A House Made of Cards {Ateez au}

♧Prologue #7 - Yunho♧

Ever since Yunho was a young child he dreaded the day he would take over his mother's position as the blue witch.

He was young but old enough to understand that his mother was hated and lonely. He didn't want that.

As he grew older, his mother taught him about the different witches and their powers. As he learned more about the blue witch, he hated it even more.

Im Nayeon was his mother. Well, not his biological mother, but he never knew any other mother but her. So as far as he was concerned, Nayeon was his mother.

The second Yunho turned fifteen years old, his mother wanted to transfer her powers. He didn't want them, but he didn't blame her for trying to get rid of them, they had nearly driven her crazy.

The ceremony was nothing special, it was over quickly and he was told to start practicing the second he woke up. He hated having these powers, but his mother seemed so much happier now that she didn't have to carry this burden. He would hold these powers for the rest of his life if it made his mother happier.

Having the powers was hell. He was basically the Grim Reaper, killing humans for power. Wherever he went, he was considered an outcast and hated for being the human embodiment of death.

The screams and cries of the people he's killed echo through his head and haunt his dreams when he tries to sleep

He couldn't take it any longer. He needed these powers gone.

Yunho ran as fast as he could back home to his mother. "Mama!" He called.

Nayeon walked toward him quickly, reaching up to give him a hug. "What do you need, honey," she responded.

"Is there a way I could get rid of these powers? Can I give them to someone else?" Yunho questioned.

Nayeon's smile turned into a sad expression. "You can't, Yunho, not until you're older," she told him sadly.

"Like how old?" he asked desperately.

"My age, Yunho," she responded.

Yunho's eyes widened. "I can't be stuck like this for that long!"

"Yunho you have to," She pleaded.

"Mama! People throw rocks at me when I leave the house! People hide their kids when I walk by! I can't live like that!" He cried.

"I'm sorry-"

"Why would you give this to me?"

"I had to give it to somebody!" She argued.

"Find some stranger on the street! Someone who wouldn't mind doing this!"

"The only people who would be okay with killing others are criminals, I can't give these abilities to criminals."

"You call these abilities!? This is a curse!" Yunho's eyes began to turn a bright shade of blue as he argued with his mother, the color getting more intense as they continued on.

Nayeon noticed this quickly, begging Yunho to calm down. Yunho only continued to yell.

"Yunho, stop!" Nayeon yelled.

The yell triggered something in Yunho, and all the anger, sadness, loneliness, and betrayal came out. He let out a large yell and his vision was blocked by a blue flash.

When he calmed down enough, he opened his eyes. In his hand, a blue glowing scythe rested. But that wasn't the part that scared him the most.

There was blood dripping from the blade of his weapon. In horror, he looked to the ground, his mother was lying there, in a pool of her own blood. Her throat cut.

Yunho watched with silent tears as a blue, glowing sphere of energy floated from his mother's body toward the blue gem at the base of the blade.

A sign that his mother was dead, he took her soul. He killed his mother.

He killed his mother.

Yunho collapsed next to her, the scythe disappearing. He held her body and sobbed, apologizing over and over even though he knew she couldn't hear him.

He'd killed the woman that took care of him his entire life.

After some time, he stood up and wiped his tears. He couldn't be here any longer, he needed to leave.

So he ran.

He ran until his legs felt like they would fall off and he felt like he would collapse. He landed himself in the middle of a field, where he sat and cried.

He didn't know how he was supposed to live like this. The blue witch can't die.

Yunho would know.

He tried.

A lot.

So he was stuck like this. He would have to learn to live as the blue witch, without his mother.

++

Yunho had been living in the woods by himself, ever since that day. He was seventeen now, he hadn't had any human interaction since he killed his mother.

God, he missed his mother.

He was returning from gathering logs for fire when he noticed his front door was wide open.

He never leaves his door open.

He slowly approached the house, summoning his scythe in hand. When he stepped in, he noticed two men having a drink at his dining room table.

"Excuse me?" He said, trying to sound threatening.

"Oh! Jeong Yunho! We've been waiting for quite a while," the taller of the two said, smiling.

One of the men was tall and thin with white hair, while the other was slightly shorter with black hair and rounder cheeks, clearly still a kid.

"Who are you?" Yunho demanded.

"Park Seonghwa," the white-haired man said, reaching a hand out to shake.

"And why are you here?" Yunho asked.

"I've noticed something, Yunho," Seonghwa began, leaning back on the table, a lazy smirk on his face. "People are scared of you."

"Thanks, I didn't know that," Yunho snapped, sarcastically. This man was getting on Yunho's nerves.

"Yunho, why don't we give them something to be scared of?"