First off - a great big THANK YOU to all of my dear readers who said congratulations on graduation and left other lovely comments on the previous scene!! It means a ton to me! :D

No longer replying to every comment has been a difficult adjustment for me already, and I miss you all terribly :( But as explained in the announcement at the end of the last upFate, I'm only doing this because it's really necessary for my health, hehe :P So again, I hope you understand, and please know how grateful I always am!! :)

And remember that I will still read all comments, as long as Wattpad gives me a notification, and will still try to reply to any that require responses (for instance when a reader asks a question)! I promise I'm not abandoning you guys!! Lots of love always ❤️

Anyhoo - without further ado - let's check in with the Campions on their honeymoon, and also get a glimpse into Ryder's perspective on the night they first met...

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Scene 11: Other Side

A.D. 2015

"He's amazing, Lacey! Honestly, I have no idea why I didn't start crushing on him years ago. He's such a sweetheart, totally adorable..."

Lacey beamed, balancing her cell phone gracefully between ear and shoulder for a second as she fumbled through her luggage for her favorite swimsuit. "I'm so happy for you, Tess. For both of you."

Of course, she wasn't about to tell her best friend that the reason this connection with Dan hadn't formed years ago was because... because Lacey had only made the match more recently. Lacey wasn't even fully ready to acknowledge this strange superpower in herself, let alone to mention it to anybody else. Least of all the very lovers she had put together.

"I'm so happy, too!" Tess chirped, shamelessly channeling her inner teenage schoolgirl. "I mean, we're not official yet or anything, but we have sort of been dating. He's really amazing... Anyway! How's the honeymoon?"

"It's been lovely, thanks. Mykonos is gorgeous," Lacey gushed.

The two continued with their chatter in this manner for a little while, the pitter-patter of shower water running in the distant background, on Lacey's end. Ryder often liked to take long showers. Only once had Lacey ever tried to join him. Never again, after that one awkward, ill-fated attempt.

By the time she and Tess had hung up, the water was still running, of course. Lacey slipped into her seashell-pink bikini, all set for another sunny day of their honeymoon out on the beach, tying the strings at the sides into tight little bows. Blinked blankly at her reflection in the hotel room's full-length mirror after doing so. Wishing she could tie up the loose ends of her life just as easily... but no.

She shrugged into a strapless cover-up and then sat on the edge of the bed, idle for a while. Eventually took up her phone. Ended up scrolling through her address book for no reason.

Dan Hollis. She bit her lip as her thumb hovered over his name in her contacts list. Obviously Tess was happy - but was he? He had to be, Lacey assured herself. Otherwise Tess's spirits surely couldn't be so high, if Dan didn't feel the same way about the relationship... right?

As if with a will of its own, her thumb rose from the screen of her phone, for just a split second, then landed back down. Tapped the name underneath. Before she could think twice and cancel the call, the other end began to ring. So she held the phone up to her ear, held her breath.

Riiing. Riiing. Riiing. Each ring resounded like a promise that should never have been made, just like the rings on her own finger - one crowned with a diamond, the other of pure platinum - reminding her, too, of the twin ring that her husband couldn't even bear to wear.

The fourth ring from Dan's side of the world was cut short... then interrupted by an automated voicemail recording. Of course. Lacey hit 'End', certainly not prepared to leave a message for the boy who had once been her dearest friend, the man who felt as faraway and unfamiliar as a stranger to her now.

The only man who seemed even more distant was her husband. On the other side of the world - in other words, just beyond the bathroom door - Ryder stood still in his haven of steam-fogged glass, eyes shut to stop time from passing so fast, liquid heat streaming down the firm planes of his back. Had Lacey been there to see, she might have marveled at how he looked, in this moment, like the brooding hero of a movie. Though no director could have ever staged one of those cliché brooding-hero-in-the-shower scenes so beautifully.

But she couldn't see. He was alone, had been alone for... for how many minutes now? Too long, however many it'd been. Surely Lacey was waiting for him. Ryder knew that he couldn't hide in the shower forever. He knew because this was far from the first time he had tried to hide - hell, he had tried hiding from her as early as on that first night...

A.D. 2011

"Seriously - you're the only guy I know who wouldn't kill to get with Lacey," Grant announced after draining his fourth glass of beer and slamming it down. "My little sis is an absolute angel. I mean, come on, I've shown you pictures; can't you tell? Oh, and have I mentioned that she's a supermodel?"

Ryder shook his head and chuckled. "Yeah, only a few hundred times," he teased, which was hardly even hyperbole. Grant seemed dead set on the notion that his youngest sister and his battlefield brother would be perfect together. Ryder had no idea why. "And have I mentioned that tall blondes just aren't my type?"

"Have I mentioned that your taste in women makes no sense?"

"That's because it's a matter of taste. Not of sense," Ryder reminded his substantially less sober friend. "What can I say - I've always had a thing for short brunettes."

Grant reached for his fifth drink. "Listen, man. We just got back from deployment, and all I'm saying is that..." his voice faded as he took a swig of beer, then glanced at the entrance to the bar and nearly choked at the sight of two girls who definitely did not belong here.

Ryder pivoted his head... and then laid eyes on the girl who was fated to be his bride. He already sensed it, somehow. And he was horrified. She was objectively pretty, of course, but... but... his instinct was to hide.

It was too late, though. Because here she was. Her racing heartbeat nearly as noticeable as the blush in her porcelain cheeks. She had arrived with a similarly pretty blonde friend who was presently explaining things to Grant, a plan involving fake IDs, something about a birthday present. Ryder wasn't really listening.

And he wasn't even sure what happened next; it felt as if he were a pawn in some sad cosmic scheme over which he had absolutely no control. His own impulses of basic courtesy resulted in stilted conversation between him and the girl. Next thing he knew, her friend and Grant had both sneakily disappeared off to the farthest corner of the room.

Leaving the future Mr. and Mrs. Campion side by side at the bar, together all alone.

"Um - excuse me," Ryder blurted at some point, once the torture had become too much to handle all at once. "Gotta hit the men's room."

The bathroom of the bar was small and dimly lit, probably to hide the fact that it hadn't been cleaned for weeks, and smelled like shit. Yet it felt like a haven to him. He splashed cold water on his face, then switched over to hot, just in case that would help any better. It didn't.

He had been in here for... for how many minutes? Too long, however many it'd been. This was rude; the honorable soldier in him knew that rude wouldn't do. So he released a deep breath, then walked out as if toward his own death.

Just as he approached Lacey, he glimpsed some burly guy with a greasy bald head passing by where she sat and - holy shit - did the asshole just slip something into her drink?? The soldier in Ryder knew that that wouldn't do, either.

"Hey-" he shouted, grabbing the stranger's hairy arm, forcing him to contend with the strength of a fierce bay-blue glare, holding him in place with a grip just as strong. Clearly the idiot had mistakenly thought that Lacey was alone at the bar, while Ryder had been gone.

It was a mistake that he would soon regret. This asshole had just tried to slip a roofie to Ryder's best friend's little sister, probably hoping to hit a supermodel while she was unconscious, and he was sure as fuck going to pay for it.

Unfortunately for the soldier, the asshole had a shitload of friends. Ryder fought with greater skill and strength than any of them, though, as did Grant when he arrived within seconds. Ultimately, the pair of Navy SEALs won out and Lacey's honor was defended, but all were badly beaten by the time the brawl had ended.

And as it did, Ryder made the mistake of looking up and meeting Lacey's gaze, the gaze of the girl he had saved. A mistake that he would forever regret. The look that sealed her love for him, a promise that should never have been made, imprisoning him to his fate.

A.D. 2015

He shut off the shower. Knowing that the same gaze awaited him on the other side of the world, which lay just beyond the bathroom door. She loved him, always would; on that first night, he had been sure. Ever since, he had spent his life trying to convince Lacey that he was not in love with her. But nothing had worked. The prison of his fate was too strong, and no haven had ever been able to keep him for long.

Ryder wrapped half of himself in a towel, wishing that he could hide all of himself so easily from the ill-fated mess of his life... but no. He couldn't hide forever. Released a deep breath, then stepped out to face his life, walking as if toward his death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thoughts? Feels? :/ Theories about this cosmic force that seems to be binding Ryder and Lacey together, here in the present day...?

Next scene, we'll check up on Atria in modern-day Greece... and maybe see some more of #Axria? or #Eldria? hehe ;)

** And if you liked this one, please don't forget to vote! :) **