TRIGGER WARNING: PANIC ATTACKS

Chan – Unidentified Town – Beyond the realms

“Thanks a lot.” Chan bashfully murmured his gratefulness to the smiling girl in front of him. Truly, the teen was very much thankful for the small morsel of bread handed to him that he didn’t even dared checking if the said bread was stale or not. The young man, coddled from infancy until the very moment he got separated from his brother, inhaled the food like it was air.

The bread was gone in a blink.

However, things didn’t start as comfortable as it is now between the two. Between the shrouded corners of a shady alley the two sat, one frigidly whilst the other, unknowing about the inner turmoil running inside the head of the frightened boy. Chan now might be choking on the stale bread he stuffed on his mouth without any thought for proper eating etiquettes, but earlier, he almost puked the remaining bile from his stomach. To be honest, he is still quite weary of the girl’s existence. What he saw and felt the day before did looked and sounded way too real for his wild imagination to conjure all by itself. All the pain, anguish, and self-loathing that coursed through him the night before felt too real to be just a very bad case of a nightmare. Yet, with a body almost out of fuel and a stomach ceaselessly growling, the middle grounder allowed hunger to overpower his curiosity just for a moment.

“Hey kid, if you don’t mind me asking, you’re new here, right?” with an awfully cheery voice, the girl asked the young man again as she holds out another piece of hard bread out of a small cloth pouch hidden under her tattered cloak. Her purple eyes sparkled softly under the clear blue sky as she looked at him with wonder.

Chan can only nod as he slowly drowns in the mesmerizing orbs of purple. There was something about them, something familiar but unknown at the same time. The girl’s eyes reminded him of everything and nothing, strangely filling a part of his chest that he didn’t knew was hollow at all. Looking at her was like finally finding something he lost, yet what was strange is that he didn’t even knew he lost something.

“So where did you come from?” the girl was now holding out a disfigured metal flask to Chan’s face. It contained some clear liquid, which the middle grounder thinks and pray for as water. With his mouth still full, Chan slowly reached for the flask. Seeing how the new kid was hesitating to grab the bottle from her hands, the girl shoved it to the other with a grin. Taking in a few sips to make sure that it really was water before chugging almost half of the contents of the flask, Chan was finally able to speak.

“I don’t know.”

“What? You don’t know? How?” the girl looked flabbergasted, frankly Chan would be shocked too if a lone man who doesn’t seem to look so disheveled walk around in town and don’t know where in the realms did he came from.

Slowly, anxiety started to creep inside the middle grounder. Finally remembering how he was suddenly separated from his brother and the thoughts that he might not see his family again, sent tremors to run through the young man’s body.

“Hey, hey, brother, calm down. You don’t have to think if you’re not feeling comfortable right now. Just try sitting still, alright? Calm your nerves and close your eyes.” The girl urged as her hands hover over the middle grounders shoulders ready to pat the other.

“I used to have panic attacks before, but an old friend used to tell me to calm myself if I feel like breaking down.” The girl continued as she crouches down to look straight at the middle grounder.

“He always told me to just close my eyes and take seven deep breaths then everything will be fine.” The girl finished with a bright smile and suddenly, Chan was able to breathe. All his fears and doubts melted into thin air instantly, he suddenly felt strong. The purple eyes fueling an unlit fire inside him.

“Oy rat! How long do you plan to crouch there? Old Shin has been looking for you for a while now.” A raspy voice a middle-aged man suddenly broke the comforting atmosphere that was wrapping the teens. Chan saw how the girl visibly tensed but then smiled in an instant as if nothing happened.

“Well guess I gotta go then. I’ll see you around?” the girl paused and looked at the middle grounder with a sheepish grin. That was the moment that Chan realized that he has been talking and even took food from someone yet never bothered to introduce himself. How rude and impolite of him, he thought.

“Chan. I’m Chan” the middle grounder answered bashfully.

“Cheol? Cheol? Cheollie?”

Choi Seungcheol, heir of the noble Choi’s, does not look back immediately. He usually makes sure that when anybody sees him, he still carries that noble air that only people like him possess. He doesn’t like to be seen as someone who is weak, he prides himself with his intimidating looks and does his very best to appear strong and reliable at all times. Even at a young age, Seungcheol has always managed himself to look intimidating. Young Seungcheol was a quiet cold child, he rarely plays with his cousins and would opt to read books in his study all by himself. At a young age the nether has been enriched with the thought that he should be prim, proper, and strong because he will one day be the head of the whole clan of Choi’s. Taking his parents advise with nothing but a pure heart and a naïve mind normal for a small young boy, Seungcheol was sure on his way to becoming the perfect and most generic example of a Nether Dweller.

However, everything changed when a boy of silver and lavender locks skipped his way to him.

It was the middle of the summer, in the year of the red lilies. Choi Seungcheol, a quiet, unsociable child, with a book on his hand, sat on his favorite spot in their garden.

Under the biggest Alis tree.

Sitting under a glowing tree made sense to the young boy. The entirety of the Nether Hollows is dark, the realm perpetually doused in the light of magical flames. What didn’t make sense however, was the bright smile of an unknown boy that suddenly called him.

With his snow-white wings flitting through the wind, the boy, who seemed to be about his age, skipped his way to him.

For the first time in his life, the young nether panicked.

Seungcheol felt like his heart is prancing inside his chest. It was dancing to a silent song and the young nether doesn’t know how to stop it. The young nether felt so strange that he somehow did not notice he stopped breathing unconsciously.

The young Seungcheol wanted to run.

The urge to hide from the unknown boy and the strange feeling inside his chest was overwhelming, however his body doesn’t move. It seemed like it was not only his lungs that seemed to have stopped working but also the rest of his limbs.

His body had betrayed him, he was frozen.

“Hello I’m Jeonghan” and Seungcheol wanted more than anything but to cry. There was something in the boys voice that felt familiar.

“Is there something wrong? Did I do something wrong?” the boy, who called himself as Jeonghan asked him, looking confused and genuinely worried. To be honest the worried look that the other boy gave did not ease his nerves but instead, it made his heart beat even faster.

“Hey are you alright? Do you need help? Please don’t cry?” hearing the last of the pleadings that came out of the other boy broke the nether from his trance like state. He immediately reached out to his cheeks and did found a few of his tears.

“I – I’m sso-”

“If you are planning to apologize, please don’t. It should be me who should apologize. I might have come too strong and scared you. I’m sorry.” Jeonghan said as he slowly crouched down to be in Seungcheol’s level.

“No – no, it w-was rude of me” Seungcheol can feel his heartbeat start to speed up once again but he tried to distract himself by taking in a huge gulp of air.

“I’m Seungcheol by the way” the young nether added timidly.

“Hmm, Seung-cheol. That’s a nice name.” the other boy said as he slowly rolled the nethers name through his tongue as if tasting it.

“Tha-thank you, Jeonghan sounds nice too.” The nether replied or more like murmured with his head bowed low.

Giggling the blond boy replied “No, your name sounds better.”

“It sounds sweet.”

“You look sweet.”

“It suits you.”

“I like it.”

Once again, the nether was left speechless. No one has ever described him as sweet. None had even called him close to that word. Yet, being called like that produced a warm feeling inside him.

“Seungcheol, Seungcheol, Cheol, Cheollie.” Jeonghan continued to play with the nethers name and as Seungcheol listens, he founds that his heart has finally slowed down. Slowly lifting his head, he tried looking at the boy in front of him and was immediately mesmerized.

Jeonghan looked like he was glowing, his white feathers looked soft and fluffy unlike his. His silver hair looked like it had little gems shining on each strand and even if the other boy was looking sideways, Seungcheol can see how majestic his blue eyes were. Through that, Seungcheol realized something.

Jeonghan is ethereal.

Then everything turned dark, as if someone blew the torches out. Seungcheol couldn’t see anything so he tried calling to Jeonghan. The nether was never scared in the dark because he was born in it but the moment he realized that Jeonghan did not reply, fear crept inside him. Franticly calling for the other boy, the nether started to feel his surroundings. Expecting to feel the cold dew, forever perched atop the soft glowing blades of the grass, Seungcheol let out a gasp as he realized there was none of it but instead replaced by a cold floor.

“Cheol! Cheollie!” Seungcheol for the first time in his life has never looked back as fast as he had when he heard the worried voice of Jeonghan calling for him.

“Please don’t worry about me! Just run and don’t ever look back.” And there, a distance away, was Jeonghan. Held by two man covered in black. Their faces where covered by shadows and the only thing visible through the nethers eyes were the fear etched over the blond’s face.

“Ha! Don’t worry kid, we’ll catch your friend soon and you’ll be together. You pathetic, weak little nobles will never see the daylight.” And with that the men dragged the blond with them. Seungcheol wanted to run once again, he doesn’t intend to run away from Jeonghan but instead wanted to chase after him. However, his body seemed to have betrayed him once again. He couldn’t move, he was frozen.

Seungcheol tried calling to the other boy, but it was useless. He was too far and he was still in the dark. Jeonghan would never hear him nor see him. Feeling distraught, the nether sobbed hard as his knees slowly touched the cold floor. “Jeonghan” he softly called first, then continued calling the other as if his name was a mantra that will eventually bring the other back.

Then he heard them.

“It’s because of you that they were able to take him.”

“How pathetic, you only have two friends and you let one be taken away. Shows just how weak you are.”

“Ha! It seems like the Choi heir is nothing but a weak and spoiled brat who thinks too highly of himself.”

“I’m so sorry Jeonghan, sorry.” Seungcheol can only apologize as he let the nasty voices fill his head. He sobs harder as he absorbs each word, feeling more wretched as time pass.

“I’m sorry Jeonghan”

“Please don’t be Seungcheol.” The nether perked up as he heard a familiar yet unfamiliar voice.

“Jeonghan? Is that you? I’m sorry!” Seungcheol abruptly got up and started to look around.

“Oh Seungcheol, you silly man. How many times do I have to tell you it was not your fault? It was never your fault Cheollie. Please believe me.” And the nether cried harder as he heard the somehow matured yet soft voice of the other.

“But it was! Oh Jeonghan! Please forgive me!”

“There is nothing to forgive Cheollie, you did no wrong” Jeonghan continued denying his sins.

“But I did, I let them hurt you because I was weak!”

“You are never weak Choi Seungcheol. You’re one of the strongest man I’ve ever knew.” Jeonghan was too good to him and he does not deserve him.

“I’m sorry Jeonghan.”

Seungcheol heard an unmistakable sigh before the other finally said, “Then if you really want me to forgive you, please open your eyes for me Seungcheol. Open your eyes for me please.”

Seungcheol did not speak for he was utterly confused. How was he supposed to open his eyes when they were never close to begin with?

“Open your eyes for me Cheollie. Please open them up for me.” Seungcheol can hear the quiver on the others voice and it made his heart drop. It stirred something inside him and it didn’t feel good unlike the first time. With his inner turmoil slowly building up, the nether decided to calm himself by closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath.

As the nether slowly opened his eyes though, blinding light slowly filled his vision. Then, he heard a gasp and the next thing he sees is Jeonghan’s face hovering above him.

“Oh Cheollie! You’re finally awake! Thank God he brought you back to me!” the blond exclaimed as Seungcheol feels the astrals tears fall on his cheeks.

A/N: OH MY GOD!!!! I JUST FOUND OUT THAT DUE TO MY LAZINESS AND STUPIDITY THIS CHAPTER WAS NOT TAGGED AS AN UPDATE!!.Stupid me I actually posted this last night but because of my lazy deciding to just edit that annoucement post rather than add an actual chapter, this happened. Apologies!! anyways this is my promised update. I hope ya'll like it!! bye!! wear your mask, stay healthy and see you soon!!

Also my Henggarae albums just arrived this afternoon and I still can't get over while I skim through the pictures. Jeonghan is PERFECT!! I almost cried while I was unboxing them! ok byeeee