Life was pretty uneventful for the remainder of the semester; people still gossiped about Black Dove's disappearance, Milo and I were very much a happy couple, I attended therapy regularly and final exams were shit as always. It was now mid-November, and everyone was enjoying their freedom since exams were done and dusted.

The Parliament - albeit retired from our clandestine job - were planning on going to a post-exam party at a club tonight, and Lark had been frustrated with her outfit choices for the night out, dragging me (and in turn, Milo) out for some retail therapy. I never said no to a good shopping trip, and Milo had begrudgingly agreed to tag along.

Lark and I grinned as we perused the stacked racks in the department store, Milo scowling as he wandered off, looking for a seat to rest his ass on. He found one in front of the changing rooms, glaring at another guy who had been eyeing it, sending him scuttling off with the force of the Schultz stare.

"I'm thinking... green," Lark said, pursing her lips as she sorted through a rack of dresses.

"To match your eyes?"

Lark grinned, nodding and batting her lashes, green eyes sparkling. 

"No one gets me like you do, Dovey," Lark said loudly, turning to Milo teasingly. My boyfriend, eyes glued to his phone, just snorted and thrust his middle finger her way. Raising my brow at the strawberry-blonde girl, Lark just waved away my look. "What? It's my job as your ex and official third wheel to take the piss out of the both of you every chance I get."

"Fair enough," I conceded, shrugging as I pulled out quite a garish pink silk shirt. Holding it up to my body, I waved Lark's attention over.

"I like it," Lark said appreciatively at the showy piece of clothing. "Very dramatic. Brings out your eyes."

"Right? Only one other person gets me like you do," I said, my voice carrying over to Milo's ears, the boy's mouth quirking up as he spared me a glance. Shaking the shirt in front of me and posing, I got Milo to finally crack a smile.

"Looks good," Milo said, tilting his head to the side, imaging how it would look on me. "You look good in anyt-"

"Okay, stop there," Lark said loudly, throwing her discarded jacket at Milo, who copped it in the face. "You. Saying cheesy stuff with your grumpy face is... disconcerting. Gives me the heebie jeebies, ugh." Lark shivered, jerking her hand in a gesture to get her jacket back, Milo throwing it back with great force. Lark just laughed daintily, catching it smoothly and slipping her slender arms back through it, flicking her hair out. 

Milo retorted with a glare, Lark abandoning her quest to find a dress for the club and sauntering over to him with her arms crossed, and I watched the two of them bicker fondly. They only stopped when I quipped that I was in fact the real third wheel in our trio, both Lark and Milo looking horrified. That had been the only thing they had agreed on, before realising that they did, and going back to sling pre-school grade insults at each other.

The rest of the day progressed much the same way, though Lark managed to find a dress, plus some new hair accessories and make up along the way. I only bought the shirt and a new belt, while Milo left every store empty handed, not one for 'unnecessary spending'.

As we exited the last store, all of us were starving from walking around all morning. It was natural for me to take Milo's hand as we meandered our way across the shopping centre to a restaurant, the feeling of my boyfriend's slightly cold palm pressing against mine now second nature. I could see Lark's mouth twitching with a teasing line, but she evidently decided against saying anything, simply smiling to herself as she walked beside us.

We settled into our table at the restaurant, Milo and I nestling ourselves in the plush cushions in the small booth and Lark sitting on a wooden chair at the other side. I felt warm and blissed out at Milo's hand resting comfortably on my thigh beneath the table. It reassured me in a way that no one else had, that Milo wanted to be near me as much as I wanted to be near him. That I wasn't too much, because he matched me step for step, word for word, touch for touch.

Heart for heart.

It reminded me of something Lark had told me weeks ago, when Milo had ducked off to the bathroom, leaving the two of us alone.

"This is different."

"What do you mean?" I asked, throwing a piece of popcorn into the air and catching it in my mouth, wings flapping happily. 

"You and Milo. You're different," Lark said, knowing yet perplexing smile on her pretty face. Her green eyes regarded me warmly, seemingly pleased as punch. 

"Uh, how?" I asked, frowning. "Is it because I didn't bottom in a relationship with a dude for once?"

Lark snorted, shaking her head as she flicked popcorn into her mouth.

"No, Dovey. I mean, yes, sure, that's a difference. But I'm just talking about... you two in general. You're different."

"Like I said. How?" I said, growing more and more confused, not quite understanding what Lark was hinting at.

"I can't really explain how, it's just... a feeling I get - a feeling I think everyone has gotten, actually. Gia feels the same way," Lark said, smile soft. "It's kind of lame, and a bit silly, but when I look at you I can't help but think 'oh, they were made for each other', or something like that. Soul mates. Oh God, that sounds even lamer out loud than in my head, I'm disgusted at myself." Lark crinkled her button nose, shivering and washing her mouth out with some water, swallowing loudly.

Her words washed over me, making my breath falter for a brief moment. Made for each other.

They were words that had come up time and time again in books and movies, but that's the thing - in works of fiction, never in real life. Things like soul mates and one true love, as lovely as the notion was, were far-fetched, even to me.

And yet, how come I couldn't help but preen at the phrase?

My mum had told me about soul mates, once. She was never the type to read me fanciful fairytales about princes and princesses as bedtime stories when I was younger. Instead, she told me stories about birds. There was this boy in primary school that had told me that his parents were splitting up, and my nine-year-old self had been confused. Didn't they love each other? If they married each other, they were soul mates, right? Why would you ever want to leave your soul mate?

 My mum had laughed a little when I asked her that, my face red and puffy, almost angry. She had sat me down on her knee, flicking open a text book that she had written filled with pretty pictures of colourful birds, pictures I'm sure my dad had taken.

"It's just like birds, Culver," she said, turning the pages of the book as she leaned her head on my shoulder. "There are only a few species that mate for life. Some birds will mate, and then they will fly off in different directions. That's like what your friend's parents did."

"Will you and daddy fly away?" I asked, eyes wide and panicked, my mother chuckling again, shaking her head before kissing my cheek. 

"No, honey. See, there are some birds that mate for life. Like here, the Atlantic Puffin. Once they fall in love, they stick with each other for good, and when they have children, they look after them together and they always return back home each season. That's like your daddy and I."

"What about them?" I asked, pointing to another picture in the book, my mother nodding.

"Ah, the bald eagle. They also mate for life. When they fall in love, they do a special dance in the air, flipping and spinning all over the place. I should show you a video one day." I nodded eagerly, watching in rapture as my mother turned to the next page, where there was a picture of some colourful birds that she said also mated for life.

"And what about these ones? The... Laysan Albatr... tr..."

"Albatross," mum concluded for me, tickling my sides happily. "Yes, they are the same. They just love one bird."

"What happens if one of them dies, though? What happens if they lose their mate?" I asked, frowning. I rubbed my fingers on a picture of one of the birds, sitting alone on the ground. "Will they still love them forever?"

"Well, if they do lose their mate, they cry for a very long time," mum said, rubbing my arm soothingly. "Of course, they're very sad when they lose their mate, and they take one or two years to get better. But, then they try to find a new mate to be happy again."

"But how can they find someone new if they still love their old mate?"

"Because they realise that their old mate would want them to be happy," mum said, kissing my cheek again. "When you love someone, you want them to be happy, no matter what, right?"

"Right," I said, turning to mum and giving her a tight hug. "When I find someone I love, I just want them to be happy!"

"Mates for life," I murmured to myself at the memory, not quite realising that I spoke the words out loud, Lark giving me a wide, teasing smile.

"You really are a Birdboy," Lark snickered, though she didn't disagree with my statement.

Turning to Milo next to me, who was saying something about how we shouldn't order the squid dish because I hated the texture of it, I felt the need to kiss him. Milo was surprised, freezing a little as I forcefully turned his head towards me, planting my mouth on his, but after a moment he kissed back. His cheeks were hot under my hands, and I could hear Lark groaning from across the table, but I didn't care.

"I'm not letting you fly off anywhere, okay," I declared adamantly when Milo and I pulled back, keeping things PG-13 in public. Lark and Milo gave me confused looks, which was unsurprising since I gave them zero context to my words and actions, but they were used to my antics by now and just shrugged it off, calling the waitress over and ordering. It didn't take long for the food to arrive, our conversation only pausing momentarily while the waitress placed the numerous plates down in front of us.

"My mum's been really stressed, you know?" Lark sighed as we dived into our lunch, probably ordering far too much food to share. Lark rolled her eyes when Milo piled food onto my plate before even beginning to eat his own, my boyfriend giving Lark a look challenging her to say something.

"About the case? The homeless one?" I clarified, Lark nodding. "There haven't been any cases for a while, not since, the, you know. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yes, it is, but it's also concerning her," Lark said, waving her chopsticks around as she chewed. "Call it her gut feeling, but she thinks that people like the ones that attacked y- Black Dove, wouldn't just stop for no reason. She thinks they're planning something."

"It can't have anything to do with Black Dove, can it?" Milo asked, putting his fork down to grip my thigh.

"They don't know, but it is one of their working theories," Lark said. "But it doesn't matter. Black Dove has been gone for almost two months now. Even though people are still speculating, the general consensus is that he's not coming back, so the guys that attacked him would be planning for nothing."

It was unsaid amongst the three of us that I definitely was not jumping back into the fray. As we sat there in silence, I felt a nagging at the back of my mind, a little uncomfortable buzz that was more than a tickle but less than a headache. Lark's words had clearly unsettled me, my birdy-senses tingling. 

"Well, I'll be fine, you guys, since I'm not..." I said firmly, raising my arms in a flapping gesture, Lark and Milo nodding.

We finished eating, and began to head out to my car parked outside. As we reached the door of the shopping centre, I felt the sudden urge to pee. Shoving my shopping bags into Milo's hands for him to bring them to the car first, I darted back in to relieve myself. When I was walking out of the bathroom to catch up to Milo and Lark, the annoying buzzing  that had started in the restaurant grew louder, my wings fluttering inside my back, like they were trying to get out against my will.

I felt goosebumps prickle my skin as my feet quickened instinctively, my gut dropping as the buzzing pulsed brighter and brighter in my mind, a clear warning that something was wrong.

My fears were quelled slightly when I got to my car, Milo and Lark just about finished arranging the bags in the boot of the car around all of the other junk I had stored in there. 

Milo saw me approaching, shooting me a warm smile. I was about to return it, when a large black van suddenly swerved behind him, a man jumping out clad in all black and clamping a hand with a cloth over his mouth. Milo's eyes widened, but then closed when he suddenly went limp, large body slumping against the man.

I felt a jolt of pure fear seize me, my mind blanking red as the buzzing snapped, a cry wrenched from my lips as Lark screamed. Her sound was cut off when a second man leapt out from the van, grabbing her from behind. Her eyes met mine in panic, before rolling back, her body collapsing like Milo's had. 

"No!" I screamed, lurching forward as the man pulling Lark into the car saw me. He began to get out of the car to run towards me, until he pressed a hand to his ear, stopping. Behind his mask he looked confused, before quickly getting back into the van and closing the door. "No! Stop! Don't! No!" I cried out over and over as the car's wheels screeched against the concrete floor, dust cascading upwards as the car haphazardly whirled.

I screamed, but I couldn't hear anything above the rush of white noise in my head. My feet pounded the pavement as I desperately ran after the van that was slowly slipping away. My wings trying to wrench themselves outwards but impeded by my clothing, and as I van turned the corner I fell to my knees in a heap, tears streaming down my face as I screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

What happens if you lose your mate?

A/N: And we finally get to the beginning of the end... :')