All guests attending Carnival Wormhole were asked to leave the premises as it was suddenly placed on lockdown. In a matter of fifteen minutes, the carnival was evacuated and closed for the rest of the day. Apart from stating that every attendee had been safely led out of the carnival, the police declined to comment on the reasoning of the sudden evacuation. Some guests have reportedly witnessed suspicious and unusual behavior near different attractions. How many people were involved and what exactly has transpired this evening has not yet been confirmed. The police is currently on site, looking for the perpetrators who are responsible for the events of this evening.
This evening was supposed to host the opening of The Invitation, a special event that was set to take place at Carnival Wormhole for the first time ever. Whether or not it will be able to open tomorrow is not yet clear.
Further clarification will be broadcast as soon as the information is available so please, do not change the channel.
--
Vampire!Enhypen go to a carnival for some unfinished business
Chapter 1: Drunk-Dazed
Rating: All Audiences
Words: 17.613
Type: fanfiction with 5 chapters
Status: Weekly updates starting Sep 24th
Tags & Warnings: Vampire!au, mystery, found family, hurt & comfort, non-graphic violence, hints towards past trauma, family drama
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the tags/warnings, feel free to contact me. Please let me know if I'm missing any tags.
The moment he closed his eyes, he could feel that something had changed.
Words: 2251 (one shot) [completed]
Tags & Warnings: TW at the end of the post as it would be a spoiler.
Genre: elements of fanstasy, mystery, slight angst and friendship fluff [No reader insert, no romance/sex]
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the tags/warnings, feel free to contact me. Please let me know if I'm missing any tags.
Likes, reblogs and especially comments/messages are very appreciated.
Do not repost or translate without permission.
Further notes & disclaimers: info post
Taglist: @jswizzledizzle
Shoot me an ask/message if you want on or off the list (or only on for specific groups or fics)
Devil By The Window
Yeonjun awoke from a scratching noise.
At first, he had brushed it off as just a part of his imagination, the sound perfectly blending into his dream. He began twisting and turning in his bed as the scratching got louder, unease taking over his body.
Then, the scratching stopped.
Tap tap tap tap tap
It had now turned into a tapping noise, louder than the scratching had been, growing more persistent as time went on.
Finally, it had gotten too loud, too irregular.
Though his dream ebbed away, the tapping remained, unrelenting.
Yeonjun opened his left eye, peeking towards the source of the sound.
The tapping stopped as his sight landed on a bright figure, so bright that his tired eye couldn't make out any defining features. The figure was by his window, and though Yeonjun knew he should be alarmed by an intruder in the night, he didn't feel like he had to be. He felt uncomfortable, yes, but not unsafe. Something about the figure led him to continue laying still in his bed, one eye slowly blinking.
"Yeonjun"
Yeonjun's body tensed.
"I can take you to the place you've been dreaming of" the voice spoke.
Yeonjun didn't dare react.
"You will experience what you've been craving, what you've been begging for every night before you go to sleep."
Yeonjun mustered up the courage to reply.
"That's impossible" he croaked.
"It's not. I'm granting you one afternoon until the late evening."
"What's the catch?" Yeonjun mumbled, still drowsy.
"There's no catch, as long as you return in the night. If you don't, I can't help you. Now relax, close your eyes." Yeonjun caught a glimpse of the figure moving towards him as he followed the instructions.
The moment he closed his eyes, he could feel that something had changed.
Sugar Rush Ride
His sense of hearing was first to return.
There was a loud sound, constant, with a rhythm to it, but Yeonjun could not place it.
Then, he felt a poking sensation on his cheek, a slightly uncomfortable surface scratching at his skin.
Then, something was shaking his shoulder, quickly raising him from his slumber.
"Yeonjun"
Yeonjun opened his eyes, the bright sunlight blinding him for a moment.
"Come on, the others are getting ready to leave."
Finally, Yeonjun could make out the face of the person talking to him.
"Beomgyu... what is- where" he looked around, his view clearing up every time he blinked. He looked around.
The sun shined brightly in the clear blue sky, blinding Yeonjun. Shielding his eyes, he took in where he was. Blue waves, calm and rhythmical, sand underneath his fingertips.
Beomgyu who was standing in front of him impatiently gestured for him to get up.
"They're already all the way over there, stop sleeping!"
Yeonjun followed Beomgyu's gesturing hands, his eyes landing on three figures, walking towards the trees that had grown a few feet away.
"Beomgyu, is that..."
"Soobin, Kai, Taehyun. Let's go, I don't know how much time we have."
"But-"
"Come on"
Dragging Yeonjun up by his right arm, Beomgyu pulled him towards the others.
There was a cottage that appeared if you walked past three rows of trees, one Yeonjun had never seen before.
Before he could ask any questions, Taehyun had already opened the door, welcoming the others in.
"Water, herb tea or orange juice, what do you want?"
The other four looked at each other for a moment before Huening Kai spoke up first.
"Orange juice, please"
Soobin followed, asking for the same, while Yeonjun took up the offer of drinking tea, Beomgyu decided to stick to water.
When Taehyun disappeared to the kitchen to fetch the drinks, Yeonjun turned to the others.
"Am I- is this- Am I out of my mind?"
The others barely reacted, though Yeonjun could spot Soobin shaking his head in the corner of his eye.
"No? Ok. So this... this is strange, right?"
"It's not" Huening Kai replied before Yeonjun could finish his question.
"We're at the beach. We went to the beach, like, five times before this."
"But-"
"Do we not go to the beach together?" Kai's voice was low, but it didn't sound necessarily calm.
"Well yes, but-"
"Then it's normal that we're at the beach together. Nothing is strange."
Taehyun reentered the room, carrying in a tray of drinks for the others along with tea for himself.
Happy Fools
Taehyun's cottage was beautiful, simply being inside filled Yeonjun with a sense of comfort he wanted to bask in.
The white flowers that decorated the tables and windowsills were especially eye-catching, he wasn't sure but something about them instilled a feeling of familiarity in him.
When he asked Taehyun about them, he just shrugged, answering that they were called Chrysanthemum, though he couldn't remember where he got them.
Their conversation ended there, Yeonjun's attention instead shifting onto Beomgyu who was urging them to finish their drinks and go back outside again.
Outside, Kai turned to the others with a glint in his eye.
"That patch with the pink flowers!"
Barely having finished his sentence he started running towards the goal he had set in the distance. Taehyun followed immediately after, quickly catching up to the youngest of the bunch. Beomgyu, who had been caught off for a second too long, trailed behind, though the distance between him and the other two was considerably big.
Yeonjun turned to Soobin who was still walking in a regular walking pace next to Yeonjun.
"Where's your competitive spirit, Soobin? Don't you usually join in?"
Soobin kicked something that was at his feet, Yeonjun assumed it must have been some stick or rock of some sort.
"Why aren't you joining? Weren't you the one who originally started this game?"
Yeonjun shrugged, thinking about his next answer.
"I don't know, Soobin."
"Me neither."
The oldest couldn't meet the other's eyes.
"Why doesn't that make me feel any better? Or worse?"
"I don't know, Yeonjun. I want to throw myself into it but I'm scared I'll ruin it."
"Yeah"
They were silent for a few second before Soobin's head snapped up.
"But there's no way I'm losing against you"
In a blink he had set off, leaving Yeonjun behind.
When Yeonjun finally caught up with the others, they were already comfortably laying inbetween the pink flowers, waiting for Yeonjun to arrive.
Kai, his head resting on Taehyun's stomach, blinked up at him.
"You're so slow."
"And you're childish"
Yeonjun flicked Kai's forehead, then let his own head rest on Kai's stomach.
"Kai might be childish but at least he's not old", Beomgyu pointed out.
"I'm two years older than you, that's not exactly retirement age."
"I wouldn't be too sure... is that a gray hair?"
Yeonjun squeezed his eyes shut as though that could help with tuning out Beomgyu's teasing.
Comfortable silence fell over the five.
"What do you guys think about Peter Pan?"
Beomgyu was first to respond. "What do you mean, Taehyun? As a story? I guess I liked it as a kid, I don't really remember it now."
Soobin chimed in: "Or like Peter as in the character? Cause he was kind of annoying."
"No, not that" Taehyun replied.
"As a concept. Being young forever. Never growing up."
Nobody answered at first.
"I mean" Yeonjun cleared his throat. "It doesn't make sense. You always grow up, even if your body somehow doesn't mature. You don't grow up because your body develops a certain way or because you hit a certain age, you grow up because you exist. So even Peter can't never grow up."
"But that's where Neverland comes in. It is possible there." was Taehyun's rebuttal.
"I guess so." Yeonjun responded, once again letting silence surround them.
"Would you want to go there?" Taehyun asked.
"Neverland?" Beomgyu thought for a second.
"Maybe. I don't know. For a while. I would try to enjoy it while it lasts, regardless where I was."
"What about you guys?"
After hesitating for a second, Huening Kai gave his answer.
"If I knew Peter, I would. If he was my friend and I knew he would stick by me, I think so."
"I think the idea sounds nice but it wouldn't be in reality." Soobin said. "You wouldn't know who's there and how long you can stay and what you should do. And you can't take everyone with you."
"That's true" Taehyun replied. "Forever young sounds great but I would never want to leave everyone behind."
Nobody replied after that, the sound of waves in the distance.
"Kai?"
Taehyun's voice sounded insecure, only slightly louder than a whisper.
"What are... are you crying?"
Taehyun and Yeonjun quickly sat up, looking at the youngest's face. Kai brought up his hands to hide his tears but it was too late.
"What's wrong?" Taehyun asked, worried.
Kai shook his head, silent sobs making his body tremble violently. He turned, his face now buried in Taehyun's stomach, his arms tightly wrapping around his body.
Yeonjun reached over, patting the youngest's head softly.
"Kai, what's wrong?" Taehyun asked, but he still didn't get an answer.
Yeonjun's eyes met Soobin's who gave him a light smile, his own eyes seeming to well up.
"You know you can always talk to me, right?" Taehyun asked softly.
Kai sat up, looking at Taehyun with bloodshot eyes.
He hesitated for a moment, contemplating, then hastily got up, turning around and quickly walking away.
When Taehyun was about to follow him, Yeonjun stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "I got it. You guys stay here."
Tinnitus
Kai hadn't run far, Yeonjun could easily spot him leaning against a tree.
Yeonjun leaned against the tree in front of Kai, facing him, though the younger avoided his eyes.
They stood in silence, letting the sounds of nature calm them down.
"What if-" Kai's voice was weak. "What if we don't go back?" Kai asked, eyes still fixated on the ground.
Yeonjun brought his hands up to his face and took a deep breath.
"Kai, no."
Finally, Kai looked at him.
"Why not? Do you really think I can let go now?"
Yeonjun took a step forward.
"I understand, Kai, you know I do. But we can't. You don't know if you can even stay or where you would go and just- just think. What that would mean. What it would really mean."
Kai squeezed his eyes shut.
"But... but..."
He drifted off, knowing it was fruitless.
"Listen, okay?" Yeonjun fixed Kai's hair. "We'll take a deep breath, go back and enjoy it. Say what we want to say, do what we want to do. And when it's time, it's time. Let's make the most of it, okay?"
Kai reached out to take Yeonjun's hand, squeezing it once and then let go.
He looked up and nodded.
Nobody asked any questions when the two returned, simply scooching over so they could sit in a circle.
Kai decided to lay down again, resting his head on Taehyun's thigh and absent-mindedly playing with the fingers of his right hand.
The five talked with no end, Beomgyu, as always, making the others laugh who themselves couldn't resist the challenge of getting back at him with a teasing joke of their own.
They spoke about their families, recalled memories and told anecdotes they had all heard before.
Yeonjun could not recall the last time the five of them sat together like this, peaceful and happy.
The sun had set a while ago and darkness replaced it's shining light.
That's when Yeonjun heard it.
Scratch scratch- scratch scratch
"No", he whispered.
Tap tap tap tap tap
"Please"
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
Yeonjun looked at the others.
"Come here"
He said, stretching out his arms and quickly making everyone gather in the middle. He pulled the others into a hug which they happily fell into. They squeezed each other tightly.
"I love you guys. And thank you for everything"
They continued to hold each other.
Yeonjun heard Kai sob.
The last thing Yeonjun saw was Beomgyu, his eyes closed.
And then-
.
.
.
Farewell, Neverland
"We just cleaned it up three days ago, how are there already so many?" Yeonjun muttered, pushing the leaves to the side.
When he was satisfied, Yeonjun opened his backpack.
"Look what I got you." He took out the small object.
"I actually bought it two weeks ago but I always forgot to give it to you. It's a snowglobe, see?" He shook the globe.
"Well, it's not really a snow globe. I guess you could call it a sand globe? It's got a beach inside. It reminded me of some of our trips together."
He watched in silence as the sand settled down.
"I'm just going to put it right here, next to the candle, okay?"
He hesitated for a moment, then set the globe down in front of the headstone.
"It looks nice, right?"
He let the silence of the graveyard envelop him for what must have been a minute.
There it was again, the feeling of tears stinging in his eyes, begging to be let out.
Yeonjun threw his head back, hoping it would stop them from coming.
"I don't know how I'm ever supposed to get used to this, Taehyun," he whispered.
Of course, there was no response. Just the contiuous rustling of leaves in the wind.
Two tears escaped Yeonjun's eyes before he managed to recompose himself.
He slowly got up.
"Last night I had a dream about you. I hope you had the same one."
*
Author's Note
This story was surprisingly therapeutic to write. When I conceptualized it I didn't even realize how much it was inspired by my own experience with grief and a hyperrealistic dream I had about that person. Because it was sometimes difficult to separate my writing from my experience and grief, I ended up changing the ending three times.
I will leave whether or not it was a dream up to you, dear reader, and am more than curious to hear your thoughts on it.
Do they experience this again? Will he talk to the others and realize it was real? Or not? I think I know my answers to these questions, but I will let you come up with your own.
Thank you for reading this story.
Posting this for the public to see feels very vulnerable, but I hope others can get something out of reading it - be it enjoyment or relating to it.
I never shared this aspect of my grieving process or even the fact that I have had a dream like this with anybody, so thank you for listening.
Likes, reblogs and messages are the only ways for me to see if someone is reading and enjoying my stories, so I would truly appreciate the feedback.
I have 4 chaptered fics half-finished and I'm excited to share them with you too, so stay tuned.
Thank you so much!
Trigger Warning for this Story: Major Character Death (only aftermath)
Just wanted to say that your enha fic is by far the best most thought out fic i've read. Genuinely its so good. I recommended it to two of my friends to read!!!
Also if you have a taglist for your fics i'd love to be on it if thats okay. I really enjoy your style of writing its so good!
Hi!!
Thank you so so much!!!! This really means a lot to me
I saw your reblogs, which made me really happy, and now this ask too- my first ever ask on this blog btw.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the story even to the point of recommending it.
I thought a lot about the story and lore, so I'm glad someone else is also excited about it! I am currently writing a prequel which I'm sure you'll also be interested in if you're curious about these characters and their story.
I don't have a taglist yet cause you're the first person to ask haha but I'll let you know when I post! Again, thank you so much and I hope you have a lovely day
Tags & Warnings of the entire fic: Vampire!au, mystery, found family, hurt & comfort, non-graphic violence, hints towards past trauma, family drama
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the tags/warnings, feel free to contact me. Please let me know if I'm missing any tags.
°°°
We interrupt your program to bring you an update on the events that transpired at Wormhole Carnival, which was suddenly evacuated earlier today.
According to reports, police were informed of a potentially life-threatening incident at one of the attracions. A young man, estimated to be between the ages of 17 and 23 reportedly jumped off a swing ride. When medical professionals arrived to treat possible injuries from the fall, the man was nowhere to be found.
As the police was on site to investigate the peculiar incident, they were alerted to unusual movement of the circus tent that seemed to be threatening to collapse. Securing the tent and searching inside, they found five individuals, all of which belonging to the circus The Invitation.
Seemingly the aftermath of a violent confrontation, the ringmaster was transferred to a hospital where he is receiving treatment.
Police declined to disclose any further details.
Until clarity on what transpired at Wormhole Carnival is achieved, the Carnival will be temporarily closed to ensure the safety of the public.
Thank you and have a good night.
°
"No thank you, I don't want any."
"You should eat something, Ni-ki, it will make you feel better. Look." Jay filled a bowl halfway.
"This one is yours, so just take it whenever you're ready."
He set it down in front of the younger boy who weakly smiled at him, the thank you remaining unspoken but understood nonetheless.
They six others dug in, and upon hearing the overwhelming compliments directed towards Jay who had prepared the meal, Ni-ki couldn't hold back his own curiosity, giving into his rumbling stomach.
When they were all full and too lazy to get up to clear the table, Ni-ki reached into his pocket, then paused.
"Why havent you asked yet?" he wondered out loud.
"What do you mean? Ask what?" Jake asked in return.
Ni-ki vaguely gestured to the hand that was still resting in his pocket.
"What he gave me. I know you're all curious but none of you even alluded to it."
Jake looked around at the others.
"I guess we didn't want to upset you, give you space." Everyone nodded in agreement but Ni-ki let out a huff of annoyance.
"I don't want you guys to treat me like a scared little child that you need to tiptoe around. You don't have to wait for me to bring something up, you can just go ahead and say or ask what you want. And if I'm uncomfortable, I'll say so. I just... I don't want you to constantly protect my feelings or something."
"Okay but me personally, I was just protecting myself from you flinging me across the room but maybe that's just me."
Sunghoon was very amused by his own joke, not even caring that he was the only one laughing. Besides Sunoo, who used his hand to cover his giggle, the others barely reacted, not wanting to further encourage his comedic inclinations.
"Anyways" Jungwon said and turned back to Ni-ki.
"What did he give you in the tent?"
Ni-ki pulled his hand out of his pocket in order to show the others. A thin chain dangled in front of his face, as he showed the others the beautiful amulet.
"Is it yours from when you were a kid?" Jay asked, watching the amulet swing slightly from side to side.
Ni-ki shook his head. "No, no, it was never mine." He mumbled, seeming a bit lost in thought. Heeseung snapped him out of his daydream.
"Does it open?"
Ni-ki smiled as he laid the amulet in the middle of the table.
"Go ahead." He said, looking at Heeseung expectantly.
Heeseung picked it up, careful not to cause any damage.
He opened it, his eyes widening at the pictures he found inside.
"Ni-ki..." he whispered, choking up at what he saw.
They all took turns to look at it before it finally landed in Ni-ki's hands again.
"So is that, is she, I mean" Sunoo struggled to find the right words.
"Yeah." Ni-ki still answered. "That's her. I gave it to her back when I was..." he looked up into the air, trying to remember "Six? Eight? Something like that."
He looked at the amulet again.
"I always thought she took it with her. I know it's ridiculous to hold on to something like that but I just... I understand that she wouldn't want the wedding picture on it, I get leaving him in the past but..."
He closed his eyes as he took a shaky breath, a tear threatening to escape his eyes.
"I don't know, I just really wanted to believe that she would hold on to this and cherish it. She could have taken out their wedding photo and just kept the one with me in it but I guess she didn't want to."
He cleared his voice in hopes of regaining his composure.
"Turns out she gave it to him instead, he probably had it all this time. It makes sense, you know. She was the one who left, it's foolish to assume she would want to take any memory with her."
"It's not foolish" Jake interrupted him. "You're not foolish for thinking or wishing she would take your gift with her. You were a child, for crying out loud. And it's natural to assume she would want to remember her son, so please, stop. Don't make yourself more miserable. You don't deserve this."
Ni-ki reached out to take Jake's hand who took it silently. Ni-ki opened his mouth but no words came out, so he pressed his lips together instead. While Jake was rubbing the back of Ni-ki's hand with soothing motions, the youngest let his head drop, hiding his face from the others.
Because they were all quiet, the sound of Ni-ki's sniffling was unmistakable. It started out quiet, the boy holding it back with all his might, before he broke down.
Tears dropped into his lap and his body began shaking, all of his emotions pouring out.
Jungwon had gotten out of his seat to stand next to the youngest, hoping he could comfort him by running his fingers through his hair. Ni-ki leaned into the touch as his sobs grew louder and louder. He turned in his seat, pulling Jungwon close and burying his face in his stomach.
The others couldn't hold back either, each of them losing their battle against the tears.
They cried together, comforting each other as best as they could.
When they were all out of tears, still sniffling in each other's arms, Ni-ki raised his head.
"I don't.... I don't need them now. You're my only family."
Tags & Warnings of the entire fic: Vampire!au, mystery, found family, hurt & comfort, non-graphic violence, hints towards past trauma, family drama
This chapter: non-graphic violence, overall fighting
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the tags/warnings, feel free to contact me. Please let me know if I'm missing any tags.
°°°
"Who me?"
The seven whipped around, turning towards the voice they had just heard.
"How lovely to see you all together here. "
Jungwon rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"
"I was a bit disappointed by how our chat was cut off earlier, so I thought I'd come here. You don't mind, do you?"
"Just tell us what you want or we'll keep walking."
"No, stay, stay." the man said taking a seat on the rail separating the arena from the seats.
Before they could decide if they wanted to stick around and see what he had to say, three more figures stepped out, wordlessly situating themselves near the man Jungwon had met earlier.
"The two that aren't covering their faces are the ones from earlier." Sunghoon filled in the others. "Don't think I've seen that guy with the hood before though."
When nobody said anyhing further, Heeseung decided to speak.
"If you want to talk, talk. Tell us why you're following us."
The one who had met Jungwon before - persumably the leader of the bunch - decided to have some mercy and finally explain a bit more.
"Well, originally we came here for our performance, The Invitation, you may have heard about it." he started, sounding slightly bored. "But we had a little change of plans when we heard that you were here. We saw you running around, having some fun so we thought we'd go see what you were doing. We wanted to see what you were up to, maybe you were even here to talk to us, you know? We wouldn't know, would we?"
This time, Sunoo was the one to challenge them. "Talk to you? Why would we come here to talk to you? We don't even know you!"
The young man let out an audible scoff at that, his face looking half-amused and half-offended.
"You don't know me.... That's funny." He now looked directly at Sunoo as though he was attempting to shoot daggers through his eyes. "That's really funny, you know. Considering I was supposed to be you."
When he didn't get any reaction, only looking into confused faces, he rolled his eyes.
"Did you think they were just going to abandon their project just because you decided to back out? You think going behind everyone's backs, having one of your little friends turn you instead of trusting the plan would have no consequences? Don't be ridiculous. They carried on, though they needed a new lineup. So they came to me, letting me know that the promise of me being sent to I-Land was off the table - because someone decided to be difficult about it - and I was sent to Ground instead. Which, of course, was a great honor, do not get me wrong. But it's funny, is it not? Thinking about how things would have - our should I say should have - been?"
Sunoo let out a long breath, nodding slowly. "So because I didn't go to Ground, you all ended up going there?"
"Well no" it was still the same man talking, the others not seeming to be as invested like he was. "That's why I ended up going. I was supposed to be at I-Land, you were supposed to be at Ground and your stubbornness caused us to be switched. I remember that day, you know. I was packing my bag, almost ready to go and I was so excited. I had seen all of you out and about, training and I knew that that was were I belonged. And just an hour before I was supposed to be picked up, I was told that there was a change of plans. I could no longer go to I-Land and instead had to jump in and join the new project, Ground. That's where I met them. They joined Ground later, they would be here regardless."
"Well, I'm sorry they put you there, I'm sorry if what you went through was bad, but I'm not the one who put you there. It wasn't up to me, I never chose any of this and I wouldn't have chosen any of this. You can't hold that against me, surely you know that none of us would have went to I-Land if we knew what it was. He made those choices, you can't blame-"
"I can and I will blame you. The reason he makes those choices is because he knows best and we should follow his plans. And he didn't kidnap anybody. Every single one of us joined at our own volition."
"Why did you?" Ni-ki's voice cut through the air.
"Why did I? Well-"
"No. I'm not talking to you." Ni-ki interrupted the man, not even looking at him. "Why did you do it, Taki? What are you doing here?"
Everyone turned silent, not understanding what was going on.
That was until one of the four strangers, the one in the very back turned towards them, finally revealing his young face behind his hood. He looked at the others before quickly averting his eyes, looking down at his own fidgeting hands.
"I didn't know what to do."
"Not go to the one place I obviously hated so much I left, maybe?"
The boy, Taki, just shrugged, still avoiding eye contact.
"How would I know? You didn't take me with you..."
The last part had been mumbled but it was still clearly received by everyone.
Ni-ki's voice remained stable, but he still couldn't hide how the hurt in the other boy's voice affected him.
"Of course I didn't take you. You had nothing to run from- and I didn't have the time or opportunity to talk it over with you. I thought you would understand."
"Well, I don't." And with that the boy, Taki, turned on his heels, walking away until he disappeared behind the curtains.
With him gone, the others were left looking at each other, unsure of what to say next.
Sunghoon was the one to break the silence. "So... do you all also know each other or...?" he gestured towards the three strangers, his eyes fixed onto Ni-ki. He just rolled his eyes. "No, I would have told you before. I only knew him."
"Then I guess we'll ask about all that later and keep this moving then.", Heeseung suggested, at which Jungwon nodded. He turned to the man he had talked to earlier. "You aren't here alone, are you? Is he here? The headmaster of I-Land?"
One of the two that had followed Sunghoon answered first: "Of course, he'll be arriving any second. He's very excited to see you all."
°
Just as announced, they didn't have to wait long until they were face to face with the person they had come to the carnival for.
They weren't sure what they had expected. A grand entrance, maybe, complete with thunderstorms and lightning. Potentially a shadowy figure emerging from thick fog with big villainous laughter.
Of course, they didn't get any of that.
Instead, the man they had once known as their headmaster strolled in, his relaxed demeanor giving off the impression as though it was any other Saturday.
He walked like he had all the time in the world, seemingly unfazed by the thick tension in the arena.
Everybody else was frozen, staying completely still until he came to a halt.
The seven boys were standing in a row next to each other, facing the man in front of them.
The three others, who were now known to have been attendees in Ground, were standing off to the side, observing the confrontation that was about to take place.
"Hello boys, it's been a while."
He received no answer.
"How lovely of you to come and visit me today. If you are here because you'd like to enroll in I-Land again, I can check if there are any capacities. Although you may have noticed there was a bit of a shift in focus." He vaguely gestured towards the three from Ground.
Noticing that the others weren't ready to talk yet, Jungwon spoke up. "We don't want to come back, that's not why we are here." His voice was calm and firm, almost like he was in a business meeting. "We want answers and then we want to move on. So let's just put the cards on the table. What exactly was I-Land?"
The headmaster looked at Jungwon and blinked slowly, taking his time with the answer.
"I guess you didn't pay much attention on your first day, did you? Well, allow me to reiterate. l-Land is a selective institute for gifted teenagers. Here, all students receive extensive education according to national standards as well as special training in their area of expertise. Because of our-"
"No, we know what you told our parents to trick them into signing us up. We're talking about what actually happened. Why did you train us like some sort of super soldiers? Why did you turn us into... this?" Sunghoon asked.
The headmaster chuckled at that. "The classes are optimized for your education, of course. You were trained in a way to maximize your skills- which you can't deny happened."
Jay was next to ask a question. "Apart from the fact that you're pretending it was regular school and not literal hell, can you stop ignoring the elephant in the room? What was up with turning us into vampires?"
The headmaster cocked an eyebrow. "You drink blood? You burn in the sunlight?"
Jay shook his head, a little perplexed.
"What makes you a vampire then?"
Instead of answering, Jay rolled his eyes. "I don't care about semantics, call it what you want. What was all that about? Why did you do that?"
"Well, Dracula" he earned a small laugh from the three guys still standing to the side. "I suspected it would be possible to increase your productivity, and it did. Don't you just love science?" It wasn't very easy to read the emotions behind his eyes, but guilt was obviously not one of them.
"So you put us through all that for science? Just to see if it could work?" Heeseung was in disbelief. "Is that it?"
The headmaster still did not seem affected by the growing agitation surrounding him, still being nonchalant as ever.
"I mean, your parents were already sending all that tuition money- might as well do something with it while you're already there."
Jungwon let out a fake laugh, the smile on his face falling as quickly as it had appeared.
"You're a horrible person. But you know that, right? Treating literal children like that just because you can? Simply because you're already taking their money? You know we didn't deserve that."
"Deserve what?" The headmaster cocked his head to the side, narrowing his eyes. "You received excellent education and training, just like I had promised. You honed your skills and improved in various fields. You wouldn't be where you are today without it and I do take credit for it. Don't act like you don't appreciate it when I know you're putting it to use like you did earlier- climbing a wall, soaring through the sky, these are all things you wouldn't have learned without me. If you think I'm a bad guy then you have it all mixed up. I have done nothing but support you and elevate your abilities to the next level. Multiple levels, actually."
"So what, we can jump long distances and have a lot of control over our body and strength. All of that doesn't change what we went through to get there and you had no right, no right to essentially torture us physically and mentally just so you can optimize our productivity or whatever!" Jake's voice reflected the agitation they were all feeling, anger and hurt coming more and more to the forefront.
"Is that you, Jake? I'm surprised you're here." The headmaster seemed to have something on his mind as he was connecting the dots. "But how is that possible? I'm sure that you weren't a..." he side eyed Jay "vampire the last I saw you."
He studied the faces of the boys before him.
"Don't tell me... I can't believe it." He let out an incredulous laugh. "You are all standing here, telling me I should not have turned you because for some reason you believe it's not ethical- and yet you couldn't refrain from doing it yourselves even after leaving I-Land? You try to claim that it's wrong but you clearly agree it's a good thing. Oh, this is rich and most of all, ridiculous. I cannot believe the absolute hypocrites you are. Tell me Jake, when did you do it? Who was it?"
Instead of an answer to his questions, he received Heeseung's snappy response.
"That is all absolutely none of your business and you have no right to know about what happened after we left."
Sunoo spoke up shortly after Heeseung finished, a question heavy on his mind. "How many went through this? How many people were in I-Land and Ground, if that's what you called it? Are there more places like this?"
"Very curious, aren't you? Well, I-Land was the seven of you, which I decided to no longer do after seeing how you all turned out. Ground is a different story with great plans ahead- you've met the heart of it though." Standing almost forgotten at the side, the three young men raised their heads at the mention of Ground, attentively listening but not participating in the conversation.
"This is quite the interview, do you have more questions for me?"
"Why us?" Jay asked, his right hand resting on Ni-ki's shoulder as the younger boy was intently staring at his own shoes.
"Why did I pick you to come to I-Land? Different reasons, of course. But you all had a set of skills in some area with the necessary drive as well as a bright future ahead. Your parents seemed excited enough to join my academy, so it happened to be the six of you. Congratulations?"
He looked around with am expectant look on his face like he was waiting for everyone to erupt into laughter at what he said.
The silence was instead interrupted by a quiet voice, one that could have easily been overheard.
"Are you really not going to say anything?"
Nobody dared to say a word, the atmosphere so tense it felt like even taking a single breath would be too loud.
The headmaster's demeanor did not change, though he did seem a bit less secure and carefree than before.
"I almost didn't recognize you, you changed a lot."
"Teenagers tend to do that over time." Was the harsh reply, causing the headmaster to press his lips together. He looked right into the boy's eyes as he attempted to once again speak to him.
"Well I'm happy to see you, Riki. It's been a while."
When he wasn't dignified with a response, the headmaster continued.
"I always wondered why you left, Riki. Did they force you? What lies did they plant in your mind to make you leave?"
Ni-ki's eyes were cold, his jaw tense as he took one step closer to the headmaster.
"They didn't tell me anything, I just started thinking for myself." He took another step forward. "They showed me how I should be treated and that's when I realized that you were not doing it right. So don't look at me like you care, because we all know you don't."
It was becoming more and more clear that the two were growing upset as they approached each other.
"Of course I care! I always have and you should know that. I took care of you and I shaped you into a capable young man that knows how to fight for himself."
"Who said I wanted to know how to fight? Why did I have to fight? Why couldn't I grow up just like any other kid, or teen, why did I have to go to vampire boot camp?" Ni-ki's voice was growing louder and louder, his emotions shining through.
"Riki-"
"Don't you dare call me that."
The headmaster raised his hands in surrender though his small eye roll revealing how ridiculous he thought the request was.
"I don't think you're acting rationally. I supported you more than anyone, I brought you friends, I made you who you are- and you're mad at me? You hold resentment towards me? I don't know what your little crew over here told you but I believe that deep down you know. You know where you belong. And you know that everything I did was to help you. Who was there when you didn't have anyone else? I'm not the one that abandoned you, so please, don't let it out on me. It's not fair, Riki. It's just not fair."
Ni-ki moved so quickly that anyone who wasn't paying close attention would have missed what happened next.
He took long steps forward, the distance between him and the headmaster becoming smaller and smaller.
"Do not. Call me. That. Name!" he shouted as he channeled all his power into his left fist, punching him right in the middle of his chest.
The headmaster flew back upon impact, landing on his behind a few feet away from where he was standing.
The three strangers from Ground hurried over to him, trying to make sure he was okay. Meanwhile the others were frozen in shock at what had happened.
"Ni-ki...?" Jake started to say, but the younger boy was not listening. He watched, fists still clenched, as two of the men helped the headmaster to his feet."
"Do you get it now?" Ni-ki shouted, his voice echoing in the big tent.
"Do you understand that you can't control me anymore? Do you realize that maybe you should show me some respect? You can't keep doing whatever you want. I told you not to call me by that name."
The headmaster was back on his feet, seemingly haven been able to take the punch rather well.
"You're funny, you know that?" he said, condescension, amusement and pain bleeding through his voice. "You come here and attack me like a sulking child and then you try to tell me what to do. But guess what, Riki, you can't tell me what to do."
Ni-ki lunged forward, seeing red, this time the other six following closely behind him. The three from Ground had been ready this time, blocking Ni-ki's access to the older man.
Jungwon frantically connected to the others. "You guys, we need to get out of here. We're not getting anywhere except for maybe in big trouble, depending on how this goes. We need to go."
The others agreed with his standpoint, well aware that staying could only cause more problems. The others except for one of them, of course. Ni-ki did not waver, probably so determined to get to the man that he couldn't even listen to what Jungwon had said.
The man Jungwon had previously talked to was the first of the three to make a move, grabbing Ni-ki by the collar and tossing him backwards where his fall was softened by Sunghoon's arm, catching the younger boy. He, however, did not hesitate before jumping back to his feet, charging forwards again. He tried to push the man to the side, but he took Ni-ki by the arm, dragging him to the ground instead.
Jay along with Heeseung rushed forward in an attempt to help him but was stopped by one of the two that had followed Sunghoon before. Their eyes met as he grabbed one arm each, silently communicating.
"They're stronger than us."
What followed was chaos.
While Ni-ki was desperately attempting to reach the headmaster, who was keeping his distance with a weary eye, the three strong men were doing their best to grab him and stop him. This task was interfered with due to six boys whose only goal in that moment was to protect their youngest both from the others as well as himself.
It was an even match, where one side was superior in sheer strength they were outnumbered by the other, evening the odds.
Rather than kicks and punches there was a lot more grabbing, throwing and holding involved, everybody besides Ni-ki taking more of a defensive stance with the goal of getting the others off their backs.
One of the men had his arms wrapped around Ni-ki's waist, holding him back from moving forward. Ni-ki tried to turn in his grasp, kicking at the other's legs but he wouldn't budge even a bit. He lifted Ni-ki up, presumably to throw him to the ground and pin him there but he didn't get that far. Jake and Jay were at Ni-ki's sides, roughly grabbing the man's arms to pull him away from the boy. With three people against one, he couldn't help but let go, only to immediately be supported by one of the other men now holding on to Ni-ki. It seemed like the cycle was endless, as soon as somebody gained the upper hand someone else would jump in, rendering them helpless.
Suddenly, their fight was interrupted by loud noises outside the tent, the sound of police sirens unmistakable.
Everyone froze for a second, unsure of what to do next. Had somebody called the police on them? Did they suspect the fight in the tent or were these still the consequences of Jake's jump? Regardless of what the answer was, nobody wanted to find themselves at a police station, answering questions they wouldn't know how to explain.
Jungwon looked around. "How about we just leave and never see each other again, okay?"
Ni-ki, who was laying on his back, hands pinned to the ground by the largest of the other men, was breathing heavily. He blinked slowly, finally calming down.
"Okay then. Just let us go and be done with it."
The three men exchanged glances with each other and the headmaster, nodded, and stepped away from the seven boys although never lowering their guards. They, too, didn't desire attention from law enforcement.
As the seven began walking towards the exit, they were halted in their steps.
"Just one more thing" the headmaster said, causing them to turn towards him.
"Take this and... maybe you will remember where you belong."
He extended his right hand to Ni-ki, the object he was holding hidden as he had it closed in a fist.
Ni-ki stepped forward, not letting his hand touch the other's as he accepted the gift.
After taking one look at it, his head snapped up, eyes meeting the headmaster's.
"How dare you" Ni-ki whispered and in a flash, all his rage bubbled up inside him again.
Before anybody could stop him, he grabbed the older man by the jacket and threw him across the arena, slamming him into a rod that caused the entire tent to shake as he fell to the ground.
"Side exit. Now!" Heeseung commanded and the six others followed, not turning back to see what they had caused.
As expected, there were police at the carnival, guiding crowds of people and securing the premises.
Leaving through the official exit wasn't an option unless they wanted to risk any sort of confrontation with the police or somebody recognizing them.
Instead, Sunoo sweeped in. "Follow me, I saw a fence we could climb."
Without asking any further questions, the others followed, leaving the carnival behind.
"He wondered if showing up was a mistake, if maybe they should have just accepted not knowing as enough of an answer."
Rating: All Audiences
Words: 3876
Status: Weekly updates
Tags & Warnings of the entire fic: Vampire!au, mystery, found family, hurt & comfort, non-graphic violence, hints towards past trauma
This chapter: being followed/chased
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the tags/warnings, feel free to contact me. Please let me know if I'm missing any tags.
°°°
Sunoo was very likeable.
This wasn't something people would usually say about themselves but Sunoo didn't see why he should feel shy about it. People usually liked him and people usually assumed he was trustworthy. Of course, he couldn't be sure about what others were thinking, but the signs were definitely there.
When he was out with the others, Sunoo was usually the one people would ask for directions. He was who people would ask to watch their purse while they went to the bathroom and he was the one people were ready to bend the rules for, probably assuming he was usually not the type to do so.
Heeseung was also approached quite often, but it was different. Strangers talked to Heeseung because they felt drawn to him in some way. They talked to Sunoo because they were looking for someone to talk to and Sunoo was the chosen one, for some reason.
He had once had a long-winded conversation with Sunghoon who had said he wanted to "learn the ways of tricking people into thinking he's a nice person". Sunoo's suggestion of simply being a nice person wasn't too well received and his exclamation that he must have just been born this way was only met with an eye roll.
Whatever it was, his likeability was what the others used to decide that he was the one to go to the merry-go-round. They wanted to make sure they had every corner of the carnival covered, regardless of whether or not there was anything to actually see there. They did not want to miss a thing and had to be absolutely certain that they knew exactly where they were. So, somebody had to go to the merry- go-round even if it wasn't as easy to blend in as it was at the other attractions. Naturally, nobody volunteered to go there until Ni-ki, who could be very convincing if he wanted to, had made the point that it was Sunoo who should go. He pointed out that none of the others would be able to talk to a random mom like Sunoo would and everybody had to agree. Considering none of the other attractions piqued his interest, he gave in.
As expected, holding a conversation with the people there was fairly easy. Sadly though, even after a few conversations nobody seemed to be able to give him any information on The Invitation or just anything else that could help them.
Sunoo tried not to be disappointed, hoping that everything would fall into place. Instead of striking up a new conversation, he decided to take in his surroundings, becoming familiar with where he was: He could see the pendulum, some other stands, the circus tent among other things. There was also a toilet, something that might come in handy depending on how long they were planning on staying. The carnival seemed to end behind the toilet stalls, the premises being caged in by a beat-up fence that looked like it had (somewhat) survived for at least a decade.
Sunghoon's call for help shook Sunoo, to put it lightly.
He knew that they were going to be confronted with their past today, in essence the only reason they were there was in order to chase after it. But he somehow didn't consider that the past might start chasing them instead. Or was it even the past that was chasing Sunghoon right now? Who were these guys?
Sunghoon had said that they probably knew them from I-Land, but how?
Neither of the two were the headmaster, there was no way Sunghoon wouldn't recognize him. But who else was there?
While he was wracking his brain for answers, the person he had previously talked to caught his attention with a loud gasp.
"Oh my gosh what is going on?"
Sunoo whipped around to see what they were pointing at.
He did his best not to roll his eyes at what he saw.
He should've known.
All eyes were on the swing ride, where somebody had decided to stand up mid-ride, forgoing all security measures.
"Might cause a scene", Sunoo muttered to himself, "that's one way to put it."
He watched as Jake soared through the sky for a moment before disappearing from Sunoo's line of vision.
Murmurs erupted at once, the people around him reassuring themselves and each other that yes, that absolutely did just happen. Sunoo tried to fit in, indulging in the frantic conversations.
Where some had no idea what had happened to the jumping boy, others had seen him land on top of the haunted house - or more so disappear behind the gigantic sign on top of it.
At first, everybody seemed incredibly concerned, some even questioning if they should call the police or an ambulance, but then there were some new voices among the crowd, suggesting what could almost be considered a conspiracy.
"Is that the announcement? Is that how they tell us to come to the show?"
"My cousin's friend's sister said The Invitation was all about this kind of acrobatic stuff."
While the people around him were torn between wanting to alert the police and accepting the jump as a stunt, Sunoo thought back to what Sunghoon had told them.
They probably know us. From when we were at I-Land.
This one sentence could mean so many things and opened up so many more questions. How many people were actually at I-Land? How many people weren't there but were still aware of it existing? How many people knew about I-Land in general and what did they know about them, the seven boys?
The possibilities of who these men were were seemingly endless, but Sunoo suddenly had a hunch.
You will actually be part of a brand-new project group that we are so happy to welcome you in. I'm sure it will be eye-opening for you and for us. You will fit right in with the others, as we have hand-selected you to join. We are sure your time with this new project will be wonderful.
Sunoo had tried to never think about what would have been if he had stuck around to find out what that project had been, especially since there wasn't anything he knew for sure, the only resource being his imagination and that wasn't his friend here. But he had spent many sleepless nights thinking about what that project was and if there were other people had been subjected to it instead.
He wondered if showing up was a mistake, if maybe they should have just accepted not knowing as enough of an answer but deep down he knew it wasn't. There was no way they could move on, there were too many questions let unanswered, especially for Ni-ki. Beyond anything else, that thought would be enough to cement coming to the carnival as the right choice.
°
It's not that he didn't trust the others to have everything under control.
Jungwon was never the type to try to impose himself on anyone - not that he was in any position to do so regardless, especially considering he was the second youngest of the bunch. He knew that the others trusted him and often even looked to him for guidance but he always tried to make sure to never act like he was above them in any way. They were all old enough to make their own decisions and were able to ask for help when needed. They didn't need Jungwon to watch them - but having a look wouldn't hurt.
And so, instead of focusing on one attraction like all the others were doing, Jungwon had taken to walking across the carnival, trying to see every corner at least once. He had three goals in mind for this: number one, develop an understanding of the premises, including every path and stand. This would come in especially handy if they suddenly needed to leave quickly or had to come up with a meetup spot. Goal number two was to check in on the members, see what they were up to and lend a helping hand if needed. He assumed that wasn't necessary but knowing that he was there for them definitely put everyone at ease. Goal number three consisted of him zeroing in on whatever it was the others did miss or realized had to be done. Just in case.
When they entered the carnival and everyone went to their predetermined spots, Jungwon first looked at a map illustrating the layout of the area. It was more detailed than the one they had looked at beforehand, this one showed spots the other map hadn't included, like toilets and best opportunities for pictures.
The map showed the circular layout of the carnival, the big circus tent standing proud in the middle of it all. The smartest way to see everything seemed to be simply to start walking one way and seeing where it led you. Jungwon decided to start by walking towards his left, passing by some food stands including one where Heeseung was waiting in line. He didn't seem to be doing much but Jungwon figured that it was still too early to expect anything. Jungwon raised his hand in order to wave at the other but it seemed the older didn't notice him. So, Jungwon kept walking. He passed by Jay who was standing in line as well, throwing Jungwon a thumbs up.
All in all, it was pretty clear that the others were all doing their thing just fine.
Until of course Ni-ki shared what he had found out about the apparent acrobatics show in the circus tent.
He had sounded extremely upset to Jungwon, which is why he decided to check up on him in person.
He was relieved to see that Ni-ki had went to join Heeseung at the snack stand like they had said rather than making any stupid snap decisions on his own. As Jungwon arrived in front of the two boys, Ni-ki was just munching on some baked goods Heeseung had bought for him.
"Hey you two" Jungwon said softly, approaching them. Heeseung smiled at him. "Hi Jungwon, are you okay?"
"Oh yes I'm fine. How are you holding up?"
They paused for a beat, waiting for an answer from Ni-ki as he was the one they were concerned with in that moment. When none came Heeseung replied instead. "We're okay, I think. Do you want something to eat?"
Jungwon shook his head.
"An acrobatics show, huh?" Jungwon carefully started, continuing when he received no reaction.
"So you think he trained some people the way he did with us but then decided to establish a circus? With him as the ringmaster?"
Heeseung shrugged. "Sounds like it. I mean, it would make sense. What are you going to do with all these flipping and jumping skills? Might as well make some money from it."
"Maybe that's how he recruits people, too." Ni-ki brought up, still chewing his food
Jungwon chuckled. "Hey, don't talk with your mouth full, it's rude." He jokingly scolded the younger who looked at him with a deadpan expression on his face.
"What are you, my dad?"
Jungwon rolled his eyes, dropping the topic.
"I think this is good", he said instead. "The whole reason we came here was to see if The Invitation was really connected to I-Land like we suspected. It looks like it is."
Heeseung nodded. "That's true, and if he himself is here then we can finally ask some questions and get closure."
He put his hand on Ni-ki's head, fingers softly running through his hair in a comforting motion.
"You know, it's not too late to back out. If you don't feel like you're up for it anymore, just say the word and we'll go."
Ni-ki looked down at his own fidgeting fingers as he shook his head slightly.
"No, I want to. I want to talk and just know. I don't want these unanswered questions anymore. We need to do this today."
Shortly afterwards, Jungwon decided to once again walk around the carnival, leaving behind Heeseung, Ni-ki and now Jay who had joined them in the meantime.
He was deep in thought when he was interrupted by an unsettling call for help by Sunghoon.
While Jungwon knew that coming here wasn't without risk, one of them being singled out and followed, by multiple people at that, wasn't something he had considered to be very likely.
As soon as he had heard about the situation Sunghoon was dealing with, he hurried to get closer and help him out. He didn't take long as luckily he hadn't been too far away from the bumper cars and haunted house.
Just as he was approaching the house, ready to go to the back and help Sunghoon, Jungwon was stopped dead in his tracks by a hand on his shoulder.
He whipped around only to come face to face with a complete stranger.
"Are you looking for something? I don't think the Carnival continues back there."
Jungwon put on a fake smile, the only thing on his mind being getting to Sunghoon as quickly as possible.
"Oh no, it's just... I'm just meeting my friend, I know it's a weird spot but-"
"I don't think that's necessary." the stranger, a tall man with bangs almost covering his eyes, interrupted him.
"I think your friend is doing just fine with my friends. Why don't we have a talk instead?"
Jungwon froze.
The other man didn't say anything else, the polite smile on his face never fading but now evoking a deep unsettling feeling in the pit of Jungwon's stomach.
"Excuse me?", Jungwon managed to mutter out, hoping that he was misunderstanding, that him being on edge caused him to misinterpret a casual conversation.
The man tilted his head to the side, feigning confusion.
"Strange... I always remembered you to be the smart one."
Jungwon took a hesitant step backwards.
"Who are you? Do we know each other?"
"Who am I? Oh Jungwon, I'm hurt. Of course I know you. But I guess I was never important enough for you to know me. Not that that's surprising."
"Just stop with your riddles and tell me what's going on."
The other man shrugged.
"Don't worry about it. We'll have plenty of time to speak."
Throughout their interaction, Jungwon had managed to back up inconspicuously, putting a bit of space between himself and the strange man. While they were still standing fairly close to each other, he was thankful for the small distance he had put between them, as the other man suddenly stepped forward, approaching Jungwon directly.
Jungwon reacted quickly, turning on his heel to start jogging, trying to get away from the man and the situation itself. He wasn't sure if he was actually in danger or what the man would dare to do in public - if he even was planning anything bad in the first place - but Jungwon wasn't really the type to mess around and find out. He weaved through a crowd of people that had formed, trying to not cause a scene as best as he could. The other people seemingly didn't pay him any mind either way, all of them focusing on something he had no interest in checking out. He did notice that it was rather noisy with lots of conversations going on and everyone was looking somehwere in the direction Jungwon had come from. Maybe he could ask the others later what had transpired at the Carnival to catch so many people's attention.
Jungwon thanked his past self for studying the attracions beforehand, leading to him confidently sprinting towards one very specific attraction in one corner of the Carnival. To his luck, the clerk was distracted by something else, causing him to not even register the two men hurrying past him.
Going inside would either be the smartest idea Jungwon had had that day or the stupidest, but no matter which one it was, it would definitely give him some answers.
As Jungwon stepped inside, he was surrounded by nothing. Well, not really nothing. There were lights and a path and- and the man. The man was behind him. And in front of him. And to his right. And to his left. And diagonally to the front. Just everywhere.
"So you aren't one? A vampire?", Jungwon asked, unsure if he was speaking to the man directly or one of his many reflections. The other had it a lot easier in that regard, not having to worry about the mirrors duplicating Jungwon's image.
"Nope, and if you had stuck around you would've found out all about it. Or actually, if you had just stuck to what you were supposed to do, I wouldn't have had to find out all about it. So I guess thank you for that."
While Jungwon wasn't exactly sure what the other was referring to, he did have a small voice in his head filling in the gaps. Puzzle pieces were falling into place, but Jungwon was not interested in indulging in the topic.
Jungwon decided that now was as good time as ever to check in with the others.
"Can I get an update? How are you all doing?"
Jake responded first.
"We're running away right now. Sunghoon and I are together and we still don't know what exactly is going on. But we are running towards the exit, or should I say entrance of the haunted house. I don't think we're allowed to be there but oh well. I'm sure we have done worse. They're still behind us but we got some good distance in. Next?"
Jay was the next person to speak up. "I'm with Ni-ki and Heeseung. It's all normal aside from the fact that we saw Jake semi-fly over the carnival but other than that we're just chilling."
"I'm still at the merry-go-round, nothing I need to share right now. And you, Jungwon?"
Jungwon huffed out a breath, relieved that the others seemed to be safe. His eyes never left the other man who was watching him, slowly following Jungwon as he weaved his way through the mirror cabinet.
"So, I have somewhat of a situation going on. Like with Sunghoon, someone is following me and we kind of talked a little bit? He's with the other guys and said some cryptic stuff about I-Land but I didn't feel like playing his games so I didn't get the full story."
"Are you good? That sounds scary..." Jay asked.
"It's weird, I don't feel like he wants to hurt me because he would've tried something by now but if he actually wanted to talk he'd get to the point. Maybe he just wants to unnerve me. Either way I feel like we're running in circles, should we go meet up now?"
Sunghoon replied: "Just tell us where to go and we'll see you there. We'll probably bring our new friends though."
"Perfect." Jungwon noticed the other man looking somewhat lost in thought, causing him to wonder if he was potentially involved in a similar conersation.
"Let's meet inside the tent, we're gonna have to go there regardless. Everyone, take the entrance nearest to you and we'll see each other inside the arena. If something happens or there's a holdup, let us know. Anything else?"
The others agreed to the plan with no other comments.
"Then let's go."
And with that, Jungwon turned and started picking up the pace, hoping he had a good head start on the other guy.
°
Jay, Heeseung and Ni-ki were the first to arrive, the three of them swiflty entering the tent from the front seemingly without anybody noticing. Usually it might have caused a bit more uproar that attendees of the carnival were entering a location nobody was yet allowed to go into, but nobody was paying too close attention. Jake's stunt earlier in the day had led to people paying less attention to other things, still wondering what it was they had wittnessed and if the boy in question was okay and safe.
So, the three could enter the circus tent without any issues, deciding to wait in the seats for the audience. The arena looked like any other regular circus, a big space in the middle with some strings overhead, probably for some acrobatics to take place. Other than that there was nothing and more importantly nobody worth noting around.
Shortly after they had arrived, Sunoo entered through the backside of the tent, closely followed by Jungwon, who seemed to be just a little out of breath.
Before they could ask any questions, Jungwon sat down close to where the three were waiting and said "I got rid of him in the mirror cabinet. Depending on if he knows where I am he might follow me here but there was some space there. Let's keep our eyes out though, this really isn't the time to let our guards down."
The others agreed, making sure to keep their eyes peeled for anything that seemed to be out of the ordinary. They waited in silence, each trying to quietly take control of the nerves that were building up inside of them.
Sunghoon and Jake busted through the final entrance to the side of the tent one minute later, time that had felt like an eternity to all the others. As soon as they entered, the other five jumped to their feet, stepping closer to talk to them.
"We ran through the haunted house and it was absolutely wild", Jake filled them in. "We basically had to figure out which door was the right one or we'd end up at a dead end - but luckily it wasn't too hard."
"Sometimes the door had some sort of marker, which would make sense considering it's the one people would usually walk in through and not the other way around like we did." Sunghoon added to Jake's story, who took over again.
"Anyways, we finally got to the entrance thing and the two guys - I still have no clue who they are - are either kind of slow runners or they couldn't find the doors as well as we did. Either way they were only kind of behind us. There obviously were some eyes on us when we got out but we went pretty fast. The entrance on that side is kind of blocked by the way, there are some old toys laying around and this big sign saying Not For Sale so chances are people couldn't really see where we were going. But all that aside - what's the plan now?"
All eyes turned to Jungwon, expecting him to point them in the right direction.
"I mean..." he looked at each of the other boys, his eyes finally landing on Ni-ki. "I guess we look if he's here and see if we can talk. If you're ready."
Ni-ki shrugged, looking at the ground.
"Let's go then."
"So I guess we'll look if there are prop rooms or something like that behind the curtains and see if anyone's there?", Jake said. The others nodded.
"... but it might cause a scene. You all have five seconds to stop me."
Rating: All Audiences
Words: 4612
Status: Weekly updates
Tags & Warnings for the entire fic: Vampire!au, mystery, found family, hurt & comfort, non-graphic violence, hints towards past trauma
This chapter: neglectful parents, reckless life-threatening behavior, being followed/chased
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the tags/warnings, feel free to contact me. Please let me know if I'm missing any tags.
°°°
Jay really wanted to get this right.
When he was with the boys, trying to figure out who should go where, he had already made up his mind on what to do. They had been sitting around a map Jay had found, showing the layout of the carnival. It was big, hosting every ride and attraction a carnival might need, but it wasn't overwhelming. Jay had seen bigger ones, which was no surprise considering how many amusement parks he had been to. His fondest memory being of a so called luna park in Italy, a place he was sure he could never forget no matter how much time passed or how much he grew up.
The luna park itself hadn't actually been too impressive and little Jay had actually been rather bored at first, not in the mood to pretend to have fun here just so his parents could act like they were actually doing this for their son and not because they had no clue how to actually parent him without spending money.
When he was a young child, Jay had thought that he was the luckiest kid, at least that's what all the others in his class told him when they found out about the expensive trips he would go on or when he came to school with the newest toy everybody wanted. Of course, Jay had been happy and even proud that his family would provide these things for him, enjoying how the other students flocked around him.
Over time, however, he noticed something being strange about his family. While they had no issue spending money on him, they seemingly couldn't afford something all the other parents could - time. His classmates would tell the class about fun weekends, recounting the hilarious jokes and precious memories they were experiencing with their families. Jay on the other hand could only talk about which game he had played alone in his room, only coming out when his parents called him to eat. If he was lucky, both his parents would be there and they could have a family dinner, which meant they might even have a conversation. Of course, Jay wouldn't understand what his parents were talking about most of the time, no matter how hard he tried to understand and learn more about the topics his parents liked to discuss. Even though he didn't understand, he loved these dinners with his whole heart. They were so much better than all the other times he had to eat alone or feel lonely because his parents were too busy doing something else. It would have probably been easier if he at least had some siblings he could play with, but that was not something Jay ever got. At least not in the traditional sense.
But you could say that most of his life hadn't went down the traditional route, considering the vampire stuff and all.
Back at the luna park, though, Jay was about eight years old and not in the mood to do anything, really. That was until a boy around his age approached him, leading to the two spending the evening at the park together, running around and playing like there was no tomorrow. They even ended up riding the ferris wheel twice. It was only one night and Jay wasn't even sure he ever got the boy's name, but it didn't matter. For a long time, this boy had been the best friend Jay had ever had.
It might seem like that exact memory was the reason Jay had immediately gravitated towards the ferris wheel when they were deciding who should go where, but he would be the first to tell you that this was not the case. His thinking was a lot more practical than that. The ferris wheel was the perfect spot to look at the carnival in its entirety. Whoever was in charge of this ride would be most likely to gain crucial information about the layout of the carnival, so it came with a lot of responsibility. Naturally, Jay immediately volunteered to take on this ride, determined to be of service for the group. Jay liked a challenge, and he liked conquering it even more. He was going to get on this ferris wheel and he was not going to get off before he knew enough.
Soon, it was his turn up on the ferris wheel and so he stepped into a cabin, happy that he had one for himself. And as the wheel started to turn, he took a good look around.
As expected, the view was great from the ferris wheel. Of course, he saw the pendulum which was next to the ferris wheel, he had already spotted it before he set foot on the ferris wheel. He could now also see the attractions previously hidden behind the pendulum: There was a merry-go-round and behind that the shooting gallery right next to a fishing station. Turning his head towards the right he spotted a building he assumed to be the maze of mirrors. In the middle of the carnival there was a circus tent, although there was currently nobody going in and out of it. Behind the tent, opposite the ferris wheel, Jay could spot a haunted house, the swing ride as well as bumper cars. There were more rides and stands across the carnival, none of which seemed too important to Jay. His eyes gravitated to the entrance of the carnival, next to which he saw some stands for food and drinks. He couldn't be sure but Jay thought he might have spotted Heeseung standing at one of them, talking to a small group of people.
Overall, nothing really stood out to Jay as suspicious or out of the ordinary, at least not at first glance.
While his eyes were still wandering across the scene, mind running at a hundred miles an hour, he suddenly heard a voice in his head.
"It's definitely that circus tent. He has- We have to go to the tent."
"I'm literally about to go on the swing ride. Do we have to go now?"
Another voice piped up, Jungwon this time:
"Depends. Ni-ki, do you know where he is? Who's with him? How to get to and away from him?"
The first voice spoke up again.
"He's - so-okay. Let me just- The Invitation. It's a circus show with running and flipping and flying and it's him. It's definitely him. I don't know how and when but we need to go there."
Before Ni-ki could ramble any further, Jay decided to step in this time.
"I can see the tent and its surroundings really well from here, let me figure it out. Jake, I think you should get on the ride and see if you notice anything. We shouldn't get too close on our own, right?"
"But what if we're late, We can't- no. I'm going there, you guys can join later."
"Ni-ki"
Jay was a bit startled by Jungwon's stern tone.
"Ni-ki, wait. I get that you want to go but we need to think clearly right now. This is a lot, for you especially, so let's take a breath and think."
"If it's that Invitation thing then he'll be here the whole evening.", Heeseung chimed in, "So we should wait until we have it figured out. How about you come to the entrance, where the snacks are and we can wait together."
There was a pause with nobody saying a word, only at Jungwon's impatient "Ni-ki?" there was finally a response.
"I'm walking over to Heeseung. Just- try to hurry or something."
"We're doing what we can."
Jay found himself nodding at Jake's words, deciding to focus on the task at hand. The others also seemed to be done with the conversation, persumably going back to focussing on whatever it was they were doing in that moment.
The wheel had already finished its first round, Jay's cabin once again moving towards the top where he could overlook everything. This time, his focus was fully on the circus tent Ni-ki had mentioned. It was the size you'd expect from a regular circus tent, perhaps a bit more on the bigger side. It was very obvious where the main entrance was facing the entrance of the carnival. There seemed to be at least one back entrance as well, the one the performers would enter and exit through. Both the front and the back exit were clearly marked.
On his last round on the ferris wheel, there was a slight detail that caught his attention. He couldn't be sure but it seemed like there had been some movement on one side of the tent, his eyes settling on someone who hastily entered the tent there. This was strange, since Jay couldn't spot any entrance there. It was on the side opposite the ferris wheel, though, and since his turn on the wheel was almost over, he decided to instead tell Jake to check it out, he himself joining Heeseung and Ni-ki and wait for the others.
°
The music was way too loud.
Loud music was to be expected at any carnival, especially the ones with tons of attractions and bright colors. But it was especially loud here over at the bumper cars. Throwback pop music was blasting through the speakers and as if that wasn't enough, somebody apparently thought that adding wild sound effects would make this experience even better. When there was a break in the music for once, you could here the creepy soundtrack seeping over from the haunted house topped off with screams of the attendees, although those might as well be coming from the swing ride or any other attraction at the carnival.
Either way, there were a lot of sounds and noises all around which could be very overwhelming for everybody who wasn't used to this much sensory input.
So, it should not be surprising that Sunghoon needed a moment to adjust to his environment, taking in the different sounds and calmly compartmentalizing them into what the sound was and where it came from.
Maybe that's why he was too distracted at first to realize that somebody was attempting to start a conversation with him. Only when they tapped his shoulder he snapped out of it, looking at the person stood next to him. It was a man, also waiting for the current round on the bumper cars to end so they could get his turn.
"You also waiting for the cars?" one of them asked and Sunghoon just nodded.
What kind of question was that? Did they think Sunghoon was just standing there to watch others have all the fun? Surely not.
The man also nodded, muttering "Yeah me too..."
Not sure what else to do, Sunghoon just kept awkwardly nodding, eyes drifting back to the bumper cars in front of him until the man spoke up again.
"I'm sorry if this is strange but I could swear I've seen your face before. We don't know each other, do we?"
Sunghoon shook his head in response.
"I don't think so, maybe you're confusing me with someone."
This was not good enough for the other man who was determined to figure this out.
"Okay yeah I didn't think so either, but I still know you from somewhere. I swear, you seeem very familiar."
They both didn't say anything for a moment, the man because he was deep in thought and Sunghoon because he didn't have anything to say.
Then, the man spoke up again: "You're a celebrity, right?"
This time, Sunghoon's denial wasn't enough to convince the man.
"Don't lie to me now, you definitely are! I think I've seen you on TV before!"
Still unsure what to say, Sunghoon just waited for the man to continue his train of thought, hopefully leading to some sort of clarity on what he was refering to.
"I got it! l used to watch sports a lot a few years ago and you, you look exactly like this one athlete. There was this kid that was, like, super good at figure skating, it was out of this world. He was this prodigy, you know who I'm talking about? He suddenly stopped one day though, I think to get more education."
Sunghoon kept smiling awkwardly, answering that he had no idea who the man was talking about. This finally satisfied the man who was glad to have figured out who he was thinking of, even if Sunghoon wasn't actually his guy.
Little did he know, that Sunghoon absolutely was his guy, the conversation sending him back to a time that felt like it was an eternity ago.
The ice rink used to be his home, every day after school while his friends enjoyed their free time, he would go and practice for hours on end. His coach knew him well, having trained him ever since he was a young boy, and she knew exactly how far she could push him to achieve the best results.
Some days, practice would end with him sobbing on the ice, the pressure of being an athlete and disappointment of not perfecting a stunt too much for him to handle.
On other days, he was so euphoric his parents had to basically pry him off the rink when all he wanted to do was to continue spinning and jumping on the ice.
His hard work was paying off, Sunghoon becoming an important character in the figure skating scene. It wasn't every day that a person this young, a boy at that, achieved this much success in a field like this and so he was soon known as a prodigy, the gifted kid with a bright future ahead.
Of course, being the gifted kid comes with different perks like scholarships and offers from special schools that would be more than happy to have him attend.
If only Sunghoon had known what going to one of these schools - it was a disservice to call it a school, really - would entail for him. The public thought he had just gone to this amazing private school where he studied diligently and then was assumed to pursue a stellar career in business or something where he would live happily ever after. One thing Sunghoon couldn't help but wonder was if his parents knew. Did they think he was furthering his education? Or did they know that that assumption couldn't be further from the truth and what he had actually been subjected to was something no human should ever go through? Well, to their credit, they did make sure Sunghoon wasn't human anymore and vampire rights weren't exactly covered by the law. Or maybe they were, who even knows.
Something felt off.
He couldn't put his finger on what it was, but something made Sunghoon shift uncomfortably.
He felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck, the little hairs all over his body standing up.
There was no doubt about it, he felt watched.
Sunghoon slowly turned around, his eyes scanning every face he could find in hopes of catching whoever had their eyes on him. It seemed like everyone was minding their own businessbut that wasn't enough to settle Sunghoon's anxiety.
He decided on a change of plans, ditching his spot in line and walking away from the bumper cars and towards the haunted house, even though he had no plans of entering. Instead he stayed on his toes, careful to pay attention if anybody was following him.
And behold, one of the figures previously blending into the small crowd in front of the bumper cars seemed to leave just as Sunghoon did, something that would not have seemed strange to anyone who wasn't already suspicious.
Sunghoon picked up the pace, causing the other person to do the same. There was no more denying, somebody was on his heels.
He took a sharp left and another, now behind the haunted house, hidden from everybody at the carnival. He had done it in hopes of shaking off the strange person but quickly realized that he might have just made a big mistake.
Where he had previously set his sights on the lights of the bumper car attraction, which he was once again rapidly walking towards, his path was suddenly blocked by someone who was slowly approaching him. He tried to turn around to run back to where he came from but he just came face to face with whoever it was that had been behind him since earlier. With the haunted house on one side and the wall of a tall building on the other, Sunghoon was effectively trapped.
"What do you want?"
He asked loudly.
The two seemed a bit startled by his loud voice, stopping in their tracks. The taller one flashed him a fake smile that was unnerving more than anything.
"We just want to talk."
"About what?"
The shorter of the two, the one that had followed him first took one step closer.
"We heard what that man said to you earlier and wanted to see what our celebrity was up to."
Confused, Sunghoon responded: "Then you should have also heard me say that I'm not that kid."
The taller one was now also coming closer, chuckling, then looking right at Sunghoon.
"That's strange, I could have sworn you were the famous...ice prince"
It was like he was struck by lightning in that moment.
That nickname. There was only one person who had ever called him by that nickname. It had been so long but it now felt like an old wound had been ripped open.
How did they know? Did he send them? What did they want now?
Sunghoon knew he couldn't stick around to find out. He had to leave. Now.
°
Jake was buzzing with excitement.
Most people his age probably didn't care too much about going to a carnival and riding the different rides there.
But Jake was ecstatic. The last time he had went to a carnival must have been many years ago, sometime in middle school - or maybe even high school? Either way, Jake was happy to experience an event like this again after a long time of not being able to do so. He could feel himself fidget, finding it hard to stand still. He was moving from one leg to the other, his knees shaking with energy. It also felt like his body was heating up, almost like a fever was taking over him.
The line for the swing side was rather long and he wondered if the other guys were also stuck waiting like him.
After a long time, Jake was excited to finally be next in line, ready to go on the ride. He wasn't too sure what to do when he got up there. He would probably allow himself to just enjoy a single round, taking in the feeling of being on a ride like this. Then, he would use the view of the ride to get a better understanding of the park and its layout, something that could come in handy after the others figure out what the meaning behind The Invitation was.
Just as he was about to step up to the swing ride and choose a seat, he was startled by a sudden voice.
"It's definitely that circus tent. He has- We have to go to the tent."
Jake looked around for a second before realizing that Ni-ki was not speaking into his ear but instead sending his message to Jake and the other boys from wherever he was. Though this form of communication wasn't that new to him anymore, he still couldn't fully get used to it and sometimes forgot that it was something he could now do.
The person operating gave Jake a confused look, waiting for him to get on the ride or leave the line. Luckily, the others had been rather quick in deciding what to do so Jake took a seat on the ride.
Soon, when everybody was strapped in, swings started up.
While the others around him seemed to start getting queasy, Jake felt nothing but joy with each meter they descended into the air.
Just like he had planned, he pushed all thoughts aside on the first round, closing his eyes and relishing in the breeze whirling through his hair. It had been a while since Jake had felt this way. Despite everything, he still had joy - to the point that the others asked how he did it - and he rediscovered freedom but there was something about flying through the air that was so different. It was like he didn't have a care in the world.
Except, of course, he absolutely did, so Jake reluctantly opened is eyes, trying not to feel too disappointed at the fact that the short time purely for his enjoyment was over.
The carnival looked similar to what they had seen on the map, although the real carnival was bustling with life and happiness.
It seemed to be very well organized, each ride having a clearly marked entrance and exit, signs ensuring nobody would get in the wrong line.
Jake could also see that there were a lot of people who decided to come to the carnival that day. Still, it was not too crowded he noted as he saw visitors freely walking wherever they wanted without bumping into each other.
"Jake, you see the tent, right?"
Again, Jake was taken aback at the sudden appearance of a voice in his head but he quickly put together that it was Jay contacting him. Jake answered:
"The circus tent? Of course I do, it's impossible to miss."
"Do me a favor and look if you can spot an entrance or something on your side. I know it has a front and a back but I could've sworn there was something more on your side of the tent. I would go there and check it out for myself but after Ni-ki mentioned him potentially being there, I don't want to take the risk."
Jake brushed off Jay's suggestion, his eyes already fixed on the circus tent, sending a final answer:
"Don't worry, I got it."
He didn't have to look for long before he saw exactly what Jay had been referring to.
There was some movement on one side of the tent that, despite what you'd think on first glance, could not have been caused by the wind. Whether or not it was an actual entrance was not hard to figure out. Right in that moment, someone exited the tent right at that spot before hurrying off in one direction. Jake would have loved to watch where the tall figure was going but, for the third time that day, he was interrupted by a voice in his head.
"Hey guys? There might be a problem."
The voice was frantic, causing alarm bells to go off in Jake's head. Evidently the same was the case for the other boys.
"What's wrong, Sunghoon? Did something happen?" Heeseung asked.
"Does me currently climbing up the back wall of the haunted house in order to escape two dudes that are chasing me qualify as 'something happening'?"
"Should someone go to the house or something?"
Jay's question was followed by a short silence, followed by Sunghoon speaking up again.
"Maybe? I'm almost at the top... I'm gonna try to escape through the haunted house but I wouldn't mind some backup. I don't know who they are but they know me. As in, they probably know us. From when we were at I-Land."
Jake suddenly felt a hot rush chasing through his body, immediately followed by an ice cold shock.
He had no idea who they were and more importantly why they were chasing Sunghoon. If they really knew them from back then, did they want to take him back?
No matter what it was, Sunghoon should not have to face them alone.
He looked over to the haunted house and spotted Sunghoon at the back of it, about three fourths of the way up. He also spotted the two people following him, although they weren't too close behind yet.
Jake made a snap decision.
"I'm coming over, Sunghoon. But it might cause a scene. You all have five seconds to stop me."
1... 2...3..
"It's probably best if he's not alone, so I'd say let's take that risk. Just be careful, Jake. And you too, Sunghoon. Keep us updated."
There was no further comment beside a "Be careful you guys" from Sunoo, so Jake knew what he had to do.
He shut his eyes, taking in a deep breath. He opened his eyes again.
It was now or never.
He put his hands firmly onto his seat and with one strong push he managed to prop up his body, now sitting on top of the backrest with his shoes on the seat. There was a strong wind blowing into his face but Jake was securely holding onto the chains of the ride, preventing him from tumbling backwards.
As expected, the commotion started.
"Hey! What are you doing?", Jake heard the person in the seat behind him shout.
This alerted others who were - understandably - shocked and worried about the boy that had rid himself from all safety measures. Jake didn't pay them any mind, now standing on the backrest.
He jumped.
For a moment it was like he was flying, the air blowing into his face and messing up his hair. The only thing he could hear was the rush of the wind, everything seeming so loud and so quiet at the same time.
He could barely keep his eyes open but managed to win the battle against the wind.
Then, he landed.
His knees buckled, Jake managed to catch himself with one hand instead of completely tumbling to the ground. There was no time to waste, no time to allow all senses to arrive in the moment.
As he got up, he felt a hand grabbing his left arm and pulling him forwards. He was about to swing at his attacker but then he heard a voice right next to his ear.
"Let's go."
Sunghoon and Jake must have arrived on the roof of the haunted house at the same time, which also led to the assumption that those following Sunghoon weren't too far behind. Jake had no idea how close they were and he was not interested in finding out.
Instead, he let himself be pulled forward by Sunghoon who was nearing the edge of the roof.
"Let's just try and run through there and if it works, it works. Any better ideas?"
Jake shook his head. "Let's go!"
No longer holding onto Jake, Sunghoon jumped, dropping onto a platform of the haunted house, Jake closely following behind. Squeezing past a goblin statue, they found a way into a random room of the house.
The room was dark with only a sliver of light coming in from the direction Jake and Sunghoon had entered through. Eyes adjusting to the darkness, they had no time to lose. Jake could make out three doors leading out of the room, two of which were positioned rather closely to one another.
He turned to Sunghoon.
"It's set up like a maze. The guests walk through until they find an exit. Which means-"
"There are dead ends", Sunghoon completed Jake's train of thought.
They heard a thud sound, alerting them to unwelcome company.
"The entrance", Jake whispered and both he and Sunghoon charged towards the door further away from the other doors, hoping they could escape quick enough.
Hey @dumbfound-princess thank you so so so much for commenting on my first 2 posts! you have no idea how happy it makes me, I legit almost cried when I saw this 🥰 you really made my day/week/...
I hope you enjoy the upcoming chapters too đź’ž
I couldn't reply because this isn't my main blog so please let me know if you're uncomfortable with me posting it like this and I'll delete it
Heeseung was standing in line for the snack stand, debating what delicious treat he should decide on.
Was he at the carnival to enjoy himself and have a grand old time? No.
But did that mean he couldn't take advantage of the situation when it presented itself? Heeseung decided that the answer to that question was also no. Plus, he needed the time anyways.
After putting everything together and finally realizing that they needed to be at the carnival, they somewhat forgot to come up with an actual plan of action - or more like, they decided to figure it out as they went, no time to waste before arriving on the scene. He was well aware that this wasn't the ideal way to prepare for - well, anything really - but they barely had a choice. This opportunity was something they had been desperately waiting for, passing up on it would be unforgivable.
While deciding who should go where, Heeseung gladly let the others call dibs on whichever attraction they preferred, happy with taking whatever was left over at the end. This was pretty normal for him. He may have been the oldest out of all the boys but he was never one to assert himself, rather taking a step back and allowing everyone else to voice their opinions and needs. They never said it but he was sure the others appreciated him for it. Of course, this didn't mean he was a pushover, not in the slightest. He had no issues stepping in whenever needed and guiding the group on the right path, ensuring everyone was taken care of - though his intervention was not often needed. Thankfully, the seven boys had all grown to be able to trust each other, every single one doing his best to always keep the others in mind alongside his own needs. And even if there were some issues that came up, they managed to work on it together. Heeseung was especially thankful to Jungwon, who stepped up and took responsibility for the group early on, guiding them so skillfully and patiently that one could almost forget he was the second youngest out of the bunch. It couldn't be easy, but not once had he complained, and Heeseung did whatever he could to lessen the burden on the younger's shoulders. Still, Heeseung usually sat back while the others voiced their thoughts, happily complying with their wishes.
And today, their wish was that he would cover the snack stand so that they could check out other locations. He was pretty sure he lucked out, though, not seeing the point in attending an attraction of the carnival when he couldn't even properly enjoy it. What he could, however, enjoy was some sour jelly beans, which he decided on buying.
Having made up his mind about his snack of choice, Heeseung tried to think of his next steps.
Striking up a conversation with someone was inevitable, there was no other way he could think of that would help him get the information he needed. Approaching strangers was not something Heeseung enjoyed, nor did he do it very often and he wasn't too happy that today was going to have to be different in that regard. Usually, he was the one that would be approached by other people, though he himself wasn't too sure why. Sunoo once said that it was because of Heeseung's handsome face, but he quickly brushed that remark off, convinced that there was no way that was the case. Jay's opinion that it was because he just looked kind and not very judgmental - it's the eyes Sunghoon had added - was an explanation Heeseung could live with, although he himself wasn't too sure what he looked like to other people. Furthermore, people in general seemed to enjoy his company more than he would expect. It had happened more than once that he had left a conversation feeling like the other person felt okay about it at best considering how awkward he couldn't help but be, just to find out later that the other person was apparently going around, gushing about how great talking to him had been. On one hand he was happy others perceived him that way, however it still didn't ease his anxiety when it came to striking up a conversation with a stranger.
"How can I help you?"
Heeseung was startled by the voice addressing him, now realizing that he had gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the line slowly progressing until he was at the very front, his turn to order arriving before he knew it.
Luckily he had already made up his mind earlier in line, so quickly ordering wasn't the issue here. The fact that he had been at the stand for multiple minutes without talking to a single person, however, was a bit more of a problem. Should he keep loitering around the stand? Get back in line? Heeseung usually wasn't this helpless in any case, but for some reason facing this challenge on his own was becoming increasingly difficult with each passing minute. Just like earlier in line, he could feel himself slipping into a daze, his worries clouding his thoughts. Before he could drown in these thoughts, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Excuse me?"
He turned around, coming face to face with a person he had never seen before. From what he could tell, the person in front of him was a woman, probably around his age - maybe a bit younger? Or older? He had no way of knowing. Her brown eyes wavered a bit before meeting Heeseung's, who was looking at her with a questioning look on his face. This seemingly encouraged her to speak up again.
"I'm really sorry if this is rude but I just saw that you got the jelly beans and I was wondering if, I don't know, I could try them? It would be of great help to taste them before buying them myself, you know...", she drifted off, clearly embarrassed by her own question.
Heeseung just extended the bag of jelly beans towards her and she gratefully took one, a green one, and popped it into her mouth. Heeseung wasn't sure if this was going to be the end of the conversation, this entire situation still a little strange to him, when she spoke up again.
"What's your name by the way?"
She asked curiously, her fingers casually slipping back into the bag to pick out a white jelly bean this time, either not realizing or not caring that he hadn't actually offered to share the entire bag with her.
He still wasn't one hundred percent certain what this woman was trying to do, but he figured it was one of two things: She either wanted to steal his snacks without paying a single penny for it or she was so determined to talk to Heeseung that she decided to steal his food as precedent to talk. There was no way of telling with complete certainty but with the way her eyes kept flickering up to meet his just to shy away immediately afterwards, he figured the second option might be his best bet. She also seemed to be a bit tipsy, if not a slight bit drunk, which probably also played a part in her approaching him.
Either way, it didn't really matter to him. What did matter to him was that he was here to talk to someone and hopefully get them to spill the beans - on what he was interested in, that was, not the jelly beans of course - and now somebody had presented themselves to him, ready to talk to him if he was open to it. He knew he had to take advantage of the opportunity that presented itself and so he decided to engage in her conversation, hoping he could steer it in the right direction.
At first he wasn't very lucky. The woman told him about herself, her hobbies, whatever came to mind it seemed like, asking him to share more about himself as well. Even though he wasn't exceptionally interested in the conversation, he did think to himself that she was a genuinely nice girl who was very good at keeping a conversation going. He also found out that she was, in fact, not here by herself but her best friends went to ride the free fall tower which she decided to pass on, checking out the food instead.
When he got the chance, Heeseung smoothly changed the topic to speak about the carnival itself, asking if she was a regular here or if it was a one-time thing. It turned out that it was her first time ever at the carnival, having overheard some people hyping it up as a big event in town that she had to see at least once. Spotting the perfect opportunity, Heeseung asked:
"Did you also hear about that Invitation thing? I heard about it but everything was so secretive, I'm not even sure what it actually is."
The girl shrugged, this time shoving two jelly beans in her mouth at once, taking her time answering the question.
"I did see some post about it online, but I don't know that much either. I think it said something about being a super intriguing performance, that's it. The caption of the post was something like a show no human has ever seen before or something weird and dramatic like that."
Heeseung was attentively listening to her talk as the tried not to let it show how the two yellow jelly beans he had been chewing on were entirely too sour for his liking.
When she finished explaining what she knew, Heeseung spoke up again.
"Wait so if it's all so vague, how are we supposed to know when and where to go?"
"I'm not totally sure, so don't hold me to this, but from what I've heard they're gonna announce time and place through the speakers all over the carnival. I think the announcement is gonna be in two hours, the actual show is probably like an hour after that? But again, I wouldn't know."
Heeseung wanted to ask a follow-up question but was interrupted by three women walking up to them, one putting her arm around the woman Heeseung had been talking to.
"Oh! Those are my friends I told you about. Guess they're done with their ride..."
Hesseung politely smiled at them, unsure where to go from here. To his luck, one of the women helped him with that.
"Lovely to meet you but- ", she turned to her friend, the one Heeseung had been talking to, and continued: "Not sure if you noticed but Danny is like, super drunk right now. I think it's those drinks we had before coming here. What I'm saying is, I think we should go now."
The women looked at Heeseung apologetically, quietly muttering their goodbyes, leaving behind Heeseung who had only acquired a slight bit of information, but lost a significant amount of jelly beans.
°°
Weaving through the crowds at this carnival wasn't an easy task, but there were definitely some corners that were less busy than others.
While everybody was lining up for a go on the ferris wheel, barely anybody seemed to be interested in winning a prize by fishing a rubber duckie out of a kiddie pool. Another aspect that anyone taking a good look around the carnival would notice was the different demographics attending each attraction. Kids along with their sometimes more sometimes less patient parents were flocking around the merry-go-round, the odd petty fight about who gets to ride on the most special horse of them all breaking out. The photo booth on the other hand appealed mostly to groups of teenagers, thrilled to capture the memory of the exciting day they were spending with each other.
One quick glance was all Ni-ki needed to be sure that none of these people would be of any use to him right now.
Lucky for him, he had his sight set somewhere else.
The shooting gallery was relatively calm in terms of how busy it was, only few people trying their luck. One of them was a man, middle-aged, shooting at the targets like his life depended on it. He had clearly already been here for a while, some of the small and medium prizes waiting on the floor next to him. He almost seemed like he was a regular at this particular stand, this game a part of a routine he had probably been following for days, weeks, months or maybe even years. Who knows - and who cares? Ni-ki definitely didn't, so he let the man be and checked out the other people at the gallery. There were two girls sharing one gun, one of them teaching the other by positioning her hand with her own, whispering instructions into her ear. Clearly the last thing they wanted right then was to be interrupted by some guy, so Ni-ki turned to see who else he could see around. There was another couple, a man and a woman, both of them trying their luck with their respective guns but chit-chatting inbetween. He decided that they were definitely an option, probably open to the distraction of casual conversation. Of course, there was one more person he could start a conversation with. The person operating the stand was keeping an eye on everyone's game, giving out prizes when needed and throwing out compliments whenever someone hit an exceptionally succesful shot. Not only did they seem open enough to engage with him but they were also working at the carnival itself, something that would probably come in very handy when it came to what Ni-ki was here to do.
He headed towards the stand, signaling that he was ready to use one of the guns to try his luck. After being reassured that he was all good to go, he decided to play a round, not really focusing on where he was shooting. He may have just looked like a young man wanting to have some fun at the shooting gallery but his mind was racing 50 miles per hour, coming up with a plan to bring up what he wanted without it sounding strange. After his first round was done, he had already won a small prize, a cheap looking magnet with Wormhole written on it. Definitely tacky and definitely more of a pity prize most people probably got. He started up another round, this time actually focussing on shooting although not yet giving his best. After two semi-succesful shots he turned toward the operator, hoping his smile would seem natural enough to seem likeable or at least worthy of a proper conversation.
"Be honest, the guns are tampered with so actually scoring would be harder, right ?"
Luckily, the operator picked up on his lighthearted tone, joking back with a slight jab: "Is it hard to score or are you just not as good as you'd like to be?"
Ni-ki chuckled, internally rolling his eyes at the comment. While the carnival was nothing that should be taken too seriously, there was still something rubbing him the wrong way about how they were pretending like he wasn't actually correct. Even though it may go against their job description to admit to adding flaws to the equipment in order to make their guests fail, Ni-ki hated how his standpoint was basically overlooked despite knowing he was correct. The gun was lighter than a real one, although this was something that couldn't and probably shouldn't be helped. Again, this was the carnival, the guns did not have to be up to realistic standards. What he had also noticed, however, was he always hit the target more towards the right than originally intended. Having figured out the gun, he could have easily hit the bull's eye every time from then on, but he immediately decided against it. Instead he replied to keep the conversation going.
"You get stuff like that often, right? People claiming you're cheating or demanding a certain prize."
"You have no idea", the operator sighed. "Some people start acting so entitled here, their ego probably too big to accept defeat by carnival game. You really get used to it after a while." Ni-ki nodded in understanding, pretending to sympathize with what they were telling him while also scooching towards the topic of conversation he was actually looking for.
"You've been here for a while?"
The question was open, not too invasive and hopefully engaging enough for them to humor him.
"Yup, I've been running the shooting gallery for some time now. It's this family business thing so I've been around it many times before but I think I started actually running it like - two years ago? Yes, I believe this is my third year now."
Ni-ki nodded, getting ready for another round at the gallery which was luckily easy as the only person that had been waiting for an available spot had taken the spot of the two women that now in the meantime had left the attraction.
"That's so interesting that you work here though, especially when it comes to witnessing the changes of the carnival, right? I'm really no expert on how things work around here but I did hear that there was some new stuff going on this time around."
The operator noddeed but before they could respond, the man operating the gun next to his partner jumped in.
"It's so different, right? I also noticed how some stuff looked different around here - not that the carnival hasn't always been changing a lot but I think they went above and beyond this time."
It's like he had been desperate to participate in the conversation, the words bubbling out of him. Ni-ki wasn't too bothered by it, not yet sure if what the man was of any help but deciding it was definitely worth a shot.
The man continued.
"I heard the maze of mirrors expanded and it's supposed to be super confusing. Not too confusing, you can definitely still get out, but no longer the kid's version, if you know what I mean. And then of course, there's the circus."
Ni-ki perked up, his blood running cold at the mention of a circus, trying to stay calm and not give away too much of his interest in this particular topic.
"Circus?", he asked, hoping the other man would elaborate more. To Ni-ki's luck, he happily did.
"Didn't you see the tent they set up? There's supposed to be some circus show by a group called The Invitation in there later. Or maybe that was the name of the show itself, I don't know."
Ni-ki nodded along, acting nonchalant but he could feel his heart beating faster, his body alerting him that this was exactly what he was searching for.
"I did see it, now that you mention it. I guess I didn't pay much attention to it."
A lie, of course, but nobody needed to know that. While Ni-ki was desperately thinking about how he could find out more, maybe even get some answers he was looking for, the operator of the shooting gallery jumped in.
"Well in my humble opinion, it's worth paying attention to. I saw them practice yesterday and it was really impressive. I've never seen something like that before."
At this point he could feel his entire body pulsating, his heart beating faster than it probably ever had before. Well, that wasn't true, there was definitely another occasion where he was even more on edge than this one, but it was still up there. As he asked his next question, he could only hope the others didn't notice how difficult it was for him to get out the words, praying that his voice didn't sound as shaky and nervous to them as it did to him.
"What do they do there? Like juggling and stuff?"
The operator shook their head before elaborating: "They were doing these incredible acrobatic things! Like flipping and jumping and I don't know - I guess there was some juggling too - but it was the first time I've ever seen anything like that before! The distances they were running and jumping sometimes didn't even feel human. Obviously that's just because they're professionals but I swear it was like they had supernatural powers. It was so cool! And then one of them was super strong, too - I should just stop spoiling so much. Just go watch for yourself when they have a show."
While the operator had shared all of these details Ni-ki's breathing was getting more and more rapid, a special kind of panic brewing in the pit of his stomach. He did his best to stay attentive, listen to everything that was being said and not show that he was affected at all, but it was getting increasingly harder. He thought he was ready, he thought he could do this, but all of that seemed so different now. The prospect of coming face to face with everything he had spent so much time coming to terms with was heavy on him and he needed a way to distract himself from it.
Luckily, one of his favorite ways to relax was right in front of him, so without a word he raised his gun again, shooting at the targets in front of him. This time he hit every single one dead on, no longer hiding that he was in his element when it came to this. With every bang of each shot he could feel himself calm down a little bit, and although he was still shaking, he had somewhat snapped out of his daze. When he put down his gun, both the man next to him as well as the operator looked at him with a surprised expression, probably shocked at the sudden display of skill he had shown.
"Congratulations, you have won one of our big prizes!", the operator said after a short moment of being quiet, not fully understanding how he had suddenly turned into such a pro. "Would you like the bag, the t-shirt or the beanie?"
The man next to Ni-ki let out a small chuckle.
"Welp, there you go winning the prize I've been working towards for the past, what, hour?"
He was clearly a good sport about it, not actually mad at Ni-ki winning the prize, but Ni-ki still wanted to help him out.
"You know what? Since I enjoyed the conversation so much, I'll give it to you if you'd like. Although I have one question - do you have any idea who runs the circus show? You don't happen to know of any names or organizations behind it?"
The man thought about it for a second, his brows furrowed as he tried remembering whatever he could.
"Sorry, pal, I got nothing. No idea who runs that." A short glance at the operator revealed nothing but their shrugging shoulders, not able to help out either.
Ni-ki knew he had to accept this - besides, he was pretty sure he already knew the answer himself - so he just smiled at the others and excused himself to leave, reassuring the man that it was totally fine for him to take the beanie he wanted so badly.
While walking away, he hoped nobody would notice his whole body shaking.
Welcome to yourfantasyfigures, a blog dedicated to writing about various K-Pop artists!
General Info
This blog is for various groups like Enhypen, Ateez, Stray Kids, NCT and more.
I write different types of stories but I especially enjoy writing album inspired fics with elements of fantasy, action, mystery and found family.
Check out my masterlist to see what I've written so far and feel free to ask whether or not I write for certain artists.
Here is where you can find recent updates and here is my posting plan.
Everything on here is fiction and for entertainment. Don't like it? Don't read.
Characters are loosely based on idols with the same names, though the real people are in no way represented here. Further characters like family members are completely fictional and not based on real-life people.
Please note the disclaimers and notes before my posts. You will find possible trigger and content warnings as well as other relevant information. Don't be scared to ask for further elaboration when needed.
I am an adult in my early twenties.
Do not repost or translate any of my works anywhere without my permission. I cross-post on ArchiveOfOurOwn.
Requests & other messages
Feel free to send in requests (one shots, chaptered, bonuses for my existing fics, ...) via my inbox.
Please keep in mind that I'm not obligated to write your requests and that I usually won't reply to these asks as to keep them in one place. I love getting requests and other messages and appreciate everyone who sends me something!
Rules for what I write about are subject to change so please check this post before requesting.
Current request/ask rules: preface with warnings for sensitive topics as well as spoilers.
Feel free to message me about other things as well, especially for feedback & discussions/ comments about my writing!
If you are a minor please do not send me a private message, asks are fine.
Feel free to call me by any nickname/variation of my name (Livia, Liv,...) but don't use terms of endearment (bub, sweetie, bestie,...).
I'm a woman and go by she/her pronouns but I'm fine with any gendered terms regardless of if they're typically masculine or feminine (dude, king, girl,...).
Feedback
Like most writers, I love getting feedback on my writing! Seeing what others like is very motivating and makes me want to write more. I'm also extremely curious about your thoughts, theories and opinions about my stories and characters. So thank you to everyone who likes, follows, reblogs and sends supportive messages. Comments about specific parts or characters of my stories are greatly appreciated ♡
I'm not opposed to criticism as long as it's constructive! If it's about how you don't like the content I write about or you just don't like my blog/writing, feel free to keep it to yourself.
Language & grammar corrections are welcome, same with feedback on formatting as it's something I'm unsure about. But I would appreciate if there was also another comment regarding my writing in that message, not just a linguistic correction.
