51. Flicker

Mikey's POV

I held loosely onto Benji's hand while listening to the beeping of his heart, and I reached deeply into my chest. There isn't much time now... No time at all. He's slipping away through my fingers and there's nothing I could do about it. The dying light that was now barely visible fluctuated with every breath we shared, and at any given second I feared that it could be his last. Benji... The boy that had stolen my heart the moment I saw him that day so long ago. His laughs, so light and carefree. The light his innocent eyes held even when everything else was hopeless. It was hard to imagine never getting to see them again. Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of him for winning against King what's his face. However, the beep... Beep... Beeping of the monitor slowly drove me into insanity. There his magic goes-- Flickering again. I can tell it's fighting against going out, but will it be enough? He's a fighter, yet not everyone is able to accomplish a feat like this. The distant noises of people he had known came and went in my ears, but all I could focus on was the rise and fall of his lungs. Hoping it doesn't stop. Hoping I don't lose him.

One particular visitor drew my attention, and I looked up to see a young man. I could tell from his long, black hair and sharp facial features that he was a demon. What's my Benji doing around the same species that nearly got him killed? "His magic supply," I rasped lowly, and his ice blue eyes snapped up to me. I could tell he was sizing me up from his tense facial expression, but he had no right. His kind nearly killed my boyfriend. The silence rang out between us for many more moments before he finally spoke again, and his very voice set the hair of my neck on edge.

"What about it? And why are we able to see it?" God, is this guy an idiot? Let me spell it out for you. Magic small, magic small bad. Kindergartners can understand this crap!

"The doctors opened a passage for our eyes so that we may monitor it. That shimmer is supposed to spread all around his stomach and them up to his chest. His heart is where it's supposed to come from, and it'll be where the magic would run to if it feels threatened." I suppose I have to be civil with Benji's friends, at least on the surface. I don't want to upset him if– no, when. Stop being negative!– he wakes up.

"That's all he has?" Yes, idiot. I just said that! God, I'm going to impale my eyeballs with a dull spork. I can't tell if that was meant to be a rhetorical or not, so I'm just going to swallow my words.

"He used nearly every drop to kill that demon. When we first got him into here it was surrounding his lungs in a circular motion. Now, its dwindled to a mere spark. We have to pray that it doesn't go out." I didn't mention the likelihood that it would. To see someone's magic decreasing this rapidly is one of the scariest things I've seen in a long time. It outranks the one time I got my hand stuck in the blender and turned it on. That was almost worse than it was, and I'm lucky to still have my arms. I just hope that I'm just as lucky when it came to my boyfriend. Benji's skin was whiter than I had recalled it being a mere few seconds ago, and I wanted to kiss him to make his cheeks flush again. I wouldn't get the chance ever again' at least at this rate.

"What happens if it does?" Now that is a good question. No one really knows what happens to one who loses their magic after they die. Our culture tells us that all warlocks are categorized in heaven or hell into their different magic groups, yet no one has come up for an answer for people without magic. Usually Benji would end up with his fellow masters and descendants in the afterlife, but he never became fully trained nor had kids. He didn't even figure out his soulmate... I know that because... Well I kind of have a soulmate bond with him. He must be too young to find out about it, or we would have bonded together already. I just pray that I get the chance to know him with that closer link to us. I'm not ready to let go yet Benjamin; please hold on.

"Benji will lose his magic. Forever." I didn't mention the whole death part; he seems to be stressed out enough just looking at my little mate. I don't know why; I can't comprehend this stranger's attachment to him, but I have to come to peace with the fact that it is there. I just hope that they aren't dating. Now that would result in the conflict of the century. First of all that would mean that my soulmate was cheating on me, and second of all I'm the one he's designed to be with, so I get dibs on his ass. I'm losing too much focus on Benji. I don't want to find out that he's gotten hurt while I was going off in my head and running my mouth to some random demon on his bedside. However, when I tuned my mind back into the real world, I was terrified to hear his heart slowing gradually. This... This cannot be the end! I refuse to let this be the end! "Come on Benji, stay with me!" The nurses had already dragged the other boy away when I saw something that made my heart stop in my chest. The light in his chest... it flickered out. Oh no. Oh please god no!

Once the nurses dragged me out as well, I couldn't stop my nervous fidgets. That sight is something that I never wanted to see again. His life force-- his magic-- fading out of existence. The very center of his warlock being being deleted into thin air. Before, I could hold onto the hope that he was a master of our kinds, and that normal rules may not apply. Now, though, with every ounce of power in his body gone... I'm not so sure about his chances to make it out of this.

I ended up walking up and down the hall outside of his room on repeat, and I could still hear the nurses talking on the inside. Just judging from their tones, the chance that he would survive is bleak. I just want my soulmate in tact, is that too much to ask universe? My ears listened for the sound of the beeps to keep myself sane, and I would have lost my mind without that one reassurance that my little mate was still alive. My whole world was riding on his shoulders, and I remembered the moment he had held that knife against his neck. I thought that he couldn't deal with it anymore, and that thought hurt me. However, him dying in that moment was better than this long, drawn out waiting. I just want to know the results! Benji, please hang on and hold tightly. For me, your family, and the fate of the world.