Archive of Our Own

This weather is unbearable.

That was one of the few thoughts running inside his mind as they ran through the woods. 

It wasn’t a lie, either — the air around was cold, unbearably so. With every breath he took, the cold air attacked the insides of his nose and throat, making it all the more unpleasant to breathe in. Still, he pressed on, as he needed that air to continue running away.

The atmosphere around was bleak and devoid of any life, the world now an apocalyptic scenario he used to believe only existed in movies. Some of the trees were barren, their leaves fallen down and covering their exposed roots, and others had wooden trunks slightly streaked red from absorbing blood that had seeped into the soil. The skies were dark, blue-gray clouds covering the sun and letting no sunlight seep through. The frigid cold air bit through his skin and hurt his eyes. Yet, the will, the desire to live was one of the two things keeping him alive and running away from the threat that was chasing them down. 

The other thing was the person he was dragging. 

They were both disheveled — scars and wounds littering their skin, flesh covered in cuts and gashes that sometimes looked too deep to even be possible. Their clothes were tattered with rips and a few holes here and there. Despite that, they still pressed on, the sound of panting filling the air as they ran through uncharted territory that he was certain both of them never knew existed before. 

He could feel the burn in his own legs, the ache of running already catching up to him. Yet, the touch of his hand in his own reminded him that he wanted to survive, the will like an undying flame that refused to die within the blizzard. And so, with another push, he tightened his grip on the person and ran forward. 

He turned back to see the thing chasing them. He didn’t know if a floating, glowing cube would constitute a living being, or if it’s some kind of alien from another dimension. Either way, the cube itself was quite large, radiating an icy-blow glue that made it stand out from the monochrome scenery of grays and blacks. As it floated across the sky, destruction was the only thing that remained in its wake — the space below and behind it a barren space, desolate and empty. 

Spotting some nearby bushes, he dragged the person and himself behind the foliage, concealing them from the cube’s view, as evidenced by the cube simply floating ahead and not even hesitating to turn to where they actually were. They were safe for now, but if they stayed here, it wouldn’t take long before they weren’t safe anymore. 

Looking around, his purple eyes spotted a nearby building. He tapped on the person’s shoulder, catching his attention. Let’s go there, he signaled. 

With the other person’s approval, the two of them made their way to the building, avoiding the puddles on the way to avoid their presence being known to the cube.

The building’s interior looked to be that belonging to a mall, with several chandeliers above their heads, clearly not working anymore. In the middle of what looked to be a hub, was a massive pile of clothes that just sat there, forming a small mountain of shirts, pants, coats, dresses — whatever clothes that were there that contributed to the growing stack. The pile itself was already tall, growing to be about three, maybe four floors tall. Obviously, the building was deserted, so unless there was someone hiding, there were no other people besides the two of them, creating an eerie sense of serenity and peace that these days was rare to come by.

He looked to the sky, and was immediately jumpscared by the cube flying across, visible through the glass and steel roof. He grabbed the person beside him and ran to a nearby counter — what looked to be the remains of an information desk — and ducked. They waited for a moment or two with bated breaths, before he stuck his head out of their hiding spot, seeing no sign of the cube. A slight feeling of relief washed over him like a tidal wave, knowing that they had no glowing cubes to worry about — for now. 

“…I think we’re safe for now,” he muttered in relief. “Are you doing okay, Saps? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Nah, I’m fine, Flux.” Saps shook his head, making an effort to tidy the messy braid he had haphazardly made, trying to tuck in stray snow-white strands of his hair back into the braid. While he did so, he gave the black-haired male, catching Flux slightly off-guard.

Not that he minded too much really. He kind of needed a smile in a bleak, apocalyptic time like this.

Saps’s smile proceeded to morph into confusion. “What was that cube, anyways? We’ve been running from that…thing for who knows how long.”

“I’m not sure myself. Might be an alien, might be some kind of lab experiment gone wrong. Either way, what we do know is that it’s dangerous,” Flux answered, mind flashing back to when it all happened. They were merely minding their own business, running errands and catching up with friends, until that cube suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sent them running away for their lives. 

“…I just hope the others are alright,” Saps muttered. 

“…I hope so too.”

Flux took this time to inspect their surroundings again. Because of the dark skies above their heads, a chilly, eerie blue light enveloped the place. The broken chandeliers swayed ever so slightly with the wind, tethered to the ceilings that showed a sunless sky. Now that they weren’t running anymore, he realized the building looked to be more of those big indoor markets with thousands of tenants than a high-end shopping mall.

“It’s only us in this place, right?” The other male asked. At that question, Flux turned around to look at Saps. 

“Yeah, it should be. I don’t think any idiot would want to be here.” Looking around, his eyes caught something in the distance — a shop with working light behind a glass door. 

“Wait a minute.”

“Hm?”

“Look there, Saps.”

“Where?”

“There.” Flux pointed to the shop. “It looks to be a grocery store…maybe a general store? Either way, there might be something useful for us there.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

As Saps ran off, a reminder suddenly appeared in Flux’s head. “Saps, remember — we’re only here for supplies, and after that, we’re moving out of here as soon as possible. Don’t get too cozy here. That cube might jumpscare us and kill us on the spot. Who knows what it can do?”

“Roger that,” Saps responded with a mock-salute. 

They made their way to the store, slowly approaching the working lights that were behind closed glass doors. It turned out to be a video store, selling old cameras and other knick-knacks. The sign above the shop read “Horizon Portal”, however, some of the letters were missing, specifically both of the Horizon’s Os, the N, and the Portal’s T. Surrounding the entrance to the door were a few stacks of old-style TVs as well as an assortment of cardboard boxes neatly stacked in a corner. Beside the store was what looked to be a clothing store, with a mannequin encased in a glass display, sitting on a moldy-looking sofa while wearing a black blouse, complete with a yellow skirt and a tan orange blazer that draped loosely over the mannequin’s broad shoulders.

Flux moved first, walking towards the door and pressing a blackened hand at the cold glass. He grabbed the handle and attempted to pull it open — to no avail. He proceeded to try again, pulling on the steel handle, but the door had a ridiculously tenacious grip on the frame — it wouldn’t budge an inch. He then alternated between pulling and pushing on the door, praying that it wasn’t locked. 

Even when he kicked at it with all his might, the door was still standing, and there was not a crack on the glass. 

“And just when I needed my powers,” Flux grumbled beneath his breath alongside a colorful assortment of curses, still salty from the cube taking away his Voidfire. His blackened hands now served nothing more than a remnant of his ancient power. “Saps! Do you think you can help me open this door?”

No answer. 

Turning around, Flux’s purple eyes caught Saps looking at something. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the white-haired male was holding up a sort of recording device, miraculously still intact, despite the surrounding atmosphere spelling ruin and the conditions of the other old devices around them. Sure, it was dirty and definitely worn with age, but other than that, it looked to still be working. 

“Saps? What’s that?”

“I think it’s an old camcorder. I’ve seen one like this while visiting Schpood in Westhelm.” Golden eyes looked towards Flux, one of them slightly clouded.

“Where did you find that?” He asked as he walked closer towards Saps. 

“I found it between those two old TVs. There,” he said as he pointed towards where he presumably got the camcorder, a small slit between the two aforementioned old TVs. 

Saps gently hit the camcorder once, twice, shaking it around before a red flash appeared underneath where the lens was. “Holy shit — it still works?” Saps gasped. He proceeded to lift the camcorder to his left eye, gasping shortly afterwards. 

“Flux…Flux — no way!” Saps cried out, a wide smile spreading across his face, while his other eye sparkled with child-like joy — well, sparkled as much as it could. Nowadays, he rarely saw Saps smile like that — not since that cube emerged, forcing them to run away for survival. 

Not since the vision in Saps’s right eye disappeared forever. 

“Something…the matter?” Flux lifted an eyebrow as he tilted his head to the side, slightly confused at Saps’s reaction. What was he seeing through that lens to make him this elated and filled with joy?

“The world…it’s beautiful again. It’s as if there was never any alien cube to begin with,” Saps commented, breathless and awestruck. Flux meanwhile, could only blink in confusion as he looked at the white-haired male dumbfoundedly. Was the stress and fear making Saps hallucinate?

“You’re kidding, right? Are you going insane, Saps…?”

“No, I’m serious, Flux. Ugh, how do I explain this…it’s like, there’s some kind of filter in this lens. It’s…simply incredible,” Saps continued, offering the camcorder. “Here, give it a try.”

Flux looked at Saps’s outreached hand, where the camcorder sat idly. After a little while, he gently took the camcorder from the white-haired male’s hands, lifting the viewfinder to his eye. 

Saps wasn’t lying. 

Through the lens, he could see Saps — his Saps — in all his beauty and gentleness, basking in a warm golden light, illuminating his porcelain skin and lean but muscular build, slightly hidden by baggy clothes. The sunlight haloed his white hair — once unkempt and messy, now silky and neat — and made his golden eyes glow even more beautifully, shining with iridescence and infatuation as he looked back at Flux. The dirty and ragged clothes he was wearing — a white sweater whose sleeves were a little too long for his arms, a matching pair of white pants, as well as a pair of white boots — were clean, free of any rips and tears. The TVs behind where Saps stood were working as well, showing off every minute detail of the person he had grown to love.

Breathless, Flux staggered, something the usually calm and collected black-haired male never did. He momentarily pried off the viewfinder from his purple eyes, before breathing in a shaky breath and holding up the camcorder to his eyes again. 

He slowly walked his way closer to Saps, stopping right in front of him. He slowly brought up his left hand to Saps’ face, gently touching his skin. Though the biting cold of his skin was what he felt when he made contact due to the weather, he could also feel a faint feeling of warmth beneath. Slowly, as delicately as possible, he trailed his face, from his long white locks, brushing over his eyebrows, and stopping beneath his eye, his thumb beneath a mole located under his right eye.

The same right eye that went blind shortly after the disaster happened. 

It had been a while since the disaster happened, but Flux remembered it as clear as day — shortly after it happened, while they were still getting used to the feeling of being at edge and on constant guard, the cube suddenly appeared in front of them and attacked them with a red light. While Flux mostly walked away unscathed, only having his Voidfire taken away, Saps, who was in front of him and was leading the way, protected the black-haired male and resulted in his right eye being blinded by the eye. 

From that day on, Flux vowed to keep Saps safe from harm, even if it meant his death in exchange for Saps’s life. 

Flux’s left eye was relaying him the truth — the bleak, desolate truth they currently lived in. However, his right eye showed another truth, a moment in time before everything happened. It showed him none of that hopeless present, none of that dystopian truth. It showed no blind right eye that Saps had now, no eyebags from countless nights of being kept awake as anxiety slowly ate through their thoughts and made them unable to get a good night’s sleep. 

A paradise seen through the camcorder. A universe in which they lived normally — like they used to. Before anything, back when they were merely two friends wandering the world, venturing into uncharted territory and making companions along the way. 

A utopia.

“Holy shit…you’re right, Saps,” he whispered, breathless. “I…I can finally see you like this again…”

“Well, I…I could say the same to you,” Saps replied as he looked away, trying his best to hide the unshed tears. “But…what do we do now? We can’t open that door, so…do we just leave and search for another place where supplies might be?”

“I…I think we can make an exception,” Flux muttered as he lowered the camcorder, momentarily saying goodbye to the utopia through the lens. “The cube is probably still out there, finding us. We should stay here first. Considering the size of this place, I bet there’s a lot of space for us to hide and move around.”

While he wanted to have a reason to justify his decision, Flux couldn’t really do so. Even under the cold and calculated demeanor, at the end, he was merely a selfish man. A man selfish for just a little more time together with the person he had grown to know and the person who taught him how to love.

“Well…you have a point, Flux,” Saps tilted his head, expression doubtful but sure nonetheless. Even after everything, in Flux’s eyes, he was still the same Saparata. Bright, occasionally stubborn, but always defiant. The same Saparata that Flux had invited to mine diamonds with on the day they first met. 

“So…where should we go first, Flux?”

❝ for what fault must we be so together? ❞

They stumbled into a restaurant. 

Flux didn’t really know what kind of restaurant they had entered, due to the sign outside being worn with age, and therefore ineligible for either one of them to read. However, judging by the furniture and interior, it was probably one of those fancy high-end restaurants similar to those rich enough to afford luxuries on a daily basis. 

The restaurant itself was blanketed with some kind of somber, gray aura, but despite the underlying sadness of the environment, it still had some class to it — the furniture was still kept neatly despite the dust on it, golden spoons and knives were set beside ornate plates, tables were covered in expensive table cloth with the ends having patterns embroidered with golden thread, and vases of flowers and candles were placed in the middle of each table. It felt like the restaurant was frozen in time, save for the clear signs of abandonment with the amount of spiderwebs and dust.

Flux led Saps through the winding maze of the restaurant, camcorder in hand. They arrived at the centermost table in the area, which was slightly more elongated than the other, more evenly-rounded tables. 

“Go ahead Saps, take a seat.” Flux motioned to Saps, who merely gave Flux an unimpressed face before taking his seat on one side on the table, settling down with an oomph. The black-haired male proceeded to sit as well, sitting on the other side.

“So…uhm, Flux. Why are we here exactly? I doubt we’re gonna have any form of entertainment here. What, are we gonna roleplay?” Saps mumbled, looking slightly like a confused child. Yet, despite the sarcastic remarks, Flux couldn’t help but let his heart swell with infatuation and adoration as he saw golden eyes look around, shimmering with wonder and awe the more the white-haired male scanned the room around them.

“While you’re right about having no form of entertainment, I would like to refute that claim. We have the camcorder — if this camera really can give us a view of utopia, why not try it out? Honestly, it would be a shame if we didn’t try at least a bit of it out.”

“I…well, you have a point.” 

“Here, take the camcorder.” Flux then tossed the camcorder to Saps’s waiting hands, the white-haired male catching it flawlessly. 

“Are you trying to break the damn thing, Flux? Who knows how brittle it is!” Saps complained while lifting the camcorder to his eyes, to which Flux shrugged. After a little bit of thinking, blackened hands grabbed a fork from the table and poked the empty plate with the prongs. While he would usually be baffled from the sheer stupidity of his actions, he was sure that through Saps’s eyes — at least, with the help of the camcorder, something was happening in a reality they could’ve still had. 

He looked towards Saps with anticipation, bringing the fork to his mouth and biting the space beside it, mimicking someone biting on a pastry, or a piece of meat. However, when he did so, Flux was slightly shocked to faintly taste a sweet sensation on his tongue. Something slightly hard, like an outer shell, with an inside that was soft and creamy. He couldn’t really pinpoint what he was eating, but judging from the size of it, he inferred it was some kind of bite-sized dessert. 

“Saps, what was I eating?”

“Hm…I think it was a macaron. Strawberry flavoured, maybe. Y’know, those fancy macarons topped with gold leaf?” Yeah, that made sense with regard to what Flux could taste on his tongue a few moments earlier. 

“Earlier, I felt like I was eating a macaron. Hard shell, soft inside, sweet taste.”

“Really?” Saps blinked in surprise. 

“Go on, try it. Toss me the camcorder.” Saps obeyed, giving back the camcorder to Flux. He then closed one of his eyes and brought the camcorder up to the open one. Through the rose-tinted lens, he saw Saps looking back at him, his face holding a little bit of confusion. He looked towards his plate, grabbing a piece of mochi. Flux momentarily opened the other eye, seeing that Saps was indeed, holding up nothing. 

Flux wordlessly gestured to Saps to try eating as if he was biting something, closing the other eye as he did so. 

Saps nodded, bringing the mochi to his mouth and biting on it, a little bit of white powder getting onto the sides of his mouth as he did so. Immediately, Saps smiled, followed by a hum of approval. 

Flux allowed himself a little chuckle, enamoured by Saps’s smile and reaction, opening the other eye again. To his surprise, he could see the scenery morph around them. The once empty and abandoned restaurant was now bustling with life, the chandeliers above them giving off a warm glow that encased the two in a gentle embrace of rose and orange lights. Saps seemed to notice this too, as he started to look around in confusion. 

What fascinated Flux even more however, was that when he lowered the camcorder from his eye, the scenery was still the same, rose-tinted and all.

It was like witnessing a movie come to life. 

One by one, shadowy figures started appearing, waltzing into the empty restaurant. Some acted as waiters and waitresses, and others acted as patrons eating their meals. With the arrival of the mysterious shadowy figures, the cacophony of sounds followed shortly after — the sound of chatting and walking, laughing and crying. The hustle and bustle of a usual restaurant started to sound in his ears — something that Flux wouldn’t have ever guessed he would hear again. 

“Woah…” Saps mumbled, mouth half-full with the mochi. Flux stood up from his seat and proceeded to walk towards the white-haired male, reaching for the edge of his mouth to dust off the white powder from the corner of his lips. 

“Always a messy eater, aren’t you?” Flux sighed, however, his tone was fond instead of annoyed. 

“Whoops,” Saps mumbled, half-sincere, dusting off more of the powder from his mouth. Usually he wouldn’t like how people acted the way Saps just did — he didn’t particularly like overly arrogant and prideful people, as he believed that those who acted like that rarely had even an ounce of intelligence and actual skill behind the puffed-up chests and heads held high. Yet, he couldn’t help but ignore all of that when it was Saps doing it.

Perhaps he was really, in fact, just a selfish man.

Suddenly, Saps stood up from his seat, a blaze of mischief suddenly ignited in his eyes. Dusting off the remainder of the white mochi powder from his mouth, he shot Flux with a bright and sneaky smile that caught him off-guard for a moment. 

“I have an idea, Flux.” With that, he promptly made a run for it, unleashing chaos to the restaurant’s atmosphere. He started grabbing food from other people’s plates and eating them all in one bite, spinning and waltzing from table to table as he grabbed little pastries and bite-sized meals. Laughter started to morph into complaining, and chatter started to morph into insults. Saps however, ignored all of that, seemingly not minding all that much to the colorful palette of insults and jeers he was being given. 

“Saps — what are you doing?” Flux cried out, confused as to Saps’s actions. While he knew Saps to be a mischief maker, and while he was aware that he himself was no different in causing chaos, he didn’t expect Saps to be this much of a troublemaker. 

“What are you doing, Flux? Stop standing there and join me!” Saps urged the younger striker. 

Flux was about to chide him again, but in the end, he didn’t. Saps had a point with whatever he was doing now — it was an opportunity to feel normal again, to frolic free and run around like they would as they explored, not like when they would run for their lives. 

Might as well make the most out of this brief reverie. 

Pocketing the camcorder, Flux followed Saps, running around and causing a ruckus, with Saps laughing and Flux following suit, influenced by the white-haired male’s infectious laughter. They laughed like they had no care for the world, running fast and moving quickly, evading the hands of the shadowy figures trying to catch them as they grabbed food from their plates. With mouths still full, they then ran off to sit on other tables, acting as they would in a fancy dinner party, clinking glasses full of champagne. To them, the shadowy figures who were throwing insults, shoving and punching them, were all invisible — out of sight and out of mind. All Flux could see was Saps, and he was certain that all Saps could see was Flux. 

He felt like a kid again, that child-like joy rushing back to him. 

High with adrenaline and euphoria, Saps proceeded to dash outside to the mall, entering a neighboring tuxedo shop. While Flux was certain he had never seen that before, he still followed Saps into the shop. 

“Flux, look!” He pointed towards a pair of matching suits — one white, one black, like something a groom would usually wear on their special day. “Should we wear these?”

“Woah, Saps, back it up. You’re implying that we should get married?”

“You can say it like that. We’re already of age, right? Besides, we’re basically in love, don’t deny it,” Saps mused, grabbing the white suit from the mannequin. “Plus, we’re going to die anyway.”

“I’m sure there’s a way to stop the madness.”

“I do hope so too. But, it’s now or never, isn’t it?” Saps reasoned as he slipped into the changing room. “Wait here!”

It wasn’t long before Saps stepped out, dressed in the suit. Flux resisted the urge to let his jaw drop in awe as he looked towards him. 

It fitted Saps like a glove — the way the suit defined the lines of Saps’s lean but muscular body, white fabric framing his figure perfectly. A floral boutonniere was clipped slightly higher on the lapel, close to the heart. The boutonniere itself was a mix of white ranunculus, pale yellow freesia, dusty miller, completed with sprigs of yarrow and white veronica flowers.

Flowers that told of innocence, mischief, and love too delicate to last.

“Saps…you…you look amazing,” Flux breathed out, walking towards Saps and pressing a light kiss to his cheeks. Flux was never one for public displays of affection, be it kissing or even holding hands, so the white-haired male’s reaction was understandable — with him blushing furiously and looking away bashfully. Even with all the mischief and smiles Saps was naturally born with, beneath that, he was still someone rather shy and not really used to compliments.

Flux meanwhile, would be happy to supply all the compliments Saps needed. 

“Pft, okay then. You’ve intrigued me. Wait here, I’ll change now.” Flux rolled his eyes with a smile on his face, deciding to play into Saps’s antics. Grabbing the matching suit from the other mannequin, he slipped into the same changing room, wearing the fancy attire. Compared to Saps’s suit, his blazer was longer, forming more of a coat than a blazer, reminiscent of his old attire. His clothes coincidentally had more purple elements that replaced Saps’s white — instead of a white tie like Saps’s, his suit had a purple tie, and his cufflinks were an obsidian color, complementing the golden lapel pin that was clipped onto the coat’s pocket. Aside from that, he also received his own boutonniere that came with the outfit — a mix of black calla lily, dark purple lisianthus, dark purple anemone, and the faintest sprig of lavender. 

Flowers that told of devotion and remembrance.

After tidying his hair a little and moving the camcorder from his old clothes to his coat’s pocket, he slipped out of the changing room, and the moment Saps laid his eyes on Flux, his cheeks started to redden again, the tips of his ears turning a bright red. 

“Flux…ehem, ah, you look stunning,” he stuttered. Amused, Flux chuckled, inching closer to Saps and pressing another gentle kiss, this time on his forehead. The action made Saps blush even more, his whole face practically as red as a tomato. 

“I could say the same to you.”

“Since when are you so flirtatious?!” Saps grumbled. “I didn’t think you were this smooth when we first dated!” As he was grumbling a few curse words and complaints about Flux’s unusually flirty behavior, purple eyes landed on a photo booth to the side. 

An idea clicked in his mind. 

“Hey, Saps. Should we take a few photos? To commemorate this moment?” Flux asked, pointing towards the photo booth. 

“Be my guest.”

Grabbing Saps’s hand, they slipped into the photo booth, settling themselves on the seat. Flux did the honors of turning on the camera’s timer, posing for the camera. They took a couple of photos — the first pose was Saps’s idea, which was them sitting side by side like a wedding photo. The second was Saps on Flux’s lap, this time requested by the black-haired male. The third pose was Saps pinching Flux’s cheeks, and the fourth was a candid shot, the picture snapping while Saps was making a rather stupid face in front of the camera, while Flux was busy tidying Saps’ hair. 

They took more pictures after that, of course — a variety of photos from sophisticated to downright silly. After a few more photos, Flux said to Saps that the white-haired male could find a place for the both of them to play around in, while he fetched the photos out of the booth after they were finished processing. 

Flux’s heart cracked a little when he saw the processed photos. Sure, their current world was all idyllic and paradisiacal, but that didn’t stop the reality they had momentarily escaped seeping into this brief utopia. The photos were just that — photos. Still with the same poses and all, but their clothes were dirty and ripped, showing signs of wear and tear, as they probably hadn’t been cleaned in a while. Their earlier scars made themselves known again, marring their skin, with Flux pressing his lips together when his blackened fingers grazed the close-up of Saps, the blind right eye clear as day. 

He hated the fact that Saps partially lost his eyesight just for the sake of their survival, when he could’ve used that lost eyesight to do so many more incredible things — journeying more in their world, seeing beautiful sights, building their dream home. He had a life to experience, a life to live through. To laugh and to cry, to dance and to mount, and to hopefully witness a lifetime alongside him. 

A life that Flux hoped Saps could’ve seen more of. 

Pocketing the photo, he decided to not show Saps the photos, worried that it would shatter his reality. His selfish heart wanted to give Saps a peaceful and happy ending to his unfortunately short life, even if it meant lying to him. 

(He was hopeful that someone, anyone would find a way to solve this disaster, but with how long it had been since the cubes appeared, that hope was starting to dwindle.)

Just in time, too — it was at this time that Saps ran back, a bag slung around his shoulders, running towards Flux, who had just managed to slip the photos into the pocket. “Flux! Have the photos been processed yet?”

“Not yet. I think they’re out of film. Either that, or the printing isn’t working properly.” While he would’ve been fine with lying, even when lying towards Saps, for some reason, lying didn’t sit properly with him. Yet, Flux was determined to give Saps a happy ending. 

If the world despised him so much as to not give him a beautiful final moment, Flux might as well do it himself. 

“Aw man…I was hoping to hang those pictures in our home,” Saps mumbled as he pouted. That pout shortly changed into a smile, however, and showing that smile towards Flux, he pointed outside to the bustling mall, now filled with life. “Come on. I found us a place.”

❝ crush me in your arms, give me lovelier kiss. ❞

Saps led them to a rather unique place. 

It wasn’t a shop, strangely enough. It was a wide, open space strangled by debris, just outside the rose-tinted mall. Flowers and lamps lined the winding stone path towards the space, and in the middle stood what remains of a wall, seemingly left alone. Faint streaks of color clung stubbornly to the concrete, the ghosts of a mural long forgotten. The image was fractured beyond recognition, covered by a sleek white in an attempt to cover it up, but something about it felt sacred. 

Dropping the bag, Saps knelt beside the wall, reaching out and brushing his fingertips. White flakes came off easily, crumbling to dust in his palm. Still, his expression softened — like he was touching something alive. 

“I found this while I was looking for a space. Someone must’ve painted this,” he murmured. “They wanted to make it beautiful.”

Flux crouched beside him. “Well, it was beautiful once.”

“Then let’s make it beautiful again.” Before Flux could ask what he meant, Saps dug into the bag and pulled out a small, crooked piece of charcoal. It was as if he had stolen it from the local art store. 

He turned it in his fingers, smiling. “It’s not much, but it’s still enough for me to use.”

Flux blinked. “You’re going to draw?”

“Not draw,” Saps said. “Leave behind.”

With that, he pressed the charcoal to the wall and started to draw lines. The sound was soft — a fragile squeak of pigment on stone. He moved his hand slowly, tracing a line through the grooves of where the concrete had chipped off, his movements sure despite the uneven surface. Flux watched as the lines became shapes, and shapes became symbols — not of the world that had ended, but of something deeply human that refused to die. 

He didn’t know what compelled him more — the way Saps’s hand moved, the worry that the charcoal would smudge on the white suit he wore, or the expression on his face as he worked: part concentration, part peace, and somewhere deep beneath it, longing. 

Flux found himself whispering beneath his breath. “And what’s your idea with this?”

Saps didn’t look up. “Well, something should stay when we’re gone.”

The wind shifted, carrying the smell of petrichor and flowers. Flux stood there for a long moment, the world around them comfortably silent except for the faint sound of charcoal on concrete. Eventually, he sat down beside him, their shoulders brushing.

After a little while, Saps stepped back from the wall, a proud expression on his face. Flux rose to his feet slowly, brushing the dust from his blackened hands, eyes trailing over the faint marks Saps had made. The shapes were abstract, uncertain — not quite words, not quite pictures — yet they pulsed with meaning. There was something unspoken in every line and curve drawn, something alive. 

“Well…what is it supposed to be?” Flux asked.

Saps looked towards him, grinning the way he always did when he’d done something ridiculous. “You tell me.”

Flux raised an eyebrow. “You…you don’t even know?”

“Does it matter?” Saps shrugged. “Maybe it’s just…proof.”

“Proof?”

“That we were here.”

Flux exhaled, half amused, half aching. “You and your poetry.”

Saps didn’t answer. Instead, he grabbed Flux’s hands and pressed the charcoal into his palm. “Then, you make something,” he said simply. 

Flux stared down at the stub of charcoal, its edges slightly darkened with the oil of Saps’s skin. It looked so small, so fragile — like everything else they owned, everything else they were. 

He hesitated. “Saps. You know I’m not an artist. I can't think of anything.”

Saps tilted his head, smiling faintly. “Neither am I. A little tip — let your heart do it for you.” The way he acted was the kind of thing that made Flux roll his eyes and want to kiss him in the same breath. 

He turned towards the wall. He pressed his hands to the wall, realizing the concrete was rough, covered in sleek white paint in an effort to cover the color beneath, and smudged with the charcoal marks Sapas had made earlier. He had never been one to leave marks on things — he’d always believe in erasure, in the idea that the world eventually forgets, that it’s probably better to not hope it won’t. 

Yet, Saps’s presence beside him changed that. 

He pressed the charcoal to the wall, drawing a line across. It left a jagged line at first, clumsy and uneven, but as he moved, he felt his hand growing steadier. The words came in halting strokes, akin to the way breath does when someone cries.

We’re still here.

When he stepped back, the phrase looked smaller than he expected, swallowed by the vastness of the white of the wall and the abstract doodles of Saps’s hand. Yet, it was enough. His heart thudded as though the words themselves were breathing. 

Saps leaned in to read it, expression softening. “Hm! That’s good, very good,” he murmured. “Really good.”

Flux’s lips twitched. “I only wrote three words. Also, it’s your turn.”

Saps took the charcoal again. He didn’t think for long — he just added another line beneath Flux’s, his handwriting quick and sure. When he finished, he stepped aside so Flux could read. 

We loved. 

Two words. Simple. Heavy. Absolute.

Flux’s chest tightened. He traced the letters with his fingertips, the fresh charcoal smearing slightly beneath his touch. The words themselves made Flux realize that Saps knew about the reality of the rose-tinted space, that it was just momentary. “You’re not subtle, are you?”

Saps smiled, eyes glimmering. “Why should I be?”

Flux wanted to laugh. Instead, he leaned his forehead against Saps’s for a brief moment — a soft, unspoken thank you. The wall loomed behind them, bearing their confessions like an altar, and for a moment, the world stopped as if to let them breathe. He looked at their writing again — the uneven letters, the black dust clinging to their fingertips. It wasn’t art. It wasn’t even legible from far away. But it was real, even if it was in a world deluded by childish hope — and that was more than anything the world had offered in years. 

“Okay! Now that’s settled, I have another place to bring you to,” Saps smiled. 

“Hm?”

“I found a karaoke place on the way here. Let’s go!”

Without much warning, Saps proceeded to grab Flux’s hand and drag him through the space. The white-haired male’s action briefly reminded Flux of the first moment Saps saw his hands — blackened and cursed by Voidfire. It had been previously inherited by his brother, but even though he had more traces of Voidfire on him, even reaching to cover half of his face in black, his Voidfire was more powerful — turning into a black-purple fire that burned everything in its wake. 

He remembered he initially feared showing it to anyone — even to his closest comrades, to the people who stayed by his side. He didn’t even intend to show it to Saps — he had just forgotten to wear his gloves that day and Saps had accidentally seen it. While he fully expected for Saps to run away at the sight of his hands, he didn’t. He stayed, and even offered to touch it. Strangely enough, where others would burn because of his touch, Saps wasn’t burnt by the Voidfire pulsing through his veins. 

Flux was so cooped up in reminiscing the past that he didn’t even realize they had entered the mall. He had only realized after the serene quiet had been replaced with bustling chatter. 

The mall was alive and bustling, filled with the shadowy figures again. Some of them were chatting with shopping bags slung on their shoulders, and some others were walking around with cups of coffee in their hands, laughing and gossiping to each other. Others were playing arcade games, competing with other arcade-goers and playing together. The massive pile of clothes that had piled on the hub was now gone, replaced with some kind of bazaar that was selling all kinds of goodies. Songs trailed out of restaurants and shops — some were romantic, classical picks, while others were EDM tracks. 

“We’ve arrived!” Saps hummed, continuing to drag Flux towards a large room. It was similar to a ballroom belonging to a fancy hotel, but this time, there was a large karaoke machine to the side, as well as the microphone stand. The white balloons, adorned with white flowers and silver string made Flux realize that it had sort of a wedding theme to it — which was ironically fitting, considering their style of attire. 

Pushing through the crowd who proceeded to tease the two of them, Saps made his way onto the stage, while Flux decided to watch from the sidelines. The black-haired male watched as Saps pressed a few numbers into the karaoke machine. While he couldn’t see the screen clearly, the song that played out of the speakers was immediately recognizable to Flux’s ears. 

As the first lyrics started to trail out of the speakers, Flux was immediately hooked to Saps’s surprisingly good singing voice. He took the microphone off the stand and proceeded to dance and spin on the stage, like he didn’t have another care in the world. 

Flux knew the song well. It was one of Saps’s favorite songs, something that he truly adored. He said that this song was something a random radio station had introduced to him, and a song he had fallen in love with ever since. It told a story of love and adoration, something that both of them wished they had more time to explore and to experience.

As he absentmindedly slipped his hands into one of the coat’s pockets, Flux felt something graze his fingertips. Taking the object out, it turned out to be a pair of small flowers that looked similar to daisies — one had dark purple petals with a black center, while the other was a normal-looking daisy with white petals and a yellow center. 

A wild idea suddenly came to mind. He placed the purple flower on his ear and walked towards the singing male. 

As the song reached the bridge, Flux tapped Saps on the shoulder, prompting the white-haired male to turn around. Without warning, Flux then placed the white flower on his ear, taking Saps aback and making him blush the same shade as he did in the boutique. 

“Flux…you don’t have to,” Saps chuckled nervously. 

“But I want to.” Flux cut him off. Again, the white-haired male promptly blushed, bashfully looking away with a high-pitched whine of complaint. 

Gently, Flux placed his left hand at the back of Saps’s head, slowly  turning the white-haired male back towards his gaze, purple eyes meeting Saps’s own golden pair, like the remnants of dusk skies slowly fading into the moments of dawn. Flux could see, in the white-haired male’s eyes, unbridled adoration and love, something that they have yet to experience fully. The black-haired male rested his free hand on Saps’s shoulders, the aforementioned male melting into Flux’s touch. 

Saps proceeded to lean his head against Flux’s chest, close to where his heart was. The black-haired male knew that Saps could hear his heartbeat slowly getting faster, as the white-haired male merely breathed out a chuckle of amusement. Flux then gently rocked the both of them back and forth, the hand previously resting on Saps’s shoulder moving to circle Saps’s waist, finally resting on the small of his back. Meanwhile, both of Saps’s hands, with one still holding the microphone, circled Flux’s body, both of them resting on the back of Flux’s shoulders. 

In this moment, Flux felt as if everything was infinitely blissful and beautiful. No flying cubes to worry about, no death to fear about. No imminent destruction and no inevitable demise. 

A rose-tinted reality that they could only dream of experiencing again. 

As the song came to a close, Flux gently placed his lips on Saps’s forehead again, possibly the last kiss he could give. 

“Mm…don’t say that.” Saps murmured, uncharacteristically soft for someone as mischievous as he was. 

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Mhm.” Saps looked towards Flux, making him gaze into those pools of liquid gold, his irises reminding him of the color of the morning sun and fields of sunflowers and daffodils. “I want to spend an eternity with you. My joys and sorrows, my love and loss — I want you to be there, always. Even if our lives end soon, even if the world were to end at this very moment, I want you to be there by my side…forever.”

“Please don’t leave me alone.” The last part was said in a hushed tone, far quieter than how he usually spoke. It was so quiet in fact, that Flux could barely hear it if it weren’t for the lack of music from the speakers. Hearing Saps speak in such a quiet manner was a sudden change to Flux’s ears, knowing that the Saparata he knew usually had an air of mischief and a bravado of confidence and defiance. To see the same Saparata be this meek, quiet and scared was…frightening, to say the least. 

So, Flux made sure to be that guardian when Saps was frightened. To repay the favor of Saps always being by Flux’s side come hell or high water, even if the black-haired male didn’t appreciate the gesture at first. 

“I’ll protect you, Saps. Forever and always.”

It was then that a powerful blast of wind entered the room. All of a sudden, everything seemed to disappear with the gust of wind  — all the insults thrown towards them by the shadowy figures, all the glamour and glitter that decorated the karaoke room. Their neat clothes became tattered and ruined, similar to the reality that was captured in the polaroids printed. The warm, rose-tinted reality was replaced with a frighteningly familiar icy-blue glow. 

Both Flux and Saps slowly turned towards the entrance. 

A cube was waiting for them. 

Immediately, the fight-or-flight instinct coursed through his veins, and it definitely chose the latter option. Without any more thought, he quickly grabbed Saps’s hands and made a run for it, dashing to the exit of the stage and through a corridor Flux had just found out about in their sudden fervor. 

The cube was, by all means, not that fast when compared to Flux and Saps, who had been constantly walking and fighting monsters along their journey. However, it had a frighteningly consistent pace as it floated through the corridor, breaking through the numerous doors that blocked its way. What was once bliss and happiness was now replaced with a sense of fear and worry as Flux held onto Saps with a vice-like grip. 

Every time Flux turned back to see how far the cube was from them, he would catch a glimpse of Saps, frightened and scared, whose flowing white hair was now slightly dirtied by the dust and debris around. Saps, who was wearing the other part of the matching wedding suit, now ruined and dirty. Saps, who now had the blind right eye that he earned in ensuring Flux’s survival. His eyes were now dull with pure, unadulterated terror in those pools of liquid gold. 

Turning to the left, Flux suddenly screeched to a halt. Behind him, Saps’s body momentarily collided with his. Now, Flux wasn’t a psychic by any means, but he could faintly sense the shift in Saps’s feelings, from confusion to fear. 

The two of them were seeing the same scenery — through the broken wall with floating debris, was the space they were just in, a forest that bordered an abandoned city, enveloped in the same blue-gray aura that spoke of sadness and sorrow. What differed from before they entered the mall however, was the number of cubes floating around, standing out from the thundercloud-filled sky. 

Flux had certainly and criminally underestimated this…alien’s power. Whatever the cube was, whether entity or experiment-gone-wrong, it was dangerous. Irrefutably so. 

“Holy shit.” He could hear Saps behind him, voice shaky and in disbelief.

Whipping his head back, he saw a staircase that led to an upper floor. “This way!” He cried out to Saps, not giving him time to respond as he quickly turned around and made a mad dash to the stairs, tightly holding onto the white-haired male’s hand.

They ran through the mall again, this time the same mall as before they entered the rose-tinted reality — the icy-blue aura enveloping the place, the abandoned spaces, the eerie quiet that was replaced with the sounds of their shoes skidding against the floor and the sound of their ragged breaths. The two shuffled down broken escalators and debris-filled stairs, barely giving a thought that it might suddenly collapse beneath their feet. 

He could barely hear the clatter of something falling, but Flux was too filled with fear to care about what just happened. 

Flux led the two of them to the pile of clothes again, fully intending to climb the mountain of clothes to hopefully escape from climbing the chandeliers. However, from above, Flux saw another cube descending onto where the clothes lay, breaking through the ceiling and sending glass shards falling down, like ice crystals on a cold winter day. With no shelter around them, they were both cut by the falling shards, drawing blood from every slash. 

“Shit,” Flux whispered under his breath after the rain of glass stopped, quickly turning around, finding if there was another exit they could take. However, his frantic search turned up futile.

There was no escaping this time. 

With no other choice, Flux picked up a stray metal beam on the ground, which had probably fallen from the supports that held the glass ceiling. He quickly but carefully trudged through the shattered glass, ready to attack the cube, when he felt the beam in his hands suddenly slip away. 

The next thing he knew was that a white-haired male was standing in front of him, crying out a scream that Flux had never heard from him before — one of utter despair and desperation as he lunged himself towards the cube, hitting it several times. The cube’s icy-blue glow seemed to falter, however, he was immediately hit with a surge of energy that sent his body flying right into Flux’s arms. The force in which Saps was sent flying was quite a lot — Flux had to brace himself on his knees, slightly wincing when the glass shards made contact with his knees, cutting through the material and grazing his skin to draw out blood. 

“Saps!” He cried out, desperation ripping out of his throat. Never before had he felt so scared in his life before. 

Flux didn’t mind his injuries now. All of his attention was immediately diverted towards Saps, who was breathing unevenly and heavily. Looking into Saps’s eyes, Flux could see just how terrified Saps looked — scars that hadn’t quite healed, golden eyes blown wide, staying open full of horror as he slowly turned towards the cube. The black-haired male placed his blackened hands over Saps’s beating heart, feeling the fear the white-haired male was currently feeling in the way his heartbeat accelerated. He squeezed Saps’s hand with his own three times. 

I love you. 

No words were said between the two, but in that moment, they had understood everything either one of them wanted to say. 

Saps scrambled to Flux’s figure, curling himself in his embrace. With what little assurance the black-haired male could give, he clutched onto Saps tighter as the cube in front of them slowly shifted from its usual icy-cold aura into a more ominous, blood-red glow. 

Without thinking it through, Flux turned Saps’s head towards his and smashed their lips together in a desperate attempt to deliver everything he had been feeling — unsaid words, unrealized feelings, and undying desires. Though the moment seemed bleak, he held Saps’s shaking hands with such gentleness and care that it was almost foreign for Flux to do so, but it was something that Flux was brave enough to do in their dying moments. 

“…You’re shaking.”

“…I know.”

As a final act of gratitude, he used his hand to cover Saps’s left eye, but not his right — knowing that Flux was blind in his right eye. He could feel the tears starting to come out, and Saps’s body shaking as a result, racked with muffled sobs. The white-haired grasp on his hands had also become shaky, his grip tightening. 

Both of them didn’t want to lose each other, but what option did they have?

“Flux…Flux, I’m scared — fuck, I’m scared—”

“I…I’m scared too, Saps. I’m…scared too.”

Flux closed his eyes, burying Saps’s face into the crook of his neck. He fully expected his end to be a violent one — an ending where he could feel himself disintegrating, slowly fading away as he was slowly consumed by the cube. Instead, he heard a familiar voice prompting him to open his eyes. 

“Hey. Hey, Flux. Open your eyes.”

Flux did as he was prompted to, and he was slightly taken aback to see himself in a sort of white void. Looking in front, he could see familiar people — one with brown hair and black eyes and a crown on top of his head, one with half of his face consumed by Voidfire, one with twin space buns and a glowing crown, and one with tanned skin and an orange bandana tied around his neck. 

“Hey, Flux. Been a while, hasn't it?” The person with Voidfire marks on his face said, tilting his head as he did so. 

“Yeah, you’re late. The rest are waiting for you, come on.” The person with the twin space buns and the glowing crown motioned towards the light beyond them. 

“Don’t keep us waiting.” The person with black eyes said the least amount of words so far, but he knew the weight of what he was saying. 

“Yeah, follow us. We’ve been waiting for your arrival.” The person with the orange scarf around his neck ushered for Flux to follow. 

The black-haired male slowly stood up as the rest of them slowly walked into the blinding light in front of them. He hesitated at first, unwilling to move from his position. 

“Flux? What’s taking you so long?” Saps’s voice asked from behind him. Whipping his head to look at the back, he could see the white-haired male standing behind him with his hands behind his back. He was free of any wounds or injuries, including his right eye’s condition. 

“I…I was waiting for you, that’s all,” Flux replied as he saw Saps skip in front of him, stopping just before his figure was consumed by the light. 

Snow-white hair fluttered in the wind, the locks framing Saps’s delicate features perfectly. Golden eyes gazed at Flux with love and devotion, while his lips mouthed three familiar words, before reaching out a hand for Flux to grab. 

Flux’s breath hitched, intending to say so much more. Yet, before he could do so, a little chuckle escaped his lips. He walked towards Saps and grabbed his outreached hand, walking into the light while the words Flux was about to utter went unsaid. 

I’m sorry, Saps. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. But, I pray that, in another life, I hope we may meet again, whether through fate or coincidence, so that we could experience this kind of love again. 

May we meet again, with our desire to explore the world together still burning in our hearts. 

May we meet again, beneath a kinder sun.

❝ i slowly film you with my eyes, please make a serene smile once again. ❞

He walked into an unknown building.

It had been quite some time since that cube appeared all over the world. The very day that sent many into chaos, running and protecting themselves from the strange entity. His eyes darted around the unknown place as he walked inside. 

It turned out that the creature was a lab experiment created by some shady organization who aimed to reset humanity by eradicating everyone on earth in order to restart the world and rebuild it from the ground up. They had been promptly arrested and executed for their crimes, as they should be. He knew that he was no better than them in terms of ideas, but even he would say that whatever they did was downright psychotic. 

The place he was in gave an aura of eerie silence, as if something was about to pop out of nowhere and ambush him — from the way the floors of the building were all empty and the way there were some shops with working lights, yet no signs of life behind them. 

Breathing out a white cloud from how cold it was, he walked into what seemed to be a hub, with a giant pile of clothes before him. Littered around the pile were shards of glass as well as a stray metal beam, which probably fell from the structure that held up the ceiling. Looking up, he could see the silver arrays of the moon gazing down on the hub, illuminating the rather somber atmosphere in an ethereal light.

As he was about to advance to the pile of clothing, his foot caught on something. Looking down, his eyes caught a camcorder on the ground, the screen still flipped open. 

“What’s this…?” He muttered to himself as he crouched down and picked up the camcorder. Shaking the device a little, he was rather surprised to know that the camcorder still worked — somehow. Yes, it was running dangerously low on battery, but it was working nonetheless. 

He saw through the screen (which was rose-tinted for some reason), a pair huddling close to each other, embracing each other in what seemed to be their last moments. His eyes watched as he saw the recording turn bloody red, then the pair being lifted into the air, never to be seen again. 

It was then that the battery ran out, cutting the video short and leaving only the dead camcorder left. 

Now, he wasn’t named a god for nothing. As he looked up, he could sense something on the pile. After all, it was rather easy to identify. He could sense the faint remnants of something otherworldly — remnants of strength that originated from the Void, as well as the fading presence of a mischievous being of light. It lingered on, and though it wasn’t as strong as he would like it to be, it was enough for him to know who was here previously. 

“Ah…you two,” he chuckled, adjusting his glasses. “Being together in your dying moments, hm? How poetic.”

For a moment, Ish debated on leaving the camcorder behind. However, he decided against it. Perhaps he could find a new battery somewhere, maybe a cable to charge the battery, and he could see what they had left behind, a mark on their world as two people in love. 

With a final look to the matching pair of suits, Ish walked away from the building, camcorder in hand with a knowing smile on his lips. 

❝ our love wins all, love wins all. ❞