", , ."

Seonghwa walked into his home only to be held by the shoulders firmly. He almost struck out but realised it was just Jongho who looked panicked. 

"Jongho, what's wrong?" 

"The Overseer went to meet Yunho. That means they have no more use for him, right? Since they already have what they want! They'll kill him."

"They wouldn't kill him so fast. Not until they have Wooyoung," Seonghwa said. 

"How can you be so sure about that?! Hyung, you've been really calm about this despite panicking about it before. What's really going on?" 

"The future can still be changed but as we are now, we don't stand a chance against the Overseer. For him to truly achieve his prophecy, he can't make a single mistake and his prophecies aren't a set future." 

"What are you saying...?" 

"He doesn't know what role Yunho will continue playing in his prophecy so he can't simply kill him," Seonghwa said. "Of course, I'm not thinking of abandoning him and we will save him but to do so, we would need help. We can't do it alone." 

"I don't think any vampires would want to help us right now," Jongho sighed. "With the vampire lord being out of commission, the Overseer is the strongest around. No one would dare go against him." 

"That's not true. What about the ones who ambushed you before? BM? The one who cooperated with you?" 

"What? You want to ask them?" 

"Any help is still help, Jongho."

Jongho wanted to argue that he could probably do it himself but he knew it was still far too risky since everyone they were up against here were vampires instead of humans. Who knows what kind of abilities they have? "But when are we saving him?" 

"We can go now. See if they're willing to help us and get Yunho back." 

"Okay. I'll go and ask..." 

~

"Absolutely not," J Seph said right away as the two vampires had asked for the help of the 4. "We aren't going to storm into the Overseer's properties and just break a guy out." 

"I told you, hyung," Jongho grumbled and Seonghwa looked at the 4 of them. 

"And why not? I think it's only fair if you do something for us since you attacked us before," Seonghwa countered him and J Seph frowned. 

"Your little human almost killed my friend. I'm not going to let anyone else go through that." 

"Oh, come on, Seph. It'll be fun though," BM chirped in and J Seph scowled. 

"Shush you. If you hadn't wanted to just fight this vampire, he wouldn't even be here again thinking that we would offer them our help." 

"You know, if we save my brother faster, I can duel you faster too," Jongho said cheekily and BM raised his brows. 

"You heard that, Seph?" 

"No! I said no." 

"I'll help," a female voice cut through the air and all of them turned to the female vampire who spoke up. "Not like we have anything else going on now." 

"Even Jiwoo is game. What about you, Somin?" BM asked and the remaining vampire shook her head. 

"I'm with J Seph on this. I'm not helping them. We shouldn't be getting on the Overseer's bad side even more after we quit the job halfway too." 

"See? Somin gets it," J Seph grunted. 

"You two are so chicken," BM sighed and Somin hissed at him. 

"It's not about being cowardly. I'm looking out for us here," J Seph groaned and Seonghwa felt bad for making them split like this. 

"Alright. Then Jiwoo and I will just help and we will be right back." 

"Hah... fine. Be stubborn then," J Seph huffed and stormed back into his room. 

"Let's go," Jiwoo said and BM nodded. Jongho felt respect towards the two who didn't back down at all despite J Seph's protests. He did wonder if the other was their leader or Maker or just happened to be the one who looked out for them the most. 

"Be careful," Somin said and headed into her room as well. The remaining 4 left their hideout towards the cells. 

"So what's the plan?" BM asked. Seonghwa and Jongho exchanged glances. 

"We were hoping you would be able to help us make one," Jongho said and Jiwoo scoffed. 

"BM doesn't make plans. His plans are usually just do it. If you fail, try so hard that it'll work," Jiwoo replied and they perched themselves in the same hiding spot Jongho had used to spy on the guards. 

"In that case, do you think you would be able to distract the guards long enough for us to get Yunho out?" Seonghwa asked and BM chuckled. 

"Can't we just beat the out of them?" 

"I'm pretty sure your J Seph friend wouldn't like that," Seonghwa hummed in response. "You'll have the whole guard squad coming after you. We just need enough time to break the bars and switch him out before anyone notices." 

"That's easy," Jiwoo said to their surprise, including BM. 

"Really?" BM asked. 

"I'll use my ability to lure the guards away. BM will keep them distracted and you two can sneak in," Jiwoo said briefly as if it was the easiest thing to do and everyone was just dumb. 

"That's a plan then," Jongho said, hoping it would work. "We only have a 20 minute frame after they swap positions."

"We should be able to get it done quickly if the Overseer didn't put up any extra security," Seonghwa said. 

"We will start once their next rotation starts." 

The 4 stood there and stared, counting down the minutes before the guards started moving to change positions. Jiwoo hopped down without a word, signifying the start of their plan. 

"So what exactly is her ability?" Jongho asked curiously since neither of them had used their ability when fighting earlier. 

"Well, she can control people physically."

"Isn't that super strong?" 

"The stronger the ability, the bigger the drawback or requirements to use," BM explained. "I don't think yours would have much of either." 

"No, I can use my powers freely," Jongho replied. 

"For Jiwoo to use her ability, she has to use her blood so it makes her really dizzy and hungry afterwards. I was honestly surprised that she agreed to help. Usually, she would be the last one who would decide on whether to help or not." 

"Then what makes this time any different?" Seonghwa questioned. BM shrugged and leaned against the wall. 

"Maybe it's because you mentioned a brother. Jiwoo had a brother but they weren't very close. When she went back to meet him, he's already all grey and turning senile too." 

Jongho wasn't sure what that would have to do with him and Yunho but he guessed the relationship between actual blood siblings would be different. He treated Yunho like his own brother but he had always known they were different too. Yunho had a more easy going upbringing after all while he was trained to be king one day despite being younger. He knew he wasn't destined to be king so his mother would have plotted to kill Yunho. He wondered if he hadn't found out about it, would his life be any different now? Maybe he wouldn't have been turned. Maybe.. 

"Jongho." 

"Ah, hyung."

"BM went down already. Let's get ready too." 

"Hyung." 

"Yeah?" 

"If you had another chance to choose, would you have turned us again?" 

Seonghwa tilted his head. "Why are you asking me that now?" 

"Just curious." 

"I don't make the choice, Jongho. Not now, not before. Back then I turned both of you because Yunho didn't want to die and he didn't want you to die either. Not when you tried to save his life. So if I had to do it again, as long as you choose to save yourselves again, I'll save you." 

"I see. Thank you, hyung. I don't think I ever thanked you for saving me back then." 

"Hmm? Ah... you're welcome," Seonghwa replied, a little taken aback from the sudden gratitude. Jongho leaped down and he followed after him. They snuck into the cells and were joined by Jiwoo again. 

"Just in case there are others, I'll go first," she said and went ahead of them. 

"Thank you." 

There were a few more guards but nothing they couldn't get by with a few tricks. With Seonghwa swapping their places around and knocking out a few guards undetected, the trio got by until they found Yunho. Jiwoo went back to make sure they had a way out while the two tried to find a way to get Yunho out. 

"Yunho hyung," Jongho gasped as he saw how tired the other looked. 

"Jongho? It's you... and Seonghwa hyung. What are you two doing here?" 

"We are here to save you, of course," Jongho said with a scoff. "Why else would we be here?" 

"But what about Wooyoung and San? Aren't you two protecting them?" 

Jongho started looking around for a lock but all he could see were barbed steels between them. It would definitely hurt if he grabbed them without any form of protection. 

"We can't protect them from the Overseer," Seonghwa said. "Not when he is dead set on fulfilling his prophecy. We will just end up in body bags or the thin air if we go against him." 

"Then you're just allowing him to take them?" 

"We have to. It's the safest bet I have now until I take over as vampire lord." 

Yunho was stunned for a moment but after some thought, he nodded. "Alright..." 

"Can't you turn into a worm or something?" Jongho groaned. No wonder security was so light, he doubted any sane vampire would be able to make it out of the cell without severing a few limbs, thus making escape more difficult. 

"I can't. You already know that. The smallest animal I can turn into is a bird," Yunho said. Jongho looked at his hands and clenched them into fists. 

"You're not thinking of breaking the cell, are you?" Seonghwa asked. 

"Maybe a little," Jongho said and removed his coat. "Hyung, I'll try to pull the bars apart. Once Yunho hyung is small enough to exchange with the coat, do it." 

"But your hands...," Yunho whispered. He didn't want to see someone else hurt again because of him. 

"Who do you think I am, hyung? I can make barriers, remember?" Jongho said, trying to sound light but the space between the bars were rather thin too so he knew the barriers he made would only protect him that much. "I'll start now." 

Seonghwa stepped back to give Jongho space while Yunho started transforming to his bird form. The youngest out of the three took a deep breath before slipping his hand between the bars and put up a thin barrier. He hoped it wouldn't break as he clutched the bars and started to pull with all his might. They may be vampires but the cells were also specially curated to their strength so it wasn't as easy to break as it seemed. Jongho heard his barrier being scrapped and a tiny crack resounded but he held on as he pulled them apart further. Yunho flapped his wings and lifted off the ground to the height the hole was. 

"Ugh... nnnn!" 

"Careful, Jongho," Seonghwa said softly while lifting his hands, preparing his aim. 

"You should stop if you can't," Yunho said to Jongho's annoyance. He barely managed to get the hole big enough when his barrier shattered and Jongho instantly held back his voice as the spikes dug into his skin. 

"Now!" he hissed and Seonghwa snapped his fingers as well. The sides of the coat ended with cuts while Yunho came out as safely as he could. Jongho pulled his hands away and grunted. 

"I'm free!" Yunho chuckled while flapping his wings. He hopped onto Seonghwa's shoulders. "Thank you for coming for me." 

"We wouldn't leave you behind," Jongho said and hid his hands. "Let's go before the other two get caught instead." 

"You asked for help?" Yunho chirped, seemingly surprised at the thought that Jongho would ask for help. 

"Well, I would have just barged right in alone but that would cause more problems to Seonghwa hyung later," Jongho explained. They made their way out and signalled the two that the plan was successful before running back to their hideout to meet up again. Jongho realised his hands were healing slower than usual and guessed the spikes must've been laced with something. He stuffed them in his pockets again without telling anyone. 

"Whoo! That was just a little more exhilarating than I expected," BM cheered and Yunho was surprised that the ones they had seeked help from were the ones who got him into trouble in the first place, although it was probably his own fault for following them. "Those men were still just easy game though." 

"Because they weren't any big deal," Jiwoo said. "Glad you got your brother back." 

"Thank you," Jongho said and smiled. She nodded and went to her room whilst BM hopped in front of Jongho. 

"So we can battle now, right?" BM asked and Jongho froze a little before nodding. 

"Sure. I did make a deal." 

"Wait. You made a deal to fight him in exchange for saving me?" Yunho asked and Jongho shook his head. 

"I made a deal in exchange for him to tell me where you were being held. He agreed to help save you so we could get to the deal faster," Jongho explained but it didn't make Yunho any less worried. 

"But he's strong." 

"He still helped me. I can't just break a deal off like that." 

"Seonghwa hyung, why didn't you stop him?" 

"He made the deal before I found out," Seonghwa replied calmly. "Jongho isn't that weak either, Yunho. He will be just fine. Besides, BM here just wants a battle. It's not like he's after Jongho's life. If anything goes south, we will both be here for him."

"So we fighting?" BM asked and smirked. Jongho nodded and BM instalty yelled out, "Somin! I need your help!" 

"Huh?" 

A few seconds later, Somin stormed out with a frown. "Don't be so loud." 

"Sorry. But we are ready to go." 

"Wait. What do you mean?" Jongho interrupted. 

"Oh, right. I'm going to have Somin shrink us down so that we can go all out and it won't break or alert anyone or anything." 

"Oh..." 

"You don't have to worry about your power output either. Somin's ability doesn't affect it." 

"Are you going to shrink us too?" Seonghwa asked since he wasn't sure if he would be able to see anything if they shrunk too much. 

"If you want to," Somin sighed. "My ability doesn't last that long if I use it on too many people. If I have to shrink 4 of you, that'll give you an hour to fight."

"That's more than what I need," BM said with a grin. 

"Ah, you don't have to shrink me," Yunho said since he was still in his bird form. 

"Alright. Here goes nothing then."