Magic Storm: Chapter 12
Sep. 11th, 2016 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matsu1nino
Pairing: Matsumiya, hints of other pairings
Genre: AU, Dark Fantasy
Disclaimer: Arashi is not mine.
Summary: In their fifth year at Hogwarts, amdist the buzz and excitement of the upcoming Tri-Wizard Tournament, Jun discovers just how far he will go to salvage his relationship with Nino.
Author's Note: Takeuchi Yuko-san's words in Chapter 6 were foreshadowing.
Chapter 12
Jun was not so concerned with landing gracefully as he was not breaking a leg when he was virtually thrown through the gateway, the ground vanishing beneath him and leaving him to plummet through the darkness. His body rolled as he hit the stone floor, scraping at his skin and tearing rips in his clothing. Aching everywhere from the painful landing, Jun heaved himself to his feet with great struggle. From the way his side spasmed agonizingly even at the slightest movement he was fairly certain he had broken at least one rib.
One look at his surroundings made it obvious to Jun that he was no longer in the labyrinth. The network of narrow hedges had turned to a wide and dark clearing, with the same mist he had seen slinking above the hedgerows now snaking over the earth around his ankles. Glancing back up briefly at where he had fallen from, he saw the gateway had closed off to leave nothing but an unbroken sheet of black encircling the clearing.
The fog danced over the stone with unnatural almost lifelike movement, recoiling away from Jun’s feet as he stepped over the rock in the direction of the faint glow. The outline of the cup was still present in the distance but it appeared much further from him now than it had before passing through the gateway to this eerie clearing. Jun did what he could not to overthink it and just focus on getting to the cup as quickly as he could. The sooner he grabbed it and won this tournament, the sooner he could escape this godforsaken place and get back to reality. His friends were waiting for him; Nino was waiting for him. He wouldn’t break his promise.
Jun limped across the clearing with pained but confident strides. He could practically taste victory with every staggered step that brought him closer to the iridescent glow. The cup’s outline was clearer now. He could even make out the detailed engravings etched into the translucent vessel. Standing with the cup before him, without even touching it yet, Jun could visualize his own name spelt out over the crystal. He pictured himself holding it high over his head in front of the school while they cheered in celebration of his victory.
A shadow fell over the cup. Shaken from his fantasizing, Jun drew back as the shadow expanded to consume the entire trophy upon the pedestal and the ground surrounding it. It coiled around him like a snake, avoiding the space where he stood just as the mist had done. Jun spun around, his eyes tracking the unnerving movement of the shadow when he spotted two silhouettes advancing towards him from the other side of the clearing. At first he was sure it was the other champions who had uncovered the location of the tri-wizard’s cup just as Jun had done, until the two silhouettes divided into four. In a daze, Jun observed as Toma, Sho, Ohno and Aiba spread out in the clearing around them. Each appeared slightly paler than usual, their skin taking on a sort of bluish glow, but Jun hardly noticed, too shocked to see them here. He had been convinced the third task would not include any other students aside from the champions. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes clear to ensure he was not seeing things. His friends did not speak but smiled at him, each of them showing no uncharacteristic behaviour. Jun was certain it was them.
Their sudden arrival distracted Jun from the shadow still winding its way across the stone from the cup that was now almost encased entirely in darkness. It unravelled itself from around Jun and streaked towards the first of the newcomers. Jun watched in horror as it rose up behind Aiba. The darkness stitched together to take on an almost human looking form, raising a long black finger to where its lips would be if its face held any features, its other hand coming to rest on the far side of Aiba’s head. Aiba was still smiling obliviously at Jun, grinning the same way Jun had seen him do right before all three of the tasks. It was the last image he had of his sunny friend before the hedges had sealed him in the maze. The shadow figure leant in to Aiba with both hands on either side of his head, face pressed against blank face. With one sharp twist and a horrific snap that echoed sickeningly throughout the clearing, Aiba’s body fell limp to the ground with a soft thud.
Jun screamed and ran to his friend. The shadow vanished before he could even get close. He crouched next to Aiba, staring down at the smile still painted across his face that seemed to hold much more sadness than it had before now that Jun was at this close distance. Grasping Aiba’s cold hand, Jun dared to glance back over his shoulder at where the others were still standing cemented where they were. He couldn’t understand why they weren’t rushing over. Their smiles had fallen a little but they continued to stare at Jun with unblinking eyes.
In a mad scramble to his feet, Jun cried out in warning when he saw the shadow rise up behind Toma and hold him in the same way it had Aiba. He had barely reached the point in the clearing between all his scattered friends. The shadow being made short work of Toma and faded into the ground again, leaving Jun to scan the clearing between his two remain friends to determine which of them it would appear behind next. He did all he could not to look directly at the corpses lying between Sho and Ohno. He violently shook away the tears clouding his vision. He could not keep them from falling but knew if he were to look at his friends lying dead he wouldn’t be able to stop his legs from giving way beneath him.
His head was spinning the more he twisted back and forth between his two still standing friends. He almost missed the chilling form that loomed behind Sho. A black limb gripped him over the shoulder to clutch his head, the other stretching a hand out over his mouth as if to conceal a scream. Sho’s neck snapped and his body crumpled, the shadow moving on to the final victim. Jun collapsed, not wanting to look up to watch the final death he knew he would be helpless to prevent. He felt something grip his chin to lift his head, an invisible force prying his eyes open to witness the kill. Only when Ohno had fallen lifeless to the ground did the unseen hand release Jun to let his head drop back down. He wept, tears falling freely. Fists pounded at the ground that grazed the skin of his hands until they were red raw.
“Who are you?” he seethed while he stared down at the ground. His tears were stinging the scrapes on his cheek and neck but he couldn’t care less. He forced himself to look up, feeling the shadow being approach him from behind.
“Everyone has it, but no one can lose it” it hissed back with a sadistic laugh, reaching out a hand to stroke at the back of Jun’s neck. Jun shuddered at the icy touch. The voice sounded as though it had been spoken through a muffler. Distorted and stifled, it held just a touch of familiarity to it that he couldn’t quite place.
Jun stared up through the strands of hair falling over his eyes at the shadow pacing in circles around him. With every step the darkness obscuring its form lifted little by little. Long fingers entwined in Jun’s hair, hauling him up from the ground with surprising strength to hold their faces close. Jun glared at the reflection staring back at him with a fascinated glint in eyes that seemed so much darker than Jun had ever seen his own. It was one of the several differences he could distinguish on this near identical being. While Jun knew his face bore faint scars that would be visible at this distance, his mirror image had nothing but a smooth almost white skin that vastly contrasted to his jet black hair coiffed to perfection. Jun’s own held hints of brown and was most certainly a mess after all he had endeared in this task. The eyes of his reflection contained an evil that sent a shiver down Jun’s spine just by looking into them. Malicious and venomous, they were eyes that mirrored the deeds he had executed.
“Who do I look like?” his darker-self whispered viciously. Jun shook his head, refusing to accept it.
His reflection stared past him at something in the clearing beyond them. Somewhere in the back of Jun’s mind was yelling at him not to look but his head moved on its own accord, gaze landing on where Nino stood behind them. His heart clenched. Struggling out of the grip of his dark replica, Jun tore across the distance and threw himself at Nino, enveloping him in a tight hug and pressing himself so firmly against his boyfriend he could hear his beating heart. Nino’s arms came up to hold him for a moment or two before pulling away slightly. He gazed up at him with a typical smirk, almost looking as if about to make some snarky remark about Jun’s possessiveness. Any other time it would probably annoy Jun to hear his boyfriend make fun of his devotion towards their relationship but right now it was welcome. He almost needed to hear it just to listen to the sound of Nino’s voice. Instead of putting his sharp tongue to use as he usually would, Nino turned to glance behind them at where Jun’s mirror image was still standing.
“Kazu, don’t!” Jun shouted but his warning came too late. His reflection stretched out a hand, dragging Nino’s body towards him as though with an invisible tether. His body came to an abrupt halt; hovering mid-air, limp like a ragdoll. Flashes of his other friends and the horrifying ends they met at the hands of this shadow whirled through Jun’s mind. He darted forward just as the reflection clenched his fist and gave a sharp tug. Nino’s upper body snagged harshly as his heart was pulled from within his ribcage and ripped out of his chest in a gory eruption of blood, flesh and bone. The grip holding him in the air slackened to let him fall right when Jun had almost reached them.
Jun scooped up the lifeless body in his arms, gazing into his tear-glazed eyes and lips upturned into a permanent half smirk. Fresh tears fell over the tracks dried onto his cheeks as Jun pressed his face into Nino’s shoulder, crying and begging for him to wake. No longer could Jun hear his heartbeat, knowing that his boyfriend’s bleeding heart lay in the palm of the shadowed figure observing them from afar.
“I’m you, Jun” his reflection whispered. Jun shuddered at the voice sounding right next to his ear, despite not feeling or seeing his mirror image anywhere near him. “You just don’t see it yet.”
His hand that had been clinging desperately to Nino’s back suddenly dampened with the sickening feel of blood soaking into his palm. His clenched his hand tighter around Nino, freezing when he felt something pulsating and wet in his grip. He peeled himself away and very nearly dropped Nino when he saw the heart clutched in his hand saturated with the blood of his boyfriend.
He let out a startled cry as he threw the heart away from them, holding himself closer to Nino even as he felt the blood seeping into his clothes from the scarlet-stained ground beneath him.
“No!” he shrieked. “You killed him, not me!”
“You are me” the voice echoed all around him like it was speaking from inside his head. “And I am you. We are one in the same.”
Jun threw his wand out blindly, firing at wherever the voice sounded loudest but mostly hoping to simply drown it out. He was losing his mind to this torture. The cup caught his eye from where it was cloaked in darkness. He cast a summoning spell towards the vessel, watching through a haze as it flung itself over to where Jun was crouched with Nino’s body. He caught it and vanished in a swirl of red and black smoke but not before hearing the final warning whispered by his dark reflection, words which echoed in his mind even as he was transported back to reality.
“You cannot deny me forever, Jun. I will find you. I will always find you.”
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Date: 2016-09-12 12:31 am (UTC)Whatttt is happening?! They're not dead for real are they? Omg ;(
The deaths of arashi + toma already clenched my heart and jun's.. but......my.....my.....omg....it felt like my heart was being ripped out instead. Oh god if I feel like this, how would Jun handle it?
BUT! I just love the concept of you have to face/fight your inner demon or someting like that.. it reminds me so much of the game we play called 'Persona' maybe when you get here I can show you :3
I really really hope that all of arashi + toma are alright... dang I cant even tell whether it's real or not, but jun must've definitely been shocked.. that is just wayyy too full on.. especially witnessing his boyfriend's heart being ripped out of his chest...and his friends dying one by one.. shadow jun's warning in the end rlly give me the creeps *shivers....