You can't take back what's done, but she still thinks about it anyway.
Note: AU version of V's Route Ending.
Originally posted on Ameri Lie's video: ACUTE (10/24/2019)
[A One-shot]
.
In another life, they might have been close friends. Without secrets, without lies, without a hundred little things that distanced them from one another and poisoned each interaction with regrets and contempt.
"Try as you may, the light cannot exist without the dark!"
Now, however, that was merely a fairy tale.
Blood.
Just so much blood, and she pressed her hands on to his stomach as hard as she could without hurting him more. V's face was pale, breath unsteady and sweat dotting his forehead.
In the midst of that, she couldn't tear her gaze away from the hysterical crying figure of Rika. The knife slid from her palms, clattering to the ground of Ray's garden. Transfixed by the red on her palms, her knees wobbled, but she remained somewhat standing.
The silence stretched for what seemed like hours, only to end at V's pained moan.
A new batch of tears immediately sprouted, and Rika whispered dozens of apologies, eyes glazed like she'd accepted her faults and was waiting to be condemned. With her shoulders drawn and lips trembling, she looked nothing like the self-assured persona of the esteemed Savior of Mint Eye.
Maybe this wasn't the right path.
Maybe bluntly exposing her feelings to a clearly broken woman wasn't right.
Maybe they could have formulated another plan.
Maybe acting on emotions instead of logic was the wrong way to go about navigating this dilemma.
So many 'what if's'.
Yet what was done was done.
Under the clear, moonlit sky, she wished the day would end, and she beholden to the sunrise.
Green eyes darted between her and V's crumpled form. There was a lot Rika wasn't saying in that moment, mouth parted hesitantly.
"Please, take care of him... I'm so sorry."
Rika disappeared into the shadows of the building.
She never had the chance to say she was sorry as well.
.
The destruction left no goodbyes, entombed in debris and washed away into ashes.
There was no chance of public confessions, if to avoid media attention even if explanations were deserved, so excuses were thrown. Conspiracy theories and public outrage aside, nobody would ever know the cause.
What was once the apartment - in another life, maybe that was her destination - was cordoned off, bought by another to be replaced. Flowers lined the sidewalk, proof of the lives of other tenants caught in the blast being mourned by their friends and families.
No one was in sight for now, not in the dead of night with only a flickering streetlight for company. Jihyun could have accompanied her but he disappeared to heal himself, and the thought rung poorly among the other hectic memories fighting for attention.
She approached and knelt in front of the makeshift monument. Dozens of names lined up on the plaque, and it clawed at her insides.
"I'm sorry."
It was too late, but she wanted - no, needed - to say it.
From her bag, she withdrew a few items and placed it near the old bouquet of flowers she placed yesterday.
A ring, a blue crystal flower and a lifetime of lost lives and opportunities.