Chapter Text
Everything was dark.
The blonde boy tried to open his eyes, repeatedly, but invisible energy forced him to keep them closed.
Where am I?, he wondered. He felt as if he was floating, not being able to maintain his balance. Fear started to do its thing, slowly approaching the boy’s soul, feeding off his hope and positivity. He tried to scream, to shout, to ask for help, but only a mute sound came from his throat. What is happening?, cried the poor boy in his head, praying for someone to help him, to make him understand what was going on.
Unable to see, to speak, to hear, his anxious self was almost losing the ability to breathe. It was right then, when he was about to lose himself on his own fear, when he heard something. His body instantaneously reacted to the sound, trying to approach it, trying to comprehend what the sound was. Trying not to feel alone in the creepy shadows that surrounded him.
The indecipherable sound began getting clearer, first a soft mumble from a deep voice, that embraced the boy, like a hug. The kind of voice that makes your limbs go weak, but also a reassuring one, that left a trace of promises which sworn everything was gonna be okay. Then he heard a louder voice, also deep, but warmer this time, as if he was holding your hand, as the fireplace of an old castle.
Clearer and clearer, louder and louder, the voices weren’t just a buzz on his ears anymore, but he started connecting words, which at their time, built longer sentences.
“-have you done?” accused the reassuring voice. “Oh, my god.”
“Don’t bring God into this, Yutoda. Look, I don’t know what happened but-“
“They’re going to kill you. And they’re gonna kill me. Oh, my god. I’m gonna kill you,” interrupted the deeper voice to the warmer one. “I’m losing my mind, I’m- Oh.” He suddenly stopped talking. “Wooseok, come here, he’s opening his eyes”.
The boy realized they were talking about him, opening his tired eyes unconsciously and closing them rapidly at the sight of the very first sun rays. His fear had almost disappeared, but the sense of confusion didn’t leave him. What had happened? Where was he? How had he arrived there? Who were these people? There were many answers wandering through his head, but the only word he could pronounce was a weak: “W-Wa… t-ter”.
Still with his eyes closed, he heard some fast steps leaving his side and approaching him some seconds later. They put a straw on his mouth and he tried to absorb as many liquid as he could, but his stamina was lacking. Luckily, a gentle hand softly pushed his head upwards and helped him take some sips of it. It wasn’t water, though, but a dense substance that felt like honey mixed with milk. When he considered he’d had enough, he tried to open his eyes again, and there he was: the most beautiful person he’d ever had the chance to see. “Hi, dear. My name is Yutoda, but you can call me Yuto. Nice to meet you”, the mesmerizing person said with a big smile on his face. “I-I’m Hyun… Hyunggu”, he said with some difficulty but making some improvement. "You can call me Kino". He returned his grin with a soft smile, reddening the other boy’s ears.
He looked at his surrounding for the first time since he woke up. They were in the middle of the countryside, and all around him, the greenest grass he had ever seen reached the horizon. Some trees here and there, with their branches and leaves being moved by the light breeze, made the scene peaceful… but also eerie. He tried to look at the other person who was a couple of meters away from them. Sitting up straight, he saw him, and there he was: the other most beautiful person he’d ever had the chance to see. The strange couple were both wearing strange garments, similar to a monk’s habit, snow-white, not a single stain on it. A golden belt was the only accessory the two dark-haired boys were wearing, making their figure even slenderer.
He noticed Kino was staring at him, so he got closer to him and lowered himself, his faces being at the same level. He placed his hand on his cheek and caressing it softly, he said: “I’m Wooseok, nice to meet you, Hyunggu. I’m glad you look this… good. I mean, well... healthy. Did you have a good trip?”.
Kino blinked twice at the question. “E-Excuse me?” His puzzled expression may have been really obvious because Yuto started worrying. “Wooseok, I swear, tell me you didn’t alter his memories”.
“My memories? I-I don’t understand anything, where am I? Who are you? I was sleeping with my brother Changgu just some hours ago,” Kino threw all the words at once, the stamina again at its fullest, as well as his anxiety. “Have you both kidnapped me? Holy crap, is that it? Is this how I die? I need to tell my mother I love her, oh, my God, I’m really gonna die, I’m too young for this, I’m…”
Wooseok looked at him in disbelief, while he kept talking. “We’re not going to kill you, Kino. You’re already… well… you know…”, he looked at Yuto asking for some help, who was still right next to the blonde boy.
“You’re dead, Kino,” he said, deep voice full of calmness.
Kino stared at Yuto, completely not understanding.
“I’m the angel of reincarnation," Wooseok added, making Kino feel even dizzier. “P-Pa-Pardon? Y-You’re what again?”
“Look, I know this is hard to process, but it shouldn’t have been like this on the first place, ‘cause you were supposed to be a human again, not a fairy, I don’t know what went wrong, but they’re gonna kill me and-“.
"A f-fa-fairy?” Kino was about to faint.
“Yeah, but don’t worry, it’s nothing like humans say about them, they don’t have butterfly wings, though it’s been decades since I last reincarnated a male fairy, maybe you will, I don’t really kn-“
“Can you shut UP?” Yuto cut him off, glaring at him. “He’s on the verge of a mental breakdown”. Wooseok looked at Hyunggu’s blank face, feeling utterly lost, the poor freckled blue-eyed boy. “Look, this is not something you’re gonna comprehend easily”, Yuto started saying. “Wooseok is an angel of reincarnation, whose job is to reunite the deserving souls who died too soon and make them reborn”. Kino still kept that blank expression, but Yuto decided he needed to continue, or he would lose him irreversibly. “You died exactly ten hours and five minutes ago, from a massive inhalation of toxic gas due to a fire which started in your kitchen. Your brother desperately tried to save you, but it was too late for you already”. Yuto looked at him with some sadness in his eyes, watching how Kino finally reacted to something for the first time in a while. “I-I died? In a fire? I’m-I’m… I d-don’t know what to say, everything’s just… too much”. Yuto hugged him compassively, feeling how the boy’s tears started falling. "If it helps, your mother and your brothers were successfully rescued". Kino's sobs became louder after that comment.
Wooseok, moved by the view of the soul he’d just -mistakenly- reincarnated, added himself to the hug, warming the heart of the newborn. “I’m sorry for being so inconsiderate. At least your guardian angel will always be here for the both of us”. Kino lifted his head from Yuto’s shoulders, and still with tears on his eyes, asked with utter admiration: “You are my guardian angel?” Yuto looked at him visibly uncomfortable by the proximity of the one he sworn to protect, but after some seconds, he cutely nodded. “Wooseok was right before, though”, he said, trying to divert the focus of the tearful boy's attention. “We still don’t know what happened, but against all odds, you weren’t reincarnated in a human, but in a fairy, instead. However, fairies are far different from how humans have written about them throughout history. They are provided of outstanding beauty, yes, but they're not magical creatures. Fairies receive one gift. One talent only used to help humans, to make their life easier. One powerful gift which can completely alter the course of their lives, being your reason to live to improve theirs. Are you sure you understand what this means?”
Kino took a long time to answer. Everything was so new, so vibrant. Even the atmosphere told him this wasn’t the world he was used to, and in which he had lived for 20 years.
Finally, he dubiously nodded. “And so, what is my gift?”
Yuto looked at him sympathetically.
“Kino, your gift is…”
Love.
End of part 1.