Are You There - Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Rain begins dropping in sheets the moment Hoseok's call ends, his knees quick to hit the ground beside Minhyuk. He has not a clue of what to do, neither man does, but the fae knows that they cannot all continue to sit out under the pouring skies like this. It is cold, and though it washes Changkyun's blood from the pavement, it does not stop the wound from weeping further.
Hoseok is fortunately quick to act in a scene of danger, easily disregarding the chaos before him and turning towards the comic storefront. He can see from the ground that the shop is dark; he imagines Changkyun was closing down for the night. The door is stood open still, and he motions for Minhyuk to help drag their friend inside, rain in his eyes as he looks towards the telepath. His conversation with Hyungwon plays over in his head as a trail of seamlessly fake blood lingers behind on the pavement outside. He wonders if enough rain will come to wash every ounce of evidence away.
The fae's heart pounds in his chest, hoping that Hyungwon will not choose to linger wherever he is for too long. They need him now, not whenever he chooses to arrive. Hoseok is sure he sounded desperate enough on the phone, Hyungwon surely would not let his youngest just die. It is not possible.
Jooheon wanders in after the scene, his eyes wide and his hands pressed to his stomach. His dark gaze cannot help but hold steady on the darkening stain spread across Changkyun's shirt. He was already bloody and the heather grey had been quite soaked through when Jooheon discover the younger, but now there is almost nothing of the shirt left that is not blackened. The sickening scent of iron is on the blonde's fingers as he lifts his hands to push his hair from his face; he cannot help but gag when he realizes he is covered in someone else's blood.
"...hear me?"
Someone is standing before him, two hands on his shoulders and long hair that almost covers half their face. Jooheon cannot place them right away, but he recognizes them as they form the same words over and over.
"Can you hear me, Sir?"
Jooheon nods, the action difficult when he realizes how badly his body shakes. He can feel each vibration wander down his spine, a danger of collapse settling at his hips and bowing into his knees. He still cannot recall how he knows this character before him. The man pushes his hair from his face, more recognizable, yet still unnamed.
"Unless you wanna be sacrificed as a meal, I think it'd be best, Sir, if you went home now." Minhyuk is doing his best at playing the hospital routine, but he has tears on his cheek and his hands are shaking. He is taking the edge off bit by bit from Jooheon's mind until he can only listen, but Minhyuk does not think he himself will be able to focus long enough to push the blonde away. Jooheon's eyes are wavering and he is staring down at Changkyun's form soon enough. He does not want to leave the man, no matter what either of his odd friends say.
Hoseok, thankfully a familiar face, hovers over Changkyun with both hands wandering. Neither stop, not even when Changkyun groans in pain. Each man in turn sighs, grateful that Changkyun is at least still alive. His breathing has stopped altogether, but his body still weeps blood onto the shop floor. Hoseok's left hand finally pauses, hovering close to Changkyun's lips long enough to convince the blonde that he is checking for air movement.
"He's not taking my blood," Hoseok blurts, the words wrong in the suddenly chilled air. Jooheon does not understand them; they do not make sense. Nothing here seems to make sense. Why haven't we called an ambulance? Why are we letting him bleed? How would he just take your blood?
"Would someone please get the human out of here?"
Jooheon flinches into a bookshelf, the new voice appearing just beside him out of practically nowhere. The blonde grips his shoulder in pain, staring at the thin man that walks through the space as if he is not even moving. His legs, longer than Jooheon has ever seen on a human, do not bend nor stretch, but merely stride as if on the air itself. Jooheon is trying his best to collect himself; the pain in his shoulder and the pounding in his skull are only bringing him more stress in this already terrifying situation. It does not help that a sudden crack of thunder sounds across the sky just above them, the windows to the shop vibrating from the pressure.
Hyungwon's wide eyes glare down at the scene on the floor while Jooheon glances between the new face and Changkyun's slowly paling one. He does not yet know where to look, or what to do. The only thing he really knows is that it is raining outside. It is pouring actually, and this man is bleeding out at his feet. And nobody is calling for help. His fingerprints, if not washed away by the rain, are on that knife outside. He is going to be arrested.
"Minhyuk!" The stranger's voice is sharp, like a knife of his own, and the thin man beside Jooheon flinches with him. "I told you to get him out of here. That means now!"
Jooheon puts the name to the face of the man beside him, flinching back yet again when he makes a grab for the blonde. Jooheon sidesteps Minhyuk's hands, following after the stranger towards Changkyun. He has yet to take in a single breath since he first found him, and he is sure that he is dead already. Yet his eyes are open, and wander about to each of the faces hovering above him. Those dark glints in the even darker shop find Jooheon's pale cheeks, streaked with his blood and dripping water in a puddle at his feet.
Changkyun's eyes linger on Jooheon for a moment, his darkening mind at a war within itself. His body is not strong enough to drink, yet his mind begs to differ. If his arms could lift, and his head could turn, Hoseok would have been drained the instant his wrist was offered. But Changkyun cannot move, and he can feel the chill of death lingering across every inch of his body.
It is different than earlier today; today was almost a practice run compared to this halting moment. While then he held his breath, now he cannot even find the air to take in. While then his pain could be ended with a simple nap and some offered blood, this is constant and refuses to stop. He can feel the warmth of his own blood beneath him, the only warmth along the entire length of his body.
Jooheon watches on in silence, shocked into disbelief as a hand grips the back of his shirt to try and pull him from the scene. His feet stumble back, unable to fight the tug of Minhyuk behind him. The nurse has not stopped his crying yet, Hyungwon's harsh voice not helping him to settle his emotions under the sudden stressful situation. Were this at the hospital, Minhyuk would be  in his element almost immediately. He can handle himself before people he does not know. He needs not to feel for them, no matter how lonesome this sounds. But Changkyun is his brother now, closer than most have been in his lifetime, and he cannot stand to watch that light at the backs of his eyes fade.
"I don't wanna leave him-"
"Sir you've got to go home now." Minhyuk's second hand wraps around Jooheon's side, forcing the blonde to face him with one sharp tug. Jooheon's pitch eyes find Minhyuk's beneath his damp fringe, both men scared and sopping on the tiled floor. "Sir, can't you tell you're dreaming?"
Minhyuk can almost feel the exhaustion seeping off the blonde in droves as their eyes lock. It will not be hard to convince Jooheon of anything right now. Dropping his hands from the blonde's shirt, Minhyuk does not even need to try anymore. He only levels his tone off and speaks slowly, deliberately, without a single waver in his voice. Jooheon is enraptured.
"Sir, you have to get home before you wake up. It's important. Sir don't you know that?"
Jooheon's head tilts as he thinks on it, his mind sluggish after so many attacks on it within one day. The feeling seems familiar, as if this is not the first time his brain has come under fire, but if this is really a dream, he reasons that this would make sense. Of course it feels familiar. He has probably had this dream before, it is not unreasonable to assume as much.
"Sir, go home now. We can take care of your friend." Minhyuk's eyes are wide, pleading with the blonde to just give in to the deception. The lie tastes sour; Minhyuk does not know if they can take care of Changkyun, but a human cannot be present to witness a vampire's healing process. Not if he wants to keep his sanity for much longer.
Something in Jooheon's mind slides into place and he smiles. "Of course, you're right." He has completely disregarded the scene behind him, convinced by the man before him that this must be a dream. It is no wonder this Minhyuk character seems familiar. They could have met for only a glimpse, and that would be enough for Jooheon to implant him into a dream.
The blonde steps around the nurse, walking towards the overcast windows with that same dimwitted smile on his thick lips. He does not expect the rain outside to be cold when it hits his skin, but it almost burns as it slicks the fabric of his shirt to his back. It is like needles of ice. He wonders if he can just appear at home in this dream, or if he must walk the long kilometre back in this thundering chaos. He decides to walk.
[ x ]
"You can't fade with him like this." Hoseok is quick to disregard each of Hyungwon's methods, hating each more and more as the vampire lists them. "And you can't just assume my mother will help you. Not after the stunt she pulled today. The Counsel barely let her walk out with only a lashing-"
"Then please, fae, direct me to any other healer in the city!" Hyungwon throws his hands up in frustration, his hair damp and hanging low across his eyes. He has not stepped even a foot into the rain, but his fade from across the city had been more reckless than he had hoped for. He would never admit it, but the panic he felt the moment the burn began in his chest was almost too sharp to allow him movement.
A Claim cannot die, it will kill him all over again. He refuses to lose another one.
"If you won't let me move him-" Hyungwon does not finish his thought, groaning at the only option he has left. He wants not to sacrifice his own blood for Changkyun. Not because he does not care for his youngest, but because he is unsure if Changkyun will be able to stop a draw he has begun. "Then you need to get out of my way."
Hoseok's head snaps up, his eyes glaring up at his Master from his crouched position beside Changkyun. "What are you going to do?" He does not have time to ask and get an answer; Changkyun's energy is depleting and he can feel his own body grow weak with each breath he pushes past his teeth. He will collapse before anyone can help the vampire at this rate.
Hyungwon, with just a foot, nudges the fae away from the youngest. The vampire's mental wall breaks itself down as he seats himself atop the cold tiles beside Changkyun, Minhyuk quick to reach his thoughts. The telepath's eyes widen, his lips parting to stop his Master a moment too late. The thin man's teeth rake against his own wrist, a searing pain flooding his throat as his venom rejects the iron of his own blood on his tongue. Acting quick, before the wound can close, Hyungwon drops his wrist to Changkyun's lips. Droplets stain themselves on his shirtfront and up the dark man's neck. They mingle with the rain still on his skin and coalesce in a small pool at the base of his throat.
Changkyun cannot feel anything anymore. His bones could be snapping and crackling beneath his muscles, but he feel none of it. The pain has subsided, and he has enough sense to be thankful for that. He does not hurt, and he knows what comes next. He cannot say he has not been waiting for it. Hyungwon had trained him to prepare for a second death almost from the start. Rogues are everywhere, waiting to kill him just for existing. He is not upset in this withering moment.
Though it has been short, he has lived a life for now twenty-three years, and he has accomplished things he never thought possible. Though he knows that his soul will not rest right without Jooheon beside him, he cannot admit to any upset. He will die here quietly and he will not be disappointed.
Just as the faces above him blur behind his eyelids, a scent stronger than his own toxic death hits his nose. It is sharp, like the first inhale of a match freshly struck, and he almost gags. If his body could produce the venom to choke on, he would be drowning in the vicious liquid.
"He's not taking it-"
Hyungwon cuts Hoseok off with a glare, his wide eyes narrowed to slits beneath his silvery hair. Focusing his attention back on Changkyun, Hyungwon grips the younger's lips to part them himself. His wrist is already closing but he does not want to bite himself again, silently begging his youngest to just drink. His body is meant to simply react, even without his own knowledge. His venom should flood and then his lips should drink.
Yet Changkyun remains still and cold. Hyungwon knows that his blood has hit the vampire's tongue. He can sense that much, but not even his eyes glance about beneath his lashes. Hyungwon wants to sob; he will now be able to count the seventh instance that tears have hit his cheeks. He hopes that they will at least blend into the already dampened skin from the rain outside, for he does not want to appear weak before his disciples.
They need at least him to be strong. If anybody here is to be strong, responsible, it must be Hyungwon.
Yet he cannot fight the shake to his shoulders, nor the tension in his spine. He cannot move his wrist from Changkyun's lips, though his blood has stopped and the tear has sealed. He refuses to lift his eyes from the pale face beneath him, heartbreakingly still. He almost does not hear the telepath's knees hit the ground across the space, his own sobs loud.
"I can't hear him-"
Minhyuk is frantic as his mind searches for Changkyun's thoughts. He can sense Hoseok, terrified and circling the same prayer. He can sense Hyungwon, begging himself not to cry. He can hear Jooheon blocks away now pondering over his current state of mind.
But Changkyun is gone. Minhyuk, with both hands in his hair, cannot fight his own shaking sobs as he realizes he has just lost someone else. First his father, then his mother, and now his brother. He does not believe it. He needs this to be a dream. The very dream he has just given the mortal far away now. But the pain that spirals through his scalp as he tugs at his hair is proof enough; he is wide awake and every ounce of agony is unbearably real.
Hoseok is frozen in place, a hand reaching out to touch Changkyun's wrist that has not quite made it. Instead, his palm rests against the freezing tiles of the floor, his eyes squeezed shut as he focuses all his energy into a silent plea. If his lips could part, it would be a scream for anyone to hear. But only whatever is left of the God above will hear this request. If God even cares to listen anymore.
While his Claims break into themselves on either side of him, Hyungwon still shakes above his youngest. The vampire cannot be done just like that. He lasted far longer than his first two Claims, and had not even made any attempts against his own life. He lived happily, despite the struggles a vampire must face. He was happy.
Shaking his head frantically, Hyungwon refuses this ending. It is not fair, and it is not what he planned for when he turned Changkyun. He is not going to let his youngest die alone. Not at all.
With shaking hands, Hyungwon lifts his vampire in his arms, standing at his full height above the pair of fae beneath him. If Changkyun is already dead, he can blink out as he pleases. Without a word of parting, before a tear can burn a path down his cheek, he fades into the air surrounding him. His body's particles tear in half and half again, dragging Changkyun's corpse with them.