L.Joe and Chunji moved around the second floor library in silence. As the note had suggested before – the room was like a maze – there were countless dead ends and usually only one way to go. Chunji was rubbing his aching side, which was sore from the younger’s earlier kick. The older of the two looked towards the younger – his heart was racing as the younger turned to glare at him, his face otherwise expressionless.

“What is it?” growled L.Joe, peering at Chunji.

“N-nothing,” whispered Chunji, automatically looking towards his feet again.

“Do you want to get out of here?” growled L.Joe, causing the older to look at him again – trembling in fear.

“Y-Yes,” whispered Chunji.

“Then you better help me start looking for the exit,” growled out L.Joe, just as they came out of the isle and into a balcony overlooking the previous level, and giving them a clear view of half of the top level.

“N-Neh,” stuttered Chunji – his hands were trembling and his mind racing, both the fear of the mansion and the fear of his bully getting to him. He felt rather light headed – but didn’t say a word about it as he looked around, trying hard to ignore the fact that he could feel the bully’s burning gaze on his back.

“Do you see anything?” questioned L.Joe after they sat in an unbearably tense silence for roughly about five minutes.

Chunji nodded, whispering out his response, pointing towards an area on the first floor, “There is a door over there that should lead out of the library.”

L.Joe moved forwards to lean slightly over the railing, peering in the direction Chunji was pointing, surprised to see that as the elder said – there was in fact a door, the younger hummed again before stating the next question that popped up in both their minds out loud, “Now, how do we get there?”

Chunji shrugged, examining both the top and bottom floors – as he peered at the half of the top floor they could see, he gasped out in fear as he saw one of the horrifying monsters the letter had spoken about limping across their line of vision – its gaze straight ahead of it. Chunji’s grip tightened on the wooden railing as a wave of dizziness crashed over him and his heart picked up speed. L.Joe looked at the older in curiosity before following his gaze and gasping himself, as his gaze met the eyes of a different monster – one that was very much a live and very much insane.

“Chunji, we need to go,” hissed L.Joe as the psychotic male turned  and walked away faster than it had previously been going – it moved towards one of two staircases that were in sight. 

However, Chunji was frozen in fear, his sight blurring as things began to get hazy. Little black and red dots filled his vision as his grip around the wooden railing tightened and his knuckles turned white. He felt as though his body was weighed down, as if he couldn’t move.

“Chunji!” growled out L.Joe, very tempted to leave the older male behind, but he knew that he couldn’t since the older had a better sense of direction than he did, plus the older male could solve puzzles easier than he could.

As soon as his name slipped from between L.Joe’s parched lips, he flinched and snapped out of his fear induced daze – he automatically spun on his heels and lost balance. L.Joe, seeing that the older had snapped out of it, grabbed ahold of the unstable male’s wrist and dragged him towards the stairs opposite of the ones the insane male was heading down. The two ran down the stairs as fast as they could, Chunji had lost his footing once or twice, but L.Joe had been there to get him right back on his feet again. The duo, seeing that the insane male was gaining on them, moved into the maze – praying silently that there would be no monsters within the maze to attack them.

The duo only stopped when they got to a dead in – they ended up in an area where they were surrounded by bookshelves and one wall that had a fireplace in it. There were a couple of desks lining the walls along with chairs and a couch that laid before the fireplace – the area was poorly lit – unlike the other areas and the duo could barely see as they curled up in a corner behind a couch. Chunji sat in the corner, his knees pressed to his chest as tears cascaded down his cheeks – he had covered his mouth to hold back the sobs that threated to come out as the insane male made his appearance in the area. L.Joe – sensing that Chunji was coming close to cracking – wrapped his arms around Chunji, pulling him to his chest. He buried his face into his enemy’s hair, his eyes closed, as he silently prayed that this was all just one large nightmare and that this really wasn’t happening to them – to him.

Chunji on the other hand, calmed down a bit as his bully’s arms wrapped around him – it felt weird to him. The hands and arms that were usually used to abuse him were wrapped around him securely – making him feel safe despite the psychotic man who was currently searching the area for the duo.   

L.Joe subconsciously ran his finger through Chunji’s hair – thoroughly calming the elder male down and pulling him away from cracking and giving away to insanity so soon. L.Joe held his breath, tensing up as he head the footsteps of the male moving closer to the couch they were hiding behind – he tightened his hold around Chunji, who was holding his breath as well.

“Come out,” called out a hoarse voice, “I know you two are in here.”

Chunji flinched, burying his face farther into the crook of the younger’s neck – he was still trembling, but his sanity was slowly slipping away still. The longer the insane man was around him, the more he felt his sanity leaving him.

To say that he was completely terrified was an understatement – between the fear of the man, the monster, and his bully – it was all getting to be too much for him, way too much. However, the thing that was pushing him over the edge was the fact that he was terrified of the reason as to why he felt safe in his bully’s arms.

“Come out, come out, where ever you are,” stated the voice again, playfully – however, it’s dark intent obvious through its tone.

L.Joe hugged the older male even tighter, continuing to play with the elder’s hair to both calm the male down as well as himself. The thing that was keeping him from losing it was the elder’s warm touch, as well as the elder’s sweet scent – both factors seemed to light his way and fight off the insanity that was slowly creeping in, or attempting to.

“Junsu, where are you?” muttered the man again, making both Chunji and L.Joe flinch in surprise at how close the male was to them – it sounded as if he was standing right in front of them. Chunji looked up and his mouth was automatically covered by L.Joe was he stared straight into the blank eyes of the insane male – of course the man missed it, but still the boy had met his horrifying gaze.

L.Joe hugged the older tighter, restraining him from making any noises as they both watched as the insane male turned his back towards them and walked away merrily – not suspecting that the duo was there – he probably hadn’t seen them as them in the first place.

Only when the footsteps had faded did the duo let out the breath they were holding – only then did L.Joe release the elder male from his hug to see that there were red marks on the elder’s arms from where he had been holding him so tightly.

“Sorry,” whispered L.Joe, motioning towards the red marks.

Chunji shook his head, his hands still trembling as he did so, “Can we please just hide out here for a while?”

L.Joe looked at the older male, “Why?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to move right now,” whispered Chunji, looking towards his trembling legs in embarrassment.

L.Joe looked at the older male in a bit of concern before nodding, “Alright.”

Chunji grabbed ahold of the younger’s hand, intertwining their fingers – avoiding the younger’s gaze, “I know we’re enemies and everything, but would you mind if we stayed like this?” whispered Chunji, “I really need the assurance that I’m not alone right now.”

L.Joe hummed in approval, needing the silent comfort, as well as needing the human contact – especially after such a close encounter with someone who obviously murdered others and could have easily murdered them both. Chunji curled up against L.Joe’s side as they both relaxed into each other, both needing the comfort of having someone beside them through all of this nonsense.

After a ten minute or so break – both to regain their sense and make sure both the monster and insane male were far away, the duo moved back out of the maze – both shocked that they had remembered how to get back out of it since they were so panicked when they had run into it – and towards the door where they found a neatly written letter that had dried blood all over it, showing that it obviously wasn’t written by the mansion’s owner.

The letter read:

To whom this may concern,

If you are reading this letter, then a new set of ‘test subjects’ have been placed into this mansion. I wrote this letter to tell people like you that I’ve locked the third and first floor doors with a set of key’s hidden up on the third floor – the reason being, the four I had been hiding in here with were slowly going insane – two were locked up on the third floor and two on this floor, however, that’s beside the point. The two on the third floor committed suicide together – since they loved each other and didn’t want to see the other go insane – fearing that they’d kill each other, as for those on the first floor – they were a couple as well, but one of them killed the other – if what I’ve seen is correct, you’ll be running into the one who murdered his lover and I. Yes, I’ve been murdered as well. I’m dying as I write this letter, but as previously stated, that is beside the point. The point is, is that to leave this library you must get the keys up on the third floor and unlock both the door on the third floor and on this floor – after all, who knows when someone else will need to get in here.

Sincerely,

Shim Changmin

“So we need to go up to the third floor?” whispered Chunji, L.Joe nodded – sticking the note into his pants pocket – seeing as how it was no longer needed since they would be unlocking both the previously locked doors.

L.Joe nodded, squeezing Chunji’s hand since they kept their fingers intertwined for comfort, despite them being enemies. They both agreed that they’d put their past feelings of hatred aside to survive in the hell hole they were currently in – once they were out, they’d decided whether or not to go back to hating each other.

“Do we have to?” whispered Chunji.

L.Joe nodded, “Knocking down the door would probably attract all the monsters that are around this area.”

Chunji pouted slightly, shivering slightly in fear as he heard the eerie rustle of things on the second floor – whether it was from the insane man or the monster, he did not know.

“Do we really have to go up there?” questioned Chunji.

“We don’t have to go up there, but I am,” stated L.Joe, “Now, if you’d like to stay here on the first floor alone, you are more than welcome to. Now, if I don’t come back, you know I died.”

Chunji frowned, “That isn’t a funny joke.”

“It wasn’t a joke,” stated L.Joe, seriously.

With that said, the two journeyed up the stairs to the second floor – moving cautiously up the stairs since neither the monster of the insane man were nearby, giving a clear path to the key. However, once they got the key, things started to go downhill – especially as they were once again spotted by the insane male.

The duo had just unlocked the third floor door when the man had suddenly appeared again – cornering the duo. They both looked at the said male in fear, the man smirked – pulling out a knife and pointing it towards Chunji, “Junsu, why did you run away?”

Chunji looked towards L.Joe, unsure about what to do – L.Joe, however, seemed to know an idea of how to get out of the room as he tightened his hold on the slightly older male’s wrist. He suddenly took off running, pulling Chunji behind him – the older male, sensing that he needed to run as well, did so – following L.Joe’s lead, managing to keep up with the younger male as they passed the insane male, both of them just barely avoiding the said man’s knife. They managed to lose the male in the maze – as well as get out of it once again, however, as soon as they made it back on the first floor, they were spotted by the insane male who was running down the opposite set of stairs of them and the monster that was roaming the library. The duo sprinted towards the door in hopes that they could unlock it before either of the predators made it to them. L.Joe worked on unlocking the door with both his trembling hands as both adrenaline and fear ran through him – Chunji on the other hand felt his whole body trembling as he continued to stare as both predators moved their way.

“L.Joe, hurry up,” whispered Chunji, the panic and hysteria starting to rise yet again – this encounter was worse the previous one, especially with their escape being just within reach.

“I’m doing this as fast as I can,” muttered L. Joe, “I can’t get my hands to work properly – they won’t stop shaking.”

Chunji cursed under his breath, repeating his previous words as he saw that both the monster and man were just mere feet away, “L.Joe, p-please hurry up.”

Just as Chunji became an arm length away from the insane man, L.Joe got the door open – pulling the older male out of the room – both made sure the door was slammed shut and locked yet again. As soon as the door was locked, they both backed away from it and as soon as their backs hit the opposite wall, they slid down it – sitting down with their backs against the wall.

L.Joe leaned his head back against the wall, panting from the previous mad dash they had made to the door. Chunji looked towards the younger male, “That was too close.”

L.Joe nodded in agreement, squeezing the older’s soft hand, “Way too close.” 

Here is the second chapter for tonight.

I don't know why, but I got the sudden urge to write this story earlier, so I've been doing just that - all day. 

Anyway, they'll probably two more chapters within the next twenty four hours - if not (since my family may be going out of town for a good bit of the next twenty four hours) please expect the chapters to be up within the next forty-eight. ^^ 

I hope you enjoyed the chapters. 

Also, I know the last chapter as well as this one isn't actually about groups, but pairings. You'll understand why they are titled the way the are in the next two chapters - hence the reason I'm going to be putting them up together. ^^

I really hope that I still have some readers out there - as well as some commenters - I always love hearing your all's opinion of the story. 

Again, I hope you all enjoyed the chapters and I hope that this and the two upcoming chapters aren't too confusing - which they shouldn't be, but if they are, please know that once we hit chapter eight, nine, ect. the confusion - if there is any - will be cleared up. 

P.S. I know ChunJoe's actions towards eachother changed rather rapidly.