[title song: no one's here to sleep]

chapter 9;

It’s a quiet walk to the looming castle but, at the same time, it’s completely jarring. EXO Planet is dead. The fields are vast and dirt brown, the sky is a sickly yellow, pink clouds appearing here and there. It’s not that Chanyeol isn’t speaking, he’s actually pointing out ‘famous landmarks’ as they walk by, pretty much giving her a history lesson as the masked guards loom uncomfortably close. But all Hyemi can think about is how all this death around her is probably because of her mother. If this is what the planet looks like, then what will the people be like? If she were in their place, she’d hate her mother for doing this, too.

They reach the castle (too soon) and Hyemi blinks up at the ominous castle, its grey stone walls abundant with cracks and even dark char marks. The spires are crumbling and there’s a deep moat just beyond the castle gates, rusty bars distorting her view of the castle. There are a few guards standing outside of the gates, metal bars in their hands and one of them even has a crossbow over their shoulder.

Chanyeol just nods at the guards and they immediately let the castle doors swing open. Hyemi doesn’t miss the way they scowl at her, eyebrows furrowed. The one with the scar down the side of his face brandishes his metal bar menacingly and Hyemi frowns. Chanyeol pats Hyemi on the back, lightly, startling her out of her daze. “C’mon. The king is waiting.” He says, reassuringly, and Hyemi wonders if she imagined the anxiety in his expression.

~.~.~.~.~

Hyemi doesn’t expect the inside of the castle to look so…glamorous, with its high ceiling, sparkling chandeliers, soft pastel colored walls, and elegant, porcelain statues. It’s so vastly different from the outside that Hyemi has to shake her head and blink a few times, just to remind herself that she isn’t imagining this.

She doesn’t have time to look around thoroughly, not when Chanyeol suddenly stops, abruptly pulling her to a halt. Hyemi glances to her side, glaring because he nearly pulled her arm out of her socket, but stops herself from snapping at him because Chanyeol looks incredibly solemn. In the short time that Hyemi’s known Chanyeol, she’s managed to figure out that solemnity and Chanyeol don’t exactly mix. Hyemi watches as Chanyeol draws out a sword from his waist and can’t help but gape when the sword comes to life in his hands, soft flames engulfing it almost prettily. He doesn’t raise it however.

“Kris.” Chanyeol mutters gruffly, eyes wide and ever-present grin gone.

Hyemi looks up to where Chanyeol is staring intently and blinks, repeatedly. There’s a man coming down the giant, winding staircase, dark hair short and an intimidating glare plastered across his face. With each step, Hyemi realizes that the man is actually that tall, towering over her in a way that makes him possibly ten times more intimidating, even though he’s barely taller than Chanyeol if she’s being honest. The man—Kris—stares at Hyemi with dark eyes and she has to admit that he’s extremely handsome, but very, very intimidating. He’s dressed in long, sweeping robes that trail behind him as he makes his way down the carpeted stairs. Hyemi notices someone trailing behind him, tall and languid, cat-like eyes narrowed, gaze just as intimidating as Kris’s, if not more intimidating if that’s even possible.

Kris smiles, narrow lips curling up, and Hyemi thinks he looks vaguely familiar. “Is that anyway to greet your prince, Chanyeol?”

“Well, yeah.” Chanyeol says after a moment, looking completely unfazed. “Where’s your father? He called for me.”

Kris’s gaze falls on Hyemi and she tries her best not to squirm uncomfortably instead fixing him with an intimidating look of her own. She’s not about to show weakness, even if this man is the prince or whatever. Kris tilts his head, “Father is ill. You know that. Why don’t you speak with me instead?”

Chanyeol laughs then, loudly, and Hyemi swears there’s something bitter about it. “Nice try, Kris.” Chanyeol grabs Hyemi’s forearm and tugs, “Follow me, Hyemi.”

Hyemi lets Chanyeol pull her down the hall, vaguely aware of the fact that Kris and his friend (guard?) are following close behind. “Chanyeol, what’s going on?” She asks, quietly.

Chanyeol grins down at her, reassuringly, despite the fact that his eyes seem almost troubled. “Nothing. Don’t worry.” Chanyeol says, fingers tightening around her arm. They come to a stop in front of a pair of tall, golden doors, a symbol etched across the smooth gold. Hyemi fleetingly wonders why the symbol looks so familiar. Then her eyes land on the boy blocking the doors, his eyes incredibly wide and his expression full of irritation.

“Chanyeol! You can’t just barge into the King’s Quarters whenever you’d like.” The boy says, exasperated, as if he’s had to tell Chanyeol this more times than he thought he’d have to.

Chanyeol lifts his hand, showing off his forearm to the boy. Hyemi peers at it and realizes that it’s exactly the same as the symbol on the door. “The King wants to see her, Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol says and Hyemi doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to the way she keeps getting glanced over with suspicious eyes.

The boy—Kyungsoo—stares at Chanyeol for a moment, his eyes darting from Chanyeol to Hyemi to Kris, who’s hovering just behind the two of them. “The King wants Prince Kris to handle all of his affairs.” Kyungsoo looks tired then, his eyes softer than before as he uncrosses his arms, “The King is dying in there, Chanyeol. You know this.”

Hyemi begins to feel uncomfortable, the look on Chanyeol’s face quickly shifts from bitterness to a sort of age old sadness that Hyemi feels she shouldn’t be witnessing. Then it’s gone as quickly as it came. “I know that. Kris isn’t exactly the most trustworthy.” Chanyeol says, a little too cheerfully, and although Hyemi’s known Chanyeol for barely an hour, she gets the sudden urge to comfort him. And it's an awful thought because she doesn’t even know why he’d be so upset.

“You really shouldn’t be talking about me like that, Park. I could call it treason.” Kris responds from behind them, tone cold.

“What are you going to do? Tell your bird thing to peck me to death?” Chanyeol mutters, rolling his eyes.

Kyungsoo sighs, loudly, when Kris begins to glare, his eyebrows furrowed. “Please take this somewhere else before I put you both six feet under.” Kyungsoo says, unkindly, eyes narrowed.

Hyemi’s surprised that such a small thing could be so intimidating and wonders how she can become as intimidating as Kyungsoo seems to be. Both Kris and Chanyeol flinch slightly before Chanyeol is suddenly pulling Hyemi out of the hall, Kris striding gracefully beside Chanyeol as the tall cat boy follows behind them.

Suddenly Kris stops, turning on his heels. “Let’s discuss the matter now.”

“No. I’m taking her to the towers.” Chanyeol says as he tries to sidestep Kris.

Kris suddenly grabs Chanyeol’s wrist and Hyemi gasps watching as Kris presses his thumb into the little symbol engraved into Chanyeol’s skin. “No, you’re not.” Hyemi watches as the symbol glows and Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows, wide eyes blinking rapidly.

Then he nods, his mouth turned down into a frown and Hyemi gets the distinct sense that Chanyeol had lost something. Chanyeol bites his lip, still frowning. “Sorry.” He mutters, his eyes fixed on Kris’s fingers wrapped around his arm. Chanyeol glances up at Kris before looking away. “I’m sorry.” He repeats, quickly.

“You better ing be.” Kris responds, but Hyemi notices the way his eyes soften for just a moment. Kris gives Chanyeol’s arm one last squeeze before dropping it, eyes turning to Hyemi.

Hyemi groans because what the hell is even going on anymore. “What the hell is going on?” Hyemi snaps, before remembering Baekhyun’s words and how she’s supposed to be nice.

 “You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?” Kris says, after a moment of astonished silence (in which Hyemi mentally kicked herself). “You look just like your mother, you know? Frankly, that kind of pisses me off. And it’s going to piss a lot of other people off, too, but I’m sure you already knew that.”

“What does she have to do with anything?” Hyemi asks, leveling Kris with a steady gaze, refusing to be intimidated.

“Everything.” Kris says, with a small smirk. “You’re here to fix things. Part of that means you’re here to pay for her sins.”

“Excuse me?” Hyemi blinks. She was never told that she would be punished for what her mother had done, not so explicitly at least. “I’m here to fix everything my mother ruined, yes. But I’m not here to ‘pay for her sins’. Those were her sins, not mine.”

Kris laughs, then, and Chanyeol just sighs from beside Hyemi. “We all have to suffer for our parents sins. That’s how this world works, Song Hyemi.” Kris says with a dark sort of mirth, his tone laced with bitterness.

“That’s stupid.” Hyemi exclaims, shaking her head. “What are you going to do? Put me on trial for something my mother did?”

“Exactly.” Kris says, snapping his fingers. “Except you don’t get a trial. My father showed me everything and I doubt you’ll get a fair trial even if you did.”

“I told you I’d fix it.” Hyemi says, quickly, annoyed that she sounds a little desperate as her eyes dart to Chanyeol, who’s just standing there, eyes a little blank.

“And you’re going to do that. If you manage to fix everything, then maybe I’ll consider taking you off trial. But only if you fix everything, and I mean everything.” Kris grins with absolutely no humor in his eyes and Hyemi suddenly feels terrified. What has she gotten herself into? She was in planet she barely knew the politics of and she was practically alone. “Don’t look so sad. We’re not executing you. Not if you fix everything, at least.”

“This is ing ridiculous.” Hyemi says, loudly, tears of frustration pricking at her eyes. But she won’t cry. Not in front of people who hate her this much, no matter how frustrated she gets she won’t cry. That will only give Kris more satisfaction.

Kris looks at the cat-like boy behind him. “Zitao, go with Chanyeol and her to the towers.” Then Kris looks at Hyemi, eyes cold. “I will be sending guards with you tomorrow. You need to see the tree, first and foremost. The Brotherhood has been bothering me about it for years.”

Then without another word Kris turns on his heels and leaves with a flurry of robes. Hyemi feels a light hand at the center of her back and she immediately shakes it off of her. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Hyemi bites out, frowning at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol shakes his head, “Don’t worry. I’ll ask to get assigned to your cell.”

Hyemi doesn’t answer, silently fuming as Chanyeol guides her through the castle, Zitao slinking along silently beside them. She doesn’t understand what happened between Kris and Chanyeol but she can’t believe he didn’t say anything. She can’t believe she’s already in a situation like this. Chanyeol leaves Hyemi with Zitao for a moment as he fishes through his pockets and unlocks a door, punching in codes in a language Hyemi doesn’t understand. Hyemi glances up at Zitao, who continues to watch her carefully, slanted eyes trained to catch even the littlest of movements. “Why don’t you say anything?” Hyemi asks, eventually, when she begins to grow even more uncomfortable with his staring.

There’s a long silence before Zitao opens his mouth, his tone uncaring. “I have no words of comfort to offer you, if that’s what you want.”

Hyemi rolls her eyes and Zitao allows her the smallest of smirks. Chanyeol swings open the door and Hyemi steps into the room glancing around. They’re on a set of circular stairs, stone steps chipped. Left leads upwards and right leads downwards, into a dark abyss that Hyemi really doesn’t want to set foot in. Unfortunately Zitao pushes her to their right and she gulps before making her way downwards.

~.~.~.~.~

Hyemi’s never been in a castle but she’s read fairytales. The room they have just entered reminds of Hyemi of what she imagined the dungeons to look like. As they walk through the hall, footsteps echoing against stone while the dim light casts shadows all along the winding halls, Hyemi realizes that the dungeons is exactly where she is. There are barred off rooms all along the walls and Hyemi has the distinct feeling that someone is watching her. She shivers, involuntarily, and Chanyeol pats her arm, reassuringly.

“You’re taking me to the dungeons.” Hyemi states rather than questions, her tone blunt.

“Kris’s orders.” Chanyeol says, sullenly. Hyemi hears the soft jiggling of keys and watches as Chanyeol steps towards one of the doors and works on the lock.

“Great.” Hyemi bites out, annoyed that Chanyeol won’t even try to disobey Kris’s orders, especially when he seems so against it.

The metal door swings open and Hyemi steps into the cell, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dim lighting. She can feel someone messing with the restraints around her wrists before stepping away from her. Her arms are free and she sighs a little, rubbing her wrists lightly. “Be nice, Minseok.” Chanyeol says, gruffly, his voice suddenly becoming incredibly menacing. “You’ll be free, soon, Hyemi. Just. Hang on there, alright?” Chanyeol reassures her, hurriedly, before she hears the locks and bolts slide over the door. Hyemi vaguely catches a low ‘Baekhyun’s going to ing murder me’ before retreating footsteps indicate that she’s alone.

She’s alone in a cell in a completely different planet. She groans, sliding to the floor, the frustrated tears stinging at the backs of her eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall. She won’t cry.

“Kris has got them wrapped around his little finger, hasn’t he?” A soft voice questions, conversationally, startling Hyemi. She yelps, immediately jumping up.

She blinks a few times and she can just make out a small figure in the corner, slanted eyes glittering strangely. “Who the are you?”

“Kim Minseok.” He says and Hyemi’s eyes are finally adjusted to the dim lighting. She can finally make out his sharp features and the way he’s smiling at her so pleasantly. His hands are encased in metal shackles and resting on his lap. Hyemi stares at him with wide eyes, the tiny room making it hard for her to get away from his icy eyes. He laughs, soft and tinkling.

“What are you doing here?” Hyemi asks, mentally kicking herself for asking such a dumb question. He’s obviously here for a reason (a bad reason, she reminds herself).

“Murder.” He replies, casually crossing his legs. He leans forward and rests his chin on the metal casket encasing his hands. “What about you?”

Hyemi can’t control the frankly terrified look she has on her face, pressing herself further into the stone walls, and thanks her lucky stars that it’s too dark to see her expression. She can’t let him know she’s scared of him. “My mother destroyed a few things.” She says, surprised at how steady she sounds.

“Does breaking the entire planet really qualify as a few things?” Kim Minseok questions and Hyemi frowns at how amused he sounds.

“Mind your own business.” Hyemi retorts, lamely, knowing that she honestly has nothing else to retort with.

Kim Minseok laughs, softly, mouth wide. “You’re interesting. I think I’ll let you live. Even if your mother killed my mother.”

Hyemi pales at that sentence, silently cursing her mother. How many ty things has she done? “Uh, I’m sorry?” Hyemi squeaks out.

“Nah, it’s okay. She was a anyway.” Minseok waves his caged hands, dismissively. Hyemi can’t help but chuckle at that, a little breathlessly. “Besides. You’re going to die anyway. I don’t need to quicken the process.”

Hyemi blinks, completely confused at the knowing look on Minseok’s face and the way his eyebrow raises, as if he’s challenging her. “What are you talking about?” Hyemi asks, softly.

Minseok just shakes his head before he tips it back, his head resting against the stone wall behind him. “You won’t be able to fix everything. It’s impossible. You saw the sky, right? The damage is already done. You’re too late.”

Hyemi doesn’t answer, her mind reeling over his words because, in a way, he’s right. Minseok just sighs loudly and Hyemi feels more frustrated than ever and, for a moment, she wishes Baekhyun was with her. But he’s not. And she’s alone. Again.

a/n: OOOOOOOooo mysterious problems and stuff. minseok is fun to write haha. i...uh......k ris... ye ol.... shheh i swear that didnt ha ppen....

CAN WE TALK ABOUT OVERDOSE oh my god it's so good oh myg odh they all look so good and the mv looks sooo amazingly kickass (i'm a bad person i watched the leaked dance practice)(but for anyone who didn't you guys are in for a treat stay strong lol)

OK SO tell me all your thoughts, comments are my life blood I love getting feedback it keeps me going.

If this chapter was confusing please let me know and I will explain whatever you need to have explained (I feel like this was really rushed /sigh)

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xoxo