Long Journey || ATEEZ

End Of The Beginning

"That's it. That's the last fucking straw," Seonghwa growled as he unlocked the apartment door and walked in. "We're leaving."

"What?" Hongjoong paused from bending down to take his shoes off. "What do you mean?"

Seonghwa was interrupted from answering by a very enthusiastic San making his way over to greet his hyungs, though his cheerful manner soon dissipated when he caught the grave looks on the other two demons' faces.

"What's the matter?" San asked, both his manner and tone doubtful – scared, even.

"We're leaving. Pack your bags," Seonghwa said.

"Hey, hey – hold up a second," Hongjoong said, pulling off his boots. "You're going too fast. It's not that big of a deal, okay?"

"It may not be to you, but it is for me," Seonghwa said, a tad aggressively, walking briskly into the apartment room. "I've had enough of his bullshit."

San gasped involuntarily at the cuss word, having never had seen his Seonghwa-hyung so aggravated before.

"But Seonghwa! I can handle it, okay? It's not too much!"

"What's going on?" San demanded, frustrated at the lack of context. "What did he say to you guys?"

"He told Hongjoong to kill Park Ryunam," Seonghwa said, jerking a finger in Hongjoong's direction as he started picking up some of his belongings. San was momentarily confused, not knowing who this 'Park Ryunam' was, but either way, his eyebrows creased as he realised what it meant.

"And so?" Hongjoong retaliated. "I'm an assassin too now, so what about it? This was inevitable. Besides, once we become pirates there won't be much avoidance from killing either."

"It's too soon," Seonghwa spat, walking briskly to the other side of the room to pick up his books. His face grew bitter. "He's doing it on purpose. He's trying to corrupt you. He knows that some demons can get addicted to killing. He doesn't even have a proper reason to kill that guy, Ryunam." Seonghwa paused, and turned to Hongjoong. "I'm not letting him get to you like he got to me, okay?" he said, his voice softening and his eyes losing that hard edge it had just moments before. "I'm not letting that happen. To either of you," he said, turning to San as well.

San nodded slowly, his face forlorn.

"We're leaving," Seonghwa said firmly. "Tomorrow. As early as we possibly can – before he can catch on."

"Alright," Hongjoong sighed, giving in.

"Come on, hyung," San said. "At least we have some time to pack all the things we need to take, eh?"

"I guess."

"I'm happy as long as I have Shiber and you guys," San said, holding up the plushie, his smile – dimples, scrunched nose and all – shining on his face again.

Hongjoong couldn't help but let a smile relieve his face, and he ruffled San's hair affectionately. San beamed back, and in the background, Seonghwa continued to pack up their things.

* * *

San woke up extremely early the next morning. He just couldn't stay in bed any longer. Seonghwa-hyung seemed to have finally found peace of mind, as he was no longer tossing and turning restlessly like he normally did, so San carefully got up and made his way out of the bedroom, softly closing the door behind him.

San knew that nothing interesting was on the TV this early in the morning, so didn't bother turning it on. He settled on the sofa, hugging Shiber close, and stared out the window, and the city below. Cars wound their way through the twisting and turning roads, and floods of people filtered through the streets. What seemed like ages ago, San had been living on those very dirty streets himself. He'd had no home, no family, no friends, no hope.