Over the years, Daniel had come to the conclusion that Byunghyun was odd, to be sure.  Short, by any standard, even when fully grown, he had a strange habit of trying to show just how much he didn’t care.  About anything.  To Daniel, it didn’t match the human’s demeanor and, quite frankly, he was delighted by evidencing reactions from Byunghyun that were otherwise volatile and amusing.

                “Dammit, Daniel!  Stop it!” he snapped when Daniel continued to poke at him with one claw.  He laughed in the back of his throat at the outburst and stopped, turning around so that he could use his tail instead.  Wagging it back and forth, he bumped it against Byunghyun’s hip every time it came back.  “Daniel….” He heard the human hiss under his breath, making him chuff in amusement.

                “You want laugh too,” he rumbled, turning his head to look over his shoulder as he spoke with great difficulty.  His tongue was not used to the sounds and simple sentences were the best he could do at any given time.

                “No.  I don’t,” Byunghyun rolled his eyes and looked away, trying not to smile.

                It had been strange for Daniel to be able to understand the words long before he could speak them.  But time and the flashes of visions in his mind helped pull the pieces together.  There were other humans in his thoughts.  When he slept.  He could see them.  Most of them didn’t have faces.  They were little more than outlines.  A child appeared in his thoughts often: gangly and awkward.  Sometimes he would curl up and cry and other times he’d run away, his shape changing as he went.  Those were the most confusing ones.  But others made more sense.  Sort of.

                Byunghyun and his mother.  Another man, older than Byunghyun, and a child too.  About his size.  There was a field of them on the outskirts of the visions, milling about, hiding under the ground in caves or secure, metal rooms.  He was sure the humans were there too and that’s why there were so few above ground, but that was also where they were.  The things they were afraid of.  Monsters like Daniel, only he wasn’t really a monster anymore.  Not like he used to be.

                Turning around, he shifted to face Byunghyun with his shorter chin pillowed on his hands.  He blinked up with large, dark eyes and twitched his tail from side to side, feeling the tip move in smaller arcs.  Even as Byunghyun had grown up – not all that much either – Daniel could tell that he himself had grown down.  He was only a head taller than the other man now and he had lost much of his bulk.  His hands looked much more like Byunghyun’s, though the skin was dark and there were still sharp claws at each fingertip.  His skin had smoothed out more though and he wrinkled his nose bump, feeling the skin bunch strangely around his face.  Even his teeth appeared to have retracted.  They were still sharp but he’d had to spit several out over the years when his mouth became too small for them.

                “What?” Byunghyun asked when he noticed Daniel staring at him.

                “Nuting,” he murmured, struggling with that stupid ‘th’ sound.  Daniel simply blinked at the human and narrowed his eyes, recalling how much he’d changed in turn.  Pale hair grew out and he had to chop it off in uneven strands to keep it out of the way.  Patches of clothes were cobbled together from the remains of dead men and women and he held various makeshift tools and weapons on his person.  There was a stone dagger in one of his boots, a stone tipped spear lying on the ground nearby, and a sling hanging from his waist with a pouch of ammunition rocks beside it.  But his dark eyes and his sharp featured face, always slim like he didn’t eat enough, had only changed slightly over the years.

                “Are you ever going to stop trying to protect me?” he asked in the ensuing silence, reaching over to tear a piece of cooked meat off the fallen monster’s haunch at his side.

                “No,” Daniel shook his head, scratching at the strange patch of fur – no, hair – that had started to grow in at the top.  It was little more than fuzz but it itched.  Constantly.

                “Okay.  Then when can I go back to the humans?” he asked, looking outwards at the fading light as they rested next to a boulder that protected their backs.

                “No,” Daniel sat upright and crossed his legs with his hands resting inside the space between them.  He could not follow Byunghyun to the humans so he couldn’t let him go there.

                Annoyed, Byunghyun picked up a piece of rock nearby and tossed it at Daniel.  The projectile hit and bounced off the other’s shoulder, making him flinch.  “I’m six- no, seventeen,” he reminded the creature pointedly with a finger jabbing at him.  Daniel shrugged and tilted his head to the side.  “I don’t need you anymore.”  That prompted an eye roll which only seemed to annoy Byunghyun more.  “And I’m tired of you being my only company!”

                The last comment made Daniel flinch as if he’d been hit.  He cringed and looked at Byunghyun with saddened eyes.  “No monster.”

                “Well you’re not a human!” he hissed back, keeping his voice low so as not to draw unwanted attention preemptively.  “I belong with other humans too.”

                No.  That was true.  He certainly wasn’t a human and he couldn’t change that.  “My company,” he pointed at Byunghyun instead, valiantly trying the new word on his tongue.

                “Not like I ever had a choice,” the human reminded him, crossing his arms over his chest and turning around to stare at the boulder instead.

                Daniel hadn’t really either.  From the day he’d killed Byunghyun’s mother, his instincts had told him to keep the other safe.  He had no explanation for it, but he worried about him when he had to go hunting.  He slept better when the human was next to him.  And he didn’t like the idea of Byunghyun leaving.  Temporarily or for good.  Especially the latter.

                “Sleep,” he murmured instead, nodding towards the base of the boulder where he’d carved out a den for them to hide in during the night.  With his change in size, he was no longer an even match for most of the predators at night and they resorted mostly to hiding in the evening.

                “Why should I?” Byunghyun muttered just to be contrary.

                “Safer,” Daniel whispered back, watching as his companion reluctantly gathered the food and his small, tattered bag with a minimal amount of supplies.  He tossed both inside first and then crawled down the hole, disappearing easily without another word.

                Daniel stared at the entrance for a few breaths more and then eased to his feet.  The sun had very nearly set and true dark was almost upon them.  That was when most monsters prowled.  His diminishing eye sight wasn’t able to survey the surrounding area like he used to be able to.  The vision most suited to night was almost completely gone.  He caught flickers of contrasts in the distance, telling him the horizon was otherwise clear, but closer to camp, things were dark and hard to make out.

                “Safer,” he whispered again, kneeling down to smooth the area out with his hands and tail, trying to eliminate their presence and coat the site with his smell instead.  He was less tempting than Byunghyun, though still subject to being hunted if something was hungry enough.  Safer did not mean safe.

                Clacking his teeth together a couple times, Daniel padded towards the hole Byunghyun had disappeared into on four limbs, his tail swaying behind him.  He made sure to cover the entrance as best he could and then wriggled through the small passage.  It was easier for the human than it was for him but he would rather have a smaller tunnel to make it more difficult in case something else actually tried.

                The hole he made was hardly big enough for both of them and Byunghyun was already curled up against the far wall, his back to the opening.  He’d slept that way for so long, it was pretty much normal anymore and Daniel thought nothing of it.  He merely laid out behind him, his back to the opening as well so that he could face Byunghyun.  Silly human who was no longer helpless.  Even in the dark, he could still see what he looked like, the outline of his body and the way he pillowed his head on one arm while the other stretched out to touch the wall with half-curled fingertips.

                Their combined body heat quickly took the worst of the chill away and made the space more bearable without having to move closer.  Daniel preferred sleeping next to Byunghyun but Byunghyun usually didn’t like it himself so he didn’t press his already poor luck.  He let his thoughts wander though, half-listening to the world outside and the other half noting Byunghyun’s steady breathing.

                Why this human?  He wanted to know the answer so badly.  He did not regret exactly, but it was frustrating.  Why the new awareness?  The instinctual urge to protect Byunghyun?  Why?  Very carefully, Daniel reached out to slide the pads of his fingertips against Byunghyun’s back, feeling the texture of the layers of cloth rub against his skin.  The sleeper didn’t even stir and Daniel smiled.  At least he felt safe enough to rest soundly here.  That was some consolation, even if their more recent argument left a bad taste in the back of his mouth.

                It had come up more often of late.  And he’d half-expected it, but he didn’t like it.  Unfortunately, there was little he could do.  Disgruntled and unhappy, Daniel closed his eyes and tried to sleep with his troubled thoughts.  As usual, visions danced in his mind.

                Byunghyun and his mother running hand in hand.  Happy.  Laughing.

                The laughter turned to screams and he saw her go down under his claws.  Heard Byunghyun nearby.  Daniel looked at the woman and for the first time, he met her eyes.  And fell into them, spiraling down and down and down.  More faceless families showed up in his periphery.  Blobs of light and shadow.  Two and three and four together.  They all felt familiar.  They all felt like Byunghyun.  Instinct said he knew them.

                At last, he stopped falling.  And he saw the gangly, awkward child.  He was sitting on the ground with his knees to his chest and his face hidden behind his legs.  Brown hair fell down his head and he trembled with quiet sobs.  A woman appeared at his back with a little girl beside her.  opened as if she was speaking and the boy reacted like he heard her.

                He looked up and Daniel stared back at him as their dark eyes met.  Recognition flickered.  A twisting in his gut.  Pale features gleamed in the false light of his vision and then the color changed.  Dusky gray flowed in, washing over the light color like water running down a hill.  Daniel blinked and was startled when he saw himself.

                Now it was him on the ground, staring back at the monster he still was.  But… his features were almost like a human.  Dusky gray skin gleamed and he raised a hand to touch his face.  The boy on the ground did the same.  Daniel blinked again and found he was back, staring at the child once more.  Only he wasn’t a boy so much anymore.

                Human features changed and he stood up, growing in height.  Claws formed on his hands while a tail sprouted behind.  His face grew out and serrated teeth sprouted in his jaws.  Large eyes blinked back at him and the boy turned monster leaned forward on all fours, nearly nose to nose with Daniel.  He reached up to place a hand on the monster’s nose and recognition solidified.

                The woman and the girl in the back screamed.  “Daniel!”  Both turned to look but when he blinked again, his eyes opened to darkness and panic.  “Wake up!”

                A blast of warm air hit his back and claws scraped loudly, tearing through dirt in long swathes.  “Back!” Daniel commanded automatically, pushing Byunghyun against the wall as he sat up and turned to inspect the opening.

                Falling earth crumbled in, piling up at the bottom as something large continued to dig.  A long, clawed hand reached down and broke through the opening, scratching at the bottom and questing blindly inside.  Byunghyun screamed when Daniel lurched back to stay out of range, clinging tight to the other man.

                “We’re gonna die!” he wailed, pushing hard against the wall as if he could burrow through it himself.

                “No,” Daniel shook his head, catching sight of the claw in flashes of contrasts.  “Stay,” he commanded Byunghyun, resting his palm against the bare neck, his skin warm against Daniel’s palm.  He knew Byunghyun couldn’t see him but he smiled anyway.  “Protect.”

                He waited for a heartbeat longer and then threw himself at the hand as it came scratching back in.  His claws anchored into the arm while sharp teeth gnawed at muscle covered bone.  “Daniel!  No!” Byunghyun screamed as Daniel was yanked out, hauled by the surprised anger of the monster on the other side.

                Huddled inside the protective cave Daniel had made for them, Byunghyun listened to the fighting outside.  It reminded him eerily of the early days when he used to try and run away.  It reminded him of when his mother died.  Only this time… it was Daniel’s voice howling down the opening.  Daniel’s screams that made him flinch and jump, his gut knotting with fear and worry while he stayed in the hole where it was safe.  Safer.

                “No,” he groaned, forcing himself to uncurl so he could move forward.  He snagged the bag and spear beside him and dragged them along, crawling up the entrance.  Vibrations through the ground told him they were moving nearby and the other monster roared.  Byunghyun flinched again, cowering away from the sound, but he kept going until he reached the mouth of the cave.  Of course he couldn’t see much of anything in the dark.

                Shadows amongst shadows danced.  Daniel was dwarfed by the towering size of the monster he faced.  It was so like Daniel when he’d first seen him.  Lizard-like, huge, and frightfully intimidating.  And it seemed as if he only needed to grab Daniel once for it to be over.  But the smaller fighter was quick and he knew how the beasts fought.  Though even that was only a small concession when it appeared as if he was tiring.

                “Daniel!” Byunghyun screamed, getting to his feet with the spear in hand.

                “Go!” Daniel snapped, disappearing behind the beast.  For a moment, Byunghyun felt himself stop breathing.  Then he heard Daniel scream and his stomach dropped.

                “Die!” Byunghyun screamed, pulling his arm back to launch the spear at the monster.

                The large shadow roared, whipping around with a tail that tore through rock above his head, raining shards of stone down on Byunghyun.  He cried out and bent over, protecting his head from the rock fall but losing sight of both.  An ear shattering roar directed at him rocked Byunghyun where he stood and he fell back, tumbling down the hole just as something large smashed into the boulder above it.  The ground shook and a hand reached in once more, scrabbling to grab him.

                “Go away!” Byunghyun shouted, kicking at the sound uselessly, completely blind underground.

                As if on command, the hand retracted with a pained howl and Byunghyun gasped, covering his mouth with one hand while he swallowed and listened.  His heart pounded firmly against his chest and each breath was shallow and fast until he heard something fall and the ground shook.

                Silence.

                Except the drumming in his ears from his racing heart.  But there was no more roaring.  No more screams.  No more moving around.  Nothing.

                “Daniel?” he called, moving his hand away from his mouth.  No answer.  “Daniel!” he tried again, louder this time.  Still no answer.  “No, no,” he murmured breathily, crawling forward carefully, each step quicker than the last until he was practically running out of the tunnel.

                 A large limb partially blocked the opening and he pulled up short when he almost ran into it.  It wasn’t moving and when he touched it with his stone dagger, nothing happened.  Disregarding the arm, he climbed over it with as much haste as he could muster and looked around, seeing what he had before: shadows among shadows.

                “Daniel!” he called again, cupping his hands around his mouth.  He took a step and the ground squelched, making him dance back quickly.  “Answer me, dammit!” he snapped, his hands balling into fists as he tried to ignore what was probably blood pooling on the ground.  The body twitched and Byunghyun yelped, stumbling away as fast as he could.

                A thin whisper of sound made him stop.  “Here…”

                 “Daniel?” he asked again, his voice softer this time.  More worried.  Swallowing hard, he carefully made his way towards where the sound had come from and listened with every fiber in his being.

                “I… protect…” the voice whispered again and Byunghyun knew where he was.  Generally.  But he still couldn’t see him.

                “Hold on,” he gasped, dropping his bag and rifling through it to pull out the flint stones and makeshift torch.  One, two, three strikes and a spark caught on the tinder, slowly igniting the cloth around it.  Illumination flickered over the area, casting the dead monster into grisly shadows.  Dark liquid covered the ground beneath it where a gaping neck wound and one gouged out eye continued to ooze blood.  His face paled at the carnage but then he saw him.  “Daniel!” he cried, falling to his knees beside the monster’s leg where Daniel was partially pinned.

                “I protected,” he wheezed, offering a pained smile at Byunghyun while he tried to lever himself free.

                “Wait,” Byunghyun urged, moving close to help.  He braced his back against the limb and pushed with his legs, raising the heavy weight up just enough to give Daniel space to crawl free.  His tail was bent at a wrong angle when it followed him, but it was still whole otherwise.  Though that was hardly the worst of it.

                Once free from the beast, Daniel just collapsed on the ground, resting his face against the hard surface.  “Safe,” he breathed, fingers digging into the dirt.

                Getting close enough to see the extent of the damage, Byunghyun covered his mouth again and felt tears sting his eyes.  A half ring of puncture marks around his shoulder and back told him Daniel had been bitten.  And he could see the edges of what looked like claw marks on his side, the rest of the damage sliding along his belly.  “Daniel,” he exhaled, setting the torch down as he knelt beside the other man.

                Carefully, he turned Daniel over and braced his back against his folded knees.  Byunghyun cradled Daniel’s head and shoulders with one arm while he rested his other hand lightly against the wounded chest.  “Ow,” he hissed quietly, taking one shallow breath after the next.

                “You’re gonna be okay,” Byunghyun soothed, jaw trembling when he saw the bite marks on his chest and the gaping claw marks extending across Daniel’s abdomen to his hip.

                “It’s okay,” Daniel smiled as he reached up to grab Byunghyun’s hand in his, holding gently.  “You go home now.”

                “No,” Byunghyun shook his head, squeezing the hand firm.  He brought it to his chest and sniffed.  “Not like this,” he whimpered as his vision grew blurry.

                “You safe,” Daniel went on, meeting Byunghyun’s eyes.  He freed his hand to reach up and brush his fingertips against the pale cheek.  “And free.”

                “Shut up you fool,” Byunghyun cried, reaching for his bag to pull out some of the rags stored inside.  Anything to help stop the bleeding.

                “Silly human,” Daniel sighed, closing his eyes as he relaxed in Byunghyun’s arms.

                Byunghyun froze when he felt the other go lax.  He waited for a moment to see if he’d stir again.  But when he didn’t, he whimpered, “Don’t do this to me, Daniel.”  Sniffing, he bent over the broken body and cradled Daniel’s head against his chest, rocking and crying softly as he did so.  “You’re supposed to keep protecting me, remember?” he tried to reason, his voice shaky and uneven.

                His words didn’t have any effect on Daniel, though the other still breathed, if shallowly.  Byunghyun sniffed and looked around, blinking tears fiercely out of his eyes.  What would Daniel do here?  They had to move.  Right.  The fresh kill would draw others to this location.  He thought about going back in the hole until morning but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.  Not and put them both at risk if something else wasn’t just satisfied with the beastie here.

                “Okay.  Let’s go you idiot,” he murmured, hastily wrapping what rags he could around the worst of the damage before he tried to move him.  Hooking his arms under Daniel’s shoulders, he dragged the taller man backwards, around and behind the boulder where the ground was at least free of blood.  He left the torch where it was, knowing the light would only be a beacon to show where he was if he brought it.

                He didn’t even bother with his spear, resorting to the bag and what weapons he still had on him.  He’d make another spear later if he needed to.  Right now, he needed to get them away from the kill zone.  Frustrated by how little he could see, Byunghyun growled under his breath and contented himself with bracing his back against the other side of the boulder with Daniel nestled against him and his stone dagger held defensively in his right hand.  He wrapped his left arm around Daniel’s chest and held him close while he watched, feeling every nerve jumping at the slightest sound.

                At some point in the night, he thought he saw a shadow move on the horizon.  Not too much later, he flinched and pursed his lips when it sounded as if something had found the carcass.  He cringed at the crunching and tearing sounds, but it meant they should be relatively left alone, all things considered.

                Silence returned eventually, though Byunghyun couldn’t have said when.  He only knew when the sky began to lighten at dawn’s approach, bringing with it a palpable sense of hope.  “Thank the heavens,” he exhaled, weary with relief.  Daniel slept on – a quick check with his hand in front of the other’s mouth confirmed it – and Byunghyun got up to investigate the remains from the night.  Most of the carcass had been devoured, including his spear.  “Damn,” he muttered, finding nothing useful as his stomach toyed with the idea of revolting at the disgusting sight.

                He returned to Daniel and frowned over the fact that his wounds looked no better during the daylight.  It was a miracle he was still alive, a condition that was not exactly guaranteed to last.  And Byunghyun had no idea how to help him beyond what he’d already done.  He his lips and sighed, roughing his blonde hair with an agitated gesture.

                “Alright idiot.  I stopped wishing you would die a long time ago so don’t even think about it now.  Jerk,” he grumbled while he pulled out another strand of cloth.

                Awkwardly, he sat Daniel up and then perched in front of him while he pulled the long arms over his shoulders so he could tie them in place, binding the wrists loosely.  Standing up slowly, it was very difficult for him to actually get upright with the dead weight pulling him down.  Or the arms nearly choking him from the way Daniel fell back.  Or almost falling over when he leaned too far forward to compensate for the shift in weight.  But he managed.  Mostly.  Jostling Daniel’s similarly long legs into position around his waist so he could carry the taller man on his back was equally challenging though.  And Byunghyun felt like a fool all the while.  Eventually, he managed to get Daniel’s body into a moderately comfortable position.

                “Let’s go,” he nodded, wasting no time in fussing with his passenger anymore.  His arms would get tired soon enough and there was no telling how long his legs would last and they needed to cover as much ground as possible before dark fell again.  Byunghyun had no idea where he was going or if they’d last another night, but he wasn’t about to just sit there and let Daniel die.  Nor was he simply going to just give up.  Not after everything he’d been through.  Not after everything Daniel had been through for him.

                Byunghyun took a deep breath, adjusted the weight on his back minutely, and nodded to himself as he glanced over his shoulder.  Daniel’s head rested against his shoulder with his large eyes closed and the fuzzy crown of brown hair obvious from this vantage.  “Well.  It looks like I protect you now,” he mumbled, taking one step after the other.  “And together, we can go home.”

                He didn’t know what was going to happen then, but he’d figure out the rest when they got there.

(a/n: This was originally a oneshot and for the purposes of the Two Dozen and One Tales collection, I left it that way, but really it felt better to split it into two.  haha  This idea has been in my head for quite some time and it was somewhat inspired by the movie Warm Bodies, but I twisted it quite a bit for my own purposes.  It was also supported by the prompt of: “Until we have seen someone's darkness we don't really know who they are. Until we have forgiven someone's darkness, we don't really know what love is."  So take away what you will.  I was struggling to decide who to cast in this one (I had it narrowed down to three groups and so I rolled for a random selection).  It's ironic I got Teen Top since I seem to do a lot of post apocalyptic scenes with them.  lol  Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the story and feel free to leave your thoughts or whatnot if you're so inclined!  Thanks for reading!  ^_^)