40. P O W E R : Finality

Rise.

"I'll give you two some time."

"Thank you, Calvin." Fitch nodded to the pastor of Safe Haven Church of God, who nodded back and rested a hand on Safiya's shoulder before walking away.

Safiya smiled, letting out a quiet chuckle as she looked down for a moment. "Not how you imagined it, eh?" she asked Fitch, glancing up at him.

Fitch looked around for a moment, observing their surroundings. Then he shrugged, saying, "Eh. It's good enough."

The two Protectors stood in the partially-rebuilt ruins of the church, which was still lacking its ceiling and several supports. Most of it was charred black and crumbling, giving it a frighteningly-eerie appearance.

"Was it anything like the first?" Safiya inquired as Fitch led her down the aisle by the arm. "With Abigail, I mean."

"Uh... not quite," Fitch admitted with a slight grin. "That one was a public ceremony, and it had, well..."

He paused and looked around again. "...guests," he finished.

Safiya laughed. "I told you we could've invited your brothers," she reminded him.

"And I told you I didn't want to distract them," Fitch reminded her, smirking. "They've got enough on their minds as it is."

"You said that? I don't recall."

"You should pay more attention in our conversations."

"I can't. Your face is too handsome and distracting." Safiya pinched Fitch's cheek and laughed again.

"So I've been told," Fitch quipped, stepping out into the night.

Safiya did the same, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply. "Aaah," she exhaled, smiling. "Can you smell that, Ferrus?"

"The lingering scent of napalm and molten metal?"

Safiya shot her new husband a look.

"Sorry."

"It's change, Ferrus," Safiya told Fitch, motioning to the Capital City in the distance. "Change is in the air. In two sunrises, this world will be forever changed—just like after the Giants' Rising. Only this time... it will be for the better."

"You really think we can pull it off?" Fitch asked quietly, staring at the Tower's looming silhouette. "The odds are stacked against us—more so now than ever before."

"Elohim shall never suffer His world to fall before the appointed time," Safiya responded in a confident tone, unlinking her arm from Fitch's and thumping him in the chest with a fist. "We have overcome in the past, and we shall do so again. I believe it with all my heart."

"And what if this is the time at which our world is appointed to fall?" Fitch asked her, putting a hand over the one she'd placed on his chest.

Safiya turned to him, the smile still on her face. "Then we shall fall with style," she declared.

"Oh, so you've seen 'Toy Story', have you?"

"Of course! Cameron watched it with Liam when he was a baby." Safiya giggled and then sighed, somehow content despite what loomed on the horizon. "In all seriousness, though... I am certain we can get through this," she murmured, leaning against Fitch. "One way or another... we'll keep Safe Haven safe."

Fitch wrapped an arm around Safiya, sighing as well—albeit for a different reason than his wife. "I hope you're right, Saf," he said softly. "I hope you're right."