Devastation 1/2
Title: Devastation
Pairing: Yoochun x Changmin
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Genre: AU, angst, fantasy, romance
Length: Chaptered
Warnings: Unbeta-ed, religious themes
“I’m bored,” Changmin says, yawning as he faces his friend, “There really is a lack of entertainment here. No wonder that normal humans try everything to avoid getting stuck here, going to the extent that they are even paying the Church to get rid of their sins.”
Changmin hated the place where he lived. Not only was Hell the most boring place ever - not as sensational as humans imagined in their books and movies - but it also disgusted him how many other weak demons had forgotten about their pride and had ended up falling in love with human beings. Demons weren’t supposed to have a heart, they were meant to ruin lives of human beings, to have some fun teasing the angels in Heaven.
And yet, in the progress of teasing those angels, some of them would forget about their nature. Changmin despised those weaklings. He hated how the hearts of some demons started beating again, how they were willing to sacrifice half of their remaining life span for the human so the latter could be turned into a demon as well. He hated how Hell was becoming a place with humans who were turned into demons, he hated how Hell seemed to have become the playground of scary children not human nor demon.
And yet, there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t care about it enough to bother with it anyway. It had all happened a long long time ago: the first demon who had fallen in love with a human had died thousands of years ago. At first, the demon had been mocked, he had been made fun of. But then another demon fell in love with a human. And another. And another.
In the end, their half bred children had started to fall in love with each other as well. This had continued and was still continuing at this very moment, the human blood weakening the superiority of the demon race.
However, Changmin couldn’t care less. He was a demon coming from an ancient linage with no single drop of human blood and he wasn’t interested in befriending half bred beings either. It made him feel disgusted just thinking about talking to such a low being.
The pure demon blood flowing through his veins made him who he was - powerful, strong and a descendant from one of the most prestigious demon families in Hell.
A light chuckle escapes from Jaejoong’s lips, “Those weak attempts from humans aren’t really effective, though. I just love the agony on their faces when they realize they’re not going to the Heaven they desired but end up being here. It’s always funny to see those weak humans struggling to get out of here, even though we all know it’s hopeless.
So, you’re bored? What did you have in mind? The last human we used as entertainment has died a few years ago. I guess it’s time for another victim?”
It was fun to ruin the fates of humans. It made the humans cruel, made them detest their so-called God. When there was nothing of purity left in those humans, Changmin would appear in front of them and offer them a chance to escape their boring lives. He’d promise them a strong body, a flawless appearance, money, anything they desired, but their fates would be sealed. Humans had to sign a contract with him, promising to give the demon their remaining life span while their souls would go to Hell. They’d find death in less than five years, depending on the situation.
“Ding ding,” Changmin smiles, “Let’s see who to pick... I want it to be hard this time. Humans are such weak beings: when the whole world is turning against them, they just collapse under the pressure... I don’t want to pick an easy victim this time. Let’s make it hard. Let’s make it enjoyable to watch, to see a human favoured by God crumble under our hands...”
He looks at the big mirror in his chamber, watching his own reflections become blurry until there’s a whole other person standing in front of him. It’s a small boy, yet to be born, with big eyes radiating innocence. “So I see... Park Yoochun will be interesting, a human whose nature is to be good and fortunate. Are you in for some fun, Jaejoong?”
“You bet I am,” there’s a light glint of mischief and evil in Jaejoong’s dark eyes which only seems to increase when he sees Changmin lean forward, his slender fingers stretched out until they make contact with the cool surface of the mirror. Changmin continues pushing, his fingers touching the face of the boy, until the surface turns into liquid, his fingers disappearing into the frame. “I think it’s going to be fun to see this one suffer. His aura is so pure and white, it’s going to be interesting. I don’t think he’ll be able to reach adulthood.”
“I hope he’ll last longer than that,” Changmin says, “Or else I’ll have to find another victim again within eighteen years.”
“As if you mind ruining people’s lives.”
“True. I love watching those inferior creatures squirm under my grip. I love angering those so-called pure creatures from above... it’s hella fun.”
Jaejoong rolls with his eyes. “Your puns are so bad.”
~
There are two kinds of humans walking around on earth.
Humans whose nature is to be good.
Humans whose nature is to be evil.
The first type of human was born with a white and pure aura. Those humans slowly got spoilt by their own society as they grew up. They’d get in contact with raw temptation and their bright aura would slowly turn darker, grayer, the light they were born with slowly darkening. However, those humans could fight the temptation if they wanted. Some humans were more successful than others and thus, some humans died with brighter auras than others.
The second type of human was born with a black and dark aura. They were born to make selfish and egoistic decisions, were born to think only about themselves. They’d try everything to make themselves better and they’d be tempted easily to make the wrong decisions. Most of them died with an aura only a few shades lighter than its original colour.
Humans were pathetic. They were creatures born to think only about themselves, born to be egoistic - born to self destruct.
Changmin looks at his mirror, watching the process of a woman giving birth. Another life to add to the many lives walking around on earth. Another life closer to their own destruction.
The sound of a wailing child fills his ears. A small smile appears on Changmin’s face. So this was the birth of his new victim... the one who was going to give him the rest of his life span once he had gotten his selfish wish fulfilled.
“Thank you, little Yoochun,” the demon whispers, his fingers stroking the mirror, pushing until his fingers disappear into the glass, “Thank you for becoming my new source of amusement. Thank you for giving me your life span in the future.”
He sees the small child wailing, sees him crying his heart out, his aura still blindingly white. Changmin doesn’t know why he’s crying. Maybe because the boy regrets being born on this pathetic world. Maybe because the boy already knows how sad his otherwise bright future is going to be. Maybe because he knows his mother will blow her last breath in less than an hour.
~
Yoochun likes to think he’s been born under an unlucky star. He doesn’t remember who his parents are though the people at the orphanage in his village liked to tell him that his mother was a whore who liked his father a little bit too much. After she had seduced his father, she had become pregnant and that was the moment Yoochun had lost his first parent. Rumours had said that his father had refused to accept him and that he had run off with another woman. His mother had been left alone to give birth to her son. That’s when Yoochun had become an orphan.
His life had started rather unfortunate.
However, he held good hope for the future. He didn’t believe baseless rumours after all, though they did anger him to a certain extent. Sometimes Yoochun would get into a fight with other children at the orphanage, because who were they to judge him when their own past was just as pathetic as his. However, he was a person who was able to forgive and when the other children had apologized after they had lost a fight, he’d just forgive and forget.
His eyes would be stinging with tears at night, crying sad tears, hoping the father from the rumours would show up one day and take him away from this pitiful place.
When that didn’t happen, Yoochun decided to just swallow the miserable hopes he had had for his whole life and look ahead, hoping for a brighter future.
When he got adopted at the age of seven, he cried tears of happiness. The orphanage he had been living at, had gladly waved him goodbye. They barely had enough money to feed all the hungry mouths and one boy gone meant one mouth less to feed. Yoochun lived with a small family where he had a father, a mother and a younger sister. It didn’t bother him that he had to work hard in their small tofu shop because he was grateful that the family had adopted him, even though they were poor and even though they couldn’t really afford another mouth to feed.
Thus, he tried to lessen the burden on his new family as much as possible.
It was hard. Some days, he would find himself thinking that the only reason his family had adopted him was because they needed a cheap laborer. Other times, he would find himself thinking that it didn’t really matter as long as he was gone from the awful orphanage where he had been forced to sleep between the rats.
Sometimes, he felt warm and loved. His younger sister, Sa Rang, would sometimes pat him softly on his hair, telling him to stop working so hard, tangling her thin fingers with his, the warmth of her palm spreading to his palm. Sometimes, his sister would carefully break a cookie in two, insisting to give Yoochun the bigger piece because she thought he deserved some of it too. Sometimes, his sister would draw something that looked like a giant with pitchforks as hands next to a small girl with the same pitchforks. They had smiles on their faces, brighter than the smile drawn into the sun. “Oppa, this is you and that is me,” she would tell him, pointing at the drawings, “We’ll take care of each other, right?”
And all Yoochun could do was smile, trying to blink his tears away as the words of his sister touched his heart. “I’ll always be right next to you,” he said, ruffling the hair of the small girl. “I’ll protect you.”
Most of the times, he felt tired. He didn’t go to school, his parents too poor to pay for his education. Yoochun didn’t mind. He was glad his sister got a good education instead, a bright future laughing at her. Instead, he had to work as much as his parents in the tofu shop and even though he could handle it mentally, his body seemed to fail him.
When his head touched his pillow, he’d be drifting off to sleep immediately, only to be woken up a few hours later so he could start making tofu with his parents.
He didn’t receive much love from his parents. This only made him more suspicious of their real intentions when they had adopted him. Yoochun felt like he could collapse every moment from the pressure given to him by work alone, work that was meant to be done by adults, not by a child of eight years old. Yet, he didn’t complain. Everything was better than being stuck in an orphanage with moody nuns, bad food and sad children.
Yoochun soon adapted, life becoming a boring routine with only a few sparkles of light in the darkness. Most of those sparkles were coming from his sister. She would talk to him, ramble about school and she’d even try to teach him to write. She would laugh at the shaky letters he wrote, saying oppa is so adorable. She would place a small hand firmly on his shaking hand, guiding it slowly to draw an ‘a’, then a ‘b’, a ‘c’, until he had written out the whole alphabet.
She was the light in his life.
~
“I’m not used to this, Changmin,” Jaejoong frowned, looking at the laughing boy in the mirror. “You usually like to make your victim suffer but this boy is actually becoming happy. You’ve lost your touch.”
“You really think so?” Changmin smirked, looking at his friend, his head slightly tilted in amusement. Jaejoong and he were childhood friends from birth. With looks as delicate as theirs, it was obvious that they were aristocrats. However, both men neither lacked brains nor strength. They were a combination from heaven... in hell.
“It’s become too boring,” Changmin says, “I’ve driven so many humans over the edge. I did it slowly, painfully... However, I’ve done it so many times that it has become boring. I want to try something new. How about I give this boy a little bit of hope, a little bit of future... before crushing him completely?”
A light chuckle escapes from Jaejoong’s lips as he shakes his head slowly. “Still the same sadistic bastard, I see.”
~
When Yoochun had been twelve years old, he had finally collapsed under the pressure of work. His head was too heavy to lift, his temperature too high to ignore and the headache too splitting to think around. However, Yoochun refused to lie in bed while his parents were having difficulties handling the pressure their shop gave them.
However, once he has started working, Yoochun already knows he isn’t able to do this for a long time.
He feels his body reaching its limit...
His vision becomes blurry and hazy and he’s blinking fervently in an attempt to get his eyes focused again. His head hurts, his throat is dry and his cheeks are flushed with fever. His hand is clutching the counter, his knuckles white, and he’s taking raspy breaths, his whole body shaking.
“What’s wrong?” it’s the worried voice of his mother, “Are you feeling okay?”
There’s a cool hand sweeping his bangs aside before it’s placed on his burning forehead. “God, you’re burning! Why didn’t you tell me?”
Words refuse to leave his trembling lips. Because I don’t want to be a burden, because I want to help you, because I don’t want to go back to the orphanage, because I’m scared you won’t be able to handle the customers with only two people, because... because...
“Oppa, you should rest. I’ll take your place,” it’s the sweet voice of his sister. Because I don’t want her to be in my place. Because I want her to have a good education, because I want to give her a bright future.
~
Yoochun is startled awake when he hears screams and yells. He’s surprised, his mind still clouded with sleep though the headache is gone. When the screams don’t stop, a worried frown appears on his face and the boy decides to go downstairs to look what this noise is all about. It sounds too severe to be just a disagreement between a customer and his parents.
~
Yoochun wants to scream but no sound is leaving his throat.
His mind isn’t able to register anything at all. Choked sounds are leaving his mouth, turning into gagging, until the little content of his stomach is splattered all over the floor. What the hell has happened? What the hell, what the hell, what the hell, what the hell...
What the hell...
“Sa Rang, Sa Rang-ah,” he cries, falling onto his knees as he desperately clutches the limp body of his sister to his chest. There’s blood everywhere, chaos everywhere, shelves everywhere, glass everywhere, death everywhere. His eyes are blinded with tears, the tears blinding the picture of chaos and death, and Yoochun finds himself happy that he can’t see the blood smeared on the normally white floor.
“Don’t leave me, don’t leave me, I told you I’d stand right next to you, I told you I’d protect you, I told you... I told you...”
He had told her so many things, he had promised her so many things, he had worked so hard while hoping his promises to her could be fulfilled.
And yet, he was clutching her cold body to his chest, crying in agony, the pain tearing at his chest, at his heart, at his mind and Yoochun doesn’t know anything anymore, doesn’t know anything but pain cutting through his numb body.
Sa Rang’s eyes were lifeless, her brown eyes staring in agony at the ceiling. Her body was cold, limp, her clothes soaked with her own blood. Yoochun couldn’t imagine her never seeing anything anymore, couldn’t imagine her never speaking to him anymore, couldn’t imagine her never teaching him things anymore, laughing at his stupidity. He couldn’t imagine never seeing her anymore, couldn’t imagine never hearing her beautiful voice speak to him again, couldn’t imagine not being laughed at anymore.
He couldn’t imagine losing the thing most precious to him...
And yet, he just had.
His sunshine had been absorbed into the dark night... What was left of him now?
~
It had been a robbery.
Two persons.
Two persons.
Two persons who had run into the store. Two persons who had gotten their guns out, demanding money. Two persons who had grabbed the person standing closest to them. Two persons who had put a gun to the head of that person. That person had happened to be Sa Rang. Two persons. Two persons who had shot his sister once they had gotten the money. Two persons who had run into a car as soon as they had gotten the chance to escape.
Two persons.
Two persons who had stolen everything from him.
His sister... his reason to live.
Two persons.
~
“You’re evil,” Jaejoong laughs, looking at the crumbled figure in the mirror. “I would have never thought of going this far. Giving him his most precious thing, let him get used to it and then... take it away mercilessly. You’re cruel, cruel, cruel. Sick. But smart. I didn’t know you had this much evilness in you.”
Changmin chuckled. “Well, if you do it, you have to do it good. The life he was supposed to live was boring anyway. His father would have returned to his mother and he would have lived happily ever after with happy parents, a happy wife and happy children. Ending up in heaven. That’s just boring. Look, I give him an adventure. His mother dieing, his father never returning, getting adopted, his sister getting killed and... oh, what’s that? A deal with a demon? A deal with a demon to get to know who those thieves, those murderers, are? A deal to get them killed? A deal to get his revenge? Or a deal to make one of his beloved ones alive again? I think that’s my cue!”
“How old are you again?” Jaejoong laughs.
“Exactly three thousand and twenty-two years. Mm, let me think. An average human lives around eighty years. That means my life span will get another sixty-something years,” Changmin gives another look at the mirror, “His aura is already darkening nicely. Just look at that... he has totally crumbled in less than twenty-four hours. The expression on his face is priceless... there’s guilt, pain and agony eating him from the inside out.”
A smile appears on the demon’s face. “I’m going to make myself ready for my first appearance. His aura is getting duller and duller, the edges already becoming gray... If I give him a few hours, I think he’ll have thought of killing those murderers in various painful ways already. Irrationality and emotions will cause him to make rash decisions... with moi.”
~
Yoochun bites his lips, sitting on the cold floor, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. He doesn’t mind the coldness. He knows his sister is somewhere where it’s always cold. The house is dark, the light of a street lantern falling into the window, drawing a line of light on the floor. It’s too silent, too dark, too scary, too empty to be in this house.
His nails are digging into his arms, digging the shapes of crescents into his flesh, but the numb pain is nothing compared to the pain shredding him apart from the inside. His whole body is numb. Everything seemed to have fallen out of his hands in the past hours... Had he not been ill... had he not become ill on this very day, he could have taken his sister’s place. He could have protected his sister. He could have... He could have... He should have...
But everything had happened and it had been too late to turn back time.
A choked sound leaves from the inside of Yoochun’s throat. He didn’t even know what the murderers looked like. The witnesses had said they had been masked. Yoochun only knew one was a tall man while his partner-in-crime had been a chubby dude. With this little information, Yoochun knew he couldn’t avenge the death of his sister, even if he wanted to.
His parents had been restless. His mother had been crying buckets of tears while his father had been too stunned to move even one single limb, the only thing he could do was patting his wife on her back, holding her close as he assured her that everything was going to be alright. Even though he knew it wasn’t.
His daughter had been killed. Murdered. Shot.
There wasn’t much they could tell the police. The thieves had swept away all the clues that might lead to them and Yoochun already knew this case was going to be hopeless. There was just too little information. Too little information and too much pain.
The boy knew his parents were in the room next to his, clutching each other bodies desperately while crying and crying and crying. While thinking about the unfairness of this world.
At least they still had each other.
Who did he have?
His only support... the person most precious to him... she had been killed. She had been murdered. Shot. She had been a person who had only seen this world for eleven years. A person who had smiled happily, had so many wishes left to fulfill, so many things left to do.
How could God be so cruel?
And Yoochun couldn’t find an answer for it either. How was it possible that God could be so cruel? How could He, how could He, how could He let a sweet and innocent girl just die like that? Was there no mercy left in this world? No hope? Why, why, why, why was this world so cruel.
Do you feel wronged?
There’s a voice in his head, a voice he has never heard before, but Yoochun instantly knows the voice is part of him. It knows him too well. “Yes,” another choked sound is leaving his throat as he continues crying, the emotions ripping at his heart. He wants nothing else but wake up from this nightmare, hurrying himself worriedly to the room of his sister, only to find her breathing form under the sheets, a peaceful expression on her face.
He wants nothing but forget this nightmare, maybe even tell his sister about it so she would end up laughing at his silliness, patting his head, ruffling through his hair.
He wants nothing else but that.
Are you sure?
“Yes,” another choked sound, his voice unrecognisable. His voice is too drenched with tears, there’s too much pain laced through it and it’s too low.
“Are you really sure?”
Yoochun gasps, his eyes fluttering open to search his room frantically. His eyes linger on a tall and handsome man, clothed in dark, fading away almost completely into the dark corner of Yoochun’s room. The boy scrambles back on his feet, his breathing uneven, his legs shaking with fear. “Who are you? What are you doing in my room? How-how long have you been here already?”
The man smiles, an amused expression appearing on his symmetrical face. His big and round eyes are glinting with some kind of dark mischief and although everything about the man has a dark aura, although every nerve in Yoochun’s body is screaming to him that this is going to end badly, he can’t rip himself away from this man who has so much attraction with his dark, mysterious and handsome appearance alone.
“I’m Changmin and your room is a mess,” the man makes a disapproving sound as he starts walking through the room, looking through it disapprovingly, “You asked me to come here. Shouldn’t you at least clean your room before you ask people to visit your house?”
“How did you get in? I-I never invited you!”
“Nonsense. You said you felt wronged. You said you wanted nothing else but wake up from this nightmare. Now that your wish can be fulfilled, you want to send this opportunity away?” a bored look appears in the eyes of the man, “Guess I’m outta here then.”
“No-no! Wait! What did you just say?” Yoochun says, inching closer to the unknown man. He reaches his trembling hands out, his hands closing around the arms of the tall man in front of him, “Can you-can you bring her back to life?”
~
Gotcha.
A smirk appeared on Changmin’s face as he watched the desperate boy in front of him. One part of him was screaming to him to shove the boy away - how dare this human being touch him when even other demons were scared to do so?! - but he was able to refrain himself, careful not to scare the human to such an extent. Scaring was good but he still had to seal a deal with the boy.
He moved his face closer to the boy’s, his mouth almost touching Yoochun’s ear. Changmin made sure his own fragrance would be noticeable in the air, indulging the boy with his sweet smell, tempting the boy to the dark side.
“Dear Yoochun, I can do everything you’d ask me. I can kill those bastards for you, slowly and painfully, I can rewind time, I can make your sister alive again... Or I can give you your mother back, I can make your father return to you, I can make you a millionaire. It’s all within your reach, my boy,” he breathes, his cool breath brushing past the skin of the human, causing the boy to shiver, “You can change your fate. You can change the fate of every human being walking around on earth.”
“What do you want for it?” Yoochun whispers, his voice barely audible.
Changmin feels the emotions of the boy, the increasing fear... but also, the increasing excitement. Humans were so easily manipulated.
“Your life,” he lowers the volume of his voice as well. It wasn’t as if he found this whole scene very exciting; he had been making deals with humans for centuries. But he knew Yoochun did and Changmin liked to make scenes more dramatic and suspenseful. It was always amusing to see the excited expression on those human faces change into bewilderment and horror. To give away their life for one great wish. Everything became even funnier because Changmin knows that every human he had had his eyes on, every human who would react horror stricken at first, would end up giving in to temptation. Park Yoochun would be no exception.
“Your life for one wish. The amount of days left of your life will depend on what you wish.”
There’s a silence. Changmin doesn’t break the silence, waiting for his words to sink in, waiting for the eyes of the boy to start glowing, waiting for the boy to realize all the possibilities he’s actually having.
“It’s all within your hands, my boy.”
The final push. If Yoochun decided not to do it, Changmin knew he wouldn’t give up. The life of the small boy was only going to get more miserable and the demon knew no human would be able to handle the cruelties he had planned out.
“Give me time to think. Please.” The look in Yoochun’s eyes is worried. However, Changmin has seen that worried look in too many human eyes already and he knows what that’ll mean. He tries to ban the triumphant look out of his eyes as he smiles friendly (or does an attempt at smiling friendly).
“Three days. I give you three days.”
---------
A/N: I survived my exam week 8) So I'm back! Though I really should finish my other stories and stop beginning new ones... My original intention was to write a oneshot but I think this will become a twoshot instead. I'm off to sleep now because really, I've barely slept well the past two weeks. Too much stress, too much frustration, too much braindeadness and too many exams, lol.
Pairing: Yoochun x Changmin
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Genre: AU, angst, fantasy, romance
Length: Chaptered
Warnings: Unbeta-ed, religious themes
“I’m bored,” Changmin says, yawning as he faces his friend, “There really is a lack of entertainment here. No wonder that normal humans try everything to avoid getting stuck here, going to the extent that they are even paying the Church to get rid of their sins.”
Changmin hated the place where he lived. Not only was Hell the most boring place ever - not as sensational as humans imagined in their books and movies - but it also disgusted him how many other weak demons had forgotten about their pride and had ended up falling in love with human beings. Demons weren’t supposed to have a heart, they were meant to ruin lives of human beings, to have some fun teasing the angels in Heaven.
And yet, in the progress of teasing those angels, some of them would forget about their nature. Changmin despised those weaklings. He hated how the hearts of some demons started beating again, how they were willing to sacrifice half of their remaining life span for the human so the latter could be turned into a demon as well. He hated how Hell was becoming a place with humans who were turned into demons, he hated how Hell seemed to have become the playground of scary children not human nor demon.
And yet, there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t care about it enough to bother with it anyway. It had all happened a long long time ago: the first demon who had fallen in love with a human had died thousands of years ago. At first, the demon had been mocked, he had been made fun of. But then another demon fell in love with a human. And another. And another.
In the end, their half bred children had started to fall in love with each other as well. This had continued and was still continuing at this very moment, the human blood weakening the superiority of the demon race.
However, Changmin couldn’t care less. He was a demon coming from an ancient linage with no single drop of human blood and he wasn’t interested in befriending half bred beings either. It made him feel disgusted just thinking about talking to such a low being.
The pure demon blood flowing through his veins made him who he was - powerful, strong and a descendant from one of the most prestigious demon families in Hell.
A light chuckle escapes from Jaejoong’s lips, “Those weak attempts from humans aren’t really effective, though. I just love the agony on their faces when they realize they’re not going to the Heaven they desired but end up being here. It’s always funny to see those weak humans struggling to get out of here, even though we all know it’s hopeless.
So, you’re bored? What did you have in mind? The last human we used as entertainment has died a few years ago. I guess it’s time for another victim?”
It was fun to ruin the fates of humans. It made the humans cruel, made them detest their so-called God. When there was nothing of purity left in those humans, Changmin would appear in front of them and offer them a chance to escape their boring lives. He’d promise them a strong body, a flawless appearance, money, anything they desired, but their fates would be sealed. Humans had to sign a contract with him, promising to give the demon their remaining life span while their souls would go to Hell. They’d find death in less than five years, depending on the situation.
“Ding ding,” Changmin smiles, “Let’s see who to pick... I want it to be hard this time. Humans are such weak beings: when the whole world is turning against them, they just collapse under the pressure... I don’t want to pick an easy victim this time. Let’s make it hard. Let’s make it enjoyable to watch, to see a human favoured by God crumble under our hands...”
He looks at the big mirror in his chamber, watching his own reflections become blurry until there’s a whole other person standing in front of him. It’s a small boy, yet to be born, with big eyes radiating innocence. “So I see... Park Yoochun will be interesting, a human whose nature is to be good and fortunate. Are you in for some fun, Jaejoong?”
“You bet I am,” there’s a light glint of mischief and evil in Jaejoong’s dark eyes which only seems to increase when he sees Changmin lean forward, his slender fingers stretched out until they make contact with the cool surface of the mirror. Changmin continues pushing, his fingers touching the face of the boy, until the surface turns into liquid, his fingers disappearing into the frame. “I think it’s going to be fun to see this one suffer. His aura is so pure and white, it’s going to be interesting. I don’t think he’ll be able to reach adulthood.”
“I hope he’ll last longer than that,” Changmin says, “Or else I’ll have to find another victim again within eighteen years.”
“As if you mind ruining people’s lives.”
“True. I love watching those inferior creatures squirm under my grip. I love angering those so-called pure creatures from above... it’s hella fun.”
Jaejoong rolls with his eyes. “Your puns are so bad.”
~
There are two kinds of humans walking around on earth.
Humans whose nature is to be good.
Humans whose nature is to be evil.
The first type of human was born with a white and pure aura. Those humans slowly got spoilt by their own society as they grew up. They’d get in contact with raw temptation and their bright aura would slowly turn darker, grayer, the light they were born with slowly darkening. However, those humans could fight the temptation if they wanted. Some humans were more successful than others and thus, some humans died with brighter auras than others.
The second type of human was born with a black and dark aura. They were born to make selfish and egoistic decisions, were born to think only about themselves. They’d try everything to make themselves better and they’d be tempted easily to make the wrong decisions. Most of them died with an aura only a few shades lighter than its original colour.
Humans were pathetic. They were creatures born to think only about themselves, born to be egoistic - born to self destruct.
Changmin looks at his mirror, watching the process of a woman giving birth. Another life to add to the many lives walking around on earth. Another life closer to their own destruction.
The sound of a wailing child fills his ears. A small smile appears on Changmin’s face. So this was the birth of his new victim... the one who was going to give him the rest of his life span once he had gotten his selfish wish fulfilled.
“Thank you, little Yoochun,” the demon whispers, his fingers stroking the mirror, pushing until his fingers disappear into the glass, “Thank you for becoming my new source of amusement. Thank you for giving me your life span in the future.”
He sees the small child wailing, sees him crying his heart out, his aura still blindingly white. Changmin doesn’t know why he’s crying. Maybe because the boy regrets being born on this pathetic world. Maybe because the boy already knows how sad his otherwise bright future is going to be. Maybe because he knows his mother will blow her last breath in less than an hour.
~
Yoochun likes to think he’s been born under an unlucky star. He doesn’t remember who his parents are though the people at the orphanage in his village liked to tell him that his mother was a whore who liked his father a little bit too much. After she had seduced his father, she had become pregnant and that was the moment Yoochun had lost his first parent. Rumours had said that his father had refused to accept him and that he had run off with another woman. His mother had been left alone to give birth to her son. That’s when Yoochun had become an orphan.
His life had started rather unfortunate.
However, he held good hope for the future. He didn’t believe baseless rumours after all, though they did anger him to a certain extent. Sometimes Yoochun would get into a fight with other children at the orphanage, because who were they to judge him when their own past was just as pathetic as his. However, he was a person who was able to forgive and when the other children had apologized after they had lost a fight, he’d just forgive and forget.
His eyes would be stinging with tears at night, crying sad tears, hoping the father from the rumours would show up one day and take him away from this pitiful place.
When that didn’t happen, Yoochun decided to just swallow the miserable hopes he had had for his whole life and look ahead, hoping for a brighter future.
When he got adopted at the age of seven, he cried tears of happiness. The orphanage he had been living at, had gladly waved him goodbye. They barely had enough money to feed all the hungry mouths and one boy gone meant one mouth less to feed. Yoochun lived with a small family where he had a father, a mother and a younger sister. It didn’t bother him that he had to work hard in their small tofu shop because he was grateful that the family had adopted him, even though they were poor and even though they couldn’t really afford another mouth to feed.
Thus, he tried to lessen the burden on his new family as much as possible.
It was hard. Some days, he would find himself thinking that the only reason his family had adopted him was because they needed a cheap laborer. Other times, he would find himself thinking that it didn’t really matter as long as he was gone from the awful orphanage where he had been forced to sleep between the rats.
Sometimes, he felt warm and loved. His younger sister, Sa Rang, would sometimes pat him softly on his hair, telling him to stop working so hard, tangling her thin fingers with his, the warmth of her palm spreading to his palm. Sometimes, his sister would carefully break a cookie in two, insisting to give Yoochun the bigger piece because she thought he deserved some of it too. Sometimes, his sister would draw something that looked like a giant with pitchforks as hands next to a small girl with the same pitchforks. They had smiles on their faces, brighter than the smile drawn into the sun. “Oppa, this is you and that is me,” she would tell him, pointing at the drawings, “We’ll take care of each other, right?”
And all Yoochun could do was smile, trying to blink his tears away as the words of his sister touched his heart. “I’ll always be right next to you,” he said, ruffling the hair of the small girl. “I’ll protect you.”
Most of the times, he felt tired. He didn’t go to school, his parents too poor to pay for his education. Yoochun didn’t mind. He was glad his sister got a good education instead, a bright future laughing at her. Instead, he had to work as much as his parents in the tofu shop and even though he could handle it mentally, his body seemed to fail him.
When his head touched his pillow, he’d be drifting off to sleep immediately, only to be woken up a few hours later so he could start making tofu with his parents.
He didn’t receive much love from his parents. This only made him more suspicious of their real intentions when they had adopted him. Yoochun felt like he could collapse every moment from the pressure given to him by work alone, work that was meant to be done by adults, not by a child of eight years old. Yet, he didn’t complain. Everything was better than being stuck in an orphanage with moody nuns, bad food and sad children.
Yoochun soon adapted, life becoming a boring routine with only a few sparkles of light in the darkness. Most of those sparkles were coming from his sister. She would talk to him, ramble about school and she’d even try to teach him to write. She would laugh at the shaky letters he wrote, saying oppa is so adorable. She would place a small hand firmly on his shaking hand, guiding it slowly to draw an ‘a’, then a ‘b’, a ‘c’, until he had written out the whole alphabet.
She was the light in his life.
~
“I’m not used to this, Changmin,” Jaejoong frowned, looking at the laughing boy in the mirror. “You usually like to make your victim suffer but this boy is actually becoming happy. You’ve lost your touch.”
“You really think so?” Changmin smirked, looking at his friend, his head slightly tilted in amusement. Jaejoong and he were childhood friends from birth. With looks as delicate as theirs, it was obvious that they were aristocrats. However, both men neither lacked brains nor strength. They were a combination from heaven... in hell.
“It’s become too boring,” Changmin says, “I’ve driven so many humans over the edge. I did it slowly, painfully... However, I’ve done it so many times that it has become boring. I want to try something new. How about I give this boy a little bit of hope, a little bit of future... before crushing him completely?”
A light chuckle escapes from Jaejoong’s lips as he shakes his head slowly. “Still the same sadistic bastard, I see.”
~
When Yoochun had been twelve years old, he had finally collapsed under the pressure of work. His head was too heavy to lift, his temperature too high to ignore and the headache too splitting to think around. However, Yoochun refused to lie in bed while his parents were having difficulties handling the pressure their shop gave them.
However, once he has started working, Yoochun already knows he isn’t able to do this for a long time.
He feels his body reaching its limit...
His vision becomes blurry and hazy and he’s blinking fervently in an attempt to get his eyes focused again. His head hurts, his throat is dry and his cheeks are flushed with fever. His hand is clutching the counter, his knuckles white, and he’s taking raspy breaths, his whole body shaking.
“What’s wrong?” it’s the worried voice of his mother, “Are you feeling okay?”
There’s a cool hand sweeping his bangs aside before it’s placed on his burning forehead. “God, you’re burning! Why didn’t you tell me?”
Words refuse to leave his trembling lips. Because I don’t want to be a burden, because I want to help you, because I don’t want to go back to the orphanage, because I’m scared you won’t be able to handle the customers with only two people, because... because...
“Oppa, you should rest. I’ll take your place,” it’s the sweet voice of his sister. Because I don’t want her to be in my place. Because I want her to have a good education, because I want to give her a bright future.
~
Yoochun is startled awake when he hears screams and yells. He’s surprised, his mind still clouded with sleep though the headache is gone. When the screams don’t stop, a worried frown appears on his face and the boy decides to go downstairs to look what this noise is all about. It sounds too severe to be just a disagreement between a customer and his parents.
~
Yoochun wants to scream but no sound is leaving his throat.
His mind isn’t able to register anything at all. Choked sounds are leaving his mouth, turning into gagging, until the little content of his stomach is splattered all over the floor. What the hell has happened? What the hell, what the hell, what the hell, what the hell...
What the hell...
“Sa Rang, Sa Rang-ah,” he cries, falling onto his knees as he desperately clutches the limp body of his sister to his chest. There’s blood everywhere, chaos everywhere, shelves everywhere, glass everywhere, death everywhere. His eyes are blinded with tears, the tears blinding the picture of chaos and death, and Yoochun finds himself happy that he can’t see the blood smeared on the normally white floor.
“Don’t leave me, don’t leave me, I told you I’d stand right next to you, I told you I’d protect you, I told you... I told you...”
He had told her so many things, he had promised her so many things, he had worked so hard while hoping his promises to her could be fulfilled.
And yet, he was clutching her cold body to his chest, crying in agony, the pain tearing at his chest, at his heart, at his mind and Yoochun doesn’t know anything anymore, doesn’t know anything but pain cutting through his numb body.
Sa Rang’s eyes were lifeless, her brown eyes staring in agony at the ceiling. Her body was cold, limp, her clothes soaked with her own blood. Yoochun couldn’t imagine her never seeing anything anymore, couldn’t imagine her never speaking to him anymore, couldn’t imagine her never teaching him things anymore, laughing at his stupidity. He couldn’t imagine never seeing her anymore, couldn’t imagine never hearing her beautiful voice speak to him again, couldn’t imagine not being laughed at anymore.
He couldn’t imagine losing the thing most precious to him...
And yet, he just had.
His sunshine had been absorbed into the dark night... What was left of him now?
~
It had been a robbery.
Two persons.
Two persons.
Two persons who had run into the store. Two persons who had gotten their guns out, demanding money. Two persons who had grabbed the person standing closest to them. Two persons who had put a gun to the head of that person. That person had happened to be Sa Rang. Two persons. Two persons who had shot his sister once they had gotten the money. Two persons who had run into a car as soon as they had gotten the chance to escape.
Two persons.
Two persons who had stolen everything from him.
His sister... his reason to live.
Two persons.
~
“You’re evil,” Jaejoong laughs, looking at the crumbled figure in the mirror. “I would have never thought of going this far. Giving him his most precious thing, let him get used to it and then... take it away mercilessly. You’re cruel, cruel, cruel. Sick. But smart. I didn’t know you had this much evilness in you.”
Changmin chuckled. “Well, if you do it, you have to do it good. The life he was supposed to live was boring anyway. His father would have returned to his mother and he would have lived happily ever after with happy parents, a happy wife and happy children. Ending up in heaven. That’s just boring. Look, I give him an adventure. His mother dieing, his father never returning, getting adopted, his sister getting killed and... oh, what’s that? A deal with a demon? A deal with a demon to get to know who those thieves, those murderers, are? A deal to get them killed? A deal to get his revenge? Or a deal to make one of his beloved ones alive again? I think that’s my cue!”
“How old are you again?” Jaejoong laughs.
“Exactly three thousand and twenty-two years. Mm, let me think. An average human lives around eighty years. That means my life span will get another sixty-something years,” Changmin gives another look at the mirror, “His aura is already darkening nicely. Just look at that... he has totally crumbled in less than twenty-four hours. The expression on his face is priceless... there’s guilt, pain and agony eating him from the inside out.”
A smile appears on the demon’s face. “I’m going to make myself ready for my first appearance. His aura is getting duller and duller, the edges already becoming gray... If I give him a few hours, I think he’ll have thought of killing those murderers in various painful ways already. Irrationality and emotions will cause him to make rash decisions... with moi.”
~
Yoochun bites his lips, sitting on the cold floor, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. He doesn’t mind the coldness. He knows his sister is somewhere where it’s always cold. The house is dark, the light of a street lantern falling into the window, drawing a line of light on the floor. It’s too silent, too dark, too scary, too empty to be in this house.
His nails are digging into his arms, digging the shapes of crescents into his flesh, but the numb pain is nothing compared to the pain shredding him apart from the inside. His whole body is numb. Everything seemed to have fallen out of his hands in the past hours... Had he not been ill... had he not become ill on this very day, he could have taken his sister’s place. He could have protected his sister. He could have... He could have... He should have...
But everything had happened and it had been too late to turn back time.
A choked sound leaves from the inside of Yoochun’s throat. He didn’t even know what the murderers looked like. The witnesses had said they had been masked. Yoochun only knew one was a tall man while his partner-in-crime had been a chubby dude. With this little information, Yoochun knew he couldn’t avenge the death of his sister, even if he wanted to.
His parents had been restless. His mother had been crying buckets of tears while his father had been too stunned to move even one single limb, the only thing he could do was patting his wife on her back, holding her close as he assured her that everything was going to be alright. Even though he knew it wasn’t.
His daughter had been killed. Murdered. Shot.
There wasn’t much they could tell the police. The thieves had swept away all the clues that might lead to them and Yoochun already knew this case was going to be hopeless. There was just too little information. Too little information and too much pain.
The boy knew his parents were in the room next to his, clutching each other bodies desperately while crying and crying and crying. While thinking about the unfairness of this world.
At least they still had each other.
Who did he have?
His only support... the person most precious to him... she had been killed. She had been murdered. Shot. She had been a person who had only seen this world for eleven years. A person who had smiled happily, had so many wishes left to fulfill, so many things left to do.
How could God be so cruel?
And Yoochun couldn’t find an answer for it either. How was it possible that God could be so cruel? How could He, how could He, how could He let a sweet and innocent girl just die like that? Was there no mercy left in this world? No hope? Why, why, why, why was this world so cruel.
Do you feel wronged?
There’s a voice in his head, a voice he has never heard before, but Yoochun instantly knows the voice is part of him. It knows him too well. “Yes,” another choked sound is leaving his throat as he continues crying, the emotions ripping at his heart. He wants nothing else but wake up from this nightmare, hurrying himself worriedly to the room of his sister, only to find her breathing form under the sheets, a peaceful expression on her face.
He wants nothing but forget this nightmare, maybe even tell his sister about it so she would end up laughing at his silliness, patting his head, ruffling through his hair.
He wants nothing else but that.
Are you sure?
“Yes,” another choked sound, his voice unrecognisable. His voice is too drenched with tears, there’s too much pain laced through it and it’s too low.
“Are you really sure?”
Yoochun gasps, his eyes fluttering open to search his room frantically. His eyes linger on a tall and handsome man, clothed in dark, fading away almost completely into the dark corner of Yoochun’s room. The boy scrambles back on his feet, his breathing uneven, his legs shaking with fear. “Who are you? What are you doing in my room? How-how long have you been here already?”
The man smiles, an amused expression appearing on his symmetrical face. His big and round eyes are glinting with some kind of dark mischief and although everything about the man has a dark aura, although every nerve in Yoochun’s body is screaming to him that this is going to end badly, he can’t rip himself away from this man who has so much attraction with his dark, mysterious and handsome appearance alone.
“I’m Changmin and your room is a mess,” the man makes a disapproving sound as he starts walking through the room, looking through it disapprovingly, “You asked me to come here. Shouldn’t you at least clean your room before you ask people to visit your house?”
“How did you get in? I-I never invited you!”
“Nonsense. You said you felt wronged. You said you wanted nothing else but wake up from this nightmare. Now that your wish can be fulfilled, you want to send this opportunity away?” a bored look appears in the eyes of the man, “Guess I’m outta here then.”
“No-no! Wait! What did you just say?” Yoochun says, inching closer to the unknown man. He reaches his trembling hands out, his hands closing around the arms of the tall man in front of him, “Can you-can you bring her back to life?”
~
Gotcha.
A smirk appeared on Changmin’s face as he watched the desperate boy in front of him. One part of him was screaming to him to shove the boy away - how dare this human being touch him when even other demons were scared to do so?! - but he was able to refrain himself, careful not to scare the human to such an extent. Scaring was good but he still had to seal a deal with the boy.
He moved his face closer to the boy’s, his mouth almost touching Yoochun’s ear. Changmin made sure his own fragrance would be noticeable in the air, indulging the boy with his sweet smell, tempting the boy to the dark side.
“Dear Yoochun, I can do everything you’d ask me. I can kill those bastards for you, slowly and painfully, I can rewind time, I can make your sister alive again... Or I can give you your mother back, I can make your father return to you, I can make you a millionaire. It’s all within your reach, my boy,” he breathes, his cool breath brushing past the skin of the human, causing the boy to shiver, “You can change your fate. You can change the fate of every human being walking around on earth.”
“What do you want for it?” Yoochun whispers, his voice barely audible.
Changmin feels the emotions of the boy, the increasing fear... but also, the increasing excitement. Humans were so easily manipulated.
“Your life,” he lowers the volume of his voice as well. It wasn’t as if he found this whole scene very exciting; he had been making deals with humans for centuries. But he knew Yoochun did and Changmin liked to make scenes more dramatic and suspenseful. It was always amusing to see the excited expression on those human faces change into bewilderment and horror. To give away their life for one great wish. Everything became even funnier because Changmin knows that every human he had had his eyes on, every human who would react horror stricken at first, would end up giving in to temptation. Park Yoochun would be no exception.
“Your life for one wish. The amount of days left of your life will depend on what you wish.”
There’s a silence. Changmin doesn’t break the silence, waiting for his words to sink in, waiting for the eyes of the boy to start glowing, waiting for the boy to realize all the possibilities he’s actually having.
“It’s all within your hands, my boy.”
The final push. If Yoochun decided not to do it, Changmin knew he wouldn’t give up. The life of the small boy was only going to get more miserable and the demon knew no human would be able to handle the cruelties he had planned out.
“Give me time to think. Please.” The look in Yoochun’s eyes is worried. However, Changmin has seen that worried look in too many human eyes already and he knows what that’ll mean. He tries to ban the triumphant look out of his eyes as he smiles friendly (or does an attempt at smiling friendly).
“Three days. I give you three days.”
---------
A/N: I survived my exam week 8) So I'm back! Though I really should finish my other stories and stop beginning new ones... My original intention was to write a oneshot but I think this will become a twoshot instead. I'm off to sleep now because really, I've barely slept well the past two weeks. Too much stress, too much frustration, too much braindeadness and too many exams, lol.