"Darkest Before Dawn"
A/N: I know it's been a long time since I updated last, I hope you haven't forgotten everything. I know I sure haven't! A story like this that I am forced to put on hold tends to stick in my head and worm around until I can get back to it. I'm glad I finally have. grins Didja miss me!?
A/N 2: Hey... need you guys to give me a review or two, to make sure you're still with me and (because I want to know) what you guys would like to see happen. For reference- since I seem to have been unclear on this point in previous chapters- the people at the Dirty Laundry gathering (Garrett in particular) were worried about being busted. The kid Math that Jin caught on the street had heard about some informers that were going to be in the club, hired by "carrion feeders" (aka the cops, The Man, ect). That's why Jin bothered to talk to the vocalist.
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The transition to sleep eased over them as gently as the blankets had, leaving them vulnerable to dreams. The fish watched in wide-eyed, bubbly quiet as the hours passed and the two lovers lay entangled in one anothers' limbs. Jin got up still mostly asleep to use the restroom at some point, did his business squinting against the harsh light. A breathy whimper brought his attention fully to the moment and he padded swiftly back to his room. There, Hwoarang's hand was stretched out as though seeking for the warm body no longer in the bed, and small shivers were coursing through his sleeping frame. "No," he groaned. Jin watched for a long moment in disquiet, unsure of what to do: he could see Hwoarang's eyes moving rapidly behind his eyelids. After that moment of indecision passed he knelt by the bed and took his lover's hand in his own and squeezed it briefly.
"Hwoarang," he spoke softly. "Hwoarang, wake up." His only answer was another groan of denial. "Hwoarang!" Jin's voice began to take on a note of urgency, and he put his other hand on the pale shoulder and shook it gently. "You're only dreaming. Come on, pull out of it... Hwoarang-!"
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The scene was unbearably familiar to Hwoarang. How many times have I gone through this? he wondered with the small shred of awareness he clung to. The shape of his former master stalking away from him made him want to cry out, but his dream body was caught up in the pattern. He couldn't make a change no matter how hard he tried. He was forced to watch, helpless, as Jin again tried to pull heroics. And again was held against the wall by his throat. "No," Hwoarang tried to say as tears streamed from his unblinking eyes. "No more. Please, no more. Please!!"
Quite suddenly everything stopped, and he was looking at the scene from a third perspective. Saw his own wasted body, battered and drugged up, resting half-slumped against the wall. Saw the demon's powerful hand frozen in a chokehold around Jin's neck, and that sweet dark face twisted in panicked agony. Then: motion. Strange markings began to show on Jin's face, which began a transformation from lovely to emaciated, red-glowing eyes and fangs the most prominent differences. Ethereal wings spread out from his back, and then.... something... stepped out of Jin's body, taking all the strangeness with it. The demon stood there with chin raised and a small, triumphant grin on its face. "No more? Did you say no more?" Muscular arms folded and the wings spread to their full, awe-inspiring width, then closed like a cloak around the thing's shoulders.
"Please," Hwoarang whispered from outside his own body, collapsing to his knees before the creature. "Don't hurt him... don't take him from me..."
"But it's only a dream," the demon reminded him, one familiar eyebrow quirking skyward. "It's not real. And why should I cease, when I am having such fun?" Sarcasm and venom dripped from its voice in equal quantities, but the expression on its face was unreadable.
"I cannot bear it," the Korean whimpered, shoulders drooping and head bowed so he didn't have to look at the demon so near in features to his loved one. "I can'd stand to see him hurting... not even in my dreams..."
"But did you not wish such pain on him, of old?" the demon inquired. Its wings quivered as though tensing for flight.
"Before I knew how I care for him. Please, please make it stop," Hwoarang begged shamelessly. The demon's crimson eyes narrowed to slits. Hwoarang took a deep, unsteady breath and dashed his tears away with the beginnings of anger.
"You are not able to make me end this. I've precious little else to do with my time." The demon turned around and made as though to leap back into Jin's still body.
"I love him." Hwoarang's words stopped the demon immediately, and it turned back again with a look of... surprise? Jealousy? Perhaps even a little fear.
This time, it took a moment for the demon to come up with a retort. "That changes nothing. You have not seen every side of Jin that there is to see; therefore your love for him is incomplete. Seek this knowledge, human; bring me out of your precious Jin and see how you love him then." It stepped backward into Jin with that enigmatic smile that Jin pulled every now and then, and it tore at Hwoarang's heart to see it. And, he refused to admit to himself, to see it go.
A silent scream of torture ripped from Hwoarang's soul as the dream continued in the exact sequence as before, except that it did not end where it had. Instead he was made to watch as the demon did... unspeakable things... to Jin's body...
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"Hwoarang. Wake up," Jin pleaded for what seemed like the thousandth time. He was quivering himself now with an intensity he couldn't explain to himself, looking down helplessly at the redhead. Then, he realized, Hwoarang's eyes had stopped their frantic motion, instead flew open abruptly, tears squeezing out of their sides. His hand gripped Jin's as though it were a lifeline.
Perhaps it was.
"Shhh, it was only a dream," the Japanese murmured as he pulled the silently weeping redhead into an embrace. Worry and unhappiness settled like a stone in his stomach, even as he whispered into Hwoarang's hair. "Everything will be all right. I'm here..."
"It was awful," Hwoarang whimpered. It was only then that Jin realized how truly shaken the man must be to show such frailty. "The demon..."
Jin's heart almost stopped in his chest. No. He could swear he heard mocking laughter echoing in his mind. No. I subdued the devil gene. I controlled it!
Did you really believe that? You are as much a part of me as I am of you, Jin Kazama. There is no escape, and you cannot control me unless I allow you to do so.
Jin hugged Hwoarang a little harder. "Don't talk about it," he said fiercely. "'The night is always darkest before dawn, but everything looks all the brighter when morning comes.' Maybe we'll speak of this later today... but let's try to get some more sleep. We had a long night of it." Hwoarang hiccupped into his shoulder and nodded, sniffling. Short minutes later, after a glass warm milk (secretly spiked with a touch of Malibu), Jin lay beside his lover and watched, troubled and frightened for his love's sake, as the Korean fell asleep. It took much longer for sleep to reclaim him, but even in sleep he did not let go of Hwoarang's hand.
A/N: I know it's been a long time since I updated last, I hope you haven't forgotten everything. I know I sure haven't! A story like this that I am forced to put on hold tends to stick in my head and worm around until I can get back to it. I'm glad I finally have. grins Didja miss me!?
A/N 2: Hey... need you guys to give me a review or two, to make sure you're still with me and (because I want to know) what you guys would like to see happen. For reference- since I seem to have been unclear on this point in previous chapters- the people at the Dirty Laundry gathering (Garrett in particular) were worried about being busted. The kid Math that Jin caught on the street had heard about some informers that were going to be in the club, hired by "carrion feeders" (aka the cops, The Man, ect). That's why Jin bothered to talk to the vocalist.
----------------------------------
The transition to sleep eased over them as gently as the blankets had, leaving them vulnerable to dreams. The fish watched in wide-eyed, bubbly quiet as the hours passed and the two lovers lay entangled in one anothers' limbs. Jin got up still mostly asleep to use the restroom at some point, did his business squinting against the harsh light. A breathy whimper brought his attention fully to the moment and he padded swiftly back to his room. There, Hwoarang's hand was stretched out as though seeking for the warm body no longer in the bed, and small shivers were coursing through his sleeping frame. "No," he groaned. Jin watched for a long moment in disquiet, unsure of what to do: he could see Hwoarang's eyes moving rapidly behind his eyelids. After that moment of indecision passed he knelt by the bed and took his lover's hand in his own and squeezed it briefly.
"Hwoarang," he spoke softly. "Hwoarang, wake up." His only answer was another groan of denial. "Hwoarang!" Jin's voice began to take on a note of urgency, and he put his other hand on the pale shoulder and shook it gently. "You're only dreaming. Come on, pull out of it... Hwoarang-!"
------------------------------------
The scene was unbearably familiar to Hwoarang. How many times have I gone through this? he wondered with the small shred of awareness he clung to. The shape of his former master stalking away from him made him want to cry out, but his dream body was caught up in the pattern. He couldn't make a change no matter how hard he tried. He was forced to watch, helpless, as Jin again tried to pull heroics. And again was held against the wall by his throat. "No," Hwoarang tried to say as tears streamed from his unblinking eyes. "No more. Please, no more. Please!!"
Quite suddenly everything stopped, and he was looking at the scene from a third perspective. Saw his own wasted body, battered and drugged up, resting half-slumped against the wall. Saw the demon's powerful hand frozen in a chokehold around Jin's neck, and that sweet dark face twisted in panicked agony. Then: motion. Strange markings began to show on Jin's face, which began a transformation from lovely to emaciated, red-glowing eyes and fangs the most prominent differences. Ethereal wings spread out from his back, and then.... something... stepped out of Jin's body, taking all the strangeness with it. The demon stood there with chin raised and a small, triumphant grin on its face. "No more? Did you say no more?" Muscular arms folded and the wings spread to their full, awe-inspiring width, then closed like a cloak around the thing's shoulders.
"Please," Hwoarang whispered from outside his own body, collapsing to his knees before the creature. "Don't hurt him... don't take him from me..."
"But it's only a dream," the demon reminded him, one familiar eyebrow quirking skyward. "It's not real. And why should I cease, when I am having such fun?" Sarcasm and venom dripped from its voice in equal quantities, but the expression on its face was unreadable.
"I cannot bear it," the Korean whimpered, shoulders drooping and head bowed so he didn't have to look at the demon so near in features to his loved one. "I can'd stand to see him hurting... not even in my dreams..."
"But did you not wish such pain on him, of old?" the demon inquired. Its wings quivered as though tensing for flight.
"Before I knew how I care for him. Please, please make it stop," Hwoarang begged shamelessly. The demon's crimson eyes narrowed to slits. Hwoarang took a deep, unsteady breath and dashed his tears away with the beginnings of anger.
"You are not able to make me end this. I've precious little else to do with my time." The demon turned around and made as though to leap back into Jin's still body.
"I love him." Hwoarang's words stopped the demon immediately, and it turned back again with a look of... surprise? Jealousy? Perhaps even a little fear.
This time, it took a moment for the demon to come up with a retort. "That changes nothing. You have not seen every side of Jin that there is to see; therefore your love for him is incomplete. Seek this knowledge, human; bring me out of your precious Jin and see how you love him then." It stepped backward into Jin with that enigmatic smile that Jin pulled every now and then, and it tore at Hwoarang's heart to see it. And, he refused to admit to himself, to see it go.
A silent scream of torture ripped from Hwoarang's soul as the dream continued in the exact sequence as before, except that it did not end where it had. Instead he was made to watch as the demon did... unspeakable things... to Jin's body...
------------------------------------
"Hwoarang. Wake up," Jin pleaded for what seemed like the thousandth time. He was quivering himself now with an intensity he couldn't explain to himself, looking down helplessly at the redhead. Then, he realized, Hwoarang's eyes had stopped their frantic motion, instead flew open abruptly, tears squeezing out of their sides. His hand gripped Jin's as though it were a lifeline.
Perhaps it was.
"Shhh, it was only a dream," the Japanese murmured as he pulled the silently weeping redhead into an embrace. Worry and unhappiness settled like a stone in his stomach, even as he whispered into Hwoarang's hair. "Everything will be all right. I'm here..."
"It was awful," Hwoarang whimpered. It was only then that Jin realized how truly shaken the man must be to show such frailty. "The demon..."
Jin's heart almost stopped in his chest. No. He could swear he heard mocking laughter echoing in his mind. No. I subdued the devil gene. I controlled it!
Did you really believe that? You are as much a part of me as I am of you, Jin Kazama. There is no escape, and you cannot control me unless I allow you to do so.
Jin hugged Hwoarang a little harder. "Don't talk about it," he said fiercely. "'The night is always darkest before dawn, but everything looks all the brighter when morning comes.' Maybe we'll speak of this later today... but let's try to get some more sleep. We had a long night of it." Hwoarang hiccupped into his shoulder and nodded, sniffling. Short minutes later, after a glass warm milk (secretly spiked with a touch of Malibu), Jin lay beside his lover and watched, troubled and frightened for his love's sake, as the Korean fell asleep. It took much longer for sleep to reclaim him, but even in sleep he did not let go of Hwoarang's hand.