Another Version Of The Truth
Title: Another Version Of The Truth
Authors: rainyclouded & dorox
Length: Oneshot
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Shape shifting & fire manipulation (Weekly fic challenge: super powers of the_voicebox)
Pairing: Yesung x Key (from Shinee)
Appearances: Minho, Jonghyun (Shinee); Donghae, Siwon (SJ); Jaejoong, Changmin (DBSK); Yoon Eunhye; Mika (The Boss); Luna (FX)
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Mystery, Action, AU, Crossover
Words: 4.075
Summary: Yesung and Key were lovers, respective leaders of their packs. But: Their packs were involved in a century old feud. When someone goes around wreaking havoc in downtown, they expect each other to be the delinquent. But what happens if neither of them is, and instead a mutual enemy?
»You know what would happen if they caught us...«, Yesung spoke softly, almost whispering. »They would mutiny, wouldn't they? At least. Or our families would kill not only us, but each other.« With a long breath, the shape shifter smoothened his hair out and teared his eyes from the rising sun to Key, who sat beside him on the hill.
Key, like he got simply called by his family, could feel the other's gaze on him. Yes, he knew. He knew all to well, yet he was sitting here with Yesung nevertheless. Stretching his legs, he averted his eyes from the horizon. The first daylight‘s golden rays were drawing soft shades on Yesung‘s face as the superhuman now looked at him. »They would«, he admitted nearly unemotionally, »after all that‘s how we‘ve been living for the last centuries.«
Yesung grinned; it was a bitter smile. »I wonder if something like fate exists or not. Call me a romanticist, but I thought that maybe us together could mean an end to our feud. But then again, I don't think that's possible.«, he supposed and shrugged. A smirk appeared on his lips and he leaned in on the younger male to kiss him once. »The sun's almost up. We should go home before our babies wake up.« With babies, he meant their respective families. They both were leaders of two families - not just bound through blood -, but they were arch enemies.
Key doubted that they being together could change anything. They could keep their families calm. Maybe they could even prevent unnecessary deaths from happening. But at the end there wasn't a chance for them to change anything. Their families were feuding with each other for too long now. And at least Key's position as the leader of the pack wasn't sure. Having a younger brother with other intentions, intentions that met the beliefs of their followers more than Key's own intentions, meant that he could get replaced in no time.
He could feel Yesung's lips on his own and he responded softly to the kiss, before his eyes once more returned to the rising sun. A new day has come. He got up and nodded slightly »Then it's time to pretend some more?«, he asked more to himself, stroking his fringes aside.
Yesung smiled softly at his lover, while his appearance diffused and suddenly, there was a raven. The bird crowed and flew away, heading in the direction of the glistening sun.
__________
»I think I'm able to pinch one of their humans.«, the werewolf Jonghyun confidently said, leaning back in the chair of their meeting room. »As long as I won't order you, you won't pinch anyone.« Yesung commanded and made a gesture to shut them all up. His best people were gathered in the room. Jonghyun and Donghae, both werewolves, Luna, the gumiho (nine-tailed fox) and Siwon, who was … well, a human. But he was their navigator, hacker and what else there was with technics.
Yesung thought of all his pack as his family, but he had to show his dominance the whole time. Luckily, the last climber who tried to dispossess him, was a bloody signal to everyone. The vampire's skull was split in two and had been given a place of honour in the grand hall of the pack's head quarter.
»Tonight, 7 pm. I expect all of you to accompany me to their club in downtown.« With a brief gesture, he dismissed the murmuring lot.
__________
»You know that they're here, don't you?«, Minho - Key's younger brother - stated with his arms folded against his chest. »I know«, he confirmed, getting up from his spot behind his large wooden desk. He crossed the room and was standing next to his brother in front of the glass partition which allowed them to look down on the club's dance floor. It was seven pm and there weren't many people in the club yet. It wasn't a surprise, considering that they opened just a few minutes ago.
His gaze ghosted over the room below them and he spotted Jaejoong, a ex priest that belonged to his inner circle although he wasn't of much use, behind the bar. Before he turned around to leave the room he saw a small framed woman talk to Jaejoong. So if Eunhye was already informed, her guard dog would be likewise anywhere near.
With Minho on his heels he left the room. Together they went down the stairs and met with Jaejoong, Eunhye and Mika - her so called guard dog - a vampire, in the corridor that led through the personnel area. Key examined the four shapes around him. His brother was calm like always, while Mika and Eunhye wore the same bored expressions on their faces and Jaejoong facial expression was somehow unreadable. He didn't need to tell them what to do. They all knew his attitude and the only person he would assume to oppose his will was - ironically enough - his own brother.
»Well, well!«, Key sounded when he stepped into his own club, eyeing the five unwanted guests curiously, »what brings you here?« Yesung smirked and calmly responded: »You should know why we're here. The burned houses in the city are increasing. As well as exsanguinated corpses lying around. Nobody of my pack did this, so it must be one of your people.« With a daringly raised eyebrow, the leader looked meaningfully to their vampire, as well as Key and his brother.
»You know very well I can't accept you messing around with humans. And I can't stand if someone messes with me, so better be honest.«
Key paid more attention to his fingernails of his right hand than to the intruders. Though, he listened carefully to what Yesung had to say. He could hear a warning growl when the shape-shifter's gaze met the black haired vampire. The patriarch shook his head towards Mika, before he folded his arms against his chest. He was sure of the vampire's guiltlessness in this point. But he wasn't so sure if his brother didn't go around burning down some houses. However that was a family matter, something he had to talk about with Minho, not anything that Key would discuss with Yesung.
»You always stay the same. Once again you're searching the guilty ones among my family« Key stated with an snarky expression, »but I'm afraid, you won't find your culprits here.«
Shifting his piercing gaze not once from Key, the shape shifter gave a lopsided grin. »Of course am I searching within your rows. My lot does exactly know that I don't tolerate such things. The last who tried to do something I didn't like is now my wall hanging.« He wasn't bragging, he was just telling how things were, matter-of-factly.
»Or do you have an assumption who did these things?«, he challenged, voice low. In such meetings, leaders didn't kill each other. Usually. A snarl behind him made him raise a hand to warn whoever made the sound - Jonghyun, impatient.
Key shrugged slightly, he didn't break the eye contact with the other leader. It was a trial of strength after all, even without them fighting 'til one of them wouldn't stand up anymore. »'Til now, I didn't think of these things as my concern.«, he admitted, voice strained with surprise. »Assumption? I wouldn't dare to assume that one of your dogs has some filthy tricks up in his sleeve. You know, with some knowledge- « Key's gaze ghosted over Siwon, before his attention was back to Yesung. »- you can make everything look like you want it to look for those around you.«
»I'm aware of that. Well…«, the older man paused and sat down on one of the tables, gesturing his opponent to do the same. »If that's how the things are, I think of it as my duty to ask you, if you know anything else about these incidents. I'm getting tired of ordering Siwon to delete police's files or steal evidences that would put our supernatural scene in a doubtful light.« The pack's leader snapped his fingers, gesturing for the barman to bring him something to drink. With his wolves' good olfaction, they certainly wouldn't try to put anything but the drink in.
Key took his seat across from the other man. He could feel four pairs of eyes on his back and he knew that his attendants just waited for any sign for them to react. The younger leader sighed, outstretching his legs under the table. »'Til now I don't have much information on the incidents«, he confessed while folding his hands, »but I have humans under my protection, why would I burn down their houses?« Raising his left eyebrow he tilted his head »And if I burned them, why would I burn down houses near my territory too? To disguise my guilt?«
Inwardly grinning, Yesung wiggled his foot around, seemingly accidentally grazing Key's calf while making himself comfortable. But outwards, he looked as calm and emotionless as ever. »I see.« The light-brown haired man tapped his chin, pondering for a moment. »You've been warned. I'll keep an eye on you. My security will be strengthened - you better try no tricks or you'll have to deal with the consequences.« There was nothing left to say; Yesung nodded briefly, mocking. Within moments, his pack was gone, as well as him.
__________
Just like so many times before, he was patrolling on the streets, appearance of a stray dog - this way, almost nobody would take any notice of him. The haven stunk like … well, there wasn't any expression that could describe the horrible smell. Suddenly, the tiny sensor in his ear creaked and Siwon's voice sounded: »Yesung? Donghae and Jonghyun say they're chasing one guy who set a house in downtown on fire. Donghae says the guy is tall and has long hair, he thinks it is Minho. They are racing in direction of the Greenwell Park.«
Even if he could shift shapes, he couldn't speak. So Yesung shifted into his human form, while running to the destination, confirming to his navigator he was on the way; then, he changed into a raven and flew in top-speed where Siwon's voice directed him. But halfway, he was informed that the two werewolves lost the fire-setter. Angry, Yesung changed into a falcon and nosedived down to the two furry creatures.
Pulling out of the dive last minute, the shape shifter changed still mid-air into his human form, scaring the two werewolves. »Okay. Now tell me some good reason why you lost that god damn bastard, or I'm afraid I'll chop your heads off.« His eyes were glittering so furious, the two men didn't dare to transform. Just when the leader of the pack was about to grasp the slightly darker wolf - Donghae -, an audible crack could be heard behind him.
»Now look at that, and a few hours earlier you made it seem like I was the villain here«, Key hissed, »but it seems like we have the true delinquent right in front of us.« His expression was dark, his arms were crossed in front of his chest. It was obvious that he wasn't really pleased with the sight that met his eyes. So he had been right all along? At least his pack wasn't responsible for the houses that lay in ashes.
Key's company was missing two persons. To his left and right were Mika and Eunhye standing, but Minho and Jaejoong weren't here yet. The blonde human wouldn't come though, Key had ordered him to stay at the club. He didn't need to take the risk to get him pinched by some werewolf. Minho was another story. His older brother didn't know where he stayed right now. After Yesung had left the club Key had had a talk with the younger superhuman. He had asked him if he had been responsible for the domestic fuels, had told him, that he wouldn't tolerate it if Minho was to blame for the damages. The latter had gotten angry and had left the club with the declaration that he would find and burn the true villain to death.
Until now Key had doubted his own brother's innocent, but now, seeing grey ash gracing the wolve's hides, he was sure of Minho's guiltlessness.
Right now, Yesung really wasn't in the mood to fool around. »You think it was me, you bastard? Where's your brother, huh? My wolves were only chasing him after having him found out. Screw the explaining. ATTACK!« The shape shifter didn't give a damn about jumping to conclusions. That was the way it seemed. A hectic clattering of a keyboard and a voice telling the other associated patrols where to go could be heard in Yesung's ear, but he was too absorbed into transforming while running.
A muffled crash from his left marked the encounter of Jonghyun with the amazon Eunhye, to his right, Donghae was running towards the adversarial vampire; the pack's leader himself had shaped into a tiger in the meantime, racing towards his opponent, his lover. In such situations, love had to be ignored. Especially if there was still the possibility that Key faked all this.
»It has come to that.«, Key murmured, gaze pinned on the transforming man in front of him. He wasn't afraid, not for himself. He had been living this way all his life, he didn't know any better.
The younger man used his ability that distinguished him clearly from normal human beings, that one ability that seemed to be enough for Yesung to blame him or at least Minho for the damages in town. He created a small flame on the palm of his right hand and let it grow to a wall between the tiger and him. No, he wasn't positive at all that his flames were able to protect him from Yesung's anger.
Minho possessed nearly the same capabilities as the older superhuman but he wasn't capable of creating flames by his own. He had to use fire that was already burning to use his skills.
»See, at the end we can't change anything. It's our destiny to fight each other.« Key's words weren't as bitter as his faked smile. Just for the blink of an eye he looked on the two fighting pairs. The red-haired amazon was having a hard time defending herself against the stronger and bigger wolf while Mika was trying to play some sort of game with his opponent. Key knew that he didn't need to help Eunhye, her mate wouldn't allow that she got injured seriously.
With a groan, Yesung came to a halt, his shape diffusing and glittering mid-air as if changing into a new form every second. He could have jumped through the wall of fire, but otherwise, he decided not to. It gave him a few moments to calm down and get a hold of his self-control again. While he changes into every shape he can think of - that prevents him of being vulnerable, but it takes a whole lot of his strength. Out of the rim of his eye, he sees Donghae wrestling with Mika; Jonghyun was already that far that he had closed his giant teeth around her pretty neck and held her down. Yesung had him instructed to never kill anyone, unless he got the order to. As uncaring as he ever acted, the werewolf wouldn't murder as easy as that.
Finally deciding to do something, Yesung changed his form into a leopard - agile and fast enough. Picking up speed, he circled the burning wall and once on the other side, he stopped, again changing, this time to his human form. There he stood, piercing his gaze once again in Key's eyes. Key didn't shirk from Yesung's look. He never wanted to face him in a battle. But this time the pride of his family was more important than feelings that shouldn't be there. With a suppressed sound he launched himself on the older man.
Just then, an evil chuckle was heard. All fighters paused and their gazes wandered about, until they found the intruder - a guy that looked more like Minho's brother than Key. »It's mighty funny. You should see yourselves! Jumping to conclusions if you're tickled, too arrogant to think there may be another man in town.« The light of the lantern behind the talker on the rooftop gave him a silhouette of light, it was a bit creepy. Yesung snarls, recognizing the man. »Changmin.« He growled, recklessly pushing Key off himself.
That made sense. Now he saw Changmin, everything fell in place - pushing himself up, the older leader of the pack wiped some splatters of blood from his arm and trained his eyes on the archmage. »Whoa~. I'm impressed. You still know me, after all.« Changmin had been one of the first of his intimates when Yesung got voted for the leader after taking avenge on the murderer of their previous leader. And he was the first to deceive him. Still wet behind his ears, Yesung just banned the traitor.
Siwon was shocked, asking the fighters to confirm Changmin really was back. Donghae was too stunned, Yesung was shaking from pure anger, so Jonghyun pulled away from Eunhye, growling a mhm. After trying hard not to just attack this guy on the rooftop of a garage, Yesung threw Key a meaningful look, hoping he would understand. Then, Yesung dashed in direction of the archmage.
Key nodded slightly. He did understand and he was relieved that he didn't need to tell his two attendants how the situation had changed - Mika was too busy fussing over Eunhye in his own bald manner. Without a second thought he chased after Yesung. Changmin's appearance had changed everything. The packs had to fight the same enemy for now. What would happen after they got rid of the archmage - or Changmin got rid of them - didn't matter right now.
Climbing the garage wasn't really a funny thing to do. Key never has been a keen climber, not even as a child. But using the door's handle as a step he managed it somehow to reach the roof's edge with his hands to lift himself up.
»So you already found it out by yourself?«, Minho's deep voice sounded across of them, while he was helping Yesung's gumiho up the roof. Luna didn't bother not to accept the super human's help; reaching the rooftop, she sat down and began whispering some words, weaving her own kind of magic against the archmage.
Yesung by far had been the first up there, only having to shift into a bird form and landing on the rooftop. Shifting in various forms, he tried to attack the magician, but he was unable to reach the man; probably, he had built up a protective circle around himself. His shape diffused once more and he was only a twinkle in the air, dodging the fire balls Key's brother threw at Changmin.
Donghae meanwhile had transformed into a human and attempted to just pull Jonghyun up to the rooftop, but the latter wriggled free when suddenly an unknown vampire raced towards him, hissing and fangs extended. Growling, the werewolf entered the frey; not being able to hold back his instincts any longer, he just killed the bloodsucker.
The other werewolf took a securing place beside the gumiho - there was nothing he could do about an archmage, unfortunately. Yesung was getting weaker by the second; he shifted and shifted, trying to somehow break through the protection, through to the stupidly laughing guy.
Key clicked his tongue contritely. An archmage's magic was something greater than his own poor abilities of fire manipulation. He could form the element with his mind, could create fire out of nowhere. But he couldn't break spells. Raising an eyebrow he claimed one of his brother's fireballs. Letting the ball hover he began to let it grow until it had the size of a football. The ball danced in mid-air for a few seconds before it rose against the night sky and crashed down at Changmin's cast above his head. The older super human repeated his actions some more times. He just couldn't think of something else. His hope was that hitting the same spot again and again was a possibility to lessen the shield's strength.
Key gave up halfway, realizing that he would just waste his own strength if he continued. Looking at Minho the younger man nodded at him. Combining their powers they were able to build a wall out of almost blue flames that could surround the archmages spell altogether.
Meanwhile Mika was fighting against another vampire. One that was older than him and didn't seem to like the younger's weird games. But that didn't discouraged Mika to play around even more. After all he couldn't have this kind of fun everyday and he was still young.
Yesung felt nauseated, his condition near fainting. To rest for a bit, he stopped transforming and came to a halt, sparing the ring of fire a glance; but then, he turned and strutted over to Key. It was like in one of this damn hollywood chick flicks, but somehow, he felt like it was the right thing to do, the shape shifter took his lover's face in his palms, kissing him until he had to breathe again. »Fine … Key, please keep the fire around Changmin. Regardless what may happen to me.«, the light-brown haired man pleaded and then looked over to Luna, not bothering to pay any attention to anything but his goal: killing Changmin. »Siwon? Please order Luna to attack just the place over his head. And Donghae must transform back into a wolf. If I'm not going to make it, he'll finish it.« Just in case Changmin knocked him out or something - to kill him, even the archmage didn't have the power.
Shifting into his beloved form of a raven, he circled above the head of the archmage. Either Changmin would break his own spell to cast some magic over Yesung, or the power of the fire manipulators and the gumiho would work. Actually, it was the latter that worked. Feeling the protective circle weakening, the pack's leader shifted into a wild cat. The curses thrown at him were really nasty, but Changmin's head was the first thing he crunched.
What was following involved claws, teeth and whatnot, Donghae joined him seconds later after Key and Minho had dissolved the fire. Yesung had several burns, scratches and a few broken bones, as well as a missing toe; when Key dragged him out of the bloody mess, his lover blinked a few times before closing his eyes. Silence. Then: »I told you to keep the fire around Changmin…«, he said, weakly smiling in an attempt to be funny, losing consciousness when Key's lips were the last thing he felt.
__________
»They're still awkward around each other.«, Yesung grinned, watching Jonghyun and Minho. Key followed the older male's gaze, leaning his head against the latter's shoulder. »They'll get accustomed to each other. If not it could be that we'll find a grilled wolf lying around somewhere, someday.«, he smirked, watching how Minho smacked the shorter man's head.
»Nah, I don't think Jonghyun will tolerate being grilled.«, the shape shifter laughed and watched how Jonghyun transformed into a werewolf and pretended to hunt Minho, growling behind him - Yesung thought that maybe here 'teasing is a sign of affection' fit really well. He seldomly had seen his werewolf happier then while bickering with Key's brother.
»Probably not.«, Key confirmed with a smile. Minho, unable to do anything that would impress the werewolf picked up a small branch and threw it away, seemingly waiting for Jonghyun to retrieve it. The older super human chuckled slightly then he was turning around to face his lover. They sat once again at their hill with the setting sun in their backs. Slowly he leaned forward until his lips touched Yesung's mouth softly. »Are you doing anything tonight?«, he breathed against his lover's lips before he encircled the latter's neck with his arms to deepen the kiss.
Yesung snickered and playfully bit Key's tongue. »Probably…«, he whispered meaningfully. Their packs still were very awkward with each other, especially the older people. But they started to cooperate. The city was working again like it used to, not knowing how much had changed.
_______
A/N: Thanks to my lovely rainyclouded for helping me <3
Oh, and please ignore if there are any cracks or mistakes, since it's a collab. You can visit my friends journal too, it's really a visit worth, even if she rather writes Shinee-stories. Love ♥
Authors: rainyclouded & dorox
Length: Oneshot
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Shape shifting & fire manipulation (Weekly fic challenge: super powers of the_voicebox)
Pairing: Yesung x Key (from Shinee)
Appearances: Minho, Jonghyun (Shinee); Donghae, Siwon (SJ); Jaejoong, Changmin (DBSK); Yoon Eunhye; Mika (The Boss); Luna (FX)
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Mystery, Action, AU, Crossover
Words: 4.075
Summary: Yesung and Key were lovers, respective leaders of their packs. But: Their packs were involved in a century old feud. When someone goes around wreaking havoc in downtown, they expect each other to be the delinquent. But what happens if neither of them is, and instead a mutual enemy?
»You know what would happen if they caught us...«, Yesung spoke softly, almost whispering. »They would mutiny, wouldn't they? At least. Or our families would kill not only us, but each other.« With a long breath, the shape shifter smoothened his hair out and teared his eyes from the rising sun to Key, who sat beside him on the hill.
Key, like he got simply called by his family, could feel the other's gaze on him. Yes, he knew. He knew all to well, yet he was sitting here with Yesung nevertheless. Stretching his legs, he averted his eyes from the horizon. The first daylight‘s golden rays were drawing soft shades on Yesung‘s face as the superhuman now looked at him. »They would«, he admitted nearly unemotionally, »after all that‘s how we‘ve been living for the last centuries.«
Yesung grinned; it was a bitter smile. »I wonder if something like fate exists or not. Call me a romanticist, but I thought that maybe us together could mean an end to our feud. But then again, I don't think that's possible.«, he supposed and shrugged. A smirk appeared on his lips and he leaned in on the younger male to kiss him once. »The sun's almost up. We should go home before our babies wake up.« With babies, he meant their respective families. They both were leaders of two families - not just bound through blood -, but they were arch enemies.
Key doubted that they being together could change anything. They could keep their families calm. Maybe they could even prevent unnecessary deaths from happening. But at the end there wasn't a chance for them to change anything. Their families were feuding with each other for too long now. And at least Key's position as the leader of the pack wasn't sure. Having a younger brother with other intentions, intentions that met the beliefs of their followers more than Key's own intentions, meant that he could get replaced in no time.
He could feel Yesung's lips on his own and he responded softly to the kiss, before his eyes once more returned to the rising sun. A new day has come. He got up and nodded slightly »Then it's time to pretend some more?«, he asked more to himself, stroking his fringes aside.
Yesung smiled softly at his lover, while his appearance diffused and suddenly, there was a raven. The bird crowed and flew away, heading in the direction of the glistening sun.
__________
»I think I'm able to pinch one of their humans.«, the werewolf Jonghyun confidently said, leaning back in the chair of their meeting room. »As long as I won't order you, you won't pinch anyone.« Yesung commanded and made a gesture to shut them all up. His best people were gathered in the room. Jonghyun and Donghae, both werewolves, Luna, the gumiho (nine-tailed fox) and Siwon, who was … well, a human. But he was their navigator, hacker and what else there was with technics.
Yesung thought of all his pack as his family, but he had to show his dominance the whole time. Luckily, the last climber who tried to dispossess him, was a bloody signal to everyone. The vampire's skull was split in two and had been given a place of honour in the grand hall of the pack's head quarter.
»Tonight, 7 pm. I expect all of you to accompany me to their club in downtown.« With a brief gesture, he dismissed the murmuring lot.
__________
»You know that they're here, don't you?«, Minho - Key's younger brother - stated with his arms folded against his chest. »I know«, he confirmed, getting up from his spot behind his large wooden desk. He crossed the room and was standing next to his brother in front of the glass partition which allowed them to look down on the club's dance floor. It was seven pm and there weren't many people in the club yet. It wasn't a surprise, considering that they opened just a few minutes ago.
His gaze ghosted over the room below them and he spotted Jaejoong, a ex priest that belonged to his inner circle although he wasn't of much use, behind the bar. Before he turned around to leave the room he saw a small framed woman talk to Jaejoong. So if Eunhye was already informed, her guard dog would be likewise anywhere near.
With Minho on his heels he left the room. Together they went down the stairs and met with Jaejoong, Eunhye and Mika - her so called guard dog - a vampire, in the corridor that led through the personnel area. Key examined the four shapes around him. His brother was calm like always, while Mika and Eunhye wore the same bored expressions on their faces and Jaejoong facial expression was somehow unreadable. He didn't need to tell them what to do. They all knew his attitude and the only person he would assume to oppose his will was - ironically enough - his own brother.
»Well, well!«, Key sounded when he stepped into his own club, eyeing the five unwanted guests curiously, »what brings you here?« Yesung smirked and calmly responded: »You should know why we're here. The burned houses in the city are increasing. As well as exsanguinated corpses lying around. Nobody of my pack did this, so it must be one of your people.« With a daringly raised eyebrow, the leader looked meaningfully to their vampire, as well as Key and his brother.
»You know very well I can't accept you messing around with humans. And I can't stand if someone messes with me, so better be honest.«
Key paid more attention to his fingernails of his right hand than to the intruders. Though, he listened carefully to what Yesung had to say. He could hear a warning growl when the shape-shifter's gaze met the black haired vampire. The patriarch shook his head towards Mika, before he folded his arms against his chest. He was sure of the vampire's guiltlessness in this point. But he wasn't so sure if his brother didn't go around burning down some houses. However that was a family matter, something he had to talk about with Minho, not anything that Key would discuss with Yesung.
»You always stay the same. Once again you're searching the guilty ones among my family« Key stated with an snarky expression, »but I'm afraid, you won't find your culprits here.«
Shifting his piercing gaze not once from Key, the shape shifter gave a lopsided grin. »Of course am I searching within your rows. My lot does exactly know that I don't tolerate such things. The last who tried to do something I didn't like is now my wall hanging.« He wasn't bragging, he was just telling how things were, matter-of-factly.
»Or do you have an assumption who did these things?«, he challenged, voice low. In such meetings, leaders didn't kill each other. Usually. A snarl behind him made him raise a hand to warn whoever made the sound - Jonghyun, impatient.
Key shrugged slightly, he didn't break the eye contact with the other leader. It was a trial of strength after all, even without them fighting 'til one of them wouldn't stand up anymore. »'Til now, I didn't think of these things as my concern.«, he admitted, voice strained with surprise. »Assumption? I wouldn't dare to assume that one of your dogs has some filthy tricks up in his sleeve. You know, with some knowledge- « Key's gaze ghosted over Siwon, before his attention was back to Yesung. »- you can make everything look like you want it to look for those around you.«
»I'm aware of that. Well…«, the older man paused and sat down on one of the tables, gesturing his opponent to do the same. »If that's how the things are, I think of it as my duty to ask you, if you know anything else about these incidents. I'm getting tired of ordering Siwon to delete police's files or steal evidences that would put our supernatural scene in a doubtful light.« The pack's leader snapped his fingers, gesturing for the barman to bring him something to drink. With his wolves' good olfaction, they certainly wouldn't try to put anything but the drink in.
Key took his seat across from the other man. He could feel four pairs of eyes on his back and he knew that his attendants just waited for any sign for them to react. The younger leader sighed, outstretching his legs under the table. »'Til now I don't have much information on the incidents«, he confessed while folding his hands, »but I have humans under my protection, why would I burn down their houses?« Raising his left eyebrow he tilted his head »And if I burned them, why would I burn down houses near my territory too? To disguise my guilt?«
Inwardly grinning, Yesung wiggled his foot around, seemingly accidentally grazing Key's calf while making himself comfortable. But outwards, he looked as calm and emotionless as ever. »I see.« The light-brown haired man tapped his chin, pondering for a moment. »You've been warned. I'll keep an eye on you. My security will be strengthened - you better try no tricks or you'll have to deal with the consequences.« There was nothing left to say; Yesung nodded briefly, mocking. Within moments, his pack was gone, as well as him.
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Just like so many times before, he was patrolling on the streets, appearance of a stray dog - this way, almost nobody would take any notice of him. The haven stunk like … well, there wasn't any expression that could describe the horrible smell. Suddenly, the tiny sensor in his ear creaked and Siwon's voice sounded: »Yesung? Donghae and Jonghyun say they're chasing one guy who set a house in downtown on fire. Donghae says the guy is tall and has long hair, he thinks it is Minho. They are racing in direction of the Greenwell Park.«
Even if he could shift shapes, he couldn't speak. So Yesung shifted into his human form, while running to the destination, confirming to his navigator he was on the way; then, he changed into a raven and flew in top-speed where Siwon's voice directed him. But halfway, he was informed that the two werewolves lost the fire-setter. Angry, Yesung changed into a falcon and nosedived down to the two furry creatures.
Pulling out of the dive last minute, the shape shifter changed still mid-air into his human form, scaring the two werewolves. »Okay. Now tell me some good reason why you lost that god damn bastard, or I'm afraid I'll chop your heads off.« His eyes were glittering so furious, the two men didn't dare to transform. Just when the leader of the pack was about to grasp the slightly darker wolf - Donghae -, an audible crack could be heard behind him.
»Now look at that, and a few hours earlier you made it seem like I was the villain here«, Key hissed, »but it seems like we have the true delinquent right in front of us.« His expression was dark, his arms were crossed in front of his chest. It was obvious that he wasn't really pleased with the sight that met his eyes. So he had been right all along? At least his pack wasn't responsible for the houses that lay in ashes.
Key's company was missing two persons. To his left and right were Mika and Eunhye standing, but Minho and Jaejoong weren't here yet. The blonde human wouldn't come though, Key had ordered him to stay at the club. He didn't need to take the risk to get him pinched by some werewolf. Minho was another story. His older brother didn't know where he stayed right now. After Yesung had left the club Key had had a talk with the younger superhuman. He had asked him if he had been responsible for the domestic fuels, had told him, that he wouldn't tolerate it if Minho was to blame for the damages. The latter had gotten angry and had left the club with the declaration that he would find and burn the true villain to death.
Until now Key had doubted his own brother's innocent, but now, seeing grey ash gracing the wolve's hides, he was sure of Minho's guiltlessness.
Right now, Yesung really wasn't in the mood to fool around. »You think it was me, you bastard? Where's your brother, huh? My wolves were only chasing him after having him found out. Screw the explaining. ATTACK!« The shape shifter didn't give a damn about jumping to conclusions. That was the way it seemed. A hectic clattering of a keyboard and a voice telling the other associated patrols where to go could be heard in Yesung's ear, but he was too absorbed into transforming while running.
A muffled crash from his left marked the encounter of Jonghyun with the amazon Eunhye, to his right, Donghae was running towards the adversarial vampire; the pack's leader himself had shaped into a tiger in the meantime, racing towards his opponent, his lover. In such situations, love had to be ignored. Especially if there was still the possibility that Key faked all this.
»It has come to that.«, Key murmured, gaze pinned on the transforming man in front of him. He wasn't afraid, not for himself. He had been living this way all his life, he didn't know any better.
The younger man used his ability that distinguished him clearly from normal human beings, that one ability that seemed to be enough for Yesung to blame him or at least Minho for the damages in town. He created a small flame on the palm of his right hand and let it grow to a wall between the tiger and him. No, he wasn't positive at all that his flames were able to protect him from Yesung's anger.
Minho possessed nearly the same capabilities as the older superhuman but he wasn't capable of creating flames by his own. He had to use fire that was already burning to use his skills.
»See, at the end we can't change anything. It's our destiny to fight each other.« Key's words weren't as bitter as his faked smile. Just for the blink of an eye he looked on the two fighting pairs. The red-haired amazon was having a hard time defending herself against the stronger and bigger wolf while Mika was trying to play some sort of game with his opponent. Key knew that he didn't need to help Eunhye, her mate wouldn't allow that she got injured seriously.
With a groan, Yesung came to a halt, his shape diffusing and glittering mid-air as if changing into a new form every second. He could have jumped through the wall of fire, but otherwise, he decided not to. It gave him a few moments to calm down and get a hold of his self-control again. While he changes into every shape he can think of - that prevents him of being vulnerable, but it takes a whole lot of his strength. Out of the rim of his eye, he sees Donghae wrestling with Mika; Jonghyun was already that far that he had closed his giant teeth around her pretty neck and held her down. Yesung had him instructed to never kill anyone, unless he got the order to. As uncaring as he ever acted, the werewolf wouldn't murder as easy as that.
Finally deciding to do something, Yesung changed his form into a leopard - agile and fast enough. Picking up speed, he circled the burning wall and once on the other side, he stopped, again changing, this time to his human form. There he stood, piercing his gaze once again in Key's eyes. Key didn't shirk from Yesung's look. He never wanted to face him in a battle. But this time the pride of his family was more important than feelings that shouldn't be there. With a suppressed sound he launched himself on the older man.
Just then, an evil chuckle was heard. All fighters paused and their gazes wandered about, until they found the intruder - a guy that looked more like Minho's brother than Key. »It's mighty funny. You should see yourselves! Jumping to conclusions if you're tickled, too arrogant to think there may be another man in town.« The light of the lantern behind the talker on the rooftop gave him a silhouette of light, it was a bit creepy. Yesung snarls, recognizing the man. »Changmin.« He growled, recklessly pushing Key off himself.
That made sense. Now he saw Changmin, everything fell in place - pushing himself up, the older leader of the pack wiped some splatters of blood from his arm and trained his eyes on the archmage. »Whoa~. I'm impressed. You still know me, after all.« Changmin had been one of the first of his intimates when Yesung got voted for the leader after taking avenge on the murderer of their previous leader. And he was the first to deceive him. Still wet behind his ears, Yesung just banned the traitor.
Siwon was shocked, asking the fighters to confirm Changmin really was back. Donghae was too stunned, Yesung was shaking from pure anger, so Jonghyun pulled away from Eunhye, growling a mhm. After trying hard not to just attack this guy on the rooftop of a garage, Yesung threw Key a meaningful look, hoping he would understand. Then, Yesung dashed in direction of the archmage.
Key nodded slightly. He did understand and he was relieved that he didn't need to tell his two attendants how the situation had changed - Mika was too busy fussing over Eunhye in his own bald manner. Without a second thought he chased after Yesung. Changmin's appearance had changed everything. The packs had to fight the same enemy for now. What would happen after they got rid of the archmage - or Changmin got rid of them - didn't matter right now.
Climbing the garage wasn't really a funny thing to do. Key never has been a keen climber, not even as a child. But using the door's handle as a step he managed it somehow to reach the roof's edge with his hands to lift himself up.
»So you already found it out by yourself?«, Minho's deep voice sounded across of them, while he was helping Yesung's gumiho up the roof. Luna didn't bother not to accept the super human's help; reaching the rooftop, she sat down and began whispering some words, weaving her own kind of magic against the archmage.
Yesung by far had been the first up there, only having to shift into a bird form and landing on the rooftop. Shifting in various forms, he tried to attack the magician, but he was unable to reach the man; probably, he had built up a protective circle around himself. His shape diffused once more and he was only a twinkle in the air, dodging the fire balls Key's brother threw at Changmin.
Donghae meanwhile had transformed into a human and attempted to just pull Jonghyun up to the rooftop, but the latter wriggled free when suddenly an unknown vampire raced towards him, hissing and fangs extended. Growling, the werewolf entered the frey; not being able to hold back his instincts any longer, he just killed the bloodsucker.
The other werewolf took a securing place beside the gumiho - there was nothing he could do about an archmage, unfortunately. Yesung was getting weaker by the second; he shifted and shifted, trying to somehow break through the protection, through to the stupidly laughing guy.
Key clicked his tongue contritely. An archmage's magic was something greater than his own poor abilities of fire manipulation. He could form the element with his mind, could create fire out of nowhere. But he couldn't break spells. Raising an eyebrow he claimed one of his brother's fireballs. Letting the ball hover he began to let it grow until it had the size of a football. The ball danced in mid-air for a few seconds before it rose against the night sky and crashed down at Changmin's cast above his head. The older super human repeated his actions some more times. He just couldn't think of something else. His hope was that hitting the same spot again and again was a possibility to lessen the shield's strength.
Key gave up halfway, realizing that he would just waste his own strength if he continued. Looking at Minho the younger man nodded at him. Combining their powers they were able to build a wall out of almost blue flames that could surround the archmages spell altogether.
Meanwhile Mika was fighting against another vampire. One that was older than him and didn't seem to like the younger's weird games. But that didn't discouraged Mika to play around even more. After all he couldn't have this kind of fun everyday and he was still young.
Yesung felt nauseated, his condition near fainting. To rest for a bit, he stopped transforming and came to a halt, sparing the ring of fire a glance; but then, he turned and strutted over to Key. It was like in one of this damn hollywood chick flicks, but somehow, he felt like it was the right thing to do, the shape shifter took his lover's face in his palms, kissing him until he had to breathe again. »Fine … Key, please keep the fire around Changmin. Regardless what may happen to me.«, the light-brown haired man pleaded and then looked over to Luna, not bothering to pay any attention to anything but his goal: killing Changmin. »Siwon? Please order Luna to attack just the place over his head. And Donghae must transform back into a wolf. If I'm not going to make it, he'll finish it.« Just in case Changmin knocked him out or something - to kill him, even the archmage didn't have the power.
Shifting into his beloved form of a raven, he circled above the head of the archmage. Either Changmin would break his own spell to cast some magic over Yesung, or the power of the fire manipulators and the gumiho would work. Actually, it was the latter that worked. Feeling the protective circle weakening, the pack's leader shifted into a wild cat. The curses thrown at him were really nasty, but Changmin's head was the first thing he crunched.
What was following involved claws, teeth and whatnot, Donghae joined him seconds later after Key and Minho had dissolved the fire. Yesung had several burns, scratches and a few broken bones, as well as a missing toe; when Key dragged him out of the bloody mess, his lover blinked a few times before closing his eyes. Silence. Then: »I told you to keep the fire around Changmin…«, he said, weakly smiling in an attempt to be funny, losing consciousness when Key's lips were the last thing he felt.
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»They're still awkward around each other.«, Yesung grinned, watching Jonghyun and Minho. Key followed the older male's gaze, leaning his head against the latter's shoulder. »They'll get accustomed to each other. If not it could be that we'll find a grilled wolf lying around somewhere, someday.«, he smirked, watching how Minho smacked the shorter man's head.
»Nah, I don't think Jonghyun will tolerate being grilled.«, the shape shifter laughed and watched how Jonghyun transformed into a werewolf and pretended to hunt Minho, growling behind him - Yesung thought that maybe here 'teasing is a sign of affection' fit really well. He seldomly had seen his werewolf happier then while bickering with Key's brother.
»Probably not.«, Key confirmed with a smile. Minho, unable to do anything that would impress the werewolf picked up a small branch and threw it away, seemingly waiting for Jonghyun to retrieve it. The older super human chuckled slightly then he was turning around to face his lover. They sat once again at their hill with the setting sun in their backs. Slowly he leaned forward until his lips touched Yesung's mouth softly. »Are you doing anything tonight?«, he breathed against his lover's lips before he encircled the latter's neck with his arms to deepen the kiss.
Yesung snickered and playfully bit Key's tongue. »Probably…«, he whispered meaningfully. Their packs still were very awkward with each other, especially the older people. But they started to cooperate. The city was working again like it used to, not knowing how much had changed.
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A/N: Thanks to my lovely rainyclouded for helping me <3
Oh, and please ignore if there are any cracks or mistakes, since it's a collab. You can visit my friends journal too, it's really a visit worth, even if she rather writes Shinee-stories. Love ♥