Cacodemons
Title: Cacodemons
Author: theirblinggirl
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Jaeil
Word count: 2462
Summary: On the empty fields, with only the three of them, nothing keeps the memories from haunting Jaehyo at night.
A/N: Sooo this is the third installation to my Battleground AU ( first and second parts are here), mostly focusing on Jaeil again and uncovering some stuff about their past and relationship. Also what exactly happened with Jaehyo and how he got where he is. I am not entirely happy with this (such surpriseXD) but I am forever thankful to all of you who keep commenting and encouraging me to continue. I'm sorry if you were waiting for too long, but you guys have to know that I literally ONLY do this because of you~
(The parts with italic are memories, in case you were wondering :))
~*~
"Cause we are butterflies, butterflies,
We were meant to fly
You and I, you and I colors in the sky
When the innocence is dead and gone
These will be the times we look back on"
The Wanted - Gold Forever
To their credit, they do equip them well. They get a car and weapons and decent amounts of ammo - half of which they leave behind after the first day because they reach an area under revolutionist control and Kyung tells them how they keep track of every single vehicle that is allowed to run on the roads.
They take as much as they can - mostly weapons and ammo, food is not too hard to find around the small, abandoned farms of the area. Jaehyo is amazed by Kim Yukwon’s neatness on the fields - he learns the boy used to belong in his own legion, under Captain Lee Minhyuk, and wonders if it was always common for his subordinates to complement the admittedly small rations with anything they could find - steal - from around the battlefield.
Most of the farmers have left their homes months, some of them years ago. If they were lucky enough, they were able to move in Halo or another big city on their own will, but Jaehyo has heard of many forced relocations. Which was still a luckier choice than leaving citizens in the middle of soon-to-be battlefield crops, or so he thought earlier, but he is not sure he can unconditionally trust the decisions of the Government anymore. Not after he’s seen how they decide about lives on paper.
They move around with intense care - having Park Kyung around is much more helpful than what Jaehyo assumed because he seems to sense the approach of the patrols sooner than Jaehyo or Yukwon would be able to detect them. With each day, they get closer and closer to their objective.
Jaehyo’s seniority is an unspoken agreement, but he never gives out orders - he does not feel he has the right to order either one of them around, and he’s said farewell to his rank days ago, but somehow they still end up glancing vaguely at Jaehyo’s direction from time to time, as if waiting for assurance.
Jaehyo always gives them a silent nod, but there are not many talks between them.
Of course Yukwon and Kyung end getting closer to each other - Jaehyo knows it’s human nature to cling onto anything that makes you feel safer, and he also understands how he does not give off any feeling of safety lately.
-
It’s on the second night after leaving their car behind that they see them.
Jaehyo is sitting in front of the tent - small and camouflaged with the highest level of military technology, making it almost impossible to spot on the dark fields - and smokes.
He hasn’t taken on this habit before his promotion as Legin Commander, so the smoke still scratches at his throat quite harshly, but it’s a small ritual that keeps his mind from wandering off too far.
The tiny red light of the bud could give them away as easily as a huge neon sign, but Jaehyo couldn’t care less. All he gets is a disapproving glance from Kyung, but they are going to die sooner or later anyways, Jaehyo thinks, so it doesn’t really matter.
The other two are inside, probably sleeping - or going through the blueprints of the Revolutionist Central Control Office for the nth time, which, in Jaehyo’s opinion, is utterly useless, but he doesn’t feel like he has the right to tell them so if they have chosen to ignore the unavoidable.
It’s Jaehyo’s turn to keep watch, so he does, sitting on the ground and gazing into nothing when the cacodemons appear.
Tiny, shimmering visions of white, yellow, orange and green lights light up on the fields, one after another like something was summoning them and after a couple seconds, it feels as if the stars have descended from above. Jaehyo has no idea why they would do that - leave the peaceful Heavens to haunt the already doomed Hell they call the Earth, but he has always felt this way about them.
Many believe the mysterious, small lights of the dark and unused crops to be souls of wronged people, of the unsettled dead, and they fear them with the unshaken superstitiousness that is so typical of the country’s people. Jaehyo has never really bothered with such superstitions, but as he inhales the bitter smoke, he suddenly starts wondering if he would become one of them soon.
“Why would you want to become a soldier?” the 8 years old Taeil asks, ducking behind a huge bush on the empty loan they declared their personal playground.
“To protect our country and our people, of course!” Jaehyo beams, jumping up and firing his two bony fingers at yet another invisible enemy.
“Woahh, nice shot!” Taeil whispers, peeking out and checking on the hit. “Right between the eyes! But… what people?”
“The people, Taeil! Like you and mom and your mom and your dad and… and the people that daddy used to protect!” the young boy glares at his best friend, not understanding how it’s not obvious what he means.
“Oh, that people! Can I protect them too, Jaehyo?” Taeil asks, peeking out again to check if the coast is clear.
“You could, but… once I become the bestest soldier ever, you won't have to, because I will protect everybody so that no one else has to go away like daddy had to!” Jaehyo declares, eyes shining with determination.
“But you’ll still need a wingman, right, Jaehyo? That has to be me… Wow come on, we need to deactivate that bomb over there!”
When they were children, the cacodemons only existed in the tales of old folks, unthinkable and unreachable for a material, down-to-earth boy like Jaehyo, but now, for the first time ever since they appeared one year into this civil war - he feels them closer than ever.
The tales talked about unsuspecting people wandering off into the night, following the lights and never returning. They were looking for treasures, for a better life, for something different, the tales went on, but as Jaehyo sits there, he feels no desire to chase them.
For a split second, he wonders if it’s because he has no dreams to chase anymore.
“Seriously, Taeil? Do you have anything better to do?” Jaehyo asks, throwing in the last, invincible argument. He knows better than anyone how Taeil struggles from day to day to make a use of his degree in the major economic slump the country is going through, how he tires to stay independent from his parents, unwilling to become a burden on them by asking for money.
“We’re gonna put this out soon, this… outbreak or whatever it is, but changes are coming, and we need people like you.” he continues, putting a gentle hand on Taeil’s shoulder.
“Maybe they do have a reason to rebel, you know” Taeil shrugs, ignoring Jaehyo’s previous sentence.
“No reason is good enough to kill your country’s soldiers “ Jaehyo’s face darkens, staring into space. “It was more than 30 people, Taeil… 30 innocent people who died in that explosion.” he continues and Taeil knows he's counting the victims he personally knew in his head.
Taeil also knows Jaehyo honestly believes he’s right - that they are right, but he is not convinced.
“Are you seriously going to sit back and let your talents go wasted? This country needs people like you… She needs you” Jaehyo says, stopping right before “I need you” comes out of his mouth.
“No, she needs you and she has no idea how lucky she is that you are completely hers…” is what Taeil thinks. But instead of answering, he just stares at Jaehyo for a long, long time. He stares at Jaehyo’s determined face, at the burning flames in his eyes and he knows he’s been lost way before this fight has even started.
“God you’re already talking like them” he finally grins, giving in.
“And you are talking to the freshly-promoted Vice-Commander of Legion B!” Jaehyo laughs.
Next week, Taeil gets admitted into the Office of Military Intelligence as an electro-chemical engineer.
Jaehyo wonders when he’s fallen for Taeil. He can’t simply take one exact memory - he has a faint idea of when he’s realized, but he was long lost by then.
Now it just feels like it’s always been like this - Taeil at his side and Jaehyo marching forward into whatever future there is for them.
It was so obvious that they have each other - apart from his mother, Jaehyo never really had anyone else anyways. Sure there have been friends along the way, back in school and once he entered the army, there were people he spent much time with and people who claimed to like him - people Jaehyo liked more than the rest, but there was never anyone like Taeil.
Somewhere along the road, the boundaries between wanting to have him around all the time and wanting only him and no one else faded, and Jaehyo embraced his newly discovered feelings with ease. He never quite considered actually confessing, because what difference could that have made - if Taeil wanted to be with Jaehyo, it was enough for him and he would have never wanted to force anything more on the boy. Not anything he didn’t want, anyways. Jaehyo has always figured that Taeil knew of his feelings - how could he have hidden anything from him? - and he thought that sooner or later, Taeil would start wanting more of Jaehyo too.
Maybe because they have known each other since as far as they can remember, but Jaehyo could never really picture his life without him. Not until only a few days ago.
“I’m deeply sorry for summoning you on such a short notice, Commander, but you have to understand that we can’t waste one second when the National Security is at stake” the man in the suit says, folding his fingers together on the table.
Jaehyo nods, albeit still not having the slightest idea what the Internal Security Office would want with him. The man takes the nod as a sign that he has Jaehyo’s undivided attention, and continues.
“It is most unfortunate, but there has been a successful attempt at unauthorized entry into our system two days ago.”
“I see…” Jaehyo answers slowly, not missing the way the man’s face darkens.
“No, Commander, I don’t think you do… The intruder used your personal identification data…”
Jaehyo’s shoulders stiffen at these words, but he doesn’t have time to answer.
“Of course we understand that your position grants you certain… privileges, Commander, and all your superiors have assured me of their utmost trust in you. So we ran a little check-up on your background” the man in the suit continues, sliding an unlabeled folder across the table in front of Jaehyo. He doesn’t need to open it to know that all he’s done since he was born is carefully and accurately noted down inside. The people at IS never half-ass their job.
“I must say you have surprised me, Commander… reaching such important position at your age, and with all the best recommendations too… Your past also seems flawless. Please correct me if I say something wrong. Father, officer of the National Army, passed away during combat. No recent communication with the mother living in a small town, no trace of other living family members, no close connection with friends or acquaintances, except…”
“It was me.” Jaehyo suddenly bursts out before the man could continue. He doesn’t want to hear more - he doesn’t want to hear where he is heading.
He knows the ways of the IS well, he knows that no such crimes can stay with impunity, that they will proceed with their investigations until a culprit is found. He’s seen enough people getting onto their black list and losing their jobs - their lives, even, both metaphorically and literally.
He knows exactly what - who - they have found in his background that they can suspect, and that they will have no sleepless nights ruining the life of someone like that person if they can close another case quickly. The Internal Security Office does not look for the culprit - they look for a culprit, for someone to put all the blame on and call it another successful case solved. They are subtle and careful with Jaehyo only because of his position and because of the people supporting him, both superiors and subordinates, but they would not hesitate openly accusing a mere engineer. Someone like Lee Taeil.
Jaehyo is pretty sure Taeil has no idea of his personal identification data, or any intention to hack their system - if he had, he could have done it without getting detected, and never with data that can be so easily tracked back to him. But at this point, Jaehyo doesn’t think it’s a good idea to tell that to the man.
“I did it” is all he repeats instead, watching the man’s eyes grow round, and he knows that in one second, everything he’s been working for is over.
He refuses to tell any more details during the interrogations, apart from assuring them that he had not been working for anyone and no data has been transferred out of the system.
The next day, everyone in the Tower is talking about Jaehyo while he stays in the room they appointed for his temporary custody. His face is unreadable when they tell him the sentence - when they give him the order for his last mission.
“Commander! Sorry, I mean, Jaehyo-sshi! Come inside, hurry!” Yuwkon pokes his head out of the tent suddenly, invading the unstoppable flow of Jaehyo’s memories. “The radio… I think it turned on by itself!”
Jaehyo has no idea what the boy could be talking about, but he seems too excited - and sure enough, Jaehyo can hear the quiet, strange buzzing from the tent once he pays attention.
They have a small radio receiver with them which they use for the obligatory short reports once a day, according to their orders, but it was never planned that they will actually receive any messages. They also use different airwaves every time so that they are harder to track down - Jaehyo has no idea what could be so important that the Tower would try to contact them.
“Are you even sure this shit is working, Jihoon? Like, where the fuck do you get these from, historical movies? Hey? Hey can anyone hear me?” comes a voice from the small machine and Kyung suddenly jumps forward to grab it with a huge, dumbfounded grin on his face.
“Jiho? Woo Jiho, what the fuck are you…” he starts, ignoring the puzzled looks that Jaehyo and Yukwon exchange, but the voice cuts him off.
“Good, listen, we don’t have much time to talk so shut up and listen to me. There has been a change of plans.”
A/N2: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM EVEN DOING I SHOULD BE BANNED FROM MICROSOFT WORD XD Anyways, if you have, by any chance, read through this, I really look up on you and thank you~ Comments are rewarded with virtual cookeis and much love and umm... yeah, ask me anything or tell me anything that is on your mind. Please^^
(Also my exams are coming up starting from Monday so I have no idea when the next one will be up, but once in my life, I actually want to FINISH something I started, so there will be a next part. I promise. I mean, if anyone would like to read it XD)