#familiar!au

“Do you think she could have gone back to the dorm?” Seulgi spoke through laborious breaths.

“Should I run back in case?” Wendy, panting just as hard, asked as she runs her fingers through her dampened, chestnut colored fringes.

It’s been nearly an hour into the search but the efforts are fruitless. With just you and your two roommates searching for the dark raven, it’s beginning to seem hopeless. The weather wasn’t helping the situation either, rather causing more obstruction.

“No,” you grab her arm before she turns away, “Even if she was, she’d come to me when I call her. S-she’d never ignore my call.”

“Is possible the rain is messing with her hearing?” Seulgi suggests. She wanted to bring up the chance of Kindness getting caught in some trap but didn’t think it would be a good idea. She didn’t want to put you in a deeper frenzy than you were in the moment.

“I-I don’t know,” you shake your head, nearly in tears.

This is completely new to you.

Kindness would never disappear. She always returns when you called her- she wouldn’t run off even if you gave her the choice to. Her loyalty to you roots into the deepest depths of her soul. She would never stray away.

Suddenly, there’s a screech from above. Your eyes flutter, pricked from drops of rain. Another screech rings from the sky as a pair of black birds soar. They were too small to be ravens. Their callings sound a tad off compared to Kindness. There’s an aching in your stomach when more crows fly above you, making that same shrieking. Your head turns, eyes following their path.

They fly towards the woods behind the dorm buildings, disappearing into the shady greenery of trees.

“What with these birds?” Wendy mumbled in confusion, also noticing the multiple arrivals of dark birds. Unlike you, she and Seulgi are unable to tell whether they were crows or ravens.

The longer you stare into the abyss of the woods, the heavy feeling in your gut intensified. A sense of doom spreads through your chest, poisoning nearly all hope.

“Where are you going?” Seulgi hollered when you took off running, “Why are you following those birds?”

“The woods!”

“What about it?”

“There’s something about the woods!” You sprint across the empty field where you and Kindness spent many days along with your friends and their animal familiars.

In the distance of your mind, you can still hear Kindness’ heartfelt whistles from those warm days. Instead of excitement, anxiety burns. You’re afraid those days are going to become memories and only memories; old reels of moments that you’ll never be able to experience ever again, leaving you in a state of yearning lunacy. The thought of there being no more days like that suffocates you already.

Those days with Kindness will never end, right?

Once you find her, everything was going to be okay. Right?

“Wait!” Wendy grabs your arm, pulling you away from the gravel path that leads deeper into the dark void of trees. “Look, I know you’re scared right now, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to be entering the woods in this condition. It’s dark, raining and there’s only three of us.”

“I have to,” you insist with trembling words, becoming more restless the longer Kindness isn’t within your presence. At this point, you weren’t heavily winded from running; you were on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “T-those crows- I think they’re trying to tell me something!”

“You don’t even know where they’ll lead us! What if we get lost?” Seulgi tries pleading with you, but you want none of it.

You shake off Wendy and hurry down the gravel path. You roommates chose to follow behind instead of risking you to go alone in this raging emotional state. Frequently, you look up to find a new crow passing through. Eventually, you step off the gravel course and stagger into the messy growth of vegetation. Twigs and fallen leaves crunch under your feet. You hold onto branches and tree trunks to prevent yourself from slipping on the mushy dirt. Your ears twitch, picking up the drowned cries of birds.

Reality becomes so warped that you can’t keep up with it. You begin to wander blindly in the sounds of leaves jingling as rain showers down, crows crying, Wendy and Seulgi calling your name from behind. You don’t depend on the scenery before your eyes as it all looks the same no matter where you turn. Instead, you keep your head up, staring through the gaps of overcrowding lush branches to spot a crow flying by.

The world comes tumbling down when you trip upon a thick tree root that’s risen above ground. The fall was hard enough to make you lose consciousness for a few seconds. Even when Wendy is quick to pull you from the ground, you barely register what is happening. Sitting there, you stare at the ground, clothes covered in dirt and scratched up along one side of your face. Your ears ring, unable to hear the constant shrills above you. All your thoughts must have scrambled up during the fall as you forget to look up to see the many crows that have gathered all along multiple branches that hang high.

You even forget that Kindness, your familiar you consider your soulmate, is missing.

“What the hell is that…” Seulgi shakenly breathed out.

Numbly, you turn your head. There’s a small, circular clearing- fresh and manmade. You know because smaller trees and plants lay strewn around, cleanly plucked from the ground like carrots after harvesting.

Your lashes flutter and your breath stutters when you spot a mound of dirt.

Everything feels surreal- an out of body experience.

Slowly, you crawl over until your knees plant in front of that mini grave. Swallowing hard, you stare down at it. The scent of freshly dug dirt fills your nose and it stings so much your eyes become teary. The downpour worsens, hitting you like small shards of ice as it washes away the dirt from your clothes. The rain eats away at the surface of the soil mound.

Maybe this is another witch’s fallen familiar.

This couldn’t be Kindness.

It can’t be.

Hands terribly trembling, you grab a handful of what becomes mud and remove it. You pause, feeling it along your fingers and dripping down into the fabric of your leggings. Something inside you snaps and you furiously dig away until you feel the scratch of a talon. You carefully brush away at it.

A black claw sticks out. Around the thin ankle, a red string is tied around.

The same way you tied a red thread around Kindness’ ankle.

Your throat tightly restricts and you’re now choking on your breath, causing your shoulders to heavily heave as you continue to unearth the truth. Gagged cries force their way out as your fingers brush along the stiff fabric of what felt like canvas, that’s wrapped around the cold body of the animal. The tan fabric is marked with a large symbol in red marker.

You can’t make sense of the symbol until you unveil the fabric. Your heart completely shatters as you tuck your hands under that small body. It makes sense when you face reality as Kindness lay in your hands.

Someone did not want you to find her.

They knew Kindness wasn’t a random raven around campus.

Her feathers still feel like silk against your fingertips. Her eyes are closed and her beak is slightly parted. The dirt that buried her becomes washed away from the rain and your tears, being blessed for the final time. Though she lay there cold and stiff, she was still so beautiful.

“K-Kindness,” you whisper as if it would miraculously bring her back.

“Wake up. It’s time to wake up,” you beg with bittersweet desperation as your warm fingers rub her head.

Kindness’ wings unbind from her body. They spread only to limply overflow your two hands that held her on her back. Her head falls to the side, eyes still closed and chest idle as stone. You blink the tears away, still unable to grasp the raw, sick truth.

All sanity leaves you in that moment.

You fold and tuck her large wings. Arms tightly bound around her, you hold her close to your chest. She feels awfully cold, disgustingly motionless. You gradually, gently rock on your knees, trying to mimic that warm feeling of her heart beating against yours.

If she felt your warmth, maybe she wouldn’t feel so cold anymore.

If she felt your heartbeat, maybe her soul would return.

Maybe if you begged her, she would come back.

The delusions wear off by the second, leaving you in cold turmoil of messy, chaotic emotions.

Kindness was really gone. This means no more mornings where she’d whistle as you cook breakfast. No more thrilling adventures with her sitting on the shoulder closest to your heart. No more nagging pecks after dozing off during assignments. No more gentle, comforting head rubs against your cheek.

No more sweet, clever, beautiful and loyal Kindness.

“Kindness, d-don’t leave me. Please…”

The corner of your lips anchor down into a heavy frown. You’re unable to swallow down the cries any longer as they become more and more painful. Your cheeks are hot from the rushing rivers of tears. Your head feels like it’s about to explode. A whimper erupts deep from the pit of your throat and it hurts like hell. Your quick, drawn out breaths escalate into numb sobs until your heart can’t contain itself any longer.

You scream out in agony, feeling your own heart painfully thrash inside the cavity of your chest as it proceeds to tear itself apart.

Securing Kindness in your arms and against your chest, you continue to wail until your voice cracks from the loss of breath. You try screaming away the unbearable pain. Trying desperately to wake yourself from this nightmare.

Wendy clamps her hand over her mouth to muffle her cries, not wanting to ruin this tragic parting for you and Kindness. Seulgi is turned away as she softly sniffles, unable to bear to watch any longer. They can’t imagine themselves in your situation; searching for their missing familiars only to find it hidden in a grave, knowing it was done by the hands of an anonymous.

“We’re in a cafeteria you absolute egg,” you said, unable to help rising to even the smallest bit of bait. “Also, don’t make me muffle you.”

Your words hinted at the latest spell you’d learnt, in a desperate bid to soundproof the walls of Hoseok’s room—you could only take so much screaming as he and his friends watched movies or played games— and at the mention the fox’s face paled slightly. Your first attempt at the spell had led to a misfire of sorts and Hoseok had spent the afternoon unable to utter a word. Heaven, for you personally, but he’d beg to differ.

“You wouldn’t…” he murmured, squinting at you as though to assess whether you were bluffing. You were, for now, but you were sure that if he kept blaring each sentence out like a foghorn for all the ears in the cafeteria to hear, that would be inclined to change. He seemed to come to the conclusion that you weren’t bluffing. He sat back, crossing his arms, and sent you a glare at the ‘stalemate’ he suddenly found himself in. An idiot, your familiar was an idiot. Stupid, dumb, absolutely endearing idiot fox. You wanted to ruffle his hair.

The male sniffed, turning his head to the side as his nose followed a particularly enticing scent. Hoseok let out a long, tortured groan.

“Someone is eating an apple turnover,” he nearly sobbed, head dropping onto the table. You focused on your attempts to spear the remaining tomato as he continued morosely, “And someone else has butter chicken…. My god, someone has lamb skewers—”

The sudden, sharp CLANK of your fork finally spearing through the tomato and hitting the ceramic plate beneath had Hoseok jumping nearly a foot in the air. He yelped, quick to glare at you and save face, and you grinned widely at him as you plopped the fruit into your mouth.

“Who’s the turkey now?” you mocked, grinning evilly when he glared and sputtered.

“Not me, because I’m not the one chickening out of an actual dare!” Hoseok jabbed a finger at you, voice dropping. “You…. are the turkey here. Do the dare.”

“No,” you refused instantly, stabbing your fork into a juicy piece of lettuce. “I’m not five years old, Hoseok, and I also have dignity.”

“Where?” the shifter snorted, and you almost flicked your fork at him. Thankfully, from the amount of times you’d brought Hoseok to your campus, the occupants seemed somewhat used to his volume level. “Also, it’s not that bad—it’s not even the worst dare I could have given you! You should be thankful I’m such a benevolent companion.”

“You are the biggest little shit I have ever met—” you cut yourself off, pointing a fork at him. “Hey! We were never playing truth or dare in the first place, why are you giving me dares?!”

“Because it’s boring here, obviously,” Hoseok slumped dramatically onto the table. “My favourite teacher of yours left, Taehyung isn’t even here, and you told me I couldn’t play with Jungkook—”

“Because him and Seokjin are studying and practicing something important for an exam,” you cut him off, turning back to your meal. “Which is exactly why we can’t go and bother them. I’m not doing the dare.”

Hoseok huffed, and silence drifted between you for a few moments. You relished the fact the only sound you could hear was your own chewing and the chatter of students around you, but a part of you wondered exactly why your familiar had fallen silent now of all times and how long it was going to last.

The answer was, apparently, not long at all.

It was soft at first, so soft it was almost imperceptible and you had to strain your ears to be sure you heard it. Then, it grew in volume, and you were slamming your fork down as Hoseok clucked loudly, arms at his sides in the form of chicken wings.

“That’s it!” you burst, reaching for the wand you required for finer enchantments. “I’m muffling you—”

“NO!” Hoseok cried, lurching across the table to grasp your wrist and halt your hand in its journey. “Look, Seokjin and Jungkook are over there getting food! You can do it now! I’ll shut up if you do the dare!”

Your head swung around as he pointed, despite the distant thought that you should keep your eyes on the cheeky fox, and to your surprise you found he wasn’t actually fibbing for once. Jungkook and Seokjin stood by the dessert section of the cafeteria, the young familiar bouncing on the balls of his feet with his hands clutched together in excitement as he stared at the churro currently being wrapped and passed to him. Your momentary shift in attention was broken by what you quickly discerned to be soft chanting from Hoseok’s side of the table.

“—Do the dare, do the dare, do the dare—”

You swivelled back around to send him a borderline murderous look. There was no way you were doing it, and you were quick to tell him as much. The shadow of embarrassment that resulted from the mere thought of it had your cheeks flushing slightly.

“No!” you refuted once more, smacking your palm lightly on the table. “Stop attempting to bully me, it won’t work! Why do you want me to do this stupid dare so bad anyway?”

Hoseok cut his antagonistic chanting off to grin at you, dimples making an appearance. “Because I’m bored, and it will be funny! Just do it. You know you want to. I dare you!”

“I really don’t,” you denied, although a small niggling thought in the back of your mind brought your attention to the fact that if you didn’t do it, it was probably going to bother you. Your honour, your integrity… were they really at stake here if you refused to follow Hoseok’s childish urging?

“Don’t be a party pooper, oh witch o’ mine!” Hoseok leant forward, resting his chin on fingers he’d threaded together, his elbows on the table. He wagged his brows, the familiar glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “Do it. Or do I have to…”

He’d trailed off, the act somewhat threatening, and you hated the fact that you knew him so well you were already expecting the following noises before they even began to leave his mouth.

“Buck…. Buck-bck…. Bck-bck-buck!”

You stood suddenly, nearly falling over the seat that was fixed to the ground, and were quick to step over it. Hoseok was too shocked to stop his clucking as you sent him a filthy look before turning on your heel and marching over to the desserts section where the poor victim of your dare still remained with his familiar.

You cursed the fact you were really carrying out this childish dare. Perhaps the clucking had gotten to you a bit more than you’d thought. You should have known better than to think you could resist it—you were just a fool, a fool in a woman’s size 9 boots that were clacking loudly as you marched across the cafeteria.

Devouring his churro as he was, for once Jungkook wasn’t the first to notice your approach; Seokjin sent you a surprised look before a grin tugged his lips. “Oh, y/n—well, well, well… Look who finally remembered the way back to campus.”

You offered him an annoyed look in response as you closed the remaining distance between you, and the male erupted into a bout of loud laughter that almost brought a smile on your own face. Jungkook shoved the rest of the dessert into his mouth and finally noticed you now that his distraction was gone. “Oh, hey y/n. What are you doing on campus?”

You spared a watered-down version of the look you’d give Seokjin for the younger shifter, and simply turned your attention back to the witch before you. A pair of eyes burned into your back and you knew your familiar was watching expectantly.

“I’m really sorry for what I’m about to do,” you winced, apologising in advance. “Hoseok dared me and he called me a turkey.”

Seokjin blinked, confusion clear in his gaze and furrowed brows, but you didn’t give him time to question it before you took another step forward and grasped his face. You just managed to catch the bewildered expression crossing his features before you turned his head and leaned forward to smack a big wet kiss on his cheek. It lasted about a split second before you were whipping your hands off of him like they’d been burned and were waving frantically, entire body cringing in on itself from sheer embarrassment. Your feet were helping you make a quick escape before you even had to tell them to, your next words called over your shoulder as you fled.

“Good seeing you two, bye!”

With that, you left the two males staring after you in bewilderment as you scuttled back across the cafeteria from whence you came.

Hoseok sat, features frozen in the expression they’d been in before you’d pressed a kiss to Seokjin’s cheek as he’d dared you to do in front of the whole cafeteria. He could hear some people whispering, but that wasn’t what had frozen the glee in its path across his features.

No, it was the sudden, foreign feeling that was pressing against the confines of his chest, insistent in its attempts to break free. He didn’t think he’d ever felt it before—it was heavy, icky, made his thoughts go jumbled and his shoulders hunch. He’d expected to be over the moon, cackling at the obvious show of embarrassment you’d make at being dared to do such a thing, but instead…. Instead he felt like this, and he didn’t know why. He struggled to school his expression as you made a beeline back for the table, entire face flushed and eyes glaring daggers into him. He had half a mind to be scared but couldn’t muster the attention to it.

He mightn’t know what that feeling was, or why he was feeling it, but he did know that for whatever reason, despite his initial thoughts, he didn’t like the image that had burnt itself into his mind. Your hands cupping Seokjin’s face, your lips brushing his cheek—no, he didn’t like it at all. It was this, that he was left puzzling over for the rest of the day.