Baekhyun’s head spins with questions. Why does Chanyeol seem like he knows what this is about? Does that pillar have any sort of significance? Why are there dead animals in the first place? He doesn’t feel like he can ask Chanyeol any of this right now and instead tries to keep himself from throwing up beside the trail of dead animals. He realizes he doesn’t recognize at least half of them, but he tears his eyes away.

When he does, he sees Chanyeol is going way too fast. Baekhyun is already a few steps behind and if things continue like this, he would lose sight of him. It’s not that he wouldn’t know the way back, but he’s scared.

“Chanyeol,” he calls, awkwardly reaching his hand out and ungracefully bumping in to Chanyeol when the tall boy stops immediately at the sound of his name. Both grunt in discomfort from the impact and Baekhyun looks down with an embarrassing blush staining his cheeks.

“What is it?” Chanyeol asks as soon as he turned around and Baekhyun hopes for nothing more than to see the tall boy being his innocent, boyish self. He could have known, even the sound of his voice gives away that he isn’t like that – instead, worry is etched on Chanyeol’s handsome face and Baekhyun feels very stupid.

“You’re just… going a little bit too fast,” he admits, quietly. Instantly, Chanyeol’s expression melts into a smile, his eyes hinting at playfulness that Baekhyun isn’t used to of the boy when he’s being all mature. Had he been uneasy before, Baekhyun wouldn’t even know what to call what he’s feeling now.

“Maybe you could call a dragon and ask it to carry you next time,” Chanyeol says, grin on his face and Baekhyun looks down with a smile, trying to think of ways of telling the tall boy that he has no idea if he can even do that. Chanyeol appears not to have been serious, though, when he gives Baekhyun a little shove to put him in front instead. “You go on ahead, I won’t lose sight of you.” How is it possible that in this situation, Chanyeol sounds like… like this? Baekhyun feels stared at – but he has no idea if that’s true – when they continue on their way back to school.

What Baekhyun wants most right now, is ask Chanyeol what his deal really is. Does he, maybe, like him? He wants to know what Chanyeol knows him from, because he doesn’t know who the tall boy is – and he’s sure he would recognize such a face. And definitely such a personality, or two.

Baekhyun doesn’t get more time to think about it or feel self-conscious. Right behind him, an explosion sounds and he suppresses a scream. He turns around, eyes rounded in fear, and looks for Chanyeol, but he doesn’t see him. He curses himself because he sees nothing, his power having out the entire area. Just because Baekhyun is scared. And he needs to get a grip already.

A flashing fire brings him back to the present, just to disappear again. In shock, Baekhyun rushes there, expecting Chanyeol, but what he sees, is something he isn’t prepared for. In the slightest. Dark – black – eyes snap up to look at Baekhyun’s face, the red glow of Chanyeol’s skin shining brighter than when he saw it before.

Baekhyun’s breathing halts in his throat and he stumbles backwards, but the speed of what can’t be anything other than the demon, is so high that he doesn’t have a chance to get away. He stands before Baekhyun in less than a second and raises his hand, as if to slam him into the ground, but he doesn’t hit him. With his heartrate out of control, Baekhyun sees the struggle inside Chanyeol’s body, but this time, there are no pillars to suppress the energy. What can he even do to help him now? His breathing speeds up because he has to do something, but he can’t figure anything out.

Seeing how Chanyeol seems to be losing the battle for his body, Baekhyun wills himself to calm down. If he doesn’t, the demon will kill him, there’s no doubt about that. This demon, it’s dark, that much is clear. Baekhyun’s power is light – he should have an advantage. He should. With clenched fists, he tries to overcome the fear that has settled itself not only in his stomach, but his entire body. Of course he doesn’t know if this theory is even correct, but it’s not like he has the time to think of something else, or get help.

With a last deep breath, Baekhyun releases all the energy he has been trying to keep in check all this time. He closes his eyes and swallows his fear, opens his arms to embrace Chanyeol, the demon protesting inside of him. Baekhyun hisses in pain, but isn’t aware of where the pain exactly comes from. He’s hyperaware of what’s going on inside Chanyeol’s body, he feels every struggle for power.

Whenever Chanyeol surfaces, he groans in pain, the sound creating goosebumps all over Baekhyun’s pained body, and tears spill from the short boys eyes. Chanyeol’s fingers reach out and grasp whatever they can, for some sort of support, but it slips away every time the demon takes control instead. Then, the body in Baekhyun’s arms feels too hot to hold, it tries to push him away, claws at his neck, but Baekhyun won’t let him. He holds on, tears running down his face, but there’s nothing else he can do.

As time passes – and Baekhyun honestly has no idea how long – Chanyeol regains control more often, clutching onto the small boy for dear life. There’s no way Baekhyun will let go, the pain unbearable, but the idea of giving up this boy in his arms even worse. He runs his fingers through Chanyeol’s hair, shushing him when he cries out in pain, until it all dies down.

Chanyeol collapses to the ground, Baekhyun following mere seconds later. They’re both drained, for different reasons, but somehow, Chanyeol recovers so quickly. While Baekhyun still catches his breath and tries to ignore the pain all over his body, the tall boy looks at him with horror rounding his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says, his face giving away how he feels about himself even better – an undeserving child that did something completely wrong. “I’m so sorry,” he repeats and Baekhyun hears the tell-tale signs of someone on the verge of crying.

“It’s alright,” he protests, but Chanyeol doesn’t think it’s alright at all. He picks the small boy up to carry him, but the pressure points have Baekhyun hiss in pain. “Chanyeol you’ve got to set me down,” he says, “you’re in a much worse condition than I am.” Chanyeol doesn’t give in. Only when they reach the school, does Baekhyun manage to struggle out of the hold the tall boy has on him, but he wishes he hadn’t. Now, his entire body protests in pain and he has to do all he can to not collapse again.

They attract attention, too much of it when they head for the mean entrance. Baekhyun hears whispers, it happened again and Chanyeol keeps hurting everyone. Even he must be a demon. Baekhyun shoots them looks – and he wishes they could have killed – but he doesn’t say anything. With all the accusations thrown at Chanyeol, he gets the suspicion that his pain is visible, but he doesn’t dare look down. Instead, he glances at the tall boy, not ready for the eyes full of worry, regret and guilt that he looks at him with.

“You’re… charred,” he says, as if he knows what Baekhyun wanted to know, “I’m so sorry,” he repeats, but Baekhyun doesn’t want to hear it. None of this is Chanyeol’s fault – the demon is at fault. So all he can do, is change the subject, and maybe try his best to not feel so down. That’s too much to ask though and the daylight isn’t picking up in strength like it should.

“We need to report in what we’ve seen, something needs to be done about that,” he says, hoping the other students won’t hear. Then again, Baekhyun chose his words carefully and nobody would know what he’s talking about anyway. At the mention of the events of before the demon trying to take control, Chanyeol snaps out of the daze he appeared to be in and rushes to the school’s head office. Baekhyun is scared to be left behind again, especially because he’s lost literally all of the speed he had before because of his apparent injuries – but Jongin stops Chanyeol. He appears right in front of the tall boy, but his eyes are almost instantly on Baekhyun. The short boy tries not to sigh, because this is just not the time for him and his accusations.

“Baekhyun you’re– what–” Baekhyun interrupts with a shake of his head, feeling the skin on his neck pull painfully. He winces, so arguing he’s alright, is not going to be convincing.

“Sorry, but we’re busy,” he says instead. Before Jongin has a reply to that, Baekhyun knocks on the door to Kris’ office and pushes it open. They both rush inside and Chanyeol closes the door behind himself. The headmaster sits behind his desk, a troubled look on his face when he assesses the two students in front of him.

“I thought I told you, Chanyeol… you’re being way too reckless,” Kris says, seemingly already knowing what they would tell him, but he asks anyway. “What happened?” Chanyeol looks down at his shoes, a look of extreme discomfort on his face. Of course he had done wrong bringing Baekhyun out into the forest, following a trail of dead animals and then hurting the small boy the way he had. Chanyeol behaves much like a reprimanded child and while it would be much more helpful if he acted more maturely now, he isn’t the only one that can speak up.

“We went into the forest. There were dead animals, leading to some kind of pillar,” Baekhyun says, though he has no idea if that pillar has anything to do with it. Chanyeol’s muttered words beside him tell him it’s an important detail though.

“The pillar of Life.” For a moment, Baekhyun expects laughter, but it’s dead silent and he understands it wasn’t a joke. Kris’ worry-lines deepen on his forehead and Baekhyun swallows uneasily, shifting his weight to his other foot to be a little more comfortable. It doesn’t alleviate the pain at all.

“It’s already happening then… I thought I felt something, but God this is way too soon. There’s nothing I can do about it… not from here anyway,” he says, sounding most like he’s talking to himself and it makes absolutely no sense to Baekhyun at all. Then, though, the headmaster turns to him. “Baekhyun,” he says, stern and his eyes are fierce when he stares the small boy down, “are you alright? Do you need to see the healer?” Baekhyun frowns – but even that hurts – and wants to argue that his physical health is among the last of his concerns, but he doesn’t.

“I’ll go see him right after this,” he says instead. He wants to glance down and take a look for himself, but he doesn’t have the guts. He changes the subject, because all this is frustrating him even more than the pain. “So, what is going on?” He’s only a little bit shocked by the hostility in his voice, but he can’t help it. He doesn’t expect Chanyeol to be the one to answer, though.

“There’s a demon inside of me,” he says and when Baekhyun carefully turns to look at him, he squints his eyes.

“Apart from the things I already know,” he says. If he wasn’t in so much pain, he’d slap himself for being so mean to Chanyeol, because he stands there like a kicked puppy, so he reaches for the boy’s arm to just… give him a comforting touch. He tries not to flinch at the sight of his skin – black. Chanyeol immediately snaps his large eyes  up to Baekhyun’s and there’s no denying the feeling in his stomach, so Baekhyun smiles. He sees how the tall boy’s ears redden when he looks back to the ground.

With the butterflies still upsetting his stomach, Baekhyun turns to Kris. He thought maybe he’d be regarding the two students with a smile on his face, or maybe he’d be somewhat disgusted with them – but Kris looks elsewhere entirely. His eyes are focused on the drawer he rummages through, focused, but trying to hurry up. Soon after, he grabs hold of a small package and holds it out towards Baekhyun. Carefully, the short boy reaches out to grab it, trying so hard not to look at his skin, but he fails and is instantly reminded of the incident. He gets no time to think about it though.

“Don’t leave Chanyeol behind. I know he can be too much of a child sometimes, but you can’t leave him behind. While you’re on your way, help him with it, he needs to grow up already. I know it’s rushed,” the headmaster says, running a hand over his face as if he’s tired as well, “but you’ve got to leave now. I do, too. So, please, hurry up and get yourself healed – don’t stall, the directions are all in there.”

Baekhyun’s head spins. Where is all of this leading? Why does it all of a sudden sound like he’s sent out on a mission to save the world – together with a half-demon? He glances back at Kris, but the man is already packing his stuff, then urging them out of the room and locking the door behind himself.

Baekhyun knows he has to get himself healed up now, he knows he’s about to do something very dangerous. He turns around to Chanyeol for mental support, but when he does, the tall boy is already gone. Baekhyun feels more lost than ever.

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You know, when I first started writing the story, I had no idea it was going to become this dark :') but I know I like it whaha. I hope you do, too! Are you excited to find out more? c: 

Thank you so much for the support you're showing for this fic!! <3 I appreciate it so much! <3