The Journey Home
ClairvoyanceA boy of about 13 swept the walkway of his family's shrine, ridding it of ice and snow. He shivered in his thick coat and scarf, worn over his usual shrine attire. His hands still felt the chill through his fuzzy mittons. He repostioned his ear muffs, desperate to increase his warmth, looking up at the eery, moonless sky. He had an awful feeling. It had been with him since he woke up, growning in intensity as the hours crept on.
He sensed more than heard the woman approach. Turning, he bowed, meeting her eyes. She was breathtaking. Well. For a moman. Hakyeon wasn't exactly known for finding females attractive. Her hair was long and the same silver-yellow as the moon. She had skin as pale as the snow and eyes the same dark blue-purple as the night sky. He found it odd that, despite the freezing.weather, she was dressed in nothing more than a traditional Korean Hanbok, her feet bare in the snow. And yet she seemed unphased by the cold. A sense of unease filled him at the sight of her, battling with his natural curiosity.
"W-welcome. How can I h-help you?" He was shocked at himself. Why had he been stuttering? Why did this woman captivate him so much?
"I have come to speak with the ones who own this shrine please." Her dialect seemed strange to Hakyeon. Not exactly regional. He couldn't figure out why it seemed so odd to him but it sent off warning bells inside of his soul.
"One moment please." He gently layed the broom against a cherry blossom tree and went inside to retrieve his parents.
"Hakyeon, have you finished sweeping the walk?" His father questioned as Hakyeon walked into the living quarters behind the shrine.
"My poor baby. Your cheeks are red. You must be freezing. Come have some tea." His mother waved him toward her and he shook his head.
"A woman is outside and wants to see you guys." He bowed to his parents, biting his lip nervously. "Please be careful. She doesn't feel right. I don't trust her."
"Don't be silly Hakyeon. Show her in and go finish sweeping the snow from the path." His father scolded and Hakyeon felt a stinging in his chest at his father's dismissal. He had never believed in his powers. Hakyeon turned to his mother, his expression pleading.
"I'll be careful baby. Do what your father says." She kissed Hakyeon's forehead and sent him on his way. He bowed and returned to the front walk, finding the stranger staring up at the sky where the moon should have been. The forboding feeling he had carried with him all day was growing stronger as he watched her.
"E-excuse me..." He gained her attention and she turned slowly to smile at him. "Right this way." She nodded and followed him to the front door. "They wish to speak to you inside."
"Thank you, Cha Hakyeon." The woman inclinded her head toward him before entering his home. It wasn't until he was back to sweeping that he wondered how she had known his name.
He tried to forget about the swelling sense of impending doom inside of him. He tried to forget about the strange woman that knew his name. But as he finished sweeping the walkway leading the the shrine, he heard voices from inside his living room. Laying the broom against the side of his house, he crept toward the window, straining to hear through the glass while remaining out of sight.
"I require the young psychic." The woman was saying. "He is necessary to my plans." Her voice wasn't exactly a request and he felt the hair on the back of his neck start to rise. Suddenly everything felt too warm as fear began to overtake him.
"You're insane." His father's deep, sceptical voice was the first to reply. "For one, psychics don't exist and Hakyeon is nothing more than odd. Two, I would never hand my kid over to anyone. Leave before I call the police and have you committed to a mental ward."
"Honey." Hakyeon's mother sounded wary, ever the voice of reason. "I'm terribly sorry miss, but your request is just a tad out of the realm of what we can help you with here. Is there anything else you may need?"
"This is unacceptable." The woman's voice was calm but he heard his mother scream and his father curse regardless. "I'll have to take him without permission then." He peeked over the edge of the window in time to see the woman, her fingers now tipped in long, sharp claws, reach into both of his parents's chests, ripping their hearts free with a sickening, wet sound. He watched in silent horror as they collapsed to the floor, a pool of blood rapidly growning around them.
"I know you can see me, Cha Hakyeon." The woman, no, the creature announced in an almost soothing voice. "Come join me, little psychic. We have a matter to discuss, you and I." Hakyeon felt a shriek escape him, the window he was in front of shattering inward at his sudden blast of power, brought on by the anguish of watching his parents die.
"You !" He screamed as he dove through the window, cutting his stomach on a jagged piece of glass still stuck in the frame. He whimpered but otherwise ignored the pain, grabbing a shard from the floor to attack the monster. He sliced at her but she dodged easily, seizing him by the shoulders with her bloody hands, slamming him against the floor. Glass cut into his back and he let out a harsh hiss of pain, trying to kick her away. She smiled gently as she dug her claws into his chest, making him scream and writhe in pain.
"That language is unnecessary, little one." She cooed. "Please do agree to come with me. If I must fight you any longer I may feel inclined to destroy you and that would surely be a waste of marvelous talents." A part of him felt inclined to do as she told him but every one of his instincts were telling him to run.
"Get off of me, you psycho!" He managed to make a kick connect with her jaw and she let out a low growl. He scrambled backwards on the floor as he watched her transform. Her eats got long, furry and pointed, a tail appeared from under her hanbok, swishing back and forth in anger. Her teeth grew longer, sharper. She was no longer beautiful. She was a nightmare walking in real life.
"You will pay for that, Cha Hakyeon. And then you will come with me regardless of your will." She glared at him and raised a clawed hand. Hakyeon watched in disbelief as a fire ignited between his parents, spreading quickly through the room. She advanced on him as the fired closed in. He had nowhere to go, fire trapping him on both side and the wall below the broken window pressed against his back. Blood was already dripping from his chest and stomach from under his thick winter coat.
As she reached him, so did the flames, engulfing his arms quickly as she drove her nails up under his ribs. Suddenly it was hard to breath and all the came out when he tried to scream was thick, hot blood. Panting and gasping for air, he looked at the shard of glass still held tightly in his hand before driving it into her heart.
She screamed and fell away from him curling and uncurling, her body falling victim to the spasms of intense pain. He forced himself to stand and shrug off his flaming coat, sparing one last glance at his parents before tumbling out of the window and into the snow, tearing deep gashes into his leg.
A weak whimper escaped him as he rolled in the snow to put out the remains flames. His skin was raw and there was a concerning amount of crimson already forming on the snow. But he knew there was a hospital near. If he could just make it there, maybe he would be okay.
He managed to make it to the hospital door before he collapsed, the edges of his vision getting blurry. It was hard to breathe and nearly impossible to keep his eyes open. His heart was alternating between beating on overdrive and whole minutes of silence. He could hear a fire engine in the distance as he lost the battle to stay awake.
He woke up days later in a hospital bed. A kid a little older than he was sat in a chair by his bed, flipping through stations on a tv. He didn't seem to notice that Hakyeon had regained consciousness, being caught up in his current task. Hakyeon tried to speak but his throat was dry and he couldn't seem to create words. He tried to sit up but the pain of moving was so great that he almost out again. He must have made some form of strangled cry though because the boy had turned to look at him.
"Hey idiot. Don't get up." The boy stood and got him a bottle of water before slowly raising Hakyeon's bed into a sitting position. "You're messed up and you might rip your stitches. Then you'll die. Do you want that?" Hakyeon sipped his water and shook his head, looking at the weird boy, wondering why he was there.
"I... Wh-who are you?" He finally managed to croak out. The boy grinned and sat back down.
"I'm Byoungjun. My dad's the doctor that found you." He went back to switching channels until he fell on a news report. The TV clicked off quickly, but not before Hakyeon caught a glimpse of the charred space that was once his family home.
"That was..." He couldn't bring himself to put the facts into words. Tears were starting to slide down his cheeks and he turned to violently vomit on the floor. The action caused him a great deal of pain but he couldn't stop.
"H-hey. Hey." Byoungjun was next to him again, pulling him into the right position on the bed, gently rubbing his shoulders and touching his cheeks. "You're okay. You're safe. I won't let anything hurt you. Shhh. Shhhh. I'm here." For some reason the boy's reassurance had calmed him. And soon he found himself drinking some water and closing his eyes, one hand being held by both of Byoungjun's until he fell asleep.
He was in the hospital recovering for nearly a month. Byoungjun had never left his side and Hakyeon had been so greatful about that. When his condition was good enough for him to move around without risking his health, Byoungjun would help him walk around the hosital. He'd lay in bed next to Hakyeon and hold him when he had nightmares about what happened to his parents.
Hakyeon loved Byoungjun and his father. He trusted them with his life. But it wasn't until he was 14 that he finally told them the truth about himself and what happened at the shrine. They didn't think he was crazy. After all, Byoungjun's father had seen Hakyeon's wounds, had seen the autopsy reports on his parents. Instead they vowed to help him in his quest to stop it from happening to anyone else. Byoungjun trained with him, fought monsters with him, eventually opening Hyde with him to help gather information on the creature that took Hakyeon's family away.
~~~~
A 16 year old boy sighed as he walked home. It was already late. The only lights to guide him were the sparsely placed street lamps. His teacher at the music academy he attended had made him stay late, lecturing Leo on how he had been neglecting his practice on the piano for soccer. He knew the teacher had been correct but Leo couldn't help himself. He couldn't remember the last time he really felt the desire to compose something. Music hadn't been reaching him the way it used to. It made him sad but there was nothing he could do about it.
"Taekwoon you're late." His mother sighed as she cleaned up the dishes from the dinner he had apparently missed. "Your food is in the microwave."
"Sorry." He didn't feel like explaining what took him so long as he started the microwave, watching his plate rotating under the light. He could hear his father and his older sister talking in the living room even over the clinking of dishes in the sink. As the microwave ticked down to zero and beeped, he heard a shattering noise and a scream.
"What the...?" His mother dropped the plate she was washing back in the sink and rushed toward the living room. Leo followed close behind. What they saw instantly chilled Leo's heart. His father was lifeless, half leaning off the side of his recliner. A creature like a giant fox with many tails loomed over his sister, her blood dripping from it's snarling muzzle.
"Mom. Run." Leo whispered, trying to get between his mother and the creature. But his mom darted around him instead, heading for her daughter. He heard the creature growl and saw it lunge at his mother. He used his power to send a heavy lamp at it, flinging it across the room. But it was already too late for his mother.
The creature stood, shaking itself off as it advanced on him. Leo backed away slowly, sending a table at the monster. It sent it skidding across the room again but it recovered quickly. He managed to back into the library, locking the door as he used his powers to shove a book case and chair in front of it.
Slam. Slam. Slam. The door began to splinter. Panic filled Leo. He had no way to escape. The door he came in through was on a wall covered in fine art. Two other walls were covered in book cases. The fourth wall was nothing but floor to ceiling panes of solid glass.
The door splintered apart and the monster leaped over his baracade, landing on Leo, knocking him to the floor and leaving him breathless. Teeth sunk into his shoulder and claws scraped against his stomach. He held back a scream, not wanting the mutt to hear how badly it hurt.
A burst of energy sent a decorative statue at the monster. It connected with it's head, sending it across the room with a yelp. Leo managed to get to his feet, running toward the glass wall. Maybe he could send a chair through it and escape. But he had used so much of his usually dormant powers and now he just didn't have anything left.
The sound of claws on the floor allerted him to the fact that the creature was up again. He turned just in time for it to barrel into him. His body hurt and he was suddenly aware that he was already bleeding. He was going to die. He knew it. As Leo felt the creature's claws digging into his chest, it's hot breath on his face as scalding blood dripped from it's muzzle, splattering his skin, he heard a crash. He looked at one of the giant windows to see a boy of about 17 swing through it from the rain gutters along the roof of his house.
The boy was beautiful, tan skin, deep chocolate eyes, bright red hair, and a confident smirk. His outfit was like something out of a vampire hunter meets zombie apocalypse movie. All red and black leather and high heeled boots. Crossing over his chest were two straps, securing the sheaths of two silver katanas to his back. On two belts were the holsters of two revolvers. Strapped to one ankle was a silver knife.
Leo didn't know if this boy would be his savior or his next enemy. All he knew was that he was amazing and for the first time in years, he could hear a song beginning to form inside of him. And that's when darkness overtook him and he fainted.
When he woke up he was in a bedroom that he didn't recognize. The boy that had rescued him was outside the door talking to another boy. Leo watched them curiously. The pretty one had changed out of his combat outfit into ordinary yet feminine clothes. The older was much more masculine.
He didn't know what they were saying but he felt jealous of the little ways the manly one brushed hair out of the tan one's face, their intimate eye contact, their loving smiles. It was obvious they were a couple even before he saw them kiss. For some reason this fact hurt Leo.
"Oh." The tan boy grinned when he looked into the bedroom and saw Leo was awake, coming in quickly. "I'm glad to see you're finally up."
"I'll get dad." The manly one spoke from the door before disappearing from sight. Leo hated him instantly.
"How are you feeling?" The pretty boy questioned, snapping Leo's attention back to him. He was leaning over the bed, close enough that Leo could smell him, the faint scent of coconut and vanilla.
"I'm okay." He sat up slightly as the boy put a cool hand on his forehead, causing him to shiver at the contact. He had to remind himself that the tan male beside him had a boyfriend. He had to shut off any emotions brewing for him. "Who are you and where am I?"
"Good. Your fever is back down at least." He let his hand fall from Leo's forehead but left it resting on his uninjured shoulder. "I'm Cha Hakyeon." His smile was cute and a little sassy. "Welcome to Hyde." And that's how Leo became a monster hunter, mentally vowing to himself that he would do anything to keep this angel safe.
Hongbin POV~
A 17 year old Hongbin smiled as he pulled a fresh batch of mint chocolate cookies from the oven. He'd made them for his mother who was working downstairs in the family flower shop, preparing to close for the night. His father had died before Hongbin was even born so it was just him and his mother against the world. Not that Hongbin minded. He loved his mom and wouldn't give her up for all the fathers in the world.
"Binnie please come down here for a moment. The roses are looking a little brown." His mother's musical voice called up the stairs. Hongbin turned off the oven and put the cookies out to cool before rushing down to help his mother. He felt lucky to have a mother that accepted his special talents so gratefully.
"I'm here." He replied as reached the bottom step, coming out from around the counter. His mother smiled and held out a vase of dying roses. He took it happily, each flower gently with a fingertip. Slowly the regained life. Satisfied, he placed the roses back on the shelf.
"You're amazing." His mother hugged him and he grinned.
"I made you cookies. Go have a snack and I'll close up the shop." He gave her a gentle nudge toward the steps leading to their small apartment.
"You are the best son ever." His mother kissed his cheek and headed toward the steps. The bell on the shop door let out a charming noise as it slowly opened. He and his mother both turned to greet their new guest. Only what stepped in from the night wasn't human.
"Kumiho..." Hongbin whispered the name of a creature from a book of fairytales his mother used to read him as a kid. But they weren't real. They couldn't be. Fear caused him to black out. He wasn't sure how much time had lapsed before he snapped out of the terror haze. One moment the creature was at the door and the next he knew there was blood everywhere and he could see his mother's legs poking out from under a fallen display case.
The creature turned to him and his chest hurt. He fell to his knees, everything going dark again. The next time he comes to it's dawn and he's in a cave, the monster standing menacingly at the entrance. He whimpered quietly. His head hurt and his back ached. He wondered if he had fainted back at the flower shop and landed on something hard. He wondered how he had ended up in a cave with a weird monster gate keeper. He wondered how his life had gone so suddenly wrong.
"Taek! You're so slow!" He heard a voice complain from the woods. Hongbin wanted to yell at them to run but couldn't risk making the kumiho want to eat his face. As it was, it was already growling, staring in the direction of the voice.
"Hakyeon. Shut up or I'll kill you and tell your boyfriend that you were eaten and I couldnt save you." A grumpy voice replied.
"Jung Taekwoon, you ! You know I broke up with him over a year ago!" The other voice screetched.
"Well he apparently doesn't care. Just get back with him."
"Aish! You stay here, you ! I'm going to save the kid myself." A guy of about 20 come out of the woods, his skin was darker than Hongbin would have expected but his hair was brilliant blood red. The kumiho saw him emerge and lept at him. Hongbin expected to see him attacked, mauled to death in front of him. But a small, playful smirk spread across the man's face before he performed a spinning kick, connecting with the side of the Kumiho's head, sending it into a bush with a yelp. The man cursed as look at his foot in disgust.
"Idiot. Hurt your foot didn't you? I told you to get steel toed boots." His companion finally emerged, pulling a pistol out of the red head's back pocket, causing him to blush. All Hongbin could do was watch, too shocked to speak. Those two were acting like the monster crawling out of the bushes was no big deal.
"Just shut up and aim for the head." The older one rolled his eyes as he pulled another gun from his coat sleeve. The grumpy one distracted the beast as the smiling one headed toward Hongbin, both shooting at the monster as it leapt through the air at the dark haired distraction. It took three shots a piece but the creature was dead when it knocked the man it had been attacking to the ground. Without thinking, Hongbin created a thick bed of clover to break his fall as best as he could.
"Thanks." The dark haired man half whispers, clearly not a fan of talking to strangers, as he rolled the kumiho's body off of him and stood, frowning at the blood covering him.
"Come on." The red head smiled kindly as he extended a hand to Hongbin. "Let's get you home." Hongbin took his hand and let him help him to his feet, a sob escaping him as he remembered his mother.
"I... I no longer have a home..." He breaks, tears falling down his cheeks, his body shaking with pent up emotions. He felt arms wrap around him, trying to protect him from his pain.
"You do. If you want it. You have a home with us." The tan man whispered, rocking him gently. "Let's get you home." Hongbin knew one thing. If he couldn't go home to his mother, he was relieved to know he had a place with these strangers. His personal saviors.
Hyuk POV~
"Sanghyuk! Have you cleaned your bedroom yet?!" 16 year old Hyuk's mother shouted up the steps at him. His bedroom was the first one on the upstairs landing. Sometimes he wondered if that was simply to make yelling at him easier.
"I'm working on it!" He hollard back, not even bothering to look away from his video game. Honestly he hadn't even made an attempt to clean his room but he had been on a roll and wasn't willing to wreck it just to pick up some dirty underwear.
"Don't make me send your father up there!" She threatened, clearly not believing her son.
"Do as your mother says!" He heard his father call from the kitchen. He could picture him sitting at the table, sipping his coffee, newspaper in his hands, just trying to get his wife to stop giving him the death glare.
"I'm working on it!" He insistee as his character on the screen ran out if ammo and a mutant ripped him apart. A loud curse escaped his lips and turned off his tv.
"Han Sanghyuk! Watch your language!" His mother scolded from the foot of the stairs before retreating to the kitchen to cook dinner.
"Sorry mom!" He laughed and shook his head, finally beginning to clean his room after hours of his mother nagging. It wasn't like his room was filthy or anything. Only one of the take out containers resembled a fuzzy green animal rather than food. And he had been pretty sure he wore that pair of pants draped over his desk a few weeks prior. Okay. So maybe his room had needed a little cleaning. But it wasn't like it had been some urgent thing. It didn't even smell too bad yet.
A few minutes into cleaning he heard a few thumps from down below in the kitchen. He wondered if his mother was chopping vegetables or something and went back to work on his room. Heavy footsteps had come up the steps a few minutes later and Hyuk nonchalantly dumped a box of video games on his bed, figuring if his mom was coming up the steps it was dinner time.
"Hey mom. What'd you make for dinner?" He asked as he opened the door. What met him wasn't his mother though, but a snarling beast covered in some sort of red, sticky substance. He cursed and slammed the door and locked it. The drop from his bedroom window would be too high to jump from safely. Besides. His bedroom door already looked like it had began to give up its battle against the monster.
The bathroom. He opened the door to his bathroom and slammed it, locking that as well. He heard his bedroom door splinter apart as he opened the bathroom window. He could probably swing onto the branch outside the window. But he'd have to detour the mutt somehow.
Quickly, he went through and turned the shower and sink both on full, as hot as they would go. He climbed onto the window sill and prepared to jump. The door burst open as a van screetched to a stop in his driveway, three men getting out. Two rushed inside while the third ran to the tree.
Hyuk sent scalding hot water at the monster as it lept at him, causing it to yelp and back away from the bathroom for a moment. As he jumped to the tree branch and swung to the ground he heard gunshots inside his room. He lost control of the water as he hit the ground, sending it back to it's usual flow.
"Are you hurt?" The guy that had ran to the tree helped him to his feet. He look to be about 18 and was really pretty with longer, curly hair.
"I'm cool." Hyuk smiled and the guy grinned back. He had some pretty attractive dimples. "I'm Sanghyuk."
"Hongbin." He shook his hand and Hyuk was surprised at how soft his hands were.
"We killed it!" A voice called from his front door. Hyuk looked to see a red head of about 21 getting a piggy back ride from a grumpy dark haired 20 year old.
"What happened to Princess Hakyeon?" Hongbin sounded concerned but Hyuk was watching the door, waiting for two other people to exit the house.
"Taekwoon just loves me so much he wanted to carry me." The redhead replied. His doorway remained empty.
"The idiot sprained his ankle walking down the steps." The grumpy one informed. Still nobody else exited the house.
"My parents...?" Hyuk couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. The redhead's mood darkened instantly.
"I am so sorry..." He half-whispered. Hyuk hissed in frustration, fighting back tears. He felt arms wrap around him and looked to see Hongbin.
"My mom's gone too." He sounded so vulnerable that Hyuk wanted nothing more than to comfort him. Pushing back his own pain, he wrapped his arms around Hongbin, kissing the top of his head.
"It's okay. You can cry. I've got you." And he meant it. He never intended on letting him go.
Ravi POV~
It was another night of hell at 21 year old Ravi's parents's house. The terms of freak, homo, and several other hurtful words had been thrown around. His father had hit him. He didn't even live with these people anymore. He had just stopped in to check on his parents like a good son.
But no. Like every other time, it was a fight. He had snapped. He was over it. He wouldn't take it anymore. He couldn't. Who did they think they were? What kind of people could treat their own son this way? It wasn't his fault he was born with some weird super power.
He had sent a burst of energy, a small fireball between him and his father to stop him from taking another swing before grabbing his coat and leaving. He could hear his parents both screaming at him in anger, telling him to never come back. He hadn't planned on coming back after that anyway.
He put on his headphones and cranked up his MP3 player as he started walking home. His nerves tingled from the adrenaline of the fight. He couldn't wait to get home and work out his agression by remixing rap songs on his laptop.
Halfway home his Mp3 player died. That's when heard it. The soft footsteps behind him. He walked faster. They spend up. He ran. They followed. He turned to shoot a fire ball at the stalker and everything went black.
When he came to, he was in a room resembling a prison cell, shackled to a wall. He looked over to see a sleeping guy with brown hair inside it with him. Ravi heard a scream and looked through the bars across the hall to see a girl fighting against chains as a creature, his best bet was vampire, started drinking her blood. He panicked, trying to use his powers to melt the chain binding him but whatever they were made of suppressed his abilities. He was sure he was going to die there.
Ken POV~
He sat in a swing at the park, using his power to push himself without having to move his legs. How was he going to explain to his parents that he was flunking out of college? 22 years old and with no future. He didn't want to have that conversation. They already told him he needed to get his head out of the clouds. He just couldn't make himself focus on stuff like math. Comics though, he could easily get behind that industry. Who better to sympathize with superheroes than someone with superpowers?
But that hadn't been the point. The point was that his parents thought he was an idiot and would disown him if he failed out of the university his father had to pull strings to get him into. Which was exactly what he was doing. Ken was contemplating just never telling them and running away to live in the woods.
He heard a shuffling behind him but ignored it. It wasn't like it was weird, being at the park and all. A stick snapped but he still ignored it, his mind too preoccupied with the impending argument with his parents. The person making the noise got no recognition from him until Ken felt a solid, sharp pain in the back of the head. He cursed and faceplanted off the swing, losing consciousness.
He opened his eyes to darkness. The soft sound of clanking metal could be heard nearby. He tried to stand by fell, something keeping his arms from allowing him to fully get to his feet. The clanking noise got louder.
"Hey. You're awake." A deep voice spoke. He turned his face toward the source. "I'm Wonshik."
"Jaehwan. Where are we?" He tested the range of motion he was allowed. Not much. At least the cuffs around his wrists weren't too tight.
"I don't know. But I promise. We'll get out of here." He didn't know this Wonshik person but he sounded so confident. Ken couldn't help but believe him.
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