Inception {Dreamnotfound}

24 | Make You Mine | 24

-Sapnap's POV-

We stay in the comfortable silence for a while, my arms around him and his around me. It's quieter currently, the previous sound of sobbing now nothing more than occasional whimpers. Karl remains badly shaken, burying his head into the crook of my neck in an attempt to block out the world around us.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the feeling of his breath on my neck, the way he holds onto me like I'm the only thing that'll keep him safe. But the fear still gripping him overpowers it all, a bitter reminder of what goes on in his head.

I'll never understand what that feels like, to fall victim to the system and die to your hunter. Or at least, I shouldn't, now that Illumina isn't hunting me.

Although, I still feel like the system has used me.

Used all of us, just in different ways. Instead of what Karl experienced, I was forced to be on the opposite end. Be the one who saw the black band one day, suddenly, with no explanation. The one who was responsible for the kill, the one who killed someone else's soulmate, made someone the victim of their hunter.

"Hey, you alright?" I ask quietly, slightly tightening my grip on him. He nods wordlessly into my shoulder, sighing deeply as he manages to calm completely.

I feel him relax into my arms, feel the grip on my shirt loosen under his hands. He holds onto the fabric for a while, smoothing the material between his fingertips and refusing to let it slip. But at last, he lets go, resorting back to tensely knotting his fingers together in his lap.

"Well, you're definitely my soulmate," he smiles drowsily, pulling away further, much to my dismay. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask back quietly, reaching out a hand to sort his messy curls. He lets me comb through them, brush the strands out of those pretty hazel eyes, still glowing despite their fearful haze.

"I mean, the world assigned me the right person. I'm definitely meant to be paired with you." I let the words seep in, which ultimately fails, due to my own doubts.

We both know how this system works, that you can't just get another soulmate if you don't accept the first once. Yet that never made me any more certain with him, what he'd think of me when he had all his memories back.

"What makes you think that?" I ask nervously, if only for confirmation in the hopes it'll calm my nerves. Karl seems to realise this, offering me a small, honest smile before continuing.

"I guess... the thought that the system doesn't assign us soulmates sporadically. In some strange, unknown way, it seems to know what it's doing when it pairs people, almost like it can see into the future and pair us with who we'd choose to be with anyway."

"You mean... the system doesn't have a say in what you think of me?" I catch the look in his eyes, trying to read the thoughts behind them. The emotion in it, pinning me in place with a gaze I can't look away from. "What I mean is that even if we lived in a world without soulmates, I think I'd still choose the same person. I don't think I would've needed the system to tell me you were right for me."

"Without it, I think I would've liked you anyway, even if it took a little longer that way."

The way he blushes as he mumbles the last sentence is adorable, dusting his cheeks a rosy pink. I can feel my own face heating up, and I smile awkwardly, knowing it must be visible.