Did he die yet?

Maybe. 

Seungri’s no longer struggling for air. That could be a sign he’s no longer had the need for it. Seungri didn’t feel any more pain, so maybe his torment really was over. 

Well, good, he guessed, but— where is he now?

He felt the heat kissing his cheeks and like the ing idiot he was, the first thought that he had was oh, Hell? Is he in Hell? but Hell surely wouldn’t be this cool. Hell surely wouldn’t have the temperature that’s just nice enough for body-tanning on the beach. 

—wait, beach? 

The coarse feeling of gritty sand against his skin beneath him as he moved his hand confirmed it. He pulled himself up to sit almost immediately and forced his eyes open. 

The sight of vast blue water greeted him, along with the sun shining bright on the clear sky, flock of birds flying above his head, and calming breeze that brought the scent of sea towards him.

Heaven? 

“You finally up?” Someone asked him. Seungri looked up and saw Jisoo smiling at him. “Great! Now, we finally had enough persons for both team!”

What?

He might’ve said that out loud because Jisoo quickly added, “what do you mean what? I told you before you went sunbathing that we’re gonna play volley ball together! Now, come on, they’re all waiting for you!” 

Jisoo held out her hand, but when Seungri wasn’t taking it, still in the haze at everything, Jisoo took the liberty to just grabbed one of his hands and pulled him up. “Come on!” She urged him again, dragging him across the sand, away from where he was lying down before.

“Where are we— why are you here?”

Jisoo turned to him, her face just as confused as his was. “What kind of question is that? Do you had amnesia while you’re sleeping—“

“No, I just—“

“We’re at the beach, you dork. You invited us here!” Jisoo punched his shoulder playfully.

Him? Invited them? No— what— wait, them? Who's them?

He’s about to ask who did she referred to when she said us, but then he saw it. He saw the us she’s talking about. He saw them. 

Taehee, Teddy and Jaeho, now too busy marking the line of their play arena on the sand to look back at him. Behind them, he saw his father, laughing, one arm around someone’s shoulder. Seungri didn’t have to walk closer to see who it was because he knew Jiyong by his shadow, and that sight almost gave him an aneurysm and heart attack at the same time that he had to stop walking. 

Jiyong noticed him, and after patting Seungri’s father on his back, he approached him with half a grin. “What’s up, babe—why do you looked like that?”

“The spirit of the sea possessed him and now he couldn’t remember anything.” Jisoo said that like a joke, but Seungri couldn’t bring himself to laugh along with Jiyong and her. “You help him regain his memory, boss, I’ll help Mrs Lee.”

Mrs Lee? His mother’s here too?!

Jiyong saw the shock in Seungri’s eyes as he watched his mother approaching the boys with a picnic basket hanging in one of her arms, a picnic mat on the other. He placed his hand on Seungri’s cheek, pulling that man’s focus towards him.

“Hey, hey— you got one of those nightmares again, didn’t you?” 

Seungri didn’t answer, didn’t know how to, his eyes went back and forth between the group and Jiyong in front of him.

“—it’s my fault. Shouldn’t have let you sleep without me—“

When Seungri finally gathered the right mental and physical capacity to ask, his voice still came out rough sounding. “What the hell— what the hell happened? Why are my parents— the warehouse— what happened—“ he raved, couldn’t form the exact sentence to convey his confused feelings. 

“Ri, ri, hey, look at me.” Seungri did, and Jiyong smiled as he continued, “it’s been years since that, Ri.”

“What?!”

“I know, I know, but it’s over.” 

Seungri gulped. 

It’s over? That couldn’t be true...

“It’s over, Ri. Look at me. Look around you. We made it through.” Jiyong offered him a reassuring smile, his hand on Seungri’s cheek moved down to Seungri’s chest then his side, before circling around the back. 

Seungri started to freak out again, because although that touch was thoughtful and supplying him with the support that he needed, they’re still in public. They’re still in front of his parents and their friends. 

Yet, Jiyong just casually leaned in a little to steal a kiss from him, a kiss that Seungri couldn’t dodge because how firm Jiyong’s hand wrapped around his waist.

“Are you in' craz—“

“Ay, yo, lovebirds!” Teddy called out before Seungri could even finish his sentence. “Stop making us regret being here. Let’s play already.”

To his horror, Jiyong didn’t change their position, even now that every eyes were on them, including his parents. Seungri glanced at everyone and soon understood why Jiyong didn’t need to. 

Not even a single pair of eyes looked at them with the look of disgust or anger, some even bizarrely showing admiration and it’s perplexing him. Beside him, Jiyong snorted and started to pull him to the group. Their tangled hands hanging between them and it was so weird to find that no one was bothered by it. 

His mother didn’t even bet an eye—

His reluctance was obvious, and Jiyong turned to him, walking backwards now. With the same smile as earlier, Jiyong said, “we’re living the dreams now, Ri.”

*****

He was so close to get to Seungri, or rather so close to get to that damned demon playing with Seungri, but just as he exploded out his human’s body at the warehouse door, Jiyong was ambushed by five of that demon’s minions. 

Two of them locked the back of his knees, causing him to kneel. The other two took hold of both his hands, extending them out and looked like they’re just waiting for the instructions to pull his hands off him. The last one, the one that’s obviously the leader of them stood in front of him with a dagger in his grip, just a few inches and seconds away to slay his head off if needed to, but Jiyong had stopped caring about them as soon as he saw that the demon had manifested itself near Seungri.

Jiyong tried to wrench his limbs away, but fell short as the minions tightened their restrictions upon him. 

“RI!” Jiyong screamed at Seungri, who was still writhing in pain on the floor in front of him but Seungri couldn’t hear him. Seungri didn’t react to his shout, his body jerked a few times before going on an uncontrollable spams. 

“RI!” He tried again, this time with a strong wriggle to set himself free as hard as he could. He almost made it.

The leader of the minions jeered at him. “You are impossible.” 

Jiyong spat on him, jerking his body at that minion in particular, surprising the rest of them because they were dragged along with him. Feeling challenged, that minion lashed out and stabbed on Jiyong’s abdomen, causing him bowed down, crying in pain.

“That’s what I thought!” His stabber gloated.

“Help..” 

Seungri’s whimper reached Jiyong’s ears. So desperate, so full of pain and for a moment, the pain in Jiyong’s heart was so much greater than the pain at the hole at his right side. 

The demon, now standing over Seungri, smiled. With a flick of its hand, Seungri stopped convulsing. It then squatted down, the same hand earlier waved above Seungri’s unconscious body, causing that body to twitch and jolt a few times again.

“Don’t touch him! Don’t you ING DARE TOUCH HIM!” Jiyong snarled. There’s liquid oozing out of the gaping hole at his side due to the pressure from his persistent movements of resistance and screaming, but he couldn’t care less about it. 

“Ooh.” The demon pulled a mocking face at Jiyong’s threat before letting out a dramatic sigh. “If only I knew I’d get this kind of reaction just by being closer to him, I wouldn’t waste my time playing with your girl.”

Jiyong yanked himself forward at the mention of Jisoo, and the minion group faltered again, earning himself another stab, this time on the thigh, halting his charge. 

“I wish I realised it sooner that there’s nothing special between you two. Tch, tch, I broke her heart, pretty little thing.” The demon sneered. “Your reaction towards that news was disappointing, by the way. I’m disappointed,” it pouted, “but guess who I bumped into in the hallway, with your smell all over him? That’s right! Your lover. Oh, imagine my joy then! One closed door, another one opened, and to think that he’s just at the right point of vulnerability to be played with—“

Between his wincing in pain, Jiyong let out a sound that’s identical to a hysterical laugh. He threw his head back in the laughter, for that the only thing he could move, and sent a glare at that damned demon’s direction.

“What's so funny?” 

Jiyong was too ing mad to answer. His blood was boiling that steams almost came out of his ears. His tongue moved inside his mouth, feeling the bloodlust at the tip of it, itching for the blood of his enemy. He’s so ready to fight and the new sound that came knocking on his chest, familiar and promising, made his laughter grew louder. 

“I’m saying you’re getting reckless.” The demon smirked, but the wavering confidence in his voice was prominent. 

“I’m laughing because you sure are getting bold.” Jiyong erased his smile, accumulating mixture of saliva and blood in his mouth before spitting it out. It didn’t reach the demon but it’s at its direction and it sure stirred something inside the demon as its face srunched up in disgust. Jiyong wasn’t done talking, however. “The fact that you brought just your minions here is insulting. Surely, you don’t think I’ll walk into a battle alone.”

The demon was no longer trying to hide his wariness. “He left you.”

A baleful grin cracked across Jiyong’s face. “And just like you, he always come back.”

Then, came the light and the explosion and the only thing displayed on the demon’s face was horror. 

*****

‘Duck.’ Seunghyun let out a warn as he’s getting closer to where Jiyong was, darting towards the demon and tossing a short sword at that direction. It missed but that demon still got caught in the explosion caused by it and was toppled to the ground.

Luckily, the minions were too busy gasping over the presence of an angel here that the grips they had on him was loosening, and Jiyong managed to do just as requested.

Seunghyun landed behind them with his arms wide opened. There’s light coming out of both of his palms and when he opened his palms bigger, the light dispersed into spheres like cannon balls, shooting out like missiles to the minions that tried to escape. 

They failed, obviously, and their bodies got knocked down to the ground like bowling pins after a strike. 

‘Go.’ Seunghyun instructed, but Jiyong was already meant to do that. 

Ignoring the stabbing pain on his side, Jiyong pushed his heels off the ground and flew towards the demon that was still shaken by Seunghyun’s attack. ‘Take care of Seungri,’ Jiyong repeated that as he took his enemy by its neck before flying away from there.

******

“We’ll call as soon as we landed.” His mother said after planting a light kiss on his cheek. Seungri didn’t get to do anything, not even a hum, to respond to her, before she added, “be nice to one another, okay?”

It was Jiyong that nodded, replying somewhere along the line of “you too” to his parents. They both laughed at that teasing, while Seungri could only forced out a thin smile. 
 

“What is it?” Jiyong asked him as they both walked back to the beach, after his parents disappeared from their sights, finally leaving after half an hour Jisoo and the boys excused themselves.

“Nothing.” He finally answered when he started feeling the sand again between his toes.

“Something’s bothering you, I can see it. Is it those nightmares?”

Was that the right word to address it? Nightmares? Just... nightmares? 

“Just not used to them being kind to us.”

“You almost died again, Ri, of course they’ll be nice-“

“How come they’re so accepting all of the sudden? How far did they know? Did you tell ‘em everything?” 

Jiyong furrowed his eyebrows at him, shaking his head a little. “It’s not me. It’s you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re the reason they’re so acceptive. You told them, you convinced them.”

Again, him? How?! Or better yet, why the couldn’t he remember anything if he did?!

Seungri only realising they already reached the tip of the water when Jiyong suddenly stopped and took his top off, urg