#3 - For errant_evermore, From Your Secret Santa!
Title: Catching Fire: Not a slow roast
For: errant-evermore
Pairing/Focus: Sandeul (Slight Sandeul/CNU)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3, 400
Summary: Junghwan grows up in a world in fear of fire, losing loved ones until he is alone. Will he be able to escape the flames?
In the beginning there were a lot of fires. Whole neighborhoods would go up in smoke because one person caught on fire and in their death throes they would catch the house on fire. Which in turn would catch the next house and so on.
Later we learned to spot when someone would catch on fire. They had symptoms just like anyone with a cold. First they'd feel cold all the time. Then they would get a fever. After that it was time to spontaneously combust. Usually their skin would start to smoke and that is when you knew they were a goner.
These people knew they were goners too and they didn't want to ruin neighborhoods or houses so people learned to control themselves in their death. A lot of times a friend would help them outside but if that wasn't possible they would stand in the middle of a room as still as they could while being consumed by fire. And in those cases the houses survived. Once the person burnt out the fire died. They weren't normal fires in the least.
But that was one thing scientists could never figure out. The why. Why were people suddenly starting on fire all over the world?
*~*~*
Junghwan's first experience with the fires was when he was young, really young. During elementary school one of his friends caught on fire. This was during the beginning so no one knew what was happening. One minute his friend is complaining about the heat on a frigid January morning and the next he's burst into flames. His body looked like a roman candle. The flames shot high into the sky and sparks fell to the ground around him, sizzling in the snow.
Thankfully they had been outside on recess but still it was awful to witness. The teachers pushed Junghwan away, he'd been transfixed and rooted to a spot just a few feet away, and tackled Minwoo, the boy on fire, to the ground with a blanket. But it didn't do any good. The snow around Minwoo melted instantly and the blanket caught fire. The teacher who tackled him had to quickly shrug off his sweater because it had caught on fire as well.
In the end the teachers ushered everyone away while Minwoo's body finished burning.
They thought it was a freak accident and wrote it off but in the weeks that followed two other students and a teacher all caught on fire. School was suspended while an investigation went on to see why people at the school were spontaneously combusting, something long thought of as just a myth.
It spread fast through Korea. From Junghwan's school it moved through the city like wildfire. Soon the entire country was under lockdown. People were not to leave their houses or congregate in mass anywhere. Not that these sanctions helped people not catch on fire. It was happening more and more frequently. Reports from around the world had the story just the same. And all the smartest people were working frantically to find out why.
It was kind of fascinating, in a horrible way, how quickly society crumbled. No one was immune to this so even world leaders lit up and died. Humanity was being burned off the face of the Earth and no one could seem to stop it.
*~*~*
Junghwan had his own theories like it was Hell on Earth, literally. The apocalypse had come and the wicked were being punished as if they were in Hell. Although that theory had its own holes since Junghwan wouldn't exactly count himself as a saint.
He was gluttonous for sure and lustful and jealous and many of the other sins. So he didn't know why he never burned when everyone else he knew had. But maybe that was it, maybe everyone was guilty and no one was to be spared God's wrath.
Like he never thought of his parent's as especially evil people. Sure it annoyed him when his mother would limit him to just two pieces of cake but she was a mom, that was her job. His dad was nice but not in the let's-go-play-catch type of way more in the quiet-but-kind type of way. They both died though.
His mother died maybe around five years after the outbreak. His family had counted themselves very lucky, no one had gone up in smoke. Junghwan's mother joined a group that went around calling themselves "The Immune". They weren't immune though, they caught fire just like anyone else.
Junghwan was around fifteen probably. She had gone out to get their daily rations and never came back. Grocery stores long since had been closed. The government had a tight control on food supply. Life went from freedom to oppression so quickly. But that there was any semblance of society left was thanks to the governments holding together when it all went down. Granted it was barely held together, their leaders burst into flame as quick as the next.
After she disappeared, Junghwan's father gave up on living. He would just lay in his bed all day and all night. It started to look like he would die of starvation before he died of the fire. Junghwan had struggled with that, which way was better to go? Though he figured fire was quicker.
It didn't matter in the end though because Junghwan's older sister went up in flames next and their dad found the will to off himself. Pills were quicker and easier than fire or starvation.
Guess Junghwan didn't mean that much to the man. Or that's what he told himself. Love hurts they say. Only idiots fall in love. Because some time or another the one you love will go up or you will and who needs that pain? Who wants that pain?
That's another thing the government was controlling; the product of love. In other words reproduction. No one wanted the human race to go extinct before a cure could be found. So they worked hard taking in "breeding volunteers".
Sure some went up in smoke but others were able to successfully reproduce. These kids they had were kept under lockdown in cool bare rooms. Much like a prison, actually Junghwan was pretty sure it had been a prison before the world started on fire. Just there wasn't time for punishing the bad guys when the world was ending.
But it wasn't really, ending that is. Animals and plants were thriving in the near sudden halt of humanity's press. And that's what Junghwan did, he gardened. It really didn't take much work. Any patch of dirt would do. Stick a seed in and in a few weeks you'd have a fully grown plant ready for harvest.
Maybe he found peace there, among the plants, among nature. Where there weren't people to worry about or care for. Just his plants. He cared for them and they cared for him in turn. Plus he had a pretty sweet deal with the government for all his surplus produce.
In the end that is all he needed. Although sometimes, just sometimes, it bothered him to be so alone. And during those times he would leave his lonely farm and travel into the city. Usually it only took a couple of hours in town for him to remember why he didn't like being there.
And those are the type of thoughts that run through his mind when it's his turn to catch on fire.
*~*~*
It is one of those regular boring days when Junghwan notices something is just not quite right. But it is strange because he never felt sick beforehand. They had said that most cases would get a cold or fever before they went. Then again, that was most cases, Junghwan of course would have the luck to be one of the few cases that just go without any warning.
At first he tries not to think about it. Just continues doing his chores, singing an old ballad to his tomato plants which were looking a little under the weather, but it seems catching fire can't just be ignored away. It is going to happen no matter what.
He thinks about it then, while watching the skin on his arm steam. It is really kind of fascinating, it doesn't hurt but he knows it should. But he stands there and thinks about how no one will notice that he's gone. It could be days or weeks, although he had some little faith in Dongwoo, the government delivery driver who picked up Junghwan's produce. Dongwoo might snoop around to find out why Junghwan wasn't answering the door.
Dongwoo was a good guy. And maybe Junghwan would count him as a friend although they only ever hung out for an hour or so at a time every other week. Dongwoo liked plants and always expressed an interest in becoming a farmer like Junghwan but Dongwoo had family still and could not afford to let his well paying government job go to pursue a hobby like gardening.
Junghwan did let Dongwoo have a small corner of the garden to grow some few plants of his own. But they were pitiful looking little plants and Junghwan just could not figure out why they did not grow with vigor like his own did. He watered them just as frequently as his own plants and pulled the weeds around them but still they seemed so stunted in comparison.
But Dongwoo didn't seem to mind much that his plants were tiny, he still would spend all his allotted hour there fawning over the small things. So while Junghwan could not count on Dongwoo being able to keep all his plants alive and in such great condition, he knew the man would try his hardest. So some little faith was due to him.
Junghwan has to shake his head from silly thoughts because he was going to die and he should somehow prepare for it. Although how does one prepare for death? Perhaps when you've grown up with this threat of death over your head your whole life you should be prepared for it. But when it does come for you any preparations seem silly and meaningless. What does it matter how things in life are going to be when you are not there anymore?
He'll say goodbye to his plants first and move onto the sidewalk so he doesn't damage them when he dies. Somehow he realizes he's crying and still singing that silly old song to the tomato plant. Junghwan reaches his hand down and runs his fingers over one of the wilted leaves.
And is shocked when he feels a rush flow from his middle up through his shoulder and down his arm to his fingers where it whooshes out of his outstretched fingers into the tomato plant. Instantly the leaf gains color and starts growing fuller, the whole plant starts gaining size and tomatoes bud, form, and ripen before his eyes.
His skin is less steamy now but still hot to the touch but still not burning him so Junghwan does the only ration thing, he reaches out and touches the next plant in line, the same feeling passes through him and he watches in amazement as this healthier plant grows into a giant. The tomatoes are as big as pumpkins by the time the transformation is complete.
"Oh my god!" Junghwan screams and laughs so loudly he has to double over. It is impossible what is happening. He should be a smelly pile of ash by now but instead he is making miracles with his fingers. This cannot be happening, so he reaches up and pinches his cheek, hard, and it hurts just as hard. Real. This was all real.
Junghwan spends the next half an hour running around his very sizeable garden touching all the plants. The pumpkins grown big as the carriage Cinderella used in the cartoon movie, the cherries are as big as apples, and apples are as big as melons. The carrots could be used as swords and the lettuce leaves could be shields.
By the time he's finished the garden is over spilling its boundaries on all sides. The plants are a tangled mess and he has a moment of regret knowing they will not prosper well on top of one another like this but his thought is short lived because his world fades to black as he suddenly feels more exhausted than he has ever felt in his life. Maybe he will die after all but at least he did some good beforehand.
So there he falls amid a forest of vegetables and fruits with a smile on his face.
*~*~*
Junghwan wakes up to the sound of heavy breathing and when he opens his eyes he sees a sharp, metal object swinging towards him. His scream could put a woman to shame and he isn't afraid to admit that. Though he had thought he was dead so being killed shouldn't be quite so frightening, right?
But the next thing he hears or more like feels is a scream that reverberates in his head and through his blood. The pain he feels is like red hot fire coursing through him. It feels like he just got a limb taken off but he also can feel that it isn't his limb that's been chopped off.
Junghwan opens his eyes again, which he had squeezed shut after he saw the falling axe blade coming down towards him. And looks up to see who it was that was swing around such a dangerous tool. He only owned the thing to prune the trees not to kill unconscious men.
Who he sees when he turns his head is none other than the delivery driver, Dongwoo. Dongwoo's hair is disheveled and his glasses are sitting crookedly on his face. Closer inspection shows Junghwan that Dongwoo has scratches up and down his arms, had he done that to him unknowingly?
If he had that would explain the restraints holding down his arms and legs. He tries to lift his head but it seems there is a restraint holding down his head too so he can only turn it a fraction. Just what was Dongwoo up to? This all seemed very much unlike him. The man was friendly to a fault and didn't even have the heart to pull up the weeds from his garden, maybe why it never quite got off the ground.
"I'm sorry!" Dongwoo shouts. "Oh my god Junghwan I came here and found you like this and I just didn't know what to do. I'm so sorry I scared you like that I'm just trying to get those vines off you. How'd you get all tied up like this anyhow?"
Not Dongwoo then, this was getting even stranger. Tied up, with vines? He tries to turn his head further to see what it was that Dongwoo had cute. He sees the severed branch, because it was so thick it really shouldn't be called just a vine, and the pain he felt earlier flares up inside again. Like looking at the wound made it feel worse.
So he was feeling what the plant was feeling. That means that strange dream he had was not a dream but in fact reality. And most likely he was in his over grown garden surrounded by impossibly huge produce. No wonder Dongwoo looked frightened.
"I'm going to cut you free so please no more screaming." Dongwoo grins, or tries to but his face kind of just twitches, the fear and confusion not allowing him to give full expression. "My ears are still ringing." And he finishes with a sorry sort of chuckle.
Before Junghwan can say anything the axe is hefted again and swinging down towards the vine branch that was holding his left leg down. The metal sinks in and crushes through. The pain is so vivid Junghwan almost has the feeling that Dongwoo missed and chopped off his foot instead of the plant's.
His vision goes white and he can hear himself whimpering. He tries to think to stop the pain to push it out of him because it isn't his pain. He doesn't know why he can feel the plant's pains but he needs to make it stop or perhaps he will die, pain through empathy. Wonder if it's a thing?
"Stop!" Junghwan finally manages to pant out, his vision clearing enough to see that Dongwoo has moved to the other side and is ready to hack into the next unsuspecting branch. "Stop, please Dongwoo, it hurts."
Dongwoo looks puzzled but drops the axe and walks closer to Junghwan. He doesn't say anything, he just looks at him, waiting for the explanation. Obviously not wasting his breath asking why because Junghwan always said why. And then usually said a whole lot more. People told him that he talked too much but when you spend ninety percent of your time alone with no one to talk to but the plants, the rare occasions to talk to another person could not be squandered.
Junghwan looks a Dongwoo would he laugh and walk away? Although that was unlikely considering that he did have to walk through the crazy garden to get to him so anything he said was probably going to be taken quite seriously. He did have a lot of explaining to do. Sadly he didn't know the why or how of it himself.
Junghwan sucks in a deep breath and lets it out in a cascade of words. "I can feel what the plant feels. When you chop into it it feels like my limbs are being chopped off. Its screaming so loudly in my head and the pain is rushing around in me so furiously that I can barely see or think. "
"What?" Dongwoo's eyebrows lift up so high on his forehead that they are in danger of meeting his hairline.
"This." Junghwan waves his free hand around. "I made all of this but I'm not sure how. "
Dongwoo looks even more confused but he says instead, "So how do we get you out of that then?"
Junghwan shrugs, or tries to because his other arm is still held down tight. "I'll figure it out."
He closes his eyes and tries to tune into the plant. The pain was lessened already, the cells repairing themselves and closing off the wounds in a neat orderly fashion. Junghwan doesn't know what to do though so he just tries to push thoughts at the plant of 'Let me go'. There isn't any response. Should he have expected the plant to speak to him, probably not, but right now nothing was out of the realm of possibility.
Maybe he could control it. He tries to find the big picture of the plant, the blackberry bush apparently. Who knew it could get so massive. He wondered briefly what the size the berries were and the image popped into his mind immediately. They were so huge they would put watermelons to shame. Which was amazing considering he was pretty sure they were only the size of grapefruit when he had touched them with his fire.
Maybe the prolonged contact with him was making them continue to grow. At any rate he needed to get free of them. He tries to think of the vines as fingers and slowly uncurls them one by one, like unclenching a fist. Junghwan smiles when he feels the pressure on his body lesson and abruptly he is in his own body only. The contact with the blackberry plant severed so quickly that he feels confused.
He opens his eyes and finds that Dongwoo has flattened himself up against the apple tree, eyes wide with fear. He reminded Junghwan of a deer on the highway. The deer that Junghwan had accidentally hit with his car on one of the few times he had journeyed into town. He had a lot of explaining to do, and not just to Dongwoo. The government was going to want to hear about this.
Junghwan stands up and walks over to Dongwoo throwing an arm round his shoulders and forcefully walking him towards the house. "Let's go inside. I'll tell you all about how I think I've discovered magic."
For: errant-evermore
Pairing/Focus: Sandeul (Slight Sandeul/CNU)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3, 400
Summary: Junghwan grows up in a world in fear of fire, losing loved ones until he is alone. Will he be able to escape the flames?
In the beginning there were a lot of fires. Whole neighborhoods would go up in smoke because one person caught on fire and in their death throes they would catch the house on fire. Which in turn would catch the next house and so on.
Later we learned to spot when someone would catch on fire. They had symptoms just like anyone with a cold. First they'd feel cold all the time. Then they would get a fever. After that it was time to spontaneously combust. Usually their skin would start to smoke and that is when you knew they were a goner.
These people knew they were goners too and they didn't want to ruin neighborhoods or houses so people learned to control themselves in their death. A lot of times a friend would help them outside but if that wasn't possible they would stand in the middle of a room as still as they could while being consumed by fire. And in those cases the houses survived. Once the person burnt out the fire died. They weren't normal fires in the least.
But that was one thing scientists could never figure out. The why. Why were people suddenly starting on fire all over the world?
*~*~*
Junghwan's first experience with the fires was when he was young, really young. During elementary school one of his friends caught on fire. This was during the beginning so no one knew what was happening. One minute his friend is complaining about the heat on a frigid January morning and the next he's burst into flames. His body looked like a roman candle. The flames shot high into the sky and sparks fell to the ground around him, sizzling in the snow.
Thankfully they had been outside on recess but still it was awful to witness. The teachers pushed Junghwan away, he'd been transfixed and rooted to a spot just a few feet away, and tackled Minwoo, the boy on fire, to the ground with a blanket. But it didn't do any good. The snow around Minwoo melted instantly and the blanket caught fire. The teacher who tackled him had to quickly shrug off his sweater because it had caught on fire as well.
In the end the teachers ushered everyone away while Minwoo's body finished burning.
They thought it was a freak accident and wrote it off but in the weeks that followed two other students and a teacher all caught on fire. School was suspended while an investigation went on to see why people at the school were spontaneously combusting, something long thought of as just a myth.
It spread fast through Korea. From Junghwan's school it moved through the city like wildfire. Soon the entire country was under lockdown. People were not to leave their houses or congregate in mass anywhere. Not that these sanctions helped people not catch on fire. It was happening more and more frequently. Reports from around the world had the story just the same. And all the smartest people were working frantically to find out why.
It was kind of fascinating, in a horrible way, how quickly society crumbled. No one was immune to this so even world leaders lit up and died. Humanity was being burned off the face of the Earth and no one could seem to stop it.
*~*~*
Junghwan had his own theories like it was Hell on Earth, literally. The apocalypse had come and the wicked were being punished as if they were in Hell. Although that theory had its own holes since Junghwan wouldn't exactly count himself as a saint.
He was gluttonous for sure and lustful and jealous and many of the other sins. So he didn't know why he never burned when everyone else he knew had. But maybe that was it, maybe everyone was guilty and no one was to be spared God's wrath.
Like he never thought of his parent's as especially evil people. Sure it annoyed him when his mother would limit him to just two pieces of cake but she was a mom, that was her job. His dad was nice but not in the let's-go-play-catch type of way more in the quiet-but-kind type of way. They both died though.
His mother died maybe around five years after the outbreak. His family had counted themselves very lucky, no one had gone up in smoke. Junghwan's mother joined a group that went around calling themselves "The Immune". They weren't immune though, they caught fire just like anyone else.
Junghwan was around fifteen probably. She had gone out to get their daily rations and never came back. Grocery stores long since had been closed. The government had a tight control on food supply. Life went from freedom to oppression so quickly. But that there was any semblance of society left was thanks to the governments holding together when it all went down. Granted it was barely held together, their leaders burst into flame as quick as the next.
After she disappeared, Junghwan's father gave up on living. He would just lay in his bed all day and all night. It started to look like he would die of starvation before he died of the fire. Junghwan had struggled with that, which way was better to go? Though he figured fire was quicker.
It didn't matter in the end though because Junghwan's older sister went up in flames next and their dad found the will to off himself. Pills were quicker and easier than fire or starvation.
Guess Junghwan didn't mean that much to the man. Or that's what he told himself. Love hurts they say. Only idiots fall in love. Because some time or another the one you love will go up or you will and who needs that pain? Who wants that pain?
That's another thing the government was controlling; the product of love. In other words reproduction. No one wanted the human race to go extinct before a cure could be found. So they worked hard taking in "breeding volunteers".
Sure some went up in smoke but others were able to successfully reproduce. These kids they had were kept under lockdown in cool bare rooms. Much like a prison, actually Junghwan was pretty sure it had been a prison before the world started on fire. Just there wasn't time for punishing the bad guys when the world was ending.
But it wasn't really, ending that is. Animals and plants were thriving in the near sudden halt of humanity's press. And that's what Junghwan did, he gardened. It really didn't take much work. Any patch of dirt would do. Stick a seed in and in a few weeks you'd have a fully grown plant ready for harvest.
Maybe he found peace there, among the plants, among nature. Where there weren't people to worry about or care for. Just his plants. He cared for them and they cared for him in turn. Plus he had a pretty sweet deal with the government for all his surplus produce.
In the end that is all he needed. Although sometimes, just sometimes, it bothered him to be so alone. And during those times he would leave his lonely farm and travel into the city. Usually it only took a couple of hours in town for him to remember why he didn't like being there.
And those are the type of thoughts that run through his mind when it's his turn to catch on fire.
*~*~*
It is one of those regular boring days when Junghwan notices something is just not quite right. But it is strange because he never felt sick beforehand. They had said that most cases would get a cold or fever before they went. Then again, that was most cases, Junghwan of course would have the luck to be one of the few cases that just go without any warning.
At first he tries not to think about it. Just continues doing his chores, singing an old ballad to his tomato plants which were looking a little under the weather, but it seems catching fire can't just be ignored away. It is going to happen no matter what.
He thinks about it then, while watching the skin on his arm steam. It is really kind of fascinating, it doesn't hurt but he knows it should. But he stands there and thinks about how no one will notice that he's gone. It could be days or weeks, although he had some little faith in Dongwoo, the government delivery driver who picked up Junghwan's produce. Dongwoo might snoop around to find out why Junghwan wasn't answering the door.
Dongwoo was a good guy. And maybe Junghwan would count him as a friend although they only ever hung out for an hour or so at a time every other week. Dongwoo liked plants and always expressed an interest in becoming a farmer like Junghwan but Dongwoo had family still and could not afford to let his well paying government job go to pursue a hobby like gardening.
Junghwan did let Dongwoo have a small corner of the garden to grow some few plants of his own. But they were pitiful looking little plants and Junghwan just could not figure out why they did not grow with vigor like his own did. He watered them just as frequently as his own plants and pulled the weeds around them but still they seemed so stunted in comparison.
But Dongwoo didn't seem to mind much that his plants were tiny, he still would spend all his allotted hour there fawning over the small things. So while Junghwan could not count on Dongwoo being able to keep all his plants alive and in such great condition, he knew the man would try his hardest. So some little faith was due to him.
Junghwan has to shake his head from silly thoughts because he was going to die and he should somehow prepare for it. Although how does one prepare for death? Perhaps when you've grown up with this threat of death over your head your whole life you should be prepared for it. But when it does come for you any preparations seem silly and meaningless. What does it matter how things in life are going to be when you are not there anymore?
He'll say goodbye to his plants first and move onto the sidewalk so he doesn't damage them when he dies. Somehow he realizes he's crying and still singing that silly old song to the tomato plant. Junghwan reaches his hand down and runs his fingers over one of the wilted leaves.
And is shocked when he feels a rush flow from his middle up through his shoulder and down his arm to his fingers where it whooshes out of his outstretched fingers into the tomato plant. Instantly the leaf gains color and starts growing fuller, the whole plant starts gaining size and tomatoes bud, form, and ripen before his eyes.
His skin is less steamy now but still hot to the touch but still not burning him so Junghwan does the only ration thing, he reaches out and touches the next plant in line, the same feeling passes through him and he watches in amazement as this healthier plant grows into a giant. The tomatoes are as big as pumpkins by the time the transformation is complete.
"Oh my god!" Junghwan screams and laughs so loudly he has to double over. It is impossible what is happening. He should be a smelly pile of ash by now but instead he is making miracles with his fingers. This cannot be happening, so he reaches up and pinches his cheek, hard, and it hurts just as hard. Real. This was all real.
Junghwan spends the next half an hour running around his very sizeable garden touching all the plants. The pumpkins grown big as the carriage Cinderella used in the cartoon movie, the cherries are as big as apples, and apples are as big as melons. The carrots could be used as swords and the lettuce leaves could be shields.
By the time he's finished the garden is over spilling its boundaries on all sides. The plants are a tangled mess and he has a moment of regret knowing they will not prosper well on top of one another like this but his thought is short lived because his world fades to black as he suddenly feels more exhausted than he has ever felt in his life. Maybe he will die after all but at least he did some good beforehand.
So there he falls amid a forest of vegetables and fruits with a smile on his face.
*~*~*
Junghwan wakes up to the sound of heavy breathing and when he opens his eyes he sees a sharp, metal object swinging towards him. His scream could put a woman to shame and he isn't afraid to admit that. Though he had thought he was dead so being killed shouldn't be quite so frightening, right?
But the next thing he hears or more like feels is a scream that reverberates in his head and through his blood. The pain he feels is like red hot fire coursing through him. It feels like he just got a limb taken off but he also can feel that it isn't his limb that's been chopped off.
Junghwan opens his eyes again, which he had squeezed shut after he saw the falling axe blade coming down towards him. And looks up to see who it was that was swing around such a dangerous tool. He only owned the thing to prune the trees not to kill unconscious men.
Who he sees when he turns his head is none other than the delivery driver, Dongwoo. Dongwoo's hair is disheveled and his glasses are sitting crookedly on his face. Closer inspection shows Junghwan that Dongwoo has scratches up and down his arms, had he done that to him unknowingly?
If he had that would explain the restraints holding down his arms and legs. He tries to lift his head but it seems there is a restraint holding down his head too so he can only turn it a fraction. Just what was Dongwoo up to? This all seemed very much unlike him. The man was friendly to a fault and didn't even have the heart to pull up the weeds from his garden, maybe why it never quite got off the ground.
"I'm sorry!" Dongwoo shouts. "Oh my god Junghwan I came here and found you like this and I just didn't know what to do. I'm so sorry I scared you like that I'm just trying to get those vines off you. How'd you get all tied up like this anyhow?"
Not Dongwoo then, this was getting even stranger. Tied up, with vines? He tries to turn his head further to see what it was that Dongwoo had cute. He sees the severed branch, because it was so thick it really shouldn't be called just a vine, and the pain he felt earlier flares up inside again. Like looking at the wound made it feel worse.
So he was feeling what the plant was feeling. That means that strange dream he had was not a dream but in fact reality. And most likely he was in his over grown garden surrounded by impossibly huge produce. No wonder Dongwoo looked frightened.
"I'm going to cut you free so please no more screaming." Dongwoo grins, or tries to but his face kind of just twitches, the fear and confusion not allowing him to give full expression. "My ears are still ringing." And he finishes with a sorry sort of chuckle.
Before Junghwan can say anything the axe is hefted again and swinging down towards the vine branch that was holding his left leg down. The metal sinks in and crushes through. The pain is so vivid Junghwan almost has the feeling that Dongwoo missed and chopped off his foot instead of the plant's.
His vision goes white and he can hear himself whimpering. He tries to think to stop the pain to push it out of him because it isn't his pain. He doesn't know why he can feel the plant's pains but he needs to make it stop or perhaps he will die, pain through empathy. Wonder if it's a thing?
"Stop!" Junghwan finally manages to pant out, his vision clearing enough to see that Dongwoo has moved to the other side and is ready to hack into the next unsuspecting branch. "Stop, please Dongwoo, it hurts."
Dongwoo looks puzzled but drops the axe and walks closer to Junghwan. He doesn't say anything, he just looks at him, waiting for the explanation. Obviously not wasting his breath asking why because Junghwan always said why. And then usually said a whole lot more. People told him that he talked too much but when you spend ninety percent of your time alone with no one to talk to but the plants, the rare occasions to talk to another person could not be squandered.
Junghwan looks a Dongwoo would he laugh and walk away? Although that was unlikely considering that he did have to walk through the crazy garden to get to him so anything he said was probably going to be taken quite seriously. He did have a lot of explaining to do. Sadly he didn't know the why or how of it himself.
Junghwan sucks in a deep breath and lets it out in a cascade of words. "I can feel what the plant feels. When you chop into it it feels like my limbs are being chopped off. Its screaming so loudly in my head and the pain is rushing around in me so furiously that I can barely see or think. "
"What?" Dongwoo's eyebrows lift up so high on his forehead that they are in danger of meeting his hairline.
"This." Junghwan waves his free hand around. "I made all of this but I'm not sure how. "
Dongwoo looks even more confused but he says instead, "So how do we get you out of that then?"
Junghwan shrugs, or tries to because his other arm is still held down tight. "I'll figure it out."
He closes his eyes and tries to tune into the plant. The pain was lessened already, the cells repairing themselves and closing off the wounds in a neat orderly fashion. Junghwan doesn't know what to do though so he just tries to push thoughts at the plant of 'Let me go'. There isn't any response. Should he have expected the plant to speak to him, probably not, but right now nothing was out of the realm of possibility.
Maybe he could control it. He tries to find the big picture of the plant, the blackberry bush apparently. Who knew it could get so massive. He wondered briefly what the size the berries were and the image popped into his mind immediately. They were so huge they would put watermelons to shame. Which was amazing considering he was pretty sure they were only the size of grapefruit when he had touched them with his fire.
Maybe the prolonged contact with him was making them continue to grow. At any rate he needed to get free of them. He tries to think of the vines as fingers and slowly uncurls them one by one, like unclenching a fist. Junghwan smiles when he feels the pressure on his body lesson and abruptly he is in his own body only. The contact with the blackberry plant severed so quickly that he feels confused.
He opens his eyes and finds that Dongwoo has flattened himself up against the apple tree, eyes wide with fear. He reminded Junghwan of a deer on the highway. The deer that Junghwan had accidentally hit with his car on one of the few times he had journeyed into town. He had a lot of explaining to do, and not just to Dongwoo. The government was going to want to hear about this.
Junghwan stands up and walks over to Dongwoo throwing an arm round his shoulders and forcefully walking him towards the house. "Let's go inside. I'll tell you all about how I think I've discovered magic."