Rise Apocalypse: Chapter 02
Neither of the boys got in trouble for spying or disobeying their father. If the man knew at all, he said nothing about it and no one planned on risking his wrath by bringing it up. The two brothers talked about it together, though. Or at least, Donghwa did. He was eager to complain about the situation, talking about how the whole thing was a terrible disappointment: the Ipsuren hadn't been threatening at all!
Donghae didn't agree with him on that, but he didn't dare challenge his older brother. He thought the Ipsuren had been terrifying, but in a way other than the stories led him to believe. Even though he'd looked bigger and stronger, but otherwise just as ordinary as any human male, Donghae had been afraid of those eyes that had found his. How was it possible that the Ipsuren had seen him, had paid any attention to him at all? Donghae wondered why the creature had smiled at him, when there were other, more pressing matters surrounding him. Questions rose to the forefront of Hae’s mind late at night as he tried to sleep, willing the haunting image of the monster’s lopsided smirk from his head. But the image wouldn't leave him. Even the next day, worry and fear turned his stomach and made him sick.
It had seen him once. Would it recognize him again? If their paths were to cross once more, would the Ipsuren leave him alone? Or would he confront Donghae? If there was a confrontation, what would he say? What would he want?
Outside his home, Donghae felt watched. It was bone-chilling to think that someone was watching your every move. He knew he was probably just paranoid, making mountains out of molehills, his overactive imagination and worrisome disposition blowing the entire situation out of proportion. But still, he couldn't help but look up from the stream when naked and bathing, covering his form and trying to find evidence of foreign eyes spying on him.
It wasn't until two days after the Ipsuren had come that Donghae saw him again. It was time for the monthly pickup from Lower City and his mother had sent him and his brother out to fetch a package. Donghwa had gotten bored of talk of Ipsuren; it had been all the young boys their age were talking about and everyone's tale was different.
"My dad said his teeth were so large they could wrap all the way around a man's neck!" one of Donghwa's friends was saying, joining their group as they headed for the lift to Lower City.
"Oh yeah? My dad said he was covered in blood and carried a chain whip with links as thick as the width of my arm!" Another boy chimed in.
Donghwa rolled his eyes and hit both of them over the head, causing them to yip and groan. "Did either of you blind fools actually see the bastard?"
The boys looked down, defeated, and said they hadn't.
"Well I did," Donghwa boasted. "And I'll tell you right now, his teeth were the same as any man's and he carried no weapons that I could see. As for being covered in blood, if it was invisible blood I'd be more likely to believe it! He wore leather, the same quality the higher-up's wear."
As they argued, Donghae lost interest. The thin brush of hair on his arms had begun to stand on end and goosebumps were racing up and down his spine. It was that feeling again, the feeling that he wasn't alone. That there was someone, something else watching him. They were nearing the lift and all the Gutter families had sent relatives out to gather the best items they could from the care packages. People crowded around boxes and bags, arguing over this and that food item, haggling for more or less of a certain fabric. As much as the Ipsuren would have stood out in that crowd, he could blend into the shadows just as easily. When Donghae saw him for the second time, he was standing in the shadow of the lift, his arms crossed and his eyes, once again, on Donghae.
The fourteen year old boy wanted to run again and would have if it wouldn't have looked suspicious. He felt like telling his brother. He weighed the risks of shouting out to the crowd, warning them of the danger lurking amongst them. If he did, he put not only his own life, but everyone’s life, in danger. Bravely, he swallowed over the stone in his throat, fear closing his airways as if he’d been punched in the stomach.
"Hae?" His brother was beside him, paying attention to him now. The argument with his friends must have stopped while Donghae was distracted.
"Are you okay?" Donghwa asked, shaking his arm slightly to get his attention. "What is it?"
Donghae tore his eyes away from the monster in the shadows, looking at his brother instead. Had Donghwa always looked so tired? When had those bags gathered under his eyes? Was it after Morla passed? Why hadn't Hae noticed it before? His brother looked thin and haggard, his shoulderbones sharp beneath his skin. Donghae wondered if he looked the same way. Did the Ipsuren look at Hae and see the same, frail, half-starved child? He thought of those muscles he'd seen from atop the roof. Those round, broad shoulders. The thickness in his crossed arms. All he had to do was take Donghae and twist to break him into hundreds of pieces. The Ipsuren...
Was gone.
The shadow near the lift was left vacant; just an empty shadow, hiding nothing. Where Hae should have felt relief he felt nothing but disappointment.
That night, he came for him.
Donghae had lain down to bed the same as any night: kissed his mother, told his father and brother goodnight. He hadn't fallen asleep easily, merely exhausted himself by rolling around in his anxiety. Later, he wouldn't remember falling asleep at all, but he must have, for when his sleep was disturbed and his tired eyes opened he was nose-to-nose with the Ipsuren. Hae tried to scream, but a thick hand was down hard over his mouth. When the shock ebbed, that hand released him and Donghae kept quiet. The Ipsuren was sitting on his mat, his face so close to Hae's his dark eyes formed one black orb. The scent of him was powerful and unlike anything Donghae had smelled before. It was a sweet smell, not the scent of urine or sweat. It was fragrant, not sour or pungent, only thick and overwhelming. When the creature spoke, his breath was warm and moist on Donghae's neck.
"Come."
It happened so fast. The sound of air being sucked from the room burst in Donghae's ears, and with the speed of a single blink the Ipsuren had vanished. A gust of air blew past him, causing Hae to turn around and look in the direction of the doorway, where the tall creature was standing.
How the Ipsuren had vanished, only to reappear outside, left the young boy gaping with his mouth open. Hae quickly decided he was dreaming still. If he was dreaming, the monster couldn't hurt him. And Donghae was curious. So, he stood. He was wearing only his trousers, his bare chest awkwardly disproportional to the width of his shoulders. His mother had told him he'd grow into a man's body, but he was already fourteen: other boys had full chests and thick waists to match. Hae had never felt as self-conscious as he did then, walking outside to meet the Ipsuren. Once they were outside, Donghae wrapped his arms around him, covering himself as if he were a girl. If he hadn't have been dreaming, he would have felt foolish.
"Don't cover yourself," the Ipsuren whispered. Donghae could feel eyes on his collarbones, sharp enough to cut into his flesh.
Lightning fast, Donghae dropped his arms and allowed those strange, new eyes to flick over his chest. There were so many things about the stranger Donghae had never seen before, but in the darkness it was hard to get a good look. In the Gutter night, everything turned into shadows that moved and warped and changed shape the longer you looked at them, but Donghae could feel the Ipsuren's eyes on his chest still and he didn't know what to think.
"You will be strong," it said finally. "And you will call me Eunhyuk, do you understand?"
Donghae didn't understand anything except that voice that sounded so ordinary, so human. He had half expected the creature to speak in tongues or hiss like some of the snakes they found in the stream from time to time. But Hae found that if he were to close his eyes, "Eunhyuk" would sound like any of his brother's friends. His voice wasn't threatening, wasn't scary. It was the voice of someone his brother's age.
"My name is Donghae."
Where had he gotten the courage to say that? When had he decided he felt comfortable enough to speak to this thing? Maybe it had been when he'd learned its name. Maybe he had never truly been afraid. He didn't feel afraid then, not in front of his home in the pitch black of night under the Ladder, when you had to squint to see your hand in front of your face.
"Not anymore." Eunhyuk told him. "You will get a new name, a name to fit your new body."
It was then that Donghae truly understood what was going on. He finally realized why Eunhyuk had stalked him, why he'd stayed in the Gutter, why he'd snuck into his hovel. Eunhyuk wanted to convert him. He wanted to take him away and Donghae knew then he wasn't dreaming.
"I am Donghae. No one else. Just me." Even to his own ears, that sounded pathetic. "I have a mother, a father and a brother. I have a home."
"You have a coffin and those who will bury you in it."
"Why do you care?" Donghae didn't think about how Eunhyuk could take him by force. Donghae didn't think about how Eunhyuk could kill him right there while his family slept feet away. Donghae didn't think at all.
Where Donghae didn't think, Eunhyuk didn't speak. When he did, his voice was quieter than it had been before.
"You have two days. Say your goodbyes, Donghae."
Once more, the air pulled at Hae's ears and hair, as if sucking the Ipsuren into it. When it stilled, "Eunhyuk" was gone.
When day came and the light from outside the city filtered in through the cracks, Donghae thought the previous night had been a dream. At least until they were eating breakfast, hard bread and a soft egg. His brother was watching him curiously over his food, an odd expression confusing his features.
"I thought I heard voices last night," Donghwa said after a time. "Was someone here?"
With just those words, Donghae wanted to tell his brother everything. Tell him about the roof, what he saw near the lift, and how the Ipsuren had tried to take him away. That it had a name: Eunhyuk. But the idea of confessing such things, explaining them to someone else, frightened him. It was as if telling the story aloud would make it true and real and he'd have to decide what he wanted to do. Stay with his family, those who loved him and took care of him? Or go off with a strange being he didn't know or trust? His life would be better above the Ladder, he knew. Above the Ladder, there was light and warm clothes and a variety of food. But there was fighting and violence and foreign creatures who hated humans. The only way to ensure his safety would be to convert.
That was the most frightening part of all. What would it be like to no longer be human? Would he be as big as Eunhyuk? Would he look as strong? Would he be able to flit about without taking a single step? What did it mean to be an Ipsuren? Donghae didn't know anything about them save for what he'd seen and the stories he'd heard, but those had turned out to be unreliable at best. Eunhyuk had seemed cold when they spoke, but there was something about him that was kind. Maybe it was the smile he'd shown Donghae upon first sight, very different from the stares he'd given him from the shadows. Maybe it was the way he'd said those words in the dark, his voice seeming innocent and gentle despite the fact that he was clearly trying to scare him.
"You must have been dreaming," Donghae told his brother, deciding not to reveal the truth.
Whether Donghwa bought it or not, Donghae wouldn't know.
Again in the night, Donghae had difficulty sleeping. He knew that Eunhyuk wouldn't come for him that night, but still Donghae thought he could feel his presence. Sleep wouldn't meet him, not even after he'd torn his mat apart in his many attempts to get comfortable. Since his Rise Up, Donghae had discovered the pleasures of his own body and the benefits of indulging in them. Perhaps the only way he'd sleep would be to submit to his young desires. Relenting, he slid his hand down under the sheet and into his trousers.
He hadn't masturbated often, only twice before, but he'd learned the basic principal fairly quickly. He wondered, as he wrapped his hand around his young cock, if Ipsuren really didn't have manhoods. After all the stories of rape he'd heard, he figured they had to have something down there. In his mind, he unknowingly thought of Eunhyuk. Did he have a penis, the same as humans? If he did, it must be larger than an ordinary human's, like everything else about the Ipsuren. Was it true that they took no women and slept only with each other? Donghae didn't understand how that would work.
If it was true, would Eunhyuk want to sleep with him? Was that why he wanted to take him away so badly, to make him a bed slave? Donghae tried to imagine what that would be like, forgetting his hand entirely as it stroked the length of his rising erection. Donghae, lost in his thoughts and the rising pleasure (pleasure from thinking about the Ipsuren?), didn't register the way his skin prickled, hairs raising with that sense of being watched. Eyes closed and senses lost, his toes curling around his sheet, he saw Eunhyuk's silhouette in the darkness behind his eyelids, the way he'd been when he’d stood outside his home. Somewhere from the corners of his memory, he heard that voice as it had been the night before, felt that warm breath against his chin and smelled the ghost of sweet perfume.
"Come," he'd said.
And Donghae did.
It had been two days and Hae's time was up. He was standing outside his home, fully dressed, while his family slept peacefully inside. Come morning, they'd wake up to find one of their sons, their youngest child, gone. Donghae didn't know if he'd ever see them again, but he doubted he would. Hot tears pooled behind his eyes, stinging and blurring his vision. He didn't want to leave, didn't want to abandon his brother. He would have fought. He had planned on saying no, on putting up a fight and forcing Eunhyuk to drag him violently away. But then he'd spoken to his father, whose words remained a comfort to him.
"Donghae," his dad had told him when Hae had approached him. "Listen to me, boy."
Donghae hadn't told his father about the Ipsuren. He'd wanted to, and had even gone to his father to tell him, but the words didn’t come. His father must have known, but exactly how Donghae would never know. Hae's dad was a strong man, with big hands that, as a young boy, Hae had always admired. When his father spoke to him, those strong hands from his childhood shook.
"When I was much younger than you," he'd started, not looking at his son. "We were high up, where there was sun and sky and warmth. We had many layers of clothes made from different kinds of fabrics. Leather shoes, wool gloves in winter, cotton shirts. We had three meals a day and my mother would cook for us. I can still smell her kitchen as it was when I was a boy."
Clouds of emotion gathered in his father's dark brown eyes when he spoke of his childhood. In the past, his mother could be heard crying from time to time by herself, but recently it seemed her tears had dried. Never had Donghae seen his father cry. So, when the old man turned to look at him, tears falling down his face, Hae started to cry, too.
"These things you've heard about these Ipsuren," his father had said. "People are afraid of them. Fear does things to people, causes them to see things that might not be there. Fear causes hate, and hatred will make you believe anything. I was there, my son. I was there when they came into my father's house and forced us out. When my father fought, they murdered him before my eyes."
Donghae remembered how cold he'd felt, but when his dad took his small hands in his large, rough ones, he'd felt warm.
"But the life they will give you will be better than living in darkness and hunger."
"Are you ready?"
The voice nearly made Hae scream it was so sudden. In the darkness, anyone could sneak up on you, especially those who had the ability to appear from nothingness. Eunhyuk stood next to him, the outline of his broad shoulders and chest his most defining features in the black. Perhaps Donghae should have felt afraid, but he didn't. His grief over leaving his family was too strong to leave room for any other emotion.
"No," he whispered.
Expecting to be hit or worse, ignored, Donghae was surprised when Eunhyuk merely laughed. He didn't know Ipsuren were capable of laughter, but there it was, and from the brief display it sounded the same as his own.
"Let's go." Eunhyuk reached for Donghae's arm.
When they touched, it felt no different than when his father grabbed him. Eunhyuk's hand was large the way his father's had been, the skin rough with callous and the palm warm and slightly damp. The similarities between humans and this one Ipsuren were outnumbering the differences, and Donghae was growing more confident. He shook his arm, trying to tear Eunhyuk's vice-like grip from his elbow. The Ipsuren growled and turned to him.
"Don't fight," he warned, his voice thick.
"I won't," Donghae called back, just as forcefully. "You don't need to drag me. I'm coming."
Warily, the hand released him.
"Do you have any baggage? Anything you're bringing with you?"
"No."
Donghae could feel those eyes on him, suspicious in their glare.
"We're not coming back. You'll never see your family again."
Hae had known that, but hearing the words aloud felt like swallowing burning oil. The tears threatened to fall, but Donghae refused to cry in front of his captor, even in the dark.
"We own nothing. I wouldn't have anything to bring, even if I wanted to."
To that, the Ipsuren had nothing to say. In silence, they started their walk towards the lift that would take them up. Donghae tried to look around him and take a final mental picture of his hometown, but all he saw was black. It was like saying goodbye underwater. Impossible.
AN: aaaand we're finally out of the Gutter! Bye bye darkness! But also, bye bye Donghae's family ;_;