(HunHan) Pretty little Lies like stars in the sky (part 1)
Title: Pretty little Lies like stars in the sky
Rating: pg-13
Word count: 19951
Summary: Pretty little Lies, like the stars in the sky, fall when the rain pours down and in their wake, nothing but trouble they make, be careful you don't drown.
(writer's note: this is my first supernatural/fantasy fic! i hope it's not too bad, and sorry it's so long om f it just kept growing... i owe my sister for bits and pieces, like the poem and title. thanks momo!)
“But you have to be careful, Sehunnie, you never know when you’ll get tricked by a Lie~”
Sehun thinks it’s ironic that he’s remembering Luhan’s words at this moment, with Kris leading him down this stupid dark tunnel. He can see letters etched into the old walls, quivering as Kris’ torchlight illuminates them. They scuttle away from the light and make it hard for Sehun to form coherent thoughts.
This is very frustrating.
“We’re almost there,” Kris murmurs, his voice muffled by the dark surrounding them. “Just, keep in mind what I told you earlier, OK? It’s been a while since I visited the underworld, so I can’t guarantee how hospitable the other archangels will be.”
“I understand,” Sehun says. “It’s a quick job. We just locate Luhan and pull him out of there, right?” Kris lets out a strangled laugh.
“I wish it were that easy,” he says, twitching when a rather large Q latches onto the torch handle and he has to stop and, with effort, peel it off to replace it on the wall between a P and R. “You see, the demon lord, he’s...” Kris starts walking again, pursing his lips. “He’s very eccentric. We’ll definitely need to be ready to strike a bargain.” He glares as another Q starts to drift toward the torch. “If worse comes to worse, one of us might lose a limb, and not painlessly. Are you willing to make that kind of sacrifice?”
Sehun gulps. It’s one thing to just waltz in and rescue Luhan from evil’s clutches; he’s always been fond of playing the role of a hero, even if Luhan is far from the casual ideal of a damsel in distress. But striking bargains, losing limbs, that isn’t exactly something that’s at the top of Sehun’s list of things to do in his lifetime.
This is for Luhan, he reminds himself. And if there’s anyone worth losing anything for, it’s definitely Luhan.
“Yes,” Sehun whispers. “I am.”
“Good,” Kris says, “Because we’re here.”
They stand before a rather obvious, glaring dead-end. Sehun stares. “What? Give me a minute,” Kris huffs, “I have to open the gate, OK?” Sehun cocks an eyebrow, but nods and takes the torch from him. It’s almost out, he notices with slight anxiety. As if sensing his distress, Kris adds, “We won’t need it once we get outside, trust me. You’d get arrested in the blink of an eye if you were caught with a light in the underworld.” With a grunt, Sehun hurriedly puts out the torch.
He regrets it almost instantly, as everything goes pitch black. But then Kris is muttering something and a light flashes even brighter than the sun, temporarily blinding Sehun so that when he finally can see again, the dead-end has been replaced with an ancient archway. A gothic stairway leers just behind it, and continues far beyond Sehun’s human eyesight.
“I thought you said we were here,” Sehun mutters, following as Kris begins climbing.
“We are,” Kris laughs. “Patience, my dear friend. You’ll need it, especially when we deal with the Lord.” Sehun notes a change in the way the archangel mentions their foe, but chooses to ignore it.
Just a little bit more and he’ll be able to see Luhan again.
The stairs seem to go on forever, but Sehun refuses to let himself tire. Memories of Luhan’s face, voice, the moments they shared, play at the back of his mind like a movie he’s only semi-watching, eyes focused on Kris’ figure in front of him. It’s all he can do to keep himself going.
There was a time when he wouldn’t have believed something like this could happen, but Luhan had taught him to have an open heart, to accept that some things wouldn’t make sense and to make sense of what you could. And that’s what he plans on doing.
He’s going to save Luhan. That’s the one thing he knows for certain. How, well, that’s another story, but he’s sure he’ll figure it out eventually.
They near the top of the staircase, where Sehun sees the outline of a dark door with odd inscriptions adorning the center.
“Don’t breathe,” Kris instructs as he pauses in front of it. Sehun gives him a look and watches as he raises both hands. “Just do it. You’ll die if you do,” the archangel says, chuckling as Sehun gasps and takes a deep breath, cupping his hands over his mouth. “Good boy. Now don’t let it out until I give you the signal.” Sehun nods, and Kris presses both hands on the door.
The sound in the stairway seems to get sucked out as Kris says a string of words in a language that Sehun doesn’t understand. His voice takes on more than one octave and is all too demonic for Sehun’s liking, but then Kris is removing his hands and nodding weakly at Sehun before taking the handle of the door.
“Is it time?” Sehun asks, exhaling and looking at the archangel with wide eyes.
“It’s time,” Kris says softly. Then he opens the door.
The underworld isn’t at all how Sehun had expected it to be. In fact, he’s not sure what he’d expected, but even if he had expected anything, it still wouldn’t have been the same.
For one, there’s no air. He can feel it; well, more precisely, it’s what he can’t feel that makes him certain. He can’t feel anything. It’s all sort of muffled and, well, dead. He suspects Kris did something when he was opening the door that made it possible for Sehun to continue to breathe even without air, and he’s exceedingly glad to have such an experienced archangel by his side for this mission.
Secondly, the other archangels look... surprisingly normal. More normal than Kris looks, anyway. With his seer eyes, Sehun can see that they have a variety of powers, ranging from fire, like Kris, to water, earth, and- wait, is that light?
“Hey, Kris!” says a deep voice, and they’ve hardly closed the door before Kris is nearly tackled to the ground by a huge phoenix archangel that’s practically the same height as him. Sehun freezes, but Kris gives him a look that says everything’s OK and he relaxes a little. “Wow, I never thought you’d show your face down here again!” the giant says, a wide grin on his face.
“Well, I hadn’t planned to,” Kris responds, lips twitching in amusement as the giant backs away to give him a little more space, “But something came up. So here I am.”
“Something came up?” the giant repeats curiously, but it’s as if he already knows he’s not going to get anything out of Kris, so he goes on, “Who’s your friend? A new archangel?” The giant stares at Sehun with big eyes that make him shrink back nervously.
“Um, something of the sort,” Kris replies. “Sehun, this is Chanyeol. He’s one of the few sane archangels around here.” The giant beams.
“Aw, shucks, I didn’t know you thought so highly of me,” he says, patting Kris on the back. “But let me not keep you,” Chanyeol bows and scurries back the way he’d come, returning to the male he’d been talking to before he’d seen Kris.
“We’re lucky Chanyeol’s the one who greeted us,” the archangel sighs. “If it had been anyone else, we might not have been able to get through here so easily.” He starts walking but stops when he sees Sehun hasn’t moved. “Sehun? What’s the matter?”
“That one,” Sehun says quietly, gesturing to Chanyeol’s partner with his eyes. “He’s not an archangel.” Kris follows Sehun’s gaze and smiles.
“Yes. That’s Baekhyun,” Kris says. “He’s... well, he’s one of the light beings. And he’s probably the reason I say Chanyeol’s more sane than the other archangels.” Sehun’s brow furrows quizzically. “But that’s a story for another time. Come, we don’t have much time. It’s Dims Week, which means the higher demons will be making rounds, and we don’t want to be around for that.” Sehun nods and hurries after Kris as they pick up the pace.
The underworld is all dark colors, black shrubbery, and victorian style mansions. It’s quite depressing, in Sehun’s humble opinion. The archangels ignore the two of them for the most part, though they do get a few weird looks from one with earth powers and particularly wide eyes.
“Almost to Demon Lord’s castle,” Kris tells Sehun, and ahead of them, Sehun sees the shape of a fortress beginning to materialize. “You’re lucky I know how to get there,” the archangel laughs, “Otherwise we’d get lost in the Lord’s labyrinth.” Sehun just nods, not trusting himself to say anything helpful right now.
He begins to wonder if they’re even in the same world, though, when the castle comes into full view. It is surprisingly cozy looking, and the outside walls are decorated with some sort of tacky leopard print pattern that gives Sehun a headache.
“Bad exterior designer?” he jokes weakly.
“You could say that,” Kris says with a wary smile.
They don’t use the main entrance, a gargantuan door five times Sehun’s height that he’s sure requires some sort of spell to open, opting instead for a smaller, less ostentatious door off to the side.
“Watch your head,” Kris warns as he holds it open for Sehun to enter, “The doorway likes to, er, mess around.” Sehun looks up as he cautiously sets one foot inside the castle and is met by narrowed, taunting eyes.
“Now, now, Kris,” the door says, “What do we have here? A human? You’re really bringing a human into the Lord’s castle?”
“Shut it, Kai,” Kris says impatiently. “Go bother Suho or something.”
“Is he a sacrifice?” the door prys, smiling wickedly, “Because I didn’t peg you as one to do something so reckless.”
“You didn’t hear this from me,” Kris addresses Sehun, “But we really need to get this door replaced.”
“Don’t be so cruel, Krissy-poo,” cackles the door. “What if I went and informed the whole castle of what you’re doing?” It narrows its eyes even more and looks right at Sehun. “You’re here for Luhan, am I correct?” Sehun’s own eyes widen involuntarily, and Kris glances up anxiously. “See? You shouldn’t just brush me off. I know things~”
Kris’ nervous gaze becomes threatening and the door laughs. “Don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone you were coming. I have better things to do with my time.” The face shrinks back, disappearing into the dark wood of the door. “But speaking of time, a certain archangel’s is almost out, so maybe you should hurry~”
Kris curses under his breath. “Let’s go,” he says to Sehun, who nods and follows as they hastily enter the castle.
The interior of the castle is just as tacky as the outside, if not more, and Sehun’s very glad to ignore it and keep his attention focused on staying close behind Kris. The path they take twists, turns, weaves, and swirls him into a confused state so that it’s really all he can do, let his legs carry him in whatever direction Kris leads.
Kai’s face follows them at random intervals, offering useless advice or just sneering as they wander through the hallways.
“Kris, are you sure you’re heading the right way?” it asks.
“Shut up,” Kris says, and it cackles and vanishes into the wall.
“Hey!” shouts a voice, and Kris curses again and halts, standing in front of Sehun as a rather menacing lightning archangel approaches them. “What do you think you’re doing?” Sehun peers out to see the other squint at Kris before smiling. “Ah, Kris, it’s just you. It’s been a while.” He pauses, looking around. “I could have sworn I saw a human a moment ago.”
“Ah, Chen, a human?” Kris laughs, nudging Sehun’s gut to make him straighten. “Nonsense, what would a human be doing here?”
“I’m not sure,” the archangel named Chen chuckles. “But strange thing is, I can smell it, too. I don’t know how it would have gotten here, though.” Sehun hears the archangel sniff loudly.
“Or maybe you’re imagining it. Has Kai been talking to you? Perhaps his ramblings have clouded your senses. You should go outside for a walk.” Sehun is once again glad that it is Kris who is his companion.
“Good idea. Kai is such a trouble maker,” Chen says. “By the way, where are you headed?”
“Just to visit Yixing,” Kris says quickly.
“The healer?” Chen questions, confusion in his voice. “Oh, right, he was one of your good friends. I’m sure he’d be glad to hear from you. I think he was most affected when you were transferred to the human realm.”
“Of course,” Kris says, waving his hand for Sehun to move as he turns to let Chen pass. “Have a relaxing walk.”
Sehun stays frozen behind Kris until Chen is long gone and Kris lets out a relieved sigh. “Come,” he beckons, “We’ve already wasted enough time.”
“Who’s Yixing?” Sehun finds himself asking as they continue their passage. Kris looks back at him, quizzically clicking his tongue.
“He’s not one of the archangels,” Kris says reluctantly. “He is a unicorn, a being of light, that the Lord captured and held captive. I’ve tried to offer him freedom, but he refuses to leave.” Sehun hears a hint of regret in Kris’ voice. “I wonder if he knew all along that something like this would happen...”
Sehun is about to ask another question, but he’s hindered when Kris abruptly stops and he crashes into the archangel’s back. “Hey-” Sehun starts, but Kris is shaking his head, eyes warning him to be quiet.
“We’re here,” Kris says quietly.
An ornately decorated double-door stands before them. Jewels and gems line the sides, and the same leopard print, albeit slightly faded, covers the expanse of the doorway. Sehun swallows hard and looks up at Kris, whose gaze is focused on the door.
Sehun’s mind is racing. What should he expect when they meet the demon lord? From the things Kris said earlier, he finds himself dreading this whole event a great deal. But he has to stay strong. Luhan will be counting on him.
“This is it,” the archangel says before gripping the handle. Sehun braces himself as the door swings open.
“So you came,” greets a silky voice that sends shivers down his spine.
“Zitao,” Kris says grimly.
Sehun actually forgets how to move his legs for a moment, but then Kris is behind him, guiding him into the castle’s throne room.
It is by far the tackiest thing they’ve seen yet, and if Sehun weren’t so scared, he’d probably have laughed at how gaudy everything is.
“Kris, love, it’s good to see you again,” purrs the demon lord, words dripping from his lips like thick molasses.
If Sehun is being honest, he’s not actually all that frightening - he’s shorter than Kris, with jet black hair and dark eyes and even darker bags beneath them - but it’s not looks that are important because Sehun can feel the power radiating from him.
“I knew you’d come.” The lord is gliding off his throne, taking slow steps toward them. “Although, love, I really do wish you’d visit more often. I was starting to miss you.” Kris stiffens as the lord lifts one hand to brush slender fingers against his cheek. Sehun is frozen to the spot, watching with wide eyes.
“Says the one who sent me off to the human realm without a second thought,” Kris mutters bitterly, gaze focused on the ground as the lord leans forward to graze his lips along the archangel’s jaw.
“I said starting, love,” the lord says, laughing an odd musical sound as Kris looks up to glower at him. “It was all your fault, you know~” The lord moves back to fall limply onto his throne. “But we have more important matters to discuss, don’t we~”
“Yes, we do,” Kris growls.
“Oh Sehun, I presume?” the lord addresses Sehun, who starts at the mention of his name and swallows hard, turning a hesitant gaze toward the speaker. “Luhan has spoken incessantly of you, which I would find cute if it weren’t so goddamn annoying.” Sehun swallows again, harder, as the lord’s gaze narrows, an amused grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “... You’re not much to look at, are you.”
“Just cut to the chase, Zitao,” Kris jumps in, taking a protective step in front of Sehun.
“I’m getting there,” the lord snaps, a playful glint in his eye.
“As you both may well know, Luhan’s sentence is almost up. He’ll face the executioner very soon, I believe. And as much as I would love to save him, really, I would,” he pauses, shrugging smugly, “law is law.” He leans forward, propping one elbow on his knee and resting his chin in his hand to smirk at the two of them. “Unless you can offer me a little something in return~”
A bargain, Sehun thinks. It’s like Kris had said. But what could Sehun offer? He’s never made a bargain before, let alone for someone’s life. Maybe Kris can do the talking.
“Well, human?” the lord asks, licking his lips to reveal pointed teeth. “What’s worth giving up for your little lover boy?” Sehun trembles, unable to look away.
What can he offer? What could he, Oh Sehun, possibly have to offer that would be equivalent to Luhan’s life?
What?
“Don’t frighten the poor boy, Zitao,” Kris says softly, wrapping an arm around Sehun. “You already know the consequences of sending a human back to the human realm. Isn’t that sacrifice enough?” Zitao tuts, grin replaced by a frown.
“Oh, you just love to take the fun out of everything, don’t you,” he sighs, slouching forward before leaning back and gesturing airily. “Guards, show Luhan in,” he says in a loud, commanding voice that seems to reverberate around the room.
Sehun’s breath catches in his throat as the door opens and the lightning archangel from before, as well as another archangel that is even more intimidating, march slowly inside, dragging a shackled Luhan behind them. He opens his mouth to call out to the archangel, but before he has a chance, the other two are throwing Luhan down in front of the lord, laughing as he cringes and whimpers. Sehun bites his tongue.
“There, there, love,” the lord smiles, petting Luhan’s head as if he were an animal, “your knight in shining armor has come to rescue you.” Luhan’s eyes widen and he glances over to where Kris and Sehun stands, his gaze brightening significantly when he sees the latter.
“Sehunnie!” he exclaims, making to get up, but the other archangel is kicking him in the gut and causing him to collapse back onto the ground, coughing.
“Not until the Lord has finished speaking,” it snarls.
“That’s quite all right, Suho,” Zitao smiles kindly, which seems oddly unbefitting for his character. “Take the shackles off and help him up. I’m tired of playing the bad guy.”
part 2
Rating: pg-13
Word count: 19951
Summary: Pretty little Lies, like the stars in the sky, fall when the rain pours down and in their wake, nothing but trouble they make, be careful you don't drown.
(writer's note: this is my first supernatural/fantasy fic! i hope it's not too bad, and sorry it's so long om f it just kept growing... i owe my sister for bits and pieces, like the poem and title. thanks momo!)
“But you have to be careful, Sehunnie, you never know when you’ll get tricked by a Lie~”
Sehun thinks it’s ironic that he’s remembering Luhan’s words at this moment, with Kris leading him down this stupid dark tunnel. He can see letters etched into the old walls, quivering as Kris’ torchlight illuminates them. They scuttle away from the light and make it hard for Sehun to form coherent thoughts.
This is very frustrating.
“We’re almost there,” Kris murmurs, his voice muffled by the dark surrounding them. “Just, keep in mind what I told you earlier, OK? It’s been a while since I visited the underworld, so I can’t guarantee how hospitable the other archangels will be.”
“I understand,” Sehun says. “It’s a quick job. We just locate Luhan and pull him out of there, right?” Kris lets out a strangled laugh.
“I wish it were that easy,” he says, twitching when a rather large Q latches onto the torch handle and he has to stop and, with effort, peel it off to replace it on the wall between a P and R. “You see, the demon lord, he’s...” Kris starts walking again, pursing his lips. “He’s very eccentric. We’ll definitely need to be ready to strike a bargain.” He glares as another Q starts to drift toward the torch. “If worse comes to worse, one of us might lose a limb, and not painlessly. Are you willing to make that kind of sacrifice?”
Sehun gulps. It’s one thing to just waltz in and rescue Luhan from evil’s clutches; he’s always been fond of playing the role of a hero, even if Luhan is far from the casual ideal of a damsel in distress. But striking bargains, losing limbs, that isn’t exactly something that’s at the top of Sehun’s list of things to do in his lifetime.
This is for Luhan, he reminds himself. And if there’s anyone worth losing anything for, it’s definitely Luhan.
“Yes,” Sehun whispers. “I am.”
“Good,” Kris says, “Because we’re here.”
They stand before a rather obvious, glaring dead-end. Sehun stares. “What? Give me a minute,” Kris huffs, “I have to open the gate, OK?” Sehun cocks an eyebrow, but nods and takes the torch from him. It’s almost out, he notices with slight anxiety. As if sensing his distress, Kris adds, “We won’t need it once we get outside, trust me. You’d get arrested in the blink of an eye if you were caught with a light in the underworld.” With a grunt, Sehun hurriedly puts out the torch.
He regrets it almost instantly, as everything goes pitch black. But then Kris is muttering something and a light flashes even brighter than the sun, temporarily blinding Sehun so that when he finally can see again, the dead-end has been replaced with an ancient archway. A gothic stairway leers just behind it, and continues far beyond Sehun’s human eyesight.
“I thought you said we were here,” Sehun mutters, following as Kris begins climbing.
“We are,” Kris laughs. “Patience, my dear friend. You’ll need it, especially when we deal with the Lord.” Sehun notes a change in the way the archangel mentions their foe, but chooses to ignore it.
Just a little bit more and he’ll be able to see Luhan again.
The stairs seem to go on forever, but Sehun refuses to let himself tire. Memories of Luhan’s face, voice, the moments they shared, play at the back of his mind like a movie he’s only semi-watching, eyes focused on Kris’ figure in front of him. It’s all he can do to keep himself going.
There was a time when he wouldn’t have believed something like this could happen, but Luhan had taught him to have an open heart, to accept that some things wouldn’t make sense and to make sense of what you could. And that’s what he plans on doing.
He’s going to save Luhan. That’s the one thing he knows for certain. How, well, that’s another story, but he’s sure he’ll figure it out eventually.
They near the top of the staircase, where Sehun sees the outline of a dark door with odd inscriptions adorning the center.
“Don’t breathe,” Kris instructs as he pauses in front of it. Sehun gives him a look and watches as he raises both hands. “Just do it. You’ll die if you do,” the archangel says, chuckling as Sehun gasps and takes a deep breath, cupping his hands over his mouth. “Good boy. Now don’t let it out until I give you the signal.” Sehun nods, and Kris presses both hands on the door.
The sound in the stairway seems to get sucked out as Kris says a string of words in a language that Sehun doesn’t understand. His voice takes on more than one octave and is all too demonic for Sehun’s liking, but then Kris is removing his hands and nodding weakly at Sehun before taking the handle of the door.
“Is it time?” Sehun asks, exhaling and looking at the archangel with wide eyes.
“It’s time,” Kris says softly. Then he opens the door.
The underworld isn’t at all how Sehun had expected it to be. In fact, he’s not sure what he’d expected, but even if he had expected anything, it still wouldn’t have been the same.
For one, there’s no air. He can feel it; well, more precisely, it’s what he can’t feel that makes him certain. He can’t feel anything. It’s all sort of muffled and, well, dead. He suspects Kris did something when he was opening the door that made it possible for Sehun to continue to breathe even without air, and he’s exceedingly glad to have such an experienced archangel by his side for this mission.
Secondly, the other archangels look... surprisingly normal. More normal than Kris looks, anyway. With his seer eyes, Sehun can see that they have a variety of powers, ranging from fire, like Kris, to water, earth, and- wait, is that light?
“Hey, Kris!” says a deep voice, and they’ve hardly closed the door before Kris is nearly tackled to the ground by a huge phoenix archangel that’s practically the same height as him. Sehun freezes, but Kris gives him a look that says everything’s OK and he relaxes a little. “Wow, I never thought you’d show your face down here again!” the giant says, a wide grin on his face.
“Well, I hadn’t planned to,” Kris responds, lips twitching in amusement as the giant backs away to give him a little more space, “But something came up. So here I am.”
“Something came up?” the giant repeats curiously, but it’s as if he already knows he’s not going to get anything out of Kris, so he goes on, “Who’s your friend? A new archangel?” The giant stares at Sehun with big eyes that make him shrink back nervously.
“Um, something of the sort,” Kris replies. “Sehun, this is Chanyeol. He’s one of the few sane archangels around here.” The giant beams.
“Aw, shucks, I didn’t know you thought so highly of me,” he says, patting Kris on the back. “But let me not keep you,” Chanyeol bows and scurries back the way he’d come, returning to the male he’d been talking to before he’d seen Kris.
“We’re lucky Chanyeol’s the one who greeted us,” the archangel sighs. “If it had been anyone else, we might not have been able to get through here so easily.” He starts walking but stops when he sees Sehun hasn’t moved. “Sehun? What’s the matter?”
“That one,” Sehun says quietly, gesturing to Chanyeol’s partner with his eyes. “He’s not an archangel.” Kris follows Sehun’s gaze and smiles.
“Yes. That’s Baekhyun,” Kris says. “He’s... well, he’s one of the light beings. And he’s probably the reason I say Chanyeol’s more sane than the other archangels.” Sehun’s brow furrows quizzically. “But that’s a story for another time. Come, we don’t have much time. It’s Dims Week, which means the higher demons will be making rounds, and we don’t want to be around for that.” Sehun nods and hurries after Kris as they pick up the pace.
The underworld is all dark colors, black shrubbery, and victorian style mansions. It’s quite depressing, in Sehun’s humble opinion. The archangels ignore the two of them for the most part, though they do get a few weird looks from one with earth powers and particularly wide eyes.
“Almost to Demon Lord’s castle,” Kris tells Sehun, and ahead of them, Sehun sees the shape of a fortress beginning to materialize. “You’re lucky I know how to get there,” the archangel laughs, “Otherwise we’d get lost in the Lord’s labyrinth.” Sehun just nods, not trusting himself to say anything helpful right now.
He begins to wonder if they’re even in the same world, though, when the castle comes into full view. It is surprisingly cozy looking, and the outside walls are decorated with some sort of tacky leopard print pattern that gives Sehun a headache.
“Bad exterior designer?” he jokes weakly.
“You could say that,” Kris says with a wary smile.
They don’t use the main entrance, a gargantuan door five times Sehun’s height that he’s sure requires some sort of spell to open, opting instead for a smaller, less ostentatious door off to the side.
“Watch your head,” Kris warns as he holds it open for Sehun to enter, “The doorway likes to, er, mess around.” Sehun looks up as he cautiously sets one foot inside the castle and is met by narrowed, taunting eyes.
“Now, now, Kris,” the door says, “What do we have here? A human? You’re really bringing a human into the Lord’s castle?”
“Shut it, Kai,” Kris says impatiently. “Go bother Suho or something.”
“Is he a sacrifice?” the door prys, smiling wickedly, “Because I didn’t peg you as one to do something so reckless.”
“You didn’t hear this from me,” Kris addresses Sehun, “But we really need to get this door replaced.”
“Don’t be so cruel, Krissy-poo,” cackles the door. “What if I went and informed the whole castle of what you’re doing?” It narrows its eyes even more and looks right at Sehun. “You’re here for Luhan, am I correct?” Sehun’s own eyes widen involuntarily, and Kris glances up anxiously. “See? You shouldn’t just brush me off. I know things~”
Kris’ nervous gaze becomes threatening and the door laughs. “Don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone you were coming. I have better things to do with my time.” The face shrinks back, disappearing into the dark wood of the door. “But speaking of time, a certain archangel’s is almost out, so maybe you should hurry~”
Kris curses under his breath. “Let’s go,” he says to Sehun, who nods and follows as they hastily enter the castle.
The interior of the castle is just as tacky as the outside, if not more, and Sehun’s very glad to ignore it and keep his attention focused on staying close behind Kris. The path they take twists, turns, weaves, and swirls him into a confused state so that it’s really all he can do, let his legs carry him in whatever direction Kris leads.
Kai’s face follows them at random intervals, offering useless advice or just sneering as they wander through the hallways.
“Kris, are you sure you’re heading the right way?” it asks.
“Shut up,” Kris says, and it cackles and vanishes into the wall.
“Hey!” shouts a voice, and Kris curses again and halts, standing in front of Sehun as a rather menacing lightning archangel approaches them. “What do you think you’re doing?” Sehun peers out to see the other squint at Kris before smiling. “Ah, Kris, it’s just you. It’s been a while.” He pauses, looking around. “I could have sworn I saw a human a moment ago.”
“Ah, Chen, a human?” Kris laughs, nudging Sehun’s gut to make him straighten. “Nonsense, what would a human be doing here?”
“I’m not sure,” the archangel named Chen chuckles. “But strange thing is, I can smell it, too. I don’t know how it would have gotten here, though.” Sehun hears the archangel sniff loudly.
“Or maybe you’re imagining it. Has Kai been talking to you? Perhaps his ramblings have clouded your senses. You should go outside for a walk.” Sehun is once again glad that it is Kris who is his companion.
“Good idea. Kai is such a trouble maker,” Chen says. “By the way, where are you headed?”
“Just to visit Yixing,” Kris says quickly.
“The healer?” Chen questions, confusion in his voice. “Oh, right, he was one of your good friends. I’m sure he’d be glad to hear from you. I think he was most affected when you were transferred to the human realm.”
“Of course,” Kris says, waving his hand for Sehun to move as he turns to let Chen pass. “Have a relaxing walk.”
Sehun stays frozen behind Kris until Chen is long gone and Kris lets out a relieved sigh. “Come,” he beckons, “We’ve already wasted enough time.”
“Who’s Yixing?” Sehun finds himself asking as they continue their passage. Kris looks back at him, quizzically clicking his tongue.
“He’s not one of the archangels,” Kris says reluctantly. “He is a unicorn, a being of light, that the Lord captured and held captive. I’ve tried to offer him freedom, but he refuses to leave.” Sehun hears a hint of regret in Kris’ voice. “I wonder if he knew all along that something like this would happen...”
Sehun is about to ask another question, but he’s hindered when Kris abruptly stops and he crashes into the archangel’s back. “Hey-” Sehun starts, but Kris is shaking his head, eyes warning him to be quiet.
“We’re here,” Kris says quietly.
An ornately decorated double-door stands before them. Jewels and gems line the sides, and the same leopard print, albeit slightly faded, covers the expanse of the doorway. Sehun swallows hard and looks up at Kris, whose gaze is focused on the door.
Sehun’s mind is racing. What should he expect when they meet the demon lord? From the things Kris said earlier, he finds himself dreading this whole event a great deal. But he has to stay strong. Luhan will be counting on him.
“This is it,” the archangel says before gripping the handle. Sehun braces himself as the door swings open.
“So you came,” greets a silky voice that sends shivers down his spine.
“Zitao,” Kris says grimly.
Sehun actually forgets how to move his legs for a moment, but then Kris is behind him, guiding him into the castle’s throne room.
It is by far the tackiest thing they’ve seen yet, and if Sehun weren’t so scared, he’d probably have laughed at how gaudy everything is.
“Kris, love, it’s good to see you again,” purrs the demon lord, words dripping from his lips like thick molasses.
If Sehun is being honest, he’s not actually all that frightening - he’s shorter than Kris, with jet black hair and dark eyes and even darker bags beneath them - but it’s not looks that are important because Sehun can feel the power radiating from him.
“I knew you’d come.” The lord is gliding off his throne, taking slow steps toward them. “Although, love, I really do wish you’d visit more often. I was starting to miss you.” Kris stiffens as the lord lifts one hand to brush slender fingers against his cheek. Sehun is frozen to the spot, watching with wide eyes.
“Says the one who sent me off to the human realm without a second thought,” Kris mutters bitterly, gaze focused on the ground as the lord leans forward to graze his lips along the archangel’s jaw.
“I said starting, love,” the lord says, laughing an odd musical sound as Kris looks up to glower at him. “It was all your fault, you know~” The lord moves back to fall limply onto his throne. “But we have more important matters to discuss, don’t we~”
“Yes, we do,” Kris growls.
“Oh Sehun, I presume?” the lord addresses Sehun, who starts at the mention of his name and swallows hard, turning a hesitant gaze toward the speaker. “Luhan has spoken incessantly of you, which I would find cute if it weren’t so goddamn annoying.” Sehun swallows again, harder, as the lord’s gaze narrows, an amused grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “... You’re not much to look at, are you.”
“Just cut to the chase, Zitao,” Kris jumps in, taking a protective step in front of Sehun.
“I’m getting there,” the lord snaps, a playful glint in his eye.
“As you both may well know, Luhan’s sentence is almost up. He’ll face the executioner very soon, I believe. And as much as I would love to save him, really, I would,” he pauses, shrugging smugly, “law is law.” He leans forward, propping one elbow on his knee and resting his chin in his hand to smirk at the two of them. “Unless you can offer me a little something in return~”
A bargain, Sehun thinks. It’s like Kris had said. But what could Sehun offer? He’s never made a bargain before, let alone for someone’s life. Maybe Kris can do the talking.
“Well, human?” the lord asks, licking his lips to reveal pointed teeth. “What’s worth giving up for your little lover boy?” Sehun trembles, unable to look away.
What can he offer? What could he, Oh Sehun, possibly have to offer that would be equivalent to Luhan’s life?
What?
“Don’t frighten the poor boy, Zitao,” Kris says softly, wrapping an arm around Sehun. “You already know the consequences of sending a human back to the human realm. Isn’t that sacrifice enough?” Zitao tuts, grin replaced by a frown.
“Oh, you just love to take the fun out of everything, don’t you,” he sighs, slouching forward before leaning back and gesturing airily. “Guards, show Luhan in,” he says in a loud, commanding voice that seems to reverberate around the room.
Sehun’s breath catches in his throat as the door opens and the lightning archangel from before, as well as another archangel that is even more intimidating, march slowly inside, dragging a shackled Luhan behind them. He opens his mouth to call out to the archangel, but before he has a chance, the other two are throwing Luhan down in front of the lord, laughing as he cringes and whimpers. Sehun bites his tongue.
“There, there, love,” the lord smiles, petting Luhan’s head as if he were an animal, “your knight in shining armor has come to rescue you.” Luhan’s eyes widen and he glances over to where Kris and Sehun stands, his gaze brightening significantly when he sees the latter.
“Sehunnie!” he exclaims, making to get up, but the other archangel is kicking him in the gut and causing him to collapse back onto the ground, coughing.
“Not until the Lord has finished speaking,” it snarls.
“That’s quite all right, Suho,” Zitao smiles kindly, which seems oddly unbefitting for his character. “Take the shackles off and help him up. I’m tired of playing the bad guy.”
part 2