Everything hurt.
He couldn't remember ever being in this much pain before, not even when old man Mun-dok punished him. Not even when he had encouraged Soo-won to marry Yona.
But he had to...
He had to...
What? There was something... He had to do something. Right?
He tried to force his eyes open, and with just a glimpse of blood red hair he remembered. He had to protect Yona, at all costs. But, how?
What did she need protection from?
Another surge of effort to force his eyes open revealed the current danger. There was no ground under them. Well, there was, but it was at least 200 feet down, and that was just not survivable.
Unless you had a human shield.
The warmth in his arms, the way her thin body pressed close to his, the memory of her trying her best to save him, they all reassured him he was making the right decision.
He tried, he really did, to stop them. It wasn't his fault the stupid branch broke. Oh well, all he could do now was make sure he hit the ground first. And thats exactly what he did.
Despite his jabs at her, Yona felt incredibly light when she landed on him. In fact, he didn't feel any pain anymore, just... Fuzziness. And a vague kind of comforting numbness.
'I guess this is what dying's like' the thought had no real urgency attached to it. All the urgency he had felt earlier was gone, and he found he quite liked the feeling. It was like the few minutes before he dozed off into one of his afternoon naps. The warmth radiating from the princess wasn't helping with his sleepiness in the least.
This would be a long nap.
It took an incredible amount of willpower to not just drift off into the abyss. It took even more to open his eyes, but seeing Yona, looking safe and peaceful made it all worth it. Her beautiful purple eyes were closed, but she still looked absolutely stunning, even with the hack job she had given herself mere moments earlier.
He could feel her pressed up against him, radiating warmth. It was a blessing for his rapidly cooling body. He could feel her breath on his neck, he could feel her faint heartbeat. His arms easily wrapped all the way around her tiny waist. It was just like all the fantasies he had of sleeping with her. Well, maybe not exact. He had never been dying in those. And, it would be nice to be able to wake up next to her too, but you can't have everything. He had never expected even this, so he should be grateful.
Everyone has to die eventually though, the thunder beast included. And, as it goes, this wasn't such a bad way to kick the bucket.
Those were his last thoughts before he gave in and let himself drift into the abyss.