Horizon | Choi San

13

(ran out of san photos on my pc so don't mind me if i post the most random photos here now)

San couldn't really sleep all night- not with the way Gaeul had her face hidden in his chest, holding on to his shirt- he loved it. He absolutely loved it but there was a feeling of dread within him, and it prevented him from falling into a deep sleep. And perhaps, because Gaeul was so tired, she slept better.

An hour after dawn, San gave up trying to sleep. He carefully untangled himself from her, his heart breaking a little at how small, how fragile she looked right now. How defenceless. He covered her with a blanket and went to wash his face with cold water before going out and finding the roof, lying on the bench there and watching the cloudy sky.

He wondered if it was true- his theory about Gaeul. A bond that could survive death. A bond that might have brought her back from death, and something that didn't change even after her magic and her whole life did.

The bond that soulmates shared.

Soulmates, in the world of faeries, wasn't like the concept humans had, though much of the misconception among the faeries currently was due to the similarity of the concepts and the literature. He remembered how his parents had told him that there are certain souls that are bound to be together- perhaps, in some place that all souls came from and go to after death, these souls are able to recognise each other.

San had once chatted with Seonghwa and found out that the eldest Prince did indeed know more about this concept. He believed that some souls are bound to like each other like some are bound to dislike- just like an instant 'connection' or spark people feel when they click with someone immediately, or the feeling of disdain they get when they don't get along with a person no matter how much they try. Seonghwa also believed that soulmates came in various forms- friends, family, or romantic interests. In Seonghwa's case, he believed Yena was his soulmate because even after Kieran had wiped Yena's memories of Seonghwa, he couldn't erase the love she had for him. And before that- Seonghwa falling in love with Yena was inevitable- he fell in love with her over and over again, even with the change in timelines.

So in San's case... he hadn't really felt Gaeul before she died, and he wondered if Kieran had masked Gaeul's magic when he killed her so San couldn't feel her die if she really was his mate, but after she came back to life... he had been able to feel her- not her magic, but her. Her state of mind and heart. He had felt sick when she had been sick. And as soon as he saw her... he just knew something about her was different. The bond had physically tugged at his heart and he instantly knew this was the person he had been waiting for all his life. This was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

But her anti-magic thing... it was trying to break the bond- he could feel that too, and perhaps Gaeul could feel it too. It was trying to erase any trace of Gaeul's past. Perhaps because of her bloodline, she had been lucky and her bond was more powerful- after all, the yin-yang inheritors used their mates to fully master their powers. If San was her mate...

San sighed deeply, running his hands through his hair. He shouldn't have kissed her and made her confused- he had been so, so incredibly selfish. They were going to find the truth soon, and if Gaeul and San really were soulmates, she would find herself in a bad place- she clearly disliked her magic right now. If she were to embrace her anti-magic, would it, perhaps, break the soulmate bond?

That's the one thing that made San restless. She couldn't live without embracing her magic. And if she did, there was a good chance their bond would break, since her magic was trying so hard to erase it anyway. He did not want the bond to break, but he thought that even if it did... he might love her anyway. He was already falling- bond or no bond.