A/N: there's some dark content in this chapter, so read with caution. Nothing that should be triggering, but I still thought I'd give a heads up. Happy reading! :) note: maybe you shouldn't read this alone at night? ehehe this song sets the mood though; would recommend listening to it while reading the chapter. if you want music for the whole chapter, you could listen to this in the background. might make the rest of the chapter creepier than it needs to be, but i saw the creepier the better lol

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All morning, Sehun has had this sinking feeling in his chest. In fact, he's not even sure where he is when he came to, his wrists bound together tightly behind him, just out of sight to where he can't see them. He's sitting on a wooden chair, one that's creaking under his weight as he strains the muscles in his neck as he tries to look around the room. It's dark and humid, his hair matted and sticking to his forehead, beads of sweat rolling down his dirty and scratched up skin. His heart is pounding as he tries to figure out what happened, desperately trying to remember what he was doing the previous night and how he ended up where he was now. He didn't remember anything out of the ordinary; Kyungsoo cooked dinner last night and Junmyeon had nagged him to wash his dirty laundry and clean up his mess of a room. Apparently Jongin was starting to complain to their leader behind his back about a foul smell. Yeah, whatever, Jongin. 

He takes another few seconds to scope out the room, feeling his anxiety dwindle in the slightest when coming to the conclusion that he's alone. However, he won't be alone forever and he needs to get himself out of this mess fast if he wants to live. Which, you know, he'd prefer that option over dying. He thinks hard, his mind desperately thinking back to ever single mystery drama, thriller movie, or book he's read to figure out a way out of this. He has options: break out of his ropes like he's Thor, or rock his chair side to side until he falls over and wiggle himself out. The last one would definitely cause more commotion, but then again he wasn't Thor, so what he had to do seemed pretty clear to him in the moment. Closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, he throws all his weight to the right, causing him to crash into the dirty floor instead. He's groaning quietly as the room around him moves, swearing under his breath about the complete and utter failure he just endured. If he didn't know this before, Sehun definitely knew now that he wasn't the most graceful or elegant person out there. Actually, now that Sehun's on the floor, he's not sure how that was supposed to help free him. The rope tied around his wrists are now tighter than they were before and Sehun's starting to think that he's an easy target. He'd have to Thor it apparently. 

He sighs deeply and wiggles his hands around, his heart leaping in his chest when feeling space form between his wrists. Almost, almost. He starts to pull his wrists apart, the rope digging into his skin as it attempts to resist his actions. Once he's able to stretch it wide enough, he slips a hand through, a gasp escaping him as he removes his other hand from the ropes. He then bends over (the best that he can considering he's lying on his side on the floor) and hastily frees his feet from the ropes. Scrambling to his feet, Sehun looks around the small and plain room with wide eyes. The wall had no wallpaper on it, it seemed to be just a faded concrete and the floor wasn't much different. However, there's a rusted metal door in the back of the room and Sehun's certain that the door wasn't there just a few minutes ago. He takes in a deep breath, something inside of him telling him to open the door. Maybe it would lead to his freedom, maybe it would lead him somewhere a lot worse. His feet start to carry him towards the door without his permission, swearing under his breath as he stares at the old door that's now in front of him. He hesitates before lifting his hand, carefully wrapping his fingers around the cold metal handle. Within a second he's pushing the door open, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as he's only greeted with darkness and silence. Despite every cell in his body screaming at him to turn back, to just stay in the previous room and wait for whoever put him there in the first place, he forces himself to move forward and to walk into the dark and empty room. The walls are narrow, this much he can tell as he lets his hands trail along the sides of the wall as he walks in order to keep his balance. 

It's dark, so dark and he if he were to hold out his hand in front of his face he wouldn't even be able to see it. The only thing he can hear is his heart pounding in his chest and his shallow breathing. He has no idea if he's in a room or in a hall, and he has no idea if he's alone. Is someone with him? Is there anything following him? He couldn't tell; he had no way of knowing. He jumps suddenly when he hears a thud in the distance, squeezing his eyes shut as he momentarily shuts down, standing completely still. "Move, Sehun." He whispers to himself, trying to give him some kind of a pep talk. However, just when he talks himself into having any sort of bravery at all, he hears something rolling across the floor in the distance. Before he can even wrap his head around it, he can see the light on the wall to his left, his eyes widening when realizing that it was a flashlight rolling across the floor. It slowly comes to a stop just before reaching his feet, Sehun looking around with wide eyes before bending over and picking up the small silver flashlight. "H-Hello?" He's not entirely sure why he just called out when in every horror movie he's ever seen the first person who calls out in a dark and empty room immediately dies. He timidly shines the light around, coming to the conclusion that he is in fact in a hallway. There's only one door in the hall, on the far end located on the right. The placement is odd, though he doesn't give it much thought. His pace picks up as he walks down the hall, his footsteps echoing as he makes his way towards the door. There's a blue omniscient light shining above the door, though he can't seem to find the source of it. It's as if the light just simply exists. Still, it's drawing him in and Sehun's having a hard time saying no.

He comes to a sudden halt when he makes it to the door, his hand hovering over the door knob as the other hand grips onto the cold flashlight. He wasn't sure what would be behind this door. If it would be good or bad, whether it was something Sehun wanted to see or not. "Breathe." He whispers to himself firmly before twisting the door knob, everything in his body freezing when seeing the sight in front of him. 

The room was set up similarly to his, though there was a single light hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't encased in anything, just a wire as it eerily swayed in the room, no breeze to be felt. His eyes are locked on something, however, or rather someone. Words are stuck in the back of his throat as he slowly inches forward, his eyes watering as he struggles to make sense of the situation. How could this be happening? There, in the corner of this empty and lonely room, sat the half decomposing corpse of Byun Baekhyun. "B-Baekhyun." Sehun chokes out, dropping to his knees as he can do nothing but stare at the deceased vocalist. 

"Sehun." Everything stops the moment he hears that shrill voice. Every hair on his body stands, his blood running cold as his eyes widen in absolute terror. He doesn't want to, though he can't stop himself from slowly looking up, his heart slamming in his chest. He lets out a scream when seeing Baekhyun staring straight at him, falling onto his back before trying to scramble away. "No! This isn't real! There's no way this is real!" He shouts, pressing his back against the wall, burying his face into his hands as he squeezes his eyes shut. 

"Sehun." 

"Stop!" Sehun shouts, the door that once let him in now vanished. He was stuck in here with Baekhyun and that reality was utterly and completely terrifying to him. "You're dead. Why are you talking? Why-"

"Why didn't you help me?" The voice is strained and broken, Baekhyun's eyes blank and lifeless as he stares at the younger male. "Why didn't you come save me?" Sehun flinches when seeing a bug crawl out of Baekhyun's ear before crawling into one of the empty eye sockets, Baekhyun completely unfazed by this. 

"What are you talking about? No, no. I don't need this. You aren't real. I'm not listening to you!" He shouts, his eyes watering as he curls into himself, muttering to himself under his breath in an attempt to keep himself calm. He wanted his mother right now, his father too. Hell, he even wanted Junmyeon or Kyungsoo in this very moment. Maybe even Minseok. Why was he here? What did he do to deserve this?

"Why didn't you save me, Sehun!" His voice roars across the room, Sehun screaming as he tries to tune out the other. "You let me die!" 

"No. No. NO!"

"Sehun!" 

Sehun jolts awake with the image of Baekhyun's rotting corpse burned into his mind, bugs swarming out of his mouth when he screamed, "You let me die!" and the remaining members hovering over him as Kyungsoo throws the sheets off the poor boy. "Sehun, it was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare." Jongdae keeps repeating as he climbs onto the bed, taking the man's face into his hands as he cradles the sobbing man. 

"No!" Is the only thing Sehun can manage to choke out as he leans into Jongdae's touch, his fingers curling into the fabric of Jongdae's shirt as he keeps himself pressed to the other, sobbing into his chest as he frantically tries to tell himself that everything was a dream. He was never kidnapped and Baekhyun wasn't dead. He wasn't. He just couldn't be. That's not how things worked. Jongdae's singing in his ear, trying to bring the boy back down from his fright as he rocks him gently in his arms. It works, with some miracle provided to Jongdae, and Sehun eventually goes quiet as the tension leaves his body. Jongdae sighs and looks over at the concerned and freaked out faces from everyone else. 

"We should call Junmyeon."

Today was supposed to be his one day to sleep in late, not wake up to his phone constantly ringing with five missed calls, three voicemails, and seven text messages. He really thought someone died or that his manager found someone for him to collaborate with on an upcoming single. In fact, he should be in bed right now, not pacing around in the parking lot of a small cafe. He didn't know why he agreed to come here, but dammit if Luhan didn't sound convincing on the phone. 

"Kris, get a hold of yourself. If they see you pacing in the parking lot they're going to think you're insane." Yifan mumbles to himself before stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket, a small huff leaving him. "Man up. It won't be that bad. Sure, you're going out to visit four of your ex group mates, one of which is more than likely still super pissed about you leaving. The other two left too, sure, but you'll will always be dubbed as "the first member that left the group" and therefore you still have the most haters out of all the ex-members." That title left a rather bitter taste in his mouth and Yifan couldn't help but scrunch up his nose at that. "I guess the worst thing that could happen would be Junmyeon throwing a cup of coffee in my face." He grumbles to himself, pulling at the scarf that was wrapped around his neck tightly, the warm fabric brushing against his nose and lips as he heads inside. He was wearing a beanie and sunglasses, which might look weird in the middle of winter, but Luhan had asked him to show up discreetly, and Yifan didn't know what discreet was even if it were to bite him in the .

He has to force himself from turning around and running back to his car, which was rather cowardly but hell, certain fans of EXO have been calling him that for the last several years so he figured he didn't have much to lose anyway. He lets out a shaky sigh before walking up to the door and pulling it open, his stomach churning as he scans the lounge wearily before eyes landing and locking with Luhan. He nearly shouts out for Yifan before realizing that they were in the middle of a cafe, gesturing the other over with a nod of his head. Tao was there, nestled next to Luhan and looking the most comfortable he's ever been. Junmyeon's not there and neither is Yixing, which is something that Yifan wasn't expecting. Still, he decided not to argue with it.

"Kris, I'm so glad you could make it!" Luhan says in a cheerful manner, the taller man lingering awkwardly by the booth, glancing over at Luhan. "Yeah, well," he clears his throat awkwardly, "you kinda blew up my phone. So..." There's an awkward pause before Yifan realizes he looks like a weirdo and sits down across from the two. "Yixing and Junmyeon aren't here."

"You wanted them here?" Luhan asks with a raised eyebrow. Yifan grows clearly flustered at this before Luhan laughs quietly. "Kidding. I didn't tell them I was meeting up with the two of you because I didn't want it to be awkward. I just said I had family things to attend but that I'd be back by the time they head over to Yeon's." Yifan can finally feel the tension leave his body, leaning back against the fabric of the booth as a song plays in the background that he's not sure he's heard before. It's when Luhan's expression grows more serious that Yifan feels the tension flow right back into him. "I asked you two to meet here so I could ask you about Baekhyun."

"What about him?" He asks flatly, already hating where this topic was going. He's not sure what else he was expecting; why else would Luhan want to meet with him and Tao? The three hadn't spoken with each other since they all split from the group. Did he think this would be some sort of normal meet up? 

"Do either of you- have either of you heard from Baek before he went missing? Anything at all." Tao and Yifan sit in silence as they think over his question carefully. "He must have said something to either of you at least once. I know that you were still in contact, Yifan." He clears his throat and cautiously looks over at Yifan. The taller man feels himself shrink under Luhan's gaze, his cheeks reddening as he grows flustered once again. Why did this keep happening to him? 

"I checked in on him every now and then..." Luhan only silently prompts him to continue. "The three of us know better than anyone how SM treats their employees. I knew how fragile and sensitive Baekhyun could be a times and I didn't want SM to destroy him because of that. So after I left I managed to get in contact with him before staff ransacked their phones and had them block me on every social media account they had. All I did was tell him that I would be there for him if he ever needed me."

"Did he ever actually reach out to you though?" Luhan asks as he leans across the table. "Before he went missing?"

"He only sent me one message a few months before he went missing." He says quietly, chewing on his bottom lip anxiously. "All he said was that he got himself into some trouble and he didn't know how to fix it. I wasn't sure what he meant and he wouldn't go into any further detail than that." He sighs softly, pulling at his fingers anxiously. "No matter how hard I pressed he wouldn't tell me. He just said that if he told me I would get involved as well and that he didn't want that."

Tao and Luhan exchange looks with each other, t