Hyorin sat silently on the back steps. She knew that N and JB thought that they had done the right thing, but they really hadn’t. She knew why they had gotten upset with Rina, but she needed the older half demon’s help. She couldn’t talk to the demonic beasts sealed inside of her without Rina’s help and she needed to talk to them. All of them.

The twelve beasts were locked away deep inside of her subconscious. The only way to get there was deep meditation and that was the easy part. Actually talking to the beasts was much harder than Rina had said it would be. That was actually saying something because Rina had made a point of saying how ‘demonic beasts never listen without a fight.’ She had also stressed that it was in the beasts’ nature to be violent, to want to destroy things and spill blood without remorse. That was why Hyorin had to be careful when she tried to talk to them. They might not be able to harm her psychically, but if they attacked her in her mind they could do a great deal of psychological damage.

“The beasts want free,” Rina had explained, “they want hosts that they pick. They did not pick us. If you’re mental health weakens enough, they can take control, break the seal that keeps them locked inside of you, and free themselves. The more aggression they show you, the more they want freedom. Do not think that just because they do not want you to die they care about you.”

Of the twelve, Hyorin had only managed to talk to three of them; Tao’s black wolf, Sehun’s white wolf, and Lay’s unicorn. Truth be told, she actually liked all three of them. The white wolf reminded her of her Sehun appa a great deal, both their personalities being almost exact copies of each other. The black wolf had even more aegyo than her Tao appa and had been the first to come and talk to her, happy to meet the child of its former host. The unicorn was sweet and kind, just like her Lay appa, but very forgetful. All three had told her the exact same thing Rina had told her, too. VIXX and JB could not now. They didn’t explain why, just that she couldn’t say a word.

She’s been trying to get Luhan’s white buck beast to talk to her when Rina left. Without her, Hyorin was actually a little scared to visit the plane of existence sealed within her mind. Sure the black wolf had been friendly and the unicorn and white wolf weren’t very aggressive either, but the same could not be said for many of the other beasts. Kris’ dragon for example. It had made no secret of its wish to be free of her and she was more than a little scared to go near it. Rina had promised that when it came time to talk to the dragon, she would try her best to help Hyorin through the process.

“Hey,” Leo said, taking a seat beside Hyorin, “are you alright?”

“No,” she replied honestly.

“Her training,” the demon questioned, looking at her with concern, “it wasn’t just breathing techniques, was it?”

“Not really,” Hyorin replied, frowning as she watched the sky, “and I’m scared do anything now. If something goes wrong……” Leo didn’t like how she trailed off.

“We’ll all be here,” he told her, “to help you through anything.”

“I know that,” she sighed, “but I don’t think you can help me with this.”

“Nonsense,” Both turned to find N standing behind them, “we can help you with anything. We’re your demons after all.”

“Alright,” Hyorin said after a pause, “if you’re sure.”

“We’re sure,” N grinned, dropping down into the empty space on the side opposite Leo. Both flashed Hyorin confident looked, but on the inside Leo had a feeling of dread. He had a horrible feeling in his gut that something was going to go wrong and he just hoped that he was wrong.

Hyorin shut her eyes and focused on the plane behind the seal. She envisioned herself there and soon found herself there. She idly recalled the first time she’d done this and how long it had taken her to get to the plane of being that the twelve beasts called home. She’d almost given up hope, but Rina had assured her that she could do it. Now she could easily get to the wide open fields and tall, snow covered mountains that existed in her mind. (A/N: just a helpful hint if you want to get an idea what this place looks like: think Narnia. Or Lord of the Rings. Either works.)

It gave her one heck of a confidence boost to say the least.

You’re here, the black wolf giggled, rushing up to Hyorin and almost knocking her to the ground when it jumped up to her face.

Yeah, Hyorin smiled, honestly I was a little scared to come here.

Why? The white wolf asked, taking a seat beside her, you never worried about coming her before. What changed?

Rina left, she explained, reaching down to the white wolf’s soft fur, N and JB told her to leave and she did. I wasn’t sure if I should come here without her there to help me.

You should have listened to that feeling, the white wolf frowned, Rina can help you while you’re here. Her voice can reach us here, just as your voice can reach the place where she meets with her beasts. Your contract demons cannot help you if any of the others decide to do something.

Should I leave? Hyorin asked, not liking how both wolves seemed rather tense now. Was there something that she should be scared of?

Yes, she turned to find a giant serpent coiled behind them. Hyorin started to leave the plane, but suddenly the serpent lunged at her.

Both N and Leo were alarmed when Hyorin suddenly began to scream.

“Hyorin!” N yelled, turning her to face him. she kept screaming, yet her eyes remained shut.

The pair of demons desperately tried to wake her, but nothing worked. Soon, JB and their brothers joined them, closely followed by Yong Guk. Hyuk attempted to enter Hyorin’s mind, but couldn’t seem to do anything no matter how hard her tried. It was like there was some kind of wall blocking him from doing anything and honestly that scared him a little. What force was blocking him from helping his master?

“She’s scared,” Hongbin frowned, a bit of terror leaking into his own voice, “very scared.”

“We need to find Rina,” Leo said, “She’ll know what’s wrong.”

“Yeah,” N nodded, eyes locked onto Hyorin’s face. She’d finally stopped screaming, but she looked scared out of her mind. Was this all his fault? Had he done this to her by sending Rina away?

The two oldest demons took off, Leo changing into his beast form so that they could search the sky and N using his power so that normal humans couldn’t see them.

“Move her inside,” Yong Guk said and Ken picked Hyorin up, “take her to her room. At least she can be comfortable while we wait for them to bring help.”

A/N: poor N. How could he have known something like this would happen? Answer: he couldn’t.