Not proofread
Pulling Changbin into his arms felt almost surreal. There was just no way to describe how at ease Hyunjin's mind felt when he wrapped his body around Changbin's smaller form. He was alive and conscious. It was all Hyunjin could have hoped for after feeling the other's pain through a bond the siren had yet to fully understand.
The noise around the siren seemed to blend into the background. His whole mind just focused on the vampire in his arms. The breathing vampire. It was weird how Hyunjin felt relaxed while Changbin tensed up in his arms. The older male didn't return the embrace nor did he utter a word. He just stiffly let himself be hugged yet Hyunjin couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. His mind was still filled with the pure relief that flooded through the siren's being when he saw the other alive.
"Hyunjin, what are you doing here?," Changbin asked in a whisper. There was no real accusation in the other's voice but enough panic to let the little illusion Hyunjin had created for himself shatter. The siren pulled away from the vampire to look into the other's eyes.
Black eyes meet deep red ones filled with mild panic and fear. Hyunjin looked into the deep red orbs, which usually shone with a kind of unexplainable knowledge, calmness and certainty and just saw shock and fear. It was unexplainable, almost weird. Why was Changbin so afraid when he was here to help? To make sure the vampire came out of the mission alive?
"I... I came for you. You were ... You were hurt," Hyunjin stuttered, his eyes scanning Changbin for the injuries he had felt on his own body. Surely enough he found them, confusing him even more. Changbin was hurt; he had needed help, so why wasn't he glad, relieved?
Changbin looked at the siren with the uttermost disbelieve. The pure red orbs quickly scanning Hyunjin for something that seemed to be missing. Was it the book of vampires? Was Changbin afraid that Hyunjin had brought the ancient artifact behind enemy lines? Was that it? Did he care so little about being hurt? About dying?
"Hyunjin you shouldn't be here. You should be at the headquarter. You-," Changbin began ranting but was interrupted when someone in the front screamed out a warning. Hyunjin's gaze was torn from Changbin only to look at a wall icicles that rained down upon everyone. The only thing that prevented the icicles to hit their targets were the magical shields hovering above everyone, but the shields were as quickly destroyed as they were created save for the ones that hovered near Byungho.
Hyunjin's eyes widened when he saw the brunet with a pair of gigantic pitch black wings on his back. His eyes shimmered with pure gold and even his magic seemed to glow with the color. The older male was breathing a bit heavily, yet he remained up right and the golden shields around him remained intact while the other broke at the contact with a hunter's weapon. Had the older male always been this powerful? Had he always had a pair of gigantic black wings?
"Jeongin help me set up a strong illusion to keep the hunters off to slip away," the siren heard his mother yell. The sound startled Hyunjin back into reality. A few feet ahead of him, people were fighting for their lives against people that wanted to see them dead. His friends stood not far from him in the defensive line along with his mother.
Ms. Hwang was a force to be reckoned with. She stood tall in the white corridor while her dual colored magic surrounded her. Bright, burning orange mixing with deep, calm blue magic was a beautiful yet dangerous sight. The colors swirled around her, centering in little flames on the tips of her nine black fox tails.
Jeongin joined Ms. Hwang's side, unaffected by the amount of magic radiating off her. At one point he must have turned fully into his kitsune form. His eyes were a burning orange and on his head he wore a pair of fluffy, blond fox ears. While Ms. Hwang could surround herself with her nine fox tails, Jeongin had only one, making him look like more of a fox hybrid than a full blood kitsune if it weren't for the glowing eyes and the fierce orange magic that began to surround him.
"Hyunjin, get Changbin further away from here," his mother instructed, not taking her eyes off the scene before here. Hyunjin blinked, his mind quickly processing the other and ripping himself out of his daze. The siren looked down to the vampire, who was still watching the scene before them. His gaze was focused on the quickly moving forms of the other vampires. Hyunjin could barely follow their movements, yet the hunters seemed to be able to often defend themselves against the quick and strong blows dealt by the vampires.
Changbin's gaze remained on the scene until he flinched lightly. He blinked a few times, his deep red eyes glossing over for a moment before he turned his attention towards the siren. The vampire gave him a simple nod, which was more than Hyunjin needed to get the other out of here.
Without thinking any further, Hyunjin scooped the other up and into his arms, being careful to not irritate his wounds any further. Surprisingly, the vampire didn't feel heavy in the siren's arms, but a part of Hyunjin blamed that on the adrenaline that was likely to be pumping through his veins with no stopping.
Changbin didn't even wince when the siren lifted him up and then turned on his heels to move into the other direction away from the danger. He didn't make a single sound and simple let himself be carried by the taller male, which was in a way unsettling.
A restricting feeling slowly got hold of Hyunjin's chest and a voice in his head whispered to him that he had done something wrong, that he had been reckless and that Changbin was mad at him. After all, the vampire clearly hadn't been very pleased to see him. Still, the stupidest thing Hyunjin could do right now was regretting his decision and beginning to doubt himself. He had a mission now.
"Hyunjin," Changbin spoke up, letting the siren's attention focus back onto the vampire. The first thing Hyunjin noted was that Changbin's voice was an unspoken warning in it and the older wasn't even looking up at the siren but staring to the side. Hyunjin followed the vampire's gaze, spotting how blue glow of the floor before it disappeared along with the ground under his feet.
There was no scream from either of the young boys as they just fell below the floor into absolute darkness. When Hyunjin had half the mind to scream and cling more onto Changbin his body was submerge in water. Instinctively, Hyunjin let got of Changbin, knowing that unlike him the vampire couldn't adapt to the water and had to get up to the surface to get air.
There was nothing but absolute darkness around them, making hard to tell up from down and left from right. The only thing Hyunjin could definitely make out was the movement of the water that was most likely created by Changbin. There was no way of tell if he was just keeping himself over water, or if he was drowning because there was no air.
Objectively, Hyunjin was aware of the fact that his siren transformation only took a minute, but when you are unsure if your boyfriend is able to breath or not it feels like an eternity. The second Hyunjin sucked in a mouthful of water to fill his gills, he immediately swam to where Changbin should be according to the water movement.
With his eyes adapted to the pitch black water, Hyunjin could even make out the vampire's form from below the water. It was a relief to see that the vampire's head was above the surface. His movement were a bit frantic, but at the same time avoided certain motions. The mild scent of blood in the water hit Hyunjin like a truck. Of course Changbin struggled to keep himself over water, he was injured, goddamn it.
Hyunjin emerge from the water beside Changbin, letting the vampire scream and hit into his direction before the sire could get one word out. The glowing red eyes of the vampire bore into him for a short second, stunning him almost long enough for the hit to land, but Hyunjin did have an advantage in the water, so he dodged by pushing himself to the side.
"Hyung, relax. It's me, Hyunjin," the siren quickly explained. Changbin let a shuddering breath escape him. His eyes were still glowing in a deep red, strongly contrasting the dark surroundings.
"You scared the hell out of me," the vampire mumbled. Hyunjin let out a humorous huff. It had been more than obvious that he had scared the vampire. The other's movements were getting more relaxed, but Hyunjin quickly noted that the other struggled to stay properly over water.
The siren closed the small distance between himself and the other to slip the vampire's arm around his shoulders to help him stay afloat. Changbin flinched a bit when Hyunjin's skin came into contact with his, but he quickly relaxed and let the siren help him. He was probably on edge because he couldn't see a lot and unlike Hyunjin was entirely out of his element. After all, the incredible strength and speed of a vampire was essentially useless in unknown waters. If Changbin could properly see where the pool of water was ending or were the bottom was, he could use the solid surface to boost himself, but it was impossible to detect for him.
Hyunjin looked around a bit more in hope of finding something that could help them get out of here, or at least figure out where they were. He knew that right now, in his siren form, his eyes were better than the ones of Changbin, but it was still hard for him to properly make out some sort of land or the bottom of this pool of water. Unlike mermaids, sirens had no echolocation because they were more adapted to lakes than the oceans. Their eyes were used to navigate the often muddy and dark bottoms of deep lakes, but they were unfit for the almost lightless depths of the sea.
The siren let out a frustrated huff when he couldn't see anything despite the total darkness surrounding them. The only thing that created a bit of light were Changbin's deep red eyes and that wasn't really voluntary. Still, one good thing came from finding nothing. It meant they were alone in this pool of water, so Hyunjin didn't have to worry about keeping Changbin above surface and fighting some deep sea creature.
In all honesty, it was a easy task for a sea creature to keep another being over water. They merely needed to move their legs or tail a little to stay above the surface, so it was the last thing Hyunjin had to worry about. The siren let the movements of his legs become a quiet rhythm in hopes of preserving some of his energy as well as in a way calming Changbin. After all, he could feel Changbin's tense shoulders and how his eyes flickered around without staying anywhere for too long.
A part of Hyunjin thought about how much scarier this much be for Changbin. After all, he was at a clear disadvantage, he couldn't see too much, he was injured and relied on Hyunjin to keep him above water so he couldn't tire himself out and drown.
A sudden pressure on top of his head ripped Hyunjin out of his thoughts and made him snap his head upwards, resulting in his forehead painfully scratching over cold, rough stone. The siren reached a hand out, his palm quickly connecting with a cold, rough surface that had melted into the all surrounding darkness, completely escaping Hyunjin's eyes.
When the siren pushed himself and Changbin a bit more into the water, away from the ceiling another thing became painfully clear to him. The water was rising. In a small fit of panic, Hyunjin let go of Changbin, diving under water and away from the vampire to just stay still for a short moment.
The stillness of the water was interrupted by Changbin's movements, which were unregulated and labored due to his injuries, but if the water was rising it had to come from somewhere. Above water there was nothing that indicated it coming from the ceiling because then you would hear the splashing sound, so it had to be under water and then Hyunjin should be able to feel a small stream.
The siren closed his eyes, ignored the water movement of Changbin in favor of proofing his little theory. He let himself float in the water, just feeling his surroundings. A small movement in the water came from his right. It was very faint and incredibly weak, so either the water was rising very slowly or the source was very far away, which would mean this pool of water was huge. Still, one thing was clear now. The water was indeed rising.
Without wasting anymore time, Hyunjin shot back to the surface and to Changbin. He came very close to hitting his head on the ceiling when he re-emerge from the water, but more of a threat was the vampire, who once again tried to land a hit on the siren out of reflex.
"Hyung! Stop hitting me and listen. The- The water is rising. I don't know from where the water is coming from, but it's definitely rising," the siren blurred out, giving the vampire no time to talk before him. The vampire's red eyes widened and despite knowing what the color on the other's eyes implied he could see the other's fear.
At that Hyunjin's body moved before his head could come up with one reason to not do it. The siren closed the distance between the two, slipping the vampire's arm over his shoulder again, but let his own arms wrap around the other middle protectively. Changbin became almost entirely still in the taller male's arms, but he let his arms wrap themselves securely around Hyunjin's shoulders. The top of both of their heads were pressed against the cold, rough ceiling.
"Shit, then the others may have not enough time to get us out, to get me out," the vampire mumbled. Hyunjin bit down on his lower lip at the last part and the implication behind it. Changbin knew that if someone was to die here, it would be him, because he couldn't breath underwater like Hyunjin. He didn't have as much time to wait here.
The siren cursed at himself internally and wished for the powers of a nymph. If he was a nymph, he could grant Changbin the ability to breath underwater for a certain amount of time, but sirens didn't have such abilities. They only-, wait, there was something he could do. When he had trained with Mark, Jungwoo and Yukhei, the topic had come up.
Almost frantically, Hyunjin tried to remember what they had talked about in that regard. He remember Yukhei explaining the nymphs' abilities to let other creatures breath underwater by kissing them and then he had asked if other water creatures could do something similar. The answer had been yes. He knew that, but how did it work? Jungwoo had been the one to explain it, hadn't he? It had something to do with gills and purposely pushing water out.
Suddenly Jungwoo's explanation of the technique came back to him. The timing was perfect to because the water had almost reached his nose now. He could use the technique with Changbin to keep the other from drowning until someone got them out of here.
"Changbin-hyung, we have more time than you think to wait for the others," the siren said. At that Changbin shifted a bit and Hyunjin didn't know if it was because he had been addressed or because he needed to readjust his position to not inhale water through his nose.
"I can keep you from drowning even if the whole room - or wherever we are - is submerged in water," Hyunjin continued after receiving no other reaction from Changbin other than his shifting. For a short moment the other went tense with surprise and soon enough Hyunjin had a pair of red eyes staring right at him.
"That's possible?," the vampire questioned to which Hyunjin nodded. The siren quickly realized that the other probably couldn't see that and settled for a rambled verbal response.
"Yes. Jungwoo-hyung explained the technique to me in a training session, so I should be able to do it," the siren explained, mentally adding that he would do anything to make sure Changbin survived this. After all, Hyunjin was pretty sure it was his fault that they got into this mess in the first place. He had been the one, who had noticed the ground disappearing from underneath his feet too late.
To the gods, he hoped the rest was okay, but Changbin seemed to expect to be saved at some point, so they had to be fine, right?
"Have you ever try it out before?", the vampire asked, red glowing eyes searching for something in blue luminescent orbs. Hyunjin gulped when he realized that his answer to that question would most likely upset the other male.
Jungwoo may have explained the technique to him, but he was never shown how and never tried it. All Hyunjin had was the theoretical knowledge to perform the technique, but it was the only option they had right now.
The water was steadily rising and Hyunjin was baffled at the sheer speed. His chin was already underwater and Changbin had to tilt his head upwards now to keep his nose above the surface, breaking their eye contact.
Hyunjin bit his lip lightly, knowing that in just a few more moments he was the only one who could keep Changbin from drowning. The vampire had to literally trust the siren with his life. It may be foolish, but Hyunjin wasn't as scared of that as he should be. He was in his element now. He could do this and if it was the last thing he did.
"Hyung, I just need you to trust me. I can do it," Hyunjin said half to Changbin and half into the water that was lightly splashing against his lips. The vampire looked at the taller male from the corners of his eyes, their red glowing partly reflected on the water's rising surface. Hyunjin couldn't read the other, but he could see the light nod the other gave him.
"Just tell me what to do," the vampire whispered almost to himself. His voice had a certain neutrality, which was probably caused by the Red Glow, but Hyunjin could almost sense the bit of fear and panic that was surrounding the vampire. It made the siren's want to protect and comfort the other only stronger.
"Just keep calm and trust me," the siren mumbled, fixing his hold on Changbin by moving one arm up, so he could cup the side of the vampire's face with his hand. The short male turned his head to the siren automatically but instinctively tried to keep his nose out of the water, which was slowly becoming impossible. Hyunjin felt the water lapping against his cheekbones, yet he could breath just fine. The water was steadily escaping his gils, providing the siren with oxygen.
To the gods, he hoped dearly he could make this technique work. He had to for the sake of Changbin.
"Deep breath," Hyunjin instructed in what he hoped was a calm and confident voice. Changbin took one deep breath as instructed and then gave the siren a little nod. Hyunjin let them dive underneath the water but stayed close to the surface, so hopefully Changbin wouldn't need to deal with the pressure of the lower parts of the water pool.
Hyunjin could see a faint glow coming from Changbin's eyes despite the other having closed them the second they had dived underwater. It was fascinating and worrying at the same time. Had his Red Glow ever been this strong, or was it just the fact that they are surrounded by a pitch black darkness?
The siren quickly shook these thoughts away and retracted the hand from Changbin's cheek. The instant that happened the vampire's body went tense and his eyes fluttered open. Red, glowing eyes were staring right at the siren yet again, but Hyunjin was pretty sure that the vampire couldn't see much. Still, there was a mild panic in the other's eyes that made Hyunjin's heart sting.
"Don't worry, I will stay close. I just need a hand to hold my nose," the siren reassured the other. Underwater Hyunjin's voice sounded a bit more echoey and a lot more like a melody and it seemed to help the vampire calm down a bit, his body relaxing in the other's hold but the eyes remained open.
Hyunjin brought his hand up to his face and held his nose in order to effectively get the water out of his mouth and airway through gils. He had to admit that it felt weird and forced but it wasn't too bad. It was just like he was just holding his breath. Changbin blinked at him owlishly, which made the siren question if the other's vision was better underwater than he had anticipated.
When Hyunjin was sure that there was no more water in his mouth and airways, he leaned forward quickly capturing Changbin's lips in his, surprising the short male. For a short moment, Hyunjin feared he had taken the other too much off guard but Changbin seemed to quickly realize what was going on and remained rather calm, just following the siren's lead.
A few bubbles tickled Hyunjin's cheeks when he passed the oxygen he had gathered from the water to Changbin and then slowly pulled away again. He deeply inhaled, letting water back into his gils. His body reacted to the action with a strong urge to cough, but the siren pushed it down.
He didn't realize that he had closed his eyes until he had to make the conscious effort to reopen them to look at Changbin to see if the technique had worked or not. The vampire blinked at him, reminding Hyunjin of the fact that the other couldn't talk underwater.
"Did it work? Can you ... sort of breath?," Hyunjin asked, being unsure of how to phrase his question. His fingers dug a bit more into the fabric of Changbin's shirt in nervous anticipation.
The other gave the siren a short nod, causing the siren to sigh in relief. He let his head drop forward, so his forehead gently connected with Changbin's. The technique worked. He could keep Changbin alive until they were saved.
The vampire's red glowing eyes stared directly into the blue one's of the siren. A part of Hyunjin hated the fact that he could only get glimpses of the emotions that must be swirling around in Changbin, but on the other hand he was glad that the Red Glow had the ability to help the vampire overall.
He was interrupted from his staring into his boyfriend's eyes when he felt Changbin bonking their head together gently. It felt like a gentle reminder to remain focused. The siren almost wanted to laugh at the sheer silliness of this whole mess of a situation.
"Alright, let's do this again," the siren said, leaning away from Changbin so he could hold his nose without getting his knuckles into the other's face.
They managed to find a rhythm with the technique that made it easier for both of them to breath. The longer they did this the more Hyunjin came to realization that this technique wasn't made to work for a prolonged period of time. His throat began to ache as his body protested the repeated forceful exit of water through his gils, but the siren couldn't bring himself to care because Changbin was doing fine.
Through there little rhythm it became a lot more comfortable for Changbin because his body got used to the amount of oxygen it got in regular spans of time. The vampire also seemed to take a small amount of pleasure in letting bubbles escape his lips when Hyunjin's face was still near, tickling the siren a little bit.
There was no telling how much time had passed since they fell into the water trap, but they were handling it well enough. Beside the water there was no other source of danger here, it was almost safe. Almost because Hyunjin wanted to retract that statement when he felt a presence hovering behind him.
Before the siren could turn around and face the threat, he felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder followed by a mismatched set of glowing eyes coming into his vision. Bright orange and deep blue orbs looked at him in relief and in that instant Hyunjin knew they were saved. After all, the last thing his mother would do was hurt Changbin or him.
In the blink of an eyes the surroundings changed from pitch black, underwater room to bright white corridor filled with cold, merciless air. Hyunjin coughed harshly the instant he got a mouthful of air into his gils while his eyes were stinging with the bright light and colors surrounding him. It was almost instinct to shut his eyes and wait for his body to get used to being back on land. The cold air of the corridor was biting at his soaked form, his ears were filled with so many sounds he couldn't make out a single one.
Everything was just bright and loud and he was still coughing out his lungs while clinging onto someone. His brain quickly reminded him of the fact that the someone in his arms must be Changbin, but he didn't fully realize just how much he was clinging onto the vampire in his arms until the smaller male started patting his back in an attempt to help with his coughing and mumbling something into his ear that he didn't quite catch.
"Byungho get them out of here now. We will keep the hunters off your back," he heard his mother say loudly from close behind him. She seemed to speak over the chaos surrounding him for a short moment before everything was drown back into the chaos of noises he couldn't understand.
The only thing Hyunjin faintly registered was Changbin rearranging their position a bit and moving into a certain direction until he felt a bit more magic in the air. When he tried to open his eyes a little bit he only saw a swirl of red and gold surrounding him.