“W-what?” Ilhoon uttered after a long moment of impossible silence. The Btob boys were in complete shock. Was this even possible? How could the people they had spent so much time with, the boys they entrusted their lives to, turn out to be life draining demons?

            “It’s not that big a deal right?” Kikwang mentioned.

            “No big deal?!” Hyunsik yelled at the shadow. “How could you not tell us this?!”

            “We knew you’d react negatively,” Dongwoon commented, causing Minhyuk to snap.

            “Of course we’d react negatively!” The boy stood over the shadow. “You in lied to us!”

            “It wasn’t a lie, Minhyuk,” Yoseob spoke, “It was just… withholding the truth.”

            “Isn’t that the same thing?!” Minhyuk replied, angrily.

            “Don’t snap at Seobie!” Dongwoon grew irritated.

            “YOU SHUT UP!” Minhyuk growled. “I more pissed at you than anyone!"

            At this point, Eunkwang was hyperventilating. Doojoon reached over to comfort the younger, only to have his hand slapped away. “Don’t touch me!”

            “Eunkwang, calm down-”

            “Back off him Doojoon!” Changsub snapped, standing between the orange haired boy and his shadow, “If that is your real name.”

            “Of course that’s his name,” Hyunseung smiled, “what else would it be?”

            “SHUT UP!” Changsub yelled, “I wasn’t talking to you!”

            “Okay, you guys need to calm the down!” Junhyung yelled. “You’re making a big deal out of nothing! Demon is just a name!”

            “It’s not just a name,” Peniel yelled, holding his brother in a protective stance. “You deceived us. You could kill us at any time.”

            “If we really wanted to take your lives, don’t you think we would’ve done it already?!” Yoseob yelled.

            “Not helping Yoseob,” Dongwoon mentioned.

            Eunkwang pulled himself up into a ball, tears threatening the corners on his eyes. “All this time… I’ve been living with a demon… I could’ve died at any minute.”

            “I didn’t kill you. I never wanted to! I don’t care about walking in the light anymore.” Doojoon tried to assure his link.

            “WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU NOW?!” Eunkwang cried.

            Doojoon sighed looking down. The room fell mute. No sound could be heard other than Eunkwang’s quiet sobs.

            Yoseob sighed, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “This is why we kept it a secret. We knew you’d be afraid of us if we introduced ourselves as demons. You never would’ve trusted us.”

            “Maybe we never should have,” Sungjae mumbled, breaking Yoseob’s heart.

            The room once again fell into a solemn hush. After a short time, the six Beast members decided to separate from their links, moving to another table in the library. On one hand they felt guilty. They didn’t want to hide their demon nature, but if they flat out told the boys that they were demons in the first place, they never would have gotten out of the school. The Btob members would have been afraid of them and never would have linked with them. They would’ve remained alone, in the old school, left to rot for eternity. But at this point in time, perhaps that would’ve been a better fate than having the boys believe that they had deceived them.

            After what seemed like hours, Doojoon got up to check on Eunkwang. The boy was still a nervous wreck, slowly being calmed by the second oldest who fell into a state of extreme pain and hatred.

            “Eunkwang,” Doojoon muttered.

            “What do you want?!” Minhyuk yelled. “Haven’t you done enough damage?!”

            “Can’t you just hear us out?” Doojoon questioned.

            Minhyuk turned away from the leader in silence as Dongwoon approached the table.

            “Listen,” Doojoon kept a soft yet comforting tone. “The name in the book is shadow demons.” He sighed. “It was the only detail in our story we changed but the rest is one-hundred percent true. I don’t want you guys to be afraid of us. We became your shadows when you approached us. We never wanted to hurt you, I swear on my life.”

            Tears were pricking at Doojoon’s eyes, yet he struggled to suppress the pain as to not upset s. It was destroying him inside knowing he had hurt Eunkwang and he’d do anything to get his faith back.

            “What can I do, to get you to trust me again?” Doojoon choked out his words.

            Eunkwang sighed, wiping his tears. He turned to the shadow, a look of anguish in his eyes, “Nothing. There is nothing you can do or say to make me believe in you again.”

            Doojoon was crushed. Even through all his high school years, all the bullying, all the suffering, nothing has hurt him as much as this. Doojoon stepped back toward his table as a small shadow finally uttered a suggestion that no one ever expected.

            “What if… we fell dormant?”

            Everyone’s eyes were now on Yoseob as he played with the hem of his shirt.

            “W-What do you mean?” Sungjae asked.

            “Yoseob, no!” Kikwang yelled. “I don’t wanna fall asleep again!”

            “What choice do we have, Kiki, it’s the only way we’d have a chance of them trusting us again!” Yoseob argued.

            “What the hell are you guys talking about?” Minhyuk asked.

            “The thing is,” Dongwoon sighed, “all this time since you’ve found us, none of us have slept at all. But there’s a reason for it. When a shadow sleeps, it’s different than when a human does. When we go to sleep, we fall dormant. We become the quiet silhouettes you see every day. However, when that happens, we can’t wake up on our own.”

            The BtoB boys were now completely focused on Dongwoon’s words.

            “It takes a strong outside force to awaken from that kind of hibernation, perhaps if someone called our names. We’ve only awoken from it before while living at the school, because we had at least one of us awake at all times.”

            “But if you fall asleep and no one calls you…” Hyunsik asked.

            Kikwang clenched his fist, “we’ll remain asleep forever.”

            At this point, Ilhoon was fed up and slammed his palms on the table. “Are you guys in insane?!” All focus was now on Ilhoon as Junhyung’s eyes widened at his brother’s action.

            “How can you guys even consider something like this?!” He yelled, “Has all this time with Beast meant nothing to you?! These guys are your friends, your family, and you’re just going to let them fall asleep forever?! You guys must be stupid to even consider letting everything we’ve been through disappear like that!”

            “Ilhoon, think of the risk if we keep them around,” Minhyuk reasoned.

            “Think of the consequences if we don’t,” Ilhoon argued. “I love my brother, and I refuse to let him disappear from my life again just because of a in name!”

            “How can you even be sure he’s your brother?!” Sungjae yelled. “He’s a shape-shifter, hyung! For all you know, that guy could’ve been responsible for your brother’s death! How the hell can you trust him?!”

            Ilhoon turned away from his group before walking over to Junhyung, “I just do.” He then turned to the doorway without looking back. “Let’s go home, hyung.”

            Junhyung followed after Ilhoon before glancing back at his friends. A sad smile appeared on his face as he waved goodbye to his fellow Beast members. Somehow he felt it would be a while before they met again. It would just take time for the BtoB boys to come to their senses. It would take time, for them to call out their names.

            Ken flew through the air before landing on Leo’s property. Things worked out better than he could’ve imagined. Not only had the bond between Btob and the shadows been severed, the demons had fallen asleep, making the task of getting rid of them forever ten times easier. Ken should have been on cloud nine right now. However...

            The sharp nosed boy couldn’t help the pain in his heart. He managed to catch a glimpse at the boys' faces when leaving the old library. Never before had he seen such anger and sadness in one place. It was if all the joy in their lives had disappeared when the shadows fell asleep. He’d never seen so much despair, especially when it came to Lee Changsub.

            Ken and Changsub had shared a class for years, from junior high to the present. They weren’t exactly friends, nor were they enemies until recently, but Ken couldn’t help but notice the boy. Sure he had seen Changsub upset before, especially when Vixx would make fun of his beloved Role Play Guild, but somehow, giving up his shadow seemed to break him. Did Jang Hyunseung really mean that much to him?

            Ken opened the door to the