xXi. aftermath of battle :: injuries and betrayals

   Daehyun was surprised at his newfound knowledge of the ability to fly, but at any rate he wasn't complaining. 

   That said, he hadn't anticipated how exhausting flight would be. Throw that on top of fighting with his war scythe (which was a new experience), Daehyun wasn't sure how long he could still hold up, but at any rate, if he collapsed right now he would be falling to the bottom of the ocean, so there was that. 

   The last few hours had went by in a blur. He faintly remembered stepping out of the Clubes car into the Palace and brushing shoulders with probably the most important men in the world, but once the fighting had started he practically blanked out. Even now, when the notion of flight allowed him some time to himself with the summer breeze in his face, recollection came slowly.

   After striking up conversation with the songstress - who, by the way, he did know, and the surprise and amazement was genuine - and she excused herself politely after her acquaintance re-joined her, a message from Helena alerted him to the fact that she might need back-up. And so he ran up to the room at the end of the corridor, waited for a few seconds, before Helena's scream ripped through the air and he bust open the doors and landed directly onto the face of the Gemini dude. 

   All in all, a good day's work, except the Gemini dude threw him off and tried to chop him up with his battleaxe. And it was going relatively well still when he nearly got the Gemini dude with his katanas, right up until he dropped the ceiling onto the two of them. 

   Yeah, it actually didn't go that well, but hey, being optimistic was important, right?

   At least, that was what he learnt after three years of sticking near Hyunwook. Now, he wasn't so sure, because while optimism managed to keep his head above being shot, crushed under the ceiling and nearly having his limbs sliced off, optimism did nothing for his wounds. 

   As if right on cue, his sprained ankle sent a jolt of pain up his leg and he winced.

   It was a good thing he could fly after all, Daehyun reflected, holding his war scythe and letting it shrink back into his amythest ring, relieving his right hand of its weight. Being weightless in the air meant that it (mostly) distracted you from your wounds, since gravity always makes things worse. He was positive that, once his feet touch solid ground, he would find it much harder to stand properly.

   Stand, fly, whatever.

   Daehyun glanced down onto his communication device - which was more of a phone rather than a communication device - and noticed that he was nearing Cyprus. He was supposed to rendez-vous with the rest of Wonderland at CARDS HQ instead of going back to Clubes, which meant he had to double back after flying from Egypt to Heraklion, since Turkey was on the other side. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to complain, since he was relieved to be rid of Clubes once and for all. Though the coffee was amazing, he didn't trust the Branch Head one single bit. 

  But wait, wasn't his mission supposed to be at Egypt?

  "Uh, Alex?" 

  "Alex is busy at the moment. Anything I can help you with, Daehyun-ssi?"

 Saebin. He bit his lip, unsure whether the girl knew enough to answer his question. "Actually...nevermind. It can wait."

  "Alright, that's no problem." The communication switched off. For a moment, Daehyun hesitated, hovering above water, before continuing on his way. No point in worrying.

   Rather, he should be worried about other people, such as Helena. Poor Helena. Thank God Alex was on the line and watching them (even though he wasn't really supposed to, but, well. Circumstances), since he was able to immediately call for medical assistance. And since CARDS business is the ultimate backpass for everything that happens, the summit was immediately adjourned and they were able to get Helena the medical attention she needed. The last he saw of her, Helena was unconscious and being carried away on a stretcher, with her amputated arm on her side, being transported onto one of the CARDS medical emergency helicopters by some of their medics. As the next most senior-ranking agent on the field, Daehyun should technically have stayed and did damage control on the situation, but Alex was there on the chopper. So he decided to chase Gemini down, even though he didn't have orders to do so.

   That's fine. I have enough clearance to give myself orders. 

   What prompted him to dive headfirst down the two-storey building right smack down onto the Egyptian desert without any sort of insurance, he wasn't sure. At any rate, the moment he pulled out his war scythe - probably for reassurance more than anything - gravity suddenly stopped working and boom, flying. It took a few seconds to get the hang of it, but the moment he managed to control it, he was off pursuing the Gemini chopper on foot. On wing. On air? 

    It turned out, the scythe had other powers and while he still hadn't figured out all of them, the ones he had figured out were mostly powers that were similar to Hyunwook's, essentially Unseelie in essence. To be honest, Daehyun hadn't received Unseelie training at all, since he was used to fighting with weapons rather than magic. He was mostly human anyways, so he didn't see the point. But in retrospect, maybe he should have. If he had, at least he would've done more than just hitting Gemini with a curse and receiving more than his fair share of wounds in return. 

   Daehyun bit his lip, before shaking his head to rid his head of such disruptive thoughts. There was no point in torturing himself over 'what-if's, since it was done and over with. Training his eyes on the slowly setting sun in the distance, he willed himself to fly a little faster and zoomed across the ocean. 

CARDS HQ
— turkey. 27.7.2017

   By the time he reached CARDS HQ, the sky was already darkening, and he stumbled, rather than landed, onto the rooftop. Another longer, he would've landed smack onto the pavement, or rammed straight onto the tenth floor. As soon as he hit the rooftop, Daehyun laid there just gasping for air, laying spread-eagle looking up at the stars until a familiar face obscured his view.

   "Long trip?"

   "You bet." He accepted the hand offered to him by Yongguk, who pulled him to his feet. "Been flying for six hours, it's tougher than I thought."

   "Usually is." Daehyun followed the leader down the flight of stairs leading down onto the landing, closing the door behind him. Noticing Yongguk hesitating between the stairs and the lift, he gave a tiny nudge to the right direction. "Can we take the lift? I'm about to collapse."

   "Of course. After you." Letting Daehyun walk before him onto the lift, Yongguk then stepped in and pressed a button. In seconds, they were dropping in altitude. "Let's get you to infirmary first - Alex is still there, so he can do a quick check-up on you." A quick scanover over him by Yongguk. "Nothing unusual, I hope?"

   "Compared to Helena, anything would be relatively unusual." Daehyun shrugged his suit jacket off, easing the stiffness on his shoulders. 

   Yongguk sighed. "It's not a suffering contest, Daehyun-ssi."

   "No, of course not," The agent hastened to reply. He couldn't read Yongguk at all; was he meant to be the strict leader or someone who could be joked with? His previous statement was definitely meant to be light-hearted, but Daehyun wasn't sure whether the other could see the humour. He cleared his throat a little to clear the mood. "I don't think anything's out of order, I feel fine. But after infirmary I might need some repairs done on my weapons." Before he could continue, his stomach growled and he ducked his head in embarrassement. "And maybe some food as well." 

   "Kimbap?"

   "Just some sushi. The chefs don't do kimbap that well here." 

   For the first time ever since he saw Yongguk, there was a rare hint of a smile on his lips. "I have to agree, Daehyun-ssi." 

  "Flesh wounds, sprained ankle, broken arm, some broken bones here and there, nothing we can't fix," Alex mumbled, more to himself than to Daehyun, as he did an overall scan of his body. "Okay, sit up. I'll have Carcia take care of your flesh wounds before we take care of your broken bones." 

  As if on cue, a woman dressed in white scrubs came forward armed with alcohol swabs and about two rolls of bandages. Pulling up the arm of his robe to help her access his wounds, Daehyun winced as she pressed the swab onto the gash on his arm. "I'm going to run a magical scan to make sure there are no curses on you."

  "Thanks." Unlike the machine that was used to scan for broken bones - what was probably called the CT scan machine - a magical scan was much more simpler in that the device used was similar to a projector. Placing the device onto the bedside stand, the rays scanned him from head to toe. Daehyun felt like a barcode. "Anything unusual?" 

   "Ah," Alex seemed worried, and he looked at the doctor, who was frowning at the holoscreen that popped up. "Well." Carcia, noticing his change of demeanor, set down her tools and edged to his side to take a look, and let on a frown of her own. "Hm." 

   "Uh...what?" Daehyun wasn't sure whether he should feel mildly afraid or curious that he was becoming a medical study case. He opted for the latter. 

   "Yeah, we got a problem" was the conclusion that Carcia decided on, and she went back to bandaging his wounds casually, as if nothing had happened. Alex nodded absent-mindedly, and continued typing into the holoscreen. After about five minutes of this, Daehyun couldn't stand it anymore. "And what problem do we have, exactly?" 

   "A mildly annoying Unseelie spell, which doesn't have any particular detrimental effects, but quite hard to break." Pressing a final key on his screen, it flickered out of existence. "Apparently it curses you to forget about getting whatever you wanted the moment you cross the threshold of a room. Inconvenient, yes, but by no means life-threatening. The only problem is that one, there aren't that many skilled curse-breakers at headquarters - why, I cannot fanthoom - and two, Wonderland is a top-secret mission known by its members and higher administration. Which means that, well, we'll have to employ our own magic fellow to do the work." 

   "Hyunnie's in Canada though," Daehyun provided automatically. 

   "That's true, but his original mission was just to look after the child," Alex gave a shrug. "Finding an Unseelie portal is unexpected. I'm sure he can spare a day or two to come back." He then gave Daehyun a suspiciously cheerful look. "Especially since his partner is hurt."

   "He won't like it, you know," The man replied, conveniently ignoring the cheeriness. "Not even for me. Hyunnie gets committed to something and gets annoyed when someone disturbs him." 

   "Well, at any rate, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to ask." Alex pulled out his communication device. "If anything, he'll just yell at me."

   "Which is what he does on a daily basis anyways."

  "Which is what he does on a daily basis anyways," The tactician affirmed. "Ah, here's your food." 

  Putting down her tools, Carcia went to the door, popped out, and then popped back in with a tray laden with a Japanese set dinner. Setting it down in front of Daehyun promptly, she went to wash her hands, before continuing to dress his wounds. "Anyways, I would prescribe some dangerous rapid-healing medicine for you to speed up your broken bones, but since we have Saebin, I'll just leave her to it." Alex stashed his device back into his pocket. "I'll go back to looking after Helena. If you need anything, just call for Carcia." Nodding curtly, the nurse went back into the main infirmy, the doors sliding shut behind her. Taking this opportunity, Alex leaned against the bedside table. Daehyun was about to break apart his chopsticks to eat his dinner, but stealing a glance at the man and noticing his exhaustion, he put down his eating utensils.

   "You okay?"

  "What? - Yes, I think so." Immediately following up with a yawn, and blearily blinking his sleepiness away. "I've been working on Helena for six - no, nine hours now. She bore the brunt of the injuries. Granted, it wasn't nine hours straight-on, but it's still tough work." A pause. "She's asleep now."

  "Probably should be glad that Saebin is here, she takes some of the work off your hands," Daehyun tried to reassure his colleague, reaching for his cup of tea with his broken arm, before wincing and switching arms. 

  "That's part of the main problem, actually," Glancing around, Alex lowered his voice to a whisper. "She still hadn't learnt to fully control her powers, so sometimes she ends up being the one who collapses. One side-effect of her healing powers meant that she takes naps to recharge. Long naps. So right now we have two people dead to the world, instead of just one." 

 "Ah. That's...unfortunate." 

 "Indeed," Alex nodded, somewhat gravely. "Yongguk has his hands full with strategies and...some other important administrative things, so sadly it's only me and a few other nurses. I have to deal with strategy as well; it's a handful." A yawn escaped through his mouth.

  "Dude, you're severely overworked." Daehyun was surprised at hearing all this; he always thought there were more people dealing with these useless administrative things, but since Wonderland was such a top secret mission, they apparently opted to make Alex take on all the work instead. When Alex nodded somewhat absent-mindedly at his statement, and seemed to be falling off while standing, Daehyun's heart welled with pity and sympathy for him. "Hey, uh, Alex?" The tactician turned to look at him. "If you need help...I mean, I'm going to be stuck in bed for probably the next 24 hours or so." 

   "That'll be helpful," Alex nodded. "I'll delegate some of the administrative duties to you, and...maybe some other things as well. Thanks, Daehyun." The doors slid open again, revealing Carcia holding a bunch of netted material in her hands. "Alright, break's over. I would need you to grit your teeth if Carcia gets rough about it, since it's currently nearly midnight now and people are asleep. If Helena wakes up in a murderous mood we'll be in trouble, so don't do that. In the meantime, drink some milk." Patting Daehyun on the back, Alex then went to the curtained-off area where Helena was likely behind, leaving the man with his nurse.

   "Drink some...milk?" 

   "Calcium helps heal bones," Carcia concluded. "Finish your dinner, and we'll get the cast on you. If it hurts, like Alex says, deal with it." 

CORAZONES HEADQUARTERS
— toronto, canada. 27.7.2017

  "I'll tell you everything since I'm pretty sure the files on me in your possession might have missed some things here and there." Hyunwook took a sip from the mug in front of him, letting the tea warm his from inside and give him the courage and strength needed to continue telling the old man the truth. "You know my mother is half Unseelie. What you don't know, however, is that my father is full-fledged Unseelie."

  Hyunwook's eyes were trained in front of the wooden table in front of him, so he couldn't see Patrick's expression, but he could tell it was a source of surprise for him as he responded in a carefully measured tone. "...that was not what the files said. Your records specifically mentioned you having a half Unseelie mother and a father who had 3/4 Unseelie lineage, therefore technically making you barely legible to entry to CARDS, as the requirement was half, at most."

   "Yes, but the point was, I lied." He tapped his fingers on the table. Normally, those words would come easily to him, since, as people had remarked before, he was a natural talent for it. Not that he was exceptionally proud of the fact, but it made his job much easier. However, admitting it in front of the Branch Head, who was ascending fast to one of the few people he might actually respect, the statement made his throat close up. Hyunwook cleared his throat and continued. "Originally I wanted to talk about me being orphaned but they'll do a blood test about my magical lineage and that would expose my lies, so I changed it." 

  There was an awkward pause in the air and Hyunwook was prepared to have Patrick immediately call higher administration as the silence dragged by. Instead, the man leaned forward, and Hyunwook could see his gnarled fingers crossed at the corner of his eye. "...And you decided to tell me this." 

  He shrugged helplessly. No point in going back, now that the truth was out. "I trusted you, sir." He leaned back on his chair, exhaling a sigh. "Daehyun trusted you. That's enough for me." 

  "...Continue, then." 

  "My father is a full-fledged Unseelie. However, he was also a former member of the Queen's Court, as an important lieutenant of the Hunt." Hyunwook watched carefully as Patrick's eyes widened slightly. "He served by the side of Her Majesty during full moon nights, and was a high-ranking member of Court. Needless to say, my father was an important officer in the Court." He paused, taking another sip from his mug. "Anyways, after serving a number of years - maybe a century, he never told me how long exactly - in the Court, he wanted to settle down. The Hunt was getting too strenuous for him, and he decided to take it easy. On one of his solo missions, he encountered a half-Unseelie that had caught his eye - my mother, presumably in all likelihood - and wanted to start a family with her." 

  "Which wasn't supposed to happen," Patrick added quietly.

 "It was against Unseelie Code," Hyunwook agreed. "But because he was one of the Queen's favourites she agreed to let him go. The Court isn't soft like that though, and the Queen had to maintain her reputation. So they told him that he was to maintain an undercover operation in the human world. He was stationed in Seoul, where my mother was. They got married, he served as an Unseelie officer of something or another - likely CARDS - though when people asked what he did, he just replied that he was an assistant chef to my mother's business."

  "Then they had you."

  "They had three children," Hyunwook corrected. "My brother, Shin Hoseok. Me, Shin Hyunwook, the poor middle child. And my baby sister, Shin Eunyeon." A pause. "Anyways, I spent my childhood growing up learning about the Underworld. My parents were strong believers in telling their children about their lineage and being proud of it. They especially drilled into my head not to interact with the Seelie." A dry chuckle.

  "I'm sure your mother would disapprove of you confiding your worries to this ancient Seelie sage." 

   "No doubt they would jump in joy at the sight of you," Hyunwook replied sarcastically. "So yeah. I grew up in Seoul, with my unnatural parents and human children who squint twice at me to determine the colour of my eyes. It was actually a pretty normal childhood, until my dad got called back to the Courts when I was thirteen." 

  "By that time the Unseelie pretty much forgot about him. They all thought he was exiled, because when you disappear for such a long time on a so-called 'undercover mission', it usually means that you're dead or the Court doesn't want you back. So the Court was surprised at his return, but because of the authority of the Queen they dare not say anything more. And thus I bid my father farewell at the age of thirteen." 

   "After that, my mother decided to relocate to another part of South Korea - Busan I think - to rid herself of the unhappy memories. Her restaurants were still intact, since it was a chain, but headquarters and main office was moved to Busan. After she moved, she pretended that nothing had happened; she passed our family off as my father having deceased because of sickness. My brother, Hoseok, was old enough to remember everything, but he was also mature enough to keep up the guise. My younger sister, however, was nine at the time and was still young - and couldn't remember much of our father. And I, the middle child, have existential crisis because I remembered our father, yet my mother denied his existence. Anyways, after Hoseok-hyung moved out two years later for university, I became the oldest in the household." 

   "So what became of your father?"

   "I'm getting to it." Hyunwook took a break to have another drink of tea, and leaned over to grab one of the biscuits on the table before him. "Three years after he left - when I was sixteen, there was news from Court." Wordlessly, he took the letter from his pocket and set it onto the table. "I removed all the curses, so don't worry." Patrick picked up the letter with his gnarled hands, and unfolded it, putting on his glasses for a better look. Hyunwook didn't need to glance at it to remember; he had read it enough to learn its contents all by heart. It was a letter from the Court saying that the war between the Seelie and Unseelie would be taking longer than they had supposed it to be, and therefore any available malefolk would be kept. Lest of all his father, a prominent lieutenant in his days. 

   Finished with his letter, Patrick folded it again and placed it back in front of Hyunwook. "That's a severe announcement to make." 

   "And unwarranted." Closing his eyes, Hyunwook tried to rein in the overwhelming anger he had felt when receiving the news for the first time. Five years ago, he was caught in the hot-headness of youth, and had decided to let out his anger by going to the countryside and destroying a few things in the process. Five years later at the age of twenty-one, his hot temper was still present, but at least his anger management was better. "As of now, the Unseelie hadn't returned my father. That's one of the reasons why I don't want to tag along in that suicide mission of yours."

  "And the others? I presume you have more than just an old family feud backing your unwilllingness to venture to the Unseelie lands." 

   "It's- " Hyunwook was about to interject that it wasn't just an old family feud but he bit his protests back. It wasn't worth fighting over, he reminded himself. "Well, this is a side-effect of that incident, but because I wanted to get my father back, mom got pissed and disowned me." He shrugged helplessly. "Kind of the reason why I'm at CARDS now, really. I guess I blamed the Unseelie Court for not having a family now." 

   "What happened?" 

   "I - " It's a long story and I don't want to tell it now. Instead, Hyunwook glanced at the clock. 5:10. Damn, he was talking too much. "It's getting early. We should prepare for the day ahead. I'm sure you have other duties to tend to." 

   "Oh, Corazones wouldn't cease functioning if I just sit here to listen to whatever you have to say," Patrick waved his protests down dismissively, and the boy sat back down unwillingly. "I'm supposing your father formed the 'abducting an exiled' part. What about the wolfling and conducting an unwarranted trial?"

   "My uncle got bit when he was little. The Unseelie had been distrusting of all Underworlder tribes, but for some reason, werewolves were the next on their hitlist after Seelie. So they decided to haul him back for interrogation after some of the more annoying Elders found out my father married a half Unseelie woman in the human realm. They thought that he might've been leaking Unseelie secrets." Hyunwook shrugged again. "When he came back he wasn't exactly himself anymore."

  Patrick leaned back, as if to properly assess that information again. Looking at his frown, Hyunwook suddenly felt a burst of irritation run through him. "And there you have it, my messed-up family history. I hate the Unseelie Courts. Heartless sacrilegious wretches who do whatever they want and think they can get away with it."

  "Seelie are no better," The Branch Head pointed out, and the boy barked a laugh in reply. "I know that. No one is good at being nice or just doing nice things to people, but the Unseelie was especially bad and they messed up my family. I take that as a personal insult and an insult to my honour. That's why I'm not going." 

   "The Unseelie's object is crucial to the peace of the world," Patrick called as he turned to refill his tea. "Does your conscience allow you to turn your back on the world?"

   "The world can go to hell for all I care." Emptying the dregs of tea in one go, Hyunwook took the kettle and refilled his mug. "It hasn't done anything for me, and I have no obligation to repay its worthlessness with any sacrifice on my part." 

   "And you're alright with it?"

   "I'm alright with it?" Hyunwook gave a hollow laugh. "Sir, if the world were to burn down to its bare ashes this very day, disintegrating any and all human life with it, I would stand at the base of that pile of ash and laugh. I hate the world. The only thing keeping me going now is pure spite. All I want is my dad to come back. And a family." The emotions inside him were threatening to well and spill over, so he quickly took a sip of tea. "I'm done here. I need some sleep before waking up to train the kid again."

   "If you need a ear for further wise counsel, know that you can always seek me out at my office."

   Dropping the mug into the sink, Hyunwook retrieved his letter and stowed it back into his coat. Biting his tongue, he hesitated on what to say to Patrick. Originally he wanted to make a biting remark, but since Patrick was still civilised to him, he mumbled some kind of thanks back. "Goodnight then, sir." In response, the other nodded and Hyunwook turned to the door. 

  Still in a state of pensive thought, he wasn't exactly focused as he opened the door. Nor, honestly, did he expect anyone on the other side of it. So when the yellowish light from the pantry illuminated the faces of Adrian and Jaehyun sitting right by the door outside, it was understandable that Hyunwook thought he was dreaming.

   Cue owlish blinking for a few seconds, before the weight of the whole situation dawned upon him. Then confusion gave way to cold fury. "You told me that no one was eavesdropping on our conversation, Patrick." 

   "I didn't." At that he directed his wheelchair towards the door, standing directly next to Hyunwook. "I merely said I trusted in those listening in to not have loose tongues. It was you who made the active decision to share your woes."

   "Oh, you're gaslighting me now? How unexpected." Maybe his anger was uncalled for, but Hyunwook honestly felt betrayed, and made sure each word he hurled out was evident of his pain. Adrian looked to be on the verge of explaining, but he cut him off. "Save it. If you had anything to say for yourself you wouldn't have continued listening at the door."

   Walking out of the pantry, Hyunwook stopped at the first step of the wooden staircase. "You know, I trusted you lot. Clearly it was misjudgement on my part." Turning back to the stairs, he closed his eyes, and vanished, melting back into the shadows. 

...well, that escalated pretty quickly. 

'Gaslighting' was probably the wrong word but let's pretend assume that Hyunwook is so angry he didn't care

Also I think I got carried away with some of the more ~fancy~ words I used in this chapter but :p

It's so weird like I re-read it just now and Daehyun's part was like MEME while Hyunwook's part is like angst^TM

But yeah, here's a chapter half of Daehyun's mumbling to himself and Hyunwook just being angry 

Speaking of Daehyun, I bought a Daehyun (yeah the actual one in BAP) album a few days ago?? And it was super cheap?? It was like 14 USD and I was like okay, the cover is ugly asf but hey, it's cheap

AND GUESS WHAT

THERE WERE THREE PHOTOCARDS IN THAT THING

LIKE

I was flipping through it, and the first thing I found was two postcards, and I was like, kinda disappointed, but it's still cool

AND THEN I FLIPPED TWO MORE PAGES

AND THERE WERE TWO PHOTOCARDS SITTING SIDE BY SIDE 

By this point I was like, freaking out out of excitement

AND THEN I FLIPPED TWO MORE PAGES AND THERE WAS ONE MORE PHOTOCARD

I CANNOT

Like if any of y'all have gone online to check how much photocards cost (which, some cost even more than the price I bought the album at), the rate at which Mr Jung Daehyun is dropping them is so goddamn generous. I STANNED THE RIGHT BOI. THE BOI WHO DROPPED PHOTOCARDS LIKE SALT BOI

anyways excitement over, school's starting tomorrow and my seasonal depression is back :D 

also like, I wanted to name this chapter 'Et tu, Brute?' but I decided to save it for some other epic betrayal :p