“What is that all about?” muttered Ricky, his eyes locked onto the hallway that seemed to stretch on forever before them, “Why did they go after Changjo like that?”

Sunggyu shrugged, not even he knew why the man had been so determined on attacking – on killing – Changjo. He knew no reason as to why the man had wanted Changjo dead; the youngest had done nothing wrong. Sunggyu bit his bottom lip, holding it loosely with his bottom lip as he kept moving forward, but glanced over his shoulder at Woohyun and Ricky, watching as the younger of the two latched onto his friend’s arm. Woohyun, however, returned his gaze with his own. The second oldest out of the four in the group returned his gaze with one that consisted of fear, longing, and worry – showing how the boy’s emotions were divided.

“I have no clue, but if this master is who I think it is, then I know which of the types of vessels Changjo is,” muttered Sunggyu.

“He’s a physical vessel,” stated Woohyun as soon as the question appeared on the second youngest’s face, “They kept claiming that their master told them they had to kill Changjo – which means that it was probably someone controlling them mentally.”

“Which means that shadow,” muttered Sunggyu, “The doctor has not show that he’s connected to us other than the mental vessels around us.”

“S-So, he’s a mental…” mumbled Ricky, looking up at Changjo’s handsome face – despite all the stress they were and still are under, his gaze fell to their feet though as they advanced, “D-Does that mean I’m a mental vessel?”

“Not necessarily,” responded Sunggyu and Woohyun in unison as they peered at the worried Ricky.

“It depends on whether or not the shadow chooses you,” muttered Woohyun, “It depends on whether or not he tries to contact you, communicate with you – control you.”

Ricky nodded and shivered, not liking how it sounded.

Sunggyu froze as he heard the patter of feet, bracing himself as he saw the owner of the footsteps running their way – the man’s eyes locked onto Changjo.

“Here comes another person for you, Changjo,” whispered Sunggyu, preparing to fight the man off, despite the soreness blooming in his ankle from the previous fight and the obvious pain the other members of his party were in.

“Alright,” responded Changjo, coaxing Ricky into letting go of his arm – into letting him free to fight in this seemingly inevitable fight, “I really wish I knew why the Shadow is sending his armies my way…it’s rather pointless, isn’t it? I’m nothing big in this ploy; he should be sending his armies towards the doctor, not the physical vessels, right?”

Sunggyu hummed, “You’d think he’d do that, but obviously he isn’t.”

Changjo nodded. 

Sunggyu then turned his attention towards the charging male, grabbing his arm and using the man’s momentum against him by spinning and throwing him into a wall; Changjo joint Sunggyu in towering over the deranged man who stared at the younger of the two in absolute hatred.

“Why are you doing this?” growled Changjo in aggravation, not liking the fact the man was staying quieter than the other.

“You know why I am doing this,” responded the man darkly, staring straight into Changjo’s eyes as he did so, “My master told me to get rid of you and I must obey my master.”

Changjo stared the man down, anger radiated off of the youngest as he peered at the frail, annoying man that lay on the ground at his feet, “Why me?”

“He said that if we wanted to survive, we needed to take you out,” whispered the man, not making much sense, not really responding to Changjo’s question.

“Why?” inquired Changjo.

“Because the most physical vessels we take out, the better – the weaker the doctor will be…” whispered the male, however, his eyes widened in horror as he realized that he had just said something he was not supposed to.

“Does he get his power from us?” inquired Sunggyu, staring at the man that sat at his and Changjo’s feet. Woohyun and Ricky stayed a little ways away from the duo, watching the trio’s interactions and listening in on their conversations.

“I’ve already said too much,” whispered the man, clamming up again. His eyes showing a fear, however, the man was no longer staring at Sunggyu or Changjo, rather, the man was staring at something behind them. Upon following his gaze, they found that he was staring at nothing - he was just staring at the blank space between the duo as if something was there.

“Is he here?” inquired Sunggyu, peering at Woohyun to see that the male was staring at the same spot, his eyes wide and horror written on his features.

Woohyun stood unresponsively, his eyes glazing over as he continued to stand still and stare at the empty space. Ricky looked at Woohyun in fear and backed away from the elder, trying hard to ignore the pull on his mind, trying hard to ignore the probing coming from an unseen source. Changjo looked at Sunggyu in worry and Sunggyu, upon seeing that Ricky had also succumbed to the trance the other two were in, turned to return said gaze.

“Do you think…?” whispered Changjo.

Sunggyu nodded as he felt his heart dropping to his stomach, “H-He’s here…”

Changjo stared at Sunggyu in shock, “W-What do we do?”

“There are two of us and three of them,” whispered Sunggyu, “I-I’d say we run, but we can’t just leave them here.”

“T-Then do we stay here and let them team up on us?” inquired Changjo.

Sunggyu shrugged, “I-I don’t know what to do…”

Changjo bit his lower lip, worrying it between his teeth.

A sudden noise from the man on the ground had the duo looking towards him, their eyes wide as they saw the man convulsing suddenly – his eyes still clouded, but they looked horrified. The man’s eyes still staring straight at the empty space behind the duo. They watched in horror as the man’s eyes rolled back into his head, his eyes purely white, as his body froze and collapsed heavily and motionless against the wall, his head lulling to the side. They both stood silent and tense as they watched the blood slip out from between the dead man’s lips and dribble down his chin, where it then dripped down onto his chest.

“W-What just happened?”

“I-I don’t know,” responded Sunggyu in horror as he stared at it, however, they could not dwell on the horrifying scene they had just witnessed as they heard a snarl come from behind them, they both turned to see that both Ricky and Woohyun had turned their attention towards the duo; Woohyun staring at Sunggyu and Ricky at Changjo.

“You get Ricky, I’ll get Woohyun, okay?”

Sunggyu nodded in agreement with the youngest and they both moved towards the duo, however, due to the slight injury to his ankle Sunggyu was moving just a little bit slower than the rest of them. So, just as he almost got his hands on Ricky, the younger tackled Changjo – stopping him before the youngest could even make it close to Woohyun. Sunggyu watched in horror as the duo rolled on the ground – switching who was on top of the other, Ricky suddenly becoming stronger than he had previously been and eventually over powering Changjo. Sunggyu was finally broken out of his trance as he heard as strange gargling noise coming from Changjo as Ricky straddled him and wrapped his fingers around the youngest’s throat, his grip staying firm even as Changjo thrashed around. With one last glance towards the still frozen Woohyun, Sunggyu dove forward – throwing himself against Ricky and in turn freeing the youngest.

“Stop it Ricky!” cried Sunggyu as he strained to keep the younger pinned to the dirty floors, his eyes shining with worry as he stared into the younger’s eyes, not even recognizing the emotions in that danced in them – not recognizing the dark glints. As the younger continued to thrash, he tried hard to call out – to reach Ricky’s consciousness, “Ricky, snap out of it! You don’t want to hurt him! I know you don’t!”

Changjo watched from where he was laid on the floor, coughing as his burning lungs greedily in air. Upon finally catching his breath, he slowly sat up – bracing himself for if Sunggyu needed help with Ricky, in case Woohyun tried anything. As the thought of Woohyun appeared in his mind, he automatically turned to look at the elder male – only to stare in shock as he watched the elder just stand there. Though the elder’s face showed his hatred, his anger – well, the shadows – the boy stayed still. Woohyun did not move, he stayed in the position he had been in when the shadow first communicated with them. He just stood there and watched silently as Ricky and Sunggyu struggled against each other.

“Snap out of it Ricky,” whispered Sunggyu, “Please, I know you don’t want to hurt Changjo – don’t let the shadow control you! Don’t let him win over your actual conscious – you’re not his puppet, you’re not his toy, to control!”

Ricky made a choked noise before he suddenly began to convulse. Changjo stood up quickly as he saw Woohyun collapse suddenly, getting to the elder before the man could land harshly against the floor. Changjo stared in worry as Woohyun too began to convulse.

“W-What is going on?” whispered Changjo in worry, turning his gaze towards the just as frightened Sunggyu.

“I-I have no idea,” whispered the oldest of the four.

“Do you think h-he’ll…”

Changjo’s words faded, he was unable to finish the thought, but Sunggyu got a gist as to what the younger was hinting towards.

“I-I don’t think so,” responded Sunggyu, “N-Not yet…Th-they are connected to us, so, I don’t think he’d let them go so suddenly. If they – the doctor and the shadow – get their strength from the amount of vessels they have it would put him at a disadvantage to get rid of both Ricky and Woohyun, not after he killed t-that guy…”

Changjo nodded, “I-I hope you’re right hyung…”

As sudden as it all had happened, as it had all begun, the convulsions stopped. Sunggyu stared at Ricky in worry before turning his gaze towards Woohyun – Changjo did the same before he turned to meet the elder’s eyes.

“Th-They are still breathing,” whispered Changjo in relief.

Sunggyu nodded, smiling happily as he responded, “That they are, Changjo…”

“I-I wonder what all of this was about though, why did he do this?” pondered the youngest, “Why did he not make Woohyun attack – not let him?”

Sunggyu shrugged, chewing on his lip, “I have no idea Changjo. There are so many reasons that he could’ve done that but the one most prominent idea I have is – he likes playing with his enemy before he brings them to their untimely demise. I-It’s like a cat playing with it’s food…”

Changjo stared at Sunggyu, “D-Do you think it’s coming soon then?”

“What?” inquired Sunggyu.

“The untimely demise,” whispered Changjo, “The confrontation between the doctor and the shadow?”

Sunggyu shrugged, “I have no clue, but I feel that we will know only when their final confrontation has begun.”

“There has got to be a way to know before then,” whispered Changjo, chewing on the inside of his cheek in thought, “There has got to be a warning before all hell breaks loose.”

Sunggyu shrugged, “I-I don’t know Changjo.”

The duo fell into silence, both of them looking intently at the male within their arms, watching their chests rise and fall slowly – watching for the occasional twitch of a muscle in their faces.

“D-Do you think that we’ll all make it out of here?” whispered Changjo, peering at Sunggyu – who met his gaze with one filled with so many emotions the younger could not pin point them all.

“It’s hard to tell Changjo,” whispered Sunggyu, his voice taking a solemn tone as he avoided meeting the younger’s gaze, “but I-I think that when it comes down to it…no, not all of us will be able to make it out of here.”

Changjo hummed, but chewed on his bottom lip, “We’ve made it so far though.”

“I know,” responded Sunggyu, dropping his head and closing his eyes, “I know, Changjo. H-however, sometimes, in the end sacrifices have to be made in order for others to run free.”

“Do you think that one from each pair will…”

Sunggyu shook his head, “I feel as though there is a way around that – a way around the shadow and the doctor, but we just have to find it.”

Changjo hummed, but his attention was turned away from the topic when he heard a groan escape Woohyun’s lips, followed soon after by a groan from Ricky. Sunggyu and Changjo turned their attention towards Woohyun and Ricky as they both finally regained consciousness, their heavy eyelids finally blinking open to stare up at the males who held them. They both slowly sat up with the aid of Changjo and Sunggyu, who watched them worriedly, as they both grasped their heads.

“Are you alright?” inquired Changjo, peering at Woohyun – who had his eyes shut and his eyebrows furrowed in pain.

“I-I’m fine,” responded Woohyun, his voice deep with exhaustion.

“Are you sure?”

Woohyun nodded, but as he peered at Ricky – who was sitting on the ground beside Sunggyu – he knew the younger was thinking the same thing he was.

The shadow is getting stronger. 

 I decided to post in honor of it being New Year's eve - though it is almost over for some people (I still have about fifteen hours until 2014 ends for me). I hope 2014 treated you all well and that 2015 is even better - I know it will be for me. Many, many bad things happened this past year both in the Kpop industry and in my home life, but with the change of the year I'll be sure to put it behind me. Also, my new year resolution is to be a better author and to update more frequently - so, hopefully I'll be able to stick to it. 

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and stay tuned for more.