Work Text:
One day, a black smoke flew from the east.
On the next day, it stopped and fluctuated above the Henituse house.
===
Cale looked out of the balcony with a
half-asleep gaze.
For some reason, he began to miss his job of making strategies from his former commander position. But of course that didn't mean Cale hated the peaceful life after the war.
The White Star is defeated, as well as his subordinate, and Cale gets the lazy life he wants. Isn't that great? Although he had to admit, after a few months of rolling around in bed, he was starting to get bored. Especially when he is alone without the children.
Raon went to meet Eruhaben at Sheritt's castle, saying that he couldn't leave the recovered old dragon alone. Eruhaben got a few wounds and his body also grew weaker, though he said it was okay and could still move around or do work as usual
On and Hong went with Ron and Beacrox to the Molan household. Ron said they will get some training with the assassins there. Because On and Hong looked excited, Cale couldn't refuse and let them go with shivers.
'who knows a little kid around 9 years old is so passionate about training with assassin.'
But seriously, Cale was really bored right now. He parted ways with his friends from Super Rock Villa and Harris village to stay at Henituse Mansion for a while. No one followed him into the Henituse territory. Even Choi Han, who was always with Cale, went to the forest of darkness with Lock to gather herbs for Rosalyn's research.
It's really quiet.
- XXXX-KER!
Or maybe not.
Cale frowned as the ancient powers shouted again.
- stop it, cheapskate, crazy kid, you two.
- I HAVE A BIGGER IQ THAN HIM!!
- Oh yeah? Oh really?
- YES! That's a fact!
- I didn't hear.
- Aish YOU!
- what's IQ? Is that a drug?
- Glutton, you suck! IQ is a—
- —shampoo!
- uh yes?
- isn't that a toothpaste?
- what toothpaste, what?
- IQ, Indestructible Question?
- and they said they don't need early education.
Cale sighed. Well... Maybe ancient powers can get bored too (though he doesn't remember being bored can make one dumber).
A knock came from outside the door, making the ancient powers somewhat gasp and silence one by one.
"Orabuni?"
Cale walked leisurely and opened the door. In front of his room was Lily with a personal maid behind her.
"yes?"
"umn, it's time for lunch."
After saying that, Lily lowered her head while fiddling with her fingers, smiling shyly. Cale smiled seeing Lily already growing tall, almost reaching his shoulders now. There was a faint feeling of pride growing inside him.
'perhaps, alone isn't bad for now.'
Alone in the sense of no friends, but still with family. Maybe this can be called quality time?.
"yes."
Cale patted Lily's head and walked ahead with a light smile, causing Lily to quickly catch up with him excitedly.
Lily's personal maid also couldn't help but smile. 'ah really, I'm jealous.'
Cale Henituse's ancient power and kindness might be famous on the other region, but within the Henituse duchy itself, what was so famous about Cale Henituse right now, was his secretly gentle nature. Especially towards his family and allies (family 2.0). It is often rumored by the servants and knights who work in the mansion.
Lily's maid continued to smile, until she finally halted and made a confused look.
"my lady?"
Moments before, Lily suddenly stopped walking and stared back in confusion. Lily didn't look at her maid, but at the room behind her. The maid tried to follow Lily's gaze, but was even more confused.
'isn't that the young lady's room? Are young lady tired? Has she forgotten something?'
Lily's maid looked at Cale's back, hoping Cale would give an answer. Cale, who heard the maid's words, stopped and turned his head, inadvertently meeting the confused looking maid. The two of them let out an awkward expression at the same time.
"ahem! Uh... Lily? What's wrong?"
Cale looked at Lily with a very slightly worried look.
He can see Lily flinched, then turned to face him with a confused expression.
"uh, yes? Uhm, nothing."
Lily lowered her head after seeing Cale's suspicious look. Her finger gently poked Cale's waist, prompting him to continue walking.
Cale frowned.
"let's have lunch then take a nap. I'm sure you're tired from whatever training you did this morning."
Lily nodded quickly.
As they walked away, Lily occasionally glanced back. Behind her bedroom door, a strand of black hair fell gently to the ground.
She really didn't want to meet the black-haired person behind her door.
Or maybe black-haired lady.
===
"Rok soo-ya!"
'hm? What is this?'
Cale looked at the scene in front of him.
'ah yes, dream.'
This night was so calm with a refreshing cool breeze. Cale fell asleep immediately as he lay on the bed.
Scene in front of him was about his old-self Kim Rok Soo, Choi Jung Soo, and team leader Lee Soo Hyuk.
Cale smiled as he watched Lee Soo Hyuk bicker with Choi Jung Soo, while Kim Rok Soo covering his ears, blabbling to block out the annoying sounds from the people next to him.
It was a good dream.
Until that thing came.
No, that man.
Cale surprised when a white wyvern landed in front of the Soos.
And that man. That Clopeh fkin Sekka, stand on the top of the wyvern, spouting nonsense that made Cale not even want to think about what it was.
"legend! He was a hero—!"
Cale covered his ears and blabbing like what Rok Soo do earlier.
"i'm not listening. I really am not listening."
The Soos dumbfounded by Clopeh's action. Seeing his old-self Rok Soo confused making Cale want to smile once again. But no.
It was not a happy dream.
It was a nightmare.
Cale stayed in that terrifying dream until Clopeh's voice began to change.
"I am his subordinate! –His trustworthy ally! I'm–knock knock!"
'hm? Wait what?'
"I was his knock knock!"
Cale frowned.
'ok. Something is wrong'
Knock knock.
Cale opened his eyes.
He sat in silence until the knock came again from outside the bedroom door.
'who? it's not Choi Han, right?'
Cale frowned as he thought about what kind of trouble Choi Han brought him that he needed to knock on his door at 1am.
Cale opened the door in a hurry. Behind it, there was Basen holding a candle and Lily clinging to his waist. Cale had calmed down to see that it was Basen, but then got suspicious because Basen was hugging the pale looking Lily.
"what's going on?"
Basen looked away for a moment, then looked at Cale again with a serious look.
"Hyung-nim, i've saved you."
Cale froze for a moment, then chuckled.
"yes, you've saved me."
'saved me from nightmare.'
Cale nodded, relieved and a little proud. But either way, Basen and Lily looked at each other, realizing that there was some misunderstanding.
"no, hyung-nim. I really am have saved you." said Basen in a serious tone.
Cale stopped smiling, looking at Basen with blank yet questioning gaze.
"what?"
"they're gone."
"yes?"
"father, mother, and everyone. The guards, they're missing."
Cale frowned. He wanted to speak when Lily interrupted shakily.
"there's a lady in my room. She's dead."
Ok.
Cale's dumbfounded for a while.
"THERE'S WHAT?!"
===
Cale walked slowly while carrying a candle. Basen held Cale's other hand, while Lily clung to her second brother's back. They looked like children playing train, but with serious and pale expression.
Cale frowned as he recalled what Basen and Lily had said to him earlier.
"Lily said she woke up and see a lady in the corner of her room. Her hair is black, and she let out an aura of the dead."
"i screamed! But no one hears me! It was such a powerful aura, I felt suffocated at that moment! I ran out my room to call the guards, but there was no one around me! I ran to father's room, but it's the same! Father and mother nowhere on their bed. I panicked and burst in to Basen's room."
"she is cried and trembled for a while, until we decided to check on you. Thank goodness Hyung-nim, you're still here. If you're not, then we don't know what to do."
Cale is deep in thought for a few minutes, until he finally spoke with a confused expression.
"are you saying this lady has an aura of the dead?"
"yes. And it's suffocating."
Cale bit his lips at that moment.
'aura of the dead? Is it the same as my drenched blood rock ancient power? But there's only one like that.'
And the realization hit Cale hard.
'is she a dead person? Dead person give off a dead aura, right? Is this one of the God of Death's prank? Or is it like that one horror movie, where a GHOST was haunting the house?'
As long as Cale was thinking, they were getting closer to Lily's room.
When just a few more steps, Lily stopped and tugged on Basen's pajamas, making Basen stop and so did Cale.
"what is it, Lily?"
Basen and Cale couldn't help but worry as Lily's eyes trembled while looking at the door.
"it's her. It's her..."
Her finger pointing at half-opened bedroom door, making Cale and Basen looked at each other.
'there was no one behind that.'
Lily felt a little frustrated when her two brothers looked at each other with confused looks, as if they didn't see anyone there.
"Can't you see it? She is there!" Lily said while pointing at the door. When Lily looked in that direction, she gasped and hid quickly behind Basen's back.
"She- she opened her mouth to me! She-!"
'ok, that's enough.'
Cale gave Basen one of his candle, then walk slowly to Lily's bedroom door. Lily almost screamed when Cale walked closer to it.
"NO! ORABUNI DON'T! DON'T WALK THROUGH HER!"
At the first, Cale still didn't see anything. He grabbed the doorknob and was about to walked in. But then he hesitated because Lily kept preventing him from going any further.
'she said the lady is on the door, right?'
So Cale spun his candle around the door, trying to enlighten it as much as possible.
When he reached the top corner of the door, Cale almost threw the candle away.
"MY GOD–"
There she is.
The lady.
She popped her head through the door.
Her hair was black and had an eyeless face, leaving hollows in the section that should contain eye.
Her skin was almost white as paper.
And as Lily said earlier, her mouth is wide open.
It really is wide open.
Cale shivers uncontrollably.
Cale's mind became chaotic at the moment. And when I say chaotic, it's really chaotic.
- HWAAA
- GWAARGH
- REEEEEE
Cale dont know why, but he can imagine all of his ancient power hiding behind glutton meanwhile glutton herself put up her two hand, screaming in holy word to tell the ghost to go away.
But whatever, Cale himself would do the same actually. He froze in place, forcing himself to stare at that terrifying face.
Luckily, that lady is not moving.
She might have opened her mouth like she wanted to eat all three of them, but she's not. She didn't even turn her head or move.
She looked straight and empty even without eyes.
Cale looked back. Basen was already looking pale with Lily already hiding and hugging his waist tightly.
Then he looked at the lady again.
The holes in her eyes making Cale want to throw up. But at the same time, he felt a sense of familiarity.
'where did i see you before–'
Cale widened his eyes.
'Sadako. Is she?'
Sadako is a ghost from Japan.
With that long black hair and white dress, Cale could classify her as a Sadako easily.
'but she has eyes in the movie...'
Back then, it was a popular horror film. Cale (or maybe Rok-soo) watched it with Choi Jung Soo. It's not that scary, but somehow the movie makes Jung Soo cling to him every night.
But that wasn't possible. I mean, what are ghosts from Japan doing here? this place is not even Japan or Korea!
'This place isn't even Earth anymore!.'
But nevermind.
Ghost are ghost.
Either in film or reality.
With one long breath, Cale touched the doorknob, pushing it gently.
"excuse me, ma'am"
The lady pulled her head and body behind the door slowly as Cale opened the door wider. Until the moment the door opened wide, the lady had disappeared.
Cale peered into the back of the door, trying to find out if she was hiding there.
But it's empty.
The lady is literally disappeared.
'well? Just that?'
Cale thought maybe it would take some priestesses and some strange purification ceremony to get rid of her.
But it's just... Opened the door? What?
Then why was she behind the door in the first place?
The ancient power suddenly became silent. Perhaps they were still processing like what Cale did before.
Cale looked back. Basen looked at him doubtfully from outside the bedroom with Lily occasionally peeking behind him.
Cale's gaze became softer.
"she's gone. You can sleep now."
Basen glanced at Lily. Lily looked down and seemed to hesitate for a moment. As if asking for an opinion, she glanced at Basen. Although he still looked pale, Basen tried to smile gently and nodded his head.
Lily walked slowly to her bed and lay down. Cale adjusted her blanket then looked at Lily.
"do you need a companion?"
Lily's cheeks were flushed and she hid it with the blanket, nodded slowly in response.
'Well, you should. You're just a kid seeing a ghost for the first time.'
"it's okay to be scared." Cale said as he gently stroked Lily's hair. Lily nodded again. Maybe she's too tired and didn't have the energy to answer.
"i will do it, Hyung-nim. You can rest again now."
Cale looked at Basen who was walking closer. His still pale face made Cale frown.
"you want to do it with that face?"
Basen dumbfounded and touching his own face.
"uh? Hu– my face? What's with my face?"
Cale pointing at the sofa near balcony.
"i will stay. So you should rest too."
Basen want to protest, but seeing Cale already laying on the sofa made him hesitated.
So he can just walk into to Lily's bed, sit on the edge and stroke Lily's hair, keep doing that until Lily calmed down and fell asleep.
As Basen was doing his job, Cale looked at the clock.
It's almost 2am now.
- Phew. That surely an amazing experience.
- Yes. With a trauma potential.
- Let me see her again! I want to eat her!
With ancient power starting to get their voices again and buzzing in his mind, Cale thought about what he was going to do.
'I will check on Father this morning. Or maybe call Cage or someone from the God of Death's temple first.'
And with that, Cale fell asleep.
===
Black smoke started to come out through the vents, then flew into the sky and spread like it had never been there before.
===
Deruth goes ballistic on the next day.
It all started very early in the morning, when he just woke up. Suddenly, deputy butler Hans and a few other butler rushed over to knock on his room, reporting that their young master Cale and young master Basen had disappeared from their bed.
So Deruth and Violan cant hold but to checking it with their own eyes.
Deruth and Violan can't trust it, but when they confirmed that it was true, (that their two precious son and young master were missing) all of the duchy became chaotic in an instant.
"my lord..that.."
Deruth turned his head quickly with panicked eyes. he looks ready to destroy whoever stops him now.
Hans gasped and looked down immediately. however, his hand pointed to one room.
Lily's bedroom.
Violan's heart felt like it stopped for a second. She rushed to Lily's room, followed by Deruth and Hans from behind.
"Lily—"
Violan blinked.
She looked at Basen who was sleeping next to Lily, then at the sofa where Cale was lying.
Then she chuckled.
Deruth came closer with a frown on his face.
"what happened, dear? Is Lily still there? What—"
Deruth looked into Lily's room, then followed Violan's gaze towards her son.
"take back your guard, dear. They're here."
Deruth heaved a sigh of relief, then smiled a little.
"my, they are a good brother."
"yes, they are."
Hans peeking from behind, then smiled widely.
As they surveyed Lily's room, Basen and Cale opened their eyes. They looked at each other first, then at their parents who standing at the door.
Deruth smirked and Violan couldn't help but laugh seeing her two sons so confused.
"wakie wakie"