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It was a normal ordinary day just like any other; it just happened to be one of those days when Seonghwa and Hongjoong had a delivery to make for their home business. So, they saddled up for their trip into town to deliver the specific potion that the customer had ordered. They didn't like customers coming into their home or knowing where they lived, so they always had the customer choose a place where they could meet up and do the transaction.
About fifteen minutes later, Hongjoong and Seonghwa had reached their customers' chosen destination. They had arrived at some type of old building that was obviously abandoned, what with its lack of proper care. The ground was partially cracked and the columns placed at the front entrance were crumbling with every gentle shake of the earth. The structure appeared to be mostly made of concrete as if it had been some type of building that had succumbed to ruin.
"Well, this looks promising," Seonghwa spoke up, letting out a chuckle under his breath. Hongjoong moved his vision to look to Seonghwa.
"Why do our clients always choose the most random places?" Hongjoong started. "I mean, look at this place! I would never be able to find anything like this on my own. This place looks like it hasn't been used in decades!"
Seonghwa laughed loudly. "Y'know, you could always choose the location, right? You're the one that does this to yourself."
Hongjoong glared at Seonghwa, before hitting his shoulder against Seonghwa's side. With a growl, Hongjoong let a quick, "Shut up!" leave his mouth.
Seonghwa continued to laugh, his eyes crinkling at the edges. Hongjoong appreciated the moment, his heart skipping a beat. He mentally shushed it, letting the persistent beating of it fade away to the back of his mind. That was what he wanted it to do, but Seonghwa just had to reach up and fix a stray hair from landing in his eye. Stupid pretty boy being so stupidly pretty! it wasn't fair!
"Anyways," Hongjoong coughed, attempting to clear his throat. "Shall we?"
Without a second glance back, they walked through the entrance to the old building. The first thing Hongjoong noticed was the giant room they had walked into. There was debris and moss everywhere, and there was a strange smell in the air. Hongjoong's nose crinkled impulsively, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth.
"God, it smells so bad," he groaned, his muffled voice echoing into the room. Seonghwa just rolled his eyes in response and continued to move forward in front of them.
He turned to Hongjoong. "Is this the right place?"
Hongjoong shrugged. "Hell if I know. I wonder if there's another room or something?"
The two continued walking through the large room, stepping over trash and random piles of rubble and dirt. Hongjoong had a shiver run down his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck felt like they were standing tall. He shrugged off the sudden urge to run away and continued to step over some overgrown patches of weeds, sensing Seonghwa's presence right behind him.
They both noticed an archway a couple of feet in front of them, leading to a dark hallway. That prickly sensation was back, but it felt slightly stronger than it did before. Again, Hongjoong brushed it off, ignoring it as if it was no big deal.
"Should we go down here and see if there's another room?" Hongjoong asked, looking from the long, obscure hallway in front of them to Seonghwa, who was positioned right next to him. Seonghwa's eyes narrowed as he attempted to look for any sign of danger, his right hand on the scabbard of his sword that was attached to his hip. His eyebrows quickly furrowed in concentration, but they softened moments later as he looked to Hongjoong.
"It's clear. Let's go."
Hongjoong and Seonghwa both walked through the archway and into the elongated corridor. The darkness swallowed all existence of light in seconds. The sound of both Hongjoong and Seonghwa's boots fell into a syncopated rhythm, Hongjoong's tiny legs struggling to keep up with Seonghwa's long ones. As they continued to walk, the air grew musty and thick becoming overbearingly suffocating. There was a small sound to their left, but Hongjoong registered the noise as small droplets of water hitting a larger pool of water. Nothing to be scared of, Hongjoong. Just some water...
Hongjoong couldn't help but shift his eyes down to try to make out the shape of his boots. He knew there was no chance of him being able to see them when it was this dark, but he still made an effort. Although, when he moved his eyes to his feet, he could see them. He shook his head and the hallway was back in front of his eyes - or what he thought was the hallway since he couldn't see anything once again. A moment later, a twinge of discomfort spread throughout his chest, making Hongjoong almost double over in pain. Instead, he settled for tripping over his own feet in response.
"Are you certain this is the right place, Joong?" Seonghwa muttered under his breath. Hongjoong was still recovering from his almost tumble, barely registering Seonghwa's voice. He looked towards his side to seek out Seonghwa's silhouette, but when he attempted to concentrate his vision, he noticed he wasn't even in the hallway anymore. Instead, it looked like he was being surrounded by a cloud of white smoke and there were faint humming and whirring noises coming from around him. He turned around in a circle, wondering where the hell he was all of a sudden. A voice whispered into what felt like his ear.
It's almost time...
Hongjoong blinked and he was back in the pitch black emptiness of the hallway. He took a step forward and bumped into something. He looked up and could feel Seonghwa's eyes on him.
"Hongjoong? Are you alright?" Seonghwa's calm voice soothed the ache in Hongjoong's chest. Another sharp sensation hit him, this time on the back of his head. He sprang forward, a pained whimper falling from his lips. Hongjoong's breathing began to grow quicker.
"Yeah," Hongjoong hissed out, grabbing onto Seonghwa's arms for support. He felt Seonghwa's muscles tense from the sudden touch, but then relaxed not even a second later. "Just tripped over my foot, that's all."
Seonghwa hesitated for a moment, before moving a step away from Hongjoong. His hands fell to his side when Seonghwa completely pulled away. Yet, a warmth enveloped his hand a moment later as he felt his fingers become laced with Seonghwa's own. The persistent beating of his heart started again. Hongjoong was thankful it was dark in the passageway, otherwise Seonghwa would see him most likely turning red.
Seonghwa turned around and began leading the way towards the end of the hallway. Eventually, the corridor came to an end and opened into a large room that was surrounded by broken columns and cracked walls of concrete. It appeared at first glance to be the ruins leftover from a temple of some kind. The sky was visible through a large gap in the ceiling having most likely broken away after years of no use. It allowed the setting sun to light the shadows and the stars to appear, glistening.
At the other side of the room came a booming voice, surprising the two men and causing them to jump. "You got what I want?"
Seonghwa retrieved the small vile of the potion Hongjoong had made earlier that same day from his pocket. He showed it to the customer. Seonghwa waited a moment before turning to look at Hongjoong expectantly. He usually did most of the talking during their transactions with customers; Seonghwa was primarily there for back up purposes.
On closer inspection, Hongjoong's eyes were suddenly glazed over. His gaze almost cloudy and distant looking, like he wasn't fully there anymore. His irises were almost black, illuminated by the light of the - now visible - moon. Seonghwa felt his heart rate pick up.
"Hongjoong?" He asked carefully.
Suddenly, there was a cloud of dark smoke surrounding them. Seonghwa looked around and made eye contact with the customer across the room, who seemed just as frightened as he did.
"Don't look at me, man! I didn't do anything! This must be some of the devil’s magic or something," the man called out, his hands held up in defense "Fuck this, it ain't worth dying for!"
The man quickly scurried away, leaving Hongjoong and Seonghwa alone — well maybe just Seonghwa. Hongjoong had started to mumble incoherently and Seonghwa could only make out the last few syllables of what appeared to be a Latin spell.
Smoke.
The room was lit in flames.
//
Screaming. Fire. An eternity of darkness.
Hongjoong felt like he was suffocating as he stood in the middle of the room. All of his surroundings faded into muffled noises like they were never there, to begin with. He closed his eyes to see if he could regain his vision, but when he opened them he was alone. The customer was gone, the room was gone, even Seonghwa was gone. He was completely alone.
More screaming. Who was it? Who was screaming? What was happening? Why did Hongjoong feel like something was burning his chest, right above his heart?
Frightened, he felt a sudden presence behind him, a voice whispered into his right ear. It was a soft whisper, but with the intention of taunting him, making the inside of his mind twist and melt into a strange black substance. Hongjoong felt like something was trying to take over his body like he was losing control over every ounce of his entire being.
No! Hongjoong didn't want this. No! No! This wasn't him. What was happening?
Yes...
"No! Make it stop!" It was then that Hongjoong realized the screaming had been him the entire time. He raised his hands to cover his ears as he continued to shriek and cry out in agony. His body felt like it was being burned piece by piece by a powerful force, although there was nothing there.
"S-Seonghwa... Help me...please..." Hongjoong cried out, his voice trembling as he slowly sank to his knees. He just wanted to be normal. Why? Why was he like this? He just wanted to be an ordinary mage, who wanted to get the chance to tell Seonghwa how much he loved him. How much he appreciated everything he's ever done for him. The idea of never seeing Seonghwa again struck a chord so deep in Hongjoong that he let out an ear-piercing scream as he felt his soul break in two.
Come. It is time...
"No! I don't want to go! Make it stop, make it stop!" Hongjoong was powerless as he felt his soul separate from his body. Some sort of force pushed him away as if he was an outsider that was not allowed into his own body. With a sudden flash of light, the room changed back to where he was just moments before this had all began. Seonghwa stood before him, his eyes wide and absolutely terrified.
"Seonghwa!"
Hongjoong froze. He had spoken, but there was no noise that had come out from his lips. The intense burning sensation happened once again, but this time Hongjoong could feel it crawling up from his throat.
"Hong...joong?" Seonghwa muttered, his voice fading out. Hongjoong cried out in pain, the feeling of his body burning from the inside out. He choked, gasping for air.
Then, it was black again.
//
Seonghwa couldn't move. It was like his feet wouldn't listen to the mantra of his brain screaming Run! Get out of there! But he wouldn't dare leave Hongjoong behind, he couldn’t.
Hongjoong's eyes snapped open, a cloudy shade covering his irises.
"Hongjoong? Are you there? Can you hear me?" Seonghwa called out, hesitating slightly as Hongjoong took a subtle step back. Hongjoong's mouth opened, but no noise came out. Instead, the flames surrounding the room got even brighter. It was quiet besides the crackle of the flames against the concrete floor.
Suddenly, Hongjoong started screaming, his hands shooting up to cover his own ears from his screams. "S-Seonghwa! Make it stop! I don't want this! Go away!"
Seonghwa's heart dropped, a small portion of it breaking at hearing the desperation in Hongjoong's voice. His eyes were still cloudy, but there was now a patch of black color spreading from his chest and up to his neck.
"Hongjoong!" He rushed forward, reaching out his hand to grab Hongjoong. Seonghwa reacted a second too late.
Suddenly, a dark cloud surrounded Hongjoong's body and began to circulate rapidly. The gust of the cloud was too strong for Seonghwa to stand against and he was quickly thrown back a few meters away from Hongjoong's body to the cold concrete floor.
"Hongjoong! Stop this! This isn't you!" Seonghwa shouted, trying to overpower the sound of the wind and the flames. He raised his arms up over his head as a large block of concrete flew past his head, barely missing him by a few centimetres Oh. That's not good.
Seonghwa looked up just in time to see tears start to fall from Hongjoong's eyes and down his cheeks where the patch of black was starting to spread.
A sniffle. "You don't understand! This is who I am!"
Seonghwa shook his head. "No! It's most definitely not! You're more than this, Hongjoong."
Hongjoong began to scream again, this time shaking violently. The flames grew even larger, the wind picking up and carrying them across the room. It was silent and there stood Hongjoong, standing still with a smirk on his face. There were still tears on his face, but he looked more collected than seconds before. The mood shifted.
"It's about time I've dealt with this nuisance," Hongjoong laughed, mostly to himself. Seonghwa's eyes widened as he sprung to his feet. Something isn't right, Seonghwa thought. This isn't his Hongjoong.
Seonghwa managed to dodge a sudden blast of magic from Hongjoong's left hand. His heart stopped for a brief moment. Was this..was this black magic?
"What are you looking at, peasant? Don't you understand the situation you're in? Who it is you’re standing before?" Hongjoong snickered the light from the flames reflecting off of his cloudy eyes.
"Hongjoong! Snap out of it!" Seonghwa pleaded, his fists clenched by his sides. Another blast of magic whizzed past him; he dodged again.
Hongjoong smirked, before raising his left hand and turning around. He threw out his hand and blasted the wall straight ahead of him. He began to laugh maniacally.
"Nothing can stop me! Not even you, you worthless human!" More magic. The floor started to crack underneath their feet, the flames seemed to get brighter and the room became something close to resembling hell itself.
Seonghwa was powerless against him. He could use his sword to attack, but he wouldn’t do it. He promised himself he would never lay a hand on Hongjoong, not even if it was to protect himself.
Hongjoong's back remained turned to Seonghwa as he continuously blasted the area around them with his black magic. The cloud around him grew darker. Hongjoong laughed, watching the columns around them crash to the ground. Seonghwa felt tears spring to the corners of his eyes. This wasn't his Hongjoong at all. Where did his small ball of sunshine go? The man he grew up with — the one he couldn't imagine living without?
Hongjoong's evil laughter seemed to ring out around the empty area, making Seonghwa's chest tighten. Seonghwa just wanted this to be over with; he couldn't handle seeing Hongjoong slowly falling apart in front of him.
"Hongjoong! That's enough!" Seonghwa cried out. "Come back to me! Please! This isn't like you! You're more than the stupid dark magic that you inherited from your disgusting parents."
Hongjoong stopped laughing, standing still as if he was listening to what Seonghwa was saying.
He continued. "You make me so happy, you do. But right now I’m absolutely scared of you. Please," he started to sob. "Please come back."
"Shut up!" Hongjoong cried out, turning around to face Seonghwa. His eyes were becoming more cloudy, the black snaking its way up his neck past his jawline.
"Please!" Seonghwa choked out, looking directly at Hongjoong. Suddenly, Hongjoong started to shake, grasping his head in his hands, pulling at his hair.
"No! Make it stop! Seonghwa!"
"Hongjoong!"
Suddenly, Seonghwa felt a sharp pain rush throughout his body and he staggered backward. He looked down and saw black starting to spread from where his heart was located. He looked up in confusion at Hongjoong who had his left hand outstretched towards him, having blasted him without notice.
Seonghwa blinked slowly as he fell to his knees. The suffocating feeling was back, stronger than ever. It felt like there was wildfire coursing through his veins, covering every inch of his body. His vision blurred slightly as he looked over at Hongjoong and watched as his eyes returned to their normal shade, the black cloud surrounding him slowly fading. He staggered a step forward, hands catching himself on his knees .
"S-Seonghwa...?" Hongjoong whispered, more to himself than anything. He looked up to see Seonghwa on his knees, his hands clutching at his chest. Hongjoong’s breath caught in his throat as Seonghwa’s figure slumped farther onto the ground. Seonghwa began coughing, and Hongjoong noticed there was now blood staining the corners of his mouth. Seonghwa went still and Hongjoong stared at the motionless figure a few feet away. Finally, Hongjoong’s voice decided it would work and he shouted,"Seonghwa! No!"
Hongjoong stumbled forward, scrambling in the direction of Seonghwa’s body. He tripped on the laces of his boots and he tumbled to the ground. Hongjoong outstretched his hand whilst he began to crawl his way towards Seonghwa. He needed to touch him, make sure that he was okay; he yearned to touch the man he loved, but did he truly deserve to? Being with Seonghwa was never enough - he always needed more. Oh, how selfish he was to be thinking of something so narcissistic, as if Seonghwa wasn’t injured right in front of him. Hongjoong finally latched himself onto Seonghwa’s arm, smashing his body into his chest. Hongjoong could faintly register a small pulse from his grip around Seonghwa’s arm. He let out the ugliest sob known to man and buried his face in the hair at the top of Seonghwa’s head, pulling his body closer as if he’d disappear from right in front of him. It isn’t until Seonghwa lets out a labored gasp, coughing up more blood, that Hongjoong releases him and instead, cradles him in his arms as if he were a baby.
Hongjoong took one look at the blood surrounding Seonghwa's mouth, dripping down his chin, and began to bawl. He sniffled, then focused on the pain etched onto Seonghwa’s beautiful features. He shifted his energy into moving his hand up to run his hand through Seonghwa’s dark hair, moving his eyes across every inch of his skin, taking it all in. He dragged his fingers from his hairline down to his cheek, which he then caressed softly. He cupped Seonghwa’s cheek a moment later, his thumb accidentally smearing the blood around his mouth.
"What have I done...?" Hongjoong whispered to himself, tears falling down his own cheeks. Seonghwa slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Hongjoong.
"It's...okay," Seonghwa hissed out, a painful smile appearing on his face. Hongjoong immediately shook his head.
"No, it's not! I don't know what came over me! I was in this strange dark abyss and it felt like I wasn't in control of anything that was happening anymore. It hurt really bad and it felt like I couldn't breathe! I was so scared, Seonghwa!" Hongjoong sobbed. "I just wanted to come home to you! I don't want to be alone, please stay here. Please, please!”
Hongjoong pressed his forehead against Seonghwa’s, feeling the shallow breathing coming from his lips. His tears ran down his nose and landed on the older’s cheek. “I’m so sorry, “ he whispers, afraid to startle him. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I love you so much, Seonghwa. I didn’t mean for this, please...I love you.”
Seonghwa's breathing slowed and he let out a low hiss as he reached his hand up to cup Hongjoong's cheek. His thumb moved over the black lines that seemed to finally have stopped spreading from Hongjoong’s neck. He smiled, no pain evident in his features as he looked over Hongjoong's face. "It's okay, Hongjoong. I’m always okay, remember? I love...you, too."
Hongjoong lets out a small laugh; even now when Seonghwa’s the one in danger, he comforts Hongjoong. He opens his mouth to say something to reply back to him, but Seonghwa's hand suddenly drops from Hongjoong’s cheek to the floor.
"Seonghwa?" Hongjoong froze, his eyes wide as he looked down at the man in his arms. His eyes were barely open, the light completely fading from his eyes. His body was limp and his skin grew colder. Hongjoong shook his head. "S-Seonghwa no...No! No, Seonghwa! Please! You can't do this to me! Come back! Seonghwa, please come back. Please, please!"
Hongjoong's pleads echoed around the empty room. He could only hear his own sobbing, the sound almost driving him insane.
“Please! Please...,” Hongjoong sobbed. He pulled Seonghwa’s limp body closer to him, rocking slightly as he attempted to breathe. “I’m sorry, please, please. I’m so sorry.” Was that all he could do? Ask for forgiveness, when he knew he could never have it? When he himself, would never forgive this? “Please... Don’t leave me alone...”
A moment later Hongjoong felt an intense burn run straight down the middle of his chest. Hongjoong couldn’t bear the pain and started screaming. His body started to convulse, shaking not only himself but Seonghwa as well. The burning sensation grew stronger, appearing to be not only mentally but physically ripping his soul apart. All around him, he could hear Seonghwa; he could hear him laughing, assuring him that he was always okay and he could hear a continuous loop of “I love you too” surrounding his entire mind. Hongjoong cradled Seonghwa even closer, wishing it had been him instead.
It should have been him instead.