Inside the foyer, she stood and looked up at the glass ceiling at the dark sky. She just stood there. Four of the guys were in the room with her but nobody said anything. Minho entered the foyer. “I got a bath ready for you.” She didn’t move. In the back of her mind, she knew she looked a mess. Probably smelled a mess too. And, she didn’t have pants nor shoes or socks on. Minho pushed her slowly towards one of the bathrooms on the first floor and left her there.

She stared at the tub filled with a thick foam of white bubbles floating on top of the water. She glanced at the mirror briefly before stepping into the warm water with whatever clothes she did have on. The warm water clouded her mind and she tried not to think.

Kibum made it a task to check up on her briefly every ten minutes, but after an hour of literally no movement from her, he invited himself into the bathroom that she had failed to lock and crouched next to the tub. His dark eyes just stared at her face, but she did not acknowledge him, continuing to stare blankly at the wall in front of her.

He sighed and felt the temperature of the water, it was cold now, so he drained half of it, refilled it with hot water and put more soap in it. With a body sponge he started to gently wipe her face. He massaged shampoo into her hair and rinsed it with a shower head. Kibum removed the shirt that Jinki had put on her and tossed the wet wad into a basket in the corner. He briefly noted her undergarments before deciding to leave them on. It did not bring him any pleasure that he was seeing her near right now. With an expressionless face, he tried to clean her body the best that he could without touching any parts he shouldn’t be touching.

He pushed her to walk back towards the foyer where the others were waiting. Before they even reached the entrance hall, they could hear the shouting. When the two entered, the conversation ceased and the occupants of the room set their eyes on the listless girl wearing a pink bathrobe. Kibum left her side and walked off to to lean against the wall, but he noticed a missing person. “Where’s Jinki hyung?”

Jonghyun huffed and crossed his arms, “Stupid manager hyung called so Jinki is taking care of that right now.” He mumbled, “Seriously…bothering us when they were supposed to give us free time.” His eyes moved to the side to examine the still girl. For a few minutes, they all just silently stared at her while she looked towards them but not really at them. Jonghyun approached her like someone would approach a cornered cat. “Hey baby. Sorry you had to see that, but you really stressed me out and had me worried there.” He tried to laugh it off to make light of it, but when he touched her arm, she flinched. The boy frowned and retreated.

“I think we must have scarred her…,” ‘again’ whispered Kibum but everyone in the room heard. Key turned to the blonde boy. “You were too flashy. You should have just burned them all up quickly and gotten it over with.”

Said boy looked at Key incredulously then hotly spat back, “What?! You were so enjoying watching. Don’t pretend you didn’t! Don’t go blaming me for this! This wouldn’t have happened if Taemin’s stupid animal didn’t show her the exit!”

Taemin, who had been sitting silently on the floor, took offense. “Don’t call my animals stupid! This is why they don’t like you!” The angry maknae stood up aggressively. Jonghyun’s jacket sleeves smoked. Key pushed his hyung back a little. “Don’t yell at Taemin!”

“You think you can take me on?” said Jonghyun, walking close to Key and putting his face in front of the other boy’s.

The guy whose personal space was being encroached upon clenched his fists. “Get out of my face,” Kibum said calmly. Taemin pulled Key back and Minho did the same to Jonghyun.

“Hyung, we shouldn’t fight in front of her right now,” the ice demon reasoned.

The hot head smirked. “You’re right. I wouldn’t want to embarrass him so badly in front of her.”

A surprised Taemin reached for Key as the older guy slipped from his grasp and threw a fist past Jonghyun’s cheek but the fire boy instinctively dodged. “I’m the almighty Key and you’re on my turf. Don’t mess with me.” As more clouds broke apart overhead, the mirrors lining all the walls seemed to glow with the added moonlight.

“Oo…the defensive based demon wants to act all aggressive now? Don’t go crying to your grandma after I’m done with you.” Jonghyun stepped away from Minho’s reach and charged at Key. Kibum waited for the last possible moment to melt into the mirror behind him as Jonghun shattered it with a flaming fist that was meant for Key’s abdomen. Minho shook his head at Jonghyun’s lack of foresight. Key had even reminded Jonghyun that the whole room minus the floor and ceiling was made up of mirrors. Key’s hand came out of the bottom portion of that mirror panel that wasn’t completely cracked or shattered and grabbed onto Jonghyun’s ankle. The older guy flailed as he fell backwards but had enough mind to heat up his body quickly enough that the hand released him in surprise.  Since the ceiling was high, so was the length of the reflective walls. Key jumped out of the upper portion of the mirror and clung onto the decorative hanging drapes.

“Get down here you monkey!” shouted Jonghyun as he got up He threw fireballs at the long piece of heavy fabric but it burned too slowly and some missed as key swung the  thing like the animal Jonghyun called him would do. Key climbed all the way to the top and pulled hard on the fastening that held the drape to the ceiling. The metal links broke (and thankfully not the thick glass ceiling), Kibum pushed off of the ceiling, and the fabric, along with the boy, come fluttering down to cover the surprised fire demon.

“Yah! How are we going to fix that?!” Minho yelled.

Key ran the end of the heavy drape a few times around the struggling Jonghyun before finally stopping. “Give up man,” said Key as he wiped sweat off his forehead. He stepped back slightly as he felt heat radiate from the fabric.

Minho stepped up and cooled the ball of fabric until it frosted over. “Chill man. You’re overreacting. What’s wrong with you?” He soon stepped back also as his frost turned to steam and a heated hand shot out from a burned hole in the drape and grabbed onto Minho’s arm, burning the sleeve right off.

Taemin tensed up and Key’s eyes widened. “Yo, were you seriously going to burn me that badly?” Off to the side, the girl’s eyes refocused and her lips moved but no sound came out.

“I liked that shirt…,” Minho whispered with narrowed eyes as he grabbed onto Jonghyun’s wrist. Jonghyun’s other hand freed itself and came at Minho’s face, but Minho locked hands with that one. The blue fabric slowly turned to ash to reveal Minho’s grappling opponent. Minho gritted his teeth, and both boys started sweating from the effort to overpower the other.

Key and Taemin stepped back as the air around the two elementals became uncomfortable and suffocating. The girl whispered something but everyone’s attention was too focused on the dangerous situation.

Minho didn’t know what to do. Jonghyun was definitely treating him like an enemy rather than a sparring partner, so he was really turning up the heat. Minho didn’t know how much he could handle in this current setting. Minho had more control, but Jonghyun had more raw power. It would be easier if Minho could just concentrate on keeping a shield around himself against the heat, but he also had to keep the others safe and prevent the house from burning down.

An alarmed Taemin cursed as he wiped sweat away. He was still too close to the fight. “Taemin-ah!” Key shouted, running to him and pulling him farther away as Taemin’s cotton shirt that had some oil stains on it (maybe picked up from the campsite) started smoking. Even as Taemin stumbled back, Key pulling him by the collar, the cloth self-ignited. For it to self-ignite, the area must have felt like an oven. Key and Taemin were frantically trying to remove Taemin’s combusting clothing, so they didn’t notice as the girl began to sway. She coughed dryly and took deep breaths of hot air. She squinted at the two demons locked together as she struggled to find enough air to shout. She kept on mouthing words but the air in her lungs would disappear before she could get any sound out. “St-…” Her vision blurred and she shook her head to clear it. That just made her lightheaded. “Stop…..”

Minho glanced at her before focusing back on Jonghyun. “Snap out of it!”

“STOP IT!” The female’s voice sounded. Minho head butted Jonghyun, and the disorientated guy ungripped Minho’s hands as he stumbled back, but not before unleashing an unaimed fireball. Minho side stepped it but then turned around in fright as the sphere of heat headed right towards the girl. “KIBUM!” Key turned around and his mouth opened in shock as the fire quickly approached the unsteady girl. He abandoned Taemin, who was on the floor half but staring with wide eyes at the girl.

‘NO NO NO NO NO!’ ran through all the guy’s minds. Jonghyun snapped out of his blind rage and rubbed the side of his head that had slammed into the wall. He shook his head but then registered the scene and was shouting her name.

Her eyes widened as she stared at the fireball that was approaching her as if it were in slow motion. It didn’t help her nerves when the image of the projectile doubled along with her vision.

Kibum stopped running as his legs collapsed underneath him. He really felt like crying all of a sudden. Minho dropped to his knees too. The girl breathed shallowly while she lay on the warm floor. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw as she bent into herself.

‘Thank god!’ ran through everyone’s mind. Thank god she had finally lost her balance from the stuffy air (or lack of it) and heat exposure. Thank god she had swayed just far enough to the side that she finally fell over. Thank god that fireball just missed her by mere centimeters to burn out as it hit the wall.

Onew, who had opened the door to enter the foyer just to see a sphere of flames heading in his direction, looked at the wall next to the doorframe where the mirror was still smoking a little. He took in the scene. “What the hell happened here?”

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THEA's Corner <3

Umm...nothing really to say about this chapter. Typed most of it up last night so I don't know if I'm satisfied with it or not. Usually I don't release chapters right after I finish writing them. I hope people could visualize what Key was doing. Sometimes I really wish I could draw a picture of some of these rooms but I at drawing, and frankly, I'm just too lazy for that. Anyways, 60 subscribers! Yay! I'm making my way up there on the Popular By Subscriptions list :P
My thoughts on "Lucifer" comeback live on Music Bank: Hotness but really wish Minho could dance so the camera work wouldn't be so split. I really want to see the whole dance. Well, at least Minho's not making his injury worse.

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Posted: 23 July 2010
Approx. 3 pages