purple cosmos || seongjoong

the witch

"We got a live one." His oldest brother grinned, slapping a firm hand onto him. Hongjoong tried not to move a muscle, but his body betrayed him as his shoulder wavered just a little at the force.

"A live witch?" Hongjoong asked, biting the corners of his mouth as his brother smiled.

"That's right. Picked it up in Harlington. Father's pulling it from the wagon right now. Guess what? It's a male."

"A male?" He blinked. "Has father ever caught one before?"

"A rare one, right?" His hyung laughed, almost breathless. The sunlight setting behind him set the Kim's field alight in a bright autumn glow. Hongjoong could barely see it with how much he was hanging onto his brother's words. His fingers twitched

"Father's first one in a long time." Hongsik continued. "You should see it. It'll be good for you to experience what it's like seeing one in person."

"Right now?" Hongjoong stuttered, excitement and anxiety both threatening to burst from his chest in a heavy wave.

"Come," his hyung said. "We can go together."

Hongjoong trailed behind his brother. All chores were forgotten as he peppered his brother with questions on the way back up to the house.

"How did you catch him? Is he powerful? Was it dangerous?"

His brother laughed, shaking his head. "I'm sure father would want to be the one to tell you. To be honest with you, I wasn't even in the room when it happened. It was totally by chance that the anima crystals picked up that someone in the inn we were staying at was a witch."

"Really?" Hongjoong's eyes were wide as they approached the old stone home. It was a dull, yet mighty building, big enough to house all of their siblings and a few maids comfortably. The setting sun glowed against the building's walls as the horses were taken back to the stable by some of their father's men.

Hongjoong saw their father in the distance and quickly approached him, eager to hear the man's story. His father, he had realised quite some time ago, seemed to grow more and more grey hairs each time he came home. The grey had almost defeated the black by now, but the hair still sat atop a tall, heavy man with a strong warrior's build.

"Hongjoong." His father greeted. Each time he came home Hongjoong too used to notice that his own height slowly came closer and closer to meeting that of his father. He used to think that, like Hongsik, the day would eventually come that he would be eye-level with his father when he came home with a witch to burn. He was past such fantasies now, but the thought still entered his mind whenever his father and his men returned. He raised his neck to meet his father's eyes.

"Is there really a male witch there?" He said, spying the small wagon several feet away. It was an old thing, rust and splinters covering it from head to toe, but an obvious lump underneath an old blanket was a dead giveaway.

"Definitely." His father said. "The crystals never lie. We found it a few days ago. Luckily it seems one of the powerless males, but we're not taking any chances."

Their father approached the wagon, two sons at his heels. When they got closer, Hongjoong realised that the blanket wasn't just covering the creature inside. It had been tied up within the blanket, like it was already a corpse. It certainly seemed like one, stiff and unmoving, until Hongsik reached both hands out to untie the blanket from it's form. The creature flinched at the touch, wiggling slightly, but not outwardly struggling.

Hongjoong had never seen a living witch, only the dead bodies of those his father took home to burn.

"It's best they burn on hallowed ground." His father had explained to his younger self.