Chapter Text
A perfectly normal day was about to turn very devastating for Goto Kaito and he didn't even know it. It would be the day he experienced a loss he didn't know existed and one he would never truly recover from, ever.
Goto Kaito was a Japanese 'orphan' whose parents abandoned him in Korea when he was just 4 years old. One day they were there and then they weren't. Kaito was taken in by the neighbors, the Parks. Where he met Park Taeyang who was five years old at the time. The two became brothers and they were closer than most biological siblings.
The Parks were good people who treated him like family. They also had a daughter who was five years younger than Kaito and six years younger than Taeyang. The two adored their little sister and would do anything to keep her safe.
Too bad Kaito would lose everything he held dear in the span of a week and he didn't even know it.
The students had just gotten back from assembly where the principal had thanked the basketball team for winning the championships for the third time in a row. Most of the students were already in their classes. Kaito and five other members of the team were still walking to their's when it happened.
"Hyung, are we going to your house to celebrate again?"
Kun Min-jae, one of the five teammates asked with a grin on his face. All of them were in high spirits after last week's game. It was their final year of high school and they wanted to leave with a bang. The gold medals around their necks gleamed in the fluorescent lights of the hallway.
"Why our house? Why can't your mom cook for us this time?"
Taeyang asked with a mischievous grin.
"We all know that Min-jae is afraid of his dad and would never ask to host us."
Han Seo-joon snickered, causing all of them to burst out laughing. Such a memorable occasion. Bright smiles. Bright futures. Six friends against all odds.
"Eomma wouldn't mind hosting. She's expecting you freeloaders anyway."
Kaito didn't turn to look at his friends but they all knew he was smiling by the tone of his voice. Taeyang threw an arm over his shoulder and ruffled his hair.
"Why would you tell them that, Kai? I wanted them to sweat a little."
"My bad."
"We all know that you don't mean that."
Kaito laughed and looked at his brother affectionately. The two have been close since the moment they met when they were little. Attached to the hip. Two peas in a pod. Where one was, the other wasn't far behind.
"So we're coming to dinner, right? Right?"
Min-jae asked bouncing on his toes like an excited puppy. Min Do-yoon, one of the more serious guys from the group grabbed his collar and held him still.
"Yes, you fool. Stop acting like an overexcited dog. Do you not get fed at home?"
Min-jae just pouted but said nothing. Kaito tilted his head back as he glanced at the two of them. The two always had a weirdly romantic relationship.
"Just kiss already. The tension is giving me a headache."
He looked forward again as the two froze. The other three laughed so hard that they had to hold their stomachs.
"Ne~ Do-yoon, when are you finally gonna ask Min-jae out? We're dying to know."
Eun Ji-ho asked between gasps of air as he laughed. Do-yoon glared at him which only caused him to laugh harder. Kaito snickered but coughed to cover it up, not wanting Do-yoon's glare directed at him.
The laughter died down when an ear piercing scream echoed off the hallway walls. They all ran in the direction of the scream and froze dead in their tracks. Surrounding a group of freshmen were centaur. A monster they only saw in mythology books. They had never encountered a dungeon beast before and now over a dozen of them were in their school. They were frozen in fear with no way of defending themselves.
Kaito was the first to move, impulse controlling his actions. He hurled a table from the hallway at the nearest centaur and it broke on impact as it connected with the centaur's back. The centaur turned slowly and snarled. It dropped the girl it was holding and the others soon turned their attention to the group of boys and Kaito felt like his life was over.
Oh, how true that was but not in the way he thought.
Kaito was a tall kid, standing at one hundred and eighty three centimeters tall. The perfect height for basketball and martial arts and also the perfect height to get hit on the head by a monster chasing you like you're its next meal.
Taeyang grabbed Kaito's wrist and dragged him away. The centaur stepped closer to them and their eyes widened in fear as they took a step back. They turned and ran.
"Run!! Evacuate!"
Kaito yelled at the freshman as the six of them ran in the direction they came from, the centaur hot on their heels. They ran down the hallway and to the stairs, hoping to buy some time for everyone else to evacuate. What they didn't know was that, the centaur they saw, weren't the only ones and that most of the school was crawling with them.
They ran through the eerily empty hallway. They turned a corner and froze again. The walls were covered in blood and bodies of their deceased peers. Seo-joon covered his mouth as bile rose up his throat. Kaito had tears in his eyes. The stomping of the centaur behind them forced them to keep moving forward. But how do you outrun a monster with the body of a horse?
Answer. You can't. No matter how athletic you might be.
They ran until their lungs burned and their legs ached. But they didn't run to the exit. They were too consumed by fear to think rationally. Their only thought was to get away. They sprinted down the stairs and narrowly missed the spear that was swinging at their heads as they reached the bottom.
They tripped and fell as they dodged. They slipped on blood and slid on the ground. They now knew why it was so quiet. Everywhere they looked, there was blood. And the giant pool they were lying in was still warm. Kaito grabbed Taeyang as the centaur swung again. His left calf got cut in the process, not that he could feel it. Adrenaline was running high.
They scrambled up and ran again. An arrow pierced Do-yoon's shoulder and he stumbled. Si-woon grabbed him as they all kept running. They couldn't stop. They had to keep running. At least until the hunters got there. But could they do it? Could they run for however long it took for the hunters to show up?
Their uniform clung to them as the blood soaked in further. Their white shirts now dyed red. They looked like they were in a horror movie, and honestly, it wasn't far off. They were in a horror movie, only this was real life and their lives were really in danger.
Do-yoon felt the affects of the blood loss not too long after. He was getting lightheaded and his steps stumbled a lot. Kaito turned his head back just in time to see Do-yoon being pierced through the chest from behind.
"DO-YOON!"
He turned back and caught his friend as he sank to the ground. The others stopped as well and their eyes widened in horror at the sight. Kaito grabbed the spear and tried to pull it out but his hand wouldn't move at all. He knew it was a bad idea to pull it out but they didn't have the time to stay where they were. They were out in the open and they'd all be dead soon enough if they stayed. He let go of the spear and picked Do-yoon up in a bridal carry and kept running.
He kept his eyes forward as tears rolled down his cheeks. They needed to hide. Do-yoon needed medical treatment ASAP and he knew that he was gonna lose his friend with the amount of blood Do-yoon was spitting up and the amount that was soaking his already stained uniform further.
They found an empty hallway and Kaito put Do-yoon down against the wall as gently as he could. His arms were covered in blood and he closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. He cupped Do-yoon's face.
"Hyung. You gotta hang on. Okay?"
He whispered as Do-yoon coughed up more blood. He grinned up at Kaito and Kaito knew that his friend wasn't going to make it. No matter what they did, Do-yoon was dying unless a healer magically appeared in front of them, right here, right now.
Min-jae grabbed Do-yoon's hand and held it tightly. Min-jae was wiping tears with his forearms as he kneeled beside Do-yoon as well. Kaito moved back a bit to give them space. He ran a hand through his long hair, staining it with blood. He didn't even care at that point. He was about to lose one of his closest friends and he had no was of saving him.
"Cap-tain... not... your... fault..."
Do-yoon's words were weak but he looked at Kaito with soft eyes and somehow that made Kaito feel worse than he already was. Kaito's tears were falling fast now as he crouched down and sobbed in his knees.
Do-yoon raised his blood covered hand weakly and cupped Kaito's face. Kaito lifted his head and stared at Do-yoon through blurry vision. Do-yoon's eyes dulled as the pool of blood grew beneath him. His hand slacked and Kaito caught it, holding against his face firmly. He didn't care about the blood. He just wanted his friend to know that he was there.
Won Si-woo, the quietest member of the group was shaking as he cried silently. His arms were wrapped around his middle as if to protect himself from this horrible nightmare. They were all confused and in shock. When did the gate open for it to break today? Had it been open this whole past week and nobody noticed? Why hadn't anybody noticed? Was Do-yoon really dying? Dead? Were they dreaming? All these thoughts ran through their minds and yet, they could not make sense of any of them.
Do-yoon's eyes went blank and his hand was limp in Kaito's grasp. Kaito let out a choked gasp as he stared at those blank eyes. He couldn't look away no matter how hard he tried. Taeyang grabbed his shoulders as grief hit them all. Do-yoon was dead and he died right in front of them.
Distant galloping brought them back to reality. They all turned their heads to the far end of the hallway where the galloping grew louder as the centaur grew closer. Kaito placed Do-yoon's hand down gently and closed his eyes with his hand. He stood up on shaky legs and faced the end of the hallway.
"We're gonna die if we stay here."
His voice was hollow, not his usual cheery tone. When he turned to the others he saw the same look in their eyes that he probably had too. Blank, hollow, traumatized eyes. The kind that would probably never go away. The kind that stays with a person years after the traumatic experience. The kind that no seventeen and eighteen year olds should ever have.
"We have to go."Taeyang said following his brother's line of thinking. If they stayed, they would die and it wouldn't be painless deaths. They had no choice but to keep running until the hunters came. It wasn't like they could fight the centaur. Even with their martial arts, they would lose spectacularly. They didn't have specialized weapons like the hunters, they didn't have enhanced strength, they didn't have magic like the mages or healers. They were normal human beings who will die if they tried to fight.
The growling and snarling got closer and they all prepared to run but before they could, another dozen or so came from the direction they were supposed to run to. They froze, turned back and ran in the direction they came. Their path that way was also blocked. They were trapped with no way out. Taeyang threw open the side window. The jump from the forth floor would probably break some bones but it would be better than being dead.
The centaur grew closer and closer. They had a split second to make a decision and they chose to run. They abandoned the window and ran to the far end of the hallway where the other centaur were coming from. There was a staircase right before the hallway cut off. They had one shot at this. They ran as fast as they could. They made it in the nick of time and bolted up the stairs instead of down. The centaur hot on their tales again. They ran to the fifth floor and ran down the hallway. They needed to get to the ground floor to get out of the school.
They didn't look back as they ran, which was their first mistake. A swoosh sound, a gasp, and a thud made them turn their heads back. That was their second mistake. Min-jae's head had been separated from his body. It happened so fast that by the time the others turned their heads, his body was just beginning to fall to the ground.
Si-woo screamed and tripped over his own feet. They had lost another friend. Was this how their lives ended? Being picked off one by one? Was this how they all died? Before they could grab Si-woo, a spear was driven straight through his skull. He didn't even have time to cry out before he was dead. Kaito stared at his dead friends. Third mistake. When he turned his head slammed right into the stick of another spear. His vision blurred and blood dripped from his head already.
He gasped and Taeyang dragged him down and under the next swing. Ji-ho trembled and was the next one to die. He was sliced clean in half at the waist. He stared at Kaito and Taeyang as he coughed up blood. His body detached and he too fell to the ground, dead.
Taeyang kept his hold on Kaito's wrist as they kept running. Kaito was stumbling because of the head wound and his right eye was blurry because of the blood. He couldn't see properly and kept tripping over his own feet. They were slammed into a wall from the side. Taeyang's grip loosened as they both gasped in pain. Kaito was kicked in the ribs and was sent flying back. He landed hard on his shoulder and gasped in pain. He opened his eyes just as Taeyang grabbed the back of his shirt to drag him up.
Always looking out for his kid brother. No matter what. Kaito couldn't breathe properly as his ribs were probably broken. He couldn't even walk, let alone run. Taeyang set him against a wall. He couldn't hear properly now that he thought about it.
"... okay... you're... fine... here..."
He had no idea what Taeyang was saying but he nodded along. Taeyang seeing his brother's dazed look and slow nod, spoke louder.
"You're gonna be okay! It's gonna be fine! I'm right here!"
It was a lie. Nothing was going to be okay and they both knew it. Kaito was crying again this time from the pain. He had never cried so much in his life. Not even when his parents abandoned him. Not even when he had his tooth punched out at twelve by a bully. Never as much as he had cried today alone.
Tragedy struck again when a centaur loomed over them. Taeyang tilted his head back and looked up. The centaur was grinning at them menacingly. Kaito blinked slowly as he processed what was about to happen right now. They were going to die. A seventeen year old and an eighteen year old was going to die before they even lived their lives.
Kaito was going to die without knowing the answer to why his parents abandoned him. They were both going to die on what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of their lives. Kaito's vision was blurry and not just because of the blood and tears.
The centaur brought its spear up and Kaito stared at it, accepting his fate. Unfortunately for them, the centaur wanted to play with its prey. It twirled the spear and hit them both with the side of it hard. The flew to the side and Kaito screamed as pain shot through his body like fire. His vision was swimming now.
Taeyang dragged himself to his little brother and took his hand in his tightly. The centaur strolled to them and stabbed Kaito in the thigh and then Taeyang through the shoulder. Taeyang kept his tight grip on Kaito's hand, despite the pain. The centaur kept playing 'Who can scream the loudest?' with the two. Kaito was almost unconscious as he stared at his brother.
Taeyang had a smile on his face as he looked at Kaito. He cupped Kaito's face with his other hand and brought their foreheads together.
"I love you. Always."
He whispered right before the centaur stabbed him through the side, piercing his heart and lungs. He coughed up blood but kept smiling at his brother as he died. Kaito's eyes widened in absolute horror as Taeyang choked, gasped and went silent. The hands holding him went limp and Taeyang's head dropped to the floor.
His body went cold as Taeyang's blank eyes stared at him. He was hyperventilating, which was putting more strain on his already injured body. He screamed. Loud. Unrestrained. And absolutely devastated. Tears were flowing faster. His body tingled and the centaur brought its spear up again but never stabbed Kaito as lightning struck it from out of nowhere.
Kaito grabbed Taeyang despite his body protesting. He held his brother close as he screamed. He screamed and cried and begged it all to be a horrible nightmare.
What Kaito didn't know was that hunters were in the building already and had felt a massive surge of mana suddenly appear. What he also didn't know was that he was destroying half the school building with his new found awakened powers. What he didn't know was that the trauma from seeing Taeyang die had awakened him. What he didn't know was that his hair had changed color. What he didn't know was that his throat was bleeding from all the screaming. What he didn't know was that the centaur that had migrated to them had all evaporated as lightning surged around them.
What he didn't know was that they all died that day but only five of them stopped breathing. What he didn't know was that hunters were trying to calm him down as the building was actively collapsing because of his powers. What he didn't know was that his throat was bleeding because of all the screaming. What he also didn't know was that his grief stricken screams were echoing and it would haunt Korea for a very long time. What he definitely didn't know was that he was absorbing part of Taeyang and he wouldn't know that for a while.
---
When the hunter's association was called about a dungeon break at a high school, they didn't expect to find so many dead in the span of the thirty minutes since they got that call. They had deployed all the nearby hunters they could. And while they saved students and faculty members, a lot still died. It was a big school and the hunters had only managed to save forty percent of its occupants. The other sixty percent was dead.
If put in individual numerical values, that was approximately over a thousand people. Majority being students. The hunters went through the school and killed all centaur they found. They were moving floor to floor, classroom to classroom. When they killed most of the centaur, a scream made them run towards it.
It was a very heartbreaking scream. It was a scream that would haunt them for the rest of their days. And with that scream came a large amount of mana. Mana that was so strong, it almost made them kneel. Mana that was so dark, most had bile rising in their throats. The scream got louder and more heartbreaking.
They ran through a hallway and saw the bodies of three teenage boys, all wearing bloodied golden medals. All having died horrible deaths. They saw a dozen or so centaur moving towards what looked like two other boys, but before they could take action, the centaur evaporated.
They saw a lightning barrier around the two boys, from what they could sense, the one was dead and the one clinging to him was alive. The screams hadn't died down, they came out raw and broken. It wasn't just screams. It was begging as well. The hunters tried to talk to the screaming boy but he wasn't hearing any of them.
The building was crumbling around them and it would collapse with them in it if they didn't stop the screaming boy. They didn't have to do anything or even wait long. The screaming died down and the lightning barrier fizzled out as the screaming boy passed out still clinging to the dead boy.
The hunters sighed in relief but that relief was short lived when they saw the massive pool of blood the two was lying in. And it kept growing, a healer rushed forward to heal the still living boy but it didn't work.
It was as if his body was rejecting the healing. The hunters all froze for a second before another sprang into action and grabbed his cloak and tore it to strips. He wrapped it around Kaito's injuries to stop the bleeding. They had to pry his fingers off Taeyang's shirt as even unconscious, he clung to his brother.
They had little time left to get him to a hospital and a blood transfusion. The hunter who wrapped his wounds picked him up and jumped from the massive hole where the wall used to be. He ran to an ambulance, ignoring the reporters who were asking him questions. He filled the EMT's in on the situation and handed Kaito over to them.
They rushed him to the hospital and he was immediately taken to the OR, they didn't know if he would live but they had to try their best.
A tragedy happened that day six friends (brothers) died that day but only five stopped breathing. This day will forever haunt Korea but not as much as it will haunt Goto Kaito. Nothing will ever compare to this day for him. He will never experience a loss as great as this one in his life.
If only he knew.