“Hey,” JB called, gaining the attention of Yugyeom and Youngjae.

“What?” the younger of the pair blinked.

“What are you doing here?” Youngjae asked, “Master said the clue was so vague that you wouldn’t try looking.”

“Well we did try,” Jackson shrugged, “and looks like we’ve succeeded.”

“The contract is here, right?” Hongbin clarified, “you aren’t just standing here to throw us off.”

“It’s here,” Youngjae nodded, “but we aren’t about to let you get it.”

“Didn’t expect you to,” Ken stepped forewords, a smirk on his face as his eyes stayed trained on Yugyeom, “which is fine by me. I want to fight you.”

“Ken,” JB started to say before noticing Hyorin standing a few steps away from, “….just don’t kill him, alright? He was under orders, he didn’t hurt her on his own free will.”

“I know,” Ken nodded, “I didn’t plan to kill him. Just break a few of his bones.”

“Ken,” Hyorin frowned slightly after hearing Ken say something like that so easily.

“He hurt you,” Hongbin spoke up, placing a hand on her shoulder and using his power to calm her down a little, “he could have killed you. Ken hyung didn’t say that from a sadistic place, but a place where he was scared that we would lose you.”

“I know,” she sighed, “I still don’t like hearing him say things like that, though.”

Ken winced a little hearing that, but his mind was already made up. He was going to make Yugyeom pay for what he had done to Hyorin. He could understand that Yugyeom was just acting under orders, but that didn’t change how close Hyorin had come to death at his hands. he needed to suffer at least a little pain because of that.

“I’ll take care of Youngjae,” JB decided, “Jackson, keep watch and make sure no one else shows up. Hongbin, help Hyorin find the contract.”

“Right.”

With that, everyone rushed to complete their given tasks. Hyorin and Hongbin moved towards the water’s edge, looking around madly for anything that resembled a contract. Ken rushed to attack Yugyeom, pushing the shadow demon to the ground with a sound wave. JB was more calm with his attack, realizing that Youngjae would just become incorporeal before his wind could hit. Jackson stood between the two groups, keeping an eye out for anyone who wanted to try and join the fight or try to hinder Hongbin and Hyorin’s search.

“Do you know whose contract it is?” JB questioned, moving closer and closer to Youngjae who had started to back up in order to keep space between himself and the wind demon.

“Can’t say,” Youngjae shrugged, “but I can say that it’s not mine.”

“What about you Yugyeom?” JB asked, silently hoping that his question didn’t distract his brother from ducking and dodging Ken’s attacks. The youngest already had a broken nose, blood dripping down his face, and JB didn’t want to see him suffer anything else.

“I,” Yugyeom tried to answer only to trip over his own feet dodging another of Ken’s sound waves, “ah!”

Ken jumped on top of Yugyeom’s back, pinning him to the ground and twisting one of his arms behind his back.

“You almost killed my master,” Ken hissed, “she could have died because of you.”

“I’m sorry,” Yugyeom whimpered, biting back a loud sob as tears started to pool in his eyes. The pain Ken was giving him reminded him of horrible times, of punishments given to him at the hands of his master because he dared talk back to her.

“Ken,” JB called out, rushing to pull the sound demon off, “stop. Please, stop.”

“I didn’t hurt him that much,” Ken blinked, startled to see Yugyeom curl up in a ball the second he was free. The young demon burst into tears, shaking as his mind took him back to times he would rather not recall.

“Shh,” JB said, rubbing the young shadow demon’s back, “it’s ok. you aren’t with her, Yugyeom. She isn’t here.”

“Don’t worry,” Youngjae said, dropping down on his brother’s other side and joining JB in comforting him, “the other hyungs and I aren’t going to let her touch you again. I promise.”

“It’s what she’s done to him,” Jackson explained moving to stand with Ken, “she liked to torture Yugyeom a lot. Just now, when you had him pinned like that……it took him back there.”

“I didn’t know,” Ken hung his head. He didn’t want to hurt Yugyeom like this, he just wanted to punch him a few times for almost killing Hyorin. Yugyeom crying like a child wasn’t what he wanted at all.

“Found it!” everyone save for Yugyeom turned to find Hyorin flying over the water with a bottle in her hands.

“You found the contract?” Youngjae asked, a mix of hope and dread swirling in his eyes.

“It was in the water,” Hongbin explained, “it was in a bottle that was tied to a rock so it wouldn’t float away or be damaged by the water.”

“Burn it,” JB said and Hyorin nodded.

Everyone watched as she smashed the bottle, freeing the contract from inside. She then burned it with her fire. Yugyeom gave another loud sob and Youngjae relaxed, the tension leaving him.

“You’re free,” Youngjae smiled, rubbing Yugyeom’s back, “you don’t have to go back to her ever again.”

“It was Yugyeom’s contract?” JB asked, earning a nod from the ghost demon.

“I should go,” Youngjae sighed sadly, “she should know that you’ve freed Yugyeom. Don’t expect the next clue to be easy, not after this.”

“We’ll free you,” Hyorin promised, “and Mark and Jr.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Youngjae said before leaving.

“Let’s go home,” JB said, pulling Yugyeom to his feet before hugging him.

A/N: congrats to Yugyeom getting free!!! The poor boy needed to get away from his ty master. Now, onto some important news. I think we all know that Christmas is right around the corner (meaning its next week) and in light of the holiday season, I’m taking two weeks off. I’ve got a lot of family get-togethers and I want all of my attention to be on my family (one of my relatives is pregnant!! So excited to have another little kid in the family!) Anyway, I’m taking two weeks off so you guys aren’t going to see me until the New Year on the 5^th. So, early happy holidays/merry Christmas, and even more early Happy New Year to you all.