Work Text:
“Ah.” A familiar face was shown on the screen, a blank face staring into his eyes. It had been a while since he saw the boy, before his apprenticeship. He wondered how he looked now. It was unfortunate, how the next time he was to see him would be the last.
The life of a scythe had hardened Yoo Joonghyuk. The gleaning of a childhood friend didn’t bother him much.
His white robe fell limp around his muscular build. He hated the colour white. He hated being a scythe, so he chose the colour he hated the most to represent it. Unlike the rumors, he didn’t like killing, or as others called it, gleaning- at least at first. He hated the act of taking someone’s life, but now it unfazed him. He didn’t enjoy it, not at all. It was just akin to a chore to him now.
Lifting his hood and placing it back onto his head, Joonghyuk turned to exit his home. Like a ghost roaming the world of the living, his robe made him stick out like a sore thumb. Heads turned and faces contorted in fear, fear that they would be the next to die.
Come to think of it, the two of them didn’t live that far away, maybe half an hour’s walk from his home to Dokja's. The office worker lived in a humble apartment complex, much like a scythe’s.
He arrived. He stood in front of the apartment complex’s front door, heart as cold as ice. This was like any other gleaning. He couldn’t let himself hesitate because of a naive childhood love.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and he faltered. He hid himself behind a wall, and without thinking it through, ripped off his robe.
He had never done such a thing before. The only place he would roam without a robe on was his own home, never out in public. But for some reason, he didn’t want to be seen with it on. The robe had felt itchy and constricting, like having it on any longer would choke him to death.
The person who had just left the apartment was a skinny man with pale skin. When he turned to look to the side, Joonghyuk could see the man’s long lashes and eyebags even from afar. He looked weary, tired. He had the aura of a man who had lived a thousand lifetimes.
What happened to him?
The Dokja he knew was a lively boy with a bright smile. A boy whose eyes would sparkle whenever he would talk about books. Now, he looked like he could drop dead at any moment without care.
Maybe that was a good thing. He clearly didn’t want to live anymore. But Joonghyuk’s heart ached, seeing him like that. He wanted to see him smile like he once did, enjoy his life like when they were kids.
Enjoy the time he had left.
Joonghyuk, for the first time in a while, desperately didn’t want to glean someone. He wished he had turned down his apprenticeship, be a normal human being. He wished he could say something so Dokja would laugh, live like another civilian on the street. He wanted to live without having to wear his robe constantly, without getting terrified looks from passersby.
For the first time in a while, he felt ashamed for being a scythe.
Watching as Dokja walked farther and farther away, Joonghyuk turned around and put his robe back on. He didn’t deserve being near the man. He had the blood of thousands on his hands.
Why was he here?
Joonghyuk was sitting in a cafe, without his robe, across from Dokja.
He didn’t know what drove him to greet the man. He didn’t know why he asked him if he wanted some coffee. He didn’t know why he was now sipping an americano across from the man, talking about their lives after Joonghyuk ‘moved’.
“I’m a salaryman now. I guess all that reading really did bring me nowhere.” Dokja smiled, but there was a sadness behind it that made Joonghyuk’s heart ache. If he had said no to being an apprentice, maybe he wouldn’t have to see Dokja like that. Maybe, they would've been laughing together at a park bench, watching the sun set together as they breathed in the fresh air. Maybe then, he wouldn't have gotten used to smelling a slight tinge of iron whenever he breathed.
But he said yes. He did it for Mia, to see her alive and well. For her to live as long as she wants, without the fear of being gleaned.
“I see.” He wanted to tell Dokja about his time as an apprentice, his life as a scythe. He wanted to open up and tell his old friend everything.
He fiddled with the scythe ring in his pocket. Oh, how easy it would be to give the ring to the man across from him and ask him to kiss it. To kiss it every day, without fault. To extend his lifetime until the day Joonghyuk ceased to exist.
But he couldn’t. He would eventually be caught, and Mia would be at risk.
Dokja smiled. Oh, how he wanted that scene embedded into his eyes, so whenever he closed his eyes he could see that smile, over and over again. “Well, I’ll see you again. Can I have your contact info?”
Joonghyuk clenched his fist around his mug ever so slightly. He was a scythe, he didn't have a phone. “I lost my phone. Give me your number. I’ll add you when I get a new one.”
They left in opposite directions, with Joonghyuk stared at the napkin in his hands. What kinds of stores sold phones?
“You stupid bastard!” Sooyoung screamed, slapping him in the face. “Why would you do this! Dokja’s in danger, and it’s all because you!” Her purple robe fluttered behind her.
She raised her hand, about to strike him again, when he caught her wrist. “What is it. Why is Dokja in danger?!” He raised his voice, his heart hammering against his chest.
Sooyoung collapsed onto the floor. Apparently, when Joonghyuk had left, Dokja befriended her after she moved to their school, and later on was chosen as an apprentice. She too, though, would meet with him without her robe on, and would catch up with her old friend. But now she was sobbing at his feet, screaming profanities at him.
“Asmodeus. He found out. He found out you have a lover, and he's going to kill Dokja. He told me to tell you so ‘he could see the look of despair on his face.'” She grabbed his wrist with one hand, the other clenched in a fist beside her. “Dokja’s probably at his house right now. Go, hurry. Before Asmodeus does something bad to him. But if Dokja's gone, I swear to god I'll you and that bastard to the edge of the Earth and kill you both myself.”
Joonghyuk felt as if someone stabbed a knife through his chest. He knew what Sooyoung meant. Asmodeus wanted to kill his lover.
While he was running, his mind was going wild. He shouldn’t have made enemies with Asmodeus. He shouldn’t have met Dokja. He should’ve simply let him go on with his life without any interference, let him be killed by another scythe in the far future. He shouldn’t have involved himself with the man.
He frantically banged on Dokja’s door, hands sweaty. Was Asmodeus holding Dokja hostage? Was Dokja's dead corpse waiting for him behind the door, dull eyes drying out in the air?
A bleary-eyed Dokja opened the door, the corners of his lips rising as he spots Joonghyuk. “Joonghyuk-ah.”
Hands trembling, Joonghyuk reached for the man, ignoring how he was wearing a bright white scythe’s robe. Dokja didn’t seem to notice, but he would sooner or later. It didn't matter- he could explain that after. After he made sure Dokja was safe.
Suddenly, something sharp and silver emerged from Dokja’s chest. Then another, and another. His eyes widened as he caught the man. Joonghyuk could see a figure clad in a dark red, almost black scythe’s robe on the windowsill of Dokja’s apartment, chains in hand. As he tugged his arm all the way back, the knives dislodged themselves and flew back into his hands.
The blood splattered onto his robe like red strings of fate. He felt his chest constricting as he removed the remaining knife- the first knife, he noted- from the limp body in his arms. Inscribed on the knife was a red pentagram, the symbol of Scythe Asmodeus.
Hair fell onto Dokja’s face, concealing the eyes that once held entire galaxies. Now they were dim.
He held the body to his, red seeping into his white robe. His body was still warm, giving the illusion that he was still alive. That his arm would rise and comb through his hair, hold his face and wipe the tears off of his cheek. But Dokja’s arm remained limp, and unwiped tears trickled down his face, falling down his neck as he looked up to the night sky. The stars shone bright, as if they were mourning the death of his beloved alongside him.
If he were to die now, could he meet his Dokja before they parted ways to heaven and hell? Would Joonghyuk have the chance to meet the man again, kiss his lips and apologize for being the reason he died? For stealing the life from his breath, simply because he was selfish?
He bit his lips until they bled, then kissed Dokja one last time. Blood smeared on the dead man’s lips, almost returning them back to the bright red they once were. He rose with the lifeless body in his arms, eyes so furious they could set the world on fire. He would stop at nothing to avenge Dokja. He would even kill god, or whatever higher beings out there, if it was for his beloved star.
He would cut down Asmodeus with his own two hands. It didn’t matter if he was killed in the process. As long as that monster was out of this world, he would be able to rest easy. As long as the one person who took his beloved out of the world of the living was gone, he could die in peace.
Yoo Mia was grown now. She was almost an adult, and could fend for herself. All that Joonghyuk had to focus on was bringing vengeance for the person he loved.