The World Ends With You - Chapter 10
Title: The World Ends With You
Chapter: 10/?
Pairings: ZhouRy (Main), many others
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Character Death, Angst, Apocalyptic Themes
Summary: Sequel to Till Death Do We Part. Zhou Mi had always been a failure of a necromancer. He botched up all his spells, brought back the wrong person, and the few times he had gotten it right, his ex boyfriend had taken it upon himself to send his successes back where they came from. But this didn’t stop him from trying… Until one day, the new boy next door happened to walk in on his ritual… And vanished into thin air. Determined to get Henry back, Zhou Mi set off for Korea, to find the only person he knew would be willing to help; Cho KyuHyun, his ex. But more people start disappearing, and the events set in motion would change all their lives, and the fate of the four worlds, forever.
A/N: So, my first update of this story in... Four months? *bricked* I'm sorry, I'm sorry~! But my muse has returned, so all is well again... I hope ^.^;
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Chapter One || Chapter Two || Chapter Three || Chapter Four || Chapter Five || Chapter Six || Chapter Seven || Chapter Eight || Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
It took longer than expected for YooChun to clear the hallway of demons. There had been yet another attack on the clan borders, and superiors and imps alike ran back and forth dealing with the aftermath. It took a lot to defuse a few hundred demons when they were gearing towards an all out war.
However, YooChun didn’t want to deal with a war, not right now. Not while all this was happening, while JunSu and HanKyung were still missing. Both clan leaders were distracted, and in no shape to deal with the rest of Hell. Of course, timing was never on their side.
Finally, HeeChul came back from tearing his own room inside out (again) and screeched at the few demons still too adrenaline-rushed to listen to YooChun.
Needless to say, the hallway was clear within seconds.
“Find anything?” YooChun asked with a sigh, starting where he’d seen JunSu disappear. There was still no sign of magic, demon or otherwise. It was strange… He should be able to sense something, why couldn’t he?
“Actually, yes,” HeeChul said, holding out a folded handkerchief to the other leader. YooChun gave him a quizzical look, taking the cloth from him.
He glanced down and yelped, almost dropping it with a flail of his hand.
“What is this?” he asked, staring at the black substance clinging to the handkerchief. HeeChul scowled. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be wasting my time hanging around here.” YooChun ignored the elder’s snappiness; he had been out of sorts since HanKyung vanished. Curiously, he dipped his fingers into the tar-like gel, feeling shivers run down his arm as it stuck to him like pieces of shadow. He hastily rubbed it off back onto the cloth.
“It’s a hell of a pain to collect,” HeeChul said with a frown. “Damn thing sticks to anything. It’s all over my room, once you know where to look. Doesn’t register as any kind of magic either, not even black magic.
YooChun crouched down, examining the floor closer. It was hard to see against the black stone, that was for sure. But when he rubbed a clean corner of the cloth against the floor, it came away black. Checking the bottom of his shoes, the same thing happened. And demons had been running through this corridor all day.
“This is definitely not good.”
*****
Once KiBum informed the others what had happened to RyeoWook, the result was instant chaos. KyuHyun held on to SungMin and double-checked, triple-checked, to make sure all the darkness was off him. Zhou Mi was full of questions, rambling so fast no one could tell where one sentence ended and the other began. KiBum stared unseeingly forward, and LeeTeuk vanished instantly, presumably to tell someone in Heaven what had happened.
Finally, YeSung himself appeared, eyes bleak and mouth in a firm line. The second he came into view, Kang In stared at him with mouth agape. KyuHyun and KiBum followed his gaze and leapt to their feet instantly. Zhou Mi ran inside for more tissue.
Completely not noticing their reactions, YeSung came to sit beside them, and KiBum could see the rims of his eyes were red. A shiver passed through his body, and he moved to brush his hair out of his eyes. KiBum grabbed his wrist before he could. “Believe me, you don’t want to do that,” he said as gently as he could, and YeSung stared at him through red, puffy eyes.
“It’s all over him,” KyuHyun’s voice was barely audible. Covering YeSung’s jeans and hands was that same coat of black that had been over SungMin’s arms before. “What is?” YeSung asked, husky voice cracking.
Zhou Mi came back with a whole box of Kleenex, and he and KiBum set to work rubbing the shadows off their friend. KyuHyun explained as they worked, and YeSung’s eyes went from half-open to wide within seconds.
“You mean… These ‘shadow’ things are pieces of the Void?” He choked, staring at the tissues that, to him, looked perfectly fine, but to the others were covered in black.
“That’s what we guessed,” KyuHyun said with a nod. “They’re sticking to everything, wherever someone has disappeared. And once they’re on you, they slowly spread.”
YeSung stared at him. “RyeoWook kept on saying he was seeing something on the ground,” he murmured. “He got down on his hands and knees and looked. And then, right before he vanished, he said he felt cold, but the temperature hadn’t changed at all.”
“It definitely feels odd,” SungMin replied, looked down at his now clean hands. “Like, it has no weight or anything, but it gives you shivers.”
“Then this has been what’s making others disappear,” KiBum concluded with certainty. They had suspected it, but with the most recent disappearance heavy on all their minds, there was no doubt. YeSung squeezed his eyes tightly shut, but KiBum didn’t miss the tear slipping down his cheek.
“We’re going to get them back.” They all looked up at Zhou Mi’s determined face. The Chinese male slipped down so he was crouching in front of YeSung, and gave the other one of his bright smiles. KyuHyun smiled faintly, remembering how Zhou Mi’s constant sunshine had been a balm for his own pain, back when they’d been together.
“We’re going to learn more about this, and rescue RyeoWook ah and Henli,” he said with such conviction there was no way any of them couldn’t believe him. YeSung gave a watery smile.
“And then… We’ll block off the Void so nothing like this ever happens again. Ever.”
*****
DongHae peered around the corner of the doorway, frowning. LeeTeuk had appeared just a few minutes ago, nearly bowling the new ‘Angel’ over in his haste. JaeJoong had met him halfway, with ChangMin in tow, and shooed DongHae out of the room immediately. Then, YunHo had appeared as well, the two demons from before hot on his heels. The fiery one was like a walking thundercloud.
He knew he shouldn’t be listening in, and should probably go practice flight or something. Taking off wasn’t a problem; it was landing without crashing. In his time here, he’d taken down several doors and walls, as well as several of his colleagues. It was a good thing he was already dead.
Back to the present problem: He knew what he was doing was wrong; even so, when so much was going on, he wanted to be part of it. JaeJoong had seen him spying last time, and had done nothing. He would have thought a higher Angel like YoungWoong would disapprove, but so far, nothing.
Also, it might have been his imagination, but he was sure he’d seen JaeJoong glance at him rather pointedly as he was ushered out of the room by LeeTeuk.
Well, it was worth a shot, right?
So here he was, listening in on four angels and two demons speaking in hushed whispers, urgency practically visible in the air around them. Straining to hear, his eyes widened when he spotted the handkerchief one of the demons held out. It was stained with black.
Just looking at it sent chills down his spine.
“- It’s all over the place,” LeeTeuk was saying. “With the amount of humans walking around and tracking it all over, it’s impossible to remove. Just a few minutes ago, we found out one of the humans helping us disappeared too. It must have gotten all over him somehow. So we’ll have to be very, very careful.”
DongHae felt his throat close in fear. One of his friends had vanished? Who was it? Was it KiBum? Was KiBum alright?
“It’s all over our clan’s territory now too,” the fiery demon, HeeChul, groaned. “A bunch of brainless fools ran all over the stuff.”
Then, something seemed to occur to him. “We’re on the verge of a war right now,” he said slowly. “If any of those fools leave our territory to attack those who started the whole problem, the shadows will spread all over Hell in no time.” The other demon seemed to turn several shades paler.
“We’ve been looking around here as well,” ChangMin brought up, frowning. “Only YoungSaeng’s vanished so far, but even so, there’re quite a lot of the shadows hanging around. It’s easier to see because of all the white, but things could get very dangerous if more angels were to disappear.
“So, to conclude… Both Earth and Hell are in danger of becoming covered in shadows from the Void, with Heaven not too far behind,” JaeJoong summarized. “Seems to me like someone needs to find out just how the essence of the Void is escaping to our worlds.” He looked around at all of them; over YunHo’s shoulder, his gaze locked with DongHae’s.
“The most activity right now seems to be on Earth. Perhaps the Entity brothers will be able to see something we miss? Or even this necromancer you were talking about. Their spells work with the darkness, don’t forget. They might be able to shed some light on the situation, if given the right equipment.” DongHae gulped, not breaking the others steady gaze. “Either way, looks like we’re all going to have to get involved somehow.”
JaeJoong winked at him subtly, and DongHae finally understood what he needed to do.
*****
“This way, quick!”
HanKyung grabbed SiWon’s arm and pulled him in the direction that looked the most promising, not wanting to wait for the shadows to come and closer. SiWon protested, they were going right for the ring of darkness around them; but how else were they supposed to get out? HanKyung didn’t have his wings yet so he couldn’t fly them out.
There was no way he was going down without a fight. Whatever these things were, they weren’t good news.
The shadows reared up in front of them, creating a barrier of darkness. There seemed to be no end to it. How was he supposed to break through? He didn’t have many spells he could call upon; his demon magic was practically non-existent still. What could he do?
Then he realized that he did have something. Something every imp learned how to do: Call fire.
“Keep running no matter what!” He shouted to SiWon, holding out his free hand in front of him and calling to that sixth sense that had been amplified when he died.
Every human had a sixth sense, the strength of it depending on their genes and on whether they knew how to use it. As a human, Han Geng had been ignorant to the undertones of magic in his blood, and like the majority of those who had been born as a part-Entity, had never known of his true heritage. But as first a ghost, then a demon, he could feel it, the tingling through his veins, spreading from his feet to the tips of his fingers. It wanted to be let out, to be used. He was more than happy in this instant to give it its wish.
Fire burst from his fingertips, small orbs barely bigger than his fist. But it was good enough. As the shadows lunged at them, he sent the orbs at them with a flick of his fingers. The shadows didn’t catch on fire, but they retreated from the flames rapidly, leaving a hole for them to escape.
HanKyung jumped over the trail of fire he’d left, pulling SiWon along with him. The fire, HanKyung’s own creation, didn’t touch them as they passed. The demon didn’t stop running, heart pounding in his chest. They had to keep going, or else they’d be caught. SiWon lengthened his stride, and as HanKyung let go of the others wrist the human drew level with him, looking over with wide eyes. “What were those?” He asked.
“I have no idea,” he replied, breathing unevenly as they ran. “Whatever it is, fire seems to repel it.” He didn’t use any more magic now that they were free; his reserve was limited, and they might need it again later. “How long were we there before they came?”
“A few hours? I was unconscious until right before you came, so I have no clue.”
“Who knows how many of those there are around here. Let’s get as far away as we can, then rest for a bit. I really hope we find someone else soon.”
SiWon nodded. “This place… If it isn’t Hell like you say, what is it?”
HanKyung frowned. “HeeChul once mentioned something like this. A fourth world… He called it the Void. That must be where we are.”
“And how do we get back?”
HanKyung slowed down to a walk, unsure. “I have no idea.”
*****
They didn’t stay in that place very long. As soon as those who’d fought the Shadows had gotten a chance to rest and catch their breath, they were up and moving across the unseen terrain. JungMin was once more carrying the unconscious demon on his back, though Tablo and HyunJoong had offered to carry him for a bit. “He’s not that heavy,” JungMin said with as much of a shrug as he could give with a demon on his back.
Henry glanced back at their unaware companion often, wondering what he was like. Demons were supposed to be pure evil, weren’t they? Yet this one had such soft features, it was hard to imagine him being evil in any way. Perhaps his appearance was just a trick. Maybe he was really only pretending to be unconscious and wait until they weren’t watching, then attack.
Then it occurred to him KyuJong and YoungSaeng hadn’t left JungMin’s side the entire time, seeming to take turns watching the demon for any signs of movement. JungMin’s neck was covered by a thick leather that would be hard to slice through. They obviously weren’t taking any chances with the demon, passed out or not.
They had to stop what must have been five hours later, when EunHyuk took a rather nasty fall down one of the unseen pitfalls (Tablo had been talking with HyunJoong and hadn’t noticed the hole in time to stop his boyfriend). Rather than have two people in need of being carried, Tablo called a break, and they all but fell to the ground in exhaustion. (Thankfully, YoungSaeng reminded JungMin of his passenger before he could do the same.)
“Who’s on first guard?” HyunJoong asked tiredly, rubbing at the darkness below his eyes. No matter how used to this they said they were, the lack of a long, good sleep was obviously weighing down on them all. Henry himself could barely keep his eyes open, and they had been in here for much longer than he had.
YoungSaeng volunteered, and took KyuJong with him so they ‘could have two pairs of eyes’. Henry, by now caught on to the stories Tablo and EunHyuk made up to get some alone time, had to wonder if that was really the reason. Catching JungMin’s eyes, he grinned as the other gave a dramatic sigh and mimed kissing.
After a while, silence fell. Tablo tended to EunHyuk’s sprained ankle gently, working patiently with a roll of bandages HyunJoong’s group had been carrying. Looking closely, Henry saw the ‘bandages’ were really just white shirts torn into strips, but he supposed when you had very limited resources, you used what you could.
HyungJoon, HyunJoong and JungMin fell asleep right away, at opposite ends of their small campsite. Henry yawned, wanting to do the same. Maybe if he slept again, he’d dream of Zhou Mi ge? It seemed to be happening a lot recently, and with everything that had happened since that night in the forest, he wasn’t quite sure it was just his wishful imagination anymore.
Looking at the demon laying so still on the ground, he was tempted to reach out and trace those intricate tattoos on that baby-like face, but didn’t in case he woke the other up. With half of them already sleeping, maybe he should stay up and keep an eye on the demon? They still didn’t know anything about him… He was sure taking a long time waking up.
Seconds after the thought had passed through his mind, a wave of dizziness struck him, and he shook his head. Tablo and EunHyuk were still awake, and YoungSaeng and KyuJong weren’t that far away. They were as safe as they were ever going to be. Besides, what was Henry supposed to do if the demon woke up and attacked? He didn’t even have a weapon yet.
Laying down on the dark ground, he stared up at the patterns in the sky. Thinking faintly that they were almost like the night sky back home, with different kinds of stars hidden amongst the black, he shut his eyes and drifted off.
His dreams were full of home and warm meals and baked cookies. Zhou Mi didn’t appear.
*****
KiBum closed his bedroom door with a faint click, sighing from exhaustion. It was well past midnight; they’d stayed at YeSung’s house all afternoon and evening, analyzing their findings and trying to reach a conclusion. Zhou Mi had even tried one of his spells, despite KyuHyun’s very vocal objections (something about liking his head intact). One spell had split the shadows into smaller pieces, the other would have plastered it to all corners of YeSung’s room had they not had the foresight to place it in a sealed container beforehand.
Each of them had gone home with a small vial of the substance, to continue puzzling it out on their own time. But other than learning not to let Zhou Mi work any spells on the shadows, they hadn’t learnt anything of significance.
Running one hand through his hair, KiBum wandered to his desk and placed the vial down, yawning. He’d work more on it tomorrow; he could barely think straight anymore. What were they going to do about all this? He wasn’t sure what difference a group of students could make. No matter what they were … Former ghost hunter, necromancer, Entity … They were still only human.
What were humans able to do when faced with things that weren’t from this world?
BANG!
The door to his balcony blew open with a bang, wind rushing in with a roar. KiBum jumped, then grabbed the vial before it could fall off his desk. There was a thump behind him, a dull crash, and then the doors swung shut again with another bang. In the room beside his own, he heard KangIn fall off his bed with a shouted curse.
“Ouch… Sorry about that. I guess I’m still no good at the landing part.”
Every muscle in his body froze, mind going completely blank.
“I mean, I took out a wall once, and LeeTeuk says that in a few months I should be able to land without even needing to open anything, just appearing like he does, but I still don’t see how it could be done.”
There was absolutely no way. It just couldn’t be. He was… He wasn’t…
“Even so, I guess it’s better than making a racket each time I come down here. Sounds like I woke up your brother, oops?”
KiBum turned around slowly, vial placed back on his desk and forgotten. When he saw who had landed so noisily in his bedroom, he completely forgot to breathe, eyes widening and staying that way.
Lee DongHae grinned at him sheepishly, sprawled out on the ground like he’d tried to land on his feet and wiped out, various books that hadn’t been there before laying beside him in a messy pile. DongHae was here, in his room, smiling up at him like he did this every day. He looked exactly as KiBum remembered him, brown hair messy and in front of his eyes, still wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing when he died.
“DongHae,” the name came out of him, choked and disbelieving. Maybe he was finally hallucinating. That’s it. The stress from dealing with the Void had driven him insane.
“KiBummie,” the other echoed, the grin widening and threatening to crack his face in two.
KiBum sank to his knees, reaching out with a shaking hand to brush fingertips against the others face. DongHae was warm to his touch, just barely warm, an improvement over how neutral his skin had felt last time. “You’re really here,” he murmured, hardly able to believe it. “You came back.”
DongHae reached up and took KiBum’s hand gently, the grin shifting into a gentle, affectionate smile, and KiBum felt himself fall in love all over again. He all but threw himself at the boyfriend he’d thought gone forever, knocking DongHae over on to his back in surprise. Usually DongHae was the enthusiastic one, but the long year alone, and the shock of seeing him so suddenly had taken its toll on his Entity boyfriend.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, KiBum inhaled that sweet scent and closed his eyes. “I missed you,” he murmured, and the sound of his deep voice made DongHae’s heart soar.
“I missed you too, KiBummie,” the Spirit-Guide-in-Training whispered, wrapping his arms tightly around KiBum.
They sat there for a long time, holding on to each other and not saying a word. KiBum listened to the sound of DongHae’s breathing, feeling the rise and fall of his chest. Their eyes met, and stayed locked on each other, watching the swirl of emotions in the others gaze. Then, KiBum lowered his head ever so slightly, brushing his lips lightly against Hae’s, the other responding in kind. Warm, solid arms wrapped around his neck and they pressed as close as they could to each other, fingers running through hair, over clothing, over skin.
“Hey, is everything alright in there?” KangIn opened the door, then stopped when he saw DongHae and KiBum more-or-less tangled up on the floor. Blinking, he laughed as they hurriedly detached themselves, though KiBum didn’t remove one arm from Hae’s waist. “So the wayward ghost is back?” He grinned, nodding at them. “Finally, some good news.” He noticed the books sprawled out on the floor. “Hey, what’re those?”
“Oh!” DongHae exclaimed, just remembering what exactly he had came here for. Moving away from KiBum to gather the books, he gave the other’s hand a reassuring squeeze before getting out of reach. Picking up the books, he showed it to them. “These have some interesting things in them you might want to take a look at,” he said with a grin.
KangIn closed the door behind him and walked over, KiBum standing and moving to his boyfriend’s side. Reading the elegantly scripted title, he frowned lightly. “Black arts? Isn’t that-“
“- Necromancy, right?” KangIn butted in, trying to read it upside down. “What Zhou Mi has.” When DongHae flipped open the book, inside they could see columns and columns of text.
Recipes. Spells. Descriptions. So much was in here.
DongHae looked up at KiBum, hair flopping into his eyes as he grinned. “Thought you might find these useful,” he chirped.
KiBum nodded, sleepiness completely gone. He took one of the books from Hae, flipping through it. A smile spread on his lips. “Looks like we have some work to do.”
Chapter: 10/?
Pairings: ZhouRy (Main), many others
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Character Death, Angst, Apocalyptic Themes
Summary: Sequel to Till Death Do We Part. Zhou Mi had always been a failure of a necromancer. He botched up all his spells, brought back the wrong person, and the few times he had gotten it right, his ex boyfriend had taken it upon himself to send his successes back where they came from. But this didn’t stop him from trying… Until one day, the new boy next door happened to walk in on his ritual… And vanished into thin air. Determined to get Henry back, Zhou Mi set off for Korea, to find the only person he knew would be willing to help; Cho KyuHyun, his ex. But more people start disappearing, and the events set in motion would change all their lives, and the fate of the four worlds, forever.
A/N: So, my first update of this story in... Four months? *bricked* I'm sorry, I'm sorry~! But my muse has returned, so all is well again... I hope ^.^;
Trailer
Characters and Terms
Character Pictures
Chapter One || Chapter Two || Chapter Three || Chapter Four || Chapter Five || Chapter Six || Chapter Seven || Chapter Eight || Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
It took longer than expected for YooChun to clear the hallway of demons. There had been yet another attack on the clan borders, and superiors and imps alike ran back and forth dealing with the aftermath. It took a lot to defuse a few hundred demons when they were gearing towards an all out war.
However, YooChun didn’t want to deal with a war, not right now. Not while all this was happening, while JunSu and HanKyung were still missing. Both clan leaders were distracted, and in no shape to deal with the rest of Hell. Of course, timing was never on their side.
Finally, HeeChul came back from tearing his own room inside out (again) and screeched at the few demons still too adrenaline-rushed to listen to YooChun.
Needless to say, the hallway was clear within seconds.
“Find anything?” YooChun asked with a sigh, starting where he’d seen JunSu disappear. There was still no sign of magic, demon or otherwise. It was strange… He should be able to sense something, why couldn’t he?
“Actually, yes,” HeeChul said, holding out a folded handkerchief to the other leader. YooChun gave him a quizzical look, taking the cloth from him.
He glanced down and yelped, almost dropping it with a flail of his hand.
“What is this?” he asked, staring at the black substance clinging to the handkerchief. HeeChul scowled. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be wasting my time hanging around here.” YooChun ignored the elder’s snappiness; he had been out of sorts since HanKyung vanished. Curiously, he dipped his fingers into the tar-like gel, feeling shivers run down his arm as it stuck to him like pieces of shadow. He hastily rubbed it off back onto the cloth.
“It’s a hell of a pain to collect,” HeeChul said with a frown. “Damn thing sticks to anything. It’s all over my room, once you know where to look. Doesn’t register as any kind of magic either, not even black magic.
YooChun crouched down, examining the floor closer. It was hard to see against the black stone, that was for sure. But when he rubbed a clean corner of the cloth against the floor, it came away black. Checking the bottom of his shoes, the same thing happened. And demons had been running through this corridor all day.
“This is definitely not good.”
*****
Once KiBum informed the others what had happened to RyeoWook, the result was instant chaos. KyuHyun held on to SungMin and double-checked, triple-checked, to make sure all the darkness was off him. Zhou Mi was full of questions, rambling so fast no one could tell where one sentence ended and the other began. KiBum stared unseeingly forward, and LeeTeuk vanished instantly, presumably to tell someone in Heaven what had happened.
Finally, YeSung himself appeared, eyes bleak and mouth in a firm line. The second he came into view, Kang In stared at him with mouth agape. KyuHyun and KiBum followed his gaze and leapt to their feet instantly. Zhou Mi ran inside for more tissue.
Completely not noticing their reactions, YeSung came to sit beside them, and KiBum could see the rims of his eyes were red. A shiver passed through his body, and he moved to brush his hair out of his eyes. KiBum grabbed his wrist before he could. “Believe me, you don’t want to do that,” he said as gently as he could, and YeSung stared at him through red, puffy eyes.
“It’s all over him,” KyuHyun’s voice was barely audible. Covering YeSung’s jeans and hands was that same coat of black that had been over SungMin’s arms before. “What is?” YeSung asked, husky voice cracking.
Zhou Mi came back with a whole box of Kleenex, and he and KiBum set to work rubbing the shadows off their friend. KyuHyun explained as they worked, and YeSung’s eyes went from half-open to wide within seconds.
“You mean… These ‘shadow’ things are pieces of the Void?” He choked, staring at the tissues that, to him, looked perfectly fine, but to the others were covered in black.
“That’s what we guessed,” KyuHyun said with a nod. “They’re sticking to everything, wherever someone has disappeared. And once they’re on you, they slowly spread.”
YeSung stared at him. “RyeoWook kept on saying he was seeing something on the ground,” he murmured. “He got down on his hands and knees and looked. And then, right before he vanished, he said he felt cold, but the temperature hadn’t changed at all.”
“It definitely feels odd,” SungMin replied, looked down at his now clean hands. “Like, it has no weight or anything, but it gives you shivers.”
“Then this has been what’s making others disappear,” KiBum concluded with certainty. They had suspected it, but with the most recent disappearance heavy on all their minds, there was no doubt. YeSung squeezed his eyes tightly shut, but KiBum didn’t miss the tear slipping down his cheek.
“We’re going to get them back.” They all looked up at Zhou Mi’s determined face. The Chinese male slipped down so he was crouching in front of YeSung, and gave the other one of his bright smiles. KyuHyun smiled faintly, remembering how Zhou Mi’s constant sunshine had been a balm for his own pain, back when they’d been together.
“We’re going to learn more about this, and rescue RyeoWook ah and Henli,” he said with such conviction there was no way any of them couldn’t believe him. YeSung gave a watery smile.
“And then… We’ll block off the Void so nothing like this ever happens again. Ever.”
*****
DongHae peered around the corner of the doorway, frowning. LeeTeuk had appeared just a few minutes ago, nearly bowling the new ‘Angel’ over in his haste. JaeJoong had met him halfway, with ChangMin in tow, and shooed DongHae out of the room immediately. Then, YunHo had appeared as well, the two demons from before hot on his heels. The fiery one was like a walking thundercloud.
He knew he shouldn’t be listening in, and should probably go practice flight or something. Taking off wasn’t a problem; it was landing without crashing. In his time here, he’d taken down several doors and walls, as well as several of his colleagues. It was a good thing he was already dead.
Back to the present problem: He knew what he was doing was wrong; even so, when so much was going on, he wanted to be part of it. JaeJoong had seen him spying last time, and had done nothing. He would have thought a higher Angel like YoungWoong would disapprove, but so far, nothing.
Also, it might have been his imagination, but he was sure he’d seen JaeJoong glance at him rather pointedly as he was ushered out of the room by LeeTeuk.
Well, it was worth a shot, right?
So here he was, listening in on four angels and two demons speaking in hushed whispers, urgency practically visible in the air around them. Straining to hear, his eyes widened when he spotted the handkerchief one of the demons held out. It was stained with black.
Just looking at it sent chills down his spine.
“- It’s all over the place,” LeeTeuk was saying. “With the amount of humans walking around and tracking it all over, it’s impossible to remove. Just a few minutes ago, we found out one of the humans helping us disappeared too. It must have gotten all over him somehow. So we’ll have to be very, very careful.”
DongHae felt his throat close in fear. One of his friends had vanished? Who was it? Was it KiBum? Was KiBum alright?
“It’s all over our clan’s territory now too,” the fiery demon, HeeChul, groaned. “A bunch of brainless fools ran all over the stuff.”
Then, something seemed to occur to him. “We’re on the verge of a war right now,” he said slowly. “If any of those fools leave our territory to attack those who started the whole problem, the shadows will spread all over Hell in no time.” The other demon seemed to turn several shades paler.
“We’ve been looking around here as well,” ChangMin brought up, frowning. “Only YoungSaeng’s vanished so far, but even so, there’re quite a lot of the shadows hanging around. It’s easier to see because of all the white, but things could get very dangerous if more angels were to disappear.
“So, to conclude… Both Earth and Hell are in danger of becoming covered in shadows from the Void, with Heaven not too far behind,” JaeJoong summarized. “Seems to me like someone needs to find out just how the essence of the Void is escaping to our worlds.” He looked around at all of them; over YunHo’s shoulder, his gaze locked with DongHae’s.
“The most activity right now seems to be on Earth. Perhaps the Entity brothers will be able to see something we miss? Or even this necromancer you were talking about. Their spells work with the darkness, don’t forget. They might be able to shed some light on the situation, if given the right equipment.” DongHae gulped, not breaking the others steady gaze. “Either way, looks like we’re all going to have to get involved somehow.”
JaeJoong winked at him subtly, and DongHae finally understood what he needed to do.
*****
“This way, quick!”
HanKyung grabbed SiWon’s arm and pulled him in the direction that looked the most promising, not wanting to wait for the shadows to come and closer. SiWon protested, they were going right for the ring of darkness around them; but how else were they supposed to get out? HanKyung didn’t have his wings yet so he couldn’t fly them out.
There was no way he was going down without a fight. Whatever these things were, they weren’t good news.
The shadows reared up in front of them, creating a barrier of darkness. There seemed to be no end to it. How was he supposed to break through? He didn’t have many spells he could call upon; his demon magic was practically non-existent still. What could he do?
Then he realized that he did have something. Something every imp learned how to do: Call fire.
“Keep running no matter what!” He shouted to SiWon, holding out his free hand in front of him and calling to that sixth sense that had been amplified when he died.
Every human had a sixth sense, the strength of it depending on their genes and on whether they knew how to use it. As a human, Han Geng had been ignorant to the undertones of magic in his blood, and like the majority of those who had been born as a part-Entity, had never known of his true heritage. But as first a ghost, then a demon, he could feel it, the tingling through his veins, spreading from his feet to the tips of his fingers. It wanted to be let out, to be used. He was more than happy in this instant to give it its wish.
Fire burst from his fingertips, small orbs barely bigger than his fist. But it was good enough. As the shadows lunged at them, he sent the orbs at them with a flick of his fingers. The shadows didn’t catch on fire, but they retreated from the flames rapidly, leaving a hole for them to escape.
HanKyung jumped over the trail of fire he’d left, pulling SiWon along with him. The fire, HanKyung’s own creation, didn’t touch them as they passed. The demon didn’t stop running, heart pounding in his chest. They had to keep going, or else they’d be caught. SiWon lengthened his stride, and as HanKyung let go of the others wrist the human drew level with him, looking over with wide eyes. “What were those?” He asked.
“I have no idea,” he replied, breathing unevenly as they ran. “Whatever it is, fire seems to repel it.” He didn’t use any more magic now that they were free; his reserve was limited, and they might need it again later. “How long were we there before they came?”
“A few hours? I was unconscious until right before you came, so I have no clue.”
“Who knows how many of those there are around here. Let’s get as far away as we can, then rest for a bit. I really hope we find someone else soon.”
SiWon nodded. “This place… If it isn’t Hell like you say, what is it?”
HanKyung frowned. “HeeChul once mentioned something like this. A fourth world… He called it the Void. That must be where we are.”
“And how do we get back?”
HanKyung slowed down to a walk, unsure. “I have no idea.”
*****
They didn’t stay in that place very long. As soon as those who’d fought the Shadows had gotten a chance to rest and catch their breath, they were up and moving across the unseen terrain. JungMin was once more carrying the unconscious demon on his back, though Tablo and HyunJoong had offered to carry him for a bit. “He’s not that heavy,” JungMin said with as much of a shrug as he could give with a demon on his back.
Henry glanced back at their unaware companion often, wondering what he was like. Demons were supposed to be pure evil, weren’t they? Yet this one had such soft features, it was hard to imagine him being evil in any way. Perhaps his appearance was just a trick. Maybe he was really only pretending to be unconscious and wait until they weren’t watching, then attack.
Then it occurred to him KyuJong and YoungSaeng hadn’t left JungMin’s side the entire time, seeming to take turns watching the demon for any signs of movement. JungMin’s neck was covered by a thick leather that would be hard to slice through. They obviously weren’t taking any chances with the demon, passed out or not.
They had to stop what must have been five hours later, when EunHyuk took a rather nasty fall down one of the unseen pitfalls (Tablo had been talking with HyunJoong and hadn’t noticed the hole in time to stop his boyfriend). Rather than have two people in need of being carried, Tablo called a break, and they all but fell to the ground in exhaustion. (Thankfully, YoungSaeng reminded JungMin of his passenger before he could do the same.)
“Who’s on first guard?” HyunJoong asked tiredly, rubbing at the darkness below his eyes. No matter how used to this they said they were, the lack of a long, good sleep was obviously weighing down on them all. Henry himself could barely keep his eyes open, and they had been in here for much longer than he had.
YoungSaeng volunteered, and took KyuJong with him so they ‘could have two pairs of eyes’. Henry, by now caught on to the stories Tablo and EunHyuk made up to get some alone time, had to wonder if that was really the reason. Catching JungMin’s eyes, he grinned as the other gave a dramatic sigh and mimed kissing.
After a while, silence fell. Tablo tended to EunHyuk’s sprained ankle gently, working patiently with a roll of bandages HyunJoong’s group had been carrying. Looking closely, Henry saw the ‘bandages’ were really just white shirts torn into strips, but he supposed when you had very limited resources, you used what you could.
HyungJoon, HyunJoong and JungMin fell asleep right away, at opposite ends of their small campsite. Henry yawned, wanting to do the same. Maybe if he slept again, he’d dream of Zhou Mi ge? It seemed to be happening a lot recently, and with everything that had happened since that night in the forest, he wasn’t quite sure it was just his wishful imagination anymore.
Looking at the demon laying so still on the ground, he was tempted to reach out and trace those intricate tattoos on that baby-like face, but didn’t in case he woke the other up. With half of them already sleeping, maybe he should stay up and keep an eye on the demon? They still didn’t know anything about him… He was sure taking a long time waking up.
Seconds after the thought had passed through his mind, a wave of dizziness struck him, and he shook his head. Tablo and EunHyuk were still awake, and YoungSaeng and KyuJong weren’t that far away. They were as safe as they were ever going to be. Besides, what was Henry supposed to do if the demon woke up and attacked? He didn’t even have a weapon yet.
Laying down on the dark ground, he stared up at the patterns in the sky. Thinking faintly that they were almost like the night sky back home, with different kinds of stars hidden amongst the black, he shut his eyes and drifted off.
His dreams were full of home and warm meals and baked cookies. Zhou Mi didn’t appear.
*****
KiBum closed his bedroom door with a faint click, sighing from exhaustion. It was well past midnight; they’d stayed at YeSung’s house all afternoon and evening, analyzing their findings and trying to reach a conclusion. Zhou Mi had even tried one of his spells, despite KyuHyun’s very vocal objections (something about liking his head intact). One spell had split the shadows into smaller pieces, the other would have plastered it to all corners of YeSung’s room had they not had the foresight to place it in a sealed container beforehand.
Each of them had gone home with a small vial of the substance, to continue puzzling it out on their own time. But other than learning not to let Zhou Mi work any spells on the shadows, they hadn’t learnt anything of significance.
Running one hand through his hair, KiBum wandered to his desk and placed the vial down, yawning. He’d work more on it tomorrow; he could barely think straight anymore. What were they going to do about all this? He wasn’t sure what difference a group of students could make. No matter what they were … Former ghost hunter, necromancer, Entity … They were still only human.
What were humans able to do when faced with things that weren’t from this world?
BANG!
The door to his balcony blew open with a bang, wind rushing in with a roar. KiBum jumped, then grabbed the vial before it could fall off his desk. There was a thump behind him, a dull crash, and then the doors swung shut again with another bang. In the room beside his own, he heard KangIn fall off his bed with a shouted curse.
“Ouch… Sorry about that. I guess I’m still no good at the landing part.”
Every muscle in his body froze, mind going completely blank.
“I mean, I took out a wall once, and LeeTeuk says that in a few months I should be able to land without even needing to open anything, just appearing like he does, but I still don’t see how it could be done.”
There was absolutely no way. It just couldn’t be. He was… He wasn’t…
“Even so, I guess it’s better than making a racket each time I come down here. Sounds like I woke up your brother, oops?”
KiBum turned around slowly, vial placed back on his desk and forgotten. When he saw who had landed so noisily in his bedroom, he completely forgot to breathe, eyes widening and staying that way.
Lee DongHae grinned at him sheepishly, sprawled out on the ground like he’d tried to land on his feet and wiped out, various books that hadn’t been there before laying beside him in a messy pile. DongHae was here, in his room, smiling up at him like he did this every day. He looked exactly as KiBum remembered him, brown hair messy and in front of his eyes, still wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing when he died.
“DongHae,” the name came out of him, choked and disbelieving. Maybe he was finally hallucinating. That’s it. The stress from dealing with the Void had driven him insane.
“KiBummie,” the other echoed, the grin widening and threatening to crack his face in two.
KiBum sank to his knees, reaching out with a shaking hand to brush fingertips against the others face. DongHae was warm to his touch, just barely warm, an improvement over how neutral his skin had felt last time. “You’re really here,” he murmured, hardly able to believe it. “You came back.”
DongHae reached up and took KiBum’s hand gently, the grin shifting into a gentle, affectionate smile, and KiBum felt himself fall in love all over again. He all but threw himself at the boyfriend he’d thought gone forever, knocking DongHae over on to his back in surprise. Usually DongHae was the enthusiastic one, but the long year alone, and the shock of seeing him so suddenly had taken its toll on his Entity boyfriend.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, KiBum inhaled that sweet scent and closed his eyes. “I missed you,” he murmured, and the sound of his deep voice made DongHae’s heart soar.
“I missed you too, KiBummie,” the Spirit-Guide-in-Training whispered, wrapping his arms tightly around KiBum.
They sat there for a long time, holding on to each other and not saying a word. KiBum listened to the sound of DongHae’s breathing, feeling the rise and fall of his chest. Their eyes met, and stayed locked on each other, watching the swirl of emotions in the others gaze. Then, KiBum lowered his head ever so slightly, brushing his lips lightly against Hae’s, the other responding in kind. Warm, solid arms wrapped around his neck and they pressed as close as they could to each other, fingers running through hair, over clothing, over skin.
“Hey, is everything alright in there?” KangIn opened the door, then stopped when he saw DongHae and KiBum more-or-less tangled up on the floor. Blinking, he laughed as they hurriedly detached themselves, though KiBum didn’t remove one arm from Hae’s waist. “So the wayward ghost is back?” He grinned, nodding at them. “Finally, some good news.” He noticed the books sprawled out on the floor. “Hey, what’re those?”
“Oh!” DongHae exclaimed, just remembering what exactly he had came here for. Moving away from KiBum to gather the books, he gave the other’s hand a reassuring squeeze before getting out of reach. Picking up the books, he showed it to them. “These have some interesting things in them you might want to take a look at,” he said with a grin.
KangIn closed the door behind him and walked over, KiBum standing and moving to his boyfriend’s side. Reading the elegantly scripted title, he frowned lightly. “Black arts? Isn’t that-“
“- Necromancy, right?” KangIn butted in, trying to read it upside down. “What Zhou Mi has.” When DongHae flipped open the book, inside they could see columns and columns of text.
Recipes. Spells. Descriptions. So much was in here.
DongHae looked up at KiBum, hair flopping into his eyes as he grinned. “Thought you might find these useful,” he chirped.
KiBum nodded, sleepiness completely gone. He took one of the books from Hae, flipping through it. A smile spread on his lips. “Looks like we have some work to do.”