When Darkness Finally Meets the Light (Chapter 20)
Pairings: Saja Boys x fem!Reader
Tags: Reincarnation, Soulmates, Polyamory, Angst
Rating: T+
Summary:
The longer you are a demon the easier it is to only feel negative emotions or, worse, no emotions at all.
But there’s a legend, a whispered story of hope amongst demons, about finding a soulmate. They’re not once in a lifetime, as in if you miss them they never come back. No, many souls are old. They’ve seen multiple lifetimes. The older the soul, the more powerful they are up until a point- there comes a time when a soul reaches its epitome and moves on after their death, their final experience.
You find a soul like that, who’s also your soulmate, they say it can bring back your soul, your emotions.
Your desire to live.
But can it truly heal the curse of being controlled by Gwi-ma?
previous chapter | next chapter
(masterlist)
Word Count: 2.5k
Being let into the building the next morning went smoothly, not a question asked once you presented yourselves to the receptionist. Now, the six of you were in a high speed elevator heading to the top of the building.
A building with Huntr/x’s logo on it.
You weren’t freaking out inside slightly, not at all.
Mystery slid up beside you, their hand settling on your back, gently rubbing it. “Relax starlight,” he whispered.
You took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You're right. They're just people too, it's not that big of a deal.”
The elevator dinged and opened up to a large living room surrounded by walls of glass, overlooking the city. The girls were standing near the couch that took up the center of the room.
“Hi! Morning!” Zoey greeted cheerfully.
“Glad you got up here alright,” Rumi said before clapping her hands together. “So, we did some research to see if we could find anything else. We didn't find much more on soulmates, but we did learn more about bright souls like yours, Y/N.”
“Yeah!” Zoey chimed in. “The hunters throughout history have different stories of how bright souls helped them.”
“Apparently bright souls are almost like a battery for the Honmoon,” Mira drawled.
Rumi nodded. “Not only that, but they tend to draw on the Honmoon without realizing it, usually creating a barrier for those closest to them.”
“Is that something I can control willingly?” You asked.
Mira shrugged. “I don't see why not. It seems like a defensive version of what we do with the Honmoon,” she explained before dragging her hand through the air, making an impressive blade materialize in her hand.
“You already have some control over it,” Romance pointed out. “If you didn't, we might not be standing here.”
The three girls looked confused. “What do you mean by that?” Rumi asked.
“Gwi-ma had pulled us into the demon realm,” Romance said smoothly, “and she pulled us back out.”
“But I don't know if I could do it again,” you whispered.
“I think you could,” Mystery mused.
“How did you do it the first time?” Rumi asked.
“I just felt like something was tugging at me, so I tugged back,” you said with a shrug.
“Well let's see if you can do it again in not dire circumstances,” Zoey suggested. “That's what we're meeting up for, right? To try and learn more about how your bond works?”
“Did you pull them all at once?” Mira asked. “Or one at a time?”
“I pulled Romance, Abby, and Baby at the same time, first, and then Jinu and Mystery after,” you answered. “I don’t know how I pulled some of them and not all of them at once.”
“Can you feel the bond within you?” Rumi questioned. “Can you tell who is who or is it just one giant bond?”
“I don’t… I don’t know?”
Zoey clapped her hands together. “Well, let’s find out then! Y/N, you come over here, and boys, you need to spread out.” She came over to the group of you and grabbed you by the arm, pulling you away from the boys.
You heard Baby growl and you turned your head to glare at him. “This is literally why we came here, calm down.”
Zoey moved you to stand across the room near the windows while Rumi and Mira shuffled the other boys so they were further apart, spread across the room.
“So,” Zoey said, facing you, “if your connection is anything like ours, we were taught to feel inward in order to connect outward.”
“What she means is your ties to the Honmoon, and by extension the boys, begins inside of you,” Rumi explained, coming over to stand by Zoey. “We had to learn to identify the part inside of us before we could manipulate what was outside of us.”
“It'll probably help to close your eyes at first,” Mira suggested. “Once you get more used to it, you'll be able to do it anytime.”
You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, trying to feel what you had felt the other day.
You could still sense it there. Unlike the other day, it felt calm, cozy even. You experimentally tried to tug at it.
“Wait, did you just do something?” Rumi asked.
You opened your eyes and saw all five boys staring at you, their hands on their chests.
“I… yeah? I tried to tug at it again like I did last time,” you answered, glancing between the girls and your boys.
“What did you guys feel?” Rumi asked, pointing at the boys.
“It was almost like the feeling when I want to teleport somewhere, but directed at Y/N,” Abby answered.
“I almost ran over to her,” Mystery said.
Baby nodded in agreement.
“Nice job,” Mira said, making you smile.
“Can you just try and interact with just one of the bonds?” Zoey prompted excitedly.
“I’ll try,” you said, closing your eyes again.
It was easy enough to identify the feeling- the bond again. You tried to focus on it, see if you could tell any of the boys apart.
Last time you did it because two of them were still in pain and the others weren’t. Obviously you didn’t want them to be in pain now to test that, so you tried to notice any emotional differences.
You felt contentment, curiosity, boredom, amusement… but they all intertwined with each other.
You huffed in frustration and opened your eyes. “They all feel the same.”
“You said you pulled them to you separately though, last time,” Rumi said, arms crossed with a confused look on her face. “How did you do that?”
“They- they were in pain,” you admitted softly. “When I had three of them back, I could still tell which two were missing.”
“Stab wounds don’t have to be fatal you know,” Mira said with a smirk.
You heard one of the boys growl, but you snapped at her before they could, pointing a finger at her aggressively. “You’re not hurting them.”
You heard Baby groan. “You can’t just say shit like that when I’m way over here!”
Since you’d been paying attention to it, you noticed when the bond inside of you flared at his words. You reacted, grabbing the feeling as it went by and pulling-
Suddenly, Baby was right in front of you. He blinked for a second as he realized what happened, before he was quickly smirking, putting a hand on your waist. “Much better,” he purred, nose brushing against yours.
“Okay so being in pain or being thirsty then, huh?” Mira noted with a smirk.
You put a finger to Baby’s lips, leaning back slightly. “No making out in front of other people.”
Baby grumbled, slipping behind you instead. He wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his head on your shoulder.
Rumi snorted. “Okay, is it easier or harder to feel the other boys now that he’s closer?” she asked.
You closed your eyes again and tried to ignore the feeling of Baby pressed against you.
The bond did feel different. It wasn’t drastic, and if you hadn’t been checking it so frequently, you wouldn’t have noticed.
Part of it felt… brighter. Warmer.
At peace, even.
You were able to separate that feeling from the rest of the bond, but beyond that… it still felt too similar to discern anyone from each other.
You rubbed your temples. “I don’t know, not really. I can tell Baby apart now that he’s closer, but that’s it.”
“Then maybe we should take one of the other boys further away,” Rumi suggested.
Zoey nodded. “We did want to test how far your shield went.”
You felt nervous and you knew it wasn’t just coming from yourself. Baby’s arms tightened around you slightly.
“I’ll do it,” Jinu said, sounding slightly dejected but doing his best not to show it.
You formed your hands into a heart shape, directed at him. He smiled softly at you.
“Don’t worry, we won’t go far for this first one,” Zoey said as she walked over to Jinu. “We’ll go down to the first floor and hang out for a second, then come back.”
You hadn’t even realized you tensed up as Jinu stepped into the elevator until Baby spoke.
“Easy doll,” Baby murmured in your ear.
“Sorry,” you whispered, glancing at the girls and then back at the closing elevator door. “We just… haven’t exactly been that far apart since the whole Gwi-ma incident.”
“He’ll be okay,” Rumi told you. “He has you to keep him safe.”
You nodded, giving her a half-hearted smile, before focusing back on the elevator door.
You closed your eyes, looking at the bond once more.
Once again, it was easy to ignore Baby’s portion of the bond. You investigated the rest of it, trying to sift through it.
One portion of it started to feel… further away. You did your best to focus on just that portion, but it felt a bit fuzzy. You felt your eyebrows furrow as you concentrated. Why could you more easily identify Baby’s portion of the bond? Was it really a distance thing? But Jinu also wasn’t pulled in the first time when you saved the boys from Gwi-ma. Was it something to do with him?
Your train of thought was suddenly interrupted as you felt that portion of the bond slip away. Not gone, but more out of reach.
Before you fully realized what you were doing, you grabbed for that part of the bond and tugged. It was harder than when you pulled Baby, but you didn’t stop. Your breathing quickened, heart rate doubling, as you grappled with it.
You heard Rumi gasp just as the feeling gave. Your eyes snapped open and you saw Jinu standing in front of you, smiling fondly.
You grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him closer, burying your head in his chest. “I didn’t go far. It’s alright angel,” he soothed, bringing a hand up to rest on the back of your head.
“How far did you make it?” Rumi asked.
You felt Jinu’s chest rumble slightly as he answered. “We’d just stepped out of the elevator.”
“Did you notice anything change?” Mira questioned.
“I did,” Jinu replied. “We’ve felt it before, though we’ve never paid attention to the exact distance.” His thumb gently brushed over the back of your head, soothingly. “It feels like stepping away from a fireplace on a cold night.”
“What about you, Y/N?”
You made yourself lift your head. Jinu didn’t step away, though, he just moved his hand down to hold yours, instead. “I never really noticed before, but I was trying to pay attention to the bond. Some part of it became… fuzzy? Hard to read, I guess. I was thinking about why that could be when it became very- far.” You blinked, glancing at Jinu, who was watching you. “It felt out of my reach, and it reminded me of how it felt when I was reaching for you guys to bring you back.”
Jinu kissed your forehead lightly while Baby nuzzled against the back of your neck.
“Can we come back over there now?” Abby called from across the room.
“Please,” you replied, and instantly your other three boys were beside you.
The elevator door opened and Zoey stepped out. “Did you guys see that, too?” She asked, looking at Rumi and Mira.
The two of them nodded and you glanced between the girls, confused. “See what?”
“The Honmoon rippled when you pulled Jinu back,” Rumi answered as Zoey joined the rest of you on the other side of the room.
“Did it do that when I pulled Baby over, too?”
Rumi and Zoey shook their heads while Mira shrugged.
“I think it was because he wasn’t shielded by you when it happened,” Zoey offered. “I could tell the moment he wasn’t. Their souls are all tethered to yours, but his became untethered around the 5th floor or so. You may have had to tap more into the Honmoon to locate him and pull him back because of it.”
“It could also be because his tether is weaker,” Mira said.
You didn’t like how that sounded. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been paying attention to your ties to each of them while you’ve been here,” Mira replied. “Your ties with Abby, Romance, and Baby are very lively and bright. Your ties to Mystery and Jinu, however, not so much.”
Your heart clenched. You could almost feel the boys’ reaction to this information.
Mystery and Jinu were the two who you didn’t pull back right away- was that why? Or did you not pull them back first because the tie was… weaker.
Jinu hadn’t had as much of a chance to hang out with you one-on-one, but Mystery certainly had.
You didn’t care about them any less than the other boys so why-
“I feel like we’ve given you a lot to think about,” Rumi said, pulling you out of your thoughts. “How about we convene for today and meet up again tomorrow?”
You nodded, brain whirling with questions. “Yeah, good idea.”
“We’ll keep trying to find more information about all of this,” Zoey promised. “If you need anything, or have any questions, feel free to text, okay?”
You gave a small smile. “We appreciate all your help, truly.”
“Hopefully we can find a good answer to all of this,” Rumi said.
“We will,” you said with certainty.
“Back to our place?” Abby asked.
You nodded, waving bye to the girls before you were teleported back to the boys’ familiar living room.
Instantly, you were looking at Mystery and Jinu. “You guys know I care about you just as much, right?”
Mystery nodded and Jinu gave you a small, sad smile. “We know, angel.”
“I don’t- I just don’t know why your guys’ bond would be different,” you said, stress leaking into your tone.
“I… may have a theory,” Jinu started with a soft sigh.
You looked at him, worried. “Yeah?”
Jinu looked at the ground for a moment, arms crossed over his chest, before he finally started speaking again. “It seems like you don’t share a past life with us.”
“Do we know that for sure?” You asked.
Jinu shrugged. “None of the stories you’ve shared so far relate to ours.”
“I’ve been having dreams like this for years. I’ve written down nearly all of them. I mean surely one of them has, right?” You argued. “Why would I be soulmates with you and overlap with Yujin, Rome, and Dae-hwan and not you guys? That… That just wouldn’t be fair…”
“You can’t choose your past lives, angel,” Jinu replied softly but firmly. “It wouldn’t be your fault.”
You massaged your temples. “Can we… can we just sit down and talk about this? I’ll get my journals and, if you guys are comfortable, you can tell me about your past lives. Maybe it’ll jog my memory, too.”
Jinu glanced at Mystery, who gave a single nod. “Part of me hopes you weren’t there,” Mystery admitted quietly.
“Well,” you said, “there’s only one way to find out.”
TAGLIST:
@wolfiafuntime @lobsterwithaknife @sammy-a-87 @edgycatx @deputy-videogamer @originaltyphoonkryptonite @gamer-kat @craftygamerscrafts @chin-chii @mrsbabysaja @chaoticfivesworld @thestardeli @kpopgirliez @winter-solstice24 @sxlsvv @blackbirdystar @elemental-of-magic @yourtownidiot @simpdevil66 @myjointpainismoderatetosevere @unadulteratedwizardrunaway @golbincat @call-me-nyxx @what-just-happened-to-me @vipxl @colorfulotaku @teffy @nyxnightshade7656 @allezoboli @lizzy121599 @julia-loves-cupcakes @marydragneell @ashleygryffindor @the-sweet-psycho @lafy-taffy @viper-0800 @lavenderficwriter @ifera-ilsa @holaaaf @motherspider @bunniotomia @3xclusivemari @foxinaforestofstars @mizuchan24-blog @princessmika224
