Look, I Can Flutter Better Than You Thought (11/11)
Jonghyun passed through a tall Torii gate, its red paint faded and peeling. His eyes darted around in a panicked manner, breath bated. Rows of ghosts in Japanese ceremonial robes now stood before him. They all had that same long staffs in their hands and veils over their faces. A wave of shivers ran down Jonghyun’s spine. His eyes then landed on something at the end of the marked pathway ahead. He squinted, trying to make out what it was under the dim moonlight.
There, lying on a hard, raised stone surface was Jinki, eyes shut and body relaxed.
Jonghyun’s eyes widened. Jinki-hyung! He wanted to run to his side, but he was wary of the terrifying ghosts surrounding them. As if on cue, the ghosts started picking up their staffs and beating them down on the ground repeatedly. Slowly, the beatings picked up a steady beat and rhythm. Jonghyun gulped. He somehow knew what was expected of him right then.
With his heart throbbing wildly in his chest, Jonghyun moved towards Jinki. He looked down at the older boy in front of him. He looked so calm and peaceful, complexion pale and glowing under the moonlight. He looked beautiful. A thousand different thoughts were running through Jonghyun’s mind, but the continuous beat of the staffs managed to drill itself into his head, making him think of nothing else but to do what he was supposed to.
Jonghyun bent down and leaned over Jinki, knees on either side of his hips. He reached his hands out and clasped them tightly around Jinki’s neck. He was scared, too scared to do it. He struggled to fight back his emotions, and he accidentally let out a soft whimper.
Jinki opened his eyes slowly then. He saw Jonghyun, face stricken with fear. The hands around his neck were trembling and damp with sweat.
“Jjong…” he called out softly. Jonghyun started a little and looked into Jinki’s eyes. “Just do it. Please. It’s okay. Do it…”
Jonghyun nodded and shut his eyes as he slowly tightened his grip on Jinki’s neck. Sweat was trailing down his forehead. This is… déjà vu…
“Jjong…” Jinki called out again. “You have to… look at me. Look at me! Or it won’t work.”
Jonghyun opened his eyes. He had to do this. Nothing else mattered.
“And don’t cry. No matter what, we’ll always be together. Isn’t that what we promised each other?” Jinki said, almost whispering. Jonghyun only noticed that he was crying then.
Jonghyun sniffed, and then nodded his head in determination. He must do this. He swallowed all of his emotions until he was feeling absolutely nothing. He set his gaze directly on Jinki’s face. And then, he squeezed Jinki’s neck.
Jinki’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. He choked a little, but did not struggle. He started to gasp for air, as the passageway in his neck was being shut off. Jonghyun’s grip remained firm and strong. He could barely hear the chanting and stomping of the Priests and Mourners anymore. He was focused on Jinki’s form underneath him.
Jonghyun was sobbing hard. He sniffed and choked on his own mucus. It was too painful, much too painful, to see Jinki suffering under him. With a last loud cry he let go of his death grip on Jinki’s neck. He held his breath as he saw Jinki’s body relax slowly. A deep purple bruise in the shape of a butterfly started to appear on Jinki’s neck where his hands had strangled him. He watched in increasing horror as Jinki lay still, much too still for his liking. He opened his mouth, but no voice would come out.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
A low thundering voice boomed in his ears and before he could react, Jonghyun felt a very strong force hitting him on the left side of his head, sending him sprawling onto the hard ground. The spot on his head throbbed with pain, but he managed to support himself up on his elbows. He shouted, “I can’t do it!”
His head snapped left and right, trying to figure out who or what gave him the blow. All he saw was the veiled ghosts stamping their staffs. The beat was increasing in speed and it was making his head spin.
“We have been waiting for you. Why are you doing this?”
Jonghyun scrambled to his feet, hands circling around the bulky black object that he had strapped to his belt before. He cast a worried glance at Jinki’s unmoving body. He could see Jinki’s chest rising and falling, but just barely. Jonghyun felt himself lifting a little. With rekindled hope, he placed the viewfinder of the camera to his eyes.
Scanning his surroundings, he depended on the glowing indicator. It started to glow red at a certain spot. Keeping his hands steady, he then saw a vile ghost materialising. It was dressed in a white ceremonial robe, badly torn and smeared with dried blood. An ugly wooden mask with the face of a demon covered its face and a necklace of the sacred shide adorned its neck. A decorated, long staff was in its hand; arm raised, ready to strike.
Jonghyun pressed the shutter, and the ghost reeled before it could land another blow on him. As it was doubling up in pain, Jonghyun took the chance to hastily snap a number of times more. A loud cry of anguish filled the air as the ghost tossed its body about. Then it vanished.
Jonghyun turned around, eyes glued on Jinki’s unmoving body in front of him. Hyung… He took two steps towards the older boy, but his movement was immediately stopped somehow. He felt a strong force holding him back. He started to use every ounce of energy he had to oppose the force, but to no avail. He was on the verge of tears.
Right then, he saw, in his peripherals, something white coming at him swiftly. Jonghyun shut his eyes and braced himself as he felt something blunt coming into contact with his body with incredible force. It released him from the invisible chains holding him back, making his body tumble over the ground a few times before he stopped, face buried in the dirt.
Jonghyun groaned in pain as he slowly picked himself up, trembling slightly. Bending down, he winced as he picked up the camera that had slipped from his grasp. Jonghyun thought the wretched ghost before was gone for good, but there it was not too far in front of him, looking sinister than ever.
Jonghyun swiftly put the camera viewfinder to his eyes, but before he could snap a picture, the ghost has disappeared. He panicked. He was starting to feel a little weak and he didn’t think he could take another direct blow.
He started to depend on his intuition, guided by the glowing indicator through the camera’s viewfinder. Looking through it, he panned the area in front of him slowly. Low husky groans could be heard echoing through the air and Jonghyun gulped, fear intensifying in his body. He had to remain focused, and forced his eyes to never leave the viewfinder.
The air shifted suddenly and Jonghyun snapped his head to the right. He was immediately engulfed in misty white smoke, overwhelmed by a sharp, stabbing feeling, and he could feel himself struggling to breathe.
What… is this?
Jonghyun struggled to breathe normally again. He snapped the Camera Obscura blindly a number of times, and fortunately, the air cleared and he could breathe again.
He started feeling utterly helpless and hopeless. When will this end? I want to save Jinki-hyung and go home… Jonghyun felt like breaking down right then, but he fought back his emotions. He decided that he had to make it through; survive this, or else he didn’t have the right to even think about going home.
The air suddenly felt denser near his left and spinning in that direction, Jonghyun promptly snapped the Camera. A deep wailing voice echoed through the air and Jonghyun saw the wretched ghost bending over in pain. Taking advantage of its vulnerability, Jonghyun snapped at the ghost a couple more times. The ghost threw its body back in obvious pain. Jonghyun sucked in a deep breath and took one final shot of the ghost before it finally dispersed into glowing swirls and disappeared.
Jonghyun let out a deep long breath of relief. The veiled ghosts suddenly stopped their stomping, reminding him of the situation he was in. Incredibly, they didn’t attack him. But then he remembered, Jinki-hyung!
Jonghyun spun his body around towards the raised stone platform. His face contorted in horror as he saw Jinki being lifted by the limbs by two blinded ghosts.
In that moment, Jinki opened his eyes. He looked straight into Jonghyun’s eyes and whispered, “You… Promised…”
Jinki was being carried to a deep rectangular hole a few steps away. At the edge of it, the two blinded ghosts started to swing his body forward.
Fear clawed at Jonghyun’s heart. He bounded forward towards Jinki. One, two, three swings…
“Shit, no, hyung!”
Jonghyun threw his body forward just as the ghosts released their grips on Jinki. Jonghyun grabbed at Jinki’s arm, as he landed hard on the ground at the edge of the hole, catching Jinki’s weight as well. His hand was grasping Jinki’s firmly, preventing him from falling.
Jinki looked up at him, hanging dangerously from his arm. A slight slip and he would fall into the deep abyss.
“Yoshi…kuni?”
Jonghyun looked into the older boy’s eyes.
“There is no such thing… as eternal love.”
Jinki’s blank stare seemed to clear up then, replaced with sparkling eyes, eyes that could actually look into Jonghyun. Jonghyun quickly tried to pull Jinki up and out of the hole.
Whatever you do, do not ever look into the Hole…
Ibuki’s voice seemed to resonate in his head then, and beyond his control, Jonghyun looked past Jinki’s head and directly into the abyss.
Numerous amounts of anguished souls were swimming about in the far distance, wails of pain reaching his ears. The suffering was evident in their faces and they seemed to call out to him, to ask him to save them.
Suddenly Jonghyun felt his retinas burn and he screamed in pain. He hastily pulled Jinki up with strength he didn’t know he had. They toppled onto the ground next to the hole and Jonghyun blinked his eyes rapidly to get rid of the pain in them.
He lay flat on the ground, the sky above filled with stars and looking midnight blue for the first time ever. Exhaustion took over and his vision started blurring, but he could make out something small and bright crimson fluttering close above him.
“I thought you were going to leave me behind again… Thank you.”
Jonghyun blinked harder. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was numerous crimson butterflies covering up the midnight blue sky.
-
Kibum, Minho and Taemin stuck close together as they walked through the forest just outside of the village. They did bump into the authorities as they were walking aimlessly around the village. They talked to them and managed to convince them to let them help look for the missing boys. They were, after all, closest to the two boys and would know them best.
They somehow ended up looking in the forest, and they had no idea what pulled them towards it.
“Jinki-hyung! Jonghyun-hyung!”
No other words were exchanged amongst the three as they relentlessly called out for their hyungs. They moved carefully, side-stepping branches and undergrowth as they advanced forward. They weren’t walking aimlessly though, somewhere in their hearts, they knew they were getting closer to the missing boys.
“Jinki-hyung, Jong - Wait, guys, what’s that over there?”
Minho and Taemin paused and looked in the direction Kibum was pointing at. Taemin gasped loudly and began running in that direction. Minho and Kibum trailed behind him closely. They ran as fast as they could, hearts pumping, breaths ragged.
They stopped short, coming upon two unmoving bodies lying on the forest floor. Kibum instantly cried and threw himself over the two bodies. Taemin watched in silence as tears began to trail down his cheeks, chest heaving slightly. Minho let out a huge breath that he had been holding and mumbled, “I’ll go call the authorities…” before disappearing.
Jinki and Jonghyun were unconscious, skin dirtied and clothes torn, but their hands were tightly clasped in each other’s.
-
A/N: D: D: I mulled over how to end this… and this was the best solution I could come up with………… D’:
The ‘battle’ with the Ceremony Master sure was hard to write. :/ I hope I did it justice. Jjong suffered so much. And Jinki… I’ll let you guys have your own take on what went on in that ritual.
I’ll also let you guys have your own take on the ending. XD XD Let me know what you think. Did they die? Y/N?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I’m kidding puhahahah! I wrote an epilogue! The final instalment!! YES the story doesn’t end here LOL.
GO HERE FOR THE EPILOGUE XD XD
Spots are over at the epilogue... but you can comment or curse me here if you want. XD
P.S.: I checked the earlier chapters... wykedpanda, cracknut23, ryutakay, candiiez, spacecadetluci, kaost, kyuchan12, all those people who commented, where did you go?? *glares* I better see your comments at the epilogue. OR ELSE. *cackles* Silent readers, is this not good enough for your comment? *sobs quietly in a corner*
There, lying on a hard, raised stone surface was Jinki, eyes shut and body relaxed.
Jonghyun’s eyes widened. Jinki-hyung! He wanted to run to his side, but he was wary of the terrifying ghosts surrounding them. As if on cue, the ghosts started picking up their staffs and beating them down on the ground repeatedly. Slowly, the beatings picked up a steady beat and rhythm. Jonghyun gulped. He somehow knew what was expected of him right then.
With his heart throbbing wildly in his chest, Jonghyun moved towards Jinki. He looked down at the older boy in front of him. He looked so calm and peaceful, complexion pale and glowing under the moonlight. He looked beautiful. A thousand different thoughts were running through Jonghyun’s mind, but the continuous beat of the staffs managed to drill itself into his head, making him think of nothing else but to do what he was supposed to.
Jonghyun bent down and leaned over Jinki, knees on either side of his hips. He reached his hands out and clasped them tightly around Jinki’s neck. He was scared, too scared to do it. He struggled to fight back his emotions, and he accidentally let out a soft whimper.
Jinki opened his eyes slowly then. He saw Jonghyun, face stricken with fear. The hands around his neck were trembling and damp with sweat.
“Jjong…” he called out softly. Jonghyun started a little and looked into Jinki’s eyes. “Just do it. Please. It’s okay. Do it…”
Jonghyun nodded and shut his eyes as he slowly tightened his grip on Jinki’s neck. Sweat was trailing down his forehead. This is… déjà vu…
“Jjong…” Jinki called out again. “You have to… look at me. Look at me! Or it won’t work.”
Jonghyun opened his eyes. He had to do this. Nothing else mattered.
“And don’t cry. No matter what, we’ll always be together. Isn’t that what we promised each other?” Jinki said, almost whispering. Jonghyun only noticed that he was crying then.
Jonghyun sniffed, and then nodded his head in determination. He must do this. He swallowed all of his emotions until he was feeling absolutely nothing. He set his gaze directly on Jinki’s face. And then, he squeezed Jinki’s neck.
Jinki’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. He choked a little, but did not struggle. He started to gasp for air, as the passageway in his neck was being shut off. Jonghyun’s grip remained firm and strong. He could barely hear the chanting and stomping of the Priests and Mourners anymore. He was focused on Jinki’s form underneath him.
Jonghyun was sobbing hard. He sniffed and choked on his own mucus. It was too painful, much too painful, to see Jinki suffering under him. With a last loud cry he let go of his death grip on Jinki’s neck. He held his breath as he saw Jinki’s body relax slowly. A deep purple bruise in the shape of a butterfly started to appear on Jinki’s neck where his hands had strangled him. He watched in increasing horror as Jinki lay still, much too still for his liking. He opened his mouth, but no voice would come out.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
A low thundering voice boomed in his ears and before he could react, Jonghyun felt a very strong force hitting him on the left side of his head, sending him sprawling onto the hard ground. The spot on his head throbbed with pain, but he managed to support himself up on his elbows. He shouted, “I can’t do it!”
His head snapped left and right, trying to figure out who or what gave him the blow. All he saw was the veiled ghosts stamping their staffs. The beat was increasing in speed and it was making his head spin.
“We have been waiting for you. Why are you doing this?”
Jonghyun scrambled to his feet, hands circling around the bulky black object that he had strapped to his belt before. He cast a worried glance at Jinki’s unmoving body. He could see Jinki’s chest rising and falling, but just barely. Jonghyun felt himself lifting a little. With rekindled hope, he placed the viewfinder of the camera to his eyes.
Scanning his surroundings, he depended on the glowing indicator. It started to glow red at a certain spot. Keeping his hands steady, he then saw a vile ghost materialising. It was dressed in a white ceremonial robe, badly torn and smeared with dried blood. An ugly wooden mask with the face of a demon covered its face and a necklace of the sacred shide adorned its neck. A decorated, long staff was in its hand; arm raised, ready to strike.
Jonghyun pressed the shutter, and the ghost reeled before it could land another blow on him. As it was doubling up in pain, Jonghyun took the chance to hastily snap a number of times more. A loud cry of anguish filled the air as the ghost tossed its body about. Then it vanished.
Jonghyun turned around, eyes glued on Jinki’s unmoving body in front of him. Hyung… He took two steps towards the older boy, but his movement was immediately stopped somehow. He felt a strong force holding him back. He started to use every ounce of energy he had to oppose the force, but to no avail. He was on the verge of tears.
Right then, he saw, in his peripherals, something white coming at him swiftly. Jonghyun shut his eyes and braced himself as he felt something blunt coming into contact with his body with incredible force. It released him from the invisible chains holding him back, making his body tumble over the ground a few times before he stopped, face buried in the dirt.
Jonghyun groaned in pain as he slowly picked himself up, trembling slightly. Bending down, he winced as he picked up the camera that had slipped from his grasp. Jonghyun thought the wretched ghost before was gone for good, but there it was not too far in front of him, looking sinister than ever.
Jonghyun swiftly put the camera viewfinder to his eyes, but before he could snap a picture, the ghost has disappeared. He panicked. He was starting to feel a little weak and he didn’t think he could take another direct blow.
He started to depend on his intuition, guided by the glowing indicator through the camera’s viewfinder. Looking through it, he panned the area in front of him slowly. Low husky groans could be heard echoing through the air and Jonghyun gulped, fear intensifying in his body. He had to remain focused, and forced his eyes to never leave the viewfinder.
The air shifted suddenly and Jonghyun snapped his head to the right. He was immediately engulfed in misty white smoke, overwhelmed by a sharp, stabbing feeling, and he could feel himself struggling to breathe.
What… is this?
Jonghyun struggled to breathe normally again. He snapped the Camera Obscura blindly a number of times, and fortunately, the air cleared and he could breathe again.
He started feeling utterly helpless and hopeless. When will this end? I want to save Jinki-hyung and go home… Jonghyun felt like breaking down right then, but he fought back his emotions. He decided that he had to make it through; survive this, or else he didn’t have the right to even think about going home.
The air suddenly felt denser near his left and spinning in that direction, Jonghyun promptly snapped the Camera. A deep wailing voice echoed through the air and Jonghyun saw the wretched ghost bending over in pain. Taking advantage of its vulnerability, Jonghyun snapped at the ghost a couple more times. The ghost threw its body back in obvious pain. Jonghyun sucked in a deep breath and took one final shot of the ghost before it finally dispersed into glowing swirls and disappeared.
Jonghyun let out a deep long breath of relief. The veiled ghosts suddenly stopped their stomping, reminding him of the situation he was in. Incredibly, they didn’t attack him. But then he remembered, Jinki-hyung!
Jonghyun spun his body around towards the raised stone platform. His face contorted in horror as he saw Jinki being lifted by the limbs by two blinded ghosts.
In that moment, Jinki opened his eyes. He looked straight into Jonghyun’s eyes and whispered, “You… Promised…”
Jinki was being carried to a deep rectangular hole a few steps away. At the edge of it, the two blinded ghosts started to swing his body forward.
Fear clawed at Jonghyun’s heart. He bounded forward towards Jinki. One, two, three swings…
“Shit, no, hyung!”
Jonghyun threw his body forward just as the ghosts released their grips on Jinki. Jonghyun grabbed at Jinki’s arm, as he landed hard on the ground at the edge of the hole, catching Jinki’s weight as well. His hand was grasping Jinki’s firmly, preventing him from falling.
Jinki looked up at him, hanging dangerously from his arm. A slight slip and he would fall into the deep abyss.
“Yoshi…kuni?”
Jonghyun looked into the older boy’s eyes.
“There is no such thing… as eternal love.”
Jinki’s blank stare seemed to clear up then, replaced with sparkling eyes, eyes that could actually look into Jonghyun. Jonghyun quickly tried to pull Jinki up and out of the hole.
Whatever you do, do not ever look into the Hole…
Ibuki’s voice seemed to resonate in his head then, and beyond his control, Jonghyun looked past Jinki’s head and directly into the abyss.
Numerous amounts of anguished souls were swimming about in the far distance, wails of pain reaching his ears. The suffering was evident in their faces and they seemed to call out to him, to ask him to save them.
Suddenly Jonghyun felt his retinas burn and he screamed in pain. He hastily pulled Jinki up with strength he didn’t know he had. They toppled onto the ground next to the hole and Jonghyun blinked his eyes rapidly to get rid of the pain in them.
He lay flat on the ground, the sky above filled with stars and looking midnight blue for the first time ever. Exhaustion took over and his vision started blurring, but he could make out something small and bright crimson fluttering close above him.
“I thought you were going to leave me behind again… Thank you.”
Jonghyun blinked harder. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was numerous crimson butterflies covering up the midnight blue sky.
-
Kibum, Minho and Taemin stuck close together as they walked through the forest just outside of the village. They did bump into the authorities as they were walking aimlessly around the village. They talked to them and managed to convince them to let them help look for the missing boys. They were, after all, closest to the two boys and would know them best.
They somehow ended up looking in the forest, and they had no idea what pulled them towards it.
“Jinki-hyung! Jonghyun-hyung!”
No other words were exchanged amongst the three as they relentlessly called out for their hyungs. They moved carefully, side-stepping branches and undergrowth as they advanced forward. They weren’t walking aimlessly though, somewhere in their hearts, they knew they were getting closer to the missing boys.
“Jinki-hyung, Jong - Wait, guys, what’s that over there?”
Minho and Taemin paused and looked in the direction Kibum was pointing at. Taemin gasped loudly and began running in that direction. Minho and Kibum trailed behind him closely. They ran as fast as they could, hearts pumping, breaths ragged.
They stopped short, coming upon two unmoving bodies lying on the forest floor. Kibum instantly cried and threw himself over the two bodies. Taemin watched in silence as tears began to trail down his cheeks, chest heaving slightly. Minho let out a huge breath that he had been holding and mumbled, “I’ll go call the authorities…” before disappearing.
Jinki and Jonghyun were unconscious, skin dirtied and clothes torn, but their hands were tightly clasped in each other’s.
-
A/N: D: D: I mulled over how to end this… and this was the best solution I could come up with………… D’:
The ‘battle’ with the Ceremony Master sure was hard to write. :/ I hope I did it justice. Jjong suffered so much. And Jinki… I’ll let you guys have your own take on what went on in that ritual.
I’ll also let you guys have your own take on the ending. XD XD Let me know what you think. Did they die? Y/N?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I’m kidding puhahahah! I wrote an epilogue! The final instalment!! YES the story doesn’t end here LOL.
GO HERE FOR THE EPILOGUE XD XD
Spots are over at the epilogue... but you can comment or curse me here if you want. XD
P.S.: I checked the earlier chapters... wykedpanda, cracknut23, ryutakay, candiiez, spacecadetluci, kaost, kyuchan12, all those people who commented, where did you go?? *glares* I better see your comments at the epilogue. OR ELSE. *cackles* Silent readers, is this not good enough for your comment? *sobs quietly in a corner*