Chapter 9.

Taeyong appeared in the mouth of the cave, coming to a stop and staring at them. Mark was sitting with Jaehyun, Ten and Johnny by their sleeping spots, softly conversing as they waited for Hansol or Taeyong to return.

Mark noticed Taeyong’s hands had been curled into fists and Mark waited for the other to storm at him. As soon as he did Mark got up to take the beating but Ten sprang up in between them and Mark saw Taeyong’s surprised eyes before Taeyong slammed into Ten. Jaehyun yelped when they fell down onto him, pushing Mark to the side who landed on Johnny. Mark noticed Taeyong try to push himself up and away from Ten who was fighting the other off of him. Jaehyun grabbed Ten and forced him to the side, scooting backwards to catch his breath that had been knocked out of his lungs. Johnny went over to Jaehyun and Taeyong and Ten were staring at each other. Mark didn’t know what it meant exactly, but Ten was almost daring Taeyong to come closer. Taeyong inched closer to Mark and Ten grabbed a shirt and swung it at Taeyong who caught it and pulled in it, forcing Ten towards him. Mark groaned and he noticed Johnny hesitantly try to reach in between the two who was fighting each other. Mark shared a gaze with Johnny and then the two sprang into the fight. Ten hissed at Taeyong as Johnny pulled him away; arms around Ten’s torso. Mark let himself be taken by Taeyong who gripped onto the front of his shirt shifting their places so that Mark was on the ground, straddled by a fuming Taeyong.

  “We can’t have a wounded guard!” He said through gritted teeth. “I don’t care what he did, you’re not able to take down a group of damned. Hansol knows them better than you do!”

   “Don’t hurt him!” Ten cried out and Taeyong pushed Mark down and turned to look at Ten who was still being held back my Johnny.

  “Do you want to get hurt?” He asked Ten and Mark saw the worry and anger in Taeyong’s face. He was unable to hide it. “Because Mark won’t be able to protect all of you. So knock it off!” Taeyong got up and Mark blocked a kick to his stomach with his arms. This only angered Taeyong even more.
Ten cried out Mark’s name when Taeyong tried to kick him again. Mark was about to get up when he saw someone pass him and he looked up to see Jaehyun’s brown hair in his sight.

  “Calm down, Taeyong.” Jaehyun pleaded, pushing Taeyong backwards. Taeyong let the other push him towards the entrance. “Calm down.” Jaehyun said again and Taeyong turned his side to them, running his hand through his hair. Jaehyun stepped a bit away from Taeyong, and all of them could see the other relaxing.

  “You okay, Mark?” Taeyong asked and Mark quickly got up.

  “I’m okay.” He assured Taeyong. “And I’m sorry.”

Taeyong looked at Mark for a long moment. “Be careful.” He said and then shifted his gaze to Ten who was sitting against Johnny who had let go of him, but Ten hadn’t moved ever since Jaehyun pushed Taeyong away. Taeyong sighed and went over to sit on the edge, taking the role of guarding the cave now that Hansol couldn’t. Mark watched Jaehyun walk towards them to sit down again and Ten moved out of Johnny’s arms, eyes on Taeyong.

They needed to find a way to work things out together without fighting all the time.

  “Stop blocking!” Kun commanded through gritted teeth as he blow after blow got blocked by Mark. “Start counter-attacking!”

  “You’ll hit me then!” Mark argued eyes on the stick in Kun’s hands, focusing on meeting it again and again. Suddenly Kun got blocked by him, but then immediately shifted position and Mark was bare when Kun sent the stick to Mark’s side, and Mark cried out in pain, blocking Kun’s next blow and sending the same to Kun’s bare side. Kun just laughed.

  “Like that!” He said and Mark tried to get around Kun, remembering to stay light on his feet as he started attacking Kun again and again, but Kun was good at blocking and then landing a blow to Mark’s side or legs.

Mark stumbled to the ground after the 8^th blow to the same leg the same place and he grabbed his leg in pain. Kun threw down his weapon. “Next time maybe?” He asked and Mark nodded, teeth gritted in an expression of agony. Kun sighed. “Try practicing a bit with Taeyong.” He then said. “He’s an emotional guy but he’s very good at taking a blow and coming back even stronger.”

Mark winced. The sun was beating down on his skin and he felt light-headed. He got up, searching the shadow of the tree and he sat down beneath its cool shield. Kun took Mark’s weapon and practiced with the two sticks that were about an arm’s length and two fingers wide in diameter. Mark sat there watching Kun until something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He saw the sight of a boy getting thrown to the ground and he gasped and got up. Kun lowered the weapons looking in the same direction and Mark walked closer.

  “ off!” A boy screamed and he kicked and hissed and Mark squinted as the voice sounded familiar to him. He walked around Kun, taking one of the sticks and walking towards the group that was beating the angry boy. Mark raised his weapon, speed turning into a run and he charged at the group jumping over one guy to kick another in the face.

  “Get off!” He yelled and turned around to face the guy he had passed, knocking the wood into his face and jabbing another in his side. There were 4 against one boy that seemed rather tiny compared to them and Mark swung the stick to create distance. The 4 damned backed off and Mark looked down at the boy who was looking at him with wide eyes. Mark recognized him.

It was jisung. One of the first to catch the decease and wake up. He hurt a good load of people.

  “jisung.” Mark said before kicking one damned away. “Come with me.” He said and jisung got up and the two ran towards the cave. The damned tried to follow them but when Mark passed Kun he noticed them halt in their steps as Kun stepped in front of them. Mark reached out and gripped the boy’s wrist to lead him through the streets between tents and then up the stairs to their cave. They fell to the ground in exhaustion and Mark noticed the boy was bruised and bleeding from his lip and left brow.

Ten and Jaehyun came to their aid, and Ten gasped when he recognized the boy. “jisung!” He gasped and went over to the boy to pull him into his arms and jisung’s eyes glistened with tears before he buried his face in Ten’s shoulder, crying out. Mark noticed Jaehyun’s worried eyes on him and Mark assured the other that he was okay. He would be when he got some rest.

Taeyong was not really happy about getting another child under his wing. “He is a mess.” He hissed as Mark and he stood at the bottom of the stairs to talk in privacy. Hansol was with Yuta at the top of the stairs, watching over the land.

  “But he’s from my clan, I need to take care of him.” Mark said and Taeyong groaned.

  “You know…” Taeyong started, running a hand over his face. “I’m not even in control.” He then said and looked at Mark. “I will not waste energy on protecting him, I have others to protect.”

  “Like Ten.” Mark said but regretted saying it out loud. Taeyong gave him a look.

  “Ten, Johnny, Jaehyun and you.” Taeyong corrected Mark and the younger lowered his head, not meaning to anger Taeyong. The other’s white glowing eyes glanced up at the moon. “How’s practice going?”

Mark sighed. “Not that well.” He admitted. “When I think I’ve made progress I fall behind.”

Taeyong nodded. “I can relate to that.” He said in a tone of voice that made Mark wonder. Taeyong patted his shoulder. “Would you like to train with me? You’d have to focus on not angering me though.” He said with a small sheepish grin and Mark chuckled.

  “It’s okay, that’s what I’m fighting. Anger.”

Taeyong nodded, lips pressed into a thin line and the corners of his lips tugging down. He looked impressed. “Tomorrow then.” He said and Mark felt thankful as he followed Taeyong towards the cave.

The rain came to them with a gust of wind. Hansol blinked and stepped back as the water poured down. Mark was watching Ten draw together with Taeyong. Well, he was sitting beside Ten while Taeyong was standing, leaning against the cave wall and pretending to be listening to the conversation.
Yuta and Jaehyun came running inside, both of them drenched. “ing water.” Yuta said and shook his whole body. Hansol grimaced and ducked away from the droplets. Yuta grinned and purposely shook his head in the other’s direction, earning a kick to his shin from Hansol. Jaehyun was greeted by Johnny who helped him out of his wet clothes. Johnny wrapped a blanket around Jaehyun who shared a gaze with Taeyong.

Mark gasped. “That’s Johnny!” He realized as Ten started drawing the hair on the person he was drawing.

Johnny and Jaehyun came closer. Johnny’s jaw dropped. “That’s me!” He said and leaned in closer, his head softly bumping with Ten’s as he watched him draw. Ten just snickered.

  “It’s not that good.”

  “It is!” They all assured him.

Johnny sat with the drawing when it was finished. “Didn’t know I was worth drawing.” He said with a smug smile and a wiggle of his brows and Ten hit his arm.

  “You were sitting right in front of me, so I just drew you.” Ten defended himself. “Stop wiggling your brows!”

Mark laughed and glanced up only to see Taeyong’s intense gaze focus on Ten and Johnny. Mark looked away. “Not good.”

The next week was much better as he trained with Taeyong. He still had to fight through some rage attacks from Taeyong, but the other proved to be in control when he fought. He seemed a little frustrated, and sometimes distant which Mark took advantage of. Kun watched them fight.

Mark also went around exploring the village, the market place, noticing how some Damned seemed so normal until they smashed a pan into another’s face without much reason. Kun had encouraged Mark to get to know the damned well, he could use his knowledge of them when he fought. There was this one room where many female Damned hung out, sowing and chatting and Mark found a good spot at the end of the tent to nap and listen to their soft voices. One time though he had overslept and he woke up to deeper voices.

The tent was located to the left of their cave when you looked out on the area. Its side leaned against the stone wall of the mountain that surrounded the Damned’s land. Mark knew Jaehyun came here often to talk with the women, so he also recognized his voice when he heard him. He got up, ready to say something witty when the tone of Jaehyun’s voice seemed to strike something within Mark; making him linger in his hiding spot. He peeked out to see Jaehyun being pushed against the wall by Taeyong whose hands were on Jaehyun’s neck. Mark frowned, Taeyong wasn’t choking Jaehyun, but caressing his neck.

  “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Jaehyun.” He said in a low husky voice. “I have noticed you.”

  “T-T-Taeyong.” Jaehyun stuttered gripping Taeyong’s arm. “Please.” He begged.

Taeyong squinted, reading Jaehyun. “What do you want from me?”

  “I want you!” Jaehyun said but it sounded desperate in a whole different way. “I- I want you to kiss me.”

  “Why would I kiss you?” Taeyong asked. “You know I don’t think about you like that.”

Jaehyun trembled. “Please, Taeyong, a kiss is all I ask for.”

Taeyong leaned closer to Jaehyun, catching his bottom lip with his teeth. Jaehyun’s knees wobbled and he slid down the stone wall. Taeyong reached out and grabbed Jaehyun’s hips to keep him standing. The other’s eyes glowed, the only light in the cave hit Jaehyun.

  “If you want me. Become infected, die and rise like me. Become stronger and wilder, be a beast like me and maybe I will want you too.” Jaehyun’s hands curled into fists and Taeyong leaned in closer and sealed his promise.

In that moment Mark finally noticed Ten standing farther away. He was out of ear-reach, but his dark eyes saw it all. Mark frowned as he saw Ten’s always positive expression and slight curl of the corners of his lips drop. A shadow crossed his face, one Mark had only seen once and then Ten his heels, the earth beneath them making enough sound for Mark to hear. Taeyong heard it too.

Ten walked off and Mark’s eyes flickered to Taeyong who suddenly had straightened, distancing himself from Jaehyun whose face was red and he seemed out of breath. Taeyong turned away and Mark closed his eyes when Taeyong faced him. He heard the other walk and he opened his eyes to see Taeyong walk out of the tent. He didn’t follow Ten. Jaehyun slid to the ground, then suddenly he gasped for air as if he couldn’t breathe and Mark was about to reveal himself when Jaehyun cried out and hit his chest heart.

  “Don’t do it heart.” He said through gritted teeth and then his whole body jerked and he hit his heart again, his eyes became glazed over, then life shone in them again and Jaehyun fell forward to lie on the ground, hitting his heart in a rhythm.

Mark frowned, he thought it was the talk of love, but when he noticed Jaehyun’s blows on his heart weakening, he knew it wasn’t such a thing as love. Something was wrong with Jaehyun’s heart.

Mark stepped out of his hiding place but Jaehyun’s eyes were half closed and he didn’t see Mark coming towards him. Mark kneeled down beside Jaehyun and cupped his face, Jaehyun’s body jerked again. Mark lowered his head and pressed his ear to Jaehyun’s chest. His heart was beating, but its rhythm was odd. Mark tried to feel his own but realized it beat slower. Then he raised his hand and hit down on Jaehyun’s chest and the other’s eyes widened and he jumped up, gripping onto Mark.

Mark held onto him and gave the other a worried look. “Jaehyun… what’s wrong with your heart?”

Jaehyun’s face paled. “Nothing.”

Mark gave him another look.

Jaehyun grabbed onto Mark’s neck and pulled him closer. Mark’s eyes widened when he felt Jaehyun’s breath on his lips. The other looked into his eyes and Mark stared back at him. “Since I was a child I sometimes passed out while running or woke up because I couldn’t breathe. They say I could fall over and die some day.” Jaehyun gripped the hair on the back of Mark’s neck tightly. “The decease could help me. Mark it could stop me from dying and suddenly leaving Johnny behind all alone.”

Mark shook his head. “Johnny’s not alone. He got us.”

Jaehyun smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re Damned. Ten’s too in a whole other way. Have you seen the way Taeyong looks at him? Ten won’t last long, if he as much as displeases Taeyong when you’re not near…” Jaehyun looked bitter but he scared Mark. “Love isn’t a good thing for my heart either, and then a Damned one. Someone who’s not in control. I need someone in control. Like you.” Jaehyun said and Mark blinked in surprise when Jaehyun’s head fell to rest on his shoulder. “I can’t die by my heart betraying me.” He whispered again and again. “I can’t.”

Mark couldn’t help but think of Ten and Johnny. What Jaehyun had said scared Mark, because he had noticed the way Taeyong looked at Ten and he had always been sure that Ten could take it. He could handle everything. He was older than Mark and he always protected Mark since Mark was very young. Ten saved him from falling, but Mark was now afraid… could he save Ten if he was being pulled down? Could he make sure Ten wouldn’t get hurt when he was falling. Could he somehow give Ten another branch to grab, or would that branch be too low… so low Ten could just as well fall?

Mark sensed that Jaehyun had fallen asleep and he just sat with the other in his arms, hoping for some sign for what he was going to do to appear. Anything.

A/N:

I love when my computer restarts and I was almost finished with updating the new chap :))))))

Now! I need your help friends, who do you ship Mark with? Because I have no idea of who to ship him with. Haha <3
(And yes Haechan and Jaemin will appear later I just started this when they hadn't debuted and now I'm like: I need them in this story)

Thank you for commenting, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! <3

Love,
Emma <3