A million thoughts shot through Jeonghan's head as he was being led down the stairs by the black haired man. Was this how all this was going to end? Being handcuffed and simply escorted back to the embodiment of his very own nightmare?

Jeonghan couldn't focus. Trying to avoid all the S.Coups' related thoughts, he looked for anything remotely helpful to his current situation; his panic-filled eyes darting around the staircase —  all this while trying not to trip. Sadly, there was no crowbar to coincidentally lay around like it would have in about every ty crime series. His kidnapper didn't seem to mind his unrest and only tightened his grip around Jeonghan's arm, making him squirm.

“Why are you even doing this? What have I ever done to you?”, Jeonghan complained, trying to wriggle his arm out of the rather painful grip. Suddenly the man stopped walking, making Jeonghan do the same.

“Look I'm only doing my job here. But I'm pretty good at disobeying, so if you want me to do that, I can just blow your head off right away — would surely save me some trouble.”

Trying to ignore the — by now quite familiar — feeling of cold steel against his temple, Jeonghan apologized with compressed lips and a sharp scent of sarcasm in his voice. He should have realized by now that objecting to any of S.Coups's ideas was a rather bad idea. But Jeonghan's pride was simply too big to just stay quiet in those situations. The man, however, seemed satisfied — at least Jeonghan thought that's what his short nod was supposed to express — and removed the gun from Jeonghan's head before continuing their way downstairs, pushing Jeonghan forewards. The chaos in Jeonghan's head slowly began to vanish and one particular question pushed itself to the fore. S.Coups had ordered not to kill him. Why? Why did he want to have the cop alive?

After their whole past and the fact that Jeonghan had basically betrayed him, he wouldn't have been surprised if S.Coups wanted to see him dead. And what would be a better opportunity than doing it before Jeonghan even had the chance of freeing himself. But the man walking behind him was as cool as a breeze; barely messing up your hair but still sending a shiver down your spine.

While Jeonghan felt a tiny bit of happiness about the fact that he could at least keep his head for now, he thought about all the possible solutions to that one question. Although, no matter how he looked at it, it ended in him suffering incredible pain. Some would say he was exaggerating, but — thinking about what S.Coups had already done to him — being killed was probably the least painful thing that could happen. Jeonghan remembered all the days he had spent in the dungeon. Especially, after S.Coups had found out about him taking evidence photos of the house.

Jeonghan was shivering. A constant cold breeze had always haunted the cellar rooms and he was standing up his ankles in dirty water. He had lost sensation in his bare feet a long time ago and his legs didn't have the strength to support his body anymore, so the ice cold chains on his wrists were basically the only thing keeping him standing. The lower half of his jeans was soaked and S.Coups hadn't been gracious enough for Jeonghan to even put on a shirt. That way you could see his pale abdomen covered in wounds and bruises. Some of them were older and almost completely healed but others were fresh with drops blood leaking out of them. They were burning like fire and soon the horrible pain spread through his whole body, but still Jeonghan's eyes remained without a trace of emotion.

The first time, he had screamed his lungs out hanging in those chains. A scream of pain and fear, trying so hard to reach someone. Anyone. Someone who would save him, get him out of those chains and this cellar. But the more often he was locked down here the more he realized that his screaming would do nothing other than dry out his throat. By now he didn’t even try to scream anymore. As a wise man once said “you only cry for help if you believe there’s help to cry for”. And Jeonghan had lost his belief in help a long time ago. He had been in this situation so many times that it had become nothing but a painful invalidity to him.
Nonetheless, he remembered all the scratches on his body, even the ones that had already faded. He could tell a story to every single one and even what utensil S.Coups had used to cause them. Various knifes, the belt buckle of whatever belt he happened to be wearing — and if he wasn't wearing any, he simply used Jeonghan's own —, crowbars, his teeth…
Jeonghan had tasted them all, multiple times. And he knew that it would always end up in these cellar rooms. That HE would always end up in these cellar rooms, with chains on his wrists cutting open the wounds from last time.

Being locked in the cellar Jeonghan had a lot of time to think. Some might consider this a good thing but for him it was pure torture repeating itself again and again. Even though he had become numb to the pain, his thoughts were running wild, jumping from one to the other — no logic, no order. He thought about his friends at the police station, his father, questioned himself repeatedly if he was out of mind to be doing this. This was not what his father would have wanted for him and Jeonghan felt ashamed every second he had to spend in this cold and dark room.

But then he would hear familiar footsteps stumbling down the stony stairs, taste the acrid smell of blood in the air and finally he saw a light, radiating pure warmth that made him feel like everything would be okay again. Even though his body was shivering uncontrollably. Even though Jeonghan's mind was so blurry that he probably couldn't remember his mother's name if he tried to, he embraced this light, this warmth; and everything, even this dark room, suddenly felt like home again.

Jeonghan felt cold air hitting his face as he found himself back in reality. It was scary how those memories came back to him in a way that felt like he was actually there, having to relive all the pain, fear and happiness again and again. But as fast as the flashback had hit him it had faded again and Jeonghan had to focus on the real world since his current situation wasn't exactly the most convenient to zone out.

After leaving the house, the guy didn't hesitate but headed directly to the black vehicle that Joshua had accused of following them earlier. Note to self: listen to Joshua the next time he found something strange. If there was going to be a next time.

"How did you get into the apartment before we did, anyway? We should have seen you in the staircase", Jeonghan asked — trying to suppress genuine confusion — as the guy opened the sliding door of his car.

Seemingly ignoring Jeonghan, he roughly pushed him into the seatless back of the van.
"I got my secret paths here and there," he mumbled before slamming the door shut.

Jeonghan had trouble picking himself up since his arms were of no help and the inside of the van was pitch-black. Additionally the guy's driving style made him roll across the floor like a helpless turtle. Anger built up in him and eventually he gave up on a vertical seating position, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans instead. But its complete emptiness told Jeonghan that the guy must have taken his phone when he had been busy having his flashback. He kicked the door in frustration, whereupon he earned a muffled grumble from the front seat. Something along the lines of "Seriously, I just got this car, stop ruining it!" — excluding the swear words.

The longer Jeonghan was trapped in that dark and smelly van, the more he realized that there really was no way of getting out of this situation. No calling his colleagues, no subduing his kidnapper without being shot instantly. Even though he wouldn't die, gunshot wounds still hurt like hell and he rather liked to avoid them. The only thing he could do right now was thinking of what to do when he was actually facing S.Coups.

Jeonghan knew that this man and his actions were unpredictable. At one moment he could be your best friend and in the blink of an eye he would threaten to kill you. Jeonghan knew that he needed to stay completely neutral and professional, that he criminal was dangerously good with words and knew exactly how to sweet-talk people. But Jeonghan also knew that he was completely weak for this man and had been only happy when he had been arrested. Being away from him was the only way of not falling for his charming nature.

Busy with his thoughts, Jeonghan had lost track of time inside the dark van but at some point it finally stopped. The bumpy ride had thrown him around a dozen times leaving him with aching ribs and a very messy ponytail. As the car door was opened again a ray of sunlight illuminated the inside of the van, making Jeonghan narrow his eyes to a slit. After being in complete darkness for this long his eyes needed some time to get used to the bright sunlight again. The guy didn't seem to have any consideration for Jeonghan, though, and pulled him out of the car with an annoyed grunt.
After Jeonghan had gotten his sense of balance back he tried looking around to see where he was, even though everything still appeared a little blurry to him.

Unlike his expectations, he didn't find himself in the all too familiar, residential neighborhood in front of S.Coups's house. Instead he was standing on a giant gravel field with a few old industrial buildings in sight. Only a few plants and trees grew around it but they didn't seem to be particularly healthy in this kind of environment. Jeonghan took a closer look around as his kidnapper locked his car. Beneath some trees he could see two old wagons that seemed to have blended in with nature and right next to them there was a railroad track. Though, it was almost completely covered in gravel and thus out of service, which made Jeonghan give up his hope for a way to escape pretty quickly.

"Gazed enough? I have a job to do here," the guy asked with an impatient undertone.

Jeonghan nodded absentmindedly and let himself be pulled towards the house in front of them. He felt as tiny as an ant looking up the giant walls — their dilapidation reminded him a lot of the crime scene apartment. Speaking of which, an image of a handcuffed Joshua sitting in the corner appeared in his thoughts. He hoped that somehow he had managed to get free and call the station, sending all available cars out to look for Jeonghan. However, this industrial area seemed to be pretty isolated and far away from the city. As he was thinking about it, Jeonghan could recollect this district vaguely from a previous case.

However, he wasn't given much time to dig out old memories but was abruptly pushed forward towards the building. Before he could protest Jeonghan found himself standing in a really old and smelly staircase with lots and lots of steps ahead of him.

Having reached the very end of the stairs — slightly panting —, they stopped in front of a dark red colored door. As soon as they stepped in, Jeonghan prepared himself for the dusty, smelly cloud that hits you when you enter your attic after a few years again. But instead a sweet smell reached his nostrils...vanilla?

While being led through a hallway he blinked in confusion and could not believe what he saw. This apartment seemed to be like an oasis in a desert, full of life admidst its bleak surroundings. S.Coups had always had an eye for detail and Jeonghan had to admit it was quite extraordinary what he had done to the place. A few cracks in the wall that couldn't have been covered up by pictures were the only thing remeinding the cop of the current situation he was in.

As they stopped walking, Jeonghan found himself standing on a quite old and expensive looking carpet full of violet ornaments. Blue light shining through closed curtains illuminated the room. On his left side, a giant shelf filled with hundreds of books took over the complete wall while the others were decorated with framed drawings. In front of Jeonghan was a massive desk covered in a giant pile of papers and a computer.

He remembered this scenery. S.Coups's workspace had always looked this messy. Every time Jeonghan had pointed it out, S.Coups insisted he had a system in this chaos but he never really believed him. Anyhow, he never bothered to ask further about all the "important documents" S.Coups worked on every day. Either because he didn't want to see what he already knew was true, or because he didn't want to trigger S.Coups's quick temper. The thought of all the things S.Coups was doing right in front of his eyes, of what he was, never really left his mind, though. Every second he had spent in his house that thought was tugging at his sanity and made him question his will to stay with the criminal. And at some point he had given in.

"Wasn't my idea", the guy sighed in response to Jeonghan's astonished look.

"Of course it wasn't, Wonwoo", a voice said, "everything you own is black. Way too depressing."

The guy rolled his eyes. Only now Jeonghan had identified the big, navy blue object behind the desk as an office chair with its back turned towards him.

"Here you have your precious angel. I'm going to look after Jun and that other guy", Wonwoo said and disappeared into a different room.

Now that he was gone, an awkward silence surrounded Jeonghan, who was standing helplessly in the middle of the room.
"Well, well. The killer and the cop, reunited again. They should write a book about us", the voice said and the chair slowly started turning.

The lump in Jeonghan's throat had now grown so large that he was struggling to breath, his eyes fixed on the chair that seemed to move in slow motion. It felt like a kick in the stomach when he was finally facing S.Coups again. Pitch black hair covering his forehead, piercing green eyes and the inimitable smile turning his face into an ugly grimace. Although, it wasn't quite the scenery Jeonghan had expected to see. In contrast to his wicked face werre his clothes, consisting of polka-dot pajamas, and the small pomeranian that had made itself comfortable on his lap.

Nevertheless, Jeonghan suddenly felt tiny and helpless being exposed to S.Coups like that. He knew that he had broken out of prison but actually meeting and seeing him right in front of his eyes was a whole lot more overwhelming for him. 

Yes, Jeonghan was one of the few who had seen him at his weakest moments but even then S.Coups had never really put down his dangerous facade, not entirely. But right now Jeonghan could see it crumbling. Despite his effort to maintain his evil and superior look he seemed tired. Jeonghan had noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the general lack of tension in his whole face right away. The dogs were also new. Jeonghan remembered a lot of pictures of animals in the old house but never had he seen an actual pet there.

This whole conflict of details put Jeonghan in such deep confusion that he wasn't capable of saying anything. He just couldn't find the right words. Should he be witty, should he be serious? Nothing he could think of seemed appropriate to the situation.

"Aw, look at him. Have I made you speechless? Look, I know I'm beautiful but..."

"Drop your sarcasm, ," Jeonghan interrupted, finally having gotten his confidence back — going with a mixture of witty and aggressive —  "I see, you have relocated your residence. And you found some henchmen to do the dirty work for you." He earned an almost offended glance. "Who are you trying to fool? A murdering psychopath with a soft spot for puppies? Don't make me laugh."

It only took the detective these few words to change the criminal's facial expression completely. His eyes had lost their little sparkle and also was his smile gone.
"I wouldn't call myself a psychopath, but yes I indeed have a soft spot, as you named it, for these little creatures. Secondly, they aren't henchmen. I did these people a favor by taking them in."

"Why am I here, anyway? I thought everything was clear between us.", Jeonghan asked.

S.Coups seemed genuinely surprised by those words.
"If you want to call betraying me and sending me to prison clear, okay. But I'm not done with you yet. And you know that.

"Would you finally step down from your high horse and at least take these stupid handcuffs off me?", Jeonghan said with a snarl.

"I hope that is not what you're going to say tonight", said S.Coups with the suggestive grin back on his face.

Jeonghan rolled his eyes clenching his jaw.
"And stop doing.. what ever the that was!"

S.Coups, still grinning, raised his eyebrows. The situation seemed to amuse him. He put the little puppy in its basket and started walking towards Jeonghan.
"Well, you know me."

Having reached Jeonghan, he slowly started creeping around him. The detective took deep breaths in and out to stop himself from yanking his head back and breaking S.Coups' nose in the process. That would maybe provide him a few seconds to run, but considering that there was more than one guy to worry about in this building, this would only result in unnecessary pain. So he endured S.Coups's presence which was a bit too close for his liking. But even if he had tried to move, his feet wouldn't give in.

S.Coups was now standing right behind him when suddenly Jeonghan felt a hot breath on the left side of his neck traveling up to his ear.
"So you also know I'm going to continue that."

His voice was barely audible and yet it completely messed up Jeonghan's brain functions. In that moment he would've sold his right kidney for a quick-witted answer but he couldn't think of one. It was like the connection between his brain and his muscles had temporarily been cut off and instead he felt his blood rise up, heating up his face. Great.

He prayed he wasn't actually blushing but god's hotline seemed to not be available at this moment either. He threw a side glance to S.Coups, praying he hadn't noticed. Of course he had, his grin growing even wider.
"Knew it."

"So, are you going to let me stand here forever?,"Jeonghan barked, still mentally cursing himself.

"As much as I'd want to do that, no. I'll bring you to Wonwoo and Jun, there you can join your buddy and you four can have a little talk while I put on some decent clothes. I mean, you can also stay if you want..."

Slowly the constant grin of S.Coups started to get on Jeonghan's nerves.

"No thanks," he replied shortly, wondering what 'buddy' he had been referring to.

At the mention of the name Jun his head had shot up for a second. He knew he had heard it somewhere, and it had definitely been in connection to S.Coups.

The criminal shrugged, roughly grabbed Jeonghan by the arm and started walking him towards the door through which the guy had disappeared earlier. Jeonghan could have sworn that he heard S.Coups whispering "What a shame, you miss out on something" but he didn't really care anyway. He was busy enough with the thought who could be waiting for him in the other room.

The room they were stepping into was just as nicely decorated as the first one. This time the curtains were bordeaux red and a rosé, fluffy carpet covered the floor. Jeognhan's attention was instantly directed towards the giant couch on the right side of the room. The black haired guy, Wonwoo, was sitting on one edge munching on a slice of pizza. On the other side though, Jeonghan spotted a rather familiar looking face.

"Mingyu?!"

"It's not what it looks like," he stammered with a wry smile. It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Why the hell did you give me that address?"

"Well thanks to that guy" Mingyu pointed at a brown haired guy that had just entered the room, whereupon he waved at Jeonghan grinning, "he kidnapped me and forced me to call you."

Jeonghan identified the brown haired guy, prbably Jun, as the exact same one that had threatened him in the prison before. Jun, sat down on the couch between Wonwoo and Mingyu and grabbed a slice of pizza as well.

"Kidnapped you? You're a detective, for god's sake. You're not supposed to get kidnapped!", Jeonghan scolded, "and why are you just sitting here doing nothing?"

"Well, you tell me," Mingyu answered, looking down on his hands which were also handcuffed. Jeonghan sighed and let himself sink into the couch, as well.
While they were waiting for S.Coups to return he desperately asked himself who had mixed drugs into his coffee. S.Coups was a bit too nice for his liking. A fact that made him more and more anxious. He was basically just waiting for S.Coups to fall back into his old habits of cutting and maiming.

While sitting on the couch, questioning life choices, he took a closer look at Jun who was busy eating his pizza and switching through different TV channels. He had definitely seen this guy before, apart from the prison, and after a few seconds it hit him.

"You're the neighbor!", Jeonghan blurted out. Three heads turned towards him with confused expressions. Jeonghan met Jun's eyes. "You're the guy that lived next to S.Coups. Your mother was in hospital and you were living alone in the house."

Jun stopped chewing for a second, seemingly surprised Jeonghan would bring this up. Before being forced to say anything he was unintentionally saved by Mingyu.

"How do you know about that? He was not mentioned in any of the police files.", he remarked.

.

Jeonghan had completely forgotten that Mingyu didn't know about his past with S.Coups. He didn't know Jeonghan had visited him beyond working hours and it should definitely stay like that. The best solution for solving this kind of situation: passive aggressive remarks.

"Now we're back to being a cop, are we. You should have done that before you were kidnapped."

Mingyu rolled his eyes already familiar with this kind of behavior. He also knew that when Jeonghan acted like this he definitely wanted to cover something up. Usually Mingyu didn't really care and let him be, but in this case it could actually be something serious. This was a dangerous case and every detail could matter, Jeonghan out of all people should know this.

Mingyu sighed, maybe Jeonghan was right. Maybe it were really just his ninja senses acting up again and Jeonghan was just stressed because of the whole situation.

A/N: This thing is not gonna contain actual so don't get your hopes up. I'm more a storyline kind of person.