When Righteous Turns Foul [13/??]
Title: When Righteous Turns Foul
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Main!KyuSung, Main!RyeoMin, Main!EunHae, Friendship!KyuSungRyeoMinEunHae, BestFriends!KyuMin, BestFriends!YeWook
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Fantasy!AU
Summary: Infiltrating an antagonistic city is one thing. But living there for 5 years, forming friendships and even finding love, and eventually being expected to betray every single one of them, is another.
Beta'er:
ohmygeng
Former Chapters: Map | Prologue + Char Intro | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12
A/N - Am sick ^^ And as I really had nothing to do, I ended up updating this, haha ^^ Enjoy! This is the last chapter I had saved on my computer, now I need to write well again XD Will try to update as soon as I can ^^
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Chapter 13
“I think I see light in the distance! Well, faint light, that is,” Jongwoon proclaimed to the others, who were walking behind him, tired out, yet Jongwoon didn’t seem to mind and continued walking, not allowing them one minute of rest.
They had a tight time schedule they were already behind on anyway, there really was no time for another long break for their own safety. They will understand later.
“Oh, thank Aellon,” Sungmin sighed, and he didn’t wait a second to speed up his pace to walk towards that tiny bit of faint light in the distance, dragging Ryeowook with him who had held his hand the entire way. The light that, even though nothing bad had happened in the forest after the shadow creatures were finished with them, he had looked forward to badly since they had entered the dark forest that morning.
Sungmin and Ryeowook reached the edge of the forest first, naturally. The others followed shortly behind, as Sungmin and Ryeowook both uttered a cry of relief and they had started running just to finally be able to say goodbye to the darkness and hello to the light as well.
With the exception of Jongwoon, all the others soon uttered a cry of relief as well, and Hyukjae even fell down onto his knees and bent over to kiss the grass in front of his feet, as he was thankful to still be alive and back onto normal ground. He might be less fearful than the others, but that forest was one place he never wanted to return to again. Even he had realized that you should not underestimate the shadow creatures, and no matter how strong you are, your muscles and skills are useless against any unearthly mental powers.
As the others still celebrated and jumped around in happiness while happily talking with each other about how happy they were to be out of the forest, Jongwoon plunked his bag onto the ground and sat down onto a tree stump while watching his friends jumping around in utter relief. He was far from relieved and happy, really.
Kyuhyun was the first to notice; he had developed a real skill when it came to Jongwoon. He didn’t know how he did it, but his eyes seemed to look for Jongwoon every other minute as if they were just as addicted to Jongwoon as Kyuhyun himself was. Making it quite a natural thing, actually, as Kyuhyun’s eyes were part of himself. But it still amazed Kyuhyun nevertheless.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he reached Jongwoon, who was busy glaring at the sun as if it was the sun’s fault he wasn’t happy like the others.
“What’s wrong? We are at least 2 hours behind on our schedule; there is no way we can reach Urul Swamp before the sun has set,” Jongwoon replied crankily, staring at Kyuhyun, annoyed, and heaving a sigh before returning his gaze back onto the sun. Something he shouldn’t do, Kyuhyun thought to himself, as looking into the sun is bad for someone’s eyes. But Kyuhyun could lecture Jongwoon about that later, it wasn’t a conversation they should have right now.
Kyuhyun softly pushed Jongwoon to move aside, who reluctantly obeyed, and sat down next to him on the rather large stump. “About this morning-“ he started, but Jongwoon waved his hand to make Kyuhyun stop talking and smiled softly at him before talking.
“I know, Hyukjae told me… My behavior this morning was inappropriate, so I apologize,” he said, and Kyuhyun gulped as Jongwoon looked him straight in the eyes to show Kyuhyun he was being sincere. Kyuhyun couldn’t be happier with the fact that he was sitting down, as he was quite sure his knees would have buckled if Jongwoon had looked at him like that when he was still standing up.
It did anger Kyuhyun a little, though. Despite that he was happy that Jongwoon apologized, which was a freaking miracle, it angered Kyuhyun that neither Jongwoon nor Hyukjae had felt the urge to inform him that Jongwoon wasn’t mad at him anymore. That he already knew. Kyuhyun had worried the entire day for nothing.
But then again, if Kyuhyun had started to talk about it when they were inside the forest, where it was darker than dark, Jongwoon would have never looked him in the eyes like this, and it were these small moments that kept Kyuhyun going. Maybe he should be thankful for his discourteous friends, rather than being mad.
“Thank you,” Kyuhyun replied Jongwoon, after what felt an eternity but had only been 10 seconds. Jongwoon smiled contentedly at Kyuhyun, before suddenly all of his worries returned to him and he turned to glare at his friends, who noticed it merely 3 seconds later. Kyuhyun could tell from their happiness disappearing completely within those 3 seconds, and they awkwardly fidgeted on their spots. Jongwoon’s glare sure was something.
“I have an idea; let’s continue our trip!” Donghae eventually said, feigning elation, as the awkward silence was killing him. He could feel this trip was not doing their friendship any good, and it was then and there that Donghae decided that it was his task to keep them all together. No matter how many fights there were to come, no matter how many annoyances would emerge, Donghae would never give up on their friendship.
“Let’s,” Jongwoon eventually mumbled, his glare subduing as it seemed that his dongsaengs had finally realized that they had no time to happily jump around in relief because they finally saw some light again. The sun would set within a few hours, and if they didn’t cross the bridge and find a good spot to sleep at Urul Swamp before it did, things might get even more dangerous than what they had seen and gone through this far.
Kyuhyun reluctantly stood up, as the 8 hour walk in the forest did have quite an impact on his legs, and dragged himself after his friends, who had already started walking in the direction of the Bridge; silently wishing he hadn’t suggested walking through the forest for safety. His legs sure would have felt better if they had flown directly to the Bridge, he quickly reasoned, as he ashamedly pushed the thoughts back into his mind. How dare he even think that way.
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“How dare you even think that way?!” Ryeowook yelled at Jongwoon angrily. Jongwoon perplexedly looked at Ryeowook, and wondered what on earth he had said to make Ryeowook scream at him like that.
They stood near the Noërr Bridge. They initially stood closer to the precipice where the bridge crossed over the Red River, but Ryeowook had decided to be a hero and looked down the precipice as soon as Jongwoon had said that it wasn’t as deep as he had thought it would be. It was then that Ryeowook had pulled his friends back a hundred meters before yelling what he had just yelled.
“I just thought it would be higher, that’s all,” Jongwoon mumbled silently, as Ryeowook was slowly turning red, and he was just too tired to have another argument. He had enough of today; he just wanted to cross the damn bridge and sleep already.
“We are not crossing that bridge,” Ryeowook said sternly, crossing his arms to indicate that that was all that there was to be said about it. It was the end of their journey, and it was time to return home.
“I am crossing that bridge, I am not asking you to come with me,” Jongwoon said, a little agitated that Ryeowook would just mother him around like this. Besides, had he forgotten why they were going to the Antygor Islands in the first place? Jongwoon had no choice but to cross the Noërr Bridge, whether Ryeowook liked it or not.
“Are you crazy? Have you seen the state of that Bridge? And the height?” Ryeowook rambled on, and Sungmin sighed as he walked towards Ryeowook to try to calm him down. Even though having Ryeowook slowing Jongwoon down was just perfect, especially for his and Kyuhyun’s alibi, Sungmin cared about his safety too. And if they would not cross the bridge today they would most likely have to return to the Forest of Blackbush to hide inside for yet another night, and Sungmin was in no way prepared to go back in there again.
“Ryeowook, relax. What is the worst that can happen, huh?” He said in a soft and comforting tone, and he instantly felt how Ryeowook’s trembling became less pronounced, meaning that he started to relax a little already. Sungmin inwardly smiled; Ryeowook must really like him if Sungmin was able to cool him down even when he was this scared and upset.
“Well, the bridge could give in when we are all on it. And if it does, we will all fall down, only to drown in the Red River. That is, if we haven’t already died because of hitting a sharp rock, or simply because our body hitting the water surface breaks all our bones,” Hyukjae answered Sungmin’s question bluntly, only to get glared at by Donghae, Jongwoon and Sungmin. “What?”
Donghae shook his head in response to Hyukjae’s obliviousness, and rolled his eyes before focusing on Ryeowook. “It won’t give in. That bridge has been there for thousands of years, it would be really weird if it decides to just break when we walk on it out of all the times it could have broken as well. What about when Orar had sent those thousand warriors to Osis three years ago? They all crossed that bridge, and they sure were a lot fatter and heavier than all of us together. And I know; I took care of most of them myself as Jongwoon felt too good to come and help us, and Hyukjae was still asleep and woke up only when we were already finished with taking care of that army.”
“I didn’t feel too good to help, I was busy giving our army moral support with my awesome speeches,” Jongwoon defended himself, while Hyukjae just shrugged because, well, Donghae was right; he had indeed slept throughout the entire attack.
“Anyway, my point is, that bridge is probably under spells as well. It might look fragile and about to break down, but I doubt that it will anytime soon. That’s what spells are for. It’s just meant to look old, so no one would cross it. Just like how the Red River is red to look undrinkable, but it tastes just like normal water. Besides, if something big does really happen, you still have three Riders here, who can call out for their Dragonbirds, who can save us at any time,” Donghae ended his encouraging monologue, and Ryeowook just blinked in confusion, but sure seemed a lot less fearful.
“I did like you more when you were still the fearless one, Ryeowook,” Jongwoon mumbled. Ryeowook smiled apologetically, before heading back towards the bridge without another word, much to Jongwoon’s and Sungmin’s relief.
Sungmin hastily ran after Ryeowook, both of whom were instantly followed by Jongwoon, Donghae and Hyukjae. Kyuhyun hesitated for a brief moment, before sighing and following his friends as well. Donghae’s words hadn’t only reassured Ryeowook, they had also reassured Kyuhyun. Walking over a bridge which was about to break down in misery, and risking the possibility of drowning wasn’t really Kyuhyun’s thing.
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Donghae and Hyukjae sat down in the sand, awaiting the rest to cross the bridge. On Ryeowook’s -and Kyuhyun’s silent- request, they had decided to cross the bridge one by one, to ensure the bridge wouldn’t collapse under the sudden weight.
“Are you sure this is the right bridge? Isn’t there a stronger normal one a little further to the west?” Ryeowook tried one last time, as he placed his first step onto the bridge, some dust falling down by the sudden movement of the wood, despite that 2 people had walked this path before him.
“Positive, and you are obviously thrice as light as Hyukjae, so I’m sure the wood won’t give in while you walk on it,” Jongwoon replied dryly.
“I heard that!” Hyukjae yelled from the other side, which made Sungmin laugh, but everyone else just plainly ignored it. They had other things on their mind right now.
“You survived flying on Whyth, and you will survive this too. I believe in you, Ryeowook-ah,” Jongwoon said encouragingly, as Ryeowook turned around to face the bridge again, and slowly started walking as Jongwoon’s words gave him strength.
It was in the middle of the bridge that Ryeowook felt as if something snapped and the bridge sunk half a millimeter. He ran through the other half and reached the other side of the bridge in a record total of 30 seconds. Donghae and Hyukjae welcomed him in the northern part of the Red River with open arms. It was a place none of them had ever been before.
Sungmin was up next. He simply walked on the bridge, as people were supposed to do when it came to bridges, and was welcomed as warmly as Ryeowook had been. After all, they all didn’t know that he had been here before, they all didn’t know that he had crossed this bridge before, and that it had only been 5 years ago. His urge to go home suddenly intensified, and he suddenly hated himself for not doing something to make the bridge collapse and delay Jongwoon like that. He would be on the northern side already anyway, so he didn’t need to go back to the forest if something happened now. He felt rather stupid, and he dearly hoped Kyuhyun would not be as stupid as he had been, considering that Jongwoon would cross the bridge last, like he had insisted.
Sungmin did contact Kyuhyun mentally, telling him to do anything that would make the bridge collapse, to slow Jongwoon down. Kyuhyun didn’t reply, nor did he comprehend what Sungmin was trying to say or imply. Kyuhyun was too preoccupied with focusing on crossing the bridge, without falling between the gaps and drowning in that dreadful Red River. Having nearly died once of drowning was scary enough, he never wanted to go through it again.
“What’s wrong?” Jongwoon asked, as he noticed Kyuhyun’s hesitance to cross the bridge.
“It’s just…” Kyuhyun paused, what was he going to say? He couldn’t say he was afraid of drowning, that would not help their non-existent relationship at all. And Kyuhyun wanted to be someone Jongwoon could be proud of anyway. Whether he was a boyfriend, or just a friend. “Nothing.”
“It’s just nothing?” Jongwoon repeated, and Kyuhyun realized how stupid and unconvincing it had sounded.
“Nothing to worry about,” Kyuhyun replied, smiling as convincingly as he could, before sighing deeply and crossing that bridge that had nearly stopped him from starting his mission 5 years ago. 5 years ago, he had told his father he could not cross that bridge. His mother, who had seen him nearly drown, had stopped his father from getting mad and had convinced him that Sungmin would be able to do the mission on his own. That Kyuhyun wasn’t needed. But as Sungmin had pleadingly looked at Kyuhyun, tears in his eyes which somewhat spoke that Sungmin didn’t want to be without his best friend, Kyuhyun overcame his fears and had eventually crossed the bridge.
If he had stopped that day, he would have never met his friends in Osis, and so he knew that if he did not cross the bridge this time, he might miss out on something great. And he did not want to risk that. That is why also this time, the bridge would not stop him.
He proudly reached the other side, got welcomed warmly in the north as well, and even though Sungmin instantly asked him if he had done anything to the bridge by mental contact, he still hugged him and told him he did well. Sungmin still remembered Kyuhyun’s fears as well. Maybe that was why Sungmin didn’t get mad when Kyuhyun replied that he had done nothing.
“Hurry up, Jongwoon. The sun is setting, we don’t have all day!” Hyukjae joked, and Jongwoon grabbed his bag from the ground and hoisted it on his back. They all watched him walking their way without any hesitation. He walked the bridge as if it was like any other normal bridge, and not about to fall apart at any moment. It all seemed to go well, until a loud crash suddenly reached their ears when Jongwoon had nearly reached them, and he suddenly disappeared.
No one moved; they all just blinked as they stared to where Jongwoon had walked just mere seconds earlier. It wasn’t until a splash was heard, indicating that something had fallen into the water, that they realized what had happened, and they all turned as white as their teeth.
Ryeowook screamed, desperately trying to walk onto the bridge as if he could still do anything. As Sungmin held him sternly, making sure he could not walk onto the bridge, he focused on Donghae and Hyukjae instead. Yelling that they should call their Dragonbirds already, that it wasn’t too late yet. Donghae had said so, after all. Dragonbirds could always save them if needed, nothing bad could happen.
Donghae and Hyukjae didn’t know what to do. Even though they were ready to call their Dragonbirds if needed, they knew that if Jongwoon had really fallen into the water, there was nothing they could do. There was no way someone could survive a fall from that high, even though Donghae had said Ryeowook that nothing bad could happen less than an hour ago.
Sungmin was just as shocked as all the others. He just wanted to slow Jongwoon down, he didn’t want him dead. Well, at least not now. Those weren’t the orders, and so he didn’t want it. He hadn’t expected the bridge to collapse, as his father and Kyuhyun’s father had assured him and Kyuhyun just 5 years ago that the witches of Viribaea had enforced the bridge so it wouldn’t break even if a Dragonbird would land on it. And those were considered extremely heavy.
Kyuhyun didn’t feel anything for a brief moment. It took him a lot longer to register what had happened, and when it finally hit him, there was no Sungmin to stop him like what Ryeowook’s problem was. There was no one to stop him, and Kyuhyun was thankful for that.
He sprung forward onto the bridge, not caring if he were to fall down too, and reached the place Jongwoon had disappeared at a minute ago.
’Did we get him?’ Someone suddenly asked Kyuhyun, which made him jump up in surprise. His father did this. He should have known!
‘NO!’ Kyuhyun instantly replied. Not because they hadn’t got him, but because he had never thought his father would do such a thing. He had never thought his father would know where they were.
But Kyuhyun’s reply had a side-effect. The ropes of the bridge suddenly snapped, and before Kyuhyun knew it, the bridge snapped in half and he had only a second to grab onto something to make sure he wouldn’t have the same fate as that Jongwoon had. But it was purely a reflex action. Right now, he’d rather die anyway.
A sudden hand holding onto his free one surprised him. As the bridge slammed into the side, he could feel two of his fingers snap sickeningly, as they got in-between the wood and the stone his hand smashed into awkwardly, but he didn’t let go because when he saw who had grabbed his free hand, all of his courage and spirit returned to him instantly.
“Kyuhyun!” Kyuhyun heard his friends yell, as he was quite sure he had made a horrible sound when his fingers broke. “Kyuhyun, hang on!”
“Fuck, I thought you were dead,” Kyuhyun said to the person hanging below him, who smiled up at him apologetically.
“I don’t die that easily,” Jongwoon replied, grunting in pain as well, and Kyuhyun was quite sure he wasn’t that whole anymore either, as he had been slammed into the stone wall as well, and he didn’t have some wood protecting him. Though, they were still protecting him. In Kyuhyun’s case, however, that wood only made things worse. His body was doing quite okay, while his fingers… yeah. “These stones nearly succeeded, though.”
“At least your fingers didn’t just break,” Kyuhyun replied, suddenly feeling rather sick as he realized that his fingers were indeed in a rather awkward position and he couldn’t feel them anymore at all. “Can you climb up?”
Jongwoon could hear the desperation in Kyuhyun’s voice and realized things weren’t going too well with him. He hurriedly looked up, realized that the only way up was climbing past Kyuhyun and onto the bridge, and that wouldn’t really improve the condition of Kyuhyun’s hand either. But it was the only way. Jongwoon doubted Kyuhyun could use his hand much longer without fainting, and as Kyuhyun had just kind of saved his life, he owed the boy.
Without saying a word, he grabbed onto Kyuhyun’s belt, with Kyuhyun instantly started to grunt in pain, and pulled himself up with all the strength he had left in his body. He then reached for the wood above the part Kyuhyun was holding, and climbed high enough so he could stand on the wood Kyuhyun was holding and held onto another piece of wood higher from him. He then reached down for Kyuhyun. “Give me your good hand,” he coaxed.
Kyuhyun did what he was told. Not that he really knew what he was doing, darkness kept taking over his vision, and even though he could not feel his hand, he was quite sure it was hurting like hell. His brains just hadn’t registered it yet.
“Jongwoon?” Ryeowook’s voice suddenly said, as his face looked over the edge. “Oh Aellon, I thought you-“ Ryeowook never finished his sentence as sobbing took over his voice, and he was pulled back up by someone.
Even though Hyukjae said he was trying to look for something to help them get up, Jongwoon and Kyuhyun didn’t wait for him to finally find it. They slowly climbed up, and as Jongwoon finally reached the edge, he was pulled up by Donghae, who hugged him briefly, before Jongwoon reached over the edge to pull Kyuhyun up. Kyuhyun, who at that exact moment, decided to finally faint.
Jongwoon managed to not fall over the edge again, and held Kyuhyun as well as he possibly could before pulling him up with one harsh pull. He tumbled backwards, and Kyuhyun landed right on top of him, slowly gaining consciousness again.
“Wasn’t that exciting?” Kyuhyun said, after a while, when he was starting to feel a little like himself again. He had never fainted before, and he never wanted to go through that again. Jongwoon slowly nodded, and Kyuhyun was still too far out to actually feel shy, lying on top of Jongwoon like this.
“Are you guys okay?” Sungmin asked, truly concerned.
Kyuhyun didn’t answer, though. But neither did Jongwoon. Kyuhyun’s reason to not answer was because to him it seemed quite clear that when someone faints he is not okay; Jongwoon not answering however, was strange. That’s why Kyuhyun glanced down to Jongwoon, who looked at him rather strangely. Quite dark, actually. That is how Kyuhyun would describe the way Jongwoon looked at him at that very moment. Dark, and piercingly.
And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Jongwoon launched his head and crashed his lips on Kyuhyun’s. And Kyuhyun’s strength rushed back to him instantly, as he slowly started to reply to the one thing he had yearned for since a very long time ago.
¸¸.° ( ← Chapter 12) • (Chapter 14 →) °.¸¸
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Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Main!KyuSung, Main!RyeoMin, Main!EunHae, Friendship!KyuSungRyeoMinEunHae, BestFriends!KyuMin, BestFriends!YeWook
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Fantasy!AU
Summary: Infiltrating an antagonistic city is one thing. But living there for 5 years, forming friendships and even finding love, and eventually being expected to betray every single one of them, is another.
Beta'er:
ohmygeng
Former Chapters: Map | Prologue + Char Intro | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12
A/N - Am sick ^^ And as I really had nothing to do, I ended up updating this, haha ^^ Enjoy! This is the last chapter I had saved on my computer, now I need to write well again XD Will try to update as soon as I can ^^
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Chapter 13
“I think I see light in the distance! Well, faint light, that is,” Jongwoon proclaimed to the others, who were walking behind him, tired out, yet Jongwoon didn’t seem to mind and continued walking, not allowing them one minute of rest.
They had a tight time schedule they were already behind on anyway, there really was no time for another long break for their own safety. They will understand later.
“Oh, thank Aellon,” Sungmin sighed, and he didn’t wait a second to speed up his pace to walk towards that tiny bit of faint light in the distance, dragging Ryeowook with him who had held his hand the entire way. The light that, even though nothing bad had happened in the forest after the shadow creatures were finished with them, he had looked forward to badly since they had entered the dark forest that morning.
Sungmin and Ryeowook reached the edge of the forest first, naturally. The others followed shortly behind, as Sungmin and Ryeowook both uttered a cry of relief and they had started running just to finally be able to say goodbye to the darkness and hello to the light as well.
With the exception of Jongwoon, all the others soon uttered a cry of relief as well, and Hyukjae even fell down onto his knees and bent over to kiss the grass in front of his feet, as he was thankful to still be alive and back onto normal ground. He might be less fearful than the others, but that forest was one place he never wanted to return to again. Even he had realized that you should not underestimate the shadow creatures, and no matter how strong you are, your muscles and skills are useless against any unearthly mental powers.
As the others still celebrated and jumped around in happiness while happily talking with each other about how happy they were to be out of the forest, Jongwoon plunked his bag onto the ground and sat down onto a tree stump while watching his friends jumping around in utter relief. He was far from relieved and happy, really.
Kyuhyun was the first to notice; he had developed a real skill when it came to Jongwoon. He didn’t know how he did it, but his eyes seemed to look for Jongwoon every other minute as if they were just as addicted to Jongwoon as Kyuhyun himself was. Making it quite a natural thing, actually, as Kyuhyun’s eyes were part of himself. But it still amazed Kyuhyun nevertheless.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he reached Jongwoon, who was busy glaring at the sun as if it was the sun’s fault he wasn’t happy like the others.
“What’s wrong? We are at least 2 hours behind on our schedule; there is no way we can reach Urul Swamp before the sun has set,” Jongwoon replied crankily, staring at Kyuhyun, annoyed, and heaving a sigh before returning his gaze back onto the sun. Something he shouldn’t do, Kyuhyun thought to himself, as looking into the sun is bad for someone’s eyes. But Kyuhyun could lecture Jongwoon about that later, it wasn’t a conversation they should have right now.
Kyuhyun softly pushed Jongwoon to move aside, who reluctantly obeyed, and sat down next to him on the rather large stump. “About this morning-“ he started, but Jongwoon waved his hand to make Kyuhyun stop talking and smiled softly at him before talking.
“I know, Hyukjae told me… My behavior this morning was inappropriate, so I apologize,” he said, and Kyuhyun gulped as Jongwoon looked him straight in the eyes to show Kyuhyun he was being sincere. Kyuhyun couldn’t be happier with the fact that he was sitting down, as he was quite sure his knees would have buckled if Jongwoon had looked at him like that when he was still standing up.
It did anger Kyuhyun a little, though. Despite that he was happy that Jongwoon apologized, which was a freaking miracle, it angered Kyuhyun that neither Jongwoon nor Hyukjae had felt the urge to inform him that Jongwoon wasn’t mad at him anymore. That he already knew. Kyuhyun had worried the entire day for nothing.
But then again, if Kyuhyun had started to talk about it when they were inside the forest, where it was darker than dark, Jongwoon would have never looked him in the eyes like this, and it were these small moments that kept Kyuhyun going. Maybe he should be thankful for his discourteous friends, rather than being mad.
“Thank you,” Kyuhyun replied Jongwoon, after what felt an eternity but had only been 10 seconds. Jongwoon smiled contentedly at Kyuhyun, before suddenly all of his worries returned to him and he turned to glare at his friends, who noticed it merely 3 seconds later. Kyuhyun could tell from their happiness disappearing completely within those 3 seconds, and they awkwardly fidgeted on their spots. Jongwoon’s glare sure was something.
“I have an idea; let’s continue our trip!” Donghae eventually said, feigning elation, as the awkward silence was killing him. He could feel this trip was not doing their friendship any good, and it was then and there that Donghae decided that it was his task to keep them all together. No matter how many fights there were to come, no matter how many annoyances would emerge, Donghae would never give up on their friendship.
“Let’s,” Jongwoon eventually mumbled, his glare subduing as it seemed that his dongsaengs had finally realized that they had no time to happily jump around in relief because they finally saw some light again. The sun would set within a few hours, and if they didn’t cross the bridge and find a good spot to sleep at Urul Swamp before it did, things might get even more dangerous than what they had seen and gone through this far.
Kyuhyun reluctantly stood up, as the 8 hour walk in the forest did have quite an impact on his legs, and dragged himself after his friends, who had already started walking in the direction of the Bridge; silently wishing he hadn’t suggested walking through the forest for safety. His legs sure would have felt better if they had flown directly to the Bridge, he quickly reasoned, as he ashamedly pushed the thoughts back into his mind. How dare he even think that way.
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“How dare you even think that way?!” Ryeowook yelled at Jongwoon angrily. Jongwoon perplexedly looked at Ryeowook, and wondered what on earth he had said to make Ryeowook scream at him like that.
They stood near the Noërr Bridge. They initially stood closer to the precipice where the bridge crossed over the Red River, but Ryeowook had decided to be a hero and looked down the precipice as soon as Jongwoon had said that it wasn’t as deep as he had thought it would be. It was then that Ryeowook had pulled his friends back a hundred meters before yelling what he had just yelled.
“I just thought it would be higher, that’s all,” Jongwoon mumbled silently, as Ryeowook was slowly turning red, and he was just too tired to have another argument. He had enough of today; he just wanted to cross the damn bridge and sleep already.
“We are not crossing that bridge,” Ryeowook said sternly, crossing his arms to indicate that that was all that there was to be said about it. It was the end of their journey, and it was time to return home.
“I am crossing that bridge, I am not asking you to come with me,” Jongwoon said, a little agitated that Ryeowook would just mother him around like this. Besides, had he forgotten why they were going to the Antygor Islands in the first place? Jongwoon had no choice but to cross the Noërr Bridge, whether Ryeowook liked it or not.
“Are you crazy? Have you seen the state of that Bridge? And the height?” Ryeowook rambled on, and Sungmin sighed as he walked towards Ryeowook to try to calm him down. Even though having Ryeowook slowing Jongwoon down was just perfect, especially for his and Kyuhyun’s alibi, Sungmin cared about his safety too. And if they would not cross the bridge today they would most likely have to return to the Forest of Blackbush to hide inside for yet another night, and Sungmin was in no way prepared to go back in there again.
“Ryeowook, relax. What is the worst that can happen, huh?” He said in a soft and comforting tone, and he instantly felt how Ryeowook’s trembling became less pronounced, meaning that he started to relax a little already. Sungmin inwardly smiled; Ryeowook must really like him if Sungmin was able to cool him down even when he was this scared and upset.
“Well, the bridge could give in when we are all on it. And if it does, we will all fall down, only to drown in the Red River. That is, if we haven’t already died because of hitting a sharp rock, or simply because our body hitting the water surface breaks all our bones,” Hyukjae answered Sungmin’s question bluntly, only to get glared at by Donghae, Jongwoon and Sungmin. “What?”
Donghae shook his head in response to Hyukjae’s obliviousness, and rolled his eyes before focusing on Ryeowook. “It won’t give in. That bridge has been there for thousands of years, it would be really weird if it decides to just break when we walk on it out of all the times it could have broken as well. What about when Orar had sent those thousand warriors to Osis three years ago? They all crossed that bridge, and they sure were a lot fatter and heavier than all of us together. And I know; I took care of most of them myself as Jongwoon felt too good to come and help us, and Hyukjae was still asleep and woke up only when we were already finished with taking care of that army.”
“I didn’t feel too good to help, I was busy giving our army moral support with my awesome speeches,” Jongwoon defended himself, while Hyukjae just shrugged because, well, Donghae was right; he had indeed slept throughout the entire attack.
“Anyway, my point is, that bridge is probably under spells as well. It might look fragile and about to break down, but I doubt that it will anytime soon. That’s what spells are for. It’s just meant to look old, so no one would cross it. Just like how the Red River is red to look undrinkable, but it tastes just like normal water. Besides, if something big does really happen, you still have three Riders here, who can call out for their Dragonbirds, who can save us at any time,” Donghae ended his encouraging monologue, and Ryeowook just blinked in confusion, but sure seemed a lot less fearful.
“I did like you more when you were still the fearless one, Ryeowook,” Jongwoon mumbled. Ryeowook smiled apologetically, before heading back towards the bridge without another word, much to Jongwoon’s and Sungmin’s relief.
Sungmin hastily ran after Ryeowook, both of whom were instantly followed by Jongwoon, Donghae and Hyukjae. Kyuhyun hesitated for a brief moment, before sighing and following his friends as well. Donghae’s words hadn’t only reassured Ryeowook, they had also reassured Kyuhyun. Walking over a bridge which was about to break down in misery, and risking the possibility of drowning wasn’t really Kyuhyun’s thing.
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Donghae and Hyukjae sat down in the sand, awaiting the rest to cross the bridge. On Ryeowook’s -and Kyuhyun’s silent- request, they had decided to cross the bridge one by one, to ensure the bridge wouldn’t collapse under the sudden weight.
“Are you sure this is the right bridge? Isn’t there a stronger normal one a little further to the west?” Ryeowook tried one last time, as he placed his first step onto the bridge, some dust falling down by the sudden movement of the wood, despite that 2 people had walked this path before him.
“Positive, and you are obviously thrice as light as Hyukjae, so I’m sure the wood won’t give in while you walk on it,” Jongwoon replied dryly.
“I heard that!” Hyukjae yelled from the other side, which made Sungmin laugh, but everyone else just plainly ignored it. They had other things on their mind right now.
“You survived flying on Whyth, and you will survive this too. I believe in you, Ryeowook-ah,” Jongwoon said encouragingly, as Ryeowook turned around to face the bridge again, and slowly started walking as Jongwoon’s words gave him strength.
It was in the middle of the bridge that Ryeowook felt as if something snapped and the bridge sunk half a millimeter. He ran through the other half and reached the other side of the bridge in a record total of 30 seconds. Donghae and Hyukjae welcomed him in the northern part of the Red River with open arms. It was a place none of them had ever been before.
Sungmin was up next. He simply walked on the bridge, as people were supposed to do when it came to bridges, and was welcomed as warmly as Ryeowook had been. After all, they all didn’t know that he had been here before, they all didn’t know that he had crossed this bridge before, and that it had only been 5 years ago. His urge to go home suddenly intensified, and he suddenly hated himself for not doing something to make the bridge collapse and delay Jongwoon like that. He would be on the northern side already anyway, so he didn’t need to go back to the forest if something happened now. He felt rather stupid, and he dearly hoped Kyuhyun would not be as stupid as he had been, considering that Jongwoon would cross the bridge last, like he had insisted.
Sungmin did contact Kyuhyun mentally, telling him to do anything that would make the bridge collapse, to slow Jongwoon down. Kyuhyun didn’t reply, nor did he comprehend what Sungmin was trying to say or imply. Kyuhyun was too preoccupied with focusing on crossing the bridge, without falling between the gaps and drowning in that dreadful Red River. Having nearly died once of drowning was scary enough, he never wanted to go through it again.
“What’s wrong?” Jongwoon asked, as he noticed Kyuhyun’s hesitance to cross the bridge.
“It’s just…” Kyuhyun paused, what was he going to say? He couldn’t say he was afraid of drowning, that would not help their non-existent relationship at all. And Kyuhyun wanted to be someone Jongwoon could be proud of anyway. Whether he was a boyfriend, or just a friend. “Nothing.”
“It’s just nothing?” Jongwoon repeated, and Kyuhyun realized how stupid and unconvincing it had sounded.
“Nothing to worry about,” Kyuhyun replied, smiling as convincingly as he could, before sighing deeply and crossing that bridge that had nearly stopped him from starting his mission 5 years ago. 5 years ago, he had told his father he could not cross that bridge. His mother, who had seen him nearly drown, had stopped his father from getting mad and had convinced him that Sungmin would be able to do the mission on his own. That Kyuhyun wasn’t needed. But as Sungmin had pleadingly looked at Kyuhyun, tears in his eyes which somewhat spoke that Sungmin didn’t want to be without his best friend, Kyuhyun overcame his fears and had eventually crossed the bridge.
If he had stopped that day, he would have never met his friends in Osis, and so he knew that if he did not cross the bridge this time, he might miss out on something great. And he did not want to risk that. That is why also this time, the bridge would not stop him.
He proudly reached the other side, got welcomed warmly in the north as well, and even though Sungmin instantly asked him if he had done anything to the bridge by mental contact, he still hugged him and told him he did well. Sungmin still remembered Kyuhyun’s fears as well. Maybe that was why Sungmin didn’t get mad when Kyuhyun replied that he had done nothing.
“Hurry up, Jongwoon. The sun is setting, we don’t have all day!” Hyukjae joked, and Jongwoon grabbed his bag from the ground and hoisted it on his back. They all watched him walking their way without any hesitation. He walked the bridge as if it was like any other normal bridge, and not about to fall apart at any moment. It all seemed to go well, until a loud crash suddenly reached their ears when Jongwoon had nearly reached them, and he suddenly disappeared.
No one moved; they all just blinked as they stared to where Jongwoon had walked just mere seconds earlier. It wasn’t until a splash was heard, indicating that something had fallen into the water, that they realized what had happened, and they all turned as white as their teeth.
Ryeowook screamed, desperately trying to walk onto the bridge as if he could still do anything. As Sungmin held him sternly, making sure he could not walk onto the bridge, he focused on Donghae and Hyukjae instead. Yelling that they should call their Dragonbirds already, that it wasn’t too late yet. Donghae had said so, after all. Dragonbirds could always save them if needed, nothing bad could happen.
Donghae and Hyukjae didn’t know what to do. Even though they were ready to call their Dragonbirds if needed, they knew that if Jongwoon had really fallen into the water, there was nothing they could do. There was no way someone could survive a fall from that high, even though Donghae had said Ryeowook that nothing bad could happen less than an hour ago.
Sungmin was just as shocked as all the others. He just wanted to slow Jongwoon down, he didn’t want him dead. Well, at least not now. Those weren’t the orders, and so he didn’t want it. He hadn’t expected the bridge to collapse, as his father and Kyuhyun’s father had assured him and Kyuhyun just 5 years ago that the witches of Viribaea had enforced the bridge so it wouldn’t break even if a Dragonbird would land on it. And those were considered extremely heavy.
Kyuhyun didn’t feel anything for a brief moment. It took him a lot longer to register what had happened, and when it finally hit him, there was no Sungmin to stop him like what Ryeowook’s problem was. There was no one to stop him, and Kyuhyun was thankful for that.
He sprung forward onto the bridge, not caring if he were to fall down too, and reached the place Jongwoon had disappeared at a minute ago.
’Did we get him?’ Someone suddenly asked Kyuhyun, which made him jump up in surprise. His father did this. He should have known!
‘NO!’ Kyuhyun instantly replied. Not because they hadn’t got him, but because he had never thought his father would do such a thing. He had never thought his father would know where they were.
But Kyuhyun’s reply had a side-effect. The ropes of the bridge suddenly snapped, and before Kyuhyun knew it, the bridge snapped in half and he had only a second to grab onto something to make sure he wouldn’t have the same fate as that Jongwoon had. But it was purely a reflex action. Right now, he’d rather die anyway.
A sudden hand holding onto his free one surprised him. As the bridge slammed into the side, he could feel two of his fingers snap sickeningly, as they got in-between the wood and the stone his hand smashed into awkwardly, but he didn’t let go because when he saw who had grabbed his free hand, all of his courage and spirit returned to him instantly.
“Kyuhyun!” Kyuhyun heard his friends yell, as he was quite sure he had made a horrible sound when his fingers broke. “Kyuhyun, hang on!”
“Fuck, I thought you were dead,” Kyuhyun said to the person hanging below him, who smiled up at him apologetically.
“I don’t die that easily,” Jongwoon replied, grunting in pain as well, and Kyuhyun was quite sure he wasn’t that whole anymore either, as he had been slammed into the stone wall as well, and he didn’t have some wood protecting him. Though, they were still protecting him. In Kyuhyun’s case, however, that wood only made things worse. His body was doing quite okay, while his fingers… yeah. “These stones nearly succeeded, though.”
“At least your fingers didn’t just break,” Kyuhyun replied, suddenly feeling rather sick as he realized that his fingers were indeed in a rather awkward position and he couldn’t feel them anymore at all. “Can you climb up?”
Jongwoon could hear the desperation in Kyuhyun’s voice and realized things weren’t going too well with him. He hurriedly looked up, realized that the only way up was climbing past Kyuhyun and onto the bridge, and that wouldn’t really improve the condition of Kyuhyun’s hand either. But it was the only way. Jongwoon doubted Kyuhyun could use his hand much longer without fainting, and as Kyuhyun had just kind of saved his life, he owed the boy.
Without saying a word, he grabbed onto Kyuhyun’s belt, with Kyuhyun instantly started to grunt in pain, and pulled himself up with all the strength he had left in his body. He then reached for the wood above the part Kyuhyun was holding, and climbed high enough so he could stand on the wood Kyuhyun was holding and held onto another piece of wood higher from him. He then reached down for Kyuhyun. “Give me your good hand,” he coaxed.
Kyuhyun did what he was told. Not that he really knew what he was doing, darkness kept taking over his vision, and even though he could not feel his hand, he was quite sure it was hurting like hell. His brains just hadn’t registered it yet.
“Jongwoon?” Ryeowook’s voice suddenly said, as his face looked over the edge. “Oh Aellon, I thought you-“ Ryeowook never finished his sentence as sobbing took over his voice, and he was pulled back up by someone.
Even though Hyukjae said he was trying to look for something to help them get up, Jongwoon and Kyuhyun didn’t wait for him to finally find it. They slowly climbed up, and as Jongwoon finally reached the edge, he was pulled up by Donghae, who hugged him briefly, before Jongwoon reached over the edge to pull Kyuhyun up. Kyuhyun, who at that exact moment, decided to finally faint.
Jongwoon managed to not fall over the edge again, and held Kyuhyun as well as he possibly could before pulling him up with one harsh pull. He tumbled backwards, and Kyuhyun landed right on top of him, slowly gaining consciousness again.
“Wasn’t that exciting?” Kyuhyun said, after a while, when he was starting to feel a little like himself again. He had never fainted before, and he never wanted to go through that again. Jongwoon slowly nodded, and Kyuhyun was still too far out to actually feel shy, lying on top of Jongwoon like this.
“Are you guys okay?” Sungmin asked, truly concerned.
Kyuhyun didn’t answer, though. But neither did Jongwoon. Kyuhyun’s reason to not answer was because to him it seemed quite clear that when someone faints he is not okay; Jongwoon not answering however, was strange. That’s why Kyuhyun glanced down to Jongwoon, who looked at him rather strangely. Quite dark, actually. That is how Kyuhyun would describe the way Jongwoon looked at him at that very moment. Dark, and piercingly.
And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Jongwoon launched his head and crashed his lips on Kyuhyun’s. And Kyuhyun’s strength rushed back to him instantly, as he slowly started to reply to the one thing he had yearned for since a very long time ago.
¸¸.° ( ← Chapter 12) • (Chapter 14 →) °.¸¸
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