Chapter 70: She who taught me how to love. 468 CE

A/N: Corny chapter... right, imma sleep, I have a shit ton of assignments due tomorrow, so I probably won't upload, but who knows. It looks short, but it's really just average, it's just most if it is paragraphs instead of small sentences.

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I was now in front of another door to another room. The rain was still heavily raining outside, and for normal people, they could barely hear anything right now because of the loud noise of the rains.

I then knocked on the door. "Thena, are you there?"

Not a second later, a voice answered, she sounded amused. "You don't have to knock you now, you could just enter."

I just chuckled, and opened the door, and I saw Thena sitting in front of a closed window, staring at the rain outside.

"Can't sleep?" I questioned as I took another chair and placed it beside her.

She just shook her head. "It's not like I can't sleep, I just liked to watch the rain outside."

I hummed, it was normal, a Thena thing. I sat down beside her, and also stared at the rain outside.

"Are you okay?" I questioned.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I can feel the anxiety radiating from your body."

She sighed. "It's quite annoying that you could tell how I feel 24 hours a day, while I can't do it to you."

I chuckled. "I could give you the ring if you like."

She shook her head. "No thank you, just keep it for someone in the future."

I just nodded, and we both sat in comfortable silence.

"So… are you okay? You haven't answered my question."

"Honestly, no." she answered. She looked at me, and grabbed my left hand. "I don't know why… but I feel anxious as time goes on…"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know… it feels like something inside me is warning me about something… and that warning is making me feel anxious."

I squeezed her hand softly. "You want me to stay?"

She just nodded weakly, and she made her chair closer to me, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"Honestly Pluto, you don't have to make a big celebration." she suddenly said. "For the marriage, I mean."

I sighed. "I don't know what to do honestly… Arthur didn't allow me to use the hall… Ajak didn't want us to leave the family for now … it's quite annoying."

She just hummed. "Then… how about we do it now?"

"What?"

"Let's do it now." she repeated. "Do the ceremony here. In this room."

I chuckled. "What's the ritual supposed to be? Marriage is a human concept… Eternals don't really have it. That's why Ikaris and Sersi married in India, because they have a marriage ceremony there."

"Let's just say a promise towards each other." Thena suggested.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

I thought a bit. You know what? Sure, why not, if she's happy with this, so am I.

"Okay." I said as I stood up, making Thena stand as well. "Let's do it."

Thena nodded with a wide smile, and we both stood in front of each other, beside the window. The rain was raining outside, and it made it quite peaceful, for us anyway.

She held my hand in front of her chest, looking at me with bright eyes, smiling widely. "You first."

I chuckled. "Okay…" I then thought about it a little. I kissed her knuckles, and said my promise. "I promise, that I will be with you until the end of times. I will take care of you, even if Arishem itself stood against us, I will protect you, even if it means that I have to burn the entire earth for it, and I promise that I–"

I stopped, should I do this? I am lying to her right now… I kept secrets from her…, meanwhile Thena was confused. "What's wrong?" she asked.

I shook my head. I took a deep breath, and continued my promise. "And I promise that I will be by your side, at your worst days, at your worst nights, I will be with you."

Thena smiled widely at my words. She was shedding some tears, sobbing a bit as I said my promise. "Okay… it's my turn now."

She looked at my hand and the rings on it, she caressed my palm, and kissed it. "I know… that you have secrets that you couldn't tell me. But I promise that I will trust you, I will follow you even if it means death, even if it means fighting Arishem himself. I promise that I will be by your side until the end, I promise that you will always find comfort with me, calming you down as you watch the entire world around you fall apart, I promise that I will be your shield, your sword, your everything, protecting you, even if it means that I have to sacrifice my life."

I wiped her tears from her eyes with my hands. "I love you, Thena."

"I love you too." she said as she leaned towards me, kissing my lips ever so gently. "Thank you, for everything you did to me."

It was a blissful night. As we finished our promise, the rain had stopped almost completely. The moon was shining through our window, illuminating her beautiful and kind face. And I thought, I would do anything to keep her beside me. She stayed with me from the start, she who believed in me, she who taught me how to love, she who taught me how to care.