Taehyung stroked Luca's back out of boredom. Each time, the cat bristled, baring her fangs as a warning. He was being too aggressive. He knew that. But, he couldn't help it when his nerves were on edge and he could do nothing to combat the silence.
The cemetery was quiet. Too quiet. He'd watched Grey enter around sunrise this morning and he hadn't seen any movement since. By now, the sun was setting and he wondered when she planned on leaving. Jin would have dinner ready soon, and tonight it was Grey's favorite. An early birthday gift and a chance for Anaphiel to show their condolences. Well... show their condolences as best as they could. Namjoon tutored them on how to make humans feel better, and Hoseok went on the internet to find other ways. Each of them made a card, some bought flowers, others found other sentimental gifts to package up and send with Taehyung when he followed her this morning.
With his free hand, Taehyung fiddled with the ribbon tying together all their homemade cards. His was the best. At least, he hoped she would think so.
"Petting me is supposed to ease your anxiety, not add to it," Luca growled.
Taehyung took his hand off of Luca. She scampered away, sitting in the other seat at their iron-wrought bench. Oddly enough, the bench faced the cemetery. Taehyung thought about it's placement. Who would voluntarily watch a collection of graves?
He asked, "You think she will like the gifts?"
"She will melt for them. A group of numb young men tackled a heap of glue, glitter, and stickers to see her smile. I, however, do not think Seokjin will be pleased by the amount of sparkle you all left to clean up later."
Taehyung chuckled. "He will be fine."
Luca sighed heavily. "I can only imagine what it must be like to lose a family. Especially before a birthday." When Taehyung's face crinkled in confusion, Luca knew to elaborate. She said, "It is hard for even me to explain Death, as you and I have never had it looming over our existence."
Taehyung raised an eyebrow. Luca's ears perked, a gesture equivalent to a shrug. "Well, we have never had it haunting us before this entire mess."
"That's better," Taehyung said.
"If I can find a way to translate what Grey is feeling, then imagine all of your brothers. Even if you cannot clearly tell one another you love him, it is implicit that you would do anything for them. Then, one day, they vanish. There is no Anaphiel. Think of that."
"I can't." Taehyung crossed one leg over the other. He physically could not consider it. It made him sick to his stomach. "They're all I've ever known."
"Exactly. She deserves this time to grieve." Luca leaned against the bench's arm railing. Quickly, she added, "Without our prying eyes."
Taehyung rolled his eyes. "You're on this again?"
"She explicitly asked every one of us not to follow her for the sake of private time. You worriers could not respect her wishes."
"I'll be damned if she steps outside without protection," Taehyung said. As though to make a point, he shifted his position and stared into the graveyard with stiff concentration. "Nothing touches her."
Luca made a hmph sound, curling into a ball. "Do I attribute this loyalty to your wolfish behavior, or a change of heart?"
"Call it what you want."
"Wolves are typically territorial. It is okay to embrace such animalistic tendencies," Luca said.
"Embrace my animalistic tendencies. Like the way you embrace licking your--"
Luca glowered. "Do not. I do not enjoy that. Cats must bathe."
Taehyung corrected himself, diligently phrasing one word after another. "I'm sorry. You know how I get when I'm around you in this form."
"Yes. It is in your doggish nature to bark at felines. Such a base trait."
"Anyway," Taehyung breathed, remembering that this was his king. Not an obnoxious hairball, but his sovereign. "My powers don't work like the rest of yours. Full body transformations don't come without consequences."
Luca nuzzled her face into her paws, basking in the dying evening sun. "What happens when we need you, Taehyung? When you have no other choice but to welcome what you are. Wear your new skin for everyone to see. You cannot hide your strength forever."
"When I go under, everything is instinctual. I choose to lose my grip on reality and let him take over. What he says goes. If he wants to hunt, we hunt. If he wants to kill, we kill. Maybe that's my own individual curse, this alter ego. He is the reason why I stopped transforming. I won't unleash that again."
He considered his word choice. Specifically, unleash. A word synonymous to release, in which whatever deep, primal desire he held in his chest ravaged the world around him because there was an opening. Uncontrollable and insistent, it spilled from him in droves. Tearing, slashing, clawing because it could and it loved the sensation of doing so. How did it get to this point? How did he fall this far? When did "unleash" become his defining term?
Was that the consequence of staying in this god-forsaken world? Losing himself?
Luca said, "Perhaps that is your issue. You believe that there is a he."
Taehyung did not understand. Did not really want to, but heard it anyway.
"He is someone you made up to assuage your fears and suppress your anger. He is everything you stowed away from the beginning of this journey, through the middle, and now nearing the end. A combination of damaged hope, esteem, and security. He is a torrent of emotion. A manifestation of what you, truly in your heart, wish to do. When you look him in the eye, you are looking at yourself. And the amount of destruction you wish to wreak is what frightens you."
"That is not me." Taehyung said.
"That is all of you. Glorious and awe-inspiring. Still vulnerable and wounded. Not a slave to the Dark, but the beast that shrinks its presence with his glower alone."
Taehyung stood, this onslaught of positivity far too much to handle in one dose. He wanted to walk down the block or take his coat off. His fingers cracked at his sides, aching to do something. To expend the energy that suddenly overtook him.
Frustrated that he had to stay in one place, he directed his discomfort onto the cat. "How can you say such things?"
"I know who you are, Taehyung." She sat up, tail flicking back and forth mockingly. "A lot passes behind that blank stare. It is not your true face."
"Let's take a walk," the Beast growled.
"Another animalistic tendency. Energy bursts." Luca grinned, gently leaping from her perch. Her white paws stood out against the worn sidewalk, four moons in a dusty sky. She strolled ahead of Taehyung, all too eager to get a move on. "Instinctual pressures are so prevalent in this realm."
"I hate them." Taehyung shucked his coat off, tossing it over a shoulder. Unlike what he had hoped, the cold wind brushing against his arms awoken his senses. Stimulated a response to run and feel the breeze in his hair. Biting the urge back, he walked steadily alongside the Guardian, Grey's gift hitting his leg. "Thank you for talking to me," he said.
"Our conversations are enjoyable when you do not resort to childish cat and dog banter."
Taehyung glared downward. "When I resort to it?"
"Who else is capable of instigating such disagreements?" Luca kept her snout forward to hide her impish smile.
"That's not fair. The second I'm at peace, you come over and take it from me," Taehyung whined.
Luca chirped. Her own form of laughter. "I could wish you a good morning and you would become tense."
Taehyung scoffed. "Because you're always up to something! You are obsessed with me. There has never been a day when you haven't found me just to scratch me or--," Taehyung halted. Luca was no longer at his side. Instead, she was a few paces back, frozen mid-step.
Her tail formed a straight line directly into the sky. Her back arched slowly, her spine curling until her neck disappeared. She hissed at the man a few paces beyond them, strolling in their direction. He whistled a low tune, fetching something from his coat pocket. Though, while he searched for whatever he needed, he cast his eyes directly on Taehyung.
The Amulet of Erilim rubbed against his chest as he moved, the glass orb glinting in the sunlight. It stopped only when he did. A few feet away from the Beast.
His voice rang over the cemetery's perimeter even though he spoke in a tone no higher than an inside amble. That was his power. Making the trees, the birds, the life around him halt their daily rhythm to listen. Except, he did not pour sustenance into the atmosphere, but chilled it. The surrounding silence was obedient. Quiet because it was afraid of making its presence known.
"My son. You look well."
Staring at him, Taehyung was neither a beast nor a prince. He was a child. A small, voiceless, sputtering child.
His words came jumbled, stumbling and stepping over one another in his head. Still, he would not spit them out. Could not. Death, Life, the genesis, and the end held him still. Firm and placid in a grip colder than any body frozen underground.
He was here. Alive and well and after all these agonizing years, here. In the flesh.
The First King of the Eternal Realm.
Rowan chuckled at Taehyung's dread. "Do we no longer bow to our kings?"
Taehyung could not move even if he wanted to.
The older man sauntered to Taehyung's side, running a hand over his head, running fingers through his hair. "How I've missed you."
Taehyung held his breath; a hapless meal for the snake that encircled him, lulled him to sleep.
A tiny yet mighty snarl at Taehyung's feet brought him back to reality. Luca scratched at the bottom of Rowan's pantleg, receding like the tide when Rowan fixed his gaze onto her. To shield her, Taehyung sidestepped to draw attention back to him. Through his own jeans he felt her shaking on the back of his calf.
Rowan blinked. "You have a kitten?"
"It's a stray," Taehyung lied.
"I see a pink collar and bell. That signifies she does have an owner. Is that you, Taehyung?"
Taehyung swallowed. "It is only a cat."
"I see," Rowan said. He cast one more glance at the shriveled cat behind Taehyung's shoe and passively glanced at the angel. "I will not punish you for lying to me."
Taehyung had not realized he had been crying until Rowan used a knuckle to wipe the tear from his eyelash.
The First King sighed and said, "It has been too long." Then, he reached into his coat pocket once more and pulled a crisp, white envelope embellished with a wax seal. "I was told to deliver this to one of you. I have no knowledge as to what it can be about. I do not care."
Rowan added, "The sender also informed me that one of you would be close to some human girl. It would be irresponsible of me to not remind you that relationships are a human construct. They will never work for us. Why do you make this journey so hard for yourself?"
Taehyung took the message, the weight of paper somehow heavier than the weight on his shoulders.
"What is this?" The angel asked.
"As far as I can tell, an invitation. Place it in the bag you carry with those other envelopes." Rowan smiled again, not a flicker of joy in the expression. "Those matters are personal. Between you and a third party. However, I will not pass an opportunity to consult with you about decisions concerning us."
The moon was rising, high and tall up above. Taehyung remembered Grey. On instinct, he prayed for her. To whom, he knew not, but all the same he prayed and prayed that she was untouched. Somewhere safe. Far, far away.
Rowan said, "My prince. Lord of beasts and wildlife. I will kindly ask you one last time, as I have asked all of your brothers. Will you join me in strengthening the Severed Realm?"
There it was. The proposition that haunted Taehyung's waking moments and dreams alike, hanging out to dry.
"My King, I--," Taehyung faltered. Luca pressed closer to his ankle. Another tear ran down his chin. "I can't."
"That is your final answer?" Rowan asked.
"I can't."
"Very well. Thank you for your honesty. In exchange, I will repay you with the same courtesy." Rowan's paternal demeanor fizzled into indifference. "When the Blood Moon comes to claim you, as it will, I will find you again and take you as my property. Until then, we have aligned ourselves on different sides of the spectrum. You are my enemy, and as such, the next time we encounter one another I cannot allow you to live."
Taehyung's phone vibrated a total three times, dropping all three of them back into a realm where they did not belong. Rowan eyed Taehyung's pocket, then gazed back into the boy's blue eyes.
"You should get that. Mittere nuntium accipit unus."
It takes only one man to send a message.
:::
Namjoon knocked on the apartment suite door.
He had never really been to this part of the penthouse. It smelled like vanilla, a hint of passion fruit, and pages of a book. Her smells. He shifted the puzzle books from one crook of his arm to the other, using the free hand to knock again. If Grey wasn't in the library or in the kitchen gorging herself on snacks, then she would be in her room. A flawless algorithm he'd deduced from the long while that she'd stayed here. Grey did not go outside much, and that thought dulled his mood. Maybe tomorrow he could take her to get ice cream or to go see a movie. She never spoke much about movies.
He thought about all of her habits and tendencies while waiting for her to open up. She had to be sprawled on her bed divulging herself into a novel or one of her many diaries. If she wasn't doing that, she was trying on new clothes in her closet. If that wasn't the case, she was in the bathroom doing her skincare routine where she'd soon come out to get to the kitchen anyway smelling like some pleasant herbal mixture. Then again, this marked one of her very important days. She might have been avoiding everyone.
Sighing at her lack of response, he dropped the sudoku and crossword books at the foot of her door and wandered back down the steps.
What would she think of their cards? She would laugh at his. Namjoon knew what made her laugh. Surprisingly, it made him laugh too. He breathed in the spices and aromatic meats that wafted into the living room from the kitchen. Seokjin was probably in there outdoing himself. So was Yoongi. Hoseok mumbled by one of the grand windows, practicing some birthday poem he made for Grey. Jimin showed a new coat to Jungkook near the couches, asking if Grey would be impressed by it.
The irony of this, Joon thought. Each one of these men fought their demons with hope in a human rather than their powers. Did that make them cowards?
The elevator sounded off, the ping echoing through the foyer. Namjoon involuntarily straightened, putting on his best apologetic smile. He'd practiced all morning for this moment.
Before the doors opened, a meow sliced through the anticipation. Luca crawled from beneath the glass coffee table, her eyes bulging as she said, "Incoming!"
Taehyung charged from the elevator, drunkenly sprinting yet tripping over his own two feet.
That was not what alarmed Namjoon. The horns jutting from the sides of Taehyung's head alarmed Namjoon.
Long, thick, curved and pointed at the ends like a gazelle's. Polished and shimmering obsidian in the dim living room light. Taehyung was panting yet snarling at the same time. His hands shoved against the walls to keep him upright, legs moving at a speed Namjoon hadn't seen in years.
Jimin stood from the couch, inching closer to his friend. "Taehyung, what's wrong?"
Luca's shout rose over the chaos. "He's fighting off the change! Stay back!"
Taehyung's chest lurched as though he was about to vomit. Instead, a shriek came out; the sound a confused, lost animal made in the face of hunters. Namjoon pulled Jimin back by the collar, throwing himself into the fray instead.
"Taehyung," Namjoon said, grabbing hold of the boy's shoulders. The other angel hyperventilated, fixing both eyes onto the leader. Namjoon held in his panic. "Taehyung, it's okay. You have to calm down."
Taehyung clenched his jaw, blowing air through his teeth. Like he was trying to regain his focus, the younger stayed pinned for a second. Namjoon saw it then. Green spots freckled his blue iris. That one eye threatened to change color. And if it did, there was a larger problem on their hands. Namjoon held his gaze, unsure of how to appeal to the wild.
"Tell me what happened--,"
Strong hands shoved against Namjoon's chest. The leader soared across the room, back crashing into the far wall. Glass shattered atop him as a painting clambered to the ground behind him.
"Shit," Hoseok swore, following Taehyung up the steps beside the other angels.
"She's--GAHH!" Taehyung screamed, using one hand to claw off the lock to her door. He kicked it in, rushing inside.
Jimin was closest to him, filtering into her suite after the Beast. Her lights were off, everything about as untouched as it had been yesterday. Hoseok turned the lights on, sending a hopeful glance to the shorter angel that said: handle him.
Jimin trailed Taehyung into her bedroom. He paced back and forth, his fingernails raking down his face. He garbled something under his breath. Some incomprehensible word he repeated over and over at higher volumes.
"What is it?" Jimin asked.
"GONE!" Taehyung roared. "SHE'S GONE!"
"Gone?" Jimin repeated. "Taehyung, slow down!"
Taehyung punched a hole into the closet door.
Jimin yelled at the top of his lungs. "Don't let it take you!"
"Shut up!" Taehyung balled his fists, squaring his shoulders at Jimin.
Metal crunched against horns. Taehyung crumpled to the ground, revealing a frowning Yoongi. The Wraith's arm was still across his body, an iron skillet in his hand. Jimin connected the dots.
"Jimin," Yoongi said. "Stop talking and knock him out."
Jimin stared at Taehyung's unconscious form. To Yoongi he said, "Good swing."
Jin and Hoseok appeared in the doorway.
"Tie him up," Yoongi barked. "At least until the horns go away."
"I've got it," Jin said. He snapped his fingers. A string of shadow, writhing and lively wrapped about Taehyung's ankles and wrists.
Jimin said, "Grey is gone."
"Pick up the body. We'll put him on the couch," Jin instructed.
"Did you hear me? They took her. They have Grey!"
"I heard you," Jin snapped. "We have to handle this first."
Jimin did as he was told, throwing the unconscious man over his shoulder and swallowing a retort. He shoved past Jin into the hallway, careful to keep Taehyung's head from hitting one of the walls. When he was gone, Jin covered his mouth. Yoongi stared at the tapestries on Grey's wall. Hoseok cleared his throat.
"I'll gather everyone in the living room."
Yoongi nodded. "I'll grab Joon's plans."
Jin jogged downstairs, relieved to see Namjoon standing and picking glass from his hair. Jungkook helped him. Hoseok kicked the larger shards of the painting closer to the wall. When they were ready, they headed to the couches where Luca sat paralyzed in endless thought. Hoseok put a blanket around her shoulders.
"What just happened?" Namjoon propped two pillows behind his back to keep it from aching.
"Cancel all of your plans," Luca said. "There will be no celebration."
"It's true?" Jungkook leaned forward from his armchair.
Jimin nodded from his couch. Taehyung's head laid in his lap, the horns already smaller than before.
Jungkook groaned. "We should have followed her! We never should have let her go--"
"It would have done nothing," Luca said, raising her voice. Every member flinched as she spoke. "Any of you would have died. Taehyung is lucky to survive."
Jimin, sick of beating around the bush, asked "What was it? What did you see?"
As Luca took a deep breath, the blanket visibly shook. She was still trembling. But why?
Yoongi winnowed into the living room. The chess pieces fell onto the table like marbles. "What's the next move?"
The cat said, "Countering a direct assault to Anaphiel."
:::
Grey was shaken awake by frostbitten hands.
She opened her eyes one at a time, squinting through the fog in the forefront of her mind to gather her bearings. Up above was a lattice of stars and clouds and streaks of deep, venomous blue. The pounding at the top left of her forehead made her wince, and the voice that whispered near her ear echoed through her sore skull.
"Grey," it said. She said.
Amelia smiled warmly. Her arctic fingertips grazed Grey's cheek.
"You're awake," she beamed.
Grey's head lolled to the side, the pain from her head begging her to close her eyes a second time. Cold palms pressed against Grey's chin.
"No, no, no," Amelia cooed. "I want to show you something."
Grey would fight off sleep for her friend. Straining to maintain her focus, Grey offered a halfhearted nod to show she was responsive.
Amelia giggled, standing to her full height. The folds of her chiffon dress waved in the wind, swaddling her body in such a way that she looked like a dainty flower. She wore no shoes and her hair flowed freely down her back.
Upon moving away from Grey, Grey realized that she blended in to a backdrop of familiar twinkling lights and neon signs. They shimmered near her feet, meaning that they were beneath her. Amelia was above them. So was Grey.
A rooftop. They were on a rooftop.
Grey sat up, ignoring the hounding ache in her brain to watch her friend's back as she sauntered towards the city.
"What are you doing?" Grey croaked.
"I am showing you my new talent," Amelia said.
One bare foot stepped onto the ledge of the building. Grey furrowed her brows.
"Amelia, get down from there!"
Amelia stretched her willowy arms to the side, like an airplane or a swan. Wordlessly, she placed her other foot onto the ledge. She said, "I have wings!"
Grey was crawling to the ledge now, using both arms to pull her weight. Her damn legs would not move. They hung from her waist like lead weights.
"I said get down!"
Amelia peered over her shoulder and smiled. "It's fine. I can fly!"
Grey grit her teeth as she shimmied to where her friend stood. But there was no use. With every hand that gripped cement, it felt like she was thrown a few feet back. Amelia was further and further away, her figure becoming smaller and smaller.
"Amelia, please!" Grey's voice broke, panic flaring in her chest. "Get down! Please!"
Her best friend faced the city for a second, her shoulders rising in a final breath.
"Amelia!"
When the woman on the ledge spoke again, her voice changed. In it was a soft lilt. A tone reserved solely for Grey.
"I love you, Grey."
Mom?
Amelia--no, the woman--turned and smiled. Her mother faced her and smiled. Then, tilted backwards until her feet lost the edge.
Grey jolted awake, gasping for air wouldn't come fast enough. It was dark here. Nearly pitch black save for the crimson candle burning at the foot of iron bars. The flame granted a small halo of light, nothing more. However, it was enough to illuminate the brass curlicues and thin, wiry pillars of a birdcage. The floor was made of dirt, a plastic tree sprouting up to the domed ceiling. At the base of the trunk, Amelia sat with her knees underneath her chin, sleeping peacefully.
Her head still throbbed, but the pain was far less worse here. She touched the spot where she'd been hit and winced. It would bruise if it hadn't yet already.
"Do you like that little trick?" Vanity stepped into the candlelight, squatting so that she could be at Grey's eye level.
Grey thought of nothing but grabbing a handful of that red hair and dragging her across these bars.
"You're baring your teeth at me," Vanity said, surprise dousing her beautiful features. "I was right to choose a bird cage for you. Humans are animals, too."
Grey grabbed the bars, yanking at them with all her strength. "Let me go!"
Vanity did not flinch. "No."
"They'll come for me! They'll kill you!"
Vanity shrugged. "Will they?"
"If they don't, I will, bitch."
A deep rumble shook the ground, the sound low and monstrous. Otherworldly.
Grey pulled back from the bars, frantically searching through the shadows for the source. She couldn't find it, but she felt it. Eyeing her, roaming her, creeping towards her. Vanity chuckled, golden eyes stealing a peek upwards into the unknown.
"Mangrith doesn't like it when people disrespect me."
To add to that remark, a second growl ripped through the room.
"I was saving him for Amelia, but if he ends up eating you, then..." she shrugged.
Grey spat at Vanity's feet, the saliva almost touching her black gown. Vanity simply moved her skirt.
"You're so disgusting."
"Stop talking to me!"
Vanity scowled, snapping her fingers. Grey's limbs seized, her back straightening and arms locking at her sides. Her legs straightened and closed as well like they'd been stitched shut. Grey fell onto her back, only able to stare at the iron ceiling.
Vanity dusted off her skirts and sleeves as she stood. "Fall asleep again. I want to taste another one of your dreams."
"Those dreams aren't real," Grey said, "None of this is real." Her muscles wouldn't obey, but that didn't matter. Tricks of the mind were just tricks. Illusions at best.
"Neither is love."
:::
(A/N) Advantageous reader,
AN EARLY UPDATE!! SURPRISE!!!
I'm hungry and I procrastinated on a huge English assignment that I will now pay for dearly.
The finale has officially begun. It will span over the next chapters. I think you'll be just fine getting through it, but you are also at the mercy of my whims. Lol, best of luck to you as well.
Next release: 9/14 or 9/16 (September 14th or 16th) It can be on any one of these days. This weekend, I'm going to be extremely busy so there may not be time for writing. Best case scenario, you'll hear from me again on the 14th. Worst case scenario, you'll hear from me again on the 16th. Either way, THE FINALE MUST GO ON!
I'm off to go salvage my grades! Thanks for reading!
With love,
M