Luna looks into my eyes, her feelings mixed between the pain of the past and the hope that blossoms in the present. She takes a deep breath, as if trying to find the courage she still lacks.
With a soft but intense voice, she responds, "I know, my dear, my master... I know deep down you never blamed me, but still, the shadows of what happened... they haunt me. What hurts me the most is that, through all this, you had to bear the weight of lies and pain. I wish I had been strong enough to stop them, to not make you go through all this..."
She hesitates for a moment, sadness mingling with tenderness in her voice. "But now, here, with you... I know I can breathe. That what happened can be left behind. I just want us to move forward, without more secrets, without more shadows. I love you, my master, my teacher... and I will always love you with all the strength I have left."
"...I love you too, more than any word could express," I say, my voice hoarse but full of sincerity. "And though the path has been difficult, I know that every step we took brought us to this moment. No matter what happened before, what matters is that we are together now, here, and that gives me strength to go on. There is no more room for guilt or what has passed... only for us, what we are now and what we can be from here on."
I embrace her tighter, feeling the connection between us grow, and whisper as if it were the only thing that mattered now: "Let this night be the beginning of something new, without looking back, without more fears. Let's just be, the two of us, together."
In the midst of that strong embrace, with our bodies still trembling, I feel a sob escape her lips, as if the pain of the past few hours is still present, struggling to get out. Then I pull back slightly, just enough to look into her eyes with an intensity that reflects all the fragility and strength at once.
"I can hardly believe... after everything... we're still here," Luna says, her voice breaking. "Everything I went through, everything you went through, and now... now we are here. And there's still so much love between us... I never thought I'd be able to forgive myself, but... now, with you, everything seems more possible."
My eyes shine with a mix of sadness and relief as I wrap my arms around her again, this time more gently, but just as tightly.
"You've shown me that even in the darkest circumstances, love can still be the light. And I will fight for it. I will fight for us. Because no matter what the world has done, Luna, I promise we will be stronger than anything."
Now I hold her tighter, feeling the same breath as you, breathing close to you, and I whisper in your ear: "Luna, I just don't understand why you didn't tell me about this situation before."
Cuddled in my arms, she finds strength, takes a deep breath, her eyes filled with tenderness, and she replies softly, almost inaudibly: "I was afraid of losing you, of no longer being the person you saw in me."
With my body still tense, and recalling all the suffering of one who simply had no support when she needed it most, I exclaim: "Luna, can I take revenge for everything they did to us?"
"My dear, revenge can be a tempting path, but sometimes it's harder to bear than the pain it tries to heal. We've been through so much together, and I know that by moving forward with the love we have, we can build something much stronger."
"But they need to pay, look at Lame Crow still moving, despite being hit as much as the others who didn't resist you. And there he stands, a villain under government orders, and soon he'll be after us again."
But she seemed not to hear my words, wanting to convince me to stay by her side for a few more moments: "Revenge may bring temporary relief, but the true power lies in transforming our pain into something more, something that lifts us up. The choice, of course, is yours. I will be by your side, whatever the decision."
I fell silent as my eyes shone, and a thought flashed through my mind as quickly as the wind. I'll wait a little longer and then I'll make sure Lame Crow and everyone behind his arguments, his malice, pays for what they did to my beloved Luna, one by one.
She sensed it, and gave the impression that she had heard my thoughts, slowly approaching Lame Crow, who now lived up to his name. Weak, with no time for effective recovery, Luna directed her gaze towards him, almost with tenderness. She removed the mask from his face, the bird he represented so well, a raven, so that his features were even more terrifying.
And as she drew near his disfigured face, gently, she touched her lips to his, and for a few seconds, I could see the life of Lame Crow passing through her frightened eyes.
I wanted to be jealous of that moment, but I quickly remembered Luna's powers and everything she had been through to control them, and I heard a quick phrase she said, as if saying the name of that gargoyle called him back to the cruel reality that awaited him:
"LAME CROW!" Luna screamed furiously, delivering a fatal blow, making me hear the dry thud of Luna's fist against his face.
"CROOKED BEAK!" She screamed again, expending her strength, repeating the process until Lame Crow could no longer hear.
The following moment was heart-wrenching, as the fragility of her feelings came to the surface, and what seemed like a warrior, an agent, or a spy gave way to that chemistry teacher, or that quiet but serious lab assistant, who had enchanted me with her beauty and aura of fragile innocence.
"When I touched Lame Crow's lips, I saw that he was beyond any forgiveness, and that his whole life would be dedicated to chasing me and convincing me to return to the 'Organization.' "I had no choice, I swear, my beloved."
Luna collapsed into my lap, leaving me at a loss for words. And there, in that moment, amidst hugs and sobs, we realized that despite everything, we had found our way back to each other... And loneliness would never again be our companion.