Apocalypse ✦ Nomin

32

⊱ ───── { Jeno } ───── ⊰

Jeno sits in the shadows of his study with his knees curled up to his chest. He watches as Jaemin writhes against his restraints and screams his lungs out while Chenle lies, unconscious just a few feet away. Both he and Chenle lie on the ground on two separate pentagrams traced in red.

"Jeno!" Jaemin shrieks, further spiraling Jeno's sanity into oblivion as his hands shake, "Jeno, please!"

Jeno pulls himself onto his feet using a chair. Unfortunately, the legs scrape against the ground, alerting Jaemin to his presence.

"Jeno? Jeno, what's going on?" he whimpers.

Jeno slowly steps into the light, his face ghostly and pale.

"You...you were supposed to come alone..." Jeno speaks in a daze as his stomach pains him severely, "We were...we were just supposed to-to be alone...just this once..."

"What are you talking about? Jeno, you're scaring me." Jaemin cries.

"I just wanted to be with you...but you allowed him to follow you...You allowed the other archangel to follow you to me," Jeno mumbles as he wanders over to his desk, "Now...now I have to do this..."

"Do what?" the distraught man asks as he holds back tears.

Jeno places his fingers delicately on his sacrificial knife and glides the pads of his fingertips along the blade until it reaches the handle. He picks it up and turns back towards Jaemin. His eyes flicker between him and Chenle, trying his best to detach himself from his emotions.

"No, Jeno, please. You don't have to do this," Jaemin pleas as tears begin pouring from his eyes, "Y-you can let us go. It's not t-too late. Pl-please. We c-can run away together. We ca-an-"

"It is too late, Jaemin...Don't you get that?" Jeno barks viciously as he entangles is fingers in his jet black hair.

"It's n-never too late," Jaemin tries to convince him, "Pl-lease, I l-love you. Don-n't do this."

Jeno lets go of his hair and squeezes his eyes shut. He shakes his head as his chest pangs.

"I'm so sorry, Jaemin," he whispers in defeat.

Jeno opens his eyes and approaches Chenle without hesitation. He kneels beside his unconscious body, taking a deep breath before placing the blade of the knife against Chenle's throat. With a quick, swift jerk of his hand, he slices his neck open. Blood pours out of the deep wound in copious amounts: something which Jeno was not unaccustomed to seeing.

"Jeno!" Jaemin screams at the top of his lungs in pure horror.

Jeno places his hand against Chenle's chest and begins chanting a phrase in Latin. Thick black smoke  seeps from his hands to engulf Chenle's body. He Continues chanting until the smoke dissipates and Chenle has vanished. He then shuts his eyes and begins reciting something new, doing his best to focus.

As Jeno nears the end of the incantation, the ground begins to violently shake as if a massive earthquake had hit. Books come tumbling down from the shelves, landing on the floor with thunderous thumps. Papers and unlit candles practically fly off Jeno's desk, scattering about the floor.

Jeno gets onto his hands and knees, crawling towards Jaemin, who is shrieking in fear. He holds onto Jaemin's hand, causing him to look to Jeno with wide eyes.

Just then, the shaking ceases just as abruptly as it had started.

Jeno trains his eyes on Jaemin. He frowns deeply as he stares at the fearful man. He knows his father would force him to kill Jaemin sooner or later...What would the difference be if he did it now?

Jeno crawls on top of Jaemin, straddling him as he places the bloodied knife against Jaemin's throat. This causes his chest to ache so intensely that he could've sworn he was having a heart attack.

"Jeno, please! No!" Jaemin sobs violently.

Jeno tightens his grip on the knife as his breaths shorten and become incredibly hallow.

He had to do it. He knows he does. Still, no matter how much he tries to convince himself it was best he get it over with...he can't.

Jeno pulls back, removing the knife from Jaemin's neck and drops it. The knife clatters on the floor as Jeno raises his bloody hands up to his face and struggles to breathe properly.

Without thinking, Jeno scrambles to get off of Jaemin and sits beside him. He snaps his fingers, and Jaemin's restraints vanish, freeing him.

"Y-you have to go. Before my f-father knows you're here," Jeno stutters as the mortified man sits up.

He seemingly is unable to fully process what was happening for several long moments. When he finally does, he shakes his head.

"Not w-without you," Jaemin states, but this only hurts Jeno even more. How could he still want him to leave with him when he just nearly sacrificed him...again...This time of his own accord.

"I said go!" Jeno bellows with a low, distorted growl as he tries to replace his sorrow and regret with anger as to better cope with what he had just attempted to do.

Jaemin's eyes gloss over yet again, but he does not move. Jeno decides to take matters into his own hands.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers before waving his hand in a fluid motion.

Jeno looks away as Jaemin vanishes, feeling the aching in his chest worsen.

"Jeno...what the fuck did you do?" a voice asks from the doorway of his study, nearly startling Jeno. He snaps his head towards the sound and spots Jisung standing still, staring.

How long had he been there?

"I'm sorry, Jisung..." Jeno whispers.

"N-no...you didn't..." the tall man speaks fretfully as he slowly approaches Jeno, "Tell me you didn't do what I think you did..."

Jeno lowers his head, refusing to answer.

"You fucking bastard!" Jisung roars with despair.

Jeno hears something metal briefly grind into the wooden floor before Jisung lets out a loud growl. Jeno looks up to see that Jisung had picked up the Ares sword and was charging straight towards him. Jeno leaps to his feet, just barely dodging being impaled as Jisung tries to plunge it into his torso. Jeno grabs Jisung's wrist with one hand, his neck with the other.

"Drop it," he snaps as Jisung tries to gasp for air.

Jisung obeys and drops the sword with a loud clash. Jeno releases him and throws him backwards onto the floor.

"Try that again, and you can fucking join him," Jeno hisses, "Now...if you don't mind...I have an apocalypse to lead."