June 4th, 2018

Gwangju, South Korea

9:12 AM

Yoochun wakes up to a nightmare.

The car isn’t moving. But he can tell it’s still running from how the engine rumbles quietly, keys clinking against one another as they dangle from the ignition, while the air conditioner (set to low) blows a chilling breeze that makes goosebumps rise along his arms. Slowly, he shakes himself from his grogginess, noting that he no longer feels Changmin’s knee bumping against his or Junsu’s head lolling onto his shoulder. And, after looking around with an almost painful yawn, he realizes they’re no longer next to him. In fact, they aren’t in the car at all. Blinking owlishly, Yoochun sits up and notices the front seats are similarly unoccupied.

Junsu, Yunho, Changmin and Jaejoong.

They’re all gone.

What the...? Yoochun gradually becomes more alert. He looks out of the window and finds he doesn’t even know where he is. All he sees are a few signless buildings, a couple of cars here and there, an old gas station that looks just as abandoned as Yoochun may or may not feel, but nothing else. Nothing that can possibly tell him where he’s been left.

It’s strange. In a car that was once filled to the brim with a horde of crazy monsters (plus one poor innocent human, uwu), the only thing remaining that assures Yoochun the past few hours haven’t been some bizarre fever dream is the sight of Yunho’s hideous bowtie tossed over the headrest of the driver’s seat. But, much to Yoochun’s growing apprehension, there’s nothing else.

There’s no Jaejoong, nagging about this and that; no Changmin, nagging about Jaejoong’s nagging; no Yunho trying to settle their nagging with his own reproachful nagging; and, most frighteningly, no sweet and innocent Junsu who’s too sweet and innocent to ever nag about anything worth nagging about.

They aren’t here, vanished without a word, and Yoochun doesn’t like it. Making a face, he glares at nothing and finds himself feeling a lil’ hurt.

“Did those s just leave me here?”

Yoochun doesn’t want to admit it, but it’s sort of unsettling (and maybe even upsetting) to be alone like this. He hasn’t truly been by himself in weeks, always trapped in the presence of at least one of his kidnappers. So for him to be left deserted in some unknown corner of Korea he doesn’t recognize is a bit jarring and most certainly unwelcome. Not that he wants those troublesome idiots around or anything (of course he doesn’t. He hates them – yes, totally, uh-huh) but to suddenly not be with them is…a bit ish.

But only a teeny-weeny bit, he swears.

Or perhaps a smidgen more than a teeny-weeny bit, because it’s remarkable how easy it is for Yoochun to imagine the four of them somehow forgetting his existence and going off on some adventure without him. It would be totally on-brand for them to make a Kevin McCallister out of him, wouldn’t it? Or, even worse, notice he’s asleep, shrug their shoulders, and purposely saunter on their merry ways without bothering to wake him up because him, right? They weren’t even kind enough to leave a note! Yoochun is almost offended by their audacity. No, scratch that, he’s definitely offended! Because here he is, thinking that maybe the past evening – hell, even the past few months – had changed something about their relationship and made them see him as less of a nuisance or prisoner or merely the human and more of a...

“Damned idiot.”

Yoochun’s head snaps up. Changmin! He’d recognize that perpetually frustrated and angsty voice anywhere.

Jerking his body around, Yoochun tries to find the source of the muffled curse. And there, beyond the wide rear window, he finally spots Changmin and Junsu standing outside, facing away from him as they lean against the back of the car. At the sight of them, Yoochun’s body melts in relief. Not because he now knows they hadn’t really left him like he feared or anything – as if he would care about that, pssssh – but because now he has someone to yell at for not bringing him straight home so he can sleep off this mild hangover in an actual bed. Yes, that was definitely why. Don’t question him.

Clambering over to the last row of seats, Yoochun struggles to maneuver around Junsu’s piles of luggage. He swears, when he accidentally knees one to the side, it growls back at him. But he ignores it, instead moving to press himself against the rear window to knock loudly against the glass and get the pair’s attention. And maybe badger them about why they thought it appropriate to make an unplanned pitstop without considering his feelings first because he and his headache and his bubbling nausea deserve answers, goddammit!

But, before he can so much as holler their names, Changmin speaks again.

“Ugh, he’s being so sloppy. Just look at the mess he’s making!” Yoochun can’t see his face, but Changmin sounds angry. Or is he nervous? “If he doesn’t hurry it up, someone’s going to notice us.” His arms are crossed, fingers tapping at his elbows in an agitated tick, but his blatant impatience goes dismissed by the demon casually rocking on his heels beside him.

Humming, Junsu gives Changmin’s shoulder a squeeze, though their focus doesn’t stray away from whatever it is they’re looking at. Calmly, he says, “there are no humans within the perimeter. Oday otnay orryway.” He tries to be reassuring, but the way he accidentally slips back into Xiahtic seems to do little in lessening Changmin’s anxiety.

It does, however, pique Yoochun’s curiosity.

What the hell are they talking about…?

The oddness of their conversation – of this entire situation, really – is enough to compel Yoochun to try and find out why they seem so uncharacteristically worried. The last time Yoochun recalls Changmin appearing so bent out of shape was when the police had come knocking at their door all those months ago, mere seconds before the four of them escaped to Xiah Land (or whatever that hellhole was called). But the urgency in Changmin’s voice is much more subdued now than it was then, laced with anxiousness rather than full-blown fear, and no one else seems to be around except them, so it can’t be a similar case, right?

Then what, Yoochun thinks curiously, what could it be?

He tries to look between Changmin and Junsu, but they’re standing so close to one another that nothing can be seen past them. He tries looking over Changmin’s shoulder, but that stupid teenager is so stupid and tall (and did he mention stupid) that not much can be seen there either. And then he looks over Junsu’s shoulder and thankfully, because Junsu is so petite and cute (oh, he’s such a doll), Yoochun is at last able to see what’s beyond their two rigid bodies.

He immediately wishes he had stayed asleep.

They’ve parked the car in front of an alleyway. That's the first thing Yoochun observes. It's a narrow strip of dumpsters and leaky pipes in the middle of two buildings that look just as decrepit and old as every other poor-excuse of a structure in the area. The morning sun is beaming, bright and warm (and straight out of a three-year old’s art project, minus the obligatory sunglasses), yet none of its light seems to reach the eerie passageway where Yoochun finally makes out the shadowy figures of Yunho and Jaejoong.

Yoochun lets out a breath. There they are.

Squinting his eyes, he sees that Yunho is pressed against the brick walls of the alley, his face green and twisted into a grimace. His eyes flitter back and forth from the entrance to a hunched form that can only belong to Jaejoong, his body low to the ground – knees bent and back curled into an oddly predatory crouch. Yunho’s lips move, forming words that go unheard by Yoochun from this distance, but the concern is palpable. As is the thinly-veiled disgust.

And Yoochun can see why.

Jaejoong is...huddled over something. Something so eerily still that it makes a chill crawl up Yoochun’s spine. He’s shirtless, missing the ugly shirt he had put on earlier that day with far too much pride, and that makes the quivering of his shoulders all the more obvious. It’s as if he’s in the midst of a laughing fit, body moving with each of his uncontrolled cackles, and it looks so utterly deranged that it's almost frightening to witness.

Slowly, Jaejoong arches his neck back as he lifts something round and dark into the air. He hovers it over his mouth, and Yoochun's eyes unconsciously follow the substance that begins to drip down onto Jaejoong’s cheek – thick and heavy drops that stain. And then his fingers release whatever it is they're holding, allowing it to fall between his awaiting lips before it's swallowed whole and trapped behind a wicked smile that bears two glistening white fangs to Yoochun’s widened eyes.

And that’s when it clicks.

Jaejoong had gone hunting.

A heart, Yoochun's brain pointlessly informs him. Jaejoong is eating a piece of someone’s heart.

And he's smiling – laughing – as if he isn't devouring the organs of some helpless victim that could’ve been anyone. Someone’s son or daughter. A mother or father or sibling. Someone Yoochun knows.

Yoochun himself.

And now Yoochun feels sick, like he’s going to throw up all of the pretzels and alcohol he had earlier. Because he cannot believe he had sincerely humored the idea of the four of them becoming more to him than what they truly are: horrendous murderers who ing eat people for a living.

They’re beasts. They’re selfish, terrifying beasts and Yoochun despises himself for momentarily forgetting that the only reason they let him live in the first place is because he was a potential danger to their safety.

What if this was all just a ruse of theirs? A plot to lure him into a false sense of security so, once he’s lowered his guard, they can all partake in plopping an apple into his mouth and roasting him over an open fire as if he were a rotisserie dinner on legs. This is probably a game to them – pretending to care about him, pretending to befriend him, pretending to be ordinary even though they’re anything but. It is, isn't it? It has to be!

Jaejoong has never hidden how he feels about him, so he wouldn’t expect anything less than straight-up homicide from someone like him. And Changmin, he's probably the mastermind behind this entire thing, acting as if he's wanted nothing to do with him while secretly planning how he’ll use Yoochun’s body parts for his creepy wizard experiments or something. Yunho is the sneakiest of them all, no doubt, with his caring, goody-two-shoes performance. He probably spends his nights mocking Yoochun for how he's slowly opened up to him. All of that chamomile tea and ice cream was poisoned, wasn't it? Yoochun bets that’s why he’s been so out of it since his return from Xiah Town (or whatever that hellhole was called) – accepting their gifts, finding humor in their antics, traveling with them, actually thinking they were normal.

And Junsu...gods, what about Junsu?

Yoochun feels his heart break at the mere thought of his MCM betraying him.

But is it really betrayal? His brain once again decides to be as unhelpful as possible in the midst of his mental breakdown. You knew what they were. From the beginning, you've known. So whose fault is it that you’re in this mess? Whose fault but yours? It’s always your fault.

Always –  

No, shut up! Now's not the time for this self-deprecating bull, and Yoochun...Yoochun needs to remember how to breathe because he can't right now. He can’t look away from the prone, shadowed body laying in front of Jaejoong. He can’t think!

He’s going to be next. They’re going to kill him, aren't they? Oh man, they’re going to kill him. He’s probably just a game to them, a fleeting moment of entertainment to quell their boredom. That has to be why they’ve kept him alive for so long. Jaejoong had said he was over a thousand years old, after all (if he’d been telling the truth), so they all must get little supernatural boners whenever they’re confronted by prey who play hard to get. And Park Yoochun...well he’s the king of playing hard to get! Dozens of women and men practically throw themselves at his feet in order to vye for his attention, but Yoochun always turns them down with his nose in the air and a hand to his scandalized heart because...

...okay, maybe he’s exaggerating. But his point still stands: those abominations are just toying with him and have been this whole time!

And there’s only one thing Yoochun can do at a moment like this.

He screams.

"Get away from meeeee!"

Shocked, Changmin and Junsu jump at the shrill (questionably feminine) sound. They whirl on Yoochun, and the surprised look on their faces is enough to make Yoochun scream even louder because he swears he sees twisted murderous desires glinting in their corrupt eyes.

Changmin taps against the window. “Hey, woah woah! Are you alright? What’s wrong?” But Yoochun is positive his words are probably some sort of satanic code for ĥ̴̻ȇ̵͎y̵͎̑ ̵͈̐ĺ̵̲ỉ̵̦t̶̼̓t̴̝͒l̵̚͜ê̵̯ ̴̝̍b̸͎̎o̷̼̓y̴̲͌,̸̞͊ ̵̬͋y̷͉͗o̵͖̚u̷̠̐ ̸̮͐l̷͎͛o̶̫͆ŏ̴̘k̸̤̈́ ̶̡̽l̶̩̋í̵͚k̷̳͑ē̶͓ ̷̣̂ỵ̸̏o̷̬͐u̵̪̓’̵̲͐d̸̜͛ ̸̞͛ǧ̷̦ȍ̷ͅ ̸̖̏w̵̬͊ê̴̠l̶̲̈l̸̺̊ ̷͎͑w̴͉̓i̷̗͘t̶͇́h̵̰͗ ̴̲͂s̵͐ͅo̴̓͜m̴̤͘e̶͎̽ ̵̬͌h̴̙̓o̸̤̍t̶̟̑ ̸͈̀ś̴͈a̶̭͘u̶̦͆ć̶͖e̸̞̓, oh my god, noooo!

Yoochun finally starts breathing again, but he does so hard enough to make his chest tighten and his vision blur. He’s so fueled by a desperate need to escape that he decides to slip off his sneaker and chuck it at the window in an attempt to get Changmin to back off because he’s armed and not afraid to use the weapons he’s strapped with!

(Though, in reality, all it does is earn him a pair of concerned one-hundred percent maniacal frowns).

Taking off his other shoe, he holds it up in warning. “I won’t let you eat me!” he shouts hysterically.

Junsu pouts and Yoochun has to fight himself to not give in to his evil charms. “Friend Yoochun? Are you well?” He tilts his head then, and his hair (returned to its dazzling cerulean shade) falls handsomely into his eyes. Hnng. “Have you mayhaps taken ill?”

Yoochun’s traitorous heart flutters but he shoves the feeling into a box, locks it shut, and tosses the key into an imaginary fire that burn baby burns like a disco inferno. “N-no, I have nayhaps taken ill!” he hollers instead of confessing his undying love for the demon. “Just...just shut up! I’m on to you, alright? I know what you’re trying to do!”

Now Changmin is mad. His eyebrows lower and a scowl tugs down his lips. Aha! His true colors. “Enough of this,” he snaps and begins to stomp over to the side of the car. Junsu follows after him with a skip in his step.

And Yoochun’s brain goes haywire.

They’re trying to get in, he internally shrieks. I can’t let them get in!

Frantically, Yoochun climbs back over Junsu’s mountain of suitcases, this time not even registering the echoing wail that comes from the bag he kneed earlier when he unceremoniously knees it for a second time. He’s like a wild animal with how quickly he crawls to the front seat, reaching out to the dashboard and slamming the lock button down before Changmin can so much as touch the door handle.

Not even a second later, when Changmin tries prying the door open, he practically explodes when he finds it won’t budge. He clenches a fist closed and punches the window. “Park Yoochun, what the ?” He moves again, this time to the window next to the front seat where Yoochun’s body is sprawled, and he punches that window, too. He looks so furious, his face red and eyes burning until they almost appear orange, and Yoochun feels his heart begin to thump so loud and fast that he thinks it’ll break his ribcage open.

Shim Changmin is definitely Kim Jaejoong's son.

“Unlock the door now,” the wizard continues barking. “My wand is in there, you rodent! I need that!”

He left his weapon in here?

Yoochun makes a face.

Well, now he’s absolutely not letting them in.

Junsu bounces to Changmin’s side, peering through the glass that stands between the three of them. Unlike Changmin, however, Junsu doesn’t seem enraged. If anything, he simply looks lost. “Friend Yoochun…? You have obstructed our ability to enter the automobile.”

Twisting his body until it’s properly seated, Yoochun jerkily nods his head. “Y-yeah. I have,” he pants. “And I won’t be disobstructing it any time soon.”

“That’s not even a word!” Changmin snarls. He slams his fist into the window again and Yoochun reels back when he sees a thin line break through the glass. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, Park Yoochun, but if you don’t open this door and explain yourself, I’m going to –”

“What? Kill me? Sic that disgusting vampire on me and have him eat me like that guy he’s currently chewing through now?” Yoochun interjects hotly and marvels at the way Changmin flinches. The gesture of a guilty man. Yoochun scoffs, turning away from the two creatures who dare try to question him when he’s finally called them out for being what they are, for doing what they do – for using him for their own convoluted joy and appetite. Yoochun’s eyes begin to tingle uncomfortably as he blocks out the sound of Changmin failing to yank the car door open, of Junsu pleading for his friend Yoochun to calm down and stop being so strange, and of Yunho finally catching wind of the noise they’re all making and rushing over, asking what’s wrong before spotting Yoochun in the front seat of their car where he’s already reaching for the keys.

“What in the...?” Hearing Yunho’s voice makes Yoochun so ing sad because he once found comfort in that voice, and now…now he can’t. “I was gone for five minutes! What did you say to him?”

“I didn’t say !”

“Then why is he crying like that?”

Oh. With his thumb, Yoochun distractedly reaches up to his face and feels the tears that are running down his cheeks. He didn’t even realize he was crying. Why is he crying? He angrily uses his sleeve to wipe his face dry, but the tears keep coming so he gives up. With a jerk of his wrist, he twists the keys and the car roars to life. His hands grip the steering wheel, knuckles white and palms aching, and outside he can hear Yunho and Changmin yelling at one another –