'Thanks!!!' Baekhyun sobbed, clinging tighter to his savior.

'Don't mention it.' Xiumin tried to extract himself away but Baekhyun sure could cling. He sighed, 'Baekhyun, we need to move and find the others.'

'In a moment.' The Legend let out a deep breath, the slowly stepped back. 'How did you…?' He asked, looking at the dead, decaying bodies that were littered around.

Xiumin shrugged. 'No idea. I just kinda slipped through a wall, I think.'

'Aha!' Baekhyun exclaimed suddenly. 'I knew something wasn't right with this picture!'

Xiumin arched his brows questioningly as Baekhyun hurried towards the gray wall that was looming in front of them, very unlike the sobbing mess he'd been a mere minute ago, striding confidently. He glanced over his shoulder, throwing him a smile. 'Come on, I know what I'm doing.'

Xiumin yanked out his small knife which had embedded in the neck of one of the abbies lying on the floor, wiping the black goo off and strapping it back inside his boot before following after Baekhyun.

They were trapped inside a maze. Where it had been transparent before, it was now a mass of solid gray walls that loomed high up and trapped everyone in a separate place with no idea about what the hell was going on. The only indication they had that everyone was alive was the link that connected them together. He supposed the others' link to their mates would also reassure them but in his case, there was no such clemency and worry was almost driving him insane.

Logically, he knew chances of Lily getting hurt were low. She was inside the HQs, for one thing, well protected. Plus, odds of her acting impulsively – like rushing out as Mei had – were less than zero. Which did nothing for him – knowing was one thing but seeing was another. As long as the walls had been transparent, he'd been able to catch glimpses of her from time to time. With the walls blocking his sight and no link to reassure him, he was fast becoming crazed.

More so, perhaps, because of the sickening familiarity of this place. He didn't know how or when but he knew, innately, that he'd been trapped like this before. And he didn't like it.

He'd gotten rid of the abbies that were attacking him and no new ones had shown up, so he'd gone around, banging on the walls, trying to find a way out and had, somehow, stumbled into the corridor where Baekhyun had been fighting – or rather, running away from – the abbies and Xiumin had shown up in time to save him.

Baekhyun stopped in front of the wall, looked up and down and shook his head before striding ahead. 'What are you doing?' Xiumin asked, stepping beside him. 

'Getting us out.' He stopped again, putting his hands against the wall. He fell forward with a whoop and then Xiumin heard him laugh. 'Come on in, Xiu!'

Xiumin shook his head, stepping through and blinked in the sudden darkness. It was thick and almost tangible, pressing against his eyes and ears, swallowing his senses and blinding him even more than before.

He opened his mouth to call out to Baekhyun but his voice didn’t come out. He tried to clear his throat but the darkness seemed to choke him. Shaking it off and deciding to stop wasting his time, he stepped backwards, hoping to reorient himself.

Only, he didn't come out in the same place.

He'd stepped back in time. That or she really was there.

Where the darkness had robbed his voice earlier, this time it was the overwhelming emotions rising inside of him at the sight of her small form, frozen forever in the same age as she'd died.

She was making mudhouses as she used to, her hands muddy as she squatted on the floor, piling more and more of the wet soil on her small fist as she hummed under her breath. It was a silly poem, one he'd taught her and she loved it, always singing it. He swallowed the tears that pricked his eyes, telling himself it was nothing but an illusion. Nothing but an illusion. Nothing but…

She glanced up, her eyes meeting his and a smile, brilliant like the sun itself, broke out on her face. 'Choomin!!!' she squealed, delight clear in her voice and she stood up, dashing towards him, ponytail bouncing and mud trailing on the ground. Unconciously, he kneeled on the floor, arms spreading to welcome her. 'Choomin!'

She came nearer, her features getting clearer and he drank her in, his heart feeling like it'd burst. A drop fell down from his eye as she closed the distance between them.

'Choomin, you came!!! I've been waiting for you…' her breath broke for a second, making her sound hideous. Her jaw stretched downwards, teeth elongating and claws emerging from her fingers as she gurgled happily, eyes dying to dead, soulless red. 'For so long.'

The creature attacked him and Xiumin deflected its blows but couldn't bring himself to slash its throat. Because, silly him, it was still wearing her face and dammit, that was his baby sister. How could he kill her again?

The blow to his stomach was unexpected, one of her claws embedding deep and...

'Ya!!!' Baekhyun's yell was followed by rapid shots and he blinked dazedly as a hole appeared in her head, eyes widening in shock before she fell to the ground. Black goo oozed out, slowly pooling around and Xiumin couldn't take his eyes off it before Baekhyun smacked his head. 'Snap out of it!' He told him fiercely. 'He's trying to play with you, don't let him!'

Xiumin shook his head and got up, only to fall back with a cry, hand on his stomach.

'What?' Baekhyun panicked, seeing the blood, 'What's wrong?'

Xiumin shook his head, gritting his teeth as he tore a piece of his shirt to place against the gash that was bleeding profusely, before loosening his belt and looping it around the makeshift gauze to hold it in place. Baekhyun, reluctant as he was to get his hands dirty, fell to his knees and helped him tighten the bandage, making sure it was in place before standing up and helping Xiumin to his feet.

'Are you sure you can walk?' He asked worriedly. Xiumin nodded. 'Sure.'

'Don't let go, okay?' He gripped Xiumin's hand tightly and started leading the elder away. 'Let's find the others, alright?' Xiumin nodded again, wincing a little as the cut stung but kept pace with Baekhyun who trailed his fingers alongside the wall, ostensibly to find another opening hidden beneath the illusion of walls.

When they stepped in another corridor, the darkness was once again as overwhelming as before, pressing in on him and stealing all his senses and there was a strange pressure on him, making him loosen his grip on Baekhyun's fingers for a moment. He hurriedly grabbed it again, not willing to chance another encounter like that. He also tried to ignore the sounds pressing against his ears, primarily her voice and screams as she died over and over, making him wish the corridor would end already, that Baekhyun would find an exit that would take him out of this nightmare.

The moment they stumbled sideways and light fell on them, Xiumin thanked the powers that be and engulfed Baekhyun in a bearhug, grateful to be out of the darkness. 'You're a genius, I'll tell Suho to promote you.' He muttered, not noticing how the body shrunk within his arms. 

'Whatchu talking about?'

Everything inside him froze as he heard the childish voice. Not daring to believe it, he slowly loosened his grip around the body that was far too small to be Baekhyun's. 'Choomin?' She sounded confused, 'Where are you going?'

She blinked up at him innocently – or as innocently as her broken corpse could, the years of decay showing in the drooping sockets and skin that was stetched taut over bones, no muscles underneath whatsoever. 'Don't you wanna play?' She pouted, a worm crawling out of her nostril and going back inside her skull via a hole in her forehead – where Baekhyun had just shot her.

'You're not my sister.' His voice shook despite his intentions, the scene affecting him more than it should. 'You're not real.'

Her decayed lips puckered in a pout. 'You're mean.'

'YOU'RE NOT REAL!' He yelled angrily, rage clouding him. How dare this creature blaspheme her innocence like this? How dare it play with him again?

Her eyes widened, genuine fear showing in them as he took out his knife and pounced, rage lending him additional strength.

Vaguely a voice penetrated his head, familiar and panicked, 'Ya, ya, it's me! Baekhyun!' but he shook it off. He wouldn't fall for this, never again.

His knife slashed but she ducked and managed to roll out of the way and it registered, again vaguely, that she was moving with far too much expertise for a little kid but he pushed it away. His emotions, buried deep inside until recently, were roiling uncontrollably, the grief and anger he'd kept hidden all these years finding the perfect vent. He would avenge her, finally!

The knife penetrated her shoulder as she ducked, covering her head in a cowering gesture and a decidedly manly scream infiltrated the blood pounding in his ears, followed by a swift kick to his crotch.

Tears filled his eyes at the intense physical pain that made his ears hum and his vision blur around the edges. He put a hand out against the wall to steady himself and blinked, a bleeding Baekhyun coming into view. 'Baekhyun?' He croaked, blinking again.

Horror crashed through him with a vengeance at the blood rapidly staining Baekhyun's back. Forgetting his own pain, he surged forward to help him. The Legend whimpered as he dressed his wound with another strip torn from his shirt, occasionally wiping his face with a trembling hand, shaken to the core that he had almost killed his own brother, his own blood. Again.

'I'm sorry…' he muttered under his breath, drops of sweat mingling with the tears on his face, 'So sorry…'

Baekhyun pretended not to hear that or notice the tears that filled his eyes but silently threw all the curses he knew at Evil for doing this to his elder. It had to be terrible for Xiumin, a person with veritable nerves of steel, to be reduced to this quivering mess. As soon as he was done patching him up, the elder stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall and buried his head between his knees, hunching in on himself, trembling uncontrollably.

Baekhyun had an uncomfortable suspicion that the man was crying and it made him feel helpless. He wished Lily were here, she would know what to do. But after watching him like that for a couple more moments, he couldn’t take it anymore and crawled over to him, throwing an arm over his shoulder and awkwardly hugging him.

It was all he could do, after all.

……………………………

In another end of the maze, Kris was suffering through a similar episode.

Only, in his case, it was Karen and her death, her vow to take revenge from him for letting her die, for not fulfilling his promise to protect her. Her voice penetrated his ears even when he covered them, her face appearing before his eyes even though he kept them closed. And it made him grow insane. He lashed out, trying to make her go away because she was dead, she was gone and this was nothing but an illusion. Nothing but an illusion…

It was Suho's punch to his face that made him snap out of it and he blinked blearily, realizing he had the leader by his throat, pinned to the wall and turning bluer by the second. He let go in a hurry, barely catching the guy before he fell.

They had gotten rid of the abbies and abogs but their own memories and fears were their worst enemies and Evil's best weapons against them. All of them were suffering through a hellish ride into their nightmares.

Suho had seen Angel getting attacked by his look-alike, her stalker trying to her, watching the knife pierce through her skin and slash . He'd rushed over, trying to get rid of that bastard for touching her, not realizing it was an illusion in his anxiety and had nearly beheaded the guy – who'd turned around and pinned him to the wall and he'd drawn his knives to slash his throat, the guns long out of ammunition.

Angel's reassuring push against his link had brought him back to his senses just in time but it had taken all his energy to land that punch on Kris's jaw to snap him out of his daze.

Evil was pitching them against each other, playing with them like this while he took his sweet time to go the HQs. They were trapped in here, unable to protect their mates while Evil attacked and they couldn't let that stand. Together, he and Kris decided to look for others.

It was one of the few occasions he really used the perks of his rank.

All Legends were linked to each other, closer to their Shadows. But the alpha could strengthen or weaken his link with individual members – the way he'd weakened his link with Xiumin at the other's request soon after they'd become Shadows because he'd wanted to retain his privacy.

He began by trying to figure out who was the closest to them and then searching a way to get to them. The maze was twisted and had hidden doors, transparent walls and watery mirrors that quivered at touch, patches of nightmare-inducing darkness and who knew what else.

Luhan was literally berserk when they found him, smashing the already broken bodies of abbies to pieces, no doubt reliving Mei's nightmare. He attacked them as heedlessly as he'd attacked Kai before and almost broke Kris's arm before coming back to his senses, Mei's frantic reassurance that she wasn't in danger calming him down. Then the alpha's presence registered and he returned to his senses.  

They found the cubs blessedly intact and not looking any worse for wear – except for Tao who looked thoroughly wrecked.

From what he figured out, whatever Evil had done to this place made them see their worst fears and Tao, unfortunately, had a lot of them. Kris leaving them forever, Chen never waking up, D.O failing to come out of the Abyss, Sehun abandoning him for Tiffany – 'Ya!' Sehun protested – Raina abandoning him for Lay (Sehun snorted), getting abandoned by his family (everyone reassured him that they weren't going anywehere), the dark, bugs, ghosts and who knew what else. It was horrible.

Kai had gone through the same thing as Luhan, around the same time and when Luhan had regained his senses, so had Kai.

Sehun had seen Tiffany die but he hadn't fallen for it and was now gloatingly mocking their 'weak' mate links.

'Pfft, I could tell it's not Tiffany because I can feel her right here.' He thumped his chest, right above his heart, smirking. 'She's worried about me.' He told Luhan cockily. 'Even more than Mei.'

Luhan rolled his eyes and pushed him away, 'Mei worries the most. And she worries about me. '

Sensing a silly argument oncoming, Suho stalled them. Really, Angel was the one who cared most because lets face it, his mate was the best.

Before either Luhan or Sehun could refute that, Kai interrupted. 'Where are Baekhyun and Xiumin?'

The two Legends were the worst. Xiumin's wound was deeper than it had first appreared and was now bleeding profusely because he'd made it worse by fighting recklessly. Baekhyun's shirt was stained with alarming amount of blood but thankfully, his shoulder was intact and he was actually supporting the elder as he led him out. They bumped into the rest of the Legends while turning a corner and Suho was alarmed by how pale his Shadow was.

Thankfully, between them, they had enough stuff for a decent patch up and he laid Xiumin down on the floor, telling him to bite something as he stitched the guy up. With Lay out of powers, this was the best they could do and he couldn't risk letting the guy bleed out any more. Whatever had hit him – he hadn’t spoken a word and Baekhyun merely shook his head, telling them not to ask any questions – it had torn through the membranes; any larger and they'd see his guts spilling out.

Unlike Xiumin, who didn't bite on anything and barely whimpered while Suho worked, Baekhyun's loud yells probably woke the dead and eventually, Suho asked Tao to hold the guy still before he hurt himself. By the end of it, almost all of them were sporting scratches because Baekhyun had clawed at everything within reach.

Cracking his neck, Suho straightened and looked up at the sky. It was getting darker and D.O was still in the Abyss and their mates were on their own because they were useless trapped like this. And Luhan's shield had probably fallen, so who knew how long Lay and Chanyeol would stay inside before deciding to play heroes?

'Let…' Baekhyun panted from his place on the floor, where he was hunched over, biting his lips and in pain, 'Let me catch my breath… I'll get us out.'

'Don't overtax yourself…' Suho began worriedly.

'This is the only thing I can do.' Baekhyun gave him a small smile, sitting up. 'You guys fight and save me all the time, this is my chance to do it for a change.'

'How?' Sehun asked, helping Luhan lift Xiumin in his arms.

'Illusions… that's literally my specialty.'

'I thought your specialty was pranking.' Tao stated, supporting him.

'That too… anyway, Evil's good with illusions but he still has a lot to learn.' Baekhyun gave the cubs a cocky smirk, 'Watch and learn.'

They were indeed surprised by how quickly Baekhyun managed to find the hidden pathways, walking around like the gray walls didn't exist. After leading them through numerous turns and avoiding what he called 'bad spots' for maybe ten minutes, he stopped. 'Okay, we're here.'

'Where?' Sehun looked around. The place didn’t look any different from the other corridors they'd crossed but Baekhyun looked completely confident.

'We're at the outer boundary of this maze.' He told them, 'and the HQs are right there. And I don't mean to panic anyone or anything but things are bad.'

'What do you mean?'

Baekhyun swallowed nervously. 'Evil's here.'

…………………………..