Fanfic: Down the Rabbit Hole [7/7]
A/N: to make it clear it wasn't supposed to be rated (and it definitely wasn't supposed to turn out as JongYeol) but... *glares at sowondeul and yeolcarp* I can be glad I resisted all the ideas otherwise we'd have an mpreg here Either way the smut scene fit there in the end so x"D
... There's so much to be said about this chapter, but rather at the end I guess ...
Down the Rabbit Hole [7/7]
"Ghosts seem harder to please than we are; it is as though they haunted for haunting’s sake -- much as we relive, brood, and smoulder over our pasts."
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Sungjong tossed himself on the bed, arms spread wide. Physical therapy for his fractured leg always exhausted him. Through weeks he started getting better and wanting to quickly start walking without crutches again, Sungjong tried his best.
Rolling over he stretched out for a cellphone and looked at the missed calls. They were missed on purpose and he was not quite sure what to do about them. Their number increased since morning and a few text messages accompanied them. Last time he talked to Myungsoo was on Monday.
“Hyung,” Sungjong would start unsteadily, glancing at Myungsoo being absorbed in the photos he recently took with his camera. “I think I need a break.”
Myungsoo slowly looked at him.
When he didn't say anything, Sungjong cautiously continued: “I mean we're both busy with work, I have to do well on the physical therapy and overall get well properly. So... I thought we could meet a little less often.”
Myungsoo dedicated him a long, reflective look. “You're not being yourself lately.”
Sungjong gasped but quickly regained his balance. “It's the stress and everything.”
“I don't want to hinder you but,” his eyes were piercing through him all this time, “I won't ever give up on you.”
Not knowing what to say to that, Sungjong faintly smiled.
“I love you.” Myungsoo kissed him, demanding him to open up his mouth but Sungjong backed off.
“I know. Just give me some time, okay?”
It was Friday now. Myungsoo texted him every day as if nothing happened, telling him all sort of stupidities happening in his life. Sungjong answered, but never started the conversation nor said anything about the things he's been doing through the week. After all something like “hi Myungsoo, me and Sungyeol's ghost watched a really good movie today” wouldn't really help their relationship.
Sungjong put the cellphone back on the bedside table, ignoring all the attention from his boyfriend. Having no idea what is he actually doing right now, he wished he could stop the time for a while. Maybe for a time long enough to spend one lifetime with the ghost and then come back to the reality. Like a dream, a very long and beautiful dream.
“How was therapy?” Sungyeol appeared out of nowhere, but that couldn't startle Sungjong anymore.
He sat up, letting the ghost hug him from behind. “You know, I'd love to spend a lifetime with you.”
“Well you can, I'm not going anywhere,” Sungyeol smiled, resting his head on the boy's shoulder. He thought about his jar that was now overflowing with happiness, hoping it can prolong his ghost life sufficiently.
“It's not that easy.”
Nothing ever was. Sungyeol felt his own heart getting squeezed and he quickly shook his head to chase off the negative feelings.
“It's not like I can come out and tell all my friends that I'm now dating you. They'd think I've gone mad. You're a ghost, Sungyeol.”
Familiar feeling of heaviness, body sinking down. Before Sungyeol could disappear, Sungjong grabbed him firmly, sharing a kiss with him. It wasn't the first time this happened and he learnt how to bring him back well.
“You're right,” Sungyeol admitted when he felt stability again. “So I guess we'll have to wait till your hair turns gray, you grow old and all wrinkly and become a ghost too.”
Standing at the corner, Woohyun watched the guardians swarming around the street. He wouldn't dare asking these as that could get him into the trouble his friend is probably causing but since the guardians in the Underworld had nothing to do with those here, Woohyun gathered some information from them.
There were two types of guardians, those in the Underworld and those in the world of the living. And according to that, they only worked in one of those spheres, the other one being forever forbidden to them. Like a company or more like a government, each of the guardians had a different position and different tasks to handle. The one Woohyun questioned seemed to not have very important duties, yet he didn't complain. Being a guardian meant never dying and never being born into the world of the living again. To someone it might sound harsh, to this guardian it meant immortality which he desired.
Woohyun wouldn't want such immortality. In fact he enjoyed his ghost life less and less. The more he knew about his living self, the more Sungyeol grew apart from him and got attached to Sungjong, he found himself disappointed by everything and everyone.
“Not yet,” he heard one of the guardians say. “If we wait a bit more it will definitely get more serious, which means more profit.”
“What if someone else overtakes us?” a taller guardian opposed.
“This is our region, if they intrude we'll send them back kindly.”
Woohyun didn't like the way he smirked nor the way the other guardian laughed out, his voice similar to barking. He wondered what did the more serious mean. When they broke the rules down in the Underworld thanks to their desire to know their names, the sentence was harsh but not the highest possible. Their judge reminded them they should be glad they weren't sent right away.
And then it dawned on him. Back then the happiness taken from them most certainly went to the ghost who betrayed them. But not all of it. The guardians profited from every rule-breaker, probably gaining something else than happiness since that didn't have any value to them. Woohyun didn't know what that something is, he however did know what these guardians are plotting.
A mix of feelings was keeping him there but also dragging him away. Just then Sungkyu stopped staring into a white music sheet and picked a photo album from the shelves above a neatly organized desk. It wasn't fully filled, some of the photos were obviously taken out, some probably put into wrong places. Unlike the arranged desk it looked messy and unfinished. Sungkyu however knew where to find what he needed since he opened it in the middle and skipped two pages to stop there.
They stared at the memories together, Sungkyu reliving them and Woohyun learning about them for the very first time. There weren't just the two of them, most of the photos were group ones where a lot of people gathered in front of the camera and smiled into it. After a while Sungkyu grabbed one of those and took out a photo cleverly hidden behind it.
The photo didn't last long when taken out of its hideout. All of a sudden Sungkyu took out a lighter. Soon Woohyun's head resting on Sungkyu's shoulder and his bright smile, together with Sungkyu's arm around his waist got burnt down. The remains of the photo stayed at the bottom of the kitchen's sink as the fire went out.
Sungkyu stood there, hands rested on the edges of the sink, head down. Something was ending here, Woohyun could feel it too. Although he knew almost nothing about their relationship or what they've been through together, he felt the sadness burdening his shoulders.
In the end he left before the gravity would get him. He still needed to do one thing before going down. Woohyun knew he's running out of time.
“Woohyun has this little request,” Sungyeol began, staring into the transparent paper in his hands. “He has something he wants to hand over to Kim Sungkyu, a message he wrote.”
Sungjong stopped polishing the outfit on a mannequin and looked at him. “I can probably pass it to Myungsoo,” he said hesitantly.
“Good,” he decided to ignore the reluctance in Sungjong's voice. “It's on a paper from the Underworld so I can't just give it to you but I can tell you the contents, so write it down.”
When Sungjong got all ready, he took a breath and started reading. He's read it before, many times. It felt like a letter he might have to write to Sungjong one day and that made his throat narrow every time he looked at it.
“Dear Sungkyu, I don't think you're going to believe a single word from this letter but I had to try anyway. I saw you going up to my grave on the day of my anniversary. I've heard what you said and I want to say the same to you, but I can't. I know you need to move on and so do I. I've seen you burn down our photo and I understood. I want you to be happy. Please be happy and know that I'm something like your guardian angel, watching you from here. Nam Woohyun.”
Sungjong's hand ceased writing from time to time, glancing at Sungyeol reading those words. Sungyeol's voice trembled at some parts, desperately trying not to. If it wasn't Woohyun who personally gave him the paper, he'd never believe it's him writing this. The carefree, joking Woohyun he knew wasn't anywhere to be found in this letter.
Finished, they both just sat there, speechless.
“Did they... love each other?” Sungjong broke the silence.
Sungyeol nodded stiffly. “Looks like it. Woohyun doesn't know much himself.”
“Kim Sungkyu has a wife though. I wonder what happened there.”
It looked like another heartbreaking story and Sungyeol was kind of glad he and probably not even Woohyun will ever know it all. He sneaked behind Sungjong, hugging him from the back. His hair was so soft yet strong. Sungyeol ruffled it, rearranging his bangs.
Sungjong turned around for a kiss, bringing Sungyeol down to sit on his lap. The ghost didn't weigh anything, which was kind of a weird feeling. There were a lot of things feeling off, yet he couldn't stop. He deepened the kiss, their tongues clashing together and his hands moving up and down Sungyeol's neck and shoulders.
Under the paper-thin clothes which only Sungyeol could take off himself, the skin didn't feel warm. His hands trailing down Sungjong's spine weren't warm either, yet they made the boy's heart burn down, mouth emit soft moans. The body Sungjong used to know was just the same, with all its soft spots, the temperature being the only difference. Just like that, Sungyeol responded with a groan when he sucked on his skin, near the mole on his neck.
Sungyeol didn't try to lead. It was a first time for the ghost who remembered nothing. But his hands sliding down the flat belly and encircling Sungjong's erect member somehow knew what they're doing. He sighed into the boy's ear when Sungjong made another hickey above his collarbones.
Vaguely Sungyeol realized the clothes he tossed away aren't there anymore, but he wasn't given more time to think about that. Sungjong pushed him into a lying position, which gave him some trouble to concentrate on where's the bed and not to fall through. Soon enough their bodies connected when Sungjong pushed inside of him, making that a bit easier.
“It kinda hurts,” Sungyeol complained in between the yet slow thrusts.
Sungjong smirked at him, losing the remaining bits of his cuteness if there was any still left. He stroked Sungyeol's cock, earning a cracked moan silenced by his own lips. The body underneath him loosened up slightly, letting him further in. He picked up the pace, feeling Sungyeol's nails bury deep into his back.
“Fuck yes,” the ghost changed his mind.
Sungyeol felt cramps in his legs as he clenched them seconds before he came. He'd feel Sungjong pull out of him, panting heavily as he collapsed on the bed. Sungyeol had nothing to collapse on, so he turned over to him, hand resting on the boy's heaving chest.
The moment felt so slow compared to what just happened. They listened to each other's breath, taking in the smell of their bodies, the sweat and Sungjong's fine perfume below that. Sungyeol looked at him, smiling.
Before he could say anything however, cold sweat spilled all over his body, making him paralyzed. The feeling came first, only after that he'd see a group of ghosts rising through the floor, startling him. His body shot up automatically. Sungjong stared at him in confusion, but still laid there peacefully, not being able to feel and see what the ghost could.
“We are the balance guardians,” said the most scary looking one of them. Scars cruised his face and parts that weren't hidden under clothes. “And you are hereby arrested for breaking the balance between the Underworld and the world of the living.”
“Wait I didn't-”
“Sungyeol, what's going on?”
“You will be taken into custody where a trial shall be held. As of now you have no rights as a ghost until the verdict is decided.”
“But I-” Words betrayed him, he didn't know what was he going to say anymore. Deep inside, Sungyeol knew he has no right to resist. Yet he refused to give up. He pushed away the hand that violently grabbed him.
A second guardian stepped in. “Pin him down,” he ordered, painfully crooking Sungyeol's hands behind his back. Something held them together now, something itchy and burning.
“Sungyeol!” Fright in his eyes, Sungjong's hands reached for him, trying to grab him by his shoulders. Instead they went through the ghost, straight down onto the bed.
“Let's go,” the chief guardian commanded.
“Sungjong-ah, I love you,” he shouted hurriedly, tears forming in his eyes and stinging almost as much as the substance binding together his hands. He wanted to say those words softly, in the peaceful moment where they were lying next to each other, feeling their bodies pressed against each other. He wanted to say and do so many things, but the time was up.
“You'll come back soon, right?”
He couldn't force himself to nod. Sungyeol only smiled through tears, watching Sungjong's widened eyes disappear above as he started falling down.
The whole Underworld became his prison. There was no need to keep him locked until the trial. Once they dragged him down they made sure he'll never come back. Sungyeol's jar was taken away, most likely already emptied for other ghosts' needs by now. All of the happiness was there, none left inside of himself.
Waiting for his fate to be decided with resignation, Sungyeol doesn't even notice Woohyun sitting down beside him, squeezing his shoulders.
“Do you sometimes think we maybe shouldn't have found out our names?” he asks, playing with Sungyeol's hand. “That then none of these things would have happened and we'd be happy ghosts exploring the unknown world?”
No, Sungyeol thoughts immediately but doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to though, they were in the Underworld where thinking of something was almost the same as saying it and he kind of forgets that.
“Thought so,” Woohyun confirms. “I kind of want to turn back time but since we can't, let's go forward.”
He smiles at Sungyeol who almost doesn't perceive that, lost in his depression. He does feel Woohyun's lips on his though, kissing him tenderly yet shortly.
Sungyeol didn't understand anything anymore. According to his trial he was supposed to be sent right away as they called it, executed. It was a worse verdict than he'd expect but it didn't surprise him as much as he thought. Even if he were to survive, he could probably never go up into the world of the living, let alone meet Sungjong. So maybe dying would be better.
“Your sentence has been canceled,” they just told him, without any further explanation. “You will become a guardian as of tomorrow. That's also when you'll learn more about your position.”
Sungyeol stared back at the guardian telling him this, completely perplexed.
“Well, you're free to go.”
Feeling confused and deceived, Sungyeol wandered around, not really knowing what is he supposed to do. The only person that could help was Woohyun and he tried to search for him, but he seemed to go up to the world of the living or was hiding on purpose.
He ended up at the place their jars used to be, his taken away before but for some reason Woohyun's wasn't where it was supposed to be either. Instead, he found a letter. At first Sungyeol thought it might be the original of the one written for Sungkyu. But it was addressed to him.
Sungyeol-ah,
did you know that when ghosts die they don't disappear completely but instead reincarnate as human beings again? It might take a while though, there's not the same amount of souls and I guess you are first taken into some kind of waiting room, haha.
Also did you know how guardians are chosen? Well there are more ways to become a guardian but one of them is through sacrifice. Someone dies for your sake and you become a guardian. If you're reading this I guess you already are one. Which also means I'm gone, not dead, just somewhere else, probably somewhere better.
But don't think I did it just for you, okay? You also thought dying would be better than living without Sungjong, right? For me, it was the same. I don't want to live as a shadow of my living self anymore. My life was shorter than yours and I was kind of running out of time anyway.
Being a guardian means you won't die. Never. Like that you can wait for Sungjong to grow old, die and finally meet you. Like that you can have your lifetime with him.
I loved you, just like you loved Sungjong and like Sungkyu probably loved me. It's all too complicated, isn't it?
See you in next life,
Woohyun
…
Sungyeol the reincarnation guardian tickes off another person on the list, sighing. Leading people into their new lives was tiring and he hasn't quite gotten used to the amount of energy he has to use for it. He'd almost think it's him creating the new souls from scratch.
“Only more to go today,” he'd motivate himself, staring back into the list.
Then he pauses, reading the name and the remaining information silently, with lips parted. Previously named Nam Woohyun, died on...
“So it's finally you,” Sungyeol smiles into the file, putting it aside to dive into the bucket. He grabs one of the souls, helping it shape itself and gently guide it into a newly born child. Once again he watches the new life being created, the child screaming loudly and mother panting in exhaustion.
Sungyeol continues smiling at the newly born Woohyun, waving him goodbye as he walks away. He sees a person barging into the room, hair and clothes a mess. He's taken aback, but then he laughs out. And he's still laughing when he gets off work, slowly walking through the streets. So Nam Woohyun was born again and out of all the possible families he could've been born to, he chooses that of Kim Sungkyu.
…
“So you finally came.”
“Are you a guardian?”
“More importantly I am someone who knows you,” he smiles at Sungjong, yearning to grab his hand, pull him into a hug and kiss him furiously. But he holds back.
“I don't remember meeting you. We don't know each other,” Sungjong the ghost replies in surprise.
“Then we'll have to fix that, won't we?”
A/N: *hides from the readers, especially all the WooYeol shippers* I won't be here from Friday to Sunday so hiding literally lol
I AM SORRY. I REALLY AM, TRUST ME. It's a curse, whatever I write ends up angsty, depressive or at least bittersweet OTL Why did I make WooGyu suffer the most why TTATT Don't kill me Martina... as in not me, the other Martina that will prolly read it haha
but it was kind of a happy end with the last two paragraphs, right? ...... kind of ..... a bit ...... ?
Still thank you so much for reading this till the end and I hope you've liked it ;^; Thousand thanks to those who commented on my chapters too, ilu ♡
And one more note - the reincarnation was a problem for me... if we'll believe in reincarnation itself, does the soul reincarnate the moment the life is created, meaning in mother's uterus or later when the child is born? I personally believe the first but for this fic the latter was useful in order to have the scene with Sungkyu and and all so... yeah :/
Also for the title of this fic, I meant to mention more about the Underworld and comparing it to Wonderland since it has so many bizzare thing but.. never did. Anyway yep it's named after Alice in Wonderland, the first chapter :')
... There's so much to be said about this chapter, but rather at the end I guess ...
Down the Rabbit Hole [7/7]
- Fandom: Infinite
- Pairing: YeolJong, WooYeol, MyungJong, (WooGyu)
- Genre: supernatural, AU, romance
- Rating: NC-17
- Words: 3,248 this chapter; 16,919 in total
- Summary: Which includes two ghosts roaming freely between the Underworld and the world of the living and a group of five humans which attract these two stalkers although they do not know about them, mostly.
"Ghosts seem harder to please than we are; it is as though they haunted for haunting’s sake -- much as we relive, brood, and smoulder over our pasts."
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Sungjong tossed himself on the bed, arms spread wide. Physical therapy for his fractured leg always exhausted him. Through weeks he started getting better and wanting to quickly start walking without crutches again, Sungjong tried his best.
Rolling over he stretched out for a cellphone and looked at the missed calls. They were missed on purpose and he was not quite sure what to do about them. Their number increased since morning and a few text messages accompanied them. Last time he talked to Myungsoo was on Monday.
“Hyung,” Sungjong would start unsteadily, glancing at Myungsoo being absorbed in the photos he recently took with his camera. “I think I need a break.”
Myungsoo slowly looked at him.
When he didn't say anything, Sungjong cautiously continued: “I mean we're both busy with work, I have to do well on the physical therapy and overall get well properly. So... I thought we could meet a little less often.”
Myungsoo dedicated him a long, reflective look. “You're not being yourself lately.”
Sungjong gasped but quickly regained his balance. “It's the stress and everything.”
“I don't want to hinder you but,” his eyes were piercing through him all this time, “I won't ever give up on you.”
Not knowing what to say to that, Sungjong faintly smiled.
“I love you.” Myungsoo kissed him, demanding him to open up his mouth but Sungjong backed off.
“I know. Just give me some time, okay?”
It was Friday now. Myungsoo texted him every day as if nothing happened, telling him all sort of stupidities happening in his life. Sungjong answered, but never started the conversation nor said anything about the things he's been doing through the week. After all something like “hi Myungsoo, me and Sungyeol's ghost watched a really good movie today” wouldn't really help their relationship.
Sungjong put the cellphone back on the bedside table, ignoring all the attention from his boyfriend. Having no idea what is he actually doing right now, he wished he could stop the time for a while. Maybe for a time long enough to spend one lifetime with the ghost and then come back to the reality. Like a dream, a very long and beautiful dream.
“How was therapy?” Sungyeol appeared out of nowhere, but that couldn't startle Sungjong anymore.
He sat up, letting the ghost hug him from behind. “You know, I'd love to spend a lifetime with you.”
“Well you can, I'm not going anywhere,” Sungyeol smiled, resting his head on the boy's shoulder. He thought about his jar that was now overflowing with happiness, hoping it can prolong his ghost life sufficiently.
“It's not that easy.”
Nothing ever was. Sungyeol felt his own heart getting squeezed and he quickly shook his head to chase off the negative feelings.
“It's not like I can come out and tell all my friends that I'm now dating you. They'd think I've gone mad. You're a ghost, Sungyeol.”
Familiar feeling of heaviness, body sinking down. Before Sungyeol could disappear, Sungjong grabbed him firmly, sharing a kiss with him. It wasn't the first time this happened and he learnt how to bring him back well.
“You're right,” Sungyeol admitted when he felt stability again. “So I guess we'll have to wait till your hair turns gray, you grow old and all wrinkly and become a ghost too.”
Standing at the corner, Woohyun watched the guardians swarming around the street. He wouldn't dare asking these as that could get him into the trouble his friend is probably causing but since the guardians in the Underworld had nothing to do with those here, Woohyun gathered some information from them.
There were two types of guardians, those in the Underworld and those in the world of the living. And according to that, they only worked in one of those spheres, the other one being forever forbidden to them. Like a company or more like a government, each of the guardians had a different position and different tasks to handle. The one Woohyun questioned seemed to not have very important duties, yet he didn't complain. Being a guardian meant never dying and never being born into the world of the living again. To someone it might sound harsh, to this guardian it meant immortality which he desired.
Woohyun wouldn't want such immortality. In fact he enjoyed his ghost life less and less. The more he knew about his living self, the more Sungyeol grew apart from him and got attached to Sungjong, he found himself disappointed by everything and everyone.
“Not yet,” he heard one of the guardians say. “If we wait a bit more it will definitely get more serious, which means more profit.”
“What if someone else overtakes us?” a taller guardian opposed.
“This is our region, if they intrude we'll send them back kindly.”
Woohyun didn't like the way he smirked nor the way the other guardian laughed out, his voice similar to barking. He wondered what did the more serious mean. When they broke the rules down in the Underworld thanks to their desire to know their names, the sentence was harsh but not the highest possible. Their judge reminded them they should be glad they weren't sent right away.
And then it dawned on him. Back then the happiness taken from them most certainly went to the ghost who betrayed them. But not all of it. The guardians profited from every rule-breaker, probably gaining something else than happiness since that didn't have any value to them. Woohyun didn't know what that something is, he however did know what these guardians are plotting.
A mix of feelings was keeping him there but also dragging him away. Just then Sungkyu stopped staring into a white music sheet and picked a photo album from the shelves above a neatly organized desk. It wasn't fully filled, some of the photos were obviously taken out, some probably put into wrong places. Unlike the arranged desk it looked messy and unfinished. Sungkyu however knew where to find what he needed since he opened it in the middle and skipped two pages to stop there.
They stared at the memories together, Sungkyu reliving them and Woohyun learning about them for the very first time. There weren't just the two of them, most of the photos were group ones where a lot of people gathered in front of the camera and smiled into it. After a while Sungkyu grabbed one of those and took out a photo cleverly hidden behind it.
The photo didn't last long when taken out of its hideout. All of a sudden Sungkyu took out a lighter. Soon Woohyun's head resting on Sungkyu's shoulder and his bright smile, together with Sungkyu's arm around his waist got burnt down. The remains of the photo stayed at the bottom of the kitchen's sink as the fire went out.
Sungkyu stood there, hands rested on the edges of the sink, head down. Something was ending here, Woohyun could feel it too. Although he knew almost nothing about their relationship or what they've been through together, he felt the sadness burdening his shoulders.
In the end he left before the gravity would get him. He still needed to do one thing before going down. Woohyun knew he's running out of time.
“Woohyun has this little request,” Sungyeol began, staring into the transparent paper in his hands. “He has something he wants to hand over to Kim Sungkyu, a message he wrote.”
Sungjong stopped polishing the outfit on a mannequin and looked at him. “I can probably pass it to Myungsoo,” he said hesitantly.
“Good,” he decided to ignore the reluctance in Sungjong's voice. “It's on a paper from the Underworld so I can't just give it to you but I can tell you the contents, so write it down.”
When Sungjong got all ready, he took a breath and started reading. He's read it before, many times. It felt like a letter he might have to write to Sungjong one day and that made his throat narrow every time he looked at it.
“Dear Sungkyu, I don't think you're going to believe a single word from this letter but I had to try anyway. I saw you going up to my grave on the day of my anniversary. I've heard what you said and I want to say the same to you, but I can't. I know you need to move on and so do I. I've seen you burn down our photo and I understood. I want you to be happy. Please be happy and know that I'm something like your guardian angel, watching you from here. Nam Woohyun.”
Sungjong's hand ceased writing from time to time, glancing at Sungyeol reading those words. Sungyeol's voice trembled at some parts, desperately trying not to. If it wasn't Woohyun who personally gave him the paper, he'd never believe it's him writing this. The carefree, joking Woohyun he knew wasn't anywhere to be found in this letter.
Finished, they both just sat there, speechless.
“Did they... love each other?” Sungjong broke the silence.
Sungyeol nodded stiffly. “Looks like it. Woohyun doesn't know much himself.”
“Kim Sungkyu has a wife though. I wonder what happened there.”
It looked like another heartbreaking story and Sungyeol was kind of glad he and probably not even Woohyun will ever know it all. He sneaked behind Sungjong, hugging him from the back. His hair was so soft yet strong. Sungyeol ruffled it, rearranging his bangs.
Sungjong turned around for a kiss, bringing Sungyeol down to sit on his lap. The ghost didn't weigh anything, which was kind of a weird feeling. There were a lot of things feeling off, yet he couldn't stop. He deepened the kiss, their tongues clashing together and his hands moving up and down Sungyeol's neck and shoulders.
Under the paper-thin clothes which only Sungyeol could take off himself, the skin didn't feel warm. His hands trailing down Sungjong's spine weren't warm either, yet they made the boy's heart burn down, mouth emit soft moans. The body Sungjong used to know was just the same, with all its soft spots, the temperature being the only difference. Just like that, Sungyeol responded with a groan when he sucked on his skin, near the mole on his neck.
Sungyeol didn't try to lead. It was a first time for the ghost who remembered nothing. But his hands sliding down the flat belly and encircling Sungjong's erect member somehow knew what they're doing. He sighed into the boy's ear when Sungjong made another hickey above his collarbones.
Vaguely Sungyeol realized the clothes he tossed away aren't there anymore, but he wasn't given more time to think about that. Sungjong pushed him into a lying position, which gave him some trouble to concentrate on where's the bed and not to fall through. Soon enough their bodies connected when Sungjong pushed inside of him, making that a bit easier.
“It kinda hurts,” Sungyeol complained in between the yet slow thrusts.
Sungjong smirked at him, losing the remaining bits of his cuteness if there was any still left. He stroked Sungyeol's cock, earning a cracked moan silenced by his own lips. The body underneath him loosened up slightly, letting him further in. He picked up the pace, feeling Sungyeol's nails bury deep into his back.
“Fuck yes,” the ghost changed his mind.
Sungyeol felt cramps in his legs as he clenched them seconds before he came. He'd feel Sungjong pull out of him, panting heavily as he collapsed on the bed. Sungyeol had nothing to collapse on, so he turned over to him, hand resting on the boy's heaving chest.
The moment felt so slow compared to what just happened. They listened to each other's breath, taking in the smell of their bodies, the sweat and Sungjong's fine perfume below that. Sungyeol looked at him, smiling.
Before he could say anything however, cold sweat spilled all over his body, making him paralyzed. The feeling came first, only after that he'd see a group of ghosts rising through the floor, startling him. His body shot up automatically. Sungjong stared at him in confusion, but still laid there peacefully, not being able to feel and see what the ghost could.
“We are the balance guardians,” said the most scary looking one of them. Scars cruised his face and parts that weren't hidden under clothes. “And you are hereby arrested for breaking the balance between the Underworld and the world of the living.”
“Wait I didn't-”
“Sungyeol, what's going on?”
“You will be taken into custody where a trial shall be held. As of now you have no rights as a ghost until the verdict is decided.”
“But I-” Words betrayed him, he didn't know what was he going to say anymore. Deep inside, Sungyeol knew he has no right to resist. Yet he refused to give up. He pushed away the hand that violently grabbed him.
A second guardian stepped in. “Pin him down,” he ordered, painfully crooking Sungyeol's hands behind his back. Something held them together now, something itchy and burning.
“Sungyeol!” Fright in his eyes, Sungjong's hands reached for him, trying to grab him by his shoulders. Instead they went through the ghost, straight down onto the bed.
“Let's go,” the chief guardian commanded.
“Sungjong-ah, I love you,” he shouted hurriedly, tears forming in his eyes and stinging almost as much as the substance binding together his hands. He wanted to say those words softly, in the peaceful moment where they were lying next to each other, feeling their bodies pressed against each other. He wanted to say and do so many things, but the time was up.
“You'll come back soon, right?”
He couldn't force himself to nod. Sungyeol only smiled through tears, watching Sungjong's widened eyes disappear above as he started falling down.
The whole Underworld became his prison. There was no need to keep him locked until the trial. Once they dragged him down they made sure he'll never come back. Sungyeol's jar was taken away, most likely already emptied for other ghosts' needs by now. All of the happiness was there, none left inside of himself.
Waiting for his fate to be decided with resignation, Sungyeol doesn't even notice Woohyun sitting down beside him, squeezing his shoulders.
“Do you sometimes think we maybe shouldn't have found out our names?” he asks, playing with Sungyeol's hand. “That then none of these things would have happened and we'd be happy ghosts exploring the unknown world?”
No, Sungyeol thoughts immediately but doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to though, they were in the Underworld where thinking of something was almost the same as saying it and he kind of forgets that.
“Thought so,” Woohyun confirms. “I kind of want to turn back time but since we can't, let's go forward.”
He smiles at Sungyeol who almost doesn't perceive that, lost in his depression. He does feel Woohyun's lips on his though, kissing him tenderly yet shortly.
Sungyeol didn't understand anything anymore. According to his trial he was supposed to be sent right away as they called it, executed. It was a worse verdict than he'd expect but it didn't surprise him as much as he thought. Even if he were to survive, he could probably never go up into the world of the living, let alone meet Sungjong. So maybe dying would be better.
“Your sentence has been canceled,” they just told him, without any further explanation. “You will become a guardian as of tomorrow. That's also when you'll learn more about your position.”
Sungyeol stared back at the guardian telling him this, completely perplexed.
“Well, you're free to go.”
Feeling confused and deceived, Sungyeol wandered around, not really knowing what is he supposed to do. The only person that could help was Woohyun and he tried to search for him, but he seemed to go up to the world of the living or was hiding on purpose.
He ended up at the place their jars used to be, his taken away before but for some reason Woohyun's wasn't where it was supposed to be either. Instead, he found a letter. At first Sungyeol thought it might be the original of the one written for Sungkyu. But it was addressed to him.
Sungyeol-ah,
did you know that when ghosts die they don't disappear completely but instead reincarnate as human beings again? It might take a while though, there's not the same amount of souls and I guess you are first taken into some kind of waiting room, haha.
Also did you know how guardians are chosen? Well there are more ways to become a guardian but one of them is through sacrifice. Someone dies for your sake and you become a guardian. If you're reading this I guess you already are one. Which also means I'm gone, not dead, just somewhere else, probably somewhere better.
But don't think I did it just for you, okay? You also thought dying would be better than living without Sungjong, right? For me, it was the same. I don't want to live as a shadow of my living self anymore. My life was shorter than yours and I was kind of running out of time anyway.
Being a guardian means you won't die. Never. Like that you can wait for Sungjong to grow old, die and finally meet you. Like that you can have your lifetime with him.
I loved you, just like you loved Sungjong and like Sungkyu probably loved me. It's all too complicated, isn't it?
See you in next life,
Woohyun
…
Sungyeol the reincarnation guardian tickes off another person on the list, sighing. Leading people into their new lives was tiring and he hasn't quite gotten used to the amount of energy he has to use for it. He'd almost think it's him creating the new souls from scratch.
“Only more to go today,” he'd motivate himself, staring back into the list.
Then he pauses, reading the name and the remaining information silently, with lips parted. Previously named Nam Woohyun, died on...
“So it's finally you,” Sungyeol smiles into the file, putting it aside to dive into the bucket. He grabs one of the souls, helping it shape itself and gently guide it into a newly born child. Once again he watches the new life being created, the child screaming loudly and mother panting in exhaustion.
Sungyeol continues smiling at the newly born Woohyun, waving him goodbye as he walks away. He sees a person barging into the room, hair and clothes a mess. He's taken aback, but then he laughs out. And he's still laughing when he gets off work, slowly walking through the streets. So Nam Woohyun was born again and out of all the possible families he could've been born to, he chooses that of Kim Sungkyu.
…
“So you finally came.”
“Are you a guardian?”
“More importantly I am someone who knows you,” he smiles at Sungjong, yearning to grab his hand, pull him into a hug and kiss him furiously. But he holds back.
“I don't remember meeting you. We don't know each other,” Sungjong the ghost replies in surprise.
“Then we'll have to fix that, won't we?”
A/N: *hides from the readers, especially all the WooYeol shippers* I won't be here from Friday to Sunday so hiding literally lol
I AM SORRY. I REALLY AM, TRUST ME. It's a curse, whatever I write ends up angsty, depressive or at least bittersweet OTL Why did I make WooGyu suffer the most why TTATT Don't kill me Martina... as in not me, the other Martina that will prolly read it haha
but it was kind of a happy end with the last two paragraphs, right? ...... kind of ..... a bit ...... ?
Still thank you so much for reading this till the end and I hope you've liked it ;^; Thousand thanks to those who commented on my chapters too, ilu ♡
And one more note - the reincarnation was a problem for me... if we'll believe in reincarnation itself, does the soul reincarnate the moment the life is created, meaning in mother's uterus or later when the child is born? I personally believe the first but for this fic the latter was useful in order to have the scene with Sungkyu and and all so... yeah :/
Also for the title of this fic, I meant to mention more about the Underworld and comparing it to Wonderland since it has so many bizzare thing but.. never did. Anyway yep it's named after Alice in Wonderland, the first chapter :')