(Don't play the music now !)

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 5 : Fʟᴏᴏʀ ᴏғ Dᴇᴀᴛʜ

2 years later

???'s POV

I am sitting next to my friend, (Y/n), who is at my house to talk and have tea as if it were normal.

"I wonder if Hockney's all right... My precious baby...
- Stop saying that, it's too weird...
- Shh, Mata, it's your fault ! I'm saying this, but... I'm glad he's gone... He can be happier than he was here !"

She smiles and laughs, as if it's a funny story. I sigh and put my hand on the table and make a loud noise to get her attention.

"Can you stop laughing about it ? You're so childish... But... I like you better like this, you looked so weird when you came back here two years ago. And why did you come back ? You didn't talk about it. "

(Y/n) smiles and drinks her cup of tea without saying anything before letting an exhausted sigh come out of her thin lips.

"I just wanted to come home... Don't worry."

I look at her, not convinced, and I end up crossing my arms behind my head and leaning my back against the back of my chair.

"You know, (Y/n)...
You're a bird, like Hockney. You're not a bug that crawls around underground like me. So going out and flying, that's your «Destiny» ..."

~~~~~

Khun's POV

I look at myself in the mirror in my room, currently on the Hell Express, and end up ruffling my long hair slightly before I tied it on a ponytail.

(A/n : It's not my art ! Credits to the author (Author's Twitter : @KUNtakoo) !)

I put on a white shirt and tie it on before putting on a blue warm coat with gloves. Winter has arrived outside and I can't stand the cold at all. Even when I was inside the train, the cold breeze froze the blood and ice crystals sometimes formed in the corridors.

I finally came out after a while and Bam greeted me with a radiant smile.

"Khun ! Are you ready ? The train will be here soon !
- Yep. Then we're really going... To the 43rd floor, the floor of death.
- Yeah... Miss (Y/n) was right in the end, she was sure we'd meet there..."

There's an icy silence without me answering Bam and I finally clear my voice to break this awkward moment.

"Let's go join the team."

Bam's POV

Khun never looked so radiant at the end of the Workshop battle. He hugged me and Rak had come in our embrace, our team was finally reunited.

But... I soon noticed that Khun wasn't doing as well as he wanted to make it seem.

Every morning, he spent time training in his room and I could hear Miss Endorsi screaming that he should stop hogging the bathroom when he took a shower after his training. And it all escalated after Edan agreed to train him.

With time and with his reactions, I came to understand what was troubling him.

The fact that Rachel came up with a plan to kill him is not something he forgot, and deep down inside, I've always denied what he really wanted to do to her, but I can't pretend to be blind to his intentions now.

The second point is surely the most important is Miss (Y/n).

She has been gone for more than 2 long years now. She gave no sign of life and as soon as her name was spoken, Khun's pupils narrowed and he didn't say a word.

It's like talking about a dead body at Khun's eyes. The mere mention of her name would extinguish the smile on his pale face.

That's why everyone on the team promised not to say her name again, even those who didn't know her.

After a while, we ended up joining the rest of the team with Khun. Hwaryun tells us what we have to do to really reach the floor of death, which is to dive into this ocean of "blood".

We had to run into Rachel's team on the way, but we all managed to jump to safety, when I suddenly felt a warmth coming from a familiar light...

I ended up waking up at one of the death-floor entrances, alone with Hockney who had followed me to save me.

~~~~~

(Y/n)'s POV

Mata and I split up after we left his house. I was about to return to the small village of Gallstone, made up of the few dwelling of the guides of the Red Witches species. This is the village where we have to spend our pilgrimage, when we're chosen as a guide by the tower.

However... My case is different. I didn't do a pilgrimage.

I was thinking about the bad events of my past life while walking on the village road when suddenly I hear red witches stirring.

"I heard that Ai met some strangers from outside and was going to bring them here !"

I took a deep breath and caught the older red witch.

"Strangers from the outside you said ?!"

The woman older than me nods her head a little surprised at my reaction and I run home as fast as I can. I search every drawer before I find a red lens that I put on my yellow eye. I untie my hair that was tied up in a ponytail and pull down the hood of my oversized hoodie. I remove the dust from my boots and leggings if there is any.

(A/N : Sorryyy, I only do a fast drawing of this, I'm too tired for drawing-)

My breath becomes heavy and I feel my heart tightening. Why am I so scared ? Maybe it's not them.

But are there a lot of crazy people capable of coming to the floor of death besides them ?

I laugh lightly and put a hand on my heart.

I wonder if they've both changed, that innocent slayer candidate and that stupid blue-haired jerk.

I heard Ai coming back to the village shouting. This girl is even more dynamic than me.

I come out of my wooden house to finally come across a group of five people. Only five people I don't know.

My heart breaks a little bit more. Why was I so hoping to see them again ?

I manage to slip a few words to Ai with a sigh as I try to run away.

"Keep it down Ai, people are trying to sleep here, you know ?
- Sorry (Y/n) !"

The tallest girl in the group, who also seems to be the strongest, looks at me in shock. The boy with the red hair and the tattoo on his cheek gives me a dubious look too.

Why do I look like a freak ?

And after only a few seconds, to the sound of a familiar voice behind me, I felt my blood just go round and round in my veins before freezing, unable to move.

The only thing I could mumble to the group of five was just a few words :

"Don't say anything, please."

~~~~~

Mata's POV

(Y/n) and I split up a while ago. I climbed up Manyleg and I was going to go to my post without doing anything like I usually do. People from outside are rare, so there is often nothing going on here.

Today was going to be a different day. While I was doing my rounds on Manyleg's head, I saw two boys in the distance, and I recognized one of them fairly quickly.

I know one who would have been happy if she had been there.

"Hockney ! You came back !
- Mata...! Help me, my friend is unconscious ! Is he okay ?"

I'm watching the brown boy with him. There's nothing wrong with him and he'll probably wake up soon. I tell him not to worry.

"So you really came back Hockney...
- Yeah... I have something to do here."

He came back here like (Y/n) did two years ago...
After a while, Hockney's friend finally wakes up slowly.

"You've finally opened your eyes!"

The brun boy looks at me a little confused but doesn't seem defensive when he sees Hockney next to me. He explains to him what happened and who I am after a while.

"So... You're Hockney's friend ? Nice to meet you !"

He have a radiant smile on his face. I laugh at his immense politeness. I haven't seen such a polite boy in this tower in a long time !

"You know... I'll help you get into the floor of death without having to pay for your soul."

~~~~~

3rd person's POV

A silence lasts for a long time, and (Y/n) ends up turning around to see the two people behind her.

"Welcome ! And welcome back Hwaryun !"

Hwaryun doesn't say anything. She had already figured out who the person behind the disguise really is. (Y/n)'s eyes finally drift to a man with long blue hair. His hair comes up to his middle back and he's tied up in a ponytail, a bit like Bam when he was Viole.

The man was rather tall and his build was elegant, although he looked strong. There were three lighthouses floating around him and (Y/n) could not be fooled.

Khun Aguero Agnis had changed a lot in those two years.

The red-haired woman's heart was beating fast and Khun's eyes narrowed at the sight of the girl in front of him.

Doubt set in, but he didn't want to say anything. He'd noticed something soon. The lens on his right eye.

But if she was hiding her eye, if she wanted to hide her identity, she must've had a reason, right ?

He did end up saying nothing and joined the group of five, passing by the girl, as if they were just strangers.

They started to leave for a place in the village that Ai pointed out to them.

(Y/n)'s POV

I take off the hood of my hoodie and watch Khun go away with the other people and Hwaryun comes by my side.

"Well. You've changed (Y/n)."

She gave me a smile and I looked at her before staring at Khun's silhouette in the distance again.

"He's changed a lot too. He seems... Much stronger.
- Isn't that what you asked him ? He did it for you after all. Why hide your identity ? You're not going to... Regret it ?"

His silhouette disappears more and more, until I can't see him anymore.

I feel my heart breaking and Hwaryun lets out a laugh.

"Are you ready to make the same mistakes you made in the past ? Are you going to lose him like you lost all the people you loved, (Y/n) (L/n) ?"

My tears hit the ground as bad memories start to fill all the space in my mind.

~~~~~

(You can play the music here !)

7 years before

My name is (Y/n) (L/n), and I'm 16 years old ! I'm a good girl, at least that's what my mother used to say,

The one who adopted me.

My real mother always lived with me outside the tower before a certain day, and she was just as normal as me.

My adoptive mother is a guide. She found me on the second floor of the tower when I was 5 years old, and asked the floor test administrator if she could go up the tower with me without passing the tests, like a guide would.

The administrator agreed, and was going to let me and my mother go, on one condition. That I too become a guide.

She could not say no, so the administrator and she trained me and taught me everything. He dyed my hair red for me, so I said goodbye to my (h/c) hair. I already had a red and yellow eye before that. He told me that he couldn't do anything about it but that it wouldn't be a problem.

With the help of my foster mother and the administrator, I learned how to become a guide, unlike everyone else who was chosen to become one. My adoptive mother couldn't figure out how I learned all this as if it was just math. After all, I learned all the path of the tower separately, one by one, day and night, until I was 15 years old.

I learned to predict the enemy's movements, to know some important things about the people I touched by concentrating, and I also learned how to control shinsu from the administrator.

All this in just 10 years, all because I'm an irregular. I'm sure that the administrator understood this, but my foster mother didn't.

I should have told her.

While I was practicing, my foster mom was talking to me. She would sing me lullabies so I could sleep and the more I grew up, the more she talked to me about sensitive subjects and I did the same.

Once, when I was 7 years old, she told me that my father was a stranger, so that she wouldn't have to tell me that I didn't actually have an adoptive father. So I continued to lie to myself by telling myself that my father was just a stranger.

I learned to call my adoptive mother just "Mom", and my adoptive father as "Dad" even if I don't have one.

After all, my real parents are no longer with us.

I still remember the smell of blood filling my nose, my knees falling to the cold floor and a blinding but warm light embracing me as I was cowering on the ground.

~~~

My training started when I was 5 years old, until I was 15, on the floor of death. The administrator had fled with me and my mother to the 43rd floor to be safe from Jahad's army. So he gave up his position as administrator and left it to his son. Yes, his son, the one who gave up the idea of becoming a High Ranker to succeed his father's post.

The administrator who taught me everything with my mother's help was Hansung Yu's father.

Throughout my childhood, my mother fought Hell Joe. I once fled the floor of death because of a Hell Joe attack when I was 6 years old. But I couldn't do anything on my own. Hwaryun was already an excellent guide when she was 10 years old and she definitely left with the FUG while I had to return to the floor of death. Most of the guides were dead but my mother had managed to escape alive with other women. She was strong enough because of the training I had, she learned a lot too of it.

However, the only two people who taught me everything in my life also left me a few months ago. I have to hide, far, far away from those who killed the people I cared about.

Far away from the Jahad's army.

~~~~~

I feel the tears that keep running down my cheeks and I wipe them away, regaining my calm as I can. Hwaryun is right. I'm strong enough to run away somewhere now, not like I did when I was 6 years old. I won't let anyone die for me like my foster mom and Mr. Yu did.

"You have a point. Hwaryun, you always knew the right things to say to me... Really, thank you."

She smiled at me and patted me on the back before she took something off : My contact lens on my right eye.

"Go on. You've got some cleaning up to do with your real team, there's a lot of dirt on this floor."

I'm running as fast as I can to catch up the rest of the team.

Looking behind me, I saw Hwaryun out of the corner of my eye checking information on her pocket about something that looked like a spoon.

I don't linger on it and after a while running, I see the long blue hair in the distance.

What kind of fashion is that anyway ? You'll have to cut your hair after this, Khun.

I smile to myself and take a breath for screaming.

"HEY ! STUPID JERK, ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO LEAVE WITHOUT ME ?!"

The whole team looks back at me and I can see Khun smiling. He'd realised who I was, it was sure coming from him.

I run up to him and take him in my arms.

"You can be a fool. What if I hadn't come?
- It wouldn't have been my problem"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the rest of the little group laughing, trying not to make too much noise, even though they'd died laughing.

~~~~~

Bonus :

" « It wouldn't have been my problem » - HE PLAYS IT SO MUCH !!"

Endorsi just heard the news and is dying of laughter. Yuri, who is the one who told her because she was there, laughs with her.

"BUT YES !! WHAT'S THAT AGAIN ? HE CAN'T MAKE HER FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM SO HE BECOMES A TSUNDERE MWHAHAAHA !"

The two princesses of Jahad are laughing with all their lungs and Anak, who is in between, is drinking her tea without saying anything but they're too much noise, too much noise for her. She breaks the cup in her hand and starts to scream.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, BE HAPPY NOW HE'S NOT GONNA HOG THE BATHROOM AFTER HIS HOURLY FUCKING TRAINING !!"

Yuri coughs and looks at Anak with a smirk and Endorsi understands directly what she's thinking.

"That's what we hope, it remains to be seen, maybe he will learn a new way to train. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"

~~~~~

Hello everybody !

Ups- The bonus 👀 Don't blame me guys-

The chapter is long and I updated an another time after 1-2 days- I have to stop it, I work too hard lolol
The chapter can be difficult to understand, but if you want, I can explain what we know about (Y/n)'s story in an another part- We don't already now everything lolol
Oh and, I change Hansung Yu's story a bit but don't blame me-
Do you want Khun to keep his long hair a little more longer ? I can do what you want-

Thanks for reading ! 💕