chapter 26

Sunggyu walks, chin held high because the last thing he’ll do is give Sungjae the satisfaction of fear, and he sets his eyes forward. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Hyunsik is pulling Woohyun who stumbles forward, blood falling from his mouth. Hyunsik’s hand hovers over Woohyun’s chest, fingers already sinking into the flesh. Sunggyu feels pulses radiate through the walls, feels a comforting warmth in the cool maze, and his skin tingles. It’s near, so near he can feel it within his bone.

Myungsoo and Hoya are quiet for the most part, sending deathly glares at Sungjae and his followers. Sunggyu is thankful they aren’t trying to fight their way out because it’ll be useless. Sunggyu has a plan anyways and it wouldn’t do if they didn’t cooperate. Not that Sunggyu’s plan is very good or very smart but he figures if he can just trick everyone enough to get a hold of the Key then maybe his stupid, simple plan will work. Or so he can hope.

Sungjae’s hand ghosts over his shoulder blades and Sunggyu walks just a bit faster, letting Sungjae’s hand hang there. “It’s close,” Sunggyu says loudly and he’s surprised his voice sounds so steady, so confident. But it is, despite his true feelings.

“Don’t speed up too much, Sunggyu, or our prince won’t be able to keep up,” Sungjae chuckles.

Sunggyu swallows. He’s being tormented, teased, and he won’t let his facade falter. Woohyun is in pain but he’ll heal as long as they all obey and Sunggyu will somehow get some blood into him. There’s a light at the end of the cave and if anything, Sunggyu speeds up just a little. It’s so close. With every pace the feeling of warmth overwhelms more and more and he realizes he’s almost breaking into a run.

They come up to what looks like a translucent wall with thick black decorating it, symbols Sunggyu has never seen before but he understands them. Weird. They don’t represent words, more like feelings. Auras. Sunggyu stops and Sungjae walks ahead, eyebrow raised. Just before he hits the wall, Sunggyu says, “Stop. Don’t move.”

Sungjae halts with a stillness only vampires can manage and looks at Sunggyu expectantly. Sunggyu walks forward, hand outreached, and slowly presses his palm to the wall. The symbol underneath his fingers is warm and solid and Sunggyu feels sparks flying from his skin. Sunggyu looks at the other symbols and is drawn to one right in the centre of the wall so he moves towards it, presses both his hands flush against it, and pushes. There is no resistance and Sunggyu’s arms slip through easily. He makes a small noise of surprise before he sticks his right foot through, too.

“There’s an invisible wall. I can get through, and I think I can get a few others through, but it won’t let everyone. Too many vampires.”

“Well then, you, me, Hyunsik and the prince. Is that good?”

Sunggyu shakes his head. “Just you, me, and Woohyun. He’s in no position to fight.”

“Very well. Then, shall we?” Sungjae turns to the rest of the vampires who look dubious of the situation. “Don’t kill each other, yeah?”

There’s a glint in Myungsoo’s eyes and Sunggyu just hopes they’ll be okay. Hyunsik drags over Woohyun who is slowly regaining composure, their eyes meet, and he lets go of Woohyun harshly. Sunggyu quickly pulls him to lean on him before Woohyun can fall. “Are you okay?” Sunggyu whispers. He’s not but Sunggyu just wants to hear Woohyun speak.

A faint smile ghosts over his features and Sunggyu lifts his sleeve to wipe away the blood on Woohyun’s face. “I feel better now,” he says and his voice seems more stable than his condition. Sunggyu kisses him quickly before looking at Sungjae then at the seemingly invisible wall. Sunggyu grabs Sungjae’s wrist and forcefully pulls him through. The wall bends easily for him, catches slightly on Sungjae, and they make it to the other side. They look back at a solid wall with the same symbols covering it, no sign of entry or exit. Sunggyu pulls his hand away from Sungjae’s wrist and instead uses it to brush away a few strands of hair out of Woohyun’s forehead. He’s sweating, which is odd for a vampire, but it’s probably because of the gaping wound in his chest. But he’s better on his feet now and maybe that’s because Sunggyu can finally touch him.

On this side of the wall, the pressure is unbelievably strong. There’s a light pulsing at the end of the tunnel just meters in front of them and Sungjae begins walking towards it. Sungjae stops when Sunggyu doesn’t move and he looks at him questioningly. “I am going to heal him,” Sunggyu says.

Sunggyu expects him to go on ahead but he doesn’t – instead he nods and steps back to lean on the wall. The wall seems to hum when Sungjae touches it, most likely because he’s a vampire, inhuman, and it doesn’t seem to bother him. “Don’t mind me, go on.”

Sunggyu ignores him and turns Woohyun so that he’s hugging him. He lifts his chin, angles his head so that the expanse of his neck is completely exposed. Woohyun instinctively moves down, lips dragging over his skin as he goes, finding the pulse point. It’s quick how he pierces Sunggyu’s skin and Sunggyu gasps quietly as hears Woohyun swallow mouthful after mouthful. Sunggyu cradles Woohyun’s head, fingers carding through his hair, and a long moment passes before Woohyun pulls away a little, breathing against Sunggyu’s skin.

Sunggyu’s blood works fast and after a few minutes Woohyun is already standing on his own and he’s stopped sweating. Sunggyu takes his hand and they walk forward towards the light.

The light fades the moment they step into it and in front of them is a door, big and intimidating. Sunggyu pushes it open with ease, despite its appearance, and they step through quickly.

What they step into is hard for Sunggyu to describe but it’s something like a void, thick and heavy on their shoulders. Sunggyu finds himself breathing heavily, his human lungs suffering in whatever this is, but he moves forward because he thinks that if he stops he won’t be able to start again. He doesn’t quite know what this is – all he knows is that he wants to leave. He can feel Woohyun squeeze his hand, reassuring, and he feels only a little better. He wonders if this void is affecting Woohyun and Sungjae as much as it is affecting him but he can’t open his mouth to ask. All he can do is move forward.

He hears something, ghostly whispering he can’t quite decipher, and the whispering grows in volume with each passing second until it’s so loud Sunggyu covers his ears as if he can block it out. But the whispering is still loud and ghastly and he can’t focus. He sinks into a crouch, vaguely sensing Woohyun next to him, but he can’t hear him nor can he concentrate on Woohyun’s touches.

The whispering stops just as soon as it had started and Sunggyu realizes that he’s curled up in a ball on the ground, driven temporarily mad from the sounds. He’s sweating and he trembles. “Sunggyu,” Woohyun mutters and Sunggyu looks at him in surprise. “How long was I–”

He cuts off, having no idea what to call it. Woohyun understands. “About ten minutes. Are you okay?”

Sunggyu nods, rising to his feet. “I’m fine.” Sungjae looks at him skeptically through the darkness and Sunggyu shakes his head, wiggling his toes and his fingers to make sure he has feeling. “Do you know where the Key is?” Sungjae asks, choosing to ignore the fact that Sunggyu isn’t really in his right mind.

Sunggyu takes a deep breath before he glances at where he thinks Sungjae is. “We’re very close,” Sunggyu murmurs. His body is tense as he moves forward and despite the room being completely black, he knows exactly where he’s going. Forward a few more steps and he blinks quickly. One second they’re in complete darkness, the next the darkness is lit by a glowing orb emitting every colour of the rainbow. Sunggyu stops in his tracks, breath taken away by the beauty of it. This is it, he thinks, and it’s ineffable.

“What is it?” Woohyun asks and Sunggyu realizes he’s the only one who can see it. He moves forward, reaching out, and once he touches the orb he feels a shock resonate through his entire body. It leaves behind a pleasant tingling and he gasps like he’s being pulled from water. His hand disappears into the orb of light and at the centre his fingers clasp around a small, solid ball, something with the consistency of a pearl.

The moment he grabs it the blackness flashes and suddenly the blackness is replaced with a white void. Sunggyu can see clearly and the small pearl pulses in his fist.

Sungjae begins moving towards Sunggyu, a terrifying glint in his eyes that Sunggyu has never seen before, and he holds out his hand. Woohyun moves forward, too, and as Sungjae gets closer he moves so that he is standing in front of Sunggyu. “Hand it over,” Sungjae says menacingly.

Sunggyu shakes his head and grips Woohyun’s shoulder. Woohyun flinches slightly, somehow Sunggyu sends shocks throughout his body, but he focuses on the way Sungjae walks towards them like a predator stalking its prey.

Moments of silence pass and then everything happens too quickly for Sunggyu’s eyes to follow. Sungjae lunges, Woohyun tackles him to the ground. They’re a blur and Sunggyu hears grunts and ripping noises. He stumbles backwards, the pearl pulsing intensely in his hand. He looks at it, at the orb of light in his palm, and he in a breath. It chatters at him loudly and soon the sounds of fighting vanish and all he can hear is a weird buzzing in his ear.

He’s not sure what’s going on but he stares at it and listens as if it were telling him a story. He can’t understand what it’s saying but he never stops listening. He doesn’t hear his name being called and then he’s being tackled to the floor. He clutches the Key tightly as he lands with a loud thump. He’s dizzy, can still hear the senseless chattering in his ear, and Sungjae is above him, face bloody. There’s a large scratch cutting through his cheek, angry, and Sunggyu can see bone. He gags and looks away, keeping his fist shut tight, and he knees upward. Sungjae yelps and clambers off Sunggyu and Sunggyu doesn’t have time to wonder what just happened. He scrambles to his feet and Woohyun is again attached to Sungjae, clawing at his throat.

Breathing heavily, deeply, he looks at the Key again. It gives him a weird feeling and it’s terrifying. Like something evil. It speaks to him in a way he can’t quite decipher but he knows what it’s saying. It’s telling him to choose something, to think of something Sunggyu wishes for. It’s telling him it will help him and that everything will be okay. But Sunggyu can’t trust what it says. He can’t rid himself of the way it creeps into his mind, whispers to him comforting words that should make no sense.

It’s driving him insane, he realizes, and he just wants it to stop. He wants the voices to silence themselves, wants the senseless chattering to stop making sense, wants the hairs on his arms to stop standing as if he were alone in a dark forest, being watched by a hooded figure. He pulls his eyes away to see Woohyun and Sungjae tangled in a cluster of blood and teeth and he shivers. How long has he been idly standing there while they fight? They’re equally injured and the sight makes Sunggyu’s stomach do flips. They’re fighting for the thing in Sunggyu’s hands and Sunggyu feels his heart drop. This thing in his hands has caused the mess in front of him and he wonders how far Sungjae is willing to go for this. He wonders how far anyone is willing to go for this absolute power he’s holding.

Sunggyu grits his teeth and he lets out something like a sob before he drops the Key on the floor and smashes it with his foot, crushing it into thousands of pieces.

woops sunggyu