"How long will it take?!! I'm seriously worried"
"Took you 2 months honey, don't forget that. He will be up soon i guess"
"Will he remember us? Me?"
"Well you have to see that yourself"
Two very distant voices rang in his ears. Slowly it became audible and he tried to recognise the voice. They were familiar but at the same time it was difficult to pin point whom it belonged to. There was no face flashing in his mind that could be attached to the voices.
"Look!!!! His eyeballs are moving. Johnny look!!!"
Johnny?
That sounded familiar but again, he couldn't bring himself to imagine the face.
"Oh my devil!!! He's scrunching his brows!! Oh my!! Wake up wake up!!"
A hyper active voice bombarded his ears. By now he realised they were talking about him. They wanted him to open his eyes. And he too wanted to see the faces who disturbed his beautiful nap. Despite being so reluctant to tear open his eyes and end his peaceful sleep, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Taeyong!!!! Oh my fuck!! You are awake!!"
"Calm down Ten, he is still in daze. Don't scare him"
"Who is in daze?" He finally opened his eyes and spotted the hyper active person, having his face right on top of his.
"Ten??" Just a glance and he was thankful to recognise the person.
"Omo omo!! You remember me???"
"Why would I not remember you?" Taeyong was genuinely confused. Why was his friend acting as if he saw him after decades? He just woke up from a nap, didn't he?
Taeyong tried to sit up and hurriedly was helped by another pair of hands while Ten set the pillows so that he could lean on it. Taeyong winced as his back made multiple cracking sounds as he leaned forward. It felt good after that. He questioned how long he just slept. His eyes then shifted to the person behind Ten.
"Do you by any chance remember me?" He spoke first. And Taeyong gave him a questioning look before saying," why are you two being this weird? Johnny?" Johnny looked surprised.
"Tae,........you know who he is?" Taeyong's eyes went back to Ten to find a rather concerned look. By now Taeyong was really weird out. But instead of questioning it he chose to simply answer.
"You boyfriend....duh!" Taeyong rolled his eyes. There was another wave of surprise flashing on Ten's face.
"You know what I am?" Johnny had a sceptical look on. "Yes. An octopus! Seriously do i look like a psycho or something? Just waking up from a nap and you think i will lose the ability to differentiate between a human from animal?" Taeyong was really annoyed.
"Tae you didn't wak_"
"Oh sorry sorry. We were just checking up on you. You were knocked out for a bit longer so yeah. Just making sure you are sober and in sane mind. Just that" Johnny cut Ten off. Ten looked at him but Johnny subtly shook his head. Meanwhile this didn't go unnoticed by Taeyong. "You both are weird" he commented. Ten sighed and faced Taeyong again and smiled.
"Hungry?" He asked.
Taeyong nodded immediately. He had almost forgotten about his rumbling stomach in the midst of his friends weirdness but now when it's mentioned, he was damn hungry!
"Freshen up, i will get something for you" Ten patted Taeyong's head while the other could clearly see the disappointed look on his face. But Taeyong just chose to not question it. Ten stood up and Johnny snaked his hand around Ten's waist, whispering something in his ears as they made their way to the door.
"What's wrong with them?" Taeyong mumbled. He then shook his head and directed his attention to himself. He shoved the blankets aside and stood up. He streched a bit, sighing in content as his muscles relaxed. He felt good, as if he had a very good night sleep. Well he did have one, didn't he?
He then looked for the washroom and then it suddenly dawned upon him. He turned around and had a good look of his surrounding.
"This is not my room" he mumbled. He looked at his bed and saw the massive size of it. Nah! It definitely was not his. Last time he checked he had this slim bed that could fit in just one person. He looked around the room with dark walls, with dark curtains, weird antique decors, and not to forget that the room was huge. It looked so gothic.
"Am I in Johnny's house or something?" He questioned himself. "Why will I be in his house?" The more he thought the more jumbled it became. There was no reason for him to be in his best friend's boyfriend's house unless......
An image of a shiny ring on Ten's left hand flashed in his mind. He definately noticed the ring on his hand when Ten stood up to leave.
"O damn!! Was it his marriage party??" Taeyong was shocked at the conclusion. He was horrified for some reason that he was clueless of and yet again confused. It was just a mess.
"Did I get drunk in the party and ended up passing out or something?" Taeyong was trying to connect the dots and for the time being it actually looked reasonable, as Ten had a ring on his finger, he was in Johnny's house and he seemingly passed out and fucking couldn't remember a shit. He felt guilty as he couldn't even remember his friends marriage.... Or proposal? Whatever that be, but he felt bad. He can't directly ask Ten, that might hurt his feelings as he forgot such a big event of Ten's life.
"I will think about it later" he brushed it off and headed to the only other door in the room. He opened the door and was instantly met with his reflection on the wall mirror. And what he saw really took him off guard.
He hurriedly went inside and stood in front of the mirror in complete shock as he stared at his reflection, specially his hair. His, now, long angry red hair. Last time he checked he had short black hair but now it was red and was long, like mullets.
"When did this happen?" He ran his hand through them and pulling a bit to be sure it's real. He then noticed the back of his hand as it was caressing his hair. The back of his hand had black veins popping up. Taeyong was utterly confused. His heart was already pacing. He rolled up the long black sleeves of his shirt to reveal the black veins running all up his arms. Taeyong was horrified and his breathing became shorter. He hurriedly slipped out of his shirt to reveal no black lines in his front, and for a second he sighed in relief. But then he noticed a tiny faint black line on his shoulder and his heart was beating like crazy again. He was panicking. He slowly turned around and was horrified to find a big dragon tattoo itched on one side of his back. But what was more horrifying was the dragon was swaying lightly.
"What the fuck!!" He tried to brush it off but of course that was of no use. He then looked at his horrified expression and gasped when he noticed how his eye balls were expanding and were black now. He was about to let out a scream but instead fell down on his knees and covered his ears as a very loud static sound pierced his ears.
"Arghhhh!!!" It felt his ears would bleed anytime soon. He needs to get out of there. Thats the only thing that ringed in his mind. He slowly stood up, taking the support of the counter. He looked at his reflection that looked pained and in agony as it stared back with those black eyes. It reminded him of something. Something so important that just by thinking of it Taeyong felt as if he lost his heart. It felt hollow and so gloomy in him. Another pang of agony set in as the static sound ringed even louder. Taeyong lost balance and his hand landed on the mirror. He focused on not losing his balance again, but when he felt the tingling sensation under his palm his eyes shot opened and he raised his head to find a whirlpool of smoke forming under his plam. He hurriedly pulled his hands back and stared at his reflection in horror. It gave him dejà vu. At this point he was sure he was missing out something..........or should he say someone.
The static sound made him cover his ears again but now the sound was different. It sounded like cries of some animal. A very painful screeching sound. In the midst of the chaos Taeyong tried to think harder, recall the missing piece. It was irritating. He pushed his red locks back and looked at himself again. A minute or so listening to the cries, a sudden image flashed in his mind. A blurry image, a faint memory. It felt as if it was seen with dazed eyes, that they were almost closed. A blurry image of massive black wings. Horns. Black eyes. Black stone on the forehead.............scythe
"Jaehyun" he breathed out and startled himself as he finally recalled a name. A huge wave of guilt rushing over his heart.
"Jae__ he_ where's is Jaehyun?" He had to take the support of the walls as he turned around and existed the washroom. He gulped down to provide some moisture to his scorching throat. He had a new gush of adrenaline. He dragged his feet out of the room, into the hallway, and the screeching sound stopped.
He stumbled through the hallway, scanning every dark door on either side. He had no idea where was he but for a fact the aura seemed familiar. The dark walls, the silhouette figure sticking against every door, the dim lighting and the uncomfortable heat. It felt nothing new. But Taeyong still couldn't name the place and it was so annoying. All he wanted now was to find the missing piece. The curiosity was eating him alive. It was really weird how fine he was a few minutes ago and now he was devastated stumbling down this unknown yet familiar hallway.
As for now Taeyong was sure that it's not Ten's boyfriend's house. Not a normal house.
Taeyong reached the part where the hallway splited into two. Taeyong stood there for a minute breathing heavily and contemplating the route he need to take.
"Fuck it!" He cussed and took the right turn. But after walking a few steps he stopped abruptly infront of a very big door. He bet it wasn't there when he walked down the hallway but suddenly it was obstructing his way. As his eyes scanned the door, all he knew was terror. He was scared and alone. He wanted to just ignore the aching in his head and the hollowness of his heart and just leave the place. Yell for Ten and make a run for life once he get him. But something in him compelled him to continue and no matter how scared he was, he surrendered to his other conscience. He pushed the door open that made a really irritating noise. Taeyong stepped inside and was met with another surprise. Number of beds lied there and as he could see, each one had someone lying on them. Taeyong cautiously walked to the nearest one and stood near the bed scanning the sleeping figure. He might look like a creep now but in his view he was the most creeped out person there.
The person on the bed seemed to be in deep slumber, a peaceful sleep. For once Taeyong jolted at his own thoughts of the person being dead. But he was too scared to touch the person or check for pulse. The long lashed and plumpy Barbie lips, and the sun kissed skin, weirdly enough he felt as if he knows the person. But just like other time, Taeyong was fooled by his brain as it won't recall anything. Taeyong then made his way to the other bed that was right next to first one.
The first thing he noticed was the unique brows and the high cheek bones. It gave him dejà vu. He turned to peek at the other beds.
Who are these people? Why do they seem so familiar?
He thought. He was even afraid of making any noise. He noticed at one corner there were three beds sitting right next to each other. While other had two beds right next to each other.
While scanning the room his eyes caught a glance of something at the end of the room, on the wall. He slowly made his way towards the thing, squinting his eyes to get a clear view of it before he get any closer. As he neared it, the flambeau lit up, startling him. He never noticed them before. He could finally see the thing.
A picture that was weirdly moving. Taeyong was surprised to find the same people on the painting, but they looked lively and smiling. He had to double take the picture. He looked back at the sleeping or should he say, dead people and again at the painting. He was 100% sure they were the same people. His eyes then landed on the person sitting right in the middle. As Taeyong looked at the picture that had a dazzling smile and showed of his dimples, he felt a pang in his chest. He felt suffocated and his words choking in his neck. Tears were already running down his face by the time he neared the painting. He slowly raised his hand to touched the person in the middle. Taeyong could also see his own deteriorated self on the glass. The emptiness in his heart was now filled with gloom.
"J_jae" he choked and caressed the painting. He was too immersed in his new finding that he didn't noticed the black whirlpool forming right under his palm. Untill it dissolved Jaehyun's face. Taeyong was startled but strangely enough he didn't remove his hand and in the next second there was a big circle of dark smoke encircled by fire. Taeyong was utterly confused with what just happened.
Random images flashed in his brain as if he recalled some memory. It ached his brain. But he was ready to face it if it means he finally gets his memory back, as by now he has already realised something was wrong with his mind. Something's missing.
Taeyong took a deep breath and stepped inside the loop. His body engulfed by the dark smoke, vanishing every clue of him standing there just a few seconds ago. Stepping on the other side, Taeyong was expecting to reach the person in the photo but what stood infront of him was nothing that he would have ever dreamt of.
He finally found the person he was looking for but the condition in which he found him was nothing of his expectations.
Jaehyun was levitating few feet above the ground and 2 dragon silhouettes were flying in circles around him. His eyes were closed. He looked peaceful, as if he was wandering in his dream land. His arms were raised to his shoulder level. His skin as pale as ever.
"Jaehyun" Taeyong mumbled. He took a step forward and slowly his pace increased and now he was actually sprinting towards Jaehyun, repeatedly calling out his name in hopes of waking him up.
"Jaehyun!!!" Taeyong's voice gained the attention of one of the dragon and it came hurling towards him. His eyes went wide as he saw the fierce creature running towards him.
"Watch out!!!" A voice startled him and something wrapped around his waist and pulled him towards the corner, almost crashing him into the wall. Taeyong's eyes went to the spot he stood before to find a big crater and the dragon was going back to its original place. He bet he could feel his heart beating at the back of his neck. He would have vanished from the face of the earth if he wasn't saved in time. Speaking of which...
"Are you okay??" An equally horrified voice gained his attention. Taeyong turned back to find a very familiar face.
"Win-win??"
"Fancy that you still remember me. When did you wake up? And most importantly, how did you find this place?" The person in question looked surprised.
Taeyong was at a loss of word. He was overwhelmed with every thing. He has his mate standing right infront of him and he couldn't even touch him. His mate was not responding to his calls. He just escaped death. He was utterly confused with everything going on. When he thought he got the hold of things his mind would surprise him with another loop hole. He was lost completely lost.
"I guess we should head back to your room." Win-win was quick to understand the situation.
"Jaehyun" Taeyong sounded so broken that it hurt Win-win to look at him like that. But he knew he was not the right person to explain everything.
"He is....................he is fine" his heart shudders as he said those words, "let's head back. There's a lot to catch up" he said and pulled Taeyong with him, making sure to not come in the view of the dragons.
Ten looked at Taeyong worriedly as the latter had his eyes fixed on Johnny. While Johnny looked troubled, a lot going on in his mind. 'what happened to Jaehyun?' a question that he was obliged to answer. Johnny was in shock when he saw Taeyong and when he took Jaehyun's name and now it's so difficult for him to phrase a dreadful event in words. He wasn't sure if Taeyong could bear it. He wasn't sure if he could recall everything again. It will be like scrapping his wounds again.
"Before you say anything Johnny, let me make this clear to you. I want to know everything. Every. Single. Thing." Taeyong warned Johnny before he could think of skipping anything. A moment passed as Johnny stared at Taeyong, procrastinating the choice of words but then he finally decided to speak out the truth. After all Taeyong deserve to know about his mate.
"Taeyong.............. Jaehyun is dead"