(no subject)
They live in a quiet house just outside the city, somewhere calm and peaceful where no one asks questions (because everyone in the neighborhood are supernatural).
It's quiet, at least, when they're all dead to the world.
At exactly 9 o'clock in the morning, everything erupts into chaos.
It starts when Kyuhyun wakes up Eunhyuk (or Donghae or Ryeowook, it depends on his mood), who then wakes up screaming (usually because Kyuhyun would loom over in his shapeshifter form, posed as if ready to attack), who then wakes up the light sleeper Heechul.
Heechul, out of spite, wakes up Hangeng and Shiwon; Shiwon, out of self-proclaimed duty, sleep walks to the other room and wakes up their leader (self-proclaimed), Eeteuk. Waking up Eeteuk means waking up Kangin, who, realizing it's too early, bursts in anger and, in turn, effectively wakes up anyone else who's still sleeping.
This has been the pattern for years and years and years. There are rare days where this does not happen. There was that one time when Kyuhyun, Eeteuk, Shindong and Eunhyuk had been gravely injured while running away from Hunters (where there's supernatural creatures, there would be those humans who are scared of them enough to hunt all of them down). And there were those odd days that everyone just wakes up on their own.
And then, there's today.
Today, much like that winter morning years and years ago.
It isn't even eight o'clock yet but Donghae's already wide awake. He tries to sleep for a little more, because he doesn't have to leave for work as it is the holidays. However hard he tries, he finds that he can't. Grumbling in frustration, he chucks the covers away and sighs. Deciding to just get up, he does and dresses up warmly.
Yawning as he makes his way to their backyard, he freezes when he notices movements beside the huge tree in the middle of the yard. He stares at it for a while, wondering if he's still dreaming. But after a few seconds, that something moves again. Judging by size of the lump that moved, that something could be pretty big.
He wonders if he should get Kangin or Shiwon before poking at the thing, but knowing that it might take ages before any of his friends wake up, Donghae just gathers his courage and proceeds onwards.
It isn't that he's afraid of it, whatever it is. It's not like he could die. Well, he can't die easily, in any case. But he's still part human (they all are), so forgive him if he's a little scared of the unknown.
Taking one huge gulp of air, he slowly brushes the snow on top of the lump with a dead tree branch. It doesn't jump out at him, so he continues brushing the snow away. Finally, he sees something that isn't snow.
It's feathers.
Deep, dark, black feathers.
Crouching down, encouraged because he isn't dead yet, he brushes the snow off from the thing with his hands. Faster than with the branch, he's uncovering more of the thing and he sees more and more of the feathers. Once most of the snow has been cleared, Donghae makes out the figure of a bird. A big one. Well, bigger than a normal sized one anyway.
It's feathers, well, other than they were black, they are smooth and silky.
Except for the parts that had been matted with blood.
Uncovering more of the snow, Donghae realizes that the bird is bleeding. In fact, the snow under the bird had been colored red.
Eyes wide as he takes the sight in, Donghae rushes back to the house to get the first aid kit. And because he doesn't know where the kit is, Donghae makes a racket, which then wakes up Heechul, who, out of spite, wakes up Hangeng and Shiwon, who then walks to the other room to wake up Eeteuk and Kangin. Kangin, who then wakes up everyone else.
They're all a bit disoriented, because it isn't even 9 o'clock yet, when Ryeowook notices Donghae rush outside with the first aid kit with him.
Everyone follows him outside, curious.
Once they're outside though, Donghae's looking at them in frustration.
"There was a huge, black bird under the tree a while ago. It was bleeding but now it's gone!"
Everyone looks at each other, and then at Donghae and then at the spot under the tree. And, indeed, there is an indentation matted with blood.
Kyuhyun's about to turn into his form to sniff out what could have been there when the doorbell rang.
Henry, who is still inside the house, speaks up, "I'll see who it is."
Eeteuk doesn't like what's happening so he follows their youngest. Kangin follows as well. Everyone else just mills about, trying to make sense of what's happening.
They're all still trying to gather their bearings when Kangin rushes into the house, holding a heavily injured, bloodied boy in his arms.
---
When he comes to, he sees curious eyes looking down on him.
Surprised, he lashes out in reflex.
He hits the other square in the face with the back of his palm. It's only when he hears the others' cries of pain does he realize he's hit someone accidentally. He sits up quickly, trying to see if he hadn't injured the other. Once he sits up, however, he regrets the decision immediately.
Because suddenly, white hot pain coursed through his body. So intensely that his breath is knocked out from him and he finds himself gasping for air. He shuts his eyes tight and curls in on himself, trying to stop the pain. The movement, however, causes him more pain, so much that he can't quite stop the his tears and whimpers.
He's in a world of his own that he doesn't notice the people surrounding the bed he's in. He doesn't even notice when one of them sits beside him and begins to stroke his sweat matted hair, doesn't even notice when someone uncurls him and lifts him a little, wrapping him in an embrace in an effort to try to lessen the pain.
He does, however, hear someone softly saying, 'Ssh, little one. Everything's going to be okay. You're safe, you'll be safe here. We promise we'll keep you safe.'
And someone familiar saying, 'I'll take care of you. I promise.'
---
Everyone's subdued during breakfast. All minds focused on their surprise guest.
"How is he?" Heechul, uncannily, asks.
All eyes turn to him, surprised at the concern.
He rolls his eyes at them and asks, "What? Am I not allowed to worry?"
Everyone, even Kangin, nervously shakes their heads no. Shiwon bravely adds, "You don't usually, though." When Heechul pointedly looks at him, Shiwon sits up straight and says, "Well, at least, not if it's a stranger-- wait, so it's not a stranger?"
Heechul frowns at Shiwon, then says, "His name is Sungmin."
"You know him?" Eeteuk asks, eyes wide, "How?"
"Does it matter how I know him?" Heechul frowns at Eeteuk, then shrugs and says, "It's been a long time, though." Turning to Eeteuk, Heechul continues, "The same could be asked of you, though. Not to mention, you too, Youngwoon. Both of you were handling him as if he's yours."
Eeteuk and Kangin looks at each other, and then Eeteuk sighs and says, "True. We know Sungmin. He lived here with us when we first came here."
"You mean," Donghae butts in, "the person who owns all that stuff in the attic, including all the pink things. That's his?"
Eeteuk smiles fondly for a moment, then he nods and says, "Yeah. They're his. He's... kinda obsessed with them."
Yesung then asks, "What do you think happened? Does he usually get into trouble?"
"No," Kangin answers, "Not really. He's accident prone, though."
"Not really?" Kibum says, "Define 'not really'. Because when I was cleaning his wounds, hyung, his wounds don't seem like they're from an accident. It looks like someone wanted to beat him to death."
"I know, Kibum ah," Kangin answers, gritting his teeth, "Do I not look like I want to beat the living shit out of something right now?"
At that, everyone falls silent.
---
Donghae's beside Sungmin the time the other wakes up again. This time, he's sure to stay at the side and not surprise the other like--
Donghae's still really guilty about that. He hadn't meant to surprise him, honest.
When Sungmin's fully come to, Donghae tentatively holds the others' hands and softly says, "Hey, Sungmin hyung... Are you all right? Thirsty? Do you need more pain meds? Anything?"
Slowly, Sungmin turns his head towards him.
When their eyes meet, Donghae freezes.
Why, he thinks, does his eyes look so familiar?
--
eeh, sorry if it's boring... >_<
continue? no? yes? :D