It was November of the year 2150.
As clouds littered the gloomy autumn days, a pink-haired man sat typing the last of the patient records, fed up with the never-ending flow of people coming in and out of the clinic.
Just a few more records to log, and I'll be out, he thought.
Knock knock.
"Clinic's closed for today! Come back tomorrow!" Sooha called, barely looking up as he typed on the holographic screen.
The automatic door hissed open. Heavy boots echoed across the clinic tiles.
"Was I not clear?" Sooha turned, ready to stare the intruder out of the room.
It was Luke and Sooha's expression softened.
"Whoa, sweetie? Someone get on your nerves today?" Luke joked, scratching the back of his head.
"Just about... everyone," Sooha muttered, annoyed, shutting down the screen and letting the chair swallow his weight as he leaned back into it, "What did you need?".
"Would you maybe want to join me for a ride?" Luke asked, giving him those shameless puppy eyes.
"Ah... Where to? There are strawberry tarts for dessert today..." Sooha grumbled. But he already knew he wasn't getting out of this one.
"I'm going to pick up Maria and her guys. Their ride broke down like half an hour away, so we should technically be back before dinner's over," he was being persistent.
Sooha's gaze avoided Luke's as uncertainty showed on his face.
"Luke, can't someone else go? You know what's been going on lately..." Worry crept into Sooha's voice.
"It's my turn today. And if nothing happened to them for a week, nothing'll happen to us." Luke waved it off, trying to reassure him.
He stood over Sooha now, leaning in, he whispered, "So you're coming? I really wanna be with you now."
A soft blush crept across Sooha's cheeks. He didn't have the heart to refuse him.
"Okay, okay, I'll go, but so that you know, I expect compensation!" Sooha pouted.
"Worry not; for your Lukey will get you all the strawberry tarts later," Luke's face lit up with warmth, and then he cupped Sooha's cheeks, gently tilting his face upward.
Without hesitation, he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
It was exactly what Sooha needed after this long day; the warmth of Luke's lips and the metallic smell of his uniform were oddly comforting.
Later, in the car, the low hum of the engine and soft rock music filled the silence. The world outside went on in a blur of trees and soft streaks of light passing through the clouds.
Sooha gazed out the window, his eyelids feeling heavy, but before they shut, he saw a glimpse of something.
It was tall, large, and uncanny in a way.
Was it a mutant? Or was his mind playing tricks on him from the long shift?
He looked again, but nothing was there.
If it were a mutant, it would have attacked them by now.
"Sleepyhead!! How are you feeling?" joked Luke with a subtle laugh.
"I would feel better if you let the sleepyhead sleep!" Sooha pouted, but his shoulders were tense now.
Should he tell Luke? As if it would matter, he would just call him paranoid because of the stories.
"But we didn't talk since last night, I may soon get withdrawals," Luke teased with a chuckle as he glanced at Sooha.
"Yeah, sure," Sooha rolled his eyes, glancing one last time into the forest.
Still nothing.
Luke's gaze shifted to the road just in time to see something in front of them.
It was hazy, half there, but enough to confuse a distracted man.
"What the-" was all he got to say before his hand swerved the driving wheel a little too much, enough for the vehicle to go off-road.
Moments later, a loud crushing of metal and glass was heard, and it muffled the yelps of the young men in the vehicle as the smell of blood and rust filled their lungs.
"Luke? Are you okay?" Said Sooha weakly before pushing open his door and crawling out of the vehicle.
No answer.
"Luke!" He yelled, and still nothing.
Sooha crawled to the other side of the car and saw him, unconscious, pale with blood covering half of his face already.
"No, no, no, no, this can't be you can't die," He muttered frantically while trying to open the beat-up door.
It opened with a loud creak and sent Sooha backwards, but he quickly rushed to Luke's side, pulling him out of the vehicle.
At that moment, a loud squelching noise was heard as the metal sheet left Luke's side and blood spewed out of the fresh wound.
"Oh God no," Sooha said in horror as his hands tried to apply pressure to the wound.
With Luke unconscious and losing this amount of blood, Sooha knew he wouldn't last long.
He steadied himself next to the limp man, hands over his wound and chin to his chest, and he focused, thinking to himself.
Please work now
And it did, his bloodied hands started glowing, a faint shade of teal light emanated from them onto the wound, and finally, it started stitching up.
Luke's body twitched, and his eyes slowly opened.
"Sooha? How?" He said weakly.
To which he replied, "Like I would ever let you die, you still owe me the strawberry tarts," and smiled softly.
He tried to be enthusiastic, but tears and worry plagued his face.
And right after, a loud rustle was heard in the woods, towards which Sooha turned his gaze.
Two tall men were walking towards them, uniforms oddly familiar, until it finally clicked.
Elysian Enforcers.
In that moment, Sooha's teal eyes instantly flared pink, and his hand leveled with the men, fingertips pointing outwards as a thin hexagonal layer formed outwards from them.
"Get away from us!" he yelled out.
The seemingly higher-ranking man of the two eyed the two guys and his eyes flared with a certain realisation, before turning purple.
With a snap of his fingers, he extended a purple-tinted field around himself, and at that moment, Sooha's eyes widened with terror as his body started going limp.
The barrier and the soft glow from his hand flickered.
"Damien, what are you doing?!" Sooha said in disbelief as he watched his childhood friend dismantle the lifeline of the person he loved the most.
The light went out, and the barrier shattered, and with that, Luke started screaming in pain.
Sooha cradled him in his arms as the man hyperventilated and gasped for air in between his winces.
"Don't leave me, Luke, please," He begged, his face buried in Luke's messy hair.
"Don't become a memory," Sooha whispered, now cupping the man's cheek as Luke's teary eyes looked at him.
"I love you," he said, using the last of his strength to pull Sooha in for a kiss.
"Don't miss me... too much," he whispered in his ear, as his body went limp on Sooha's.
The heavy, iron taste of blood in his mouth was enough of a realization that he was now once again alone in this world.
Just like he was alone in Syntrum's labs.
Wishing he were dead.
But this was even worse, as betrayal doesn't come from your enemies; this was the doing of someone close.
He threw Damien a deadly stare, "You will rot in hell for this," before his body hit the ground, landing on top of Luke's.