Uh. Surprise?

Kangin wakes up to a pain in his shoulder and immediately regrets falling asleep in the armchair. He stretches his stiff muscles and groans, uncurling his limbs. He knows he’s getting old because none of his children are in the room - they must have woken already while Kangin’s body was struggling to recover from stress and lost sleep. He misses being that resilient.

Leeteuk is still on the couch. He’s sleeping but he doesn’t look relaxed, his face drawn with tension. Kangin considers whether he should wake him or not. Rise and shine, old man, he thinks; the way he’d wake him when they were still in the army. Back when he was still Youngwoon, back before the kids had chosen new names for them. A new start, a new life, a happy home - that was the goal. For all of them. How had it backfired so horribly?

Kangin drags a hand down his face, rubbing away sleep but doing nothing to ease the bone-deep exhaustion. He knows that this damn thing terrorizing his family is to blame for the inability to deal with anything in a healthy way, and if it’s this hard on him, he can imagine why Leeteuk is currently frowning in his sleep.

It’s not fair. Anger creeps into his mood but Kangin takes some deep breaths, aware that dwelling on it gives that ing thing power. But all he’s ever wanted was to protect Jungsoo, and everything they’ve worked for, everything Jungsoo deserves, is being attacked. And they’ve done nothing, nothing, to provoke it. This he’s sure of. But what worries him is whether Leeteuk knows it too.

The doorbell rings, effectively shattering the morning stillness. Yesung’s shout of “I got it!” echoes through the corridors, followed by the sound of running feet. Kangin unfolds himself, grudgingly deciding that Leeteuk will have to wake up now. He settles on the edge of the couch, gently so he doesn’t startle him.

“Jungsoo-ya,” he says, but Leeteuk doesn’t stir. There’s a bruise peeking over the edge of his shirt collar. “Hey, you’ve gotta wake up now.” Kangin cups his hand gently over the curve of his cheek. Leeteuk startles anyway.

He withdraws his hand, waiting. Leeteuk blinks, staring up at him without recognition. Kangin waits for him to wake up fully and he’s rewarded when Leeteuk’s expression clears. He sighs, eyes squeezing shut for a moment.

“Wha-?” He mumbles.

“Sorry. Gotta wake up. I think the preacher is here.”

Voices drift into the room, too low and far away to make out any of the words. Kangin stands when Leeteuk moves to sit up. He scrubs a hand through his hair, eyes roaming the room without landing on anything for more than a second.

“I’m going to shower,” he says, and waits for little more than an acknowledgment from Kangin before leaving the room. Kangin frowns after him, but heads off in the opposite direction to go meet the newcomer. It’s not like making a good first impression matters to him at a time like this.

He steps into the front room in time to see Hyukjae leaning back from a one-armed hug with the man who must be the - priest? pastor? whichever - who then leans down to say hello to Yesung, and to Ryeowook, who is hiding behind Yesung but looking curiously around his shoulder. Kangin hangs back, getting a read on the reverend. Or whatever he is. He’s wearing jeans and a button down with the sleeves rolled up, not the black priest garb Kangin was expecting, but he is wearing one of those white collars. As he leans down, the necklace he’s wearing swings free in the air - one of those protective pendants that Hyukjae and Donghae had given everyone in the house the other day. Kangin’s still wearing his, but it’s tucked beneath his shirt.

Hyukjae notices Kangin then and nods his head, which grabs Donghae’s attention. “Oh, Siwon-ah, this is Kim Youngwoon,” he says politely.

Kangin bows at the waist when Siwon turns his movie-star smile his way. “You can call me Kangin. I’d introduce you to my partner, but he’s washing up.”

“We had a long night,” Hyukjae says with a sigh.

“So I heard. Kangin-ssi, I’m so sorry about all the pain you and your family are going through.”

Siwon says it so sincerely that Kangin is taken aback for a moment. “Oh, um… it’s not… thank you,” he finishes lamely.

“I’m only here on behalf of Donghae and Hyukjae for now, not yet the diocese, but I’d like to bless the home if that is alright with you.”

“Sure, I guess, if you think that would help,” Kangin says without thinking, then winces. Siwon only widens his smile.

“It might, or it might not. But I’d like to give it a try anyhow.”

“Sure. Thank you, Father.”

He laughs. “Please, Siwon is fine.”

“We can show him around the house,” Donghae offers. “I think Heechul is handling breakfast.”

Truth be told, if there’s anyone in the world Kangin would trust with the kids, it’s Heechul. But he widens his eyes in mock-horror, which makes Yesung laugh, and Kangin says, “If you want a decent meal, we’d better take over, huh?”

Yesung takes off down the hall, leaving Ryeowook without anyone to hide behind. He freezes, staring up at Siwon with big eyes, and Kangin leans down to scoop him into his arms. Ryeowook’s feet knock into his knees. “Oof. You’re getting too big for this, bud.”

Ryeowook’s eyes are still locked on Siwon, who smiles and waves.

“Siwon hyung is here to help Yeong-Ja,” Donghae informs the kid, leaning into Kangin’s space just long enough to swipe his fingers through Ryeowook’s fringe affectionately.

After a moment’s careful contemplation, Ryeowook attempts as much of a bow as he can while perched on Kangin’s hip, dangerously close to tipping them both over as his waist folds over Kangin’s forearm, and says brightly, “Thank you, Siwon hyungnim!”

He squirms out of Kangin’s arms, little feet hitting the floor as he bolts down the hall after Yesung, apparently having used up all of his courage. Siwon presses a hand to his chest, touched, brows raised as he looks at a laughing Donghae.

“You have three more of those precious children somewhere, right?”

Kangin laughs. “Well, the others a little older, but yeah.”

Siwon gives a solid nod, satisfied. “Right. We better purify this home for them, huh.”

“Let’s go,” Hyukjae agrees.

“Nice to meet you, Kangin-ssi,” Siwon says, preparing to follow the others into the common room.

“Kangin is fine,” he parrots, and the preacher - or whatever - disappears into the other room. Kangin heads towards the kitchen, contemplating the strange closeness that Donghae and Hyukjae have formed with his family in just a few days. Maybe it’s the situation that brings them closer.

Soon, they’ll have peace. Soon.

-

Leeteuk shuts off the showerhead, a muffled thud echoing in the wall behind as the valve closes. He feels more alert, but his body still longs for sleep. He stares blankly at the bruise on his thigh until water drips off the end of his fringe, obscuring his vision.

He steps out and rubs a towel through his hair, then swiping it over the fogged mirror. It doesn’t make his reflection any clearer, and Leeteuk reverts his eyes. They land on the pile of clothes he’d dropped to the floor as he got ready for the shower. Clean clothes would help. Fresh and crisp, like the new day. He bends to gather up the dirty pile, and something clinks softly to the floor as he straightens.

A delicate, glittering thing. After long moments, Leeteuk recognizes it as the protection charm Hyukjae and Donghae had given him when they began their investigation. He should pick that up, he thinks. He should put that around his neck, or back into his pocket. Leeteuk blinks, eyelids still heavy with exhaustion. He steps gingerly over the necklace where it’s coiled up on the floor and heads into the bedroom.

The bruise on his collarbone looks like gangrene. The day is already hot, and buzzing with insects that provide a soundtrack to the humidity, so Leeteuk chooses a shirt with a high collar but short sleeves. The bruises aren’t a secret anymore, and at least the ones on his arms are still a normal purple. It’s not until he steps into the hall and hears a deep, unfamiliar voice through the walls that he remembers Kangin telling him that their guest had arrived. Leeteuk pauses for a moment to gather himself, and once it’s clear that he’s never going to have the strength to act normal, he plasters on a smile and hopes the newcomer doesn’t notice that it’s fake.

They’re in the common room - Donghae and Hyukjae and the newcomer, whose name Leeteuk thankfully remembers is Siwon. Donghae is already looking his way when he enters the room.

“Good morning!” Leeteuk greets, and the other two turn to him with answering smiles, but Donghae’s stoic expression doesn’t change. It irritates Leeteuk for a fleeting moment, but then the feeling is gone and he chastises himself for it.

“Oh, Leeteuk, we were just finishing up,” Hyukjae says. Beside him, Siwon bows and introduces himself. Leeteuk follows suit.

“Hyukjae and Donghae just finished giving me a quick tour of the house, I hope that’s alright,” Siwon says.

“Oh, of course! I apologize for missing it, if there’s anything you need please let me know.”

Siwon waves him off. “No need to apologize. I met your partner, and some of your kids.”

“I wonder if there’s still breakfast?” Hyukjae muses. Leeteuk’s stomach clenches at the thought of food, but he stretches his mouth into another smile and says, “Oh, perfect, by all means, our guest can have whatever he likes!”

Siwon expresses his gratitude, like he’s supposed to, and Hyukjae smiles along, but Donghae is still staring at Leeteuk with a frown of concentration on his face, and that flare of annoyance reappears. Hyukjae begins leading them all toward the kitchen, but Donghae stops Leeteuk with a hand to his shoulder. “Wait a moment, Leeteuk, would you mind?”

“Of course.”

Hyukjae twists to make eye contact with Donghae for a brief moment, and they share one of their silent exchanges before he and Siwon leave. Leeteuk’s smile feels stuck to his face, foreign.

“What do you need, Donghae?”

Donghae removes the hand from his shoulder. “Leeteuk… I know you’re worn out. You can relax.”

He rubs a hand over his face. “Sorry, I’m so sorry, I just…”

“It’s okay, it really is. Siwon has involved himself in most of our cases right when the haunting is at its worst strength, he won’t see you as weak. None of us think you’re weak.”

Leeteuk peers at him from between his fingers, feeling transparent.

“Even when I sleep, I can’t sleep,” he tries.

The frown is still on Donghae’s face. “I know,” he says, voice grave, and for a moment they understand each other completely.

“Donghae, tell me. Tell me we have enough evidence because I -”

He cuts himself off, throat closing around the words. I don't know how much time I have left.

“If it were up to me, we wouldn’t have bothered with evidence in the first place,” Donghae replies with a sigh. “But the church… they’re too careful nowadays.”

A thought lingers in the back of his mind, Couldn’t you do it? Could you do it now? Could you recite the words and make this go away? but he can’t speak it. His hand comes up to his collarbone, and Leeteuk rubs absently at the bruise there.

“I don’t know what makes it work,” Donghae admits, drifting over toward the fireplace. “The exorcism rite. They’re just words. I think it’s more than that, though.”

Leeteuk is struck again by the feeling that Donghae has read his thoughts. Had he said anything aloud? It’s possible. His throat works around a dry swallow; even worse than the way lack of sleep makes his skin feel stretched too tightly over his bones is the eerie sensation of his body feeling separate from himself. Where did the bruises come from… when…?

“I’d like to ask you a question,” Donghae continues. He’s not facing Leeteuk now, and reaches to take a picture frame from the mantle. Leeteuk remembers lifting it from where it had fallen on the ground just last night and placing it there. It’s a photo of himself with Sungmin and Kangin, taken on the balcony of their old apartment home in Seoul. Sungmin had come to live with them permanently that day, though they’d been close for nearly a year already. He was young, barely ten, and this was well before the idea of fostering more kids had even taken root. Donghae looks at the picture for a while, a smile now playing on his face, then holds it out for Leeteuk to take. He does, looking down again at their trio of sunny grins. “What did it feel like?”

“Hmm?”

“That day, when Sungmin moved in. Do you remember how it felt?”

Leeteuk jolts, sure now that Donghae is doing more than just reading auras and sensing ghosts. “How did you know that? Did Kangin tell you?”

“Oh… no.” He looks sort of bashful, running a hand through his bangs. “Sometimes I get these flashes of… not memory, more like intuition. The picture represents something meaningful. I could see it when I held it. I didn’t mean to, ah, intrude.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s just….” Leeteuk trails off, holding the frame a little tighter. “You’re right, it was the day he moved in. It was kind of terrifying, actually. I was so worried about the dumbest things, I can’t even remember it now. If he would like his room, or if the window faced the wrong way and maybe we should have given him the master bedroom instead. Or if the clothes we got him were wrong, or if we should have taken him grocery shopping first to pick out the things he wanted to eat…. But in the end, none of that mattered. He was just so…” happy, he wants to say, but his throat feels tight again and he has to fight the urge to cry. Donghae waits patiently.

“He’d never had anything of his own before. His room, his clothes… we could have picked anything and he would have loved them. Youngwoon and I never would have dreamed of fostering if we hadn’t met Sungmin, he made it all so easy. He made it all make sense.”

“He gave you a purpose, right? When nothing was certain, and the days were hard…”

Leeteuk nods, over and over, not fighting the tears now. “It was still hard. Everything was always so hard, but… we had the only thing that mattered.”

“You had each other.”

Another nod. Donghae takes the frame out of his hands, and Leeteuk watches through blurry vision as he puts it back on the mantle. He presses the heels of his hands to his eyes to stopper them up, and takes a few deep breaths.

“Remember that,” Donghae says, his voice low. “No matter what happens. Hold onto that for me, okay? For them.”

“Yeah.” Leeteuk straightens up, resolute. “Thanks. Thank you.”

“I think… you should get out of here for a while,” Donghae says, and despite his airy tone, Leeteuk bristles with irritation once more. He swallows hard, trying to quell the feeling, the emotional weight of their conversation compounding his exhaustion.

“What?” It comes out too sharply.

Donghae, to his credit, doesn’t react to his tone. He just smiles and waves a hand through the air in front of him. “Not you personally. You and Kangin and all the kids.”

“Oh. But didn’t you say we shouldn’t leave?”

“Just for the afternoon, I think. It might be good to just get out of here. The house, it’s affecting everyone in ways you probably don’t notice.”

The exhaustion and irritation, yeah, Leeteuk has noticed it. He relaxes a little, glad to know it’s not just him. “But it’s obvious to you, huh.”

A shrug, a nod. As the humidity continues to build up outdoors, a quick afternoon trip into town doesn’t seem half bad.

-

Breakfast is still on the table when they return to the kitchen. Donghae enters first, stomach growling, and Leeteuk follows, saying, “Who wants ice cream!”

Everyone looks up, but nobody reacts for long, confused moments. Then Yesung shouts, “Me!” hopping a little with his hand raised. The room breaks out in a cacophony of voices. Donghae, who had not… actually discussed the idea the family taking an afternoon away with anyone before suggesting it to Leeteuk, meets Hyukjae’s eyes from across the table and shrugs.

Siwon’s blessing hadn’t been as effective as he’d hoped. His expectations had been low to begin with, but normally Siwon’s prayers have some effect, even though it’s most often negative. But a stillness had fallen over the place after last night, and it makes Donghae feel blind. His talk with Leeteuk had only proved that a change needs to happen, and soon if they wanted to avoid a worst case scenario.

“How’d it go?” Hyukjae asks quietly, handing Donghae a mug of coffee. He accepts it gratefully, reaching for some food.

“He has so many reasons to fight it, Hyukjae,” Donghae sighs into his coffee. Down at the end of the table, Kyuhyun is reviewing the evidence with Siwon. Sungmin has vacated the seat in front of the second computer and circled around the table to Leeteuk and Kangin. His head is bent over Kangin’s phone, evidently discussing where they should go for ice cream.

Hyukjae hums, reaching across the table to pull some food towards Donghae. His presence is solid and safe, and much more relaxed than it had been yesterday; Siwon really has lifted their spirits. Donghae allows himself a moment to relax and tune out the energies of everyone in the room save for his two closest friends. It’s a welcome respite from the heaviness of Leeteuk’s aura. It had pressed on Donghae like a rolling tide, and he could only imagine how much strength Leeteuk must have to be keeping his head above water. The bright memory of Sungmin’s first day living with them had shot through the blue-black bruise color of his aura like a sunrise.

“I wish you could have seen it,” he murmurs, and Hyukjae, who must have had heard that phrase dozens of times over the course of their relationship, doesn’t skip a beat.

“Yeah? What did you tell him?”

“Nothing. I just asked him to remember something precious.” Donghae gestures over to where Sungmin is now rounding up the younger kids to begin clearing the table. “Hopefully getting away from this place will help him shake it off.”

“It,” Hyukjae echoes in a grave voice, seemingly to himself. Donghae reaches for his hand under the table and gives it a light squeeze.

“We’ll stay here and see if we can’t do more than a blessing.”

“A cleanse?”

“We can try.”

Once the chores are finished, the kids all disperse with an excited chatter that really does brighten up the place. The noise of five young people showering and changing into fresh clothes, teasing each other at the same time as helping one another, brings a glimpse of their normal life. Watching Leeteuk and Kangin corral everyone out the door looks exhausting; Donghae and Hyukjae have enough trouble with one toddler, he really doesn’t want to know how much of a project it had been to get everyone moved into the house in the first place. All that energy, kicking up a centuries-old pain; all that love… no wonder they’d attracted something hateful enough to want to destroy it.

Donghae shakes off those thoughts. He wanders out to the yard when Leeteuk starts up the van, opening all the doors and letting the air conditioning run. With just enough room to seat eight, the group will have to split up and take Heechul’s car as well. He’s almost sorry he’ll miss what’s sure to be an entertaining trip into town, what with Kyuhyun planning to ride along with Heechul. Kyu joining them all is mostly to keep an eye out in case leaving the property becomes a danger, but he deserves a break, too. Monitoring the cameras for days on end took a lot out of him, and they know he hasn’t gotten much sleep. Sungmin has matching bags under his eyes. Hyukjae is standing with Siwon and Kangin beside van, explaining the cleansing ritual they’re going to attempt once everyone is gone.

Seated where he is on the front step, Donghae can see the whole yard, which itself looks to be baking in the midday sun. The clouds gathering on the horizon haven’t reached them yet, but the birds and the bugs are loud and frantic. Rain is coming, hopefully sooner than later. Behind Donghae, the front door opens and Shindong hops down the steps, followed closely by Kibum. A few moments later, Yesung leads Ryeowook out by the hand, but Ryeowook stops when he sees Donghae and ignores Yesung’s gentle tugging. Yesung shrugs, letting go and heading out to join his brothers.

“Hyung,” Ryewoook says in his gentle voice.

“What’s up?” Donghae asks, smiling at the way Ryeowook tugs shyly at the hem of his shirt.

“Yeong-Ja noona said I should tell you.”

He tries not to let his smile falter too much, but concern brings Donghae’s brows together. “Tell me what?”

Ryeowook straightens up, taking in a deep breath as his eyes slide to Donghae’s left and then back again, recalling the message. “She says to tell you don’t worry, she will make sure Ara is safe.”

Panic runs through him like an electric shock. Donghae stands abruptly and regrets it a second later, his knees gone numb. “Did she say anything else?” He knows his voice is too loud. Ryeowook shrinks back a little. “What made her say that, Ryeowookie?”

“I don’t know.”

“Donghae?” comes Hyukjae’s voice from across the yard, but his concern is so loud and Donghae has to focus. He fumbles his phone out of his pocket, hands shaking, and sees Hyukjae striding toward them from the corner of his eye.

“Hyung, please don’t worry.”

“Thank you, Ryeowook, for telling me,” Donghae says as panic makes him scroll blindly through the contacts list on his phone.

“Donghae-ya, what’s wrong?” Hyukjae says as he reaches them. Donghae just shakes his head, finally finding Lee Byunghun’s name and pressing the call button. He turns on his heel, desperate to block out the concern rolling off Hyukjae in waves, and enters the front entryway. Hyukjae follows, the door shutting out the noise of the yard as Donghae presses the phone to his ear. His heart is hammering as it rings.

“Hey!” Hyukjae calls.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end is unfamiliar and panic climbs up into Donghae’s throat. “What - who is this?” he says, and he can hear how sharp his tone is but Hyukjae is still saying What’s going on? in his ear and Donghae still doesn’t have time for –

“This is Lee Chanhee. Um. Is this Donghae-hyung?”

“Chanhee? Oh. Where is Byunghun? Is Ara with him?” Donghae’s heart thumps so loudly that he’s afraid he won’t be able to hear the answer, but Chanhee shouts, “Byung! You’ve got Ara, right?” without bothering to cover the mouthpiece. Donghae hears a muffled reply and then,“She’s with him. Here’s Byunghun.”

A moment where the phone Chanhee’s holding must be changing hands, and Donghae slumps a little into the wall, finally meeting Hyukjae’s wide eyes. Then Byunghun’s voice is saying “Donghae-ssi, is everything all right?”

Donghae closes his eyes. “Byunghun, I’m sorry, can you - Ara’s there? She’s safe?”

“Yeah, she’s right here,” Byunghun says, sounding bewildered. “D’you want to talk to her?”

“No, don’t, I’ll scare her.”

Byunghun laughs a little nervously. “You’re scaring me,” he says. Donghae makes an apologetic noise, opening his eyes to meet Hyukjae’s again. Hyukjae looks angry.

“I’m sorry,” Donghae says, into the phone but to Hyukjae as well. “Something happened and I needed to check. Byunghun, do you think you can - can you just text every, I don’t know, every hour or so? Just so I know she’s okay?”

“Yeah, yeah of course. Are you sure you’re all right, hyung?”

“Don’t worry about me, just... keep an eye on her. Keep Chanhee around too, if you can?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem.”

They exchange their goodbyes, and Donghae doesn’t even have the time to hit end call when Hyukjae is asking, “What the hell was that about?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Donghae closes his eyes again, feeling raw and exhausted, tears prickling hot and threatening to fall. Hyukjae’s tone bites at him, full of confusion and panic. “The spirit, Yeong-Ja. Ryeowook said she mentioned Ara, and I panicked. She’s too far away; Hyukjae –“

“Okay, okay,” and finally the demanding panic in his voice has gone. Hyukjae comes close enough to press the back of his knuckles to Donghae’s cheekbone, then the palm of his hand to his jawline, and Donghae wraps his arms around Hyukjae’s neck as he pulls him in. “But you need to tell me next time. You were fine and then you weren’t, and all I heard was Ara’s name and you wouldn’t talk to me and I thought...” Hyukjae swallows.

Donghae apologizes again, pressing his face into Hyukjae’s shoulder, fingers nervous and rough in the hair at the base of his neck. “Yeong-Ja said she would keep Ara safe. I didn’t know what that meant, I couldn’t even think.” His tone wavers and Hyukjae shushes him, the way he calms Ara when she won’t stop crying.

It’s a few long minutes before Donghae’s heart finally calms down, sense returning to him slowly. “We need a break,” Hyukjae says firmly, his voice rumbling through Donghae where they’re pressed close together.

“We can’t just leave them - ”

“Just tonight. Just one night, and then we can drive back in the morning. It’s not like this thing isn’t affecting us too.”

Donghae takes a deep breath. “Okay. Just tonight.”

There comes the sound of a door falling shut. “There you are, why’d you just run off?”

Donghae pulls back, composing himself as Hyukjae turns to look at Heechul.

“Oh,” Heechul says wryly, a smirk flitting onto his face as his eyes dart across the scant space between the two. “Jesus, we’re leaving in like two minutes, you can’t even wait?”

“You’re way off, Kim Heechul,” Hyukjae replies, sarcastic and playful.

“Sure, whatever.”

Heechul leads the way back out, Donghae falling into step beside Hyukjae. He smiles to himself a little when they hit the sunlight, watching his shoes scuff in the grass. They’ll take a night to hold Ara and recharge, and then they’ll come back with a fresh perspective to help this family.

The sunlight is bright enough to blind him when he looks up, and when his eyes adjust they settle on the van where Kangin is standing, making everyone inside do a headcount: only four chirped “here!”s, because Sungmin has opted to ride with Heechul and Kyuhyun. Siwon notices them immediately, reaching for Donghae with a frown as the kids scramble into the van, hardly noticing anything amiss.

“Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine, I’m sorry.”

Siwon ducks his head to meet Donghae’s eyes, then glances at Hyukjae.

“We’ll tell you in a minute,” Hyukjae says, and this placates him. Siwon steps back and Donghae looks into the open door of the van, ducking his head to see Ryeowook buckled into one of the seats.

“Hey, bud. I’m sorry if I scared you. You did the right thing.”

Ryeowook smiles, a closed-mouth gesture that pops the dimples in his cheeks. “It’s okay. Yeong-Ja noona said so.”

“Thank her for me too, okay?”

“You can.”

Donghae chuckles. “You’re right, I will. Enjoy your ice cream, okay?”

He nods vigorously. Donghae steps back and slides the door of the van closed. Heechul’s car is already idling at the ready, waiting to follow the van, but Leeteuk is standing by the driver’s side door with the keys in his hand, letting them jingle as he looks back at the house.

“Maybe I should stay,” he mumbles.

Hyukjae shoots Donghae a sharp look, but anxiety is all that Donghae can read from Leeteuk. He shakes his head minutely.

“It’ll be fine, Teuk,” Kangin says, striding over to take the keys. “Come on. It wants us afraid, but we can’t let fear stop us.”

Finally, Leeteuk nods. He crosses in front of the van to step into the passenger seat instead, and Donghae steps back to let the van roll out of the driveway, waving them off. Then he sets his sights on Siwon. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

-

Leaving the cameras running isn’t the smartest choice they could make, given that Siwon isn’t supposed to be performing any sort of major exorcism without permission from the Bishop, and video evidence of this could be - for lack of a better word - damning. But they decide that it’s worth the risk, because if this upsets the presence in the house enough to reveal itself and they don’t capture it, they could needlessly delay the proceedings. And Kyuhyun would be pissed. Avoiding Kyuhyun’s wrath is reason enough, Donghae thinks.

“It’s not an exorcism,” Hyukjae is saying, “you’re cleansing the house of evil.”

“That’s the same thing.” Siwon is rifling through his bag, pulling out little plastic vials of holy water in the shape of the Mary. Donghae plucks one off the table with a laugh.

“Where did you get these?”

Siwon shrugs. He has a larger bottle, Holy Water emblazoned in gold below a budded cross. “They were left over from a Sunday school event. Cute, huh?”

The strangest thing about being in the house with just the three of them is that it’s hardly quieter than it was before. Other than mealtimes, it was so quiet they could hear the hands of a clock ticking. It should be full of life. Donghae doesn’t have to spend so much energy blocking everyone’s auras, though, which is good because he can’t even remember the last time he slept for more than an hour or two at a stretch.

“Hey, Donghae,” Siwon continues. “Is this really about exorcising the home?”

“Not really, no. It can’t hurt, though.”

“It’s good that Leeteuk left.” Hyukjae leans over the table and plucks up one of the bottles of holy water, pocketing it. Donghae does the same. “I was worried for a second there.”

Siwon lifts a little book out of his bag - not the bible, but a prayer book of exorcism rites. “We’re sure he’s not possessed already?”

Donghae worries at the bandage still wrapped around his hand. “No,” he says honestly. He lifts the corner of the bandage, fresh air rushing below and drying out the skin of his palm. Though not infected, the wound hasn’t quite started to heal. “It’s clever. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s very good at pretense.”

If possible, the room grows even quieter.

“The common room?” suggests Hyukjae, breaking the silence. Donghae nods and the three of them set off across the hall.

"The blessings from this morning will hold, right?"

"It's not a spell, Hyukjae, a blessing is a blessing," Siwon says, swinging his stole around his shoulders.

Hyukjae takes a seat on the couch, a playful eyeroll contrasting Siwon's serious expression. Donghae settles next to him, and after a quick turn of the room and special attention paid to the photographs on the fireplace mantle, Siwon begins with a personal prayer, eyes closed and lips moving around words whispered too quietly for others to hear. Then he opens the prayer book, fingers running over a ribbon marker briefly before beginning the exorcism.

Nothing happens. The melodic tone of his voice makes Donghae's limbs feel heavy, and he lets his head rest on the back of the couch.

Siwon's voice stops. He glances over the top of the book at them.

"Anything?" Hyukjae asks. Donghae tips his head towards him, humming.

"Nothing."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Both. Neither."

Siwon snaps the book shut, its soft leather binding hardly making a sound. "I'll take another look around," he says, and takes his bottle of holy water down to the east wing.

From the angle of his head Donghae can see the inside of Hyukjae's forearm, dotted with the small, greenish bruises he had put there yesterday. The skin broken by his fingernails is healing, barely pink. Donghae reaches over absently, running the pads of his fingers up and down the wounds. Hyukjae allows this for long minutes until Siwon enters the room. Then he draws his arm away and catches Donghae’s bandaged hand instead. “Does it hurt? I saw you looking at it earlier.”

“No.”

“We should probably change the bandage.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask - what happened?” Siwon says, leaning over to look as Hyukjae begins to unravel the gauze. The wound does sting a bit when once it’s exposed, the skin around the edges of the cross-shaped burn tightening when Donghae stretches his sore palm. No signs of infection or blistering, but there are no signs of healing either. He explains what had happened - he hadn’t told Siwon over the phone, because he knew he’d worry too much about a physical wound.

“Donghae, that might be a diabolical wound if it’s not healing,” Siwon says with a frown, exactly the way Donghae knew he would.

“It’s fine.”

“I’ll get the first-aid kit.” Hyukjae moves to stand, but Siwon stops him.

“I’ll get it. In your bag? Maybe blessing it will help,” he says with a wink, heading off towards the kitchen and ignoring Hyukjae’s call of “It’s not magic, Siwonnie!”

He’s gone hardly a minute before he returns, hands empty, face drawn and pale. “Uh. Leeteuk went into town with the others, didn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Hyukjae says with alarm, standing. “Why?”

“I saw him. Just now, he passed by the kitchen.”

Donghae shakes his head. “There’s nobody else here.”

“He smiled at me but it was… wrong.” It’s unusual to see Siwon so shaken up. “Too wide, or something. Not how a face should work.”

“Like something that doesn’t know what’s it’s like to be human. Something guessing, and guessing wrong.”

Siwon focuses his gaze on Donghae, nodding. Despite the afternoon sunlight, the room feels suddenly darkened, the sun having slipped past its midday zenith to cast the house in shadow.

“,” Hyukjae says, “There aren’t any cameras set up in the ing kitchen.”

“No, but there are cameras in the hall,” Donghae suggests. A few minutes later finds them crowded around the computers as Hyukjae leans over the bench, running playback.

If this were any other situation, they’d be celebrating what they find. The camera mounted to the southwest corner of the hall points towards the east wing, and while the apparition they catch doesn’t look as Siwon described, it’s an unmistakable manifestation that moves past the kitchen entryway, a shadow clearly visible in the daylight. It doesn’t surprise Donghae that it looks this way; the cameras can’t pick up on the demonic presences’ intended projection. Only the target - in this case, Siwon - could have seen it that way.

Hyukjae scrubs the playback to the starting point, watching it again. “I’ll render it now. Siwon, have you heard back from the diocese? Can you forward this to them?”

“I’ll give them my testimony, too.”

“What was the point?” Hyukjae sighs, pointing at the screen. “A warning? A threat?”

“A mockery.” Donghae gestures at Siwon. “He tried to exorcise it, but failed. That was a show of strength.”

Siwon takes Hyukjae’s place in front of the computer so that he can amend the collection of evidence he’d already sent off for review, and so that Hyukjae can finish treating Donghae’s hand. “It’s good evidence,” Donghae says, wincing slightly as Hyukjae cleanses the wound with holy water from a Mary-shaped bottle, but he still looks worried.

“And what if they reject it?”

Siwon interjects, voice wry. “If they reject it given my track record of successful exorcisms, then I’ll perform one without permission.”

“Not unless there’s immediate danger. I don’t want you risking some sort of reprimand.”

“Oh, don’t act like it’s the first time I’ve broken doctrine. Or did you two forget who officiated your marriage?”

Hyukjae laughs quietly, taping the end of the dressing. He shifts his fingers underneath Donghae’s and lifts his freshly bandaged hand, meeting his eyes as he presses a feather-light kiss to Donghae’s knuckles. Donghae rolls his eyes but lets himself enjoy the way a bright yellow diffuses through Hyukjae’s aura, mixing with the ever-present silver to become almost golden, like morning sunlight. “Sap,” Donghae says, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Siwon, whose back is to them but is no doubt aware of what reaction that comment would get, changes the subject. “When is everyone due home?”

“Dunno. It hasn’t been long, maybe a few more hours.”

“Hey, don’t tell Leeteuk what you saw. He’s… weary, and some demonic thing borrowing your face would scare anyone,” Donghae cautions. Weak is not a word he would ever use to describe Leeteuk, but there’s no denying the toll this is taking on him, both physically and mentally.

“No, but we should at least tell Kangin,” Hyukjae agrees offhand, distracted. “You should try to sleep,” he suggests, running at thumb over the blue circle beneath Donghae’s left eye. He shuts his lids.

“You’ll talk about me.”

The hand leaves his face. “What?”

“You and Siwon. You’re gonna just talk about how worried you are the whole time.”

“Nah. Nope! We’ll make lunch. We’ll only talk about things you don’t care about. Right, Siwon?”

“Donghae, we’re worried about you. There, that’s all we’d say. You should sleep, to make us less worried.”

He can’t help but laugh. “I’ll try.”

He does try. Donghae lies on the couch in the common room and listens to the sounds of Hyukjae and Siwon moving about in the kitchen, but he doesn’t get any real sleep. He doesn’t dream, anyway, that much he’s sure of, but he must doze off eventually because the sound of a car door slamming outside jolts him awake. He has no idea how long it’s been. Donghae rolls off the couch and crosses the hall just in time for the front door to open. Hyukjae pops around the kitchen’s doorframe at the noise and spots him. “Sleep well?”

He shrugs, then, unwilling to lie, says, “No.”

Hyukjae sighs. “Well. Better than nothing.” Then the group of nine people round the corner and it’s chaos in the house again.

“Well? How’d it go?” Kangin says without preamble. “Did it work?”

Donghae shakes his head, hating the way Kangin’s shoulders seem to droop.

“We did catch something, though,” Hyukjae adds.

Kyuhyun pushes past Kangin, brows raised. “Really?”

They file into the kitchen. Leeteuk is the last one in the house. Donghae waves at him.

“Sorry we don’t have better news.”

Leeteuk just gives him a blank look. Donghae wishes he could have somehow prevented the disappointment.

In the kitchen, there’s a small crowd around the computer monitors. Siwon sets up the playback, pointing out the shadowy manifestation, sans any explanation of backstory like they’d agreed earlier.

“Here.” Hyukjae pushes a tall glass into Donghae’s hands. “Siwon helped me make one of your weird smoothies.”

“It’s not weird,” Donghae mumbles as he takes a sip. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was and nearly downs it all in one go.

Hyukjae asks, voice pitched low, “Should we leave now or stay for dinner?” but their attention is drawn away before Donghae can answer.

“It’s not the little girl?” Kangin is saying, frowning at the screen. Leeteuk peers over his shoulder, expression unreadable.

Siwon glances sharply at Donghae, but Kyuhyun points at the screen and says, “Can’t be, it’s definitely too tall,” and Donghae wonders why they didn’t think to warn him first.

“Kyu,” Hyukjae starts, but then Shindong says, “It’s not even scary!” and a quiet confusion falls over them.

Shindong glances around, aware that he’s the reason. “I mean if that’s the evil thing it got way less scary than when I saw it. You guys are lucky it doesn’t look that that anymore,” he adds with an exaggerated shudder.

“I forgot they saw it manifest,” Hyukjae admits, and Donghae can only agree with the sadness in his tone.

“I hate this,” he says under his breath. Kibum is patting Shindong’s shoulder and Sungmin’s expression is pinched, leaning against the table and pointedly not looking at the screen. Donghae follows where Sungmin’s eyes wander, over to Leeteuk.

“Well!” Heechul says into the tense silence. “That’s a great looking shadow and all, but does it mean anything?”

“I added the video to my plea,” Siwon replies. “And my personal experience is likely to make for a stronger case.”

“Uh huh,” Heechul says, barely containing a laugh. “And then what, they send in the Ghostbusters?”

Kyuhyun opens his mouth to retort, but Sungmin kicks at his ankle under the table and he refrains.

“Hey, so Donghae and I are going to drive home for the night,” Hyukjae says suddenly, shocking everyone into silence.

“Is everything okay?” Kangin asks.

“Fine, it’s fine. We just need a little refresh in our own home, see our daughter for a bit. We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon.”

Leeteuk straightens from where he’s slouching against the wall behind Kangin, looking between the two with a frown. “You’re going to leave?”

“No. We’re coming back.” Hyukjae’s voice is firm, reassuring.

“I’m staying. And Kyuhyun, I think?” Siwon turns to Kyu, who nods.

“Of course. I can still monitor - ”

“No investigation.” Hyukjae glances at Donghae for approval. He nods. “We all need a full night’s sleep.”

Leeteuk seems to have recovered himself, but there’s still a crease between his brows. “At least stay for dinner.”

So they stay. It’s later than Donghae would have liked, but they eat and he helps wash up, standing next to Leeteuk at the sink, trying not to be obvious as he monitors his aura. Hyukjae pulls Kangin into the other room, presumably to tell him the truth about the manifestation they saw earlier. It’s been a long time for Donghae since filtering out the energies around him has been so exhausting, and each passing minute reaffirms how badly he needs a night off.

Eventually Heechul gets bored of whatever game he’s trying to teach Sungmin how to play on the computers, which aren’t running any recordings or being used to review evidence for once, and engages Leeteuk in a stilted conversation that Donghae can’t keep up with, so he leaves to find Hyukjae.

“ - understand what’s the difference!” Kangin is saying when Donghae finds them in the study. “If Siwon can exorcise a house why can’t he exorcise a person?”

Hyukjae notices Donghae enter, hesitating for a second before he answers. “He will, if it comes to that. But only if it comes to that. Until then it’s not worth the risk of making Leeteuk even more susceptible.”

“Look, I get that there’s a proper way to do this but you know this sounds ridiculous to me, right? I’m not waiting around to watch something horrific happen!”

“Kangin-ssi… I know. I agree with you. It’s just a lot more complicated for the church to approve any major exorcisms of a person than it is to rid a house of an infestation. They can’t risk legal action.”

“You’re kidding me. This is all because you’re trying to avoid a lawsuit?”

Donghae clears his throat. “Not us. We’ll do whatever we have to. But yes, that’s why we needed Siwon to help us build a case. Having him here in the house with you is as safe as it’s possible to be right now.”

Kangin drops his head into a hand, scrubbing at his forehead. “. I’m not trying to be an here, I’m just scared.” He turns on his heel to look at Donghae. “What do you think? If Teukie’s in danger you’d know, right?”

“He needs you, and the kids. Not us.” Donghae and Kangin both know that’s not a real answer, but Kangin seems to understand his point. But it’s a phrase that Donghae will later turn over and over in his mind: If Teukie’s in danger, you’d know, right?

By the time he and Hyukjae climb into the car, the sun is starting its descent. The clouds gathered on the horizon have darkened with the promise of rain, the summer air finally fresh without the smog of humidity. As they begin to wind down the long drive through the trees, Donghae’s phone lights up with a message from Byunghun. It’s a picture of Ara, sitting on the couch next to Chanhee, tucked up into his side. She has a stuffed rabbit in her arms, its drooping ears matching the tilt of her head, her eyes gently shut as she sleeps sitting up. She’s trying to wait up for you, Byunghun’s text says. Donghae smiles to himself, dropping his head against the headrest. The further they get from the house, the less important today’s earlier panic feels; the negative energy seems to stream out behind them like smoke as they go.

“What’s that?” Hyukjae asks, and Donghae angles his phone so that he can see the photo. As promised, Byunghun has been sending them updates every hour or so - an image or a thumbs-up or a short update on what Ara was getting up to, and Donghae appreciates that he continued sending them even after he’d let him know they would be back later tonight. Ara seems fine, safe, even more so as they head towards her. Sometimes spirits can’t get a handle on the details, or the messages they manage to send get confused as they pass between realms, like a game of telephone. It’s likely that Yeong-Ja had wanted Ryeowook to relay a message about her intentions of keeping all of the children safe, and though she knew Donghae has a daughter, she probably didn’t know that Ara is too far away to be…

To be threatened. A promise of safety, not just for her, but likely for the other children. Donghae sits up straight.

“Turn around.”

Hyukjae frowns, but doesn’t slow the car. “What?”

“Hyukjae, turn around. The kids aren’t safe.”

“Okay…” he sounds skeptical, but years of trusting Donghae’s intuition has him slowing down and looking for a place to turn.

“Ryeowook said that Yeong-Ja told him she would keep Ara safe. But what if she didn’t mean just Ara? What if the threat was to all the children?”

Hyukjae grits his teeth. “Leeteuk’s strength and his weakness.”

“It wanted us to leave. Somehow it knew that threatening Ara would do the trick. Hyuk, it played us like a fiddle.”

“It didn’t count on Siwon being there. They’ll all be fine until we get back, okay?”

As if on cue, the phone in Donghae’s hand begins to ring. He stares down at it for long seconds, Kyuhyun’s name on the screen. With a glance to Hyukjae’s equally startled gaze, he brings the phone to his ear.

“Kyu-”

“You need to get back here. Now.” Kyuhyun’s voice is nearly swallowed up by a commotion in the background. Donghae lowers the phone to press the speakerphone button, holding it between himself and Hyukjae.

“What’s going on?”

“Breakpoint. Siwon and Heechul are trying to -” A loud scraping sound interrupts him, like a chair being dragged roughly across the floor. “- , I need to help them, Kangin has the kids in the other room but we’re gonna need your help.”

“Don’t wait, tell Siwon to start without us,” Hyukjae says, even as he gives up his search for a safe place to turn and hits the brakes, swinging the car around in the near-empty roadway. He keeps his eyes firmly on the road, tension in his jaw and shoulders reflected on the shadowy red color bloom in his aura.

“You said the kids are safe?”

“What?”

“The kids - ” Another loud noise, the sound of voices in the background raised but unintelligible through the phone.

“Yeah, they’re shaken up but - huh?” Someone else - Sungmin, by the sound of it - has spoken simultaneously.

“I can’t find Ryeowook,” Sungmin repeats, voice muffled by distance.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I can’t find him! He’s not in the house!”

“That doesn’t make any sense, he was right there.”

“Nothing makes any ing sense right now!”

Sungmin’s panic is palpable, and the car speeds up a little more.

“I gotta go,” Kyu says, voice louder now.

“No, Kyuhunnie, stay on the line.”

“Sorry, just hurry.” The call drops.

They’ve been gone less than thirty minutes, but with the way Hyukjae is driving, they’ll make it back far less time.

It echoes around Donghae’s head in the silence: if Teukie’s in danger, you’d know, right? He’s so used to reading people in more than five senses that there are times he misses the full picture. Maybe Donghae should have noticed the tense line of Leetuek’s shoulders as he stood beside him at the kitchen sink. Maybe his silence would have indicated more than exhaustion. Maybe he would have seen the fixed stare he had on Siwon while they reviewed this afternoon’s recording, or would have noticed that Leeteuk hadn’t eaten any food during the meal.

He can’t guess when it happened. Before they left the house? After? How long had a demon been holding up the pretense that Leeteuk was in control of himself? Unbidden, the image of Jin Oh comes to his mind’s eye. He hadn’t known him before his possession, his parents had called them in as a last resort after doctors and psychologists had failed to help. The exorcism had been a success. A success, in terms of removing the demon and protecting Jin Oh’s soul - but at the cost of his life.

That can’t happen. As horrible as it feels to weight comparison of the two people’s lives, Donghae feels like this situation is not just Leeteuk on the line. There’s Kangin, too, and five innocent children who would lose a father, the touchstone of a family. They have to change the measure of success. He can’t die. Donghae won’t let him die.

“Hyukjae,” he says over the roar of the engine. “Drive faster.”

Cross-posted to AO3. Here are the chapter notes posted there:

It's been so long since I updated this (I know, I know, I'm sorry.) A short list of things that have happened IRL in that time:

- Lorraine Warren has passed, may she rest in peace. (For those who haven't seen The Conjuring, Donghae's character was based on her character from the film, who in turn was based on the real Lorraine Warren.)

- Kangin is no longer an official member of SJ, but once Suju, always Suju, so his presence in this story is unchanged.

- LJoe (Lee Byunghun) is no longer a member of Teen Top. Is he still friends with them? Anyone know?

- Technology has improved so much in the paranormal research field! There isn't even mention of a spirit box in this fic, how weird.

- I was going to finish and post this on Halloween, I SWEAR, but instead I went ghost-hunting so you can't blame me.

- You can follow me on twitter @hello_deer, but I'm mostly in Kingdom Hearts fandom now. (Anyone notice the reference in this chapter?)

- One chapter left!