Minho carefully froze the earthern substance that was spread across the floor while Kibum shoved the now easier to pick up sections of mud into a round framed mirror. The object that had caused much alarm had been delivered by a nervous Key a few minutes earlier to a distant relative of Jonghyun’s who had a thing for explosives. Taemin was making sure they didn't miss any spots, leaving Onew and Jonghyun to be the ones to handle the girl. Though, all the males were keeping all ears and occasional eyes on her.

Onew had sat her down on a piano stool in the corner where she was finding the fabric of the seat very interesting, her fingers tracing the patterns and picking at the threads while her eyes focused on her fidgeting fingers.

Jonghyun had the most outwardly cheerful visage out of all of them. “I knew it! It was all pretend right! I just knew it!” Against his will, the mask of joy chipped slightly every few moments. “Right? Right?”

“You wouldn’t betray us like that.” Onew stated in his false friendly manner that he reserved for work. “You wouldn’t leave us at this point. Especially like that right?”

She started, “I…” What did she do? Would she really leave them? Well, judging from events that occurred about a month earlier, everyone wasn’t ruling out that option.

So why had things turned out this way?

Just over an hour earlier, she had made a pact with Gyou.

“Please…those boys,” she gritted out, “you can’t beat them.”

“Che.” He didn’t sound convinced nor threatened. Overconfidence would be his downfall. “I’ve seen what they can do. A fire demon and an ice demon. One can control animals. Another I’m sure has strength enough to crush a man’s skull. The last one…I have a good guess at what he is too.” He grinned widely without any mirth. “Tell me. Does he command you to do things or are you already more than willing?”

The lines of her face deepened into a frown. “None of them would ever force me to do anything like that.” A pause and then the frown straightened into a line. “I wouldn’t allow that to happen.” She pulled her head out of his grip and after shifting her jaw a few times, she continued, “So I wouldn’t hurt me if I were you. I could help you.”

“Ha! You expect me to believe you?” He laughed like it was the most ridiculous thing that could be said.

She looked him straight in the eye. “I hate it here. I was kidnapped by them. If you remember, I was trying to escape them when I ran into your campsite. But they ‘love’ me,” she spat. “They can’t hurt me. They’d kill themselves before letting that happen.”

“And I care because?”

“I can guarantee you victory.”

He grunted, “Heh. I already have my guarantee.” He pushed her against the mirror again, knocking the air out of her and making her see spots. “You shouldn’t underestimate me.”

Winded, she managed to say, “And you shouldn’t underestimate them. At the very least, I can be a shield. All I want is to get out of here and away from this crazy stuff.”

After much “discussion”, Key made his first move, surprising Gyou, and that sleazeball swung a chair at her head! Without even warning her! Here, she was, all compliant and civil towards the demon or whatever he was, and he doesn’t even give her a heads up! But she didn’t have time to be pissed at Gyou, too busy making sure her head was still connected to her body. She did gather herself quickly enough to see a long hand reach for her. Gyou became rightfully paranoid of the mirrors after that. Hey, he never asked for a clarification of their abilities.

After her little outburst at Key and the rest of SHINee, she did feel a little bit better. Just barely. It had been a while since she had yelled at them, and she had never been so harsh with her words either. It felt good to vent. But then she noticed they looked like somebody just ran over their puppy or something. She felt…bad. But now Gyou trusted her more. It was a step closer to freedom. It’s what she had wanted all along.

Just…she wasn’t as excited as she should have been. But that could be because of the conditions that her freedom required. She couldn’t look anyone in the eye. And she really wished Gyou would stop touching her. Could he save all that uncomfortable stuff for one time? He was making her feel like a or something. Wait. She mind as well be one now.

“Fine. If that’s what you want. Leave. We’ve been as nice as people, no, demons can get towards you. And you just leave us for this piece of dirt.”

Onew was letting her go with Gyou! He was letting Gyou take her! Were her ears deceiving her? He probably already thought her to be some low life …

Did he not care that much for her anymore? Was he finally fed up enough with her to let her fall into the hands of Gyou of all people? She had been doing so well in schooling her expressions so far but no amount of self control could help the slight dimming of her bright eyes as she discovered that Onew didn’t care anymore. As soon as she registered the feeling, it was buried as she repeated in her mind, ‘It’s what I want.’ After all that had played out these past minutes, she didn’t need doubt. In herself or the demons, but she knew he, the closeby Key, saw it: the barest hint of weakness in her resolve.

Although squashed at first, the doubt resurfaced in her mind as Gyou breathed into her hair and his fingers teased the waist of her pants. He was disgusting. She had never met such a disgusting person before. ‘Idiot. I’m such an idiot!’ How did she not think of all the consequences? Did that many of her brain cells die while being confined, traumatized, and sick?!

For a while, she stared intently at the floor into a shard of glass, searching for her next course of action in its reflection and seeing her face turn increasingly more worried as the seconds blew by, but nobody else knew as her hair shadowed her expression.

 “I will go,” she had finally decided, but although her tone was strong and decisive, her mind was screaming curse words at herself because of all the loopholes in her…she couldn’t even call it a plan!

“You can’t be serious.”

No, she wasn’t. At least, not anymore. She didn’t even know what to think anymore. For once, she wished somebody would think for her. But this was her mess. She got herself into it and dragged the others along with her to complicate matters more. She would fix it somehow. For her own sake.

They were her way to safety. She knew it. They knew it. Before she could get them to save her though, she had to save them without getting herself killed in the process.

But their desperate pleas for explanations were making it hard to think.

And what Onew did next really didn’t help.

“Jonghyun, step back.”

It didn’t help at all. It didn’t help that the leader wasn’t showing the least bit of concern or care anymore. It didn’t help that he was telling the others to give up. No, it didn’t help. It hurt. As she was half dragged down the hall, she felt the pain.

How dare he keep her there, pretend to be friendly, whisper promises of love to her, and then just throw her away?! Hurt turned to anger. And then anger turned to confusion. She didn’t understand it at all. She wanted to understand it. “I need my stuff from my room.” She wasn’t going to leave like this.  She needed to get out of this alive, but that required Gyou to be dead. ‘Think girl. What can beat a bomb?!’

She led the man around the mansion to buy some time so that she could think. What did she know about bombs? It felt like forever since she did any physics or chemistry related work.

Gyou was losing patience and she was starting to panic. Not that she wasn’t panicking before, but now she felt like she was letting it show. After she started losing her resolve and confidence, Gyou seemed to gain it.

 “You know what? Screw your stuff! If you want to get out of here without everything crumbling to the ground around you, we’re leaving now!”

She was being dragged again, and with every stumbling step, the urge to cry tears increased. She probably would have broken down if she hadn’t turned her head to look desperately behind her and spotted Minho rounding the far corner. She could have choked out a cry of pure relief and joy if she had been any stupider than she already was.

They spotted each other at the same time, and he would have sprinted down the hall towards her if she didn’t throw up a hand that clearly signaled to stop. He halted immediately in utter confusion, but she blindly gambled that he trusted her enough to pause for a few more seconds while she could quickly act.

“Okay, you know what? I am sorry I’m being so slow but could you PLEASE not be so mean to me. I’m friggin going to sleep with you for goodness sake! Do you want me to be miffed at you while we’re doing it?!” She could only imagine Minho’s face at the moment. No doubt had he heard her screeching words.

Maybe she should have gone into acting. She was better at it than she ever thought she could be. Either that, or she had given Gyou’s intelligence too much credit. She tried to explain the workings of the bomb as best as she could, as loud as she could, without giving Minho’s presence away. She really hoped Minho would understand her. And soon because this…touching was just plain…uncomfortable.

Thankfully, Choi Minho did eventually understand. And then, he acted.

“YOU !” Gyou expressed his displeasure rather vocally. “THAT ING ! YOU’RE ALL DEAD!” As he pressed the button to blow everything to rubble, everyone visibly flinched. But nothing happened.

Gyou, wild-eyed and desperate, continued to abuse the button while sputtering out profanities.

While twisting Key’s shirt in her frightened grip, the girl whispered, “I said I would be a shield.” Onew, Jonghyun, and Taemin entered the room and stalked towards Gyou. “I never guaranteed that I would be yours.” She spied the first blow before trying to shield her already tainted mind from the violent scene.

And now? Now she was actually right back where she started. If her nerves weren’t so high strung from the very fresh incident, she would have given a sigh.

“I…,” how could she answer that question? They could always see through her lies. “I hated Gyou. I didn’t want him to do that to me.” She kind of answered the question. Yes, originally she wanted to leave with Gyou in her desperation. But she had realized that this wasn’t the chance she had been waiting for. In the end, she had chosen the lesser of two evils.

Was it all pretend like Jonghyun said? No. It wasn’t. While others had some doubts, both she and Onew knew better.

Would she ever betray them? She had. Those guys all had felt it even if some of them were relieved of it now.

Would she leave them? This, they all knew. The answer was yes. But some chose to hope or to deny.

Would she leave them like THAT? In such a desperate way that she would defile herself? She almost had. But in the end, she couldn’t. Onew wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He was still hurt and angry. He got most of that out while he pummeled Gyou. Now, well, he still felt a bit angry but also a lot more confused. The others, they were younger and more optimistic, but Onew knew. He knew how serious she was at first. In the end, she chose to stay though. Most likely it was for her own benefit, but he still felt some relief.

The eldest blinked slowly and sighed, clearing the negative emotions from his mind. “We have a lot of clean up to do. Luckily, we’re all free until tomorrow. Minho, do something about your room. Taemin, take care of your garden. Key, Jonghyun, tidy this place up,” the leader gestured towards the mess of a room they were standing in. “I flooded a bathroom downstairs so I’ll clean it up somehow.” He turned towards the girl. Eyeing her for a moment longer than polite, he continued, “You’ve been through a lot today. Rest up. Or do as you please around here.” Turning back towards his group members, “Get a move on.” They stared. “Now…” The cleanup commenced.

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THEA's Corner <3
No matter how many times I rewrite this chapter (3 times to be almost exact), I just don't like it.. I think I changed the objective of this chapter like four times. In the end, I gipped you of a chapter didn't I? Nothing new really happened. Sorry. I figured I mind as well post SOMETHING since I made you wait all summer with no update in sight. The last fourth of this chapter hasn't even been proofread. I just typed it up now.

If anyone is wondering where the heck I've been all summer, read my blog on this website. It explains it all. Honestly, I'm surprised I've posted this right now. I'm currently studying abroad and am probably going through culture shock right now so that's why I'm holed up in my room and posting this :P I'll adjust eventually.

Umm...yeah. That's it. Thanks for putting up with my incompetent . *sighs*

Posted 1 September 2011
~4 pages long