The Last Esper [BL]-Chapter 42: Borrowed memory

Rhys saw everything as if hidden in the forest, with branches and leaves obscuring his vision. Through the trunks, he could make out two female figures arguing in a clearing.

One of them had long, wavy blond hair, falling to the middle of her back like a golden river. Her green eyes blazed with an intensity that was painful to look at, ignited by rage and despair.

Facing her, the other woman stood with her back turned. She was taller, and her long, straight hair, black as obsidian, fell straight down her back, so long that it brushed the ground with every movement.

The tension between them was felt even from a distance, vibrating in the humid forest air.

"You can’t leave me! Not now!" the blonde woman screamed.

The other woman didn’t respond immediately. And when she did, her voice was soft, barely a whisper that couldn’t reach Rhys’s ears clearly.

The blonde woman gritted her teeth, her expression twisting with rage.

"Liar!" she spat. "If I were as special as you say, you wouldn’t be looking for another esper to breed with."

A chill ran down Rhys’s spine as the blonde woman’s emotions crashed over him like a wave. He felt her anxiety, the gnawing fear of being alone, and, most of all, the heartbreaking pain of watching the person he loved reach out for someone else.

The black-haired woman replied something, but again the sound didn’t reach Rhys.

The blonde woman’s laughter burst out suddenly. A broken, bitter laugh, lacking any joy.

"You’re a hypocrite! I’m your Guide!" she shouted, her voice thick with reproach. "We’re supposed to be together forever! Forever! Do you understand?"

The other woman took a step back, but she didn’t look scared. Just... sad. As if she’d already accepted that nothing she said would be enough.

Then, a rustle of leaves.

The dark-haired woman slowly turned toward the sound. As her face began to become visible through the trees, Rhys saw her eyes.

Red eyes.

Just like Eun-woo’s.

But she didn’t quite make the turn. The blonde woman roughly shoved her, bringing her attention back to the argument.

Rhys could barely see the scene through the branches. Everything was hazy, like looking at someone else’s memory, but sharp enough to see the important things.

The blonde woman raised her hand violently and slapped her. The sharp sound of the blow echoed through the trees. The black-haired woman’s face spun with the impact, but she did nothing to stop it.

The blonde woman raised her hand again and hit her again, harder. The other woman just looked down, her arms still at her sides, not even trying to move away or cover herself.

"Why don’t you stop me?" the blonde woman cried. "Why aren’t you doing anything?"

"Because it’s better to get your hatred out now," she replied. "It’ll be worse later."

Just like that, the blonde woman stopped hitting her. They fell silent, staring at each other.

Then the black-haired woman turned around and started walking away through the trees.

Rhys felt something tighten in his chest. Every step she took made him feel more suffocated, as if the air around him grew thicker. He had the feeling that if that woman left, she would never return. That what he had just witnessed was a final goodbye.

The blonde woman stood, her fists clenched at her sides, trembling. Her lips were pressed tightly together. Then the blonde woman followed her.

She didn’t scream.

She didn’t call his name.

She simply closed the distance with quick steps and, without warning, violently pushed her from behind.

The black-haired woman fell face first, her head hitting a rock buried in the mud and roots. The impact was brutal. Blood spurted out instantly, thick and dark, staining the damp earth. A muffled moan escaped her lips as she tried to turn around, disoriented, as if she still didn’t understand what had happened.

In the distance, a man’s voice broke the silence, urgently calling for someone. He was approaching. freewēbnoveℓ.com

Rhys realized he was crying. He didn’t realize when the tears started to flow, but they were there. His rational side knew: everything about that scene was wrong. Everything was violent, unfair, wrong.

But there was another emotion that prevailed more strongly than any logical judgment.

Hearing the man’s voice approaching, he felt time slipping through his fingers. As if the little he could still salvage was about to be lost forever.

The wounded woman tried to sit up, her blood-stained fingers trying to find purchase among the stones, her broken voice trying to scream, to ask for help.

But it was too late.

The blonde woman’s hands, stained with dirt, trembled as they lifted another rock. A larger one. A heavier one. Her shadow fell over the prone body, and her eyes shone with a mixture of fury and despair as she heaved it above her head.

"I love you..." she whispered, her lips trembling, barely holding back her tears. "I love you so much I can’t let you go... I can’t let you be with someone else. Not when you promised you’d always be mine." Her fingers tightened around the rock. "And if you won’t be mine... then you won’t be anyone’s."

And then, the rock fell, breaking the silence of the forest.

***

Rhys gasped.

And he came out of the memory.

His body was trembling. The real world came rushing back, as if someone had slapped him out of a dream. He could barely breathe. His eyes were wide open, and his whole body was tense.

"Rhys..." Eun-woo’s voice reached him. He immediately felt Eun-woo’s hands cupping his face, forcing him to look at him. "Are you okay? Rhys?"

Only then did he realize he was actually crying. Tears were streaming down his cheeks without him even feeling them begin. His breath was ragged, as if the memory had drained his breath, as if something inside him had shattered without warning.

And as he looked at Eun-woo, something clicked.

The image of the black-haired woman appeared before him, flickering like a faulty light between Eun-woo’s features. Her crimson eyes, the serenity with which she spoke, the quiet sadness in her gaze. The tone of her voice. The calm that surrounded him. They were so similar. Too much.

Rhys held him by the wrists, never breaking eye contact, holding on as if his life depended on it.

"Promise me..." he whispered urgently. "Promise me you’ll never leave me alone."

Eun-woo frowned, puzzled.

"What’s wrong, Rhys?"

"Promise me!" he cried, his voice breaking. "Promise me that we’ll always be together! That you’ll never leave me again!"

The trembling in his voice and the desperation in his eyes gripped Eun-woo’s heart tightly. He was silent for a second, then, swallowing, nodded.

"I promise."

Rhys didn’t wait any longer. He leaned toward him and kissed him. It was an urgent touch at first, trembling, as if searching for something to save him from himself. But little by little, the kiss became deeper, more desperate.

Rhys’s lips moved with an intensity that left no room for air or thought. He held Eun-woo tightly by the back of his neck, his fingers barely digging into the skin, as if he feared Eun-woo would faint if he didn’t hold him there, glued to him.

His mouth sought him out with an anxiety that didn’t seem to come from desire alone, but from something darker.

Eun-woo stood still at first, surprised by the intensity. It wasn’t the first time Rhys had kissed him, but this time there was something different, something he didn’t quite understand. The urgency lacked tenderness.

He tried to kiss him back, to calm Rhys, but when his hands found Rhys’s arms to hold on to, he felt the stiffness in his muscles, the tension that wouldn’t let up. Rhys’s heart pounded against his chest.

Something wasn’t right.

The shock that had initially immobilized him slowly dissolved, giving way to a stabbing sensation in his stomach.

Fear.

There was something behind that kiss that didn’t belong in that moment, that wasn’t born in the present, but from something else. An impulse that came from a wound Eun-woo couldn’t see, but that felt alive in every movement.

Eun-woo stepped back awkwardly, still clinging to Rhys’s arms, until he fell backward. Rhys fell on top of him, never breaking the kiss, as if he couldn’t afford to stop for even a second. His body trembled, not only from pent-up desire, but from a whirlwind of emotions seeking to escape through every rough touch.

"Rhys... wait..." Eun-woo murmured breathlessly. "You’re scaring me..."

But Rhys didn’t respond immediately. He continued kissing him, now on his neck, his lips grazing the skin with a mixture of urgency and desperation. He kissed him again and again, and then, without warning, he bit him.

Eun-woo stifled a groan, the pain making him tense beneath his body.

"Rhys..." he insisted. "What’s wrong?"

Only then did Rhys stop, just for a second. Just long enough to look up and lock eyes with his.

"You said we’d be together," Rhys whispered. "Forever." His fingers trembled over Eun-woo’s skin. "And to be together... we have to bond."

It was then that Eun-woo noticed that Rhys’s eyes were no longer the same.

His eyes glowed with an emerald green so intense, it almost looked radioactive.

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