Heechul sat, slumped on the floor running his hands through his hair. He made it clear how stressed and frustrated he was because he took no notice of the tall boy with curly hair, pacing around the room, waiting for him to talk. Instead, he just sat there with a frown sewn to his face. Obviously, Heechul striking conversation was never going to happen; in a situation like this? You couldn’t blame him. His cheeks puffed up as he filled them with air and blew outwards forcefully, letting his head drop in total boredom. Minho sat on the moved table and crossed his arms. There was one thing the younger man was pondering over the moment he saw Heechul but only just getting here, he hadn’t bothered to ask until now.

“Hyung, how did you get here?” he turned his head to the limp mess on the floor beside him who looked up and sluggishly rose his shoulders, letting them fall back down before he flicked his hair out of his face.

“Probably the same way you did…” Well that was helpful, Minho thought before coming to realise that maybe being a little more elaborated with his question would get them somewhere. Not everyone could read his mind like the SHINee hyungs and Taemin.

“What happened, were you kidnapped?” he asked. That’s when Heechul’s head jolted up and he scrambled to his feet, eyes wide that were very bloodshot.

“Yes! I was kidnapped by a group of ‘darkly dressed figures’… did you get kidnapped too?!”

“Yeah… Just after a performance a couple days ago by a group of ‘darkly dressed figures’… how many?”

“I think I had five men take me away...”

“Same…” the younger nodded and looked to the window that showed nothing but their dishevelled reflections, staring back tiredly.

“Yah, take note… we were probably taken by the same s!” Heechul spat and sat next to Minho who looked like he was about to fall asleep any moment now.

Minho’s POV

Do they know I’m gone? Do they know that the Minho sitting at the dining table with them isn’t me? Does it speak like me, dance like me? Is there any difference that would strike a question as to what it was and where I was? I shut my eyes for a minute, thinking about everyone not even noticing that I was gone, that maybe they would grow to like this new Minho more… maybe if I did comeback, they would choose to keep it instead of me…

“Minho, don’t fall asleep” Heechul nudged me. I sighed placing a hand to the side of my face, massaging my temple with one of my fingers.

“I’m not sleeping… I was thinking about things…”

“Oh… okay…” another minute’s silence between us before he bothered to say anything again. “So…you think it’s just us?” he asked getting up and walking towards the one-way glass, tapping on it, peering into it closely.

“Who knows…? I hope it’s just two of us but at the same time… I don’t want to be the only one replaced…”

“Replaced?” he turned back tilting his head.

“Mmm… why else would there be another you on TV when we’re right here?”

“Right… yah!” Heechul yelled again at the glass, “There’s more of us aren’t there?! Show us!” then he quietened down. “I should be the oldest right? Unless anyone from After School or Leeteuk’s in here too…”

The dull dark atmosphere lightened up a little when the door opened and Donghae walked in.

“Donghae!” Heechul exclaimed leaping into his arms. “How long…”

“I got here an hour ago…” they parted and Heechul looked down at his clothes. He was dressed casual.

“So you weren’t at the concert either?” he asked, the response a simple shake of the head before his head turned towards me.

“Hyung…” I let out a small smile as he came over and sat beside me.

“Yah… did you know that guy wasn’t me?!” Heechul walked up to him arms crossed, his eyes ready for an argument that would be futile.

“No… that’s the scary thing, it looked exactly the same and spoke the same way, snarkyness and all…”

That earnt him a slap in the arm as Heechul scowled and walked to the back of the room.

“Hyung…” I called over to him. “Now’s not the time for sulking-”

“Wah! There are more! Luna look…” we all snapped our heads back to the door as two females walked in.

“Dara noona! Luna!” Donghae blinked and got up to hug the shortest and most petite one.

“How long have you two been here?” he guided Luna to sit next to me as the happiness faded and gloom, boredom, frustration and any other negative feeling filled the room. We could only smile at each other weakly and mutter our “heys” and “what’s ups”.

“We’ve both been here about a week…” Dara said leaning on Donghae’s arm like it was a wall.

“At least we know it’s not just people from SM…” Luna mumbled as Heechul came back to join the circle. If it was one thing Heechul hated, it was being left out of something.

“But let’s get one thing straight” I said standing. “We were all kidnapped right?” they nodded dumbly.

“Were any of you taken someplace dark and there was a red flashing light?” Donghae asked.

“Yeah,” Luna started, “I was tied up and told they were gonna kill me-”

“Me too…” Heechul joined the conversation, “then they injected something weird that made everything go black… I woke up outside-”

“You missed something…” Dara interrupted and pulled the sleeve of her long sleeve shirt up to reveal a bruise in the bend of her arm. “They took blood… and…” she showed the back of her elbow a scab, “…skin… I think those things are clones, you know like in those weird Sci-fi movies.”

“But how could there be clones so fast? That doesn’t prove anythin-” Donghae was silenced.

“How long do you think you were asleep for?” Luna asked stepping forward, “I checked my digital watch… I was out for two days… then when I came home? The police were at my door talking to another me… I saw mine…it sp-” her lip trembled but her eyes showed no sign of sadness or fear.

“-speaks and looks exactly the same…” Donghae finished, leaving the room so silent that the hanging lamp could still be heard lightly tapping the table leg. I cleared my throat and put a hand on the older man’s stiffened shoulders that seemed to loosen with my touch and he stumbled back leaning on me.

“I’m supposed to be working on my new single with Eunhyuk… he doesn’t even know he’s not me…” he laughed before falling back onto the table in a daze, half sitting/ half standing… if we were to go crazy in here, I think  Donghae would be the first…

“So… what now?” Dara asked folding her arms and shrugging her shoulders.

“I still don’t think this is all of us…” Heechul darkly mumbled. It’s true; this can’t be all of us. There are only a few groups here, why only clone us? There’s bound to be others… but what’s it for?

Another knock at the door and it slowly creaked open, a blonde walking in…

“Taemin-ah!” his head shot up and he ran to me teary eyed.

“Hyung!” he shook as I  lifted his head.

“Taemin…you’re supposed to be in Barcelona!” I said looking at his swollen cheeks and pink puffy eyes, still wet.

“They took me from the airport… right before takeoff, there was nothing anyone could do… hyung what’s going on?” everyone in the room sighed and Heechul scoffed.

“No one knows…” he said for the second time.

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