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gimmehyuck · 2 years

Text

shoganai | n.yt

summary. (n.) something that cannot be helped, being unable to change or alter a situation.

or alternatively:

when you are sent up the mountain to be a sacrifice for the “greater good”, you knew you’d be falling to your death. you were wrong.

pairing. demon!yuta x human!reader feat. shapeshifter!jungwoo

words. 21.7k (i lost my damn mind writing this, oof)

genre. supernatural romance with bits of humor? i wanted to do this for halloween but it isn’t necessarily spooky so

warnings. blood, death (no major characters dw), one (1) suggestive scene, did i mention blood???, reader gaslights yuta at one point but it’s not srs, jungwoo is a cutie, yuta is a lil grumpy at first, technically slight religious themes?? he’s a demon idk

p.s. happy halloween, stay safe everyone :)

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“you look beautiful,” your aunt purred to you as she admired your elegant hair she was working on. you didn’t respond vocally, only with a curt nod that you didn’t quite feel. staring at yourself, you couldn’t disagree. you had been staring at your reflection the entire day as she worked over you. your hair pinned perfectly into place with shiny jewels and pearls, and on any other day, you’d have been happy to be the object of such effort.

but not today.

your aunt seemed almost perturbed that you didn’t speak to her, but you didn’t feel the need to. you knew what today was, and you knew no amount of kicking, screaming, or arguing could change what was going to happen. you had already tried, countless times in the weeks leading up to that moment. and now that the day had finally come, you were left with nothing to feel except numbness.

your aunt had refused to meet your eyes the entire day, the one moment she had was by mistake through the mirror, causing her to quickly cover her small smirk with a mockingly sad frown. she even let slip a few tears, and you were impressed with her level of commitment to the act.

you were so detached from the situation that you hadn’t really, truly processed anything. you refused to look at anything else but your eyes in the mirror after that, as she went back to glittering you up as if you were a doll, humming as she did so.

as if you weren’t family to her.

maybe she never truly accepted you as such, maybe she really was happy to do this – her ego boosting tenfold as the one to be chosen to offer you up. finally finishing up with your hair, she placed both hands on your shoulders and leaned over one to smile at you in the mirror.

“come on, dear, let’s not dawdle any longer,” the tight grip on your shoulder unrelenting as she tugged you up. it felt out of body, the walk through the front door.

the sun didn’t feel warm on your face, the coolness of the day not reaching you either. the people of the town were all standing outside the front door, lined up in two lines like an aisle, the only person standing in the middle was the town mayor, who would be escorting you the entire way.

the people were cheering, and you were disgusted at how they were so damn happy. giving you flowers as you passed, falling to their knees in thanks to you, grabbing your hand as you passed. you found it grating, your aunt on the other hand soaking up the glory of the moment, but you still felt nothing.

they were thanking you for walking to your death, after all.

you didn’t believe anything really lived in the mountain that protected the people at the base of it, you only believed the people to be overly superstitious and you always scoffed when discussing the tradition in school. but boys in your school swore that they heard things in the mountains on silent nights and you never listened to their ghost stories, either.

you hated it but never thought you’d be here in this position, you were an orphan living with your aunt after your parents had passed and according to the law of the land, only parents could offer up their daughters.

you thought you were safe.

you never thought your aunt’s ambition to climb the social ladder would be this devious, and so you thought nothing of it when your aunt summoned you to the dining room that dreaded night.

“yes?” you responded as you sat across from her, your uncle, and your cousin at the wooden table.

“we have wonderful, wonderful news! news that i never thought we’d receive.” she was giddy, absolutely ecstatic to be giving you this information, but the looks on the other two at the table told you this wouldn’t actually be good news. you opened your mouth to ask, but she kept going, not letting you get the first syllable out.

“we’ve been chosen! isn’t that fantastic?” and your jaw dropped, eyes instantly darting over to your cousin who sat with her eyes trained on her hands that sat on the table.

“mina, oh my god, i’m so sorry,” you had genuine sadness for her sake, reaching across to take one of her hands in yours and she looked up with tears in her eyes. she only shook her head at you and pulled her hand from yours.

a line forming in between your brows at that, and you looked to your uncle for understanding but he was staring at something over your shoulder, refusing to meet your eyes. that left the only other person at the table, and her grin was wide as she reveled in your confusion.

“it’s not our mina, dear. you have been chosen. it’s an honor, wouldn’t you agree?” and you stood up quickly at that, sending the chair clattering to the floor behind you.

“that’s not possible, that’s against the law.” you argued, fear racing through your veins at this.

and your aunt’s grin turned evil in an instant.

“oh, but it’s already been read. and you know once it’s been read, it’s law. there’s no changing the decision.” your fear left you frozen in place, and your cousin left the table, too upset on your behalf to be around you anymore.

“you can’t do this…” you started to say but the simper your aunt was giving you made your sentence die in your throat.

“come now, y/n. let’s set the table for dinner,” your aunt said as if she hadn’t told you that you only had weeks left to live. at home in the following weeks, she had been the nicest to you in all the years she had been caring for you. once she walked out the front door though, she toned her smile back and made it appear more somber.

like the one she had given you in the mirror, and she walked with you down the makeshift aisle with her hand on your back. the people lined up like this until the edge of town, where the trodden dirt met the forest. a lone trail winding through the woods, the darkness of the forest making you lose sight of the pathway ahead, but you knew it would lead to a spot a good portion up the mountain.

the last two people, the two that stood closest to the trail were your cousin and uncle. your uncle gave you a solemn nod and then mina was suddenly throwing her arms around your neck. she held you tightly, and she cried into your neck. it was funny how she was crying for you, when you didn’t have it in you to do it for yourself.

“i’m so sorry, it should have been me and, please y/n… please forgive us, forgive me.” she sobbed in your ear and you, you, consoled her by wrapping your arms around her in a parting embrace. mina was ripped away from you, your aunt’s face turning red with rage at the sight.

“pull yourself together, you’re embarrassing me!” she hissed, her hands gripping both you and your cousins tight enough to hurt. your cousin looking at you with watery eyes and she stepped back into her place in line. it was tradition that they stay in their lines until you, the town mayor, and one family member had disappeared into the woods.

your aunt trying to prevent another embarrassment, quickly nodded to the mayor and he held up the bright lamp that would be your source of light through the woods – and she ever so roughly pushed you forward.

no time to waste, you sarcastically mused. the first step into the forest felt like taking step to the gallows.

you supposed it was all the same.

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the climb was exhausting, but you were in awe of how the clearing looked. the mouth of the cave seemed almost inviting and the flowers that grew in random patches danced in the breeze.

the mayor walked forward until the edge where the grass kissed the stone and he turned to you expectantly. you didn’t fight the expected push of your aunt, stepping in line with the mayor. he opened his book, the book where you would sign your name under the previous woman chosen before you.

you ignored him as he gave his spiel of how you should be honored to be chosen, how your sacrifice would be spoken of for years to come. how your loss of life would be keeping theirs safe.

you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your throat, the sound coming out faster that you could have stopped it. the sound fully offending the mayor, and enraging your quick-tempered aunt. the pen was thrust in your face for you to take, the mayor frowning disappointedly at you – as if your lack of pride for what you were about to do was a blow to him. he opened the book, and you signed it fluidly.

you couldn’t help but throw the pen back at him – a last act of defiance – and he fumbled for a moment trying to catch it, and your aunt barked your name.

for the thousandth time that day, she gripped your elbow tight enough to cause pain and she dragged you to the mouth of the cave and you stumbled forward. staring into the entrance of the cave, you hesitated, you looked down and just as described, there was the drop – the darkness seemed alive, consuming all light hungrily.

this was it.

you turned around, to say something. anything at all.

but the words were caught behind your teeth. your aunt stood there smugness radiating from her, and she gathered you in her arms in a hug – but she was using the moment to disguise how she wanted to whisper in your ear.

“do tell your mother i said hello, won’t you?” she crooned in your ear and then leaned away from you, not wanting to miss the way your mouth fell open, before she shoved you forward for the last time.

you didn’t even scream as you fell, you just closed your eyes. the drop whipped your hair around your face, and you felt some of the ornaments in your hair coming loose and it made you smile.

you weren’t sure why but something told you to open your eyes, and you saw the moment you went from inky blackness to daylight again, as if you simply fell through clouds. this made your brain jump into overdrive trying to understand how that could be, and then you came to a sudden halt mid-fall and you couldn’t stop the woosh that left your lungs at the impact.

inhaling sharply trying to refill your lungs, you looked up at the shadow of what had stopped your fall and an overly bored face came into focus. he was handsome and you couldn’t deny that, something in the way his dark hair was long enough to curl around his face in a way that framed his dark eyes.

“the hell?” you shrieked, your face the definition of confused.

“mouthy,” he grunted. “i don’t like that.” and in the next moment he dropped you in a heap on the ground. he dusted his hands and turned around to walk away from you.

okay, scratch handsome, he was a dick.

you stumbled to your feet, whipping your head around to take in the sight before you. the “sky” was blue, and there was sunshine but no sun or source to be seen. a waterfall flowed across the distance into a stream that cut across the clearing, and you were thoroughly stunned at the serenity of the scene.

you jogged to catch up to the man that caught you and you stood in front of him, blocking his path. his eyes which were focused on his destination slowly dragged down to look you in the eyes, utterly unamused. he quirked his eyebrow at you expectantly.

“what is this place?” you demanded an answer, sweeping your arms at the place that definitely shouldn’t exist.

“a mountain,” he deadpanned and made to step around you but you moved again to block his path.

“how is all of this possible? i must have fallen over a hundred feet, and there’s daylight.” you were trying desperately understand. he sighed as if he were quickly running out of patience with you.

“magic,” was his curt response, and another move to go around you was made.

“i-.” you opened your mouth, and closed it. taking a deep breath, you stepped once more in his path and he growled, the sound coming deep from his chest. his lips downturned and he crossed his arms.

“what do you want now?” he hissed at you.

“what’s your name?” you asked, matching his stance and crossing your arms.

“yuta. is that all, human?” you shook your head.

“who are you?” you pressed. and yuta moved to step closer to you, bending down just enough to be eye level with you.

his presence taking over your personal space.

“the demon you were just sacrificed to.” you audibly gulped at that and your eyes flew wide, the numbness you had felt before nowhere in sight now when you needed it the most.

“wh-what are you… going to do now?” you asked quietly gripping the fabric of your dress’s sleeve, and the fear didn’t go unnoticed by him. he could smell it all around you.

human emotions were so predictable, and he smirked at that.

“eat you,” you stumbled back a step, staring at his mouth as if you’d see fangs suddenly appear and he chuckled dryly before standing upright again. “that is… if you don’t leave me alone.”

he stepped around you and this time you didn’t step in front of him. you watched him walk into an opening, a door of sorts in the stone wall. once he was out of sight you let out the shaky breath you were holding and tried to run your fingers through your hair but when your fingers snagged on all the baubles still pinned in place in your hair you finally let yourself get upset.

you’d allow it for a moment.

holding back tears you’ve been repressing for weeks, you angrily tore the clips and pins out of your hair. you didn’t care that they were ripping out hairs in the process and you didn’t even flinch at the pricks of pain to your scalp. gathering them all in your hand you angrily threw them one at a time, yelling out a cuss word with every one you chunked across the clearing.

you ran out of cuss words before you did pins, and ran through them once more before you were done and you were breathing heavily, wiping your face of the few tears that snuck their way out of your eyes in the process. you flopped down on the grass, staring in the distance when a voice from behind you made you jump.

“feel better now?” you whipped your head to face the sound only to find yourself inches from the pink nose of a golden retriever. you crawled backwards on your hands away a foot, completely mute in shock. and then the reasoning caught up with you with a vocal ‘ahhh’, and you relaxed.

“i’m not going insane, i’m just dead,” you said aloud to the dog, and he tilted his head slightly. “i’m dead and this is the afterlife and the afterlife comes with an asshole of a man and a talking dog. that’s fine. i can live with that. yep. this all makes sense now.” you were rambling at that point but like you discovered, you were dead.

it didn’t matter.

you reached over and scratched the dog behind the ear. “at least i have a cute dog to keep me company, don’t i? do you have a name?”

“my name is jungwoo,” the dog answered, his tail wagging and you stalled again for a moment. a talking dog would take some getting used to.

“hello jungwoo, i’m y/n.” you stated and continued to scratch behind his ears, a small smile making it’s way to your lips.

the voice of the man – yuta – from earlier called to you from the opening where he had disappeared to before.

“you’re not dead, and jungwoo is not a dog.” he said, voice as gravelly as before. he was leaning against the opening, arms crossed again.

“yes i am… or i’ve gone insane, and,” you pointed at jungwoo, and raised your eyebrows at the demon. “he looks like a dog to me. besides, i thought you said for me to leave you alone, so why are you here?”

yuta pinched the bridge of his nose as if your voice alone gave him a headache and sighed heavily.

“you’re noisy. now jungwoo, stop being an affection whore.”

the answering whine that came from the dogs throat, and the pouty stomp from his back paw was somehow cute and he responded with, “but yutaaaa, you never cuddle or pet me, and she’s doing it without me even asking!”

yuta’s answering cocked eyebrow made jungwoo huff, grumbling something under his breath you couldn’t quite hear. yuta’s snort made you aware that he had, at least.

then jungwoo morphed right in front of your eyes and where the dog was a moment before, sat a man that wore the exact same smile as he had when he was a dog.

“aw,” you sang to him. “you’re just as cute as a human, jungwoo.” and jungwoo laughed happily, and turned to yuta to stick his tongue out childishly.

“she also thinks she’s insane.”

jungwoo turned his head to you, as if that had offended him and you shrugged in answer. you did think you were insane and jungwoo leaned over to pinch you on your side sharply.

“what the hell, jungwoo?” you yelped while rubbing at the area.

“see? you’re not dead. and you’re not insane. you were just sacrificed and your brain is trying to come up with a reason to make it make sense.” at the reminder of your day, you drew your knees to your chest and rested your chin on them. you looked past jungwoo and made eye contact with yuta.

“if you’re going to eat me, can you go ahead and get it over with?” you said lowly, the fight and defiance leaving you, and in between one blink and the next, yuta was crouching in front of you. his elbows on his knees, his head tilted slightly but that’s not what you stared at.

the whites of his eyes were gone, as were his dark brown irises. instead, his eyes were endlessly black, no other color present and you were utterly entranced by the depths of them.

“are you asking me to kill you?” he said, his usual gruff tone turning a little teasing.

“yuta!” jungwoo scolded. “you know you’re not going to eat her, now stop trying to scare her.”

yuta ignored his only friend down in the mountain and continued to stare into your eyes; it was as if he was looking through them into the heart of you, as if he were rummaging around trying to find your soul and you couldn’t blink even if you wanted to.

“interesting,” he murmured and blinked, finally releasing you from the trance and you blinked rapidly. the feeling of what transpired making you feel somehow emptier, and you rubbed at your chest to soothe the hollow feeling and furrowed your eyebrows in anger.

“never,” you ground out, “do that again.” the fire in which you spat the words actually shocked yuta, and you saw in your peripheral vision that jungwoo was following the conversation, head turning side to side almost comically.

“you felt that?” he asked curiously and you nodded.

“interesting,” he repeated as he stood upright. “definitely interesting.”

yuta turned and walked away again, this time seemingly distracted and jungwoo stood too, extending his hand to help you up. you dusted yourself off, and looked at him expectantly.

“come on, i’ll show you around.”

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the cave seemed to be endless, but you discovered the light seemed to be localized to a small radius. various corridors and halls were carved out to be like a giant maze.

“but most of them will lead you right back here.” jungwoo was saying when you seemed alarmed by that fact. you hadn’t seen yuta in a few hours since jungwoo began his tour, and he ended the tour in the kitchen.

“i’m starving,” he complained as he rummaged in the cabinets for something to eat.

“demons need to eat?” you asked, curious. jungwoo mentioning earlier that yuta wouldn’t eat you, and you had been pondering over that ever since. “demons don’t need to eat, but they can. i’m not a demon though,” he said peeking around the open cabinet door to look at you. “i’m a shape-shifter.”

he finally found what snack he was looking and began munching, offering some of it to you which you took cautiously. you nibbled it at first, and when the flavor wasn’t terrible you fully bit into it.

“yuta’s a pretty good cook, huh?” he smiled at you across the island that stood in the middle of the kitchen.

“yuta made this?” surprise evident in your voice.

“shocked that i can?” yuta’s voice came from behind you, and you whipped around clutching your racing heart.

“stop doing that!” you hissed.

“i’ve been trapped here for a century, i’ve gotten good at a lot of things.” he said nonchalantly, and you noticed he seemed to enjoy leaning against walls.

you also noticed it was kind of attractive, and then you mentally slapped yourself.

“plus this place really is magic, it kind of always gives us what we need… which is funny considering it’s cursed…” jungwoo mused from behind you in between munches.

“don’t talk with your mouth full,” yuta grumbled at jungwoo, and then turned his attention to you.

“i came to ask you something,” and you nodded. you didn’t suppose you had anything to hide from the demon.

“why are you here?” the question was rude, but the way he said it made it come off as genuine curiosity.

“i was… chosen,” you chewed on the word like it was sour. “to be the sacrifice to appease whatever lives in the mountain, so… you.”

“yes, i know that much. i’m asking why you’re here now though, when no one has fallen in thirty years. i sent jungwoo ages ago to demand the towns to stop throwing random women into my home.” and your jaw dropped at that knowledge, your mind reeling.

“what?” you whispered, eyes searching for the lie in yuta’s face and it was set in a straight line.

“i have no reason to lie to you, human.” as if he read your mind, but you didn’t dwell on that. you were too focused on the news… because this was… impossible, wasn’t it? you gripped the counter tightly to steady you as you lost focus, mind reeling as it bounced from thought to thought.

it had been taught to you in school, every girl was always mentally prepared to possibly be offered up like a pig to the slaughter. they tried to disillusion every girl that it would be an honor, and of course it never worked. but this was unnecessary? you didn’t need to be thrown to your death…

had your aunt known the entire time? could she have been so evil? her last words coming to the front of your mind that you hadn’t had time to fully process yet.

‘do tell your mother i said hello, won’t you?’ and you couldn’t… you couldn’t breathe now. certainly she hadn’t meant it in that way, she couldn’t have… but the smile she gave you, the evil twist of her lips told you what you already knew.

something was pulling you from your thoughts and you lethargically realized you were being shaken, being pulled fully back to the present to focus with jungwoo’s concerned face taking up the majority of your vision.

“you need to breathe slowly, okay?” he commanded you gently.

you realized your breathing had become as erratic as your heartbeat, and even though you were actively trying to, you couldn’t calm down and it only made your breathing come in shorter and your eyes filled with more and more panic.

yuta gently pushed jungwoo aside and he was the only thing you could see now, your only point of focus and you let that tether you, let him be your anchor. his dark hair, his slight frown, and his once again somehow beautiful black eyes took up your space, and then slowly as if to not spook you or make you panic further, he brought his hand up to rest on your forehead, slowly moving it down to cover your eyes and they fluttered closed.

the sensation was immediate, gentle calm traveled from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet in soft waves until you could feel your heart beat become steady again. yuta removed his hand from your eyes, and his eyes were back to his normal brown. you thought you saw a flash of concern on his face but it was gone in a moment and you were sure you imagined it.

“thank you,” you whispered, eyes fixated on his now that he was this close. you found them pretty, actually. yuta stepped away from your personal space at that, at the vulnerability he saw there.

“humans are strange creatures, losing control of themselves like that.” he said coarsely.

you bristled at the insult and you opened your mouth to retort, to take back your thanks but jungwoo jumped in between you two.

“yuta don’t be an ass,” he said to the other man who only snorted before turning to you. “are you okay?”

“i’m…” you hesitated, then decided on the truth. “i think i just realized that my aunt tried to kill me with this… and i think… i think she may have killed my mom too.” both of the men stood stunned in shock, one far more expressive than the other. when they didn’t respond, you carried on.

“we… we were never told that we didn’t have to send someone up here. we never got word of that… and… my aunt – see, where i’m from, this whole thing is treated as this huge thing, something to be proud of. we’re doing our part in helping the people, we’re a hero, and the family that offers up the sacrifice is heavily compensated.”

“that’s… wow. horrible, especially since we never really asked for people to be tossed down here in the first place, there’s no way back out and it’s – wait, why do you think she killed your mom?” jungwoo questioned, tilting his head the way that he did as a dog.

“just… something she said to me before shoving me over the edge,” you said softly. jungwoo took that as you not ready to fully talk about it yet and accepting that as that.

“can i ask you something, then?” your question was directed at yuta, and his sole focus being on you was answer enough to go on.

“what happened to the other girls before you told them to stop sending them?” and that question finally evoked a strong emotion from yuta, you couldn’t tell if it was rage or sadness, or an even mix of both.

“they died,” was his short answer before he stormed out of the room.

died.

not killed.

not eaten.

you turned to jungwoo and his face showed just the sadness.

“he’s not heartless, he’s actually the opposite i swear. it’s just, he’s just… he feels guilty, i think.” his voice was solemn, feeling the need to defend his best friend, his eyes giving that of a kicked puppy.

“what do you mean?” jungwoo’s face turned somewhat pensive at your question.

“y/n, i need you to fully understand. there are parts of this mountain, alleys and corridors that you must stay away from. we’re… we’re not the only things living down here. and it would always either take them, or they would be thrown from the depths completely empty. a shell of what they were, something out of nightmares. so it’s not off-limits in the sense that you’re not allowed, it’s off-limits in the sense that once you’re too far deep, we can’t guarantee that we can get you back. we’ve never been able to before.” his warning was grave, and you took it seriously as you nodded. jungwoo continued, “that’s why he feels guilty, and seems a bit grumpy. he would try to keep them safe, and he failed every time. it felt like he lost a friend over and over. finally, he gave up altogether.” your heart ached in understanding for him, for them both.

and as you sat for a moment while you absorbed the information, jungwoo watched you. he was all too aware of the fact that yuta hadn’t gone very far as he explained things to you. jungwoo had been waiting for years for an excuse to say these words in a way that yuta could hear, he knew this had been eating him alive over time. yuta was a demon, yes, but jungwoo knew he was far from heartless like so many assumed of the damned.

“he can’t blame himself for their deaths if they didn’t die by his hand,” you thought aloud. and jungwoo was surprised at your response.

“i say the same thing,” he replied.

“but… why were we suggested to be tossed down here anyway?” the question arose and jungwoo shrugged at that.

“i don’t remember us ever asking for that, i think it had something to do with the curse but i’m not sure. there are some things that i still don’t know…” you didn’t take notice of the slight hesitation in which he gave his answer.

you were lost in thought for a long while at all the information you learned in such a short time, but something yuta said bubbled up to the surface of your mind and you whirled on jungwoo.

“yuta said he sent you out to tell them, so you can leave! why can’t you let me go?” excitement at the idea of possible freedom and his face fell at that.

“the curse only allows me to go so far – and there are different type of shape-shifters. i’m descendant of the ones who can only transform into creatures with four legs. and i’m not… strong enough to become anything bigger than a dog. i’m sorry.” and you shrugged casually.

“that’s okay, it was a long shot.”

jungwoo still looked upset on your behalf and you gently pushed his shoulder. “i’m okay with this, really.”

jungwoo narrowed his eyes at you. “you’re awfully well adjusted to everything… you’re not still thinking you’re insane, are you?”

you laughed and shook your head, then lifting one shoulder slightly, you responded. “i was orphaned as a child; i’ve been alone my entire life; i had three weeks to come to terms with being a snack for some creature. so i guess i just know it could be worse. i could be dead.”

he perked up at that, “that’s some kind of perspective, there.”

jungwoo was somehow happy that you were so fucked up that the company of them was an upgrade from what you were used to.

he just really hoped they could keep you alive.

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a week had passed since you fell, and you hadn’t really seen yuta. a pass here or there but he mostly just nodded or completely ignored your presence and it was starting to bother you. you huffed as much to jungwoo while you laid in the grass – you found that you enjoyed watching the magic clouds come and go, still baffled by how it worked.

“he doesn’t want to get close to you,” jungwoo answered, then he pointed out a cloud that looked a little like a heart, and you smiled, watching as it lost it’s shape moments later.

“was he close to the other girls that he… lost?” you asked.

“he wasn’t… close, per se. but he was friendly, he can be friendly, i promise. none of the girls lasted longer than a few weeks though.” jungwoo shrugged. then turned his head to squint suspiciously his eyes at you. “why? are you wanting to get close to him?” you felt the blood rise to your cheeks, and you sat up.

“that’s… that’s not what i meant! i’m… i mean i’m going to be down here until i grow old and die, he’ll have to stop pretending i exist eventually, right? i was just – i was really just curious, is all.” you stammered, and jungwoo chuckled at your expense.

“it would be a relief if he did though, might get closer to breaking the curse.” and you laughed, imagining the fairytales you were told as a child.

“is the curse broken by the power of friendship or something?” you said a tad sarcastically.

“or something.” yuta’s smooth voice came from your other side and you squeaked in surprise. sighing out in annoyance, you turned to look at him.

“i thought i asked you to stop doing that,” you said, taking in the fact that he appeared laying down, arms behind his head as if he was been there the whole time. maybe he had been, maybe invisibility is another demon thing. you didn’t know how any of this worked.

“no, you demanded i stop. there’s a difference.” he smirked at that, and you were shocked by the change in expression. it wasn’t the sarcastic smirk from before, this was warmer.

playful, even.

remembering that you had to respond, you cleared your throat.

“if i asked you to stop, would you?”

“mmm,” he thought it over for a moment, then turned his head to look at you and simply say, “nope.”

you groaned, rolling your neck back to look upwards, “but why?”

“because jungwoo doesn’t get startled anymore and i think it’s funny.” and jungwoo sighed at the mention of his name.

“it becomes predictable after awhile, trust me.” jungwoo said to you, cutting his eyes at yuta as he remembered the literal years it took for him to stop jumping every time yuta randomly appeared in front of him.

he didn’t mention the years part to you though.

“yeah but at this rate, i’m going to die of a heart attack because of him before whatever lives in the mountain can even get the chance to try to kill me.” you threw your hands up in exasperation and didn’t notice that jungwoo froze, glancing over at yuta to gauge his reaction at the nonchalance of how you spoke about it.

what jungwoo saw made his jaw drop entirely, and you noticed it from the corner of your eye. following his line of sight, you turned to look at yuta and you also froze.

he was smiling, and you felt the traitorous blush rise to your cheeks again because dear god, he was so pretty when he smiled.

“you should smile more often, yuta.” you blurted out before you could stop yourself and still smiling, he hummed.

“i’ll try,” he responded.

you and jungwoo were both pleased with that answer but for entirely different reasons.

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“hey woo?” you asked from the edge of the stream, your legs resting comfortably in the slow moving water. you had been watching him splash around as an otter for forty-five minutes before you couldn’t help but ask the question that you had been curious about.

his head popped out of the water, and he let the stream carry him down to you.

“yes?” using his little paws he scurried up your legs to curl himself in your lap. without thinking you brought your hands up to pet him.

“do you ever wish you could turn into creatures that can fly instead?”

“mmm,” he thought for a moment. “no, the idea of having a beak freaks me out.”

you snorted a laugh at that, “you’ve never wanted to feel free like that though?”

“i feel freedom differently, like by getting to run fast, or swim.” and you nodded in understanding but then he asked, “why? do you wish you could fly?”

you shrugged, “i think i would like to experience flying - not falling. i’ve already experienced that.”

“well if you wanna see what it’s like, why not ask yuta?” and you balked at that.

“so yuta can fly and teleport? why do demons get the fun stuff? i want something cool.”

“technically it’s just levitating, i can’t get very high and i definitely can’t do it for very long.” yuta said, standing in a way that had him halfway over your body. his shadow blocking the daylight. you tilted your head back and narrowed your eyes at the man. “and humans do have something cool, it’s called mortality.”

“mortality? oh wow, we can die. how spectacular!” you snarked, rolling your eyes. he placed his hands on either side of your face, squishing your cheeks and effectively silencing you.

“being able to die is a gift, living forever can drive you to insanity. especially if you’re alone.”

“but you’re not alone anymore,” jungwoo sang from his position in your lap. “you have meee.”

yuta’s answering smile made your heart skip, and you pulled his hands away from your cheeks so you could avoid looking at him and his pretty face, “i have no choice now, do i?”

and you looked at jungwoo just in time to watch his little otter face pout dramatically, and gasp. his little paw came up to his chest and he turned his nose up at yuta.

“don’t be like that, you know i’m grateful for you.”

“you could stand to say it more, jerk.”

and you decided to butt in then, “yeah! you jerk!” fully taking jungwoo’s side in this mock argument.

yuta raised his eyebrow at you, “oh?” he stood fully upright then, the shade he was providing moving away with him. “and here i was… gonna show you what it felt like to fly, but alas…” he trailed off dramatically, slowly walking away. “i’m a jerk.”

and careful to not jostle jungwoo too much, you scrambled to your feet, water sloshing to the bank in your hasty movements to rush towards him a few steps.

“wait, no! that was all jungwoo, not me!” you pouted dramatically and had to fight off your smile when jungwoo huffed, “now you’re both jerks!”

“that’s not what i heard though,” yuta countered, sauntering back over to you, a smirk on his lips. you didn’t walk towards him as he approached, but you also didn’t move away. he was barely six inches from you now, jungwoo grumbling in your arms at him.

“really? are you sure? where’s your proof?”

“you just turned on jungwoo, i’m sure he could be my witness.”

you jerked your head down to make eye contact with the small shape-shifter and your eyes were threatening, “jungwoo definitely didn’t hear anything, did you jungwoo?” his answering squeak, followed by him burying his head into your shirt was all that you needed before lifting your head and throwing your own smirk at yuta.

“see? no proof.” and yuta couldn’t help the smile even as he sighed.

after long moments, his small smile grew into a wide grin, as if he were keeping a secret from you and you raised your eyebrows at the expression.

“why are you making that face?”

his didn’t verbally answer, only making a point to look down, and then back up at you expectantly. you followed his lead and when you looked down you gasped. you didn’t know how you hadn’t noticed, maybe you had been a little too lost in the way his smile lit up his face, but somehow you were not firmly planted on the ground any longer.

instead, both you and yuta were feet off the ground, high enough that if you fell, it would hurt.

you felt a little unsteady in your shock and yuta reached forward to take hold of your elbows, your arms still cradling a currently oblivious jungwoo, and he closed the distance between you both. you were now as close to each other as you could get without squishing jungwoo and he was gazing down at you, and even if you could, you didn’t want to break the eye contact.

“do you feel like you thought you would?” he asked softly, his eyes flickering down to your lips, happy with the excited smile he saw there. you weren’t sure if you were answering the question about feeling free from being airborne, or if you were answering your internal question that you had been asking yourself for days in regards to him.

“yes,” you whispered, answering both questions with one word. his eyes crinkled, the satisfaction from your answer shining on his face.

you meant it when you said you thought he should smile more, and you couldn’t help that you liked that you had been the cause of it.

“does what feel like she thought it would?” came jungwoo’s voice from the crook of your arm. he had finally poked his head out to try and see what the conversation was about, and when he realized that you were no longer on the ground he instantly started squirming.

“let me down, let me down, so help me if you drop me!” he was yelling but his voice was so small in his otter body that it did not intimidate either of you in the least, instead you giggled at him and started the pet him soothingly.

“if you don’t calm down,” you crooned to him sweetly, “i may drop you on accident.”

the shape-shifter stilled instantly.

“oh… i think he fainted.” yuta realized after a second, and you had to bite your lip to keep from laughing at the situation.

yuta glanced back down at you and he couldn’t help but think about how lovely you looked when you were content, and that you should smile more often, too.

then realizing his own thoughts, he shoved the thought back down into the box it popped out of.

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the slight personality change in yuta didn’t revert back to what it was before, grumpy and aloof, even though you expected it to. it wasn’t a complete 180 to constant friendship, but you’d take the 90 degrees of change where you could, especially the smiles that came with it.

another week had passed, and you spent most of it with jungwoo. yuta popping up more and more in random times, always making you jump out of your skin. you were thoroughly enjoying the friendship they gave you that you never had before. it made you laugh at the idea that humans never treated you as kindly as a shape-shifter did, and occasionally a demon when he decided to pop up.

your aunt had taken you in, sure, but it wasn’t out of the kindness of her heart and you knew that now. your uncle wasn’t mean to you, but mostly treated you as if you were invisible. mina was the closest thing you could call friend, but you knew it was mostly her guilt that made her act the way she did with you.

you lost both parents by the age of six, your father first and then your mother. you had been young when it happened, but you still remember watching your father fade away from the sickness that made it’s way through the town. and your mother… she had just disappeared. her body found some time later after her disappearance, and you weren’t given proper time to grieve.

at this point, you didn’t think you needed it anymore. twenty-ish years had passed and that was enough to bury everything deep enough that you didn’t see the point in bringing it back up. for your sake, mostly.

it was yuta who made you realize that there actually was a point in it, also for your sake.

you had found a random room to escape to, the random door which had previously been a bathroom was now a room with every sort of hobby you could imagine. books, paint brushes, pencils, you even found a basket of yarn and knitting needles, which had a beginner’s book placed perfectly on top and you, well… you had years. might as well start somewhere, hobbies did tend to pass the time.

sitting cross legged in the oversized velvet chair, you propped the book open in your lap while you fiddled with the yarn and needles.

“you’re doing that wrong,” yuta’s voice came from the across the room and you lifted your head to see him standing in the doorway, his casual stance of holding up the wall as per usual.

“oh, and you’re an expert at knitting, i assume?” you smiled at him, and he crossed the room. pulling the chair next to yours around to face you, he plopped down in the chair.

“i told you, i’ve gotten good at a lot of things.” he said with a wink, before he softly took your hands in his.

you were trying to ignore both the warmth of his hands, and the warmth of your cheeks and failing miserably. his hands went through the motions of the loops you were trying to learn with yours, but you couldn’t even focus on that.

instead, you studied him, the way his hair fell in his face, and the movement of his mouth as he explained where exactly you went wrong. when you didn’t respond to him, he looked up to find you utterly in awe of him, mouth slightly agape.

“you’re not paying attention,” if he was scolding you, it was too gentle to mean anything.

“yes i am,” you argued back, eyes dancing between his.

“then what did i just say?” he retorted smartly, and you searched your brain for the first thing that made sense.

“knit one, purl two,” you rushed out and he laughed, the sound just as captivating as his face.

“not quite, but close enough,” and you shook your head then, fully focusing on his hands that had now stilled with yours in between his.

the realization that you didn’t want him to move his hands from yours struck you, and then you mentally smacked yourself. after an internal struggle you finally tugged your hands from his grasp, and coughed awkwardly.

“um, so it goes like this?” you asked a bit shy now and yuta sat back in his chair, and nodded. he watched you for some time, admiring the way that even though he knew you were distracted by him, you still caught on rather quickly.

then his voice broke the comfortable silence that had settled over you.

“you know if you don’t deal with it eventually, it’ll eat you alive.” it was cryptic and you lifted your head to look at him quizzically.

“i’m sorry?” you asked, and he sat forward again.

“you’ve been here two weeks, and i haven’t seen you cry except for half a second the first day. not saying you need to be emotional, but… i think jungwoo cries more than you.” he played it off as a joke, but you didn’t know how to answer him right away.

“i… i don’t think it’s necessary, i guess.” and you found the needles to be awfully interesting.

“and why not? you lost your parents and you were lied to. your aunt tried to quite literally murder you, and now you’re stuck down here with jungwoo and i for the rest of your short human life, never really being free again. you’ll die down here, instead of getting to live a normal human existence. you’ll never speak to another human again. your aunt is going to get away with –“ he listed off and would have kept going if you hadn’t cut him off with a glare.

“i know all of that!” you snapped, and he leaned back for the second time, crossing his ankle over his knee.

“then why aren’t you upset?”

“because what will that change?” you cried, voice raising slightly. “i’m not getting out of here so what will getting angry or sad do for me now? i can’t go in the past and change anything, i learned that lesson a long time ago, yuta. i can’t bring my parents back, i can’t get answers from my aunt, i can’t get out of this mountain even if i wanted to, so please, tell me! what good will it do me now to dwell on it?”

he didn’t say anything for a long moment, giving you the chance to let it out. you didn’t realize that in between one sentence and the next that you actually had started to cry. the warm tears dripped from your cheeks on to your hands and you brought your hands up to wipe angrily at them, cursing your body for betraying you like this.

“you need to dwell on it so you can let it go. if you don’t, it’ll eat you alive.” he repeated, you knew he was trying to be kind in his own way, to maybe be supportive, but you hadn’t prepared your heart or mind for this today.

so, like a scared and cornered dog, you bit back instead.

“and when are you going to dwell on yours as well, huh?” you said, tears still steadily sliding down your cheeks to now land on the book below. “when are you going to deal with your guilty conscience for all the girls that have died down here, being sacrificed for a curse they had no part of?” and yuta inhaled slowly, closing his eyes.

“i’ll live for a millennia longer than you will, i’ll be sure to deal with it once you’re dead.” the warmth from before was gone, his eyes hard as they glared at you.

the stare down between you two lasted for only a few seconds before he got up from his chair and left the room without a word, the door shutting behind him with a thud that echoed around the room.

in an outburst of anger, you threw the knitting book against the door he had just left through and screamed. you wiped at your tears again and sat back fully in the chair, and sulked for a moment. you let your breathing even out and the realization dawned on you that he was right.

even just dealing with everything for those few moments, allowing yourself to really get angry, to get upset… to feel it.

you needed it.

and now, you blew out a long breath as you ran your fingers through your hair, you also needed to apologize.

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it took two days to finally corner yuta, but you did so in the kitchen. jungwoo had tipped you off that he’d be in there and you didn’t waste any time. you barged into the kitchen and he looked up, surprised to see you in there. you weren’t sure why he seemed shocked by your presence, when he was the one avoiding you.

“what-!” he started, you were sure to probably say something sarcastic to you, the soft moment in the craft room between you - before the anger derailed it - probably long forgotten.

“i’m sorry!” you blurted out, before he could get another word out. “i’m sorry for the way i blew up at you. you didn’t deserve the things that i said to you, that wasn’t fair of me and you were right.”

yuta opened and closed his mouth for a moment, and you felt this was probably the first time in a long time that the demon had been speechless.

“i shouldn’t have pressed,” he finally settled on, and you shook your head.

“you were trying to help me, thank you.”

he shrugged half-heartedly, seemingly embarrassed by what had transpired.

“you were right too,” he finally confessed. “we both seem to have things we need to let go of.”

the smile you shared with each other was all the forgiveness that was needed.

then the moment was effectively ruined when jungwoo appeared right beside you, clapping slowly. his sudden presence making you jump a foot in the air, hand over your heart as it raced and you glared angrily at him. you really needed to get used to this sooner rather than later, for your hearts sake.

“i love to see personal growth, don’t you?” jungwoo remarked happily, and you punched him in the arm at that making him gasp in offense, rubbing where you hit to make the pain fade quicker.

you grumbled at him but he ignored it entirely, throwing an arm around your shoulders, shaking you slightly in his excitement.

“just makes me so proud to see it,” he fake sobbed, and yuta’s face was the definition of unamused. “i feel like a mom, my babies maturing so beautifully.” and at that yuta threw the spoon he was holding at jungwoo’s head, hitting him squarely in the forehead, and jungwoo’s smile fell from his face instantly.

“okay, for that, you’re going to have to make me my favorite now.” and you snorted at the way yuta rolled his eyes.

you were happy to be past this. this is what you could only assume what a family felt like, they… they felt like family.

you could get used to that. perhaps you already had. two weeks in and you knew you wouldn’t willingly give it up.

your inner musings were interrupted when you heard jungwoo calling your name, and you looked up to find him and yuta already staring at you.

“sorry, what?”

“i asked what your favorite things are, because i’ll force yuta to make it for you too.” jungwoo said as he hooked his thumb over his shoulder to point it at said cook.

“hey!” yuta was indignant, he was wanting to make something for himself, not for the entire mountain.

“i don’t really have a favorite, but you can’t go wrong with cookies,” you proposed with a shrug of your shoulders.

“oh, the human wants cookies,” yuta mocked, twisting his face in playful annoyance.

at that you decided to tease him. you walked over to the counter and hopped on top, swinging your legs as you did so.

“i do, in fact, i want five different flavors of cookies. and not even remotely burnt, or i’ll throw a tantrum,” you sang, and yuta turned around to gawk at you. jungwoo coming to lean against the counter beside you, enjoying the banter.

“five?!” yuta exclaimed, and you nodded slowly.

“yup, five.”

“you’ll get one and you’ll like it,” he griped, and you stuck out your bottom lip. the exaggerated expression making jungwoo cover his mouth with his hand to try and muffle his laughs.

“three then?” you argued cutely, and yuta and he rolled his eyes at your antics.

“one.” his lips were drawn in, trying to avoid laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

“but… please…” you gave your best impression of jungwoo’s puppy eyes and yuta caved instantly.

“fine! i’ll make three different kinds of cookies,” he said throwing his hands up, before bringing his finger to point at you. “but only one will be your favorite. the others will be mine and jungwoo’s.”

jungwoo snickered at the tone, and yuta directed his finger to point at jungwoo then.

“and you, will only be getting this and nothing else, don’t get greedy.” jungwoo only nodded, happy with anything that yuta made that fed him. he really wasn’t picky.

he could say with confidence, greed was not his sin.

jungwoo eventually hopped on the counter too, and you both watched as yuta walked back and forth across the kitchen, the island he was standing at slowly turning into a mess of flour and sugar and other ingredients strewed over the counter space. eventually jungwoo yawned and turned himself into a cat, curling up in your lap that seemed to be his favorite resting spot.

you pet him absentmindedly as you admired the way yuta worked. it was funny to you that this scary demon who was trapped in this cave could do the most domestic things.

knitting.

baking.

what was next, gardening?

yuta’s hands and arms were covered in flour and you noticed that he kept tilting his head back to adjust his hair, the way it was falling in his eyes obviously bothering him, but couldn’t push it back without getting the powder everywhere.

“yuta?” you called softly, not wanting to disturb the comfortable silence nor the sleeping cat in your lap.

“hmm?” was his reply.

“is your hair getting in your way?”

he shrugged nonchalantly, “it’s fine, little human.”

you bit your lip for a moment, took a deep breath and then offered, “would you like me to tie it up for you, since you’re covered in flour?”

yuta didn’t say anything for a long moment, his shoulders a little stiff and then he relaxed them before he turned around. he closed the distance between you in a step, coming to stop directly in front of you.

you were now almost eye level with the man, the counter giving you the smallest height advantage.

you waited for him to turn around, but he was gazing at you expectantly. fighting off the smile that threatened to appear on your lips, you brought your hands up to run your fingers through his hair as a makeshift brush. you felt his eyes on your face, and when you glanced over you saw he seemed to be studying you closely, his eyes trailing across your nose to your mouth.

when you noticed his gaze land on your lips, you quickly looked back at your hands. you gathered his hair in your hand and it was enough to make a small ponytail, and you saw from the corner of your eye that yuta had finally stopped gazing at you and had closed his eyes. now that they were closed, you took your turn to take in the features of your face as you pulled the tie from your pocket, the extra strip of cloth you carried around in case you needed to pull your own hair up.

he looked peaceful when his eyes were closed, and although you preferred his smile over anything else, the serenity on his face was a close second.

“and… there.” you whispered as you tied the fabric tightly so none of his hairs would fall loose back into his eyes. you went to pull your hands back but froze midair when yuta opened his eyes again, his eyes peering intently into yours.

again, it was like he was searching for something and you noticed the second he found it, his eyes lit up slightly and you didn’t know why but it caused you to smile.

he noticed your lips again as they turned up slightly, and as if he finally realized for the first time how close he was to you, he coughed and stepped back to create space between you.

the human is dangerous when she looks like that, he thought.

“thanks.” he said shortly, moment gone entirely and he turned his back on you, continuing to work on the food.

“you’re welcome,” you grumbled and put your hands back to work petting jungwoo softly, and you looked down to see him already looking up at you.

then he winked at you, and you immediately narrowed your eyes at him.

“i will shove you to the floor,” you mouthed silently to him.

jungwoo’s small cat body just shook with silent laughter.

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you were shivering, the room feeling as if it were below freezing and your thin set of pajamas did nothing to fight off the bite of the cold. you rubbed your hands together and tried to breathe hot air on your hands to warm them, but your breath came out cold too. you looked around your room, and you realized this wasn’t the room in which you fell asleep in.

the bed was missing, as was the nightstand that stood beside it. the room you were in now was empty, the only thing in it was you.

the walls were lined in floor to ceiling mirrors and you could only see your reflection no matter which way you turned. you didn’t know how you got here, all you knew was that you wanted to leave. you walked to the wall and ran your hands along the mirror hoping to find a secret handle or exit but the mirrors were so cold it burned you and you jerked your hand back to cradle it against your chest, you couldn’t help the weak whimper that left your lips.

the silent room was eerie and you wanted to leave.

“y/n,” a voice was suddenly saying behind you and you whipped around to see nothing at all.

“wh-wh-who are y-you?” you called through chattering teeth, your entire body chilled to the bone now. you remembered learning something about dying from the cold in school but for the life of you, you couldn’t remember a single thing on how to fight it.

“who else would i be?” the voice whispered in your ear this time, and when you whirled around the owner of the voice was still there. standing directly in between you and the mirror was a face you hoped you’d never see again.

the smile that rested on your aunt’s face sent chills down your spine, this time from fear instead of the cold that already consumed you – but anger shoved the fear aside.

“ho-how are y-you here?” you couldn’t stop your teeth from chattering no matter how hard you tried, but you tried to give your voice as much bite as you could, wanting to sound strong in front of her.

but the though that you had no clue how you got here constantly sat at the back of your mind, and you couldn’t lie and say you weren’t terrified.

“’ho-how are y-you here?’” she taunted, reaching up to tug at a strand of your hair. then she crooned, “i’m here to finish the job, because no one in your family knows how to die properly the first time i try.”

“th-they won’t let y-you,” you sniped, but body betraying you by taking a half step back. and your aunt pouted at you, mock understanding on her face.

“oh, you think they care about you? the demon and the shape-shifter? you think they care about what happens to you? you’re a means to an end and nothing more. a free ticket out of here,” and you shook your head, in denial of what she spat at you. she barked out a laugh, before thrusting out her hand to grab you by the throat. she flung you around to press you roughly against the wall, you clawed at her hands to try and get them to release you. you were struggling to breathe.

“i’m no… no different from the other girls that were th-thrown down here, there’s no escaping the m-mountain,” you said against your better judgement, trying to fight down the panic that came from not being able to breathe deeply.

“sweetie, you’re the only one who is different, it’s in your blood,” she disclosed.

“yu…ta… please…” you wheezed hoping that maybe he did care enough to help you, vision growing dark around the edges.

“you should ask your precious yuta about the curse. ask him and see if he really cares about you then.” she sneered, face inches from yours.

you gasped awake, yuta yelling your name to try to get through to you. you were standing in the clearing, dull moonlight washing over the area making it look bleak but it threw light on yuta’s face, revealing the look of fear he wore. his worried eyes searched your tear-filled ones frantically, and you could spot jungwoo over his shoulder wearing the same look. you were still cold, and if you were honest – very scared, and you couldn’t shake the feeling of your aunt being over your shoulder, being in your face.

your body betraying you once again, you felt your face crumple. you hid yourself in yuta’s chest then, your hands covering your face as you cried.

he froze, unfamiliar with how to respond to the sudden human physical affection when he saw jungwoo motioning behind him, his hands enclosing in slow motion as if he were hugging an invisible person. he mouthed the words, ‘hug. her. back.’ and he emphasized each word with a jab in your direction and yuta finally got the hint.

his arms enveloped you gently and you buried yourself further into his arms, and he rested his cheek on the top of your head as he swayed you slightly.

“you’re safe now, it’s okay. i’m – we’re here now.” he murmured to you softly, still unsure of what just happened. all he knew was that he was asleep, not that he needed to be but it passed time, and then he felt the tug of being summoned – something he hadn’t felt in a very long time – and suddenly he was standing in front of you, jungwoo getting there a few moments after him. you were grasping at something in front of you, your lips blue as if you had been out in the snow, arms struggling like you were being strangled. he heard you say please, the desperation in your voice leading him to act. the second he touched your arms you woke up with a gasp and he had never felt more scared to see the fear in your eyes.

he decided then that he never wanted to see that look from your face again.

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from that night on, you refused to sleep alone (more like you weren’t allowed to). yuta and jungwoo would take turns watching over you as you slept. usually jungwoo would sleep at your feet, curled up in whatever form was cuddliest. some nights a cat, others a dog. on nights jungwoo didn’t, you slept in yuta’s room effectively kicking the demon out of his own bed.

he didn’t mind.

the bruises that showed up on your throat the next day was enough for him to make sure you didn’t go to sleep alone.

you were so spooked by the events that you hardly spoke the next day, and the far away look thoroughly worried both of the men you shared the mountain with. eventually you went back to your normal, playful self but yuta wasn’t convinced, you acted somewhat more reserved than you had before. he didn’t miss the way you’d wince every time you swallowed as the bruises on your neck healed. you didn’t tell them of what your nightmare was about, or even drop hints. that was until the night it was yuta’s turn to keep an eye on you.

you were laying on your side, blankets pulled up to your chin as you watched him read a book. his hair was tied back again and you watched as the shadows flickered across his face from the light the fire gave off.

“i can feel you staring at me,” he murmured, not taking his eyes off of his page. you were completely unaware to the fact that he had read the same line for the past five minutes.

“will you tell me about the curse?” you asked, voice small. he looked up at that, eyebrows drawn together.

“why are you asking about that?”

“it… it’s nothing.” you said breaking eye contact with him and he shook his head.

“no, i’m – i’m not saying that because i don’t want to talk about it, i’ll tell you. ’m just curious about what brought this up.”

“it’s… it’s what was said in my… my dream...” he nodded, and scooted his chair a little closer to the edge of the bed.

“before we were cursed here in this mountain, us demons roamed free. they probably do still and you just didn’t know it. i enjoyed traveling then, country to country, town to town. it was in one of these towns that surrounds this mountain that i stayed at a moment to long, i think. a woman fell in love with me, and, well… i didn’t do the same. i broke her heart, but i didn’t realize she was a witch and so she cursed me to this mountain. i’ve been here ever since.” and you could only stare at him, then slowly sat up.

“you mean to tell me... you and jungwoo… and now me… are trapped here because you rejected some woman?” you were incredulous at that.

“well… not just any woman, a pretty powerful witch. but… yeah.”

“the fuck?”

“yeah, that was my response then too.”

“how do you break the curse?” you asked, and yuta shook his head then.

“it’s very old blood magic, something you need not concern yourself with.” yuta’s voice was soft, and you couldn’t help the flutter you felt in your stomach at the look he gave you. you dropped it for the time being, laying back down and pulling the blanket back up. the fluttery feeling not going away even as you closed your eyes.

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you were freezing again, the room of mirrors back after not seeing it for over a week. you wanted to cry at the first glimpse of it, panic overriding your brain. you turned in circles, and when you whirled around the second time, there she was.

“did you miss me?” she grinned as you shook your head, this time she was circling you like a hyena. “did you ask him about the curse?” when you didn’t respond to her, actively trying to keep the angry look plastered on your face, she snaked around to your front to peer into your eyes – a weird malicious sense of happiness on her face.

“you did… oh, and he gave you every answer but the one you needed… it’s a shame.”

“what are you talking about?” you growled at her, you never were fond of riddles.

“i’m talking about the point where he mentioned blood magic,” she said as she suddenly gripped you by the front of your shirt, yanking you closer to her face, her long nails scratching you along your collarbone, “and about how he doesn’t have the one piece of information to prove he won’t care about you in the end.”

your eyes searching hers frantically for answers, and you finally asked, “what information? what is it?”

your aunt pulled you close, directly against her cheek as she put her lips to your ear and whispered, “your last name is a very old one, no? what was it again?” and then she threw you both away from her and out of sleep at the same time. you gasped awake, fully upright once more, and yuta became alert instantly in the same chair he was in when you fell asleep.

“what happened? are you okay?” he was by your side on the bed in an instant, placing a finger under your chin to make you look up at him from your hands so he could search your face for any marks.

“it’s… in these dreams i keep seeing my aunt. she… she tells me that even though I’m here and you seem happy that i’m here, neither you nor jungwoo really care if I’m alive or dead…” you trailed off, wrapping your arms around yourself, you didn’t know why this shook you so deeply but then the thought filtered through, it’s because you care about them, and how they view you. you focused on yuta when you saw that he was already shaking his head before you had even finished your sentence.

“that’s not true… we care. you know we care about you.” you nodded slowly.

“i…” you started and then, remembering the last thing she said to you, confusion filling your voice as you whispered your last name aloud.

“what?” yuta asked, he heard you, of course he did, but… he wanted to be sure he heard correctly.

you repeated your last name again, this time louder – looking up at him. “does that name mean anything to you?”

and the look that crossed yuta’s face was indiscernible. that wasn’t promising for you.

“it was… no, why do you know that name?” yuta asked, too calm to be reassuring. “how do you know that name?”

when you didn’t answer right away, yuta asked again, his voice coming out more stressed that time, almost pleading and you didn’t know what for.

“y/n, how do you know that name?” and the direct eye contact you made with him, told him the answer before your mouth did.

“because that’s my name… my last name.” yuta inhaled sharply, eyes wide. pulling his hands back and leaning away from you as if you burned him. he stared at you, his eyes wide as if he didn’t recognize you for moment and he seemed upset, maybe even angry. then he was out of the room in the next moment, slamming the door behind him loud enough to make you jump.

this must have been what your aunt had meant. but you still didn’t know what it meant.

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the answer to what it meant came three days later. it didn’t surprise you that yuta didn’t keep you company after his outburst. you weren’t sure why he was so upset, and it bothered you not knowing but the demon hid well when he didn’t want to be found. jungwoo didn’t ignore you as yuta did, but it didn’t go unnoticed by you that he had been a lot quieter around you than was normal for him. it seemed that the mood had settled over the whole mountain, the sky grey and dark.

you didn’t like the feeling of having upset someone without knowing what you did, and you finally couldn’t stand it anymore. you were going to find him, and you were going to make him talk to you.

standing up, you made to leave your room, walking to the door. when you turned the handle, it didn’t budge. confused, you tugged on it again and it still wouldn’t move. you stepped back from the door, and movement caught your attention from the corner of your eye. turning you noticed a door had appeared across your room that you had never seen before, because it hadn’t been there.

right, magic, you thought.

light spilled through the cracks at the bottom and that was the movement you saw before, as someone was walking back and forth in front of the door. voices murmuring was all that you could make out and your curiosity had you moving to the mystery door before you had the thought of avoiding it entirely.

when your hand touched the wood of the door, something overtook your body, bringing your ear to rest against the door. the hold was gentle but still restricting. you tried to fight against the force holding you against the door, struggling to move until the mention of your name had you stilling. you didn’t need to be held against the door then, finding yourself trying to listen harder.

the voices that you heard were no longer murmurs, clearing up as if you stood directly in front of them, as if they were speaking directly to you.

“leave me alone, jungwoo,” it was yuta and he sounded… tired… sad.

“no.” jungwoo’s voice was angry, that was the only word for it. “you’ve been avoiding her, and me, for three days. i’m not leaving until i get an answer.”

yuta was silent, and jungwoo growled in response to it. “don’t use your eyes on me like that, it’s not going to work.”

“what do you want from me then, jungwoo?” yuta’s voice raised a little.

“an answer! what the hell happened that night?” yuta’s silence only seemed to make jungwoo all the more frustrated.

“yuta!” he barked at him, and you heard the sound of a chair being slid suddenly against the wood floor. you could only assume that yuta had been seated, and was now standing. maybe standing directly in front of jungwoo, maybe he was pacing now.

“it’s her,” yuta’s voice was distraught.

“that couldn’t possibly be any more cryptic,” jungwoo’s response was dripping with sarcasm, and yuta pressed on, his clarification being your last name.

“what?” you could imagine jungwoo’s face dropping in shock, it would be comical but this situation was anything but.

“that’s her, it’s her,” and yuta sounded defeated.

“oh.” and jungwoo’s tone matched yuta’s. “that’s the same as… oh, that’s fucked.”

“yeah.”

“what are you going to do then? you can’t, you can’t… but… to be free…”

“i know that i can’t! i know what’s at stake, for us and for her.”

“maybe… maybe it doesn’t have to be that much blood, maybe it can just be-.” did jungwoo lie to you? had he been lying the entire time when he said he didn’t know much about the curse? his responses let you know that he clearly knew more than he had originally let on.

“you know that’s not the way blood magic works.” yuta’s voice was softer than you had heard it before.

“but we don’t know that, it only said blood from the bloodline, it’s doesn’t say it has to be a lot!”

“there’s no point, jungwoo. i’m not going to ask that of her, i will not hurt her and i will not kill her just so we can leave this place.” you jerked away from the door as if it had shocked you with a gasp, mind reeling. you felt like you did the first day here, breath getting caught in your throat. the bottom line that you had learned… was that you had to bleed.

the key to breaking the curse was what kept you alive. you didn’t know what your name had to do with any of it. you didn’t know why it had to be you, because bloodline of what? the gears in your mind turning over as you put the clues together to make a solid thought.

were you… were you descendant of the witch?

was that why none of the other girls who had already died before you couldn’t have been their ticket out?

you felt a hysterical giggle bubble up your throat, and then you swallowed it down. covering your mouth with your hand, your mind devolved wildly until it came to a screeching halt on one thought alone, the bottom line.

you were sent here to die anyway.

you became too comfortable with the two immortal men, and that was your own fault. but how could you not?

you didn’t want to admit it but… your aunt was right. she was cruel, vile and not even actually there, she was just a figment of your nightmares and she was still… right.

that infuriated you. the idea that you might have been remotely content, away from everyone who you grew to resent above, feeling as if you belonged here… just to know that they’d now be counting down the days until you died, if they didn’t decide to change their minds first… that devastated you.

and that sole emotion was what led you from the room, the bedroom door that refused to open earlier, opening for you as you approached it. you followed the maze, body moving entirely on its own, the path you knew would take you to the kitchens and when you arrived, you just stood in the empty room.

you didn’t know what led you here, all you knew was that your feet walked of their own accord. your eyes caught a glint of silver and you zeroed in on it. the idea worming it’s way into your head almost against your will, something you had never thought of before. and now it was on repeat as you stepped closer, completely out of your control.

the knife block sat on the island, and you started to panic internally at how out of control of your own body you felt. you reached out to pull a knife from it’s place, the sound of it sliding out echoed around the room.

do it, your thoughts kept repeating to you. the more they repeated, the more they stopped sounding like you and more like your aunt.

do it. you lifted the knife slowly.

do it. you could see your reflection in the steel.

do it. you moved –

“y/n!” the sudden shouting of your name made you jump, but effectively broke whatever spell you were under. the knife jerked awkwardly in your hand after being startled and the blade sliced a thin line on your palm causing you to hiss at the sting.

red drops of blood pooled to the surface, and a tight grip on your wrist made you drop the knife clang onto the counter. you inhaled deeply for what must have been the first time since entering the kitchen. the hand gripping your wrist used it to pull you around, coming face to face with the man who had been avoiding you for three days.

“are you crazy? the hell are you trying to do?” his voice was raised, but it wasn’t in anger. it was worry.

“i… i don’t know…” you stammered, unable to form a sentence, still confused at how you really got here. he searched your face for the lie and only found unease.

“come on,” he said softly and pulled you to the sink, gently putting your hand under the running water. you hissed again softly at the pain.

“well, yeah… what did you expect, for it to feel good?” his asked sarcastically as he turned off the water and began wrapping your palm with a bandage.

“i don’t even – i wasn’t in control of myself…” you muttered, that fact concerning yuta but then you continued, “but, why are you here? wouldn’t this be what you need?” you argued and you peered up at him, and his eyes widened slightly at the question.

“what do you mean?”

“you’ve been avoiding me and i heard you and jungwoo earlier.”

“how did you-, ah, magic.”

“yeah, magic.”

“if you heard the conversation then you know that a few drops won’t do anything,” yuta glanced up from your hand to look you in the eye, quirking an eyebrow.

“but…”

“and you also would have heard how i said i would not hurt you in exchange for freedom.”

“i heard that part…” you finally muttered after searching for a different response and coming up empty. he had finished with your hand moments ago but continued to hold it in his. his eyes didn’t drift away from yours.

“and, if you would have listened for a just a minute longer, you would have then heard how i couldn’t do that because i care too much about your wellbeing. care too much about you.”

“why would you give up your freedom for… for me. you said you enjoyed traveling, and you’ve been stuck here for so long, you shouldn’t give up that…” you trailed off and he was already shaking his head before you even started to speak.

“i’ve been happier in these past few weeks since you’ve arrived than I had in the years before the curse, i’d rather be trapped down here with you than be free without you.” your eyes started to water, but you didn’t want to pull your hand from yuta’s to wipe at them. yuta must have read your mind because his other hand came up to wipe at them for you. the happiness you felt at his words was fleeting.

“but you were avoiding me… and that isn’t fair to jungwoo,” you said dropping your eyes from his.

“jungwoo is fine with it, he goes where yuta goes. and yuta was pouting about his feelings for you,” said man’s voice came from the kitchen door and you both turned to face him, and yuta was thankful for the darkness of the kitchen that you couldn’t see his ears turning red.

he smiled at you both, and relief washed over you like a tsunami.

you threw your arms around yuta’s waist and squeezed him tightly. and he did not hesitate nor need direction from jungwoo this time, his arms immediately wrapping around you.

after a few moments, jungwoo threw himself into the hug, coming behind yuta and wrapping his arms around you both. the taller man snuggled into yuta’s back and you couldn’t help but laugh at the straight-faced look on yuta’s face.

“don’t forget you were my best friend first, just because she’s here now,” jungwoo pouted and you felt yuta pat jungwoo’s hand that rested on your back.

“how can i forget when you remind me every day?”

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things were going great for the two weeks. you had officially lasted longer than any other girl who had been dropped in and nothing else strange happened. you didn’t have any other dreams, or urges beyond your control.

you were confident in your place with them then, the doubts that had been sown in your mind had died off completely.

you were happy, you realized, and your days spent with yuta and jungwoo were peaceful. two weeks without incident allowed you to sleep in your room alone again, even though you missed the comfortable weight of jungwoo at the foot of your bed or the warm presence of yuta in the room – yuta had offered you a permanent place in his bed, but you had shook your head and laughed at the implications.

that was something else that had changed, yuta openly flirting with you.

you weren’t mad about that in the slightest, but you realized that when the occasional human boy would flirt with you, you could brush it off with ease.

when yuta would flirt with you, it turned you into a blushing mess.

on the third night after the resuming of sleeping alone, yuta had walked you to your door. a habit he had gotten into since you stopped staying in his room, and when you had asked him about it he nonchalantly shrugged, “just because i’m damned doesn’t mean i can’t be chivalrous.”

you snorted and didn’t argue at that, “that wasn’t a complaint.”

you had your hand on the doorknob behind your back as you had finally made it to your room, and yuta was leaning casually with one elbow against your door frame, and the other hand in his pocket.

“but if you’d prefer,” yuta smirked down at you, “i can become quite the opposite.”

your eyebrows drew together in confusion, “i’ve already seen you be an asshole, the whole first few days, or did you forget?”

“i didn’t forget…” he purred and he lowered his head slowly down to yours until he was inches from you, his breath tickling your lips, and your eyes widened and face flushed at the sudden closeness, “but i was thinking of something a bit more… dishonorable.” yuta bit his lip cockily, his eyes trailing down slowly from your eyes to your lips, and you held your breath. you felt your breath catch in your throat, your brain screaming and you fumbled to turn the doorknob, and all but falling into your room, and you closed the door directly in yuta’s face. you leaned against the door, patting your cheeks softly trying to get control of the blush that had taken over.

you heard yuta’s deep chuckle from the other side of the door, and his voice rumbled through the door, “goodnight, my little human.”

your breath was shaky, and you couldn’t get control of your erratic heartbeat nor the butterflies that erupted in your stomach. however, in a moment of brash confidence, you suddenly opened the door, the action shocking even yuta. you quickly stood on your toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“well that wasn’t quite what I meant when I said dishonorable…” he trailed off, gazing down at you a smirk on his lips.

standing flat on your feet again, you bravely kept eye contact and through the blush you huffed, “goodnight, yuta.”

after a few moments yuta’s smirk morphed into the prettiest smile you had seen on him so far, the happiness reaching even his eyes. he leaned forward to place a kiss on your forehead in return, muttering a soft, “cute.” you retreated back to your room with a wave to him.

you tossed and turned in your bed, at first because you couldn’t stop thinking about yuta’s lips on your forehead, and then it was because you felt too hot in your bed. you kicked off the blankets one by one, until it was just you on the bed.

the heat was driving you crazy, and you thought about laying on the ground to cool off because you were that desperate. eventually you settled on stepping outside in the clearing to get some fresh air, and if that didn’t help, maybe you’d ask yuta to do whatever demon magic trick would help you sleep.

walking through the corridors, you felt a sudden gust of cool air, and it was gone so quickly in the next moment that you instantly got frustrated. you knew it had to come from somewhere, so you followed where it came from.

the cold air blew again, and continuing to follow it, it caused you turn down a hall you hadn’t explored yet. you hesitated, jungwoo’s warning echoing in the back of your mind but when you went to turn back around, the same feeling you had while in the kitchen overcame you and this time you were very aware of it.

your heart instantly rose in your throat, and with every step deeper into the cave you felt the panic rising. you wanted to open your mouth, to scream for help, to ask yuta or jungwoo to come get you before it was too late but whatever had you under it’s control, had control of your tongue as well.

long minutes of walking, the only sound echoing against the stone walls was your nervous breathing. eventually you came to a stop, the corridor opening up in a way you were familiar with. instead of grass and waterfalls, there were endless stars, and after closer inspection, you realized they were fireflies. it was beautiful to see, and you would have admired it had it not been for the circumstance.

the lights from the small bugs emitted an eerie glow and an involuntary chill ran down your spine. a swishing sound came from behind you, as if something were moving along the cavern floor. you couldn’t turn around, couldn’t move your head to turn around. couldn’t control your rapid breathing, and the feeling of being trapped made your flight senses light up but you couldn’t obey them no matter how hard you tried. with the dim lights you saw a shadow of a figure, but you couldn’t make out any details.

“youuuu,” it drawled, a slight breathy rasp in it’s voice. “it took a lot of effort to get you here.”

you still couldn’t speak, mouth firmly closed.

“you fought so hard, human. I can say I’m impressed. but I had to have you, I really…” it’s breath rattled in it’s chest, and you noticed a slight hissing sound coming it. “couldn’t control myself.” it continued, all while still circling you, and you could see in moments it was directly in front of you the soft glow of green eyes, the same green as the fireflies on the cavern ceiling.

the slithering sound constant, coming from all around you, making it hard for you to focus on where it was, making it harder for you to control your fear.

after long moments you suddenly felt the invisible muzzle that had you silenced the entire time lift away. finally you could speak and immediately opened your mouth to scream.

“if you try to summon him again like you did before, i’ll kill him in front of you the second he appears,” and you could hear it smiling as it spoke from somewhere over your shoulder.

“why couldn’t you have left me alone?” you said trying to keep the shake from your tone, but your echoing voice that bounced back to you let you know that you had failed in that.

“two reasons,” it answered simply. you were trying to keep it talking, trying to think of any way to get out of this alive. your mind going haywire in it’s panic, because somehow deep down, you knew.

you knew this was it.

“what were the reasons?” you forced out from between pursed lips, your throat now burning from the tears you were trying to hold back after the realization struck you.

you were trying to be brave but you had started shivering now, not because you were cold, but because you were that scared.

“did you ever not wonder about what yuta was so interested in on your very first day?” and you thought back. you did remember, you could remember him saying ‘interesting’, but at the time you were too angry about the trance he put you under to care.

“no, a lot happened that day.”

“we’re all from hell, us three trapped down here. but we all have this one thing in common… we know souls. we can see them, taint them, devour them, control them entirely if we want.” it paused, watching you stand in place. it brought joy to the creature to see the occasional tremor travel through your body from fear. humans were so foolish to remain brave in times like this.

“you were unique because your soul was already tainted, from both the blood that runs in your veins and the rage you’ve harbored your entire life, from the grief you couldn’t let go of.” the words triggering the echo of yuta’s words in your mind.

‘if you don’t let it go, it will eat you alive’, your eyes widened at the memory, and you felt your eyes start to water. bravery slowly leaving you the longer the creature spoke.

“yesss, he was trying to purify your soul, little by little. he thought he was helping you but really… he was helping me. the lighter you became, the easier it was to control you, the easier it was to pull you to me.” you choked back a sob then, clenching your teeth to try and keep the sound in your throat, refusing to let the tears fall.

“what was the other reason?” you hissed from between your clenched teeth.

“oh, well… you see. yuta thinks he was trapped down here because of a broken-hearted witch,” it slithered again, this time close to you and you could feel it directly behind you.

“how silly of a reason that would have been.” it hissed lowly, sounds no longer echoing off the walls back to you. the sounds almost seemed to fall to the ground now, almost as if your ears were being covered, the loudest thing now being the roar of your heartbeat.

“the curse was never meant for him, he just so happened to get caught in it…” and you felt a heavy grip on your shoulder; it’s hot breath was on your cheek and you couldn’t help but tense up at the proximity. “it was meant only for me; the witch who cursed me not having the foresight to think one of her own would be put in this position, position where spilling your blood will set me free. i sincerely thank you for your sacrifice.”

all you could hear around you was it’s malicious laugh, but you couldn’t focus on that two things happened simultaneously.

the first being that it moved from behind you to appear very suddenly in front of you in a blink, pale green eyes glowing and not an ounce of kindness found there. you only had a moment to take in it’s face, and it looked surprisingly human, just as jungwoo and yuta did. you were able to make out the snarl on its face, it’s teeth sharp, but didn’t get a moment to think about it because at the same time you felt something sharp pierce directly through your stomach, and it was ripped out of you roughly.

your mouth opened in silence at the sharp pain, the bind that had been placed on your body was lifted in the next moment and you fell to the ground on your knees hands desperately trying to hold your stomach. after agonizing breaths, you collapsed further to land hard on your side, your blood pooling around you slowly, sending new jolts of pain through you that just kept going, and going, and going...

and then finally you started to scream.

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yuta jolted awake, jungwoo bursting into his room at the same exact moment.

“it’s gone,” jungwoo rushed, panic laced in the two words. yuta felt exactly what he meant then, the heavy weight that the curse had been on their bodies all these years was lifted entirely. he felt lighter, and he also felt the kind of power he didn’t realize he had missed.

then it dawned on him.

he was inside your room in an instant, empty. his entire body became hot in that moment, and he wasn’t sure if it were out of anger or fear – maybe both. jungwoo burst through the door moments later and he looked around.

“no, no, no…” he denied, devastation the only thing written in his tear lined eyes. “yuta, how…” jungwoo trailed off and then he fully focused on the demon in front of him. his eyes were red now, something he hadn’t seen in a century.

he had hoped he’d never have to see it again.

jungwoo crossed the distance then and placed his hand on yuta’s shoulder gingerly. it was scalding to him, but he endured it. jungwoo was about to open his mouth but then yuta’s head whipped around, ears picking up something he couldn’t, and because jungwoo was already gripping him… when yuta teleported, so did he.

the first thing yuta noticed when appearing in the wide opening they landed in – he had no clue of where he was going, all he knew was that he heard you sigh his name – was the metallic taste of copper on his tongue, the smell of blood was completely overwhelming.

and there you were.

you were laying on the ground, and that’s where the scent of blood was coming from because it was all around you in a dark puddle and yuta hadn’t known what fear really was, he had never had anything to be afraid of or for, until he met you, and then he had never felt this type of fear before but he did now because of you. fear gripped his heart in its hand tightly and squeezed, yuta realizing his heart was racing then.

he was by your side in a second, gently lifting you – and his breath caught at just how limp you had become – off the ground to cradle you in his arms. he rocked slightly, his bloody hand coming up to brush the hair from your face.

your eyes were closed but you smiled softly up at him, blood staining your lips and leaking from the corners of your mouth; your hair soaked from where you had been lying in it. you croaked out a soft, “hi.”

“hey, hey,” he whispered to you and your eyes slowly fluttered open to gaze into his, your hand lifted lethargically to grip at his shirts sleeve. he saw you slowly losing focus, and he tapped your cheek gently, trying to keep you awake. jungwoo somehow regained movement in his legs and scrambled to kneel next to you; he put his hands over the wound and realized how bad it truly was.

jungwoo couldn’t help but use the back of his now bloody hand to try and cover the sobs he couldn’t control, they couldn’t lose you – he really liked having you around. you cuddled him and you made yuta happy but he didn’t know how to fix this.

“my little human, please… please keep looking at me,” yuta was saying to you, his hand coming to rub his thumb against your cheek and your lips tugged upwards slightly at the affection in which he touched you, in the way he said the nickname that had become yours.

“i have been… this whole time. i’ve been looking at you,” you whispered, in between rattling breaths hoping he understood you didn’t just mean right now, you meant since landing here, since the very first day. you were so tired now, your mind becoming as lethargic as your body and you felt tears dripping down your cheeks but it wasn’t you.

yuta was crying, his tears splattering against your cheeks.

you didn’t mind.

“i wanted more time,” you said in an exhale.

“then don’t go,” he pleaded, anguish in his eyes and voice. “don’t leave. don’t leave us. don’t – don’t leave me… please.”

“then don’t… let me…” you wheezed, still somehow teasing even though your voice cracked, your lungs struggled to fill with air.

“let me save you,” he was begging you, he was resting his forehead against yours now. his blood-soaked hands were shaking now as they tangled themselves in your hair, he was so afraid to let go. “i can do it, please let me.”

jungwoo snapped his head up at yuta, and he whispered, “but she would…”

yuta never took his eyes off of you, and he noticed the moments in between blinks were getting longer and longer.

“i can save you,” he was whispering to you, his red eyes starting to glow in anticipation. “i can save you but your soul, it would be tethered to mine. you’ll be like me… you’ll be damned.”

you tried to laugh, but all that came out were weak breaths, “there are worse things i could be.”

yuta’s heart lurched when your grip on his shirt loosened, your arm falling across your body now and he started speaking to you faster.

“demons have laws, i can’t… i need your permission – i can’t just do it, it has to be verbal, please,” yuta cried softly, “please say yes.”

you inhaled, your voice was barely there when you exhaled a soft, “yes.”

yuta’s red eyes glowed brighter with your answer. in a swift moment, he closed the space between you, his lips pressing against yours gently. he could feel you now, could feel you trying to hold on but losing the fight.

so he kissed you harder, his hand that was tangled in your hair moving down to your neck.

slowly, he felt you again. felt as you came back to him. he felt you as he felt himself now, and he was sure it was the same for you.

he knew you had come back to him when you took a sudden sharp breath against his mouth, and then you were kissing him back. your hand coming back up to grip at his shirt, and he was all around you. you couldn’t stop breathing him in as you kissed him and you had never felt so whole, as if this was what you were missing your entire life. him.

eventually, you slowly pulled away, your eyes fluttered open fully and seeing the tears that had ran down his face and then it was your turn to wipe them away from his cheeks, your thumbs dragging over his lips to wipe at the blood on his mouth from kissing you and you chuckled slightly.

yuta buried his face in the crook of your neck, and you brought your hand up to gently run your fingers through his hair, the sound of him breathing soothing you. turning you offered a hand to jungwoo, not forgetting that he was there.

his face twisted, sniffing as he got control of his emotions again and he took your hand in his and kept it close to his chest.

“you came for me,” you whispered, breaking the silence. yuta gripped you a little tighter, not wanting to let go of you yet.

he murmured his response against your neck, “you called.”

.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.

you were happy to be alive, you were happy that yuta saved you. you were even happy that jungwoo looked so happy to see you still breathing. but after a few long minutes of him holding you tapped him on the shoulder.

“um, i don’t want to ruin the moment but… the blood is drying and it’s actually uncomfortable.” you laughed awkwardly.

“moment effectively ruined,” yuta droned as he sat up, his look unamused but you could tell he was still trying to come down from the fear of the moment. you made to sit up so you could stand but yuta beat you to it by picking you up effortlessly. you wrapped your arms around his neck to keep yourself steady from the sudden movement.

“i can walk!” you protested. you looked down when you felt the weight of jungwoo sitting on your stomach, his cat form blinking at you from his newfound spot.

“i never said you couldn’t,” was his easy reply. you learned quickly after that the reason was so he could teleport you all back to your room with ease, and yuta gently placed you down after jungwoo leapt off of you, transforming back into a human. with a squeeze of yuta’s hand you escaped to the bathroom and shut the door behind you. You listened for a moment.

“will she be okay?” jungwoo murmured to yuta, and you heard shuffling.

“if you cuddle her enough, i’m sure she will be eventually.”

“you have to be there for her too,” jungwoo pointed out.

“i plan to,” yuta replied.

you pulled away from the door and went to the bath, turning the water to as hot as it could go. while the shower ran you finally stepped in front of the mirror and you paled at what you saw.

blood was smeared across your lips from where yuta had kissed you, but that wasn’t what got you.

the blood was dried everywhere, your t-shirt that you had went to bed in had a giant hole in the front and it was overwhelming to look at so you ripped it off your body, throwing it across the bathroom. you looked down and it was as if it had never happened, the skin clear.

no scars.

nothing to show that you had died.

nothing to remind you that yuta had saved you. and for some reason that upset you. you stood there staring at your reflection until the mirror completely fogged over.

you dragged your eyes away, and stepped in the shower. you didn’t let the scalding heat of the water deter you from getting in and immediately start scrubbing away at your skin. it took three tries to get to see the water turn clear and once it did, you sank down to the shower floor and brought your knees to your chest.

and for the first time, you let yourself truly cry.

you tried to stay quiet but you didn’t hold back the tears this time. you sobbed to yourself until the fear you had felt before had escaped you entirely, flowing down the drain with the tears. you had been so scared, especially when you felt yourself take your last breath. eventually the tears slowed until there were none left, your mind then drifting to the demon who had saved you and you couldn’t help the small watery smile that that appeared.

you sat there, allowing yourself to process everything that had happened until the water turned cold, and then shivering you turned off the water and stepped out.

when you finally left the bathroom dressed in a simple t-shirt and shorts, you had somehow expected he would be there but still surprised to see that you were right, you were surprised that jungwoo was nowhere in sight. he looked from where he sat on your bed as up as you entered the room, and you plopped down beside him on the bed. he didn’t speak for a moment, and you didn’t want to disrupt the silence.

finally, he spoke up. “i’m sorry…” and you were shaking your head before his sentence finished.

“i’m not,” you replied. he still wasn’t looking at you and you turned your body to face him. you lifted your hand to his cheek, using it to turn his face to look at you, and then you repeated yourself. “i’m not.”

you leaned in to kiss him sweetly, cutting him off when he opened his mouth to retort. it was meant to be a quick kiss, a reassuring one for him. but he instantly reciprocated, his lips moving against yours in a way they didn’t before.

before the kiss was all about saving you, about bringing you back to him.

this kiss was letting you know how much he wanted you to stay, how desperate he was to keep you safe.

silly demon, you thought. when you tilted your head slightly he deepened the kiss and you, while still kissing him, move to sit up on your knees, hooking one leg over his lap. your hands came up to cup his face, and his hands gripped the back of your thighs to keep you firmly on his lap. you eventually break the kiss to allow yourself to breathe, and yuta trailed his lips across your jawline, down to your neck and you sighed at the contact.

when his teeth grazed against your neck, you couldn’t stop the soft breathy gasp that escaped your lips.

yuta chuckled at that and teased, “oh, we like that?”

your answer was to snake a hand up to his hair to tug it lightly, and it was his turn to groan against your neck.

“oh,” you said, using the same tone he had before, “we like that?” yuta pulled away from your neck and peered into your eyes.

“yes, i like that,” he said playfully and then his eyes turned soft the longer he gazed at you. “but i love you.”

your mouth hung open at his confession. you didn’t doubt that he cared for you, he did just tether your life to his to save yours and that itself was an act of love but this was different.

it was straightforward.

when you didn’t respond right away, he started rambling, his eyes growing wide. it was funny to see the demon who was powerful enough to pull you back from death, now be turned into a blushing fool.

“i wasn’t saying it to make you feel guilty or anything you don’t have to say it back, it’sokayifyoudon’tipromisebut…” the last sentence coming out in one long breath and he trailed off as he saw your face break out into an endearing grin.

you released the grip you had on his hair, looping your arms around his neck and you sealed your lips against his again.

the kiss as sweet as his confession.

a confession you had made to yourself about him as you had sat in the shower earlier.

“idiot demon,” you murmured against his lips, “of course i love you.” yuta’s response was to kiss you with all the passion he could muster, you heard him say it but he wanted you to be able to feel it.

you did.

the kiss turned from sweet within minutes when yuta nipped at you, and you gasped in the of his teeth sinking in to your bottom lip. you trailed your hands down his front, fingers taking in the abs you could feel through his shirt and he smirked into the kiss.

you wanted to feel him, you realized and so you tugged it off and he lifted his arms to let you. you didn’t start kissing him again right away, letting your eyes roam over his body.

“i feel like i’m being ogled at,” he joked as your eyes took in his tattoos that decorated his hips.

“it’s because you are,” you hummed. quicker than you can blink, again with the demon speed, he flipped you both. you were under him, head on the pillow and he was hovering over you, lifting himself by the arm that rested by your head.

his lips found yours for a moment, kissing you breathlessly. his lips trailed to your cheek slowly, and then his lips were at your ear. you felt the moment his lips turn up in a smirk.

“then it’s only fair that it’s my turn, no?”

your only response was to nod, a matching smirk on your face.

and so you let him have his turn.

.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.

the next morning you were awoken by the sound of a whispered conversation. you were curled in to yuta’s side as he laid on his back, and jungwoo’s voice was closer to you now. you peeked through your lashes to find him still in his cat form sitting on yuta’s chest as he spoke to him.

“we can’t let him roam free, he’s been trapped here getting more and more bloodthirsty as the years went on.” jungwoo said.

“we’re not going to let him, it’s just…” and you felt his eyes turn to you.

“she can come too, we won’t leave her here alone.”

“no, i’m not letting her near him again.” yuta’s voice was firm, leaving no room for jungwoo to argue. that was when you decided to stop eavesdropping.

“you’re not going to start telling me what I can or can’t do,” you sent an unamused look in yuta’s direction. “i agree with jungwoo, and i want… i want to go.” yuta studied your face, and finally acquiesced.

“fine,” he said.

it didn’t take long for you to track down the path the creature took, you could smell your own blood that had dripped along the path it had walked.

“you can smell that?” yuta asked, studying you as you spoke. your answer was a shrug before you continued down the familiar path.

the interesting thing about living in the mountain is that you had been so accustomed to it’s day and night, that you hadn’t realized it had been opposite of the outside world. it was dark outside, the moon barely seen through the trees. the path you walked down being the same one that had brought you up the mountain in the first place. the little light the moon gave was plenty enough for you to be able to see clearly.

it didn’t even register that you should have been nearly blinded by the darkness, nor that you seemed to be making quicker time than the first trip had taken.

yuta and jungwoo trailed behind you as you somehow led the way, they didn’t question your sense of direction and when you reached the end of the path you hesitated.

one more step would put you back into town, and you were second guessing if you wanted to save these people at all. they had sent you to your death, they didn’t deserve the kindness of being rescued because where was that kindness – a hand on your arm stopped the thoughts in their tracks.

“i’m with you, okay? you’ll be safe,” yuta whispered to you. you shook off the bubble of anger that had appeared, your only response being the next step out of the tree line and into the town limits.

from there though, you weren’t sure of where to go next, the smell of your blood dispersing in the open air.

another sound caught your attention then, a familiar voice at the edge of your hearing. the words you couldn’t understand but you knew the voice, and knew exactly where to find it. following the sound, you led the way and you didn’t notice when jungwoo shot yuta a concerned look.

you followed the same path through the village, your mind taking you back to the feeling of walking through the people as they made a trail for you. the smell of fresh blood caught your attention and you turned your head to see the town mayor.

he was face down in the dirt, body completely still. you couldn’t find it in yourself to be sad for him, but your eyes slowly swept over the area and you saw more bodies then. you did feel a twinge of sadness for the others.

you turned to glance back at yuta and when you did his eyes widened, but you didn’t care to ask why. instead, as if you had tunnel vision, you continued leading the way to the house where you grew up, the voice that you recognized getting clearer and clearer.

before you could step to the small stone pathway that led to the front door, a sound of broken glass broke the silence of the night, you looking in time to see a body being thrown from the window.

the body landed on the ground in a heap, and you rushed over to see your uncle – eyes unfocused as he stared up at the night sky. he was dead before he hit the ground, and that’s when you heard screaming from within the house.

yuta was the first to throw open the door, you following him and the sight you witnessed confused you.

you saw the creature clearly now, and as you had previously thought, it looked more human. it’s human form that of a man, dark hair and tall. the only thing obviously different about him were his eyes that never stopped glowing the pale green, and the patches of skin that seemed to be scales. but what really caught your attention was that he had mina by the throat, lifted high in the air.

“the party has arrived,” he sang, turning it’s head to stare at you. yuta and jungwoo stepped in front of you protectively but the creature looked between them and only stared intently into yours.

“i can see it in your eyes that you sold your soul to the devil,” he sneered. “because i was sure that last i saw you, you were minutes from bleeding out entirely.”

“i was,” you bit back. “seems that i just don’t know when to die.”

“it seems that runs it the family, doesn’t it?” another voice crooned from a shadowed hallway to the right.

your aunt stepped forward and slowly sauntered over to stand next to the snake-like demon.

“must be something in your blood,” she smirked then. she placed her hand on his back then as if they had been long-time friends and not a demon who had been locked away for a little less than a century.

the fact that he had her daughter by the throat, mina’s feet kicking above the floor, it did not seem to faze her.

“what did you say?” you growled, you had been assuming the entire time that the dreams had been just that. terrible dreams.

“what part?” she mocked. when you didn’t answer, she sighed dramatically.

“honestly, i’m a little disappointed to see you even alive. i was so sure that they would have killed you before my friend here had to, i didn’t realize your demon had a heart,” she snorted then, as if the very idea were ridiculous to her, then she shook her head and continued, “but your mother was the same as you, i suppose… she had the audacity to keep holding on.” you jumped forward at that, fury clouding your judgment. finally getting the confirmation was different than just assuming and hoping you were wrong. yuta held you back by the arms.

“why?” you asked, and you felt yuta wrap his arms around you in a constricting hug, the warmth of his body calming your anger but not quelling it entirely. you felt jungwoo’s presence shift slightly behind you.

“because,” your aunt trailed off, her eyes staring intently into yours. “she wanted to tell everyone that the sacrificing was no longer required. i had been planning this for years and she would have ruined it entirely.”

your mind was trying to quickly put pieces together but you felt like you were missing important information.

“i see you’re all confused, poor thing. let me paint the picture simply for you then.” she pouted, her voice demeaning as she stared right into your eyes as she spoke, waving he hands around wildly as she told her story. “demon visits me in my dreams, guarantees me everything i could ever want and more. the price? simple enough, getting my dear sweet niece to it in one piece. something about your dormant witch blood being important but i didn’t care about that. i only cared about receiving what i was promised. your mother had to go when she threatened all of that.”

“you’ve been planning this since i was a child?!” you yelled incredulously, struggling again in yuta’s arms to get free.

“patience has always been a strong suit of mine,” she laughed.

“you know deals like this always come with a price,” it was yuta who spoke up from behind you, his voice hard to read.

“i wanted my wealth and i got it, there’s nothing he can take from me that i’ll be upset for.” she was confident but you realized it was misplaced when the creature dropped mina suddenly – said girl crying out as she hit the floor – and whirled to stalk towards your aunt.

“’nothing i can take’, mm?” it taunted her, its words turning menacing. “nothing… except your life, maybe?” and your aunt cowered away from it then, stumbling as she tried to retreat. her eyes were wide in fear.

“no! i was promised wealth, you can’t kill me!” she argued and panic flooded her eyes when it backed her against the wall.

“i promised it and you received it, did you not? you’ve had wealth for as long as she’s been down in the mountain, no?”

“but…but…” and he cut her off when he put a finger to her lips. her eyes begging him when her mouth was no longer able to. her head shaking rapidly.

“i never promised you for how long, that was your own fault… you really should have been more specific.” and the next second your aunt was dead, her body dropping to the floor with a thud and mina screamed.

he twisted his neck to look over his shoulder. the hungry look he gave mina making her scramble backwards on her hands, trying to put as much distance between her and what was most definitely going to kill her.

you decided then that even if it were only out of guilt, she had still been kind to you. you weren’t going to let her die, not without trying, not like you did.

weak and afraid.

and that thought spurned you to move, and that was the only thought plaguing your mind then.

not mina.

you struggled harder in yuta’s arm, elbowing him accidentally in the ribs but it caused him to let you go and you reacted in the same moment as the murderous demon did.

in a blink he was in front of mina.

and in the same blink, so were you.

the sudden appearance of you caught him off guard, his green eyes widening for a moment before darkening. his hand darted out and his fingers wrapped around your throat before you could stop him.

“you’re beginning to become a nuisance.” he said through clenched teeth.

“beginning to?” you choked out, a smug smile on your face. “i think it’s my best quality.”

the creature opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a word, yuta was there. he was radiating heat in a way you hadn’t felt before, but his face gave nothing away, it was completely blank.

that somehow made him all the more terrifying. yuta’s hand was on the creature’s wrist then, his grip so tight you could hear the bones grind and he was forced to release you with a short cry in pain.

“mina!” jungwoo called then, beckoning for her to come to him and she did, running into him and gripping his arm tightly as she hid behind him, his arm protectively shielding her.

still gripping his wrist, yuta bent it in a way that was inhuman, cause the creature to crash to his knees painfully.

the kneeling demon then opened his eyes to stare up at the one causing him pain and he balked when he looked into yuta’s eyes, and you saw true fear there.

“i believe you have touched her far too many times already,” yuta said to him, something different about his voice.

“you… you’re not… you can’t be…” he stammered.

“oh, but i am.” yuta affirmed, and you realized his voice had a dark echo to it and you furrowed your eyebrows at him. you could see the red glow of his eyes when you peered around slightly to see, but his face was stoic. nothing scarier than normal, but the opposing demon who had been wreaking havoc was absolutely terrified.

“you were weak, your eyes were black,” he spat at yuta.

“they were, i blame it on the spell. the stronger the demon, the more it dulled everything, it was rather irritating,” yuta’s voice came, still with the echo. you couldn’t lie and say the echo wasn’t a little terrifying.

“please,” the creature had resorted to begging, dropping to his knees in front of yuta and you were bemused at the turn of events.

this cowering thing was what killed you? you started to feel a little embarrassed for yourself then. you still wouldn’t have been able to survive him, but then a thought filtered through.

maybe he isn’t incredibly weak, maybe yuta is just that powerful.

yuta let go of the his wrist and moved his hand to the creature’s head then, almost lovingly.

“don’t…” the creature continued pleading and yuta laughed. the sound void of any joy, only malice.

“don’t what? don’t kill you? did you extend that offer to her?” yuta gestured to you behind him with a jerk of his head.

the demon didn’t answer, so yuta shook his head for him mockingly.

“that’s right, you didn’t.” his voice was angry now and you had never heard this type of fury before.

“please have mercy,” the creature then grabbed onto yuta’s pant leg, eyes staring up at yuta as he glowered down at the creature.

“i only have mercy for very few beings in my life, and unfortunately for you,” yuta said as he crouched momentarily to be eye level with the green-eyed demon. “you’re not one of them.”

and for an extended pause, nothing happened. the room entirely too silent, mina’s labored breathing the only thing you could hear.

then the creature was screaming, screaming as you had in the cavern.

screaming in pain.

and then as if he were burning from the inside out, he started to smoke and smolder. pieces of him crumbling into ash slowly. the screaming stopped when the ash took most of his body, the rest falling onto the ground and there was nothing left of the menacing demon.

“yuta…” jungwoo warned from where he still stood defensively in front of mina. “yuta, snap out of it.”

that was when you noticed yuta breathing heavily, his hand still outstretched where it had been on top of the creature’s head. you circled to the front of yuta, and you saw jungwoo make a move for you, mina’s vicelike grip preventing him from going to you completely.

“y/n, don’t! don’t go near him. he’s not himself right now!” jungwoo called, fearing only for your safety.

you were in front of yuta now, and he still looked physically like your yuta. but he wasn’t… everything else about him seemed off. his eyes were a different type of red than when he had saved you before, they were a darker red. the color of blood alive in his irises. when your face appeared in front of him, he snarled. his lips turning up, his teeth bared at you.

you didn’t move quickly, continuing to gaze into his eyes while your hand reached for his outstretched one. your fingers gently wrapped around his, and you hissed internally as his hand was scalding but you didn’t let that deter you, and you slowly pulled it up. using both your hands, you placed his palm against your cheek.

the fire cooling on his palm the second his hand touched your skin, but he was still growling at you lowly with that strange echo. like he was semi-aware, but unable to break out of it.

“it’s okay,” you whispered reassuringly, voice calm. “i’m okay. he’s dead now. you can stop.”

when nothing changed, your heart squeezed. you reached your palm out to touch his cheek then. mirroring the way you held his to yours, and stepped closer to him.

“yuta, hey… please come back to me?” you murmured, before sealing the distance and placing a kiss on his lips.

if he could kiss you and literally bring you back to life, then surely you could at least bring him back to himself with yours.

when you felt him kiss you back, you knew you had succeeded. pulling away from him, you stared into his now apologetic eyes and were relieved to see them back to brown. the squeeze on your heart finally loosening.

yuta’s eyes searched yours and when he didn’t find an ounce anger or disgust there, a smile slowly worked its way onto his lips.

“you pulled me back,” he said in awe. if he hadn’t loved you before, that would have sealed the deal alone.

“i guess we’re even now,” you laughed, winking at him as you quickly kissed him again.

he took back what he previously thought, that would have sealed the deal.

#gimmehyuck #masterlist #yuta #yuta au #yuta fic #yuta fluff #yuta angst #yuta x reader au #nct #nct 127 #nakamoto yuta #na yuta #yuta x reader fic #yuta x you au #nct 127 au #this is legit the longest thing i’ve ever written #and it was the first time i’ve had a clear plot from the beginning #it was nice

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