Halfblood [King|Alber × Reader]

Thirteen

You recoil from him as you look at your hand. Your blood is flowing at a fast pace.

King's nails are bright red since he used them to rip your skin.

The Lunarian scowls as he watches the wound glowing with reddish light, but it starts to fade soon.

The more it disappears, the more you feel the pain.

"What are you doing to me?" you look at him, and King shivers from your tone.

You clench your fist and shake your head, pushing him away. You pant silently and pull your injured hand to your chest.

"It shouldn't hurt," he says with conviction, but his bright eyes widen as the glowing stops. For a moment, you see worry and sadness on his features before he makes them disappear, and his face turns cold once again. "We're going back."

"Why won't you ever explain anything?" you ask, trying to regulate your panic.

"There are things you don't need to know," he states, flying closer to you. You look at the setting Sun and try to get farther from him. "Rain."

"I want to stay here," you whisper.

Now that you can fly, you have never felt more freedom.

"You know I won't let you," he answers, his voice suddenly serious. "I shouldn't have brought you here. Let's go back."

You bite your lip and cast down your eyes.

Would he be able to kill me if I tried to run away now? He's faster and more powerful than me.

I don't stand a chance.

"I want to see the world, Alber," you say, turning back to him.

You raise your chin and hide your bleeding hand. You want to look brave since honesty won't be enough.

"The world is cruel and dark," he shouts at you. "You should know that after everything you went through. If you leave Wano, they will hunt you down as they did to everyone who had Lunarian blood. Here, you can live."

"And live in the past forever," you growl. "Reading tales about a gone race, without a chance to understand more of them. You grew up on the Red Line, King. You lived among the memories of your kind. I've only fallen from one prison to another."

Your heart drops as the daylight changes color, and the clouds lose their golden essence.

King takes a deep breath and looks at the Sun that descends under the horizon to sleep.

His skin still looks warmer than in the semidarkness of his room, the black tattoo of a Rainflower drawing attention to the shining eyes.

He looks so noble.

"I know," he answers quietly, with such calmness that your disturbed mind settles. The Lunarian looks at you, and you hardly stand his gaze. "But you must understand that I can't let you go."

He hesitates for a moment, sorrow shadowing his face.

"If I never agreed to Lumen's wish to go down to the Blue Sea, she would be alive today," says King.

He offers you his hand, and you wipe away your tears, smudging your face with your blood. The pain grew worse.

Somehow, you feel lonely from this few meters' distance. Alber's wings still sing their melody to keep you close.

He hears mine too. He knows he needs to protect me.

You take his hand, and his tense muscles relax from your touch.