nightfall || minsung

Epilogue 1

welcome to the first of the epilogues!

a little context...

five years shy of the 20th century, haseong, chan and jeongin arrive in canada. what — or whom — will they find...? :3

tw: mention of drug use, some unsettling scenes, general sadness, etc. caution when reading ♥️

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~ 1895, Chan's POV ~

I sat quietly, watching the sun rise over the mountains. My 79,677th time seeing it. Same sun, different mountains. By now I knew why the faraway flames burned, why the light shone so brightly. Understood why it bothered to rise everyday, and that every day it did, we were blessed.

Haseong came up behind me, sat with his knees around me, kissed my cheek. I leaned back into him.

"When are you leaving?" he asked.

"A little later. Clouds will be moving in soon, see?" I pointed to the sky.

"You're really sure about this? It worries me, you going out alone."

"I want to. I don't know what Toronto needs yet, but I can help, I can try."

"Can't you just snuff out the fire under your ass for a couple days? We just got to Canada. The forest is so nice and big — we could explore."

"Can we explore tonight?"

He made a gruff little sound. "A little spontaneity would be fun sometimes."

"Then we can take a swim later."

"But you just said it — now it's not spontaneous."

"Then we can go cliff diving, too."

"Chan, no." He laughed, shook his head against the nape of my neck.

"Chan, Seongie." Jeongin shimmied down the side of the hill and dropped down in front of me. "I think there's a bug in my hair."

Haseong and I carded through his hair.

"Maybe not the best place to set up camp," Haseong murmured. "In the brush."

"Best we could do," I said. "Who would've given us a hotel room? We're foreigners here."

"That's why I'm afraid of you going out there. Western countries have never been kind to us."

"You think I'll get hurt? I'm a vampire, sweetheart."

"Physical pain isn't the only kind of pain one can suffer."

"I want to help with other's suffering."

"You're making me feel bad for hanging back and picking bugs off myself," Jeongin muttered.

"You can come with me, kiddo — be my little helper."

"No." He got up and wandered back into the trees.

Haseong wound his arms around me, sighing into my shoulder. "Remember to trust your gut. Don't overextend yourself. Come back to us."

"Always." I kissed his palm.

Rain started to fall. I said goodbye to Haseong and darted into the forest. Toronto wasn't far away — half an hour southwest. I slowed to a walk as I came out of the forest, onto a grey street on the outskirts of the city. It was empty but I stayed on high alert. I'd learned that humans could be more perceptive than they seemed.

They tended to take it further around me, suspicious. I wore the same clothes as they did, a suit and bowtie, yet they kept their eyes on me till I was long past. I knew it was because of the colour of my skin, but I couldn't help wonder if I was doing something else conspicuous. Maybe I hadn't blinked in too long, maybe my fangs were showing. Was it strange that I didn't have an umbrella though it was pouring rain?