Chapter Text
Before this day, Choi Hansol has never believed in magical creatures.
It all started innocently enough, his half-brother, who was visiting from university, was going back to school. Hansol and Choi Seungcheol shared a father, while they had different mothers, and both their father and Seungcheol’s mother were busy that day, leaving Hansol’s mother to accompany Seungcheol back to school. Hansol, having nothing better to do, tagged along.
Even though the two shared a father, they didn’t look particularly similar, Seungcheol was the palest person Hansol had ever seen, and his lips were always red as hell, while Hansol’s features were more European, due to his french mother.
“Hansol, would you help Seungcheol with his luggage?” His mother had asked, so Hansol hopped off the car along with Seungcheol and helped pick up his luggage from the trunk.
He swung Seungcheol’s backpack, which seemed curiously light, onto his shoulders, and also took one of Seungcheol’s small suitcases before following the elder towards the school gates.
“It’s okay, I can take care of it from here,” Seungcheol said, so Hansol handed Seungcheol the luggage he was carrying, “I’ll visit again soon!”
Seungcheol gave him a hug, before taking his luggage and disappearing through the gates of Diamond Academy. Hansol had been about to turn around and head back to the car when he remembered he still had Seungcheol’s backpack on him. However, when he looked back towards the school, Seungcheol was already nowhere to be seen.
Hansol had been about to text him when he realized that Seungcheol’s phone was in his backpack, so he couldn’t contact him anyways. With a lack of anything better to do, Hansol stepped onto the school grounds, prepared to find an office or something where he could find Seungcheol.
However, the second Hansol stepped through the gates, a wave of heat and light washed over him, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut in order to not get blinded. The next second, as he opened his eyes, he found that everything around him had changed.
Instead of the old, dirty concrete building that was the school, it turned into a glistening white palace-like structure sitting in the middle of a lush green field. A pool of sparkly blue water sat behind the school, and a wall of vines and plants circled the property. Even the gate he had just stepped through disappeared, effectively trapping him in.
The students who he had previously seen rushing around campus had also changed, because was he imagining things, or did that boy over there just sprout wings and take off into the sky?
The bright colours, the overwhelming smell of vanilla and pumpkins, the sudden change, was all too much for Hansol to take, and he could feel himself feeling faint. The next he knew, he was falling towards the ground.
“HEY! ARE YOU OKAY???” was the last thing he heard someone say before blacking out.
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“Oh my god is he dead? Please don’t tell me he’s dead! Oh god he’s dead! I just witnessed someone die-”
“Calm down, Seungkwan! He’s fine.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him around here, is he a Half or something? Or just uneducated?”
Those were the first things Hansol heard as he slowly regained consciousness.
It felt like he was lying on a soft bed, and when he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find three worried faces staring down at him.
“He’s alive!!!” One of them happily cheered.
“Are you okay?” One of the others asked, much more calmly, as he helped Hansol sit up, “You must be a little disoriented.”
Hansol blinked a few times, “Yeah…I’m fine, my head hurts a little.”
The one who helped him sit up nodded, “Yeah, you fainted, I checked you over though, you’re fine.”
“Thanks…” Hansol said, a littles unsure as he looked around, he was sitting in a university dorm-like room, that bit was clear. However, there were definitely things that didn’t belong here, for example, were those chemistry mixtures sitting on that desk nearby? “Wh-where am I?”
The three exchanged glances, “So…you don’t know where you are?”
“No, the last thing I remember was entering the gates, and then this giant bright light appe- Wait.” Hansol looked at the three who were standing in front of him again, “ Are those wings behind your back?"
Two of the three simultaneously looked behind their backs, one of them had slightly translucent, glittery wings, while the other one had wings covered in white feathers, along with a glowing circle on his head.
“Um, yes?” The one with white feathers responded, and looked at him curiously.
“But…” Hansol had been about to say more, but was interrupted by the wingless one.
“Okay, what exactly are you?” he asked.
Hansol stared at him blankly, “What?”
“Like, what species are you?” The glittering winged one explained, which provided no more clarity than the original question did.
“...human?”
The glittery winged one scoffed, “Well you’re clearly not, or else you wouldn’t be here right now. Not fully at least.”
Hansol didn’t understand what he meant.
“Hi! I’m Boo Seungkwan!” The one with feathery wings suddenly chirped, “And this is Jun-hyung and Shua-hyung!”
The wingless one nodded, “Hong Jisoo, Joshua.” while the one with glittery wings gave a happy little wave, Hasol assumed he was Jun.
“Uh…nice to meet you, I’m Hansol, Choi Hansol.” Hansol introduced himself.
“Okay, so, clearly you’re not meant to be here, which means that we are breaking about a dozen rules right now, having you in our room.” Joshua gave a look towards Seungkwan, who shriveled a little under his gaze, “But I can’t let you go back either, since only those with special passes can leave the school grounds…”
Hansol just blinked at him in confusion, “What do you mean I can’t leave?”
Jun gave him a sympathetic smile, “Let me put it like this, I’m a fairy, Seungkwan here is an angel, so we can’t…”
“Wait. Hold on.” Hansol put up a hand, “Repeat what you just said?”
“Um…so we can’t?”
“No, before that.”
“Oh, that I’m a fairy and Seungkwan is an angel?”
Hansol stared at him in disbelief, “What.”
“I thought that bit was obvious, I mean, look at us.” Jun gestured towards his own wings and Seungkwan’s wings and circle thing.
Hansol looked them over again, before turning towards Joshua, “And I don’t suppose you’re a witch?”
Joshua scoffed at that, “What part of me screams witch? Witches are broom riding, potion making, cat people.”
“He’s a fairy like me, just wingless.” Jun stifled a laugh at Joshua’s comment about cat people, “And hey! I like cats too! And you do make potions!”
“But…fairies don’t exist. They’re not real…?”
The two supposed fairies just stared at Hansol, highly offended, and Jun spoke in a high-pitched squeak, “ExCuSe mE, what part of me doesn't exist?”
Joshua just sighed, “Okay, you’re probably a Non, so let me state it plainly: We exist. Fairies are real, you’re staring at two right now.”
Joshua ignored Hansol gawking at him, and continued on, “And not only fairies or angels, also witches, sorcerers, devils, shapeshifters, elves, merpeople, vampires, werewolves…
“In fact, you’re probably one of those yourself.” Joshua suddenly turned towards him.
“Yeah, humans aren’t allowed on property, they get devoured by the vines the second they try.” Seungkwan piped, “And since you’re here in one piece, you’ve got at least a bit of non-human blood in you!”
“Okay…say that I believe you,” Hansol nodded very slowly, “Where exactly is…here?”
Jun suddenly made a dramatic gesture with his arms, “Welcome! To Diamond Academy! The one and only school for people like us!”
That just caused Hansol to stare at him like he was insane.
Joshua’s phone suddenly dinged, “Oh! Cheollie is back! I promised Hannie I’d go to their dorm, Jun, Seungkwan, would you stay and explain?”
Jun and Seungkwan nodded, so Joshua picked up his phone and what Hansol assumed to be his keys before waving and leaving the room.
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After another half an hour of questioning and explanation, Hansol finally wrapped his head around the fact that yes, magical creatures exist, and yes, he definitely wasn’t fully human. Now Jun and Seungkwan have moved on to trying to figure out what species he was.
“So you don’t have obvious fangs, or a tail, or non-human ears, or wings…although that might just be because either you’re a Half, or your features are subdued.” Jun commented, “Which means you could be a fairy, an angel, a werewolf, a vampire, an elf, a witch…”
“So basically anything.” Hansol summarized.
“Yep!” Jun said, a little bit too cheerfully.
Hansol sighed, this conversation was getting nowhere.
A knock suddenly came from the door, and the next second, the door burst open. Jun and Seungkwan immediately stood up from where they were perched on beanbags, and stood in front of Hansol, who was still sitting on the bed, protectively. Especially Seungkwan, who spread his white feathery wings wide, effectively blocking Hansol from view.
“Sorry! I couldn’t stop them!” A new voice said from the doorway, and Hansol could hear loud noises and cursing. He also saw from under Seungkwan’s wings what seemed to be three boys his age in a heap on the floor near the door, “Hey! Is that Seungk-”
“Hao hao!” Jun chirped happily as he helped them off the floor, “I was just about to come find you!”
Jun quickly led the newcomers out of the room, being careful to shut the door behind him. The next second, Seungkwan suddenly shoved Hansol into a nearby closet. The closet was definitely a lot bigger and spacious than it had looked from the outside, and the inside was filled with shelves of bottles and bowls of unidentified liquids and powders.
“Hopefully Shua-hyung won’t mind us being in here,” Seungkwan breathed a sigh of relief as he shut the closet door behind them.
“Why are we in a closet?” Hansol asked, confused.
“We can’t let anyone see you!” Seungkwan hissed, “We could get into serious trouble for hiding a Half, or whatever you are, in Shua-hyung and Jun-hyung’s dorm!”
“What?”
Seungkwan sighed, “You clearly aren’t fully another species, or else your parents would’ve educated you on this academy, heck, you’d probably be a student already. A Half is where one has one parent of a species and one parent that’s a human, which I’d assume is your case.”
Hansol thought about his parents, one of them wasn't human???
“And cross-species marriage, or just relationships overall, with someone of another species, is highly illegal , which means that your entire existence is illegal. ” Seungkwan explained, “And I know it’s not your fault, but if someone, like a teacher, finds you, you’ll get into serious trouble.”
Hansol groaned, just great, now he was stuck in a building with a bunch of random… creatures , no way to get out, and he can’t even get help from a reliable adult without getting into trouble.
“Can’t I pretend to be…whatever not Halfs are called?” Hansol asked.
“Full bloods, like us? No,” Seungkwan shook his head, “You don’t have the features like we do. You don’t have fangs like vampires or werewolves, tails like merpeople, golden eyes like shapeshifters, wings like me or other fairies…the only thing you would pass as are magic people, like wingless fairies or witches…but you don’t happen to have magic powers you could use to prove yourself, do you?”
“Umm…”
“Okay, since I can’t exactly sneak you out…I guess we’re stuck here until Jun-hyung or Shua-hyung comes back and thinks of a plan.” Seungkwan plopped down on the floor of the closet, so Hansol joined him, sitting down beside him.
“Oh, I forgot to ask, but what were you doing here in the first place? Humans don’t know the existence of this place.” Seungkwan asked.
Hansol suddenly remembered why he stepped onto school grounds, “Oh my god I can’t believe I forgot! I followed my half-brother here!”
“Your half-brother? He’s a student here?” Seungkwan furrowed his brow, “What’s his name?”
“Choi Seungcheol-”
“WHAT?” Hansol was interrupted by Seungkwan’s high pitched screeching, “YOU’RE SEUNGCHEOL HYUNG’S HALF BROTHER.”
Hansol raised an eyebrow, “Um, yes…we have the same last name.”
“Oh god, this isn’t good, this isn’t good at all.” Seungkwan stood up and started pacing around in the small space, “Oh god. I’m hiding FREAKING SEUNGCHEOL HYUNG’S HALF BROTHER IN SHUA HYUNG’S CLOSET.”
“Uh, is something wrong with my brother?” Hansol asked tentatively.
Seungkwan pursed his lips, and sank back down onto the floor, “At least now I know what species you are.”
“Which is…?”
“A vampire.”