their staring contest continues, as they bore holes into each other, they forget about the shattered glass, dahyun -who’s curled in a ball as far as possible from them-, mina who just disappeared. they forget about the world, as they slip into their own universe.

“was she?” jeongyeons speaks first, breaking the heavy silence between them. “a hirai,” nayeon answers, watching as fear crawls under the younger girl’s skin.

“why?”

“it is bound to happen, sooner or later.” nayeon murmurs.

“why does it have to be you? why did you just go out there and let it happen?” jeongyeon’s voice quivers.

“i’m the last im standing, jeongyeon, i had to..” the older girl speaks softly, fully aware that she’s caused enough damage as it is.

“we have to do something, stop this bomb from ticking down, we-”

“it’s already over,” interrupts nayeon, bursting their bubble, bringing them back to earth. noise starts seeping into their world; the chirps of the birds outside the window, dahyun’s uneven breath..

jeongyeon’s sobs hit like a flood. she falls onto her knees, her hands clutched in tight fists, -her knuckles start turning white-, and her head hung low.

hot tears stream down her cold cheeks, and she shakes with every breath she takes.

“no! nayeon, please! i can’t spend an eternity without you! i can’t lose you!” she hollers.

dahyun, who has been trying to muffle every sound, couldn’t stop jeongyeon’s heart wrenching cries from invading her safe space. she opens her eyes slowly, taking in the scene before her. her heart stings seeing jeongyeon’s tears, for the first time.

they said that she had only cried once before, when she lost her sister in a battle with the others .

“it’s over..” nayeon whispers, and the youngest of them tries to puzzle the pieces together. and when she finally gets a glimpse of the full picture, she gets on her feet and sprints to engulf the girl who’s crying her heart out on the floor.

she pulls her into her embrace, and they cry together.

‘it’s over..’ nayeon’s words play in their heads like a broken record; jeongyeon shakes her head violently in a futile attempt to stop the din from driving her crazy.

dahyun looks up at the oldest of them with teary eyes. she wants to tell her that she doesn’t have to sacrifice herself to stop the mess that their ancestors started, but she fails to form the words and sentences, so she just stares at the girl who’s looking back at her with the same pain in her eyes, a sad smile playing on her lips.

she gets up and leaves the room.

“we have to stop her.” jeongyeon cries. “we will find another way.”

and as much as dahyun wants to believe it, she knows that there’s no other way to stop the war other than sacrificing their doomed im, and the others’ equally cursed hirai.

a/n: feel free to curse me for ending it this way haha..