You’re sitting right next to the couch, on the floor. You can hear Siwon’s steady breath behind you. He’s covered with fresh bruises and cuts, and some of the charms he’s wearing turned coal black; meaning that he used them all up. He’s unconscious, but you’re not sure why. Father didn’t tell you anything, as per usual.

Kai’s been trying to get in touch with Jaejoong for the past hour. The whole pack knows that Siwon is at your house, and that there’s something bad going on with him. He thrashes around in his sleep. It’s not violent, but he keeps on twitching, kicking his legs out, and muttering something. Every time he does, you can feel a bit of his magic in the air. He can’t control it fully while he sleeps, but it shouldn’t do any damage.

You stand up with a sigh and go to the kitchen, where your mom, Kai, Chanyeol and Eun are drinking tea. Nobody has eaten dinner yet. The stew is sitting on the stove, untouched. You took some time taking care of Siwon’s bigger wounds and then talking about the possible scenarios.

“If Father did that to him,” you hear Chanyeol say, “I swear to God, I’m gonna kick his . Gandalf or not.”

“He won’t even let you stand a step away from him,” Kai says grudgingly.

“What if he really is evil? What if he’s behind Mabeob?” Eun asks. You enter the kitchen. They’re all sitting at the table, Kai and Chanyeol with their backs turned towards you when you step into the room. Eun looks up at you, her eyes questioning.

“If he was behind Mabeob, he wouldn’t have trained us,” you point out.

Chanyeol and Kai both look over their shoulders.

“No, think about it,” Chanyeol says. “He only trained you, Amber and Sulli. He gave some tips to some other people, but that’s it. Mabeob wants you to join them, not fight them. Don’t you think they’d want someone strong?”

“I’m already strong,” you argue. “Besides, they could train me after they convinced me to join them, not the other way around.”

“How does Siwon fit into all of this?” your mom speaks up then. She sends you a very distressed look. “I thought he was just an emissary. His fighting days were supposed to be behind him.”

“Fighting days?” Chanyeol questions, scrunching his nose.

“He used to fight monsters with Dad,” you explain. Then, to your mom, “I thought so too. But then Father came around, Mabeob started acting up, and he began to…act strange. I think he might actually know Father.”

*

Siwon wakes up an hour after your conversation. Eun and Chanyeol have gone home since them, after eating dinner, but Kai’s still hanging around. You’re on the floor in the living room, watching some variety show, when you hear Siwon take a sharp inhale. You look over your shoulder to see him blinking owlishly at the ceiling.

“Where…am I?” he asks, looking around. His eyes stop on you. He doesn’t recognize you at first, or so it seems. “Ah. Dal.”

You’re quiet. He puts his head down again, closing his eyes. He cringes in pain when he does so. He must’ve strained some muscles. What it the world has he been doing?

“You okay?” you ask. “Want some stew? Something to drink?”

You see Kai coming into the room. He looks worried. Siwon nods at your questions, so you stand up and walk to the kitchen, motioning for Kai to stay. Kai stands in front of Siwon and the man opens one eye to see who it is. He doesn’t say anything, just acknowledges Kai’s presence.

You come back with a glass of orange juice. Siwon sits up, cringing with every movement. You hand him the juice and he drinks it all in one go.

“Thank you,” he says weakly.

“I’ll call Junsu,” Kai offers. You nod. You put the glass away on the coffee table.

“You gonna tell us what happened?” you ask, trying to sound calm and composed, but you know your voice is laced with worry and anger. Siwon always had his secrets, but you trusted him till no end. You don’t like the fact that he walked into danger – or at least looks like he did – and didn’t tell you.

“No,” comes as a reply. You raise your brows at him, even though he has his eyes closed and can’t see that. You expect him to give you an explanation, but you don’t get one. You’re about to question him again when your mom comes into the room, starts fussing and talking to him, and you have to retreat. You head to your room, anger boiling inside you. You don’t want to outwardly scream at Siwon when your mom is around. You meet Kai in the middle of the way, in the corridor, and you’re so angry you almost run right past him. Thankfully, he grabs your hand and pulls you around on your heels, so that you’re facing each other.

“Whoa,” you say, spinning on your feet. Kai grabs your shoulders to look you in the eyes. You frown slightly. “What?”

“Nothing,” Kai says after a few seconds of staring. “I was just checking.”

You smile a little, blinking owlishly. “For what?”

“If the anger disappears,” he explains. He suddenly pulls you into a hug. You let out a surprised yelp again as he leans down to embrace you, and you embrace him right back, only then realizing how much you needed that right now.

He pulls away slowly, and you’re very thankful to him. You exhale sharply, as if preparing yourself for something.

“Called Junsu,” Kai says. “He’ll come heal Siwon.”

“Thank you.”

“We need to talk to him,” he adds.

“I know. Once my mom isn’t around, though. I might slap him in the face if he keeps on acting like a ; don’t want my mom around for that.”

Kai just nods. You remembered that you set the stew to heat up for Siwon and you curse, then run to the kitchen, leaving Kai a bit confused.

*

Siwon is being a stubborn , and he deliberately doesn’t want your mom to leave the room when you’re in it as well. He also says ‘no’ when you offer him a ride home, and then your mom says he should stay the night, and Siwon brings up a pack meeting you should be attending.

You’re very angry. Fuming, really.

So after a few hours of this childish farce, you march into the living room, where your mom and Siwon are drinking tea, and you stomp your foot.

Literally.

Your mom gives you a very strange look. Siwon’s eyes widen, but he also frowns at the same time, which makes him look like a confused turtle.

“I’m done,” you say. “Either you tell me what the hell happened to you, or I’m gonna tell Krystal to come here and forcefully get the information out of you. And I know about all your mind charms; believe me, I’ll take them away and destroy them, and you won’t be able to do anything about that.”

Siwon goes from surprised to menacing. You mom is looking between you two now, her fingers tight around her tea mug. Siwon looks away, ashamed of himself a little, and you take a sharp intake of breath, anger still boiling in your veins.

“You’ve been acting weird ever since Father showed up,” you accuse. “You even started wearing charms so that Krystal couldn’t read your mind. You look like you’re eating a lemon every time I bring up Father, you openly hate on him, and now he just brought you from God knows where after I haven’t been able to contact you for days? And you’ve been fighting? And you don’t want to tell me?! I’m sorry, but this is not a Supernatural episode. You trust me, I trust you, we tell each other stuff. We don’t go behind each other’s backs, Siwon!”

He shuts his eyes, looking even more remorseful now. You see Kai sticking his head into the room. You glance up at him, remember when he hugged you, and try to compose yourself.

“I worry, okay?” you say, looking at Siwon pointedly. “I worry a lot. You can’t just disappear on me. Did you know Mabeob is here? Did you know they tried to get me onto their side? And then one of them attacked us. And Sulli has new abilities. And there’s an alpha girl at Kai’s, who lost her entire pack because of Mabeob. Where have you been? I needed you!”

The second you say these three words, you realize just how true they are, and your heart breaks a little. You’re shocked because of your own statement, because you never admitted it to yourself. You never admitted how much you actually need Siwon to keep on going. He was a link to your dad. He was always there, in the background, an adult, someone who knew stuff and was willing to help and advice.

“I’m sorry,” Siwon says. He sounds sincere.

“Good!” you shout, your voice breaking. “Now live with that guilt, you .”

Your mom gasps and actually puts her hand over her chest. “Yunji!”

Kai snorts in the threshold.

*

Siwon smokes. You didn’t even know that. You’ve never seen him smoke, until today. You’re outside of your house, Junsu having joined you after healing Siwon’s wounds and bruises, and Siwon is just having a smoke.

“Isn’t that bad for your anti-aging potion?” you ask, squinting when the sun blinds you. Siwon sends you a sideway smile, the cigarette between his lips.

“What now?” Kai asks.

“Call everyone,” Siwon says. “I’ve got something I need to tell you.”

“All of us?” Kai questions.

“All of you,” Siwon nods. “It’s important.”

“Took you long enough,” you mutter to yourself. He still hears it, though. You grin when he elbows you. “Okay, wait here. I’m just gonna place some more wards around the place, and call Seon to send a few of her hunters here. Don’t want my mom to be left alone.”

They all nod at you. You’re about to turn on your heels when Kai suddenly grabs your hand, his eyes wide. You see them flash red.

Panic fills you right away.

“Wait,” he says. You stare at him, look back at the house, focus on your mom’s presence. A second passes by, but it feels like ages. Kai lets go of you and breaks into a run towards the door. You follow him, leaving confused Siwon and Junsu behind. You barrel into the house, then into the living room. Only then you sense magic.

You look to the left, where it’s coming from, and you see your mom standing there. One of the ninjas is holding her, its arm tight around her neck.

You don’t think much. You raise your hand as quickly as you can, twirling your hand with a sharp wrist twist. Your fingers crack with electricity when a tiny ball of lightning forms in the air and flies right at the ninja.

It’s too fast for it. The ninja doesn’t even realize there’s something going its way. The lightning pierces through the ninja’s skull, and he turns into blackness. Your lightning disperses before it hits the floor, and your mom, previously held by the creature, gets her breath and weight back; she falls onto her knees, surprised, breathing heavily. Siwon and Junsu run into the house, looking around.

“What happened?” Siwon asks, walking over to your mom and crouching down next to her.

“One of the ninjas,” you explain. “I mean…we had these spirits visit us. They have katanas. They answer to a guy named Saburo. When they slash you with them, and get some of your blood, they can take over your abilities. It’s like fighting yourself.”

Siwon goes completely still. You watch as he pales, then slowly looks up at you, his mouth slightly open.

His eyes are wide, his full face of disbelief, when he whispers, “Saburo?”

You don’t get to reply. A whiff of magic – familiar magic, something you’ve experienced before – makes you sway on your feet. You get a weird flashback of sensation and your stomach churns.

The spirit appears right in front of you.

Tall, with wide shoulders, clothes in a black robe, his face hidden behind a Japanese Oni mask. It’s different than the last time. Last time you saw him – a long time ago, back when you were saving the Jungs – he was wearing a silver one. This time he’s wearing a black one, with gold details around its open mouth and terrifying eyes.

And it has horns. Actual, devil-like horns.

It’s right in front of you, and the cold fear that fills you stops your heartbeat for a second.

What happens next lasts maybe three seconds. The spirit moves, stretching his arm back, as if wanting to punch you in the face. That small movement is enough to make every possible ward in your house go off.

The spirit freezes, a binding spell hitting him, and you’re about to feel victorious when he moves.

He doesn’t punch you in the face, but he makes a gesture like he’s about to. When his fist is a few inches from your face, you feel his magic hit the entire front of your body. You get swept off your feet and you feel yourself flying. Then someone snatches you down, and you land on Kai’s chest heavily.

You look up. The spirit gestures at the house; the rest of your wards start working. Balls of light, itching spells, everything goes raining down on him. If he was a monster, or a trickster, or anything else, he’d get hit and be done with it. He’d be trapped and you would be able to fight him.

But he’s a mage.

So he creates a barrier around himself and all the spells hit that barrier, bounce off and have no effect whatsoever on him.

Then he disappears, and with him disappears your mother.

The room gets absolutely quiet.

Then you run to your car, Kai following. You leave Junsu and Siwon behind, even though you can hear Siwon screaming out your name. You don’t have time for this. You head for your car, but Kai stops you.

“On my back,” he says and turns into a wolf right there, in your yard. You’d panic if it wasn’t for your mom being gone. After all, there’s people around, any neighbor could see it from their window.

Kai jumps over the fence. You’ve never felt him, or seen him, run as fast as he is right now. He’s a blur to anyone you pass, and all the while, you’re leading him to your mom.

*

Suho is looking at Heejin making a fruit cake one second, and the next, he’s looking at a guy wearing black. The second after that – or maybe in the same second – Heejin is gone, and the only sign that she’s even been here is a wooden spoon that drops onto the ground when she disappears.

At the same time, Taemin is talking with Chen about Kai’s embarrassing past. He gets cut off in the middle of that, when the spirit shows up behind his back, touches his shoulder, and disappears together with him. Chen thinks he’s gone mad.

Minjoon is having Tao and Kyungsoo over, and they’re playing video games. When Minjoon stands up to get the popcorn from the microwave, a black silhouette shows up in front of him. Neither Kyungsoo nor Tao get to react in time, because he’s already gone.

Seon and Eun get taken, too. They all disappear almost at the same time, and somehow, the spirit knows exactly where each one of them is. 

Thanks for reading fudgy brownie cakes with orange cream cheese icing! (I've outdone myself with that dessert name today XD)