you could've
The last thing Yona feels is a large katana, which created a sound like none other as it cleanly decapitated her head from her body. However, it's not the last thing she sees– it is her Dragons and her companions, with their mouths agape and frightened for her.
"Stop!"
She sees the White Dragon, the pampered yet neglected man who waited for her arrival, clawing towards her with blood on his scales.
"..."
She sees the Blue Dragon, the man who thought his beautiful eyes were a curse until she came along, staring in silent terror.
"I'm coming!"
She sees the Green Dragon, the soaring man who had once been chained down to the ground before she freed him, desperately jumping towards her.
"Yona!"
She sees the Yellow Dragon, the immortal man who constantly wishes for death, crying out her name in pain.
"Move, Yona, move!"
She sees Yoon(Yun), the once innocent child stained by treachery but has been guided right by an Oracle, screaming for her to move.
"Hime-sama!"
She sees her 'Dark Dragon', the man that she has so many things to confess about to him and so many things to tell him about, fighting his way towards her with a type of panic that he has only ever felt twice in his life.
Her death is one full of regrets.
With tears that fall down at a rapid pace, triggered by all their actions and the thoughts that fly by her head faster than an arrow, she closed her eyes and takes one last breath. Millions of thoughts fly through her head.
And then... Darkness.
Suddenly, there's a bright flash of light and her eyelashes flutter.
'Impossible.'
The word runs through her head. The pain resonating in it is indescribable, and her head feels quite heavy.
Yona clutches her head in agony and gasps when she feels her old, long flowing crimson locks instead of the shoulder length, slightly matted red hair. A mirror drops nearby, and the girl doesn't register that the ornate silver had slipped from her own hands.
She runs her hands again and again through her hair in disbelief, staring at the mirror she has dropped on the ground. There is a fragile hairpin worn lovingly in her crimson strands, gold, and gleaming.
Her eyes look innocent, wide, and much too naive for her tastes. A burst of salty copper explodes in her mouth and she tastes her tongue over and over again to make sure that this isn't a dream. The lingering scent of blood that came from the insides of her cheek is too strong to just an illusion.
"Breathe…"
Suddenly, a thought occurs through her head.
It couldn't be… The last time she has seen that mirror and that hairpin were on her 16th birthday. Today was that day, the day when everything changed.
The day when her father died.
She shot up like an arrow.
Her loud footsteps would normally have many servants scolding her, but as she predicted, it was too quiet and there were none. She slammed the door open to her father's room, hoping it wasn't too late.
But it was.
There, in all of his glory, was Soo-Won who clutched a sword to his chest, freshly bathed in blood. He looks at her with hard eyes but this time, Yona, who is more observant, sees the lingering sympathy in those cold pupils.
It's been years since her world has shattered and changed, and now it repeats itself again. She steels herself in resolve, wiping off the salty trails that her tears have left. Yona tells herself that this time around, she is stronger, faster, and smarter.
Yona turns around and flees, ignoring the shocked looked that has marred her cousin's face and focuses on one thing– finding Hak.
It's only after several rendezvous that she bumps into Hak, who is also currently hiding. His face is full of worry and betrayal and she feels another pang of regret. This is the first time that she notices how hurt he is because of Soo-Won, she was too conceited to realize the pain inflicted on her best friend that had been caused by her cousin.
"Princess, princess, did you know your father-" Hak takes one look at the tears streaming down her face and he chokes on his question, "d-do you know how worried I was?"
Together, they flee.
As expected, Yona's fragile princess body is weak and they take a short break right where they were about a few years ago. Her breathing is labored and ragged.
Unlike her scarred and muscled body and her previously callused hands, her dainty 'princess' hands are blistered and bleeding. Her muscles are screaming and her throat feels like sandpaper. She doesn't complain and even Hak is surprised by her change in behavior.
"I thought you would've already started whining, crybaby." He lightly teased when they reach the entrance to his former Clan.
"Maybe I would have if it was a few years ago…" She mumbles underneath her cloak.
Yona wakes up again with her own scream of, "Hak!"
Her fingers tremble when they feel the weight of her crimson hair on her scalp and the hairpin which sat innocently upon her hair. She had never been able to part with that damn thing.
Strangely, there is a transparent shape of herself, like a ghost, running towards her father's room.
This time around, she knows she's back to Square One and wastes no time in running towards her Father's room, following her ghost. She is a little bit earlier than the last time and sees something that breaks her even further.
Her ghost disappears right before she enters the door.
Soo-Won was just in the act of cleaning his bloody sword.
He greets her calmly with the same piercing, calculating eyes and she spits at him. Yona has been in this situation three times in the last seven years, and in mind and soul, she was already 23.
She sprints out of the room, with only her eyes glassy with unshed tears. This time, she would avoid getting anyone killed in her battle with her kingdom. This time, she would be able to change the future. This time... This time... This time...
Nevertheless, she somehow runs into Hak and he whisks her away again to start their journey.
Ik-Soo tells her that he can feel the 'time manipulation' around her body and cries for her loss, begging her to win this war. She clasps his hands in hers and promises him that she will, no matter how many times it takes.
Yona chokes out a strangled gasp with the words, "Hak!"
She wastes no time in staring at her reflection, already feeling the constricting kimono that she had worn for her sixteenth birthday. She sprints in her sandals and tight clothes and hoped that she was on time.
Her ghosts are back, and this time there are multiple. They all run in the same direction and she follows them.
As usual, they disappear before the entrance.
As usual, there was Soo-Won with his sword. However, this time, he has yet to take out his cloth to clean it. He stares at her with sad eyes and she just turns and runs without a word.
Yona has woken up at least sixteen times like this now, and she's already memorized all of Hak's routes. This time, Hak would not die. She almost chokes in anger as she's weaving through soldiers expertly with her clumsy body, one that has yet to gain its hard muscles and steely resolve.
Forcing her burning legs up a hill, she continues on her journey. This time, she is alone. She hopes for the best for Hak, wishing that he hasn't discovered that she's missing yet.
This time, she changes the future dramatically. Instead of heading towards the Wind Clan, Yona heads towards the small hut in the valley where Yoon and Ik-Su, the oracle lives. When she arrives, Zeno is there.
The Yellow Dragon and Oracle stare at her with knowing eyes and a sad smile. Yoon fuses over her wounds like a mother hen, instructing her to lie down and take care of her wounds.
Even though it might've only been a few days since she's died in the previous timeline, she can't help but feel nostalgic as Yoon spreads ointment and bandages her up.
"Zeno knows what you have been going through, Little Miss."
The Yellow Dragon pulls her tight in a hug and she can't help but explode in hysterical tears. How does he know this? Yona doesn't care but she's grateful that one of her dragons are with her.
This time, she wakes up with the words, "Yoon!" on her lips. A cold, chilling feeling crawls down her spine. This is the first time that she's died the earliest, only lasting two years before Soo-won and his army found them. The only difference was that she hadn't tried to find the other dragons.
Yona wastes no time in tearing her kimono off to reveal a yukata she has slept in the night before. It is thin, but it would allow greater movement.
Her multiple ghosts have already taken off to the King's room, each with weak legs and weak souls.
Without thinking, she breaks out into a full sprint into her father's room, only to see Soo-Won with his sword plunged into her father and a cough sputtering out of him.
It's even worse this time because her Father, looks dead straight into her eyes and rasps, "Run…"
This is the seventeenth time she's witnessed his death, and it hits her harder than the rest. Yona runs and follows the same path she had the lifetime before, knowing the woods well enough to run through it with her eyes closed.
She meets Zeno along the way and this time, he nods at her.
"Zeno has been waiting, Little Miss."
Together, they go to the small hut and are healed by Yoon's gentle, motherly touches and Ik-Su's prophecies. This time, Yona has learned from her mistakes and realizes that no matter how hard she tries, her dragons would always be with her.
"Princess?"
Her dark dragon looks her in the eyes. This one hurts the most. She can feel the blood seeping through her clothes and the halberd impaled in her stomach.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was actually you. Soo-won told me that we were hunting an imposter... I should've known."
The warm tears dripping down his face and onto her cheeks feels oddly comforting.
Yona wakes up with a gasp. It hurts.
This time, she's lived a little longer than the life before. But her death was the thing that unsettled her. Hak had killed her.
She stands up from her embroidered chair. She ignores the ghosts that have already started running towards her Father's ghost. All that is left are the ones trying to figure out how they could modify her own clothing for a faster sprint.
She stands in a room full of ghosts and listens to the rain pouring outside.
The princess realizes that Hak would always be entwined by her life. She either had to get him on her side or suffer the consequences. Without him, she would fail. He was a vital chess piece.
She still remembers the exact routes he takes and purposely waits a few minutes before running into him. His beautiful blue eyes are wide with betrayal and she finally understands.
"Let's go, Hak."
This time, her journey is almost the same as her first one, with the exception of Ik-Soo. Ik-Soo demands that he comes along with them during the battle and he demands that he was to help Yona out. Crying, he starts to beg on his knees towards the other dragons.
Even Yoon had never seen this side of the oracle and complies with the man's requests. Immediately, he brightens up again and hums happily, occasionally tripping on his feet along the way.
And indeed, this time, Yona almost decapitates Soo-Won before dying.
Yona wakes up with a small smile etched on her lips. She has lost count of how many times her story has been repeating and she could tell that something big was going to happen. Instead of feeling like she had been splashed in icy cold water and repeatedly torn apart and sewn together, she feels oddly warm.
There are no transparent ghosts this time, and there's no goosebumps that run down her arm. This time, she silently walks towards her Father's room and does not flinch when Soo-Won accidentally flicks a drop of her Father's blood towards her.
"I could've saved you, you know?" Yona whispers sadly towards Soo-Won, "But instead you decided to do this."
"You can't," His voice is cold, "Thank you, Hime-sama, but I believe that your life is no longer of any value to me anymore."
She stares at him with her violet eyes with absolute, taking the pin in her hair and throwing it on the ground, dramatically grinding it with her sandal heel.
Soo-Won looked at her with shock and reeled back when she glared at him for the first time, with fire blazing in her eyes, and her hair around her like a halo, the color of dawn.
When she meets her cousin on the battlefield, she wastes no time in stabbing him through the stomach, consumed by the bloodlust and anger that had accumulated over thousands of years that had condensed into this fragment of her lifetime.
Oddly, he smiles. Yona now notices how close Soo-Won looks like Zeno. Both of them had sunny personalities with a dark, twisted inside. They had both cerulean blue eyes, a rare shade to be matched. Both of them had identical personalities.
Speaking of Zeno, he constantly disappeared and she hadn't seen him since she laid eyes on Soo-Won...
A horrible twist comes into her mind and a dreaded pit formed in her stomach.
What happens next was something she never expected. Soo-Won, no Zeno, came falling on the ground, clutching his teeth wildly, vigorously scratching at his eyes and screamed something so raw and guttural. Yona heaved when he successfully clawed out his own eyes, leaving two bloody holes in his head. It already tried to mend itself with golden dragon scales, weaving the abused flesh and pupils back together.
"Just a stab through my heart and I'll be free!" Zeno screamed.
"Yellow Dragon, I command you to stop!" Yona cried weakly.
Her heart pounds and she can feel her pulse skipping. This was not how she imagined everything to end up like.
"No can do, Little Miss." He says sadly, "Fate has finally been altered and I have to thank you. So please, kill me."
"What do you mean?" She whispered, " Who are you? Why are you doing this?"
"I am Zeno-"
By now, all her other dragons stared at him and the entire battlefield stilled. She sees herself in all of their eyes, and looking into their eyes is like staring at a mirror. The grip on her sword goes slack and she's too surprised to talk.
"-and I am Soo-Won. I am death, and I am the living. Stab me and please let me finally rest in peace, Hiryuu. Only the true crimson dragon can end my suffering and my immortality." Zeno said.
"No," Yona rasps out.
"I've been waiting for a thousand years," Zeno said, "A thousand years! And I've waited thousands more, manipulating time just for this moment. Please, I beg of you, master."
Cold dread washes through Yona. It makes sense; how Zeno was able to insert himself perfectly into her timelines, how Zeno disappeared when Soo-Won appeared, how everything was planned out by him.
"I should've known," Yona whispered, "It was you. Every time, only you knew of what exactly had happened. Even Ik-Soo had his suspicions, but I never listened."
"You have no idea," Zeno laughed, "Of what it feels like to have the dead by your side. I can see the dead, and I can see the living. I am someone in between, but I can't communicate with those I've lost. So please, send me to where I belong –with the dead."
In a split second faster than a blink of the eye, Zeno rammed himself into her sword, cutting his heart cleanly into pieces. At once, he could feel the dragon blood screaming and protesting at the supposed betrayal of his master.
"Thank you, Yona- no, Hiyruu the Crimson Dragon."
Yona wakes up.
And she feels oddly at peace.