Oblivion {n.h.}

Chapter 65.

It was like all my senses had come to life. Like a door was opened and light filled the dark room.

Because oblivion isn't a person. It's not a tragedy. It's not real. It's simply just a vocabulary word.

Josh went down, I saw it before my own eyes. The way sorrow filled his blue eyes and I would've been able to see it so clearly from miles away. He got out, and so did Liam.

I'm feeling like I don't want to continue on, but not like I did before. It's because the happiness stringing through my veins and holding my bones together is so blissfully giving me a high that it's all okay.

So okay that someone could stab me in the stomach again and I'd be fine, a walker could take a bite out of my neck and I'd be fine. I'd be fine knowing that I'd die happy.

Joshua cups my face and I remove my head from his chest and look up to his eyes, the same eyes that filled with sorrow that night just month ago.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." He kisses my forehead frantically, turning to Thomas with an open arm as the boy still buries his face in his father's shirt.

"Impossible." Steven's voice echoes behind us, and it's the first time I've heard the boy speak for god knows how long, the boy holds back a smile, a cheeky smirk plastered over his face.

Joshua hugs everyone, including Perrie and Niall although they were never as close to the man as the rest of us.

"I think we should take this reunion back to the front hall." Jackson calls to everyone, and I realize we'd been standing in the doorway of the gates the whole time, and a few walkers had noticed and were making their way to the crowd.

Everyone follows my brother's orders as we walk across the street and toward the large house that we mark as our town hall. The meeting place of the community.

The whole party files into the front room and stands around in waiting.

"I searched day and night." Josh exclaims, and Thomas rubs his shoulder from behind the couch he'd made himself comfortable on.

"Dude nearly had hypothermia by the time I found him." Liam explains, looking at Josh with narrow eyes.

"How'd it go down?" Louis asks, and someone stirs in the corner of the room.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have some serious work saving the world to be done." Kaya crosses her arms shyly and scoots away from the crowd quietly, gaining nods from others.

I scratch at the fabric of the leather couch and Niall rubs his hand along my thigh comfortingly, as I remind myself that Kaya had never met Joshua.

Josh studies everyone in the room, and it must be weird seeing everyone again, not only do we all look a bit older, but most of us are totally changed people.

"I see that ship finally sailed." Josh chuckles, motioning to Niall's hand on my thigh with his eyes, and Niall laughs as I feel my face heat up.

"Yes it did." Niall looks at me, and I can tell by the goofy grin on his face he wants a quick kiss but I don't bother to lean in, covering my embarrassed grin into my sleeve.

"I was half expecting to see Greg come out of that crowd with you." Josh excludes Niall again, and I grab his hand covertly.

"No." Harry says for Niall from behind the love seat we sit on, and I mentally thank him for stepping in to the conversion.

The door then bursts open, and one of the members of the community peaks their head in, a shy boy who I think was named Sam.

"It's getting late and curfew is soon, just sayin'." The boy announces and Joshua stands from his seat on the couch.

"I still can't believe." Jackson pats Josh on the back and smiles widely, "Me either."

"I think I'll help these two men find places to sleep tonight." Perrie announces, pulling Liam's arm and rubbing Josh's shoulder as she walks toward the door.

We all file out of the building and I carefully walk down the steps, feeling Niall's familiar warm hand engulf mine.

"I think we should go see how Kaya is doing." I turn around and face Niall, looking up into his pretty eyes as the sky darkens above us.

"Really?" He looks down at me, pouting his lips out the slightest bit, "I was thinking we could go back to the house." He smirks, and I feel a smile trying to play at my lips but I don't let it.

"Niall you know I'm not fully recovered." I grab his other hand and hold them out in front of me.

"Oh come on, you weren't saying that when you were jumping up and down like a child earlier." He pecks my lips quickly and lifts my legs up into his arms bridal style, running down the street and toward our house.

"NIALL!" I scream, laughs separating the syllables as he runs with me down the street.

"You're fucking mental!" I pant at the boy when we reach the doorsteps of our house, kissing him passionately and still chuckling slightly.

"Yep." He kisses me again, and I back up the steps, sneaking into the house quickly with Niall still following close in front of me.

I fall onto the king sized bed in our bedroom, and look at Niall as he removes my shirt carefully, kissing around my wound and fondling with my body.

"Niall." I grab his head and revert my eyes to the ceiling, and I feel his gaze on me now.

"I wanna be with you."

He chuckles softly as he still watches my face, "You are with me."

"No–" I look at him now, and my fingers play with the hair on both sides of his head, "Like, forever."

He says nothing, but removes his hand from my body and reach back for something.

He huffs a breath and moves so he's laying on his stomach just next to me instead of on top of me. Holding something in his hands that he'd fiddled for a second.

"I took this back when we were in London." He opens his hand to examine what he had in his palms, but still hid it from my line of vision. "I was gonna wait, but what better time–"

A shiny silver ring with a small white diamond on the top, a bit tarnished and worn, but still glistening like the moon in the small light of the room.

I hold my breath as I stare at the small ring in his hands and he grabs my wrist, touching all of my fingers until he finds the right one, sliding the ring over my skin until it hits the edge of my digit.

"I wanna be with you, until I'm rotting in the sun. No–!" He almost screams the 'no' making me jump a bit, tears stinging my eyes with joy, "After that. I wanna be with you as long as I can. Until the end of time." He gets up and on top of me again, pressing a firm kiss onto my lips. "You're my princess."

A serious kiss. One that wasn't too wet or dry, not to passionate or lifeless. One filled with love.

"You are the most dashing, annoying, and cliche man I've ever met, and I love that." I say between kisses, our foreheads touching as both Niall and I are shadows behind the moonlight.

I feel my lips tingle slightly and I smile so much that my cheeks hurt within seconds.

And for the first time, I look at the blonde fading haired boy in front of me, and as he slides the clothes off of my body,

"I love you."