Kyungsoo felt his heartbeat thumping in his chest, anger coursing through his body as he flapped his black wings over to his tree, the willow’s leaves parting for him. He let his feet dangle off the old tree branch as his head sagged in despair on his shoulder, the sadness and despair seeping through the branch and staining it black as he cried slowly.

It followed for days, the thought of what did he do wrong? Why was he being hurt like this? Was it really his fault? His heart ached as he felt exhausted from waiting this long from not being able to see Jongin and he tried his best to stay calm, but the tears without any signal of stopping. The woods were silent, the rustle of the leaves barely audible as he felt like he was in his own bubble of despair.

He would remember the stories about human heartbreak, but he never thought that he himself would be susceptible to that type of emotional crisis. Sleepless nights became his friend, but today, for once he was able to sleep, a sleep that let his mind wander and his body loosen under the harsh grip of reality it was in.

But all he could feel was burning, as if his body was being turned in from the outside in, as if his heart was being wrenched out and his limbs being torn from him. He felt trapped in one spot as he took the pain in his dream, the fires turning into cold water that rushed down his body to calm it.

Kyungsoo gasped as his lungs expanded with the large intake of air. He breathed in and out, his heart racing and his palms clammy as he felt cold. Cold.

That’s not right. He shot up from his spot before losing his grip and falling onto his knees, his body shaking from fear and shock. “Wings, my wings, my-“ he muttered repeatedly like a mantra before seeing the king’s crest lying on the ground, its shiny surface glinting in the clouded day. He looked onto his wrist, the same exact one seared onto his skin, the scar glistening pink even in the dim light of dawn.

Jongin did it.

And it was rage that filled him instead, rage that filled his bones and coursed through his being. He wouldn’t stop.

He could never stop.

                                                                                                ------

“THERE’S AN ATTACK COMING FROM THE SOUTH!” was all that Jongin was hearing throughout the castle. Even with the yells from the watchtowers, the ringing in his ears wouldn’t stop.

He had cut Kyungsoo’s wings. He remembered how they looked like vividly; their grey feathers were splattered with ichor, the silver blood running down like a stream of diamonds along the fluffy feathers.
He knew how precious they were, how much power they held and yet he still did it. Love was dead, that’s all that Jongin could repeat in his head. The day before, he had been engaged without any notice to Krystal, who seemed to have much distaste against him and his father had made sure to keep Jongin pressured in killing Kyungsoo.

He felt the pain searing in his body, as if he could feel the wounds he had inflicted on Kyungsoo. He couldn’t fix them, he couldn’t go to Kyungsoo and wrap his wounds with wax leaves like he had before.

Jongin couldn’t feel anything as he saw the battalion forming its ranks, hearing the constant shouting from all around him. He did this and he knew it.

It was all his fault.

He looked over at the wooden case shoved in one corner, not drawing any suspicion except to the prince himself. The swirls and ornate designs cover the case like a lace glove, the constant swirls turning into a pair of watchful eyes. The wings wanted to come out. He knew that. He knew they wanted to go back to the original place they once were at.

He snapped out of his daze, his eyes focused as he sat in his transport and kept repeating the same phrase over and over again, reminding him that Kyungsoo wasn’t more than an enemy, that he was just a creature that he had a fascination with.

Nothing more than that.

The group dashed forward in their machinery, guns and other automated weapons in hand. The air was progressively cold, the air turning into a chilling thrum down his spine. He felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck, the droplet reminding him of a snake running down his back, slithering slowing and wrapping around his torso. Jongin got down and walked forward in front of the soldiers as he surveyed the Barrier. A sudden rush of wind came around him as he felt himself pushed and slammed into the wall. His head snapped back on impact, his skull throbbing as he felt a warm trail down his neck that was flowing from through his hair. Branches attached to the wall as it constricted Jongin’s movements, the woody arms wrapping around his torso and pushing at his windpipe.

He saw Kyungsoo in front of him and his heart broke into pieces. His usual ethereal glow seemed to have seeped away from his body as he saw his black eyes, dark and empty of any emotion. Those were not the eyes he had been so fond of, the ones that shined and lit up the room. Kyungsoo came closer to his ear whispering, “Give my wishes to your new lover.”

Jongin felt the branches constrict tighter around his neck, his breath trapped below his Adam’s apple as he started his senses were dulled. He could hear the shouts of the warriors around him. There were thorny roses coming up from underneath him, spindling their way up his arms, the spikes leaving bloody trails in their wake. Kyungsoo wasn’t facing him, his back on the prince before swinging back. Kyungsoo’s eyes laid onto the blood bubbling up to the surface of Jongin’s arms and his eyes froze. He saw the fear in Kyungsoo’s eyes as he flinched visibly, his hands shaking. He felt them loosen as quickly as they started pushing on his throat, air rushing into his lungs as he saw his army being pushed away but larger than life forces. Soldiers littered the grounds and he got a glimpse of Kyungsoo’s face, his eyes sad and his eyebrows pulled together. 

With a flip of the midnight cape, he seemed to disappear out of thin air, along with the rest of the mystical army. Jongin looked to the side and saw that the entrance through the wall was quickly being covered by a plant Jongin knew well. Jongin tried his best to claw his way over to the small opening as it was being taken over at a fast rate. The blue glass petals bloomed outward as they glared in the sun, their appearance deceiving. An oblivion flower, as Jongin recalled from the beginning of their friendship, of their love. The branches quickly spindling upwards and crawling through holes and cracks in the wall. With the army gone from sight, he felt like the small teenage boy he once was, crawling through these very same walls with Kyungsoo. The small moments that they shared, the fleeting touches and fiery moments that filled his heart with love.

Give my wishes to your new lover. It was goodbye disguised, a farewell from the fantasy they had lived in together. A dream which would never happen. He felt a mass on his leg, faint but present. The flower gleamed at him once more, its transparent black petals folding up on themselves as Jongin covered it with his fingers. He got up, placing the small flower into the space in his shoe. He struggled to get back up, shook by the previous events as he tried to ignore the prickling pain and warm blood as he rode back with the royal guard to the palace, oblivious of the nimble creature sitting on top of the green stoned wall.

It killed Kyungsoo no matter how angry he was. Seeing the struggle that Jongin was going through pained him but his mind was clouded and devoid of any thought when he attacked. The creatures tended to each other, their eyes focused on the wounds and the figure sitting on the stone wall.

Jongin still looked ethereal to him, his golden skin and brown eyes shining under the sun. Kyungsoo’s heart ached as his black tears dropped down to the ground, the water turning into thorns on the green grass. His pain was pricking him, lending him to a slow yet lethal ending to his life. A protector, that was his title. A protector to his people, a protector to his land, yet how could such a weak creature like him protect anything when he can’t even protect his own heart?

But what scared Kyungsoo more than the state he put Jongin in, but the blood. They had turned into slithering reptilians, the streams of blood turning into claws. They reared their heads, their slippery bodies running down Jongin’s arms and onto the grass where they started to slither onto his toes. Gradually, making his throat constrict and he felt as if he was being eaten alive.

He pulled his cloak closer to him as he jumped down to the ground, making the air bend underneath him to cushion his fall. It was a fleeting memory is all that he could repeat in his mind, its words comforting yet slowly poisoning him.

                                                                                                ---

The kingdom was bustling, the town folks preparing the square for the wedding. The wedding that would change Jongin’s life forever, as cliché it sounded. His neck had been covered in a layer of paint to hide the purpling bruise that formed at the base of his neck. His uniform was stifling, fitted with medals that added no value to himself as a person. The room was still as he looked out the gleaming crystal window that faced the Barrier, his heart aching as he felt a need to run from the castle and into the warm arms of Kyungsoo.

A knock on the door signaled that Jongin needed to come out of his room, out of this dream that he had been living in for the past twenty years. He nodded to the servant before taking one finally look at the Barrier.

Goodbye, my love.