Immortalize
Title: Immortalize
Pairing: slight!Hanchul
Rating: PG-13, Angst, Character Death
Summary: Immortalize. /ɪˈmɔː.təl.aɪz/ verb (used with object) to bestow unending fame upon; perpetuate. 3rd person present singular of immortal ['deathless', late 14c., from Latin immortalis from in- 'not' (see in-(1)) + mortalis 'mortal' (see mortal (adj.)).]
Seoul is just a small fishing village when he wakes up for first time. He wanders around for a while, disoriented and extremely confused as to what he's supposed to do. Suddenly, he feels fear and pain emanating from nearby villages. From the direction the emotions are moving, he can tell it'll be on his village, his people soon. Calling on a power he hadn't know he'd had, the earth started rumbling and shaking, swallowing this causing the panic. Though a few huts are knocked over, the crisis is averted. However, there is an unexpected side effect. The shift in the land has caused a valley to open up and through it, a river has begun to flow. Heechul, as Seoul now calls himself, pays it little attention. It benefits his people after all, bringing fresh water and easier access to the sea.
One day, as Heechul is walking alongside the Han River, as his inhabitants now call it, he runs into a man looking confused and very, very lost. This man is tall, dark haired and all around gorgeous. Heechul is about to hide because no matter how beautiful the human may be, it simply will not do for a mortal to see him. However two seconds before Heechul can make a flying leap into the nearest bush, he meets the other man's eyes. In them, he sees the same thing he sees in the eyes of every other city and province he's ever met. This man is not human. Cautiously approaching, he taps the man on the shoulder. The man starts, whirling around in surprise. "What are you?" Heechul demands. "City? Lake? Province?" The other man shakes his head. "None of those. I'm a river. The Han River to be exact." Heechul nods approvingly. Of course the river running through a city as beautiful as himself would also be pretty.
They become best of friends, bound together by centuries of shared experiences. Hankyung is the reason Heechul ends up as important as he is, providing easy access to the sea so vital to any trading city. They grow together, laugh together, live together. They go through wars together, Hankyung holding on to Heechul even as the smaller man's body is scarred over and over again. Hankyung himself falls ill eventually, victim of too many years of neglect. Heechul takes care of him then, propping him up in a comfy bed and bringing him soup. However the good times can't last forever. "I'm leaving," Heechul says one day. "I have to go to the sky now." Hankyung begs him not to go but to no end. Heechul has made up his mind. "I'll last forever up there," he says. "There's no future for me down here anymore." There's me, Hankyung wants to say. I'm down here. Don't leave me.
But Hankyung has always been too kind for his own good. So he swallows the words and watches as Seoul goes up, up, up where he cannot follow. Seoul ends when the sun ends. Hankyung is saddened but not as much as he would have been, say a millennium ago. They had grown apart after Seoul took to the skies. But the Han River remembers. 'Seoul' it writes in its sandy bottom, 'Heechul' Hankyung corrects and traces the characters in the river's muddy banks. He keeps on writing that over and over again, slower each time. He also cannot survive much long past the demise of the sun. There is no longer melted ice rushing down to feed his waters. When he is reduced to a mere trickle under an eternally dark sky, Gaea comes to him. There is no more Gyeonggi, Korea, or even Asia to come talk to him. Just the world and its features left. "What do you want Hangeng?" She calls him by a long forgotten name, one only the snow on the mountaintop responded to. Because the very first drop that had melted and rolled down had come from the mighty Yellow River in China. "I want Seoul again," he says. "And I want him to be permanent this time."
"It doesn't work that way," she says with a sad smile. "His time is over and yours will be soon. Your riverbed will be the only remaining sign of the two of you, since there is no wind to blow it away." When Hankyung hears this, his sudden complacency puzzles Gaea. He doesn't tell her that Seoul, Heechul, is written into his riverbed. That if it is just his riverbed that remains then he is content. The Han River, Hankyung, Hangeng, whatever he is, may not last forever. But he has immortalized Heechul.
A/N: I don't remember why I thought this was a good idea anymore -.- Hope you enjoyed it?
Pairing: slight!Hanchul
Rating: PG-13, Angst, Character Death
Summary: Immortalize. /ɪˈmɔː.təl.aɪz/ verb (used with object) to bestow unending fame upon; perpetuate. 3rd person present singular of immortal ['deathless', late 14c., from Latin immortalis from in- 'not' (see in-(1)) + mortalis 'mortal' (see mortal (adj.)).]
Seoul is just a small fishing village when he wakes up for first time. He wanders around for a while, disoriented and extremely confused as to what he's supposed to do. Suddenly, he feels fear and pain emanating from nearby villages. From the direction the emotions are moving, he can tell it'll be on his village, his people soon. Calling on a power he hadn't know he'd had, the earth started rumbling and shaking, swallowing this causing the panic. Though a few huts are knocked over, the crisis is averted. However, there is an unexpected side effect. The shift in the land has caused a valley to open up and through it, a river has begun to flow. Heechul, as Seoul now calls himself, pays it little attention. It benefits his people after all, bringing fresh water and easier access to the sea.
One day, as Heechul is walking alongside the Han River, as his inhabitants now call it, he runs into a man looking confused and very, very lost. This man is tall, dark haired and all around gorgeous. Heechul is about to hide because no matter how beautiful the human may be, it simply will not do for a mortal to see him. However two seconds before Heechul can make a flying leap into the nearest bush, he meets the other man's eyes. In them, he sees the same thing he sees in the eyes of every other city and province he's ever met. This man is not human. Cautiously approaching, he taps the man on the shoulder. The man starts, whirling around in surprise. "What are you?" Heechul demands. "City? Lake? Province?" The other man shakes his head. "None of those. I'm a river. The Han River to be exact." Heechul nods approvingly. Of course the river running through a city as beautiful as himself would also be pretty.
They become best of friends, bound together by centuries of shared experiences. Hankyung is the reason Heechul ends up as important as he is, providing easy access to the sea so vital to any trading city. They grow together, laugh together, live together. They go through wars together, Hankyung holding on to Heechul even as the smaller man's body is scarred over and over again. Hankyung himself falls ill eventually, victim of too many years of neglect. Heechul takes care of him then, propping him up in a comfy bed and bringing him soup. However the good times can't last forever. "I'm leaving," Heechul says one day. "I have to go to the sky now." Hankyung begs him not to go but to no end. Heechul has made up his mind. "I'll last forever up there," he says. "There's no future for me down here anymore." There's me, Hankyung wants to say. I'm down here. Don't leave me.
But Hankyung has always been too kind for his own good. So he swallows the words and watches as Seoul goes up, up, up where he cannot follow. Seoul ends when the sun ends. Hankyung is saddened but not as much as he would have been, say a millennium ago. They had grown apart after Seoul took to the skies. But the Han River remembers. 'Seoul' it writes in its sandy bottom, 'Heechul' Hankyung corrects and traces the characters in the river's muddy banks. He keeps on writing that over and over again, slower each time. He also cannot survive much long past the demise of the sun. There is no longer melted ice rushing down to feed his waters. When he is reduced to a mere trickle under an eternally dark sky, Gaea comes to him. There is no more Gyeonggi, Korea, or even Asia to come talk to him. Just the world and its features left. "What do you want Hangeng?" She calls him by a long forgotten name, one only the snow on the mountaintop responded to. Because the very first drop that had melted and rolled down had come from the mighty Yellow River in China. "I want Seoul again," he says. "And I want him to be permanent this time."
"It doesn't work that way," she says with a sad smile. "His time is over and yours will be soon. Your riverbed will be the only remaining sign of the two of you, since there is no wind to blow it away." When Hankyung hears this, his sudden complacency puzzles Gaea. He doesn't tell her that Seoul, Heechul, is written into his riverbed. That if it is just his riverbed that remains then he is content. The Han River, Hankyung, Hangeng, whatever he is, may not last forever. But he has immortalized Heechul.
A/N: I don't remember why I thought this was a good idea anymore -.- Hope you enjoyed it?