Karen's beautiful face was mere breaths away from his and her beautiful lips stretched into even more beautiful smile.

In his bed, Kris stirred restlessly, eager to close that tiny distance.

Her long nails scratched lightly down the side of his face as their eyes met and suddenly, he felt the sting of torn skin as her nails dug into his neck. Her eyes turned to empty sockets and her face started falling apart, her jaw dropping to impossible proportions due to decay – worms found their way free out of the various holes in her face.

Terrified, he tried to get away from this horrendous persona but her fingers dug harder into his neck, the blood spurting down his torso. 'Why?' she whispered through her broken vocal cords, 'Why did you let me die?'

The splash of water on his face jerked him out of his nightmare. 'Wake up!' Baekhyun's face was too close to his and he let out a terrified roar, bumping his head into the headboard.

'Geez, way to make a guy feel pretty.'

Kris swallowed, his heart thundering and his body wet with a mixture of sweat and water. 'Why…?'

'Suho's on the line – he needs to talk to you.' Baekhyun handed him the cellphone. 'Plus you didn't look too easy rolling around like that – I figured you could use a break.'

Kris nodded, 'Thanks.' Then, lifted the phone to his ear. 'Yeah?'

'I'm sorry, I thought you'd be awake.'

'I'm up now.' And he had no intention of going back to sleep, no desire to return to that nightmare. 'Why'd you call?'

'I think it's time to change tactics.' Suho's voice was grim.

'I'm listening.'

He nodded as Suho spoke, getting up and heading towards the toilet. Baekhyun was already inside, brushing his teeth but he moved aside to make room for Kris as he bent to wash his face.

'I think that's pretty sound…' he stepped back out, heading towards the lone sofa inside the cramped hotel room. 'Have you talked to the rest?'

'Only Xiumin – I'm sounding it out right now.' Suho sounded frustrated – at this point, though, they all were. 'But I can't take this stalemate any longer. We need to draw him out and we need to find Chen.'

'Agreed.' Evil had played enough games, so it was time they played back. 'I think you guys should come over. Wherever he's taken Chen, it's bound to be closer here…'

'I'm worried about the girls.'

Kris bit his lip, wondering how it would've been if Karen had been able to meet with the other mates as well… He shook his head, not giving into the despair. 'I think Evil doesn't know about them… or rather, he doesn't know the role they play or...'

'Yeah but for how long?' Suho asked, worry coating his voice. 'I know Chen's stubborn but…'

'We'll find him before things get too far.' Kris assured him.

'We thought we'd find him before the day was over and it's been what, two weeks now?'

'That's why we're changing tactics – your idea is good, alright. We'll get him for sure.'

Suho let out a sigh. 'I guess so… how's Baekhyun holding up?'

'Better than I expected – although he's too quiet at times. How about D.O?' He knew Chanyeol was upset via their link but if there was anyone they really needed to worry about, it was D.O.

'Restless and angry – you know how he gets. Fine, I'll call Xiumin back and we'll coordinate the details, then I'll call you back.'

'Kay.' He hung up.

Baekhyun came over and slumped beside him, turning the television on and putting it on the highest volume. He put up his legs, wrapping his arms around his knees and worried his lips for some time, staring unseeingly at the screen. Then abruptly turned to Kris. 'Chen's gonna be fine, right?'

Kris nodded and pretended to not see the tears Baekhyun blinked away. 'He's a tough one.'

Baekhyun nodded. 'Like nails.'

Kris smiled and ruffled his hair. 'C'mon, we need to find a bigger place for the gang.'

Baekhyun jumped up excitedly. 'Cool, let's go!'

……………………

Chanyeol wasn't feeling too good and he didn't like it.

He was a cheerful person – he liked smiling, he adored laughing and more than anything else, he loved being happy.

So all this stress and worry was making him feel terrible. He didn't like it one bit – it was bad enough that he had to deal with Kris all the time.

The guy put up an admirable front of being alright – and he was way better than before, Chanyeol could attest to that – but that didn't mean the man's heart hadn't been ripped out and shattered to pieces.

Whatever emotional ups and downs Kris went through, Chanyeol had gone through with him and tried to send him happy thoughts so that he could lighten up. Sure what happened to him was sad but sad things happened to everyone and they could choose to brood over it the rest of their lives or they could choose to be happy anyway.

Chanyeol had chosen to be happy.

But it was really hard to stick to that decision when everyone around him was nothing but an unhappy mess of worry.

He knew Chen would've wanted him to keep happy and keep everyone's spirits up – that's what he would've done himself – and he was trying his best. But sometimes – just sometimes, mind you – Chanyeol wished someone else would tell him to cheer up as well.

He was sad because his Shadow was suffering terrible nightmares and his best friend had been kidnapped while his other best friend was in another country and the only person he could mess around with was being a moody , excuse his French.

He stared at D.O pacing around from his place on the floor and wondered if he could say anything to distract the guy.

D.O had been uptight even before they came here, what with his first fever and mate-deprivation – an awesome word thanks to Chen, the awesome guy – and now, his Shadow had been captured. Even if they were always fighting and even if D.O acted like he wouldn't pee on the guy if he was on fire, Chanyeol knew he cared about him. All Shadows did; it was impossible not to when you were connected with someone that closely.

He watched D.O pace around, occasionally rubbing his chest or suddenly grimacing as if in pain, some more before he snapped. Enough was enough – they wouldn't be able to think anything clearly if they kept worrying like that – so, he called to him. 'D.Oya!'

He called him that because D.O was easily annoyed. Chanyeol liked annoying him.

D.O spared him a paltry glare, not stopping his restless pacing. 'D.Oya! D.Oya! D.Oya! D.Oya! D.O… aah!!'

As he'd expected, his trick worked and D.O attacked him. He managed to get loose of his stranglehold and ran around the room, upending chairs and throwing cushions in his way to slow his advance. Sure, he wanted D.O to vent but he'd be crazy to offer himself – the guy could literally pummel him to death.

By the time their chase ended – with Chanyeol getting pummeled, not to death thankfully but very, very painfully – his mood had lifted due to sheer adrenaline rush and D.O looked less angry and worried than before.

Just then, Suho entered the room and stared around at the mess they'd created. He pursed his lips, looking like he was considering whether or not to scold them, then sighed and slumped on the bed. 'Pack your bags, we'll be leaving tomorrow.'

……………………

Kai and Lay rested against the wall, trying to catch their breaths. Since they were so busy these days, Kai was worried he would lag behind rest of the class if he didn't practice daily. So whatever free time he had, he made sure to dance first and rest in whatever time was left.

Since he was paired up with Lay, naturally the guy joined him as well. For Lay dance was as much of a stress reliever as anything else and if there was anyone who could make Kai wish they'd halt, it was Lay. It was like he didn't know the meaning of the word 'stop'. He kept pushing himself along with Kai and since Kai was a competitive soul, he couldn't be the first one to back off and they ended up dancing the entire night – eight hours they could've spent sleeping.

Lay's record was ten hours and if they'd been in better condition – getting proper food and sleep, perhaps – they would've continued and likely beat that score but as it was, they couldn't continue anymore.

Kai slapped Lay's hand away when he felt his elder trying to heal him. Was he crazy or what, pushing himself like that? He glared at Lay, trying not to let his sweet smile fool him and somehow forced himself to move from his side. He crawled to his bed but he couldn't really bother himself to stand up and get in, so he just curled into a comfortable ball, putting one of the pillows lying on the floor under his head and closed his eyes. He was out in seconds.

When Xiumin, Tao, Luhan and Sehun returned to the headquarters at dawn, it was to find both guys in Kai's room, collapsed on the floor. Lay's head was resting on Kai's whereas Kai's head was somewhere under his own bed.

Xiumin shook his head at their pathetic condition, then ruthlessly started waking them up.

They had to leave in an hour.

…………………………

A/N

Just... let the story catch momentum, okay?