The Lock --

BTS: Escape to Redemption

Read chapter >> 31 << first!


 

 

 

Jonghyun got down from the tree, landing in front of Kibum, which caused the younger to yelp in fright before hitting Jonghyun on the shoulder, screaming and laughing at him.

  “You scared me, you fool!”

  “All worth it to see that look on your face,” Jonghyun teased, pecking him on the lips before taking his wrists and guiding them along forward, “There is no reason to be scared at all, actually. I cannot let a single thing harm you.”

Kibum stuck his tongue out childishly, taking back his wrists and defiantly turning his back, walking away from the chuckling animal.

  “Aw, yeobo,” Jonghyun snickered, wrapping his arms around the younger’s waist, “It is my birthday, I apologize. Just trying to have fun.”

Kibum sighed noisily, over-exaggerating, putting his hands over Jonghyun’s arms and leaning back as they walked forward.

  “Happy birthday, you old-as-dirt idiot.”

Jonghyun couldn’t even feel the insult and kissed the back of Kibum’s neck with a noise of approval from his throat just as a thank you.

They were a bit far from the house, just taking a stroll in the early noon. They played around like children, hiding around in trees, pretending to be ghosts or other creatures.

It was rather humorous when Kibum was hiding behind a tree and suddenly Taerant-Jonghyun would suddenly sneak up on him and grab him to throw him on his back, running far from the spot. Kibum would freak out and then continuously hit him until he’s had his lesson.

  “I am going to kill you!” Kibum threatened as Jonghyun did it the second time, clutching on to his fur until Jonghyun slowed down.

His ears twitched, hearing odd sounds, unfamiliar sounds, all around. Murmurs, clanks, no noise of the trees.

He didn’t really familiarize the sounds, the scents, the feeling coming off of whatever it was. His fur stood up on its ends, an external defense mechanism, proving to Jonghyun something was off and he needed to be quick and ravenous if possible.

  “Jonghyun?” Kibum asked, scratching the Taerant’s head, “What is wrong? Your ears are on high alert.”

Jonghyun turned in different directions, trying to decipher where the sounds were coming from, what areas whatever this was raided. He picked up on the direction quickly, snapping his head away from it and looking for a route to run.

  “Hold on tight,” Jonghyun growled.

Kibum furrowed his brows, clutching on to him and keeping his head down against his neck, “What is wrong?”

  “I do not see, yet,” he lowly spoke, darting off into the trees. He had to get them away from them, as well as the house. The house could go down, the intruders could catch up.

Jonghyun didn’t know why he was so worried, but he felt that something was there to get them both. To take them away and suffer alone.

Quickly, quietly, Jonghyun scampered off through the trees, trying to find escape, a safe place to set Kibum down to.

It sounded as if there were many of them. Their flesh smelled of human nature, but then again, a lot of creatures could transform. He had to be as careful as possible. Kibum couldn’t get hurt; Jonghyun wouldn’t allow it.

  “What is it?” Kibum whispered into his ear, clutching on to him the best he could.

  “Hush.”

Jonghyun didn’t know why he was so cautious, so overprotective. Was it because it was human? Because they came in a crowd? What if they weren’t human?

The only thing Jonghyun could be sure was that it felt threatening.

He knew they were following him—meaning he had to have been spotted, or at least paid close attention to. As much as he wanted to panic, that also meant he needed to be more urgent, determined. He had an important thing to do, and the last thing he could ever do was screw that up.

The trees pointed in the direction Jonghyun was running in, some even taking different directions, odd directions, pointing at all the suspicions around him. They were warning him.

Jonghyun had to be sure he wasn’t going in circles, or a direction close to before. His life and Kibum depended on his senses. Dull or not dull, he had to use them carefully.

Of the distance, he heard murmurs. Low, throaty voices, whispering to each other, ordering each other, saying things that proved no good.

  “Jonghyun?”

The Taerant said nothing, taking a sudden turn to make Kibum grunt in surprise, almost slipping from his fur from sweaty hands.

  “A bit longer, don’t worry.” 

He didn’t know where they were going yet—his sense of direction failed him again. Just as long as they don’t catch up. There’s no possible way they could catch up—a Taerant was one of the fastest creatures alive.

But they always seemed to be stepping on his heels.

  “Jonghyun,” Kibum shouted at him over the wind, “Jonghyun, there are people behind us!”

Jonghyun couldn’t look away from ahead or he could run them into a boulder, or a tree, and if these things could catch up to him so easily, then this wasn’t something to leave to chance.

  “They are human, Jonghyun,” Kibum shouted again, getting a look behind them, “They are literally just humans on . . . I—I do not—they look like you.”

Jonghyun tensed his muscles—they looked like him?

Then these were humans riding . . . Taerants.

  “Jonghyun, they have weapons!” Kibum screamed at him, “Jonghyun take a sharp left, you can run them into those trees!”

  “Not that easy, Kibum,” Jonghyun growled out, disobeying, “The Taerants are not dumb.”

  “Who are they?”

Jonghyun didn’t speak, answering silently that he hadn’t known.

Kibum looked back again, his eyes on high alert as he screamed at Jonghyun, “Jonghyun make a sharp turn anywhere, now!”

  “Kibum—”

The Taerant howled out, both of his back legs assaulted with points breaking the skin. They dug in pretty deep, producing the most bone-splitting pain. But no, he still had Kibum on his back, he couldn’t give in to it; he had to keep going.

  “Give it up, stranger!” A Taerant behind them growled in his language, “If we could not escape these humans, neither can you!”

  “Give up?!” Jonghyun barked at them, “I have something worth protecting!”

  “So did we!” another barked, “But at least we protected them by leaving! You need to put the human somewhere safe, if that is where your concern lies!”

Jonghyun growled, “Then why do you not move somewhere so I can put him away?”

  “These men will make sure to kill you while the man is still on your back!” the first barked at him, “These are no ordinary dumb humans, mind you!”

  “I will not—!”

Two more sharp pointed hit the same legs on the upper level, causing the Taerant to bite down on his own mouth, drawing ample amount of blood from him as if it weren’t enough already.

His back legs were giving up on him—he couldn’t feel them, only the pain. The ground was nowhere for his back legs and soon he started to drag them, preparing to head downwards to the ground.

  “Kibum, jump off!” Jonghyun ordered, “I will not crush you!”

  “Jonghyun—”

  “Do it now, Kibum!”

Kibum slightly cowered from the tone, his hands releasing Jonghyun’s fur as he jumped from Jonghyun, landing on the ground behind him just as his legs finally stopped moving and caused him to drag down on the ground, the back of his body slamming into a tree, causing it to fall behind him.

Jonghyun howled, trying his best to get up on his front legs, but he couldn’t hold himself upright. He could slightly get a look at the arrows in his legs, far too deep to remove and forget, far too deep to draw just enough blood to make him go weak at such a wrong time.

He watched the humans hop off the Taerants, many of them aiming their arrows and other weapons at them incase they decide to escape or attack behind their backs.

A few trailed behind a man specifically, this man had his arms around his back, face as emotionless as the dead, unimpressively staring the Taerant down as he came close.

Jonghyun growled and barked at him, warning him to stay away, but the man pushed his heavy foot to Jonghyun’s neck, oddly strong, forcing him back down.

The man kicked his paw once, inspecting his muscle with his eyes, “Feisty monster, are we?”

Jonghyun spat by his feet.

  “Jjong!”

Jonghyun perked up, trying to look behind him and watch as Kibum stumbled over for him, fighting off all the men who tried to stop him.

Jonghyun tried to get up again, but the man brought a sword from his back, aiming it to Jonghyun’s face, “Do not dare.”

  “Leave him be!” Kibum screamed, reaching them and smacking the sword from the man’s hands, “You have no business, here!”

The man turned to Kibum, his emotionless face providing a little change, his hands on Kibum’s shoulders as he inspected him all over, especially his bare torso.

Jonghyun growled viciously.

  “Have you been harmed, boy?” the man asked, continuing to inspect him, “Has this thing done you pain?”

  “You are the only pain, as of now,” Kibum defiantly spat, pushing back the man. Kibum looked at Jonghyun, about to kneel and pet him in assurance, but the man grabbed his wrist.

  “Has the Taerant bewitched you?” the man murmured, studying the relationship between the two.

  “No such thing,” Kibum spat again.

Jonghyun was trying to change back, forcing his body to shrink in size, but the man swiftly kicked him before he could get any further, “If you change now, you pass on.”

  “Because of you!” Kibum shouted, trying to reach for Jonghyun again, only this time, the men behind this man grabbed a hold of Kibum and started dragging him back, “Jonghyun, get up!”

  “Kapji,” the man called.

  “My servicing?” a man from the crowd appeared, a long white beard accompanying his face.

  “Your fine services will do.”

The elder man bowed, following the men dragging Kibum behind the crowd of Taerants, “I shall see your return later, SangKi.”

Jonghyun whined out moments later when he saw the said man and Kibum sat on a Taerant running off into the distance.

No, he just let Kibum go. He just let Kibum get taken!

Jonghyun growled again, infuriated with what he had let happen. His eyes flashed white and his jaw felt extremely strong, snapping at this man and to the men behind him.

  “Woah, stranger,” a Taerant barked at him, “If you go crazy now, you will not live another day to see that man!”

  “You are stronger than he is!” Jonghyun argued.

  “This human is insane. If we were stronger, we would dispose of him by now!” the one next to him argued.

  “Stop chattering in the language!” the man ordered, stepping on Jonghyun’s middle, “You listen well, you monster. I shall spare you for now, take you, do as I please. You have no rights as of now, and never had you.”

The man looked behind him, screaming at the armed men, “Well do not stand there like women! Make haste and trap him for leave!”

 

Jonghyun’s legs ached. Like. Dear Hell let him go.

He was in human form, sitting on a bed. The walls and ceiling were old a dingy, traces of grunge all over the place. This place was ancient to say the least, and the gray, hard, whatever-it-was was just a redecoration that spoiled it all.

But that was way beside the point.

He had his hands in his hair, about to scream once again and pound on the door that was sealed shut with no way open.

He’d been in this place for a few weeks; no contact with anyone.

More specifically, no contact with Kibum—not even a word of news.

He was left alone to suffer, think about everything, scream, shout, turn back into a Taerant and try to bust through any part of the room.

Was Kibum alright? Was he hurt? What were they doing with him?

His tears fell on the floor, his mind so lost as it tried weaving through different thoughts. The worst and the good thoughts. They all scared him, truly, truly, scared him. He didn’t know what was happening, where he was, and just what to do to make this all better and go back to normal.

Whenever he thought of the house and the pond, his mind grew dark, his eyes flashed white, and he would growl and hit everything and anything in frustration.

He had done nothing and now he was imprisoned. Kibum was imprisoned.

It was his fault, he should’ve listened to Kibum. Take some sharp turn or should’ve just found a waterfall and jumped right down it. That would’ve lost them for sure and the two could escape to a new place.

Jonghyun regretted about forgetting to think of a place to run to. China would’ve been the best bet, and he hadn’t even thought of it.

There was an earsplitting bang on the door and Jonghyun jumped, howling a bit at the pain in his legs from the sudden shift.

  “If you turn, I can shoot you,” the person outside warned, “I will open the door and you will obey.”

Jonghyun breathed harshly, holding his legs with gritted teeth as the man from weeks ago entered, leaning back on the door as he closed it.

  “The sixth Taerant we have,” he mused, holding up a peculiar weapon. It was small and dark brown, a hole at the end of it and the man’s pointer finger around the back, “And he had a human on his back. Snack?”

  “It is not what you perceive,” Jonghyun growled out, “You are making a mistake. Let us free.”

The man huffed a laugh, “Why would I do such a thing? You are an endangerment to my people.”

  “I have not killed in years,” he confessed strongly, “I have been eating the things that grow from below.”

  “It does not matter what you do and do not eat,” the man replied, emotionlessly as he waved the thing around, “You shall stay in here for as long as forever, if you can make it there, like I plan.”

  “Give me Kibum,” Jonghyun threatened, “Give me him!”

The man sighed, watching as Jonghyun got furious, his eyes flashing and little hairs poking at his skin.

The man pointed the thing out the window and pulled back his pointer finger, the thing making a loud sound and causing Jonghyun to cringe and stop changing, his body tensing up.

  “I am not afraid to use this on you,” the man threatened back, “You do as I say and only as I say. I do no favors to you. I do what I do and you follow.”

He opened the door again and Jonghyun tried to get up, falling on his front as his legs gave out, watching as the man shut the door and sealed it off.

Jonghyun screamed again, infuriated, but couldn’t bring himself to change. He banged on the floor, hit as much as he could, hoping at least Kibum could hear him, try to find him, because he wasn’t strong enough to do it himself.

But there he stayed on the floor, breathing harshly, stuck behind a sealed off door.

 

 

 

----Note~-----

Part one of two!

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iluvcutestuffandidky
#1
Chapter 40: GODDAMMIT
WHY
you just to burst my bubble
I WAS SOOOOO LOOKING FORWARD TO A SEQUEL
AND THEN YOU SAY THERE IS NO SEQUEL
/cries/
but its okay because series take a hell lot out of you and just
its okay
i still hope you write some oneshots tho
please write one shots
Yunie1827 #2
Chapter 38: I wasn't crying till the last line...the tears just burst...my jongkey feels is just...and the song...
Amblhama #3
Chapter 35: And Lunew?
Meakapike
#4
Chapter 32: Oh. This chapter was amazing and yet so sad. The music went perfectly with it and everything almost made me cry. I feel so bad for Trinity. This was so beautiful.
iluvbubbles_yay #5
Chapter 31: NO NO NO NONONO THAT'S HORRIBLE ;; I MEAN WE PRETTY MUCH KNEW IT WAS COMING BUT NOOO ;; their panic at being caught, the pain of their first meeting and kibum trying to keep himself sane and thEN THE SECOND MEETING AND THEY'RE SO GLAD IT'S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT BUT IT'S NOT IT'S REALLY NOT AND SPEAKING OF OTHER THINGS THAT IT'S NOT WELL ITS JUST NOT FAIRRR Their love for each other is so pure and just pure okay how can SangKi not see tHAT HOW CAN YOU IGNORE THAT THEY'RE NOT A THREAT THEY'RE IN LOVE AND WONDERFUL AND THIS IS PAIN OKAY ;; they're just perfect and amber calling out the window like thank you amber they nearly made it but not enough ;; gosh they were so close :/ and then ever-heartless SangKi informs him about how he could have saved him minutes after death that is horrible he is horrible. Like pain isn't enough already. Could've at least told him that before Kibum died ;; Anyways, been morbidly curious about the end to Jongkey's love story for a while. Kind of didnt want to in
Meakapike
#6
Chapter 31: I CAN'T!!! I CAN'T! I CAN'T! I CAN'T! Why would you do this to my heart!!?!?!?!?!??!?! This was so sad and so painful! I can't even. Everything was so heart wrentching! Jonghyun screaming for Kibum after they had been separated and later on when Kibum dies on him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't. The words they said to one another.....this was sooo beautiful but sooooooooooooo sad.
khruzader
#7
Chapter 33: thanks for the update.. :)
sungkyunnie
#8
Good job authornim, I love it!
Meakapike
#9
Chapter 31: Awwwwww Onew is the sweetest ever! I loved this! I also loved their kiss! This was awesome.
Meakapike
#10
Chapter 30: Oh my goodness! This really made me want to cry! Couple this memory with the music and I couldn't help but feel so moved. I feel both for Daesung and Bom so much!!!