Veiled | JHS | ✓

Regretful End

The world tipped and her eyes saw the huge expanse of the sky.

Sia was going to die. She was going to fall to her death and nothing was stopping her.

Time had slowed down as if to sate her for the abrupt ending of her life. Or maybe it was to torture her, to taunt her by stretching those final agonizing moments before it all ended.

She could feel it all. The cold air that nipped at her cheeks, her hair that blew up as she sailed through the air, the grey sky that stretched above her except that it was suddenly shining blue, back to its original shade of light cerulean as if someone had flipped a switch on. The midday sun peeked out from the clouds blinding her as she tasted her final moments.

Was it true that they say that your whole life flashes through your mind when you die? Well, she didn't know if that was true. But certain images certainly forced in knocking the breath out of her. Thoughts of her parents, her best friend Jinnie, those few good memories she had of her childhood...

She wondered why they were so few? She should have made more when she was alive. She should have gone out and lived her life instead of wallowing in the fears about an unknown future. She shouldn't have waited and waited until it was too much to handle to change her major. She should have done it when the first tendril of doubt crept into her mind. She shouldn't have let those upperclassmen hurt her when she was in high school, she should have stood up to them. She shouldn't have hesitated to tell her parents that she loved them. Now she'd never get to say it.

Why was regret the only emotion she felt when her end was near? Or perhaps, the only emotion she felt except for that strange sense of deja vu.

Sia closed her eyes as her final moments stretched on too long. She couldn't bring herself to watch it. If it was going to end, she hoped it ended soon.

In the end, it did end as she felt something grab her and felt her arm press against what that oddly felt like human skin but she didn't dare open her eyes as she felt her descent come to an abrupt halt. 

It was as if she was suspended mid-air...as if time stopped.

When she found the courage to open her eyes, however, she was already on the ground. And right above her were a pair of eyes, back to their original warm brown but widened in absolute mortification. When her eyes met his, he breathed out a long shaky breath and squeezed them shut, tilting his head heavenwards. "You're alive. Thank God!"

Sia felt something shake beneath her and realized that they were his arms holding onto her, trembling with terror. But nothing could beat the shiver of horror that passed through her as she rolled off to the ground and away from him. Shivering still, she braved a glance up at the cliffside. It was so high...

She felt the bile rise and soon the contents of her afternoon lunch came spilling out of her mouth to the pavement.

I- I didn't die.

The truth surfaced from the hazy state of her mind. She felt numb and faint. Out of the haze, came a voice.

"Sia Winters. Go. Go home. Forget what happened here and... never come near me again. Please, I'm...dangerous."

She listened to the voice, her body following the order on its own. She slowly got up from the ground and walked away, her feet moving forward on their own, on and on until it lost heart halfway through as the power of his spell slipped away from her mind. 

Sia paused feeling acutely aware of everything that happened and everything that was happening around her but she didn't turn back. She stood still a moment longer before she walked away placing each step after the other, walking away from there.

Hoseok watched as she walked away, relief merely masking the horror at what he had done. He didn't know what took over him the past few minutes but when he came to his senses, all he saw was Sia falling off the edge of the cliff and his hands suspiciously lying outstretched as if... he were the one who pushed her. How? Why?

He didn't understand. He couldn't remember what happened a few seconds ago. How could something like it happen? Perhaps was he so much more of a monster than he thought? Was he so evil that he wouldn't hesitate to take a life? The fact hit him so hard that it robbed him of his breath and he fell back feeling the tears stinging his eyes. What...what am I?

"You tried to kill someone?"

The voice snapped him back to reality and he whipped his head around to come face to face with an angel. He gasped sliding away from NJ.

"I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push her. I don't know what came over me. Please believe me." He begged.

The Guardian of Thresholds only tilted his head curiously, an expression of deep contemplation on his face. He looked as if he was fervently considering something about his actions. He pursed his lips. "You saved someone." He started softly.

Hoseok's brows furrowed as he watched NJ contemplate. NJ looked at him. "Why?"

Hoseok's frown deepened. "What do you mean why?"

"You saved her. Why?"

"What do you mean? She's a human. She's innocent. She can't die! I can't just kill someone!"

"Why?" The angel pressed on, still unable to accept his explanation.

"Because I can't watch someone get hurt. I can't just stand by and watch someone fall to death. Especially if I'm the one who pushed her. I'm not that evil!" He cried, feeling a little frustrated that the angel thought him so wicked.

NJ let out a sigh as he ran his hands over his strawberry blonde locks. "Empathy..." he drawled ponderously, "The Vile One does not have empathy..."

Hoseok's bewilderment deepened. "What does that mean?"

NJ didn't reply as he still scrutinized him, dragging his gaze over his features as if that would give him an answer to his questions. Well, it did.

He froze as his eyes landed on Hoseok's left hand. His eyes widened and a gasp left his mouth. Walking forward he pointed at the dull metal glint shining from the folds of his shirt where it lay. "Show me your hand."

Hoseok looked at the hand NJ was pointing at; the hand that had the bracelet that he owned from birth. Confused, he showed it to him. The angel reached out softly and reluctantly touched it, feeling its pulse against his fingers as his chest heaved up and down. An audible cry slipped his lips as he observed the disfigured metal.

"Impossible." He breathed dazedly. He couldn't believe it but it appeared more than just a plausibility now that he saw what it was. He heaved a deep breath as he gazed at the bracelet. For there, on the side, he could barely make out an inscription that he knew all too well.

NJ * AR * Bffs forever

The chain...

It was his.

_____________________

A/n: Oooh, how many of you noticed that?