“Crap, Baek,” You take a deep breath, shutting your eyes as you put your left hand on the wall beside you.  “I don’t feel so good,”

It’s been 3 hours since the two of you stepped into the whole and you’ve gotten practically nowhere.  The maze approach of setting your left hand on one side of the walls haven’t proven its worth, and you bet it wouldn’t.

Within the 3 hours, you’ve had no flashbacks.  No dizzying waves of memories to cloud your mind.  But you’ve never felt so claustrophobic.  The halls are barely lit,  you have no idea about where to go, spider webs stretch at corners, creaks of wood and strange, continuous sounds you can’t stop fill your ears. 

“Let’s sit down,” Baekhyun takes your arm and helps you sit down, leaning your back on the wall and handing you the drinking bottle he has been carrying.  “Here,”

“Thanks,” I smile at him and gulp down the fresh water, feeling slightly better.  “It’s weird that we haven’t seen any doors,”

“That really creeps me out,” He nods, sitting cross-legged, facing you.  “I mean, well, doors, I’ve seen some, but they’re completely locked, barred, painted, so that it blends with the walls and there’s definitely no signs of them being opened recently, which is why I didn’t check them out,”

“This is killing me,” I frown.  “We are so lost and I mean, I’m scared of whatever flashback I’ll be ha-“

Speak of the devil, a loud rush of fresh memories run through my mind.

‘You do not laugh!’ The man yells at your ear.  ‘Nor do you smile, nor do you show anything else!’

A slap to the face.  A kick to the stomach.

‘Where did you get this junk from?’ He snatches the doll in your hands and looks at it with disgust.  ‘We should pay closer attention to you, girl.  You only listen to us.  Not anyone else.’

‘Why can’t I?!’ You hear yourself yell back, choking tears.  ‘Why?! Why am I here in the first place? How did you find me? How did I get here? I hate it here!’

The man stares at you incredulously and grabs your hair, dragging you behind him.  You shout in pain, tugging at his hand with all you’ve got, but it’s futile.  He ignores your shouts and curses and throws you into a dark room.

‘Insolent child,’ He spits at you and flicks on his match, setting your doll on fire.  He throws it into the room and quickly, the fire spreads, trapping you in between. 

All you know of is the choke of smoke in your lungs, the flying bits of fire that burns your eyes, the door that is out of your reach, and the burning head of your doll.

‘You foolish man!!’

The door bursts open and you cough at the jet of water coming at you and everything around you.  Within minutes, the fire is extinguished and you’re lying in the middle of the room, covered in soot and doused with water. 

Your vision does not clear even as the man comes into the room and sets your head on his leg.  ‘I did not hire you for this! Leave!!’

He looks into your eyes and by then, your consciousness has faded.

But you will never mistake that voice for another.

“Father,” You choke out, staring out at nothing through your fingers, the ones covering your face.  “Father,”

“Amara?” The man facing you reaches out for you and you slap his hand away, frowning at his face and his tender, worried gaze.

“Who are you?” You push back onto the wall, eyes wide, still trembling and breathing heavily.  “What are you going to do with me?” You shake your head, cowering away from his hands.  “Why am I here? Why-“

“Amara,” He reaches out again, quickly this time, grabbing your shoulder and squeezing it until you feel pain.  “Amara, it’s me, Baekhyun,”

“B-Baek-“ You choke back on yourself and you regret your impulse, your unbelievable self, who hadn’t noticed who Baekhyun was.  “I-I’m s-sor-ry,”

“Sssh, it’s alright,” Baekhyun loosens his grip on you and pulls you gently to rest between his legs, hugging your head to his chest and making comforting sounds.  “It’s okay, I’m here, I’m always here,”

You reach up to touch his jaw and look up to plant a kiss on it.  “I’m so sorry,” You close your eyes, letting your tears wet your cheeks.  You trail your way down his neck and back up to his cheek, his eyes, and then his lips.  “I’m so sorry,” You whisper into the kiss and relax when he kisses you back.

“It’s okay, Amara, it’s okay,” Baekhyun kisses your eyes and the top of your head. 

“I can-“ You cough and sit upright, wiping your tears.  “I can show you what I saw.  There’s another door in that room,” You stand up only to wobble, your knees threatening to buckle underneath you.

“Are you sure?” Baekhyun’s arm circles your waist and he slips his head under your arm, supporting you.

“Yeah,” You nod.  “This way,”

You walk together, following your instincts and your memories of the place that rapidly turn vivid as you approach the room.  The burnt edges show and you push the door open with your free hand and you lean onto the doorframe, Baekhyun’s support not enough to help you fight against your fear.

“H-here,” You lower your head, refusing to see the room.  “At the back of those boxes, there’s a door,”

Baekhyun sets you down gently and runs over to the other side of the room to clear away the boxes and indeed, there is a door.  He kicks it down and a staircase that leads up to darkness reveals itself to your eyes.

“Remembered things, didn’t you, Amara?”

You stare at Baekhyun in fear of the voice and turn your head.

To see none other than Kris and the Queen.