Dragon Raja

49 - Until Death Do Us Part

She felt it long before the realization kicked in. The wave of immediate relief. The presence of a savior. The blossoming feeling that perhaps, Y/N would live another day.

With what strength she had left, Y/N forced her head up towards the figure standing between her and the light emitting from their palms. Herzog was nowhere to be seen, as far as she could tell.

"Zero?" Y/N called out hoarsely, a talking corpse.

By now, Y/N was fully aware of her thumping heart threatening to stop. But she willed herself enough energy to rise to her knees again, despite all her wounds and the weakness in her bones.

"You haven't learned, have you?" her old friend questioned with a sense of remorse. Zero's tone was not monotonous like she was used to hearing. Instead, Y/N felt a sense of panic overwhelm her when she heard the familiar sound of Renata's sense of worry in her tone. And noticed that Zero's body was faded. She could see past her torso, as if looking through a ghost.

On the other side, Herzog kneeled with his head in his hands in what looked like agonizing pain.

But the satisfying sight of him in turmoil did nothing to ease her heart. Suddenly, Y/N felt more alive than she did merely seconds before.

"Why do you look like that?" She said with worry.

Zero did not answer.

Y/N's lips trembled.

"What are you doing?"

-

Z was not sentimental, nor did he ever wish he was. Sentiment meant being vulnerable, and it was during times like this, he could not afford to be vulnerable.

There was a trickle down his face, warm, smooth, nearly unnoticed. His eyes were bright and golden, the edges brimmed with blood. With his palm outstretched in the same direction as Zero, he mumbled an incantation and the light from his hands burst into an even brighter beam.

It was cruel—the path that fate had set for him. Or perhaps it was the path that he had paved himself. For a man who held his gaze with harshness, clouded with his own selfishness and determination, in this moment he stared at Y/N with a gentleness only reserved for her. The same gaze she gave him that cradled him during his moments of self-loathing and anger.

Even though his eyes burned and all the remaining strength in him was diminishing, he still had his will to reach her. He'd crawl if he had to, but only after his decree was heard.

"She's precious to me," he spoke among Herzog's screams. A satisfying sight watching him writhe in pain.

Caesar, Johann, Luminous, and Finger all glanced at Z in unison. His voice was hoarse and barely audible if it weren't for Herzog's cries, but they heard him nonetheless. It was all they could do at this moment—watch and listen. This was their plan, their fight to save Y/N—that's what Z had told them prior to showing up on the deserted shore.

Z recalled moments in his life when gentle arms wrapped around him and a sound of laughter that lifted his spirits and sucked the air out of his lungs. They belonged to Y/N. And he realized the air he breathed was always heavier when she wasn't around.

Or perhaps that was the effect of his heart threatening to stop.

But he could at least comprehend that in these moments all he could recall were fragments of memories that contained Y/N. This was all for her, after all. Both he and Zero had decided that this would be their final calling.