The Ones On The Ground (sequel to The One Who's Fallen)

Chapter 106

Once the officiant explains the next part of the ceremony, Lexa pulls out her favorite dagger. I blink, not having realized that she was wearing a sheathe, though it makes sense for her to want to keep a weapon on her at all times. Plus, it has its use for the wedding. Honestly, I expected one of our friends to hold onto it.

Lexa holds the dagger with practiced ease and drags it across her palm, blood lazily sprouting from the wound. She cups her hand so the black blood doesn't spill on the ground and hands me the dagger.

I drag the blade along my palm as well and I'm still not used to seeing black blood coming from my body. It's certainly not as much of a shock as it was the first time, but still pretty weird. I look from my hand back to Lexa, using her idea and cupping my hand slightly so that my blood doesn't spill on the ground. I give her dagger back to her and she uses her free hand to tuck it back away.

Lexa holds out her bloody hand and I grasp it with mine, feeling the familiar warmth of her hand in mine. Something does feel different this time, though. There's a crackle of electricity, like when I was younger and Dad would shock me after rubbing his socks on our old shag carpet. The world swirls for a moment, as though I'm exhausted and about to collapse, but then rights itself again. I look at Lexa in surprise and see the pleased smile spreading across her lips. Seems like this odd feeling wasn't completely unexpected, at least not by her.

Lexa mouths the word "soulmates" to me and the smile on my face widens as well. After seeing my blood turn black and my ability to not be burned, I don't doubt Lexa's gods and beliefs.

The officiant clears his throat softly to get our attention and it takes an impressive amount of self control to look away from Lexa to him. There's a small, pleased smile on his face as well, and I assume that he saw that spark happened, or whatever that was.

"Now your souls are joined, not just as Heda and Hedatu, but as eternal partners. With this, I pronounce you, Heda Lexa kom Trikru and Hedatu Clarke Griffin, wife and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

My jaw trembles with the wave of emotion, the happiness, the elation, the pure unadulterated joy that fills my soul at those words. I'm married to the woman I love, the woman of my dreams.

We both step forward and close the space between us, our eyes falling shut as our noses brush. We hold back for a moment, our breaths warming each other's lips. We lean in at the same moment, meeting in the middle in a perfect kiss. We keep our bloody hands together, using that to ground ourselves to this moment as our lips move together slowly. My other hand reaches up to cup her jaw and her other hand rests gently at the small of my back to keep me as close as possible.

I've kissed Lexa many times since we've started dating, and all of them have been wonderful in their own way. But this kiss easily tops them all. The world fades away and all that's left is Lexa and I and this moment, this kiss. We pull back after what feels simultaneously like just a couple seconds and eternity.

It's only as I pull back from Lexa that the sound comes rushing back in and my senses are no longer solely focused on the woman in front of me. The loud roar almost makes me flinch in surprise because of the sheer noise of it, but Lexa has taught me to keep my poker face well. It takes me a second to realize the roaring isn't actually a dragon or giant beast, but the sound of hundreds, if not thousands, of people cheering for Lexa and me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see that Lucas has his headphones on but is giving us a small happy smile. When I meet his gaze, he gives me thumbs up. I grin and shake my head fondly, leaning against my wife as I see my friends and family beaming happily at us. They all look like they've been crying, including Anya, impressively. She has a single small smudge of makeup under her right eye and she doesn't bother wiping away the stray tear I see leaking down her cheek as she smiles at us. It's almost disconcerting to see her smile like that, and it would be if I hadn't seen her give a similar one to her girlfriends or son.

Madi comes over to us and Lexa and I break our embrace to give her our attention. She fiddles with the sleeve of her green shirt and gives us a warm smile. She has to speak louder than usual to be heard above the still-ongoing cheer of our people.

"I am happy for you. You deserve this, this happiness. Congratulations..." She swallows and takes a breath. "Nomon and Nontu (Mom and Mom)."

My lower lip wobbles and my eyes immediately fill with tears. Lexa and I have been able to tell that she's been working up to calling us her moms, but I didn't expect her to be ready to do so so soon.

"Can we hug you?" I ask, my voice watery.

Madi hesitates for a moment before responding. "Yes."

Lexa and I move in so that we can lightly wrap our arms around our eldest daughter. She stiffens at first but relaxes after a moment, hugging us back.

Destiny comes over with a big grin on her face and I outstretch my arm, silently inviting her into this group hug.

"Gay!" Destiny says happily as she joins the hug.

Lexa and I laugh heartily as Madi shakes her head at her little sister with a smile.

"Gay indeed," I say.

Next chapter will be the after party! And guys... One month and two days until I move back and start school! Then I should have more time to write so it'll be more consistent since I won't have a job! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!