Inequality

Chapter 12 – Death and Wings

Akari had expected that night to be a restful night, the first peaceful one since she had arrived. Oh how wrong our heroine was. She had barely arrived back at Chen's place with V and Chen and V had made himself comfortable on the couch, knocking out almost immediately.

Chen smiled at the sight of the younger male and gently covered him in a blanket and suppressed a chuckle as the male cuddled with the blanket. Akari smiled and gently knelt down beside V's sleeping figure and kissed his forehead. Chen watched them silently and she got up and turned to him, a soft smile gracing her features.

His throat went dry and she said softly, “Thank you.”

He shook his head, and was about to respond, but she gently held a finger to his lips, and she continued, “If you had told me to abandon Taehyung..” Akari paused and looked back to the younger male. He was the closest person she could call a family as of now. But I suppose almost all of us that went through that hell called each other family. Chen frowned and he said, “We wouldn't have done that. Besides... Luhan hyung told us he felt it.”

Akari glanced up at him and Chen elaborated, “Luhan said your emotions overcame him momentarily when you recognized V – I mean, Taehyung. Luhan had commanded Kris not to attack.”

Akari glanced back at V and she felt her heart clench at the thought of losing him. It would have been worse if you had lost him because of your own actions. Akari looked up at Chen and she mumbled, “I can't even explain how much it means to me.”

Akari took a step forward and she gently held Chen's hand in hers as her feelings flooded him. Gratitude, appreciation, surprise, and the most shocking one of all, sorrow. Chen instinctively pulled her closer, and she accepted it, wrapping her arms around his waist as he cradled her against him.

“Thank you,” she mumbled once more. Akari leaned into his warmth, when suddenly she felt a familiar shock wave run through her. And she pushed Chen away as quickly as possible, but she was too late, it had already spread over. Akari saw him grimace and she grabbed his hand and coaxed the shock wave to come back. It gladly left him and came into her system.

Chen stared at her in shock as she immediately out. He continued to shout and call out for her name, waking V in the process, but it was hopeless, she had already crossed into a different realm.

She was invited to for a walk in a dream.

Akari felt nothing, it was just blank. A blank canvas, with the presence of a golden orb of light. She squinted and stared at the gold hued orb that floated around her. She wasn't used to seeing any colors whenever she crossed over. She looked down at herself and realized she was still monotone. That's not surprising.

Akari looked at herself for a moment and she glanced around. It was empty, she was just floating in nothingness, with a little gold orb of light circling her.

“What are you?” Akari asked the little orb. It stopped and it suddenly dispersed and its particles entered her. Confused and surprised, she looked down at herself only to realize she gained some color. She glanced around, and it was empty, save for one other person.

“Hakyeon,” Akari softly called out. N smiled at her and he said, “V went to you.”

She nodded and N let out a breath of relief and mumbled, “Thank God he's okay.” N glanced away from her and he stared off into the distance and mumbled, “They had told me he was dead.”

Akari looked around, and she asked, “Whose..?”

“Yours, Akari-ah,” N replied. He floated over and gently took her hand into his and he smiled. Akari is healing. Color has returned to her, even if it's just a little bit.

“I don't have this ability though... I can't dream walk Hakyeon oppa,” Akari mumbled. Akari didn't want to hear it. Please.. don't tell me Hakyeon is-

“I'm sorry.”

Her heart felt like it broke and she mumbled, “How? When..? Who?” Akari had so many questions she wanted to answer, but she wasn't able to receive answers. Hakyeon gave her a small smile and he said, “They pit us in a fight.. L and I.”

She couldn't believe his words. Hakyeon squeezed Akari's hand and he said, “That's why I'm giving you this before they take it.”

“But... I can't. What is L going to do without you there N?!” Akari cried out. N looked away from her eyes, he didn't know. And he mumbled, “Please... save him.”

“Myungsoo needs you more than anyone else.”

Akari looked at N in disbelief. She didn't want to believe it. How have things escalated so quickly?! I was barely freed today! It hasn't even been one day and I already have them on my tail!? And then Akari paused. The voice inside also noticed it and it asked, Have you finally realized it? They reported V was dead. Someone from that attack survived.

Akari growled and she looked at N and he said, “I can't stay here any longer, the others are calling me.”

“Don't become a consumption Hakyeon-ah!” Akari cried out before he let go. Hakyeon smiled and he said, “I can't, because I'm a part of you now. Just like the rest of them are.”

Akari felt his warmth linger and he said, “Death by self, or death by others, those were the only choices that we were ever given.” He looked down for a moment and then glanced up to her and he smiled softly, “But now we have another option, we can fight for our own fate. Save L Akari-ah, he's going to lose control soon once he realizes I've moved on.”

Akari suddenly felt a jolt as she felt herself being pulled away. N merely stood there and waved to her and she felt the tears that she had suppressed flow down as she cried out his name once more before hearing the sound of glass shattering and seeing him disappear into a thousand small golden lights that seemed to be swallowed up by the empty blankness.

Akari opened her eyes, only to find herself in the arms of Chen and V was staring at her wide-eyed. The other five stood around her confused and she mumbled, “I was visited.”

“N hyung?” V asked softly. Akari nodded and she recalled what he had told her and she let out a low growl. Akari clenched Chen's shirt tightly and her emotions were practically rolling off of her in waves as Luhan tried to shield the others from it. She let out a slow and shaky breath and Akari looked up towards them and she momentarily locked eye contact with Chen.

“Clovis... He killed N,” Akari mumbled. Almost immediately, V almost collapsed, and only managed to stay up right with the support of Xiumin.

“H-How?”

“Someone from that ambush earlier survived,” Akari mumbled. She related everything she could remember that N had told her and Kris asked, “Who is N?”

“A dream walker,” Akari responded. Lay couldn't seem to believe it and he asked, “Are you sure?”

Akari nodded and Lay mumbled, “I've never met a Dream Walker... he's dead now?”

Akari nodded once more and V let out a low growl and she noticed it, his eyes had changed to a bright sapphire blue. She could recognize those symptoms anywhere, after all, she went through the same thing with Dongjun, when she was tainted. Akari immediately lunged at him, pinning him to the ground. V struggled underneath her and she hissed, “Control your emotions V!”

“Control them? You, of all people, are telling me to control my emotions?!” V shouted. His wings were already partially awakened and suddenly she felt the wind push her off as V hovered in the air slightly.

“I decide what I want to do and what I don't want to do.” V responded calmly. His voice was laced with a hidden threat, but it wasn't that that worried her, it was the other voice that had mixed in with his.

“Akari?! What's going on?!” Tao asked. Akari looked at them and placed a hand back to prevent them from coming forward and she said, “I've said it once right? That the wings were a curse.”

The boys nod and Luhan asked, “The reason there's another voice..?”

“The voice of the wings is what I call them,” Akari responded. She let one of her wings appear momentarily and she noticed V cower a bit and back away a bit. So her wings were superior apparently. Akari willed it, or asked for it, for the voice to come out and she felt it hesitate.

Master... I am uncontrollable, but I am only bound to you out of... loyalty. Akari heard it reply. She sighed and said said, “Looks like mine's doesn't want to talk to you guys. Then again, it's bipolar to being with.”

Akari looked at V and she said, “I'm going to do something that's going to be weird, but no matter what you do, do not freak out and do not leave my side. Understood?”

Akari closed her eyes momentarily before opening them again. A flash of light blinded everyone as she crossed them all over to a different realm. When they reopened their eyes, the entire world was blank, empty, and she heard the cry of distress and anguish from V.

“Where.. Where are we?” Chen asked. Akari turned to him and she said, “A different realm. A realm that Dream Walker's possess.”

It was empty, with the occasional random blocks that people stood on. Everyone noticed V holding his head and his wings fluttering rapidly and Akari wanted to go over to him, but she couldn't. If she did.. it could possibly kill him.

“Master is heartless,” the voice softly called out. Akari turned around and came face to face with a younger version of herself. The one from back then, when she had first awakened, and Akari said, “I haven't seen you in that form for a while.”

“J.”

J looked at her and then outreached her – Akari's – hands towards Akari and Akari gladly accepted it, gently piggybacked her. She turned to the Exo boys and she said, “The Wings are a part of us. Bound to us either unconditionally or conditionally. But they are an ability you're born with, or tainted with.”

She looked to Kris and said, “Although Kris has the power of flight, he doesn't need wings. Why? Because wings are considered to be given to those that are either deities, or they were cursed.”

“Master considers me a curse, but J doesn't mind,” J chimed in. Her platinum blond hair was draped over to one side in a neat french braid and she said, “But H over there,” she glances over to V and she continues, “H doesn't like his master. He wants his master's body.”

She glanced at you and asked, “Will Master help H? Or will Master let H find out like Master's friend made J do?”

“I can't handle the way she talks,” Kris grumbled. J glared at him and Luhan pulled Kris away from that spot quickly enough before the swords impaled him. Everyone stared at J in shock and she sighed and scolded, “J, these are my comrades. You don't do that.”

“I'm only loyal to Master. And besides, J likes the taste of blood,” she responded. A wicked smile curled onto her lips and Akari sighed as she watched V grow quiet. J looked at her and then looked back to V and she said, “J can leave now!”

She dispersed and the light seemed to return into her back as she winced at the feeling. No matter how many times she had attempted to come into contact with J, the feeling was still discomforting.

“Is that what you meant by weird/freaky?” Tao asked. Akari nodded and she said, “This is why I have such a short temper. I practically have two souls living in one body.”

“Is that what will happen to V?”

Akari nodded and she said, “If he can't control his Wings then...”

“Will the other soul consume him?” Luhan asked. Akari looked down and she slightly nodded and said, “Unless the Wings finds someone else out here that it wants as its Master.”

“They can choose?” Kris asked in shock. Akari shrugged and she said, “That's what J told me. She wanted me as her master. She had refused and destroyed every other one without mercy.”

Akari glanced over to V and she mumbled, “But V had placed himself into this position.”

“Tell me something Akari,” Chen asked. Akari looked up at him and he continued, “Do these wings add power?”

“'As long as my Wings are alive, I will continue to be as well,'” she recited the phrase. Akari were about to say more when an ear-splitting scream resounded throughout the canvas. Everyone had their hands over their ears as they heard V scream out in pain. Akari looked on in horror as his wings forcefully extracted themselves from him, and what she saw shocked her.

“No,” she whispered. The figure that had appeared from V looked at her in mild surprise. Its figure was monotone, with the exception of sharp blue eyes. An evil smirk curled up its lips and it spoke, “I see. So you are the current Queen.”

Its attention drifted from Akari to Kris and she saw it narrow it's focus and she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything as she watched the wings attach themselves to him. However, compared to what she had expected, it was quiet, no scream, no discomfort, and Kris just seemed to have out.

However, she didn't find it in herself to worry about Kris as she heard the same familiar glass shattering sound she had just heard a few moments ago. V's form erupted into light and she felt them enter your body as if they were meant to do so from the beginning.

Chen looked from Akari to Kris as the others crowded around Kris. The shock of losing V was too much for her though as she felt the realm break apart and they were suddenly back in Chen's house. Akari looked at them and she collapsed to the floor and she didn't feel the tears come out. It was too late. They were both gone, Taehyung and Hakyeon.

All I wanted was for us to be able to live..

A/N: Someone PM'ed me and was like, "I have to relive V's death twice now. OTL" ROFL. I'm so sorry. But I love you. <3