Long Journey || ATEEZ

Blood Red

"For gods' sake!" San yelled in frustration, as his Dark Energy dissipated from a pink, raging tornado into nothing, and the wasps went silent. Two weeks had passed, it was a Friday, and San had made little progress in controlling his dark power. Sure, he wasn't afraid of it anymore, thanks to Seonghwa and his brutal training methods, but it still hurt to lose control again. It showed how incompetent he was.

He collapsed onto the floor, pushing his palms into his already tearing up eyes, breathing out heavily. Why couldn't he do it? Seonghwa-hyung made it look so easy; the way he wielded it was like his Dark Energy was just an extension of his body.

He could at least materialise and dissipate it at will, now. It was a little bit of progress.

"San," Seonghwa said from somewhere very close, and San felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying hard enough. I'll try harder, I'm so sorry, I'm so bad at this."

"You don't need to try harder. You're pushing yourself quite far as it is."

"But it hurts. It hurts so much—Why can't I do it?!" San said, raising his head and glaring at his hyung with anguished eyes. "I'm so useless!"

San buried his face in his hands again.

"You're not useless, San," Seonghwa said gently. "You're just afraid, still."

"What do you mean, I'm afraid? I'm not, hyung. I'm not afraid of my power anymore."

"You are," Seonghwa said. "Trust me." The older demon smiled and patted San on the shoulder. "You may not believe it yourself, but you're still afraid of it – because you can't control it. So keep working as hard as you are, and you'll get the hang of it soon, I promise you."

San sniffed, and wiped his tears away.

"Okay," he semi-whispered. "I'll try harder."

And with that, he got up, a quiet, renewed flame burning in his eyes.

* * *

"Dongju," Big Grey said, moving a little hourglass across his table. "Have you noticed that my dear Seonghwa has been getting soft, lately?"

"In what way, sir?" Dongju asked.

"His emotions are starting to grow again. He's learnt to feel fear, love, anger, and happiness. And that can't do, can it? My dearest little weapon, my razor-edge sword, can't be worn down by such petty little things like emotions – he'll go soft, he'll go blunt, and a blunt weapon is of no use, isn't that right?."

"You're right, sir," Dongju agreed. "So what are you proposing we do about it?"

"Isn't the answer obvious, dear Dongju?" Big Grey smiled, cocking his head to one side. "We'll break him down, and build him back up again."

* * *

Hongjoong sighed as he stretched, and went to take his lunch break. Even more work had been piling up nowadays, for some reason, and Hongjoong was scarcely able to find any free time for himself to draw up more doodles for his pirate ship, or write down the random poem ideas that would hit him out of nowhere.

Hongjoong's life had turned so hectic after he moved to Taerrya – attacks from angry gangsters coming from left right and centre for both him and his friend Seonghwa, meeting new people, and tagging along on an assassin's mission. He remembered with a sick feeling in his stomach Big Grey's offer that had come along with everything.

Join Cherries, become a Red.

Hongjoong shook his head violently, and tried to look at everything in a positive light; at least life had finally started to resume its normal pace, normal rhythm.