you were everything

The Apocalypse Takes Another

☂ mama I'm in love with a criminal ☂ 

TWO YEARS LATER

The jerky is stale. So stale, in fact, that I'm convinced it might've been through a few minor apocalypses before this one. Still, it's food, so I keep chewing as I sit beside Five in the dim light of our makeshift shelter.

"Why didn't you ever get a name?" I ask, tearing off another dry chunk with my teeth.

Five's head snaps up, eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "I guess Mom never got the chance to give me one."

I nod, watching him. "Five kinda suits you."

He huffs a sharp laugh. "Why? Because that's the age I act?"

"Sometimes."

His chuckle is soft, rare, the kind of thing I'd kill to hear again. It sends an unwanted flutter through my stomach, because—yeah. At this point, it's not exactly a secret that I like Five. Being stuck together in the middle of an apocalypse does something to emotions. Turns them up to maximum volume, makes every glance feel like a goddamn epiphany.

Then a sound splits the sky—a violent, raw explosion that shakes the ground beneath us. It's a monstrous mix of thunder and splitting earth, an omen of destruction.

"Another storm?" I twist towards the noise, pulse hammering.

"I'll go see." Five is already on his feet.

"Okay."

Ten minutes pass. Then fifteen. Anxiety coils in my gut.

"Five?" My voice is swallowed by the eerie silence. I step forward, scanning the empty road that stretches into oblivion.

Nothing but desolation.

"FIVE!"

Still nothing.

Panic grips my chest like a vice. The thought of being alone out here, in this wasteland, is unbearable.

Then—

"Y/N, what the hell are you doing?"

His voice nearly sends me to my knees in relief. I whip around, and the second I see him, whole and unharmed, I do something impulsive. Stupid. I tackle him.

We roll across a patch of jagged rocks—ow, okay, not my best plan—before Five plants his hands on either side of my shoulders, pinning me down.

His eyes flicker with something unreadable.

"Why were you wandering around?" he demands, breath warm against my face.

I glare. "You freaking idiot! I thought you got yourself killed!"

Five smirks. "So you were worried about me."

I shove him off. "You're impossible."

"You didn't deny it!" he calls after me as I march back toward the shelter.

Then—his hand wraps around mine, pulling me back.

For a moment, our eyes lock. My breath catches. It feels like time stops.

Five's fingers twitch before he lets go, stepping back like the brief contact burned him.

"Uh, we should probably..." He clears his throat.

"Yeah..."

And that's when it hits me.

We're going to die out here. In the middle of this miserable, sun-scorched wasteland. And I haven't even had my first kiss.

Screw it.

I yank Five forward and crush my lips against his.

He gasps, startled, but his eyes flutter shut as his arms wrap around my waist, pulling me close. Everything else—our broken world, the endless sky, the apocalypse itself—ceases to exist.

It's just him and me.

Five's POV

I shift, attempting to roll over. Something stops me.

I crack open my eyes and look down—

Oh.

Y/N's arms are still around me.

My brain, sluggish from sleep, tries to piece together the rest of the night.

Okay. Got it.

"Y/N?" I whisper, nudging her shoulder.

She stirs, blinking up at me with sleep-dazed eyes. Then she smiles.

"Morning."

Heat floods my face. I glance away because—nope. Not dealing with that right now.

"Let's just—"

Before I can finish, the ground beneath us roars.

Bricks and wood splinter from above, crashing down like an avalanche. Y/N bolts upright, thrusting her hands out—blue energy erupts from her fingertips, freezing the debris midair.

We scramble outside as the world around us starts to disintegrate.

The ground groans underfoot, cracking like thin ice. The sky is a swirling mass of chaos, dark clouds twisting like something alive.

"This is it," I mutter, staring at the apocalyptic hellscape before us. "The world's finally giving up."

"I can fix this!" Y/N yells over the deafening noise. "If I can just reset the balance—"

"No!" I grab her arm. "That's too much power! Even if you could control it, the effects could mean—"

She presses something into my hand. A slip of paper.

A list of equations.

"I started working on a way for us to get out of here," she says, voice breaking. "If you can just finish it..."

My hands tighten around the paper.

"Y/N," I choke. "Don't do this."

Tears streak her dust-covered face. "I know you can save the future." Her voice wavers, but her resolve doesn't. "The equations will get you out of here for good. They're off, but I know you can fix them."

I shake my head violently. "Not like this. Not without you."

"Five, please." Her fingers brush my cheek—barely there, a whisper of a touch. "Let me do this."

I have nothing left to say.

Because there's nothing I can do.

I turn to the sky, willing my powers to work, praying for a portal, but nothing comes. I'm too weak.

"I love you," she whispers.

Then she lets go.

A blinding surge of blue light erupts from her, raw power crackling in the air like a goddamn supernova. The earth trembles. The sky screams.

The apocalypse stops.

And so does she.

The light fades. The dust settles.

Everything is still.

Except for the gaping hole in my chest.

"Y/N?"

I call her name. Again. Again.

Silence.

She's gone.

And for the first time in a long, long time, I don't know what to do.