Mists of Celeste - an Ateez Fanfic

act six ➻ part three

Warm water surrounds your body, leaving steam to billow up into all your senses until the warmth soothes your cold skin and aching muscles. You let yourself sink further into the sensation and dip your head under the water. Tingles rush from your scalp to your toes, and you exhale a deep sigh of relief under the surface. Bubbles follow your heave of air. Blinking in the water does little to nothing — it's a dark green dredge underneath the surface and you can hardly see two inches in front of your face even with the light of the sun pouring across the pool. There's no panic in your bones; rather, it's an overwhelming sense of peace that secures itself in your body, even as a faded and distorted memory replays in your mind for what has to be the sixth time in an hour.

"If she ever learns of what we plan to do, you know she'll hate us, right?"

"I would rather have her hate us than hate herself for what she did."

A cold wall against your back, but it feels warm in comparison to your freezing fingers that tremble with the slightest movement. They're behind you, in the room with the door cracked open just enough for you to eavesdrop with ease, but you're almost considering turning tail and running now.

"How are we supposed to explain it to the others?"

"You don't." A softer voice, female this time, and you recognize the melodious tone to be Soojin's. "Ash and Juyeon don't need to know. No one does."

A huff of laughter or disbelief — you can't quite tell from where you're crouched.

"Can someone explain to me again then? Because I still can't... I can't believe—"

"Then don't," Soojin continues, cutting through Jisung's voice. "I told you what she told me. The look in her eyes was enough for me to believe her. And you saw the amount of blood on her that night. It's not that hard to believe."

"We'll see it regardless when we run the procedure," Hyunwoo adds.

"But still... Hyun, don't you think it's a bit too cruel? Making her believe that you're going to die?"

"It wasn't my idea."

"Ji?"

"It's best if she thinks someone else took the fall for her. You know she has too much of a conscience to let the issue go without there being some sort of incident. I investigated some records off the books. There's a public execution coming up, we'll make her believe it's Hyunwoo's, and she won't know the difference because his identity won't be disclosed."

"And that's it? Make her believe that Hyunwoo murdered the king?"

"No, we... our aim is to make her think that the king isn't dead yet, that he'll be present at the funeral, that that's where she kills him. The execution is in two days. We'll run the procedure after that, make her believe that I die there and that she assassinates the king there. They listed his death as a single gunshot wound to the head rather than the truth. Most likely as not to scare the people." Hyunwoo sounds sad, almost. "Perhaps — perhaps it would be better for her to not know the truth of it all."

It's almost just as sad that you are completely willing to let them do this to you, even knowing how cruel their plans are and what they plan to rob you of in the process.

"Do you plan to tamper with anything else?"

"No, there's no reason to. Right, Jisung?"

Jisung is silent, however, and that alone is telling enough.

Something from outside your little safe haven disrupts the peace you've made for yourself.

A muffled, faded voice.