Was it kindness that compelled Rika to throw you in the same cell as Saeran? Or cruelty?
You turned your gaze to the broken boy lying in your lap, unable to even utter a word.
Was she telling you to enjoy your final moments with the boy you'd come to love? Or perhaps she was trying to make your end as miserable as possible, forcing you to sit and watch as he slowly died in your arms, suffocating under the weight of his own skin.
You gazed into Saeran's open eyes, cupping his cheek. Was he alert? Did he see you? Was he even conscious?
You couldn't bring your other hand away from his chest. The slow pulse of his heartbeat under your warm hand was the only thing keeping you sane—the only verification of his life. But how much longer could he hold on?
You pulled your gaze back up to his eyes, staring at the blue-green irises that had once seemed to hold the entire sky in them, though now it looked like the cloudiness was setting in. "Saeran?" You whispered, praying for a response. Anything would do. A groan. A frown. A twitch.
Nothing.
"Saeran, you have to throw it up, okay?" You pulled the boy up by his arms, awkwardly rolling him onto his side so that his mouth was tilted toward the far corner of the cell you were both in. Never did your hand leave the spot where his heart kept beating. Never did you let yourself forget that there was still hope, dwindling as it was.
"Are you ready, Saeran?" You cooed into his ear, trying to give him time to prepare himself even though you doubted he was sentient enough for it to help. "Get ready on...Three, two, one."
You pushed his stomach in, earning a choke from Saeran. You hesitated and waited until you felt the familiar thump thump of his heart before a second attempt, then a third, a fourth, and before you knew it you were pressing on his stomach with all your might.
More choking sounds.
But you couldn't stop. You had to do this. You wouldn't let the Elixir sit in Saeran's stomach.
Rather, forcing him into the pain of vomiting it all back up was his best chance at survival right now.
You leaned Saeran forward, adding your knee to the pressure on his abdomen, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Within seconds, mint-green chemicals were spilling forth from his mouth, the contents emptying into the corner of the dungeon, like a tiny lake of death.
"More, Saeran. Please, just a little more." You pushed harder and the boy's stomach responded, more fluid emerging from his mouth until he was pushing himself off the ground: awake, alert, and alive.
"E-enough," He sputtered out through coughs. Saeran was on his hands and knees, clutching his throat as the remnants of the Elixir were expelled from his body. "I-I'm good now."
A smile bloomed on your face as you leaned backward in your position on the ground, relief flooding your senses like a tidal wave of happiness. You couldn't stop tears from forming in your eyes when Saeran finally regained enough strength to look at you and throw himself into your arms, giving you the first hug in what felt like an eternity.
"You're okay," You murmured in disbelief, tightening your arms around his slender frame.
"I'm okay," He responded, nuzzling his head into the crook of your neck. You could feel a wetness spill from his eyes as he clung to you, unwilling to let go. Though, in the moment, you were just as reluctant to leave the comforting embrace.
"I-I called Luciel. And Vanderwood. The Mint Eye's security defenses are completely down. They can literally walk in and—"
A blaring alarm interrupted the two of you from your momentary reunion, causing you both to further bury yourselves in each other's arms in an attempt to hide from the sound.
There was only a second before Rika's prerecorded voice played out over the speakers, and after that brief moment of calm passed, only chaos followed.
The booms and crashes and screams coming from up above were distant but loud, and there was no question in the fact that the duo that had come to rescue you and Saeran was not trying to be subtle about it.
"That must be them," Saeran thought out loud, looking up. The two of you had been settled in the central dungeons, the most secure part of the Mint Eye but also the part directly beneath the main entrance. Without a doubt, if Luciel and Vanderwood were the ones who had caused that alarm then they were directly above you: 2,000 feet up.
"Why'd you leave th-the alarms on?" Saeran asked, coughing in the middle. It seemed that the effects of the Elixir were still taking their toll on him.
"So that Rika wouldn't realize that I'd disabled everything else," You responded before shushing the boy. "Don't talk. You'll make it worse."
"Th-there's something I need to tell you, though," Saeran whispered, pulling back from the hug. You wanted to admonish and quiet him, but he began speaking before you could intervene. "I know you don't want me to apologize. But I'm sorry, (Y/N). I'm so fucking sorry. These past two months, I've treated you like shi-"
You brought a finger to Saeran's lips, silencing him with a shake of your head. "That's in the past. I forgive you."
"But you shouldn't forgive me! I've been so awful to you!" Saeran continued rambling, lost once more in one of his long apologies.
You almost laughed.
In all this time, after everything that these past two months had put you through, nothing had truly changed in your relationship. He was still the apologetic teddy bear you cared for. No, he was the apologetic teddy bear you loved.
"Shh," You whispered to Saeran once more, a tiny smile on your face as an idea popped into your head.
"But-"
There it was.
The apologetic teddy bear had spoken once more, another 'I'm sorry' about to roll off his lips when you silenced him with a sweet and chaste kiss.
You smiled into his lips, still young and inexperienced. The only other man you'd kissed in your entire life had been Saeran's own brother, Luciel. But with Luciel it had been different. Hot and passionate, but lacking love.
And so this kiss with Saeran felt as novel and foreign as the future that it would trigger between you two, one filled with happiness and hope and life.
"I don't need you to apologize for anything," You murmured. "Because I love you despite it all."
Saeran hesitated for a moment, before everything holding him back vanished. He leaned forward to recapture your lips, and you felt his shoulders shake and his cheeks grow wet once more as you two basked in the sweet glory of simply being together. It made you smile, to know that something simple as a kiss could bring him such emotion. It reassured you. Deep in your heart, you'd known of your affections for Saeran for years. The implication that he wouldn't feel the same way would have been too much for you to handle.
"But I have one more thing to apologize for," Saeran whispered, bringing his lips a hair away from yours. You were about to tell him to shut up and kiss you again, but as usual, he continued before you had the chance. "This wasn't our first kiss."
You looked up into his eyes, startled.
Had you two kissed before? After so much time together, the idea wasn't that absurd, but you were certain you would have remembered something so important.
"It was during your Secondary commitment. That was the first time. And...despite everything that had been going on, you trusted me. And that was the moment when I realized that I loved you." Saeran leaned forward and met your lips again, unwilling to lose the contact for more than a second.
"I love you," He repeated, kissing your cheek, as if testing the words.
"I love you." He kissed your neck with newfound confidence.
"I love you." He kissed your jaw.
"I love you." Your shoulder.
He traced your entire body like that, sending shudders down your spine as his lips ghosted over every bit of exposed skin, leaving nothing unclaimed with another whispered 'I love you' so that every part of you knew it for the truth.
You could only repeat it back to him when he finally moved back up to your lips, and by then the entire world had stopped for you two. The sound of alarms upstairs in the Mint Eye was like background music, edging the two of you on as Saeran pressed your back to the cell wall, deepening each kiss with his tongue.
Even the sound of bombs seemed far away as his hands made contact with your skin, one resting on your thigh and the other on the small of your back as he pressed your body closer to his. And the sound of screams faded into an off-tune melody that enveloped the two of you as you wrapped your arms around Saeran's neck, a quiet beg for more.
All around you, there was chaos. Mayhem. Havoc.
But your quiet cell was the first glimpse of true paradise you'd seen since your arrival in the Mint Eye so many years ago: and it was a pale-faced paradise with short, white hair, and mint green eyes.
It was a paradise that you'd spent years befriending and loving, a paradise that would be with you no matter where you went.
It was a paradise you loved, and a paradise that loved you back.
It was true paradise.
Word count: 1.7k
Notes: Owowowow im on spring break but this is the week that all the textbooks i ordered in preparation for my exams have arrived T^T wish me luck i get to work out and then do 80 pages of math! how exciting.
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Next Update: 4/09/20
I do not own the rights to Mystic Messenger or any of the characters within it.