Chapter 6.

A large gaping wound starting from Taeyong’s temple and down his cheek pointing towards the corner of his lips decorated Taeyong’s face. He came up to Hansol to tell him to be on guard. Some Damned had entered his tent without knowing that he had moved Mark and his companions to a cave and Taeyong hadn’t been kind, but neither had the intruders. Taeyong walked off saying something about going to Yuta. He was from Clan 4 who was good with herbs and specialized in medicine.

Hansol’s hand was bloodstained and his fingers curled into a fist. “How dare they.” He growled and Mark nervously glanced at the ground beneath them. His eyes were a target and he immediately turned to go back inside.

Mark sat down beside Ten and looked at the other’s peaceful expression. He felt guilty for bringing Ten into this place.

Mark heard Jaehyun groan and Mark frowned as he saw Jaehyun sit up with a start and then begin to hit his chest, hard. Johnny who slept beside him sat up too.

  “Jae, hey.” He spoke softly and Jaehyun gasped for air while Johnny helped him lie down, Mark frowned. Then he stood and went over to Hansol, but he kept himself out of view. After a few moments Jaehyun and Johnny went back to sleep again. Mark wondered if Jaehyun had nightmares often or some sort of problem with his breathing. Hansol stepped back and looked at Mark, he had sensed his presence.

  “What is it?” He asked.

  “What will become of me? I can’t understand Doyoung and Taeyong’s request.”

Hansol shrugged. “I’m not too sure either. Doyoung says a lot of crap.” Hansol sighed. “But Taeyong’s right about one thing, we need to do something soon. We can’t live like this.” He said and Mark watched the moon’s light on Hansol’s face. Hansol looked human if it wasn’t for the soft red glow in his eyes. He could’ve have lived a normal life, he looked like he was the age of when you found a partner to settle down with. Maybe Hansol liked hunting trips?

  “I can’t fathom any of this.” Mark said and shook his head. “What Lord Win said about the commander… what reality I’m facing… I thought humanity was finally learning after what we had done to the Earth.”

Hansol looked bitter. “Humanity never learns.” He said. “We’re a cruel and stupid species.”

Mark sighed. “And what are we?”

Hansol’s eyes landed on Mark and Mark was sure his eyes glowed a bright blue. “We are damned… we are immortal.”

Mark’s eyes widened. They were what?

Hansol turned to look at the moon. “I’ve been here for 6 years and I haven’t aged a day.”

Mark couldn’t breathe and when enough time had passed and Mark still didn’t speak, Hansol then stepped outside again and Mark went back to lie down
beside Ten, having totally forgotten the sight of Jaehyun and Johnny, and just hoping he would wake up back home.

He didn’t wake up at home. He woke up by Taeyong grabbing the front of his shirt, heaving him up and throwing him towards the mouth of the cave. Ten woke up immediately, standing up to push Taeyong away. Johnny was already up by then and he reached out a hand that stopped Ten.

Ten glared at Johnny. “What are you doing?” He asked and Johnny pointed to Taeyong’s face. Ten and Taeyong’s gazes met, while Mark took the chance to get up on his feet and blink away the heaviness of sleep. Ten gasped.

  “What happened?” He asked and Mark noticed Jaehyun sit up with a strained expression as if being in pain. Johnny reached out a hand and helped him up.
Taeyong turned his head so that the other three couldn’t see the long red gash. “You’re lucky.” He said. “They came for you.”

Mark saw someone in Ten’s gaze change and Johnny and the other two shared a gaze. Mark though waited for Taeyong’s next move. “You need to train.” He said and looked at Mark. Mark felt out of breath, he didn’t know how he should feel about the gash on Taeyong’s face. One thing he knew was that it needed to bit stitched together or else it would be a wide scar.

  “Your face.” Mark said and Taeyong cocked a brow. Mark exhaled deeply. “Treat it first.” He said as softly as he could, trying not to be dominant.

  “Yuta has put some oil and herbs-” Taeyong began dismissively.

  “It needs stitches.” Jaehyun then said and Taeyong turned to glance at him, Ten winced at the sight of the gash. Taeyong eyed them and Mark heard Hansol move away the curtain.

  “Kun is coming.”

Jaehyun tried to smile softly. “Who’s Yuta? We can go to him, maybe he has the tools.”

Taeyong shook his head. “You can’t trust Yuta with a sharp object.” He said and laughed.

Jaehyun smiled. “Trust me.” He said and looked at Mark.

Johnny glanced at Mark. “If you were to train with Mark and he would get a good hit sent to your cheek, it will begin bleeding. Herbs won’t stop that.”

  “It needs to heal.” Ten said and Taeyong immediately changed his attention to him, turning his body towards the other. Ten tried not to notice. “Getting it stitched helps the skin heal.”

Taeyong huffed. “Fine.”

Mark turned around and Hansol glared at him. Mark remembered his actions towards Hansol the day they kidnapped them. He couldn’t help but smile, he tried to hide it though but when Hansol narrowed his eyes on him he realized he was failing.

  “I sad Kun is coming.” Hansol repeated and Mark stepped back when Kun appeared behind Hansol.

  “I’m here.” Kun said with a smile, but Mark didn’t like it. Kun stepped inside and Hansol leaned against the opening of the cave, keeping an eye on the world outside but on the same time on Kun. Taeyong turned around to face Kun who gasped.

  “Dude, your face.”

Taeyong grimaced. “Dude, your face. That’s what happens when you fight, you should know.” He said in a mocking tone.

Kun smiled. “Yeah it happens, but never to me.”

Johnny made a gagging sound behind them. Ten snickered.

  “Why are you here?” Mark decided to ask, making sure to keep his distance from Kun. Kun turned his eyes towards Mark, they looked wild.

  “For you of course.” He said and stepped closer, Mark flinched. “Oh, don’t run away.” Kun pouted.

  “I would too.” Taeyong said. “But I’m not afraid of you.”

Kun placed his hands on his hips. One brow shot up and was hidden by his bangs. “You sure?”

Taeyong sighed. “Am.” He said shortly. “Hey…” He smiled. “Why don’t Mark train fighting with you?”

Mark’s eyes widened. “No!” He yelled but turned around when he heard Ten yell it too.

Kun beamed. “Oh I like that, I train with more precision than anger compared to Taeyong, I’m a better teacher.”

  “I just need to make sure I don’t piss you off.” Mark said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Kun nodded with a hearty laugh.

  “That’s true, or I will surely kill you.”

Mark didn’t like it, but he didn’t have a choice. He followed Kun and felt happy when Johnny and Hansol followed him, while Ten and Jaehyun went with Taeyong to treat his wound.

Mark flew back, landing harshly upon the ground, sliding a few feet before he managed to stop. He looked up to see Kun run towards him and Mark raised his arms to stop Kun’s knee from colliding with his face. Mark was pushed back by the force of the kick. Kun was smiling, and compared to Mark he wasn’t breaking a sweat. Mark’s bangs were drenched and he had to flick them out of his eyes as well as avoid damage to his face and vitals. Kun spun around with a round kick and Mark quickly bowed to avoid it while stepped out of the way. Kun laughed. “Great!” He said and then quickly changed the weight on his feet sending a kick to Mark’s chin and Mark fell back. “You should’ve attacked!” Kun said and Mark rolled onto his side, holding onto his chin in pain.

Hansol chuckled while Johnny spoke encouraging words. “You’ll get it, Mark!” He yelled from where they were sitting. A few other Damned near them was watching them too.

Kun stopped attacking, letting Mark get up on his feet. “You need to attack too.” He said while bending forward to keep eye-contact with Mark. “You can’t take blows all day.”

Mark blinked and wiped his face with one hand. “I don’t know how.” He panted and then glanced at Kun who for the first time smiled gently.

  “Watch me.” He said and Mark jumped away from another attack.

Mark was lying in the cave when the others came back. He couldn’t stand when Kun had placed a good kick to Mark’s hip. Johnny tried not to yell too loud, but muttered about how unfair it was when he picked Mark up in his arms. Mark knew that even though he didn’t like this he had to learn how to fight. If he just got on Kun’s level of fighting he could defend Ten and the other two against anyone.

Ten ran over to him and cupped his face with his hands. “Mark what happened? Why are you like this?”

Taeyong huffed. “Kun really knows how to cripple someone.” He said and Ten snapped his head in Taeyong’s direction.

  “You let him do this?” He asked and stood. Taeyong’s brows shot up.

  “Sweety you can’t beat me.” He said and Ten balled his hands into fists.

  “I can try.” He growled.

Mark wanted to get up and stop Ten, but he winced when he tried to move. Ten immediately softened and went back to hold Mark’s hand. Mark looked at Ten with pleading eyes, hoping his message got through to Ten. Don’t fight him.

Ten sighed and buried his face in Mark’s neck. “Fine.” He breathed and Mark shuddered at the feeling of Ten’s hot breath against his neck.

  “I’ll learn.” He croaked and Taeyong looked at him.

  “Learn fast.” He said and Mark nodded.

Mark swung the dagger and Kun barely avoided it. A week had passed and Mark was getting better at fighting, but every god damn time he was knocked to the ground by Kun. He was going easy on him, Mark could feel it.

  “That’s it for today.” Kun said with a smile. Mark groaned, he was down on one knee, trying to get up. Johnny and Taeyong had left earlier and Mark looked up at the setting sun.

Someone came running. “Blue Eyed Damned, I think you would want to see this!” The man yelled and Mark started following the other but the Damned broke into a run. Kun followed them too and they found Johnny surrounded by a group of Damned, he was on the ground, turning his head away from some female Damned spitting at him.

  “Want to be like us, mortal?” She asked and Johnny shook his head weakly, trying to push her off himself.

Mark ran over swiftly gripping around the neck of the female Damned and throwing her off Johnny. The other Damned around them didn’t hesitate to attack Mark. He tried to help Johnny up but Mark was attacked from behind, and he threw himself onto the ground, landing on the one attacking him. He got up again and kicked a Damned away from Johnny.

  “Run!” Mark told him, but Kun stopped Johnny.

  “I’m here.” He said and made Johnny stand behind him. Kun just watched Mark fight. Mark didn’t know how long he managed to hold them off himself. He hoped Kun would help him but knew that was a silly thing to do. He instead did his best to remember the training, but having 5 attackers on him wasn’t easy. He gripped the hair of one and used him as shield when someone tried to hit him. He then dived beneath the arm sending a knee into the stomach of the Damned. Mark stopped fighting for a moment to see if they would stop attacking, but he was grabbed from behind. Mark was locked in the arms of two Damned, and one tall one neared him dangerously with a raised fist, he was ugly, one scar dragged down his face from his forehead to his left jaw.. “So you think you’re better than us?” He asked and Mark tried to fight against the hold, but he couldn’t get out of their grips. Mark suddenly noticed the sound of steps.

  “ off!” Taeyong yelled and jumped over the group and kicking the Damned in his face. He turned around towards the two holding Mark. Their grips loosened for a moment and Mark got out of their hold, turning around and kicking one down before taking the other’s head and forcing it down while raising his knee, knocking the Damned out. Taeyong glanced around at the wounded Damned.  “He’s better than all of you.” He hissed. “At least he can control his emotions unlike you petty bastards.” He spat and Mark felt exhausted. The setting sun’s rays still felt hot on his skin. Ten came running towards him, trying to help him, but Mark pushed the other to the side.

  “I’m okay.” He lied and Ten nodded. “Check on Johnny.” Mark said and glanced in Johnny’s direction, the taller boy looked defeated, head bowed in shame. As Ten walked towards the tall 5^th clan member Mark noticed Ten give Taeyong a look that for the first time didn’t show fear or disgust.

Jaehyun thanked Mark and Taeyong for helping Johnny, and Taeyong eyed the other before nodding, accepting the gratitude. Mark gave Jaehyun a small smile trying to head straight to bed. Ten though followed him, sitting down beside him.

  “Will you be okay?” He asked and Mark reached out to hold Ten’s hand.

  “As long as you are.” He said sleepily and Ten gripped Mark’s hand. Mark was exhausted.

A/N:

SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY

(I haven't re-read this chapter so I'm sorry if it's NTY)

I am back with an update. Sorry for the wait I couldn't write on this I was screaming about au pair stuff because I'm going to connecticut AND the writer's block on this was REAL.

Now I have chapter 7 ready as well, but I'll write chapter 8 before updating. It's still Mark's birthday here in Denmark. So I'm happy to be able to update the story dedicated to him on his 17th birthday. <3

Comments are very appreciated <3

Love,
Emma. <3