Enchanted and Hexed: A HEX Oneshot Collection

Eternal Bond (angst)

(Notice: I carried this oneshot over from my other book. Just a heads-up)

Well hello there-

Warnings are combat, blood, injury, heartbreak, aaaaand death.

WC: ~700

Enjoy!

Hels and Xay walked through the soulsand valley hand-in-hand. The blue flames flickered softly, and Hels climbed up one of the gleaming fossils with Xay following. Hels knew exactly what he wanted to do, but Xay was clueless.

"How have I never been inside one of these before?" Xay wondered, standing inside the mysterious ribcage with Hels. It was oddly surreal, the bones looming over you.

"Don't know," Hels replied swiftly. "Hey, Xay?"

"Yeah?" Xanthus sensed the uncertainty in Hels's voice. "Something wrong?" Hels pressed his lips together and shook his head, but he was secretly fighting back a smile.

"I just... need to ask you something," he mumbled.

"You can ask me anything," Xay assured him.

"Xay," Hels started. "You came into my life like a match in a dark room full of kindling, lighting everything up. And the past several months with you have been the best months of my life. So, frankly, I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you."

Xay sucked in a breath as Hels took out a ring. A simple silver band, Hels wasn't one to over complicate things.

"Xay, will you m-"

"YES!" Xay shrieked, unable to contain himself any longer. He tossed himself into Hels's arms, burying his face in Hels's chest.

"You idiot," Hels's voice shook with happy tears. "You're supposed to take the ring-"

"S-shut up," Xay grumbled as Hels took his hand and slipped the ring on. Hels cupped Xay's face in his hand and brought it up to his own, and they kissed softly and sweetly.

Their rings clinked together when they broke apart.

A piece of jewelry to most.

An eternal bond for them.

United together, at last.

Xay jerked awake with the first real smile in days ghosting his lips.

The minute he saw the bloodstained ring on his left hand, reality came rushing back like a wave.

Xay curled in on himself, a fresh wave of tears spilling.

That ring, pressed into his hand before it was over.

Hels once wore a matching ring.

His proposal, done in their last moments together.

Xay had been too oblivious to do what he should've.

It was his fault.

They were supposed to have gone together.

Xay scrubbed the tears from his eyes, trying and failing to stop crying because it happened days ago.

The ring hurt more than it should've.

Engaged, but never married.

Because Hels was dead.

The Wither.

Why, why did they decide to summon it?

Because they needed the Nether Star, that's why.

It wasn't going... well, to say the least.

As in they were both fatally injured.

"We have to retreat," Hels told Xay as they hid behind one of the mounds of soulsand.

"I can't!" Xay cried. "My leg..."

The Wither was getting closer.

"We're going to die," Xay whispered.

"No, no we're not," Hels flashed back. His eyes suddenly widened, an emotion that Xay didn't recognize injected into them. He suddenly pulled Xay close, hugging him as the Wither drew closer, slowly.

There was nothing either of them could do.

"I love you," Hels murmured. "Xay, I love you so much," he pressed an object into Xay's hand, and Xay wrapped his fingers around it instinctively, although unsure of what it was.

And then they were kissing, fierce and desperate and there was a meaning behind it that Xay couldn't understand, but would in due time.

Hels then took the object from Xay's hand, his movements quick.

A ring.

Before Xay could say anything, he slipped it on his lover's hand, then whispered in his ear,

"Every knight has to make a sacrifice for those he loves."

Xay opened his mouth to protest, to ask what he meant, and oh how he wished later on that he was faster, smarter, more prepared.

Hels was gone before he could comprehend what had happened.

It all happened so fast.

There was a bang, and two entities dropped to the sand, dead.

Xay only cared about one of them.

The gleaming Nether Star went unnoticed in that moment.

A scream tore from his lips.

A single word, shouted with all of his soul.

A useless plea to the universe.

Tears streamed down his cheeks as the pure, unshaken realization hit.

Gone, gone.

"HELS!!!"

In case it wasn't clear, the first segment was a dream, the second was the current situation, and the third was a flashback.

-Storm