Only Human 10/33
Title: Only Human
Pairings: MinSu, YunChun, more later
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Changmin suspects the only place in the world where demons and humans live in peace is in danger, but apart from Heechul he is the only one. He is also the only demon to openly declare his love for a human slave.
Warnings: Supernatural, Angst
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not even the power to make people orgasm just by running my fingertips over their skin for a few seconds. I do in my mind though.
For cerinityks ♥
Poster by markieyumeutau ♥
“So.. when can I have a taste?”
Changmin slowly lowered his book and looked at Yunho.
Just the thought of sharing Junsu with someone else was enough to make his insides boil. But this was Yunho.
Yunho had always shared Yoochun with him, and his other slaves before that, for years.
It had been almost two months and Changmin didn’t even want him to get close to Junsu.
“I...”
Changmin sighed in relief when the door opened, which meant that Yoochun and Junsu were back from their trip into the city to buy food. That would surely distract Yunho.
Changmin sat up straight, putting his book away because he expected a smiling Junsu in his arms any time now.
He looked at the door and froze.
Junsu was leaning heavily on Yoochun, who seemed barely able to carry his weight. Yoochun had to keep an arm around Junsu’s waist to hold him up.
Changmin shot up from his chair. A movement in the corner of his eye indicated that Yunho stood up from the couch as well, but Changmin could only focus on Junsu.
As he rushed towards the two humans his eyes moved over Junsu’s body, checking for bruises, blood, ripped clothes, anything. He saw nothing like that, Junsu didn’t look wounded.
Yoochun set one more heavy step into the room and then Junsu slowly lifted his head, with difficulty. His mouth stretched into a weak smile and he pulled his arm from Yoochun’s shoulder.
Junsu moved forward, in Changmin’s direction, but at his first step his knees buckled.
Changmin caught him, lifting him up and against his chest. Junsu was unconscious.
Yunho got over the shock and found his voice back before before Changmin did.
“Yoochun, what happened? ...are you okay?”
Yoochun walked to Yunho and Yunho wrapped his arms around him. Yoochun let out a distressed whimper against his chest and Yunho instantly looked worried.
“Yoochun, tell me what happened.” It was a command, but Yunho’s voice didn’t sound quite as strong as usual.
Changmin only paid them some attention because Yoochun had to know more about Junsu. Most of his mind focused on the limp body in his arms.
He could feel it now. Junsu had been drained of almost all his energy. It was a miracle that he’d even stayed conscious long enough to walk home.
“W-we.. t-there was..” Yoochun buried his face against Yunho’s chest again but Yunho pushed him away, the look in his eyes telling him to keep talking.
“S-someone on the street.. he said he was hungry.. and he wanted Junsu.”
Changmin pressed Junsu closer to his chest. He’d forgotten about that rule. The rule that, even though humans lived with one demon, to some extend, they belonged to everybody.
If someone got hungry while his own slave wasn’t around, he had the right to feed off the closest human.
There was something to say for that rule, because pushing yourself until the hunger becomes unbearable is dangerous, Changmin knew all about that.
But someone had... someone had touched Junsu. He had to take deep breaths and make sure not the squeeze the body in his arms too hard.
Not just that, but they had taken this much? That was insane, there was no way someone had been this hungry.
Yoochun turned around and looked at Junsu in Changmin’s arms. “He.. he pushed him away.” There was a hint of awe in his voice.
“He rejected a demon?” Yunho asked. His voice was laced with surprise.
Changmin looked down at Junsu. That was something he would do.. but so dangerous.
“He got angry,” Yoochun continued. With another whimper he tried to bury his face in Yunho’s chest again and this time Yunho let him.
“Junsu is strong but he... that demon threw him against a wall and pressed a hand against his neck and..” Yoochun’s shoulders shook and Yunho wrapped his arms around him.
Suddenly Yoochun pushed away from him again, eyes desperate. “I tried to.. I really... there was nothing I could do! I begged him not to take that much, I-” Yunho shut him up by pulling him against his body again.
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault. Junsu will be fine. I’m glad you’re okay.” Yunho continued to calm Yoochun down as Changmin carried Junsu to the bedroom. Junsu never slept on the couch anymore.
Changmin took off Junsu’s coat and shoes and drew the blanket up over his body. He lay next to him for a while, fighting the urge to crawl under the blanket and pull him into his arms.
“Su.. please don’t worry me like that.” Changmin pressed a gentle kiss to Junsu’s pliant lips. He lay a hand against Junsu’s chest and once again confirmed that he was really okay and just sleeping very deeply. Then he stood up.
He walked to the door with a determined look on his face, not even bothering to grab his coat. A strong arm blocked his way. Yunho held him back. “Not a good idea.”
Changmin tried to get him to back off with his eyes and, when that didn't work, pushed against his arm. “Let me go.”
“Min, you don’t even know who did it.”
“Ask Yoochun what he looked like, maybe I’ll even feel Junsu’s energy in him.”
Yunho scratched behind his ear with the hand that didn’t have Changmin’s arm in a death grip. “I.. may have drained Yoochun a little bit.”
Changmin looked around Yunho and saw Yoochun stretched out on the couch, eyes closed. He growled.
“Hey, he asked me to do it! I.. I think he feels really guilty about not being able to help. He was killing himself thinking about it.”
Yunho’s concerned voice calmed Changmin down a little bit, but he was still furious.
“I’ll find him on my own, let me go.”
“He has the law on his side, you’ve got nothing. I don’t even think being a prince stands for something in this case.”
“How can they... Who the hell made up that stupid rule?!” Changmin shouted.
Yunho shushed him. “Not everybody is as attached to their slave as you are. Your feelings... I know it hurts, but getting angry and beating someone up doesn’t solve this.”
That momentarily distracted Changmin. He knew Yunho was right, of course he did, but what surprised him was that it was Yunho who said this, and said it like he understood how Changmin felt.
Changmin was sure that if this had happened a year ago, Yunho would just have told him not to exaggerate so much. Yunho definitely liked Yoochun, and it had changed him.
“Has this ever happened to one of your slaves?”
Yunho shook his head. “Never.”
“What if it happened to Yoochun?”
Yunho’s body stiffened.
“Would you just sit here and do nothing?!” Changmin was getting angry again.
Yunho sighed. “Changmin, you are supposed to be the smart, rational one. Think.”
Changmin thought. “Heechul,” he suddenly said.
“What?”
“I’m not going to beat anyone up, you can let me go.”
Yunho hesitated for a moment but then nodded and pulled his arm back. Changmin almost ran out the door.
“You’re the king’s adviser, how can you be unable to change the law?!”
“Look, Min, if I saw a good reason to change this law I would work on that, but I don’t. Not many demons fall in love with their slaves, some even think it’s hot to see them with others. And hungry demons are dangerous.”
“But he drained him, completely!”
“Did Junsu do something to provoke him?”
Changmin didn’t reply.
“See? And even if he hadn’t, you only have the right to complain if someone takes Junsu home with him and keeps him there for days.”
“That’s messed up.”
“This entire country is messed up.” Heechul flashed him a smile and continued to organise his books by colour. Right now he was creating a rainbow.
Changmin suddenly thought of something that he should have thought of a long time ago. “You’re the king’s adviser...”
“Yes?”
“Okay, so maybe you don’t want to change this law, but you do worry about the borders. Why haven’t you done anything about that before, using your position?”
“The king isn’t my puppet, Changmin.”
“You got him to force me to take a slave.”
“That was easy. He cares about you.”
“He doesn’t care about the borders?”
“The borders aren’t a big issue in his mind. They’re so far away.”
“I’ve been gone from the palace for years. How was I not far away in his mind? And wait, I don’t believe you either. My father might have been corrupted by luxury, but he hasn’t lost his mind completely, I’m not buying that.”
Heechul looked around, pulling a face. “Why do they make all those books brown, red, brown, blue or brown?”
Changmin wasn’t going to let this go. Heechul always told him about every development he heard of. They had unofficially formed a team, both worrying about what seemed to be happening.
“Heechul, have you even talked to him about this?”
“Okay, you take that side of the room, I take this one. Find me a yellow book.”
Changmin blasted a burst of energy at the nearest shelf. It hurt his heart to send those precious books flying, but Heechul was really pissing him off right now.
Heechul glared at him.
“I’m glad I have your attention now.”
Heechul sighed and looked away. “Look, Min. I do worry about what is happening, and the reason I tell you almost everything I know is that I want you to be prepared. But this isn’t an easy issue to solve.”
Changmin crossed his arms. “Explain.”
“Yes, I can probably convince the king that it’s important to send more soldiers to the borders. But there are so many that have been relieved from their duties already. They are living in paradise here, lazing around all day and having a slave to work for them, they don’t want to go back. And then the ones that are still at their posts. They know about the ones that are here already and they’re slacking off, waiting until they get called back as well.”
Changmin hadn’t thought about that.
“We used to be afraid of what’s behind the borders, back when the chaos was fresh in our memories. But that time has gone. Everybody is overestimating the safety of this country.”
“Even the ones that have seen what it’s like at the borders?”
“The only ones that really know what it’s like at the borders are the humans. We’ve gone over this before. Ever since humans proved to be suitable as warriors they’ve been appointed the hard work. The human warriors are on and behind the walls and in the forests right at the edge of our territory. Their families live in villages just behind that, and behind those lies the demon front. Very few demons know what it’s really like. The few wounded soldiers I told you about, those are the ones that got hurt despite the human buffer in front of them. I don’t even want to know how many humans gave their lives in those places.”
Heechul’s voice had become very serious. It wasn’t often that he spoke like this.
“No matter how much this thought pains my heart, I think we have to be reminded of the danger around us, the hard way. Words are not convincing enough. Human warriors have been trying to warn us for years and you know what happened. It got labelled as ‘needlessly spreading panic’ and their messages get intercepted and ignored.”
“What... are you saying...”
“Not only that, but even if we do find people prepared to keep defending the borders, the forces outside won’t change their plans. If I were them, with the hate and envy they probably feel, I’d keep gathering power until I’d manage to break through. They’re not going to give up until we do them considerable damage to show we don’t want to messed with.”
“... you want the city to be attacked.”
“It sounds scary when you say it like that, but yes, I think that is the best way.”
“You want the danger to get so close that everybody is aware of it again and then you want to defeat it, so the danger itself knows not to mess with us again.”
Heechul turned around, his movements showing that he was done with being serious. “Have you found a yellow book yet?”
Changmin wasn’t sure what to think of this. He’d always known that it was impossible to stop at least some kind of bad thing from happening to this corrupted country. But really thinking about hostile demons crossing the borders and reaching the city... the most important thought in his head was the possible danger that could mean for Junsu. He would have to protect him.
Junsu.. How had the topic changed that suddenly?
“Okay, so the world as we know it is probably going to fall apart soon and you’re not stopping it because you think it’s necessary, but before that happens, is there really no way to claim Junsu as mine and mine alone?”
Junsu had very quickly become more important than the world to him.
Heechul turned around and looked him up and down, serious expression back in place.
“Do you really mean that?”
“... mean what?”
“That you want to make him yours.”
Of course Changmin wanted that, but something in Heechul’s voice made him wary.
Heechul looked at him and Changmin focused on his eyes, remembering Junsu’s words. There was something sad about them, definitely. How had he not noticed before?
“You could bond,” Heechul said.
“... what?”
“Bonding is something that’s only done between two demons, I know, but how do we know it doesn’t work with humans?”
For a moment Changmin was drawn to the idea of bonding with Junsu. Then he shook his head in disbelief.
“That’s insane, Heechul, two different species can’t-”
“Stop right there,” Heechul interrupted him. “It’s time for a lesson.”
Heechul hadn’t given him a lesson in.. forever. “I thought you’d already taught me everything you know?”
“Wrong, I’ve taught you everything I’m fairly sure is true. I haven’t taught you everything that I suspect could possibly be true as well.”
They were sitting at Heechul’s table, facing each other, and Changmin almost felt like a kid again.
“What are the differences between demons and humans?”
Right.. that thing where Heechul asked questions and let him do the thinking and most of the talking.
“Humans eat human food, demons live on human energy and they are stronger because they can also use that energy to fight.”
“And?”
Changmin didn’t want to think about this one. He hated it. But he couldn’t think of another difference.
“Demons... reach a much higher age.”
The thought of outliving Junsu frightened him to no end. He used all of his willpower to push it away.
“Yes. More?”
Changmin thought hard.
“Is there a difference in appearances?” Heechul asked.
Two months ago Changmin would have said that demons looked better. But Junsu was beautiful.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Heechul said, “and trust me, I’ve met a human whose looks topped those of every single demon in this city.”
Changmin stared. Heechul had avoided eye contact when he said that. Could it be...
Heechul snapped out of it. “What I actually want to ask you is if you agree that there are a lot of similarities between humans and demons.”
“I... where are you going with this?”
Humans were different, weaker, ... food, all his life Changmin had been told those things. Not by Heechul specifically, actually not by Heechul at all now that he thought about it, but just by the general way things worked around him.
“I want you to listen to this theory and tell me what you think.”
Changmin was a bit dazed but he nodded.
Heechul picked a few books from a pile on the other end of the table. He placed two books with a dull brown cover in front of Changmin.
“What if these are groups of humans who live together.”
Now Changmin really felt like a child, but he still nodded and paid attention.
“This group,” Heechul pointed at one of the books, “protects the other group from wild animal attacks and whatever else is dangerous to them as that one gathers food and builds houses.”
“Like the division between slaves and warriors now?”
“Very much like that.” Heechul looked at him for a while before he continued.
“What if this group specialises in that specific task so much that it starts to change, evolve?”
Changmin opened his mouth, but Heechul raised a hand. “Wait till I’m done.”
“What if they focus so much on perfecting fighting techniques that their bodies find a new way to function? So much that they discover a new way to take in energy and their bodies learn to do more with that energy than they did before? They change.”
Heechul picked up a blue book and replaced one of the brown books with it.
“Now the other group would be okay with that, even offer their energy, because they feel safe with these protectors next to them. Until..”
He placed the blue book on top of the brown book.
“.. those protecters start to think they should rule over everything, because they are stronger, better, more important. Then there would be protests, and, if the group of protectors splits up into a group that wants power and a group that wants to go back to the way things were..” He added another blue book. “Fights, war... chaos.”
Heechul placed the books next to each other again, leaving a distance in between.
“Knowledge gets lost in chaos, even the knowledge of our own past. It takes generations, because knowledge is stubborn like that, but..” Heechul opened one of the books. The pages were blank. This was paper he used to write his own books. “If there is nothing to remind us, in the end, we forget.”
Heechul closed the book and looked up at Changmin. “You can tell me what you think now.”
Changmin was silent for a while. “You’re saying I’m a human.” It was all he could come up with, his brain felt numb.
“I’m not exactly saying that but I’m saying that I suspect we all were humans once.”
"I don't..."
"Changmin, I'm sort of disappointed that you have never wondered why demons can have children with human females."
"They don't, right? I mean, they don't have children 'together', the demon just uses the woman and the child feeds off her energy while it grows."
"If all you've ever taken from your mother is her energy, not at least a small part of her as well, why aren't you a clone of your father? Why are you and all of your brothers different from each other?"
Changmin finally came up with a good question as well. "Why are there no female demons then?"
Heechul smiled. "I thought of that too. The best I can come up with is that there has been a long time when it wasn't common for woman to fight or even train. The same abilities may have lain dormant in their genes but they never developed them."
Changmin was silent for a long time. Heechul just waited and watched him.
"So... do you think this means I can bond with Junsu?"
A smile curled Heechul's lips. "I tell you that there's definitely a war coming up and then I tell you I suspect we're very closely related to our slaves, and this is the part you focus on?"
Chapter 11
Chapter 9 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 1 - Prologue
Pairings: MinSu, YunChun, more later
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Changmin suspects the only place in the world where demons and humans live in peace is in danger, but apart from Heechul he is the only one. He is also the only demon to openly declare his love for a human slave.
Warnings: Supernatural, Angst
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not even the power to make people orgasm just by running my fingertips over their skin for a few seconds. I do in my mind though.
For cerinityks ♥
Poster by markieyumeutau ♥
“So.. when can I have a taste?”
Changmin slowly lowered his book and looked at Yunho.
Just the thought of sharing Junsu with someone else was enough to make his insides boil. But this was Yunho.
Yunho had always shared Yoochun with him, and his other slaves before that, for years.
It had been almost two months and Changmin didn’t even want him to get close to Junsu.
“I...”
Changmin sighed in relief when the door opened, which meant that Yoochun and Junsu were back from their trip into the city to buy food. That would surely distract Yunho.
Changmin sat up straight, putting his book away because he expected a smiling Junsu in his arms any time now.
He looked at the door and froze.
Junsu was leaning heavily on Yoochun, who seemed barely able to carry his weight. Yoochun had to keep an arm around Junsu’s waist to hold him up.
Changmin shot up from his chair. A movement in the corner of his eye indicated that Yunho stood up from the couch as well, but Changmin could only focus on Junsu.
As he rushed towards the two humans his eyes moved over Junsu’s body, checking for bruises, blood, ripped clothes, anything. He saw nothing like that, Junsu didn’t look wounded.
Yoochun set one more heavy step into the room and then Junsu slowly lifted his head, with difficulty. His mouth stretched into a weak smile and he pulled his arm from Yoochun’s shoulder.
Junsu moved forward, in Changmin’s direction, but at his first step his knees buckled.
Changmin caught him, lifting him up and against his chest. Junsu was unconscious.
Yunho got over the shock and found his voice back before before Changmin did.
“Yoochun, what happened? ...are you okay?”
Yoochun walked to Yunho and Yunho wrapped his arms around him. Yoochun let out a distressed whimper against his chest and Yunho instantly looked worried.
“Yoochun, tell me what happened.” It was a command, but Yunho’s voice didn’t sound quite as strong as usual.
Changmin only paid them some attention because Yoochun had to know more about Junsu. Most of his mind focused on the limp body in his arms.
He could feel it now. Junsu had been drained of almost all his energy. It was a miracle that he’d even stayed conscious long enough to walk home.
“W-we.. t-there was..” Yoochun buried his face against Yunho’s chest again but Yunho pushed him away, the look in his eyes telling him to keep talking.
“S-someone on the street.. he said he was hungry.. and he wanted Junsu.”
Changmin pressed Junsu closer to his chest. He’d forgotten about that rule. The rule that, even though humans lived with one demon, to some extend, they belonged to everybody.
If someone got hungry while his own slave wasn’t around, he had the right to feed off the closest human.
There was something to say for that rule, because pushing yourself until the hunger becomes unbearable is dangerous, Changmin knew all about that.
But someone had... someone had touched Junsu. He had to take deep breaths and make sure not the squeeze the body in his arms too hard.
Not just that, but they had taken this much? That was insane, there was no way someone had been this hungry.
Yoochun turned around and looked at Junsu in Changmin’s arms. “He.. he pushed him away.” There was a hint of awe in his voice.
“He rejected a demon?” Yunho asked. His voice was laced with surprise.
Changmin looked down at Junsu. That was something he would do.. but so dangerous.
“He got angry,” Yoochun continued. With another whimper he tried to bury his face in Yunho’s chest again and this time Yunho let him.
“Junsu is strong but he... that demon threw him against a wall and pressed a hand against his neck and..” Yoochun’s shoulders shook and Yunho wrapped his arms around him.
Suddenly Yoochun pushed away from him again, eyes desperate. “I tried to.. I really... there was nothing I could do! I begged him not to take that much, I-” Yunho shut him up by pulling him against his body again.
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault. Junsu will be fine. I’m glad you’re okay.” Yunho continued to calm Yoochun down as Changmin carried Junsu to the bedroom. Junsu never slept on the couch anymore.
Changmin took off Junsu’s coat and shoes and drew the blanket up over his body. He lay next to him for a while, fighting the urge to crawl under the blanket and pull him into his arms.
“Su.. please don’t worry me like that.” Changmin pressed a gentle kiss to Junsu’s pliant lips. He lay a hand against Junsu’s chest and once again confirmed that he was really okay and just sleeping very deeply. Then he stood up.
He walked to the door with a determined look on his face, not even bothering to grab his coat. A strong arm blocked his way. Yunho held him back. “Not a good idea.”
Changmin tried to get him to back off with his eyes and, when that didn't work, pushed against his arm. “Let me go.”
“Min, you don’t even know who did it.”
“Ask Yoochun what he looked like, maybe I’ll even feel Junsu’s energy in him.”
Yunho scratched behind his ear with the hand that didn’t have Changmin’s arm in a death grip. “I.. may have drained Yoochun a little bit.”
Changmin looked around Yunho and saw Yoochun stretched out on the couch, eyes closed. He growled.
“Hey, he asked me to do it! I.. I think he feels really guilty about not being able to help. He was killing himself thinking about it.”
Yunho’s concerned voice calmed Changmin down a little bit, but he was still furious.
“I’ll find him on my own, let me go.”
“He has the law on his side, you’ve got nothing. I don’t even think being a prince stands for something in this case.”
“How can they... Who the hell made up that stupid rule?!” Changmin shouted.
Yunho shushed him. “Not everybody is as attached to their slave as you are. Your feelings... I know it hurts, but getting angry and beating someone up doesn’t solve this.”
That momentarily distracted Changmin. He knew Yunho was right, of course he did, but what surprised him was that it was Yunho who said this, and said it like he understood how Changmin felt.
Changmin was sure that if this had happened a year ago, Yunho would just have told him not to exaggerate so much. Yunho definitely liked Yoochun, and it had changed him.
“Has this ever happened to one of your slaves?”
Yunho shook his head. “Never.”
“What if it happened to Yoochun?”
Yunho’s body stiffened.
“Would you just sit here and do nothing?!” Changmin was getting angry again.
Yunho sighed. “Changmin, you are supposed to be the smart, rational one. Think.”
Changmin thought. “Heechul,” he suddenly said.
“What?”
“I’m not going to beat anyone up, you can let me go.”
Yunho hesitated for a moment but then nodded and pulled his arm back. Changmin almost ran out the door.
“You’re the king’s adviser, how can you be unable to change the law?!”
“Look, Min, if I saw a good reason to change this law I would work on that, but I don’t. Not many demons fall in love with their slaves, some even think it’s hot to see them with others. And hungry demons are dangerous.”
“But he drained him, completely!”
“Did Junsu do something to provoke him?”
Changmin didn’t reply.
“See? And even if he hadn’t, you only have the right to complain if someone takes Junsu home with him and keeps him there for days.”
“That’s messed up.”
“This entire country is messed up.” Heechul flashed him a smile and continued to organise his books by colour. Right now he was creating a rainbow.
Changmin suddenly thought of something that he should have thought of a long time ago. “You’re the king’s adviser...”
“Yes?”
“Okay, so maybe you don’t want to change this law, but you do worry about the borders. Why haven’t you done anything about that before, using your position?”
“The king isn’t my puppet, Changmin.”
“You got him to force me to take a slave.”
“That was easy. He cares about you.”
“He doesn’t care about the borders?”
“The borders aren’t a big issue in his mind. They’re so far away.”
“I’ve been gone from the palace for years. How was I not far away in his mind? And wait, I don’t believe you either. My father might have been corrupted by luxury, but he hasn’t lost his mind completely, I’m not buying that.”
Heechul looked around, pulling a face. “Why do they make all those books brown, red, brown, blue or brown?”
Changmin wasn’t going to let this go. Heechul always told him about every development he heard of. They had unofficially formed a team, both worrying about what seemed to be happening.
“Heechul, have you even talked to him about this?”
“Okay, you take that side of the room, I take this one. Find me a yellow book.”
Changmin blasted a burst of energy at the nearest shelf. It hurt his heart to send those precious books flying, but Heechul was really pissing him off right now.
Heechul glared at him.
“I’m glad I have your attention now.”
Heechul sighed and looked away. “Look, Min. I do worry about what is happening, and the reason I tell you almost everything I know is that I want you to be prepared. But this isn’t an easy issue to solve.”
Changmin crossed his arms. “Explain.”
“Yes, I can probably convince the king that it’s important to send more soldiers to the borders. But there are so many that have been relieved from their duties already. They are living in paradise here, lazing around all day and having a slave to work for them, they don’t want to go back. And then the ones that are still at their posts. They know about the ones that are here already and they’re slacking off, waiting until they get called back as well.”
Changmin hadn’t thought about that.
“We used to be afraid of what’s behind the borders, back when the chaos was fresh in our memories. But that time has gone. Everybody is overestimating the safety of this country.”
“Even the ones that have seen what it’s like at the borders?”
“The only ones that really know what it’s like at the borders are the humans. We’ve gone over this before. Ever since humans proved to be suitable as warriors they’ve been appointed the hard work. The human warriors are on and behind the walls and in the forests right at the edge of our territory. Their families live in villages just behind that, and behind those lies the demon front. Very few demons know what it’s really like. The few wounded soldiers I told you about, those are the ones that got hurt despite the human buffer in front of them. I don’t even want to know how many humans gave their lives in those places.”
Heechul’s voice had become very serious. It wasn’t often that he spoke like this.
“No matter how much this thought pains my heart, I think we have to be reminded of the danger around us, the hard way. Words are not convincing enough. Human warriors have been trying to warn us for years and you know what happened. It got labelled as ‘needlessly spreading panic’ and their messages get intercepted and ignored.”
“What... are you saying...”
“Not only that, but even if we do find people prepared to keep defending the borders, the forces outside won’t change their plans. If I were them, with the hate and envy they probably feel, I’d keep gathering power until I’d manage to break through. They’re not going to give up until we do them considerable damage to show we don’t want to messed with.”
“... you want the city to be attacked.”
“It sounds scary when you say it like that, but yes, I think that is the best way.”
“You want the danger to get so close that everybody is aware of it again and then you want to defeat it, so the danger itself knows not to mess with us again.”
Heechul turned around, his movements showing that he was done with being serious. “Have you found a yellow book yet?”
Changmin wasn’t sure what to think of this. He’d always known that it was impossible to stop at least some kind of bad thing from happening to this corrupted country. But really thinking about hostile demons crossing the borders and reaching the city... the most important thought in his head was the possible danger that could mean for Junsu. He would have to protect him.
Junsu.. How had the topic changed that suddenly?
“Okay, so the world as we know it is probably going to fall apart soon and you’re not stopping it because you think it’s necessary, but before that happens, is there really no way to claim Junsu as mine and mine alone?”
Junsu had very quickly become more important than the world to him.
Heechul turned around and looked him up and down, serious expression back in place.
“Do you really mean that?”
“... mean what?”
“That you want to make him yours.”
Of course Changmin wanted that, but something in Heechul’s voice made him wary.
Heechul looked at him and Changmin focused on his eyes, remembering Junsu’s words. There was something sad about them, definitely. How had he not noticed before?
“You could bond,” Heechul said.
“... what?”
“Bonding is something that’s only done between two demons, I know, but how do we know it doesn’t work with humans?”
For a moment Changmin was drawn to the idea of bonding with Junsu. Then he shook his head in disbelief.
“That’s insane, Heechul, two different species can’t-”
“Stop right there,” Heechul interrupted him. “It’s time for a lesson.”
Heechul hadn’t given him a lesson in.. forever. “I thought you’d already taught me everything you know?”
“Wrong, I’ve taught you everything I’m fairly sure is true. I haven’t taught you everything that I suspect could possibly be true as well.”
They were sitting at Heechul’s table, facing each other, and Changmin almost felt like a kid again.
“What are the differences between demons and humans?”
Right.. that thing where Heechul asked questions and let him do the thinking and most of the talking.
“Humans eat human food, demons live on human energy and they are stronger because they can also use that energy to fight.”
“And?”
Changmin didn’t want to think about this one. He hated it. But he couldn’t think of another difference.
“Demons... reach a much higher age.”
The thought of outliving Junsu frightened him to no end. He used all of his willpower to push it away.
“Yes. More?”
Changmin thought hard.
“Is there a difference in appearances?” Heechul asked.
Two months ago Changmin would have said that demons looked better. But Junsu was beautiful.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Heechul said, “and trust me, I’ve met a human whose looks topped those of every single demon in this city.”
Changmin stared. Heechul had avoided eye contact when he said that. Could it be...
Heechul snapped out of it. “What I actually want to ask you is if you agree that there are a lot of similarities between humans and demons.”
“I... where are you going with this?”
Humans were different, weaker, ... food, all his life Changmin had been told those things. Not by Heechul specifically, actually not by Heechul at all now that he thought about it, but just by the general way things worked around him.
“I want you to listen to this theory and tell me what you think.”
Changmin was a bit dazed but he nodded.
Heechul picked a few books from a pile on the other end of the table. He placed two books with a dull brown cover in front of Changmin.
“What if these are groups of humans who live together.”
Now Changmin really felt like a child, but he still nodded and paid attention.
“This group,” Heechul pointed at one of the books, “protects the other group from wild animal attacks and whatever else is dangerous to them as that one gathers food and builds houses.”
“Like the division between slaves and warriors now?”
“Very much like that.” Heechul looked at him for a while before he continued.
“What if this group specialises in that specific task so much that it starts to change, evolve?”
Changmin opened his mouth, but Heechul raised a hand. “Wait till I’m done.”
“What if they focus so much on perfecting fighting techniques that their bodies find a new way to function? So much that they discover a new way to take in energy and their bodies learn to do more with that energy than they did before? They change.”
Heechul picked up a blue book and replaced one of the brown books with it.
“Now the other group would be okay with that, even offer their energy, because they feel safe with these protectors next to them. Until..”
He placed the blue book on top of the brown book.
“.. those protecters start to think they should rule over everything, because they are stronger, better, more important. Then there would be protests, and, if the group of protectors splits up into a group that wants power and a group that wants to go back to the way things were..” He added another blue book. “Fights, war... chaos.”
Heechul placed the books next to each other again, leaving a distance in between.
“Knowledge gets lost in chaos, even the knowledge of our own past. It takes generations, because knowledge is stubborn like that, but..” Heechul opened one of the books. The pages were blank. This was paper he used to write his own books. “If there is nothing to remind us, in the end, we forget.”
Heechul closed the book and looked up at Changmin. “You can tell me what you think now.”
Changmin was silent for a while. “You’re saying I’m a human.” It was all he could come up with, his brain felt numb.
“I’m not exactly saying that but I’m saying that I suspect we all were humans once.”
"I don't..."
"Changmin, I'm sort of disappointed that you have never wondered why demons can have children with human females."
"They don't, right? I mean, they don't have children 'together', the demon just uses the woman and the child feeds off her energy while it grows."
"If all you've ever taken from your mother is her energy, not at least a small part of her as well, why aren't you a clone of your father? Why are you and all of your brothers different from each other?"
Changmin finally came up with a good question as well. "Why are there no female demons then?"
Heechul smiled. "I thought of that too. The best I can come up with is that there has been a long time when it wasn't common for woman to fight or even train. The same abilities may have lain dormant in their genes but they never developed them."
Changmin was silent for a long time. Heechul just waited and watched him.
"So... do you think this means I can bond with Junsu?"
A smile curled Heechul's lips. "I tell you that there's definitely a war coming up and then I tell you I suspect we're very closely related to our slaves, and this is the part you focus on?"
Chapter 11
Chapter 9 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 1 - Prologue