"Each day, you'd rise with me
Know that I would gladly be
The Icarus to your certainty
Oh, my sunlight, sunlight, sunlight
Strap the wing to me
Death trap clad happily
With wax melted, I'd meet the sea"

Sunlight - Hozier

🌊

Comfort is a castle made of glass.

Threats had been a constant in their lives to a point where they brought stability. The quiet scared Leila more than the roaring of a storm. It was too quiet in the castle now that Jimin killed the Queen.

Aera was alive.

Leila lay next to her while her shoulder healed for about a week in the infirmary.

"Next time, I am letting all of you die." Murmured the woman, after she woke up from wounded stupor. Lily kept her knocked out most of the time with some magical herb. It did not curb the woman's attitude as much as it healed her.

Leila laughed each time Aera complained, "There will not be a next time."

Every time she spoke the words aloud, it felt more like a lie.

They would talk for hours, while Taehyung interrogated Jimin. Lily would brew them more healing ointments. Setareh would visit and make them laugh till their injuries began to ache. Jeongguk had been sent with Hoseok and Jin to find Namjoon, to figure out why he deserted. Yoongi wandered around like a ghost, helping Lily if she asked for healing metals.

Taehyung came back in a worse disposition everyday. He hated that Leila could not share his bed, and often slept at the foot of her own in the infirmary when tiredness finally caught his Immortui body. Most the time he did not sleep, just stroking her through the covers like a cat curls up next to their owner. It was sweet, so sweet it often made Leila teary-eyed when he was away.

But she knew she was not the only one responsible for his sourness.

"What happened today?" Leila had inquired, lifting herself to a sitting position. Or at least she tried to, before the prince barked at her not to move, and fluffed the pillows for her. Aera was fast asleep beside them, her mouth wide open and limbs spread across her bed. It made Leila laugh with how dignified she usually was. She would hate to know what she looked like sleeping.

Taehyung settled himself on the bed, crossing his legs. His eyes were pensive, his thumbs twitching together as he stared at the bed posts like they were an enemy.

"He was not possessed the entire time. Manipulated, preyed upon? Yes. But it was only after our talk that the Queen completely took over." He took a breath, but it was shaky, "So I ask him everyday. Would you have done it? Would you have done it if you were not possessed? And everyday he gives me the same answer."

Taehyung said nothing as his eyes move to the linen sheets, his face puckered with hurt. It meant Jimin had planned their demise with the Queen's instigation. But would he have truly gone through with it at the end?

"He doesn't know does he?" Leila almost laughed. A Jimin-like non-answer, if anything. She is not sure why she is not more angered by the notion.

Maybe it is because when it counted most, he chose his sister. And that meant something.

"No. He doesn't. Which leaves me to...what? Let him go? What if he tries to hurt you or I again? The solstice does not pass until this week's end."

Leila nodded, "I understand. You are at an impasse, and not an easy one. But I think he knows that he is without proper cause anymore. There is nothing left to fight for."

Taehyung grumbled, "Well if he cannot get the fuck over you, that is someone to fight for. I could not stop for the life of me."

Leila shrugged with adoration, making herself wince when she leaned forward to press a kiss onto his cheek. The man grumbled, but still smiled anyways. "I do not think he is even worrying about me. I was just the tip of the iceberg on a long list of grievances with you, with his life. He is probably worried that he almost forfeited everything for a woman who abandoned them and tried to murder his twin. He has to feel terrible."

Her temperamental prince looked like he was about to object, before he fixed her with a lilting smile, "Look at my Leila. Thinking of his emotions before just telling me to kill or exile him. You have grown soft."

She rolled her eyes at the tease, pushing his shoulder with her good one.

"I said nothing about exiling him. At least, maybe until he learns to never fuck with us again."

Taehyung took her ferocity away with a sweet kiss, and pulled back with a light in his eyes.

"Ignis, how did I ever believe for a moment I could live without you?"

Leila knew inside he never believed it. He just attempted to bear it.

By the end of the week, Leila wanted to rip off her bandages.

The solstice was once again a looming beast, and the Queen began to feel like a distraction. Leila did not dream of Sorina, but instead of shadow. Of eyes turning from white to black. Of the ocean rising so high it wiped out the entire castle.

It had been the Queen.

What if it will be Nox that attempts Jimin next? And would he resist it?

The thoughts could not leave her mind, and she grew more restless and paranoid with each night. She needed to know what Lily had discovered in the Book of Day and Night. With Sorina's meeting, and the summer solstice quickly approaching, it felt like she was living on borrowed time.

And the glass castle would soon shatter.

"Lily, tell me what you found out." Leila had asked, several times now.

She would get the same answer every time. "I cannot risk Aera overhearing." Or the woman's knew favorite, "I just need to translate one more time. I need to be sure."

It was only Lily's actions when the Queen appeared that prevented Leila from growing suspicious of her lack of sharing. It did nothing to soothe her impatience.

I want this to be over.

Leila no longer wanted to feel like every moment with Taehyung would be her last.

I want to breathe again.

She wanted to live without waiting for the end of her story to be written.

It came as a bitter-sweet surprise, on the last day before the Summer solstice, that Lily pulled her from the infirmary.

"Where are we going?" Leila asked, distressed. Her shoulder had now healed, but she still wore the same nightgown she had two days ago, and had not washed herself. She hated to know what the Immortui saw when she made her get up.

But Lily did not fret. She was a fae, carrying her across the veil as she weaved them through the hallways. For once, the chatty woman had little to say.

"A place where no one can hear us. Especially not my overbearing brother."

It took Leila a moment to realize she was talking about Taehyung. That was taking everyone a little time to get used to, except Lily and Taehyung. As soon as the trial cleared, the pair had gone back to squabbling siblings. The prince needed it more than anyone.

Leila held back a yelp as Lily took her into the wing of the ancient temple. Leila could not fathom why they were brought there, but the girl halted. Her blue eyes were vivid in the fading light of the castle, transitioning between just moonlight as the lights began to flicker on.

"Take a good look." The woman gestured with her hands at the stained glass.

Leila looked up, placing her hands on her hips. She felt her bones now more than ever, and she bit her lip nervously. "I know. I have looked at cursed at them maybe a hundred times."

Lily bit back a seething comment, "Just place them into your memory."

Leila's heart began to pound with excitement. Did she know how to decipher them? Leila rid herself of snarky humor, taking in each pane. She yelped when she was yanked on, and then stolen into the temple. Lily had used her blood to access the doors and used magic to shut them quicker.

She had been amazed by the blazing white starlight that dazzled from Lily's delicate palms.

"That is-"

"Not important." Lily interrupted, her teeth chattering though the night was warm. The crashing of the waves from the open columns called to Leila, but must have been bitter refuge for the woman before her.

"Lily, you are frightening me. Tell me what is going on?" If it was not about the book, Leila wished to return now. Taehyung would be back from visiting Jimin in the dungeons. And if her shoulder was healed, she wanted to lay beside him at night.

She missed his skin. His arm wrapped around her own. The heat of his breath on her neck as she arose.

Lily tore through her when she spoke, a deathly gravity taking hold, "If I told you I know the origin of the curse, would you believe me? If I told you I knew how to break it, would you want to know?"

Leila's stomach plummeted, her face stretching with glee. Of course Lily could do it! She grabbed the blonde woman's shoulders, shaking her with excitement. All of it could be over. Leila wanted to burst into grateful tears. She wanted to look up to the heavens and send them into flames.

Finally.

"Yes! Tell me, the solstice is tomorrow. You must tell me everything at once!" Leila waited for her friend to return her smile. All she received was a watery glower. An apology. A hesitance.

A look that told her maybe Lily had been avoiding it so long, because she did not want it to be true.

"Are you willing to do what must be done?" Lily's eyes welled with tears. Leila had not imagined their presence. "Taehyung-"

She choked.

Leila's eyes widened, her hands now gripping painfully to the girl's shoulders.

"Taehyung what?"

"If you do not to as you must, Taehyung will die tomorrow. Setareh saw it. And not just him. All of the corners, all of us Leila. I-I am sorry-I am so sorry."

It occurred to Leila then, her ending had always been ridden with tragedy. Now she would seal it with her blood.

"Yes."

*

"Do you know your eyes are as bright as the stars?" Taehyung whispered along Leila's temple. She felt the impression of his lips, a religion.

Her pereche.

She inhaled the scent of him on his chest, sea and mahogany. Pine hidden beneath the warmth of the air from his large window.

She clung to him desperately. Biting her lip to prevent it from shaking. They had spent hours together, for the day had been long. But dawn was soon approaching, and the solstice would meet the horizon. She swallowed harshly, lifting her eyes to meet his own.

Her chest beckoned to him, an ache so deep it threatened to break her in half.

His raven hair was messy from loving her. His eyes lifted in a smile that brought lines to his cheeks and inner corners. Like the darkness had finally faded from him. How she wished to look at him like this forever.

Is it possible to love someone this much?

Leila wondered if she ever deserved it.

"I need some fresh air. Would you like to take a walk along the beach?"

The man leaned forward, kissing her forehead, "We can do anything you would like now." He let out a deep sigh, "Anything at all."

Leila fastened herself to him, a wick within wax, as they dressed and set out into the mid of day. The moonlight shone high above them, mocking in it's silvery corpse. Leila could not look at the face of what once comforted her, her hands becoming slippery within the prince's.

"Are you alright?" He questioned softly, his hand placing a curl behind her ear.

She smiled back, "Of course. But you missed so many shells, and I would like to make a dress with them."

Her beautiful prince smiled, all sun, and her stomach clenched. The man who could once not look upon her, who challenged her rightness for him sifted through dark sand to fish out more pearlescent shells. Leila let her toes settle within the grain, feeling every particle. Feeling all of the heat sucked from it due to her cold body. She took in the smell of the ocean, its crispness. It's biting power. It's midnight depths, the color of Taehyung's love for her. Waving and crashing as far as the eye could see. 

It is here at this castle that she found herself. It is here she found the joy of caring about others. Though the sea and the sky could never turn on her, they were not the people she loved most. Complicated, loving, and sometimes hurtful; those who live often make mistakes that nature cannot are who prevented life from being dull. 

It is what gives life its meaning. 

Leila wondered why she was put here. Why she was even given this blessing.

She watched as her prince laughed, lifting up a shell that almost mimicked the shape of a heart. "I have found the heart in which you stole." Leila felt her organs lurch, her mind fracture.

This. 

Leila took more of him in, her arms hung limply at her sides. His taller frame, shrouded in the darkness of the night sky. Stars scattered around his body like the flight of fireflies, his pride echoing out to her over the sand. He jogged over to her, hand held over his heart and clasped tightly over the shells he collected. The prince of the eclipse, the moon now a crown over his head. 

"Do you like them?" He opened his large palm, holding the shiny memorabilia out to her. Angling them so they caught the light of the moon. 

"I love them." Leila placed her palm over his, collecting the shells and placing them on a spot in the sand beside her. She bit her lip, feeling his eyes caress her as he stepped closer. "Let's go for a swim."

The ever-so-wary man crinkled his dark brows, but then lightened. Leila could tell, that after everything they had been through he had finally felt free. Free enough that he was willing to give her whatever she wanted.

"Yes, just hold tight to me." 

Leila smiled, strained, "I always do." 

They stepped together to the water's edge, and Leila looked back at the castle. Taking in its pointed spires, and the rocky edge of the cliff. At the windows filled with light, that could never be enough to fill all the rooms. 

For them. 

She grabbed onto Taehyung's outstretched hand, as they waded into the water while fully clothed.

The water was not as cold as her wedding night, for Summer taunted her with it's arrival. But still, it wrapped her in a chilling embrace. A hug that sucked her in unwillingly, her legs holding out against the pull. Taehyung must have noticed her resistance.

"We can go back to the shore." He said easily, not the least bit bothered by the notion. Sweet, so endlessly sweet to me. His hand was so warm against hers, the only thing she wanted to feel. But she had already made it in to her knees. She could not turn back now.

"No, I want to try swimming in the ocean," She nudged him, biting her lip, "To see if your shitty lessons paid off."

The man laughed as they started to drift, and her heart wrenched further. The sound like a thousand lives, over and over again. The baritone of the King, the gentle affection from his mother. "If I recall correctly, it is you who disrupted every single lesson. But I will admit, I never minded." 

Leila pressed into his side harder, the waves swelling to her chest. Taking the breath out of her, from the cold and from their force. He was strong, so strong beside her as his black eyes were veined with flakes of gold. She peered into them, trying to find a sign. She was not afraid that he would let her go, she knew he would not let the ocean whisk her away. 

Leila turned to face him, her expression soaring as she took in his beauty. His bronzed skin, the dark hair that now curled as the salt water licked at his skin. His hands rested gently over hers, which grabbed onto the collar of his black blouse. His smile refused to leave his face as he pressed them closer, his feet solid against the ever shifting sea-floor. Unmovable, unwavering for the woman he held between his hands. 

"You are here." The man spoke, in awe as a single hand ran over her wet hair and cold cheek. Touching where the moon kissed her skin, envious. His smile shifted into something longing, but assured. 

His hand slid up her arm, and back to a whittled wrist. Leila cracked. He holds onto her, his eyes golden with playful delight in his ignorance.

I hate myself. 

I do not deserve that look.

Leila took in his face one more time, trying not to break. Trying not to let it show that every minute was submerged in misery. She let her fingers brush the skin of his chest, feeling along the bronze. Testing for his wild heartbeat that sprung proudly from his chest for her touch alone. This. This is why. She took a deep shuddering breath, overwhelmed by her devotion for him. For her desire for him to stand the test of time, and to prove everyone else wrong about what power means. 

And what those given a choice will do. 

Her voice is raw with feeling. All the pettiness of uncomfortable vulnerability gone from her body, as she felt his skin. Took the time to memorize every line of his face, every twitch of his eyes. His intakes and his pauses, his wants and his wishes. She takes and takes until she is still left unsatisfied. Because living is change, and he will change. He will learn and grow and be entirely different to himself, even within the year. And she found herself mourning the love she felt, and the things she would soon love more.  Her throat tightened painfully, her voice full, "I love you more than anything." She held back her her whimper, but her prince never missed a thing about her. She decided to meet him head on, not wanting to miss a minute of his eyes and what he looked like when he loved her, "You have made life worth living. And now I must give it back."

Raven hair. Midnight eyes of marble. A smile that when used, burned a thousand times. Leila felt his words slipping into her, tying her mind. Binding himself to her. She painted that face, over the current expression of quietly astonished look he bent towards her. The man held her closer, his hands so tight around her wrists. The heavy fabric of their clothes ballooned around them, slightly weighing them down. The castle waved its goodbye from the shore, and Leila wondered if Lily watched or looked away. There was no sound except Taehyung's accelerated breaths. His eyes were wide with confusion, but his chest moved rapidly. His body's reaction to her lack of strength against him as her body threatened to float away. His eyes were already brimming with emotion, but she refused to look past the smile she had etched into her mind. 

"Leila?"

She did not answer. As he pulled her closer she had been manipulating two small channels of water. Around her legs, up her torso. 

Her prince had been so focused on her, her well-being that he had not even noticed the water coated unnaturally where their hands met. His onyx eyes just bore into her own, and she slipped into their depths. Hearing his words of comfort, of affirmation.

Leila trapped his hands around her wrists.

"I love you, only the gods know how much. You are always my prince. My pereche. But I am also your sweetest enemy."

The man's face opened in alarm, before Leila manipulated his hands to push her head below the leaden ocean. 

Leila was a coward, she closed her eyes as soon as she went under. 

His first scream of terror almost made her lose her grip. A cry so that it was more shocking than the chill of the water. But she could not. I cannot.

"Stop! Ignis, stop!"

She did not fight him, her body limp as she forced herself to swallow water. The first gulp was a thousand needles in her throat, her spine. Salted and a first bite of poison. No, she did not open her eyes. She refused to see, for the water was nearly black anyways. But if she looked up, her prince's face was illuminated by the moon.

She was a coward. She could not look at what she was doing to him. Instead, her mind played other moments.

The daughter of the moon could feel that change when it dawned on him what was happening. His body lurched violently, taking her with him. Attempting to pull himself away. 

She was making him kill her. She was making him complete his portion of the curse.

He let out a growl of rage above the water. The ocean did little to conceal it as he struggled against her watery grip. He threw everything he had against her. 

"Leila, if you wish to kill yourself, fine!" His voice was edged on insanity, "But do not make me do it. Please do not make me do it."

Even at her death, he was still stoic. It made her heart surge again. 

Though she refused to fight him back, he launched golden light at her body. At the water, attempting to pull out of her grip so harshly that they both thrashed violently within the water. She had to struggle to keep herself below the surface long enough to drown. 

"I will hate you if you do this. I will curse your relentless spirit. Let me go Leila! Let me fucking go."

Leila wondered if she could cry below the water. She opened her mouth, a moaning song as water cascaded into her pained mouth. I love you. And I am so inconceivably sorry. 

His torment was a relentless song, and she tried to play over it. Leila wished it to be over sooner. His agony hurt more than the water that refused to leave her lungs.

She saw his face the first time they met in person, that careful gaze in his eyes. That resistance that she couldn't help but tear apart. She remembered when he came into her room, jealous that Jimin was with her. Asking to escort her to the library in his stead. His deep belief in her, as he revealed that he knew little about the curse. The light in his eyes when he told her who she was when she still had little clue. His pride in her whenever she seemed to blaze through a room of men, with little regard for how she was perceived. His unyielding need to do good in a world that forged the bad. 

"Ignis." She heard it whispered into her ear, instead of screamed. Her drowned cries turned into smiles. Then laughter that bubbled up between their struggle. 

More anger seeped from him, rage burning. It started to ruin her visions of his smiling face and awaiting arms. She tried harder to shut him out.

"If you want to leave me, if you do not want to be tied to me, just leave. You do not have to do this. Just leave me instead." 

Leila cracked in two. Pieces of what is right, and wanting to let go and have him hold her in her arms. If only it was that simple. He sobbed so loudly, it was like he was below the surface with her.

Gods, let me die. Let me fucking die!

End this torment for the both of us. 

Her hands began to bloat, her limbs unbending as his hands still fought to unbind himself. She felt her lids growing heavy with their need to stay shut. Her lungs labored painfully. Stuttering, suffocating. Her body now contorted with its natural urge to attempt to go to the surface. "Yes, Leila, you do not want to die. I want to let you go, please let me let you go. I will do anything. I will do anything." 

My Taehyung, my prince. 

"I am begging you, please. Please, if you do this I will die. I will die." He used his magic to wrap around his fingers, it was useless against the strength of her water-likened restraints. Even as she lay dying in his arms. "Ignis." He was losing all of his fire as she refused to unbind herself, "Why?"

She was finally fading, his voice growing further and further away though they were still so close. 

Focusing on the strong beat of his heart, she let her body relax. Her eyes needing no further help to stay closed. There was no water, just him. Just his body against her own. 

Ignis. Jāné del-am. The sun, I will always find you. 

The man wailed till his voice cracked and bled. He shook his wrists, her body floating with his limply with every movement. And he noticed, he noticed her lack of expression. How it seemed like she was already gone. Because Leila would be annoyed that he had not let her die yet. She would kick him for being stubborn. 

"You cannot do this!" Taehyung begged her, "You promised me. You promised!"

He cried to her like a child.

Nothing hurt anymore as her mind followed swiftly behind her drowning body. And she panicked. She could no longer see his smile. She could no longer hear his voice.

She only heard death. 

What have I done?

Then, through the waves, a warmth emerged. 

A golden light, turning the abyss of her closed eyes orange instead of dark gray. A ray touched her cheek, fighting away the cold. 

Her prince's hands still held her wrists. His body whole. Refusing to reduce to ash.

Leila took one more breath, and let herself fade away. 

I have done all that I could.

🌅🌅🌅🌅

Taehyung

Light swarmed around him, blinding. Golden. So warm he thought that he would burn. Reflecting off the waves, turning the world a fire. A fire of pinks, blues, and purples. The sea floor was dark, the bottom was clear. 

He did not see it. He only saw night without a moon.

Leila's body now floated to the surface, his hands finally loose. But that was not alright. Because that meant she was gone. 

And she couldn't be gone. She just couldn't be. 

He lifted her into his chest, his arms supporting both her neck and underneath her knees. Her flimsy dress stuck to his body as he held her safely above the waves. Her hair swirled around them as her head lulled to the side, her eyes shut. 

She passed out, that is all. 

"Leila! Leila!" He yelled, his tears falling onto her chest. Her skin was as gold as the light around them. He did not care. Her chest did not move. "Wake up!" He felt her skin, he squeezed her. Hoping to annoy her out of her stupor. "Damn you. Damn you!" He hated her. "Your sister needs you. Lily and Jimin needs you. I need you!" He hiccupped, "You were going to change the world for the better. You can't if you are gone." Then more softly, "You did not read all the books that ever existed like you wanted to."

The man burrowed his face into her chest. Holding her so closely he could smell her amber and cinnamon underneath the salt and sea. His heart cracked painfully when he could not hear hers beat. He cursed himself for his own body's disloyalty. It seemed impossible that he could continue with her end. He had always assumed if anything happened to Leila, he would be struck down dead beside her.

This could not be right. This was not right at all. 

 "I love you. I love you. I love you." He whispered a thousand times, unwilling to move. 

Moving would make it real. It would be an acknowledgement that Leila forced him to drown her. And that it had succeeded. 

"You are not gone." He said aloud, unsteadily. His voice something he did not recognize. A shell of what he had been. 

Her moonlight eyes should open. They should attempt to roll, which he never told her she did in an odd way. Her sarcasm had been formed at the castle, and she never got it quite right. But he had loved it anyhow.

"Of course I am gone you fool."  She would have said.

No words fell from her dusk-colored lips. 

"Ignis?" His voice fractured pathetically. His hands gripped painfully around her cold, cold body. She had never been cold to him, not once, "Oh gods."

"Prince of the Eclipse." 

A voice called upon him from above. A higher pitch of layered voices, like the flutter of a breeze. The heat of a fire. A golden light that hovered from his peripheral. 

A god, he deduced.

Taehyung did not even glance up once, despite knowing of it's presence. He could not care less. 

He stroked at Leila's cold, wet cheek. A single finger stroking along the flesh. Remembering what it was like to see it grow taut at her smile. He cared little about what a god would want at a moment like this. A god who had surely been somewhat responsible.

"You should thank your love." The deity spoke, floating closer. It's voice spine-tingling and somewhat affectionate. "I am Solis, Taehyung. The one who blessed your line."

He wanted to snap Solis's neck.

More importantly, he wanted them to leave. He wanted to be alone with Leila. 

"Why?" Is the all Taehyung questioned back, a low whisper.

For the sun that now mocked his back? He could not look at it. He could not look at it when Leila's eyes were closed forever to bring it back. For sacrificing herself to save the rest? They can all get fucked. He told her she was worth more than the rest, than even him. She might have never believed it. For not waiting to find another solution?

For Solis not putting a stop to this? He almost laughed. Of course the sun deity would let this happen. 

The deity persisted, "You broke the curse. You sacrificed someone you loved to save the rest. You've made it to the end of the circle, you've erased from which it began."

Taehyung no longer cared what that meant. Leila would have wanted to spend hours dissecting the meaning, but every choice of diction meant. She is not here. He burned with the words instead, engorged by a ever growing detestation. 

"I did not want to! Take it back, undo it. I do not care!" He seethed at the deity, holding Leila closer to his body. Her hand drifted out to the side, and he cradled it back onto her stomach so she felt more at peace.

The deity appeared before his line of vision. A ball of energy, with eyes like stars. Taehyung hated them. Despised them. He would cut them down if he had the chance. A blessing from a useless god. A curse that had little importance than compared to the woman in his arms.

"What is done, is done. Love turned the world dark. Now love will bring it light. It is balance." The deity seemed to bow it's head in reverence, and it only fueled him. 

"Fuck balance!" Taehyung started to shiver, the shock of it all finally settling in. He would never be warm again. He looked up at the god, lifting Leila's body out of the water gingerly. Her head fell back, and he hated himself for it, "I did not do this. Take it back. Give her back. The rest of the world can fade back into the fucking darkness to which it belongs."

He felt a flicker of hope. Maybe the curse does not count if it was forcefully done. He would never agree to it. 

The deity fluttered, a pulse, "You do not want that." The tone sounded grave. Like the prince should know better. Like he cared more of the state of the world than Leila. That in time, Taehyung would understand her sacrifice was not in vain. 

How naïve. 

"You do know nothing of what I want." The prince bit out viciously.

The deity answered, in that it's all knowing, condescending consolation, "She chose this, now that she is gone she brought back the cycle of the sun and moon."

"She was the fucking light!" Taehyung screamed, interrupting. The god flickered from golden to a deep blue. Taehyung charged along, bringing Leila close to him once again as he stared down at her closed eyes, his chest aching with pain, "The only light." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, but she did not move, "Ignis."

The deity did not try to pester him further. Instead, taking in the beings from above. A swirl of silver and gold, of day and night. Of love and loss.

And people that were not afraid of denouncing fate. 

"You are so much like your father." Solis seemed to shudder with a strangely human-like scoff, "Perhaps more lucky than all of us, if you could only open your eyes."

Taehyung no longer paid it any attention. 

Leila, Leila, Leila.

He wept, lifting her heavy water filled body from the sea.

Placing her gently onto the sand, her body sinking slightly in next to the shells he had picked for her. 

Taking his time to push her hair back, and arranging it neatly in a blanket of dark in the sand. Her skin still burned russet. Her lips still arrogant in their tilt, her hilled nose regal. But her beauty had never been just her appearance. It was her mind, and how she sharpened it like a knife. A weapon in her tenacity alone. 

Unafraid. She had always been unafraid to do the right thing, when he always cowered from it. She had always been the wiser of them, the most brave. 

He arranged the sparkling shells along the crown of her head, a Queen forever. 

When he was finished, he pressed a kiss onto her cold lips. 

I am nothing.

I am nothing, if not with you.

He lay next to her body, stroking the skin of her cheek. Contemplating how he would soon take his place beside her.

But before then-

Taehyung would burn everything to the ground in her name.

<><><><><><><><><>
(A/N): AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

🥺I was BAWLING writing this...okay more like super nauseous cuz I was really feeling this shiii

Like Tae broke my heart (girl it is your own character) anyways he still did. I kinda "watch" my writing like a movie in my head and i was CHOKING on the emotion.

But yeah I thought of this chapter by the second chapter I wrote (Salt&Sea). I knew exactly that this was going to happen the entire time. It feels so strange to finally write it after a little over a year.

I alluded to this a lot to this scene during the novel. I want to see what you guys caught, but yeah the whole scene where she realizes Taehyung cannot break her hold around his wrists (shameless chapter 31), where she cuts her own throat in I'm sick (chapter 17), her always promising him to stay alive, and honestly more :1 but again I want to see your thoughts and what you expected.

It was also why I kept Leila a little secretive, even from the readers at times. She always knows what she is going to do, even if everyone else is still a little lost. I wanted you guys to feel how he felt, a little unsuspecting right up until it happened. 

Tell me what you think the origin of the curse is/what Lily told Leila...

There is THREE more chapters guys...and I do not want to give any spoilers <333

Also who saw BARBIE? Cuz I like gag-cried next to my boyfriend during it. It's cool it's cool 💅🏻

LOVE YALL