Warning: dark themes

Drabble 18: Lay/Luhan

Luhan screamed and clutched at his head, his chest heaving up and down as his voice died out. He screamed again and slammed his face into his knees, muffling the sound as he rocked back and forth on his heels, screaming, crying, shrieking—

Suddenly, he stopped, and the air rang with eerie silence.

“Luhan?”

Luhan flinched away from the soft touch and moaned brokenly into his legs, the cloth dampening from his tears.

“Luhan.” The cheerful voice rang out of place in the dank recesses of the corridor. The voice sang of sunshine and flowers, of spring and soft breezes. It had no place in this world of misery.

Luhan raised his teary eyes and stared into the soft face of his former lover.

Yixing looked at him curiously. “Luhan? What’s the matter? Why are you screaming? Are you hurt?”

Luhan sobbed brokenly and dropped his face into his hands as Yixing pulled him into a heavy embrace.

“Yixing…oh gods, Yixing, what have I done?”

“What is that?”

“Why is it here? It doesn’t belong here.”

“Why is it so happy?”

“It seems tasty…all of that energy, all of those memories.”

“It’s not food, it’s with Luhan. We can’t eat it.”

“But that scent…can’t you smell it? A spring love. A tender breeze. So delicious…”

Luhan squeezed Yixing’s hand tighter and hurried his pace. “Come on, hurry up.”

“Where are we, Luhan?”

“A place you don’t belong,” Luhan said shortly. He wove deftly through the cloud of black hooded cloaks keeping his eyes firmly focused on the ground, even as the spectral figures all turned towards him one by one, delicately scenting the air for Yixing’s scent.

“Luhan…”

“Stay quiet, Yixing,” Luhan snapped through gritted teeth.

“Luhan, where are we going?”

Luhan pulled Yixing through the crowd of black cloaks and into a small alleyway. “Listen to me, Yixing. You can’t stay here, it isn’t safe for you.”

“Where can I go?” Yixing drew in on himself in fright as he glanced around the dingy alleyway.

“See, you’re starting to feel it too. You don’t belong here,” Luhan grimaced. “You were meant for better places, Yixing. I don’t know how you got here, and I don’t want to know. Go through that door, and never come back here, do you understand me?”

“Luhan…what is this place?” Yixing reached out and grasped Luhan’s pale hands. “Come back with me, Lu.”

“I can’t.” Luhan wrenched his hands out of Yixing’s grip and shoved him down the alley towards a large metal door that had materialized at it’s end. “Hurry, Yixing. They’re coming. You can’t save me, you have to go.”

“Who’s coming? Luhan, please—“

A black-cloaked figure glided into the alleyway and nodded it’s hood in greeting to Luhan. “Luhan.”

“Go, Yixing.” Luhan stared unflinchingly at the cloaked figure. “Go and never come back here. This is a cursed place, not meant for someone like you.”

“Is he a human?”

“We’re all humans.”

“We’re necromancers, Luhan. All of us have lost our humanity.”

Yixing shivered as the black cloak figure seemed to grow taller and more menacing at the end of the alleyway. “Luhan…”

“Yixing, if you want to live, go home. I’m a lost cause, I can’t be saved.” Luhan kept his voice level, even as he spread his arms to block the cloaked figure from reaching Yixing. “Yixing, if you love me, you’ll go.”

Yixing flinched as if he’d been slapped, and then slowly backed towards the metal door. He put a shaking hand on the door knob and stared despairingly at Luhan’s outstretched arms.

“Luhan…”

“I love you, Yixing. Please be happy. Happy enough for the two of us.”

Yixing swallowed hard and twisted the knob, falling through the door and away from Luhan’s realm, away from Luhan’s love.

The door melted away and Luhan lowered his arms as the necromancer before him dimmed his aura.

“A former lover?”

“Yes.”

The hooded figure bowed deeply, its hood slipping forward as it bent from the waist. “My deepest apologies, Luhan.”

“It’s no trouble. He was so tempting.”

“You’ll learn to live with it, Luhan. We chose this path of desolation and ruin. Someday, you will rise to power, and you will reclaim everything you lost to join us. But until then…you must bear the burden of your sorrows.” The figure straightened up, and its hood fell back to expose its face.

Luhan stared into the face of Death and smiled, his eyes showing the thunderheads of emotion and nostalgia floating away to be replaced with clear apathy.

Luhan knelt in the street before his master, and his heart sealed the door to his past.

Yixing could never come back, riding in on the tender breeze of a dream. Luhan had made sure of it.

a/n:So, a sadder drabble. Sorry, I was just feeling moody, and it translated into this. Hopefully, though, you guys could all appreciate the heartbreak and angst in this drabble. Please comment with your thoughts below, and subscribe and upvote if you're enjoying the series so far! Thanks for reading~