N scowled as he watched JB, Jackson, and BamBam baby Yugyeom. Sure, the kid was cowering behind them and being all shy, but that didn’t changed N’s opinion of him in the slightest. Every time he looked at the tall maknae, he remembered the wound to his master, the one that came close to killing her. that wound had been Yugyeom’s fault and N hated him for it.

“N,” Hyorin called out softly, trying not to startle him too badly.

He still jumped a little.

“Hey,” he smiled, recovering quickly, “what’s up?”

“Rina wants to talk to you,” Hyorin said, “and the others, but they’re already up there with her.”

“Alright,” N frowned slightly, unsure of what the older of the two half demon women could want with him.

“I suggest you hurry,” Hyorin giggled, “she isn’t big on waiting.”

“Right,” N laughed before rushing off.

“What’s going on?” JB asked, walking over and taking N’s now empty seat.

“Nothing important,” Hyorin assured him, “Rina just wants to talk to VIXX.”

“Probably something about protecting you,” JB shrugged before pausing for a long moment, “hey, can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” she nodded, “what’s wrong?”

“Are you ok with having Yugyeom here?” JB asked her, always one to cut right to the point, “I mean, even if it was under orders he did try to kill you. Doesn’t it bother you that he’d now living here? I mean, his room is, like, right across the hall from you.”

“Not really,” Hyorin replied, thinking it over, “I never really thought about it I guess.”

“He thinks you hate him,” the wind demon confided, “like, he knows that VIXX hates him for what he’s done, so he thinks that you hate him, too.”

“I don’t hate him,” Hyorin protested, “nothing that happened is his fault. I could never blame him for any of it. VIXX will learn not to blame him, too.”

“I’m not so sure,” JB sighed, “you’re their master and they all care about you a lot. Yugyeom hurt you, almost killed you, and with what’s happened to them in the past…….”

“They’ll learn to accept him,” Hyorin assured him, “just give them some time.”

“I hope so,” JB said, “with Yugyeom’s history, I don’t think it would help his recovery to be around open hostility.”

Hyorin nodded in response. She didn’t know exactly what had happened to Yugyeom in the past, but she knew that it was bad. Maybe even worse then what had happened to his brothers. She’d seen the scars on JB, Jackson, and BamBam, but the scars on Yugyeom were……different. Given, she didn’t ever see the youngest Got7 demon in anything less than long pants and a long sleeve turtle neck, but every so often she caught sight of skin and there was always a scar on that skin.

She’d asked his brothers about it, but none were too willing to give her any information. She understood why, though. Whatever had happened was Yugyeom’s story to tell and she just had to wait until he was ready to tell it.

--

“What’s up?” N asked, taking the empty seat between Hyuk and Leo.

“Hyuk mentioned something interesting the other day,” Rina explained, “while we were training, he said that he’d recently started to feel the presence of something inside of him.”

“I said we’ve all been having the same feeling,” Hyuk spoke up.

“What about it?” Ravi asked, cocking his head as he regarded the half demon with open curiosity.

“What do you think it is?” Rina said, “I know you have an idea, I just want to make sure that we’re all on the same page.”

“Our demonic beasts,” Hongbin said, “after we got talking about it, we came to the conclusion that the beasts inside of us are trying to make themselves known. Or maybe we’re just aware of them now after the whole mission to save Hyorin from the shadows thing.”

“I asked my own beasts,” Rina said, “and they think the same as me. Your demonic beasts wish to connect with you, as they have decided that you are…….capable of knowing the truth.” She paused, “no, capable isn’t the right word. Your beasts are making themselves known because they feel that you can know the truth of your existence and not……freak out?”

“So what do we do?” N asked, “Wait until they finally talk to us?”

“Or do we need to meditate like Hyorin?” Ken questioned.

“You can communicate with them the same way as Hyorin does to start,” Rina explained, “but your beasts aren’t sealed within you like with myself and Hyorin. Your beasts can, if they so choose, leave you. Given, it would kill you, but they could do it. With Hyorin and myself, they are trapped.”

“I…..don’t get it,” Ravi frowned.

“Your beasts exist in internal worlds inside of you,” Rina said, “but they are not sealed there. They can move from the subconscious area of your mind to the conscious easily. When you first start talking to them, you’ll probably only be able to do it by visiting your internal words. In time, however, your beasts should be able to start leaving that internal plane so that they can talk to you any time you please.”

“They can do that?” Leo frowned, “but I still don’t get why it’s different from how you and Hyorin talk to your beasts.”

“Your beasts picked you,” Rina sighed, “while ours didn’t. When a demonic beast in sealed inside someone against the beasts will, ancient magic seals them inside the person. Otherwise, the beast would leave the person, killing them.”

“Killing them?” N frowned, “I…….”

“The strain of a beast leaving the human body they call home kills the human,” Rina frowned for a moment before smiling again, “but don’t worry about that. Your beasts picked you and have stayed with you for a very long time, they won’t leave you now.”

“Wait,” Leo frowned, “EXO gave up their beasts to save Hyorin’s mother. Why didn’t that kill them?”

“Old magic,” Rina explained, “I don’t understand it all myself, but the way that they gave up their beasts was done using old magic. An old spell that can only be used in very specific situations.”

“So,” Ken said after a long moment, “when can we start trying to contact out beasts?”

A/N: I’m back!!! Did you all miss me? Hope you all had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. I got, like, no writing done in my time off ‘cuz I was so busy with my family (and, I’ll admit, I did play a lot of Smash Bros when I didn’t have anything else to do). well, either way I’m back now and you can look forewords to a new chapter next week!!