Yixing wakes up to find his partner missing.

Jongdae wakes up to find his partner right where he wants him.

Panic is the first thing that hits him. Jongdae, Jongdae, where was Jongdae? The younger mage couldn’t possibly have left him, could he? No, Jongdae was far too loyal for that. He would never just leave Yixing to his own devices, not if he could help it. He quickly grabs his bow and races out of the tent, pulling his coat on. His Mabari, Lay, is here, but Chen is missing, and that’s when Yixing knows something is wrong.

Contentment is the first thing that washes over him. Yixing is here, by his side, and in the way that Jongdae had always wanted. Jongdae reaches out, slowly, tracing Yixing’s features as he sleeps, over his high nose, those full lips, the patch of skin he knew would dent to feature the cutest dimple when Yixing smiled. He can’t believe that he has Yixing with him, now, just lying in bed like this, where they could spend the whole day.

“Lay,” He calls, and his Mabari quickly trots over to him, rubbing his muzzle against Yixing’s thigh in an attempt to soothe him. Yixing’s breath quickens as he scans the surroundings. There’s no sign of struggle, which makes everything worse. It meant that Jongdae really had left him voluntarily. Yixing clenches his fists in anger; Had their camaraderie been nothing? All the times Jongdae had said that he would follow Yixing to the ends of the Earth, were they all lies, then?

“Yixing,” He whispers, and his lover’s eyes slowly blink open. Jongdae smiles, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Yixing shuffles closer and nuzzles into Jongdae’s shoulder, not wanting to wake up. Jongdae laughs softly so as not to shock Yixing from his daze too much, but he can’t help but want to look at his lover’s face. After all, this was the man that Jongdae would follow to the ends of the Earth. He was a pretty important man, to Jongdae.

Lay rushes off, suddenly, barking at Yixing. Yixing blinks himself out of his rage and follows Lay. His Mabari - all Mabari, in fact - is highly intelligent, and if he’s managed to spot something that Yixing himself could not, it’s probably of high importance. Lay leads him to the edge of their camp, where the soil was, instead, mud. There’s an obvious sign of skirmish here, and Yixing can see the paw prints of Chen, Jongdae’s Mabari, overlapping.

Yixing blows a raspberry into Jongdae’s shoulder, a sign that he’s fully awake. Jongdae blinks, not registering the motion yet, then squeals, shifting away from Yixing, but his lover holds him down, locking him in place and continuing to blow raspberries on his skin, tickling him as he goes. Jongdae squirms in his place, laughing, trying his best to get out of Yixing’s grasp, but Yixing refuses to let him go, overlapping kiss upon kiss on his skin.

Yixing knows, then, that Chen did not want Jongdae to go, wherever he was going. It was strange, then, because Chen would not have gone against his Master’s wishes, not when Jongdae and Chen had Imprinted. Chen would follow Jongdae to death, if need be, which meant that Jongdae had no left camp on his own accord. Either he’d been forced to go quietly, or, Yixing swallows, possessed.

Jongdae screams for Yixing’s mercy, but he soon leans into Yixing’s embrace when Yixing does nothing more than kiss him, again and again, making his way up his shoulders to his lips. Jongdae hums, happy, content, when Yixing’s lips press over his own. Jongdae cups Yixing’s face in his hands, and thinks that, if he were to die, it wouldn’t be so bad in Yixing’s arms. He’s entirely enchanted by Yixing, by the man holding him.

Yixing rushes back to pack, leaving the tent. Jongdae’s more important than provisions he could buy in the next town over, when he gets the mage back. Lay runs alongside him as he sprints through the vegetation, Jongdae the only thing on his mind. It would probably have been difficult for him to track down anyone else this way, but he’s spent so much time with Jongdae that he can pick up Jongdae’s magical signature.

Bolting upright, Jongdae remembers what he’d gotten for Yixing. He presses a soft kiss to Yixing’s cheek before he quickly runs over to their drawer. It’d been so long since they’d had to sleep in tents on roadsides, fighting for their freedom and their lives against the Darkspawn. Jongdae has had so much time to get used to Yixing that Jongdae thinks - knows - that he would be able to find Yixing no matter where he went in the world.

It’s easy to know when he’s reached where Jongdae is, but the realisation is terrifying. The number of rage demons that he’s had to kill is a clear sign of a high demon, but the change of scenario is telling. A desire demon has taken Jongdae.

It’s easy to tell when Yixing is happy, and the realisation is a huge relief. Jongdae watches as Yixing takes the music box in hand and winds it up, letting the small clear tinkling sound of the machine play in the room. The smile Yixing is wearing takes Jongdae’s heart again; Not that he hadn’t already given it to Yixing.

The problem with being an archer, however, is that Yixing quickly runs out of ammo. By the time he’s at the center, and the heart of the desire demon’s hold, Yixing has but one arrow left. Lay is tired, despite the Mabari’s high stamina, and Yixing himself is nowhere near top condition. Yixing slams the room door open to see Chen crumpled in a heap by the floor, whimpering, Jongdae on the bed and the desire demon in his lap.

Jongdae takes the music box away from Yixing, too enamoured by his lover to let him continue without kissing him. Jongdae reaches for Yixing, and the other crawls into his lap, straddling his hips, leaning down to kiss him fervently, hungrily. Jongdae reciprocates, hands coming up to hold Yixing closer, into it. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get enough of this, enough of Yixing and the way he feels in his arms.

“Get away from him!” Yixing snarls, nocking his last arrow to his bow string and pulling it back. The desire demon looks up from where they’re kissing Jongdae and moves swiftly, smoothly, off of Jongdae’s lap to stand in front of Yixing, they’re lap Chen gives a low growl from where he’s still crumpled, Lay echoing his Master’s snarl. “What have you done to Jongdae?”

Jongdae whimpers when Yixing pulls back, reluctant to let him go. Where is Yixing going? Jongdae watches as Yixing moves away, but stays where he is. He doesn’t move, doesn’t want to move, and so he sits on the bed and pouts as Yixing turns to the mirror and smiles. “Yixing?” He asks. “Yixing, what are you doing?”

Yixing jolts when Jongdae says his name, but before he can respond, the desire demon turns back to Jongdae. “Just give me a few moments, Jongdae, I’ll be right back.” They walk closer to Yixing, smiling sinisterly, making a motion not unlike opening and closing a door, and Yixing knows, then, what the desire demon has done. “Give him back!”

The desire demon’s smile widens, crossing their arms. They tilt their head at him, as though not understanding. “And you would take that from him?” They ask, gesturing to where Jongdae is still sitting on the bed, waiting for ‘Yixing’ to return. Jongdae picks up the music box and sighs happily, burying his face into ‘Yixing’s’ pillow as he giggles in glee. “It was so, so easy for me to possess this child,” The desire demon says, entirely pleased with themselves. “So very in love with his companion who did not return his feelings, it was almost laughable. He didn’t put up any fight at all. You can’t give him this happiness, can you, archer? You would take this away from him?”

Yixing looks over at Jongdae, who’s still giggling to himself. It was true that Yixing had always known of the mage’s feelings towards him, but had never acted on it. Yixing himself held a soft spot for Jongdae, but when the Darkspawn was still upon them, all they could do was run. They couldn’t afford to be in a relationship, especially not when peril was so close. “Better to live a life of loneliness than one of deceit,” Yixing snaps.

“Really?” The desire demon asks, their voice echoing. “You would take that happiness away from him, one that I can provide? You would see his smile falter when he realizes that he does not have you, that all that he’d gone through was a mere illusion?”

In truth, Yixing doesn’t want that. He never wants Jongdae to be upset, never wants to see the young mage without a smile on his face, much less know that it was because of him. But Yixing cannot let Jongdae live a lie, let the desire demon continue to take control and possession of his body until the demon’s bled him dry, until Jongdae is nothing but a corpse.

Yixing shifts backwards minutely, and the desire demon smiles victoriously, but what they don’t know is that it’s Yixing’s command, and Lay pounces, snarling and tackling the desire demon to the ground. Yixing stands over their prone form, held down by Yixing’s Mabari, and draws his arrow back, pointed down at their heart.

Jongdae looks up just as Yixing is thrown through the door. He flinches, watching a Blight Wolf hold Yixing down. Yixing’s eyes are wide in panic as a Hurlock Archer stands over his prone body. Jongdae makes to get up, his hands already twitching to cast a Winter’s Grasp, but he doesn’t make it in time.

Yixing fires.

The Archer fires.

Jongdae screams.

Jongdae screams.

Yixing moves towards Jongdae and quickly knocks him out with the end of his bow. He cannot have Jongdae casting a spell when he’s in such a panicked state. Jongdae had just seen ‘Yixing’ been shot in the heart; His magic would be out of control.

“I’m sorry, Jongdae.”

Yixing wakes up to find his partner missing.

Jongdae wakes up to find his partner right where he wants him.

He rises slowly and walks out of the tent to see Jongdae staring into the distance.

He rises slowly so as not to wake the love of his life, knowing he would never have him.

“Good morning, Jongdae,” Yixing greets, smiling softly when Jongdae turns around.

“Good morning, Yixing,” Jongdae whispers, smiling sadly. “I love you.”