soulless, everything outside had stopped existing just for them.

She pulled back slightly to look at him, her eyes searching his face as if making sure he was really there, as if she might suddenly wake up and find it was all just a dream. The tears in her eyes sparkled, not from fear, but from relief, from the weight of emotions she had been holding in for what felt like forever.

"I thought I lost you," she whispered, voice breaking again. "I thought—"

"You didn't," he interrupted softly, his hand coming up to cradle the back of her head, pulling her back into him, this time with more strength. "You never could."

She buried her face in the crook of his neck, breathing him in, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek. The quiet between them was different now, no longer a void but a space filled with unspoken words and shared history.

For a long while, they simply held each other. No words, just the sound of their breathing and the slow, steady rhythm of their hearts. The pain was still there, but somehow, in her arms, it didn't seem as unbearable. He'd survived the worst because she had been there. Because she always had been. Eventually, she pulled back again, a small, half-laugh, half-sob escaping her lips. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, and then looked at him, really looked at him.

"What happens now?" she asked, the question hanging in the air between them.

He stared at her, his gaze intense and thoughtful. For a moment, he wasn't sure what to say. What could he say, after everything? But then, as if all at once, he knew. He knew what came next.

"Now," he said, his voice firm and sure, "we keep going. Together."

A quiet smile tugged at her lips, the kind of smile that came with hope—a promise that no matter how many battles lay ahead, they wouldn't face them alone. And in that moment, it was enough.