Chapter 22

Potions and Transformations

                The Valkyrie clan slowly made their way to Onew, who was still in pain despite the efforts of Eunhyuk and Sungmin. Jonghyun was the first to reach him. He stooped down by his side and closed his eyes as he felt Onew’s forehead. Key, Taemin, Minho, and Phillip gathered around, waiting for Jonghyun’s orders. After a few seconds, Jonghyun removed his hand and looked into Leeteuk’s eyes.

                “It’s bad. Really bad.” He muttered, causing Leeteuk to droop his head in defeat. “But we can help.” Jonghyun finished.

                Leeteuk’s head shot up again at this sign of hope. “You can?” he exclaimed.

                Taemin nodded. “Yes, I can make a potion that will heal all of his internal wounds. It should help his spirit recover from the possession too.” He informed.

                Donghae grinned. “Well that’s great! Onew will be back to normal in no time.” He exclaimed. However, this outburst was received with a glare from Key.

                “Don’t celebrate yet.” He warned as he attempted to fix his disheveled hair. “The healing process is not easy; it takes at least a week for the person to recover. Plus, the potion can cause some… complications.”

                Christine’s eyebrows shot up at this. “What kind of complications?” she asked. Jonghyun sighed.

                “This potion is very unstable. It will heal, sure, but it also has a tendency to do strange things to the body.”

                Taemin nodded in agreement. “The effects of the potion seem to always include two things: An addition of an appendage, whether it be an extra finger, ear-“

                At this, Jonghyun slipped off his shoe, revealing his foot. “Or a toe.” He added as he wiggled all six of them.

                Taemin nodded. “It will also take something away from your body. Your sense of taste could be gone, your belly button could disappear-“

                “Or you could lose your kidney.” Jonghyun interrupted again, pointing to his side. “Good thing you can live with only one.”

                “Yes, yes, what would we do without you?” Key rolled his eyes in contempt, though he couldn’t hide his small smile. Jonghyun stuck out his tongue playfully at his best friend as Phillip’s face lit up.

                “You only have one kidney? I didn’t know you could live with just one! That’s so cool! Now I want my kidney removed! Can I drink the potion?” he rambled before Minho gently covered his mouth with his hand as he smiled.

                “Looks like we have another talker, huh Key?” Minho jeered jokingly as Key once again rolled his eyes, this time his smile was gone. Jonghyun became serious once more as he faced Leeteuk again.

                “You had to drink the potion?” Leeteuk asked as he continued to Onew’s hair in comfort. Jonghyun nodded.

                “Yes, a long time ago.” Jonghyun confirmed, “But I was lucky. Usually the side effects are much more drastic. And like Key said, the recovery takes a long time, and the healing is very, very painful. You find yourself thinking that you would rather die than be healed as you lay bed-ridden for seven excruciating days. I usually don’t recommend this healing procedure but-“he paused as he met Onew’s hopeful eyes, “Nothing else will work while he’s in this condition. This is his only hope.” He raised his eyes to Leeteuk once again. “So, it’s your choice. I won’t force you to accept our help. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t let Onew take the potion. But, I’m not you.” He finished, and silently sat at Onew’s side, waiting for Leeteuk’s answer.

Leeteuk stared into the eyes of Onew as he thought it over. He didn’t want Onew to suffer. He didn’t want him to scream in pain as his body hopefully healed itself. And what about the side effects? Who knows what would happen to Onew’s body? Then again, he wanted his brother to live. He wanted to have a life with Onew after all these years of separation. He didn’t know what to do.

However, Onew seemed to read Leeteuk’s mind and grasped his older brother’s hand.

“Let them do it Leeteuk.” He whispered, giving him a small smile. “I want to live.” He turned to Jonghyun, and his eyes were filled with guilt. “That is, if you guys are comfortable with helping the person who put you in danger.”

Jonghyun smiled and placed his hand on Onew’s shoulder. “You’re not the one who hurt us Onew. You had no control over your actions.”

The others nodded as Taemin knelt down beside Jonghyun. “We’ll be happy to help you Onew.”

Onew smiled at the Valkyrie’s kindness and looked up into Leeteuk eyes again. Leeteuk’s eyes filled with tears as he saw his brother be so brave. He gave Onew one more nuzzle as he looked up to Jonghyun.

“Alright, we want the potion.”

Jonghyun replied with a small smile, despite worrying about the dangers of the potion. He gave a quick nod to Taemin, who quickly ran to the hallway behind them. After a few seconds, he arrived with one of the glasses that were sitting on the tables. His eyes started to glow as he concentrated on the glass. Within seconds, the glass filled up with water that seemed to come out of nowhere. When the glass was full, Taemin broke his gaze, breathing heavy from the effort.

“Are you ok Taemin?” Phillip asked, concerned for his new friend. Taemin turned to Phillip and gave him a smile. He was touched that Phillip cared so much for him even though they hadn’t known each other long.

“Yeah, I’m fine Phillip. It just takes a lot of power to summon water like that.” He replied as he plucked one of his black feathers from his right wing and brought it to his heart. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, a look of peace on his face, and then silently handed it to Minho, who already had one of his feathers in his hand.

“Alright, feathers in.” Minho ordered as Key and Jonghyun grabbed one feather from their wings and brought it to their hearts, exactly like Taemin had done. They gingerly placed their feathers on Minho outstretched hand, creating a pile of black and white fluff. Minho then walked over to Phillip and outstretched his hand, but this gesture was received with confusion. Phillip had no idea what was going on. What did feathers have to do with making a potion? After a few seconds of silence, Jonghyun chuckled.

“Give him a feather. We need one from each member of our clan for the potion. They’re the main ingredient.” He explained.

Although he was still a little confused as to how feathers would help heal Onew, Phillip smiled and nodded. So this meant he was officially part of the Valkyrie now. Awesome!

Phillip outstretched his fluffy white wings and took hold of a feather. He was about to yank it out, but Key stopped him before he could.

“No, no! That feather is still growing in! You’re going to hurt yourself if you pull that one. Here.” Key rambled as he plucked out a very small feather that looked like it was about to fall out. Phillip gazed at Key in wonder.

                “You remind me of my mom.” Phillip chirped as he grinned. Taemin laughed.

                “That’s because he’s the mother hen.”

                “Be quiet Taemin!” Key scolded as he handed the feather to Phillip.

                “Yes Umma.” Taemin replied as he stuck his tongue out.

                “Enough you two.” Jonghyun ordered, though he did find Key’s motherly instinct amusing. Key huffed as he took hold of Phillip’s arm and guided it to his heart.

                “Now imprint thoughts of peace onto the feather.” Key instructed, but, again, confusion filled Phillip’s face.

                “Um,” he replied, “Don’t I need a printer for that?”

                This statement was received with stupefied faces from everyone except Katrina and Atlas, who busted out in fits of laughter. Key looked at Jonghyun with a look that said, Help me out, will ya?

                Jonghyun nodded and stood in front of Phillip. “Remember when you used your wind power to snap Taemin and me out of the possession?” he asked. Phillip nodded. “Do the same thing, but just send the wind of peace onto the feather. This is the secret to the potion.”

                Phillip let this information sink in for a few seconds before nodding again. He really didn’t quite know how to use his wind powers properly yet, but it was worth a shot if he could help save Leeteuk’s brother. He focused his gaze on his tiny, fluffy white feather in his palm and thought of the most peaceful things he could think of. Climbing trees in the forest. Swimming in the pond in Atlas’s pasture. Riding in the truck with Katrina and Atlas. Sleeping in the janitorial closet during history class. As these thoughts flew through Phillip’s mind, a breeze that came from nowhere started picking up, causing the feather to wobble slightly in his hand. Eating cookies from the teacher’s lounge with Katrina. Eating candy from the principal’s office with Katrina….. Eating. The wind intensified with every memory and thought.

Soon the feather finally caught the breeze, floating and twirling through the air as if it were dancing, and eventually landed into Minho waiting palm. He smiled as the feather joined the pile, though Phillip’s seemed to stand out; it sparkled and glowed with strong magic. Minho glanced at Jonghyun, communicating with the leader without talking.

He’s special.

Jonghyun smirked.

You just figured that out? Jonghyun replied.

Minho smiled despite the leader’s jeering. But now it was back to business. He stared at the pile of feathers as he slowly began to close his hand, exerting all the force he could muster upon his clenched fist. As he was doing this, Taemin held out the glass of water under Minho’s fist, waiting for the contents to drop out into the container. After Minho was sure his work was done, he carefully unclenched his hand, releasing a fine grey powder into the liquid below.

Taemin concentrated on the water as it began to turn a silvery color. The liquid started to swirl around, as though it were stirring itself. As time passed, the water seemed to gain an effervescent glow. Taemin looked up from the glass, signaling that the potion was complete, and slowly walked to Onew’s side.

“Take this in one shot if you can.” Taemin ordered.

Onew nodded and weakly took the glass in his hands. With Leeteuk’s help, he lifted the glass to his lips and slowly drank the now slightly viscous liquid. His face screwed up in disgust; the taste was not pleasant. However, he managed to drink every last drop in one drink. As soon as he gave the glass back to Taemin, he passed out, lying limp in Leeteuk’s arms. Leeteuk began to worry, but was calmed by Jonghyun.

“It’s ok” he assured Leeteuk. “This is normal.”

Leeteuk nodded, slightly relieved that Onew was asleep and not suffering. Seeing that there was nothing to do for Onew’s condition but wait, he slowly picked his little brother up and turned to the rest of his clan.

“Alright guys, time to go home.”

Everyone nodded and started to form a circle in order to transport home. Phillip began to join the circle, but Jonghyun gently stopped him.

“Not you” he said with a smile. “You’re staying with us.”

Philly’s eyes went wide. “But I can’t just leave my friends!” he exclaimed as he glanced towards Katrina and Atlas. “I have a home. Not to mention I still haven’t finished school yet.”

“I know this is hard,” Key started as he stepped towards Phillip. “But you can’t just return to real world. You’re the heir to the Valkyrie now. You need to be trained in our ways.”

Minho nodded. “Even when you do master all of your powers, it will still be too dangerous to live in the outside world.”

“We only leave our hideout to stretch our wings on short group flights.” Taemin added.

“And, as we just found out not to long ago,” Jonghyun scoffed, pointed to the unconscious Onew, “Even those can be extremely unpredictable. The fact is, in order to survive, we have to live in seclusion.”

Despite all of this lecturing, Phillip would not listen. “Maybe you guys can live in seclusion,” he said as he shook off Jonghyun’s grip and walked towards the circle of Phantoms (and Atlas), “But that’s not the life for-“

AGGGGHHHHHH!

Suddenly, a terrible screech emitted from Onew. His eyes were closed, but his body stiffened as if he were in excruciating pain. Leeteuk sat Onew down in a panic.

“What’s going on?!” he exclaimed as everyone gathered around. Taemin ran his hands around Onew’s face in disbelief.

“He’s sweating like crazy! I think he’s going through the first side effect.” Taemin reported before looking up at Jonghyun in fear. “That shouldn’t be happening this soon.”

Jonghyun was about to speak, but before he could, Onew’s eyes shot wide open as his back arched. Slowly, two black appendages began to rip apart the skin on his back. They slowly unfolded, revealing ebony feathers that scattered everywhere. Everyone looked on in shock as Onew’s new wings stretched out on the floor as far as they would reach.

“Seriously? How many surprises are we gonna have today?” Kyuhyun exclaimed as he looked away, unable to stand the sight of the blood running down Onew’s back.

“This is awesome!” Katrina shouted in excitement, ever the fan of gory horror movies. Christina gave her daughter a stern look, which made Katrina’s excitement diminish. “Sorry Mom” she muttered as Leeteuk took Onew’s head in his hand.

“On-onew?” he asked, now more worried than ever about his little brother. Onew’s eyes tried to find Leeteuk’s, but they were hopelessly unfocused, and soon Onew fainted once more.

Needless to say, the Valkyrie were shocked. They didn’t know what to say. Had their ex-enemy just transformed into one of their kind? Taemin was the first one to speak.

“Well… the potion’s never done anything like THAT before.”

Jonghyun slowly made his way back to Onew’s side and began to stoke his wings. They were real alright. He couldn’t believe it; the Valkyrie now had two new members, and one was half Phantom! How was this going to work? Onew was obviously going to go live with Leeteuk and the Phantom clan, but Jonghyun couldn’t just stay away from one of their kind in good conscious. The clan had to stick together,whether they were full Valkyrie or not. He sighed as he massaged the bridge of his nose. He really did not want to do this, but he had no choice at this point. Jonghyun stood up from Onew’s body as Leeteuk gingerly picked him up. Jonghyun slowly turned to Phillip.

“Well Philly,” he smiled as he motioned for the other Valkyrie to join the circle. “Looks like you get your wish after all. We’re out of here.”

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Whoah! I'm back? How can this be!?

Hey guys! Sorry for being on such a long hiatus, but things happen, like college....and finals.... so yeah. But I'm back! :D For now. lol

Hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm going to try to get the rest of the story done this week because I am itching to get going on Ryeowook's backstory, which will lead to the sequel, which I'm super excited to make too. Lately I've been getting tons of ideas for both upcoming stories, especially since I've been getting into another k-pop band, and they will fit perfectly into the sequel. Not going to say who it is, (unless you guess, then I could possibly spill the beans ;) ) So, be anticipating that. This next chapter should be the last chapter, but I'm not going to promise that since there are still a few loose ends to tie up.

Anyway, thank you all sooooooooo much for contining to suppport my story. Hopefully my absence hasn't aggrevated yo too much :)

Thank you all, and Merry Christmas! (It's not for another week, but who cares?)

~Justjoking <3