too fragile for your love (too strong for your heart)

under the shadows of eternity (we find each other, again) pt four

"heli started off as a knight, serving under one of the major vampire strongholds, as a born vampire," heeseung's steady voice washes over jake's prone form soothingly, as they lie on the sofa, in his office, pressed up against each other as close as possible. "not much of his early childhood is known, but he was apparently chosen from among the kingdom's populace as a companion for princess selen, and later, as the captain of her royal guard."

"and, selen is the girl in the white dress?" jake clarifies, his hand idly trailing up heeseung's torso as he absent-mindedly traces his name over the older's chest. "the one who could see the future?"

"that's right," heeseung nods. "having too much knowledge of the future can often be dangerous, though, as she later found out. she grew up, having visions about her eventual betrothal to heli, but she had no idea that he would leave, establish a more powerful kingdom, and agree to the engagement just because he felt grateful to her father for taking him in when he was a child."

"what went wrong?"

"heli fell in love with a human," heeseung says, chuckling. "to him, it wasn't wrong. it was probably the most wonderful thing to happen to him. he'd been abandoned by his parents, and brought up to believe that all humans were inferior to his kind. then, along came this human knight, who was as strong and intelligent as any vampire, aiming to serve heli as his personal guard. he'd never known love of this intensity before and, when heli fell, he fell hard."

"this story doesn't have a happy ending, does it?" jake asks, lifting his head off heeseung's chest to glance up at him.

the silver-haired vampire shakes his head. "no, i'm afraid not. heli broke off his engagement, and announced that jino, the human knight, was going to become his consort. selen, humiliated and angry at being cast aside, fell prey to dardan, heli's archenemy's whispers of retribution and revenge, and barged into their bedroom on their wedding night to confront jino. at first, he tried to reason with her, but one thing led to another and before she knew it, she's standing over his cooling corpse, having impaled him with heli's sword."

an unusually strong pang of sadness courses through jake's body, and he has to blink away tears before heeseung can notice. "what- what happened to heli?"

"he entered the room not long after, saw jino's body on the floor, and went mad with grief," heeseung answers. "beheading selen on the spot, he left to hunt down dardan, and delivered the same fate to him, before turning his own sword upon himself, and dying with both a curse, and a promise, on his lips."

jake presses his lips together, and a tear escapes his eye, dripping down onto heeseung's crisp white dress shirt. "that- that is sad."

heeseung laughs, sitting up immediately with a firm hand on jake's back to support him. "it's just a story, jaeyun-ah. we're not even sure how much of what i just told you, is real or exaggerated."

sniffling loudly, he winds his arms around heeseung's shoulders and buries his face in his boyfriend's chest. "it's- it's not fair! they didn't even get to be happy, together..."

"it was tragic," heeseung agrees, gathering jake in his arms, and pulling him closer. "when heli died, he prophesied that he would find dardan in his next life, and show him what true pain felt like. but, he also promised that he would wait for jino to be reborn, and seek him out in the future that they'd vowed to spend with each other."

"then- they might already have had their happy ending, right, hyung?" he entreats, peeking up at heeseung with wide eyes. "that's possible, right?"

the older vampire swallows visibly, his eyes dark and unfocused. "i guess so?"

jake frowns through the tears still clinging to his lashes. "what are you looking at?"