Chapter Text
The battlefield is quiet now.
Daeyoung could barely feel his body anymore, lying on the cold ground, his vision blurs with crimson and fading light. His breaths comes in as shallow gasps, the sharp ache in his ribs numbing under the weight of his exhaustion. His mind wavers, teetering on the edge of his unconsciousness. It is not supposed to end like this.
Clunk clunk clunk. Running footsteps.
Through the dull ringing in his ears, he recognises them even before he sees the figure kneeling beside him. A presence that had been etched into his soul, even when it had been kept at a distance. Tokuno Yushi. His team member. His senior. His Guide, though he is not Daeyoung's paired guide. His Sentinel. His everything.
“Daeyoung.” Yushi's voice sounds hoarse, tinged with something dangero Daeyoung had never heard before. Desperation.
“Stay awake, Daeyoung.”
Daeyoung tries to smile. It seems pathetic, but the best he could manage.
“You—shouldn't be here, hyung.” He murmurs, his voice cracks with undeniable pain.
“You are supposed to be—”
“I don't care.” Yushi's exhausted and trembling hands pressed against Daeyoung's chest, trying to stop the bleeding and trying to deliver the guiding to Daeyoung's body. Yushi's usually composed features twisted with something raw.
“You idiot. Why didn't you wait for backup?” Yushi masks his worry with nagging.
Daeyoung laughs—or tries to. It comes out as a pained wheeze.
“I didn't think… I would need it. Hyung, my position is on the front line, I should protect... what's behind me.” To protect Tokuno Yushi—Daeyoung swallows Yushi's name hard.
Ah, it's too bad. He hasn't even confessed his long unrequited love yet and now he is in this position with his soul almost slipping away from his body.
Daeyoung's senses keeps slipping. His connection to the world fraying, untethered. But Yushi wouldn't and couldn't let him go. Not yet. Yushi's grip on him tightened.
“No. No, you are not leaving. I can fix this. Just hold on, damn it.”
His aura flares, burning bright and overwhelming as he tried to reach into Daeyoung's mind, to anchor him, to keep him from slipping away.
Daeyoung smiles painfully without Yushi knowing, despite his best effort Yushi is not the best at guiding people.
Tokuno Yushi, he is an A rank, a Multi that could heal. Could guide. Could command. But there are limits even for someone like him, his guiding performance is as bad a those in lower ranks than him. And since he had only perfected his sentinel abilities, his guiding abilities is almost the same as those of C ranks. Though, Yushi has tried his best to heal Daeyoung. It js also exhausting for his sentinel's stats. Stilll, Daeyoung could feel the warmth of Yushi's presence pressing against his consciousness, a familiar touch he had spent years longing for but never truly having.
Yushi had always been distant—kept himself apart even from those who had spent years of being together with him. When Daeyoung —a combat front liners B rank sentinel—was added to the team, he was trying so hard to get close to Yushi. Since Yushi was someone he has always looked up to, he really thought even if Yushi only gave him a glance it would already mean so much for him.
However, his admiration to Yushi slowly began to bloom into something a lot deeper. He loved Yushi, he loved the strong Yushi on the battlefield, he loved the vulnerable Yushi who was grieving over the lost of his team members silently, he loved the way Yushi protect those around him, he also loved the way Yushi tried his best being the healer. He loved... And loved... Until it reaches the point where he almost forgot his own standing. A B rank sentinel and a A rank multi whom people admire... It would never work for the two of them. So Daeyoung has hidden his love all these times. Being by Yushi's side, fighting along with him, being in the front to protect Yushi... The unspoken boundary between them had never been crossed.
But now, Daeyoung had witnessed Yushi is still pouring everything into him, desperately trying to keep him here. “Hyung...” Daeyoung whispers, his voice weaker now.
“Do you… remember that thing? They say… when you die, you get seven minutes. Your brain—replays your best memories.” Yushi's breath hitches.
“Don't talk like that.”
Daeyoung exhales slowly, his vision darkening at the edges.
“I think mine just started, hyung.”
His mind drifted. Memories surfaced. The first time he met Yushi. The rare moments when Yushi had smiled, soft and fleeting. The times when he thought—just maybe—Yushi had looked at him the way he had always looked at Yushi. Warmth blooms in his chest, but not from the blood loss. Yushi is trembling now. The ever-stoic, untouchable Yushi, shaking.
“Don’t do this. Daeyoung.” His voice cracks, his hands clenching onto him.
“Please.”
Daeyoung wishes he had more time. More time to see Yushi's face soften like this. More time to hold onto him. More time to be selfish.
“Yushi hyung...” He murmurs.
“Don't.”
Daeyoung smiles. A real one this time. Soft. Tired. Full of something his unspoken feelings.
If he could be more selfish, he would want to confess his love right here. However Daeyoung is not that cruel enough to leave Yushi with a painful memory, what if it causes him a trauma of being confessed to? Daeyoung would feel bad if there is someone out there who sincerely loves Yushi but couldn't pour their feelings to Yushi because his confession get in their way.
Instead of confessing, Daeyoung says “You’re my seven minutes, hyung.”
The last thing he feels is Yushi's arms pulling him close. The last thing he hears is Yushi whispering his name, over and over, as the world faded to black.
The End.