Except they were.

Hongbin’s questions were very targeted and it was obvious he was sure of her crime.

A crime she hadn’t committed out of her own volition but a crime nonetheless. Leo was getting antsy, observing her closely as if waiting for her to crack.

As for Rose herself, she was reliving a memory she’d rather forget because she’d barely reconciled herself to Star’s presence and had just begun accepting the… creature – yes, creature because though it spoke like a little girl, that thing was no human – inside her.

To understand and empathize with Star – especially after reliving her nightmares, she’d felt especially sympathetic towards her – Rose had managed to push back some of the more horrendous things Star had made her do.

She was glad she’d out during the initial times because really, if the glimpses were anything to go by, she didn’t want to be the one carrying out those acts.

But with Hongbin grilling her so mercilessly, some of the less appetizing memories were coming back and she clenched her fingers, trying to forget the feeling of digging her nails into flesh, the wetness of blood pooling out as her finger tore…

She shook her head, trying to rid it of the disturbing image.

‘What is it Rose?’ Overprotective as ever, Leo was at her side in a blink. ‘Are you okay?’

She shook her head, holding it tight between her hands. She’d done it, oh dear lord, she had attacked that man so ferociously, had torn him apart with her bare hands. Bile rose inside and she retched, feeling sick.

Lose?

Star’s voice made her shudder even more. How could it sound like an innocent child when it had made her do such horrible stuff?

Get away from me!

She yelled at Star, shouting the words aloud, holding her head, which felt like it would burst open as the memories which had been hidden from her started flashing before her eyes. Memories of the times when she’d out.

She paled even more, standing up and pushing Leo away as he tried to stop her.

‘Stay away from me!’ she sobbed, feeling contaminated and wanting to hide herself. God, she was a monster because not only was she harboring one, she actually sympathized with it.

Lose, why are you angry? Star sounded scared.

Ironic really, since the only one they all had to fear was Star.

Because you’re a monster.

It was cruel, Rose realized, but she couldn’t help it. She had finally lost it, completely. Not that surprising because this was exactly what she’d been driving at, all this time – with the voice in her head and her nightmares and blackouts and her messed up emotions. She’d been driving towards the edge at breakneck speed and now, she’d finally fallen off.

So what if she was cruel to a child – or at least, what felt like one?

Am not! Star protested, sounding shocked and hurt. Star is good.

No Star, you’re bad, very bad. You hurt everyone around you, you hurt innocent people, you hurt animals, you try to kill other people. What makes you think you’re good?

But Choomin… the Bad Man said I had to do it or he would hurt Choomin… Funnily enough, it sounded like Star was pleading, willing her to understand. Well, too bad. Rose was beyond that now.

Her therapist’s words came to her mind. Maybe the Bad Man was nothing more than a reflection of Star herself because she’d hurt her own brother. It made so much sense now.

Star, there is no bad man.  You hurt Choomin. You probably killed him, just like you tried to kill that…

I DID NOT!

This was the first time Rose heard vehemence and sheer anger in Star’s voice.

Choomin is alive, I did not hurt Choomin, Bad Man promised, he promised…

…………………………………….

She was blabbering, crying as she yelled and talked to herself, rendering her forgotten audience dumbstruck. Rose was unaware of her surroundings, too preoccupied with the turmoil inside her as the two men observed the change in her, the way her eyes flashed between brown and red gold before steadily getting darker.

It was Leo who picked on it first, noticing how with every angered yell, Rose’s eyes were getting blacker and patterned marks were beginning to appear on her face, although they still flickered brown every time Rose spoke.  

And was it weird that he could identify when Rose spoke and when the other thing did? It was the same voice but with such a different inflection, it was easily distinguishable.

‘Rose…’ he tried to attract her attention, wanting to pull her back to sanity but his sister didn’t respond. She’d stopped moving around, stopped holding her head but was conversing – no, yelling in the air, sounding angry and hurt.

He didn’t want that thing to take over her – he knew that the black marks were an indication that Rose was being overtaken by the entity that possessed her. She’d been like that the night she’d run away and she’d been like that when she’d stared at him so menacingly a few days ago.  Who knew what she’d end up doing?

Hongbin was staring at her in shock. ‘What is happening?’ he muttered, sounding scared.

‘You need to leave.’ Leo didn’t want anyone else dragged into this. ‘I will explain this later but please; you need to get out before she loses it…’

Hongbin, thankfully, didn’t need to be told twice. Looking thoroughly freaked out, he backed out and Leo closed the door behind him. Leo didn’t wait to watch him leave, turning back around to look at Rose.

‘…he promised…’ she mumbled, holding her head as if in pain.

Rose staggered suddenly and instinctively Leo reached out to catch her. That was all it took.

His hand just landed on her back before he was thrown against the wall, breath knocked out from the force of impact, pain blooming in his chest. Disoriented, he shook his head and an involuntary groan escaped him, the movement making the pain worse.

He glanced down and blinked uncomprehendingly, following the black claw embedded in his heart to its origin. He opened his mouth and coughed, the taste of blood filling his mouth. ‘R-rose?’

The girl had fallen into an offensive crouch, the black claws spreading out from her body like quills from a hedgehog. At his weak implore, she seemed to startle and straightened slowly, her eyes meeting his.

The black in them was fading fast, the marks disappearing as comprehension dawned in her eyes, now red-gold, horror filling them. ‘Leo!’

He tried to say something else but coughed again, spitting out blood and his vision swam as he felt his grip on consciousness loosen. The last thing he remembered was Rose, eyes completely brown now, falling to her knees in front of him before everything went black.

……………………………………..

‘Leo!’

Rose fell to her knees, life going out of her at the sight of her brother pinned to the wall with those hideous, black claws. Her claws. Oh god…

Lelo?

She felt Star’s fear and confusion, the horror filling the child at what she’d done, at what they had done. Instinctively, the claws retracted and a fountain of blood burst forth as Leo slumped to his knees, falling forward.

‘NO!’

She caught him before he could hit the ground, huffing at the impact of his unconscious weight hitting her. ‘Leo…?’ There was whistling in her ears and she felt a sense of derealization, as if everything was happening in a dream. 

‘Leo…’ Her hand shook when she raised it to touch him and blinked, not understanding the crimson wetness that coated them.

Blood, this is blood…. a part of her realized distantly and she looked down to see the rapidly expanding pool she was now sitting in, cradling Leo’s body against her. He’s bleeding…

‘Stop…’ she mumbled, looking around distractedly, ‘I have to stop it…’

Lose…

‘Not now Star.’ She swallowed, glancing around. There was nothing, nothing she could use to quench the flow.

She tore at his shirt, the buttons flying at the force, yanking it open. There was so much blood, his entire chest was covered in it. The sickening scent of it hit her face like a blow, making her nauseous but she pushed it away. Leo was hurt, Leo was bleeding, he was…

Is Lelo dead?

No, no he wasn’t. He couldn’t be, she would never do that to her brother. She inhaled harshly but something seemed to be blocking her airway, compressing her chest. She was feeling dizzy, her vision swimming but she couldn’t, she couldn’t do this right now. She had to…

‘Save him.’ Her voice was trembling, barely making it past her lips. ‘Star, you have to…’ She began hyperventilating.

Lose?

‘SAVE HIM!’ she yelled, tears overflowing. ‘SAVE HIM!’

She felt Star’s fear, her guilt but it was all so distant. Lose, I can’t…

‘Yes you can, put those claws back in him, stop the bleeding or he’ll… he’ll…’ She couldn’t complete the thought. She swallowed, in a huge breath that barely made it past .

‘Do it.’ she ordered.

Black smoke began to emerge from her fingers and she stared at the dark patterns tracing over her arms.  Her vision sharpened, the colors becoming too vivid, the blood seeming to glow and she realized that Star was coming to the forefront. She watched detachedly as the smoke traced over to the wound and slipped inside before stiffening, turning solid.

I’m sorry Lose… Star sounded scared, close to tears but Rose ignored her. She had to get help but she couldn’t leave him like this. Her vision blurred again and she wiped at the tears impatiently, ignoring the blood smearing over her face.

Leo’s face was pale, his skin cold to touch and she could barely hear his breath, even when she put her ear right next to his nose. ‘Leo?’ she whispered, willing him to open his eyes, give her that gruff smile, tell her he was okay.

He stayed unmoving.

…………………………………

Lay seemed to know exactly where he was going, in such a hurry that he started running. Using his head, Xiumin took the car because the place Leo and Rose were staying at was quite a bit away. The Legend jumped in when he stopped beside him, and urged him to drive fast. He was thrumming with anxiety, legs jittery, chewing on a thumbnail.

‘What’s going on?’ Xiumin asked, stepping on the accelerator. Their car shot forward.

‘I don’t know yet…’ Lay muttered, eyes fixed on the road ahead, ‘But we have to hurry before it’s too late.’

Xiumin nodded, complying and they arrived at the place quite soon.

Lay didn’t wait for the car to completely halt, throwing off his seatbelt and jumping out, landing in a run. Picking on his urgency, Xiumin threw the car in neutral and ran out after him, pulling him to a halt before he could burst it.

Both their senses kicked on high alert at the distinctive odor of blood. With their enhanced senses, it was quite easy to pick out sounds and smells. The muffled sound of crying accompanying the smell was enough to make him wary. Xiumin pushed the healer back, engaging his powers, and kicked the door open.

And stared in disbelief at the gory mess in the living room.

There was blood on the far wall and a puddle right underneath it, where two bodies were slumped together. He recognized the distinctive red curls as Rose’s.

Simultaneously, they ran inside, coming to a stop only when they were right beside her.

Up close, the mess was even worse. There was a pool of blood around the siblings, both of them so drenched it was hard to tell where it originated from. Neither responded to their presence.

‘Oh dear,’ Lay muttered, dropping to his knees gently, hands extended to heal.

The movement drew Rose’s attention and she straightened, her arms tightening around her brother’s body, pulling him closer.

Her face startled Xiumin, eyes swirling red and gold but black marks covered all of her face and neck, even her arms and there was a menacing-looking claw, emerging from her fingers, buried in Leo’s chest. Leo’s face was deathly pale and he didn’t look like he was breathing.

There was a black patch, spread out from where the claw was buried, the tell-tale infection from the abyss slowly but surely spreading. Oh dear, indeed.

‘Rose…’ Xiumin called gently. She didn’t respond. He knelt beside her. ‘Hey…’

She blinked, eyes turning to him unseeingly. ‘You need to let go of Leo, so Lay can help him.’

‘Help him?’ She was completely out of it. ‘Must save him…’

‘Of course.’ He nodded encouragingly. ‘But we can’t do anything until you take that out.’

She shook her head with sudden vehemence. ‘He’ll bleed out.’

Xiumin sighed, wondering how to tell her that bleeding out was still a better option than infecting him. The flesh around the wound looked thoroughly decayed, skin sinking in at the lightest touch. Not to sound pessimistic but it appeared that there was little to be done.

…………………………………

A/N

Hey guys :) So, EXO came back with POWER, YAY!!! Okay, first things first. Give the MVs a view - or lots of views, if you will. Stream, please :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGRv8ZBLuW0 (Korean)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7WvJmMmrbw (Chinese)

And now let me just say that this is my favorite non-performance EXO MV (the perforamnce  one will forever be WOLF, fight me on this). Honestly, the story telling is so cute and funny and quirky. Cool guy Sehun shooting without looking, scared D.O, cool/hot warrior Kai, blind without his glasses Suho, blue haired red eyed Chanyeol, wannabe cool guy Xiumin and actually smart Chen, plus kitty loving hottie Baekhyun are my new aesthetics XD the MV is totally crazy and fun and well, I'm a er for comic-book like story telling :) So, if any of you get the album and find the comic pages, PLEASE tell me what happens. I wanna read it so bad but I'm broke af T_T Also, love the throwbacks and references hidden in the MV. All in all, the song is fun and the MV is funner and I'm just a er for anything EXO puts out. 

The other two songs are also amazinig. I LOVE the vocals in Sweet Lies, didn't know I needed that in my life. Boomerang makes me want to dance. 

As usual, missing my bae, Xingxing, in this comeback but I'll keep doing that until I see OT9 whole again *sniffs* But in the meantime, lets support our boys and cheer for Yixing when he comes back :) 

Alright, that got a little out of hand but I had to. 

Oh and as for the chapter, hope you guys enjoyed it. The fun's just beginning