⚔︎ Double Edged Swords ⚔︎

Shadow

"Hyung!!!" Seungkwan and Chan are running into the room when they smell a familiar scent, jumping onto the older omega with tears streaming down their faces. Wonwoo, Mingyu, and Hansol ran to hug Seungcheol, happiness enveloping them. But suddenly, they freeze.

Mingyu turns and sees Seokmin; he bawls even more. The others follow the tallest. "I thought I- I smelled you three days ago!" The tallest points his finger at the beta. "How are you alive?!"

With a calm voice, Seokmin says, "Everyone, let's sit down and discuss everything I have to say." Joshua's gaze follows the beta who pulls him up. Looking at the younger up close, he is stronger and has a bigger build. He wipes the tears away, giving a comforting squeeze on the omega's shoulders. The American male reaches to touch his face with his non-bloody hand. The touch is warm and real.

Once everyone settles down in the lounge, with Junhui calmed down, Jeonghan hugs the Chinese male the entire time (Minghao understands the situation so he's not concerned about Junhui's wellbeing.) and Joshua with a wrapped gauze around his arm. Jihoon is snipping his nails away in annoyance.

"Before I met Joshua, I discovered I had a twin. Boss kept him away from my knowledge. His name was Dokyeom. We went out and caught up with each other and things were mending well. He's more serious and cautious unlike me." He chuckles. The Ascenders and Joshua are shocked to discover Seokmin had a twin brother. "He has a scent that some may mistake for mine but it's actually hibiscus. Slight tone differences in our voices, but we're almost exact copies of each other. Then when I met Joshua," His fingers find their way and link with Joshua's, he knows his lover is overwhelmed with this knowledge. "It was the best thing ever. We had the best times and I never felt so happy in this depressing world. Later on, my brother revealed to me he was diagnosed with cancer. He couldn't endure the pain for a while. He told me he just wanted to shoot himself and end it. But he stayed by my side through the pain..." Seungcheol gives him a look to go on. It seems that Seokmin had already explained everything to the two oldest people in the room. "That is until he told me Joshua was targeting me and that day was when I was supposed to die. Going by Jisoo was just a cover name. I didn't believe him. And he proposed that he would pretend he was me. He would ask Joshua to meet up somewhere secluded. Old apartments. Before they met up, he wanted to alter Joshua's senses with just a little spike, nothing too serious. So he wouldn't pick up a slight difference between our personalities and scents. That night, before he entered the apartment, I rubbed my scent on him just in case..." He swallows deeply.

"You witnessed everything... didn't you?" Joshua looks down, in disbelief. The beta nods.

"I was completely shocked and heartbroken... I heard and saw everything. My brother took his life to protect me... but I also think he wanted his pain to end. He would know that at least I'm safe and he'd rest in peace." He wipes his tears away.

"So you hid for all of these years?" Minghao asked, voice broken.

"I had no choice, I had to become my brother. No one sensed a difference, they didn't care as long as we got our jobs done."

"Why did you wait for so long?" Mingyu blows his nose for the nth time.

"I had to wait until the boss would die." He answered. "It wasn't safe for any of us. But I knew when the time was coming. I hid in the shadows of Seungcheol and Minghao for a while. I heard about their runaway and Junhui's rescue. I knew boss wouldn't live long if the boss of Ataraxia would discover one of his children he had saved had been put through hell again."

"Yeah," Jeonghan huffs, carding his hand through Junhui's hair. "He found out where Seungcheol and I were... he's sneakier than ever."

Seokmin nods. "When the time came, I recruited Seungcheol and Jeonghan. Though it wasn't a nice greeting from the previous leader of Ataraxia's, here we are now."