Rose hadn’t felt so relaxed in a long time. While her initial instinct was to stay away from everyone – which had been initially reflected in the group of Legends – as the evening progressed, they became more and more comfortable with her, until Baekhyun and Chen managed to pull her into the center.

Everyone fell silent at that, the loud thumping bass in the background the only noise. There was awkward silence as she tried to make herself smaller, not at all comfortable. Then one of the girls – Tae? – suddenly yelled, ‘Girl power!’ and rushed in to join her. And with that, the tension broke, the party resuming its pace.

It was fun but it was also exhausting. She was in no state to let herself loose but it was still nice to know that they were being so chill about the whole thing. Like they were confident they could handle whatever Evil tried to throw at them, even with her, a certified minion, amidst them.

It was also liberating to know that she didn’t have to pretend, like she had to with her family, or wonder if she’d end up doing something to reveal the monster inside her. They already knew what she was. And if she did lose control, she was in the right place for once, with people capable of handling her in that situation.

It was a burden off her shoulders and she actually felt positive, for the first time in a long while. Everyone was quite exhausted when they headed back inside, late into the evening. Leo and Lily tried to convince her again to sleep with them but she stayed firm. Safe place or not, she wasn’t risking another person being in her vicinity until Star was either outside of her or they’d both… well.

It was an idea that had occurred to her before, about ending herself. But initially, it had been because she’d been sure she’d lost her mind and it had made her desperate and scared. Especially after she’d started hearing Star and woken up bloody after her blackouts.

Now… well, now she felt like it would make even more sense if she just ended everything. Evil would lose whatever edge he had because of Star and she wouldn’t be a danger to anyone around her.

But… Lily would cry. So would Leo. And they’d blame themselves for it, for not realizing it sooner. Plus Xiumin would be sad about Star… and Lay, who’d done so much for saving her brother… and even herself. And Chen, with his kind smile…

The jury was still out on this but for now, she was content to be where she was. Maybe the Legends would find a way to put both Rose and Star out of their miseries.

It was with these thoughts that she finally drifted off, the darkness of the room following her into her dreams.

It was a while before she realized that the darkness was so thick that she couldn’t see anything, even with her eyes wide open.

She blinked… or tried to but her eyes didn’t move as she wished. She felt like she was an onlooker in her own body, staring into the darkness because of whoever it was that wanted her to see.

Star… she tried. She could sense her, sense that Star was the one controlling her body right now but she couldn’t understand where she was. It wasn’t like anything she’d seen before.

Staring straight ahead, she realized that what she’d taken to be darkness was actually something else… something shapeless, dark like liquid smoke. Evil.

Why was Star looking at him? Or was she? Her eyes were wide open, and Rose could feel tears dripping down her cheeks, small whimpers escaping . ‘Chen…’ Star whispered, broken.

Chen? Rose tried to look around but of course her eyes stayed fixed. What’re you talking about?

As if to answer her question, she was suddenly pulled to the forefront and Rose blinked, momentarily disoriented before her eyes landed on the figure bound in front of her.

It was… a man, spread-eagled, arms and legs bound against something and blood dripping down his body. His head was hanging limply, unconscious, but Evil casually extended an arm-like tendril, and sparks of electricity shot from it, making the body tremble like a leaf, hissing sounds and the smell of burning flesh suddenly overwhelming. She felt nausea rise in at the sight, the smell, but before she could say anything, she was pushed back.

What the hell is going on? she demanded. Star didn’t respond, whimpering again as Evil repeated the process over and over until the body in front of her was burnt to a crisp. Evil laughed, the sound causing chills to run down her spine, and let the body fall to the ground. Star screamed in denial, fear clouding her, trying to run towards him but she couldn’t move a limb.

The body vanished before her eyes and Star let out a sob of relief, stopping her struggle.

Rose wanted to throw up. What the hell was going on? What the hell was Evil doing? Why was he doing this to her?

Star’s relief was short-lived as a rounded portal opened up. Rose’s eyes widened at the sight because it was showing the inside of the mansion they were currently in. It focused on the living room, like a camera, zooming in until they could see at the people sleeping on the couch.

Xiumin and… Rose’s blood ran cold as a smoky tendril caressed over Lily’s sleeping face, then moved on to wrap around Xiumin’s neck. Her own heart jumped to and she opened to say something, anything but her voice locked in , unable to make a sound.

Please, stay quiet.

She’d never heart Star sound so coherent and grown-up, so grave, before. She had no choice but to watch with bated breath as the dull red eyes turned to her, chilling her to the core.

‘Bring them to me.’

The sound was disgusting, something unworldly, with a strange consistency, seemingly sticking to her skin. It wasn’t like anything she’d ever heard, nor something she’d ever want to hear again.

She shuddered but Star kept her eyes wide open, and her tongue mute.

‘Or you know what happens.’

She felt herself nod, flinching internally as the smoky tendril tickled over her skin, disgustingly thick and strangely tactile. It came up to hold her jaw in an imitation of a fond manner, titling her chin up so she could stare directly into the dead red eyes.

She could sense Star’s fear – which she was hiding admirably, though she was literally trembling. There were flashes of memories, the last time Evil had… devoured…

Rose shuddered and deliberately tore her attention away from Evil.

She still couldn’t move her eyes or any part of the body, held frozen under Star’s iron hold, forced to relive the entire memory in her head. The pinpricks of pain, the sheer fear and horror of being devoured by a monster, seeing her brother disappear as he ran towards her, falling down on his broken leg.

Star! The last sound she heard before she was into impenetrable darkness.

There was no pain… at least initially but then, she started glowing. The strangeness of that hadn’t registered entirely before she felt immense pain tear through her, as if a part of her limbs was literally torn away and she screamed, though she had no lips, nor a voice to scream with. And she looked, though she had no eyes, to find strange monstrous creatures with claws and fangs attacking her, latching onto her bright light-like body. More pain followed.

It was a nightmare, it had to be. Surely, something like this couldn’t be real? Where was Choomin? Why wasn’t he coming to save her? Why wasn’t her mother waking her up? She usually did when she had bad dreams.

But the nightmare didn’t stop and as more pain tore through her, she understood that this time, she would have to wake up on her own. Choomin always told her that she had to be brave and fight back; that would make sure the nightmares never come back.

So, instead of giving in to the pain, she tried to move… and found to her immense relief that the gold of her body, the torn parts, rearranged themselves into a whole once again, like water coming back into shape, and the pain vanished with it.

Choomin had also taught her that if she wanted to fight something bigger than herself, she needed to be quick and smart. She did what she’d done when playing with Choomin, and started copying the way the creature was circling around her.

It snarled at her and she snarled right back, a little impressed by herself when her golden light morphed into golden fangs, as sharp as the ones the creature was threatening her with. Then it lunged to attack and Star did the same, latching her teeth into the creature’s neck.

There was burst of… something and then, a sudden energy flooded into her with a rush. Her head felt woozy when she finally let go and her tummy – the one she couldn’t see – felt like it did after she ate too much dessert. Full and contented, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The rest of her days were a repetitive cycle of the attacking and escaping. If she wasn’t running, she was hunting because that’s just how things were in the Bad Place. The Bad Person, thank goodness, had gone away and she could fight these monsters. Choomin had promised he would come back, so all she had to do was hide and wait.

Over time, her golden body turned darker, torn pieces of gold mended with black to be held together. And she honestly had no idea how much time had passed. It felt like one really long day and then, Chen came in.

She’d initially thought he was Choomin but he wasn’t. He was pretty, though. She’d wanted to eat him the moment she’d seen him, because he’d been glowing so prettily, so shiny.

But then, she’d remembered how the creatures attacked pretty things, so she’d gone to save him and they’d been together ever since. He was hers and he’d told her, she was his. He’d also promised to take her to Choomin and he had, but then, the Bad Person had found her again. And he’d threatened to kill Chen.

She… she wasn’t afraid of the Bad Place anymore but she knew the Bad Person could, would hurt Chen and Choomin if she didn’t do what he asked.

So, she’d done everything she’d been told to do. She’d gone to the big place with lots of people and thrown the pot on Chen’s friend, thrown the shelf down. She’d even attacked the animals, so she could take them to the Bad Person, so he could eat them.

But he was still hurting Chen and she… she needed to save him. If something happened to Chen… she would die, she just knew she would. And she didn’t want to.

She’d finally made new friends, met Choomin – who still loved her – and she didn’t want to hurt anyone. She didn’t want to hurt Lelo or Lose or their pretty sister… but if she didn’t, Chen would die.

Star hadn’t cried in a long, long time but at the thought, she felt tears prick her eyes and Rose’s eyes opened into the dim light of her room, tears streaking down her face, heart aching with fear and pain.

She sat up, breathing heavily, the thoughts quickly slipping through her head.

She got off the bed, hurrying towards the door, intent on looking for Xiumin or Leo or anyone. Her thoughts were quickly being lost but she wanted to make sure she conveyed whatever she’d seen to Suho… or maybe, Lay; the doctor had seemed really nice, he could help.

Before she could open the door, though, it swung open and she stilled, a wave of relief crashing through her.

Chen’s sharp jawline was prominent in the shadows as he stared at her, eyes wide and fearful. He took a deep breath upon meeting her gaze, stepping closer, intimately so. Strangely, his presence felt comforting.

Rose was sure it was because of whatever dream she had but she couldn’t move, not when Star was all attention inside her. She had the weirdest urge to rush into his arms.

‘Are-’ he began, breaking off immediately, voice laden with emotion. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked again, hand coming up and hovering right beside her face, as if he wanted to hold it. Rose wanted him to as well.

He didn’t, letting his fingers curl into his fist. She nodded slowly, switching between his eyes. He stared at her for a few more moments before stepping back and something seemed to come over his face, like a shutter falling.

‘Sorry,’ he spoke and the tone of his voice was completely different, distant. ‘I just thought I heard something so I thought I’d check.’

Rose heart broke a little at that, stupid as it was. But her feelings had always been subject to Star’s and what she felt for Chen was too intense to be ignored. She shook her head, muttering ‘thanks’ under her breath. He nodded at her, stepping out.

The door closed behind him and Rose retraced her steps to the bed, slumping. The dream was completely forgotten.

………………………………………………

Chen stared at the door in front of him, wanting to barge back in and pull her into a hug, hold her to make sure she was alright. But it wasn’t Star who’d looked back at him when he’d stared into her eyes, so he settled with a verbal assurance.

He’d had nightmares before. And flashbacks. Hardly a day went by that he didn’t relive some of the more interesting memories of his stay in the Abyss. But he was usually able to differentiate between nightmares and reality; overtime, he’d even managed to train himself to detach from the memories.

Tonight, however, was different. It had felt like he’d actually transported back to that horrid, horrid place, arms and legs bound, unable to make a single movement on his own. And the pain…

Electricity as a rule didn’t hurt him because he channeled lightening through himself. But given large enough voltage, even he would short-circuit and this is exactly what it’d felt like when Evil had started shorting him. He could smell his flesh slowly burn and it made him want to throw up but he’d been more worried about Star, who was being forced to watch all of this.

She’d been crying and the sight of her tears somehow hurt more than the torture – perhaps because Evil’s torture was an old deal? But Star screaming in denial had been the last sight before he’d woken up, sweating profusely and heart thundering.

Naturally, the first thing he’d done was rush out to make sure Star was okay. If Evil had done anything to her…

He’d been ready to barge in but the door opened before he could even touch the knob and relief crashed through him at the sight of Star. He sighed, stepping closer. The beast in him demanded that he pull her in, touch her, hold her to make sure she was alright … his fingers hovered around her face, curling with the need to touch as he asked if she was okay.

When her eyes met his, brown and searching, he realized it wasn’t Star he was looking at. It was disconcerting and he was angry because he wanted it to be Star so badly. He gave a stiff response and backed out. Star was his but Rose was another person entirely. Instead of going back to his room, he decided to do a perimeter check, to allow himself time to settle down.

It wasn’t until he rubbed his neck and it stung that he realized what he’d dreamed hadn’t been just that. With a groan, he headed to the toilet, turning on the lights so he could check his body.

Sometimes, it was nightmares. Other times, Evil somehow touched him through his dreams, leaving actual marks on his body. It also left him weakened because he suspected Evil also possessed his body in that state.

He was right. There were burns around his wrists and ankles; and when he tilted his head back, he could see red welts around his neck. When he opened his shirt, his entire torso was blackened, though not severely enough to be anything more than bothersome. His bones felt brittle inside his frame, and his skin felt papery. Evil’s touch always left its mark.

He took a deep, shaky breath and leaned against the sink. The way things was going, it’d be difficult to keep his health up long enough to accomplish what he wanted. Maybe it was time he took the healer up on his offer. It’d hurt, sure, but it couldn’t be worse than Evil.

He’d barely stepped out when the healer found him. Lay gave him a bright smile, hands already glowing and Chen braced himself, eyes closing the moment his hands touched. He felt himself doubling over as pain shot through him; it felt like his bones were being broken and rearranged again, and he could feel his skin pull taut over the burnt areas, feel the wounds heal.

When Lay stepped back, Chen dropped to his knees, unable to hold himself up. He also kept his eyes closed, knowing the marks of Abyss were visible all over his skin and would drip down his eyes, black, tainted, if he opened them. Sweat beaded his forehead and he felt gentle hands caress his hair as Lay pulled him up and held him so he could stand.

When he finally managed to open his eyes, it was to find Lay, looking exhausted – as if he’d taken all of his pain inside himself… he probably had – with eyes bleeding red.

‘How long have you been going on like this?’ he asked, voice croaky.

Chen shrugged. Or tried to. His body didn’t want to move. ‘Since I woke up.’

Lay didn’t say anything but the reprimand was written clearly on his face. Chen looked away. ‘I know what I’m doing.’

There was momentary silence, then Lay spoke up. ‘I trust you… but I don’t trust him to not hurt you.’

Chen stared ahead. ‘He needs me. And you’re a fool for trusting me.’

‘You’re a fool for thinking I won’t,’ Lay retorted smartly, leaning forward to open a door. Chen realized they’d reached his room. ‘Go to sleep now, you need it.’

Chen didn’t argue; he could feel his body shutting down. ‘K.’

‘Good night.’ Chen felt himself being tucked in and the he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

…………………………………………………

A/N

Hello everyone :3 So... this chapter is rather close to my heart - you can't understand how much it hurt me to put my biases through so much :'( but I hope this helps us understand both Chen and Star a little more. And perhaps, even Rose... 

So, do leave your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you. And I'd apologize for the delay because I'd wanted to update when Lay released his collab (Lovebird) with Far East Movement or when Chen's upcoming solo was announced (CONGRATULATIONS BB) but I missed both. So here we have it, right before the end of Xiumin's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY!!!). 

I'll see you guys later <3