Your head spun as the world seemed to juxtapose on top of itself. Your eyes struggled to open as though your body knew what now stood over you. You willed them to focus after finally coaxing your eyelids open and that's when you saw it. The figure was black, pitch black. It didn't seem to shimmer or gleam, this color black. It was dull. It was dead. This color black could in no way be compared to Myungsoo's. Yet, for some reason, it felt familiar. The feeling of this empty darkness was similar to Myungsoo's. Though now was not the time to be philosophical because this figure was someone dangerous.

The man in black.

He was the one who had grabbed you and pulled you down from the concrete stepladder you had built for yourself. 

You pushed your body upwards and your head pulsated from the movement. When you glanced from the corner of your eyes, you saw a fist come flying downwards, aimed right at your face. Your eyes snapped open, your body reacting immediately now that you were in physical danger. You immediately fell back to the floor and rolled out of the way of the man’s clenched fist. The ground shook and you heard the sound of something cracking. The floor, his punch had created cracks in the floor. You cursed inwardly as you sprung to your feet immediately.

He didn’t wait for you to do so and took a step forward, reaching out and grasping onto the collar of Myungsoo’s jacket and lifting you a good few inches off of the ground. Why would he take it easy on you? The last time you met him, you chased after him with a gun. You dug your nails into his skin but he didn’t even flinch, raising you an inch or two higher in response. You may have not had a gun, a knife, or a weapon of any kind on you but you still had your wits. It had been awhile since you had trained with the hunters but your ability to work out situations quickly remained, albeit you were still rusty. You trusted your instincts and unhooked your hands from his.

You reached forward for his hat and flipped it down, covering his face before he could figure out what you were doing. His grip on you loosened and you were able to slip through his grasp. Once he moved the hat out of his face, you were already running in the opposite direction.

Where were you running to? Well anywhere was better at this point. You didn’t mind the pulsating of the bruise on the side of your head nor the ringing in your ears. You just kept running. Your footsteps were echoed by the man’s. He was following. Why wouldn’t he? A question kept replaying in your head. A question you often asked yourself during a time similar to this one.

When Zico would be chasing after you, back when you were still with the hunters, this question would echo from the recesses of your mind and bounce around inside of your head, spreading like a virus. This question. This question that was quite pessimistic to be sure. Back then, you didn’t need to answer it. The worst thing that could happen was Zico catching you. Now however, the reality of your situation was forcing you to think. To think of an answer to this question.

What will you do when you can’t run anymore?

Will you jump on the hamster wheel and continue pressing forward, your feet moving at full speed but your body never going anywhere?

You had joined the hunters because you were tired of being protected. Tired of running away. You didn’t want to be treated as though you were so fragile you would break at the slightest touch. For a while, you felt you were able to leave your hamster wheel without fearing for your life. Granted, you were always nervous, always anxious about what the next day would bring for you but you weren’t scared because you knew you would be able to protect yourself. You knew you at the very least weren’t limp baggage the hunters had to lug around. And they treated you as one of them. Joked with you as though you were one of them. They didn’t pull punches. They didn’t hold back.

With the werewolves, it was different.

You were never one of them.

Dongwoo said it a long time ago. It didn’t matter what you did, you were still a human woman. At most times, what you did do made them see you as such even more. You were being constantly protected by them.

As Zico had once asked you after he cornered you, “What will you do without your knights in shining armor, princess?”

You still remember how much you wanted to wipe the smile off of his face then yet, in a way, he was right. If the werewolves were knights, you were the unruly princess they worked hard to keep in the dark. Little did they know you had traded places with the real princess and instead, a pauper now wore the clothes of their princess. As the pauper, you appreciated their kindness. For a while, you were okay with being protected. You were okay with running on the hamster wheel. You got used to it when you joined them again, B-Bomb at your side.

Here you were again though, this time in a situation you had not brought upon yourself but were into by a certain jealous princess who loved pink. And you now had to decide if you would keep running ignorantly on your hamster wheel. Or if you would jump off without fear into a world that was made you nervous, anxious, and doubtful of what the future would hold.

As though the labyrinth that was the Containment Zone had known what your answer would be all along, the hallway you had just run down came to a dead end. You laughed. Laughed at yourself for asking a question you already knew the answer to.

What would you do when you can’t run anymore?

The man in black’s footsteps came to a slow stop behind you, blocking the way out. There was no more running away. There was no more running away from the answer to this question.

What would you do when you can’t run anymore?

You your heel to face him and you felt your heart start to race. You were scared. You didn’t want to get hurt. Feeling pain could be avoided. Yet, at the same time, you knew feeling pain was unavoidable. Especially when you felt such a mixture of fear and excitement as to what you were about to do.

So, what would you do when you can’t run anymore?

“Bring it.”

You would stop running and fight.

“Why the hell do you smell like Hyunjoo?”

Myungsoo let the words pass over him, processing them slowly even though he had already noticed the man in black smelt like you. He felt the ice in his veins thawing and an audible crack as he felt himself snap. His legs moved on their own as he ran forward, straight towards the man but he only made it two steps before someone moved faster than him and rushed past him in urgency.

Woohyun went running towards the man, only to be flung and go falling backwards onto the wet concrete a few feet away. Myungsoo glanced at Woohyun once before charging towards the man. He hooked his hands around the man’s upper body and ran him into the concrete pillar behind him. He heard a low groan of pain come from the man’s mouth but the satisfaction was short lived as the man kneed him in the stomach, and sent him falling backwards from the impact.

Myungsoo pushed himself up slowly, his body trembling as he got over the knee to his abdomen. His lips parted, his eyes delirious as he stared up at the man in black standing over him. The thing that was odd was the man’s hesitation to attack again. He seemed to be staring straight at Myungsoo, yet he couldn’t tell beneath the man’s hat if he was. He tried to focus his eyes, tried to see what the man was looking at, when the man went tumbling to the left due to the impact of Woohyun’s fist on his face.

“I asked you a question.” He huffed, his eyes wild.

Myungsoo watched as the man got up slowly, his right arm struggling to support his weight as he pushed himself up. Myungsoo saw it then. The side of the man’s face lit up under the dim light only for a moment before the shadow of his hat hid his face again. He didn’t see any features, no. He did however see a mark of purple below the man’s temple. Under that the small sheen of dark red was there. Myungsoo couldn’t contain the laugh from being produced from his throat.

Woohyun drew his eyes away from the man and looked down at Myungsoo, confused by his sudden amusement with the situation, as anyone would be. Myungsoo didn’t speak up until the man was standing once more.

“She lost to you but not before messing you up a bit, huh?” He laughed again at the thought of your tenacity. How fierce you must have been while you fought the man in black. Once more, you had surprised him and apparently he wasn’t the only one surprised. The man in black himself probably never expected you to put up such a fight.

Woohyun felt a surge of pride in you at that moment. However, there was still one problem. “Where is she?” He asked as he got closer to the man, “Where is Hyunjoo? Where did you leave her?” Woohyun hadn’t expected the man to take a step closer without having the intention of attacking. What he hadn’t expected even more was an answer to his question.

“Dead.”

That simple word. That simple word and Myungsoo’s amusement disappeared. Woohyun’s stance faltered. The area around them seemed to go even quieter. The sound of water dripping from the ceiling onto the floor echoed throughout the room.

“You’re lying.”

Woohyun’s voice cracked as he spoke. The man did not respond and instead remained motionless.

“You’re lying.”

A whimper came out of his mouth as he felt tears bridge the walls of his eyes. The man’s silence was his answer. The world went dark. Woohyun could now feel the emptiness of his palm, the sudden desire to feel your fingertips brush past his own building up in him to the point of insanity.

You were dead.

No longer could he feel your warmth. No longer could he see your smile. No longer would you be there for him, not saying anything as you stood beside him yet making him feel as though nothing had to be said.

He felt his rage building. What was the point in yelling at Myungsoo all this time to make him realize his feelings? Why when you were gone now? He should have spent that time with you. Spent that time enjoying you for your last moments. But then, what if it had been different? Instead of fighting with Myungsoo, he would have been able to watch over you. To protect you. To be with you. He could have stopped the separation in the first place. It was his fault.

It was his fault and he felt like picking a fight. He felt like raging to cover up the coldness he felt on his face as his tears streamed down his dirt-covered skin. His fingers clenched and he went running towards the man in black, an inhuman growl produced itself from his mouth and he reared his fist back, aiming it right at him.

His rage overcame him. He was a charging bull who had seen red and his defense was nonexistent. His defense had been ripped from him at the stated fact that you were gone.

The man in black blocked him and delivered a swift blow to his throat. Woohyun didn’t stop. He couldn’t feel the pain. Not because he was a werewolf but because he was lost in his anger. He threw his other arm at the man who stepped back, out of his range. The man grabbed onto Woohyun’s outstretched arm and tugged it downwards, threatening to break it. His bone popped once and before the man could swiftly break it, he let go.

He backed away, moving out of the path of Myungsoo’s jab that had caused him to cease his hold on Woohyun. He punched Myungsoo’s stomach, causing his eyes to widen. Then, in an instant, Myungsoo’s head jerked to the left from the impact of the man in black’s right hook to his left cheek and he went falling backwards. He watched with unshaking eyes as the man walked near him, towering over him once more. You were dead and to Myungsoo this hadn’t had the same impact it did on Woohyun. Instead, it made him cool. Calm. Collected. Even now as the man stood over him, his mind was clear and only one thought resounded in him.

He would kill this man.

Despite his wish to do so however, he couldn’t find the urge to shift rising up within him. His energy was being drained out of him yet he paid no mind to this, and instead glared up at the man, damning him with every fiber of his being. The man stared down at him again, the bottom half of his face visible now. Myungsoo didn’t say a word and after a moment, the man in black had decided to no longer contemplate his next move. He reached down and lifted Myungsoo up by his shirt collar, pulling him to stand. Then, he kicked him, sending him falling backwards again. He crashed into a metal pipe that sprouted out of the ground and disappeared into a nearby pillar. He heard another crash beside him and the pipe vibrated as Woohyun was now beside him.

Before he could get up, the man in black was over the two of them again and he reached down, pressing both of their faces down onto the surface of the cold, metal pipe as the two fiercely struggled to get up. Through his frenzy as he fought against the grip of the man in black, Woohyun’s tears continued to fall and stained the man’s hands. Myungsoo’s eyes looked up at him in indignation as he gripped strongly onto the man’s hand, using all of his strength to pull him off.

Then, for some reason, he stopped.

The man in black stopped.

He withdrew his hands and the two finally caught sight of his eyes. His eyes that looked down at them with a sort of sympathetic melancholy they didn’t understand. He knocked out Woohyun with a punch to his stomach, leaving Myungsoo conscious, before he backed away, and left the room without another word. But why?

Myungsoo’s urge to kill this man drained away in a second and for some reason he knew. He knew what the man’s eyes were telling him.

You were alive.

You had to be.

Myungsoo heard the sound of skin scraping against the concrete floor. He looked over, finding that Woohyun was beginning to stir, apparently finally waking up. Myungsoo drew his eyes away as Woohyun finally opened his own. A low mumble came out of his mouth that Myungsoo could not understand. Probably something along the lines of “What happened?” Well that was an easy question to answer. The man in black knocked Woohyun out because he knew he would try to follow him. He had left Myungsoo in tact because he knew he wouldn’t try to follow him. Mostly because he realized something, a silent message he interpreted from the look the man in black gave him earlier.

You were alive.

That is what he thought it meant. That’s what he read it as and if he was good at anything, it was at reading people. Then again, he may have imagined it, the look in the man’s eyes. Either way, he wanted to believe in his imagination. He didn’t want you to die. As much as you annoyed him, as much as your presence complicated things, the thought of you lying motionless on the ground, bleeding out somewhere in this place, was not something he could stomach.

Woohyun sat up, his legs crossed, and he gathered himself. He was slowly remembering everything that occurred a few hours ago. He was told that you were dead. He wasn’t sure what he should do now. Obviously, he had to get out of here with Myungsoo. That was the obvious answer. The obvious plan. But he didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to leave you here.

“She’s still alive.”

Woohyun blinked, no hint of a smile crossing his features. He turned slowly to Myungsoo who was leaning on a concrete pillar as he sat on the dirt-covered floor. He searched Myungsoo’s body language for any signs that he was joking. There were none.

“What?”

He questioned, unsure if he heard correctly at this point.

“She’s still alive.”

Myungsoo said again, this time his voice was more resolute. More stable. Woohyun didn’t respond. Instead, he stood himself up and walked over to where Myungsoo now sat. Myungsoo stood up as well, knowing what was coming next. As he thought, he staggered after a swift punch to the face by Woohyun.

He looked up, his eyes narrowing at Woohyun as he pulled back his fist, delivering a punch right back. Woohyun staggered now, though that didn’t stop him from leaning backward and kicking Myungsoo in the stomach. Myungsoo retaliated as he did the same, landing a roundhouse kick right into the side of Woohyun’s head.

Why were they fighting?

They were fighting over the fact that they fought in the first place. That’s how they understood it. As Myungsoo dealt another punch on Woohyun’s cheek, he could feel it fading. His frustration. His confusion. All of it fading as they exchanged blows. Woohyun was throwing wild punches. Myungsoo did not bother with technique or stance. The need for defense was once more gone and continually they went at each other.

Hit after hit.

They mindlessly fought.

Until finally one of them went down.

As Woohyun kicked a charging Myungsoo, he went flinging towards one of the concrete pillars behind him. His back hit it and he collapsed, lying on his side then his stomach as he flipped over and caught his breath. Woohyun took an unsteady step towards him and fell to one knee, his legs giving out on him. He took deep breaths; white condensation flowed from his mouth. He raised his head to find Myungsoo still on the ground, breathing heavily just as he was.

He pushed himself to stand and walked towards Myungsoo, leaning over him and grabbing him by his collar once he got to him. He pulled him, forced him to sit up. Then he buckled into a sitting position, taking a seat right in front of the cracked lipped, dirt smudged, dead tired Myungsoo with his equally as untreated body.

Then, he smiled. As the dirt that was disturbed during their fight began to settle around them, he smiled at Myungsoo. “We should do this more often.” He laughed, feeling as though now, only now, had the two been able to resolve their conflict.

“Let’s not and say we did.” Myungsoo answered back, his lips hitching upwards.

Woohyun hung his head back and breathed out. His mind seemed so much clearer now. “I believe you.” He spoke up, “You said Hyunjoo’s still alive and I believe you.”

Woohyun knew. Woohyun knew from the sound of Myungsoo’s voice when he woke up that he finally got through to him. Finally got him to make a decision when it came to you. And he believed Myungsoo whole-heartedly when he said you were still alive. Because he needed to believe in it. For his own sake.

Now all they had to do was find you.

“What else would I be? Dead?”

Or perhaps you would be the one who found them first.

----

A/N:

A series of tragedies led up to this update. First off, it took me a long time to write this chapter so I stayed up thinking of how I was going to do it only to fall asleep while trying to do it. Secondly, my internet departed from my life for a good three hours. Thirdly, (though this isn't much of a tragedy) since I was going to be late with the update anyway, I made the chapter longer and added an extra scene at the end which took even longer to write. Fourthly, hunger pains struck me and I went out to eat. Lastly, I could have posted the chapter but before going out to eat but when I read it when I came home, I discovered how awful my grammar mistakes were so I fixed those and am glad I had not posted before I left to eat. And here I am, posting now. 

Regarding the chapter, Hyunjoo's not dead! Woohoo! I wonder if I caught any of you with that~

But if she's not dead, then why did the Man in Black say that she was? Or was he even saying she was at all or was he refering to something else? We'll see later on tonight won't we? At the very least, Myungsoo's and Woohyun's tussle sovled their issues! But what has Myungsoo decided to do about his relationship with Hyunjoo? Like I said, all will come in the next chapter!

Filled with food and ready to continue writing!