N’s heart dropped when he realized that Hyorin’s fire powers had activated. She wasn’t ready for that power yet. She hadn’t practiced with it since before she’d yelled at Ken. This wasn’t going to end well, N could feel it in his gut. Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it. Silently, he hoped that Leo and the others realized something was wrong and came soon.

The enemy demons didn’t seem to know what to make of this new development, so the just watched as Hyorin waved her hand and them. They only realized that they should move seconds before a blast of fire came at them, hitting them dead on and leaving all four of them burned.

“Ow,” BamBam whimpered, the burn to his leg causing him too much pain to stand, “hyungs, it hurts.”

“,” hat guy growled after hearing BamBam’s whimpers of pain.

Ignoring the pain in his chest where the fire had burned through the shirt so it could burn his skin, he stood up and sent his own attack at Hyorin. She blocked his blow, his ice melting thanks to the heat of the flames. Hyorin sent the next attack, only to have his ice douse the fireball via a thick wall of ice he threw up before her attack could hit.

“Jackson,” the red head called to hat guy, “keep her busy. I need to get Jr and BamBam out of here. Their burns are pretty bad. Be careful, alright.”

“Don’t worry, hyung,” Jackson smirked, “I got this.” The red head nodded before rushing to get Jr and BamBam out of there. N wanted to stop them, to try running after them, but he needed to stay with Hyorin.

Silently, he watched Jackson and Hyorin exchange blows. Neither one could get an edge on the other. Hyorin’s fire was too hot for Jackson’s ice to get past without melting. Jackson’s defences of ice were too thick for her fire to burn through before it was put out. Even though neither could get a hit in, they kept going.

Taking a long, hard look at Jackson, N realized that the ice demon wasn’t the least bit bothered by the use of power. He could probably keep going for a while yet. Hyorin on the other hand was starting to weaken, her body not used to using her power so much. N realized it was only a matter of time before she passed out or left an opening that Jackson could use to finally get a hit in.

Once that happened………… N didn’t even want to think about that.

Hyorin let out a small gasp as she felt her legs starting to get weak. She knew exactly what was happening; her use of power was leaving her drained of energy. Soon, she’d pass out and then they’d be in bigger trouble. If she passed out, she knew that Jackson would kill her, as well and Ken and N. Hyorin knew she couldn’t let that happen.

Taking a deep breath, she channelled a huge amount of her remaining power into one last blow. With any luck, this would be enough to send Jackson flying. If not, she just had to pray her remaining power would hold out long enough for Leo and the others to show up and save the day. Crossing her fingers, Hyorin fired off her attack at Jackson. She watched as it burned right through his ice wall and crashed into his stomach. The ice demon let out a yelp of pain as the force of the blow flung him back, his back connecting hard with the paved ground below.

“We’re done,” the red head said, suddenly appearing beside Jackson, “we’ll leave now.” He didn’t wait for a response before picking his brother up and running off too fast for them to see. N remembered what Ken had said the demon that attacked him. Was it this red head who beat up his brother so badly it could have killed him?

“Good job, Hyorin,” N smiled, struggling to get onto his feet, “you beat them.” she nodded as her legs finally gave out and she fell into a sitting position.

As soon as her hit the ground, the fire around her went out of control. N watched in horror as the fire started swirling around his master. He knew he couldn’t get to her – the fire was too hot – so he had to think of another way to help her regain control. She’d lost control because she was too tired to focus, so he had to help her focus.

“Hyorin,” he called, hoping she could hear him over the sounds of the vortex around her, “picture the fire dying down in her head. Will it to go out.” He didn’t know if she’d heard if or if it had worked. However the fire didn’t die down any, in fact, it suddenly got hotter and picked up speed.

“Stop,” Hyorin chatted, trying to do what N had told her, “please stop.”

The more she tried to get the fire to stop, the more out of control it got. And the more out of control the fire around her got, the more scared she became. This was exactly what she’d always been afraid of. This was what Chanyeol had been afraid of, why he’d told her to never use the power she inherited from him.

Bad things happened when you lost control.

“Hyung,” N turned to find Ravi running over, Hongbin right behind him and Leo a few steps behind him. Hyuk was already making his way over to Ken, careful not to hurt himself on the debris scattered across the ground.

“You’re here,” N sighed in relief, “thank goodness.” Knowing that his brothers could take care of things now, N let himself give into the pain his injuries had caused him. Ravi was quick to catch him so he didn’t hit the ground as his legs lost the strength to keep him standing, telling Hongbin to help Hyuk carry Ken.

Leo calmly walked over to the vortex of fire, activating his power so that he could walk right through without getting burned.

“Leo,” Hyorin sobbed once he kneeled down in front of her, “I can’t control it.”

“I know,” he nodded, trying to think of ways to keep his master calm, “it’s going to be alright. I promise. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you, I swear it.”

Hyorin looked up, locking eyes with Leo. His looked confident. He truly believed that everything would be alright. If Leo believed that everything was going to be fine, then she would trust him. Everything would be alright.

With that thought, Hyorin calmed down. As she relaxed, the fire around her died down as if to match her mood. Seeing this, Hyorin calmed down even more, knowing that she could now control the fire. In her calmer state, she realized just how tired she was too. So with the last of her energy, she commanded the fire to go out before passing out completely into Leo’s arms.

“Let’s go,” Leo said, lifting his master up and turning to his brothers, “the cops are going to show up here soon.”

“Right,” Ravi nodded, “let’s go.” Gathering their injured brothers and unconscious master, VIXX left the mall.

A/N: deleted scene: the cops show up, find the remains of the battle, and ask “WTF?”