“Yesung, what the hell are you doing?” came the demand the moment Yesung entered the lab. It take Yesung a few moments to realize that it was Siwon speaking him. He’d never heard the other man raise his voice or even get frustrated.

Right now, Siwon was downright furious.

“What are you doing, Yesung?” he repeated and Yesung saw that he was looking not at him, but down at his own hands. Yesung looked down too and jolted when he recognized the long, shredded wings trailing through Siwon’s fingers.

He thought he’d disposed of that failure…

"I found it in the biohazard waste box…I was looking in there because it smelled strange…” Siwon didn’t even seem capable of forming a coherent thought. “I never imagined…what is this…don’t you know we have procedures for discarding…” He trailed off, shaking his head and rubbing the tiny furry body with a shaking finger.

"It was a failed experiment,” Yesung replied shortly, attempting to move around him. His words seemed to snap Siwon out of his trace and the other man rounded on him with renewed fury.

“Is this what you’ve been doing all these years? Lying to us, torturing animals, mutating them into…what is- this is immoral!”

“Isn’t that what we all do, Siwon?” Yesung asked. “Don’t you kill mice and inject them with foreign objects as well?”

“Not like this! It’s not the same!” Siwon was practically screaming now; he really needed to keep his voice down before anyone else overheard, or else Yesung could get in trouble. Unfortunately, Siwon was the perfect proof that Yesung’s work would never be understood.

“I’m busy today, Siwon,” he said calmly, hoping that the other man would take a hint and leave him alone. “So unless you have-”

“No, I’m not done here,” growled Siwon, holding the decaying mouse out to him. “I’m taking this to Leeteuk and we’re putting a stop to this.”

“You can’t!” Yesung’s voice cracked in alarm, chinks finally appearing in his calm demeanor. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been working for this? You’ll ruin everything!”

"I can’t let you keep doing this!” Siwon snapped. “Next, you’ll probably start experimenting on people-” He stopped as Yesung’s eyes flickered slightly at the word “people.” “You mean you’ve already experimented on a person?”

“Sacrifices are necessary for great discoveries,” was Yesung’s only reply, spoken more to himself then to the other researcher. He tried to brush past Siwon, but the man grabbed him by the shoulder and held him firmly in place, eyes narrowing.

“Yesung, what have you done?”

“What do we do? To have him relapse like this, right when we thought he was making progress-”

“He’s not relapsing, he was never getting better. Heechul didn’t exist-”

Didn’t exist? What was that supposed to mean? Just because his roommate was dead didn’t mean he didn’t exist.

“He needs to bury Heechul in his mind-”

Bury him? But how? When his body had crumbled to ashes and been carried off by the wind?

“We never understood-”

That’s right Hangeng, you never understood.

“-damaged he really was.”

I’m not damaged, you idiots. I’m fixed now. I’m perfect.

Zhou Mi’s sigh. And then, “Maybe a couple weeks of talking to a psychologist will be better for him in the long run, but he needs help now. He won’t eat, he won’t drink…as far as I can tell, he hasn’t even moved since we brought him back to his room-”

Poor Zhou Mi, he’s always been so nice to me. But don’t worry, I’m okay now. Really. Everything will be okay.

“We could implant a tube in his neck if he’s having trouble eating-”

Ryeowook had heard enough. Heechul had been right; these doctors knew crap. He stared up at the ceiling and tried to drown out the voice arguing right outside his door. Maybe if he focused hard enough…

It didn’t work. He wasn’t expecting it to, anyways. There was only one place he could be, where these sounds, the doctors’ incompetence wouldn’t bother him.

As if on cue, a nurse called Hangeng and Zhou Mi away to deal with another patient and Ryeowook threw his blankets off. Carefully, he shifted his body to the edge of his bed and eased it onto his wheelchair. He felt the bandages around his chest and smiled.

Time to test out his new wings.

For the past few days now, he’d felt something in his shoulder blades- a strong tingling sensation, like something was really growing from them. Of course there was something; Yesung was the only person who’d listened to him, like Heechul, and Yesung wouldn’t lie because he only did what Ryeowook had asked. Ryeowook had asked to escape. Yesung had promised to help him escape.

The guard they’d begun posting at the elevator was easily distracted by an empty wheelchair that Ryeowook sent careening down the hall. The boy slipped inside the elevator as the guard went after the empty chair.

He rode it to the top.

A gust of wind blasted him in the face the moment he rolled outside, but it wasn’t cold this time. It wasn’t scary or intimidating and it wasn’t telling him to go back inside. No, this wing curled around him, tousling his hair gently, embracing him.

“Are you ready?” It seemed to ask, as a butterfly fluttered past him. “Are you ready to join us?”

I am.

He unwrapped the bandages slowly, winding them up as he went and dropping them carelessly to the rooftop. He sighed as his wings unfolded for the first time, spreading them out and allowing them to dry in the warmth of the sun. He couldn’t fly on wet wings; he wouldn’t be stupid like Icarus to try it and wind up falling to his death.

Ryeowook wheeled his chair to the edge of the roof and peered down. Instantly, he felt dizzy- the people were so small and even the cars looked smaller than toys from this distance. If he fell, he would be-

Oh, but that wouldn’t happen. He gave his wings an experimental flutter, shaking off the last few drops of moisture. The wind was excited by this; it picked up all around him. “What are you waiting for?” it asked teasingly. “Come play with us!”

And if he listened closely, there was Heechul’s voice too, Heechul’s familiar smirk as he drawled, “Who knows? God might just catch you.”

“Are you ready?” the wind asked again, no trace of impatience in its voice. It knew this was his first time flying; it couldn’t rush him or something bad might happen.

“I’m ready,” Ryeowook whispered. He spread out his arms, lining them up with his wings, and for a moment, reveled in the feeling of the wind pushing against them. It was almost ready to lift him up into the sky at any moment.

He placed his hands firmly on the armrests of his wheelchair and pushed.

And the wind caught him, laughing as it lifted him up high into the sky. He could faintly hear someone calling his name, but the sound was carried far, far away as he dipped and rolled on the breeze. People were gasping, pointing up at him and he smiled, waving his fingers slightly and reveling in the pure beauty of it all. He flapped his wings once and rose higher into the air.

“Come,” the wind urged. “Let us leave this place.”

And Ryeowook just smiled.

“I’m here to see my cousin,” Sungmin announced to the receptionist, who was looking strangely harried.

“This isn’t the best time,” the man replied. “We’re having a bit of trouble…”

Sungmin frowned. “What sort of trouble?”

“One of our patients is missing and-”

Just then, a nurse, the one who usually took care of Ryeowook, rushed over and grabbed him by the arm. “Have you seen your cousin? Or heard from him?”

Sungmin just shook his head. “That’s why I’m here.”

Zhou Mi huffed in frustration and swore.

“What’s going on?” Sungmin asked. The man’s frustration and fear was beginning to infect him; he could feel his pulse speeding up as well.

“Ryeowook’s missing,” Zhou Mi stated bluntly.

"What?” Sungmin heard those two words, he knew what “Ryeowook” and “missing” meant, but they didn’t belong together. Not in the same sentence and certainly not in this context.

"I went to check on him and his room was empty, his chair was gone-” Zhou Mi ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Maybe he’s visiting his roommate?” Sungmin suggested. “Heechul, right?”

The nurse gave him an incredulous stare. “You’re joking right? Didn’t you know? Heechul was never real. Ryeowook imagined that he had a roommate. He was delusional, and we never realized it.”

Sungmin gripped the edge of the receptionist’s desk tightly with both hands. This couldn’t be happening. None of this was real. His baby cousin just couldn’t be insane…

“The roof,” he said suddenly.

“Excuse me?” Zhou Mi asked.

“Every time I asked where Heechul was, Ryeowook said he was on the roof. How do you get up there?” Sungmin grabbed the taller man by both shoulders, practically shaking him. “Tell me! How do you get to the roof?”

“The elevator. This way!” Zhou Mi darted down the hall, with Sungmin on his heels. He only paused slightly when he felt his phone buzz.

“This isn’t the best time right now, I’m sorry-”

“No! Wait! You have to listen to me!” the voice on the other end cried desperately.

“Who is this?” Sungmin asked as Zhou Mi repeatedly jabbed his finger on the elevator’s “up” button.

“My name is Siwon, I work with Yesung, who performed an operation on your cousin. His parents didn’t answer and your number was listed…”

“What is this about?” Sungmin snapped impatiently. Zhou Mi shook his head at the elevator and pointed to the stairs.

“Yesung was performing unauthorized experiments on lab animals here and I think he may have tried it on your cousin,” Siwon explained.

“What kinds of experiments?” Sungmin panted as he raced up another flight of stairs. His legs were aching and there was a stitch in his side, but he firmly grasped the railing with his free hand and continued going up.

“Implanting stem cells that led to the growth of wings.”

The pit in Sungmin’s stomach just couldn’t get any bigger. “I-I’ll call you back.”

“Wait, but-”

Sungmin snapped his phone shut and stuffed it into his pocket as Zhou Mi pushed open the door that led to the roof. “Ryeowook!” he screamed, turning his head in every direction for signs of his cousin.

And then he spotted him, wheelchair perched precariously on the edge of the roof. His arms were spread out wide, as if they were wings, his head tipped back as the wind mercilessly tried to blow him off the roof. The bloody streaks trailing down his back dripped to the pavement as he leaned forwards lightly. 

“Ryeowook!” Sungmin yelled again, as he sprinted towards his cousin, who gave no sign that he’d heard anything. The roof seemed so much bigger all of a sudden, the wind seemed to be pushing Sungmin back hard- let me go, leave him alone- and oh god, can I get there in time, I’m not going to make it, notgoingtomakeit-

Ryeowook placed his hands firmly on the armrests of his wheelchair and pushed.

And he fell.