T h e   I n s t i t u t e

Chapter Thirteen

Sungmin and ZhouMi’s pace charged into a sprint as soon as the floor beneath them started to shake. Despite the force of the tremors sending obstacles hurtling their way at every angle, they managed to hurry down the hotel corridors at speed to try and find Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun. They knew they were getting close when the din of gunfire became deafening and the atmosphere suddenly dropped temperate by a 100 degrees. Sungmin felt ZhouMi’s panic and fear washing over him, making his own dread intensify to a point where he no longer cared what had happened – he needed to know that Kyuhyun was alright.

‘Up there!’ ZhouMi shouted, pointing ahead of them. Sungmin squinted as frigid wind blasted his face but he had no trouble recognising pointed ears poking out of long black hair. His stomach plummeted upon seeing the phantom elf. It was looking down a corridor at the end of theirs, where the origin of the gunshots seemed to be coming from. Sungmin took his own shotgun out of its holster and rapidly tried to aim, realising that the ghost was about to advance on Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk. Before he could take a shot, however, the spectre flashed out of sight in fiery rush of wind. It wasn’t defeated but it was gone and the ground was no longer trembling.

Sungmin followed ZhouMi as the latter promptly ran up the hall to meet the others. They joined them at the intersection between corridors, all with pale faces and horror-filled eyes. ZhouMi backed up a little when he noticed that his emotions were uncontrollably projecting onto everyone else and the fright eased slightly. Eunhyuk was taking deep breaths and busying himself by going over the area that the ghost had arisen from for clues. The two demons exchanged looks.

‘Are you ok?’ Sungmin decided to ask, repressing his conflicting emotions.

‘Yeah I’m fine.’ Kyuhyun replied, now unwilling to look at him and Sungmin’s heart sank. It was easy to be mad at someone, even easier to ignore them but awkwardness was awful.

‘How are we supposed to get rid of the er? Its bones could be just about anywhere.’ Eunhyuk suddenly growled. He kicked a piece of rubble across the floor in anger.

‘We should get back outside and figure it out with the other agents.’ ZhouMi suggested. He looked to be concentrating hard on relaxing himself enough that it would help the rest of them as well. Sungmin admired his good nature; it was something the rest of the group sorely lacked. There were muttered agreements and together they picked their way back through the hotel, keeping guns at the ready. The regular agents hurried towards them once they were back outside.

‘What happened? Did you catch it? We heard gunfire.’ Yuri immediately demanded.

‘It’s a goddamn elf from beyond the grave.’ Kyuhyun replied bitterly. He tossed his gun to the grass and ran a hand through his wavy brown hair.

‘What?!’ Nichkhun exclaimed.

‘The ghost is a Dark Elf.’ Sungmin elaborated. ‘Which means it’s stronger and more volatile than your average spook and we have no idea where to start looking for its mouldy corpse to salt and burn the motherer.’ He could feel himself getting physically agitated as anxiety settled in with renewed force.

‘Oh god this is the last thing we need.’ Yuri grumbled.

‘But why would there be a dead one floating around out here?’ Nichkhun questioned. The others were stumped and frustratingly so. ‘If any Netherworldian had killed it, we would have heard about it by now; the rumours would have spread to every corner of the Troll Market in less than a day.’

‘Are you saying it was friendly fire?’ Eunhyuk asked, mulling over the words as he spoke them.

‘Well we can’t leave out the possibility that a human was to blame but it doesn’t seem likely.’ The group took a moment’s pause to think about the varying options that could be their answer. No matter how they looked at it though, it only seemed plausible that the Elves had taken out one of their own. But that just threw up the question of why.

‘Is there any way of just casually asking the ghostie how he got himself deaded?’ Eunhyuk joked. However, Kyuhyun gave him a curious look. ‘What? I was only kidding.’

‘No, it’s good. It might be useful.’ The demon said ambiguously. Sungmin raised an eyebrow at him that went unnoticed and for the second time, a cool stream of dejection trickled through his veins. ‘What if the Elves killed this one because he wasn’t following orders? He could have rebelled so they got rid of him permanently. If that’s the case then we should try and talk to it. It might give us some answers.’

‘Yes but how are we supposed to keep it calm and restrained long enough to get a word in?’ Sungmin protested. Kyuhyun’s eyes hesitated when they passed over ZhouMi.

‘Err…’ ZhouMi began to object, his eyes going round with trepidation. ‘I don’t even know if my power works on the undead let alone a monster that strong and besides all I can do is put it in a good mood, I can’t keep it-’

Kyuhyun cut off the Chinaman’s frenzied rambling. ‘But can you try?’ The others all looked at ZhouMi hopefully until the stares became too much for him and he cracked.

‘Alright fine, I’ll give it a go.’ Eunhyuk hissed out a lengthened ‘yesss’.

‘You could trap it with iron.’ Nichkhun suggested, holding up one of the pokers to emphasise the point.

‘Good idea.’ Kyuhyun agreed.

‘But what if this doesn’t work? What if it didn’t rebel?’ Sungmin interjected.

Yunho came to a standstill by his feet. Ryeowook knew that those silver blue eyes were trained on him like snipers but he kept his own glare at the grey ceiling resolutely. It was the fourth night of his incarceration and he had yet to give in. He would never yield to this foul creature whose race had slaughtered his father and grandparents, who had caused his world so much pain and misery. His mind was focussed stubbornly on not conceding but his body protested with every waking moment and Ryeowook knew there was only so much he could physically withstand. He hoped that his perseverance would hold out until the end.

‘I’ve been thinking.’ Yunho abruptly announced. ‘It seems rather senseless to keep maiming your body when my king desires you for such a great task. He’ll want you strong and ready.’ Ryeowook fought the urge to roll his eyes whenever Yunho talked about what he was supposedly going to do as if it was inevitable. Not in this lifetime.

‘Does this mean I can have a bed?’ He bravely asked, pretending he was Sungmin for a moment and putting on a cocky attitude. Yunho laughed tauntingly.

‘You’ll be rewarded greatly once the deed is done.’ He drawled. ‘For now, I’m just going to let you sit here and do some imagining.’

‘Imagining?’ Ryeowook repeated in confusion.

‘Yes.’ Yunho stepped closer and leaned on the table. His head hovered over Ryeowook’s so that eye contact was unavoidable and his long hair trailed over the boy’s chest. ‘I want you to imagine all the ways I could possibly hurt your friend Heechul. I wonder how he’d feel knowing that his beloved is my pet.’ Ryeowook’s blood ran cold. ‘The other special agents should watch out as well. It won’t be long now until the, how do you say, ‘secret weapon’ is unleashed.’

‘What secret weapon?’ Ryeowook stammered, his voice trembling. Yunho ignored his question and slammed his fist down on the table top making it rattle and Ryeowook flinched violently.

Unfortunately, with nothing to do and no allowance for talking, he couldn’t help his mind wandering. Kyuhyun’s face contorted as his memories plagued him for what felt like the thousandth time in three days. He had relived the argument over and over again in his head since it had happened and each time it left him feeling miserable and sick to the stomach. As well as that, he was experiencing an endless battle between the part of him that wanted to go to Sungmin, apologise and beg for forgiveness and the other part – the stubborn part – that refused to give in until he got a sorry of his own because he was hurt too goddammit.

His eyes then caught movement from across the room. Eunhyuk and ZhouMi were in position opposite him, behind the other half of the old dining table. ZhouMi was giving him the signal and he nodded back to let him know he was ready. The elf was getting closer. Sure enough, Kyuhyun felt his arms prickle over with goosebumps when the temperature began to steadily dip just like before. A shiver shot up his spine at the wintry air and he reminded himself he was a demon, demons didn’t get scared. The darkness that had descended when the moon came up may have made things a little creepier…

Kyuhyun steeled himself when the ghost came into view, gliding down the corridor that led from the dining room and leaving a path of destruction in its wake. As it got closer, the demolition of the hotel came with it and the wooden floor began to fitfully wrench itself apart. Kyuhyun ducked as the windows shattered. He cocked the trigger of his gun instinctively but knew he couldn’t really do anything with it at this point, it was just a precaution.

When the elf was more or less in the centre of the room, Eunhyuk darted forwards and became a blur as he reached super speed. He spun around the phantom, collecting the iron pokers that had been lying in wait and placing them around it in a haphazard circle. Once it was all connected, he returned to his hiding place to watch with the others and find out if their scheme had actually worked.

It had. The elven ghost roared in anger, thrashing around looking for an escape but failing in a fit of annoyance. Its power was fading as it remained trapped, the room stopped falling apart and some of the summer night air crept back in. Kyuhyun was the first one to move out from behind the makeshift barricade, keeping his gun pointed at the creature. The other three followed suit with wary expressions. Slowly they came together in front of the elf and silently hoped that ZhouMi’s gift would work.

‘Here goes nothing.’ The psychic muttered. He stood tall and straight but in a state of tranquillity as he closed his eyes and let his mind work its magic. The dark spirit watched and glared. But then, after several meditative moments, Kyuhyun felt himself drift into a realm of calm and peace. He looked around at Eunhyuk and Sungmin and they too had gone completely serene. It was like they’d all passed around a potent joint of weed. With a smile playing about his lips, Kyuhyun’s eyes went back to the elf and could only feel elation when he noticed the spectre had become dormant.

‘It worked.’ Eunhyuk stated in a bubbly voice. ZhouMi opened his psychically silver eyes and breathed heavily.

‘Quick. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.’ He gasped out. Kyuhyun came to his senses enough to start up the inquisition.

‘Elf.’ He addressed the ghost and it flung its gaze in his direction, heavily lidded silvery eyes catching his own. ‘Who killed you?’ Might as well get straight to the point. The elf ground its teeth for a while, eyeing the group carefully.

‘I was murdered for speaking out of line, for disobeying my king and for being a coward.’ His voice was deep and soldierly, he said it like he accepted it but his expression suggested otherwise.

‘So you rebelled?’ Sungmin probed.

‘I contradicted my orders but rebellion was not my cause. I questioned the risks of my king’s plot and for that I was rewarded with execution.’ He was starting to snarl resentfully but still seemed to be in a relaxed composure.

‘And which plot is this?’ Eunhyuk asked, trying to be nonchalant. The elf hesitated then laughed mockingly.

‘You think me foolish?’ It raised a sharp eyebrow. ‘I am free from the horrors that will unfold. I owe you no courtesy to give a warning and besides,’ He paused for dramatic effect. ‘I may have disagreed with the ideas of my own race but you are still the pathetic vermin that walk the Netherworlds as if they are yours to claim!’

Kyuhyun sighed. ‘At least tell us who you are and where your corpse is so you can stop terrorising this godforsaken hotel.’ He said, choosing to ignore the insult.

‘In the fields to the south.’ The elf replied tersely. ‘I am Commander Yoochun.’

‘You were Commander Yoochun.’ Sungmin retorted cheekily, the drug-like effects of ZhouMi’s power still hitting him strongly. The elf began to growl and rage again so Kyuhyun quickly fired off a half dozen of shells into its chest until it was blazing up into thin air.

‘Sir?’

‘Right!’ The leader suddenly launched out of his chair and burst into action. ‘Right.’ He repeated, less wildly. He pressed the intercom on his desk and leant down to speak clearly into the receiver. ‘Ailee, call a meeting with the masters as soon as possible.’

‘Yes sir.’ Came the electronically altered reply.

‘Kibum!’ Master Chen abruptly exclaimed and Kibum jumped to attention. ‘I seem to remember you were working on a side project not too long ago.’

‘You told me I couldn’t keep using Donghae as a test subject-’

‘No, not that one. About a month ago you asked permission for one of the reinforced chambers, if memory serves. Naturally, I was curious.’

‘Err…’ Kibum ears flared red.

‘It’s good!’ Master Chen encouraged before the psychic could start to feel guilty and any more embarrassed. ‘I want you to keep working on it. Spend as much time as you need, perhaps enlist Kyuhyun’s help. I’ll clear your schedules.’

‘Can I ask why?’ Kibum enquired.

‘We need something that will amplify powers but not yours. I know it was a personal endeavour and I commend it but right now, the best chance we have of finding Ryeowook and, subsequently, the elves is to let-’

‘Shindong! Of course…’ The cogs began whirring in Kibum’s mind at full capacity.

‘The full moon is tomorrow night. Do you think you’ll be able to manage it in time? I’ll arrange for some regular agents to be at your disposal as well.’ The project was near half way finished and he’d only got that much done while he was working around a schedule. With Kyuhyun helping him… he just might pull it off.

‘I can do it.’ He replied, hoping that if he sounded confident, it might give him some luck.

‘Excellent.’ Master Chen clasped his hands together in satisfaction. ‘I’ll let you get to it then, there’s no time to waste.’ Kibum immediately got up from his seat and retreated out of the office, bowing in respect as he went. Just as he was stepping through the door, Master Chen spoke again. ‘Oh and Kibum?’

‘Yes?’

‘Your father would be very proud of you.’ Kibum’s eyes flitted to the wall on his right where a portrait hung of three men. A younger Master Chen stood proudly in the middle, to his left was Master Gong but the third man was the one Kibum gazed at. His father smiled back at him, the same jawline and eyes that he usually found in a mirror. He was going to defeat the Dark Elves for his father; it was about time he took his revenge. With new resolve he nodded at Master Chen and left the room.

His feet instinctively took him off in a search of Kyuhyun while his mind raced over thoughts and ideas, the plans that he’d made for his piece of equipment that could enhance his power. He’d started it for purely selfish reasons – to make himself look good and prove that he could do a lot more than just read minds – but if making some slight alterations so that Shindong could send out his echolocation far and wide to find Wookie… well, Kibum could live with that.

When he was nearing the common room and still hadn’t come across Kyuhyun, he sent out a message telepathically to the demon asking him where he was. Once he’d linked onto the other boy’s mind, he could guess that he was in the gym and so he kept on moving forwards in that direction. The gym wasn’t exactly a foreign place to Kibum but he didn’t get as much use out of it as some of the others; he’d rather spend time exercising his brain than his biceps.

As he set foot on the mezzanine level, the buzz of noise reached his ears. There were a great number of people working out that day it seemed although recently, Master Gong had increased the training regimens of all the regular agents so that there was constant activity throughout not only the gym but all the other training facilities. The special agents had been put through their paces similarly with allowances for missions and strategic planning meetings.

Kibum found Kyuhyun in the boxing ring, watching carefully the movements of Yesung and Siwon who were currently pummelling each other with some level of coordination and choreography. Siwon kept himself focussed at all times, he might be nothing more than a punching bag since his body was shielded from harm but that just meant he had to give Yesung a moving challenge. It didn’t seem to matter what he did, however, because Yesung looked like he was ready to destroy something. He flitted around Siwon with rage in his eyes, teleporting this way and that to land punches all over the taller boy’s body where he couldn’t defend himself quick enough.

‘Kyu!’ Kibum called, to bring attention to himself. Kyuhyun’s head shot over in his direction and he held a hand up.

‘Time out.’ He said to Yesung and Siwon who stepped back from each other obediently and went to a corner of the ring to pick up a towel and a bottle of water. Yesung doused himself, shaking the droplets from his hair all over the place and then rubbing the towel all over his face, wiping the water and sweat away. ‘What’s up Kibum?’ Kyuhyun asked, ducking under the ropes and dropping down onto the floor in front of the psychic.

‘Do you remember I was working on a project to try and amplify my powers?’ Kibum began.

‘Oh yeah! Have you finished it?’ Kyuhyun replied eagerly.

‘No but that’s why I’ve come to you.’ The demon raised an eyebrow. ‘Master Chen wants me to have it up and running by tomorrow night but not for me to use, for Shindong.’

‘To find Ryeowook…’ Kyuhyun caught on.

‘Exactly. I need your help trying to finish it, it’s only half way done but we should be able to do it and we’ll have regular agents as our lackeys. What do you say?’ Kibum propositioned.

‘Count me in!’ Kyuhyun gave one of his devilish grins.

‘Brilliant.’ Kibum returned the smile. ‘We need to get started on it, well, now though.’ He added.

‘Oh don’t worry; it’s about time I took a break.’ The demon then cast a furtive look over his shoulder at Yesung and when he noticed the older boy wasn’t paying them any attention, lowered his voice. ‘The sooner we get Ryeowook back to Yesung the better. He keeps aiming for Siwon’s balls and we all know that’s the one place Shisus keeps his guard down.’ Kibum snorted.

He’d also refrained from telling Heechul that he wasn’t physically sick, it was all in his head and if he talked about it, maybe it would get better. It was something he was trying to gently coax out of the other boy but there had been minimal success on that front so far. It was made twice as frustrating when he’d noticed that Kangin had looked like he was trying to agree with him and prompt Heechul to open up more but despite being the only person that Heechul would probably ever confide in, Kangin was inconveniently canine.

When Hankyung rounded the corner to reach Heechul’s room, he caught Donghae just about to knock on the door instead and so he joined the younger boy with a smile that said ‘it’s nice that you’ve come to see your friend but it looks like I’ll never be alone with him at this rate’. Donghae grinned back at him, his genuinely positive nature making it difficult for Hankyung to find his presence entirely irritating.

‘Have you come to check on Rella as well?’ Donghae asked.

‘Err yeah but that reminds me, why do you guys call him that?’ Hankyung and Donghae both jumped when the bedroom door suddenly opened in front of them.

‘Because I’m Cinderella.’ Heechul exclaimed with a flourish.

Hankyung shrugged. ‘Makes sense.’ He ambled into the room with Donghae behind him and Heechul shut the door giving him a look that didn’t know whether it should be insulted or not. Hankyung just went ahead and made himself at home on the end of the bed while Donghae excitedly plonked his bum in the big, furry, black beanbag in the corner.

‘To what do I owe the pleasure of two visitors?’ Heechul questioned, gliding over to his vanity table to pick up a mug of tea before he seated himself in the middle of his bed. Hankyung liked the way he crossed his legs with his socked feet poking out on either side of his knees, the material of his silky red dressing gown collecting between his thighs. 

‘I came to see if you were feeling better.’ Donghae chirped.

‘More or less.’ Heechul replied vaguely. ‘I’ll be fine.’ He waved off the concern as if he was allergic and concentrated on sipping the tea out of his mug that said ‘crazy cat lady’ on the side. Suddenly, Donghae giggled. Yes, giggled, like a school girl. Hankyung was automatically suspicious.

‘What?’ He asked warily.

‘I can’t tell you.’ The aquakinetic’s smile was wide enough to burst.

‘If you can’t tell us then you have to tell us.’ Heechul insisted, his curiosity hooked.

‘But I really can’t! It’s a secret.’

‘Oh my god now I need to know!’

‘Come on Donghae, spill it.’ Hankyung urged.

‘I can’t, I can’t!!’

‘You can, you can, you can!’

‘No!’

‘Yes!!’

‘Noooo!!’

‘Yes, yes, yes!!’

‘Kyuhyun and Sungmin had !!’

‘WHAT?!!’ Hot tea went everywhere, Hankyung rolled off the end of the bed and Donghae let out a squeak-laugh sort of noise.

‘You can’t tell anyone!’

‘Holy ing wank mother !’ Heechul cried. He shoved his mug onto the bedside table and wiped away the spilt liquid onto his sheets, his grin getting bigger all the while. ‘I can’t believe it! When did this happen? Is this why they aren’t speaking to each other? Oh my god what happened?!!’ He questioned frantically. Hankyung sniggered as he picked himself up off the floor and back into his previous position.

‘I don’t know when they had but probably not that long ago. When we got back from Faust, they had this massive argument because both of them were jealous of the other dancing with someone in the club which is just stupid really.’ Donghae scrunched his nose up. ‘And Sungmin was mad because Kyuhyun didn’t say anything after they did the nasty then Kyuhyun yelled that it was a big deal to him and he stormed out and then Sungmin started crying.’ He finished, intaking a deep breath after saying everything in a rush.

‘Oh. My. God.’ Heechul’s eyes were blown wide. ‘They both need a smack.’

‘Wait, Donghae. How do you know all this?’ Hankyung asked.

‘Errr… I was just in the corridor when it happened… they were loud.’

‘So you eavesdropped?’

‘Maybe.’ Donghae’s eyes shot down to the carpet. ‘But so did Hyukkie and Shindong.’

‘Shisus, who else knows?’ Heechul demanded. Hankyung briefly tuned out of the conversation as a flash of uneasiness settled in his gut when he realised that if Donghae had still been out in the corridor that night when they’d come back from Faust, he could have overheard his own row with ZhouMi. If Donghae had been listening, he didn’t appear to show that he knew anything. Hankyung resorted to ignoring the issue if it wasn’t indicating itself to become a problem.

‘Just Eunhyuk, Shindong and me.’ Donghae smiled but then his eyes rounded dramatically. ‘As far as we know.’

‘Min probably doesn’t realise he’s actually got feelings for Kyuhyun.’ Heechul said.

‘He’ll figure it out sooner or later.’ Donghae assured brightly.

‘Hmm yes…’ Hankyung furrowed his brow at the way Heechul’s expression had gone suddenly conspiratorial. ‘Unless we help him.’ He announced, smirking deviously.

‘Err…’ Hankyung began in apprehension.

‘Yes!!’ Donghae cheered.

‘Is this a good idea?’

‘Oh god, Hannie! Don’t turn into Leeteuk!’ Heechul whined, flopping sideways on the bed in an exasperated manner. Hankyung’s ears tinged pink.

‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’ He muttered.

‘Excellent!’ The shifter sprang back up and Hankyung rolled his eyes. ‘All we have to do is put Kyuhyun in some kind of mortal peril a-’ He stopped his plotting because there was scratching at the door and Hankyung started laughing at the ridiculousness of his unformed plan. He loved the way Heechul could voice his conniving thoughts as if he were suggesting that they all go and play in the sandbox.

When Heechul opened the door, a great furry beast trotted inside. It was Kangin but he’d certainly gotten a lot… scarier since yesterday. His fur was wilder, his yellow eyes were brighter and his overall form was a lot bulkier. The full moon must be getting close. Leeteuk followed him and Heechul shut the door once again. He looked like he was preening at having so many people come to see him at once, the attention would certainly go straight to his head though Hankyung reflected, his ego came in a very pretty package.

‘How are you feeling today Heechul-ah?’ Leeteuk asked, perching on the chair at the vanity table while Kangin settled down on the fluffy pink rug.

‘You all do a very good job at making yourself comfortable don’t you?’ Heechul stood akimbo, looking down at the four other occupants of the room.

‘You do a very good job at avoiding the question.’ Leeteuk retorted and the shifter stuck his tongue out.

‘I’m fine, Umma.’ He said petulantly then went back to his spot in the middle of the bed. ‘Did you come here to moan at me?’ Leeteuk -faced him.

‘No. We were just speaking to Taecyeon and Master Gong. Apparently, there’s been a severe increase in vampire attacks throughout the Netherworld.’ Donghae gasped.

‘That’s not good.’ Hankyung murmured.

‘No, it’s not. They’re getting organised because they know something big is going to happen soon. It’s making panic spread like wildfire and the regular agents have got their work cut out for them trying to keep the peace. It’s just making everything a lot worse than anyone wants it to be. The Institute can’t concentrate on dealing with the Dark Elves threat as efficiently as possible when there’s vampire anarchists trying to up all over the place.’

‘Teukie’s swearing, this is serious.’ Heechul muttered with a mock gasp.

‘It is serious Heechul.’ Leeteuk chastised. Kangin whined and buried his muzzle into his outstretched forearms which Hankyung felt like copying.

‘Why haven’t the alarms gone off for the vampire attacks?’ Donghae then questioned.

‘Since Master Gong sent out teams to keep a look out for elves, a lot of the agents were stationed in the right place at the right time so no one needed to call it in. I have a feeling Master Chen’s been keeping us out of it so that we only have to worry about one thing at a time.’ Leeteuk explained, grumbling slightly.

‘I’d welcome a distraction.’ Heechul said quietly and Hankyung impulsively grasped at the moment of vulnerability by reaching out and squeezing the shifter’s toes where they were poking out from under his knees again. Heechul smiled shyly and Hankyung internally cheered.

‘Anyway, it’s nearly lunchtime. Let’s go to the café.’ Leeteuk stood up, as did Donghae with a woop of delight. Kangin rose up from the floor and instantly dominated the room, he was about the size of a Great Dane now. Hankyung shuffled off the bed and, as an afterthought, smoothly turned to hold out a hand for Heechul to help him up as well. Heechul sniggered at him.

‘I’ll follow you guys in a few minutes.’ He said with a smile.

‘You’re not coming?’ Hankyung’s brow furrowed in bewilderment.

‘Hankyung, I’m still wearing my dressing gown.’ Heechul’s laughter bubbled up warmly.

Yunho must have overheard his conversation with Jay and now, if Heechul became the Elves’ target, it would all be his fault. Heechul had already been through enough the first time the Dark Elves waged war and Ryeowook never wanted to put him in so much pain again. No matter what he had to do… and as much as it made him want to scream and cry in anger and frustration, he knew that if he wanted to give Heechul and all of his friends the best chance at beating the Elves, he’d just have to do as they say.

Just as Ryeowook had made up his mind, the door opened slowly and he braced himself. But, low and behold, in walked Jay. He looked furtive and made sure to cast his eyes around outside of the room thoroughly before he finally, quietly, shut the door. He quickly shuffled over to Ryeowook and knelt down on the cold floor beside him then passed him a damp piece of cloth, gesturing for him to use it to clean up the dried blood smeared over his face and body.

‘I don’t have a lot of time.’ Jay whispered. ‘Yunho will come looking for me otherwise.’ He seemed different to when Ryeowook had spoken to him earlier, far more alert and self-aware.

‘What are you doing here?’ Ryeowook murmured back worriedly. He didn’t want to give Yunho any more reason to go after Heechul.

‘Maybe you can tell me.’ Jay replied. ‘I can’t remember anything. Only what you told me. You somehow jolted my memories back to me and I need answers, I need to know why I couldn’t remember them.’

‘But Jay I don-’

‘Just tell me what happened that night. Tell me about Heechul.’ Jay’s hushed voice had gone urgent and he kept looking over his shoulder fearfully.

‘Well, you, I mean… you and Heechul were together for almost a year. Then all of a sudden you had a big argument and broke up with him. You told him you wanted to leave but no one ever found out why.’ Ryeowook relayed the information anxiously.

‘You can’t think of any reason why I might have left?’

‘I don’t know. We were all trying to figure it out for ages back then. The only thing we could come up with is that about a week before you left, you and Jungmo had been on a mission out in the forests somewhere tracking down a chimera and when you came back you refused to talk about it.’ Ryeowook explained. Jay looked thoughtful for several moments, processing the information.

‘Long brown hair…’ He suddenly breathed. Ryeowook was confused momentarily until he realised that Jay was trying to remember Heechul. ‘And long legs and big eyes.’

‘His hair’s ginger now.’ He interrupted, smiling fondly.

‘Really?’ Jay looked up in surprise. Then he chuckled to himself. ‘Does he still wear skirts sometimes?’

‘He wears skirts all the time. So does Sungmin.’ Jay laughed quietly again.

‘I remember Sungmin.’ His eyes had gone reminiscent. ‘And Kyun… Kyu..’

‘Kyuhyun.’ Ryeowook supplied. It was entirely surreal to have Jay sitting there trying so hard to remember people he’d known for years and Ryeowook found it almost heart-breaking that all his memories had been taken away from him.

‘Kyuhyun! That’s right.’ He paused again to think and smile.

‘If… when we get out of here, we’ll go back to the Institute and you’ll remember everyone again.’ Ryeowook said reassuringly but then Jay’s face turned gloomy.

‘I can’t go back.’ He muttered.

‘Why not?’

‘There’s one thing I do remember.’ His eyes were sorrowful and resigned.

‘What is it?’ Ryeowook asked nervously. He could hear noises outside the room, distant sounds but they were getting closer.

‘Yesung! Go find Master Lee, tell him to get the cage ready!’ Leeteuk screeched. Everyone that had been in café at the moment Kangin lashed out at Heechul had now backed away to the walls and the corners, keeping their distance from the beast in the centre of the room.

‘What’s happening?’ Hankyung asked with wide eyes. Heechul started at his voice, he’d almost forgotten what was going on around him as he stared at his best friend in alarm.

‘Kangin’s transformation has finished.’ He replied shakily.

‘Donghae no! Stay there!’ Leeteuk yelled and Heechul’s eyes shot over to Donghae who’d been just about to creep out of the café altogether. Kangin had seen him and he’d started to stalk the ground back and forth, keeping his sunset yellow eyes fixated on the boy. In a panic and desperation for something to hold onto while he couldn’t scream out in worry, Heechul grabbed the closest thing to him – Hankyung’s wrist – and clutched it tightly.

‘Are you ok?’ Hankyung foolishly murmured. Heechul snapped his gaze to him fearfully and then back at Kangin. His ears had pricked up, he’d heard them and he was moving away from Donghae.

‘Kangin. It’s me.’ The shifter said urgently, he cursed the way his voice trembled.

‘Kangin?’ Hankyung was confused and rightly so. He’d never experienced this before; he didn’t know what Kangin could do… what he’d done. The wolf was watching them predatorily and getting closer. Heechul curled his body towards Hankyung’s and then the latter shook out his free arm so that when he stretched up his hand in front of them, there was a protective ripple of flame all around it.

‘Hankyung… I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’ Leeteuk warned from across the room but Hankyung stood firm even as Kangin started growling and Heechul flinched harshly, now pressed against the pyro after turning away.

‘Kangin?’ Hankyung tried once again. Kangin barked. His claws scratched the wooden floor. Heechul held his breath. Then Yesung cracked back into the room with Master Lee beside him. They flung a weighted net over the werewolf and hurriedly pinned him down with chains to bind his thrashing limbs. Kangin howled deeply, the sound reverberated all around the café where people were now starting to breathe sighs of relief and calm down from their fright.

Heechul slowly turned back around but wished he hadn’t if only to stop himself from seeing his friend being bound and treated like nothing more than a wild animal. He also saw Hankyung’s arm return to a normal state and the Chinaman shift around so that he could look at him. Heechul caught his gaze and somehow found himself searching for something in the dark eyes that stared back at him. Whatever it was – answers, comfort – he didn’t know but he never gave himself a chance to find out before he promptly flung his arms around Hankyung’s middle.

It took a split second for the gesture to be returned and then Heechul lost himself in the feeling of being held like that. He didn’t care that it was probably the full moon making him a little crazy like it always did; it affected the special agents in strange ways. He even refused to care that a voice at the back of his mind was telling him that this was the way Jay used to hold him. He closed his eyes and listened to Hankyung’s heart beating faster than he expected while the sounds of anguished howls became more and more distant. 

le gasp

an update!

a speedy update!

I hope you will reward me with nice feedback ;D

a lot of things are going to start getting explained from this point on especially concerning Jay :O 

but I wonder what's going to happen to Hankyung and Heechul hmmmmm??

the next chapter should be half suju ery, half action packed crazy madness so please subscribe and keep on reading :)

~JC