Ship/Member: Jeongcheol Major Tags: The Locked Tomb, potential HtN spoilers Additional Tags: sharing a body, involuntary resurrection, violence, body horror + monstrosities, grief but no mcd Permission to remix: by all means
***
Carrying a sword with Jeonghan's noodle arms is not only tedious and impractical, but it's soul-wrenching, too.
"I hate you," Seungcheol says with Jeonghan's voice. "I hate you," with Jeonghan's mouth. With his throat.
The mass of bone and sinew in front of him barely looks like a human form, but it's close enough to be psychologically horrifying even if Jeonghan's body refuses to respond. Does he not experience anxiety? It seems unlikely considering how goddamn high strung he is all the time, but these must not be the situations that get to him. Probably because his magic is massive and frightening.
Seungcheol, meanwhile, is determined but all wrong, fitting awkwardly into the sharp, unforgiving angles of Jeonghan's body.
It's easier, he can admit to himself, to complain than it is to face the crush of grief.
One clean slice takes the figure's arm off, but another one sprouts slowly and grotesquely from the socket. Seungcheol swings for the neck next, and takes off an approximation of a head, but the monster presses forward. It grumbles as it does. It groans like it's in pain. "Where are you?" Seungcheol whisper-shouts. Jeonghan's voice nearly gives out halfway through.
He keeps hacking at the creature. If it were his own body it would be through a blur of tears, but Jeonghan's body has better things to do than cry.
When it's finally dispatched, Seungcheol feels viscera all over his skin, soaking into his robes and coating the longsword.
He turns the corner only to see Joshua, smiling beatifically while snapping a bone between his hands. Behind him, three different monsters explode in puffs of dust. "Coups," he says. "Hello. Where's Jeonghan?"
"I don't know, but it had better be somewhere fucking good."
"I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"I died," Seungcheol says. Jeonghan's voice goes thready, rises in pitch. "I should've been— consumed, used up, I shouldn't have—"
Joshua's smile mellows. "He loved you too much to let that happen."
"Some plan," Seungcheol spits. "Some love."
"If Jeonghan weren't smart he'd never have gotten this far. Your devotion only made him stronger."
Seungcheol, miserably, knows that's true. And yet. "I promised him my life. I didn't promise this."
Joshua laughs. "Check the fine print," he replies, as he pulverizes another creature before it even gets all the way through the door. "By the way, how badly are you bleeding?"
Seungcheol had been trying not to think about it. His robes are slick with Jeonghan's blood. The gut wound is gushing sluggishly but steadily. The only way out is through, though. He keeps pressing forward, from one hallway to another, from one window to the next displaying inky black and a prickle of stars.
"Get back here, asshole," he mumbles, because it feels better to be furious. "I'm fighting like hell for the both of us. If it's for nothing, I'll haunt you in the afterlife too. As many as it takes."
"Nice monologue," comments Junhui, appearing so suddenly Seungcheol nearly dies for real. "By the way, need some help?"
"Yes," Seungcheol answers, pathetic and grateful and overtired, and together they hack their way towards their necromancers.
It'll work. It has to work. Seungcheol holds his sword with Jeonghan's hands and prays.
[FILL] Undone
Major Tags: The Locked Tomb, potential HtN spoilers
Additional Tags: sharing a body, involuntary resurrection, violence, body horror + monstrosities, grief but no mcd
Permission to remix: by all means
***
Carrying a sword with Jeonghan's noodle arms is not only tedious and impractical, but it's soul-wrenching, too.
"I hate you," Seungcheol says with Jeonghan's voice. "I hate you," with Jeonghan's mouth. With his throat.
The mass of bone and sinew in front of him barely looks like a human form, but it's close enough to be psychologically horrifying even if Jeonghan's body refuses to respond. Does he not experience anxiety? It seems unlikely considering how goddamn high strung he is all the time, but these must not be the situations that get to him. Probably because his magic is massive and frightening.
Seungcheol, meanwhile, is determined but all wrong, fitting awkwardly into the sharp, unforgiving angles of Jeonghan's body.
It's easier, he can admit to himself, to complain than it is to face the crush of grief.
One clean slice takes the figure's arm off, but another one sprouts slowly and grotesquely from the socket. Seungcheol swings for the neck next, and takes off an approximation of a head, but the monster presses forward. It grumbles as it does. It groans like it's in pain. "Where are you?" Seungcheol whisper-shouts. Jeonghan's voice nearly gives out halfway through.
He keeps hacking at the creature. If it were his own body it would be through a blur of tears, but Jeonghan's body has better things to do than cry.
When it's finally dispatched, Seungcheol feels viscera all over his skin, soaking into his robes and coating the longsword.
He turns the corner only to see Joshua, smiling beatifically while snapping a bone between his hands. Behind him, three different monsters explode in puffs of dust. "Coups," he says. "Hello. Where's Jeonghan?"
"I don't know, but it had better be somewhere fucking good."
"I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"I died," Seungcheol says. Jeonghan's voice goes thready, rises in pitch. "I should've been— consumed, used up, I shouldn't have—"
Joshua's smile mellows. "He loved you too much to let that happen."
"Some plan," Seungcheol spits. "Some love."
"If Jeonghan weren't smart he'd never have gotten this far. Your devotion only made him stronger."
Seungcheol, miserably, knows that's true. And yet. "I promised him my life. I didn't promise this."
Joshua laughs. "Check the fine print," he replies, as he pulverizes another creature before it even gets all the way through the door. "By the way, how badly are you bleeding?"
Seungcheol had been trying not to think about it. His robes are slick with Jeonghan's blood. The gut wound is gushing sluggishly but steadily. The only way out is through, though. He keeps pressing forward, from one hallway to another, from one window to the next displaying inky black and a prickle of stars.
"Get back here, asshole," he mumbles, because it feels better to be furious. "I'm fighting like hell for the both of us. If it's for nothing, I'll haunt you in the afterlife too. As many as it takes."
"Nice monologue," comments Junhui, appearing so suddenly Seungcheol nearly dies for real. "By the way, need some help?"
"Yes," Seungcheol answers, pathetic and grateful and overtired, and together they hack their way towards their necromancers.
It'll work. It has to work. Seungcheol holds his sword with Jeonghan's hands and prays.