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wolveswithblackpearls · 26 days ago

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Bring Me To Life

Genre: Angst, Power Era, MAMA Era, Open Ending

Summary: All is well when Chanyeol returns from his patrol. The red force is probably still licking its wounds from their last confrontation, right? ...right?

Word count: 4 k

Warnings: major character death, revival / coming back from the dead, coming back wrong

A/N: Happy Holidays @exo-xexo! I (admin j aka @breeze-of-sunlight) am your secret santa~

I wish for you to be able to end this year peacefully and find some rest in the coming weeks. Hopefully you'll enjoy this little fic - let me know what you thought of it if you want!

For all those unfamiliar, this fic was posted as a part of the @exols-silver-christmas event 2024. Please check out the gifts from this and the past years if you want to see some beautiful creations by all kinds of EXO-Ls. Happy holidays to you too, santa admin. As usual, thank you so much for hosting!

May you find time for yourself in these last days of the year, dear reader.

"Chanyeol, duck!", is the last thing Chanyeol hears before something hits his shoulder and promptly dissolves into goo all over his neck and back.

And it had been such a good day until now.

He can hear Kai and Sehun cackling behind him as he tries to shake off the worst of it and pull the more resistant parts of the novaberry from the hair on his nape. "Real mature guys, incredibly funny! You're off duty for five seconds and immediately behave like little shi-"

"Sorry, I tried to warn you, but I guess my timing was off.", Suho tries to placate as he makes his way to Chanyeol opposite of where the still snickering duo stands.

"Apology accepted, but only if you send these two right back on patrol again."

Suho huffs a laugh at that and brushes off a piece of the berry Chanyeol had missed. However, a frown replaces his easy grin and he turns to address the others. "Could you come over here, please? I need to ask you all something without yelling my lungs out".

"Sure", Kai hollers back and reaches out to grab Sehun's neck. The later only has a short second to let out an undignified squawk before they get teleported across the field and materialize next to Suho.

"Ugh, I hate it when you do that! Could at least warn me beforehand?"

"I could."

"But? You won't?"

"Boys,", interrupts Suho, long suffering of his brother's antics, "could we please focus for one second?"

"One.", echo Kai and Sehun at once but stay silent afterwards. Chanyeol can smell Suho’s hair greying.

"Have any of you noticed anything different or suspicious on you patrols today?", Suho makes a point of staring each man in front of him down until they shake their heads one after the other. "Has anyone heard back from Baekhyun yet?"

Chanyeol feels his face drop. "No, why? Is something wrong? What's going on?"

Sighing heavily, Suho lowers his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. "There might be." When he raises his head back up, he admits " Baekhyun is not yet back from his mission. I talked to the others too, but no one has heard from him since he left this morning. And we can’t reach him via transmitter right now. Quite frankly, I'm worried."

And you're definitely not alone with that. Chanyeol adds mentally. Baekhyun has never been their most serious member. On the contrary, nothing seems to bring him more joy than to aggravate the others. But not coming home from a standard patrol? Not even trying to contact them about any anomalies altering his usual routes? That's simply not a line even he would cross for the sake of a prank. He must just have forgotten.

"Kai,", Suho pulls Chanyeol back from his thoughts, "I want you to teleport to his usual checkpoints. See if you can figure out whether he's been there today."

Kai nods solemnly, the mischief from a few moments ago long forgotten.

"I don't want you to face this alone and walk into a potential trap. Take Kyungsoo with you."

"Wait, hold up!", Chanyeol interrupts, "What do you mean 'Take Kyungsoo with you'? I'm literally right here?"

“Chanyeol, do not take this personally, but Kyungsoo tends to be a lot more levelheaded than you are in these situations”, Suho tries to calm him down. And Chanyeol can see the reasoning in that, but-

"And we literally need you right here, idiot.", Sehun raises his brow at him. "We're already down a guardian who can cast a shield of light over the tree of life. If this happens to be a trap, we don't need our actual firewall gone too."

Feeling his cheeks heat from being scolded by his younger brother, Chanyeol turns away from the group. A petty fine barely had the time to leave his lips when their transmitters light up simultaneously.

"Guys,", Xiumin’s grim voice filters through the devices, "we found him."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

There have been few days Chen has felt so much negativity in their hallowed halls. Or rather, beneath the tree of life. For good reason. While the tree is not all powerful, it at least grants its guardians one thing: quasi-immortality. In the long time they've been guardians, they have never had one of them dying.

That doesn't change the fact that Baekhyun’s cold body lies before them anyway. Looking all the more fragile between the massive roots.

But it simply must be him, from his long fingers to the small freckle over his lip, Chen is certain about it. This is Baekhyun. Xiumin could have dumped an entire frozen ocean's worth of ice over Chen's head and he still couldn't have been more frozen in pace.

Chanyeol, as expected, is not quite as silent about the matter.

"Lay, I know your power is health stuff and all, but how in the world is this supposed to work? He's not missing a finger; he's missing a heartbeat."

"'Health stuff and all'? Watch your tongue, Chanyeol. I know this isn't easy for you, but damn, neither is it for us!", Xiumin hisses back, feline eyes narrowed in agitation.

Lay, with his usual calm collectiveness when faced with a patient to attend, pulls Baekhyun's head into his lap and settles a hand over his brow. "Could you all please stop snapping at each other? This is going to be dancing on the edge of the possible already. If you keep distracting me, it's certainly going to go south."

"Besides,", he raises his head to stare into Chanyeol's eyes calmly, "it's not like we have any different options, do we?"

Chanyeol tsks in lieu of an answer but otherwise drops his arguments and resumes pacing. Chen tries to reach out to offer him tactile comfort but his hand gets pushed away. No one but Baekhyun himself could calm him down, it seems. Chen refocuses on the situation at hand instead.

With bated breath the guardians watch as Lay closes his eyes and tries what they've thought was impossible up until now. While Chanyeol is right and their powers have their limits, performing this act of revival right below the tree of life is the best chance they're going to get. If Lay manages to tab into the trees power source, then surely, surely...

Lay shifts his hands, running the tips of his fingers down Baekhyun's head from scalp to chin and then settling next to his temples. The rest of them watches, watches and stares as Lay's hands start glowing. And they glow. They glow and glow and glow and begin shaking slightly after minutes (or hours? Who can say.) pass by. Baekhyun's chest still isn't moving.

Inhaling deeply, Lay tilts his head back in a way easily recognizable to the rest of them. He's trying to tap into the tree's power. Usually, the tree would start winding roots or branches around whoever asked for aid - the energy is easier to transfer that way. Right now, though? The tree does nothing of the like. The branches stop swaying in the gentle breeze, the leaves becoming completely silent. Adding to the eerie atmosphere that has befallen them.

The tension under the tree could be cut with a knife, even Chanyeol has stopped pacing and worriedly glances back and forth between Baekhyun and the tree. Until Lay finally drops his hands, covered in sweat from head to toe, and breathes heavily as though he held his breath the entire time. While he leans down, he whispers something against Baekhyun's face - too quiet for Chen's ears to catch. Lay presses their foreheads together and then slowly wiggles himself out from beneath the body.

Before Chen can react, he hears a gasp next to him and Chanyeol shoots off to kneel down in front of Baekhyun. "No, no way! Baekhyun, can you hear me?"

In full disbelief Chen also storms forward to sink down next to Baekhyun. He faintly notices how Suho grabs Lay by the shoulders to support their healer after was undoubtedly the most complicated use of his powers to this day.

Baekhyun in the meanwhile has not only opened his eyes but is also currently wiping the tears from Chanyeol's face. "What's going on? Why are you crying Yeollie?"

Which of course only results in Chanyeol sobbing harder.

Chen catches one of Baekyhun's hands between his own. "Baekhyun,", Chen begins when he caught the other's attention, "you've been dead for at least the last hour."

Baekhyun's face falls slowly, as if he had to remember how to do it first.

"What?"

"Don't you... don't you remember anything at all? Xiumin said he found you on his patrol, but-", Chen stammers, squeezing the hand harder as Baekhyun beings staring off into the distance.

"But you had no pulse", Xiumin finishes for him, leaning over his younger brothers’ backs. "Baekhyun, are you sure you can't remember anything else?"

"How about you let him come back to himself first?", Chanyeol's head snaps around and he glares alternatingly at his two members. At least until Baekhyun tries to sit up and lets out a long gasp of agony.

"Where... are we exactly?"

Chen makes a bewildered eye contact with Chanyeol as they try to stabilize Baekhyun between them, "Baek, we're under the tree of life. You're home".

"Huh", Baekhyun breathes and cranes his neck around slowly. His eyes dance up the bark of the tree up into its crown. Even slower, Baekhyun tries to lift one arm and reach out to one of the branches dangling above him.

The branch, however, flees his grasp as if repulsed by him. Chanyeol catches it with a still furrowed brow and brings it close to Baekhyun, who in turn promptly touches it. As if burned the branch jerks back and turns black where Baekhyun has laid his hand. The discoloration spreads along the branch, twitching as though it's in pain. The leaves start rustling in convulsion. Chen has never seen the tree act like that, much less after touching one of them.

Xiumin, quick as always, reacts first and summons a blade of ice to cut off the branch above the growing discoloration. The still twitching appendage falls with a heavy thud. In a radius around it the roots begin twitching and rearranging themselves, not wanting to come in contact at all.

With an open mouth Chen tears his gaze away and studies Baekhyun instead. It's as though the man's face has turned to stone, nothing but apathy to be read there. "Interesting."

And suddenly, as if the past hours hadn't happened, Baekhyun smoothly rolls to his feet and dusts off his pants with an air of disinterest.

"Woah there, take it slow Baek! You really shouldn't strain yourself", Chanyeol rises next to him, although with far less grace and holds out his hands as though scared the other will collapse at any second.

"Oh, don't worry,", Baekhyun's gaze fixes on Chanyeol, "Lay did a pretty sound job there."

Something is off about his smile, but Chen can't pin it down. Has this quiet intensity behind his eyes been there a minute ago? Why does he look at them like a predator stalks his prey?

A soft wheeze pulls Chen's attention to Lay instead. The healer has braced himself on hands and knees, one hand lifting to cover his heart. Although he had managed to slow down his breathing before, it now seems to get worse again. Suho has started quietly murmuring to him again, gently stroking his back to calm him down. Kyungsoo lets himself down next to him, naturally gifted at grounding people and offers him a shoulder to lean on.

Baekhyun, apparently, has also noticed their struggling healer and coos mockingly. "Aw, poor one. Did you overexert yourself trying to save your friend, huh? You tree huggers are even more pitiful than initially estimated."

And this? This is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Despite all his teasing and shenanigans, Baekhyun would never let one of them suffer without offering help - let alone make fun of anyone in need. So. What if Lay hadn't brought back their Baekhyun at all? What if he summoned something entirely else into their friend's body.

"You're not really Baekhyun, are you?", Chen asks in a low voice. He subtly shifts into a more battle-ready pose and summons a small string of lightning to dance around his fingers. The quiet flickering of the electricity suddenly grows a lot louder as Chen feels a wave of power and relief wash through him. It's the most encouraging signal the tree has sent him all day.

"Who are you?"

Baekhyun's eyes are widening in pure joy at the open challenge, his smile turning even more manic. "Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy?"

Before any of them can react, Baekhyun performs a spinning move and summons an orb of unforgivingly blinding light. Chen flinches and covers his eyes, afraid of being blinded even though he was only exposed for a split second. From Chanyeol's pained scream he concludes the others aren't faring any better.

He wills his lightning back down again, knowing far too well how foolish it is to shoot at a target he can't sense in any way.

Kyungsoo, however, does not seem to have such reservations. A rumble goes through the ground as he summons an earthquake. Additional to not being able to see, now Chen can't hold his balance either. While sinking to the ground as carefully as he can manage, he at least hopes Kyungsoo manages to shake Baekhyun off his feet as well.

Instead, he feels the telltale rustle in the air that comes with Kai's teleporting and the light vanishes. Soon after, the world stops shaking and Chen warily blinks open his eyes. But Baekhyun is nowhere in sight. And although Kai is still here, his limbs are entangled with Sehun, the two of them must have fallen into one another when the earthquake caught them all by surprise.

"What? Where is he?", Chanyeol asks while heaving himself off the ground, turning in one direction after the other. Chen would comment on him looking like a helicopter during takeoff if the situation wasn't so dire. “He can't have gotten far in so little time!”

"Guys.", Suho gasps an interjection, "Our tree!"

And sure enough, there is a dark, rotting hole in the tree’s bark. Oozing a dark liquid as if it's bleeding, spreading from where Baekhyun must have made contact. The tree’s branches have drooped as though all life was sucked from them; its roots aren't so much as twitching although some of them are currently squished between two slates of earth in a way that must hurt.

A forlorn no is hushed from Lay's lips. He struggles to push himself upright, but instead just falls back against Kyungsoo's chest. "What have we done?"

"He's gone", Xiumin states grimly. Gaze sweeping over the meadow and through the forest surrounding them. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. If it wasn't for the last hour, one might even say it was peaceful.

Chen picks the pebbles that bore into his skin during the earthquake out of the palms of his hand. "We have to find him immediately. Maybe if we can get that possession or whatever that was out of him, it'll teach us how to reverse the damage."

Kai, who has by now managed to detangle himself from Sehun and pulled the latter to his feet, fetches a holomap from one of his endless pockets and boots it up. With the three-dimensional star map projected in front of him, he walks up to Xiumin. "Show me where you first saw him. Maybe I'll be able to track from where he came - and see if he passes by there again."

Xiumin begins gesturing around the map, trying to point out certain coordinates as precisely and quickly as he can manage. Meanwhile, Chen sees how Sehun rids himself of most things in his pockets and even begins taking off his shoes. Clearly preparing to take flight through the woods for long hours. Searching where the rest of them can't follow him with their larger space shuttles. At least not efficiently.

Chen feels the telltale rustle of teleportation behind his back. The sensation makes him pause for a second. Kai couldn't have teleported earlier, except if he teleported himself into Sehun. Which seems unlikely at best. Yet, Chen is sure he felt the same sensation right now as he did before Baekhyun disappeared. You get familiar with the supernatural surrounding you when you live together, after all.

"Now that we're talking about it, how did Xiumin manage to find Baekhyun? Their routes are nowhere near each other."

Xiumin swivels around: "Are you trying to say this is my fault? That I'm a traitor - or possessed by that whatever-it-is as well?".

"Calm down, Minnie, no one here believes you're an imposter", Suho placates, trying to keep them united even when his own nerves must be lying raw. "What's your point, Dae?"

"I'm just saying, what did Baekhyun even do out there? If he went that far off his actual checkpoints, he must've sought out Xiumin specifically. Do you maybe think that he saw the thing coming and tried to warn you?"

"And when he realized he couldn't he sacrificed himself instead", Suho furrows his brow.

"Just a thought."

"Or,", Sehun pipes up, "did any of you stop and think about whether or not we have the real Baekhyun in general?"

Chen is certain he can hear the grass grow over the silence that descends above them.

"Sehun, what the-?"

"No, hear me out.", Sehun intercepts, "We found a body, that miraculously looked like Baekhyun somewhere he shouldn't have been in the first place. When Lay breathed life back into him, the tree of life did not help at all. Don't you think it would be a little keener to help one of its protectors get back on his feet? The twig that thing touched literally wilted at first touch, there's an enormous hole in the tree - that keeps on growing, by the way."

"And we have no actual means to find out how Baekhyun got where he ended up being", Suho adds on. "Fuck, Sehun, you might be right. This basically reeks of red force, doesn’t it?"

"Did we just bring a red force clone of one of us to life?", Chen asks breathlessly.

"Did said clone manage to escape so that he can now spread the knowledge he gained to his master?", Xiumin comments wryly, his lips pressed together in a thin line.

"We're screwed", Chanyeol exhales as he drags his hands down his face slowly. "If the red force knows where the tree of life stands, how long do we have until it starts attacking?"

"And how long", Lay pipes up from where he lays in Kyungsoo's arms, "until we can't trust each other anymore because we can't tell us apart from any clones."

And truth be told, Chen hadn't even considered that. "You think there are more of them? But how? There is no other Lay, no- no, X-Lay, right? How is that X-Baekhyun supposed to bring them to life?"

"No, I don't think X-Baekhyun can do that. But think of it, if the tree can create guardians, it's not too far off to assume the red force can too. And if it's goal with X-Baekhyun was to simply scout the area and find the tree, there's no reason to send all of its subjects and risk potential fallouts."

"And it comes with the added benefit of taking out some of us as well," Kyungsoo murmurs, stroking a comforting hand up and down Lay’s arm.

"I'm not down, I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Just don't strain yourself. We still need you."

Suho starts massaging his temples. "That would also explain his quick getaway. If there already is a Kai clone, we can stop wondering how he pulled that off."

"So, what now?", Xiumin stares down the hole in the tree darkly. "The force weakened the tree so now it can come back with the big guns and completely claim it? And all we can do is set up wards and hope for the best?"

Chen doesn’t have it in him to respond in any way. He hasn’t felt this foolish and helpless in forever.

"We might not be completely defenseless", Kyungsoo answers quietly instead. "There's something I've read a… while ago. But it's experimental and I might not remember all the details."

Suho sighs heavily. "I can't say I'm thrilled at the thought of more experiments today."

"It's not like we have a lot of other options, though", Kyungsoo counters. Suho nods in agreement and waves his hand to encourage Kyungsoo to keep talking.

"Simply put, we would essentially split the tree in two. Hide each half in a pocket dimension. Each a mirror world of the other. The same skies over different grounds. The same grounds under different skies. That way the red force can't find it based on where it is now. Over time the tree could grow and heal itself. When it's strong enough, we'll reunite it again. Until then we have to find Baekhyun, the real Baekhyun. And we best get rid of any clones or other units of the red force as quickly as we can. I'd rather not take any chances here."

Sehun raises a brow in disbelief: "Won't we just make ourselves vulnerable if we split up? What if they find one half of the tree, charge in there with full force and completely destroy that half of the tree? This just sounds like we're presenting the tree on a silver platter."

Kyungsoo heaves a heavy sigh, as if the worst still lies ahead of him. "There's another thing. Due to the split of our current dimension, we will create some problems with space-time. Which means we're most likely not going to be able to get in touch the conventional way. I'm not sure if we'll even be able to contact each other at all. But that also means the force will get separated. It won't be able to reconnect to its other units and neither can it switch dimensions at will. Not unless we can too. The only other way for it to do that is to wait out until the two dimensions have aligned and we merge the tree once again."

Chen isn't sure how many more hits he'll be able to take today. He locks eyes with Chanyeol, who looks back at him with similarly forlorn expression. When he lets his gaze drag over the different faces of his friends, his family, he sees the same silent emotions. In the way Sehun picks anxiously at his fingernails, in the way Suho is again pinching the bridge of his nose, in the way Lay stares up at the trees crown with glassy eyes. In the tear he can feel rolling down his own cheek.

"This is goodbye then?"

"Yes", answers Kyungsoo, voice barely above a whisper. "But only for a while."

Suho turns away from the group, hands already on his transmitter. "I'll page Kai. We should meet at the ritual grounds. You guys should get a headstart, we won't be far behind."

Chanyeol and Sehun relieve Kyungsoo of his Lay-safekeeping-duties, their taller frames better equipped for carrying around a person. Lay keeps on protesting vehemently that he can walk on his own, but his complaints fall on deaf ears. Neither of them is willing to let go of their friend in what could be the last time for millennia.

Suddenly Chen's field of vision is obscured by a face. Xiumin's worried face. "It will be okay", he promises quietly. "We'll be back together in no time, you'll see. And the tree will have blossomed brighter than ever! Won't that be nice?"

"Yeah, sure it will", Chen snivels softly and tries to muster up a smile for Xiumin's sake. He clearly isn't very successful judging how the grief grows stronger on Xiumin's face as well.

"Just never lose yourself, okay?", Xiumin's finger rise to gently swipe away the tears Chen hadn't noticed rolling down his face in streams now.

"Just be brave. A new world shall open up."

A/N: And that's a wrap! I took some liberties with the whole MAMA intro, but I hope you guys like it anyway :] Please consider leaving me a comment or a reblog, that would make my day! And if anyone's in the mood for it, here's the link to the EXO-K MAMA mv. Take care, everyone!

-admin j

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an-annyeoing-writer · 1 year ago

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officer!Kai x Reader: miss magpie.

Word count: 3 725

Tags: a bit of sexy, a bit of comedy, a bit of drama...

Warnings: mentions of blood and injury, arresting.

Author's note: @lunaflowers It was supposed to be sexy but I accidentally came up with too much plot. And it's all because you said "take me away, officer".

The item in front of you was nothing that could change the world, neither for better or for worse.

It was not a weapon, it held no political value, and neither the material it was made of was particularly rare. Yet, it was simply beautiful: an antique diadem with amethyst rhinestones attached to a frame made of pure silver. The design was nothing particularly unique, and yet, in your eyes it was the most beautiful thing.

Because it was not supposed to be touched, because it was still worth a few thousands, and because you were certainly not supposed to be breaking into the museum just to see this beauty from up close.

Over the years, you managed to get through securities of many buildings without worry. It was kind of a talent of yours, one you nourished with knowledge gathered on YouTube channels, books found in local libraries, and carefully analyzing the most famous theft cases you managed to get your hands on.

You meant no harm, really, although you knew that the people working here would spend days pondering over what happened. And their confusion, as well as the news announced in the media, would be all well worth it – because you never stole anything and only took pleasure in creating chaos.

And one more thing that brought you even more pleasure, was the presence of all those beautiful things that you would have no other opportunity to be this close to otherwise, although temporarily and just to see what they were like in real life.

You were literally a magpie for shiny things. A magpie that didn’t feel the need to steal them – just to enjoy them.

The diadem felt too light in your hands, although it looked well-made and not something that would fall apart easily. Yet, it was an antique, and you hoped you wouldn’t damage it on accident. You stepped in front of a nearby mirror – a part of some other exhibition, to be precise – and gently placed the piece on top of your head, straightening yourself proudly.

The only source of light was the white streetlights coming from the outside, but your eyes were already accustomed and you managed to convince your mind that it was not streetlights, but a beautiful moonshine, like in a story about magic, covens and astral creatures. Maybe the diadem’s colors didn’t match your complexion all that well, and the shining of the rhinestones only highlighted the imperfections of your skin and hair, but at this exact moment, for these precious minutes, you were on top of the world.

You stared at the mirror a bit too long before you realized that far behind you, leaning against a column, there was a silhouette you absolutely did not spot before.

You froze with your fingers still touching the diadem on your head.

You looked straight ahead, your eyes fixated on the person in the background of your reflection, its shape slowly becoming more and more evident, and you only pondered as to how could you not have spotted him before?

The man stood there with his arms crossed. He had a police uniform on, although you barely saw it in the sparse light. He looked composed, as if not even slightly bothered with the presence of a wanted criminal responsible for dozens of high-priority break-ins.

You turned around slowly and raised your hands, the diadem on your head tilting slightly, and you did your best to not make any frantic movements as to not let it fall off. You knew you had to be careful now – not only for this reason. You were not a good fighter, he could take you down so easily. You needed to play this part smart.

“Hello, officer” you laughed awkwardly. The man tilted his head to the side. Your eyes were accustomed enough to be able to see him well despite the distance, and you noted a small, curious smile appear in the corner of his lip.

You frowned. Minutes had already passed since you arrived, and you two were there still all alone, no back-up called, no noise of police sirens. The fact that you got caught was already unexpected, but this situation also didn’t seem like what you’d imagined your final defeat to be.

“So, um…” Should you start a discussion? Or a fight? Or just run? Or throw the diadem and run in the opposite direction? Dammit, but you couldn’t risk damaging it. No, you had to make sure the treasure was safe first. “What brings you here, actually?” you spoke as nonchalantly as you were able to, very slowly stepping toward the exhibition table. Unfortunately, it shortened the distance between you and him as well, and you felt yourself become small and defenseless against his strong, even though still silent, presence. You did your best to avoid any rapid movements as you took the diadem gently off your head and placed it neatly back on the exhibition. The man observed you without a word, allowing you to finish your deed, as though watching an animal in a cage – not wanting to interrupt its natural instincts and eager to find out what would it do in those peculiar circumstances.

“Curiosity, probably” he finally spoke and you shuddered at his deep voice vibrating through the air.

“Curiosity, huh… Well, what are you curious about then, kind sir?” you questioned, forcing your voice sound cocky to boost your confidence. It almost worked.

“Well, I’m very curious about the skilled thief who has been breaking into museums all over the country and not even once stole anything. I almost wonder how many break-ins did we not even notice happening.”

You laughed awkwardly. It sounded like a praise in your ears and you couldn’t help but get a bit shy at the thought. But you quickly reminded yourself of the circumstances.

“So, how did you exactly know where to look for me?” you asked, now the one being curious.

“You don’t steal anything, but you always touch… something. You have a pattern” he explained in a matter-of-fact voice. “For pretty things. For shiny things. I wasn’t sure, but now I can see, why.” He glanced at the diadem, lifting one eyebrow, as if making fun of your peculiar behavior he had the chance to see earlier. You pressed your lips tightly, feeling caught red-handed in more than one way. “Is that really just it? That you enjoy seeing yourself in these things?”

You shrugged.

“Yeah, kind of. It’s just… you know, kind of a freeing experience. Touching the things no one else can, seeing yourself how no one else could.” You stared at the diadem with sentiment. “And knowing that people’s gonna be confused shitless after finding out. I have a pretty boring life otherwise.” He stared at you, clearly disbelieving that your reasoning could be this silly and simple-minded. You felt a bit weird, sharing such deep thoughts with a policeman who could only bring harm upon you at the moment, but somehow, you didn’t feel like a criminal. More of like a child caught playing with their mom’s jewelry when nobody’s home.

But the officer only shook his head, taking his time to collect his thoughts. You felt like he’s judging you in his mind. What could he possibly ask next? If you haven’t thought about what if you get caught? Come on, he must have heard people talk about that thousands of times in his career of a police officer.

Besides, it’s not like it mattered at that point.

“Why don’t you steal them, then?” he asked.

“Because stealing is bad” you deadpanned. “Duh.”

The man was clearly starting to lose his mind at the conversation, and it gave you a bit of satisfaction knowing it was no longer him in charge of the talk. Even though you still had no doubt that he was in charge of the situation as a whole.

“So is burglary. But you’re a skilled burglar. Why won’t you use your skill for something safer? Something that would bring you material benefit?”

“What exactly are you implying, huh?” You tilted your head to the side, genuinely intrigued.

“That if you’re arrested, your only line of getting out of prison sentence may be to trade your freedom for your skill.”

You felt your face heat up. Maybe you were skilled burglar, but making a living out of it? Having someone watch you and make use of something you considered a hobby…? That was messing with your thoughts way too much, and your mind just refused to acknowledge such a possibility.

“Well, I would rather not get any sentence, so since I haven’t stolen anything, why won’t you just let me leave?”

He sighed, scratching the back of his head.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Well” you shrugged. “Have fun with the exhibition then, and I’ll see my way out-”

You managed to make three towards the entry.

Just three steps, not a single one more, before something hit the back of your knees, knocking you down fast and effectively. You let out a small, confused whimper when you fell face first onto the clean, tiled museum floor.

The man crouched down, pressing his knee into your lower back, gently enough to not hurt you, but firmly enough so that you knew that fighting him was not an option. No hurry, no rough or frantic movements. You breathed heavily. Being overpowered so fast and so easily felt surreal.

“Don’t try anything.” Something in his voice felt soothing, as if – once again – you were an animal, but this time caught wandering a bit too deep into the human habitat. Were you to be taken into a warm house and domesticated by the animal rescue, or killed quickly and quietly by the heartless poacher?

He pulled your hands back, and the clinging of handcuffs woke you up from the daze. You recoiled, using all your strengths and pent up energy to try and throw him off yourself.

“Shh… easy there.” He presses you down a bit stronger. You whimpered helplessly.

“Let me…” You tried to stop him from immobilizing your hands, and finally kicked your legs up, managing to somehow knock the handcuffs out of his fingers. “...GO!” It was a mere moment, just one second-long chance to get out of his grasp, and you used it to your advantage, pushing him off yourself and simultaneously getting up on trembling legs. Your pulse was so loud it drowned out his voice – whatever he was saying – and you didn’t bother looking back as you strode towards the exit, quick steps turning into a sprint when you realized he can and will try and catch up to you.

You got in here through a window in the roof and that was the only way out you could rely on.

You ran up the stairs at the back of the exhibition room, and you already heard heavy steps right behind when in your frantic steps, your foot stepped at an unfortunate angle that made you lose your balance. From a chaotic climb up the stairs, suddenly you were tumbling down the high construction, on your way down bumping into the man and sending him falling down along with you.

With a heavy thud, your and policeman’s bodies collapsed onto the floor at the very bottom of the stairs. The entire museum suddenly fell silent.

It took a few very long moments of laying down motionlessly before you dared to move your muscles.

Everything hurt, especially your knees that you must have bruised up while falling. The world was still spinning when you forced yourself up.

That’s when you saw the policeman laying motionlessly a few steps from you, facing upwards and with a deep gash on his forehead that made you gasp at the sight.

“Oh no. Oh fuck, no, no…” You didn’t think twice, crawling to him, although your own head was still spinning and your legs hurt when moving. “Hey, hey, officer, wake up!”

You shook him by his shoulders and the man mumbled something incoherent. You screamed inside, realizing that you could not possibly leave him there. In the long hours that would pass before the museum opened in the morning, the damage his body suffered from could turn irreversible, and you just could not stand the thought of having him on your conscience.

Not wasting any more time, you pulled out the phone from his pants’ pocket. His hand moved slightly, reaching to wave you off, as if trying to prevent you from stealing it, because what other thought could he possibly have about you browsing through his pockets, right? But he was still too weak and confused to impose a threat and you just nudged his hand away, dialing the emergency number.

Your heart was beating fast and you felt nauseous. While giving the details and the address to the operator, you felt like your entire life was falling apart.

“Miss, what is your name?”

You knew there was no way to stop it now, that too much has happened to escape the consequences any longer. Your hands trembled when you answered the question, and once the ambulance is on the way echoed in your ear, you didn’t wait for the further instructions before hanging up on the operator and throwing the phone away from yourself.

You couldn’t think straight any longer. Was there a way for you to still make a run for it?

What if you just left? Went far away, somewhere people won’t know your name? You could just survive.

You were about to get up and run back up your escape route when you felt something grasp your wrist.

You looked down. The officer stared at you way more consciously now, and, although still laying down on the floor, his hold on your wrist was strong.

“Please, let me go…” you whimpered.

“You can’t run forever” he mumbled, voice barely audible. “Just let it happen. You’ll be okay. I promise.”

You wouldn’t listen. If only you had a choice, you would pry his hand off yourself and still run, because the levels of fear and panic in you were way higher than any reason or even consideration for what he meant.

But you heard a clinging of metal when with remains of strength, the man handcuffed your wrist to his own.

You sobbed, feeling tears roll down your cheeks.

With your mind slowly becoming numb, you only sat there in the sound of your own cries, waiting for the ambulance and the police to finally arrive

* * *

One month later.

Back in the days, you’d work at a small convenience store. The job didn’t pay well, and neither did it give you any satisfaction to do. The floor was always dirty beyond the capacity to be cleaned, and the windows were covered with dull advertisements in annoying, fake colors. The only thing that brought a smile to your face was when new alcohol would be delivered, because the few more expensive brands that your store sold had such pretty bottles, and you’d spend the lazy parts of your shift with your vision tunneled on the crystal-like surfaces. Back then, you didn’t think anything as pretty would be achievable for you to look at on a daily basis.

But the tall office building you stood in front of was covered in dark glass that reflected the setting sun in the most beautiful of ways, and as you looked through the windows of the ground floor, the restaurant inside had the prettiest little bulbs as a part of their decoration, and behind the bar counter, there were bottles of alcohol that appeared to be kept clean at all times, and so it was yet another thing that reflected the light. And the building’s windows were clean, too.

So that’s how it could have looked like, you thought to yourself.

It would be a lie to say that you could consider a better job, were you not to have that particular skill of yours. In fact, you were almost certain that you would never even get close to a place like this, if not all that happened. Was it worth all the stress and bruises, on both your body and your mind, that incurred in the process? You couldn’t agree, but neither could you disagree with such a statement.

“You like it?”

You jumped at the voice that sounded out right behind you, almost dropping the newly acquired laptop bag held tightly in your arms.

“Jongin? What are you doing here?”

You don’t think you’ve ever seen him wear a T-shirt before, it was always the uniform. But today the man looked different, and you wondered what brought him to this place. It was also the first time since the museum that you saw him without a band aid on his forehead, and although the scar was still there, you were glad to see it healing well.

“I wanted to see how’s it going. Are they treating you well?”

You snorted at that, although the tips of your ears got a bit red when you realized he came all this way just to see you.

“They’re nicer than I thought, to be honest. I always imagined corporate work would be… more stiff. But I’ve been here for a week, I don’t know if I like it yet. I’m still at work safety trainings, I don’t even know what exactly I’ll be doing” you shrugged, trying to sound unbothered. But for a fact, you were actually quite stressed out with all the things happening recently. “And they pay me better than I thought they will, you know, considering I have no choice but to work there…” you added a bit quieter, lowering your head. You still felt ashamed of the situation you found yourself in. Accepting the job offer was your only way to avoid prison. The judge took into consideration that the harm you’ve done was relatively marginal.

And Jongin’s testimony about you staying with his injured self at the museum also took a great part in getting you as merciful of a sentence as it was only possible in the circumstances given. You still had to report regularly to the local police office (and, frankly, you didn’t mind, because it was the one Jongin himself worked at).

“But I think it will be fun. A bit. Or maybe not too boring” you pondered. “I’ll be joining some team that checks security measures for the insurance provider. It sounds so serious, you know? I mean, I was a convenience store cashier before. This is so fancy in comparison. But how will I even tell my family how I got this job? Hey mom, I broke into a museum but I didn’t steal anything so they hired me” you continued to blabber.

Jongin watched you with a warm smile.

You could tell he’s proud of himself. And even though you didn’t know if it was the best outcome for you, you felt like it was the best outcome for him. He not only caught the burglar he was after – apparently – for months, but he also managed to get them to change their ways.

You had to admit, his personal charm did play a role in making you more eager to cooperate.

“So, did you come here just to ask about my job, or…?”

The man pushed his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“Actually, I wanted to ask if you’d like to eat a dinner together.”

You stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded.

“A dinner?”

Is this a…? No way.

“Yeah, there’s a nice place I wanted to show you.”

“Nicer than that private museum I visited three months ago?” you teased, at which the officer rolled his eyes, letting out a shaky laugh.

“It’s a fancy restaurant that we had an office party at once.” That didn’t sound too encouraging. “They have crystal chandeliers all over the ceiling.”

Your eyes widened in excitement and you almost felt yourself salivate.

“Let’s go there.”

The man laughed warmly.

“Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if I’m not overpaying. You’d be as happy with the lighting section at home depot” he announced, giving back on the teasing jokes you started.

“You won’t tell me there’s a single person on the earth that doesn’t like the lighting section at home depot.”

At that, he laughed even louder, and you weren’t really sure whether you should feel shy or offended. But your face was getting redder with every word he spoke, and your heart was beating just a bit faster at the sound of his laugh. After the circumstances the two of you met in, any interaction now felt surreal.

“What about you?” you decided to change the topic. “You had some days off because of… you know.” You vaguely pointed at his forehead. “Are you a hero now? Are you getting a raise?”

It was Jongin’s time to look awkward, and he scratched the back of his head, frowning.

“Not really, I actually got scolded for the lone investigation and camping at the museum without anyone’s approval. But since things turned out fine, I’m not really in trouble, so I guess it’s okay. It could have ended much worse.”

“If you didn’t catch me?”

“For example.” You weren’t really upset with him for doing his job, but it seemed that he was still a bit nervous mentioning it. “But, I mean, since I did catch you…” he smoothly changed the tone and pointed back at his car parked nearby. “Let’s go, I have the table booked.”

You raised your eyebrows, feeling challenged with his statement.

“Oh, really?” You huffed. “Well, this time I think I could run off pretty easily.”

Jongin pressed his lips together, as if hesitating. Then, with a mischievous smile, he leaned over, nodding downwards. You glanced down, confused, and he tilted up the edge of his jacket, displaying a pair of handcuffs secured by his belt.

You let out a small “oh”.

“Or would you rather I catch you again?”

And although this argument was enough to convince you not to dare him any further, you just had a feeling that the museum would not be the last place Jongin’s handcuffs would end up in use.

Woohoo, two fanfics in one weekend! Hope you guys enjoyed it!

FYI I'll be releasing EXO Writers Masterlist next week, so stay tunned!

#kdiarynet #exo kai #kai x reader #kji x reader #kim jongin #exo jongin #jongin x reader #exo fanfiction #exo policeman au #police exo #officer jongin #vg: kai #vg: exo #vg: fanfiction

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