maze of memories. | lmh + hjs ✓

e p i l o g u e

{one week later}

minho sat on the cold bench in the graveyard, staring at the items he had received. a small, black box and a white envelope were clutched in his shaking hand. carefully setting the box down, he ripped the paper open first and drew out the slip of paper inside.

a bitter chuckle tumbled out of his mouth as he whispered, "you really had no one." he placed the note down and reached for the small box. he took a deep breath before easing the lid off of the container.

"what... is this?" minho tilted his head, confused. "bottles?" four small bottles, each with a clear liquid inside, rested on a velvet plush in the black interior of the case.

drawing one of the bottles out, he examined the label that was stuck on the front. realization spread through him as he set down the object back into its original place.

///

"and you're completely sure this isn't poison or anything. you're completely sure this is a good idea." hyunjin pestered for the hundredth time, causing all four of the hybrids to roll their eyes.

"can we get on with it?" jisung asked. "i kinda want to be human again as soon as possible."

"what if it's toxins that will murder you the second you swallow it?" the taller kept insisting, worriedly twisting his fingers together. "i asked my father's colleague. it's the cure. and why would he lie?" minho calmly stated, not being able to help but laugh at hyunjin's antics.

"i don't know, because they're horrible people?" hyunjin dramatically said, eyeing the bottles in their hands. the clear liquid apparently held the power to reverse the effects of the horrible experiment minho's father had put them through. it had took a lot of convincing on minho's part and a lot of questions on chan's part, but he had eventually agreed to allow them to drink the substance.

"hopefully this can get things to normal." minho muttered, letting out a shaky breath. he wasn't so sure if this would work or not, but hiding it would definitely do no good either. in fact, he had been surprised to even have been invited to his father's will reading.

he still felt unimaginably nervous.

just in case something happened, they were all standing in front of the third floor bathroom, all nervously watching the four as they filed into the cramped space. "we'll be fine." jeongin smiled and shut the door.

minho sighed for the nth time. he feared that they were aimlessly putting way too much trust in him and his stupid father. why would he even leave the cure to him?

pondering about these questions wouldn't accomplish anything, but he couldn't stop the nervousness he was experiencing.

"how's it going?" chan asked, leaning against the wall next to the door. worry was evident in his tone, but he hid it with a smile. "everything okay?"

a faint "we're fine." sounded from inside of the room, followed by a loud scream. all four of them immediately moved forward, but was stopped by a yell.

"we're fine, that was just felix overreacting!" jeongin said, laughing. "it's definitely working!" (a/n: i put the characters through way too much i'm not creating more angst)

they collectively sighed from relief, stepping back and shooting a glance at the smiling minho. "thank god." he whispered, bursting into laughter.

a few moments later, the door creaked open to show a beaming four totally normal boys. "it worked like magic!" jeongin laughed, running his hands through his hair. "i kinda miss my ears though." a playful sigh escaped his lips as they all chuckled at the cute boy.

changbin was already all over felix, examining him and experimentally poking at the laughing other. "i told you, i feel absolutely fine!" he laughed, quickly pecking changbin, who was grinning ear to ear.

"you know, i think you look pretty good." minho smirked as he ruffled jisung's hair. "you can still see the scar though..." a faint red mark ran it's way on the right side of his head where the knife had cut, still slightly visible through the hair.

"it's fine hyung." jisung breathed out. "i'm just grateful to be normal. we can go on dates and go see the movies and eat at restaurants and-"

"let's not get too ahead of ourselves now." the older laughed. "we're still wanted criminals you know."

"wanted criminals can still go on dates, can't they?" he responded, a smile tugging the corners of his lips up.

"don't even start." seungmin deadpanned, rolling his eyes at an eager hyunjin. "i feel fine."

not listening, the taller leaned closer, sweetly pecking his boyfriend's forehead. "are you sure you're okay?" he softly said.

seungmin instantly flared up, swiftly turning away to hide the blush. "i'm okay."

"good. that's all i was hoping for."

///

the bustling italian restaurant had a nice vibe to it, feeling slightly vintage with a wooden aesthetic and a band in one corner. there were many people there, and the group had decided to eat their dinner at the place as some type of celebration.

once seated, they all grabbed their menus and started to look through the choices. "this is so cool, no one's looking at us and we're not constantly living in fear anymore." jisung quietly murmured, sadly smiling. he felt robbed, robbed of all the things he could've done in his childhood if he hadn't been so unlucky.

felix seemed to have noticed the look on his friend's face, for he reached over and said, "focus on now." winking, the boy sat back and continued to look through the dishes, a content look across his face.

and as jisung looked around the table with the people he had come to find a home in, he realized that nothing could ever replace this moment.

so he decided to enjoy right now, instead of mulling over what he could have had.

he cracked a wide smile, naturally reaching for minho's hand. the boy intertwined their fingers, flashing a grin towards his direction before continuing to chat with chan, who was sitting beside him.

with his heart swelling, jisung watched seungmin joke around with jeongin without a care in the world, felix energetically explaining something to a laughing hyunjin and changbin, and the remaining three discussing on what to order.

a tear slipped down his face as he sniffled, gaining the attention of his boyfriend. "what's wrong?" minho asked, tightening his grip on the other's hand. "n-nothing." he giggled through his tears.

"it's just... my head feels clear for the first time in my life."

it was true.

in that moment, han jisung was the happiest he had ever been.

"i'm free." 

the end.

([{}])

i give you permission to beat me up for this horrid epilogue </3

wow it's been a very long journey and i would like to thank you all for reading up until this point / staying with this book and me (i actually never thought i would finish nor publish this book ever lmao)

this was my first book and it could've been a lot better rip

the plot wasn't half bad ig (even though it still sucked) and it gave me lots of writing experience too ! it also has s o m a n y plot holes omg

i hope this was an enjoyable experience for you ! bye <3 

++ 9/10/20 edit

i've hopefully deleted all traces of the character i used before with jihyo ! if there are any pronoun mix-ups please tell me and i'll correct them i'm editing this at almost 12 am on a school night

oh and ppl thought seungmin was pregnant 😭 there's no mpreg in the tags but i guess i could write something along those lines lmk here if you want that