A House Made of Cards {Ateez au}

Chapter 19 - Beginning of the end

TW major character death

When a witch dies/loses powers their magic leaves them and forms a crystal

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Wooyoung held Yeosang as they lay in Wooyoung's bed, Yeosang's wrists still tied and his ankle still chained to the bed, trapping him. Yeosang hasn't spoken a word since the incident with Seonghwa. He hasn't eaten or drank either, he refused to move. He didn't want to, he couldn't.

His body was so bruised so broken. He was in pain. Everything hurts. If he moved, pain would blossom and spread, bringing tears of pain to his eyes.

The worst part was that he couldn't even heal himself. Seonghwa made sure of that.

"Yeosang," Wooyoung said softly, stroking the boy's hair. "Why aren't you talking to me?" His voice was so sad, so pitiful.

Yeosang felt something akin to guilt. He hated it. Why did he have to feel guilty for a man who hurt him so badly?

"Talk to me, Yeo, please," Wooyoung begged, staring at Yeosang's bruised and broken body. He didn't like when his boy was like this. He wanted the sweet Yeosang back.

"Yeo, please," Wooyoung's never begged for anything in his life. Normally he'd just threaten his way into getting everything. But Yeosang was different, he would do anything for Yeosang. Including humiliating himself by begging.

Yeosang never moved, never spoke. The only movement coming from his body was a single tear sliding down his face.

Wooyoung stared at the boy, a sudden realization washing over him. He frowned. He broke him. The only thing he ever wanted was for his boy to be with him. He finally got him, he finally had all he wanted, and he broke it. He ruined it. Always ruining everything, he can never do anything right, especially when it comes to Yeosang.

For the first time in a very, very long time, Wooyoung cried.

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Mingi was nervous when Hongjoong landed the jet outside the villain's base. Fighting the other team was something he hated, he was never able to win.

"Remember, we are here with the intent to kill. We get Yeosang out and kill the other witches," Hongjoong said, turning his chair around to face the other three boys.

Mingi looked to Jongho with sympathy. "I'm sorry that you have to do this, I know you were on their team."

Jongho shrugged and laughed a little. "I don't care about any of them, I'll help you kill them."

Mingi nodded gratefully.

"We all have our targets," Hongjoong continued after briefly looking at Jongho and Mingi. "San, Jongho, you go for Wooyoung, Mingi, you get Yunho, I'll go for Seonghwa."

That did not make Mingi feel good. Fighting Yunho never ended well. He normally ended up stabbed and bleeding out.

Well.

He would just have to deal with it, his teammate was more important.

He would just have to cross his fingers and hope they all made it out of this.

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Yunho was sitting on his bed, scrolling through TikTok. It was amusing to him every time a video came up about him and his team. Some creators were crying over family members lost to the trio, some were complimenting their looks, and others were begging their government to do something.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud at the last one. The government doesn't care about them, no one cares about them. No one cares. No one cared about him just as no one cares about them.