the witching hour
the witching hour
~ 5000 w, pg-13, (krystal/sulli) with an itsy bit of kai, witches/red light!AU
rest in peace, darlings.
■ an anon asked for this on ask.fm, she asked for a drabble but obvly she's getting more
■ this is shit but f(x)'s slaying with this album
Ultimately there is no good or evil in this world.
There are mortals and immortals. There are human and monsters. There are the victors and there are the victims. Then there are girls and witches.
Contrary to the popular belief of possible infectious nature of these spooky powers, most were born with the curse or rather, the gift of the mystifying abracadabra. It’s rare to encounter a witch that’s come into her own at any age pass sixteen but when it happens, it’s said that the girl will, let’s say, possess a special sort of magic.
Krystal’s never been much of a believer in the age old tales told through generation of ugly hags with a penchant for smelly cloaks. Not that she doesn’t respect their ancestors (may they rest in havoc) but they were pretty much useless at not drawing attention to themselves - the cackling trend that went on in the eighteenth century didn’t help either. But enough about the past and more about the present: a myth could now be fact and Krystal might just be the one to prove it. After all, it’s not of the usual walk around the forest to find a dead girl brings herself back to life.
“That’s odd,” Krystal remarks to herself, the dry leave crushing under the heel of her boots as she lowers herself down to the girl’s level, “The uniform suggests that you are attending a university, thus being of the legal age and yet, you are alive…hmm, interesting.”
The brown haired girl with her tangled her and hands still grasping onto her chest, finally speaks, “Wh - what happe - happened? I was los - lost in the woo - woods then -“
“Then you smashed your fragile little skull against that rock over there,” Krystal informs her in a bored manner, glancing over her shoulder to the blood covered stone about a feet away from where they are, “So if we’re being technical then, you died.”
Her doe eyes widen in pure disbelieve - what a classic. “A - am I in he - heaven?”
“Heaven?” She can’t help but burst into laughter, “I assume you’re a regular visitor of the church then?”
“Y - yeah,” The girl says hesitantly, her eyes scanning her surrounding in fright as she moves back in fright, “W - what does that have to do with anything?! Where a - am I?!”
“Where else?” Krystal offers easily, dusting off the specks of dirt clinging to her black shorts, “You’re where you were ten minutes ago.”
“You mean I’m now a spirit - li - like a ghost?”
“Don’t be silly, little one, it’s not that easy, you have to go through a whole three days ritual until you can float around and scare people,” She says with a dismissive wave then whistles, smiling lazily when she hears the faint sound of the bell along with a soft ‘meow’, “Anyway, I might as well tell you now -“
“Tell me what?” The girl screeches in her panic-stricken glory.
“You should never, ever interrupt your senior but I guess we’ll have to teach you that,” Krystal’s good humor vanishing briefly, eyes rolling in dismay. “What I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted is that: congratulation, you are a witch.”
-
The once prestigious Salem estate that has been torn down into what now resembles an untenanted haunted house is called ‘Red Light’ Why? No one knows, simply because the seventh generation of witches who inhabited the property got burnt to ashes and therefore, had no time to make record of some explanation that would undoubtedly be laughable. On their walk up the hill, Krystal goes on about this to the new found witch, Sulli, even though she is well aware that the other girl has other things on her mind.
“That cat - that black cat doesn’t like me,” Sulli blurts, eying the animal in distrust.
“You’ve offended him, he’s not just any regular cat.” She says quietly, smiling down at her scowling pet briefly as she picks him up into her arm, “You’re not, are you now?”
“He’s obviously a cat,” The girl argues stubbornly, dragging her feet along the dead grass, “Just look at him!”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Krystal scratches him behind the ear. “Let that be a lesson to you.”
Too frustrated to continue on with the argument, Sulli relents and trails behind in silence until they reach what can be considered a door step, standing face to face with the moss covered wooden door.
“Now,” Krystal begins, swiveling around to the brunette, “A few warnings that you can choose to listen to or not: the others staying here have been aware of their magic from very early on. Considering that us witches are not very good at managing our temper, I suggest that you refrain from talking back and behave in a more respectable manner than you have been so far.”
“Wait, when did you find out that you are,” Sulli pauses, looking around to check if anyone else’s is close enough to hear then whispers the taboo, “you know, a witch?”
Chuckling, Krystal knocks twice at the door then replies, “I first discovered that I could do magic when I was three.”
“Thr -“
She suspects Sulli was about to let out a cry of outrage but fortunately, lost her voice when the door swings open with a small creak. Smirking at the look of shock on the girl’s face, Krystal allows her pet to jump out of her hold and enters after him. There’s no need to check on Sulli, she knows her new discovery is following her destined path.
-
Sulli believes in great many things.
She believes in god, in praying before sleeping and after waking, in going to church on a Sunday morning with her beloved parents. Sulli is a believer. But right now, she does not believe in anything.
It’s hard to when your beliefs are being refuted by the reality she’s now living.
There are many others like Krystal, she learns upon the first hour of her arrival. They are the same kind, except not at all. Krystal, for an instance, can manipulate flames - turn on and off stoves, light candles, burn things when she’s ticked off. Then there’s Luna, a clairvoyant who’s anticipated her being here today, sitting on the velvet couch in their dining room with prior knowledge of the things she’d say. Sulli’s thankful for that, it saves her from asking all the hard questions. In fact, a witch - Amber, is one of those questions: “Why does she dress like a boy and why she act so too?” The explanation is as puzzling as the news that she is one of them but it also makes nearly as much sense too. Amber was born with a curse in her left eye; any man that meets her eyes will become helplessly infatuated. The eye patch, the masculine haircut and clothes are her way of discouraging the unwanted affections. The last occupant of this house is Victoria. Her long, raven curls are enviable and as beautiful as she is, beauty kills. She lures them in with her porcelain complexion and feeds them the poison she’s been cooking up in the kitchen. Victoria is what is called, a ‘Caterpillar’ or a ceremonial witch; unable to perform witchcraft on the spot but skilled with runes, alchemies, rituals and whatnot. Apparently, every clan needs one to survive. And Sulli? No one can seem to decide where she fits in.
“It’s very fascinating how you brought yourself back to life,” Victoria remarks, putting down her mug of tea and reaches out to hold her hand, “I suspect it has something to do with your blood. What do you think?”
“M - me?” Sulli stutters, pointing to herself, “I - I don’t know”
“Of course, you don’t,” Krystal says dully, scratching the cat behind its ear as it meows in approval,
“Luna knows.”
Nodding a little, Luna says, “The prophecy has come true.”
The stunned silence around the table that follows is worrying if anything.
Sulli blinks. “What prophecy?”
-
They wear black in the morning. They wear black in the afternoon. They wear black in evening. On special occasions, grey is acceptable. White is frowned upon unless it is a part of stripes.
Amber threw away her red jumper when she was soaking in hot water. Krystal scrunched her nose at her pink buttoned up and stared at it until it caught on fire. Victoria commented on how ‘cute’ her oxford shoes were before Luna hesitantly discarded of it and greeted her the next morning with a heartfelt ‘sorry’ made of homemade pancakes.
“I hope I don’t come off as rude,” Sulli starts, the beginning of hesitation setting in just as soon as she speaks, “But do you guys worship the Satan or the devil or anything like that? Wait, did you see that coming?”
“No, I don’t get visions of everything,” Luna chuckles, shaking her lightly, “To answer your question - no, we don’t because we don’t believe in Satan or the devil. Witchcraft is just as it sounds, a craft of skills. Magic is simply energy, it has nothing to do with selling your soul to the devil like most people believe it to be.”
“But you don’t believe in god either?”
“No, we don’t,” Amber interrupts, helping herself to a glass of cocoa, “We don’t believe in all that crap regular people like to spread around.”
Luna shoots Amber a warning glare as she stalks off to her own room. “Sorry about that.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Sulli forces a small smile, cutting into the stack of pancakes, “I couldn’t get much sleep last night and I was thinking; if you guys really did believe in the prophecy then why didn’t you guys go out looking for…the white butterfly? Well that’s me now, I guess.”
Sitting down across from her, Luna tugs a strand of her blue tinted hair behind her ear. “Half of us thought of it to be a hoax. It’s rare to find an ordinary female who gains magical power after they turn sixteen because it would mean the witch did not gain possession of her title due to genetics but rather on her own terms.” She pauses to take a brief look out of the window, Sulli follows her line of gaze and see Krystal on the rusty, old swing with the same odd cat from yesterday. “However, it has been known to have happened in the past before and the witch turned out to be like any other in her clan - not more powerful and not any less. I, myself, did believe that the ‘White Butterfly’ prophecy is real but the others, they’re not very convinced.”
Feeling curious, Sulli decides to ask, “Why not?”
“There’s not many of us left. Thanks to witch hunters” Luna explains, something like a frown in her voice, “You could say that we’re a vanishing breed almost. The chances of finding an invincible witch that has the ability to bring back the deads are very slim.”
“But you think I can do that?”
Looking at her pensively, the curves of her mouth blooms into a smile infectious enough to almost bring one onto her own face. “I know so.”
Sulli might as well take her word for it. She’s the clairvoyant one after all.
-
“Is she ever without that cat?”
Sulli couldn’t help but ask two weeks into living the life of a witch. It’s a cold day and Krystal’s sitting out in the garden, her light blonde hair whipping around in all directions as she helps Luna picks some natural ingredient for the potion they’re teaching her how to make.
“Oh right, that thing,” Amber says dismissively, “Krystal found it two years ago when we went into town and took it home. I don’t think it ever goes anywhere without her and vice versa.”
“Yeah,” Victoria agrees, stirring the pot with great concentration, “It might have even followed her home. Who knows?”
She’s said it once and she’ll say it again: “Something’s off with that cat.”
-
They took her into town on a sunny afternoon. Walking in line, oldest at the front and youngest at the back, the order is Victoria, followed by Amber, Luna, her then surprisingly enough, Krystal. Sulli’s gone this past month convinced that Krystal is in fact, much older than her. It’s in the way she carries herself, Sulli decides, Krystal walks around like she understands how the world spin on its own axis.
“Do you approve of dark magic, Sulli?” Krystal asks her once they reach the super market, watching as the other three slip through entrance with half empty shopping bags.
“Is it supposed to be like the name suggests?” Sulli jokes, “Bad and wrong and all the things Luna would warn me against.”
“Yup,” She replies without missing a beat, making the emphasis on the ‘p’, “You don’t approve then?”
Sulli frowns. “Of course not!”
The cat meows in either approval or disapproval, Sulli couldn’t tell but Krystal gives it a questioning look before pushing down the rim of her hat, shielding herself from the merciless sun rays.
“Why do you always wear hats when you’re out?” Sulli asks nervously, pulling down the hem of her skirt, “Are you afraid that someone might recognize you?”
“No, you silly girl,” Krystal laughs, “There’s always a price to pay for magic. I can withstand less sunlight than the average person, meaning I’ll burn to death if I’m directly under the sun.”
That would explain why she’s pale like the ghosts, Sulli thinks to herself. Then it dawns on her, “What’s my price to pay?”
With a mischievous grin that can make a grown man cry, Krystal says, “Well, you’re the white butterfly, aren’t you? You’re invincible.”
-
She begins to notice things, then more things - the type of things that would usually go unnoticed if they haven’t spent as much time in this house as she has.
There’s an unspoken hierarchy; the girls fear Krystal. Sulli’s suspicion of this begins to take root after the first ceremony she took part in. They had been trying to track down the location of witch hunters.
Victoria’s eyes were rolled back, completely disconnected from the rest of them as she chanted
incomprehensible spells while the rest of them stood in circles with interlinked hands. It had been frightening but not enough so to dissipate her prior excitement. Everything was going smoothly, according to Amber. She spoke too fast because in a matter of seconds, Krystal lets go of her hands and set fire to the levitating book.
“You could have killed her!” Luna scolds her with a gentle demeanor but Sulli knew she was vexed, “The first rule to any ritual: do not let go under any circumstance.”
Krystal had promptly ignored her, picked up the black cat from the rocking chair and disappears into her room for the next two days. No one had said anything about it since. Not even Victoria who suffered a twelve hours black out as a small price to pay for disrupting the spirits they’ve called up.
Four nights later, Sulli wakes up with a gaping hole in each hand over her blinded eyes.
-
Victoria orders bed rest and wraps her two hands in unappealing herbal ointment.
“It’s all happening then,” Krystal says out of the blue, lounging around in her own bed above Sulli’s, “Odd things happen when the full extent of your magic sinks in. It would explain why Luna didn’t see this coming.”
“How come she didn’t see it coming?” Sulli asks, wincing in pain when she accident moves her right hand, “I thought you said all of you have already reached your full potential as witches.”
“There’s no such thing as full potential,” The blonde girl says coldly, “You can always be better. Learn more, destroy more, create more. Luna didn’t see it coming because what has happened isn’t a sure thing written in stars or reliant on fate.”
Still lost, Sulli asks, “Then what is happening to me?”
“You’ll know when the time comes, little one.”
Krystal looks up from her books of spell and to the pot of plant on the windowsill, seconds later her stare twitches and the wilting rose springs to full bloom.
She gapes at it for a minute, then spits out before she could stop herself, “W - why is it black?”
“Dark magic” Krystal drawls, her smirk gleaming danger.
-
By winter, her fascination with Krystal borderlines obsession.
The heavy wind and rain becomes their enemy. The roof shakes mercilessly, cold water leaks through every nook and cranny and the vines around the house embrace each other so tightly that the knot that shuts them in becomes unbreakable. Victoria brews enough potions to last them until the next full moon, Amber smokes enough cigarette to cripple her lungs, Luna studies up on the prophecy. It keeps the girls busy enough to stop them from walking into her and Krystal’s room.
But if they had, it would have caused an uproar - a divide between the sisters.
Within the span of five weeks, Sulli learns enough hexes to exterminate the whole town. Voodoo comes easily for the both of them; their experiment moves from small birds outside their windows to children that wanders by. At dawn, they sneak out to the nearby lake for a game of hide and seek. She’s learned to control her giggle well enough so that when she blinks to transform herself into thin air, she’s convincing enough for Krystal to shove her hand through her chest. They take it to the fields by dawn, blood red lipstick on each other’s cheeks and too exhausted to go on. Sulli lies flat on her back, chest heaving up and down as she bursts into delightful laughter. The raindrop clings to her skin and she watches it slides down her finger tips in fascination.
She notices the cat then.
“There you are,” she greets in mild agitation.
Sulli’s seen Krystal perform transformation spells enough times to be able to cast it herself. “Hmm, maybe I should test it out on you. What do you think?”
The cat stares back at her with its dark eyes before turning away, its small paws stepping over destroyed crops as it makes its escape. She’s never touched before, Sulli realizes, never held it in her arms or felt its fur under her hands. Getting on her hands and knees, she crawls, slowly but with malice.
“Got cha!” She exclaims in triumph, holding the animal away from her body to avoid the clawing,
“Stop, I’m not going to hurt y -“
“Sul - no!”
Faster than lightning, faster than the breath she takes, faster than the curse that Krystal sends her away. Before her very own eyes, the black cat with its paws, its whiskers and its tail - all those animalistic features transfigure into characteristics that resembles Krystal’s and hers too.
Taking one look of naked boy sprawled in front of her, Sulli sprints for her life.
-
It’s not a game, Sulli realizes between the panting and the crying.
She can sense Krystal’s dark aura from miles away. The forest is not big enough to hide in, not when Krystal’s magic is stirring in the air and ready to attack at any time. Sulli won’t be able to overpower her when she comes for her.
At a distance, it looks like a small torch. But Sulli knows better; Krystal’s burning the woods down.
“Why?” Sulli yells helplessly, the smell of smoke tickling her nose, “Why did you turn that boy into a cat?!”
She hears a twig snap behinds her and surely when she whirls around, Krystal’s standing there in her ripped leather shorts and matching jacket. “Because they were going to kill him”
“Who?”
“The other three,” Her response is as casual as her demeanor; leaning against the three and lighting flames in her hand, “He’s a witch hunter.”
Sulli’s throat closes up, her voice raspy when she speaks again, “Y - you told me that we have to kill them before they kill us.”
“Very true,” Krystal agrees with a contemplative frown, “Probably why I settled on a cat, he’s not very effective with killing me then, is he?”
“H - how?” Sulli falls to her knees as she desperately gasps for oxygen, “I - it ca - can’t la - last for -“
“For more than twelve hours,” The blonde finishes, now standing over her, “My, I really have taught you well, little one. To answer your question; dark magic.”
“Ar - are you go - going to ki - kill me?”
“There goes your five minutes of intelligence,” Krystal roll her eyes, “I can’t kill you, remember? You will just revive yourself like you did when I found you.”
“Then -“ Sulli can’t help but fight for more air, she’s going to be a goner if Krystal doesn’t put out her fire soon, “Then what are you d - doing?”
Krystal casts a side long glance at the little hut they call home. Sulli fights hard to scream for Victoria, for Luna, for Amber but it’s too late, the windows slam shut with a chorus of resolute ‘bang’s, the rose vines with its deadly thorns forms a criss-cross over the door. Please don’t do this, Sulli chants in her head like a prayer but the only god now is Krystal.
“Rest in peace, darlings.”
Engulfed in flames, she can see the end.
-
Sulli wakes up to the revelation that she can’t bring them back.
She flips through enough of those rule books to know that unless the witch that performs the curse is killed or reverse the spell with her own magic, the damage will last according to how powerful she is. Sulli wouldn’t be able to make it back to the Salem’s estate and that’s if it hasn’t been burnt to nothing already. If she can’t touch them, she might as well be useless.
“I tried to warn you.”
Startled that she isn’t the only one left in the woodland, Sulli sits up with the support of her elbows. She expected anyone but him to still be here. “Y - you didn’t go with her?”
The boy’s covered in layers and layers of blankets but clearly it isn’t enough to keep him warm in the winter weather. “She’s still here.”
Sulli gulps, her eyes roaming what is left of the forest. “You’re lying, I don’t see her.”
“She’s gone into town to get food and me some clothes.”
He’s trembling, his teeth clattering as he rubs his hands together in front of the small camp fire. He’s too weak to swat a fly, Sulli relaxes, it’s okay to let her guard down for now.
“Aren’t you going to kill me?” The dark haired boy asks quietly, his teeth clattering, “Now that you know that I’m a witch hunter.”
“No,” she decides then and there, “I won’t harm you but you need to go, now, before she gets back.”
He says nothing, instead he sits still and lifeless like a statue as he watches the fire crackles. Sulli is about to repeat herself, knowing full well that time is ticking away but he beats her to it first, “I can’t leave her.”
He must have lost his mind, she thinks in hysteric. “Mister, you don’t understand, she might be on her way back, right now -“
“My name is Kai, I’m a witch hunter and I’m in love with a witch.”
-
An hour later, Krystal is still not back and all Sulli knows about her only companion is his name.
She sits beside him, making sure to not get too close but remains close enough to feel some warmth.
“How long have you been stuck in…that form?”
“You mean a cat?” Kai corrects with a bitter chuckle, “You already know”
“Two years?”
He nods gingerly, throwing a small twig into the flame. “Three tomorrow”
“How?”
“I didn’t know that Krystal was a witch, she put a charm on herself to alter her appearance,” Kai replies, knowing full well what she’s referring to, “At some point over the course of that one evening I spent with her as a human, she figured out that I was a witch hunter and when I kissed her for the first time, instead of killing me, she turned me into a cat.”
“I don’t understand,” Sulli mumbles, unsure if she’s more angry or confused, “How can you be in love with - with that woman?! She transfigured you into an animal, for years and if that isn’t already enough, she killed all that’s left of her kind.”
“Not all,” He offers grimly, “You’re still here.”
She scoffs. “If you could kill me, I would be with the rest of them.”
“That’s not true,” he argues, his voice low as he turns to look at her for the first time, “She’s fond of you.”
“Like she’s fond of you?”
Kai stares at her heatedly then spits, “Think what you want.”
“Do you think she cares for you?” Sulli laughs at the absurdity of his statement, “You’re delusional if you think this is love! You’re basically her prisoner and you call that love?! Did she hypnotized over the years or are you just plain dumb -“
Twisting her arm in his tight hold, he snarls, “Don’t speak of something that you don’t understand.”
Oh but she understands. It’s too easy to get lost in allure of Krystal’s dark charms.
-
“What’s your plan?”
“What do you mean what’s my plan?”
“From here on,” Sulli says, her lips completely numb, “What are you and Krystal going to do?”
Kai thinks it over for a long minute, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. “I don’t know, we haven’t discussed it. What about you?”
“I’m going to kill her,” she whispers through gritted teeth, enjoying the way he stiffens next to her, “I’m going to kill her and I’m going to bring everyone back to life.”
“If you kill her,” Kai says loud enough for only her to hear, “Then I’ll have to kill you.”
“How do you know I won’t kill you first?”
-
Krystal appears by Kai’s side with a ‘pop’. He doesn’t so much as flinch at abrupt presence, only reaches his hand out to brush against to make sure that she is really stand there next to him. Sulli
“I got you a full set of clothes, all your size,” She tells him, running her hand through his mussed hair, “You should change into these before you freeze to death.”
Kai pulls her hand up to his lips for a quick kiss before he gets up on his feet, taking the pile of rags from her. “I’ll be right back.”
To Sulli’s disbelieve, she catches something that’s close to pure happiness in Krystal’s smile as she gazes at him in adoration. This is the girl who has murdered her whole entire clan - her sisterhood of witches without so much as a blink but here she is, looking at a boy with complete and utter devotion. Sulli feels sick from where she’s sitting.
“Kai,” Krystal calls softly, catching his wrist, “I want you to know that I love you.”
He looks just as surprised as Sulli does, she imagines. “I love you too.”
Sulli, too disturbed by the exchange that she has witnessed between the lovers, fails to see the leather glove slides off Krystal’s pale hand. When she eventually catches sight of it, she finds herself only capable of asking dumbly, “What are you doing?”
Krystal’s grey eyes flutter closed.
“What are you doing?” Sulli scurries onto her feet, casting a simple suspending spell but Krystal waves it off with ease.
“Oh my god,” she breathes, realizing what’s about to happen in the next moment if she doesn’t take doesn’t something - anything. Sulli opens her mouth, the beginning of a scream at the tip of her tongue but Krystal takes care of that too with a silencing spell.
A fragment of a second and one dislocating spell later, Kai’s head snaps all the way around before dropping to the ground.
If Krystal had shed tears over his corpse, Sulli did not see it.
-
Sulli doesn’t know how long she stood there, yelling things that Krystal will never get to hear. Not that Krystal would have listened.
The sun sets and Krystal’s still where she’s been for what seems like an eternity; kneeling beside Kai’s now cold body like he will wake up at anytime now and for the longest time, Sulli’s convinced he would because she did, why couldn’t he do the same?
But he doesn’t.
She likes to think that Krystal’s saying her goodbyes, justifying herself to his soul even though it’s not there anymore. For the first time in a year, Sulli speaks to god and for the first time ever, she doesn’t ask for anything. She just wants to go home, but there is no home anymore. She’s been declared dead over a year now; her parents probably have thrown a funeral and buried nothing for their daughter.
“It’s only the two of us now,” Krystal declares, her shadow looming over her.
The silencing spell is removed but Sulli finds that she’s got nothing to say after all.
“He was a lovely boy but he would have gotten in our way, all witch hunters do,” She says, sitting down on the log behind them, “They all would have - Victoria, Amber, Luna - sweet as they may be, they don’t have what it takes to make a change.”
Sulli takes a seat next to her. No longer afraid or angry or hurt or betrayed or anything at all - she’s just there.
“You and I,” Krystal holds her hand inside her own clammy one, “We are going to revolutionize the world.”
“How? You've killed everything and everyone.”
“It’s midnight,” Krystal kisses the top of her head, whispers, “All revolution starts at midnight.”
~ 5000 w, pg-13, (krystal/sulli) with an itsy bit of kai, witches/red light!AU
rest in peace, darlings.
■ an anon asked for this on ask.fm, she asked for a drabble but obvly she's getting more
■ this is shit but f(x)'s slaying with this album
Ultimately there is no good or evil in this world.
There are mortals and immortals. There are human and monsters. There are the victors and there are the victims. Then there are girls and witches.
Contrary to the popular belief of possible infectious nature of these spooky powers, most were born with the curse or rather, the gift of the mystifying abracadabra. It’s rare to encounter a witch that’s come into her own at any age pass sixteen but when it happens, it’s said that the girl will, let’s say, possess a special sort of magic.
Krystal’s never been much of a believer in the age old tales told through generation of ugly hags with a penchant for smelly cloaks. Not that she doesn’t respect their ancestors (may they rest in havoc) but they were pretty much useless at not drawing attention to themselves - the cackling trend that went on in the eighteenth century didn’t help either. But enough about the past and more about the present: a myth could now be fact and Krystal might just be the one to prove it. After all, it’s not of the usual walk around the forest to find a dead girl brings herself back to life.
“That’s odd,” Krystal remarks to herself, the dry leave crushing under the heel of her boots as she lowers herself down to the girl’s level, “The uniform suggests that you are attending a university, thus being of the legal age and yet, you are alive…hmm, interesting.”
The brown haired girl with her tangled her and hands still grasping onto her chest, finally speaks, “Wh - what happe - happened? I was los - lost in the woo - woods then -“
“Then you smashed your fragile little skull against that rock over there,” Krystal informs her in a bored manner, glancing over her shoulder to the blood covered stone about a feet away from where they are, “So if we’re being technical then, you died.”
Her doe eyes widen in pure disbelieve - what a classic. “A - am I in he - heaven?”
“Heaven?” She can’t help but burst into laughter, “I assume you’re a regular visitor of the church then?”
“Y - yeah,” The girl says hesitantly, her eyes scanning her surrounding in fright as she moves back in fright, “W - what does that have to do with anything?! Where a - am I?!”
“Where else?” Krystal offers easily, dusting off the specks of dirt clinging to her black shorts, “You’re where you were ten minutes ago.”
“You mean I’m now a spirit - li - like a ghost?”
“Don’t be silly, little one, it’s not that easy, you have to go through a whole three days ritual until you can float around and scare people,” She says with a dismissive wave then whistles, smiling lazily when she hears the faint sound of the bell along with a soft ‘meow’, “Anyway, I might as well tell you now -“
“Tell me what?” The girl screeches in her panic-stricken glory.
“You should never, ever interrupt your senior but I guess we’ll have to teach you that,” Krystal’s good humor vanishing briefly, eyes rolling in dismay. “What I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted is that: congratulation, you are a witch.”
-
The once prestigious Salem estate that has been torn down into what now resembles an untenanted haunted house is called ‘Red Light’ Why? No one knows, simply because the seventh generation of witches who inhabited the property got burnt to ashes and therefore, had no time to make record of some explanation that would undoubtedly be laughable. On their walk up the hill, Krystal goes on about this to the new found witch, Sulli, even though she is well aware that the other girl has other things on her mind.
“That cat - that black cat doesn’t like me,” Sulli blurts, eying the animal in distrust.
“You’ve offended him, he’s not just any regular cat.” She says quietly, smiling down at her scowling pet briefly as she picks him up into her arm, “You’re not, are you now?”
“He’s obviously a cat,” The girl argues stubbornly, dragging her feet along the dead grass, “Just look at him!”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Krystal scratches him behind the ear. “Let that be a lesson to you.”
Too frustrated to continue on with the argument, Sulli relents and trails behind in silence until they reach what can be considered a door step, standing face to face with the moss covered wooden door.
“Now,” Krystal begins, swiveling around to the brunette, “A few warnings that you can choose to listen to or not: the others staying here have been aware of their magic from very early on. Considering that us witches are not very good at managing our temper, I suggest that you refrain from talking back and behave in a more respectable manner than you have been so far.”
“Wait, when did you find out that you are,” Sulli pauses, looking around to check if anyone else’s is close enough to hear then whispers the taboo, “you know, a witch?”
Chuckling, Krystal knocks twice at the door then replies, “I first discovered that I could do magic when I was three.”
“Thr -“
She suspects Sulli was about to let out a cry of outrage but fortunately, lost her voice when the door swings open with a small creak. Smirking at the look of shock on the girl’s face, Krystal allows her pet to jump out of her hold and enters after him. There’s no need to check on Sulli, she knows her new discovery is following her destined path.
-
Sulli believes in great many things.
She believes in god, in praying before sleeping and after waking, in going to church on a Sunday morning with her beloved parents. Sulli is a believer. But right now, she does not believe in anything.
It’s hard to when your beliefs are being refuted by the reality she’s now living.
There are many others like Krystal, she learns upon the first hour of her arrival. They are the same kind, except not at all. Krystal, for an instance, can manipulate flames - turn on and off stoves, light candles, burn things when she’s ticked off. Then there’s Luna, a clairvoyant who’s anticipated her being here today, sitting on the velvet couch in their dining room with prior knowledge of the things she’d say. Sulli’s thankful for that, it saves her from asking all the hard questions. In fact, a witch - Amber, is one of those questions: “Why does she dress like a boy and why she act so too?” The explanation is as puzzling as the news that she is one of them but it also makes nearly as much sense too. Amber was born with a curse in her left eye; any man that meets her eyes will become helplessly infatuated. The eye patch, the masculine haircut and clothes are her way of discouraging the unwanted affections. The last occupant of this house is Victoria. Her long, raven curls are enviable and as beautiful as she is, beauty kills. She lures them in with her porcelain complexion and feeds them the poison she’s been cooking up in the kitchen. Victoria is what is called, a ‘Caterpillar’ or a ceremonial witch; unable to perform witchcraft on the spot but skilled with runes, alchemies, rituals and whatnot. Apparently, every clan needs one to survive. And Sulli? No one can seem to decide where she fits in.
“It’s very fascinating how you brought yourself back to life,” Victoria remarks, putting down her mug of tea and reaches out to hold her hand, “I suspect it has something to do with your blood. What do you think?”
“M - me?” Sulli stutters, pointing to herself, “I - I don’t know”
“Of course, you don’t,” Krystal says dully, scratching the cat behind its ear as it meows in approval,
“Luna knows.”
Nodding a little, Luna says, “The prophecy has come true.”
The stunned silence around the table that follows is worrying if anything.
Sulli blinks. “What prophecy?”
-
They wear black in the morning. They wear black in the afternoon. They wear black in evening. On special occasions, grey is acceptable. White is frowned upon unless it is a part of stripes.
Amber threw away her red jumper when she was soaking in hot water. Krystal scrunched her nose at her pink buttoned up and stared at it until it caught on fire. Victoria commented on how ‘cute’ her oxford shoes were before Luna hesitantly discarded of it and greeted her the next morning with a heartfelt ‘sorry’ made of homemade pancakes.
“I hope I don’t come off as rude,” Sulli starts, the beginning of hesitation setting in just as soon as she speaks, “But do you guys worship the Satan or the devil or anything like that? Wait, did you see that coming?”
“No, I don’t get visions of everything,” Luna chuckles, shaking her lightly, “To answer your question - no, we don’t because we don’t believe in Satan or the devil. Witchcraft is just as it sounds, a craft of skills. Magic is simply energy, it has nothing to do with selling your soul to the devil like most people believe it to be.”
“But you don’t believe in god either?”
“No, we don’t,” Amber interrupts, helping herself to a glass of cocoa, “We don’t believe in all that crap regular people like to spread around.”
Luna shoots Amber a warning glare as she stalks off to her own room. “Sorry about that.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Sulli forces a small smile, cutting into the stack of pancakes, “I couldn’t get much sleep last night and I was thinking; if you guys really did believe in the prophecy then why didn’t you guys go out looking for…the white butterfly? Well that’s me now, I guess.”
Sitting down across from her, Luna tugs a strand of her blue tinted hair behind her ear. “Half of us thought of it to be a hoax. It’s rare to find an ordinary female who gains magical power after they turn sixteen because it would mean the witch did not gain possession of her title due to genetics but rather on her own terms.” She pauses to take a brief look out of the window, Sulli follows her line of gaze and see Krystal on the rusty, old swing with the same odd cat from yesterday. “However, it has been known to have happened in the past before and the witch turned out to be like any other in her clan - not more powerful and not any less. I, myself, did believe that the ‘White Butterfly’ prophecy is real but the others, they’re not very convinced.”
Feeling curious, Sulli decides to ask, “Why not?”
“There’s not many of us left. Thanks to witch hunters” Luna explains, something like a frown in her voice, “You could say that we’re a vanishing breed almost. The chances of finding an invincible witch that has the ability to bring back the deads are very slim.”
“But you think I can do that?”
Looking at her pensively, the curves of her mouth blooms into a smile infectious enough to almost bring one onto her own face. “I know so.”
Sulli might as well take her word for it. She’s the clairvoyant one after all.
-
“Is she ever without that cat?”
Sulli couldn’t help but ask two weeks into living the life of a witch. It’s a cold day and Krystal’s sitting out in the garden, her light blonde hair whipping around in all directions as she helps Luna picks some natural ingredient for the potion they’re teaching her how to make.
“Oh right, that thing,” Amber says dismissively, “Krystal found it two years ago when we went into town and took it home. I don’t think it ever goes anywhere without her and vice versa.”
“Yeah,” Victoria agrees, stirring the pot with great concentration, “It might have even followed her home. Who knows?”
She’s said it once and she’ll say it again: “Something’s off with that cat.”
-
They took her into town on a sunny afternoon. Walking in line, oldest at the front and youngest at the back, the order is Victoria, followed by Amber, Luna, her then surprisingly enough, Krystal. Sulli’s gone this past month convinced that Krystal is in fact, much older than her. It’s in the way she carries herself, Sulli decides, Krystal walks around like she understands how the world spin on its own axis.
“Do you approve of dark magic, Sulli?” Krystal asks her once they reach the super market, watching as the other three slip through entrance with half empty shopping bags.
“Is it supposed to be like the name suggests?” Sulli jokes, “Bad and wrong and all the things Luna would warn me against.”
“Yup,” She replies without missing a beat, making the emphasis on the ‘p’, “You don’t approve then?”
Sulli frowns. “Of course not!”
The cat meows in either approval or disapproval, Sulli couldn’t tell but Krystal gives it a questioning look before pushing down the rim of her hat, shielding herself from the merciless sun rays.
“Why do you always wear hats when you’re out?” Sulli asks nervously, pulling down the hem of her skirt, “Are you afraid that someone might recognize you?”
“No, you silly girl,” Krystal laughs, “There’s always a price to pay for magic. I can withstand less sunlight than the average person, meaning I’ll burn to death if I’m directly under the sun.”
That would explain why she’s pale like the ghosts, Sulli thinks to herself. Then it dawns on her, “What’s my price to pay?”
With a mischievous grin that can make a grown man cry, Krystal says, “Well, you’re the white butterfly, aren’t you? You’re invincible.”
-
She begins to notice things, then more things - the type of things that would usually go unnoticed if they haven’t spent as much time in this house as she has.
There’s an unspoken hierarchy; the girls fear Krystal. Sulli’s suspicion of this begins to take root after the first ceremony she took part in. They had been trying to track down the location of witch hunters.
Victoria’s eyes were rolled back, completely disconnected from the rest of them as she chanted
incomprehensible spells while the rest of them stood in circles with interlinked hands. It had been frightening but not enough so to dissipate her prior excitement. Everything was going smoothly, according to Amber. She spoke too fast because in a matter of seconds, Krystal lets go of her hands and set fire to the levitating book.
“You could have killed her!” Luna scolds her with a gentle demeanor but Sulli knew she was vexed, “The first rule to any ritual: do not let go under any circumstance.”
Krystal had promptly ignored her, picked up the black cat from the rocking chair and disappears into her room for the next two days. No one had said anything about it since. Not even Victoria who suffered a twelve hours black out as a small price to pay for disrupting the spirits they’ve called up.
Four nights later, Sulli wakes up with a gaping hole in each hand over her blinded eyes.
-
Victoria orders bed rest and wraps her two hands in unappealing herbal ointment.
“It’s all happening then,” Krystal says out of the blue, lounging around in her own bed above Sulli’s, “Odd things happen when the full extent of your magic sinks in. It would explain why Luna didn’t see this coming.”
“How come she didn’t see it coming?” Sulli asks, wincing in pain when she accident moves her right hand, “I thought you said all of you have already reached your full potential as witches.”
“There’s no such thing as full potential,” The blonde girl says coldly, “You can always be better. Learn more, destroy more, create more. Luna didn’t see it coming because what has happened isn’t a sure thing written in stars or reliant on fate.”
Still lost, Sulli asks, “Then what is happening to me?”
“You’ll know when the time comes, little one.”
Krystal looks up from her books of spell and to the pot of plant on the windowsill, seconds later her stare twitches and the wilting rose springs to full bloom.
She gapes at it for a minute, then spits out before she could stop herself, “W - why is it black?”
“Dark magic” Krystal drawls, her smirk gleaming danger.
-
By winter, her fascination with Krystal borderlines obsession.
The heavy wind and rain becomes their enemy. The roof shakes mercilessly, cold water leaks through every nook and cranny and the vines around the house embrace each other so tightly that the knot that shuts them in becomes unbreakable. Victoria brews enough potions to last them until the next full moon, Amber smokes enough cigarette to cripple her lungs, Luna studies up on the prophecy. It keeps the girls busy enough to stop them from walking into her and Krystal’s room.
But if they had, it would have caused an uproar - a divide between the sisters.
Within the span of five weeks, Sulli learns enough hexes to exterminate the whole town. Voodoo comes easily for the both of them; their experiment moves from small birds outside their windows to children that wanders by. At dawn, they sneak out to the nearby lake for a game of hide and seek. She’s learned to control her giggle well enough so that when she blinks to transform herself into thin air, she’s convincing enough for Krystal to shove her hand through her chest. They take it to the fields by dawn, blood red lipstick on each other’s cheeks and too exhausted to go on. Sulli lies flat on her back, chest heaving up and down as she bursts into delightful laughter. The raindrop clings to her skin and she watches it slides down her finger tips in fascination.
She notices the cat then.
“There you are,” she greets in mild agitation.
Sulli’s seen Krystal perform transformation spells enough times to be able to cast it herself. “Hmm, maybe I should test it out on you. What do you think?”
The cat stares back at her with its dark eyes before turning away, its small paws stepping over destroyed crops as it makes its escape. She’s never touched before, Sulli realizes, never held it in her arms or felt its fur under her hands. Getting on her hands and knees, she crawls, slowly but with malice.
“Got cha!” She exclaims in triumph, holding the animal away from her body to avoid the clawing,
“Stop, I’m not going to hurt y -“
“Sul - no!”
Faster than lightning, faster than the breath she takes, faster than the curse that Krystal sends her away. Before her very own eyes, the black cat with its paws, its whiskers and its tail - all those animalistic features transfigure into characteristics that resembles Krystal’s and hers too.
Taking one look of naked boy sprawled in front of her, Sulli sprints for her life.
-
It’s not a game, Sulli realizes between the panting and the crying.
She can sense Krystal’s dark aura from miles away. The forest is not big enough to hide in, not when Krystal’s magic is stirring in the air and ready to attack at any time. Sulli won’t be able to overpower her when she comes for her.
At a distance, it looks like a small torch. But Sulli knows better; Krystal’s burning the woods down.
“Why?” Sulli yells helplessly, the smell of smoke tickling her nose, “Why did you turn that boy into a cat?!”
She hears a twig snap behinds her and surely when she whirls around, Krystal’s standing there in her ripped leather shorts and matching jacket. “Because they were going to kill him”
“Who?”
“The other three,” Her response is as casual as her demeanor; leaning against the three and lighting flames in her hand, “He’s a witch hunter.”
Sulli’s throat closes up, her voice raspy when she speaks again, “Y - you told me that we have to kill them before they kill us.”
“Very true,” Krystal agrees with a contemplative frown, “Probably why I settled on a cat, he’s not very effective with killing me then, is he?”
“H - how?” Sulli falls to her knees as she desperately gasps for oxygen, “I - it ca - can’t la - last for -“
“For more than twelve hours,” The blonde finishes, now standing over her, “My, I really have taught you well, little one. To answer your question; dark magic.”
“Ar - are you go - going to ki - kill me?”
“There goes your five minutes of intelligence,” Krystal roll her eyes, “I can’t kill you, remember? You will just revive yourself like you did when I found you.”
“Then -“ Sulli can’t help but fight for more air, she’s going to be a goner if Krystal doesn’t put out her fire soon, “Then what are you d - doing?”
Krystal casts a side long glance at the little hut they call home. Sulli fights hard to scream for Victoria, for Luna, for Amber but it’s too late, the windows slam shut with a chorus of resolute ‘bang’s, the rose vines with its deadly thorns forms a criss-cross over the door. Please don’t do this, Sulli chants in her head like a prayer but the only god now is Krystal.
“Rest in peace, darlings.”
Engulfed in flames, she can see the end.
-
Sulli wakes up to the revelation that she can’t bring them back.
She flips through enough of those rule books to know that unless the witch that performs the curse is killed or reverse the spell with her own magic, the damage will last according to how powerful she is. Sulli wouldn’t be able to make it back to the Salem’s estate and that’s if it hasn’t been burnt to nothing already. If she can’t touch them, she might as well be useless.
“I tried to warn you.”
Startled that she isn’t the only one left in the woodland, Sulli sits up with the support of her elbows. She expected anyone but him to still be here. “Y - you didn’t go with her?”
The boy’s covered in layers and layers of blankets but clearly it isn’t enough to keep him warm in the winter weather. “She’s still here.”
Sulli gulps, her eyes roaming what is left of the forest. “You’re lying, I don’t see her.”
“She’s gone into town to get food and me some clothes.”
He’s trembling, his teeth clattering as he rubs his hands together in front of the small camp fire. He’s too weak to swat a fly, Sulli relaxes, it’s okay to let her guard down for now.
“Aren’t you going to kill me?” The dark haired boy asks quietly, his teeth clattering, “Now that you know that I’m a witch hunter.”
“No,” she decides then and there, “I won’t harm you but you need to go, now, before she gets back.”
He says nothing, instead he sits still and lifeless like a statue as he watches the fire crackles. Sulli is about to repeat herself, knowing full well that time is ticking away but he beats her to it first, “I can’t leave her.”
He must have lost his mind, she thinks in hysteric. “Mister, you don’t understand, she might be on her way back, right now -“
“My name is Kai, I’m a witch hunter and I’m in love with a witch.”
-
An hour later, Krystal is still not back and all Sulli knows about her only companion is his name.
She sits beside him, making sure to not get too close but remains close enough to feel some warmth.
“How long have you been stuck in…that form?”
“You mean a cat?” Kai corrects with a bitter chuckle, “You already know”
“Two years?”
He nods gingerly, throwing a small twig into the flame. “Three tomorrow”
“How?”
“I didn’t know that Krystal was a witch, she put a charm on herself to alter her appearance,” Kai replies, knowing full well what she’s referring to, “At some point over the course of that one evening I spent with her as a human, she figured out that I was a witch hunter and when I kissed her for the first time, instead of killing me, she turned me into a cat.”
“I don’t understand,” Sulli mumbles, unsure if she’s more angry or confused, “How can you be in love with - with that woman?! She transfigured you into an animal, for years and if that isn’t already enough, she killed all that’s left of her kind.”
“Not all,” He offers grimly, “You’re still here.”
She scoffs. “If you could kill me, I would be with the rest of them.”
“That’s not true,” he argues, his voice low as he turns to look at her for the first time, “She’s fond of you.”
“Like she’s fond of you?”
Kai stares at her heatedly then spits, “Think what you want.”
“Do you think she cares for you?” Sulli laughs at the absurdity of his statement, “You’re delusional if you think this is love! You’re basically her prisoner and you call that love?! Did she hypnotized over the years or are you just plain dumb -“
Twisting her arm in his tight hold, he snarls, “Don’t speak of something that you don’t understand.”
Oh but she understands. It’s too easy to get lost in allure of Krystal’s dark charms.
-
“What’s your plan?”
“What do you mean what’s my plan?”
“From here on,” Sulli says, her lips completely numb, “What are you and Krystal going to do?”
Kai thinks it over for a long minute, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. “I don’t know, we haven’t discussed it. What about you?”
“I’m going to kill her,” she whispers through gritted teeth, enjoying the way he stiffens next to her, “I’m going to kill her and I’m going to bring everyone back to life.”
“If you kill her,” Kai says loud enough for only her to hear, “Then I’ll have to kill you.”
“How do you know I won’t kill you first?”
-
Krystal appears by Kai’s side with a ‘pop’. He doesn’t so much as flinch at abrupt presence, only reaches his hand out to brush against to make sure that she is really stand there next to him. Sulli
“I got you a full set of clothes, all your size,” She tells him, running her hand through his mussed hair, “You should change into these before you freeze to death.”
Kai pulls her hand up to his lips for a quick kiss before he gets up on his feet, taking the pile of rags from her. “I’ll be right back.”
To Sulli’s disbelieve, she catches something that’s close to pure happiness in Krystal’s smile as she gazes at him in adoration. This is the girl who has murdered her whole entire clan - her sisterhood of witches without so much as a blink but here she is, looking at a boy with complete and utter devotion. Sulli feels sick from where she’s sitting.
“Kai,” Krystal calls softly, catching his wrist, “I want you to know that I love you.”
He looks just as surprised as Sulli does, she imagines. “I love you too.”
Sulli, too disturbed by the exchange that she has witnessed between the lovers, fails to see the leather glove slides off Krystal’s pale hand. When she eventually catches sight of it, she finds herself only capable of asking dumbly, “What are you doing?”
Krystal’s grey eyes flutter closed.
“What are you doing?” Sulli scurries onto her feet, casting a simple suspending spell but Krystal waves it off with ease.
“Oh my god,” she breathes, realizing what’s about to happen in the next moment if she doesn’t take doesn’t something - anything. Sulli opens her mouth, the beginning of a scream at the tip of her tongue but Krystal takes care of that too with a silencing spell.
A fragment of a second and one dislocating spell later, Kai’s head snaps all the way around before dropping to the ground.
If Krystal had shed tears over his corpse, Sulli did not see it.
-
Sulli doesn’t know how long she stood there, yelling things that Krystal will never get to hear. Not that Krystal would have listened.
The sun sets and Krystal’s still where she’s been for what seems like an eternity; kneeling beside Kai’s now cold body like he will wake up at anytime now and for the longest time, Sulli’s convinced he would because she did, why couldn’t he do the same?
But he doesn’t.
She likes to think that Krystal’s saying her goodbyes, justifying herself to his soul even though it’s not there anymore. For the first time in a year, Sulli speaks to god and for the first time ever, she doesn’t ask for anything. She just wants to go home, but there is no home anymore. She’s been declared dead over a year now; her parents probably have thrown a funeral and buried nothing for their daughter.
“It’s only the two of us now,” Krystal declares, her shadow looming over her.
The silencing spell is removed but Sulli finds that she’s got nothing to say after all.
“He was a lovely boy but he would have gotten in our way, all witch hunters do,” She says, sitting down on the log behind them, “They all would have - Victoria, Amber, Luna - sweet as they may be, they don’t have what it takes to make a change.”
Sulli takes a seat next to her. No longer afraid or angry or hurt or betrayed or anything at all - she’s just there.
“You and I,” Krystal holds her hand inside her own clammy one, “We are going to revolutionize the world.”
“How? You've killed everything and everyone.”
“It’s midnight,” Krystal kisses the top of her head, whispers, “All revolution starts at midnight.”