Cursed Hearts | ATEEZ

001

Chaos. Pure chaos had ensued after I had called out my name. After I had voluntarily stepped up and accepted the burden of being a contestant in the trials.

The audience had exploded in a wave of roars as confusion washed over the Colosseum, the billboards flickering as the drones tried to get a clear shot of me, my face everywhere on the big screens.

The smell of summer still hung heavily in the air all around us, the sun burning down on me from its point in the middle of the sky.

Litha had claimed its last sacrifice for the year.

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Guards had almost immediately come to my aid, trying to get me away from the mess as they pushed past the masses in an attempt to escort me out of the old amphitheater through old underground tunnels beneath the arena.

Taeyong had disappeared before I had gotten the chance to look for him. And so, flanked by security, I walked down the narrow corridors of crumbling stone, trying to block out the sounds of trampling feet overhead, the smell of earth burning my nostrils with every shaky breath.

It didn't take us long to make it out of the Colosseum, though the blinding light that suddenly replaced the darkness from the tunnels had me instinctively lifting my arm over my face in an attempt to block out out the sun.

And then, suddenly, all of the air was forced out of my lungs as a pair of rough hands came into contact with my shoulders, pushing me against the wall of the old arena.

I gasped in an attempt to regain my breath, blinking furiously as I tried to readjust my eyes to the light, only to find myself face to face with Taeyong.

His brown eyes, earthy and dark, usually so controlled and calm, were filled with nothing but raw rage and fear as he pushed himself against me, trapping me against the wall.

"What were you thinking?!" he hissed, his breath ghosting over the tip of my nose, so close, the two of us sharing breath.

His eyes were wild as they searched my face, "Are you actually insane? What the hell were you thinking, Yuna?!"

But I knew. I knew that he was worried more than anything else. More than he was angry at me at that moment. But I still felt a flicker of annoyance spring to life within me as I glared up at him.

"What did you expect me to do, Taeyong? They just handed you a death sentence on national television, goddamnit! Did you actually think I would let them send you into those trials while I just stayed behind here in Rome, knowing you, like every single contestant since the very beginning of this horrible tradition, would die in there?! You know me better than that!"

"Me?" he huffed, almost laughing at my comment, "I would die in there? Then what exactly were you expecting to happen when you volunteered, hm? Do you not realize what this means?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but he pushed me harder against the wall, knocking the air out of my lungs once again as he leaned closer.

"There can only be one winner. And there has never been a winner, Yuna. That meant that either we both die by the others' hands or we will have to kill each other."

His words hit me so hard that I felt my breath catch in my throat, my heart sinking as I realized that he was right, what I had done, and what it would mean for the two of us.

He had been doomed from the moment his name was called across the sectors, across Haelan, but I had signed my own death sentence the moment I had raised my hand, the moment I had yelled out my own name.

And now we were both going to die.

Because there had never been a winner. The Chosen One had never come forth or been victorious, never been able to seize The White Throne and stop The Silent Plague from spreading across the lands, the kingdoms.