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When Spinel realised that he was going to pass away within a summer, he started trying to make all the preparations he could to not only aid Calyx in furthering their pursuit of eternity within Preservation, but also to ensure his own legacy would be protected.
Since their meeting when he was but a young eldite, Spinel had always been obsessed with everything that was Calyx. From admiring his dedication to the cause of defying death itself, to the way he had little patience for failure and non-compliance… everything about the young prodigy was just… perfect.
Spinel wished to be just like him, spending endless hours trying to aid the hyune in research and making sure that the prototypes of creating Endless went on with minimal hitches. Even when his own disease made him weaker, even to the point of being bed-bound, he still did all he could to work for Calyx.
Preservation is more than me… Even if I could continue to live by his side forever… I have to ensure the future of our organisation will follow what Calyx dreams of to a T.
Despite his rather hard and emotionless exterior, Calyx had started to visit Spinel when he could no longer make the meetings, sitting in a chair near his bed as the many machines that beeped and ticked around them filled the silence. Spinel couldn't help but feel overjoyed.
Before he had collapsed and ended up in this state, he had finally worked up the courage to express his adoration of Calyx. He wanted to attempt to refine the Endless concept as flawlessly as he could before he died, so that he could come back and persist with Calyx in eternity.
Calyx had given him a rare smile before pressing his hand against Spinel's cheek.
"For the sake of Preservation, Spinel. We will prevail." He then grasped his chin and pulled Spinel close, his mask pressing against Calyx's lips. "I won't let you go so easily, Spinel. You have been the most dedicated of any I know."
Spinel might've started to feel breathless in Calyx's hold, but not because he was holding him as no one had before… A small shiver of fear tingled up his spine as his own pink gaze met the hyune's soulless grey. The way his cotton gloves did little to warm the hands of the other- his touch ice cold and draining the feverish heat from Spinel's own cheeks.
"I will ensure that you become the perfect Endless. And through Preservation, death will be a long, distant memory. You will always stay by my side, yes?"
Nodding, Spinel felt the grip on his chin tighten, making him gasp as his heart-rate monitor increased. With the mask on his face, he couldn't speak, but Calyx pulled it down, making Spinel gasp as his arms weakly scrambled to put it back on.
"I asked you a question, Spinel."
Tears burning in his eyes, Spinel tried to find his voice, and it tumbled out of his mouth, raspy and pained. "O-Of course, Calyx… always… I will always be on your… side… and by it…"
Please… I can't breathe… Cal…
Calyx watched him struggle a little longer, and the eldite noted the dangerous glimmer that had appeared in the hyune's eyes. As if he was watching a butterfly with a broken wing trying to fly…
Like a predator waiting for its prey to die…
Calyx… please…
After a few more moments, Calyx pressed the mask back against Spinel's face, and Spinel gulped in the oxygen hungrily, spluttering against the mask as he did.
"Interesting." Calyx pulled away from the bed and straightened his jacket. "I think you will make for a really interesting Endless, Spinel. Preservation is all the better for having you on our side."
Spinel gave a weak nod, his chest rising and falling slowly as exhaustion immediately took hold of his body. At least… I can prove my worth. He thought weakly.
Deep down, the exchange left him with a small amount of doubt… but in the end, all Spinel wanted was to be useful to the one he held above anything else.
It didn't matter that he almost passed out from oxygen deprivation.
It didn't matter that his body continued to decay.
Because Calyx would make him an Endless that would be with him forever.
And together after death, they would never fear anything else again…
For in Preservation, eternity would be forever, and the world would be perfect…