A/N, Thank you to everyone who has ended up in this chapter. Sorry for how rusty my writing is, I've tried to make the flow as smooth as possible and to end everything on a good note. This will be a two chapter update to wrap up Ashgate!

Here's to 30 pages of *stab stab* *stab stab*

AETHER – ASHGATE HIGHSCHOOL GYM

Matthew was sitting in his own corner, lost in thought. He was sleep deprived; his thoughts filled with only ways of how to save his little brother. He desperately needed time alone, and when everyone had fell fast asleep and the sun was high up in the sky, he snuck out of the gym to stand under a tree that was billowing in the wind.

He leaned against it, reminding himself that all that has happened was a consequence of his own actions. He didn’t notice a person on the tree, Kyungsoo looking down to see Matthew lean against the trunk.

He could tell Matthew was dealing with everything with a heavy heart. He watched as Matthew took a deep breath. Once. Twice… Thrice, as if he was counting it in his head.

“You know, they say breathing meditation works only to center yourself,” Kyungsoo spoke up, Matthew’s eyes flying open when he looked up to see Kyungsoo staring down at him.

“Kyungsoo!” He gasped, grabbing a random pebble, and throwing it to the male. “You surprised me!”

“That was kind of the point,” Kyungsoo replied, going back to leaning on the branch. Matthew fell silent, Kyungsoo flickering his eyes on him for a moment. “I have a question.”

“Even if I’m in no mood to answer any questions, I’m sure you’ll ask them anyway.”

“If you are Matthew, and the other Matthew is also Matthew… When I retell this story to the generations that come after us, what do I call you and him? It’s hard to go, ‘Matthew stabbed Matthew’…” Kyungsoo sniffed. “Matthew yelled, ‘No, Matthew!’ and Matthew replied, ‘You can’t stop me, Matthew!’.”

“You’re asking this for story telling purposes?” Matthew asked, looking up for their eyes to meet for a second.

“ yeah. I’ll have to tell everyone how cool I was barreling down the streets when the first wave hit. Or how Mark accidentally thought the other Matthew was you. Don’t you think it’d make a great story?”

“Who’ll read it?” Matthew asked, Kyungsoo frowning at him.

“I don’t know? Readers from asianfanfic.com or wattpad? Do I look I’d be able to become a bestseller to you?” He asked, turning to the side, and dropping down to the ground, his feet grounding him steady.

“How about calling me just ‘Matt’?” Matthew asked, Kyungsoo making a face.

“That’s the most typical white man name I’ve ever heard, and you’re not even white.” Kyungsoo paused. “How about ‘Thew’?”

“You want to name me “Thew” in your book?”

“Special, innit?” Kyungsoo asked, Matthew chuckling at the idea. “I used to call you that.”

Matthew fell silent knowing it was not really him that Kyungsoo used to call that.

“What are you thinking about?” Kyungsoo asked, Matthew pressing his lips together.

“I was wondering if I didn’t do what I did, if this could have been prevented.” Matthew tilted his head, looking up into the sky. “If I wasn’t so selfish, robbing him of his simple experiences: to see the sun, the sky, to have friends and go to school… If he would have turned out as a good man here in Aether.”

Kyungsoo exhaled sharply. “No.”

“No?” Matthew asked, looking over to Kyungsoo, surprised of his curt answer.

“Some people are born evil,” Kyungsoo replied. “No matter where they grow up in, no matter what they do.”

Matthew didn’t say anything to that, letting the silence linger ever so softly in the air when Kyungsoo spoke, his voice almost like a whisper to reassurance to Matthew.

“You may have made one selfish mistake,” Kyungsoo said. “But you tried to be good. It is time for me to accept that may be enough.”

In a blink of an eye, Kyungsoo was already on his feet and walking away, Matthew still registering what Kyungsoo said. A smile travelled up Matthew’s lips, the male following the stout male.

“Does this mean you’ve forgiven me?” He called out after Kyungsoo who grumbled something under his breath. “Hey!”

He caught up to Kyungsoo, grabbing him on the shoulder as Kyungsoo shoved him away.

“Shut up, Thew,” Kyungsoo murmured.

Matthew was sure that something changed between the two, and he wasn’t wrong.

Because Matthew began to talk about how he had waited all his life for forgiveness, Kyungsoo smiled.

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5 PM

The sun was setting, and people were beginning to wake. A few of the locals were still crying and mourning for their loved ones, and some were in panic for some were not yet found. Some were awake and had a lot of questions: What are we going to do next? What can we do to protect ourselves? Others were beginning to just mingle, still shocked at the idea that there were two Jeno’s and two Baekhyun’s with them in the gym.

Bambi had very similar traits to Baekhyun, the Umbrian male curious about the simplest things. He was found running through the gym, a cigarette in hand as his sister chased him.

“This is a modern version of a pipe, Bora!” Bambi exclaimed excitedly, Doctor Bora running out of breath as her legs almost gave way. Her brother had also tried one of L.J’s “demon drink”, aka coffee so he was just a burst of energy.

“You are not inhaling noxious fumes into your lungs, Bambi!” Doctor Bora yelled as her brother disappear somewhere, a voice speaking from behind her.

“I have found out that the best way to deal with them is to just let them do it,” Nurse Bora said to the other her, a basket in her arms as she went around trying to make sure any of the injured people weren’t getting their wounds dirty.

“The previous occasion wherein I acquiesced to my brother’s wishes, he embarked upon a vessel towards Lancaster Port and came perilously close to meeting his demise,” Doctor Bora fumed, Bora blinking at how fiery her other self was. “Surely, you understand? It is curiosity that killed the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back,” L.J piped up from beside the two Bora’s. “Say, did that floating vessel ever reach the grounds of Lancaster Island? That place is a mystery to me.”

“Much a mystery to us than the citizens of Edelweiss,” Doctor Bora retorted. “No, he did not reach the island. It was commanded to turn back to safety…”

Bora had no idea what the two Umbrians were talking about, whispering about the other towns, and complaining about them.

“One could posit that Ashgate is unequivocally more delightful to inhabit than any other location in Umbra. Are you as confident in the statement as I am?”

“I beg to differ, Doctor Bora. I rather like Shaire a tad bit more,” L.J replied, sniffing.

“Child, the city wonders fade after a while, L.J,” Doctor Bora snipped, a hand ruffling his head. “How do you like your new name?”

“The intention in creating a new nickname for myself was to mitigate confusion. However, it is beginning to become an integral component to my personal identity.” L.J’s eyes went to Bora who was listening. “Unlike you both, I don’t have a title that sets me apart from…”

Jeno lost balance on the floor, his backpack bonking him on the face.

“From this idiot…” L.J finished his sentence.

“L.J, L.J!” Jeno hissed, a hand going to grab L.J arm and dragging him away from the two Bora’s. “I heard the adults talking outside. They said that they will soon lock this place down, and none of us will be able to leave. We have to find a way to leave and find Nana!”

L.J frowned at the information. “And how, exactly, will they commence the lock down?”

“Uh… With like, guards and stuff?” Jeno said.

“The doors are locked from the inside, Jeno. I fail to see the issue why we can’t just leave.”

“They won’t let us!” Jeno exclaimed, L.J retorting back and asking who exactly were “they”. “The adults!”

L.J scoffed. It was a wonder to him why everyone paid so much attention to age in Aether. In Umbra, it was the fittest, the smartest, the most powerful who won each brawl and each fight. Not age. He pursed his lips.

“We wait for everyone to decide on their respective plans,” L.J told Jeno. “We then shall set out to proceed to rescue Nana and Jaemin from whatever peril they may be enduring.”

Jeno and L.J nodded, telepathically agreeing to the plan when Jeno shivered.

He felt as if someone was staring at him, but as he shook the feeling off, he had to remind himself that it was just the cold.

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5:30 PM

Bambi tried his first cigarette and was on the clouds. Nicotine mixed with tar? Bambi decided that this was his new heaven—the male giving the stick a puff as he scribbled in the small diary he always kept with him. It was filled with all his theories and research in Umbra, the owner of the Bambi Gazette not noticing a shadow falling over him.

“I have something like that, too,” Baekhyun told him, Bambi looking up to see his other sniffing the air. “Don’t tell my noona I was beside you. She says secondhand smoking is worse.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Bambi replied.

“I have something like that, too,” Baekhyun repeated. “But it’s in my phone. It’s a bunch of entries that I will write. All the facts and leads I have for my blog.”

“We’re not that far apart,” Bambi stated. “It is ingrained in a writer’s genes to document everything.”

A clap sounded, both Baekhyun’s turning to see that Siwon was calling everyone over. As the adults began to cluster in a corner of the gym, a shaken Mr. Lin kept repeating the same thing over and over again.

“My wife is gone. Someone find my wife,” he mumbled, Sally giving him a worried look. “My wife is gone. My wife is gone.”

He went ignored for a moment as everyone turned to Matthew, expecting him to know what to do. He looked overwhelmed, and honestly, he didn’t want to admit that he didn’t care about anyone else other than his brother being taken away.

Bora noticed this, the nurse placing a hand on the man’s arm before deciding to break the tasks down for him.

“Matthew will be trying to find a way into ARA to get Mark, I think that will be his sole focus,” she told him, turning to Matthew. “We forgot that there are still students in ARA that we may not have been able to save. All we can do is hope that none of them are dead yet.”

Matthew’s eyes widened, Kyungsoo coughing.

They had forgotten one important thing—there were still students in ARA. Of course, most of them were students that did not reside in Ashgate, so their parents would have no idea what was going on. The ones that resided in Ashgate were probably either dead, or away from town for business.

A rustle from the side, someone scribbling on a piece of paper.

Renjun showed it to everyone.

ALIVE.

He pointed to Jungwoo who was badly injured on the gym floor in a corner, trying to communicate his thoughts. He wanted to tell them that he and Jungwoo had broken away from the crowd when they went through the pathway to look for their friends in ARA.

They were in a different building, and as the two ventured to the other building, they saw that their friends were caged in the basement. He scribbled quickly when someone nudged him, giving him an iPad to type instead so it was quicker.

THEY ARE IN THE BASEMENT OF THE EAST WING.

A gasp. “Where Dr. Eldridge used to electric shock us?” Bunny whispered, her big eyes on Renjun who nodded.

Locked and caged. Jungwoo couldn’t open the lock, locked from inside. We were attacked soon after, so we ran away.

“How do you know they are still alive?” Luhan asked from the bleachers, crossing his legs over another.

POSSIBILITY THEY ARE ALIVE IS

Renjun’s tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he typed furiously.

Basement door locked from inside.

“That’s true,” Jeno spoke, nodding. “The basement door can be locked both ways. When we were thrown into the basement for “disciplinary actions”, we wanted to stall them, we’d lock the basement door from inside. Literally no one could get in. It’s a solid iron clad door.”

“Yes,” a small voice said, Ahyoung nodding. She had come to listen to the adults talk. “Of course, none of us liked to do it because we would get punished afterwards, but it impossible for the people outside to come into the basement unless they bulldoze the door down.”

“I hardly think the people from Umbra would care about students in the basement,” Doctor Bora spoke out.

“I need to get Mark, and someone has to find a way to get the kids,” Matthew said, feeling his heart grow heavy. “There are two things that I need to do when I go to ARA.”

“What do you mean ‘I’?” Kyungsoo asked incredulously. “You won’t make it out alive if you go there alone.”

“I am not putting anyone else in danger, Kyungsoo. This started all because of me. It will end because of me.”

Kyungsoo scoffed. “You’re putting too much importance to yourself. Do you think you’ll be able to bring Mark alive working on your own?”

“Kyungsoo…” Matthew turned to him. “I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if anyone else got hurt.”

“Getting hurt is inevitable!” Kyungsoo’s voice rose. “Might you forget, there are fakes guarding ARA and for you think this is a one-man show is beyond me.”

“Kyungsoo is right, Matthew,” Sally said. “You need help. All we want it to make sure everyone is safe and to save who we can.”

“Think about this strategically, will you?” Luhan said, leaning back. “How about I go with you? Should be fun.”

“Fun?” Matthew frowned at him.

“Yes, Matthew. Fun,” Luhan emphasized, smiling. “Let’s have fun while we’re at it, no?”

“The less people, the better. I don’t want to have to worry—”

ME TOO.

“Renjun, you’re too young to—”

ME TOO. ME TOO. ME TOO.

Renjun stamped his foot on the ground, shoving the iPad to Matthew so he can read the repeating words.

I’M A KLEPTOMANIAC. I AM USEFUL. ME TOO. ME TOO.

“I’m going with you,” Tae-il said. “We need someone who knows ARA well enough. Kyungsoo should stay back and help the locals.”

I LEFT ARA THROUGH THE VENTS

I AM

Renjun paused, his bottom lip puckering out as he thought of a word.

TINY

Matthew knew he had no choice, so he just nodded. His eyes fell on Mr. Lin who was muttering to himself, but before he could say anything, Sally spoke up.

“I’ll go out and find Mr. Lin’s wife.” She patted the old man’s shoulder. “It’s okay, we’ll find her.”

“Or her body,” L.J whispered so lowly, only Matthew could hear it.

“I will be on the streets on a look out for any other survivors,” Kyungsoo said, “and you everyone else stays here in the gym. Do not open up for anyone who doesn’t talk or act like us.”

“So there are two things to do in ARA,” Matthew repeated, trying to calm his raging brain when Doctor Bora’s voice cut through the air.

“Three.”

“Three things,” Doctor Bora said, a hand reaching out to grab her brother’s. “My brother and I will undertake the ultimate task that is imperative to culminate this endeavor.”

Matthew had no idea what she was talking about, but he didn’t have time to because his phone rang and the sound of children screaming echoed from the speaker of his device.

“,” someone whispered.

JENO & L.J

Jeno and L.J had snuck out.

“Where do you think Jaemin might be?” Jeno asked, L.J chewing on his bottom lip as they trudged away from Ashgate Highschool and hoped their presence would not be missed. He reached out to grab L.J’s arm. “Would he be in the Na Mart?”

“You recall you telling me the basement being barricaded due to a nasty mold problem,” L.J replied, Jeno frowning.

“Use your imagination, L.J. If you were Nana or Jaemin, where would you go? Give me the answer on three. 1… 2….3… Home.”

“Home.” L.J’s answer came out at the same time as Jeno’s.

“Why wouldn’t they come to Ashgate Gym? Nana would have his phone. Where are his parents?”

Something clicked in Jeno’s mind, the male turning slowly to L.J. “Now… where would Lord Na and his wife go to once they leave Umbra?”

L.J’s face paled. “If your statement holds true, my dearest companion would have already perished.” He stared at Jeno. “I do not appreciate the implication of such possibility.”

Jeno gulped. “They would go to the Na Mart, wouldn’t they? They would go to the Na Mart to kill Na Papa and Na Mama. That’s what fakes do!”

“If Jaemin were present, he would attempt to prevent any harm on the Aetherians… Your Nana and his parents. It is the way he is,” L.J replied before turning and heading straight down.

“Hey!”

“There is no moment to spare. Jaemin may be injured… Or worse. Deceased. I, for one, currently lack the cognitive fortitude to grapple with the myriad of scenarios racing through my mind, Jeno. I must find out whether—”

“Hey,” Jeno said again, grabbing L.J’s arm and making him turn towards him. “I am worried about Nana, too. But we can’t walk to the Na Mart. It’s in center Ashgate and we’ll be dead before we reach it.”

L.J blinked. “What are you suggesting?”

Jeno jerked his head towards a car on the side of the hill. It seemed like someone had abandoned it, the door wide open as if the person left the car and rushed towards the high school gym. Both of them went towards the car, Jeno inspecting it.

“There is no key.” He frowned. “Give me a moment, I need to hotwire it to start.”

“Hotwire?” L.J asked, not understanding what Jeno was trying to do.

He didn’t have to, because Jeno had spent summers hotwiring cars and starting bikes to steal them with Haechan on the year he turned fourteen. One of the reasons why he had to go therapy for his “troublesome” behavior.

As the car was able to turn start up, L.J tilted his head at Jeno. “Impressive.”

“Thanks,” Jeno replied, smiling.

They both entered the car, L.J pulling on the seatbelt to stare at it before following Jeno’s instructions on how to wear a seatbelt. There was a sound, a click of some sorts and Jeno frowned.

“Did we open up the trunk of the car?” Jeno asked, L.J shaking his head. “Could’ve sworn I heard a click.”

“Must be in your imagination,” L.J replied, looking towards the back of the car to see nothing out of the ordinary.

With that, Jeno pressed down on the accelerator to find Nana and Jaemin, holding onto hope in their hearts that they were alive.

AETHER – ASHGATE HIGHSCHOOL GYM

The sounds of screaming from the call was from Ong Harin, one of the teachers of Ashgate.

“The kids are back from the zoo,” one of them said, Kyungsoo going to his feet. His hands reached for his gun.

“Something is happening! The van… The van is being attacked!” Harin yelled.

Hairn had one more day with the young un’s of Ashgate… But honestly, the fact that there were thirty students and only one her made her decide that it was best to just bring all of them home. In her defense, one child almost pulled a Harry Potter and fell into the boa constrictor cage.

She got so scared, she yelled at security that she would sue the zoo for lack of safety protocols. Security had to remind her that her student had dismissed the big, massive sign that said “NO CLIMBING” in big red letters.

Another child stuck his finger through the bars of the lion cage.

She felt like she would have a heart attack throughout the whole day and her anxiety was coming back.

Another kid decided to throw a tantrum because he couldn’t swim with the dolphins.

She decided she was not paid enough to deal with this, so she booked a massive van back.

When she reached Ashgate, however, the driver told her that there were snarling people right in front of the town. He asked if it was an Ashgate event (he was from Shaire, he had no idea what small towns did, so he presumed so). She had no idea what he was talking about when the driver opened the window to ask the person what was going on…

And then he was bitten on the neck, blood spurting out.

She screamed, the van shaking as people began to pound against the van, trying to get to the kids. The children were crying in fear, and Harin had to climb to the front seat to close the window. In the process, she had cut off an Umbrian’s finger by stabbing it repeatedly with a sharp pen nearby, the finger falling on her lap and the window closing.

She locked the van, pushing the driver to the passenger’s seat as he gasped for breath.

Her first instinct was to call Matthew, to demand what was going on and she did.

“T-There are people…. Attacking us, and….” Harin gasped, turning the key of the van as the driver fell onto his side, unconscious. Whether he was alive or not, she did not know. “Please come help us! I…”

“THE VAN IS SHAKING!” Jisung screeched.

“I want mommy!” A six-year-old kid sobbed. “I want to go home!”

“Harin,” Matthew’s voice rang out as she slammed her foot against the accelerator. But it was a manual car and she had no idea how to drive manual, the sound of popping tires exploding from outside. “You shouldn’t be back— Why are you…”

“Move over, Thew. Ong Harin, where are you?” Kyungsoo asked through the phone. “I will be coming for you. Stay put.”

“I don’t think I have a ing choice, Kyungsoo!”

Once the phone cut itself off, Kyungsoo turned to Matthew.

“Go to ARA,” he told him. “I will handle Harin.”

“I’m coming with you,” a voice thundered, Wilbur dragging his feet on the ground as he smiled. “I’ve been itching for some action.”

Kyungsoo turned back to Matthew. “Go.”

“Be careful, Kyungsoo,” Matthew said, Kyungsoo nodding as he went to gear up with Wilbur.

JENO & L.J

“You DON’T KNOW HOW TO CONTROL THIS MACHINE?”

“Of course, I do! I just don’t have my driving’s license yet!” Jeno exclaimed, struggling to control the car. “And one tire is busted!”

Jeno slammed his foot on the brake, L.J’s body surging forward as he hit his head on the front of the car.

“Ow!”

“Let me try again—Oh, is that Sally?” Jeno asked, seeing a woman walking on the streets as L.J rubbed his head. “It is! Maybe we should go and say hi!”

“And blow our cover?” L.J snapped, the car moving on its own. “What’s… What’s happening?”

“We’re on a slope so the car’s bound of move on its own especially with one busted tire,” Jeno said as a matter-of-factly, his eyes peering out the window as he saw Sally enter an alley.

“Now you’re just making an excuse for your atrocious steering,” L.J said, making a movement with his two hands as if he was driving a car. Jeno had tuned him out, his eyes focused on the alley as the car slid down ever so slowly.

“L.J….” Jeno whispered, the alley slowly coming into sight. “Sally went to find Mr. Lin’s wife, right?”

“She alluded it was one of her objectives for the evening, yes,” L.J replied, his hands searching around when he pulled on the seatbelt.

“L.J…”

Sally was fighting someone. Jeno was sure of it. His former high school teacher was being thrown to the ground, L.J leaning over to look out the window, a frown appearing.

“Must be the demon drink. Is it me or are there two Sallys? Oh… Bloody hell. Sally is being attacked!”

Sally was being attacked.

She knew there were a bunch of fakes running through the streets of Ashgate. What she did not expect was the fact that she’d run into her own fake. She was walking past the streets in her black clothes with the idea that if she pretended to be a fake, she wouldn’t be attacked.

She’d… camouflage like a lizard.

However, as she walked down towards center Ashgate towards Mr. Lin’s small bookstore where she hoped his wife was at, she heard a snarl and a woman barreling towards her. Her other self had long hair (ew?) and much to her surprise, was also wearing dark clothes.

“At last!” Sally from Umbra hissed, her hands going to grab Sally’s hair. “You’re a hard to find, aren’t you?”

Sally yelped out, turning around and throwing the Umbrian onto the ground.

That was when the battle of the Sally’s commenced. She winced when her other scratched her cheek, Sally trying to tackle the aggressor with all her might when she was slammed against the wall.

Sally from Umbra staggered a few feet away, a hand going into her cloak to pull out what looked like a sharp kitchen knife. Sally wiped the side of her lip, tasting iron on the corners of .

Just as the Umbrian was about to pounce, headlights came flashing from the entrance of the alley, the yells of two boys echoing through the streets. Jeno had rammed the car against the Umbrian, the male’s eyes widening in shock.

“Holy Moly Guacamole! Tell me… Tell me that was the right Sally!” Jeno gasped, L.J paling right beside him. “What if we killed the wrong Sally?”

But the two boys felt relief wash through them when the back door opened and Sally scooted into the back seat, the high school teacher of Ashgate leaning forward to thank them.

“Thank God for you two! Wait, what are you doing out of the highschool gym? WATCH OUT! SHE’S ALIVE!”

Jeno screeched, quickly reversing the car, and pressing against the accelerator once more just for the sound of cracking bones and flesh sounded from beneath the car. L.J was sunken in his seat, covering his ears.

Sally blinked.

“I think she’s dead,” she whispered.

“No ,” Jeno murmured back.

Matthew & Renjun & Tae-il

The three set off to ARA. Renjun was not kidding when he said he knew ARA like the back of his hand. The kid had been through the vents, knew of the secret routes of ARA, and ventured into the deeper parts of the woods that surrounded the area. He was light on his feet, Matthew and Tae-il finding it hard to keep up with the tongue-less teen.

Renjun raised a hand in the air, both men behind him stopping. Tae-il was holding a pistol, a weapon that was easier to hold rather than the rifle he had given to Kyungsoo. They wondered why Renjun demanded them to stop until they heard footsteps crunching down on the dry leaves on the ground.

Renjun waved a hand, telling them to follow him, side-stepping whoever was making their way to center Ashgate.

As they reached ARA, Renjun brought them to the back of the East Wing, his hands on the walls, trying to find something.

“What are you finding?” Tae-il asked, Renjun feeling for something when his fingers found the latch.

ARA was built like a castle. It had a long history, and therefore, a lot of it had ancient architectural structures. There was a clang, Tae-il and Matthew jumping at the sound when they saw that something had shifted.

It was something that looked like a dumbwaiter. It was a wonder it was built on the outside of the castle and not inside the walls. Matthew knew for a fact that dumbwaiters were used for serving food and would serve them into designated rooms.

NOT REALLY A DUMBWAITER.

FOR TRASH.

CAREFUL.

FRAGILE.

Renjun pocketed his notebook, climbing in before pointing to himself as if to say: me first. The moment he entered it, they realized how tiny he was before he pressed something and disappeared as the dumbwaiter moved down.

“You think we can trust his judgement?” Tae-il asked Matthew nervously.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” Matthew told Tae-il.

“You go first. I have a gun.”

Matthew agreed to it, the male entering the dumbwaiter and having trouble folding his long legs so it wouldn’t scratch against the rusty surface. He could smell traces of rotten food and trash, the dumbwaiter going down as he pressed on the downward arrow when it stopped.

It had taken him straight to the basement and Matthew pushed himself out, the male noticing that Renjun was gone. Except there was a voice that made Matthew’s face go pale.

“Greetings. Matthew did tell me you’d come for the children. It’s a wonder how he is always right,” the voice said, and Matthew turned to see that Renjun was being held hostage by Siwon. The fake headmaster of Ashgate was holding a knife to Renjun’s throat.

Renjun struggled, his breathing becoming uneven. Matthew quickly put his hands up in the air so show that he didn’t want trouble.

“If I am the one your Matthew wants, let go of him,” Matthew said slowly, taking a step closer. However, Siwon was not having any of it. He was fed stories of betrayal about this Matthew—his loyalties did not lie in anyone else other than the Matthew of Umbra.

“Ahyoung did a good job ripping his little tongue out, did she?” Siwon said, his fingers caressing Renjun’s cheek as his tightened his grip. “How about I kill this child first, kill you, and then serve your dead body to the leader of Ashgate Umbra?”

Matthew straightened himself up. “You know you can’t do that. He wants to kill me himself.”

Siwon chuckled. “Fair enough. He never said anything about this child. Do you know the amount of trouble you put me through, little Renjun? Left the academy to get on a train to see his parents… Had to switch you out the day after, didn’t I?”

Matthew wondered where Tae-il was and why it was taking him so long to come down the dumbwaiter. He chewed on his lip.

“Umphhh,” Renjun moaned against fake Siwon’s hand, the male struggling for the man to let him go when Siwon turned the blade towards him.

“No,” Matthew began, taking one step towards Siwon. “Don’t—”

But Siwon had different plans, raising the blade high into the air, about to plunge it into Renjun’s chest when a gun shot sounded by the stair