Title: Who You Are

Author/Artist: [REDACTED]

Your Giftee: Sandy

Rating: PG

Wordcounts: 5,100

Warnings (if applicable): angst

Author/Artist’s note: Happy holidays, Sandy! I tried my best to write this one shot like you wanted me to but I wasn't able to write politicly in English. I tried but well... Still I hope you enjoy reading the fanfic.

With a pleasant-sounding voice announced the news presenter of the best-known television station in Korea today's news. Her voice echoed through the large canteen of the same company the news presenter works for, but almost no one of the few people present were interested in the latest news. Only a few of the many employees were still working at this late hour as most of the staff already went home a few hours ago. Most of the people in the canteen had been working on the currently running program and therefore already knew very well what the news presenter will talk about in the next fifteen minutes. Tired and a little bored sat a few employees together in smaller groups and started talking silently with one another. Only occasionally would someone turn his or her head toward the TV to listen what the presenter was saying.

HyukJae, a young man in his mid-twenties, sat alone at a long table, which wooden surface still had some clear visible traces of the lunch on it that took place a few hours ago. Bored, he supported his head with his left arm and pecked with the other hand at a small serving of fried rice in front of him. Again and again he put a small heap of rice between his chopsticks, but when the rice was halfway to his mouth, he sighed and lowered the long metal sticks into the bowl. After several attempts he finally gave up and put the thin metal rod next to the small but still warm bowl of fried rice.

With his fingers he ruffled briefly through his hair and leaned himself back against the chair. He let his head sink slowly to the upper edge of the chair and closed his eyes shortly after wards. He wanted some peace to think about his current, to fail doomed project, but to find something as precious as calmness in a hectic company as this one was is extremely rare to find.

The thoughts in his head were constantly spinning around that future project. A project which concept simply didn't fit into the picture of the station at all. He desperately tried to think of a new concept and topic for the series, but his original idea was simply to strong to be forced into one of these 'safe' pattern that the broadcasting channel likes to show to it's audience so much. Nothing seemed to fit even slightly. To his biggest miserable was his executive producer expecting him to file a brief report on the improvements and the progress of his work in less then an hour.

With a deep sight he opened his eyes and started to flinch hard when his eyes met someone else's the second he had opened his eyes.

Only a few inches away from his face was the wide grinning visage of his best friend Kyuhyun. Satisfied with HyukJae's reaction began the slightly younger male to laugh out loud.

"You should have seen your face. It looked as if you had seen a ghost or something”, the brown-haired cried as he grabbed for the chair next to HyukJae and dropped himself on it. Visibly happy pulled the younger the tray with the fried rice towards himself and looked very interested at the remainings. His eyes sparkled with joy at the sight of the small but delicious meal.

"That was not funny!", the redhead said pouting playfully and watched how the younger gently lifted the small metal bowl with rice and began to sniff it with great anticipation. Without hesitation, he took the same sticks HukJae had used and pushed a small bite of the warm meal in the mouth. A satisfied smile crept on HyukJae's face as he watched how the brunette twisted his face in disgust. With a loud crash put the younger the small bowl back on the tray.

"I'll tell you what's not funny: The smell of this nasty stuff"

"Didn’t it match your expectations?", the elder asked gleefully with a big grin on his face which earned him a contemptuous snort of the younger. Disgusted pushed Kyuhyun the tray back to its original place and threw the small metal bowl another contemptuous look.

"You know that this stuff tastes like ashes in my mouth", the younger replied with a slight whining sound in his voice and shuddered briefly at the thought of the taste of the meal.

"And yet you were the one who had stuffed those grains into your mouth", the redhead said visibly amused by his best friend who didn’t seem to enjoy the situation as much as he did. Clearly annoyed turned the other towards his friend and hit him unbelievably hard on his left upper arm. Cursing, he rubbed with his other hand the now slightly throbbing spot. He knew Kyuhyun well enough to know that he had not meant to hurt him. They were fooling around like this quite often but he would have to wait for quite a long time to receive an apology from the later.

"You're very early today, Kyuhyun", HyukJae remarked after taking a quick glance at his writs watch which told him that it was shortly after 9.30 PM.

Kyuhyun, who was still muttering hateful words about the small bowl in front of HyukJae, suddenly became silent and looked up at his best friend. A renewed broad smirk appeared on the face of the younger and revealed with it two pointed teeth, which were one of the many reasons why the brunette had only a few friends at the company. The young man was a vampire. One of the few who had been employed by the broadcasting channel over the last few years.

Since the agreement of peace in 2015 between humans and various creatures, of which many people had hoped that they were only figments of their imagination had not much time passed by. Although every government in the world was trying to unite it’s people, the reality was shockingly different. Just as before the agreement, the ‘normal’ people preferred to stay away from the so called ‘monster’. Many even avoided leaving the house at night. Too big was the fear of the unknown. The fear that the terrible stories they had heard as a child could be real.

The vampire grinned mischievously and confirmed with a wink, that there is a very good reason for his unusual early appearance at work. HyukJae looked at his best friend with curious eyes and waited for the other to tell him the reason, but the younger kept silent. The only hint he gave was that the redhead would see or rather hear why he decided against his usual habit to arrive after the time he’s supposed to, soon enough.

HyukJae wrinkled his forehead. He knew right away that what ever his friend was planning wouldn’t end good. He had a bad feeling about this and he didn’t know why but somehow he thought that KyuHyun’s obvious evil plan must have something to with the somewhat snobbish, new boss of the younger. The mere fact that the later had started to harass Kyuhyun from the moment their eyes had met told him enough. HyukJae knew his best friend far too well to know that he wouldn’t put up with a person like that for long.

Just as HyukJae wanted to warn the vampire about the consequences he would have to face if he did something stupid, made a softly spoken word of the television presenter stop him from his action. For a short while he sat there and listened to the news. He hoped to have misheard that word, but only few more sentences from the presenter about the unplanned special announcement confirmed that he didn’t. He immediately turned to the flickering screen and froze when he saw the amazing as well as horrific images on TV.

A medium-sized multi-family house had caught fire and was threatening with total destruction. Playful dancing flames came out of every window of the house and coloured the light grey walls black as the night. People were standing in a safe distance to the burning danger. Some were shedding bitter tears of sadness and held each other thigh in their arms. This seemed like an ordinary tragically event that included fire, but what looked like an regular fire for most people was by far more than that. One look at the yellow-red flames was enough for HyukJae to know that this was a magical fire. Phoenix fire to be exact; the most dangerous fire in the entire world.

HyukJae wasn’t the only one that noticed the breaking news. Many of his colleges suddenly started to turn their heads towards the TV to listen to what the news presenter is going to report. Soft whispers began to erupt as soon as they saw the images. Although the redhead could not understand the exact words of his colleagues, one penetrated word came to his ears more often then others: Phoenix.

Theories and information about the long believed to be extinct fire bird were shared with their neighbours. Curiosity and fear could be heard out of the few sentences that the few people present exchanged. The noise increased rapidly. It even got so noisy in the room that that the following words of the reporter became completely inaudible. A big hulk-like man, however, got so annoyed by the forever talking crowd that he got up and went closer to the TV to turn up the volume.

"According to the property management were ten parties living in the building behind me. Eight of them were families with younger children. It is not known if some of the parties were in the house at the time of the outbreak. The fire was reported to the fire department of Suwon at 7PM this evening. Despite all efforts were the firefighters not able to take the fire under their control, which lead to the guess of it is a fire caused by a phoenix. A local whit sorcerer was able to confirm the suspicion just a few minutes ago. He is trying to extinguish the fire with the help of his magic at this moment. The local police also reported that other whit sorcerers as well as some publicly known waterbenders are travelling here to help out"

"I can’t believe that there are still some of these fires birds alive", the redhead heard his best friend quietly mutter and turned to face him.

Spellbound was the vampire starring at the coloured pictures of the fire. His face looked serious, but in his eyes sparkled a glint of compassion for those who had lost everything by this horrible incident.

"It has been years since they last reported on a phoenix fire. How could the so-called sharp eyes of the police miss that these arsonists were still living among us?"

"If only it was normal fire. Why does it have to be phoenix fire? Those poor souls of these families. Through this incident, they can never be born again. It's such a shame!"

"I hope they get the culprit once they slack the fire. If there will be no phoenixes in the future it will be the best for all of us”, some people in the canteen exclaimed with loud voices to which most murmured approvingly. More and more started coursing the so-called fire birds with angry voices. Many even started discussing about how they could find, report or even kill such a threatening being the easiest. HyukJae's vampire friend eagerly joined the discussions of the other employees.

HyukJae listened to every word his colleagues were saying without stating his opinion on this subject. Each of their words echoed in his head. Every word they said felt like a slap in his face. Breathing was getting harder for him by every passing second. The reason for that was a well-kept secret. A secret that would make him lose everything he holds dear if anyone would find out about it. He was one of those beings who were described by many as the bird of death. He was a phoenix.

"Maybe there more of these creatures. Do you remember the reward that was posted on them? Those were the days, I tell ya. Maybe there will be a new tender posted soon. I could make good use that money right now", KyuHyun said excitedly and turned back to HyukJae to talk with him about that great opportunity to get some 'easy' money. His best friend was serious and determined about this.

The redhead nodded slightly, but instantly turned his gaze away from his friend and let it wander through the canteen where his colleagues were still discussing the just seen report. Many were sitting together in different and bigger groups than before. Nobody wanted to sit by himself at a moment like this. No one except one: Lee DongHae.

HyukJae didn't know much about the young black-haired man sitting a few tables away from his. If he wouldn't have been introduced to DongHae a year ago by the annual membership training of the broadcasting channel, he wouldn't even know his name. Nevertheless, was a strange feeling creeping over every time he saw this young man. A feeling of familiarity, although he didn't know DongHae at all. That same feeling scared HyukJae stiff.

It would be a lie if he would say that he wouldn't like to get to know the others though. Maybe when he'll get to know the other a bit better he would find a reasonable explanation for those strange feeling he was having. And honestly, who would not like to met that fine young man? With his handsome face and his manly stature, he had probably broken many hearts of women as well as men in his young life.

As HyukJae looked at the black-haired man, he realized that he was also looking at him at that moment. It seemed almost as if he wanted to say something to him, but he made no move to come over and actually talk to him. Quickly turned the redhead his eyes away from that stunning man, and was instantly met the slightly confused eyes of his best friend.

"Who is that? A friend of yours?”, KyuHyun asked curiously, but HyukJae immediately shook his head in responds to the younger. Because of his fast answer, gave KyuHyun him the look of reproach. It was rather obvious that he thought that there must be more to it as HyukJae was answering way to fast. KyuHyun asked again but the redheads answer stayed the same. Eventually he slightly shrug it of and began to talk about his favourite topic: video games.

HyukJae himself liked to play those games from time to time, however, he could not really concentrate on what his friend was talking about. Although he nodded and agreed with his friend on certain statements, his thoughts were still at Suwon where the disaster took place.

Without really intending to do so, did HyukJae turn his head back to the place where DongHae sat. When his eyes met the figure of the young man he was surprised to realize that DongHae was still staring at him. Just like before, did it seem as if he wanted to say something to him through his eyes. HyukJae saw how the other slowly formed some words with his lips, but he wasn't able to understand them. Confused, he furrowed his brow. He had a queasy feeling in his stomach. Something was wrong. He could feel it.

When the black-haired finally stood up and started to directly approach him, began an inner alarm bell to ring loudly in HyukJae's ears. Without a warning, he abruptly stood up, took his tray and left the canteen.

Kyuhyun, who was just about to narrate one of his most impressive battles of his last game, stared after his friend in confusion and felt somewhat offended.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Completely exhausted entered HyukJae the rooftop of the broadcasting studio. He already had loosened his tie in the stairwell and let the now totally useless fabric dangle loosely around his neck. With weary yet quick steps approached the redhead the railing and leaned with his hands on it.

To relax himself a bit he closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool night air, which was gently caressed his skin. Slowly, he breathed in and out as an attempt to calm down his racing thoughts. It's been almost two hours since the news about the fire had been published, but his heart was still pounding like crazy with excitement and fear in his chest. The feeling that had caused him to storm out of the canteen was still lurking in his stomach area too.

When the redhead opened his eyes again, he stared at the sky. Initially, the sky looked black and abandoned. The lights of the city seemed to want to prevent him from seeing the bright shining stars, but after a while of constant starring its beautiful silver light came through to him. A star after another appeared before his eyes, which made the darkness of the sky a little more bearable.

Quietly, he prayed for the poor souls who had been killed in the accident in Suwon. This was a ritual that he had started to do after his first rebirth. He liked the idea that the unlucky souls that were caught in the destroying fire of a phoenix wouldn't be lost but up there. In the stars. That thought alone made him feel a little better about himself. It gave him the strength to not see himself as the monster everyone else was afraid of.

The sound of moving cars in the distance came to his ears, which let his eyes wander from the star filled sky to the light filled city in front of him. Like a sparkling jewel were the many lights dancing in the dark. A soft smile appeared on his face when he leaned slightly forward and fully propped his arms on the railing.

"Beautiful, isn't it?", someone suddenly asked which tore the phoenix so abruptly out of his thoughts that this winced.

HyukJae didn't know who the voice belonged to, but the same alarming feeling as before in the canteen rose up in him again. Instantly, the redhead straightened himself up and turn around to see who decided to come to the rooftop this late at night. Astound he found out that no other than Lee DongHae was standing right next to him. The later was leaning against the railing while looking at the city with a gentle smile on his face.

The black-haired turned to HyukJae and showed him a soft smile. The phoenix swallowed loudly and made a step backwards as a precaution, which earned him a reproachful look from DongHae. Sheepishly turned HyukJae his head away and looked at the city again.

A low murmur came to the ears of the phoenix which made him take a curious look at the other male. Hastily strained the redhead his ears to catch one or two of the few words spoken, but after a few seconds fell the young man beside him silent again. From the corner of his eyes, he watched as the dark-haired still smiled slightly with his gaze on the city again.

"Why are you here?", the phoenix asked after a long and somewhat uncomfortable silence while staring DongHae straight in his eyes.

"To be honest, I'm here because of you", replied the other with a sincere tone of voice and leaned casually against the railing. Suspiciously eyed HyukJae the black-haired man before he slowly began to speak again: "Because of me?"

DongHae nodded, broke away from the railing and came a few steps toward the redhead. Only when he was right in front of HyukJae, he stopped walking. HyukJae's heart was beating with excitement and nerviness. Although his inner alarm bells held a permanent ringing concert, HyukJae couldn't - or rather didn't wanted to - show that he rather would take a few steps back to create some distance between him and the stranger.

"I terribly missed you", DongHae finally said with a gentle tone of voice which made the redhead look at him in confusion while tilting his head slightly.
Missing? How could he miss him when they didn't know each other. Perhaps mistook the dark-haired man him with someone else. Maybe he looked incredibly similar to someone DongHae once know or liked. Maybe...

"You have to confuse me with someone else", the phoenix said while smiling politely. Hastily he bowed and excused himself. He hadn't even made four steps forward when he heard how DongHae quietly but still clearly audible made a statement that took HyukJae by surprise and made him stay rooted to the spot.

"So it's true that a phoenix forgets everything after the first rebirth"

With eyes wide with fear HyukJae turned back around to face DongHae and asked him to repeat what he said before, but a glance at the dark-haired male told him that he had not misunderstood his previous words.

HyukJae's legs suddenly didn't seem to want to carry his weight anymore Without a warning they gave in beneath him and he found himself lying on the cold hard ground. Stunned, he gasped for breath. Someone knew what he was. This was his end. It must be. If DongHae tells his secret to anyone, he would probably be imprisoned somewhere – when he's lucky. But who knows what they would do to him in a place like that.

Hasty footsteps came running towards him. Only a few seconds later was DongHae down on his knees next to HyukJae. Gently he laid a hand on HyukJae's shoulder which made the phoenix look up slowly. He looked the dark-haired man straight in the eye, which seemed to be happy as well as sad at the same time. Even the smile that DongHae gave him seemed rather weak and fake.

Without a warning drew DongHae HyukJae closer to himself and held him tightly in his arms. HyukJae didn't fight the embrace. He actually should get away from the stranger, spread his wings and fly to another place. A place to start over and live a new life. A life in which he was safe but although alone. But something about the young man stopped him from doing so. Without knowing why he felt neither fear nor the urge to flee at that moment. Everything about him was so familiar to HyukJae: the warmth of his embrace, the way he had just spoken, and even his smell.

Slowly placed DongHae his head on HyukJae's shoulder and let it rest there for a while. A contented sigh escaped DongHae's throat before he closed his eyes. As if he was in some kind of a daze, HyukJae did the same and leaned against the other male.

DongHae pulled the Phoenix a little closer towards himself as if he wanted to show him that he wouldn't let him go of him any time soon. Carefully lifted DongHae his right hand and began to slowly over HyukJae's hair. Unconsciously leaned the redhead against the gentle touch with relish which made a small smile appear on DongHae's face.

"I've finally found you", HyukJae heard the dark-haired man next to him say, while he was still tightened his grip.

HyukJae gently pushed DongHae away to look at him. Although DongHae didn't seem to be very found of the idea of letting go of the phoenix he finally relented. Curiously eyed HyukJae the other's face until his eyes finally remained lying on the others chocolate brown ones. Wonderfully warm, familiar-looking brown eyes were looking straight back at him. The red-haired noticed how DongHae gave him a gentle smile, but shortly afterwards that smile got blurry and all the young phoenix could see were those wonderful eyes. HyukJae started blinked a few times to see clear again, but it was no use. An acrid smell of smoke filled his nose. Was something burning? But where was the fire?

Hastily HyukJae looked around but far and wide he couldn't see, feel or even hear any fire. When he wanted to turn back to DongHae, he realized that although he could see the young man clear again, the expression in the others eyes had changed. Fear reflected in them. Also, he was... younger. He saw how DongHae was shouting something to him, but no words came to his ears.

The sound of flames were heard after a few seconds. The environment had changed. He was now no longer on top of the television studios. No, he was in a small wooden hut. A wooden hut that went up in flames.

"You have to get out of here. Quick! Hyukkie please!”, HyukJae heard DongHae with tears in his eyes yell.

HyukJae tried to answer, but his mouth didn't want to obey him. The rest of his body seemed frozen and refused to carry out any action he wanted. The young phoenix felt how DongHae roughly grabbed his arm and tried to drag him outside, but it was no use. He couldn't move. Desperate, he closed his eyes so that he won't be able to see the threatening flames in front of him. And then he heard it. A scream.

Suddenly HyukJae opened his eyes and jumped up. Unconsciously, he summoned his wings while jumping and found himself floating in the air only a few seconds later. Confused he starred at the so familiar rooftop of the company he works for. Where was the hut? Where was the fire?

The cold and wet air that tugged on his magnificent burning wings made him finally realized that the previous scene didn't really take place. Everything he had seen and heard seemed to have been an old memory that had returned after so many years. A memory in which also DongHae had been in. The day of his first rebirth.

HyukJae's eyes moved to the roof where DongHae befuddled looking up at him. It looked as if he had fallen to the ground when the phoenix jumped up. The dark-haired male formed a wide smile as he saw HyukJae's true form. He was holding his left arm with his right hand. HyukJae's eyes widened in shock. Had he hurt DongHae just now? Did he burn him with his wings?

Without hesitation flew HyukJae back down and landed right next to DongHae. Worried, he knelt down beside the young man and looked at his arm worriedly.

"Is everything all right? Did I burn you?”, he asked nervously as he gently pushed DongHae's hand away from the spot he had previously held.

"Everything is fine. See!", DongHae replied with a wide smile and showed him his arm.

The spot where HyukJae taught he had burned the other seemed perfectly fine. The other male didn't seem to have gotten a scratch when he jumped away and made the other fall on the ground.

When HyukJae wanted to stand up again were a pair of arms warping around his neck which prevented him from leaving DongHae alone on the ground. Instantly he wanted to push the dark-haired away from him to avoid that he would caught fire, but stopped when he noticed how the arms of others were covered with a fine layer of magical water. This could mean only one thing.

"You are... a waterbender! Then that means that I... Does the police already know? Are they waiting for me in the lobby already?”, the phoenix asked with a fearful heart.

HyukJae knew that water benders had once been the only ally of his kind. It was an alliance that was beneficial for both sites. Waterbenders drew their strength through the flames of the phoenix, while the phoenix had to rely on waterbenders for a save rebirth. Because of their magical water they were the only ones that were able to control the deathly flames during the state of rebirth, which saved many humans from a certain death for many many years. But that alliance was broken by some vengeful waterbenders a few years ago. Waterbenders, who had lost people they had held dear during the rebirth of a phoenix. One phoenix after another has been betrayed, until only a handful of surviving fire birds were left.

Abruptly let DongHae go of the phoenix's neck.

"I haven't told anyone. Why would I tell the government about who and what you are when I spend the last 200 years looking for you?"

HyukJae started to breath easily again after hearing DongHae's words and looked at the other gratefully. A soft smile formed itself on HyukJae's face which made the waterbender very happy.

"You might not remember now, but we belonged together once. We were like Laurel and Hardy in a 'When Harry Met Sally' format. I was there when you were born again for the first time. Unfortunately, was my power not fully awaken back then and I wasn't able to help you. I couldn't prevent everything from burning down, but now I can. I can control those flames of yours when you can't anymore at your next rebirth. If you let me help you then there will be no news about any tragic fires like the one today. It won't happen anymore. At least not for you"

"But why..." HyukJae began, but before he could finish his sentence started DongHae speaking again.

"Many of my kind seem to have forgotten the old vow that phoenix and waterbenders made many thousands years ago. But I didn't forget and I don't intend to do so. Before your first rebirth, I often was able to count on your help. Today I want you to know that you can count on me too. I want to be with you. I want to be there when you start to remember our shared past. Can I, Hyukkie? Will you let me stay?"

Full of hopes looked DongHae at HyukJae and held out a hand. The young phoenix looked at the hand thoughtfully, but soon he began to smile and took the outstretched hand of the other. He somehow knew that the other wasn't lying. That he could trust him. But most importantly, he wasn't alone anymore.