“Wha—“ Henry wheezed.

                The man pulled back, away from the choking violinist; he stepped away heading back towards the throne, bored expression on his face. Henry gasped for air; he spluttered and coughed as he dropped to his knees, gripping his throat gingerly. He struggled to fill his empty lungs with air; DongHae coughed wetly. The man sat down in the throne and a pair of black vines crept downwards from the ceiling, capturing the youngest player; Henry squeaked as he was lifted off if the floor and dangled the young violinist in the air. The man chuckled lightly and lounged in the throne; his dark aura emanating off him as he flipped his jet black hair out of his face. His onyx eyes shone in the torch light as he stared the three down, a smirk pulling at his lips; the vines around DongHae ceased tightening, leaving  the man to groan in pain and cough up blood every few minutes.

“Hmm…you three…” The man mumbled pensively. “Henry, SungMin and DongHae…sound, warrior and…hmm, yours hasn’t stabilized yet. Pity.” He continued.

                DongHae coughed, his blood splattering onto the stone floor beneath him; he looked up at the man, glaring through his bangs.

“You said you were the –hah- devil…” DongHae mumbled in between pained gasps.

                The man raised a dark eyebrow, and focused his gaze on DongHae; the vines containing him brought him forward, presenting the brown haired player to the man on the throne.

“Speak Fish.” The man commanded.

“DongHae!” SungMin yelled.

“You said you were the Devil, so then…this really is hell?” DongHae asked.

                The man laughed at the trapped player’s question; this laugh seemed different from the others, less threatening but more ominous and amused. DongHae coughed, or more accurately, hacked his lungs up waiting for the man to answer; the middle child groaned in pain as he nearly retched from the force of the coughs.

“I’ll tell you what; I won’t kill you all…yet. You haven’t served your purpose.” The man said.

“…what…purpose?” DongHae asked in between coughing fits.

“To serve your time, you are here; you are ALL here for the choices you have made in your lives. As well as to entertain me as you struggle to survive.” The man answered.

“But—“

“Be quiet you impudent little fish.” The man growled.

                DongHae shut his mouth.

“Hmm…how bout I make things a little more interesting? I’ll grant you a wish fish, what do you want? To live? Infinite power?” The man asked the captive.

“DongHae! Don’t listen to him!” SungMin yelled.

“Quiet Bunny.” The man snapped.

                With a flick of his wrist a black band wrapped around SungMin’s mouth, muffling him; the Bunny continued to try and discourage his precious dongsaeng from making a deal with the “Devil”.  DongHae shook his head, coughing continuously; he didn’t want anything from the man, sure he wanted to live but he knew better, even with his often childlike attitude. The man on the throne sighed, and shook his head; the vines returned DongHae to Henry’s side, and the man stood up once more. He let out a frustrated groan and rolled his head backwards, lolling it around in a circle before turning to glared at the men before him.

“You, are not serving your purpose; I want blood, rivers of it. The blood of players painting my world red, chaos.” The man growled angrily.

                His audience remained dead silent, even the gagged SungMin ceased making noise and struggling against his bonds.

“Past players perished by their own hands, killing each other mercilessly as they fought to survive; you all band together and have tea parties!” He yelled in exasperation.

                His gaze had turned colder, he glared at the three across the room from him; they all shivered under the terrifying gaze.

“Your deaths have all been marked despite your insolence.” As the man spoke the chanting increased in volume, becoming more discernable.

                The voices chanted “Loki”, followed by a hymn of sorts; the flames around the grew with the sound of the man, Loki’s, voice.

“I will be watching, every turn until you bleed; I will laugh as you perish, killed brutally by each other or the creatures in this world. This batch of players has potential, and I plan on using that potential. There’s nothing you can do Leeteuk…” As Loki uttered the other man’s name the room began to warp and his voice faded out.

                Loki’s voice lost its clarity and the three players hit the three players hit the ground as the vines disappeared ; the room before them distorted into an inky abyss, Loki’s wicked smile the last thing they saw before being blinded by a flash of light. SungMin recovered first, worry for his tortured dongsaengs overpowering the pain he felt as he impacted the rocky ground. HE rushed over to his injured dongsaengs, only to be met by Henry. The youngest’s breathing was completely normal, no bruises marred his neck and DongHae had ceased coughing altogether. The middle child was poking his own ribs, he felt no pain at the action.

“DongHae? Doesn’t that hurt?” SungMin asked gently.

“No…” DongHae replied, poking the rib cage a little harder.

“Here, let me see.” The former nurse said.

                The eldest gently pressed his palm against the previously injured ribs; SungMin discovered that the Fish’s ribs were indeed fully healed, showing no signs of damage. SungMin stepped back astonished.

“Wha?” SungMin mumbled.

“Wait…what did the guy say about Leeteuk-gege?” Henry asked.

“I…I don’t know…I could hear most of it…that damn chanting…” DongHae replied.

                The two looked up at SungMin who shook his head.

“The chanting was too loud, and I was worried about you two.” He admitted.

                SungMin pulled both younger men to their feet and looked around; they were no longer in the cave, instead the group wound up in a canyon. The rock walls surrounding them were jagged and a deep orange color, extending out above them; the rocks barricaded them in. Henry touched his throat gently; although it wasn’t bruised it felt strangely tingly. DongHae rubbed absentmindedly at his abdomen; SungMin looked around some more, trying to find a way out of the canyon. After seeing no obvious exit and nothing but towering walls he swore.

“SungMin-hyung?” DongHae questioned as he heard the eldest swear.

“It’s nothing DongHae, we should just get moving. We don’t want to be in here for too long.” SungMin replied.

“DongHae-hyung, Minnie-hyung…do you hear that?” Henry asked.

“Hear what?” The hyung-line replied in unison.

                A loud rumble was heard from underneath them; the ground shook, throwing all of them off balance. DongHae grabbed on to the wall beside him, struggling to stay on his feet; Henry yelped and was the first to hit the ground, his normally good balance gone. Henry swore in English and Chinese as his body connected with the sharp gravel on the canyon floor; SungMin attempted to brace himself, planting his feet and latching on to the wall similarly to DongHae. The violent shaking slowed to a stop and the three looked around wide-eyed; DongHae let go of the rock wall and Henry carefully picked himself up off of the ground. He was bleeding lightly, but the small cuts and scratches healed almost immediately. SungMin sighed and ran a hand through his matted hair; sweat formed on his brow, dripping down his cheek.

“Was that what you heard Henry?” SungMin asked.

“No…” The youngest replied.

                A loud “caw” echoed over head, reverberating off of the canyon walls.

“That was.” Henry said, pointing upward.

                DongHae took a deep breath and another caw echoed out, this time nearer; the three exchanged glances before looking upward, the orange sky greeted them and a large, black, winged figured appeared in the sky. The winged beast rapidly approaching them; Henry gulped and the three’s eyes met once more. They then proceeded to break out into a full sprint, running blindly down the canyon. They quickly arrived at a fork in the road, unknowingly they split up; Henry and SungMin took a right while DongHae took the left. DongHae ran down the canyon, completely unaware of his surroundings. Thunder boomed over head, drowning out the “caw”-ing of the winged beast.  It began to rain heavily, the water pouring down on DongHae’s person as he ran. The ground became slippery as the pebbles became submerged in water. DongHae’s dark brown bangs hung heavily in his eyes, his clothes plastered to his skin as he ran; the young man slipped on the pebbles. He let out a startled yell as he hit the ground and slid a few feet down the canyon. DongHae groaned and slowly picked himself up, taking the opportunity to look around; he saw neither Henry no SungMin, his companions having taken the other path unbeknownst to DongHae.

“SungMin-hyung! Henry!” DongHae called out.

                The rain beat down on him; DongHae stood in the center of the path, surrounded by drenched rock. The man blinked a few times, trying to discern what was occurring around him. The sound of rushing water hit his ears, emanating from behind him. DongHae turned around and his eyes widened as a torrent of water rapidly approached him.

“Oh …” Was all he could say before he was engulfed.

                The water ran over him, the wave knocking him off his feet and throwing him backwards. DongHae found himself underwater, he struggled against the violent current to rise to the surface. He was tossed and thrown against rocks while he was underwater, every hit knocking the precious breath out of his lungs. His lungs burned with the lack of air as he choked on the water; he pushed upwards, launching himself off of a rock His head broke the surface and DongHae gulped in the air greedily as he was carried down the stream. DongHae looked around for something to pull him out of the flash flood; he spotted a branch hanging off the wall downstream, near a rather large and spiky rock. DongHae swam towards it and lunged for the rickety looking branch; he grabbed on to the branch and tried to pull himself up. The branch began to crack under his weight, bending and snapping; the branch broke in half and DongHae found himself plummeting backwards towards the spiked rock underneath him. DongHae yelled as he prepared himself for the pain of his head bursting open on the rocks below. One breath, two breaths, three, and it never came; DongHae looked up and saw a pair of hands holding on to his left wrist. He couldn’t see anything through the thick, drenched brown bands that hung in his eyes as the rain poured down around him.

“Hold on!” A voice yelled out above him.

                DongHae brought his right hand up to grab on to his savior’s arms. The man pulled him up (with some difficulty) and DongHae scrambled up the wall onto the ledge with the other man. They fell backwards, both panting and thoroughly drenched. DongHae ran a hand through his map of wet hair and smiled at the other.

“Thanks man.” DongHae panted.

“No problem.” The other replied with a small smile. 

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Alrighty! So that's chapter 9 guys! So....sorry bout it being short, yet again......I know you have questions...but I want to see if you guys can figure it out. If you are indeed throughly confused I am a) doing my job lol and b) you cna PM me if you want some sort of clarification (I won't give stuff away though and I'll prolly make you think just ask Triple C.) But yeah...new character. GUESS WHO?!?!?!??!?!!??!?!??!?! Yeah...I totally did NOT describe him at all buuuutttt guess regardless. I wanna see how many of you can get it right lol. And yes, Loki is pretty much a and a totally evil bastard. Ummm.....more about him shall be revealed later on...also sorry fo rhte lack of action in this chapter, more violence and fighting shall be in the next chapter....but the SuJu babies are safe...ish.....for now..... >.< Love your faces! Ummm....i dunno when you should expect the next update but look forward to it! Haha jk jk. I love all my Subbies and everyone who has commented, even YOU silent readers. I know you're there, and I appreciate you despite your not offering comments, but I appreciate you guys checking out my story. Love you all, 

~Key