I'm going to kill a few fangirls with this chapter~sorry! (not really)

I jerked out of sleep, breathing heavily. It had been two weeks since my first nightmare, and they were getting steadily worse. I knew Tao was worried about me, but I didn’t want to trouble him too badly. I saw him now, sitting in the shadows of my bedroom, eyes watching worriedly.

"Tao, you don’t have to stay." I said, touched at his vigilance. He crossed the room, shaking his head, and sat down next to me lightly.

"I want to. Is it the same one every time?" Tao asked. I nodded, drawing my knees up to my chest and resting my chin on them. I had told him and the others about the lab, the doctors and what they were talking about. None of them had heard anything about this, and speculated it was just some weird dreams.

"Come on, I want to go for a walk." I suggested, standing up. Tao nodded, and slid into some clothes. He followed me outside quietly, and we started walking along the street.

"I don’t know, they just feel so real. Like they’re actually going to happen." I said, shaking my head. Tao wrapped his arm around my shoulders, resting his head on mine comfortingly.

"It’s just your imagination. I’m not going to any creepy lab, I promise." Tao smiled down at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

"Okay." I said. We walked in silence for a while, the pitch black closing in around us. I was starting to get a creepy feeling, and I glanced around. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and I shivered.

"Tao, do you feel that?" I asked, looking around. He looked down at me with another smile, shaking his head.

"Feel what?" Tao asked.

"Like someone’s watching us." I shrugged, looking around. Tao chuckled a little, pulling me closer.

"Don’t be ridicu-" Tao’s voice cut off as he gave a soft hiss and looked down. We saw the dart sticking out of his arm at the same time, and Tao pushed me forward.

"Run!" Tao commanded, swaying on his feet. I looked around, gasping when another dart landed square in his neck. Tao slumped to the ground, and I screamed. A prick made me look down, and I saw I had been hit too.

"What?" I murmured, feeling my eyelids start to droop. I dropped to the floor, next to Tao, and dropped into a pool of black.

"Sujin." I heard someone say my name, and felt someone shaking my shoulder. My eyes fluttered open reluctantly, and I winced against the terrible wave of pain from my head. I looked up and saw Lay hovering over me.

"Lay." I croaked, hating how weak my voice sounded. He nodded, helping me sit up, and he pressed a jar of water to my lips.

"Just drink. I found this a little bit ago, and I saved it for you." Lay said. He helped me stand up, and I looked around in disbelief.

"What is this place?" I asked. We were in a narrow, twisting stone corridor and I couldn’t see where it led. The ceiling was grey stone, hundreds of feet above us, and the walls stretched up a hundred feet on either side.

"I have no idea. I’ve been wandering around, but I think it just goes in a circle." Lay said, shaking his head. I frowned, touching my throbbing head lightly.

"Here, you’re hurt." Lay placed his hands on my head, concentrating. I closed my eyes, waiting for Lay’s healing magic to kick in. When nothing happened, I opened them and saw Lay giving me a frustrated look.

"What is it?" I asked. Lay bit his lip, shaking his head angrily.

"It’s something they gave me, I can’t heal." Lay said. He dropped his hands, looking around instead. Light flared from some old-fashioned looking street lamp type lights bolted to the wall, and I also looked around.

"Something who gave you?" I asked. Lay shrugged, sitting down. I joined him, and took another sip of water.

"All I remember is being hit with a dart, and then waking up in a small room. Then nothing until I woke up here." Lay said, sounding confused. He looked at me, shrugging.

"How did you end up here?" Lay asked.

"Tao and I were out walking and we both got shot with darts. Then I woke up here." I said. "But where are we?"

"I have no idea. And I haven’t been able to find anyone else. What do we do now?" Lay asked. I shook my head, frowning, and wondered if the same thing had happened to the others.

"I guess we start walking." I said. Lay nodded, standing up behind me, and we started walking forward. I noticed Lay eyeing the walls, looking for possible handholds.

"Can you climb that?" I asked, pointing. Lay considered it for a moment, shrugging, and nodded slightly.

"Yeah, but you can’t." Lay said, not unkindly. I shook my head, looking around, and stopped walking.

"You climb this, and then look around and see if you can find the others. If you can’t just come back." I suggested. Lay tilted his head to the side, then shrugged again.

"What about you?" Lay asked. I shook my head, smiling slightly, and gave him a gentle push forward.

"I’ll be fine. Just start climbing." I said. Lay nodded, giving me a brief hug, then he turned and placed his hand on the wall. His claws shot out, and he used them to dig slightly into the stone.

I watched as Lay started climbing, vaulting himself off the wall with his feet and scurrying up quickly. He was almost to the top when he jerked back and plummeted back down, a loud yelp escaping his throat.

"Lay!" I yelled, rushing forward. His hands reached out, claws dragging down the wall and making sparks fly off and he kept sliding down. He finally dropped to the ground next to me, rolling painfully and groaning.

"Are you okay?!" I exclaimed, touching his shoulder gently. Lay opened his eyes, and immediately rolled up the sleeve of his white button-down. A metallic bracelet flashed back at us, and Lay tugged at it. A sudden voice made us jump, coming from an unseen speaker near us.

"Subject is advised to avoid climbing, and to keep shock bracelet on at all times. Thank you." A woman’s recorded voice sounded, making Lay and I look around.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" I asked. Lay shook his head, ripping at the bracelet and yelping again when it buzzed.

"It shocks me!" Lay said, sounding both angry and confused. I touched it carefully, wincing when a small amount of electricity shocked me too.

"What is this?" I asked, looking around. "Hey, talk to us again!" I yelled, wanting to try to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"Did it get colder?" Lay asked, looking around. I nodded, shivering slightly and walking closer to Lay. His naturally warmer body heat reached me, and he slid his arm around my shoulders.

"Hello?" Lay called, looking up. When no one answered, he shrugged and sat down on the floor. "Let’s just rest for now and see if it gets warmer. We can look for the others later, and see if we can figure out where we are."

"Okay." I said. Lay lied down next to me, and I let him wrap his arms around me. He was just so warm! Despite the questions buzzing in my head, I found myself falling asleep quickly.

The same robotic voice woke both of us, and we snapped to attention. Lay and I shared a look before listening in, trying to figure out where we were.

"Thank you all for your patience." The robotic woman chirped. "Please be advised all subjects are now in the arena, and the first test starts now."

"What?" I whispered to Lay. He shook his head, shrugging, and the woman continued on.

"To all subjects now in the arena, listen well. Your first test is to make it to the middle of the arena and attain the object related to you. The first five to the center, will continue on to the next test. The remaining subject will be terminated."

"What does terminated mean?" I asked, looking at Lay with wide eyes. He looked equally as confused, and he shook his head.

"Please also be aware that there is one extra subject taking part in this test, one female. She is not to be harmed, and she will not count in the final five continuing-she is automatically advanced."

"That’s good, it means you’ll survive no matter what." Lay nodded to me, and I found it hard to take comfort in his words.

"And it means one of you will die!" I said. Lay shook his head, looking determined, and we were interrupted by a loud bell.

"Test starts now!" The woman clicked off, and Lay tugged me forward. We stumbled along the corridor in front of us, not able to go anywhere else.

"It has to end somewhere..." Lay mumbled, and we kept going. We ran into countless dead ends and several forks, and after what seem like hours, we reached what seemed to be the middle.

I looked on, seeing a wide wooden table in front of us. Six objects rested on it, and I could see Tao and Xiumin standing by the table with their backs to us. Lay and I rushed forward, intending to run all the way there, and we bounced back against an invisible wall.

"Tao!" I called, flat on my back. His head jerked up, and he turned towards us. His mouth moved like he was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him.

I stood up, running forward until I just brushed the force field. It rippled purple, and I pressed my hands against it. Tao also pushed his hands against it, yelling something at me, and he flew backward with a flash of sparks.

"Tao!" I yelled, pounding on the field. It flashed again, but didn’t shock me. Tao looked up from his position on his back, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. He stood up, and I noticed another hallway leading to the center. The real way, I realized.

"Lay, we have to reach there!" I said, looking back. He was standing next to me, and he nodded. We then watched with sinking hearts as Lu Han, Kris and then Chen ran into the room. They all chose objects from the table, like Tao and Xiumin had, and then looked through the force field at Lay and I.

I saw Kris yell something at the force field, and I turned back to Lay. He was looking on with a sad expression, dropping his head. I saw several tears slide onto his cheeks, and then he raised his head again. He kissed two fingers and held them out towards Kris and the others, nodding solemnly.

"Lay, all of them got there." I said, feeling a crushing feeling in my heart. Lay nodded, giving me a small hug.

"I know. It’s okay." Lay said, pulling back. I shook my head, angry at his quiet acceptance, and tried to turn back and hammer my way through the force field.

"Lay, we have to find a way to-" I was cut off by the robotic voice, tears slipping down my cheeks.

"Subject 7D to be terminated, please stand by." The voice sounded, and I shook my head.

"No, no, no!" I cried. Lay gave a small gasp, dropping to his knees with a hand over his chest, and then slumped forward weakly. "Lay!"

I ran to him, shaking his shoulder. His eyes stared up at me, a trickle of blood running out of his mouth, and I started to shake.

"Subject 7D termination successful, continue to test 2."

Oh my god, was this update worth waiting for?! Maybe a little bit? No? Okay...sorry. I know it’s been a while, but I just got re-inspired to write this, and be prepared for some extreme plot twists. I know, I’m sorry I had to kill off Yixing, I didn’t want to...Many more tests to come, so prepare your hearts! Please comment to let me know what you think, and subscribe and upvote!

Kamsamnida, saranghamnida!

-Sujin

<3