It was nearly one in the morning, but Hyuk was still wide awake. The entire house was still, with most of his hyungs asleep in their rooms. The only activity in the Vixx clubhouse was from Hyuk’s roommate.

            “Here, Hyukkie, I brought you some tea.” Ken sat down the steaming cup of milk tea on the dresser by the maknae’s bed before examining his injured hip and wing.

            “I messed up, Hyung,” Hyuk cracked, a hint of sadness in his voice.

            “It’s not that bad,” Ken assured the boy.

            “I drove Minhyuk right back into the hands of the creature I was trying to save him from.”

            Ken sighed and silently tended to the younger boy’s wounds.

            “Hey, hyung?” Hyuk asked after a moment of silence.

            “Yeah Hyukkie,” Ken replied quietly while wrapping Hyuk’s hip in gauze.

            “I was… wondering… are we doing the right thing?”

            Ken looked up from his work, staring at the maknae with a curious expression.

            “I mean… Minhyuk fought me, even after giving up his shadow. He seemed like… he really loved that thing… I mean, Son Dongwoon.”

            Ken finished bandaging the maknae’s hip and moved to his wing. “Hyuk, you already know how I feel about this whole thing. Personally I think the shadows aren’t as bad as we make them out to be. There has to be a reason BtoB trusts them because I believe the BtoB boys aren’t really bad guys.” Ken chuckled before looking up at the ceiling. “In fact, we’ve probably come off more as the villains than the shadow demons.”

            “So are we wrong?” Hyuk nearly yelled and Ken shushed him.

            Ken thought, “I don’t think either side is inherently wrong or right. But for now, I go along with Leo and N.” He smiled, patting the younger on the head. “They’ve never steered us wrong before, and the bond between Vixx is stronger than anything.”

            Hyuk nodded slowly before lying on his stomach and allowing Ken to check over his wing. Once Ken had finished, the younger boy sat up and Ken handed him his tea.

            “The wound on your hip did more damage to you pants then your actual body. Your wing however, took a pretty harsh blow but not enough to hinder your flight. What exactly happened here? It looks like a bullet hit you.”

            “I honestly don’t know,” Hyuk retracted his wings before rolling over onto his back. “Minhyuk started throwing his Go stones at me but the force and power he put into them was unreal, and this was before he called his shadow back.”

            “That’s strange,” Ken replied. “Do you think that BtoB have some sort of power other than supernatural sight?”

            “I don’t know,” Hyuk sighed. “I just don’t know Hyung.”

            Hyuk and Ken continued their quiet chatter until eventually falling asleep. However, their conversation was not completely unheard by the others. Just across the hall the two eldest members lay awake in their beds, eavesdropping on the boys’ discussion.

            “What do we make of this, N?” Leo sat up in his bed. “All the shadows have reawakened; we’re back to square one.”

            N kept his eyes closed as he listened through the halls into Ken and Hyuk’s bedroom. He sighed before rolling over. “It looks like we’ll have to make the boys fight after all. I was hoping you severing the ties would eliminate the hold the shadows had on them, but it only made them stronger.”

            “Then we need to get stronger.”

            “As much as I don’t want any of our dongsaeng hurt, I have to agree with you. After tomorrow’s competition, we’ll have to train those boys so they’ll be completely ready to fight the Shadows.”

            Leo nodded before laying back and closing his eyes. “They’re not normal demons, N.”

            N nodded, “I don’t know why, but their power is influencing Btob as well. Those seven are completely under the shadow demons’ control.”

            “What do you make of this?” Leo asked before closing his eyes.

            “These demons are smart, they’re strong, and they can’t simply be after taking over their link’s lives. Whatever they’re after now, it’s much more sinister.”

            “Minhyuk.”

            The boy pulled his covers above his head, cocooning himself in his blankets.

           “Minhyuk, get up already, we’re late.” Dongwoon yelled, snatching the covers from his link’s head.

            Minhyuk groaned, blinking, “What time is it?”

            “Six thirty,” Dongwoon replied before tossing the boy’s uniform onto his bed.

            “Mm, six thirty,” Minhyuk snuggled into his sheets before his eyes darted open and he tossed aside his covers. “Six thirty! School starts in an hour!”

            “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for an hour now! You just had to stay up till one in the morning.”

            “Damnit, school’s still an hour away!” Minhyuk quickly grabbed his uniform off the desk and pushed aside his shadow, when something halted him in his tracks.

            Minhyuk stopped, spun around and stared at Dongwoon with both eyes and mouth agape. “H-Hyung?”

            “What is it?” Dongwoon asked, pulling his link’s stage clothes from the closet.

            “It’s really six thirty, right?”

            Dongwoon, sighed, “Technically, six thirty-three since you’re wasting time.”

            “Hyung! You’re solid!” Minhyuk yelled. “The sun is out but you’re solid.”

            Dongwoon chuckled a bit at the boy’s reaction. He pointed toward the window curtains, blocking off the view to the world. “It’s kind cool, actually. Ever since you woke me up, I noticed the sun doesn’t bother me as much, not as long as it can’t enter a room. Your thick curtains are creating a perfect shield between me and the sun so I can be out in the day and not lose my physical form.”

            “Really?” Minhyuk asked and the shadow nodded.

            “Yeah, just don’t open your curtains for a bit. Now go get dressed, you’re late for school and the performance is today.”

            “, I forgot!” Minhyuk quickly ran out of the room and Dongwoon finished packing up the boy’s stage clothes. He sighed resting on his links bed, and looked onto the dresser. He couldn’t help staring at the discarded blue keychain and sighing, mentally replaying the events of the previous night in his head.

            ‘Minhyuk was pretty upset when he figured out Vixx were our enemies.’ Dongwoon thought. ‘And it only got worse when we pieced together that the only one that could’ve attacked us last night was Hyuk. I can’t believe that such a strong-hearted go player would become a rei. From what Minhyuk explained, the boy really didn’t seem to want to fight him; he just wanted to kill me.’

            Dongwoon paced over to the dresser and brushed his fingers along the keychain. ‘Hyuk was probably forced into this by another Vixx member. After all, his game, although sneaky, is not one to cause despair. Enemy or not, I’m worried about him.’

            Dongwoon sighed before glancing at his link’s new tablet, “Han Sang Hyuk.”