There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 72 - 71. Incessant Surprises

It was only dreamless at the start.

After drifting inside senseless space, Zein suddenly found himself with a familiar scene of the ruined city. Only, he wasn’t the shard, but himself. A human trapped inside a city where a monster lurked and called its beast comrades.

But rather than the shabby clothes of other survivors, he wore his black SavAsh combat suit and held a pitch-black dagger. The beasts came and he fought desperately, just like always. He had no magic energy left in his body that was slowly drenched in blood. Even the pitch-black dagger turned red—and that was when Zein paused.

Bassena--he chanted the name, the single word felt like a lead in his mouth, so hard to spell out. But when darkness came to envelop him, Zein only felt relieved as his consciousness waned and he closed his eyes, thinking he could finally rest with ease.

When he opened them, he was staring at a pair of amber eyes. Probably because he’d been so exhausted from fighting and feeling like he’d die any second, he felt absurdly glad to see that handsome face and warm eyes. Zein reached out to grasp the esper’s face and pulled the man into a kiss.

Only...the kiss felt strangely real. It was warm and soft, and he could taste coffee on them—the bitter kind.

Zein blinked and pulled away, tilting his head at the surprised face above him. "Huh, what—you’re real?"

The shock, parted lips curled into a smile then. "So you’re kissing me in your dream?"

Zein leaned back into his pillow with a chuckle. "Mm, yeah," he answered truthfully while blinking at the ceiling for a while to chase out the rest of the drowsiness. "Why are you here?"

"Hmm...so you don’t mind kissing me in a dream," ignoring Zein’s question, Bassena licked his lips in contemplation. "What about in real life, then?" ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"Never said I mind either way," Zein got up and cracked his stiff body slightly. He turned toward the nightstand and reached out for the glass of water already there.

"Huh, really?" Bassena delivered the glass while tilting his head. "You said no when I asked you that first time,"

"Because I still thought I could deter your persistence at that time," Zein let out a sigh before gulping down on the water, staring at the curling and amber eyes through the glass. "I realized it’s a futile effort."

Chuckling, Bassena took the glass off the guide’s hand and leaned close with a smile on his face. "Then why don’t you just accept my feelings while at it?"

Instead of pulling away or shoving the esper back, Zein tilted his head and moved his face closer, as if going to give Bassena another kiss. "This," the vibration from his voice grazed the esper’s lips softly, "...and that, is different."

It was a distance that could be closed with just a little jolt, but Bassena felt like he’d lose something if he breached it. It felt like a test, and he stayed frozen while gazing into the deep blue eyes. Only after Zein pulled away with a smile and tapped on his cheek lightly, that Bassena dared to breathe.

But his heart jolted again when he felt a weight on his shoulder, as raven hair splayed across it. Bassena blinked at the sudden contact, feeling even more surprised than the sleepy kiss earlier. He couldn’t see the guide’s face, but Zein felt... vulnerable somehow.

"...Zein?"

There was nothing for quite some time, until the guide muttered in a low, solemn tone. "Did you read it?"

Zein didn’t specify what, but Bassena knew he talked about the report on the shard’s memory. What else would make this strong, independent guide look like this? Like he wanted to lean on something.

"Yes," Bassena had read it, as well as heard the story of how the guide was shedding tears.

He came here because Zein didn’t come back to Trinity, and then heard a report from Mortix that the guide overexerted himself and had to take a rest in the research compound.

Bassena never thought he would hear a report that Zein cried too, although the guide strictly explained that it was the shard who cried, and he was just an outlet.

But was that the truth?

Looking at Zein right now, leaning into his shoulder, Bassena couldn’t help but think that the shard’s emotion probably left a deep mark inside the guide’s heart, no matter what he said.

"I only said the shard got moved inside the building, but don’t you think it’s lacking?"

Those that didn’t know wouldn’t think anything of it, but the ones already met with the shard would know that it rejected sentient beings from getting too close. For the past two months, they couldn’t find anyone who could touch the shard other than Zein.

Bassena looked down, the stigma of Setnath on Zein’s nape peeking out from the edge of his collar. "The one who moved the shard..."

"I think it’s my predecessor," Zein said with a slightly strained voice.

"...you mean ancestor?"

Zein didn’t reply. He didn’t know which one would be correct. Was it his ancestor? Or was that person just a vessel of fragment before him? He had no idea how the fragment got passed down from generation. They had the same deep blue eyes, but for all he knew, it could be the effect of the fragment rather than genetic.

And it brought an uncomfortable feeling inside him.

"It’s not that person’s fault," Bassena broke the short silence, almost making Zein flinch at how accurate the esper was in addressing his thought. "Even if it stayed in the original place, people will fight for the right to stay inside the safe zone, perhaps even more bloodily,"

This time, Bassena brought himself to touch the black strands, just lightly, running his fingers through the amazingly silky hair—despite living in harsh environments all his life.

"And the Specter would still spawn no matter what, right?" taking advantage of Zein’s quietness, he continued playing with the guide’s hair. "Even if it’s somehow that person’s fault, why would you feel guilty about it?"

Zein lifted his head then, to Bassena’s disappointment. The esper retracted his playing fingers and let out a smirk as he looked at the guide’s blinking eyes. "It’s never a good thing, to feel guilty for something you didn’t do," he looked up, staring at the ceiling while reminiscing about the past. "I was made to feel guilty for my mother’s death, and it made me so miserable for years."

Bassena looked at Zein again with a grin. "I’m done with that now. I’ll only feel guilty for something caused by my own action directly,"

By one action directly...Zein stared unblinking at the amber eyes that could say such conviction with surety. But it didn’t come from superficial belief. It was because Bassena had experienced it himself—as a child, no less.

It seemed like the more he knew Bassena, the more the esper felt like someone that already going through enlightenment in life.

And then that enlightened man tilted his head and asked with a playful smile. "Did it make you fall for me for a bit?"

Pfft—Zein leaned into the wall and laughed. Looking at the mischievous smile on the esper’s face, he thought about what kind of man Bassena would be if he were still under the influence of the Vaskis and the Golden Viper.

Instead of words, Zein gave his response with another tap on the esper’s cheek while getting down from the bed.

"So I can kiss you anytime then?" Bassena asked suddenly with a smirk and a raised brow.

"Ask first," Zein answered briefly while stretching his neck.

Not properly moved for hours made him feel stiff. It seemed like he also sleeping more to compensate for his drained energy. And he realized that he felt rather hungry.

"You don’t ask earlier,"

"I thought it was a dream..." Zein turned toward Bassena, who uncharacteristically pursed his lips. He knew it was just an act, but Zein found it cute regardless. "Haa, fine, I’m sorry. Are you going to ask for a lap pillow again?"

The pursed lips turned into a grin immediately. "I can’t sleep now, I have dungeon diving to train the second layer later."

"In the afternoon?"

"Mm," Bassena answered in a mumble, and then clutched the guide’s hand and looked up with his puppy eyes. "Grant me a date then,"

Zein stared at the hand on his and the pitiful-looking amber eyes. "...ha?"

"A date," Bassena rubbed the inside of Zein’s palm, tilting his head. "Like a lover’s date."

The blue eyes narrowed dangerously, but Zein didn’t pull his hand away from Bassena, so the esper dared himself to move his thumb over the guide’s wrist. It was kind of disappointing that he couldn’t feel any spike in Zein’s pulse, but Bassena also felt satisfied that the guide seemed to indulge him easier these days.

Couldn’t he call that a progress?

"I’m...not really familiar with that concept," Zein asked with a frown. Obviously, he never had a ’date’ or anything remotely close to that before, given his circumstances. He finally pulled his hand from Bassena, but he didn’t say no.

"So it’s a yes, right?" Bassena smiled widely, amber eyes twinkling even in the dim light of the room. He got up and pulled the guide by the elbow now. "Are you fine now? Well enough to go and have breakfast?"

Zein sighed and smiled subtly at the joyful expression that almost felt childish. "So you really come here to pick me up?"

"Of course,"

* * *

"I’ll take you through the training area next time," Bassena said before he entered the elevator going toward the basement. "You’re going straight to Radia?"

"Yeah, it’s his schedule for guiding too," Zein answered while looking at his commlink. Alice had managed his schedule neatly and swiftly in just a day, although it might be because there wasn’t much he needed to do. Not yet anyway, since his new division had yet to form. "He said it’s fine to come after ten,"

"Zein," Bassena put his hand on the elevator door to keep it open and gave serious advice. "You don’t have to tell him everything, but don’t hide too much. He might seem untrustworthy, but he can help you more than you thought."

"I’ll keep that in mind,"

Zein’s main reason to climb the thirteenth floor was for guiding, but he was also there to relay his report regarding the shard. Certainly, the Guildmaster would already receive the fast report from the researchers, but that report was just a gist. Bassena told him that if he wanted to, he should tell Radia about that person. With Mortix’s resources, they might be able to track his predecessor’s trail.

He wasn’t really sure, however, whether he wanted that. What good would knowing his possible bloodline be?

While still feeling confused, the elevator arrived on the limited thirteenth floor he only came to once before. Unlike before, he steered left this time to reach the Guildmaster’s room.

"Feels quieter than before..." Zein muttered as he walked on the carpeted hallway.

Being a limited-access floor, this place was obviously quieter than the other floors, but that didn’t mean no one was there. Radia and Bassena’s assistants usually stayed here too, unless they had business outside. But today, the place felt deserted, not even Radia’s many summoned creatures could be seen.

Feeling confused, Zein knocked on the door twice before opening it nonchalantly.

Well...perhaps he shouldn’t.

Staring at him from behind the large desk where the Guildmaster was pinned into, were a pair of deep black eyes and a familiar smirk.

"Well, well, you never said we’re going to have a threesome, Dee."