•∞•∞•∞•∞∞•∞•∞•∞•

“Do you think it can be contained?”

Jinki asked, he wasn’t being skeptical about Changmin’s idea but he really didn’t think the villagers would just accept their decisions without explaining anything to them with open hearts. Changmin hummed, seemingly deep in thought and Jinki let him be, averting his attention from the Highest Guardian in front of him to the single light in the room, watching with empty mind as the fire from the candle swishing around every time the wind danced by.

“What do you suggest we do, though? We can’t exactly go and explain to them it’s our Guardian’s fault, that one of them was consumed by darkness and we failed to notice it until it had to result in these casualties?”

Changmin asked back, clearly stressed out by the situation caused by his Guardian and Jinki looked on with pitiful eyes. He couldn’t imagine what –

“Jinki!”

Kibum’s panic voice cut through the dark room, and Jinki turned around to the source of the voice with a jolt – his body tensing up at this unsettled emotion inside him. It had been bugging him since the beginning of the meeting, but since he was inside the magic-proof room with Changmin, he couldn’t decipher what this emotion was all about and decided to deal with it later.

By Merlin, he was wrong to do that.

He still couldn’t see Kibum even though he knew the Guardian was there. That was how dark the room was, even though Kibum probably was standing at the entrance of the room and the outside’s light should be enough for Jinki to pinpoint his location, but as long as Changmin didn’t lifted up the veil of darkness, he couldn’t and wouldn’t see anything unless he used his magic.

 “Jinki, it’s Jonghyun!”

At the mention of his beloved, Jinki shot up straight, sending the chair backwards so hard that it crashed against the wall with a hint of golden smoke floating around the broken pieces – the only proof that Jinki’s magic was the cause of its damage. He barely registered Changmin moving around, his irises shining gold in the pitch black before a hand was rested on his right shoulder – the force was stronger than the owner’s intended.

“Easy there, brother,” Changmin murmured, and it was only then Jinki could feel that room was shaking, like it was being force to crumble by invisible strength and was doing its hardest to hold on, before Jinki let out a deep breath, a gold smoke flowing out from his red lips in elegance dance. The gold disappeared from his eyes at the same time the shaking stop, and with a wave of Changmin’s hand, the room appeared to be brighter than a second ago.

The Highest Guardian took no time in adjusting the brightness of the room and once he caught Kibum’s waiting for at the door with anxious face, he turned to Changmin with pleading eyes.

“I understand,” Changmin nodded with a smile. “Go tend to your soul mate, we can talk again later.”

Jinki could only squeezed Changmin’s shoulder in gratitude and with a blink of an eye, he appeared in front of Kibum, pulling his hoodies so that none of Light Forest’s Guardians could see his face.

“I got a message from Minho, he said Jonghyun wouldn’t stop crying and he really didn’t know what to do,”

Kibum rambled, obviously in state of panic at the news of the Highest Guardian’s soul mate and if ones knew better, they could also see the trembles of Kibum’s hand when he delivered the message to Jinki – of fear or panic, no one would know except the Guardian himself.

Jinki’s eyes shone in gold again – the magic in him was pulsing and dancing in a wild storm at the idea of someone hurting his Jonghyun. He no longer could contain the rage inside him as the magic in him seeped out like a poison, forcing Kibum and other nearest Guardian on their knees with its ferocious intensity.

“We’re leaving, Kibum,”

“Y-Yes Jinki,”

Kibum managed to answer and rose to his feet once Jinki walked away, following at least 10 feet away from the Highest Guardian as they rushed out from the Light Forest.

Changmin watched the retreating figures with hooded eyes, sighing at the sight of all the flowers and grass wilt and burnt one by one, a living proof that Jinki just walked by. His magic wasn’t the warm, glowing gold anymore, but rather an aggressive, metallic gold and it served Changmin a reminder that even though Jinki was a gentle soul, no one should ever be the cause of the his rage.

Not if they intend to live a second longer.

“Who is it that dares to fuel Jinki’s anger?”

A smooth velvety voice from his right side brought Changmin back to reality, smiling when he saw the familiar ash colored cloak.

“Heenim,”

He greeted and Heechul smiled at the nickname, blowing into air and dimming the room on instant. Changmin rolled his eyes at the sudden change of the room’s brightness.

“Please stop changing the brightness according to your preferences,” He huffed as they both walked out from the room and into the hallway. “This is my place,”

He whined, causing Heechul to chuckle at his complaint. The beautiful Guardian didn’t say another word, and it’s not until Changmin saw Heechul’s soulmate waiting at the end of the hallway that he spoke up again.

“Leeteuk sent you?”

He asked with a gasp, bewildered and confused all at the same time. Heechul’s hooded eyes looked on with sympathy and he nodded, stopping by Siwon’s side to face the Highest Guardian of the Light Forest.

“Changmin,”

Siwon greeted with a soft smile, his ash-colored hood was off, showing off the handsome face to the rest of the Guardians.

“We came to inform you that Baekhyun’s soul will be upon us to judge from now on,” Siwon continued, unperturbed by Changmin’s lack of acknowledge.

“Upon Leeteuk’s order, we’re here to take Baekhyun away. His lack of strength to fight against the darkness resulted in casualties of five villagers, thus he will be judged away at the God’s Acre. Any words you wish to say to your Guardian, will be done at the Acre,”

Siwon paused, obviously couldn’t find it in him to continue at the crestfallen look Changmin was supporting right now. Heechul looked up at his soulmate, waves of emotion rolling into him and he hummed in understanding on why Siwon stopped at his words just now. Guardians were like family to each other, and Changmin practically raised Baekhyun since he was a baby.

He couldn’t imagine the pain Changmin was going through right now, watching his Guardian being taken away to the God’s Acre – all because Baekhyun gave in to the darkness.

•∞•∞•∞•∞∞•∞•∞•∞•

When Jinki arrived at the entrance of the Dark Forest, he was well aware of the anger thrumming through his veins, his magic vibrating aggressively in the flow of his blood, coursing through his whole body with such speed until it reached his fingertips. It took him an amount of self-control – one that he learned and obtained with decades of meditation – to curl the fingers inwards and into a fist, effectively stopping his magic from burning the area around him.

He let Kibum passed by him, probably warning other Guardians to stay away from him and he was grateful for that. When he entered the clearance, it was free from any living soul, even the flying fairies, and he looked up at the direction his room, where his soul mate would likely resting and crying right now.

He muttered a simple spell and when he reached out his hand, it was to grip the knob of his door, pushing it open and finding the rage leaving his body once his eyes landed on the curling figure on the bed. When he stepped into the room, all the unfavorable emotion stayed at the door’s feet, as if it was barricaded by magic from entering.

Jinki rounded the small coffee table in hurry, almost bumping into one of the chairs and slowed down once he reached the bed, one hand stretched out to flip the bed’s curtain. The sight he saw almost forced him down to his knees.

Jonghyun’s beautiful eyes were closed, but Jinki could see the stain of tears as clear as the lake outside, his innocent snow white hair splaying on the bed sheet as his body curled into a small ball, like he was protecting himself from something.

And it ached.

 Who was it, Jinki mused with a heavy heart as he took a seat on the bed, who was it that had enough courage to cause his precious another painful experience?

Slowly, but gently he cupped the pretty cheek, finding himself in love more and more at the way the cheek fit perfectly into his palm.

“Who is it that caused you such sadness, my love?”

He wondered with a soft voice, bending down slowly as if he was afraid his movement could wake the younger up. He thumbed away the stain of the tears that was evident at the corner of Jonghyun’s eyes.

“Why would someone want to hurt such a gentle soul like yours?”

Jinki was so engulfed by a deep sorrow at his own thoughts – so deep that it caused heavy rain to befall upon the Dark Forest.

Jonghyun had already suffered enough – he suffered through all his childhood, taking in all the hate and abusive behaviors from those around him – but still he grew up with so much love to give. This small body, this small body carried so much love and affection towards those who needed it, even though Jonghyun was always been treated badly by the villagers.

All of these, had to be experienced by the precious Jonghyun while all Jinki could do was watched and waited until the Calling came.

His soft heart,

his gentle soul,

his loving smile,

his affectionate love

his strong, strong determination

Jonghyun entrusted him with all of these – with a hope and wish that Jinki would love him back, and loved him was what Jinki did. This heart that was calling for Jonghyun’s presence was so fierce that once he was able to wrap his arms around that fragile body, he swore to himself to always shower Jonghyun with all loves and affections he deserved.

It was appalling, the thought of someone even wanted to hurt Jonghyun and –

“Why are you crying, Jinki?”

The soft voice shook him as a whole and Jinki looked up to find that Jonghyun was watching him with teary eyes. The Highest Guardian managed a shaky smile, though the love in his eyes had never disappeared whenever he was looking at his soul mate.

“Why are you?”

He asked back, thumb moving to caress the soft skin and Jonghyun moved to cover his hand with his. Jinki eye’s trailed down to their connecting hands, noticing with a happy glee at how small Jonghyun’s hand look in comparison to his.

“I was sad,”

The younger confessed shyly and the red nose on Jonghyun was the last straw for Jinki before he moved, picking up the younger in between his legs. He wrapped an arm around Jonghyun’s shoulder, securing the younger to his chest as Jonghyun sat sideway against him, Jonghyun’s bent knees pushed against his own chest and Jinki used another arm to hug the younger, blanketing him with his warmth.

He pressed his lips against Jonghyun’s hair covered forehead and stayed there, unable to trust himself to speak without a trembling voice. Though it was timid, but Jinki could feel it all the same when Jonghyun’s small fist found a purchase around his chest before Jonghyun snuggled into his arms.

“Jinki?”

Jonghyun called softly and Jinki pulled back a bit to answer him.

“Yes my love,”

“Jinki,”

Jonghyun paused again, seemingly deep in thought and Jinki leaned down to place a chaste kiss on the red nose playfully. At the unexpected kiss, a fit of giggles escaped Jonghyun’s lips and that sound itself was melodious enough to lift up Jinki’s spirit.

“Stop it,” Jonghyun complained with a pout. “I’m trying to talk here,”

“And I’m trying to love you,”

The Highest Guardian quipped with an ease that had Jonghyun to duck his head, the heat was making itself known on his face before the red slowly spread to his ears.

“Jinki,”

The younger whined, hitting his chest a few times and Jinki chuckled, taking a pity on his lover and mumbled his apology against Jonghyun’s hair.

“Talk to me Jonghyunnie,”

Jinki coerced gently, and if Jonghyun decided that his chest was the best place for him to hide his face, he let it be.

“The, t-the love between us, it’s r-real right?”

He hummed, his mind was clouded with confusion. “I’m afraid I need you to explain your question a bit clearer my love,”

Jonghyun whimpered against his chest and he rocked them a bit to calm him down. He could feel the nervousness and fear emitting from his lover, and Jinki honestly couldn’t understand what Jonghyun was afraid of.

“I mean, you really l-love me, right? I mean, i-is there any possibility for you to realize that one day, I’m n-not good enough for you, and m-maybe for you to go and s-settle down with other Guardian, who is much more b-beautiful than me?”

The constant stutter in Jonghyun’s voice was enough for Jinki to know what his lover’s fear of. He feared of being left behind, of Jinki to eventually realize that he was just a normal human being compared to these Guardians.

“I’m sorry,” The apology escaped Jonghyun’s red lips as soon as he finished his words and Jinki looked down at the same time his lover looked up at him, eyes watering with guilt and…shame?

The Guardian was quick to cup his lover’s face, thumbing at the tears gathering at the corner of Jonghyun’s eyes, though he remained silent still. This beautiful creature in his arms right now, was crying because someone just instilled these fears inside him. He was sure about that. Jonghyun was soft, but he wasn’t fragile. Within months of them dancing around each other – finding each other’s flaws – one thing Jinki could proudly claim was that the doubt between them was transparent.

He had showered his lover with so much love, so much cares, and so much affection until he left no room for those fears to come creeping in. And to see Jonghyun was shaken up this much until his pain gripped at their connection, Jinki was sure someone just purposely caused this tears to spill out from those pretty eyes.

“My love,” He called out, voice gentle as always whenever Jonghyun was on the receiving end. “I love you, so much,”

Without breaking the eye contact, Jinki pulled back a bit but not too far for him to miss the warmth, lips pressing and opening like he’s contemplating on how to word his feelings perfectly.

“As powerful as I am as the Highest Guardian, there’s certain things that even I don’t know the answer to. I…I don’t know how the Calling works, I don’t know who decides the soul mate for the Guardians, I don’t know who resides at the Heaven above. I don’t know a lot of things my sweet, but….but I do know one thing,”

He paused, needing a moment to himself because what he felt for Jonghyun was out of this magical world that he found it difficult to put them into words. “I can’t remember how my life was before I met a piece of you. I was living on orders from the Heaven above for as long as I was born and there’s no second passed by for me to wonder about my partner. Until I was blessed with the vision of this beautiful, beautiful young man, with his hair as white as the mountain snow, with his enchanted eyes – his childlike laughter.

From that moment on, my heart desires no one else but you, my love. When I had to watch you from this forest, watching you grew up with such experience that no one should ever go through, my entire being burns for you. And for once, I was afraid.”

He paused, watching Jonghyun’s fingers to reach out until they softly cupped his frozen cheek and wiped away the fallen diamond tears. He hadn’t realize he had been crying but Jonghyun’s warmth melt away the coldness from his body, comforting him on instant.

“What were you afraid of, Jinki?”

He took Jonghyun’s hand in his, turning it over and placed a chaste kiss onto the palm.

“I was afraid that you would lose your hope and gave up to the darkness. I was afraid that we wouldn’t have the chance to meet and I couldn’t give you the love that you deserved. But,”

He chuckled through his tears, looking up into Jonghyun’s eyes once again.

“But you surprised me so much, my dear. For anyone else, it was easy to stumble down to your knees and bow to the darkness, but you – with your big heart full of innocent love – you walked through the garden full of thorns without giving it a chance to wound you. And to know that – this wonderful, strong creature willing to return my love, I can say this is the only blessing I would need for my whole life.”

Jonghyun hummed softly, his cheeks warming up under Jinki’s gaze and he looked down shyly.

“I-I’m not that strong,”

Jinki was having none of that as he tilted Jonghyun’s chin back up with his fingers.

“You are strong, my dear Jonghyunnie, more than you let on. And if takes you another decade to realize, then a decade shall it be. I’ll be here beside you waiting, and when the moment come,”

He playfully poke Jonghyun’s nose, causing his lover to squeal in surprise.

“Jinki!”

He laughed at the pout forming on Jonghyun’s lips. “And when the moment comes, I’m gonna tell you I told you so and kiss the world out of you.”

 Then, there’s only a comfortable silence being stretched out between them, with the lovers staring straight into each other’s eyes. Jonghyun looked ethereal, in fact, he was the ethereal being between them two. No human was this magical – his red lips was such an alluring contrast to his pale complexion and Jinki found himself drawn to those lips.

“Then, kiss me now,”

Jonghyun breathed out, embarrassment was evident in his voice and judging by the emotions rolling into Jinki in a full force, the Guardian didn’t need to guess the want and need coming off from the small body in his arms.

He carefully leaned in, closing the gaps between them in a motion that slow enough for Jonghyun to stop him if he wanted to. Their hairs nestled together with the close proximity, noses brushing against each other as Jinki tilted his head a bit to the right, looking down at the red lips one last time before he pressed their lips together.

It wasn’t their first kiss, but Jinki just bared his weakness to his soul mate and the act itself was more intimate than anything. The Guardian carefully kiss the upper lip, relishing in the feel of the soft lip against him, and moved down to give the lower lip the same treatment. Jonghyun gasped softly, and Jinki used the chance to press his lips fully against Jonghyun, gulping down the air from Jonghyun.

The grip Jonghyun had on his robe tightened as Jinki used his free hand to cup the side of Jonghyun’s neck, taking his time in pressing their lips together, sliding them from right to the left in a slow dance. It wasn’t until Jinki’s lips parted themselves in the heat of the moment that he dared to on the lower lip, asking for the entrance.

His soul mate whimpered at the wet contact and Jinki had the right mind to ask Jonghyun if he was okay before he found the lips under his opened shyly. Smiling at the cute gesture, he wasted no time in delving into the hot cavern, drinking all Jonghyun’s surprise gasps and moans as he boldly at Jonghyun’s tongue.

“Jink –”

Jonghyun gasped at the tongue in his mouth, his face was red and hot at the feel of Jinki’s tongue exploring his mouth. Jinki mapped out the row of the teeth with his tongue, drinking in the saliva without a second thought as he rolled their tongues together in a now, wild dance. The room was slowly getting hotter as the lover continued their frenzy kissing, the hand on Jonghyun’s neck served as guide for Jonghyun to tilt his head to the left when Jinki wanted him to.

It wasn’t until Jonghyun pulled back with a loud gasp that Jinki remembered that they needed to breath, pulling back a bit to give his soul mate some space but not far enough for him to still able to on Jonghyun’s lower lip.

“Jinki,”

Jonghyun moaned his name softly, now that his lips were finally free from being held captive by Jinki. The taller of the two hummed at the call, letting go of the plush lip in favor of attaching his lips to the skin below, trailing his tongue and kisses from the jaw up to Jonghyun’s left ear, biting the earlobe teasingly and moved to trace the shell with his tongue.

“Anhhh,”

Jonghyun cried, his eyes were filled with pleasured tears as the sensation of being and kissed was new and strange for his small body but Jinki knew it wasn’t definitely unwelcomed.

The Guardian felt his hair being gripped instead the moment he trailed his kisses down Jonghyun’s pale neck. Smiling, he hazily opened his lips and attached them against the skin, tongue darting out to have a taste of the delicious scent and the gesture was enough to drive Jonghyun wild as another sensual moan left his mouth unabashedly.

“Jinki!”

The moan itself was a fuel for Jinki to start giving the skin more attention by onto it, making love to the skin by turning them red with his bites and kisses. Jonghyun writhed in his arms, and Jinki slowly moved so that Jonghyun was lying on the bed with him hovering above him. The grip on his hair remained even as Jinki moved down, kissing the prominent collarbone while his left hand slowly untied the robe, revealing more skin to his eyes.

Jinki pulled back at the exposure and it was only then he noticed what state Jonghyun was in – his hair was splayed across the bed sheet wildly, his eyes were filled tears, face warm and red resulted from his kisses, neck littered with teeth mark and red spots, lips swollen red and freshly bitten – and Jinki could say, what a state he was in, judging from the hardness he’s slowly feeling inside his pants.

“Merlin,”

He wondered out loud, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable at the tightness of his pant.

“Is…is something wrong?”

Jonghyun asked shyly, the grip in his hair loosened and Jonghyun opted to wrap arms across his back instead. Jinki shook his head in affirmation, cherry blossom hair swaying with the movement.

“Nothing is wrong. It just…I promise myself to take it slow with you but, by Merlin, you’re very tempting right now, my love,”

He confessed with warm cheeks, and if Jonghyun could permanently turned red, Jinki knew he would.

“We can just….” Jonghyun paused, seemingly hesitated to continue and Jinki waited for his lover patiently. He wouldn’t have a problem if Jonghyun wanted to stop now. By Merlin, he even willing to put space between them on instant if Jonghyun as much as requested for it.

“We can do…this?”

And by this, Jonghyun moved his lower body upwards, it wasn’t enough to be described as because that was all Jonghyun did, really. Just a small movement of his lower body but for Jinki, that was enough as the delicious friction rubbed against his hardness just right. The Guardian took a sharp breath at the indication, looking down at his lower with such intensity that caused his lover to whimper in embarrassment.

“Don’t look at me like that,”

The smaller whined, pulling Jinki down so that he could hide his flaming red face against his neck. “I don’t know what to do, I never did this with anyone, I never – no one ever touches me this way, and I don’t know Jinki,” Jonghyun babbled against his neck and the panic in his voice was enough to wake Jinki up from his stupor.

Without pulling back, he softly hushed the younger one in attempt to calm him down, tilting his head to kiss Jonghyun’s temple.

“Shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you my love, it’s okay. Let me take care of you,”

Jonghyun seemed to calm down a bit by his kisses and soft words as he settled to just nip and press his lips against Jinki’s neck. He smiled endearingly at the act before he moved, fingers carefully trailing from Jonghyun’s neck, down to his chest, passed his stomach and stopping at his thighs, giving time for Jonghyun to acknowledge his presence down there.

The lips on his skin stopped for a second, before Jonghyun resumed to pepper his neck with soft kisses. Jinki took the cue to slip his hand between Jonghyun’s leg, pressing against the inner thigh, being careful not to accidentally touch against Jonghyun’s hardness as he gently spread his lover’s legs apart, creating a gap enough for him to settle down.

And it seemed like his lover knew what he intended to do as the younger one didn’t hesitated to spread his legs wider and wrapped them around Jinki. The sudden action caught Jinki off guard before he stumble down and slotted their hips together in a delicious friction, pulling out a moan from both of them.

“Jinki,”

Jonghyun gasped against his neck, and the Guardian answered with a soft grunt, finding his balance again and trying his best to take it slow. The evident hardness rubbing against his crotch had him trembling in lust, knowing that Jonghyun wanted him as much as he wanted him.

He took a deep breath before he experimentally rolled their hips together again, the friction rubbing against his hard crotch and the feel of Jonghyun’s hardness were enough to fuel his next move. Just having Jonghyun all pressed up against him could drive him to insanity, Jinki wouldn’t know what he would do once he had Jonghyun lied under him, and in pleasure.

He started to grind down, dragging his body up against Jonghyun’s hips and a soft moan escaped his lips when Jonghyun’s rubbed against him, and it had him repeated the move again and again, ing down to that delicious friction until he had Jonghyun writhing under him. His red bitten lips were left opened, eyes closed shut as he was rocked back and forth by Jinki’s force.

“Love,”

He rasped out in a hoarse voice, eyes fluttering shut when their lengths slide against each other again, his movement becoming faster and erratic as his ears were filled with a low, sensual moans slipping from Jonghyun’s lips.

He chanced a look to his lover’s face and that proved to be a fatal mistake because once he did so, the lust and need were riding on their full waves, and the Guardian couldn’t hold back anymore. He leaned up and crashed their mouths together, tongues instantly battling in a fight as the lover chased after the relief.

“Jinki!”

Jonghyun gasped, pulling back from the kiss at the new feeling – like he was running after something and it was just within his grip, just a bit more, if he ran a bit faster, if Jinki kept sliding against him like that, if Jinki kept rubbing against his hardness just like that, if –

“Come love, come with me,”

Jinki groaned, his own forehead was drenched with cold sweat as his hand slipped between their pressed bodies to cup Jonghyun’s hardness. It seemed that the touch was the last thing Jonghyun needed before the younger lover came with a soundless scream, body went taut at the intensity brought by his first . And the Highest Guardian needed no more encouragement to reach his peak as Jinki slotted their hips together one last time and he’s gone.

•∞•∞•∞•∞∞•∞•∞•∞•