Chapter Text
clink.
despite the very slight shaking of her hands, she still pours the serum into the test tube, mixing it in gently. hopefully, this way, it won’t be as effective… strangely enough. should she not be looking for something as potent as possible?
ruan mei shakes the thought out of her mind, placing the tube aside for a moment to cross the room, checking up on the current cultivation of her next creation...
it is hard to ignore her.
hard to ignore her when her stomach shakes and wretches and her heart thumps confusedly. ruan mei will follow through, no matter how much the thought brings bile to her throat. yes. that is the best decision…
ruan mei turns towards the surgical bed in the middle of the room. only a dim light flickers distantly upon the body lying serenely upon the bed, brows loose and untouched. unable to contain her greediness, she drifts towards her.
her beloved gem, her beloved everything.
ruan mei places a gentle hand on jelena’s forehead, admiring the bangs that carefully lick at her fingertips, just out of reach. breathing comes so much easier around her. her love, her fated one...
not anymore.
even having set her cornerstone and most of her outerwear aside, leaving her in nothing but her boots, shorts, and white top, she still looks the same as ever. ruan mei closes her eyes, moving her hand to jelena’s chest, listening to the thrum of her heartbeat.
it calms her. even now. it always has calmed her, the heartbeat of her .
such a strange thought brings a small smile to her face. she moves, brushes the hair out of jelena’s face. the remembrance of memories that ruan mei thought she could hold in her palm forever make her frown, pulling her hand away.
fragile.
aeons are not fragile.
she gets up. love is an illusion. if she hadn’t known before, jelena proved that.
thankfully, the sedative in jelena’s system will keep her in her peaceful state for now. leaving her oh so very pretty for ruan mei to look at. ruan mei yawns, sitting on one of her desks as she rubs her shoulder.
the past few days have been so rough, with her running around so much… although she will be sad to see jelena leave, at least she will not have to burden herself with worry over every slight tick in her heartbeat, every small whimper that leaves her mouth.
ruan mei slumps down, but her eyes do not leave her . it is only when she feels some unprecedented substance touching the skin of her face that she jumps up, looking around curiously for the source. the source–
Her. ruan mei Herself.
the sticky droplets of water running down her face make ruan mei scowl, gritting her teeth together. ah , what is this? how– how idiotic. but when her eyes glance over at jelena, the torment on her face only intensifies.
ruan mei wipes at the water staining her face, turning her back on her. “no use, no use for such idiocracy…”
instead, she moves swiftly, tending to the matters around her private lab meticulously. when she is finished, she does not feel relief... because now she can only look at the main presence in her lab.
it is burdening. but, in another way, it is free. she stumbles over to one of the trays, swiping a cigarette off the end. she searches around for a lighter–thinking funnily back on jelena’s flames–until she hurriedly lights it on the stray flames from an experiment, placing it into her mouth.
she collapses onto the side wall, holding the cigarette up with a sigh. it will be done soon. then she is not allowed to worry. she will be useless once again. useless without her fate…
jelena was Her fate. and now that Her fate’s gone… what will happen?
she does not know the answer.
instead, ruan mei steps towards the cot and collapses onto the side.
her fingers gently graze the sides of jelena’s shirt, and she leans forward to embrace her in a last hug. –the warmth instantly spreads through her body–
destiny can be changed, after all.
so what if she changes hers?