Apocalypse ✦ Nomin

39

"You don't happen to have a knife on you, do you? Something sharp?" Jeno asks as he uses his index finger to point to a line in the book.

"No, I don't. Why?" Jisung questions with a confused expression.

"It says I need to make a blood sacrifice," Jeno states.

"Why do so many demon rituals require offering a blood sacrifice? I never understood that. Do angels require that kind of shit? Or is it just us?" Jisung rambles out as Jeno waves his free hand and materializes his sacrificial knife.

Ignoring Jisung , Jeno holds onto the blade tightly, then pulls the knife downward in a quick motion as he slices his palm open. He winces at the pain, but does not show much more emotion than that. He wasn't just used to the pain, part of him was trained to enjoy it.

Trained? Manipulated? Perhaps both. Perhaps neither. It was hard for Jeno to differentiate.

He places the knife off to the side and then looks to the book, once again. His eyes skim the remaining text just before the incantation. He nods to himself and begins slightly smearing his palm against each of the points on the star in the pentagram. Once finished, Jeno places his palm in the centre and presses it down into the floorboards.

He glances at the book and then at Jisung.

"Are you ready?" he says in a quiet, almost uncertain voice.

"Oh, I'm definitely ready to see this backfire. Are you?" Jisung tilts his head and clasps his hands together.

"Fuck off," Jeno grunts before looking back to the book. He takes a deep, shaky breath, then proceeds to recite the incantation. Jeno's mind runs blank as he reads the words out, only wishing to reach the end of it and reunite with his love.

As Jeno reaches the last word, a strong force throws him backwards, across the room. His back slams hard into the wall and he drops to the ground with a harsh thump. He feels an intense pain in his left leg as he hits the floor, causing him to yelp.

"Oh shit!" he hears Jisung gasp as he races over to Jeno's side, "What the fuck just happened?"

"Did it work?" Jeno grunts out as he scrunches his face up in pain.

"If by 'work' you mean send you flying into the air like a rag doll, then yes, it worked perfectly," Jisung states, "Are you severely injured? Did you fuck something up? Can I kill you?"

"Shut the fuck up, Jisung," Jeno growls as he tries to pull himself up onto his hands and knees. He lets out another grunt as a sharp pain shoots through his leg, forcing him back down. "I think I hurt my leg. Can you check it?"

"I don't need to examine that shit. It's definitely broken. It shouldn't be bent like that," Jisung states.

"Fuck!" Jeno hisses as he uses his arms to pull his body back towards the pentagram, "I have to try again. I did something wrong. I just need to figure out what."

"As much as I want to see you be repeatedly thrown against a wall until all of your bones shatter into dust from your stupidity, I think you need to let this go. It's a dead end. The chances of you succeeding are so low that I'm surprised you even survived this attempt," Jisung advises.

"No! I'm not giving up!" Jeno raises his voice angrily, "Either I get Jaemin back and fix my mistakes, or I die trying. This is my only way of getting him back, so don't you fucking dare tell me to let this go."

Jisung nods slowly.

"As you wish," he concedes without argument. He stands back and allows Jeno to pull himself back over to the pentagram without helping nor protesting.

As Jeno reaches it, he looks back at the book and skims through to check if he missed anything. He swears under his breath as he realizes that he had followed the instructions completely.

"What the fuck did I do wrong?" he cries out.

"Does the book say anything about saying specific time you want to return to? From what I observed, you lacked a mention of a time and place you wanted to go back to," Jisung interjects.

"Actually...I don't think there was..." Jeno admits, "Was there?"

Jeno flips feverishly through the pages and tries to spot something that indicates he needed to state something like that. To his surprise, there wasn't. But...certainly solving the missing link to the success of such a ritual wouldn't be that easy. Right?

"There wasn't, but...that can't be the only thing I'm missing, could it?" Jeno asks.

"Only one way to find out," Jisung shrugs as he strides towards the opposite end of the room.

When he reaches the door, he spins on his heel, preparing himself to watch Jeno make another attempt.

Jeno's eyes rest on him and he frowns deeply. He realizes this is his last chance to say what he needed to. Even if his words were moot, he knew it had to be said.

"Jisung...I'm sorry," Jeno utters quietly, causing Jisung to raise an eyebrow at him, "I fucked up, and there's nothing will ever excuse what I did. I promise you, if this works, I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens to any of us."

Jisung looks down to his feet and shakes his head.

"Well, then...let's hope you manage to succeed in this."

Jeno nods slowly to himself. He hoped so, too. For both of their sakes.

"And Jeno?" Jisung adds, "Don't fuck it up this time."

Jeno flashes Jisung a weak half-smile.

"I won't."

At this, Jeno returns his eyes to the book and restarts the incantation, trying to think of a good time he could go back to. The first thing that pops into his head is the moment he met Jaemin, but part of him knows that starting from square one when he was already in love with Jaemin would prove far too difficult to handle. All he would be able to do was think about kissing him, and to have to refrain from expressing his love would be painful. No, perhaps he could go back to the cemetery. So he could refrain from fighting Xiao and prevent Jaemin from being captured. Yes, perfect!

Jeno finally focuses on the words and speaks them aloud. As he does so, his mind wanders to Jaemin. Memories with him in his room just before Chenle arrived begin to flash in his head as he nears the end of the incantation. Although he tries to recall arriving to the graveyard, Jeno can't help but remember the last time he got to be alone with Jaemin. To be close and to be happy, even if only for a few fleeting minutes.

As Jeno finishes the last line, he is, once again, thrown back by some type of force which he cannot see. Jeno squeezes his eyes shut, expecting to be slammed against yet another wall, but instead, he falls downward and lands on something soft that breaks his landing. Jeno cautiously opens his eyes to a pitch black room. He squints his eyes in an attempt to see where he is, but he can't see a thing.

"Jisung?" he speaks out, "Did it work?"

No answer.

Jeno sits up and reaches down to feel his left leg. He runs his hand along his shin, expecting to feel it bent in a way that would make him wince, but that was not the case. Jeno snaps his fingers, causing several red candles to ignite and reveal that Jeno was sitting on his bed in his old room. He glances down at his shirt and finds he's wearing the same turtleneck from the night before when he had met with Jaemin.

Jeno wants to curse the universe for not taking him back far enough, but a sudden jolt of realization runs through him. The ritual worked. It worked, and Jaemin would be here any minute.

Jeno leaps off the bed and bounds towards his bedroom door. Just as he reaches for the doorknob, the door slowly creaks open.