Chapter Text
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
-Norman Cousins
Kim Mingyu did not fear death.
He had already died once before, many centuries ago.
But he did fear what came after death.
He wondered if he would ever see his brothers and sisters again. How long would they have to live with the pain of his demise?
He wondered if he would ever reunite with his maker. Despite sentencing him to death, Mingyu held no ill-will against his sire's decision, because there would never be anything but love in his heart for the only mother he's ever known.
She had once found him at death’s door - ugly, bleeding, and broken, and yet she still looked down at him with such tenderness and love and bestowed upon him the gift of immortality.
This time, she was here to take it away.
Mingyu opened his icy grey eyes, gazing up from where he was kneeling. Behind the thick black curtains in front of him, Eos had already bid adieu. In his stead, Helios awaited, bright and blazing mercilessly against the heavens - ready to claim his damned soul.
A small, sad smile tugged at his lips.
At least his family would not let him die alone. His beautiful and timid sister, Tzuyu, stared back at him in choked desolation. They had always been the closest out of all his siblings. Right by her side was Minnie, his sibling with the softest heart, sobbing into her handkerchief in tiny, pained gasps. His most winsome brother, Joshua, kept a straight face as he stood next to his two sisters. There was not an ounce of sadness in his eyes, and Mingyu couldn’t help but laugh deep inside. Joshua had always been too much of an enigma to build a proper relationship with, and his calculating mind was probably already thinking of finding Mingyu’s replacement. His oldest brother, Seungcheol remained sullen and, of all people, refused to look at him. Mingyu wanted to ask him why, but there was not enough time for conversation now - not after everything that’s happened. There were more faces he needed to see before his time was up.
Vernon was there too. Though they were not brothers, they were very good friends. He was glad Vernon had come to say goodbye. The younger male looked impossibly guilt-stricken, even though none of this was his fault. In fact, Mingyu felt nothing but gratefulness for his friend, because it was Vernon who had brought to him the greatest gift a person could ever receive - one far greater than immortality itself.
His best friend Wonwoo, on the other hand, held suppressed anger in his blood red eyes. He was furious about Mingyu’s death sentence. If Wonwoo’s maker had not been there to bind him - to prevent him from interfering, he probably would’ve lashed out at everyone in the room a long time ago and maybe even killed someone in rage.
Finally, his eyes found his mother’s. Just like his human death, she was looking down upon him - immaculate and flawless in her favorite white dress. But this time, there was no warmth in her expression. Her face remained blank, despite knowing that she would soon be losing one of her children.
“This is your penance,” his maker proclaimed in her honey voice - sticky and sweet but devoid of any emotion.
Something shifted in her smoldering eyes. It was faint, but Mingyu could see it.
It was abhorrence.
She hated him, and he could not blame her. After all, he was her greatest disappointment, and this was his punishment for being a failure of a fledgling.
Mingyu could only nod in silent acceptance as he stood up slowly.
His eyes swept the entire room one last time, looking for one last face to remember. There was only one person Mingyu loved more than anyone else in the world, even more than his own maker.
It was his special person.
This impossibly sublime being, whose eyes glistened in brown instead of red, was the keeper of his heart. Pure and kind and warm - nothing like the cold people who stood around him in this room.
A crippling pain blossomed in his chest, far more agonizing than any pain he’d ever experienced, and tears finally ran down his face.
Of course his most beloved person would not be there to say farewell.
The love of his life was already dead, and Mingyu was the one who killed him.
The dark-haired vampire wondered if he would ever see that person again - his beautiful face, his bright eyes…his gorgeous smile. Mingyu doubted that person would ever forgive him after everything that’s happened, after everything he’s done.
Once his body had turned to ash and his soul had been taken from this world, would he reunite with his love in heaven? Or would he perish alone in the fiery pits of hell?
What came after death for a monster like him?
The curtains were ripped away by his maker’s hands, and Mingyu closed his eyes.
Warmth he had not felt in centuries slowly enveloped him in a fiery embrace. There was no pain. There was no suffering. Instead, the heat of the sun gently caressed his cold skin, as if he were an innocent child who had committed no sin. He had not expected Thanatos to be so kind to him - to numb him from the burning of his flesh.
But the god of the sun and the god of death were not there to comfort him. They were there to bring forth his execution.
This was his penance, and this was his end.