requested: no lol
song: seasonal feathers by kagamine rin and len
scenario: one of the many variations of the japanese legend 'tsuru no ongaeshi' (crane's return of a favor), retold with rosé as the wife and baekhyun as the husband.
pairing: baekhyun x rosé, but their names aren't mentioned too much
genre: angst and a lil bit of fluff at the beginning
au: historical au
word count: 2,452 words
status: edited
a/n: it's implied that they're japanese
italics is song lyrics
bold is past events/flashback
there is also mentions of blood and (perhaps) implied character death.
also sorry if this was bad lol
——————————————————————
the powdery snow flutters down,
colouring the mountain ridge white
the two inside a run-down house in a desolate village
huddle together in the winter night
in the mountains lay a run-down house in an empty village. the house was far from luxurious; it was rather plain and old. the house was made of wood and was modest looking, with only one story and no electricity.
it seemed that in the village, there was only two people. in that run-down house that they loved dearly, they cuddled each other lovingly for warmth to survive through the bitter cold that awaited them outside. everywhere around them was covered in white, reminding them that winter had come to visit.
"it'd also been snowing the day we'd met,"
you murmured with a smile
and i'd hidden my face flushed from the hearth
within the shadow of your large sleeve
a man and a woman could be seen in the house. the man had a soft and reminiscent smile on his face as he hugged the ethereal-looking woman closely, as if he was afraid that if he let go she'd leave him forever.
"it'd also been snowing the day we met," he murmured to her, his smile never leaving his face.
a knock on the door echoed throughout the small home. baekhyun stood up from his seat and walked to the door, wondering who could possibly be knocking on his door at this hour and this time.
"hello," a beautiful girl said to him with a soft voice, taking her hood off of her head.
"hello," he greeted back, quickly recovering from his momentary shock. "how can i help you?"
"i..." she nervously looked up, fiddling with her fingers. "i would like to ask if it is possible for me to stay for the night. i have searched for hours for shelter, but i haven't been able to find one. i understand if you refuse me, as it is quite odd to have a visitor seeking refuge now, especially at this hour and season."
"it is no problem," he smiled warmly at her, stepping to the side to allow her in. her lips turned up into a bright smile, her eyes shining.
"thank you, mister." she bowed at him with thanks, stepping into the house gratefully. "my name is chaeyoung."
"my name is baekhyun, and you're welcome."
"it was," she smiled, hiding her pink face in the sleeve of his kimono. she wished this moment would never end.
but alas, all things, especially good things, come to an end.
with a breath of joy,
i sang of spring's arrival along with the chirping birds
"your voice is beautiful," you told me,
and that alone, just those words, made me so happy
taking a deep breath, the ethereal woman sang of spring's arrival with the accompaniment of the chirping birds. her bewitching voice entranced the man for the nth time, and he couldn't help but thank the gods that he was blessed with such a beautiful and perfect partner.
"your voice is beautiful," he pressed a light kiss to her forehead.
his words made her face flush a deeper red, with an indescribable joy flourishing in her chest. with him, her worries were erased and her mind could be put at ease. with him, there was nothing else in the world except them, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
"if someday, i no longer had this beautiful voice,
would you still, even then, love me?"
"of course," you said, smiling gently
as your large hand softly stroked my cheek
"if... if someday, i no longer had this beautiful voice..." she hesitated to speak her next words, but they spilled from her lips nonetheless. "would you still love me?"
"of course," he smiled gently, stroking her pale cheek softly, ridding her face of any stray hairs that dared to cover her stunning beauty.
her eyes filled with tears as he stroked her cheek, her tears slipping down her cheeks and onto his clothes. she closed her eyes and gave him a warm smile as she leaned into his touch.
at that moment, she realised that there was no one she'd rather spend the rest of her days with, no one other than her soulmate baekhyun.
——————————————————————
a man was waking down a rough path, the sides littered with snow. he wore a straw hat and a green yukata, with heaps of woods strapped to his back.
the air was chilling and the forest around him looked dead, the trees lacking their leaves. he was walking down the path to go to a nearby market in order to sell wood.
as he made his way down, he heard a distressed noise and promptly started looking around, startled by said noise. his eyes quickly caught the sight of a white and black crane frantically flapping its wings, as if struggling to escape a trap of some sort.
his eyes widened and quickly made his way to it, approaching it carefully in order not to startle it. he looked up and down at the crane, trying to find the trap that held the crane captive. he soon saw a rope tied around its leg, and his mouth made an 'o' shape.
"i see," he murmured to himself. "crane, please stay calm, i do not mean to hurt you; i would like to help you escape if you'd allow me to."
as if understanding his words, the crane stopped thrashing and allowed him to take the rope off. once it realised its leg was no longer trapped, it flew away into the snowing sky.
——————————————————————
one leaf-lit summer afternoon,
you collapsed from an illness
our poor married life
couldn't afford the medicine to cure it
one summer, while the couple was farming, the husband started to cough violently, blood spilling out of his mouth and onto his hand. his violent cough alerted the wife of her husband's falling body. she screamed in shock, standing up and running towards him, the basket filled with seeds falling from her arms.
"baekhyun!" she cried, catching his falling frame in her arms. her eyes welled with tears as her small frame carried his larger one back into their home.
once they arrived at the house, she instantly lay him down on a futon. she hastily brought him a cup of hot tea and a wet cloth, setting the tea beside him and placing the cloth on his forehead.
his skin had lost its usual glow, instead, a sickly pale colour replaced it. his eyes were closed, as she watched him, her tears finally cascading down her face when she realised they could not afford the medicine that was needed to cure his illness.
she abruptly stood up, wiping her tears harshly and left his side. instead, she turned towards another room and walked towards it shakily, sliding the door open. the light illuminated the otherwise dark and lonely room, casting a shadow in her figure. she clenched her hands into fists and slid the door closed, getting on her knees in front of the weaving table and started to work.
the next day, along with the following,
i did nothing but intently weave
i wouldn't let your life
fall like the short-lived autumn leaves
chaeyoung was cooped up in the room, weaving until her hands felt like breaking. if you were outside the room, you could see her silhouette through the translucent door.
outside, she was completely focused on weaning; on the inside, she was determined to not let his life end as quickly as the short-lived autumn leaves that fell outside their home. as she weaved, an image of his smiling face appearing in her mind.
the seasons flow by
the bell crickets mark the end of summer with their cries
"your fingers are beautiful," you told me,
gripping my wound-covered hands,
but yours were much too cold...
the seasons felt short for her as she endlessly weaved, but it also reminded her of her husbands fleeting life. the bell crickets chiming song marked the end of summer as well as her shortening time.
it almost felt as though she had been sitting at that same spot for months, as her time spend weaving was longer than her time spent not.
she left the room at least a handful of times a day to tend to baekhyun as his illness killed him slowly. she could only hope that she would finish in time to sell it and get the money in order to buy the medicine, as she feared that if she didn't, it would have been all for naught.
she helped him take a sip of his tea, her smaller hand over his larger one, steadying his grip as she helped him sit up. lightly rubbing his back, she gently pushed his hand up towards his mouth as the liquid in the cup sloshed around.
he put his other hand over hers and caressed them sadly, his hands slightly shaking but strong enough to keep them hanging onto hers.
"your fingers are beautiful," he told her, placing down his cup and held her delicate hands, marred by the many cuts made when she was weaving. she frowned, her eyebrows knitted in worry. while she appreciated the compliment, his hands were much too cold...
"if someday, i no longer had these beautiful fingers,
would you still, even then, love me?"
"of course," you said, coughing
as your large hands caressed my hurting fingers
"if someday, i no longer had these beautiful fingers, would you still love me?" she quietly whispered, not expecting an answer from him as he seemed to be fast asleep.
"of course," he coughed, continuously caressing her injured fingers. she closed her eyes, tears slipping down her cheeks as small sobs left her lips. the pain in her hands was nothing compared to the pain in her heart, and she doubted that anything could be worse than that.
day and night, don't stop weaving
hurry, hurry, i need to buy the medicine...
———— ah, the sunset's breeze ————
just a bit more, only a bit more; before the autumn leaves fall
———— sways the ruthlessly decaying fruit's flame ————
until these fingers can't move... until these feathers are used up...
———— until it's goes out ————
as the days and nights passed, chaeyoung did not stop weaving even for a second. all she cared about was finishing the weaving in time so she could buy the medicine. she was so, so close - as long as she could finish it before the autumn leaves finished falling, she could save him.
after all, she would do anything and everything to save him; hell, she'd even sell her soul just to make sure he could stay alive. but alas, she could not, and the best she could do was continue weaving no matter how much it hurt her. she would weave until her fingers could no longer move, until all her feathers were used up. all of that, just to save him.
baekhyun, on the other hand, felt his body weakening with every day that passed. he looked out the window longingly, watching the sunset's breeze sway the decaying fruit back and forth. he and the decaying fruit were quite similar, he realised. both he and the fruit were slowly dying, and the sunset's breeze only made it quicker.
a bitter smile appeared on his lips as he heard his wife's pained cries. she had done nothing but love him, and he felt as if he hadn't done enough for her. she truly was an angel in disguise, withering herself in order to save him.
he firmly believed he did not deserve her, and she thought otherwise.
as if they could read each other's minds, they reminisced all their memories since the fateful day they had met.
she remembered his kindness.
he remembered her company.
they realised, without each other, they wouldn't be able to survive.
all those happy moments felt like a dream, like that one time they were rolling around in the grass without a care in the world.
those memories - they were what kept her weaving, and what kept him fighting.
——————————————————————
yet again, there she was, in the cold room alone. her bandaged hands were shaking in pain as blood dripped from the open cuts. her lips quivered and she blinked back tears, unwilling to give up on her lover. her love for him was eternal, and not even the end of time would stop it. she would sacrifice all that she had, just so he could breathe without anymore pain, just so he could live like how he used to.
"if someday, i were no longer a human,
would you still love me?"
the truth i feared left unable to be told,
i softly pluck the final feather alone...
of all those questions she asked him in the past, she was far too afraid to ask this last one. if she did, then he would know the truth - and she was afraid that if he knew the truth, he'd leave her.
a tear ran down her cheek and onto her kimono as the final montage of her memories of played through her mind. along with those bittersweet memories came her memories of her on her knees, intently weaving and praying, as well as some of her crying.
and so, with her eyes closed, she quietly asked herself instead, and plucked her final feather alone...
until a larger hand gripped hers.
"of course," i say, smiling
i promised i'd embrace you when you lost your wings
and that crane which had beautifully taken flight that day,
i've never forgotten, and still remember, even now
"of course," baekhyun smiled, pulling her into his chest as her face turned into one of shock. he buried his face in her hair, laying soft kisses on it.
when he realised who chaeyoung truly was, he had promised himself that he'd embrace her when she lost her wings. he had remembered that crane which he helped release that day, and he's never forgotten, not even for a second.
baekhyun had a smile on his face as he watched the beautiful crane fly away, glad that he helped the precious being. that was enough for his heart to be filled with joy as he continued his way to his destination.
he embraced her tightly as she cried, her hands holding his arms as if she was afraid that he'd let go and disappear at any moment.
they silently cried together, their final moments spent together in the embrace of each other, and there was nothing more they could've asked for.
and just like always, i love you