The Boy Savior - Ekko x Reader | DISCONTINUED

Season 2 - Chapter 17

You stared blankly at the mural. Every second you had been on the verge  of crying, and yet, not a single tear could leave your eyes anymore. You  hugged your knees to your chest as you were sat next to the wall, dried  paint still covering your hands.

You felt empty. You felt as if  nothing had been left inside you - not even your own emotions. And you  wished with all your heart that all this would finally be over. It should have been over a year ago had it not been for Ekko and the Firelights messing up your plans...

You were tired of the endless  struggle that had absolutely no point - everything would always turn for the worse anyway, no matter what you did... how hard you tried...

Your eyes were pinned onto Neo's portrait.

It was small and imperfect, wasn't even close to being as artistic as the others -  you painted it yourself. You were the only person left on  this Earth who'd give a damn about him, after all... And it still felt like a stab to your heart to look at his face, similarly gazing into a future he'd never have a chance to witness anymore...

And it was your fault. All your fault... Everything always was.

You were the main reason he was in that factory on the day it blew up - all  your family was gone thanks to you, and that was the truth that you naively tried to deny for a while now... If you'd never even existed in the first place, even in this miserable version of  your lives, everything would have been so, very different you were sure about that... For them at least.

The lump grew in your throat once more, to a point where it hurt to even just try to swallow, but your eyes remained dry. Your chest was tight and heavy and no matter how hard you wanted to stand up and leave, your  limbs just didn't want to move. Couldn't move...

Your eyes couldn't look away from his face as your guilt grew bigger and bigger with each beat of your heart...

You  should have never taken him to that place... You were so stupid for bringing him with you... You should have checked out the commune by yourself first... His death was on you - again, now once and for all...

You  stared at his portrait with an aching chest, unable to tear your eyes  away from the painting... Not even when you heard the door of the firelight base rumble as it opened up. In the past months, you'd imagined hearing this sound so many times by now that you had gotten used to it - the possibility that it wasn't just your imagination this time didn't even cross your mind...

But when you heard the unsure steps following it closely, your gaze finally flickered as you  half-blinked, your eyes looking in the direction.

Ekko was standing in the entrance, alone. Confused...

Or at least, your mind made you think so, as it did already so many times through all these months...

He  was looking around the base, probably surprised to see how empty it was - and you were sure he was just another mirage that your mind made up -  the real Ekko lived the perfect life in another universe, with her by his side... Who you were looking at was nothing else, but your imagination, you were sure about that...

His eyes fell on you and for a second you froze. He was so lifelike... So sharp and clear... If you didn't know any better, you would have believed Ekko was really standing in the entrance. But you  were sure you were just going mad...

You even heard him calling your name as he started toward you.

And you looked away from him. Maybe if you didn't play along, the image would finally disappear... Leave you alone... You didn't have the energy to deal with your feelings about him now as well...

It wasn't what you were needing now... You looked back at your brother's little portrait and every emotion, that was stirred up by the mirage of your mind, quieted back down, rendering you numb once again.

Even when he knelt beside you, you couldn't believe Ekko was really there, until his arms reached for you and your shoulders twitched. No.

"Y/N..."  Ekko called your name softly and you blinked as your gaze fell to him. He  looked just like the day he disappeared. As if a year hadn't just simply passed  without him - his voice, his smell, clothes... Everything was just like on  that night you last saw him...

He pulled you into a hug, but  you still didn't move. Your heart had a weak attempt to beat up inside  your chest, but it quickly died down when you remembered what you had  the chance to witness, and for that, you swallowed back all your emotions  that wanted to finally surface...

"What happened? Where's everyone?" Ekko asked as he leaned back to look at your face but you strictly kept your eyes from looking at him...

Just  a few days ago you would have broken down crying and throwing yourself  into his arms but now... You couldn't really look him in the eyes  anymore...

You saw from the corner of your vision that Ekko's  gaze jumped at your paint-covered hands and immediately after that, his  head turned to look at the portrait of your brother -  and you winced as  your tears finally started burning your eyes. You would have tried to blink them away, but you didn't really care anymore...

"Oh, no...  Y/N..." Ekko said quietly and reached to grab your cheeks with both of his  hands to turn your face to look at him. And your eyes jumped to  meet his...

But looking at him now just made everything more painful.  His gaze both felt like home and a stab to your back at the same and  you blinked when a tear escaped your eyes, to roll down your cheeks,  leaving a burning hot trail on your skin.

He acted as if  nothing happened - as if he didn't just betray you on top of everything...  You felt a spark of anger first as your eyes jumped between his -  recalling the image of him kissing her when he believed you were far enough for it to not count... To not be in the way...

Your brows knotted together as your blank expression turned into a bitter frown and you loathed him. You loathed Ekko, his hand on your cheeks, his eyes, and the way he acted like he cared about you...

If he did so, he wouldn't have thrown you aside the first chance he got...You were stupid to ever believe he would have chosen you if he had to choose between you and her... You never even had a chance...

Your tears stopped as your anger turned into disgust as the image of them kept popping into your mind, twisting your stomach into a knot - was it a nervous, desperate, or nauseous knot? You couldn't decide... Didn't care enough to decide...

"What  happened?" he asked searching your face and you looked straight into  his eyes, which seemed worried - but you were sure it was just pity he  felt, as you replied, pulling away in repulsion:

"Don't touch me..."

// A/N.: I mean, it's reasonable, right? 😭 //