Chapter Text
Jeongin was running.
He made a mistake, hurt the people he cared for and now he was being chased.
It wasn’t supposed to end up like that though.
He was walking back from his meeting with Ryujin when he heard a crash. He went after the sound, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly he felt immense pain. Something - someone - materialized in front of him and punched him right under his ribs. The pain made him let go of the control he had over his humanoid form. He could feel his body changing to that of a beautiful yet terrifying phoenix. The next thing he saw was fire. It was spreading everywhere. It was spreading everywhere because of him. He heard crying kids, coughing elders and a lot of villagers were shouting angrily, looking for something. Looking for him.
He had to flee.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he ran further into the forest. He had to remind himself to not lose control again so that he wouldn’t endanger anyone anymore. But the damage was done. He felt tears in his eyes but didn’t stop running. If he did, the villagers would get him and who knows what they’d do to him after that? ‘They would imprison me, torture me,‘ he thought, ‘or worse, they would kill me‘ . Thanks to his inner monologue, he didn’t really look ahead of where he was running.
Until he bumped into someone.
Both him and the stranger immediately started apologizing, until they heard the shouting of the angry villagers.
Him and the stranger locked eyes.
“Please, help me.”
—
Jeongin's first memory of fire, anger and fear was from this village, too.
His powers at that time were barely developed, his body and mind way too small for the fire and power needed for a grown phoenix. Fire beings recognised him as one of their own, but he barely knew how to set a candle on fire.
It was a sunny day, the sky was a beautiful blue with only a few fluffy-looking clouds, when it happened. Jeongin was playing with his friend, a very sweet dryad named Ryujin. The dryads were very respected in the village, since they often provided cover from heavy rains and strong winds thanks to their trees. Ryujin, too, was very young at that time, but she already helped around the village when she could. Jeongin looked up to her a lot, he wanted to help too, but the villagers were always a bit scared of the phoenix family.
Ryujin was trying to teach Jeongin how to braid her hair when they heard someone cry out, as if that person was in pain. Soon after that came screams of anger and fear. It came from the village. The dryad and phoenix stared in shock at the smoke coming from the same direction.
A while after they noticed the smoke, an angry looking werewolf noticed Jeongin. Before the young boy could even ask what was happening, the woman ran in his direction, opening her mouth as if she wanted to scream at him. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed Ryujin. After staring at the two children for a few seconds, she probably decided that screaming at the phoenix wasn't a great idea.
“I need you to come with me,” she said, her face now void of any emotions. Jeongin looked at his friend and then back at the woman in front of them. They stood up, still confused and followed the werewolf further into the village. The scent of burned wood and smoke filled their nostrils the closer they went.
“Wait, this is the way to our ho-” Jeongin started, but was soon cut off. “I know,” the werewolf said, looking anywhere but in the boy's direction. Jeongin slowly realized what was happening, his worries proved when he saw a huge fire circle in front his house and in the middle of it all, his mother. There was one more person laying in the circle, one of the elders, who always threw angry looks and words at Jeongin when he passed by. He was barely breathing.
The fire was slowly spreading to the houses around. Jeongin felt as if someone paralysed him, staring in shock at his mother. To the villagers she seemed angry, but her posture told her son that she was scared.
He looked at Ryujin, who stood next to him in a similar state. Jeongin's mother was Ryujin's role model ever since him and the dryad became friends. Seeing that scene was a harsh reality check for them. This situation wasn't something either of the two kids thought would ever happen.
The young phoenix looked back at his mother, just in time to see her stare at him. She was about to mouth something at him, but what left her mouth was a yelp instead as something flew by her head. She ducked quickly, but that thing was the first of many. Suddenly the villagers that weren’t helping started throwing things at her, angrily screaming. “You monster!” one of them screamed. “You don’t belong here!” another one joined as they all threw little rocks, eggs and rotten food in her direction. The poor woman wanted to say something but no-one was listening. No-one waited for her explanation.
She once again looked at her son, this time with sorrow in her eyes. Deep down, Jeongin knew what was going to happen. ‘I love you,‘ she mouthed to him.
He felt the heat before he saw it. With sadness, fear and hopelessness flooding his veins, he watched as his mother slowly turned into a gorgeous phoenix, sending one last glance in his direction, before she flew off high in the sky. Jeongin watched her figure get smaller and smaller in the distance.
That was the last time Jeongin saw his mother.
—
“Thank you so much for helping me,” Jeongin said after the villagers passed by the tree they climbed in order to get away from them.
“No problem! But I have to ask…” they stranger said, curiosity shining in their electric blue eyes, “...what did you do to anger them? You don’t have to tell me! But I’d really like to know since I helped you,” they said as they smiled shyly.
Jeongin didn’t know what to do. Should he tell them? Should he flee again? ‘ Tell him, you can’t flee from everything, ‘ his mind supplied. “I…” he started, feeling tears well up in his eyes again, “I accidentally set my hometown on fire…”
He watched the emotions in the stranger’s eyes going from curiosity to sadness in a second. ‘ Why aren’t they angry? ‘ Jeongin thought. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to- You didn’t have to tell me. It’s still too soon to talk about this, isn’t it? We should leave this topic be, for now…” the stranger looked really sorry, as if they were there, as if they witnessed it too.
Suddenly, their eyes brightened again, as if they remembered something. “I didn’t even get to introduce myself! I’m so sorry! I’m Hyunjin, a water elf! A male water elf, to be clear. I live in a village nearby, do you wanna come with me?”
‘ Water elf? ‘ hearing that the stranger - Hyunjin - had water powers made Jeongin feel safe. He should have been scared, considering that Jeongin’s non-humanoid form was literally fire, and, well, water puts the fire out, but he wasn’t. Not when he knew that Hyunjin could help him if he set something on fire again.
“I’m Jeongin, a phoenix, if that wasn’t obvious before,” he let out a chuckle, pointing to his fiery colored hair. “And if you really don’t mind, I’d love to go,” he said. Hyunjin smiled at him again, nodding excitedly. “Of course! Don’t worry, I have my own house so no one can say anything about you being there!” he exclaimed happily. Jeongin just nodded, his lips forming a small smile.
“It’s settled then! Come on, we don’t have much time before the sun sets!”
—
On the way back to Hyunjin’s house, the phoenix slowly started to regret his decisions.
He had left Ryujin and his father in the village, with no way of telling them that he’s okay, not if he wanted to make sure that the angry villagers wouldn’t find him.
Hyujin seemed to notice that Jeongin was thinking too hard about something. “You look troubled,” the elf started. “Do you mind sharing some of those thoughts with me? It could help,” he smiled, eyes sparkling. Jeongin didn’t see a reason why not to share his thoughts. If he was supposed to share a house with the other boy, why would he keep this a secret?
‘He could turn his back on you,‘ the little voice in the back of his mind said. ‘Half of the village didn’t like you, if you tell him more he won’t like you too,‘ it continued. Jeongin didn’t listen to it. He felt like he could rely on the water elf.
“I’m thinking of the village. The state I left it in. There were flames everywhere, you know? Big, scary flames destroying everything. And in the midst of it all, I ran off. I didn’t look back, I didn’t even think about who and what I was leaving behind. And now I regret it a bit,” the phoenix took a deep breath. “I didn’t get to say goodbye. I would love to braid Ryujin’s hair one last time. Hug my dad goodbye. Anything, just to make sure that they know that I’ll be okay, you know? But I didn’t get to do anything,” he continued. “It’s almost as if history was repeating,” he murmured to himself.
Hyunjin was silent for a bit, looking up to the sky. Then he looked back at Jeongin, hope in his eyes. “We could send them a message?” he asked, unsure if the phoenix would like his idea. “Not the normal way, of course. The villagers are probably still looking after you. I actually found out pretty recently that you can send short messages through water! I’m not really sure how it works, but trust me, I’ll make sure that the message will be delivered to your father. If you want to, of course,” he finished, waiting for a response.
“I would love to, if you don’t mind,” Jeongin smiled.
At least he got to say goodbye properly.
—
Jeongin was glad that Hyunjin had his own house.
He didn’t know whether the nature elves looked at him because of him being a phoenix, or coming in there with Hyunjin, or if it was because it was obvious that something bad happened to him.
The phoenix didn’t know how to feel. When Hyunjin introduced him to the other elves, he knew he wouldn’t be staying in this village for a long time. The fear in their eyes was unmistakable, just like the fact that the parents tried to shield their children from him. When he looked at Hyunjin, he was a bit confused. On their way to Hyunjin’s village, he learned quickly that the water elf was quite expressive. The Hyunjin walking next to him was stoic. There was no smile in his eyes, no curiosity or sadness to be seen. When he thought about it, Jeongin wasn’t that surprised to see that. He himself smiled less the older he got in his own village back then. Why would he smile, knowing they would fear him nonetheless? The older he was, the more he noticed the way they were treating him. ‘Not anymore. ‘
‘Not anymore? You could’ve been in your house right now, helping your father. But you messed up, didn’t you? You turned the villagers into hunting dogs. And now you’re here,‘ the little voice in his mind made itself felt and Jeongin started to feel awful, because the voice was right, right? The voice said the truth, didn’t it? He didn’t even realize he was tearing up until he felt Hyunjin wiping his tears away. When he looked around, he found out that they were in the water elf’s house already. ‘When did we get there?‘
“Come, Innie,” he said as he took the crying boy’s hand and led him to one of the spare rooms he had. “Clean up and then sleep. That should help you the most now,” the water elf smiled. “If you feel like you can’t fall asleep, come to the kitchen. I could make you some tea or maybe we could talk, if you want to,” he said before he left the room.
The last thing the phoenix thought about before he fell asleep was the nickname Hyunjin called him earlier. It was a nickname only Ryujin and his father called him by.
He found out he didn’t mind being called that by the sweet water elf.
—
The next morning was weird.
The whole situation was weird. Jeongin felt weird, and it wasn’t because his eyes were still puffy and red from crying. No, it wasn’t that.
Jeongin never left his home village alone before. He was always with either his father or Ryujin, and that was okay for him. He didn’t feel the need to explore, unlike the others.
So the previous day was really weird. He had to run away, yes, but at least he met a very nice water elf who took him to his house, giving him a place to stay and food to eat.
He felt really grateful for Hyunjin’s generosity.
When he got out of the surprisingly comfortable bed, he made his way to the kitchen. He found out pretty quickly that Hyunjin was definitely a better cook than him. Not like it was hard to be better than him, he was never good at cooking. After breakfast came countless hours of talking. Talking about anything that came to mind. Jeongin was, once again, grateful.
In the evening, Hyunjin became more vulnerable. He told the phoenix about how one of the elders found him as a baby on his doorstep one night. How the elder elf took him in, raising him as his own. How it was obvious from the beginning that the nature elves didn’t like him that much. How they only accepted him as one of them because the elder elf was an important person in the village. He told him about the way he learned to deal with the elves’ judging stares when he practiced his own magic. How after the elder elf’s death he got the house as the only heir. How the judging stares only got worse when he died. How he struggled with feeling lonely in a village full of people. Jeongin felt pity for the water elf, and he told him that exactly. “I hope that soon there won’t be need for pity, now that you’re here with me,” the water elf answered with a small smile on his lips. ‘I want to help you,‘ Jeongin thought. ‘I want to make you feel less lonely.‘
That night, his last thought belonged to the water elf and their seemingly blossoming friendship.
—
“Hey, Innie, wake up, we’ve got quite a journey ahead of us.”
That was what Jeongin woke up to one day, a month after the fire incident. Apparently, Hyunjin was planning on leaving his village since they got there together, because “I don’t want to live here, knowing that they’re scared of you. I was okay with the judging stares, but I don’t want you to be in a community like this. I think we both deserve better, don’t we?”
That’s how the fiery haired boy found himself traveling again. Needless to say, this time he didn’t have to run and he wasn’t alone. They didn’t know where they were going. Apparently, Hyunjin has decided to “leave that decision to mother nature,” and that “you don’t have to worry, Innie, mother nature never led me somewhere terrible! And even if she did, we have each other now! We can endure it together.”
Jeongin believed him. After all, the month they spent together never made him doubt the water elf, so why would he do it now?