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I didn’t like that Archangel and Brick would likely divide up all the real power left in this world between them, even if they mostly left me and Black alone.

Nothing would ever be perfect.

Nothing evercouldbe perfect.

But I felt strangely at peace.

I felt more relaxed, more relieved, more genuinely hopeful than I’d felt in a very, very long time.

Even the grief felt more like a letting go.

It felt like a remnant, an emotional exhale. It felt like some part of me was cleaning house, making way for this new thing. This far less apocalyptic, far more peaceful new thing that was opening for us now.

A thing where we had our family around us.

A thing where maybe Black and me could start a family of our own.

Black wrapped his arm tighter around me, kissing my temple.

I thought about Fiji, and I snuggled deeper in the couch.

I think I must have been asleep before the plane’s wheels finally left the ground.

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