Ten's eyes follow the cracks in his ceiling as he lays, sprawled across his bed. 

This house... it's slowly suffocating him.

There's Jaehyun who's too sick to come out of his room, Taeil who doesn't know that his crying could be heard from down the hall, and of course there's the person he can't bear to think of right now. The one he could have saved if he'd been more persuasive about not going on another dream session. He groans and pulls the blanket over him.

But it's the creak of the door that makes him flick his eyes back open.

The door cracks ajar. A boy with a shy smile peeks in. Winwin stays in the doorway, not saying anything for awhile before gesturing down to a cup of water in his hands. "I just thought you might want something to drink."

"No thanks."

Maybe he was being too terse. Winwin didn't do anything wrong. But he wasn't in the mood.

"I'll just leave it on your desk, for whenever you feel better." Ten closes his eyes and waits for Winwin's footsteps to leave the room, but Winwin doesn't turn to leave; instead he sighs, loud enough that Ten could hear and his heart sinks a little. Let's not be like this Ten. You're not the only one suffering here.

"What's wrong?" Ten reluctantly asks, though he doesn't bother to open his eyes. He could hear Winwin tugging at his sleeve before speaking up. "I just have something to ask you."

There's a long pause.

"It's about the dream sessions. Um, I was....wondering if you knew anything about Doyoung. Why he wasn't waking up- I mean."

"If I did, would I be laying here, doing nothing?"

Winwin winces.

Again, he was being too harsh.

"The thing is I...I had this feeling...maybe it's just nothing. But about him waking up, maybe we should be careful about it. I don't know, that's just a feeling..." Winwin's words trail off into silence and Ten tries his best to not to sigh out loud.

"We don't even know how to wake him up, so why worry? Don't keep yourself up at night thinking about it."

Ten rolls to the side, away from Winwin, so that his gaze falls on the scratched wooden walls.

"It's just that I keep having this strange..." Winwin pauses and rubs his hands together nervously. "Never mind. You're probably right."

It would be a lie if Ten didn't feel guilty as he heard Winwin slowly walk out of the room and close the door behind him. But we're all feeling hopeless right now. He can't comfort someone when he himself is at a lost. He rests an arm across his face.

He wants to run away. Somewhere far.

Far away to...

A place with the sun shining down on the desert sands. With his wind his hair and...and...

Ten throws open his eyes but it's too late. The cracked ceiling melts away into a blue sky. His bed sheets break apart until they slip between his fingers like sand. He's back in that world. But this time. This time it's different.

Ten glances at his hands. Usually he's a child in a white garment, but now he's himself. Instead the child is in front of his eyes, walking barefoot across the sands behind a woman covered in grey. Ten watches in awe as they move through the motions of his usual vision. The glider flying away in the wind, the child's eyes moving toward the sky, the sudden darkening of the clouds and the woman vanishing behind the sands.

What's going on? He murmurs as he watches the scenes unfold. The little boy alone in the desert, slowly turns his head to face Ten. They lock eyes.

The young kid's black hair spins around his face and he clutches tight to that broken glider. He parts his lips and Ten watches as the little boy mouths two unmistakable words:

Wake.Up.

Wake up? Ten's eyebrows furrow as he stares back at the young boy. The sands around him begin to pick up speed. "What do you mean?" He yells back. But the vision is breaking, cracking.

The blues of the sky and figure of the boy being swept up by the sandstorm. Ten's voice can hardly be heard above the screaming wind. "What do you mean?! Wake up from what? Please!"

"Please!" Ten bolts up from his vision to the bright sunlight and a sharp pain that shoots down his back. He pries himself off the boulder he landed on, dusts off his clothes and lifts his eyes. There are three figures in front of him that with each blink slowly turn into the stunned faces of Haechan, Mark and Taeyong. In Mark's hand a needle, not unlike the one the experimenter used before, and Taeyong sat across from him with a rolled-up sleeve.

"Ten?"

"How weird? He just appeared like the experimenter does." Either Haechan didn't know how to whisper or simply didn't care about being discrete at all because Ten could here everything he was saying.

Ten rises to his feet. "Where am I and how long has it been?"

Ten furrows his brows as he glances around him. Not one word escaping the lips of the other three. In fact, he sees Mark slyly slip the needle behind his back.

"First, why don't you tell us what just happened?" Taeyong pipes up. A hostile tone like always.

"Do you think I know?" Ten snaps back sharper than he meant to, probably because his body was still aching from landing on a rock. Out of all places he just had to appear here, huh?

"So, whenever you disappear... you literally disappear." Mark murmurs beneath his breath. "You never mentioned this."

"Like I said. I don't know what's going on myself so how could I explain it to you."

"But-"

Taeyong put his hand up to stop Mark. "He's always been secretive. It's no surprise."

"Is that really something you should be saying. I saw Mark hiding something behind his back. You guys have secrets of your own."

Taeyong sighs but then gestures Ten toward him. "You really can't go one day without stirring up trouble, can you? Whatever, for once I'm glad you showed up. Get over here and pull up your sleeve."

Ten despite his confusion, takes a step closer to the trio.

"Haechan prep Ten for the other needle." The leader turns to face Ten with an unusual grin on his face. "I needed someone to come with me anyway."

"Come with you? You mean on a dream session? Are you crazy, I'm not going after what happened-"

"We're going to save Doyoung. Me and you. I need your help, Ten."

***

Ten open's his fist, and watches as white cold ice melts into his palm. He glances up to see the sky swirling with this stuff.

"What is this?"

Taeyong walks ahead of him, stomping through the bed of white that blankets the ground. His hair a shade of red so bright it looks like a sizzling flame against the bleak landscape . "Not sure, but let's not waste time questioning the sky when we've got someone to find."

Ten clicks his tongue before trudging behind Taeyong. This is why they can never seem to get along. Who even made him leader, anyway?

"We're here." They both glance up at a towering, stone building. The dozens of dark windows carved out of its face, glare back down at them like a spider with hundreds of eyes.Ten sees out of the corner of his eyes, a glow start to form in Taeyong's palm which soon fills into his signature hammer. "Just to be safe." Taeyong answers though Ten didn't ask.

"You should make yourself a weapon too. There's something off about this place that I just can't put my finger on." Taeyong says.

"I can't" Ten reluctantly replies.

"Oh...that's right. I suppose I can take care of both of us then."

For some reason that makes Ten a little more ticked off. He holds his fingers in front of his face. Should he try it, just once?

"Ten, forget it and look around. We're looking for a locked door."

"Yeah. I'm aware."

"Are you sure?"

Ten in a breath and stops in his tracks. "This won't work. Let's split up and meet back up again later. We'll cover more ground that way, anyway."

Taeyong looks as if he was ready to counter his remark, but instead just waves it off. "Fine." A brass object flies over Taeyong's shoulder. Ten snatches out of the air, only inches from his face. "But keep close."

Ten runs his fingers along the cold, damp walls of the building in efforts to focus, making a mental note of every turn he's made so far. He can't afford to waste time getting lost in this massive place. The tick of the locator in his hand told him Taeyong was moving further away toward the West, which made the sudden lack of color in his skin and the surroundings not so big a surprise. So, Taeyong was the dream host.

It was curious, though. How every dream session is so different from the last. The slick concrete that lined the inside of this building was nothing like the pillared hallways from the last time. There's even a distinct smell of smoke that drifted in through the overhead vents and the grooves and scratches in the floor, meaning this building had history long before he and Taeyong arrived. Almost like it was a real place and not just a figment of their imagination.

Ten breath hitches in his throat when he suddenly hears a high-pitched tone. It's faint and it fades in and out, but it's definitely there. Could it be?

He tries not to get ahead of himself. Just follow the sound first. He casts his eyes down to concentrate on the sounds, letting it guide his feet . The hallways it leads him down are full of ominous shadows, ones that bend along the walls and stretch their claws up to the flickering fluorescent lights. He moves cautiously around sharp turns and past dark dead-ends, clutching tightly to the locator, silently regretting splitting up with the person with the hammer. But the noise grows louder as he moves forward. He takes another step and realizes that he's entered a clearing. It's a wide room with multiple hallways seemingly merging into it like ant tunnels to a anthill. The ceiling is low, so low he could touch it if he jumped. And there are no windows, at all. 

Though he can't remember going down any stairs, he had a feeling that he was below ground. But the strangest thing about this space is that it's full of chairs, lined in row, reminiscent of some kind of order. But the chairs all face nothing. Just an empty wall.

A shiver runs down Ten's arms and he tries to shake the worries that begin to rise. Then the high-pitched sound returns. His eyes shoot up toward on particular hallway across the clearing. There's a faint pulse of light at the end of that pathway and he is sure that he found the source of the noise. His feet move without him thinking. As he grows closer, the sounds begin to tumble into words. As if someone is speaking.

Doyoung?

Ten's heart rises in his throat.

He takes a turn down another hallway, following the sound. His eyes fly open at the sight.

A small room, with a door which sways open on its hinges. Inside is a wall full of blinking lights and metal. On a rickety stool sits a black box on which a grainy image sputters. The source of the sound. His shoulders sink a little. He can feel his eyes start to burn. But he can't cry. Not now.

He sighs and turns his attention to that black box and the sputtering image on its face. Curiously it was playing a scene like a moving picture and Ten couldn't help but swing a stool around and lean in close, his eyes reflecting back at him from the shiny surface. The images that fade in and out are difficult to make out, broken up by fuzzy lines, but there is one phrase being repeated over and over. Ten moves closer to try to make out the words. "For...Force...Force co."

The box coughs out that last of its life and then goes fully black, image gone. Ten is left only with the image of himself staring back at him. That name, he knew it from the experimenter, from the cassette tapes. Force Co. What did the experimenter say about it? That they were employees?

But what does that even mean?

Ten straightens up. His fingers begin to tremble. A shock, like a lighting strike, travels up and down his arm. This was getting too much. All he wants is to find his friend and get things back to normal.

He looks down at his shaky hands and decides that perhaps he should rejoin Taeyong after all. Ten pulls the brass locator out of his pocket. But his eyes go wide in shock.

The number on its face is flickering so fast that Ten could barely read it. 800 meters away. 

700. 600. 500. 400.

Ten shoots out into the hallway. The overhead lights are flickering even more wildly. He can barely see a few paces in front of himself. He glances down at the locator. 300 meters and quickly decreasing.

Just how fast was Taeyong running?

Suddenly a wave of color floods the hallway and Ten knows Taeyong is close. Really close. His nails dig into his palms as he glances into the darkness in front of him. Bracing himself.

Then the ground begins to shake.

***

"Mark, you're a genius!"

Mark, not used to such positive feedback from Haechan, is for once at a loss for words. Haechan holds up the two empty needles used on Taeyong and Ten. Well, should have been empty, except that a quarter of the syringe was still full and shimmers with the mysterious dream serum.

"We're still not sure this will be enough for us."

"Don't make me regret complimenting you." Haechan bites back.

Mark had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. "Beside I'm a little nervous about, you know...them."

Mark and Haechan glance over at Taeyong's and Ten's bodies slumped against the wooden wall of the Ruins. "What if we're putting them in danger by not giving them the full dose? They trusted us to watch over them, too."

Haechan swallows before draping draping a blanket over the two bodies. "What's done is done. Let's just hurry up so they never have to find out."

"And won't they notice us, when we also appear in the dream world?" Mark continued to murmur to himself.

Haechan slings his backpack over his shoulder and grips tightly to the syringe. "The dream worlds are big, if we're lucky we won't run into each other. Plus what can they do, send us back?"

Mark wrings his hands as he looks at the two older boys one last time before mouthing 'sorry' as he tries to catch up with Haechan. 

The two head to the west outer edge of the Ruins. What seems to be the remains of an old tower lays in small pieces across the floor. Only its metal skeletal still stretches toward the sky as the last proof that it was once a tall tower. There's a gentle breeze that tousles Mark's hair and he notices quite curiously that the wind never seems to displace event the smallest of pieces of broken wood on the floor. But he was getting distracted again and Haechan was already many meters ahead by now. They head to the dense area of shrubbery that clings to the edge of the tower structure, winding around its skinny frame as if trying to choke what little life it had left out of it. But those bushes are dense and dark, thus making the perfect hideout just in case... well, in case someone they don't want to find them, comes around.

Mark watches Haechan's orange hair disappears as he sneaks into the leaves. Then he follows behind. He scoots deep into the branches, and sees Haechan pull out his needle and taps the edge with his fingernail. "Well," Haechan points the needle fearlessly toward his forearm. "See you on the other side."

"Wait!" Mark yells just as Haechan's needle is inches from his skin.

The youngest one frowns, running his hand through his hair in frustration "What? What? What is it now?"

"Just," Mark hesitates. "I mean- just stay safe. I'll find you, so don't wander too far."

Haechan blinks a few seconds, clearly caught off guard. "Oh, okay" He murmurs.

Mark nods and holds up his syringe. "Let's do this together. On three."

The two put the needles near their forearms.

"One"

Mark in a breath focusing on the swaying leaves around him.

"Two."

The needle is cold against his skin.

"Three."

Then the world goes dark.

Mark opens his eyes but the world...remains dark. He blinks. But no, he was awake, there just weren't any lights.

His hand fumbles around beside him and he feels a familiar soft fabric like a blanket and sheets. Was he on a bed then? Was the serum not enough? Did he just pass out and was dragged back to his room in the clubhouse?

No, he gazes out into the darkness. This didn't feel like his room. Not at all.

"Haechan!" Mark cries out. "Are you there?"

No answer.

His heart begins to beat wildly in his chest. What if they messed something up? What if Haechan is in trouble? What if...

"Haechan Where are you!" Mark calls out again. Then his ears catch a squeak of a bed springs and a rustle of the covers. Someone else is here.

"Haechan is that you!" Mark shoots up without thinking and his head collides with the ceiling above him. The thud of his skull against metal echoes like a gong.

Mark is still rubbing his head in pain when suddenly a pinprick of light breaks through the darkness and a head bends down from above him. A boy with short chestnut hair that swings off his head stares back at him. His face, even though upside down and hardly visible in the dim lighting, is very obviously twisted in anger.

"Are you insane!" The boy hanging upside down, whispers harshly. "Follow the procedure and keep quiet like we planned. Is it that hard to remember those few steps-" The boy's voice trails off as he begins to get a good look at the bewildered Mark. His glaring eyes, widening in surprise.

"You-you're not part of my squad." The boy whispers. Mark holds his breath as he looks over the person.

A person he's never seen before in his entire life.

"Just who are you?" 

 

(Reference: Baby Don't Stop M/V & Chewing Gum M/V)