Thunder boomed in the clouds above. Lightning flashed in the darkness, illuminating the muddy ground in front of Chanyeol. Rain torrented down, stinging Chanyeol’s face as the wind pushed against him. As he ran, mud splashed on his boots and stuck to the bottom of a thick cloak. He tugged on the hood to keep it over his face and tightened his grip on the fabric. It didn’t do much to keep him dry, but it kept him warm.

From afar, Chanyeol saw the outline of a house. The windows had bright light that spilled onto the ground in small squares. He was running, adrenaline rushing through him, toward the house. He was wet and miserable and a dry house sounded like heaven at that moment. As he ran, he imagined what Baekhyun would’ve said. Probably complaining about the weather.

Chanyeol laughed, and then frowned. Where was Baekhyun? Last time he was in a mirror, screaming and yelling something that Chanyeol wasn’t able understand in his condition at the time. Then his vision faded and the next thing he knew, he stood under a tree in that woods that had just been struck by lightning in the pouring rain. He had found a road with ease, only a few paces from where he stood. With the help of the lightning flashes, he had avoided any obstacles that could have injured him and started running. Only a few times had he stopped, and that was only because his shoe had come undone multiple times. He was determined to get to the house that had come into view when he got out of the woods.

Relief washed over when Chanyeol stomped up onto the porch of the house. He finally made it, out of breath and muscles aching. He dragged his feet as he walked to the front door and knocked three times with a strong fist. He heard movement inside the house as he stood there. He saw a curtain shift out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly the door flung open and someone pulled him by the collar into the house. The door slammed behind him and Chanyeol’s was pushed against the door. The hood of his cloak dropped and he looked up. He was staring a fuming Sehun right in the eyes. Chanyeol gripped Sehun’s wrists and pulled them from his cloak, breathing hard.

Sehun was dressed in plain clothes; jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was a bird’s nest and he had dark circles under his sharp eyes. His brows were furrowed and the corners of his lips were turned down into a deep frown. He was breathing heavily. Chanyeol could feel Sehun’s breath on his neck. Sehun’s fists were balled. He raised an arm and brought his palm across Chanyeol’s left cheek, leaving it stinging and warm.

“Ow!” Chanyeol shouted.

“You’re a ! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Wh-what?” Chanyeol held his cheek.

“You had us worried out of our minds last time, you know, because of your rash, rash actions. You went up to them directly? Are you freaking kidding me? Park Chanyeol, I swear, if you ever do that again, it’ll be my fist you feel next time. Understand?” Sehun said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Bull.”

“I swear, I’m not lying. I don’t remember what happened last time. Only bits and pieces. I know that Baekhyun was trapped in a mirror and you were the queen. Also that I was hurting a lot towards the end.”

“You’re an awful liar.”

“I’m not lying.”

“So are you saying you weren’t conscious during the attack?”

“No. I remember walking out of the room and everything after is blurry.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Does anything, though?”

Sehun breathed out. His face relaxed and he rocked on his heels.

“Do you have spare clothes?” Chanyeol asked after a moment. Sehun nodded and led Chanyeol up a flight of stairs. When they reached the top, they took a left down a short hall and walked to the farthest door. Sehun opened it to reveal a simple room. It had a bed and a closet.

“Your lovely suite. Knock yourself out. Clothes are in the closet. Shower is one door down from this.”

As Sehun closed the door, Chanyeol stopped him. “Where’s Baekhyun?”

“Probably sleeping. He hasn’t come around yet. I woke up only a few hours ago.”

Chanyeol nodded and let Sehun go.

An hour later, Chanyeol was showered and dressed in flannel pants and a sweatshirt. As he made his way downstairs, he noticed how small the house was. His head almost scraped the ceiling and the hallway was narrow. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he took a right and walked into a small kitchen. Counters wrapped around the edge with a stove and oven. Cabinets were a foot above and a few had glass doors, revealing bowls and plates within. A square table stood in the middle. Sitting around the table was Sehun and Baekhyun, who had his back to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol’s spirits rose and he reached out to hug Baekhyun. He wrapped his arms around his friend’s neck. Baekhyun jolted and when he turned his head, he nearly knocked over his chair. He pressed himself against the table in shock. His face was ghostly pale and he was looking at Chanyeol, wide-eyed.

“Baekhyun, what’s wrong?” Sehun asked, standing up.

“That… Chanyeol, is that really you?”

Chanyeol nodded, clearly confused.

“It can’t be. Something… something is off.” Baekhyun muttered.

“Baekhyun, I haven’t changed. I promise.” Chanyeol said, his voice soft.

Baekhyun shook his head. “No, no. You’re not the Chanyeol I know!” He put his hands on his head turned to Sehun. “Sehun, don’t you see it? Don’t you feel it?”

“Baekhyun,” Sehun furrowed his eyebrows. “This is clearly Chanyeol. The big ears, tree-like legs and body, ugly face,” Chanyeol protested, but Sehun ignored him. “It’s all there.”

“No, no, no. That’s not Chanyeol. You’re… you’re wrong. You’re crazy. Both of you. You aren’t Chanyeol,” Baekhyun pointed to Chanyeol. “And you’re not Sehun.” He started to mutter under his breath. “They’re not real. They’re not the real ones.”

“Baekhyun, I can promise that we’re both real.”

A boom of thunder shook the house and lightning flashed outside. For a moment, something flickered on Baekhyun’s face, but it was too fast and Chanyeol thought it was just a facial expression.

“Just go away!” Baekhyun pushed past Chanyeol and his footsteps could be heard pounding up the stairs.

Chanyeol and Sehun stood there in silence. They exchanged glances and Sehun shrugged. Chanyeol pushed Baekhyun’s chair back to the table and sat down. That was not the reunion he expected to have with his best friend. Not in the slightest. He had imagined more hugging and crying in relief. Being told he was not real was definitely not in the picture, thus leaving Chanyeol more confused than hurt or sad.

“We’re not real?” Sehun muttered. “I certainly feel like myself. Uh, I also look like myself.” He looked to Chanyeol who didn’t respond. He stared at the blackness outside. Rain pattered on the roof. Thunder rolled in the distance. Flashes of light lit up the night. Branched looked like spindly fingers and trees seemed to have faces. In another flash of lightning, Chanyeol thought he saw a figure moving outside. It wore a cloak with its hood up, but then it was gone. He looked at Sehun, but the boy was inspecting his nails. Maybe he was hallucinating. It seemed like everything was a hallucination, anyway.

After an hour or so of sitting and thinking, Chanyeol stood. Sehun looked up from inspecting his thighs (which he was squeezing with enthusiasm).

“Where are you going?” Sehun asked.

“I’m going to go check on Baekhyun.”

Sehun nodded and went back to checking himself out. Chanyeol rolled his eyes and exited the kitchen.

As he made his way up the stairs, he could hear Baekhyun singing from behind one of the doors. He stopped at the top and just listened. Ever since Baekhyun was young, he loved singing. He would constantly watch YouTube videos on singing and have posters of his favorite artists on the walls of his room. Even in their small college dorm, he had a keyboard and posters. Sheets of written and printed music would cover the floor. Chanyeol would always scold Baekhyun for being such a mess and make him clean it up. He even had a microphone to record songs. Sometimes when Chanyeol had a particularly hard day or an emotional breakdown, Baekhyun would sing him to sleep, acapella and acoustic. His voice had a certain lilt that calmed Chanyeol’s nerves and put him in a state of peace.

But as Chanyeol listened, he noticed there was something different about Baekhyun’s voice. It sounded higher and it sent chills down his spine. The tune being sung was ominous and the edges of his vision went dark. He plugged his ears and his sight returned to normal. He walked forward and found the door to one of the rooms cracked. It was dark inside. He pushed the door open with his toe and found Baekhyun standing at the window. He was staring at the rain fall onto the pane and traced the trails it left behind.

Chanyeol stepped into the room and turned the light on. Baekhyun his and whipped his head around. His eyes went wide and he backed away. His bottom lip quivered and his body shook.

“Who-who are you?” Baekhyun choked out.

“Baek, it’s me. I was just coming up to see if--”

“Get away from me!” Baekhyun turned away and held his hand out. “Be gone!”

“Baekhyun, I’m not going to harm you.”

“Just go away! Go away! Stop using Chanyeol!” Baekhyun screeched.

“Nothing is using me!” Chanyeol’s voice shook.

“Please, please, please.” Baekhyun began to cry. Chanyeol took a step forward, wanting to comfort his friend. Baekhyun shied away and kept yelling at him to “please stop.”

Outside there was a clap of thunder followed by another flash of lightning. In the window, Baekhyun’s reflection was no longer his. This time, it was something else. It looked similar to the figure Chanyeol had seen not too long ago. Chanyeol stopped moving. Something in his mind clicked. It wasn’t that he and Sehun weren’t themselves. It was Baekhyun who was different. The fact that Baekhyun was not wrapped in a blanket to calm himself despite there being one on the bed sent alarms off in Chanyeol’s head.

“Where’s Baekhyun? Who are you? What have you done with him?” Chanyeol asked, voice firm.

Baekhyun stopped his quivering and looked Chanyeol straight on. His eyes became red and a sick smile tainted his, usually, kind features. He looked behind Chanyeol and the door shut. The lights went out. Now it was only Baekhyun’s silhouette that could be seen in the flashes of light. His eyes glowed red in the dark.

“Baekhyun is right here.” a voice says. It’s not Baekhyun’s. It’s higher and was like nails on a chalkboard. “But his consciousness isn’t.”

“What have you done with him? Who the hell are you?”

“Oh don’t worry, dear. I’ve suppressed his mind to take his meat suit. His personality, everything he loves, despises, desires, his thoughts; it’s all there.” The voice laughed. It was more of a screech, than anything. “You know, I’ve learned so much from your little friend. I’ve learned what it’s like to be human again. It’s a nice feeling, you know. Having emotions, feeling pain, and having a body. It’s exhilarating, in fact. I’ve become very attached to your friend’s meat suit and his thoughts.”

“Get out of Baekhyun right now! What do you want? Why him?” Chanyeol said.

“Park Chanyeol,” the voice laughed. “He has a strong bond with you. He’s very attached. Let’s see, it’s a very complicated emotion, that’s for sure. I think it’s called love. But see, the thing about humans is that they turn to the negative. Anything good that happens is then doubted. For example, Baekhyun likes, no, he loves it when you get him gifts on a whim. But he believes it’s just an act of friendship. He knows you won’t see him as anything more. How sad. Tsk tsk.”

Chanyeol mulled over the words. Did Baekhyun really feel that way? Did Baekhyun really love him? No, that can’t be right. Baekhyun always called him dumb, too tall, ugly, and about his ears. He never really complimented Chanyeol. Only after some presentation in class or something petty. Whoever was possessing Baekhyun was spewing lies. He didn’t know what they wanted, but they were trying to manipulate him somehow.

“Stop talking crap. Leave Baekhyun! There is nothing you can do with him. If you wanted to use him, you’d already have done that. If you wanted to kill him, why don’t you just throw his body out the window? What do you want?” Chanyeol shouted over the thunder.

The voice cackled. “You are a funny one, Park Chanyeol. I don’t really understand Baekhyun’s attachment, but it’s amusing.” They paused. “Anyway, I better be off. I came to drop in and see how my little rats were doing.”

Baekhyun’s silhouette pointed to the blanket on the bed. Chanyeol turned and watched a flame start at the end of the blanket. It spread to the entire thing before Chanyeol had a chance to react. It grew into a large fire. He felt the heat on his cheeks. There was nothing he could do about it now. It was much too big to put out. His mind went into panic mode. He rushed to the door and turned the handle, but it was stuck.

“It’s just a test!” the voice said. Chanyeol turned to Baekhyun and saw a red mist spilling from his mouth. Baekhyun’s eyes rolled back as the red pooled around his feet. The mist, now completely out, escaped under the crack. Baekhyun’s body collapsed and Chanyeol ran over to catch it. He held Baekhyun in his arms and shook him, trying to wake his friend up. He shouted for Sehun and tried the door again. The flames had already jumped to the walls and the entire bed was flaming. Chanyeol continued to shout and bang on the door. He threw himself against the wood over and over. He only stopped when he heard Baekhyun coughing. He knelt down and grabbed Baekhyun’s shoulders. He gripped them hard, knuckles turning white.

“Baekhyun, Baekhyun, are you ok?”

Baekhyun didn’t respond and kept coughing. Chanyeol cursed and let go. He started to throw himself at the door again. After the tenth try, the door swung open and Sehun stood there, hand on the doorknob. He looked at Chanyeol, then at Baekhyun, then at the fire raging on the wall.

“What the ?” Sehun said.

“I don’t know! Just help me get Baekhyun and let’s go.”

Sehun gasped and helped Chanyeol get Baekhyun up. They made their way to the staircase and down. They could smell the burning wood and the house was grey with smoke. All three were coughing now as Chanyeol opened the front door. He went out first and then Baekhyun and Sehun followed. They rushed down the steps and out into the rain. Chanyeol turned around and saw the room where he had been was ablaze. He could see through other windows that the fire was spreading. He sighed in relief that they were out.

When they were a decent distance away from the wretched house, they set Baekhyun down and Chanyeol made sure to keep his head up. He rested Baekhyun’s head in his lap and weaved his fingers through Baekhyun’s wet hair. They were covered in mud and rain and smelled like smoke, but that didn’t really matter at this point. All he needed to know was the Baekhyun was okay and that they were all alive.

“What now?” Sehun asked, looking around. “We can’t exactly finish the story. I mean, I don’t really know what fairy tale it was this time.”

“I think… It might have been the Princess and the Pea.”

“But there weren’t any peas. Or princesses. Or princes, for that matter.”

“I think it may have been why Baekhyun told us we weren’t real? Maybe? That we weren’t the real ones.”

“I doubt it.”

Silence.

“Why did you set the room on fire?” Sehun asked suddenly.

Chanyeol sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Long story.”

“Well, we can’t do much now that we can’t finish the fairy tale since we don’t know it. Lay it on me.”

As Chanyeol began to tell Sehun, the rain began to let up and they sat in the dark. Baekhyun was fast asleep in Chanyeol’s lap and mud covered them from head to toe. But for the first time in what seemed like forever, everything was peaceful. No conflict, no running or figuring things out.

However, deep in the woods, a red mist swirled down a well. It kept going down and down until it saw a light. Suddenly it was moving upwards into a sunny world. As it made its way up, a girl came into view. She was talking to a frog who had a red string around its leg. The pair jumped when they saw the red mist. It rose out of the well and made its way towards the two. The girl screamed and the frog ribbited. They were swallowed by the mist. The only traces of them left was the girl's dress and the red string around the frog’s leg.

A/N: So, um, yeah. That happened. I know where I'm going with this story, though. It's all laid out in my mind and there are reasons for everything now and I'm not doing this blindly. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. So sorry for the long wait.