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Jinu was going to fuck everything up.
Abby knew it. He's known Jinu. He knows what kind of person he is. A greedy, pathetic person. He was going to drive their whole operation into the fucking ground.
He had just stomped off to his room after they had made the fatal mistake of confronting him about it right after Gwi-Ma. He'd screamed and accused all of them for not believing him before storming off. Mystery had been strangely irritated about the whole thing, and had stalked off shortly after, to do whatever it is he does in his free time.
Now it was just the three of them left, Abby, Romance and Baby.
"You don't….really think he is going to go against us, right?"
Baby says, after a long moment of silence. Romance shrugs and Abby just shakes his head. Baby frowns, looking unsure.
"He can't. We've gotten so far, the honmoon is so close to breaking he wouldn't just—"
"He won't do anything!" Romance snaps, shutting Baby up, "Gwi-Ma won't let him. And we won't either. Let him sulk, it's the only thing that he can do."
Baby stares for a moment, before reluctantly nodding and standing up, "Whatever. I'm going to bed."
"Night," Abby calls as he walks away. Baby gives a grunt in response. Romance moves to sit next to Abby, leaning on his shoulder. Abby reaches down to take his hand, squeezing it.
"Will he?" Romance speaks quietly. Abby sighs. He knows the truth, and he also knows that it's the last thing that Romance will want to hear. But he can't lie, not to him.
"Gwi-Ma won't let him," He repeats the man's words back to him. This doesn't seem to comfort him as his head drops onto Abby's shoulder.
"Jinu has always done his own thing, you know this, nae salang." Romance says, sitting up. Abby turns to look at him, pained by the worried expression on the man's face. He opens his mouth, wanting to console him, but unable to find anything to say.
He's right, of course he is. The whole reason Jinu is here is because he sacrifices things to get what he wants, decades of friendship be damned. The others knew this well, they had been with him for hundreds of years. Abby had accepted this too, and it was because of his quick acceptance that Jinu had allowed him to become so close, to be trusted enough to tell him of the whole 'demon boy band plan'. In other words, if Jinu wanted to do something, he would.
"He won't. He wants those memories gone just as much as we do." Abby says, squeezing Romance's hand again, hoping to soothe him. It doesn't work.
Tears begin to well up in Romance's eyes.
"If he messes things up, we'll all be punished! Things were going so well, Abby! I can't—I don't want to lose this! I don't want to lose you!" He cries, pulling his hands back to wipe his eyes, "Why does this always happen to me? I haven't done anything wrong this time! I've been—I've been trying so hard but it's all fucking useless!"
"Don't say that! You're not going to lose anything!" Abby insists, pulling his hands away from his eyes and forcing Romance to look at him.
"Look at me, listen to me," Abby says, keeping his voice calm, certain. He hides all the fear that he feels. Romance doesn't need that right now.
"He's stubborn, but he wouldn't throw us to the dogs. I know that for a fact." Abby says, looking deep into his love's eyes, "I won't let anything take you away from me. Never. Understand?"
Romance sniffs, glancing away. Abby reaches up, holding his cheek and gently guiding his face so they're making eye contact again. He speaks quietly, "Understand?"
"Mn." Romance mumbles, before leaning forward and wrapping his arms around Abby's neck, hugging him tightly.
Smiling softly as he pats the other's back, Abby lets out a sigh, "I won't let us be separated, nae salang."
"You better not," Romance mumbles wetly. Abby manages a laugh and reassures him, "I always keep my promises."
In the end, Abby has always been weaker than he looks.
He was distracted, staring at he watched his best friend sacrifice his life for a woman he barely knew. He hadn't been prepared for when Mira came back at him, his reaction time had been slow.
"No. More. Abs!" She screams, as she swings her weapon to slice him into pieces. He would've laughed at the stupid final sentence if it hadn't hurt so much.
He looks up, his eyes locking onto Romance, who was watching with wide, desperate eyes.
Mira doesn't stay, running to go join Zoey and Rumi in their fight.
The last thing that Abby see's before bursting into ash and floating away on the wind is Romance reaching for him, calling his name, his real name. The last thing that Abby thinks is a prayer.
A prayer to Gods that he had given up on long ago.
Not him too.
And then, Abby is gone, like he had never been there in the first place. And Romance is forced back into the demon realm as the Honmoon is turned golden, forced to retreat with the other surviving Saja boys.
Baby had retreated before Zoey had the chance to stab him, and Mystery has a long slash on his face. Mira hadn't even seen Romance. He's unharmed. But Abby is dead. He's gone, and he'll never ever come back.
Gwi-Ma isn't dead. But he's weak. And furious. They will be punished, with whatever punishment Gwi-Ma deems fit.
They won't die, death is a mercy.
But Romance doesn't care. He had lost the love of his life, his soulmate. Again.
And that's all the punishment Romance needs.