Jongin and Luhan first met each other when they were three. Their parents were friends with each other, so they inevitably spent a lot of time together as kids. In kindergarten, they stuck together like glue, since they knew nobody else. Even as they grew up and made other friends, they remained the center of each other’s social life.They did everything together--sports, pranks, parties, you name it. If Jongin did it, Luhan did it, and if Luhan did it, Jongin did it. So, when Jongin signed up for dance lessons, Luhan did, too, and by 7th grade they both were dancing at high school level competitions. They both were jokesters, too, and together they were a teacher’s worst nightmare. Luhan, with smooth talking, could distract any authority figure quite easily while Jongin set up or executed the prank. Not only that, but they were both quite intelligent. This, coupled with their good looks and physical strength, made them both objects of envy and fear throughout school. There was unspoken rule that everyone stayed on Jongin and Luhan’s good sides, because if you were on Luhan’s bad side, you were on Jongin’s bad side, too, and your life would become a living hell until they decided to stop or you moved. Usually, people moved. Jongin and Luhan ruled the school, and so long as they stayed together they’d never lose that power. And they never would lose that power because, as everyone knew, Jongin and Luhan were best friends forever and inseparable.

Although they said they were equals and everyone treated them like equals, there was unspoken truth among everyone at school that Jongin had a little more power than Luhan, and that, if push came to shove, Luhan would do what Jongin wanted. Luhan, though strong and athletic, had never been as strong or athletic as Jongin and was always second in sports competitions. And, though Luhan was handsome, with big, sparkling eyes, porcelain skin, and puffy, soft hair that was dyed a golden blond, he had the disadvantage of delicate features, and always looked more feminine, especially when compared to Jongin, who was tall and tan, with a strong jaw and sharp eyes that could pierce through your skins and bones all the way to your soul. The only thing Luhan beat Jongin in was brains, which was not nearly as valued as everything else. They were both smart, of course, but Luhan was the top of the class, and Jongin was only in the top 15. Luhan wasn’t just book smart, though--he could think his way out of almost any situation, and if Jongin was honest, most of their plots came from Luhan’s brain. And sometimes, Jongin was scared of Luhan’s mind. But that was in elementary school.

Jongin was more social and open than Luhan, and, because of this, made more friends. By middle school, Jongin felt quite sure he could leave Luhan and be just fine. But he knew Luhan couldn’t leave him. All of Luhan’s friends had been Jongin’s first--Kyungsoo, Suho, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun were stuck to Jongin like glue, but they could easily separate themselves from Luhan. In fact, they had told Jongin that they only put up with Luhan and his “arrogance” because they knew he was Jongin’s best friend. The only one who might possibly leave him for Luhan was Sehun. But Luhan and Sehun’s relationship wasn’t friendship, at least not from what Jongin had seen. It was more like an idol and fan relationship--Sehun followed Luhan around and practically worshipped the ground he walked on, and Luhan regarded him coldly and ignored his existence. But Sehun was, in the social hierarchy, a non-factor. He was a year younger than everyone else and his presence added nothing. If anything, he was an annoyance everyone put up with because it was likely he’d have some pull eventually. So Jongin didn’t care if he left him for Luhan. It’d mean less than nothing. Jongin didn’t need Sehun. And Jongin didn’t need Luhan. But Luhan needed Jongin, and Luha knew he needed Jongin, which is why Luhan would always do what Jongin wanted. If he didn’t, and Jongin kicked him out, Luhan was socially screwed. So Jongin stopped being afraid of Luhan and his brain, knowing he had more support in the end.

That, and Luhan was honestly a nice guy towards Jongin. He was cold, arrogant, and spiteful towards everyone else, but when they were alone Luhan acted like a kid with Jongin, laughing so hard his eyes seemed to disappear under happy wrinkles. He really loved Jongin like a brother, and Jongin loved him like a brother. So Luhan happily did what Jongin wanted, and Jongin kept Luhan close even though it didn’t help his social status at all. The boys shared and did everything together. What Jongin got, Luhan also got, and what Luhan got, so did Jongin. And, for a while, it worked, and for a while, they were happy.

But all things, even the good things, must come to an end, and for Jongin and Luhan’s friendship the end came in the form of young love and the pale, beautiful features of Kim Miyung.

Luhan noticed Miyung first--he always noticed things first. In 7th grade, there were two people he smiled at: Jongin and Miyung. By 8th grade, his sideway glances had transformed into full-on conversations, complete with laughter. She was the only person Luhan was willing to laugh and be open with, besides Jongin. In fact, Luhan tried to change for Miyung. He tried to open up and be more warm and welcoming like Jongin. It didn’t work, but he tried, especially when Miyung was around. Jongin, of course, noticed the change in Luhan. He noticed how Luhan would randomly and suddenly become nervous, throwing glances here and there to see if anyone was watching him. He noticed how Luhan would break down from his usual icy self into blushing stutters and sweaty palms. But Jongin didn’t notice Miyung. At least, not until 9th grade, when she came to school on the first day free of glasses and braces and began talking to Luhan immediately. It was then that Jongin noticed Miyung, and how smooth her face was, and how her long and silky hair cascaded over her shoulders. Jongin wanted her. He wanted to touch her smooth face and run his fingers through her hair. And Jongin got what he wanted.

He wasn’t worried about Luhan--Luhan had always yielded, Luhan always let Jongin take what he wanted, and Jongin felt confident he would this time, too. It was just a girl, afterall.

So Jongin didn’t feel uncomfortable becoming fast friends with Miyung. Not even when Luhan began shooting him dirty glances when he saw Jongin laughing with her. And Jongin didn’t feel the need to back off, even when Luhan told him he was planning on confessing to her.

Luhan would understand.. Luhan had always understood him before. He’d understand now, that Jongin wanted Miyung, and that he had to back off for now. He wouldn’t mind. Sure, he might be upset for a few days, but after 3 or so days of moping, he’d come crawling back to Jongin and soon the two would be laughing and pranking others like they always did.

That is what Jongin told himself as he walked towards the courtyard where he knew Miyung was waiting for Luhan, and it is what he repeated to himself to quell a small and unusual feeling of dread in his stomach as he laced his arms around her from behind and began whispering in her ear. And it is what he couldn’t quite make himself believe as he kissed Miyung’s cheek. As he drew away from her and smiled, he realized that he had just broken something. He wasn’t sure what it was, or how badly it was broken, but the clenching in his gut told him it was irreparable.

And that’s when Jongin looked up at one of the many windows which surrounded the courtyard of the school and saw Luhan staring out one of them, a rose and teddy bear in hand, wearing an expression colder than ice, the kind of expression that formed by taking all the rage inside you and directing it to the eyes, sharpening it like a knife. And, much like a knife, the expression and pure, undeniably rage in Luhan’s eyes cut Jongin to the bone, and he froze on the spot, still back hugging Miyung. Luhan nodded slightly at him before flipping around and walking away from the window and out of sight. Only when he left did Jongin allow himself to breathe again, and even that felt dangerous. It was the first time he felt truly terrified of Luhan, but something told him it wouldn’t be the last time.

After that, Luhan wasn’t seen at school for a few days, but Jongin still couldn’t shake the chilling terror lingering in his bones. Luhan could be dangerous, very, very dangerous, and if anyone knew that, it was Jongin. He had seen what Luhan did to people he disliked, and, while he thought it was funny at the time, looking back on what they did made him shiver and break out in cold sweat. Social status, popularity--none of that matters, Jongin realized. Because Luhan did not care about those things. He would stop at nothing to get his revenge. And the worst part was that he could take his time with it. Luhan was a patient person who held grudges for a lifetime. He had a talent for waiting and attacking at the precise moment when a person was weak both physically and mentally.

When Jongin’s mother told him that Luhan’s family had moved to China unexpectedly because Luhan’s dad had been transferred, Jongin felt little consolation. Because Luhan would come back. And he would have his revenge on Jongin.

It was only a matter of time.About a year later, Jongin joined a gang and changed his name to Kai. And his friends joined, too, one by one, as they realized that in the real world money, not popularity, dictated how powerful you were, and they might as well start gaining some power now. Even Sehun, who was just a 15-year-old 9th grader at the time, understood this and joined.

The news quickly spread, but no one was surprised--Jongin and his friends had long since started ruling the school by force instead of popularity. In fact, they were widely and openly hated by all, but no one ever said anything because the fear of getting their head smashed into a locker outweighed their hatred. By senior year, Kai and his group of friends were deep in the criminal world,-and ran the school with an iron fist. They even had, technically, their own gang--the “big boss”, as they called him, had given them control over a few blocks of the city. They were closely watched and often had other, older members with them, but they were freer than ever. No one could or dared tried to touch them.

Life, for Kai, became entertaining and worth living again. No longer could normalcy bore and tire him. He lived his life exactly the way he wanted to, and no one could stop him. Luhan was nothing more than an echo that occasionally sounded through Kai’s mind, only to be drowned out by the busyness of life, and Kai’s fear was a mere shadow of what it once was, tangible but faded and easily forgotten during the day.

But at night and in his dreams, Kai still found himself haunted by a pair of dark, sharp eyes which swarmed with nothing but anger and unknown plots of revenge. They were eyes that were icy and yet on fire, and the nights always ended with Kai waking up in cold sweat and out of breath. However, the eyes would fade away over the course of the day, leaving Kai with nothing but vague recollections of fear, only to come back with full force and terror again at night. But, in the end, the dreams were just that: dreams. And the eyes were ghosts of a past grudge long since worn out by time and circumstance. There was nothing to fear when he was awake. So Kai lived life on the edge, fearless and strong.

Until one day, when the ghost eyes came back to life and Kai’s nightmare suddenly became a reality.

It was at that strange time of day when the night was darkest even though it was technically morning--about 1 o’clock--and Kai was waiting for a group of drug dealers. The dealers were supposed to come to him and drop off the money they made from sales. Kai would then see to it that the money got into his boss’s hands, and his boss would give the money to his boss, and the money would slowly flow upward until eventually it trickled back down again the form of a small paycheck. It was an easy, simple task, but important. If done wrong, the consequences could be disastrous.

Kai waited in a dark, dirty, abandoned street corner for the drop. About 10 feet away the yellow light of a streetlamp feebly pushed away the darkness, illuminating only the ground a few feet around it. The dust drifting underneath the light gave it a misty, smoky look, as if even the streetlamp was trying to hide from the world. Kai positioned himself so he was hidden from the street by the corner of a faded brick building but could still see the road. And then he watched. And waited.

Luckily, the drop didn’t take too long. Kai had only been waiting for about half an hour before a businessman carrying quite a big briefcase walked down the road. He stopped just outside of the streetlight, put down his briefcase, and bent over to tie his shoe. After he tied his shoe, the man straightened up and began walking straight ahead to be swallowed by the night, conveniently forgetting to pick up his briefcase. Kai hurried over, snatched up the briefcase, then slinked back to his corner. He opened up the black briefcase and, sure enough, stacks upon stacks of green bills filled the briefcase to the rim. Kai smiled to himself and closed the case. He wasn’t sure if it was the right amount of money because he wasn’t sure how many grams of coke was sold, but it wasn’t his job to know that. His job was simply to get it to his boss. He’d worry about the amount.

But, as Kai began running off into the night, something froze him in place. He couldn’t say what, but it chilled him to the bone. At first he thought it was the night air, but it was May and the weather had never made him feel so cold. It felt like his soul was being freezed over.

I’m being watched, Kai realized. He gulped down the increasingly large lump in his throat and tried to calm his turning stomach. He had been watched before. So why was this any different? There was nothing to be afraid of. He was Kai, leader of a gang that ran the East side. Nothing could harm him.

Kai told himself this, finally building up the courage to look around to see who was watching him. It didn’t take him long, but what he saw took his breath away from him and the life from his body.

On the top of a nearby building stood the outline of a man staring openly at Kai. His whole figure was a fuzzy, black outline, but his large white eyes could easily be seen in the dark night. Kai felt all the blood drain from his face to his feet. They were the same eyes that stared down at him 3 years ago from a window with that strange, terrifying mixture of emotionless, white hot yet icy, fury. They were the same eyes that had haunted his dreams and left him in a pool of cold sweat at the end of each day.

And suddenly, Kai was Jongin again, running as quickly as he could, hoping that maybe the wind and speed would somehow blow the eyes away, back into the distant memory they belonged to. But instead of things becoming blurrier and easily forgotten, everything seemed to sharpen. A flood of memories filled Jongin’s mind, confusing and terrifying him even more. He vaguely remembered dropping the briefcase off at the drop point. He must have, because he found himself at his house at around 3, breathless and empty handed. But the drop didn’t matter to Jongin. Nothing mattered, except for one thing:
Luhan was back.

            The next day at school there were, as Kai expected, early transfers. When the teacher announced there would be new students, Kai tensed in his seat, preparing himself to face Luhan. However, Luhan wasn’t among the new students, and Kai allowed himself to breathe easily again. There were only two new transfer students in Kai’s class. One was a gigantic man with sharp features and even sharper features. He had black, closely shaved hair and seemed to be judging everyone in the room. In a deep, quiet voice, he introduced himself as Kris, and immediately a ripple of whispers went through the room, mostly the predictable, “Wow, a foreigner!” and “He’s so tall.”

            The other transfer was much shorter, so short it was comical to see him stand by the giant Kris. He was thin and pale, with a small frame and well defined jaw and black hair that fell into his eyes. When he introduced himself, his voice was quiet, but strong and silky, like he was singing even though he was just talking. His name was Chen, and he left all the girls swooning. He even winked at one girl in the front, and Kai thought he tasted vomit in his mouth. He hated guys like that. The taller one, Kris, sighed and pushed Chen to their seats in the back while mumbling something in a language Kai didn’t understand.  Kai looked at Kyungsoo (or D.O., now) and nodded ever so slightly as Kris and Chen passed by him in the aisle. D.O. nodded back, getting the message.

Kris and Chen were new students who needed to be educated about how the school ran. And no one could teach them better than Kai’s gang.

               As it turns out, there was a new kid in Sehun’s class, too. He was a tall, quiet kid with dark, deep set eyes and a crooked nose. Sehun ran up to Kai after class ended and told him about the boy in a breathless voice. Kai sent Suho to investigate and it was true--there were 3 transfer students. But it didn’t matter much to Kai if there was two, three, or even four. He was relieved that Luhan wasn’t among them and just wanted to get the “educating” done as soon as possible.

             Luckily, the three boys were always together out of class, and getting them alone was rather easy. After school was over on the first day they came, Kai and his gang found them standing in the middle of the hallway. Kai considered waiting until the three were alone, but it had been a while since they had done something in public and the student body was getting a little restless. And they couldn’t have that. So he gave the order for the group to surrounded the three new students, which they easily did, even in the crowded hallway. When students saw them circling the new kids, everyone froze and watched. Kai’s gang was on the move, and if his gang was on the move, you wanted to watch and make sure they didn’t turn against you.

The group easily surrounded the boys, circling them like a pack of wolves. The short boy, Chen, stopped mid sentence and froze when he saw them, his mouth halfway open and filled with a word he’d never say. The two taller ones didn’t move, either, and stared at the group from the corners of their eyes, cold and stoic.

“What do you want?” the tallest one, Kris, asked in a deep growl. Suho, the gang’s unofficial spokesman, took a step towards the trio.

“Me and my friends just wanted to welcome you to the school,” he said, a pleasant smile on his face and threatening glint in his eyes.

“And you are?” Kris growled, glaring down at Suho, who smiled back.

“I’m Suho,” he said.

“He’s cute~” a voice murmured.

“What?” Suho snapped, the smile instantly disappearing from his face, “Who was that?”

The short boy pushed between the two taller boys, a mischievous grin spreading on his face.

“I’m Chen. But you knew that already. And you’ve already met Kris, the walking block of ice,” he said, waving a hand at Kris, whose eye visibly twitched, “And this cute erm not-so-little panda is Tao,” he said, waving at the boy with the crooked nose.

Kai braced himself. There was something about Chen’s grin and flashing eyes that reminded him of a scheming fox, and he knew instinctively that Chen could not be trusted. He was dangerous--how dangerous, Kai did not know, nor did he want to find out. He caught Baekhyun’s eye and nodded slightly. The message passed through the group in a second, unheard and impossible for anyone else to see. Everyone tensed, getting ready for attack.

“Now listen,” Chen said, seeing the group tense, “Whatever you’re about to do, don’t.”

“What?” Suho asked.

“It’s a really bad idea. You don’t want to do this. Trust me,” Chen responded. Kai clenched his fists, ready to jump in and punch the living daylights out of the person closest to him. It happened to be Tao, and for a moment Kai felt bad about fighting a younger kid. But only for a moment.

“We do what we want. You’ll learn that soon enough,” Suho said, not even attempting to be pleasant.

“No, really, this is a baaaaad idea. Don’t--” Chen was cut off as a fist flew squarely into the side of his head and sent him tumbling to the floor. Kai thought he was knocked out--it was a hard, well-aimed punch, but Chen managed to drag himself off from the floor. He rubbed his face as he stood up and looked at Suho, more annoyed than angry.

“Now why’d you have to do that? Ugh, now my black pants have this white dust on them...ugh...so troublesome” Chen was cut off again by Suho’s fist, but this time he ducked, squatting to the floor. Then, almost too quick to process, Chen kicked his leg out in a circle, slamming his heel against Suho’s shins and sending him sprawling to the floor. Someone shouted, and a second later, Kai jumped in, ready to fight.

It was one of the shortest fights he’d ever been in. One moment, he was running in, his fist aimed at Tao’s face, and the next he found himself staring at the ceiling, gasping for air.

He forced himself to lift his head and see how everyone else was doing, and was shocked to see all of his friends scattered on the floor around the three new kids. Kai stared, shocked and scared, along with the rest of the kids in the hallway. There was a moment of silence as everyone realized an impossible, undeniable fact: Kai’s gang had lost.

The silence was soon broken by whispers as everyone talked about what they saw, each one adding his own twist to the story while staring at the three boys in the center with a mix of fear and wonder. By the next morning, everyone would have heard about the fight, and the new kids would be considered gods.

“Can’t say I didn’t warn you,” Chen said, smiling down at Suho, “You ought to trust me on these things,” he teased. He placed one foot on top of Suho’s chest and puffed out his chest. Kris and Tao stared at him. “I am Chen the conqueror,” Chen said in a mock-deep voice before breaking out in loud laughter.

Kai, who was lying near both Kris and Tao, saw them sigh and roll their eyes. He could also hear them as they began whispering to each other.

“Kris, did we really come all the way here for this?” Tao whispered, waving his hand at the now-groaning bodies on the floor.

“It’s what he wants. Don’t complain,” Kris said.

“They seem like a waste of his time, if you ask me,” Tao grumbled.

“He decides what’s worth his time and what isn’t. Besides, it’ll be more of a fight when they have guns,” Kris said, looking down at Kai, who glared back at him. Kris smirked back, “Come on, Tao, it’s time to get out of here. Chen!” He called. Chen jumped away from Suho and came running over, and soon the three had disappeared down the hallway. Kai sat up and groaned, his anger dissipating into stone-cold fear when he thought about what he just heard.

“Luhan made friends,” Kai whispered, feeling the weight in the air increase as the sentence escaped his lips. But the statement was drowned out in groans of pain which did nothing to ease Kai’s anxiety.

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Kris never had a friend before meeting Luhan. Even as a young boy, everyone was scared of him. In school, he was always taller and colder than everyone else, and was labeled a bully before he had the chance to speak. He wasn’t a bully at first--at least, Kris didn’t think he was--but he soon became one. He didn’t see any reason not to--after all, being feared made life easy, and he could get away with it because that’s what everyone expected from him. And Kris figured out a way to always get what he wanted, even if it was through force. It didn’t take long for the schoolyard fights to turn into street fights, which soon turned into gunfights. By 15, Kris found himself in one of Beijing's largest gangs, and that was where he met Luhan.

Kris first met Luhan during a particularly dangerous assignment. Another gang had been cutting into their territory, and Kirs and a few others were told to “take care of it”. That group included Luhan.

Long story short, a gunfight broke out in an abandoned car lot, and Kris found himself replaying his short life in his head as he stared down the barrel of a gun. But suddenly, the gunman was tumbling down to the ground, crimson blood spilling from his head, and Kris found himself staring in the biggest pair of eyes he’d seen in his life.

“You-you saved me,” Kris said, trying to steady his breathing.

“Of course I did. We need you alive, idiot. Now MOVE,” the boy, who was young with delicate features, shouted before dragging Kris behind a pillar in the lot.

            “Look out!” Kris yelled, jumping in front of him and shooting down a man who had his gun pointed at the boy. The boy stared at the man’s body and the pool of blood leaking from his chest and staining his black shirt

            “We’re even now,” Kris said, still out of breath. The boy ripped his eyes away from the corpse and looked straight into Kris’s eyes.

            “We always were,” he said, his voice and gaze steady.

             Kris didn’t remember much else about the fight, only that they won and earned a little more notoriety in the underground world. But afterwards, he and Luhan were friends, and trusted each other completely. At least, he trusted Luhan completely. Luhan, like Kris, was cold and a bit quiet, and seemed to be holding something back. As they got to know each other, Luhan became brighter, warmer, and more open--but even then, Kris could tell Luhan was holding something back. Until one night, when they were seated on the curb of a street outside a bar and could see their breath puff out like smoke, when Luhan suddenly decided to tell Kris about his best friend, Jongin. About how he had known Jongin from childhood, about how Jongin openly used him, about how Jongin would laugh about Luhan with his other friends, and about how, in the end, Jongin betrayed Luhan and destroyed their trust.

             As he told the story, the smile slowly dropped away from Luhan’s face, his voice became quiet, and his sparkling eyes faded into an angry glare. The transformation frightened Kris--he had never seen Luhan angry before. It was the worst kind of anger, too--the kind that stays quiet and controlled, the kind that is patient and will cut its victim down slowly. The kind of anger that could wait a lifetime for revenge.

            “I want to destroy him,” Luhan whispered, clenching his shaking hands into even shakier fists, “I want pay him back ten times over. He should know how I feel. It’s only right. But Jongin....Jongin is surrounded. He has people who’d defend him and his worthless life to the death. And I....I have nothing,” he spat the last few words, as if they had been rotting in his mouth for weeks, and slumped over, defeated.

            “You have me,” Kris said, feeling anger pounding through his head as he thought about what he just heard, “And we’ll find others. We’ll get stronger and we’ll pay him back. You’ll see,” he stood up and walked away, leaving Luhan staring at his trembling fists.

             And that’s exactly what they did. They got stronger by the day, and slowly climbed up in rank in the gang. They found a ragtag group to support them: Yixing, or Lay, who was a bar musician and the quickest hand-to-hand fighter Kris had ever seen; Xiumin, who was Korean (his real name was Minseok), an agile and strong fighter and soon became Luhan’s best friend next to Kris; Chen, or Jongdae (he was also Korean), who was a practical joker and could shoot a soda can from a mile away; and Tao, a younger kid who always admired them from a distance and finally earned a place in the group when he showed off his wushu skills and flipped Chen. They were all best at hand-to-hand combat, save for Chen, who was a gunfighter, and Luhan, who had a natural skill for sword and knife fighting. They were a strong, albeit ragtag, group of boys who could beat almost any opponent with the right strategy. And Luhan always had the right strategy.

             At first, things were great. The six got stronger each day and slowly but surely climbed rank within the gang. Soon, much faster than they thought possible, they were in charge of a whole portion of the city. Even though he was the more natural leader, Kris let Luhan take charge. The whole group was put together for his sake, after all. Luhan accepted, but decided to remain behind the scenes while Kris did all the speaking. It was better that way, he had said. And with Luhan’s brain and the group’s fighting skill, it didn’t take long for their names to be known among all sorts of criminals, big and small.

But the more power they gained, the stranger Luhan became. When Kris first met him, Luhan was cold and angry, but civil, and, once he got used to you, warm and happy. He could still laugh and smile. But as time wore on and their names became well known, Luhan became quiet and frigid. He would spend hours sitting at a window, glaring icy daggers at the sky, as if cursing the heavenly body for his misfortune. He snapped at everyone and never spoke of his plans, not even to Kris. The bags under his eyes grew larger and darker with every passing day, and soon he refused to eat and only began again when Xiumin told him he’d get weaker. Even then, he ate minimally. All smiles and laughter had left him, replaced by a stoic, bitter expression--if he did laugh, it was a short, sharp laugh, and his smiles fell off his face like a magnet falls off wood. Even his hair changed; it was no longer golden brown, but a harsh, platinum blonde.

Kris could only guess what Luhan was thinking as he paced the nights away. Luhan’s mind worked like a computer, scrolling through hundreds of possible different thoughts and scenarios a minute. Whether he was planning, or waiting, or maybe just brooding--it was impossible to tell.

But one night, about two weeks before they left for Korea, Kris caught a glimpse of Luhan’s thoughts. It was about 2 in the morning, and Kris had wandered into their unofficial headquarters, an abandoned brick building in the most rundown part of the city, intending to sleep. Kris often slept in the building. There was a small hole in the roof which opened up to the sky that he always slept under, right in the center of the building. He didn’t know why, but staring at the stars always put him to sleep. Probably because they were so dim and boring.

But when Kris stumbled into the building, fighting to keep his eyes open, he was terrified to see a pale figure sitting under the hole in the roof, shining a ghostly blue from the moonlight. The shock fully awakened him, and Kris crept over to see who the intruder was, being careful to stick to the shadowy corners of the building. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that it wasn’t an intruder, but Luhan, glaring up at the sky like he always did. The moonlight glistened sharply off his eyes like daggers. Kris turned around to creep out of the building, not wanting to interrupt Luhan’s brooding, but stopped when he heard a sound.

“I’m gonna.....” a soft voice mumbled. Luhan was talking to himself, Kris realized. He should have left then; whatever Luhan was mumbling about wasn’t any of us business. But he had been curious and worried for months now, and this might be the only chance he had of figuring out what was wrong with Luhan. So he stayed hidden in the shadows, silent as a mouse.

“Kim Jongin...you bastard. Just you wait, soon, I’ll be back...soon,” Luhan whispered to the sky, his voice a raspy hiss, almost snakelike. “I’ll destroy....everything...yes...everything,” Luhan said, a tiny smile forming on his lips. He began quivering, and, with a shaky hand, pulled out one of his many knives. He stared at the blade, shining white in the moonlight, and smiled even wider. “Yes...I’ll cut you....piece by piece....your friends, too.....I’ll have you all beg for mercy...,” he whispered to the blade, his voice trembling with contained laughter. “But you won’t get it....no....you’ll never...I’ll cut and burn you....and watch your flesh fall away to ash.....yes...” he was chuckling now, running his finger up and down the edge of the blade. “Then they’ll see. Then they’ll ALL see,” he shouted before throwing his head back and laughing at the sky which had for so long mocked him. It was only then, when the white moon reflected off of them, that Kris realized how completely dark Luhan’s eyes were. The old sparkle was gone and replaced with piercing cruelty.

Kris slipped out of the building unnoticed, and ran from the laughter as fast as he could. But no matter where he ran, the laughter echoed inside his mind, curdling his stomach and chilling his bones. He didn’t know when Luhan’s laughter became so cruel, or his eyes so dark. He just knew that the Luhan he was friends with was gone forever, and in his place was a demon.