Fic-DBSK-Fairytale
Title: Fairytale
Author: virdant
Length: 1,024 words; one-shot
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst
Pairing: OT5
Summary: There was a devil that crept to the leader’s shoulders to whisper, “If you will leave the others and come with me,..."
Notes: When the Enemy is the Self 'verse extra. This is the Yunho-centric piece that didn't quite make the cut due to style discrepancies.
Fairytale
Listen carefully, children. Gather around and listen carefully, for I have only one chance left to tell this story.
This is the story as it should be.
There are five men, who have grown old together. They understand each other, know each other perfectly. They live together on a house by the shore, and the waves lap at their feet as they walk along the sand before they run upwards until they have no more strength, lying tangled together on the white sands.
The sand is white until it is stained brown by the water covering the shore with each tidal wave. Pristine white, like the way things should be. Brown, like the way things are.
This is the story as it is.
There were five young men, barely grown from boys. They did not understand each other yet, did not know each other perfectly, but they knew that they would. They lived together, trying to understand each other.
And of these five was one of them who grasped them tightly, who controlled the tangled strands of their lives. He led them, guided them, and eased them through their struggles masterfully, for he was born to stand in such a role, but even he could not have predicted what would have happened.
What happened happens to everybody. There was a devil that crept to the leader’s shoulders to whisper, “If you will leave the others and come with me, I can give you all the wealth you desire.”
The leader listened, and though he was frightened of the devil that came to plague him. “I cannot abandon the others,” he declared, for he was a leader, and he knew his role. His place was with the others, to guide them and lead them. “You cannot give us any wealth, for our companionship is wealth enough for us. Now begone.”
The devil hissed, for it did not enjoy being thwarted, but it knew that it could not pull the leader away from the others with wealth.
So it crept away and left the leader to his doubts and worries. It was the first time the devil had appeared to the leader, and the leader was frightened of what happened, though he knew that such weakness was inevitable. He chose to be strong, and he locked the devil’s visit deep inside his heart, resolving to never tell the others of the devil’s visit.
This was his burden, and he chose to bear it alone.
But listen carefully, for this was not the end of it.
As time went by, the leader and his group rose to greater heights, and the devil came again. It crept onto the leader’s shoulders to whisper into his ears, “If you will leave the others and come with me, I can give you all the tribute you desire.”
The leader shuddered, for though he sought no tribute from others, he yearned desperately to be one who is respected and admired.
The devil smiled, for it knew that such a lure the leader could not help but bite.
But the leader frowned and whispered back, though tempted, “I cannot abandon the others.” He knew that he belonged with them, and so he stood firm, though he wavered inside. “I have the tribute I need from the others, and I would demand nothing they would not freely give.”
The devil laughed, even as it screamed in anger at this leader’s integrity. But since the leader had not ordered it to leave, it stayed, whispering into his ear, “I can give you all the tribute you desire,” over and over even as the leader strove to lock his desires away.
And as the devil whispered into the leader’s ear, it watched, and it saw how the leader’s eyes lingered and how his fingers clutched and it watched the others walk in orbits around this leader, always apart.
And as the devil watched, it gradually grew silent, so the leader would whisper hopes and dreams to the air he thought empty, but held the devil, listening, watching, and waiting. It listened as the leader whispered hopes for companionship, whispered hopes for warm arms and a comforting embrace, whispered dreams of the five of them sprawled out under white sands as waves lapped at their feet.
One night, as the leader lay asleep, the devil spoke again, his voice a crafty whisper. “If you will leave the others and come with me, I can give you the companionship you desire.”
In his sleep, he shuddered, for he truly desired the others’ companionship in ways they had not offered, though he had locked such desires deep in his heart and never whispered them to the air around him.
The devil smiled, for it knew that now it had truly gotten the leader.
And in his sleep, the leader whispered, “I will.”
And the devil tore the leader away from his responsibilities, and gave him unwilling dolls where there had once been people, laughing as the leader became a leader no more, having forsaken his honor.
The others strove to pull back he who was once a leader from where he had gone, but they too were broken, caricatures of the people they used to be, crushed without their leader to hold up their burden, the four of them crushed under a weight meant to be held by five.
And he who was once a leader was left alone as the others disappeared, worn away by the struggle that he who was once a leader had caused, standing alone on the brown water-stained sands.
This is the story as it should be.
He who was once a leader never strove to covet what was not his, and it was given to him freely with time, until the five of them lay sprawled upon white sands, water lapping at the tips of their fingers as they let the water tantalize them but not overwhelm them.
Listen carefully. Listen carefully and heed my words. Do not make the mistake I made. Do not fall when your honor demands you stay strong…
…for life does not promise a happy ending.
End.
Author: virdant
Length: 1,024 words; one-shot
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst
Pairing: OT5
Summary: There was a devil that crept to the leader’s shoulders to whisper, “If you will leave the others and come with me,..."
Notes: When the Enemy is the Self 'verse extra. This is the Yunho-centric piece that didn't quite make the cut due to style discrepancies.
Fairytale
Listen carefully, children. Gather around and listen carefully, for I have only one chance left to tell this story.
This is the story as it should be.
There are five men, who have grown old together. They understand each other, know each other perfectly. They live together on a house by the shore, and the waves lap at their feet as they walk along the sand before they run upwards until they have no more strength, lying tangled together on the white sands.
The sand is white until it is stained brown by the water covering the shore with each tidal wave. Pristine white, like the way things should be. Brown, like the way things are.
This is the story as it is.
There were five young men, barely grown from boys. They did not understand each other yet, did not know each other perfectly, but they knew that they would. They lived together, trying to understand each other.
And of these five was one of them who grasped them tightly, who controlled the tangled strands of their lives. He led them, guided them, and eased them through their struggles masterfully, for he was born to stand in such a role, but even he could not have predicted what would have happened.
What happened happens to everybody. There was a devil that crept to the leader’s shoulders to whisper, “If you will leave the others and come with me, I can give you all the wealth you desire.”
The leader listened, and though he was frightened of the devil that came to plague him. “I cannot abandon the others,” he declared, for he was a leader, and he knew his role. His place was with the others, to guide them and lead them. “You cannot give us any wealth, for our companionship is wealth enough for us. Now begone.”
The devil hissed, for it did not enjoy being thwarted, but it knew that it could not pull the leader away from the others with wealth.
So it crept away and left the leader to his doubts and worries. It was the first time the devil had appeared to the leader, and the leader was frightened of what happened, though he knew that such weakness was inevitable. He chose to be strong, and he locked the devil’s visit deep inside his heart, resolving to never tell the others of the devil’s visit.
This was his burden, and he chose to bear it alone.
But listen carefully, for this was not the end of it.
As time went by, the leader and his group rose to greater heights, and the devil came again. It crept onto the leader’s shoulders to whisper into his ears, “If you will leave the others and come with me, I can give you all the tribute you desire.”
The leader shuddered, for though he sought no tribute from others, he yearned desperately to be one who is respected and admired.
The devil smiled, for it knew that such a lure the leader could not help but bite.
But the leader frowned and whispered back, though tempted, “I cannot abandon the others.” He knew that he belonged with them, and so he stood firm, though he wavered inside. “I have the tribute I need from the others, and I would demand nothing they would not freely give.”
The devil laughed, even as it screamed in anger at this leader’s integrity. But since the leader had not ordered it to leave, it stayed, whispering into his ear, “I can give you all the tribute you desire,” over and over even as the leader strove to lock his desires away.
And as the devil whispered into the leader’s ear, it watched, and it saw how the leader’s eyes lingered and how his fingers clutched and it watched the others walk in orbits around this leader, always apart.
And as the devil watched, it gradually grew silent, so the leader would whisper hopes and dreams to the air he thought empty, but held the devil, listening, watching, and waiting. It listened as the leader whispered hopes for companionship, whispered hopes for warm arms and a comforting embrace, whispered dreams of the five of them sprawled out under white sands as waves lapped at their feet.
One night, as the leader lay asleep, the devil spoke again, his voice a crafty whisper. “If you will leave the others and come with me, I can give you the companionship you desire.”
In his sleep, he shuddered, for he truly desired the others’ companionship in ways they had not offered, though he had locked such desires deep in his heart and never whispered them to the air around him.
The devil smiled, for it knew that now it had truly gotten the leader.
And in his sleep, the leader whispered, “I will.”
And the devil tore the leader away from his responsibilities, and gave him unwilling dolls where there had once been people, laughing as the leader became a leader no more, having forsaken his honor.
The others strove to pull back he who was once a leader from where he had gone, but they too were broken, caricatures of the people they used to be, crushed without their leader to hold up their burden, the four of them crushed under a weight meant to be held by five.
And he who was once a leader was left alone as the others disappeared, worn away by the struggle that he who was once a leader had caused, standing alone on the brown water-stained sands.
This is the story as it should be.
He who was once a leader never strove to covet what was not his, and it was given to him freely with time, until the five of them lay sprawled upon white sands, water lapping at the tips of their fingers as they let the water tantalize them but not overwhelm them.
Listen carefully. Listen carefully and heed my words. Do not make the mistake I made. Do not fall when your honor demands you stay strong…
…for life does not promise a happy ending.
End.