***

“You’re right, hyung. Let’s go, hurry,” Tao pulled Suho along with him as they both ran to what seemed to be the final room of this haunted house nightmare. In a way, Tao was happy that he finally made it all the way to the library, with Suho by his side, but there was an inherent sense of foreboding about this place.

Unlike anything he had seen so far, the library seemed like the most habitable place in the entire mansion. The endless shelves of books actually looked like they were well-kept, the room was clean and devoid of dust or cobwebs. The floors didn’t creak here and neither did the doors lock themselves after they had entered. Now and then, Tao caught a glimpse of books stacking themselves in the shelves by an invisible hand, but other than that, the library looked relatively normal. And that was the exact thing that freaked him out.

“Do you see anything, hyung?” Tao asked as he was searching for Jae.

“No, but there’s light further over there,” Suho spoke, pointing at the warm glow of a fireplace. Still cautious, Tao and Suho shuffled forward, both of them only halting in their tracks when a peculiar painting caught their attention.

“Hyung,” Tao called out to Suho as he pointed at the painting. “That can’t be… can it?” he asked as Suho stepped closer to a painting of a tormented young man looking like he was desperately trying to escape the painting, being pulled back by a shadow creature with red glowing eyes.

“Chen?” Suho muttered, touching the painting briefly and feeling a static shock.

“Oh no,” Tao murmured ruefully. “Chen-hyung.”

“We have to find Jae and confront that doctor character. If that gypsy spoke the truth then it would make sense that all of this will be set right again the moment we defeat that guy,” Suho said as Tao nodded.

“Hold on, Chen-hyung, we’ll get you out,” Tao told the painting as they walked towards the fireplace. Oddly enough, there wasn’t anything around that stopped them or tried to hurt them all the time they were there. Both of them were weary and vigilant, looking for Jae while making sure the doctor wouldn’t get the drop on them either.

Tao swallowed as the neared the fireplace, and saw someone sitting in one of the chairs in front of it. “Suho,” he called out to his brother, slowly approaching the figure.

“Careful, Tao,” Suho warned, while keeping an eye out for him.

Tao carefully touched the person’s arm that was tied to the chair and as he faced the person he was staring at a dazed Jae.

“Noona!” Tao yelled a little too loud than was good for them, but he was so happy, he didn’t care. “Noona, is it really you? I found you!” he said, kneeling down in front of her to examine her for any wounds.

“Tao?” her voice was hoarse, but she looked happy to see him.

“It’s me, noona, don’t worry, you’re safe now,” Tao spoke gently, looking at Suho. “Su-hyung, it’s noona!”

Suho quickly ran over to check on her as Tao started to untie her.

“Tao, Suho,” Jae repeated, the happiness on her face fading, replaced by fear as if she had just realized something. “No, wait, you have to get out of here!” she suddenly pushed them away, looking wildly around.

“You can’t be here, you have to go!” she urged, the brothers looking at her confusingly.

“Noona, what are you talking about? Have you any idea what we all went through, just to find you? I mean, look at me! I went into a haunted house for you!” Tao argued, though he could tell that the fear in her eyes were real.

“And I love you all for that, Taozi, I really do, but it’s because I care that you guys need to leave, now! The maniac that put me here can come back any second, you have to leave!”

“Maniac? You mean the doctor? But, noona, that’s the exact reason why we came to get you,” Tao explained, getting rid of her bonds and helping her up. “Now that we’ve found you, you don’t actually believe that we’re going to just leave you here, do you? We’re getting out of here together. Come on,” Tao urged as Suho nodded fervently, both of them supporting her as they headed towards the door.

“He’s dangerous, guys,” Jae spoke, “he’s insane. He believes that he can cure himself from death by converting magic into life force, but he needs the right type of magic for it to work. For some reason he thought I was the one that could provide that magic,” she quickly explained. “You’d think the dead would just lay down and rest, but nope, not unless you’re a mad scientist,” she rambled and Tao was afraid to even ask her what had happened. The most important part was that she was uninjured and that they were close in getting out of there.

“Hyung, help keep the door open, I got Jae-noona,” Tao stated as Suho nodded and ran towards the door, only for it to shut right in front of his nose.

The temperature in the room dropped then, the fire in the fireplace flickering wildly as the mansion rumbled on its foundation once more.

“Oh no. He’s here,” Jae whispered as they were knocked back by an invisible force and Tao watched as Jae was suddenly dragged over the floor by an invisible entity.

“Ah! Let me go, you psycho, let me go!” Jae screamed as Tao noticed a hand wrapped around her leg, the invisible entity slowly becoming more visible.
Tao gasped. “Noona! Hold on, I’m coming!” Tao shouted, getting to his feet and running after her, the ghost who was holding her stopping abruptly to turn around. Tao had never seen eyes so evil before. They pierced into his soul, evoked dark emotions and gruesome thoughts in his mind.

“Tao, don’t look at him!” Suho warned, shaking him awake as the doctor continued dragging Jae over the floor and slamming her down on the chair where Tao had found her.

“So, these are the candidates that have made it this far into our trial, are they?” the voice of the doctor was deep and intimidating, his appearance ragged and distorted as if he was stuck in between worlds, which was the case, of course. It looked like the form he was in was barely able to contain him, some parts of his skin sagging and melting, exposing raw flesh and bone, as though he were solid.

“I am surprised that your friends found you, Miss Jae,” the doctor mocked, working on something on the desk. “Here they are and here you are and here I am, still undefeated,” he rambled as Tao looked at Suho to think of a plan.

“What will stop me to add them to my collection for my experiment, hm?” he laughed as Jae watched him, glancing at Tao and Suho, urging them to escape, but both remained.

“One is the manipulator of water,” the doctor spoke, and right at that time Suho started choking.

“Hyung! Hey, leave him alone!” Tao shouted as Jae struggled in her seat as well.

“The other, a manipulator of time, highly fascinating,” the doctor continued mercilessly as Tao felt the air being knocked out of his lungs.

“Stop it!” Jae shouted, “you leave them alone!”

“And you,” the doctor spoke as he approached Jae with a terrifying needle, “you somehow have the ability to manipulate all of that delicious magic.”

Tao and Suho were released at that moment, gasping for air. Suho moved whatever kind of liquid was on the desk and shot it straight towards the doctor. However, being both in a state of dead and undead, Suho’s attack moved right through the doctor, without so much as tickling him.

“You should be honored,” he spoke to Jae before turning to Tao and Suho. “You get to watch the results of my years of studies and experimentations,” the doctor cackled, “and to think that all I needed was the beating heart of a beautiful magical creature like you, Miss Jae.”

Her heart?

Tao had a look of panic on his face as he looked at Suho, who was just as perplexed at hearing the news, and gasped when the doctor held up a butcher knife.

“Tao, you have to get Jae out of here, escape,” Suho suddenly spoke as Tao blinked at his hyung in bewilderment.

“Hyung, what are you talking about?” Tao asked, an uneasy feeling coming over him.

“I’ll distract that ghost and you use that moment to take Jae with you and out of this house,” Suho explained, but Tao fervently shook his head.

“No, there has to be another way which doesn’t involve you sacrificing yourself, hyung!” Tao urged, quickly trying to think about another plan.

“There is no other way, Tao. We have to be fast about this. Halloween is almost over and if that doctor succeeds, there’s no knowing what else he will do,” Suho explained calmly. “Just follow my lead, okay?”

“But, hyung,” Tao interjected.

“That’s an order, Zitao,” Suho said strictly as Tao could do nothing else but do as Suho said with heavy heart.

The doctor was so enthralled by his experimentations that it seemed like he had momentarily forgotten that Tao and Suho were even there. He was sharpening his knife, mumbling calculations and formulas as he went along.

“Come midnight, I shall be reborn into this world and gain the respect and fame that is owed to me. Eternal life shall be mine, I shall be the doctor who cures the dead, yes, all will be well,” he Jae’s face as the girl struggled to get away from the psychopath, when Suho randomly started slamming bottles onto the floor.

“Hey, crazy doctor,” he yelled, voice trembling slightly, “what are in these things?” he asked before smashing them on the floor. “Oops. I hope that wasn’t important,” he mocked, breaking more of the doctor’s instruments and throwing notes in the fire.

The doctor roared and immediately stormed towards Suho as he started running. “Tao, now!” he yelled while Tao quickly ran towards Jae, releasing her and pulling him along with him.

“Come with me, noona, let’s get you to safety first.”

“Wait, but, Suho!”

“He’ll be okay, noona, hurry,” Tao spoke, hoping that it was true as he gave the door a good kick to open it and they rushed out of the library. Tao knew the way he took to get out, holding Jae’s hand tightly when they heard the doctor screaming bloody murder throughout the house. The windows shattered then, the walls shaking and cracking, as if the doctor was doing all he could to prevent Jae from escaping the house.

“Come on, noona, just a little further!” Tao put his arm around Jae when they entered the mirror maze, each of the mirrors shattering as they walked by, making it easier for him navigate this time.

All that mattered was for them to keep moving as the house was slowly starting to break down on itself. By the time they were finally outside again, Tao and Jae watched as the haunted mansion slowly disappeared in front of their very eyes.

“Is that it?” Tao asked, still panting, staring at the place where the haunted house had stood mere moments ago. “We did it?”

Jae was still shaken when she hugged him tightly, but both of them were still too confused and shocked to be happy.

“If this is it, then where are the others?” Jae suddenly spoke, looking around, hoping for a sign of the other boys.

“I don’t understand,” Tao said, searching for his brothers, too. “We got you out, we defeated the doctor, so that should have reversed everything back to normal, shouldn’t it, noona?” he asked helplessly as Jae looked just as lost as well.

“Oh no… no…” she ran towards the grounds where the mansion once stood, not a trace of it left.

“Noona…what’s going on?” Tao asked breathlessly.

“The doctor. Don’t you see, Tao? He spent his life and death searching for magic for his insane experiments and I know that he wanted me, but now he has more people in his house that can do magic as well,” Jae spoke, her hand in her hair.

“What are you saying, noona?” Tao grabbed her shoulders.

“They’re trapped there, Tao,” Jae shook her head, desperate tears starting to form in her eyes. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have gone in that house,” she sank to the ground as Tao couldn’t believe what he was hearing, didn’t want to believe that this was truly the case. He had gotten Jae out of the house. They won. The doctor didn’t get what he wanted, so why were his brothers punished? He couldn’t just accept that.

“Don’t worry, noona,” Tao then said with certain determination. “We’ll find a way to find the others. I promise.”

“How, Taozi?” Jae asked as he put an arm around her.

“I’ll think of a way, don’t worry. I found you, I’ll find the others too,” he swore.

=== NEUTRAL END: BITTERSWEET ===

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