"Y/n..." Saeran's voice is strained, as his smile as he meets her eyes. They're surrounded by dead bodies on all sides. The bomb whose remote Rika had been waving around could still be waiting to activate. Other armed believers are in the collapsing building around them. Yet, the look Saeran gives her is the scariest. It's too close to that of the moonlit night. His hands tremble. "Please come with me. I know, Y/n, I know we can work something out."
"..."
"..."
He waits for her.
"..."
"It wasn't the first time."
"What?" Saeran pales. His feet stumble forward. He holds her gently in his arms. She doesn't return it. It only makes him more jittery. More frantic. "Y/n, I love you. I love you so let's go home. We have to go home, together, Y/n. Please."
"Saeran."
"Y/n, please!" He's crying. "Let's just go. We survived. Together. We can be happy, so—"
"It wasn't the first time someone else touched me." Y/n's voice hitches in her throat and she stares at the blank wall. She doesn't want to infect him. He must live on. But without her. "I let them, Saeran. I lost track of how many times."
She steps away. Saeran stands hollow before her. Words hang on his lips. But MC draping herself around Y/n's shoulders freezes them in place. "I promised MC that I'd stay with her and torture her until her last moment." Lips climb up Y/n's neck while hands climb down. Y/n stands still. Saeran's mind is a mess. "I plan to do that."
"No—"
"Yes!" It's MC. Laughter cracks out of her throat. She screams something at Saeran as she hides behind Y/n. Saeran flinches and she keeps screaming. It's something horrid, but Y/n can't hear. The touching of her body, she can't feel it. Y/n's fingers tighten around her gun. "Y/n is MINE!"
The shot goes off in the middle of Saeran's pleads. The bullet is buried in a foot. MC's jaw drops and her eyes widen. The smile returns to Y/n's lips. It's faint. A thin crescent. But there. Much so. "I hated the way Rika touched me." Y/n lifts her toes only to slam it back down onto MC's fresh wound. She screams out a groan and Y/n leans in, twisting hard. "But seeing you and her in pain..." A tongue slides across Y/n's cracked lips. "It brings me so much pleasure."
"Y/n, wait—"
"You agreed to this, MC." Y/n pushes the girl down against the wall, pressing the gun to her one remaining elbow.
"Y/N!"
The gun blasts with a laugh. She digs her fingers into the whole, plunging it in and out like what MC did to her pussy. "I said I'll torture you to the very end! Did you not think that end would be soon?" Her legs flail beneath Y/n, so she pumps another shot into her knee. MC screams as she bites her lip. "Don't you know how much I've always wanted to kill you?! How good it felt when I strangled you?! When I bit and beat you?!"
The gun is flung aside and Y/n's hands seize the girl's neck again. "I was relieved, but I was so angry when I heard that you died of cancer. I wanted to be the one to do it! ME!"
Tears slips out of MC's eyes. She can't even struggle against Y/n. She can't even hate or curse her. She thought that she had a chance. That even if Y/n didn't love her, that they could be together in the future. She had hope. "Why?"
"Why?" Y/n s screams with drugged laughter. Her hands jump between tight and loose, forcing MC to edge on her own death. It's intoxicating. "You kidnapped me! Raped me! Threw me into a trunk! You threatened the only one I love! Even when we were children you forced yourself on me and made ME have to leave town! I HATE YOU! CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! I've always wanted to kill you! Always." Y/n smiles, satisfaction creeping onto her lips. The knife that was once on the floor plunges between the ribs and right into MC's heart.
Y/n laughs. It's a chuckle at first. Then a frenzy. MC is dead. Rika is dead. Even V died. The cult is over. Saeran is safe. Arms wrap around her. Saeran grips her tightly and she can hear the weeping. The begging. The screaming. It's not him. Her smile is still there but her vision is blurred. Her heart sinks and she clings to him tightly. Desperately. She's crying. But Saeran is warm and whole. She's crying into his neck. He's still alive.
He's still alive.
It's a long time before she pulls away. Her eyes are hot and puffy, and her throat feels as if it's about to close. "I love you," her fingers ghost the edge of his ear and then his jaw. "But I can't be with you anymore. Not when I've become like this."
Saeran's fingers catch hers. They're glazed with blood, but Saeran still brings them to his lips. It's a kiss. On the rings. He slips one off of her fingers and puts it on his own. His soft mint eyes grin. "Don't you remember what you said to me? When I said that I'd hurt you?"
Her brows furrow. "I really will Saeran. And even if you forgive me, I won't." She steps back and puts her hands between them, the weapons she was previously holding already abandoned on the floor. "I can't stand the thought of you being hurt anymore. Please. Saeran, please just go and be happy. Without me."
"I will be happy. That's why I'm asking you to come with me." He steps forward for each step back she takes. She's scared, but he was scared too. They can do this. "Together. We can be happy together, Y/n."
"You can't." She bumps into the wall and slides down, her form trembling. He crouches beside her and captures her fingers in his own. She attempts to rip away, but his grip is tight. "I can't even live happy with myself! Not after everything I've done. How could I possibly make you happy?!" He doesn't budge. He won't let her go.
"I love you, Y/n." His forehead touches hers. And his kind eyes close. She loses to his warmth. Tears well up in their eyes. "You told me 'Let's be happy together'. I still want that, Y/n. We can still do it. I love you, Y/n. Even if things are hard and unbearable, I'm forever yours." His thumb wipes the tears away from her eyes, gingerly. She shakes against him. Doubt plagues her gaze and guilt frays her heart. "Y/n, will you stay with me and continue to be mine?"
"Can I really..." She's been defiled. And broken. And thrived in her own insanity under the guise of survival. Saeran stayed pure while going through the same tribulations along side her. He's still a prince, but she's become some ugly monster. Does she even have the right? "S- Saeran, can I really..."
"Of course."
He's smiling, but he's crying. For her. Her fists clenches her chest. And she bites her lip. Rika and MC scream at her from behind her ears and they claw at her insides forcing their will on her even in death. She doesn't want to obey. Not anymore. She wants to be happy. With him.
Saeran's soft mint gaze is light on hers, and his small smile is calm. Inviting. His hand extends into her abyss, shining brighter than any sun, moon, or star she's ever seen. He is her love. And if that means getting kidnapped and abused, she'd do it all over again. Her hand takes his. And they stand together, leaving the rubble of the cult behind them. He never lets go. And neither does she. Never again.
Once again, they smile.
"I love you."