“I will never let them take you again,” I promised, my voice hitching with emotion.

“I know Stel,” Tristan agreed gently and then even softer he whispered in my ear, “You are amazing Stella…. seriously incredible.”

I lifted my head to tell him thank you, but our eyes locked and I couldn’t remember the words I wanted to say. Tristan was looking at me with the kind of devotion I only saw between people like my parents and his expression had softened to something I should be afraid of. Instead I found myself mimicking the adoration and something deeper…. something still nameless…. and I knew that we were more than friends. Tristan Shields was not my best friend…. he was something so much more.

“Stella, I need to take Tristan home, away from all of this,” my father’s voice broke through our bubble and reminded me that we were still standing in the middle of carnage, blood and bodies scattered all over our football field.

I reluctantly let Tristan go, although only because I was planning on following my parents straight home. My mom and dad kissed and hugged me and we told each other how much we loved one another over and over before they took Tristan away to the parking lot. He held my hand all during our goodbyes and when we finally parted I felt empty without him…. painfully alone.

Now that the battle had stopped, the rest of us were left in eerie silence, even with the blizzard waging its own war against the Earth around us. Nate and Jupiter had moved to Serena and were carefully tending to her wound and trying to remove the sword from her belly before her skin tried to heal around it.

I watched silently for a moment until I was positive she would recover and then I had to turn my eyes away. There was definitely a limit to what I could take of blood and gore for the day and I had more than reached my quota.

And then Seth was next to me, silent and still.

I fell more than anything right into his arms. He had been standing next to me the entire battle and I needed his comforting arms around me. He crushed me to him, pressing his lips against my temple and rubbing my back in soothing circles.

“Thank you for saving my life,” I mumbled against him, burying my face in his neck.

“That’s what I’m here for,” he replied lightly in my ear, but pulled me tighter against him at the same time. “I can’t lose you Stella. I won’t lose you. You’re my Star.”

And then the world started spinning around me as the reality of his words sunk in. I wouldn’t lose him either. I couldn’t lose him. He was everything to me.

He was my Warrior.

And my heart stopped beating when I realized that I didn’t just think of him that way on the battlefield.

Somehow through all of this, he had become more to me too. He was so strong, and brave and valiant yet fragile and vulnerable too.

It didn’t matter what unnamed feelings I had for Tristan. I could never be with him. Seth was my future. And I was mostly Ok with that.

Except at the same time I was mostly not Ok with that too.

I stopped thinking and breathed Seth in. All of that stuff didn’t matter right now because both of them were safe. And that’s all I could think about.

For now, that’s all I wanted to think about.

“All I want to do is go home, take a bath and go to bed for next ten days,” I groaned. Every one of my muscles hurt and my shoulders felt like they were trying to actually remove my arms from their sockets. Jupiter and Nate were helping Serena get to the parking lot and Seth and I had turned to follow them, still leaning heavily on each other.

“I’m Ok with the home and bath part, but you can’t go to sleep for the next ten days,” Seth admonished me. “We have the Valentine’s Dance tomorrow night and I have a super hot date for it,” he pulled me closer to him, his arm wrapping firmly around my waist and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I replied with another unintelligible groan which only made him laugh. We were both covered in black goo and blood splatter, but I cuddled closer to him, thankful for his warm light and just him.

“We have to kill him,” I announced somberly, my thoughts drifting back to the battle.

“We will,” Seth promised. “And her.”

I breathed in deeply and let the frozen night air cleanse my lungs. This war had changed. The Darkness had changed tactics right along with us and we fought a different kind of battle that would take just as much sacrifice and skill as the endless years before us. The only difference this time was that Seth and I were the ones fighting the battle.

If we didn’t go after Aliah, he would be back for us, although since we killed seven of his entourage I was hoping he would reconsider his effort at least outside of my small little farm town. If there was one thing I had learned through all of this it was how much I truly loved humanity and most of all the community I grew up in. I was definitely not ready to give up high school, or my friends or any of my relationships. But I also wasn’t going to stop myself from becoming the greatest Protector in the history of the Universe. Because this was a planet worth saving, humanity was worth saving.

I knew this meant I would have to give it up to a certain degree. I would have to walk away partially in order to save it. I couldn’t have people I loved showing up at every battle because I knew what it would mean, it would mean that I would gladly let them live and die for them.

I was willing to die for humanity.

But I wasn’t convinced yet I was willing to walk away.

I was called to serve the Earth with Seth. He was my future; together we would protect the last planet. I needed to walk away from my life and into my fate with Seth in order to save the Earth.

Too bad it was humanity itself that was keeping me from doing that.

Even with this looming, ominous destiny ahead of me, I knew I would never leave Tristan. He was what made me fall so in love with this life to begin with and he would be what kept me tied to it for the rest of my life.