ZER

TWENTY SEVEN

ZER:

I hear nothing.

I see nothing.

I feel nothing.

Empty.

In my head, in my chest, and my life. No breathing, no heartbeat, nothing.

What should be a wonderful day shattered as noises fill my head, blinding my vision, muting my tongue.

On my hand is the official Separation Request sent from the Pairing Council. I've seen it before, and to see it again, now I'm with Kate. I cannot let this happen.

I turn away so very slowly as I see the only person matter to me. Katherine. Her beauty is wicked, nothing like I ever seen, her tongue is fiery, and her mind is endless galaxy holding all the secret of life and death.

You're MY wife.

I think out loud. But my beautiful wife is standing frozen with her eyes wide open, her chest is still, the air is still, even the gravity seems to have very little hold on me as everything around me is frozen.

To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.

I think as I hold her in my arms, but her lips turn blue, red dots start appearing on the white part of her eyes, and still, she isn't breathing.

Kate. I call her in my mind.

"Kate!" My voice broke the entire spell, the air moves, and my wife falls down to the floor as she takes a deep breathe, coughing. Her eyes covering the whole area before moving back at me, in shock.

"Zer..." She calls me terrified, "You can control the time."

***
KATE:

"I will never allow you to left me," Zer tells me.

"How did you do that?" I ask him.

"Nothing can take you away from me."

"Were you conscious when you did that?" I ask him again.

"What are you talking about?" He grips my arms tightly.

"What are you talking about?" I ask him back.

"I'm talking about this!" He waves whatever mail it was and suddenly, it catches fire. I scream with all I might and even Zer moves back, now trust me, The High General rarely moves back.

I cover my mouth with my hands, our eyes are fixed to the piece of paper which now turned to a pile of ash, in less than a second. How...?

"Zer..." I call him. "What is happening?"

ZER:

I don't know what to tell her, I don't know how to explain, because for once in my life, I have no control about the situation. I cannot control my own body. Did I really put the letter on fire?

I walk to the kitchen and grab the first fruit I see, holding it on my palm. How did I do it? Was it even me?

I try to concentrate on the fruit on my palm as suddenly, I feel the bottom part of the fruit starts cooking. I immediately let the fruit go and stare at my own hands. What is happening to me?

"You can control one of the element..." Her voice breaks the silence as well as my logic.

"No." I refuse to acknowledge it.

KATE:

"Zer... you are more Tar-Zenirian than Tzarian."

As soon as I say that the air thickens and the weight is back on my body. "Zer... stop!" I beg him as I find it difficult to breathe. He seems to be able to hear me because whatever was around me vanished as he starts to move.

"Kate... I..." There is no word coming out of him as I can see that he cannot wrap his head around what is happening. "I don't know—"

I silence him with a finger on his lips, "I'll help you." I tell him. "Whatever it's, we will get through this, together."

All kind of emotions flashes on his face, confusion, anger, sadness, happiness, disappointment, fear, and even pride. He nods as he rests his forehead on mine, "Don't ever leave me." He begs.

"Not in this life, husband. You're stuck with me until the end of time." I try to calm him as I caress his face, I'm still scared of touching his hands, but I think he understands.

"The Separation Request, why is—was it here?" he asks me.

"What Separation Request?" I ask him back confused.

"The letter you put on the dinner table. That was how Hir left me. Just a piece of paper and an empty house." I can hear, no, I can feel the pain in his words.

Oh that Tzarian Female did not send that here to provoke us, did she? "I didn't know what it was... I couldn't read it." I tell him. He let out a long sigh and slowly... touches my face with his palm. His palm is hot, but it was a comforting feeling.

"If I ask you now... to get intimate with me, to take my mind away from what just happen, would you do that for me?"

I look at him in the eyes and my heart shatters when I see how much uncertainty in it. Zer is the strongest, most powerful, invincible, indestructible, unconquerable person in the universe, it pains me so to see him vulnerable.

"Your wish is my command, husband."

With a swift he is on top of me, ripping off our clothes while our hands and mouth are busy taking a journey on each other's body. There is somehow urgency in his touches, silent plea on the way he moves, and I will not defying his needs, especially when he needs me the most.

I'm his shelter, I'm his safe place, and I'm his heaven. The only ultimate comfort he can get, the endless supports he needs. I'm his wife.

I don't know if he noticed or not, but I can feel the time drags oh so very slowly. I can see the particles flying in the air barely moving, the rays of the sun oddly seem freezing in one place, the way he leisurely moves on top of me, inside me, against my skin. Every jolt of electrifying moves from him, every rubbing motion he is causing, everything is painfully slow but somehow extraordinary. I feel like my senses are finally awake to notice my surroundings, notice about him, from the spectrum color of his skin which I never noticed before, to the way the light highlighting and the shadow contouring his muscles as he moves.

Look at me.

My eyes open at his command, I can see how slowly the blackness spread on him. My eyes follow as it swallows his chest down to his torso and notices how his whole arms are the blackest black now.

Stay with me.

Why is he insecure?

Whatever happens, whatever the future brings, stay with me.

Forever, and always.

I don't know if he hears my mind or if it's written all over my face, but the next thing I know I feel how the time moves twice it's speed. The rays of the sun move at such a speed it looks unnatural.

I feel my climaxes coming in unstoppable tides washing over me again and again. But this time, I feel no brief piercing pain I usually feel when we're having sex.

Not that I'm complaining.