Haunted Fountain | Stray Kids Monster AU

The last place you looked for

-Explain yourself, Seungmin! Minho demanded taking his seat on the floor to listen carefully to the explanation.

The Yeti were around here since ice age. They passed unnoticed through history for the simple fact that they were peaceful.

They never bothered anyone. And their powers were helping the North and South Poles.

Seungmin was born in South. His parents were the best he could have asked. They taught him beautiful songs and lullabies..That's how he discovered his voice was actually very good.

Their peace didn't last long tho. The pirates came and killed every single one of them. They took everything. Furr, leather, bones and meat. All they could have sell for money.

But they kept one alive when they saw how his parents tried to protect him. Seungmin lived the next seven years mourning his family, being locked up on a ship. He was used mostly for dirty work, like sinking the enemies boats or even the marine's.

He hated his captain more than anything in his miserable life. Every night he imagined how he would kill him, cut his head off and throw it to the sharks. He just couldn't stand the thought of serving the killer of his parents.

The last straw was when he entered captain Yang's cabin and saw a carpet made from his father's furr. That was it.

Seungmin changed the course of the ship in the middle of the night straight to the lake of the mermaids. In the morning, when the captain noticed, Seungmin pushed him over the board.

That was the last time he saw him. He gave the captain's hat to Hongjoong and left to the city where he lived years after years from music.

Centuries of him being alone, watching monsters being killed by humans...

Then he realised that humanity deserved a dose of reality. He wanted to show the world that monsters existed.

They all listened to Seungmin's story in silence. When he finished talking, Jeongin took the dagger from the floor and pointed it to Seungmin's neck.

-Where did you get this? he asked with such crazy eyes.

-That's the only thing my captain gave me. Such a sad ending for him.

-Do you know what happened to him after he fell into the water?

-He probably drowned and died, replied Seungmin not getting where was Jeongin going with that.

-Try again. He got caught by a mermaid, raped, drowned and eaten. How do I know that? Because your captain was my father, Jeongin finally revealed with glassy eyes.

-So I was the reason you were born. You should thank me.

-I wasn't born because of you! My mother would have eventually found another man to mate with. I was born because she wanted a slut to bring to her human men. I was born to be her doll! You think you had it hard? Try living my life!

-At least your mother is alive! yelled Seungmin back.

-Can we all agree all our lives sucks? shouted Minho.

-Oh, I'm sorry, your Majesty. Is living in a palace with servants hard enough for you? Seungmin lashed at Minho.

The latter shut his mouth and fall with his back on the floor, lost in his thoughts.

-And you! Seungmin pointed to Jisung angry. You think you've played smart hiding from us that you're a hydra?

While Seungmin was arguing with Jeongin and yelling at poor Jisung, Changbin followed Minho to the bookcase.

-What did you read all this time? the dragon asked.

-While you were all looking for clues through the books, I noticed a series of books. But the volumes weren't in order. I read them all, then noticed the order they were put on the shelf in was meant to be a clue. The initial of every title forms Hyunjin's name. So I reread it in that order.

-And?

-It's a story about a treasure hunter named San. It seems like he was cursed after finding the wolves hideout. He is the first werewolf noted in history. He wanted to become human again, so he started looking for the cure. He travels the world and meets so many people in his journey. And despite the amount of clues he gets, it seems impossible to find what he is looking for. One of the clues is "the last place you looked for". The last book shows him forming the werewolves tribe. So in the end he couldn't find it, but he learned to accept himself the way he is. Now, if you read the volumes in Yeji's order, you realise the first volume is placed last. And the order she is using is: Horizon, You, Utopia, Not too late, Just right, Inception and Neverending story, which was supposed to be the first one.

-If you read the first book last, how would it make sense? asked Changbin looking at Minho's sparkly eyes.

-It does. Because the beginning shows him as human, in his home...this house was his home. And if the clues were right, the last place he looked for is where he started.

-Right here... The cure is in this house.

-Yes! Yeji knew that. We just need to find it in five days.

-You're even smarter than Seungmin, Changbin told Minho seeing how excited was to search for more clues between the pages.

-I just like to read.

-Why didn't you tell them about what you discovered?

-They seem busy fighting and for them I'm just the annoying prince.

-So how do we start? We need to find that cure as fast as possible.

-Well, something lingered on my mind since we arrived here. Hyunjin didn't attack Jisung the first time they met. Why was that? After all, he is supposed to be hostile with every monster or human that enters this house.

-Jisung's snake...Changbin concluded..

-Exactly. Let's follow Pablo, shall we? he asked pointing to the pet creeping on the floor to the fireplace.

-If you're not looking for Santa, this sure is the last place you would be looking for, said Changbin finding a hidden door buried in ash.

Him and Minho entered a small closet. Chnagbin used his flames to make light and Minho found endless piles of newspapers.

"The neighbourhood is still shocked after the Hwangs' tragedy. The parents were found with their necks broken, holding hands in a puddle of blood. The cause of their deaths is still unknown. The older boy refused to give the police relevant information, saying that it was all the ghost's work. The bodies of his sister and brother were never found." Minho read out loud, felling his throath going dry.

-The parents must be the ones Chan said he met.

-Wait! There's more.

"50 years later after the terrible crime in Hwang's mansion, two skeletons were discovered under the wooden floor. It is assumed they were the children that went missing the day their parents died. Therefore, the curse of the ghost becomes stronger as the older son was never actually seen leaving the house, people still assuming he is the ghost who killed his family."

-Do you think he did it? asked Changbin feeling shivers down his spine.

-I can't really tell. But he collected these newspapers for sure. He is suffering.