“What else would I be? Dead?”

There was a moment when the two of them turned and stared on. Stared on at your smiling face as you used the side of the hallway leading into the room for support. Your legs were trembling and you had made it here by sheer will. You had heard it, the noise being made from this direction. You never thought it would be the two of them, both sitting on the floor, talking to each other as healthy as could be. You groaned as you tried to use your own two feet to support yourself. You failed miserably and ended up falling to your knees on the ground.

In an instant, Woohyun scrambled to his feet and ran to you. He stumbled as he came to a stop and was now sitting in front of you. You got a good look at his face now. His lips were red, stained with his own blood. There was swelling below his eye but you could tell it was healing, and fast. That was the benefit of being a werewolf.

A shadow casted down on you, blocking out the red light that poured in from the ceiling. You looked up, drawing your eyes away from Woohyun. Myungsoo was standing over the two of you and you saw a line of blood across his nose. He had but cut and it had healed. However, the blood had not dried up yet. In fact, it looked quite fresh.

You gulped down, wetting your throat to speak, “Did you two fight?” You asked, your eyes on Myungsoo who you knew would give you a straight up answer. He stared at you, his eyelashes fluttered a few times and you knew his answer. They had fought each other. You looked back to Woohyun now and breathed out, sighing almost, as your lips curved upwards, “Well, you guys seem to have worked things out so I guess there’s no reason to ask about it.”

Woohyun lifted his hands from his side and you flinched as he smoothed the hair out of your face. He ran his fingers through your hair, giving you chills where his heated skin brushed against your forehead. He looked as though he had cried and your heart felt like it was being twisted. “What’s wrong?” You whispered to him, his face only a few inches away from yours. He shook his head in response and for a moment, you thought he would actually cry right there. His eyes became wet and you couldn’t look away from the expression he was giving you right now.

He leaned forward and you were too memorized by his features to think about backing away. He let his hands drift from your hair to your cheeks, cupping your face as he pulled you to him gently. His features blurred out as he came so close your noses almost touched. He laid his forehead on yours and took a deep breath. It felt good, the contact. Unbelievably good. Though you couldn’t tell if it was because of the warmth of his hands on your cold skin or the act of being closer to him.

“Nothing’s wrong.” He softly responded with a small smile.

You rubbed your arms, warming yourself up under the sunlight that poured in from above you.

“Do you want to use my scarf?” Woohyun asked though before you could answer, he was already reaching up to take it off and give it to you. You shook your head no.

“Don’t. It’s okay.” You waved one hand in the air, rejecting it.

“It’s either that or I give you some of my body heat.” He stretched out his arms and looked at you with an eyebrow raised upwards. You sighed and extended your hand outward.

“Alright, I’ll take the scarf.”

He lowered his hands and laughed, “That’s what I thought.”

Within mere moments, you were wearing Woohyun’s scarf. It was at your own behest that he not put it on you himself. You looked away from Woohyun again, back towards Myungsoo who was sitting in front of you, diagonally from Woohyun. He was staring at you. Staring at you with those eyes of his with emotions you couldn’t understand clouding over them. He had been doing this the entire time it took you to tell them what happened while you had been separated from the two of them. You told them about trying to send the message. Luckily for you, you grabbed your dead phone before sprinting away from the man in black.

Speaking of dead, the man in black told them that you were just that, dead, a lifeless corpse. The fight was one-sided between the two of you, mostly advantageous on his side. You were able to get a few hits in, using spare pieces of metal that littered the ground as weaponry. That didn’t mean you didn’t take any hits of course. Your face still stung like crazy and your stomach definitely was taking a moment to recover from the kick he landed. That’s not why you felt so weak now however. You were cold. Freezing.

Apparently, Woohyun and Myungsoo fought him as well and he did the same thing to end the fight with them as he did with you. He left. He left you, as you were on the ground, vulnerable. However, the reason he left you was not because of pity, of that you were sure.

He said her name again.

Shinae.

He spoke it as he looked down at you, in a heap on the ground due to the impact of his kick. And you, you quite possibly said the thing that triggered his departure.

“Why do you keep calling for her?”

You asked as you were breathing heavily.

“She’s dead.”

There was a moment in time where he stared down at you, not saying a word, not moving a muscle. As though he didn’t understand. You felt as though you had somehow broken him. As though you said something that should have never been said. Before you could remedy the situation, find out why he reacted this way, he turned and left. You ended up curling up with your back against the hallway wall, trying to coax out of yourself some warmth while you still felt the adrenaline pumping through your veins.

So then, he had told them you were dead. Perhaps simply repeating the same word you had said earlier because he most definitely knew he was leaving you alive. Weirdly, you wished you hadn’t said it.

“Hyunjoo.”

You lifted your head up. You were burying the bottom half of your face up to the bridge of your nose into Woohyun’s scarf, attempting to warm yourself up. Woohyun had called out to you. You looked towards him and he was sitting there, smiling at you. Just as he had the day at your house when he told you about his past. He was sitting there, smiling as though he was content as could be. You couldn’t believe the look on his face moments before, as though he would start to cry at any second, in retrospect of how he looked now. You could still feel the warmth of his hands lingering on your cheeks. Still feel his fingers running through your hair. 

You stared right back at him. Honestly, you didn’t know how long the two of you simply sat there, looking at each other. You did know however when it ended.

A noise came from in front of you, the sound of Myungsoo standing up. You looked to him now, breaking eye contact with Woohyun. “Myungsoo?” You questioned his action.

“Firewood.” He answered your unstated question and began to walk off, hands in his pockets. He was right about there being firewood in the Containment Zone. There were even a few fires here and there. Weak ones, yes, but fires none the less.

“Alone?” You moved to stand up only to discover that your legs had fallen asleep. You ended up failing miserably in your attempt to stand. When you managed to steady yourself, Myungsoo had turned around and was watching you struggle in silence. Woohyun beside you was smiling still, amused with your antics as usual. “I’m going too.” You stated as you began to walk quickly to him. You weren’t going to let him go by himself. You looked back at Woohyun and furrowed your eyebrows at him, asking him what he was still doing sitting down. He shook his head, his smile still there, and stood up from the floor.

Myungsoo turned around again and continued walking forward, exiting the vast room through an entryway to another familiar looking hallway. You followed right behind him and Woohyun took his time as he lagged behind, taking in every aspect of you that he could.

As Myungsoo stepped through the hallway, you entered in behind him.

“Hyunjoo.”

Woohyun had called your name again. Not in jest but this time in urgency. When you turned, you saw two metal slabs slam shut, abruptly blocking the way out. You had forgotten. The two of them had as well. This place had a mind of its own. Even if you were together, there was always a chance of being separated.

“Hyunjoo!”

You heard his muffled yell. Before the entrance shut, you saw him sprinting towards it. But, he was too far from it. Too far from you to catch up. You ran to the metal and banged on it incessantly, not minding the stinging of your hand each time you did.

“Woohyun!”

You yelled for him. There was silence in return. You hit it again, refusing to believe this. Again, again you were separated. You turned slowly away from the metal that separated you from Woohyun to Myungsoo. He was standing behind you, his hands out of his pockets. The look on his face was one you couldn’t appreciate right now, the look of utter shock.

It looked like it was just the two of you again.

If anything was more obvious right now, it was that the two of you had to find a way to get to Woohyun. Yet, it seemed as though you were getting farther away from him by the second. At the end of the hallway, there was a set of stairs leading upwards. So, you two took them, having no other way to go. Unfortunately, everywhere you went, you only saw stairs leading further upwards, such as the long and narrow one you were on now.

You lifted Woohyun’s scarf over your mouth and breathed out, warming your face with your own breath. You were still cold, but not once had Myungsoo stopped walking to allow you to take a break. You didn’t understand it. He was once more thinking about your well-being. How was not taking a break good for you? If you stopped moving, you would only get colder. To get your body warm, you had to keep your body going.

You looked up to where he was above you on the stairs. He was still wearing that ratty sweater to cover up the hole in his pants. You muffled a laugh only to scream the very next second.

The next step you took up, the stairs collapsed from beneath you. You reached out and grabbed quickly onto the beams lining the stairs on either side of you. You pulled yourself up three stairs and sighed in relief. What followed the collapse of the step you had taken was the subsequent cracking and falling of the steps beneath it. You watched in awe at the series of events you had caused. You didn’t realize that the very stair step you were standing on was on the brink of collapse itself.

You yelped when you felt it give way underneath you. You tightened your grip on the metal beams and half expected you’d feel the impact of your body slamming against concrete. Yet, you felt nothing. Or rather, you felt something different. As opposed to having your body come in contact with concrete, it came in contact with something warmer. Myungsoo.

He had his arm wrapped around you, his fingers spread out on the small of your back, holding you to him.

“Calm down.”

He said as he looked down. Right at your hands. You loosened your grip on the metal beams and only then did he swing you to the left and place you on the stair step above him. You blinked a few times in disbelief. He met your gaze, not looking away. Then, he spoke, breaking you out of the trance he had drawn you into.

“Keep moving.”

He said and without a second thought you ascended the rest of the stairs, definitely not wanting to have it give way beneath you again. He followed you and you turned left, the only way you could go. There was a large room. A large, wide, empty room. On the other side, opposite to where you were standing, you saw an exit, a single doorway. You only hoped that would lead you downwards. Myungsoo walked past you and continued forward without a word.

“Thank you.”

He turned to face you, his expression neutral as he answered.

“For saving you again?”

Your eye twitched in annoyance at the way he sounded but he was right, “Yeah.” You replied. He kept his eyes on your frame for a moment, quite a long moment before he turned away and with that continued walking forward. You didn’t understand it. The way he looked at you. “Myungsoo.”

He stopped walking again and turned his head once more. Your voice disappeared in your throat. Why? Why did he continue to look at you like this?

“Is something wrong?”

You couldn’t ask him directly what his thoughts were as he looked at you. So, you phrased your question differently.

“You’re not dead.”

You were stunned by his answer. Did he want you to be dead? Was the look he giving you one of disappointment? You couldn’t believe it.

“That’s what’s wrong?”

“No.”

As always, he was confusing you. Was it wrong? Was it not wrong? What was really wrong at this point? Up seemed like down with the only benefit being that all of this thinking diverted attention away from how cold you were.

“I don’t know how to deal with it.”

Now, once more, he had lost you. He didn’t know how to deal with the fact that you were alive? That’s what was wrong? Thankfully he started to speak again though you didn’t keep your fingers crossed that you’d understand it. Still you would try, because unlike the time in the dark, where he could speak as he liked without having you look at him, he was standing in front of you now. Telling you how he felt while looking right at you. Thus, you would try to understand.

“I told Woohyun you were alive. Though there’s always that small chance that I was wrong. That what I saw in his eyes was wrong. He said he believed me and I wanted to believe it to.” He was speaking slowly, calmly, his tone giving away nothing. “There’s always the chance that you were dead. Lying somewhere in this place motionless. I didn’t know how to deal with it. Now that you’re alive, I’m even more unsure how to deal with it. It’s like watching a ghost.”

That’s why he was looking at you like that. He couldn’t believe you were still alive. He was looking at you as though you would disappear any second. He was looking at you in suspicion, judging if you were actually real or an illusion this entire time.

“I’m not a ghost. If that helps at all.” You mused though he neither smiled nor laughed in response.

“I’m actually wondering how long that will last. How many more situations will you put yourself in that the prospect of you being dead is plausible?”

“I did not beg anyone to throw me down here.” You retorted in astonishment as you walked closer, not liking the turn this conversation was taking.

As with all conversations between the two of you, the next thing that came out of Myungsoo’s mouth sent you over the edge, “Really? You didn’t beg? As though you didn’t know Minah would actually do something like this. The situations you put yourself in beg the question of if you actually know it’s going to end badly and do it anyway.”

“Do we always have to argue when we’re together?” You walked past him and took deep breaths, attempting to calm yourself down from the first actual argument the two of you have had since you first arrived in the Containment Zone. 

“If I don’t argue with you, I’ll-”

The ground beneath you gave midway through his sentence. You yelped as your body hurled downwards along with the crumbled pieces of concrrete that used to be what you were standing on. Below you were other holes going through what looked like around eight floors. At the very bottom was a pile of rubble that would undoubtedly kill you if you fell onto it. You saw your life flash before your eyes in that moment.

Your mother. Your father. Hoya. Dongwoo. Sungyeol. Sunggyu. B-Bomb. Sungjong. P.O. Taeil. Jaehyo. U-kwon. Kyung and Zico. Even Myungsoo and Woohyun. You couldn’t help but notice how those two made up most of the memories you saw go by in flashes across your eyes.

You felt the weightlessness as your body floated in mid-air. You blinked a few times. “I’m floating?” You muttered under your breath as you seemed to dangle above your deathbed. You heard the ground crack near the top of your head. When you finally looked up, you found Myungsoo looking back at you.

He had your right wrist in his grip and it made sense now why you weren’t dead yet. He had saved you. Again. Saved you by grabbing you before you fell. But from the looks of it, he wasn’t in that good of a position. The floor that collapsed underneath you was weak. The floor that surrounded it had cracks in it as well. Myungsoo was now standing on that weak spot in the concrete. If he even made one move to lift you up, the concrete would give in and both of you would go falling. Though he was superhuman, he wouldn’t walk away from that kind of fall unscathed and he needed all the energy he could get so he could get out of this labyrinth.

You looked down and studied what was beneath you more. You spotted an outstretched support beam just one floor below where you were. If you were going to fall your best bet would be to try to latch onto that and pull yourself up. You nodded at your plan and looked back at Myungsoo.

When you focused back on his face, he had his usual expression. Everything was the same except his teeth gritted together as if he was at a loss of what to do. If he dropped you then he could get out of there before the concrete fell through and you could survive just fine if you grabbed onto that metal support beam. If he attempted to pull you up, well he should just drop you now. That was what you were thinking anyway.

“Myungsoo.” You whispered softly. He shook his head no as he bit down onto his lips.

“Don’t you dare,” he threatened as he read your body language. He knew exactly what you were planning because he also considered that possibility. However, getting to the beam would be difficult and dangerous. The chances of you surviving were slim. He couldn’t imagine it as he couldn’t before. He couldn’t imagine your lifeless body lying on the ground in front of him.

“Myungsoo.” You called again.

“I’m not going to let you try something so risky. So don’t even say it.” His upper lip twitched and you could tell he was still at a loss of what to do. Honestly, after everything he had done to you, this moment right here almost made you break down into tears. He didn’t like you, he knew you were a liability, you always argued with him, yet here he was. Here he was refusing to let you die.

You laughed quietly, “You’re such a mystery, you know that?”

He shook his head no. He couldn’t let you die like this. Not when he still had so much to tell you. Not when he had held back all this time. He wished he would’ve treated you better, maybe then this wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t have walked farther from him after arguing with him.

As he gazed down at your face that looked up at him from over the edge, he didn’t even know how he could’ve lied to that face. Not to your face, which right now was all he could see. Not the collapsing building around him. Not his pack. Just you. Thinking of how just earlier he had been telling himself that he didn’t care for you made him feel like laughing at himself. All this time, it was just an act. An act not to convince you but to convince himself that he didn’t have any feelings for you. That he didn’t think about you every second of the days he lived since he met you that rainy night. If only figuring you out your feelings was as easy as it was to figure out himself. If only it didn’t take you falling to your death for him to come to terms with his feelings.

Why did he always argue with you? Because he was afraid of what he might realize if he let himself do anything else besides that.

Myungsoo tightened his grip on you, “Look who’s talking.” He said as a comeback. You managed a smile despite the situation.

“Hyunjoo!” A loud voice called from below you. Both you and Myungsoo exchanged looks before looking down slowly. There stood an ant sized, dirt, and dust covered Woohyun. His eyes were wide as he frantically tried to figure the situation you were in out.

You looked back up at Myungsoo whose grip did not in the least weaken in relief now that Woohyun was here. It still meant bad news if you fell after all. You wanted to say something more to him but the cracking of concrete beneath him made you hold your tongue.

Unnecessary movement was not going to make anything better.

“I’ll catch her!” Woohyun yelled from below. You looked back down at him and you heard your heart pound against your eardrums. He would catch you? From anyone else that would be doubtful but this was Woohyun. He might just pull it off. You exchanged looks with Myungsoo.

Truthfully, he didn’t want to let you go. He’d rather risk falling down with you. If he let go and Woohyun caught you, and there was a hundred percent chance he would, then that meant he would have to find some way to get down there. The stairs had collapsed earlier so that way was not an option. Letting you go now meant leaving you alone with Woohyun for an unspecified amount of time. He didn’t want that. So like a stubborn child, he held onto your wrist tighter.

“L!” He heard Woohyun call his nickname from below. He winced guiltily and looked down at you. You stared up at him, wondering what he was going to do now. After studying your eyes, he decided. If he let you go you would survive another day. That would give him a chance to make up to you what he had done. A chance to do things right this time.

“I’m letting go.” He told you. “He’ll catch you. Trust us.”

You searched his eyes for an answer to his sudden kindness. This new Myungsoo made you feel attached to him, even more so than you ever had before. You didn’t want him to let go when he was being like this. However, you nodded to him in confirmation.

He his lips in nervousness before he slowly loosened his grip. He was hesitant but he continued anyway. Once he had held onto you loosely, in one shot, he let go and quickly moved away from the rim of the hole.

You felt your stomach float as air quickly blew your hair upwards as you fell. Your stomach dropped as you hit something hard. It wasn’t rock however. You grasped at the cloth beside your face in relief. Woohyun had caught you.

“Hyunjoo,” he cooed as he set you down slowly, “You okay?” You nodded your head yes.

You were okay. Thanks to Woohyun. Woohyun and, you looked back up.

“Myungsoo?” You yelled in the loudest voice you could muster. You heard nothing but the echoes of your voice for a moment before finally you heard him.

“I’ll find a way out. Keep moving.” Was all you heard before silence rece more. You furrowed your eyebrows, wishing he were down there with you and Woohyun as well.

“Can you keep going?” Woohyun asked, breaking your concentration. You turned to him and gave him a firm nod.

“Yeah. Let’s get going.” You and him both walked forward, towards the way Woohyun said he hadn’t yet been to. What you two would find there, you both didn’t know. 

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A/N:

This chapter is so long. Oh so long. There was a split from Woohyun, then a split from Myungsoo in this chapter (I could have split it up into two chapters but hey, I didn't want to make you guys wait that long.) Think of this long chapter as another way to make up for yesterday's late update~

Regarding the last chapter, the Before the Dawn MV was the inspiration for the Man in Black and the Containment Zone so I decided to follow the format of the fight in the music video and add my own spin to it :)

Thanksgiving break is next week! Is everyone excited? I am! I have five days off to eat yams and turkey during the entire time. To everyone who celebrates it, hope you have a happy Thanksgiving. 

See you all during the break!