You merely stared back at Namjoon, trying to register if he had actually uttered such a statement. Wasn’t he the one breathing into your ear that he would never leave you just the day before? And now, not only had you woken up in your apartment alone and panicked so much that you had cried all the way to the comic store, the first thing Namjoon said upon seeing you only caused your heartache to deepen.

You never knew love could cut so deep like this.

“Let me explain,” he begged, noticing the heightened despair rolling out from your shaking body in his lap. “I believe Percy existed after the shattering of the stone. From what I’ve read, I’m certain this is how we break free from its hold on us.”

“But you’ll disappear from my world,” you whispered and Namjoon nodded grimly.

“I don’t know how long the timeframe apart will be, but I’m certain after reading the books Yoongi has spread out here that it won’t be the end.”

“It’s such a big risk to take,” you told him, shaking your head. “I don’t want to try.”

“You really don’t have much of a choice, Y/N,” Yoongi spoke up from the doorway, stepping closer. “I’m not sure what he’s suggesting, but if it’s about the shattering of the stone, I think that’s the only way to break free from this trap.”

“There’s no evidence is there that this has worked?” you asked both men, knowing they had each poured their attention over the books before you. You grew hopeful despite the desperate tone. You needed hope. If you couldn’t find even a shred of it in any of this then you knew you wouldn’t be able to agree.

Yoongi glanced at Namjoon and they both shook their heads at the same time. “I mean, I found several anecdotes but every time the shattered stone took place, the human left behind did something tragic or married another instead. There’s been no documented happy ending, no.”

“Yoongi has done some research into the bloodstone outside of this one we know of. Here, why don’t you-”

“I can’t deal with this,” you announced, getting up shakily and distancing yourself. “I can’t talk about this rationally. You’re both suggesting something that could easily mean the end of your existence, Namjoon. You don’t know if you will exist after the stone breaks. And we don’t know for sure if that will even happen so…”

“Stop kidding yourself, Y/N,” Yoongi scolded and you glanced at your best friend through a veil of tears. “There’s enough evidence either way that this won’t end well. Are you going to bury your head in the sand? Maybe with the stone letting Namjoon go free we can hope for the best that he’s out there existing still. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“I…” you started, shaking your head. It didn’t matter how you worded it, you felt selfish. You didn’t want anything to change. The stone wasn’t causing Namjoon any harm right now, so why did any of this have to interrupt what you had together? You saw no need for this anxious driven stage in your relationship. You were happy to go back to the moment before you found out what the stone could do.

For a second, as you stared at Namjoon’s saddened expression, you thought of life before him. You hadn’t been suffering then. Sure, you hadn’t felt as enlightened and fulfilled as you did now with his love either. But if it was destined to end, you wished you hadn’t started at all.

“I’m going to go,” you said in a detached tone, turning around dashing out of the store.

You ran to the park you had entered the day before, letting out a bitter breath when you remembered your desperate claims.

There was so much more you wanted to do with Namjoon at your side. Now that was up in the air with his proclamation.

“I forgot how fast you can be when you put your mind to it,” a familiar voice huffed out, and you glanced at Yoongi bent over in front of you, catching his breath. He gave you a wry smile. “Is this your idea of making me exercise other things than my brain and hands over books?”

“I’m not in the mood for your humour, Yoongi.”

“No.” He stood upright and stepped closer. “But I hope you’re in the mood to listen to your longest friend for a moment.”

“Everything’s crumbling around me. I don’t know how to cope with any of it.”

“Is anyone expecting you to? Is anyone asking you to give out all the answers? I can’t even understand the guy yet I can tell he’s trying his best not to leave you either.”

“I wish you could hear him properly,” you lamented with a sigh directed at the heavens. “Then things would be a little easier.”

“I don’t know about that,” Yoongi mused, looking up at the heavens squinting. “I think if we could communicate better, I might start to like him more.”

You glanced at your friend. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“He kind of stepped up better than I’ve ever tried for you. I want to hate him for that,” he confessed and you merely stared at Yoongi’s uneasy expression, realising he was finally saying something about the feelings you knew he harboured at the back of his heart.

“I’d rather you be the best friend I could ever have. Love is so overrated,” you replied and Yoongi chuckled. “It is! Friendship is superior.”

“Says the girl who walked into my shop smiling like the Cheshire cat yesterday. You suit being in love, Y/N.”

“It’s crazy how different one day can make everything,” you mentioned softly, dropping your head as your emotions built up again. “I’m scared I will never see him again.”

---

 

Namjoon decided to wait for you back at the apartment. It wasn’t that he didn’t wish to find you himself, but when Yoongi stopped his chase after you and shook his head, Namjoon realised his short appearance in your world meant nothing compared to the lifelong companion you had in Yoongi.

It also gave him further time to contemplate his next steps.

He was scared too. Namjoon knew that was what fuelled your discomfort towards the situation. If he had to exist in another realm than yours then it would be torturous to have tasted just a small portion of his love with you. It hadn’t been enough time.

He wondered if the stone gave each couple a certain amount of days together or if there was a variable in place for each situation. From what he had read, Victoria and Percy had planned both marriage and children within three weeks of knowing one another. The stone probably came with a time limit since the overwhelming emotions accelerated the courtship of each pair compared to usual romance.

It bothered him to be tied to something that took away his control.

Perhaps he would get a chance to love you wholeheartedly without it in his way in the future. Clasping his hands together, he prayed silently for this, hoping the grander divinities would listen out for his plea.

He didn’t want to face the same fate as his father after all this.

Would you cast him aside as Eliza had? Knowing that it didn’t save his father, would you still feel it the better option than the unknown? At least he could live out his remaining lifespan, albeit miserably.

Namjoon would never take another as his bride.

You eventually returned to the apartment, looking destroyed. It seemed even with Yoongi’s best attempts, a depression had taken over your state of mind. Wordlessly, you stared at Namjoon’s half risen posture from the couch at your return before heading down to the bedroom and shutting the door firmly behind you.

He waited on the couch for you to leave the confines of your troubles behind, your quiet movement in the early hours of the morning through the living space alerting him from his unfocused gaze. Blinking several times, he watched as you padded into the kitchen area for a glass of water, his stare unrelenting as you finished in the kitchen and stepped across the room towards him.

With a strangled sob, you crossed the remaining space and fell into his arms, clinging onto him dearly. Namjoon hadn’t been one to cry often over the hundreds of years he had lived. However, with the distraught sounds leaving you, he fell into his own misery, both of you allowing your hearts to mourn what you had.

The knowledge you held now meant there was no return to oblivious bliss anytime soon.

Once the emotions ran their course, you cleared your throat noisily, still curled up within his arms. “Namjoon?”

“Yeah?”

“I won’t let you be poisoned. Eliza didn’t know any better at the time. She thought it was her best option and whilst I don’t hate her for it, I won’t make the same mistake.”

He let out a heavy breath he didn’t even realise he had held. “I couldn’t survive the way my father had.”

“And I won’t be like Victoria either,” you pointed out shakily, finally lifting your head up enough to look at your lover. Giving him a watery smile, you attempted to ease his concerns. “I’ll continue to live. My existence isn’t solely to be consumed with love. I have a lot more to learn and experience.”

“That you do.”

“I don’t want to let go of you anytime soon. But I feel maybe if we address what we’re willing to risk maybe this moment will pass and the sheer amount of pain and fear I feel ridden with will ease.”

Namjoon smiled sadly. “I want the same.”

“As much as it pains me,” you stated, biting at your lip to steady some of your emotions as you placed a hand over his chest, over the stone entirely. “I won’t ever stop loving you. If that love pulls us apart with the shattering of this stone, then know that my heart will leave with you. Please bring it back to me with your return.”

Leaning in to kiss your tear-stained lips gently, Namjoon rested his forehead against yours. “No matter how long it takes me, I will find a way back to you.”

He couldn’t tell if his promise eased you enough or it was from exhaustion, but you soon fell asleep buried into his embrace. Closing his eyes, Namjoon pleaded repetitively to find you once more in this lifetime. Fragments of his previous world flashed before his eyes, his sister calling out his name repeatedly until it felt as if she were in the same room as he was. He snapped his eyes open, aghast to find himself in his studio again, Marian letting out a relieved breath. “About time, brother. Do you know how--”

Her sentence halted when Namjoon threw himself out of the chair he had been slumped onto and moved over to the looking glass upon the wall. Staring into the reflection, he hastily ed his shirt, feeling at his chest, tears falling from his eyes with how smooth and normal it was.

The stone was now gone.