[Ren’s PoV]

I sighed as I took the two mugs handed to me by Miyoung, she looked at me solemnly, whispering a good-night to me as I advanced back up the stairs to where I knew Jonghyun who would awaiting me in his bed beside his brother. He had not fully recovered just yet – he never had, but he had spent most of the day looking for answers – hoping to find another way to save his brother whose health was declining rather rapidly.

I watched as she walked off, moving towards the living area – where she curled up beside Baekho, resting her head on his broad shoulders. My eyes then traced over the sleeping forms of the twins, smiling as I saw the intimate position they laid in, Kwangmin resting in the safety of his older twin’s arms. I smiled gently, longing for that sort of relationship – never having thought about it before, prior to seeing them in such positions with each other.

My mind also wondered as to when it had begun – when they all had entered such a relationship – trying recall the exact moment. However, with another deep sigh, I my heel and headed up the stairs, thinking about Jonghyun – who would probably come looking for me if I didn’t come to his side soon, thinking about how we had been so concerned with each other that neither of us seemed to be paying attention to the other four and it made me quite guilty.

As I climbed the stairs, I paused in my step, shocked to hear Jonghyun speaking to Minhyun.

“Please just stop this,” croaked out Minhyun, his voice wavering from him gathering all his speech, “It’s no use using your powers to prolong my life…it’s no use exhausting yourself over me…just let me go.”

I bit my lip upon hearing Jonghyun’s response.

“I-I can’t,” whispered Jonghyun in response, his voice wavering slightly before he continued on to say, “I can’t lose you like eomma and abeoji…I can’t just let you die without trying to save you.”

“You can only save me if you close the tear and to be able to do so, you need to be at your full strength, both physically and mentally, so please just let me go Jonghyun, please just let me go…just let fate get it’s way for I will not let it dominate me in the void.”

Jonghyun bit his lip just as I peeked around the corner, I could see the tears glistening in their eyes – neither clearly wanting to say good-bye, but knowing that it was coming.

“Please just give up Jonghyun…”

“I can’t.”

“You need to…”

“Why?”

“Whenever you heal me…it hurts…”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Every time the tendrils come back, they are even more painful than before…so,” whispered Minhyun, “Please just stop and let me go, please…I beg you.”

Jonghyun hesitated a bit, hugging his sobbing younger brother close to his chest, whispering out a sorrowed filled apology and confirmation, a sorrow filled promise. I stood in silence as I saw Minhyun whisper something else to his brother, trembling violently in the elder’s hold – it looked as though he had whispered “Don’t fear the darkness, learn to possess it, to welcome it…just don’t buckle under uncle’s greedy grasp – fight shadow with shadow” however, I wasn’t too sure since I could hardly hear his voice. He carried on saying something else, but I was completely clueless about what was said since I could no longer see his mouth.

I felt my hands trembling as I heard Jonghyun promise the younger to do something – despite the obvious hesitation between his words.  Tears pricked my eyes as I watched Jonghyun gently rest his trembling hands on his brother’s temples, caressing them as if he was touching a glass that he was afraid would shatter in his hands. The younger of the two looked at his hyung with a gentle and happy smile – a thankful one - playing on his lips as he whispered his good-bye to his brother as the elder watched with tears streaming down his eyes as light enveloped his hands and his brother fell back lifelessly onto the bed.

I dropped the mugs and rushed to Jonghyun’s side as the elder male collapsed onto his knees, sobbing harshly beside his brother’s bed, resting his head against the plush mattress. I quickly enveloped Jonghyun in a tight and comforting embrace, cradling the weaker elder to my chest, shaking my head at all the others as they ran up the stairs to the room – concern dressing their features as they saw the lifeless Minhyun and relatively broken Jonghyun.  

“He’s gone?” whispered Baekho.

I nodded, “He’s gone.”

Jonghyun trembled, whispering out to Minhyun, “Please forgive me for prolonging your torture…I-I didn’t mean to…”

I hugged him closer and pressed a chaste and sudden kiss on the crown of his head, trying hard to calm him down.

“Jonghyun what did Minhyun say?” I questioned, whispering in his ears.

“He told me to welcome the shadow as I welcomed the flames…he told me that I could possess the shadow like our uncle, but I just had to be careful not to let the greed to get to me…He told me the only way to win this was not only to get the pillars back up but to fight shadow against shadow.” whispered Jonghyun, “H-he also asked me to…”

“End his misery?”

Jonghyun nodded, whispering out, “Th-that…”

I hugged him even tighter, pulling him even closer as I whispered out, “You did what he wanted you to do…you freed him from the heavy shackles that you uncle put onto him, even if it meant him having to move on.”

“I hardly knew him though,” whispered Jonghyun, trembling, “I hardly knew about him…I had just met him a week ago and now he’s gone.”

“He’s gone to cheer you on with your eomma and abeoji,” I stated, “He loves you all the same because you did something I wouldn’t have ever been able to do, you fulfilled your brother’s final wish…you freed him from your uncle’s grasp – even if it was unintentionally…”

He bit his lip and shook his head, “I doubt that, he has control over him still…after all, he still has control over the void.”

“That may be true, but he is physically no longer under his control and I’m sure he’ll resist,” I stated, “I’m sure he’ll be able to resist his control from now on and will probably root for you to slaughter the man who keeps slaughtering his own family – who plans on exterminating the entire human race.”

Jonghyun bit his lip and nodded, “Th-that’s true.”

“However, Jonghyun, I know you’re still mourning, but we need to think about what is to come, we need to start preparations for what is to come next – for our adventure towards the void,” I whispered, “JR-ah, we need to avenge your brother, your family…as well as my own…we have to make your uncle regret mercilessly murdering all those people…we have to stop him before the darkness consumes the whole world and more and more people end up like Minhyun.”

I watched as Jonghyun wiped away his tears, his face growing emotionless as he nodded to my words, agreeing with them as he pulled away from me. The sudden mood swing shocking me, I then realized that he was trying to cope with the loss by focusing his attention elsewhere, he was running away from the truth in a way, “You’re right…there is no time for me to mourn like this…I need to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else…I need to make sure that you are safe until the end – even if it ends up with me being separated from you,” He then looked towards the others, “being separated from you all….”

“That won’t happen,” I stated.

He looked at me sadly and whispered, “You really don’t know that, Minki-ah.”

I flinched at the expression he gave me, it did not seem like it was him at all – despite the emotions all over his facial features, his eyes were emotionless…they were only showing just how broken he was after the other male’s passing – after his twin’s passing. 

I know, another relatively random chapter...either way, I hope you all enjoyed, as much as you could that is...