Saquin: Death To My Enemies

"Want to see something beautiful?"

Sharon hesitated, her amber eyes locked on Saquin's for a moment, she then shifted her focus to his expression. His expression, surprisingly gentle, was a stark contrast to the smug expression he always had. Is he fine? This is so like him, unpredictable, but not at the same time, he is lacking that narcissism.

"Are you fine?" she asked, her voice low but steady.

"Not really, actually, am not," Saquin admitted with a shrug. "But it's fine." His tone carried a quiet confidence showing his nonchalance towards matters unrelated to the what he is interested in presently, as if nothing else really mattered.

He gestured for her to follow and turned, his long blue hair shifting with the motion.

Sharon lingered for a heartbeat, glancing back at the side where Jonathan and Edward had stood moments ago. She sighed, cursing under her breath, and jumped off he dragon to follow after Saquin.

They walked through the dense forest, with Saquin humming a tune while subtly skipping forward. His hair waving with each step he took.

Listening closely, Sharon could hear his subtle murmuring under his breath.

"Death on the Isle.... Can you feel it...

The demons stay alive... So we drill in...

We don't wanna die... We are just kids...

I wanna see outside... I wanna take a trip...

Death on the Isle... This old village we live..."

The village song. Sharon's steps faltered. I never really understood it.

The air grew cooler as they ventured deeper, carrying a faint, sweet fragrance she couldn't place. The gnarled trees seemed to part for them, their roots weaving into a natural path. The ground softened beneath her feet, the earth turning muddy as if resisting their passage.

At last, they reached a secluded patch where a boulder stood at the center, crowned with flowers unlike any Sharon had seen.

The flowers were shaped as sunflowers but were almost incorporeal, like it was made of mist, each with its own peculiar glowing colors. The flowers grew atop a normal stem, each stem following the flowers color code.

There were a lot of flowers on top the boulder, with two flowers by its side glowing the brightest. One of the flower was completely golden, its petals rotated clockwise to form a vortex with golden mists around it, it slows down for a while then accelerates back, anticlockwise, giving it the feeling of it going from a sunflower to a rose then back. The other flower was double colored flower, or more accurately, a double state flower. At first glance, it was a beautiful flower made of blue transparent ice, making it seem like it was made of diamond but without its reflective nature, then a few moments later, it fades into a black flower with blue wisp of mist around it, the black flower gave the feeling of sucking away the vitality from one's body.

Saquin stepped aside, letting her take in the scene. "This is the heart of Brimar Forest," he said, a smile on his face. "The flowers are created from Brimar absorbing high density SP dispersed by powerful people within itself."

Sharon's breath caught as she stepped closer. The beauty of the flowers was overwhelming, almost otherworldly. "It's... incredible," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Saquin leaned casually against a nearby tree, watching her reaction with a faint smile. "You always had a thing for pretty things."

Relia shot him a glance, half-annoyed, half-amused. "And you always had a thing for showing off."

He chuckled, the sound surprisingly warm. "Maybe. But I thought you'd like this, after all, I did promise to give you the best of flower when I ask."

Sharon turned to face him, her expression softening. "With everything going on with you now—your changes, the village—is it the right time?"

Saquin smiled but didn't answer directly. Instead, he turned to the flowers at the center of the patch. "Do you want to pick one?"

Sharon noticed him dodging the question but she didn't mind, he has truly changed—he isn't teasing me all the time anymore. But this habit of answering only questions of his choice...

"Of course, I would like to, I want the golden one." She answered, she was about to step forward but frowned as she noticed the ground at the patch was really muddy.

"The mud is thick around it," Saquin noticed her reaction, a sly playful smile blooming across his face. "To pick a flower, you have to fly over or..." He trailed off, taking a step back. "You might wanna move back a bit for this."

Splash!

Saquin leaped forward, turned mid–air and fell backwards on the muddy ground. "Get it like this." He stretched out his hand overhead and picked the dual-state flower.

Sharon who had back away as soon as she saw Saquin leaped forward was stunned, "don't you grow up?"

"I technically don't anymore, you know, primal vamp and stuff." Saquin replied as he held the flower up and twirled it, he was still lying on the mud. "Variant ice," he muttered as he looked at the flower.

"Well, I haven't grown up either." Sharon said with a grin as she leaped forward.

"Yea, now join me in mud lan-" Saquin sentence was cut short as Sharon landed on his chest.

"Ugh, that hurt," he groaned.

"No, it didn't." She retorted as she leaned foward to pick up the golden flower. "Beautiful." She said as she held it up. She then looked down at Saquin.

"This would have been fun if you were wearing a gown or skirt." Saquin smiled as he met her gaze.

"Tch. You seriously didn't grow up." She said as she settled into a lotus pose on his chest.

Saquin chuckled, his smile growing softer. He took the flower in his hands and tucked it behind Sharon's left ear.

They stayed still and stared at each other for a few moments, lost in their own world.

Sharon looked at the golden flower in her hands as if engraving it into her mind, she then leaned down and tucked it behind Saquin's left ear.

"You giving me this means..." Feeling the delicate flower by his ear, he said with an uncertain, eager tone.

"Yes, it means yes." Sharon replied softly, a genuine smile on her face. She couldn't remember when last she had truly smiled like this. Oh yea, it was that night with him.

It took Saquin a moment to process her words. When he did, he burst out laughing, the sound bright and unrestrained. As the laughter faded, his blue eyes met her amber gaze. "I'm genuinely happy," he said.

"Of course you are dummy." She replied as she leaned in close and her lips met his.