chapter three
minho
Rain is falling outside, the sky a haze of silver. I'm ready to stay inside, waste the day away playing video games. Or, at least, look like I am. I'm sitting on the floor, laptop open on the coffee table in front of me.
"I'm not asking the clouds to go away, just to stop raining." Jisung adjusts his visor, looking out the window. "What a fucking place to be a gardener."
"Your love nourishes the flowers."
"Compost helps. You waiting for Felix?"
"Mm."
"I still don't know why you sit on the floor. The couch is right behind you."
"It's a part of my process." I put my headset on. "Also it's better for the lumbar."
A text lights up my screen. 'We need to talk.' I reply with a less ominous 'Sir i'm just here for material.'
Jisung bends down, holds my mic out of the way so he can kiss me. "I'll be outside."
"God speed."
He steps out and closes the door behind him. The computer chimes and I accept Felix's call. His face is flat and serious — completely still, for a second I think the screen has frozen. The view behind him is just a single chair and a sun-burnt field out the window.
"Hell've you been up to?" he says.
"I got a new skin, what do you think?"
"That's not what I'm talking about."
I stretch to peek out the window. Jisung is hunkered over a bed of begonias on the far side of the yard. I enter the game and let it play while I speak.
"Is anyone else there?"
"No, they're out in the fields."
"Have you seen the future change?"
"It's shifted. You made a decision a few days ago. Minho, what's going on?"
"The whole thing with the Volturi... I can't take it anymore. I want a new plan, any plan at all. I have an idea, but I know Jisung won't like it, and neither will you."
"What is it?"
"I wanna get it over with. I wanna go to Volterra and confess."
It looks like the screen is frozen again. I tap the camera.
"You're fucking serious?" Felix spits. "Tell me you're taking the piss."
"I don't want to be on defence anymore, I wanna make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen on their own."
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because I want you to help me. You're my best friend, you're good at getting shit done, and I can't do it on my own."
"Why aren't you doing this with Jisung?"
"Because... Jisung, he shouldn't have to be a part of this. His life is so full." I look out the window again. "He needs to take care of his flowers. They'll die without him."
"You realize he'd have a full-blown meltdown if he knew what you're thinking?"
"I'm aware."
Felix rubs his eyes between his fingers. "Okay okay okay, gimme your plan."
"I'll suggest we visit you guys, then you and I make up an excuse to leave — surprise trip to a volcano or a space station or something. We'll go to the Volturi and I'll, very humbly, confess myself, then it's up to them."
"Do you know how unlikely it is that they'll just up and forgive you?"
"I'm not expecting that. My gift is strong — when I want it to be, at least. I'll give myself over to them however long they want me, and then everyone will be okay."
"Except you."
"That's not the point."
"I'll offer myself too."
"No, I don't want you to."
"Tough shit. Minho, what if they decide to kill you? You're just gonna let 'em do it?"
"If they think what I've done is wrong, they're going to kill me whether I go to them or they come to me. But honesty could score some points I wouldn't have otherwise. I could... bargain my life for Jisung's life, your life, my parents' lives."
"You're talking about 'points' as if the Volturi are some kinda loyalty program. The reason I can't see their decisions clearly is because, yeah, they levy strict rules and strict punishments, but the way they enforce those rules are unpredictable. The Volturi are corrupt, biased and—"
"Yeah yeah yeah, and one of the things they're biased against is our coven, don't you think I know that? I've heard the history, and — er, and — and I'm coming up on your left, I think there's a llama close by."
Jisung slides the door open and tramps in, his whole body covered in mud. He splashes his face with water from the kitchen sink.
"You okay, baby?" I ask.
"The rain is turning the whole yard into a swamp. I may have slipped." He tries to reach down the back of his shirt. "It got down my back, for god's sake. I'll have to shower later."
"Will you be showering alone?"
He just smirks, shakes his head. "Hi, Felix."
Felix has his face in his hands. "Jisung."
Jisung heads back out the door. I wait till he's far out in the yard to look back at the screen.
Felix isn't amused. "I'm gonna pretend that didn't just happen. Minho, what you're talking about is mad."
"It's gonna happen one way or another — I'm speeding up the process. I got us into this shit and I'm done ignoring it, waiting for Haseong to fix it — I don't even think he can fix it. I want to be the one who protects this family for once."
He goes quiet, staring at me. His face has changed. Sometimes I see a different person in him, another Felix from another time rising to the surface.
"You know what they did to my mother," he murmurs.
"I do."
"After you and Jisung got together... I've been thinking about the Volturi more and more. Knowing they could take you two away from me as well..." He goes quiet again.
"Felix, what are you thinking?"
He leans in to the camera. "Look, Minho, if you want me to commit to this, you have to realize I'm gonna commit. I have stakes in this, I have objectives that've been on my mind since before you even conceived of going out on your own."
"Wait, what are you talking about?"
"Once we decide, there's no going back. Do you get that?"
"Yes, of course."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
We stare at each other through the screen. He nods slowly, chews on his lip. His mind is miles away, farther than Paraguay. Him and his stakes and objectives. I know not to ask about it. As long as it doesn't get in the way, I don't care what he might have up his sleeve.
"Okay," he says. "I need three concessions in order to do this right. Firstly, one more person in the know, one more person who'll be in the room with us and the Volturi."
"Ask Changbin, his gift is useful."
Felix's face tightens. "No, not him. I'm gonna ask Seungmin, he's a good fighter, he won't snitch."
"Are you gonna tell anyone else?"
"No, the smaller the circle the better. Second, time. I need three weeks, maybe a month. Can you wait that long?"
"Definitely."
"Third — if Jisung suggests going to visit the Denali coven, or the Pointe-Noire coven or the Chongqing coven, etcetera etcetera etcetera — say no. No contact with other vampires. If they come to see you, just tell them that you don't want to talk about anything regarding me and send them on their way. Don't let them tell you anything. Controlling the flow of information is key."
"Is there anything else I can do?"
"Act normal, like there's nothing going on, but... make sure you give everybody a goodbye before we go. Just in case."
"Right... of course." I look out the window again. Jisung is kneeling in the muck, occasionally looking up to shake his fist at the sky.
When I look back at the computer, it feels very, very real.
"Hey, chin up." Felix pokes the camera. "You did the right thing, coming to me. I might be your saving grace."
I smile, palming my face. "Thank you, Felix. You're awesome. Wanna respawn and actually play?"
"Afraid not, I got shit to do now. I'm gonna be MIA on and off for the next few weeks. If anyone asks, just give them a 'you know how he is.'"
"Sure." He's about to end the call, but I stop him. "Felix, wait. Really, thank you. I trust you with my life."
He gives me a smile but it's heavy and uncertain. "Same here, bro."
He hangs up. I pull off my headset, slump back against the couch, kneading at a headache. The plan isn't just in my head anymore, Felix is involved, and soon Seungmin will be too. In a month's time, we'll be inside the Volturi's palazzo, our lives in their hands, and the ones we love most will have no idea.
felix
I shut the laptop, cup my face in my hands. A thirty minute FaceTime with Minho and my entire life has changed. Minho thinks the stakes are high for him. He truly doesn't know the half of it. I didn't tell him the half of it.
I get up, open the door — and stop dead in my tracks.
Changbin is standing at the end of the hallway, eyes livid.
"Felix, what the fuck did you just do?"
I check up and down the hallway. "I-I didn't see you were listening."
"I was listening from the start. What the hell? You're really enabling Minho's lie? What about Jisung? You didn't even take a moment to think about it."
I start toward the stairs. "I thought about it, I'm not a child."
He follows me. "Don't just walk away! The fuck did you say about goddamn objectives and stakes? You cannot be talking about what I think you are — we had a plan, you promised me! You're gonna get yourself k—"
I turn back on him. "I know what's on the line, Changbin — of all people, I know!"
"You're just making everything worse!"
"Not unless it pays off."
"But it won't! It'll never pay off, I thought you would understand that! Haseong said he'd take care of it — why can't you trust him? Why do you have to put everything we've built in the hands of the Volturi?"
"Because it's already in their hands! This way or that way, this decision or that decision — they're gonna take one or two or all of us, just like they did to my mother, and I'm so fucking sorry if I'm done living under their boot, waiting to be crushed!"
Changbin's eyes betray him, teary and scared. "All those years ago... when I found out you, that you... I never thought you'd take it this far. You shouldn't have given it a thought, let alone... this. Felix, it's a death sentence."
"Maybe. But it's too late now, isn't it? I won't give it up, and I refuse to fail."
"Do you know who you sound like right now?"
I do. But I just shake my head, turn and walk away.
───
i don't know shit about fortnite so if minlix
were speaking gibberish then that's why 🙃