(for everyone) i am destroyer (i am lover) part i
For: everybody
Title: i am destroyer (i am lover)
Genre: horror, romance, tokyo ghoul!au
Rating: NC-17
Side-Pairing: baekhyun/sehun
Warnings: gore, blood, minor character death
Length: 10,700 words
Summary: Kyungsoo wakes up and makes all the wrong decisions.
Notes: i had such a hard time choosing between your prompts oh my god, they were all great?? i settled for this one because i LOVE tokyo ghoul, though. i had some difficulties halfway through it, but i did my best and i really hope you enjoy it??? also, s/o to everyone who put up with me while i was writing this and im very sorry (*´>д<)
There’s something wrong, Kyungsoo thinks as he pours his freshly made coffee into a large mug and stares out the window with a sleepy frown.
It hasn’t been long since he was rudely awakened from a restless sleep by his alarm clock, but something about this day already feels off. It’s a strange feeling, and a rather ominous one, and the more he thinks about it, the less sense it makes. But it’s definitely there, and it has the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.
It’s not a feeling he ever had before, he thinks. The taste it leaves on his tongue is unfamiliar and he doesn’t know how to deal with it, or even how to describe it. It feels like a deja-vu that’s yet to happen, somehow. He doesn’t know what it is, but it feels very concrete, Kyungsoo infers, as he sips his coffee.
Something’s gonna happen today. Something big, he knows, but whether it is good or bad, he can’t tell. But something is definitely going to happen today and-
There’s a sudden noise and Kyungsoo startles, a wave of momentary panic coming over him, immediately clearing his thoughts and causing him to almost drop his mug onto the floor.
Miraculously, he manages to keep his hold on the mug and not spill anything, and he briefly congratulates himself for it, before turning to glare at the ofensor (his toaster) with anger.
Kyungsoo pulls the plug, anger at the harmless appliance temporarily stronger than reason, and grabs his toast, taking a large bite from it before moving to sit on his small couch, placing his feet on the coffee table and yawning.
It’s only much later that he remembers there was something he was thinking about, something that seemed important at the time. He doesn’t quite remember what it is, but it brings a funny feeling to his stomach.
He ignores it.
xxx
Do Kyungsoo is an average person.
He’s a little smarter (and a little shorter) than most, and he likes to think he’s attractive as well. But for all intents and purposes, there’s nothing particularly striking about him.
He’s not a ghoul, he’s not a murderer, he’s not anything evil. He’s never hurt anyone (permanently or gravely) in his life.
But he’s not a saint, or an amazingly good samaritan either.
He’s just a normal and completely human being. He goes to college by day, and works in a small bookshop on the 9th ward during the afternoons. By night he doesn’t do much, aside from watching sad anime and occasionally going out for drinks, or to the movies with his neighbour. He doesn’t have any family left, and only a couple of close friends, and he’s as lost in life as your average twenty-something year old is.
He’s absolutely and completely unremarkable.
Which is why Kyungsoo wonders what did he do that was so terrible, so completely dreadful and abhorrent, that would explain him being forced to work with Byun Baekhyun as a punishment.
“Don’t you get tired of the sound of your own voice?” He asks, on a would-be calm Friday afternoon, interrupting his coworker mid-speech. It’s been half an hour since anyone set foot in the store, and Baekhyun has taken the task of butchering Kyungsoo’s precious silence onto himself ever since.
Kyungsoo doesn’t think he even breathed in the past thirty minutes.
“Why would I? I have a beautiful voice.” Is the answer he gets, along with a playful smile. “Also, I have to talk a lot, since you barely do. Which, I have to say, is highly unsettling.”
“I talk enough.”
“Hardly.” Kyungsoo scoffs, much to Baekhyun’s dismay. “You said, like, maybe twenty words today, and most of it were for clients!”
“You’re exaggerating, as always.” Kyungsoo says, waving his hand dismissively.
“Maybe, but the point remains. You don’t talk and this place is almost always empty and it’s boring. One must entertain himself somehow.”
“Why don’t you go talk to yourself away from me, then?” There’s a smirk playing at the tip of Kyungsoo’s lips, and Baekhyun squeals in fake outrage.
“I can’t believe you just admitted to not listening to a word I say! Not even allowing me to maintain the illusion that we hold conversations! You are a terrible friend, Do Kyungsoo.”
“I wasn’t aware we were friends.” Kyungsoo answers, struggling to hold back his laughter when Baekhyun lets out the most dramatic of gasps, a hand clutched to his chest in a perfect image of betrayal and excessive exposure to Mexican novellas.
“After all I have done to you, this is how you repay me? Betrayal and indifference? I’ll make you pay for this, Do. I swear on my father’s ashes.”
“Your dad’s still alive, Byun. And what have you ever done for me? I asked you to take care of the store for an hour last week, and when I came back the place was closed and you were making out with your twink of a boyfriend on the storage room.” This time, there’s no way to stop his laughter as it makes its way out of his lips in response to the unattractive shade of red Baekhyun turned into. Maybe Kyungsoo should indulge him in conversation more often.
“I do not like where this conversation is going.” He sputters, embarrassed, and Kyungsoo’s laughter only grows. “And also, how dare you. If anyone’s a twink, between me and Sehun, it’s obviously me.”
“I regret to inform, but you, sir, are too old to be a twink.”
“Terrible, terrible friend.” Baekhyun shakes his head in disappointment. Kyungsoo’s about to answer when a knock on the store’s window interrupts him, making them both turn to check.
It’s Sehun, of course it is. Who else goes around knocking on shop windows even though Kyungsoo specifically told them not to?
He sighs in dismay, while Baekhyun squeals in delight, and Sehun opens a smile, waving at them from the outside in a way that reminds Kyungsoo remarkably of a toddler.
“Oh, this reminds me.” Baekhyun starts, looking so giddy and in love Kyungsoo wants to slap him. “You’ll be okay with closing on your own right? Sehun and I have a date.”
“Again?” There’s a heavy layer of weariness lacing Kyungsoo’s tone, and he sees a flash of guilt travel across Baekhyun’s expression. It doesn’t last long though, so he just files it down as his tiredness playing tricks on him.
“This is what I spent the whole afternoon talking to you about if you had bothered to listen. It’s our one year anniversary!” Ah. That does explain the increase of incessant babble. Kyungsoo thinks he should try to pay attention more often. “Please? I’ll make it up to you!”
“With the amount of times you’ve said that to me, I could probably have you pay my entire college tuition.” He lifts a thick brow at Baekhyun, who immediately counters with a pout. It doesn’t have quite the effect he wants to, because all it does is make Kyungsoo want to punch him a little bit, but it provides the results he desires nonetheless. “Fine, go on your date. Just stop doing that with your face. It’s gross.”
“You’re the best, Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun shouts, and all it takes is a blink and he’s outside, throwing his arms around his considerably taller boyfriend.
Kyungsoo sighs and buries his face in his arms.
Half an hour until closing.
(x)
The sky is dark as Kyungsoo finally closes down the store, and the strange feeling from this morning is back. It makes him incredibly uneasy, and the way the streets seem emptier than usual does nothing to soothe this feeling.
He looks around the store, checking the area before quickly starting to make his way down the street much faster than normal, paranoia rapidly increasing.
It’s colder than usual today, which does nothing to help ease his anxiety. He checks over his shoulder a couple of times and fastens his pace even more. There’s still no one around, even as he distances himself from the bookstore, and it’s all a little frightening.
The 9th ward is a fairly safe area, probably the safest and calmest there is in Seoul. There has always been a strange lack of ghoul attacks around, and though everyone finds it suspicious, they all ignore the feeling and just thank whatever god they believe in for the relative peace. There’s no real rational reason for Kyungsoo to be scared.
But the unease in his stomach still hasn’t settled, irrational or not. The fact that he didn’t get to see the news today doesn’t help with his agitation -- there could be any sorts of danger just lurking around the corner, and he could walk right into it without even noticing.
He groans at his less than helpful thoughts, and stops, looking around again.
Everything seems far too empty for a Friday evening, he thinks. And it might be his imagination, but his normal route suddenly seems especially longer and deserted.
He bites his bottom lip, suddenly very hesitant and makes a decision.
He turns left, taking the shortcut home.
Usually, Kyungsoo avoids taking this path, because while it might be a little faster, it’s far emptier than the main street, but they both seem equally barren of people today, so there’s no point taking the longer way home. He’ll just take his chances with this, he thinks as he moves forward. His stomach is growling with a mixture of fear and hunger, but he just tells it to fuck off and quickens his pace, looking at his back every half a minute.
It takes Kyungsoo exactly seven minutes to realise the shortcut was a terrible idea.
The small street he’s travelling through gets darker and colder every step he takes, and it’s filled with untrustworthy and seemingly empty cul-de-sacs. It makes him feel exposed and vulnerable, like anything could jump out of one of those alleyways at any given moment. The only thing breaking the deafening silence are his rushed steps and ragged breathing.
He’s seriously considering either running the rest of the way or simply turning back and taking the longer (possibly safer) path home, when he hears it.
In any other environment, it’d be impossible to detect the sound, but with the eerie quietness lingering in this street, Kyungsoo can hear it rather clearly. It’s coming from the alley directly on his left, and it sends chills down his spine.
It’s a whimper. Followed by more whimpers.
His stomach drops.
He wants to run away. Every bone in Kyungsoo’s body is telling him to run, to keep walking and just not look. It’s selfish, but it’s the logical thing to do. Do what he always taught himself to; avoid conflict. Stay alive.
But it seems like his self-preservation instincts went on vacation today. And the whimpers, Kyungsoo thinks, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. They’re so human. So desperately human, not even the most indifferent of himself could find it in themselves to ignore them, he reckons.
He opens his eyes, and with a deep breath he turns left once again, this time into the barely lighted alley.
From this distance it’s hard to see, he realises. The alleys are much longer than he anticipated and his vision is not the best, but there’s a distinct shape crouching by the wall, not very far from him.
It’s definitely a person, Kyungsoo thinks. Their shoulders are shaking, and there are still whimpers echoing back to him. His mind is half assured that he’s safe -- he doesn’t think ghouls walk around empty alleys crying --, but his intuition doesn’t seem to be at all convinced.
“Um, hello?” He speaks, wincing when his words linger in the air and come back to him, his tone scared and hesitant.
He gets no reaction.
Delving deeper into the alley and reluctantly closer to the person, he tries again, more confidently this time: “Hello? Are you okay?”
And it’s like everything stops.
The sudden quietness is disconcerting, to say the least, and terrifying, if he were to be honest. The abrupt stillness of the person has Kyungsoo shivering slightly, and even the weather seems to have picked up on the mood change, cold winds that definitely weren’t there before suddenly making themselves felt.
Kyungsoo is sure his heart is going to beat its way out of his chest.
He takes another step towards the person.
There is a loud gasp, and the only thing Kyungsoo’s stomach twists in fear and disgust.
He couldn’t have seen it before, not from where he was standing, the shadows were being used against him. But now…
Now he sees it.
He wishes he couldn’t, but he sees it.
It’s terribly disconfigured, horribly broken, but there’s no denying -- it’s a person. A body.
Its legs are twisted in an unnatural angle, one that must’ve been painful beyond imagine. There is blood, far too much blood, and it’s covering almost all the surface surrounding it, creating a small puddle underneath and around it. The arms… Kyungsoo only sees one, laying unattached to the torso on top of its legs. There is something on top of its leaking belly too, something he takes a while to recognise, and that he deeply wishes he hadn’t.
His own stomach tightens in horror.
In his hurry to look away from the gore filled scene that lies in front of him, his eyes travel to the person’s face without thinking, and gods no.
The face is hardly intact, but compared to the rest of the body it seems mostly unharmed, despite the fact that one eye lies outside its socket, hanging by a fragile thread of nerve, looking like something straight out of a horror movie. The cheeks are red, blood smeared all over them and they mouth hangs open almost like they were about to-
Whimper.
Kyungsoo jumps back, startled, and in his hurry to get away from the corpse, he trips back, falling backwards and painfully colliding against the wall. Fortunately, he doesn’t end up on the ground, still standing albeit in a much more awkward position. His eyes are glued to the person lying on the ground.
They’re alive. The body -- the person. They’re alive.
The realisation has Kyungsoo’s lunch trying to force its way back.
(He’s too paralysed with panic to retch.)
They’re alive, he can see it now, the slight but very real and painful looking rising and lowering of the chest, he can see the blood that is still oozing strongly down from their stomach to the ground.
And the eyes. Oh god, the eyes.
They’re looking at him.
And he can’t look away, he can’t seem to divert his look from the person’s terrified ones, from the pleading look they’re sending him, from the pain radiating from them-
A revolting sound echoes through the alley, and suddenly the eyes he was staring at so intently go blank.
(Still, Kyungsoo can’t look away.)
Another rustling sound finally takes his attention away from the (now) dead body, and his heart seems to freeze in its place. Because in all his panic, he had forgotten about the crouching figure. The one that’s slowly rising right now. The one that’s slowly turning to him.
The one covered in blood, with black eyes and red pupils.
Kyungsoo draws a shaky breath.
The ghoul smiles.
He feels the ghoul preparing to tackle him, sees its stance change to something more predatory, sees the glint on its red, red pupils.
There’s no way to run. There’s nowhere to run. He can try, but he’ll never outrun a ghoul, especially one who just fed.
Kyungsoo’s going to fucking die in a shitty ass alley.
He closes his eyes, and waits.
“Cough, cough.” Kyungsoo hears the words being uttered from above, and for a second, he thinks that it might be desperation playing tricks with his mind.
But he opens his eyes, and see the ghoul looking equally confused, standing still in his stop.
“You know, I don’t like when people put my things in harm’s way.” The voice echoes in the dark alley, and a chill runs down Kyungsoo’ spine at the slight amusement in it. It sounds familiar, but at the same time so, so foreign, and he doesn’t know what to make of it.
In front of him, the ghoul seems to be adopting a defensive stance, teeth bared and shoulders tense, red shiny eyes looking up from a dark spot to the other without spotting anything.
There’s a couple of seconds of absolute silence -- the ghoul, trying to listen, and Kyungsoo, trying to make himself disappear.
The moon takes that chance to finally make an appearance, and as it comes out from behind the clouds, its silver glow lighting the alley, illuminating a silhouette standing perfectly still on the edge of the building.
“And that…” The silhouette says, from the edge of the roof, before stepping forward into the abyss in front of it, making Kyungsoo gasp in shock.
He looks at the darker side of the alley, expecting to hear the disgusting sound of flesh against stone, but there is nothing.
Nothing except two pupils, glowing red in the shadows, and the same voice saying with irrevocability: “That is my human.”
The ghoul in front of Kyungsoo turns to where the voice is coming from, and lunges forward with a speed and power Kyungsoo didn’t know was possible.
There is a moment of uncertainty, where Kyungsoo thinks he should run, he should get as far away from here as possible, but the moment ends before he can make his body moves, when he hears a loud noise, and…
An angel, that’s Kyungsoo’s first thought as he sees it.
The wings are huge, extending through almost the entire width of the alley, and look as if they’re made of fire, leaving a strange glow on the floor beneath them.
They are also very red.
Kyungsoo takes a deep breath.
The boy to whom the wings belong to stops in front of Kyungsoo, his back turned to him and his wings spread wide, almost as if protecting him from the ghoul that is now lingering in the darkness. He’s tall, that much Kyungsoo can tell, and has unruly black hair and dark skin. He’s lean, rather than broad, and wearing a black hoodie.
He called Kyungsoo his human.
His wings seem to retract ever so slightly, and the boy jumps higher than any human could, before spreading his wings again. And in the split second before gravity pulls him back down, his wings turn solid -- what previously seemed fiery, now looking like the clearest of glasses, before morphing once again, this time into hundreds of spikes, and showering the darkness below with them.
There is a scream, but the boy is not deterred by it, lunging into the darkness while he’s still in the air.
That’s when the situation takes its toll on Kyungsoo and his knees give up on him, letting him fall to the ground with a thud.
The last thing he hears before everything goes dark is the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart.
part ii
Title: i am destroyer (i am lover)
Genre: horror, romance, tokyo ghoul!au
Rating: NC-17
Side-Pairing: baekhyun/sehun
Warnings: gore, blood, minor character death
Length: 10,700 words
Summary: Kyungsoo wakes up and makes all the wrong decisions.
Notes: i had such a hard time choosing between your prompts oh my god, they were all great?? i settled for this one because i LOVE tokyo ghoul, though. i had some difficulties halfway through it, but i did my best and i really hope you enjoy it??? also, s/o to everyone who put up with me while i was writing this and im very sorry (*´>д<)
There’s something wrong, Kyungsoo thinks as he pours his freshly made coffee into a large mug and stares out the window with a sleepy frown.
It hasn’t been long since he was rudely awakened from a restless sleep by his alarm clock, but something about this day already feels off. It’s a strange feeling, and a rather ominous one, and the more he thinks about it, the less sense it makes. But it’s definitely there, and it has the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.
It’s not a feeling he ever had before, he thinks. The taste it leaves on his tongue is unfamiliar and he doesn’t know how to deal with it, or even how to describe it. It feels like a deja-vu that’s yet to happen, somehow. He doesn’t know what it is, but it feels very concrete, Kyungsoo infers, as he sips his coffee.
Something’s gonna happen today. Something big, he knows, but whether it is good or bad, he can’t tell. But something is definitely going to happen today and-
There’s a sudden noise and Kyungsoo startles, a wave of momentary panic coming over him, immediately clearing his thoughts and causing him to almost drop his mug onto the floor.
Miraculously, he manages to keep his hold on the mug and not spill anything, and he briefly congratulates himself for it, before turning to glare at the ofensor (his toaster) with anger.
Kyungsoo pulls the plug, anger at the harmless appliance temporarily stronger than reason, and grabs his toast, taking a large bite from it before moving to sit on his small couch, placing his feet on the coffee table and yawning.
It’s only much later that he remembers there was something he was thinking about, something that seemed important at the time. He doesn’t quite remember what it is, but it brings a funny feeling to his stomach.
He ignores it.
xxx
Do Kyungsoo is an average person.
He’s a little smarter (and a little shorter) than most, and he likes to think he’s attractive as well. But for all intents and purposes, there’s nothing particularly striking about him.
He’s not a ghoul, he’s not a murderer, he’s not anything evil. He’s never hurt anyone (permanently or gravely) in his life.
But he’s not a saint, or an amazingly good samaritan either.
He’s just a normal and completely human being. He goes to college by day, and works in a small bookshop on the 9th ward during the afternoons. By night he doesn’t do much, aside from watching sad anime and occasionally going out for drinks, or to the movies with his neighbour. He doesn’t have any family left, and only a couple of close friends, and he’s as lost in life as your average twenty-something year old is.
He’s absolutely and completely unremarkable.
Which is why Kyungsoo wonders what did he do that was so terrible, so completely dreadful and abhorrent, that would explain him being forced to work with Byun Baekhyun as a punishment.
“Don’t you get tired of the sound of your own voice?” He asks, on a would-be calm Friday afternoon, interrupting his coworker mid-speech. It’s been half an hour since anyone set foot in the store, and Baekhyun has taken the task of butchering Kyungsoo’s precious silence onto himself ever since.
Kyungsoo doesn’t think he even breathed in the past thirty minutes.
“Why would I? I have a beautiful voice.” Is the answer he gets, along with a playful smile. “Also, I have to talk a lot, since you barely do. Which, I have to say, is highly unsettling.”
“I talk enough.”
“Hardly.” Kyungsoo scoffs, much to Baekhyun’s dismay. “You said, like, maybe twenty words today, and most of it were for clients!”
“You’re exaggerating, as always.” Kyungsoo says, waving his hand dismissively.
“Maybe, but the point remains. You don’t talk and this place is almost always empty and it’s boring. One must entertain himself somehow.”
“Why don’t you go talk to yourself away from me, then?” There’s a smirk playing at the tip of Kyungsoo’s lips, and Baekhyun squeals in fake outrage.
“I can’t believe you just admitted to not listening to a word I say! Not even allowing me to maintain the illusion that we hold conversations! You are a terrible friend, Do Kyungsoo.”
“I wasn’t aware we were friends.” Kyungsoo answers, struggling to hold back his laughter when Baekhyun lets out the most dramatic of gasps, a hand clutched to his chest in a perfect image of betrayal and excessive exposure to Mexican novellas.
“After all I have done to you, this is how you repay me? Betrayal and indifference? I’ll make you pay for this, Do. I swear on my father’s ashes.”
“Your dad’s still alive, Byun. And what have you ever done for me? I asked you to take care of the store for an hour last week, and when I came back the place was closed and you were making out with your twink of a boyfriend on the storage room.” This time, there’s no way to stop his laughter as it makes its way out of his lips in response to the unattractive shade of red Baekhyun turned into. Maybe Kyungsoo should indulge him in conversation more often.
“I do not like where this conversation is going.” He sputters, embarrassed, and Kyungsoo’s laughter only grows. “And also, how dare you. If anyone’s a twink, between me and Sehun, it’s obviously me.”
“I regret to inform, but you, sir, are too old to be a twink.”
“Terrible, terrible friend.” Baekhyun shakes his head in disappointment. Kyungsoo’s about to answer when a knock on the store’s window interrupts him, making them both turn to check.
It’s Sehun, of course it is. Who else goes around knocking on shop windows even though Kyungsoo specifically told them not to?
He sighs in dismay, while Baekhyun squeals in delight, and Sehun opens a smile, waving at them from the outside in a way that reminds Kyungsoo remarkably of a toddler.
“Oh, this reminds me.” Baekhyun starts, looking so giddy and in love Kyungsoo wants to slap him. “You’ll be okay with closing on your own right? Sehun and I have a date.”
“Again?” There’s a heavy layer of weariness lacing Kyungsoo’s tone, and he sees a flash of guilt travel across Baekhyun’s expression. It doesn’t last long though, so he just files it down as his tiredness playing tricks on him.
“This is what I spent the whole afternoon talking to you about if you had bothered to listen. It’s our one year anniversary!” Ah. That does explain the increase of incessant babble. Kyungsoo thinks he should try to pay attention more often. “Please? I’ll make it up to you!”
“With the amount of times you’ve said that to me, I could probably have you pay my entire college tuition.” He lifts a thick brow at Baekhyun, who immediately counters with a pout. It doesn’t have quite the effect he wants to, because all it does is make Kyungsoo want to punch him a little bit, but it provides the results he desires nonetheless. “Fine, go on your date. Just stop doing that with your face. It’s gross.”
“You’re the best, Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun shouts, and all it takes is a blink and he’s outside, throwing his arms around his considerably taller boyfriend.
Kyungsoo sighs and buries his face in his arms.
Half an hour until closing.
(x)
The sky is dark as Kyungsoo finally closes down the store, and the strange feeling from this morning is back. It makes him incredibly uneasy, and the way the streets seem emptier than usual does nothing to soothe this feeling.
He looks around the store, checking the area before quickly starting to make his way down the street much faster than normal, paranoia rapidly increasing.
It’s colder than usual today, which does nothing to help ease his anxiety. He checks over his shoulder a couple of times and fastens his pace even more. There’s still no one around, even as he distances himself from the bookstore, and it’s all a little frightening.
The 9th ward is a fairly safe area, probably the safest and calmest there is in Seoul. There has always been a strange lack of ghoul attacks around, and though everyone finds it suspicious, they all ignore the feeling and just thank whatever god they believe in for the relative peace. There’s no real rational reason for Kyungsoo to be scared.
But the unease in his stomach still hasn’t settled, irrational or not. The fact that he didn’t get to see the news today doesn’t help with his agitation -- there could be any sorts of danger just lurking around the corner, and he could walk right into it without even noticing.
He groans at his less than helpful thoughts, and stops, looking around again.
Everything seems far too empty for a Friday evening, he thinks. And it might be his imagination, but his normal route suddenly seems especially longer and deserted.
He bites his bottom lip, suddenly very hesitant and makes a decision.
He turns left, taking the shortcut home.
Usually, Kyungsoo avoids taking this path, because while it might be a little faster, it’s far emptier than the main street, but they both seem equally barren of people today, so there’s no point taking the longer way home. He’ll just take his chances with this, he thinks as he moves forward. His stomach is growling with a mixture of fear and hunger, but he just tells it to fuck off and quickens his pace, looking at his back every half a minute.
It takes Kyungsoo exactly seven minutes to realise the shortcut was a terrible idea.
The small street he’s travelling through gets darker and colder every step he takes, and it’s filled with untrustworthy and seemingly empty cul-de-sacs. It makes him feel exposed and vulnerable, like anything could jump out of one of those alleyways at any given moment. The only thing breaking the deafening silence are his rushed steps and ragged breathing.
He’s seriously considering either running the rest of the way or simply turning back and taking the longer (possibly safer) path home, when he hears it.
In any other environment, it’d be impossible to detect the sound, but with the eerie quietness lingering in this street, Kyungsoo can hear it rather clearly. It’s coming from the alley directly on his left, and it sends chills down his spine.
It’s a whimper. Followed by more whimpers.
His stomach drops.
He wants to run away. Every bone in Kyungsoo’s body is telling him to run, to keep walking and just not look. It’s selfish, but it’s the logical thing to do. Do what he always taught himself to; avoid conflict. Stay alive.
But it seems like his self-preservation instincts went on vacation today. And the whimpers, Kyungsoo thinks, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. They’re so human. So desperately human, not even the most indifferent of himself could find it in themselves to ignore them, he reckons.
He opens his eyes, and with a deep breath he turns left once again, this time into the barely lighted alley.
From this distance it’s hard to see, he realises. The alleys are much longer than he anticipated and his vision is not the best, but there’s a distinct shape crouching by the wall, not very far from him.
It’s definitely a person, Kyungsoo thinks. Their shoulders are shaking, and there are still whimpers echoing back to him. His mind is half assured that he’s safe -- he doesn’t think ghouls walk around empty alleys crying --, but his intuition doesn’t seem to be at all convinced.
“Um, hello?” He speaks, wincing when his words linger in the air and come back to him, his tone scared and hesitant.
He gets no reaction.
Delving deeper into the alley and reluctantly closer to the person, he tries again, more confidently this time: “Hello? Are you okay?”
And it’s like everything stops.
The sudden quietness is disconcerting, to say the least, and terrifying, if he were to be honest. The abrupt stillness of the person has Kyungsoo shivering slightly, and even the weather seems to have picked up on the mood change, cold winds that definitely weren’t there before suddenly making themselves felt.
Kyungsoo is sure his heart is going to beat its way out of his chest.
He takes another step towards the person.
There is a loud gasp, and the only thing Kyungsoo’s stomach twists in fear and disgust.
He couldn’t have seen it before, not from where he was standing, the shadows were being used against him. But now…
Now he sees it.
He wishes he couldn’t, but he sees it.
It’s terribly disconfigured, horribly broken, but there’s no denying -- it’s a person. A body.
Its legs are twisted in an unnatural angle, one that must’ve been painful beyond imagine. There is blood, far too much blood, and it’s covering almost all the surface surrounding it, creating a small puddle underneath and around it. The arms… Kyungsoo only sees one, laying unattached to the torso on top of its legs. There is something on top of its leaking belly too, something he takes a while to recognise, and that he deeply wishes he hadn’t.
His own stomach tightens in horror.
In his hurry to look away from the gore filled scene that lies in front of him, his eyes travel to the person’s face without thinking, and gods no.
The face is hardly intact, but compared to the rest of the body it seems mostly unharmed, despite the fact that one eye lies outside its socket, hanging by a fragile thread of nerve, looking like something straight out of a horror movie. The cheeks are red, blood smeared all over them and they mouth hangs open almost like they were about to-
Whimper.
Kyungsoo jumps back, startled, and in his hurry to get away from the corpse, he trips back, falling backwards and painfully colliding against the wall. Fortunately, he doesn’t end up on the ground, still standing albeit in a much more awkward position. His eyes are glued to the person lying on the ground.
They’re alive. The body -- the person. They’re alive.
The realisation has Kyungsoo’s lunch trying to force its way back.
(He’s too paralysed with panic to retch.)
They’re alive, he can see it now, the slight but very real and painful looking rising and lowering of the chest, he can see the blood that is still oozing strongly down from their stomach to the ground.
And the eyes. Oh god, the eyes.
They’re looking at him.
And he can’t look away, he can’t seem to divert his look from the person’s terrified ones, from the pleading look they’re sending him, from the pain radiating from them-
A revolting sound echoes through the alley, and suddenly the eyes he was staring at so intently go blank.
(Still, Kyungsoo can’t look away.)
Another rustling sound finally takes his attention away from the (now) dead body, and his heart seems to freeze in its place. Because in all his panic, he had forgotten about the crouching figure. The one that’s slowly rising right now. The one that’s slowly turning to him.
The one covered in blood, with black eyes and red pupils.
Kyungsoo draws a shaky breath.
The ghoul smiles.
He feels the ghoul preparing to tackle him, sees its stance change to something more predatory, sees the glint on its red, red pupils.
There’s no way to run. There’s nowhere to run. He can try, but he’ll never outrun a ghoul, especially one who just fed.
Kyungsoo’s going to fucking die in a shitty ass alley.
He closes his eyes, and waits.
“Cough, cough.” Kyungsoo hears the words being uttered from above, and for a second, he thinks that it might be desperation playing tricks with his mind.
But he opens his eyes, and see the ghoul looking equally confused, standing still in his stop.
“You know, I don’t like when people put my things in harm’s way.” The voice echoes in the dark alley, and a chill runs down Kyungsoo’ spine at the slight amusement in it. It sounds familiar, but at the same time so, so foreign, and he doesn’t know what to make of it.
In front of him, the ghoul seems to be adopting a defensive stance, teeth bared and shoulders tense, red shiny eyes looking up from a dark spot to the other without spotting anything.
There’s a couple of seconds of absolute silence -- the ghoul, trying to listen, and Kyungsoo, trying to make himself disappear.
The moon takes that chance to finally make an appearance, and as it comes out from behind the clouds, its silver glow lighting the alley, illuminating a silhouette standing perfectly still on the edge of the building.
“And that…” The silhouette says, from the edge of the roof, before stepping forward into the abyss in front of it, making Kyungsoo gasp in shock.
He looks at the darker side of the alley, expecting to hear the disgusting sound of flesh against stone, but there is nothing.
Nothing except two pupils, glowing red in the shadows, and the same voice saying with irrevocability: “That is my human.”
The ghoul in front of Kyungsoo turns to where the voice is coming from, and lunges forward with a speed and power Kyungsoo didn’t know was possible.
There is a moment of uncertainty, where Kyungsoo thinks he should run, he should get as far away from here as possible, but the moment ends before he can make his body moves, when he hears a loud noise, and…
An angel, that’s Kyungsoo’s first thought as he sees it.
The wings are huge, extending through almost the entire width of the alley, and look as if they’re made of fire, leaving a strange glow on the floor beneath them.
They are also very red.
Kyungsoo takes a deep breath.
The boy to whom the wings belong to stops in front of Kyungsoo, his back turned to him and his wings spread wide, almost as if protecting him from the ghoul that is now lingering in the darkness. He’s tall, that much Kyungsoo can tell, and has unruly black hair and dark skin. He’s lean, rather than broad, and wearing a black hoodie.
He called Kyungsoo his human.
His wings seem to retract ever so slightly, and the boy jumps higher than any human could, before spreading his wings again. And in the split second before gravity pulls him back down, his wings turn solid -- what previously seemed fiery, now looking like the clearest of glasses, before morphing once again, this time into hundreds of spikes, and showering the darkness below with them.
There is a scream, but the boy is not deterred by it, lunging into the darkness while he’s still in the air.
That’s when the situation takes its toll on Kyungsoo and his knees give up on him, letting him fall to the ground with a thud.
The last thing he hears before everything goes dark is the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart.
part ii