Pandora's Box

Chapter 35

i truly can't tell if this chapter is a mess or not please forgive everything 😁

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Darkness.

Then, suddenly, a single beam of light.

Taehyun squinted, trudging across a checkerboarded floor. Feeling vaguely like a pawn himself, he stepped mindlessly towards the light, which shone above a single table.

As he got closer, a shape started to form on the table's marble surface, a shape he would recognize anywhere.

He was, finally, gazing upon the body of his love. His life.

Sleeping Beauty .

He cursed the thought as soon as it appeared, though it was hard to curse anything while witnessing such a miracle.

The other had died between them, there was no denying it. But there was even less denying that Taehyun's soul had been ripped from him just as much in the moment, if not more.

Watching Beomgyu die in his arms left him numb for hours. Feeling the body slowly dissolve from his fingertips was a pain so great that it solidified his null of all there was to feel. But now, seeing his image under the illusion of a dramatic, Olympian-style beam, it appeared to him in a way that said: Here. Here he is. You haven't lost him yet.

For the first time since the boy left him, Taehyun broke down.

He collapsed onto the body. He silently thanked the gods that he was alone. The sobs were ugly, retching, filled with every bit of pain, confusion, and exhaustion that was riddled throughout his own tortured existence. Beomgyu's soul was elsewhere, but the presence of Taehyun's, now slowly returning, felt like it was sustaining them both.

He stared at Beomgyu's body, it was too relieving to be true. He reminded himself that the other was still gone, despite his body's presence, but that fact didn't even stir him. In fact, he was filled with someone so powerful, yet unnamable, that he was breathing in the very presence of it.

As if his savior could be found, he looked around the room. He was so doused with sudden elation that he needed to be grounded in the reality of where he was. He glanced at the paintings, more aligning the walls. This time, he recognized less faces, but it didn't matter.

It didn't matter because he spotted a painting so distinct, so familiar to him, that it was the only thing he could see, even past Beomgyu.

The portrait of Pandora stood just to the right of his eyeline, gleaming, beautiful, bright, epiphany causing.

A voice rang at the back of his head. Words he'd heard millions of times as a child, as an adult, now enveloped in completely new significance.

What Zeus had kept inside the box broke loose from their confinement.

All that was foul was now unleashed upon the world.

Punishing Hades. Foul words, foul Feelings.

Pandora, unable to undo what she had done, fell into despair.

As she grieved, she heard a feeble quiver from the box.

Kai standing before him holding Beomgyu's soul.

She lifted the lid once more, and out fluttered a small, bright, most beautiful creature she had ever seen. It flapped its delicate wings as it danced around Pandora, lightly brushing against hеr shoulder.

Pandora immediately fеlt her angst melt away and her heart glow with warmth.

It was hope that was kept in the innermost nook of the box. It trailed behind the miasma of darkness, assuaging their ill-effects on humankind.