Eternal Love

The Marks Mandate

Serenity gazed out the window with longing, the lights of the city glowing softly in the night as the rain pattered against the glass. Behind her, Maggie was preparing two steaming mugs of tea with a sad smile on her face. Serenity turned as Maggie approached, accepting the mug and wrapping her cold hands around it with gratitude. The two women stood in silence for a few moments, wanting desperately to reach out to comfort the other, but afraid that doing so would only make facing reality harder.

"Well, I guess that's that then," Serenity finally said, her voice tight as she sipped at the tea.

"I suppose we'll have to start looking for our real soulmates now. The marks have spoken."

Maggie set her own mug down with more force than intended, tea splashing over the sides.

"That's nonsense! Our love has never depended on some magical mark. We always said it was about how we feel."

She took Serenity's hand gently, running her thumb over the mark that fate had etched onto her skin.

"Isn't that right?"

Serenity squeezed Maggie's hand, blinking back tears.

"Of course it is, my love. But the law is the law-soulmates must pair according to their marks. We knew this day would come eventually."

Maggie dropped Serenity's hand, her balling into fists at her sides. "Then hang the law! It has no right to dictate who we love. I don't care if our marks don't match - you're my soulmate, Sere, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise!"

Despite her anguish, Serenity couldn't suppress a sad smile at Maggie's defiant display.

"Darling, they'd imprison us both if we tried to stay together. The Soulmate Bureau has already keeping close tabs on us since our application." She gestured to a stack of letters demanding updates, threatening intervention.

"We can't let our dream of a life together put you in danger. If we part now-"

"No!" Maggie shouted, interrupting Serenity.

"I won't do it! You are my dream and my hope and I'll face any peril, even prison, rather than lose you."

She pulled Serenity close, gripping as if she would slip away that very moment.

"We'll run away together, somewhere they'll never find us. We'll start fresh, just you and me."

Serenity wanted to give in, to agree to Maggie's plan, and flee into her arms. But she knew the reality - there was nowhere to hide from the Bureau's far-reaching grasp. If they ran, they would look over their shoulders forever, waiting for the day it all came crashing down. The guilt of that weighed heavy on Serenity's heart.

"Oh Maggie," she murmured into her hair.

"I wish we could. But even if we managed to stay hidden for a time, we'd never truly be free."

Maggie pulled back, defiance giving way to despair.

"So what do we do?" she whispered.

"How can we just walk away from the life we always imagined?"

Serenity caressed her love's cheek, sad but resolute.

"We cherish what joy we did share, brief though it was. We find solace in memories where marks and laws can't reach." She pulled Maggie close again.

"And we trust that no matter where fate takes us, our bond lives on in here." She placed a hand over Maggie's heart, then her own.

Maggie covered Serenity's hand with her own. She opened her mouth to reply when a sudden, frantic pounding shook the apartment door. The women jumped, staring wide-eyed at each other. Serenity recovered first, moving cautiously to peer through the peephole. What she saw made her stagger back in shock.

Maggie was at her side in an instant. "What is it, my love? Who's there?"

"It's...it's the Bureau police," Serenity managed through trembling breaths.

"They must be here to separate us!"

Maggie steadied Serenity with an arm around her waist, the other reaching for the doorknob.

"Over my dead body," she growled.

Before Serenity could react, Maggie flung the door wide to confront the threat.

But instead of armored officers, a single disheveled man stood panting in the hall.

"Thank goodness!" he cried upon seeing them.

"Please, you must help me!"

The women glanced at each other in confusion.

Maggie spoke first. "What's going on? Why is the Bureau after you?"

"Because of this!" The man held out his wrist, pulling back his sleeve to reveal the mark etched there - a perfect match to the one Maggie bore.

Maggie staggered under the shock of it. Serenity gripped her shoulders to hold her upright.

"I don't understand," Maggie whispered.

"How can this be?"

The man wrung his hands desperately. "There's no time to explain. The officers will be here any minute! Please, you have to hide me!"

Maggie looked at Serenity, eyes wide with possibilities. Serenity met her gaze and gave a single, decisive nod. Turning back to the stranger, Maggie grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. As she closed the door firmly on his pursuers, Serenity offered a prayer to the powers of fate.

As the footsteps of the officers retreated down the hall, Maggie turned to the stranger with a fiery gleam in her eye.

"It seems fate has given us an opportunity after all, with your mark, we can finally be together without the Bureau interfering."