Not proofread - as always lol
Byungho couldn't see one thing when the dark smoke enveloped him and his entire group. They all had sprung back from their original spot, but it had not been enough to fully escape. In a fruitless attempt to dissolve the smoke, Byungho had stretched out his wings and let them flutter. It didn't do much, but at least it brought Chan to him.
Together the two found their way out of the smoke, but they didn't find anyone of their group or Taeil. Instead they came face to face with a group of five young hunters, who lost no time to talk to them and immediately started attacking.
Byungho's golden magic was flickering more and more with each spell he casted and each blow he deflected. The only advantage he had was the fact that Seungmin had been right. His magic wasn't dissolved by the crystals of the hunters. This had surprised the group of young hunters as well as Chan when Byungho had fixated two of the hunters in their current position with magic vines that seemingly did not care about the gleaming crystals that tried to dissipate them.
Chan covers Byungho's back, dashing forward when one of the young hunters came too close to the angel-demon mix for comfort. Yet, one of the group was particularly keen on the idea of landing a hit on Byungho. She fought with a long sword, half of her face was covered by a mask and her hair was either a dark shade of brown or endless black. The one thing that stood out about her though was the violet crystal that hung around her neck.
She made, a lot more often than all of her companions, a reckless attempt to strike Byungho and was always thrown back by either Byungho's shield or Chan's wolf form bouncing at her to knock her off balance. Still, Byungho was convinced that it wouldn't take long and she would land a fatal blow on him.
The fight they fought was not winnable for Byungho and Chan, because they were forced to remain on the defense where the power of the magic user dwindled more and more. The golden magic of the brunet became fainter and fainter with each shield he conjured up and Chan noticed his partner's exhaustion like it was his second nature.
When Byungho began to use his wings to push the hunters back instead of his magic, Chan fell in step beside the other. The brunet looked to the wolf hybrid in confusion, his wings flaring up again when he saw one of the hunters dashed towards them again in the corner of his eye.
Chan suddenly rushed forward again, pushing the hunter off balance before retreating. The wolf hybrid then quickly looked to his partner and tilted his head towards the forest. He wanted for them to run. Mentally, Byungho also added that Chan proposed the idea of loosing the hunters in the forest and then trying to regroup with their friends.
The burnet gave the wolf a curt nod and prepared himself to follow Chan's lead. The hybrid was better at weaving through the hunters and dashing into the forest than he will ever be, so it was only logical to follow Chan's lead. Besides, Byungho had the option of jumping into the sky and making his escape with the help of his wings.
Byungho let his wings flare out again, brushing Chan's flank. It looked like an accident, an action nobody paid much attention, but it was a wordless communication between the wolf hybrid and the angel-demon mix. It was a clear signal.
Chan let a low growl escape his throat, pretending to attack the group of young hunters. They automatically braced themselves for an attack that never came. Chan dashed towards them only to sharply turn to the side an dash into the forest. Byungho let a mighty gush of wings crash against the group of hunters, knocking them off balance before he used his wings to propel himself into the direction where Chan had taken off.
The two young creatures dashed through the forest at a neck-breaking rate. Byungho's wings tucked themselves to his back to not hinder the brunet while he weaved through the forest behind Chan.
It was clear that Chan wasn't running at full speed to not loose Byungho, who was following him with short, ragged breaths escaping his lips. The burnet's lungs burned with exhaustion and his legs felt numb to the point where he wasn't entirely sure if they were still moving or not.
Behind them the group of young hunters was pushing through the forest, trying to catch up to them. Their boots were hitting the ground hard enough for even Byungho to feel them following Chan and him. At this rate they would catch up to them in no time, yet the burnet couldn't bring himself to run faster. His legs felt like they were made of metal, heavy and unbendable. Chan would be able to escape them a lot easier without him, and for a moment Byungho considered taking to the sky. The only thing preventing him from doing so was his own exhaustion. He wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep himself in the air and he could also lose sight if Chan, which was the worst thing that could happen to them right now.
A sudden whine from Chan let Byungho's head snap up from where it had dropped to the ground in front of his feet and look towards to the wolf hybrid. The grey wolf had made a sharp turn that Byungho almost wasn't able to follow because within the thicket of the forest before them was the silhouette of a person.
Byungho didn't even spare the person a second glance and trusted Chan's judgment enough to blindly follow him. The grey wolf was sprinting until he skittered to a halt, causing Byungho to almost run into the wolf hybrid. The brunet's breath was quick and uncontrolled, his body desperately trying to supply him with enough oxygen. It made his head swim for a moment before he could focus on the scene before him.
In front of Chan and Byungho stood another group of young hunters. With his lightly unfocused vision and the darkness that still hung over the forest, Byungho couldn't tell how many hunters stood before them. His head only supplied him with the answer of 'too many'. They couldn't run anymore and they surely couldn't hold themselves long enough in a fight to get them any kind of help.
Despite the odds not being in their favor, Byungho let his wings spread and raised his hands ready to at least give Chan a chance to run. He was prepared to give his all, but then a gently hand laid itself on top of his arm, guiding his right hand down.
Byungho looked to the side to see Chan, back in his human form. His eyes were focused on the hunter group before them. The burnet followed his partner's gaze. Chan was looking at a young hunter with two swords clutched in his hands and a dark brown crystal around his neck. The two held their eye contact and neither moved an inch, neither moved to attack.
Sudden movement in the corner of his eyes broke the moment, letting Byungho's shoulder tense and prepare for an incoming attack from the hunters before them, but the young hunter Chan was looking at spread his weapons to the side, preventing his comrades from moving forward.
"They don't wanna fight. They just wanna survive this," the hunter with the brown crystal said, lowering his weapons again while a confused mutter went through his group. "It's good to see you alive, grey wolf," the same hunter said to Chan.
"It was a close call last time, but I return the sentiment, Michael," Chan replied, nodding at the young hunter with the brown crystal. The action confused Byungho and surprised the young hunter before them. Did Chan know this hunter? Had they met?
Suddenly, Chan tensed beside Byungho and swiped his head around just in time to dodge a blow from their pursuers. Byungho immediately dashed to the side, using his wings again to send a gush of wind their pursuers' way and knock them back a little. Yet, what caught Byungho entirely off guard was how Michael, the hunter with the brown crystal, pushed forward and positioned himself between Byungho, Chan and their pursuers.
"What the hell are you doing, Michael?," the girl with the violet crystal yelled. Her grip on her two-hand sword tightened and Byungho saw the crystal brighten for a short moment. "They are the enemy! If we don't kill them now, they will kill us later," the young huntress screeched. Michael seemed unfazed by it, yet his shoulders still tensed a bit.
"I'm still alive and perfectly fine, Lilian," Michael retorted with a shrug of his shoulders. Chan, who stood on the other side of Michael, calmly began walking from the young hunter's side towards Byungho. The wolf hybrid's gaze was trained onto the young huntress with the violet crystal and not Michael as if he knew if he was being attacked it would not be Michael.
Michael's eyes trailed after Chan for a short moment before they fixated themselves back onto the furious young huntress with the violet crystal, whom he had called Lilian, that stood before him.
"They will not attack us if we don't attack them. It's as simple as that," Michael continued, his eyes staring directly into the ones of Lilian. They were locked in a battle of wills while their respective groups stood cluelessly behind them. Byungho could tell that they grew antsy, their gaze darted from Michael, to Chan and him to Lilian in almost a cycle that was only broken when they whispered among themselves.
When Chan reached Byungho's side completely unharmed, the angel-demon mix marveled at the mutual trust between Michael and the wolf hybrid. They were a supernatural and a hunter, yet they trusted each other to not attack them from behind. It just highlighted the question of how they knew each other.
"This is treason," Lilian suddenly snarled. She was met with nothing, but calmness from Michael. The young hunter loosened and tightened his grip on his lowered swords and for a split second Byungho was worried that Chan's trust in him had been misplaced, but then Michael's weapons clattered to the ground. The other young hunters gasped, but Michael paid them no mind and actively positioned himself in front of Chan and Byungho. If he had protected them before, he was now serving as their shield. Should anyone of Lilian's group or the one Michael had been a part of try to hurt Chan or Byungho, they would have to go through the young hunter first.
"They won't hurt me if I don't hurt them. Don't you understand? They just want to get out of this situation unharmed! With the only difference being that they will be killed on sight while we will most likely survive whatever the supernaturals throw at us because they don't aim for the kill!," Michael argued, his voice gaining volume with each sentence. Meanwhile Lilian began boiling with rage, her shoulders shook while her eyes burned with anger and even a bit of betrayal. One hand let go of her sword, only to point an accusing finger at Byungho.
"Look at them! One of them is a class ten beast! A black winged angel! A messenger of death! The spawn of a demon and an fallen angel, whose only goal is to kill! He will start slaughtering all of us the second we lower our guards and he won't have any mercy," Lilian screamed, completely unhinged. She was breathing so heavily at the end of her declaration. She reminded one of an insane person, ready to claw her way through a crowd of people.
Byungho almost took a step back at the amount of pure rage directed at him. Was this what the humans thought he was? A messenger of death? His wings pressed themselves a bit closer to him, trying to protect him, but he didn't let them obscure his vision.
Chan, who had always been more sensible to Byungho's moods than most others, quietly took hold of Byungho's hand, gently rubbing the brunet's knuckles with his thumb to soothe the other. The black-winged angel's gaze fell away from Lilian as he took a shaky breath, while willing his wings back into their previous position. It was only then that he noticed Michael's gaze on him.
The young hunter with the brown crystal had looked over his shoulder back to Chan and him, but he quickly looked forward again when his eyes met the brown-goldish orbs of Byungho. He stepped away from them and towards his abandoned weapons to take them up again.
Byungho's breath hitched in his throat. His grip on Chan's hand growing more tense. Had Lilian convinced Michael with her hateful speech that Byungho was better off dead? A glance to Lilian told Byungho enough to know that she was thinking something along those lines. Her eyes were still burning, but a wide grin was stretched onto her lips. That grin quickly dropped when Michael took his previous position. He was once again in front of Chan and Byungho, but this time with his swords raised towards Lilian and her group.
Michael turned towards his own group of young hunters, who were still visibly confused about what to do. "They have names, a family, friends and a life to live. They really aren't that different from us," Michael said, his gaze wandering from his group to the one Lilian was leading, "We don't have to fight, we don't have to kill each other."
Lilian stared at Michael in nothing short of disgusted disbelieve before she let out war cry. "You traitor!," she screamed as she charged at Michael, their blades crashing against each other. This kickstarted the reactions of the other young hunters and it became very clear who had shared Michael's views and who had not. Most of Michael's group joined the young hunter in defending Chan and Byungho, but the others tried their best to get to the young men they were trying to protect.
"Get out of here!," Michael yelled over his shoulder while barely managing to hold the fuming Lilian off. Byungho looked down to Chan who had shifted back into his wolf form the second Lilian had let out that war cry. The wolf hybrid met Byungho's gaze and that was enough to tell the brunet that they both couldn't just bail on Michael and his friends. They could be the only solution to end this war peacefully.
Byungho clutched his hands into fists, willing every last bit of magic he had into them. A golden mist started to emit from his fist, the familiar feeling of his magic surrounding him. Under his breath he mumbled the words of the shield spell while Chan growled at everything that came too close to him.
The last syllable was uttered causing a golden shield to form before Byungho. He raised his hands, causing the magic to bend and do his biding back by only blocking the ones who wanted to cause harm to their peers or Chan and him. With his arms lightly trembling from exhaustion, he pushed the shield forwards causing serval of the young hunters to stumble back while Michael and his friends were greeted and protected by the golden glow. Byungho saw a few of his newly claimed protectors flinch at the con tact with his magic but they quickly relaxed.
Michael threw another glance over his shoulder when Lilian was pushed back by the golden wall while he remained unharmed and unaffected by the magic. He smiled gratefully at the brunet, mouthing a silent 'Thank you' before focusing on the fight once again. Byungho made a mental note to show his own gratefulness to the young hunter after they were in a safe place. What Michael had done for Chan and him needed to be recognized, not only by the two creatures he had saved with his actions but also the other groups.
Chan remained faithfully by Byungho's side while the brunet did his best to give the hunters protecting them an advantage against their peers. It was work despite the exhaustion that was settling more and more into Byungho. His arms were trembling, his chest was moving with labored breaths, his teeth were clenched in a desperate attempt to remain focused.
The brunet knew that he looked ready to collapse and he felt like it too, but he couldn't afford it. No matter how worried Chan looked up at him with dark wolf eyes, he didn't stop pushing their enemies away from their allies with his shield.
All of the sudden Chan froze in his place, causing Byungho to almost loose focus. The wolf hybrid's ears flickered around, his gaze focused on nothing in particular like he was trying to hear something. A sudden surprised bark left the wolf hybrid before he slammed himself against Byungho causing the brunet to stumble to the side with a yelp. The golden shield he had maintained broke into fine golden dust, the second its user had been distracted.
An arrow swished by Byungho and Chan, burying himself into the ground where the burnet had been standing only heartbeats ago. A crystal was woven into the arrow's middle making it clear that the shot hadn't been random. It had been shot with the intent to hit Byungho or at least Chan.
Byungho's gaze snapped away from the arrow and upwards into the tree tops where he could see the faint outline of a person. He could see the glint of another arrow. His wings shot up and surrounded him and Chan on pure instinct, but that didn't mean the arrow didn't hurt as it buried itself into black feathers. The brunet bit his tongue and suppressed a scream as he felt the arrow hit his left wing.
With the taste of blood in his mouth and adrenaline kicking his body into motion, he stood up. He opened his wings and a mighty gush of wind towards the archer. It pushed them off balance and out of the tree to make a probably unpleasant encounter with the ground. Byungho puffed out a tired breath, exhaustion making his limps feel heavy while pain pulsed through his left wing. It would be a miracle if he could still fly like this.
Chan's yelp let the brunet turned around only to see the glint of Lilian's sword before it buried itself into the middle of his chest. He blinked at the weapon that slowly colored itself red before it was ripped out of his body without mercy. Weirdly enough, he felt nothing, not an ounce of pain, not even a little sting.
"Hyung, I need you! I need all of you!," Seungmin's panicked voice echoed in his brain. His demon voice. Was it weird that he could hear Seungmin and not the other group leaders? He hadn't heard them in a while and they had never answered to his cry for help. Maybe the connection was severed because something had happened to J.Seph.
Byungho's eyes searched Chan in the haze that was slowly clouding his vision. He wanted to see the other before everything was over, before everything went dark. He didn't find him, everything just became dark and silent.
A dripping sound caught Byungho's attention and he opened his eyes despite not remembering to have closed them. He looked around searching for the dripping sound and found a small pond in the middle of the darkness. In regular intervals, water dripped into the pond from above despite there being nothing but darkness.
Byungho wandered towards the pond, oddly fascinated by it. The dripping continued when he stood before it.
Drip, drip, drip.
It was calming. He settled in front of the pond, watching how the unmoving surface of the water was disturbed again and again by the droplet that hit it.
A sudden flash of light on the pond's surface, drew Byungho more towards it. He looked into it, seeing his own reflection in the water. His eyes glowed a bright golden and his brown hair had some blond strains. He couldn't remember that he had colored his hair. Did he even do it?
He tilted his head to the side and flinched when another face appeared in the pond's reflection. His head snapped towards the person that now calmly sat beside him. It was a woman with long golden-blond hair falling down her back, her skin fair and untouched and dressed in white silk that hugged her body.
A familiar warmth spread in Byungho's chest and when the woman turned his head to face him all breath left his chest. Her eyes a familiar tone of blue and her smile a ever comforting gesture.
"Mum," Byungho breathed out before he threw himself into his mother's arms clinging onto her. Eve let out a small chuckle and held him close, rubbing her hands over his back comfortingly. Only now could Byungho see her wings and how the circle around him in a familiar gesture. he hugged his mother a bit tighter, burying his face into her shoulder to keep the tears and sobs that were threatening to leave him at bay.
"I missed you," he mumbled into his mother's shoulder. He couldn't believe that she was here, that she was holding him. He never realized just how much he missed her until now.
"I know you do," Eve whispered, patting his head comfortingly. She pressed a kiss onto the side of his head and continued to soothe her son with gentle, familiar gestures. It was everything Byungho could have wished for after fighting against hunters and ... dying. Was he even dead? Was this the afterlife and the reason for him to be able to see his mother? Because he died to Lilian?
"Mum?," Byungho said, pulling away from his mother's embrace so he could face her, "Am I dead?"
Eve merely smiled and tugged a stray strain of brown hair behind his ear. Her blue eyes holding nothing but love in them.
"No, my dear, you are still alive," Eve answered and took Byungho's right hand where a little golden ring adored his little finger. She looked at the ring, a soft smile on her lips as she focused her attention back onto Byungho.
"I am protecting you through the ring. It is the only thing I can do now," she explained. Byungho looked at his mother in utter bewilderment, not understanding how this was possible. If he was still alive then where was he right now? Where was Chan and Michael and the other hunters?
"But- How? Where are we?," he asked, while it dawned to him that the more important question was how Eve was here. His mother looked at him with understanding and a soft smile like she could read his mind. She looked into the eternal darkness surrounding them before her blue eyes settled back onto Byungho.
"We are surrounded by your father's magic," she began, looking at the ring on Byungho's little finger again, "He created the rings on our wedding day. Mine is meant to protect while his holds the power to destroy. They both let the other know when they are being used."
Byungho blinked at his mother, following her gaze to the little golden band around his little finger. He remembered the day it was give to him clearly. It had saved his life and brought him back to his family after his mother's death.
The brunet bit his lower lip when the realization of all of this being just his father's magic creeped into his mind. Was his mother even real then or just an illusion?
"Byungho," Eve called her sons name with nothing short of motherly love. The brunet raised his gaze from where it had lingered on his hand and back up to his mother.
"I can help you fight if you let me," she proposed, "I can lend you my power to rewrite your friends' fate, to change things for the better."
It was odd, yet at the same time familiar to hear such words from his mother and he knew he would agree to her proposal no matter what. Yet, such power never came without a cost. Even divine beings like angels couldn't create world peace by snapping their fingers.
"What do I need to do," Byungho whispered. Eve smiled again, caressing his cheek gently. "Nothing, I just need to take one thing important to you then we can seal our deal and you can call upon my power whenever you need it," she answered.
Some may be scared to hear such a proposal, but Byungho couldn't bring himself to even be a little worried. He knew he wouldn't be hurt, so instead he found something amusing.
"You know how to make deals?," Byungho teasingly asked. His mother laughed her bright laughter and tapped his nose after she had calmed down.
"I was married to the devil long enough to realize that demons and angels have a very similar power set," she answered, her smile softening again. Byungho just felt warm and content sitting here with his mother, but he had to think of something important he could give up to make the deal. He came up blank.
There was nothing important to him that he could afford to give up. He wanted to stay close to his brothers, he wanted to remain friends with the members of Stray Kids, he didn't want to stop loving Chan and he didn't want to loose him either.
He looked at his mother, feeling a bit of desperation clawing at his throat. He wanted this deal. He wanted to be able to call upon his mother's power in hopes of always having a part of her with him, but he couldn't give up the relationships he had formed because they were more than important to him, they kept him alive and sane.
"It's hard, isn't it?," she asked, her smile still soft. Byungho let a breath escape him and nodded.
"I don't know what I could give up that is important to me," the brunet sighed, letting his gaze drop to his lap. He wanted this deal, yet he didn't want to give his family and friends up. Eve put two fingers under her son's chin and tilted his face up.
"What about your group symbol?," she asked. Byungho's eyes widened for a moment, his lips ready to form 'No' but his mother continued. "You would not be part of Stray Kids any longer, but your friendship to all of its members would remain. You don't need to be in a group to be friends with them," Eve explained softly.
Byungho considered it for a moment. His mother was right. The symbol that was on his back, between his wings was important to him because he loved Stray Kids, but even without being part of the group Felix, Minho, Seungmin, Jeongin, Hyunjin, Jisung, Changbin and Chan would still remain his closest friends.
"Okay," the brunet breathed out. Eve smiled, reaching out her right hand for him to take. If Byungho took her hand now the deal would be sealed, he would be able to call upon his mother's powers to save and protect his friends, his loved ones.
The young magic user took a breath and took her hand. He felt magic prickle under his palm before it seemed to settle. The darkness around them began to shift and for a moment Byungho felt panicked. Was his mother going to disappear now? He looked at her. She was still a solid image before her.
"We have completed our deal," she said as she took her hand back. Her wings flickered for a short moment and Byungho saw a bit of magic falling off them. She was going to disappear. She was just magic, not his real mother, yet Byungho couldn't help himself and pulled her close again.
"You know I love you, right?", he mumbled against her neck. He wanted her know, for reasons he couldn't name he wanted this illusion of his mother to know how much he loved her, how much he was still missing her, how much he wished he could have introduced her to Chan only to watch them interact with each other.
"I never doubted it, Byungho," his mother whispered, her hand cradling his head. Byungho pressed his eyes close, trying to commit everything about her to memory, so he would never forget a single detail about her, so he could one day tell Chan everything about her.
"Remember that I will always love you no mater what. Remember that I will be by your side whenever you need help even if you cannot see me," Eve whispered, her voice gentle, soft and quiet. Byungho nodded against her neck, not trusting his voice enough to answer verbally.
"I love you, Byungho," she mumbled before she disappeared from under Byungho's death grip on her. A quiet sob escape the brunet as he hugged himself, he could feel his wings around him now. The feathers brushed against his arms like they wanted to soothe him.
He took a breath, blinking his eyes open. There was no sound around him. He could feel the coldness of the night biting his exposed skin and that his knees were digging into the dirt. His black feathers blocked his vision, so moved his wings to fold on his back.
His surroundings were a bit unfamiliar at first. There was no fighting going on in his proximity, not a single hunter was in sight. His hand wandered up to his chest, feeling nothing there. No blood, no cut in the fabric of his uniform, nothing.
Byungho rose to his feet, trying to orient himself when he saw mist not far from him. Shortly after that Chan's wolf form broke out from the mist. He looked around quickly before coming straight towards him. In that moment it hit Byungho that they were back at the clearing, they were back to the place where they had lost the rest of their group because they ran from hunters.
A sudden noise from behind let Byungho turn around and this time he did not hesitate to immediately fling a ball of pure magic at the nearest hunter he saw emerging from the forest. The young hunter he had hit yelped in pain as he was smashed against a tree trunk.
Immediately a young huntress dashed towards Byungho and this time the brunet even knew her name. Lilian.
Without thinking twice collected magic in his hands while mumbling a shield spell and dodged Lilian, only to smack pure magic into her face. The shield spell was finished just in time to block another young hunter that was charging at Byungho.
Magic was following through Byungho's body like a endless stream, while the ring on his right ring finger was pleasantly warm.
But the questioned that remained was how did Byungho get back here, why did it seem like someone turned back time?
Author's note:
Look at me finally getting a proper chapter out there hehehehe. Next up is Seungmin's POV which will probably be interesting to a lot of you I assume. Be excited for that.
And to the ones reading the Baby Boom Series: Now you know how Byungho lost his place in Stray Kids.
Hope you liked the chapter!
Stay healthy, stay safe!
Lots of love,
Akeminii