( Redemption )

Minho pushed Taemin further to the ground almost too roughly, but avoided the bullet directed towards them. Taemin almost had the wind knocked out of him and looked in the direction of the offense, staring at the last person either of them wanted to see.

  “To think!” SangJung growled out from a far distance, his gun still pointed at them, “To think you, boy! To take his side so suddenly! To some thing that’s causing this!”

Minho stood up, keeping Taemin right behind him and shielding him from any shots fired, “It’s not your decision, SangJung!”

SangJung pressed forward, his mouth scrunching to a side of his face. The man wasn’t letting go of Taemin, clearly. Apparently he seemed more important than saving the rest of his men and women. A shallow person; as if trying to prove he was still the boss.

SangJung kept his aim on Minho, the aim growing wobbly as he tried to keep on his footing when another rumbled violently ripped through the earth, “I should’ve put you down if I hadn’t succumbed to my curiosity,” he growled at him, finger pressing to the trigger.

Minho heard cracking behind him, his attention on the pillar by them cracking and ready to crumble sideways. Taemin stared at it back, getting back on his feet and trying to move away.

  “He has to go,” SangJung shook his head, “You both have to go! You’ve ruined everything humans have built up to protect each other! You’ve doomed the human race, you goddamn runt!”

Taemin grabbed on to Minho, “Just leave him, he’s not going anywhere!”

  “Everything we’ve worked for,” SangJung screamed among the many others, pressing forward quickly, “You’ve just destroyed all of it! Centuries of it all! Over something so well hidden, you just had to ruin it all!”

Minho yelled back, “That’s your own fault! So either you run now or just die here!”

Minho turned away and started pushing Taemin along to the wall. SangJung shot again and Minho pulled Taemin back before it could hit him. He sharply turned his head to SangJung.

  “What gives you the audacity?!” SangJung shot again, Minho having to force Taemin to the ground again, “You ain’t going anywhere!”

The pillar collapsed behind the two of them, the roof on top crumbling down on top of it, just barely missing them as it crashed. Minho looked to the roof and saw the crack was spreading further in their direction and he shook his head with anger crawling in him. Getting up again, he snapped into a Daegrent, his new ferocity exposed to SangJung, threatening him every instant he held up his gun.

Shocked, SangJung slightly let his gun down, seeing the brilliant white pulsing off of him, his wings larger and outstretched, his eyes glowing fiercely, the marks all over him violent. Minho knew SangJung knew what happened down with The Prophecy.

  “Your wings are supposed to be black, boy, when did that change—“

SangJung took a better look, “Those wings . . . those wings are the same as the ones down there . . .” SangJung took them, “You bear them . . .”

The fire erupted in Minho’s hands the same time the ground shifted again, threatening SangJung that if he didn’t move, he wasn’t going to live. Minho wanted him to die in the pit of fire, but now it had to be from his own flames. As insensitive it was to wish death on anyone, no one deserved it more than he had. The selfishness towards a life engulfed him and he wasn’t upset one bit at all. He was ending this pain himself.

  “It’s on your wrist,” SangJung shifted his gaze, “The mark of a Daegrent . . . Never thought I’d see that again. You must be blazing with anger, huh?” SangJung smirked, the gun held up again, “I wouldn’t have ever thought you’d get it back.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” Minho growled, his fire pulsing outward for a moment, engulfing his body in his white flames. Curling his right arm to his left shoulder, the fire in his fist grew hotter and he swung his arm out, letting the flame dance to SangJung’s feet as a warning to back off. He was getting angry.

  “It’s not even your own mark, is it?” SangJung shook his head with a taunt, “It’s from whoever had those wings. King, I presume,” he laughed mockingly, “You’ll never be a real Daegrent, eh, boy? Hopeless, like the beginning!” he laughed again and shot upwards in amusement.

Minho repeated his action, but SangJung walked through it unbothered in the slightest despite the bottom of his pant legs began catching fire.

He was going to kill him. The fire within him burned brighter and he started pressing forward, ready with this new power to shove a fist through his body and light him on fire.

  “He’s still afraid of you, ain’t he?” SangJung shot up again, a smile of insanity spread across his face, eyes wild, “He’s still can’t stand the touch of you. He just wants a way out!”

Minho snarled, throwing his destruction at SangJung. The man jerked out of the way and took his shot on Minho.

  “Minho!” Taemin yelled out, getting up and ready to press forward.

But he wasn’t bothered in the slightest. Minho thrashed his right hand to the side and the bullet followed the direction by a fiery force, finding its flaming way in a wall. His wings flapped violently towards SangJung, winding him back, “You think I give a damn about your words?” he stepped forward, the fire dripping off of him to the grass, lighting everything on fire up to the concrete Taemin stood on, “That stupid gun in your hand? A bullet that can’t touch me anymore—

  “Taemin, get back!” he slightly turned his head to the sound of a footstep, eyes still on SangJung as he ordered Taemin, “You’ll light yourself on fire if you take another step—” the sound of a distant whistle building up caught his attention, “Go through the wall, you’ll know the way by then!”

  “I can take care of myself!” Taemin growled, gripping on to his bag tightly.

  “I will not be responsible for setting you on fire!” Minho retorted. Minho felt that Taemin backed away on the concrete again.

  “Ordering the boy around,” SangJung stared behind Minho, “That’s all he’ll ever be to you. A servant. A play thing. Life of misery, Taemin! That’s what he’s planned for you!” he angrily stared at Taemin.

Taemin grimaced and stuck his middle finger up, “That’s my choice and not yours!”

  “Got him good, didn’t you?” SangJung’s nostrils flared, “Got him messed up, well done, you filthy monster. All those lies of being a good monster and you go and ruin yourself.”

Minho threw fire again, “I’m not—”

  “He’s not a monster!” Taemin harshly threw at SangJung, “You’re the goddamn monster of everyone in here! He’s not a monster, I’m not a fragile glass statue, and their world isn’t yours to rule! You have no right!”

Minho stood shocked when he heard the of a gun behind him, “You’ve got to be kidding me. . .”

He turned around and saw Taemin pointing the weapon at SangJung. The look on his face was deadly; most threatening. The soft, nice and calm side of Taemin was melted away and replaced with angry, flared threat. Minho was glad the side showed itself.

SangJung turned his gun on to Taemin, “Don’t even try it, boy!”

  “Taemin, don’t push it!” Minho growled, turning back to SangJung, creating a sphere of fire with his hands, his wings starting to flap, ready to push it forward.

  “Pushing it,” Taemin yelled, the finger pressed over his trigger pulling back and firing the shot.

Minho shouted out as SangJung shot at the same time, his force pulling his bullet away into the sky as Taemin’s went through.

SangJung took a step back, his face frozen in determination as his free hand covered his now-reddening left shoulder, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Minho’s sphere ceased growing and he didn’t waste the time. He let it got, sending it forward with his wings flapping in the direction to make it faster.

SangJung clearly saw the hit coming to him and only barely moved before it hit him in the same shoulder, tripping over a body and falling back.

SangJung yelled out as the fire began slowly engulfing his shoulder to spread to his entire body. Minho’s anger hadn’t settled and he strode to the fallen man, his body consumed with so much fire that with the touch of the atmosphere around him would shrivel a life. This was SangJung’s end.

  “Minho, stop!” Taemin shouted at him, the sound of the safety trigger clicked, “Minho, no! I shot him in the shoulder for a reason! Don’t kill him!”

  “Do it,” SangJung crookedly smirked, “You never did it before when you had the chance. What makes you think you can do it now?”

Minho kicked him over roughly, stopping his fired foot from burning the spot he kicked. SangJung wretched in the pain over his shoulder and Taemin screamed out again.

  “You won’t do it,” SangJung laughed, “Not even after this.”

SangJung held the gun he still gripped in his hand and shot in the direction he wanted again but Minho stopped it with the force again.

  “You can’t do anything,” Minho shook his head with a cruel smile, “You can’t do anything—”

Sangjung took a quick aim a little higher and shot again and Minho wasn’t prepared as the shot blew past him.

Minho quickly turned to see Taemin was wide-eyed . . . but unharmed, “Good shot, right?”

  “It was perfect, boy.”

Minho furrowed his brows, watching as Taemin looked up.

The bullet was in the ceiling of the pathway, and the crack of it was quickly spreading in all directions; it was crumbling instantly.

  “Go through the wall!” Minho ordered, panicked.

  “You’re coming with me!” Taemin shouted, not moving anywhere as he stared at the threat, “Leave him and get over here!”

SangJung laughed again, “Ordering you around, now! What a sight! Go ahead and finish me, boy! Let the broken boy be rid of my hands and be crushed! Finish me!”

The sound of the ceiling cracking kept Minho’s attention.

  “Finish me!”

  “Minho!”

Minho was going to end SangJung, but he wasn’t going to give in to his own wish. Taemin was his priority. His pulsing fire burnt out immediately and ran for Taemin snatching him and forcing him through the wall before he could protest.

Looking back at SangJung getting up, Minho said nothing. The fire from his shoulder began engulfing his entire upper torso and SangJung never bothered trying to put it out; he knew he couldn’t.

  “Still so weak,” SangJung smiled with his taunt, “You’ll never be the King of these monsters. You’re all the same,” he pulled up his gun again.

  “ you, too,” Minho said and went through the wall before he could get a shot on him.

  “Get away from him!” Minho yelled as he entered the other side, seeing Taemin with a baby-faced woman; a large tail breaking the doors and walls behind her.

  “Calm down!” Taemin ran at Minho, stopping him from threatening her, “She’s a Daragon! She knows SangJung’s gonna come out of there, she just wants to end him herself!”

Minho stared her down—she didn’t look at all threatening. She was too innocent looking, even.

  “It is upon thy own hand the mortal moves on,” the Daragon nodded her head, her voice light and almost child-like, “I, Sandara, the origin of the Daragons fulfill the creatures’ wish, the King and Queen from then and now’s wish, to end this man’s corruption,” she spoke as if she had all the time in the world, bowing, “Allow me the deed, my King.”

  “. . . Granted,” Minho nodded, “Thank you, Sandara.”

Sandara stood straight again with a smile, her eyes growing pink and becoming red, “I will meet you again someday, my King, when our home is rebuilt. Quickly, you must go! Queen Bom awaits you among the trees north of the gates!”

Taemin grabbed on to Minho, giving a quick hug to Sandara before her form started changing, “Thank you for everything.”

Minho nodded to her as they ran off the decayed hallway to the lobby.

  “A few days before you came,” Taemin shouted behind him, answering Minho’s silent wonder, “Luna came to me with her. She told me the history and things like that. Got me sort of warmed up to you, beforehand.”

The two of them got into the lobby, looking into Trinity’s cubicle to see if Onew and Luna made their way there. But their bags were still situated there and they were no where around.

Minho didn’t doubt them at all. They would come.

  “Minho . . .” Taemin cautiously spoke, his hysteria starting to climb, “Minho, they haven’t gotten their things—”

  “They’ll get it, leave it there,” Minho grabbed him and lead him towards the exit, “When they get out of here, they’ll need their things.”

Taemin’s hysteria grew when the sound of the distant whistle grew louder and higher in pitch. The explosions were imminent and Minho couldn’t let worry puncture him.

The thought of Onew and Luna being stuck in this place to the explosion would set off every emotion he had. He wouldn’t be able to control himself and he knew it. He had to keep the better side in him. They were going to grab their things and get out. They were going to live.

  “They’ll get out,” Minho said, trying to convince both of them.

The restrictive bars that were in front of the doors were torn to the ground and the doors were off their hinges, no where to be seen. The two of the jumped their way out, among the many beings flooding out of the entrance without any soldier threats nearby.

Minho’s eyes shined with hope as he saw the outside of the borders. The free land they deserved. He was growing relieved as much as he was tense.

  “Get on my back!” Minho shouted. Taemin hopped on and Minho’s wings flapped, his feet slightly off the ground.

He grabbed on to a few creatures and those creatures grabbed on to others as Minho set off higher, on his way to the gates as he tried to bring as many creatures as he could get out of harm’s way.

Minho smiled and laughed out when he passed the gate, feeling as if he passed some force field that had held everyone in the prison’s walls. He could breathe air again; he could feel real wind again.

He brought the creatures below him as far into the field as they wanted. Only a little far from the prison did they all signal to let them down. He continuously lowered as many jumped off until he was almost to the ground with the original creatures he snatched up.

  “Thank you!” they’d all shout, “Our King, we thank you!”

Minho smiled with a dip of his head and flew onward to where the trees were north of the gate on a hill; where Minho was brought through.

It was quite a distance from the prison, but not too far. The prison was in clear sight, but Minho knew if The Prophecy’s wrath went as planned, the explosion wouldn’t come near them.

Minho settled his feet to the ground and Taemin hopped off of him. They both turned, watching as the flooding of the gates lessened to none.

Looking at Taemin, he pulled off the straps of his bag from his shoulders and carefully tossed it to the ground, putting his arms around him and soaking in the familiarity of Taemin’s figure when he embraced him. He missed it so much and he could stop missing it now. He basked in it. The same scent, the same rough skin, the same way his arms fit around him.

Taemin held on to him back, staring at the prison.

  “It’s over now,” Minho breathed, kissing Taemin’s neck briefly, “We’ve escaped and I’ve redeemed myself to you,” he smiled and the slight tears of his happiness glimmered in his eyes, “You have no idea how much I’ve gone through without you, Tae. No idea.”

Taemin nodded, clearing something thick in his throat, “You have no idea either, Minho. But it’s over. It’s all gone. We can be happy again in our little apartment in the quiet streets of Namwon—”

The two of them slightly jumped when the first explosion went off south of the border, a part of the building clearly blown up into flames.

It only took seconds for the next ones to start travelling and spreading to all lengths of the border, the explosions’ sounds rocketing into the distance, shaking the ground fiercely, but Minho held them up.

Jonghyun, Minho thought somberly, watching as the entire southern area was blown and covered in smoke and flame, Please don’t be in pain anymore. Please be happy.

The explosions had covered the entire prison by then, but the distant whistling hadn’t ceased. The pitch went higher than any range Minho had heard before as if it were new sound. There was a grand finale to this entire thing. The actual explosion. The actual wrath of The Prophecy.

  “Minho,” Taemin’s heartbeat quickened, “That whistling sound—”

The entire ground shook too hard Minho couldn’t even keep on his feet and the both fell to the ground with wind slapping against their faces. The boom produced was the loudest thing Minho or Taemin, or even anyone, heard in their lives. It took up everything, just as the wrath took up and entire land, encircling the prison and growing larger by seconds, extending past the gates and borders.

Minho saw Taemin was shouting something in panic, but Minho couldn’t hear it at all. He just held on to him as the violent shake kept moving and the wrath kept extending.

Don’t take up the earth! Minho ordered in his head, not even able to hear his own thoughts, Do not wipe us out! My ancestors please control it!

The Prophecy’s wrath kept extending until its borders became black smoke, halting in the distance half way between them and the prison.

The wrath was sent upwards so far into the sky that there was no telling when it ended its extension. The red, oranges, whites, blues of the flames spread across everywhere in the half sphere of the explosion, creating greens, purples, and assortments of all other colors.

The wrath went on for minutes and Taemin held tightly on to Minho as he could just barely watch the explosion with the wind in his face. Minho held over him protectively, watching every single bit of it.

Finally, the of the wrath began to lower, and the colors of fiery destruction changed to odd, calm colors as it began to retract in size. The wind lowered, the shaking grew calm, and they could hear again with a new, loud ringing in their ears trying to settle down.

Taemin scrambled up and away from Minho when the entire calamity was gone and all was left were fires around the now black and ashen land below an orange-hued evening sky.

Minho stood, watching as Taemin shook, frantically looking all over the land for signs, “No . . . no . . .”

Minho looked for any sign of the two that Taemin desperately searched for, but there was no running or movement from anywhere in sight, “Taemin—”

  “No. . .” Taemin started choking up, taking a few staggered steps forward, “No . . . Jinki . . . Luna . . . No! No! No! No! NO! They’re gone! They’re both gone! I only had minutes with them! Minutes!”

Minho touched on Taemin’s arm, “Tae . . .”

  “No!” Taemin violently moved away from him, falling on his knees, “I only just met my brother and when we had the chance to leave together we didn’t! He’s gone now! We should’ve went for them! We should’ve helped them! I’m never going to have my brother again!”

Minho’s throat started closing up, feeling his face get red and his happy tears washing away with ones of sadness. Minho was so sure the two of them would make it out, but they weren’t anywhere to be seen. Onew knew where they would be and would be heading there, but there was no movement on the land.

All of Minho’s best friends were gone. The greatest people he’d ever met; one left by choice and two were stuck. The greatest people Minho ever loved and he was never going to see him again. Minho cried, covering his mouth to the unfortunate events that took place. He was never going to see Onew’s eye smile or get another reassuring squishy hug. He wasn’t going to listen to Luna ever insult him or talk to him about the good things. Jonghyun wasn’t ever going to bark, play, joke, or get angry again.

Minho let out a cry.

 Taemin was right. He should’ve went back for them and found them, leaving together. This was his fault.

   “Tae,” Minho whispered out, on his knees next to him, having an arm over his back, “Tae . . . I’m so sorry.” Minho cried out hard.

Taemin turned and clutched on to Minho, both of them on each others’ shoulders as they despairingly cried about their loved ones moving on.

  “I just met him!” Taemin cried, “And I’ve already loved him so much! Much more than I ever have!”

Minho gasped for air in the midst of his cries, now becoming more silent as he wanted Taemin to vent it all out. He’d gone through so much and his light of hope was just gone . . .

He wanted to fix this. He thought everything would go perfectly to plan . . .

  “I have you,” Taemin cried, “But I still have you.”

( Aurora )

The evening sky was growing dark. Minho was situated between Taemin’s legs as they sat on the hill still, facing the prison. Minho’s hair tie had burned off when he first became the Royal Daegrent and his hair was all disarray. Taemin, still sniffing, combed his fingers through Minho’s long hair.

They had both calmed down not too long ago. They were both still ready to break down again, but for now, they could compose before it would happen again.

They talked. They talked so normally. Shaky, but still normally. They talked about the good things; the things they missed. Taemin would bring up a few things he learned about creatures, pulling through knots here and there, making comments about Minho needing to buzz-cut his hair this time.

  “I thought your wings were black,” Taemin quietly asked.

Minho blinked, “I guess after I entered the prison, Daesung was already partially inside and they became white. . . Where did you get the gun?”

Taemin took a moment to answer, “Luna gave it to me. She said she didn’t trust what could happen.”

The two of the grew quiet for a moment.

  “When I was little, I would get nightmares often,” Taemin sighed, picking at a part of Minho’s hair, “I couldn’t call my Mom or Dad because Jinki told me not to.”

Minho leaned back to Taemin and the younger closed his arms around him.

  “I’d have nightmares without my little green bunny. It went missing and I still take my guess my parents took it. I’d go to Jinki’s room. He was always pulling all-nighters for school and making sure my parents wouldn’t come in to my room. He never slept often . . .

  “I’d go into his room where he’d be doing work or watching TV. He never yelled at me to go to bed or looked at me annoyed. He just asked if I had a nightmare. He’d stop what he was doing, whether it was turn off the TV or turn out his light and pull me into bed with him. . . He became my green bunny. He looked like one and he sure was squishy enough to be one. He was my bunny.”

Minho looked up to him, “Is that why you always seemed so upset whenever I gave you a stuffed bunny? You told me it was your favorite animal, so I always thought I should get you one.”

  “Sorry,” Taemin slightly chuckled, the humor lost, “I couldn’t help it.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell me about your parents like this? Or Jinki? You never told stories, despite barely remembering his face and his name.”

Taemin looked at the deserted ground, “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted the memory for myself to suffer with. It was my problem and mine alone. I didn’t want to share it.”

Minho got on his knees and turned to Taemin, “You never had to face them alone. I was here. I wanted to help you.”

The younger looked down and shook his head, his brows lifting and his mouth opening and closing, “I really don’t have an excuse, Minho. I just wanted it for my own.”

Minho put a finger until Taemin’s chin and brought him up, a soft smile on his face, “I get it, don’t worry.”

Taemin’s brows pushed up and together before he kissed Minho for a slight second. And again. And again.

  “Don’t do this to me,” Minho breathed a short laugh, his wants increasing.

He pushed on to Taemin, a cliché craving wanting to be satisfied so incredibly much. He wanted Taemin on his lips after all this time. He needed Taemin.

The younger balanced himself with a hand on the ground, but the other holding on to Minho’s face, keeping him close as they shared a long awaited moment together.

The press of Taemin’s lips on Minho’s provided a state of reminiscing. The feeling of plush against him so softly welled up a feeling inside of him that he hadn’t felt in so long. He was feeling higher every moment they shared this.

They broke apart, Minho taking Taemin’s hand from his face and holding it.

  “For an inhuman being, you seem like a real human to me,” Taemin breathed on his tingly lips.

Minho laughed and kissed Taemin again, “You seem too unreal to be a human to me.”

Taemin shook his head and pushed Minho away, getting up from the ground and wiping his jeans off, “Take this,” he took a hair tie from his wrist and gave it to his boyfriend, “I want you to do something.”

Minho, not thinking anything of it, tied his long hair back in a ponytail, smiling a cheesy smile with a cute gesture of his hands.

  “Stop!” Taemin hit his arm, “I mean, I want you to do something now.”

Minho stopped smiling, one of his brows going up, “. . . Um, are you sure this is the time to want to do that?”

Taemin turned confused before he scoffed and hit Minho again, “That’s not what I meant!”

It was Minho’s turn to be confused, “Then?”

Taemin took Minho’s hands and placed his arms around his figure, “Here’s a line you hear from movies: You live forever. I don’t. And by what I learned, there’s a way to fix that.”

Minho double took and started retracting his arms, “Taemin, wait—”

  “Sandara told me every consequence there is,” Taemin nodded reassuringly, “I know everything about it, Minho. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to walk of the edge of the earth to get away from you.”

Minho looked out to the trees in a thought, “Taemin, I don’t think now is right. As much as I’d like to, right now just . . . Don’t you want to wait until you stop looking like an over-matured fourteen year old? You’re only twenty, don’t you want to give a little more aging a chance? Are you sure you’re prepared that when your relatives have to leave, you’ll handle it for the rest of eternity? That when you’re thirty and look like a teenager having to make us move away?”

Taemin kept quiet a moment and that caught Minho’s attention. Taemin looked beyond him, thoughts wandering silently as Minho could only watch him.

He saw an abstract tear down Taemin’s face before he hastily wiped it away, “I can do it. I’ve lost one out of the two most important people to me and I already have to live with that. I can do it again and be happy.”

Minho held on to Taemin’s face, seriously looking at him, “Are . . . you sure?”

  “Look,” Taemin took his hands away, “Your friends are going to go away sometime, too. And you’ll still have to deal with loss and movement.” Taemin shook his head, “But you’re most definitely not losing me and I’m not losing you. I’ve already done that once and that caused and eruption to the world. I want you forever, Minho. And as long as you want that, then please.”

Minho felt the same emotion from kissing him well up again and overcrowd everything he knew. He didn’t know what this was, if this was even some sort of adrenaline, but he felt so happy over it and wanted the feeling forever.

Any complications they’d have, they could work out for sure. Somehow. Anything was possible by now.

Hesitantly, Minho tugged on Taemin’s ponytail to strengthen its hold before he placed a hand on the left side of his neck and his other arm around his back, “Taemin . . . it’s going to hurt.”

  “I’ve been through pain already, I’m immune to it by now, I bet,” Taemin smiled encouragingly.

The thought saddened Minho considerably, but he put his mouth next to the right of Taemin’s neck and breathed, “Don’t scream.”

Minho felt his mouth pulse as he drew closer, a craving to bite down unable to be resisted.

For so long Minho wanted to bite down Taemin and never really knew why. This peculiar want he had ever since he met Taemin was overwhelming when he was younger and he always had to stop himself. He never understood before.

But now, he was free to do it.

He pressed his teeth on Taemin’s neck, not poking through his skin at all, but just on top of it. Taemin slightly jumped but cleared his throat, “Go.”

Minho bit down on to him, but not as hard as he did to Bom. He only bit down hard on her to find the trace of poison. For Taemin, he only had to move past his skin little by little, which had to be less painful.

But Taemin still struggled with keeping quiet, tensing as he clutched on to Minho and trying to convince himself not to force Minho off of him.

Minho kept him still in place as he stopped going in, Taemin’s blood finally dripping through from the small space between his skin and Minho’s teeth. Minho didn’t , didn’t , but just kept still until he felt the sign that the bond was formed.

Taemin started trying to hold back yells, sometimes letting a few short ones out, sometimes hitting Minho and other times clutching on to him for dear life, “It burns, Minho. It burns!”

Minho still kept him still, closing his eyes and trying to drain Taemin’s voice. He concentrated so hard to keep from retracting when he shouldn’t, forcing him to retry.

Minho’s body started reacting to a newly formed adrenaline. His wings suddenly grew out and stretched. Behind his eye lids he saw the flash of his eye color change. His marks began crawling. His wrist mark was glowing bright with heat. He moved his teeth a little towards himself to finish off the slash . . .

 All at once, there was a tingly feeling all over Minho that grew to feel like wind all over his body, a voice very quiet in his head that kept growing louder in volume, and a connection within Minho’s blood that felt like speed currents within him. His wings flapped and covered the two of them completely.

Minho quickly pulled from Taemin’s neck, his wing moving outward on its own as Minho spit the blood he had in his mouth to the ground. He didn’t like the taste of his blood at all; it was revolting he had to do it.

He forced his eyes to normal and looked at Taemin eagerly, trying to hold him up as he shook, “Tae?”

Taemin shakily wiped the tears from his face, looking at Minho’s mouth with a scrunched face, “I’m okay . . .”

Of course I’m not okay, it hurt like hell.

  “I can hear you,” Minho shook his head, getting a look at his neck, trying to wipe away as much of the blood as he could.

  “. . . Oh,” Taemin coughed, “Sorry.”

It’s okay.

  “. . . That feels weird,” Taemin scrunched his mouth up, “Hearing you. It just . . . it’s weird.”

Minho hummed a laugh, “Don’t ever think about lying to me.”

  “I should say the same to you.”

Minho’s wings moved back, the moonlight shining down on the both of them. Minho tried to do more of a decent job of wiping off the blood until it started to disappear on its own, and thank god it had. He didn’t want Taemin returning looking like that.

  “How does it look?” he asked.

Minho watched as the small slashes of his teeth began to solidify into skin as if there were no bites at all. The skin began to turn into a gray color and darken, but not yet become black, “Looks good,” he smiled.

  “I feel all . . . new,” Taemin chucked, lightly putting a finger over his mark, “I don’t know how to explain this . . . adrenaline.”

Minho’s wings flapped giddily, his attention drawing to Taemin’s right wrist, “And look at that!”

The glowing Daegrent’s mark appeared on his wrist, but not like a real mark. The glow was literally beneath his skin, not on it. When the glowing would go out, there was no black mark at all. It was well-hidden beneath his skin, “Weird, too?”

Taemin held onto his wrist, “Damn, that’s freaking awesome! Look at that, it glows!” he suddenly went in for a hug, laughing.

  “Mine,” Minho nodded, “You’re mine. Forever.”

  “You’re mine, too,” Taemin put his face to Minho’s neck, “Forever.”

. . . I’m all yours, too!

The two of them jumped and broke apart, instinctively looking down the path to see Bom in more appropriate clothing, leaning on a tree, “I’m glad you two stopped crying.”

Taemin held back on to Minho and laughed, “How long have you been there?”

  “Long enough,” she chuckled, “Are you two alright, now?”

Minho instinctively kissed the side of Taemin’s head and nodded, “Yeah, we’re alright.”

Bom smiled and gestured them to come forward, “Let’s go. On human foot, right? We can arrive to Namwon by morning, then. I’m excited to meet this ‘Seunghyun.’”

Taemin looked behind him to the ashen land with few fires, scanning for something in the dark until he slowly turned back and stared at the ground.

  “We’ll do something for them when we get back,” Minho promised him, moving away to take his hand, leading them forward.

  “Right. I’d want that for them,” Taemin nodded with a slight smile, looking on ahead to Bom as she waited for them.

They walked on, and Minho looked behind him. The evidence of confinement was gone. The place of pain and suffering was gone. Lives of the earth would begin their new happiness and lives turning to death would find what their curiosity wanted.

To think, as much as Minho hated the place and what it’d done to him—What it’d done to everyone.

Taemin.

Jonghyun.

Onew.

Luna.

Bom.

To think, even though it was a place to hate and despise, Minho found a lighter part to think about it. Without this place, he would’ve resulted to lying to Taemin all his life. He would’ve never met another creature. He would’ve never met friends that understood him and cared for him no one else in the human world could. He hated this place, but he learned what it takes to truly be happy with his eternity.

Slowly, the ashen land was covered by the hill Minho and Taemin had stood on and out of sight. All Minho could see above the hills was the distant mountains and the dark sky with a full moon.

Now with his escape a success, there was only one thing left to do.

Return.

----~Note~----

AH THE ENDING, LET IT BE!

This is the true ending of Escape to Redemption, and I hope it was everything you'd want! I know it was for me!

I've spent weeks trying to get on my computer to gain courage to write the ending. I can't believe it's basically over. ;-;

All is well and kind of cliche, but all is well!

I really do hope you guys enjoyed the fic, despite the hiatuses, inconsistency, and sometimes lack of work! I'm happy a lot of you stuck through with me and this journey, I couldn't do it without ANY of you!

2Min is completely happy, Bom is on her way to beat the crap out of my bias-bby, and creatures and people have escaped. Harmony should ensue.

Tell me what you all think below!

Oh, but you may not see the "COMPLETED" on the fic, amiright?

This is the true ending, but I also decided to do an epilogue instead of putting my extra endings in bts. So I will also have this up and questions will be answered!

Good god, guys, I'm feeling really grateful and excited that I've started to cry. This is my first full fic and I'm so happy that I finished it. I've never finished a fic before and now I can knock it off the bucket list! Everyone has been a large inspiration for me to move on. Times have been rough and good, but we've stuck through!

(And for future readers, thank you for making it to the end!)

From the deepest of my heart, I thank everyone. This fic became my life for two years, battling procrastination, my own problems and issues, and school for this past year. I would've never thought I'd finish it, but you've all made it possible with your support of every kind! Your my inspirations and I hope you can continue to sub to me in general for anything I have to share with you all! Friends even. c:

I truly love all of you guys; my subs, my commenters, up-voters, and general viewers. This was all your hardwork put through to me even despite my lacks.

And with that said, see you for the epilogue with more to say. c:

~FlaMinhoe