WEIGHT OF THE WORLD ↠ Mazikeen [2]

18 | THE WAY I AM

THE TIME HAD COME for Izzy to return home. There was a weird mixture of feelings beating within her heart – a part of her was relieved to know what was going on with her head, but another part was anxious about starting the journey to recovery. PTSD couldn't be an easy battle to win if it could even be defeated in the first place. Add all that to the fact that she had no idea what she'd find at home, and no doubt it was quite the storm of emotions cooking up inside her.

Still, she put on a brave face as she pulled up in the car she had picked up from Lux, and unlocked the front door with her key. It was quiet all over, so she made sure to shut the door gently just in case Mazikeen and her aunt were asleep – however, as soon as she walked in, she was proven otherwise as Maze was sitting on the couch with her heavy book on souls resting on her lap. At the sound of Izzy coming home, she perked up, hauling the book onto the cushions next to her and standing up to meet Isadora halfway, her hands nervously fiddling with one another.

"You're home", Maze breathed out with a faint smile, one that she was almost scared to display in case it'd just get wiped away. But Izzy was in no mood to argue any further. Instead, she opened her mouth to apologize, but as soon as the words I'm sorry tumbled out of her mouth, Maze had done the same, creating a cacophony of regretful apologies in the apartment. "Sorry", Maze chuckled carefully, "you go first."

Smiling at her, Izzy stepped forward and took Mazikeen's hands in her own. "I'm sorry, Maze. I know you want a soul and... despite what I said, you do deserve one. I just wish you would have come to me about it instead of Michael. He can't be trusted, but surely the two of us can figure it out together", she aired out her feelings with a firm grip on Maze's hands, one that only tightened when the demon cast an ashamed look down at her own feet.

"I'm sorry, too. I never should have neglected your feelings. I guess I still don't have emotions all figured out", Mazikeen shrugged before looking back up at Izzy and closing the space between their bodies. "The thing is, I don't just want to be worthy of a soul, I want to be worthy of you. That's why I want it so badly. So that we can finally be equals. 'Cause honestly, Iz, I don't know what I've done to deserve you and I'm amazed you're still here. I really thought I was gonna lose you after last night and I don't want to feel that way ever again", she explained with certainty in her voice, and more importantly, devotion in her eyes as she gazed at Izzy.

Sighing, Izzy wrapped her arms around Mazikeen's barely shorter figure and reeled her in for a tight hug. "Baby, you don't need a soul to be worthy of me. I adore you exactly the way you are", she assured, tilting her head so she could kiss Maze's temple. "I love you, Mazikeen, with or without a soul."

Fighting back tears, Maze held onto Izzy for dear life, closing her eyes to just enjoy the moment. Eventually, though, she pulled away but still grasped Izzy's hand. "I talked to Michael, by the way. Turns out, he couldn't help me, after all. So, I guess I made you feel like shit for no reason", she snorted bitterly, and licking her lips, Izzy tried to swallow down the acidic anger that Michael awakened in her every single time he was mentioned.