VERUM HONESTUM-10
 

Darkness swallowed the city. The lights dimmed and all of life abandoned the streets.

With sweat upon his brow, Yunho moved his eyes anxiously as he strayed from side to side. He tried to keep his eyes on the rode to avoid an accident. Yunho floored it with all his strength and drove his car at full speed like a maniac. Behind him was a large ten foot creature, a behemoth, running after him in long strides with its long furry brown legs. Its massive feet stomped upon the ground, causing the sediment to part and the cement to crack. It growled at the speeding vehicle and charged at it on all fours, foaming ferociously at the mouth.

Yunho gulped. He forgot how to breathe for a moment. His heart beat resounded loudly in his ears. The veins upon his neck were strained and pulsating. Yunho glanced at the front rear-view mirror. Changmin’s eyes were closed and his chest wasn't indicating any motion of breathing.

"Hey- wake up," Yunho tried to coax the younger boy to open his eyes and indicate any sure signs of life. He tried to touch his forehead as he bent his right arm backwards and instead patted his chest slightly. To Yunho’s disappointment, Changmin didn't move. 

"." 

The beast was still charging at full speed. Yunho didn't know what to do. His eyes were straining. The situation was only causing him more stress. His chest tightened but he kept driving on the open rode, hoping to out-run it any moment. It felt like the minutes were passing by slowly. time, it was as if he were in an endless insane loop of emotional torture.

"Definitely- not hallucinating. I've lost my ing mind." 

Yunho was sweating heavily through his shirt. He grabbed his gun from a secret compartment beside his steering wheel. With one motion, he pulled the trigger, rolled down his window and tried to shoot at the large monster. A bullet penetrated the behemoth between its eyes. It roared in pain and slowed down in its tracks. The speeding car screeched to the side of the road, colliding with a mail box. The detective tossed the gun aside as soon as the creature left his field of vision.

But, just because he couldn't see it, it didn't mean it still wasn't there. It only slowed down from exhaustion and pain. 

Yunho was breathing heavily; his eyes looked at the people walking silently on the sidewalk. It was as if they were blind and deaf to everything that was happening. The creature was bellowing in pain in the distance. It was stomping full speed ahead, not as quickly as it did before, but definitely more anxious to destroy the one who brought him pain.

Yunho felt fatigue set into his bones. It was only about thirty minutes since he last left the club, but it felt like eternity. He just wanted to wake up. He felt like he was in a nightmare.

The creature once again showed its ugly dystrophic mug. Yunho definitely need to figure out a way to shake it off. Time was running out and he was running out of gas.

Yunho strained his eyes at the behemoth, trying to get a clearer shot with his gun propped backwards. Once more he pulled the trigger and a bullet whooshed ahead.

This time the monster dodged it and roared triumphantly, displaying his sinister white fangs.
"." Yunho tossed the gun furiously, after missing his target.

The creature suddenly bellowed again, but this time it appeared to be in pain. It was screeching and slowing down in its tracks. Yunho watched from the rear-view mirror as the monster fell to the ground with a giant thud.

Over its head, was another creature? It appeared to be a hooded figure, with giant talons, the size of trees. Yunho merely saw a silhouette of what he thought looked like an angel.

The angelic creature raised its silvery spear and pierced the behemoth's oversized chest.

Yunho drove faster. At the corner of his eyes, he looked backwards at the winged creature standing over a pile of black ash that now scattered into the winds.

The hooded figure raised its head and looked straight into Yunho's eyes.
 
 
 
 

 
 
Yunho drove into the basement of his building. He didn’t care for the condition of his car at this point. That wasn’t his priority. 

It was 3:28 AM on the clock and extremely chilly, the morning sun still only hours away.

The detective anxiously ran to the backseat of his car and gathered Changmin into his arms. The taller man was bleeding from his neck, chest and arm- which appeared to be mangled and broken. Yunho pulled the young detective’s body close to his own. He held the boy tightly against his chest. 

“…why do you give me so much grief…” he whispered. 

Yunho ran straight to his apartment, with an armful, not bothering to lock his car doors. His face was grim. 

He burst through his apartment door. The door was unlocked. 

Yunho set Changmin down upon the cold tiles of his bathroom floor. Blood was starting to pool around the pale body, staining the clothes he wore. The outline of red around the unconscious body grew darker and grew bigger against the bright white tiles.

Yunho grabbed a wet towel and tried to stop the bleeding. Blood was covering his long fingers and staining his nails. This wasn’t something he wasn’t experienced in. Plenty of cadets on the job managed to hurt themselves. But in this case…it was much different. 

 He ripped Changmin's blood-stained shirt off from his pale back.

The sudden shaking motion caused Changmin’s body to convulse. Yunho was startled, but relieved. 

“-min.” he whispered. 

The Mage felt foreign hands upon his body.  The cold marble tiles upon his back made him wince from discomfort. He whimpered and groaned in pain. 

Despite his poor physical state, Changmin still managed to raise his hand slightly.

Yunho quickly reacted, thinking Changmin was asking him for water. 

The Mage instead tried to summon the garnet rings into his hands. The rings were luckily, still in the vicinity of the bathroom. They hovered over Yunho's unsuspecting head and zoomed past him and onto Changmin's fingers.

Surprised, Yunho fell back. "What the ..." His eyes widened. 

The Mage tried to put together his words, but he couldn't he utter a single sentence. His eye-lids were glued down, but his face was twisted in pain.

Yunho backed away from the pale body, at a loss for words for what came next. 

Changmin's neck wound was now shrinking, and the separated skin, fused together. The chest wounds began to glow a blue color and disappeared. His mangled arm twisted and turned into odd bent forms, until it too became what it once was. A small slit on the neck and chest were all that was left, they slightly glowed a blue-ish color and then disappeared all-together.

Changmin was now as he was before. All healed. 

Yunho stood still. His eyes saw what they saw and he couldn't understand it, but it felt like deja-vu. He watched Changmin's body lying there. He was no longer convulsing in pain, now he was just in a sleep-like comatose state.

Yunho slowly approached him. He was frightened and confused. His fingers reached out to caress the site of where the wounds were. It was just smooth pale skin. The only evidence of the cuts and bruises left was the crusted blood and the pool of red on the stainless white tiles. 
 

 
The night stilled. The moon was now hiding in the light background. The sky bled a bright orange color as the sun began to rise.

Changmin lay on Yunho’s bed. His chest rose up and down rhythmically as he breathed, indicating that he was sleeping. He was a in a REM sleep phase. His eyes were moving beneath his lids, as if he were seeing something beneath them. He appeared restless in his slumber. Perhaps dreaming of terrible things. 

Yunho sat across his bed, across the room, far away, upon his chair. He gripped his gun in his left hand and let it his arm hang. He swung his arm idly, as he sat quietly. His eyes were almost unblinking as he stared at the sleeping ‘person,’ across from him. Yunho felt like a troubled soul. 

He gulped and his eyes continued to stare. His temples were strained with veins. He almost forgot how to breathe. 

There was something completely out of the ordinary happening. He couldn’t understand. Yunho was completely befuddled. His memories went back to the last couple of days. 

When he first felt strange…

That moment within the ambulance car, when he saw Changmin’s body convulse and glow a bright blue color. But, why did he see that? What is happening?

He couldn’t bring himself to understand. 

Changmin whimpered suddenly.

Yunho cocked his gun and aimed it. He was afraid; he just didn’t what he was afraid of and just followed his instincts. But his instincts were telling him to put the gun down. That there is no threat. 

The lone boy on the bed coughed and rolled to his side. He then proceeded to curl up into a ball. He was just cold. 

Yunho sighed and stepped out of his bedroom. He ran back into the bathroom. Blood stains were still everywhere. The imprint of Changmin’s body in red was outlining his floor. 

He searched his medicine cabinet for anti-depressants. Now would be a good time to take them happy pills. Of course he jammed double the recommended dosage into his mouth, but he needed something to take his mind away from his troubles. 

Suddenly, the door bell rang.

Yunho cocked his ears towards the front entrance. Some nutcase was practically beating at the door, trying to break it open.

“What the hell is it now?” he breathed.

Yunho ran to the front door and opened it, only to find himself on the receiving end of a slap in the face. He was seeing stars from the sudden impact. 

The reddened hand belonged to none-other-than Jaejoong, who stood furiously at the foot of the door. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Yunho shouted, rubbing his aching cheek.

Jaejoong rushed forward and pushed Yunho angrily against the wall. “What did I instruct you? Huh?? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO CHANGMIN? Where is he?” 

Jaejoong did not wait to hear explanations from Yunho, he merely turned the apartment upside down trying to find him. He invaded Yunho’s bedroom.

Yunho sighed. He was too tired to deal with this diva from Jaejoong. He will let whatever storm the beauty came up with, come his way. Tomorrow, he will clean up today’s mess.

Jaejoong briefly spent some time inside the bedroom. He came out calmly, light on his feet and walked straight towards the kitchen. 

Yunho gave the diva his distance. 

Jaejoong squinted his eyes and glared with fury at Yunho. 

“What the hell is that look for?” Yunho asked.

“Oh you don’t know?” Jaejoong sassed him with his hands on his hips.

“No, I don’t. Explain yourself before I toss you out.” 

“Yunho, I left a friend of mine here to watch after you and Changmin because I don’t trust you. And you know what she told me? The most awful news I have heard all day.”  Jaejoong crossed his arms and pursed his lips. “What do you have to say for yourself?”


Yunho rolled his eyes. “You don’t trust me? Pot calling the kettle black?”

“Yunho…Changmin got hurt last night…what happened?”

Yunho put on his poker face. “Nothing happened.” 

“Liar.”

“Ok, I’ll tell the truth, so I was in the club, hooking up with es, he followed me in and got ed by the bouncer. I guess he likes it rough-”

Jaejoong slapped Yunho again. “I really wish you would be straight with me.”

“I wish I was too, but I already ed you.”  Yunho laughed sadistically. 

Jaejoong didn’t find the joke hilarious. He frowned, his heel and walked towards the kitchen.

“Why so grumpy?” Yunho chuckled mockingly. “Isn’t Siwon satisfying you enough?” 

“Shut the up. Don’t even go there. You know nothing about me.”

“I don’t need to know anything. I don’t care about you-”

“Once, you did-”

“Once. But, people make mistakes.” Yunho said. 

The tension in the air was high. 

“Yunho…Changmin was nearly at the park …and he was hurt at the club…why are you acting like this?” Jaejoong said quietly. 

Yunho was surprised, it was his first time hearing about the incident at the park. He wasn’t going to press for more information. He just wanted the kid out of his life. He cleared his throat and walked away.

“So that’s what you’re going to do? Pretend not to care?” Jaejoong asked.

“I didn’t ask for this. You made it my responsibility. I don’t want this.”

Jaejoong’s face softened. His eyes were filled with sadness and untold sorrow. “To think I was going to start a family with you…” he said quietly. “I wanted to raise kids with you…heartless.”

Yunho blinked. “Than it's a good thing that we’re no longer together. I wouldn’t want a like you to be near any of my kids.” 

Jaejoong closed his eyes, he let those words resonate within his head and then he let them pass and  he walked into the kitchen. 

To Jaejoong, the best therapy in a stressful situation was to cook. He enjoyed cooking and making something useful that would bring joy to someone. 

Earlier he walked in on a cute and sleeping Changmin. His detective features were completely erased from his face as his curly brown hair went in all directions. Jaejoong as wondering when the handsome boy would wake up, but he did not want to disturb his slumber too early. The tired youth needed his rest and energy. Jaejoong chuckled when he realized the young boy was talking in his sleep. He was reciting an entire list of delicatessens. Jaejoong eagerly decided to cook a wonderful meal as a surprise. He ignored grumpy puss Yunho in the other room and got to work.

The Mage woke up with a groan. He felt lethargic. His limbs were stiff and almost unmoving. He felt as if a stone demon was pressed against his chest. But, there was a unique scent in the air. The scent of fresh food. Changmin’s nose could smell a smorgasbord of delicious ingredients. 

Suddenly, a voice popped inside his head; hey, we’re hungry. Let’s go eat! It sustains us! The Mage nodded for some reason, but abided by the words of the familiar voice.

Get up from the bed and put on a shirt. You’ll get cold…and it’s embarrassing in front of Yunho…Then walk towards the door and twist the golden knob to the right. After that follow the scent of food!

The Mage nodded quietly again and did as his instructions told him to. He felt a second presence guiding him. 

Changmin walked into the kitchen to find an entire meal set out before him. He his lips and before he managed to sit he grabbed at the first chicken leg his eyes caught. 

Jaejoong only stepped out of the kitchen for a moment. After he returned he found an anxious little maknae nibbling at the freshly prepared food. 

Changmin had his mouth filled like a cute little chipmunk. He enjoyed the sweet and savory taste of Jaejoong's special homemade sauce.

Jaejoong chuckled. He enjoyed looking at the happy boy eat.

“Hungry?” 

Changmin gulped and nodded furiously while shoving more meat into his already-full mouth. It’s like he had a bottomless pit at the end of his stomach. He was practically shaking with excitement at all the food that filled his black hole.

Jaejoong chuckled, "You look like you're eating for two." 


Yunho did not enter the kitchen. He continued to keep his safe distance from Changmin. 
He had to get the bottom of what occurred last night…but he could not do it in front of Jaejoong. 

He would surely end up being committed to an insane asylum for what he planned to do to Changmin next… 



To be continued....