Chaewon POV

 

 

A shaky breath in as hands reach for the soft grass in front of you, kneeling on the ground.

 

“Why are you on Raeix?” The commander asks.

 

“You brought me here.”

 

“But why?”

 

Red eyes shut, fingers curling to form fists. Blades of grass gather in your hands. Another deep, shaky breath. Venom spreads through your veins, and you have no choice but to endure it.

 

“My ship crashed. I didn’t have anywhere else to go, nowhere that I can remember.”

 

“And Sakura just chooses to trust you immediately?”

 

“I don’t have influence on her decisions,” You spit.

 

The venom flows throughout your body, and you feel your heart beating rapidly. Your head starts to spin, and you have to resist the urge to open your eyes again. You’re too far into the process, you can’t stop now when you’re so close. Venom travels to your arms.

 

“Yes, you do! She let you go with a snap of your finger, and she’s been refusing to let me interrogate you!” The commander rises from his seat and slams his hands on the table. He glares at you, a fire in his eye. “Sakura might not see it, but I do.”

 

“Yeah? Well, you’re seeing things.” 

 

An insane look in his eye. He pushes his chair away from him. “You’re not safe when she’s away from you, Kim.”

 

You squeeze your eyes tighter, eyebrows furrowing at the memory of his words, how the venom in his voice fuels the venom traveling in your body. It’s aggravation grows, and so does your own. 

 

“You have a woman as pathetic as her ‘protecting’ you. What power does she have? She can’t even protect you from me.”

 

Your gaze lowers as you hear him moving to your side of the table. You can’t move.

 

“No one is here to ‘save you’. You’re alone.”

 

You’re alone. On this planet full of your enemies, you are alone. A sharp sting to your head, and you wince. A chill runs down your spine, and you rip the grass off the ground.

 

You’ve almost reached your limit.

 

“Tell me the truth,” The man speaks through gritting teeth. “Have you influenced Sakura’s decisions?”

 

“No.”

 

You’ve fueled his fire.

 

You remember it all. The crash of his chair hitting the floor, the creaks of yours  as it was pushed back when you were pulled up by the collar of your shirt. Your pleas for him to let you go, and your groan of pain when he pushed you away from him, making you land on the door. You remember it all, your frantic grabbing for the knob, how you pushed the door open only for him to put pressure on your neck. You remember your fear.

 

“Liar! You’re a liar!”

 

The temperature rises by several degrees and the ground around you shakes. A heavy breath and your knees dig into the dirt. 

 

Your breath quickens and the venom leaves your body. You feel the life around you dissipate as it enters through your hands. You feel… alive.

 

The energy surges through your body as you begin to weaken. You take in a breath, holding it in an attempt to keep your strength. It works for the most part, because you’re able to keep going for another few seconds before you’re forced to let the breath out.

 

All venom has left and you’ve consumed all the energy you took in. The ground’s shakes are put to a stop.

 

Red eyes open.

 

Glancing around, you immediately notice the obvious. The grass around you has died and there are a few cracks in the ground. It is drained of all colors, only gray remaining. However, you still haven’t gotten enough.

 

The parts that are gray are only in about a three meter radius of you. Even if that is more than when you first started a few days ago, how can you watch Raeix fall if you can only drain the life of an area so small? No, you need more, but you are still weak. You are still alone.

 

You stand slowly, having to support yourself on the ground after almost toppling over a few times. You need to rest, just for a minute. 

 

Walking out of the gray circle with heavy steps, you lie on the soft grass full of color. Spreading your arms and legs, you take a deep inhale. 

 

Never could you have imagined yourself able to ‘breathe’ while in space. That being said, your capability of taking life comes to you as the most shocking thing you could ever think of, and yet disappointment is all you feel. Of course a power as strong as this is held by someone as weak as you. You didn’t ask for this. In a way, you wish you never discovered your ability. You wish this strange power were still dormant somewhere in your body.

 

Another deep inhale, allowing your mind to wander. 

 

The air here feels much clearer than on Paridiy. It’s moments like these where you like it more, but you would never admit that to anyone… if you had someone to admit it to, that is.

 

Red eyes close once more, and one more deep inhale.

 

With the clouds out of its way, the sun beams down on you. The warmth it gives you serves as a reminder that you have another source of warmth. A certain captain you know would be more than willing to provide you with that comfort.

 

A soft smile.

 

You purposefully left out the part where Sakura protected you while thinking about the events that occurred yesterday. You need your memories to fuel your anger in order to take life, but thinking about the captain only brings comforting feelings. Now that you’re taking a break, however, you’re free to let the warm feelings consume you.

 

Bringing your right arm up, you look at your wristband. Sakura gave it to you as a form of communication between you and her, but it also displays the time and other various things for entertainment that you never bothered to look into.

 

2:03 P.M. Sakura’s lunch break approaches.

 

Before leaving her apartment, you packed various things in your bag to surprise the captain at her place of work. While you had your doubts about doing so, you ultimately decided that a distraction from your worries would help you clear your mind. Her company seems to always distract you.

 

With a newfound energy, you shoot up. Pushing yourself to stand, you quickly grab your bag from its spot a safe distance away. With your serapha, you push yourself into the air, letting yourself feel the cool wind flow around you before you head towards the direction of Sakura’s job.

 

Serapha allows you to pick yourself up using telekinesis, and while you mostly dislike using it as a way for transportation, you don’t have another choice. It’s either you fly, or you walk the long distance from where you are to Sakura.

 

On Paridiy, you didn’t have the privilege of flying to places as freely as you are now. Because so many people looked down on seraphs, flying and revealing your powers would only mean you would receive stares, rude comments, or in extreme cases, you might have been attacked. 

 

You take a deep breath, taking in the freedom you have. You of all people should know that freedom has a price.

 

As you approach the glass covered building, you lower yourself to the ground. Just as your feet land on the pavement with a soft thud, you spot a head of dark gray hair emerging from the sliding glass doors. You feel your red eyes go back to their normal brown.

 

Examining her face in more depth, you notice a frown on her face. She looks… stressed.

 

You jog up to her, and it’s clear to you now that she is in fact stressed. With the way her eyebrows are furrowed and how she tugs at her sleeves, you know something is wrong.

 

“Hey,” You put on your best smile, so as to not stress her any more.

 

The captain’s eyes meet yours, and immediately is washed over with what appears to be relief. Eyebrows furrowed no longer. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

 

You stay in your spot until she’s next to you, and when she is, you walk with her. Seeing that she’s empty-handed, you take your bag and take out a water bottle with a few snacks. “I’m delivering your food, but I can go if you don’t want me here.” You raise an eyebrow at her, teasing her.

 

You know she won’t turn you away.

 

“No, you can stay,” Sakura laughs softly, taking the water bottle and snacks into her hands. “Thanks.”

 

“What would you do without me?” You playfully bump your shoulder against hers, to which she responds with a louder laugh.

 

A smile on both of your faces. You were able to make her smile again.

 

The two of you continue walking, Sakura taking slow sips of water next to you. While you have your head tilted slightly up to breathe in the fresh air, Sakura watches the ground as she walks.  Silence overtakes the atmosphere around you, but you’re not bothered by it. A relaxed breath in and you bask in her presence.

 

The Sun beams its warm light on you, and you turn your head to look at Sakura.

 

Breathless, she makes you breathless. For a reason unknown to you, the Sun’s light looks better when it shines down on her. 

 

Taking in the view of Sakura and the warmth of the Sun, you get an urge to hold her for her warmth instead. The warmth of the Sun is nice, but why would you settle for it when someone that can provide a more comforting warmth is right next to you?

 

You go to reach for her hand, and Sakura notices the second your hand almost touches hers. Normally, she would hold her hand out and take yours into her. This time, she pulls her hand away, eyes wide with surprise. A sting to your heart. Letting your hand fall to your side, you glance at her. Sakura watches the ground as you continue to walk together.

 

Rejection hurts, of course. You are human, but aside from the hurt, you wonder why. She seemed fine holding your hand all those other times. What changed?

 

Worry comes to you in waves. Have you done something wrong? Did you make her feel uncomfortable? Or maybe, she didn’t want you here in the first place. That’s… probably it. You did show up to her job without warning. Oh god, what if she had plans on meeting someone for her lunch break, but you being here disrupted her? Did she decide to stay with you since you don’t know anyone else and she would feel bad for leaving you? Oh no, you really are self–

 

“Sorry– um,” Your eyes snap towards the captain. Sakura wipes her hand on her shirt before holding out her hand to you. You don’t miss the slight red on her cheeks as she does. Is she embarrassed? “My hands were sweaty and I didn’t want you to get disgusted at that, so…”

 

Ah, that was all. Why did you overreact so much?

 

You let out a soft laugh of relief, except it comes out rather nervous sounding. You take her hand into yours.

 

“What? You nervous around me?”

 

The captain’s eyes widen more, causing another laugh to come out of your mouth. You watch her struggle to say anything, opening and closing.

“Relax, I’m teasing you,” You say amidst your laughter. Sakura furrows her eyebrows, giving you a look of annoyance before reaching her free hand out and punching your shoulder. 

 

“You shouldn’t say things like that.”

 

You swing your connected hands gently.

 

“Why? You gonna catch feelings?” Something in the back of your head tells you that crossing a line like that one isn’t something you should do. Alas, you can’t take back your words.

 

Sakura looks away. “We have a strictly professional relationship.”

 

“We do?” A wide smile on your face, amused. “I didn’t know people in a ‘strictly professional relationship’ cuddle every night.”

 

She gives you a glare, but it only makes you laugh more. “Stop bringing that up. People will hear and find out.”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, maybe holding hands make