Thunder

“But remember how we both agreed we didn’t know where we were?” He peered at Thunder, snorting subtly before rubbing at his jaw because finding their way back would be about as much of a feat as it was to avoid blushing during flirtations. “If we end up getting properly lost, I think there will be issues to be had, but we’d best… beat the darkness if we want to have a chance.” The end of his statement was more a question, a suggestion, than a definite position. An awkward pause from Rival and he was pointing to a distant lamppost that had just flickered on. “Go to the light? I know they say we shouldn’t, but—” Sue him for bad jokes. Fighting a guilty grin, he moved toward it, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was allowed to be morbid. He had died, and had practically earned the right.

The fallen glanced around them with a small frown. He had completely forgotten they had no idea where they were. “Lost is a state of mind. We’ll be fine,” he offered with a small shrug. Rival was right, of course, but it seemed like something someone wise might say. The darkness wasn’t much of a concern to the fallen, but the things that came along with it definitely were. Thunder looked to where Rival had pointed before turning to back stare at him for a second before bursting into laughter. Did he really just say that? He followed behind Rival trying to calm himself but every time he looked at Rival or the lamppost a fresh wave of laughter began to bubble up his throat. The beauty of it all was that he had no idea that Thunder was actually a bit of an authority on the light and could list off hundreds of reasons to avoid it at all costs. “I’m sorry,” he breathed. “That one caught me off guard. For future reference, I would advise against going towards the light.” Of course, it was a very different light he was talking about, but the lamppost did help ease his nerves a bit.

The smoke rings dissolved in the air for the dragon amusement as he breathed it out for once again while he was waiting for the others in front of the building. To be honest when Yoon told him first his idea about going out together he didn’t understand the reasons behind it but for then the sunspirit’s enthusiasm also infected him too. 

He rarely saw Thunder interacting with others to not to speak about Yoon and Rival so it was obvious that the night, or better evening, what was ahead of them filled the dragon with curiosity and excitement. 

“Here!” He waved as he finally noticed Thunder’s well covered figure, nudging his ribs when he reached him. “You’re late. I clearly wrote in that text 4 am, the girls inside thought that I was kidding when I rented the bowling hall. Hey!” He interrupted himself when the other two also dropped in signing them where the entrance was. 

“Fair warning, that is not the only butt I will be kicking tonight. Now, who’s ready to do this?” He asked giving his mitten covered hands a loud clap before rubbing them together like a mad scientist. “After you,” he gestured for everyone to walk ahead of him before sneaking up behind Yoon and tugging on the sleeve of his coat. “Scale of one to ten, how different is real bowling from Wii bowling?” He asked in a barely hushed voice. “Asking for a friend,” he clarified with a wide grin. He was confident he would win spectacularly or fail spectacularly, but either way, it would be a sight to see.

[Fridge] oh and before I forget would you like to go home with me?

[Fridge] I mean China. My home

[Fridge] not like it’s important

Thunder let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a growl as reached for his pocket for what had to be the thousandth time that day to text Rival to ask what he wanted for Christmas only to remember that he didn’t have a phone. He had been in every store in the mall at least twice at this point and was no closer to finding the perfect gift. Everything just seemed so generic and unthoughtful after he had opened the gift from Rival, and he wanted to get him something he’s use and hopefully enjoy as much as Thunder had enjoyed his scarf and Gobbolino.

He admired his handiwork once he finished securing the bright blue ribbon around the plain white box. A quick note reading “If I accidentally tried to text you one more time I was going to lose my mind. Merry Christmas, Thunder” was slid under the ribbon, and the package was promptly delivered to his doorstep. Inside was the cell phone that Thunder wanted the other to have all day (and most other days if he was honest) complete with the fallen’s phone number and a single app containing a white kitten with gray stripes named Thunder.

Legs crossed at the base of his bed, he swiped his thumb across the screen, tapping into the app for the sixteenth time and honestly subtly mourning the fact that Thunder wasn’t the only cat on there anymore. He daren’t change the names of the others, though he hadn’t many.

Truthfully, he had opened the gift on Christmas and hadn’t quite sent the text he had written out. How long had it been? A couple of days at least. Running his nails against the edges of his bottom teeth and exhaling heavily, he tapped into the texting app. His thumb hovered over the send button, absolutely positive that he wouldn’t yet hit it. But as fate would have it, the text wouldn’t be waiting any more hours or days given that a door was slammed in the Luna hallways and his muscles stuttered in a startle.

“No—” he murmured, quietly, and fell back on his sheets with a groan.

[Text: Thunder] Who’s phone plan am I on?  

Thankfully, he had long arms otherwise that text would have had to go unanswered because there was no way he was moving from his place on the couch. It was technically made to sit three adult humans if they sat perfectly upright and made a conscious effort to keep their elbows to themselves, but it was perfectly suited for one fallen angel to sprawl his body across if he didn’t mind part of his legs dangling over the edge, which he didn’t.

All traces of his former laziness and any thoughts of the man with his finger stuck in the bullet making machine on television were quickly forgotten when he saw who the message was from.

[Rival] Don’t worry about it, you’re unlimited.

He ignored the question in his typical fashion.

[Rival] How was your Christmas?

it was so unnatural for the cupid to be this sullen especially when people knew that he was a kind of person who has an ever cheerful in his disposition and positive outlook in life, but then the season just made him very morose. As he nibbled on the soft treats that he got for free, droplets of tears kept on gushing on his cheeks.

few minutes had passed and the cupid was still sulking. there were already flashes of vibrant colors in the sky yet he was still gray, but then someone with a good heart took pity on him and decided to talk to him. The cupid’s head rose up from his folded knees yet he did not bothered to look at the tall figure beside him. his chest started to clench and his slender fingers slowly approached the other’s wanting to hold the hand.

The fallen begrudgingly pulled his hands from the warmth of his pockets to pat the pockets of his jeans in hopes of finding something to mop up the boys tears with, but he had nothing except for some lint and pocket change. He stood still as a statue as the hand slowly reached out to entwine itself with his own without the boy even turning to look at him. An odd sense of panic began to fill him when he couldn’t figure out what the boy had in mind, but when glassy eyes finally met his own, the feeling quickly vanished.

“What do you mean assigned?” the night elf sputtered as he just received notice that he would be the one to decorate all the Christmas trees. ALL. OF. THEM. Did they not see that he was not the greatest at…anything festive? His wardrobe consisted of black, black, black, white, black, black, and charcoal. His room? Boring and plain and…the little decorations he had were from the human girl.

The human girl….

That’s it. He was blaming her. Blaming her for why they would think assigning him Christmas tree duty was a good idea. He could burn them down! Or…or…maybe this was a test. A test to see if he would burn them down or not…a reason to kick him out! No..no…they weren’t that stupid…or brilliant.

Gah! Now he was conflicted. To burn down the trees or not. He stopped listening to the jabber jabber wonky talk, too busy muttering to himself about how this was all a conspiracy to even argue the box of light shoved into his arms.

He made his way outside, a grumbly hot headed mess. No, seriously. Steam was coming from his ears. Literally. Sort of. Slightly. Enough. He dropped the box in the snow, watching as the cardboard soaked up the wetness. “Maybe the lights won’t work…but somehow I might be blamed for that…I can’t win!”

Taking the first strand, cord, whatever you call it - he started with the first tree, long grey and nimble fingers reaching the top of the tree and slowly wrapping it around. “This is so stupid.”

Mumbling and what sounded unfortunately like a box of lights crunching the snow made its way to his ears. Oh, joy, he found him. Making his way towards the noise, Thunder was pleasantly surprised not to find an overly excited over-achiever but an elf who seemed to be just as displeased with the current situation as he was. “You can say that again,” Thunder agreed while watching the other slowly begin to wrap the lights around the top of the tree.

“I’m Thunder. You must be my warden for the evening.” The fallen frowned as his breath became visible in the cold night air. Ah, yes, let’s just rub that salt in the wound; this night really couldn’t get any better. He dug into his coat pockets to pull out the slip of paper they had given him in the usual detention room. “I don’t suppose you want to just sign this saying I served my time and send me on my merry way?” He asked hopefully.

After he had enjoyed his cup of coffee– or two– Jinki put on his coat and left to pick up his next charge. It was a dark night and there were a few gray clouds overhead, clear indication that it would be raining soon. The night had a bit of melancholic feel to it, Jinki noticed dully as he held his invisibility power active. The reaper looked up towards the home of his next charge and knew that it was about to begin. Jinki always rather come exactly the moment when his charges were about to die– it saves him time and allows him to take in more charges a day (or night).

Jinki transported himself through dark silky smoke, entering his charge’s home through the cracks of the wooden door. Even though his mode of transportation never went invisible, like the rest of himself, it didn’t really matter since he blended well with the shadows. Jinki rematerialized in the entrance before walking up to where he saw his charge and another person– a man. “Are you sure?”, Jinki heard him ask and watched as his charge gave him reassurance of her decision. Her eyes were already puffy and red, her nose and cheeks as well. He vaguely wondered why was this girl hiring someone to kill her when she could have done all of it by herself. The concept of contracting someone to do the dirty job wasn’t a new one but, aside from murder and elaborated suicides, he didn’t understand the reason or logic to contract a killer. Anyway, it wasn’t something Jinki cared about. He would never need the assistance of anyone like that in his lifetime, he was sure. Not that he would but, if Jinki ever had the need to kill someone or himself he would do it himself. There was no need for a third party to get involved.

As Jinki crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the wall beside him, he saw the young man take out a hunting knife and hold it against his charge’s throat. The sight of the sharp blade made his heart skip a beat and his throat constrict on itself. Jinki felt the scar on his left temple throb and tighten his hands as they trembled. So many ways she could have asked for the man to do this, yet it had to be a knife. For a second, Jinki forgot where he was and who he was. For just a single moment, which lasted a lifetime inside his mind, Jinki was back in the late 1700s. He was back in his mother’s grasp and with a sore, brused, and bleeding body. For just a moment, he was a small, vulnerable child once more.

The sound of his charges body hitting the ground brought Jinki back from his memories. He searched the ground with his eyes, not even realizing how his breath had spiked nor how his body shook. Jinki Saw her on the floor, her body and everything nearby covered in her blood. He could see as her soul began to separate from her corpse and he tightened his fists. ‘It’s fine’, he told himself in his mind as he took a tentative step towards her, allowing her to notice his presence. She looked up at him and smiled in relief even as her tears kept falling down her cheeks. Jinki offered her a hand and didn’t wait long before she took it, sending her to wherever souls went.

The young reaper took a second or two to calm himself as much as he could. He could feel could sweat run down his forehead and his temples throb in painful beats. Jinki took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he forced himself to calm his nerves. Knowing the mam before him was no human, he was surely not new to any magical ways either. So, once he was calm enough, Jinki dropped his invisibility and stood straight as he looked down at her corpse. The neck was cleanly sliced, something she wouldn’t have been able to do on her own. Blood still ran freely from her neck but it was less than before, and Jinki could tell the first drops of blood that had left her body were now cooling and coagulating on her clothes and on the floor. Jinki looked up, once the image of her body and aftermath was engraved in his mind, and stared at the man as he scrubbed away the blood in his hands. He didn’t know he was staring and he didn’t know why he was doing it either but, all of a sudden, the man turned towards him.

“Who are you?”, the young man asked Jinki as he continued to stare at him.

Jinki’s eyes darken as he watched him reach for a towel and dry his hands. The same hands that had held the knife to her throat. The knife that made his temple throb and his mind recollect memories he should have discarded a long time ago. It made him angry, knowing that just a small action– such a small object– could bring those awful memories back to the surface.

Out of the corner of his eye, Thunder noticed how far from the body the pool of blood had begun to spread. “Gross,” he mumbled glancing around the room for something to stop it or at the very least cover it up. “Can you believe how much blood humans have inside of them?” He gawked. The fallen edged around the pool on the floor towards the bed in the corner of the room. “Do you think the duvet or the sheet will be better to stop it from spreading?” He asked mostly to himself, but he would consider the others input if he had any. After a moment of contemplation, he opted for the duvet. More fluff meant more suck, right?

“You said you were here to do your job,” he began, flicking the blanket through the air a few times to get it smoothed out from where it had been bunched at the foot of her bed. “What exactly is your job?” He asked curiously. Because if it was causing the fallen a minor heart attack before filling the room with a whole slew of unexplained hostile energy then he deserved a pay raise. Thunder flicked the blanket into the air one last time before letting it gently float down to rest over the body. Spots of the light lavender quickly turned to a deep burgundy as it soaked up the liquid below. Thunder mentally praised himself for making the right choice in corpse cover on such short notice.

He crouched down beside the body to gently slide her petite hand under the cover from where it stuck out. He was always bad at getting the blankets perfectly on his bed the first try, so he didn’t know why he thought this would be any different. “They’re so fragile,” he mused wiping the new red smudges on his fingers off onto a dry section of the blanket. “She asked me to do it,” he explained. He knew the other didn’t care, but something about his presence made Thunder antsy, and when he got worked up, he talked. “She asked if I was an angel, and I said yes.” It wasn’t technically a lie, but it wasn’t quite the truth either. “She’s a Catholic…well, she was. They’re super into angels and super against taking your own life. So, she asked for help.” He finally stood before brushing invisible dirt off his pants. “Old habits die hard, and I’ve always been too merciful for my own good,” he chuckled moving towards the kitchen table towards her purse. He wasn’t sure mercy was the right word for what he had just done, but she got to go with the peace of mind that her family would believe her death was a tragic murder, and her soul was somewhat saved. He pulled he phone out of the bag and held it up in the air before letting it fall to the ground with a crack. What self-respecting thief wouldn’t take a brand new cell phone? Speaking of thieves…

“Yeah you look exactly like someone who is fine.” He said and sent a sharp doubtful look to the other male right after the other’s winced. But right after it it was his turn to sigh. He didn’t know when Thunder decided to be a this annoying smartass but he clearly didn’t like the change.

“The Court?” He looked at him wondering like he was thinking on what the other was speaking about when in reality he just tried to win a bit more time to improvise some with truths mixed lie. “Ah you mean the Azure Court. It’s in charge of keeping the peace amongst our kind. You know when they say dragons are neutral they really mean it. The oriental courts haven’t participated in any war in the last two thousand year but helped in avoiding a lot of conflicts amongst different realms. You stupid westerns think that every dragon is the same. If he attack someone… well someone more important that would cause diplomatic issues. That’s why I tried to beat some manner into him.” He grinned at the memory. If they wouldn’t have so much viewer he would use even more dramatical methods. “But the main point is that it wasn’t about you at all.” It was true in general, he only ‘forgot’ to mention the part that the leader of that Court was his own father while the one who Thunder knew about raiding his fridge and stealing his clothes in general was the crown prince and the father of the new heir.

After they finally both get up he let the injured boy lean against him. Even tough Thunder tried to play the big bad tough boy Heechul felt how weak he was in truth. He couldn’t help but trembled like someone who was caught in act when the other’s words hit him but then right after the short shock his lips curved into a smaug smirk. “Only from your knees dear.” He said in a tone what was just half teasingly. Heechul didn’t want the other to find out who he was but if it also meant that he could break down a bit of the fallen’s ego it already worth it.

“This way. I’m going to take you to my room it’s closer.” He said and turned I away to head towards the Aqua dormitory. After a few minutes they really arrived to a door and after another few minutes with Heechul’s awkward bumbling with the key the door opened and they were finally in.

Thunder carefully looped his arm around Heechul’s shoulders leaned his weight onto him for what felt like the twentieth time since he got to Insolitus. This happened far too often for his liking. “My knees are just the start, all of me is great,” he defended with a click of his tongue. He allowed Heechul to guide him towards his room, but he couldn’t resist letting out a small snort. “You have a room? I would have never guessed,” he teased reaching up to playfully tug on a strand of Heechul’s hair. It seemed like he was always either getting himself into trouble around campus of hanging out in Thunders room, but the fallen didn’t mind. His room was always too quiet for his liking and Heechul always provided some much-appreciated noise. 

“Are you sure this is your room?” He chuckled as Heechul fiddled with the lock for a few moments before opening to door. “Already? I never even met him,” Thunder gave a small shrug of his shoulders remembering the pain it has caused him earlier. “What did you do to scare him off? That has to be a new record,” he snorted. He had never known anyone to go through roommates as quick as Heechul. He was surprised at how un-Heechul-y the room felt. Thunder nodded taking a seat on the couch as Heechul searched for the first-aid kit. 

Nodding, Ian grinned and got back into the stealth mode of things. He watched carefully and left a few seconds after Thunder but decided to walk much slower. The eye roll that wanted to come out was so painfully to try and hold back that he couldn’t find himself stopping it. That was not as smooth as it could be but it was the distraction he needed. Walking up to the puppy, Ian petted its head as his tail wiggled from happiness of getting attention finally. His hand had slipped to the collar to unlock the leash and with a small and quiet, “Shh!” He took the dog into his arms and stood to leave. 

He wove his way through the alley taking an unnecessarily complicated route on the off chance that the man would turn around and come after him, but it didn’t matter. There was no one behind him…or in front of him for that matter. Where the hell was Ian? For a split second, he was afraid the man had caught him, but he seriously doubted it; he must have just went ahead to the roof. Uh-oh. Which roof? One quick round of eenie meenie miney moe later, and Thunder was on his way up a fire escape.

it has been days since the season of joy was celebrated. a lot of people gave gifts, exchanged their cards, and kissed under the mistletoe, yet the cupid was alone. he was all alone at the plains as he dug in bitterly the little pieces of sweet mallows and chocolates that he got from the free samples. chanshik did not have any appetite; an appetite for him to do and desire good since during that day, he was alone.

now its the thirty-first of december, the day when the last breath of the year will meet with the new sun of the year. ‘it was exciting.’ he thought of, but it was not as exciting back when he was still outside the walls of the academy. He knew that he can go out anytime, but whom he shall go with? no one…

“Are you alright, kid?” He asked with an almost inaudible sigh. He couldn’t just brush past him now. “You look like someone kicked your puppy and told you Santa Claus wasn’t real.” Thunder tucked his hands deep into his coat pockets still cold from his walk. He found it much easier to enjoy the decorations still scattered around campus now that Christmas had finally past.