#thenamelesshero

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A/N: cough/ preview/ cough/ at the end/ cough cough.

Three nights later, when Chanyeol showed up at her doorstep decked in a pair of sweats and a pullover sweater, holding a family-sized pack of Lays crisps to his chest along with DVDS of the whole Batman trilogy and the world’s biggest shit-eating grin plastered on his face, she let him in.

She woke up in his arms again the next morning and she told herself that she wouldn’t do what she did, that she could just get up and go about her day while waiting for him to wake up. But one look at his tousled hair and the dimple that appeared on his cheek as he pursed his lips, she did exactly what she told herself not to.

She asked herself, best friends do cuddle, right?

Right?

It was becoming a routine; a routine that they both seemingly found nothing wrong with, and therefore stuck to it.

As Haneul cleaned her bathroom later that day, she stared at the toothbrush with a red silicone-grip next to her green one for a few seconds before looking away, still feeling the tightness in her chest.

Chanyeol stayed over the following night. And as she was quickly losing herself to unconsciousness with his arms holding her body close against his, the only thing she remembered was feeling a pair of familiar soft lips pressing themselves to her forehead.

When they woke up, Chanyeol decided to take Haneul out for breakfast. After breakfast, he dragged her to go grocery shopping with him and then went back and forth choosing which brand of salad dressing he should buy about seven times before finally grabbing the mayonnaise and putting it into the trolley instead.

February 2014

The night when Chanyeol didn’t stay over, Haneul was surprised hear someone ringing her doorbell repeatedly. She had just finished taking a shower and drying her hair since she would be going to work andshe wanted to drop by Tom Lee’s to buy a new set of guitar strings. She had found herself wanting to resume playing her almost forgotten guitar multiple times already but she had to replace the strings since because the lack of use plus the moving of apartments caused a few spots of rust to gather.

“Wait, hold on.” She mumbled to herself while putting on a pair of jeans and a large pullover hoodie over the white button-up shirt for work.

And of course, standing at her doorstep was none other than Park Chanyeol. He was dressed and she spotted his guitar case beside him.

“Chanyeol?”

“Good morning, Haneul-ah.” He greeted as he stepped inside her apartment, he set down the guitar by the foot of her couch before turning around. “I am here for my breakfast.”

“What?” She wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly.

“I have to meet Yixing for practice later and Jongin went to the dance studio.” Chanyeol said.

“And?” She eyed him, hands perched on her hips.

“I’m hungry?”

Haneul gave him a look. “You can cook.”

“I’m lazy.”

“Then get something on your way to practice then.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “I'm not your personal chef, Yeol.”

“But –” He made his way over to her in two long strides and stood in front of her, bending a bit so that he was staring at her at eye-level. “–I was craving pancakes, your pancakes. Please? Haneul, please?”

Before she could say anything, he smacked on that huge childish grin of his – dimple in tact, of course – and she sighed. “Sit down.” She waved him away and turned around to walk towards the fridge.

His arms went around her shoulders despite her orders, and he draped himself over her side awkwardly but he didn't care. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't know what I'll do without you, you're the best.”

She felt her cheeks warm up.

And the fact that he smelled like fresh spearmint and lemon scented aftershave didn't help the riot occurring in the pits of her stomach, not at all.

Well, hell.

“Shit.”

Haneul looked up from her phone and gave the boy a questioning look.

“Late…” He was already shoving what was left of his pancakes and then he was standing up and wiping his lips with the napkin. Hastily grabbing his guitar and slipping on his shoes, he opened the door while Haneul stood behind him with a small smile on her lips. Chanyeol never really did learn the right way to manage his time.

“I have to go now.”

He paused and turned around once he stepped out the door and before she could even blink or come up with a response, he was already slipping a palm against her cheek and leaning forward. He burned the wings of the butterflies inside her stomach with the chaste but gentle kiss he pressed onto her lips.

“Thank you for breakfast, Haneul-ah.” He chirped light-heartedly, breath hovered over her lips as his thumb grazed along her temple.

And then he was gone in an instant, having darted out to catch the elevator, leaving her standing at the door with a stunned expression on her face, her heart slamming against her ribcage and the faint trace of syrup on her lips.

Inside the elevator, Chanyeol was just standing there, dumbfounded once it dawned on him what he'd done. He absentmindedly licked his bottom lip, and then reached up to touch it with his fingers. It'd happen so quickly that he wasn't even sure if it had actually happened, but he knew for a fact, that it had because he was the one that initiated it in the first place.

Why, though?

He didn't know.

He sighed, resting his forehead against the cool metal door.

This was getting out of hand, he was getting out of hand. He's got to stop acting on his impulses, before it became too late.

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A/N: (COUGH. LET'S THROW IN A PREVIEW FOR CHAPTER 19 SHALL WE?! for those lovelies that really reads my a/n here's your treat ;v;)

“I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner, with me, some time?” He drawled the question slowly, dark eyes searching her face with the same small smile on his lips.

“Me?” She pointed to herself, staring back at him with a startled look.

“Yes you.” The man laughed, the soft laughter sounded really pleasant in her ears and she couldn’t find it in herself to turn him down. After all he didn’t really seem like the type to be interested in girls like her, so it’d just be a dinner between new friends.

“Sure.” Haneul smiled. “Why not?”

The grin he returned her with was charming and almost dazzling. “Okay, cool. I’ll text you soon.”

“Wait, you don’t have–” She trailed off, because he has already turned and disappeared through the doors of the café. “–my number.”

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(and some moreeeee because I'm in a good mood today :D)

“Still?” He breathed, his face itching incredibly close.

----------------------------so yeeeeeeeeeah, I'll leave it to you guys to guess what's gonna happen hohohoho-------------------------------------

A/N: Please read Chapter 00 before this one :)

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Location: The Axis

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Sure enough, she has heard rumors about this contract killer concerning his close supernatural affinity with the four legged creature but none has actually lived long enough to prove the claims. The intake of dragon blood was not uncommon, as it was one of the few things that could offer the upper hand during combat just because of the beast’s properties.

The last thing she did was stare into a pair of glowing red eyes before he sprang up. She managed to jump to her feet just in time to miss a blow to the plexus in the pit of her stomach. Taking a few steps backwards, accessing the man before her, with the blade still buried in his flesh. He bent down and with a quick moment, snapped his knee back into place and within seconds he was able to stand as if nothing had happened.

“I must say,” He began, reaching up and grimacing as he pulled out the blade. “I’m impressed.”

In one flick of his wrist, he propelled the blade at her and she fought the whimper when it slashed open the skin on her forearm.

“Just in time.” The man uttered under his breath, lips forming a smile as red eyes gazed out the window behind her.

The bells announced the arrival of the seventh hour and she didn’t have to look out the window to see the eclipse. The occultation completely stripping her supernatural abilities, and for the following brief period of time, she was unfortunately and undeniably…human.

“Let’s get this over with then, shall we?”

He was once again in front of her in an instant, driving his thumb and forefinger into her throat and getting a strong grip on the horns of her thyroid cartilage.

With quick reflexes, she managed to jab the heel of her palm to his chin but before she could deliver a forcible enough blow to break his neck, his firm grip tightened. The almost inaudible cracks only fueled the man as he recovered from her attack. His smile widened when choked breaths escaped her mouth.

“Don’t worry, darling.” With the other hand, he lifted it to his lips and bit into it, drawing blood. “It’ll be quick.”

And with that he drove his hand at her chest, claws manifesting and inflicting the most excruciating pain as he dived in for her heart. The scream that tore itself from her was bone-chilling and almost unbearable.

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It only took Jongin eighteen minutes to track down Minho and another three seconds to get him unconscious. He had already gleaned six souls that were scattered on the East side of the Axis and Minho was just hiding in a motel towards the North-east wing of the town central.

He gathered his belongings and once he’s made sure nothing was left behind, he hauled the unconscious man over his shoulder and teleported out of the room.

Jaehyo was already there when they made it to the warehouse only five miles away on the other side of the Gates. He stood up from his chair when he appeared with what he needed.

“On time as usual.” It was a pleased greeting as he eyed the man.

“I will come and collect.” Jongin dumped the body onto the cement ground and the duffel bag containing his belongings on top of him.

Their heads snapped up at the sound of the seventh hour ring from a far distance.

And then Jongin felt it, the seventh death.

So did Jaehyo, because his eyes flashed red for a second. His power allowed him access to visions of death, just right before the last few breaths and heartbeats of the victims but not the exact location. He had sight while the others didn’t. Jongin, on the other hand, had speed. Reapers travel through portals while Jongin could travel anywhere with his ability teleport.

Jongin saw the downward twitch of the corners of his lips, and his eyes – still slightly clouded with a maroon glow – met his.

“Bring me with you.” Jaehyo ordered.

“Why?”

Two Rippers emerged from the shadows and bowed to him in greeting before lifting Minho. They retreated back into the shadows and soon they were out of sight.

“Because Draco is there.” He offered his hand.

The sense of death was getting stronger and whoever it was going to be close to dying. Without another word, Jongin grasped his hand and teleported away.

It took him some trouble to pinpoint the location at first since he was outside the realms of the Axis but once they crossed the barrier, he found it and travelled according to his will.

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When he appeared, he was stunned to the spot at the sight before him.

Somewhere inside his chest, his heart skipped at beat upon seeing the familiar face that has been wandering in his thoughts and dreams. But it was over the second he realized that she was the seventh death.

“Ah, he’s here.” The killer spoke upon seeing him, and his eyes widened when he spotted Jaehyo behind him. “Two of you?”

“What are you doing?” Jongin choked. The smell of blood was everywhere, overwhelming his senses.

“I’m following orders.” Draco replied dully.

She moved, slowly lifting her head and meeting his eyes for the first time in forever. The killer still had his hand buried deep in her chest and she winced a bit before drawing a breath.

“Jongin.” His name came out in the form of a soft whisper and it shook him. He could feel Jaehyo’s questioning gaze on him but he shook it off.

“You’ll have no more than three minutes to get her pass the Acheron River and across Styx, Charon will not interfere. My blood will grant her access up till the gates, but anything that further damages to her will prove immediate death.”

Another toe-curling scream was heard as the assassin pulled out his hand, now covered in blood and something inside Jongin shattered when he saw what he took out. Because in the middle of the man’s palm was half of her heart.

He teleported right to her side as she fell limp, landing in his arms as tears prickled his eyes.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood when the all-too-familiar feeling washed over him. The seventh death. She wasn’t dying, that much he could be sure for the night. Draco had to bring her to the brink of death in order for Jongin and Jaehyo to sense her. It was perfectly calculated and planned, and instead of harvesting her soul he could have to bring her physical body over to the realm. He’s heard of this technique before but the legend was dated centuries back.

“Bring her. I’ll take care of the last one.” He looked at Jaehyo for confirmation, and he only sighed while blinking the red away from his eyes. “We’re even.”

“Three minutes.” Draco reminded him as opened the glass slide door before jumping off the balcony and morphing to his true form.

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Location: The Underworld

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Jongin appeared right outside the gates because he was not able to teleport through with another living being. Upon seeing him, the two guardsmen bowed and opened the gates. Beyond the Acheron River, Jongin could see Charon from a distance, along with the line of dead souls awaiting their journey across Styx.

Charon lifted his head and acknowledged his presence.

She stirred in his arms, and Jongin looked down at her. He frowned at the open wound on her chest and the blood that soaked her shirt. By the time Draco left, she had fallen unconscious and was slowly losing life. They were already getting closer to the Underworld, that alone was able to fuel her energy, along with the dragon blood in her system.

“Just rest. It’ll be fine.” Jongin whispered before vanishing.

It was a long and gruesome journey to get to the Underworld because the Styx River circles the Underworld nine times. The energy barriers created resistance while going through and only Jongin and other portal creators could go through them instead of having to circle around the realm nine times.

Once he was beyond the gates of the Underworld, he breathed out a sigh of relief. He’d made it with twenty-three seconds to spare and without second thought, he teleported into the kingdom where he would be able to find the one holding the answers he was desperately looking for.

Soon he was greeted by Jaehyo who looked at the girl in his arms. If Jongin didn’t know better, he would have thought that he cared, but the scarce attention and concern reflected in his eyes was the most he could offer. “Take care of her until she wakes up, I’ll look for my brother.”

Jongin gave him a nod before disappearing.

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The Underworld: First Day

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She felt a dull ache in the left side of her chest as she opened her eyes.

Her surroundings were unfamiliar, and the rush of panic washed over her when she realized that she was dressed in a dress that did not belong to her, sleeping in a bed that wasn’t her own inside a room that she has never been in before.

But her senses were back, she could feel the presence of a few…a lot of beings around her, some being human while for the others, not quite.

When she was about to sit up, a sudden spatial disturbance was picked up using her senses and a figure appeared by her bed. Her eyes adjusted to the motion and widened.

She could recognize the man from anywhere, even when the last time she saw him he had shaggy dark hair. There were so many questions swimming in her head but she couldn’t bring herself to ask them.

“Are you okay?” He spoke, sitting down on the chair beside the bed.

She nodded. “Where are we?”

“The Underworld.”

“Why did –”

Her question was cut off when the door opened and in stepped two people, both dressed entirely in black just like Jongin. The older man spoke first, his hair was platinum blonde, almost silver. She knew in a split second who the man was, judging by the aura of superiority and power he emitted and the firm way he carried himself with.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Tracker.”

She slowly sat up, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling in her chest. “You’re Hades.”

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“The one and only.”

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A/N: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand hellooooo :D Here's Chapter 1 for you guys, and I will try to put together a list of characters with photos asap. I have not decided on a specific update schedule for this story, but the updates will be longer in length when compared to Petrichor (the chanyeol story that I'm updating weekly, I just posted Chapter 14 :D). Chapter 00 of Sehun's story in this series (titled: Whispers of The Wind) will be up soon, and there ARE connections with all the stories in the entire Chronicles series. So you may see sneak peeks of other members' unreleased stories in this one or the other ;) huhuhuhuhurrrr.

Please look forward to more, and for more information regarding The Chronicles Series, you may click here and be directed to the masterlist page.

Also, Kris will finally appear in the next chapter~~~~~~~~~~~

-Spitfire

Things went back to normal after that, with Haneul finally settled into her new apartment and practically being neighbors with her best friend and his dancer roommate. They have been having dinner together at either one of their apartments for the past four days, and tonight it was her turn because the guys decided that it’d be nice to throw a small house-warming party for her while celebrating New Years’ Eve at the same time, hitting two birds with one stone on this very last day of the eventful year.

Baekhyun was the first to arrive, along with Jongdae, Yixing, Soohyun and Joonmyeon. Kyungsoo and the others said that they will be a bit late because they’re preparing the food while she offered to take care of the drinks and dessert.

She hasn’t seen Chanyeol since last night and when she called to ask if he’d like to come down to help her bake since he’s always asked her to invite him over whenever she did, but Sehun answered his phone and told her that they’ll be busy and that they’ll see her later tonight.

“I like the blue.” The puppy-like boy commented, eyeing the soft blue bean bag beside the couch.

Soohyun was in the kitchen helping her with the drinks while the guys made themselves comfortable on the other side of the area that was the living room.

“What…is that?”

“What?” Haneul looked up at her.

“That.” She pointed a well-manicured finger at her neck, more specially the thing that hung from it.

Her hand went up to touch the necklace unconsciously, looking down at it before answering. “It’s my necklace.”

“I can see that. I can also see that it’s something new, considering that I know every single item in your jewelry collection and this, my friend, was definitely not there before.” She placed down the bottle of Sprite and rested her hip against the counter.

From the look on her face Haneul could tell that she already knew but was not going to let her get away with not telling her by herself.

“It’s a Christmas present.”

“Uh-uh, very interesting, please continue.”

“That I got from Chanyeol.”

She kept on looking at her, waiting.

“That’s it.”

Soohyun made a gesture with her hands for her to keep on going. “And then?”

“What do you mean ‘and then’?”

“What I mean is that no one would get someone a Tiffany and Co.’s necklace for a bloody Christmas gift, not even if that someone is a best friend.” She leaned in close to her, her almond shaped eyes piercing right through hers. “And you cannot be that dense, can you? Did something happen?”

Haneul was not dense.

She refused to acknowledge that.

“You’re exaggerating things, Soohyun.” Haneul hesitated for a fraction of a second, debating whether or not to tell her the events that took place on Christmas night and the two days that followed it. “Nothing happened.”

Much to her misfortune, Soohyun picked up on her vacillation and the nervous tone that stubbornly hung onto her syllables but didn’t say anything about it. The grin she gave her in return along with the gentle pat of her forearm told Haneul that despite Soohyun’s knowledge and the indirect confirmation, she was not going to press her into telling her.

She placed her fingers under the running tap water, mind drifting for a second.

The ringing of her doorbell served as a much needed distraction from Haneul’s incoming thoughts, along with the group of boys that entered her apartment with bags of containers that were filled with food for the night.

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“Haneul-ah, my dear Haneul.” Sehun’s voice called for her from the doorway, tone just a little to honey-coated sweet than acceptable. “Come here.”

There were fidgeting and rustling sounds as she quickly dried her hands with a nearby towel and walked around the counter to see what the ruckus was all about.

Standing there straight as a rod in the middle of the doorway was Park Chanyeol.

Gone was the warm chocolate brown of his hair and black roots that she has gotten used to liking, now before her, gelled and styled perfectly without a single strand out of place was a head of shining, rich red color.

The beautiful color danced under the lights of her living room in the most perfect combination mix of auburn and scarlet.

Haneul felt her stomach twist in knots as he finally looked up to meet her eyes, cheeks dusted an attractive shade of rose pink and lips slightly agape.

And it didn’t help that the color made his skin look even paler, milkier in contrast.

“Well, my job is done.” Tao dragged Sehun away; he gave Haneul a smile and a gentle pat around her shoulders in greeting.

She noticed that the Chinese man’s blonde hair has gotten a shade lighter, and the fact that they had their roots done. The more she looked at them, the more she thought they were trying to be twins.

“We’ll uh…” Kyungsoo pushed the door shut with his hip, holding up two bags of food while looking between the two then finally to Bokyung who was standing beside him waiting with another two bags in her hands. “…put these in the kitchen first.”

When the silence became just a tad bit too awkward, Haneul spoke. “What hap–”

“You hate it, don’t you?” Chanyeol’s previously stoic face fell apart in the blink of an eye, he sighed. “Sehun asked me to accompany him and Tao to the salon since they said that they could use my company, plus I didn’t really have much to do anyway so I went with them. And somehow, this happened.” He pointed to his hair.

“You don’t like it?” Haneul asked.

“It’s…new, I don’t know.” The man murmured honestly, following her into the kitchen. Kyungsoo, Bokyung and Soohyun had finished setting things up and were back in the living room with the rest of the group. He had his brows drawn together and his shoulders hunched while leaning a hip against the wooden table.

She wanted to say something to him, to tell him that it looked great on him – great was an understatement, he looked beautiful – but when she looked up from the batch of cookies in frnt of her, the words she had meant to say were stuck in her throat because the guy was leaning over the table with an apple in his hand that he got from the fruit basket, holding it close to his nose and sniffing it. And she cursed herself for even paying attention to how the red skin of the apple matched flawlessly with his new hair color.

So turning away, she focused on transferring the cooled cookies from the tray to the glass jar and trying very hard not to think about the red haired boy standing a few feet behind her too much. The uneasy feeling in her stomach continued because the cookies in front reminded her of Chanyeol, because he liked them, especially the milk and dark chocolate chip cookie she was currently holding.

A small sigh made its way past her lips as she dumped the cookie into the jar.

This was going to be a long night.

------------- A/N: Hohoho I've been waiting for this chapter so that I could change the header photo ^^ I hope everyone's enjoying your weekend. And along with this update I shall post Chapter 01 of Kris''s story, The Other Half, which is one of the stories in The Chronicles series. Please go ahead and check it out (Chapter 00 is already up, if you haven't read it yet, please read Chapter 00 before Chapter 01.) and look forward to more ^^

Again, thank you for reading, following and messaging me :D please let me know your thoughts on the stories, I would love to hear them.

-Spitfire